London
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Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @ sparkypus.com A view of the bridge from Southwark, c.1630. Note the houses that are standing to the south of the Stone Gate, shown here adorned with heads on pikes, were in fact on the first pier of the bridge. This is one of the few remaining pictures showing the city…
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In my seemingly endless trekking around the internet in search of information about Kennington (not Kensington!) Palace, I was pleasantly surprised to at last discover something I’d been trying to pinpoint for some time. In the days before there was any bridge over the Thames except Old London Bridge, the only way to cross the…
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Before I start, you will have to forgive my ignorance of medieval weaponry. What I know could be written on the head on a pin. But here goes anyway. Most of us have seen the Tolkien films concerning Hobbits, Lords of Rings, orcs, elves, dragons and so on. And most of us will remember the…
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According to this article about the tomb of Edward of Woodstock, the “Black Prince”, at Canterbury: “….The study also re-dates the effigy to a decade after Edward’s death, suggesting that although Richard II faithfully followed his father’s instructions, it did not happen immediately….” Perhaps it should be remembered that Richard II was only ten…
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Oh dear, just as we start imagining the romantic, colourful side of life in medieval London, we’re obliged to consider the other side of that particular coin. My trawlings through the Close Rolls and Richard II brought me to the following entry for 12 March 1393: “….To the bailiffs of Westminster of the abbot of…
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THOMAS CROMWELL’S HOUSE IN AUSTIN FRIARS
“Perkin”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Augustinian Friars, Austin Friars, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Edmund Bellard, executions, Great Fire of London, Hans Holbein, Henry VIII, John Stow, London, Museum of London, Pilgrimage of Grace, Royal Marriage Secrets, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Wolsey, Throgmorton Street, William CalleyReblogged from A Medieval potpourri sparkypus.com Thomas Cromwell c.1532. Minature attibuted to Hans Holbein the Younger. Oil on panel. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Following on from my earlier post on Perkin Warbeck and his burial at Austin Friars where I touched upon Thomas Cromwell’s house in the Austin Friars precinct I was happy to come across this…
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Two Huggin Lanes, two churches of St Michael….
Agas map, Cheapside, churches, Dictionary of London, Edward VI, Huggin Lane, John of Gaunt, John of Northampton, John Stow, Kingsford, London, Map of London, maps, marriages, Mary Godwin, Nicholas Brembre, Percy Shelley, Ralph Sporoun, Savoy Palace, Sir Christopher Wren, Sporran Lane, St. Michael Hoggenlane, St. Michael Queenhithe, St. Mildred and St. Margaret Moses, Thames Street, Wood StreetThe 14th-century story of John of Gaunt enjoying dinner in a friend’s house (including oysters, I understand) in the city of London when rebels ransacked his palace of the Savoy in the hope of laying hands upon him. He escaped, but not before cracking his shin (or some such part of his anatomy) on…
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Why is it that a passing thought of adding detail to a minor description leads to one spending hours scouring the internet and book shelves trying to find the information? All I wanted to know is how a medieval bishop would have dressed to travel. Not in a war zone, just on the road from…
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The Hertfordshire village of King’s Langley is “jam-packed with royal history”. Indeed it is, although the connection to Henry VIII (the article has a LARGE picture of him!) isn’t the point for those of us who think the Tudors had no business being on the throne. “….The earliest known royal residence in Kings Langley was…
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Giving the Walbrook the Elbow….
College Hill, Dowgate, Downgate Street, Edward III, Edward IV, Elbow Lane, F.J. Furnivall, flow, Geoffrey Chaucer, Geoffrey Scrope, George Duke of Clarence, Henry I, John Nevill Lord Raby, John Stow, London, maps, Olde Hall, Richard of Warwick, River Walbrook, rivers, Roman era, sewage system, St Mary Overy, Thames StreetIn this article I wrote the following:- “….The Walbrook flowed quite swiftly [south] from its source, but on nearing the Thames the land flattened considerably, and the river seems to have indulged in a curve….” This curve or meander, when filled in and “improved” in the 15th century, for the river to flow more…