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William Hobbes: Sergeant Surgeon to the House of York

22/9/2015

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The Sergeant Surgeons were originally military surgeons, it was their duty to attend the monarch on the battle field. 
At the Battle of Dettingen in Germany in 1743, one John Ranby was the last man to perform this duty when he accompanied King George II into battle.

In 1461, William Hobbes was the first person to be appointed to this position, and Hobbes proved to be one of the few trusted servants of the House of York. Hobbes was born in London to a father who also practiced in medicine. John Hobbes sent his son to study in Oxford, and it was there, in 1459, that he trained as a Bachelor of Medicine, and after completing three years training he moved to Cambridge to practice as a doctor. ​
Picture
We can see Hobbes name written in the Common Plea Rolls. Second row down - William Hobbes Doctor of Medicine.
Men like William Hobbes would have trained much as our doctors do today, beginning as an apprentice, starting with the
more mundane tasks of bandaging and cleaning wounds and then moving onto minor and major surgery. The role of royal surgeon meant that he followed his king into battle and dealt with a range of injuries that might have been inflicted. His
other duties would be administering to the king on a regular basis and interestingly, checking applicants who were to be
touched by the king for what was called the 'Kings Evil' or Scrofula, the swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck caused by tuberculosis. The Sergeant Surgeon would also have had the job of witnessing the torture of prisoners, they were responsible for making sure that the torture was

                                                          "not so prolonged that it endangered the prisoners life." 


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In his article Sergeant Surgeons to their Majesties, H Thompson states that Hobbes was sergeant surgeon to Henry VI in 1461 but Mary Ann Lund in her article Richard's Back, Death, Scoliosis and Myth Making states that it was in fact Edward IV who employed Hobbes in this capacity, it seems that the latter statement is correct as Hobbes was in the pay of Richard, Duke of York as his medicus et sirurgicus up to his untimely death at Wakefield in the December of 1460, and following that, Hobbes became a member of the household of York's heir Edward, later Edward IV, being appointed his Sergeant Surgeon.

​Within a month of Edward IV claiming the throne Hobbes was reaping in the benefits. He received 'a place, wharf, crane and diverse houses' to the value of £14 from the king as well as being paid a yearly sum of just over £26 pounds for his duties of 'principal surgeon of the royal body.'  In 1473 Edward granted him an exemption from that years Act of Resumption, calling him

                                    ‘our trusty and well-beloved servant, William Hobbys, cirurgion for oure body’

It seems that William Hobbes, in his medical capacity, had no contact with Edward's sons, we know that Edward, the older boy was thought to be sick, but he was attended by the more famous John Argentine, also a Cambridge scholar.​ In 1475 Hobbes accompanied Edward to France, where in the August Edward negotiated the Treaty of Picquigny, and in 1479 he was appointed, along with one Walter Bate, as Master of St. Mary of Bethlehem, a lunatic asylum in London, that today we know as Bedlam. 

Another of the duties of the sergeant surgeon was to embalm the body of the king, no doubt this was not on his mind when he accompanied Richard, Duke of Gloucester to Scotland in the August of 1482, but by the following April, William Hobbes did find himself performing this task on the body of Edward IV. 

Dr Lund describes the ritual Hobbes had to follow from an account dated 1483.
​
      "at the death and buryall of an annoynted king" Dr Lund explains that the body has been washed and dressed  and  
     laid out on a board covered with gold cloth  "and so shewid to his nobles by the space of ij (2) days and more if the               weather it be suffre, when he may not goodly lenger endure, thake hym away, and bowel hym and then efstone
                                            bame (embalm) him"
 
and the body placed in a lead coffin. 

Dr Lund goes on to state that in Edwards case 

                                     
"first the corps was laide upon a burdle (board), all naked saving he
                     was covered from the navyll to the kneys, and so laie x (10) or xij (12) Ours'
 
to be viewed.

Following Edward IV's death, Hobbes became physician to Richard, Duke of Gloucester. In this capacity Hobbes would have dealt directly with Richard's body. One of his tasks was to manipulate joints, and we can only wonder if the vast increase to his wage from £26 to £40 a year, was the reward for managing the kings scoliosis successfully. ​William Hobbes retained this post throughout Richards short reign, but the kings death at Bosworth in 1485 saw the end of his career.

On the 27th September 1488, William Hobbes died a loyal servant to the House of York. He was buried at Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, London.
​
Picture
The wording on Hobbes tomb suggests that he was proud of his achievements and his place in the royal court.

