titles

Nothing like a Dame?

Jun 30, 2024

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion

Anglo-Norman terminology, bigamy, canon law, Edward IV, illegitimacy, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lady Eleanor Talbot, secret marriage, Sir Thomas Butler, titles, Titulus Regius, Whitefriars

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…
Guy Ritchie’s inheritance blooper on Netflix….

Mar 7, 2024

buildings, genealogy, law, religion

bigamy, Castile, child mortality, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, entail male, family trusts, guy ritchie, Henry IV, illegitimate children, Isabel of Castile, John of Gaunt, land, Lionel of Antwerp, Mortimers, Moynihan barony, Netflix, primogeniture, Richard II, Sir Brian Stanley-Wainwright, Stephen Lark, The Gentlemen, titles

There’s a new “blockbuster” coming up on Netflix. It’s called The Gentlemen, and is described as follows: “….Army captain Eddie Horniman is working for the UN abroad when he learns his aristocratic dad has died….everyone expects Eddie’s older brother Freddy to become next Duke of Halstead and inherit the estate…but his father has disinherited Freddy…
Another interesting article from Academia

Jan 15, 2023

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law

“Lambert Simnel”, abeyance, Academia, allegiance, Anne Neville, Barons Scrope of Bolton, Barons Scrope of Masham, Bolton Abbey, Buckingham rebellion, Cicely Plantagenet, Domenico Mancini, Elizabeth Neville, Elizabeth Scrope, executions, Francis Viscount Lovell, Greystoke, Henry IV, Henry V, indenture, Lord High Constable, Lord Protector of the Realm, Marquess of Montagu, marriages, Northern Rising, pardons, property, Ralph Scrope, Richard III, Scottish campaign 1482, Sir Humphrey Stafford, Southampton plot, Stoke Field, titles, Warden of the West Marches, Yorkshire

This one, by Lorraine C. Attreed, is entitled An Indenture between Richard Duke of Gloucester and the Scrope Family of Masham and Upsall, one of the two noble branches of the Scropes, the other being those of Bolton. The indenture, a copy of which serves as an appendix, dates from mid-January 1476 shortly after the…
A medieval woman who competed in a mounted duel and won….!

Oct 7, 2022

buildings, culture, law

ABC News, Agnes Hotot, chivalry, female jousting, John V Duke of Brittany, Kenilworth Castle, Order of the Ermine, Order of the Garter, titles

While searching for an explanation of why some women in the 14th century were termed “Dame” I found that it meant they were a knight’s wife/widow. Apparently Dame preceded Lady, which came about in the 17th Century—or so it seems. I can’t quite believe that. Anyway, I also learned that it wasn’t unknown for women…
WAS LAMBERT SIMNEL A TUDOR HOAX?

Jun 5, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, law, religion, sources

“Lambert Simnel”, “Perkin”, AF Pollard, age, Arthur “Tudor”, attainder, banquets, Barrie Williams, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of StokeStoke, Bermondsey Abbey, Bernard Andre, Book of Howth, Cheneygates, Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, Christopher Urswick, Coldridge, Convocation of Canterbury, coronations, council meeting, David Baldwin, Earl of Kildare, Edward of Warwick, Edward V, Elizabeth Wydeville, Francis Viscount Lovell, Gordon Smith, Harleian Manuscript, Henry VII, heralds, House of York, imprisonment, Ireland, Jean Molinet, John Ashdown-Hill, John Earl of Lincoln, John Morton, John Yonge, Lambeth Palace, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Michael Barrett, Michael Bennett, Old St. Paul’s, Oxford University, Piel Island., Polydore Vergil, Randolph Jones, re-legitimisation, Reginald Bray, revolutions, Richard Fox, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Richmond Palace, Robert Markenfield, Robert Stillington, Sheen, Sheriff Hutton, Sir John Evans, T.B. Pugh, The Dublin King, The Heralds Memoir, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, titles, Titulus Regius, Titulus Regius 1486, treason, Wenceslaus Holler, Westminster Abbey, William Simmonds

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @ sparkypus.com ‘So rude a matter and so strange a thinge, As a boy in Dublin to be made a kinge..’ * Old St Paul’s where the tragic Edward Earl of Warwick was displayed in February 1487 and with ‘Lambert Simnel’ on the 8 July 1487. ‘Old St Paul’s Cathedral Seen…
The surnames of medieval noblemen’s illegitimate offspring….

Feb 22, 2022

genealogy, law, religion

annulment, Chichester Cathedral, Earls of Arundel, Eleanor of Lancaster, illegitimacy, Isabel le Despenser, Sir Edmund Arundel, surnames, titles

Well, I thought I’d sussed a “tradition” for the illegitimate offspring of medieval noblemen to be named after their father’s title, not given his surname. The family surname was reserved for legitimate children only. Think of Sir Edmund Arundel, who ceased to be Sir Edmund Fitzalan (and heir to a great earldom) when his father,…
A pinch of salt reflected in A Distant Mirror….

Sep 29, 2021

anniversaries, Book Reviews, genealogy

A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman, Duke of Surrey, Earl of Kent, Edward I, errata, Joan of Acre, Lancashire, Thomas Holland, titles

Here is a heartfelt lament. Some books are always widely lauded, and rightly so, but what happens when one finds a blooper within the hallowed pages? In this instance I speak of A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, by Barbara Tuchman. It’s packed full of detail, and a great read…until that one blooper leaps…
The Stanley who could have been King.

Sep 25, 2021

anniversaries, genealogy, religion, The play’s the thing

Acts of Succession, Catholicism, Earls of Derby, Elizabeth I, Ferdinando Stanley, Henry VIII, James VI/I, Lancashire, Lathom House, Stanleys, succession, titles

Ferdinando Stanley (1559-1594) was very briefly 5th Earl of Derby. He was descended from Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk, and according to the terms of Henry VIII’s will, which had statutory force in this respect he was the heir to Elizabeth I, since the Scottish branch were excluded. It is worth mentioning that he was…
Confusion in Cairo: Sean Cunningham and the “Princes”

Nov 2, 2019

anniversaries, buildings, genealogy, law, sources

“Perkin”, Anne Sutton, bigamy, Cecily Duchess of York, clothes, coronations, denialists, Duchy of Norfolk, Edward IV, Edward V, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Great Wardrobe, Henry VII, illegitimacy, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, National Archives, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Sean Cunningham, titles, Tower of London

Not content with accusing Richard III of the death of nearly every notable in 15th century England, it seems of late there has been more ‘confusion in Cairo’ as the the traditionalists attempt to drag in Richard’s friends and relatives in order to back up their position. Recently, the loyal John Howard, Duke of Norfolk,…
A cursed title?

Aug 23, 2018

anniversaries, art, battles, genealogy, television reviews

BBC, Bendor Grosvenor, Britain’s lost Masterpieces, CABAL, Charles I, Charles II, Dukes of Buckingham, Edward of Buckingham, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Glasgow, Grenvilles, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VIII, high treason, Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, James VI/I, Kelvinside, Leicestershire, Northampton, portraits, Richard III, Rubens, Sheffields, titles

This very informative BBC documentary, presented by Dr. Bendor Grosvenor, showed how a portrait, presently on display in Glasgow, was proved to be an original Rubens. George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, was a courtier and soldier, serving under both James VI/I and Charles I as well as being a possible partner of the former.…