The Mercian Messenger

(Newsletter of the North Mercia Group of the Richard III Society)

January – March 2016

Hello Lovely Bunch! Belated New Year Greetings. I apologise for the lack of Messengers last year, so I hope to redeem myself by sending out this first issue of the New Year. It is ages since the last Mercian Messenger flew off the press and as we look forward to next year we can reflect on last year too. What a year for Ricardians. It’s a year I will never forget as long as I live and I dare say it’s the same for you! When I first joined the Richard III Society in those halcyon days of my youth, one of the first questions I asked was what happened to Richard’s body after he was killed at Bosworth. I was told he was buried in the choir of the Greyfriars Church in Leicester which was under Woolworth’s carpark as it was thought, so I thought there was no chance of ever finding him. But as we all say, we hadn’t reckoned with Philippa Langley and now as she said, ‘It’s job done.’! He is buried in consecrated ground, he has a tomb and the area in the Cathedral is totally dedicated to him.

I’d just like to mention two other special events that took place last year. The first was the Archery Day we held in July and here I’d like to thank Bob Pritchard for arranging such a super day, which in fact proved to be so popular that a repeat visit has been requsted. Thanks to Bob, Frank and Fiona for making it such a memorable day. We were also blessed with the weather. Twenty three members turned up and I’d like to thank them for their support, also a contributory factor in making it such a super day. I hope those of you that couldn’t make it, will be able to do so this year.

What can I say about our special lunch at Peckforton? Another perfect day and the venue so ideal. The food was delicious, the staff ultra friendly and helpful and everything went like clockwork, resulting in a complete success. Thank you so much for my wonderful flowers, which I’ve now turned into pot-pourri- a permanent memento of the occasion. Thanks also to Lesley for her poem. I sent a copy to Philippa Langley and she said it summed me up to a ‘T’ My friend, Sally from Leicester, said she’d never seen me so non-plussed! Well you must admit me lost for words is a phenomenon!

The latter part of the year was also noteworthy. Richard Unwin’s talk in September on ‘The Westminster Bones’ was very thought provoking. He has now published it on Kindle and in paper back and apparently it is being very well received, particularly in America. The Haddon Hall Trip was a rip-roaring success and it was nice to welcome four members of the Notts and Derby Group and also two members of the Leicester Branch. I think Haddon is so beautiful and I never get tired of visiting it and this visit was a bit special because the guide took us into the gardens not usually seen by the public – a privilege you might say.

The North Mercia Group go from strength to strength. I am very grateful for your interest and your support and I hope I can justify this in producing the programme for this year. I 1 hope you will find it interesting and diverse and attend and support as many meetings as you can. Philippa said you were a ’Lovely Bunch’ and so you are!!!

In the next three months we have our ‘Janus Day’ which is a very informal AGM, where we can study the year’s programme and discuss any points anyone wishes to raise. In March we have Professor Jane Evans coming to talk to us on ‘Analysing the Skeleton of a King’ Professor Evans was part of the team who examined Richard’s genome sequence and the isotopes in his teeth, which denoted where he had spent parts of his life. I think this is an incredible thing to be able to do. Still in keeping to Richard’s skeleton, in April we have Bob Woosnam Savage, who identified all the weapons which made the wounds on Richard’s skeleton.

This year began with the Banquet on ‘Holly Holy Day’ at the Crown Hotel. Needless to say I lost sleep over it, because I was worried we wouldn’t get the numbers, but in the end I need not have worried and it was hailed as a ‘Resounding Success’. So much so that we are pencilled in for next year!!! I had an e-mail from the Mayor saying how much he had enjoyed the evening , so I replied and told him to start making his costume and that of his wife of course! Most important for me was that we saved the Banquet which is a gesture of goodwill to say ,’Thank you’ to the town officials for allowing the ‘Holly Holy Day’ celebrations to take place, but it also helped to raise the profile of Richard III in a positive way, particularly after those recent disgusting TV programmes. I’m not going to saying to say anything about them – what I would like to say is unprintable!

