battles
pilltown
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We already know that William, Lord Hastings, was one of several people arrested on the morning of 13 June for a conspiracy against the Duke of Gloucester, who was both Constable and Lord Protector. We know that Bishop Morton was among the others but that Hastings alone was executed, that the Constable had the right…
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I have been delving into the world of mediaeval and Tudor portraits, this time in search of Sir William Stanley, the louse who turned traitor on Richard III at Bosworth and cost him his throne, his realm and his life. Sir William’s eventual reward was to be beheaded by the very man he helped so…
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If you look at a map showing Lancastrian/Yorkist areas at the start of the war, there is a good degree of congruence with Royalist/Parliament division in the Civil War. Not complete, but fairly similar. The main difference is probably the Yorkist domination of the Welsh marches, which tended to be a bit Royalist in the…
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William Catesby, a Northamptonshire lawyer, was one of only three people executed in the aftermath of Bosworth, the others being a West Country father and son. From this and other circumstantial evidence, we are inexorably drawn to the conclusion that this happened because he was the only surviving layman who knew the details of Edward…
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“There was I, waiting at the church, Waiting at the church, waiting at the church; When I found he’d left me in the lurch. Lor, how it did upset me! All at once, he sent me round a note Here’s the very note, this is what he wrote: “Can’t get away to marry you today,…
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There’s quite an interesting (48-minute lecture) take on Henry VII at http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/magnificence-a-tale-of-two-henrys. The lecturer points out that when Henry arrived in Westminster after Bosworth, he was the first King of England who had no experience whatsoever of how an English court worked. The lecturer thinks he was reliant upon his mother and wife to guide…
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Another example: Someone wrote to suggest that Richard’s final charge at “Tudor”, in which he killed Mr. William Brandon (“Tudor”‘s standard bearer) and unhorsed Sir John Cheney, was a sign of cowardice. Never mind that thosee paid by the first two “Tudors” to lie about him admitted that the King died “fighting manfully” ….. “in…
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On this date in 1485, the last Plantagenet king of England died on Bosworth Field defending his crown from Henry Tudor. Today, thanks to archaeological investigations on the battlefield, we know whereabouts the combat took place and that at least one side (probably the king’s) deployed artillery. The question of exactly how Richard III came…
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Amid the wide-ranging (and often wildly raging) debates that have taken place since the unearthing of his remains in Leicester in September 2012, I have seen it suggested that Richard III may have been unable to wear armour on account of his severe scoliosis (curvature of the spine). I find this unlikely for several reasons.…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 