Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage & Richard III & Christmas

 
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Merry Christmas, seasonal greetings

 

and happy and enjoyable festivities

 

to all our supporters, interview partners, article-authors and signers of the petition. A big Thank You and all the best wishes !

 
Now to a real Christmas treat for all Richard III and Richard Armitage ‘well-wishers‘:
 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
Richard Armitage in a late interview with Helen of Empire magazine (podcast of about 13.12.2013 – Richard III part begins at about 1:36:00)
speaking about his connection and interest in King Richard III:
 

 
Transcript of the part about King Richard III:
 
Helen (interviewer):
Is it true that you were named after Richard III?

RA: That is true. Yes.
My father was really into the history of the Plantagenets and I was born on 22nd of August which is the Battle of Bosworth Field when Richard died on the battlefield.
I was always a bit mad at my dad, because – for naming me after what was perceived to be a hunchbacked child-murderer. But then in later years I just developed a similar interest in the story, because we used to visit there every year on my birthday. Thanks, dad.
That was my birthday treat to go and look at an empty field, but – in recent months his remains had been found so it is all kind of coming to the surface again.

 
Helen: Quite literally.

RA: Literally.

Helen: When you said you began to share his interest I was worried you meant the child murdering and hunchback.

RA: No, no. No, definitely not that. Although, but the fascination with the sort of unsolved crime, I did become kind of interested in not necessarily resurrecting his heroicism, but just looking at the story again.
Because he was our last monarch that died on a battlefield and it’s interesting how I am sort of playing a character that is not dissimilar to him in Thorin. So I was using a bit of that – you know – character in Thorin. Yea.

 
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

 
To celebrate there is a new music album about King Richard III, “Loyaulte Me Lie” by Guitarist Ian Churchward.

King Richard III News – Long Overdue Updates

 
I am most certainly behind with reporting about the King Richard news.
Real life intervenes quite heavily right now. Sorry. I will try my best to keep up with the news.
 
But now here comes the news collected in the meantime since I fell off the plateau of the earth:
(Due to its length, the articles are arranged in a changed order – from new to old news.)
 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
Our king, Richard Armitage, will visit Berlin, the German capital, for the European premiere of the second “Hobbit” film “The Desolation of Smaug” on Monday, 9th of December 2013.
 
For this event a Bavarian FanClub banner was created to welcome Richard Armitage in Germany and celebrate ‘our king’:
Bavarian Richard Armitage FanClub Munich (Creator: CDoart)
 

 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

Sensational News About King Richard Film

 
Is the film about King Richard III with Richard Armitage in the role of the king finally on its way?
Hear Philippa Langley, the screenwriter working on a project about King Richard III, talking about her progress and about Richard Armitage as her ideal King Richard III:

 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

KRA-Week 2013-5: Fitzg – Sumptuary Laws

 
KRA-Week 2013 - Banner 2

Links: King Richard Week 2013 & Quiz

 
 


♕ ♛ ♕

 

SUMPTUARY

 

Sumptuary laws

 

in Medieval and late medieval England.

 

(by Fitzg)

 


 
 

“Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditure in the matter of apparel, food, furniture etc.”
Black’s Law Dictionary.

 

English Sumptuary Laws date from 1281 in extant documents. They were then an expression of the Feudal System (every man in his place, dressed according his station. Women too.) The hierarchy must be established according to the “natural law”.
 
The next documented Law is that of 1309. This relates to conspicuous food consumptions of the nobles. (Peacocks presented at table, complete with feathers re-attached to the roasted fowl…)
Perhaps Edward III felt that such expenditure by his magnates reduced their monetary contributions to his Scottish and overseas wars.
 
Obviously, Kings and their families were not restricted by such fiscal management restraints.
 

Richard III Portrait (earliest surviving)

cloth of gold – Richard III earliest known copy of original; dated early 16th century (Source: Society of Antiquaries, London – Wikipedia)


 
 
Richard II, c. 1390s. (Source: Westminster Abbey - Wikipedia)

Richard II, c. 1390s. (Source: Westminster Abbey – Wikipedia)

Wilton Diptych (Source: National Portrait Gallery, London - Wikipedia)

Wilton Diptych (Source: National Portrait Gallery, London – Wikipedia)


 
 
Edward IV. Portrait early 16th century (Source: Society of Antiquaries - Wikipedia)

Edward IV. Portrait early 16th century (Source: Society of Antiquaries – Wikipedia)

Henry VII, c. 1505 (Source: National Portrait Gallery, London - Wikipedia)

Henry VII, c. 1505 (Source: National Portrait Gallery, London – Wikipedia)


 
 
Cloth of gold, fur, gold…. It appears that the first Tudor, despite a somewhat austere, penny-pinching reputation, at least in the popular version, was not averse to personal display.
 
