December speaker Bob Woosnam-Savage with Richard III’s remains‘. Image: University of Leicester.
Bob Woosnam-Savage has kindly provided details of his lecture about the remains of Richard III at the December meeting of the Medieval section.
In September 2012 a skeleton was excavated during an archaeological project at the former site of Greyfriars Church in Leicester, England, which lay under a local council car park. Part of the project’s remit was also to seek out any remains of the grave or tomb of the last Plantagenet king Richard IIII who had been buried in the choir of the church in August 1485 following his death at the battle of Bosworth. The skeleton, amazingly, bore signs of both scoliosis and, tellingly, the trauma of battle. Had Richard really been found after nearly 530 years?
In February 2013 it was publicly announced to the world that the skeleton was indeed that of Richard III, the last king of England to die in battle and, thanks to William Shakespeare, one of the most infamous monarchs known.
Bob, Project Weapons Expert for the University of Leicester ‘Search for Richard III’ Archaeological Team as well as part of the Search Team on the ‘Greyfriars Project’, has been studying the skeleton of Richard III since its discovery. He was employed to help find and examine the weapons trauma on the skeleton and attempt to identify the various types of weapons that may have been used to make them. As a result, using both historical and archaeological evidence, it is only now, for the first time, that we can begin to create a potential sequence of events that lets us discover the possible last moments and death of Richard III – ‘the king under the car park’.
Please let the Secretary know in advance if you are planning to attend this meeting as we may need to book a bigger space if there is a big turn out. Contact me at yas.medievalsec@gmail.com
Bob Woosnam-Savage is Curator of European Edged Weapons, at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.
Since the AGM on 27th April the members of the new committee have been busy on your behalf organising a programme for the coming year. Lecture meetings will be held at the Yorkshire Archaeological Society at Claremont on the second Saturday of every month at 2-3pm.
I thought I’d give you some advance details of what we’re planning so that you can reserve dates in the diary. Some of the details are still provisional as the speakers have yet to confirm wording of titles but there is already a strong Yorkshire medieval battlefield flavour to the autumn programme.
Viking reenactment enthusiasts
As the battlefield of Fulford is very much in the news at the moment we could organise an excursion to walk the site with Chas Jones. Whilst we would normally meet on 14th September, the 21st September works better for Chas. We could have a quick look at Riccall, have a talk and battlefield walk about Fulford and then see Stamford Bridge but Chas tells me it would be a very full afternoon! Please let me know what you’d like to do and we could organise a coach. We might have to leave at 1pm if not earlier. Maximum of 30 people.
On 12th October Pam Judkins of Wakefield Historical Society will talk to us about ‘Retracing of the 100-mile Route of the Funeral Procession of Richard, Duke of York’.
On 9th November in ‘Aethelfrith of Northumbria’s lost battlefield?’ I’ll talk about the study of human remains in the Manchester Museum collection that appear to be evidence of the Battle of Chester, described in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Our Christmas meeting on 14th December will be addressed by Bob Woosnam Savage, Curator of European Edged Weapons, Royal Armouries, Leeds, who will talk to us about ‘Richard III the violent death of a king’.
Do let me know if you’d like us to hold the traditional section high tea that afternoon and we’ll make plans. The very least that Janet will let us get away with is mince pies and mulled wine!
If you intend to come to this lecture please let me know in advance as a large audience is expected because we can only seat 50 – the maximum for Health and Safety reasons. Do let me know if you’d be willing to bring along some nibbles.
On 8th March I’m hoping to invite a speaker from the Portable Antiquities Scheme to tell us about recent finds from Yorkshire. However, if because of maternity leave this proves to be impossible, Alison Leonard of the Department of Archaeology, King’s Manor at the University of York, has kindly agreed to talk to us about why it is that Yorkshire presents such a frustrating problem for Scandinavian studies compared to other parts of the country.
On 12th April Dr Hugh Willmott, Senior Lecturer in European Historical Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, will talk about ‘Recent work at Monk Bretton Priory‘. This talk would have to double up as our AGM too now that the accounts are completed in the spring.
Finally on 10th May, Professor Joyce Hill of the University of Leeds, will talk to us about work on an Anglo-Saxon hoard from the Vale of York.
Do let me know if this line-up is of interest, whether you’d like to go and see the battlefield of Fulford and whether the prospect of a traditional section high tea at Xmas appeals. We’ll distribute a programme once everything has been confirmed.
Thanks to Sue Alexander there is now a dedicated email if you’d like to contact me: yas.medievalsec@gmail.com
Do take a minute or two to send me an email so I can contact you in future. Email is much easier and cheaper to use – though we’ll still contact members by post if they prefer.
At last Saturday’s AGM as there were no nominations for the vacant posts on the committee it was suggested that it might be appropriate to disband the Medieval Section”. Only one serving officer, the Treasurer, was willing to continue – me (!).
After 44 years of promoting Medieval archaeology in Yorkshire this is a particularly sad, but far from hopeless, state of affairs. I said in my Treasurer’s report that we have a stable membership of about 130 with 16 institutional members. Nor are we short of funds, though some of it will be needed to publish the section journal Medieval Yorkshire. The Prehistoric and the Roman sections are both thriving, so why not the Medieval section? I can think of no richer region for Medieval archaeology than Yorkshire with all its abbeys and castles, not to mention fantastic museum collections and people actively researching many different aspects of the period.
A number of people at the AGM felt that something should be done to save the section and Janet Senior, Roy Andrews and I have formed an embryonic committee with the intention of recruiting new members and officers.
We need another three ordinary committee members and a Chairman. Jo Heron has kindly agreed to serve as Treasurer, allowing me to take over from Mike Edwards as Hon.Secretary. Stephen Moorhouse will continue as Hon.Editor. We have also had offers to serve on committee from staff at the International Medieval Institute.
Other volunteers would be most welcome. With quarterly meetings on a Thursday evening at Claremont it is not onerous and you do get to find out what’s happening across the county and make your voice heard in how the section is run.
We are not out of the woods yet but just over a week after the AGM I think we are within sight of forming a fully-functioning committee. Our remit will be to turn round the section and make it sustainable. We’d like more members to attend meetings at Claremont and in time to become members of committee and continue the work of running the section.
We also need to re-engage the members. With that end in mind Janet, Roy and I have put together a provisional programme of lectures for autumn this year and spring 2014. Starting in September there will be lectures on a range of different topics 2-3.30pm every second Saturday of the month at Claremont and it would be great to see members attending. I will post details once the Committee has approved the programme, all being well after May 9th. We hope to confirm a talk on the recent identification of Richard III‘s remains at Leicester in December.
I would very much appreciate it if members reading this Blog would respond with your thoughts and suggestions. What sorts of activities would you like to see: talks, day schools, excursions, visits to museums, social activities (like the famous Xmas high tea)? If you can suggest speakers for our programme for coming years or places to visit do please let us know. Even better, why not join us on committee?
We run the section in order to promote interest in Medieval Yorkshire and we genuinely want to offer events and activities that members will take part in and enjoy. Please help us to ensure that the Medieval section continues.
Bryan Sitch
Hon.Secretary
Medieval Section
Yorkshire Archaeological Society
Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society 