Did Henry IV have a Cossack hat….?

I know that I have written before about the tall black hat that is worn by Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, future Henry IV, in the illustrations of the deposition, death and funeral of his murdered cousin, Richard II. The illustrations are from Creton’s La Prinse et Mort du roy Richart.   The hat has… Continue reading Did Henry IV have a Cossack hat….?

King Richard and the Duke of Gloucester….

There are two instances (of which I know) involving a Duke of Gloucester and a king called Richard. The one that is best known to Ricardians is Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who became Richard III. But there was another instance in the previous century, when Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, made the life of… Continue reading King Richard and the Duke of Gloucester….

The Epiphany Plot of 1400

Following the deposition of Richard II, his leading supporters among the nobility were put on trial before Henry IV’s first parliament. Well, all apart from the Earl of Wiltshire who had – in plain terms – been murdered at Bristol on Henry’s orders before Henry became king. (As a Lancastrian, Henry was of course allowed… Continue reading The Epiphany Plot of 1400

Murrey and Blue: New Livery Colors for a New Regime?

Did the House of York, founded by Edmund of Langley, first duke of York, have distinctive livery colors?   Perhaps this is an unusual question to ask, because I’ve always been under the impression that those colors were murrey and blue. In their text Heraldry, published in 1993, Rouge Croix Pursuivant Henry Bedingfeld and Lancaster Herald… Continue reading Murrey and Blue: New Livery Colors for a New Regime?