Investigating and restoring the tomb of the Emperor Otto the Great

The Medieval Histories website has had two recent articles about the archaeological investigation and conservation of the tomb of the Emperor Otto I - the Great - in Magdeburg Cathedral. 

The seal of the Emperor Otto I

Image: Wikipedia 

The work has meant that the bones of the Emperor, who died in 973, could be studied and preserved for the future and his tomb chest, which is apparently from the time immediately after his death, has been stabilised and rebuilt.

The Emperor, whose first wife was a member of the House of Wessex as the daughter of King Edward the Elder, revived in 962 the dormant position of Holy Roman Emperor after its time of abeyance under the later Carolingians. Not only did he link the Imperial title to the kingship of Germany, which survived until 1806, but he is in many ways the creator of the medieval Empire, based on the precedent of Charlemagne. His descendants, referred to as the Ottonians, held the Imperial title until 1024.

Wikipedia has a biography of him at Otto the Great

The articles about the tomb and the skeleton can be seen at The Restoration of the Tomb and Reburial of Otto the Great and at Did Otto the Great Die from a Stroke?

The present thirteenth to early sixteenth century cathedral is described in considerable detail by Wikipedia at Magdeburg Cathedral

  

There is more about the history and building of the cathedral, and also information about the examination in recent years of the bones of Otto’s beloved first Queen, Eadgyth of England, which are also buried in the cathedral, at Magdeburg Cathedral

The Emperor’s death at Whitsuntide coincided, quite coincidentally, with the coronation that same Whit Sunday at Bath of King Edgar, who was Eadgyth’s nephew, and was followed fourteen years later by the elevation of the Capetians to the French throne - momentous years in the development of medieval national monarchies.

The Funeral of King Harald V

 

Yesterday witnessed the funeral in Oslo of King Harald V of Norway. I was able to watch the NRK coverage of the day through the BBC.

The full video from The Royal Family Channel can be seen at 🔎 king harald funeral or from the BBC at Funeral held for Norway's King Harald V in Oslo 

The cortège passes in front of the King and Royal Family

Image: The Royal Watcher

It was an extremely dignified and impressive occasion, with thousands lining the streets along which the procession passed from the Royal Palace to the Cathedral and then to the Akershus fortress for the commital ceremony.

The number of members of other royal houses who attended as well as other elected heads of state and leaders of governments was a tribute to the respect and affection in which the late King was held by many nations, as well as by the inter-related royal houses of Europe, and others from further afield.

Two things struck me from a British standpoint. The first is the strange convention at British monarchs do not attend the funerals of their fellow sovereigns. Before the mid nineteenth century this would have been rarely feasible for any ruler, but the advent of steam power made travel quicker and easier. I am given to understand that the ‘convention’ that British monarchs do not attend was invented by Lord Palmerston, who also disliked Queen Victoria travelling to France on a state visit in case the ‘Citizen King’ gained access to her diplomatic correspondence. Queen Victoria was less likely to attend funerals, but her funeral and that of her son and successor brought four and eight reigning kings to London and Windsor to join the new British monarch in burying their predecessor. The interwar and post war period offered less occasion for change, but when the late Queen did attend the funeral of King Baudouin of The Belgians in 1993 I thought this, in my view, rather outmoded tradition had gone by the way. However yesterday the King was represented by the Prince of Wales, and the ‘convention’ was one more invoked.

The second thought was that the calm and precise Norwegian ceremonial, which does perhaps in part derive from British precedent given the fact that the first ruler of an independent Norway in 1905, King Haakon VII, was married to the youngest daughter of King Edward VII, was reminiscent of the funeral of the late Queen in 2022. This gives the lie to the oft-repeated complacent comment by so-called ‘royal experts’ and ‘royal commentators’ that “no-one does ceremonial for such occasions as we do in Britain”.

