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Mar. 28th, 2015 02:14 pmRichie has returned from the stag do, although ironically he's currently at the gym. I quite enjoyed my solo time but I find myself glad he's back. Mostly because I got to the point where I was hate watching the Richard III coverage apparently just to make myself angry.
Look: the thing is, right, they found Richard III and this is indeed a fascinating and very important historical find. So I get that, as a historian. I find the new sort of adulation about him deeply weird, nearly as weird as the hatred actually. Maybe it's because I'm from Lancashire and have spent a lot of the last couple of weeks shouting LOOK WE WON THAT ONE OKAY AND ALSO HE WAS THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER WEIRDO YORKISTS but he really wasn't THAT good a man. Last English king to die in battle, sure, but as part of a civil war which is not traditionally a good thing.
But then I get really wound up because of him getting basically a state funeral that doesn't really take into the account the faith he actually had. Now, we don't know if he would have leaned into Protestantism or Church of England had he been alive at that time period, but the point is that he was a medieval Catholic, so if you wanted to give him a proper burial that he would have recognised then it needed to be performed by a Catholic priest, in Latin.
Basically, I came to the conclusion, as a historian, Lancastrian and republican that the whole thing was just a way of warming up the nation for when Elizabeth goes. Can't be that long away now, surely.
(And do not, do not, get me started on the Ricardians and that Philippa whatsherface.)
ANYWAY. That's over now and Richie is back. I have also managed to injure myself this week. God knows what I've actually done but my ankle has gone very strange. I spent Thursday limping around work as my foot steadily became more swollen and I ended up working from home on Friday because I couldn't face the journey in. Today it's not as bad, mostly because I spent yesterday indoors with my feet up. I may even try and walk somewhere.
Well, maybe.
Look: the thing is, right, they found Richard III and this is indeed a fascinating and very important historical find. So I get that, as a historian. I find the new sort of adulation about him deeply weird, nearly as weird as the hatred actually. Maybe it's because I'm from Lancashire and have spent a lot of the last couple of weeks shouting LOOK WE WON THAT ONE OKAY AND ALSO HE WAS THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER WEIRDO YORKISTS but he really wasn't THAT good a man. Last English king to die in battle, sure, but as part of a civil war which is not traditionally a good thing.
But then I get really wound up because of him getting basically a state funeral that doesn't really take into the account the faith he actually had. Now, we don't know if he would have leaned into Protestantism or Church of England had he been alive at that time period, but the point is that he was a medieval Catholic, so if you wanted to give him a proper burial that he would have recognised then it needed to be performed by a Catholic priest, in Latin.
Basically, I came to the conclusion, as a historian, Lancastrian and republican that the whole thing was just a way of warming up the nation for when Elizabeth goes. Can't be that long away now, surely.
(And do not, do not, get me started on the Ricardians and that Philippa whatsherface.)
ANYWAY. That's over now and Richie is back. I have also managed to injure myself this week. God knows what I've actually done but my ankle has gone very strange. I spent Thursday limping around work as my foot steadily became more swollen and I ended up working from home on Friday because I couldn't face the journey in. Today it's not as bad, mostly because I spent yesterday indoors with my feet up. I may even try and walk somewhere.
Well, maybe.