Hic jacet Willelmus Hobbes quondam medicus et Sirurgicus Illustrissimi domine ducis Eboracencis ac filiorum suorum
regum Illustrissimorum Edward iiiji et Ricardi tercii quorum anime et animabus propicietur Deus amen


 "Here lies William Hobbes, once physician and surgeon of the most noble kings Edward IV and Richard III, to whose soul,
and to whose souls, may God be merciful, Amen" 
​
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Battle of Bosworth Sand Sculptures

20/9/2015

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Picture
The late fourteenth century saw the widespread use of plate armour, this meant that swords changed from a slashing and chopping weapon, to a sword with a sharply pointed blade.

The medieval soldier would have been much practiced at hand to hand combat, he would have known where exactly to place his sword, as seen in the sculpture, for maximum effect. These vulnerable areas were the groin, armpit and the throat, a place uncovered for flexibility
.
The halberd and the poleaxe were also popular, by the fifteenth century the broad axe, a weapon a bit like the Viking axe, were being used too.

All these weapons could be used in a different way against plate armour, to cut through, punch through, or crush the poor medieval soldier.

The lance, as seen here being used by the mounted soldier, were not exactly like the lances used in jousting, they were more like spears, they were long and made to be used with one hand, and of course the ends were sharpened to a point.
Interesting, and I learnt this yesterday, a lance also refers to a unit of soldiers, who would surround a nobleman as he went into battle. The Lance was usually made up of squires, other mounted soldiers and of course the knight himself.

Here's another photograph I took yesterday when we visited the Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester. 

http://www.kriii.com/

Picture
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King Henry V

16/9/2015

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My knowledge of Henry's life and times has grown slowly over the years, I know more now than I did when I first wrote this blog when my historical interest lead me away from this era via the family feuds of the Percy's and the Neville's to the dynastic battles we know as the Wars of the Roses. 

The first thing that springs to mind when I think of Henry V is his appearance. 
Picture
In the most famous image of him, which is held by the National Portrait Gallery, his hair is cut very short around the ears and at the back which was the style of the time. It is thought that he was painted this way deliberately to hide the right side of his face on which he is said to have a nasty arrow wound which he received in battle. 

The portrait is a 16th century copy, in it Henry looks as if he is at prayer. He, of course, was regarded as the hero of the nation due to his victory over the French at Agincourt, the battle which saw the English longbow come to the forefront, but also the place where he ordered the deaths of several thousand French prisoners. 

The date of Henry's birth is said to be either the 9th or the 16th of August in 1386/7, he was born the second son of Henry IV, he had, by the age of seventeen taken part in the Battle of Shrewsbury and topped that with five years fighting against Welsh and the legendary Owen Glendower, the last Welsh leader to be known as the Prince of Wales. Henry also put down a rebellion lead by Richard of Conisburgh grandfather to Richard III, Henry Scrope and Thomas Grey and their attempt to put Edmund Mortimer on the English throne. This later became known as the Southampton Plot. We also remember King Henry V for his involvement with France where between 1415 and 1420 he was successful in taking the port of Harfleur, the town of Rouen, and managed to force the French to sign the Treaty of Troyes. 

Following his success in France, Henry was recognised as the heir to the French throne which was sealed by his marriage to Charles VI's daughter Catherine of Valois. The couple returned home to England, six months later Catherine was crowned queen and two months later, Henry returned to France. The young queen gave birth to her son Henry, later Henry VI, in the December of 1421, but the of hero of Agincourt lay dying from dysentery at the Chateau de Vincennes, in France, where he died on the 31st of August, leaving his lands and titles in the tiny hands of his nine month old son.

If  King Henry V had not died that summers day in France, Catherine of Valois would not have been left a young widow to find solace in the arms of Owen Tudor and therefore no there would have been no Henry VII and no Tudor dynasty.

There are two interesting articles on Henry V's achievements one from 1986 by Nigel Saul entitled Henry and the Duel  Monarchy and another by Dan Jones entitled From Agincourt to Bosworth, both can be read here. 


www.historytoday.com/nigel-saul/henry-v-and-dual-monarchy
www.historytoday.com/dan-jones/agincourt-bosworth​
​
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Rhys ap Thomas: Boasting of Killing a King

13/9/2015

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When the remains of Richard III were found in 2012, it was discovered that he had sustained a number of injuries during the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 where he fought for his crown. 

