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Taken from Chapter 1 The Roman Legacy - the Roman Conquest Posterity has left the warrior-queen a romantic figure in our minds and few would fail to recognise her magnificent nineteenth-century bronze statue on the Thames Embankment at Westminster. Long hair and cloak flowing in the breeze, she drives her chariot at full-throttle into her enemies who will surely be trampled to death and justice will be done to those who wronged her outraged daughters. Certainly Boudicca punished her enemies but for her there would be no happy ending, for rather than face the same humiliating fate as Caractacus she took poison to evade capture and was buried by her people in a secret location sometimes quoted as lying under what is now platform eight of King's Cross Railway Station.
Photo by M. Roberts Boudicca at Westminster, Chapter 1
Taken from Chapter 1 The Roman Legacy - What to See Colchester (Essex) '01206 282920. Cunobelinus, chief of the Trinovantes, ruled over his territory from Camulodunum, a fortress dedicated to Camulos, a Celtic god of war. The capture of the fortress was one of the main aims of the invading Roman army in A.D. 43 and when Emperor Claudius entered in triumph he was accompanied by elephants. The invaders' fortress, built on the site of the present town centre, soon became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia. Claims to be the oldest recorded town in Britain. Sacked by Boudicca (Boadicea) after which time massive defensive walls, still visible, were built. Roman town gate survives. The Castle Museum is on the site of the temple dedicated to Claudius, which Boudicca razed to the ground. ab
Taken from Chapter 2 Raiders from the Sea - The Reign of Canute Another powerful noble was Leofric, Earl of Mercia, the husband of the celebrated and spirited Lady Godiva - she who is supposed to have ridden naked through the streets of Coventry, draped only by her long hair, as a protest against high taxation. Out of respect the citizens stayed indoors and averted their eyes, with the exception of Peeping Tom who was struck blind for his naughtiness! Godiva was certainly Leofric's wife but the tale has been embroidered somewhat as Coventry did not even exist then. Canute died in 1035 and was buried in Winchester. His bones, mixed with those of his wife in mindless despoliation during the seventeenth-century Civil War, are in caskets in the cathedral.
M. Roberts Pub Sign at Stamford Bridge
Taken from Chapter 2 Raiders from the Sea - What To See The British Library, Euston Road, London ' 020 7412 7332 (Further references to the British Library in chapters 4, 5 and 6) Formerly housed in the British Museum, and includes the Department of Manuscripts. Opened in 1998. Being in North London, near King's Cross Station, the Library is slightly off the beaten track for tourists and it is possible to spend a long time looking at an exhibit like the Lindisfarne Gospels without being jostled to move on. You are able to get that feeling of satisfaction that, no matter how many people in the world are looking at reproductions, you are the only person on the planet at that particular moment in time actually looking at the genuine article. The Saxon treasures of the Library's John Ritblat Gallery include... ab
Taken from Chapter 3 The Normans - The Reign of William I - the King William the Bastard, the son of Duke Robert of Normandy, 'Robert the Devil', and Arlette, a tanner's daughter, inherited his father's title when he was only eight; by twenty he was an old hand at statecraft and warfare. He was crowned King of England in the new West Minster on Christmas Day 1066... He died in Normandy at the age of fifty-nine after a riding accident and had become so corpulent in middle age that his corpse was said to have burst out of the coffin before the funeral....
M. Roberts Lincoln Cathedral
Taken from Chapter 3 The Normans - What to See St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Smithfield, City of London. (Further references to Smithfield in chapters 4 and 6) Founded in 1102 'for relief of the sick and lame poor' by Rahere, variously described as a courtier or former jester to Henry I. A few years ago there was an outcry at the suggestion that Bart's, now an NHS hospital, should be closed and it continues to serve the people of the City of London as it has since 1102. Rahere also founded the church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great in 1123, and it was said that even after he became the prior, he couldn't resist entertaining the crowds with a nifty bit of juggling at the annual St. Bartholomew Fair. Rahere is buried in the church. The church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less is in the Hospital grounds. ab
Taken from Chapter 4 The Plantagenets - The Reign of Edward III - Government and Main Events The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague, had been brought to Europe by flea-ridden black rats on trading ships. The sickness quickly spread across the continent and most who fell victim to the shivering, foul breath, vomiting blood, and black boils (buboes) in the armpit and groin would be dead within three days. So great was the carnage that heaps of dead lay unburied in the streets and daily life ground to a halt. It reached the south coast of England in August 1348 and by the spring of the following year was as far north as Norfolk. The Scots, who had seen it as Divine retribution upon the English for being bad neighbours were laughing on the other side of their faces as it crossed the border...
