The Secret Diary of Edward VI (and other monarchs)

Yes, Edward VI and other monarchs wrote diaries. Here are some extracts : Edward VI, early 1547: “After the death of King Henry th’eight his son Edward prince of Wales was come to at Hartford by th’erle of Hartford and S[ir] Anthony Brown Master of t’horse for whom befor was made great preparation that he… Continue reading The Secret Diary of Edward VI (and other monarchs)

If the name sounds the same, does it mean we’re all from one original stem….?

If there’s anything in the notion that all the different spellings of one name means all the folk of those various spellings are related, then I (as a Machin by birth) must have something (vaguely!) to do with the astonishing memorial to Thomas Machen and his family on the wall of Gloucester Cathedral. I’ve ended… Continue reading If the name sounds the same, does it mean we’re all from one original stem….?

Henry VII had an uncle Owen Tudor . . . .

Well, I confess I always thought Henry VII only had one uncle on the paternal side, and that was Jasper. So just who is in the above illustration? The Tudors as being important in English history commenced with the affair between the widowed Katherine of Valois and the rather lowly Welshman Owen Tudor. They had… Continue reading Henry VII had an uncle Owen Tudor . . . .

The demolition of the medieval Bow Bridge, Leicester, that Richard would have crossed….

The old myth about Richard striking his heel against Bow Bridge on his way to Bosworth, and then his head on the same place when being carried ignominiously back to Leicester after the battle, is very well known indeed. As is the supposed prediction of this sequence of events by an old woman in the… Continue reading The demolition of the medieval Bow Bridge, Leicester, that Richard would have crossed….

Talbot Country

There is a pub in Bridgnorth, near where I live. Well, let’s be honest, there’s about a hundred. If you have ever been to Bridgnorth, aside from the Severn Valley Railway, the funicular railway from Low Town to High Town and the remains of the slighted castle, which lean at a greater angle than the… Continue reading Talbot Country