Oh dear, I’m afraid this tickled me. Apologies for the relevant page at the British Museum no longer being available. Suffice it, this article is about a medieval horary quadrant:

“ . . . Intriguing Objects Made by Richard II – an hororary [sic] quadrant enables the user to tell the time from the height of the sun – in the British Museum dated around 1398 . . . ”

Now, you and I know Richard II, right? Can you picture him sitting at his work bench in his leather apron, dirtying his fingernails (maybe even cracking them! 😮) hammering, inscribing, screwing and otherwise creating a horary quadrant? No, nor me.

It’s a laugh though!


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  1. Definitely paints a comical picture!

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  2. […] John of Gaunt when he returned to England from exile and stole the throne of his first cousin, Richard II. I won’t go into all the details because what I’m about to write is rather, um, […]

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  3. […] Society on an entirely unrelated search? There, by pure chance, I came upon a letter (No. 18) from Richard II to the Abbot and Chapter of Sherborne in Dorset, which ends: De par le Roy a les abbé et covent de […]

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  4. […] dear. Well, I expected it to be pro-Bolingbroke and anti-Richard II (and it was!) but I at least expected accuracy. My heart sank a little when on page 37 (of my copy) […]

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  5. […] had married Edward of Woodstock, known to posterity as the Black Prince, and their son became King Richard II. So St Paul’s Street is host to some illustrious names from the […]

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  6. […] Castle became the official residence of the royal representative in Ireland. King Richard II also visited […]

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  7. […] of churchman against politician at a time when monasteries were under threat and the teenage king Richard II faced the Peasants’ […]

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  8. […] notice. Not even the two high-ups from the Church pictured above at the coronation of the boy-king, Richard II. Now then, do you or do you not spy little pointy shoes peeping from beneath those sumptuous robes? […]

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  9. […] next is Edward’s grandson and successor, Richard II. Now, I have always thought that the contemporary portrait of Richard that is on display in […]

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  10. […] of Welsh society between the 9th and 17th centuries. No Richard III, I fear, but his namesake Richard II gets a […]

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  11. […] Let’s be honest, if the nascent Renaissance commenced in the 1300s, I think it more likely that Richard II should be credited with encouraging it to […]

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  12. […] Richard II is (always laughingly) described as having invented the handkerchief. That he was a ridiculous fop is always the implication. Yet we don’t think twice now about using handkerchiefs…the previous disgusting habit of wiping one’s nose on one’s sleeve is long-gone, thank goodness. […]

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  13. […] circa 1386 wanted a pair of unusual greyhounds from Scotland, so he obtained a safe conduct from Richard II for four of his men to pass through England to acquire them. My search took me to this interesting […]

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  14. […] the effigy (which the prince himself requested and described in detail) was created by his son Richard II solely to boost his own failing reign! Rubbish. Richard was all of ten when he ascended the […]

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  15. […] a shed in Queensland, Australia. lt was in a sack of old piping! One particular article about this tickled my funnybone, I fear. I can think of no medieval king less likely to roll up his sleeves than Richard […]

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  16. […] of Exeter, b. circa 1352, d. 1400), was sent abroad as a diplomatic envoy for his half-brother, Richard II. In those days (according to this site) envoys did NOT take their wives with them. European states […]

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  17. […] of note who was there was widowed Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales, mother of 14-year-old King Richard II. Well, the future Henry IV was hiding there too, but we won’t talk about him, because I’m only […]

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  18. […] old and the new, it’s surely this one. Poised between two ages, it concerns arms left by the late Richard II in the great hall of Dublin Castle. Richard had been in Ireland immediately before the invasion of […]

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  19. […] necessarily practise. When Hamner died in 1387 – not long after he had been knighted by King Richard II – Owain acted as a trustee of his […]

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  20. […] On this occasion it’s Henry IV, the warlike Lancastrian usurper who murdered his cousin Richard II and stole the crown. A process that led to the Wars of the Roses. So definitely not one of my […]

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  21. […] Other Kings had the odd camel too, including Edward II and Richard II. […]

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  22. […] This is so that one page alone isn’t subjected to the light. I recognised an illustration of Richard II, whose tomb (with his queen, Anne of Bohemia) lies directly below the room where the book is […]

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  23. […] to find that Richard III only has one pub to his credit. One? And my other favourite king, Richard II, has none at all. Ah, but wait a minute. Richard II may not be actually named….but how many […]

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  24. […] and Pountney’s can clearly be seen in Marjorie Honeybourne’s map of London in the Time of Richard II.   Nevertheless the great mansion with its appurtenances and sprawling tenements referred to in […]

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  25. […] I confess to not having finished because I lost faith in its accuracy. No fewer than three times Richard II is referred to as Richard III, and I’m surprised the error not only got through to […]

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  26. […] one book has been enormously influential concerning our knowledge of medieval food. Richard II wasn’t a very warlike king, but boy, did he enjoy the finer things in life. And if his chef’s […]

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  27. […] was high in the favour of King Richard II – no doubt his marriage into the York family was no hindrance, given that York was apparently […]

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  28. […] III. Lionel was next brother to Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, who left only one small son, Richard of Bordeaux, to inherit the crown of Edward III. The next brother to Lionel was John of Gaunt, Duke of […]

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  29. […] is to be found) and Cockington was acquired by a Sir John Cary in 1375. Unfortunately he supported Richard II against the Merciless Parliament in 1388 and had his lands confiscated before he was sent off to […]

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  30. […] Richard II was certainly the royal connoisseur of food. His famous book of recipes (well, he didn’t actually write it!) the Forme of Cury, is constantly resorted to as a record of just how well our 14th-century ancestors were provided for when they sat down to eat. How often are we told that they held lumps of greasy meat in their hands, ripped it with their rotten teeth and then chucked the bones down for the hounds? […]

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  31. […] two favourite kings, Richards II and III, get a mention in this article Top 10 castles in England (readersdigest.co.uk). All ten […]

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  32. […] succession safe. The death of elderly Edward III left as his heir his small grandson, who became Richard II. But in between the two was the ghost of the ‘Black Prince’, who predeceased his father. Rather […]

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  33. […] title of this article refers to Joan, Princess of Wales, mother of Richard II. She became known as the “Fair Maid of Kent”, a sobriquet acquired posthumously. But, was she […]

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  34. […] It was published on 4 April 2024 and contains biographies of six Plantagenet kings, from John to Richard II, covering the years 1199 to 1399. Not just their biographies, but everything else that went on […]

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  35. […] that he could have benefitted from two extra heads in real life, or admired the Wilton Diptych of Richard II and significant religious […]

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  36. […] was once one of the most favoured royal palaces, much resorted to by the likes of Edward III and Richard II. Its situation was convenient and its atmosphere peaceful. It remained popular, so that by the end […]

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