Another abduction and forced marriage aided and abetted in high places….

  And here we have ANOTHER case of a man who fancied stealing a woman to enjoy her fortune…and then getting away with it because of a male protector in very high places in 14th-century England! This time Henry of Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV! “…John Pelham in Search of a Wife… “…John Pelham may…

The Bacon family and the Quaplode boar….

As is natural, Ricardians are always interested in heraldry depicting boars. And one might expect a family named Bacon to sport a member of the family Suidae on its escutcheon. However, it seems the connection between Bacon and boars is not at the root of it:- “….You may think that the boar is a pun…

Four Men Murdered by Henry Bolingbroke

I wish I had a pound for every word written about the executions of Hastings, Rivers, Grey and Vaughan at the hands of Richard III. I should certainly be able to expand my portfolio of shares very substantially, indeed well beyond ISA limits. I might even be a millionaire. It may be that these men…

Bishop Stillington’s Testimony: Was it Enough under Church Law?

Originally posted on RICARDIAN LOONS:
Richard III remains one of the most controversial kings of England because of the manner in which he came to the throne:? not by battle or conquest, but by a legal claim that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid, rendering their children ineligible to stand in the line…

Great Tom came before Big Ben….!

  Now that it seems probable/possible that “Big Ben” will not be fully restored and ringing again until 2022, perhaps it is….ahem….timely to remember that he was not the first such huge bell, nor was the Elizabeth Tower the first bell tower to be erected close to Westminster Palace and Hall. There was a predecessor,…

Prayer Book with a Secret

The beautifully illustrated prayer book once belonging to Yolande of Anjou, wife of Francis I of Brittany, had been commissioned by her mother as a gift at the occasion of her marriage to Francis. Unfortunately, 9 years into the marriage, having produced two daughters, Yolande died. Francis soon married again, taking to wife Isabel or…

The ruby that isn’t a ruby was worn at a battle that didn’t happen….?

    Aha, so it isn’t a ruby, see this article. Well, we knew that! But for all its associations with the Black Prince, Henry V and Richard III (to say nothing of later monarchs) it seems our present queen “….often likes to think of it being worn by Henry IV during the battle of…

It WASN’T the Battle of Edgecote Moor, it was the Battle of Edgcote….

  On Monday, 24th July 1469, was fought the Battle of Edgecote Moor, and 549 years later, on 26th July 2018, I was being informative about it here . Except I had my facts wrong. It wasn’t Edgecote Moor, it was just plain Edgcote or sometimes Edgecote, but just that one word! Apparently I was…

The history of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset….

This interesting, very readable article is about Henry VIII’s illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. It’s interesting and very readable, and definitely not anti-Richard III, mostly the opposite in fact. But it doesn’t spare Henrys VII and VIII. I enjoyed reading it in spite of a few bloopers that are nevertheless not…

ANOTHER MISSING QUEEN: JOAN OF SCOTLAND

The village of Tarrant Crawford really isn’t a village anymore. If you type the address into your Satnav, it will vanish from the screen while driving down the nearby main road–there are no signposts and the only other road visible is a simple farm track fringed by thick trees. However, here at one time was…