Richard II
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A VISIT TO KING’S LANGLEY
Anne Mortimer, camels, Cecily Neville, Christmas, Clarendon Palace, clocks, Dominican friaries, Edmund of Langley, Edward II, Edward III, Eleanor of Castile, fire, Henry III, Henry IV, Isabel of Castile, Joan of Navarre, John of Wheathampstead, King’s Langley, palaces, Piers Gaveston, Reformation, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, royal tombsKing’s Langley was once home to a massive Plantagenet palace, built out of the remnants of a hunting lodge of Henry III for Edward I’s Queen, Eleanor of Castile. She furnished it lavishly, with carpets and baths. There were shields decorating the hall and a painted picture of four knights going to a tournament, while…
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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…
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If only a 14th-century Philippa had been a Philip….!
“Tudors”, Edmund Earl of March, Edmund of Langley, Edward IV, Edward of Woodstock, Henry IV, John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, male preference, primogeniture, Prince George, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte, Richard II, Richard III, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, sex, Succession rights, Thomas of woodstock, usurpationSex can be divisive. By that I mean that being the “wrong” sex has made huge differences in the past. No, it’s nothing to do with today’s strife concerning to which sex one really belongs. Instead I mean that back in history being born a woman often prevented you or your line from ascending to…
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We still use the word ‘harbinger’ in constructions like ‘This was the harbinger of war.’ Meaning that something gives a warning or prediction. In the Middle Ages, a harbinger was a man who travelled ahead of the royal (or a noble) household to warn that they were coming. Well, if you had 600-1000 assorted people…
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This image of the Muniments Room in Westminster Abbey shows the White Hart of King Richard II, still standing there 623 years after his death. A remarkable survival. The White Hart was King Richard’s livery badge which he circulated to his supporters in the 1390s. It possibly derived from his mother’s cognizance of the…
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Oh dear, my title line is again indicative of my allegiances. Why is it that Henry VIII—aka Fat Henry—is seemingly always mentioned as a promotional point of some sort? He was an awful man, and nothing to brag about. Ask his wives, to three of whom he gifted King’s Langley. Short tenure, I imagine. Be…
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Right, ladies and gentlemen, if you want a real laugh, go here. It’s so full of bloopers that it really is a joke. For instance, OLD Richard II reigned during the Peasants’ Revolt. Um, Richard was 14 at the time. And then again Henry IV was Richard II’s son. But wait, Henry IV was Henry…
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Trial by Combat.
banishment, Bolingbroke v Norfolk, castles, Chief Justice Thirning, Chris Given-Wilson, Constance of York, Court of Chivalry, duel, Edmund of Langley, executions, Fourth Lateran Council, France, Henry IV, Henry VII, King’s approver, Normandy, Parliament, Richard II, Sir John Annesley, St. Saviour’s Castle, Thomas Katrington, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, Trial by combat, trial by jury, Tyburn, usurpation, Wars of the RosesYou might think that the Church would have approved of trial by combat. After all, it effectively remitted the cause to God’s judgement – assuming that you believe God intervenes in such affairs, as many people (presumably) did. In fact, as far back as the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 (Canon 18) the Church…
