Category: Leicester - Meandering Through Time

King Richard III After Bosworth

22/8/2017

As Henry Tudor arrived at Crown Hill in the village of Stoke Golding he left the bodies of the dead and dying of both sides on the battle field of Bosworth but not Richard's. The mortal remains of the last monarch to be killed in battle was brought back to city of Leicester, crossing Bow Bridge as he had on his journey the day before. The kings naked and mutilated body was taken through Newark Gateway into the precinct of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary where it lay for two days to prove to the country that he was dead.

A description of this states

“they browght kynge Richard thethar that nyght, as naked as evar he was borne, and in the New Warke was he layd, that many a man might see”.

Historians tell us that this was not an act of vindictiveness by Henry Tudor, it was an attempt to quash all rumours that the crowned monarch could still be alive somewhere and might return to claim his throne.

The Church of the Annunciation contained the tombs of some of Tudor´s ancestors, therefore it would be inappropriate the Richards body lay there too. On Henry orders Richard's body was removed by the Franciscan friars of Leicester and given a simple Christian burial in the choir of their church where he lay until September 2012.

King Richard III's story, within the context of Leicester, came to an end in March of 2015 when he was finally be laid to rest in the city's Cathedral.

In my images from a trip to Leicester we can see the spot where Sir Reynold Bray is thought to have found Richard's crown, Newark Gate, under which Richard III body was brought from Bosworth and the Church of the Annunciation (images five and six) would have been on the left of image five.

Henry Earl of Leicester and Lancaster

22/9/2016

The 22nd of September 1345, saw the death of Henry, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster. Henry was the grandson of Henry III and the son Edmund Crouchback by his second wife Blanche of Artois.

Henry may have suffered from a condition known as Torticollis, where the muscles of the neck cause the head to twist to one side leading him to be nick-named Wryneck, the same name as a bird who can turn its head almost 180 degrees.

Seal of Henry of Lancaster from the Barons' Letter 1301,

In 1310, Henry was one of the Lords Ordainers, a body of twenty one men chosen to oppose King Edward II and force him to make changes to both his household and his kingdom. The nobles of the realm had become discontent with Edward and his reliance on favourites such as Piers Gaveston. Henry's brother Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, whose title Henry would later receive, was involved in another rebellion against King Edward in 1321, he was executed at Pontefract Castle in 1322. Henry received, along with the title, his brothers lands.

In 1330, at the age of fifty-nine, Henry became blind and spent the remainder of his life at Leicester Castle. It maybe due to his own medical afflictions and the reliance on his son and others that in 1331 he founded an infirmary for the poor of the City of Leicester.

The infirmary, known today as Trinity Hospital, was built as an extension of the castle bailey. It was here at Leicester Castle that Henry died in 1345 and where he was buried.

Henry's remains were later reinterred by his son, Henry of Grosmont, in his newly built Collegiate Church of the Annunciation
of Our Lady of the Newarke. If you remember, it was in this very church that the body of King Richard III would lay on show before being thrown into his grave at Grey Friars.

Richard III At Leicester Castle

16/4/2016

18th August 1483

On the 18th August 1483 and just a few weeks after being crown king of England, Richard III stayed at Leicester Castle, a Norman creation being built just after the conquest of England.

In a letter dated that same day Richard writes:

“According to the right of the said truces. Upon which matter, in order that my said subjects and merchants be not deceived under the shadow of the same. I pray you that by my servant, this bearer, one of the grooms of my stable, you will let me know by writing your full intention, and at the same time if you desire anything that I can do for you, that I may do it with good will. And farewell, my lord my cousin."

Ending the letter he wrote

"Written in my castle of Leicester, the 18th day of August 1483”

The image above show part of the remains of Leicester Castle wall, along with cannon ball holes from the time of the civil wars taken on a trip to Leicester earlier this year. A seventeenth century building, with its bricked entrance conceals the twelfth century structure that Richard III would have known. The Great Hall, was built three hundred years before and was a large open space with timber aisle posts, sadly nothing of this can be seen. Standing next to the Great Hall is a vaulted cellar known as John of Gaunt´s cellar, seen below, it is believed that Parliament met here in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Apart from a visit from Richard III, the hall had received other royal guests such as Edward I, Edward II and Henry IV.

Richard III: A Day of Dynasty, Death and Discovery at the Visitors Centre and the clever use of Light.

16/4/2016

King Richard III is known to have stayed at Leicester Castle in 1483, he arrived just a few weeks after being crowned King of England. On the 18th of August, Richard III arrived in the City of Leicester and exactly 531 years to the day, I arrived there too.

Parking our car on the second level of a multi story car park, we could look down on all the continuing building work and see the spire of the Cathedral Church of St Martin in the distance. Walking through the newly paved streets we found ourselves in the grounds of St Martins, and standing with our backs to the cathedrals arched entrance we could see Richard III's statue, recently taken from Castle Gardens, standing in front of the entrance to the new visitors centre. This is what we had come back to Leicester to see following a day spent at the re enactment of the Battle of Bosworth the day before. We arrived at our pre booked time slot refreshed and eager.

I was amazed how tasteful this new build is and how the glass and the brass effect complemented the red brick buildings of the Grammar School on its left and the buildings that make up St Martins on its right. The entrance is large and airy and incorporates the gift shop where you can purchase all the books you will ever need if you wish study the life of king himself. There are a few gift items, and I emphasise the word few, such as mugs, key rings, pencils etc all the things that you usually find in any exhibition and it is nice to see that there is no 'tat' or cheap plastic rubbish aimed at children.

