Where did the poisoning witch the Duchesse d’Orléans take refuge….?

  In Paris at the end of the 14th century the unfortunate Duchesse d’Orléans , Valentina Visconti, was accused of using witchcraft upon the mentally ill Charles VI, and of poisoning his Dauphin, Charles. I doubt she was guilty of either. It was all politics and sneaky enemies. Isn’t it always? Louis d’Orléans was himself…

St Andrew’s Church, Wingfield and the Tombs of the de la Poles

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com St Andrew’s Church, Wingfield, Suffolk.  Mausoleum of the de la Poles.   You know when the great Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was ‘impressed’ with a church then it must indeed be rather special (1).   And St Andrew’s with its soaring clerestories, nave roof with  arched braces resting on figures of winged…

When the English ruled the Bastille….!

Historical reconstruction showing the moat below the walls of Paris (left), the Bastille and the Porte Saint-Antoine (right) in 1420 We all know about the storming of the Bastille on 14th July, 1789, resulting in the continued annual celebration of the occasion throughout France. But the Bastille was a medieval fortress, and we, the English,…