M. Roberts Order of the Garter - Winchester
Taken from Chapter 4 The Plantagenets - What to See - part of the entry for Lincoln Cathedral T.I '01522 873213 (Further references to Lincoln in chapters 1, 3 and 6) Lincoln over-stepped the mark when it came to the inter-city contest for most spectacular building project and the cathedral's massive central tower collapsed in 1237. Since an unfortunate cleric had just a moment beforehand finished criticising the bishop and had concluded with the warning that the Almighty would send a sign of His displeasure, the disaster was immediately seen as an Act of God... ab
Taken from Chapter 5 The Houses of Lancaster and York - The reign of Henry VI - Government and Main Events The Queen and her son - the poor little soul was not yet six - escaped to the north, she returning in December with an army led by the latest Duke of Somerset to do battle on York's own territory at Wakefield. Richard of York lost and his severed head and that of his son Edmund were displayed on spikes on his own city walls at York. His successor was his eldest son eighteen-year-old Edward Earl of March, who had a revenge of sorts the following year with the beheading of the prominent Lancastrian Owen Tudor after the Battle of Mortimer's Cross. The deed was done in Hereford Market Place and afterwards a mad woman washed the blood from Owen's face and combed the hair.
. M. Roberts Stained Glass Window, Winchester Great Hall
Taken from Chapter 5 The Houses of Lancaster and York -What to See - part of the entry for the Tower of London ' 020 7709 0765 ( Further references to the Tower in chapters 3, 4 and 6) The scaffold site on Tower Green is where William, Lord Hastings in 1483 became the first of seven famous people beheaded on this site when he was killed on the orders of Richard III, who quipped that he was ready for his dinner so the job needed to be over and done with quickly... Hastings had been a great friend and supporter of Richard's brother, Edward IV - even to the point of taking over his mistress when he died... ab
Taken from Chapter 6 The Tudors - The Six Wives of Henry VIII When he was married for the fifth time, to nineteen-year-old Catherine Howard (some sources say she was only fifteen), Henry VIII was nearly fifty, recently divorced, incapacitated by an ulcerated leg oozing evil-smelling pus, and becoming the irritable, bloated, grotesque, larger-than-life ruler of the stuff of legend. She, an orphan who became known as his very jewel of womanhood, was a niece of the powerful Duke of Norfolk and cousin of the late Anne Boleyn, and, unbeknown to the King, had already had affairs with her music teacher and her cousin Francis Dereham. Some of Catherine's more passionate liaisons had taken place in full view of her contemporaries in the young ladies' dormitory at her finishing school - not a good idea if one is likely to become the wife of a king - especially this one!
M. Roberts Kenilworth Castle
Taken from Chapter 6 The Tudors - What to See Oxford T.I. ' 01865 726871 (Further references to Oxford in chapters 4 and 5) The bishops Latimer and Ridley, together with Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, were pronounced heretics at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in 1555. The Martyrs' Memorial erected in the 19th. century close to where the three men were burnt to death is nearby on Magdalen Street, beside Balliol College. Ironically, John Wycliffe, a past Master of the college charged with the same crime under the Plantagenets, had managed to elude the flames. Christ Church College '01865 276499. Founded by Cardinal Wolsey to train other cardinals, this college is on the grand scale. After Wolsey's disgrace it was re-founded as King Henry VIII College only to be re-named yet again in 1545. So far it has educated sixteen prime ministers. Part of the original entrance on St Aldates leaves no doubt as to the extent of Wolsey's wealth and power - yet in the end he was no match for Anne Boleyn. ab
M. Roberts Gainsborough Old Hall ab
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For more information, or to comment on the website, email: info@queens-haven.co.uk You may require extra fonts to view this website correctly; to check please click here. Copyright M. Roberts 2006
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