The New Murrey and Blue blog

Book Reviews

I hope this book is more accurate than the blurb

Jul 24, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, Science, The play’s the thing

“Tudors”, Bamburgh Castle, children, Edgecote, First Battle of St. Albans, Fotheringhay, Henry VII, Leicester Greyfriars, Micklegate Bar, mtDNA evidence, Pen and Sword, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, satire, Shakespeare, skeletons, teeth, Tewkesbury, The Children of Richard III, Tower of London, Towton, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, York

Perhaps this is just a matter of ambiguity rather than inaccuracy and that the book itself is clearer, however the jacket information really isn’t promising. Bamburg (sic), being by the east coast, had nothing to do with Tudors, real or imagined, until after Henry VII‘s accession, so it definitely wasn’t a “stronghold” of theirs during…
A COLLECTION OF REVOLTING REMEDIES FROM THE MIDDLE AGES

Jun 13, 2023

archaeology, Book Reviews, humour, Science, sources

acne, aphrodisiacs, Bodleian Library, breasts, British Library, constipation, diorrhea, earache, freckles, genitalia, haemorroids, hair growth, manuscripts, medicine, Middle English, Museum of London, nosebleeds, Oxford University, Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages, swelling, translation

Reblogged fromA COLLECTION OF REVOLTING REMEDIES FROM THE MIDDLE AGES Revolting Remedies from the Middle Ages. Edited by Professor Daniel Wakelin. Published by the Bodleian Library Oxford. Under the Dreaming Spires of Oxford – well Oxford University to be precise – a group of students have compiled and transcribed this entertaining selection of remedies from…
Expensive bog paper….!

Jun 2, 2023

Book Reviews, humour

Amazon, Breverton, denialists, Henry VII

Oh dear. There are times when Amazon recommends books to me that are actually anathema to a loyal Ricardian. This time it’s…I can hardly type it….that awful Terry Breverton book Henry VII: The Maligned King. Porkies from beginning to end. Well, if the Weasel has been maligned I’ll eat my Yorkist hat. Maligned suggests…
Shakespeare goes North….?

May 28, 2023

anniversaries, Book Reviews, The play’s the thing

Dennis McCarthy, Sir Thomas North, William Shakespeare

Using software that detects plagiarism in phrases etc, Dennis McCarthy has concluded that Shakespeare adapted earlier plays by “the scholar knight” Sir Thomas North. He sets his reasoning out in a new book entitled simply Thomas North, with the subtitle The Original Author of Shakespeare’s Plays. Is this true? Well, according to this review…
Does the name Jack Broom indicate the hero of a new children’s book is one of the princes…?

Apr 19, 2023

Book Reviews, buildings

“Princes”, Andrew Beattie, children’s fiction, Joanie Swift, Leicester, novels, plants

Well, my title is guesswork, of course, but surely Broom is a reference to Plantagenet (a name taken from planta genista, the Latin for the yellow broom flower). The story (the first in a series by author Andrew Beattie) is about the boys in the Tower, but is Jack Broom one of them? Or is…
Obituary: Author Bertram Fields

Mar 31, 2023

anniversaries, Book Reviews, law

“Princes”, Bertram Fields, covid 19, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth I, George Harrison, Hollywood, John Travolta, lawyers, Michael Jackson, obituaries, Royal Blood, The Beatles, Tom Cruise, Weir

Lawyer Bertram Fields, who practiced law under the shortened form of his name, Bert, recently passed away at the age of 93 from complications of a Covid-19 infection. Ricardians will remember him as the author of the excellent ROYAL BLOOD, in which, with a lawyer’s skill, he dissected much of the traditionalist viewpoints, even taking…
The Despensers: The Rise and fall of a mediaeval family

Feb 8, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, Book Reviews, genealogy

