There were many human pawns and casualties in the conflict now known to history as ‘The War of the Roses’.  As the dynastic feud raged furiously between the Royal houses of Lancaster and York, many died a brutal death.  The most brutal, perhaps, was that of the death of King Richard III – killed in battle at Bosworth in August 1485.  Last week, current news and history were  alive with the news that the body of Richard III had been found under a car park in Leicester.  Since the announcement, much has been discussed about the discovery of his mortal remains and what it means to our understanding of his reign.  I still maintain my original position that it doesn’t change much about our understanding of Richard III, nor our understanding of his life and times.  (See my post Richard lyth buryed at Leicester.)

My post today is about the most important pawn of all in that power struggle: Elizabeth of York.  By 1483, the time of her father Edward IV’s death, Elizabeth was 17 years old.  With her brothers locked away in the Tower of London and her uncle declaring himself to be king, Elizabeth’s position was very precarious.  She became even more vulnerable when in March 1485, Anne Neville, Richard III’s queen, died and rumours spread that Richard intended to marry Elizabeth, his own niece.  The historian Anne Crawford, in her 2007 book ‘The Yorkists: The history of a Dynasty’ comments:

‘… rumours that the king [Richard III] was planning to marry Elizabeth himself.  While a union between uncle and niece was not strictly forbidden by the church, provided dispensation was obtained (and it was later not unknown in European royal circles), the idea caused revulsion among his councillors, Richard was warned by Ratcliffe and Catesby, the men he trusted most, that, unless he abandoned the idea and publicly denied any such intention, his northern supports would rise against him for causing the death of Warwick’s daughter [his dead wife, Anne Neville] in order to enter into an incestuous marriage to his niece.  There is no reason to believe the charge that Richard murdered his wife, but the fact that people, even his loyal northerners, believed it possible indicates the air of unease and suspicion surrounding him.  The threat of their revolt was enough to bring the king to a humiliating position of making the public denial demanded of him.’ (page 146-7)

Elizabeth was most certainly a prize – daughter of the dead Edward IV and sister of the missing Edward V.  A prize that was too much for the victor of Bosworth Field, the new Henry VII, to ignore.  Henry Tudor made his intentions towards Elizabeth very clear even before that fatal day in August 1485 when Richard III was dispatched to meet his maker.  By marrying Elizabeth, Henry Tudor, at one stroke, would pacify both the house of Lancaster and the house of York.  Moreover, any child of theirs would automatically be the heirs to the throne – a fact that could not be disputed by either dynastic house.  In a cunning and an astute move, Henry VII, determined that he was to be king by conquest rather then by the birth-rights of a mere woman, did not marry Elizabeth until January 1486. The marriage took place a few months after his own coronation the previous year on 30 October.  Clever Henry VII! By marrying after his own coronation, he reinforced the point that it was he who was the anointed king: Elizabeth was merely his consort.

Contemporary documents from the period suggest that Henry VII had a loving relationship with his wife.  At her death, he did appear to grieve for her and he did spend his money on a lavish funeral for her.  She also seems to have cared for the education of her own children – very unusual for a high born medieval woman.  The historian, David Starkey, in his 2008 book ‘Henry Virtuous Prince’ strongly argues the case that Elizabeth was an exceptionally well educated woman and it was she who taught her own daughters and her young second son literacy (page 119-120), and therefore to read and write.   That second son, of course, went on to be the highly educated and intelligent Henry VIII.

Elizabeth of York, that pawn of medieval and Tudor history who aided the end of the bloody War of the Roses, was born in the Palace of Westminster on 11 February 1466 and died exactly 37 years later at the Tower of London, nine days after giving birth to her seventh and final child (who had died the previous day).

So on the anniversary of her birth and death, below are some images of Elizabeth of York.
Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV, and their five daughters (left to right) Elizabeth, Cecily, Anne, Catherine, and Mary. Royal Window, Northwest Transept, Canterbury Cathedral.

Cigarette card from Ogden’s Guinea Gold series, published 1903.

Cigarette card from Player’s Kings and Queens, published 1935.

