Gloucestershire doesn’t lack ghostly stories, not least about the Wars of the Roses with, for example, Margaret of Anjou prowling the rooms of Owlpen Manor and the phantom messenger, on his way through Prestbury to Edward IV at Tewkesbury in May 1471 when he was killed by an arrow. He still gallops through the village… Continue reading The murdered Lancastrian countess and the disappearing Yorkist ghost rider….
Tag: Henry III
No roads to or from Berkeley in Gloucestershire….?
You all know the old saying “Curiosity killed the cat”. I’m one such cat and often see something funny or odd in the blandest of sentences. I just can’t help it. Well, this irrepressible curiosity has been pricked again. At the age of 10, in the summer of 1340, Edward of Woodstock, the young… Continue reading No roads to or from Berkeley in Gloucestershire….?
The royal and noble descent of Jane Birkin
The late actress and singer Jane Birkin, who would have been 77 today, had some interesting ancestors. As this first table shows, these were all through her father David, a naval Lieutenant Commander with a Russell mother, through whom Jane was descended from the Dukes of Bedford, along with several other peers: the van Keppels,… Continue reading The royal and noble descent of Jane Birkin
HENRY VI’S STATUE IN COVENTRY
A modern 3-D printed statue of Henry VI is soon going to grace the streets of Coventry. The original, made in the 1500’s, is housed in the Herbert Art Gallery. The local council wanted to use the Tudor era statue in the rebuild of Coventry Cross but it was deemed too fragile to withstand outdoor… Continue reading HENRY VI’S STATUE IN COVENTRY
The adventures of the coronation chrism oil….
I was quite enjoying this article until I came to: “….‘Kings whose claims were disputed were accordingly anxious to be consecrated as quickly as possible,’ writes Zaller. ‘Both Edward IV and Richard III rushed to be crowned, and the Yorkist kings claimed to have been anointed with chrism conveyed directly to Thomas á Becket by… Continue reading The adventures of the coronation chrism oil….
Further Royal ancestry – twice over this time
Who do you think you are, the celebrity genealogy show with some surprising results, has returned to BBC1 on Thursday evenings. The twentieth series, of nine episodes, began with Andrew, Lord Lloyd Webber, whose parents, cellist brother Julian and late son Nick were also known to be musically talented, but makes some uncannily similar connections… Continue reading Further Royal ancestry – twice over this time
Was Henry III a good, bad or indifferent king….?
I can’t say that Henry III has ever fired me with enthusiasm. Come to that, I can’t wax lyrical about any of the Henrys, least of all numbers VII and VIII of course. The last pair set my teeth grinding. David Carpenter has now written the second volume of his Henry III biography, which… Continue reading Was Henry III a good, bad or indifferent king….?
The Battle of Largs
During the first quarter of the second millennium, Scotland did not have a clear northern or western border. There was the North Sea to the east and England to the south, where the exact line varied on occasion, but the status of the west coast was far more nebulous. There was a Gaelic kingdom of… Continue reading The Battle of Largs
A BOOK ON PLANTAGENET QUEENS-BUT WHERE IS ANNE?
A review of Plantagenet Queens and Consorts by Steven J. Corvi I am always partial to a good book on medieval English Queens. History being what it is, these women often get overlooked and sidelined unless they did something that was, usually, regarded as greedy, grasping or immoral. Therefore when I saw Steven J.… Continue reading A BOOK ON PLANTAGENET QUEENS-BUT WHERE IS ANNE?
A VISIT TO KING’S LANGLEY
King’s Langley was once home to a massive Plantagenet palace, built out of the remnants of a hunting lodge of Henry III for Edward I’s Queen, Eleanor of Castile. She furnished it lavishly, with carpets and baths. There were shields decorating the hall and a painted picture of four knights going to a tournament, while… Continue reading A VISIT TO KING’S LANGLEY
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