However, there was considerable Church disapproval of courtly display of fashion “trends“. Shoes, in 15th C, were an issue with the Church: the vanity of the elongated toes.
 

Sumptuary Law - Fitzg Sumptuary Law - Fitzg Sumptuary Law - Fitzg

 
 
And then, there was the Disney head dress. The Henin, and variations thereof.
 

Hans Memling, Lady Donne of Kidwelly. The Donne Triptych, c. 1478 (Source: Wikipedia)

Hans Memling, Lady Donne of Kidwelly. The Donne Triptych, c. 1478 (Source: Wikipedia)


 
 
The middle class was rising in wealth, and becoming uppity in dress. Note the quantities of costly material in the sleeves and gowns and richness of dyes.
 
Hans Fouquet, the Melun Dipptych, c. 1452 (Source: Wikipedia)

Hans Fouquet, the Melun Dipptych, c. 1452 (Source: Wikipedia)

Etienne Chevalier, was not a merchant, but a trusted civil servant.

 
 

The Arnolfini Wedding, Jan van Eyck, c. 1434 - Italian merchant and his wife (Source: National Portrait Gallery, London - Wikipedia)

The Arnolfini Wedding, Jan van Eyck, c. 1434 – Italian merchant and his wife (Source: National Portrait Gallery, London – Wikipedia)


 
 
Disconcertingly to the “enforcers” of the Sumptuary Laws, the merchant class rose inexorably. The merchant class accumulated wealth, based on wool and textiles, and import/export. They bought off the enforcers’ fines, and even lent funds to cash-strapped nobility. They were going to wear what they had earned. Their wives (and often mercantile partners/supporters) were an advertisement to their wealth and their often mutual hard work. (Take that, Enforcers! 😀 )
 
England has not been quite as rigidly class-ridden as might be thought – upward mobility was mobilised. From 15th century sheep farmers, the Churchills were Dukes of Marlborough two centuries later. A middle class was firmly rising throughout Europe, driven by trade – wool/textiles/luxury goods from the East. The sheep farmers became merchants (and money-lenders), married into gentry and titled families, became senior civil servants.
 
 
BBC "Robin Hood" - Richard Armitage in the role of Guy of Gisborne (Source: RichardArmitageNet.com)

BBC “Robin Hood” Guy of Gisborne (Source: RichardArmitageNet.com)


Sir Guy of Gisborne, dressed head to toe in costly leather. Would a minor knight, in possession of an obscure provincial manor, pass the Sumptuary laws? Leather tanning and production were extremely costly, as is the case today. Perhaps; it didn’t involve cloth of gold or furs….
 
And Many Happy Returns to Richard Armitage on August 22 2013.
 
Respects to King Richard III, may he please be laid to rest as befits an anointed monarch.
 
 

SOURCES (for the costume-obsessed)

 
 
 

Links: King Richard Week 2013 & Quiz

KRA-Week 2013 - Banner 2
 

KRA Week 2013-2: Happy Birthday & Commemoration

 
KRA-Week 2013 - Banner 2

Links: King Richard Week 2013 & Quiz

 
 


♕ Happy Birthday ♕

 

♕ King Richard Armitage ♕


 
 
Two years ago, our present was a ‘virtual’ cake accompanying our online-present, the first King Richard Week 2011. We already hesitated to send a cake for our second King Richard Week 2012.
Delicious as it may look, it does not really taste that way.
 
This year we want to show, what present we (the fans and petition signers) would much rather like to give and of what presents we dream about.
 

Birthday Wishes for Richard Armitage (Source: © Fernanda Matias, shared on Facebook)

(Source: © Fernanda Matias, shared on Facebook)


Hopefully, it is ‘just a matter of time’ as Fernanda Matias writes, till this dream can become reality.
 