The exhibition is called Dynasty, Death and Discovery and it truly lives up to its name, anyone who doesn't know anything King Richard will understand the basics by the time they leave. As I am familiar with Richards story I found that I could wander around and enjoy the experience rather than spend too much time reading all the very informative, well presented, exhibits and displays. I will not tell you too much about them and spoil your enjoyment, but they cover Richards life, the archaeological dig, and there is a nice exhibit covering all the actors who have played Richard in film or television.

Although we were two among many I never felt rushed or that I should move along onto the next section. The whole place has a calmness and serene feel to it especially Richard's grave area, which I thought was cleverly lit with natural light, it is sensitively presented. Quite rightly, you cannot stand on or walk over the kings grave, but what you can do is look down and reflect on his death and his life with respect, or sit and chat to others on seating that is a little further back.

For those who have been mean and uttered nasty and uncalled for remarks about this exhibition with statements such as

"Absolutely ghastly – words fail me. What a way to treat an anointed King of England"

they should be ashamed of themselves, especially if they have never visited.

Look at my two photograph and consider the fact that the people behind this exhibition have had Richard's own words, the words he himself wrote in his Book of Hours carved in stone above his grave. These people should be commended not criticised,

"Lord Jesus Christ, deign to free me, your servant King Richard, from every tribulation, sorrow and trouble in which I am placed."

The Richard III exhibition is not your normal medieval exhibition, there are no old objects from the past, no ripped or faded tapestries, no musty smells of age, it is a modern, highly technical, interactive interpretation of a dynasty, a death and a discovery that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially as I had forgotten all about the reconstruction of Richards skull until it suddenly appeared from behind a clearing opaque glass screen right in front of me!

I am greatly impressed by the thought that has gone into this build, an old bay window has been replaced with a large glass balcony where you can stand and look out over a garden and the brick wall that once separated the now famous car park from the Grammar School. This wall has now been rebuilt in sandstone which blends in well with the glass walls and ceilings of the building.

I had a enjoyable and relaxed couple of hours topped off with a rather nice cup of tea and a slice of cake in the cafe and would give the exhibition four out of five stars only because there were a couple of things that could be improved.........no not improved, tweaked. The writing on the wall above Richards grave is difficult to read, maybe the letters could be in gold, so they stand out more, the area covering the Battle of Bosworth could be a little bit lighter and some audio exhibits are a bit difficult to hear, but that's about it.

My money and time was well spent.

Leicester's exhibition The Story of King Richard III: Dynasty, Death and Discovery is of course about looking back, but also has a great emphasis on looking forward and this is cleverly done, and not necessarily though its interpretation of Richards story, but through its modern, airy architectural designed building that places Richard III and his future story in a completely new light

The Battle of Bosworth, Richard III and the Leicester Dig

16/4/2016

The Children's Book of Richard III

Battle of Bosworth
Prints http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AlicePovey

In 2015 my daughter Alice illustrated a children's book by Leicester author Rosalind Adam entitled The Children's Book of Richard III. Alice sells prints from the book, one is of the Battle of Bosworth, one of King Richard himself and another of the Leicester dig, these lovely images are here for you all to see and a link to her shop if any of you are interested in purchasing one of them.

I am lucky enough to have the original painting of the battle :)
I hope you all enjoy looking at them.

Alice has a website too, you can see some of her other work and take a peek inside her studio.

Richard III The Road to Bosworth

15/4/2016

Richard III The Road to Bosworth 20th August 1485

It has been said that Richard III spent his last evening in an inn at Leicester known as The Blue Boar, although why the king chose to stay at a local hostelry rather than the cities castle is unknown. As was the norm for medieval royalty, Richard brought his own bed, supposedly stating it was because he “slept ill in strange beds.” The room in which he stayed was described as a “large gloomy chamber.”

The following morning, the 21st of August, Richard set off for Bosworth but after the battle of had gone the way of the Lancastrians the inn keeper of the Blue Boar supposedly had the quickness of mind to rename the inn. What was the White Boar became the Blue Boar for obvious reasons.

Of the inn today nothing remains, fortunately there are plans still in existence so we know what the inn looked like as it once stood on Leicesters High Street in 1485. The site on which the inn now stands is a modern Travel Lodge, where visitors have been known to ask to spend the night in the room in which the king slept.

Two of the images you see here are of the inn as Richard would have seen it. The first is 'Richards room' taken from the nineteenth century notebook in which the above mentioned plans were found, the second, an 1850 representation of the Blue Boar, and the last standing on the site of the original site is the new hotel.

The architectures gone downhill a bit don't you think?

Battle of Bosworth Sand Sculptures

20/9/2015

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/

Richard III: The end of 2013 and I am are still waiting.

27/12/2013

This time last year I was waiting in eager anticipation for the results of the tests on the human remains found at Grey Friars
in Leicester. A huge shout could be heard in my street when it was announced that the remains were indeed that of King Richard III. A year on I feel as a child does when someone has deliberately burst their balloon. We are still waiting, and why? Because someone has thrown the proverbial spanner in the works and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I am disheartened, saddened and not a little bit angry, for at this point in time we should be looking forward to the summer of
2014 and the re internment of the king remains, instead we are waiting on a government review. Sadly, the kings real story
has been lost among discussion and vast amounts of writings on the subject of the unfolding legal case. Some may say
'What a utter waste of time and tax payers money' and who can blame them when all they hear are words like consultation, defendants and adjournments.

The end of King Richards story, if we are not careful, will end up just like the final scene from the Truman show with an audience are looking for something else to watch.

So to keep Richard III's discovery and his life story alive in our minds until his re internment when we can see and hear it afresh here is a link to and English Heritage event entitled Who was the Real Richard III?