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.


Friday, 12 June 2020

Even more ridiculous


The urge to graffiti or damage statues of those perceived to be racist by modern standards whenever they actually lived seems to becoming a new national pastime. Quite apart from it being vandalism it is also historically illiterate in many cases. The latest example, and the most ridiculous to date, is the statue of King Robert I at Bannockburn. The Bruce was born in 1274 and died in 1329. One might wonder if he ever saw a person of colour, still less oppressed them, or had an opportunity to enslave or trade them.


Were the person responsible acting with regard to Bannockburn on the premise that English Lives Matter it would be pretty ridiculous after more than seven centuries. Perhaps had it been done by a descendent or clansman of John, the Red Comyn, for whom see John_Comyn_III_of_Badenoch, complaining that Comyn Lives Matter it would make marginally more sense - but it would still be nonsense in the highest degree.

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