The de Courcy Matter, Part II: The French side of the story….

I hope that by the time you read this article you will already have visited yesterday’s Part I, which relates the English version of Marguerite de Courcy’s return to France. She left England under the cloud of having lived far too high a life for a governess and of stealing some English royal jewels. These… Continue reading The de Courcy Matter, Part II: The French side of the story….

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….?

The denouement at Penmaenhead in 1399….

  When we think of Colwyn Bay today, we don’t think of vital historic events in August 1399, when a King of England, Richard II, was captured. This fact led to his deposition, imprisonment and suspiciously convenient death…culminating in the rise of the House of Lancaster in the form of his usurping first cousin, Henry… Continue reading The denouement at Penmaenhead in 1399….