The Leicestershire Victoria Heritage Trust has been granted £363,700 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to carry out the four year long Charnwood Roots Project, which will be based in the University of Leicester’s School of Historical Studies.
As part of the project, which will explore the history of thirty-five towns and villages in and around Charnwood Forest and Loughborough, hundreds of local volunteers will receive free training by historians and heritage professionals.
The project’s base at the University of Leicester will give researchers access to expertise across a number of academic departments, including the internationally acclaimed Centre for English Local History.
]]>The event is the latest in a series of regular Question Time-style debates on topical subjects as part of Leicester Exchanges.
The panel for this latest debate, hosted in the city where Richard III’s remains were found after five centuries, will consist of Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society; Paul Lay, editor of History Today magazine; and Dr Mary Ann Lund, of our School of English.
The experts will debate whether Richard III was as evil as the nephew-murdering madman depicted in Shakespeare’s play – or whether he was in fact a victim of malicious Tudor propaganda.
The debate is open to the public – and audience members will play a key part in the debate. It will be held at the Peter Williams lecture theatre, University of Leicester, on Thursday, June 6 from 6.30 to 8pm. Book your free ticket online.
Click here to listen and download our Richard III podcasts:
]]>Highlights from its Richard III Open Day on Saturday 29 June include talks from experts Professor Lin Foxhall, Head of our School of Archaeology and Ancient History, geneticist Dr Turi King, forensic engineering expert Professor Sarah Hainsworth, Renaissance literature scholar Dr Sarah Knight, and Dr Tracey Elliott of the School of Law.
There will also be drop-in sessions to the Department of Genetics and School of Archaeology and Ancient History, where guests will be able to participate in workshops, displays and demos.
The events are also part of this year’s Summer Reunion Open Day, held annually for graduates of the University both across the UK and worldwide.
There will also be a BBQ on the main campus, drinks in the 1923 Restaurant and children’s activities.
To book your place and for more information about the Richard III Open Day – which is open to the general public – visit here.
The Search for Richard III was led by the University of Leicester, working with Leicester City Council, and in association with the Richard III Society.
]]>
Robert Gordon, Professor of Modern Italian Culture at the University of Cambridge, will give the 8th Aubrey Newman Lecture entitled ‘Grey Zones and Good Italians: The Holocaust and National Character’.
The lecture, jointly organised by the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the School of Modern Languages, will provide insight into different patterns of response to the Holocaust in Italy today.
The Aubrey Newman lecture 2013 ‘Grey Zones and Good Italians: The Holocaust and National Character’ will take place on Wednesday 8 May 2013 in KE LT3 (Ken Edwards Building Lecture Theatre 3), University of Leicester, at 5.30pm.
]]>It opens up for the first time over 1,700 digital resources to the public, helping to tell the story of life in Britain’s major industrial cities during this period.
All the resources have been released under a Creative Commons open licence (CC BY-NC). This means that they can be re-used and adapted by anyone, providing the creator of the work is acknowledged and the use is for non-commercial purposes.
Manufacturing Pasts featured at a conference about Leicester’s industrial past, present and future on 27 April organised by the University of Leicester and the Leicestershire Industrial History Society. It will also be presented at the Transformation of Urban Britain conference which takes place at the University of Leicester from 9 – 10 July.
]]>Dr Elizabeth Hurren (pictured), Reader in the Medical Humanities in our School of Historical Studies, has appeared in the first part of a new BBC Two history series ‘Fit to Rule’ which aired on Monday 8 April. She has been acting as an historical consultant to Dr Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces.
The first programme focussed on the medical history of Henry VIII and his children.
The programme arises from research which has just been published in a new book called ‘Henry VIII and his Court.’ In the book, Dr Elizabeth Hurren has written a chapter entitled ‘Cultures of the Body: Medical Regime and Physic at the Tudor Court.’ The book also contains work from other leading scholars in Britain who contributed to an international conference a Hampton Court on the 500th anniversary of Henry’s ascension to the throne.
The second part of the new three part series will be broadcast on Monday 15 April and also features Professor Rosemary Sweet from the University of Leicester.
You can catch the first programme on BBC iPlayer here
]]>
The historian who decades ago correctly predicted the whereabouts of the remains of Richard III is to be celebrated at the launch of a new edition of his biography of the king.
David Baldwin, a retired University of Leicester historian, has brought out a new paperback edition of Richard III, his biography of the medieval monarch.
The book, which was first published last year, has been updated with a new final chapter covering the University of Leicester’s momentous discovery of the king’s remains in Leicester’s Grey Friars car park.
The book launch will occur at 6pm on Tuesday 9 April at the University of Leicester Bookshop. All welcome.
In an article published in 1986, David suggested the remains of the last Plantagenet king would be found on the site of the Grey Friary during the 21st century.
Richard III, by David Baldwin, is published by Amberley. It is available from the University of Leicester Bookshop on 0116 229 7440 or at http://shop.le.ac.uk/.
Dr Kim Price (pictured), from the School of Historical Studies at the University of Leicester has recorded a interview for BBC Radio 4’s The Long View with presenter Jonathan Freedland which aired on Wednesday 3 April 2013.
The show compares the medical negligence reported at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Hospital Trust, and the subsequent public inquiry and legislation recommended in the Francis Report, with the 1865-6 Lancet Commission into negligence in London workhouse infirmaries and the subsequent famous legislation: The Metropolitan Asylums Act (1867).
Guests on the show also included Jo Webber, previous Deputy Policy Director at the NHS, Dr Tony Delamothe, Deputy Editor of British Medical Journals and Julie Bailey, whose mother died from neglect at Stafford Hospital and subsequently pushed for reform under ‘Cure the NHS’.
