Matilda of Flanders
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It seems that William the Conqueror’s corpse “exploded” at his funeral. The thought of an exploding corpse is bad enough without actually seeing it as well. And smelling it, presumably. I can imagine all the mourners scattering in great alarm and haste. And superstitious dread as well, perhaps? Ew. The things one comes across while…
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William the B … er, Conqueror
Anglo-Saxons, Battle, Battle Abbey, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, Canterbury, castles, Chepstow, chivalry, churches, Colchester Castle, Coronation, death, Domesday Book, executions, famine, Harold II, height, Henry I, Marc Morris, Matilda of Flanders, mediaeval buildings, Normans, Scotland, slavery, St. David’s, Tayside, Tower of London, usurpation, Wales, Waltheof, William I, William IIThis piece, by Marc Morris in History Extra, describes the events that followed the previous usurpation from France. A lot more violent, indeed, than the early reign of the first “Tudor”, although his son and grandchildren changed that …
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Although Richard was found in Leicester five years ago, exactly where he was buried, and Henry I is close to being identified in Reading, Kingfinding is not always successful. As this blog shows, the 1965 excavation of the Faversham Abbey site to find King Stephen was unsuccessful. It seems that his bones really were moved…
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Quest for the Norman Kings Finding a present day mitochondrial DNA match for either Henry I, buried in Reading Abbey in 1135, or Stephen, buried with his family in Kent’s Faversham Abbey in 1154, is going to be very difficult. However, one factor is often overlooked: Stephen is the son of Henry I’s sister so…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 