Margaret d’Anjou

How many Princesses of Wales have there been….?

Jan 29, 2024

anniversaries, battles, genealogy

Anne Neville, Caroline of Brunswick, Edward of Lancaster, George IV, Henry VI, Margaret d’Anjou, Princesses of Wales

I have a liking for deliberately misinterpreting what someone else has written, and the headline of this article Who has held the title of Princess of Wales throughout history? (msn.com) is a prime example. Blimey, thought I, somewhere there’s a very, very, very old royal dear who has survived all these centuries…. But that’s…
CECILIA BONVILLE, MARCHIONESS OF DORSET c.1460-1529 – AN INTERESTING LIFE

Nov 26, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

“Lambert Simnel”, Anne Holland, Arthur Kincaid, Astley Castle, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Stoke, Bermondsey Abbey, Cecily Bonville, Cheyneygates, Coldridge, Domenico Mancini, Edward IV, Edward Lord Ferrers of Groby, Edward of Lancaster, Edward V, Elizabeth Lambert, Elizabeth Viscountess Lisle, Elizabeth Wydeville, executions, Gleaston Castle, Henry of Buckingham, Henry Stafford Earl of Wiltshire, Henry VI, Henry VII, John Paston, Linda Pidgeon, Margaret d’Anjou, Richard III, Simon Stallworth, Sir George Buc, Sir John Evans, Sir William Stonor, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, Tower of London, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, Warwickshire, WE Hampton, Westminster Abbey

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com The ruins of Astley Castle, Warwickshire. Think fortified manor house more than rugged castle. One of the homes of Cecilia Bonville and her husband Thomas Grey. The house came to the Grey family via marriage to a member of the Astley family c.1415. They both lie buried in the…
The city of Gloucester and its links to Richard III….

Jul 29, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry, religion

Berkeley Castle, Charters, city of York, Edward II tomb, Gloucester, Gloucester Cathedral, Henry of Buckingham, Leicester, Margaret d’Anjou, Richard II, River Severn, royal tombs, Tewkesbury

My home city of Gloucester (and its cathedral) doesn’t turn up enough online, but here’s a link that’s all about Gloucester. And it gives Richard III a fair deal, although it doesn’t mention that on 29 July 1483*, during his royal progress, he granted Gloucester its charter. Nor that in 1471 Gloucester closed its gates…
Who’s coming to dinner (a guest post)

Feb 25, 2021

Alternative History, anniversaries, buildings

“Princes”, Anne Neville, bigamy, Brittany, Burgundy, castles, Christmas, Earl Rivers, Edward IV, Edward of Middleham, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Wydeville, France, Gipping Halll, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VII, Jacquette, John Duke of Bedford, John Kendall, Lent, Margaret d’Anjou, Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, Nottingham Castle, Portugal, Richard III, Sheriff Hutton, Sir Edward Brampton, Sir James Tyrrell, sumptuary laws, Westminster

How did this happen? Am I dreaming? Is there some sort of Time-slip? Yet here I am, somehow “transposed” from my 21st century self to a Lady-in-Waiting, helping to host a secret dinner. I cannot understand how or why it has occurred, all I know is that it is the end of February 1485, after…
A WEDDING AT TITCHFIELD ABBEY

Dec 3, 2020

buildings, religion

Bishop William Ayscough, Charles VII, Dissolution of the Monasteries, dowry, Earl of Southampton, France, Hampshire, Henry VI, Maine, Margaret d’Anjou, Rene d’Anjou, royal marriages, Titchfield Abbey

On April 9 of 1445, a determined fifteen-year-old French girl arrived at Southampton. She had been ill before her departure and seasickness from the crossing added to her discomfort. Nonetheless, she ploughed on further inland with her entourage toward the house of the Premonstratensians at Titchfield in Hampshire. Whether she looked forward to the journey…
The Royal Progress of Richard III

