I decided to go to York for an English Heritage event at Clifford's Tower where my son got to dress up as a medieval king.
Afterwards, I used my brilliant O2 Moments app to find a 50% off deal at Ask Italian restaurant. The restaurant is beautiful as it's in the old Assembly Rooms and we had a very pleasant lunch.
We also visited two free art exhibitions. At York St Marys we saw Cornelia Parker's Thirty Pieces of Silver installation which is on loan from the Tate. It's a beautiful piece of work comprising over a thousand silver objects, squashed and then hung by fine wire to seem as if they hover above the flagstones on the ground.
We also went to York Art Gallery to see the William Etty: Art and Controversy exhibition. I've not been to this gallery for a few years and was really impressed by how the square had been improved to be a really pleasant place to sit.
And then, by serendipity, we went to the Richard III museum on the city walls. Many years ago I attended the University of St Andrews and studied Medieval History. Richard III and the Wars of the Roses were my specialist subject and I realised that today, the 22nd August, is the 526th anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth and therefore the death of Richard III. As a student I always felt that Richard of Gloucester had a tough time of it: particularly because of Thomas More and then Shakespeare's hatchet-job. In fact, most people can misquote the first line of that play ('Now is the winter of our discontent') but far fewer finish the couplet with the second line ('Made glorious summer by this sun of York'). It seemed really appropriate to be in York on a sunny anniversary and to pay our respects to the House of York. Firstly, we voted 'not guilty' in the Richard III museum to the charge that he murdered his nephews, the so-called Princes in the Tower.
Then we walked round the city walls to Micklegate Bar where Richard III father, Richard duke of York's head was displayed after his death at the Battle of Tewkesbury. It is also where Richard III's head ended up after Bosworth to warn the north not to rise against the Tudors.
Finally, back in June I'd promised myself and my son that we'd go to Towton Moor where the bloodiest battle on English soil occurred on Palm Sunday 1461 which saw the start of the reign of the Yorkist kings. The battlefield has a special 1.7 mile path built around it with lots of informative boards. On a bright sunny August day it was hard to feel the horror of that battle: the snowstorm that blew against the Lancastrian lines meaning their longbow shots fell short and the bloodthirsty rout at the Cock Beck where the fleeing armies of the Lancaster faction had to climb over the drowned bodies of their comrades to escape. The waters of the Cock Beck and the nearby River Wharfe ran red with blood.
The Dacre cross commemorates the slaughter. I enjoyed teaching my glorious Yorkshire son about this period of history and discussing with him the great mystery of the Princes in the Tower. It was a summer day of great contentment.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:York and Towton Moor
the winter contingency
ReplyDelete