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Posts from the ‘England’ Category

May 10

Dunwich-lepers-chapel

Dunwich 1287

Up until 1286 Dunwich was a thriving port in Suffolk, when two huge storms – The South England flood of February and the flood of Lucia 1287 - swept much of the settlement into the sea and silted up the Dunwich River. At the same time it is estimated that more than 50.000 lost their life in the Netherlands crating the Zuiderzee. Later the storms were followed by a series of new disasters leading to the demise of a city, which in its heyday was on par with London. Apart from a few ruins, tt now lies collapsed between three and ten meters below the surface of the sea.

Originally a Roman coastal fort and a Saxon settlement, Dunwich grew around the turn of the first millennium into a wealthy town. Growth depended on the introduction of new offshore fishing techniques and possibilities plus sea trade and ship-building. Before the Norman Conquest it was only one out of four towns listed as holding a regular market. In 1225 it held 18 ecclesiastical buildings plus a mint, a large guildhall and several large important houses. The population has been estimated at between 3000 and 5000. However the continuing storms pared with the regular silting of the harbour ended up in a reduction of the crown taxes from £108 to £14. Although the decline of the town was temporarily halted in the late 15th and early 16th century, the town de facto turned into a village, when the status of royal habour was transferred to Southwold after 1489.map of Dunwich 1250 2012. 211x300 Dunwich 1287

On land today the remains of the medieval town comprise the gateways and refectory of the Greyfriars monastery, the 12th century leper chapel and a tiny bit of the former churchyard of All Saints.

Muddy waters have until recently made any exploration near impossible. However a new technology, Didson acoustic sonar imaging combined with a detailed survey of all known archaeological data from the site, together with old charts and navigation guides to the coast,  has led to the production of accurate and detailed maps of the layout of the streets and the position of specific buildings as for instance the eight churches.

All this and much more can be ascertained from the final report from team, which surveyed the site for English heritage.

READ MORE:

Read the report:  5883 Dunwich, Suffolk: Mapping and Assessing the inundated medieval town.

A story of the city of Dunwich as well as more information about the project may be found at Dunwich.org

More information about the history of Dunwich can be found at The Dunwich Museum’s website

 

Apr 30

georges-chapel-oxford-castle
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Geoffrey Monmouth

A now-crumbled chapel on the site of Oxford Castle is almost certain to have been the place, where the Legends of King Arthur, part of the 12th century History of the Kings of Britain, were written by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined Norman medieval castle situated on the west edge of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. The originally moated wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced with stone in the 11th century.  It played an important role in the conflict of the Anarchy, a civil war in England and Normandy between 1135 and 1153. However, in the 14th century the military value of the castle diminished and the site was used primarily for county administration and for detaining prisoners. Most of the castle was destroyed during the English Civil War and by the 18th century the remaining buildings were used as Oxford’s local prison. Today the medieval remains of the castle, including the motte and St George’s Tower, are classed as a Grade I listed building and as a Scheduled Monument. The castle is used as venue for historical events and guided tours. In May there will be a week of family quests and Sword in the Stone-style activities around the castle celebrating the discovery that Geoffrey of Monmouth conceived his Historia Regum Britanniae there.

““It was Geoffrey who introduced the figures of King Arthur and Merlin to a wide medieval readership while he served in St George’s Chapel, on the site of what is now Oxford Castle,” explains Helen Fulton to BBC, Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of York with particular knowledge of Arthurian literature. She continues: “We know he must have been in Oxford in at least 1129 or earlier and the book was written around 1136. He must have been based there when he wrote his famous Latin chronicle, Historia Regum Britanniae, around 1136.

Oxford Castle
Oxford castle is first recorded in1071 when the Annals od Oseney states that “in the same year the castle of Oxford was built by Robert de Oilly the First”. The castle was inserted into the Western end of the late Saxon Town and made use of the river in its defences.

The first Norman castle was presumably made out of earth and timer; it may have had the form of a “ring-work”. However, very soon its plan comprised a mound and bailey.

The castle never played a significant role in the History of England, except during the Anarchy when King Stephen besieged the Empress Matilda in 1142. The castle was yet again under attack in 1215 during the war of the Barons.

Very early on in the 12th century the original wooden buildings were replaced by stone-work. However from the 14th century the castle was allowed to fall into disrepair and its functions ceased to be military.

