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It’s time to get up on my hind legs and have a loud bleat about something that is beginning to get my goat. That ‘something’ seems to have become the new ‘must do’. What is it? The sneering and display of often pathetic pseudo-intellectual superiority that is constantly directed at Ricardian fiction. Snide remarks and…
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The “official” version of Richard II’s death is straightforward. After his deposition he was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, and, following a rebellion of his followers in early January 1400, starved to death. The date of death is usually given as 14th February 1400. His body was subsequently taken by stages to London, being publicly exhibited…
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Pare saffron plot, forget it not. His dwelling made trim, look shortly for him. When harvest is gone, then saffron comes on. A little of ground, Brings Saffron a Pound The history of saffron, that exotic spice of the Levant, spans three millennia, landing in England some time in the mid-14th century – although certainly there are…
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Keeping on the subject of mediaeval food, I decided to write about a foodstuff that is no longer commonly eaten or even very well known of in the UK – the lamprey. The lamprey, an ancient and primitive species of fish, was popular in mediaeval times because of the Church’s ruling that people were not…
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And now for something completely different . . . as Monty Python once said. The humble carrot may not be of riveting interest to many, but its history is fascinating and very well recorded. In my writing research I had sudden cause to wonder if carrots had always been “orange”. I wanted to write about…
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While reading Michael K. Jones’ dry, if detailed, study of the life of Margaret Beaufort[1], I was amazed to learn about a small but significant Welsh rebellion conducted against Henry VII and his hagiographic mummy that I’ve never heard mentioned anywhere else. It appears that Henry and Margaret were thwarted on at least one occasion,…
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No, I’m not about to discuss whose house to go to for a friendly drink, but about whose period in history to choose for a time-travel novel. Richard’s? Or ours? So there he is in the above picture, with Old London Bridge behind him, and the modern London Bridge in front. Is he leaving his…
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It was my privilege to interview Riikka Nikko, one of the youngest and most gifted artists on the Ricardian scene today. Her work, Ricardian and otherwise, can be found in newspapers, magazines, book covers and throughout social media and the internet. In particular, her depictions of King Richard the Third express an emotional charge that is as…
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In 1475, before embarking for his campaign to (re)conquer French lands for England, Edward IV wrote a will stating that, in the event of his death, he desired to be buried at the Royal Chapel of St. George’s at Windsor Castle. He wanted to be placed under the ground with an effigy of a corpse…
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There is a new art exhibition about Richard III in Leicester. See http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Richard-III-art-exhibition-opens-Leicester/story-26451246-detail/story.html#ixzz3ZRAJY43U After you’ve fought past the Leicester Mercury’s Iron Curtain of ads, the text of the article is as follows: “A unique series of paintings created around the reinterment of King Richard III has gone on display at a city centre gallery. “Local…
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