Henry VI
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OK, folks, bearing in mind that it’s from an article about Game of Thrones, here’s a portion of England’s history, both potted and potty:- “To begin with, the House of Lannister seems to be pretty closely based on the real life House of Lancaster. To vastly simplify actual history, the War of the Roses was…
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There are few more fertile sources for intricate information about the medieval past (and other areas too, of course) than theses that have been published online. A prime website for these is White Rose eTheses on line, of which I have written before. I am mentioning the site again now because of finding a particularly absorbing 2016 thesis by Anna Maria…
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The Castle of Leicester and St Mary De Castro
Alfred the Great, Battle of Bosworth, Blanche of Lancaster, Castle Gardens, Civil War, crime, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Hall, Green Bicycle Murder, Henry I, Henry IV, Henry VI, Hugh de Grantmesil, John of Gaunt, Leicester, Leicester Castle, Norman conquest, Philippa de Roet, Phillippa of Hainault, Prince Rupert’s Gateway, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, Robert de Beaumont, St. Aethelflaeda, St. Mary De CastroLeicester Castle Since 2015 going to Leicester is the equivalent of going to visit the tomb of the last Plantagenet King who died in battle: Richard III. Everything there speaks of him from the Visitor Centre named after him, to The Last Plantagenet Pub not to mention attractions and shops that display his portrait…
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If you want the bare bones of Edward’s reign(s), supposedly born today but on an impossible date, here they are, although there is no reference to his valid marriage in 1461. To me, Edward IV, for all the good he did as king, was rather a prat. Sorry, but there’s no other word for…
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SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III: HERO OR VILLAIN?
“Princes”, “Tudor” “sources”, Anthony Sher, Anthony Woodville, bias, Catholicism, Ceaucescu, Coley Cibber, Edmund of Rutland, Edward IV, Elizabeth I, Ferdinando Stanley, fiction, First Folio, George Duke of Clarence, Hamlet, Hannibal Lecter, Henry IV, Henry of Buckingham, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, historical drama, Hitler, Idi Amin, John Manningham, Lady Margaret Clifford, Laurence Olivier, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Lord Strange, Mao Tse Tung, Margaret d’Anjou, Polonius, Privy Council, Richard Burbage, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Rylance, Saddam Hussain, Shakespeare, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir William Stanley, Stalin, tetralogy, Thomas Stanley, Tillyard, tyranny, White Surrey” Never let it be said that fate itself could awe the soul of Richard. Hence babbling dreams, you threaten here in vain; Conscience avaunt, Richard’s himself again” (The tragical history of King Richard the Third)[1] Richard’s himself again: or is he? There is a moment in Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s play…
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Today in 1461, which was Palm Sunday, the Battle of Towton was fought, resulting in a Yorkist victory with large scale casualties. Legend has it that Henry VI fled to Muncaster Castle, then in Cumberland, where he gave his host Sir John Pennington a glass drinking bowl. It became known as the “Luck of Muncaster”…
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Clarendon Palace is a little known historical site. Most people in Salisbury know it’s there; less can tell you how to reach it. There is no car park; you won’t find tourist coaches. Pull in on the narrow leafy green lane then you must walk, like a Hobbit leaving the Shire, past farms and across…
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Talbot Country
“Lambert Simnel”, Alton Towers, Battle of Bosworth, Bess of Hardwick, bigamy, Bridgnorth, Castillon, destruction of records, Duchess of Norfolk, Earls of Shrewsbury, Edward Grey Lord Lisle, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Wydeville, evidence, executions, Fotheringhay, France, funicular railways, George Duke of Clarence, George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Henry VI, Henry VII, heraldic symbols, Hex, house arrest, House of York, Hundred Years War, illegitimacy, Jeanne d’Arc, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, London, Lord Protector of the Realm, Margaret d’Anjou, Mary Stuart, memorials, Pontefract, pre-contract, pubs, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, Robert Stillington, secret marriage, Shropshire, Simon Stallworth, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Staffordshire, Talbot hound, Talbot Monument, Talbots, The Shrewsbury Book, Titulus Regius, Tutbury castle, Wingfield ManorThere is a pub in Bridgnorth, near where I live. Well, let’s be honest, there’s about a hundred. If you have ever been to Bridgnorth, aside from the Severn Valley Railway, the funicular railway from Low Town to High Town and the remains of the slighted castle, which lean at a greater angle than the…