15th Century 1400-1499

Treaty of Troyes 1420

Treaties for peace, to resolve conflict, seal a marriage, create trade opportunities or simply to fuel naked ambition of a king? Treaty of Troyes a wedding and a truce for England or does it seal the fate of the House of Lancaster, see the sun set on York and an early dawn for a new dynasty the Tudors? Sounds far-fetched? Read-on since when did a Treaty actually create the conditions for lasting peace? Part 1 of a series of posts on Treaties and the Trouble that lies ahead.

Read More

Elizabeth Woodville Queen of Edward IV

Elizabeth Woodville
This entry is part 2 of 12 in the series Intriguing Women

Elizabeth Woodville would marry a King but her sons would end their lives imprisoned by their uncle in the tower who would become the much maligned Richard III. He was this Queen who drove a King to marry in secret and fall out with his own family?

Read More

Edward IV 1442-1483

Edward IV Historiated initial British Library copyright free
This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series House of York

Edward IV a Plantagenet and 1st Yorkist King would be betrayed by both his brothers marry for love his Queen Elizabeth WOODVILLE, (the White Queen) what a tangled web he wove and shaped the events that contributed to the War of the Roses and his brother’s remains being rediscovered in Leicester in 2013

Read More

Cade’s Rebellion 1450

Jack Cade was he a leader or a pawn of Richard 3rd Duke of York?

Cade’s rebellion by the people of Kent, is it the start of the War of the Roses and who else was involved and what created the climate for rebelliono with Henry VI on the throne of England?

Read More

King Edward IV’s Mistress Jane Shore

Painting of Jane Shore by William Blake
This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series Intriguing Women

King Richard III, King Edward IV and Jane Shore. Just how was the life of this woman bound up in the enthralling politics of the Middle Ages when war was raging across the country. Jane’s name is linked to some of the most important men of the period. What influence did she bring upon their lives?

Read More

Copyhold Tenure what does it mean?

Copyhold document
This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Property Law

If you were a Serf, you had no rights of appeal to a court outside that of your Manor, where your elied upon the biased and often harsh law of your particular lord, who might only be goverened by local custom. Copyhold tenure lifted you out of such servitude and established increased legal rights which were only abolished in 1926. Whilst the Land Registry was established in 1862, it did not record all transactions, find out how you can explore copyholders relevant to you and your history project for connections and insights that date back well before the 1837 BMD Registers…

Read More