The voice of King Richard III

There have been several media reports about a project to reconstruct the voice of King Richard iII. The result seemingly spoken by an avatar ( which manages to look very unlike both the initial reconstruction of the King’s head from his skull as found in Leicester and the recognised portraits ) has been on exhibition in York in recent days. The Guardian reports on it at Hi-tech recreation of Richard III’s voice has a Yorkshire accent 

I am sure the devotees of the King will be deeply moved by it as it has been in parts sponsored by the Richard III Society. The choice of a Yorkshire accent will also appeal to those who make so much of his time spent in the county and his apparent popularity there.

I cannot claim any expertise in matters of dialect and pronunciation and indeed in the way in which those have changed over the centuries. However listening to the re-created ‘voice’ I felt myself completely unmoved by it and indeed it seemed really rather implausible. 

First of all, Yorkshire accents very considerably over quite small distances, and reflect influences coming from neighbouring areas and also legacies from the distant past.  Thus the East Riding accent preserves both dialect words and pronunciation that reflects Danish heritage of the area. The dialect of the Tees Valley as much that of the north east as it is of the county of Broad Acres.

Secondly, English pronunciation has evolved significantly since the fifteenth century. Whilst this is recognised in this recreation, it does not seem to match up very well with reconstructions of the language of Chaucer or of the late sixteenth century language as used and understood by Shakespeare ( mention him not to the Richard III enthusiasts ) and his contemporaries.

Thirdly, although King Richard spent a number of years in Yorkshire we do not know what the voice patterns of his parents’ household were, he was born in Northamptonshire, which might give him an East Midlands tone, then spent some time in his early years on the Welsh borders at Ludlow, as well apparently in Warwick’s household in Yorkshire or elsewhere. By the end of the 1460s he was then in and around London, as well having a second exile in Flanders, before he moved to make Yorkshire his primary residence. By that time it is likely that his accent would have already been largely formed. If he did actually speak with a northern accent it might well have reinforced. alongside his northern followers, the point emphasised by Charles Ross in his biography of him, that he was an outsider to the London and southern political elite. Caxton’s point about the mutual incomprehension of a Yorkshireman and a Kentish woman is an indicator of how accent and dialect marked individuals out. 

Fourthly, and here I speak ( pun intended ) from personal experience, it is perfectly possible to live in Yorkshire for much longer than the total life of King Richard and to have only slight elements of a Yorkshire accent - mainly in the enunciation of vowels.

Fifthly although we know modern ‘received pronunciation’ is largely a product of the 1920s following the establishment of the BBC radio service, and that before then prominent public figures spoke with accents that might seem surprising today. The surviving recording of Gladstone shows elements of his Scottish ancestry as well as his Liverpudlian birthplace. I have read that Lord Curzon the “ most superior person”, Oxford educated, Viceroy of India and political heavyweight always spoke with a noticeable Derbyshire accent. To what extent the leading figures of fifteenth century England spoke with a distinctive accent is not clear, if knowable. In the sixteenth century that is evidence for the fact that King Henry VIII had a rather high-pitched voice and Queen Elizabeth I recorded by one French ambassador in her native years as speaking with the aristocratic drawl that uses long m-drawn out vowel sounds as in paar maa fwaa for par ma foi. 

Maybe King Richard III did speak like the reconstruction, but I am far from convinced.

Sculptured stones from Old Sarum emerge in Salisbury

The BBC News website recently reported the discovery during repair work on the medieval walls of the Close at Salisbury Cathedral of carved stones which had been reused from the previous cathedral at Old Sarum. The proposal is to display these in the cathedral stonemason’s yard. 

The article can be read at Workers at Salisbury Cathedral find stones from Old Sarum site

It is long been known that the previous cathedral was dismantled and its masonry reused to create its successor on the new site on the banks of the Avon. English Heritage

list individual items in the collection at the present cathedral and also indicates which parts of it are believed to have been built with masonry brought down from Old Sarum on their website at Sources for Old Sarum

Such reuse of masonry was not unique to Salisbury.  At York the eastern crypt built in the fourteenth century reused material from the twelfth century choir of Archbishop Roger on the same site. In Winchester garden walls in the cathedral close have yielded a substantial number of pieces of sculpture from the late mediaeval High Altar screen. At some point in the middle of the sixteenth century these high-quality sculptures were removed from their niches, sawn up, and reused as blocks for mundane walling. These surviving portions of the figures can now be seen in the gallery of cathedral treasures displayed in the South Transept. I have linked to information about this in my 2020 post Our Lady of Winchester

