#the fact that richard is his mother's son (daughter) and

[rustchild]

watching the lion in winter like it's my own personal super bowl and cheering every time philip says something cunty

[afewproblems]

Having depressing Steve Harrington Whump thoughts this sunny Sunday morning.

I usually headcanon Steve's parents as being neglectful and absent given their lack of screen presence in the show and thought about Steve grappling with this throughout his childhood.

Being left alone for days and eventually weeks at a time, starting much younger than was appropriate, but it was the era of latchkey kids and Richard and Darleen Harrington assumed Steve was capable enough to not really need watching. The house never burned down.

Their son was fine.

And Steve would be the first person to agree, to smile wanely while the migraines pounded in his head, a parting gift from Billy Hargrove and the and Russians. He was fine.

It was fine.

Until the spring of 1986 when all Hell literally broke loose.

During the last events of the Upside Down and the earthquakes that almost decimated Hawkins, the Harringtons finally come back to town, horrified to be called in from Indianapolis by the charge nurse at Hawkins General Hospital.

Their relationship does get a little better after nearly losing their only son. They don't talk about it, the lost years of quality time, but Steve has made begrudging peace with it and is happy to have them around now for family dinners and the holidays.

They are even fairly good about his relationship with Eddie once he finally comes out. Richard takes a little longer to warm up to the idea, but Darleen seems determined not to lose Steve again.

And things are fine for awhile, the four of them have found an equilibrium amongst each other. Richard busies himself with offering to help with repairs around their house as needed, the leaky sink in their guest bath or the backdoor that was never hung correctly. While Darleen is always quick to bring over a new recipe for them all to try at the next family dinner.

They don't talk about the fact that this is the most home cooking Steve has ever experienced in his 30 years of life or that he didn't know his dad even owned a screwdriver.

But it's fine.

They manage.

It's only after the adoption of their daughter that Steve begins to notice the changes in his parents in a way that makes his chest feel tight.

"I just, I don't get it," Steve says quietly to Eddie one summer day. Richard and Darleen are out in the yard with Abigail, playing in the sun. Abigail shakes a flower from the garden in Richard's face while he pretends to sneeze exaggeratedly, making Abigail break into peals of laughter.

Eddie frowns at Steve, watching as he crosses his arms tightly around himself.

"There has to be something going on, it doesn't make any sense how they're being with her," Steve bites out eventually. He lifts a trembling hand to his hair and tugs harshly at the roots.

"Okay woah woah," Eddie says slowly as he stops forward and gently coaxes Steve's hands away from his hair, "Stevie, sweetheart, I don't understand".

Eddie watches as Steve's gaze travels out the window once more to see Darleen lift their giggling baby girl above her head before lowering Abigail to pepper kisses all over her cheeks. Eddie smiles at the sight but it quickly vanishes as he looks back at Steve who is looking longingly at his mother.

"Because," Steve says, his voice catches on the growing lump in his throat, "if they were always capable of this, of being there, then why couldn't they do that for me?"

[gingersnaptaff]

It's me again. Back to bore this shit out of u all with More Welsh Shit Nobody Cares About. (Is that a good title? Probs not.)

Gonna do a quick one about Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd today. He was a poet-prince of Gwynedd (so a Prince of the House of Aberffraw) and eight (possibly nine if the Gorhoffedd is actually two separate pieces that were fused during the transcription process) poems of his have been handed down to us.

His dad was Owain Gwynedd, also known as Owain Fawr, who was King of Gwynedd and self-proclaimed Prince of Wales from 1136 until he died in 1170. He fought against the Normans to ensure that Gwynedd was afforded its independence, and was successful right up until his death when everything went up the shitter.

Now, Hywel's his second-born bastard son according to Wikipedia BUT Y Brut y Twysogion suggests he was the THIRD-born bastard son. (Remember if u were a bastard then u could inherit land if ur dad recognized u as his.) I'm making this point because both Rhun - Hywel's oldest brother - and Llywelyn - Hywel's second oldest brother - were struck down by illnesses in 1146 and 1165. This meant that Hywel, under Welsh Law, was seen as the Edling (Etifedd in Welsh.)

Not much is known about him or his early life. Records are scarce about when he was born, where he was raised, or who exactly his mother was. His birth year has been estimated as being 1100 right up until 1125, but we can't say for sure. We do know that, judging by the fact he was set to deal with his pesky Uncle Cadwaladr in 1143, he would've reached his majority by then. (14 was when u were legally considered to be a man in Welsh law, and Hywel was under his father's orders and given land once he'd dealt with his uncle so it's plausible.) For what it's worth I'd say he was about 23-24 during the events of Cadwaladr Being A Tit.

Hywel's mum was an Irish woman referred to in Welsh texts as 'Pyfog,' or 'Fynnod'. Nerys Ann Jones in her book 'Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd: Bardd-Dywysog' has suggested that his mum's name might be Fionnait, but we don't know anything about her. We don't even know if Rhun, Llywelyn, and their other bastard brother, Cynan, are brothers or if they were born to different mothers.*

As for Hywel himself, he's quite an interesting character. In 1143 he was sent to deal with his Uncle Cadwaladr after his uncle had killed the Prince of Deheubarth, Anarawd, before he could marry one of Owain Gwynedd's daughters to aid in an alliance between three two kingdoms.

Again, we have NO IDEA (I'm gonna be saying that a lot) why Cadwaladr did what he did. Perhaps it was over a land dispute, considering that Cadwaladr held Aberystwyth which had been a Deheubarthian territory* but we can't quite say. Cadwaladr himself was married to a Norman wife, Adeliza, the daughter of Richard de Clare, and so perhaps that helped to spark tensions between the two.

Either way, with Anarawd dead by his brother's hand Owain Gwynedd knew he needed to dispense justice.

And so, Hywel was picked to ensure it was done. The Brut Y Twysogion states: 'Then Hywel son of Owain, seized Cadwalader's share of Ceredigion, and burned a castle of Cadwalader which was at Aberystwyth.'

This being done, Owain then set Hywel up with his uncle's lands while Cadwaladr hot-footed it to Ireland where he fell in with the Danes. Desperate to reclaim his lands his nephew now held he entreated the Danes for their aid, which they gave, and so they landed at Abermenai in 1144. Now, Owain Gwynedd - and Hywel, presumably, as he was his father's right-hand man - had raised an army in response and so the two brothers met.*

Cadwaladr presumably entreated Owain for his forgiveness which Owain granted, yet as for the Danes there would be no mercy. Once again the Brut y Tywysogion states: 'Owain ... became outrageous against them, and attacked them without mercy; and when some were killed, and others taken and confined, they ignominiously escaped by flight to Dublin.'

