anniversaries
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In 2020 there are planned commemorations of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. King Henry II blew his top, shouted words to the effects of ‘Who will rid me of this turbulent priest? and four knights clunked off towards Canterbury, thinking the King would reward them well if they disposed of Thomas. The…
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Recently it came up on Mastermind that Margaret Beaufort was once Regent of England. This surprised me as I had not heard this fact stated before. Digging on the internet, it turns out it is indeed true. Henry VIII was not quite of age when he ascended the throne, although he was not far off,…
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“….in the Mediterranean there grows a…murderous plant called the mandrake. Its roots can look bizarrely like a human body, and legend holds that it can even come in male and female form. It’s said to spring from the dripping fat and blood…of a hanged man. Dare pull it from the earth and it lets…
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If you visit Scarborough Castle and go down towards the beach from there, turn your head to your right and walk along the seafront opposite the Harbour, and you will notice something singular. Among the shops, cafés and fish-and-chip restaurants, there is a house that stands out because it is the oldest in the area.…
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Digging up Britain’s Past: By George, I think she’s got it
“The King’s Great Matter”, Alex Langlands, annulment, Catherine of Aragon, Channel Five, devalued coinage, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Edward VI, Elsyng Palace, George Bernard Shaw, health, Helen Skelton, Henry VIII, Llantrisant, London, Old Coppernose, Pygmalion, Rievaulx Abbey, Royal Mint, silver platingThis second episode of this Channel Five series, presented by Alex Langlands and Helen Skelton, took us to Elsyng Palace, a North London house built by Henry VIII but with question marks about its precise venue until recently. Very unusually, the presenters clearly stated that the “King’s Great Matter” concerned not a divorce from Catherine…
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There are few more fertile sources for intricate information about the medieval past (and other areas too, of course) than theses that have been published online. A prime website for these is White Rose eTheses on line, of which I have written before. I am mentioning the site again now because of finding a particularly absorbing 2016 thesis by Anna Maria…
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Thetford
2nd Duke of Norfolk, Attleborough, Ayrton Senna, badges, Battle of Bosworth, burials, Dads’ Army, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Flodden, Howards, Iceni, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Leicester, Lotus, Mowbrays, reburials, St. Edmund, St. Michael’s Church Framlingham, Thetford Priory, Thomas, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas PaineHere are the remains of Thetford’s magnificent Cluniac Priory, built in 1107 and the burial place of the Mowbrays and Howards up to 1540, when they were moved to St. Michael’s, Framlingham. Only about five minutes’ walk from the station, it is best visited on a dry day because Cromwell’s commissioners were ruthless and so,…
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The Castle of Leicester and St Mary De Castro
Alfred the Great, Battle of Bosworth, Blanche of Lancaster, Castle Gardens, Civil War, crime, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Hall, Green Bicycle Murder, Henry I, Henry IV, Henry VI, Hugh de Grantmesil, John of Gaunt, Leicester, Leicester Castle, Norman conquest, Philippa de Roet, Phillippa of Hainault, Prince Rupert’s Gateway, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Robert de Beaumont, St. Aethelflaeda, St. Mary De CastroLeicester Castle Since 2015 going to Leicester is the equivalent of going to visit the tomb of the last Plantagenet King who died in battle: Richard III. Everything there speaks of him from the Visitor Centre named after him, to The Last Plantagenet Pub not to mention attractions and shops that display his portrait…
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It is widely known that Elizabeth I was the only English monarch to be descended from John, 1st Duke of Norfolk, as her grandmother was a Howard, his granddaughter. There is a British monarch who can trace their maternal ancestry to this dynastic founder – Elizabeth II, who also shares the “Treetops” coincidence with her…
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I fear the exhibition in question was in 2017, but the website is interesting because if you go down to the second appearance of the above illustration of Stafford Castle, you will find that you can go through a number of scenes of the castle. Worth a look.
