Tuesday 28 August 2012

Leporello at a Loss...
















... or why Leporello would not do as servant for King Richard III.


Leporello, the servant of Don Juan, had to register all the love interests of his master.
You say, King Richard III was monogamous and was faithful to his wife?

Admittedly, the known love interests of King Richard III most likely would not even fill one page, much less an endless page like in a leporello folded book.
So why do I compare King Richard III to Don Juan and even say, Leporello would not even be able to keep book?

Because King Richard III has over 900 supporters by now !

Imagine the folded book of Leporello trying to keep track of that number.
Either he would need to have an excessively small handwriting, good indexing, to find the required names again, or he would need our website KingRichardArmitage, to cope with us all - us supporters of King Richard Armitage and our film petition.

We also intend to grow further.
What would Leporello invent, or would he just swap his booklet for an iPhone or computer, to register all of us signers of the petition?
I had problems imagining the servant of Don Juan with an iPhone ;o) but modern theatre performances surely will invent something to cope and bridge the understanding gap for the problems he had with registering all the amorous interests of Don Juan for today's theatre goers.

Fortunately we don't have such problems with the Petition for King Richard Armitage and the film about King Richard III by Richard Armitage. We can bridge the time gap of over 500 years.

Thank you for all your support 
and please do not stop spreading the word about it further !






King Richard Week 2012 with the daily Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the event week.
(KRA Week 2012 News - Day 7)


Guest of the day is the Richard III Foundation, Inc. with wonderful articles, which shed more light on the character of King Richard III, which, with the few reliable resources is no easy research. But Joe Ann Ricca, founder of the Richard III Foundation, did a great job with that and packed it in wonderfully readable articles. See for yourself:

Did you have a go with the Scavenger Hunt yet? Servetus' gives tips and hints on her blog Here are some examples.


Phylly's discovery - Sing along with the ballad of King Richard III.



Monday 27 August 2012

Holbein and King Richard III - Art and History
















Some time ago I stumbled upon a website, which from the dates given, already seems to be in place for quite a while.
This site is so filled with information that after a few days I had forgotten most of them. So, I always wanted to go back to this page and closer read the content and discern the credibility of this information.

I still did not come to a conclusion, how far I trust the given information, or how far I think it is possible to get information out of hints in a picture to such an extent
Still, I want to present this website to you anyway, as it is so rich in detail and deserves a closer look and is an entertaining and informative read for everyone interested in King Richard III and his surroundings.

The thought provoking re-interpretation of most facts about and around King Richard III, the speculation about motives of persons around King Richard and of himself, are so daring and provoking, that they deserve a closer look.

So here comes the website: www.holbeinartworks.org about the research by Jack Leslau

The analyzed image is:

Portrait of the More family by Hans Holbein the Younger

I am quite curious what you think about this website, the image and the interpretation and to what conclusions and further hints you come through this website.






King Richard Week 2012 with the daily Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the event week.
(KRA Week 2012 News - Day 6)

Blogger of the day is Fitzg with her blog post about Leicestershire and its influence on Richard Armitage on the KRA-website.

Did you have a look at Servetus' blog, to get tips and hints about the Scavenger Hunt of the KRA Week? Here are some more.


Phylly's discovery - Sing along with the ballad of King Richard III.


Sunday 26 August 2012

Germans Everywhere? - Even without a functioning Tourism Industry
















Last Wednesday, the 22nd of August 2012, a man who had influenced me while growing up, in my beliefs and the true value of lived charity and friendlyness, died. He was very old, so you can't say it was unexpected, but thinking and remembering the good times and wonderful events we had attended and where we had often met, I remembered a quote, because I will ever remember this man with great fondness. His encouraging nature and care for others created an atmosphere of friendliness and with this he could set the tone in a whole town. You see, I am still impressed by this person's achievements.
The quote I remembered, mentions 'a great heart' and this, not only because of his passing away on the same day as King Richard III reminded me of the king and let me also think about what King Richard III as a person would have been like or what he missed out on because of his loss at Bosworth.

Now here the quote I refer to:

"...three fingers taller than myself...also much more lean; he had delicate arms and legs, also a great heart..." - Nicholas von Poppelau, Diary,1484 (Quoted after: www.richard111.com)

Nicholas von Poppelau (also written Popplau), a Silesian Knight working for the Emperor Friedrich III, traveled Europe and its important courts. In the year 1484, he came to England, on his tour and here he traveled north, to meet the king. First of all, he had already visited other European courts to compare King Richard III's court with, because of his previous journeys. Second he is assumed to have written down his reports from his notes during the journey, after his return home in the years 1485 and 1486. So his opinion must still have been the same, after seeing the courts in Spain and Paris. What he tells about the king, lies in stark contrast to what we otherwise know about King Richard III.

