anniversaries
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CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL AND THE ROYAL WINDOW
Canterbury Cathedral, Catherine of York, Cicely Plantagenet, Edward IV, Edward the Black Prince, Edward V, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Wydeville, John Ashdown-Hill, John Morton, Luton Guild Book, Mary of York, Puritans, Richard Culmer, Richard of Shrewsbury, royal mistresses, Royal Windows, stained glass, Thomas Becket, William NeveEdward IV and Elizabeth Wydeville. Original 15th century stained glass panels. Royal Window North West Transept Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral, of all the cathedrals I have managed to visit, remains firmly on my ‘favourites’ list. I lived there for a while many years ago, having been entranced by the city and cathedral on…
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Eleanor the Crusader
Anjou, annulments, Antioch, Aquitaine, books, Byzantine Empire, consanguinity, Constantinople, Damascus, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eugenius III, France, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Henry II, Jerusalem, John, Louis VII, Matt Lewis, Normandy, Plantagenets, Power of a Woman, Raymond of Poitiers, Richard I, Robert S.P. Fripp, Second Crusade, TurksMy next book – due for release in October, all being well – is about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. They were one of Europe’s most fabulous power couples, ruling lands that spread from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. Eleanor was nine years Henry’s senior. When they married in 1152, he was a…
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Well now, are we to believe the horrific tale related at Medievalists.net? Or should we regard it as yet another malicious work of imagination from Thomas Walsingham. Let’s face it, Walsingham was venomous and untruthful to a fault. The nastiest type of tale-teller. Which leaves me disinclined to believe that Sir John Arundel was guilty…
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Right, so has Nero been as hard-done-by through history as our Richard III? After first pointing out that Richard was lied about and denounced by his enemies and killers, and that he still has supporters even now, this article certainly wonders about Nero’s legacy. It’s said that Nero’s ambitious mother manipulated him on to the…
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Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York
“Perkin”, Anne Mowbray, Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, Dukes of Norfolk, Dukes of York, Earl of Nottingham, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Garden Tower, illegitimacy, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, Ludlow Castle, Mowbray estates, Polydore Vergil, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Robert Stillington, royal marriages, Shrewsbury, Thomas Cardinal Bourchier, Thomas More, Three Estates, William Lord BerkeleyRichard Shrewsbury Duke of York was the second son of King Edward IV. We don’t know a lot about him because he was not the heir to the throne but notwithstanding this, he is one of the most investigated historical characters being him one of the well known “Princes” in the Tower. We have not…
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Fifteen miles downstream of Exeter, Powderham Castle faces over the estuary of the River Exe, having originally risen “from the ashes of the Great Plague, but that wouldn’t be its last brush with adversity”. At the beginning it was a true castle, set in 50,000 acres. Alas, after weathering wars, sieges and other troubles, it has…
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THE THREE HUNDRED YEARS WAR – PART 3 : the dogs of war
Anne Curry, archers, Armagnacs, Azincourt, Burgundians, Charles V, Charles VI, Charles VII, Crecy, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, G.L.Harriss, Genoa, Harfleur, Henry IV, Henry V, Humphrey of Gloucester, Ian Mortimer, James Gairdner, Jean II, John Duke of Bedford, Jonathan Sumption, Orleanists, Poitiers, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Rouen, Sigismund, St. crispin, Thomas of Clarence, Treaty of Bourges, Treaty of Bretigny, Treaty of Canterbury, Treaty of Troyes, ValoisPreface This is the third of three articles charting the course of continual Anglo-French conflict from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. The first, covered the rise and fall of the Angevin Empire, and the Treaty of Paris (1259). The second, continued my narrative from the accession of Edward I until the Treaty of Bretigny…
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Was Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, an “anti-royalist”? Surely being anti-Edward II and his favourites wasn’t the same thing as being anti-royalist in general? “….There she [Queen Isabella] openly took a lover, the English baron and anti-royalist Roger Mortimer (1287-1330 CE)….” The above extract is from this site and gave me pause for thought.…
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As we approach the holidays, I am flipping through at least fifty English cookbooks to get the lowdown on Simnel Cake. I know that it has long been associated with both Mothering Sunday (similar to North America’s Mother’s Day) and the Easter season. Nevertheless, it is a relatively simple fruitcake, covered in the usual marzipan…
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