Aquitaine
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Caroline Burt and Richard Partington are prominent historians at the University of Cambridge, and have written a book entitled Arise, England, which “….is shaping up to be a welcome shelter from the permanent torrent of Tudors….” Oh, yippee! At last! I’m so sick of the Tudors, on all manner of levels, so a book about…
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Eleanor the Crusader
Anjou, annulments, Antioch, Aquitaine, books, Byzantine Empire, consanguinity, Constantinople, Damascus, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eugenius III, France, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Henry II, Jerusalem, John, Louis VII, Matt Lewis, Normandy, Plantagenets, Power of a Woman, Raymond of Poitiers, Richard I, Robert S.P. Fripp, Second Crusade, TurksMy next book – due for release in October, all being well – is about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. They were one of Europe’s most fabulous power couples, ruling lands that spread from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. Eleanor was nine years Henry’s senior. When they married in 1152, he was a…
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THE THREE HUNDRED YEARS WAR – PART 2: the just cause
Angevin Empire, Aquitaine, Capetians, Charles IV, Chris Given-Wilson, Cinque Ports, Crecy, david II, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, Henry III, Henry of Lancaster, Ian Mortimer, Isabelle de France, John II, John the Posthumous, Jonathan Sumption, Kathryn Warner, Legitimacy, Louis IX, Louis X, Ludwig IV, Phillip III, Phillip IV, Phillip V, piracy, Poitiers, Roger Mortimer, Saint-Sardos, Scotland, Treaty of Bretigny, Treaty of Paris, Valois, WalesPreface This is the second of three articles charting the course of continual Anglo-French conflict from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. In the first article, I wrote about the rise and fall of the Angevin Empire, culminating in the Treaty of Paris (1259). This article picks up my narrative after the death of…
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How many wives did Sir Simon Burley have….?
Anne of Bohemia, Aquitaine, army service, Beatrice Stafford, Charles V, Dugdale, Edward the Black Prince, executions, Herefordshire, John of Gaunt, Lords Appellant, Marguerite de Beausse, marriages, Nigel Saul, Old St. Paul’s, Order of the Garter, Richard II, Sir Paul Pyndar, Sir Richard Burley, St. Mary Grace’s, tombs, Tower HillSir Simon Burley, childhood friend, tutor and magister of Richard II, was executed today, 5th May, in 1388. He was the son of a Herefordshire knight, was brought up with the Black Prince, and rose to be one of the most powerful men in the land when he ruled the king’s household. Richard adored and…
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Murrey and Blue interviews Michael K. Jones
“The King’s Mother”, “Tudors”, Aquitaine, BBC History Magazine, Castile, Chandos Herald, chivalry, Crecy, David Baldwin, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, Enrique of Trastamara, France, Froissart, Henry of Knighton, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hundred Years War, interviews, Jean II, John Gower, John of Gaunt, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lancastrians, Lionel of Antwerp, Lords Appellant, Malcolm Underwood, Michael K Jones, Military tactics, Mortimers, Najera, Pedro I, Poitiers, Polydore Vergil, propaganda, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard III, siege of Limoges, St. John’s College Cambridge, Thomas Brinton, Thomas Walsingham, tyranny, Wars of the Roses, Westminster Hall, YorkistsWhich of the Black Prince’s military achievements is the most impressive and why? The main attraction in writing a biography of the Black Prince was to bring to life his martial exploits, for Edward of Woodstock, the eldest son of Edward III, captured the imagination of fourteenth century Europe. The chronicler Jean Froissart described him…
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On 8th June 1376, Edward, the Black Prince, died. From then until 29th September his body lay in state in Westminster Hall, and then was taken to Canterbury Cathedral to be buried on 5th October at Canterbury Cathedral. His passing was greatly mourned through the land, and lamented because the elderly monarch, Edward III, was…
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