The New Murrey and Blue blog

Edward IV

Talbot Country

Feb 8, 2019

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, heraldry, law, sources

“Lambert Simnel”, Alton Towers, Battle of Bosworth, Bess of Hardwick, bigamy, Bridgnorth, Castillon, destruction of records, Duchess of Norfolk, Earls of Shrewsbury, Edward Grey Lord Lisle, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Wydeville, evidence, executions, Fotheringhay, France, funicular railways, George Duke of Clarence, George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Henry VI, Henry VII, heraldic symbols, Hex, house arrest, House of York, Hundred Years War, illegitimacy, Jeanne d’Arc, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, London, Lord Protector of the Realm, Margaret d’Anjou, Mary Stuart, memorials, Pontefract, pre-contract, pubs, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, Robert Stillington, secret marriage, Shropshire, Simon Stallworth, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Staffordshire, Talbot hound, Talbot Monument, Talbots, The Shrewsbury Book, Titulus Regius, Tutbury castle, Wingfield Manor

There is a pub in Bridgnorth, near where I live. Well, let’s be honest, there’s about a hundred. If you have ever been to Bridgnorth, aside from the Severn Valley Railway, the funicular railway from Low Town to High Town and the remains of the slighted castle, which lean at a greater angle than the…
SIR THOMAS MORE , A MAN FOR ALL REASONS: SAINT OR SINNER?

Feb 7, 2019

anniversaries, religion, sources

“Perkin”, “Princes”, “The History of King Richard III”, “Tudor” Despotism, “Tudors”, Alan Grant, Anthony Woodville, Archbishop of Canterbury, bigamy, Bishop of Norwich, Carmeliano, Carthusian Monastery, Colet, Domenico Mancini, Dr. Horsey, Edward IV, Edward of Buckingham, Elizabeth Lucy, Elizabeth Wydeville, Erasmus, executions, Fabyan, Geoffrey Chaucer, Greek, Hanseatic League, Henry VII, Henry VIII, heresy, Horace Walpole, humanism, Hunne Case, John Morton, John Rous, Kincaid, King’s Bench, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lambeth Palace, Latin, law, Lollards, London Charterhouse, Lord Chancellor, Lutheran texts, More, New Inn, Oxford University, Paul Murray Kendall, Peter Ackroyd, Polydore Vergil, pre-contract, Ralph Shaa, Reformation, renaissance, Richard III, Richard Sylvester, saints, Sallust, sanctuary, satire, Sir John Harrington, Stony Stratford, Tey, The Daughter of Time, Thomas Wolsey, Threadneedle Street, Tillyard, Utopia, William Roper

‘Not exactly the horse’s mouth’ In Josephine Tey’s spellbinding novel ‘The Daughter of Time’, Detective Inspector Alan Grant has a reputation for being able to spot a villain on sight. Whilst in hospital with a broken leg, Grant is idly flipping through some old postcard portraits to while away the time. He turns over a…
Loyalty Binds Me reviewed

Feb 2, 2019

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews

Barrie Williams, biographies, childhood, Duke of Gloucester, Edward IV, Edward V, John Ashdown-Hill, kingship, Matthew Lewis, Paul Murray Kendall, Portuguese marriage plans, pre-contract, primary sources, Richard III, Sarah Bryson, Wars of the Roses

See Sarah Bryson’s review of this biography here . Or, if you would prefer to judge it by our criteria for a post-Kendall biography of Richard, read here. Lewis is already the author of a volume on the “Princes” but approaches the pre-contract and Portuguese marriage negotiations well, thereby scoring highly on the three most important points.
Terry Jones’ opinion of Richard III….

Feb 1, 2019

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, sources, The play’s the thing

“Medieval Lives”, “Tudor” propaganda, Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, bones, Bootham Bar, Coronation, Council of the North, Edward IV, Edward V, Garden Tower, Henry VII, illegitimacy, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, John Rous, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lord Protector of the Realm, Louis VII, motive, plots, pre-contract, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, Tanner and Wright, Terry Jones, Wars of the Roses, wine merchants, Wydevilles, York

I am a great fan of Terry Jones’ writing/opinions when it comes to medieval history, and today just happens to be Terry’s birthday. That he supports King Richard II I already knew, but I did not know he also thinks highly of King Richard III. What I write below is taken from a book, which…
A question of age

Jan 22, 2019

battles, humour, The play’s the thing

“Tudor” propaganda, age, Battle of Bosworth, Edward IV, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VII, NPG, portraits, Richard III, Shakespeare

Drifting in and out of various history groups on the net, a very strange thing has become apparent. There are some out there who truly believe Richard III’s death was ‘the end of the Middle Ages’ and that he stood in the way of the wonderful, burgeoning Renaissance like some great big dinosaur with both…
Sundogs over Stockholm in 1535. . .

Jan 12, 2019

art, battles

Edward IV, Holy Trinity, Mortimer’s Cross, omens, paintings, Stockholm, sundogs, Sweden, Vadersolstavlan

When I actually saw sundogs for the first time my own previous knowledge of such things concerned the famous three suns seen at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross in Herefordshire on 2nd February 1461. The quick-thinking Edward, Duke of York (soon to be King Edward IV) claimed the phenomenon as a sign of the Holy Trinity, signifying…
On twentieth century comedy

Jan 9, 2019

humour, law

alcoholism, Barry Mainwaring, bigamy, Captain Mainwaring, Dads’ Army, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Fiona Gray, George Duke of Clarence, Lady Eleanor Talbot, pre-contract

Here we commented on a literary attempted bigamist, whose first name just happened to be Edward. Anyone who has visited the Dads’ Army Museum in Thetford may have noticed some parallels. Captain George Mainwaring, although ten inches shorter than Edward IV, has a drunken brother and feelings for a widow named Gray/ Grey (Fiona, played…
KEY TO THE CASTLE: LUMLEY CASTLE AND ITS OWNERS

Jan 7, 2019

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Bamburgh Castle, Edward IV, Epiphany Rising, executions, George Lumley, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VII, hotels, John Earl of Somerset, John Lumley, Lumley Castle, Margaret “Tudor”, Pilgrimage of Grace, Richard III, Scottish campaign 1482, siege of Berwick, sieges, Sir Ralph Lumley, Thomas Lumley, Wars of the Roses

Recently it hit the news that the key to Lumley Castle’s ancient banqueting hall had been returned after it was stolen during an event 40 years ago. Lumley Castle is currently a hotel (so another one to add to the list of interesting castles you can stay in!) and the family who lived there had…
Dear Cairo Dweller,

Dec 27, 2018

archaeology, buildings, genealogy, Science, sources

“Princes”, chapels, denialists, Edward IV, Garden Tower, Henry VII, John Ashdown-Hill, mysteries, royal burials, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle

Science has proved that Edward IV’s more prominent sons are not in his tomb, which was opened a few times but not when anyone could have have been placed there. Science will shortly prove that they are not in that Westminster Abbey urn, as you have maintained for so long. So where are you going…
Stained-glass magnificence, courtesy of five Kings of England….

Dec 6, 2018

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, heraldry

All Souls’ College Oxford, Battle of Bosworth, Calais, devices, dragon, Edward IV, Eton, hawthorn bush, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, King’s College Chapel Cambridge, Morpeth Castle, Owen Lord Ogle, portcullis, Richard III, Rose, St. Andrew’s Bothal, stained glass, Thomas Wolsey

This article provides an interesting interpretation of magnificent windows that are to be found in various churches, including King’s College, Cambridge. Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and Henry VIII had a royal hand in these masterpieces. Henry VII, of course, went overboard with all his heraldic symbols, and at King’s College…