Norway yesterday showed their tradition at its best. Other monarchies also have state ceremonies to rival those of the UK. Swedish, Spanish, and Dutch ceremonial is just as impressive when deployed on the appropriate occasions. Those who describe the Dutch monarch as “bicycling” should look at film of the opening of the States General or, even more remarkable, the funerals of their former Queens.

Looking at film of the Norwegian royal funerals of 1954, 1957, and 1991 it was clear that the form and ceremony was identical. There is clearly a well established culture of maintaining the correct ceremonial tradition in the Norwegian royal household and in the military.

The website Scandinavian Royalty has a video of the

Norwegian royal family greeting their guests from other royal houses at the Royal Palace following the funeral. This is rather unusual to see members of these families behind the scenes, as well as being entertaining and illuminating in its ‘body language’ and can be viewed at Scandinavian Royalty

At the time of the King’s death I linked to a very interesting post from The Antiquary about the burials of Kings of Norway in the medieval era and also about the creation after 1938 of the funeral chapel at Akershus. It can be accessed at The Antiquary

The Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Today is the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.

The Nativity of Our Lady

Giotto

Image:Wikipedia 

OnePeter5 has an article about the history of the feast and various customs traditionally associated with it. Most of these relate to the agricultural calendar of farming communities, and the fact that this day in early September was a convenient marker within the annual round.

The article can be read at Forgotten Customs of Our Lady’s Nativity

The Nativity of the Virgin

Andrea di Bartolo 

A Sienese artist active from 1389 until his death in 1428. This work, part of a larger composition, is dated to 1400-1405

National Gallery of Art, Washington 

Image: nga.gov

Both of these paintings, like others of the same subject, include vignettes of late medieval domestic life from the society which commissioned and created them - in this case central Italy.

 May Our Lady,

together with St Anne and St Joachim,

pray for us

Oriel visits the Vatican

Yesterday, the Pope received in audience in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican a delegation of members of Oriel College, led by the Provost, Lord Mendoza.

The Pope and the Provost

Image: oriel.ox.ac.uk 

The occasion was to mark two significant events. The first is that this year Oriel - the House of  Blessed Mary to Virgin in Oxford, to give its full name - is celebrating its seven hundredth anniversary of foundation by King Edward II in 1326. In July it welcomed that monarch’s 21x great grandson in the person of King Charles III who is the Visitor of the College, and there have been a variety of celebrations throughout the year.

The second event is closely bound up with the history of Oriel, and the man who is its most famous Fellow, St John Henry Newman, the Pope proclaimed a Doctor of the Church and co-patron of Education last year.

St John Henry Newman as a Fellow of Oriel 

1822-1845

Image: Venerable English College

In his address to his visitors the Pope urged Oriel to rediscover the Catholic roots of the foundation, and to follow St John Henry in pursuing truth courageously and to see education as the formation of the whole person.

The Oriel College website reports on the visit with quotations from the Provost’s address at Provost leads delegation to meet Pope at Vatican

Vatican News has more of the Pope’s address 

at Pope to Oxford’s Oriel College: Seek truth, promote integral anthropology

His Holiness’ points are good and apposite, and will in my opinion, hopefully fall on fertile ground. My experience of Oriel was that those three factors were there and perhaps more so than in some, maybe many, other colleges in Oxford. Let us hope Papal encouragement will lead to positive growth in these matters.

May Our Lady continue to pray for Her House in Oxford and all Orielenses

Floreat Oriel!

The Battle of Worcester 1651

Today is the 375th anniversary of the battle of Worcester in 1651, and the city and reenactment groups are holding a series of events to commemorate the anniversary.

Worcester Cathedral from the site of Fort Royal with the modern memorial to the battle in the foreground 

Image: tripadvisor.co.uk

Wikipedia has an account of the battle at Battle of Worcester. Although it gives a good narrative of the events the references indicate that its sources are in many cases about a century old and it is perhaps in need of some revision.

