The New Murrey and Blue blog

Royal widows

Holiday in Morpeth Castle’s wonderful gatehouse….!

Sep 9, 2018

anniversaries, battles, buildings

Dartington Hall, Flodden, Gatehouses, Henry VIII, James IV, Margaret “Tudor”, Morpeth Castle, Northumberland, Royal widows, Scottish border

I love to stay at places with history. Especially medieval history. That is why I so love going to 14th-century Dartington Hall near Totnes in Devon. Now I have found somewhere else I’d like to go, although it’s in the opposite end of the country – Morpeth Castle in Northumberland. Well, the castle gatehouse, to…
Another “Lancastrian” widow

May 17, 2015

genealogy, law

Catherine de Valois, Dunbar Castle, Henry IV, Henry V, James I, Joan “Beaufort”, Joan of Navarre, Lancastrians, Royal widows, Scotland

Last week, we saw how Joan of Navarre, the widow of Henry IV, was imprisoned for witchcraft and only released after Henry V, her stepson, died. We were also reminded how legislation was passed just a few years later to prevent royal widows from marrying during their sons’ minorities – this was aimed at Catherine…