the Ricardian Bulletin The magazine of the Richard III Society

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE REINTERMENT RICHARD III'S ISOTOPE ANALYSIS 2014 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING BOSWORTH 2014 REVIEW December 2014 Advertisement the Ricardian Bulletin The magazine of the Richard III Society December 2014 Richard III Society Founded 1924 Contents www.richardiii.net 2 From the Chairman In the belief that many features of the tradi- 3 Reinterment news tional accounts of the character and career of 6 Members’ letters Richard III are neither supported by sufficient evidence nor reasonably tenable, the Society 9 Society news and notices aims to promote in every possible way 20 Future Society events research into the life and times of Richard III, 22 Society reviews and to secure a reassessment of the material relating to this period and of the role in 32 Other news, reviews and events English history of this monarch. 40 Research news Patron 43 Looking for Richard – the follow-up HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO 51 The Man Himself: President 51 Richard III: the isotope analysis Professor Jane Evans Peter Hammond FSA 52 Richard III: scoliosis, pulmonary disease and historical data Vice Presidents Peter Stride John Audsley, Kitty Bristow, Moira Habberjam, 54 Articles Carolyn Hammond, Jonathan Hayes, 54 A Christmas celebration – medieval to modern Toni Mount Rob Smith. 55 A review of ‘Rulers, Relics and the Holiness of Power’ Executive Committee Susan L. Troxell Phil Stone (Chairman), Jacqui Emerson, Gretel Jones, Sarah Jury, Marian Mitchell, 57 The lady of Warblington Diana Whitty Wendy Moorhen, Sandra Pendlington, Lynda 59 Pain relief in the later Middle Ages Tig Lang Pidgeon, John Saunders, Anne Sutton, 61 Books Richard Van Allen, David Wells, Susan Wells, Geoffrey Wheeler, Stephen York. 65 From the Barton Library 67 Branch and group reports The Ricardian Bulletin is produced by the Bulletin Editorial Committee. 67 From the Branches and Groups Liaison Officer [email protected] 71 Membership © Richard III Society 2014 ISSN 0308 4337 Other features Individual contributions and illustrations © the contributors except where otherwise 21 Ricardian crossword 10 by Sanglier stated. 38 On the lighter side Designed by Flagholme Publishing Services 72 Coming in March’s Bulletin Printed by XLPress Limited Distributed by E-Mediacy Limited 72 Obituary Advertising contact: Howard Choppin, Inside back cover: Society contacts, Subscription rates and Calendar [email protected] For details on submitting future contributions, please see p. 41.

Cover photo: King Richard prepares to make his final charge at the Bosworth anniversary weekend – see p. 22. (Photo: Stephen York.) Right: The Leicester Richard III Visitor Centre is now open – see p. 32.

1 From the CHAIRMAN

As I write, another amazing Ricardian year has ended events in Fotheringhay for many years, I am particularly and there is the promise of an even more exceptional one pleased to see a group being formed there. Now that to come. In my address to the AGM, of which an Juliet Wilson is no longer able to be our eyes and ears, abridged version appears on p. 13, I emphasised the we really do need a closer presence in the village of importance of ensuring that King Richard is buried with Richard’s birth and, just to show what we say about dignity and honour, and we all have a part to play in geography and membership of the branches and that. For that week in Leicester next March, I hope all groups, I am already signed up as a long‐distance Ricardians – individuals and organisations – will come member of the Fotheringhay group! together and honour King Richard, for he deserves We have a number of members who have been nothing less. involved with the Society for a very long time, indeed in By now, all those of you who were members on or some cases for over half a century. Shirley Linsell is a before 13 November will have received full details of the prime example of such service, and I am pleased to note Society’s own arrangements for the reinterment week, that we have a report about the recent party celebrating together with details of the ballot for places at the main her 80th birthday and 55 years membership of the events where numbers are limited. A great deal of work Richard III Society; well done Shirley and belated many has gone into these arrangements and I would again happy returns. like to express my thanks to all involved with putting Our Members’ Day and AGM in Norwich was very the programme together. successful: the attendance was high, the atmosphere That we have reached this point is due, of course, to friendly, all our stalls reported a good day’s trading the Looking for Richard team and the ultimate success and, as one might have expected, Helen Castor’s talk of their project. I was very pleased to further was both fascinating and informative. There was, of acknowledge their achievement with the award of course, much anticipation for the events of next March honorary life membership to Annette Carson, to and a common desire for everything to proceed with complement the same honour already given to Philippa dignity and respect. From a personal point of view, too, Langley and John Ashdown‐Hill. The team have it was good to meet and talk to members from across the published their account of the project and subsequent country and overseas. My thanks to those new members events and you can read a review of it on p. 61 who made themselves known to me. This is another very full, interesting and entertaining We welcome two new members of the Executive Bulletin. We have articles touching on Richard’s diet, his Committee, our new treasurer Sarah Jury and Sandra scoliosis and remedies he may have used to relieve pain. Pendlington. They both come with useful new skills and Toni Mount provides us with a fascinating account of experience, as can be seen from their profiles on p. 16. medieval and modern Christmas festivities, together To further strengthen the team, we are now seeking a with an intriguing recipe for Lamb’s Wool Wassail. We Communications Manager to help with the increasing also have our usual eclectic range of reviews and news. workload generated by our internet presence and These days, there is certainly no shortage of material expanding membership. See the notice on p. 17 and do when it comes to the subject of Richard III. get in contact if you are interested in the post. We hear from Dominic Smee, who won a lot of As we approach the festive season, may I wish all praise, and justly so, for his participation as King members an enjoyable Christmas wherever you are, and Richard’s body‐double in the recent Channel 4 a safe and happy New Year, as we welcome the year documentary, their shared scoliosis adding much to its when we will honour both the man and the king. realism. I’m delighted to report that we have now Phil Stone awarded Dominic five years’ honorary membership of the Society. Subscriptions now overdue I’m pleased to read in Jacqui Emerson’s report that our new groups are making good progress in getting Subscriptions for the current membership year were due on established; it’s certainly true that joining a branch or 2 October 2014. If you haven’t yet renewed, please see the group is a great way to meet like‐minded Ricardians. renewal form in the centrefold section for rates and It’s also good to see that there are aspirations to start methods of payment. Please note that renewal by 31 new groups in the Birmingham, Oxford and December latest is an essential condition for inclusion in Fotheringhay areas and also a new American chapter in the ballot for reinterment events (see next page) California. Having been closely associated with Society 2 REINTERMENT news prayer will include ecumenical participation and Mass Reinterment update will be celebrated for the repose of his soul in the church Leicester Cathedral’s and the Society’s own plans for the of Holy Cross, the local Catholic Church. week of the reinterment are now well advanced. All • The remains of Richard III will be received into those who were members as at 13 November should Leicester Cathedral on Sunday 22nd March 2015; an already have received a mailing outlining details of both invited congregation will pray at a service of programmes together with information about the Compline, where Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the balloting arrangements for those events where there will Archbishop of Westminster, will preach. be limited ticket allocations. However, to qualify for the • On Monday 23 March, Cardinal Nichols will ballot your 2014/15 subscription renewal must have celebrate Mass for the repose of the soul (a ‘Requiem been received by the Membership Officer no later than Mass’) of Richard III in Holy Cross Church, the Catholic parish church and Dominican priory in 31 December 2014. Any member who joined on or before Leicester city centre. The Choir from St Barnabas’ 13 November 2014 and has not received this mailing Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of please contact the Secretaries (contact details on the Nottingham, will sing at this Mass, which will be inside back cover). open to the public. The highlights of the Society’s programme are: • On Thursday 26 March, the mortal remains of Richard III will be re‐interred in Leicester Cathedral, • A hospitality suite available from 23 to 27 March, with an invited congregation and in the presence of which will act as a useful meeting/rest place for the Most Revd Justin Welby, Archbishop of members and a focal point for the many Ricardians Canterbury and senior clergy from both dioceses, who will be in Leicester for the reinterment events. and other Christian denominations alongside • On 23 March a get‐together for members in the form representatives of the World Faiths. of an informal buffet at the Holiday Inn. To try and • On Friday 27 March, invited people from across the satisfy anticipated demand, there will be two city of Leicester and the county of Leicestershire will servings – a lunch at 12.30 p.m. and an early supper gather in the Cathedral to mark the end of King at 4.30 p.m. Richard’s journey and the sealed tomb will be • Also on 23 March, at 7 p.m., the Society has arranged revealed to the public. for the Cathedral to hold a service solely for Details of the cortege route were announced in a further members. For those who wish to stay on after the press release on 14 October; here are the key details: service there will be an informal reception in the Grand Hall in St Martin’s House, next to the On Sunday 22 March 2015, a hearse will leave the Cathedral. University of Leicester during the late morning and travel • During the afternoon of 25 March, the Society has to Fenn Lane Farm, reputedly the site of King Richard’s arranged a block booking to enable an exclusive and death, before moving on to nearby village parish churches focused visit to the Richard III Visitors’ Centre. of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney. The cortege will visit Dadlington as some of the battle‐ • In the evening of 26 March the Society is organising dead are buried in the churchyard of St James the Greater. a performance of Geoffrey Davidson’s Middleham Sutton Cheney has been chosen because some people Requiem at the church of St James the Greater, believe that King Richard took his final Mass at St James’ London Road, Leicester. church on the eve of the battle. • A Society brochure will be published to bring all the The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, will relevant information together, including a map of then lead a short ceremony at the Bosworth Battlefield Ricardian Leicester and information about where to Heritage Centre in the early afternoon. The cortege will visit in the area. then go on to Market Bosworth, Newbold Verdon and Desford as it makes its way back to Leicester. The Cathedral’s own plans were outlined in a press The King’s mortal remains will re‐enter the City of statement released on 19 September 2014: Leicester in mid‐afternoon at Bow Bridge, where they will be greeted by the City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, and the The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Lord Mayor, Councillor John Thomas. Archbishop of Westminster will both be taking part in A horse‐drawn hearse will then be used to complete the services in Leicester Cathedral to mark the reinterment of final section of the King’s journey from Bow Bridge King Richard III. This means the most senior clergy of through the city centre to the Cathedral, where the Dean both the Church of England and the Catholic church in of Leicester, the Very Revd David Monteith, will meet the this country will be present as the former monarch is laid coffin when it arrives at the Cathedral just before 6.00 p.m. to rest during a week of events from 22 to 28 March next year. During the days of repose as the King awaits For further details and updates please see Leicester reinterment, Leicester Cathedral’s regular pattern of Cathedral’s own website: www.leicestercathedral.org. 3 REINTERMENT news

