Category: 15th Century - Meandering Through Time

Isabella of Portugal

24/7/2017

At the age of thirty-two Isabella of Portugal, the daughter of John of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster and the granddaughter of John of Gaunt, was married to Philip the Good by proxy on the 24th July 1429 and married on the 7th of January 1430.

Born in 1397 Isabella as you have just read, married late in her life, her husband was one year older than her. In 1415 Isabella had received an offer of marriage from her cousin Henry V of England, but negotiations came to nothing and as we have seen Isabella remained unmarried.

In the second of the images is thought to be that of Isabella aged about fifty three but the inscription on the original frame states "Michelle de France" - Michelle was Phillips first wife. However, it is thought to be that of Isabella. Because it is unusual in style, a profile pose, the artist may have been trying to portray Isabella in a "better light" with a "convincing yet elegant style." It may well be that Isabella was like her mother in looks, Philippa was thought to be rather plain.

She looks rather lovely in the first image, don't you think?

Looks are not everything, Isabella is said to have been a generous and intelligent woman, able to hold her own in diplomatic conferences. She was influential in the marriage arrangements of her son Charles the Bold and the marriage of her great niece to James II of Scotland.

Isabella died in Dijon in 1471 after living a devout and quiet life.

Battle of Agincourt

13/5/2017

Almost eighty years into the Hundred Years War, on Friday, October 25, 1415, Saint Crispin's Day, Henry V of England met the French army led by the Constable Charles d'Albret in Northern France, near the present-day town of Agincourt.

Estimates are that the English were outnumbered from 2 to 1 to as much as 4 to 1. Most of the English were archers and dismounted knights, while most of the French were mounted knights. Some crossbow mercenaries were part of the French force too. But they had a limited range compared to the long bow, and also took a lot longer to reload and re-shoot their weapon.

Before the battle, which Henry was actually trying to avoid, he ordered the archers to find and sharpen both ends of a six-foot wooden stick. These were then hammered into the soft ground of the plain where the battle ultimately took place. It rained the night before the battle, and there was mud and soft earth all throughout the battleground. The wooden stakes were pointed outwards, towards the French lines. When the French knights on horseback charged the English archers, many of the horses would not advance through the thicket of sharpened points. Archers picked off horses and knights from a distance and at close range. French knights and men at arms were trapped by their heavy armor in the mud, becoming easy prey for the outnumbered English. the French who had not been killed or stuck in the melee fled.

Some say that the French knights had issued threats that, if they caught any archers from the English side, they would cut off their inside fingers, so they could not pull back a bow string. To taunt these French knights, the English archers held up their middle fingers to show they still had them.

Noble French prisoners, who could have been sold for rich ransoms, were ordered killed after the French retreat. Henry was worried these prisoners would rise up and attack the English from behind if, or when, another wave of French knights appeared to engage his forces.

Coronation of Henry V

18/3/2017

The coronation of King Henry V on the 9th April 1413 in Westminster Abbey, according to chronicler Adam of Usk was

"marked by unprecedented storms, with driving snow which covered the country's mountains, burying men and animals and houses and, astonishingly, even inundating the valleys and fenlands, creating great danger and much loss of life."

People at the time could not decide whether this was good or bad and history has asked the same question of the king himself. Was Henry V history's golden boy, an amiable and pious king or was he arrogant and cruel?

Henry is mostly remembered for his involvement with France between 1415 and 1420 where he was successful in taking the port of Harfleur, the town of Rouen, and managed to force the French to sign the Treaty of Troyes after which he was recognised as the heir to the French throne, which was sealed by his marriage to Charles VI's daughter Catherine of Valois.

Following their marriage the couple returned home to England, six months later Catherine's coronation took place and two months after that, Henry returned to France. The young queen gave birth to her son Henry, later Henry VI, in the December of 1421, but that day the of hero of Agincourt lay dying from dysentery at the Chateau de Vincennes, in France, where he died on the 31st of August, leaving his lands and titles in the tiny hands of his nine month old son.

