history
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St Ninian was ‘a most holy man’ according to the Venerable Bede. He was born around 360AD, near Hadrian’s Wall. He is first heard of in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland from his monastery in Whithorn, Galloway. For this reason he is known…
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Did you know that Richard was a direct descendent of Alfred the Great? Here is the pedigree, derived from the Genealogics website. This time you need to follow the pink circles. Although most people ‘know’ that Alfred is famous for burning some cakes that he was asked to watch, this is fallacious. It’s likely the…
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You may have often heard that people in medieval times were very dirty and unhygienic, with bad teeth. However, this has now been debunked as a myth and this article explains some of the practices they used to keep clean. They mention that teeth were cleaned, but not with a brush. They either used a…
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Dan Snow video on some of our kings and queens, including Richard III….
Dan Snow may be a popular historian, always on TV, always praised and admired, but he seldom comes in for any thumbs-up from Ricardians. Well, like most of today’s TV-historians, he’s pro-Tudor. And that, folks, means putting their Rosa Klebb boots into Richard III. So when this link https://shorturl.at/nlCnD turned up and I saw it…
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A while ago, I had a day off and decided to spend it in Skipton. Being fond of castles since I was a child, I saw a picture of this one and I put it on my list. It was a nice day with spells of sun and a chilly air. As soon as I…
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“….Music students from Leicester’s De Montfort University (DMU), have composed a series of pieces to mark the 10th anniversary of the reinterment of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral. The cathedral commissioned the works as part of its ‘oral history’ of the remarkable story, which came to a head in 2015 when the former monarch’s…
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St Cuthbert was one of Richard’s favoured saints, being associated with the north of England, but who was he? Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c. 634/5 – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in Northumbria, today in northern…
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While it’s fascinating to learn about the well-known photograph of Richard’s remains (see above) it’s also dismally evident that the university is still hogging the limelight (pun intended) where his discovery is concerned, see the video at https://tinyurl.com/ycxv44ds. Not one mention of Philippa Langley, the Richard III Society or any other “outsider”. It’s all the…
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We all take for granted that the hammerbeam roof of Westminster Hall (see https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/westminsterhall/architecture/the-hammer-beam-roof-/) is a true masterpiece of medieval workmanship and innovation. Many of us know that the transformation of the (then) huge building was at the instigation of Richard II. But how many of us know of a painting that captures a fleeting…
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