Nicholas von Poppelau tells about the king that he was musically interested - in such a way, that the choir and mass Nicholas von Poppelau heard at his court, was among the best he had ever heard and he was full of praise for the musicality of the king.

He also writes, that King Richard was 3 fingers larger than himself (who as knight can't have been too small for the time). So no trace of the hunchbacked, deformed and belittled king, who was envious and angry, because he could not compare with the impressive brother, King Edward IV. Though he describes King Richard III as larger, but skinnyer than himself.

Nicholas von Poppelau clearly was impressed from the openness, piety and entire behaviour of the king and praised Richard III for his clear head.

Nicholas von Poppelau's travel report is a good source, as for one, it shows that 'Germans' can be found everywhere, even before a working tourism industry. And for another, he comes to England at a critical time, during his reign as king of England in May 1484.
He also is invaluable, as in his role as independent visitor, (working for the Emperor, but neither for the Lancastrian or Yorkist side) he neither has interests in the Lancastrian or Yorkist point of view and so is an outside report about happenings and the conduct of the 'maligned' king. His report therefore does not have the goal to either promote or disgrace King Richard III. He most likely was there, to gain support and favourable opinion for the emperor in search for allies.

So Nicholas von Poppelau certainly is a source worth examining closer.
There are articles about Nicholas von Poppelaus diary I could not get hold of so far, but those would certainly  be an interesting read. (Noted for later detective work ;o)

So far a wonderful resource was:
Dr. David Hipshon's work: "Richard III and the Death of Chivalry"







King Richard Week 2012 with the daily Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the event week.
(KRA Week 2012 News - Day 5)

Blogger of the day is Fabo Laktuko at her blog WhiteRose: Sincere and Simple Thoughts (you may guess twice, what the white rose stands for). Fabo Laktuko is an experienced film-commentator and goes into analysis, which directors could possibly support Mr. Armitage in his filming project "King Richard III".

Did you have a look at Servetus' blog, to get tips and hints about the Scavenger Hint of the KRA Week? Here are some more for day 5.
And Servetus in her unique way analyses King Richard III's thumbs in comparison to Mr. Armitage's and their decisiveness in battle ;o)


Saturday 25 August 2012

Bosworth 1485 - by Mike Ingram

















King  Richard III - from a military perspective



Again, you will say, but this time, I have a real reading tip for you:

In a very sound research, with an abundance of additional information, war techniques, military strategy, knightly equipment and knowledge of the time are described in a fluent and captivating way
This praised book is the newly published work by

Mike Ingram "Bosworth 1485" (2012).


 
(Available as print book and as Kindle version, so both are linked in for your convenience. You know, earnings go to RA's charities. You can also buy via RichardArmitageNet.com, to earn affiliate fees for the charities there.)

The expertise of Mike Ingram about battle techniques is so rich that the he can knowlegeably use the newest research results of the year 2010, to overthrow a lot of long established battle believes about Bosworth, e.g. taking place at Albion Hill, and lighthandedly can rewrite the battle story of Bosworth. The latest research and findings of relics from soldiers, the boar badge, believed to be a sign from the armour of members of the royal guard of King Richard, now make an entirely new location and structure of the battle likely.

The additional information given in this handy and compact book, are so detailed and informative, that one gets sucked into the book at any place one starts to read.
For example, did you know that for some gunpowder making procedures in the 15th century the urine of wine drinkers was needed? (I am sure all the passengers found me to be a bit crazy, when I encountered that detail in an open train compartment ;o)
If you want to know more about the armour of the knights, the way they bound their armour parts or the knowledge about the battle area at Bosworth, reveal that the author has first hand knowledge about the location himself. He is an expert for battle techniques, not only late Medieval battles, but also can compare them to modern ones'. This makes his explanations the more understandable for modern readers.

Mike Ingram also holds guided tours from time to time and shows the area and explains the advantages and disadvantages of each position, either for Richard III and Henry Tudor and their armies. Between the video of the year 1994 (presented here) and the research work done by Mike Ingram, it becomes clear that years of research and extensive findings lie between those two studies.

The research work is wonderfully up to date and for anyone interested in the Battle of Bosworth, I can only recommend the book by Mike Ingram as obligatory material. Really a read worth its time and a remaining source for details about the battle and last days of King Richard III and first days of the reign of Henry VII.




Last two hours to join in !


TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help TODAY!

Please comment today, to support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III. Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion on Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time) to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.

You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us

Thank you !!!




