Science
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This article is about George Easton, the jeweller who created Richard III’s crown (see above) for the funeral and reinterment at Leicester. And he did so with the assistance of John Ashdown-Hill, although John’s name isn’t mentioned. George’s business is called Danegeld: “….A land tax in Anglo-Saxon England might not sound the most glamorous starting…
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An Irishman abroad but not for much longer?
biographies, builders, Chapel of Marvels, Chieftains of Tyrconnell, Christopher Columbus, Curlew Pass, Darren McGettigan, Donegal, Earls of Tyrone, Franciscans, Hugh O’Neill, Ireland, Irish News, Kinsale, Leicester, love songs, missing feet, music, Nine Years’ War, October birthdays, parallels, Phillip III, rebellion, Red Hugh O’Donnell, Richard III, Richard Tyrrel, Simancas, Spain, Ulster, Valladolid, Yellow Ford“Red” Hugh O’Donnell (1572-1602) was an Irish chieftain who fought a series of battles against English armies between 1595 and the beginning of 1602 (during the Nine Years’ War which actually ran from 1593 to 1603), one of his less successful opponents being the Earl of Essex. O’Donnell ruled Tir Chonaill in the extreme north-west…
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We’re always inclined to think that medieval folk who fell mentally ill were treated barbarically. I think that accolade goes to a later period, when the inmates of Bedlam were laughed at by the paying public. Here is a link to the National Archives to an account of an actual case from 1383, that of…
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There are some interesting reconstructions here..apart from the blond Richard, which (try as I will) I just cannot accept. If he’d been blond (especially THAT blond!) it would surely have shown on his portraits. Or comment would have been made. His hair was medium-brown to dark, maybe a shade of chestnut…just NOT blond! It seems…
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To read all about the project illustrated above, go to saxonship. See also the Mail. I have to say though that if the bow is on the left of the middle picture, and the vessel is presumably moving from right to left…aren’t the oarsmen sitting the wrong way around? Or are they intentionally going backward?…
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The following extract is from this article in the Daily Record :- “….Fortuitously for us, Henry VII killed Richard III (the king in the car park) who was discovered in Leicester. A nice piece of synergy, and the basis for a much bigger story of Scottish royal political dominance in Great Britain….” Well, it might…
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The Battle of Falkirk was fought on 22 July 1298. The English army, co-commanded by the Earl of Norfolk, defeated the Scots, led by Sir William Wallace, who resigned as Guardian of the Realm shortly afterwards. This setback for Wallace, following victory at Stirling Bridge the previous year, where Sir Andrew Moray was mortally wounded,…
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This Times article has a quaint way of describing Henry VII : “Tall, with striking blue eyes, Henry was the only child of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort…” Striking blue eyes? Well, yes…except that they looked in opposite directions. Which I suppose counts as striking! I’m not so sure about the blue,…
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… but this lady in her thirties died far more recently near Norwich Cathedral …
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Last night I cheered myself up by watching the PBS documentary The Mystery of the Black Death. No, that opening sentence was facetious, because I have to say that the programme was actually very interesting. And rather uncanny in that it was stated the pestilence started in Italy, then Spain, and then gradually spread through…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 