Science

A virtual tour of 17th-century London….

Nov 19, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, culture, Science

executions, Great Fire of London, mediaeval London, Robert Hubert, tours, virtual reality

I love virtual video tours of places and have just come upon an excellent one of mediaeval London. Well, 17th-century actually, but to my mind the scenes are appropriate for the 14th-15th centuries. You’ll find the tour here . Just scroll down the page a little. It’s well worth a look.
The art that made us

Nov 8, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, culture, humour, religion, Science, television reviews

Aphra Benn, Armada, Arts and Crafts, Barbara Hepworth, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, BBC2, Beowulf, Black Death, Bloomsbury Group, British Empire, Burns, Charles I, Colonel Blimp, Cool Britannia, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, David Threlfall, Death and the Gallant, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth I, embroidery, English Civil War, Festival of Britain, First World War, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Fire of London, Hanif Kureishi, Harry Potter, Hogarth, Industrial Revolution, Jane Austen, Jarrow march, John Foxe, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, Joshua Reynolds, Julian of Norwich, kitchen sink drama, Llancarfon, Margery Kempe, Mary Stuart, murals, Norman conquest, Oliver Cromwell, Phillip Larkin, Piers Plowman, poetry, pre-Raphaelites, Reformation, Restoration, Richard II, Roman Britain, Rubens, satire, Second World War, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir William Orpen, St. Cadoc’s church, St. Paul’s, stained glass, Stuarts, The art that made us, The Fighting Temeraire, The unknown soldier, Tracey Emin, Trainspotting, Turner, urbanisation, van Dyck, Walter Sickert, Welsh Bible, William Cobbett, William Morgan, William Shakespeare, Wilton Diptych, York Minster

This is another fascinating BBC2 series, illustrating English and British history through the evolution of our art. The eight one-hour episodes, narrated by David Threlfall (Men of the World), feature:The Roman and pre-Roman periods, Beowulf, the Norman conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry; The Black Death, Wilton Diptych, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich,…
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered one hundred years ago today….

Nov 4, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Alexandria, Ancient Egypt, apothecaries, Bible, Cairo, crusaders, curses, Earl of Carnarvon, Hodgkin’s Disease, Howard Carter, Moses, mummified remains, Pharoahs, Red Sea, resin, royal tombs, Sphinx, treasure, Tutankhamun

The Pharaoh Tutankhamun seems to have been part of our lives forever, so it’s hard to believe that his tomb was found just hundred years ago on 4th November 1922. Even the discoverer, Howard Carter, had no idea what lay within the tomb, only that it didn’t seem to have been got at by…
A new discovery at what was once Woodstock Palace….

Nov 3, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, Science

Blenheim, Dukes of Marlborough, Edward of Woodstock, Endeavour Morse, fishing, gnomes, Henry II, Henry VII, hunting lodges, Last Bus to Woodstock, Oxford Mail, Queen Pool, Rosamund Clifford, Thomas of woodstock, windmills, Winston Churchill

“….Archaeologists have made an exciting discovery in the Queen Pool at Blenheim Palace prior to dredging work….They believe they have uncovered the remains of a 14th century watermill complex….” So reads the opening of this article. A new discovery at somewhere as historic as Blenheim is very exciting. But maybe it was its Woodstock Palace…
Historic royal families and incest….

Nov 1, 2022

anniversaries, genealogy, law, religion, Science

“Tudor” propaganda, “Tudors”, Arthur “Tudor”, Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth of York, false rumours, Habsburgs, Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII, inbreeding, incest, infertility, Joanna, Manuel Duke of Beja, Mary I, Pharoahs, Portuguese marriage plans, Richard III, Spain

The above gentlemen have the infamous Habsburg chin on full display. It means they are definitely not going to win a World’s Handsomest Man competition any time soon. Their chins and general looks are the result of generations of inbreeding, the aim being to keep the royal blood pure. Well, there’s pure and there’s…
The prompt medieval response to the Kos earthquake of 1493….

Oct 18, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, Science, travel

Antimahia, Bonsignore Bonsignori, earthquakes, emergency planning, Gerald of Saint Simon, Greece, Italy, Kalimnos, Knights Hospitaller, Kos, Leros, shelters, Siena

“….a spectacular rescue operation. They sent a fleet from the islands of Leros and Kalimnos to transport doctors and surgeons from the order to the island along with a significant provision of medicine and timber for temporary shelters. They also delivered tools to grind flour to counteract the lack of essential foodstuffs during the…
Henry VIII, a turkey leg and the Mandela Effect….

Oct 12, 2022

anniversaries, culture, Science

false memory syndrome, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Mandela effect

I’d never heard of the Mandela effect. Apparently it occurs when a person believes that their distorted memories are, in fact, accurate recollections. They can clearly remember events that happened differently or events that never occurred at all. The bottom line is that the Mandela Effect does not involve lying or deception, it’s genuine. I’d…
The stained-glass windows at Canterbury Cathedral are among Europe’s oldest….

Oct 6, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion, Science

Canterbury Cathedral, fire of Canterbury, Henry II, John Morton, St. Thomas Becket, stained glass

Thanks to a TV documentary involving student stained-glass glaziers this viewer was taken to Canterbury Cathedral to see its astonishingly beautiful windows, some of which we learned have now been dated as early as the mid-1100s, maybe even the 1130s.. Léonie Seliger, the head of stained glass conservation at the cathedral, and part of the…
Identifying another King

Sep 24, 2022

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

Bannockburn, Bruces of Clackmannan, david II, Declaration of Arbroath, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Dunfermline Abbey, Dupplin Moor, facial reconstruction, Foundation for Mediaeval Genealogy, FTB15831, genetic markers, Graham Holton, Ireland, Melrose Abbey, mtDNA evidence, Register of the Great Seal, Richard III, Robert I, royal remains, Scotland, University of Strathclyde, Y-chromosome

The monarch in question is Robert I (Bruce) and the investigation, as part of the Foundation for Mediaeval Genealogy’s Declaration of Arbroath Family History Project, is being carried out by the University of Strathclyde: Graham Holton has reported good progress in this press release: Genetic marker discovered for descendants of Bruce clan, January 2022.A distinct…
Buckingham’s Bones–Supposedly

Sep 3, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, law, religion, Science, sources

“Princes”, Blue Boar Inn, Buckingham rebellion, Debenhams, engraving, executions, Henry of Buckingham, John Ashdown-Hill, London Chronicle of Greyfriars, royal burials, rumours, Salisbury Greyfriars, Saracen’s Head, The Mythology of the “Princes in the Tower”, Tower Bridge

One of Salisbury‘s claims to fame is that it was the place of execution of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, infamous rebel and possible killer of one or both ‘princes in the Tower‘ (that’s if they were killed at all.) According to legend he was held at the Blue Boar Inn/Saracen’s Head and executed in…