Tanni Tani starts with giving ‘our’ King Richard the white rose of York:
 

 
While Michelle Jimenez-Porras created a new portrait, showing the progress on her blog MyDebonairAffair:
 
First draft of King Richard III portrait by Michelle Jimenez.-Porras

First draft (Source: © Michelle Jimenez-Porras – at Deviantart.com)


 
King Richard III © Michelle Jimenez-Porras

(Source: © Michelle Jimenez-Porras – at Deviantart.com)

King Richard III - Details of portrait by Michaelle Jimenez-Porras

(Source: © Michelle Jimenez-Porras – at Deviantart.com)


 
Gratiana presents Richard Armitage in his historic role and dignity:
 
(Source: © Gratiana Lovelace)

(Source: © Gratiana Lovelace)


 

 


♕ Happy Birthday ♕

 

♕ King Richard Armitage ♕


 
 

Links: King Richard Week 2013 & Quiz

KRA-Week 2013 - Banner 2
 

Closer to the Day …

 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

  • PR.com (PressRelease): Richard III: Martyr or Monster? The Shocking Truth Behind Shakespeare’s Bloody Tyrant, by Kultur International Films Ltd (01.08.2013) – This film production by does not seem to be connected with the video-DVD of the TV documentary in two parts “Richard III: The King in the Car Park” and “Unseen Story”, though I can’t find the title on the Amazon.co.uk website yet.
    As announced on this Kultur-website, the DVD will become available on 27 August 2013. A short trailer is already available on this site as well.
  •  

  • Royal Central (Blog): The Real White Queen? A Defence Of King Richard III, by Matt Lewis (02.08.2013) – A very enlightening background comment about the TV series “The White Queen”.
    An interview with the author of this post can be found here: Interivew with Matthew Lewis – author of the book “Loyalty”, by Karen Kilrow (13.07.2013)
  •  

  • InLoughborough.com: Bosworth buzzing about first re-enactment since Richard III discovery (02.08.2013) – This year’s Bosworth Battlefield Re-Enactment Event is taking place on the weekend 17th/18th of August, 2013.
  •  

  • University of Leicester: Emotional end of final dig at Richard III site (05.08.2013)
     

  • Royal Central (Blog): Anne Neville – The Bad Queen? By Sean Okeeffe (05.08.2013) – Was Anne Neville, the queen about which history has nearly no reliable resources at all, really the bad queen as whom she was depicted in the latest episode of “The White Queen”?
  •  

  • Royal Central (Blog): The Defence of Richard III Part 2 – The Foundations of Evil, by Matt Lewis (06.08.2013) – Was King Richard III guilty of all the crimes he was accused of? Follow this gripping series of articles by author Matt Lewis, exploring the background and coming to a verdict at the end of each article.
  •  

  • IsleOfMan.com: Richard III, the king in the car park, is coming to the island (05.08.2013) – That now would be a resting place for the king. Sorry ! Don’t want to heat up the discussion again, but the headline lead my thoughts astray. The king unfortunately is not coming himself, but Richard Buckley from the University of Leicester, as the further article on the Isle of Man website ‘King in the Car Park’ Archaeologist to visit the Island, by Charnwood Tails (05.08.2013) reveals.
  •  

  • Leicester Mercury: Richard III: Historian claims he was ‘airbrushed out of king story’, by Peter Warzynski, Leicester Mercury (06.08.2013) –
    Quote of a ‘Spokesman’ for the University of Leicester:

    We had to go through Richard’s lineage again, and verify the work which was carried out more than 10 years ago. We can’t have everyone at the press conference. Perhaps we should have invited the creator of DNA fingerprinting as well, seeing as he played a part?

    This in my opinion for once is a situation, where a ‘spokesman’ should not have spoken, but rather should have taken the time to research the background of the topic he was talking about. Dr. Ashdown-Hill over years researched the connections and relationships and later irrelevant sidelines, to find the valid one leading into our time, which could possibly be used for a DNA analysis. The University of Leicester – don’t think I am making accusations here as their work is a valid and necessary one as well – just had to confirm an already extensively researched line of ancestry and could rely on the previously done work, which in total was a matter of mere months.
    As this is only one aspect of many, where the finding of King Richard III heavily relied on the previously done work by Dr. John Ashdown-Hill, that is really not the best way to cope with one of the main contributors to the search.