The most recent archaeological investigation of parts of the Close at Salisbury by Wessex Archaeology can be seen in their report here

This helps provide the context for the reused stonework and for other lost features. It  concentrates on investigative work on the site of the fifteenth century chantry chapel of Bishop Beauchamp and of the thirteenth century freestanding bell tower. These were both very regrettably demolished at the end of the eighteenth century by the architect Wyatt. The Wessex Archaeology report quotes Pugin’s scathing judgment on Wyatt -‘ the Destroyer…. this monster of architectural depravity…. this pest of cathedral architecture .. ‘  I wrote about his catalogue of destruction at the cathedral between 1788 and 1792 in a piece in 2011 entitled Vandalism at Salisbury Cathedral - I still, by the way, think the belfry tower and its wooden superstructure should be recreated.

Quite by chance, or by the sensitivity of the algorithm, as I finished this blog I saw an article from today in The Independent about fundraising to purchase a thirteenth century Bible written and illuminated in his Salisbury workshop by a recognised artist, the Sarum Master, and to house it ib the cathedral library. The volume is one of just six identified works by the artist. The illustrated article, which includes a donation link, can be seen at Sarum Master Bible campaign receives £10,000 donation

Remembering the battle of Varna in 1444

Every year this point in November with Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the 1918 Armistice focuses the thoughts of most of us on the casualties of the two World Wars of the twentieth  century, and of subsequent campaigns involving the armed forces of the Crown.

Not a little of that reflection is about the pity and the horror of war and its consequences in personal and social terms. Beyond that, it may lead to thought about the place of war not only in the history of the last century and a quarter, and in the present, but also throughout history, and in all places. Wars may well be justified, or they may be completely illegitimate, and their consequences are wide and far-reaching. Not only are troops and civilians killed and maimed, with all the attendant consequences, and maps redrawn and territories lost or gained, and we tell ourselves not just that we won, or lost, but that the right cause won, or lost. War is Original Sin and the fallen nature of humanity made manifest in all its variety and contradictions - nobility, bravery, gallantry, cruelty, savagery, misery all enmeshed and blended together. I am not a pacifist, war is sometimes, regrettably, necessary, and the best way to peace is by strong defence and vigilance, but let us make no mistake - war is terrible and terrifying.

It is with those thoughts in mind that I look now not at events since 1914 - many still raw and still difficult to process - but to an anniversary that falls today from the period in which I tend to have a particular interest. 580 years ago today the battle of Varna was fought between a central European Christian coalition and the Ottomans on the shore of the Black Sea in Bulgaria. The catastrophic defeat of the Christian forces helped shift the political parameters of the Balkans and beyond for centuries to come. Reading something about it is not just to look at distant events but in fact at ones with a continuing legacy, and in the fates of individuals find something we can empathise with.

Wikipedia sets the scene with Crusade of Varna and an account of the conflict in Battle of Varna

It also has biographies of the two commanders who did not survive the day - the Polish and Hungarian king Władysław III of Poland and Cardinal Julian Cesarini - and of one who did - in John Hunyadi

War and the consequences of war do not end when the fighting stops.

Anglo-Saxon culture and the Silk Road

I have quite often written about evidence for the interrelated patterns of trade and cultural contact that bound Anglo-Saxon England not only to Europe but the Near East and indeed to territories beyond. 

This is brought out splendidly in a beautifully illustrated and informative article from Current Archaeology and available on The Past website. It is based around the current British Museum exhibition Silk Road which has  drawn together a spectacular array of exhibits from across the British Isles and across the world. The article also draws on the most recent research and paint an impressive picture of remarkable cultural interaction in the period. The idea of Anglo-Saxon mercenaries returning to England with the latest fashion ideas for military man from Byzantium Is both visually and also mentally stimulating. The striking thought that the cloisonné work with garnets that we associate with Sutton Hoo is part of a shared tradition that extended as far east as Korea is fascinating, but also perfectly credible once the evidence is presented. 

The article can been at From Samarkand to Sutton Hoo: Exploring the impact of the Silk Roads on early medieval Britain and Ireland  

The threat to the Lincolnshire landscape

Yesterday the Daily Telegraph had a timely article about the threat posed to the Lincolnshire countryside by the plans for a line of pylons and the related infrastructure to carry renewable sources electricity across the eastern part of the county for onward transmission. Taken together with the numerous applications for solar farms in this rural area that is a serious threat to the landscape of this county. That risk may increase further with the iniquitous proposal to charge 20% inheritance tax on substantial areas of farmland. Although more expensive an off-shore cable system along the coast to transfer North Sea wind-farm generated power would be in the long term more environmentally friendly. The same could surely be said for similar threats in Norfolk.

