I want the last northern king to come home
I've found myself oddly unsettled by the confirmation that the bones found at the Greyfriars site in Leicester almost certainly are those of Richard, even though that was what I expected. It should be good news, but it isn't, because the authorities seem determined to rebury him in Leicester - indeed, they now make out that this was an essential condition of allowing the exhumation in the first place, which I hadn't heard mentioned before.
But it is wrong, because Richard wasn't just the last Plantagenet king, he was the last king from the north of England. He spent much of his childhood in Yorkshire, and ruled the north for his brother from Yorkshire and Durham. His favourite homes were at Middleham and Barnard Castle, and I would dearly love him to be buried in one of the churches in those towns, both buildings he knew well and gave money. But it has to be York Minster. York was his power base, and the city that has remembered him most loyally for the half-millennium since he died. I'm very glad to hear today that the city of York has requested the return of Richard's body; there's also an epetition if you happen to agree with us.
I'm feeling gloomy, and fear that we won't win, but at least we can put up a fight, which will be in keeping with Richard's life and death. He was a northerner, and I'm a northerner, and I want him back. We've been given a chance to put things right, after all these years, and we have to try.
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But it is wrong, because Richard wasn't just the last Plantagenet king, he was the last king from the north of England. He spent much of his childhood in Yorkshire, and ruled the north for his brother from Yorkshire and Durham. His favourite homes were at Middleham and Barnard Castle, and I would dearly love him to be buried in one of the churches in those towns, both buildings he knew well and gave money. But it has to be York Minster. York was his power base, and the city that has remembered him most loyally for the half-millennium since he died. I'm very glad to hear today that the city of York has requested the return of Richard's body; there's also an epetition if you happen to agree with us.
I'm feeling gloomy, and fear that we won't win, but at least we can put up a fight, which will be in keeping with Richard's life and death. He was a northerner, and I'm a northerner, and I want him back. We've been given a chance to put things right, after all these years, and we have to try.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.