St. George’s Tower and the crypt belong to the earliest stone-work. It is even possible these edifices belonged to an earlier church, since the parish of St. George is documented from pre-conquest. The crypt and the tower is all that is left of this church. In the end of the 18th century a huge part of the old building was sacrificed in order to built a prison in the former castle. The former nave and chancel was at that point rebuilt as a prison hospital. However, part of the crypt still stands. Its massive proportions and its rough stone-carvings represent the vestiges of this very early building from the 12th century.

Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a 12th-century cleric and writer who was a key figure in collection and distribution of the legends of King Arthur. Relatively little is known about his life but it is believed he was born around 1100 in Wales or the Welsh Marches and had a Breton father and a Welsh mother. He is described as magister, a Latin word meaning master, which suggests he may have been teaching in the early days of the university. He was made bishop of St. Asaph in Wales in 1152 and died in 1155.

READ MORE:

A Companion to Arthurian Literature (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture)
By Helen Fulton (Editor)
Wiley-Blackwell (6 Jan 2012)

This Companion offers a chronological sweep of the canon of Arthurian literature – from its earliest beginnings to the contemporary manifestations of Arthur found in film and electronic media. Part of the popular series, Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture, this expansive volume enables a fundamental understanding of Arthurian literature and explores why it is still integral to contemporary culture. Offers a comprehensive survey from the earliest to the most recent works Features an impressive range of well–known international contributors Examines contemporary additions to the Arthurian canon, including film and computer games Underscores an understanding of Arthurian literature as fundamental to western literary tradition

The History of the Kings of Britain (Classics)
Geoffrey of Monmouth (Author), Lewis Thorpe (Introduction, Translator)
Penguin Classics; New Impression edition (25 Jan 1973)

Completed in 1136, The History of the Kings of Britain traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years later. Vividly portraying legendary and semi-legendary figures such as Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin the magician and the most famous of all British heroes, King Arthur, it is as much myth as it is history and its veracity was questioned by other medieval writers. But Geoffrey of Monmouth’s powerful evocation of illustrious men and deeds captured the imagination of subsequent generations, and his influence can be traced through the works of Malory, Shakespeare, Dryden and Tennyson.

Oxford Castle Unlocked
The official Guidebook

 

Apr 24

G CIEL 1_025
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Grosseteste

Last year “Minor Planet 36169” was renamed “Grosseteste”. But why?

grosseteste project posted on twitter 300x225 Grosseteste

Trying to explain the thinking of Grosseteste…

Grosseteste (1175 -1253) was a thirteenth-century theologian and church administrator with an impressive career. In his lifetime he served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of Canterbury. There is no doubt that he was a gifted administrator, translator and theologian and it is believed he had an important impact on the politics and politicians of his time. While his administrative and political works are fairly well known, the same cannot be claimed about his contributions to science, which to this day have not even been properly edited and published. He wrote more than 300 works on a wide variety of subjects like theology, meteorology, colour and optics as well as mathematics, most of which however was even in his own lifetime poorly read.

The aim of a new project is to re-edit and translate the scientific treatises, in order to present them from the perspective of their own intellectual history, as well as to analyse them functionally, using where appropriate the insights and conceptual tools of modern science.

Recently the project got further support through an AHRC “international network grant”. In connection with this – and presumably to vet the interest of the masses – a snippet of this new form of interdisciplinary research into the scientific writings of Grosseteste was presented in a more popular form.Grosseteste bishop 192x300 Grosseteste

De Luce
Point of departure is some fascinating experiments carried through on the basis of the cosmology of Grosseteste as it was presented in one of his most important scientific works, his treatise “De Luce” or “Concerning Light”. In it he proposed a model of the cosmos – created through expansion and changing through time – that by some has been regarded as some 700 years ahead of Georges Lemaître and Edwin Hubble, the fathers of modern day cosmology and the theory of Big Bang.

Of course these ideas did not sit well with the static model of the universe, which dominated at that time, according to which it was believed that the universe consisted of a series of static spheres. Accordingly he worked hard to reconcile this world-view with his own understanding of the character of light. In the end he came up with a solution, which suggested an expanding, but finite universe where lux (light) carries matter away from a central point until it reaches a point of stasis, while lumen, another form of light, encourages it to once more contract. Inside these movements the spheres were believed by him to be formed.