The Fugitive King has a similar narrative, but presented with a more modern slant and far more illustrations. It can be accessed at The Battle of Worcester

Wikipedia has a biography of the most prominent Royalist fatality from the battle, the second Duke of Hamilton, which includes the text of his farewell letter to his wife written from the Commandery in the city, a building which still survives. The article can be seen at 

 William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton. His grave is marked by a plaque in the choir of the cathedral.

  

Following the battle King Charles II fled, very much as his great nephew Prince Charles Edward did after Culloden almost a century later. Ensuring the survival of the claimant was of paramount concern to safeguard their cause.

King Charles II in armour

Probably painted shortly after his flight to France in October 1651

Image: app.fta.art

Following a circuitous route, and many close shaves, the King finally sailed to France from Shoreham in Sussex on October 15th.

Wikipedia has a good, illustrated, account at Escape of Charles II and also a biography of the King’s most famous helper in his escape at Jane Lane, Lady Fisher

The museum at Shaftesbury in Dorset has an account of the King’s journey which can be accessed at Escape or Die 1651 - Charles II the Most Wanted Man - Gold Hill Museum

King Charles II

Miniature by David des Granges from the time of the King’s accession 

Image: wikiart 

The King and Queen visit the Bayeux Tapestry

This evening the King and Queen, accompanied by the French President and by Mr Burnham, and their wives, visited the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum, which opens to pre-booked visitors next week. 

The BBC News website has a report, including part of His Majesty’s speech, at King Charles, Macron and Burnham arrive to view Bayeux Tapestry at British Museum

King William I 

From the Bayeux Tapestry

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In his speech the King referred to his French ancestry as a descendant of King William the Conqueror. King William I is the 28x great-grandfather of King Charles III, and that bloodline was multiplied by Queen Eleanor of Castile, Queen Elizabeth of York, Lord Darnley, Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and Prince Philip (twice over in his case)

King Harold II 

From the Bayeux Tapestry 

Image: History Extra

Furthermore the King is also descended from King Harold II, who is his 30x great-grandfather through his daughter Gytha, Princess of Kviv and the royal lines of Hungary, Aragon, and France through to Queen Philippa of Hainault, the consort of King Edward III. 

From the Valois branch of the French Capetians that bloodline also entered the English, and then the Scottish, royal house through Queen Catherine of Valois, the grandmother of King Henry VII. In that case King Harold is again the present King’s 30x great-grandfather.

In addition all the Kings of Scots since 1437 have also been descended through Queen Joan Beaufort, a great-granddaughter of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, from both King William I and King Harold II.

Those bloodlines are again also repeated through Lord Darnley, Queenr Alexandra, Queen Mary and, again twice over, Prince Philip.

So for the King very much a family occasion.

Feast of St Giles

Today is the feast of St Giles, who has a wide number of patronages, as well as being one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as pilgrims visited his shrine in Provence he became very popular as a patron of churches, chapels and hospitals across much of Europe, and by no means least in England.

I was baptised at the church of St Giles in my home town of Pontefract and for many years the church was a very important part of my life. I have retained a devotion to St Giles, and he is a gentle, kindly, and wise saint to turn to.

The Mass of St Giles

National Gallery, London

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Looking online I found an article about him and his depiction in the now sadly incomplete and scattered altarpiece by the late medieval painter now known to us as The Master of St Giles, and which celebrated his life on the website of The New Liturgical Movement and first published in 2023.

The article can be found at The Life of St Giles

May St Giles pray for us

The face of an eleventh century man from Lincolnshire

I have shared articles in the past about facial reconstructions of human remains discovered in archaeological investigations.

The Standard recently reported on a facial reconstruction of a man who is thought to have died in 1079 or thereabouts, and who was buried in a place of honour in the middle of the Anglo-Saxon church of St Peter at Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire.

