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…

Picking the Bones….

This ghost story was inspired after reading this post by my good friend sparkypus. And the Battle of Barnet just happened to take place at an earlier Easter. Oh, and there’s a nod toward Dickens, but the facts don’t cooperate with Christmas! The eve of the Battle of Barnet, Holy Saturday, 13 April, 1471 It was…

Elisabeth Brooke, Marchioness of Northampton.

Elisabeth Brooke had a very eventful life! My attention was drawn to her as she was a descendant of Constance of York and Thomas Despenser through their daughter Isabelle’s first marriage to Richard Beauchamp – the Richard Beauchamp who became Earl of Worcester as opposed to her second husband, also Richard Beauchamp, the Earl of…

Warwick, Wavrin and Livia Visser-Fuchs….

  This link will enable you to download Livia Visser-Fuchs’ thesis “Warwick and Wavrin: Two Case Studies on the Literary Background and Propaganda of Anglo-Burgundian Relations in the Yorkist Period”. The lowly marriage of Edward IV, at a time when Warwick was negotiating an illustrious international union for England’s dashing young king, alienated Warwick and…

Death in Drogheda: Thomas Fitzgerald, 7th Earl of Desmond

FAMILY BACKGROUND The FitzGeralds of Desmond traced their descent from Maurice FitzGerald, son of Gerald of Windsor and the Welsh princess Nest. The original Norman conquests were confined to the eastern parts of Ireland, and the Anglo-Norman lordship as created by Henry II was based on a clear division of authority between this area and…

Edward IV knew he’d made a big mistake with Elizabeth Woodville….?

The following sentence makes me want to smack Edward IV! Again. I fear I’ve wanted to smack him a great deal recently. Still, perhaps in this instance meant that he’d realised the damage that could ensue from a stupid marriage. Certainly he didn’t want the ‘error’ repeated. Not that he ever revealed the true extent…

Some minor problems with Thomas More’s account.

King Edward, of that name the fourth, after that he had lived fifty and three years, seven months, and six days, and thereof reigned two and twenty years, one month, and eight days, died at Westminster the ninth day of April. King Edward was born 28 April 1442 and died 9 April 1483. He was…

THE HAUNTING OF RICHARD III- A NEW MUSICAL

When I saw that a new musical called THE HAUNTING OF RICHARD III was on at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, a mere 40 minutes away, how could I resist? I realise musical theatre is a bit of a ‘marmite’ subject for many, but in my own misspent youth, yes, I confess I tread the…

Settling the Bosworth Debt….

With the denizens of Hades gathering to do their worst, here is a horror tale of Sir William Stanley’s final Hallowe’en, when retribution snatches him at last. “Settling the Bosworth Debt” is the story of what happened to William when he was confronted by some terrible truths about Henry Tudor. Friday, 31 October, 1494, Hallowe’en,…

The Cotswolds and the Wars of the Roses….

“What role did the Cotswolds play in the 30-year Wars of the Roses?” A good question. There wasn’t a specific War of the Cotswolds, but there was (still is) a connection to the Wars of the Roses, as you’ll see in this article . For instance, there’s the wonderful Church of St John the Baptist…