secret marriage
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Nowadays the title of Dame is the simple female equivalent of a knight, a woman who has achieved a lot in science, business, sport, entertainment or charity. This was not always so. In the mediaeval era, a knight earned his title in battle and his female counterpart could not, however, it was the Anglo-Norman version…
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Pedro I of Castile – an important ancestor of the House of York.
Alphonso XI, anti-Semitism, appearance, Battle of Nejara, Black Prince, Blanche of Bourbon, Constance of Castile, Cortes, Edmund of Langley, Edward III, Edward IV, Eleanor de Guzman, Enrique of Trastamara, executed women, incest, Isabel of Castile, John II, John of Gaunt, Maria de Padilla, Maria of Portugal, Mortimers, Nevilles, Pedro I, secret marriageKing Pedro I of Castile and Leon, known to some as ‘Pedro the Cruel’ and to others as ‘Pedro the Just’ was born in Burgos on 30 August 1334. His parents were Alphonso XI, King of Castile and Leon and Maria of Portugal, Alphonso’s queen and double cousin. Alphonso also had a mistress, Eleanor de…
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Elizabeth Wayte (Lucy) & Stoke Charity
Arthur Waite, bigamy, carvings, churches, Edward IV, Elizabeth Lucy, Elizabeth Wydeville, Hampshire, hampton family, Henry Duke of Somerset, Henry VII, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Eleanor Talbot, mass of st. gregory, Reformation, Robert Stillington, secret marriage, St. Michael, stoke charity, Thomas More, thomas wayte, Titulus Regius, tombsBetween rainstorms, we were out in the countryside doing some church-crawling, a grand way to do some ‘medievalling’ when long journeys to castles and houses, most still closed for the winter, are out of the question. We happened on Stoke Charity by pure accident. I was attracted by the unusual name, which also began ringing…
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… as our previous post: There is a further similarity between Edward II and Edward V and a difference between them: The similarity is that Richard Lord Talbot married Elizabeth Comyn in secret, Lady Eleanor being their great-great-granddaughter. The difference is that Richard III and Edward V both have mtDNA lines found by John Ashdown-Hill…
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Above is an illustration of the coronation of Edward IV, showing the new king’s golden splendour, and bottom right, his dark brother, the “vile, scheming, murderous” Richard of Gloucester. This illustration is, to me, a perfect illustration of fiction and non-fiction. Yes, Edward was a splendid king, but no, Richard of Gloucester was never the…
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So here we have one of Kathryn Warner‘s earlier books. It describes the life and career of Edward II’s third and final favourite – his marriage to Eleanor de Clare, his lawless activitities but also the degree to which they were exaggerated, leading to his “trial” and execution. We can recommend it highly as part…
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I am currently reading the new edition of The History of King Richard the Third by Sir George Buc. This is a massive tome, by any standards, and certainly, no light read. I have barely begun to absorb the contents, but one interesting discussion in the (very large) introduction is about the famous letter which…
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This link leads to an interesting article on Maria de Padilla. (The novel referred to is only available in the United States, it appears.) Maria de Padilla was, of course, the ancestress of the House of York, mother of Isabel of Castile who married Edmund of Langley. She was said to be the most beautiful…
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