Anglesey

Caernarfon Castle, one of Wales’s great historic sites….

Jul 7, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, travel

“Tudors”, Afon Seiont, Anglesey, Caernarfon Castle, castles, Charles “III”, Country Life, Edward I, Edward II, Gwynedd, investiture, Menai Strait, Princes of Wales, Roman forts, tourism, Wales, William Prince of Wales

The great fortresses built by Edward I to subdue the rebellious Welsh are all spectacular and have survived the centuries. Now they are considered beautiful examples of medieval workmanship and have become great tourist attractions, which isn’t really what old Longshanks ever intended! One of the finest of these fortresses is Caernarfon which is always…
‘Great magician, damned Glendower'(Part 4.)

Sep 19, 2022

battles, genealogy, sources

Anglesey, Archbishop Scrope, archers, Battle of Shrewsbury, Catrin ferch Owain, Cheltenham, Constance of York, executions, France, Glyn Dwr rebellion, Henry IV, Henry V, Hotspur, Lord Grey of Ruthin, maredydd ap owain, Mortimers, Owain Glyn Dwr, Percies, Pilleth, R.R. Davies, ransom, siege of harlech, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Sir John Scudamore, Thomas Percy Earl of Worcester, Tripartite Alliance, Wales, Worcester

It is not my purpose to describe the Glyndŵr Rising in detail. The story is far too complex to be contained within a blog post. The reader who is interested in the full tale would do well to consult (for example) The Revolt Of Owain Glyn Dŵr by R.R Davies, an excellent work. The initial…
Gainsborough Old Hall was built in 1460…therefore it HAS to be Tudor….!

Jul 2, 2021

battles, buildings, genealogy

“Tudor” era, Anglesey, Battle of Bosworth, English Heritage, Gainsborough Hall, half-timbered buildings, Henry VII, Lincolnshire, mediaeval buildings, Plantagenets, renaissance, Richard III, Sir Thomas Burgh, The Guardian

Well, if Richard III was entertained there, Gainsborough Old Hall can’t have always been Tudor! This article even says as much in a heading: “….Lincolnshire house, built in 1460, has been a theatre, preaching house, pub and masonic temple….” Excuse me, but 1460 was Plantagenet, not Tudor. Maybe it’s a Guardian error. (Perish the thought.)…
Plantagenet Ireland and Poynings’ Law

Oct 22, 2019

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, religion

“Lambert Simnel”, anecdotes, Anglesey, Art MacMurrough, Beaumaris, Charles I, coronations, Crown in Ireland Act, Drogheda Castle, Dublin Cathedral, Earls of Desmond, Earls of Ormond, Earls of Ulster, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edmund of Rutland, Edward Bruce, Edward II, Edward of Warwick, English Privy Seal Letters, executions, finance, France, George I, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Ireland, Irish Parliament, James VI/I, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, justiciar of Ireland, Leinster, Lieutenant of Ireland, London, Ludford Bridge, Nigel Saul, numismatics, O’Neills, Parliament, Poynings’ Law, Ralph Griffiths, repeal, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Scotland, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Sir Edward Poynings, Sir William de la Pole, Spain, St. James’ Park, Stoke Field, Thomas Despenser, Thomas Holland, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, turnips, Ulster, Ulster plantation, Wales, War of the Three Kingdoms

It is fair to say that most medieval English kings had little interest in Ireland except as a source of revenue. (The same was probably true about England and Wales but it seems too cynical to say it, and at least they did live there.) Prior to the Bruce invasion, Ireland yielded between £5000 and…
Where did the Tudors come from….?

Jun 10, 2018

anniversaries, genealogy, heraldry, sources

“Beauforts”, “Perkin”, “Tudor” rose, “Tudors”, Anglesey, bardic tradition, Bible translators, Cadwallader, Carmarthen, Catherine de Valois, Clifford Davies, coinage, Colchester, David Hume, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Richmond, Edmund “Tudor”, Edward of Warwick, Elizabeth of York, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Giles Chronicle, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hereford Greyfriars, Innocent VIII, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, John Speed, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Maredydds, Milford Haven, Mortimers, Owain Tudor, papal bull, Plantagenets, Polydore Vergil, portcullis, Portugal, proclamations, Red Dragon, Shakespeare, Spain, St. David’s, Stuarts, symbolism, Times Literary Supplement, Wales

For those of us who may wish to know where the name Tudor comes from, here’s a thorough explanation.
Julius Caesar Comes to Kent

Mar 15, 2018

anniversaries, archaeology

Anglesey, Britons, Claudius, Druids, invasions, Julius Caesar, Kent, Leicester University, pottery, propaganda, Roman occupation, trade, wine

Recent archaeological excavations in Kent by the University of Leicester have pinpointed the probable landing point for Caesar’s invasion of Britain. No full study on this important historical event has taken place in the last 100 years and it was widely thought amongst academics that both of Caesar’s incursions into Britain had been regarded as…
Was Roland de Velville the son of Henry VII….?

Jun 25, 2017

anniversaries, genealogy

“Beauforts”, Agnes Griffith, Anglesey, bardic tradition, Battle of Bosworth, Beaumaris Castle, bigamy, Blackheath, Breton expedition 1489, Brittany, Catherine de Valois, Catherine of Berain, Daffyd Alaw, dispensations, DNA, Edmund “Tudor”, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, Gwynedd, hawking, Henry V, Henry VII, Henry VIII, hunting, Owain Tudor, Roland de Roncevaux, Roland de Velville, royal marriages, secret marriage, Sir John Cheney, Sir Robert Willoughby

The following article is necessarily filled with supposition, inference and sneaking suspicion. The result of smoke and mirrors, you ask? Well, I think it is all much more substantial than that, as I hope to explain in the coming paragraphs. Today (25th June) in 1545, died a man by the name of Roland de Velville…