The New Murrey and Blue blog

annulment

KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Apr 6, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, sources, The play’s the thing

AA Milne, Angevin bloodline, Anglicanism, annulment, Arthur of Brittany, Ascension Day, authorship, avarice, Barons, burials, Cardinal Pandulph, character, charles forker, clergymen, Crowland Chronicle, Defender of the Faith, Earls of Essex, Edward Hall, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Eucharist, excommunication, Fauconbridge brothers, Geoffrey Plantagenet, George Peel, graham Seel, Henry, Henry the Young King, Henry VIII, Historiography, House of York, Hubert de Bergh, Innocent III, John, john Bale, John Dover-Wilson, John Gillingham, John Harvey, John Matusiak, John Wycliffe, Kit Marlowe, Lackland, Louis VIII, Magna Carta, male primogeniture, Mary I, Maude Plantagenet, Mirabeau, morality plays, Phillip Augustus, plays, Polydore Vergil, Ralph Holinshed, recusants, Reformation, Richard Green, Richard Hunne, Richard I, Robin Hood, royal burials, sir brian vickers, Sir James Holt, Six Articles, Softsword, Staffords, stephen langton, Stuarts, Tillyard, Walt Disney, Wilfred Warren, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, Worcester Cathedral

KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION King John was not a good man, He had his little ways. And sometimes no one spoke to him For days and days and days. And men who came across him, When walking in the town, Gave him a supercilious stare, Or passed with noses in the air, And…
The Yorkist Connection to Cranborne in Dorset

Mar 31, 2022

art, buildings, genealogy, religion

Almeric d’ Evreux, Anne Mortimer, annulment, carvings, churches, Cranborne Manor. Dorset, Edmund Earl of March, Edward IV, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Gilbert de Clare, Hubert de Bergh, Isabella of Gloucester, John, Mortimers, Ralph Neville, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard III, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, royal hunting estates, St. Mary and St. Bartholomew

Cranborne is a little village tucked away in the Dorset countryside. The roads leading to it are small and narrow, with very high hedges, and driving there can be a bit of a nightmare if you should meet up with a farm vehicle or delivery lorry (frequent)! However, it seems to have been heavily visited…
The surnames of medieval noblemen’s illegitimate offspring….

Feb 22, 2022

genealogy, law, religion

annulment, Chichester Cathedral, Earls of Arundel, Eleanor of Lancaster, illegitimacy, Isabel le Despenser, Sir Edmund Arundel, surnames, titles

Well, I thought I’d sussed a “tradition” for the illegitimate offspring of medieval noblemen to be named after their father’s title, not given his surname. The family surname was reserved for legitimate children only. Think of Sir Edmund Arundel, who ceased to be Sir Edmund Fitzalan (and heir to a great earldom) when his father,…
The HANDSOME Duke of Burgundy….?

Jan 15, 2022

anniversaries, art, genealogy, humour

annulment, Archduke Philip, Arthur “Tudor”, blue eyes, Catherine of Aragon, cloth, consummation, Dukes of Burgundy, Edmund Earl of Suffolk, executions, fair hair, Habsburgs, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Joanna the Mad, Kings of Castile, Malus Intercursus, marriages, mediaeval canon law, storms, treaties

At the moment I’m trawling around medieval rulers in Europe. And lo! I’ve come upon this gentleman: His contemporary likenesses aren’t much better, so why was he called Philip the Fair/Handsome? Was it tongue-in cheek? If you look through the various recreations of him in this link below, if they’re even halfway accurate you can…
The Earls’ Rebellion

Nov 24, 2021

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Agnes Dunbar, annulment, Archibald the Grim, Avignon popes, Battle of Neville’s Cross, Callum Watson, captivity, coronations, david II, Earls’ Rebellion, exile, France, imprisonment, Joan of the Tower, John of Gaunt, Margaret Drummond, mediaeval canon law, patronage, rebellions, Robert I, Robert II, Scone Palace, Scotland, Sir John Logie, Tantallon Castle, William Keith