For those planning a visit to the city for reinterment say, for my own part I’ve found them invariably week further information about Leicester can be obtained delightful, learned in their respective spheres, and from Visit Leicester, 51 Gallowtree Gate, Leicester LE1 interested in their new partners. And to a person 5AD. Tel: 0116 299 4444; e‐mail: [email protected]; fascinated by the amazing story they have become part website: www.visitleicester.info. Opening hours: of. I know there’s been one line of thought that suggests Monday to Saturday 9.30 a.m.–5.30 p.m.; Sundays and some at the University have sought to minimise the Bank Holidays 11 a.m.–5 p.m. contribution of the Looking for Richard project team to It is hoped that we will be able to involve as many the whole discovery. For myself, I’ve met no one who members as possible in our own events and we look takes that view. But whatever the persistence of those forward to welcoming and meeting Ricardians from all who originated the project, without the engagement, parts of the world during what promises to be a skills and, let it be said, considerable funding that the memorable week in Leicester next March. In the University has brought to bear, both on the dig and meantime we will continue to keep members updated since, those mortal remains would still be where history about our plans via our website, RIII Mailings and left them in 1485. It’s been a collaborative effort – and of branch and group network. course the institution has had more expertise and resource to bring to bear on it. But with that, also great A view from Leicester Cathedral energy from a number of key people, who I’m glad to be able to call new friends. There’s a palpable sense of gathering anticipation as next Our partners clearly also include the two local March draws ever nearer. And alongside that a councils – the City of Leicester and Leicestershire realisation of the number of things to do – and do right County Council. Two bodies which, since they were – if we’re to do justice to all that’s before us. But alongside separated at the end of the 1990s, have not been things to do, there’s also been a whole lot of people to conspicuous for collaborative working. But this project meet. So having been given the chance to write again for has brought them together in ways many would have the Ricardian community (thanks), I thought I’d share found unimaginable just a few years back. Of course, with you just some of the stakeholders I’m finding changing political personnel have helped here as well. myself dealing with – and what it calls on from me as a We do work, at ‘top level’, with the ‘names’: Sir Peter person, and us as a Cathedral. Soulsby, City Mayor, Nick Rushton, leader of the Well, let’s start with the natural readers of this county council, and their most senior executive officers. Bulletin – Ricardians one and all. As I wrote in the last But at a layer below there’s an immense amount of Bulletin, I have quickly realised that Ricardians come in collaboration and goodwill, as officers work with all shapes and sizes and it really doesn’t do to Cathedral and diocesan staff and key members of the generalise. Some of my best friends have been public to produce a programme of events that a whole Ricardians for years, it emerges. Some Ricardians I have city and county can be proud of. And why wouldn’t met in the course of this whole project are fast becoming they? Special mention should go here to two officers good friends – in some cases starting from a position of seconded since May this year from city and county to suspicion, and moving into greater trust. Others remain enable the project to work to best effect. That’s Miranda more wary. And then there are the few, who write Cannon of the City Council (who is part‐time Project inordinately long letters, and seem unable to accept that Director) and Julian Haywood of the County Council, we are acting in anything like good faith – or else are full‐time Project Manager. Julian now shares an office perhaps unwitting pawns in the hands of malevolent with Cathedral staff, and Miranda is a regular visitor. Tudor forces. As I say – a diverse bunch of people, as They’re great colleagues, lovely people – and working well you might expect. What it calls for is in ways as unfamiliar as they are creative. It’s proving understanding, empathy, patience – and occasionally a good for us to have these relationships – and we hope touch of firmness. Responding to all those challenging it’s good for them too! letters and e‐mails can take up a lot of time, which it Then there’s the media – local and global. Of course doesn’t always feel as though we have, with all else we knew our local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury, and there is to do. But we do try. Because whatever else may BBC Radio Leicester (whose offices, as it happens, are be the case, we do believe that people matter to God. next door to the Cathedral) well already. But we’ve Not just those we agree with, but all people. needed to get more used to a whole range of new Then there are the good people of the University. relationships. Starting with Darlow Smithson That’s the University of Leicester, of course, not our Productions, who covered the original story of the dig, much closer neighbour, De Montfort University (though and made those amazing programmes for Channel 4. we like them too). It’s been a particular joy to get to They’re covering the ongoing developments with us know some of those closely involved in the Richard III and others – and will be covering the reinterment live project quite well. Some are names and faces you see on Channel 4 next March. Then there’s East Midlands regularly in the public eye. Others less so. And I have to TV Inside Out programme, who are also covering the 4 REINTERMENT news

