Leicester

Forget Richard III cartoons – Henry VIII wins by a mile….!

Feb 18, 2022

anniversaries, art, humour

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, annulments, cartoons, Catherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, dating agencies, executions, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Leicester, Marriage Guidance Council, Mary I, Richard III, tattoos

Long live the new king? Ye gods. Henry VII may have been an unpleasant, money-grubbing, paranoid gargoyle, but his son was a true MONSTER. Forget about falls on the head changing his character, the fact is that he’s remembered for his marriages and the way he executed two of his unfortunate queens, Anne Boleyn…
SALISBURY GREY FRIARS–BUCKINGHAM’S BURIAL SITE?

Nov 2, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, religion

Anne Stafford, Battle of Bosworth, Battle of Northampton, executions, Henry of Buckingham, Henry VIII, Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, John Ashdown-Hill, Leicester, Reformation, Richard III, Salisbury Greyfriars, secret tunnels

Salisbury Grey Friars has all but disappeared from the archaeological record. Founded in 1225-8 , it was never a very large house, situated near the still impressive medieval St Ann’s Gate leading into Salisbury’s Cathedral Close. At the reformation, Grey Friars was destroyed and any extant buildings and stonework sold off and re-used (several…
Audrey Strange

Sep 28, 2021

archaeology, Book Reviews, buildings, Events, religion, Science

Audrey Strange, Fellowship of the White Boar, Grey Friars, Leicester, Leicester Museum, Philippa Langley, Richard III, Richard III Society, Soar, The Crowned Boar, The Son of York

Being obsessed with all the books related to Richard III, I discovered a very interesting story I totally ignored. I bought a book titled “The Crowned Boar” published in 1971 and I soon discovered (after buying both of them for a small fortune) that there was another book titled “The Son of York” that told…
Long live the King

Sep 21, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, Book Reviews, buildings, genealogy, Science, sources

“Perkin”, Archbishop William Melton, Auramala Project, Avignon, Barrie Williams, Berkeley Castle, Corfe Castle, de la Pole family, Earl of Mar, Edmund Earl of Kent, Edward II, Edward III, Edward the Martyr, executions, Ferdinand and Isabella, Fieschi Letter, Flanders, France, Germany, Gloucester Cathedral, Ian Mortimer, Ireland, Isabelle de France, Italy, James IV, Joanna, John XXII, Kathryn Warner, Koblenz, Leicester, Lombardy, Lord Richard de la Pole, Manuel Duke of Beja, Manuele Fieschi, Maximilian I, Melton Letter, Montpellier archives, mtDNA evidence, parallels, Pavia, Poles, popes, Portuguese archives, Richard III, Roger Mortimer, royal deaths, royal mysteries, Sant Alberto di Butrio, Titulus Regius, William le Galeys

This interesting tome has finally appeared in paperback. The opening Parts read like an abridged biography of the story familiar to us through Warner’s The Unconventional King, but to be read with an open mind as to whether Edward II survived his “official death” today in 1327 or not. The reader will re-learn the events…
Leicester has a new attraction about Richard III at Bosworth….

Sep 2, 2021

art, battles, buildings

Battle of Bosworth, King Richards Road, Leicester, murals, Richard III

“….A new mural has been created on King Richards Road in Leicester to highlight the city’s links to King Richard III….” Oh yes, it has indeed, and very striking it is too, as you can see from the above illustration. You can read all about it at the Mercury website and again at the City Council site…
Richard III and the Ancient Egyptian cheese….!

