executions

Dear Mr Beefeater, will you sell the Tower….?

Apr 30, 2022

anniversaries, buildings

Beefeaters, Edmund Earl of Suffolk, executions, property sales, Tower of London

Sell part of the Tower? Good heavens. The thing is, what price would the estate agent hope to place on the flat? I mean, it’s a setting that’s second to none! I imagine too that a few very influential personages from the past might pitch in to block (pun entirely intentional!) such a transaction.…
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…
Borman on Thomas Cromwell

Apr 18, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, religion, television reviews

5Select., Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, attainder, Austin Friars, Battle of Bosworth, brewing, Cromwell Square, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Earl of Essex, executions, Henry VIII, Ipswich, Pickwicks, Putney, Reformation, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Wolsey, Tower of London, Tracy Borman

This two part series was originally shown on 5Select during December 2021, presented by Tracy Borman from the Tower of London. It went beyond the cliched story of: the brewery in Putney, service to Wolsey, surviving him, the Dissolution, outmanoeuvring Anne Boleyn, setting up the Cleves “marriage” and being sent to the block to encounter…
Warwick’s Warblington–and it can be yours!

Apr 14, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Civil War, Cotton family, Edward of Warwick, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Hampshire, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Isabel Neville, Margaret of Salisbury, property sales, Richard of Warwick, Warblington Castle

Another handsome property with a Wars of the Roses connection has come on the market–Warblington Castle in Hampshire. Being a private home, it is little known outside the local area but it has strong connections with Richard Neville-Warwick the Kingmaker and his family. Although it had been a manor from at least Norman times, Warblington…
Religion can be the death of us….

Apr 13, 2022

anniversaries, law, religion

Anne Boleyn, executions, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Henry VIII, Reformation, Thomas More

Oh, the perils of religion. It seems to turn up behind most things throughout history. Certainly it prompted More and Fawkes, and was used quite shamelessly by Henry VIII so he could have Anne Boleyn. And even today it’s still the reason for most conflicts around the world. This article only deals with…
The curse of a medieval well near Liverpool…

Apr 10, 2022

archaeology, buildings, religion

executions, Liverpool, mediaeval curses, ploughing, St. Anne’s Well, trenches

While looking for examples of medieval curses, e.g. the terrible doom-laden threats screamed from someone burning at the stake, I came upon this site. Considering how close to the surface the well is, I find it astonishing that all those years of ploughing haven’t wrought more damage, but then I’m told that in the…
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…
James I: Scotland’s Lancastrian King

Apr 4, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, religion, sources

assassination, authoritarianism, captivity, castles, de heretico comburendo, executions, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, James I, Joan “Beaufort”, Lollards, Murdoch Duke of Albany, Pavel Kravar, Perth Blackfriars, ransom, Robert Duke of Albany, Scotichronicon, Southwark Cathedral, Walter Bower

Here is an excellent Gordon McKelvie article from History Extra about the king who was prisoner, hostage and then guest of the three Lancastrian kings, before marrying Henry V‘s cousin in Southwark Cathedral and going home to reign in person, heavily influenced in style by his former hosts, as the Stewarts of Albany and “Paul…
There’s been another Murrrrdah…!

Mar 30, 2022

anniversaries, law

executions, Grayingham, Henry IV, History of Parliament, John of Gaunt, King’s Bench, Lincolnshire, Maud Neville of Scotton, murder, petty treason, Richard Gyse, Richard II, Robert Coke, Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Sir John Bussy, Sir Philip Neville, Sir Thomas de Kydale, Sir William de Cantilupe, Speakers of the Commons

Maud Neville of Scotton, Lincolnshire, was the daughter and heiress of Sir Philip** Neville and Sarah (birth name unknown) and was born in about 1360. She married Sir William Cantilupe, a substantial landowner and member of a family which, historically, been of considerable importance in England. ** Some sources say Ralph. Take your pick. Allegedly,…
Joanna Fitzalan, Lady of Abergavenny

Mar 18, 2022

battles, buildings, genealogy, law, sources

Abergavenny Castle, Adam of Usk, Azincourt, Constance of York, Edward Duke of York, executions, House of Lords, Isabel le Despenser, Joanna Fitzalan, King’s Council, life jointure, Owain Glyn Dwr, Richard Earl of Arundel, Richard Earl of Worcester, Richard II, Thomas Earl of Gloucester, William Beauchamp Lord Bergavenny

Joanna was the daughter of that Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, who was executed by Richard II in 1397. In 1392, when she was about 17, she was married to William Beauchamp, Lord Bergavenny, younger brother of the Earl of Warwick, who was 55. They had a son, Richard, who eventually became Earl of Worcester,…