Some people create just for fun, others to have fun AND to inform. Suffolk modelmaker Colin Patten plans to do both in a large-scale model of the entire town of Ipswich in late medieval times, before the abbeys and priories were swept away in the Reformation. Mr Patten has already done a similar model of… Continue reading IPSWICH IN MEDIEVAL MINIATURE
Tag: John Speed
The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford
This excellent blog post by Annette Carson, based on a presentation given to the Society’s Mid-Anglia Group, summarises the events of 29th-30th April 1483, as Edward V and Anthony Woodville (Earl Rivers), together with Sir Richard Grey and others, met the Dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham as the Great North Road and Watling Street converged.… Continue reading The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford
Medieval thoughts of Stonehenge and the solstices….?
I remember the good old days when a visit to Stonehenge meant actually walking around inside it, instead of having to view it from paths at a distance. You could just park and walk, without all the razzmatazz that applies today. Some people even sat on the lower stones! Shock, horror. Closing the monument off… Continue reading Medieval thoughts of Stonehenge and the solstices….?
Old maps of Lancashire….
It so happens that I am writing about the Holands, a noble family that originated in Lancashire and rose to prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries. The town of Upholland records their name. And what should come my way? A link to old maps of Lancashire! An extract from one of these maps is… Continue reading Old maps of Lancashire….
Zoom right into Coventry in 1610….!
How often do we Google for old town maps, only to find they’re so low in pixels that actually making out details is impossible? Well, while searching for such a map of Coventry, I have found an excellent site that gives a zoomable version of Speed‘s map of 1610. It goes in so close that… Continue reading Zoom right into Coventry in 1610….!
Where did the Tudors come from….?
For those of us who may wish to know where the name Tudor comes from, here’s a thorough explanation.
At the gates of Gloucester in 1471….
The Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471 was to prove decisive for the reign of our first Yorkist king. The opponents were Margaret of Anjou and the Lancastrians, versus King Edward IV and the Yorkists. Margaret was defeated, and her heart and spirit was broken by the death in battle of her only son, Edward of… Continue reading At the gates of Gloucester in 1471….
Mythmaking: BONES IN THE RIVER
Night. The late Middle Ages. An angry mob rips open the sealed tomb of a man and carries his fleshless skeleton through the town streets, jeering. Reaching a field of execution, the bones are hurled on a pyre and burnt, then crushed to small fragments. This indignity not being enough, the desecrated remains are then… Continue reading Mythmaking: BONES IN THE RIVER
The case of the time-travelling Bishop
Following our recent post https://murreyandblue.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/what-perkin-actually-said/, the eternal troll duRose has assured us that Francis Bacon and John (The Colourblind Cartographer) Speede didn’t actually invent “Perkin”‘s specific accusation against Richard III. No, we are assured that much of Bacon’s manuscript came from John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who actually lived from 1527-96, whilst “Perkin” was executed… Continue reading The case of the time-travelling Bishop
Not to be missed …
John Ashdown-Hill’s piece in “History Extra”, defusing a few persistent myths: http://www.historyextra.com/article/richard-iii/6-myths-about-richard-iii?utm_source=Twitter+referral&utm_medium=t.co&utm_campaign=Bitly
murreyandblue 