Hywel then remained in Ceredigion until 1146 when he and his brother Cynan* waged war against their uncle (again. Seriously, lads, get a better hobby.) Cadwaladr held the cantref of Merionnydd in North-West Wales and Owain, intent on further ridding Cadwaladr of his influence instructed his sons to fuckin Get Him Out which they did.

Cadwaladr would remain a thorn in his big brother's side for the rest of his life, essentially. He loved to undermine Owain because all princes were afforded land within their kingdom which led to power struggles. (Don't worry, this will have NO CONSEQUENCES LATER. NONE.) He'd do some dodgy stuff again in 1157 but then after that, he'd spend his days at Henry II's court, presumably in luxury.

Now, Hywel's life at this point boils down to being a warlord enacting his father's will. In 1146 his oldest brother Rhun died, causing Owain Gwynedd to fall into a deep depression. It would only be lifted when he heard Mold Castle had captured the castle from the Normans. Rhun by all accounts was the quintessential golden boy prince with the Brut y Tywysogion eulogising him thusly: 'fair of form and aspect, kind of conversation, and affable to all... tall of stature and fair of complexion, with curly yellow hair, long of countenance, with eyes somewhat blue... he had a long and thick neck, broad chest, long waist, large thighs, long legs which were slender above his feet; his feet were long and his toes were straight'

This means that he is the only one of Owain Gwynedd's kids to have a contemporary description accorded to him! Crazy!

After this, Hywel would zigzag between his lands in Ceredigion(what little there were. Deheubarth re-gained a foothold and Hywel's cousins: Cadell and Rhys BURNT DOWN HIS CASTLES) and Gwynedd. Now, I am fast-forwarding for the sake of enjoyment but in 1170 Owain Gwynedd died. Now, you'd expect that Hywel as the designated heir would have an easy time.

You would be wrong.

Dafydd, Hywel's pesky LEGITIMATE half-brother*, claimed the throne! Hywel did a Cadwaladr and hot-footed it to Ireland, which, was very silly of him but Hywel wanted his throne. This meant the two brothers met in Ynys Môn and fought a battle. Hywel had Irish mercenaries with him but they couldn't help him. Dafydd speared him in the chest which, as Hywel's foster brother, Peryf ap Cadifor states: Buant briw ger eu brawd-faeth’ (‘They were injured beside their foster brother’). Suggesting that he saw Dafydd kill Hywel ‘with a spear’ (â gwayw), he curses him, calling him ‘false’ (enwir).

We only have eight extant compositions of Hywel's that survive today, sadly. All are pretty fuckin cool though.* His topics included war, love, Gwynedd, and he used both Welsh mythology and classical mythology to great effect in his compositions. Hywel's Ode V concerns Ogrfan Fawr and Gwenhwyfar and is partly what Dafydd ap Gwilym later took inspiration for his poem 'Y Ffenestyr' or The Window.

Now, onto Hywel's poetry. He, unlike other poets and bards that occupied the Welsh courts, did not need to make a living from it and so he's purely indulging in art for art's sake. A bit like Arthur in Culhwch and Olwen then although his compositions are MUCH better. His Gorhoffedd is the most well-known which praises Gwynedd and its beauty, as well as the beauty of his lovers*. However, it defo has a political context. Seriously it starts with: 'Caraf, trachas Lloegr, lleudir Gogledd heddiw’ (‘I love the North’s [or North Wales’] open land today, England’s great hate’) and from there list what he loves about his father's domain with a kind of Ovidian bent because of its geographical immediacy.

A lot of his poetry inspired later poets like Dafydd ap Gwilym, Goronwy Owen, and T. Gwynn Jones.

Now, this legend is lost for the two men to both allude to Gwenhwyfar either directly (as in Dafydd's case, or indirectly as Hywel does), but as the author states in my poorly translated Welsh: 'The essence is preserved in 'Chrétien de Troyes' 'Le Chavalier de la Charrette,' where Lancelot breaks down the iron bars/window to get to Gwenhwyfar in her room.'

Furthermore, in contrast with Hywel's putting himself in Arthur's shoes, Dafydd does so with Lancelot, only this time rather than saying he and Lancelot are the same Dafydd highlights, 'the contrast between his failure [at opening Gwenhwyfar's window] and the legendary hero's success.'

Now, Hywel himself also gets a fair few praise poems that compare him to Arthurian / Welsh mythological figures. Several praise poems were made about him during and after his death including the one I mentioned earlier from his foster-brother, Peryf. Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr also sang praise poems of Hywel that mention his generosity comparing him to Gwalchmai, and Arthur. These poems are called 'arwyrain' which means 'elevating in/by/with praise.' You can kinda see the Gorhoffedd as being perhaps an extension of this if you so wish.

* Wikipedia says Rhun, Hywel, and Cynan ARE Owain and Pyfog/Fynnod/ Fionnait's kiddies, whereas Peter Bartrum in his 'Welsh Genealogies' says that Hywel was the uterine twin of another brother, Einion. 🤷🏻‍♀️

* To fully go into it: Aber WAS Deheubarthian territory UNTIL the Normans captured it. During 1136, Owain and Cadwaladr captured Ceredigion for Gwynedd and DID NOT GIVE IT BACK. Cad held all of Ceredigion right up until he was A Silly Bastard and murked Anarawd, thus necessitating Hywel having the North Side of Ceredigion to Cadwaladr's South until 1144 when Hywel yoinked all of it after his uncle provoked Owain's wroth.

* You should all read Ellis Peters' Cadfael book: Summer of the Danes if u haven't already. It's honestly great.

*I KNOW I said Cynan wasn't his full-blooded bro but it is EASIER. Plus Cynan is FASCINATING IN HIS OWN RIGHT. He was imprisoned by his dad in 1147 /48 and we DONT KNOW WHY. Some speculate it was because Hywel was going to gain Meirionnydd (he was the Edling at the point) and Cynan took offence to that. Presumably, this is why he fought on Dafydd's side in 1170 and helped slay Hywel.

* Dafydd was the first-born son of Owain Gwynedd and his wife/cousin Cristina. He and his brother Rhodri once they'd defeated Hywel ruled Gwynedd together for a few years before Dafydd backstabbed Rhodri and took the throne for himself. Llywelyn Fawr eventually defeated him.

*I am heavily biased.