Lincolnshire is not a well-known county and it is indeed surprising how many people either who never been there or whether or not they have ever visited it assume that it is all flat with bulb and beet fields - as indeed the south-east of the county. By contrast the hills and sweeping landscape of the Lincolnshire Wolds and the Lincoln Edge, the distinctive landscape of the Marshland and coast, and the gently rolling countryside of Kesteven are little known to outsiders. Were it a better known part of the English landscape there would, I imagine, already be more outrage at the threat that is now posed.  As someone whose ancestors, in part, lived in the county I feel I have skin in this game.

The battle is by no means lost, indeed has barely begun, and articles such as this one that not only draws attention to the danger but also highlights the variety and distinctive features of Lincolnshire are a necessary part of the campaign.

The article can be seen at The tranquil corner of England about to be lost forever

A Bridgettine volume at the British Library

The British Library Medieval manuscripts blog has a feature about Harleian MS 612 from the great Bridgettine house of Syon Abbey founded by King Henry V, and which is on display as part of the Medieval Women exhibition at the Library.

It is a massive mid-fifteenth century compendium of the life of the fourteenth century monastic foundress and mystic Saint Bridget ( Birgitta ), of her writings and of writings about her. It is the work of Thomas Colyngbourne, one of the brothers of the community and written for the use of the other brothers as part of their devotional formation.

They blog article particularly concentrate on the delightful and delicate marginalia which are included to indicate important sections of the text or to pass comment upon it. 

The illustrated description can be seen on the website at Birgitta's marvellous marginalia

The remarkable history of Syon Abbey and its endurance from its foundation in 1415 down to the tragic decision to close in 2011 is set out by Wikipedia at Syon Abbey

That article is regrettably too concise in its account of the travels and travails of these English nuns living in exile until their final return to England in 1861.

In 2004 with a relative who lived nearby I paid fleeting visit to the community house at South Brent in Devon and did see one of the Sisters in her very distinctive Bridgettine habit taking her morning walk in the grounds. A rare privilege and now, alas, unavailable to others.

 

 

It’s still not Mrs President

So another US Presidential election has come and almost gone, and we know who will be the occupant of the White House for the forthcoming four year term. Inevitably in the modern world thing one tends to follow at least some of the news about American elections and also one has opinions as to the eligibility and suitability of the candidates. However I will keep my opinions on that matter largely to myself but I will say that I never really thought that Kamala Harris would win the election. She just didn’t seem to me to be a sufficiently strong candidate for the post. 

Had she been successful she would have course of been the first female President of the USA. When that might actually happen, remains still an open question. However, there is also the question of when did a woman first run for this exalted position. If you want to keep up-to-date with your fund of knowledge of pub quiz trivia, such as the fact that Donald Trump will be only the second US President to have two separate terms in office, the other being Grover Cleveland, then who and when was the first female candidate is clearly of great importance. The answer is surprising both in the date and also in the very eventful life of that first female candidate.

It was in the election of 1872 that Victoria Woodhull ( later Woodhull-Martin ) was nominated, although that was technically invalid as she was not yet 35, the minimum age under the Constitution. She also sought to be a candidate in 1884 and 1892, but by then she was no longer based in the United States, but in the United Kingdom.where she lived from 1877. In 1878 she met her third husband-to-be whom she married in 1883. Following his death in 1897 she remained in England and from 1901 lived at Norton Park at Bredon’s Norton on the southern edge of Worcestershire. That is where she died aged 88, and was buried in the churchyard in 1927. 

Bredon’s Norton is very close to Tewkesbury and in the ambulatory of the abbey church is a handsome colourful wall tablet, topped with the crossed Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes and which commemorates her, her work for the “great cause” of Anglo-American friendship and records that she played a significant part in securing the open lawns which set the Abbey off to the east. Her political and publishing career is not mentioned. Although I had seen the monument in Tewkesbury Abbey on my many visits there it was quite by chance that I came across her entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography when it was the featured life of the day and I recognised her name. Looking at her life span I did vaguely wonder when looking at the monument what she had experienced in the land of her birth before and after the Civil War, but reading her life was far more interesting than one could glean from the memorial in Tewkesbury Abbey.

In addition to the ODNB there is a quite detailed life of her on Wikipedia at Victoria Woodhull

Her remarkable and varied life story really would make a good film or television series.

