A dazzling medieval library in Switzerland….

While watching the first episode (entitled “A Dragon’s Inferno”) of a documentary series called Mythical Beasts, viewers’ attention was drawn to the abbey library of St Gallen in Switzerland. What an absolutely breathtaking place, containing many rare, centuries-old books, manuscripts and other items. To read more about it, go to this site.

A meat-rich diet was to carry Satan’s price-tag for monks….

  I’ve written before about the food eaten by medieval monks, and have now come upon another article, this time in The Guardian. It tells of the dire consequences that followed when monks eventually had a meat-rich diet. The Guardian article was prompted by English Heritage research into “the day-to-day lives and digestive troubles of…

Wars of the Roses Delights in Suffolk

After over a year, I have finally been able to go on another holiday in which to indulge in my passion of church and castle crawling. I haven’t spent much time in Suffolk before–it’s just a little too far–but there were some places I really wanted to visit, so off we went, braving a crazed…

EDWARD, EARL OF WARWICK – HIS LIFE AND DEATH.

REBLOGGED FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI sparkypus.com Edward’s parents Isobel Neville and George Plantagenet, Duke and Duchess of Clarence.  From the Latin Version of the Rous Roll.  With thanks to the Heraldry Society. Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick was born at Warwick Castle on the 25 February 1475. Among his godparents were Edward IV, who created him Earl…

St Andrew’s Church, Wingfield and the Tombs of the de la Poles

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com St Andrew’s Church, Wingfield, Suffolk.  Mausoleum of the de la Poles.   You know when the great Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was ‘impressed’ with a church then it must indeed be rather special (1).   And St Andrew’s with its soaring clerestories, nave roof with  arched braces resting on figures of winged…

The battling Bishop of Norwich….

  Well, many of us will remember fondly the Baby-eating Bishop of Bath & Wells of Blackadder fame. I’m not writing about him, but of the Bold Battling Bishop of Norwich, who donned armour on 17th May 1383 and set off on a disastrous crusade against the French in Flanders. Not long ago I wrote…

The surnames of medieval noblemen’s illegitimate offspring….

Well, I thought I’d sussed a “tradition” for the illegitimate offspring of medieval noblemen to be named after their father’s title, not given his surname. The family surname was reserved for legitimate children only. Think of Sir Edmund Arundel, who ceased to be Sir Edmund Fitzalan (and heir to a great earldom) when his father,…

Children? Or a litter of 14th-century what….?

  “….John and his elder brother, Richard, and younger brother, Edward, and their sister, Constance, were bred as children at Dartington….” Um, what else might they have been bred as? 🤪 I won’t identify the source – not fair, because people like me aren’t supposed to see it as funny!  

Which Baron Hungerford was responsible….?

English Heritage has embarked upon the restoration of some wall murals in Farleigh Hungerford in Somerset. The photograph above shows an image of St George as a 15th-century knight, and has suffered over the centuries from damp conditions and misguided previous attempts to save it. You can read about the work here which describes it…

The perils of obtaining books….

  Here at this link is the ultimate tease for this already whining, snivelling book-seeker who has been buying books all over recently and whose purse is becoming sadly threadbare. And whose house is running out of space for accommodating my endless lust for more books! This particular volume is expensive (natch, all the books I…