Henry VIII
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The Emperor Charles V was the grandson of Maximilian I (Richard III’s friend and step-nephew-in-law), a nephew of Catherine of Aragon (and thus by marriage to Henry VIII) and father-in-law of Mary I. In February 1547, he feared death at the hands of a Italian mercenary (Pierre Strozzi) and wrote a fiendishly coded letter to…
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BL Royal 19 E V is a medieval manuscript that once belonged to Edward IV. It was compiled for him in Bruges in 1480. The content is the Romuleon, a translation of a history of Rome, and amongst the tales of Emperors and Empresses, it contains the symbols of its royal owner–the Arms of England,…
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Well, obviously a lot of our pubs bear the names of kings and queens, with Queen Victoria heading the list above. I’m surprised to find Kings George III, George IV and William IV galloping up behind her, while all the rest are far more thinly spread. Why are these four monarchs, who all reigned…
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A number of film critics have now viewed the new Steve Coogan movie, THE LOST KING, about the finding of Richard III’s remains. Reviews have been mixed but generally quite positive; I imagine it might be one of those ‘marmite’ films, which viewers either love or loathe. A exhibition in The Wallace Collection had also…
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The palace of Whitehall is usually associated with Henry VIII, but a house called White Hall occupied the “plot” well before then:- “….144 (f.52v, no.x’xvi). St. Martin in the Fields. 22 Oct. 1397. Charter of William Savage of London, William Skotte of Walpole, chaplain, and Thomas de Burgh, chaplain, granting with warranty to John de…
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The Secret Diary of Edward VI (and other monarchs)
accession, Archbishops of Canterbury, British Library, death, diaries, Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset, Edward VI, Enfield, executions, George V, Henry VIII, King’s Council, Lord Conyngham, marriage, Master of Horse, memorials, Nicholas II, Prince Albert, Prince Alfred, Prince Phillip of Greece, privacy, proclamation, Richard III, Russia, Sir Anthony Browne, Sir Michael Stanhope, Tower Hill, Tower of London, Victoria, Victoria Duchess of Kent, William IV, willsYes, Edward VI and other monarchs wrote diaries. Here are some extracts : Edward VI, early 1547: “After the death of King Henry th’eight his son Edward prince of Wales was come to at Hartford by th’erle of Hartford and S[ir] Anthony Brown Master of t’horse for whom befor was made great preparation that he…
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With all the recent publicity and very real worry over the head injuries that are part and parcel of physical sports such as boxing, football and rugby, I’ve been prompted to consider similar injuries that must have happened in earlier periods of our history, when activities such as tourneying were very much the…
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“….[A] proclamation to tackle unrest, 1487… stated that any person found to be spreading rumours was to be put into the pillory….” (from this site ) Oh dear, Henry VII didn’t like doses of his own medicine! I speak of rumours and lies. What’s the word….? Um, calumny. That’s it. You know, the rumours…
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Further facial reconstructions
Catherine Howard, David Mitchell, Dundee University, Edward II, Edward III, Eleanor of Provence, executions, Henry III, Henry Lord Darnley, Henry VIII, James Hathaway, Kathryn Warner, Laurence Fox, Lewis, Panagiotis Constantinou, resemblances, Richard III, Robert I, Roger Mortimer, Upstart Crow, William ShakespeareDundee University has shown itself to be the gold standard for facial reconstruction in recent years, working from their subjects’ remains, as with Richard III, Robert I and Henry Lord Darnley. As Kathryn Warner shows here, Panagiotis Constantinou has generated several from effigies, sculptures and other images. They range, chronologically, from Henry III and Eleanor…
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I have been trying to make sense of the method by which women were appointed to the Garter in the middle ages, and have concluded there was no system. Of course, as with the knights, who were nominally ‘elected’ by the other knights, it all came down to royal favour. But with the knights, there…
