ships

The Psalter from the bottom of the Baltic….

Apr 24, 2023

archaeology, religion, travel

Gulf of Finland, Lubeck, North Sea, Psalters, ships, sinkings, smuggling, St. Petersburg, The Archangel Raphael, wrecks

This may not be from our period, but it’s remarkable nevertheless, if only for revealing just how well the most unlikely of treasures can survive under the sea. For over 300 years in this case. In 1724 the German vessel “Archangel Raphael” sank off the coast of the Gulf of Finland. She was supposedly on…
MAD, MURDEROUS MABEL

Dec 2, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, sources

“Poisoned Chalice”, Arnulf, Arundel Castle, books, Bridgnorth Castle, Bure Castle, Earl of Shrewsbury, Ela of Salisbury, Eleanor of Castile, Giroie family, Haburga, Hugh Bunel, Mabel de Belleme, marriages, Matilda of Blois, mediaeval women, murder, Norman invasion, Normandy, Orderic Vitalis, Robert de Belleme, Roger de Montgomery, ships, William I, William Talvas de Belleme, William Talvas IV

Many people still hold to the idea that all medieval women were quiet, timid, and downtrodden, unable to defend themselves and at the mercy of others. Clearly they have never heard of Mabel de Belleme! Mabel was a Norman noblewoman, born sometime in the 1030’s to William Talvas de Belleme and his first wife, Haburga.…
The Mayflower

Jul 22, 2020

anniversaries, art, religion, travel

Bartholomew Gosnold, Boston, Cape Cod, Captain Reynolds, Christopher Jones, Coggeshall, Delftshaven, Harwich, James VI/I, Leiden, Lieden Communion, Liverpool, Mayflower, Plymouth, Puritans, Rotherhithe, settlers, ships, Sir Francis Drake, Southampton, Speedwell, USA, William Bradford, William Halsall

Below is William Halsall’s 1882 portrait of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. It is obviously imagined as the original ship was almost certainly broken up at Rotherhithe in 1624, a more extreme case than the “Streatham portrait“, which post-dates it’s purported subject’s death by about forty years. From the spelling of the title, the background…
Did Richard III prefer to travel his realm by land, river or around the coast. . .?

Mar 7, 2019

anniversaries, buildings, travel

Bristol, Bristol Castle. Dartmouth, Cog Thomas, Devon, Edward III, Henry IV, Ian Mortimer, Ireland, John Holland, London, Nottingham, Pontefract, Richard II, Richard III, sea travel, ships, The Fears of Henry IV, Wales

Here is a question that has bugged me for some time now. If, during medieval centuries, a journey could be made around the English coast, rather than across country, was the sea option likely to be chosen? I will take a particular example. It’s from the 14th century, but could be from the 13th or…
A “Tudor” find on the beach at Whitstable….

Feb 5, 2019

archaeology

Henry VIII, Kent, ships, Wessex Archeology, Whitstable

And now another remarkable find on our shores, this time the remains of a vessel that must have been wrecked in Tudor times. I hope it yields a great deal of information. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/989328/Tudor-shipwreck-found-in-mud-preserved-beach-whitstable-kent

ships

The Psalter from the bottom of the Baltic….

MAD, MURDEROUS MABEL

The Mayflower

Did Richard III prefer to travel his realm by land, river or around the coast. . .?

A “Tudor” find on the beach at Whitstable….