Niclas von Popplau reports after his visit to Richard III in spring of 1484 that the king employed a choir which performed ‘the loveliest music I have ever heard in all my life’*, so we can guess that Richard appreciated good music.

Therefore I am sure he would also appreciate the music which is now written in his memory. Here are two examples.

Graham Keitch wrote a beautiful choral piece ‘In memoriam Ricardus Rex’.  Listen to it here.  And a little hint for all who attend the Australasian Convention in July, it might very well feature there as well.

The Richard III has hosted an orchestoral piece by Robert Draper.  You can find out more about this and of course listen to it on the website of the Richard III Society here.

Enjoy!

*Livia Visser-Fuchs, ‘He hardly touched his food, but talked with me all the time:  What Niclas von Popplau really wrote about Richard III’, The Ricardian, Vol.XI, No.145 (June 1999), p.526

Tags: Music, Richard III, Richard III Society

My Google alert found for me an article in the Daily Mail, quoting the views of Mr Shakespeare’s plays from his “contemporaries”.  They also voice their opinion on Richard III.  Thank you, R.B. from Warwick, for putting the record straight!  Though I can also understand Mary P. from Worcestershire.

These opinions from “Ye Internette” are quoted in an article by Craig Brown,a British satirist.  According to his Wikipedia entry he “characteristically [combines] viciousness and honesty”, but don’t fear, he seems to have a good opinion of Richard III.

So if you need something a bit lighter on this grey winter day (at least here in Sydney), read all the opinions here.

Tags: Media, Richard III, Shakespeare

Another find by our friend Renate – what would we do without her!

On 25 April 2013, Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist of the Greyfriars Dig, gave a talk on the dig and the discovery of Richard’s remains at the Tower of London.  I am sure you all feel you know all about the project by now, it is an interesting review, which puts some details into bigger context.  You can listen to it here.

Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III

Literature Matters:  The White Queen

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, World Book Night edition, 2013

I only read this book because my local library gave me a free copy on World Book Night – and by the time I’d finished, I was sincerely glad I hadn’t paid for it.

The underlying story is good (based on the incredible life of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of Edward IV, it could hardly be anything else); and two pages of bibliographic references show that the author has done her homework. That she has drawn from some of the more lurid sources isn’t surprising – this is, after all, a romantic novel – thus we see Elizabeth waylaying Edward for their first meeting as a supplicant clutching the hands of her two little boys; and shortly after, the hackneyed ‘death before dishonour’ scene in which she grabs his dagger and threatens to cut her throat rather than be seduced. The heroine and her mother are both shown as practising witches, capable of whistling up storms, causing Richard of Gloucester to lose the use of his arm and, of course, ensnaring Edward; and throughout, Elizabeth harks back to her supposed descent from the French water-goddess Melusina. (The legend of Melusina and her ducal lover crops up periodically, in passages intended to echo Elizabeth and Edward’s relationship. I found these chokingly annoying, but luckily they appear in italics so can be easily spotted and skipped without detriment to the main narrative).

The bulk of the story is told in the first person, present tense, by Elizabeth Woodville. This gives The White Queen a certain freshness and immediacy, although the style is difficult to carry off plausibly in this genre, and I wasn’t overly impressed by Gregory’s attempt. The early chapters are riddled with references to Edward as a ‘boy’; and while he might have been five years Elizabeth’s junior, I can’t imagine her (or any 15th century lady) using the term for a man well into his majority – let alone for a proven warrior who had reigned as king for three years by the time the story starts. Much of the dialogue is clunky and full of over-explication; this may be necessary to communicate the background history to the reader, but it makes for some pretty unlikely conversations between characters of the time. And Gregory wins my personal award for ‘Most Excruciating Bit of Dialogue in Any Historical Novel’ with Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford’s remark to Cecily, Duchess of York, regarding the latter’s son George, Duke of Clarence: ‘…what would one call him?’ She pauses to wonder what one would call Cecily’s favourite son, then she finds the words: ‘An utter numpty.’ Unbelievable! Bad enough to employ such a grotesque anachronism; even worse to deliberately draw attention to it as though it’s clever and funny. (I guess Gregory thinks it is; she must be laughing all the way to the bank to have fans who pay good money to read such ghastly stuff).