*And the man fucked. Presumably, he was following his father's example because Owain fathered upwards of twelve kids. He had two kids that we know of Gruffydd and Caswallon. Idk if they were legitimate or not but we know that after Hywel was killed in 1170 by his half-brother, Dafydd, they were cared for by Hywel's brother Rhirid.)

READ DAFYDD AP GWILYM IMMEDIATELY. HE IS SO FUN. TALKS ABOUT HIS DICK BEING 'A ROLLING PIN.' Also, he IS a contemporary of a sort to Gwerful Mechain and you should read her click poem.

[a-lil-random-artist]

Her voice line

"Dad...I know you didn't went to the store...you've been killing off the people, haven't you?"

Richard's voice line- "No leah, Enough."

Leah was a Adopted daughter of Richard's who is being called by "Leia" correctly ever since shes little which reference name sounded to the Star wars character name "Princess Leia", and her little brother Logan is adopted son of Richard when he is as a toddler of 2, However the both children got neglected by their mother, unlike their dad because he didn't notice the children are neglected by their mother.

An years later.

Leah and Logan believes that Richard kills off a victims in Prezzy's restaurant because they notice He had a bloodstained on his body and hands. At night, they both decided they're going to go off to snuck through a Prezzy's restaurant, discovering to see what happened in those incidents.

(In fact, she's Autistic like her little brother)

Leah's eyes are look tired and haven't slept in 2 days, she have to get through to the Prezzy's restaurant because she wouldn't have to give up until she can stop Richard.

This Prezzy's wonderland au is belong to @fleeglefazbeagle

[that-lazy-animator]

I got motivation so I'm going to post my whole head Cannons/Au for slendytubbies!

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆

slendytubbies headcanon.

Nick-Name: Snow ball (Miles and Lenny) Bunny (Ron) W.t (Everyone)

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆Name : Guardian or Walton.

age: 46-49

birthday: March 31

Sex : N (Non-binary)

sexuality : bisexual and ace

pronouns : All/Any

friends : Ron, Lenny, Anne, Miles (Some times) Dutch, Conner, Sally And Cole.

family: Rainbow (step sister) Luke (Brother?), Tinky-Winky (adopted son), Dipsy (adopted son) Laa-Laa (adopted daughter) And Po (adopted daughter)

Love/crush: Ron (husband)

enemies: Richard. Noo-noo. And Shadow.

Hight: 6’11

species: Teletubby

Likes: Coffee, Quit, reading, and sleeping.

Dislikes: loud noises, screaming.

Status: Alive/Not-infected/married.

Awareness: 100%

physical health: 78%

Mental Health:50%⚠️

infected: 0%

Pet: None

Fact:

Has a coffee addiction.

He is the only tubby with five fingers instead of four.

His tummy screen doesn't work.

He Needs glasses.Is socially awkward. (due to him not having any interactions) and having a bit of social anxiety.

suffers from survivor's guilt and PTSD.

Cat lover.

He has an Irish accent. And heterochromia.

Has a very bad sleep schedule and sometimes doesn't sleep for multiple days.

A bit of a perfectionist.

He's very protective of the main four and does everything in its power to try to rehabilitate them.

Info:

Guardian is a very smart and intelligent tubby. Even when he was at a loss he tried to smile and bring Joyce to others. He's quieter and likes to be by himself rather than talking to other people.

additional info:

Guardian doesn't actually remember why he has to take care of the main 4 (before the infecteds happens) ; it was just the last task the scientists gave him.

He's a main leader of the IRP (infected. Rehabilitation.Program) project.

Voice Clam/Song:

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆

Name : Miles or Sgt. Miles

Nick-Name: Sgt (Everyone ) Boss (Gary and lenny) Sgt.Mcnugget (Guardian)

age: 40-46

birthday: October 1st

Sex : M

sexuality : bisexual (In the closet)

pronouns : Him/He

friends : Conner and dutch (his best friends) Anne, and Guardian (sometimes)

family: Stacy (younger sister), Sebastian (half-brother), Drake (Older brother). Martha (mother). Mr.William (stepdad), and Dave (Dad). Jett (adopted kid) and Kyle (adopted kid)

Love/crush: Anne (Crush)

enemies: Richard (Ex-Best friend), Noo-noo. And Dave.

Hight: 10’11

species: Teletubby

Likes: alcohol, cigarettes, cats, reading.

Dislikes: Gary, infections, his dad.

Status: Alive/Not-infected/single.

awareness: 100%

physical health: 99%

Mental health: 78%

infected: 0%

Pet: buggy (a Saint Bernard) ( he's actually the military's dog but miles is the one who takes care of him)

Fact:

is a big softy but never shows it to people besides Anne.

He cares about the Guardian but never says it to his face.

I Love cats. And dogs.

Pretty good with kids. ( it's a 50/50 with him he can protect your kids and teach them good lessons but also probably teach your kids how to swear. So pick your poison)

He smokes quite often but doesn't drink as much. (he reasoning is because he “doesn't want to be like his father”) {and he does tries to quit smoking for Jett}

He is completely blind in his left eye.

He has pretty severe burn scars due to an accident.

A bit suicidal.

Anne can easily beat his ass which embarrasses him.

Mama's boy.

Very overprotective of his family especially his younger sister.

Miles is part Russian and can speak fluent Russian.

Info:

Miles can be a very nice and compassionate person but due to the mistreatment and abuse he suffered during his childhood and adulthood he feels like he can't show emotions without being deemed weak.

additional info:

Voice Clam/Song:

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆

Name : Anne

Nick-Name: Pinky (Miles) misses (Guardian)

age: 41

birthday: December 5th

Sex : F

sexuality : Pansexual

pronouns : She/Her

friends : Sin, dutch, miles, Guardian, conner, Lenny, Gary, Zach, and luck.

family: Adam (younger brother) Jett (adopted son), Kyle (adopted son)

Love/crush: none

enemies: Rich and noo-noo.

Hight: 7’6

species: Teletubby

Likes: tea, cookies, baking and taking care of the kids.

Dislikes: yelling, miles being an asshole

Status: Alive/single/Not infected.

awareness: 100%

physical health: 99%

Mental Health: 87%

infected: 0%

Pet: None.

Fact:

Has the next highest rank in the military.

Anne is one of the strongest soldiers, even stronger than Miles.

Anne usually tries to find the good and things, trying to keep everyone else's Spirits out.

Has a bunch of burn scars all over her body due to an accident.

A very kind of polite woman

very polite to the soldiers.

will kick someone's ass if she has to.

Cat lover.

Acts like a mother figure to a lot of the soldiers and children.

She can speak fluid German.

