Category: July - Meandering Through Time

The Reverend William Spooner

22/7/2019

The 22nd of July 1844 is the date of birth of the Reverend William Archibald Spooner the son of William and Jane Lydia Spooner. Despite having a varied and successful academic career sadly he is only remembered for his 'Spoonerisms.'

William Spooner has been described as an "albino, small, with a pink face, poor eyesight and a head too large for his body with a reputation that was of a genial, kindly, and hospitable man" Quite naturally he disliked the fact that he was seen as an absent-minded professor. He was far from that, Spooner was ordained as a deacon and a priest and lectured in ancient history, divinity and philosophy at New College Oxford

The act of getting one's words mixed up is sometimes known as a Marrowsky, a term taken from the name of a Polish count who was prone to mixing up his words. However, it is more commonly known as a Spoonerism because the Reverend Spooner also confused his words.

In reality, Spooner is known to have actually uttered only two phrases incorrectly

"The weight of rages (rate of wages) will press hard upon the employer" and announcing the hymn Conquering Kings Their Titles Take as "Kinkering Kongs Their Titles Take"

Many of the other Spoonerisms were probably made up by his young students for a laugh but I wonder how funny he found it? Speaking as someone who suffers from mixing up the written word, who has trouble getting across exactly what they mean and is sometimes ridiculed for it, I really do feel for him.

Death of Edward VI

6/7/2018

The death of Henry VIII's long-awaited heir is quickly passed over, the tale of the succession crisis that followed being deemed more interesting, yet often forgotten or ignored is how the boy must have suffered.

In the April of 1553 it was reported that Edward became

“weaker as time passes, and wasting away. The matter he ejects from his mouth is sometimes coloured a greenish yellow and black, sometimes pink, like the colour of blood. His doctors and physicians are perplexed and do not know what to make of it.”

One would hope that Edward drew some comfort as he looked into the eyes of those around him and that he felt secure in the knowledge that his physicians at least were doing their best to ensure his recovery, but when you read the accounts of the events that led up to the poor boys death you really wonder if anyone cared in the slightest.

Edward had become ill in the February of 1553 and a series of other illnesses had sapped the king's strength - he would never really recover his health and in all that time, nobles and courtiers alike thoughts, quite naturally I suppose, were centred on what would happen if this boy died. History relays to us that as the court watched the king's life slip away, one man, in particular, was feathering his own nest. John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland was quick to realise that the plans for his families rise to greatness was heading for the grave along with his sickly king and in the June had issued what we know no as the letters patent. This document made his daughter in law, Lady Jane Grey, Edward VI's heir.

On the 6th of July the fifteen-year-old heir of the Tudor dynasty died at Greenwich Palace, and after that, as the saying goes, all hell broke loose.

Edward was buried almost a month later at Westminster Abbey beneath the original altar of Henry VII's Lady Chapel.

Joan of the Tower

5/7/2018

Born in the Tower of London on the 5th July in 1321 was Joan, the youngest of the four children of Edward II and Isabella of France.

Joan was born into a country fraught with tension. What started out as a feud eventually escalated into civil war - this feud was the result of Joan's father's reliance on the Despensers, a father and son act. History differentiates between the two by calling the son 'the Younger' - he was a royal favourite. This war came to an end following the Battle of Boroughbridge in March the following year with the execution of Thomas of Lancaster and the exile of both Despencers. However, the Despencers were to return as favourites until the end of Edward's reign.

When Joan was just seven she was contracted to marry David of Scotland, the four-year-old son of Robert the Bruce. This marriage formed part of the Treaty of Northampton. Under the terms of the treaty, England recognised Scotland's independence and Robert the Bruce as king. For their part, the Scots would pay an agreed sum of money to end the war.

Poor Joan entered into this unhappy marriage on the 17th July 1328 and was crowned as a Scottish queen the next year. David as king was an English sympathiser and disliked in Scotland and history sees him as a disastrous leader. On a personal level, he was a womaniser but left on illegitimate offspring. It's is hard to say what Joan had to put up with during her thirty-four-year marriage to the Scottish king however the answer may lay in the fact that following his release from his eleven-year captivity in England Joan chose not to accompany him back to Scotland.

