anniversaries
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Calais was at one time English territory, and Richard III made his son John of Gloucester the Captain of Calais. John was as ill-fated as his father. Further back, Warwick (the “Kingmaker”) was another Captain, and in 1469 his elder daughter Isabel was married there to Richard’s older brother George, Duke of Clarence. The…
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“….During his life and in the years following his death, Pedro [I of Castile, 1350 to 1369] became a central figure in a wide range of historical narratives composed in Castilian, French, English, Catalan, Latin, and Arabic. These accounts present contrasting depictions of Pedro; however, as it is well known, the lasting image of…
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Sibling marriages again
Affinity, Alexandra Sinclair, Anne Beauchamp, Anne Neville, Beauchamp Pageant, canon law, Cecily Neville the Younger, Constance of Castile, denialists, Edmund of Langley, Eleanor of Provence, George Duke of Clarence, Henry Duke of Warwick, Henry III, Hicks, incest, Isabel of Castile, Isobel Neville, John of Gaunt, Leicester Greyfriars, marriage ceremony, Richard Earl of Cornwall, Richard III, Richard III’s remains, Richard of Warwick, Sanchia of Provence, sibling double marriagesIn the teeth of the evidence, some authors maintain that Richard Duke of Gloucester and Anne Neville required a third dispensation because his brother had already wed her sister, an argument that Barnfield has conclusively fisked. We don’t have to go very far to find a similar case of sibling marriages – the Neville sisters’…
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According to this article about the tomb of Edward of Woodstock, the “Black Prince”, at Canterbury: “….The study also re-dates the effigy to a decade after Edward’s death, suggesting that although Richard II faithfully followed his father’s instructions, it did not happen immediately….” Perhaps it should be remembered that Richard II was only ten…
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Amazingly, a 12th-century Norman chainmail hauberk has been found in an Irish shed. Apart from rust, it’s in perfect condition! Unbelievable. Not only do I find little more than useless pieces of clay pipe in my garden, but everything in my shed is guarded by an army of large, vicious warrior spiders in league with…
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Oh dear, just as we start imagining the romantic, colourful side of life in medieval London, we’re obliged to consider the other side of that particular coin. My trawlings through the Close Rolls and Richard II brought me to the following entry for 12 March 1393: “….To the bailiffs of Westminster of the abbot of…
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“Walking Britain’s Lost Railways” is back, for a fourth series, starting in Yorkshire. As well as walking the former York to Hull route, Bell explains why the East Coast Main Line, as it now is, passes through York and not Leeds, although the latter is now more than four times larger. This situation, in which…
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So, has the case of “The Man in the Iron Mask” been solved at last? The 1998 film suggested that, in accordance with Voltaire’s theory (via Dumas), he was Louis XIV‘s unknown elder twin, imprisoned since birth – in the same way that James II had a twin, Alexander, who died after a few hours.…