159 From Arras to Tours

Ewelme AlmshousesThrough the late 1430's and early 1440's the situation in Normandy got no better, Alice Chaucer until a failed expedition convinced Henry and Suffolk that peace was required at any price. And the result was the Treaty of Tour and a royal marriage. 

159 From Arras to Tours

 

In this episode we are lucky enough to have another Weekly Word from Kevin Stroud, author of the History of English Podcast. If you like it, why not go the whole hog, and visit his website, The History of English Podcast.

8 thoughts on “159 From Arras to Tours

  1. I’m only a few minutes in and you’ve lost me.
    One minute you say Gloucester’s candidate for lieutenant of France was himself, and that he seemingly was ahead in things because (among other reasons) Richard of York became “Lieutenant Governor” (of what?) even thought he’d been a rival candidate of Gloucester’s for the first position. But very shortly thereafter you name Richard as Lieutenant of France.
    I’ve listened to it over and over and can’t help but hear contradictions in there. If “Lieutenant Governor” is the same thing as “Lieutenant of France” then the first but falls apart. Someone other than Gloucester’s own candidate (himself) getting the job isn’t a reason for him seeming to be on top, quite the opposite. If it’s not the same,then I’ve no idea what you were on about there.
    Cheers

  2. Oh dear; I’ll have to go back and have a listen – sounds as though I’ve mixed something up. Fir now; the basis story is that Gloucester would have liked to be appointed Lieutenant Governor, but the most important thing was that Beaufort/Somerset didn’t get it. So when York got the job, and Gloucester got appointed as the leader of the invasion army, that was good enough for Gloucester.
    I’ll have a look though, when I can!

  3. The combination of David & Kevin, the History of England meets the History of English, is like a Dream Team of Podcasts. If we could get Jamie from The British History Podcast to join in, it would become a holy Trinity of podcasts.

  4. The more I hear you speak about the English occupation of France in the 15th century, the more parallels I see to the US involvement in Vietnam.
    England expended so much blood and treasure over the years because of the misguided belief that they had the right to determine the monarchy in France, that even though the end would never be in sight, they did not want to call it quits because of national “honor”.
    Henry VI may have been a poor leader, but his priorities on education and spending money at home, look wiser than the ephemeral glories of a non winnable war started by his “great” king father.
    Marc

  5. I must confess to some disappointment that American Southerner Kevin Stroud didn’t touch on the use of “spell” in phrases like “set a spell.”

  6. Kevin Stroud here – Great comment about ‘set a spell.’ I was going to include that usage, but it is actually unrelated to the word ‘spell’ which I discussed in the episode. The use of ‘spell’ in the sense of ‘set a spell’ comes from a completely different Old English word – gespelia – which meant a substitute.

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