Building work in Leicester Cathedral in preparation for next March’s reinterment. Photo courtesy Pete Hobson, Leicester Cathedral. story from a more regional perspective. And an grant‐giving bodies and key individuals. Very soon we assortment of national and international journalists who will move into a public phase, where anyone and have their own take on the story, often looking for the everyone is encouraged to give, if they wish to. more spectacular – and so less accurate – versions of Everyone who does will be acknowledged, both on our stories as they surface. We have a whole website, with a letter from our Appeal Patron, the Duke communications stream of activity, of course, co‐ of Gloucester, and in a large Book of Recognition to be ordinating those people who already do this for city, displayed in the Cathedral. Motives for giving can be county, university and church. These are the faces you many and varied, but all are, by definition, our Friends. usually don’t see, their names hidden as they become The challenge for us, as Cathedral, is to value each and the anonymous ‘spokesperson’ for their organisations, every one, not simply for how much they give, but for so the more visible leaders can remain in the public eye. the people they are. But the work they get through is immense, both There are of course a whole lot more people we get to preparing the news that’s ready to be put out, and also meet because of this project whom I don’t have time or reacting to whatever others manage to throw at us. And space to list. But every one of them is unique, and every if the core business of the church is communicating a one interesting. And when it’s all done, the dust is gospel, then getting to know and work with a whole settled, and King Richard III is laid back to rest in the range of people whose business it also is, is at the very ground beneath Leicester Cathedral, it’s those least fascinating! relationships and friendships that will be there. Some to Finally as a category come our donors. Those whose develop and grow – others to be simply what they were financial support is enabling all of this to happen. The at the time, forged out of a unique set of events. Because cost to the Cathedral of the entire project is, as is now projects and events – even the most momentous – well known, budgeted at £2.5m. That either sounds like simply happen, and then are over. But people and an awful lot of money, from one perspective – or very relationships are what life is made of. little for a unique event of this national significance. I’m Pete Hobson not going to argue that point now. But the people who Canon Missioner, Leicester Cathedral have so far responded come in all shapes and sizes. From individual wealthy benefactors who have given You can read more of Pete’s thoughts in his weekly Blog, what seem – to me – very large sums, through to the available on: www.leicestercathedralkingrichardiii.org, where donors through our website who just want to offer their you can also choose to support the Cathedral’s Appeal, if you £10 or £50 to the cause. So far our Appeal has been in a wish. Regular news updates are available on the Project website private phase – with individual approaches to trusts, www.kingrichardinleicester.com. 5 Members’ LETTERS

Will contributors please note that letters may be shortened or edited to conform to the standards of theBulletin . The Bulletin is not responsible for the opinions expressed by contributors. More praise for Aneurin outpouring of love for Richard and also implicitly denies Richard III’s Barnard knowledge about this lovely man and contention that Edward IV’s children his truly courageous character. were illegitimate.’ Was killed? Quite From Gloria Botevyle apart from the fact that there is no Having recently joined the Richard III evidence for any killing, the immediate Society, I was interested to see a letter Disappointed by ‘The Yorkist question here is why would anybody from Sharon Lock in the June edition of Age?’ deliberately kill only one boy? The the Ricardian Bulletin, concerning the From: Margaret Byrne minute Edward is ‘killed’ the second boy portrayal of Richard by Welsh actor I read the review article ‘The Yorkist becomes king – if the evidence of their Aneurin Barnard in last year’s TV mini‐ Age?’ by Clifford S. L. Davies in the illegitimacy is doubted. It seems that the series The White Queen. I agree fully with latest volume of The Ricardian (Volume supposition here belongs to Dr Davies. Sharon’s comments about Aneurin’s XXIV, 2014) with an increasing sense of Does Margaret of York, duchess of more positive portrayal of Richard, disappointment at the casual use of anti‐ Burgundy’s support for Warbeck really which is long overdue. Ricardian phrases and sentiments that deny the evidence of the Act of Being a lover of history, particularly the Society has done so much to dispel. Parliament that Edward’s children were the period of the Wars of the Roses and This was particularly evident on p. 122, illegitimate? Or does it demonstrate that of the Tudor period, I was interested to with mention of ‘the dubious premise she would prefer an illegitimate son of see how Richard would look and would that Richard III’s bastardisation of his York on the throne, rather than an be portrayed. At the time, having no brother’s children (and/or of Edward illegitimate son of Beaufort and, particular opinion on Richard’s himself) was credible’. Given the fact perhaps, Tudor? By suggesting that the character either way, I found that, as the that King Edward married Elizabeth revelation that King Edward’s children series developed, Aneurin’s enigmatic Woodville in secret with no banns were illegitimate was ‘Richard III’s portrayal gradually enraptured me and published, it seems to me entirely contention’, this draws on the traditional I became completely fascinated with credible that he may have done this on view that he personally made the Richard and wanted to find out more more than one occasion. A previous allegation up in order to gain the throne. about him as opposed to the very secret marriage creates the need for a Events suggest otherwise – he seems to obvious information which has been second secret marriage – no banns, no have been taken completely by surprise handed down to us by history in objections. Moreover, this ‘dubious when presented with evidence of a pre‐ general. premise’ was accepted by parliament. contract. Shortly after this I watched the The Lords and Commons must have Ironically, Dr Davies claims to amazing TV programme The King’s been provided with sufficient evidence recognise how the choice of language in Grave. I was captivated! By the end, I was for the illegitimacy of the sons of an article is influenced by the completely ‘hooked’ and began ordering Edward IV to satisfy the majority. That assumptions of the author – but perhaps several books about Richard. I would evidence became enshrined in Titulus he sees this more easily in the writing of like to especially thank Philippa Langley Regius. Here, Dr Davies continues on pp others, rather than in his own. Talking of and Michael Jones for their wonderful 123–4 with ‘the denunciation of Edward labels, he continues ‘language we use for book The King’s Grave: the search for IV’s reign in the Titulus Regius of the convenience reflects back into our Richard III. I was gripped from beginning 1484 parliament may well be the most underlying assumptions and distorts to end and found the account of savage, indeed hysterical, denunciation reality’ (p. 124). Touché, Dr Davies! Richard’s death very moving. by a government of its predecessor in Although I was born and raised in English history.’ Personally, I believe south‐east England, I now live in that the wording of the Act is evidence Interpretation of scientific Guernsey in the Channel Islands but aim of King Richard distancing himself from data to join a group either in the south‐west what he saw as the corruption of the last From: Eva Pitter or south‐east of England, Guernsey few years of his brother’s reign and As a very curious person, I was never being situated between both, to help me wishing to put the law back at the heart against further research on the bones of keep in touch with ‘local’ events. of government. This is precisely what he Richard III. But lately I ask myself, what As Sharon Lock mentioned, there did – seeming to model rule of the is the benefit of the research, when the were many historical faults in the TV country on his successful and impartial results are so carelessly interpreted in drama The White Queen but Aneurin’s rule in the north. the media? portrayal of Richard was for me, the star Also on p. 123, in note 9, C. S. L. When I read the article on the isotope of the show; he drew you in to Richard Davies suggests that ‘Margaret’s results in The Lancet, there was a and gave a truly inspired performance, support of Warbeck as Edward IV’s sentence that caught my eye. It said that which has increased Richard’s profile to younger son presupposes that Edward it was the first time that the increase of the extent that there has been a great V was killed on Richard III’s watch; it 18 O isotope had been interpreted as

