Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/Lancaster and York/Usurpation and the right to the throne through females
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Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/Lancaster and York/Usurpation and the right to the throne by females/Letter to Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[NevillFeast]/Letter from York, Warwick and Salisbury to Henry VI 21 May 1455
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(The following is a slightly revised blog post I did on Margaret of Anjou, the subject of my novel in progress,
The Queen of Last Hopes. For more pieces about her and a picture gallery, see the links at the bottom of the page.)
Margaret of Anjou, queen to the unfortunate Henry VI, has surely been one of the most maligned English queens. She’s regularly portrayed as an adulteress and a vengeful harpy. One historical novel even has her repeatedly trying to murder her daughter-in-law, Anne Neville, though I never quite figured out why. (I’m not sure the author knew either.)
A set piece in many a Wars of the Roses novel, even some recent ones where the authors should have known better, involves cruel Margaret ordering immediately after the Battle of Wakefield that the severed heads of the Duke of York and his teenage son, the Earl of Rutland, be displayed and the Duke’s head be garnished with a
paper crown. In fact, Margaret was not at the Battle of Wakefield; she was in Scotland at the time. There’s even been considerable doubt cast as to the extent of the atrocities supposedly committed by her troops.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[Susan Higginbotham]/Margaret of Anjou
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WAKEFIELD AND MURDER AT PONTEFRACT
Firstly, I need to say that others have written about the battle of Wakefield in more depth than I can here. Keith Dockray & Richard Knowles’ excellent article can be found here in its entirety; and Helen Cox and Philip Haigh have both written more detailed accounts, among many others.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[NevillFeast]/Wakefield and murder at Pontefract
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Written in Royston, this letter was delivered to Archbishop Thomas Bourchier in London while the king was on his way to Leicester. John Say delivered it at Watford, though not into the king’s hands as York hoped. This is a long letter, and pretty dense, so I’m posting it with a translation below. (Translation from British History online, Parliamentary Rolls, Henry VI, 1455. http://www.british-
As members of the Archbishop’s family were split between the king’s forces and York’s, it would have been in his interests to try and broker a peaceful end to the very tense situation.
The letter has been described as ‘propaganda’, which it was certainly used for after the fact. I don’t doubt, however, that the three lords were genuinely concerned about their safety should the meeting at Leicester go ahead without them. There was a flurry of letters during the days leading up to the first battle of St Albans, all intended for the eyes of the king and none of them (apparently) reaching him. York blamed Somerset for withholding them and, according to the Fastolf Relation, Buckingham admitted to Mowbray Herald that Henry hadn’t seen them. Whether anything would have changed had the king read the letters is, of course, impossible to know.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[NevillFeast]/Letter from York, Warwick and Salisbury to Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, 20 May 1455
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In historical fiction, Warwick is often portrayed as impatient (at the least) with Edward IV from the very start. Impatient, contemptuous and imperious. This letter suggests something quite different.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[NevillFeast]/Letter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick to King Edward IV
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[Source: Original Letters Illustrative of English History, H. Ellis, ed., series 1, vol. 1]
S. B. Chrimes in his biography states that this letter, written to Margaret, Countess of Richmond, was probably written in 1501. Note the charming postscript, in which Henry apologizes for not writing more often and cites
his worsening eyesight as an excuse.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/Aftermath[From Susan Higginbotham ”In Their Own Words”]/Letter of Henry VII to His Mother Margaret of Beaufort
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[Source: The Unpopular King: The Life and Times of Richard III by Alfred Owen Legge. The letter can also be found in Rosemary Horrox and P. W. Hammond, eds., British Library Harleian Manuscript 433. Gloucester: Richard III Society, 1979.]
This letter to Cecily, Duchess of York, was written on June 3, 1484. William Colyngbourne, named in the letter, later became famous for the treasonous rhyme, “The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel our dog / Ruleth all England under a Hog,” which he nailed to the door of St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 18, 1484. His chief offense, however, was to write to Henry Tudor to ask him to invade England. Colynbourne was tried and convicted in December 1484. For his execution, he was hung and cut down while still alive, after which his bowels were cast into a fire.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[From Susan Higginbotham ”In Their Own Words”/Letter of Richard III to His Mother, Cecily Neville Duchess of York
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[Source: Reprinted in Richard III as Duke of Gloucester and King of England, by Caroline Amelia Halsted]
Edward and Edmund were the oldest living sons of Richard, Duke of York. This letter was written in the 1450’s, following the duke’s return to England from Ireland. Edmund, along with his father, died at the battle of Wakefield on December 30, 1460; Edward became King Edward IV.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor The Wars of the Roses/[From Susan Higginbotham ”In Their Own Words”]/Letter of Edward, Earl of March and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, to their father Richard, Duke of York
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