genealogy
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In rural Berkshire stands the little stone church of Aldworth. What makes this church remarkable is the numerous medieval effigies contained within, memorials to an important family with the surname ‘de la Beche’. Over the years, these effigies got called the ‘Aldworth giants’ and became something of a local attraction. Was there any truth to…
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Click here for article The above link takes you to the whole story. It concerns King Harold II aka Harold Godwinson, my other favourite king, who had a lot in common with his descendant, Richard (see my previous post regarding this). They appear to have located the home of the king, often suspected of being…
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Thomas Earl of Lancaster, died 22 March 1322, and Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, died 22 March 1321 … The former, the grandson of Henry III, was executed at Pontefract, having fought at Boroughbridge in opposition to Edward II and the Despensers. The latter, the second son of Henry IV and great-great-great-nephew of his…
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So here is one of John Ashdown-Hill‘s lesser-known articles, delineating the build-up to and consequences of the death of the last Mowbray Duke of Norfolk in January 1475/6. It shows the descent of the senior Mowbrays from Edward I and tells how his daughter‘s title was hijacked by Edward IV for his own son and…
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Six (or seven?) marriages but only one husband (or two?)….!
1st Duke of Milan, 4th Earl of Kent, Austin Friars London, Bourne Abbey in Lincolnshire, Constance of York, dowries, Edmund Holand 4th Earl of Kent, Gian Galeazzo, Henry IV, Henry VII, John Beaufort 1st Earl Somerset, John Holand 1st Earl of Huntingdon 1st Duke of Exeter, Lucia Visconti Countess of Kent, Mary de Bohun, Minories, Richard II, Southwark Cathedral, St Mary Overy, The Lancashire Holandsv, the siege of BréhatYou have no doubt heard of the Minories. “….The Order of the Sorores Minores, to which the abbey of the Minores in London belonged, was founded by St Clara of Assisi in Italy, and claimed Palm Sunday, March 18th 1212, as the date of its origin….” More popularly referred to as the Minories, in the…
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THE MYSTERY OF HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK’S HEAD
“Princes”, Admiral Thomas Seymour, Anne Boleyn, Anne Mowbray, coronations, Edward VI, executions, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, Lady Elizabeth Grey, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, Lady Frances Brandon, Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Mary Grey, lords protector, Minories, mouat, National Portrait Gallery, Poor Clare’s convent, rebellions, Richard of Shrewsbury, severed heads, Sir George Scharf, Sir Thomas Wyatt, st botolph aldgateHenry Grey was the father of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days’ Queen. A great grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, through her son , Thomas, from her first marriage to Sir John Grey, he married Frances Brandon, daughter Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, so their children, three girls named Jane, Katherine and Mary, had a…
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It’s sometimes interesting to read modern appraisals of Richard III. In this case modern means 2004, revised in 2007. So it was written only a few years before the discovery of Richard’s remains. I will not quote from it or delve into its contents because it’s one of those that has to be read in…
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First John of Gloucester, now….could Edward of Westminster (Lancaster) have been a father too….?
Anne Neville, Battle of Bosworth, battle of tewkesbury, dispensation, DNA, Edmund Beaufort 2nd Duke of Somerset, Edward 17th Earl of Warwick, Edward of Lancaster, Edward of Westminster, George of Clarence, Henry VI, Henry VII, Isabel Neville Duchess of Clarence, John of Gloucester, John of Pontefract, Katherine Countess of Pembroke, Margaret of Anjou, morning sickness, Perkin Warbeck, Richard III, Richard Neville 16th Earl of Warwick, stretch marks, Wars of the RosesIn mid-November I posted about whether or not Richard III’s illegitimate son, known as John of Gloucester or John of Pontefract, could possibly have had children. See here https://murreyandblue.org/2024/11/12/could-john-of-gloucester-have-had-children/. Richard III had an illegitimate daughter, Katherine, who became Countess of Pembroke but she died childless, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herbert,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke). There are no other confirmed offspring of Richard III,…
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An interesting new creation of Richard III and his nephews….
“Princes”, Battle of Wakefield 1460, Blaybourne – archer, burial George of Clarence Tewkesbury Abbey, Cecily Duchess of York, Coldridge church window, Coldridge parish church, Edmund, Edmund of Rutland, Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, George of Clarence, Henry VII, Henry VIII, House of Beaufort, House of York, John Ashdown-Hill, John Evas – Evans, Margaret Beaufort, Richard 3rd Duke of York, Richard III, Shrewsbury Book 1445, Urn Westminster AbbeyI recently came upon this link to a new video— https://youtu.be/CBXaZkCnP44—of Richard III and his nephews. The likenesses were based on the earliest known portrait of Richard (see left above, made 30-40 years after his death), and in the case of the boys, likenesses of their parents. The still images are manipulated to make them…
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The Duchy of Lancaster controversy that began in the 14th century….
“Tudors”, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Catherine of Valois, Constance of Castile, Duchy of Lancaster, Edmund Mortimer 3rd Earl of March, Edward III, Edward III’s entail, Henry IV, Henry IV Part I Shakespeare, Henry V, Henry VII, House of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, Katherine of Valois, Lionel of Clarence, Lords Appellant, Owen Tudor, Philippa of Clarence, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Sir Simon Burley, usurpers“….The Duchy of Lancaster came to the Crown in controversy and it’s still making headlines today….” If you want to read about the duchy, its history and what’s happening now, see here https://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/. But my purpose here is to unpick certain untruths about the duchy that are constantly and unfairly stitched upon the memory of…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 