Category: January - Meandering Through Time

Eleanor of Provence

14/1/2021

On this day in 1236 the marriage of Eleanor of Provence to Henry III.

'Marriage of his Majesty Henry III and Eleanor of Provence', c1860 by John Leech.

Eleanor was twelve when she arrived in England to marry the twenty-eight-year-old Henry, who she had never met.
A beauty by all accounts Eleanor was dressed in a shimmering golden outfit that 'fitted tightly at the waist and flared out to wide pleats at her feet. The sleeves were long and lined with ermine.'

There was talk that Eleanor could not give Henry an heir, but their first child, the future Edward I, was born three years later, and other children followed in quick succession. Henry was very fond and loving towards his five children and detested spending long periods of time apart from them.

Eleanor outlived Henry by nineteen years.

Henry and Eleanor were the last of my monarch ancestors, it was a long long descent via their son Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, through princesses, nobility, gentry and farmers before my arrival in the world.

Funeral of Horatio Nelson

9/1/2021

Horatio Nelson had died on board the HMS Victory on the 21st October 1805. Of this Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood wrote

'a victory, such a this, has never been achieved, but at such an expense, in the loss of the most gallant of men, and best of friends, as renders it to me a victory I never wished to have witnessed'

The body of the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar had been preserved in a 'cask of brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh for preservation' and transported to Gibraltar onboard the Victory. Nelson’s body finally arrived at Greenwich Hospital on 23rd December 1805, and from the 5th January it lay in state in for three days. Four days later his coffin was carried from Greenwich in 'one of the greatest aquatic processions that ever was beheld on the River Thames' and then escorted by ten-thousand soldiers to St Pauls. Following a four-hour service, Nelson was laid to rest in a crypt within a sarcophagus that was originally carved for Cardinal Wolsey.

Nelson's death was received by the nation as a personal grief, much like that of the death of the Princess of Wales in 1997. Just like that day, hundreds of thousands of people turned out to get a glimpse of his coffin as it passed by them carried on a monumental funeral car modelled on the Victory.

On the 9th January in 1806 Nelson's funeral took place at St Paul's Cathedral in London. He was the first commoner to have been given a State Funeral.

There's more about Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar here

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/death-of-a-hero-horatio-nelson

Medieval Women: Philippa of Hainault

24/1/2020

On this day in 1328, King Edward III of England married Philippa of Hainault at York Minster, just eleven months after Edward had become king of England.

Edward III - St Mary's Church Shrewsbury

Edward's father, King Edward II had sent the Bishop of Exeter to Hainaut to check out the four daughters of William, Count of Hainaut. In a letter to the king the Bishop writes of his impression of the fourteen-year-old Philippa. In the letter, he describes her as a child but it has been argued that the description is of Philippa's older sister Margaret.

A description of Philippa can be found the register of the Bishop of Exeter which reads:

"The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is clean-shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow and slender than her forehead. Her eyes are blackish-brown and deep. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that it is somewhat broad at the tip and also flattened, and yet it is no snub-nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips somewhat full, and especially the lower lip. Her teeth which have fallen and grown again are white enough, but the rest are not so white. The lower teeth project a little beyond the upper, yet this is but little seen. Her ears and chin are comely enough. Her neck, shoulders, and all her body are well set and unmaimed; and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father; and in all things, she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us. And the damsel will be of the age of nine years on St. John's day next to come, as her mother saith. She is neither too tall nor too short for such an age; she is of fair carriage, and well taught in all that becometh her rank, and highly esteemed and well-beloved of her father and mother and of all her meinie, in so far as we could inquire and learn the truth."

Phillipa and Edward were married for forty years, she gave Edward thirteen children, three of them died as a result of the Black Death in 1348.

Anne of Bohemia

20/1/2020

On this day in 1382, the marriage of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia, Richard was eight months younger than Anne, they were both fifteen years of age.

Image: Manuscript held at the Bodleian Library shows Richard with Anne.

Anne was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Elizabeth of Pomerania and was described at the time of her marriage by a Westminster chronicler as a ' tiny scrap of humanity'

Criticism of the match began when the king was forced to pay Wenceslas of Bohemia, Anne's brother, £4,000,000 (in today's money) for the right to marry his sister. Adding insult to injury Anne brought no dowry and her large entourage was paid for, in part, by the king.