6 Members’ LETTERS increase of wine intake. The research explain it? The answer, we believe, is to scoliosis, or other infirmities for that team suggested this. This makes me be found in a closer examination of the matter, as punishments from God or wonder if there could possibly be other medieval mind, particularly the pious curses from the devil. It is worth suggestions to explain the data. medieval mind. pointing out that the study of medicine In the Channel 4 documentary, Then, as now, the teachings of Christ was a serious practice in the Middle Professor Lamb came to the conclusion were a source of great comfort to the Ages. Cures were actively sought, as that Richard drank one bottle of wine devout. We know (from Bishop well as relief from painful conditions. If each day. Then we are told that Langton’s letter) that Richard took his our medieval ancestors believed aristocrats never drank water, which duties as a Christian prince very ailments or conditions were obviously leads Dr Buckley to the seriously, and we may safely assume manifestations of divine punishment conclusion that Richard drank three that his piety was underpinned by a then, surely, it would have been litres of wine every day. The newspapers sound knowledge of the Bible. Richard, tantamount to blasphemy to attempt to are euphoric, they have another like any of his noble or aristocratic cure – or even overcome – such revelation about this controversial king contemporaries, would have been afflictions. to announce. Some state bluntly: familiar with Chapter 9 of St John’s The religion of Scientology and the ‘Richard III was an alcoholic’. And they gospel, in which Christ famously beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses are also know exactly why he resorted to restored the sight of a blind man. modern examples of how such an alcohol, because he was weighed down From our point of view, attempting to ideology would work in practice. And by his responsibilities as king. understand Richard’s perception of his yet we see medieval people undergoing I must reject the notion that rich scoliosis, the significance of the miracle what could only have been extremely people in Richard’s time never drank lies in the context in which Christ was painful surgery, as well as highly water. It is, for instance, documented compelled to act. The disciples asked if unpleasant treatments, in order to that Charles the Bold always drank his the man was born blind because he had alleviate their suffering. Richard, we wine watered. Obviously it was safer to sinned or because his parents had suggest, was one such who bravely drink water mixed with wine, for the sinned. ‘Neither’ replied Jesus; ‘but that accepted what he believed were the alcohol seems to have killed some the works of God should be made challenges of God’s creation and worked dangerous organisms in the water. manifest in him.’ And with that, Christ hard to meet the expectations of his I wish someone would speak out promptly restored the blind man’s divine Master. against the insinuations uttered in the vision, and thus made manifest the Channel 4 documentary. Such as: works of God. Richard III’s Books – a ‘Greed ran in the family, Edward was So blindness was not caused by sin, reflection described as a glutton by continental much less a punishment of God. Quite From: Neville Sibery writers, so Richard possibly was the contrary, in fact; loss of sight was The writer has nothing but admiration dissolute on grounds of clan liability.’ deemed an occasion in which the mercy for Anne E. Sutton and Livia Visser‐ ‘Mr Smee tired quickly on the of God’s purpose would be revealed. Fuchs for producing Richard III’s Books, treadmill – it follows that Richard’s And this, we propose, is how Richard particularly for their basic presentation scoliosis also restricted his breathing.’ would have viewed his scoliosis. Not as of Richard’s library. I think they ‘Richard suffered from roundworms, divine retribution or an act of witchcraft, acknowledge a major problem, common an affliction that was possibly but as a test provided by the Almighty, to examining any library, in knowing if debilitating – causing nausea, vomiting an opportunity for Richard to the owner actually read the books and and diarrhoea – which further demonstrate his true faith and strength whether he read others that may have compromised his health.’ of character by overcoming his scoliosis been available (and there were many). I protest that in the documentary the to the glory of God. Looking back into Richard’s library, worst possible case is always taken as a It is, we believe, too crude a there are many didactic, almost fact, which leads to the final conclusion simplification to suggest that medieval instructional, books, whose inclusion that ‘he was bodily in no shape for minds explained conditions such as perhaps was dictated by duty; less fighting’. I would like to read a sensitive, conscientious consideration of the scientific results with no assumptions and suppositions, one that is not afraid Social media to say: we don’t know, when the The Executive Committee has discussed concerns about statements, evidence is not certain. principally on Twitter, that purport to, or could be taken to, come Reply to Lynda Pidgeon officially from the Society or one of its branches or groups. Please note From: David and Wendy Johnson that all members commenting on Twitter in any matter relating to Lynda Pidgeon (‘The Man Himself’, Richard III and/or the Society must include a disclaimer that any views June 2014 Bulletin, pp 39–41) suggested expressed are their own and are not necessarily those of the Society. that either witchcraft or God’s Any member found to be persistently ignoring this rule could face the punishment were the only ways in sanction of having their membership revoked. which Richard could have interpreted The Executive Committee the onset of his scoliosis. How else, Lynda asked, could the medieval mind

