executions

Not all Speakers of the House of Commons left gracefully….

Jan 19, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, law

Edmund Dudley, Edward I, executions, Good Parliament, London Bridge, Palace of Westminster, Richard Empson, Sir John Bussy, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir William Tresham, Speakers of the Commons, Thomas More, William Catesby

Well, while researching the Painted Chamber of Westminster Palace, with particular reference to the “Good Parliament” of 1376, I couldn’t help imagining today’s House of Commons faced, not with someone like John Bercow (whose birthday it is today and is quite short with a head), but Edward the First! Can you just imagine old…
Some things never change

Jan 16, 2020

law

attainder, Claus von Stauffenberg, executions, Frederick Solms-Baruth III, Germany, July bomb plot, torture

As this excellent article relates, Frederick Solms-Baruth III was among those convicted after “Operation Valkerie”, the Wagnerian name for the July 1944 plot to kill Hitler through a bomb in a suitcase. Led by Claus von Stauffenberg (left), it almost succeeded but von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were almost all tortured and many executed horribly as…
History and cultural history (III)

Jan 9, 2020

anniversaries, genealogy, heraldry, The play’s the thing

Claudius, Cordelia, Council of the North, curtains, Earls of Salisbury, Earls of Warwick, Elizabeth I, executions, Hamlet, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, Henry Lord Montagu, I Claudius, King Lear, kyphosis, names, Polonius, Richard III, Robert Cecil, scoliosis, Shakespeare

We have already shown how Shakespeare was inadvertently influenced by contemporary or earlier events in setting details – names, events, badges or physical resemblance – for his Hamlet, King Lear and Richard III. What of Romeo and Juliet, thought to have been written between 1591-5 and first published, in quarto form, in 1597? The most…
Edmund, Earl of Rutland, a life cut short.

Dec 29, 2019

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy

Battle of Bosworth, Cecily Neville, christening, Edmund of Langley, Edmund of Rutland, Edward IV, executions, Fotheringhay, George Duke of Clarence, Harry Lovedeyne, John Boyes, Lord Clifford, Ludlow Castle, Micklegate Bar, Mortimers, Priory of St. John the Baptist, reburials, Richard III, Richard of Salisbury, Rouen, royal tombs, signatures, Sir Edmund Mortimer, The history geeks, Wakefield, York

UPDATED POST AT sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/14/edmund-earl-of-rutland-a-life-cut-short/ Fotheringhay Church and Yorkist Mausoleum 1804. Watercolour by unknown artist. A link here to an excellent article on Edmund, Earl of Rutland. The History Geeks can be found on Facebook: The article also give a plausible reason as to why Edmund’s christening ceremony at Rouen…
Digging for Britain

Dec 14, 2019

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion

Bradgate House, coins, executions, Henry VIII, Jane, Leicester University, Leicestershire, pilgrim badge, Richard III, St. Peter ad Vincula, Thomas Wolsey, Tower of London

Just six miles north-west of Leicester was Bradgate House, the childhood home of Lady Jane Grey, ostensibly the subject of the Streatham Portrait. The second episode of this year’s series, presented by Alice Roberts, focused upon the “North”, starting with Leicester University’s investigation into the probable site. Here they found that the most obvious building…
Richard II witnessed the grisly execution of John Ball….

Dec 9, 2019

battles, law, religion

executions, John Ball, Peasants’ Revolt, Richard II, Robert Tresilian, St. Albans

John Ball was a Lollard priest who believed people were all equal and should not be crushed by the will of “evil lords”. He was also a leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, and in St Albans on 15th July 1381 was drawn, hanged and quartered. In all, fifteen men suffered the same grisly fate that…
Matthew Lewis on YouTube: 2) Mancini

Dec 1, 2019

anniversaries, religion, sources

“I know nothing”, “Princes”, Armstrong, Arthur “Tudor”, Beaugency, bigamy, Charles VIII, Crowland Chronicle, Domenico Mancini, Dr. John Argentine, Duke of Orleans, Edward IV, evidence, executions, feuds, France, George Duke of Clarence, gossip, Hastings, Henry VII, illegitimacy, Italian merchants, Italy, Lady Eleanor Talbot, language, Lord High Admiral, Lord High Constable, Lord Protector of the Realm, Louis XI, minority kings, Parliament, plots, pre-contract, propaganda, Robert Stillington, sickness, Stony Stratford, translation, Wydevilles

Here is the second in my series of Top 10’s. This one is focussing on Dominic Mancini’s account of the events of 1483. It’s a hugely problematical source, both in terms of Mancini himself, who spoke no English, had no grasp of English politics and very limited sources, and in terms of the current translation…
A Legendary Ten Seconds special

Nov 29, 2019

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, Music Reviews

Aubrey Boyce, Battle of Evesham, Edmund Mortimer, executions, John Challis, Mortimer History Society, Mortimers, music, Phillipa of Ulster, Roger Mortimer, Sir Edmund Mortimer, The Legendary Ten Seconds, Tyburn, Welsh Marches, Wigmore Abbey

Recorded by Boycie and The Legendary Ten Seconds For The Mortimer History Society Released on Richard the Third Records June 2019 Catalogue number R17 Recorded at Rock Lee 2018, Orleton Village Hall & Other World Studios May 2019 John Challis : Boycie vocals Lord Zarquon : Mellotron flute keyboards Ashley Dyer : Trumpet Rob…
AUSTIN FRIARS: LAST RESTING PLACE OF PERKIN WARBECK

Nov 23, 2019

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, genealogy, religion, Science

“A survey of London”, “Perkin”, “Princes”, Austin Friars, Blitz, burials, churches, Drapers Hall, Dutch Church, Earls of Hereford, Earls of Oxford, Edward of Buckingham, Erasmus, Eustace Chapuys, executions, friaries, Great Fire of London, Humphrey de Bohun, John Stow, Marquis of Winchester, mtDNA evidence, Old Broad Street, Sir Thomas Cook, St. Augustine, tenements, Thomas Cromwell, WE Hampton, William Collingbourne

UPDATED POST ON sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/14/austin-friars-last-resting-place-of-perkin-warbeck-2/ Austin Friars today. This section of road covers part of the perimeter of the Friary. With thanks to Eric, Londonist. Austin Friars in London, was founded about 1260 by Humphrey de Bohun 2nd Earl of Hereford and Constable of England d.1275. It was rebuilt in…
One of London’s earliest imposters….?

Nov 22, 2019

anniversaries, art, buildings, law

“Perkin”, “Princes”, Charles II, Edward IV, executions, George III, Henry Duke of Cumberland, Henry VII, John Carleton, John Everett Millais, Maria von Wolway, Maximilian I, Olivia Wilmot, Restoration, Richard III, Royal Marriage Secrets, Stanley Kubrick, Tichborne case, Tower of London, Tyburn

Well, once again we have the painting of the two Princes in the Tower by Sir John Everett Millais. They look like frightened little angels, which, of course, is the traditional view of them. Nasty Uncle Richard, etc. etc. But it has never been proved that Richard did anything to them. He might even have…