  •  

  • First Thing: No Catholic Burial for Richard III, by Mark Movsesian (06.08.2013) – See what religion and strawberries have in common.
  •  

  • My Debonair Affair (Blog): King Richard III, by michellejimenezp (07.08.2013) – New art project for Richard Armitage as King Richard III ! Updates about the progress of the painting will follow shortly.
  •  

  • ThisIsLeicestershire.co.uk: Richard III visitor centre gets go-ahead, by DanJMartin (07.08.2013)
  •  

  • BBC News: Richard III museum plans in Leicester approved (07.08.2013) – With a few more pictures of the planned center than the previous article, though no further information.

 
 


♛ KRA – Announcements ♛


 

King Richard Armitage Week 2013

 

is coming up fast!

 

21st – 28th of August, 2013

 
The page for the event is already created and available, though content there will be added from 21st of August, 2013, the beginning of the event, onwards.
Safe the date, take part in the upcoming quiz during the event week and enjoy fan-tastic history with us.
 
KRA-Week 2013-02
 

King Richard Everywhere …

 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
Richard Armitage currently had a promotion tour for “The Hobbit” in Sydney, Australia.
In one of the interview sessions with an audience, hosted by Popcorn Taxi, where fan-questions were allowed, the question of his interest in King Richard III turned up. Mr. Armitage gave the following answer (Quoted after the transcript by Groovergreen on fedoralady’s blog TheArmitageEffect):
 

Does he still plan to play Richard III on film?
RA: “Many, many plans but they are all in my mind at the moment. There is a possibility but it is a matter of when and how. Maybe I’ll be too old to do it.’’ (Collective groan of disbelief from the Armitage Army in the front rows.)

 
(Strangely the question, like another already previously mentioned elsewhere, is completely missing in the pronounced full transcript of the Q&A session on TheOneRing.net, while no gap is indicated.
But already two fans independently reported to have heard this question and his answer at this event, so it is sufficiently confirmed to have been part of the evening in Sydney on May 1st, 2013.)
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

 


♛ King Richard Everywhere ♛


 

 
 
Please do understand, that the article lists here on KRA will not take up every topic or mention of King Richard III, but strongly select, what really contains some new information and might be of interest to historically interested and film- and Richard Armitage supporting readers of this blog.
 

Dig Some More …

 
… not only regarding King Richard III, but also in regard to Richard Armitage.
I certainly would like to discover more about the story and context of the place where King Richard III was buried, but I also would like journalists to dig a bit deeper in their interviews, especially in one of the latest, where Mr. Armitage mentioned his interest in King Richard III:
 
Richard Armitage about King Richard III:

[…] it’s an interest, it’s a passion of mine […]

 
7th April, 2013 – MagicFM, Rick Astley
 
The full interview transcript is on RichardArmitageCentral.co.uk and the audio compilation on RichardArmitageNet.com.
Full Richard III passage of the interview is here on the KRA website.
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

  • ThisIsLeicestershire.co.uk: Richard III: Team plan new dig at Leicester car park, by Peter Warzynski (01.04.2013) – Finally! Have been waiting for this news impatiently and hope it is not an April’s fool joke, though perhaps bad timing, as the University of Leicester had a joke on their website on the 1st of April that they would search for the remains of King Richard IV, now that King Richard III is found. (Universities joking about their research? – Certainly a new aspect of learning.)
  •  

  • BBC News: Richard III letter fetches £35,000 at auction (03.04.2013) – Signature of King Richard III has been sold for £ 35,000. Buyer is still unknown.
  •  

  • Birmingham Post: The life and death battles of Richard III, by Steve Allen (12.04.2013) – Good overview of the won battles of King Richard III, over greed and other hindrances, but also about the lost and still undecided battles.
  •  

  • BBC Radio 3 – Drama on 3: Shakespeare’s Richard III (14.04.2013, First broadcast February 2004) – ATTENTION! Available online only for 5 more days!
  •  

  • FrontierLeicester (YouTube): Video Interview with Jo Appleby, by Emma Anne James (from September 2012, published: 04.02.2013) – I had not seen the following interview before and though it represents the status before the confirmed identity of the found skeleton to be of King Richard III, it is still interesting to see the presentation of all the different aspects of research.
     
