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)

Edouard Perroy

I just want to laud one of my academic heroes for a moment. Edouard Perroy wrote the fantastic The Hundred Years War (in his own words:) 'uninterruptedly, during the winter of 1943-4, thanks to the precarious leisure granted to me during an exciting game of hide and seek with the Gestapo'. I have added the emphasis on the end so that we can all appreciate the that he wrote this without the benefit of a library or an office or anything "academic"; just previously-made notes and his memory and in a place occupied by invaders. The book was revised for publication but I maintain that Perroy is an incredible writer. That, and the fact that he used the word 'pettifogging' (see p.52).

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!!

Connections

I've managed to get my first love (twelfth century queenship and Matilda of Scotland) into my thesis about Edward III! Success.

We are all one big happy, connected historical family...