The New Murrey and Blue blog

buildings

Which duke? And which hill was marched up and then down again….?

Nov 21, 2022

battles, buildings, genealogy, sources

Country Life, Crayke manor, Dukes of York, Edward IV, James VII/II, Netherlands, nursery rhymes, Prince Maurice of Orange, property sales, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Talbot Shrewsbury Book, Yorkshire

We all know the Grand Old Duke of York marched his 10,000 men up a hill and then down again. But which Duke of York was it? If you go here you’ll find there are a number of candidates, including the 3rd Duke, father of Edward IV and Richard III. In general, however, my…
A virtual tour of 17th-century London….

Nov 19, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, culture, Science

executions, Great Fire of London, mediaeval London, Robert Hubert, tours, virtual reality

I love virtual video tours of places and have just come upon an excellent one of mediaeval London. Well, 17th-century actually, but to my mind the scenes are appropriate for the 14th-15th centuries. You’ll find the tour here . Just scroll down the page a little. It’s well worth a look.
Thomas Seymour, Princess Elizabeth and hanky-panky….

Nov 18, 2022

anniversaries, buildings

Admiral Thomas Seymour, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, executions, Mary I, Sudeley Castle, Suzannah Lipscomb, treason

Was Thomas Seymour guilty of any hanky-panky with his young stepdaughter Princess Elizabeth (to become Elizabeth I)? Well, yes, I don’t think there’s any doubt of that, but there has to be doubt about the extent of the hanky-panky. She was very young, around thirteen, and he was thirty-eight, so it certainly wasn’t runaway youthful…
A joust involving two Scottish lords who don’t seem to have existed….

Nov 16, 2022

buildings, sources

Agas map, Anthony Wydville, Antoine of Burgundy, banner-bearers, Earls Marshal, Earls of Mar, injuries, jousting, Kocborne, mystery jousters, Philip the Good, Richard II, Scotland, Sir Nicholas Hawberke, Sir Peter Courtenay, Sir William Darell, Smithfield, The Chronicles of England, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham

Excerpt from The Brut or The Chronicles of England, ed. Friedrich W.D. Brie (London, 1906), pp. 343-4, 348. “….[1393]….And in the seventeenth year of his [Richard II‘s] reign, certain lords of Scotland came to England to win renown through deeds of arms. And these are the persons: The Earl of Mar, who challenged the Earl Marshal of…
Do you fancy living in a STANLEY property….?

Nov 9, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy

Battle of Bosworth, Earls of Derby, Liverpool Echo, Merseyside, property sales, Roby, Stanleys, treachery

Well, as a selling point and “a little bit of history” it would seem that the above property’s provenance isn’t quite certain. It’s reportedly part of the Stanley family’s estates. This in itself is a dubious recommendation to any Ricardian! I mean, as far as supporters of Richard III are concerned, the mere name…
The art that made us

Nov 8, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, culture, humour, religion, Science, television reviews

Aphra Benn, Armada, Arts and Crafts, Barbara Hepworth, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, BBC2, Beowulf, Black Death, Bloomsbury Group, British Empire, Burns, Charles I, Colonel Blimp, Cool Britannia, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, David Threlfall, Death and the Gallant, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth I, embroidery, English Civil War, Festival of Britain, First World War, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Fire of London, Hanif Kureishi, Harry Potter, Hogarth, Industrial Revolution, Jane Austen, Jarrow march, John Foxe, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, Joshua Reynolds, Julian of Norwich, kitchen sink drama, Llancarfon, Margery Kempe, Mary Stuart, murals, Norman conquest, Oliver Cromwell, Phillip Larkin, Piers Plowman, poetry, pre-Raphaelites, Reformation, Restoration, Richard II, Roman Britain, Rubens, satire, Second World War, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir William Orpen, St. Cadoc’s church, St. Paul’s, stained glass, Stuarts, The art that made us, The Fighting Temeraire, The unknown soldier, Tracey Emin, Trainspotting, Turner, urbanisation, van Dyck, Walter Sickert, Welsh Bible, William Cobbett, William Morgan, William Shakespeare, Wilton Diptych, York Minster

This is another fascinating BBC2 series, illustrating English and British history through the evolution of our art. The eight one-hour episodes, narrated by David Threlfall (Men of the World), feature:The Roman and pre-Roman periods, Beowulf, the Norman conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry; The Black Death, Wilton Diptych, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich,…
STAINDROP CHURCH, A NEVILLE MAUSOLEUM

Nov 5, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, religion, sources

Battle of Neville’s Cross, Biblioteque National, Branchepeth Church, Cecily Duchess of York, Charles Alfred Stothard, Charles Ross, churches, Durham, Durham Cathedral, Edward IV, Euphemia de Clavering, graffiti, Joan “Beaufort”, Joanna Laynesmith, Lincoln Cathedral, livery collars, Margaret Stafford, Marjorie Neville, Nevilles, Raby Castle, Ralph Baron Neville, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Richard III, Richard of Salisbury, Richard of Warwick, Staindrop Church, tombs, W.E. Hampton

REBLOGGED FROM A Medieval Potpourri @ sparkypus.com Ralph Neville Earl of Westmorland and his two wives. Staindrop Church, Durham. Ralph Neville by his wife Joan Beaufort, was the father of Cicely Neville, mother of two kings – Edward IV and Richard III. This drawing was made by Charles A Stothard c.1811 and shows them minus the graffiti.…
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered one hundred years ago today….

Nov 4, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Alexandria, Ancient Egypt, apothecaries, Bible, Cairo, crusaders, curses, Earl of Carnarvon, Hodgkin’s Disease, Howard Carter, Moses, mummified remains, Pharoahs, Red Sea, resin, royal tombs, Sphinx, treasure, Tutankhamun

The Pharaoh Tutankhamun seems to have been part of our lives forever, so it’s hard to believe that his tomb was found just hundred years ago on 4th November 1922. Even the discoverer, Howard Carter, had no idea what lay within the tomb, only that it didn’t seem to have been got at by…
A new discovery at what was once Woodstock Palace….

Nov 3, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, Science

Blenheim, Dukes of Marlborough, Edward of Woodstock, Endeavour Morse, fishing, gnomes, Henry II, Henry VII, hunting lodges, Last Bus to Woodstock, Oxford Mail, Queen Pool, Rosamund Clifford, Thomas of woodstock, windmills, Winston Churchill

“….Archaeologists have made an exciting discovery in the Queen Pool at Blenheim Palace prior to dredging work….They believe they have uncovered the remains of a 14th century watermill complex….” So reads the opening of this article. A new discovery at somewhere as historic as Blenheim is very exciting. But maybe it was its Woodstock Palace…
Settling the Bosworth Debt….

Oct 31, 2022

anniversaries, buildings

“Perkin”, “Princes”, All Hallows, arrests, bigamy, Duke of York, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, executions, ghosts, Halloween, Henry VII, Henry VIII, House of York, illegitimacy, Lord Chamberlain, masks, pre-contract, Richard III, Sir William Stanley, torture, Tower Hill, Tower of London, treachery, Westminster Hall

With the denizens of Hades gathering to do their worst, here is a horror tale of Sir William Stanley’s final Hallowe’en, when retribution snatches him at last. “Settling the Bosworth Debt” is the story of what happened to William when he was confronted by some terrible truths about Henry Tudor. Friday, 31 October, 1494, Hallowe’en,…