The Coronation of King Henry VI in 1429

595 years ago today, King Henry VI was  crowned at Westminster. Two years later he was to be crowned as King of France in Notre Dame in Paris, the only Plantagenet or later monarch to receive the crowns of both realms. The young king was a month short of his eighth birthday and the move to crown him followed from the events of the spring when his uncle King Charles VIi had been crowned King of France at Reims. The view of the government was that King Henry should be crowned as soon as possible in France and that meant that his English coronation had to take place first.

In the early fifteenth century the English coronation rite had assumed probably its most elaborate form following from the compilation of the Liber Regalis in the reign of King Richard II. Thus the boy King was at the centre of a ritual that had been celebrated in 1399 for his grandfather and in 1413 for his father.At its heart was the use of the eagle ampulla believed to have been delivered by the Virgin Mary to St Thomas of Canterbury for anointing English kings, but not used before 1399.

The King Henry VI website, which unfortunately appears to be dormant,has a quite detailed description of the ceremony in Westminster Abbey and in the Palace afterwards, which can be seen at The English Coronation – KING HENRY VI

It is not a criticism of the blog author to say that this does not include everything that must have happened, such as the homage of the peers, and that there appears to be some confusion presumably on the part of the contemporary chroniclers as to some precise part of the liturgy, the account of which seems curiously repetitious or confused as to the number of the King’s prostrations and what he wore at certain  points, and not in line with the norms of an English coronation at that time or subsequently. That said a lot of what we witnessed last year in Westminster Abbey at the present King’s Coronation would have been recognisable to those attending in 1429. Whether Archbishop Chichele had as many very obvious problems getting St Edward’s Crown straight on the monarch’s head as his successor did last year is not recorded.

Effigy of Archbishop Henry Chichele in Canterbury Cathedral 

Image: Wikipedia 

There is more about the Coronation Banquet in Westminster Hall after the ceremonies in the Abbey in a feature from last year on the British Library Medieval manuscripts blog which can be seen at The Coronation Banquet of Henry VI

Some slight idea of what might have been seen that day can be gleaned from the illumination of the charter granted by the King in 1445-6 to his new fo foundation of King’s College in Cambridge.

Although the king was by now in his twenties, he is still depicted as a small boy in his robes of state supported by the Lords Spiritual ( including Cardinals Beaufort and Kempe ) and Temporal ( in the earliest serving coloured depiction of their robes with the differing bars of ermine indicating their rank ) and by the faithful Commons in Parliament assembled offering the new foundation to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Nicholas.

King Henry VI and his Lords and Commons

Image: kcctreasures.com

King Henry VI

Image:kcctreasures.com

The fact of his anointing and coronation and the oaths made to him were doubtless a very potent factor with many in rhe political elite, and hence the reluctance of a large part of the aristocracy to set the King aside in 1460 in favour of the Yorkist line. Furthermore it helps explain the continuing Lancastrian loyalism, expended in blood, until his own violent death in 1471, and even thereafter in his cult as a saint invoked by ordinary people as well as by King Henry VII.

Preparing this article, I came upon another blog Friends of Henry VI which was active iin 2019, but not seemingly since. It can be viewed at Friends of Henry VI

The Act of Supremacy 1534

 

490 years ago on November 3rd 1534 the legal measure to create the Royal Supremacy in England completed its Parliamentary stages and on December 18th it received the Royal Assent from King Henry VIII and became an Act of Parliament.

Wikipedia gives a summary of the Act, and of the associated Treason Act at Acts of Supremacy

This was the logical and virtually inevitable legislative conclusion to the Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532 and of the Appointment of Bishops Act 1533 which was passed and received Royal Assent earlier in 1534. 

Constitutionally the English Reformation had been achieved and legally set in stone.

It is not unreasonable to see these events as the ending of mediaeval England and much more so than, for example, the battle of Bosworth in 1485 or even the summoning of the Reformation Parliament in 1529. The spiritual and temporal partnership of church and Crown over the realm which endured since the tenth century was now merged into a single Constitutional monopoly on behalf of the Monarchy.

During this process Pope Clement VII, much of whose troubled pontificate had been taken up with the “King’s Great Matter”, had died on September 25th and he had been successful on October 13th by Pope Paul III, an outwardly improbable but, as it turned out, very significant reformer, just three weeks before the legislative process was completed at Westminster. 

