Thomas More

They don’t like it up ’em?

Apr 12, 2020

archaeology, Book Reviews, genealogy, law, Science, sources

“Princes”, Ann Wroe, Anne Neville, Annette Carson, Barrie Williams, Bertram Fields, bigamy, canon law, Charles Ross, denialists, dispensations, Domenico Mancini, Hicks, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Leicester Greyfriars, Marie Barnfield, Matthew Lewis, Philippa Langley, Polydore Vergil, Portugal, pre-contract, Reformation, Richard III, Soar, Thomas More

It seems that some of the denialists are becoming even more sensitive than before and dislike being called Cairo dwellers. One Michael Hicks acolyte went to the point of giving Matthew Lewis well-researched biography of Richard III a one-star review. Sadly for “Alex Brondarbit”, the introduction to his own latest book (below) by the Professor…
A book to avoid if you uphold the truth about Richard III….

Mar 15, 2020

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, Book Reviews, Science, sources

“Princes”, “Tudor” propaganda, Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, Battle of Bosworth, boar, Council of the North, Dukes of York, Henry IV, Henry VII, Peter Ackroyd, Polydore Vergil, Richard II, Richard III, Thomas More, York

When we buy a non-fiction book (in our case usually something to do with Richard III and the medieval period) we anticipate its arrival with some relish. This is how I felt when, after reading many praises for Peter Ackroyd’s History of England, I decided to buy Volume I online. It arrived this morning, and…
Not all Speakers of the House of Commons left gracefully….

Jan 19, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, law

Edmund Dudley, Edward I, executions, Good Parliament, London Bridge, Palace of Westminster, Richard Empson, Sir John Bussy, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir William Tresham, Speakers of the Commons, Thomas More, William Catesby

Well, while researching the Painted Chamber of Westminster Palace, with particular reference to the “Good Parliament” of 1376, I couldn’t help imagining today’s House of Commons faced, not with someone like John Bercow (whose birthday it is today and is quite short with a head), but Edward the First! Can you just imagine old…
Eleanor: A reminder of the evidence

Dec 27, 2019

law, religion, sources

1486 year book, Anglican dioceses, Annette Carson, bigamy, Calais, Captain of Calais, Catherine of Aragon, Charles V, Crowland Chronicle, David Johnson, denialists, Earls of Desmond, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Eustace Chapuys, France, George Duke of Clarence, Henry VIII, Holy Roman Empire, John Ashdown-Hill, John Blount Lord Mountjoy, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Lucy, letters, Louis XI, Philippa Langley, Phillippe de Commynes, pre-contract, Ralph Butler Baron Sudeley, Revealing Richard III, Ricardian Bulletin, Richard III, Robert Stillington, Sandra Pendlington, Thomas More, Three Estates, Titulus Regius, Wendy Johnson, William Catesby

I know some people in Cairo are a little slow on the uptake, but there are several independent sources, as shown by the Revealing Richard III blog. In a recent series of articles in the Ricardian Bulletin, the team cite: Titulus Regius, as composed from the petition to the Three Estates on 26 June 1483;…
BOOK REVIEW

Sep 15, 2019

anniversaries, battles, Book Reviews, law, religion

“Perkin”, “Princes”, ambition, Archbishop Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, attainder, Battle of Bosworth, Cardinal, Domenico Mancini, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, Edward V, Francis Bacon, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VI, Henry VII, illegitimacy, inheritance, James IV, John Morton, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, Master of the Rolls, Milanese Ambassador, Morton’s Fork, Polydore Vergil, rebellion, Richard III, Robert Cecil, Stuart Bradley, Tewkesbury, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Thomas Wolsey, Titulus Regius, Towton, William Cecil, William Lord Hastings, Wydevilles

Stuart Bradley – JOHN MORTON: adversary of Richard III, power behind the Tudors (Amberley 2019) John Morton served the English crown for a almost forty years during one of the most turbulent periods in English history. He wielded considerable influence at the courts of three kings. First, in the Lancastrian household of Henry VI:…
The Walbrook – river of mystery…!

