heraldry
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If you go to this link https://tinyurl.com/5t4nyjfb, from which the above photograph is taken, you’ll learn of the following: “….The 2025 Season of monthly history talks and guided tours of St Matthew’s Church at Coldridge [Devon] re-start on Thursday, February 27…. “….Two tours will be held on the day, bookable in advance, starting at 11am…
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I’ve just watched a rather unusual TV programme on Sky History channel. It was presented by Omid Djalili and he explored the Battle of Bosworth with the help of various experts and also two psychics! At first I was sceptical. I am open-minded when it comes to the paranormal (I have had some pretty strange…
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I confess that when I wrote the article The disgraceful second marriage of the unpleasant 3rd Earl of Arundel…. – murreyandblue, {21/9} I thought such marital chicanery was a one-off (Henry VIII excepted!) I certainly didn’t expect to happen upon another instance. This second example of heir-shuffling isn’t as easy to explain as Arundel’s, however,…
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I recently watched an episode of Antiques Road Trip in which a sequence was set in Hedingham Castle in Essex. It was Series 11, Episode 23, in which art experts Mark Stacy and Thomas Plant travelled through Essex and Suffolk on their way to an auction in Cambridgeshire. I fear I have not been able…
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There are all sorts of stories about why Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, was called the Black Prince, from the colour of his armour to his reputation as a ferocious warrior and the grim expression on his face. I’ve also read that it wasn’t a name given to him until well after his death.…
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Corfe Castle is not only one of our most beautiful castles, rising above its namesake village in Dorset, it has also featured dramatically throughout our history, as you can read here https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/corfe-castle/the-history-of-corfe-castle. We are right proud of our heritage, which gives us so much, but we’re not always too hurried about looking after it. Corfe…
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According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Murenger_House) in Newport, South Wales, there stands Ye Olde Murenger House. It is a 19th-century public house with a mock Tudor façade that stands on the site of the 17th-century Fleur de Lys, “…a single-storey stone structure that was demolished in 1816….” Should you wonder what murenger means, it’s the name given to…
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The de Courcy Matter Part I: According to English records….
Anne of Bohemia, Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Thomas Arundel, banishment, boulogne, Calais, Catherine de Valois, Charles d’Orleans, Charles VI, churches, dolls, France, gold harts, governesses, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VII, Hundred Years War, Ireland, Isabelle de Valois, jewel theft, John of Gaunt, Ladies of the Garter, Lancastrians, livery badges, marguerite lady de coucy, Owain Tudor, Richard II, Rockingham, St. George’s Day, Terry Jones, usurpation, Who murdered chaucerMarguerite, Lady de Courcy, was the French governess of Richard II’s second wife, the child-bride Isabelle of Valois. This article, Part I, tells the generally known English version of what led to Marguerite’s return to France. I will begin with Richard’s obligation to remarry after the death of Anne of Bohemia, with whom he had…
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Some manmade boars are downright ugly, but some are really handsome. My daughter spotted this splendid fellow at the Blue Diamond Garden Centre in Nailsworth, Glos. A fine addition to any Ricardian’s garden! £399 and he’s yours. There he was, posing at the front with all his companions. Unfortunately my daughter didn’t have a spare…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 