Facts of the Day

1. Edward I wasn't crowned for two years after he became king because he was off on crusade.

2. I'm only a couple of inches taller than the average medieval Englishwoman.

3. A knight was killed at the coronation of Edward II after the collapse of a wall.

All from Michael Prestwich Plantagenet England (Oxford, 2005)

Fourteenth Century families and Consanguinity

So with Edward's family have a lot of consanguineous marriages. I've been drawing little diagrams and working out how people were related and how many degrees of consanguinity that would be.

This is the table which I've been using - so helpful to work it out! 

So, what did I come up with?

These are some of the fruits of my labours!

So the royal family is a bit of a mess in this period! Not only is the heir to the throne married to his first cousin once removed (which is the fifth degree and therefore not prohibited) but Joan's granddaughter marries Joan's husband's brother! That was prohibited... 

Well done fourteenth century aristocracy!!