The New Murrey and Blue blog

bad weather

The terrible tempest that seemed like the final straw after the Black Death….

Jan 15, 2025

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, religion

Ashwell Herts, bad weather, Black Death, Breughel the Elder, british History Online, Calais, calendars, churches, Edward III, Edward of Woodstock, Edward the Black Prince, feast days, Francis Pryor, Gregorian Calendar, Hertfordshire, Julian Calendar, Peasants’ Revolt, st. maurus

While reading Francis Pryor’s book Britain in the Middle Ages: An Archaeological History, I came upon an example of medieval graffiti that is to be found in the Church of St Mary, Ashwell, Herts. Inside the wall of the west tower is a Latin verse which captures the horror, fear and guilt felt by survivors…
The floating town the French invented for invading England in 1385/6….

May 30, 2022

battles, buildings, travel

A Distant Mirror, bad weather, Barbara Tuchman, Calais, Duke of Burgundy William I, floating harbours, France, Napoleon, Normandy, planned invasions, Second World War

It seems that in 1386 a second “Norman Invasion” was planned by the French. And a “stupendous” part of the preparations included a portable wooden town to house and protect the invaders when they landed. I found the following description in Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror, page 426 of my copy:- “….A huge camp enclosing…