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August 1, 2009
Countering Becket
The Castle at Dover has undergone an extensive restoration, trying to recapture its appearance under Henry II. A British professor suggested that Henry spent piles of money fancying up Dover Castle as a way to counter the Becket cult - and to welcome foreign monarchs and aristocrats to England. The argument makes sense, though I'm not sure there's any real evidence.
What I really like is that though I found the story I'm linking to at one of my favorite archaeology aggregator sites, that site sent me to the Daily Telegraph version of the story. The Telegraph's little navigation tool at the top of the story amused me:
HOME > NEWS > NEWS TOPICS > THE ROYAL FAMILYNot HISTORY or ARCHAEOLOGY, but THE ROYAL FAMILY. I guess! Go look at the story - there are seven pictures - and it looks like the restoration is interesting. Fun to visit!
Further: More pictures - these at the BBC site.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at August 1, 2009 8:41 AM
Comments
The disappointment is the totally unauthentic chapel - in the time of Henry II that too would have been the riot of color and embellishment seen elsewhere, not that sub-protestant anaemic stripped down and totally unhistoric effort shown in the slides.
Posted by: Nigel at August 4, 2009 8:44 AM