art

The day I met John Ashdown-Hill and he showed me Richard’s funeral crown….

Oct 3, 2023

archaeology, art, buildings, genealogy, religion, Science

Clare Priory, crown, George Duke of Clarence, John Ashdown-Hill, Leicester cathedral, Richard III reburial, Tewkesbury Abbey

Was it really spring 2014 when the crown that John Ashdown-Hill had made for Richard III’s reinterment was put on display at Tewkesbury Abbey? All of nine years ago! Like many others I went to see it and happened to enter the abbey at a time when there was a lull in the arrivals. I…
Royal Autopsy, a documentary series dealing with the recreated post-mortems of Charles II and Elizabeth I….

Sep 7, 2023

anniversaries, art, Science, television reviews

Alice Roberts, autopsies, Bethlem, Bezoar, blood letting, Brett Lockyer, bronchopneumonia, Charles II, Chelsea Physic Garden, clocks, Edmund King, Elizabeth I, emetics, executions, four humours, hair analysis, Hartshorn, Henry VII, James VI/I, John Dee, Jonathan Goddard, malaria, Mary Stuart, microscope, Nell Jones, parotitis, Rainbow Portrait, renaissance, Richmond Palace, Robert Cecil, Royal Autopsy, Royal Society, scars, sepsis, Sir Charles Scarburgh, Sky History, smallpox, Spanish fly, stroke, succession, sugar, syphilis, teeth, toxicology, Wellcome Collection, white lead

I confess to having doubts about watching this two-part series on the Sky History channel because I envisaged CGI overkill with odious (but hopefully by then dead) parasites etc., and so I started viewing with the firm intention of stopping the moment it became too horribly wriggly and gory. No wriggles, but the gory…
It’s up in Nanny’s room behind the wallpaper….

Aug 11, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings

English Civil War, Micklegate, murals, sayings, siege of Sheffield, wallpaper, York

I imagine that quite a few of those reading this will remember the old saying quoted in the title above. It was what I was always told when I’d mislaid something and asked if my mother, father, grandmother etc. knew where it was. Needless to say, finding something exciting behind the wallpaper has never been…
Thomas Cromwell’s Book of Hours recognised….!

Jul 28, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, Events, law, religion

Anne Boleyn, Book of Hours, Catherine of Aragon, executions, exhibitions, Hans Holbein, Hever Castle, Kent, technology, Thomas Cromwell, Trinity College, Wren Digital Library

The news has broken that the Book of Hours belonging to Thomas Cromwell is here which appears in the Holbein portrait above, has been recognised (by Hever Castle curator, Alison Palmer) as the Hardouyn Hours, held today at Trinity College, Cambridge. You can view the Hardouyn Hours page by page at the Wren Digital…
Miniature mediaeval monarchs – and their consorts

Jul 12, 2023

anniversaries, art, law, religion, travel

Angelique Miniatures, Anne Neville, Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth of York, Exeter, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Honiton, miniatures, Plymouth, Princess of Aragon, Richard III, The Legendary Ten Seconds, You Tube

A few months ago, I listened to a very interesting talk that was given by a lady who makes porcelain miniature dolls. I was particularly interested to see that she had brought along her miniatures of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York and later discovered that the picture on the back of her business card…
Melrose Abbey, Abbotsford….and Young Lochinvar….

Jul 11, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, religion

Abbotsford, Borders towns, Country Life, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Henry VIII, John Knox, Llanthony Secunda, Lochinvar, Melrose Abbey, Richard II, Sir Walter Scott, Tintern Abbey, verse

There are some abbey ruins that are as beautiful for the matchless countryside they are set in as for their own splendour. My personal favourite is Llanthony Priory in the Black Mountains, but Melrose Abbey (where Robert the Bruce’s heart was buried) on the River Tweed is actually my third favourite. My close second…
CROWN IN EXILE: A NOVEL OF RICHARD AND EDWARD IN BURGUNDY

Jun 27, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, travel

“Beauforts”, Anthony Wydville, Barnet, Belgium, Bruges, Burgundy, Charles the Bold, Crown in Exile, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, exile, George Duke of Clarence, Gruuthuse, Henry IV, Jehan de Wavrin, John Ashdown-Hill, King’s Lynn, Lord Hendrik van Borselen, Louis de Groothouse, Louis XI, Margaret of Burgundy, museums, Netherlands, novels, Princes of Wales, publishing, Ravenspur, Readeption, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, William Caxton, William Lord Hastings, York

A part of Richard III’s life often overlooked in fiction is the brief time he spent in exile with his brother, Edward IV, from October 1470 to March 1471. Usually, this event is a mere footnote in most novels, no doubt because it might be seen as ‘slowing down the action’ and also…
Richard III – in Rochdale Town Hall

Jun 26, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

churches, Edward V, Manchester, Oliver Cromwell, Richard III, Rochdale Town Hall, Three Estates, travel, virtual tours, William I, William IV

This link leads to a photo of Richard III as depicted in stained glass in Rochdale Town Hall. The boy with him is Edward V. Richard and Edward are by no means the only English/British monarchs honoured in this way. The series runs from William the Conqueror to William IV, with Oliver Cromwell thrown in…
Dear Catherine …,

Jun 25, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, heraldry, law, religion

“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, annulments, Arthur “Tudor”, bigamy, British Museum, Catherine of Aragon, executions, Henry VIII, jewellery, Julius II, Leviticus 18:16, marriages, Mary I, metal detecting, non-consummation, pendants, popes, Warwickshire

… Here is a little something to thank you for being married to me for so long because you definitely weren’t married to my brother, as the Pope confirmed. Sorry, for not being validly married to me because you were really married to my brother, as I decided, despite you giving birth to my first…
Found: The state bed of Charles II….

Jun 20, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, genealogy

auctions, beds, Ceredigion, Charles II, Chester, coronations, Dukes of Grafton, Earls of Liverpool, Edward Fitzroy, Elizabeth of York, fire, George IV, Henry VII, Prime Ministers, Second World War, Speaker’s House, Speakers of the Commons, Wales

When I saw a headline about a family who bought a king’s bed, my first thought was of the marriage bed of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which was found at auction in 2010 in Chester. But no, this is a different bed, and only dates back to Charles II. Nor is it a…