In this issue of the Mercian Messenger we are privileged to have an article by Annette Carson concerning the talk she gave to the Group last June. Also some of our members have contributed reviews and reports. Colin Brown has written a review about Thomas Penn’s novel, ‘The Winter King’. Valerie Mackin has submitted her impressions of the Archery Day in July. These were obviously favourable, because she ends with a plea for it to be repeated! As you know Mark Dobson is now living in Wakerley near Stamford, but he is continuing to support the Group and has written a report of his visit to the Prebendal Manor House in Nassington, Northamptonshire. For your information Nassington is the next village to Fotheringhay and if you visit ‘The Black Horse’ pub, you will see a fireplace from Fotheringhay Castle in the Bar There is a full programme for 2016 so I hope to see as many of you as possible at our meetings. Membership is still on the ‘Up’ and I hope it will continue to do so! It means interest in Richard’s cause is still thriving. So there you have it! Onwards and Upwards! Marion.

REMINDERS

SATURDAY 6th February ‘Janus Day’ – A chance to discuss last year’s meetings and study the programme for next year and also to make any suggestions you may have. Polite ones only- Please!!!

SATURDAY 5th March ‘Analysing the Skeleton of a King’ A talk on the study of Richard’s genome sequence and the isotopes from his teeth which show where he spent parts of his life.

SATURDAY 2nd APRIL : ‘Killed the Boar, Shaved his Head’ - A talk by Bob Woosnam- Savage who identified all the weapons which made the wounds on Richard’s skeleton.

SATURDAY 14th MAY : ‘The Knights Templar’ – a talk by Mark Olly. A special request from Win Farrington. Mark is a local T.V personality and archaeologist.

THURSDAY 19 th May : Coffee Morning. Donations for prizes and offers of help will be greatly appreciated.

For those of you who were not at the ‘Janus Day’ – two trips have been proposed by Lesley Thomas. Nearer home – is a trip to the Isle of Man. Leaving Liverpool on Friday 20th May and returning Monday 23rd May /Tuesday 24th May. Lesley and I are going to the Isle of Man in March primarily to meet Brenda Cubbon who is setting up a Richard III Group on the Island. She has expressed a wish to meet me for some friendly tips and advice and Lesley has family on the Island. Her cousin is a Blue Badge Guide and was telling Lesley on her last visit that the Stanleys were very much revered on the Island. Lesley put him right- much to his amazement!!! Jean El-Ammar was supposed to be coming with us, but can’t manage these dates in March, so Lesley said she would go again and take Jean later, but members of the Group showed an interest at the Meeting, so if any of you are interested in going to the Isle of Man in May – please let Lesley know asap.

The next trip is further from home. In August 2017 the City of Bruges will be holding its ‘Pageant of the Golden Fleece. It is to commemorate the Marriage of Margaret of York to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. There is a two and a half hour procession telling the History of Bruges and a Banquet in the evening and various other spectacles during that period. Lesley is proposing to take a coach if there is enough interest, so please let her know 3 if you are interested in going. I went with the Lincolnshire Branch in 2001 and it was quite something. Apart from the people taking part in the Pageant we were the only other ones in Medieval costume and as we walked tom our place in the main square of Bruges a voice in the crowd said, ‘They can only be English!’

For our new(newer) members. You will see a Birthday compliment to some of our members. If I have excluded your birthday – it is because I don’t have those details. So if you would like a mention in the Birthday lists( as opposed to the Birthday Honours List!), please e-mail me with them or tell me at the next meeting.

