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Another famous collection, now known as Le Viandier de Taillevent, was originally compiled at the beginning of the 14th century; later it was attributed to the head chef of the Valois court, Guillaume Tirel, also known as Taillevent, who had a long and distinguished career as a professional chef. Tirel had the status of a squire and the coat of arms on his tomb, at St Germain en Laye outside Paris, incorporates a row of three cooking pots. The collection has the distinction of being the first printed cookery book; this occurred in the 1480s and the book went through several subsequent editions. The contents were modified considerably with the passage of time; the first printed version contains an additional group of contemporary recipes that have been described as the 15th century French 'nouvelle cuisine'! - you can see an online version at:

"This free interactive cultural and learning app will be of interest to anyone interested in Tudor history, cultural research, e-learning, art history, or the town of Thetford. It was created by a joint team from the University of Leicester, Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, English Heritage, Oxford University and Yale Center for British Art. It stems from a 3-year project applying space science technology to art historical monuments."

"Introduction: A visitor to the Empress Matilda's tomb at Rouen might be mistaken in believing that its occupant had never sought the English throne in her own right. Yet in the long struggle which engulfed the kingdom after her father's death in 1135 this is exactly what she did. Matilda may indeed have been the greatest English heiress of the twelfth century to fail to secure her inheritance. Charles Beem remarks that Matilda's epitaph 'described the summit of earthly achievement to which a twelfth-century aristocratic woman could aspire, according to the dictate of a male-dominated feudal society'. Matilda's rule lasted less than seven months before she was unceremoniously driven out of London in the spring of 1141. Even so, her lordship bore many of the typical characteristics of royal administration, and with King Stephen imprisoned by her supporters Matilda for a time was recognised as the sole source of royal authority in the kingdom."

"In the summer of 1797 a group of workmen in Worcester Cathedral caused a sensation, locally if not nationally, by discovering the body of King John."