King Richard Week 2012 with the daily Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the event week.
(KRA Week 2012 News - Day 4)

Blogger of the day is Servetus at her blog Me+Richard Armitage with a witty article about King Richard III's story. (Pssst..., I must reveal something. - She had 1.000.000 clicks on her blog lately and that really is a reason to celebRAte ;o)

Did you have a look at Servetus' blog post how to Spend our Money! ?
Servetus' analysis of a KRA-fangirl's mind is one further example of her exceptional examinations! - Richard III won’t make me squee. Right?
And I must also reveal, Servetus gives tips and hints in her latest post to help with solving the quiz questions.


Friday 24 August 2012

The Last Days of Richard III
















One of the newer researches about King Richard III which really impressed me, was
"The Last Days of Richard III" by Dr. Ashdown-Hill (2010)


 
 (Available as print book and as Kindle version, so both are linked in for your convenience. You know, earnings go to RA's charities. You can also buy via RichardArmitageNet.com, to earn affiliate fees for the charities there.)


More than the title says and being a detailed and interesting to read account of the last days in King Richard III's life and the motives and personal interests surrounding him, the book also reveals informative details about the burrial place of King Richard III.
This was the reason, that some time ago, when we got the Archaeology Appeal about the planned digging in Leicester, I took this book out and started reading again.
What impresses me with the research work by Dr. Ashdown-Hill, is the readable conclusions and density of information he reveals in his publications. So this work "The Last Days of Richard III" is no exception and far more information is given than a mere day to day account and research into King Richard III's last moves. Reasons, motives, plots, different concurring interests and a wide variety of persons influenicing the last moves, are drawn together and create a vivid image of the happenings before, during and after the Battle of Bosworth.

More details about the book are also on the KRA website. Here also the very interesting DNA analysis is mentioned, which has a major role to being able to discover King Richard III's burrial place in the planned archaeological diggin in Leicester.

The KRA website will keep us updated here about the digging.
I can't wait for news ;o)




TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help TODAY!

Please comment today, to support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III. Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time) to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.

You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us

Thank you !!!




King Richard Week 2012 with the daily Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the event week.
(KRA Week 2012 News - Day 3)

Blogger of the day is Maria Grazia at Fly High! with a review about a novel "Some Touch of Pity" by Rhoda Edwards, depicting King Richard III's story.

Did you have a look at Servetus' blog how to Spend our Money! ?
Servetus' analysis of a KRA-fangirl's mind is one further example of her exceptional examinations! - Richard III won’t make me squee. Right?

Thursday 23 August 2012

Wars of the Roses - King Richard III on DVD
















The banner of my home-village cunningly resembles the logo of one side of the warring families. Unfortunately for me, the 'wrong' side, though - to my great relief - in early depictions, it did not always have this colour ;o)
But the resemblance is so great and for a small village so unlikely to invent such a special and detailed rose drawing, which has no similarity to any other in the region, that it was even speculated, that someone from England might have emigrated here and brought the special way to draw the rose with him. So as a child, I did not see the Wars of the Roses as such a far distant battle, as my own village, though hundreds of kilometres away, might have been involved in it.
I doubted that 'invented' legend, but found roses very fascinating none the less.

In my late search for news and information about King Richard III, I stumbled upon a video about the "Wars of the Roses", which quoted Polydore Vergil (Anglican History) on its cover and this way immidiately had my full interest:
"King Richard alone was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies."
The DVD presents King Richard III and the entire battle story of the Wars of the Roses from a military perspective:



"Wars of the Roses, Blood, Treachery and Cold Steel" (1994) 
Produced & directed by Bob Carruthers,
Narrator: Brian Blessed
Crowell Productions Ltd. 1994

What disappointed me a bit, was the depiction of the battle scenes. Re-enactors playing the believed events at the battle is one thing, on a documentation, I had expected a bit more location shots and detail. That can be because of my hightened expectation. So I was disappointed that the sole focus was the military perspective upon the "Wars of the Roses" and all other motives behind the military activities were not brought into closer focus or even mentioned in the interview parts of the film.

War as a form of spreading itself, certainly at that time has a good foundation in arguments, at a time, where soldiers often were not fighting for the cause they believed in, but for those who could pay them the most money. Soldiers previously fighting in France and now out of work, needed a new working area, but as an argument for the long lasting fights, it is not even a main reason for the wars, as the nobility, responsible for the dispute, did not draw especially into account to create reasons to keep their soldiers employed.
 What on the other hand was impressively shown in the film, was the helebard and the new battle power of foot soldiers. So all in all, I found the time watching the video well spent and a short and handy overview of all the major battles and scirmishes of the "Wars of the Roses".
The bonus material like images and quiz do not really add much to the experience of the DVD, as they are much too short to give a complete or summarising impression. And the research status still is 1994, this means, Albion Hill is seen as the area of the Battle of Bosworth, though new research found the more likely place of the deadly battle of King Richard III. But this does not have a central position in the arguments of the video and so I just want to mention this in a side-note and otherwise recommend the video as a quick introduction into the long series of battles and the fighting techniques.

