Meanderings

• Helen Castor

For the past half-century, Richard the Lionheart - that buff, bronzed warrior who hardly saw his wife and had no children - has been something of a gay icon. As a presence on the silver screen (most famously in the shape of the young Anthony Hopkins in The Lion in Winter) his homosexuality has rarely been in doubt.

English history isn't short of gay or bisexual monarchs - Edward II, James I, possibly William II - but the historical evidence for counting Richard I among their number rests on one contemporary document concerning his relationship with King Philip II of France. In 1187, a chronicler reports, the two men were so close that "at night the bed did not separate them".

Now, however, as the BBC prepares to air a new Lionheart docu-drama, the king's biographer, Professor John Gillingham, has pointed out that Richard's ostentatious bed-sharing with the French king was the product of a political alliance rather than a lovers' tryst.

Gillingham's suggestion that this was "an accepted political act, nothing sexual about it" might strain modern credulity - but we should remember that diplomacy has always been intensely personal, if not downright physical. Only this week, Jonathan Powell's account of the Northern Irish peace process has highlighted the significance of Tony Blair's decision to shake hands with Gerry Adams - the press of prime ministerial flesh on republican palm a powerful gesture of political intent.

In centuries past, a wider range of body parts might come into diplomatic play. Medieval rulers, for example, routinely greeted one another with a kiss (the biblically sanctioned "kiss of peace"). Richard's decision to share a mattress with Philip was the ultimate public demonstration of trust in an age when PR had to rely on word-of-mouth rather than the lenses of the international media.

And it worked, in the context of a monarchy where privacy was relative and political life didn't stop at the bedroom door. The king held court in his bedchamber, and his favourite servants slept at the foot of his bed. World leaders don't, any more, feel the need to ratify a treaty by getting into bed with each other - though, interestingly, that's still the language we use when we talk of sealing a deal. Perhaps we should just be grateful that, these days, the "special relationship" between the UK and the US doesn't involve seeing Bush and Brown in their underpants.

· Helen Castor is a medieval historian and author of Blood & Roses: the Paston Family and the Wars of the Roses.

Via JISCMail

The University of Michigan announces that under new arrangements worked out between the University Press and the University Library, all components of the online "Middle English Compendium," including the online version of the Middle English Dictionary, are now freely accessible without fee, password, or any other impediment to access:
http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/m/mec

The MED has hitherto been available only on a subscription or password-protected basis, till the Press recouped its substantial contribution to the original conversion costs. This has now been accomplished, and we are grateful for their agreement that the time has come to liberate it.

It was always our hope and intention to open the MED when we could, both in the general interest of public access (to which as a public university library we are dedicated), and with the expectation that open access will facilitate eventual interlinking amongst sibling dictionaries and between MED and other projects (e.g. online editions, which are now free to link lexical lookups to the appropriate MED entry).

(The official press release is here: http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=3125)

Leeds:

( Read more... )

For me: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/ - International Medieval Congress 2007, Leeds

( Read more... )

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Skeletons of bloodiest day

http://www.mirabilis.ca/2006/09/13/skeletons-of-bloodiest-day/

From the York Press: Skeletons of bloodiest day.

Skeletons bearing marks of horrendous sword injuries have been unearthed beneath a North Yorkshire hall.

The victims of a medieval battle were discovered beneath the floor of the dining room of Towton Hall, between Tadcaster and Sherburn-in- Elmet, dating from the Battle of Towton in 1461.

The discovery was made as part of a ten-year investigation into the archaeological evidence of the longest and bloodiest battle ever fought in England.

Taking place on Palm Sunday, March 29, 1461, the Lancastrian army was handed an enormous blow with its leader, King Henry VI, forced to flee. He was defeated by the self-proclaimed Edward IV. [continue]

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

St Whyte (so Oxf D Saints) is according to that work the only saint apart from Edward the Confessor to have her shrine surviving intact to this day. According to ODS her leaden coffin was opened in 1900 and was inscribed His requiescunt reliquie sancte Wite. The badly damaged reliquary contained the boneds of a small woman aged about 40.

Gordon Plumb

First fossil of fish that crawled onto land discovered

http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?i=02e80c38fb61ca4c24a8fff51b4ac575

A crucial fossil from the time when fish first crawled out of the oceans, 400 million years ago, has been found in the remote Arctic

Gene therapy helps blind mice see the light

http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?i=c195bfb828686e3865d7d38e607162cf

Rodent cells gained sensitivity to light thanks to a protein normally found in green algae - the discovery may ultimately help to restore vision in people

Speedy robot legs it to break record

http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?i=332badb9a7081c4b6fd1ccdee63bf631

"RunBot" has a simple control mechanism that mimics the way human neurons control reflexes and it achieves quite a pace for its small stature

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Fire devastates historic medieval cottage (Coventry Observer)

FIRE investigators believe arsonists may have been behind a blaze which gutted one of the city's finest medieval cottages.
The fire broke out at the cottage in Spon End shortly after 9am on Sunday morning. Fire crews from Radford, Canley and Binley fire stations rushed to the scene and spent most of the day tackling the blaze and damping down.
Part of the roof and the first floor of the listed 16th century building were destroyed.Neighbouring properties suffered smoke damage.
A city council spokesman said a planning application to turn the empty building into a Thai take-away was lodged with the council in January, but the owners had not been in contact since. [Link].

Diggers unearth a tantalising glimpse of town's medieval past

Road to ruins: Humber Field Archaeology project officer Jim Fraser recording details of the medieval street or yard near Walkergate in Beverley. Picture: Terry Carrott.

Diggers unearth a tantalising glimpse of town's medieval past
Former residents 'well-to-do'
Dave Mark
ARCHAEOLOGISTS peeling back the layers of history at the site of a bulldozed school in Beverley have made tantalising discoveries about the town's medieval heritage. The excavation on the site of the old Walkergate Infants School is revealing traces of substantial medieval buildings – which could prove to be an inn which may have welcomed pilgrims who journeyed far and wide to visit the historic town. They have also unearthed a well-preserved street or yard, and made discoveries about the nature of life in the once-thriving industrial town. East Riding Council has allowed the diggers time to examine the site before construction work starts on a new care home for Beverley residents. The digging team, from Hull-based Humber Field Archaeology, is excavating a large area within the school grounds, following up the findings of earlier trial excavations by the York Archaeological Trust, which revealed traces of medieval occupation and later buildings across the site. [More].

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Order of the Phoenix on July 13

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:8543

All right: for the last time, because it's no longer a rumour or from a "source" or reported elsewhere or anything: as we reported early today, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is slated for a July 13 release!

So... who's coming with me?!

From the BBC: Archivist finds Henry I charter.

A long-lost royal charter has been discovered by historians at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

The document grants the manor of Maisemore from King Henry I to St Peter’s Abbey in Gloucester.

Although not dated, experts know the charter was made on 3 September 1101, more than 900 years ago, and have confirmed that it is original. [continue, see small photo]

Via mirabilis_ca

Could I ask a big favour of one of my West Country-based friends?

I would like pictures of the tomb of Philip Mede which is in St. Mary Redcliffe. I am particularly interested in looking at the effigies, the inscriptions and any heraldic devices. Would anyone be able to help?