Ricardian

Bulletin Magazine of the Richard III Society

ISSN 0308 4337 September 2012

Ricardian

Bulletin September 2012

Contents 2 From the Chairman 3 Society News and Notices Annual General Meeting 2012 Membership Matters Publication and Distribution of the Bulletin The 2013 Study weekend 11 Leeds International Medieval Congress 14 Update: Looking for Richard 15 ‘King Mike I’ has died in Australia 17 A Series of Remarkable Ladies: 2, Eleanor of Scotland, by Rita Diefenhardt-Schmitt 18 The will of Dame Alice Nevile 19 Our Olympic Diary, part 1, by Sue and Dave Wells 21 A day out with a difference? 23 News and Reviews 27 Media Retrospective 29 The Man Himself: Richard’s Wig, by Gordon Smith 33 Researches into the Tower of London, by Annette Carson 37 Papers from the Society’s session at Leeds International Medieval Congress Making the most of miracles, by Lesley Boatwright R.v. Walson: new light on a medieval mugging, by Christopher Whittick Miracles in everyday life: the ordinary and the miraculous, by Heather Falvey 48 Riding forth to aspye for þe town, by Penelope Lawton 49 Two portraits of our founder, by John Saunders 50 Correspondence 54 Report on visit to Stratford-upon-Avon and Baddesley Clinton, by Tom Wallis 56 Future Society Events 59 The Barton Library 60 Branches and Groups 63 New Members and Recently Deceased Members 64 Calendar

Contributions Contributions are welcomed from all members. All contributions should be sent to Lesley Boatwright. Bulletin Press Dates 15 January for March issue; 15 April for June issue; 15 July for September issue; 15 October for December issue. Articles should be sent well in advance. Bulletin & Ricardian Back Numbers Back issues of The Ricardian and the Bulletin are available from Judith Ridley. If you are interested in obtaining any back numbers, please contact Mrs Ridley to establish whether she holds the issue(s) in which you are interested. For contact details see back inside cover of the Bulletin

The Ricardian Bulletin is produced by the Bulletin Editorial Committee, Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd. © Richard III Society, 2012

From the Chairman

n Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Feste sings that ‘the rain it raineth every day’ and this pretty I much sums up the weather in the UK since the last issue of the Bulletin appeared. As I write, however, we are enjoying a respite and the sun is shining, perhaps specially for the Olympics. Maybe our intrepid joint secretaries won’t have to use their ‘London 2012’ umbrellas after all! They begin their Olympic Diary in this issue and we look forward to the conclusion in December’s Bulletin. This issue of your Bulletin is another triumph for the editorial team. Every quarter, I marvel at how much new and interesting material they find every three months. Of course, they are greatly helped by your contributions, so, in that sense, it’s a great collaborative effort. For The Man Himself, Gordon Smith takes a look at Richard III’s ‘wig’, and again examines that crucial period from April to June 1483. Annette Carson provides some fresh insights into the 1647 discovery of those bones in the Tower and Ken Hillier recalls an encounter with ‘King’ Mike. Penelope Lawton’s research in the Nottingham archives reminds us of the importance of the Ricardian Chronicle project and again I urge those of you interested in research to join the Chronicle team. As usual with September’s Bulletin we include the Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2011-2012. It presents a healthy picture of the Society, recording another year of achievement and progress. Of course, it continues to be a challenge in the current economic climate to maintain membership levels and we are determined to do more on this front. The Society’s presence at this year’s Leeds Medieval Congress was another success, and I thank all those involved in making it so. This year, we organised a lecture session, and you can read summaries of the talks in this issue; these, together with our bookstall, showcased all that is best about the Society to medieval scholars from around the world. We have recently become aware of two portraits of our founder, Dr Saxon Barton. One is now in private hands but the other is part of the collection of the Williamson Gallery in Birkenhead. It’s in a poor state of repair and is not presently on display. We are investigating the possibility of providing financial support to help with its restoration with a view to having it on display so members and others can see it. I am delighted to report that the Society has been able to make a significant contribution to the conservation of the Stillingfleet boar badge recently acquired by the Yorkshire Museum (see page 8 for details). We are hopeful that this will be the start of a positive working relationship between the Society and the museum. We welcome Jacqui Emerson to the post of Branches and Groups Liaison Officer and wish her well for the future. I extend our grateful thanks to Pauline Harrison Pogmore and Angela Moreton for jointly undertaking the role for the past two years and for all the hard work they put in. The AGM and Members’ Day in York fast approaches. I know it’s going to be an enjoyable and informative day and, for those going to Middleham on the Sunday, a great weekend. For those unable to join us, there will be a full report in December’s Bulletin and for those who are there, as ever, I look forward to meeting and talking with you.

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Society News and Notices

Subscriptions Due Subscriptions for the forthcoming membership year fall due on 2 October 2012. Please see the renewal form in the centrefold section of this Bulletin, and Membership Matters below for rates and methods of payment.

Richard III Society Members’ Day and Annual General Meeting Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, Fossgate, York YO1 9XD Saturday 29 September 2012

As is the established practice, Saturday 29 September is both the AGM and a day for members to meet each other and get involved. This year’s venue will enable us to re -visit one of the most splendid medieval buildings in York. The event will follow a similar pattern to previous years. At the time of writing this article, late June, no motions have been received by the Chairman or the Joint Secretaries. All members are reminded that motions and resolutions for the AGM agenda, proposed and seconded by Society members and signed, should be sent to the Joint Secretaries, in hard copy, by no later than Friday 14 September 2012. Similarly, nominations by Society members for membership of the Executive Committee, proposed, seconded and accepted by the nominee and duly signed by all, should also be sent to the Joint Secretaries by the same date. Forms for this purpose may be obtained from the Joint Secretaries – by electronic or hard copy means, or downloaded from the Society’s website. The Annual Report is published in this Bulletin. It contains much of the material formerly reported by officers at the AGM. This means that officers’ reports on the day will provide attendees with any relevant updates which will enable the focus of the meeting to be on the future and members’ issues. As with other years, there will be an Open Forum/Question Time to enable members to raise questions and issues. These can be submitted by email or in writing to the Joint Secretaries (contact details on the inside cover of the Bulletin). If you wish to submit a question in advance, it would be helpful if it is received by Wednesday 26 September. You will also be able to post questions on the day and ‘post-it’ notes will be available for you to place on a board in the hall. Questions may be submitted anonymously, but, if they cannot be answered on the day, questioners will be invited to give their contact details to a Society officer to enable an answer to be provided at a later date.

Speaker: this year our speaker will be the historian and author George Goodwin, who has recently published a book entitled Fatal Colours - Towton 1461: England’s Most Brutal Battle. Copies of this book will be available on the Society’s bookstall.

Please remember that this is your day. Please try to attend and take the opportunity to raise any question that you have, to meet old friends and to make new ones.

If you intend to come to the event, please register your place by email to the Secretaries at their email address or by completing and returning the booking form which was published in the June Bulletin.

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Further to the official notification in the June Bulletin, set out below is the proposed programme for the day:

Programme: 10.30 Doors open; members arrive, time to visit stalls etc. 12.00 Isolde Wigram Memorial Lecture – George Goodwin (further details above). 13.15 Lunch – own arrangements. 14.30 Annual General Meeting and Open Forum/Question Time followed by raffle. 16.30 (estimated) Conclusion of Members’ Day and dispersal.

Details of the venue and how to get there are given below:

Venue: The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York YO1 9XD. The hall can be accessed from Fossgate or Piccadilly. Public Transport: York railway station is on the East Coast Main Line. Trains run direct from York to many of the UK’s regional centres. The location is well served by numerous bus routes and the nearest stops are in Piccadilly. Parking: Parking facilities in York are very limited. However, park-and- ride is available. All details of parking services can be found on the City of York website: www.york.gov.uk. Reception: The venue will be open from 10.30 a.m. Members will be asked to register on arrival at the reception table, which will be staffed by members of the Yorkshire Branch. We would like to record our appreciation of their assistance in providing this service. Refreshments: Tea, coffee and biscuits will be on sale in the hall during the morning from 10.30 to mid-day. Lunch: Lunch will be by own arrangements and various local facilities are available within a very short walk of the venue.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS: Major Craft Sale: The thirty-third Major Craft Sale will be held around the AGM/ Members’ Day. The sale will start at 10.30 am and run until noon, and then continue in the lunch interval. On sale there will be books, Ricardian embroidery, cakes and sweets (for home consumption only), paperweights, RCRF Christmas cards, knitted items and baby clothes, soft toys, collages, etc., and Ricardian and other bric-à-brac. The proceeds of the Craft Sale will be devoted to the Ricardian Churches Restoration Fund. We would warmly welcome items for sale. We do appeal to members to try to provide some items for sale, so please try to look out some items of jumble or bric-à-brac. We would of course also warmly welcome all items of any sort of craft work. If you wish to give or send items in advance, please contact Elizabeth Nokes, 26 West Way, Petts Wood, Kent BR5 1LW (email: [email protected], tel. 01689 823569) to check that the items are suitable. If you wish to bring items along on the day, it would be most helpful if you could mark them with an indication of the price(s) at which you think they should be sold.

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Annual Grand Raffle: As usual we shall be having a raffle in aid of the RCRF. The tickets will be 25 pence each, or five tickets for £1, and will be on sale at the meeting. At the time of going to press, the prizes include: a plaque of Richard on horseback (Marcus Designs); a framed heraldic print of the Battle of Bosworth (Peter Russell, 1981); a double-sided rose- patterned compact mirror; a video of the English Shakespeare Company’s history cycle ‘The Wars of the Roses’ (Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI (House of Lancaster), Henry VI (House of York), Richard III); a pewter tankard from Hampton Court; a tall metal jug with lid, decorated with Warwick symbol, from Warwick Castle. (Further prizes may be added.) Prizes are not ranked in any order: the first ticket drawn will have first choice, and so on. We thank the contributors and suppliers of these prizes. Ricardian Sales Stall: There will be a range of Society and Trust publications and Society artefacts. Website: Beth Stone, the Web Content Manager, will be present. Treasurer’s Table: Paul Foss will be available to receive payment of subscriptions on the day. Barton Library: The librarians will be selling off duplicate library stock at bargain prices and a selection of the Society’s books. They will also be showcasing the diverse services that the Library can offer to members. Battlefields Trust: This organisation will again be represented and have a display. Bookseller: As last year, Starkmann Limited will be in attendance with a range of publications and associated sales items. Branches & Groups: This is an opportunity for Branches and Groups to showcase their publications and activities. Yorkshire Branch: The branch will again be represented and be selling some Ricardian publications and items with specific local focus. London Branch: The Branch treasurer will be in attendance to collect subscriptions. Visits Committee: A table will be hosted by members of the Visits Committee and will display information on past visits and details of future visits: suggestions for the latter would be very welcome. Visit to Middleham: At the moment, there are still some places on the coach for the trip to Middleham the day after the AGM (see p.4, June Bulletin). You will have time to explore the castle and St Alkelda’s church. Return to York approx. 4.00 pm, with drop-off at York Station for those travelling hom by train. Cost £12 each (coach only); please note that the entrance charge to Middleham Castle is not included and will be payable on the day (£4.40 adult, £4.00 concessions, free to English Heritage members). If places are still available, you can book at the AGM: see Marian Mitchell on the Visits Stand. Overseas members: please let Marian know if you want a place, and pay at the AGM (contact details on back cover).

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We are delighted to say that during the morning and the lunch period, we will again be entertained by the ‘Trouvere’ strolling players. Reminder to Branches and Groups If your branch/group wishes to make a report at the AGM, please let the Joint Secretaries know by Friday 14 September so that it can be included on the AGM agenda. Reports can be made in person by a Branch/Group representative or, for overseas branches/groups, if no local representative is able to attend the AGM in person, a printed report can be supplied to be read at the AGM. Reports should not exceed three minutes and should consist of new material not previously reported verbally or in print.

Post-AGM meal Arrangements have been made with the ASK restaurant in the Grand Assembly Rooms, Blake Street, York, for an area to be reserved for the Society on the Saturday evening. Please note that this is not a block booking, and individuals will be responsible for their own choice from the menu and for settling their own bills. Further details will be available on the day from the Secretaries, but please be aware that the restaurant may be unable to increase the allocated space and so we cannot guarantee to accept late requests to attend.

And finally..

Membership Matters Subscriptions will become due on 2 October this year and there is a renewal reminder form in the centre pages of this Bulletin for those of you who prefer to pay by cheque. The current subscription rates are:

Full Member £26 Senior Member/Student/Junior £20 Family £32 Senior Family £26 The overseas postage supplement remains unchanged at £9.

Members can pay by various means: By cheque or postal order: payable to the Richard III Society, and sent with the renewal form. By standing order: If you would like to pay by standing order and do not have the arrangement already in place with your bank, please write or email me asking for a form to complete. This should be returned direct to your bank for implementation. By direct transfer: those members who use Internet banking can transfer their subscriptions direct to the Society’s banking account. Our bankers are HSBC, sort code 40-22-26, account number 71077503. Overseas members wishing to use this method will need the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) which is GB50MIDL40222671077503. Please remember to quote your membership so that I can reference payments with members. By PayPal: Our PayPal email address is [email protected] and all payments should be in pounds sterling. The message to recipient box should include my name and your membership number. Please note there is a 5% surcharge on the amount payable which needs to be paid by members. By credit or debit card: the Society can once again accept credit card payments. Please complete the renewal reminder and send to me by post. Please note you should not send any credit or debit card details by email as this could compromise the security of your card. There is a

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5% surcharge on the amount payable on these transactions and which needs to be paid by members. By non-sterling cheque: the Society can process such cheques but due to the heavy fees levied by our bank the equivalent of £15 should be added to cover this cost. At the AGM: as always there will be a subscription payment table at the AGM and credit and debit cards can be accepted. Unfortunately it is not possible for the Society to offer members payment by direct debit nor is the Society able to accept payments by Western Union or Moneygram. Please let me know if your circumstances have changed in a way which necessitates a change of membership category, for example full member to senior citizen (we do not hold birth dates for all members) or student to full membership. This can be done by ticking your new category on the subscription renewal form and the relevant box at the bottom of the page or by email/ letter. This helps considerably with our administration. Finally, if you are not renewing your membership, I would be grateful if you could let me know. To facilitate this there is a space on the reminder form. This will save the Society the expense of sending out reminder letters and helps us to determine the correct print-runs for our journals. Of course, I do hope you consider the Society good value for money and will continue to enjoy your membership for many years to come. Wendy Moorhen, Membership Officer Publication and distribution of the Bulletin: future arrangements Last year we reported on the establishment of a Publications and Distribution Working Party (PDWP) to consult on and consider future arrangements for the production and distribution of the Society’s quarterly and annual publications. Initially, the focus is on the Bulletin. The first round of consultation with the overseas representatives (Joan Szechtman, USA; David Bliss, Australasia; and Victoria Moorshead, Canada) was conducted earlier this year, and showed that there was a diversity of views about how people wanted to receive the Bulletin. Whilst some were of the opinion that the Society should change to wholly electronic, others were happy to continue with the current arrangements. The Business Manager has also been looking at the arrangements for postage and distribution to overseas branches, and has been able to intro– duce wider direct posting at reduced cost. While the concept of electronic distribution of, or access to, the Bulletin clearly meets twenty- first century practice, there are implications that will need to be taken into account, not least of which is the fact that if fewer numbers of hard-copy Bulletins are printed, the cost is likely to become higher. This may, of necessity, lead to considering the implications for subscriptions. There would have to be changes made to the website to create a ‘members-only’ area, access to which is controlled by password. The Society will be happy to deal with all of the above issues resulting from any change desired by the membership, but feels that the trigger for a change will have to be an actual majority of members voting for electronic access. Currently, the Society has around 2,200 members worldwide; thus, it will need a significant number of members requiring electronic access before this facility can be made available. We must emphasise that members who wish to stay with the current hard copy postal system will be able to do so. There is no intention to enforce an electronic-only system for receipt of publications. The next step is to seek the views of the wider membership and, with this in mind, there is a very short questionnaire in the centrefold of this issue of the Bulletin, which can be completed in hard copy or electronically. We would urge members to complete and return the questionnaire so that we can proceed in accordance with the wishes of the majority of the membership. Members who do not respond to the questionnaire will be deemed to have voted for ‘no change’.

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The 2013 Study Weekend Richard III: his Friends and Foes in the North The Elmbank Hotel, York, 12-14 April 2013

As notified in the June Bulletin, the 2013 study weekend will focus on Richard III and his relationship with allies and opponents from the north. Our key-note speaker will be Tony Pollard, who will be putting the question of Richard III and the north in historiographical context, and will suggest a new perspective, especially of the reign and its consequences. Our other speakers will include Toni Mount, Ken Hillier, Marie Barnfield, Peter Hammond and Lynda Pidgeon, talks will include consideration of various individuals and families: lesser-known Neviles, the Pilkingtons and Miles Metcalfe; while a broader approach will be taken to look at those who fought at Bosworth and were attained in the first parliament of Henry VII, and those who were planted in the south to give Richard support. We also hope to have another external speaker, but this has yet to be confirmed. On the Saturday we shall be launching the Society’s latest book, The York Wills. The book launch will include light refreshments, and we hope to hold it in Barley Hall (to be confirmed). Costs have not yet been finalised, but should not be more than £95 non-resident, £235 single and £385 twin/double. A £50 deposit is required with the initial booking, and final payment will be required by 15 January 2013. Final costs will be confirmed in the December Bulletin. There is a booking form in the centrefold of this Bulletin. Please note that it will not be possible to make any refunds for cancellations made after 15 January 2013 unless there is a waiting list. Study weekends have proved very popular in the past, and early booking is recommended. Research Committee

The Stillingfleet Boar Hot on the heels (trotters?) of the Bosworth boar being on the television, we heard of an appeal by the Yorkshire Museum in York to raise £2,000 to buy a silver-gilt boar found two years ago near Stillingfleet, about seven miles south of York. As soon as we heard about it, the Executive Committee agreed to offer the full purchase price and donate the boar, which is about an inch and a half long, to the museum. However, the appeal had been so successful that the money was raised from members of the public within four days of the Copyright York Museums Trust launch. Indeed, our own Facebook page has had (Yorkshire Museum) over 700 people accessing our posting about it. Not to be outdone, the Committee decided that the money previously intended for the purchase should be given to the museum for the conservation, cleaning and display of the boar – after all, £2,000 should buy them quite a few tins of silver polish. Needless to say, our offer was greeted with grateful thanks by the head curator, Andrew Morrison, who is keen to get together with the Society to make more of the links with the county of Yorkshire and Richard III. The Committee has told him that the Society will help in any way possible. We thank the museum for permission to use the picture – as you can see, the boar has a large oval eye, a snout and tusks and is obviously male. Phil Stone

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Dorothea Flies in At our July meeting the Bulletin Editorial Committee were delighted to be joined by our new member from Australia, Dorothea Preis. Dorothea was over in the UK on holiday with her family, and we are grateful that she gave up one of her days in London to spend in one of the Civil Service Club’s meeting rooms with the rest of us. In a normal July it might be thought a shame to spend a day inside when you could be out enjoying the sunshine and visiting the sights; this year, of course, it was more a case of being grateful to be inside and not out in the rain. At the meeting we discussed the forthcoming issue of the Bulletin, the one you now have in your hands, and our plans for future issues. We also had a presentation from our other new member, Helen Challinor, on the file- sharing system we are setting up to provide back-up for all our Bulletin- related files. In all our discussions it was very helpful to have the input of our new members, and in particular to hear how the Bulletin is viewed from an overseas perspective. We were pleased to hear that members in Australia and New Zealand appreciate the magazine, and recognise its role in Members of the Bulletin Committee at their meeting on 7 binding our worldwide Society July 2012 in London. Sitting, left to right: Dorothea Preis, together. It was also encouraging to John Saunders, Lesley Boatwright. Standing: Lynda hear about activities down under, and Pidgeon and Howard Choppin. Peter Hammond took the the plans that are progressing for next picture. Unfortunately, Helen Challinor had to leave year’s convention in Sydney (see p. before it was taken. 57). Dorothea also stayed on for the Research Committee meeting that followed in the afternoon, after a good lunch, of course, and so the opportunity to talk more informally. We hope it will not too long before she can again attend a meeting in person, although a suggestion that we hold the next meeting in Sydney might present a few logistical and financial challenges. We all hope Dorothea enjoyed the remainder of her holiday, and that for her planned visits to Bosworth and Middleham the sun shone and the rain clouds dispersed.

