John

A pedant writes…

May 15, 2022

culture

abduction, Anglo-Saxons, chivalry, copyhold, Geoffrey Chaucer, John, Magna Carta, marriage, Norman conquest, Norman-French, Normans, novels, pedantry, poetry, property, Richard II, serfdom, slavery, tenants in chief

In the aftermath of certain historical novels I have read recently, I should like to give the following information, in the hope it will be helpful to authors, editors (if they still exist) and indeed readers. SLAVERY – Although slavery was quite common in England in Anglo-Saxon times, it was became less usual after the…
Richard the Lionheart….or Richard the pain in the you-know-what….

May 12, 2022

anniversaries, battles, films

Crusades, Eleanor of Aquitaine, George Sanders, Henry II, History Extra, John, Nigel Terry, Peasants’ Revolt, Peter O’Toole, Richard I, Robin Hood, The Lion in Winter

Well, my first introduction to Richard the Lionheart was in the 1950s…one of the many Robin Hood movies of that period, He was noble and chivalrous (George Sanders, as I recall, see below), while Prince John was a Blue Meanie of the highest order. Nothing much has changed since then. My opinion of both men…
KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Apr 6, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, sources, The play’s the thing

AA Milne, Angevin bloodline, Anglicanism, annulment, Arthur of Brittany, Ascension Day, authorship, avarice, Barons, burials, Cardinal Pandulph, character, charles forker, clergymen, Crowland Chronicle, Defender of the Faith, Earls of Essex, Edward Hall, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Eucharist, excommunication, Fauconbridge brothers, Geoffrey Plantagenet, George Peel, graham Seel, Henry, Henry the Young King, Henry VIII, Historiography, House of York, Hubert de Bergh, Innocent III, John, john Bale, John Dover-Wilson, John Gillingham, John Harvey, John Matusiak, John Wycliffe, Kit Marlowe, Lackland, Louis VIII, Magna Carta, male primogeniture, Mary I, Maude Plantagenet, Mirabeau, morality plays, Phillip Augustus, plays, Polydore Vergil, Ralph Holinshed, recusants, Reformation, Richard Green, Richard Hunne, Richard I, Robin Hood, royal burials, sir brian vickers, Sir James Holt, Six Articles, Softsword, Staffords, stephen langton, Stuarts, Tillyard, Walt Disney, Wilfred Warren, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, Worcester Cathedral

KING JOHN AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION King John was not a good man, He had his little ways. And sometimes no one spoke to him For days and days and days. And men who came across him, When walking in the town, Gave him a supercilious stare, Or passed with noses in the air, And…
Eleanor of Aquitaine, the “mother-in-law from hell”….?

Apr 1, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

Anne of Bohemia, Berengaria, Crusades, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fontevraud Abbey, Henry II, Isabella of Angouleme, John, l’Epau Abbey, le Mans, miscarriage, Navarre, Richard I, Richard II, royal marriages, royal tombs, sexuality, taxes

There are two King Richards of England whose marriages are always called into question: Richard I and Berengaria of Navarre, and Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Richard II’s sexuality is cited as the reason he and Anne had no children. Either he was sexless…or his interests went to the male of the species. Therefore…
The Yorkist Connection to Cranborne in Dorset

Mar 31, 2022

art, buildings, genealogy, religion

Almeric d’ Evreux, Anne Mortimer, annulment, carvings, churches, Cranborne Manor. Dorset, Edmund Earl of March, Edward IV, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Gilbert de Clare, Hubert de Bergh, Isabella of Gloucester, John, Mortimers, Ralph Neville, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard III, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, royal hunting estates, St. Mary and St. Bartholomew

Cranborne is a little village tucked away in the Dorset countryside. The roads leading to it are small and narrow, with very high hedges, and driving there can be a bit of a nightmare if you should meet up with a farm vehicle or delivery lorry (frequent)! However, it seems to have been heavily visited…
Dublin Castle through history….

Oct 21, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, sources

Dublin Castle, fire, Froissart, George Duke of Clarence, Ireland, John, Normans, restorations, Richard II, royal births, Vikings, Wardrobe Tower

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…
Digging up our monarchs; no, not Richard III this time….!

Aug 17, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Bohemia, Banqueting House, burial, Catherine de Valois, Charles I, childbirth, death, Edward I, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, executions, Exhumation, George IV, Greenwich Palace, Henry II, James VII/II, John, King’s Langley, Leicester, Newark Castle, Old St. Paul’s, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard III, Samuel Pepys, Society of Antiquaries, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Peter ad Vincula, St. Thomas Becket, Tower of London, Victoria, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Worcester Cathedral

I’m told that even now, if you purchase a plot of ground in which to put your loved ones to rest, the chances are they’ll only lie in peace for eighty years, at which time they are removed and new occupants move in. Well, for centuries our dead haven’t always been left to enjoy their…
ANOTHER MISSING QUEEN: JOAN OF SCOTLAND

Jul 22, 2021

anniversaries, buildings, religion

Alexander II, Bishop of Salisbury, burial mystery, Cistercians, Dorset, Eleanor of Provence, Ermengarde, Henry III, Hugh X of Lusignan, Isabella of Angouleme, Joan of Scotland, John, pilgrimage, Reformation, Richard of Cornwall, Richard Poore, royal marriages, Scotland, Tarrant Crawford Abbey, York Minster

The village of Tarrant Crawford really isn’t a village anymore. If you type the address into your Satnav, it will vanish from the screen while driving down the nearby main road–there are no signposts and the only other road visible is a simple farm track fringed by thick trees. However, here at one time was…
The bishop and the abbot, croziers at dawn….

Apr 8, 2021

Events, religion

Adrian IV, Bishop of Lincoln, Henry II, John, monks, Nicholas Breakspear, Papal letters, St Albans Abbey

Well, I’m shocked that such bribery, skulduggery and jostling for position should go on among the bishops and abbots of medieval England. Holy men shouldn’t behave like this! I’m afraid that when I read the following passages from this article, concerning events in the reign of Henry II, it conjured one of those old black-and-white…
Ela of Salisbury, Sheriff, Abbess, and Ancestor of Kings

Feb 7, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

Amesbury, Battle of Bouvines, books, Earls of Salisbury, Edward IV, Ela of Salisbury, Henry II, Henry III, Hubert de Bergh, illegitimate children, John, Lacock Abbey, Louis VIII, Nevilles, nuns, Old Sarum, Rchard I, Reformation, Richard III, Salisbury Cathedral, William Longspee, Wiltshire

Ela of Salisbury has been called a ‘towering female figure of the 13th’ century by historian Linda Elizabeth Mitchell. However, outside of some quarters in Wiltshire, she is not terribly well known. What is even less commented on than her accomplishments is her genealogy. She is a foremother to Richard III and Edward IV in…