genealogy
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Here’s Legends an interesting book of Leicestershire folk tales for children. It includes the intriguing story of the griffin of Griffydam. Oh, and it also relates the “legends” about King Richard III !!
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How’s this for a blooper? The youngest of Edward III’s sons was “Edmund Langley, later bishop of York”. Um, I wonder what Edmund‘s wives, children, and the line of the House of York would have thought of THAT! The blooper is from The Life and Times of Chaucer, by John Gardner. Edmund is listed correctly…
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Recently it came up on Mastermind that Margaret Beaufort was once Regent of England. This surprised me as I had not heard this fact stated before. Digging on the internet, it turns out it is indeed true. Henry VIII was not quite of age when he ascended the throne, although he was not far off,…
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Finally my new novel, Distant Echoes, is available on Kindle for only £2.50 ($2.99 on Amazon.com). The paperback is imminent too! It was inspired by lyrics from a song, Sheriff Hutton, by The Legendary Ten Seconds. Here is the synopsis of the story: A new, innovative invention. The DNA of a mediaeval king. Put them…
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Thetford
2nd Duke of Norfolk, Attleborough, Ayrton Senna, badges, Battle of Bosworth, burials, Dads’ Army, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Flodden, Howards, Iceni, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Leicester, Lotus, Mowbrays, reburials, St. Edmund, St. Michael’s Church Framlingham, Thetford Priory, Thomas, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas PaineHere are the remains of Thetford’s magnificent Cluniac Priory, built in 1107 and the burial place of the Mowbrays and Howards up to 1540, when they were moved to St. Michael’s, Framlingham. Only about five minutes’ walk from the station, it is best visited on a dry day because Cromwell’s commissioners were ruthless and so,…
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The Castle of Leicester and St Mary De Castro
Alfred the Great, Battle of Bosworth, Blanche of Lancaster, Castle Gardens, Civil War, crime, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Hall, Green Bicycle Murder, Henry I, Henry IV, Henry VI, Hugh de Grantmesil, John of Gaunt, Leicester, Leicester Castle, Norman conquest, Philippa de Roet, Phillippa of Hainault, Prince Rupert’s Gateway, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Robert de Beaumont, St. Aethelflaeda, St. Mary De CastroLeicester Castle Since 2015 going to Leicester is the equivalent of going to visit the tomb of the last Plantagenet King who died in battle: Richard III. Everything there speaks of him from the Visitor Centre named after him, to The Last Plantagenet Pub not to mention attractions and shops that display his portrait…
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It is widely known that Elizabeth I was the only English monarch to be descended from John, 1st Duke of Norfolk, as her grandmother was a Howard, his granddaughter. There is a British monarch who can trace their maternal ancestry to this dynastic founder – Elizabeth II, who also shares the “Treetops” coincidence with her…
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I fear the exhibition in question was in 2017, but the website is interesting because if you go down to the second appearance of the above illustration of Stafford Castle, you will find that you can go through a number of scenes of the castle. Worth a look.
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Basil Brown’s work at Sutton Hoo, on secondment from Ipswich Museum, began in summer 1938 and reached “Mound One” today in 1939. In time, he explored the many mounds on that site, one of which probably includes the remains of Raedwald, King of East Anglia to about 624 and Bretwalda of England from 616. Raedwald,…