Scotland

This seems to be a vintage year …

Jul 10, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, law, Science

Bibliotheque Nationale de France, captivity, Charles V, Elizabeth I, executions, Fotheringhay, France, Francois II, John Guy, Mary Stuart, Scotland

… for encrypted documents to be found in the French archives, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. This time, the computerised decoding process revealed the missives to the French Ambassador to contain nouns and verbs in the feminine form, mentions of captivity and of Sir Francis Walsingham, leading the experts to deduce the sender to be…
The Coronation Chair and the Stone of Destiny….

May 5, 2023

anniversaries, art, buildings, Events, religion

Bethel, Charles “III”, coronation chair, dreams, Edward I, Edward II, Jacob, Scotland, Stone of Scone

With the first coronation in seventy years looming fast, there is naturally a lot of discussion about various aspects of the ancient ceremony. I don’t know what the new king’s wish to “modernise” might finally entail, but I do know the proceedings will have to include the Coronation Chair (now a shadow of its former…
Thomas Stanley – warrior! (A little-known military exploit by our hero.)

Feb 21, 2023

anniversaries, battles, genealogy

Douglas clan, Isle of Man, James II, Kings of Man, Kircudbright, Norman MacDougall, Scotland, Stanleys, Thomas Stanley, truces

In 1456 the aggressive King of Scots, James II, sent an armed expedition against the Isle of Man. As is well-known, Man was at this time a private lordship owned by the then Stanleys, who was known as ‘King of Man.’ Retaliation was swift and led by Stanley’s son, Thomas – yes, he of Bosworth…
The Wandering Butler: John, 6th Earl of Ormond

Dec 14, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, sources

“Perkin”, Act of Resumption, Anne Boleyn, Anne Welles, Archbishop Talbot, attainders, bastardy, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Northampton, Burgundy, Butlers, Butlers of Desmond, Captain of Calais, Charles the Bold, Chief Butler of Ireland, Cockermouth Castle, consanguinity, County Kilkenny, Earls of Desmond, Earls of Ormond, Edmund MacRichard Butler, Edward of Lancaster, Edward V, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Elizabeth of York, Ellice Barry, entail mail, First Battle of St. Albans, Guisnes, Henry of Buckingham, Ireland, Jerusalem, Joan Beauchamp, Joan Chaworth, justiciar of Ireland, Kilkenny Castle, Killone Abbey, languages, law studies, Lincoln’s Inn, Lord Grey of Codnor, Louis XI, Ludford Bridge, Margaret of Burgundy, marriages, Munster. Avice Stafford, naval fleet, nuns, ODNB, Peerage of Ireland, Piers Butler, Piltown, Portugal, Pronothary of Bourbon, Raghnailt, Readeption, Richard III, Rome, royal pensions, Sandwich, Scotland, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Sixtus IV, Statute of Kilkenny, Stephen Ellis, Tadhg King of Thomond, Thomas Earl of Desmond, Tipperary, Wars of the Roses, Waterford, Wydevilles

FAMILY BACKGROUND The Lancastrian leader who faced – or failed to face – Thomas, Earl of Desmond, at the Battle of Piltown in 1462 was the fourth of the five children born to James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond (otherwise known as the White Earl), and his countess Joan Beauchamp, daughter of William Beauchamp, Lord…
Digging for Treasure

Dec 8, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, religion, Science, television reviews

Abdication, aeroplanes, Anglo-Saxons, Anne Neville, Boudicca, castles, Channel Five, coins, Dan Walker, Digging for Treasure, Fincham, King’s Lynn, Lancaster bombers, Loch leven, London Bridge, Mary Queen of Scots, metal detecting, Michaela Strachan, mudlarking, Norfolk, Northallerton, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Raksha Dave, Scotland, scuba-detecting, Sheriff Hutton, Southwark Cathedral, Wars of the Roses

There are several interesting archaeology series on television and Channel Five has now joined in with an ensemble programme, headed by two familiar personalities (Dan Walker and Michaela Strachan) and a similarly ubiquitous chief archaeologist (Raksha Dave), but with more of an emphasis on metal detecting for the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, including Roman…
The Rise of the Stanley family.