Info:

She is a sweet, compassionate woman who is very short but very sweet. She is caring to everyone she meets no matter what.

additional info:

She was a rebellious teenager when she was a kid.

Voice Clam/Song:

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆

[wonder-worker]

I really dislike (the second half of) David Baldwin's biography of Elizabeth Woodville, tbh. It's the first modern biography of her, and probably the most "academic" one out there till date, but it's unfortunately heavily flawed.

He clearly dislikes Elizabeth's family and takes the "general unpopularity" of the Woodvilles as a given.

He has an oddly condescending view of Elizabeth as dowager queen, claiming that she was 'bound to surrender some of her former prominence and dignity' after Edward's death even though she was literally the new King's mother and contemporaries clearly believed that she would play a direct role in governing the realm during her son's minority. He also seems more amenable than not to the Ricardian conspiracy theory that Elizabeth was no longer one of her husband's executors (as she was in 1475) because she didn't meet with some of the executors on 7th May at Baynard Castle - because she was literally in sanctuary at that time and would not have been able to. This is despite the fact that the executors present there never once claimed that they were the only ones Edward appointed, and the presence of Buckingham among them, who Edward excluded from power during his reign, clearly meant that some of the men present there were lying (Richard of Gloucester had also not been named executor in 1475, btw). We know for a fact that after Edward's death, his council gathered around his queen for future policy decisions, a very clear testament to her continued - and unusual - prominence and importance.

Baldwin wrote that after Edward IV's death, "Elizabeth allegedly urged Rivers to bring the young King to bring the young King to London as quickly as possible and with as large a force as he could muster [...] There can be no doubt that Elizabeth wished to see her son crowned before anything could frustrate it." In Baldwin's view, it's only after Hastings expressed reluctance that she decided to act as a "peacemaker" instead. How on earth is this any different from what Ricardians have said about Elizabeth during this time?

He claimed that after Richard of Gloucester seized 12-year-old Edward V - against his will, I might add - "The Woodvilles [Elizabeth and Dorset] tried, unsuccessfully, to raise an army to recover the initiative", referring to her unpopularity as a reason for why she wasn't successful, and incorrectly states that both Croyland and Mancini refer to this. They don't - only Mancini does. Croyland, on the other hand, does not write of any Woodville attempt to raise arms, but does write that after Elizabeth sought sanctuary, adherents gathered under Westminster "in the queen's name". Mancini presents Elizabeth as aggressive and unpopular, Croyland presents her as understandably worried and supported.

He believed that Elizabeth of York genuinely wanted to marry her brother-vanishing uncle Richard III and quoted George Buck's letter on this.

Even worse, claimed that Elizabeth Woodville "approved and encouraged" her daughter in this, because she was "cynically hoping that a marriage between King Richard and her daughter would restore her [meaning EW] to her position at the centre of affairs". Like. Do I really need to say anything?

And lastly, he believed that Elizabeth genuinely plotted against Henry VII and her own daughter in Simnel's Rebellion due to her own desire for power and prominence, along with "resentment" towards Margaret Beaufort, and was subsequently imprisoned and deliberately depowered for it.

While Baldwin certainly gives credit and sympathy to his subject, his biography of Elizabeth during Richard's usurpation and Tudor rule is effectively no different from the way Ricardians and other general histories write about her. He is inconsistent, objectively incorrect, and never once questions the blatantly propagandic narratives (both misogynistic and classist) that were spread about her. Some of the things he said about her in his book "The Kingmaker's Sisters" aren't expecially great either, but I'll leave those out for now.

Again - this is the most academic biography of Elizabeth till date, and this is the crap it said about her. That's literally how bad historical studies of her have been till date.

This epitomizes another problem I have with most - tbh, pretty much all - of Elizabeth's historians. They focus primarily on contradicting post-contemporary rumours and accusations about her (Thomas Cook, the queen's gold, the Earl of Desmond's death, etc). It's understandable to an extent: these are "safer", less contrary, less disruptive. They probably won't offend most of their readers. But when it comes to actual contemporary accusations? Every single historian till date has been utterly lacking and disappointing. This applies to both Warwick's rebellions and Richard III's usurpation. They never question the fundamental narrative of 1483. If they do focus on propaganda, it's the more overt ones (eg: Richard's letter accusing Elizabeth of treasonable necromancy). And even then, they never acknowledge - let alone emphasize - the true extent of what was said about her, and how much of it was very unprecedented when it came to queens.

The greatest irony is that it's two of Richard III's historians - Rosemary Horrox and A.J Pollard - who have done a better job highlighting the extent of Ricardian propaganda (reflected by Mancini, an innocent newcomer, who unknowingly painted Elizabeth and her family as aggressors and Richard as a victim of circumstance forced to defend himself). Of course, while Horrox and Pollard analyzed this mainly from Richard's perspective, with very little attention given to Elizabeth herself, the mere acknowledgement is still somehow better than anything that any of Elizabeth's historians have ever done till date. That's a shame, tbh.

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Please introduce James the people need to know about the boy 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

James!!

Introducing James William Gilmore Danes

(aka what if Dani Gilmore-Danes were a boy and raised by Luke)

a year before Rory was born, Lorelai had a son with a boy she'd met on a family beach vacation. She'd left before she knew she was pregnant, but still had his name and phone number written on a postcard. When she found out that she was pregnant, she panicked. She and her parents came to an agreement, they would tell everyone that she was spending a year abroad, she would give the baby up for adoption, and it would be like nothing ever happened.

But then her son was born, a son she couldn't stand to look at or even name, but a son she couldn't just give away to strangers. Instead she took him, left him on the doorstep of Williams Hardware in Stars Hollow with a note, and never looked back. Until two years later, when she moved to Stars Hollow with Rory

James William Danes (named after Jim Kirk, not that Luke will ever admit it) was a happy baby, but a sick one. Some lung issues, frequent pneumonia, health problems that Luke would always blame on him having been left outside, on a doorstep, during the first snow of the year. It was hard to get him the help that he needed, but William Danes was always happy to help his son and grandson as best as he could, and they were making ends meet. Until James was five. William had just died, and while Luke was doing everything he could to take care of funeral arrangements and the hardware store, he'd asked Liz to help with James. Only for her to leave James in a car during a blizzard for several hours.

The fact that James survived was nothing short of a miracle, but it was an expensive miracle, one that Luke couldn't afford. And it was either a miracle or incredibly creepy that at the same time as his son was fighting for his life in a hospital room, James' maternal grandparents showed up. They'd found the postcard in their daughter's room, apparently, and they wanted to know if their grandson was okay.

