Ireland
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I’ve written before, more than once, about the abominable practice of medieval men abducting women and forcing them into marriage in order to lay hands on their estates. It was a capital way for impoverished, unprincipled knights to improve their status and finances. In this they were only too usually aided and abetted by…
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The Normans didn’t only conquer mainland Britain, but—as Anglo-Normans—crossed the Irish Sea to eject the Vikings from their settlement in what is now Dublin. The remains of the Viking settlement have been excavated beneath the present castle. To read about Viking Dublin, go here. One thing led to another and in the 13th century…
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In a case of underwater archaeology, this RTE article describes how Anthony Murphy discovered the logboats near Drogheda, with a drone. It can be compared to the Newport Ship, but is potentially a thousand years older.
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The denouement at Penmaenhead in 1399….
Clwyd, Colwyn Bay, Duchy of Lancaster, duel, duplicity, Earl of Northumberland, exile, Flint Castle, Henry IV, Ireland, Isabella de Valois, Milford Haven, Monty Python, Paul Murray Kendall, Penmaenhead, Pontefract Castle, property, Richard II, St. Albans Chronicle, Terry Jones, The Chronicle of Jean Creton, The Yorkist Age, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, usurpation, Wars of the RosesWhen we think of Colwyn Bay today, we don’t think of vital historic events in August 1399, when a King of England, Richard II, was captured. This fact led to his deposition, imprisonment and suspiciously convenient death…culminating in the rise of the House of Lancaster in the form of his usurping first cousin, Henry…
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Could someone tell me how a document from 1773 could be signed by “King Richard III of Great Britain”? I rather think it’s a goof for George III. Richard didn’t know about Great Britain (George III had England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales—oh, and Hanover, Richard didn’t have Scotland or Hanover, but claimed France), So…
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Bevis Bulmer certainly didn’t have a good start in life. He was about one when his parents were executed for high treason on the same day in May 1537, having been caught up in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Sir John, from a prominent Yorkshire family, was hanged and beheaded whilst Margaret, his mother who may…
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I have watched a documentary about these skeletons with stones in their mouths. Sorry, I can’t find a link to it online, but it was fascinating. While looking around Google for more about this, I came upon another site which explains more. And another, not otherwise worth the link, which contained the following tantalising passage:…
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Here is another priceless treasure of a book, the Book of Lismore, which is written in Irish, going back where it belongs! Although, the English did have some good input in that although it went to England, the aristocratic English Cavendish family donated it to the University College Cork, so we’re not entirely the bad…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 