Accepting facts is sometimes difficult. For instance, how could a man like Henry Tudor (who was vile on the outside and inside) leave to posterity a thing of such immense beauty as the his chapel in Westminster Abbey? No doubt he screwed every groat from his architect and stonemasons. They may have wondered if… Continue reading A thing of beauty from the unlovely Henry VII….
Tag: builders
The builders of Stonehenge liked sweet things….
I have to say this. Why are we always taken aback to discover that our ancient forebears ate more than raw mammoth steaks garnished with grass and leaves? From this article it seems they probably liked sweeter things too. Well, what a surprise! Gosh, who’d have thought it? 😲 Presumably bees hadn’t been invented.
An Irishman abroad but not for much longer?
“Red” Hugh O’Donnell (1572-1602) was an Irish chieftain who fought a series of battles against English armies between 1595 and the beginning of 1602 (during the Nine Years’ War which actually ran from 1593 to 1603), one of his less successful opponents being the Earl of Essex. O’Donnell ruled Tir Chonaill in the extreme north-west… Continue reading An Irishman abroad but not for much longer?
An unexpected conclusion
Who do you think you are? is always an interesting programme and is disappointing to see only eight episodes in the series. In the past, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Frank Gardner, Danny Dyer and Clare Balding have all been revealed as proven descendants of Edward I. That has not happened in 2019 and few lines have… Continue reading An unexpected conclusion
All the Johns of St Stephen’s Chapel….
As a writer of medieval fiction, and therefore stuck with a preponderance of Johns, Edwards, Richards, Edmunds and so on, I’m only relieved not to have been asked to write a history of St Stephen’s Chapel. SO many Johns? Of the human variety, I hasten to add! This article:Â Where did all the Johns come from?… Continue reading All the Johns of St Stephen’s Chapel….
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