2014 was again the year of King Richard III. His re-burial date and place was officially announced and the monarch will be laid to rest in 2015. Although not everyone is happy with his final resting place. But really York or Leicester, isn’t it better than under a car park?
There was also some interesting news relating to how Richard looked, no not his humpback, his eye and hair color. After analyzing his DNA its believed he may have been a blue eyed blonde and not the dark featured King we have always seen in paintings.
The discovery of King Richard III set off a flurry of other missing kings to find. There was talk of looking for Alfred the Great, which hasn’t happened yet. The latest is the search for King Harold around Waltham Abbey.
There was also a test carried out to see if the remains of Swedish King Erik IX are really of King Erik. We are still waiting on the results.
There were a few milestone anniversaries in 2014 too. The deaths of Charlemagne (1200th), Sweyn Forkbeard (1000th), the only Viking King of England and Jacques de Molay(700th), the last Grandmaster of the Knights Templar. There was also the 700th Anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, which co-coincided with the Scottish vote for independence.
Other news items throughout the year include Black Death analysis, the Magna Carta, 1,000 year old wineries and much more.
- Henry III’s confirmation of the Magna Carta
- DNA Analysis reveals Black Death secrets
- Medieval Spanish Vineyards
There will be more milestone anniversaries in 2015 including the Magna Carta and the Battle of Agincourt. Probably one of the most talked about, at least for the first part of the year, will be the burial of Richard III in March!
What are your favorite medieval news events of 2014? Share them below in the comments, on the Medieval Archives twitter feed, or on the Medieval Archives Facebook page.
[simple_series title=”2014 Medieval Year in Review”]
