The New Murrey and Blue blog

Richard II

Renewing the wax covering Edward I’s body in Westminster Abbey…

Jul 7, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion, sources

Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward I, Eleanor of Castile, Lincoln Cathedral, re-opened tombs, Richard II, royal burials, Sir Bryan Sandford, Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Society of Antiquaries, statues, waxing, Westminster

While working my way through the Close Rolls of Richard II, I came upon the following intriguing entry for 11 July 1377, not long after the boy-king’s accession:- “….To the treasurer and the chamberlains. Order of the king’s money to renew the wax about the body of King Edward I buried in the church of…
The Strange Reluctance to Accept Facts

May 31, 2022

anniversaries, law, religion, sources

“facts”, Anne of Bohemia, Barrie Williams, celibacy, Edward I, Elizabeth of York, evidence, fertility potions, Holy Spirit, Joann, Joanna, Llewellyn the Last, Manuel Duke of Beja, miscarriage, Portuguese archives, Richard II, Richard III, Welsh people

Much of history is simply interpretation. You can interpret events, and facts, in various ways. Often there is no absolute truth and the interpretation depends on the standpoint of the historian. For example, a passionate Welsh nationalist is likely to see the events of 1282 in a rather different light to the interpretation of an…
Richard II went berserk in Salisbury….?

May 29, 2022

anniversaries, law, religion, sources, television reviews

biographies, Carmelite friars, English Historical Review, Henry IV, Ireland, John Latimer, John of Gaunt, L.C. Hector, Lancastrian propaganda, Parliament, plots, Richard II, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, Salisbury, Sir John Clanvowe, torture, William Shakespeare

Richard III’s predecessor, Richard II, shares with him the injustice of being maligned through history. In Richard II’s case all we hear that he was a hysterical madman who was rightly removed from his throne (and this world) by his cousin Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who became Henry IV. All sorts of scenarios are…
The Ancestry of Sir Richard Pole.

May 28, 2022

anniversaries, genealogy

Bletsoe, Charltons, Cheshire, Constable of Haverfordwest, Dafydd Fawr, de la Poles, Despensers, Earl of Pembroke, Earls of Suffolk, Edith St. John, executions, Geoffrey Pole I, Henry IV, Henry V, jousting, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Beauchamp, Poles of Powys, Pooles of the Wirral, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard II, Sheriff of Glamorgan, Sir John Poole of Cheshire, Sir John St. John, Sir Oliver St. John, Sir Richard Pole, Thomas Stafford, Wales

Richard Pole is perhaps most famous for being the husband of Margaret Plantagenet, later Countess of Salisbury. But who was he? His maternal ancestry is relatively straightforward. He was the son of Edith St. John, who was the half-sister of Margaret Beaufort. So that makes him the (half-blood) first cousin of Henry VII. Edith St.…
The Wardrobe, the King’s Wardrobes….er, no The Queen’s Wardrobe….?

May 21, 2022

buildings, sources

Agas map, Baynard’s Castle, Besant, Canterbury, Edward III, Great Fire of London, Henry IV, Joan of Kent, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, past maps, Peasants’ Revolt, Phillippa of Hainault, pilgrimage, Richard II, Richard III, Royal Street, Royal wardrobe, Simon of Sudbury, Stow, Tower of London, wine merchants

During the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, when the Tower of London was breached by the rebels and some of those sheltering inside were dragged out and executed, another person of note who was there was widowed Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales, mother of 14-year-old King Richard II. Well, the future Henry IV was…
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…