The New Murrey and Blue blog

Scotland

The Royal martyr

Nov 30, 2017

anniversaries, genealogy, religion

Aldham Common, Archbishop Cranmer, Carmarthen, de heretico comburendo, Gloucester, Hadleigh, Hugh Latimer, James II, James V, John Hooper, Martin Luther, Mary I, Nicholas Ridley, Oxford, Patrick Hamilton, Robert Ferrar, Rowland Tayler, Scotland, St. Andrews

If you wish to visit the site of a heresy execution or a memorial to a victim in England and Wales, there are several options, most of which date from Mary I’s reign. Aldham Common in Hadleigh commemorates the town’s Rector, Rowland Tayler. Oxford marks an Archbishop, Cranmer, together with Bishops Latimer and Ridley, whilst…
William the B … er, Conqueror

Oct 15, 2017

anniversaries, battles, buildings

Anglo-Saxons, Battle, Battle Abbey, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, Canterbury, castles, Chepstow, chivalry, churches, Colchester Castle, Coronation, death, Domesday Book, executions, famine, Harold II, height, Henry I, Marc Morris, Matilda of Flanders, mediaeval buildings, Normans, Scotland, slavery, St. David’s, Tayside, Tower of London, usurpation, Wales, Waltheof, William I, William II

This piece, by Marc Morris in History Extra, describes the events that followed the previous usurpation from France. A lot more violent, indeed, than the early reign of the first “Tudor”, although his son and grandchildren changed that …
1066: THE YEAR OF THREE KINGS

Oct 14, 2017

anniversaries, battles, genealogy, sources

Alfred son of Ethelred, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Athelings, bastardy, Battle of Britain, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, Cerdic, Cnut, David Douglas, Domesday Book, Dover, Eadmer, Edgar the Atheling, Edward the Exile, Emma of Normandy, English Channel, Ethelred II, Eustace of Bologne, Frank Barlow, Fulford, Godwin Earl of Wessex, Gytha, Hakon grandson of Godwin, Harald Hardrada, Harald Sigurdsson, Harold Harefoot, Harold II, Harthacnut, Herleve, hindsight, hostages, House of Wessex, Hungary, invasions, Isle of Wight, Jane Austen, John of Worcester, Leofric, Lotharingia, Magnus Magnusson, Magnus the Good, Matilda of Flanders, Michael Lawson, Norman conquest, Normans, oaths, Oderic Vitalis, Odo Bishop of Bayeux, Papacy, Paul Hill, Peter Rex, Pevensey Bay, primogeniture, promises, propaganda, Queen Edith, Richard Duke of Normandy, Richard III, Robert Chumpert, Romney, Scotland, Shakespeare, shipwreck, Sigurd, Sir Frank Stenton, St. Edward the Confessor, Stamford Bridge, Stigand, Sveyn Godwinson, Sweyn Estrithson, Synod of Chelsea, Tostig, Vik, Vita Edwardi Regis, William I, William of Jumieges, William of Malmesbury, William of Poitiers, Winston Churchill, Witangemot, Wulfnoth Godwinson, York

“History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days” (Winston Churchill) “I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention.” (Catherine…
The Battle Of Shrewsbury, 1403

Jul 21, 2017

anniversaries, battles

Anne of Gloucester, archers, Battle of Shrewsbury, Chester, Clwyd, Cocklaws Castle, Earl of Arundel, Earl of Douglas, Earl of Kent, Earl of Warwick, Edmund Earl of Stafford, executions, Flint, George Dunbar Earl of March, Henry IV, Henry Percy, Henry V, Homildon, Owain Glyn Dwr, Percies, Ralph Earl of Westmorland, rebellions, Richard II, Sandiway, Scotland, Shropshire, Sir Walter Blount, Tarporley, Thomas Percy Earl of Worcester, Venables, Vernon, Wales, Whitchurch