This may seem really bizarre. However in the project scientists have worked together with medievalists in Durham in order to “see if it could possibly have worked”. Although the model falls short of what modern astronomers and physicists might accept as a viable model, it did work at the time of Grosseteste as a valid explanation of how the “spheres might have come about”. In this sense Grosseteste might have said to be a really brilliant forerunner of those modern scientists, who adhere to the Big-Bang theory, according to which it is believed that the Universe exploded 13,75 billion years ago from a singularity of infinite density and temperature.

This may all seem somewhat farfetched! But it is an interesting example of how it is indeed possible to think of proper science and physics as something, which were never just a modern preoccupation. There is no doubt that Grosseteste in his scientific work was inspired by the newly rediscovered translations and commentaries of Aristotle to try and square his observations of natural phenomena with those of the established theological dogma. In this sense he did act as a significant forerunner of later scientists.

At least it seems appropriate to have a planet named after him!

SOURCE:

The Medieval Big Bang

On the Shoulders of Giants

 

READ MORE:

The Ordered Universe - Durham Grosseteste Project

The International Robert Grosseteste Society

 

NEW PUBLICATIONS:

grosseteste2 191x300 Grosseteste
The Dimensions of Colour: Robert Grosseteste’s De colore
Robert Grosseteste’s De colore (On Colour), in which Grosseteste constructs a combinatorial account of colour, plays an important role within the canon of his scientific works. In this edition, translation and commentary, the conceptual and analytical tools of contemporary science, itself a descendent of Grosseteste and his contemporaries, bring his physical and mathematical reasoning into sharper relief.
Edition, Translation and Interdisciplinary Analysis
By Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Giles E.M. Gasper, Michael Huxtable, Tom C.B. McLeish, Cecilia Panti and Hannah Smithson
Durham Medieval and Renaissance Texts 4. 2013.
x, 94 pp.
ISBN 978–0–88844–564–3 • Paper • $19.95

 

grosseteste 3 200x300 Grosseteste

Robert Grosseteste and His Intellectual Milieu
Fourteen papers on the works and intellectual context of Robert Grosseteste, bishop, philosopher, and theologian, including new editions and English translations of Grosseteste’s De luce, his Latin translation of John of Damascus, and his Sermon 86.
New Editions and Studies
Edited by John Flood, James R. Ginther, and Joseph W. Goering.
Papers in Mediaeval Studies 24. 2013. xiv, 430 pp.
ISBN 978–0–88844–824–8 • Cloth • $90.00

 

 

grosseteste 1 202x300 Grosseteste

Robert Grosseteste: His Thought and Its Impact

 

Grosseteste’s significant contributions to science and theology are a testament to his reputation as a consummate polymath. This wide-raging collection of essays in honour of James McEvoy also includes two essays by him.
Edited by Jack P. Cunningham
Papers in Mediaeval Studies 21. 2012. xviii, 362 pp.
ISBN 978–0–88844–821–7 • Cloth • $90.00

 

Mar 24

wiki-Fibules_mérovingiennes_02

King Edwin’s ring?

King Edwin’s ring?

In the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century there existed a prominent set of interconnections between the Anglo-Saxon and Merovingian royal families. One node in this network was Ethelberga, daughter of Bertha (539 -612), the Merovingian Princess who married King Æthelberht of Kent and afterwards became patron of St. Augustine of Canterbury and his Gregorian mission. The story about Ethelberga was told by the venerable Bede, as she was responsible for the conversion to Christianity of her husband Edwin, king of Northumbria. Bede writes:

“EDWIN (586 – 633) had reigned most gloriously over the nations of the English and the Britons seventeen years, for six of which, as we have said, he also was a soldier in the kingdom of Christ.

Then Caedwalla, king of the Britons, rebelled against him. He was supported by the vigorous Penda, of the royal race of the Mercians, who from that time euled over that nation for twenty-two years with varying success.

 A fierce battle was fought in the plain that is called Haethfelth (Hatfield Chase) and Edwin was killed on the 12th of October, in the year of our Lord 633. He was then forty-eight years of age; and all his army was either slain or dispersed. … King Edwin’s head was brought to York, and afterwards placed in the church of the blessed Peter the Apostle, which he himself had begun to build, but which his successor Oswald finished, as has been said before. It was placed in the chapel of the holy Pope Gregory, from whose disciples he had received the word of life.

