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…

The Sisters Neville – Isobel, Duchess of Clarence and Queen Anne Neville, Daughters to the Kingmaker.

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Warwick Castle birthplace of both the Neville sisters.  Photo with thanks to Scotty Rae @Flkr. Richard Neville and Anne Beauchamp, Earl and Countess  of Warwick had in their long marriage just two daughters.  If there were any initial disappointment about that there was always Plan B,  that illustrious marriages could…

WAS HENRY VII A RELUCTANT BRIDEGROOM?

REBLOGGED FROM A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.  Their effigies in Westminster Abbey.  Artist Pietro Torrigiano. Photo westminster-abbey.org I was recently reading an excellent article in the Ricardian discussing Henry Tudor’s enthusiasm, or lack of it, for his marriage to Elizabeth of York by David Johnson entitled Ardent Suitor or Reluctant…

Might Edward IV have had a third “wife”….?

I’m not sure I kept track of everyone in this intriguing link but it makes interesting reading. Discussing it here would be complicated, the link has to be read in full. If the possibility is actually fact, it makes me wonder if Edward IV married someone else – as well as Eleanor Talbot and Elizabeth…

What really happened with Princess Cecily’s first two marriages….?

The following extract is from Not So Fortunate As Fair’: The Life of Princess Cecily Plantagenet by Sharon Champion:- “….At the age of five, she [Cecily] was betrothed to James, the infant son and heir of James III of Scotland. John 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton was sent as commissioner to negotiate a contract of…

Pastime, passtime, pastance….?

I know there are different ways of spelling one word…especially when it comes to the British/US versions (we’re separated by the same language, right?) but sometimes I come across a word that I have only ever seen spelled one way, yet it suddenly pops up with an extra “s”. In this instance the word is…

The Harringtons of Hornby Castle and the Stanleys

Most people are aware of the story of the original Hornby Castle. Sir Thomas Harrington and John, his elder son, were killed fighting at Wakefield in the Yorkist cause. John Harrington left two daughters – Anne was five and Elizabeth four at the time – and the Stanleys, assuming them to be their grandfather’s heirs,…

Catherine of Aragon and the “creepy old man”….!

  It’s official, folks. Late in his reign Henry VII was “a creepy old man”! It’s true, because  Factinate.com says so! Henry VIII, was “a nasty middle-aged and old man”. In my opinion anyway, and Factinate agrees, more or less. Oh, and Catherine of Aragon was quite a woman! She had some pretty bloodthirsty ideas,…

Another one (denialists’ myth) bites the dust

Another subject that Cairo dwellers frequently pontificate about is Henry “Tudor”‘s marriage to Elizabeth of York. We do know that he promised, on Christmas Day in 1483 at Rennes Cathedral, to wed her and we know that he obtained a dispensation for the purpose. The denialists claim that this shows her and her mother’s knowledge…

Princess Cecily of York, a very daring lady….

  Some of you will know that in the 1970s I wrote a trilogy about Cicely/Cecily, daughter of Edward IV. I called her Cicely back then, and have stuck with it, but now she is generally known as Cecily. She had been the third daughter, but on the death of her sister Mary, because second…