Pembroke didn’t pop the Weasel when it should have….!

Well, the first part of a riveting, absolutely factual series about Henry VII was warning enough. I confess to having had to read the first sentence twice, because first time around I thought Edmund Tudor was fighting against the Duke of York’s men and Edmund’s own wife, Margaret Beaufort, who was Henry’s underage mother. Shame on…

Henry VII was handsome and had an almost divine nature….

  “….Polydore Vergil was one of the first to record the appearance of the king [Henry VII]: “His body was slender but strong and solid, a little above average in height. His appearance was handsome, particularly when his expression was happy in conversation. He had blue eyes, few teeth, and sparse hair. His intellect was great and clever, and…

Was Elizabeth Woodville a witch….?

  Royalty and magic (black or otherwise). Well, the connection isn’t new, after all, King Arthur had Merlin. And when it suited one’s enemies, a charge of witchcraft was always a guaranteed spanner in the works. The first section of this article this article deals with Elizabeth Woodville, and is perhaps of most interest to…

Geoffrey of Monmouth, Oxford Castle and King Arthur

Originally posted on Giaconda's Blog:
King Arthur at the beginning of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain BnF, Latin 8501A, f. 108v Geoffrey of Monmouth is thought to have been born between 1090 -1100 in Wales; possibly at Monmouth but no written evidence remains to verify this. Geoffrey also signed himself…

Who chose King Arthur’s final resting place? The monks of Glastonbury or Henry II….?

  I’ve known for a long time that King Arthur wasn’t buried at Glastonbury, but thanks to an incredible example of “seizing the moment”, the monks of the abbey ensured a huge income from pilgrims and tourists who believed their story. Or maybe it wasn’t only the monks, maybe Henry II had something to do…

Did Edward III, Richard II and Henry VII look like this….?

  My internet travels take me here, there and everywhere…and today I came upon another site about facial reconstructions of past figures of consequence. There have been quite a few of these in recent years, and this one is an interesting addition. Well, addition for me, it may have been around for quite some time.…

Yes, of COURSE King Arthur was real….!

Well, of course King Arthur was real. Maybe Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table and so on are rather romantic, but Arthur himself was definitely an actual man. You’ll never convince me otherwise. I don’t really care if he was a Romano-British warrior rather than a glamorous knight in shining armour, it’s the symbol…

A LITTLE KNOWN IMAGE OF RICHARD

Quite accidentally I stumbled over a reference to a genealogical manuscript of English kings, made in around 1500, which interestingly finishes with a drawing of Richard rather than the current king of the time, Henry Tudor.  The depiction of Richard is not one that normally is seen with any frequency. Here is what is written…

A huge stone port a mile off Cardiff…built by the ancient kings of Britain….?

This post has nothing to do with Richard III, but concerns a great structure which, if it ever existed, would surely have been visible to him from the shore of South Wales. The intervening centuries have worn it down, of course, but he might—just might—have seen it. We are becoming accustomed to important ancient discoveries…

Films about the monarchy in Britain….

Not that I think William Wallace counts as part of the British monarchy. I don’t believe Old Longshanks would have had any of that! Anyway, to read an article about films concerning various kings and queens, go here. But where’s King Arthur?????