The broadcast is available on the BBC iPlayer here.
]]>Following the unprecedented success of last year's search for the mortal remains of King Richard III, archaeologists at the University of Leicester have announced plans for a new, even more ambitious project. They intend to locate and uncover the last resting place of King Richard IV.
Although the precise site had been lost to time following the Dissolution, the location of Richard III's burial, in the church of the Grey Friars in Leicester, was recorded in historical documents. The search for Richard IV however presents a far greater challenge in that there is no known historical account of the King's burial. Or death. Or life.
Or indeed any mention of him at all.
A University spokesperson explained: "Our first search for a King succeeded beyond all expectations, with the royal remains discovered on the first day, before we had even got our reflective vests on or had a cup of tea or anything. So we are now on a bit of a roll and confident that we can find Richard IV and potentially even the man who defeated him, Henry IX."
Thanks for all your comments and retweets. To anyone uncertain about the above announcement, please check the date it was posted. You can find out more about our discovery of a real Plantagenent King on our Richard III website.
]]>As part of the week a series of events is taking place, jointly organised with the History Society, and supported by the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Jewish Society, and the University’s Department of Criminology.
On Wednesday 13 March George Pogány will give a talk entitled ‘A Hungarian Holocaust Survivor tells his story’. His talk takes place from 6-7.30pm in Ken Edwards Building, Lecture Theatre 1 (KE LT1).
George Pogány, born in 1928 in the small Hungarian town of Orosháza, experienced the German occupation when he was 16 years old. He was shocked by the indifference he encountered among the local people he had known all his life.
On Thursday 14 March Dr Sarah Hodgkinson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Leicester, will speak on ‘Dark Tourism - The concentration camp as a site of Holocaust Tourism?’ Her talk takes place from 6-7.30pm in Ken Edwards Building, Lecture Theatre 3 (KE LT3).
Using excerpts from the critically acclaimed documentary, KZ by Rex Bloomstein, the lecture will discuss ‘Holocaust tourism’ within the context of Holocaust memorialisation and representation, and the conflicting emotions we feel about the morality of ‘re-packaging the Holocaust’ for mass consumption.
The events are open to the public and free of charge. For additional information, please contact Stefanie Rauch (sr189@le.ac.uk).
]]>
As well as highlighting opportunities for further study in the College of Science and Engineering, the College of Arts, Humanities and Law and the College of Social Science will be heavily represented. This is a great opportunity to see what these Colleges have to offer and to find out if postgraduate study is right for you.
As well as asking any questions you might have to departmental representatives and current postgraduate students, the evening will also help you to find out about financial arrangements and support available to postgraduate students.
The Open Evening will be held on Tuesday 19th March 2013 from 4.00pm – 7.00pm in the O2 Academy, Percy Gee Building (Students’ Union). The Open Evening is free and all are welcome to attend.
For more information, or to book a place, please click here.
A Royal Historical Society Regional symposium will look at Croatia’s place in the history of Europe in preparation of their entry into the EU on 1 July 2013.
The event will be held in association with the London embassy of the Republic of Croatia and aims to explore how Croatian national identity has been shaped by the country’s crossroads location between Italy, central Europe and the Balkans.
Several papers published by notable authors will be examined at the meeting which will also focus on a number of stressful periods in Croatia’s historical development and how this has formed views about the character and future of the country. Among them will be Professor Norman Housley (pictured) from our School of Historical Studies, who will give a talk on ‘Christendom’s bulwark: Croatian identity and the response to the Ottoman advance, 15th-16th century.’
Differences of religion, ethnicity and political allegiance, their varied expressions and the relationship between them will be central themes of the meeting.
The symposium will be held at the attractive Victorian premises at no 1. Salisbury Road on 27 March at 10.00 am. Please direct any enquiries to Norman Housley at hou@le.ac.uk.
]]>
In her first blog, written when the identity of the Grey Friars skeleton was still unknown, Bridget discusses the anticipation and speculation surrounding the approaching press conference and expresses her personal hope that the remains will prove to be those of Richard III.
She also highlights the importance of the discovery for the City and for the University of Leicester, calling it “a brilliant archaeological coup”.
In a second blog, entitled ‘More Days of Richard III Mania’, Bridget reflects on the aftermath of the Richard III announcement, including the plans for the eventual reinterment and the opening of a new Richard III exhibition at the medieval Guildhall.
The blogs highlight the way that the Richard III announcement has captured the public imagination. According to Bridget Blair: “This historic discovery has suddenly ignited a passion for our past....and long may it continue”.
Academics from our School of Psychology have suggested that Richard III may have exhibited a common psychological syndrome know as an intolerance to uncertainty- which may have manifested in control freak tendencies.
Professor Mark Lansdale (pictured) and forensic psychologist Dr Julian Boon presented their findings at the university on Saturday, 2 March in a bid to humanise Richard and find out more about his personality.
They found that the controversial King’s childhood insecurities and well documented disability may have had a huge impact on his character, and could dispel notions of Richard as a murdering psychopath.
]]>Tonight, the follow up documentary Richard III: The Unseen Story will be broadcast, which focuses on the five months of archaeological and scientific work carried out by the University of Leicester which eventually led to the discovery of King Richard III.
Richard III: The Unseen Story will air tonight (Wednesday 27 Feb) More 4 at 9pm.
The documentary will feature previously unseen footage and new interviews with the lead scientists, the programme will tell the story in detail and in full, from the first cut in the ground to the final DNA analysis.
]]>