Dear Mr Beefeater, will you sell the Tower….?

  Sell part of the Tower? Good heavens. The thing is, what price would the estate agent hope to place on the flat? I mean, it’s a setting that’s second to none! I imagine too that a few very influential personages from the past might pitch in to block (pun entirely intentional!) such a transaction.…

The house where a 14th-century hoard was found in the 18th century….

  Well, another hoard. OK, it was a while ago, but it’s still a hoard. I’m so jealous. I want to find something important from the past, especially the medieval past. However, I have to be satisfied with my bits of clap pipe and Victorian pottery, This article tells of gold coins of Edward III…

The complete, utterly biased dissing of the House of York….

  When I recorded the first episode of the Sky series Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, I watched it on 23rd November, which is the anniversary of the day in 1450 when Richard 3rd Duke of York returned to London [and Parliament] with his sword unsheathed to claim his right. The docudrama series kicks…

Philip the Bold and his portable clock….

  The above illustration isn’t of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, but from the time of his grandson, Philip the Good. Please don’t ask me what, exactly, the picture depicts, because I have no idea, except that it’s a story. It looks very secretive and sneaky, whatever it is. My interest is the clock.…

The humble beginning of Sheriff Hutton….

Below is an interesting little snippet from the Calendar of Patent Rolls for 1382: You’ll find the original record here. And so Sheriff Hutton was born! Who would have thought that from such beginnings would rise one of the most important castles in Yorkshire? A plot on which to enclose a wall of stone and…

Salisbury’s Hidden Bishop’s Palace

The Bishop’s Palace in Salisbury is one of its oldest buildings…but it is not at all well known. Hidden behind tall walls and gates, with only faint glimpses of stonework through the trees planted in front of it, the Palace is better known today as ‘Salisbury Cathedral School.’ There is no access, other than for…

Plunging necklines aren’t new….!

    When we think of women’s clothing in the medieval period, we don’t generally think of revealing necklines. Nay, plunging necklines! But if you go to this extremely interesting article  you’ll see some rather eye-opening illustrations. Some of these little off-the-shoulder numbers could be worn on red carpets today. Mind you, you couldn’t see…

Weir(d) babies (3): “Philippa of Gloucester”

We have written twice before about non-existent historical children somehow finding their way into works by a certain modern writer, who is often cited on Wikipedia and repeated by others. In these posts, we referred to “Joan of York”, ostensibly a sister of Richard III, together with those attributed to Henry IV and Mary de…

Isabella of Castile takes the crown, in more way than one….

  This article lists the top five  great European queens as Elizabeth I, Maria Theresa of Austria, the Empress Elizabeth, Catherine the Great and Queen Victoria. Ah, but that’s the top five after Isabella of Castile, who reigned from 1474 until she died in 1504. Isabella snatches this particular crown right under the other ladies’…

Bosworth – only ranked 9 out of 9….!

Bosworth, a victory for treachery – and for cowardice, because Henry Tudor didn’t raise a finger, but lurked at the back, behind a protective screen of bodyguards As far as Ricardians are concerned, the most important (and tragic) medieval battle was Bosworth, but 22nd August 1485 only makes it to number nine of nine! See…