A significant change can be seen during the process of the passage of these Acts. Whereas  that in Restraint of Appeals and that regulating appointments to Bishoprics had had as their ultimate sanction the 1393 legislation in respect of Praemunire with its its massive financial penalties, the Act of Supremacy and the Treason Act that set out that to deny it was to commit High Treason - for individuals the risks of opposition were made significantly more threatening.

Praemunire had been a marker along the historical road that had included the rejection in the 1420s of Papal attempts to repeal it and the Provisions legislation of the fourteenth century, and long before that the ructions over episcopal investiture in the late eleventh and early twelfth century, and, of course, the dramatic life and death of St Thomas of Canterbury - “Bishop Becket” or the “traitor Becket” as far as King Henry and Mr Secretary Cromwell were concerned.

That there was a recognisable Ecclesia Anglicana long before 1534 is clear, but very much as part of the Catholic Church. Equally it is clear that English Kings exercised a not inconsiderable position of influence within the public life of that Ecclesia and of appointments to the hierarchy, but as patrons and partners not as the ultimate arbiter.

A new era has dawned. We still live with its consequences, unimaginable as they would surely be to everyone in the England or Europe of 1534.

Sentry Duty in a Roman Watchtower

The house in which I was brought up faced north across the open grassland of what survives of the medieval hunting park created by about 1180 and associated with the castle. Within this area is the race course. Just to the north-west was the Park Hill, a geological erratic, on top of which was an early twentieth century water tower built above a nineteenth century reservoir. When that was excavated in the 1870s Roman pottery was found and some apparent evidence for a ditch. This has been interpreted as the site of a Roman signal tower from the later imperial period and seems to be confirmed by an early nineteenth century map which shows a recognisable square just at that point on the hilltop. In Yorkshire, the obvious comparison is the evidence for signal stations along the Yorkshire coast most evident today at Scarborough Castle. The one close to my old home would have overlooked the Roman road linking Legiolium ( Castleford ) and points north to both Eboracum ( York ) and to Hadrians Wall, to Danum ( Doncaster )  and thence to the rest of Britannia and the rest of the Empire. Other possible watchtower sites, forming a linked chain, have been identified to the north and south of the Pontefract example.  Most of this route is still in use as A roads today, although the stretch immediately west of the tower had disappeared under the hunting park by the twelfth century, surviving in part as a boundary, but otherwise obliterated.

 

A reconstruction of a rypical Roman watchtower on the Limes in Germany. There appear to be a considerable number of such reconstructed towers in the area of the Limes.

Image: Wikipedia

It is arguable, indeed probable, that it was along this road that Constantine the Great travelled as he began his journey to the sole rule of the whole Enpirw and all that flowed therefrom. The alternative would have been from York to the Humber at Brough, then, after the ferry, to Lincoln along Ermine Street and thence to the world beyond.

I was therefore interested to find online a couple of videos about this type of watchtower or signal station on the northern frontier of the Empire is now the Netherlands and Germany. The two are filmed at reconstructed towers and explain how they operated as a system of defence and warning, and also about the life of those who are stationed in them.

They can be seen at Watchtowers: the Roman System of Border Defense and at  

What was Watchtower Duty like on the Roman Frontier? DOCUMENTARY

A painting for All Saints Day

Trying to find a suitable artwork to share for All Saints was not easy. Durer’s Asoration of the Trinity  certainly includes a lot of saints but it is more an image of the Church Trumphant and Militant in adoration rather than just a celebration of those whose reward has been gained and is assured.

I then turned to the can Eyck Adoration of the Lamb. As I read the article on Wikipedia I saw the idea advanced that the composition references the liturgy for All Saints, and that decided me to share the article. It is lengthy and quite detailed both in analysing the painting but also in recounting its misadventures over almost six centuries. It is a wonder that we still have it.

The scale of the work means that only small portions make it to the article, but there is sufficient to indicate the microscopic detail and skill in its creation. It is justly esteemed as one of the truly great works of European painting

The article can be seen at Ghent Altarpiece

Warding off witches in Lincolnshire

Today is Halloween and, whilst from my view point, the modern commercialised things surrounding the day should be ignored, there has been the traditional telling of stories about witches and witchcraft and about warding off evil.

They have been some recent online reports about the ways in which people in the past warded off the activities of witches and of the evil eye in Lincolnshire.

The first concerns a survey that has been undertaken of witch marks and of other superstitious markings designed to protect against the house burning down at the Old Hall at Gainsborough. In recent years such symbolic marks have received more attention and it is clear that Gainsborough is a major resource for the study of these things. the Hickman family who owned the house at the beginning of the seventeenth century were closely associated with the Pilgrim Fathers who, of course, left initially from Boston for the United Provinces before their journey across the Atlantic in 1620. They and similarly-minded people were particularly conscious of what they saw as the threat posed by witches in the seventeenth century.

