Colchester

John Ball and Colchester

Jun 12, 2018

anniversaries, battles, buildings

Blackheath, Colchester, executions, JD Wetherspoon, John Ball, local history, Maidstone, Peasants’ Revolt, priests, rebellions, St. Albans

Here are some of the panels just inside the door of the Colchester Playhouse, now a theatre-themed public house. They illustrate John Ball, after whom a minor town centre road is also named, becoming a priest, a prisoner at Maidstone and then participating in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt (from 30 May), fighting at Blackheath (on 12…
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.
Henry VII escaped by a whisker….!

Apr 22, 2018

anniversaries

Arthur “Tudor”, assassination attempts, Colchester, Elizabeth of York, executions, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry VII, sanctuary, Seward, Sir Humphrey Stafford, Yorkists

Henry Tudor certainly didn’t have it all his own way after Bosworth, although his incredible luck held – as it did throughout his life, except for losing his wife and eldest son. He didn’t replace the first, but had a spare for the second. Richard III had not had that luxury. But in 1486, during…
The latest on the hunt for Richard’s Y-chromosome

Nov 29, 2017

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, genealogy, Science

auctions, Augustinian Order, Clare Priory, Colchester, DNA evidence, Historic England, John Ashdown-Hill, Lionel of Antwerp, Suffolk, Thomas of Lancaster, Y-chromosome

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, was born today in 1338, although he died just before his thirtieth birthday. He is, of course, a mixed-line direct ancestor of Richard III but he is the brother of Edmund of Langley, Richard’s male-line great grandfather. Here, John Ashdown-Hill spoke to Nerdalicious about his attempts to locate Lionel…
Hey diddle diddle, it’s Richard III….!

Aug 12, 2017

battles

“Princes”, artillery, Battle of Bosworth, Civil War, Colchester, Coronation, Edward Seymour, Elizabeth I, elopement, Francis Viscount Lovell, Lady Catherine Grey, nursery rhymes, Richard III, William Catesby

Sometime ago I read that the words of the old Hey Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme were in fact a reference to the story of Richard III. There are other theories, of course, including this of Elizabeth I: “The story goes that Elizabeth, was often called a cat for the treatment of her court, the mice.…
The Pedants’ Revolt (again)

May 25, 2017

art

adverts, beer, Cambridge, Colchester, graffiti, grammar vigilante, housing, humour, John Ball, Latin, Mary Beard, pedantry, protests

Where better to start this time than Colchester, with its John Ball connections, of course? Here, in a beer advert, a centurion has edited some graffiti to remind the natives of the Roman Empire’s authority. Perhaps he will enter a pub with four colleagues and order some, raising two fingers when asked how many? He…
Yes, that Thomas of Lancaster

Mar 22, 2017

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, Science

auctions, Bauge, Boroughbridge, Colchester, Dukes of Beaufort, Edward II, executions, Henry V, House of York, John Ashdown-Hill, Kathryn Warner, Pontefract, Thomas Earl of Lancaster, Thomas of Clarence, Y-chromosome

He lost his head at Pontefract so what was he doing on sale in Colchester? This Kathryn Warner post gives a lot of detail about Thomas Earl of Lancaster’s life, rebellion and execution six days after the Battle of Boroughbridge. Here we explained the circumstances in which John Ashdown-Hill is seeking his remains, to solve…
Was Edward IV gay and/or bisexual? Dr John Ashdown-Hill thinks maybe so….

Jan 20, 2017

archaeology, genealogy

Cecily Duchess of York, Colchester, DNA evidence, Dukes of Beaufort, Edward III, Edward IV, Elizabeth Lambert, Essex County Gazette, false paternity, Henry Duke of Somerset, John Ashdown-Hill, Richard III, sexuality, Thomas Earl of Lancaster, Titulus Regius, Y-chromosome

What follows was written entirely by Caroline Tilley, Senior Reporter of the Daily Gazette/Essex County Standard Secret marriages, scandalous affairs and one of the best-kept secrets in English history…. WHEN you have helped to unearth arguably the greatest historical find of the 21st century, some people might decide to put their feet up. Not Dr John…
A Colchester mystery

Jul 23, 2016

religion

Colchester, de heretico comburendo, John Foxe, Mary I, Paul Johnson

Have you ever visited Colchester Castle? The guide book is very informative about three thousand years of the town’s history, particularly the 1989 revision, which I have. Page twenty names some 23 people who were imprisoned there and burned during 1555-8, together with two more who died there before they could be executed. Some of…
The Shakespearean editor who was descended from Richard III’s sister …

Apr 6, 2016

genealogy

Anne of Exeter, Arthur Capell Baron Hadham, Colchester, Earls of Essex, Edward IV, Rayne, Richard III, Shakespeare, Suffolk

… was Sir Edward Capell, son of the vicar of Stanton in Suffolk. He was, as you can see , a cousin of the Earls of Essex through Arthur Capell Baron Hadham, a descendant of Anne Duchess of Exeter.