Book Reviews
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As we mentioned here, Ashdown-Hill’s biography of Richard’s mother was published in April. Whilst his latest, to which we shall return later, was released today, we shall concentrate on Cecily here. This is the book that summarises Cecily’s life by delineating her full and half-siblings, demonstrating that portraits (right) previously assumed to be of her and…
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There are times when researching the past is, for a woman of today, a very insulting experience. This morning at the hairdresser I dipped into a book called Medieval Maidens: Young Women and Gender in England, 1270-1540. (No Hello, Heat or OK for me!) Yes, I knew before I started that I wouldn’t like…
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The fifth book in Toni Mount’s Foxley series about medieval murders. “She told us: ‘It is called The Colour of Murder and deals with even more medieval murders, including the mysterious death of The Duke of Clarence, one of the future Richard III’s brothers, who, tradition tells us was drowned in a wine barrel.’” Can only…
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These are taken from Pierce’s biography of his paternal grandmother Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, we have some sinister clues to his fate. Our witness is Charles de Marillac, French ambassador from 1538-43, whose correspondence with Francois I is copiously quoted in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. de Marillac wrote on 1 July 1540…
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After eleven revelatory history books in a decade, and two more forthcoming, this is very different. I wonder whether any of the subject matter is relevant to his research? There is only one way to find out.
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… you wait over a year for a new book from John Ashdown-Hill and two turn up almost together: Cecily Neville (left) on 30 April and those “Princes” on 15 July, with another volume on Elizabeth Wydeville to follow …
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Strange Times by Joan Szechtman
“Strange Times”, Discovering Diamonds, Edward V, engineering, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry VII, Joan Szechtman, Loyalty Binds Me, Minster Lovell Hall, Paul Murray Kendall, Ricardian fiction, Richard III, Richard III Society, Richard of Shrewsbury, Science, sequels, Sharon Kay Penman, Stoke Field, The Sunne in Splendour, This Time, time travelToday, we interview Joan Szechtman, an American writer who has just published her third time-travel novel about King Richard the Third. Fans of Joan have read her books, THIS TIME, which was published in 2009 and LOYALTY BINDS ME which was published in 2011. Her third Richard the Third novel, STRANGE TIMES, has just been…
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The above book, Stolen Women in Medieval England, by Caroline Dunn, is subtitled Rape, Abduction and Adultery 1100-1500. This subtitle is well earned, because all three activities become very tangled indeed in those records that survive of cases that reached courts. The general impression the modern world has of medieval women is that they were…
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I have been asked for an opinion about Dan Jones and the Templars, and so have delved around for an impression of Jones’ thoughts on the subject. I know nothing about him, and so started from scratch, so to speak. What follows is an assessment from someone who was considering acquiring the book. A YouTube…
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Carol’s support for King Richard has led her to write this book about his childhood. In the spring there will be another book, following his life until the fateful Battle of Bosworth on 22nd August, 1485. I hope both titles do really well for her, and that she will find another aspect of Richard, or…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 