The reports can be seen from the Daily Telegraph at Secret ‘witch marks’ found in Tudor Manir House, from The Guardian at ‘Staggering array’ of witches’ marks discovered at English Heritage site, and from Sky News at 'Astonishing' witches' marks discovered at heritage site - including curses

Like some of the members of the Hickman’s ‘house church’ who met at the Hall the story of the discovery has crossed the Atlantic and is reported upon in some considerable detail by the Washington Post in Centuries-old ‘witches marks’ found carved into walls of English Manor House 

If you have not visited and are in the vicinity I would strongly recommend a visit to Gainsborough Old Hall, which has buildings dating from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and is a relatively rare survival of a house of its type. It has a very impressive late medieval timber framed Hall and a spectacular brick kitchen with multiple hearths for feeding the owner and his household, not to mention distinguished guests.

The English Heritage website about it can be seen at Gainsborough Old Hall and Wikipedia has a history of the building and its owners at Gainsborough Old Hall

Coincidentally the BBC News website reports on a new exhibition at Lincoln Castle about charms against witches that have been found in the county from as late as the nineteenth century.

The article can be seen at Witchcraft charms go on display at Lincoln Castle

 It also refers to the Belvoir witchcraft case of 1618-19. BelvoirCastle, just over the county boundary in north-east Leicestershire, was at the centre of charges claiming that two children of the Earl of Rutland had been bewitched to death. The monument to the children in the Manners family burial place of Bottesford church is unique in explicitly stating that they died as a result of witchcraft. The story of this well documented and sensational case, together with modern theories about what was going on, can be seen on Wikipedia at Witches of Belvoir

The Coleorton Tunic and Coat

The other day I happened upon the website of the Leicestershire Museums Collections, and encountered there the Coleorton Tunic and the Coleorton Coat.

Coleorton is a small village in north-west Leicestershire. Originally just known as Orton it had, according to Wikipedia in Coleorton acquired the Cole prefix by at least 1443  due to it being a local centre for the digging and then mining of coal. In a somewhat similar process the nearby new town, as it then was, of Coalville acquired its name from the same industry in 1833.

Study of surviving early coal workings in 1985-93 revealed some remarkable survivals in the form of tools and clothing from past generations of miners. Most notable were the sodden, but retrievable, remains of a mid-sixteenth century tunic and a mid-seventeenth century coat, left, for whatever reasons in the coal workings. Sufficient survived to be preserved and displayed. There was evidence of the original dye to indicate the original colour of the tunic so as to enable a replica to be made. Both the original remains and the tunic replica can be seen, together with other finds, at Medieval Coal Mining

A contrary view on the Shroud of Turin

I have recently posted about new research into the Shroud of Turin and the significant evidence that suggest that it is indeed a first piece of first century linen that has been in the Holy Land.

In order to demonstrate my impartiality when it comes to assessing the scientific evidence I will now draw attention to an article in the Daily Telegraph which reports on research and an interpretation that puts forward a counter- argument as to how the image on the Shroud could or could not have come about, and indeed when that event might have happened.

The article can be seen at The 3D graphics that ‘prove’ the Shroud of Turin is a fake

I am not a scientist and claim no expertise at all in the technologies that have been implied by researchers into the history and nature of the Holy Shroud.

However, I would make two points against what appears to be the argument in the article.

Firstly, if I have understood the argument aright, it seems to be returning to a an explanation that is predicated on the cloth coming into contact with either a corpse or a living body, or a carved or moulded model that is somehow covered by an ungeant that would leave the marks on the burial cloth. Previous experiments on these lines produced similar distortions to the figure as opposed to those on the relic itself. That idea has, I believe, been ruled out in favour of a so-far unexplained burst of energy, so this seems to be a return to a discredited type of explanation for the markings on the fabric.

Secondly, the suggestion that this is somehow a forgery or, indeed, a piece of “Christian art” produced in the middle ages, requires the creators to have obtained an authentic piece of first century cloth from the Holy Land and furthermore to have used techniques that are completely unknown and unrecorded by contemporaries or indeed by anybody since.

We come back, it seems to me, to the case that on the basis of probability as other arguments are nullified that, however impossible it may appear. that it seems the “impossible” may have to be accepted.

