The burial of a King .

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**reds8n**

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-32014296

Richard III: Leicester Cathedral coffin viewers wait for hours

People wanting to view Richard III's coffin have been warned of long queues with waits at one stage approaching four hours.
The last Plantagenet king's remains arrived on Sunday after a cortege through Leicestershire. About 2,000 people were thought to be in the line.
His skeleton was found under a car park in 2012.
The reburial ceremony, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, will be held on Thursday.
Further viewing times are Tuesday 09:00-12:30 / 14:00-17:00 / 19:15-21:00 and Wednesday 09:00-12:30.
Richard, the last English king to die in battle, was killed at Bosworth Field in 1485, at the end of the Wars of the Roses.

Members of the Royal British Legion have begun a vigil at the coffin as members of the public file past

After his death his body was taken to the Greyfriars Church in Leicester and buried in a hastily dug grave.
In the centuries since, Richard gained notoriety as Shakespeare's villain and the possible killer of the princes in the tower.
His grave's location became a mystery until it was found under a municipal car park in a discovery that stunned archaeologists and drew worldwide attention.

At one stage cathedral officials asked people to stop joining the line but lifted this shortly after.
In the queue outside the cathedral Rebecca McCole, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA, said: "I was one of the lucky ones to get an invite so how could I not come to see this all.
"I have always been interested in history, especially in the British monarchy.
"This visit has been really inspiring and everyone has been so helpful and delightful."

Throughout Richard's turbulent upbringing - two periods of exile and the death in battle of his father - he proved himself a capable and loyal follower of his eldest brother, who became Edward IV.
However on Edward's death, Richard seized and imprisoned his young sons. They were then disinherited on the grounds Edward had a previously unheard-of marriage contract with another woman.
Richard passed a number of laws, including an early version of legal aid and making courts use English, which benefited the common man.
Despite this, his taking of the crown, the disappearance of Edward's sons and the execution of several leading nobles, lead to discontent and rebellions.
At Bosworth, Richard's larger army failed to crack Henry Tudor's troops while the king's reserves did not move to his aid.
The blackening of his reputation by Tudor historians started debate about his personality and legacy which is ongoing to this day.
line
John Wesseldine, from Barwell in Leicestershire, said he had taken sons Jayden and Jenson, aged 10, out of school.
Jayden said: "School wasn't going to do a trip to visit the cathedral so dad said he would bring us to see the King's coffin.
Mr Wesseldine said: "This is part of their history and is a chance to see a real King. It is a chance they will never get again so we made the effort to come down."
Later, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, will celebrate Mass for the repose of his soul in Holy Cross Church, the current Catholic parish church and Dominican priory in the city centre.
"The climax will come on Thursday when the Archbishop of Canterbury comes to join us - and the eyes of the world will be on us," the Bishop of Leicester, the Right Reverend Tim Stevens, said.
On Sunday, Richard's coffin left the University of Leicester where it had been kept since the discovery of his remains in 2012.
It was accompanied by the team who made the find to Fenn Lane Farm in the village of Dadlington, the site believed to be the closest to his death.
More than 35,000 people lined the route of the cortege as it travelled through Leicestershire and then back into the city for a service at the cathedral.

Army cadets pulled the coffin at Bosworth field where Richard III died 530 years ago

and on something of a related tangent ....

http://www.abroadintheyard.com/12-buildings-today-around-when-richard-iii-on-throne/

which has some lovely old buildings in, my favourite line being : " The house was modernised in Tudor times and again in the 18th Century. "

which certainly gives one some perspective

**kronk**

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

**Frazzled**

Its a shame the French didn't catapult a giant wooden bunny onto the procession.

**Albatross**

Good riddance. Bloody Plantagenet bastard.

**Frazzled**

Albatross wrote:
Good riddance. Bloody Plantagenet bastard.

Thats some hostility for a dead guy who got stabbed in the butt what 6 centuries ago?

**Iron_Captain**

Frazzled wrote:
Albatross wrote:
Good riddance. Bloody Plantagenet bastard.

Thats some hostility for a dead guy who got stabbed in the butt what 6 centuries ago?

I just watched on TV a lot of British people at this funeral getting really worked up defending Richard III. Time for War of the Roses 2.0?

**Frazzled**

I hope so. The French can carpet bomb the whole area with escargo and bad wine.

Vive Le La Pucelle d'Orléans! Vive Le France! And now I shall taunt you a second time.

**Wyrmalla**

I caught it on my news as my family watched it and criticized the whole thing. I wondered where they got those suits of armour the guys on horseback were wearing. Either they're authentic, in which case who signed off on that, or they're new pieces ...and someone's splashed a silly amount on having them made. Tsk, what type of guards don't carry swords too?

Ah, but yes, I really question why so many people turned out for it. Presumably as it was just something to do, or they have a confused idea of royalism perhaps? Meh, wonder how much it all cost?

**Albatross**

Frazzled wrote:
Albatross wrote:
Good riddance. Bloody Plantagenet bastard.

Thats some hostility for a dead guy who got stabbed in the butt what 6 centuries ago?

I was kidding.

**Frazzled**

Oh ok. You Brits have that whole sense of history thingy

I like the houses linked "Mmmmyes and here is Barnsworth House, most recently renovated by the Count of Basey before your country was even born..."

