anniversaries
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What really happened in 1385, when the Earl of Stafford’s son and heir was killed on a Yorkshire road…?
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, YorkshireOn 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…
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The black widow that bit herself
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-parentsSince 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…
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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…
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Well, I associate Edward I with many things, but not children’s nursery rhymes. I can imagine him being used to frighten them witless, but not to sing and chant with humour. Anyway, according to this site two of our oldest rhymes are due to old Longshanks. I find it hard to believe the Dr…
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(by Annette Carson) The Ampulla and Coronation Spoon Perhaps because they are not immediately recognizable as such, these are the oldest items in the coronation regalia and the only two that escaped the systematic destruction of royal regalia and crown jewels after the execution of Charles I. The holy oil (chrism) is poured from the…
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Archbishop Octavian and the Simnel Plot
“Lambert Simnel”, Annales, Archbishop Octavian, benefit of clergy, Chancellor of Ireland, Dalkey, denialists, Dublin, Earl of Kildare, Earl of Ormond, Edward of Warwick, Edward V, forgery, Fowey, Henry VII, Innocent VIII, Ireland, James Gairdner, James Ussher, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Lincoln, John Morton, Kenilworth Castle, Lambeth Palace, Latin, letters, Mario Sughi, Matthew Lewis, More, Old St. Paul’s, pardons, Richard Fox, Robert Ware, Rymer, Simnel rebellion, Sir James Tyrrell, Sir James Ware, Sir Richard Edgecumbe, The Dublin King, University College Cork, Walter Harris, Wendy Moorhen, William or Richard SymondesA couple of months ago, this post attracted a reply from an individual who has commented before. He was responding to the suggestion that the boy crowned in at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin (see illustration opposite) may actually have been Edward V rather than an earl of Warwick (false or otherwise). Whilst he is…
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… but this lady in her thirties died far more recently near Norwich Cathedral …
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While reading Terry Jones‘s Who Killed Chaucer? I came upon a truly astonishing sentence. So astonishing that I have to share it with you. “…Henry VII, mysteriously, paid half a mark to a friend for eating coal…” Well, I find that hard to believe. No, no, not the bit about the coal – the fact…
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This article is from 2015, but I’ve only just seen it. Amazingly, Richard III doesn’t even get a mention among the “worst kings in history”! So, either the list compiler slipped up, or they’ve finally realised he was one of the good guys! Oh, and no question who took first place! Rightly so.
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A caricature is putting the face of a joke on the body of a truth–Joseph Conrad If Joseph Conrad was correct (and I believe he was), whatever could someone in the late 15th c have been trying to tell us about Henry VII in this amusing manuscript doodle? Especially as it came from the Archbishop’s…