Aug 25, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Ancient Egypt, Anglo-Saxons, anthropology, Armenia, Azerbaijan, bamboo strips, barley, Battle of Bosworth, BBC, beer, Blombos cave, board games, Canada, cave art, cheese, China, Ciampate del Diavolo, Clotilda, Cote d’Ivoire, Erebus, gold, human hair, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, King Herod, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars, mammoths, Mary Stuart, multiplication tables, Northwest Passage, nutcrackers, Pembrokeshire, Philippa Langley, quarry, Richard III, Roman villa, royal portraits, royal tombs, Russia, sculptures, shoes, Sir John Franklin, Sir John Maitland, skulls, slave ship, South Africa, Staffordshire Hoard, Stonehenge, storytelling, tomb of Ptahmes, USA, Wiltshire, X-rays

In this intriguing list of twenty , the discovery of Richard III’s remains comes in at number two! He was pipped at the post by an extremely old cheese from Egypt. Eh? Old cheese? Sorry, but can that possibly be more important than Richard? It doesn’t even have King Tut’s fingerprints or teethmarks! 😦 Oh…
Digging up our monarchs; no, not Richard III this time….!

Aug 17, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Bohemia, Banqueting House, burial, Catherine de Valois, Charles I, childbirth, death, Edward I, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, executions, Exhumation, George IV, Greenwich Palace, Henry II, James VII/II, John, King’s Langley, Leicester, Newark Castle, Old St. Paul’s, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard III, Samuel Pepys, Society of Antiquaries, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Peter ad Vincula, St. Thomas Becket, Tower of London, Victoria, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Worcester Cathedral

I’m told that even now, if you purchase a plot of ground in which to put your loved ones to rest, the chances are they’ll only lie in peace for eighty years, at which time they are removed and new occupants move in. Well, for centuries our dead haven’t always been left to enjoy their…
Walking “Tudor” England

Aug 10, 2021

battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews, travel

“Bloody Mary”, “Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Arthur “Tudor”, Ashdown Forest, attainder, Austin Friars, bear-baiting, Bishops of London, Bridewell Palace, brothels, Cambridge, cannon, Channel Five, Christopher Hatton, Clifford’s Tower, conspiracies, dancing, de heretico comburendo, Dutch refugees, East Midlands, Edmund Bonner, Edward of Buckingham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, excommunication, executions, exile, fire, Framlingham Castle, Fulham Palace, Greenwich Palace, Grey-Dudley rebellion, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Hampton Court, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII, Hever Castle, James VI/I, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, John Foxe, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Katherine Howard, Kenilworth Castle, Kenninghall, Kett Rebellion, Leicester, London, Lord Chancellor, Lord Guildford Dudley, Margaret Clitherow, Mary Stuart, Mass, Michelham Priory, naval power, Nicholas Ridley, Northern Earls’ Rebellion, Norwich, Penshurst Place, Pilgrimage of Grace, Pontefract, Portsmouth, recusants, Ripon Cathedral, Robert Aske, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, royal barges, royal hunting estates, Rushton Triangular Lodge, severed heads, Sir Henry Dudley, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Southwark, St. Mary’s Abbey, Stamford, Suzannah Lipscomb, The Globe, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Stafford, tobacco, torture, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Will Kemp, William Cecil, William Shakespeare, Wyatt Rebellion, Yorkshire Museum

Suzannah Lipscomb has just completed another series on Channel Five, this time visiting the sites related to the “Tudors”. In the first episode, she concentrated on Henry VIII and the naval power he inherited from John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The second was principally about the penultimate “Tudor”, Mary I, as well as Edward VI…
See Richard III’s reinterment again….

Feb 5, 2021

archaeology, religion, Science, television reviews

Britbox, Leicester, reburial, The Burial of the King

The Sun newspaper has provided a list of productions that are are featured in Britbox’s February listings. If you go to the link and then to February 18, you’ll see that Richard III gets a look-in: “….Richard III: The Burial of the King (2015) The extraordinary journey of Richard III, from car park to cathedral, culminates…
SPLITTING HAIRS–AGAIN

Jan 16, 2021

archaeology, art, buildings, Science

DNA analysis, eyes, facial reconstruction, hair colour, Leicester, Richard III, Richard III Visitor Centre, Turi King

A dramatic news story always makes headlines. Therefore, I was not entirely surprised when, several years ago, I saw a newpaper headline reading, ‘Richard III was a Blue-Eyed Blond.‘ Sadly, many people do not read beyond headlines, and completely missed the part that said ‘the blonde hair was probably only in childhood.’ (I never knew…