Margaret Beaufort (born 1443, died 1509) was the mother of Henry VII.  Below is an image for February from her Book of Hours.  This Book was made between 1430 and 1443 and owned firstly by Margaret’s mother, Margaret Beauchamp (born 1405/6, died 1482), and then by Margaret.  Margaret appeared to use her Book of Hours as a calendar to record significant events in the lives of her son and grandchildren.  Thus, she used August to record her son’s landing at Milford Haven and the death of Richard III; and February for the death of Elizabeth of York (we do not know if this is her hand or if a scribe wrote the entries for her).

‘February’ from The Beaufort/Beauchamp Hours
(England, S. E. (London), c. 1430, before 1443)
shelfmark Royal 2 A XVIII f. 28v.

The first left margin note in black reads

This day wher[e] decessed Quene Elizabeth i[n] the tower of london

Postcard of the Burial chapel of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Westminster Abbey.

Funeral effigy of Elizabeth (plate from 1914)

Chapel of Henry VII and his queen, Elizabeth of York

Elizabeth of York: daughter of Edward IV, niece of Richard III, sister of Edward V, wife of Henry VII, mother of Henry VIII, grandmother of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

What do you think about Elizabeth of York?
Please do leave your thoughts in the Comments box below.

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Notes
Images from the British Library’s collection of Medieval Manuscripts are marked as being Public Domain Images and therefore free of all copyright restrictions in accordance with the British Library’s Reuse Guidance Notes for the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Richard III lyth buryed at Leicester
– 28 January: a remarkable date in Tudor history
– British costumes in the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII
– School trip Friday – Of cabbages and kings
– Prince Arthur- Prince of Wales
– Tudor coronations

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

Richard ye was sonne to Richard Duwke of yorke & brother un to kyng Edward ye iiijth Was kyng after hys brother & raynyd ij yeres & lyth buryed at leator [Leicester]

So the council car park in Leicester has yielded up its secret.  The body discovered by archaeologists in September 2012 is that of King Richard III.  The analysis by today’s live conference at the University of Leicester was remarkable – there can be absolutely no doubt that they have got their man.  Science, genealogy and history all brought together with DNA analysis, wound analysis, genealogical and historical analysis to prove this.

The discovery is one of the most exciting historical events to happen in living memory.  Not because the discovery adds more to our historical understanding of Richard III: it doesn’t.  Or because it informs us of something that we didn’t already know: it doesn’t.  The discovery of his body merely confirms what we already knew: that Richard died a brutal death on the battlefield of Bosworth, and in death was not treated with dignity.

But more staggeringly, his re-interment in Leicester Cathedral will be a never to be repeated link from our modern-day present to our past: the burial of a king of England.  King Richard III – the last of the Plantagenets, the last truly medieval king, the last king of England to die in battle.  Or the child-murderer hunchbacked bogeyman of Shakespeare and English history?

With all that will be written and said about Richard III in the coming days and weeks, let us return to contemporary documents written during Richard’s life – along with snippets written afterwards by his nemeses, the Tudors.

Signature of Richard, Duke of Gloucester – future King Richard III

King Richard III

Royal arms of England supported by boars and surmounted by a crown from De re militari (the Book of Vegecye of Dedes of Knyghthode), (London, England, c1483-c1485), shelfmark Royal 18 A XII f.1

Royal arms Anne Neville (wife of Richard III) from De re militari (the Book of Vegecye of Dedes of Knyghthode), (London, England, c1483-c1485), shelfmark Royal 18 A XII f.49

The Genealogy of Richard III
The image at the start of this post is a small portion of The Biblical and genealogical chronicle from Adam and Eve to Edward VI, a remarkable document now in the care of the British Library. The chronicle is thought to have been written and illustrated circa 1511  (i.e. shortly after Henry VIII succeeded his father to the throne of England) with additions added by another hand after Edward VI’s death in 1553.  The book stayed in the possession of the kings and queens of England until it was given to the British Museum by King George IV in 1823. Below is the full image of the kings – a stupendous display of Tudor propaganda proving that they were the rightful monarchs of England.
The genealogy of the kings of England, including Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII from Biblical and genealogical chronicle from Adam and Eve to Edward VI (England, S. E. (London or Westminster), c. 1511 with additions before 1553) shelfmark King’s 395 ff.32v-33