Anne was crowned queen of England two days later.

Their twelve-year marriage was considered to have been a happy one but despite that there were no children and therefore no heir. Following Anne's death of the plague at the Sheen in 1394 Richard had the building demolished.

In 1396 Richard would marry the seven-year-old Isabella of Valois.

1536 - A Jousting Accident

24/1/2019

The Henry VIII of his younger days was physically handsome in body and well as in face, he was intelligent and affable. He was described by Erasmus as being

“a man of gentle friendliness, and gentle in debate” and that he “he acts more like a companion than a king.”

These traits are often forgotten, overshadowed by the Henry of later years. The change in Henry, a physical and mental decline, is attributed to a riding accident, a fall from his horse during a joust on the 24th of January of 1536. The king was unconsciousness for two hours and his courtiers thought him dead.

At the time there was no mention of any obvious injury, however, today some historians think that Henry received a blow to the front part of his head which changed his personality which in turn led to an increased tendency to be irritable and quick to temper, it also led to weight gain and ulcerated legs.

Can we judge Henry on this, can we say that man he became was purely the result of this awful accident and therefore was not wholly responsible for the tyrannical actions of his later life?

Remember though, Henry started his reign with the execution of Edmund Dudley and Richard Epsom and he had Thomas More put to death just the year before.

In the image above you can see Henry jousting in a tournament at Westminster in celebration of the birth of his son in 1511.

Francis Bacon

22/1/2019

Philosopher Francis Bacon was born at York House in London on this day in 1561, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, keeper of the great seal for Elizabeth I.

In 1584 Bacon wrote his first political memorandum entitled A Letter of Advice to Queen Elizabeth. In 1592, to celebrate the anniversary of the queen's coronation, he wrote a speech in praise of knowledge and the year 1597 marked Bacon's first publication, a collection of essays about politics. This work was followed eight years later with The Advancement of Learning.

Surprisingly, Bacon was unpopular with Elizabeth, however, he reached greater heights in his career during the reign of James I. By 1618 he was appointed lord chancellor, the most powerful position in England, and in 1621 he was created, Viscount St Albans.

At the age of forty-five, Francis Bacon married the fourteen-year-old Alice Barnham but no children resulted from their marriage, which was reported to be an unhappy one - due in part to her suspected affair with one John Underhill. On Bacon's death from pneumonia on 9 April 1626, Alice and John married.

There are many quotes attributed to Francis Bacon, here are just a few:

"It is a revered thing to see an ancient castle, not in decay; how much more to behold an ancient family which has stood against the waves and weathers of time!"

"Revenge is a kind of wild justice"

“Printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's needle, these three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world.

All wise words indeed!

Birth of Robert de Vere

18/1/2019

Robert de Vere was the 9th Earl of Oxford, which he received when he was nine years old. He was the Marquess of Dublin and Duke of Ireland despite never set foot in the country.

He was the son of Thomas de Vere, and Maud the daughter of Sir Ralph Ufford and a favourite of Richard II.

It is easy to see why both he and Richard II formed a friendship, their fates were linked by the loss of their fathers, by money, power and jealousy - all the things that can lead the young astray. In the year of Richard's ascension to the throne, Robert de Vere was knighted along with the king, Henry Earl of Derby, the future Henry IV, and Richard's uncle Thomas of Woodstock.

As the days of Richard's minority turned into years, resentment and anger in court was building, Richard resented his ambitious uncle John of Gaunt, and his favourites envied Gaunt's power and status - it has been suggested that Robert de Vere was the ringleader of a plot to murder Gaunt. Robert de Vere benefited greatly from his friendship with the king he was given his own rooms in Richard's castles, granted estates, gifts and other nobles' inheritances.

In 1387 he was at the head of Richard's forces when they met the army of Henry Bolingbroke at Radcote Bridge in Oxford in 1387, it was there that his fate was sealed.

Anne Boleyn Returns to England

17/1/2019

It was in January of 1522 that Anne Boleyn left the French court of Claude Queen of France and returned to England on the order of her father Thomas Boleyn. She sailed from Calais and took up her place in the court of Henry VIII as lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon. She had followed her sister Mary who had returned to England three years earlier to take up her post as maid-of-honour to Henry's queen.

