Hundred Years War

Uncrowned: Royal heirs who didn’t take the throne

Feb 8, 2024

anniversaries, battles, genealogy

Edward III, Edward of Woodstock, Elizabeth I, Henry I, Hundred Years War, King William II, Mary Stuart, Matilda, Robert of Normandy, The White Ship, William Aetheling

We all know the well-trodden vistas of the kings and queens of England but what about those of the kings and queens we nearly had? In my new book, Uncrowned: Royal Heirs Who Didn’t Take The Throne, I charter the lives of twenty-five heirs apparent and presumptive who nature had destined to one day wear…
A lesson in buying books online….

Jan 17, 2024

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, genealogy

Amazon, books, Edward the Black Prince, Hundred Years War, large print, overpricing, Philip the Bold

Yes, yes, before you point it out, I know part of the following is my own fault for not reading the samples on Amazon. I’ve just purchased two books concerning the above battles in the Hundred Years War, one book is 239 pages long, the other 245. If I’d inspected the Amazon details fully…
Tyrants – Part 1

Dec 18, 2023

genealogy, law, The play’s the thing

“Tudors”, double standards, Edmund of Langley, Edward III, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, executions, expenditure, France, Henry IV, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Hundred Years War, John of Gaunt, Lords Appellant, Mary I, Richard II, Stalin comparison, The Hollow Crown, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, tyranny

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…
Today’s banquets seem dull fare after some medieval extravaganzas….

Nov 21, 2023

battles, buildings, culture

A Distant Mirror, banquets, Earls of Bedford, Edward III, Enguerrand VII de Coucy, France, Geoffrey Chaucer, hawking, Hundred Years War, Vidame de Chartres

I love the little incidents that I come across in my research ramblings. While trying to find a particular 1377/8 date in Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror, I found myself reading about a banquet held in France by ‘a certain Vidame de Chartres’—a vidame being a noble rank, I understand. This was quite some banquet, and…
At last, some acknowledged fiction from Dan Jones….

Feb 1, 2023

anniversaries, battles

Black Prince, Crecy, Dan Jones, Edward III, Essex Dogs, Hundred Years War

As Ricardians, we’re not all that impressed with the work of Dan Jones and have long considered him to be an accomplished writer of fiction. Well, now he really is a writer of fiction, and the book described below, “Essex Dogs”, looks an exciting and excellent tale of a group of archers and others…
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke

Jul 16, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, sources

Aberystwyth, Azincourt, Barry, Carmarthen Castle, Catherine de Valois, Civil War, Dafydd Gam, Dictionary of Welsh Biography, Edward IV, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Glamorgan, Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Humphrey Stafford Earl of Devon, Hundred Years War, Jasper “Tudor”, Lancastrians, Lordship of Usk, Matilda Barri, Morleys of Norfolk, Mortimers, Northampton, ODNB, Owain Glyndwr, Owen Tudor, Pembroke Castle, Raglan Castle, Ralph Griffiths, ransom, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Robin of Redesdale, Sheriff of Glamorgan, Sir John Morley, Sir William ap Thomas, Wales, William Herbert Earl of Pembroke, William I, Yellow Tower of GwentWilliam Lord Berkeley

William Herbert, otherwise ‘Black William’ was born in 1423, the son of Sir William ap Thomas ‘the Blue Knight of Gwent’ and Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam the ‘Star of Abergavenny’. His main claim to fame is that he was the first Welshman to become an earl in the peerage of England, except for Henry VI’s…
The house where a 14th-century hoard was found in the 18th century….

Apr 29, 2022

archaeology, battles, buildings

coins, Edward III, Fenwick Tower, Hundred Years War, Hunterian Museum, Northumberland, property sales, Richard II, treasure

Well, another hoard. OK, it was a while ago, but it’s still a hoard. I’m so jealous. I want to find something important from the past, especially the medieval past. However, I have to be satisfied with my bits of clap pipe and Victorian pottery, This article tells of gold coins of Edward III…
The imposition of ransom….

Apr 16, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, The play’s the thing

Alice Perrers, Berkshire, Brest, Brittany, Donnington Castle, extortion, Henry V, Hundred Years War, Ireland, Judi Dench, Lord Deputy of Ireland, Michael Jones, piracy, ransom, Remy Ambuhl, Robert Hardy, Shakespeare, siege of Brest, Sir Richard Abberbury, Sir William Windsor, Turner

My latest target for research is the English garrison/bastion of Brest, on the coast of Brittany, specifically the final years of the 14th century before it was handed back to the Bretons. My interest had been aroused when reading Ducal Brittany 1364-1399, by Michael Jones. In it I learned of the practice of…
Mud, mud, glorious Agincourt mud….!

Oct 25, 2021

anniversaries, battles, films

Azincourt, France, Henry V, Hundred Years War, longbowmen, mud, The King

When I watched the movie The King about Henry V of England, I was bemused by the mud bath that was Agincourt. It seems this one aspect of the movie’s depiction was accurate, even if liberties had been taken with much of the rest of the film. Which I enjoyed very much, albeit taking…
Was anyone Regent of England in 1360….?

Mar 10, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry, law, religion

Bishops of Lincoln, Canterbury Cathedral, Edward III, errata, flagstones, Henry of Lancaster, Hundred Years War, Jean II, John Buckingham, Kathryn Warner, regent, Thomas of woodstock, Treaty of Calais

John Bokyngham (or Buckingham; died 1399) was Bishop of Lincoln and was (according to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bokyngham) “….appointed Chamberlain of the Exchequer from 1347 until 1350, Keeper of the Great Wardrobe in 1350 until 1353, Keeper of the (Household) Wardrobe in 1353 until 1357, and a Baron of the Exchequer in 1357 until 1360….” He was also “….keeper of the seal of Thomas, regent in England from March…