historicall.y

The Battle of Hastings was triggered when Edward the Confessor died on 5th January 1066, with no heir to the throne. There were many men for the job, but Harold Godwinson had himself crowned as soon as possible because he was the only one of those men in England at that time!  This made some certain people very angry and so in April of that same year William of Normandy prepared to invade England from France. One reason why William won was because he was very prepared and he invested a lot of money into the battle.  For example William brought a mixture of foot-soldiers, archers and cavalry.  William was also a great commander of his troops.  This means that he was much stronger and had a better chance of winning. The timing of William's arrival was pure luck for him.  William arrived in England when Harold was busy fighting off Harald  Hardrada (Viking leader and also one of the men who yearned for the throne of England) for the crown. Th...

The most famous abbey in Britain, probably the world, is Westminster Abbey in London which is a gothic architecture piece. Westminster Abbey was originally a small monastery situated in the dark ages London, founded by the Benedictine monks but adapted to be a church by Edward the Confessor. It was completed in 1065. From 1066, when William the Conquerer decided to have his coronation in the church, every English monarch has been crowned king or queen there. It is also the burial place for many monarchs such as Henry VII, James II and Elizabeth I, as well as the burial place for some famous and iconic people throughout history including: Margaret Douglas (daughter of Henry VII's daughter Margaret), Neville Chamberlain and Charles Dickens. It has also been host to several royal weddings such as: our reigning Queen Elizabeth II to Prince Philip, Henry I to Matilda (aka: Maud or Edith Swan- neck) and Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. http://westminster-abbey.org/home   

Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville In 1464, in the heat of one of the bloodiest wars in the history of England- The Wars of the Roses (aka: The Cousin's Wars), a Lancastrian noble woman married a Yorkist king. Elizabeth Woodville was the daughter of Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Richard Woodville, 1st earl of Rivers. Elizabeth was born in 1436 on the 3rd January in Grafton Regis, one of thirteen siblings! At the time of Elizabeth's birth, the Rivers were a mid- ranking noble family; her marriage to King Edward IV caused such a scandal because the king was expected to marry for politics rather than love and Elizabeth was not high- ranking.  The Wars of the Roses was an extremely brutal war. The first battle was fought on 22nd May 1455. The leader of the Yorks was Richard, Duke of York (father of Edward IV, George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Gloucester) and the leader of the Lancastrians was Henry VI. Both the Yorks and the Lancastrians were descendants ...