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Annette Carson Why the photo of journalist Matthew Parris? He’s the host of BBC Radio 4’s excellent series Great Lives in which Philippa Langley can be heard nominating Richard III, with me sitting in as the ‘expert witness’, broadcast on Tuesday 6 January at 16.30, repeated on Friday 9 January at 23.00. For anyone outside…
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It is well known that John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was one of the principal opponents of Henry VIII’s attempt to divorce Catherine of Aragon. The boiling to death of his cook for the alleged crime of attempting to poison him is less familiar. The facts are that a number of people in the bishop’s…
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Last month, Freda Warrington’s 2003 novel “In the Court of the Midnight King” was reissued and is available in paperback and Kindle. It would be my hope that people who enjoy the Murrey and Blue blog would run out and order this lush, grand book of alternate history. It features Richard the Third, The War…
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http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliamentandireland/overview/poynings-law/ This should be considered along with: Edmund Mortimer’s service in Ireland before the Southampton Plot, Richard Duke of York as Lord Lieutenant in the 1440s/50s, where George of Clarence was born, The coronation of “Lambert Simnel” in Dublin, to be clarified next month.
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Henry “Tudor” was speaking to Santa Claus about his Christmas present. Santa: What would you like for Christmas, Henry?’ Henry: A dragon. Santa: Well, come on, that’s a little unrealistic. How about something just a bit more down-to-earth? Henry: OK, I want my subjects to love me. Santa: What colour dragon would you prefer?
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If there is one thing a lot of people know about Henry VII—apart from his dastardly defeat of Richard III at Bosworth in August 1485—it is that the latter part of his reign was a dreadful time for England. His avarice became almost oxygen to him, and he allowed his ministers to inflict truly dreadful…
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The word ‘tyrant’ is perhaps used too lightly. It is questionable whether any of the Plantagenets qualify when compared to this man: “Galeazzo Sforza (Duke of Milan) is also known to have had a cruel streak. He was a notorious womanizer who often passed his women on to his courtiers once he was tired of…
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Today is the annniversary of the death in 1416 of Constance of York, Lady Despenser and (for a time) Countess of Gloucester. She was one of many people of various conditions in life who inexplicably preferred the ‘tyranny’ of Richard II to the rule of Henry IV, and put their lives at risk to do…
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WARS OF THE FICTIONAL ROSES There’s a plethora of fiction set at the time of the Wars of the Roses, and an increasing number of authors writing about Richard III, often featuring him in a positive light. One would imagine that, in the creative pursuits, people could put aside their differences in belief and just…
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I have been delving into the world of mediaeval and Tudor portraits, this time in search of Sir William Stanley, the louse who turned traitor on Richard III at Bosworth and cost him his throne, his realm and his life. Sir William’s eventual reward was to be beheaded by the very man he helped so…
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