religion
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It seems that William the Conqueror’s corpse “exploded” at his funeral. The thought of an exploding corpse is bad enough without actually seeing it as well. And smelling it, presumably. I can imagine all the mourners scattering in great alarm and haste. And superstitious dread as well, perhaps? Ew. The things one comes across while…
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Returning to Sutton Hoo
“The Dig”, Anglo-Saxons, Basil Brown, Beowulf, British Museum, Bromeswell Bucket, burial mounds, cafe, Carey Mulligan, cornish pasty, Deben, Edith Pretty, exhibition hall, Greek, National Trust, Orford Castle, Raedwald, Ralph Fiennes, Richard III Society, Scandinavia, Seamus Heaney, ship burial, Suffolk, Sutton Hoo, viewing platform, Woodbridge, WuffingsThe Mid Anglia branch of the Richard III society met at Woodbridge railway station and drove to the National Trust’s Sutton Hoo. Sutton Hoo, made famous this year by the release of Netflix’s “The Dig”, starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan, is the site of the Royal burial ground of East Anglia’s 6th, 7th and…
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Edward V and Coldridge: the evidence so far
“halo”, “Lambert Simnel”, “Missing Princes Project”, “Perkin”, “Princes”, “Tudor” rebellions, Bermondsey Abbey, blond hair, Brooks, Cecily Bonville, Chris Brooks, Coldridge, Dan Jones, David Starkey, Deer, denialists, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, Elizabeth Roberts, Elizabeth Wydeville, ermine, Evans chantry, groupthink, height, Henry VII, Henry VIII, heralds, John Ashdown-Hill, John Dike, Journal of Stained Glass, King’s Council, Latin inscriptions, Lord of the Manor, Martin Cherry, mtDNA evidence, Philippa Langley, Richard of Shrewsbury, Robert Markenfield, sanctuary, Sheen, Sir Henry Bodrugan, Sir James Tyrrell, Sir John Evans, Sir John Speke, Stoke Field, sunne in splendour, The Dublin King, The Mythology of the “Princes in the Tower”, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, white roses, William ShakespeareThanks to this Daily Telegraph article last December, the world is now far more aware of the distinct possibility that the former Edward V lived on as “John Evans” at Coldridge in Devon into the reign of Henry VIII, his nephew, as a parker minding deer for his half-brother Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset. In…
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Richard’s other Anglo-Saxon ancestry, inter alia
Anglo-Saxons, Anne Mortimer, Brian Boru, Cecily Neville, de Clares, Diarmaid MacMurchada, Edgar the Atheling, Edith of Scotland, Edmund Ironside, Edward IV, Elgiva, Elizabeth de Burgh, Ethelred II, Henry I, House of Wessex, Hungary, Ireland, Joan “Beaufort”, Lionel of Antwerp, Llewellyn Fawr, Malcolm III, Nevilles, Raby Castle, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Reading Abbey, Richard III, St. Margaret of Wessex, Strathclyde, WalesRichard’s ancient ancestors was composed a few years ago to illustrate Richard III’s descent from heroes of the home nations: Alfred the Great (many times over, but two divergent lines soon afterwards), Malcolm III (Canmore), Llewellyn Fawr and Brian Boru.Slides 2-3 show not just the well-known connection through Edmund II (Ironside), St. Margaret of Wessex and…
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The Bishop’s Palace in Salisbury is one of its oldest buildings…but it is not at all well known. Hidden behind tall walls and gates, with only faint glimpses of stonework through the trees planted in front of it, the Palace is better known today as ‘Salisbury Cathedral School.’ There is no access, other than for…
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We have written twice before about non-existent historical children somehow finding their way into works by a certain modern writer, who is often cited on Wikipedia and repeated by others. In these posts, we referred to “Joan of York”, ostensibly a sister of Richard III, together with those attributed to Henry IV and Mary de…
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I’ve known for a long time that King Arthur wasn’t buried at Glastonbury, but thanks to an incredible example of “seizing the moment”, the monks of the abbey ensured a huge income from pilgrims and tourists who believed their story. Or maybe it wasn’t only the monks, maybe Henry II had something to do…
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This two part series was originally shown on 5Select during December 2021, presented by Tracy Borman from the Tower of London. It went beyond the cliched story of: the brewery in Putney, service to Wolsey, surviving him, the Dissolution, outmanoeuvring Anne Boleyn, setting up the Cleves “marriage” and being sent to the block to encounter…
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We all know that pinpointing Easter in the medieval period is awkward – well, it’s awkward in any period, come to that. I want to know exactly when Easter Day fell in 1394. But do all the clever-clogs sites agree? Nope. They say they give you the correct date, but one of them had moved…
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