anniversaries
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I know I have (more than once!) written of a strange string of coincidences connecting Richards II and III and their queens, both named Anne. Now I have come upon another question that puzzles me. It is well known that Richard II loved his Anne deeply, and was distraught when she died suddenly in the summer…
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Whatever the truth about this amazing ruby, it must be (still is?) one heck of a precious stone. It belonged to a French king, and leapt from his ring to attach itself to the tomb of Thomas Becket, who was born 900 years ago today, in Canterbury. The ruby then ended up belonging to Henry…
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Agnes Lancecrona and Robert de Vere
Agnes Lancecrona, Anne of Bohemia, annulment, Chester, crown jewels, Czechoslovakia, Earls of Oxford, Edmund of Langley, Ireland, John of Gaunt, Ladies of the Bedchamber, Marquess of Dublin, marriages, Philippa de Coucy, Radcot Bridge, rebellion, Richard II, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, Thomas of woodstockRobert de Vere (1362-1392) Earl of Oxford, found great favour with Richard II and was elevated first to the title of Marquess of Dublin and then in October 1386 to the dukedom of Ireland. This was the very first dukedom awarded outside the immediate royal family, and was, in effect, a “fingers up” to Richard’s…
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We all know Henry VI, saintly and incompetent, with a French Fury for a wife. Well, that’s how the tradition goes. But do we all know that he was also crowned King of France? You can read about it here.
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Sooo….her guilty secret is finally revealed. According to this post , Anne Neville was a Tudor! No wonder she‘s shocked…and Richard is giving her a sideways look. Oh, dear.
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The above illustration is of the British Crown Jewels as we know them now, but there were predecessors, long gone now, thanks to the efforts of Oliver Cromwell, who had no truck with such baubles. We are inclined to forget that there was a Welsh crown too, until it was seized by Edward I in…
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I must have read about this before, but it feels new somehow. Supposedly, the man in blue (see below) is Richard of Gloucester/Richard III. The illustration is part of the Coventry Tapestry, which is housed in St Mary’s Guild Hall, and which is still in the place for which it was created. I wasn’t sure if…
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This article provides an interesting interpretation of magnificent windows that are to be found in various churches, including King’s College, Cambridge. Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and Henry VIII had a royal hand in these masterpieces. Henry VII, of course, went overboard with all his heraldic symbols, and at King’s College…
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Lambert Simnel and Edward V
“Lambert Simnel”, bastardy, Bermondsey Abbey, Bernard Andre, Chrimes, de la Pole family, Dublin, Earl of Oxford, Edward of Warwick, Edward V, Edward Woodville, Elizabeth of Suffolk, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Wydeville, Francis Viscount Lovell, George Duke of Clarence, George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Henry VII, Ireland, Jasper “Tudor”, John Earl of Lincoln, Lord Strange, Mancini, Martin Schwarz, Nottinghamshire, Old St. Paul’s, Richard of Shrewsbury, Sheen, Stoke Field, The Survival of the Princes in the Tower, Thomas Fitzgerald, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, Titulus Regius, York civic recordsI’m beginning to convince myself that the Lambert Simnel Affair might have been an uprising in favour of Edward V, not Edward, Earl of Warwick…. https://mattlewisauthor.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/lambert-simnel-and-edward-v/
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Is it time to exhume Cardinal Wolsey?
Abbey Park, burial sites, Catherine of Aragon, Grand Union Canal, Henry VIII, high treason, Ipswich, King’s Great Matter, Leicester Abbey, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Richard III, Richard Pescall, Soar, St. Margaret’s Church Leicester, St. Nicholas’ Street Ipswich, Thomas Wolsey, Wolsey’s Gate, YorkThomas Wolsey was born in Ipswich, apparently in March 1473, to Joan Daundy and Robert Wolsey, who seems to have been a butcher and may possibly have been killed at Bosworth. Opposite his birthplace, in St. Nicholas’ Street, is this seated statue (below). His local achievements include Wolsey’s Gate and, after about 475 years, the…