For some time I have been mulling over the possibility of providing, ‘A Beginner’s Guide To Richard III’- i.e. Information for Beginners about his life and times and the Man himself. A recommended list of books to read can be found on our website, courtesy of Viv Reeves and for those of you who like getting out and about there is a gazetteer of sites connected with Richard III on the Society’s Home Page entitled, ‘Ricardian Britain’. Did you know that at one time 75% of members of the Society were ‘ converted’ by ‘Daughter of Time’ by Josephine Tey – myself included. Others came to Richard by other means. Rosemary Hawley Jarman’s novel, ‘We Speak No Treason.’ generated over 1000 members for the Society the year it was published – 1971- and still has an appeal today. Sharon Penmon wrote ‘The Sunne in Splendour’ over thirty years ago and it was re- published soon after it was announced Richard III had been found. A friend of mine was looking for a book in Newark Library when a copy of Paul Murray Kendall’s biography on Richard III fell off the shelf and hit her on the foot! She picked it up and looked at the front cover - thought he had a nice face, but put it back on the shelf. A fortnight later she read in the Newark Advertiser that the Richard III Society had visited Stoke Battlefield. ‘Why does he need a Society?’ she thought and started to read about Richard III instead of Henry VIII. The rest as you say is History. Maybe in the next Messenger we could have a section devoted to accounts of how members came to be interested in Richard III. We did it before just after the Group was formed, but with so many new members I’m sure it will make fascinating reading!

In November last year, the first ever biography of Josephine Tey was published. The publisher is Sandstone Press ISBN 978-1-910124-70-3. Her biographer, Jennifer Morag Henderson, wrote an article in the September Bulletin last year. She will also be the guest speaker at this year’s AGM in York on October 1st.

I thought you might like to read the poem Carol Anne Duffy wrote to commemorate Richard’s reburial. I thought Benedict Cumberbatch read it beautifully and this was singularly special in that Benedict is a relative of Richard III

RICHARD

My bones, scripted in light, upon cold soil, a human braille. My skull, scarred by a crown, emptied of history. Describe my soul as incense, votive, vanishing your own the same. Grant me the carving of my name.

These relics, bless. Imagine you re-tie a broken string and on it thread a cross, the symbol severed from me when I died. The end of time – an unknown, unfelt loss- unless the resurrection of the Dead... or I once dreamed of this, your future breath in prayer for me, lost long, forever found; or sensed you from the backstage of my death, as kings glimpse shadows on a battleground.

I shall frame it and add it to my Richard III collection.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

BASTONS These were small round loaves or large loaves, made of sweetened bread dough enriched with eggs, like a brioche paste. After baking, the tops were cut off ‘ in the manner of a crown’ and the crumb was removed leaving hollow shells. The crumb was finely chopped with a knife and mixed with clarified butter. It was then replaced in the hollowed bread crusts. The tops were replaced and the loaves, or rolls were returned to the oven for a few moments to heat through.

THE FEAST OF THE WHITE BOAR This was the title of the Medieval Banquet held on 23rd January to commemorate ‘Holly Holy Day’ in Nantwich. After losing many hours sleep worrying about numbers, I was very gratified by the final count – 56 guests all told.

I have had many positive and encouraging comments about it , ‘A Resounding Success’ – ‘A Triumph!’ – ‘Marion – you outdid yourself!’ and many more. The Hotel was pleased with the result and we are booked it fior next year on the 28th January – the nearest Saturday to the Battle date. 25th January 1644. Many of those who came have said ‘Put me down for next year!’, so I’ve done just that and I have had a few ideas already, but will leave the start of arrangements until August, which gives me a lot longer to prepare. I am disappointed to say that I cannot arrange a cheaper Bed and Breakfast package for those attending the Banquet. ‘Holly Holy Day’ is very popular event and the hotel is always full, so if you wish to stay overnight, I would book now, because rooms at the Crown will be swallowed up. Also if you book early enough at the Premier Inns near Nantwich you could get the £29 per night deal! So think about it!

I have had an e-mail from the Mayor’s office. ‘Mayor, Councillor Andrew Martin and the Lady Mayoress, Mrs Linda Martin would like to thank you and the North Mercia Group of the Richard III Society for a most enjoyable evening at the ‘Holly Holy Day Banquet’. I replied and thanked them and told them to start making their costumes for next year!I shall also invite the M.P. again. I did this time, because he always went to the other ‘Holly Holy Day’ banquets, but he had had a bereavement in the family. I feel it’s good for the Group and also for Richard III that we should get ourselves known in the Town and to show that we are not a bunch of ‘Nutters’ or shall I say – ‘Ricardian loons’. I know it’s difficult with me as your leader, but we CAN try and the fact that we are in Stanley lands should inspire us to greater things!

