Monthly Archives: February 2013

How to Be a ‘Good’ King

 

Reminder:
Today at 9 p.m. is the Channel 4
is the 2nd part of the Richard III documentary
about the researches leading to the discovery of the king!
(More information at the Channel4 website.)

 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 
King Richard’s history is preserved by the University of Leicester.
Therefore the University bought the painting of King Richard III depicting him at the Blue Boar Inn on the eve of the Battle of Bosworth which had been at auction at Gildings in Market Harborough:
 

John Fulleylove: Richard III outside the Old Blue Boar Inn, Leicester

John Fulleylove: Richard III outside the Old Blue Boar Inn, Leicester
signed and dated (probably) 1880, oil on canvas 97 x 90 cm.
Credit: University of Leicester


 
Professor Sir Robert Burgess, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, about the purchase of the painting:

I am delighted that the University of Leicester has been able to acquire this work of art. A picture of Richard III at the Blue Boar Inn was a ‘must have’ for the University, especially as it was painted by a local artist, and is an accurate portrayal of the Inn and links to our world class research. It will be a valuable addition to our art collection.

 
Richard Buckley reveales more background about the importance of the painting:

In my view, Fulleylove has really brought to life the departure of Richard III from the Blue Boar on the morning of 21st August 1485. Although he could not have painted the inn from life, as the building had been demolished 40 years previously, Fulleylove based his picture on engravings by John Flower which are now known to be accurate representations of the building. The picture also shows All Saint’s Church in the background and gives an impression of what the other buildings of Leicester’s medieval High Street may have looked like at this time.

 
The artist John Fulleylove, an English landscape artist and illustrator, was born in Leicester in 1845. He originally trained as an architect.
His work was widely exhibited in England, e.g. at the prestigious London venues like the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Fine Art Society, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
He died at the age of fifty on 22nd of May 1908.

 

 

Further news:

 

  • A king might be anything, but boring. To this conclusion comes the following article in
    The Guardian: Richard III – review, by Lyn Gardner (21.02.2013) – Might Shakespeare have helped King Richard III?
  •  

  • The next article is rather – how to be a good journalist and good academic, treating a good/bad/worse/brave king:
    The Guardian: King Richard III was a press man’s dream, but the furore drew criticism, by Ather Mirza (22.02.2013) – Was the presentation of the research and results about King Richard III done in the right way? Position of Ather Mirza, director of the University of Leicester News Centre, who has ably performed the difficult task to bring over 150 journalists from all over the world to come to Leicester for King Richard III.
    I commented on the mentioned ciriticism of the UoL on my fan-blog here.
  •  

  • Daily Mail: The signature of a teenage king in waiting: 550-year-old hand-written book is signed by Richard III and contains his personal motto, by Olivia Williams (22.02.2013) – Manuscript with the handwriting of a young future King Richard III on display.
  •  

  • Express.co.uk: Descendants of King Richard III ruled the free world, by Ian Read (24.02.2013) – Genealogist Anthony Adolph claims, that thousands of relatives of King Richard III are spread around the world and most are yet unaware of their royal ancestry. Before that background a poll might be necessary to come to a majority decision, rather than a letter of 9 relatives, claiming to speak with the voice of King Richard III and demanding York as last burial place for their ancestor.
  •  

  • ITV: Rare book signed by Richard III goes on display (26.02.2013) – See the original signature of the young Richard III, at that time Duke of Gloucester.

 
 


♛ Battle of the Cities ♛


 
The next topic I unfortunately can’t present entirely unbiased. Because for me, the open letter of the relatives opens many more questions than it solves.
Relatives taking a stand in regard to the burial place for King Richard III opens questions and none of them even close to solving the questions about King Richard III himself, but rather what we see as the prerogative of relatives.
In a time, where we discuss, if relatives may decide when to turn off medical machines or take a needed decision at hospital, even when they are close kin like children or spouse, how can a decision by a group of relatives after about 17 generations look like, who could decide, who not, what degree of relation would have the more weight in a decision making process,…
So I rather stick with a poll among all found relatives, while it may take a while to find all.
And that still leaves the question unanswered, if the degree of relation should be taken into account and how it should be weighed in the decision making process.
 
You see, I did not even come to mention King Richard III, as I see the procedure from relatives problematic in itself, especially their statement:

With due humility and affection, we are and will remain his Majesty’s representatives and voice.

 
That is not to say that I am against York or against Leicester or for London or Westminster or Windsor or Middleham or …
Just that the method is not such a straight forward and clear one as the headlines of the newspaper articles make believe.
 

