Blog Archives

The Monteagle Letter

26/10/2016

On the 26th October 1605 William Parker, Lord Monteagle received a letter from an anonymous source warning him not to attend parliament when it resumed in the next few days. The letter, with reference to the government stated

"My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation, therefore I would advise you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this parliament, for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time, and think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow
this parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them, this counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm, for the danger is past as soon as you have burnt the letter and I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you

Transcript of Letter to Lord Monteagle
26 October 1605

Monteagle left his home and passed this letter to the secretary of state Robert Cecil, who in searching the cellars under the Palace of Westminster found evidence to the truth of the letter in the form of thirty six barrels of gunpowder, and hiding among the barrels was one Guy Fawkes.

0 Comments

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Malborough.

18/10/2016

0 Comments

Being a beautiful, clever and articulate woman was what made Sarah Churchill the woman she was, however these
attributes in conjunction with her friendship with Queen Anne, lead to a massive quarrel and ultimately her dismissal
at the beginning of 1711.

Sarah was not afraid to speak her mind, but she was also unable to control her feelings when she did not get what she wanted.
Sarah was the wife of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, her quarrel with the queen resulted in the loss of her place in
court, her dismissal from her position as Mistress of the Robes among others, and the replacement in the queens affections
by Abigail Masham. Her husband's demand for the position of captain generalship for life was the straw that broke the
camel's back and he felt the toe of the royal boot twelve months following Sarah's ejection.

The Duke of Malborough, for Queen Anne at least, represented all that was wrong with the country at that time. The fall out from the Spanish succession crisis had hit England hard. The people of England had become very sick of the fighting and
they had also become sick of paying for it.

Sarah and John Churchill were shrewd, capable and wealthy and classic examples of those who got too big for their boots.

The Duke of Malborough died in the June of 1722 and was buried at Westminster Abbey. Sarah died on the 18th October 1744 at Marlborough House. Following her burial at her beloved Blenheim, John Churchill's body was taken from
his resting place and re interred alongside her.

0 Comments

William the Conqueror

14/10/2016

2 Comments

Villain or Hero

William the Conqueror has been described as ruthless, a hard man, a ferocious warrior, harsh ruler, driving administrator and man of vigorous principles. He was also said to have had a fearsome temper and the will power that enabled him to strengthened Edward the Confessor's legal system and create a feudal society in England. The years 1085 to 1086 he
ordered England's first census, this we know as the Domesday Book, so called because it was likened to the Day of Judgement, where there was no appeal against what it contained. The new king also saw to it that much of our countries land was given to Norman barons and when the Saxon resisted he put them down with relentless severity. Villain or hero, what do you think?

Here to get you started are two opposing views on the king.

Edward Augustus Freeman 19th century English historiane to edit.

"As far as mortal men can guide the course of things when he is gone, the course of our national history since William's
has been the result of William's character and of William's acts. Well may we restore to him the surname that men gave
him in his own day. He may worthily take his place as William the Great alongside of Alexander, Constantine, and Charles."

Thomas Paine 18th century English author and political activist

"A French bastard landing with an armed banditti and establishing himself King of England against the consent of the
natives is, in plain terms, a very paltry rascally original. The antiquity of the English monarchy will not bear looking at."

2 Comments

Edward Seymour

10/10/2016

0 Comments

On the 11th of October 1549, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset was arrested and brought before King Edward VI at Richmond.

The events leading to the civil unrest of 1548, such as Kett's Rebellion and the Prayer Book Rebellion a year later, were
laid firmly at Seymour's door. Edward Seymour was in favour of religious reform and against the system of enclosure which affected the livelihood of those living and working on the land, however Seymour's ideas for social reform were frowned
upon by the likes of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, who gave his support to the wealthy landowners.

In the July of 1549 Seymour received a letter criticising the way he had dealt with the problem

"....would to God, that, at the first stir you had followed the matter hotly, and caused justice to be ministered in
solemn fashion " however the letter went on to state "there was never man that had the hearts of the poor as you have!"

Although William Paget, the author of the letter was understanding and sympathetic, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was on Seymour's side, there were few others who would stand up to be counted. Three months later, Edward VI's council, the very same council who had made Seymour Protector of the Realm only two years before, laid the foundations for a take over by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

Dudley was chief puppeteer, pulling the young kings strings in order that England dance to his tune.
Within a few months, Dudley took his place as head of the kings council and within four years Dudley would place his
daughter in law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne of England.

Seymour was eventually released after spending just a few months in a cell of the Tower of London, he made an attempt to overthrow Dudley without success and on the 22nd January 1552, Edward Seymour found himself on the scaffold on
Tower Hill.

In June 1553, Edward VI's Devise for the Succession was signed by over a hundred nobles and members of the royal council,
in it he named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir, and disinherited his half sisters Mary and Elizabeth.

John Dudley's plan had come to fruition.

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/the-duke-of-northemberland-and-the-devise-for-the-succession

0 Comments

Isabella of Angouleme

8/10/2016

1 Comment

There seems to be a bit of a disagreement among historians as to the reasons King John married his second wife Isabella of Angouleme, some say it was born out of lust, others out of the need to control the areas that neighboured Angouleme.
John, it has been said, took an immediate fancy to Isabella, the daughter of Audemar the Count of Angouleme, and was
quick to make a play for her. John certainly loved women, he was unfaithful to both his wives and kept numerous mistresses, some of them married women, so it is easy to believe that he was determined to have her and was not going
to take no for an answer.

There was a big difference in their ages, John was nearly thirty-four and Isabella about fifteen when they married on the 24th of August 1200. The birth of their first born suggests that the king may have respected her tender age and stayed out of the marriage bed till at least the end of 1206.

Following their marriage the couple arrived back in England, where on the 8th October 1200, Isabella was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

The view that most historians put forward, that King John was a tyrant and a thoroughly bad chap with absolutely no
redeeming features, makes it difficult to find anything positive to say about his twelve year marriage to Isabella, but from
what I have read it looks to be an exact copy of that of John's parents Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. John was a philanderer, so was Henry, Isabella a been a strong and forceful woman, so was Eleanor.

Soon after John's death in 1216, Isabella left her children, the youngest just a year old, in the care of the English court, and made a new life for herself with a new husband in her home of Angouleme.

1 Comment

The Monteagle Letter

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Malborough.

William the Conqueror

Edward Seymour

Isabella of Angouleme

Archives

Categories