RICHARD’S CONTEMPORIES

Miles Metcalfe of Nappa Hall in Wensleydale

The Metcalfes were staunch supporters of the House of York. James Metcalfe, Miles Metcalfe’s father served with Henry V at Agincourt and on his return, was granted Nappa Hall and its lands in Wensleydale. He had three sons and Miles was the youngest.

He must have been somewhat older than Richard, because we read that he sent to London to study Law and in 1455, he was called to the Bar. Richard would have been three years old then. Ten years later, Miles was appointed Attourney General to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. {The Metcalfe Coat of Arms}

In 1468, he became Chamberlain of the City of York and when Richard received the Warwick estates in 1471, both Miles and his elder surviving brother, Thomas, came under his influence. Thomas inherited Nappa after his father’s death in 1472 and was appointed a member of Richard’s counsel and an auditor of the Middleham Lordship. Miles was appointed Deputy Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster and King’s Deputy on the Duchy Council.

In 1477, Miles was returned as M.P. for York and was appointed as Recorder on the recommendation of Edward IV. In 1480 both brothers were appointed Justices of Oyer and Terminer for Durham and Sedbergh and when 1483 Richard became King, both brothers were rewarded with more appointments. Thomas gathered as much support as possible for Richard at Bosworth as did Miles, though it is possible they never reached Bosworth in time to join Richard. They suffered under Henry VII, which is hardly surprising considering their great loyalty to Richard. Thomas managed to receive a pardon, but Miles seems to have been particularly singled out by Henry, because Henry attempted to have him removed as Recorder, but the counsel resisted strongly and Miles continued in the post until his death in1486 – probably from one of the plagues that seemed to blight York.He left a widow and three children, one of whom was a son called Richard and was buried in York Minster.

NAPPA HALL WENSLEYDALE

It is still possible to see this intact manor house from the road out of Middleham, then take the road to Askrigg. The outside is pretty much as it would have looked in Miles’ day, but the interior has changed and sadly the minstrels’ gallery was only taken down in the last century, but before our time. The gate house is still standing and you cross the yard to the manor house. It is best to ask permission to photograph as the farmer was once duped by someone purporting to be a photographer and then turned out to be someone from English Heritage or some such preservation group and then slapped a preservation order on the barn without explaining first. I explained I was a member of The Richard III Society, so he was quite happy to allow me to photograph the Hall.

RICARDIAN LEGENDS

RICHARD PLANTAGENET OF EASTWELL

A very intriguing character. Who was he? The most popular belief is that he was another illegitimate son of Richard III. The story was first told by the Vicar of Eastwell in 1735 and later repeated with variations on dates. But the skeleton of the story remains. In the year 1540, Sir Thomas Moyle, a wealthy landowner was building himself a new mansion in the parish of Eastwell in Kent. Sir Thomas had been Speaker of the House of Commons and had held other important positions. Thus he amassed for himself a large fortune and like any other landowner with a new build on his property, he liked to go to see how the work was progressing. On numerous occasions, he noticed that one of the masons, an old man, would settle down away from his fellow builders and spend his break reading books written in Latin. Sir Thomas became increasingly interested and eventually questioned the old man. The old man was reluctant to talk at first, but after some hesitation, he told Sir Thomas that his name was Richard Plantagenet and his father was Richard III. He said that on the eve of the Battle of Bosworth, he was taken to the royal tent and acknowledged as a son of Richard 8

III. Richard told him that if he won the Battle he would openly acknowledge him as his son, but if he lost, he was to fly for safety from his enemies. Sir Thomas was so impressed by the old man, that he built an extra room on to his house and installed Richard in it. When Richard died in 1550 at an age of ‘Upwards Fourscore’ he was buried in the Parish Church of Eastwell at the back of the altar, among the tombs of the Moyles. There is an entry in the parish register, ‘Richard Plantagenet was buried the twenty second day of December Anno Supra,’ which I think means a great age. I stand to be corrected by any member who has superior knowledge of Latin. There is a mark in the margin that is supposed to denote royalty, but this may not be contemporary and one theory is that it was inserted by a later vicar.

