What if, what if….those words are surely the motto of every fiction writer that ever was. As such a writer myself, I’m quite accustomed to seeking plausible but hopefully exciting and entertaining answers to known puzzles. By this I mean answers that could explain “what really happened”. Complete impossibilities have to be thrown out. For…

It would seem that the county of Oxfordshire isn’t content with having the 16th-century ghosts of wicked Lord and Lady Tanfield (see The evil spirits of Lord and Lady Tanfield… – murreyandblue) hurtling around in the skies above Burford in their coach and horses. Oh no, if you go to this link, A Wilcote Haunting…

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com Unfortunately no reliable image has survived of Eleanor Butler/Boteler née Talbot but the above image of her younger sister, Elizabeth,  duchess of Norfolk, may give us some idea of her appearance.  15th century stained glass. Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford, Suffolk.  Dear Reader –  since I begun the writing of…

Oh dear, I do wish Helen Castor’s book The Eagle and the Hart (to be published today, 3 October 2024) was being touted as fiction, because excellent as it clearly is, its whole concept takes a stance that grates on me. The title ought to be The Hart and the Eagle, because Richard was the…

In April 2022, the BBC published the following article: Mold Gold Cape: Artefact should be on display in Wales – academic – BBC News. In it were complaints from Wales that the above wonderful golden cape was kept in the British Museum, not in Wales. It was explained that at the time of the cape’s…

The Templars are always good to perk up our interest and this time it’s because of their apparent early 14th century connection to central England. Not only their connection, but the Ark of the Covenant’s too! This article—Did the Templars Hide the Ark of the Covenant in England? (ancientoriginsunleashed.com)—describes a startling theory/discovery made at the…

Here we are again, deciding what Richard III’s voice was like. Well, the last time I read about this he was pinned to the West Midlands, presumably because of his early years at Ludlow. Now, according to this link, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13893517/Richard-III-accent-Yorkshire-posh-voice.html, he’s Yorkshire. There’s rather a difference between the two, think you’ll agree. But Yorkshire was…

Recently on my travels I came across the remote little church of St Margaret of Antioch at East Wellow in Hampshire on the edge of the New Forest. Known best as the resting place of the famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, it also has a collection of well-preserved medieval wall-paintings. The church itself was built in…

I’m about to write concerning an Ancient Origins article from 2021 which I have only just come across and which has made me see red. You’ll find it here https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/richard-iii-0016100. I’m afraid my response is rather long, because once I started there was a lot to set straight. But before proceeding, I have only one…

Well, I don’t know if the above heading is hopeful or not. If you go to this link https://royalcentral.co.uk/royal-news/did-buckingham-palace-just-give-the-thumbs-up-to-a-very-difficult-duke-203309/ you’ll find that its heading is Did Buckingham Palace just give the thumbs up to a very difficult duke? Said difficult duke is, of course, our fifteenth-century Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The present day Richard, Duke…