Interestingly, one of the stones that is set into the Imperial State crown, that was worn by the queen after her coronation and at the state opening of Parliament, is said to have been in Henry's helmet at Agincourt.

Death of John Beaufort

15/3/2017

John Beaufort was highly regarded and gave good service to the crown. He was a diplomat and performed a number of official roles. He escorted his niece Blanche to Cologne for her marriage, and Joan of Navarre from Brittany into England for her marriage to the king. Regardless of his royal position he had little to show for it, there were no estates or money to inherit, and
what land he held was granted by Richard II and Henry IV. His only real claim to fame was that he was the first of the Beaufort's, a family base born.

The Beaufort family were the children born to Katherine Swynsford and John of Gaunt, the son of Edward III. They were given the name of Beaufort from Gaunt's castle in Champagne, in north-east France. Following the death of his second wife in 1394 Gaunt married Katherine in the February 1396. The following year Richard II acknowledged the children as members of the royal family and addressed them as consanguineos sous - his cousins. Just under one hundred years later, the last of the Beauforts would use this family connection to assert the Lancastinan's right to the throne of England, a claim that had no basis, as ironically, Lancastian king Henry IV had excluded them from the line of succession. This made no difference of course, if Henry IV claimed the throne by murder and usurpation then the son of the last remaining Beaufort could take it by conquest.

It seems John Beaufort was out shined by nearly all of his family, most had a role in an event that history remembers, John Beaufort is only really remembered as the bastard offspring of an adulterous affair. He died of an unknown illness on the 16th March 1410 at just forty years of age. Even in death he shares his tomb with his wife and her second husband in Canterbury Cathedral.

John Cowper and Two Red Bricked Castles

28/1/2017

In 1482, one John Cowper, a 'master person, surveyor over stone masons' was working on Kirkby Muxloe Castle in Leicestershire, on its new gatehouse.

Kirkby Muxloe Castle, Leicestershire

Within the same time frame, Cowper was employed at Tattershall in Lincolnshire, working on William Waynflete's Collegiate Church, a stones throw from Tattershall's red bricked castle.

Collegiate Church, Tattershall, Lincolnshire.

It is thought, that based on Cowper's ideas, Tattershall's castle was used as a model for Kirkby Muxloe's gate house.

Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire

History Bites: White Boar Graffiti

25/1/2017

Carlisle Castle is over 900 years old, built in the time of William Rufus, it can be found not too far from Hadrian's Wall.

In the 1470's Richard, Duke of Gloucester was Lord Warden of the West Marshes, he was responsible for maintaining England's boarder with Scotland and it was Carlisle Castle that Richard would use as his base.The Duke of Gloucester had many supporters in this part of England, and as we know many wore a boar badge of loyalty.

There are a number of emblem carvings inside the castle walls that are linked to the House of York, one being a boar, these carvings are said to have been made by prisoners held at the castle.

Mini History: Death of Catherine of Valois

3/1/2017

On the 3rd February 1437 occurred the death of Catherine of Valois, Queen to Henry V, and after his death to Owen Tudor. Catherine's marriage to Tudor is not documented, but from their relationship the mighty Tudor dynasty sprang.

Catherine is often referred to as rather amorous or 'over sexed,' a derogatory term often thrown at women, which, it seems, is okay behaviour if you're a male!

One of the saddest things I've read about Catherine was written by Samuel Pepys in his diary in 1660.

"I now took to Westminster Abbey, it being Shrove Tuesday;and here we did see, by particular favour, the body of
Queen Katerine of Valois; and I had the upper part of her body in my hands, and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it that I
did kiss a Queen, and that this was my birthday, thirty six years old, that I did first kiss a Queen. When Henry the Seventh
built his chapel, it was taken up and laid in this wooden coffin; but I did there see that, in it, the body was buried in a leaden
one, which remains under the body to this day"

Not the actions of a normal man surely? Somebody ought to have given him a clip round the ear!

