Richard III was buried in the choir of the church of the Grey Friars in Leicester. Polydore Vergil states that the burial was “without any pompe or solemn funeral”. This is often – mistakenly – seen to indicate that there were no religious rites. However, as John Ashdown-Hill explains, “solemnity” in the religious context refers to certain aspects of a service, which were not essential. It basically means that the service was a private ceremony by the friars, especially as a choir of their church would not have been open to the public.
To the day 527 years later, on 25 August 2012, on the first day of the archaeological dig in Leicester to find out where the church of the Grey Friars actually had been and hopefully to find Richard’s remains, parts of a human leg bone were unearthed. These were later identified as being part of the remains of Richard III.
Sources:
John Ashdown Hill, The Last Days of Richard III. The History Press, 2010, pp.91-96
Mathew Morris & Richard Buckley, Richard III: The King under the Car Park. University of Leicester Archaeological Services, 2013, pp.22 + 36-45
Mike Pitts, Digging for Richard: How Archaeology Found the King. Thames & Hudson, 2014, pp.99-105
Dorothea Preis
Tags: Church, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III
Comments Off on Thursday, 25 August 1485
Execution of William Catesby by Henry Tudor. Catesby was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Richard III and Speaker of the House of Commons of the Parliament of 1484. He fought for Richard at the Battle of Bosworth and was one of very few men of note who were executed afterwards. It has been suggested that he expected a different treatment from the Stanleys because in his will he asks them “to pray for my soul as ye have not for my body, as I trusted in you.”
Tags: Battles, Contemporaries
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Death of Margaret of Anjou at Anjou, France
Tags: France, Margaret of Anjou
Comments Off on 25 AUGUST 1482
Richard III’s son Edward is created prince of Wales.
Source: ODNB on Edward, prince of Wales
Tags: Richard III
Comments Off on 24 AUGUST 1483
The first Gutenberg Bible is printed.
Tags: Books
Comments Off on 24 AUGUST 1456
Remember before God 
Richard III
King of England
and those who fell at Bosworth Field
having kept faith.
22 August 1485
Loyaulte me lie.
(Text: Richard III memorial plaque in the Church of St James, Sutton Cheney
Illustration on the left: King Richard III, © Andrew Jamieson, http://www.jamiesongallery.com/ (used with permission)
On the right: The Church of St James, Sutton Cheney, where the Richard III Society commemorates King Richard III in its annual memorial service in August. It is said that Richard III heard his last Mass at this church.)
Tags: Battles, Bosworth, Henry Tudor, Richard III
Comments Off on 22 AUGUST 1485
Malaga surrenders to the Christian forces of Isabella of Castile and Fernando de Aragon. Malaga was at that time part of the Emirate of Granada, which eventually fell in 1492.
A century earlier the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta had described Malaga as “one of the largest and most beautiful towns of Andalusia [uniting] the conveniences of both sea and land, and is abundantly supplied with foodstuffs and fruits” [quoted in Wikipedia ‘Malaga’].
(Photograph of the Patio de los Naranjos in the Alcazaba, Malaga, by D Preis)
Tags: Spain
Comments Off on 18 AUGUST 1487
Birth of Richard of Shrewsbury, second son and sixth child of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, at Shrewsbury.
Tags: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Family
Comments Off on 17 AUGUST 1473
Birth of Catherine of York, ninth child and sixth daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, at Eltham Palace, Greenwich. Married to William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon. After his death on 9 May 1511 she took a voluntary vow of chastitity. Died on 15 November 1527 at Tiverton Castle, Devon.
Tags: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Family
Comments Off on 14 AUGUST 1479
Birth of Margaret, daughter of George, duke of Clarence, and Isabel Neville, at Farley Castle near Bath. She married in November 1487 Sir Richard Pole, an important member of the regime of Henry VII.
Source: ODNB on Margaret Pole
Tags: Family, George of Clarence
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