Richard of Eastwell’s tomb in Eastwell Church

As you can see the tomb is in bad shape, the inscription almost illegible and exposed to the elements. The church is very ruinous, having suffered bomb damage in World War II. The founder members amongst you, may remember we discussed ‘The Lost Prince’ by David Baldwin. He believes Richard of Eastwell is Richard of York, the younger of the two Princes in the Tower or having heard John Ashdown Hill, ‘The Lords Bastard.’ This is probably a mystery that will never be solved but it makes a good story!

The Ruins of Eastwell Church, Kent 9

Annette Carson has very kindly allowed me to reproduce the article she wrote based on the talk she gave us in June

SIX MONTHS IN 1483: A TALK GIVEN TO GREATER MANCHESTER AND NORTH MERCIA GROUPS, JUNE 2015

The aim of my talk was to discuss the dual role of Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England, the topic of my latest book. It is always important to understand context, so my six months in 1483 started in January, because the later succession crisis took place under the threat of a dangerous international situation. In his Parliament in January Edward IV had indicated his intention of pursuing the unfinished war with Scotland, and since Louis XI of France had recently broken the treaty of Picquigny, Edward had determined upon hostilities with France as well. Richard of Gloucester was the nation’s foremost military commander on behalf of his brother, and held the highest of national appointments: he would now be in the perilous position of conducting war on two fronts.

One of Richard’s primary military and judicial offices was as High Constable of England, who presided over his own Constable’s Court. Its most useful power from the king’s point of view was its jurisdiction over the crime of treason, in which Edward IV’s letters patent had given the High Constable summary powers of trial, conviction and execution. The Constable’s Court was a court of civil law, not common law: it administered the Law of Arms.

You could be convicted of many types of treason, a list that lengthened over the centuries. By the reign of Edward IV the king’s grants (to be seen in my appendices) required the Constable to look into such crimes ‘summarily and plainly, without noise and customary form of trial, on simple inspection of the truth of the deed, without leave of appeal’ – a formula which was repeated well into the reign of Henry VII.

While Richard of Gloucester was wielding these powers in 1483 he concurrently held a long list of senior national offices of which three were Great Officers of State, four were military appointments, and three exercised judicial functions in their own courts. He was also the senior male heir to the throne, at a time of high child mortality. After the king, Richard was easily the most important and powerful man in the realm.

Moving on to February-March, this was when Edward IV confirmed his ordinances (first made in 1473) appointing Anthony Woodville and others guardians of his heir Edward, Prince of Wales. Although Anthony was joined by Sir Richard Grey in the 1483 grant, the most important person in the prince’s daily life was actually Bishop John Alcock who was President of his Council and in charge of his ongoing education.

In April, a little more than five weeks later, Edward IV was dead. His son could inherit as a child of 12 but could not govern. The king’s ordinances required the boy to remain under guardianship until the age of 14, which was the earliest at which kings were generally considered to come of age.

In England the precedent had been established since the 1420s that when a king was unable to rule there would be a protectorate: this was originally set up when Henry V died leaving a babe in arms as his heir. Henry V had wanted his brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester to rule England as Regent, but the King’s Council refused to allow this. They decided on a tripartite arrangement:

* the King’s Council would govern the country;

* Humphrey would be accorded the role of Protector and Defender of the Realm in charge of security against invasion and rebellion;

* and the third element provided for the personal care and education of the infant king: this was placed in the hands of an entirely separate group headed by the Duke of Exeter (similar to Edward IV’s later arrangements for his heir).

Precisely the same three-part formula was repeated when Richard, Duke of York was appointed Lord Protector during Henry VI’s incapacity in the 1450s. The key being that the Lord Protector was never in charge of ‘protection of the king’, as Richard of Gloucester was later erroneously described by many historians of the time and since. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Importantly, in 1454 Queen Margaret of Anjou attempted to cut across this established precedent by preventing a protectorate, demanding instead ‘the whole rule’ of the land. She already had charge of the person of the king, his infant son and the royal household, so had she been given the powers she demanded it would have amounted to a regency. This was refused and York was appointed Protector instead.

