Richard of York gave battle in vain
I'm pretty sure everyone in the UK who's seen the news today will have heard about the confirmation of the remains of Richard III, but just in case or for those outside the UK, here's a link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882
I'm really quite fascinated by this. First of all, it's pretty cool to see the city I live in in the news for something positive for a change, as well as something that's actually interesting. There's actually quite a lot of history around Leicester, but most of it isn't very showy. Just the fact that they found the bones, and then were able to identify them (as close as is possible given the number of years passed) is amazing. University of Leicester was where I studied (many years ago), but alas I did modern history/politics and not medieval or archaeology there!
One thing that does bother me though, is that most people (not scholars) just think of the clichés when it comes to Richard III. Not because I think he was actually a good guy, but often they don't look a the source material in the original contexts. Although, I suppose it's inevitable when so many people pay little attention to history these days and don't actually think things through :( It's not limited to this instance though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882
I'm really quite fascinated by this. First of all, it's pretty cool to see the city I live in in the news for something positive for a change, as well as something that's actually interesting. There's actually quite a lot of history around Leicester, but most of it isn't very showy. Just the fact that they found the bones, and then were able to identify them (as close as is possible given the number of years passed) is amazing. University of Leicester was where I studied (many years ago), but alas I did modern history/politics and not medieval or archaeology there!
One thing that does bother me though, is that most people (not scholars) just think of the clichés when it comes to Richard III. Not because I think he was actually a good guy, but often they don't look a the source material in the original contexts. Although, I suppose it's inevitable when so many people pay little attention to history these days and don't actually think things through :( It's not limited to this instance though.