The Leicester press conference and documentary screening will take place during the week before our meeting on 9 February 2013, so I am sure many of you will want to come along to this to enjoy the discussion and what it means for the Richard III Society. Dorothea, our branch’s valued member of the Bulletin editorial committee, has promised to give us an update at the meeting.

Our guest speaker for the February meeting will be Rosamund Burton. Rosamund is the author of the book Castles, Follies and Four-Leaf Clovers. Adventures along St Declan’s Way (published by Allen & Unwin) and she will be speaking about walking the ancient highway, St Declan’s Way, which she did in 2008. She describes Norman castles, Celtic churches and colourful characters, miraculous wells and talking statues, stories of goddesses, ghosts and fairies, as well as staying in a convent and a day at a horse fair.

Dotted with deserted monasteries, ruined castles, holy wells and plenty of pubs, St Declan’s Way stretches 100km from the iconic Rock of Cashel over the beautiful Knockmealdown Mountains to the fishing village of Ardmore. This ancient highway and age-old pilgrim route follows quiet country roads, farm tracks, riverbanks and mountain paths through a part of Ireland that is steeped in history. It passes through the heritage town of Lismore with its magnificent castle, in the east wing of which Rosamund’s family used to live. Rosamund promises illustrations of this fascinating journey, so “wear the green” and enjoy this special visit to Ireland.

Although born in Ireland, Rosamund Burton grew up in England, until her father got a job with the Duke of Devonshire, and the family moved to Ireland, where their home was in the east wing of Lismore Castle. Rosamund went on to become an actress, performing at Dublin’s Gate and Gaiety Theatres, and in the film, Educating Rita with Julie Walters and Michael Caine. She then worked in London before coming out to Australia 17 years ago. Rosamund now writes for a range of newspapers and magazines. She is married to an Australian and lives in Sydney.

There is more info about Rosamund’s previous talks around Australia and the publications that have accepted her work listed on her website www.rosamundburton.com

Tags: Ireland, Leicester, NSW Branch, Richard III, Richard III Society

Only 4 days to go until possibly the most important announcement any Ricardian might ever experience:  are the human remains found in Leicester those of Richard III?

All will be revealed on Monday, 4 Feb 2013, at 10h00 UK time and 21h00 AEST.

Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III

In Australia we are ahead of most of the rest of the world – except for our friends across the ditch in New Zealand.

For us, it is only 5 days to go until possibly the most important announcement any Ricardian might ever experience:  are the human remains found in Leicester those of Richard III?

I would like to apologise to Susan Higginbotham, whose brilliant idea I have unashamedly “borrowed”.

Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III

Obviously we are all waiting impatiently for the revelations of the press conference on 4 February 2013, which should tell us whether the human remains found in Leicester are indeed those of King Richard III.

During this time, last Sunday’s (27 Jan 2013) History Cold Case on SBS was of special interest.  It dealt with the skeleton of a man found in Stirling Castle in the 1990s.  It is thought that the remains are from a man who died in the 14th or 15th century and was buried in a former chapel of the castle.  The aim of the project was to find out, who the man might have been, how he died and why he was buried in the castle.

The tests carried out on the ‘Stirling Warrior’ are in many aspects similar to those carried out on the remains found in Leicester, including a reconstruction of the face and body of the knight.  When seeing his face, you can imagine coming across a man looking like this with the physique of possibly a rugby player.  The facial anthropologists, who made the facial reconstruction of the man in Scotland, Caroline Wilkinson of the University of Dundee, also made the reconstruction of the man found in Leicester.

They also carried out isotope tests, which revealed where the man had grown up.  And with the help of original records kept at the National Archives it was even possible to tentatively name him.  Of special interest was a barbed arrowhead found with the ‘Stirling Warrior’, as a similar arrowhead was found in Leicester as well.

Though the actual science aspect was possibly somewhat skimmed over in the interest of telling a story and lots of aerial shots of a car driving over a bridge, it is still an interesting insight into what can be done and what we can expect the press conference on 4 February to reveal.

Should you have missed the programme, you can still catch it on SBS On Demand, which is what I did on yesterday’s rained out afternoon.   You might also be interested in reading an article on the programme from BBC News.

Tags: Leicester, Richard III, Scotland

We have heard a lot about Michael Ibsen, who as John Ashdown-Hill established is a descendant of Richard’s sister Anne in a direct all-female line.  His DNA was to be compared to the DNA the scientists were hoping to extract from the remains found in Leicester in September 2012.