Lady Margaret Beaufort’s Book of Hours
Margaret Beaufort (born 1443, died 1509) was the mother of Henry VII.  Below is an image of the entry for August from her Book of Hours.  This Book was made between 1430 and 1443 and owned firstly by Margaret’s mother, Margaret Beauchamp (born 1405/6, died 1482), and then by Margaret.  Margaret appeared to use her Book of Hours as a calendar to record significant events in the lives of her son and grandchildren.  Thus, she used August to record her son’s landing at Milford Haven and the death of Richard III (we do not know if this is her hand or if a scribe wrote the entries for her).

‘August’ from The Beaufort/Beauchamp Hours (England, S. E. (London), c. 1430, before 1443) shelfmark Royal 2 A XVIII f. 31v.

The first left margin note in black reads

The day landed king harry the vijth at milford have[n] the yere of o[u]r lord vijth cccc lxxxv [1485]

The second left margin note reads

The day king harri the vijth won[n] the feeld [field] wher was slayn ki[n]g Richard the third Ao Do[m] 1485

Postscript
Has the revival of interest in Richard III already started?  At a Christie’s auction of Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts held on 13 June 2012, a rare manuscript with Richard’s signature fetched £109,250 against an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000.  Two manuscripts signed by his usurper  Henry VII, fetched £7,500 and £8,750; whilst one signed by Henry VIII only managed £20,000.

Henry VII may have won the battle and the crown but Richard III will be the king that will experience a renaissance with the next generation of modern-day historians.

Tuck’s postcard Richard III from Kings and Queens circa 1902

Richard Plantagenet – Duke of Gloucester, Knight of the Garter, Lord High Constable of England, Lord High Admiral, Governor of the North of England, Chief Justice of North Wales, Chief Steward and Chamberlain of Wales, Commander in Chief, Lord Warden of the West Marches, Lord Protector of England,. King of England, France and Lord of Ireland

What do you think about the search and discovery of Richard III? Please do leave your thoughts in the Comments box below.

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Notes
Images from the British Library’s collection of Medieval Manuscripts are marked as being Public Domain Images and therefore free of all copyright restrictions in accordance with the British Library’s Reuse Guidance Notes for the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Richard III – ‘I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not’
– School Trip Friday – Of cabbages and kings
– Shakespeare’s version of King Richard III

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

One more sleep until we find out if the body retrieved by University of Leicester’s archaeologists is that of King Richard III. In the meantime, here are some words and images of Shakespeare’s (and Tudor England’s) version of this much maligned king.

Act 1, Scene 2
Gloucester: Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have.
Some patient leisure to excuse myself.
Lady Anne: Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make
No excuse current, but to hang thyself.

Act 1, Scene 4
First Murderer: Offended us you have not, but the king.
Duke of Clarence: I shall be reconciled to him again.
Second Murderer: Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die.

Act 2, Scene 1
Duke of Gloucester: Why, madam, have I offer’d love for this
To be so bouted in this royal presence?
Who knows not that the noble duke is dead?
You do him injury to scorn his corpse

Act 3, Scene 7
Duke of Buckingham: Two props of virtue for a Christian prince,
To stay him from the fall of vanity:
And, see, a book of prayer in his hand,
True ornaments to know a holy man.

Act 5, Scene 3
Ghost of Anne: Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife,
That never slept a quiet hour with thee,
Now fills thy sleep with perturbations
To-morrow in the battle think on me,
And fall thy edgeless sword: despair, and die!

Act 5, Scene 4
Richard III: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

English text taken from OpenSource Shakespeare online History of Richard
III (1592).  Images from Liebig’s Extract of Meat advertising trade cards series Richard III by Shakespeare published 1899.

What do you think about the search and possible discovery of Richard III? Please do leave your thoughts in the Comments box below.

