religion
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Well, I’m shocked that such bribery, skulduggery and jostling for position should go on among the bishops and abbots of medieval England. Holy men shouldn’t behave like this! I’m afraid that when I read the following passages from this article, concerning events in the reign of Henry II, it conjured one of those old black-and-white…
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Sad to say, when I lived in a country cottage, the only things I ever found in the garden were broken clay pipes (a lot!) and fragments of pottery and china, of which blue and white were by far the main colour. Did I find one coin, let alone 63? Well, a well-worn penny…
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The Audley Case of 1431 Redux
Alianore Holland, Caversham Park, Church courts, Constance of York, Despencers, Edmund Earl of Kent, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, English Common Law, Gandhi, Gian Maria Visconti, Henry IV, Isabel le Despenser, James Lord Audley, Joan of Navarre, Kathryn Warner, Lucia Visconti, Margaret Duchess of Clarence, Milan, Mortimer plot, Owain Glyn Dwr, possible bigamy, restored lands, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, secret marriage, St Mary Overy, the Beauforts., WalesWe originally posted on this issue here. In summary, in 1431 or thereabouts, Alianore, Lady Audley, and her husband James were trying to demonstrate in the Church court that Alianore was legitimate and thus the heiress of her father, Edmund, Earl of Kent by Constance of York. Kent’s surviving sisters and the heirs of the…
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Southwark Cathedral, although only just across the Thames from St Paul’s and Westminster, has never received the same close attention of its rivals. At least, so it seems to me. Then, at the turn of the millenium, excavations began that led archaeologists back through time. A long time, because the cathedral’s beginnings stretch back over…
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I know there are different ways of spelling one word…especially when it comes to the British/US versions (we’re separated by the same language, right?) but sometimes I come across a word that I have only ever seen spelled one way, yet it suddenly pops up with an extra “s”. In this instance the word is…
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Yes, I’m saying it again: one does learn something new every day. This time it’s an explanation of the phrase ‘Year of Grace’. I had not really given it any thought at all, imagining it simply meant the year granted by God’s Grace. Well, in point of fact, it does mean that, but not in…
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Here is a Telegraph documented article about Richard III’s distribution of money and other gifts at Christmas. Helpfully, they estimate the current value of some of his expenditure. Without mentioning any of Richard’s contemporaries, I am reminded of “Hey, Big Spender” reducing Ernie Wise to tears …
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The English Medieval Cathedral
Association of English Cathedrals, Canterbury Cathedral, Cathedrals, Durham Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, Lichfield Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral, Palm Sunday, Peterborough Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral, St. Edmund’s cathedral, Wakefield Cathedral, Wells Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Winchester Cathedral, Worcester CathedralDurham Cathedral in the moonlight.. Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com A familiar sight to both medieval royalty and commoners alike our Cathedrals soar above us, centuries old, constant, enduring, and kind of reassuring. There is nothing more thrilling as you approach a cathedral city than the first glimpse of their cathedral appearing on the horizon. So…
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Was the 3rd Duke of York like his youngest son in appearance….?
appearance, beards, churches, Cirencester, Edmund of Langley, Edmund of Rutland, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, hair colour, Holands, Humphrey of Gloucester, Joan of Kent, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, Richard III, Sir Anthony Wydeville, stained glass, The Shrewsbury Book, Trinity College, William CaxtonWhen I posted on my Facebook page that it had been suggested to me I write an M&B article about the physical appearance of the 3rd Duke of York, a friend commented: “. . . .According to John Ashdown Hill’s biography of Cecily, he was probably tall because of some poem written about how…