STOP PRESS

Following the advertisement in the June Bulletin inviting applications to take on the role of Branch and Group Liaison Officer, the Executive Committee has appointed Jacqui Emerson to the post. She will take over after the AGM on 29 September. Her contact details can be found on the inside back cover of the Bulletin under her previous post of Research Events Administrator. More details will be given in the December Bulletin. Meanwhile, our thanks go to Angela Moreton and Pauline Harrison Pogmore, who have been Branch and Group Liaison Officers for the last couple of years.

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Josephine Tewson One-Woman Show Society member Jo Tewson has offered to give a performance of her one-woman show for members and their guests as a fund-raising event for the Society. Although she has had a significant career on the stage, Jo is probably best known more recently for her television roles in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ and ‘Last of the Summer Wine’, as well as her work with the late Ronnie Barker. The proposal is for this to take place in the spring or summer of 2013, probably as a Saturday matinee, in a London theatre yet to be chosen. In order to help in the selection of the venue, we need an idea of how many people would attend. Consequently, we should like members to let us know if they are interested. Please contact the Chairman, Dr Phil Stone (contact details on the inside back cover), with your name and the estimated number of people in your party, by the end of October. This is not meant to be binding, but is simply an expression of interest. Once we have an idea of the interest, we can finalise the details with Jo, and a notice will appear in the Bulletin asking for a firmer commitment. The Executive Committee thanks Jo for the generous offer of this not-to-be-missed experience, and we look forward to hearing from members that they want to attend.

The Bosworth ‘Deathstone’ has been moved For all members who were not at the Triennial Conference, or who have not been to Bosworth recently, we should point out that, following the finding of ‘the true site of the battle’, the so- called ‘Deathstone’ has been moved from the site near Shenton, thought for many years to be the site of Sandeford, the place where Richard III died. As the picture shows, it is now in the central courtyard of the Battlefield Centre. This is said to have been done for two reasons, to allow for safer public access, and to allow the field at Shenton to be returned to agricultural use.

An International Society Group or Branch Rita Diefenhardt-Schmitt writes: To form an International Society Group or Branch is a certain challenge and delicate matter, but surely worth a try when we look to our fellow-members in America and Australia, who meet together. I would give my support in this project as long as others join. So anybody interested in this experiment shouldn’t hesitate to contact me, as well as those of you who are willing to form another German Group, which has always the option to unite with other countries here in Europe. It has already worked in the past, so be encouraged! Rita’s address is Ulmenweg 8, D-65520 Bad Camberg-Obserselters/Ts., Germany. Telephone (0) 6483 800 956. Email [email protected]

For your Fotheringhay diary October 21 7.30 pm Organ recital by Dr Simon Lindley Tickets can be purchased at the door October 27 2.00 pm AGM Friends of Fotheringhay Church 3.00 pm Talk by Dr Phil Stone: ‘Richard III – A bloody tyrant? Non-members of the Friends: £5.

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Leeds International Medieval Congress 8 to 12 July 2012

his is a major event in the medieval conference calendar every year. In alternate years the T Society has either puts up its display board for the day at the ‘Historical Societies Fair’ or we book a stall for the week to sell Society and Trust publications. This year it was the turn of the book stall. 2012 was also a special year in that it was the last time that the Congress would take place at Bodington. So it was also a year of celebrations and goodbyes. Alongside the big-name booksellers such as Boydell and Brewer, Oxbow, Routledge, Palgrave and Ashgate there were university publishers such as Wales University Press, Oxford, Exeter and Cambridge. Overseas publishers were also well represented with Brepols and Brill, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht Unipress (who did a very nice black cotton tote bag), the universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago and Yale, to mention but a few. There were of course ourselves, and Shaun Tyas who is the Trust’s publisher. The Book Fair proper began on Monday morning but for those delegates who arrive Peter and Carolyn Hammond on the Society’s early there is an Antiquarian Book fair which bookstall at the Leeds Congress opens on the Sunday afternoon. Luckily nobody seemed to have spent all their money on some of the rare books on offer as there was a regular flow of visitors to our stall over the week. We shared a room with Oxbow books, who took up three of the four walls, while our stall was an island in the middle of the room, which we shared with Suzanna from Vandenhoeck, who very kindly gave us all one of her bags in exchange for a Ricardian bag. Also on our ‘island’ was Martin from Extraordinary Editions. An apt name, as his books were certainly extraordinary: on display he had the most beautiful replica of the Illuminated Fightbook, bound in leather and a snip at £750. He spent a lot of time, care and love over each book which he reproduced, some of them taking up to five years to get exactly as he wanted them. Also on display was a copy of René of Anjou’s Tournament Book, reproduced down to the nick on the page of the original manuscript. You really don’t wish to know how much this cost. Maney Publishing shared the remainer of the wall. They are responsible for publishing and distributing a large number of journals, including The London Journal, Northern History, Midlands History and Arms and Armour. As well as checking out what the latest issues contained, it gave us the chance to pick up a few tips and ideas from them regarding the marketing and presentation of journals. While we made several hundred pounds in book sales, what is most important is that we had the opportunity to speak to students and scholars from across the world, some of whom were very enthusiastic for Richard III, so as well as giving them membership leaflets we also gave them a free tote bag so that they could carry the message back home along with their books. Amongst those who stopped for a chat was Sharon Michalove, a retired history lecturer and Society member, who was visiting with her husband. We were also approached by a student who

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was aware that the Society offered a bursary and wished to discuss how to go about applying, so we are obviously making an impression and gaining recognition. Once the bookstalls closed in the evening there was an opportunity to join in the various events on offer or find the next wine reception. Publishers and Universities offered wine receptions most evenings, and, timed right, it was possible to find a Medieval banquet: Peter Hammond, Carolyn Hammond, glass of wine to take into dinner. Lesley Boatwright, Lynda Pidgeon, Peter Michalove Tuesday evening a medieval feast was an optional extra, and one which we thought couldn’t be missed. Beside each plate was a menu and on the back instructions on how to behave at the table. We had to share out the food from one large dish and serve each other, using only spoons and knives. Accompanied by music from the Leeds Waits we enjoyed ninestra of greens, limonia, hericot of North Yorkshire lamb, corymary, lasagne, and watercress poree and fennel and leek (i.e. vegetable soup, chicken, lamb and pork with cheese and pasta and vegetables). This was Music by the Leeds Waits followed by Sienese tart, apple rissoles and chireseye (almond and cinnamon tart, apple with figs and cinnamon and cherries). After the meal – and via another wine reception – entertainment was laid on in the form of a medieval combat. Because of the weather this took place indoors. Andrew and Andy from the royal armouries demonstrated their skill with the pole axe and sword. As they went through the moves that I had seen illustrated in the Illuminated Fightbook, they kept up a continuous dialogue explaining what they were doing, with a flow of jokes. If they ever Andrew and Andy from the Royal Armouries in combat have to give up fighting they could probably earn a living as comedians. Not only were they excellent swordsmen but on Wednesday evening they showed their skill at jousting. The rain held off long enough for them to run four courses and for their squires to

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demonstrate their skills at the quintain. Such events were unusual for the Congress, but as this was its last year at Bodington they pulled out all the stops to make it a memorable occasion. Next year the Congress will take place at the main university site in the city centre. It remains to be seen how well it will work, at least at Bodington it felt like you were out in the countryside, even though it was just a few miles from the city. Thanks go to Peter and Carolyn Hammond who helped on the stall Monday to Wednesday, Ken Hillier who came along on Wednesday, and was very restrained in his book buying despite the enormous temptation, Heather Falvey, who came along between giving her talk on the Monday, and Lesley Boatwright who popped in and out throughout the week. Lynda Pidgeon

The Society’s Session Reality, Real People and Propaganda ... was the title of the session the Society presented to the academic side of the Congress. It was concerned with the miracles of Henry VI, which I have been studying for some years with a view to publishing a complete translation, with notes on those of the people involved with the miracles who can be found as real, living people in the public records. Chaired by Peter Hammond, there were three papers. I set the scene with ‘Making the most of miracles: political propaganda and the tomb of Henry VI’, in which I offered an explanation of why Richard III had Henry VI’s body moved from Chertsey Abbey to St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Then Christopher Whittick, Senior Archivist at East Sussex Record Office, having found the case in the records of King’s Bench, shed ‘New light on a medieval mugging: the horrible case of Dr William Edwards, 1488’, and Heather Falvey looked at ‘Miracles in everyday life: the ordinary and the miraculous’, showing how many of the miracles involved children having the accidents children have always had through the ages, and what nasty things could happen to people playing football. Among the people who came to hear us we were glad to greet Dr Cristina Mourón-Figueroa, who wrote in the March 2012 Bulletin about the seminar on Richard III she organised at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Shortened versions of the papers will be found on pp.37-47 of this Bulletin. Lesley Boatwright

Calling all Fishermen Found in The Records of the Borough of Nottingham, vol. III, p. 449: ‘First hit is an old custom for the Mayre, for the tyme being to give his bredern knowledge for to see the game of fyshing, etc.’ The accounts for 1484-5 (pp.240-1 of the same work) give the costs of the mayor’s fishing for that year, but they do not specify a date. Would it be at the start of the fishing season? As well as the costs of the actual fishing and the wages of the fishermen, the mayor also paid for bread and ale and ‘for the soper of the seid fisshers þe same nyght and of þe laborers’. It seems to have been an important occasion in the yearly life of the town, and I thought I would send it in for the Society’s Chronicle as festivities are of interest. However, for this I need a date. All Google has produced is that it is still a tradition in Colchester for the mayor to open the oyster fishing on 1 September, but the salmon fishing season begins in March. Are there any members who can possibly help with this? Perhaps other towns had a similar ceremony, and someone out there can advise me. Please contact me at [email protected], or write to 6 Railway Cottages, Leekbrook Junction, Leek, Staffs, ST13 7AU. Penny Lawton

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Update: Looking for Richard: in search of a king PHILIPPA LANGLEY

ince this project was announced in the June 2012 issue of the Bulletin a remarkable event has S taken place which has demonstrated the unshakable loyalty of Ricardians everywhere. In July we received a devastating blow when one of our funding partners was forced at short notice to reduce their financial commitment by £10,000. To enable the dig to go ahead as planned all funding had to be in place by a deadline of 1 August. With only weeks to go, urgent action was called for. The Richard III Archaeology Appeal went out to Ricardians around the world via email from the Branches and Groups and, thanks to Phil Stone, was also placed on the Society’s facebook page. It was a huge mountain to climb, one that appeared almost impossible – the deficit would have to be made good in no more than 14 days. However, it soon became clear that we had reckoned without King Richard’s army. If any of us have ever doubted that our king has a modern-day army, question no more. The response to the Richard III Archaeology Appeal from Ricardians and their friends and families from around the world was overwhelming. Pledges and donations poured in from every corner of the globe – from the UK (England, Scotland and Wales), the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Turkey and Brazil – and in two very short weeks £10,000 was raised. It was a staggering achievement and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who gave to the appeal and made it such an incredible success – 10,000 thanks to one and all. In a future article we will list all those who donated so generously but for now I would like to say a very big THANK YOU indeed to our Branches and Groups without whose support the appeal’s success would not have been possible. They not only worked tirelessly to spread the word but also gave generously of their own funds and collected on behalf of their members. I would also like to thank the Society of Friends of King Richard III in York and the King Richard Armitage website for taking up the cause and helping to achieve this remarkable success. Special mention must also go to a member of the American Branch, who wishes to remain anonymous. With time running out this donation enabled us to reach our target and we cannot thank him enough for his kindness and generosity. To those who did not hear about the appeal and would have liked to have helped, our very many apologies but the short time assigned to us meant we could only use those communication methods open to us. I hope you will understand. My very grateful thanks also go to our Chairman, Dr Phil Stone, for his help and advice. I hope one day to be able to inform the membership and Ricardians everywhere of the pivotal role Phil has played throughout this project. I would also like to thank Dr John Ashdown-Hill who gave with remarkable generosity, and Annette Carson who also gave and skilfully created the crucially important Archaeology Appeal leaflet. As you read this, thanks to the generosity of Ricardians around the world, the dig in Leicester will be underway. We will very soon know whether our search for the long lost remains of the choir of the Greyfriars church where King Richard III was buried after the battle of Bosworth will have been successful. To all Ricardians we would now like to reiterate a commitment originally made to those who donated to the appeal:

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Our pledge to you is that we'll be doing everything in our power to search, diligently and reverently, for traces of King Richard III at the Leicester Greyfriars. Here finally is our chance as Ricardians to investigate the Greyfriars area of Leicester that has held so many questions about the priory and church that once existed there. Further, it may perhaps offer us the opportunity to discover more about the burial place of King Richard, and potentially recover the remains of our king so that they can be reinterred with true honour and dignity more than 500 years after his heroic death. Channel 4 and Darlow Smithson Productions will be filming the dig. If something of significance is found it is anticipated that a TV special will be commissioned and broadcast. If nothing of significance is found then a 10-minute film about the dig will be made available for the websites of the main partners, including the Richard III Society website. A further update on the dig will appear in a forthcoming Bulletin. Please note: the proposed Memorial Service to King Richard in Leicester Cathedral scheduled for 2 October 2012 will now take place in 2013. This will allow time for any remains uncovered during the dig to be DNA identified, and the standard and banner of King Richard to be designed and made for the service (thanks to the work of Sally Henshaw and Richard Smith and the East Midlands Branch), and to also ensure that as many Ricardians as possible might be able to attend. It is hoped that a new date for the Memorial Service may coincide with the commemoration of Bosworth in 2013.

STOP PRESS. Please also note that as part of the Heritage Weekend (8–9 September) the dig will be open to the public for guided tours. Philippa aims to be on-hand to welcome all Ricardians who may wish to visit it. If nothing has been found at the dig then this event may not take place. Please check websites for further details nearer the time.

‘King Mike I’ has died in Australia KEN HILLIER

wonder how many Ricardians suspend disbelief when they encounter yet another heritage I attraction which proclaims ‘Queen Elizabeth I slept here’, ‘Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned here’, or ‘Oliver Cromwell destroyed this building’. Well, ‘King Michael I’ did sleep in our guest bedroom with his second consort, Barbara, when they stayed with us for several days in June 2006. Whilst revisiting Ashby Castle and Donington Hall, both one-time family headquarters, he also popped in to Ashby Museum to unveil an Alternative Royal Line and be photographed holding a papier-mâché severed head of William Hastings. The family always knew of their claim to the English throne. George, duke of Clarence, left not only malmsey on the floor but two children: Edward, earl of Warwick, executed by Henry Tudor in 1499, and Margaret, who was to suffer a similar fate under the second Tudor in 1541. Her son, Henry, Lord Montague (another dispatched by Henry VIII in 1538), had overseen the marriage of his daughter Catherine Pole to Francis, second earl of Huntingdon, great-grandson of Lord Hastings. Michael was a descendant of this Hastings line. His mother, Barbara, thirteenth Countess of Loudoun, had been featured in a weekend magazine, as one of a series of alternative monarchs of England. She was quoted as exclaiming: ‘Oh, Lord, no – it’s not me at all’. In the same article, Michael – then Lord Mauchline – was alleged to have remarked on one occasion, ‘My title is a frightful bore; I want to become a dinkum Aussie’. He was also a committed Republican for Australia.

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Then came the January 2004 Channel 4 programme ‘Britain’s Real Monarch’. Part filmed in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and partly in Australia, and fronted by the ubiquitous Tony Robinson, it revealed how Michael K. Jones – who has also stayed with us – had discovered that King Edward IV was ‘almost certainly illegitimate’. At one stroke, the descendants of the duke of Clarence became, not just a family with a claim, but the rightful monarchs. Step forward Kings Ferdi- nando, Theophilus, Reginald; and also several King Harrys. There would have been queens, too: two Ediths and, of course, Barbara I. Michael’s reaction? ‘I take the whole king thing very lightheartedly, it is a bit of fun. I get messages from people across the world about it.’ He lived in Jerilderie, NSW, where he was chairman of the local historical society and on the shire council. Known to the locals as ‘Kingsy’, he had landed in Australia in 1960, aged 18 and fresh out of Ampleforth. It was the Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser who was first on the scene with news of his death, which was later reported round the world. Michael may have voted for a republic in Australia, but he was a keen patron of Ashby Museum, as was his mother Barbara before him. Our museum is delighted that the new earl, Simon Abney-Hastings, has accepted the role and will be coming over next year. ‘The Patron is dead. Long Live the Patron’. The next generation of princes include Zac, Caleb, Jett, Riley, Callum and Oscar. Our family will genuinely miss Michael’s friendship, 10 June 2006: ‘King’ Michael, Barbara and Kenneth in which had developed over the last Calke Abbey Gardens decade. There was no ‘side’ to him; like his mother, he never stood on ceremony. The flagpole, promised to me by my family for the Jubilee period, never materialised. If it had, the flag would have stood at half mast for a ‘great bloke and [his word] mate’. PS: The present Ricardian President and his wife also slept in the same bed. No one doubts his title. We are running out of wall space for the blue plaques.

Peter Hammond writes: Members will have noticed that the grandmother of the current earl was Countess of Loudoun in her own right. Loudoun is a Scots peerage and if there are no sons these can descend to a daughter. If there are several daughters then the eldest inherits the title. This is quite unlike English earldoms, which except in exceptional circumstances can never descend to, or through, a woman. However some old English baronies, those known as Baronies by Writ, i.e. not created by patent, can descend through females. If these titles behaved like Scots peerages and descended to the eldest daughter instead of going into abeyance between several daughters, the current earl of Loudoun would also be Baron Hastings of Hastings, the title held by William Lord Hastings, as well as Baron Stanley, the title held by Thomas, Lord Stanley. to the eldest daughter instead of going into abeyance between several daughters, the current earl of Loudoun would also be Baron Hastings of Hastings, the title held by William Lord Hastings, as well as Baron Stanley, the title held by Thomas, Lord Stanley.

Editor: Our thanks to Sheila Hamilton Smith, Geoff Wheeler and others, who have sent in various newspaper cuttings about the death of Mike Hastings. The Daily Telegraph’s obituary was racy: ‘a beer-swilling, rotund Australian rice farmer and former jackaroo ... he set sail with just £50 in 16

his pocket ... for the next few years he jackarooed on ranches, tried a bit of orange-picking, sold encyclopaedias door-to-door and worked for a stocking station agency ...’ The Daily Mirror (with a heading ‘Aristocracy Crown Under’) said that he had become a household name after TV researchers [that’s Daily Mirror speak for Dr Michael Jones] revealed his family was cheated out of the crown in the 15th century’. Tony Robinson’s Channel 4 programme was reviewed in the Bulletin for Spring 2004, p.3, with an A/V report in the same issue on p.44.

A Series of Remarkable Ladies RITA DIEFENHARDT-SCHMITT

2. Eleanor of Scotland, Duchess of Austria (1433-1480)

Fact file:

Parents: King James I of Scotland (1406-1437) and Joan Beaufort Husband: Duke Sigismund of Tyrol (1427-1496) Children: none surviving Illustration: anonymous portrait, redrawn by Geoffrey Wheeler

Before her marriage, Eleanor spent her life in Linlithgow Castle in Scotland. After the death of her father and second marriage of her mother, she and her sister Joan were given into the care of Charles VII of France in the town of Tours, where they were well educated. In 1448 Duke Sigismund of the Tyrol was chosen as her husband. That autumn she travelled on a troublesome journey to the Tyrol, where she was married to Sigismund in a small ceremony in Meran on 12 February 1449. It was not a happy marriage, and none of their children survived. Between 1455 and 1458, when her husband was abroad mostly for political reasons, Eleanor ruled the Tyrol herself. During this time she was involved in a dispute of her husband’s with Cardinal Nicholas of Kues (then Bishop of Brixen) over the so-called Habsburgian Vorlande (the valleys of the Eisack, Puster and Inn). In 1467 she chose the town of Thann as her residence. After 1469 she began to give up her political activities and devote herself more to charity work and matters of the church in general. She and her husband were very interested in reading books. They introduced authors and humanists to their court and supported their work. Eleanor probably translated several books herself, such as the adventure novel Ponthus and Sidonia, which her husband had published after her death, and which became famous. Sadly, Eleanor died in childbed with her son, Wolfgang, who died with her, on 20 November 1480. She was buried in the monastery of Stams in the Tyrol. Four years later, her husband married Catherine of Saxony, aged 16.