It was impossible for Luke to swallow his pride and let Emily and Richard help with the medical bills, but he couldn't refuse the help either, so they struck a deal. The Gilmores would cover all of James medical expenses, not only current ones but any future ones as well, and once a month, Luke and James would call and tell them about his life. He'd never seen them face to face, didn't even know their last names, but he knew that they loved him, and he loved them.

It was a system that worked, and James grew up healthy (for the most part), very athletic, and very loved. He was considered a bit of a prince charming around town, attractive and popular and always ready to lend a helping hand – whether it be at his dad's diner, town events, or anything else anyone asked for. Life was good.

Until he went to Rory Gilmore's sixteenth birthday party – Lorelai had always been cold to him and normally he would avoid spending more time around her than necessary, but Luke asked for his help bringing over bags of ice. But it was fine, really. Until, out of absolutely nowhere, he heard his grandmother's voice in the doorway. His grandmother, whom he had never met in person. His grandmother, who was there for her granddaughter's sixteenth birthday. His grandmother: Lorelai Gilmore's mother.

[townsenddecades]

1317– Day 4 – Elbenhawke Hall

Caroline is still recovering from her daughter’s – her second daughter’s – birth when her husband goes out for a hunt. That itself is not unusual. When there is no warfare to indulge in, hunting is a favourite sport of any noble, and she feels quite at ease spending time alone with the three children or reading a book. Sometimes she just stands on a tower, looking over the frozen landscape and the nearby Varuga River. The view from the Hall, settled on its hill as it is, is quite beautiful.

She is standing there, admiring the view, when she notices the riders coming back in great disarray. It is immediately obvious that something is wrong. She hurries down the many steps, her heart beating double-time.

Everything after that is a whirl, but one fact is clear: her husband is gravely injured, after he has run afoul of a boar on his hunt. The quickly summoned physician does what he can, but his body is so mangled that there is no help for him.

Caroline mostly feels numb. She hasn’t been married to Richard long, and while she gets along with him, there is no deep love between them. She will grieve, once the shock has worn off. She is sure of that much. But theirs has never been a love match.

Far worse is watching her father-in-law, after all the losses he has already suffered, kneeling by his son’s bedside as they keep vigil for him. She doesn’t know if she will ever be able to forget his sobs when Richard finally passes into the Watcher’s embrace.

They lay him to rest in the family crypt. At least the succession isn’t in question; he has two sons and a daughter. If they aren’t as unlucky as the Dudley family has been, that will be enough to make sure the family line continues.

Caroline does her best to support Baron Elbenhawke through all of it, although she is once again thrown into insecurity about her own position in life, now that she is a young widow. Thankfully, her father-in-law clears that away by taking pains to tell her that she will always have a home at the hall. She is the mother of two of his grandchildren, after all. She wouldn’t have wished to leave in any case; she’d have to leave her children behind, wish she is fairly sure would kill her.

But it is comforting to hear that her staying won’t be an issue.

Prev: 1317, Day 4, Part 1/3 <--> Next: 1317, Day 4, Part 3/3

WATCHER’S COMMENTARY:

‘Fun’ fact: this wasn’t a famine death. Poor Richard just failed his age-up roll a few years back, and as I explain in my info post, I find all sims dying at 6/13/20/30 boring.

No great insightful commentary this time, I merely have a default replacement for Grim that I want to show you in all its glory, because I think that it’s very cool. I’d known that there was a Sims Medieval Grim mod for TS4 and was always a little jealous of it, so imagine my delight when I spotted one for TS3.

You can find the mod here.

[chicago-pd-is-weird]

Alt Prompt 2: “Leave the kids out of it.”

@the-three-shits-whump

Read it on AO3 via the link, or find it below the cut:

Hank, Al and Trudy sat in their treehouse in Hank’s backyard. It had been nearly four years since Richard Voight had died on the job. Hank had spent his free time making sure the treehouse, the last of his dad’s handiwork, was still as new as the day he built it. It was hard for the young boy, but he kept it in decent shape, considering it was one of the last things he had of his father. The only people he’d ever let in were Al and Trudy.

So, the three sat in the treehouse, avoiding the adults. It was a warm summer night, Hank having rolled out some sleeping bags. “I don’t care what your parents say. You can stay with me, Al.”

“Thanks,” Al mumbled, curled up in the corner of the treehouse, Trudy beside him, rubbing his back. The boy was only eleven, but he had already been through hell and back with his parents.

“I probably can’t stay,” Trudy said with a frown, seeing as she was thirteen and hitting puberty. “My dad… He doesn’t even like that I hang out with you guys anymore.”

Hank rolled his eyes. “Your dad is so old fashioned.” He sat down on the sleeping bag, patting the other ones for Al and Trudy.

Trudy got up and sat on one of the sleeping bags, shrugging. “He says I’m a young lady now, so I can’t be hanging around boys all the time. But I can’t stand the girls at school.”

The two waited, letting Al slowly come out on his own as they chatted away. Finally, he crawled over, sitting on the empty sleeping bag and talking with Hank and Trudy. They talked about everything from school and their classmates to home issues, though Al didn’t say much at all. He was a quiet boy, quieter than most. He liked the silence.

Hank looked out the window of the treehouse, sighing as he saw their parents inside. “Maybe they won’t be able to find us here.”

“Classic spot. This will be the first place they look,” Trudy replied.

“No, the second or third. Hank’s bedroom first,” Al chimed in.

Trudy looked at him and nodded. “You’re probably right, Al.”

Hank sighed, but shrugged. “Maybe if we’re sleeping, they’ll leave us alone. Come on, let’s go to sleep.”

So, the three of them tucked into their sleeping bags. Hank and Trudy fell asleep, but Al laid awake, looking out the window at the stars from here he was. He tried to find constellations, but couldn’t. He relished in the silence, though, finally calming down enough to shut his eyes and get some sleep…

That’s when a loud bang came from the house, followed by screaming. The adults were fighting. Al whimpered, sitting up and seeing if Hank and Trudy noticed, but they were asleep. He covered his ears as the door slammed open and the yelling got louder. In fact, he scrambled up and took the sleeping bag over to the corner, sitting and covering himself with it, squeezing his eyes shut and holding his hands over his ears.

“Leave the kids out of it!” Hank’s mother screamed, prompting Hank to wake up, Trudy not too long after.

The two frowned at one another, seeing Al in the corner below a sleeping bag. Before they could get to him, however, Al’s father had climbed up. “I’m taking my damn son and never coming back here again! Where is he?!” He screamed at Hank and Trudy, who scrambled out of his way. Al’s father was terrifying, especially when angry. “Tell me where my son is!” He grabbed Trudy by the shirt, shaking her a bit, making her cry out.

