GLEASTON CASTLE – RENDEZVOUS FOR THE YORKIST REBELS IN 1487?

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @ sparkypus.com Gleaston Castle today.  Entrance to south west tower.  Photo Chloe Grainger @castlestudiestrust.org Some of you reading this may be familiar with other posts I have written concerning what I call the Coldridge theory.   For those of you who are not familiar with the theory here is a brief…

The inexplicable certainty of anti-Ricardians

This post is prompted by a recent forthright statement on social media to the effect that Edward IV was not married to Lady Eleanor Talbot. Now it is one thing to suggest that there is a possibility that there was no such marriage. But certainty? Unless one was literally there, as one of the principal…

JOHN DE LA POLE EARL OF LINCOLN AND ELSTON CHAPEL – A POSSIBLE BURIAL PLACE?

Reblogged from a Medieval Potpourri @ sparkypus.com   The Last Stand of Martin Schwartz and his German Mercenaries at the Battle of Stoke Field 16th June 1487.  Unknown artist Cassell’s Century Edition History of England c.1901. The battle of Stoke Field fought on the  16th June 1487 has been discussed elsewhere extensively so there is no need for…

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…

Another Hundred Years’ Grudge

A few years ago, we showed that Robert Catesby, directly descended from Sir William Catesby, sought to kill James VI/I, a descendant of Henry VII, by gunpowder 120 years after Henry had Sir William hanged after Bosworth.This second case, of which I was reminded in Kathryn Warner‘s The Despensers, doesn’t involve direct ancestry on both…

In the teeth of the evidence

Here, a little-known television journalist-historian named Dominic Selwood disputes the identity of Richard III’s remains, despite the mtDNA match with collateral descendants in Canada and Australia, their height, age of death, era of death, scoliosis, battle injuries, region of origin and the location of his original burial at the choir of the Greyfriars. In fact…

Did Henry VII believe in vampires….?

My devotion to watching TV documentaries often turns up odd bits and pieces. This time the culprit is “Curse of the Vampire” from Mythical Beasts, series 1, episode 3, shown on Sky History 2. As you might expect, the theme was the strong medieval belief that the dead could return to torment the living as…

What do you know of Greasley Castle….?

  I have to say that Greasley isn’t a castle that comes easily to mind, even though a former occupant fought for Richard III at Bosworth. It’s in Nottinghamshire, dates to the 14th century, and was larger and more opulent than Haddon Hall, which I do know, of course. A certain Nicholas de Cantelupe built…

Two famous lovers I cannot love….!

  We all know the story of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford/de Roët. It was a wonderful, passionate love affair that ended with Gaunt, a prince of the realm, making the relatively lowly Katherine his third duchess. Yes, a great romance, and it was fact, not fiction. However, historically speaking, both of them had…

Bosworth and the builder of Bury Castle….

James Daly is the Member of Parliament for Bury North, but we can forgive him for that. Being a Member of Parliament, I hasten to say, certainly not Bury North! He is concerned about this historic site in Bury that is in danger of disappearing. In 1469 Sir Thomas Pilkington acquired a licence to crenellate,…