Harold II
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Click here for article The above link takes you to the whole story. It concerns King Harold II aka Harold Godwinson, my other favourite king, who had a lot in common with his descendant, Richard (see my previous post regarding this). They appear to have located the home of the king, often suspected of being…
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As mentioned in this article, excavations have been afoot for some time at Skipsea on the coast of East Yorkshire, under the auspices of the renowned archaeologist Dr Jim Leary (see here https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/people/jim-leary/). The dig is close to the site of Skipsea Castle, an Iron Age fort that is also of archaeological interest. There is…
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This post in the Times details the final resting place of every English and then British monarch since 1066, although Harold II (probably Waltham Abbey) is omitted. Note from the interactive map that there are four (plus the Empress Matilda) burials in France and one in Germany. There are none in Scotland, Wales, Ireland or…
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A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors….
“Tudors”, Anne of Bohemia, Anzac Day, Bayeux Tapestry, burials, Channel Five, Charles “III”, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Charles I, Charles II, Cheyneygates, Cicely Plantagenet, coronation chair, coronations, Crown of St. Edward, Dame Judi Dench, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Norfolk, Easter, Elizabeth II, executions, gardens, Harold II, Hawksmoor Tower, Henry V, Henry VII Lady Chapel, Holy Week, Imperial State Crown, Lady Diana Spencer, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lent, Liber Regalis, Operation Golden Orb, Order of the Bath, Palm Sunday, Platinum Jubilee Roof, Poets’ Corner, Pyx Chamber, Queen Mother, records, Richard II, Royal Peculiars, Royal regalia, Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir john Gielgud, Sir Ralph Scrope, St. Paul’s, State Opening of Parliament, Stone of Scone, Timothy West, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Tower of London, Viscount Welles, weddings, Westminster AbbeyI have now watched all of the Channel 5 series Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors, which is so packed with information that I hardly know where to begin with this review. Aha, did I hear you say the beginning might be a good idea? You’re right, so here goes with a selection of descriptions from…
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Nearly 1,000 years have passed… In October 2016 I began a series of posts in memory of 1066, arguably the most important year in the history of England. Interestingly enough, while I enjoyed history, this era was not always my favored, as it once seemed so complicated and intimidating; my memories of studying it in school were…
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… we showed you, through the use of snooker balls, how it is significantly more probable that the Y-chromosome break occurred in the long Gaunt-Beaufort male line than the Langley-York line to Richard III.Although snooker was a nineteenth century invention, some earlier monarchs might well have enjoyed it: Harold II, whose informal wife (in more…
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… on the Bayeux Tapestry are featured in this excellent journal, Peregrinations by the International Society for the Study of Pilgrimage Art. The first relevant article, which also discusses Viking longboats and the Battle of Fulford, earlier in 1066, starts on (pdf) page 196. The second starting on page 238 compares the Tapestry with Trajan’s…
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Richard III and Harold II
“Lambert Simnel”, “Perkin”, Anne Neville, Archibald Whitelaw, bastardy, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Hastings, Bishop’s Stortford, Bosham, burial mystery, Constable of England, coronations, Earl of Wessex, Edgar the Atheling, Edith Swan Neck, Edward V, exile, George Duke of Clarence, Godwin Earl of Wessex, Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, Harold Hardrada, Harold II, Henry VII, Lord Protector of the Realm, marriage, more Danico, Nevilles, Orderic Vitalis, propaganda, Richard Duke of York, scoliosis, Scotland, St. Edward the Confessor, Stamford Bridge, Tostig, Wales, Waltham Abbey, William I, WitangemotWe all know that Richard is directly descended from William the Conqueror, who is his eleven times great grandfather. Here is Richard’s pedigree to William in three parts – follow the yellow dots left to right. (N.B. the first few generations have the yellow combined with red and blue which lead to other ancestors). But…
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… to know whether to take certain images at face value. Although we have often been told that snooker was actually invented in India during the late Victorian era, here is Phillip II with a cue in hand. Furthermore, the cue extension known as a “swan-neck” must surely have been named after Harold II’s wife.…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 