The Victorian historian Agnes Strickland was a pioneer in writing about historical women, and deserves due credit for this. That being said, Strickland also perpetuated some historical howlers, one being a misreading which led to her creating a stepmother for Anne Boleyn, whose own mother was very much alive and married to her father. This …
A hearty welcome to Leanda de Lisle! As I said in my last post, I thoroughly enjoyed her new book, Tudor: The Family Story. And now, here is Leanda: The Wars of the Roses are so over. The power struggle between the red rose House of Lancaster and the white of York, has a …
The Myth of the Cousins’ War: A Guest Post by Leanda de Lisle Read More »
Good morning! I wanted to start out by mentioning that Leanda de Lisle’s excellent nonfiction book, Tudor: Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family is now on sale, both here in the United States and in the UK (under the title Tudor: The Family Story). I was fortunate enough to read it a …
[This post was originally done as a guest post for Sarah’s History Blog. Sarah can now be found blogging at her excellent Henry III blog.] In what would prove to be his last letter, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, preparing to sail off into exile, wrote a letter to his young son, John, …
The Indomitable Duchess: Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk Read More »
Cecily, the third daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville and the second to survive adolescence, was born at Westminster on 20 March 1469. It seems likely that one of her godmothers was her grandmother, Cecily, Duchess of York. Young Cecily was less than a month old when she became the topic of international gossip: …
Recently, historian John Ashdown-Hill published a book called Royal Marriage Secrets, in which he purports to uncover evidence that Edmund Tudor, father of Henry VII, was not the son of Owen Tudor but of Edmund Beaufort—evidence, in short, that would entail renaming an entire dynasty. The speculation does have some basis in fact. Following the …
Arms and the Man: Was Edmund Tudor Illegitimate? Read More »
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been looking at the search terms that people use to reach my website and blog. It’s becoming alarmingly clear that while authors of Wars of the Roses books and screenplays are fairly adept at creating Yorkist characters (keywords: noble, strong, beautiful, loyal), some are still a little …
Twelve Rules for Writing About the House of Lancaster: A Writer’s Guide Read More »
A little while back, I did a guest post about Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk, for Sarah’s History Blog. One of Alice’s madcap adventures in the late 1440’s involved going in disguise to Lakenham Wood in the company of several other people, including Thomas Tuddenham, a prominent (and unpopular) supporter of William de …
As most regular readers of this blog have gathered, I’m not a great admirer of Richard III, though I find the man and his times fascinating and am very grateful for the work of the Richard III Society in making more information about both available. And while I’m not keen on the man himself, I …
The Ten Warning Signs You Might Be a Bride of Gloucester Read More »
When I got on my blog last night to approve a comment, I realized that I haven’t posted here in over a month! So I thought I would make amends with a quick post about two grave markers of Woodville family members. The first marker, an incised slab, can be found at the Church of …