The affairs of the Northumbrians were being thrown into confusion at the moment of this disaster and there seemed to be no prospect of safety except in flight. Paulinus took with him Queen Ethelberga, whom he had before brought there, and returned to Kent by sea. The Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald very honourably received her there. The king came under the conduct of Bassus, a most valiant thegn of King Edwin, having with him Eanfled, the daughter, and Wuscfrea, the son of Edwin, as well as Yffi, the son of Osfrid, Edwin’s son.

Afterwards Ethelberg, for fear of the kings Eadbald and Oswald, sent Wuscfrea and Yffi over into Gaul to be bred up by King Dagobert, who was her friend; and there they both died in infancy, and were buried in the church with the honour due to royal children and to Christ’s innocents.“ (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede, Book 2, chapter 20. Edited with Introduction and Notes by Judith McClure and Roger Collins. Oxford University Press, p. 105. Punctuation and translation slightly amended).

The interesting question here is of course whether the Esrick ring – probably made out of a small (female) brooch – may have belonged to Edwin or his son Osfried, before it got lost in the aftermath of the battle. Hatfield Chase, where the decisive battle took place, is located 58 km south of Esrick; both locations lie near or at the old Roman Road leading into York, where the head (body) of the king – according to Bede – was brought.

Such speculations are rife in view of the new date assigned to the ring. Whether further studies of the ring will yield corroboration to this hypothesis awaits to be seen…

The Photo shows some Merovingian brooches kept in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris

Mar 22

saphire ring
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The Esrick Ring

The Escrick ring probably from the 5th or 6th century and possibly royal…

2009 a metal dectorist, Michael Greenhorn, found a unique golden finger ring adorned with a sapphire. The ring, which was found near Yorkshire, was originally deemed to be medieval.

Experts, recently discussing the Escrick Ring at a workshop in York, now believe it was probably from the 5th or 6th century – and not the 10th or 11th as originally thought.

They also suggested the ring was made in Europe, possibly France, and that it would have belonged to a king, leader or consort – not a Bishop which was a previous theory. The wear on the ring also suggests that it could have been a brooch first, which was later made into a ring.

Natalie McCaul, curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum who owns the ring, said: “What this workshop has shown is that this sapphire ring is even more special than we had previously thought. Nothing like it has been found in this country from the 5th or 6th century.

“It has been fantastic to hear the thoughts of some of the world’s leading experts and their suggestions will allow us to now go away and try and fit the ring into a historical timeframe. Hopefully this will lead us to finding out more about the ring and possibly even who might have owned it”, she says.

More than 30 experts from attended the workshop across the country. After a day of talks, presentations and discussions the main theories were that the ring was of a style similar to others found in Europe in the 5th or 6th centuries.

This link to Europe and the fact nothing has been found like it in Britain before, suggest that this is where it was made. When checking for other examples of ring from this period, none similar were found to belong to Bishops, which suggests it would have belonged to a King, leader or consort.

The sapphire in the ring was probably cut earlier, possibly during the Roman period, but the ring itself was specially made around the sapphire. By looking at the wear on the ring it is thought that it was worn for at least 50 years before it was lost.

The gold hoop that forms the ring also looks slightly different to the main part of the ring, with suggestions being made that it was turned into a ring later, possibly from a brooch or mount.

One alternative suggestion made was that the ring was from a later period (perhaps the 8th or 9th centuries) but was inspired by earlier styles in both jewelry and perhaps surviving stonework in Yorkshire dating from the 5th or 6th centuries.

The theories suggested during the day will now be followed up, with particular attention paid to where the ring was found and any archaeology or historical information relating to it from the 5th or 6th centuries. Researchers from the University of Durham, who will carry out X-Rays in order to study how it was made, will conduct this initially. Also the sapphire and glass elements will be studied more comprehensively. Samples will also be taken from the gold hoop, to see if it is a different gold from the main part of the ring.

The nationally important gold ring was found by metal detectors Michael Greenhorn, from York and District Metal Detecting Club, in 2009. It measures around 2.5cm across and is intricately made of gold, prestige glass and a large sapphire.

The Yorkshire Museum has raised £35,000 to buy the ring, with generous grants of £10,000 from the Art Fund, £10,000 from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, £10,000 from the Headley Trust and £1,000 from the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

READ MORE:

About the symbolic value of rings in the 5th and 6th century and saphires at that time:

The Seal of Alaric, rex Gothorum
By Genevra Kornbluth.
In: Early Medieval Europe, Vol 16, Issue 3, pages 299 – 332, August 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 20

binding-book-12th-century-university-liverpool

A 12th Century Book

A book in the library at the University of Liverpool was redated by Dr. Erik Kwakkel to the 12th century

Gregorius’ De cura pastorali was until yesterday believed to stem from the 13th century. After a visit by leading scholar, Dr. Erik Kwakkel, the small book was redated to the 12th century using new developments in the field.

