Richard III’s many daughters….

  Fake news. Ah yes. We regard this as a modern curse, but, of course, it goes back through the centuries. Probably ever since the humans in one cave fell out with the humans in another. Lies…erm, fake news…soon circulated. And if there was one King of England about whom there is fake news in… Continue reading Richard III’s many daughters….

Did Anne Boleyn plot Henry VIII’s death….?

I have to confess that I’m not sure about the headline of  this article. Just what royal row can be spoken of in the present tense is a puzzle. What does it matter to our present royals if Anne Boleyn had Henry VIII‘s demise in mind. If she did, she failed. The horrible lump lived… Continue reading Did Anne Boleyn plot Henry VIII’s death….?

The Champernownes of Devon

The Champernownes (above), a Norman line whose alternative spellings include Chapman and Chamberlain, are surely Devon’s second family after the Courtenays of Powderham Castle, who hold the Earldom. From 1162, their (Domesday Book-cited) home was at Chambercombe Manor near Ilfracombe (middle right) but, by the early sixteenth century, this had passed to Henry Grey, Duke of… Continue reading The Champernownes of Devon