The New Murrey and Blue blog

Battle of Bosworth

William “Waste-all” Berkeley, the lord who out-Stanleyed the Stanleys at Bosworth….!

Feb 13, 2018

anniversaries, battles, heraldry

Barnet, Battle of Bosworth, Berkeley Castle, bigamy, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth Wydeville, Forest of Dean, Henry VI, Henry VII, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, Margaret of Shrewsbury, Nibley Green, private battles, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richard of Warwick, Sir Edward Grey, Sir Humphrey Talbot, Sir William Stanley, Stanleys, Thomas Talbot Viscount Lisle, treachery, William Lord Berkeley, Wotton

Here is the story of yet another lord who betrayed Richard III at Bosworth. Oh, but wait a moment, this one betrayed Henry Tudor as well, now there’s a feat! The man in question was William, eventually Marquess of Berkeley, but nicknamed “Waste-all”. He was 43 when he won the Battle of Nibley Green, which…
The Last Plantagenet by Bob Ferdinand

Feb 1, 2018

battles

Battle of Bosworth, poetry, Richard III

Poet Bob Ferdinand wrote this sonnet about Richard and entered it into the Nebraska Shakespeare Sonnet Contest last summer, winning second prize (should have been first!) The Last Plantagenet In August, at late Summer’s teeming height, The last Plantagenet rode forth one day Defying Fortune, rising to the fight And risking all in battle’s bloodied…
1484 – TITULUS REGIUS: FACT OR FICTION?

Jan 23, 2018

anniversaries, law, sources

“Tudor” propaganda, A R Myers, AE Houseman, Arthur Conan Doyle, attainder, Barnard Castle, Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, Buckingham rebellion, Calais, Charles Ross, Charles Wood, Chrimes, Chris Skidmore, Clements Markham, Commines, Coronation, Crowland Chronicle, David Horspool, depositions, Edward II, Edward IV, Edward of Warwick, Edward V, Eleanor Cobham, Elizabeth Wydeville, executions, Fabyan, George Duke of Clarence, Grafton, Henry Kelly, Henry of Buckingham, Henry Riley, Henry VII, historians, Historiography, Horace Walpole, Humphrey of Gloucester, illegitimacy, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Joan of Navarre, John Daunger, John Home, John Morton, John Russell, John Stacy, King’s Council, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lander, Lord Protector of the Realm, Louis XI, Mancini, Margery Jourdemayne, mediaeval canon law, minority kings, Mortimer Levine, National Archives, Northampton, Parliament, Parliamentary Roll, Paul Murray Kendall, petition to Richard III, pre-contract, Ralph Shaa, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richard of Warwick, Robert Stillington, Roger Bolingbroke, Rosemary Horrox, Scottish border, Simon Stallworth, Sir Anthony Wydeville, Sir Richard Grey, Sir William Stonor, Stony Stratford, Thomas Blake, Thomas Bourchier, Thomas Burdet, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, Thomas Lord Stanley, Thomas Rotherham, Thomas Southwell, Thomas Wake, Three Estates, Titulus Regius, Treaty of Troyes, Walpurg, witchcraft, Wydevilles, York

Introduction ‘ ‘This is indeed a mystery’ I remarked.’ What do you think it means?’‘I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suite theories, instead of theories to suite facts.’ In Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story A Scandal…
Treason among the Roses….or….Who betrayed whom at Wakefield….?

Dec 30, 2017

anniversaries, battles

Battle of Bosworth, Edmund Grey Lord Ruthin, Edmund of Rutland, Edward IV, John Neville Marquis of Montagu, Micklegate Bar, Northampton, Percies, Richard Duke of York, Richard of Salisbury, Sandal Castle, Sir Andrew Trollope, Stanleys, treason, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, York

The scene above is fictitious, with roses being brandished nobly, but the strife known to posterity as The Wars of the Roses was full of treachery. Turncoats abounded, loyalty could be non-existent, and men’s names dragged down. Not always dragged down, of course, because if the traitor defected to the ultimately winning side, he did…
Medieval palace site at Lathom being excavated by group of military veterans….

Dec 2, 2017

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, genealogy

“Tudors”, archaelogy, Battle of Bosworth, Charlotte Countess of Derby, Civil War, Domesday Book, Henry VII, James Earl of Stanley, Lathom House, Marston Moor, military veterans, Richard III, Rupert, sieges, Thomas Lord Stanley

If you can stomach paragraph two of the article below (by Henry James) the rest is quite interesting! I have taken the precaution of copying the entire article because of a server problem that messed me around after a minute so. So I opened it again, copied, and it’s below, complete with link to the original. “A…
Fascinating Coventry….!

Nov 14, 2017

anniversaries, buildings, The play’s the thing

Basil Spence, Battle of Bosworth, Blitz, City of Culture, Coventry, Elizabeth I, Henry IV, Henry VII, Lady Godiva, Mary Stuart, Richard II, Shakespeare, St. Anne’s Charterhouse, St. Michael’s Cathedral. Coventry Castle, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, viaduct, Whitefriars Monastery, Worcester Men

Coventry’s history and buildings are very well served and illustrated in this article. I think the city is very well worth visiting and has a lot to offer.
Don’t they know Henry VII’s calendar went backwards….?

Nov 12, 2017

battles

Battle of Bosworth, Coronation, Henry VII, Lady Margaret Beaufort, legislation, media, Richard III, Westminster Abbey

Well, well, here we have ten facts about Horrible Henry VII. Oh, dear, he won’t be pleased about one thing…the Express has mistakenly dated his reign from the 22nd. Oops. We ALL know it was from the 21st, because Henners told us it was! He was king before Richard was killed in battle. Richard was…
Henry Tudor, Merevale Abbey, St Armel…and dear old Thomas Stanley….

Oct 12, 2017

battles, buildings, heraldry

Battle of Bosworth, Elizabeth of York, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Merevale, Richard III, rose en soleil, St. Armel, symbols, Thomas Lord Stanley, treason, windows

After a comment by David, about suns in splendour and white roses in the window glass above (see his comment here ) I decided to investigate more about the window at Merevale Abbey. There is, of course, a boar in the window glass at Merevale. Well, more a pig than a boar, and it’s…
Father of a Queen: Thomas Boleyn

Oct 10, 2017

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, travel

Anne Boleyn, arms, Battle of Bosworth, Cambridge University, Edenbridge, Elizabeth Howard, Elizabeth Tilney, Geoffrey Boleyn, George Viscount Rochford, Gonville Hall, Hever Castle, James IV, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Kent, Lord Privy Seal, Margaret Cheyne, Mary “Tudor”, Mary Boleyn, pubs, Richard III, Sheriff, Thomas Boleyn Earl of Wiltshire, Thomas Earl of Surrey, tombs, William Boleyn

Two miles from Edenbridge in Kent lies the small but attractive castle of Hever. Originally built in 1270, it was taken over 1462 by Geoffrey Bullen (or Boleyn) younger brother of Thomas Boleyn , Master of Gonville Hall, a constituent college of Cambridge. Geoffrey had a son called William and he in turn fathered Thomas…
THE WHITE ROSE: A POEM FOR RICHARD

Oct 2, 2017

anniversaries, battles, heraldry

art, Battle of Bosworth, boar, Frances Quinn, Janet Reedman, poetry, Richard III, Sharon Kay Penman, Sutton Cheney

Several years ago I was out at Bosworth to attend an author signing with one of my favourite Ricardian authors, Sharon Penman, who wrote the mighty epic The Sunne in Splendour. We were staying in the Royal Arms at Sutton Cheney, which has a public room filled with armour, memorabilia, paintings of the battle and…