There is a detailed description of the church from Great English Churches here

The church is now maintained by English Heritage and their illustrated website description can be seen at History of St Peter’s Church, Barton upon Humber

St Peter, Barton-upon-Humber

Image: greatenglishchurches.co.uk

The report on the study of the remains of the man, who appears to have been aged between fifty and sixty at the time of his death, and was thus born in the 1020s, can be accessed at Researchers reconstruct face of man who lived through Norman Conquest

 

The Beheading of St John the Baptist

Yesterday was the feast, depending on your choice of nomenclature of the Beheading, or of the Decollation, or of the Passion of St John the Baptist.

Over the years I have written quite frequently on his two feast days, of his birth and of his death about St John, devotion to him, depictions of him, and churches dedicated to him.

This time I am returning to a topic I wrote about in 2015, that of carved alabaster devotional images, especially for domestic settings, in An English Alabaster of the Head of St John the Baptist

An article from Substack discusses and illustrates examples of these carvings in Art for the Liturgical Year at Saint John the Baptist and the Forgotten Alabaster of Medieval England

Many examples of these face images of St John are in the V&A, and their website gives access to more photographs.

Other good examples dated to about 1450 and now in Aberdeen and in the Burrell collection can be seen at Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk)

Some, though by no means all, still have the decorated wooden housing which set them off, and which could be closed in Lent.

The number which survive out of what must have been a huge number in late medieval England would suggest that this was an image as popular then as the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Lourdes or of Fatima or the Divine Mercy in modern Catholic homes.

This prompts me to comment, as I have before along with other historians and theologians, about the decline in devotion to St John the Baptist in modern times. In the Substack article linked to above is a citation of an article by Peter Kwasniewski from 2024 on the Liturgical Arts Journal on The Prominence of St John the Baptist in the Old Roman Rite which looks in part at this, although the decline in devotion to the Baptist is, I think, much earlier than the era of Vatican II. Is he perhaps to challenging and uncomfortable for the modern churchgoer?

The martyrdom itself is also depicted in alabaster panels, which were perhaps intended for a reredos.

A good example of this type survives in the V&A and the detailed catalogue entry with illustrations and discussion of the original paintwork can be seen at The Beheading of St John the Baptist | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections

I have shared this relatively undamaged carving before and am doing so again. It is dated to the 1480s.

 

The martyrdom of St John the Baptist

Image:collections.vam.ac.uk

St John the Baptist pray for us

The Battle of Mohács 1526

 

Today is the 500th anniversary of the battle of Mohács in 1526 when the Ottoman forces overwhelmed the Hungarian army led by King Louis II and broke the ability of the realm to defend itself. In the folk memory of Hungarians it remains an unparalleled disaster.

This was to be followed by the Ottoman occupation of central Hungary in 1541, capturing Buda exactly fifteen years later on August 29th 1541, leaving the Habsburg King Ferdinand I with the west and north of the kingdom and his rival King John I from the Zápolya family holding Transylvania, and the Holy Crown of St Stephen. The Holy Crown was eventually returned to King Ferdinand and the eastern kingdom recognised as the principality of Transylvania under Ottoman suzerainty. 161 years after the battle is 1526 a second battle, almost on the anniversary, saw the Habsburg forces smash the Ottoman army in the second battle of Mohács and free most of the historic Hungarian realm from Turkish rule.
 

 Wikipedia has a detailed account of not just the battle but the historical background, the events leading up to the battle itself and the events afterwards. This can be read at Battle of Mohács

 

There is another detailed and illustrated account of the battle from the website The Past at The end of everything: the Battle of Mohács, 29 August 1526

Recent research into the abnormally wet weather conditions in 1526 in Hungary is set out in an article from  Daily News Hungary.com at Was the weather completely different 500 years ago? This is what was recorded in the days before the Battle of Mohács

Wikipedia also has a biography of the unfortunate King Louis II who drowned in the flight from the battlefield aged only twenty. This can be seen at Louis II of Hungary

King Louis II

A portrait by Titian

Image: Wikipedia 

 His body was subsequently recovered and buried in the royal church at Székesfehévár. His widow was to act initially as Regent of Hungary for her brother King Ferdinand and then for many years as Regent of the Netherlands for her elder brother the Emperor Charles V. She retired with him to Spain and died in 1558, and is buried at El Escorial. There is an online biography of her at Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)

A jousting Sallet of King Louis II 

Decorated with the intertwined initials L and M for himself and his wife Mary of Austria.