Trends in the Late Antique Wine Trade

The Mediterranean world has been and continues to be one with a more than passing interest in the creation and consumption of wine. Wine is intimately bound up with Mediterranean culture, a component from the earliest times.

Recent research has indicated what it is suggested were the leading or most marketed types of wine in the Late Antique world from the fourth to the seventh centuries. 

Two regions emerge, both in the Eastern Mediterranean. For quality wines the vinophile looked to Gaza, for the mass market to Cilicia and Cyprus.

The research is st out in Two Wines Dominated the Market in Late Antiquity in the Mediterranean: Gaza and Cilician

Lancelot in Silesia

A while ago I came upon an article on Medievalists.net about a series of early fourteenth century wall paintings depicting the story of Sir Lancelot in a medieval tower house at Siedleçin in Lower Silesia. Having been whitewashed they were initially rediscovered in the nineteenth century and have gradually been recovered and studied.

 

The Siedlečin Tower was built in 1312-15 by Duke Henry ( Henryk ) I of Jawor and the paintings are thought to be from a few years later. They may represent the influence or interests of his wife, a daughter of the King of Bohemia, whom he married in 1319.

The Medievalists.net account can be seen at Finding Sir Lancelot in Medieval Poland 

Wikipedia has an entry for the building at Siedlęcin Tower

The Tower represents one aspect of the convoluted aristocratic politics of medieval central Europe. In particular it is a section of the story of the fragmentation of Piast authority in the western lands of the Polish kingdom in the extended absence of central royal authority, and the dynastic moves that led towards Bohemian overlordship in 1392. There is an introduction to the region from Wikipedia at Lusatia .

There is a biography on Wikipedia of the builder at Henry I of Jawor and one of his spouse at Agnes of Bohemia, Duchess of Jawor  These biographies, and the links within them, are interesting in exploring the complex of familial ties amongst the aristocratic elites of the region and also by indicating the potential cultural contacts that could have flowed from them. Some aspects of those possibilities were examined in a 2015 guest post on the Edward II blogspot which can be seen at Edward II, Duke Henryk and 14th-Century Murals at Siedlęcin 

Tomb effigies now displayed in the town hall of Lwówek Ślaşki which represent, in all probability, Duke Henryk and his wife Agnes ( Anežka)

Image: Ludwig Schneider/ Edward II Blog

In England virtually the sole surviving example of such domestic paintings are those at Longthorpe Tower, which lies very much in the western suburbs of Peterborough. They also are dated to around 1330 and combine religious and secular themes. As a collection both by date and their nature they are very much a counterpart to those at Siedleçin. There is more information about these paintings and the history of Longthorpe at Longthorpe Tower from English Heritage, at Longthorpe Tower, and from Wikipedia at Longthorpe Tower

The important remains of mid-thirteenth century paintings in what was the refectory of the priory at Horsham St Faith, just north of Norwich, are perhaps comparable in their blending of the sacred and the secular. Painted to tell the story of the establishment of the priory, they depict its foundation after misadventures whilst travelling back from pilgrimage to Rome befell the husband and wife, Robert and Sybil Fitzwilliam. They founded the house in thanksgiving for their safe return. There are images at The Batchelor Collection - Wall Paintings

For Sale - The Church of Scotland

The Spectator has a good article by William Finlator deploring the wholesale selling off by the Church of Scotland of many of its churches. The article can be read at The tragedy of Scotland’s church sell-off

These are not just relatively modern buildings or ones of no architectural merit or historic significance. Many are fine buildings and certainly worthy of preservation.

I first became aware of this inane policy when, last year, I read an article about the closure of the medieval cathedral in Brechin. Fortunately there a group of trustees chaired by the Duchess of Fife have, as the Friends of Brechin Cathedral, taken on its care and preservation. The article can be read at Brechin Cathedral: What do you want for the future of the 803-year-old jewel in the city's crown?

 

Brechin Cathedral from the south west

Image: Wikimedia Commons

As Finlator suggests in his article finance has played a major part with the cathedral suffering a serious loss over roof repairs, as reported in 2018 in Closure-threatened Brechin cathedral creaking under £140,000 debt and in 2021 in Fears for 800-year-old Brechin Cathedral which Robert The Bruce helped pay for

The Times reported on the closure of the cathedral after so long a history in Debt forces the closure of cathedral after 800 years and in Brechin Cathedral shuts doors after eight centuries

The website of the Friends organisation who have courageously taken on the care of the building can be seen at Brechin Cathedral Trust - Home

Say what one might as a former Anglican about the Church of England and the Church in Wales they have not yet sunk to selling off wholesale historic cathedrals and parish churches.

