England
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The Battle of Largs
Alexander II, Alexander III, Alexander of Dundonald, Battle of Largs, Chronicle of Melrose, Clan McDonald, Dal Riata, dowries, Duke of Rothesay, England, Eric II, Gaelic kingdoms, Haakon IV, Hakonar saga Hakonarsona, Hebrides, Henry III, High Steward, House of Dunkeld, Iceland, Ireland, James III, Kirkwall, Lords of the Isles, Malcolm III, McWilliams, North Sea, Norway, Orkneys, Richard III, Scotland, Scottish campaign 1482, Shetlands, siege of Berwick, Sigrid the Haughty, StewartsDuring the first quarter of the second millennium, Scotland did not have a clear northern or western border. There was the North Sea to the east and England to the south, where the exact line varied on occasion, but the status of the west coast was far more nebulous. There was a Gaelic kingdom of…
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Royal stepchildren
annulment, bigamy, Brittany, Cnut, Don Carlos, Edward IV, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth Wydeville, Emma of Normandy, England, Ethelred II, Gruoch, Henry II, Henry IV, Joan of Navarre, John IV Duke of Brittany, Louis VII, Lulach, Macbeth, Mary I, Phillip II, royal stepchildren, St. Edward the ConfessorFor the first time since 1558, England (thus also Wales and Northern Ireland) has a monarch with stepchildren, two in number, a record complicated by the double-consort Emma of Normandy whose sons by Ethelred II included Edward the Confessor. In Scotland, after the case of Lulach who was Macbeth‘s stepson, there seem to be no…
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I can’t say that I’m the world’s most brilliant participant when it comes to quizzes, but I had hopes with this one . Oh dear. I may have got the English ones right, but Scotland tripped me up once. As for France…. I don’t know my Louis’ from my Charles’. Shame on me! But there…
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Just over six years ago, we published an article about the claimants to the French throne. They divide into three lines: BOURBONS: Charles X’s male line, comprising the entire legitimate male line of Louis XIV with one proviso, became extinct in 1883. The exceptions are the Spanish Borbons, with their habit of…
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If you go to this link you’ll find a fascinating, zoomable map of Europe in 1444. You really can zoom right in, and my only regret is that more towns, etc. aren’t indicated. Well, a lot are listed by initials on the left, but it’s not the same as being able to read them once…
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Britain’s Most Historic Towns (2)
“Tudors”, Alice Roberts, ATS, Ben Robinson, Black Death, Bristol, Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, Cardiff, Channel Four, Charles I, chocolate, city walls, coal, defences, Demonology, Dover, dressing up, Dunkirk, Edwardian era, England, English Civil War, Flodden, France, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Georgian era, gin, Henry VIII, James III, James IV, James V, James VI/I, Magna Carta, Marquess of Bute, Mary Stuart, New Model Army, Oxford, Peasants’ Revolt, Plantagenet era, real tennis, Rough Wooing, Sauchieburn, Scottish Reformation, Second World War, Siege of Oxford, slavery, Solway Moss, St. Augustine, Stewarts, Stirling, Stirling Castle, Thomas Becket, witchcraftThis excellent Channel Four programme, presented by Professor Alice Roberts, with Dr. Ben Robinson in the helicopter, has returned for a new series. The early venues were Dover (World War Two, visiting the underground base, concentrating on the retreat from Dunkirk and subsequent Channel defence, meeting some survivors, wearing ATS uniform and riding in a…
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The Rise of the Clans
A History of Scotland, Alexander III, assassination, BBC1 Scotland, BBC4, Clan Hepburn, Clan Lennox Stuart, Clan MacDonald, Clan Stewart, clans, Douglas clan, Dukes of Albany, Dukes of Norfolk, Earls of Arundel, Edward II, England, executions, exile, Fitzalan, Fitzalans, Fotheringhay, Henry Lord Darnley, House of Stewart, Howards, James Earl of Bothwell, James Earl of Morton, James I, James Stewart Earl of Moray, Joan “Beaufort”, John Balliol, John Knox, Kirk o’Fields, Lancastrians, Lords of the Isles, Margaret of Norway, Mary Stuart, Neil Oliver, Perth, Red Comyn, Richard III, Robert I, Robert II, Robert III, Scottish Reformation, Walter Earl of AthollNeil Oliver‘s latest history series has been shown through December on Monday evenings (BBC1 Scotland) and twenty-four hours later on BBC4. The first part, of three, showed how the power vacuum caused by the sudden deaths of Alexander III and his granddaughter was resolved through the clan system and John Balliol’s abdication so that alliances…
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Edward Bruce, Ill-Starred King of Ireland
Alexander Bruce, Ardee Castle, Bannockburn, Butlers, Carrickfergus, de Burghs, Dundalk, Edmund Butler, Edward Bruce, Edward I, Edward II, Elizabeth de Burgh, England, High King of Ireland, Hill of Laughart, Ireland, John Maupas, Kells, Moiry Pass, Niall Bruce, O’Neills, Parliament, Robert I, Roger Mortimer, Scotland, Sir John de Bermingham, Sir Thomas de Mandeville, Thomas Bruce, Thomas de Burgh, William Liath de BurghOn the Hill of Laughart,near Dundalk, Co. Louth, in Ireland, lies a large, speckled stone slab covering the remains of a man called Edward Brus…thebrother of the rather more famous Robert the Brus, KING OF Scotland. (The actual ‘Braveheart’.) Little known, Edward was, briefly, the High King of Ireland, but ended up dying in battle…
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Pedro I, Peter the Cruel, was the great great grandfather of Richard III and Edward IV, through Peter’s daughter, Isabella, wife of Edmund of Langley.(Another daughter, Constance of Castile, married John of Gaunt.) Pedro or Peter has an interesting story—his life, his death and his subsequent reputation. Born August 30, 1334, Peter was the last…
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