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Yet again, while browsing around for something else, I happened upon this painting, which is of interest because of the suggestion that it is, in fact, an early portrait of Richard’s sister, Margaret of York/Burgundy. I found it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Altarpiece_(Memling) It is a detail from the Saint John Altarpiece by Hans Memling (sometimes the ‘Triptych of…
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Chatting with California artist Karen King (2013) Rather by accident the work of California artist Karen King came to my attention via her magnificent painting, Richard and Anne. Inspired by a passage from The Sunne in Splendour, Sharon Kay Penman’s epic novel of Richard III, it depicts the then Duke of Gloucester and his future…
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The name Plantagenet came from Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, who was reputed to wear a sprig of the yellow ‘planta genista’ (also known as the Broom plant) in his hat. However, the Encyclopedia Britannica has speculated that the Plantagenet name ‘more likely’ arose because Geoffrey supposedly planted broom to improve his hunting covers. He…
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I hope the following link works. http://issuu.com/glosmedia/docs/weekend_mar14_finalpdf The article is on pages 42-43, and is reached by using the right arrow on your keyboard. I tried to scan it or cut/paste, but the resolution isn’t that great and making it large enough to read here on the blog is rather difficult. So it’s the website…
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How intriguing that guns were used fairly early on in medieval times, but only today has a portion of evidence been discovered in England. Illustrations have long since been proof, but to actually have a piece of the action at last is quite a discovery. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/general-news/video-nasty-yorkshire-life-in-the-age-of-chivalry-1-7155849 There is another article on the same matter, but the link…
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I attended a renaissance faire in the U.S. recently and must relay something that happened. The faire’s king knighted all ladies and lads (including adults) who wished to be knighted. But first, they had to sit through a vigorous lecture by one of the king’s minions. First, said minion asked the audience to name some…
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This little item was in today’s (5th March 2015) Gloucester Citizen newspaper. Richard gets everywhere these days, even in Gloucester Mall! Sorry the quality of the scan isn’t better. Apparently there was a silver ‘living’ statue of Henry VIII outside in Eastgate Street. But we won’t talk about that. <g>
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Most of us are familiar with the story of “Perkin Warbeck” and the letters he wrote back to the Low Countries. Depending on his identity, his parents hailed from there if he was an impostor or his aunt was Dowager Duchess of Burgundy if he was Richard of Shrewsbury, the former Duke of York and…
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On 16th March 1485, there was a total eclipse of the sun. The locations from which the whole of the sun would be obscured lay to the south of England, so that from England more than 80% of the sun would be obscured, enough to reduce the light and make the day darken ominously. It…
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For better or worse, Richard III is now a worldwide pop-culture icon, joining the ranks of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, Harry Potter and Severus Snape, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Aragorn and Legolas. Many more reams of paper and backlit words on computer screens will be written about him. His fans – whether authors of…
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