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The will of Dame Alice Nevile

This is will no. 6 in our transcripts of the York wills. Nevile is a name to conjure with, but who was this Dame Alice? There are the usual clues: she names her husband and a son, and chooses her burial place. The will was proved on 24 May 1481. Most testators describe themselves as ‘of sound mind, but Alice goes further: she is ‘of myghty mynde’ (line 3). She left ten marks, a great sum (£6 13s.4d.) for distribution at her burial, ‘money, mete and drynk’ (line 11). The answer is that she was one of two daughters of Ralph Gascoigne of Hunslet, esquire, and married Sir Thomas Neville of Liversedge. He died in 1433, but she did not re-marry, and so was a widow for almost fifty years.

If you can’t read Dame Alice’s will ... why not take the Society’s palaeography course? This ‘correspondence course’ for members who wish to begin to read fifteenth-century handwriting was established by Professor Rosemary Horrox and is now tutored by Dr Heather Falvey. The emphasis is on private and business hands – the kinds of script to be found in government and family records – rather than the formal book hands employed in copying literary texts. The examples used are predominantly in English, with any Latin phrases fully explained. The full course consists of eight lessons. Each lesson includes photocopied sample texts with a commentary drawing attention to such matters as abbreviations and characteristic letter shapes and to any particular problems. Part of the sample material will be fully transcribed; the student will be expected to transcribe the remainder and return it, either by post or as an email attachment, for correction and comment. The corrected version will be sent by post with the next lesson. Students can work at their own speed and no deadlines will be imposed. The cost of the course to UK members is £27.50 per module of four lessons (two modules available) payable in advance, or pay the whole £55.00 in one go. There is an overseas postage supplement of £5 for Europe, £6 for USA and Canada and £8 for Australasia. Contact Heather Falvey at [email protected]

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Our Olympic Diary: part 1 SUE AND DAVE WELLS

y the time that you read this, it will all be over, and your correspondents will be in recovery B mode – probably having breathed a huge sigh of relief. At the time of writing, our excitement and enthusiasm are at a high level. Since being selected as drivers (March Bulletin), we have attended an initial induction session at Wembley Arena. This was hosted by world triple jump record holder Jonathan Edwards, assisted by comedian and multiple marathon runner Eddie Izzard. There were over 7,000 GamesMakers (the term used for volunteers at the London Games) in attendance, not just drivers but covering all aspects of volunteer duties. This was one of a series of events to enable all 70,000 GamesMakers to attend. It was our first sortie into the Olympic world and we came away motivated and looking forward to the next steps. The next stage for us was to be assessed via a criminal records check to ensure that our intentions were sincere and that we had no doubtful back- grounds or nefarious motives. Fortunately, we passed. GamesMakers are certainly checked thor- oughly as we then had to submit our driving licence details and take an on-line driving test. This took the form of numerous Highway Code type questions and video scenarios; we had to achieve a minimum 80% pass rate which, again, fortunately, we managed. As some of you may be aware, neither of us are in the first flush of youth and have been driving for many years. We both found this process quite stressful as we had not been through anything like it for decades. Since these evaluations, we have had two days of service-specific training based at the main transport depot which is adjacent to the Olympic Park, Stratford, East London. The first day was half classroom based and half a practical driving assessment – yes, another one. This was the first opportunity that we had to begin familiarisation with the cars and their equipment. These have been supplied by the sponsors and are BMW 3 and 5 series models: very smart and distinctive they look with their Olympic transfers (decals). They are fitted with satellite navigation systems which are specially programmed to locate and direct to all of the Olympic venues, London hotels, airports and other locations which we are likely to drive to. They also have a fuel-saving cut-out device which is quite unnerving when you stop at lights or in traffic and the engine stops. It re- starts when you engage gear. Our assessor on this first day was a thirty-something French lady

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who praised us highly and very patronisingly – we were ‘very good drivers’. We bit our tongues and swallowed back any retorts about having been driving since before she was born to avoid giving the impression that we were rude or inclined to ‘road rage’. For our second training day, we were partnered with two other GamesMaker drivers, given an itinerary, a set of car keys, packed lunch and a ‘see you at 3 o’clock’ message. There were no ‘facilities’ at the assembly point and this meant that, regardless of the itinerary, the first task was to locate a public toilet. Fortunately, all four of us got on well together. We took turns in driving and all had to drive around Hyde Park Corner at some stage during the routeing. Unlike some of our colleagues in other cars, we located and reached all of our given destinations, the furthest from Stratford being Wimbledon, which of course is being used as the Olympic tennis venue. Occasionally, the sat-nav wanted us to make illegal manoeuvres, such as right turns, that were clearly banned. When we queried this on our return to the transport depot, we were told that there would be specific Olympic-only routes during the games and these movements will be permitted for Olympic vehicles. Bet we’ll be popular with other road users! We have also collected our uniforms and other essential equipment such as an Oyster Underground travel card which is programmed for use on the days when we are on duty (no free trips to London on other days), driver handbook, street maps and an umbrella – an essential for a summer like this. Uniforms are surprisingly good and well made. Sponsored and supplied by Adidas, they comprise: t-shirts (non-iron – hooray), showerproof jacket, trousers, socks and trainers. The latter are particularly high quality and probably the only items that we will wear afterwards, as the logos are somewhat more discreet. At the uniform distribution centre, we had to try on the clothing to ensure fit and comfort, but there were no mirrors provided in the men’s or women’s changing rooms. Sue and another GamesMaker, who had flown to London from Aberdeen – travel to all pre-events is at our own cost – just to collect her uniform, photographed one another on their i-phones so that they could see how the kit looked. The picture is reproduced with this article. So, we are now set to start our driving duties on 16 July. We will be providing a VIP taxi service. This means that we will not know from one day to the next who we will be driving or where we need to go. Sadly, we do know that the athletes have a separate transport facility and we won’t be able to say that ‘we drove that Usain Bolt in the car last night’. Duties cover ten- hour shifts, two days on and one day off, with some morning starts and evening finishes, and others starting in the afternoon and finishing in the early hours. Fortunately, the son of a friend of ours lives close to a convenient Underground station, only a few stops from Stratford, and we shall be able to park on his front driveway. Our next dispatch should be with you in the December Bulletin and will hopefully report on a successful and exciting Olympic Games, for us, if not for the whole of Team GB.

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A day out with a difference?

Two of our members, one in the UK and one in Australia, have brought to our attention two London Underground posters from earlier times which they thought other members would appreciate. The first was drawn by Dora M. Batty (1900-1966) in 1938.

(C) TfL from the London Transport Museum. We are grateful for their permission to reproduce the posters in the Bulletin.

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(C) TfL from the London Transport Museum

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News and Reviews

Tower of London Lecture Series Plantagenets vs. Tudors – which dynasty mattered more? 17 May 2012

attended this lecture with Geoffrey Wheeler, anticipating that the comparisons between the I two dynasties would be of particular interest to the Society. The speakers were to each deliver a forty-minute talk in their particular subject area, with the aim of influencing the audience to decide which dynasty mattered more. The other aim of the talks was to encourage sales of their new books with the prospect of personal signed copies being available over a glass of wine, and the opportunity to talk to the speakers personally. First, a little about the speakers. Dan Jones graduated from Cambridge with a first in history in 2002, writes for various newspapers and periodicals, and has recently published a book about the Peasants’ Revolt. He was to talk about his new book The Plantagenets – the kings who made Britain . The second speaker, Dr Suzannah Lipscomb, author, historian and broadcaster, was to talk about her new book Visitors’ Companion to Tudor England. Dan Jones opened his lecture by inviting the audience to witness some of the events during Plantagenet times that could have been viewed from the Tower of London, from the anarchy that followed when Matilda was driven out of London through to the escape of Roger Mortimer, the lover of the ‘she wolf’ Isabella of France. Next, the dynastic claims that began the Hundred Years’ War with France. Lastly, the meeting of commoner and king during the Peasants’ Revolt. The longevity of the dynasty (1154-1399) emphasised their profound importance to English history, so who were the Plantagenets? Geoffrey of Anjou, who never set foot in England, gave the dynasty its name. Henry II brought an end to anarchy, and the beginnings of bureaucracy; his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, brought vast territories in France. However, he will always be remembered for instigating the murder of Thomas Becket. Richard I considered a great soldier, not often in England, became a military legend with his adventures during the third crusade. King John, not a personal favourite of Dan Jones (who believes the historical record for this king does not need much revising), caused a civil war and a French invasion of England, but the signing of the Magna Carta established that a king was subject to his own laws. Henry III, politically inept, tended to listen to the advice of others, but can be remembered for some of the great architectural achievements of the Plantagenet dynasty. Edward I: the castles in Wales are powerful symbols to remind us of his conquest of the Welsh, and he was also known as the Hammer of the Scots. Edward II, too much time spent with favourites, forced to abdicate. (Dan Jones believes that his murder with a red hot poker might be a myth.) Edward III: his victorious military campaigns in France on land and sea confirmed him as a great warrior. The order of the garter and the cult of King Arthur ensured that chivalry and pageantry were alive and well under this king. Richard II. grandson of Edward III, had a grandiose view of English kingship, but as an individual was damaged, suspicious and paranoid. Civil unrest led to his deposition. The review of kingship displayed by the various monarchs showed the beginnings of a British identity, with conquests in Ireland, Wales and Scotland, plus the ongoing struggle with France. This dynasty also produced the only English pope, Adrian IV. The majesty of kingship can be seen in their tombs and buildings. Also the beginnings of financial, bureaucratic and parliamentary government are evident. Myths and legends – Robin Hood, Arthur, and St George – are all from this dynasty. Dr Suzannah Lipscomb told of the people and stories of the Tudor age, but the 118 years of this dynasty pales into insignificance beside the longevity of the Plantagenets. In shaping the

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Britain that we know today, the development of a national church was fundamental, but she did refer to the cultural vandalism in the dissolution of the monasteries, and the associated redistribution of wealth. There was an English renaissance, in music by Tallis and Tavener, and in other arts by Spencer, Shakespeare and Marlowe for example. The marriage of Henry Tudor to Elizabeth of York put an end to the Wars of the Roses. The civil service developed, parliaments became more permanent (albeit to collect grants and taxes). Parish registers were introduced. The secret service made its first appearance. The Tudor dynasty saw the end of territories in France and the start of an Atlantic empire. It was a time of discovery and exploration. John Cabot discovered Canada, John Hawkins developed the British aspect of the slave trade. Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe; he and others took enough treasure to pay off the national debt. Henry VIII can be considered as the father of the modern navy. Lipscomb, unlike Jones, did not go through the Tudor monarchs chronologically. Much was made of Henry VIII, his physical appearance – comparing the famous painting by Holbein with the comic book hero ‘superman’ in a similar pose. His military and chivalric identity was further enhanced at The Field of the Cloth of Gold. Although given the title ‘defender of the faith’ by the Pope, he broke with Rome – and no foreign ruler had authority over England, which was further enhanced by Elizabeth, and England was now a protestant entity. When the lectures were concluded a vote was taken to establish which dynasty the audience considered mattered the more. The Tudors had the majority. Dan Jones was asked why he decided to finish his book in 1399, as the Plantagenet dynasty went well beyond that date. The response was that there might well be another book. Incidentally, we noticed that the automatic voting system in the Bloody Tower indicated only a difference of 18,000 between Henry Tudor and Richard III being responsible for the ‘murder’ of the Princes, and over 33,000 people believed they were not murdered but disappeared. In conclusion, the lectures were an interesting insight into the important aspects of both dynasties, presented in two different styles, Dan Jones being the more engaging and lively, whereas Dr Lipscomb’s was perhaps more concerned with the popular image of the Tudors, especially in respect of her admiration of Henry VIII. But then, perhaps I am being a little bit partisan here. Steve Green

Book Review: The Lady of the Rivers By Philippa Gregory Simon & Schuster, 2011. Hardback 493 pp. £18.99, ebook £17.09.

his is the third in Philippa Gregory’s series of novels about the Plantagenet women, and she T here turns her attention to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. Jacquetta’s first marriage, at 17, to the powerful but ageing duke of Bedford, gave her immense prestige if little love, but her second, a romantic, runaway liaison with Richard Woodville, her late husband’s chamberlain, was a true love match (for which they had to pay a fine of £1,000 to the king for marrying without permission). Their love story provides the background for the tale, the frequent long separations while Woodville is away on the king’s business punctuated by another of Jacquetta’s fourteen pregnancies. Against this personal story the reader is presented with the turbulent events of the period through Jacquetta’s eyes. Told in the first person and in the present tense, Gregory’s narrative technique means that her heroine has to be present at all the great events she describes, observing and commenting. It is certainly true that the little we know of Jacquetta’s life (records are scarce) indicates that she was a powerful and influential force at Henry VI’s court, particularly after she became the confidante and favourite of Margaret of Anjou, Henry’s wife. But the narrative device forces the

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reader to accept her presence in the most unlikely, sometimes fantastical, situations. So, for example, we find her in the room when the king discovers his pregnant wife in Edmund Beaufort’s arms (p.290), the shock precipitating the onset of his mental illness, his withdrawal from the world: he becomes ‘… a lost king. He has lost his print upon the earth … his words are written on the water’ (p.367). Likewise, can we really accept that she would be at Towton, a lone woman standing in a gateway, with just one man to protect her, watching the aftermath of this appalling battle? ‘… so many men, so bedraggled in their livery or working clothes that I cannot tell one from another. It seems as if it will never end, this procession of men who have escaped death but are still bloodstained, and bruised, and wet with snow’ (p.483). However, these dramatic set pieces are always Gregory’s real strength as a writer, and her account of the capture, interrogation and ultimate burning of Joan of Arc in the opening chapters is both vivid and compelling. The difficulty with Jacquetta is that, although she was one of the most powerful noblewomen at Margaret’s court (and certainly used her influence to acquire privileges and wealth for her family, – who wouldn’t?) she had little real personal, long-term effect on the events of the time, in the way Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort had. And compared with her portrayal of these strong, vibrant characters, Gregory’s Jacquetta seems somehow pale and insubstantial, like the watery spirit Melusina from whom she claims descent. Elaine Henderson

Two new novels We have been sent details of the following novels by their authors:

Loyalty by Matthew Lewis (a member of the Society) Only available on Amazon at present, £7.20 for Kindle, £12.99 paperback Matthew tells us that the novel deals with ‘the events that shaped him [Richard III] and those around him, his relationships with his brothers which moulded him, with his son and wife who defined him, and with the friends who would remain loyal to him throughout. ... the book seeks to examine the effects of the events of the Wars of the Roses on the people of the time, and those people’s effects upon events. The strong personalities of the women of the time are also given room to share the highs and lows and to help shape them. The story is delivered by Sir Thomas More ... who is often credited with most heavily influencing Shakespeare’s King Richard III, to the painter Hans Holbein, a man renowned for his talent, in particular for hiding messages within his work. Thomas More will commission a family portrait, but the real picture will be hidden within it, a secret that could rock the fragile foundations of the delicate Tudor dynasty.’

On Summer Seas by Richard Unwin Available on Amazon (Amazon.co.uk) or via the author’s website: www.quoadultra.net Richard tells us that it is the first of a planned series set in the latter part of the Wars of the Roses, and ‘is, of course, pro-Ricardian’. It deals with the dramatic events of spring to autumn in 1471. Warwick the Kingmaker has placed Henry VI back on the throne as a puppet ruler. Then Edward IV returns from exile. ‘However, those who had driven him from England are not disposed to let him return. Several powerful armies, each larger than Edward’s ... oppose his tiny force. Aided only by his younger brother, the eighteen-year-old Richard, duke of Gloucester, and a few retainers and mercenaries, Edward will have to defeat them all ...’ ‘Laurence de la Halle, a young Breton armourer, has been sent by duke Francis II of Brittany to join Edward’s army, with the intention by his trade of getting close to the noble houses of England’. This is because Francis will need future English support against King Louis of France.

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‘Though desperate to keep himself clear of battle, Laurence becomes reluctantly embroiled in the central conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster. Then he becomes enmeshed in the secret world of a London apothecary, who is also a spymaster, and becomes inescapably involved in more ways than one.’

. . . and a gazetteer Dr Michael Robin Ryan Jones has written to say that his book White Rose or Red? a gazetteer of the Wars of the Roses is now available via the Internet (lulu.com). There are two volumes of two books each totalling approximately 1,300 pages. It is available as an e-book (£15.99) or in hardback (which costs about £180 the pair).

Fifty Hidden Treasures The Bosworth Boar comes fifth During the week ending Sunday 22 July, ITV 1 showed a series of programmes in which several presenters, led by Bettany Hughes and Michael Buerk, showed fifty artefacts found in Britain over the last few years. Apparently, ‘hidden’ in this context meant that the items had been found by accident by members of the public, which makes the inclusion of the Bosworth boar interesting, since it was found during an organised search. As we know, the small silver boar, believed to have been lost by one of Richard III’s closest supporters at the battle of Bosworth, was found by the team investigating the new battlefield site, and the find caused quite a stir at the time. It was discussed by re-enactor Paul Parker, dressed in York livery, and Michael Portillo, who pointed out, amongst other things, the importance of the find as indicating that the site of the battle, which brought about a dynastic change on the throne of England, was probably two miles or so from where it was thought to have been. Out of the fifty treasures, the Bosworth boar came fifth, beaten by the Chalgrove Hoard at no. 4, the Staffordshire Hoard (3), the Ringlemere gold cup (2) and a 500,000-year-old flint handaxe, found at Happisburgh and the oldest flint tool in Britain, at no. 1. Distinguished company and not a bad placing for such a small, beautiful, but easily over- looked little pig. The Middleham Jewel, however, did not make it on to the list at all. Phil Stone

Sir Derek Jacobi’s Books A current fashion amongst photographers illustrating celebrity profile interviews in weekend colour supplements perfectly illustrates the truism ‘Books do furnish a room’ by posing the subjects in front of closely-stocked shelves, thereby giving the reader a chance to indulge in some pseudo-psycho-logical evaluation of their character and literary traits. Earlier this year, David Starkey’s study revealed nothing extraordinary, but the most recent interviewee, Sir Derek Jacobi (Sunday Telegraph Seven magazine 1 July) threw up an interesting Ricardian insight. Whether by accident or design, placed right above his head in the centre of the picture taken at his Primrose Hill home, was the unmistakeable purple spine and white lettering of Jeremy Potter’s biography Good King Richard (Constable 1983). Although probably more familiar for his role as Richard II, which he has played several times on stage, radio and TV, the actor is no stranger to Richard III, having played the part in tandem with Richard II at the Phoenix Theatre in 1988. Ten years previously, he had also read a ‘complete and unabridged’ Audio-book of The Daughter of Time, displaying his versatility by giving distinctive voices to all the characters. He also provided the narration for an audio-guide to Warwick Castle’s Kingmaker exhibition. Details of this, and all the other recordings mentioned, can be found in the catalogue of the Society’s A/V Library. Geoffrey Wheeler

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Media Retrospective

Angevin claims members, as he says Richard III ‘almost John Saunders and Geoff Wheeler have found certainly murdered’ his nephews – see below) reports of a bizarre claim by the people of with the headline ‘Sacre Bleu! Not content Angers, capital of Anjou in France, whose with strangling the City, those thieving twelfth-century ruler Geoffrey was the father Frenchies want to steal our Crown Jewels!’ of (by William the Conqueror’s granddaughter which the less said the better. Matilda) of King Henry II of England, and The good people of Angers seem less than thus the progenitor of the Angevin dynasty, well-versed in their own history. It was in which became the Plantagenet dynasty. (For a 1204 than Anjou ceased to belong to the narrative of the stirring times of Geoffrey and English crown. When Richard I of England Matilda, see Helen Castor’s She Wolves, died in 1199, his brother John inherited his Faber and Faber 2010.) lands. Philip Augustus of France, to whom The Angevins are asking the Queen to John owed homage for his French lands, hand over the Crown Jewels. summoned him to appear at his court in Paris This is because the last legitimate heir in in 1202 to answer complaints by the Lusig- the male line of the Plantagenets, Edward of nans of Poitou, whom John had accused of Warwick, son of George, duke of Clarence, treason; John ‘failed to answer the summons, was executed by Henry VII in 1499. was adjudged contumacious and sentenced to Peter Allen in The Daily Telegraph the loss of his French lands’ [A.R. Poole, (Monday 16 July 2012) says: ‘Recalling 25- Domesday Book to Magna Carta, Oxford year-old Edward’s “unfair and horrible death” 1955, pp.380-1] Philip invested John’s at the hands of henchmen working for Henry nephew Arthur of Brittany with Brittany, VII ..., the city believes it is owed an apology Anjou, Maine, Touraine and Poitou; but John and 513 years’ worth of compensation ... but captured Geoffrey, who disappeared. is prepared to accept the jewels to cover it. ... Dissatisfaction spread, Philip mounted a The petition, which has already been signed successful campaign and (to cut a long story by hundreds of so-called sympathisers around short) by midsummer 1204 the Channel France and other parts of the world, is Islands were all that remained in John’s hands directed at the Queen. It describes a “state of his cross-Channel lands. crime” against a noble line that played a After 1204, the original Angevin- central role in making Britain great, and Plantagenet succession was in real terms wants the jewels to be put on public display at totally irrelevant to Anjou. the Saint Aubin tower in Angers.’ Letter in The Daily Telegraph 20 July The petition will be delivered to the 2012 from Robert Sutherland-Smith of Queen at the beginning of September, when London: ‘... I think that Anjou belonged to the Angers celebrates an annual cultural festival, Plantagenets, rather than the reverse ... so, in the Accroche-Coeurs, ‘in which street artists accordance with the wishes of Henry V, who conjure up the city’s rich history’. According actually pawned his crown to fund a war to to the city’s website, the festival was started win back his stolen lands in France, Anjou in 1999 and ‘is celebrated in an atmosphere of could now happily reunite with our Crown fairy tales, concerts, art exhibitions, street Jewels by reverting to the Crown. The theatre, circus ...’ The theme for 2012 is ‘gens medieval Angevin empire could be revived. du Nord’, ‘people of the North’. This would reduce Britain’s over-dependence The Daily Mail Online (under the tab on banking and bring down our debt-to-GDP Rightminds) for 16 July has an article by ratio by increasing the latter ...’ Nigel Jones, author of The Tower (Windmill While they are at it, perhaps we could Books, not a book highly regarded by have Eleanor’s Aquitaine back too? 27

