The New Murrey and Blue blog

Anne Neville

Buckden Bishop’s Palace

May 13, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, religion

“Princess Dowager”, Anne Neville, Bishops of Lincoln, Buckden Towers, Cambridgeshire, Catherine of Aragon, Cecily Neville, coaching villages, ghosts, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VIII, John Russell, Kimbolton Castle, knot garden, railways, Richard III, Staffords, Thomas Rotherham, towers

A few years back I wrote about Buckden Towers in Cambridgeshire, the old palace of the Bishops of Lincoln. Finally, with the pandemic receding, I was able to visit the site in its small village (once a thriving place in coaching times and earlier but much diminished with the advent of the railways.) Here Richard…
Picking the Bones….

Apr 8, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, religion

Anne Neville, artillery, Barnet, bells, bigamy, cavalry, Charles Dickens, coronations, Coventry, Easter, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, emblems, fog, George Duke of Clarence, Henry VI, Holy Saturday, Isobel Neville, John Neville Marquis of Montagu, Lent, Middleham Castle, murder, poison, pre-contract, Richard III, Richard Woodville, rivers, Robert Stillington, supernatural, Thames Valley, Westminster Abbey, Wydevilles

This ghost story was inspired after reading this post by my good friend sparkypus. And the Battle of Barnet just happened to take place at an earlier Easter. Oh, and there’s a nod toward Dickens, but the facts don’t cooperate with Christmas! The eve of the Battle of Barnet, Holy Saturday, 13 April, 1471 It was…
The story of Richard’s discovery, and a virtual tour of the Visitor Centre….

Mar 25, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, heraldry, religion

Anne Neville, John Ashdown-Hill, Leicester, Philippa Langley, processions, Richard III, Richard III Visitor Centre, Seeing the Past, windows

The story of how Richard III’s remains were discovered is a fascinating one, almost a fairy story, and happening upon a website that tells it properly is a bonus. If you go here you will arrive at the Seeing the Past website, which I thoroughly recommend. Credit is given where credit is due, i.e. with…
The Despensers: The Rise and fall of a mediaeval family

Feb 8, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, Book Reviews, genealogy

Anne Neville, Battle of Evesham, Boroughbridge, Contrarians, Despensers, Edward II, Edward IV, Eleanor de Clare, Elizabeth Despenser, Epiphany Rising, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Henry III, Henry IV, Huchon Despenser, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Hugh Earl of Winchester, Isabel Neville, Isabella de Valois, Isabelle Despencer, John Ashdown-Hill, Justiciar, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Margaret Beauchamp, Margery Wentworth, Philip Despenser, plague, Richard II, Richard III, Thomas Earl of Gloucester, Thomas of Lancaster

Here is another of Kathryn Warner‘s volumes in which the genealogy is central but there is plenty of history about the principal individuals that comprise the structure of the book. These range from Hugh Despenser the Justiciar, who fell at Evesham in 1265 opposing Henry III, to his son and grandson (the latter married to…
Another interesting article from Academia

Jan 15, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law

“Lambert Simnel”, abeyance, Academia, allegiance, Anne Neville, Barons Scrope of Bolton, Barons Scrope of Masham, Bolton Abbey, Buckingham rebellion, Cicely Plantagenet, Domenico Mancini, Elizabeth Neville, Elizabeth Scrope, executions, Francis Viscount Lovell, Greystoke, Henry IV, Henry V, indenture, Lord High Constable, Lord Protector of the Realm, Marquess of Montagu, marriages, Northern Rising, pardons, property, Ralph Scrope, Richard III, Scottish campaign 1482, Sir Humphrey Stafford, Southampton plot, Stoke Field, titles, Warden of the West Marches, Yorkshire

This one, by Lorraine C. Attreed, is entitled An Indenture between Richard Duke of Gloucester and the Scrope Family of Masham and Upsall, one of the two noble branches of the Scropes, the other being those of Bolton. The indenture, a copy of which serves as an appendix, dates from mid-January 1476 shortly after the…
Richard III’s many daughters….

