Henry VIII
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The 10 greatest medieval royal romances? Some, maybe….
Anne Boleyn, Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, Blanche of Lancaster, Catherine de Roet, Catherine de Valois, Cecily Duchess of York, Charles Brandon, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Eleanor of Castile, George Duke of Clarence, Henry VIII, Hugh le Despenser, Isobel Neville, John of Gaunt, Mary “Tudor”, Owain Tudor, Phillippa of Hainault, Piers Gaveston, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard IIIWell, my opinion only, of course, but where are John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford/de Roët? I don’t believe his first wife, Blanche, was his greatest love. That honour went to Katherine, for love of whom he went to extraordinary lengths, enduring scandal and opprobrium, but eventually making her his third duchess. And managing to…
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Seven years ago, before this blog officially began, a letter was published in the Ricardian Bulletin about the common Edward III descent of the Duke and Duchess, as she soon became, of Cambridge through the Gascoigne-Fairfax line. Now it has been announced that Prince Henry of Wales and the American actress Rachel (Meghan) Markle, or Duke and Duchess of…
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Britain’s most historic towns
“Tudors”, Alice Roberts, Battle of Bosworth, Belfast, canary, Channel Four, Cheltenham, Chester, ducking stool, Earl of Oxford, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, executions, fools, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Francis Kett, Henry VII, Henry VIII, heresy, Jasper “Tudor”, justice, Kett Rebellion, Lollards’ Pit, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Low Countries, Mary I, medieval clothes, Morris dancing, Mousehold Heath, Norwich, Norwich Guildhall, pubs, punishments, Reformation, refugees, Robert Kett, Shakespeare, sumptuary laws, weavers, Wensum, Will Kemp, Winchester, YorkThis excellent Channel Four series reached part four on 28th April as Dr. Alice Roberts came to Norwich, showing streets, civic buildings and even a pub that I have previously visited, describing it as Britain’s most “Tudor” town. She began by describing Henry VII as “violently seizing” the English throne (or at least watching whilst…
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“Sculptures of angels designed for the tomb of Cardinal Wolsey and then lost for hundreds of years will go on display next week. “The Wolsey Angels will be exhibited at New Walk Museum from Saturday, April 28, as part of a touring exhibition from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.” This link also contains…
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The Howards, Talbots and Seymours – England’s auxilliary royal families?
Admiral Charles Rodney, Admiral Thomas Seymour, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Charles II, Dukes of Somerset, Edward IV, George IV, George V, Henry VIII, Howards, James of Monmouth, Jane Seymour, John Ashdown-Hill, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Laura Culme-Seymour, Lucy Walter, Maria Smythe, Miranda Hart, naval families, Royal Marriage Secrets, Seymours, TalbotsThis document shows the descent of the known “wives”, secret wives, mistresses, illegal wives and alleged partners of five English and British kings, taken from Ashdown-Hill’s Royal Marriage Secrets: thosehowardsagain As a bonus, Laura Culme-Seymour, from a naval family, including Admiral Thomas Lord Seymour; Admiral Rodney and the first three Culme-Seymour baronets, has a famous…
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As so often happens, acquiring a book for a specific reason leads to something else that is quite thought-provoking. In this case, the book is The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, in which the subject of one of the eighteen contributions is Catherine of Aragon and her two marriages. Do not…
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An oft-asked question arose again the other day. Had Richard been originally intended for the Church? He was the youngest son of the 3rd Duke of York, and the Church was the fate of most aristocratic youngest sons. It has been suggested to me that such early training would explain his beautifully precise handwriting.…
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Here is a picture you may well have seen. It shows, from Carry On Henry, Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal to Henry VIII and briefly Earl of Essex. In fact, Cromwell’s sister married one Thomas (or Morgan) Williams, although their descendants took the Cromwell surname.
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A Grey Day
Archbishop Cranmer, Battle of Sedgemoor, Castle Heaton, Charles II, Elizabeth Wydeville, executions, Ford Grey Earl of Tankerville, Grey-Dudley rebellion, Greys, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII, James VII/II, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, Lancastrians, Lord Guildford Dudley, Lord Leonard Grey, Mary I, Monmouth Rebellion, Mowbrays, Norham, Northumberland, Portchester Castle, Rye House Plot, Second Battle of St. Albans, Sir John Grey of Groby, Sir Thomas Grey, Southampton plot, Streatham portrait, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, Tower of London, WarkThe Grey family, originally from Northumberland, are a consistent feature of English history from the Southampton plot of 1415 to Monmouth’s rebellion nearly three centuries later. Sir Thomas Grey (1384-1415) of Castle Heaton was a soldier and one of the three principals in the Southampton plot against Henry V, revealed to him by Edmund Mortimer,…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 