culture
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Coins from the past are always fascinating, but gold coins in such mostly spectacular condition (the Isladulcie Collection) are amazing beyond belief. It will be auctioned on 26th June 2019 at Spink. The collection doesn’t only cover the Hundred Years War, because it stretches from 1346 to 1483 under Edward IV. To read a lot…
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We’re all accustomed to seeing dignitaries, film stars and so on walking along a red carpet, and know it’s a sign of great respect, courtesy or just plain flattery. According to Wikipedia :- “The earliest known reference to walking a red carpet in literature is in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, written in 458…
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Britain’s Most Historic Towns (2)
“Tudors”, Alice Roberts, ATS, Ben Robinson, Black Death, Bristol, Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, Cardiff, Channel Four, Charles I, chocolate, city walls, coal, defences, Demonology, Dover, dressing up, Dunkirk, Edwardian era, England, English Civil War, Flodden, France, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Georgian era, gin, Henry VIII, James III, James IV, James V, James VI/I, Magna Carta, Marquess of Bute, Mary Stuart, New Model Army, Oxford, Peasants’ Revolt, Plantagenet era, real tennis, Rough Wooing, Sauchieburn, Scottish Reformation, Second World War, Siege of Oxford, slavery, Solway Moss, St. Augustine, Stewarts, Stirling, Stirling Castle, Thomas Becket, witchcraftThis excellent Channel Four programme, presented by Professor Alice Roberts, with Dr. Ben Robinson in the helicopter, has returned for a new series. The early venues were Dover (World War Two, visiting the underground base, concentrating on the retreat from Dunkirk and subsequent Channel defence, meeting some survivors, wearing ATS uniform and riding in a…
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Digging up Britain’s Past: By George, I think she’s got it
“The King’s Great Matter”, Alex Langlands, annulment, Catherine of Aragon, Channel Five, devalued coinage, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Edward VI, Elsyng Palace, George Bernard Shaw, health, Helen Skelton, Henry VIII, Llantrisant, London, Old Coppernose, Pygmalion, Rievaulx Abbey, Royal Mint, silver platingThis second episode of this Channel Five series, presented by Alex Langlands and Helen Skelton, took us to Elsyng Palace, a North London house built by Henry VIII but with question marks about its precise venue until recently. Very unusually, the presenters clearly stated that the “King’s Great Matter” concerned not a divorce from Catherine…
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There are few more fertile sources for intricate information about the medieval past (and other areas too, of course) than theses that have been published online. A prime website for these is White Rose eTheses on line, of which I have written before. I am mentioning the site again now because of finding a particularly absorbing 2016 thesis by Anna Maria…
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“….The Buonconsiglio Castle (Trento, Italy) is the largest and most important monumental complex of the Trentino Alto Adige region. It was the residence of the prince-bishops of Trento from the 13th century to the end of the 18th century, and is composed of a series of buildings of different eras,enclosed by walls and positioned slightly…
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We know that both Mr. Rochester and Captain Mainwaring are possibly based, to some extent, on Edward IV’s life and family. What about Hi-de-hi? I ask because one episode of this 1980s comedy featured TED Bovis (Paul Shane) seeking to become engaged to a camper with “my late mother’s ring”, only for Spike Dixon (Jeffrey…
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UPDATED POST ON sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/22/murder-and-mayhem-in-medieval-london/ Here is a link to an interesting map and article on the murder hotspots of medieval London. Click on a dot and details pop up of that particular murder. Most of the culprits either just simply disappeared pronto or skedaddled into sanctuary and frustratingly the outcomes are…
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I stupidly decided to cook a mediaeval feast to celebrate New Year’s Eve with some friends. I say ‘stupidly’ not because it wasn’t a success but because the amount of work and fiddly techniques nearly killed me! I wanted to do something similar to one of the courses of Richard’s coronation feast, so about 15-20…
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