genealogy
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I am not sure that every Ricardian will have survived watching the first two series of BBC2’s “The Tudors”, as first mentioned here, with its historical anachronisms, miscasting in some roles, confused chronology and obsession with bedroom scenes. Nevertheless, the third series is showing signs of improvement, particularly with its focus on the Pole family.…
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There was no ‘constitutional’ arrangement in place in the 14thcentury. For many years, father had been succeeded by son, and there had been no need to set out any arrangements for any other contingency. Late in Edward III’s reign, the king, who was losing his faculties and very much under the influence of Gaunt, produced…
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I have seen it asserted recently that Henry VII ruled ‘by right of conquest.’ This may be the de facto position, but it is not the de jure one. Parliament would never have allowed him to claim by conquest – it would have destroyed everyone’s – and I mean everyone’s – title to their lands. (This…
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It was the new film, Into the Storm that started me thinking. Brendan Gleeson plays Winston Churchill and has commented widely on how ironic it is that an Irish actor is in the role. I recalled the rumours that Churchill fathered Brendan Bracken (a red-haired Irish-born MP and wartime Minister) and the fact that he…
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It isn’t even clear with the living, let alone those who have been dead for five hundred years: The current method adopted for verifying the age of cricketers has come under scrutiny from the ICC’s medical council, which met in Dubai recently to discuss a variety of issues that impact the performance of an athlete.…
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Those who have watched this series (http://www.cranfordchronicles.com/ ), based on the Elizabeth Gaskell novels, may have been intrigued by Imelda Staunton’s character, Miss Pole. Could she be, albeit fictionally, a Plantagenet descendant? Unfortunately not. Whilst descendants of the Countess of Salisbury through the female line abound (the principal surnames having been Hastings, Barrington* and Stafford*),…
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We all know how the Plantagenet genes of Richard’s three nieces were hijacked by Henry VII and his relatives (John Viscount Welles was his uncle and Sir Richard Pole was the Weasel’s first cousin) in the immediate aftermath of Bosworth. It took over four centuries for a “Plantagenet” man to marry a “Tudor” woman. This…
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BBC2’s “The Tudors” is back and series three has seen a resumption of the anachronisms. In 1536-7, Pope Paul III is seen referring to Reginald Pole as “Father”. John has confirmed my belief that Pole did not become a priest until 1557 but was a deacon or even a sub-deacon when Paul III created him…
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Ricardians view the 1933 conclusions of Tanner and Wright with considerable suspicion. Tanner and Wright expected the 1674 bone-find at the Tower of London to be the skeletons of two male siblings aged about ten and twelve, because those were the ages of Edward of Westminster and Richard of Shrewsbury in summer 1483, the time…
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