battles
pilltown
-
A few years ago, we showed that Robert Catesby, directly descended from Sir William Catesby, sought to kill James VI/I, a descendant of Henry VII, by gunpowder 120 years after Henry had Sir William hanged after Bosworth.This second case, of which I was reminded in Kathryn Warner‘s The Despensers, doesn’t involve direct ancestry on both…
-
Pontefract Castle was, in its day, the Windsor of the North. Large and seemingly impregnable , it had two massive tapering towers that rose up to over a hundred feet high, a landmark visible from miles away. It was the scene of many historical events–in 1322 Edward II executed his cousin, Thomas of Lancaster here,…
-
In the teeth of the evidence
age, Anne Mortimer, battle injuries, Battle of Bosworth, Cecily Neville, combination of evidence, denialists, Dominic Selwood, Dukes of Beaufort, era, height, House of York, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Looking for Richard Project, Michael Hicks, Michael Ibsen, mtDNA evidence, Plantagenets, Richard III, scoliosis, Wendy DuldigHere, a little-known television journalist-historian named Dominic Selwood disputes the identity of Richard III’s remains, despite the mtDNA match with collateral descendants in Canada and Australia, their height, age of death, era of death, scoliosis, battle injuries, region of origin and the location of his original burial at the choir of the Greyfriars. In fact…
-
SIR THOMAS BURGH c.1430-1496 AND GAINSBOROUGH OLD HALL
Bolingbroke Caastle, Carlisle Castle, Catherine Howard, churches, Edward IV, Elizabeth Percy, esquire of the king’s body, executions, Gainsborough All Saints, Gainsborough Hall, ghosts, Henry VI, Henry VIII, John Crackenthorpe, Leyland, Lincoln Castle, Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire rebellion, Lord Roos, Losecoat Field, Readeption, Richard III, Richard Lord Welles, Robert Welles, Rosemary Horrox, Sir Thomas Burgh, Sir Thomas Dimmock, Sir Thomas Launde, Warkworth’s ChronicleReblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com Gainsborough Old Hall. Photo thanks to Graham Oxford Photography Street. Sir Thomas Burgh was the builder of Gainsborough Hall, as seen today, after inheriting the original building in 1455 on the death of his mother Elizabeth Percy, when he was 24 years old. The building and enhancement, which took…
-
My devotion to watching TV documentaries often turns up odd bits and pieces. This time the culprit is “Curse of the Vampire” from Mythical Beasts, series 1, episode 3, shown on Sky History 2. As you might expect, the theme was the strong medieval belief that the dead could return to torment the living as…
-
I have to say that Greasley isn’t a castle that comes easily to mind, even though a former occupant fought for Richard III at Bosworth. It’s in Nottinghamshire, dates to the 14th century, and was larger and more opulent than Haddon Hall, which I do know, of course. A certain Nicholas de Cantilupe built…
-
In 2011/2012 a hoard of medieval artefacts was discovered down a well at the remains of castle of Caherduggan, near Doneraile, Co Cork. It included a complete peytrel/peytral/poitrel for a horse, which names derive from pectoral. Peytrels were worn around the horse’s chest, and although I’d never heard the name before, I recognised what it…
-
We all know the story of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford/de Roët. It was a wonderful, passionate love affair that ended with Gaunt, a prince of the realm, making the relatively lowly Katherine his third duchess. Yes, a great romance, and it was fact, not fiction. However, historically speaking, both of them had…
-
Recently I went on a little jaunt to visit some fine Welsh Castles. One of those happened to be Carew in Pembrokshire, an impressive limestone fortress overlooking Carew inlet, which is part of the Milford Haven Waterway. Built by the Norman Gerald of Windsor, the site stands on the lands of his wife, the…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 