In order to appease (as he hoped) the Percy family Henry IV granted them all those parts of southern Scotland that they could conquer. Despite advice from Northumberland that royal assistance was not needed he set out in the summer of 1403 to march to the borders with a small army to support their siege…
The Coronation Chair and Stone of Scone

Jul 7, 2017

anniversaries, buildings

Coronation, Edinburgh Castle, Edward I, Edward V, Edward VIII, John Major, Mary II, Scotland, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Edward’s chair, Stone of Scone, stonemasons, Victoria, Westminster Abbey, Westminster School

UPDATED POST AT sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/26/the-coronation-chair-and-stone-of-scone/ As we reminded you yesterday, Richard and Anne were crowned on the 6th July 1483, a crucial part of the ceremony being when Richard was crowned with St Edward’s crown and invested with the royal regalia while sitting on the Coronation chair also known as St Edward’s chair,…
Another eleventh century struggle

Jun 26, 2017

anniversaries, archaeology, travel

Alan the Black, Anglo-Saxons, Appledore, Battle of Hastings, battles, Bideford, Bloody Corner, Brian of Brittany, Devon, Diarmait, Edgar the Atheling, Edmund son of Harold, genealogy, Godwine son of Harold, Gytha, Harold II, Harrying of the North, Ireland, Malcolm III, Margaret of Wessex, Normans, Northam, resistance, Richard III, Scotland

This article reveals the little-known sequel to the battle of Hastings. It took place in North Devon, between Appledore and Northam near Bideford, on 26 June 1069 and was led by Brian of Brittany and Alan the Black for the Normans against Godwine and Edmund, sons of Harold II, for the Anglo-Saxon “resistance”. The result…
Unicorn, Unicorn! Wherefore art thou Unicorn….?

Jun 14, 2017

Uncategorized

animals, art, Council of Trent, heraldry, legends, Scotland

Unicorns do not exist. They never have. Well, that is the general consensus. They are mythical beasts, along with the dragon, centaur, phoenix and so on, but in the medieval period the unicorn was believed in. It was thought that to hunt the unicorn was perhaps the greatest hunt of all, surpassing even the white…
Llanthony Secunda Priory, one of Gloucester’s great treasures….

May 31, 2017

buildings

Arthur “Tudor”, Bishop of Bangor, Black Mountains, Catherine of Aragon, Edward I, Edward IV, Eleanor of Provence, Gloucester, Henry Deane, Henry III, Henry VII, Ireland, Llanthony Secunda, Richard II, Scotland, Wales

Llanthony Secunda is so-called because the Augustinian monks of the Vale of Eywas in the Black Mountains of Wales were driven from their original home, beautiful Llanthony Priory, and retreated to Gloucester, where they built this second priory. I have taken the following from a page at http://www.llanthonysecunda.org/: “Gloucester was an important city in medieval…
Treason from a Scottish perspective

May 10, 2017

law

Archibald the Grim, Battle of Falkirk, Battle of Methven, Blind Harry, England, executions, George Dunbar Earl of March, Henry IV, James III, John Barbour, Malcolm Drummond, poetry, propaganda, Richard II, Robert I, Scotland, Sir James Douglas, Thomas Randolph Earl of Murray, treason, William Wallace

This article tells the story of Scottish treason in the time of William Wallace, Robert I and afterwards, through the tradition of oral history. The image below is supposedly of Hugh le Despenser the Younger, although there must be some cases more relevant to Scotland.
Now a lost north-of-the-border king….

Apr 13, 2017

Uncategorized

archaeology, assassination, James I, Perth, Perth Charterhouse, Scotland, Sir Robert graham, Stewarts, Walter Earl of Atholl

Well, we had Richard III, then they sought Henry I…and now it’s James I of Scotland. I wonder how many others will soon be on the list? According to this article : “A plan to search for the tomb of a Scottish king buried in Perth nearly 600 years ago has been unveiled. “It will…