Dirty medieval fingerprints executed: ‘I bet he got mighty tanked up’. From Marilyn Garabet, Scotland This is on BBC1 at prime time. Sit down and The Times 21 April 2012: ‘Oh Lord, please weep because the barbarians are no longer at look after me and to Hell with other people’, the gate, they have taken the gate off its by Lindsay McIntosh. hinges and are eating lunch on the lawn. ... ‘Dr Kathryn Rudy used equipment favoured Serious history is shuffled away like an uncle by photographers to measure the dirt im- with a dirty secret at a family party. History is bedded in manuscripts from the late Middle now a big TV soap that’s all about character, Ages. Her finding suggest that the upper about the little people who swept the hearth. .. classes (the only ones able to afford books) Now is the time for television history to (re)- had some of the same neuroses as modern assert itself, otherwise whole generations of times. They read prayers which they believed kids will grow up thinking Richard III is would protect them from illness and secure a some kind of film franchise.’ happy afterlife. The prayers which remem- bered others were less popular.’ BAE’s ‘Operation Bosworth’ The project began when Dr Rudy noticed Daily Telegraph Business Section, 3 May ‘that medieval books were caked in varying 2012, by Graham Ruddick. degrees of dirt along their margins ... books ‘The chairman of BAE Systems has been were printed on vellum, which naturally forced to apologise after it emerged the opera- wants to snap shut, meaning readers would tion to close the company’s factory in East have to keep their fingers clamped to the page Yorkshire was named after the decisive battle to keep them open.’ of the Wars of the Roses. ‘People loved to read texts that give them ‘Workers from the plant in Brough said indulgences. ... Favoured saints are Sebastian the decision to call the closure Operation Bos- (prayed to as a protector from bubonic worth was “disrespectful” ... The reference to plague), Apollonia (sympathetic to toothache Bosworth by BAE is alleged to relate to the sufferers) and Christopher: if you looked at fact that its Brough aerospace plant in York- his image, you would still be around by night- shire would close while the company’s two fall.’ aerospace sites in Lancashire would survive. ‘Dick Olver, BAE chairman, said: “I ex- Gimmicks in the Tower of London press regret it that name has caused concern. I From Bill Featherstone, by email apologise. ... Mr Olver was responding to a ‘The July History Today Book Choice was question by Brough worker Paul Bell. He said The Tower: an epic history of the Tower of it was the first time he had been made aware London, by Nigel Jones. In answer to a ques- of the name.’ tion from the editor about how authentic the tourist experience was, Jones is quoted as Shakespeare’s Richard III is fiction saying, ‘On the one hand they try to avoid From Geoff Wheeler sensationalism ... but on the other there are The Daily Telegraph, 25 July 2012 some crass gimmicks ... in the Bloody Tower Coventry University researchers have ana- you get to press an electric button to vote on lysed various myths such as the Iliad and whether you think Richard III murdered the Beowulf and shown they depict real social little princes or not (he did, by the way).’ networks, whereas works such as Richard III contain ‘tell-tale signs of being fictional, in Drowning in cheap history that people are all connected with each other’. From Geoff Wheeler Alison Graham in Radio Times, 9-15 June Quizzing Richard III ‘People, we are drowning in cheap history. Mrs C.J. Gait of Harrow, and Miss E. Theresa Take National Treasures Live on BBC1: hair- Egan of Caistor, have told us that The Dales- dresser Michael Douglas speculating on man of July 2012 contains a poem with that Charles I’s activities the night before he was title by Tessa Nelson-Humphries

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The Man Himself Richard’s Wig GORDON SMITH

n the early years of the last century, the immediately come up against the difficulty of I philosopher Bertrand Russell ran up deciding what happened on the death of against a logical problem: was the statement Richard’s brother Edward IV on 9 April. The ‘The present king of France is bald’ true or early accounts in Dominic Mancini and the false? Since France is a republic, the present Crowland Chronicle appear to cast doubt on king of France does not exist. In a puckish the provision in the king’s will that appointed aside, Russell remarked, ‘Hegelians, who Richard protector to his son Edward V. The love a synthesis, will probably conclude he later one by Polydore Vergil tells us that wears a wig’. Edward IV made Richard protector with The one king who attracts debate about unlimited power. Edward’s decision was truth and falsehood is Richard III. Neither the relayed after his death to Richard by William, extreme traditionalist villain nor the extreme Lord Hastings. Henry Stafford, duke of revisionist saint can really be considered an Buckingham, also contacted Richard. We adequate portrayal. The quest for the real would appear to have an alliance of Richard, Richard, it seems, should therefore avoid both Hastings and Buckingham against Edward’s extremes. His alleged crimes can be reduced queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and her family. to the plausible ones, usually to his usurpation On 30 April, Richard and Buckingham of the crown and the murder of his nephews. seized Edward V at Stony Stratford. As the latter might best be regarded as not Chronicles agree that the queen’s brother proven, we are left to concentrate on the Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, events of April-June 1483. Here some conveniently met up with Richard and revisionists seem prepared to admit that Buckingham, and got himself arrested. Yet perhaps Richard as duke of Gloucester and chronicles disagree with each other, and with protector aimed at the throne. We appear to the geography of the area, about the have a possible synthesis involving moderate whereabouts of Rivers and what he was minds among both traditionalists and doing. Similarly, chronicles agree that in June revisionists. But can such a synthesis be made Richard, definitely made protector, beheaded consistent, and shall we find the real Richard, Hastings to clear his own path to the throne. or a wig? Yet chronicles disagree about the date of the The old traditionalist line was at least Friday on which the execution took place. consistent. We would expect a villain who Are such inconsistencies important had murdered his way to within sight of the anyway? By having those between him and crown to seize it and kill his nephews and the throne declared ineligible, Richard got poison his wife. Unfortunately, in removing himself elected. He was thus clearly aiming his other crimes, the moderate view renders for the crown, and tried to legitimise his Richard’s overall psychology inconsistent, usurpation. This was a convincing argument because he is now being accused of a for his opponents, who finally removed him. ruthlessness during April-June 1483 which he The argument, however, is actually an did not conclusively show before then or assumption, in the light of which the afterwards. inconsistencies can doubtless be explained Evidence for the events of these three away. But let us look at the evidence they months also looks inconsistent. We provide.

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The Council snubs Richard after Rivers had arranged a rendezvous for We start with the problem at the death of Richard and Buckingham with Edward V at Edward IV. Either he made Richard protector Northampton. We need some explanation of or he did not. No source openly states that he how Richard and Buckingham could have did not, and it would have been irresponsible captured the king when the royal escort of for Edward not to have made such a provision 2,000 men was probably more than twice in his will, which mentions only Richard as their combined forces, and when, while they protector. Because of their rivalry, the office both arrived at Northampton on 30 April, could not be given to either the Woodvilles or Edward V was at Stony Stratford. This looks Hastings. Richard, with his experience and like another snub, whch would tempt Richard loyalty, was the obvious choice. We must and Buckingham down the road from look elsewhere for the reason for doubt. Northampton to Stony Stratford. Along this Royal councils were not obliged to follow road at Grafton Regis there was a Woodville the will of a dead monarch, but usually manor, from which Rivers could have reached some sort of compromise. Richard directed an ambush. wrote to the Council commending himself as Richard indeed claimed that Rivers and protector, but it decided that he was to be others were trying to kill him by ambush. nominally the first among equals. This deci- Richard and Buckingham survived, and they sion was, in effect, an uncompromising No. arrested Rivers when they met him. In other The Council could snub Richard because it words, Rivers was caught in the act. The was dominated by the Woodvilles, and assumption of the chronicles that he was apparently he could do little or nothing about arrested after he purposely met them implies it. As the Woodvilles were planning to crown the exact opposite of Richard’s accusation. Edward V once he arrived in London, We can explain the inconsistency of the Richard’s office as protector might last only a accounts of events round Stony Stratford once few days anyway. we realise that the chroniclers or their original Largely from unwitting hints in Mancini, informants were trying to manufacture it has been conceded that the Woodvilles may evidence to fit a false assumption. This have been trying to stage a coup of their own suggests Richard’s claim is correct and the in April 1483. The ease with which the informants probably knew it was. Woodvilles assumed control would suggest a It is consistent with Richard’s claim that general willingness to continue a previous Edward V was delivered into his hands status quo, but now without Edward IV’s because of the failed ambush. As he was a power of restraint. The wish of the dying king threat if he reached London, it is hardly to prevent this would have led him to try to surprising that the Woodvilles should think of intrude Richard with full powers, and the eliminating him. When the unexpected news Council would have reacted unfavourably to of the capture reached them, the cause of the the intrusion. Councillors who were possible Woodvilles collapsed and they bolted for informants of Mancini and Crowland would sanctuary into Westminster Abbey. Richard have known their decision was a and Buckingham entered London with about reprehensible insult to the dead Edward IV. 500 men. The Council then confirmed They could escape opprobrium by casting Richard as protector, presumably with the doubt on Edward’s willing Richard to be powers willed by Edward IV, which Crow- protector. Because he was not involved in the land later appears to admit. Richard hardly events of 1483 and did not understand their seems to have been in a powerful enough import, Vergil dealt with the matter quite position to exercise such powers. his straightforwardly. negotiations with the queen were protracted The weak position of Richard is and inconclusive, but the delay would have acknowledged by those who believe that allowed the Woodvilles time to rebuild their because of it he acted viciously and pre- collapsed cause. By early June, Richard emptively. He is assumed to have acted thus realised he was in danger, and on the 11th

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sent for help against the queen to his power- As with Stony Stratford, Richard’s claim base in the North. of an assassination plot fits the facts, whereas the inconsistency in dating shows that the The date of Hastings’ death allegations of his opponents do not. After 13 On 16 June, the queen was induced to June, Edward V was still in Richard’s hands release her younger royal son Richard, duke and could still be crowned in Westminster of York, from sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, but his brother York was still in the Abbey to join his brother Edward V in the abbey in sanctuary. Richard’s insistence on Tower of London. Crowland says that the release of York on 16 June would have Hastings died on 13 June, the Friday before ended any risk of York being crowned instead York’s release, and endows Richard with of Edward V. Interestingly, to justify quasi-regal powers because the author needs crowning York would be to question the to make his execution of Hastings on 11 June legitimacy of Edward V, and this could have convincing as Richard’s bid for royal power. blown open the problem of the invalidity of Others either choose 20 June, the Friday after the secret marriage of Elizabeth Woodville York’s release, or omit the week entirely (the and Edward IV, upon which Richard’s claim 20th thus becoming the 13th), dating to the throne was based. subsequent events a week early. The effect of Be that as it may, when the problem these latter two choices is to bring the date of surfaced, Richard postponed the coronation the execution of Hastings close to that of and tried to postpone the meeting of Richard’s election. Before his election, Parliament by issuing writs of supersedeas, Richard would be planning to take the throne, but it was too late to be practicable, and he and Hastings as a threat to his plans had to be stopped. Here Richard seems to be trying removed. The execution is therefore more unsuccessfully to play for time rather than plausible during this period than a week seizing the crown. Given the political earlier. insecurity after 13 June, the decision of what Independent evidence, however, points to was virtually a Parliament plus the citizens of 13 June being the correct date. Informants to London to offer Richard the crown was the chronicles other than Crowland could have only viable option, and would have required realised this date made a Woodville-Hastings no coercion. plot of assassination claimed by Richard look The Council rebuff and the assassination more likely. On 11 June Richard did not seem plots of Stony Stratford and 13 June were not to realise that Hastings was involved, but a only aimed at Richard as protector but were decision that Richard was to remain protector also a direct challenge to the wishes of after Edward V’s coronation was something Edward IV. Ironically, Richard’s opponents that Hastings could have really opposed as were responsible for these events, and the much as the Woodvilles. He may never situation the events caused may have strictly have been Richard’s ally. Hastings propelled Richard on to the throne. However, initially contacting Richard need only imply his acceptance of the crown allowed his that he feared reprisals from the more opponents to attract support against him as a powerful Woodvilles, and that Richard might usurper, and bring about his eventual provide the hoped-for counterweight. Sir downfall. Nevertheless, in June 1483 his Thomas More reveals that Hastings contacted election was inevitable, and concealment and the queen after Stony Stratford, and Vergil obvious ridiculing of Richard’s claim to the that he had a meeting in St Paul’s Cathedral throne would lead us to suspect that his with friends of Edward V to rescue the king. documented claim was substantially accurate. These events suggest that Hastings hoped to If this explanation of the course of events is hold the balance of power, which would correct, then we are not obliged to accept that allow him to select the winning side, and this Richard usurped the crown or planned to do increasingly looked as if it was not going to so. We have seen that we cannot assume that be Richard. the chronicles are a reliable source; indeed, as

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an unreliable source, they can be seen to rebellion the rumour was assumed to be true, confirm Richard’s claims, which are consis- whether in fact Richard had murdered his tent with the facts. His opponents contradict nephews or not. They were forgotten when at him with a counter-claim which they support Christmas 1483 Henry Tudor promised to with allegations inconsistent with the facts, marry their sister Elizabeth. which have found their way into our Looking at Richard’s opponents, we can chronicles. Edward IV failed to plan ade- see the Woodvilles, Hastings, Buckingham quately for the succession of his son Edward and Henry Tudor, rathr than Richard, V and, in appointing his brother protector, he emerging as opportunistic power-grabbers. If ensured Richard became the target for any Edward IV appointed him protector and his other aspirants trying to take advantage of the opponents inadvertently put him on the weak position he bequeathed him. Richard throne, it could be argued that Richard had could form no real alliances. We should had power thrust upon him. As there was no therefore not be surprised at Hastings joining preconceived intention on Richard’s part to the Woodvilles, or at Buckingham being seize the throne, the ruthlessness of which he executed for his part in the rebellion planned is accused lacks motivation. Once the for mid-October 1483 to kill Richard and accusation is removed, his overall psychology rescue Edward V and York from the Tower. can be seen as consistent. On the contrary, With the rumour that Richard had Richard remained in a weak position which murdered his nephews in the Tower, the he could not resolve or, it seems, was ever October rebellion seems to have started to fall likely to, given his persistent opponents who apart. Buckingham could have used the could influence sources. They could not admit rumour to take over the rebellion and try to that they were exploiting the political become king. However, most of the rebels weakness following the death of Edward IV. were fighting to restore Edward V to the They transferred that exploitation to Richard, throne, not to support the claims of and in effect created what Bertrand Russell Buckingham or Henry Tudor, and they are would have called a ‘wig’, an improbable likely to have been discouraged by a rumour synthesis of two diametrically opposing that would force such a change in their versions of Richard’s character. It seems odd allegiance. Without the aid of Buckingham or to worry about an imaginary hairpiece, but Tudor, the restoration of Edward V was no the real Richard is likely to elude us until we longer feasible, and with the collapse of the recognise the problem of his wig.

Arms of England Lapel Badge An enamelled lapel badge, 24 mm wide and 30 mm long, depicting the Arms of England as used by Richard III. These arms are: quarterly France modern and England, i.e. showing three golden fleurs-de-lys of France on a blue background, and three golden lions of England on a red background. Each badge is in a presentation box. Price £6.00. Postage UK £2.00, EU £3.00, RoW £3.50 Orders to our Sales Liaison Officer (details on back inside cover)

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Researches into the Tower of London ANNETTE CARSON

he end of 2008 saw the publication of provide for the first time an illustration T The White Tower,1 edited by Edward showing the precise geography of where the Impey, an important analysis of the findings discovery was made. of the White Tower Recording & Research Many people assisted in these researches, Project, the most comprehensive research ever in particular Geoffrey Wheeler: thanks to his conducted into the fabric and development of interest, I am now the proud owner of an the central keep of the Tower of London. In extensive collection of images of the Tower connection with research for my book, from every century and all conceivable Richard III: The Maligned King,2 published angles. Various experts at Historic Royal the same year, Dr Impey kindly afforded me Palaces were consulted for information and pre-publication access to some relevant plans, while Dr Geoffrey Parnell of the Royal sections of this work. Armouries offered his opinions about long- My interest concerned the discovery in the vanished buildings, windows, doorways and Tower, in 1674, of some bones which were staircases. Other professional friends – rather precipitately, and on no evidence at all, assumed to be those of Edward IV’s sons, Edward and Richard, popularly known as the ‘Princes in the Tower’. I was convinced that a proper understanding of the circumstances was crucial to evaluating the stories written about this discovery, reports of which had been usefully collated and published by Lawrence Tanner in 1934.3 But as soon as I saw Tanner’s accom- panying plan of the Tower forebuilding, near which the bones were unearthed, I realised that it was both inaccurate and incomplete. Hence it became one of my special objectives to 33

architects and civil engineers – contributed staircase ascending to the interior chapel of St expertise on staircases, foundations, building John the Evangelist. Until then, there was no techniques, etc. way of reaching the chapel directly from This endeavour continued for four years, outside. Presumably this window was chosen and you might think it was a huge amount of for enlargement because it positioned the new trouble for very little purpose. Nevertheless, I doorway conveniently for access from the was absolutely determined that when writing outdoor landing. of the Tower and any evidence relating to it, I The reports of 1674 stated that the bones would cite the most accurate information were unearthed during a process of possible. demolishing all structures adhering to the The forebuilding mentioned above was a south façade of the White Tower, so it seems defensible, crenellated stone structure that self-evident that the stairs under which they was added in about 1200 to the solitary were found were the exterior stone staircase entrance to the White Tower at the western mentioned above. Nevertheless, a surprising end of the south façade. It remained in place amount of doubt and confusion still exists to until its demolition in 1674, in the course of this day, with commentators holding different which the famous bones were discovered. The opinions as to the exact location of the White Tower Recording & Research team discovery: underneath the stairs, at the foot of produced a reasonably accurate estimation of the stairs, beside the stairs, under a nearby its size and height, which until then was heap of rubble, or even inside the base of the something I had had to calculate for myself. staircase (i.e. where you might find an Fortunately my calculations agreed with understair cupboard in modern houses). theirs, and Lawrence Tanner’s proved as Regrettably, the Victorian authorities in erroneous as I suspected. But it was not the charge of the Tower mounted a plaque inside forebuilding itself so much as the associated the small doorway, suggesting – impossibly – access stairs that were of interest, because it that the bones were found under the interior was under these – i.e. ‘the stairs leading to the spiral stairs which had been gouged out of the Chapel in the White Tower’ – that the bones 13-15ft thick wall. Actually a report by one of were reported to have been found. the Tower’s own Lord Lieutenants proved the Looking at the White Tower today, with plaque to be in error when he described a its timber staircase ranged across the south mulberry tree planted on the site of the wall and ascending directly to the 20-ft high discovery outside the White Tower’s south main entrance, what we see is a reproduction wall. This has not deterred today’s authorities of the initial arrangement that existed pre- from placing under the plaque a framed copy 1200. Impey’s book agrees that, when the of the dreadful Northcote engraving of the forebuilding was added, the old timber access ‘burial’ of the boys,5 in keeping with the stairs were replaced by stone steps leading up Tower’s main aim of feeding the public a diet to the forebuilding’s own entry door, most of ghoulish tales, suitably embroidered. likely let into its east wall. The new stone My researches revealed no authentic plan stairway presumably ranged across the façade from the fifteenth century showing the of the White Tower like the original timber forebuilding, stairs or any adjacent structures. staircase, culminating in a landing, with the Worse, there were a number of sixteenth- and last 7-8 steps inside the forebuilding.4 seventeenth-century illustrations which The next important architectural event indicated that the forebuilding had acquired at was the opening up of a small doorway on the some point a slender turret at its south-east right of the forebuilding and a few feet lower. corner, depicted as either round or hexagonal. It was c. 1360 that one of the basement In commissioning an illustration, I had to windows of the White Tower was converted exclude this turret owing to uncertainty as to into this small doorway, with a spiral its date and design.