Sadly, Catherine's remains were still left unburied and available to view at Westminster until 1793! It was not until the late
19th century that it was removed to Henry V's chantry.

Arthur, Prince of Wales

20/9/2016

Born on the 20th September 1486 was Arthur, Prince of Wales, the boy on whom all Henry VII's hopes and dreams were pinned.

So important was it to Henry that Elizabeth give birth in the Hampshire town of Winchester, that he risked both their lives by rushing to get them there. This journey caused Elizabeth to give birth early, fortunately the queen delivered a healthy baby boy at St. Swithun’s Priory

“afore one o’clock after midnight.”

The new heir to the Tudor throne of England was named Arthur, after King Arthur the victorious fifth century warrior, who lead the Britons into battle against Saxon invaders. Henry was quick to see the parallels between himself and Arthur, after all
had he not lead the true line of the blood royal in a battle against those who had no right to the English crown?

To Henry, Arthur as a perfect English hero, who Chretien de Troyes, the French poet, had written so eloquently about three centuries earlier. Henry was not the only one to be inspired by the chivalric tales of King Arthur, Thomas Malory's wrote the about this 'West Country' king and it was in his work that Winchester was the suggested site of King Arthur's Castle.

Prince Arthur was baptised four days after his birth in Winchester Cathedral, and for a while at least, Henry's new Tudor
garden was filled with healthy red roses.

Michele Savonarola's Childbirth Advice: 15th Century

19/9/2016

Advice that the 15th century woman was given that I was not.

"I advise you to scream loudly, so that everyone will believe that you are in great pain, and your husband and the other members of the household will have compassion, and they will try to put out the great fire of your pain by serving you
capons, candied almonds, and fine wines."

Fantastic advice I must say! I wish I read about him sooner. All I got was a cup of tea and a soggy bacon sandwich.

Michele Savonarola was a Italian physician and scientist, he was also a prolific writer. His essays were the first modern scientific studies on pregnancy, childbirth and childcare.

Halt! Who Goes There?

16/9/2016

Did you know that on the 16th September 1485, following his victory at the Battle of Bosworth, the Yeoman of the Guard,
the bodyguard of the English Crown we know as Beefeaters, were established this day by King Henry VII.

Apart from talking to tourists and keeping the Tower ravens in check the Yeoman of the Guard are also the keepers of the
Queens Keys.

The Tower of London stands proudly on the banks of the River Thames, guarding our nations capital as it has done
for the last nine hundred years. The tower has been a Royal Palace, a fortress, a place of execution, an arsenal, a Royal Mint, it has of course been a prison holding prisoners such as William the Count of Mortain in 1106 and the Kray twins in 1952 before being taken else where. So with its thick stone walls, its armed guards and huge towers you would expect it to be secure, and of course it is. Every evening, the main gates of the Tower of London are secured by the Chief Yeoman Warder and his armed guard. This event, that has taken place every night without fail for over 500 years, is called the
Ceremony of the Keys.

The Chief Yeoman Warder in his distinctive red coat and Tudor hat emerges from the Byward Tower carrying The Queen’s Keys and a lantern, he walks into Water Lane and is joined at Traitor’s Gate by his armed guard, a salute is given then they proceed to the outer gates. The Chief Yeoman Warder proceeds to lock the series of large gates, outermost first and walks back along Water Lane and back towards Traitor’s Gate, where he is stopped by a sentry and asked to prove his identity.
After confirming that he carries The Queen’s Keys, he walks through the Bloody Tower archway to where the main body of
the guard is assembled. The guard present arms, the Chief Yeoman Warder raises his hat and calls
“God Save Queen Elizabeth” followed by an Amen from the guard. The keys are then taken to the Queen's House for safekeeping accompanied by the Last Post.

This wonderful ceremony has only been delayed once when during WWII a bomb knocked the warders off their feet. It has never been cancelled.