religion
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St Cuthbert was one of Richard’s favoured saints, being associated with the north of England, but who was he? Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c. 634/5 – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in Northumbria, today in northern…
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It is said that almost every European, statistically, is descended from Charlemagne, and one of his descendants was Richard III. Here is one of the possible pedigrees from Richard to Charlemagne (as Charlemagne had many children via numerous women, there are likely to be several routes from Richard to him). It’s in three parts –…
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St Valentine’s Day has been celebrated on February 14th since the 6th century, but who was St. Valentine and why is his saint’s day associated with love? The Church actually recognizes three Valentines in its list of saints. Each St. Valentine had his feast day on February 14. So he could have been Valentine, a…
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So here is one of John Ashdown-Hill‘s lesser-known articles, delineating the build-up to and consequences of the death of the last Mowbray Duke of Norfolk in January 1475/6. It shows the descent of the senior Mowbrays from Edward I and tells how his daughter‘s title was hijacked by Edward IV for his own son and…
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“….UK conservators knit together thousands of pictures taken at Angers Cathedral of Saint Maurille paintings….” It was while reading this article—https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/01/03/medieval-wall-paintings-hidden-in-a-french-cathedral-revealed-in-digital-imagery—that I learned of a worthy decade-long project by UK conservationists that has revealed some magnificent medieval wall paintings “….in all their multi-coloured splendour for the first time in more than 500 years….” The paintings,…
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While reading Francis Pryor’s book Britain in the Middle Ages: An Archaeological History, I came upon an example of medieval graffiti that is to be found in the Church of St Mary, Ashwell, Herts. Inside the wall of the west tower is a Latin verse which captures the horror, fear and guilt felt by survivors…
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THE MYSTERY OF HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK’S HEAD
“Princes”, Admiral Thomas Seymour, Anne Boleyn, Anne Mowbray, coronations, Edward VI, executions, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, Lady Elizabeth Grey, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, Lady Frances Brandon, Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Mary Grey, lords protector, Minories, mouat, National Portrait Gallery, Poor Clare’s convent, rebellions, Richard of Shrewsbury, severed heads, Sir George Scharf, Sir Thomas Wyatt, st botolph aldgateHenry Grey was the father of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days’ Queen. A great grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, through her son , Thomas, from her first marriage to Sir John Grey, he married Frances Brandon, daughter Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, so their children, three girls named Jane, Katherine and Mary, had a…
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Was Henry VIII the sole guilty party in his marriage to Katherine of Aragon….?
“The King’s Great Matter”, 17th Earl of Warwick, Anne Boleyn, Bessie Bount, Catholic Monarchs, Catholicism, Church of Englad, Edward IV, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Woodville, Extreme religious devotions, Ferdinand and Isabella, Henry Fitzroy, Henry VII, Henry VIII, infertility, Jane Seymour, John of Gloucester, Katherine of Aragon, Lord Privy Seal, Ludlow, Mary Boleyn, Perkin Warbeck, Philip II of Spain, Pope Clement VII, Pope Julius II, Post-partum infections, Prince Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, Prohibited degree, Protestantism, Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester, Spanish Armada, Spanish Inquisition, Ten Commandments, The ReformationJust look at the above portrait of Katherine/Catherine/Catalina of Aragon (https://tinyurl.com/3auwsmsf). This is her in 1502-1509, between losing her first husband, Prince Arthur (Tudor), (https://tinyurl.com/53n9mbd6) and marrying his younger brother, who had by then been King Henry VIII for about a month, (https://www.royal.uk/henry-viii). She and Prince Arthur had wed in November 1501, when he was…
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