Image : metmuseum.org

It is thought to have been looted by the Ottomans from Buda and was found in what is now Istanbul. 

It is now in the Metropolitan Museum, and there is more about it at Attributed to Kolman Helmschmid - Jousting Sallet (Rennhut) Made for Louis II (1506–1526), King of Hungary and Bohemia - German, Augsburg - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

King Harald V

 

The announcement yesterday, although clearly not unexpected, of the death of King Harald V of Norway has led to widespread national mourning and a genuine sense of loss across the national community. The crowds outside the Royal Palace in Oslo, the carpet of flowers and the comments of Norwegians to interviewers all testify to this.

King Harald V

Image: European Royal History

This is not just respect for the late King as head of state but affection for a man seen as a national grandfather and as someone who cared for his people as a national family. 

King Harald V and Queen Sonja

Image: nine.com.au

His successor King Haakon VIII comes to the throne well prepared both in his age and by having served on several occasions as Regent when his father has been incapacitated. 

King Haakon VIII

Image: nine.com.au

  

  

King Haakon VIII and Queen Mette-Marit

Image: Instagram 

The website of  The Antiquary had in interesting, and very well prepared, video yesterday evening about the historic burial sites of the Kings of Norway before the Union of Kalmar and about the modern royal mausoleum in Oslo. It can be viewed at Allan Barton - The Antiquary

The Battle of Crécy 1346

Yesterday was the 680th anniversary of the battle of Crécy in 1346, the first of the great military victories of the English forces on land in the Hundred Years War. Not only was it a devastating defeat for King Philip VI and his army with a huge number of elite casualties but it was also the battle in which the heir to the English throne, Edward, Prince of Wales ‘won his spurs’. A decade later at Poitiers and eleven years later still at Nájera he was to achieve further great victories.

Edward Prince of Wales

Figure from St Stephen’s Chapel Westminster

Image: world4.eu

Wikipedia has a detailed account of the campaign and the battle at Battle of Crécy

 

King Edward III

Detail from the decoration of St Stephen’s Chapel at Westminster commissioned by the King

Image:royal.uk

On Substack King Edward I has a translation of King Edward III’s letter about the events of the day and of the ensuing events, complete with a little humour at King Edward I (@edwardlongshanks1979) 

  

 A donor statue thought to be King Philip VI

and now in the Metropolitan Museum 

Image: metmuseum.org

Surveying early Christian Sculptures in southern Scotland

The BBC News website reported recently about a survey sponsored by the Sociery of Antiquaries of Scotland to record and catalogue surviving sculptural work in the churches of southern Scotland. As those involved in the study explain in the article this is the type of research done a century and more ago, but which has rather gone out of academic fashion.

 

There is a degree or urgency involved as the Church of Scotland pursues its crass policy of closing so many of its places of worship and selling them off irrespective of their age and history. Say what one may about the Church of England closing churches, but it is nothing in comparison to the cultural and spiritual disaster north of the border.

The illustrated article can be accessed at Sculpted stone study could shed new light on lost kingdoms

A fragment of a ninth century Anglian shrine or tomb found in the south aisle of Jedburgh Abbey 

Image: Reddit

One of the ideas behind the study this to look for any evidence for regional differences arising from political affiliation between those works produced in Anglian Northumbrian Bernicia in the east and those in the west from Strathclyde with its links to Ireland and artistic influences from there. 

   

My own hunch would be that the political divisions would not be such as to impede a recognised sculptor travelling across Lanarkshire or the Cheviots and finding commissions from ecclesiastical patrons. The sculptor’s own original base may well have shaped his style much more than the local allegiances of those he worked for. 