So when Edward IV died there were sixty years of precedent for a protectorate comprising the tripartite division of powers described above. However, in a move reminiscent of Margaret of Anjou, Queen Elizabeth Woodville and her family tried to

11 prevent it. They also arranged military commissions for their own family members which actively undermined Richard of Gloucester’s existing roles as Admiral of England (appointed 1462) and Lieutenant-General of England’s Land Forces (appointed as recently as 1480): any such commissions should properly have been under the command of the Protector of the Realm. These actions were deeply destabilizing in the light of the hostilities with Scotland and France which Edward IV had only recently announced in Parliament.

What did Richard do about it? His course of action was to meet with the king’s army at Stony Stratford and effect a bloodless takeover. The Woodvilles failed to realize that given his list of supreme military offices, no soldier would have offered resistance. Neither were they successful in recruiting anyone in London to take arms against him.

Traditional historians like to point to the executions of Anthony Woodville, Richard Grey and Thomas Vaughan, but these took place eight weeks later: what Richard did in April was merely place them in custody. Had he wanted them summarily executed he could have done this himself by convening a Constable’s Court at Stony Stratford and convicting them of treason. So Dominic Mancini’s claim that he asked the King’s Council to condemn them is ignorant and mistaken: the Council had no powers to do so. The mistake is understandable in someone working for a French master, since the French King’s Council did have such powers. But so did Richard himself as High Constable of England. My argument is that he never wanted them executed: their usefulness to him was to act as hostages in his attempts to coerce the Woodvilles in London to capitulate. Unfortunately they continued resisting and stirring up rebellion.

In early May Richard was appointed Lord Protector, and preparations for the coronation were under way, when Bishop Robert Stillington broke the news of Edward IV’s secret precontract of marriage with Lady Eleanor Talbot, which the late king had neglected to annul before secretly marrying Elizabeth Woodville. This placed the legitimacy of Edward’s offspring – and the succession – in doubt. Richard got wind of a conspiracy against him and sent for help from the North. A couple of days later, according to contemporary sources (which even Ricardians have a tendency to ignore), Lord Hastings as leader of the conspiracy attempted to assassinate the legally appointed Protector of the Realm.

Six or seven fellow-conspirators were rounded up and arrested, but only Hastings was executed. In the light of my researches, the question I sought to answer was whether due process was followed. My conclusion, which is fully explained in my book, is that Richard of Gloucester could have convened an ad hoc treason trial that very day which convicted and sentenced without appeal, and this would have been entirely compatible with his legal powers as High Constable of England.

Reaching the end of my sixth month, June 1483, I then looked at the legality of what happened to Woodville, Grey and Vaughan. John Rous provides the information that they were tried by the Earl of Northumberland. Rous and later sources agree that the trial took place at Pontefract, which (as I have argued in all my books since 2008) was probably true since two of them had to be transported to Pontefract from Sheriff Hutton and Middleham respectively: had there not been a trial, they could simply have been despatched where they were.

Nevertheless, there remained a nagging question: even though Northumberland was a Warden of the Marches and presided in his own March Court where he exercised powers of life and death, by what right did he try and convict the three of treason when the alleged crime had not taken place within his jurisdiction? Especially when Anthony Earl Rivers was a peer of the realm. This worried me for some considerable time, until at last I hit upon the simple explanation. It was within the High Constable’s capacity to appoint his own deputy if he could not be present in Court himself. Richard had only to deputize Northumberland temporarily, and the three could be tried in a Court of the (Vice-)Constable.

In conclusion, although the Constable’s Court kept no records and we know little of its processes, my researches indicate that Richard’s actions after the death of Edward IV, and in the light of precedent and prevailing circumstances, were in fact legitimate and within his legal capacities as Lord Protector and High Constable of England.

Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England (paperback, 112 pages) is self-published by Annette Carson at £8.50 + £1.50 P&P, available online from www.annettecarson.co.uk where more details can be found. Or please send an email to [email protected] or write to 21 Havergate, Horstead, Norwich, NR12 7EJ.

