Henry III
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“….UK conservators knit together thousands of pictures taken at Angers Cathedral of Saint Maurille paintings….” It was while reading this article—https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/01/03/medieval-wall-paintings-hidden-in-a-french-cathedral-revealed-in-digital-imagery—that I learned of a worthy decade-long project by UK conservationists that has revealed some magnificent medieval wall paintings “….in all their multi-coloured splendour for the first time in more than 500 years….” The paintings,…
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Medieval royal Christmases….with a few camels thrown in….!
A Christmas Carol, Bayeux Tapestry, Becket, Bishop Odo, Charles Dickens, Christ Church Canterbury, coronation 1066, Edward III, Edward IV, Elizabeth I, Epiphany, Henry I, Henry II, Henry III, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, John Leland, Katherine of Aragon, King John, King Wenceslas carol, Lucy Worsley Christmas Odyssey, Matthew Paris – Benedictine, Medieval camels, medieval Christmas, Medieval Ireland, Richard II, Richard III, Royal Menagerie, Scrooge, Twelfth Night, William ICamels seem to have figured quite a lot in gifts to medieval monarchs, at Christmas and other times. But I’ll begin with commenting on the season itself. St Stephen’s Day is the second day of Christmas (Christmas Day itself being the first, and Epiphany, 6 January, the twelfth and last). Today, unless we’re among those…
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The disgraceful second marriage of the unpleasant 3rd Earl of Arundel….
“Copped Hat”, annulment, Arundel Castle, bigamy, Bodleian Library, child marriage, clement vi, dispensations, Earl of Arundel, Edmund Crouchback, Edward II, Eleanor of Lancaster, executions, Fitzalans, Havering atte Bower, Henry III, Henry of Lancaster, Hugh Despencer the Younger, illegitimate children, Isabel le Despenser, John Beaumont, Kathryn Warner, Lewes Priory, Limoges, National Portrait Gallery, popes, prisoners, Saint-Martial, scandal, Sir Edmund Arundel, tournaments, Tower of LondonIn January 1376, 63-year-old Richard Fitzalan, 3rd/10th (depending on how you calculate it) Earl of Arundel, passed away at Arundel Castle and was interred at Lewes Priory, where his 54-year-old second wife had lain to rest since 1372. The earl was nicknamed “Copped Hat” because of the type of gabled headwear he favoured, and he…
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Caroline Burt and Richard Partington are prominent historians at the University of Cambridge, and have written a book entitled Arise, England, which “….is shaping up to be a welcome shelter from the permanent torrent of Tudors….” Oh, yippee! At last! I’m so sick of the Tudors, on all manner of levels, so a book about…
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The murdered Lancastrian countess and the disappearing Yorkist ghost rider….
Blanche of Lancaster, british History Online, drowning, Edward II, Edward IV, executions, ghosts, Gloucestershire, Henry III, Henry of Grosmont, illegitimacy, Kempsford Castle, Lords Ordainers, Margaret of Anjou, Maud Chaworth, Owlpen Manor, Pontefract, possible canonisation, Prestbury, River Thames, Tewkesbury, Thomas Earl of LancasterGloucestershire doesn’t lack ghostly stories, not least about the Wars of the Roses with, for example, Margaret of Anjou prowling the rooms of Owlpen Manor and the phantom messenger, on his way through Prestbury to Edward IV at Tewkesbury in May 1471 when he was killed by an arrow. He still gallops through the village…
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The royal and noble descent of Jane Birkin
actresses, bastardy, Charles II, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dukes of Bedford, Earls of Bedford, Edward I, Edward III, France, George II, Henry Earl of Surrey, Henry III, House of Hanover, Howards, James IV, Jane Birkin, Joan “Beaufort”, Lady Elizabeth Grey, Lancastrians, Mowbrays, poets, Prince William Henry, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Serge Gainsbourg, Seymour-Conways, singers, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, van KeppelsThe late actress and singer Jane Birkin, who would have been 77 today, had some interesting ancestors. As this first table shows, these were all through her father David, a naval Lieutenant Commander with a Russell mother, through whom Jane was descended from the Dukes of Bedford, along with several other peers: the van Keppels,…
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A modern 3-D printed statue of Henry VI is soon going to grace the streets of Coventry. The original, made in the 1500’s, is housed in the Herbert Art Gallery. The local council wanted to use the Tudor era statue in the rebuild of Coventry Cross but it was deemed too fragile to withstand outdoor…
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I was quite enjoying this article until I came to: “….‘Kings whose claims were disputed were accordingly anxious to be consecrated as quickly as possible,’ writes Zaller. ‘Both Edward IV and Richard III rushed to be crowned, and the Yorkist kings claimed to have been anointed with chrism conveyed directly to Thomas á Becket by…
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