8. Richard III Society: Leicester Conference - Grey Friars Dig: Adapting King Richard III's armour

2nd March 2013: The Greyfriars Dig -- A New Richard III: Dr Toby Capwell - How Richard III's Armour would have been adapted to cope with his scoliosis.
The Society's conference held at Leicester University on 2 March 2013 was a sell-out. Almost five hundred attendees-Society members, non-members, guests and speakers-filled the Peter Williams Lecture Theatre to learn about 'A New Richard III'.

[@richard66754]

Dr. Capwell is an intense individual. I love his take on things.😎

[@ERRIN2000]

I loved the Documentary Dr Toby Capwell did with Dominic Smee.

[@ebonpaladin]

A most excellent presentation; I did not even know this Society existed until the body was unearthed. I find this movement incredibly interesting and intend on finding out more- thank you for sharing.

[@isabelvellauni9443]

Thanks for these Ablas. Always interesting to hear your viewpoint. Nice to see your lovely environment too.

[@150thRDstarshina]

Superb lecture! Hats off to D. Capwell.

[@katajuana]

'A New Richard III', thank You for share really interesting lecture

[@zimke1984]

Very interesting lecture.

[@99IronDuke]

Excellent stuff

[@annettegower2962]

I still need to know why despite almost overwhelming evidence supporter's of Richard still refuse to accept that he usurped the throne and murdered his nephews. He wasn't the next heir to the Crown if he was right in declaring Edward 4th children illigitimate. Surely his brothers Clarences children came before him.

[@jasonscott8844]

I wonder if the armour could have acted like modern sports splints and actually supported him as well.

[@vintagebrew1057]

Watch "Resurrecting Richard 111" on KZbin.

[@pranarash1]

I am looking for the full version of this documentary. Anybody knows where I can find it?

[@invadervim9037]

I know I'm a bit late, but kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2emd4xsh9aAnM0

[@leza6288]

I’d love to know if Dr. Campbell has ever found any documentation from the royal armory about Edward IV or even Henry V or VI or their children. This would be very important evidence for the creation of this armor. I know there’s plenty of speculation that any of the records during Richard for three has been destroyed and it’s obvious in the rules and protocols and various sources. Just another thought about where to find information. It be interesting to see if there’s any evidence from the armories about Children’s armor because they started so early learning how to fight in armor.

[@SizarieldoR]

Nice pin. Is he a UK citizen?

[@elizabethdarley8646]

It's on his right side; this is th side where we wear medals of our deceased friends who we fought with. Can you tell me why Dr Capwell is wearing this and what it is please? Very informative talk.

[@daveh3997]

@@elizabethdarley8646 ​ It is the Arms of Richard III. They are available on he Richard III Society page

[@SheCreatesStuff2]

Richard could have brought his personal armorer from Italy who could have stayed in his service.

[@txm100]

what

[@elisefleming3419]

"This effects the left side..." (at 25 min.) should be "affects". Great talk; needed proofreading of text.

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

I thought richard III's hunchback was a result of tudor propaganda? At least, according to one of the BBC shows.

[@KorKhan89]

+Usammity Historiography marches on! Tudor era writers certainly exaggerated his condition, in order to make him appear more villainous. He wasn't really a hunchback, nor did he have a withered arm and legs of unequal size, as Shakespeare describes him. However, there was a kernel of truth in the story after all, as revealed by the find in Leicester.

[@Robert399]

His shoulders were slightly mal-aligned. But you're right, he didn't actually hunch and we know he was a very capable warrior.

[@benjaminodonnell258]

When they found his corpse, it had a significant spinal deformity.

[@F1ghteR41]

It is discussed in detail in this wonderful presentation on the Richard III grave: /watch?v=dsTyGKKl8UA Short story is - he had a severe scoliosis.

[@bethwilliams4903]

@@benjaminodonnell258 the exact same scoliosis that Princess Eugenie has/had, same location, same curvature, presumably she was fortunate enough not to be ostracized by people like you into hiding in a cave somewhere. And even more fortunate than Richard she had access to modern surgery to have it corrected, with rods; you can see the results on her back, she wore a revealing wedding dress to show off her surgical 'correction' perhaps to encourage the intolerant, like Tudor fans, to look in the mirror instead?