However, DNA does mutate over time and generations, so the scientists were not sure whether a DNA comparison between Michael Ibsen and the remains would be conclusive.  That is why genealogists from the University of Leicester have been searching for an alternative line of descent.  It has now been revealed that they were indeed successful in tracing another descendant.

However, whether this second line of descent confirms that the remains are those of Richard III or not, will only be revealed at the eagerly anticipated press conference on 4 February 2013.

More information:

Natasha Sheldon, ‘The Secrets of the Bones: DNA Analysis and the Search for Richard III’, Decoded Science (27 Jan 2013).  URL:  http://www.decodedscience.com/dna-analysis-and-the-search-for-richard-iii/24792 Date accessed:  28 Jan 2013

Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III

This morning, when I first switched my computer on, there were two emails waiting for me from my friend Renate, which really made my day:

It has just been announced that the much anticipated press conference to reveal the results of the scientific and archaeological investigations carried out on the male human remains found during the dig in Leicester, has been scheduled for Monday, 4 February 2013, at 10h00 UK time – this means 21h00 Australian EST.

Channel 4 will broadcast the documentary on ‘Richard III:  The King in the Car Park’ at 21h00 UK time on the same day, which means 8h00 on 5 February 2013 Australian EST.

More information:

‘Date set for Search for Richard III press conference’, University of Leicester (23 Jan 2013).
‘Richard III:  The King in the Car Park’, Channel 4 Press Info (23 Jan 2013).

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

As announced yesterday, last night, or rather early this morning Australian time, The One Show on BBC 1 had a short item on the Greyfriars Dig.  Of course, as soon as possible I sneaked into the BBC iPlayer and watched the programme.  The format of The One Show is light early evening infotainment.  There was an item on car clampers in public car parks and another about an upcoming second series of a TV programme, but after about 20 minutes they came to the car park story I was interested in.

The item on Richard was presented by Dan Snow, who is referred to on the show’s website as “Our history man”.  Initially he had a short rather fat and bend-over man standing next to him, who was supposed to be Richard, so I started fearing the worst.  However, my fears were premature.  The programme itself was objectively presented, scoliosis was explained as a lateral curvature of the spine.  Dan first interviewed Richard Buckley, who explained where they found the remains.  He then had a chat with Michaeil Ibsen, Richard’s great great great …. nephew, at the Bosworth Battlefield Centre.  There were also some re-enactors fighting with each other, the one side proudly displaying their white boars, Richard’s emblem.

After the item the hosts of the show asked Dan of his opinion whether the remains were those of Richard.  Dan said that through his talks with the experts he had been convinced that it is indeed Richard.  He also mentioned that the Minister of Justice is supposed to announce next week, where Richard (if it is him) would be reburied.

Dan also said that Richard had had very bad PR and though “he may have had his nephews killed”, this was fairly insignificant compared to what other kings before and after him were up to.  He also stressed that Shakespeare painted Richard as dark as possible as he lived in Tudor times.

The whole segment finished with a short clip from Richard III with Laurence Olivier.

Though the programme did not offer any new insight to anyone who has been following the developments, it would have been a concise informative item for those who were not approaching it with any special interest.  However, The One Show is not aimed at medieval history buffs, so for its target audience it was not a bad programme.

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

The University of Leicester has announced that the results of the test being carried out on the human remains found during the Greyfriars Dig will be published in the first week of February.

The tests are being concluded at present and will then be analysed.  A press conference by the University of Leicester has provisionally been scheduled for the first week of February to announce the conclusions of its investigations.

Though this is a bit later than we had maybe originally hoped, at least we now have an a bit more definite date.  The important thing is that the tests are done thoroughly and their results hold up to scrutiny in years to come.  Not that we end up with a situation like with the examination of the bones in Westminster Cathedral, claimed to be those of the Princes, where the results do not hold up to today’s scrutiny.

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

Undoubtedly, once the test results of the human remains found during the Greyfriars Dig in Leicester have been announced, a renewed discussion of Richard III’s reign will break out.

In preparation for this, the Richard III Society has issued a Press Release on Richard’s ‘Achievements as King of England’.  It offers an interesting insight into how many of the legal issues we take for granted today go back to Richard’s short reign.  An example for this is shown in an article on ‘Richard III’s Effect on US Laws’.

If only all of our politicians were as genuinely interest in the law and a committed to the fair administration of justice for all!

You can find the Press Release here.

And the article on his effect on US Laws here (and thank you, Renate, for reminding me of this article!).

Tags: Politics, Richard III