When looking at these sculptures in the report it is importantly to remember that originally these works, usually standing crosses or remains of tombs or shrines, 

would have been painted and the details highlighted. 

 

Remembering St Louis

Today is the feast of St Louis. He reigned as King Louis IX of France from his accession to the throne at the age to twelve in 1226 until his death in 1270. He was canonised in 1297.

St Louis

Image: Wikipedia 

As this year is the eight hundredth anniversary of his accession it seems appropriate to mark his feast day.

Over the years I have written several times about St Louis and to avoid repetition I will give the link to my article from three years ago. This has links to other articles about the saint-king from here on the blog and can be accessed at St Louis

There is a splendid collection of depictions and images of StLouis from across the centuries on the blog  Ad Imaginem Dei at Saint Louis of France – Saint, King and Patron of the Arts

   

Statue of St Louis dated to 1275-1325 from the Grand Reliquary of the Sainte Chapelle. It is suggested this may be the best near contemporary likeness

Image: Ad Imaginem Dei

The latest, well illustrated and detailed biography of him on Wikipedia is at Louis IX of France

One thing that is not mentioned in that, but which I gleaned from another website, and did not know, or had forgotten, is that St Louis was not the first born to his parents, but their fourth son. Medieval infant mortality was no respecter of royal blood. He is the ancestor not only of every reigning European monarch but of virtually all the other non-reigning dynasties on the continent.

Seal of King Louis IX, legend: lvdovicvs di gra(tia) francorvm rex

Image: Wikipedia 

May St Louis pray for France, his descendants 

and for us all

 

Bosworth remembered

Yesterday, August 22nd, was the 541st anniversary of the battle of Bosworth. 

As a battle it is often seen as a turning point in English history that has left a continuing legacy. That is a perfectly reasonable interpretation. 

 

However, it is still often said that Bosworth marked end of the Wars of the Roses. It was not - the last battle was fought at Stoke in Nottinghamshire nearly two years later, and until 1499 there were localised disturbances associated with the pretender Perkin Warbeck.

It is often said that King Richard III was the last Plantagenet monarch - but King Henry VII was also a Plantagenet, but of another branch of the family. 1603 would be a better date for such a change, but even then King James VI of Scots became King James I of England because he had Plantagenet blood.

It is still scaliness the the Middle Ages ended that morning in a Leicestershire field, which is also ridiculous. A better date would be 1529 with the assembly of the Reformation Parliament - and even then the mid-sixteenth century English polity had more in common with the mid-fifteenth century than the mid-seventeenth century.

 

Bosworth is important, but not for providing a useful date for teaching courses and editors.

The last few days have seen a number of stimulating articles turning up online, which may be of interest to readers.

Nathan Amin has written several good books about the Beauforts and the Welsh ancestry of King Henry VII and he has had a number of posts on his Substack site Hireath

One of these is the text written about 1500 by King Henry VII’s court poet and chronicler Bernard Andre which purports to give the speech made by the Earl of Richmond, as he still was, when he landed at Milford Haven at the beginning of August, or, perhaps, before Bosworth itself. The text as given doubtless was improved with classical references by Andre, but the substance is, presumably, what the future king said, as the article discusses. The later rhetorical skills of his granddaughters Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I can be seen in this address.

 

The speech can be read at Henry Tudor's Speech Before Bosworth

Nathan Amin also had a post about two surviving finds from the battlefield and about his own involvement in the annual commemoration at Bosworth - One Day, Two Kings

  

Andrea Povey has an Substack article about an object I was unaware of - a carving which may depict the crucial event of the battle with the death of King Richard III. The carved wooden panel is part of a much altered bed belonging to Rhys ap Thomas who may have struck the fatal blow to the last Yorkist monarch.

