Henry IV
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I’m writing this because of the article you’ll find at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/5vrc3c6z. Yet again there is a certain economy with the truth where Richard II is concerned. Because of this, we may not know much about Wat Tyler, one of the leaders of the so-called Peasants’ Revolt, but we sure as heck know…
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I’m afraid that to my mind Thomas Arundel was a very unpleasant creep. Given full rein, he’d have been England’s Torquemada! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_de_Torquemada) The fellow had no redeeming features that I could see. He was everything that was vile and obnoxious about the high-ranking Men of God of his time. More the Baby-eating Archbishop of Bath…
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We always bunch the participants in the Peasants’ Revolt together as something akin to Bulwer-Lytton’s great unwashed . But were they the great unwashed? No, according to new research. (See https://theconversation.com/who-were-the-peasants-of-the-1381-peasants-revolt-new-database-has-answers-278011.) Many of them were almost wealthy by 14th-century standards, and women played a great part in what happened. What they didn’t have was armour!…
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This link https://www.thecollector.com/british-royal-melodramas/ is an interesting accompaniment to your morning tea/coffee, and it’s Number Four in the list, Cousins in Conflict: Wars of the Roses, that will interest Ricardians the most. So I’ll deal with that and not the others, which are yours to read as you please. Two King Richards figure in the commentary,…
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The following contains my comments on this review (https://www.pressreader.com/uk/yorkshire-post-yp-magazine/20260124/282218017200594) of the book “The Eagle and the Hart” by Helen Castor. The reviewer (Greg Wright of YP Magazine) remarks that the “dazzling [book] has the pace of a thriller”. Well, it’s certain a work of fiction. Here is a small extract of the review, to set…