Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, son of the most powerful magnate in England, was a golden child blessed with every advantage. While Richard tried to get his royal feet under the throne, Bolingbroke left the wife to bring up the children and headed out to fulfil the image of the perfect medieval knight
The Tournament at St Inglevert
In a fever of excitement, Henry and many famous companions – Thomas Mowbray among them – travelled to Calais and thence to St Inglevert. There 3 French knights – Boucicaut, Jean de Saimpy, and Reginald de Roye held the field against all comers. After they fought they ate, drank, danced and celebrated. For the original text, and a slightly nerdy analysis of he action, you can follow this link to Tales from Froissart.
The Baltic Crusades
The Baltic Crusades are of course far less well known than those of the Holy Land, but by the 14th century they were the only remaining crusades where Christian actually fought non-Christian. They lacked the glamour in many ways – being cold and wet was one notable feature. But Henry Bolingbroke went twice, though the second time, to his horror he found every one was living in peace. And so he travelled to the Holy Land as a pilgrim – via Preague, Vienna and Venice
Your explanation of entail is somewhat inaccurate. The The entailed land could be inherited from the grantee
Ah. Thank you, Eugene, and I suspect you are right – though in my defence, I think that was what I was trying to say. I’ll have to explain at the next episode…
Nice map- was that done by your sponsor?
Hi Rob…sadly not, no…not sure I can be more specific….
I just wanted to point out two mistakes. I am eastern european so the subject is somewhat closer to my heart. First rivers – Elbe does not flow through Berlin. It’s in fact Havel – a tributary of Elbe. Second Prussia – the region between Oder and Vistula is most commonly referred to as Pomerania. Prussia is the region east of Vistula up to the river Nemen. The later distinction between West and East Prussia begins after the annexation of Poland by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773.
Oh dear. An error strewn episode! Thanks Adam. Now at very least I can be accurate about where the bones of Bismark’s fictional grenadier came from…