In an instant, Robert was also in the tee house, grabbing Al’s father and punching him, pushing him to the ground of the treehouse. “Leave my daughter alone! You ever touch her again, you’ll be sorry!” He huffed. “Come on, Trudy, let’s go.” He grabbed Trudy by the arm and took her down, driving off.

“Hank, honey, come down from there, please.”

Hank frowned as Al’s father got up and went for exactly where Al was hiding. “No.” He got between them.

“No? The fuck you mean by that, boy?!”

“No! You’ll hurt him! I won’t let you.”

Al’s father grabbed Hank and picked him up, shaking him, then tossing him out of the treehouse. He wasn’t able to grab anything before he fell. Hank fell to the ground, hitting it hard. Hard enough to crack his skull and for a lot of blood to come out. Al’s father grabbed Al and quickly took him away as Hank’s bother knelt beside him, crying

[byneddiedingo]

Joan Crawford and Lon Chaney in The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927)

Cast: Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, Norman Kerry, Nick De Ruiz, John George, Frank Lanning. Screenplay: Tod Browning, Waldemar Young, based on a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart; titles: Joseph Farnham. Cinematography: Merritt B. Gerstad. Art direction: Richard Day, Cedric Gibbons. Film editing: Harry Reynolds, Errol Taggart. 

One of the kinkier movies in the Lon Chaney filmography, The Unknown betrays its pre-Code nature very early. It's set in a circus where we see women in the audience ogling a performance by the strong man, Malabar (Norman Kerry). But the mother of one of the oglers, sitting across the aisle, hisses at her son to "go home and take off that dress." Chaney plays Alonzo, whose knife-throwing act involves his lovely assistant, Nanon (Joan Crawford), the daughter of the money-grubbing Zanzi (Nick De Ruiz), owner of the circus. What makes Nanon's job more perilous is that Alonzo throws the knives with his feet, being armless. Eventually Alonzo's attraction to Nanon will involve murder, dismemberment, and a love triangle in which Alonzo almost tears his rival, Malabar, to pieces. Chaney's gift for physical transformation reaches a new peak in the movie, which requires him to do everything from throwing knives to drinking from a teacup with his toes. In fact, although Chaney learned to do many of these things, some of the actions were performed by his body double, Paul Desmuke, who was in fact armless. Careful camera manipulation kept Chaney's upper body in the frame as Desmuke actually lit cigarettes and threw knives with his feet. The Unknown was one of Crawford's earliest featured performances, in a role that MGM originally wanted Greta Garbo to play. She's still a little raw as an actress, but her presence outshines that of her leading man, Kerry, whose career fizzled as hers ignited. The Unknown, one of eight movies director Tod Browning made with Chaney, lacks the sympathy for the physically divergent of Browning's most notorious film, Freaks (1932), although Alonzo's dwarf assistant, Cojo (John George), sometimes serves as the moral corrective to Alonzo's schemes.  

[richmond-rex]

Did Elizabeth of York really live in Stanley's house before Richard III sent her to the North for detention?

Hello! I doubt she did, in fact the only 'evidence' (if we can call it that) that Elizabeth of York stayed some time with Thomas Stanley comes from a heavily fictionalised ballad written by a servant of the Stanleys in the 1490s or early 1500s. It's obvious that the ballad is meant to portray the Stanleys in a good light and maybe even overstate their importance by linking Elizabeth so closely to them. In that ballad, Elizabeth goes to live with them as soon as her father dies because Edward IV had made 'Father Stanley' her spiritual father before his death, something we actually know did not happen because contemporary sources (and Richard III's declaration) state she went into sanctuary at Westminster Abbey.

After her uncle promised not to harm them Elizabeth very probably stayed with her mother and then went to court for a brief time — the Croyland Chronicle specifically says Elizabeth Woodville sent her daughters to court for Christmas, meaning they were not there before. After her brief spell at court Elizabeth either went back to her mother or was sent directly up north to be kept with her Clarence cousins by their other cousin, John de la Pole, until Henry VII's invasion was successful and she was set free.

To sum up, it's very unlikely that Richard III would have sent her to stay with the Stanleys after Elizabeth came out of sanctuary because by that time he already knew Henry Tudor had declared his promise to marry her and Henry was no less than Stanley's son-in-law. Stanley was also guarding Henry's mother the one who had advocated the most for their marriage. It would have been really stupid of Richard to have trusted Elizabeth to Stanley knowing she could come in contact with Margaret Beaufort who in turn could facilitate an escape to the Continent to join her to her son. Logic aside, there's really not any evidence that Elizabeth stayed with the Stanleys as I said above.

[rain-embrace-nymph]

Do you have any cool pjo headcanons ? :3

I do not know how cool they are. But I love them ฅ•��•ฅ

And you also have a cool blog 🩷🧡🩷🧡

— Sally is Roman legacy in the first generation, her parents were Roman demigods. Including her uncle Richard Jackson.

The divine origin of the elder Jacksons in my mind depends on my mood and wishes in the present tense. At the moment, these are Bellona and Jupiter.

Richard and James are the sons of Bellona, and Estelle is the daughter of Jupiter.

— Percy doesn't really look like Poseidon, he looks like a close male relative on Sally's side. I think he looks like James Jackson.

— Percy and Drew are close tragic friends to a traumatic attachment.

— Percy the graceful is truly graceful, as only water is graceful. People literally turn around to look at him. The way he dances can consume the mind.

— Percy has beautiful black curls and the most beautiful caramel skin tone you've ever seen. His hair is thick and silky, it shines a soft blue by itself.

— Percy is actually good at many fine arts due to the fact that Sally most often worked in such places and always took Percy with her when he was very young. He dances superbly, plays the piano and he definitely has a talent for writing.

— Percy may indeed be the son of Nemesis... Sally is bisexual and she definitely smoked in high school in the company of a young woman whose black eyes shone amber.

— Percy is very similar in terms of character to Richard Jackson. He's literally a little copy of him, which is why Sally sometimes cries. She sees the last person who loved her in her son.

— Blue cookies are actually an old family thing. Estelle (Sally's mother) often added flower petals to food that she grew herself. One day she added blue hyacinth petals to the cookie dough and her cookies were really blue that time.

— James Jackson was stunningly beautiful.

— Drew is the honorable Jackson.

— Percy and Drew often have sleepovers when they just read books to each other and eat what they could cook (in fact, Drew just helps and tries not to set the kitchen on fire because it's just terrible at cooking). On such nights, they are less likely to wake up from nightmares.