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You may also be interested in the following posts
– Richard III lyth buryed at Leicester
– Richard III – ‘I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not’
– School Trip Friday – Of cabbages and kings

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

History is full of coincidences and ironies.  The date of 28th January is one such coincidence – 28 January 1457 and 28 January 1547 – two dates 90 years apart.  The former the date of birth of the first Tudor despot, the later the date of his son’s death, the most tyrannical Tudor monarch of all.

Calendar page for January with additions from three different handwritting: 1. the obit of Catherine de Valois and the date of marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (black ink); 2. the date of birth of Henry VII (in Latin – faded brown ink); and 3. the obit of Henry VIII (brown ink at bottom of folio), from Book of Hours (The ‘Beaufort/Beauchamp Hours’), Use of Sarum,  (England (London), after 1401, before 1415) shelfmark Royal 2 A XVIII f.28 January

Below are close-ups of the entries for the birth of Henry VII and the death of Henry VIII.

Natale d[omi]ni Henrici filij Emundi comitis Richemondie ac d[omi]ne M[ar]rgarete vxoris sui filie Joh[ann]is nup[er] duc[?is] Somersete anno d[omi]ni millio cccc quinquagesimo sexto. Born Henry son of the Earl of Richmond and Margaret his wife daughter of John, Duke of Somerset 1456.  (Latin text kindly transcribed by Rob Ellis of Medieval London)

The xxviijth [28th] daie of January deceassd the noble prynce Henry the eight the yere of owr lorde 1546.

Although Henry VII’s date of birth was 1457, and Henry VIII’s date of death 1547, the years above of  1456 and 1546 are correct because these are contemporary entries written at times when the old Julian Calendar was still in use in England.  Until 1752, the 1st January was not the start of the New Year, but instead the change to a new year started on Lady Day (25th March).  Thus English documents written prior to 1752 will have any dates between 1st January and 24th March written in the Old Style.  Modern historians either have to adjust these dates to the New Style or ‘double date’ the entry to show both old and new date (e.g. the above dates would be dated ‘1456/7’ and ‘1546/7’).

Henry VII from Guild Book of the Barber Surgeons of York
(England, N. (York?), 2nd half of the 16th century)
shelfmark Egerton 2572 f.7.

Henry VIII from Guild Book of the Barber Surgeons of York
(England, N. (York?), 2nd half of the 16th century)
shelfmark Egerton 2572 f.8.

Henry VII giving the manuscript to the monks of Westminster
from Indenture for Henry VII’s Chapel (England, S. E. (London), 1504)
shelfmark Harley 1498 f.98.

Henry VIII praying in his bedchamber
from The Psalter of Henry VIII (England, S. E. (London), c1540-1541)
shelfmark Royal 2 A XVI f.3.

All images on this page are from the British Library’s collection of Medieval Manuscripts and are marked as being Public Domain Images and therefore free of all copyright restrictions in accordance with the British Library’s Reuse Guidance Notes for the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the ‘Subscribe via Email’ button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom.  If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do ‘Like’ it with the Facebook button below. Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales
– Tudor Coronations
– Henry VIII – Images of a King: Part 1
– Henry VIII – Images of a King: Part 2 Henry in Love
– Henry VIII – Images of a King: Part 3

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

Last week, I brought you British Costumes from the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII. This Friday, here are images of British costumes during the reign of Elizabeth I (born 1533, died  1603).

Cigarette cards printed and published by cigarette manufacturer, Ogdens.  Title of set is ‘British Costumes 100BC to 1904′ and printed circa 1905.  The selection of cards below are costumes from the reign of Elizabeth.

Time of Elizabeth – 1558                                                                    Time of Elizabeth – 1565

Time of Elizabeth – 1572                                                                  Time of Elizabeth – 1580

Time of Elizabeth – 1590                                                                 Time of Elizabeth – 1595

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales
– History Howlers – Henry VIII
– Tudor Coronations
– Images of Tudor people
– British Costumes from the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII

To cheer you up on a cold, wet Friday in winter, here are images of British costumes during the reign of Henry VII (born 1457, died 1509) and his son, Henry VIII (born 1491, died 1547).

