Lionel of Antwerp
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This is a very valuable new biography of John of Gaunt. As usual with this author, the incredibly complex network of family relationships is successfully navigated. There is a fair amount of ‘correction of the record’. For example, Duchess Blanche did not die of plague in 1369, but of unknown causes in 1368. Duchess Constanza…
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Wars of the Roses Delights in Suffolk
Battle of Bosworth, blue boar, Bury St. Edmunds, castles, Catherine Stafford, Cecily Neville, Clare, Clare Castle, Clare Priory, de la Pole family, de Vere star, Dunwich, Earls of Oxford, Edward I, Elizabeth of Suffolk, executions, Greyfriars, Hammes, Henry VII, Joan of Acre, John Ashdown-Hill, John Duke of Suffolk, John Earl of Lincoln, Knights Templar, Lavenham, Leicester cathedral, Lionel of Antwerp, Michael Earl of Suffolk, pubs, rosary, Sir john Wingfield, St. Andrew’s Wingfield, Stoke Field, Suffolk, tomb effigies, Violante Visconti, Wingfield, YorkistsAfter over a year, I have finally been able to go on another holiday in which to indulge in my passion of church and castle crawling. I haven’t spent much time in Suffolk before–it’s just a little too far–but there were some places I really wanted to visit, so off we went, braving a crazed…
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Two butchers, an archer and a “bourgeois of Tournai”….
“Perkin”, archers, Belgium, Blaybourne, butchers, Cecily Duchess of York, DNA evidence, Edmund of Langley, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, Ghent, Hainault, Henry IV, Henry Somerset Earl of Worcester, Henry VII, illegimacy rumours, John Ashdown-Hill, John of Gaunt, John Sperhauk, Leicester University, Lionel of Antwerp, Phillippa of Hainault, pre-contract, re-legitimisation, Richard III, Taunton, Titulus Regius, Titulus Regius 1486, Tournai, treason, Y-chromosome“….Consider, for example, the case of John Sperhauk, which came before King’s Bench in April 1402. The plea roll record opens with the memorandum of his confession taken on 13 April by the coroner of King’s Bench, before the king and ‘by [his] authority and command’. In this confession, Sperhauk admitted to publicly repeating allegations…
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As the author of this Guardian review points out, when we think of Chaucer, we visualise a rather chubby, light-hearted, witty, somewhat cheeky middle-aged man as portrayed in the few portaits we have of him, such as the one above. Well, it would seem that as a younger man he was indeed cheeky! And…
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Shadow King: the Life and Death of Henry VI
Armagnacs, Beaufort family., biographies, Burgundians, Calder Bridge, Catherine de Roet, Edmund of Langley, Edmund of Rutland, Edward III, Edward IV, France, George Goodwin, Henry V, Henry VI, House of York, John of Gaunt, Lancastrians, Lauren Johnson, Lionel of Antwerp, Margaret of Anjou, Outwood, Pontefract Castle, Readeption, Richard Duke of York, Richard of Salisbury, Sandal Castle, Tim Sutherland, Tower of London, Towton, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, Winchester PalaceHelen Rae Rants! Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson Head of Zeus Publications, 2020, paperback, 700 pages, £12.00 ISBN 978-1784-979645 <img class=”i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer” style=”max-width: 100%; display: block !important;” role=”presentation” src=”data:;base64,” alt=”” aria-hidden=”true” /> Henry VI has gone down in history as one of England’s worst kings. Not for being cruel…
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The White Rose Of Mortimer?
“Tudor” propaganda, “Tudors”, antelope, Clifford Castle, Council of Wales and the Marches, Davies Chronicle, Earls of March, Earls of Ulster, Edmund Earl of March, Edmund of Rutland, Edward Hall, Edward III, Edward IV, fetterlock and falcon, Henry VII, Isabella de Valois, John Ashdown-Hill, Leintwardine, Lionel of Antwerp, Ludlow, misericords, Mortimer Chapel, mortimer claim, Mortimer’s Cross, Nevilles, Northampton, Palmers’ Guild, Phillippa of Hainault, pilgrimage, Reformation, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard of Salisbury, Roger Mortimer, St. Mary Magdelene, sun, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, Welsh Marches, white hind, white lion, white rose, Wigmore Abbey, Wigmore Castle, Yorkist symbolsOriginally posted on RICARDIAN LOONS: Most historians now accept that, while the white rose of York was a heraldic badge used by the house of York during the Wars of the Roses, the origins of the red rose of Lancaster can only be traced back to Henry VII.1 After his accession to the throne in…
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Given her huge notoriety at the time, it’s odd that Edward III’s mistress, Alice Perrers, has (as far as I can ascertain) only garnered one biography. This is Lady of the Sun by F George Kay, 1966 (and seemingly never reprinted). There are no surviving contemporary likenesses of Alice, nor even a description of her.…
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The inspiration for Richard III’s rosary….
Cecily Duchess of York, Clare Castle, Clare Priory, Edmund Mortimer, George Easton, Holy Cross, John Ashdown-Hill, Leicester, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Lionel of Antwerp, Looking for Richard, Papal Nuncio, Phillipa of Ulster, railway stations, reburial, relics, Richard III, rosary, St. Francis, University of East Anglia, white roseThe following article and extract are from Nerdalicious: “ ‘In the nineteenth century the Clare Cross was found in the castle ruins. It’s actually a reliquary, containing a fragment of the True Cross, and it was probably made soon after 1450 so probably it belonged to Richard III’s mother. For that reason, when I…
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Why I dislike John of Gaunt….
Aldersgate, Anya Seton, Beaufort family., Canterbury Cathedral, Castile, changelings, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, entail mail, France, George Kay, Henry IV, Henry Percy, heresy trial, Hundred Years War, Ian Mortimer, Joan of Kent, John of Gaunt, John Wycliffe, Kennington, Lancastrians, Lionel of Antwerp, Marshalsea Prison, Mortimers, Parliament, Peter Courtenay, Phillipa of Ulster, Phillippa of Hainault, Richard II, riots, Savoy Palace, The Fears of Henry IV, William of WykehamAs Ricardians, we know very well now, history can be twisted to suit. The matter of those strawberries and what happened next, for instance. I mean, the different versions are legion, even to the point of whether or not Thomas, Lord Stanley was ever present at all, let alone injured in a scrap and obliged…
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STATEMENT IN STONE
Anne of Gloucester, Battle of Shrewsbury, Bohun inheritance, Calais, Caldicot, Caldicot Castle, Edmund Earl of Stafford, Eleanor de Bohun, executions, France, Henry IV, Henry of Buckingham, Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, Lionel of Antwerp, Lords Appellant, Mary de Bohun, Merciless Parliament, Northampton, Pleshey Castle, regent, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Salisbury, Thomas of woodstock, Wales, Woodstock TowerMost old castles will have graffiti both old and new pecked into their stonework somewhere. People like to leave A symbol for posterity (often unfortunately.) Very few ancient buildings, however, have the owner’s name graven into them for for eternity. Not so at Caldicot in Wales. If you walk around to the back of the…