 
I even find the whole discussion about the cities problematic, so I want to publish a letter, Roswitha sent out to requests to instrumentalize our website in the fight for York. Roswitha expresses so well, why we don’t take position in the battle of the cities:
 

[…] In the question about the cities, we remain neutral and don’t have any influence on the decision regarding the burial place for King Richard III.
We also don’t want to try to influence the decision, as it is a decision the towns and their citizens must come to terms with, as directly or indirectly they will fund the decision with their tax money.
 
Our initiative and website instead is a worldwide connection of fans of Richard Armitage, who in my opinion do not have a right to take the power of their global network to influence an ‘English’ decision.
 
As far as I know, the decision for Leicester was made early on and its settlement was pre-condition for the University of Leicester to even agree to start the archaeological research. This was at a time when nobody except Philippa Langley even believed in the possibility of really finding the remains of King Richard III.
As King Richard III was a historical aspect most towns so far did not hold too high in their esteem, so e.g. the Richard III museum in York is a privately founded and held museum, it is a strange thing that the towns now are fighting over him. Though I also see the beneficial aspect of it for marketing King Richard III right now.
Tourist streams and the consequential money are the major motivator for most competitors in the fight for the remains of King Richard III, so I would not see that aspect as a possibility to discern between the competitors.
 
I personally am much more interested in a good and well researched presentation of the story of King Richard III in each town, than in the fact whichever town will get the burial place. Eventual research grants to find out more about the town’s story in relation to King Richard III and a good exhibition of the finds would do a great deal to enhance each of the fighting towns’ status as an authority to speak about King Richard III.
So also would a film do much to promote a new view and closer look at the life and times of King Richard III by a wider audience and that is the reason why we try to show our support with our petition to help a film to be made.
 
I hope this can appease a bit your feelings about the towns and their fighting.
 
Thank you very much for giving us your feedback. We cherish and value your opinion and feedback very much.
[…]

 
 

Did Richard III Change History?

 
 
Prue Batten in her blog post “Spinning Facts to Make Fiction” asks a very valid question:
 
Who of us was there at the time?
 
E.g. over 500 years ago, when King Richard III was buried or at whatever other historic event one researches.
Though whatever exact elements we find out about history, it still remains ‘story’ what we make of those facts.
 
And with the combination of fact and fiction that is exactly the point, where a film comes in and can combine the facts to a gripping ‘story’.
 
Sign our petition to show your interest in a film being made and telling the story of King Richard III.
 
Thank you for your support with the film-petition!
 
 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
In our combined efforts for the film about King Richard III, we are now 1550 signers of the petition
and that shows that the interest in the project is strong and the King Richard III topic worth showing in a film & movie version.
 
 

As we again have accumulated a large amount of unconfirmed signatures (almost 300 right now), we will send out new confirmation mails to all unconfirmed signers tomorrow.

Only about a handful of those unconfirmed signers have entered invalid mail addresses, but as we are not allowed to give feedback to wrong/corrected mail addresses, even when the error in the mail address is quite obvious, please check your spam/trash-folder and if you did not get a response for your signature from us, please try to sign again.
 
(The Petition software checks double entries, so double signing is prevented!)
 
Thank you for all your help and support!
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

Mark the date!
27th of February, 2013 at 9 p.m. on More4
Richard III: The Unseen Story (Channel 4)

 

 
 

King Richard III & Leicester Today

 
KathrynRuthD on her blog Something about Kathryn… asks
 
Will Richard III change us?
 
and gives us a live report from Leicester, where the Cathedral makes visitors feel welcome in a typical and heartfelt Leicester way.
 
 


 
Continuing with Leicester Cathedral, the plans for the burial and placement of King Richard III’s tomb are on their way and today, the Richard III Society revealed their designs for the tomb:
 

 
 


 
Channel4, because of the big success of the first documentary about King Richard III, shown on Monday 04.02.2013, will film:
 
Richard III: The Unseen Story
 
As “Richard III: The King in the Car Park” – which depicted the search by amateur enthusiasts for a king – was such a success, the same film team from Darlow Smithson Productions will continue and now will show the archaeological search with more details and interviews with the scientists.
The documentary is announced for:
 
Richard III: The Unseen Story
More4 on Wednesday 27 Feb at 9 p.m.
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

 

Visit King Richard III

 
Only a short while ago, I have been introduced to the Japanes art of creating haiku to bring events and experiences down to a few words, which mostly combine the multitude of the happening better than a long article about it could.
 
One excample of this extraordinary art of compression, of the densification of meaning, I want to present to you, as Morrighan’s Muse so well describes the find of King Richard III’s remains in “A Story Told“.
 

