Richard’s other Anglo-Saxon ancestry, inter alia

Richard’s ancient ancestors was composed a few years ago to illustrate Richard III’s descent from heroes of the home nations: Alfred the Great (many times over, but two divergent lines soon afterwards), Malcolm III (Canmore), Llewellyn Fawr and Brian Boru.Slides 2-3 show not just the well-known connection through Edmund II (Ironside), St. Margaret of Wessex and…

A zoomable map of Europe in the mid-15th century….

If you go to this link you’ll find a fascinating, zoomable map of Europe in 1444. You really can zoom right in, and my only regret is that more towns, etc. aren’t indicated. Well, a lot are listed by initials on the left, but it’s not the same as being able to read them once…

Thousands of medieval coins found in Hungary….!

    And still hoards of coins are being discovered, this time in Hungary …and the cache runs to “seven thousand silver and four medieval gold coins”. The find is in Pest County, in which Budapest itself is to be found. My wistful little footnote is that I have yet to unearth even one coin….…

Another take on Richard de la Pole

Here, the American blogger Samantha Wilcoxson writes about Lord Richard’s life in  his capacity as the last free son of John, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, and as an exile from the England of the first two “Tudors”, before dying at Pavia and being buried in the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro there (right). From Lord Richard’s Wikipedia page,…

1066: THE YEAR OF THREE KINGS

“History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days” (Winston Churchill)   “I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention.” (Catherine…

Edgar the Aetheling: Failure or Survivor?

Originally posted on Giaconda's Blog:
You could argue that Edgar was set up to fail from the start. As the last male heir of the ancient royal House of Cerdic of Wessex; Edgar had the bloodline but little else to support his claim to the English throne when his great uncle, Edward the Confessor,…

A mysterious Early Modern marriage

It happened in Fontainebleau on this day in 1539. The groom was Cibaud de Tivoley, Seigneur de Brenieu, and the bride was described as “Marguerite de la Pole – Suffolk”. Two of the guests were Eleanor of Austria, wife of Francois I, and Gabriel, Marchesse di Saluzzo, both of whom were cousins of Lord Richard…