7 Members’ LETTERS onerous were the chronicles, rolls and Livia Visser‐Fuchs responds: Beverley, Leicester and is Anglican. It the like, encouraging chivalry; but then I would like to thank the writer of the may seem appropriate to invite one of we have Geoffrey of Monmouth (the above letter for his kind and erudite the Order to the events in March. I make ‘inventor’ of Arthur) and Guido delle words and respond to one aspect of this suggestion because, after Bosworth, Colonne, which prompts the question these comments. Richard’s ‘library’ is being Franciscans and loving life in all ‘did Richard read Italian?’ – was he indeed ‘a guide to his personality’ and things, they would have cared for proficient in Latin – and if so, then does, I think, open a window – the only Richard’s body, preparing it for burial Boccaccio seems more likely to have window we have? – into his soul, but with love and dignity. been at least observed. At the other end unfortunately we will never been able to It may also interest Ricardians that of the scale are the English medieval definitively interpret what we see there there are First, Second and Third Orders short stories, collected by Brewer, of a and whatever we say about his selection within the Anglican Franciscans. The sort that might be recounted around an of texts will always remain speculative, Third Order, of which I have made my open fire as soldiers relaxed, to be just as we will never be able to really life profession, has over 2,000 members, overheard by observant leaders, among judge the character even of a close friend consisting of lay and ordained. I am also whose number we might like to include whose collection we can admire as a a Ricardian, having joined in the 1980s Richard. whole and in detail. About Richard’s but lapsed, until re‐joining two years If what a person reads is a guide to his library, Anne and I have tried to offer all ago. So I have a dual connection and personality or his general adaptation to the clues we had, but also put them would like to be part of the exciting his environment, what parameters could continually in perspective. proceedings in March, in some way. define what we might anticipate? Could Some clues are stronger than others, My final comment is that when we get closer to the medieval mind, and however. When I was studying the small Richard was buried, according to the perhaps that of Richard, by immersing ‘collection’ of manuscripts that survives rites of the Catholic Church, it was a ourselves into an ocean of literature? for Richard of York, Richard’s father, I Christian burial, and now the How many of us have read Geoffrey of found that in his tiny book of hours – the reinterment will also be Christian, Monmouth – possibly the only author most intimate, surely, of all his presumably according to the rites of the other than Malory to offer ‘an English possessions and produced in the Anglican Church. That’s the important epic’. Many of us have learned to love eventful 1450s – he had had included point to remember. Chaucer, but we may do nothing more prayers and memorials to very royal and than make some pertinent quotation. very English saints: Edward the More thoughts on the I am but an amateur historian, but Confessor, St George, St Anne and the reinterment have a devotion to literature and the Three Kings, but his own coat of arms, From Angelo A. Sedacca, OStJ, FRSA, other humanities that I see as an prominent on the first page, was still FRAS by e‐mail imperative concomitant. History is an given in its non‐royal guise: France I am sending this message to comment all‐embracing discipline, political, modern and England quarterly, on the opinion provided by Richard economic, social, and, above all, cultural. differenced by a label of three points Unwin in the September 2014 edition of The Yorkist regime was closely argent, each point charged with three the Bulletin. associated with Burgundy, whose court roundels gules. In a manuscript that no I feel that Mr. Unwin is correct in was a model for northern Europe. The one else would presumably see, the assuming – or taking for granted – that books of the princes of Burgundy seem owner felt free to dream about the the funeral rites given to King Richard to form a pattern, possibly an echo, for future, but at the same time remained III by the Franciscan friars would have the Yorkist culture. Perhaps Richard, realistic about the present. certainly been the official ones used by accorded more time, might have the Roman Catholic Church at the time. outshone them all, but this is difficult to Franciscans still in Leicester He also is correct that the future envisage in what was perhaps only a From: Clive Warren reinterment in a church or cathedral of remnant of what he might have It may be of interest that Leicester still the Anglican Communion would not explored. has a Franciscan connection today. The penalise the soul of Richard III or Friary is at St Matthew’s House, otherwise cause it to suffer in any way. A reinterment does not in any way vitiate or otherwise ‘invalidate’ the king’s funeral Mass or initial Catholic Society ties burial rites. We were asked to look into the possibility of selling Society ties – some longer‐ Having said that, I feel that both serving members do have them from a previous stock. Unfortunately, our Catholic and Anglican clergy should be investigations proved to be disappointing as costs are extremely high to produce present at the reinterment, both actively an individual design such that the cheapest that the Society could sell the items participating in the liturgical ceremony would be around £30 for polyester or £40 for silk. In the circumstances, we have to the extent that the ecclesiastical law of not taken this further – unless anyone out there knows of a less expensive both Churches allow. I feel that this option? If so, please get in touch with the Secretaries (contact details on the would undoubtedly be a fitting tribute inside back page of this Bulletin). to Richard III, reflecting his beloved The Secretaries Catholic faith as well as his status as an anointed, regnant sovereign of England.

8 Society NEWS AND NOTICES Minutes of the Richard III Society Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 4 October 2014 to move on and the Research Committee was The 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Richard III proposing to return to the study of further wills from Society was held at The Assembly House, Norwich on the period. She said that these provided information Saturday 4 October at 2.30 p.m. 135 members were about real life from the times. The next stage would present. be the examination of some 662 wills. About half of 1. A remembrance of members these were in English and would be easy to read. The remainder were mainly in Latin which would be The Chairman opened the meeting by calling for a one‐ more difficult to interpret. She would be seeking minute silence to remember those members who had volunteer Latin readers to assist with this part of the passed away during the last year. A list of their names project. was included in the delegate pack. • Lynda then gave information about the Inquisitions 2. Chairman’s opening remarks Post Mortem from the reign of Richard III currently being researched at the University of Winchester. Phil Stone welcomed members from all parts of the UK There were some 200 IPMs from the period. The and Europe. He then gave his opening address, project had been ongoing for some time but had beginning by welcoming all to Norwich and, in needed further funding. In view of the importance particular, new members and anyone who was attending of the subject matter, the Society had agreed to assist. their first AGM. His address included remarks on the The proposal was to publish the IPMs online but it momentous events of the past and coming years and he was also hoped that they might be published in book mentioned proposals for the events of March 2015 which form. Negotiations were proceeding. would be set out in detail later in the meeting by Wendy • Finally, Lynda talked about the joint bursaries Moorhen. He thanked several people for their input awarded with the Richard III & Yorkist History during the year. An edited copy of this presentation is Trust. These were available to students from the reproduced following these Minutes. University of York and the Institute of Historical 3. Apologies for absence Research. This year, to date a bursary had been awarded to the IHR. Two applicants from the Apologies for absence were received from: Judith Bland, University of York had been found to be ineligible as Richard Bracey, Callie Kendall Orszak, Gillian Kendall, they had received other funding. A further Jane Dodd, Jacqui Emerson, Heather Falvey, Hazel application had just been received from York but Hajdu, Gillian Lazar, Andrea Lindow, Ros Marsh, consideration had not yet been given. Lynda also Jeanette Melbourne, Gwen Millen, Christine Morden, Jan mentioned the grant available to Society members. It Mulrenan, Caroline Plant, John Saunders, Sandra Secchi covered the period 1399–1509 and was open to those and Rosemary Waxman. Callie Kendall Orszak sent a who had been members for at least one year. donation of £50 to the Society to be used as we saw fit. A letter of appreciation for this gift had been sent. David Wells gave details of the reasons for the transfer of the sales function from Society officers to E‐Mediacy 4. Confirmation of the Minutes of the 2013 Ltd. This had started in May 2014 and was proving to be Annual General Meeting an effective operation. In planning the transfer it was felt These were published in the December 2013 Bulletin. to be important for the ordering and payment process for They were approved by the meeting and signed by the members to be broadly similar to the previous Chairman as a correct record of the proceedings. arrangements, with the only major difference being the change of address. He set out information about the large 5. Reports from members of the Executive and sustained increase in sales (due largely to the Committee increase in membership) during the period from the Lynda Pidgeon had a number of items to raise: discovery of the remains in August 2012 to the present day and explained that this volume had become • Ricardian Chronicle Project: she thanked all those unsustainable as a voluntary task. He instanced the involved in the project and commented that the task figures for sales since the publication of the September had proved to be rather more extensive than was first Bulletin which, to date, amounted to around £2,000. He thought. Having reported on what had been added that work was in hand for the development of an achieved to date, it was felt that the time was right online shop but that this would be in addition to postal 9 Society NEWS AND NOTICES

