by Helen Kain | Oct 22, 2023 | Abbeys, Monasteries and Churches, Castles & Stately Houses, England, Home, Recent
Our travel to England revolves around finding unusual places to stay within reach of castles, cathedrals and stately homes we want to visit. At the end of Week #1, we bid goodbye to the Russian Cottage on the Chatsworth Estate. From there, we drove north to Bamburgh...
by Helen Kain | Oct 8, 2023 | Abbeys, Monasteries and Churches, Beautiful Towns, Castles & Stately Houses, England, Home, Recent
We’ve been back from England for a few weeks now and are now fully recombobulated. I was determined to promptly process all the photos I took on the journey and set myself the task of going through all 1693 photos at the rate of 100 a day. That’s done...
by Helen Kain | Jun 3, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Tudors (1485–1603)
Viewing the behaviour of Thomas #4, Cranmer, from a distance of 500+ years, it’s difficult to determine if he was wily or wishy-washy—perhaps both. As part of the double act with Thomas #3 Cromwell, Cranmer played a vital role in ending Henry VIII’s...
by Helen Kain | Jun 3, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Tudors (1485–1603)
When Thomas #1, Cardinal Wolsey, fell from grace in 1529 for failure to procure an annulment for King Henry from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Thomas #3, Thomas Cromwell, succeeded Wolsey as Henry’s chief advisor. Details of Cromwell’s early life...
by Helen Kain | May 27, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Home, Tudors (1485–1603)
Thomas #2, Thomas More, acted in both legal and spiritual advisory capacities to King Henry VIII. He was born in London in 1478, the son of a lawyer and later judge, Sir John More. He attended Saint Anthony Grammar School in London while also working as a page to the...
by Helen Kain | May 20, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, Entertablement Abroad, Tudors (1485–1603)
Cardinal Wolsey was born c 1475 in Ipswich, Suffolk, to a butcher and his wife. He attended Ipswich School, then Magdalen College School, before studying theology at Magdalen College, Oxford and graduating at age 15. He was Thomas #1 of Henry VIII’s Tetrad of...
by Helen Kain | May 18, 2023 | Abbeys, Monasteries and Churches, Cathedral Tapestry, England, Tudors (1485–1603)
In April 1536, the 27th year of King Henry VIII’s 38-year reign, more than 800 monasteries, nunneries and friaries were nestled across England—communities of prayer and devotion for abbots, monks, priors and nuns, providing sanctuary, tending the sick and...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Modern England (1901–Present)
New dioceses and their cathedrals continued to appear in the 20th century, though the pace of restoration of earlier cathedrals slowed. And people being people, arguments over preferred styles continued. George Gilbert Scott’s grandson, Giles Gilbert Scott,...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Victorians (1837–1901)
As the Industrial Revolution took hold, the general population saw a sustained rise in income and living standards for the first time in history. People flocked to newly-industrialized towns in the North of England, altering the population distribution throughout the...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Abbeys, Monasteries and Churches, Cathedral Tapestry, England, Tudors (1485–1603)
The Norman King William the Conqueror launched the great English medieval Cathedral, and Tudor King Henry VIII wrought its end. Incandescent with rage at the Pope’s refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry abrogated Rome’s authority over...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Medieval (1066–1485)
While Edward III remodelled his murdered father’s tomb at Gloucester in 1330 to create a more fitting memorial, the Decorated Gothic period was drawing to a close. Perpendicular Gothic, which followed, moved the focus to space and volume, particularly vertical...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Medieval (1066–1485)
Henry III (1216-1272) was only nine when he became king; by the time he assumed power in his own right in 1227, his regent had soothed the turbulent waters left by his truculent sire, King John, through the acceptance of the Magna Carta. A period of relative peace and...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Home, Medieval (1066–1485)
The hallmark of the Gothic era, the pointed arch, made its way from France to England just in time to rebuild the east end of Canterbury Cathedral after its devastating fire of 1174 (the second within a century). William of Sens, a Frenchman, was the chosen architect;...
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Medieval (1066–1485)
William the Conqueror got more than he bargained for in 1066. The plan: sail to England, defeat English King Harold, launch a charm offensive, have a Coronation at Westminster Abbey and win over the Saxon earls. Normans and Saxons live in two-part harmony. Job done....
by Helen Kain | May 16, 2023 | Cathedral Tapestry, England, Home
The tapestry of England’s 42 Anglican Cathedrals comprises the warp—the political and historical backdrop that affected them all—and the woof, the unique story of each cathedral. Weaving the tapestry begins with the Romans, a sophisticated and organized bunch if...
