How to build a medieval castle….

If you have not seen the BBC documentary series “Secrets of the Castle”, please give it a whirl. It is about a 20-year project in Burgundy to build/rebuild a medieval castle, using all the materials and skills that would have been available to the original castle-builders. It is being repeated on the Yesterday channel at…

WHERE KINGS ONCE RELAXED(AND WHERE YOU CAN STAY TOO)

Recently Leicester has revamped one of its hotels to include a Richard III room. If you are on the road in the Midlands, perhaps visiting Nottingham Castle  (where Richard spent considerable time during his short reign and which is currently undergoing a rehaul of visitor facilities that should hopefully see more mention of Richard) another…

Knitting with a 14th-century goodwife….

Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450 by Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard and Kay Staniland, published by Boydell Press, in association with the Museum of London. ISBN 978-1-84385-239-3 (First published in 1992 and reprinted numerous times since then, lastly in paperback in 2016, which is the version I have.) Before I proceed, I will say that among the sites…

Gloves? Or bare hands….?

BBC TWO: Henry VIII’s Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell, information concerning which will be found here. This programme is very interesting, and I recommend it, but it’s not the content that has prompted me to write this, rather the treatment of an ancient copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings…

Richard III and Dr Who together beneath one roof….?

The Belmont Hotel in Leicester has rooms to acknowledge the city’s claims to fame, including a Space Room, because of the National Space Centre and the university’s successful developments in space research since the 1960s. Former Dr Who, Colin Baker, came to advertise the new room. Possibly without the aid of the Tardis, but one…

George III revealed

This documentary, presented by Robert Hardman of the Daily Mail, unveils some of our longest-serving King’s secrets, such as a draft abdication letter after American independence was achieved. It also discusses his health issues in greater detail. Until recently, it was thought that he suffered from porphyria, a physical disease that Mary Stuart carried to…

Views of Framlingham

This has to be one of every Ricardian’s favourite sites and now this article explains how a documentary about a certain song came to be made there, greatly featuring the town and some local students. Here is the official video.

The real site of the Battle of Barnet…?

The excellent BBC series Digging for Britain, Series 5, the episode concerning the east of Britain, presented by the equally excellent Dr Alice Roberts, contained a section on the Battle of Barnet, 1471. Why is it that an accepted site for a battle so often proves to be the wrong one? Bosworth is a prime…

What if…?

Having a little trawl around the internet, I came across this page which I hadn’t seen before. It is an alternative history, wondering ‘What if Richard III had won the Battle of Bosworth?’ It is only short, but refreshing to read about his victory for a change!

What did Richard III sound like….?

Back in 2013, Dr Philip Shaw of Leicester University gave a demonstration of how Richard might have spoken, putting into the spoken word two of Richard’s personal letters. He concluded that from Richard’s spelling, he would have sounded as if he came from the West Midlands – Dudley, Birmingham, Ludlow, or thereabouts. This sample of…