The New Murrey and Blue blog

buildings

A mystery at the Swan Inn at Clare, Suffolk….

Apr 11, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, heraldry

Anne Morimer, cadency, Clare, Clare Castle, de Burgh arms, Edmund Earl of March, Henry IV, Henry V, Ireland, John of Gaunt, Lancastrian propaganda, Lionel of Antwerp, Mortimer arms, Mortimer History Society, mulberries, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Suffolk, Swan Inn

On reading the February 2021 edition of the Mortimer History Society’s publication, Mortimer Matters, I was intrigued by an article (by Hugh Wood) about a curious piece of carved and painted wood. “….Brightening up the front of the Swan Inn in Clare in Suffolk is this colourful piece of carved wood. Its shape suggests that…
The curse of a medieval well near Liverpool…

Apr 10, 2022

archaeology, buildings, religion

executions, Liverpool, mediaeval curses, ploughing, St. Anne’s Well, trenches

While looking for examples of medieval curses, e.g. the terrible doom-laden threats screamed from someone burning at the stake, I came upon this site. Considering how close to the surface the well is, I find it astonishing that all those years of ploughing haven’t wrought more damage, but then I’m told that in the…
Edward V, the Coldridge Mystery and the Telegraph article

Apr 9, 2022

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

“Princes”, Bill Gardner, Canterbury Cathedral, churches, Coldridge, Daily Telegraph, Devon, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth Roberts, fetterlock and falcon, Henry VII, Jean Molinet, John Dike, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mtDNA, Old Deer Park, open crown, Philippa Langley, Richard III, Robert Markenfield, Sir John Evans, stained glass, Stoke Field, sunne in splendour, The Dublin King, The Missing Princes Project, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, white rose, Yorkist emblems

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Stained glass image of Edward V in the Evans chapel at Coldridge Church. Image has been verified as being of Edward V by stained glass experts Brooks and Cherry as well as the Keeper of Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo Photo Dale Cherry Here is a…
More Royal ancestry

Apr 8, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, Science, television reviews, The play’s the thing

actresses, Alexander Armstrong, Arthur Capell Baron Hadham, astronomy, Barings Bank, Battle of Surbiton, bigamy, burials, Careys, Clare Balding, comedians, Dame Judi Dench, Danny Dyer, Dartmoor, Denmark, Duke of Hamilton, Edict of Nantes, Edward IV, Elsinore, English Civil War, executions, France, Frank Gardner, Groom of the Stool, Guildenstern, Hamlet, Henry Earl of Holland, Henry VIII, Hugenots, illegitimacy, Ireland, Joe Sugg, Josh Widdicombe, Lettice Knollys, Mark Wright, Mary Boleyn, Military Cross, Normandy, Ophelia, religious persecution, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Rosencrantz, royal palaces, Sabine Baring-Gould, secret marriage, Tom Stoppard, Trenchard Manor, Tycho Brahe, Westminster Abbey, Who do you think you are?, Will Kemp, William Shakespeare

Who do you think you are? has now completed eighteen series as British television’s predominant genealogy programmes. In that time, with an average of eight episodes per series, they have uncovered many celebrities with interesting lineage and some unexpected royal descendants, including Alexander Armstrong, Clare Balding, Danny Dyer, Frank Gardner and Sir Matthew Pinsent. Now…
KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Apr 6, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, sources, The play’s the thing

AA Milne, Angevin bloodline, Anglicanism, annulment, Arthur of Brittany, Ascension Day, authorship, avarice, Barons, burials, Cardinal Pandulph, character, charles forker, clergymen, Crowland Chronicle, Defender of the Faith, Earls of Essex, Edward Hall, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Eucharist, excommunication, Fauconbridge brothers, Geoffrey Plantagenet, George Peel, graham Seel, Henry, Henry the Young King, Henry VIII, Historiography, House of York, Hubert de Bergh, Innocent III, John, john Bale, John Dover-Wilson, John Gillingham, John Harvey, John Matusiak, John Wycliffe, Kit Marlowe, Lackland, Louis VIII, Magna Carta, male primogeniture, Mary I, Maude Plantagenet, Mirabeau, morality plays, Phillip Augustus, plays, Polydore Vergil, Ralph Holinshed, recusants, Reformation, Richard Green, Richard Hunne, Richard I, Robin Hood, royal burials, sir brian vickers, Sir James Holt, Six Articles, Softsword, Staffords, stephen langton, Stuarts, Tillyard, Walt Disney, Wilfred Warren, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, Worcester Cathedral

KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION King John was not a good man, He had his little ways. And sometimes no one spoke to him For days and days and days. And men who came across him, When walking in the town, Gave him a supercilious stare, Or passed with noses in the air, And…
On the wall of a pub …

Apr 5, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, heraldry

Earls of Salisbury, Hertfordshire, Hoddesdon, JD Wetherspoon, Lord High Treasurer, Mildred Cooke, murals, pubs, Restoration, Robert Cecil, William Cecil

… was discovered this painting of people including William Cecil, Baron Burghley, senior adviser to Elizabeth I and father of Robert. The pub in question is the Star, a Wetherspoon in Hoddesdon formerly known as the Salisbury Arms (left, after Robert’s earldom), which was undergoing some internal restoration work.
James I: Scotland’s Lancastrian King

Apr 4, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, religion, sources

assassination, authoritarianism, captivity, castles, de heretico comburendo, executions, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, James I, Joan “Beaufort”, Lollards, Murdoch Duke of Albany, Pavel Kravar, Perth Blackfriars, ransom, Robert Duke of Albany, Scotichronicon, Southwark Cathedral, Walter Bower

Here is an excellent Gordon McKelvie article from History Extra about the king who was prisoner, hostage and then guest of the three Lancastrian kings, before marrying Henry V‘s cousin in Southwark Cathedral and going home to reign in person, heavily influenced in style by his former hosts, as the Stewarts of Albany and “Paul…
Who gave up on the Royal Touch….?

Apr 3, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, culture, religion, The play’s the thing

angels, coins, Edward IV, Elizabeth I, Henry III, Henry VII, Macbeth, Royal Touch, scrofula, Shakespeare Schools Foundation, St. Edward the Confessor, Winchester Cathedral

According to this article, “….The Royal Touch and King Edward the Confessor’s healing powers were so well known that, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Shakespeare referenced them in his play Macbeth. This is unsurprising however, as Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry VII, had reintroduced the concept in the late 15th century….” So, if the Royal Touch was known to have…
A thing of beauty from the unlovely Henry VII….

Apr 2, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

Arthur “Tudor”, builders, Henry VII, Henry VII Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey

Accepting facts is sometimes difficult. For instance, how could a man like Henry Tudor (who was vile on the outside and inside) leave to posterity a thing of such immense beauty as the his chapel in Westminster Abbey? No doubt he screwed every groat from his architect and stonemasons. They may have wondered if…
Eleanor of Aquitaine, the “mother-in-law from hell”….?

Apr 1, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

Anne of Bohemia, Berengaria, Crusades, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fontevraud Abbey, Henry II, Isabella of Angouleme, John, l’Epau Abbey, le Mans, miscarriage, Navarre, Richard I, Richard II, royal marriages, royal tombs, sexuality, taxes

There are two King Richards of England whose marriages are always called into question: Richard I and Berengaria of Navarre, and Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Richard II’s sexuality is cited as the reason he and Anne had no children. Either he was sexless…or his interests went to the male of the species. Therefore…