anniversaries
-
The Pharaoh Tutankhamun seems to have been part of our lives forever, so it’s hard to believe that his tomb was found just hundred years ago on 4th November 1922. Even the discoverer, Howard Carter, had no idea what lay within the tomb, only that it didn’t seem to have been got at by…
-
“….Archaeologists have made an exciting discovery in the Queen Pool at Blenheim Palace prior to dredging work….They believe they have uncovered the remains of a 14th century watermill complex….” So reads the opening of this article. A new discovery at somewhere as historic as Blenheim is very exciting. But maybe it was its Woodstock Palace…
-
In this time of our own ‘plague’, it is interesting to see that Edward IV had his own concoction for an unpleasant disease recorded as ‘the rayning sickness’ (raining, reigning?–not sure what this word translates as– maybe the King’s Evil (scrofula?)) The recipe was a handful of rue, a handful of marigolds, half a handful…
-
The above gentlemen have the infamous Habsburg chin on full display. It means they are definitely not going to win a World’s Handsomest Man competition any time soon. Their chins and general looks are the result of generations of inbreeding, the aim being to keep the royal blood pure. Well, there’s pure and there’s…
-
Settling the Bosworth Debt….
“Perkin”, “Princes”, All Hallows, arrests, bigamy, Duke of York, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, executions, ghosts, Halloween, Henry VII, Henry VIII, House of York, illegitimacy, Lord Chamberlain, masks, pre-contract, Richard III, Sir William Stanley, torture, Tower Hill, Tower of London, treachery, Westminster HallWith the denizens of Hades gathering to do their worst, here is a horror tale of Sir William Stanley’s final Hallowe’en, when retribution snatches him at last. “Settling the Bosworth Debt” is the story of what happened to William when he was confronted by some terrible truths about Henry Tudor. Friday, 31 October, 1494, Hallowe’en,…
-
I love looking at the properties for sale in Country Life. Some of them are too modern or just not to my taste. But this one in the Cathedral Close of Wells, is perfect. And only £1.1million. Only, did she say? It’s a wonderful old building and in a matchless historic site. On the…
-
In October 1396 King Richard II of England married for the second time. His first marriage had been a love match. He and Anne of Bohemia had adored each other and he’d been devastated by her sudden death, possibly of the plague. He was still only 28, a childless widower, and like his namesake the…
-
RALPH NEVILLE, 2ND EARL OF WESTMORLAND – HIS HOME, BRANCEPETH CASTLE AND BURIAL IN BRANCEPETH CHURCH.
AJ Pollard, Beaufort family., Brancepeth, Brancepeth Castle, Bulmer Tower, Cecily Neville, Charles Alfred Stothard, Chrimes, Cockermouth, dysentery, effigies, Elizabeth Holland, fire, Haltemprice Priory, incapacity, James Petre, Joanna Laynesmith, Lancastrians, Link Block, Lord John Neville, Margaret Cobham, Margaret Stafford, Middleham, Neville Tower, Nevilles, Nikolaus Pevsner, Ralph 2nd Earl of Westmorland, Ricardian articles, Richard of Salisbury, Ripon, Roche Abbey, Sheriff Hutton, Verneuil, W.E. Hampton, willsREBLOGGED FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI @sparkypus.com Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland c.1406-1484 and one of his wives. Fine oak effigy once in Brancepeth Church, County Durham. Destroyed 1998. Drawn by Charles Stothard c.1815. An interesting life if somewhat tinged by tragedy. Ralph Neville 2nd Earl of Westmorland, born at Cockermouth in Cumbria (c.1406-1485) was…
-
Here is a shortish article about monarchs with a bad name. No prizes for predicting that it will include Richard III. However, it also deals with others. Stephen’s reign, for instance, was “an unmitigated disaster”, and Henry VI was also a disaster. Enough said about John. Henry VIII is remembered only for his six…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 