The New Murrey and Blue blog

anniversaries

Another one (denialists’ myth) bites the dust

Nov 25, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, law, religion

Anne of Brittany, Barrie Williams, Bermondsey Abbey, Charles VIII, denialists, dispensations, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Wydeville, evidence, Henry VII, James Bishop of Imola, Joao II, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lewis Caerleon, Louis XI, Manuel Duke of Beja, Margaret of Austria, Portugal, Portuguese marriage plans, proctors, promise to marry, R.S. Thomas, Ralph Griffiths, Rennes Cathedral, Ricardian, royal marriages, testimony, The Pink Queen, Thomas Cardinal Bourchier, Thomas Lord Stanley, Titulus Regius, Westminster Abbey

Another subject that Cairo dwellers frequently pontificate about is Henry “Tudor”‘s marriage to Elizabeth of York. We do know that he promised, on Christmas Day in 1483 at Rennes Cathedral, to wed her and we know that he obtained a dispensation for the purpose. The denialists claim that this shows her and her mother’s knowledge…
Leslau, Holbein, More and Clement

Nov 23, 2020

anniversaries, art, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, Science

“Princes”, Dr. John Clement, Duchy of Lancaster, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Erasmus, esses, Fleet prison, fleuur-de-lys, flowers, Germany, Hans Holbein, Henry Patterson, Henry VIII, infrared photography, Jack Leslau, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, John Fisher, John Harris, jousting, Latin, Louvain, Matt Lewis, Mechelen, peonies, Pilgrimage of Grace, rebus, Richard III, Rowlandas Lockey, royal arms, Seneca, Sir Anthony Wingfield, Sir Edward Guildford, The Family of Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Thomas Wolsey, Tower of London, Utopia, William Cecil

Before I begin, I have two words of warning. The first is that a huge spoiler for my novels Loyalty and the sequel Honour unavoidably follows. Just so that you know! Secondly, the following is my telling of the theory researched and expounded by Jack Leslau, an amateur art enthusiast who believed that he stumbled…
Bamburgh Castle Roundhouse Excavation

Nov 22, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, religion

Bamburgh Castle, hill forts, Richard of Warwick, roundhouses, Saxon castles, Sir Lancelot, St. Aidan, St. Oswald, Wars of the Roses, William II

Bamburgh Castle is a site with a long, frequently dramatic history. A wooden Saxon fortress built by Ida the Flame-bearer, a place frequented by saints such as Oswald and Aidan, a seemingly impregnable fortress attacked by William Rufus with his siege castle ‘Evil Neighbour’, and the first English castle to fall to cannon-fire, when Warwick…
St Edmund, patron saint of pandemics….

Nov 20, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anglo-Saxons, Bury St. Edmunds, Charles Dickens, coaching inns, Greene King, King of East Anglia, Mary “Tudor”, Moyse’s Hall Museum, pandemics, Red Barn Murder, St. Edmund, St. Edmund’s cathedral, St. Mary’s Bury St. Edmunds, tennis court, The Angel, Vikings, William Corder

And now we have a search for St Edmund, one of England’s early patron saints. As pandemics were one of his concerns, I certainly trust they find him. We could do with his services at the moment! Here’s hoping he’s located. To read more, go here.
Richard wasn’t the only monarch whose remains have been handled….

Nov 19, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Boleyn, Catherine de Valois, Charles I, Edward I, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, executions, Exhumation, Henry VII Lady Chapel, John, King’s Langley, Leicester cathedral, Richard II, Richard III, royal burials, St. Edward the Confessor, St. george’s Chapel, St. Peter ad Vincula, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Worcester Cathedral

The discovery of Richard’s remains caused a furore, and rightly so, but he wasn’t the only past monarch to have his/her remains, um, pawed about by later generations. This link takes you to an interesting article about ten other kings and queens of England who’ve been gawped upon—sorry, gazed upon—in their last resting place. Not…
The Earliest Roots of the Wars of the Roses: Edward II and Thomas of Lancaster?

Nov 16, 2020

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Bannockburn. Boroughbridge, Blanche of Lancaster, Boniface IX, canonisation, Chris Given-Wilson, cults, Despencers, Dukes of Lancaster, earls, Edmund of Langley, Edward II, executions, Henry IV, Henry of Lancaster, Ireland, John of Gaunt, miracles, Piers Gaveston, Pontefract Castle, popes, Richard II, Shrewsbury Parliament, Thomas Despenser, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, Thomas of Lancaster, Waltheof, Wars of the Roses

It may seem bizarre to go back to the reign of Edward II (reigned 1307-27) when talking about the Wars of the Roses, but bear with me. Edward and his cousin, Thomas Earl of Lancaster, got on together quite well in the early years of Edward’s reign. Gradually, though, a feud between them grew…
A highlight from the quincentenary …

Nov 15, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, art, Events, genealogy, law, religion, Science, sources, television reviews

“Princes”, “Tudor” “sources”, AJ Pollard, Anne Sutton, Annette Carson, Barrie Williams, bastardy, bigamy, Channel Four, David Starkey, Domenico Mancini, executions, Jane, Jeremy Potter, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Elwyn-Jones, Pamela Tudor-Craig, Polydore Vergil, pre-contract, proclamation, Ralph Butler Baron Sudeley, Richard Duke of Gloucester, Sir James Tyrrell, teeth, The Trial of King Richard the Third, Thomas Dighton, Thomas More, Wydeville plot, YouTube

… of Richard’s accession was Channel Four’s 1984 “The Trial Of King Richard The Third”, presided over by Lord Elwyn-Jones. A YouTube poster has sliced it into 22 segments so enjoy the show, particularly part ten, in which a young Starkey implodes. Pollard and Lady Wedgwood (Pamela Tudor-Craig) also feature, as do Anne Sutton and…
Prince Charles ‘poised to solve 550-year-old royal mystery’ on throne….

Nov 14, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, genealogy, law, religion, Science, The play’s the thing

“Princes”, “Tudor” propaganda, Charles Prince of Wales, Matthew Lewis, Richard III. More, Shakespeare, Westminster Abbey

Well, while it seems the Queen wants awkward bones to be left tucked up in their urn in Westminster Abbey, Prince Charles is more curious about the whole “Princes in the Tower” mystery. Maybe he’ll even probe enough to reveal the truth at last. I do hope so! To read more, go to This Express…
The death mask of Edward III….

Nov 13, 2020

anniversaries, art, heraldry

Edward III, Isabelle de France, Roger Mortimer, royal tombs, Sheen

King Edward III of England reigned for fifty years. He was born on 13 November 1312, at Windsor, became a great and successful warrior king, and died at Sheen, a shadow of his former self on 21 June 1377. His decline was sad, because he’d been a truly able and shrewd monarch who’d steadied the…
THE MYSTERIOUS BRISTOL CROSS

Nov 12, 2020

anniversaries, art, sources

Bristol, Bristol High Cross, Charles I, Edward I, Edward III, Edward IV, Elizabeth I, Henry III, Henry VI, James VI/I, John, M.J.H. Liversidge, statues, Stourhead

In the back of the beautiful Stourhead gardens stands a mysterious piece of old Bristol–the Bristol High Cross. When you first see it, you almost think it might be a modern folly, but it is the ‘real thing’, a medieval cross. In the 1700’s such relics of the past were considered old-fashioned and valueless; in…