York
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Discovering one’s illustrious ancestors appears to be quite the thing these days, and now we have someone who is descended from the man responsible for publishing Shakespeare’s First Folio. “….A theatre producer who has brought the Elizabethan era to York City Centre and Blenheim Palace has discovered that he is related to the man who…
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Below is a rather amusing recently discovered account of a young nun in York called Joan of Leeds, who escaped her convent in the early 15th c by pretending to be dead and leaving a fake body in her place. Many monks and nuns, especially those who had entered a monastic house at a very…
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Inspired by this Kindred Spirits post, I began by reflecting on the fact that Richard (Dick) Turpin and Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury and thus Richard III’s uncle, were both executed in York. Turpin had relatively few connections in the north, but many with Essex, from his education near Saffron Walden to his nefarious activities…
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Researching my new novel, Distant Echoes, I found out about a court case that Richard was involved with concerning a woman called Katherine Bassingbourne. She brought a complaint before Richard’s Council because she couldn’t afford a lawyer and Richard seems to have taken her side, despite it being of no benefit to him to do…
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Am I alone in thinking that in this instance, “pop up” describes the Rose Theatre in York well? The Rose resembles something that pops up in a children’s book. However, this article is actually more about the history of car parks, which is very interesting. The one below is in Detroit, and is quite astonishing!…
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Is it time to exhume Cardinal Wolsey?
Abbey Park, burial sites, Catherine of Aragon, Grand Union Canal, Henry VIII, high treason, Ipswich, King’s Great Matter, Leicester Abbey, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Richard III, Richard Pescall, Soar, St. Margaret’s Church Leicester, St. Nicholas’ Street Ipswich, Thomas Wolsey, Wolsey’s Gate, YorkThomas Wolsey was born in Ipswich, apparently in March 1473, to Joan Daundy and Robert Wolsey, who seems to have been a butcher and may possibly have been killed at Bosworth. Opposite his birthplace, in St. Nicholas’ Street, is this seated statue (below). His local achievements include Wolsey’s Gate and, after about 475 years, the…
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Well, all this should be very interesting indeed…except for Hicks on Richard III, of course. Now, if it were to be Richard III on Hicks….yes, that would be worth the effort! “If your interest in royal history is piqued by the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, make a date in your diary to…
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Here is a tale of how a 15th-century trade dispute in York got out of hand, and for once Richard isn’t getting the blame! The following extract is from here: “A building in York, which was once the scene of a medieval murder over a trade dispute during its construction 500 years ago, is set…