Annette’s talk was absolutely brilliant. It was fascinating and a real eye-opener. I think in the past we underestimated just how important Richard was to his brother, Edward IV. But the list of positions he did hold proves he was extremely important to Edward and his status in the country.

Many thanks Annette. We feel very privileged you gave up some of your time to come and talk to us. We also hope that you enjoyed your return to the North West after a number of years away.

Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England. Thomas Penn. Allen Lane 2011; Penguin 2012. 451pp. In this much heralded work the usurper emerges largely as history paints him- a cunningly intelligent, neurotic, emotionally vulnerable yet ruthless master of financial and diplomatic chicanery, most at home in the counting-house and surrounded by a succession of oily men on the make. The book gallops along at pace bringing to life a fascinating, though murky, world of duplicity and dupes, human pawns, bonds and pledges, bribery, the manipulation of financial markets, legalised extortion, minders, spymasters and double-agents.

Penn also paints a picture of a culturally magnificent court smelling so obviously of ready cash that ambassadors from the great Houses of Europe eagerly advised their masters to find ways to link their own states’ ambitions to that of a Tudor succession.

There was no shortage of takers and Penn shows how, almost without firing an arrow, Henry’s questionably accumulated wealth and four marriageable offspring ensured that he became an indispensable power- broker in the struggle for western European hegemony. Critically, his money also provided the wherewithal to buy the, at least transient, friendship of anyone who might otherwise offer encouragement or a safe house to a wandering White Rose.

What Penn is particularly good at is bringing to life the players in the network of able, ambitious and [for the most part] morally bankrupt and duplicitous men, many from humble backgrounds, who served Henry assiduously both domestically and within the diplomatic service. By 1509 such men had created a state in which most people of status or wealth had been manipulated into being financially in debt to the monarch.

The rise of such servants also marginalised the descendants of the great nobles who had wreaked havoc during the previous century and Penn shows us a generation of young bloods, still highly trained for combat and who might otherwise have spent time plotting and raising private armies, largely reduced to clothes-horses and seasonal tournament performers.

Ricardians will be pleased to note that while offering due recognition of Henry’s abilities Penn does not venerate him, nor -thankfully-does he demonise his predecessor. Though he largely avoids being drawn into raking over the well-warmed coals of the usurpation the reader is left in no doubt that Henry was a political ‘chancer’ who got lucky and whose

14 survival depended on denying his enemies the propitious throws of the die that he had enjoyed.

Penn’s skill as a writer lies in his layering into a compelling and entertaining read the vast amount of known evidence relating to Henry’s development of England as the most politically and economically centralised state in Europe. In so doing he provides a gripping analysis of the realpolitik of state building and of the dark arts of maintaining power and ensuring succession. On that level the book is highly recommended.

Colin Brown.

February 3 2014

Thank you, Colin for an interesting review.

ARCHERY DAY

LICHFIELD ARCHERY CLUB

11TH JULY 2015

The morning started bright and sunny, it stayed that way all day. (a bonus for this summer). Managed to get my bow in the car, I am glad it’s no longer! We got to Lichfield early and found the Archery Club, only had to ask one person directions. There was a very interesting talk on all aspects of the military use of the bow and a look at various bows. We then went out and had a go ourselves, the target was Henry 7th who was well and truly shredded by the end of the day, everyone got at least one arrow into him. The highlight for me was being able to have a go with my own bow, I bought the bow about 17 years ago, it’s a traditional beech long bow and other than playing about with it in the garden and the kids trying to kill the shed it had never been pulled properly. It was much heavier to pull than the other bows we were using but I managed to hit the target on a few times! I was really quite pleased with myself and the bow is still in one piece. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ORGANISING SUCH A GREAT DAY! Everyone who was there I am sure, enjoyed themselves. Please let’s do it again next year! Val Mackin

Don has Henry Tudor in his sights!

Bob Pritchard explains archery techniques to the group & Fran Skinner becomes the champion archer of the day!

