The New Murrey and Blue blog

battles

pilltown

Micklegate Bar to reopen soon….

Jan 4, 2018

archaeology, battles, buildings

Micklegate Bar, Richard Duke of York, treachery, Wakefield, York

I don’t like to regard Richard, Duke of York, as a traitor. He was the rightful heir to the throne and had the dirty done on him. But then, I fear the Lancastrians were good at pinching the throne illegally and getting rid of the true king. Just think of Henry IV usurping Richard II,…
Treason among the Roses….or….Who betrayed whom at Wakefield….?

Dec 30, 2017

anniversaries, battles

Battle of Bosworth, Edmund Grey Lord Ruthin, Edmund of Rutland, Edward IV, John Neville Marquis of Montagu, Micklegate Bar, Northampton, Percies, Richard Duke of York, Richard of Salisbury, Sandal Castle, Sir Andrew Trollope, Stanleys, treason, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, York

The scene above is fictitious, with roses being brandished nobly, but the strife known to posterity as The Wars of the Roses was full of treachery. Turncoats abounded, loyalty could be non-existent, and men’s names dragged down. Not always dragged down, of course, because if the traitor defected to the ultimately winning side, he did…
Invasions

Dec 19, 2017

battles, buildings, television reviews

“confessions”, “Perkin”, Anglo-Dutch Wars, Anglo-Saxons, archery, Armada, Barbary pirates, Battle of Hastings, BBC4, Bertram Fields, castles, Charles II, Charles Laughton, churches, Dan Jones, Domesday Book, Elizabeth I, executions, films, Glenda Jackson, Harold II, Harrying of the North, John, Lady Catherine Gordon, Matthew Lewis, Medway Raid, naval battles, Royal deer forests, Sam Willis, The Shadow of the Tower, Tilbury speech, Tower of London, William I, Wroe

I have watched Dr. Sam Willis on several occasions and regularly enjoy his programmes, particularly his artillery series. With the prematurely grey beard, he is usually much more informative than Dan Jones, who is of a similar age. However, part two of his Invasions fell below this standard. It featured a lot of black and…
Let’s play war games with Richard….!

Dec 10, 2017

battles

board games, Columbia Games, Richard III, Wars of the Roses

Well, there has been a flurry of interest in this game, so I took a look to see what it was all about. I got a little confused with the video talk telling me all about blocks, their strength and where they were, and so on, but I’m probably the wrong generation. I’m still stuck…
Um, WHO did Margaret of Anjou marry….?

Dec 5, 2017

battles, genealogy

France, Henry IV, Henry VI, Hundred Years War, Margaret d’Anjou, Wars of the Roses

“Margaret of Anjou (1429-82), Queen Consort of Henry IV” “This marriage was again part of a peace treaty that brought a temporary pause to the War of Roses (over the French crown).” The above is an excerpt from this website. I suppose a typo can be blamed for IV instead of VI? But the Wars…
Medieval palace site at Lathom being excavated by group of military veterans….

Dec 2, 2017

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, genealogy

“Tudors”, archaelogy, Battle of Bosworth, Charlotte Countess of Derby, Civil War, Domesday Book, Henry VII, James Earl of Stanley, Lathom House, Marston Moor, military veterans, Richard III, Rupert, sieges, Thomas Lord Stanley

If you can stomach paragraph two of the article below (by Henry James) the rest is quite interesting! I have taken the precaution of copying the entire article because of a server problem that messed me around after a minute so. So I opened it again, copied, and it’s below, complete with link to the original. “A…
Richard III, the Merovingians, Rothley, the Templars and The De Castro Code….!

Nov 16, 2017

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

“Tudors”, Battle of Evesham, conspiracy theories, Earls of Leicester, Edward I, Leicestershire, National Portrait Gallery, Norman conquest, portraits, Richard III, Rosslyn Chapel, Rothley Chapel, Simon de Montfort, St. Mary De Castro, Stanleys, Templars

The painted tapestry below is from Rothley Chapel in Leicestershire. Strangely, since the article that prompts me now (see link below) was written in 2012, no one appears to have noticed the great likeness of the depicted English king to Richard III. At least, if they have, I don’t know of it. It’s Richard, even…
Don’t they know Henry VII’s calendar went backwards….?

Nov 12, 2017

battles

Battle of Bosworth, Coronation, Henry VII, Lady Margaret Beaufort, legislation, media, Richard III, Westminster Abbey

Well, well, here we have ten facts about Horrible Henry VII. Oh, dear, he won’t be pleased about one thing…the Express has mistakenly dated his reign from the 22nd. Oops. We ALL know it was from the 21st, because Henners told us it was! He was king before Richard was killed in battle. Richard was…
Thetford Priory

Nov 8, 2017

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Dukes of Norfolk, Flodden, Framlingham, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Reformation, Thetford Priory, Thomas Earl of Surrey, tombs, University of Suffolk

We can recommend this piece, by Professor David Gill of the University of Suffolk, with several superb images of the original burial sites of the first two Howard Dukes of Norfolk. Both were probably transferred to St. Michael’s Church, Framlingham, at the Reformation
The would-be thieving hounds of Bosworth Field….!

Oct 29, 2017

archaeology, battles

battlefields, Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, Leicestershire, metal detecting, Sutton Cheney

So renegade detectorists were prowling around Bosworth Field at night, trying to find treasures that had somehow been overlooked. Imagine if they’d happened upon something vital and made off with it – to sell to the highest bidder! We might never get to see it, let alone have it properly examined and identified by historians…