**Medium of Death**

Why wasn't he buried in York?

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Wyrmalla wrote:
Ah, but yes, I really question why so many people turned out for it. Presumably as it was just something to do, or they have a confused idea of royalism perhaps? Meh, wonder how much it all cost?

Well, why the feth not? Just how often do State Funerals for 15th Century Kings come along? The last British King to die in battle too.

**Wyrmalla**

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Wyrmalla wrote:
Ah, but yes, I really question why so many people turned out for it. Presumably as it was just something to do, or they have a confused idea of royalism perhaps? Meh, wonder how much it all cost?

Well, why the feth not? Just how often do State Funerals for 15th Century Kings come along? The last British King to die in battle too.

I'm the same guy who didn't go out to look at the eclipse because I had a report to write...

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Wyrmalla wrote:
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Wyrmalla wrote:
Ah, but yes, I really question why so many people turned out for it. Presumably as it was just something to do, or they have a confused idea of royalism perhaps? Meh, wonder how much it all cost?

Well, why the feth not? Just how often do State Funerals for 15th Century Kings come along? The last British King to die in battle too.

I'm the same guy who didn't go out to look at the eclipse because I had a report to write...

Heh, neither did I. I was at work, we were busy and it was overcast here anyway. And I remember seeing the total solar eclipse in 1999 from France. Once in a life time experiences tend to lose their appeal when you repeat them.

Attending the state funeral of the last British Monarch to die in battle on the other hand. Feth Princess Diana. I'm all about Richard III.

If I was local, and I didn't have anything more important to do (working), then I would have been there. Probably.

**Ketara**

Medium of Death wrote:
Why wasn't he buried in York?

Because Leicester council have pound signs in their eyes at the thought of all the tourists coming to see Richard III, and fought a legal battle to be the ones with the right to exploit his decaying corpse for piles of foreign wonga.

**Medium of Death**

Ketara wrote:
Medium of Death wrote:
Why wasn't he buried in York?

Because Leicester council have pound signs in their eyes at the thought of all the tourists coming to see Richard III, and fought a legal battle to be the ones with the right to exploit his decaying corpse for piles of foreign wonga.

I can tell you are happy at this decision.

Seems bizarre that it was a legal matter, rather than "He's getting buried in York. End of."

**d-usa**

Iron_Captain wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
Albatross wrote:
Good riddance. Bloody Plantagenet bastard.

Thats some hostility for a dead guy who got stabbed in the butt what 6 centuries ago?

I just watched on TV a lot of British people at this funeral getting really worked up defending Richard III. Time for War of the Roses 2.0?

I will continue to pledge my allegiance to Francis II, aka Duke Franz of Bavaria, as the true King of England!

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Ketara wrote:
Medium of Death wrote:
Why wasn't he buried in York?

Because Leicester council have pound signs in their eyes at the thought of all the tourists coming to see Richard III, and fought a legal battle to be the ones with the right to exploit his decaying corpse for piles of foreign wonga.

The dudes a skeleton. pretty sure he's not decaying anymore. :p

**Hordini**

d-usa wrote:
Iron_Captain wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
Albatross wrote:
Good riddance. Bloody Plantagenet bastard.

Thats some hostility for a dead guy who got stabbed in the butt what 6 centuries ago?

I just watched on TV a lot of British people at this funeral getting really worked up defending Richard III. Time for War of the Roses 2.0?

I will continue to pledge my allegiance to Francis II, aka Duke Franz of Bavaria, as the true King of England!

Here here! *claps*

**Ketara**

Medium of Death wrote:
Ketara wrote:
Medium of Death wrote:
Why wasn't he buried in York?

Because Leicester council have pound signs in their eyes at the thought of all the tourists coming to see Richard III, and fought a legal battle to be the ones with the right to exploit his decaying corpse for piles of foreign wonga.

I can tell you are happy at this decision.

Seems bizarre that it was a legal matter, rather than "He's getting buried in York. End of."

Essentially, the team who dug him up had an agreement with Leicester Council that if by some miracle they happened to find him(nobody expected it), they'd give him over to them for reburial.

The issue I have with this is the concept that his corpse was something that a team of archaeologists had the 'right' to sign him away in the first place, and the council had the 'right' to claim ownership because he was found there. When it comes to past Kings and Queens of England, I think the government should have more to do with the whole affair. He would have wished to be buried in York, and his traced descendants declared that as their preferral. I won't lie that there were some money grubbers from York council involved as well, but I feel those two other factors should have been the primary decider for his place of reburial once Westminster Abbey was ruled out.

Not, 'E was deid on oor land, naow e's oors'.

**Wyzilla**

Wyrmalla wrote:
I caught it on my news as my family watched it and criticized the whole thing. I wondered where they got those suits of armour the guys on horseback were wearing. Either they're authentic, in which case who signed off on that, or they're new pieces ...and someone's splashed a silly amount on having them made. Tsk, what type of guards don't carry swords too?

Ah, but yes, I really question why so many people turned out for it. Presumably as it was just something to do, or they have a confused idea of royalism perhaps? Meh, wonder how much it all cost?

You can get full plate armor for around $1,000 to $2,000 bucks. It's not that outlandish compared ot the historical worth.