Anne Neville, Battle of Evesham, Boroughbridge, Contrarians, Despensers, Edward II, Edward IV, Eleanor de Clare, Elizabeth Despenser, Epiphany Rising, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Henry III, Henry IV, Huchon Despenser, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Hugh Earl of Winchester, Isabel Neville, Isabella de Valois, Isabelle Despencer, John Ashdown-Hill, Justiciar, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Margaret Beauchamp, Margery Wentworth, Philip Despenser, plague, Richard II, Richard III, Thomas Earl of Gloucester, Thomas of Lancaster

Here is another of Kathryn Warner‘s volumes in which the genealogy is central but there is plenty of history about the principal individuals that comprise the structure of the book. These range from Hugh Despenser the Justiciar, who fell at Evesham in 1265 opposing Henry III, to his son and grandson (the latter married to…
Rebellion in the Middle Ages

Dec 19, 2022

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, law, religion

Archbishop of Canterbury, Arthur of Brittany, Azincourt, Bannockburn, Barons’ War, Battle of Evesham, Battle of Hastings, Battle of Lewes, Battle of Shrewsbury, Black Death, Blackheath, Boroughbridge, Canterbury Cathedral, Crusades, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward I, Edward II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, executions, First Battle of St. Albans, France, Geoffrey of Brittany, Henry Cardinal Beaufort, Henry II, Henry III, Henry IV, Henry the Young King, Henry V, Henry VI, Hereward the Wake, House of Lancaster, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Humphrey of Gloucester, insanity, Isabelle de France, Isle of Ely, Jack Cade, John, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Protector of the Realm, Lords Ordainers, Magna Carta, Matilda, Matt Lewis, murder, Parliament, Peasants’ Revolt, Peterborough Abbey, Piers Gaveston, rebellions, Richard Duke of York, Richard I, Richard II, Robert of Gloucester, Roger Mortimer, Royal Marriage Secrets, Scarborough Castle, secret marriage, Southampton plot, St. Thomas Becket, Stephen, The Anarchy, Thomas of Lancaster, Tower of London, usurpation, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, William Duke of Suffolk, William I, William Marshall

This is the latest of Matthew Lewis’ books and covers a longer period than any of the others, from Hereward the Wake’s emergence after Hastings to the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, almost as long a period as this book. Lewis is already an expert on “The Anarchy” (chapter 2) and the Roses…
Edward II’s nieces: The Clare Sisters

Oct 14, 2022

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, genealogy, religion

Anne Neville, Bannockburn, burials, Caerphilly Castle, Clare Castle, Clare Priory, Edward I, Edward II, Edward IV, Eleanor de Clare, Elizabeth de Clare, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, George Duke of Clarence, Gilbert de Clare, Gilbert Earl of Gloucester, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Ireland, Isobel Neville, Joan of Acre, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Margaret de Clare, Richard III, Suffolk, unofficial executions, Wales

… and so to the dark green volume in Kathryn Warner‘s series about Edward II, his family, his associates and his era. This one details the lives of three sisters with seven husbands between them and a lot of interesting descendants, including Richard III (and siblings), his wife and his sisters-in-law. The eldest, Eleanor de…
Diana Rubino on the Legendary Ten Seconds

Aug 13, 2022

archaeology, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, Events, Music Reviews, Science, travel

albums, Cecily Duchess of York, Devon, Diana Rubino, HMS Bellerophon, Ian Churchward, imaginary letters, John Challis, John Peel, Margaret of Burgundy, Mortimer History Society, Mortimers, Napoleonic wars, Pageant of Torbay, Richard III Society, Riviera FM, Sandra heath wilson, Scoliosis Association UK, The Legendary Ten Seconds, Wars of the Roses, Wigmore Abbey, Wydevilles

As you will observe from their appearance on Diana Rubino’s blog , The Legendary Ten Seconds now have a book featuring information on some of their best-known songs about Richard III, his time and Devon, of course. My Review of The Legendary Ten Seconds for the Ricardian Register (magazine of the American branch) As a longtime…