Edmund Duke of Somerset

Sir John Wenlock’s Castle of Someries

Sep 19, 2023

battles, buildings, travel

Edmund Duke of Somerset, Gatehouses, Luton, Luton Airport, Richard of Warwick, ruins, Sir John Wenlock, Someries Castle, Tewkesbury, treachery, Wars of the Roses

Sir John Wenlock was a known side-swapper during the Wars of the Roses. Although not as infamous as Thomas Stanley, Wenlock also frequently changed allegiances, starting out as a Lancastrian, then becoming a Yorkist, then a Warwick supporter and then back to being a Lancastrian again. He fought for the House of Lancaster at…
Scandal in Salisbury

Feb 20, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Church House, Earls of Castlehaven, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Elizabeth I, executions, Ferdinando Stanley, Henry of Buckingham, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lords Audley, Margaret Darrell, Mary “Tudor”, Mervyn Tuchet, rape, Salisbury, smallpox, sodomy, Stanleys, Sudeley Castle, Tower Hill, William Lightfoot, workhouses

Recently I had a rare opportunity to visit Church House in Salisbury. Used for administration of the diocese today, it is an attractive medieval/post-medieval building retaining many original features, and has an interesting but sometimes rather murky past. Originally it was built in the 15th century by a merchant called William Lightfoot, and was known…
The “awkward mediaeval cities” (3) : St. Alban’s

Feb 17, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, religion, travel

battlefields, blue plaque, Boudicca, Colchester, destruction, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Eleanor Crosses, Elizabeth I, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Humphrey of Gloucester, Jean II, John Ball, London, Luton, martyrs, museums, Northampton, Oxford, Poitiers, Roman Britain, Roman theatre, Second Battle of St. Albans, Skipton Building Society, St. Alban, St. Albans, St. Albans Cathedral, Thameslink, Verulam Park, Verulamium Roman Museum, Victoria Street, Wars of the Roses, Watford Junction

Unlike Northampton and Oxford, St. Alban’s (City) is on the Thameslink network and also has a branch line to Watford Junction. Accommodation can be expensive but the less historic Luton is surprisingly convenient as a base, being about fourteen minutes away on the same line and costing about five pounds for a day return. Turning right…
Rebellion in the Middle Ages

Dec 19, 2022

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, law, religion

Archbishop of Canterbury, Arthur of Brittany, Azincourt, Bannockburn, Barons’ War, Battle of Evesham, Battle of Hastings, Battle of Lewes, Battle of Shrewsbury, Black Death, Blackheath, Boroughbridge, Canterbury Cathedral, Crusades, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward I, Edward II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, executions, First Battle of St. Albans, France, Geoffrey of Brittany, Henry Cardinal Beaufort, Henry II, Henry III, Henry IV, Henry the Young King, Henry V, Henry VI, Hereward the Wake, House of Lancaster, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Humphrey of Gloucester, insanity, Isabelle de France, Isle of Ely, Jack Cade, John, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Protector of the Realm, Lords Ordainers, Magna Carta, Matilda, Matt Lewis, murder, Parliament, Peasants’ Revolt, Peterborough Abbey, Piers Gaveston, rebellions, Richard Duke of York, Richard I, Richard II, Robert of Gloucester, Roger Mortimer, Royal Marriage Secrets, Scarborough Castle, secret marriage, Southampton plot, St. Thomas Becket, Stephen, The Anarchy, Thomas of Lancaster, Tower of London, usurpation, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, William Duke of Suffolk, William I, William Marshall

This is the latest of Matthew Lewis’ books and covers a longer period than any of the others, from Hereward the Wake’s emergence after Hastings to the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, almost as long a period as this book. Lewis is already an expert on “The Anarchy” (chapter 2) and the Roses…
Michael Portillo’s Great Coastal Railway Journeys and Pembroke Castle

Aug 7, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, Science, television reviews, travel

“Tudors”, Ancestry, BBC2, bigamy, Carmarthenshire, Catherine de Valois, denialists, Edmund “Tudor”, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Ednyfed Fychan, Edward IV, Glamorgan, Great Coastal Railway Journeys, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hywel Dda, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, legislation, Llewellyn ap Iorweth, Maredydd ap Tudor, Michael Portillo, Mortimers of Wigmore, Nathen Amin, Owain Tudor, Pembroke Castle, pre-contract, remarriage of royal stepmothers, Rhodri Dda, Richard III, Royal Marriage Secrets, stewards, Tenby

I have enjoyed watching Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys particularly the programmes that have shown him travelling along the coast of South Wales. He stopped off in places that I know well in Glamorgan, also in places that my ancestors hailed from in Carmarthenshire. However, one programme ended up in Pembroke and I must…
The complete, utterly biased dissing of the House of York….

