A HAWKING RING OF THE TALBOT FAMILY

Recently the rains washed off some soil in a muddy Shropshire field, and yet another metal detectorist had a lucky find–a hawking ring from the Elizabethan period. The most intriguing thing to me was the very bold lettering spelling the name JOHN TALBOT AT GRAFTON across the band of the tiny ring. As it was…

A recently identified book …

… by the sixteenth century spokesman for the Marriage Guidance Council. After all, he had experience of six marriage ceremonies, even if he subsequently annulled four of them. Two of his “wives” didn’t have to waste time and money on their hairstyle or headdress – how thoughtful of him.

Barbara Talbot

On page 130 of The last days of Richard III and the fate of his DNA, John Ashdown-Hill described John Talbot of Lacock, father of one of the many Barbaras in Richard’s mtDNA, as “John Talbot belonged to a cadet line of the descendants of the great John Talbot”, but there is no table to…

Did ANYONE do the dirty deed in the Tower….?

If you go to this link this article you’ll find an interesting if challengeable article about “Perkin Warbeck” and whether he could or could not have been Richard of Shrewsbury. Well, there were enough people who thought he was, and to make Henry Tudor’s existence thoroughly miserable. Pleasant thought. The article also discussed who might…

Another prominent Talbot

Last year, we brought you the news that the developers of the Stanley knife were descended from Thomas, Baron Stanley, subsequently Earl of Derby. Now we can announce that a great scientist and inventor was a Talbot, authentically descended from John “Old Talbot”, Earl of Shrewsbury and posthumous father-in-law to Edward IV. William Henry Fox…

Talbot Country

There is a pub in Bridgnorth, near where I live. Well, let’s be honest, there’s about a hundred. If you have ever been to Bridgnorth, aside from the Severn Valley Railway, the funicular railway from Low Town to High Town and the remains of the slighted castle, which lean at a greater angle than the…

The Howards, Talbots and Seymours – England’s auxilliary royal families?

This document shows the descent of the known “wives”, secret wives, mistresses, illegal wives and alleged partners of five English and British kings, taken from Ashdown-Hill’s Royal Marriage Secrets: thosehowardsagain As a bonus, Laura Culme-Seymour, from a naval family, including Admiral Thomas Lord Seymour; Admiral Rodney and the first three Culme-Seymour baronets, has a famous…

A talbot hound for a Talbot knight….?

A curious point has been raised about whether or not many medieval knights chose a dog (or other animal) badge because of their family name. The main candidate to come to mind is Sir Humphrey Talbot, Marshal of Calais, who in 1475 carried a Renyngehonde (running hound) badge of a talbot, which breed may have…

SIR MATTHEW CRADDOCK 1468 – 1531

 Matthew Craddock was the son of Richard ap Gwilliam ap Evan ap Craddock Vreichfras and Jennet Horton of Candleston Castle in Glamorgan. His great grandfather, William Horton of Tregwynt in Pembrokeshire, married Joan de Canteloupe the heiress of Candleston. Jennet Horton was their granddaughter. I first came across Matthew Craddock while looking at anything that…