anniversaries
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On 8th June 1376, Edward, the Black Prince, died. From then until 29th September his body lay in state in Westminster Hall, and then was taken to Canterbury Cathedral to be buried on 5th October at Canterbury Cathedral. His passing was greatly mourned through the land, and lamented because the elderly monarch, Edward III, was…
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When he is a hereditary head of state under a different title, of course. There are such people around the world today but Britain had them for a few years. The first was Oliver Cromwell, the great-great-great-nephew of Thomas Cromwell. As he was finalising the execution of Charles I in 1649, he announced that “the…
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GREENWICH PALACE – HUMPHREY DUKE OF GLOUCESTERS PALACE OF PLEAZANCE
“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne Mowbray, Bermondsey Abbey, Burgundy, Canterbury, Catherine of Aragon, Charles II, Edward I, Eleanor Cobham, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Wydeville, enclosures, Ghent, Greenwich Castle, Greenwich Palace, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Humphrey of Gloucester, Jane Lady Grey of Ruthin, Joan Lady Strange, Margaret of Anjou, Mary I, Mary of York, Placentia Palace, Princenhof, Richard of Shrewsbury, Royal Observatory, Sheriff Hutton, Society of Antiquaries, St. george’s Chapel, Stuarts, WydevillesHumphrey Duke of Gloucester from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book A print by an unknown artist now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich depicting the Palace c 1487. Greenwich Palace, or Placentia as it is often known, was built around 1433 by Henry V’s brother, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, who named it Bella Court after…
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Several years ago I was out at Bosworth to attend an author signing with one of my favourite Ricardian authors, Sharon Penman, who wrote the mighty epic The Sunne in Splendour. We were staying in the Royal Arms at Sutton Cheney, which has a public room filled with armour, memorabilia, paintings of the battle and…
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A pastoral tale
bacon, climate, Dominic Sandbrook, East Anglia, Edward I, Florence, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Orwell, Hanseatic League, Italy, Jerusalem, Lavenham, Mediaeval Warm Period, Medici, music, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Corbet, Prokofiev, sheep, Shropshire, T.S. Eliot, timber-framed houses, William Blake, wolves, wool, WoolsackThis article investigates why, as the Mediaeval Warm Period drew to a close, Britain (and particularly England) developed differently to many nations of Southern Europe. Sandbrook mentions two major cultural factors: the tradition of salting bacon because ham could not be dry-cured and the evolution of the wool trade through the systematic elimination of the…
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There has been attempt to write this already and some of the songs are available. The songwriter in question, who died during the process, was Anthony Newley, who would have been 86 today. So how do they compare to other music on the subject?
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They are sharp and good for purposes both fair and foul, and might even be handy for some back-stabbing (should one be of that disposition!) What am I talking about? The Stanley Knife. Jokes abound on certain medieval groups about these multi purpose knives being something that should have been invented by the two side-shifting,…
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Unlocking the secrets of the Black Prince’s effigy A team of scientists and art historians has been attempting to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the Black Prince’s tomb. In this short video you can find out what they were up to and what they are hoping to discover. This investigation is one of a…
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The ten worst Britons in history?
“Popish Plot”, Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Thomas Arundel, avarice, BUF, censorship, Cnut, Culloden, de heretico comburendo, Eadric Streona, Edmund Ironside, executions, Henry II, History Extra, Hugh le Despenser, Jack the Ripper, Jacobites, John, murder, perjury, Reformation, Sir Oswald Mosley, Sir Richard Rich, Thomas Becket, Titus Oates, torture, treachery, Whitechapel murders, William Duke of CumberlandThis is a very entertaining and well-illustrated 2006 article, choosing one arch-villain for each century from the eleventh to the twentieth. The all-male list includes just one King but two Archbishops of Canterbury. So what do you think?