This is a quite remarkable article by Dr. Callum Watson about the revolt against David II in 1363. To summarise the background:David succeeded Robert I in 1329 at the age of five. He was exiled in France between 1334 and 1341. He was captured at the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346 and ransomed in…
Philippa Mortimer, Countess of Pembroke and Arundel – a short, interesting and little-known life

Sep 24, 2021

anniversaries, genealogy, law, religion, sources

accidents, annulment, Arundel Castle, Boxgrove Priory, dowries, Edmund Mortimer, executions, John Hastings Earl of Pembroke, John of Gaunt, jousting, Lord St. John of Basing, Philippa Mortimer, Philippa of Ulster, Richard Earl of Arundel, Sir John St. John, Sussex, Thomas Poynings, uxuriousness, Westminster Chronicle

Philippa was the younger of the two daughters of Edmund Earl of March and Philippa of Clarence,and second youngest of their four children, being born in November 1375. Philippa lost both her parents at a very young age, but her future was provided for (eventually) by her marriage to John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke after…
Philippa de Coucy

Apr 18, 2021

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, religion

Agnes Lancecrona, Anne of Bohemia, annulment, Cheshire, Earls of Oxford, Edward III, Enguerrand, high treason, Isabella de Valois, Philippa de Coucy, Phillippa of Hainault, Radcot Bridge, Richard II, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, royal marriages, soldiers

One of Edward III’s many grandchildren, Philippa de Coucy (born before April 1367) was the daughter of the important French nobleman Enguerrand, Lord of Coucy, by Isabella, eldest daughter of King Edward and Queen Philippa. Isabella was pretty much the definition of a spoiled princess, and contrary to the usual stereotype, pretty much did as…
Did Anne Boleyn plot Henry VIII’s death….?

Jan 15, 2021

anniversaries, law, religion

“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, annulment, Arthur “Tudor”, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, executions, George Viscount Rochford, Henry Norris, Henry VII, Henry VIII, high treason, Lucy Worsley, Mark Smeaton, Mary I, Thomas Cromwell

I have to confess that I’m not sure about the headline of this article. Just what royal row can be spoken of in the present tense is a puzzle. What does it matter to our present royals if Anne Boleyn had Henry VIII‘s demise in mind. If she did, she failed. The horrible lump lived…
Catherine of Aragon and the “creepy old man”….!

Jan 7, 2021

anniversaries, art, buildings, law, religion

“The King’s Great Matter”, Anne Boleyn, annulment, Arthur “Tudor”, Birmingham Museums, Catherine of Aragon, dispensations, Ferdinand of Aragon, Flodden, Henry VII, Henry VIII, James IV, marriage, Mary I, Reformation, regent, Thomas Wolsey

It’s official, folks. Late in his reign Henry VII was “a creepy old man”! It’s true, because Factinate.com says so! Henry VIII, was “a nasty middle-aged and old man”. In my opinion anyway, and Factinate agrees, more or less. Oh, and Catherine of Aragon was quite a woman! She had some pretty bloodthirsty ideas,…
Digging up Britain’s Past: By George, I think she’s got it

May 23, 2019

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, culture, law, religion, television reviews

“The King’s Great Matter”, Alex Langlands, annulment, Catherine of Aragon, Channel Five, devalued coinage, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Edward VI, Elsyng Palace, George Bernard Shaw, health, Helen Skelton, Henry VIII, Llantrisant, London, Old Coppernose, Pygmalion, Rievaulx Abbey, Royal Mint, silver plating

This second episode of this Channel Five series, presented by Alex Langlands and Helen Skelton, took us to Elsyng Palace, a North London house built by Henry VIII but with question marks about its precise venue until recently. Very unusually, the presenters clearly stated that the “King’s Great Matter” concerned not a divorce from Catherine…