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I have been reading a very interesting article from the Journal of Medieval History by E. Amanda McVitty, called False knights and true men: contesting chivalric masculinity in English treason trials, 1388-1415. (Vol. 40, No. 4, 458–477) There is an old saying that one man’s meat is another man’s poison, and by the…
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In the above illustration I do believe the illustrator has endeavoured to create the real Abbot Wheathampstead (also Whethamstede), baldness and all, if the lack of hair around the ears is anything to do by. My interest in St Albans has hitherto been concerned with the 14th century, specifically the time of Abbot Thomas…
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Well, after a hard, too-hot day, (This was written last summer!) it’s always refreshing to have a snigger at the Weasel’s expense. It began when I happened upon the following statement: “….One of the earliest examples is a collection of astrological texts by Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), John Killingworth, Guido Bonatti, Plato of Tivoli.[1] On its…
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The Mysterious Disappearance of Henry Pole the Younger in the Tower of London
Charles de Marillac, clerical celibacy, Cowdray, Edward Courtenay, Edward IV, executions, Francis I, George Duke of Clarence, Hazel Pierce, Henry Lord Montagu, Henry Pole the Younger, Henry VII, Henry VIII, hypocrisy, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, Margaret of Salisbury, Mary I, Paul Delaroche, Reginald Cardinal Pole, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, royal apartments, royal tutors, Sir Geoffrey Pole, starvation, Tower of LondonReblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com Picture this…a young lad of about thirteen or thereabouts. Royal Plantagenet blood coursing through his veins. His father is dead and no longer able to neither protect nor save him. His mother is also no longer around to help or comfort him. Life has changed for him…
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There are two instances (of which I know) involving a Duke of Gloucester and a king called Richard. The one that is best known to Ricardians is Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who became Richard III. But there was another instance in the previous century, when Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, made the life of…
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A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors….
“Tudors”, Anne of Bohemia, Anzac Day, Bayeux Tapestry, burials, Channel Five, Charles “III”, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Charles I, Charles II, Cheyneygates, Cicely Plantagenet, coronation chair, coronations, Crown of St. Edward, Dame Judi Dench, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Norfolk, Easter, Elizabeth II, executions, gardens, Harold II, Hawksmoor Tower, Henry V, Henry VII Lady Chapel, Holy Week, Imperial State Crown, Lady Diana Spencer, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lent, Liber Regalis, Operation Golden Orb, Order of the Bath, Palm Sunday, Platinum Jubilee Roof, Poets’ Corner, Pyx Chamber, Queen Mother, records, Richard II, Royal Peculiars, Royal regalia, Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir john Gielgud, Sir Ralph Scrope, St. Paul’s, State Opening of Parliament, Stone of Scone, Timothy West, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Tower of London, Viscount Welles, weddings, Westminster AbbeyI have now watched all of the Channel 5 series Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors, which is so packed with information that I hardly know where to begin with this review. Aha, did I hear you say the beginning might be a good idea? You’re right, so here goes with a selection of descriptions from…
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Some minor problems with Thomas More’s account.
“Princes”, “withered arm”, Anne Beauchamp, Anthony Wydville, Beaulieu Abbey, bigamy, discrepancies, Edward IV, executions, Henry VI, Henry VII, illegitimacy, Jane Shore, Lady Elizabeth Lucy, Lord Chancellor, marriage ceremony, mediaeval canon law, More, Pontefract Castle, pre-contract, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, secret marriage, Sheriff of Glamorgan, Sir James Tyrrell, Sir Richard Grey, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir Robert Brackenbury, Sir Thomas Vaughan, Tewkesbury, Thomas Dighton, Tower of London, Vice-Constable, Westminster, William Catesby, witchcraftKing Edward, of that name the fourth, after that he had lived fifty and three years, seven months, and six days, and thereof reigned two and twenty years, one month, and eight days, died at Westminster the ninth day of April. King Edward was born 28 April 1442 and died 9 April 1483. He was…
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Rumi, the Persian Poet
Afghanistan, Angevin Empire, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Brad Gooch, Cambridge University, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Genghis Khan, Henry III, Holy Roman Emperors, Innocent III, Iran, Islam, John, Layamon, Muhammed Ali Musofer, Persian Empire, Philip of Swabia, poets, Shamsoddin, Siberia, stephen langton, Tajikstan, Turkey, Vakhsh, William MarshallI grew up under the tutelage of an amateur historian father, one who both dissected past events and also generously passed along a wide range of historical snippets. Perhaps he had a limited knowledge of this event, or I forgot most details about that one. Whatever the reason for the more modest lessons, or memories,…
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When it comes to medieval ships, it’s sometimes difficult to imagine what they were like. Cogs, crayers, shallops, barges, balingers, wherries and many others abound. Well, wherries of various descriptions are still around now, as are barges, but what we may fondly envisage as a brightly painted narrow boat was no such thing. Perhaps it…