To me, the best parts of The White Queen were the lively battle scenes (possibly because they’re not told in Elizabeth’s voice), the imaginative resolution of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ mystery and Elizabeth’s relationship with Richard III in the closing chapters. But altogether I found it an unsatisfying experience which left me baffled as to why this author is so popular – she’s certainly no Jean Plaidy or Antonia Fraser. Her graceless prose has nothing beautiful to wallow in, nothing substantial to get the teeth into; her sentences are short, her language so basic that (bar a modicum of sex and violence) she might be writing for children. Maybe that’s the appeal – it’s quick, simple, undemanding bland pulp. But if The White Queen is a fair representation of Gregory’s work, it’ll be the first and last of it I read – and I sure as hell won’t be watching the forthcoming TV adaptation!

Conclusion? Don’t waste your money. Buy David Baldwin’s non-fiction biography of Elizabeth Woodville instead; it beats this hands-down for readability and interest.

The above was first published on 16 May 2013 on Helen’s website ‘Helen Rae Rants!‘.  We thank her for permitting us to publish it here as well.

Tags: Elizabeth Woodville

We are very grateful to Dr Phil Stone, Chairman of the Richard III Society, for sharing this information with us.

The Rainham Theatrical Society (RaTS)
are putting on a production of the play

“Richard III on Trial For Murder”

by Michael Bennett

(Mike runs the Richard III Museum in Monk Bar, York)

Performances are on July 18, 19, 20 and 25, 26, and 27

at

the Oasthouse Theatre, Stratford Lane, Rainham, Kent.

The Oasthouse Theatre is situated just off the A2, a few hundred yards past St. Margaret’s Church going towards Sittingbourne. Parking is available in Hidson’s car showroom car park on the A2.

Tickets are £7.50 and can be booked on-line here.

Tags: Richard III, Theatre

Some of you may have seen a – rather disappointing – article in The (British) Telegraph recently about research into Richard’s teeth.

The author, Richard Gray, starts with the fanciful description that Richard was killed by blows which were so heavy that they  “drove the king’s crown into his head”.  However, Bob Woosnam-Savage explained at the conference in Leicester that Richard could only have suffered the injuries that killed him after his helmet had been removed and also explained by what kind of weapon.

Mr Gray then states that Richard suffered from bruxism or teeth grinding.  For him, this confirms Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard as “anxious and fearful” and that the reason might be that “he was wracked with guilt over the fate of the Princes in the Tower, who he is accused of murdering to assume the throne”.

Richard Gray based his article on research by Dr Amit Rai, a London dentist, which was published in the British Dental Journal.  It is hardly surprising that Shakespearean flights of fancy are lacking in the original article.

Dr Rai starts with some general information on dentistry in the middle ages.  Dental treatment would have been carried out by skilled barbers or surgeons, though monks were the dentists of the time, but they were not allowed to shed blood.

A professor of medicine and surgery at Bologna earlier in the 15th century, Giovanni de Arcoli, published guidelines of how to look after your teeth, some of which are still familiar to us, for instance that you should clean your teeth after eating, should avoid sweets or not break hard things with your teeth.  To clean your teeth you should use a thin piece of wood “somewhat broad at the ends, but not sharp-pointed or edged”.  Brushes with bristles were only introduced to Europe from China after Richard’s lifetime.

Then Dr Rai looks in more details at Richard’s teeth.  He does find indeed tooth surface loss, which might be the result of stress related bruxism, but thinks it is more likely that it was caused by dietary abrasions and erosion.  He explains that this erosion is not severe, which indicates a more affluent member of medieval society, who would have eaten food made from more finely milled flour.  This is also confirmed by the findings that the individual had eaten a diet rich in seafood – again something that would be expected of someone of a higher social status.

Three teeth were missing, which Dr Rai attributes to caries.  There are signs that the gaps where these teeth would have been have closed, indicating that they had been removed by a barber or surgeon earlier in Richard’s life.  For Mr Gray this was the result of a diet “rich in carbohydrates and sugar”.  Dr Rai, who had just explained that the teeth indicate a protein-rich diet, only mentions that caries would have been more likely in more affluent persons.

Some teeth show mineralised deposits, which probably are a build up of tartar.  As there is less of this on certain teeth than on others, it might indicate that Richard followed Giovanni de Arcoli’s guidelines on cleaning teeth, with a piece of wood, not a brush.

The left central incisor was also missing, which Dr Rai thinks could have been knocked out when Richard was killed “by some of the most advanced military weapons of the time” – not his own crown.

On the whole, Richard’s teeth give us a good idea of the dental hygiene people in those time would have used.

