Day 3

 Day 3

We had another great breakfast at the hotel and went to Hovingham hall.

Hovingham Hall is a country house built in the Palladian style in the village of Hovingham, North Yorkshire, England. It has been the seat of the Worsley family and the childhood home of the Duchess of Kent. It was built in the 18th century on a site the Worsleys have occupied since the 16th century.

Baron Sir William Worsley

The beautiful gardens 

Great roommates!

Sarah Gristwood, Tracy Borman, Nicola Tallis, all historians.

Jessica, a Bede lover!

In front of the house is a cricket pitch, possibly the oldest private pitch in England.

The house is presently occupied by Sir William Worsley, 6th Baronet (eldest son of the 5th Baronet), and his wife Marie-Noëlle. He actually greeted us in the gardens!

The talk on the bus by Nicola Tallis was about Margaret Clitherow. Margaret Clitherow (née Middleton, c. 1556 – 25 March 1586) was an English recusant,^[2] and a saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church,^[3] known as The Pearl of York. She was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea to the charge of harbouring Catholic priests. She was canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

She also spoke about the Middleham jewel. The Middleham Jewel is a late 15th-century gold pendant, set with a large blue sapphire stone. Each side of the lozenge-shaped pendant is engraved with a religious scene. It was discovered by a metal detectorist in 1985 near Middleham Castle, the northern home of Richard III, and acquired by the Yorkshire Museum in York for £2.5 million.

The afternoon was free in York so I shopped and walked around. Did get to stop at the House of Trembling Madness with Jessica for a Radler and some snacks. It felt really good to sit down.

All pictures from the House of Trembling Madness

Front door of York Minster

The rear end of the pub building began life as part of a Norman House dating back to c.1180AD, believed to be the oldest of its kind in York.

After returning to the Hotel, we all walked to Bedern Hall, the 14^th century dining hall of the Vicars Choral of York Minster, for a very nice dinner that evening. This was followed by a talk by Lauren Johnson, also a visiting historian, on Margaret of Anjou.

The Walls of York

York Minster at night

The Fotos sisters

Bedern Hall dinner

The highlight of my whole trip was that evening when I got to sit with Michael Jones and discuss his book about Leningrad. I had just read it so it was a fascinating discussion. I will always remember it. Exciting!

Margaret of Anjou (French: Marguerite; 23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Through marriage, she was also nominally Queen of France from 1445 to 1453. Born in the Duchy of Lorraine into the House of Valois-Anjou, Margaret was the second eldest daughter of René of Anjou King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

Margaret was one of the principal figures in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses and at times personally led the Lancastrian faction. Some of her contemporaries, such as the Duke of Suffolk, praised "her valiant courage and undaunted spirit".

Owing to her husband's frequent bouts of insanity, Margaret ruled the kingdom in his place. It was she who called for a Great Council in May 1455 that excluded the Yorkist faction headed by Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York. This provided the spark that ignited a civil conflict that lasted for more than 30 years, decimated the old nobility of England, and caused the deaths of thousands of men, including her only son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

Margaret was taken prisoner by the victorious Yorkists after the Lancastrian defeat at Tewkesbury. In 1475, she was ransomed by her cousin, King Louis XI of France. She went to live in France as a poor relation of the French king, and she died there at the age of 52.

We returned from dinner and slept.