The illustrated article can be seen at Boasting of Killing a King 

Such has been the growth of Ricardian sentiment that it is King Richard who receives most of the attention in coverage of Bosworth. The young exile who risked all and won gets less attention as the hero of the day and as an individual.

One of the best sites doing historical facial

reconstructions of figures from the past, despite a rather overly earnest and loaded voiced introduction, a good study of what King Henry VII actually looked like. It uses the death mask, the works of Pietro Torrigiano and the Michael Sitow’s portrait from 1505. That painting always gives the impression of catching the King on a bad day, and the video’s facial recreation does redress that.

The video can be seen at Royalty Now Studios

 

King Henry VII

Bust by Pietro Torrigiano

Image: V&A Images 

Chester Castle Chapel re-envisioned

Chester Castle has seen many changes and many rebuildings over the centuries whilst still retaining significant historic features. One such is the thirteenth century chapel of St Mary de Castro in the Agricola Tower. Built about 1210 as part of the gatehouse to the inner ward it contained the chapel, which was painted in the latest style in the 1240s. This was presumably part of a series of alterations to extend the residential accommodation in the inner ward and involved blocking the gateway in the Agricola Tower.

The Earldom of Chester, which included the castle, escheated to the Crown in 1237, and in 1241 King Henry III compensated surviving claimants from the late Earl’s family with land elsewhere. Finally in 1246 the Earldom was annexed to the Crown, subsequently being bestowed on the reigning monarch’s eldest son, as it still is.

The decorative scheme of the chapel would appear to reflect the court culture of King Henry III, so well documented in his surviving archives, but of which tragically little survives in situ. The chapel at Chester does at least give us a building and traces of paintwork to begin to imagine what it once looked like.

Work in recent years has exposed the fragmentary remains of the decorative scheme and this has now been studied and a reconstruction created. I first came upon this on the Substack site of The Fake History Hunter which stresses the importance of colour in medieval life, and it can be accessed at The Fake History Hunter (@fakehistoryhunter)

The English Heritage website to which it links, and which discusses the remaining artwork and seeks to reconstruct it, can be found at The Chester Castle Chapel Wall Paintings

The reconstruction of the original scheme in the chapel 

Image: English Heritage 

The effect created in the reconstruction is not dissimilar to that made by the Arena or Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, painted by Giotto in 1303-05. Wikipedia has a detailed account of that masterwork at Scrovegni Chapel

Wikipedia has an illustrated history of Chester Castle and its buildings which can be viewed at Chester Castle

Medieval Gardening

Recently I came upon a video from Medieval Way  based upon Jon Gardener’s 1440s The Feate of Gardening, the earliest surviving guide written in English to the practicalities of gardening.

Beyobd his text nothing else is known about Gardener. What can be gleaned from his poem can be seen summarised in Jon Gardener | Encyclopedia.com

JSTOR has a link, if you subscribe or have access, to an article from Garden History vol 13, pt 2, 1985 by the distinguished architectural historian John H. Harvey entitled ‘The First English Garden Book: Mayster Jon  Gardener’s Treatise and its Background’

  

Creating a medieval garden

1470-75

Bibliotèque de l’Arsenal

Image : Medieval Histories

 

The fatal impact of a trebuchet?

A shote while ago I shared a link to the analysis and apparent identification of an English soldier from the 1340s Anglo-Scottish conflict, whose skeleton had been found in the remains of the medieval chapel of Stirling Castle. That article can be accessed at Reconstruction of a medieval male skeleton from Stirling Castle.

 Now there is news on Live Science of another study of a skeleton from the same chapel but from the time of King Edward I’s siege of the castle at Stirling in 1304 during the earlier war. In this case the skeleton was that of, presumably, a Scottish soldier who had died in his twenties from traumatic injuries. The theory advanced is that he was struck from behind by a stone lobbed by one of the English trebuchets and that his, mercifully, instantaneous death resembled a modern car accident.

