genealogy
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Consider the following coincidences: 1) The Mortimer-York army in 1458-60 was led by the Duke of York, two sons, a brother-in-law and a nephew. Charles I’s principal commanders were himself, two sons and two nephews. 2) Richard of York had four healthy sons, one named after himself who became King. Charles I had three healthy…
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http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/world/king-tut-visual-autopsy/index.html This time it is Tutankhamun (no doorbell jokes, thankyou) nearly three millennia earlier. The “virtual autopsy” shows him to have had a clubfoot and he owned about a hundred walking sticks as a consequence, strangely held in the wrong hand. DNA evidence appears to show his parents (Akhenaten and the “Younger Lady) to be…
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I would recommend Mercedes Rochelle’s post here http://mercedesrochelle.com/wordpress/?p=719 : a discussion of Harold II’s possible remains. Just to emphasise a few points: 1) “forensic evidence in the 1950s was not exacting” – it wasn’t in the 1930s either, as we know. 2) Richard III is unquestionably the template for such cases. First, find your location.…
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Many of you will remember Annette Carson’s contribution to last March’s Leicester conference, describing Edward, Earl of Warwick, as the “Third Prince”. He, barred by his father’s attainder, was just as significant as his cousins but we know that he was treated well throughout Richard III’s reign. From almost the day that that ended, he…
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Colin Pitchfork was a bakery worker who raped and murdered two teenage girls in and around Narborough between 1983-6. Although the culprit’s blood type and semen sample could be determined, the remaining evidence still left a tenth of the adult male population as subjects. (Sir) Alec Jeffreys’ DNA analysis technique had only been outlined in…
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In everything I’ve ever read about Cicely/Cecily, daughter of Edward lV, and her last marriage, to Thomas Kymbe/Keymes/Kyme/Kymbe, various spellings, there is a question mark over their supposed children. No proof, no further history and so on. Yet today, on reading Perkin, A Story of Deception by Ann Wroe, in the Epilogue about Perkin’s wife,…
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Before I go further, let me point out that this is not the chalice I refer to, merely how I think it could have looked. The real thing might have been encrusted with pearls and rubies. On December 13th, 2000, a gentleman named Adrian Fray posted an interesting item about a gold chalice that had…
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We have had a few views recently, asking “why was arthur pole executed?”. Well, we don’t think he was. There were several Arthur Poles: 1) The first (Sir Arthur, 1502-35) was probably the youngest son of the Countess of Salisbury but there are no suggestions that he died from other than natural causes. 2) The…
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Some people who are fond of Wales are also fond of the dynasty founded by Henry VII because they perceive it as ‘Welsh’. They tend to overlook that Edward IV and Richard III were descended from a real Welsh Prince, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth. This was recognised at the time by Welsh commentators in the case…