Jan 4, 2023

art, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Anne Boleyn, Anne Neville, Anne Norris, Bosworth, Captain of Calais, Cardiff Castle, disinformation, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, executions, fake news, Francis Viscount Lovell, Frideswide Lovell, Henry Norris, Henry VII, Henry VIII, illegitimate children, Joanna, John of Gloucester, Katherine Countess of Pembroke, Manuel Duke of Beja, missing feet, Portuguese marriage plans, Richard III, scoliosis

Fake news. Ah yes. We regard this as a modern curse, but, of course, it goes back through the centuries. Probably ever since the humans in one cave fell out with the humans in another. Lies…erm, fake news…soon circulated. And if there was one King of England about whom there is fake news in…
THE HAUNTING OF RICHARD III- A NEW MUSICAL

Dec 13, 2022

anniversaries, battles, law, Music Reviews, religion, The play’s the thing

“Princes”, Anne Neville, Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, Edward IV, Edward of Middleham, Elizabeth Wydeville, Francis Viscount Lovell, Frome, ghosts, Henry of Buckingham, illegitimacy, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Kairos Theatre Company, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Margaret Beaufort, limp, Merlin Theatre, musicals, northern accent, pre-contract, prostitution, Shakespeare, shoulder, Somerset, The haunting of Richard III, Thomas Baron Stanley, war heroes, William Catesby, William Lord Hastings

When I saw that a new musical called THE HAUNTING OF RICHARD III was on at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, a mere 40 minutes away, how could I resist? I realise musical theatre is a bit of a ‘marmite’ subject for many, but in my own misspent youth, yes, I confess I tread the…
Digging for Treasure

Dec 8, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, religion, Science, television reviews

Abdication, aeroplanes, Anglo-Saxons, Anne Neville, Boudicca, castles, Channel Five, coins, Dan Walker, Digging for Treasure, Fincham, King’s Lynn, Lancaster bombers, Loch leven, London Bridge, Mary Queen of Scots, metal detecting, Michaela Strachan, mudlarking, Norfolk, Northallerton, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Raksha Dave, Scotland, scuba-detecting, Sheriff Hutton, Southwark Cathedral, Wars of the Roses

There are several interesting archaeology series on television and Channel Five has now joined in with an ensemble programme, headed by two familiar personalities (Dan Walker and Michaela Strachan) and a similarly ubiquitous chief archaeologist (Raksha Dave), but with more of an emphasis on metal detecting for the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, including Roman…
The Rise of the Stanley family.

Dec 5, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law

Anne Neville, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Shrewsbury, Blore Heath, Cheshire, Constable of England, Earl of Arundel, Eleanor Neville, extortion, France, heiresses, Henry IV, Henry of Buckingham, Ireland, Isobel Lathom, justiciar of Ireland, King of Mann, Knights of the Garter, Lancashire, Lathom House, Lord Audley, Lord Deputy of Ireland, Margaret of Anjou, Master Forester, murder, pardons, Prior of Burscough, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Roxburgh Castle, Scotland, Sheriff of Anglesea, Sir John Stanley, Sir William Stanley, Stanleys, Tewkesbury, Thomas Lord Stanley, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, Wirral

In the late 14th Century, the Stanleys were a gentry family, their power base lying chiefly in Cheshire, notably in the Wirral. Their ancestry might fairly be described as ‘provincial’. There were certainly no kings in their quarterings. This is not to say they were unimportant, but their influence was of a local rather than…
John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (c 1350-1400)

Nov 7, 2022

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, religion

Anne Neville, Barons Montagu, Christine de Pizan, Cirencester, Conwy, Counter-Appellants, Edward I, Epiphany Rising, Henry IV, Henry V, Ireland, Isabel Neville, Joan “Beaufort”, Joan of Acre, John Earl of Salisbury, Lollards, Lord Mayors of London, Lord Morley, Mary de Bohun, Maud Francis, Monthermer Barony, Nevilles, Orleans, Parliament, poetry, Prussia, Ravenspur, Richard II, Richard of Salisbury, Richard of Warwick, summary executions, Thomas Earl of Salisbury, Thomas of woodstock, Wakefield, William Earl of Salisbury

John Montagu (or Montacute) was the son of Sir John Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu (d 1390) and Margaret de Monthermer. It follows that he descended from Joan of Acre, and through her, from King Edward I. He was also the nephew (and, as it proved, the heir) of William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury. There…