The New Murrey and Blue blog

religion

Oh, the bells, the bells….!

Jan 13, 2019

buildings, religion

Bishop of Worcester, Black Death, disputes, Edward III, Gloucestershire, Henry VIII, lightning, Winchcombe Abbey

Natural disasters were not to only thing to bring chaos to the great Benedictine abbey at beautiful Winchcombe in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. Not just the 1091 lightning strike on the tower of the Abbey church of St Mary, which opened up “a huge crack in the walls, large enough for a man to pass through…
Schrodinger’s royal marriages?

Jan 4, 2019

anniversaries, humour, law, religion

“Perkin”, adultery, Anne Boleyn, annulments, Catherine of Aragon, dispensations, executions, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Katherine Howard, Low Countries, paradox, Treason Acts, Tyburn

Anne Boleyn and then Katherine Howard thought they had married Henry VIII. Then he annulled them both, as he did with his first and fourth weddings, such that they were deemed to have been invalid from the start. However, he had these second and fifth Queens executed for treason in that they committed adultery whilst…
I wonder …

Dec 31, 2018

anniversaries, humour, religion, The play’s the thing

A Hard Day’s Night, Clarence Sale, Josephine Tewson, Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Plantagenet Evans, rhyming slang, Ronnie Barker, Seven of One, The Two Ronnies

Was the late Ronnie Barker a Ricardian? He made something of a habit of referring to Richard’s family. In “The Two Ronnies”: His rhyming slang vicar spoke of “a small brown Richard III” (bird), The pair did a Shakespeare scene mentioning as many television programmes as they could (eg “…the Tyrannies…” for themselves), Peter Sellers…
HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS-THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF ST THOMAS BECKET

Dec 29, 2018

anniversaries, buildings, humour, religion

assassination attempts, Canterbury Cathedral, GRU, Henry II, Putin, Salisbury Cathedral, terrorism, Thomas Becket, tourism

Well, folks, even in 1170 it seems they were hell-bent on giving out improbable excuses! (This amusing cartoon parodying the recent events in Salisbury made me smile.)
How strict was medieval royal court mourning at Christmas….?

Dec 25, 2018

anniversaries, buildings, culture, religion, sources

Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, ceremonies, Christmas, Edward of Middleham, Elizabeth of York, Ireland, Isabella de Valois, Joanna, John, Manuel, mourning, Richard II, Richard III, Rous Roll, Sheen

I know I have (more than once!) written of a strange string of coincidences connecting Richards II and III and their queens, both named Anne. Now I have come upon another question that puzzles me. It is well known that Richard II loved his Anne deeply, and was distraught when she died suddenly in the summer…
Christmas 1483 at the court of Richard III….

Dec 24, 2018

culture, religion

Anne Neville, Christmas, Edward of Middleham, Richard III

What was Christmas like for Richard III? I’m thinking particularly of 1483, his first as king. He still had both his wife and child, and the future must have looked set for a long and prosperous reign. He was only to have two Christmases as king, and by 1484 he and Anne had lost their…
Henry VI….two kings for the price of one….?

Dec 16, 2018

anniversaries, art, religion

Coronation, France, Henry VI, National Library of the Netherlands

We all know Henry VI, saintly and incompetent, with a French Fury for a wife. Well, that’s how the tradition goes. But do we all know that he was also crowned King of France? You can read about it here.
Is it time to exhume Cardinal Wolsey?

Nov 29, 2018

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, law, religion

Abbey Park, burial sites, Catherine of Aragon, Grand Union Canal, Henry VIII, high treason, Ipswich, King’s Great Matter, Leicester Abbey, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Richard III, Richard Pescall, Soar, St. Margaret’s Church Leicester, St. Nicholas’ Street Ipswich, Thomas Wolsey, Wolsey’s Gate, York

Thomas Wolsey was born in Ipswich, apparently in March 1473, to Joan Daundy and Robert Wolsey, who seems to have been a butcher and may possibly have been killed at Bosworth. Opposite his birthplace, in St. Nicholas’ Street, is this seated statue (below). His local achievements include Wolsey’s Gate and, after about 475 years, the…
Richard III expert to help determine if headless skeleton is the ‘hero’ of Jamestown….

Nov 13, 2018

anniversaries, archaeology, genealogy, religion

America, churches, facial reconstruction, Jamestown, Kevin Schurer, Leicester University, Lord de la Warr, Native Americans, Richard III, Sir George Yeardley, Turi King

Nothing to do with Richard—except obliquely—but the parallels are interesting anyway.
The strict etiquette of Elizabeth Woodville’s churching….

Oct 23, 2018

anniversaries, Book Reviews, law, religion, sources, travel

Bohemia, Charles the Bold, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, George Duke of Clarence, Hakluyt Society, hospitality. etiquette, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Leo of Rozmital, Margaret of Burgundy, Privy Council, Richard III, Richard of Warwick

The Travels of Leo of Rozmital in the 15th century are fascinating, and if you register (free) for a virtual library card here you can read about them for 14 days. You can access up to five books all told. Between 1465 and 1467 Leo (a Bohemian nobleman and celebrated jouster who died this day in…