Dr Hannes Kleineke of our Commons 1461-1504 Section explores how Paddington Bear’s favourite sweet treat was traded by some members of the late medieval House of Commons… This blog must start with a disclaimer: there is of course no evidence (and no suggestion) that the Peruvian bear ever sat in the British House of Commons. What we do know, however, is that late medieval Members traded, inter alia, … Continue reading Paddington in Parliament
Dr Hannes Kleineke explores the acrimonious ‘Parliament of Bats’, which first met in Leicester on this day 600 years ago, amidst tensions between two of Henry VI’s closest political advisors. At the end of 1425, just three years into the reign of the infant Henry VI, the English polity, such as it was, was in turmoil. Although arrangements for the conduct of government during the … Continue reading The true beginning of troubles? The Parliament of Bats, 1426
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
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
The recent death of HRH the Duchess of Kent, who was married to the late queen’s cousin at York Minister in 1961, reminds us of her family’s long association with Yorkshire. This has included two brothers who served as archbishop of York and several members of her family who were elected to Parliament. Dr Robin Eagles considers the Worsley family’s connection with the north of … Continue reading Descended from a giant: the Worsleys of Hovingham
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
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
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
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
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
