Tag: Legitimacy

A modern parallel

The Three Estates offered Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the crown when his brother’s bigamy was exposed, thereby bastardising his sons. Something very similar happened as recently as 1997, although there was DNA involved and not a bishop. Anthony, 3rd Baron Moynihan, died in Manila during 1991, after an eventful life that had included five marriages,… Continue reading A modern parallel

THE THREE HUNDRED YEARS WAR – PART 2: the just cause  

  Preface This is the second of three articles charting the course of continual Anglo-French conflict from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. In the first article, I wrote about the rise and fall of the Angevin Empire, culminating in the Treaty of Paris (1259). This article picks up my narrative after the death of… Continue reading THE THREE HUNDRED YEARS WAR – PART 2: the just cause  

Shakespeare? Tudor propaganda? How about some Yorkist propaganda instead….?

The Tudors were past masters with propaganda, and there just wasn’t much of it being used against them. So how about we expunge them from history? How about we produce proof that Richard III was the victor at Bosworth….? Good idea, I think! You saw it here first, folks – and just to make sure… Continue reading Shakespeare? Tudor propaganda? How about some Yorkist propaganda instead….?

Was Henry VII always so clever….?

Yet again, I tell you the old story of looking for one thing and happening on something else. This time an article that questions the ultimate effectiveness of Henry VII’s reign. Well, rather it raises questions that historians don’t seem to have asked before now. It is well worth reading, especially as there are links to other… Continue reading Was Henry VII always so clever….?

A truncated reign and a truncated monarch

Right at the start of this series, Helen Castor (left) takes a black marker pen and illustrates the cause of the 1553 crisis on a large sheet of paper. Beginning with Henry VII, very few of his legitimate male descendants were alive at the start of that year – eliminating the obvious illegitimate cases, we… Continue reading A truncated reign and a truncated monarch

More Royal marital irregularity

Edward IV was not the only British late mediaeval king to play fast and loose with canon law. The other case dates from a century and a quarter before 8 June 1461 and had consequences for that king’s heirs; in particular his grandson: Today in 1337, a first son, John, was born to Sir Robert… Continue reading More Royal marital irregularity

Hard of understanding?

Just in case anyone is still misled by Hicks, here is the reply from today’s Times, written by the experts where DNA analysis was devised: “Richard’s skeleton Sir, Professor Hicks, in his letter [Dec 5] commenting on our research findings, suggests that the skeleton found in Leicester is not that of Richard III. He states… Continue reading Hard of understanding?

The legitimisation of the Beauforts.

When Richard II and John of Gaunt decided (in view of the latter’s rather belated marriage to Katherine Swynford) that the Beauforts should be legitimated, they did two things. First they obtained a dispensation from the Pope removing any impediments to the Gaunt-Swynford marriage and legitimating the Beauforts. For example, the fact that Gaunt had… Continue reading The legitimisation of the Beauforts.