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from, say, the fourteenth century until the seventeenth century when they were demolished. At the time of erecting the adjacent buildings they could have been enclosed, or more simply roofed over to create a covered way. On this basis my artist’s reconstruction of the forebuilding, stairs and small door of the 1360s was duly commissioned and is illustrated on p.33. It does not, of course, preclude some other stair arrangement, e.g. there is a suggestion in Impey (p.169) that the small doorway might have been accessed from the upper floor of the adjacent Jewel House. In practice this seems extremely unlikely, because after the Reformation the chapel was converted into a repository for state archives, so it was in constant use, as were the stairs that remained necessary to reach it. The Jewel House with its precious contents would have needed constantly guarding, so the idea of people traipsing through it with bundles of documents and pipe rolls does not really make sense. Impey speculates that access might alternatively have been via a spiral staircase Victorian plaque to mark ‘the stair under which the housed inside the forebuilding’s slender bones were found’ (but inside the doorway), and a turret. However, the primary purpose of any copy of the Northcote engraving such staircase was to gain entry to the keep via the forebuilding, an awkward enough Similar uncertainty also excluded any proposition on its own when you consider the illustration of structures which had been built apparel of the fourteenth to seventeenth abutting the south wall of the White Tower, centuries, especially that of ladies of the next to the forebuilding, at various times. court, not to mention the constant traffic of These included living quarters for the guards bristling with arms and armour. To use constable around the later fourteenth century it also to access the small side doorway and and, by 1508 on the same spot, a Jewel House stairs to the chapel would necessitate the user to contain the crown jewels and regalia. climbing a spiral staircase inside a turret It was clear that the stone staircase, as leading into the forebuilding, only to have to originally built ranging along the south wall, exit the forebuilding again and descend was incompatible with two consecutive somehow to the lower doorway in the next buildings constructed in the same place. bay along the south face. Discussing this with Dr Impey, he On balance the exterior stairs seem the acknowledged that there probably had been a obvious solution, especially as the 1674 reorientation of the stairs.6 The obvious remains were found underneath stairs leading solution was that they were moved 90 degrees to the chapel, not under stairs in a turret and ranged forward, abutting the leading to the forebuilding. forebuilding’s east wall. In this position they The various accounts of the discovery could quite feasibly have remained unaltered stated that the bones were unearthed at a

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depth of ten feet. This would have been a another way, it would take six centuries to remarkable depth for an interment (especially build up 6ft of deposit, making the latest a secret one) in the fifteenth century, in an possible burial year, ironically, not far off age when graves were routinely two or three 1066 – before the Tower of London was even feet deep at most. So the depth has been built. subject to query. Nevertheless the reports are Was it such a huge and suspicious utterly consistent, and include an account coincidence that bones of children were found from the son of the great architect Sir within the grounds of the ancient castle? Christopher Wren, who presumably would Having pinpointed the location of the find, if not make a mistake about something so we trace it back through time to the erection elementary. There is, in any case, a simple of the Tower, it can be seen that no part of the explanation. Norman structure was ever built over that When you look at the illustration you can spot prior to the stone stairs of the see that the forebuilding rested on a deep forebuilding. Looking further back before the plinth, necessary owing to the incline of the Norman Conquest, fortifications in Roman terrain as it fell away to the west and south- and earlier times had always been placed on west. As confirmed to me by two civil the firmer ground where the White Tower has engineers, when originally built its its eastern extremity, not here at the south- foundations would have gone right down to west where the ground was soft and gravelly. the very deep footings of the White Tower Thus the site of the stone stairs that led to itself, to eliminate any possibility of the chapel had previously been nothing but subsidence or slippage relative to the Tower, open ground, entirely suitable for use as a which was sited not on rock but on a gravel burial-place at any time during history or terrace on the flood-plain of the Thames. prehistory prior to the year 1200. I would The master mason in charge in 1674 also suggest there is a very good chance, when the had orders to replace the demolished staircase bones in the urn are eventually accurately with new exterior steps (substantially dated, that they will be found to be more than redesigned) so that state archives could still a thousand years old. be transported to and from the chapel above. Therefore he would have instructed his men Notes to dig down to expose the foundations in the 1. Edward Impey (ed.), The White Tower area that had to accommodate the new (Yale University Press, 2008). staircase. Hence the excavation to a depth of 2. Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned ten feet or more. King (The History Press, 2008, 2012). The A final quibble must be addressed, and paperback editions contain relevant that is surface accumulation. To account for amendments/updates and a more the bones being found ten feet deep, might the comprehensive index. bodies have been buried at three or four feet 3. Archaeologia LXXXIV, 1934. in 1483, and then become covered with 4. Impey, p.87. surface debris over the next 200 years? 5. Photographed by Geoffrey Wheeler in Enquiries of the authorities at Historic March 2012. Royal Palaces have disposed of this 6. Impey, pp.168-9: ‘Certainly, from 1508 suggestion, revealing that the ground surface there could not have been a great entrance in the fifteenth century was about 2ft 3in stair across the south face, though it may be higher than in the thirteenth century. that the Jewel House did not abut the Extrapolating from this a build-up of roughly forebuilding and so left room for a modified one foot per century, the burial depth in 1483 stair to the forebuilding in this area’ (my could have been scarcely shallower than emphasis). about 8ft, still unaccountably deep. Viewed

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Papers from the Society’s session at Leeds IMC 2012 Making the most of miracles: political propaganda and the tomb of Henry VI LESLEY BOATWRIGHT

hen Henry VI died in the Tower in began almost immediately to cure the sick – W 1471, Edward IV caused him to be especially the high-status sick from the buried in Chertsey Abbey in Surrey. It was families who had supported him in life. Richard III who thirteen years later, in 1484, Another parallel, of course, is Saint Thomas had his body transferred to St George’s Becket. Chapel in Windsor. We don’t know why We know about the miracles credited to Richard had the body moved from Chertsey. Henry from just one manuscript, now in the By that time it was clear that some of the British Library.2 It dates to about 1500. The English regarded Henry as a saint, and stories manuscript itself says the work was compiled about his miracles were in circulation. Note from the depositions of the people who had that Richard was bringing the body to a much experienced the miracles and reported them at more prestigious place. He can’t have been Chertsey or Windsor. Some are dated, and trying to cover up Henry’s new status and some are not. Some are just given in pretend that the miracles weren’t happening. summary, and others are worked up into great We know that Henry VI was a very long accounts in full rhetorical Latin prose. religious man, of the gentle, not fanatical sort. There are 174 miracles in all in the He was also an anointed king, and by his manuscript, of which 23 are noted as proved. death he could be regarded as a martyr, The compiler says that he has written a especially by people who did not like the selection of ‘the more evident and more Yorkist kings. People equated him with the famous miracles’. There are marginal gentle Christ, who had also suffered annotations in a later hand which refer to a undeservedly. As early as 1479, Archbishop process of investigation. The place-names are Booth of York was castigating people who written out again in the margin by this later venerated Henry’s statue in York Minster and hand, and notes added, such as ‘proved’, ‘not left offerings there. He said it was in found’, or more explicit notes, such as ‘true, contempt of the church, and an insult to King but of no importance’. Edward IV.1 But by then Henry had become It seems that the miracles were one of the Helpful Dead. investigated as part of an attempt officially to There are two main points here. The first canonise Henry VI, and our manuscript was is that people have always wanted their own the working document used in this process. private line to the power of the divine, and for We know that Henry VII did open this most cultures have their Helpful Dead. In negotiations with the Pope about this, but medieval Christian society, these were the dropped the idea in 1509 when he found at saints. The other point is that by praying to that the legal fees would cost a lot. King Henry you could also make a political The first dateable miracle in the statement about your opposition to current manuscript took place on 31 August 1481 and authority. There was a long history of this sort was proved afterwards on investigation. A of cussedness in England. After Simon de miller’s grandson, aged four, fell into the Montfort was killed fighting against King millstream at Westwell, ten miles from Henry III at the battle of Evesham in 1265, he Canterbury, and was ‘drowned’. Grandfather

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collected a crowd to help him, and they all depicting Henry’s miracles. Nicholas stood round lamenting. ‘Then on a sudden Harpesfield, Archdeacon of Canterbury in the someone chanced to mention the glorious reign of Elizabeth I, described the offerings to King Henry, and soon they were all invoking Henry VI as including ‘sticks and crutches of his memory with one voice.’ Finally one man all kinds, used by people who had been cured got down and fished the boy out with an iron there ... there were also innumerable waxen hook. They laid him lifeless on the bank and images of various members of the human began lamenting again, and calling on God body – eyes, hands, feet, etc., models of the and the Virgin Mary and King Henry – and of afflicted parts, which had been cured by the course the child breathed again. intercession of King Henry’.4 The Windsor The miller was named Richard Queston, monument had acquired an active life of its but the owner of the mill was one William own, displaying the healing powers of King Gootley, and he was the nephew and heir of Henry. But was this always Lancastrian William Iden, who died in 1472. The Iden propaganda? family of Kent will be remembered most for Grouped round the king in the woodcut Alexander Iden, who in 1450 killed Jack are eight kneeling figures. On the left, one Cade, leader of a popular revolt against woman is only shown as a long garment and a Henry. So there is a good loyal Lancastrian praying right hand. In front of her, at the background for the first recorded miracle. back, is an old woman, muffled up to the Two pre-Bosworth miracles concern chin. In front, a man clutching a halter round touching for the King’s Evil. The report of his neck. one is very politically slanted. Agnes Freman, of Church Honeybourne, was nine years old when a large tumour grew in her throat. Doctors proved useless – miracle narratives are very rude about doctors – but someone told her parents that the cause was the King’s Evil, and it could only be cured by the king’s help. However, they were unwilling to ask a favour of Richard III, whose usurpation – says the account – was now in its second year – and made various excuses. Then they heard about the miracles of King Henry and vowed a pilgrimage to him, and Agnes was cured within four days. So people in Kent and in Worcester with Lancastrian sympathies were publicly looking to Henry VI for healing and help under the Yorkist kings. There is a woodcut dating from about 1490 pasted into a fifteenth-century parchment Bible in the Bodleian Library.3 It The ‘hanged man’ and Henry VI’s antelope. shows Henry VI standing in front of his tomb All drawings are by Geoffrey Wheeler at Windsor, with his rather fearsome antelope at his feet. At shoulder level, it is possible to On the right, there are two women who seem make out a number of votive offerings, such younger and perhaps more fashionably as a sailing ship, a chain and fetters, a pair of dressed than the woman on the left, but with crutches and a chap book. On the left, on a no other attribute. Nearer to Henry kneels a shelf, is the bottom half of a small nude man with a wrinkled face who has a spear in statuette with a large circle just above its his throat – though he is not clutching it – buttocks. These must be wax images indeed, his hands are raised in supplication.

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Then there is another kneeling man, with February 1482. He left his son, John shoulder-length hair, and a face with fewer Ravenyng, ‘in money ten marks, a standing lines, and what appear to be a fine pair of piece with a cover of silver, and my little cast boots, equally taking no notice of the long vessel of brass with the lid belonging thereto, arrow which is piercing him right through the for soap-making’. As Helen gave thanks at chest – except to raise his hands in Windsor, i.e. in or after 1484, her soap- supplication (see p.46). Finally, a young boiling master must have been our Logge woman in a somewhat complicated headcloth testator’s son, John Ravenyng. What is very (it certainly isn’t a hennin), has her hands clear is that this was a much-talked about neatly together in prayer – or are they miracle, and here is Helen Barker kneeling at clutching at the dagger that is stuck in her Henry’s feet to prove it. throat?5 It was a London miracle, done in the These eight figures, the three men and five house of a London tradesman – and it is women, must represent eight of the better- worth noting that London was always Yorkist known miracles of Henry VI. Who are they? I don’t think there’s any chance now of identifying the figures with no attributes. As to the men with the spear and the arrow, no miracle seems to match exactly, and the suggestion has been made that disease was seen symbolically as attacking like a sharp weapon, and that throws the field wide open. One of the most prominent figures of all is the woman with the dagger in her throat. We can identify her. She was Helen Barker, and she was the servant of a soap-boiler of London named John Ravenyng, and I wrote up her miracle in the Summer 2007 Bulletin. Ravenyng had missed some property and accused her of theft, making all sorts of horrid and unspecified threats against her. She ran upstairs to her room and slashed her throat from ear to ear. Then she regretted it – a bit late now, as the narrator remarks – thinking she was bound for the everlasting fires of hell Helen Barker, servant of John Ravenyng as a suicide, and she prayed to King Henry. Her mistress, wondering why Helen didn’t in sympathy. come when she was called, went looking for Kneeling opposite her is one of the two her, and found her lying on the floor covered men whom Henry VI saved from being in blood. She and her sisters apparently hanged. Both these rescues are dated – both wailed for about half an hour, then other happened in 1484. The victim of one was people came up, and more prayers were said Richard Beys of West Harptree, in Somerset, to King Henry – and Helen breathed again. At servant to the Stourton family, who was which point someone sent for a doctor. Helen victimised by an enemy of the Stourtons and made a full recovery within 20 days, and a falsely accused of robbing a priest (no. 106). week later went to Windsor and dedicated to He was tried at Salisbury in February 1484. King Henry the knife she had used to cut her After his miracle he came to Windsor in a throat. group of about 40 men, including two In our edition of the Logge Wills we have venerable priests, and then they all went off to a testator named John Ravenyng.6 He is give thanks at Walsingham. The second described as salter of London, and died in hanged man was an agricultural labourer

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named Thomas Fullar, from Hammersmith in believing that they signified his recovery. the parish of Fulham, who fell in with bad Then, says the narrative, after eleven days the company and was accused of sheep-stealing wind changed and he was blown into port, at Cambridge (no. 40, July 1484). Fullar went and taken to a hospital. The doctors wouldn’t and told his story at Chertsey when Henry treat him because they said he was dying, but was still buried there – on the very day before then he prayed to Henry and Erasmus, and at he was taken to Windsor, according to our once along came a surgeon who cut away the ms. – and then for good measure he went to gangrened flesh on both sides and bound up Windsor as well very soon afterwards and the wound. The narrative adds the delightful called together all the leading clergymen detail that whenever people took off his there and addressed them, which made a bandages to clean the wound ‘whatever food strong impression on them – so I should he had taken that day showed itself there all think, if Fullar really was an ag lab. undigested’. But in the end he recovered. Both these miracles are listed as proved. When Henry’s body was taken from Chertsey Both seem to have been marked by very to Windsor he wasn’t yet well enough to go public thanksgiving, which would have been on pilgrimage, but sent his sister to take a well remembered. It isn’t possible to decide wax image of himself as an offering. In the which man is depicted here – the one figure end, he managed to get here to Windsor might well represent both – but it is worth himself, and told his story, and let people see noting that the Stourton family were Yorkists. and feel his scars as corroboration. Another pre-Bosworth miracle happened This story was verified by the Tudor to Henry Walter. The scene of this narrative investigators, so Henry Walter lived at least is the sea battles fought off Scarborough in twenty years after his ordeal, and perhaps the summer of 1484 against the French and forty. Here is another pre-Bosworth miracle, Scots.7 The miracle narrative says – ‘A very famous soldier, Thomas Everingham, collected a fleet of many ships by the orders of King Richard III ... and setting out to sea braved those dreadful waters and hideous waves ... to check the audacity of some whom the said intruder upon the kingdom [that’s Richard] had reason to fear.’ This narrative puts the battle at Pentecost – Whit Sunday was 6 June in 1484. In the battle, a man named Henry Walter was shot through the body by a cannon ball. He is described as of Guildford, and a servant of Thomas Everingham. His wound festered Wax image of Henry Walter of Guildford? to such an extent that his shipmates, who couldn’t stand the smell, put him adrift in a with a man who had fought for Richard III in small boat. He stayed in it, awaiting death, for his ships expressing gratitude to Henry VI perhaps twelve days, but saw a vision just and sending his wax image off to Windsor before dawn after his third night adrift. ‘One very soon after the translation of Henry’s appeared to him, elegantly built and a pilgrim body. A wax image of himself. Is it the image by his dress. He seemed to have a gown of of a man with a big hole in his belly shown in blue velvet, and a yellow cap on his head, and the woodcut? a pilgrim’s scrip at his side. The dying man Only six adult miracles were proved, and recognized him as King Henry. Then he two of them were done for Yorkists, Richard looked the other way, and saw the holy Beys and Henry Walter. This is being martyr Erasmus He saw these visions on the orchestrated. Richard III brought the body to next two nights as well, and cheered up a lot, Windsor, and immediately there were high-

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profile miracles being seen to be done for the (entirely in Latin) by P.Grosjean, Henrici VI supporters of York. I think Richard was Angliae Regis Miracula Postuma (Brussels, trying to neutralise any Lancastrian 1935) and a selective one by Ronald Knox propaganda concerning Henry’s miracles and and Shane Leslie, The Miracles of King perhaps even distance himself from Henry’s Henry VI, CUP, 1923. murder. It had been a terrible shock to 3 MS Bod.277 fol.376v. Richard when many of his brother Edward’s 4 Gasquet, The Religious Life of King Henry household men joined in Buckingham’s revolt VI, London, 1923, p.67. in the autumn of 1483 – was taking over the 5 See Ellen Ettinger, ‘Notes on a Woodcut cult of Henry VI one of Richard’s ways of Depicting King Henry VI Being Invoked as a dealing with the opposition? Saint’, Folklore, vol.84, no.2 (Summer 1973) pp.115-9. Notes 6 L. Boatwright, M. Habberjam and P.W. 1 Register of Laurence Booth, Archbishop of Hammond, eds, The Logge Register of Wills York, pp.172-3, quoted in Grosjean, p. 157. (Richard III Society, 2008), no. 33. 2 MS BL Royal 13c, viii. There are two 7 N. Pronay and J. Cox, The Crowland modern editions of this, a complete one Chronicle Continuations 1459-1486 (Richard

R v Walson: New light on a medieval mugging CHRISTOPHER WHITTICK

n 1925 L.F. Salzman published an account with pins. Edwards, taken for dead, I of miracles relating to Sussex drawn from miraculously revived to denounce his several medieval hagiographies. The author attackers, who were arrested and taken to was non-committal on the subject of the prison. After he had vowed a pilgrimage to likely veracity of the stories and was able to Windsor if cured, his speech and the sight of advance evidence for the mere existence of one eye were restored. The records of the only one participant. court of King’s Bench contain details of the Over 25 years ago, when I was going process against John Walson of Bexhill, through the ten years of King’s Bench plea called a labourer, which, though lacking some rolls between 1485 and 1495, I was delighted circumstantial details and any mention of the to find ample corroboration for another case, miraculous cure, leave little doubt that the and a Sussex one at that. I published an article events did take place; indeed the miracle text in the county journal, and there the matter bears a remarkable similarity to the rested until it was picked up by Lesley indictment. Boatwright to such excellent effect. Those keen to bring the assailants to According to one of the miracle texts, on justice were perhaps fortunate to have 1 November 1488 Dr William Edwards, vicar Thomas Oxenbridge, not only a justice of the of Hollington near Hastings in East Sussex, peace but a leading member of the London was attacked by three of his parishioners. legal establishment, in residence at Brede They extracted his tongue using wooden tools Place not more than five miles from the scene which were ‘in a strange and horrible shape, of the outrage. He was named on all Sussex toothed like a saw’ and cut it out by the roots; commissions of the peace between 1485 and they then blinded him by pricking his eyeballs 1493, regularly delivered the county’s

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KB 9/403/19 indictment of John Walson of Bexhill for wounding William Edwards, vicar of Hollington

