We found Dick, now let's find Harry: After Richard III's remains were found in a Leicester car park, the hunt is on for King Harold

Is the Bayeux Tapestry about to unravel? Every schoolchild knows that King Harold II was felled by an arrow to the eye at the Battle of Hastings. But the thousand-year legend could be shot down by a new scientific examination which suggests that the last Anglo-Saxon King of England lived to fight another day.

The geological survey company used to find the remains of Richard III is launching a search for the body of King Harold II in the grounds of Waltham Abbey Church in Essex, where the fallen monarch was supposedly given a burial.

The scan, to be performed by the Stratascan team on Tuesday, the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, will be filmed for a documentary exploring an alternative theory of Harold's death.

The history books record that on 14 October 1066, Harold was brutally hacked to death by four Norman knights, after being struck by an arrow to his eye. The scenes of Harold gripping the arrow were later depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry.

Archaeologists will now explore a claim that the king survived the battle and lived as a hermit until he died of natural causes in his eighties – about 40 years after the battle. The alternative explanation, contained in a 12th-century document housed in the British Library called Vita Haroldi, is championed by Peter Burke, an amateur historian from Waltham Abbey who has been studying an alternative English version of events for the past five years.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/we-found-dick-now-lets-find-harry-after-richard-iiis-remains-were-found-in-a-leicester-car-park-the-hunt-is-on-for-king-harold-9789299.html

cool. but I think Harold did die that day.

William TQ was a mean sob and I doubt very much that he would not have hunted down Harold and killed him if he did in fact escape. no way would he have let him live even as a hermit.

aside - the BT is an amazing thing. The exhibition is first class but yes even in controlled environment it is starting to disintegrate. totally worth a visit if you get there as well as a beautiful WW2 military cemetary in the middle of town - most moving. Cried my eyes out - was a complete basket case at Omaha.

I agree he died at the battle, but am interested to see how this pans out. Now that would be an amazing find, if they did discover his remains. I have always been quite interested in the stories surrounding Hereward the Wake. Difficult to gauge the history here being as it is always written by the victors and apologists.

Thanks for the other info, very interesting.

absolutely amazing find. I admit to not really liking British history until Longshanks but of course 1066 (and all that lol) is so very well known.

yes difficult to gauge the truth, victors win bragging rights for sure but I also do not like total reliance on one source written well after the fact. Oral transmission and then of course written translation from one language to another is not 100% reliable and it is very hard to find a translator from back then who was truly impartial - but then I don't have to remind you of that

goodnight x

Agreed again Cass, though am very interested more so in the Saxon history mainly as less is known about this period.

Do you like the Username and know who he was?

Goodnight

x

Brasidas wrote:Agreed again Cass, though am very interested more so in the Saxon history mainly as less is known about this period.

Do you like the Username and know who he was?

Goodnight

x

Oxi .....well sort of......very very vague memories of ancient times.....but you know.....brain cells slip away
...thank Zeus for wikipedia sometimes
x

Cass wrote:

Brasidas wrote:Agreed again Cass, though am very interested more so in the Saxon history mainly as less is known about this period.

Do you like the Username and know who he was?

Goodnight

x

Oxi .....well sort of......very very vague memories of ancient times.....but you know.....brain cells slip away
...thank Zeus for wikipedia sometimes
x

Honesty at its best.x
Is one of my favorite historical era's to be honest, have always had a fascination with early Greek history.

For those interested:


Brasidas—Sparta's Most Extraordinary Commander
by Jon Martin

During the opening phase of the Peloponnesian War (431-422 BC), Sparta produced a commander that would shape the tactics, strategy and personal conduct of military leaders to follow. Both Xenophon and Alexander the Great must have studied his campaigns, for his signature is indelibly marked on their exploits. Although Lysander is the best known of the Spartan commanders of the war, being the architect of final victory, no other single Spartan exhibited the flexibility of intellect, persuasiveness of oratory and bravery and skill in combat. So exceptional were his abilities that traditional, ultra-conservative Sparta did as much to suppress his actions as did any Athenian foe. In a more modern context, he may be compared to Rommel, a popular and chivalric general, dispatched by his country to a remote theater of war, with an inadequate force and little expectation of success. Like Rommel, he would astonish enemy and friend with his victories, but unlike Rommel, he would ultimately triumph.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/ancient/articles/Brasidas.aspx

http://www.mediabyjohn.com/brasidas/index.html

The target of every arrow