Initially, Thomas Boleyn had planned to marry Anne to her cousin, James Butler, but this did not come to fruition.

On her arrival in court Anne soon discovered that Mary had become Henry VIII's mistress, however, she soon realised how easily Henry disregarded his mistresses, this would stand her in good stead when Henry began to pay attention to her.
There is a difference of opinion on the subject of the early relationship between Anne and Henry some historians claim that Anne was a schemer who set her heart on being queen, others that they were genuinely in love. Whatever the reason, what I fail to understand is if he loved her so much, how could he believe the vile rumours that were going about in court and then literally leave her to her fate.

Unfortunately, the true story has been lost to myth and to romantic legend but the real truth about this episode in history is that the people if England were subjected to a reign of terror for centuries.

You can purchase the above print of Anne at my Etsy shop at

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/614496839/anne-boleyn-illustrated-print-without?ref=shop_home_active_9

Death of Eleanor Fitzalan

11/1/2019

The burial of Eleanor of Lancaster, who died on the 11th January in 1372 is famously written about by Poet Laureate Philip Larkin.

'Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess lie in stone,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd
The little dogs under their feet.'

Eleanor was the wife of Richard Fitzalan, the daughter of Henry of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth, great-granddaughter of Henry III, and my 20th great grandmother.

Eleanor was in the service of Edward III's queen Philippa of Hainault. She may have accompanied Philippa to Scotland and in the first years of her marriage, she was with the queen in Europe in her capacity as Philippa's lady in waiting. It was while she was with the queen in Ghent that Eleanor gave birth to her first child, Henry. Her marriage to Henry's father, John de Beaumont, had ended with his death in a tournament in the spring of 1342, leaving her with Henry who was just two years old.

Eleanor second marriage, two years later, was to my direct ancestor Richard Fitzalan, which was a love match I believe. With Fitzalan she gave birth to seven children, the second, John, being the next in my family line.

Richard's, Eleanor's eldest child and heir to the earldom of Arundel, claim to fame, apart from carrying the crown of England at the coronation of Richard II, was his membership of the Lords Appellant, a group of men who disagreed with Richard's rule and his reliance on favorites - Fitzalan would lose his head over it. Thankfully Eleanor was long gone by that time as was Richard.

The proof of the love between Eleanor and her husband defies time and lies in the request Richard Fitzalan made in his will -
"near to the tomb of Eleanor de Lancaster, my wife; and I desire that my tomb be no higher than hers, that no men at arms, horses, hearse, or other pomp, be used at my funeral, but only five torches as was about the corpse of my wife, be allowed."

Eleanor de Montfort

14/1/2018

Eleanor, the youngest daughter of King John, had been abandoned by her mother Isabella of Angouleme in 1216. She had been left in the care of a number of governesses, one of the first was Margaret Biset she left Eleanor to serve in the household of her brother King Henry III's queen Eleanor of Provence. Margaret's replacement was Cecily of Sandford who Matthew Paris described as "of noble blood, but with nobler manners" and who was " learned, eloquent and courteous."

When Eleanor was just nine she had married the twenty-five-year-old William Marshall the son of William the Marshall, the first Earl of Pembroke whose title he had received in 1219. In 1231 Marshall died, some thought he was poisoned. His death left Eleanor a widow at sixteen.

Following William Marshall's death, Eleanor under Cecily's guidance, some might say influence, was persuaded to take a vow of chastity but this vow was soon broken when she married, in the January of 1238, English noble Simon de Montfort. Henry III had approved the marriage, which took place in secret and all three chose to ignore condemnation by Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, in whose presence, Eleanor had taken the holy oath.

It is easy to see why Eleanor broke her vow, Simon de Montfort was just eight years older, he was charismatic and plain spoken and he was also a great friend of the king. However, this friendship and Eleanor's marriage ended in tragedy when de Montfort chose to lead a rebellion against the king.

The aftermath of the Battle of Lewes in 1264 saw Henry and his son Edward, later Edward I captured and de Montfort rule in the king's name. Eleanor chose to side with her husband, she was an enthusiastic supporter of his cause right up to his death at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

With Simon de Montfort Eleanor had seven children. She would survive him by ten years, dying in exile in France in the April of 1275.