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There is no doubt that Margaret Plantagenet (if we may call her that) existed. She married Thomas Lumley (1462-1502) the son and heir of George, Lord Lumley (1445-1507). Though her name is given as ‘Elizabeth’ in some sources, contemporary documentation reveals that she was in fact ‘Margaret’. What is less certain is who her mother…
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Pedro I of Castile – an important ancestor of the House of York.
Alphonso XI, anti-Semitism, appearance, Battle of Nejara, Black Prince, Blanche of Bourbon, Constance of Castile, Cortes, Edmund of Langley, Edward III, Edward IV, Eleanor de Guzman, Enrique of Trastamara, executed women, incest, Isabel of Castile, John II, John of Gaunt, Maria de Padilla, Maria of Portugal, Mortimers, Nevilles, Pedro I, secret marriageKing Pedro I of Castile and Leon, known to some as ‘Pedro the Cruel’ and to others as ‘Pedro the Just’ was born in Burgos on 30 August 1334. His parents were Alphonso XI, King of Castile and Leon and Maria of Portugal, Alphonso’s queen and double cousin. Alphonso also had a mistress, Eleanor de…
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The murdered Lancastrian countess and the disappearing Yorkist ghost rider….
Blanche of Lancaster, british History Online, drowning, Edward II, Edward IV, executions, ghosts, Gloucestershire, Henry III, Henry of Grosmont, illegitimacy, Kempsford Castle, Lords Ordainers, Margaret of Anjou, Maud Chaworth, Owlpen Manor, Pontefract, possible canonisation, Prestbury, River Thames, Tewkesbury, Thomas Earl of LancasterGloucestershire doesn’t lack ghostly stories, not least about the Wars of the Roses with, for example, Margaret of Anjou prowling the rooms of Owlpen Manor and the phantom messenger, on his way through Prestbury to Edward IV at Tewkesbury in May 1471 when he was killed by an arrow. He still gallops through the village…
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Well, now I’ve read it all. Please look at the above map, into which you can zoom at here. Do you see the images of monarchs on the left (Lancaster) and on the right (York)? You’ll probably need to zoom at the Wikimedia link above to read the words atop the Lancastrian column. They…
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Molyneux? No, here come the Stanleys. Again….!
“Princes”, bailiffs, Cheshire, Chester Castle, croxteth country park, cuerdale, eagle and child, earls of Sefton, Flint Castle, henry chaderton, Ireland, John of Gaunt, Lancashire, Liverpool, Molineux, Ribble, Richard II, Richard III, richard molyneux, River Thames, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Sir thomas molyneux, Stanleys, Thomas Lord Stanley, WolverhamptonI have recently been looking into the turbulent life of Sir Thomas Molyneux of Cuerdale, whose hall by the River Ribble has featured in one of my articles. He was not a quiet soul, and had a terrible end at the Battle of Radcot Bridge in 1387 when surrendering to a Mortimer. The latter pulled…
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Medieval cooking is always a fascinating subject, and I don’t doubt that we’ve all seen the word “coffin/coffyn” applied to pastries and pies. Well yes, coffin is a coffin in the usual meaning, but it also seems a sensible enough word to use for a well-filled pie! What we call raised pies, e.g. pork pies…
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Henry VI….our most unfortunate king….?
“Tudor” propaganda, Catherine de Valois, Charles VI, Edmund “Tudor”, Edward IV, evidence, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Jasper “Tudor”, Lady Margaret Beaufort, madness, Owen Tudor, Philippa Langley, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Royal Marriage Secrets, Second Battle of St. Albans, Tewkesbury, Wars of the RosesWas Henry VI our most unfortunate king? Well, at only nine months he was certainly the youngest to come to the throne. And when he reached adulthood his mental state was frequently out of kilter. A little like his maternal grandfather, the French king Charles VI, known to posterity as Charles the Mad. Charles…
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The Queen of France’s necromancers….
“Tudor” propaganda, “Tudors”, disability, Duchy of Brittany, Edward III, France, Hundred Years War, jean de vignay, joan of penthevriere, joan the lame, John IV Duke of Brittany, Leicester dig, Mark Ormrod, melcombe, necromancy, philip vi, Richard III, Shakespeare, storms, Thomas More, treaty of malestroitSupporters of Richard III are always incensed that his reputation (courtesy of the Bard, the sainted Sir Thomas More and the House of Tudor) has always been damned because of his scoliosis. Well, the Bard and More embellished a curved back into much, much more. They turned him into a wicked hobgoblin! But in those…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 