— Drew tried to prevent Jason and Percy from having a relationship, because they were eerily similar to Charlie and Silena in their love.

[isadomna]

Isabel of Castile, First Duchess of York

Isabel was the third of four children of King Pedro I, also known as Pedro the Cruel, who ruled the Crown of Castile from 1350. Her mother was the vivacious and intelligent Maria de Padilla, often described as Pedro's mistress. In 1361, when Isabel was only six, her mother died. The following year, Pedro declared that he and Maria had been lawfully married before he was forced to espouse his estranged French wife, Blanche of Bourbon, who was by then also dead, some said murdered by her husband. His claim of an earlier marriage was subsequently endorsed by the Cortes, thus legitimising Pedro's children by Maria. Pedro was killed by his illegitimate half-brother and deadly enemy Enrique of Trastámara in March 1369. Trastámara became King Enrique II of Castile.

Isabel accompanied her elder sister Constanza to England, and married Edmund of Langley, son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, in 1472 at Wallingford, as part of a dynastic alliance in furtherance of the Plantagenet claim to the crown of Castile. Isabel was only 16 or 17 to Edmund’s 31, and brought him no lands or income or even the promise of such because her sister Constanza – who married Edmund’s elder brother John of Gaunt as his second wife – was their father’s heir. John and Constanza spent many years trying unsuccessfully to claim her late father’s throne from her illegitimate half-uncle Enrique of Trastamara, while Edmund and Isabel were required to give up any claims to the kingdom of Castile and were not compensated.

As a result of her marriage, Isabel became the first of a total of eleven women who became Duchess of York. She was appointed a Lady of the Garter in 1379. In their twenty years of marriage, the Duke and Duchess of York had three children:

Edward of Norwich, Duke of York

Constance

Richard of Conisburgh, Earl of Cambridge

Contemporary sources suggest that Edmund and Isabel were an ill-matched pair and their relationship was a rocky one, with Isabel accused of having an affair with John Holland, Duke of Exeter and half-brother to Richard II. The affair is believed to have started as early as 1374 and likely continued for a decade. As a result of her indiscretions, Isabel left behind a tarnished reputation. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham considered her to have somewhat loose morals.

John Holland has also been suggested as the real father of Isabel’s youngest son, Richard of Conisburgh, who was the grandfather of Edward IV and Richard III. The fact that his father Edmund of Langley and brother Edward, both, left him out of their wills has fuelled this theory. However, leaving a son out of your will was not entirely unusual, and Richard had died when his brother made his will.

Isabel of Castile died in December 1392 at the age of about 37 and was buried at Langley Priory in Hertfordshire. In her will, Isabel left items and gifts of money to close relatives by blood or marriage, and to numerous servants of hers, men and women. Isabel referred to Edmund of Langley as her "very honoured lord and husband of York", and left him all her horses, all her beds including the cushions, bedspreads, canopies and everything else that went with them, her best brooch, her best gold cup, and her "large primer". Isabel named King Richard II as her heir, requesting him to grant her younger son, Richard, an annuity of 500 marks. Isabel left nothing at all to her older sister Constanza, duchess of Lancaster, and failed even to mention her. Isabel doesn't forget John Holland in her will, at this time married to Elizabeth of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's daughter.

About 11 months later her widower married Joan Holland, niece of Isabel's supposed lover, John Holland. In another bizarre family twist, it was Joan’s brother, Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent, who had an affair – and an illegitimate daughter – with Constance of York, the daughter of Edmund and Isabel. In Edmund’s own will of 1400 he requested burial ‘near my beloved Isabele, formerly my consort.’  Despite Isabel of Castile's bad reputation and supposedly having been involved in a court scandal that humiliated her husband, Edmund seems to have felt great affection for her as demonstrated by his willingness to rest eternally with Isabel and not with his second wife.

Source:

[sbrown82]

I wonder how The Stones children feel about they’re parents doing drugs, having sex with multiple people, having to have multiple stepmoms, or reading a book about how they were pretty much unwanted. I feel bad for Jade Jagger, Marlon Richards, all of Ronnie’s kids, Nicholas Dunbar and Brian’s kids. They have to continuously hear about how their parents were on drugs. Like Anita was on bad drugs with all 3 of her children, I wonder how they felt being around that. Or someone like Jade how both parents not really being there for her and then judging her for being just like them. Or Karis having to see her mom struggle most of her childhood while her dad didn’t even want to claim her. Or Brian’s children who probably only seen him on tv or in magazines because he didn’t really come around for them. Or Nicholas who’s mother was on terrible drugs and was sent to his grandma after his mom tried to commit suicide, it’s a lot to swallow.

Many of the Rolling Stones children have talked about this, specifically Jade Jagger, Marlon Richards, and Brian Jones' children. I mean, that couldn't have been easy, which is why some of them either acted out when they were young or completely stayed away from the spotlight. Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg's son Marlon said his parents were both reckless and very heavy drug addicts. In fact, Anita did heroin while pregnant with her daughter Angela and even gave birth to her in a rehab clinic, and Keith once fell asleep at the while and crashed his car with his son in the back seat. One of their children even died at 10 weeks old from SIDS while in her care. Keith's mom had enough and took their daughter Angela to live with her and said Anita was a bad mom.

And yes, Jade always talks about how her parents were never really around and how she was treated like a mascot instead of their daughter. Mick was always on tour or doing whatever with whoever, while her mother Bianca was a "socialite" who partied at nightclubs or would travel for days leaving her daughter alone with nannies. Her childhood wasn't very pleasant as she had to fit into their lifestyles, which is probably why she acted out a lot. She did drugs, was kicked out of school, and even dabbled in "soft porn". Paparazzi even caught her having sex on a nude beach in Europe. She's a hot ass mess!!

Karis is the total opposite! Her mother, Marsha Hunt, was a real hands-on parent who took her everywhere with her, provided her with a great education (even though she couldn't afford it), and kept her out of the limelight - probably a main reason why she doesn't do any interviews or cares about celebrity culture. I don't think I've ever even heard her mention her father before. The asshole didn't claim her until she was 12 years old. TWELVE!!!!! That's a loooooong time to deny your fucking kid. It's unbelievable that she wants anything to do with him. And even though she grew up poor and on food stamps, she had an extremely normal upbringing as opposed to all her siblings who are now "professional Jaggers". You never hear about her in the news, but can you blame her? After the way the media treated her mother back in the day, I wouldn't care either. She's very strait-laced and a real class act.

