THE intricacies of dressing for battle were among the highlights when history buffs gathered for the Northern Dales Richard III Group study day.
A sell-out audience sat spellbound as re-enactors Ian and Carol Schubert showed exactly what was involved in putting on a suit of armour in a demonstration titled How a man schall be armyd.
When fully covered, Ian showed how nimble a knight on foot could be by sprinting through the aisles of St Mary’s Parish Church, Barnard Castle, where the study day was held.
Providing a commentary as he went along, he explained the difficulties in identifying similarly armoured enemy soldiers with such a restricted view through the helmet.
The study day – the fifth organised by the group – began with a talk by Derbyshire-based historian and blogger Danielle Burton, on her new book Anthony Woodville: Sophisticate of Scheme.
She was followed by battlefield archaeologist Dr Tim Sutherland, whose graphic presentation focused on Richard III and medieval weapons trauma.
The final speaker of the day was Philippa Langley, whose research resulted in the discovery of Richard III’s bones buried under a car park in Leicester in 2012.
Philippa’s efforts were subsequently featured in the film The Lost King, starring Steve Coogan, but on this occasion she was present to talk about another project.
For the past seven years, she has led a research project hoping to uncover the true story of what happened to the two princes – the children of King Edward IV – in the tower, which Shakespeare alleged were murdered by Richard.
The results were presented in a Channel 4 documentary with barrister Rob Rinder last year and are the subject of a new book.
Ms Langley said her interest in Richard came from reading contemporary sources about him and discovering he was nothing like the character portrayed by Shakespeare.
“He was loyal, brave, devout and just and I thought it was time we told his historical story.”
She said she never imagined her efforts would capture the public’s imagination.
“Richard had died over 500 years previously. I thought there might be a little bit of interest – I never thought it would go global.”