Aug 21, 2019

buildings, travel

Besant, Bloomberg Development, Bucklersbury, Cannon Street, Chelsea, Christopher Hibbert, Cloak Lane, Dowgate, F.J. Furnivall, Finsbury, Geoffrey Chaucer, London, maps, Moorfield, navigation, Old Barge Inn, Peter Ackroyd, Sir Christopher Wren, St. Stephen Walbrook, Thames, Thames Street, The London Encyclopedia, Thomas More, Walbrook

Ah, what a romantic picture the title of this post conjures. It is certainly not descriptive of the now invisible Walbrook , which had to be covered because it stank so much. Well, the smell was one of the reasons for it being enclosed. I have recently been researching the Walbrook’s exact course. Or, at…
If Thomas More isn’t too much for Ricardian stomachs….

Jul 9, 2019

anniversaries, religion, sources

documents, executions, Latin, Richard III, Shakespeare, Thomas More

More isn’t our favourite man by any stretch of the imagination, but he is important because of the immensely detrimental effect he has had upon the history and reputation of Richard III. He, the Tudors and Shakespeare conspired to ruin Richard’s honour, and we Ricardians will never forgive them. But, if you can bring yourself…
NOT AGAIN! THE LATEST FROM A CAIRO DWELLER …

Jun 19, 2019

art, genealogy, law, religion, sources

“Princes”, “Tudor” “sources”, Anne Mowbray, Annette Carson, Baynard’s Castle, bigamy, Charles Dickens, children, denialists, Domenico Mancini, Duchess of Norfolk, Earl of Northumberland, facial reconstruction, Hastings Execution, Henry of Buckingham, Historical Notes of a London Citizen, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Shrewsbury, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lord High Constable, Lord Protector of the Realm, pre-contract, Richard III, The Maligned King, The Mythology of Richard III, The Mythology of the “Princes in the Tower”, Thomas More, Three Estates, Titulus Regius, usurpation

Richard Duke of Gloucester being offered the crown by the Three Estates at Baynards Castle, June 1483. Painting by Sigismund Goetze at the Royal Exchange…(or according to some.. Richard in the actual act of ‘usurping’ the throne)… I came across this article on a forum devoted to late medieval Britain. Unfortunately I read it..5 minutes from my…
A constitutionally important “Tudor” servant

Feb 26, 2019

anniversaries, battles, buildings, films, genealogy, law, religion

Admiral Thomas Seymour, Anne Askew, Battle of Preston, Catherine of Aragon, Civil War, Colchester, Court of Augmentations, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Earls of Warwick, Edmund Bonner, Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset, Essex, executions, Felsted, Henry VIII, Hugh Trevor-Roper, John Fisher, John Hurt, Kimbolton Castle, Leez Priory, Marian persecution, Mary I, Parliament, Paul Scofield, Robert Bolt, siege of Colchester, Sir Richard Rich, Speakers of the Commons, St. Neots, Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Thomas Wolsey, torture, Tower of London, Wales

We tend to have rather a negative view of Sir Richard Rich, or Baron Rich of Leez as he became in February 1547, nowadays. In this, we are somewhat influenced by Robert Bolt’s portrayal of him, as a “betrayer” of More, together with the history of Trevor-Roper. One Bolt line, memorably delivered by Paul Scofield…
The meeting of the three Estates, 25 June 1483

Jun 25, 2018

anniversaries, law, religion

bigamy, Bishop of Carlisle, Bishops, Edward IV, Edward V, Henry IV, illegitimacy, mortimer claim, Parliament, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard III, Sir Richard Rich, Thomas More, Three Estates

It was not the first time that a Convention Parliament had effectively determined the succession. We might look, for example, the precedent of 1399, when just such an assembly deposed Richard II and (in effect) elected Henry IV, who was not even Richard II’s right heir. (He was the heir male, but strangely enough did…