The difference between the information published in a daily paper, with its sensationalist interpretations, and that in a peer reviewed scientific journal is striking.  There is little doubt, which article is more reliable.

Reference:

Rai, A., ‘Richard III – the final act’, British Dental Journal, Vol.214, No.8 (27 April 2013), pp.415-417

Gray, Richard, ‘King Richard III’s teeth and jaw reveal monarch’s anxious life and violent death’, The Telegraph (1 May 2013).  Date accessed:  2 May 2013

Tags: Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Media, Medieval Life, Richard III

Is finding a parking space in Leicester even harder?  We didn’t have a car with us, when we visited Leicester, so I can’t say whether parking is a problem.  However, as this is the case in most towns, I guess it also goes for Leicester.

First the archaeologists from the University of Leicester dug up one car park, looking for the traces of the Greyfriars church and came up trumps by finding the remains of Richard III.  During the dig, the team found found four burials in the church.  One of them is a 600-year old stone coffin, with lead lining, which is believed to belong to Sir William Moton, a 14th century knight.  He died in 1362 and is thought to have also been buried in the Greyfriars church.  The archaeologists have now applied for an exhumation licence for this stone sarcophagus.

It is believed that Sir William was born and lived in Peckleton, approx. 14 km west of Leicester.  He had been married twice, first to a Joan, with whom he had a son called Robert, and then to an Elizabeth.

Starting in July, they plan to extend the dig to a site next to the car park, in order to find out more about the church and medieval Leicester in general.  Richard Buckley, who also led last year’s dig which uncovered Richard III, said:

This will be a great opportunity to confirm the plan of the east end of the Grey Friars church to learn more about its dating and architecture, and will give us the chance to investigate other burials known to be inside the building.

However, the Greyfriars site is not the only cemetery to be dug up by the archaeological team from Leicester University.  They also dug in the car park at the junction of Oxford and Newarke Streets, which is about to be developed, and found a Roman cemetery dating from around 300 AD.  Leicester was a thriving town during the Roman occupation of Britain.  The Jewry Wall was part of the Roman baths, and remains of other public buildings were discovered next to it.  The Jewry Wall Museum shows interesting displays of Roman artefacts found in the area.

Roman walls and mosaic floor in the Jewry Wall Museum, Leicester (photograph by D Preis)

This car park is on land which was outside of the Roman town, as burials were not allowed within the limits of a town.  Cemeteries usually developed close to main roads, as was the case here.  In previous excavations in the area, other burials had been found, which indicate a Christian tradition bodies were buried in a supine position, facing east with little or no goods buried alongside them.
The finds at the present site indicate a more varied background.  The archaeologists found 13 burials altogether.  The people were of various ages and either sex and were buried in a variety of burial traditions.  Many of the graves contained personal items, from finger rings to hob-nailed shoes.  One grave seems to be that of a Christian:  the person was buried facing east and had a finger ring with what could be the Christian Iota – Chi monogram, the Greek initials for Jesus Christ.

Next to it is a grave which indicates a more pagan burial:  the body is on its side in a semi-foetal position and the removed head placed next to its feet.  It also contained two pottery jars with offerings for journey to the afterlife.

That these graves were found in such close proximity reflects the variety of belief systems which were found in Leicester at that time.

In addition to the Roman remains, the archaeologists hope to get more information on the medieval southern suburbs of Leicester, as they also found remains of quarries, cess-pits and rubbish pits.

References:

Maev Kennedy, ‘Richard III archaeologists to return to Leicester site in search of lost knight’, Guardian.co.uk (30 April 2013).  Date accessed:  6 May 2013

Peter Warzynski, ‘Turns out Richard was not the only one buried here…’, This is Leicestershire (26 April 2013).  Date accessed:  26 April 2013

‘King Richard III archaeology team bids to extend search at historic search site’, University of Leicester, Press Release (30 April 2013).  Date accessed:  5 May 2013

‘King Richard III archaeological unit makes new discovery under a car park in Leicester’, University of Leicester, Press Release (3 May 2013).  Date accessed:  5 May 2013

Tags: Leicester, Roman

I read this in the Sunday Telegraph today:  on the television page about the American remake of House of Cards, which premieres on showcase on Tuesday.