Miracle no. 8: how William Edwards, vicar of Hollington, recovered his sight and speech indictments to Westminster in response to Edwards’s partial recovery. Apart from the writs and was possibly the county’s custos appeal of mayhem, the common law had no rotulorum. concept of grievous bodily harm and Oxenbridge committed Walson to disoculation and tongue-cutting had been Guildford Castle gaol (which served Sussex made felony by statute only in 1404. as well as Surrey) on suspicion of felony Contemporary criminal lawyers however only, since no indictment had yet been found were expressing the opinion that the blinding against him. The Michaelmas sessions had of only one eye would not amount to statutory already taken place – in the first week of felony since sight was still possible; the same October – and the next chance to do so would reasoning presumably applied to partially- not occur until the second week of January recovered speech and perhaps it was also 1489 at the Epiphany sessions. For reasons necessary for the eyes to be physically which at first sight seem difficult to removed. The robbery was not subject to such understand, this opportunity was ignored and jurisprudential problems. it was not until the Easter sessions, at The Epiphany Quarter Sessions issued a Chichester on 27 April, that Walson was writ of capias (arrest) returnable at the Lewes indicted. The facts alleged conform well with sessions three days later before a list of those of the miracle text – though of course justices which included Thomas Oxenbridge. the reverse must be the case. On the date Somewhat surprisingly, the sheriff returned given by the miracle text – 1 November 1488 that he could not find Walson and so the – Walson and others unknown attacked process began which resulted in his outlawry Edwards at Hollington, pulled out his tongue at the county court at Chichester on 7 January cum diversis instrumentis ligneis ‘with 1490, reported to the Lewes sessions five various wooden implements’ and cut it out days later. There was a good reason for the with a knife. They pricked his right eye with sheriff’s inability to produce Walson and for needles, leaving him almost without speech the suspect’s failure to appear at successive and blind in one eye. Furthermore, a coral county courts to escape outlawry; he was no rosary with silver gilt mounts, a gilt ring, a longer in the sheriff’s custody at Guildford. lace with a green silk tassel, a blood-red On Saturday 7 February 1489 a writ habeas hatlace with gilt points, a knife inlaid with corpus cum causa captionis had been sent to silver, a gilt earpick and toothpick, a black the gaoler, commanding him to produce silk purse with fifty-two pearls and a small Walson in chancery the following Wednesday piece of gilt (worth £10 in all) and £5 17s 0d with the reasons for his arrest; to concentrate in cash were stolen during the assault. This the official’s mind, a penalty clause of £100 robbery is not mentioned in the miracle text for failure to execute the writ was inserted. and may have been added as a direct result of The writ was returned by William Shadet,

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with an endorsement that the prisoner had the outlawry of them all at a county court held been committed by Oxenbridge on suspicion at Lewes on 31 October 1521. It is of course of felony in Sussex; on his arrival at impossible to say what had happened to Westminster Walson was confined in the Walson; were he dead, it would not have been marshalsea of the court of king’s bench. The difficult for the bails, a London gentleman date of this writ makes it clear why no and a Southwark yeoman, to have been indictment had been found in January; there discharged. Perhaps the court considered that had not then been time to remove him out of over a decade’s imprisonment was sufficient the sheriff’s custody and an immediate trial in punishment for his offence and was satisfied the county, with a good chance of acquittal, that the outlawry and the unanswered charge would have been the unavoidable outcome. of felony would act in effect as a suspended Once the prisoner was safely out of the sentence and encourage Walson to keep the jurisdiction, however, an indictment could be peace in future. From that point on, he found in the certain knowledge that the disappears from the record. process upon it would lead ineluctably to There is no more definite evidence of the outlawry. victim’s career either; his service as vicar of Walson’s position was parlous indeed; he Hollington goes unnoticed in the bishops’ had the unenviable choice of remaining in a registers as does his degree in the published disease-ridden prison far from home or lists of university men. The citation of a volunteering to stand trial for a notorious William Edwards, rector of Chichester St crime, even of course presuming that he had Pancras, to appear at a visitation in 1521, the means to reverse the outlawry. When a list where he remained incumbent in 1526, allow of prisoners in the marshal’s custody was us to speculate that a less traumatic cure was drawn up on 5 June 1491 he was still among found for the unfortunate priest; to the their number. Official interest stirred again on common law, almost thirty-three years after 21 November 1493 when a writ was sent to the assault, his attacker was still technically a the Sussex justices ordering them to send up wanted man. We may also speculate on the copies of any indictments pending against motives for the assault. Perhaps Edwards was Walson by 20 January; not until 3 February the subject of xenophobic hostility as well as 1495 was a copy of the 1489 indictment simple secular envy; the stolen goods were delivered, by none other than Thomas worth almost twice as much as the annual Oxenbridge. A further year and more passed value of the benefice and it is possible that the until 6 May 1496, when Walson was brought parishioners regarded their priest as a foppish to the bar of king’s bench, produced a writ of schoolman foisted upon them by the living’s error dated 30 May 1495 and reversed the patron John Clement, a non-resident preben- outlawry on the grounds that he had been dary of Hastings free chapel. The system of confined at Southwark when the pro- presentations by the prebendaries had been clamations were being made at Chichester. reviewed in 1480 as part of arbitrators’ award He then pleaded not guilty to the felony and that altered the chapel’s constitution. The case put himself upon a jury, which the sheriff of brings home the reality of the common law Sussex was ordered to produce in the next doctrine of felony, the only penalty for which term. More delay followed as successive was death. In formal terms, imprisonment sheriffs failed to return writs until Trinity was not available as a sentence, and cases 1499 when a panel was returned; he was deemed to warrant a more lenient punishment ordered to be at Westminster on 14 October required, of necessity, some manipulation of a and ‘by special grace’, almost eleven years system which advanced, albeit with its own after the offence of which he was accused, peculiar rhythm, at a snail’s pace. On many Walson was bailed to appear on the same day. occasions as a result, what appears on the face When that day came, neither the defen- of the plea roll is little better than fiction; the dant nor his bails appeared and the court reality has often to be sought in the parallel again set in motion the process which led to series of files, dirty, difficult to consult and

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made available only relatively recently. Many that a collaborative project, with assistance of those who have ridiculed the inefficiency from across the country, seems called for if of medieval criminal justice have, it is the identities of everyone mentioned are to be submitted, taken the formal enrolments of the investigated. These include the witnesses by court of king’s bench too much at face value. whose testimony some of the miracles were Whether lawyers used these tactics, which proved. In the case of the events at Hollington they termed ‘policy’, in all criminal cases we in 1488, the three witnesses were Thomas do not yet know. Perhaps the Walson case Hayward, John Parminter and the victim, was extraordinary; a foul and notorious crime, uniquely here called Doctor William committed against a clergyman and within the Edwards. Trawling for such people in local as sphere of influence of a local magnate who well as national records might help us to was also a member of the legal establishment. establish when the investigations took place Until more similar cases are investigated and when the text was compiled. Although using the whole archive of the court, we shall the manuscript has been attributed to 1528, not know. three years earlier an Agnes Parmiter of In revisiting these records now, I am Hollington, perhaps John’s widow, was conscious of two developments which have assessed for the subsidy. And what of the taken place during the intervening thirty annotator, who has added the location of each years. The first is our project to produce a miracle in a distinctive and one might hope modern edition of the entire miracle recognisable hand? manuscript, BL Royal MS 13 C viii, and the We feel that with the new and powerful preliminary work which Lesley has under- resources now available, we will be able to taken to investigate the circumstances of identify yet more of the cast – either the individual miracles. The second is the vast principal actors or those with merely walk-on increase in the availability of both online lists parts – in the mini-dramas of which our of documents – chiefly the TNA catalogue document consists. and the Access to Archives website – and of images of many of the documents themselves * There will be an article about the AALT via the AALT website.* A huge amount more (Anglo-American Legal Tradition) website by work remains to be done, almost to the extent Heather Falvey in the December Bulletin.

Miracles in everyday life: the ordinary and the miraculous HEATHER FALVEY

The opening line of L. P. Hartley’s The Go- had loving friends and families. As a social Between (1953) states ‘The past is a foreign historian I am interested in ordinary people country, they do things differently there’. In and their everyday lives: the miracles of some respects, this is true of medieval Henry VI are very significant as sources for England: so many aspects of daily life were medieval social history.1 different – such as communications, travel, Of course, sceptics both then and now employment, domestic spaces, hygiene would try to find a logical explanation for standards. But in other respects, it is not true: each miracle. Perhaps some of the dead who the inhabitants of that foreign country were miraculously came back to life had simply human beings like us, suffering illnesses, fainted, or had concussion, or were in a coma. disfigurements, accidents and death; many But to explain them away is irrelevant: the 44

friends and neighbours of the victim, and months old, was being carried in the arms of indeed often the victims themselves, had faith an older boy. He had been given a silver that King Henry would aid them. They called pilgrim badge of St Thomas of Canterbury to on him, promising to visit his tomb and there hold; ‘as is the way of such, he must put it in offer a coin – the most likely way to attract his mouth’ and swallowed it (no.113). Three- his interest and help. Many of the miraculés year old Thomas Garat swallowed a brass pin and their friends did indeed visit his tomb, (no.162). Agnes Devenish had a plum-stone initially at Chertsey and then at Windsor. stuck up her nostril for more than six months There they gave statements about their (no.94). And Richard Denys had stuck a bean experiences, which were subsequently written in his ear when a child – and it remained there up by an unnamed monk in the manuscript for 37 years (no.126). now in the British Library.2 Water was particularly hazardous. A little Knox and Leslie briefly analysed the ages serving maid, just seven years old, was sent to of the miraculés. They observed that Henry draw water from a well. ‘Managing her VI ‘was claimed as the patron of the helpless, bucket rather carelessly’ (perhaps swinging it and especially the young’.3 Of the 138 round and round) she suddenly lost her miracles for which we have a full record, 31 footing and fell in (no.161). The fifteen- happened to children under 5, 24 to young month-old son of Richard Woodward fell into people under 20. These miracles, accordingly, a pool just outside his front door (no.115). Six tell us a lot about childhood in late medieval -year-old John Bythewey was playing by the England; and considering that the writer was river with his three younger brothers, when he a monk, his understanding of and fell in – his feet were caught in some bushes acquaintance with the ways of family life, and and his head was under water (no.114). of children in particular, are striking. I will Children might play in dangerous places. consider various aspects of life (and death) Beatrice Shirley, aged three, was sitting under displayed in his reports, and then look at three a large stack of firewood, playing with other cases in more detail. children of the same age, when a huge trunk Six-month-old George Trevagnes was put fell from the stack and pinned her to the to sleep in a cradle, suspended from a roof ground. Her little playmates were horrified beam so that it could be rocked easily and ran to and fro in all directions, screaming (no.142).4 But instead of fastening the child in wordlesssly (no.11). Joan Walran, home securely, his mother tied him in loosely round alone, was playing with the fastenings of a the chest with a linen cord, ‘of the sort that cellar door: two straps from a woman’s old women use as ornamental girdles’. satchel. Mischieviously Joan put her head Consequently he wriggled out and hung through the straps as in a noose, and the door strangled in the fastenings. gave way, crashing inwards, taking her with According to the narrator, children of a it. She slipped from the top step, could not get year or so ‘can scarcely go along by leaning a foothold anywhere and so hanged herself against forms or footstools, unless they go (no.55). crawling rather than walking’. The mother of There might also be accidents during the little Edmund Brown had been washing the course of someone’s work. One-year-old Ann clothes on Saturday, ready for Sunday Plott was toddling about the streets, when a (no.109). It was such a good drying day that factor was driving a cart loaded with dung to she decided to wash the old kerchief that she manure the fields (no.111). The cart ran right was wearing as well. While she went in to over her, leaving her body shattered on the change it, she left Edmund playing but he ground, as the narrator says ‘well-nigh as flat wandered off and fell in a pool of very dirty as a pancake’.7 When Thomas Paynston was water – perhaps a cesspit? taking a load of dung into the fields, the The compiler also noted wryly that horses pulled in opposite directions and got ‘children love nothing better than swallowing their traces tangled. ‘Whereupon the boy lost things’.6 Miles Freebridge, scarcely nine his temper and beat the animals. When he

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went between them to fix the harness, his into the midst of the flames, he suddenly angry shouts frightened the lead-horse, remembered ‘that man of God’ (King which took off and dragged the wagon over Henry) and he sensed a certain invisible the boy.’ (no.24)8 strength pulling him back and holding him Just as today, there were accidents, and strongly lest he should fall. Then he felt accidental deaths, while people were himself sliding back to the ladder, but it gave participating in sports and games. At Marden way as he slid and, as if thrown back by a (Kent) some boys were shooting arrows for great force, it threw him on to the ground sport. One ‘took an uncertain aim’ (i.e. he about 24 feet away from the burnt house. was a rotten shot), and hit four-year-old Although severely shaken, not a single bone Thomas Fowle in the right eye (no.12). was even bruised. Shortly after, on Needless to say, there was a footballing Michaelmas Day, William, together with ‘no incident (no.91).9 Before relating the miracle small crowd of neighbours’, visited Windsor the narrator thoroughly denigrates football: to give thanks. ‘A game, I say, pretty disgusting and, in my Several plague victims were cured and opinion at least, rowdier than any other type the reports contain detailed descriptions of of game, more dishonourable too, and baser, the passage of the disease. John Noble of one which rarely ends without some Elstree (Herts) was one such sufferer who, calamity, disaster or injury to those playing going through the various phases of plague, it.’ He then relates how William Bartram had spent five weeks lying in bed and had suffered a nasty personal injury during a become utterly wasted(no.147). On the last game of football, being kicked in the day he had lain there speechless; drawing no genitals. In fact, the scribe seems to take breath, as if totally lifeless. His household great pride in this particular account for it is and his friends were present and besought full of doubles entendres and suggestive the Almighty that he would either to take the plays on Latin words which Knox and Leslie departing soul within the bosom of his modestly overlooked in their translation. mercy or let him live a few more years. They Bartram’s experience was embellished also prayed that King Henry might give his by the narrator, but other dangers did not support. Suddenly John was brought back to need to be spelled out, such as the destruction wrought by fire. One particular fire-related miracle provides a vivid picture of how an accidental fire might start, the panic that it might cause and how a miracle might ensue (no.54). One Sunday in late September, in Berkhamsted (Herts), some boys were burning peas and beans in straw to eat them rather charred (barbecued?). Carelessly they lit the fire too near William Hardford’s house, which caught light and was soon in danger of being utterly destroyed. William was out, but on seeing the fire in the distance he dashed home. Straightaway he snatched up a nearby ladder, but it was too short, scarcely reaching the roof. Anyway, he scrambled up, and on reaching the gutters, he crawled up the roof. When he got to the apex and tried to put out the violent flames, he overbalanced and began to plunge headlong. John Noble of Elstree? While almost toppling over the precipice, Drawn by Geoffrey Wheeler

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life in the sight of all, having regained his from a severe build-up of wax which former health by the gift of supernatural subsequently dispersed; nevertheless he grace. Ellen Ettlinger has suggested that the believed that his deafness was cured as a man transfixed with an arrow in the woodcut result of his prayers to King Henry and, even Lesley mentioned is John Noble, as no at his great age, travelled all the way to the surviving miracle records this actual physical tomb at Windsor to give thanks and record his injury: the artist was endeavouring to miracle. ‘represent a miracle that everybody at the end Were these miraculés credulous? Perhaps. of the fifteenth century could easily identify. But their illnesses or accidents are not pure Since ancient times the plague was likened to fabrications, however they may have been the shooting of arrows into the body’.10 embellished by the narrator. And they were It might be suggested that these miracles real people, as the wills of John Ravenyng are simply stories; inventions to be used as and the Bildeston parishioners prove. The moralising tales and to encourage the miracles of Henry VI are a valid, and canonisation of a ‘political’ saint. Lesley has fascinating, source for ordinary lives in late been trying to find some of the miraculés in medieval England. other records, to prove their existence, so to speak. I have also found one: the rector of Notes Bildeston, Sir Richard Swettock, who witnessed the wills of several testators from 1 R. Knox and S. Leslie, The Miracles of King there.11 When he witnessed them he was Henry the Sixth (Cambridge, 1923). The perhaps in his middle age – he became rector miracle numbering is taken from their book. in 1442. His name occurs eight times in the See also, Alison Hanham, ‘Henry VI and his probate register of the archdeaconry of miracles’, The Ricardian, vol. XII, no. 148 Sudbury as either executor or witness to (March 2000), pp.638-652, Bildeston wills.12 When his miracle occurred 2 MS BL Royal 13c viii. he was a very old man: he probably died in 3 Knox and Leslie, p.26 1491, having been rector for nearly 50 years 4 Corrected by Hanham, p.645. (no.111).13 ‘This old and aged man finally 5 Hanham, p.645. became so deaf that he was completely unable 6 Knox and Leslie, p.164 to hear even the singing of the clergy, 7 ‘flat as a pancake’ in English, first appears however near he stood, or, the sound itself of in 1611 (OED). The Latin in the miracle text the pealing bells. This weakness grew more is corpusculum ... quassatum in modum fere burdensome to him over the space of ten placente planum. weeks and he was heartbroken because Lent 8 quoting Hanham, p.649 was approaching, when a rector ought to 9 translated (enjoyably) by Lesley Boatwright, watch with a special diligence over the who also translated the next two miracles. healing of the weaknesses of his flock. He 10 Ellen Ettlinger, ‘Notes on a Woodcut perceived that he was unfit for the exercising depicting King Henry VI being invoked as a of this care … He took that man most blessed saint’, Folklore, 84: 2 (1973), pp.115-19, and beloved of God, King Henry, as his quotation from p.118. mediator and advocate, urging his prayer and 11 See Bulletin, March 2010, pp.41, 42. adding that he would hasten even on foot to 12 Peter Northeast (ed), Wills of the his holy shrine ... On the Sunday next Archdeaconry of Sudbury 1439-1474, part I, coming, all that blockage of deafness was 1439-1461 (Suffolk Records Society, vol. exchanged somehow for sharpness of hearing, XLIV, 2011), nos 415n, 744, 1486; Northeast and caused the man to be healthy and and Falvey (eds), Wills of the Archdeaconry cheerful, so that he publicly acknowledged of Sudbury, part II, 1461-1474, nos 284, 303, that never before had he by any means had a 431, 720 & 721 more effective use of that organ …’ Yes, the 13 translated by Lesley Boatwright. old priest may simply have been suffering

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Riding forth to aspye for þe town PENELOPE LAWTON

There was a short note by Lesley Boatwright been away, how much was for horse hire and in the June 2012 Bulletin about an item found other expenses. 6s 8d (1 mark) was a ‘round by Penelope Lawton, one of the volunteers sum’ in medieval accounting which could working on the Society’s Chronicle project: have been a ‘reward’ but again this would ‘Item paid, þe xviij day of August, to have been recorded as such. One detail which Thomas Hall ridyng forth to aspye for þe is given however, is that payment was made town afore þe feld, by þe Maires commaund- by the Mayor’s commandment. This is un- ment, etc. : vjs viijd.’1 usual: more usually the accounts detail what Penelope has now sent us her further was paid for. Presumably the business in the thoughts on the entry. course of which the expenditure was incurred would have been already agreed upon by the his occurs in the accounts of Richard Town Council. So it may be that Thomas Hall T Mellers and John Williamson, chamber- was paid 6s 8d in advance to cover travelling lains of the town of Nottingham, from expenses, rather than, as would be more Michaelmas 1484 to 1485. The Chamberlains usual, afterwards when he rendered his were responsible for making the payments, account, and, secondly, that it was something but the accounts were written up by Master of last minute decision on the part of Mayor William Easingwold, clerk to the mayor Thurland, to send him, rather than a matter (Town Clerk) c.1478-1506.2 Master Easing- planned and discussed in Council. Both of wold was meticulous in recording precisely these could be reasons why Easingwold what payments were for, e.g.: ‘Item paid the recorded that this payment was made by the xxvj day of November [1484] for þe costes of Mayor's commandment. a man and an horse ridyng to þe Recorder to Easingwold states that Thomas Hall was cause hym to com speke wit the Maire and his sent ‘to aspye for þe town’. I think that this bredern, þat he myght ride to þe Shireff of þe probably means that he was sent to bring back Shire for þe mater of Cornerwong etc.: xd.’ news of the outcome of the campaign. The ‘Item paid the same tyme for þe costes of þe city of York apparently sent a man for that Recorder and iij men and iij horses beying purpose. ‘It was showed by diverse per- here for the seid mater by þe space of a day sonnes, and especially John Sponer, send unto and ij nyghtes [24-26 Feb 1485] as apperith the feld of Redemore to bring tidinges frome by a byll hereto annexed: iijs jd.3 ‘Item paid the same to the Citie, that King Richard, late þe same tyme, to Robert Nevyll, for lyke mercifully reigning ...’ The rest of the quote is wyse bying of counsell wit the seid town in well known, especially to Ricardians.5 the seid Assise, and also for his hors mete, Perhaps other towns also sent their ‘war beside his rewarde: xs.4 correspondents’. In view of the level of detail with which Easingwold recorded items, it seems worth- Notes while to look closely at exactly what he has 1 Records of the Borough of Nottingham, written concerning Thomas Hall. Comparison Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham, with the examples in the borough records, Vol. III, 1485–1547 (1885): Nottingham, leads me to think that if Thomas Hall's spying Forman & Sons; London, Quaritch. p.238 had been done earlier and he was being paid 2 op.cit. Introduction, pp. ix for services already rendered, it would have 3 op.cit., pp. 232-3 been entered in a similar way to the above 4 op.cit. p.235 examples, detailing how many days he had 5 York House Books 2-4, 169v.

