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One of the main reasons we now have an amazing King in the list of British monarchs is without doubt the precontract between Lady Eleanor Talbot and King Edward IV. The turning point in the election of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as king of England was the discovery of a precontract between the former king…
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“….To provide the castle’s inhabitants with fresh water, wells were dug into the rock. One at 370 feet (113 m) deep, is one of the deepest castle wells in England. According to legend, it was the hiding place of Richard II’s treasure which he stashed before leaving England in 1399 to quell the rebellion in Ireland. The treasure has…
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I’ve had cause to investigate a particular mythical creature of the English medieval period. It is mentioned in a fascinating chapter of Martyn Whittock’s Life in the Middle Ages, which concerns signs, marvels, dreams and so on. On page 224 of my copy I came upon the following:- “….Gervase [of Tilbury described] creatures he named…
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Prompted by the opinions of two friends on what they thought of certain historians, I thought it would be interesting to see which are named by those who read Murrey & Blue. So, ladies and gentlemen, who is your favourite/most loathed historian (alive or dead), and why? My choice takes me back to the 14th/15th…
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In this time of Covid 19, when we don’t know why it seems to affect men more than women, and some ethnicities but not others, it is interesting that back in the 14th century the tsunami of the Great Pestilence of 1348 was followed by lesser waves that differed in many ways from the original.…
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Richard III and Harold II
“Lambert Simnel”, “Perkin”, Anne Neville, Archibald Whitelaw, bastardy, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Hastings, Bishop’s Stortford, Bosham, burial mystery, Constable of England, coronations, Earl of Wessex, Edgar the Atheling, Edith Swan Neck, Edward V, exile, George Duke of Clarence, Godwin Earl of Wessex, Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, Harold Hardrada, Harold II, Henry VII, Lord Protector of the Realm, marriage, more Danico, Nevilles, Orderic Vitalis, propaganda, Richard Duke of York, scoliosis, Scotland, St. Edward the Confessor, Stamford Bridge, Tostig, Wales, Waltham Abbey, William I, WitangemotWe all know that Richard is directly descended from William the Conqueror, who is his eleven times great grandfather. Here is Richard’s pedigree to William in three parts – follow the yellow dots left to right. (N.B. the first few generations have the yellow combined with red and blue which lead to other ancestors). But…
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Here is a link to an interesting paper about a certain Roger Machado, who is known to have been Henry VII’s herald. It seems that before then he’d been Leicester Herald to Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III, but deserted Richard late in 1483 to go over to the Dark Side. Er, sorry, to…
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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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Yes, we’ve all seen the above illustration before, but for my purposes today it’s ideal. Was Richard a saint? Or a sinner? I’ve happened upon a very interesting paper about Richard, by Carole Cusack, in which she discusses his reputation and why he still has the power to influence us today. Just what is it…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 