genealogy
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Following on from the blog A Big Development below…. It is interesting that the latest scientifically gleaned results to come out from the tests made on the remains of King Richard III, have raised in a question mark over the line of legitimacy on his paternal side. Someone, somewhere, somewhen committed adultery, and the resultant…
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http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141202/ncomms6631/full/ncomms6631.html It seems from this that there is a Y-chromosome mismatch between Richard III (as confirmed by his mtDNA, age, scoliosis etc), and the present Duke of Beaufort. There are various possibilities and our piece “A genealogical mystery deepens” outlined one – that Sir Hugh Swynford fathered the first “Beaufort”, making the Dukes of Somerset,…
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This lady, although the only sister of Richard, Duke of York, is arguably the least-known of all the members of the House of York who managed to grow up. Therefore a few notes about here are perhaps not out of place. Isabel was of course the daughter of Richard of Conisbrough and Anne Mortimer and…
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‘Charles I exhibited an almost pathological distrust of the Stanleys, despite the instinctive loyalty shown by the earl to his king…The reasons for the king’s distrust are rooted deep in his own complex character, but it is certain that part of that distrust was based on the behaviour of Thomas, the first Earl of Derby,…
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So who was the “Grand Old Duke of York”, subject of the nursery rhyme and hundreds of pubs? Was it: 1) Richard (1411-60), father of Edward IV and Richard III and senior (Mortimer) claimant almost since birth, who died at Wakefield after descending from Sandal Castle? 2) James (1633-1701), aka James VII/II, who sought to…
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I am sure we have all read the story of a bathing servant, Owain Tudor, who then emerged from the water in even fewer clothes than Fitzwilliam Darcy, watched by the widowed and besotted Queen, Catherine de Valois. The story goes on to relate that they married, had two sons and possibly more children. He…
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I have been delving into the world of mediaeval and Tudor portraits, this time in search of Sir William Stanley, the louse who turned traitor on Richard III at Bosworth and cost him his throne, his realm and his life. Sir William’s eventual reward was to be beheaded by the very man he helped so…
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Following on from the blog above, entitled More C17 coincidences, it occurred to me that there is another strange set of coincidences concerning Richard III (1452-1485), and his predecessor and namesake of the previous century, Richard II (1367-1400). And I do not only mean being killed and usurped. Both had a queen named Anne…
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8) Richard III was negotiating to marry the King of Portugal’s sister when he died. Henry VII may also have tried to do so. Charles II did marry the King of Portugal’s sister. 9) Edward IV was paid a secret annuity by Louis XI after 1475. Charles II was paid a secret annuity by Louis…
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William Catesby, a Northamptonshire lawyer, was one of only three people executed in the aftermath of Bosworth, the others being a West Country father and son. From this and other circumstantial evidence, we are inexorably drawn to the conclusion that this happened because he was the only surviving layman who knew the details of Edward…