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Two Portraits of our Founder

wo paintings of our founder Dr Samuel Saxon Barton have recently been brought to the T Society’s attention; we had previously been unaware of their existence. Saxon Barton, as he was usually known, was born in 1892 and lived most of his life in Liverpool. After service in the First World War he trained as an obstetrician and gynecologist, and became a Fellow of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. His practice was based in Liverpool and covered many parts of north Wales, including Llandudno. Saxon was a very keen amateur historian, an active member of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, and a convinced Ricardian. Together with a small group of friends he founded the Fellowship of the White Boar in 1924, which became the Richard III Society in 1959. Saxon was killed in a car crash in 1957 and, as reported in the last issue, is buried in St Nicholas Church, Halewood, Merseyside. The portrait of Saxon reproduced below was painted by the artist Mavis Blackburn, probably in the late 1940s. She was trained at the Liverpool School of Art, became an art teacher and throughout her life was an important member of various art groups in the North West. She died in 2005 and bequeathed her painting of Saxon Barton to the Williamson Gallery in Birkenhead. Unfortunately, the portrait is not on public display, and is in fact in a poor condition. We are investigating the possibility of having it restored and put on display, and we will keep members informed of developments here. The portrait is also featured on the BBC’s Your Paintings website and can be accessed at: www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/dr-saxon-barton-18921957-obe-frsa-67617

The other painting was sold by the auctioneers Bonhams in 2008, and was painted by the artist George Herbert Buckingham Holland in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Unusually, it presents Saxon Barton operating on a patient, with a nurse and assistant in attendance; the operation probably took place at The War Memorial Hospital, Blaenau Festiniog. The painting is now in private hands and we do not have copyright permission to reproduce it here, but it can be viewed on line at: http://www.arcadja.com/auctions/en/ holland_george_herbert_buckingham/ artist/13735/

If anyone is aware of other pictures or photographs of our founder we would be very interested to hear about them. John Saunders

Dr Samuel Saxon Barton, OBE, FRSA (1892-1957), founder of the Richard III Society. Artist: Mavis Blackburn (1923-2005). Reproduced by kind permission of the Williamson Gallery, Birkenhead

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Correspondence

Will contributors please note that letters may be shortened or edited to conform to the standards of the Bulletin. The Bulletin is not responsible for the opinions expressed by contributors.

Final words on the Minster Yorkist further piece on their monuments, including From Marcus Herbert, by email the collateral branches. Following recent correspondence in the Bulletin between myself and Sally Badham Editor: we offered Sally Badham the oppor- regarding my article The Minster Yorkist tunity to reply, and she sent us the following: etc. (The Ricardian, 2011), I am now able to refute beyond question her suggestion that the From Sally Badham, by email effigy represents Sir John Cheyne (d. 1467). May I offer Marcus Herbert my sincere On 3 July 1474 John Cheyne d. (1499), his congratulations on his latest important mother Eleanor and brothers William, Robert, discovery of a lost monument at Faringdon to Roger, Alexander and Humphrey were John Cheyne associated with the chantry granted a license to found a chantry in a discussed in his original article? I am afraid chapel built by Eleanor’s father, Sir Robert that it does not, as he suggest, totally refute Shottesbrooke (d. 1471), in the churchyard of the possibility that the Minster Yorkist is Sir All Saints, Faringdon, Berkshire (now John Cheyne (d. 1467). Recent research on Oxfordshire). The purpose of the chantry was church monuments has resulted in a growing to pray for the souls of the king, queen, prince corpus of examples of multiple of Wales, the founders, Sir Robert commemoration in different churches of Shottesbrooke and Sir John Cheyne. In his individuals, presumably to increase the Itinerary compiled in the years 1535-43 the likelihood of prayers being said for their antiquarian John Leland stated ‘in the chirch souls. The record appears to have been held yard is a very fair chapelle of the Trinite by Ralph Hamsterley (d. 1518), whose made by on(e) Cheyny, buried ther in a high surviving brass at Oddington (Oxfordshire) tumbe of marble: and ther is a cantuarie was one of five monuments to him placed in endowed. (Sir Thomas) Cheney Lord Warden different Oxfordshire churches. Sir John may of the 5. Portes now geveth it’. The chantry therefore still have been buried and was suppressed in 1548 and had probably commemorated at Minster; indeed it would disappeared altogether by 1644. A have been odd for him not to be buried in the comparison of his description of the church at the centre of his ancestral Faringdon tomb with others in the Itinerary landholdings. What is needed to complete Mr show that what Leland meant by a ‘high Herbert’s case is documentary evidence that tumbe’ was an altar tomb with a canopy. He Cheyne was buried elsewhere. If anyone can was wrong in attributing the building of the unearth such information, I am sure that he chapel to Cheyne but as the Shottesbrookes can. were of Berkshire it is clearly a case of Sir John predeceasing his wife and her having Editor: this correspondence is now closed. him interred in the chapel built by her father and where she probably intended herself to The manor of Ampthill lie. I would be pleased to supply Ms Badham From James Petre, by email with details of all relevant sources upon With regard to Rose Skuse’s statement request. I am continuing my research into the (March 2012 Bulletin) that the manor of Cheyne family of Shurland, Eastchurch, Isle Ampthill was given to Sir Edmund Grey as a of Sheppey, and I am currently writing a reward for his treachery at the battle of

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Northampton, this was not in fact the case. He ments, but I managed to attend the Bosworth bought it, the transaction commencing well commemoration for the first time last year, before the Wars of the Roses. and the Members’ Day, and am looking The later ‘castle’ or grand house was built forward to going again this year. in the years after Agincourt by Sir John Cornwall, who purchased the Ampthill estate The Manners family from the St Amand family. He married From Pauline Harrison Pogmore, Sheffield. Elizabeth, sister of Henry IV, and wanted a I have recently read and enjoyed John residence ‘meet for his royal spouse’. Ralph, Ashdown-Hill’s Last Days of Richard III. The third Lord Cromwell, purchased the castle section on DNA I found fascinating. How and estate in 1444. In June 1452 it was seized right John is when he says that the Tudor by Henry Holand, duke of Exeter, and kings took good care to see that the Cromwell did not secure its return until 1454. Plantagenet surname and all the males who Thereupon he sold the reversion to Edmund carried it were exterminated. He then goes on Grey, fourth Lord Grey of Ruthin, but the to say the Somerset family are surviving value of the castle and estate was so large that descendants, although illegitimate. He is quite Grey had to pay in instalments. Cromwell correct in this, but I always find it curious that died in 1456, but it was not until 1473 that one line of descendants with close links never Grey completed the payments and so finalised seems to be mentioned. the purchase of Ampthill from Cromwell’s That family is the Manners family. This feoffees, although it is apparent that Grey had family is directly descended from Richard’s taken possession long before. eldest sister, Anne, duchess of Exeter, and her Editor: James has just written a book on The only surviving child, Anne St Leger, and Castles of Bedfordshire (published by Shaun therefore shares a close relationship with Tyas). We understand that it will cost £19 Richard. Anne married George Manners, including postage and packing – email Lord Ros. Their eldest son Thomas was [email protected] created earl of Rutland in June 1526. The descent of the earldom was not direct, several Fotheringhay photographs earls dying without male heirs. This meant From Dr Esther Ketskemety, by email that Thomas’s great-grandson John Manners I am writing to you regarding the request for (descended from Thomas’s son John and his names of people featured in the photographs wife Dorothy Vernon) eventually succeeded of the Fotheringhay Christmas lunch pub- as eighth earl. His son, also John, was created lished in the March Bulletin. duke of Rutland in 1703. This line continues The upper photograph on page 16 shows today with the present eleventh duke, David myself seated on the right (wearing glasses Manners, residing at Belvoir Castle, and his and with shoulder-length hair) with a very brother Lord Edward Manners at Haddon nice couple who I had met for the first time at Hall. the lunch. I think they were from a branch in The descendants of Thomas Manners, the Lincolnshire or Northamptonshire? [Ed.: first earl, continue in at least three other titled Barry and Angela Edwards from families. The present earl of Shaftesbury is Peterborough] This was the first time that I descended from Thomas’s daughter Dorothy, had attended the Fotheringhay service as I am the marquess of Exeter from his daughter quite a new member (I joined in October Frances, and the marquess of Salisbury from 2010) and went on my own as my husband his daughter Margaret. was looking after our two-year-old daughter On a personal note, Haddon Hall, home of for the day. I would like to say how friendly Lord Edward Manners, is a matter of fifteen everyone was, and how much I enjoyed the minutes from my home. A few years ago, event. while taking a party of American Ricardians I do not often have the opportunity to around Haddon, I mentioned the connection attend meetings as I have family commit- with Richard. I admit to being somewhat

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surprised when one of the stewards standing A real Richard III retainer’s badge nearby announced, ‘I didn’t know that’. It From Gillian Worth, by email seems that to most of the world in general the Geoffrey Wheeler’s article in the most recent connection to the House of York has been Bulletin struck a strong chord with me. In forgotten or (worse) is unknown. 1980 I spent two days in York and during that time I visited the Museum, which in those Richard weeping at Anne’s funeral days seemed very small and intimate. I asked From Peggy Martin, by email one of the attendants whether they had any Just in case no-one else has contacted you artefacts relating to Richard III. ‘Oh, yes,’ she with reference to p.16 of the June Bulletin, replied, and disappeared for several minutes. with reference to Professor Michael Dobson’s She then appeared with something in her programme notes to the production of hand, and handed it to me. I was dumbstruck Richard III at the Swan, Stratford-upon- – it was a Richard III retainer’s badge, found Avon, in which he says that Richard wept at Middleham. I have never forgotten the throughout Anne’s funeral, the source of this experience of holding that badge and wonder may be Caroline Halsted’s biography of whether anyone else has had that experience. Richard [Richard III, edition published by That one was certainly no fake. Alan Sutton 1977, first published 1844]. In My other unforgettable experience was vol. 2, p.397, footnote 2, she gives her source when visiting Windsor Chapel with two for Richard’s tears as Baker’s Chronicle, American friends. We were looking at the p.232. stalls of all the holders of the Order of the I have tracked down this chronicle: A Garter, and the attendant allowed me to sit in Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Richard III’s stall. I know exactly where it is time of the Roman’s Government to the death – the first stall on the right when entering the of King James the First, by Sir Richard chapel. Our American friends were very Baker, kt (1588-1645), but have not yet had impressed. time to go to the Bodleian Library and look at The Bulletin is a pleasure to read – most it. informative without being ‘heavy’. Editor: according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Sir Richard Barker’s Richard is a respectable name chronicle (written in the Fleet prison) was From Stephen York, by email ‘lively, often but not excessively so, The article in June’s Bulletin about Jane anecdotal’. Wikipedia remarks, ‘owing to Austen’s opinion of Richard reminded me of numerous inaccuracies its historical value is another passage in her work, which touches very slight’ – a bit of pot and kettle here? on the monarch’s later reputation. In the first chapter of Northanger Abbey, describing the ‘Bambi’ versus ‘superswine’ family of the heroine Catherine Morland, From Brian Wainwright, by email Austen says, ‘Her father was a clergyman, Geoffrey Wheeler’s most interesting article without being neglected, or poor, and a very ‘Bambi versus Superswine’ (June 2012 respectable man, though his name was Bulletin) prompts me to mention that the Richard’. The point of the ‘though’ is that by House of York had a two-fold claim to the the eighteenth century Richard was a very Holland cognisance. uncommon name among the English upper Duchess Joan’s eldest sister, Alianore and middle classes, so much so as to give rise Holland, married Roger, earl of March, and to comment when bestowed on the son of a so was the mother of Anne Mortimer and respectable family. Richard had clearly been a grandmother of Richard, duke of York. It was very popular name at all levels of society in of course through Alianore, countess of medieval England (as witness the survival of March, that Edward IV and Richard III (along so many surnames based on it, from Richards with many others living and dead) had and Richardson to Hicks, Higson, Hickson, descent from ‘the Fair Maid of Kent’. Dixon, Dickens and so on), but its popularity

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must have dropped like a stone during the recommend these books to anyone interested Tudor period. Possibly Richard lived on as a in Mary and Elizabeth Tudor and their times. boy’s name among the rural poor, whose The books are intriguing, chilling, and the naming habits have always been more story of the supposed unknown grandson of conservative than those of other sections of Perkin Warbeck entirely believable. If it society. If Richard was indeed a name hadn’t been for the mention of these books in surviving mainly among farm labourers and the Bulletin I would not have known of their the like, it would explain the term ‘a country existence. hick’ (Hick being a diminutive of Richard, like Hodge for Roger and Hob for Robert); No roof should be without one we associate this phrase nowadays with US From Janine Frances, Mildenhall, Suffolk usage, but it was already proverbial in England by the eighteenth century. By the 1800s, the effect of Richard III’s malign reputation must have been waning, because by 1900 it was the 23rd most chosen name for boys, and in 1950 stood at no. 20. Since then it has been in decline again – none of the lists of top 100 boys’ names for 2008 and 2011 that I consulted contain it.

Primary and Secondary Sources From Shirley Stapley, Devon and Cornwall Branch When my eleven-year-old grandson James started secondary school last September, I asked him what period he was studying in I couldn’t resist sending you this photo of the history. To my surprise and delight, he said weather-vane my clever husband made for that the subject would be Richard III. He had me. Isn’t it absolutely perfect? No roof should to present evidence for both sides, that either be without one. I’m absolutely over the moon, Richard had killed the princes, or he had not. as you can imagine. His conclusion was that he believed Richard Editor: has anyone else any Ricardian was not guilty, and he gave his reasons. weather-vanes or other house embellishments James was asked as well about the difference to tell us about? between a primary and a secondary source. I was amused when he wrote that an example ‘A horse, a horse ...’ of a primary source is when he asks his From Brenda Ruddock, Bishop Auckland Nanny about World War II, because she had Quite possibly I forgot to add an address label lived through it – however, when he asks her to the copy of the Saga crossword [June about Richard III she is a secondary source Bulletin, p. 25]. My apologies. What amazed because she is a member of the Richard III me most about 22 across was that it was one Society and is not old enough to remember of the first clues I solved. As I seldom get him herself. more than halfway with this crossword, I thought I had better wait for the February The Warbeck trilogy confirmation until I sent it in. From Jennifer Tidmarsh, via email Have you come across the Peter Maxwell I just wanted to thank you for the books by M.J. Trow? They are more or less advertisement in the June Bulletin of the War- ordinary detective novels, but Maxwell is a beck trilogy of books by Karen MacLeod, history teacher who considers Richard ‘a available on Kindle at Amazon. I haven’t read much maligned king’, and rides a bicycle such good fiction in many years and highly which he calls ‘White Surrey’.

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Visit to Stratford-upon-Avon and Baddesley Clinton 12 May 2012 To the Manor Borne On Saturday 12 May a band of Ricardians set off from London on a two-part visit, this time through the lovely and historic county of Warwickshire. The first call was to Stratford-upon-Avon, which exuded a festive air, made even more so by the colourful bunting aflutter in the gently blowing breeze. Although it has both Roman and medieval foundations and from a Domesday manor developed into a thriving market town, Stratford’s fame these days rests mainly on that of its most illustrious son, William Shakespeare. The town is rich in Elizabethan-style architecture, with many examples of ‘black and white’ buildings. Among them, in the town itself, are several with links to the Shakespeare family: the house of his father, John (a prosperous businessman and town bailiff in 1568), where William was born, that served both as trade and domestic premises; New Place, to which Shakespeare retired in 1616 and of which only the foundations of the original medieval house remain. However, the site is occupied by Nash’s House (William’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall, married Thomas Nash) and a knot garden, which together make a charming setting; the Edward VI School, a timbered fifteenth-century building (adjoining the chapel of Holy Cross Guild), where he (probably) received his Latin-based, formal education. Mercifully, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust now cares for some of these, rescued from further acts of depredation by souvenir hunters. A pleasant walk along the river Avon brings us to the collegiate church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, the parish church. Situated in Old Town Road, away from the present town centre, its steeple dominates the skyline and the approach to it, through its grassy graveyard with pollarded trees and mellowing memorials, is impressive. The building is laid out on the Gothic ground plan: east-to-west axis, cruciform in shape with transepts, aisles, crossing and chancel. The internal effect is of light and loftiness from the lancet windows, especially those parts in the perpendicular style, i.e. chancel and clerestory. From Saxon times this church evolved into what we see today: some parts are thirteenth- century (transepts, crossing and tower); other structures (arcades and nave) fourteenth-century. The archbishop of Canterbury (John de Stratforde) established a chantry chapel here (1331) dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury, thus its collegiate status. Outside the sanctuary stands the original, although damaged, font (recovered as a cistern), at which many parishioners, including Shakespeare, received their baptism (the present one in the nave is a Victorian copy.) Also here are the graves of William himself, of his wife Anne Hathaway, and several others of the family, all with plain incised stone slabs. In a niche on the south wall sits the semi-bust of Shakespeare, surrounded in marble and columns, cherubs above each side and the family coat of arms; in appearance balding, holding a quill and paper (tools of his trade), his hands resting on a rich embroidered, tasselled cushion. With schoolmasterly mien, the Latin text inscription underneath extolling his learned accomplishments, William seems to gaze down benignly on the scene before him. Then we travelled through more of this county’s delightful countryside for the next part of our cultural quest. On arrival, our driver successfully manoeuvring us through a (very) narrow lane (bravo!), there emerges from its seclusion the crenellated, towered and moated manor of Baddesley Clinton, which began from a Saxon settlement in the Forest of Arden. The Baddesley estate was part of the Hampton-in-Arden estate until c.1100. Then Roger de Mowbray bestowed it on Walter de Bisege, through the marriage of whose daughter to Sir Thomas de Clinton (1290), it took on the name that it bears to this day. John Brome bought it in 1438 and his son, Nicholas, inherited it (1483). Sir Edward Ferrers gained it on the death of Nicholas (1517) through marriage to John’s daughter Constance, and it remained in the Ferrers family until 1940.

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Crossing a charming courtyard via the moat bridge, we pass through the entrance hall (formerly the Little Hall), its windows displaying heraldic glass, which commemorates a Ferrers/ White marriage (1582) plus similarly themed panels, and several family portraits. Other domestic offices are reminders of the staff hierarchy in a large establishment: butler’s pantry; servants’ hall and kitchen. However, it contains a reminder of the danger for this recusant family with its dangerous past, when Over the bridge to Baddesley Clinton manor Catholics needed to be very wary of the pursuivants who hunted for hidden (usually Jesuit missionary) priests. Situated in a corner, immediately over the sewer, is a priest’s hole, visible through a glass cover. The pièce de résistance in the great hall is its mag- nificent chimney centrepiece. Its dominant feature is a central shield of the family’s coat of arms; Ferrers in the first quarter, quarters 2, 3 and 4 displaying those of Brome, Stampden and White with other smaller shields spread around it. The dining room has a cosy feeling with warm-toned furniture and the overmantle’s fine carving and dominant Ferrers shield of arms and its stained glass heraldic windows and more family portraits. The table set with the dinner service (c.1825) and other tableware is very inviting. The drawing room, an addition c.1790, is typically Victorian in its decoration and furnishings but has a ‘family’ air to it since it was used by the ‘Quartet’.* Baddesley Clinton kitchen: Tom Cooker, The next bedroom has Elizabethan woodwork Marian Mitchell, Elaine Robinson and panelling revealed after the removal of 15 coats of Rosemary Waxman over-painting, the colour of its curtains reflected in its being appropriately named the Blue Room Bedroom. Next is the sacristy, formerly used for the celebrant at mass, its ceiling fifteenth-century. At the end of the room, now covered by a trapdoor, was the garderobe, used by the Jesuit escapers. Although modest by some standards (3,000 books), the library was formerly reputedly the place of a murder, with a stone surround fireplace and sixteenth-century wooden panels. There is a nice suggestion of immediacy about it, where the elegant desk has on it a pair of opened spectacles, teapot and just-used cup and saucer . The last owner, Thomas Ferrers-Walker, sold the house in 1980 to the Government, which handed it over to the National Trust, and the site opened to the public in 1982. Although this place has had its share of danger, mayhem and murder and over the centuries witnessed much change, it now rests, surrounded by the moat and lovely gardens, in peaceful solitude. Our thanks must go to the Visits Team, and Marian Mitchell in particular, for a visit that was both instructive and enjoyable – not forgetting our driver.

