pre-contract

How Edward IV’s bigamy should have been resolved

Jul 17, 2023

Alternative History, anniversaries, battles, genealogy, law, religion

Affinity, banns, bigamy, canon law, Castillon, Catherine de Roet, Catholicism, Church of England, consanguinity, Council of Trent, dispensations, Elizabeth Wydeville, family law, Henry VIII, illegitimacy, infertility, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John of Gaunt, lack of consent, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lumley-Conyers marriage, Moynihan barony, non-consummation, Papal Legate, pre-contract, R.H. Helmholz, Ralph Butler Baron Sudeley, Reformation, Sixtus IV, Statute of Merton, widows, witchcraft

Canon law, as practiced in most of Europe to the late mediaeval period, is noticeably different to the laws of the United Kingdom today, although it is somewhat looser today in several ways. Consequently, secret marriages were banned eventually, only first cousins now require dispensations and relationships do not beget affinity, although previous manages still…
When there’s snow at midsummer….

Jun 23, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry

bigamy, Castell Du, Coventry, cults, Edmund of Rutland, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, Edward V, Elizabeth Wydeville, First Battle of St. Albans, George Duke of Clarence, Gervase la Vallee, Henry Duke of Somerset, Henry VI, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lancastrians, Ludlow Castle, manticore, Margaret of Anjou, mermaids, Micklegate Bar, Midsummer Day, Mortimer’s Cross, poachers, pre-contract, Richard Duke of York, Richard of Warwick, Royal deer forests, secret marriage, stag hunting, Towton, Wakefield, Welsh Marches, witchcraft

A short story by Sandra Heath Wilson (viscountessw) Please remember, ladies and gentlemen, that this story is fiction. The great midsummer bonfire crackled and roared, and sparks billowed high into the dark sky. It was encircled by thirteen hooded black-robed figures, and the face of the youngest was pale as he accepted the carved wooden…
The inexplicable certainty of anti-Ricardians

May 21, 2023

anniversaries, battles, law, religion, sources

Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, Catherine de Valois, D.A.L. Morgan, Dukes of Norfolk, Edward IV, English Historical Review, evidence, Hearne’s Fragment, James Ross, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Eleanor Talbot, long lives, memoirs, Owain Tudor, Parliament, pre-contract, reincarnation, royal bodyguard, Royal Marriage Secrets, Thomas Earl of Surrey, Three Estates, Titulus Regius

This post is prompted by a recent forthright statement on social media to the effect that Edward IV was not married to Lady Eleanor Talbot. Now it is one thing to suggest that there is a possibility that there was no such marriage. But certainty? Unless one was literally there, as one of the principal…
Picking the Bones….

Apr 8, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, religion

Anne Neville, artillery, Barnet, bells, bigamy, cavalry, Charles Dickens, coronations, Coventry, Easter, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, emblems, fog, George Duke of Clarence, Henry VI, Holy Saturday, Isobel Neville, John Neville Marquis of Montagu, Lent, Middleham Castle, murder, poison, pre-contract, Richard III, Richard Woodville, rivers, Robert Stillington, supernatural, Thames Valley, Westminster Abbey, Wydevilles

This ghost story was inspired after reading this post by my good friend sparkypus. And the Battle of Barnet just happened to take place at an earlier Easter. Oh, and there’s a nod toward Dickens, but the facts don’t cooperate with Christmas! The eve of the Battle of Barnet, Holy Saturday, 13 April, 1471 It was…
Warwick, Wavrin and Livia Visser-Fuchs….

Feb 23, 2023

law, religion, sources, Uncategorized

Academia, bigamy, Burgundy, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Jehan de Wavrin, Livia Visser-Fuchs, pre-contract, Richard of Warwick

This link will enable you to download Livia Visser-Fuchs’ thesis “Warwick and Wavrin: Two Case Studies on the Literary Background and Propaganda of Anglo-Burgundian Relations in the Yorkist Period”. The lowly marriage of Edward IV, at a time when Warwick was negotiating an illustrious international union for England’s dashing young king, alienated Warwick and…
Death in Drogheda: Thomas Fitzgerald, 7th Earl of Desmond