If one wants to know more about reasons, developments and persons involved in the long going dispute, deeper research and studies have to follow after this video.

In the next days I will collect some more reading tips and information to give you a deeper impression and more details about the magnifold reasons, intrigues, betrayals and different kinds of interests influencing this long going battle between two lines of one family and cumulating in the Battle of Bosworth, where King Richard III died (22th August 1485).
 





TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help!

Please support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III together with me. Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time) to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.

You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us

Thank you !!!




King Richard Week 2012 with the daily Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the event week.
(KRA Week 2012 News - Day 2)

Blogger of the day is Phylly at Phylly's Faves with a very special Birthday list ;o)

Have a look at Servetus' blog to get an idea how to Spend our Money!


Wednesday 22 August 2012

Happy Birthday to our King of Fandom





Happy Birthday to our King of hearts, fandom and the dwarves!




Source: http://dl6.glitter-graphics.net/pub/1902/1902616gzigibv9ox.jpg

Celebrations have already started in London and now slowly spread around the world ;o)


What can be my part in the cake (King Richard Armitage Week 2012) for Mr. Armitage's birthday?


Though Black Forrest Cherry Cake is my favourite, a digital version of it presumably does not taste all too well.

So I went on and raked my brain.
What better thing to do for me, than to search for King Richard III?
And where better way to start my detective work than at his last days of life?

As the research about the trough found in Leicester some years ago most certainly was not the coffin King Richard III was burried in, the search for his burrial place goes on, as our Search for King Richard page on the KRA-website shows.


Here a video report from the year 2008 (The One Show 17.11.08 - Put on YouTube by unsworthsugden) about the securing of the artifact at that time believed to be the coffin of King Richard III:




The video in my opinion makes it so evidently clear, that the research done in the meantime makes further research and an archaeological search for the remains of King Richard III necessary.

So my quest during this King Richard III Week 2012 will be, to accumulate information about the last days of King Richard III and some of the newer research, shedding light on the possible fate and whereabouts of King Richard III's burrial place and about King Richard III himself.


I hope you will enjoy the journey and virtually search with me around Bosworth and the last days of King Richard III !




TV-Documentation about King Richard III needs our help!

Please support a filming of a documentation about King Richard III together with me. Take 2 minutes and voice your opinion on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of August, 2012 (U.K. time) to convince Channel 4 that it is a necessary endeavour and lots of people are already waiting for a documentation about King Richard III and his life, which will take into account all the new research results and finally bring some of the mis-constructions about this English king to an end.

You can put your comment here, to show your support:
http://www.channel4.com/4viewers/contact-us

Thank you !!!




King Richard Week 2012 has started today!
Quiz questions for the scavenger hunt during the week can be found here!

First blogger of the day is Gratiana Lovelace with Melissa the Mouse.

Have a look at Servetus' 41 reasons why Mr. Armitage is extraordinary.


Monday 20 August 2012

King Richard Armitage Week 2012 - Announcement














King Richard Armitage Week 2012 will begin coming Wednesday.
Only two more days to prepare for this wonderful historic and fan-cy event.

And I am so busy that I till now did not even have time to declare my participation on my own blog, leave alone announce the event or talk about the wonderful participating bloggers here.

Tztztz..., CDoart! -  That needs to change immediately ;o)

Here now, the announcement and the wonderful bloggers who will join me in the event:


  • We also have a wonderful special guest, the 
    Richard III Foundation, Inc.
    ,
    who will join in with an article during the week and sponsors a price for the scavenger hunt. - So, don't miss the quiz questions, published each day of the event week!

This year, we have a bit of a different approach than last year. Bloggers will post, from fandom to historic, like last year, but instead of the series of interviews, we have articles and news from all kind of perspectives (More will be revealed on Wednesday ;o)
Over the whole week, we will post hints for a scavenger hunt, to determine our King Richard Armitage Champion 2012!
(Don't worry, we leave you enough time - till 3rd of September, 2012 - to hunt for the solution and enter the quiz to get a chance to win one of the wonderful prices.)


I wish you lots of fun, wonderful celebrations and a magnificent day and KRA-Championship 2012!