law
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The Bishop, the MP, the scientist, the historian and the brewer
brewing, chaplains, clerical celibacy, de heretico comburendo, Edward IV, Edward VI, Essex, executions, Henry VIII, Hugh Latimer, illegitimacy, Jasper Ridley, JD Wetherspoon, John Knox, Mary I, Matt Ridley, MPs, Nicholas Ridley, Nicholas Ridley MP, Northumbria, Old St. Paul’s, Oxford, Professor Jane Ridley, Ralph Shaa, sermons, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Tewkesbury, Thomas Cranmer, University of Buckingham, VictoriaThe preacher at St. Paul’s stated that the late King’s surviving issue were illegitimate. On this occasion, it wasn’t Dr. Ralph Shaa on 22nd June 1483 about Edward IV’s sons but Rt. Rev. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and Westminster, on 9 July 1553 about Henry VIII’s daughters, at which time Jane was proclaimed. As…
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Throughout history, members of royal families have not always died peacefully in bed. Some have abdicated, like Edward VIII, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and, this very month, the Japanese Emperor Akihito. Some were despatched bloodily, like Mary, Queen of Scots, Charles I and, of course, Richard III. Those who died peacefully in their beds…
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Mumpsimus is a word that may have originated with Erasmus, but of which I had never heard. It means “adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy”. In William Tyndale‘s 1530 book Practice of Prelates, the word was used in the sense of…
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John Ashdown-Hill’s last book, a biography of Elizabeth Wydville, was published in July. To mark this, it is time to compare the flow of her life with that of his other subject Lady Eleanor Talbot (1). Generally, Lady Eleanor’s social status, as determined by their fathers and husbands is higher at any point, or even relative to…
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Has mtDNA identified Jack the Ripper?
Aaron Kosminski, BBC1, blood, Catherine Eddowes, Colney Hatch, Daily Mail, David Wilson, Jari Louhelainen, Jesse James, John Ashdown-Hill, Leicester University, Live Science, Liverpool John Moores University, mtDNA evidence, Nicholas II, Paul Begg, peer review, probability, Richard III, Ripperology, Russell Edwards, semen, Turi King, Whitechapel murders“Ripperology” is quite a confused subject and at least a dozen suspects have been conclusively “identified as the Whitechapel fiend. Nevertheless, this article and the book detailed within, if taken at face value, uses the scientific techniques that identified Richard III, Jesse James, Nicholas II and others to claim to solve the East London riddle…
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BOOK REVIEW
“Perkin”, “Princes”, ambition, Archbishop Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, attainder, Battle of Bosworth, Cardinal, Domenico Mancini, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, Edward V, Francis Bacon, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VI, Henry VII, illegitimacy, inheritance, James IV, John Morton, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, Master of the Rolls, Milanese Ambassador, Morton’s Fork, Polydore Vergil, rebellion, Richard III, Robert Cecil, Stuart Bradley, Tewkesbury, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Thomas Wolsey, Titulus Regius, Towton, William Cecil, William Lord Hastings, WydevillesStuart Bradley – JOHN MORTON: adversary of Richard III, power behind the Tudors (Amberley 2019) John Morton served the English crown for a almost forty years during one of the most turbulent periods in English history. He wielded considerable influence at the courts of three kings. First, in the Lancastrian household of Henry VI:…
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This Mail on Sunday interview with Jonathan Rhys Meyers is sadly, mostly about his current personal problems. However, one or two paragraphs towards the end, should be of interest: But it was his lead role in TV drama The Tudors, as the criminally charismatic Henry VIII, that made everyone take note, even though Rhys Meyers…
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Henry VI: saint or sinner?
“Nicholas of the Tower”, Adam Moleyns, Archbishop Kemp, aristocratic lawlessness, Azincourt, Bertram Wolffe, biographies, Calais, Cardinal Beaufort, Charles VI, Charles VII, Christine Carpenter, debt, deposition, Duke of Orleans, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Eton, feudalism, First Battle of St. Albans, France, Great Council, Harfleur, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Humphrey of Gloucester, Hundred Years War, impeachment, insanity, Ireland, Jack Cade, John Blacman, John Duke of Bedford, John Duke of Suffolk, John Harvey, John Watts, Kent, King’s College Cambridge, Lord Protector of the Realm, majority, Margaret d’Anjou, Normandy, Parliamentary Roll, Polydore Vergil, Ralph Griffiths, Ralph Lord Cromwell, Readeption, Richard Duke of York, treason, Valois, Wakefield, William Duke of Suffolk, William TailboysA gentle and devotional life About seventy years ago, the historian John Harvey wrote this in an essay about King Henry VI: “The life and death, and the thwarting of his noble designs are one (sic) of the sorriest tragedies of English history. He was a victim of forces outside his control, for whose existence…
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