Aug 29, 2020

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, religion, sources, travel

“Arrivall of Edward IV”, “Princes”, Annales, Anne Neville, Anne Sutton, Black Death, Brecon, Bristol, Buckingham rebellion, Cambridge, Canterbury Cathedral, Catherine de Medici, Charles IX, Chief Justice, Compton Reeves, Cora Schofield, Coventry, Crowland Chronicle, Earl of Kildare, Edmund of Rutland, Edward II, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward of Middleham, Edward the Black Prince, Eucharist, execution, Fotheringhay, Francis Viscount Lovell, Gainsborough, George Duke of Clarence, George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Gloucester, Gloucester Cathedral, Grantham, Great Chronicle, Great Seal, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VI, Henry VII, investiture, Isabel Neville, Jamestown, John Fortescue, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, John Kendall, John Morton, John of Gloucester, John Russell, Katherine Hastings, Latin, Leicester, Lincoln, Lionel Woodville, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Louis XI, Ludlow, Margaret d’Anjou, Micklegate Bar, Middleham Castle, Minster Lovell, mystery plays, Nottingham, Oxford, Pamela Tudor-Craig, Peter Hammond, Pilgrims’ Way, Pontefract, Reading, reburials, Rhoda Edwards, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl Rivers, Richard III, Richard of Salisbury, River Ouse, River Severn, River Witham, Rosemary Horrox, Royal Progress, Sandwich, Sir Baldwin Fulford, Sir John Woodville, St. George, Tadcaster, Tewkesbury, Tewkesbury Abbey, Thomas of woodstock, Thomas Rotherham, Thornbury, Titulus Regius, Wakefield, Wales, Warwick, William I, William Lord Hastings, William Waynflete, Windsor Castle, Woodstock, Worcester, York

Following his coronation, Richard III – like all medieval monarchs – went on his “royal progress” through the realm. Along with an entourage in excess of 200 household men, ecclesiastics, supporters, and administrative officials, he visited towns and cities as far west as the River Severn, as far north as the River Ouse, and as…
Things learned about most of our 15th-century kings….

Apr 28, 2020

anniversaries, buildings

Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Wydeville, Henry VI, Henry VII, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret d’Anjou, plague, Richard III, scoliosis, sex coach, Smithsonian Institution

The new year of 2020 commenced with this article dropping into my inbox. It’s an interesting list, each entry backed by an explanation, but I’ve limited my comments to the monarchs of the 15th century. The thought of Henry VI requiring a sex coach is rather boggling, I have to say, but then he was…
Henry VI: saint or sinner?

Sep 1, 2019

anniversaries, battles, law, religion

“Nicholas of the Tower”, Adam Moleyns, Archbishop Kemp, aristocratic lawlessness, Azincourt, Bertram Wolffe, biographies, Calais, Cardinal Beaufort, Charles VI, Charles VII, Christine Carpenter, debt, deposition, Duke of Orleans, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Eton, feudalism, First Battle of St. Albans, France, Great Council, Harfleur, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Humphrey of Gloucester, Hundred Years War, impeachment, insanity, Ireland, Jack Cade, John Blacman, John Duke of Bedford, John Duke of Suffolk, John Harvey, John Watts, Kent, King’s College Cambridge, Lord Protector of the Realm, majority, Margaret d’Anjou, Normandy, Parliamentary Roll, Polydore Vergil, Ralph Griffiths, Ralph Lord Cromwell, Readeption, Richard Duke of York, treason, Valois, Wakefield, William Duke of Suffolk, William Tailboys

A gentle and devotional life About seventy years ago, the historian John Harvey wrote this in an essay about King Henry VI: “The life and death, and the thwarting of his noble designs are one (sic) of the sorriest tragedies of English history. He was a victim of forces outside his control, for whose existence…
If Edward IV didn’t dispose of Henry Holand, 3rd Duke of Exeter, who did….?

Aug 2, 2019

battles, heraldry

1475 invasion of France, Anne Holland, Anne of Exeter, Anne St. Leger, attainder, Barnet, Coldharbour, deaths at sea, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, exile, Fotheringhay, Henry Holland Duke of Exeter, Henry VI, Lord High Admiral, Louis XI, Margaret d’Anjou, mtDNA, Picquigny, Richard of Warwick, Scotland, Sir Thomas St. Leger, St. Stephen’s Westminster, Tower of London, Towton, Wakefield, Wenceslaus Holler

I must state from the outset that I could not find any contemporary likenesses of Henry Holand, so the above is of him as played by an actor unknown to me. The life of Henry Holand, 3rd Duke of Exeter has never been of particular interest to me, but I did think that he was…
Henry VI’s Bed-Chamber Tutor?

Jul 8, 2019

Book Reviews, genealogy, humour

Catherine de Valois, Charles V, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI, Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, insanity, intercourse, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lauren Johnson, Margaret d’Anjou, Ralph Butler Baron Sudeley, Sudeley Castle, William Duke of Suffolk

There’s a new book on Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou coming out, in which historian Lauren Johnson surmises that the over-pious Henry VI may have had a few problems in the bedroom department and hence had attendants who would ‘guide’ him in the ways of love. Henry was a notably prudish man who once…