Where Joan lived during the last five years of her life is unknown, she may have lived at Castle Rising, one of her mother's properties however by 1358 she was living with her mother at Hertford Castle. I wonder what these two women talked of during their time together? Did they discuss the subject of living with men they cared little for or Joan's time as Queen of the Scots or maybe Isabella's affair with Roger Mortimer?

Oh to be a fly on the wall!

By the summer of 1358, Joan was caring for her dying mother who succumbed to death that year. Joan continued to live at Hertford Castle until her own death of the black plague in 1362.

She was buried in Christ Church Greyfriars, London. Her tomb no longer exists.

Marriage of Margaret Tudor

31/7/2017

The marriage of Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland took place on the 8th August in 1503, it followed their marriage by proxy 25th January 1503 at Richmond Palace.

The future queen of the Scots was where accompanied on her journey north by her father, they left Richmond Place at the end of June, crossing the border into Scotland on the 1st August were they were greeted by the Archbishop of Glasgow and a large crowd of nobles all decked out in ‘in rich jewels and massy chains’.

It may have taken Margaret a while to settle into her new life in Scotland, it seems that she was homesick, writing to her father

‘I would I were with your Grace now and many times more’

Margaret bore James six children, only one survived, the future James V, who was seventeen months old when James was killed fighting the English in 1513 at Flodden. Margaret stepped in to rule for her infant son, James V.

Her marriage, a year later to Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, gave the Scottish Parliament an excuse to replace her with John Stewart, Duke of Albany

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.

Execution of Thomas Percy

23/7/2017

It was today, three days following the Battle of Shrewsbury, that Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester was executed.

Thomas Percy was the younger son of Henry Percy of Alnwick and Mary of Lancaster. As with many a younger son Thomas had little in the way of land and the income that was gained from it. He was the uncle of Henry (Hotspur) Percy.

When Henry, his elder brother inherited their fathers titles in 1368, Thomas was probably in Spain fighting under the banner of the Black Prince, and on his death in 1376 Thomas transferred his loyalties to his son, Richard II. In his years of service under Richard he was rewarded with lordships in Wales and a number of castles and following his support of Richard during an attempted overthrow in 1397, Thomas was granted the title of Earl of Worcester.

Surprisingly, following the murder of Richard II on the order of Henry Bolingbroke in 1400 and his usurpation of the crown Thomas Percy did not suffer any consequences, in fact he was given a number of prominent position in Henry's court including Lieutenant of Wales.

Percy was still in this position in the spring of 1403, and we can only wonder if he had any knowledge of his nephew's grievances with Henry IV's rule. The discontent that Hotspur felt culminated in a rebellion against Henry and eventually his death at the Battle of Shrewsbury on the 21st July. The seeds of Thomas's part in the rebellion may have been set four months previously when the king replaced him as lieutenant of Wales, however he did remain in the kings service until the 17th, but by the 20th Thomas was riding with his nephew against the king.

Battle of Shrewsbury from the Beauchamp Pageants

Henry Hotspur died in battle, Thomas was captured and decapitated, his head eventually stuck on a pole in London where it remained until the end of the year. He was laid to rest Shrewsbury Abbey.

What were the reasons Thomas Percy changed sides? I like to think that his reason was his loyalty to Richard II, maybe he, like me, thought Henry IV shouldn't have been king at all.

History doesn't tell us why Thomas changed his allegiances, but it does tell us battles were won and lost on the actions of men like Thomas Percy - sadly in this battle all Thomas lost was his life.

Marriage Annulled of Anne of Cleves

7/7/2017

On the 9th July in 1540 Henry VIII annulled his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.

In 1527, at the age of eleven, Anne was betrothed to Francis, son of the Duke of Lorraine, though the betrothal was broken in 1535. In 1539, urged by his chief advisor, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII sought a marital alliance with the Duke of Cleves. Anne left for England that same year, and on 6 January 1540 she became Queen of England and Henry’s fourth wife. The marriage was, however, already doomed to failure. Henry and Anne had met before their marriage, on New Year’s Day. It is commonly thought that Henry was disappointed in Anne’s appearance but it is more than likely her found her 'different' with her German clothing and mannerisms.