Nassington Prebendal Manor

Nassington is a village in Northamptonshire about two miles north of Fotheringhay ‒ close enough for the York family to have been aware of its existence when they lived in the castle there. And Nassington Prebendal Manor had been in existence in the village in its present position and substantially as it now is since perhaps the twelfth century, almost as old as the nearby church.

A prebendary was a canon of the Roman Catholic church who had an administrative role in a cathedral but did not live in or near it, having a residence in a prebendal manor house where he lived, in some apparent comfort, off the revenues of the cathedral estates. He would have had a seat in the back of the choir stalls known as the prebendal stall. The position of prebendary was particularly attractive to the younger sons of the gentry since the position tended to be independent of the bishop and they could live away from him on a fixed stipend or income.

Nassington Prebendal Manor is a typical example of such an institution. Although a little altered both inside and out from the original hall-style building, mainly to accord with current tastes and fashions, there is much of interest still to be seen. Details are available on their website www.prebendal-manor.co.uk

Of particular interest to Ricardians is a list of known occupiers of the manor during our period. Simon of Sudbury, prominent as the Archbishop of Canterbury during the Peasants’ Revolt, was a brief resident when he claimed the prebend in 1349. Richard II recovered the manor in 1350 and granted it to Henry Walton, treasurer to the earl of Lancaster. He was followed by Edward de la Zouche who was resident between 1412 until his death in 1414; then Nicholas Colnet who was physician to Henry V and was with him during his campaign in France, including the battle of Agincourt. Next was John Mackworth, who served the longest during this period and was probably responsible for much of the reordering of the building including a solar (since demolished), a grand front entrance and refashioning of the windows.

From 1451 to 1462 the occupier was Thomas Manning, keeper of the signet seal of the king; from 1462 to 1465 it was Richard Lanport, clerk of the Privy Seal.

Come 1465 and Edward IV was on the throne. He had his brother-in-law Lionel Wodeville installed as prebendary, presumably at the age of 15 as his birth is recorded as being 1450. Amongst other attributes, Lionel was the first person known to have received an honorary degree (from Oxford University), and went on to become Bishop of Salisbury. Such were the perks of being so closely related to the Queen!

In 1471 Thomas Portington was given the position. He may have been at the coronation of Richard III. He died in 1485, presumably of natural causes rather than in battle; his brass is in Shillington church, Bedfordshire. He was followed by Edmund Chadderton who was King Richard’s Treasurer of the Chamber and his royal chaplain. Though he lost both jobs on the king’s death he continued as prebendary until 1499, and even became Elizabeth of York’s chancellor.

After this point the records become quiet. It is known that Henry VIII let the manor to a farmer in 1535, during the period of his argument with the Pope and consequent detachment of the church from Rome. But in 1572 Queen Elizabeth granted the prebend to John Whitgift, who occupied it until 1576 when he was translated to the see of Worcester and subsequently to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Although Elizabeth initially showed some interest in the area, inasmuch as she ordered the removal and re-installing of two tombs of her ancestors in Fotheringhay church, she later sold all her local lands, possibly to distance herself from that village and its association with the execution of her cousin Mary Queen of Scots.

The manor house, tithe barn, dovecote and gardens are well worth a visit. However, do check the opening times before contemplating a trip there: this year the opening days are Sundays and Wednesdays until 28th September, and all bank holiday Mondays, 2-5pm. The opening times next year will probably be more restricted than this as visitor numbers do not justify even these ‘occasional’ days. But the owner will open the house for pre-arranged groups and may even do so for the odd one-off visitor.

One final point of interest: the garden only contains plants that were known before 1485, the date of the departure of the last known prebendary before the reformation. Apart from, that is, a few geraniums around the front door, ‘because they are my real favourites’ the owner told me. 18

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO : David Lycett : January 3rd Don Hodgkinson : January 22nd Paula Bell : February 13th Ruth Beattie : February 15th Sue McMullen : March 14th Sam Fernley : March 21st

BIRTHDAY FLOWERS AND STONES January : Carnation or Snowdrop : Garnet February : Violet or Primrose : Amethyst March : Jonquil- Daffodil or Narcissus : Aquamarine

We all hope you had or will have a super day.