anniversaries
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What was the lifestyle of medieval monks in Britain? What went on in those wondrous abbeys that ruled their neighbourhoods, often with fists of iron? They had some harsh rules, not least that the people they lorded it over had to pay exorbitant sums to have their grain milled by the abbey. Woe betide…
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An article about the end of stamp duty on some properties, included a smaller column from which I’ve taken the following: “….A six-bedroom family home [in Stanford-in-the-Vale] linked to Richard III sold for £2.65million after spending just three weeks on the market….[it] was once owned by Anne Neville, who was Queen Consort to Richard III….”…
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On this day in 1376, “the strenuous and warlike Prince departed to God. He died on Trinity Sunday, during the Great Parliament, and may God protect him, for he was the very flower of chivalry, without peer in this world.” — from the personal tribute to the Prince by military surgeon John Arderne* Our current…
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Not our period, but Amy Robsart’s is a story that has always fascinated me. Did she fall, or was she pushed…? I think we all have our theories. I believe Dudley was behind it and shot himself in the foot, so to speak, because Elizabeth took fright. She already knew she was playing with…
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A few days ago I had a need to describe a medieval ferry in my work-in-progress, albeit as a background, scenic item. I realised I had no idea how they were propelled, or even what they looked like. The answer seems to be rather like this one at Evesham. The vessel itself is rather like…
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Could someone tell me how a document from 1773 could be signed by “King Richard III of Great Britain”? I rather think it’s a goof for George III. Richard didn’t know about Great Britain (George III had England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales—oh, and Hanover, Richard didn’t have Scotland or Hanover, but claimed France), So…
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Lordy, the theories about the Great Pyramid continue to multiply. I suppose it just won’t do to think maybe its position “in the centre of the earth” is purely accidental? Oh, hush, Sandra! Wash your mouth out. I recently saw a long TV documentary that theorised the pyramid was actually an immense water pump. Anyway,…
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“….MPs wishing to quit can apply to be ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds’ or ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead’. Neither job has existed for centuries but the ‘jobs’ still exist as a workaround to the law of 1624….” Well, I’d heard of the Chiltern Hundreds, but have to…
