RALPH NEVILLE, 2ND EARL OF WESTMORLAND – HIS HOME, BRANCEPETH CASTLE AND BURIAL IN BRANCEPETH CHURCH.

REBLOGGED FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI @sparkypus.com Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland c.1406-1484 and one of his wives.  Fine oak effigy once in Brancepeth Church, County Durham.  Destroyed 1998. Drawn by Charles Stothard c.1815. An interesting life if somewhat tinged by tragedy.    Ralph Neville 2nd Earl of Westmorland, born at Cockermouth in Cumbria (c.1406-1485) was…

Anne Beauchamp Countess of Warwick – Wife to the Kingmaker

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Anne  Beauchamp and her husband, Richard Neville, ‘The Kingmaker,’ Earl of Warwick.  From the Latin version of the Rous Roll.  Donated to the College of Arms by Melvyn Jeremiah.  Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick,  daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his second wife Isobel Despenser,  was born…

MARKENFIELD HALL AND THE MARKENFIELD BROTHERS, THOMAS AND ROBERT.

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Markenfield Hall viewed through the Gatehouse.  A 14th century moated manor house and one time home to the Markenfields. Photo National Garden Scheme. Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, Yorkshire is surely the epitome of a survivor of medieval manor houses.  The building of the Hall begun in 1230 and was…

Ralph Neville, second Earl of Westmorland.

Ralph Neville (about 1406 to 1484) was the son of Sir John Neville and Elizabeth Holland. Sir John was the eldest son of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland by his first wife, Margaret Stafford, while Elizabeth was one of the late 14th Century’s answer to the Mitford Sisters, the Holland sisters who married anyone who…

THE TRIAL OF RICHARD III – PART TWO

REBLOGGED FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI SPARKYPUS.COM The two QCs prepare to do battleFollowing on from my earlier post.  The day had dawned – the trial commenced.  Because of the length of the trial I only give snippets here which stand out and which I think are the most pertinent/funny/excruciating. The judge addressed the jury as to…

EDWARD OF MIDDLEHAM ‘SON TO KYNG RICHARD’ & THE MYSTERIOUS SHERIFF HUTTON MONUMENT

Reblogged from sparkypus.com Edward of Middleham from the Beauchamp Pageant.  Described  as ‘Edward Plantagenet, son to Kyng Richard’ Its often been written that,  along  with so many children of the times he lived in, even those of the nobility, not a lot is known about Richard III and Anne Neville’s small son Edward.  There is…

A highlight from the quincentenary …

… of Richard’s accession was Channel Four’s 1984 “The Trial Of King Richard The Third”, presided over by Lord Elwyn-Jones. A YouTube poster has sliced it into 22 segments so enjoy the show, particularly part ten, in which a young Starkey implodes. Pollard and Lady Wedgwood (Pamela Tudor-Craig) also feature, as do Anne Sutton and…

Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Kingmaker and Richard II: the eyes have it….!

Well, I have to say that the above carving is very startling. It is believed to be of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and has just been discovered at Bradwell Abbey, Milton Keynes. There is nothing in this article to say why they are so certain it’s Eleanor, but they seem in no doubt. The first thing…

The King’s bishop? What did John Russell know in 1483?

  “ ‘Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?’ ‘To the curious incident of the dog in the night time’ ‘The dog did nothing in the night time’ ‘That is the curious incident ‘ remarked Sherlock Holmes.”[1]   By applying his reasoning to this simple observation, the world’s…

Richard III, Henry VII, north, south…and a soupçon of Robin Hood….

Picture this, as Blondie once sang:- “…[In 1486] many of the southern nobility and prominent gentry of the kingdom accompanied Henry VII on what an attendant herald described as the first progress of his reign. This took them to Nottingham and then after Easter onwards toward York. “And by the wayside in barnesdale, a littil…