genealogy

A VISIT TO KING’S LANGLEY

Aug 6, 2023

archaeology, buildings, genealogy, religion, travel

Anne Mortimer, camels, Cecily Neville, Christmas, Clarendon Palace, clocks, Dominican friaries, Edmund of Langley, Edward II, Edward III, Eleanor of Castile, fire, Henry III, Henry IV, Isabel of Castile, Joan of Navarre, John of Wheathampstead, King’s Langley, palaces, Piers Gaveston, Reformation, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, royal tombs

King’s Langley was once home to a massive Plantagenet palace, built out of the remnants of a hunting lodge of Henry III for Edward I’s Queen, Eleanor of Castile. She furnished it lavishly, with carpets and baths. There were shields decorating the hall and a painted picture of four knights going to a tournament, while…
Philippa finds another king under another car park….!

Aug 5, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, genealogy, religion, Science

car parks, Henry I, Kingfinder General, Leicester Greyfriars, Philippa Langley, Reading Abbey, Reading Gaol, Richard III, royal burials, The Lost King

The phenomenal Philippa Langley, finder of lost monarchs, is at it again! If you go here you’ll read that she has now discovered Henry I, and guess what? He too is under a car park. In his case it isn’t Greyfriars but the much grander Reading Abbey….albeit in a part that is now the car…
Give the Carys a Blue Plaque….!

Jul 23, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

attainder, blue plaque, Cary family, Cockington, executions, exile, Henry IV, Henry V, Ireland, judges, Richard II, Sir Edward Seymour, Sir George Cary, Sir John Cary, Spanish Armada, Spanish Barn, Tewkesbury, Torbay Civic Society, Torquay, Torre Abbey

The above image is of the Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey, Torquay where George Cary and Sir Edward Seymour: “…..jointly took 400 prisoners during the Spanish Armada and some residents today know the men were imprisoned in what we still call ‘The Spanish Barn’. Torre Abbey estates were then purchased by the Cary family in…
If only a 14th-century Philippa had been a Philip….!

Jul 20, 2023

anniversaries, genealogy, law

“Tudors”, Edmund Earl of March, Edmund of Langley, Edward IV, Edward of Woodstock, Henry IV, John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, male preference, primogeniture, Prince George, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte, Richard II, Richard III, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, sex, Succession rights, Thomas of woodstock, usurpation

Sex can be divisive. By that I mean that being the “wrong” sex has made huge differences in the past. No, it’s nothing to do with today’s strife concerning to which sex one really belongs. Instead I mean that back in history being born a woman often prevented you or your line from ascending to…
How Edward IV’s bigamy should have been resolved

Jul 17, 2023

Alternative History, anniversaries, battles, genealogy, law, religion

Affinity, banns, bigamy, canon law, Castillon, Catherine de Roet, Catholicism, Church of England, consanguinity, Council of Trent, dispensations, Elizabeth Wydeville, family law, Henry VIII, illegitimacy, infertility, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John of Gaunt, lack of consent, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lumley-Conyers marriage, Moynihan barony, non-consummation, Papal Legate, pre-contract, R.H. Helmholz, Ralph Butler Baron Sudeley, Reformation, Sixtus IV, Statute of Merton, widows, witchcraft

Canon law, as practiced in most of Europe to the late mediaeval period, is noticeably different to the laws of the United Kingdom today, although it is somewhat looser today in several ways. Consequently, secret marriages were banned eventually, only first cousins now require dispensations and relationships do not beget affinity, although previous manages still…
Brawling Bishop Boniface beats ‘em up at St Bartholomew’s….

Jul 14, 2023

anniversaries, genealogy, religion

Amadeus IV of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, Boniface of Savoy, Eleanor of Provence, Friar Rahere, Henry III, Louis IX, Matthew Parris, miracles, Odo Bishop of Bayeux, St. Bartholomew’s, St. Thomas Becket, violence, visions, West Smithfield Priory

Becket wasn’t the only troublesome priest in medieval England, because in 1244 came another, Boniface of Savoy (see here and here) who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Boniface was the younger brother of Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy, and one of their nieces was Henry III’s queen, while another was married to King Louis IX of…
Royal stepchildren

Jul 6, 2023

anniversaries, genealogy, law, religion

annulment, bigamy, Brittany, Cnut, Don Carlos, Edward IV, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth Wydeville, Emma of Normandy, England, Ethelred II, Gruoch, Henry II, Henry IV, Joan of Navarre, John IV Duke of Brittany, Louis VII, Lulach, Macbeth, Mary I, Phillip II, royal stepchildren, St. Edward the Confessor

For the first time since 1558, England (thus also Wales and Northern Ireland) has a monarch with stepchildren, two in number, a record complicated by the double-consort Emma of Normandy whose sons by Ethelred II included Edward the Confessor. In Scotland, after the case of Lulach who was Macbeth‘s stepson, there seem to be no…
Margaret Beaufort’s wayward stepson….

Jul 5, 2023

buildings, genealogy, religion

Academia, Bishops of Ely, clerical celibacy, Ely Cathedral, height, James Stanley, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Thomas Baron Stanley

Not everything in the Stanley garden was rosy, and one of the 1st Earl of Derby’s son was a Bishop of Ely who broke the celibacy rules and was at 6′ 7″ described as the tallest man in England. His name was James Stanley, he was well liked and I don’t really think he…
More celebs descended from royalty (yawn!)….

Jul 4, 2023

anniversaries, genealogy, religion

Abraham Lincoln, bloopers, celebrities, Charles Dickens, Edward I, Edward III, Elizabeth II, Francis Cooke, george Burroughs, Henry II, Jane Austen, John, Mayflower, Richard III, Richard Warren, Thomas Jefferson, USA, William Bradford, William Brewster

“After Richard III, John finally became king.” Um, yes…. Very accurate. You’ll find this blooper in the article below. 13 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Descendants of Famous People – Next Luxury Well, how many more celebrities are going to claim descent from royalty and other notables from the past? To be famous these days…
For sale for the first time in 700 years….

Jul 3, 2023

buildings, genealogy

Adlington Hall, Cheshire, hunting lodges, legh family, property sales

Well, eye-watering prices are common enough when it comes to the sale of historic houses/estates, and Adlington Hall in Cheshire is no exception. The entire estate is up for £30 million but is divided into twenty-five lots. This is the first time in 700 years that the house—which began as a Saxon hunting lodge—has been…