‘Edward the prince and excellent yowth’: the birth, life and death of Edward of Lancaster
Today marks the 551st anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, the final battle of the second phase of the Wars of the Roses. In terms of the number left dead it was not the bloodiest of the conflict, but it was one death in particular that made the difference – that of Edward of Lancaster. […]
Charles III or George VII: a brief history of regnal names
Regnal names can be tricky to choose, but when you have been known by your family and the world as Charles for 73 years, why would you suddenly want to change it so late on in life? For the Prince of Wales, this is not a hypothetical question. New monarchs will make one of the […]
The Prisoners of Pevensey Castle
Built as a Roman fort, by the fifteenth century Pevensey Castle was being used as a state prison. We look at some of the most important prisoners who were kept there. The beginings of Pevensey Castle On the East Sussex coast sits the ruins of one of England’s least well-known and yet most significant castles. […]
Ignatius Sancho (c1729-1780): composer, writer, mentor and friend
When a two year old boy named Ignatius Sancho arrived in England in 1731, an orphan and a slave, it would have been hard for anyone to have imagined that we would still be talking about him nearly 300 years later. Yet that small boy was to make a mark on history, not just because […]
How Anne Hyde changed the course of history
Had Anne Hyde lived beyond 13 March 1671 she would have been Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, and yet she remains relatively forgotten, lost amongst the more famous Stuart consorts. Married to James, duke of York, the younger brother of Charles II, she did not live to see him become king, but her influence […]