Dr Erik Kwakkel, of Leiden University in the Netherlands, was visiting the University’s Special Collections and Archives to deliver a workshop and talk to postgraduate students on medieval manuscripts.

An a expert in the fields of palaeography and codicology, Dr. Kwakkel attempts to uncover what he terms the ‘cultural residue’ of works in order to gain an insight into their age and possible use. He explores manuscripts by examining aspects not central to the text itself, such as book chains, marks from candle wax, reader annotations or the type of material the work is written on etc.

Dr Kwakkel was given the opportunity to explore the extensive collection and determined that a copy held of Gregorius’ De cura pastorali was not made in the 13th Century, as originally thought, but actually dates back an additional 100 years – making it the oldest in the collection. He bases the new date on an examination of the binding.

“When you have the binding, you can see what it looked like in the Middle Ages. We have the full picture and we can see the book like a medieval person did… what makes it significant is that it still has its original bindings. These are extremely rare in the Middle Ages, particularly when we move back in time from the 13th Century to the 12th Century”.SpecColl 1WEB 300x198 A 12th Century Book

Among those attending the workshop were Medieval and Renaissance Studies MA students, Kate Watkins, Seamus Cartmell and James Duffy. Seamus said: “It’s interesting to think that it’s not necessarily what’s in the document, as much as its physicality – we have to listen to what it says. The book is a silent witness.”

On a mission
Erik told students that the presence of a chain on a book, or even the remnants of a chain, revealed that it was stored in a public place. Any annotations or marginalia were also likely to have been produced by readers across the ages, and not by the monks who originally produced each work.

He added: “I do this because I am on a mission. The medieval manuscript needs a bigger audience, much bigger than it has, and the next generation needs to be inspired. I do feel that graduate students need to feel there is something still to be researched.”

To further this aim, both Erik and Sarah are active on twitter @Erik_Kwakkel and @Sarah_Peverley

SOURCE:
Revealed: The Oldest Book in University Libraries. IN: University News from the University of Liverpool

Find out more about the Special Collections and Archives in the Library at the University of Liverpool

Read more about the work of Dr. Erik Kwakkel in “Turning over a New Leaf”, published in 2012 by the University of Leiden

Follow the project at Facebook

 

 

Mar 19

City’s Cash

City’s Cash is 800 years old and still financing The City of London. No longer cloaked in secrecy, it is still a bone of contention in the elections march 2013

Papers from Washington have been leaked. Secrets of the Vatican are still being spilled into news and media. Has the time finally come to one of the ancient pillars of England, The City’s Cash? This is the hope of the “City Reform Group”, some of whose members are running for election here in March 2013. According to their homepage the candidates have pledged to work for democracy and transparency in this most august and opaque, but also very profitable institution, run by a group of “medieval elders”.

Square Mile
The elected City of London Corporation acts as the local authority for the Square Mile business district around St Paul’s, supports the UK-based financial services industry and provides many other services and facilities for London and the wider UK. It is believed that the City of London generates app. 10% of the British Economy. Trade surpluses of £47.2bn in UK financial services and £8.3bn in professional services were larger than any other sector in 2011. According to its website, The City of London works to promote London as the world leader in international finance and business services, particularly through its Lord Mayor as well as protecting City interests in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels. Further it is one of the most significant art sponsors in the UK, including the Barbican Centre, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Guildhall Art Gallery. It has its own police and manages almost 11,000 acres of historic and natural green space, for public recreation and health, runs three schools and the Smithfield, Billingsgate and Spitalfields markets and runs London’s largest grant-giving charity, the City Bridge Trust.

 Guildhall
The city of London cooperation has its headquarters in Guildhall, the city powerhouse since the 12th century. Mainly built between 1411 and 1440 it was designed to reflect the importance of London’s Ruling Elite. However, the West Crypt is believed to date from the 13th century although built on top of a Roman amphitheatre. The term “Guildhall” refers to both the current complex of buildings as well as the great Hall, now used as a function room.