* Edward Heneage Dering approached Lady Georgiana Chatterton for the hand of her niece, Rebecca, in marriage; she, being very deaf, thought it was for her and accepted and he, being very gentlemanly, did the honourable thing. Rebecca married Marmion Edward Ferrers and the four lived at Baddesley Clinton – the ‘Quartet’ And after the death of their respective spouses, Dering and Rebecca married. Tom Wallis

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Future Society Events

Christmas at Fotheringhay Saturday 15 December 2012

It’s time to book your places for Christmas at Fotheringhay – old friends, a good lunch, the uplifting experience of the carol service – the Christmas season starts here. At 12.30 pm, there will be a buffet lunch in the village hall, which will include a vegetarian option for those who have let me know beforehand. Desserts will include Christmas pudding and fruit salad, and there will be wine or soft drinks as desired, followed by coffee and mince pies. We also hope that Kitty Bristow will hold one of her raffles.

The carol service begins at 3 pm in the medieval church of St Mary and All Saints. It is similar in style to the Festival of Nine Lessons, and the music will again be led by the St Peter’s Singers. The coach from London will leave Charing Cross Embankment at 9.30 am, getting back between 7 and 7.30 pm. Pick-up in Bromley at 8.15 am will be available for those who let me know.

It will not surprise anyone, I’m sure, to learn that the costs have had to go up again this year. Everyone is aware of the relentless rise in food prices, but added to this is the increased cost of travel and I’m afraid the coach company have had to make a small increase in their charges. If you wish to take part (and who could not?), either by coach or using your own transport, please let me know as soon as possible which you require:

a) lunch and a place on the coach b) lunch after making your own way to Fotheringhay c) just a place in the church (so that we can estimate the seating required)

The costs will be as follows:

a) £ 41.50 to cover cost of coach, lunch, choir, admin., etc. b) £ 23.00 for lunch, choir, admin., etc.

I know some may think these costs seem a lot but they really are remarkably good value. As I’ve written before, if we were to pay what we should for the village hall, the meal and the choir, we would be adding another £15-£20 a head for this really wonderful day out. Think of it as lunch followed by a very fine concert, and it really doesn’t seem half as much.

Please complete the coupon and return it to me with a cheque, endorsed ‘Fotheringhay’, as well as an SAE, as soon as possible. (Remember: no SAE, no reply – no reply, no place!) Contact details on the inside back cover. There is no problem with disabled access to the village hall or the church. Phil Stone

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NORTH TO NEWCASTLE Thursday 11 July to Monday 15 July 2013

Newcastle upon Tyne is our destination for the 2013 long weekend. Places to be visited will include: Barnard, Raby, Prudhoe and Aydon Castles, Hadrian’s Wall, Lindisfarne and Flodden. We will stay at Jury’s Inn, just a few minutes from Newcastle station, where there is a choice of double/twin or single rooms. Four nights bed and breakfast, group train travel and coaches for day trips will cost in the region of £300 per person for sharing and £400 per person for a single room. Does this whet any appetites? Full details will be in the December Bulletin, but we would welcome advance notice of interest – get your name on the list first! Please contact Marian Mitchell, 20 Constance Close, Witham, Essex CM8 1XL. Tel: 01376 501984: Email: [email protected].

AUSTRALASIAN CONVENTION 2013 The NSW Branch will be hosting the biennial Australasian Convention

‘Richard III: the Man behind the Myth’

Friday 12 to Sunday 14 July 2013

at Novotel, Darling Harbour, Sydney

All members and friends of the Richard III Society are welcome. For further information and/or registration please contact the New South Wales Branch at [email protected]

Let’s mark the 530th anniversary of Richard’s and Anne’s coronation with one big celebration!

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The Richard 111 Society Worcestershire Branch

Present 1985-2011 An Illustrated TALK by GEORGE GOODWIN Author of

FATAL COLOURS: Towton 1461 The tragic reign of Henry VI & Towton, England's most brutal battle

“The Wars of the Roses have attracted many historians; some deal in the technicalities of military strategy; some analyse structures of power; some chronicle the lives of the chief protagonists. Much rarer is the ability to combine all three – but Goodwin has pulled it off in this page-turning read.” Helen Castor, Sunday Telegraph

Saturday November 10 at 2.00 pm at HANLEY CASTLE HIGH SCHOOL Church End, Hanley Castle, Worcestershire WR8 0BL Just off M5/M50 south of Worcester Tickets £4 available from Pat Parminter, 53 Roden Ave, Kidderminster, Worcs DY10 2RE, Tel 01562 67264 Light refreshments will be available

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The Barton Library

An Addition to the Non-Fiction Books Library Walk Towton 1461: a visitor guide to battle-related sites by Helen Cox and Alan Stringer (Herstory Writing and Interpretation/York Publishing Services, 2012, paperback) This concise illustrated guide allows the reader to follow Edward, earl of March’s campaign for the crown from the first engagement at Mortimer’s Cross to the bloody climax at Towton on Palm Sunday 1461. Featured are Wigmore Castle and Mortimer’s Cross, St Albans, Ferrybridge and Dintingdale, the Crooked Billet and St Mary’s Chapel, Lead. Also included are the Towton Battlefield Trail, Dacre’s Cross and Bloody Meadow and All Saints’ Church, Dacre’s tomb and the Towton Monument, Saxton.

An Addition to the Fiction Library Loyalty Binds Me by Joan Szechtman (Paperback 2011) The second book in a series featuring Richard III transported to the twenty-first century. His trip to Britain from Oregon is interrupted by the police, MI5, FBI and a tabloid reporter, all suspicious of his name (Richard Gloucestre), his identity and his intent regarding the current monarchy.

News from the Non-Fiction Papers Librarian The work of re-cataloguing the Papers Library continues, and is now near completion, which means that it should not be too long before a new catalogue becomes available. In the meantime, new additions continue to be made. These are just three articles that have been acquired over the last quarter. The first two relate to traditions regarding the battles of the Wars of the Roses, and the last to one of Richard’s ministers:

‘Hall Place and the First Battle of St Albans, 22 May 1455’ by Gerard McSweeney (Herts Past and Present, 3rd Series, Issue No 6, Autumn 2005) This article offers a critical examination, based on local records, of the oft-cited claim that Hall Place, which until 1905 stood at the north end of St Peter’s Street, sheltered Henry VI both before and during the battle.

‘The Battle of Sandeford: Henry Tudor’s understanding of the meaning of Bosworth Field’ by Tim Thornton (Historical Research, Vol 78, No 201, 2005) Those members who attended the Bosworth Conference may recall Anne Curry remarking that Sandeford – the name given to the Battle of Bosworth in an early proclamation – and Gladsmuir – a name associated with the battle of Barnet – may not have been the names of places in the vicinity of these battles at all, but may rather have been plucked from the prophecies of Thomas the Rymer. Anyhow, this is the article that explains it all.

‘John Gunthorpe: Keeper of Richard III’s Privy Seal, Dean of Wells Cathedral’ by A. Compton Reeves (Viator, Vol 39, No 1, 2008) A detailed and fascinating biography of the man whom Richard chose to be his Keeper of the Privy Seal, despite a history of service to Elizabeth Woodville.

Additions to the Audio Visual Library BBC4 tv ‘Metalworks: the Knight’s Tale’. The Wallace Collection’s Toby Capwell investigates the origins and evolution of the Greenwich Armouries, with visits to the lost site in London and

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the medieval de Vere effigies at Bures, Suffolk. Amongst the experts interviewed are Philippa Gregory, Angus Patters (V&A), and Thom Richardson (Royal Armouries) on the Henry VIII armours, as well as Stuart Phyrr (Metropolitan Museum, New York), and the introduction of modern replica construction and engraving/etching techniques are demonstrated by armourer Jeff Wasson. Contact details for all the Librarians are on the inside back cover.

Branches and Groups

West Surrey Group Report At our AGM in January, we had so many suggestions for our monthly meetings, we could have filled our 2013 meetings as well, and we nearly have. In February, twenty of us met in Holy Trinity church, Guildford, for a pre-matinee (and pre-book signing) talk by Alison Weir on ‘Richard III – The man and the myth’, ahead of the Guildford Shakespeare Company’s production of The Tragedy of Richard III. Ms Weir gave a robust presentation and was brave enough to stand up for questions at the end of it. The church made a marvellous theatre space, and the play performance, some of it in the round, was a tremendous blast of what theatre should be: engrossing, full-blooded and memorable. Indeed, murmurs of ‘Better than the Old Vic’ were heard from some of our group. At our March meeting, Matt Pinches, joint artistic/executive producer for the GSC (and the Duke of Clarence in the play), came to talk to us about the powerful female characters presented in Richard III, and also about what is entailed in putting on such a play in such a place, giving us a fascinating insights into how actors work, as well as the complexities of design, sound, lighting and fighting. In April, Jane Trump, from our neighbouring Thames Valley branch, met us in Tadworth to give us a talk on ‘Jane Shore: Fact and Fiction’. Members had numerous questions for Jane, and the afternoon developed into a very enjoyable discussion on various aspects of her talk Our May meeting took place in Ewelme, Oxfordshire, with a most interesting walk and guided tour by Professor Nigel Saul, in association with our local Surrey branch of the Historical Association. We saw (from the outside), a number of interesting historic buildings, including the school, and almshouses, established in 1437, by William de La Pole, the 1st duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Alice Chaucer. She and her father, Thomas, had been lords of the manor, and both are buried in the church of St Mary; she in a wonderfully overstated tomb, The village, its setting, its watercress stream, and the site of the vanished Ewelme Palace, where Alice and her father lived, together make the perfect vision of an English landscape. Some of us then travelled on, after lunch in a local pub, called Home Sweet Home , to the historic town of Wallingford, to visit the shops and castle, and have afternoon tea. Our June meeting was a visit to London, to the Victoria and Albert museum, where we were given a guided tour of the medieval and renaissance galleries, which were magnificent. After lunch in the museum’s restaurant, we spent rest of the day visiting other galleries in the museum. For our July meeting, we are planning to visit Chertsey, where one of the members of staff of the local museum will give us a talk on the history of the abbey, King Henry VI’s grave and the transfer of King Henry’s body to Windsor during the reign of Richard III, followed by a guided tour of the abbey ruins. In the afternoon, we will drive to Old Woking Palace, where the Friends of Old Woking Palace have very kindly agreed to give us a guided tour and a talk on its history. We would like to give a very warm welcome to Julie Roberts, Margaret Knight and Valerie Hall, who have joined our group this year. Gill Gibbins 60

Worcestershire Branch Report The Worcestershire Branch AGM was held this year on 14 April at Church House, Areley Kings. Two long-serving Committee members, Val Sibley, who had been secretary and treasurer, and Judith Sealey, who had served as librarian and chairman, retired, and were thanked for their unstinting support for the Branch and for the Society’s aims. Pat Parminter was re-elected as chairman with the remainder of the committee; Brenda and David Cox were elected as joint treasurers. Reports showed the Branch to be in good heart and financially stable. After the meeting, and refreshed by tea and cakes, members were able to examine Church House itself. Built in 1536, the building, recently and splendidly refurbished, was used for the brewing and selling of ale and subsequently as a stable, a barn, a school and a bier house. The building is jettied, which is unusual in the countryside, and has floors and window frames of English oak. Part of the ground floor has had the blue brick flooring reinstated; these bricks were discovered during the restoration and date from the time when the building was used as a stable. St Bartholomew’s church next door was mentioned in the twelfth century poem, the Brut by Layamon, who described himself as priest of Areley. His existence is recorded in an inscription on the base of the font, and there is a picture of him, dating from 1899, in the glass in a twelfth- century window. In May the Branch made a chilly, but interesting and enjoyable, visit to the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre. The relatively new exhibition and refurbished Visitor Centre has interactive displays, film clips, armour and maps, and also tells the story of the battle through the lives of four characters, Lord Stanley, a Norfolk archer, a young girl who lived at the White Boar inn in Leicester where Richard stayed the night before the battle and a French mercenary’s wife who was accompanying her husband. This man was injured and the treatment he received from the surgeon was explained. The information on the display boards certainly provoked discussions about accuracy and impartiality. After an excellent lunch in the Tythe Barn, members went outside where, in place of ‘Ambion Parva’, there was an encampment of Knights Templar and Knights Hospitallar and also a herbalist, all of whom gave most interesting short talks and were happy to discuss their roles. The visit concluded with a walk to the new sundial memorial and a discussion of how the ‘old’ battlefield fits Polydore Vergil’s description, the possible site identified by Michael K. Jones and the ‘new’ site. Returning via Dadlington, some of the group were spotted looking at the outside of St James’s church by the keyholder, who was happy to let them in. The requiem masses instituted by Henry VIII ceased in 1547, but there is an annual commemoration on the anniversary of the battle, so the slain are not forgotten. A small group of members visited Stokesay .Castle in Shropshire in June. Described by English Heritage as ‘the finest and best preserved fortified medieval manor house in England’, it looked superb and proved to be fascinating. And the planned picnic was enjoyed as it did not rain and the sun shone. The highlight of the autumn programme will be the lecture on 10 November by George Goodwin, author of Fatal Colours, the new and much praised book about the battle of Towton. The lecture is at 2 p.m. at Hanley Castle High School, Church End, Hanley Castle, Worcestershire WR8 0BL, just off the M5/M50 south of Worcester. All members of the Society will be most welcome to join us. Carol Southworth

Yorkshire Branch Report The Branch paid its now customary visit to Towton on Palm Sunday (1 April this year) for the commemoration of the terrible battle of March 1461. This year the weather was sunny and breezy, and our stallholders were variously able to spend time walking round the large living history encampment on the field by the barn and talking to some of the re-enactors taking part. We were much impressed by the standard of domestic comfort enjoyed by the captain of archers

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and his wife. Our Branch stall featured quite a lot of new merchandise and we made good sales, enjoyed meeting the public and enrolled a new member. As usual, an arrangement of flowers by our secretary Pauline Pogmore was placed on behalf of the Branch by the Dacre Cross outside Towton village. In the next issue of this Bulletin we hope to report on our Arthur Cockerill Spring Lecture, due to be given on 28 April in York by David Baldwin, and also on our Middleham Study and Excursion Day on 9 June. Branch members should have received details of these events in their April Newsletters, and also via our website. The committee is very pleased to learn that the new site is doing very well, and in the first year at its present address visits to it have increased by an impressive rate. Our thanks as always to James Garton for managing the site so efficiently. We hope to hold our Branch Bosworth commemoration at Middleham church on Sunday 19 August at 2.00 p.m. and our Branch AGM in York on Saturday 1 September. Tea will be available at the AGM as usual, and a booking form will appear with our August Newsletter. The Branch is holding a dinner (medieval costume optional this year) in York on Saturday 29 September, to coincide with the Society AGM that day – if you would like a menu and booking form, please contact our secretary before 15 September. Angela Moreton

Change of contact details

Keith Stenner writes that he has now retired, and therefore his previous email contact is no longer valid. He should be contacted at [email protected]

Pauline Harrison Pogmore writes that her email address is [email protected] (not .com as previously shown in the Bulletin).

RICHARD III AND EAST ANGLIA A record of the proceedings of the Triennial Conference of the Richard III Society held at Queens’ College, Cambridge, 15-17 April 2005

Edited and with foreword by Livia Visser-Fuchs Contents include: Richard of Gloucester and his East Anglia Lands: Anne F. Sutton Friends and Foes: Richard III and the East Anglian Magnates: The Howard Family: Anne Crawford The de Vere Family and the House of York c.1440-1485: James Ross The Last Yorkist Rebellion? Henry VII and the Earl of Suffolk, 1499-1501: Sean Cunningham Socio-religious Gilds of the Middle Ages: David Dymond ‘As dear to him as the Trojans were to Hector’: Richard III and the University of Cambridge: Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs

MEMBERS’ PRICE £5.00 + p&p (UK £3.00, EU £5.50, rest of world £8.50) Available from Anne Sutton, 44 Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1QF Please make cheques payable to The Richard III Society

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New Members

UK, 1 April to 30 June 2012 Overseas, 1 April to 30 June 2012 Mark Armstrong, Colchester Sean Brophy, Philadelphia, USA Michael Butler-Knife, Mulberry Green, Essex Cynthia Gregan, Manly, NSW, Australia Kitty Caisley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Angela Lowe-Van-Beek, The Hague, The Sebastian Carew Mills, Poulto, Glos Netherlands Sue Crowhurst, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire Bjorn Thorvinger, Lund, Sweden Hilary & Andrew Dearing, Reading, Berks Nelleke Van’t Veer-Tazelaar, La June Frith, Monks Risborough, Bucks Voorschoten, The Netherlands Diane Gebbie, Milton Keynes, Bucks Edward Goodall, Reading, Berks US Branch 1 April to 30 June 2012 Pamela & Martin Hargreaves, Northampton George Batts, Jacksonville, Florida Peter & Susan Lawson, Leeds Carole Bell, Haddon Township, New Jersey Susan Loudon, Manchester Sandy Green, Colorado Springs, Colorado David Mansel, Horsham, West Sussex Karen Huisman, St Ignace, Michigan Mary O’Sullivan, London Christopher Koon, Columbia, South Carolina Sally Parker, Tadworth, Surrey Eric Livingston, Walnut Creek, California Richard Postlethwaite, Castle Douglas Fred Manthal, Langhorne, Pennsylvania Victoria Rabbitts, East Garston, Berks Sandra Martensen, Yakima, Washington Duncan Rowe, Norwich Barbara Preheim, Palmdale, California Dominic Sewell, Whittlesey, Cambs Cynthia Spencer, Calne, Wilts Pamela Strong, Altrincham, Cheshire Rosemary Swabey, Shepton Mallet, Som Alan White, Redditch, Worcs

Recently Deceased Members

Mr E.W. Coles, Acklam, Cleveland (joined before 1985) Michael Farrar, London (joined in 2010) Mr G. Hooper, Sutton Coldfield (joined in 1987) Joyce Shanks, North Hykeham, Lancs (joined in 2003)

Harold Cadell Isolde Martyn writes: ‘The Sydney Branch are very sorry to report the death of Harold Cadell, a member of the Branch from its early days, and always stout in defending Richard III’s reputation. He was a courteous and well-read man, but in latter years age got the better of him and he could no longer come to meetings. Those who knew him will remember him as a kindly and quiet presence, with just that tad of flamboyance that was rather fun.’

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Calendar

We run a calendar of all forthcoming events notified to us for inclusion. If you are aware of any events of Ricardian interest, whether organised by the Society (Committee, Visits Committee, Research Committee, Branches/Groups, etc.) or by others, please let Lesley Boatwright have full details in sufficient time for entry. The calendar will also be run on the website.

Date Events Originator

2012 28-30 September Joint US-Canadian AGM and Canadian Branch (see June Conference, Toronto Bulletin)

29 September Members’ Day and AGM, York Executive Committee (see pp. 3-6)

30 September Excursion from York to Middleham Visits Committee (see p.5)

10 November Norfolk Branch Study Day Norfolk Branch (see June Bulletin)

10 November Talk by George Goodwin Worcestershire Branch (see p.58)

15 December Christmas at Fotheringhay Chairman (see p.56 and centre-fold)

2013

12-14 April Study Weekend Research Committee (see p.8 and centre-fold)

11-15 July North to Newcastle: 2013 long weekend Visits Committee (see p.57)

12-14 July Australasian Convention, Sydney NSW Branch (see p.57)

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The Achievement of arms of the Richard III Society

Front cover: Portrait of Richard III reproduced by kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries of London