art
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One of Salisbury‘s claims to fame is that it was the place of execution of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, infamous rebel and possible killer of one or both ‘princes in the Tower‘ (that’s if they were killed at all.) According to legend he was held at the Blue Boar Inn/Saracen’s Head and executed in…
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While ambling around in the hope of finding a 14th century map of Europe, I happened upon this site It’s interesting, and includes an anecdote (modern) of the ruse used by a US cartographer of adding fake towns to his maps, to catch out forgers. Someone wasn’t caught out by this, he was actually…
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We all love heraldry, so here is a very colourful illustration by the renowned heraldic artist, Dan Escott. It shows the banners at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. The caption for the work is: “As you can see it is rather stylised but it shows very clearly the use of Heraldry for identification for…
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“….Polydore Vergil was one of the first to record the appearance of the king [Henry VII]: “His body was slender but strong and solid, a little above average in height. His appearance was handsome, particularly when his expression was happy in conversation. He had blue eyes, few teeth, and sparse hair. His intellect was great and clever, and…
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The first thing to notice about this is that is an embroidery not a tapestry, although the “Bayeux Tapestry” is also an embroidery ie hand-stitched. It was constructed to mark the millennium of the 991 Battle of Maldon, at which Vikings, possibly under Olaf Tryggvason, defeated and killed the Saxon Earldorman Brythnoth. It is displayed…
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We’re accustomed to reading about Henry VIII’s six wives, but his mistresses aren’t quite as well known. This article (by Amy Licence) is all about these ladies—at least, about the ones of whom we’re aware. I suspect that Henry was a man of huge appetites and that his little black book was much scribbled…
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James Butler, the sculptor who created the matchless statue of Richard III outside Leicester Cathedral, has died aged 90. RIP, and thank you for a work that is inspirational to all Ricardians. . You can read his obituary here. A quick search online will reveal many more such acknowledgements of the man who was,…
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“….Repair and restoration work being carried out at Calverley Old Hall in Yorkshire has led to the stunning discovery of an entire room covered in Tudor paintings from floor to ceiling….” Thank goodness past generations opted for covering original walls instead of obliterating them altogether. Because of this, we now have the above new discovery…
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Some people create just for fun, others to have fun AND to inform. Suffolk modelmaker Colin Patten plans to do both in a large-scale model of the entire town of Ipswich in late medieval times, before the abbeys and priories were swept away in the Reformation. Mr Patten has already done a similar model of…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 