Lancashire in the English Revolution

Lancashire’s local loyalties were overridden by multiple marching armies

Bibliographies: Civil Wars

Britain in Revolution, Austin Woolrych (Superb ‘ bible’ of the English Revolution everything you wanted to know) Black Tom: Sir Thomas Fairfax & the English revolution, Andrew Hopper (detailed lifeRead More

The English Civil War and Leighton Buzzard by Matt Carroll

A Very Local Civil War: The English Civil War and Leighton Buzzard By Matt Carrol, of this parish The English Civil War, now more accurately now known asRead More

The Perfect Sword

The story of an ancient and exceptional sword found at Bamburgh by author Edoardo Albert

British Revolutionary Biographies

Brief biographies of characters from the Civil wars period

The Times: Right to Roam

Nick Hayes lives on a houseboat moored on the north bank of the Thames alongside Hardwick House in south Oxfordshire, the clues to his work and passion displayed onRead More

Egleton Church, Rutland

The Aged M and I took a minute to check out a local Rutland church at Egleton, noted for its birdwatching on Empingham reservoir these days. It’s a small churchRead More

Was Edward VI’s Devise for the Succession lawful?

Mr Justice Tyrwhit argues that Montagu was right, and Edward did not have the power to make Jane Queen

Chaucer, the English and the Sea

Matt Firth writes about what Chaucer and his Shipman tell us of England and the sea

Some opinions about Henry VIII

Just a few quotes I have picked up over the last year about Henry VIII. Don’t forget the Henry VIII Poll after the podcast on 15th July. The official oraclesRead More

Anne Askew, Martyr and Author

Anne Askew – protestant martyr, renaissance writer, woman who refused to submit to the rules of her day, and innocent victim of vicious Tudor politics.

Catherine Howard: Love letter and Confessions

The letter that suggests Catherine Howard really was in love with Culpepper – and her two surviving confessions

A contemporary view of the Tudor peerage in 1538/9

A contemporary assessment of Henry VIII’s 19 peers in 1538, with a helpful RAG rating

Katherine Howard, Countess of Bridgewater

Rebellion, divorce, conspiracy, the Tower and treason – all in a life

Thomas Cromwell and his reputation

Thomas Cromwell had been painted royal thug or far sighted statesman. It’s difficult to get away from that portrait though…

Medieval Castles

The Medieval Castle Mention the Middle Ages and most people immediately visualize a great stone castle, surrounded by a sturdy moat, and protected by Knights on horseback and legions ofRead More

Anne Boleyn Website links

Some links to topics on the Anne Boleyn Files and On the Tudor Trail websites to open the door to a world of amazing information

The Incident at Grafton

September the 19th may have represented Wolsey’s last chance of political survival

Bishop John Fisher

John Fisher was a man of courage and integrity who openly defied Henry VIII

Thomas More: A very brief history

Saint or Sinner? A brief life, timeline and my thoughts on great courage and a little hypocrisy

Henry VIII’s Westminster Tournament 1511

The Medieval king When he came to the throne as a teenager, Henry VIII chose the traditional view of monarchy, a very medieval view of the role of the kingRead More

Medieval tournaments illustrated glossary

Here is a quick fly-by of some of the words and events that went to make up the favourite social pastime of the medieval knight and lady – the tournament. There’s alsoRead More

St Bartholomew the Great

My tale of the Church of St Bartholomew the great. Available in podcast format too, if you become a member ! An Oasis discovered There I was in Smithfield. Frankly itRead More

Henry VIII and his Beard

Henry changed the royal attitudes to beard, but almost caused a diplomatic incident in the process

Cardinal Wolsey and the Historians

Wolsey has had a hard time of it at the hands of the historians. This article gives a brief survey of his reputation through the ages, and is taken from theRead More

Cardinal Wolsey: A Timeline

The famous Cardinal was born in 1571, and died about 60 years later. It was a rags to rags story. Here is a simple timeline charting his personal rise toRead More

The Minions of Henry VIII

One of the delightful things about the passion for Tudor history is the quality of information freely available about the characters that inhabited Henry VIII’s world. So this page givesRead More

Pictish Stones

Pictish stones, their symbols and images are both fascinating and inspiring

Henry VII’s hatchet men: Empson and Dudley

Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley earned a reputation as extortioners. But it was the king’s policy they executed.

Early Tudor Court

The king was the government. His household was to serve all his needs – and provide a properly magnificent ceremonial setting for his glory and power.

New Learning: England’s first Humanists

Some early proponents of the new learning in England – and their mentor Erasmus

Catherine Gordon and Perkin Warbeck

In November 1495, the Pretender (from the french for ‘claimant’) Perkin Warbeck arrived at the Scottish court, looking for allies in his attempt to win the English throne. Which of courseRead More

Medieval Prices and Wages

Medieval prices and wages are basically impossible to know. I can hear you fighting against this as a write but there are so many vagaries. Just for example – board and lodging wouldRead More

Mountjoy, Henry VIII’s Humanist Mentor

William Blount was Prince Henry’s mentor who’s culture and learning helped form England’s first Renaissance king

Fotheringhay

Given its size, it’s really rather remarkable what has happened at Fotheringhay. In this lovely stone village with its magnificent perpendicular church across green fields and the River Nene, theRead More

Henry VII and his loyal Councillors

The men who made Henry’s government work no longer came solely from the ranks of the nobility

Henry VII and the historians

The Tudor myth When looking at how historians have dealt with Henry VII, the startingpoint has to be the story that Henry VII told about himself, and that his successorsRead More

Henry VII Character and Portraits

Personality of the king By and large, Henry impressed those people, especially foreign visitors, who have left us opinions. But firstly, Polydore Vergil again: His spirit was distinguished, wise and prudent;Read More

The Family de la Pole

The story of the de la Pole family – from ‘rags to rags’ over 6 generations between 1290 and 1525, is evidence that there were ways to escape the rigidityRead More

The Epitaph and Tomb Henry gave Richard

I must admit that I had heard pretty consistently of the need to honour the body of a dead king; and therefore I assumed that, outrageously, Henry never provided aRead More

St Bees

We arrived at the delightfully named St Bees in Cumbria on the North West coast of England, and we found a load of things; a saint with all the delightful mythsRead More

The Fate of the Princes – Suspects

This page gives a few of the arguments about the possible motivations of some of the players discussed in the podcast episode 193 on 4th September 2016 – just ifRead More

The Fate of the Princes – Evidence

I join a long list of people writing and talking about this murder mystery. This page supports episode 193 of the podcast with a bit of background information about whatRead More

The indispensable John Morton

John Morton was at the very top of Henry VII’s government, and a man with a high reputation – and yet now is largely forgotten. Morton’s reputation suffers I think for 3Read More

William Hastings – Victim or player?

The rise of Hastings William Hastings’s father Leonard had been a follower of Richard of York; so when he died, William naturally followed his father and became part of theRead More

Contemporary Sources

On the Richard III section, I have put a few pages with contemporary content- there are links below so you can use this as a contents page, as well asRead More

Dominic Mancini

Dominic Mancini and ‘The usurpation of Richard III’ Not much is known about Dominic Mancini’s life; but he was probably born before 1434, and therefore somewhere around 50 when heRead More

Major players in 1483

Here are a few of the players that would play a leading role in the reigns of Edward V and Richard III. Below you’ll find: Thomas Stanley, Earl ofRead More