The New Murrey and Blue blog

religion

That’ll be 1,000 eels in yearly rent, sir….

Aug 26, 2021

culture, religion

Easter, eels, fish, Gloucestershire

If there’s one thing that I loathe, it’s wriggling, wormy, serpentine creatures. Worst of all, I’m ashamed to say, is the humble garden worm. Ugh! I don’t harm them, I simply avoid them. Eels are on my list as well, especially when they used to writhe and slither up the little streams and ditches (as…
Richard III and the Ancient Egyptian cheese….!

Aug 25, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Ancient Egypt, Anglo-Saxons, anthropology, Armenia, Azerbaijan, bamboo strips, barley, Battle of Bosworth, BBC, beer, Blombos cave, board games, Canada, cave art, cheese, China, Ciampate del Diavolo, Clotilda, Cote d’Ivoire, Erebus, gold, human hair, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, King Herod, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars, mammoths, Mary Stuart, multiplication tables, Northwest Passage, nutcrackers, Pembrokeshire, Philippa Langley, quarry, Richard III, Roman villa, royal portraits, royal tombs, Russia, sculptures, shoes, Sir John Franklin, Sir John Maitland, skulls, slave ship, South Africa, Staffordshire Hoard, Stonehenge, storytelling, tomb of Ptahmes, USA, Wiltshire, X-rays

In this intriguing list of twenty , the discovery of Richard III’s remains comes in at number two! He was pipped at the post by an extremely old cheese from Egypt. Eh? Old cheese? Sorry, but can that possibly be more important than Richard? It doesn’t even have King Tut’s fingerprints or teethmarks! 😦 Oh…
What really happened with Princess Cecily’s first two marriages….?

Aug 24, 2021

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, law, religion, sources

“Princes”, Alexander Stewart Duke of Albany, annulments, Barons Scrope of Bolton, Battle of Bosworth, Bishop of Durham, british History Online, Cicely Plantagenet, Complete Peerage, consanguinity, dispensations, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward III, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Essex, Gaynesparc, Hatfield, Isle of Wight, James III, James IV, Joan “Beaufort”, Joan of Kent, John Scrope of Bolton, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, Lionel Baron Welles, Margaret Beauchamp, pardons, plots, Ralph Scrope, Richard Fox, Richard III, royal marriages, Scotland, Scottish campaign 1482, Scropes of Masham, Sharon Champion, Thomas Holland, Thomas Kymbe, Tony Riches, Tower of London, Viscount Welles

The following extract is from Not So Fortunate As Fair’: The Life of Princess Cecily Plantagenet by Sharon Champion:- “….At the age of five, she [Cecily] was betrothed to James, the infant son and heir of James III of Scotland. John 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton was sent as commissioner to negotiate a contract of…
Digging up our monarchs; no, not Richard III this time….!

Aug 17, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Bohemia, Banqueting House, burial, Catherine de Valois, Charles I, childbirth, death, Edward I, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, executions, Exhumation, George IV, Greenwich Palace, Henry II, James VII/II, John, King’s Langley, Leicester, Newark Castle, Old St. Paul’s, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard III, Samuel Pepys, Society of Antiquaries, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Peter ad Vincula, St. Thomas Becket, Tower of London, Victoria, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Worcester Cathedral

I’m told that even now, if you purchase a plot of ground in which to put your loved ones to rest, the chances are they’ll only lie in peace for eighty years, at which time they are removed and new occupants move in. Well, for centuries our dead haven’t always been left to enjoy their…
THE BISHOP’S PALACE IN WIVELISCOMBE

Aug 15, 2021

buildings, law, religion

archways, Bishop Drokensford, Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury, Bishop’s Palace Wiveliscombe, Bishops of Bath and Wells, Oliver King, Reformation, Robert Stillington

