Richard III’s Book of Hours – Digitized, Online and Available to All

“I think miracles exist in part as gifts and in part as clues that there is something beyond the flat world we see. ~Peggy Noonan Leicester Cathedral and its project supporters (angels?) have done something wonderful and generous: they have digitized Richard III’s “Book of Hours” and posted it on the cathedral’s website. What’s so…

The Ravenmaster at the Tower of London

The Ravenmaster at HM Tower of London has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Below is his latest Tweet. It mentions Tydders and pretty much speaks for itself. The comments mention Plantagenets and pretty much speak for themselves, too. http://tinyurl.com/jtqjdbo

Archetypal Richard III: Why Your Richard and My Richard Will Never Be the Same Man

“Without a bad guy, who could ever be good?” ~The Agent, “Sweet Redemption Music Company” “Though it puzzles me to learn that though a man may be in doubt of what he knows, very quickly will he fight to prove that what he does not know is so.” ~”The King and I” Thou elvish-marked, abortive,…

Most-Famous 20th-Century Tarot Deck Features Death’s Banner Emblazened with the White Rose of the House of York

The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck (RWS) is arguably the most famous of 20th-century Tarot decks. For decades, I’ve been using the RWS as an aid to developing fictional characters. Only recently did I notice the Death card in the Major Arcana features a skeletal knight carrying a banner on which is imprinted the White Rose of…

Breaking News: Richard III Did Not Pay Off Stillington With “Land for a School”

Willow: How is it you always know this stuff? You always know what’s going on. I never know what’s going on. Giles: Well, you weren’t here from midnight until six researching it. “Angel” – Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bishop of Bath and Wells, Robert Stillington, is the man who informed Richard, Duke of Gloucester, of…

Lammas Hay Scything

If anyone out there is wondering if any hayfield in England is still cleared by scything, as it was in medieval times, the answer is yes. You’ve missed the annual scything on Hackney Marshes in east London for this summer, but there’s always next year, as Community Haystacks’ clearing of the Walthamstow Marshes in east…

Coming to Know Richard III: The Fictional Character vs. The Actual Man

  In the late 80s, I made the acquaintance of a classically trained British actor. Born in Guernsey, he served in the Royal Air Force during World War II and was imprisoned in a German prisoner-of-war camp for three years, from 1942 to 1945. Until I learned that he and his fellow prisoners were forced…

A Time for Truth, a Time for Lies…or for Pretended Obliviousness and Bullying Tactics

 My thanks to everyone at Murrey & Blue who helped with this article. It was very much a team effort, and you know who you are. An Elizabethan Professor Introduced Me to Richard A long time ago, at a university far away, I took a class on medieval history from a professor who thought Elizabeth…

Even by Tudor and Stuart Standards, Edward IV’s Marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was Invalid

I’ve discovered a wonderfully detailed monograph written by a 21st-century professor of history (whose specialty is the social history of early modern England) that illustrates very nicely that the medieval canon laws governing pre-contracted marriages that resulted into the dissolution of Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville survived, intact and without alteration, through the Reformation.…

The Welsh Rebellion that Henry VII Lost to Richard III

While reading Michael K. Jones’ dry, if detailed, study of the life of Margaret Beaufort[1], I was amazed to learn about a small but significant Welsh rebellion conducted against Henry VII and his hagiographic mummy that I’ve never heard mentioned anywhere else. It appears that Henry and Margaret were thwarted on at least one occasion,…