Dec 5, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law

Anne Neville, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Shrewsbury, Blore Heath, Cheshire, Constable of England, Earl of Arundel, Eleanor Neville, extortion, France, heiresses, Henry IV, Henry of Buckingham, Ireland, Isobel Lathom, justiciar of Ireland, King of Mann, Knights of the Garter, Lancashire, Lathom House, Lord Audley, Lord Deputy of Ireland, Margaret of Anjou, Master Forester, murder, pardons, Prior of Burscough, Richard II, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland, Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March, Roxburgh Castle, Scotland, Sheriff of Anglesea, Sir John Stanley, Sir William Stanley, Stanleys, Tewkesbury, Thomas Lord Stanley, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Norfolk, Wirral

In the late 14th Century, the Stanleys were a gentry family, their power base lying chiefly in Cheshire, notably in the Wirral. Their ancestry might fairly be described as ‘provincial’. There were certainly no kings in their quarterings. This is not to say they were unimportant, but their influence was of a local rather than…
The Middle Ages and the movies….

Nov 20, 2022

anniversaries, battles, films

Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Rublev, Braveheart, Edward I, Eisenstein, El Cid, Fritz Lang, historical accuracy, Italy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Robert Bartlett, Russia, satire, Scotland, Siegfried. Mel Gibson, Sir William wallace, Spain, Stalinist tyranny, Tarkovsky, The Middle Ages and the Movies, The Name of the Rose, The Seventh Seal, Umberto Eco

“….In The Middle Ages and the Movies eminent historian Robert Bartlett takes a fresh, cogent look at how our view of medieval history has been shaped by eight significant films of the twentieth century. The book ranges from the concoction of sex and nationalism in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, to Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece Siegfried, the art-house classic The Seventh Seal to…
A joust involving two Scottish lords who don’t seem to have existed….

Nov 16, 2022

buildings, sources

Agas map, Anthony Wydville, Antoine of Burgundy, banner-bearers, Earls Marshal, Earls of Mar, injuries, jousting, Kocborne, mystery jousters, Philip the Good, Richard II, Scotland, Sir Nicholas Hawberke, Sir Peter Courtenay, Sir William Darell, Smithfield, The Chronicles of England, Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham

Excerpt from The Brut or The Chronicles of England, ed. Friedrich W.D. Brie (London, 1906), pp. 343-4, 348. “….[1393]….And in the seventeenth year of his [Richard II‘s] reign, certain lords of Scotland came to England to win renown through deeds of arms. And these are the persons: The Earl of Mar, who challenged the Earl Marshal of…
Do you know your medieval sovereigns….?

Nov 6, 2022

anniversaries, genealogy

England, France, History Today, kings, quizzes, Scotland

I can’t say that I’m the world’s most brilliant participant when it comes to quizzes, but I had hopes with this one . Oh dear. I may have got the English ones right, but Scotland tripped me up once. As for France…. I don’t know my Louis’ from my Charles’. Shame on me! But there…
Identifying another King

Sep 24, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion, Science, sources

Bannockburn, Bruces of Clackmannan, david II, Declaration of Arbroath, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Dunfermline Abbey, Dupplin Moor, facial reconstruction, Foundation for Mediaeval Genealogy, FTB15831, genetic markers, Graham Holton, Ireland, Melrose Abbey, mtDNA evidence, Register of the Great Seal, Richard III, Robert I, royal remains, Scotland, University of Strathclyde, Y-chromosome

The monarch in question is Robert I (Bruce) and the investigation, as part of the Foundation for Mediaeval Genealogy’s Declaration of Arbroath Family History Project, is being carried out by the University of Strathclyde: Graham Holton has reported good progress in this press release: Genetic marker discovered for descendants of Bruce clan, January 2022.A distinct…