The remains of a summer Palace belonging to the Bishops of Bath and Wells has been discovered in the village of Wiveliscombe in Somerset. The 13th century palace had fallen into disuse after the Reformation and lay in ruins by the 1700’s…when the site was built over and subsequently lost, with the exception of an…
A PERIOD DEPICTION OF EDWARD IV & ELIZABETH WOODVILLE

Aug 14, 2021

anniversaries, buildings, religion, sources

Barnard Castle, double chin, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, illuminated manuscripts, John Rylands Library, stone corbel, University of Manchester

Recently I came across these two roundels from a late medieval manuscript, held in the John Rylands Library, which depict Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville seated on thrones, crowned and holding their sceptres. These two miniatures are extremely colourful even after the intervening 500 + years and hold lots of interesting details, including, in the…
Walking “Tudor” England

Aug 10, 2021

battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews, travel

“Bloody Mary”, “Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Arthur “Tudor”, Ashdown Forest, attainder, Austin Friars, bear-baiting, Bishops of London, Bridewell Palace, brothels, Cambridge, cannon, Channel Five, Christopher Hatton, Clifford’s Tower, conspiracies, dancing, de heretico comburendo, Dutch refugees, East Midlands, Edmund Bonner, Edward of Buckingham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, excommunication, executions, exile, fire, Framlingham Castle, Fulham Palace, Greenwich Palace, Grey-Dudley rebellion, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Hampton Court, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII, Hever Castle, James VI/I, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, John Foxe, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Katherine Howard, Kenilworth Castle, Kenninghall, Kett Rebellion, Leicester, London, Lord Chancellor, Lord Guildford Dudley, Margaret Clitherow, Mary Stuart, Mass, Michelham Priory, naval power, Nicholas Ridley, Northern Earls’ Rebellion, Norwich, Penshurst Place, Pilgrimage of Grace, Pontefract, Portsmouth, recusants, Ripon Cathedral, Robert Aske, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, royal barges, royal hunting estates, Rushton Triangular Lodge, severed heads, Sir Henry Dudley, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Southwark, St. Mary’s Abbey, Stamford, Suzannah Lipscomb, The Globe, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Stafford, tobacco, torture, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Will Kemp, William Cecil, William Shakespeare, Wyatt Rebellion, Yorkshire Museum

Suzannah Lipscomb has just completed another series on Channel Five, this time visiting the sites related to the “Tudors”. In the first episode, she concentrated on Henry VIII and the naval power he inherited from John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The second was principally about the penultimate “Tudor”, Mary I, as well as Edward VI…
A new documentary about Shakespeare….

Aug 9, 2021

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

Alice Loxton, Dan Snow, secret marriage, Stratford, William Shakespeare

Dan Snow (who married in secret, although nobody has ever done that) and Alice Loxton have been filming in Stratford-upon-Avon for a new documentary about Shakespeare, to be released in September. I do hope it’s sensible!
Henry I is probably under a nursery school, and might be best left there….!

Aug 2, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

bastardy, Henry I, Historia Anglorum, Kingfinder General, Matilda, murder, New Forest, nursery schools, Reading Abbey, Robert Curthose, royal burials, Walter Tirel, White Ship Disaster, William II

There are kings…and there are admirable kings. I’m afraid that from what I’ve heard about Henry I, he’s best left where he is! My friend hoodedman has written: “….It’s funny how Henry is not regarded as a controversial king despite maybe being implicated in his brother’s death in the New Forest, kept another brother…
The Bacon family and the Quaplode boar….

Jul 30, 2021

buildings, genealogy, heraldry, humour, religion

Bacon family, boars, Coddenham, Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire, Lowestoft, Quaplode family, Shrubland Hall, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Whaplode, Whaplode Riots

As is natural, Ricardians are always interested in heraldry depicting boars. And one might expect a family named Bacon to sport a member of the family Suidae on its escutcheon. However, it seems the connection between Bacon and boars is not at the root of it:- “….You may think that the boar is a pun…