Does a certain mansion in Bishopsgate hold the secret of who really wrote Shakespeare’s works….?

This article commences with the following: “….A cluster of individuals claimed by some to be the true authors of Shakespeare‘s works lived in or near the same ostentatious mansion in the City of London at much the same time….” The mansion is in Bishopsgate and yes, it is known for its connections with the Bard.…

ST DUNSTAN- IN-THE-EAST – SURVIVER OF DISASTERS – NOW A TRANQUIL HAVEN

REBLOGGED  FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI @sparkypus.com The peaceful garden…a tranquil spot to sit a while in the busy heart of the City of London.  Photo Haarkon co.uk.  St Dunstan-in-the-East was already ancient when John Stow wrote about it in his Survey of London Written in the Year 1598.  Not to be confused with St Dunstan-in-the West,…

THE MYSTERIOUS CHEAPSIDE HOARD, DISCOVERY AND FURTHER ADVENTURES….

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com The Cheapside Hoard.  Discovered beneath the floor of an ancient cellar during the demolition of 30-32 Cheapside in 1912. How the owners of such jewels must have shimmered in the candlelight.  Photo 1websurfer@Flikr. The Cheapside Hoard as it has become known was discovered in June 1912 at 30-32 Cheapside when…

RICHARD WHITTINGTON c.1350-1423. MERCER, MAYOR AND A MOST BENEVOLENT CITIZEN OF LONDON

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com A delightful artist’s impression of ‘Richard Whittington dispensing his charities’.  Artist Henrietta Ray before 1905 oil on canvas.  Royal exchange. Even the most disinterested in history children would recognise the name Dick/Richard Whittington and also his best, and only friend,  his cat,  most of them being familiar with the rather delightful folk…

Coldharbour – An Important Medieval London House

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri @sparkypus.com A segment of the Visscher Panorama of London 1616 showing Coldharbour after the earlier medieval house had been demolished by the Earl of Shrewsbury c.1585 and rebuilt up to the waterfront.  The rebuild incorporated many tenements ‘now letten out for great rents to people of all sorts’ (Stow).  …

CROSSBONES – BURIAL PLACE OF WINCHESTER GEESE AND ‘THE OUTCAST DEAD’

    REBLOGGED FROM A MEDIEVAL POTPOURRI @ sparkpus.com   Shrine of many ribbons at the entrance to Crossbones Cemetery.  Photo Kay Nicols.  It’s harder to find a more sadder place in South London than the site of Crossbones Burial Ground, Redcross Way,  which is a side street tucked away off the busy Borough High Street,…

The Summer of 1483: Who Was Doing What, Where, With Whom and Why.

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com Today a guest post from Annette Carson, author of many excellent books about Richard III and his times including The Maligned King, Richard III, A Small Guide to a Great Debate, Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector & Constable of England and a new translation of Mancini. Annette was also…

THOMAS CROMWELL’S HOUSE IN AUSTIN FRIARS

Reblogged from A Medieval potpourri sparkypus.com Thomas Cromwell c.1532.  Minature attibuted to  Hans Holbein the Younger. Oil on panel. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Following on from my earlier post on Perkin Warbeck and his burial at Austin Friars where I touched upon Thomas Cromwell’s house in the Austin Friars precinct I was happy to come across this…

Two Huggin Lanes, two churches of St Michael….

  The 14th-century story of John of Gaunt enjoying dinner in a friend’s house (including oysters, I understand) in the city of London when rebels ransacked his palace of the Savoy in the hope of laying hands upon him. He escaped, but not before cracking his shin (or some such part of his anatomy) on…

Giving the Walbrook the Elbow….

  In this article I wrote the following:- “….The Walbrook flowed quite swiftly [south] from its source, but on nearing the Thames the land flattened considerably, and the river seems to have indulged in a curve….” This curve or meander, when filled in and “improved” in the 15th century, for the river to flow more…