nuns
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In 1374 the Langley estates in Lancashire were left to 9-year-old Roger de Langley. On behalf of the boy’s guardian, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the Sheriff of Lancashire took control of the Langley estates and its young heir during the boy’s minority. It was the law for heirs who were minors to be…
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Is there such a thing as coincidence? Happenstance? Fluke? Call it what you will, sometimes things happen that make us wonder. For instance, how often are you reading a word or phrase at the same time that someone on TV uses it? Well, if you’re buried in books as often as I am, then it’s…
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Hard time to be a woman?
Anne of Bohemia, business, Castle Phillippe, demolition, dowries, Earls of March, femme sole, Joan “Beaufort”, Joanna Fitzalan, John of Gaunt, jointure, marriage, Mr. Knightly, nuns, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, Richard Earl of Arundel, Richard II, service, Sheen, Sir John Mohun, Thomas Earl of Kent, widows, William Lord BergavennyOf late I have read quite a few posts on Facebook bemoaning the tough lot women had in the Middle Ages. Well yes, their lives could be very hard. But so could those of medieval men. It’s important not to generalise too much. There were certainly men who valued their wives very highly. We need…
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So now we examine the case of the artist Raphael (d’Urbino), who lived from 1483-1520. He was officially betrothed, in 1514, to Maria Bibbiena, the niece of a Cardinal (left, painted in 1516), which implies the need for some propriety in the relationship. Canon law would definitely apply and the chance of secretly marrying her…
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We have written twice before about non-existent historical children somehow finding their way into works by a certain modern writer, who is often cited on Wikipedia and repeated by others. In these posts, we referred to “Joan of York”, ostensibly a sister of Richard III, together with those attributed to Henry IV and Mary de…
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I have just read in Margaret Aston’s excellent biography of Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor, that according to Walsingham (always a fount of truth, of course) when Sir John Arundel, 1st Baron Arundel, died at sea in December 1379, among his lost belongings “were fifty-two new suits”. This, it seems, led one…
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The Daughters of Edward I
Amesbury Abbey, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, Burgos, Clare Priory, deposition, Edward I, Edward II, Edward IV, Eleanor Crosses, Eleanor of Castile, Elizabeth Countess of Hereford, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, Hardingstone, Israel, Joan of Acre, John Ashdown-Hill, Kathryn Warner, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Laura Culme-Seymour, Lucy Walter, Maria Smythe, Mary I, North Wales, Northampton, nuns, Royal Marriage Secrets, royal marriages, SpainKathryn Warner‘s latest tome has arrived and soon raised memories of Ashdown-Hill’s Eleanor, as two of the daughters in question – Joan of Acre (twice) and Elizabeth of Rhuddlan – are among the ancestors of Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lucy Walter, “Mrs. Fitzherbert” (Maria Smythe) and Laura Culme-Seymour, as shown in Royal Marriage Secrets and replicated here.…
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Well, we’ve all heard of the “Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate known also variously as the ‘Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Aldgate’ or the ‘House of Minoresses of the Order of St Clare of the Grace of the Blessed Virgin Mary’ or the ‘Minoresses without Aldgate’ or ‘St Clare outside Aldgate’…
