Richard III
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I recently wrote about the method used to name that was apparently used to name the horses of medieval noblemen and kings, first by colour and then with an aristocratic family surname or title. White Surrey, if he ever existed, fitted this system. So, still on the theme of horses, it may be of interest…
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In the fourteenth century (and perhaps still in the fifteenth) courtiers and their ladies desired more and more songs because they liked to dance to them. They either sang as they danced (called ‘carolling’) or danced to the song (a ‘conduit’) or joined in the refrain of the song they danced to (a ‘virelay’). I had…
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Throughout history, relations between England and Scotland have been somewhat rocky, and this was evident in the ‘noble’ sport of jousting. They had countless very strict rules, and chivalry was supposedly uppermost in every knightly mind, but it all went by the board when the armour was on and the lists awaited. And in pavilions…
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There really are some morons around. If they’re caught, I hope they are punished – by being publicly named and then hurt in their bank balance! http://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/tomb-raiders-target-grave-of-99462/
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Although they are regarded as loose ends, the last Anglo-Saxon and last Norman kings of England are both Richard’s ancestors, via Edward III’s marriage. This document demonstrates Phillippa of Hainault’s descent from Harold II, via Kiev and Hungary, and Stephen, via the Low Countries. There seems to be little news from Faversham Abbey, where Stephen…
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‘Did Richard III Marry His Sister?’ Lurid headlines blared off a rag on sale during Richard’s re-interment week in March 2015. A certain anti-Richard professor was, once again, insisting that because Isabel Neville was sister to Anne Neville and married to Richard’s brother George, that made Richard Isabel’s ‘brother’ and therefore his union…
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Once again, while rooting around for information that might be of use in a book I intend to write about figures in the court of Richard II, I have found an interesting snippet. This time my thoughts are jolted with regard to the name of Richard III’s horse, White Surrey. I have never particularly liked…
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And a grand time will be had by one and all! http://tinyurl.com/hkzf6bs
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This illustration is from a report about the Westminster World Heritage Site that dates from 2007. It contains some interesting information and rather good illustrations, especially of what the site looked like in late-Medieval times. Worth dipping into. The view above is how it is believed the abbey and palace looked circa 1532, or thereabouts,…
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Night. The late Middle Ages. An angry mob rips open the sealed tomb of a man and carries his fleshless skeleton through the town streets, jeering. Reaching a field of execution, the bones are hurled on a pyre and burnt, then crushed to small fragments. This indignity not being enough, the desecrated remains are then…
