English Civil War

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,…
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…
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Oxford Castle and King Arthur

Jun 4, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, religion, sources

Arthur, Charles I, colleges, English Civil War, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Henry I, History of the Kings of Britain, Matilda, monastic life, Oxford Castle, Oxford Prison, Robert D’Oylly, Siege of Oxford, Stephen, The Anarchy

Originally posted on Giaconda's Blog: King Arthur at the beginning of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain BnF, Latin 8501A, f. 108v Geoffrey of Monmouth is thought to have been born between 1090 -1100 in Wales; possibly at Monmouth but no written evidence remains to verify this. Geoffrey also signed himself…
A further anachronism

May 14, 2022

anniversaries, battles, television reviews

Alexandre Dumas, Cardinal Richelieu, Charles I, childbirth, English Civil War, Exeter, exile, France, Henrietta Maria, Louis XIII, Peter Capaldi, The Three Musketeers

Many of you will have watched the 2014-16 BBC production of The Musketeers, the first series of which starred Peter Capaldi as Cardinal Richelieu. The third series was based on Dumas’ lesser-known sequels, in which Henrietta Maria, separated from her husband Charles I for her own safety and by mutual consent, is permanently residing with…
More Royal ancestry

Apr 8, 2022

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

actresses, Alexander Armstrong, Arthur Capell Baron Hadham, astronomy, Barings Bank, Battle of Surbiton, bigamy, burials, Careys, Clare Balding, comedians, Dame Judi Dench, Danny Dyer, Dartmoor, Denmark, Duke of Hamilton, Edict of Nantes, Edward IV, Elsinore, English Civil War, executions, France, Frank Gardner, Groom of the Stool, Guildenstern, Hamlet, Henry Earl of Holland, Henry VIII, Hugenots, illegitimacy, Ireland, Joe Sugg, Josh Widdicombe, Lettice Knollys, Mark Wright, Mary Boleyn, Military Cross, Normandy, Ophelia, religious persecution, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Rosencrantz, royal palaces, Sabine Baring-Gould, secret marriage, Tom Stoppard, Trenchard Manor, Tycho Brahe, Westminster Abbey, Who do you think you are?, Will Kemp, William Shakespeare

Who do you think you are? has now completed eighteen series as British television’s predominant genealogy programmes. In that time, with an average of eight episodes per series, they have uncovered many celebrities with interesting lineage and some unexpected royal descendants, including Alexander Armstrong, Clare Balding, Danny Dyer, Frank Gardner and Sir Matthew Pinsent. Now…
Humpty-Dumpty and his wall were Richard III and his horse….!

Jan 2, 2022

battles, culture

Battle of Bosworth, cannon, English Civil War, horses, India, nursery rhymes, one-eyed Jack, Richard III, siege of Colchester, slang, Tik-Tok

Well, we’ve all heard versions of the true meaning of Humpty-Dumpty, including that it was a reference to a 17th-century cannon used in the Siege of Colchester. Oh and Humpty may also have been a drink of brandy boiled with ale. All nursery rhymes had beginnings somewhere, and also have some wild notions about their…
The history of castles….

Sep 4, 2021

battles, buildings

Beaumaris Castle, Belvoir Castle, castles, Charles VIII, defences, Durham Castle, Edward I, English Civil War, Episcopal palaces, gunpowder, Italian Wars, keeps, Knights Hospitaller, Krak des Chevaliers, motte and bailey, Normans, ruins, slighting, stone, Syria, tourism, Wales, Warkworth Castle, William I, Windsor Castle

We all love early castles. Well, we can love those from later ages, but they don’t have quite the same cachet as those wonderful old fortresses that always make us gasp when we see them. But how did they evolve? And why did they become obsolete except as tourist attractions and scenic splendours? This article…
THE TUDOR CROWN UNEARTHED

May 23, 2021

anniversaries, art, battles, religion

“Lancastrian”, Charles I, crown, English Civil War, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, insanity, Market harborough, metal detecting, Naseby, Oliver Cromwell, St. Edmund, St. Edward the Confessor

A metal detector enthusiast has come up with an impressive find that may be worth a cool £2 million. Tucked away in a hole in a field field near Market Harborough was a tiny figure made of pure gold. This figure is believed to be from the ‘Tudor Crown’ designed by Henry VII for state…
The Wakefield Medieval Portaloo!

Mar 22, 2021

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, sources

boar, Council of the North, English Civil War, Harleian Manuscript, mediaeval artefacts, Peter Hammond, Richard III, Rosemary Horrox, Sandal Castle, Wakefield

In Wakefield Museum there is a rather unusual artefact–a late medieval chamber pot that was discovered in the ruins of Sandal Castle. This would be an unusual find at the best of times, but what makes this porta-potty even more interesting and special is that is is mounted with the large figure of a boar!…
Yet another C17 coincidence

Jan 25, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Battle of Marston Moor, Battle of Nantwich, Battle of Preston, Battle of Whalley, coincidence, Colonel Ralph Assheton, English Civil War, James Earl of Stanley, Lancashire, Long Parliament, Members of Parliament, memorial brass, Middleton Church, namesakes, Parliamentary army, Richard Neville, Richard of Warwick, self-denying ordinance, Thomas Fairfax, Vice Constable of England

The English Civil War often looked like Round Two of the Wars of the Roses with, geographically, Yorkists morphing into Parliamentarians and Lancastrians becoming Royalists. One parliamentary commander was a Richard Neville and another bore the name of Ralph Assheton, as we shall show, descended from the Vice-Constable of the 1480s: Colonel Assheton, of Middleton,…