The article about the study can be seen at Skeleton with 167 fractures discovered at Scottish castle may have been first victim of Edward I's 'War Wolf' trebuchet

 

Historic Environment Scotland has a good account of the siege engines and the actual siege of Stirling at The War Wolf at Stirling Castle  

  

A trebuchet in action from the Maciejowski Bible of circa 1240

Pierpont Morgan Library

Image: World History Encyclopaedia 

 Wikipedia has a quite detailed account of these mighty siege engines at Trebuchet

Medievalists.net has another, short, article at The Engineering Beauty of the Trebuchet

  

 

A modern reconstruction of the Stirling ‘War Wolf’

Image: Wikimedia 

Devotion to King Henry VI

Readers will, hopefully, recall that I have shared in the past the link to articles I have had published in Mass of Ages, the magazine of the Latin Mass Society. The latest issue has another of my articles, and that will,I hope, be of interest to readers of this blog

“A prayerful, humble life” looks at the development of devotion to King Henry VI following his murder in 1471 and the subsequent development of a cultus, and serious attempts to get him canonised. 

 

The article is on page 8 and the autumn edition can be accessed here 

    

It is clear that King Henry was encouraged into a life of prayer and piety from his earliest years:

    

  

King Henry VI is presented by St Katherine, his mother’s patron saint, to the Virgin and Child

From the Psalter of King Henry VI, in the Royal MSS circa 1428-30 in the British Library  

The image clearly recalls the iconography of the Wilton Diptych commissioned by King Richard II a generation earlier

Image:Print Collector  

 

The Assumption of Our Lady

The Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Bl. Fra. Angelico  

Dated to 1424-34 and originally an altarpiece in the Basilica of San Marco in Florence, now in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston

Image:anastpaul.com

To mark this weekend’s great feast, and to remind readers of the traditional observances around the celebration of Our Lady’s entry into Heaven, the website OnePeterFive has a linked set of articles about the customs of past generations and centuries, and indeed encourages, their revival, which can be accessed at The Forgotten Customs of Assumption Day

A joyful and splendid celebration of the Assumption of Our Lady to all my readers

Eclipses - past, present, and future

Yesterday’s almost total eclipse here in the UK, and the total eclipse in Iceland, parts of Ireland and in Spain caught the imagination of very many of us. In my case it sent me on a quick internet search for recorded eclipses in the past.

Wikipedia and NASA both have articles which indicate the not only when they occurred but also which places were more likely to experience them.The articles can be accessed at List of solar eclipses visible from the British Isles and at Solar Eclipses Visible from London, England

The coverage on television from Iceland made the point that the last total eclipse was visible from Reykjavik had been in 1433.

Here in Britain there were no total eclipses between  1485 and 1598, with one annular eclipse in 1547.

More remarkable is the fact that there were no total eclipses visible in Great Britain between 1724 and 1925 ( only visible off shore of the outer Hebrides) and 1927 on the mainland. Putting it another way King George III and his sons, Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, the Duke of Wellington, Palmerston, Disraeli, Gladstone and Newman, and many others besides, had no chance to see a total eclipse whilst at home.

 Mind you next year’s eclipse visible from Sydney in Australia will be the last one visible there for more than the on next eight centuries.

Historically Scotland, especially the far north, is more likely to offer opportunities for eclipse sightings.

  

Live Science has reproduced the first written account of a total eclipse. It was written by Archilochus in the seventh century BC. He lived in the island of Paros and witnessed a total eclipse there on April 6th 648 BC. The account of the author, and his reaction, seen at 'No longer will anything seem impossible or marvellous': How an 'immoral, foul-mouthed and violent man' wrote the first eyewitness account of a total solar eclipse​​

I watched the last near total eclipse in Oxford in 1999. I recall the strange, eerie greyish light as the maximum point approached, the strange quiet that accompanied it. Watching the coverage yesterday evening on the television coverage and looking out from my window it was again, not surprisingly, very much the same, a uniquely distinctive phenomenon. 

 

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