Author: Simon Payling

Parliamentary Life, 15th Century History, 16th Century history, Art, Fashion and Material Culture, Henry VII, The Commons in the Wars of the Roses, Tudor

Bosworth and other battles: the illustrious career of Sir Gilbert Talbot (d.1517) of Grafton, KG

Dr Simon Payling of our Commons 1461-1504 project explores the career of the early Tudor figure Sir Gilbert Talbot, who in service of Henry VII was rewarded with a commissioned painting from Raphael… When the Tudor antiquarian, John Leland, visited the Shropshire church of Whitchurch in the 1530s, he saw the tomb of Sir Gilbert Talbot, a ‘knight of fame’, and noted, with apparent approval, … Continue reading Bosworth and other battles: the illustrious career of Sir Gilbert Talbot (d.1517) of Grafton, KG

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History of Parliament Trust

The origin of the Wars of the Roses? The marriage of Richard of Conisbrough and Anne Mortimer and the union of the houses of York and Mortimer

Whilst many see the ignition of the Wars of the Roses as taking place later in the 15th century, Dr Simon Payling, of our 1461-1504 section, explores the impact of the marriage of Richard of Conisbrough and Anne Mortimer in 1408 and the consequences of their union… In the study of medieval landholding, it is a common theme that an aristocratic marriage might have the … Continue reading The origin of the Wars of the Roses? The marriage of Richard of Conisbrough and Anne Mortimer and the union of the houses of York and Mortimer

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15th Century History, Local History, Medieval, Military history, The Commons in the Wars of the Roses

A Lancastrian City? Coventry and the Wars of the Roses, 1451-1471

This piece is in memory of Professor Peter W. Fleming, who died in April 2025. His publishing career spanned 40 years, from an article on the religious faith of the gentry of Kent in 1984 to a defining monograph on the history of late-medieval Bristol in 2024.  His career would have been yet more notable but for the ill-health that blighted his last years.  A … Continue reading A Lancastrian City? Coventry and the Wars of the Roses, 1451-1471

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Medieval, 13th Century history, 14th Century history, Parliamentary Life

Parliament and Politics in the Later Middle Ages

Dr Simon Payling, of our 1461-1504 section, tracks the development of Parliament and Politics in the Later Middle Ages, from its Anglo-Saxon roots to the more formal split between the House of Commons and House of Lords that we recognise today… All long-lived institutions have their antecedents, and the antecedents of Parliament (or, perhaps more accurately put, the origins of the House of Lords) are … Continue reading Parliament and Politics in the Later Middle Ages

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14th Century history, Art, Fashion and Material Culture, Religious history, Richard II, Social history

Did they believe in portents? Severe weather and other extreme natural phenomena in Walsingham’s Chronica Maiora and other late-medieval monastic chronicles

Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the theme of extreme weather in medieval chronicles. It is a familiar theme in medieval chronicles, whether monkish or secular, that extreme weather, natural disaster or even just unusual events were, or, at least, could be interpreted as, manifestations of divine interaction with the temporal world. At the most extreme, they were seen as expressions of God’s … Continue reading Did they believe in portents? Severe weather and other extreme natural phenomena in Walsingham’s Chronica Maiora and other late-medieval monastic chronicles

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15th Century History, Edward V, Henry IV, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Local History, Military history, The Commons in the Wars of the Roses

From Lancaster to York and back again: the political evolution of the Derbyshire Blounts

Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the fortunes and shifting loyalties of one gentry family in Derbyshire during the Wars of the Roses. The troubled politics of the mid-fifteenth century are illuminated by the histories of leading gentry families just as much as they are by those of Neville, Stafford and other great aristocratic families. In one sense, lesser families offer a more … Continue reading From Lancaster to York and back again: the political evolution of the Derbyshire Blounts

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Medieval, 15th Century History, Henry IV, Local History, Military history, Welsh History

‘One of the wyrste bataylys that ever came to Inglonde, and unkyndyst’: The battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403

Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the background and significance of the battle of Shrewsbury, which took place on this day in 1403. In defeating the rebellion of the Percys at the battle of Shrewsbury, Henry IV overcame an existential threat to the infant Lancastrian regime. It was a threat that came upon him suddenly and undeservedly. The rebellion had but one cause, … Continue reading ‘One of the wyrste bataylys that ever came to Inglonde, and unkyndyst’: The battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403

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The Commons in the Wars of the Roses, 15th Century History, Local History, Military history, Richard III

A Yorkist Family during the Wars of the Roses: the Devereuxs of Weobley in Herefordshire

Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the fortunes of one particularly loyal Yorkist family during the Wars of the Roses. For leading landowning families ready to commit themselves to one side or the other, the Wars of the Roses offered both hazard and opportunity. In terms of the latter, that commitment needed to be whole-hearted, but not necessarily consistent. So frequent were the … Continue reading A Yorkist Family during the Wars of the Roses: the Devereuxs of Weobley in Herefordshire

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The Commons in the Wars of the Roses, 15th Century History, Local History, Medieval, Religious history, Social history

The story of a manor in memorials: the early tombs in the Shropshire church of Kinlet

The Shropshire church of Kinlet stands isolated in parkland, the village it once served re-sited in the early-eighteenth century on the building of the still-extant Kinlet Hall. It contains a fine series of memorials, the two earliest of which mark the end of one Kinlet dynasty, the Cornwalls, and the beginning of another, the Blounts. The first commemorates an early-fifteenth century heiress of the manor, … Continue reading The story of a manor in memorials: the early tombs in the Shropshire church of Kinlet

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The Commons in the Wars of the Roses, 15th Century History, Local History, Medieval, Military history

The Making of a Marcher Town: Ludlow and the Wars of the Roses

Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the crucial role of the Shropshire town of Ludlow during the Wars of the Roses. Political geography ensured that the town of Ludlow would, for good or ill, play some part in the great civil conflict that began when its lord, Richard, duke of York, moved into active opposition to the government of his cousin, Henry VI. … Continue reading The Making of a Marcher Town: Ludlow and the Wars of the Roses

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