On examination, Richard's skull presented a number of wounds, two of which were massive. The first wound examined is consistent with a halberd or something similar being used. The second was a jagged hole where a bladed weapon had been thrust right through the bone, resulting in an indention opposite this wound, showing that the blade had penetrated into the kings head to a depth of 10.5cm.
​

Both injuries would have ended the kings life, but which came first, and what doe's history tell us?

Picture
Death of Richard III. Painting by Graham Turner
Legend has it that the fatal blow was caused by a halberd struck by Welshman Rhys ap Thomas, a man once allied to the Yorkist party who traitorously changed his allegiance. With one swipe of his halberd, it has been said, he took the life of the king who was the last monarch to die in battle. 

Of course, we can never know who stuck that last blow, but one intriguing piece of evidence points to the fact that Rhys ap Thomas may have been Richard's nemesis, and very proud he was of it too!


Picture
The medieval bed is synonymous with wealth and the social standing of its owner, one bed that shows this quite clearly is a bed that now stands in Rhys ap Thomas's room in Derwydd House in Llandybie, Carmarthenshire.

M
ade out of Welsh oak, only the three valance's are considered to be from the original bed, it is one of the side valances that may prove that the Rhys ap Thomas legend is true and that this treacherous Welshman did indeed strike the fatal blow against Richard III. A scene carved into the wood, depicts two mounted knights facing one another, between them stands a soldier with a halberd, it is this soldier that is thought to be Rhys Ap Thomas.

The bed is 
dated to about 1505, the same time that Henry VII appointed the Welshman to his privy council and made him a Knight of the Garter.  

There's no better way of boasting how you climbed the ladder of success, never mind that you let the victor of Bosworth walk all over you, than carving your greatest achievement on your most prized possession.
​  
 Rhys ap Thomas is said to have been "a man of integrity and honour " and that of course is a matter of opinion. 

Picture
It has also been suggested, I think wrongly, that the larger soldier behind the mounted knight is Rhys ap Thomas, however either one of these men could depict this Welshman, for the weapons both men are carrying would have caused the fatal injuries that resulted in the death of King Richard III.  Of course, which ever one it was depends on how this Welshman saw himself and not necessarily the weapon he used. If Rhys ap Thomas saw himself as the man who brought an end to the Plantagenet dynasty and was reasonable for kick starting the Tudor dynasty then he may choose to place himself in between the two main players, or he may wish to have himself seen as a mighty poleaxe wielding welsh hero Welsh poets like to write so much about.
Picture
What ever way Rhys ap Thomas chose to boast of his exploits, or which ever weapon he used I think that we can say that this legend is possibly true.
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Richard III: The Legendary Ten Seconds

12/9/2015

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I was asked by Ian Churchward, one of the members of the band The Legendary Ten Seconds to review their album Richard III and here it is. 
Picture
 I have to admit, I was a little bit apprehensive as I inserted the disc into my CD player, I thought that I might have to listen to something akin to the dull tones of monastic chanting or that I would feel the urge to get dressed into a cheesecloth dress and dance around my kitchen flinging flowers in the air. However, I was pleasantly surprised, the music on this album does not fit into the first category and neither did I find myself rushing out to by an album by Donovan!

The 13 track CD arrived on my doorstep a week ago and I have been playing it on and off since then.

The Legendary Ten Seconds are a folk band with a twist, their music is historically based, this and others albums cover the 
time of the Wars of the Roses, but this album is solely about Richard III and the events that changed his life and altered the course of history.

The first track on the album is called Sheriff Hutton, I loved it. I immediately thought of Steely Dan's Do It Again, and the way that track made me feel when I first heard it, like Do It Again, the instrumental intro conveys a sense of sorrow and loneliness, a sense of foreboding, if you know Richard's story then you will know what I am talking about, and that's why, for me its a great track. When the lyrics begin that is when you are really plunged into Richard's time. If you close your eyes, you may as well be standing listening to a minstrel telling Richard's tale to a crowd of peasants in a medieval market place somewhere in England. 
 
Tracks 11, The Year of Three Kings and track 15 Remember My Name are also decent songs. In Track 23, called Ambion Hill, the band talks of ghosts, and the woodwind instruments and bells are used to great affect.

The band have cleverly used a historical narrative that builds the playlist into a 25 track album, it is written and recorded by author Matthew Lewis who I know to be an expert on these times.

For me the album ends as it began with a sense of sadness, and the thought of how things might have been.

Yes, The Legendary Ten Seconds have made an album that has been a pleasure to listen to.


http://www.lordzar.co.uk/LTS/


I 



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