Cigarette cards printed and published by cigarette manufacturer, Ogdens.  Title of set is ‘British Costumes 100BC to 1904′ and printed circa 1905.  The selection of cards below are costumes from the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

Time of Henry VII – 1488                                                                Time of Henry VIII – 1510

Time of Henry VIII – 1530                                                            Time of Henry VIII – 1540

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This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom.  If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales
– History Howlers – Henry VIII
– Tudor Coronations
– Images of Tudor people

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

On this day in history, 14 December 1542, James V of Scotland died, leaving his only child, Mary, the Queen of Scotland.  She was aged just 6 days.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

Poor, tragic, Catholic Mary.  As the grand-daughter of Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret Tudor, she had a strong claim to the English throne – a throne that belonged to Elizabeth I, the Protestant daughter of Henry VIII.  Executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was originally buried in Peterborough Cathedral by the gravedigger, Old Scarlett, but her son, James I of England (VI of Scotland), had  her remains removed and reburied in Westminster Abbey in 1612.

‘Mistress of Scotland by law, of France by marriage, of England by expectation,
thus blest, by a three-fold right, with a three-fold crown’

Translation of part of the Latin inscriptions on her tomb,
from Westminster Abbey’s Online History
Mary Queen of Scots

Famous Scots – Mitchell’s Cigarette Cards 1933

The cards below are all from Scotland’s Story – Mitchell’s Cigarette Cards 1928

Notes about the Nursery Rhyme, ‘Mary, Mary’
‘Popular tradition has it that the original Mary was Mary, Queen of Scots, who with her gay, French, and Popish inclinations much displeased the dour John Knox.  In this case ‘the pretty maids’ might be the renowned ‘Four Marys’, her ladies-in-waiting, and it has even been stated that the ‘cockleshells’ were the decorations upon a particular dress she was given by the Dauphin.  Such assertions are, of course, the work of the ‘happy guessers’.  No proof has been found that the rhyme was known before the eighteen century.  It is to be remarked, however, that a lost ballad ‘Cuckolds all a row‘ was registered in June 1637, and that there is a tune ‘Cuckolds all a row’ in the 1651 edition of Playford’s Dancing Master.’  From Iona and Peter Opie (Editors) The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd Edition, Oxford 1997) page 355.

You may also be interested in the following posts
– Arthur – Prince of Wales
– A Tudor Gravedigger
– History Howlers – Elizabeth I
– History Howlers – Mary I
– History Howlers – Henry VIII
– Tudor Coronations
– Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper

School Trip Friday will return in the New Year.

Villain or not, Richard III has received a great deal of national press recently.  The archaeological dig in a car park in Leicester on the site of the lost church of the Grey Friars has recently exhumed a skeleton thought to be this much maligned king – the last English king to die in battle.  Last month, it was announced by the British Government that if the skeleton proves to be Richard III, then he will be re-interred in Leicester Cathedral.

I personally am a staunch Ricardian and so think that Henry VII, having dispatched his enemy, did a metaphorical hatchet-job on the reputation of his predecessor.  A hundred years later, Shakespeare added to the Tudor myth of this diabolical king – ‘Deformed, unfinish’d, sent before my time’.  I hope now his body has been re-found, he can be re-buried with the dignity he deserves.  At the risk of incurring the wrath of local people within Leicester, I would prefer this re-burial was a more regal place such as Westminster Abbey or Windsor Castle.

Below are images of Richard III from the early 20th century – postcards and cigarette cards collected by schoolboys and young men during the Edwardian era and throughout the reign of George V. I find it very interesting that the 1902 image of Richard is that of a noble warrior king in full battle regalia rather than the more familiar portrait as shown in the other cards. Is this unwitting testimony that the Edwardians were experiencing a Ricardian revival? Or was it just the publisher, Tuck, who were supporters of Richard III?

