STAINDROP CHURCH, A NEVILLE MAUSOLEUM

REBLOGGED FROM A Medieval Potpourri @ sparkypus.com Ralph Neville Earl of Westmorland and his two wives.  Staindrop Church, Durham.  Ralph Neville by his wife Joan Beaufort,  was the father of Cicely Neville, mother of two kings – Edward IV and Richard III.  This drawing was made by Charles A Stothard c.1811 and shows them minus the graffiti.…

THE LOST CHAPEL OF THE PRINCE BISHOPS

Once upon a time, in the 13th century, in the grounds of Auckland Castle, there stood a mighty northern chapel that was almost as large as St George’s at Windsor and bigger than St Stephen’s Chapel at Westminster. The Prince-Archbishop Antony Bek was its founder, a man so powerful it was said by some that…

The mysterious “deep and fast-flowing” river that disappeared on New Year’s Day 1399….

  Both River Greta illustrations taken from this Mail article Well, here we are in 2021, which I hope it will prove an infinitely better experience than 2020. In the year 1399, some folk in Bedfordshire witnessed a “portent” that must have made them wonder what on earth that new year had in store for…

Digging up Britain’s Past

This Channel Five documentary has just completed a second series, with Alex Langlands and Raksha Dave, late of Time Team, in place of Helen Skelton. One particular episode was about Auckland Castle, where the “Prince Bishops” of Durham have lived for centuries and where archaeology is being carried out around the building. One of these…

Royal genealogy before it happens (2)

Seven years ago, before this blog officially began, a letter was published in the Ricardian Bulletin about the common Edward III descent of the Duke and Duchess, as she soon became, of Cambridge through the Gascoigne-Fairfax line. Now it has been announced that Prince Henry of Wales and the American actress Rachel (Meghan) Markle, or Duke and Duchess of…

Significant opportunities missed?

Robert Stillington is likely to have been born in about 1420 and was consecrated as Bishop of Bath and Wells on 30 October 1465. As we know, in spring 1483, he confessed his knowledge of Edward IV’s bigamy. Based on Stillington’s evidence, the Three Estates voted to cancel the coronation of Edward V, inviting Richard…

Durham’s Lumiere Festival–a Cathedral of Light

http://www.lumiere-festival.com/durham-2015/ Durham’s Lumiere festival  will be taking place on November 12-15. It is Britain’s largest light festival. Most impressive perhaps is the illumination of the great cathedral on its eminent position above the river, in which medieval images are projected upon the ancient stonework and towers. Durham was well-known to Richard III; he and his…