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This is another review of the Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester, and is refreshing because the only criticism is about the coffee! (About which I cannot comment.) Nor are there are any of the usual orchestrated Tudor lies about Richard. Not one of the wearisome old chestnuts makes an appearance, even the ‘princes’ in the Tower.…
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Insanity was recognised under English law in the Norman era thus: “eo quod sensu carent et ratione, non magis quam brutum animal iniuriam facere possunt nec feloniam, cum non multum distent a brutis, secundum quod videri poterit in minore, qui si alium interficeret in minori ætate, iudicium non sustineret.” (“since they are without sense and…
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“I think we have to change things by going after those who continue to slew the historical evidence at every possible opportunity. When a writer refers to Richard raising an army against a defenceless Woodville entourage in 1483 we need to respond with the evidence that he did the exact opposite and that it was…
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I recently posted a picture that I had fiddled with to put Richard’s head on a painting of Sir Galahad by George Frederic Watts. Just now, while looking for something else (doesn’t it always happen?) I came upon a stained glass window of the same painting. It’s the Cryder Memorial Window, before 1910. Leaded glass,…
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In Ricardian fiction, one can always depend on a banquet scene to feed the body and soul of devoted readers who defend the most maligned king in history. Because medieval food was so colourful and robust, it is understandable that a wealth of novels, stories and cookery books would emerge larded with roasted whale, fried…
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“Istanbul was Constantinople Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople Been a long time gone, Constantinople Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night Every gal in Constantinople Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople So if you’ve a date in Constantinople She’ll be waiting in Istanbul Even old New York was once New Amsterdam Why…
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I like to ‘create’ pictures with a Ricardian theme, but am not a gifted artist, and so I have been underhanded enough to ‘adapt’ the work of others. I do admit to doing this, and if I know the original artist/title, I say so. And I’m getting more adventurous as times goes one. My first efforts were really very…
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Sir James Tyrell was a trusted supporter of the House of York, and Richard III in particular. More’s account of his introduction to Richard by a unnamed page is too risible to mention, except that it exhibits yet another flaw in More’s account, that fine work of literature, roughly equivalent to – well, name the…
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She had small hounds that she fed roasted flesh, milk and small bread — The Canterbury Tales If one follows the life and times of Richard the Third, it also follows that one becomes immersed in the culture of medieval England. Whether it’s the choral music, the fashions of the royal court, the cutting wit…
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Anthony Woodville provided an escort of 2,000 men for Edward V’s journey from Ludlow to London. This was no mean escort, indeed it was roughly the same size as the company that had escorted the young Henry VI to Paris for his crowning as King of France. The difference was that Henry VI was convoyed…
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