Maybe the Church of Scotland should return the cathedral to the Piskies ( Episcopalians) or even the Papists ( Catholics ) ….

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Brechin is one of the ancient episcopal sees of Scotland and still the title of the Episcopalian bishop based in Dundee. The cathedral, with its very distinctive profile is described by Wikipedia at Brechin Cathedral and in greater detail with a good selection of photographs at Brechin Cathedral Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland

After a serious architectural mangling at the beginning of the nineteenth century a dramatic restoration at the very beginning of the twentieth century sought successfully to reconstruct much of its medieval architecture and appearance. This was followed by an impressive series of commissions of stained glass windows, making it arguably the finest collection of twentieth century glass in Scotland. This striking work is handsomely illustrated in Brechin Cathedral and a feast of stained glass

During the twentieth century this historic building underwent a major, and, no doubt, not inexpensive restoration and was clearly a patron of the visual arts. Yet now it is deemed surplus to requirements.

Historically I have little time for the Church of Scotland and its constitutionally guaranteed position - I have read too much about the history of the northern kingdom in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - although I had very great respect and regard for the one Church of Scotland minister I have known. Amongst other qualities he conveyed that sense, akin to the best of Anglicanism, that an Established Church has a responsibility for all the people within its territory. As William Finlator basically says in his article it is that tradition which is being betrayed by the Church of Scotland by pursuing such a blinkered policy.

The Euston Arch

I am old enough to remember the furore caused by the proposal to demolish the Euston Arch and the ultimately unsuccessful endeavours to save it. Along with the failure also to preserve the Coal Exchange these two campaigns were the beginning of active resistance to the demolition culture of mid-twentieth century Britain, which certainly predated the Second World War. The change in attitudes over succeeding decades is remarkable and heartening, although far too much was lost that could, and should, have been saved. At least the Arch’s neighbouring Victorian station, St Pancras, after the threat of demolition and consequent neglect, has been restored and appreciated, and given a new purpose. There is a Country Life 2008 account of the renovation of St Pancras at The immaculate restoration of the once-despised architecture of St Pancras station

This week Country Life has an article about the Euston Arch and the equally impressive, if less often remembered, Great Hall which was also destroyed as part of the rebuilding scheme in 1962. 

 

Today it is depressing to stand outside the bland unmemorable facade of Euston and see a plaque indicating where the Arch once stood. Someone really should start a serious campaign to recreate the Euston Arch on its original site.

The illustrated article can be seen at Curious Questions: Why was the original Euston Station destroyed in one of the greatest acts of cultural vandalism Britain has ever seen?

However it does not quite answer the question in its title, and explore the forces, the arguments, in favour of destruction. Brash modernity was backed right up to Cabinet level as part of the ‘received opinion’ of the times. The loss of the Euston Arch spurred on the heroic efforts of conservation campaigners, but was also ultimately a victory for the institutional vandals.

Medieval Women at the British Library

The Smithsonian Magazine has a very good preview and introduction to the British Library’s new exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words. The exhibition clearly draws together familiar figures with less well known women who have left a presence in the written record and in the works of illustrators and artists. Some of these are unique and chance survivals such as the autobiography of Margery Kempe, or have to be trawled from administrative recorde.

The exhibition opens today and runs until March 2bd next year.

The well illustrated introductory article can be seen at These Rare Artifacts Tell Medieval Women's Stories in Their Own Words

The road to Agincourt

Today is the anniversary of the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Probably no other comparable battle, no other comparable victory, has fixed itself, and did so even before Shakespeare, in the collective n English national self-consciousness. One result of that is a continuing range of publications about the battle and about King Henry V.

This autumn has seen the much publicised appearance of Dan Jones! new biography of the King. I have not so far looked at it, but in an online conversation Jones made a point about the injury suffered by the future King when Prince of Wales at Shrewsbury in 1403. He argues John Bradmore may have been an even more skilled surgeon than modern commentators give him credit for. This is a point I have made for several years. We also agree that surviving such an injury gave, or reinforced, a personal sense of destiny, of Divine favour, with the future King.

King Henry V

Image:MeisterDrucke

YouTube offers a range of features in Agincourt and on the life of its victor. Two of the best are an excellent pair of podcasts by the now well-established duo of Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook about the events leading up to the battle fought 609 years ago at Agincourt.

They can be seen at Hundred Years' War | Henry V's Invasion of France | Part 1 and at Hundred Years' War | The Road To Agincourt | Part 2