returned to the Secretaries for those who wished to sales, not a replacement process. He concluded by asking attend a service or other event during the week. All that any comments about the new system be sent to the such communications would be by hard‐copy post Secretaries. only to ensure that all members had the same 6. Treasurer’s report/Adoption of accounts for opportunities to apply. financial year ending 31 March 2014 • The selection process arising from the ballot would be prioritised around length of membership to Paul Foss opened by saying how much he had enjoyed ensure that the longer‐serving members were his time as Treasurer but felt that the time had come to recognised. The EC acknowledged that it would be step down. He had nothing to add to the published a complex process but it was determined to be as fair accounts. There being no questions, adoption of the and even‐handed as it could be with opportunities accounts was proposed by Kitty Bristow and seconded for as many members as possible. by Diana Powell. The proposal was agreed unanimously. • Wendy was aware that other events would also be 7. Appointment of a Qualified Independent taking place, for example Bosworth Battlefield Examiner Centre was developing its own plans. The EC would be working with all relevant organisations to achieve The Chairman introduced Sarah Jury as the new a cohesive programme. Treasurer. She commented that she felt privileged to take • A brochure would be published to bring all this on the role. She was still familiarising herself with the together, including a map of Leicester and processes and needed to finish this and think about how information about where to visit in the area. It was best to take the work forward. For this reason, she hoped that this would be ready early in the new wished to defer identifying the most appropriate person year. to review the accounts. It was agreed that the EC be given delegated powers to consider and approve her proposals Questions followed: in due course. Q: Was the EC planning to negotiate with local hotels 8. Update on the reinterment of the remains for a special price for members? of King Richard III and tomb fund A: This was a logistical issue that we were not able to cope with. Wendy Moorhen updated the meeting on the EC’s Q: Were there any plans for a special post‐event proposals for members’ events during the reinterment souvenir publication? week, 22–28 March 2015. Some details had already been A: Yes, it was planned to publish a chronicle of the uploaded to the website. She made the following specific events later next year. points: Q: Could priority be given to B&G Secretaries who • Leicester Cathedral had still not advised how many work so hard all year for their members? places might be made available to the Society at any A: Their work was much appreciated but until more of the services during the week. information about how many places might become • There would be a service for members of the Society available, no final plans could be made. only on the evening of Monday 23 March. Q: Will the crown commissioned by John Ashdown‐Hill • Other events included a buffet lunch on the Monday be used? – in two sittings – to enable members to socialise and A: The latest information was that it would be included meet old friends. but no details were yet available. • A performance of the Middleham Requiem on the Elisabeth Sjöberg then raised a question about the way evening of Thursday 26 March. in which tickets were to be allocated. She felt that no • A room to be available in the Guildhall for members priority should be given to any member, including the to drop in for a tea/coffee and chat. Chairman and other Society officers. All individual • A late opening of the Richard III Visitor Centre for invitations from the Cathedral should be refused on a members only. It was hoped that leading members personal basis and entered into the ballot. This proposal of the Looking for Richard project, as well as others led to a detailed discussion with comments generally from the dig, such as Richard Buckley, would be being opposed to her suggestion. Many members present to talk to members about their experiences. expressed their appreciation of the hard work being • The EC was very aware of the huge level of interest undertaken by the EC and others to ensure that the amongst members and wanted as many as possible programme for the week could be developed. Richard to be able to be there, to feel a part of the Van Allen pointed out that some members of the EC were commemorations and to be able to meet fellow opting to enter the ballot rather than being given any Ricardians. priority. The Chairman called for a vote and only • Details of the events would be sent to all members Elisabeth Sjöberg voted in favour of the proposal. together with a ballot paper to be completed and Philippa Langley asked that, if only a few places were 10 Society NEWS AND NOTICES allocated to the Society, the Cathedral be reminded that The Chairman then went on to announce a further the project was a partnership and all partners should be award as follows: equal. The Chairman confirmed that he continued to I would now like to take this opportunity of making give this message whenever possible. PL then proposed another award, but one not related to the Hamblin award. that consideration be given to prioritising those people In 2012, we gave honorary life membership of the Society who had donated to the ‘emergency appeal’ that had to Philippa Langley for her work inaugurating the made it possible for the LFR project to continue. The successful Looking for Richard Project. In 2013, we gave Chairman undertook to take this on board. the same honour to John Ashdown‐Hill for his work on the project. This year, 2014, we honour another prominent 9. Reports and messages from branches member of the project, a wordsmith who did much to Greetings had been received from the USA and Canada make it happen, especially when the project needed to and the latter had also included a report on their activities. make a worldwide appeal for funding, and since, in our These were read out by David Wells. Stephen Lark from attempts to get the correct wording in the new Visitor Centre. Today, with grateful thanks, we give honorary life the newly formed mid‐Anglia Group gave details of their membership to Annette Carson. activities to date and proposals for the coming months.

10. Robert Hamblin Award 11. Election of Society officers The Chairman explained that this award was instituted President and Vice Presidents in memory of the former Society Chairman, Robert The re‐election of Peter Hammond as President of the Hamblin, as a means of recognising work done by a Society was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by member of the Society that was of particular merit and Joan Cooksley and carried unanimously. The Chairman, ‘beyond the call of duty’. Consequently, the award was on behalf of the Executive Committee, proposed John not open to members of the Executive nor to the Audsley, Kitty Bristow, Carolyn Hammond, Jonathan President or Vice Presidents. Hayes, Moira Habberjam and Rob Smith. All He then gave details of the award for 2014 as follows: nominations were carried unanimously. Executive Committee Three nominations were given to the Executive Committee and it was difficult choosing between them. Nominations had been received for Gretel Jones, Sarah However, once the choice was made, it was backed by the Jury, Marian Mitchell, Wendy Moorhen, Lynda Pidgeon, whole committee as being a good one. Sandra Pendlington, Phil Stone, Anne Sutton, Richard This year’s recipient has, for many years, been a Van Allen, David Wells, Susan Wells, Geoff Wheeler and stalwart of her local branch and, when she was its Stephen York secretary, she worked hard to see it progress. However, The Chairman pointed out that the nominations not only was she for many years secretary of the Thames would result in an EC of 13 persons whereas the Valley Branch, she was also the Sales Liaison Officer, a role Constitution permitted up to 14 members. This meant that took up a lot of her time and which required immense that it would not be necessary to hold individual patience at times. She relinquished the post only recently elections but he asked that the meeting vote on these when the Society’s sales were given over to E‐Mediacy. nominations. Peter Hammond proposed the motion and The recipient of the Robert Hamblin Award for 2014 is Cris Reay Connor seconded it. The meeting voted Sally Empson. unanimously to elect the named persons to serve as the The Chairman advised the meeting that Sally was unable Executive Committee for the coming year. to be present and Wendy Moorhen would present the The Chairman thanked the meeting, on behalf of the award to her on the EC’s behalf at the next meeting of EC members, for their re‐election. Peter Hammond then the Thames Valley Branch. offered thanks on behalf of the Vice Presidents and himself. He said that it was an honour to be President of John Ashdown‐Hill presents the 2014 Robert Hamblin Award to Sally Empson at a meeting of the Thames Valley Branch on the 18 the Society at such a momentous time. He commented on October, where John was guest speaker. the proposals for the reinterment week in March and acknowledged how difficult the planning would be to try to involve as many members as possible. He concluded by commending the work of the EC to the meeting.

