Neddy and Duckie—waiting for Widow Twanky….

Oh dear. There are times when words simply will not suffice, and this, I fear is one of them. If you go to this site you’ll see what I mean. Richard’s story, and the supposed fate of his nephews, has surely been done to death (sorry, no pun inended) but this time I fear it’s…

Antony Woodville and his daughter, Margaret.

Antony Woodville, quite early in his career, had an affair with Gwenllian Stradling which led to the birth of a daughter, Margaret Woodville. As it turned out, although he subsequently married twice, this was his only child. Or certainly, his only child who grew up. The Stradlings were a long-standing Glamorgan gentry family, based at…

Finding Richard (from across the Atlantic Ocean)

I had never been much interested in medieval history. I thought of them as backwards and a little too obsessed w the afterlife. However, the “what ifs” of history always intrigued me. What if the Nazis won WWII? What if the north had been defeated in the American Civil War? And so forth. I’d always…

ST DUNSTAN- IN-THE-EAST – SURVIVER OF DISASTERS – NOW A TRANQUIL HAVEN

REBLOGGED  FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI @sparkypus.com The peaceful garden…a tranquil spot to sit a while in the busy heart of the City of London.  Photo Haarkon co.uk.  St Dunstan-in-the-East was already ancient when John Stow wrote about it in his Survey of London Written in the Year 1598.  Not to be confused with St Dunstan-in-the West,…

They say you can’t tell a book by its cover….

Knightstone Manor in Devon is a 14th-century house with connections to Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, among others. You can read about it here. Well, it may indeed be 14th century, but to me it’s been so “got at” that it now looks modern. Externally, anyway. On the other hand, beautiful Haselbech Hill House…

Oliver Cromwell’s posthumous peregrinations

Much has been written about Cromwell’s life including his descent from Thomas Cromwell‘s sister, his childhood, his rise and service as Lord Protector, after Charles I‘s execution, whilst refusing the crown. Here, as part of his afterlife, Allan Barton, on YouTube, discusses the fate of his corpse. This includes his beheading, alongside the other deceased…

The Psalter from the bottom of the Baltic….

This may not be from our period, but it’s remarkable nevertheless, if only for revealing just how well the most unlikely of treasures can survive under the sea. For over 300 years in this case. In 1724 the German vessel “Archangel Raphael” sank off the coast of the Gulf of Finland. She was supposedly on…

Who led the tournament knights on golden chains….?

  We all know about the Order of the Garter, and the many knights who’ve been honoured by being admitted to its exclusive ranks. We also know that there were Ladies of the Garter, starting with Queen Philippa of Hainault, consort of the Order’s founder, King Edward III. She was followed by a number of…

The de la Pole history of a Hull pub….

It seems that a Hull pub stands on a historically important site because many centuries ago, the building on the corner of Lowgate and Alfred Gelder Street in the city centre replaced a certain Suffolk Palace, which once belonged to King Henry VIII. However, of much more interest to us than the Tudor monarch is…

THE CARTOON KINGS: THE HENRYS

Wandering around Google Images, as you do, I can across these less than flattering but pretty darn funny vintage cartoons of Henry VII and his offspring Horrible Henry VIII. I’ve seen other cartoons of Henry VII in a miserly pose but whoever drew THIS one must have been well aware of a contemporary description of…