A LITTLE KNOWN IMAGE OF RICHARD

Quite accidentally I stumbled over a reference to a genealogical manuscript of English kings, made in around 1500, which interestingly finishes with a drawing of Richard rather than the current king of the time, Henry Tudor.  The depiction of Richard is not one that normally is seen with any frequency. Here is what is written…

So Master Porker picked up his bagpipes and let rip….!

We’re all accustomed to the wonderful gargoyles adorning our churches, abbeys and cathedrals, illuminations on manuscripts and the beautiful carvings on misericords, but sometimes they are truly amusing. On this occasion the apparently comedial figures are pigs playing the bagpipes. Yes, really. And not only in Scotland, I hasten to point out, because bagpipes are…

A WHITE BOAR MOUNT DISCOVERED

A beautiful mount bearing Richard III’s boar has been found by a metal-detectorist in the West Country. Quite a few  boar badges have turned up here and there over the years, but this mount, which probably was fastened on a sword-belt, seems rather unique–and is very impressive, still retaining parts of its silvering and painted…

Edward IV, Dame Eleanor and the Phantom Web of Impediments

Introduction The precontract (i.e. prior marriage) between Edward IV and Eleanor Butler, née Talbot, has long been a subject of debate, but what has not previously been claimed is that Edward and Eleanor were so closely related as to have been unable to make a valid marriage without a special dispensation from the Pope.  Recently,…

The only extant example of a boar pendant on a tomb effigy….?

  It’s the usual story. There I was, rambling around looking for something completely different, when I happened upon the above photograph, which is of the tomb effigy of Ralph Fitzherbert, who died 1483, a supporter of Richard of Gloucester. As you will see from the caption, it is “the only extant example of a…

Richard III started the monarch’s messenger secret service….?

So Richard was the first to set up a King’s/Queen’s Messengers service? I didn’t know that. We’re all aware of “diplomatic bags” and such like, but it’s only now that I learn it was all due to Richard. He employed a certain John Norman, in whom he clearly placed great trust. Alas, it seems the…

Richard III versus James I of Scotland….?

The following extract is from this article in the Daily Record :- “….Fortuitously for us, Henry VII killed Richard III (the king in the car park) who was discovered in Leicester. A nice piece of synergy, and the basis for a much bigger story of Scottish royal political dominance in Great Britain….” Well, it might…

Tour the world’s twelve greatest museums from the comfort of your armchair….

  Well, these days some of us might be stuck at home rather a lot, and even if we aren’t we may not find a museum of other attraction actually open. So the advent of “virtual yours” is a great help. There we are, in our comfortable armchair, sauntering around the like of the British…

To be Bl(o)unt …

Most people are aware that James Blunt’s real surname is Blount. This is an influential name in late mediaeval, “Tudor” and Stuart times. Bessie Blount was another mistress of Henry VIII and bore him Henry Duke of Richmond, who married Lady Mary Howard but died without issue, to be buried at Framlingham. Walter Blount, who…

The Mayflower

Below is William Halsall’s 1882 portrait of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. It is obviously imagined as the original ship was almost certainly broken up at Rotherhithe in 1624, a more extreme case than  the “Streatham portrait“, which post-dates it’s purported subject’s death by about forty years. From the spelling of the title, the background…