City’s Cash
All this is financed by, the income generated in three foundations: Bridge House Estates used to upheld the heritage in the city, the City Fund which generates income from taxes and the “City’s Cash”, a fund which has existed for more than 800 years. Income stems from school fees, rents, grants and investments. Expenditure falls on economic development, city representation, markets, open spaces and education.

It is detailed accounts of this ancient institution,

It is detailed accounts of this ancient institution – for the first time revealed in December 2012 – which some believe aught to be more transparent in the current climate of financial insecurity and even crisis.  Apparently the ancient administrative rules do not quite live up to the puritanical standards wished for in the present climate of austerity. Hence the aspirations of the reform group to overthrow the administration of present day Guildhall. According to some critiques The City of London is no more than a very powerful group of lobbyists, medieval in character and spirit.

 

Feb 9

Edward IV and Richard III

Bring up the Bones III

How debilitating was Richard III’s scoliosis? And what did he really look like?

Richard III had an idiopathic scoliosis with a curvature of at least 600. Such a curvature may or may not have infringed upon his physical capabilities. The challenge here is that systematic analysis of the long-term effects of untreated scoli osis are nearly non-existent. The reason is that for most of the 20th century patients with more severe scoliosis have been treated with either braces or operations. Thus the consequence of an untreated scoliosis is complicated to evaluate.

Apparently we cannot really say what the consequences for a man like Richard were. Might it have infringed upon his respiratory function while he lived? Possibly – and probable had he lived longer. With time his scoliosis would probably have increased. Did he have arthritis? Yes definitely as can be seen from the photos generously made available at the dedicated website. However, whether it caused him pain is impossible to speculate about.

At least it did not hamper him in the lifestyle expected of a king. In August 1485, just before the battle, Richard took to Bestwood, an enclosed deer park in Sherwood Forest north of Nottingham. The park comprised some 3000 acres enclosed with a 3 metre high fence with a perimeter of 14 km.

richard III from another angle 300x200 Bring up the Bones IIIAt the centre of the deer-park was a royal hunting lodge- Hundred years later when a survey tells us it was a tiled, timber-framed building with laths and plaster. At that time it seems to have contained 38 rooms plus outbuildings. The quarry here would have been red deer and fallow deer. In 1607 a survey was undertaken. At that time the deer stock at Bestwood consisted of at least 300 fallow deer and 24 red deer. Here Richard III spent some days with friends while Henry Tudor began to move up from the coast. It was from Bestwood, Richard began his last fateful journey via Nottingham Castle towards Leicester on the 19th and arriving on the 20th of August. Hardly a man with a debilitating backache! With no more than 44.5 km from Nottingham to Leicester it was what any fit rider might easily cover in one to two days; but not something to undertake with a severe backache. Later on, of course, we know that he did not spare himself in the battle but took fully part in it, wielding his weapons as good as any knight.

spine © umiversity of leicester 300x135 Bring up the Bones IIIOn the other hand, he probably did not look the happy part, as the recent cranio-facial reconstruction seems to purport. In fact descriptions, which exists from persons, who had actually seen him unanimously describes him as thin, lithe and gaunt. Which is also the evidence gathered from his skeleton. Croyland uses the word “attenuated countenance” –meaning he was thin and drawn but with a livid even ghastly expression on his face on the morning of the battle of Bosworth. Indicating what? Restless pain? We cannot know. But what we do know is that Richard does not in the least look like his happy and a bit plump brother in the earliest existing portrait of him painted around 1520 from a now lost original. In this portrait he looks stern, serious and drawn as might reasonably be expected from a man otherwise described as a man with a restless nature. This does not mean that he was a smile-less creature (we know from his letters he definitely had a humorous disposition).

But neither can he solely have been the happy-go-lucky type visualized for us in the recent cranio-facial reconstruction presented this week. At the presentation it was claimed that the reconstruction was based on the skull. That may be so. But some choices have been made here regarding the challenge of adding the padding, the soft tissue. Did he really have this smiling, mischievous countenance? Or did he – like his contemporaries have told us – look much more gaunt, drawn and pained? Or was that just in the end? What is the evidence here?

The official presentation of the “What the Bones Tell us”

READ MORE:

Adolescant idiopathic scoliosis: natural history and long-term treatment effects.
Marc A. Asher and Douglas C. Burton.
Scoliosisjournal 2006 Vol. 1:2 p.

Bestwood Park – A Thousand Years of History
Richard Rutherford-Moore 2001
2001

 

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