Apr 28, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, law, religion, television reviews, The play’s the thing

Anne Neville, armour, Barnet, bastardy, bigamy, boar, Brittany, Burgundy, Cecily Neville, cleanliness, destiny, Edgecote, Edmund “Tudor”, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edmund of Rutland, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward V, executions, exile, facial hair, family tree, First Battle of St. Albans, fog, G.L.Harriss, gambling, George Duke of Clarence, Hastings, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Ireland, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, John Duke of Somerset, John of Gaunt, John Welles, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lancastrians, Lionel of Antwerp, Lord High Constable, Lord Protector of the Realm, Louis XI, Margaret of Anjou, Mortimer’s Croft, obscenity, Old St. Paul’s, philip glenister, pre-contract, Privy Council, propaganda, re-legitimisation, Readeption, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Arundel, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richard of Warwick, Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, Scotland, Sky History, Southampton, Titulus Regius, Wakefield, Welsh people, William Herbert, William Shakespeare, Wydevilles, Yorkist claim, Yorkists

When I recorded the first episode of the Sky series Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, I watched it on 23rd November, which is the anniversary of the day in 1450 when Richard 3rd Duke of York returned to London [and Parliament] with his sword unsheathed to claim his right. The docudrama series kicks…
Another blunder in Cairo

Dec 27, 2021

law, religion

“Perkin”, Catherine de Valois, Countess of Warwick, denialists, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Henry VIII, John Ashdown-Hill, Juventus, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Owen Tudor, own goals, parish registers, Ralph Butler Baron Sudeley, Robert Stillington, secret marriage, Thomas Cromwell

Of late, I have read the denialists claim that Edward IV’s 1461 marriage couldn’t possibly have been valid because it doesn’t show in the parish registers anywhere in England, therefore his dozen children by Lady Grey must have been legitimate. The only problems with this are:1) Parish registers, inspired by Thomas Cromwell, only date from…
The Kingmaker’s Anger

Nov 22, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, sources

Alexander Neville Archbishop of York, anarchy, Anne Beauchamp, Anne Neville, Barons Latimer, Calais, Captain of Calais, Cardiff Castle, Catherine Parr, Catherine Woodville, Countess of Shrewsbury, Countesses of Arundel, daughters, de Veres, Duchess of Somerset, Duchess of Warwick, Dukes of Buckingham, Dukes of Norfolk, Earls of Arundel, Earls of Kent, Earls of Northumberland, Edmund Duke of Somerset, George Duke of Clarence, George Neville, George Neville Duke of Bedford, Henry Fitzhugh, Henry II, Henry IV, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Isabel Neville, Joan “Beaufort”, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, Losecoat Field, marriages, Matthew Lewis, Monthemer family, Nevilles, Percies, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, rebellions, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl Rivers, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Rous Roll, sibling double marriages, Sir John Woodville, summary executions, the Beauforts., Thomas Lord Stanley, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, William de Longespee, William Lord Hastings

I’m working on a biography of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick – the man best introduced as The Kingmaker. I have written on the Wars of the Roses, on Richard, Duke of York, and Richard III. Warwick has been a constant presence throughout. I spent some time in an earlier dispute over the throne of…
What really happened with Princess Cecily’s first two marriages….?

Aug 24, 2021

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, law, religion, sources

“Princes”, Alexander Stewart Duke of Albany, annulments, Barons Scrope of Bolton, Battle of Bosworth, Bishop of Durham, british History Online, Cicely Plantagenet, Complete Peerage, consanguinity, dispensations, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward III, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Essex, Gaynesparc, Hatfield, Isle of Wight, James III, James IV, Joan “Beaufort”, Joan of Kent, John Scrope of Bolton, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, Lionel Baron Welles, Margaret Beauchamp, pardons, plots, Ralph Scrope, Richard Fox, Richard III, royal marriages, Scotland, Scottish campaign 1482, Scropes of Masham, Sharon Champion, Thomas Holland, Thomas Kymbe, Tony Riches, Tower of London, Viscount Welles

The following extract is from Not So Fortunate As Fair’: The Life of Princess Cecily Plantagenet by Sharon Champion:- “….At the age of five, she [Cecily] was betrothed to James, the infant son and heir of James III of Scotland. John 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton was sent as commissioner to negotiate a contract of…
Henry VII had an uncle Owen Tudor . . . .

Feb 4, 2021

anniversaries, buildings, religion

Catherine de Valois, Edmund “Tudor”, Edmund Duke of Somerset, executions, Henry VII, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, marriage law, memorials, monks, Owain Tudor, remarriage of royal stepmothers, Royal Marriage Secrets, Westminster Abbey

Well, I confess I always thought Henry VII only had one uncle on the paternal side, and that was Jasper. So just who is in the above illustration? The Tudors as being important in English history commenced with the affair between the widowed Katherine of Valois and the rather lowly Welshman Owen Tudor. They had…