"Out History the Historians! or Saving Richard III"

The Flag of Yorkshire Saints.
The flag takes its colors from the shield of the arms of two local Yorkshire saints. Wilfrid (blue) and William (gold). William was martyred in 1154 via poisoning and so a Christian cross is present. Maybe it is time to fly this Flag
once more over Richard III. He certainly spent most of his youth riding beneath its banner.
Since he is to be buried in Leicester, maybe this should be draped over his sarcophagus?
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

     There has been a very nice response from the public to my last posting about Richard III. Thank you each and everyone who took the time to read, let alone comment. As most of you know I am the founder and editor of Modern Medievalist on Facebook. I posted the article on my page, and one of my readers brought something to my attention, that had slipped my grasp. We who are outraged at what has been done to Richard III and the terrible foisting off of propaganda have been focused on the slights and injuries he has been subject to, instead of focusing on what can be done instead.

    What can be done? Can we remove him from durance vile? Doubtful at best. Even if someone of the stature of HM the Queen should take an interest, Her Majesty is not above the law. But that doesn't mean that nothing can be done. In fact quite the opposite can be done actually. A friend living in Scotland said, we needed to "Out History the Historians." -I rather liked that sentiment. And since Leicester has been determined to set the bar of excellence so very low, I don't think it is a goal that cannot be achieved.

      As my reader put it, and I am paraphrasing her reply here, "Take over a failed chip shop or storefront that is as close to the Leicester Historical Center and create a time sensitive display of what a Royal Sarcophagus should look like, create a chapel within the shop, showing the general public what a Monarch of England should have as his final resting place. Bring in experts in Art, Armour, Weapons, Clothing and Textiles. Create a board to oversee the "counter historical center," take the monies earned and fold it back into the center until it outshines in authenticity that horrid place. I would visit the current center for five minutes. Something that is truly sensitive and 

historically accurate? I would spend hours in."

     I think the Ricardian Supporters have been going about this not necessarily the wrong way, I just think and I am including myself in this, that we have been blinded by not seeing the forest for the trees in front of us. It is time to beat the blighters at their own game!-(Sorry about that couldn't help myself there.)

    My lovely dainty great aunt from Texas used to say, "Something is only as special as we make it out to be." As I have aged in this life, I have found that to be so very true. Where does that leave us then? I have made inquiries with the fine folks at Kickstart. This idea of building a counter historical center is not even a full 24 hours old. However I believe it has merit. The people who believe history has once again suffered a sever miscarriage of justice can once more have an opportunity to create something worth celebrating.

     I am American and as such have been dismissed out of hand because of my birth, but this is our shared history, as I have ancestors who fought in the War of the Roses and regardless of York or Lancaster it is our heritage and our right as descendants of those who fought, to see that it is treated with respect and dignity. So it is time to gird up our loins and be prepared to fight a different campaign, while taking the high road. If the Ricardians of the world work together they can steal a march on those who are only interested in profit for profit's sake.

    One expert who also happens to be an American did a great deal of work and effort preparing a presentation of what historical arms and armour would have looked like at the time of the Battle of Bosworth. I leave his name out as of this writing as I have not consulted to see if I have his permission to use his name. Regardless his presentation and more importantly his scholarly reputation, and expertise were cast aside in favor of a Carling-(c) Lager Can propped up in the corner. (I hope the Carling Beer Company will forgive what I consider an unfavorable comparison.) 

You be the judge... Suit of Armour with
Christmas Eve Party Crown?

Or can of Lager beer? Which would you prefer representing your monarch? The sweat shop horror or the can of beer? Since crass commercialism is in play I would go for

the beer can.













 
     I would be ashamed to hold my head up in public, when it was discovered that the entire team of experts who had been assembled to undertake the expedition to retrieve Richard III revolted. Or when it was discovered that Plagiarism is no longer a crime so long as it relates to historical documents. I am referring of course to the moving quote York wrote about the loss of their king, that was used in the Leicester center that gave the impression of being written by the city of Leicester. 

    I digress... One of my readers informed me he had made several inquiries into what a cast bronze effigy, wearing historical arms and armour would cost, and startling enough, it would have cost less than what the Kleenex-(c) Tissue Box Dispenser is costing the subjects of the crown. I know many of Britain's armour smiths would gladly create something to show what a real suit or harness would look like. To tell the truth the artistic endeavors would in all likelihood pour in from all over the globe.

    Lastly there is a chance to once more celebrate what English history is all about. Hold a festive tournament in his honor the week before the anniversary of the battle of Bosworth. Make it a big deal! Celebrate with all the pomp and circumstances that only the British people can do. Invite every single reenactment house that participates in the various War of the Roses events. Have them conduct archery competitions, dismounted combat exhibitions, with marches and drills.Let the reenactors show interpretive displays, have them line up before the Jousters and parade before them in the list, with their flags and banners flying! Make the weekend, the premier Medieval History weekend on the calendar. Let them show that although Leicester might have his body, they do not posses his Honor or his future! Let the reenactors and jousters shout, "Out History the Historians!"

     Eventually I would see monies being sent north to York. Let the center support York Minister as Richard III did in his lifetime. Establish an endowment for college bound youth who wish to study history. If all of these things can be done for Leicester, then a healthy bit of competition should eventually make those in Leicester either sit up and take notice or come to their senses and allow the King to be interred in neutral ground with the proper rights. I would suspect if anyone in authority asked nicely, Pope Francis just might hop on a commercial flight and hail a cab to perform a high mass... or at least give a showing for a Catholic Monarch.

