John Ashdown-Hill
-
The Royals: A History of Scandals
adultery trials, Albert Victor Duke of Clarence, Amy Robsart, animal bones, annulments, Brighton Pavillion, Caroline of Brunswick, Catherine of Aragon, Charles V, Cleveland Street, coronations, corruption, Count Konigsmarck, disappearance, divorce, DNA evidence, Edward VII, Elizabeth I, Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland, extravagance, Frederick Duke of York, George I, George III, George IV, Germany, Group Captain Townsend, Hanoverians, Henry VIII, human remains, imprisonment, John Ashdown-Hill, Leine Castle, male brothels, Maria Smythe, More 4, Princess Margaret, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Royal Marriage Secrets, Royal Marriages Act, royal mistresses, royal murder mysteries, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Suzannah Lipscomb, Sweden, The Royals: A History of Scandals, valets, Victoria, William CecilThis is a four-part series on More4, presented by Suzannah Lipscomb and with a focus on the Hanoverian era. It started with financial scandals, such as George IV’s extravagance and his brother‘s mistress who sold army commissions. The second episode was about sexual scandals and rumours, such as Edward VII’s mistresses and the male brothel…
-
On identifying significant evidence
Anne Conyers, Archbishop of York’s Register, Borthwick Institute, Cawood Castle, consanguinity, consanguinity test, dispensations, Edward IV, Giovanni della Rovere, Joan “Beaufort”, John Ashdown-Hill, Margaret FitzLewis, Margaret Plantaget, marriage, Michael Hicks, Papal Penitentiary, Peter Hammond, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Ricardian articles, Richard Lord Lumley, royal mistresses, Sir Thomas Danvers, Sir Thomas Lumley, Surtees Society, Testamenta Eboracensia, Thomas RotheramAs this Ricardian article shows, it is quite possible to believe that something is highly probable whilst not noticing a piece of evidence that goes a long way towards proving it, or not appreciating the strength of the evidence in question. This particular case is about the widely held hypothesis that Margaret, daughter of Margaret…
-
The inexplicable certainty of anti-Ricardians
Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, Catherine de Valois, D.A.L. Morgan, Dukes of Norfolk, Edward IV, English Historical Review, evidence, Hearne’s Fragment, James Ross, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Eleanor Talbot, long lives, memoirs, Owain Tudor, Parliament, pre-contract, reincarnation, royal bodyguard, Royal Marriage Secrets, Thomas Earl of Surrey, Three Estates, Titulus RegiusThis post is prompted by a recent forthright statement on social media to the effect that Edward IV was not married to Lady Eleanor Talbot. Now it is one thing to suggest that there is a possibility that there was no such marriage. But certainty? Unless one was literally there, as one of the principal…
-
The story of how Richard III’s remains were discovered is a fascinating one, almost a fairy story, and happening upon a website that tells it properly is a bonus. If you go here you will arrive at the Seeing the Past website, which I thoroughly recommend. Credit is given where credit is due, i.e. with…
-
This post in the Times details the final resting place of every English and then British monarch since 1066, although Harold II (probably Waltham Abbey) is omitted. Note from the interactive map that there are four (plus the Empress Matilda) burials in France and one in Germany. There are none in Scotland, Wales, Ireland or…
-
The Despensers: The Rise and fall of a mediaeval family
Anne Neville, Battle of Evesham, Boroughbridge, Contrarians, Despensers, Edward II, Edward IV, Eleanor de Clare, Elizabeth Despenser, Epiphany Rising, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Henry III, Henry IV, Huchon Despenser, Hugh Despencer, Hugh Despencer the Younger, Hugh Earl of Winchester, Isabel Neville, Isabella de Valois, Isabelle Despencer, John Ashdown-Hill, Justiciar, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Margaret Beauchamp, Margery Wentworth, Philip Despenser, plague, Richard II, Richard III, Thomas Earl of Gloucester, Thomas of LancasterHere is another of Kathryn Warner‘s volumes in which the genealogy is central but there is plenty of history about the principal individuals that comprise the structure of the book. These range from Hugh Despenser the Justiciar, who fell at Evesham in 1265 opposing Henry III, to his son and grandson (the latter married to…
-
… it was announced that the remains discovered on the site of the Leicester Greyfriars were indeed those of Richard III. On this page you can see both mitochodrial DNA lines: the first by John Ashdown-Hill and the back-up by Leicester University, both to collateral descendants in Commonwealth nations. Here you can see how easy it…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 