Henry IV
-
Henry Bolingbroke, of course, was not a tyrant. Not at all. It’s just that before he became king, he executed an earl and four knights, no doubt by mistake. He was neither king, high constable nor marshal, and anyway was a banished man. So he had no lawful authority whatever. But he was merely carrying…
-
The author of this article Extours to cover Perkin Warbeck and more in Taunton Ghost Walk | Somerset County Gazette expresses surprise that so few people seem to know who Perkin Warbeck was. Come now, as far as today’s schools are concerned there was no history before WWI! I’d be surprised if many of them…
-
I am heartily sick of certain historians – or ‘historians’ in some cases – who use the ‘tyrant’ word as a badge to stick on the rulers they dislike as a sort of badge of disgrace. These people invariably gloss over the similar – no, let’s be plain, worse, far worse! – deeds of the…
-
Well, if ever a computer compiled a dog’s breakfast of information, it’s this one. Or, of course, I shouldn’t blame a computer because the culprit was some dumbcluck human. Or maybe it was the cat, which strolled to and fro over the keyboard. Whatever, here goes: “….Richard MAUDELYN, 1385 – 1415Richard MAUDELYN was born on…
-
Information about Blanche Bradestone (or Bradstone) is hard to find, despite the fact that she was recognised as ‘the King’s kinswoman’ by Richard II and became a Lady of the Garter in 1399. Her brass is to be found at Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, which appears to have been her principal manor. It is located in the…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 