You’ll never guess what Ranulf Racket was up to….!

In an excellent paper entitled ‘The Last Week in the Life of Edward the Black Prince‘, by Paul Booth, I have just come upon this medieval gem: “ . . . Stanley [yes, one of them] and Lascelles had been shown in 1353 to be at the heart of what contemporaries called a ‘covin’, a…

The Royal Progress of Richard III

Following his coronation, Richard III – like all medieval monarchs – went on his “royal progress” through the realm.  Along with an entourage in excess of 200 household men, ecclesiastics, supporters, and administrative officials, he visited towns and cities as far west as the River Severn, as far north as the River Ouse, and as…

So wrong he could be right?

This article, by the former MP Norman Baker, appeared in the Mail on Sunday. Actually, the original version was much longer and referred to Elizabeth II as a descendant of Henry VIII. This is an egregious howler, surely, because all of his actual descendants died by 1603 (or the last day of 1602/3 in the…

Now the boys in the Tower were drowned in Malmsey….?

  Well, we all know the story (and that’s just what it was, a story) about the demise of the boys’ uncle, George, Duke of Clarence, in a butt of Malmsey, but this is the first I’ve heard of the boys themselves suffering a similar fate. I quote: “The manner of their death triggered debate…