anniversaries

Shiver me timbers, it’s Cap’n Columbus….!

Aug 2, 2020

anniversaries, travel

adventurers, Christopher Columbus, Henry Morgan, pirates, Trinidad

Ignorance of history prevails today, and nowhere more so than cable TV! I have just seen a fleeting image of Christopher Columbus, dressed in ostrich-feathered tricorn, flared and lavishly braided coat, knee breeches, white stockings and high-heeled buckled shoes. Oh, and with oodles of lace spilling from his huge decorated cuffs. He looked soooooo 1492,…
The history and meaning of Lammastide….

Aug 1, 2020

anniversaries, religion

Harvest Festival, Lammas, St. Peter ad Vincula

Something I had not really realised is that Lammastide is peculiar to England and Ireland. In Europe (and for many in this country) August 1st is the Feast of St Peter ad Vincula (St Peter in Chains). Lammas was an Anglo-Saxon harvest festival. But did it pre-date Christianity? “…Despite its possible pre-Christian origins, the name…
Richard III versus James I of Scotland….?

Jul 25, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, religion, Science

Bosworth, James I, Joan “Beaufort”, Leicester, Margaret “Tudor”, Perth, Richard III

The following extract is from this article in the Daily Record :- “….Fortuitously for us, Henry VII killed Richard III (the king in the car park) who was discovered in Leicester. A nice piece of synergy, and the basis for a much bigger story of Scottish royal political dominance in Great Britain….” Well, it might…
To be Bl(o)unt …

Jul 23, 2020

anniversaries, culture, genealogy

American branch, army service, Barons Mountjoy, Bessie Blount, Blount baronets, Boer War, British Army, death in service, Dukes of Richmond, First World War, Henry VIII, illegitimacy, James Blunt, Lady Mary Howard, RAF, Second World War, St. Michael’s Church Framlingham, Vikings

Most people are aware that James Blunt’s real surname is Blount. This is an influential name in late mediaeval, “Tudor” and Stuart times. Bessie Blount was another mistress of Henry VIII and bore him Henry Duke of Richmond, who married Lady Mary Howard but died without issue, to be buried at Framlingham. Walter Blount, who…
The Mayflower

Jul 22, 2020

anniversaries, art, religion, travel

Bartholomew Gosnold, Boston, Cape Cod, Captain Reynolds, Christopher Jones, Coggeshall, Delftshaven, Harwich, James VI/I, Leiden, Lieden Communion, Liverpool, Mayflower, Plymouth, Puritans, Rotherhithe, settlers, ships, Sir Francis Drake, Southampton, Speedwell, USA, William Bradford, William Halsall

Below is William Halsall’s 1882 portrait of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. It is obviously imagined as the original ship was almost certainly broken up at Rotherhithe in 1624, a more extreme case than the “Streatham portrait“, which post-dates it’s purported subject’s death by about forty years. From the spelling of the title, the background…
“Braveheart” at Falkirk – a great spectacle?

Jul 21, 2020

anniversaries, battles, culture, Science, sources

anachronisms, Battle of Falkirk, Braveheart, Edward Duke of Kent, Edward I, Franciscans, Friar Tuck, George III, German accent, Giordano da Pisa, Italy, John, Mel Gibson, Professor Jane Ridley, Richard I, Robin Hood, Scotland, Sir William wallace, spectacles, Victoria

The Battle of Falkirk was fought on 22 July 1298. The English army, co-commanded by the Earl of Norfolk, defeated the Scots, led by Sir William Wallace, who resigned as Guardian of the Realm shortly afterwards. This setback for Wallace, following victory at Stirling Bridge the previous year, where Sir Andrew Moray was mortally wounded,…
Joan of Arc or Boudicca? Boudicca every time for me, I fear….

Jul 17, 2020

anniversaries, battles, law, religion

Charles VII, coronations, executions, France, Gilles de Rais, Henry VI, heresy, Iceni, insanity, Jean II Count of Luxembourg, Jeanne d’Arc, John Duke of Bedford, Roman Empire, siege of Rouen, Watling Street

Joan of Arc means a great deal to France, but I’m afraid I have never really cottoned on to her. Perhaps because I’m a little uncomfortable when it comes to people who “hear voices”. Not that I’m saying she deserved her horrible death. Far from it. No one deserves that. But when it comes to…
What really happened in 1385, when the Earl of Stafford’s son and heir was killed on a Yorkshire road…?

Jul 16, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, religion, sources, travel

Beverley Minster, Bishopsthorpe, Bustardthorpe, Catton, Derwent, disputes, Dukes of Exeter, Earl of Huntingdon, Earls of Stafford, English Place Name Society, executions, Henry IV, Jehan de Wavrin, John Holland, John of Gaunt, jousting, Ouse, Pleshey Castle, Ralph Stafford, Richard II, sanctuary, Scotland, Thomas of woodstock, Yorkshire

On Sunday, 16th July 1385 (maybe 18th) there was an incident at Bustardthorpe, which is south of York on the road to Bishopthorpe, where King Richard II was staying at the (arch)bishop’s palace. A large portion of his army and nobles were encamped close by because the English were en route for Scotland, intending to…
The black widow that bit herself

Jul 10, 2020

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, law, religion

Affinity, bigamy, consanguinity, denialists, dispensations, Edward I, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, John Ashdown-Hill, John Duke of Bedford, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John of Gaunt, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Latrodecta, Maud Neville, mediaeval canon law, Northampton, pre-contract, Ricardian Loons, step-parents

Since John Ashdown-Hill’s iconic Eleanor was published eleven years ago, we have seen some desperate attempts to contradict his proven conclusion that Lady Eleanor Talbot contracted a valid marriage to Edward IV before his contract to Elizabeth Widville and many such attempts have rebounded on the denialist in question. Now a troll naming herself Latrodecta…
Collingbourne’s nice little pad in Wiltshire….

Jul 9, 2020

anniversaries, buildings

Bradfield Manor, Edward IV, executions, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry VII, rebellions, Richard III, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Wales Online, Welsh Assembly, William Catesby, William Colyngbourne, Wiltshire

I came upon this article, in Wales Online, not because of the gross over-claiming of expenses by certain members of the Welsh Assembly, but because one member of said Assembly happens to live in a beautiful and historic Wiltshire manor house. Toward the end of the article you’ll find the following: “….The historic building…