The New Murrey and Blue blog

religion

Henry of Derby’s “family” wasn’t his family at all….

Apr 15, 2022

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, religion, travel

Catherine de Roet, German warriors, Henry IV, Jerusalem, John Earl of Somerset, Mary de Bohun, Ottoman Empire, pilgrimage, Prussia, Sir Hugh Swynford, The Camden Society, Thomas Swynford

Research has recently taken me all over 14th-century Europe, and in the course of this I happened upon the information that wives did not accompany embassies. Well, I’ve now acquired a book entitled Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land made by Henry Earl of Derby, published by The Camden Society. The future Henry…
Religion can be the death of us….

Apr 13, 2022

anniversaries, law, religion

Anne Boleyn, executions, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Henry VIII, Reformation, Thomas More

Oh, the perils of religion. It seems to turn up behind most things throughout history. Certainly it prompted More and Fawkes, and was used quite shamelessly by Henry VIII so he could have Anne Boleyn. And even today it’s still the reason for most conflicts around the world. This article only deals with…
The curse of a medieval well near Liverpool…

Apr 10, 2022

archaeology, buildings, religion

executions, Liverpool, mediaeval curses, ploughing, St. Anne’s Well, trenches

While looking for examples of medieval curses, e.g. the terrible doom-laden threats screamed from someone burning at the stake, I came upon this site. Considering how close to the surface the well is, I find it astonishing that all those years of ploughing haven’t wrought more damage, but then I’m told that in the…
Edward V, the Coldridge Mystery and the Telegraph article

Apr 9, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, religion, Science, sources

“Princes”, Bill Gardner, Canterbury Cathedral, churches, Coldridge, Daily Telegraph, Devon, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth Roberts, fetterlock and falcon, Henry VII, Jean Molinet, John Dike, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mtDNA, Old Deer Park, open crown, Philippa Langley, Richard III, Robert Markenfield, Sir John Evans, stained glass, Stoke Field, sunne in splendour, The Dublin King, The Missing Princes Project, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, white rose, Yorkist emblems

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Stained glass image of Edward V in the Evans chapel at Coldridge Church. Image has been verified as being of Edward V by stained glass experts Brooks and Cherry as well as the Keeper of Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo Photo Dale Cherry Here is a…
More Royal ancestry

Apr 8, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, Science, television reviews, The play’s the thing

actresses, Alexander Armstrong, Arthur Capell Baron Hadham, astronomy, Barings Bank, Battle of Surbiton, bigamy, burials, Careys, Clare Balding, comedians, Dame Judi Dench, Danny Dyer, Dartmoor, Denmark, Duke of Hamilton, Edict of Nantes, Edward IV, Elsinore, English Civil War, executions, France, Frank Gardner, Groom of the Stool, Guildenstern, Hamlet, Henry Earl of Holland, Henry VIII, Hugenots, illegitimacy, Ireland, Joe Sugg, Josh Widdicombe, Lettice Knollys, Mark Wright, Mary Boleyn, Military Cross, Normandy, Ophelia, religious persecution, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Rosencrantz, royal palaces, Sabine Baring-Gould, secret marriage, Tom Stoppard, Trenchard Manor, Tycho Brahe, Westminster Abbey, Who do you think you are?, Will Kemp, William Shakespeare

Who do you think you are? has now completed eighteen series as British television’s predominant genealogy programmes. In that time, with an average of eight episodes per series, they have uncovered many celebrities with interesting lineage and some unexpected royal descendants, including Alexander Armstrong, Clare Balding, Danny Dyer, Frank Gardner and Sir Matthew Pinsent. Now…
Unwanted heirs? The Mortimers in the 1390s

Apr 7, 2022

genealogy, law, religion, sources

Duke of Surrey, Dukes, dynastic succession, Edmund of Langley, Edward Duke of York, Ian Mortimer, Ireland, John Hastings Earl of Pembroke, Knights of the Garter, Parliament, precedence, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Shrewsbury Parliament, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Thomas Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, Westminster Chronicle

It has been established now that Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, was declared heir to the throne by Parliament in 1386 – not 1385 as commonly believed. This Parliament was very much at odds with Richard II (it set up a one-year Commission to run most of his affairs, much to Richard’s displeasure.) So it…
KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Apr 6, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, sources, The play’s the thing

AA Milne, Angevin bloodline, Anglicanism, annulment, Arthur of Brittany, Ascension Day, authorship, avarice, Barons, burials, Cardinal Pandulph, character, charles forker, clergymen, Crowland Chronicle, Defender of the Faith, Earls of Essex, Edward Hall, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Eucharist, excommunication, Fauconbridge brothers, Geoffrey Plantagenet, George Peel, graham Seel, Henry, Henry the Young King, Henry VIII, Historiography, House of York, Hubert de Bergh, Innocent III, John, john Bale, John Dover-Wilson, John Gillingham, John Harvey, John Matusiak, John Wycliffe, Kit Marlowe, Lackland, Louis VIII, Magna Carta, male primogeniture, Mary I, Maude Plantagenet, Mirabeau, morality plays, Phillip Augustus, plays, Polydore Vergil, Ralph Holinshed, recusants, Reformation, Richard Green, Richard Hunne, Richard I, Robin Hood, royal burials, sir brian vickers, Sir James Holt, Six Articles, Softsword, Staffords, stephen langton, Stuarts, Tillyard, Walt Disney, Wilfred Warren, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, Worcester Cathedral

KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION King John was not a good man, He had his little ways. And sometimes no one spoke to him For days and days and days. And men who came across him, When walking in the town, Gave him a supercilious stare, Or passed with noses in the air, And…
James I: Scotland’s Lancastrian King

Apr 4, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, religion, sources

assassination, authoritarianism, captivity, castles, de heretico comburendo, executions, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, James I, Joan “Beaufort”, Lollards, Murdoch Duke of Albany, Pavel Kravar, Perth Blackfriars, ransom, Robert Duke of Albany, Scotichronicon, Southwark Cathedral, Walter Bower

Here is an excellent Gordon McKelvie article from History Extra about the king who was prisoner, hostage and then guest of the three Lancastrian kings, before marrying Henry V‘s cousin in Southwark Cathedral and going home to reign in person, heavily influenced in style by his former hosts, as the Stewarts of Albany and “Paul…
Who gave up on the Royal Touch….?

Apr 3, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, culture, religion, The play’s the thing

angels, coins, Edward IV, Elizabeth I, Henry III, Henry VII, Macbeth, Royal Touch, scrofula, Shakespeare Schools Foundation, St. Edward the Confessor, Winchester Cathedral

According to this article, “….The Royal Touch and King Edward the Confessor’s healing powers were so well known that, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Shakespeare referenced them in his play Macbeth. This is unsurprising however, as Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry VII, had reintroduced the concept in the late 15th century….” So, if the Royal Touch was known to have…
A thing of beauty from the unlovely Henry VII….

Apr 2, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

Arthur “Tudor”, builders, Henry VII, Henry VII Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey

Accepting facts is sometimes difficult. For instance, how could a man like Henry Tudor (who was vile on the outside and inside) leave to posterity a thing of such immense beauty as the his chapel in Westminster Abbey? No doubt he screwed every groat from his architect and stonemasons. They may have wondered if…