Henry IV
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Life wasn’t always a bed of roses for Geoffrey Chaucer. We may laud him today, but in his own time he sometimes got into debt. His works are brilliant, there’s no doubt about that (I rate him above Shakespeare) and he made a fortunate marriage to one Philippa de Roët. Who she? Well, she was…
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Dealing With Richard’s Critics.
“Tudors”, Anne of Gloucester, Annette Carson, Archbishop Plunkett, Battle of Bosworth, Earl Marshal, Earl of Wiltshire, Earls of Oxford, Edward IV, Edward of Warwick, executions, Henry IV, Henry VI, Henry VII, Herberts, high treason, Humphrey of Gloucester, impartiality, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Parliament, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, usurpation, WydevillesGoing in to bat for Richard III on Facebook, or other places, can be quite an experience. First of all, any positive source you quote, say for example Annette Carson, is almost invariably rejected as biased. (Of course, all the anti-Richard texts are balanced and impartial, right?) Secondly, people really don’t want to know about…
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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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13 October was the Feast of the Translation of Edward the Confessor, who was Richard II’s most cherished saint and king. So great was Richard’s veneration that he even impaled the Confessor’s arms with the royal arms of England. See above. And on this day every year of he presented a gift at the saint’s…
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The title of this article refers to Joan, Princess of Wales, mother of Richard II. She became known as the “Fair Maid of Kent”, a sobriquet acquired posthumously. But, was she the most beautiful woman in England? According to the standards of her time yes, she certainly was, although the contemporary likenesses we have…
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In the course of seeking the date when Henry Percy, Baron Percy, became the 1st Earl of Northumberland (it was 15 July 1377, the eve of the coronation of the boy king Richard II), I came upon the website of Alnwick Castle. The section about the history of the castle is very well illustrated…
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From child marriages to a royal murder in Calais….
Anne Mowbray, Ashmolean Museum, child marriage, Eleanor de Bohun, Henry IV, Henry V, Humphrey de Bohun, Illustrations of Ancient State and Chivalry Preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, murder, Oxford, Philippa de Coucy, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford, St. Stephen’s Westminster, Thomas of woodstock, William Henry BlackWhile seeking information that might help with the child marriage of Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford and Philippa de Coucy, granddaughter of King Edward III, I came upon this link which is from Illustrations of Ancient State and Chivalry, From Manuscripts Preserved In The Ashmolean Museum, edited by William Henry Black and…
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A VISIT TO KING’S LANGLEY
Anne Mortimer, camels, Cecily Neville, Christmas, Clarendon Palace, clocks, Dominican friaries, Edmund of Langley, Edward II, Edward III, Eleanor of Castile, fire, Henry III, Henry IV, Isabel of Castile, Joan of Navarre, John of Wheathampstead, King’s Langley, palaces, Piers Gaveston, Reformation, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, royal tombsKing’s Langley was once home to a massive Plantagenet palace, built out of the remnants of a hunting lodge of Henry III for Edward I’s Queen, Eleanor of Castile. She furnished it lavishly, with carpets and baths. There were shields decorating the hall and a painted picture of four knights going to a tournament, while…
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This excellent article by Douglas Biggs suggests that many of the Welsh gentlemen who rose with Glyndwr, or at around the same time, did so, not because of perceived national sentiment but because of patronage, or the lack of it. The usurpation of Henry IV has the side effect of disturbing ‘normal’ patterns of patronage.…
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