Richard II

Pandemics through history….

May 19, 2022

anniversaries, culture, Science

Albert Victor Duke of Clarence, Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, Black Death, covid 19, Edward of Middleham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, medicine, pandemics, plague, pneumonia, Richard II, Richard III, smallpox, Spanish ‘flu, tuberculosis, vaccination

For the last few years we’ve been beset by a pandemic. COVID-19 is the new blight on the block, and has set about knocking us down like ninepins in spite of antibiotics and even immunisation. But modern medicine has done a lot to standing up to the silent menace. In times gone by folks…
A pedant writes…

May 15, 2022

culture

abduction, Anglo-Saxons, chivalry, copyhold, Geoffrey Chaucer, John, Magna Carta, marriage, Norman conquest, Norman-French, Normans, novels, pedantry, poetry, property, Richard II, serfdom, slavery, tenants in chief

In the aftermath of certain historical novels I have read recently, I should like to give the following information, in the hope it will be helpful to authors, editors (if they still exist) and indeed readers. SLAVERY – Although slavery was quite common in England in Anglo-Saxon times, it was became less usual after the…
Matilda Burghersh – wife of Thomas Chaucer, mother of Alice, Duchess of Suffolk.

May 1, 2022

genealogy

Alice Chaucer, Anne Neville, Catherine de Roet, Cecily de Wayland, Edward Despenser, Edward Duke of York, Elizabeth de Verdun, Isabel Neville, Joan Lady Mohun, John Arundell, John de la Pole, John Grey of Rotherfield, John of Gaunt, Lords Appellant, Matilda Burghersh, Matilda Kerdeston, Philippa de Mohun, Phillipa de Roet, Richard II, Sir Bartholonew Burghersh, Sir John Grenville, Sir Lawrence Berkerolles, Thomas Chaucer

It has taken me a long time, but I have finally figured out how Matilda, wife of Thomas Chaucer, fits into the Burghersh family tree. I was confused because Matilda is sometimes called ‘the Burghersh heiress’. Odd that, I thought, given that Elizabeth, wife of Edward Despenser was ‘the Burghersh heiress.’ Truth is, they were…
The house where a 14th-century hoard was found in the 18th century….

Apr 29, 2022

archaeology, battles, buildings

coins, Edward III, Fenwick Tower, Hundred Years War, Hunterian Museum, Northumberland, property sales, Richard II, treasure

Well, another hoard. OK, it was a while ago, but it’s still a hoard. I’m so jealous. I want to find something important from the past, especially the medieval past. However, I have to be satisfied with my bits of clap pipe and Victorian pottery, This article tells of gold coins of Edward III…
The complete, utterly biased dissing of the House of York….

Apr 28, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, heraldry, law, religion, television reviews, The play’s the thing

Anne Neville, armour, Barnet, bastardy, bigamy, boar, Brittany, Burgundy, Cecily Neville, cleanliness, destiny, Edgecote, Edmund “Tudor”, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edmund of Rutland, Edward III, Edward IV, Edward V, executions, exile, facial hair, family tree, First Battle of St. Albans, fog, G.L.Harriss, gambling, George Duke of Clarence, Hastings, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Ireland, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, John Duke of Somerset, John of Gaunt, John Welles, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lancastrians, Lionel of Antwerp, Lord High Constable, Lord Protector of the Realm, Louis XI, Margaret of Anjou, Mortimer’s Croft, obscenity, Old St. Paul’s, philip glenister, pre-contract, Privy Council, propaganda, re-legitimisation, Readeption, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Arundel, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richard of Warwick, Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, Scotland, Sky History, Southampton, Titulus Regius, Wakefield, Welsh people, William Herbert, William Shakespeare, Wydevilles, Yorkist claim, Yorkists

When I recorded the first episode of the Sky series Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, I watched it on 23rd November, which is the anniversary of the day in 1450 when Richard 3rd Duke of York returned to London [and Parliament] with his sword unsheathed to claim his right. The docudrama series kicks…
The humble beginning of Sheriff Hutton….

Apr 26, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, sources

bureaucracy, Calendar of Patent Rolls, John de Neville, licence to crenellate, marriages, Nevilles, Richard II, Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire

Below is an interesting little snippet from the Calendar of Patent Rolls for 1382: You’ll find the original record here. And so Sheriff Hutton was born! Who would have thought that from such beginnings would rise one of the most important castles in Yorkshire? A plot on which to enclose a wall of stone and…
A mystery at the Swan Inn at Clare, Suffolk….

Apr 11, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, heraldry

Anne Morimer, cadency, Clare, Clare Castle, de Burgh arms, Edmund Earl of March, Henry IV, Henry V, Ireland, John of Gaunt, Lancastrian propaganda, Lionel of Antwerp, Mortimer arms, Mortimer History Society, mulberries, Richard Duke of York, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Suffolk, Swan Inn

On reading the February 2021 edition of the Mortimer History Society’s publication, Mortimer Matters, I was intrigued by an article (by Hugh Wood) about a curious piece of carved and painted wood. “….Brightening up the front of the Swan Inn in Clare in Suffolk is this colourful piece of carved wood. Its shape suggests that…
Unwanted heirs? The Mortimers in the 1390s

Apr 7, 2022

genealogy, law, religion, sources

Duke of Surrey, Dukes, dynastic succession, Edmund of Langley, Edward Duke of York, Ian Mortimer, Ireland, John Hastings Earl of Pembroke, Knights of the Garter, Parliament, precedence, Richard II, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Shrewsbury Parliament, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Thomas Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, Westminster Chronicle

It has been established now that Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, was declared heir to the throne by Parliament in 1386 – not 1385 as commonly believed. This Parliament was very much at odds with Richard II (it set up a one-year Commission to run most of his affairs, much to Richard’s displeasure.) So it…
Eleanor of Aquitaine, the “mother-in-law from hell”….?

Apr 1, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion

Anne of Bohemia, Berengaria, Crusades, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fontevraud Abbey, Henry II, Isabella of Angouleme, John, l’Epau Abbey, le Mans, miscarriage, Navarre, Richard I, Richard II, royal marriages, royal tombs, sexuality, taxes

There are two King Richards of England whose marriages are always called into question: Richard I and Berengaria of Navarre, and Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Richard II’s sexuality is cited as the reason he and Anne had no children. Either he was sexless…or his interests went to the male of the species. Therefore…
There’s been another Murrrrdah…!

Mar 30, 2022

anniversaries, law

executions, Grayingham, Henry IV, History of Parliament, John of Gaunt, King’s Bench, Lincolnshire, Maud Neville of Scotton, murder, petty treason, Richard Gyse, Richard II, Robert Coke, Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Sir John Bussy, Sir Philip Neville, Sir Thomas de Kydale, Sir William de Cantilupe, Speakers of the Commons

Maud Neville of Scotton, Lincolnshire, was the daughter and heiress of Sir Philip** Neville and Sarah (birth name unknown) and was born in about 1360. She married Sir William Cantilupe, a substantial landowner and member of a family which, historically, been of considerable importance in England. ** Some sources say Ralph. Take your pick. Allegedly,…