Wales
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Here’s a tale of treachery and the cowardly theft of a throne. Such a shame though, because Powis Castle today is extraordinarily beautiful. I lament that Tudor‘s invasion with his foreign army didn’t take him into a particularly gluey and bottomless Welsh bog, or over a cliff on to jagged rocks in the middle of…
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“Today it is hard to credit the importance that the Middle Ages attached to prophecies, at that time taken so seriously that King Henry VII was to declare them against the law on the grounds of political danger.” The above quote is taken from The Usurper King by Marie Louise Bruce, the usurper of…
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The Audley Case of 1431 Redux
Alianore Holland, Caversham Park, Church courts, Constance of York, Despencers, Edmund Earl of Kent, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, English Common Law, Gandhi, Gian Maria Visconti, Henry IV, Isabel le Despenser, James Lord Audley, Joan of Navarre, Kathryn Warner, Lucia Visconti, Margaret Duchess of Clarence, Milan, Mortimer plot, Owain Glyn Dwr, possible bigamy, restored lands, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, secret marriage, St Mary Overy, the Beauforts., WalesWe originally posted on this issue here. In summary, in 1431 or thereabouts, Alianore, Lady Audley, and her husband James were trying to demonstrate in the Church court that Alianore was legitimate and thus the heiress of her father, Edmund, Earl of Kent by Constance of York. Kent’s surviving sisters and the heirs of the…
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Well, of course King Arthur was real. Maybe Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table and so on are rather romantic, but Arthur himself was definitely an actual man. You’ll never convince me otherwise. I don’t really care if he was a Romano-British warrior rather than a glamorous knight in shining armour, it’s the symbol…
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Stonehenge is an endless source of curiosity and speculation, with theories abounding and routes/methods considered in considerable depth. Even Merlin gets a look-in, believing by some to have flown the stones from Wales to Wiltshire by means of magic. Well, that’s always a possibility, because Merlin was, perhaps still is, the greatest wizard there ever…
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Oh dear, how very Henry VII. I’ve just read in this link that because the leek was the emblem of the Welsh, on one St David’s Day he presented a leek to his daughter. A real leek, that is, not one studded with precious stones. Talk about a cheap gift! I’m sure she was thrilled.…
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So here is the latest video from the Legendary Ten Seconds, this time about the Mortimers and other Marcher Lords. Here are the lyrics: THE MARCHER LORDS ON THE BORDER WITH WALES WE STAND DEFENCE AND CONQUEST WE HAVE IN HAND OUR KING AND COUNTRY WE MAY SERVE THOUGH IT’S OUR OWN…
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Well, Tenby is beautiful, and a old house with a view over its harbour must be very desirable, see this site, but I fear that this time my pennies will be staying in my piggy bank. Shell out for the privilege of owning the house from which that miserable skinflint Henry Tudor escaped and, apparently,…
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Today in 1495 marked the death of Henry VII’s uncle, Jasper Tudor, and so seems an appropriate day for me to post the following extract, which is from The Country Gentry in the Fourteenth Century by N. Denholm-Young, published in 1969. “…It is a crying fault among English historians that they pay only lip-service to…
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Gloucester on 28th October, 1378, 1483 and 1967….
Brecon, Buckingham rebellion, coronations, Edward II tomb, Finchampstead, Gloucester, Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester Mourning Sword, Gloucestershire archives, Gnosall, Henry of Buckingham, John Morton, John Russell, Old West Gate, Parliament, Ralph Bannaster, Richard II, Richard III, River Severn, Royal Progress, royal visits, Saracen’s Head, Tewkesbury, Tewkesbury Abbey, Wales28th October is a notable day for me because of three events in Gloucester’s history:- (1) It was the day my second favourite king, Richard II was in Gloucester and Tewkesbury—well, he was from 20th October 1378 until mid-November, so had to be in one or the other on the 28th. (2) It was also…
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