12. Resolutions and motions Two motions had been received by the due date. The first was proposed by Marion Moulton and seconded by Winifred Farrington:

The Richard III Society should do more to encourage junior and young Ricardians, so that the academics of tomorrow will grow up knowing the real Richard III. 11 Society NEWS AND NOTICES

What will happen to the memorial slab/stone to Richard The Chairman responded by acknowledging that this III from Leicester Cathedral, as it belongs to the Society. was something that should be taken forward. There had been a Working Party in the past examining the The Chairman advised that the slab had been lifted from possibility of providing a student pack to cover the the Cathedral, with great care. It was not thought period and he proposed reinstating the Working Party necessary for it to remain in the Cathedral but it would with Richard Smith, Chair of the Leicestershire Branch, still be on display, most likely in the Richard III Visitors’ as chair. He asked for members, in particular Marion Centre in Leicester. Moulton, to submit any ideas to Richard on how to move Can we record the burial of Katherine (Richard’s forward on this. Marion acknowledged that this would daughter) with a brass plaque in the church of St James be a very busy year for the EC and accepted that the Garlickhythe? project may move slowly to start with. Philippa Langley pointed out that Sandra Pendlington was a retired The Chairman advised that the EC was aware of a headmistress and her input would be very useful. proposal from Christian Steer, whose research had The Chairman asked for a vote to approve the discovered the fact of Katherine’s place of burial, for a proposal and this was agreed unanimously. memorial and it would do what it could to support this. The second motion was proposed by Sandra The issue of Facebook administration had also been Pendlington and seconded by Rosalind Conaty: raised by three individual members. A summary of the questions and the EC’s response was included in the The application form for membership should include an opportunity for the prospective member to indicate if they delegate packs and is also set out below: would welcome contact from branches and groups. A query has been raised independently by three members about Facebook. It concerns the administration of the There was a wide discussion on this issue, led by the Society’s Facebook page and, in particular, the criteria Chairman, who acknowledged that there was no reason behind decisions to block certain contributors from why this should not be done but pointed out that there posting comments. All correspondents have asked if there had been objections in the past from new members who is a specific policy behind such decisions and when the did not wish to join a branch or group. He added that only blocked persons may be permitted to re‐start posting. about 25% of the membership of the Society had joined a Society’s response: Whilst an AGM is not the place to branch or group. Ros Conaty felt that if more new discuss individuals’ specific situations regarding our members were aware of their local branch or group they Facebook page we would like to make the following would join and Wendy Moorhen pointed out that the new comments: member pack included a list of all B&Gs with contact The Executive Committee has every confidence in the details. It was left to the individual to decide if they team that manages our Facebook page, which at the wished to join and, if so, which one to contact. Sandra moment is one of the more difficult tasks undertaken by Pendlington felt that it was important for all members to officers, given the number of controversial Ricardian‐ have access to local events as many were unable to get to related issues that have been aired in social media over those organised by the national Society. She the past two years. acknowledged that care needed to be taken to ensure In common with all Facebook and Twitter sites, the compliance with the Data Protection laws. Wendy facility to block people from accessing the site has, on Moorhen stated that all B&G Secretaries were encouraged occasions, had to be used. This is an essential tool in to put such details online. She agreed that a tick box could managing any social media site and has only been used in be included in the next reprint of the membership leaflet. instances where individuals have consistently been using our site contrary to the accepted standards of 13. Important dates for 2015 participation. We have over 10,000 people linked to the page, and the number who have been blocked is very Reinterment events Sunday 22–Saturday 28 March small. Triennial weekend Friday 17–Sunday 19 April The impact of social media is a phenomenon affecting Bosworth visit Sunday 23 August all aspects of modern life and the Society is no exception. Christmas at Given that our Facebook management is carried out on a Fotheringhay Saturday 12 December purely voluntary basis, there is a limit to our capacity to manage matters to everyone’s satisfaction and this has to 14. Date of AGM 2015 be recognised and accepted. However, we also recognise The AGM 2015 and Members’ Day will take place on that it is an area where we need to devote more resources Saturday 3rd October 2015 at the Double Tree Hilton, and develop a clear policy and criteria for people using London, W5 3HN. our social media sites. We will report back to next year’s AGM on progress here and, in the meantime, will keep 15. Open forum and questions members informed via the Bulletin and RIII mailings. Two questions had been posted during the Members’ The Chairman added that any organisation with a Day: Facebook presence had the right to block abusive or 12 Society NEWS AND NOTICES inappropriate postings. The Society’s Facebook page was very busy and only a very small number of contributors had been blocked. This was not because of their opinions but because of how they had been voiced. He confirmed that a blocked contributor could be given a second chance and would be able to contribute provided they did not again do so in a manner likely to cause offence. Richard Van Allen added that some EC officers had also received abusive and actionable e‐mails.

