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Ricardian Bulletin Magazine of the Richard III Society ISSN 0308 4337 September 2013 Ricardian Bulletin September 2013 Contents 2 From the Chairman 59 Privateers, pirates and the king’s peace 3 Updates from the Chairman in the West Country Elaine Henderson 6 Society news and notices 61 A series of remarkable ladies. 13 Future Society events 5. Juana la Beltraneja of Castile 16 Society reviews Rita Diefenhart-Schmitt 22 Other news, reviews and events 62 Painting King Richard Graham Turner 32 Research news 64 Correspondence 35–49 Looking for Richard – the follow-up: 68 Book reviews and notices 34 News from Leicester City Council 71 Ricardian crossword 5 by Sanglier Sarah Levitt 72 The Barton Library 34 Did Richard III intended to be buried 74 Branches and Groups in York Minster? David Johnson 81 New members 38 Richard III and the Magazine Gate: 83 Recently deceased members exploring a tradition 83 Obituaries Wendy E. A. Moorhen 84 Calendar 42 Medieval treatments for scoliosis 84 Stop Press – latest on the Judicial Tig Lang Review 45 The Greyfriars dig part II 47 Richard III: further debate and Colour section between pp 42 and 43 discord in his ongoing press and i The Australasian Convention media coverage Bruce Watson and Good King Richard on the rails Geoffrey Wheeler ii The Middleham weekend 50 The Man Himself: The face of Richard iii York’s Golden Boar III Caroline Wilkinson Pirates and privateers 55 Coming in your new-look December iv Leicester’s Magazine Gate Bulletin v The face of Richard III 56 Some notes on composing Sadoc vi A new painting of the King Sacerdos: a motet to celebrate the vii– discovery of Richard III’s remains viii Advertisements Michael Mullen The Ricardian Bulletin is produced by the Bulletin Editorial Committee. © Richard III Society 2013. Individual contributions and illustrations © the contributors except where otherwise stated. Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd. For details on submitting future contributions, please see p. 49 Bulletin and 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 inside back cover of the Bulletin 1 From the Chairman This momentous year continues apace with many events, publications and programmes inspired by the success of the Looking for Richard III project and the Greyfriars dig. The Society aside, I keep waiting for the wheels to fall off the bandwagon! Through the Bulletin, the website, RIII mailings and our Facebook page, we are doing our best to keep everyone informed and up to date. However we are always pleased to hear from members if they have knowledge of anything we have missed. Plans are progressing for the reinterment of King Richard in Leicester Cathedral next year, and in the updates that follow I have endeavoured to let you all know the current position. The most positive development is the confirmation that the king will have a raised monument and not a slab, which will be a great relief to many of you, I’m sure. As I write, in early August, there remains the possibility of a judicial review of the decision to reinter in Leicester if the Plantagenet Alliance’s application is successful. We hope the judiciary will see fit to settle this matter quickly. This is another excellent issue full of news, reviews and interesting and stimulating articles. Caroline Wilkinson provides us with a fascinating account of the skills and science behind King Richard’s facial reconstruction. With its many illustrations, this article will certainly be a highlight of the issue for many readers. David Johnson looks in more depth at King Richard’s possible intentions for York Minster; Tig Lang examines medieval treatments for scoliosis, some of which King Richard may have experienced; Elaine Henderson provides a perceptive interim review of The White Queen and an interesting piece on Cornish piracy; while Graham Turner gives the artist’s story behind his splendid new painting of King Richard at Bosworth. It’s good to have a review and photos of the successful Australasian Convention held in Sydney. Yet again they amaze and inspire us with the weekend’s range of talks and activities, and also the fact that so many participants flew such long distances to be there. Our congratulation to our Australian and New Zealand members on its success, and especially to the New South Wales Branch for their expert organisation of the event. Our new website continues to grow and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Wendy Moorhen for her lead role in the redesign project. I also need to thank her for the part she played in the organisation of the highly successful Leicester conference in March. We had much coverage of the event in the June Bulletin but failed to give her the credit for not only coming up with the idea in the first place, but also for organising the venue, programme and the speakers. Quite simply without her it wouldn’t have happened. So, an apology and belated thanks to Wendy for all she did to make the day such a success. The increased public profile of King Richard since the Greyfriars excavation has created a great deal of extra work for Society officers at all levels. The volume of communications and all the associated work has increased considerably and we need to remember that these officers are volunteers. Whilst the vast majority of those making contact do so in a polite manner, there is a very small minority who have been extremely unpleasant and impatient. Everyone is entitled to their point of view, but when that view is expressed in an abusive way, it is no longer acceptable. I have been very impressed by the Bulletin Committee’s plans for the redesign of the Bulletin, and look forward to its launch with December’s issue. The Bulletin in its various formats has served the Society exceptionally well for nearly 40 years, and the new design will ensure that this continues. This year’s AGM and Members’ Day will be a particularly interesting and possibly emotional one; the first since King Richard’s remains were identified and likely to be the last before those remains are honourably reinterred. Chris Skidmore will be our speaker, his book Bosworth: the birth of the Tudors having recently been published. He is currently researching and writing a full-scale biography of King Richard and so it will be very interesting to hear what he has to say. I look forward to 5 October and the opportunity to meet members and discuss our work and plans for the future. Phil Stone 2 Updates from the Chairman Boars – ‘size does matter’! In the March Bulletin, I wrote that we had been advised that Leicester Cathedral had problems with the use of King Richard’s boar on the tomb design ‘in “multicultural” Leicester’. Whilst this seemed very strange, the three of us at that meeting agreed afterwards that that was what we had heard. However, it would seem that the cultural mix of the city of Leicester has nothing to do with it after all. We now learn that there is actually no problem with it being a pig – after all, they have already accepted the boar on Richard’s banner, which they will also be getting – it lies with the size of his ‘endowment’. Their concerns are about how well blessed he is and we have been advised that, as long as the boar on the tomb is only moderately endowed, there is no problem. Believe it or not, acceptability all depends on the length of the penis! It would seem that size does matter after all. Our boar must display his strength, courage and virility with his tusks and bristles while being modest down below. My thanks go to Sally Henshaw of the Leicestershire Branch for this. It is she who represents the Society on the relevant task group discussing such matters and who struggled to keep a straight face during the discussion! Thank you, Sally, and well done. ‘It’s a tomb!’ – Leicester/shire update Further to my item about the boars, here are a few other odds and ends to keep you up-to-date. The most important thing to say is that Leicester Cathedral have agreed that King Richard will get a proper tomb after all and, although the design we submitted will not be used, it has clearly influenced their proposal. As I write, nothing is fixed – there are still hoops to be jumped through. Even the dean and chapter of the cathedral do not have the final say. The design must be approved by the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England (CFCE) and we may not hear from them until October/November. The proposal is for the remains to lie in their coffin in a brick-lined vault, over which Richard will get a solid block of stone between 2–3 ft thick. The block, which we still hope will be of York stone, will rest upon a layer of white marble, shaped to represent the white rose of the House of York. Around this will be a circle of black slate, into which will be inlaid in white stone Richard’s name and dates and his motto. We hope it will also include his boar, with or without an impressive endowment! The architect’s drawings that I have seen (one is reproduced on the next page) show a very handsome monument and King Richard will be ‘right royally’ served by his tomb.