Richard III, postcard from Tuck’s Kings & Queens, c.1902

Richard III, cigarette card
from Ogden’s Guinea Gold New Series I, c.1902

Richard III, games card
from Mazawattee Tea game Our Kings and Queens, c.1902

Richard III, cigarette card from Player’sKings and Queens of England, c.1935

Coronation Procession of Richard III and Anne of Warwick,
cigarette card from Taddy’s Coronation Series, c1902

Bosworth Field 1485, cigarette card from Smith’s Battlefields of Great Britain, c.1913 (reproduction 1997)

I personally find the discovery of Richard’s body one of the most exciting events to happen in recent English history. Not because it will rewrite history – it won’t. The facts and the myths will still remain – what happened 527 years ago, happened and can’t be ‘rewritten’ in the history books. However, the search and discovery of the ‘lost’ body of the last truly medieval king is remarkable and therefore the discovery itself will become a new chapter for the history books.

Further reading:
– Richard III Society
– University of Leicester archaeological team’s blog – the Search for Richard III

You may also be interested in
– School Trip Friday – Of cabbages and kings

As the days grow shorter and the nights become longer, our School Trip Fridays sometimes have to be done in the comfort of our home in front of a roaring log fire.  Even though we can’t get out and head for the hills, the computer is still switched off and our own unique style of learning about our country’s great heritage continues.

As an amateur historian, I am a firm advocate of our English heritage.  However, to understand our rich past, I feel that we have to have ‘pegs’ on which we can hang our historical information. For example, if you are looking at a grand half-timbered English building, how can you say ‘this is a beautiful Tudor building’ when you don’t know roughly what period ‘Tudor’ is!  Is Tudor before or after Georgian?  Is Regency 100 years ago or 500 years ago? Where do Victorians’ ‘Morals and Values’ come into all of this?…  Without realising it, we unconsciously use language about our rich past in our daily live. So what better ‘pegs’ are there then the long timeline of English/British monarchs!

However, because of my child’s complex educational needs, it is pointless me ‘teaching’ kings and queens in a traditional (or should I say, old-fashioned!) way.  I can’t quote facts and figures to him, and expect them to be regurgitated back to me parrot style.  For one, his poor memory means he won’t be able to do that with any level of success and for another, what’s the point in him learning meaningless information that has no relevance to him!  Our learning has to be hands-on, interactive and participative for both him and me.

And for a small child who loves collecting Top Trump cards, football cards and what-ever cards the local newsagent currently has in stock, what can be more interactive and hands-on then looking at the beautifully drawn and illustrated postcards and cigarette cards of a hundred years ago.  Our great-grandparents’ equivalent of pre-computer multi-media and Top Trumps game-cards!

So last week’s School Trip Friday was spent looking at images of the kings of England between 1066 and 1485 from the exquisitely illustrated set of postcards made by Tuck in 1902 and the handsome 1935 cigarette cards from Players.  What can be more beguiling and magnetic to a small child who can barely read and write then such fine pictures! (Sadly, our only medieval Empress/Queen Matilda was not acknowledged in either set.)

Raphael Tuck’s Kings and Queens of England postcards (1902) – Normans to Plantagenets

Player’s Kings and Queens of England cigarette cards (1935) – Normans to Plantagenets

History is all about the telling of stories from our past, and the picture below shows all the characters from one of the more murkier tales from English history.  By using these 5 cards, I was able to retell to my child the story of intrigue, treachery, treason and murder – and the last English king to die in battle.  And then bring that narrative right up to date with this summer’s remarkable discovery in a car park in Leicester.   But who was the villain of this story – the first of the Tudors, or the last of the Plantagenets?  Henry or Richard?  I know what we decided… How about you?

I asked my child who was his favourite king from all of the cards of Norman and Plantagenet kings.  My academically challenged child replied ‘whoever invented the longbow’.  Whilst he didn’t invent the longbow, this naturally brought us on to Henry V and Agincourt and watching the battle scenes from the BBC’s recent wonderful production of Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Very naughtily, I also told my child about the legend of the longbow archers and how it came about that the English always stick two-fingers up to their enemies.  History doesn’t have to be dry and dusty, our children can be taught the naughtier bits too – even if it might not be entirely true and more myth then fact!

Is my child academically challenged or a child whose school-teachers totally failed to engage him with traditional teaching methods?

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings.”

The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

You may also be interested in
– School Trip Friday – Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
– School Trip Friday – Chapel of St Peter’s on the Wall, Bradwell
– School Trip Friday – Imperial War Museum Duxford