Carmarthen

June, July, August 1399. How England fell.

Aug 19, 2024

anniversaries, battles, buildings, humour, law

Berkeley Castle, Bishop of Norwich, Bridlington Priory, Bristol, Carmarthen, Chester, Chris Given-Wilson, Cromer, Doncaster, Douglas Biggs, Earl of Wiltshire, Edward Duke of York, executions, Glamorgan, Gloucester Castle, Henry Greene, Henry IV, John of Gaunt, Milford Haven, Nigel Saul, North Wales, Oxford, Pevensey Bay, Richard II, Shrewsbury, Sir John Bussy, sir john russell, Sir Piers Legh of Lyme, Thomas Despenser, Thomas of Lancaster, Thomas Percy Earl of Worcester, Waterford, Yorkshire

The sources for these weeks take some unravelling. The most useful secondary source is Three Armies in Britain by Douglas Biggs, a book that, unfortunately, has not received the credit due to it. Nigel Saul‘s Richard II is of value, as is Chronicles of the Revolution by Chris Given-Wilson. The analysis that follows is largely…
Roman Wales

Mar 1, 2024

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, culture, religion

Anne Neville, British tribes, caerlent, Caerleon, Cardiff Castle, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Christianity, Colchester Castle, conversion, Demetae, Despensers, Gower Peninsula, Kent, Llanelli, Magnus Maximus, Monmouthshire, Normans, Ordovices, Richard III, River Usk, Robert Curthose, Roman Britain, rugby, Silures, Swansea, Time team, Tower of London, tribes, Wales

The first thing to note about Roman rule in Wales is that it started in 48 AD, a few years later than in England, which is a consequence of the Claudian invasion having started in Kent. It is likely to have finished a little earlier too, in about 383, as the general Maximus Magnus sought…
Another myth about men “not breaking oaths to Richard”. . . .

Aug 18, 2018

anniversaries, battles, travel

“Tudors”, Battle of Bosworth, bridges, Carmarthen, Forton Bridge, Forton Heath, Gloucester, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VII, loyalty oath, Mill Bay, Montford Bridge, Rhys ap Thomas, River Severn, Shrewsbury, Sir William Stanley, Thomas Mitton

Well, I’ve heard the tale of Sir Rhys ap Thomas hiding under a bridge for Henry to march over him on the way to Bosworth, thus not breaking Sir Rhys’s oath of loyalty to Richard, but this is a new one on me! Now we have this new variation, from http://tudortimes.co.uk/military-warfare/1485-battle-of-bosworth/henrys-march :- “. . .when…
Where did the Tudors come from….?

Jun 10, 2018

anniversaries, genealogy, heraldry, sources

“Beauforts”, “Perkin”, “Tudor” rose, “Tudors”, Anglesey, bardic tradition, Bible translators, Cadwallader, Carmarthen, Catherine de Valois, Clifford Davies, coinage, Colchester, David Hume, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Richmond, Edmund “Tudor”, Edward of Warwick, Elizabeth of York, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Giles Chronicle, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hereford Greyfriars, Innocent VIII, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, John Speed, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Maredydds, Milford Haven, Mortimers, Owain Tudor, papal bull, Plantagenets, Polydore Vergil, portcullis, Portugal, proclamations, Red Dragon, Shakespeare, Spain, St. David’s, Stuarts, symbolism, Times Literary Supplement, Wales

For those of us who may wish to know where the name Tudor comes from, here’s a thorough explanation.
The Royal martyr

Nov 30, 2017

anniversaries, genealogy, religion

Aldham Common, Archbishop Cranmer, Carmarthen, de heretico comburendo, Gloucester, Hadleigh, Hugh Latimer, James II, James V, John Hooper, Martin Luther, Mary I, Nicholas Ridley, Oxford, Patrick Hamilton, Robert Ferrar, Rowland Tayler, Scotland, St. Andrews

If you wish to visit the site of a heresy execution or a memorial to a victim in England and Wales, there are several options, most of which date from Mary I’s reign. Aldham Common in Hadleigh commemorates the town’s Rector, Rowland Tayler. Oxford marks an Archbishop, Cranmer, together with Bishops Latimer and Ridley, whilst…
On fairy tales …

Nov 15, 2014

genealogy, law, sources

Carmarthen, Catherine de Valois, Edmund Duke of Somerset, fairy tales, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gwladys Dhu, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Hereford, Jane Austen, Llewellyn Fawr, Mortimers, ODNB, Owen Tudor, Reformation, royal marriages

I am sure we have all read the story of a bathing servant, Owain Tudor, who then emerged from the water in even fewer clothes than Fitzwilliam Darcy, watched by the widowed and besotted Queen, Catherine de Valois. The story goes on to relate that they married, had two sons and possibly more children. He…

Carmarthen

June, July, August 1399. How England fell.

Roman Wales

Another myth about men “not breaking oaths to Richard”. . . .

Where did the Tudors come from….?

The Royal martyr

On fairy tales …