-DS Baker

"Matthew Ryan Historical Illustrator"

Battle of Evesham (c) Matthew Ryan Historical Illustrator

     I have a friend who lives in Nova Scotia, Canada named Pat, who like me is into all things medieval. Several weeks back he informed me he had a distant cousin living in the UK, who did historical drawing, paintings and illustrations for books. We have been friends for over four years now. I was a bit miffed, he was just now mentioning this to me. However I also believe things happen at their own time and pacing in our lives. So when something is supposed to happen it does. I asked him, who is your distant cousin? Matthew Ryan he replied.

     Well I don't know about the majority of people out there, but I have known of Matthew's talents and his paintings about as long as I have my friend. Do you think he would be interested in doing an interview? I asked. "That could probably be arranged" was the reply I received. The conversation you will see below, is the result of an off hand remark, coinciding with being in the right place at the right time. Thank you Pat for your assistance.

Matthew Ryan, welcome to Modern Medievalist. With your indulgence, I am going to just jump right in and start asking questions.

Q: I recently read where you said it had taken you 35 years to get to this point in your career. Where were you 35 years ago?

A: Ah, that was a little tongue in cheek but also very true.... I am thirty five so meant that every time I complete a piece of work the it has took me my whole life to get to this "new" stage. Knowledge of the subject, ideas and technical development is all of course an ongoing thing and in my mind my best piece of work is always my next. I have always been interested in Art and have for a long time had a fascination and love of history especially medieval. I have only recently been working as an historical illustrator but am fortunate to have already had some very good clients and briefs.

Q: Did you receive formal training to be an Artist?

A: Yes I did a degree in illustration.... must admit over here an illustration degree does not include what people would call technical formal training. I learnt much from the degree however but my work is I would say (if this does not sound to self congratulating) a combination of talent, practice and work. When I took my degree in Illustration it was not historical illustration that I was working on... a tutor at the time I remember was often saying "draw what you know and what you love" this at the age of about twenty went right over my head and I remember thinking I can draw whatever people want me to draw. However years later when I combined my two passions and painted historical themes my work went to a new place and the realization of what he said became very true. This is another reason why I only advertise as an historical illustrator now. Painting what your are interested in and love gives your work more sincerity and the passion you have for the subject can come through in the finished work.

Matthew Ryan working on a composition.

Q: Where do you find your subjects? (I know in the UK you just about can't swing a dead cat around your head without hitting a reenactor of some sort.)

A: Reenactors are visually a key source for me, you can not beat seeing in real life the textures and combinations of how light plays on a surface, things such as steel - polished in the sun or rusted in the rain on a dull autumn morning all these things give the paintings depth and character. I am a big advocate of artists drawing from nature and the world around them. However in saying that that is only one aspect of sources for my work... landscape photography is an important element and something I also enjoy. Setting the soldier in his landscape is as much of an important thing for me as details such as kit and uniform etc. Another and possibly most important part of the process is direct contemporary sources and for the medieval period this mostly leaves us with tomb effigies, manuscript art and some of the later period paintings and written descriptive accounts. I find the access now available on-line with digitized manuscripts invaluable. All these things can be used and cross referenced to try and bring together what I hope is as accurate as I can be with a glimpse, or view to the past.

Q: What did you present for this year (publication and completed work) and what does 2014 hold in store?

A:Some of the work in the past twelve months have been.... Four paintings for the channel 4 series "Walking through History with Tony Robinson" about the 1719 Jacobite uprising. The battle of Bryn Glas for Medieval Warfare Magazine, A painting I made of the 1460 Battle of Northampton based on my friend and historian Mike Ingram's work. This was made to help draw awareness to the battle and help save the site from potential development work. The original I donated to the people of Northampton and it is currently on display at Northampton Museum alongside the recent facial reconstruction of Richard III. Also worked and working on editorial briefs for some Spanish military history Magazines, Desperta Ferro.

-Wow! You have really been busy-

I  have been working on a large canvas of the battle of Bosworth, this is a self made brief and so it has had to be side lined for the moment, but I hope to have time to work on it again soon. My Bosworth piece has been in the planning for a couple of years, with the interest now in King Richard III I am sure it will be a popular image and something I hope to become iconic. I have many possible exciting projects for next year, some of which may be work for the Magna Carta 800 project that I would relish. Also in the cards (and due to my archery I must do this) is paintings to mark the 2015 anniversary of Agincourt!

Q: So you are an Archer then?

A: I am. I have been practicing archery since I was a child. My father had several flat bows, and I started from there. I also became a Fletcher, and have made my own arrows. My practical experience with Archery, Fletching led me to creating some of the illustrations for Mike Loades Osprey book on Archery, and they also used several photographs of arrows I had made. By the way, it was perhaps my love of shooting the English/Welsh Warbows that started me off drawing and painting things medieval.

The Power of the  English/Welsh Warbow.

Q: Can anyone commission your work? Or do you strictly work for Authors, Historical Organizations, or Museums?

A: Any one can commission my work, however the magazines, book and TV shows are a great avenue to showcase my work. Also the publishing side of things allows me to have interesting and helpful communications with historians, editors etc within the profession and helps with my constant learning on the subjects. I try and stay fresh with input from reenactors. Without the input of people who have practical application of building a Bow or some other medieval object, then the art would become two dimensional and flat.

Q: What is the latest offering from Matthew Ryan Historical Illustrator?

A: Hopefully by the time this article is published I will have a website up and running, where my art can be viewed and limited edition prints of my work can be ordered.

-His website is up, and will be listed in the link section below.-

Thank you Matthew Ryan. It has been a pleasure speaking with you. Considering all of the irons you have in the fire, I truly appreciate the time you took away from your art to speak to me and my readers. All of my best, and I eagerly look forward to viewing your latest projects.

-DS Baker.

Here is Matthew Ryan's Website address:

http://matthewryanhistoricalillustrator.com/

Here is Matthew Ryan Historical Illustrator's page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/matthewryanhistoricalillustrator