The Conqueror’s corpse blew up at his funeral….!

It seems that William the Conqueror’s corpse “exploded” at his funeral. The thought of an exploding corpse is bad enough without actually seeing it as well. And smelling it, presumably. I can imagine all the mourners scattering in great alarm and haste. And superstitious dread as well, perhaps? Ew. The things one comes across while…

William the B … er, Conqueror

This piece, by Marc Morris in History Extra, describes the events that followed the previous usurpation from France. A lot more violent, indeed, than the early reign of the first “Tudor”, although his son and grandchildren changed that …

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…

The elusive last Norman

Although Richard was found in Leicester five years ago, exactly where he was buried, and Henry I is close to being identified in Reading, Kingfinding is not always successful. As this blog shows, the 1965 excavation of the Faversham Abbey site to find King Stephen was unsuccessful. It seems that his bones really were moved…

Quest for the Norman Kings

Quest for the Norman Kings Finding a present day mitochondrial DNA match for either Henry I, buried in Reading Abbey in 1135, or Stephen, buried with his family in Kent’s Faversham Abbey in 1154, is going to be very difficult. However, one factor is often overlooked: Stephen is the son of Henry I’s sister so…