 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

 
 
You want to learn and see more about King Richard III ? – You can now visit a King Richard III exhibition in the Guildhall or take one of the guided walks in Leicester. More details on the Leicester City Council website.
 
 
The new page “Richard III Found” about the research results begins to grow here on KRA.
 
 

The King is Found – Long Live King Richard

 
 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
News concerning the film project(s) right from the interview of Philippa Langley with Ben Jackson (BBC Radio Leicester, 07.02.2013 after 3 p.m.):
 
Philippa Langley:
 

He [Richard Armitage] is pitching it [the Richard III movie project] in LA as we speak.

 

People have said he [Richard Armitage] is too tall, but he has just played a dwarf.

 
The interview should be ready for download or to re-listen on the BBC Radio Leicester website shortly.
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 
YouTube video of the research results revealed at the press conference on Monday, February 4th, 2013, uploaded by the University of Leicester.
“The Search for King Richard III – The Scientific Outcome”
 

 
(Source: University of Leicester )
 
 

 
 


♛ Battle of the Cities ♛


 
I had so much hoped that the War of the Cities could come to a good end which would satisfy all involved cities. Now it seems, the fighting finally comes to an end.
I hope all involved parties, fiercely fighting for the King, will find benefit in the final decision in favour of the Cathedral in Leicester.
 
Here some news reports and the breaking of the news about Leicester Cathedral:

 
 

King Richard Armitage and Fan News

 
 
A big THANK YOU to Philippa Langley for keeping her believes and continuing so straightforward on her way to find and honour King Richard III.
I hope this find will motivate researchers of all scientific subjects and also especially historians, to now have a closer and more extended look at the material, in cooperation of disciplines, with now available new technologies, in a digital and globally connected world where worldwide archives become more and more easily available.
 


♛ King Richard & His Fans ♛


 
Before I start with selected fan- and King Richard-news, I must ask for a bit of patience.
KRA was so overwhelmed with comments, requests and messages that currently we are still sorting through all the mails. We try to get up to date as fast as possible, but it might still take a few days, till all requests and mails can be answered. So please stay with us, we will answer every mail and contact form request sent in.
We very much cherish your feedback and offers of help and thank you very much for getting in contact with us !
 
 
Now to King Richard and his Fans:
 

 
 

 
 
BBC Radio Leicester announced that Philippa Langley will join them for a live interview this week, Thursday, 07.02.2013, after 3 p.m.
 
 
On Monday, 04.02.2013, there had been an open Q&A session with Prof. Lin Foxhall and Philippa Langley about the researches in Leicester. The Q&As still are open to see here:
Channel4 – Q&A with Prof. Lin Foxhall and Philippa Langley
 
I unfortunately did not get my questions answered and so, for completion’s sake, post them here:
 
 

  • Is this find with all its media attention able to change the public opinion about King Richard III and if not, what would eventually be able to create a new public opinion about King Richard III?
  •  

  • Why did the friars not move King Richard III’s body, when they built the sarcophagus paid by Henry VII’s?
  •  

  • What will this find now mean for the Richard III Society? (Especially because Ms Philippa Langley mentioned that they were in discussions with the Leicester City Council to give the society archive into the care of the intended Richard III Museum in Leicester.)
  •  
     
    I had hoped for much more details about the King in the documentary by Channel4, but the documentary showed, that the film team had not really believed to find King Richard III and so had swapped the deeper research into the topic.
     
    A big THANK YOU to Philippa Langley for not letting anything deter her from her way to find King Richard III.
     
     


    ♛ King Richard III ♛


     

     
     


    ♛ Battle of the Cities ♛


     

     
    As those two articles show, the Battle of the Cities did not come to an end with the official declaration of Leicester Cathedral as last burial place for King Richard III, confirmed by the Ministry of Justice.
    Our poll about the cities gets attention once again.
     
    We want to mention, as also comments flood in about this topic here on divers places, that the KingRichardArmitage website is neutral in this question.
    Many supporters of King Richard III take the position that his written instruction to hold sermons for him and his family in York Minster reveal his wish to be buried there. This is one of the possible interpretation of his actions, while the burial places of his wife and son might contradict this interpretation to some extent.
     
    We will report about news regarding this topic, but won’t take sides.
    We welcome ‘non-discriminating’ discussions and comments on our poll page, especially created for this topic, but also need to state that personal attacks will be deleted or withheld from being published, here and on our related Facebook site Richard III for Richard Armitage!
     
     

    Thank you for all your support and help !

