Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday 23 April 2013

Praying to St George




John Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, kneels in prayer before St George. The saint is shown wearing the mantle of a Knight of the Garter. The Garter can be seen below his left knee.

From the Bedford Book of Hours

Image;Wikipedia

This part of the manuscript can be dated to 1423-30. The Book of Hours is now in the British Library as Addnl.MS 18850. There is an online article about the Bedford Hours here.

The extremely useful biography of the Duke by Jenny Stratford from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography can be read here, and there is a shorter online account with some useful links here.


May St George pray for all those nations and foundations under his patronage.
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