Book Reviews
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A new Mancini – by Annette Carson
Angelo Cato, Annette Carson, Bernard Andre, bias, Burgundy, CAJ Armstrong, Charles Ross, Charles VIII, Crowland Chronicle, Domenico Mancini, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth Wydeville, Henry VII, Latin, Lord Protector of the Realm, Louis XI, Luxembourg, Phillippe de Commynes, Polydore Vergil, Richard III, The Maligned King, Thomas More, translationTowards the end of 1482 an Austin friar by the name of Domenico Mancini was sent to London by a senior minister of King Louis XI of France This was pursuant to France’s act of hostility in breaching her long-standing treaty with England, and Mancini was clearly on a fact-finding mission, as shown by the…
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More Mythology of Richard III
“Beauforts”, “Tudors”, Battle of Bosworth, David Starkey, denialists, Edmund of Langley, Edward of Warwick, hair colour, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Isabel of Castile, Joan Hill, John Ashdown-Hill, John Holland, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lord Strange, More, Rhys ap Thomas, sweating sickness, The Mythology of Richard III, Thomas Stanley, Turi King, Y-chromosomeThe Mythology of Richard III was one of the late John Ashdown-Hill’s fine and well-researched books, which tried to dispel some of the ingrained tall tales about the much-maligned King. Unfortunately, ‘MORE Mythology’ seems to come up all too infrequently, and I am not necessarily talking about Thomas More, although his name often arises still…
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Here is another priceless treasure of a book, the Book of Lismore, which is written in Irish, going back where it belongs! Although, the English did have some good input in that although it went to England, the aristocratic English Cavendish family donated it to the University College Cork, so we’re not entirely the bad…
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Ask many Ricardians how they got their first glimpse of a non-Shakespearean Richard III, and many will tell you it was one of two novels—Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey or The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. Sadly, on January 22, Sharon Penman, who continued to be a great supporter of Richard’s cause…
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Josephine Tey is renowned for writing contemporary novels that refer to older mysteries. The Daughter of Time was unquestionably about an injured police Inspector learning about Richard III and the “Princes” – a device borrowed by Colin Dexter. Brat Farrar was about a missing boy who seems to reappear but whose identity is doubted, for…
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Before I start, I must apologise for the decidedly uncontemporary illustrations. They are an indulgence, I fear. The one above, of the Prince of Wales (known to posterity as the Black Prince) in armour at an army camp, his hands clasped behind his back, seems to me to probably capture him exactly as he was…all…
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I have taken this extract from Royal Central: “….after the deposition of Edward V, and Richard III’s subsequent accession to the throne, it quickly became clear that the new king wasn’t a universally popular choice….” Hmm, nor was it universally unpopular. In fact, far more people were in favour of Richard than against, but then,…
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Prompted by the opinions of two friends on what they thought of certain historians, I thought it would be interesting to see which are named by those who read Murrey & Blue. So, ladies and gentlemen, who is your favourite/most loathed historian (alive or dead), and why? My choice takes me back to the 14th/15th…
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Were the Wars of The Roses an Inevitability?
Battle of Shrewsbury, Black Death, Blore Heath, Chris Given-Wilson, Duchy of Aquitaine, Earl of Warwick, Edmund Mortimer, Elizabeth I, France, Henry II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, John of Gaunt, Lancastrian propaganda, legal fees, Lordship of Brecon, Mary de Bohun, Pastons, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard of Warwick, Thomas of woodstock, Wars of the Roses, WylieIn my spare time I have been reading Henry IV by Chris Given-Wilson. It’s a massive book, full of information, probably the most complete work on Henry since Wylie’s four-volume effort in the 19th Century. Frankly, I’m finding it hard going. Not because it’s a bad book (it isn’t) or because Given-Wilson is a bad…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 