Daily Medieval

After the Trial by Combat affair in 1398 between Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray (which was supposed to be to the death), King Richar...

Henry Bolingbroke and his cousin, Richard, were childhood friends, but when they were older Henry became one of the Lords Appellant  in 138...

The Lords Appellant must have felt they had done good service to the kingdom of England after the Merciless Parliament  of 1388 eliminated ...

After the Merciless Parliament  in 1388 had eliminated the five specific advisors to Richard II that they considered the most corrupt, the L...

A few years back I offered a brief look at the Lords Appellant , the group put in charge of England because of the excesses in the administr...

We know little of Thomas Usk's early life except that he was born in London. The name Usk appears in several records, but we cannot link...

The Vale of York Hoard was the largest hoard since  the Cuerdale Hoard. So what was special about Cuerdale? Well, the York Hoard had over 6...

Pontefract Castle, where Richard II was imprisoned  by his cousin (although for a very short time), had been begun very shortly after Willi...

If Richard II had treated his cousin Henry Bolingbroke a little better, Richard might have stayed king for at least a few more decades. As ...

Edward III of England had several sons. His eldest was also Edward, known as The Black Prince. Another was John of Gaunt . Prince Edward had...

England and France were at war for a long time, and neither side was in great shape in the late 1380s. England had been unsuccessful in seve...

Although the Wonderful Parliament in 1386 tried to curtail the excesses of King Richard II , it was the Merciless Parliament in 1388 that t...

From October to November 1386, the Wonderful Parliament took place in Westminster Abbey . Its initial purpose was to discuss King Richard II...

When King Edward III died on 21 June 1377, ideally his eldest son would have succeeded him. Unfortunately, Edward (called "The Black Pr...

After John of Gaunt died, in 1399, his third wife, Katherine Swynford , lost a lot of status. His health had been declining (he was approac...

Henry of Monmouth was so-called because he was born in a tower at Monmouth Castle in Wales, but the date of his birth was not recorded becau...

(If you want to see parts one and two .) The second part of the Hundred Years' War was the Caroline Phase, named after Charles V of Fra...

One of the most prominent mayors of the City of London in the Middle Ages (and perhaps of all other eras) was Richard Whittington. He...

I have mentioned The Forme of Cury  [Forms of Cooking] a few times before. It's the cookbook that gathers the best recipes from the c...

In The Forme of Cury  cookbook from Richard II's court, there is a recipe for "Rapes in Potage," "rapes" meaning tu...