battles
pilltown
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“….Many of Britain’s most important conflicts were fought on what are now quiet stretches of countryside. Here is our guide on the best historic battle sites to visit in the UK, with a brief look at the history of each bloody battle….” To read more and see the list, go to this website
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In 2003, a Saxon burial in an intact burial chamber was unearthed between an Aldi shop and a pub in Southend. Clearly an important person, almost certainly royalty, the items in the grave make it the earliest Christian royal burial in England. Now, 16 years on, with conservation and studies complete, many of the items…
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THE STRANGE LEGEND OF USK CASTLE
Azincourt, Bannockburn, birthplaces, Cecily Duchess of York, Dafydd Gam, Edmund Mortimer, Edward I, Edward IV, Fotheringhay, Gilbert de Clare, Gwent, Henry IV, Iorweth ap Owain, Iron Age, isotope analysis, Joan of Acre, Leicester dig, Ludlow Castle, Mortimers, Owain Glyn Dwr, Pwll Melyn, Richard de Clare, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Rouen, Stone of Revenge, teeth, Tristram FitzRolf, Usk Castle, Wales, William Herbert, William I, William MarshallIn a tiny town in Wales, a ruined castle stands on rising ground amidst a haze of dark trees. An atmospheric round tower, cracked by time; shattered walls, the remains of hall and chapel. Privately owned, a garden drops down the hillside before it, to an old house which appears to contain much castle stonework.…
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English Medieval Monasteries 1066-1540 by Roy Midmer states that a foundation of Cluniac nuns was founded at Fotheringhay by Simon de St. Litz (aka Simon de Senlis) Earl of Huntingdon circa 1141. The nuns “soon” moved to Northampton (Delapre). However they “retained their church and endowments” until the foundation of the College by the 2nd…
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Plantagenet Ireland and Poynings’ Law
“Lambert Simnel”, anecdotes, Anglesey, Art MacMurrough, Beaumaris, Charles I, coronations, Crown in Ireland Act, Drogheda Castle, Dublin Cathedral, Earls of Desmond, Earls of Ormond, Earls of Ulster, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edmund of Rutland, Edward Bruce, Edward II, Edward of Warwick, English Privy Seal Letters, executions, finance, France, George I, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Ireland, Irish Parliament, James VI/I, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, justiciar of Ireland, Leinster, Lieutenant of Ireland, London, Ludford Bridge, Nigel Saul, numismatics, O’Neills, Parliament, Poynings’ Law, Ralph Griffiths, repeal, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Scotland, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Sir Edward Poynings, Sir William de la Pole, Spain, St. James’ Park, Stoke Field, Thomas Despenser, Thomas Holland, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, turnips, Ulster, Ulster plantation, Wales, War of the Three KingdomsIt is fair to say that most medieval English kings had little interest in Ireland except as a source of revenue. (The same was probably true about England and Wales but it seems too cynical to say it, and at least they did live there.) Prior to the Bruce invasion, Ireland yielded between £5000 and…
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Somerset’s Chew Valley is an interesting place. Around the shores of the artificially made Chew Valley Lake, lie dozens of medieval villages and the signs of habitation, burial and ritual left by prehistoric man, including the mysterious stone and timber circle, Stanton Drew. Appledore, where a subsequent battle took place, lies in the next county.…
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Richard, Duke of York, was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460 but later, in 1476, exhumed by his son, Edward IV. The body was taken with great ceremony from Pontefract to Fotheringhay, resting each night at Doncaster, Blyth, Tuxford le Clay, Newark, Grantham, Stamford and finally being reburied at Fotheringhay. Among the mourners…
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Not quite grossly humiliated over the back of a horse, but it’ll have to do. Much better if there’d been a very thorny white rose stuck in the van’s exhaust pipe. Ah, well….
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“….It is said that Henry V wore it [the Black Prince’s Ruby] in his jewel-encrusted helmet at the battle of Agincourt, and Richard III did also at the battle of Bosworth….” I found the above sentence in a post on the British Medieval History Facebook group. How very intriguing. It’s something I had never heard…
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John Ashdown-Hill’s last book, a biography of Elizabeth Wydville, was published in July. To mark this, it is time to compare the flow of her life with that of his other subject Lady Eleanor Talbot (1). Generally, Lady Eleanor’s social status, as determined by their fathers and husbands is higher at any point, or even relative to…
