anniversaries
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The myth of the “Princes in the Tower” is about to be turned into an opera. I notice too that their disappearance is immediately described as “one of history’s most notorious unsolved crimes”. What crime? No one knows if there ever was one, let alone that poor old Richard was responsible. It has always…
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Ricardians often bemoan the repeated myths about Richard’s wickedness and cruelty. And with good reason. In spite of the fact that he did what he could to better the lot of women, he is accused of bullying the poor old (treacherous) Countess of Oxford because she happened to be financing her Lancastrian son who was…
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Salisbury Grey Friars has all but disappeared from the archaeological record. Founded in 1225-8 , it was never a very large house, situated near the still impressive medieval St Ann’s Gate leading into Salisbury’s Cathedral Close. At the reformation, Grey Friars was destroyed and any extant buildings and stonework sold off and re-used (several…
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Well, I have always regarded those awful pointed shoes of the 14th to 16th centuries as a rather daft fashion fad, and to be avoided if you had to go up stairs because you’d have to accomplish the ascent sideways, like a crab. But it seems this footwear was much more than that! In fact…
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In my internet exertions trying to trace the origin of and more details about a certain Joan Bramshott, daughter of Sir Roger Bramshott and widow of Sir John Shardelowe of Fulbourn in Cambridge, I learned her family originated from Bramshott in Hampshire. This site popped up. The most haunted village? Well, I won’t argue, becuse…
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You can take your pick of our medieval monarchs at this site ! Although I’m sure Henry Tiddler wouldn’t appreciate being included as Medieval. He was Renaissance, indeed, he started that whole shebang – ask any Tudorite!
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15th C fashion could be quite dramatic…and sometimes, to our modern eyes, a bit ridiculous. Nothing more so than the infamous Poulaine shoes, with their excessively long pointed toes that looked as if they were dangerous to walk in (the nearest we had to them in modern times were the Winklepicker shoes worn by Teddy…
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“….AN initiative to find the bones of Alfred the Great in the Hyde suburb of Winchester, sponsored more than 20 years ago by the City Council, has had a surprising outcome. This is the launch of a series of whodunnits in settings that many readers will find easy to imagine. “….The first title, Charter…
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When I watched the movie The King about Henry V of England, I was bemused by the mud bath that was Agincourt. It seems this one aspect of the movie’s depiction was accurate, even if liberties had been taken with much of the rest of the film. Which I enjoyed very much, albeit taking…
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On Sunday, 25th October 1383, Thomas Arundel, Bishop of Ely (soon to be Archbishop of York and then Archbishop of Canterbury), breakfasted at Kamelot. Oh yes, indeed. I learned of this on page 199 of Thomas Arundel, the biography by Margaret Aston, which I quote: “….This letter, like another of 24th October concerning an exchange,…