  •  

Reminder: Poll about the last burial place for King Richard III and adequate procedures to find it is still open !
Please give us your opinion!
 
 

For Our King Richard (FanstRAvaganza Finale)

KingRichardArmitage - FanstRAvaganza 4 Banner
 
 


♛ Poll for Our King Richard ♛


 
 
Today ends this year’s fan-event “FanstRAvaganza 4“.
It in a very extraordinary way shows the wide variety of supporters and fans of Richard Armitage.
 
We participated with our King Richard III topics here, but the variety and artful creations during and beyond the event are rather unlimited.
The curiosity of fans seems endless.
 
King Richard III currently causes such a lot of different opinions and heated discussions.
This awakened my curiosity to find out the opinion among our readers about all these options for King Richard III’s re-interment.
 
As we are not influenced by marketing or tourism interests nor by local patriotism, but watch these discussions from a rather neutral vantage point, we dare to take up the heated discussions and ask the difficult question what would be the best way to proceed.
 
So instead of doing a King Richard and Richard Armitage Quiz at the end of FanstRAvaganza 4, as initially intended, here comes a poll about central questions of the current debate about King Richard III’s re-interment:
 
Location and Procedure for King Richard III’s re-interment (Poll 4)
 
I hope we collected the most interesting options for you and you will enjoy participating.
If you miss some options you would have rather liked, please leave your suggestions in the comment area on the Poll page. Thank you!
 
 


♛ King Richard III ♛


 

 
 


 
 
KingRichardArmitage - FanstRAvaganza 4 Banner

– RIII-articles from the year 2012 – complete list of the year 2011

 

Richard Armitage & Richard III

 


♛ King Richard Armitage ♛


 
The oh so hotly awaited ‘full’ interview with Richard Armitage by Emily Anderson now has taken place on BBC Radio Leicester today.
I am not really sure why they had made all that fuzz about the ‘full’ in their advertisements for this interview, as it hardly contained any more information than the as preview announced interview last Sunday, 10.03.2013.
RichardArmitageNet.com has the full recording for you to listen in.
 
For our “Richard Armitage” page we updated the transcript of the interview and have it available here.
 
Transcript and audio-file of the interview version 10.03.2013 on BBC Radio Leicester (RichardArmitageNet.com)
 
Audio file for the interview version of 13.03.2013 (RichardAarmitageNet.com)
 


♛ Battle of the Cities ♛


 
The KingRichardArmitage website does not take sides in this battle of the cities for all the reasons stated here by Roswitha.
 
When we read that Leicester Cathedral tries to squeeze King Richard III into their cathedral, because they don’t find the space to adequately place a tomb, I’d rather they stepped back and let someone else handle the procedure.
 
Leicester Cathedral – Design Brief (published 13.03.2013)
 
As you can see from the following news-list, the topic about the burial place really got immediate and wide attention:
 

 

Petition - Status !

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

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March 23, 2016

Richard III’s Innocence Found in Sterlised Room (by Shom Biswas, The New Indian Express)


August 21, 2015

The Princes in the Tower: Will the ultimate cold case finally be solved after more than 500 years? (by Paul Gallagher, The Independent)


August 19, 2015

Battle of Bosworth re-enactment this weekend (Leicester Mercury)


June 13, 2015

Richard III historians Philippa Langley and John Ashdown-Hill made MBEs (BBC News)


March 27, 2015

A historian gave the most British look of despair when someone screwed up Richard III’s birthday at his reburial (by Christopher Hooton, The Independent)


March 27, 2015

Philippa Langley: The End of Richard III and the Beginning of Henry I (by Sandra Alvarez, Medievalists.net (Blog))


March 27, 2015

Bad King Richard III? “He was a product of his time. I’ve warmed to him” says relative Michael Ibsen (by Emma McFarnon, BBC HistoryExtra.com)


March 26, 2015

Richard III reburied in Leicester: As it happened (Leicester Mercury)


March 26, 2015

Richard III reinterment: Order of service (by Peter Warzynski, Leicester Mercury)


March 26, 2015

Watch Benedict Cumberbatch read poem at King Richard III’s reburial (by Sam Adams, Mirror.co.uk)


 

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