It is a remake of the English1990 Westminster-based drama of deceit and dissemblance. In the original Ian Richardson played Francis Urqhuart, who was nicknamed FU – his character was based on Richard III in Macbeth…

I know Richard did some pretty amazing things in Scotland, but going back a few hundred years to be part of the Macbeth saga is mind-boggling.  Of course, I expect all he wanted to do was show some support for another historical character grossly maligned by Shakespeare!  Perhaps we can ask Philippa to investigate any suitable car parks near Dunsinane where Macbeth may be lying.

PS. I sent a short note to the Sunday Telegraph about Richard and Macbeth. Very short, but never miss an opportunity to say something about ‘Good King Richard’.

Note:  Sydney’s other Sunday paper, the Sun-Herald , gets it right and says that the role of FU was “based on Shakespeare’s Richard III and Macbeth”.

Tags: Richard III, Shakespeare

The following are the personal views of the author and do not reflect those of the NSW branch or the Richard III Society as a whole.

A while ago, I was asked by one of our branch members, where and when Richard would be re-interred, as she would like to be there.  Probably to her great disappointment, I had to tell her that I didn’t know.  The original plan was for the reburial to take place in Leicester in May next year, however, with all the controversy and legal challenges it would be better to wait a bit, before making actual travel arrangements.

And unfortunately the situation does not look any clearer so far.  There is the so-called ‘Plantagenet Alliance’, which portrays itself as a group of Richard’s descendents.  They would like Richard’s final resting place to be in York, whereas the exhumation licence granted last August states that any human remains should be reinterred in consecrated ground closest to the place where they were found, ie. Leicester Cathedral.  Therefore they have started to challenge the legality of the exhumation licence.  This week legal papers should be lodged with the (UK) High Court, seeking permission for a judicial review of the original licence to go ahead.  However, it is not sure whether the High Court will even accept the challenge and any decision is expected to take at least several weeks.

Whether the Plantagenet Alliance will have any success seems dubious.  As far as is known, there are no direct descendents of Richard III, his legitimate son had predeceased him and his illegitimate children died without issue, which leaves descendents of his brothers and sisters.  The group apparently consists of 15 of these distant relatives.  After 500 years, this is a surprisingly low number, as the University of Leicester estimates that “many tens of thousands of individuals alive today are descended in this way”.

The legal claim of the Plantagenet Alliance is based on the fact that they were not consulted before the exhumation licence was granted – and we have to remember that at that time it seemed rather unlikely that any human remains, let alone Richard’s, would be found.  They argue the licence was in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which grants the right to respect for private and family life.  After 500 years to claim “respect of family life” seems a bit strange, after all we are not talking about a dearly beloved uncle, who used to come round for tea.  The University of Leicester refutes this saying that the obligation to consult living relatives expires after 100 years.

I tried to find out a bit more about the Plantagenet Alliance.  It is a private limited company, with a relatively new website (their archives only go back to March 2013).  They are asking for donations to help fund the day-to-day running of their affairs as well as the legal campaign.

For my part, I rather donated to the Richard III Society’s appeal for funds for a tomb for Richard, than giving money for a business to go to court.

There certainly are valid arguments in favour of a re-interment in York rather than Leicester, however, these are not furthered by challenging the legality of the original licence.  If only all concerned could stop arguing their case with increasing animosity, which, while the media might love it, is very sad and in bad taste.

The Patron of the Richard III Society, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who shares his name and title with the medieval king before his accession to the throne, has pleaded that his remains “are treated with the utmost dignity”.  I am sure that his discussion partners Dr Philip Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society, and Philippa Langley, who had pushed tirelessly for the dig to take place, share his sentiments completely.  As does the University of Leicester, who pledges to “continue to work with our partners, the Richard III Society, Leicester Cathedral and Leicester City Council to ensure an appropriate and fitting re-interment for England’s last Plantagenet monarch in Leicester.”

HRH Richard, Duke of Gloucester, also attended a lunch with the Richard III Society, whose patron he has been for more than 30 years, at the Tower of London recently.

References:

Kate Liptrot, ‘Richard III legal fight to start next week’, The Press (27 April 2013).

University of Leicester Press Office, ‘Plantagenet Alliance seeks judicial review – statement from University of Leicester’ (26 March 2013)

‘Duke Of Gloucester Meets With Richard III Society Over King’s ‘Dignity’’, Royal Central (2 March 2013).

‘Duke Of Gloucester Attends Richard III Society Dinner At Tower Of London’, Royal Central (30 April 2013)

Tags: Archaeology, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III, Richard III Society