Cambridge

A RED ROSE FOR CHELSEA

Jun 28, 2024

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Anne Montgomery, Anne Mowbray, bigamy, Cambridge, Chelsea, Corpus Christi, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, London, Minoresses, pre-contract, Reginald Bray, Richard of Shrewsbury

After he became King, Richard III leased the Manor of Chelsea to the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk for a red rose given each Midsummer. The Dowager Duchess was Elizabeth Talbot, the sister of Eleanor Talbot, Edward IV‘s secret wife. Elizabeth (and Eleanor) were also full 1st cousins to Richard’s wife, Anne Neville. Elizabeth, who had…
A surprise on the window of a ROMAN CATHOLIC church

Aug 15, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, law, religion

BBC Look East, Blitz, Cambridge, Catholic churches, executions, John Fisher, listed buildings, Margaret of Salisbury, Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs, stained glass, Thomas More, You Tube

I refer to “Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs” on Hills Road, Cambridge, a limestone building that dates from 1890, but the windows were repaired after the Blitz. They feature, as the second half of the name suggests, thirty people, who include Bishop John Fisher, Sir Thomas More and a certain Countess…
Oliver Cromwell’s posthumous peregrinations

Apr 25, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, genealogy, law

Allan Barton, burials, Cambridge, Charles I, Commonwealth, evidence, executions, Exhumation, London, Lord Protector of the Realm, Oliver Cromwell, posthumous execution, Restoration, Richard III, Sidney Sussex College, Thomas Cromwell, Westminster Abbey

Much has been written about Cromwell’s life including his descent from Thomas Cromwell‘s sister, his childhood, his rise and service as Lord Protector, after Charles I‘s execution, whilst refusing the crown. Here, as part of his afterlife, Allan Barton, on YouTube, discusses the fate of his corpse. This includes his beheading, alongside the other deceased…
All puppies beware, medieval medicine is on your tails….

Apr 10, 2023

culture, Science

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, dogs, Fitzwilliam Museum, mediaeval remedies, Trinity College

All puppies beware, medieval medicine is on your tails….When precious old manuscripts are digitised, we are all excited to see the result. Now there is word of a new two-year project to “…. bring together unique and irreplaceable handwritten texts from the world-class collections of the Cambridge University Library, a dozen Cambridge colleges, and the…
The three queens of Queens’ College….

Sep 11, 2022

buildings, religion

Anne Neville, Cambridge, Country Life, Elizabeth Wydeville, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret of Anjou, Queens’ College Cambridge

There are two articles in this series about Queens’ College, Cambridge. The first covers the college’s early history and can be read here and the second, which covers the later medieval period, is available here here The college received its name because no fewer than three 15th-century Queens of England became its patrons. Margaret of…
Marriage and the medieval Cistercian monk….

Mar 3, 2022

law, religion

bigamy, Cambridge, Cistercians, clerical marriage, ecclesiastical courts, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Lady Eleanor Talbot, monks, pre-contract, precedent, Richard III, Robert C Palmer

To us the curious intricacies of medieval marriage seem endlessly complicated…and often cost a lot to those who disagreed with a certain situation. Contexts of Marriage in Medieval England: Evidence from the King’s Court circa 1300 by Robert C Palmer contains a fascinating instance with a twist. After all, we usually hear of women…
IF THE SHOE FITS…

Oct 28, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, culture, humour

bunions, Cambridge, fashion, Poulaine shoes

15th C fashion could be quite dramatic…and sometimes, to our modern eyes, a bit ridiculous. Nothing more so than the infamous Poulaine shoes, with their excessively long pointed toes that looked as if they were dangerous to walk in (the nearest we had to them in modern times were the Winklepicker shoes worn by Teddy…
The outstanding exception in the “Cambridgeshire” six….!

Oct 2, 2021

anniversaries, buildings

birthplaces, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, castles, Ely, executed women, House of York, Huntingdon, Mary Queen of Scots, Normans, Northamptonshire, Peterborough, reconstruction, Richard III, Shire Hall, Wandlebury Hill

Well, it’s true, I don’t know many of the six Cambridgeshire castles that are listed in this article . Many of them disappeared very early on in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and hill forts aren’t something about which I know a great deal anyway. Poor old Cambridge Castle suffered the ignominy of having a Shire…
Walking “Tudor” England

Aug 10, 2021

battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews, travel

“Bloody Mary”, “Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Arthur “Tudor”, Ashdown Forest, attainder, Austin Friars, bear-baiting, Bishops of London, Bridewell Palace, brothels, Cambridge, cannon, Channel Five, Christopher Hatton, Clifford’s Tower, conspiracies, dancing, de heretico comburendo, Dutch refugees, East Midlands, Edmund Bonner, Edward of Buckingham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, excommunication, executions, exile, fire, Framlingham Castle, Fulham Palace, Greenwich Palace, Grey-Dudley rebellion, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Hampton Court, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII, Hever Castle, James VI/I, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, John Foxe, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Katherine Howard, Kenilworth Castle, Kenninghall, Kett Rebellion, Leicester, London, Lord Chancellor, Lord Guildford Dudley, Margaret Clitherow, Mary Stuart, Mass, Michelham Priory, naval power, Nicholas Ridley, Northern Earls’ Rebellion, Norwich, Penshurst Place, Pilgrimage of Grace, Pontefract, Portsmouth, recusants, Ripon Cathedral, Robert Aske, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, royal barges, royal hunting estates, Rushton Triangular Lodge, severed heads, Sir Henry Dudley, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Southwark, St. Mary’s Abbey, Stamford, Suzannah Lipscomb, The Globe, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Stafford, tobacco, torture, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Will Kemp, William Cecil, William Shakespeare, Wyatt Rebellion, Yorkshire Museum

Suzannah Lipscomb has just completed another series on Channel Five, this time visiting the sites related to the “Tudors”. In the first episode, she concentrated on Henry VIII and the naval power he inherited from John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The second was principally about the penultimate “Tudor”, Mary I, as well as Edward VI…
‘NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT’

Apr 27, 2021

archaeology, religion, Science

Augustinian Friars, Cambridge, human remains, mediaeval life, Thomas Hobbes

The term ‘nasty, brutish and short’ is a phrase often used, half jokingly, for the lives of our pre-modern ancestors. It wasn’t always, but in many cases, life in the Middle Ages could be harsh–especially in regards to illness and injury. A recent assessment of skeletons discovered in Cambridge at three separate sites shows…