Brian Jones was probably the worst of them. By the time that fool was 19, he already had 3 children by 3 different baby mamas and didn't take care of any of them. Not one! That was his M.O.: he would date some teenaged girl (And I mean young, like 16/17 years old), knock her up, then abandon her and the baby, at times leaving them to starve. His third baby mama, Pat Andrews, even outed him about his behavior in 1965:

A few of his other baby mamas actually gave the children up for adoption because they couldn't raise them on their own. But that had to be painful for all his children. They all lost a father they never knew, they didn't even know they had siblings growing up until they met each other in their late 20s and 30s. Another one of Brian's sons actually spoke about him and this pattern of treating the mothers of his children with such disregard:

Also, Nicholas Dunbar is not Mick Jagger's son, even tho the skinny mf spent more time with him when he was a baby than his own damn child Karis. Ain't that a bitch?!

[endlich-allein]

I think it's safe to assume that Till was involved in Khira's life, especially when Richard moved to NYC. Khira of course joined Nele, Louise and the unnamed sons when they were with Till because why wouldn't she? And even Merlin said Till is like a second father. Again, with Richard living abroad, I've no doubt Till tried to make Merlin more comfortable and feel part of the family once he was revealed to be Kruspe.

Richard's children undoubtedly spent a lot of time with Till's children, if only during the holidays, and considered them as one family. But they had their mothers and were brought up by them. We shouldn't forget that Till had to leave his daughter, Nele, with her mother because he couldn't look after her as well with the advent of Rammstein. It was heartbreaking for him not to have enough time to look after her. So taking care of Richard's children is even more complicated. I see Till more as a cool uncle with whom you spend holidays in the country, who gives you the best presents on your birthdays and to whom you can confide without fear of being judged. In fact, Till does this with just about every child close to him - he's godfather to Joey Kelly's children, for example. He also looked after the daughter of one of his friends who had died. So yes Till probably considers Richard's children as his own but he didn't raise them.

[wonder-worker]

richardiii and frideswide lovell? I am only just hearing of this

Hi! We don't know the truth and don't know the exact details, but yes, that's definitely a (potential) relationship worth discussing!

For those who are unaware, Frideswide Lovell was the daughter of John, 8th Baron Lovell, and his wife Joan Beaumont. This made her the sister of Francis Lovell, the future chamberlain and best friend of Richard III - who she may have had a personal connection to in her own right.

Frideswide seems to have been much younger than her siblings and was not born before 1363, most likely in 1464. She was orphaned soon after her birth, with her father dying a year later and her mother a year after that, leaving her to spend her childhood and adolescence in the household of her brother's parents-in-law. The first properly contemporary mention of her is found in the 1470 pardon Edward IV's government issued for Henry FitzHugh and all those in his household. Unfortunately, not much is known about her beyond that, including the kind of education she received.

When she was around 16, Frideswide married the 15-year-old Edward Norris, oldest son of William Norris of Yattendon and his first wife Joan/Jane de Vere. The teenage couple had their first son, John, in 1481, followed by a second son, Henry, a year later. The latter would be executed in 1536 as one of Anne Boleyn's alleged lovers.

Here's where it gets interesting. As we know, Richard III became King in 1483 after deposing his nephews. Michèle Schindler, author of the book Lovell Our Dogge: The Life of Viscount Lovell, Closest Friend of Richard III and Failed Regicide, has speculated that Richard may have been having an affair with Frideswide, aka his best friend's sister, during that time.

To quote Schindler from a blog post about Frideswide:

In 1483, Frideswide received a "reward" of 50 marks from Richard III after he was crowned king. Perhaps it was this, her support and closeness to her brother`s close friend, that caused a rift between her and her husband, and the couple was divided over political opinions which they needed some time to overcome. Edward`s father William, who had originally supported the Lancastrian cause, had accepted Edward IV as king, but rebelled against Richard [in support of the Princes in the Tower] in autumn 1483. Edward Norris may have supported this, though he never acted against Richard, while Frideswide seemed to support Richard.

However, there is evidence from 1484 which throws a rather different light on Frideswide`s marriage and her relationship to Richard. While her "reward" from 1483 could well have been simply a gesture of friendship by the new king towards his closest friend`s sister, their interactions clearly did not stop there. In August 1484, Richard granted her an annuity of 100 marks, a rather large sum. While this has traditionally been assumed to have been because of her father-in-law`s rebellion, leaving her husband disinherited, this does not seem to have been the cause. None of William`s other children, nor his wife, was granted anything by Richard.

Naturally, it could be that Richard chose to favour Francis`s sister over the rest of her marital family, but this is contradicted by two facts: one, that the grant was for unspecified "services" to the king, not, as that to other traitor`s relatives, as a compensation, a generous gift by the king. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is that a second grant of an annuity of 100 marks was made from the same venue, dating from 10th January 1485. This grant was not a confirmation of the first, but was added to it, meaning that Frideswide received 200 marks yearly from Richard, a sizable sum, more than the Countess of Oxford, or even his own mother-in-law, received.

The key to this may lie in the fact that the second grant was dated back nine months, and appears to have been made just after Frideswide gave birth to her third child, a daughter called Anne. Very notably, the grants to her, for unspecified services to the king, have the same wording as one to Katherine Haute, a woman often assumed to have been the mother of Richard`s illegitimate daughter Katherine, Richard made years earlier.

Equally notable is that Richard made grants to Francis on the same days as he made those to Frideswide, as a compensation for equally unspecified services, and that Frideswide appeared to have lived with her brother [rather than her husband] while pregnant.

That Henry Norris, in later years, appeared to not treat Anne as his sister, and that William Norris, Edward`s father, later favoured Frideswide`s sons, even apparently helping them become established at court, but not Anne, might also point towards the idea that there was at least a question mark over Anne`s paternity, and that she may have been Richard`s.

If so, Frideswide was in a bad position after Richard`s defeat and death at Bosworth only eight and a half months after her daughter`s birth. It seems, though, that she and her husband Edward made the best of it, and even reconcilliated. In around 1486, Frideswide gave birth to her last child, a girl called Margaret, presumably after Edward`s sister. From surviving documents, Margaret seemed much closer to her brother Henry and her grandfather William, again showing up a difference to Anne."

Of course, we don't explicitly know if this is true - and if it is true, we don't know the exact details - but the circumstantial evidence is indeed very strong, and it seems very plausible to me. I would love to know more about Frideswide, who seems to have had a very interesting and tragic, albeit mostly unknown, life.

In short, it's very interesting and opens up a lot of possibilities, for sure!