Sassanachs don’t Like Mondays (allegedly)

Ormond versus Desmond In addition to the canonical list of battles, the sporadic chaos of the Wars of the Roses spawned one or two encounters between the heads of rival aristocratic families, of which the best known is the battle between the Berkeleys and Talbots at Nibley Green in Gloucestershire in March 1470. What is…

The suppression of witchcraft, 1484 style….

On 5th December 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull known as Summis desiderantes affectibus (“desiring with supreme ardour”). Its purpose was to suppress the practice of witchcraft by any necessary means. The following paragraph is taken from the 1928 English translation of it:- “….Many persons of both sexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying…

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.  

ANNE MORTIMER AND RICHARD OF CONISBURGH , A LOVE MATCH?

UPDATED POST AT sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/06/17/anne-mortimer-and-richard-of-conisburgh-a-love-match/ THE TOMB THAT  IT IS BELIEVED ANNE MORTIMER SHARES WITH HER IN-LAWS, EDMUND OF LANGLEY AND ISABELLA OF CASTILE…CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, KINGS LANGLEY Some time during the month of May 1408 , were married Richard III’s paternal grandparents, Anne Mortimer and Richard of Conisburgh. She was just…

Little bit of history in this beautiful artefact from our King John era . . . .

I am posting this courtesy of Leigh Griffiths of the Mortimer History Society. A papal bull is an official paper document issued by the pope or his office. The term derived from this fascinating device which was used to seal the formal bull.. The Bulla. (Latin, Bullire, to boil. A reference to the bubble like shape…