     
     
    If you miss interesting articles here, please let us know. We continue to build the Press Coverage pages
    and will specially create an area about the researches and research results around King Richard III.
     
     

    Richard III – Identity Confirmed

     
    Fast in between message. – More to follow shortly.
     
     
     


    ♛ King Richard III ♛

     

    ♛ Identity Securely Confirmed ♛


     
    All three discovered lines of relatives,
     
    – a male line
    – two female lines via Anne of York, King Richard III’s sister,
    proved a full match!
     
     
    Reinterment will be held beginning next year 2014 in the Cathedral of Leicester.
     
     

    Congratulations to initiator Philippa Langley and the team of researchers of and working with the University of Leicester !

     

    Follow News Live from Leicester

     
    There is news that the BBC might have a live version of the press conference on their website at 10 a.m. [U.K.] today.
     
     
    Live reports from the University of Leicester are live on BBC Radio Leicester ( from 6 a.m. till noon)
     
     
    To allow a glimpse into the discussions about the press conference live on twitter, here the connected discussions marked with the hashtag #richardiii
     


     
     

    News About King Richard III / Armitage

     


    ♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


     
    Mr. Armitage had intended to join in on the BBC Radio Leicester Show shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday 3rd of February, 2013, but could not make it, as his flight was delayed.
     
    So here the recording of his apology, sent to BBC Leicester via mail, kindly shared by Servetus:
     
     

     
     
    In further parts of the show, Philippa Langley and David Baldwin were interviewed about King Richard III. (The interview with Philippa Langley is an excerpt of the radio report mentioned in our news of 30.12.2012 with BBC Radio Leicester. The replay will become available on BBC iPlayer in the next days.)
     
     


    ♛ King Richard III ♛


     
    Is he or is he not…?
    That is the main question today.
     
    But of whom are we talking about?
     
    The University of Leicester released a first picture of the skull of the male skeleton found in Leicester:
     

    Skull - Richard III (Source: University of Leicester)

    Skull – Richard III (Source: University of Leicester)


     
    Dr Appleby said:

    The skull was in good condition, although fragile, and was able to give us detailed information about this individual. It has been CT scanned at high resolution in order to allow us to investigate interesting features in as much detail as possible.
    In order to determine whether this individual is Richard III we have built up a biological profile of its characteristics. We have also carefully examined the skeleton for traces of a violent death.

     
     
    Now is he or is he not…?
     
    We will have to wait a bit further, till 10 a.m. today, the time of the Press conference held by the University of Leicester, to finally reveal the truth about their find last September 2012 and the subsequent research.
     
     

     

    Richard Armitage Agrees to Play Richard III

     


    ♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


     

    • The Herald Scotland: Hobbit actor lines up role as Richard III, by Kathleen Nutt (02.02.2013) – Philippa Langley reveals that Richard Armitage has agreed to play King Richard III in her now finished screenplay about King Richard III:

     

    Ms Langley contacted Armitage, 41, who plays dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster, and says he agreed to take on the role. Armitage has also starred in a number of television series including Spooks, Robin Hood and the Vicar of Dibley.

     

    (Read the full article here.)

     

    Petition - Status !

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    22nd 2022, 6 p.m. (CET)
    we have 2482 signatures.

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    KRA NewsStream


    January 23, 2022

    Royal Family: The deadly sickness that killed Henry VIII’s brother and thousands of others before vanishing without a trace (by Bea Isaacson, MyLondon.news)


    January 8, 2022

    Can new evidence clear the name of Richard III? (by Chris Lloyd, Darlington & Stockton Times)


    December 29, 2021

    Did Richard III actually save the boy king he’s accused of killing? (by Lydia Starbuck, Royal Central)


    April 23, 2021

    Steve Coogan movie The Lost King begins filming (by Comedy.co.uk, British Comedy Guide)


    January 31, 2021

    Barnard Castle boars date back to King Richard III (by Andrew White, The Northern Echo)


    January 12, 2021

    Alternate history: what if Richard III had won at Bosworth? – Professor Emeritus Michael Hicks interviewed by Jonny Wilkes (by Jonny Wilkes, Professor Emeritus Michael Hicks, BBC History Revealed)


    September 11, 2020

    Steve Coogan and Stephen Frears to collaborate on The Lost King (Film-News.co.uk)


    April 9, 2020

    Steve Coogan confirms Richard III movie ‘next year’ (by BBC East Midlands, BBC.com)


    November 1, 2019

    Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth – By Mike Ingram (HeritageDaily)


    October 8, 2019

    Painted as a villain – how the Tudors regarded Richard III (by Christina J. Faraday, APOLLO.The International Art Magazine)


     

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