Tag: John of Bedford

The Traitor’s Arms?

In 1840 workmen carrying out repairs to St Bartholomew’s Church, Ashperton, Herefordshire were collecting stones from the ruins of a nearby manor house when they discovered a heavy stone plaque, carved with an elaborate coat of arms, among the rubble. The stone was taken to the church for safekeeping and has hung on the wall… Continue reading The Traitor’s Arms?

ENGLAND’S MINORITY KINGS 1216-1483

Introduction This essay was prompted by a sentence in John Ashdown-Hill’s latest book ‘The Private Life of Edward IV’: “ According to English custom, as the senior living adult prince of the blood royal, the duke of Gloucester should have acted as Regent — or Lord Protector as the role was then known in England… Continue reading ENGLAND’S MINORITY KINGS 1216-1483

More Lord Protectors and Defenders of the Realm

Many readers of Carson’s “Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England” will be curious, given “Tudor” criticism of the Duke’s twin roles in 1483, of their practice in the next century, by comparison. The occasion in question was, of course, the accession of Edward VI as the only surviving son… Continue reading More Lord Protectors and Defenders of the Realm

To avoid any confusion:

When Edward IV married Lady Eleanor Talbot in spring 1461, they were not more closely related than fourth cousins, through her mother, Margaret Beauchamp (see Eleanor, fig.11). Under the rules of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 (p.112), such distant blood relations were permitted to marry without a dispensation. It no longer amounted to consanguinity.… Continue reading To avoid any confusion:

The Strange Death of Lancastrian England

When Henry IV had his final succession statute passed through Parliament he made no provision for the throne beyond his children and their offspring. Neither the Beauforts, the Yorks, or even the Hollands got so much as a line. This was quite understandable, given that he had four sons and two daughters. No one could… Continue reading The Strange Death of Lancastrian England