British Library
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It seems the Bible didn’t actually specify a birth date for Christ. The Church decided on various dates, and today we observe the event on 25th December, but many of us regard the season itself (as distinct from the birth date) as commencing on 6th December, the Feast of St Nicholas, who has now evolved…
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No longer passing the Buc(k)?
accuracy, Arthur Kincaid, Battle of Bosworth, British Library, CAJ Armstrong, Constable of England, Crowland Chronicle, Domenico Mancini, Earl Marshal, Elizabeth of York, fire, Flodden, George Buck, Joanna, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Manuel Duke of Beja, new edition, patron, Portuguese archives, pre-contract, Richard III, Shakespeare, Sir George Buc, Sir Robert Cotton, Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel, Thomas MoreNow for some very interesting news: Arthur Kincaid’s The History of King Richard the Third is set for a new edition, based on forty years of further research. Kincaid has managed to distinguish the forensic research of Sir George Buc (1560-1622), whose great-grandfather fought at Bosworth and whose grandfather was at Flodden, from that of…
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Well, the first illustration is of a younger Isabella than is indicated in what follows. This Isabella was, of course, the wife of Edward II and the mother of Edward III. Hughes is very specific about her this time, whereas on another occasion he was vague and it was impossible to know to which Isabella…
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If you watch a lot of a Hollywood ‘medieval’ movies, you would be forgiven in thinking that all medieval people, from the youngest to the oldest, ate like pigs at the trough, threw gnawed animal bones on the floor, belched and yelled loudly at the dinner table, and merrily ate their dinners with filthy nails…
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Yes indeed, King Alphonso almost succeeded to the throne of his father, Edward I. If you go to this page, you will learn about Alphonso, Earl of Chester (1273-1284) the ninth child of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. He was apparently named after his maternal uncle, King Alphonso X of Castile, and there…
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Clarissa Dickson Wright and the Art of Medieval Food
Alfred the Great, BBC, British Library, Candid Camera, Clarissa Dickson-Wright, Enoch Powell, George Duke of Clarence, Henry IV, Jennifer Paterson, mediaeval food, medieval recipes, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard Olney, The Form of Cury, The King’s Cookbook, The Spectator, Two Fat Ladies, Waffle House, Yotam OttolenghiThe late Clarissa Dickson Wright is known to the English-speaking countries of the world as one of The Two Fat Ladies – the middle-aged motorcycling cooks who zipped around the English, Welsh and Irish countryside, one at the wheel of a Triumph Thunderbird, the other stuffed into the sidecar wearing what appeared to be…
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The King’s bishop? What did John Russell know in 1483?
“Beauforts”, “Princes”, “Tudor” propaganda, AJ Pollard, Alison Hanham, Armstrong, Battle of Bosworth, Bishops, British Library, Chancery Court, Charles Ross, conspiracies, Crowland Chronicle, Dr. John Argentine, Earl of Northumberland, Edward IV, Francis Lovell, George Cely, Great Seal, Harleian Manuscript 433, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VII, Hicks, illegitimacy, Jane Shore, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, John Morton, John Russell, John Shirwood, John Smith, John Stow, judiciary, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Margaret Beaufort, letters, Lincoln, Louise Gill, Ludgate, Mancini, Minster Lovell, More, oyer and terminer, Pamela Tudor-Craig, Paul Murray Kendall, Peter Hammond, regicide?, Richard III, Robert Russe, Robert Stillington, Rosemary Horrox, Royal Household, Sherlock Holmes, Simon Stallworth, Sir Anthony Wydeville, Sir William Stonor, Stephen Ireland, theories, Thomas Langton, Thomas Lynom, Titulus Regius, Tower of London, treason, Vatican City, Viscount Welles, Westminster Abbey, William Davey, Wydevilles“ ‘Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?’ ‘To the curious incident of the dog in the night time’ ‘The dog did nothing in the night time’ ‘That is the curious incident ‘ remarked Sherlock Holmes.”[1] By applying his reasoning to this simple observation, the world’s…
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How and why the House of York laid claim to the throne….
Adam of Usk, Anne of Bohemia, Ashburnham House, Blanche of Lancaster, British Library, British Museum, Chandos Herald, Charters, Chris Given-Wilson, Cotton Library, Edmund Crouchback, Edmund Mortimer, Edmund of Langley, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, English Historical Review, entail mail, Eulogium, France, Good Parliament, Havering atte Bower, Henry III, Henry IV, Henry V, Isabella de Valois, Isabella of Angouleme, Joan of Kent, John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, male line, Michael Bennett, Penny Lawne, Phillipa of Ulster, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Roger Mortimer, Romford, Salic Law, Scotichronicon, Sheen, Simon Sudbury, Sir Richard Stury, succession, Thomas of Lancaster, Thomas of woodstock, Thomas Walsingham, Wars of the Roses, willsHere is an article from English Historical Review, 1st June 1998, telling of how and why Richard, 3rd Duke of York, laid claim to the throne of England. The root cause was an entail to the will of Edward III, who was admittedly in his dotage at the time. The entail, which excluded a female…
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We all have this picture of Henry VII being a Scrooge, and I don’t think it’s inaccurate. But it seems he had his more red-blooded moments. Yes, truly. I have happened upon the following article, which quotes from his personal accounts. Just why did he make the following grants? “Item to the young demoiselle that…
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“A 16th-century manuscript hidden in the depths of the British Library and decoded using plagiarism software has been pinpointed as a previously unknown source for Shakespeare’s plays. “A Brief Discourse of Rebellion & Rebels by George North, a minor figure in Queen Elizabeth’s court, is, according to its finders and decoders, the source of more…