Painting of Anne c 1540 by Bartholomaus Bruyn the elder.

On 24 June, only six months after their wedding Anne was commanded to leave court. The marriage was annulled on the grounds that Anne was still betrothed to Francis of Lorraine and that her union with Henry remained unconsummated. Anne willingly (and wisely) agreed to the annulment, and she received a generous settlement as a result.

She became “the King’s Beloved Sister” and was given both Richmond Palace and Hever Castle.

Death of a Hero: Horatio Nelson

14/6/2017

In the July of 1794, English Admiral Horatio Nelson, lost the sight in his right eye at the Siege of Calvi, and on the 25th July 1797 he was shot in the arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz.

According to the ships surgeon, Nelson sustained a

"Compound fracture of the right arm by a musket ball passing through a little above the elbow;
an artery divided; the arm was immediately amputated."

Eight years later, Nelson would receive another injury that would prove fatal.

On the 21st of October 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar took place between the combined forces of the French and Spanish navy and the English under Nelson as part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle resulted in the loss of nineteen French and Spanish ships and 6,953 enemy casualties. Among the English there were 1,690 casualties and no loss of ships.

The Battle of Trafalgar was a celebrated victory for the English forces but the death of Nelson on the deck of HMS Victory was a massive loss for the country and to the men who fought under him. It was noted that many of his men did

 "nothing but blast their eyes and cry ever since he was killed. Chaps that fought like the Devil, sit down and cry like a wench"

A bullet had entered Horatio Nelson's left shoulder, passed through his spine and lodged two inches below his right shoulder blade, when Nelson was close to death, he famously asked Vice Admiral Hardy to kiss him. Hardy kissed him on the cheek and Nelson asked who it was
"It is Hardy" he said "God bless you Hardy" was Nelson's response.
This great hero's last words were
“Thank God I have done my duty”.

Such a hero was Nelson that I named my very first cat after him, and yes he did have a patch over one eye.

History Bites: Marriage of Margaret Tudor

2/2/2017

The marriage of Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland took place on the 31st July in 1503, it followed their marriage by proxy 25th January 1503 at Richmond Palace.

The future queen of the Scots was where accompanied on her journey north by her father, they left Richmond Place at the end of June, crossing the border into Scotland on the 1st August were they were greeted by the Archbishop of Glasgow and a large crowd of nobles all decked out in ‘in rich jewels and massy chains’.

It may have taken Margaret a while to settle into her new Scottish life, it seems that she was homesick, writing to her father

‘I would I were with your Grace now and many times more.’

Margaret bore James six children, only one survived, the future James V, who was seventeen months old when James was killed fighting the English in 1513 at Flodden. Margaret stepped in to rule for her infant son, James V.

Her marriage, a year later to Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, gave the Scottish Parliament an excuse to replace her with John Stewart, Duke of Albany.

Sir Thomas Herriot

28/7/2016

‪The 27th of July 1586 is the date given for the arrival of tobacco in England, brought, it is said, by Sir Walter Raleigh from Virginia. Indeed, one legend tells of how Sir Walter’s servant, seeing him smoking a pipe for the first time, threw water over him, for fear that he was on fire. Raleigh is also credited as being responsible for our love of that round brown vegetable
that we just love to chip, boil, roast and mash.............. the potato
.
However, it is one Thomas Harriot, and not Raleigh who should get the credit.

On the 28th of July 1586, Sir Thomas Harriot disembarked from a ship in Plymouth harbour with a number of bags of potatoes, returning from Raleigh’s English colony on Roanoke Island, that today we know as North Carolina, where he had been studying wildlife.

Of this vegetable he would later write his "A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia" and in it would describe the potato as

“Openavk are kind of roots of round forme, some of the bignes of walnuts, some far greater, which are found in
moist & marish grounds growing many together one by another in ropes, or as thogh they were a string. Being boiled or
sodden they are very good meate.”

Harriot, who was born in Northumberland in 1564, was employed by Raleigh as his maths teacher, he was also friends with Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, however Raleigh's execution and Percy's connections with the Gunpowder Plotters saw his funding end, it was then he took up astronomy. This in turn lead to him being credited as the first person to draw the moon, over four months before Galileo put ink to paper.