Science
-
Recently I came across an archaeological article which I found very interesting as it had similarities to Richard III’s finding and identification. Duke Bela of Macso was a young Hungarian nobleman who was assassinated, aged approximately 25, in 1272. On August 6, King Stephen died, and his young son, Ladislaus, IV ascended the throne. Infighting…
-
In 1577 Leonberg, Katharina Guldenmann took her small son “to a high place” for an advantageous view of a comet passing over what is now southwestern Germany. Three years later, the then eight-year-old boy’s father brought him out on a bitterly cold winter night to witness a lunar eclipse. Though in later years this boy…
-
If Becket was a turbulent priest, Roger Bacon was a turbulent scholar, philosopher, scientist and theologian. According to this article he was “….a 13th-century scholar whose contributions to science, philosophy, theology, and linguistics challenged traditional ways of thinking and paved the way for new ideas and advancements….” Well, his activities were that all right, and…
-
Strange Times by Joan Szechtman
“Strange Times”, Discovering Diamonds, Edward V, engineering, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry VII, Joan Szechtman, Loyalty Binds Me, Minster Lovell Hall, Paul Murray Kendall, Ricardian fiction, Richard III, Richard III Society, Richard of Shrewsbury, Science, sequels, Sharon Kay Penman, Stoke Field, The Sunne in Splendour, This Time, time travelToday, we interview Joan Szechtman, an American writer who has just published her third time-travel novel about King Richard the Third. Fans of Joan have read her books, THIS TIME, which was published in 2009 and LOYALTY BINDS ME which was published in 2011. Her third Richard the Third novel, STRANGE TIMES, has just been…
-
One thing of which we can be certain is that Richard III never played snooker. It was not invented until 1875 in Jabalpur by a Colonel Chamberlain (1). Nevertheless, it is an excellent vehicle for demonstrating the laws of probability with particular reference to the descent of the Plantagenet Y-chromosome from Edward III. Imagine that…
-
Once upon a time, back in the Middle Ages, a large, thriving Welsh city existed between Monmouth and the village of Trellech. Its size was astounding for the day—it had 10,000 inhabitants (for comparison London had 40,000.) Another 10,000 souls may have lived in a shanty town along its edges. What makes Trellech’s size particularly…
-
This documentary, presented by Robert Hardman of the Daily Mail, unveils some of our longest-serving King’s secrets, such as a draft abdication letter after American independence was achieved. It also discusses his health issues in greater detail. Until recently, it was thought that he suffered from porphyria, a physical disease that Mary Stuart carried to…
-
When the Normans came to England they built their stern castles upon huge mounds that gave them clear views across the countryside from the height of the donjon or keep. For many years, it was thought these mottes were mostly of Norman date, contemporary with the castle structures, or else were natural, glacial features utilised…
-
This Glasgow Herald article illustrates how historian Sheila Pitcairn wishes to search Dunfermline Abbey and identify Malcolm III and his family. Robert I (le Brus) can easily be found there already. The widowed Malcolm III married (St.) Margaret of Wessex, great-niece of Edward the Confessor and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, in about 1070, allowing Anglo-Saxon…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 