Wales
-
I can’t find a date on this article about Llandovery Theatre, but it’s interesting to find a theatre website that supports Richard. It contains an intriguing theory about Tyrell and the boys from the Tower:- “In 1485, Richard III gave a Charter to Llandovery, and appointed James Tyrell to be steward of Llandovery Castle. Before…
-
The picture left above is from https://tinyurl.com/h3s5pds, the one on the right is from https://blackcatrescue.wordpress.com/tag/black-cat-myth/ Last night I watched a programme in which the family history of the actor Ioan Gruffudd was traced. Rather amusingly, right at the end, he learned he was descended from Edward I, the very king who subjugated Wales. Oh, what…
-
Once upon a time, back in the Middle Ages, a large, thriving Welsh city existed between Monmouth and the village of Trellech. Its size was astounding for the day—it had 10,000 inhabitants (for comparison London had 40,000.) Another 10,000 souls may have lived in a shanty town along its edges. What makes Trellech’s size particularly…
-
It is not widely know that Richard II had a half-brother on his father’s side. This was Sir Roger of Clarendon, son of Edward of Woodstock ‘the Black Prince’ by one Edith de Willesford. Roger was almost certainly older than Richard II. In 1372 he received an annuity from Edward III of £100. He was…
-
The mystery of the Princes in the Tower has been the topic of hot debate for centuries, and that debate shows no signs of vanishing anytime soon. Neither does the misinformation that appears on the Internet with depressing frequency: ‘Tanner and Wright proved it was the princes’, ‘The discovery of two skeletons indicated they were…
-

I recently found out that the famous explorer, Stanley (he of “Dr Livingstone, I presume” fame) had chosen his name as a tribute to the man who unofficially adopted him, which is fair enough. It was just a shame that his adopted father’s surname was STANLEY. But it gets worse, his choices for his christian…
-
If you try to research Sir Thomas Vaughan on the internet you may become quite confused. Some sites suggest he was of the Tretower branch of the Vaughans. Highly unlikely, you might think, given that that family were strong Ricardian Yorkists. Others link him with the Vaughan family of Hergest Court. There were of course…
-
Being half Welsh (and proud of it!) but also a Ricardian through and through, I don’t know whether to watch this with huge interest…or bare my teeth. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-history-suffers-teaching-being-10400295 The programme should have English subtitles.
-
We start with Dafydd Gam (c.1380-1415), who fought against the Glyn Dwr rebellion at the beginning of the fifteenth century, apparently trying to assassinate the leading rebel and being imprisoned by him. He may have saved Henry V’s life at Azincourt but was definitely killed there. His daughter, Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam, married twice and…