Elizabeth I

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…
Thomas Seymour, Princess Elizabeth and hanky-panky….

Nov 18, 2022

anniversaries, buildings

Admiral Thomas Seymour, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, executions, Mary I, Sudeley Castle, Suzannah Lipscomb, treason

Was Thomas Seymour guilty of any hanky-panky with his young stepdaughter Princess Elizabeth (to become Elizabeth I)? Well, yes, I don’t think there’s any doubt of that, but there has to be doubt about the extent of the hanky-panky. She was very young, around thirteen, and he was thirty-eight, so it certainly wasn’t runaway youthful…
Wardship and Marriage

Nov 15, 2022

genealogy, law

Charles I, dowry, Earl of Southampton, Earls of Warwick, Edmund of Langley, Elizabeth I, feudalism, Joan Mohun, John of Gaunt, Long Parliament, majority, marriage rights, Matilda Burghersh, Thomas Chaucer, Thomas Earl of Gloucester

The right of wardship and marriage usually go together, but they were in fact separate rights. An example of them being divided is Thomas Despenser (later Earl of Gloucester.) His mother had his wardship but his marriage was granted to Edmund of Langley who used it for the benefit of his daughter. The feudal lord…
The art that made us

Nov 8, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, culture, humour, religion, Science, television reviews

Aphra Benn, Armada, Arts and Crafts, Barbara Hepworth, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, BBC2, Beowulf, Black Death, Bloomsbury Group, British Empire, Burns, Charles I, Colonel Blimp, Cool Britannia, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, David Threlfall, Death and the Gallant, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth I, embroidery, English Civil War, Festival of Britain, First World War, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Fire of London, Hanif Kureishi, Harry Potter, Hogarth, Industrial Revolution, Jane Austen, Jarrow march, John Foxe, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, Joshua Reynolds, Julian of Norwich, kitchen sink drama, Llancarfon, Margery Kempe, Mary Stuart, murals, Norman conquest, Oliver Cromwell, Phillip Larkin, Piers Plowman, poetry, pre-Raphaelites, Reformation, Restoration, Richard II, Roman Britain, Rubens, satire, Second World War, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir William Orpen, St. Cadoc’s church, St. Paul’s, stained glass, Stuarts, The art that made us, The Fighting Temeraire, The unknown soldier, Tracey Emin, Trainspotting, Turner, urbanisation, van Dyck, Walter Sickert, Welsh Bible, William Cobbett, William Morgan, William Shakespeare, Wilton Diptych, York Minster

This is another fascinating BBC2 series, illustrating English and British history through the evolution of our art. The eight one-hour episodes, narrated by David Threlfall (Men of the World), feature:The Roman and pre-Roman periods, Beowulf, the Norman conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry; The Black Death, Wilton Diptych, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich,…
Was the Bard having a go at Robert Cecil when he wrote Richard III….?

Oct 15, 2022

culture, humour, religion, The play’s the thing

“Princes”, Elizabeth I, James VI/I, Matthew Lewis, Richard III, Robert Cecil, satire, secret Catholics, William Shakespeare

Matt Lewis is, of course, a force to be reckoned with when it comes to supporting Richard III and this link is a very interesting article he’s written concerning why Shakespeare may have bad-mouthed Richard. I had no idea the Bard could have been a secret Catholic who wanted the return of the old…
The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden (3)

Sep 20, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, law, television reviews

air raid shelters, Anthony Babington, Battle of Marston Moor, Biggin Hill Grange, Channel Four, chapels, Coventry, Elizabeth I, English Civil War, executions, Glen Mill, Henry III, Hugh Dennis, King’s Lynn, Morda House, Odiham, Oldham, Oswestry, past maps, plots, Priories, prisoners of war, ramparts, Second World War, sieges, Sir Francis Walsingham, workhouses

This excellent Channel Four programme has returned for a third series soon after the second, perhaps because the pandemic interrupted some of the earlier filming. The first episode features Odiham Place in Hampshire, looking for the home of Sir Francis Walsingham, although it was actually built for Henry VIII and was smaller than a 1739…
A possible Elizabethan bridge over the Thames at Blackwall….

Aug 18, 2022

buildings, Science, travel

Blackwall Tunnel, bridges, Elizabeth I, engineering, London, past maps, Robert Adams

Wandering around the net in search of one thing does, as we all know, often turn up something else entirely. I came upon this site which tells of a map from a period following the one in which we’re mainly interested, but I found it intriguing. It seems the present Blackwall Tunnel mightn’t be…
Athelstan–Our Greatest Monarch?

Jul 17, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

“The last Kingdom”, Alfred, Anglo-Saxons, Athelstan, Bernard Cornwell, books, Brunaburh, Cheshire, Constantine II, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Eadgyth, Edward the Elder, Elizabeth I, Germany, House of Wessex, illegitimacy rumours, legal reforms, Malmesbury Abbey, novels, piety, royal burials, Scotland, St. Aldhelm, St. Cuthbert, Tom Holland, Venerable Bede, Vikings, York

A recent poll searching for Britain’s ‘Greatest Monarch’, came up with the surprise winner of… drum roll, King Athelstan. Not that the Anglo-Saxon king wasn’t so great, but the winner is a little surprising since most people seem to have believed the ‘crown’ would go to Elizabeth I. (Yawn!) I hope the voters actually remembered…
A new film about Charles II….

Jun 23, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, films, genealogy, religion

beds, Catherine of Braganza, Charles Earl Spencer, Charles II, Diana Princess of Wales, Elizabeth I, hunting lodges, John, Richard III, royal marriages, Steve Coogan, Stuarts, trees

Well, if the above painting (left) really is “Charles Spencer….the younger brother to late Princess Diana” I’m impressed by his complete dedication to his subject, Charles II! Talk about entering into the spirit of things! 😁 I look forward to the ultimate film but am rather more enthusiastic about Steve Coogan’s earlier film about the…
Pandemics through history….

May 19, 2022

anniversaries, culture, Science

Albert Victor Duke of Clarence, Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, Black Death, covid 19, Edward of Middleham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, medicine, pandemics, plague, pneumonia, Richard II, Richard III, smallpox, Spanish ‘flu, tuberculosis, vaccination

For the last few years we’ve been beset by a pandemic. COVID-19 is the new blight on the block, and has set about knocking us down like ninepins in spite of antibiotics and even immunisation. But modern medicine has done a lot to standing up to the silent menace. In times gone by folks…