Was the Bard having a go at Robert Cecil when he wrote Richard III….?

  Matt Lewis is, of course, a force to be reckoned with when it comes to supporting Richard III and this link is a very interesting article he’s written concerning why Shakespeare may have bad-mouthed Richard. I had no idea the Bard  could have been a secret Catholic who wanted the return of the old…

Just a hypothesis, but …

We know that John of Gaunt and Henry IV claimed their ancestor, Edmund Crouchback Earl of Lancaster, to have been born before Edward I, however we have sources showing this propaganda to be specious. We know Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, to have had five children: Edward, Margaret, Beatrice, Edmund and Katherine. Sources such…

The Kingmaker’s Anger

I’m working on a biography of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick – the man best introduced as The Kingmaker. I have written on the Wars of the Roses, on Richard, Duke of York, and Richard III. Warwick has been a constant presence throughout. I spent some time in an earlier dispute over the throne of…

Gone Medieval Podcast

I’ve Gone Mediaeval. That may not be a surprise to most, but now you can come with me. I am co-hosting a new podcast from History Hit called Gone Mediaeval. I present an episode every Saturday, mostly covering the high and late medieval period. The other host is Dr Cat Jarman, a bioarchaeologist, who specialises…

Matt Lewis goes from strength to strength….!

Matt Lewis is definitely Richard III’s new champion, and is managing to achieve various excellent articles that express his (correct!) views on our maligned king. Here in the Daily Express is an example I’ve come upon in the last couple of days. Well done, Matt. I’m sure that if Richard could, he’d show his appreciation…

10 Facts About Simon de Montfort

Following his successful Henry III biography, here is Matthew Lewis’ contribution to History Hit about Simon de Montfort, the rebel who secretly married Henry’s sister before capturing him and Prince Edward, then being killed in battle at Evesham.

Together in Mechelen?

As Ashdown-Hill found, although he was unable to locate her precisely in the genealogical research that eventually located Michael Ibsen as a mitochondrial DNA match for Richard III, Richard’s sister Margaret Duchess of Burgundy was buried in a Franciscan church in Mechelen, in her Duchy Although it was destroyed during subsequent religious conflicts, a reconstruction…

Prince Charles ‘poised to solve 550-year-old royal mystery’ on throne….

Well, while it seems the Queen wants awkward bones to be left tucked up in their urn in Westminster Abbey, Prince Charles is more curious about the whole “Princes in the Tower” mystery. Maybe he’ll even probe enough to reveal the truth at last. I do hope so! To read more, go to This Express…

Once again, Matt Lewis to the rescue on his white charger…!

Yet again we have Matt Lewis to thank for pointing out the error of journalistic and other writers’ ways. There are some bloopers in this Express piece but Matt sorts them out with good, plain, beautifully written English. Job done. Excellent.

Archbishop Octavian and the Simnel Plot

A couple of months ago, this post attracted a reply from an individual who has commented before. He was responding to the suggestion that the boy crowned in at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin (see illustration opposite) may actually have been Edward V rather than an earl of Warwick (false or otherwise). Whilst he is…