Geoffrey Chaucer
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A pastoral tale
bacon, climate, Dominic Sandbrook, East Anglia, Edward I, Florence, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Orwell, Hanseatic League, Italy, Jerusalem, Lavenham, Mediaeval Warm Period, Medici, music, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Corbet, Prokofiev, sheep, Shropshire, T.S. Eliot, timber-framed houses, William Blake, wolves, wool, WoolsackThis article investigates why, as the Mediaeval Warm Period drew to a close, Britain (and particularly England) developed differently to many nations of Southern Europe. Sandbrook mentions two major cultural factors: the tradition of salting bacon because ham could not be dry-cured and the evolution of the wool trade through the systematic elimination of the…
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The above painting by William Bell Scott depicts Chaucer reading to an aging John of Gaunt. The ladies are the two men’s wives, Philippa and Katherine, born de Roët. Everyone knows that John of Gaunt (1340-1399) had three wives, the last of whom was Katherine Swynford (nee de Roët, 1350-1403), who had been his children’s…
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These days, any mention of Melusine might conjure thoughts of Jacquetta of Luxemburg, Elizabeth Woodville, witchcraft and the like. But the story of Melusine was around before then. On browsing through John Gardner’s Life and Times of Chaucer, I came upon the following anecdote, which begins with Gardner’s rather precise description of Edward himself: “He…
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IN AN OXFORDSHIRE VILLAGE
“Nicholas of the Tower”, Alice Chaucer, ambush, astrologers, de la Pole family, death at sea, Dover, Edward IV, Edward of Middleham, Elizabeth of Suffolk, Ewelme, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henry Holland Duke of Exeter, John Duke of Suffolk, John Earl of Lincoln, Margaret of Anjou, Oxfordshire, Richard III, Thomas Montagu, Wallingford, William Duke of SuffolkIn a beautiful, sleepy Oxfordshire village stands the church of St Mary the Virgin. Once this village was a much busier place, with ornate Almhouses known as ‘God’s House’ (now partly a school) and a lavish manor house that was near enough a palace. Other than a wall of the old dairy, not one trace…
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How did St Valentine become the patron saint of lovers? The answer to that is the stuff of legends. One story has it that he was a peaceful man, as well as a great peacemaker, and while tending the roses in his garden, he heard a couple quarrelling violently. He cut a rose and…
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Originally posted on Mid Anglia Group, Richard III Society: Terry Hunt of the EADT writes here about some famous people with Ipswich links: Chaucer (as an ancestor of Richard’s brother-in-law) and Wolsey (Richard’s contemporary) are obvious cases, as is Dickens. He doesn’t mention Thomas Cromwell (after whom the Square is named) but he does mention…
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Which man fathered the first Beaufort….?
adultery, Arthurian legend, Blanche of Lancaster, Bordeaux, Catherine de Roet, Catherine of Valois, dysentery, Edmund “Tudor”, Edward III, Fourth Lateran Council, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henry IV, Henry VII, Hundred Years War, incest, John Earl of Somerset, John of Gaunt, Margaret Beaufort, Nirac de Bayanne, Owen Tudor, Phillipa de Roet, Richard II, Sir Hugh Swynford, Sir Robert KindlesHere is the scene. The mother with her newly born child, her ladies, the air of relief and happiness. But presumably she is a faithful wife, and her delighted husband will soon be summoned to see his new offspring. No doubt he hopes for a son. But what if she isn’t a faithful wife, and…
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Richard and John de la Pole I and II….
Alice Chaucer, Azincourt, Battle of Bosworth, de la Pole family, Earl of Lincoln, Edmund Earl of Suffolk, Elizabeth of Suffolk, Game of Thrones, Geoffrey Chaucer, Harfleur, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Hull, Italian Wars, John Duke of Suffolk, Michael de la Pole, Pavia, Stoke Field, Suffolk, William de la Pole, WingfieldThis article is about the de la Poles and their connection with Hull. The author rather muddles some members of the family but there are no nasty comments about Richard III. http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/…/story-29118778-…/story.html
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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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