Feb 15, 2023

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, law, religion, sources

“Perkin”, Anglo-Norman lordships, Annals of the Four Masters, Anne Butler, Annette Carson, archers, attainder, bigamy, Burkes of Clanricarde, coyne and livery, Dame Elizabeth Corbet, de Burghs, Dictionary of Irish Biography, dispensations, Drogheda, Earls of Desmond, Earls of Kildare, Earls of Ormond, Edward IV, Edward Plunkett, Elizabeth Woodville, Elizabeth Wydeville, Ellice Barry, executions, Fitzgeralds, Henry II, Henry V, Ireland, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John Tiptoft Earl of Worcester, Lionel of Antwerp, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Deputy of Ireland, Maurice Fitzgerald, Nesta of Wales, Pale, Peter Spring, Piltown, pre-contract, Ricardian, Sir John Butler, Sir Roland FitzEustace, South Munster, Statute of Kilkenny, Tadhg King of Thomond, The Book of Howth, The Ricardian, treason, William Shirwood

FAMILY BACKGROUND The FitzGeralds of Desmond traced their descent from Maurice FitzGerald, son of Gerald of Windsor and the Welsh princess Nest. The original Norman conquests were confined to the eastern parts of Ireland, and the Anglo-Norman lordship as created by Henry II was based on a clear division of authority between this area and…
Some minor problems with Thomas More’s account.

Dec 31, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, law, religion, sources

“Princes”, “withered arm”, Anne Beauchamp, Anthony Wydville, Beaulieu Abbey, bigamy, discrepancies, Edward IV, executions, Henry VI, Henry VII, illegitimacy, Jane Shore, Lady Elizabeth Lucy, Lord Chancellor, marriage ceremony, mediaeval canon law, More, Pontefract Castle, pre-contract, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, secret marriage, Sheriff of Glamorgan, Sir James Tyrrell, Sir Richard Grey, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir Robert Brackenbury, Sir Thomas Vaughan, Tewkesbury, Thomas Dighton, Tower of London, Vice-Constable, Westminster, William Catesby, witchcraft

King Edward, of that name the fourth, after that he had lived fifty and three years, seven months, and six days, and thereof reigned two and twenty years, one month, and eight days, died at Westminster the ninth day of April. King Edward was born 28 April 1442 and died 9 April 1483. He was…
THE HAUNTING OF RICHARD III- A NEW MUSICAL

Dec 13, 2022

anniversaries, battles, law, Music Reviews, religion, The play’s the thing

“Princes”, Anne Neville, Battle of Bosworth, bigamy, Edward IV, Edward of Middleham, Elizabeth Wydeville, Francis Viscount Lovell, Frome, ghosts, Henry of Buckingham, illegitimacy, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Kairos Theatre Company, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Margaret Beaufort, limp, Merlin Theatre, musicals, northern accent, pre-contract, prostitution, Shakespeare, shoulder, Somerset, The haunting of Richard III, Thomas Baron Stanley, war heroes, William Catesby, William Lord Hastings

When I saw that a new musical called THE HAUNTING OF RICHARD III was on at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, a mere 40 minutes away, how could I resist? I realise musical theatre is a bit of a ‘marmite’ subject for many, but in my own misspent youth, yes, I confess I tread the…
Settling the Bosworth Debt….

Oct 31, 2022

anniversaries, buildings

“Perkin”, “Princes”, All Hallows, arrests, bigamy, Duke of York, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, executions, ghosts, Halloween, Henry VII, Henry VIII, House of York, illegitimacy, Lord Chamberlain, masks, pre-contract, Richard III, Sir William Stanley, torture, Tower Hill, Tower of London, treachery, Westminster Hall

With the denizens of Hades gathering to do their worst, here is a horror tale of Sir William Stanley’s final Hallowe’en, when retribution snatches him at last. “Settling the Bosworth Debt” is the story of what happened to William when he was confronted by some terrible truths about Henry Tudor. Friday, 31 October, 1494, Hallowe’en,…
The Cotswolds and the Wars of the Roses….

Sep 6, 2022

battles, buildings, heraldry, religion, travel

bigamy, Cirencester, Cotswolds, Edward III, Edward IV, executions, Francis Lovell, John of Gaunt, John Talbot Viscount Lisle, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lancastrians, Lionel of Antwerp, Margaret of Anjou, Minster Lovell Hall, Mortimer’s Cross, Mortimers, Nibley Green, pre-contract, Richard III, River Windrush, rumour, sanctuary, St. John the Baptist, Sudeley Castle, Tewkesbury Abbey, Wars of the Roses, William Lord Berkeley

“What role did the Cotswolds play in the 30-year Wars of the Roses?” A good question. There wasn’t a specific War of the Cotswolds, but there was (still is) a connection to the Wars of the Roses, as you’ll see in this article . For instance, there’s the wonderful Church of St John the Baptist…