16. Any other business Praise was given to the new‐style Bulletin which presented a more professional and informative approach. A question was asked as to whether the new The 2014 AGM was held in the Music Room of the Assembly House, Norwich. publication was cost‐effective and Stephen York pointed lighter on behalf of the Society or the RCRF. My thanks, out that, with the increased membership, the cost per too, to those of you who have provided items for sale. member had actually fallen considerably. My thanks to Elizabeth Nokes for organising the raffle Stephen then proposed a vote of thanks to the and to any members who have given prizes. Chairman and Deputy Chair, Wendy Moorhen, and this My thanks to Helen Castor for her interesting talk this was endorsed by the meeting. He commented that he morning. was staggered at the amount of extra work both had My thanks to all my colleagues on the Executive taken on during the past year, including travelling to Committee for another year of hard labour and, of course, many parts of the country to give presentations and to to my wife, Beth, who has to put up with a lot! To represent the Society at meetings and forums. The misquote the late Princess Diana, ‘There are three people Chairman thanked the meeting on behalf of himself and in our marriage’. When we married in 2004, I’m quite sure Wendy. that Beth never expected that she would find herself sharing me so much with Richard III, even though it was 17. Close of AGM he that had brought us together! I’ve purposely left Sue and Dave till the end, as usual. The meeting closed at 4.20 p.m. The formal proceedings They have done so much in arranging today. I’m sure I were followed by the drawing of the raffle. The don’t need to tell you how much is involved in organising Chairman then formally closed the day with the the AGM – for a start, those welcome packs don’t come following remarks: together overnight. Then, there is the organising and co‐ Now we are nearly done. No meeting like this ever takes ordinating of the stalls, etc. Yet again, they have done us place without a lot of hard work on the part of many proud. Sue and Dave, once again we really are very people so it is my pleasurable duty once again to give grateful to you. Thank you. thanks to those who have helped to make it happen. As Finally, a society is only as strong as its membership usual, I’ll do it in no particular order, and I apologise to and I thank you all for coming – all our effort would have anyone who gets left out. I promise it’s not personal. been wasted without you. Let me wish you all a good First, I wish to thank the members of the Norfolk journey back to wherever you are going. I look forward to Branch who have manned the door, registering arrivals seeing as many of you as possible during the next and giving out badges and packs, etc. Ricardian year, which we know will be a full one! I thank the stall‐holders who have given their time and As always, remember, ‘Good King Richard’ can only especially if they have made your purses and wallets live through our constant and unending efforts. Thank you. United to honour the king Bosworth has been located, the king’s remains have been found and the burial place of his only daughter An abridged version of the Chairman’s identified. Only a few years ago, all these would have address to the AGM been thought unlikely, if not well‐nigh impossible. Welcome to the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the The Greyfriars excavation has already inspired many Richard III Society, especially to those from overseas and books, research papers, television programmes, films, those for whom this is their first AGM. We meet in etc. One recent documentary included Dominic Smee, historic Norwich, once the third or fourth most who has a similar scoliosis to King Richard. In important city in the land. Richard didn’t visit it during recognition of his contribution as Richard III’s body‐ his short reign, but he would have done so had Bosworth double, we have awarded Dominic five years’ honorary had a different result. membership of the Society. Over the past five years or so, the Ricardian scene has By now, all will be familiar with Leicester’s plans for changed beyond measure. The true site of the battle of next year, culminating on 26 March, when the king’s 13 Society NEWS AND NOTICES remains will be interred in the cathedral. The Society Bulletin. Let me assure members who are not on‐line has been putting together its own programme, to that, as the Society expands its on‐line presence, they include a service in the cathedral on the 23rd and a will not be forgotten. special performance of Geoff Davison’s Middleham One major development over the past year has been Requiem on the evening of the 26th. I take this the outsourcing of our sales function to E‐Mediacy Ltd. opportunity to acknowledge the considerable amount With the growth in membership and the increasing of work Wendy Moorhen has put into organising the range of sales items, the responsibility for sales became Society’s programme and to thank her for it. The eyes of too much to manage on a voluntary basis. the world will be on Leicester next March, on King Overall, we’ve had another memorable Ricardian Richard and, to an extent, on the Society, too. Above all, year. In April, the Research Committee held another of the week must be about honouring Richard III and we its study weekends with a very timely and topical all have a role to play in ensuring that is what happens. subject of reburial in the fifteenth century. Throughout Without question, it’s been another eventful year – the year, the committee has also continued to pursue a our Secretaries have dealt with nearly 3,500 e‐mails and proactive research agenda and will shortly be launching over 200 pieces of written correspondence. Likewise, the a new wills project as well as supporting Winchester Bulletin’s inbox has received nearly 500 e‐mails. University’s important project, transcribing the IPMs – Personally, I haven’t counted the e‐mails and letters I’ve inquisitions post‐mortem – from the reign of Richard III. received and replied to as I think the result might be too All this is still further proof of our determination to frightening! It really does need to be emphasised that, expand and enhance our commitment to original for many of our officers, Society work has become historical research. After all, we are first and foremost, a almost a full‐time job, with significant personal serious historical society. commitment in terms of time and resources. I’m sure This year we have also been involved with numerous everyone will join me in acknowledging all these freely events in Leicester. I’d like to pay special tribute to the given contributions, without which the Society simply part played by members of the Leicestershire Branch. could not function. For one Ricardian in particular – me – they have made I thank the officers of our branches and groups life a lot easier! Probably, the most moving Leicester throughout the world. Their workloads have also occasion was that in August, when two flags become very heavy over the past year. Thanks, also, to representing the Arms of England and Richard III’s own Jacqui Emerson, our Branches and Groups Liaison White Boar banner were handed over to the cathedral. officer, who continues to make such a positive impact. The flags will hang over the king’s tomb. The rapid growth of the Society over the past two One aspiration we have for the future is to see years has, of course, been welcome, but, inevitably, it another permanent memorial to King Richard in a has also created some strains. In the light of these, the location other than Leicester. As yet, we do not know Executive Committee feels it’s time for a major review of where or what that will be but once we are able to say both our constitution and our governance. We will more, there will be something in the Bulletin. discuss this over the coming months and outline our The Society is 90 years old this year. In September’s initial thoughts in early summer next year. Consultation Bulletin, we were reminded about the origins of our with the membership will be crucial. Society and of our founder Saxon Barton’s approach to The Society’s finances remain on a very sound history. I think he would be very pleased with the way footing and I thank our outgoing treasurer, Paul Foss, the Society has developed over the nearly 60 years since for his control of the purse‐strings. Our new treasurer, his death. I’m sure, too, he would welcome our robust Sarah Jury, will now be the one to keep a watchful eye approach to evidence‐based research. He enjoyed a over our budgets and oversee our commitment to offer good argument himself and would have been an eager value for money to all our members. participant in our recent debates. However, he would I always stress at the AGM the value of our two key also have tempered any differences with respect for the publications, The Ricardian and the Ricardian Bulletin. As views and feelings of others. Something we should all ever, I thank Anne Sutton for the continuing excellence bear in mind. of the former and the Bulletin Editorial Team for the So now, as we move towards the reburial of the king, new‐style Bulletin. My thanks to everyone involved in let us not forget that, despite any differences we may the new look, especially Stephen York, and his wife, have, we all have in common the burning desire for June, who masterminded the new design. Richard III to be treated fairly by history, and that this The internet and social media play increasingly will always unite us. Let us be united next March and prominent roles in today’s world so we will be looking give Good King Richard, Richard III, the honour, the for someone who will be willing to take on the role of respect and the dignity denied him in 1485. overseer of all the various formats. See the December Thank you.

14 SocietyRunning NEWS AND head NOTICES RIGHT

MCS at AGM 2014 Society’s aim – that of advancing our knowledge about Richard III – has been considered of value. It’s an honour The Major Craft Sale at this year’s AGM, including the for which I am very grateful.’ craft/grot stall, book and card stall and the raffle, made a total of £284.76. Our grateful thanks to all who helped or ‘Medieval Rites of Passage’ – the contributed, including: Ann Brightmore‐Armour, Kitty Bristow, Elizabeth Clarridge, Joan Cooksley, Susan Members’ Day talk Ponsonby, Diana Powell, Fiona Price, Elaine Robinson, The speaker for this year’s Members’ Day was the writer Robbi Robson, Rosanna Salbashian, Sue Taylor, Marian and broadcaster, Helen Castor. Her latest book is about Thomson, Rosemary Waxman, Livia Visser‐Fuchs and Joan of Arc, but as the meeting was taking place in Geoffrey Wheeler. Our apologies if we have missed out Norwich, Helen had agreed to talk about the Pastons, an anyone – at times donations to the stalls were coming East Anglian family, the subject of one of her earlier thick and fast and it was difficult to log all donors. books. Elizabeth Nokes and Phil Stone The three principal Trustees, Ricardian Churches Restoration Fund rites of passage in medieval times were, Life membership for Annette of course, marriage, birth and death. For Carson marriage, we were Annette Carson was awarded honorary life membership reminded that for the of the Richard III Society at this year’s AGM in bride, especially recognition of her contribution to the success of the among the wealthy Looking for Richard project. We asked Annette for her families, where great reaction: ‘The award of life membership of the Richard dynasties were to be founded, the choice of husband was rarely her own. Helen showed us a letter from Margaret Paston to her husband John. She was 19 years old, heavily pregnant, living at home while he was away on business in London. The letter already contained touches of the asperity that are to be seen throughout Margaret’s correspondence. While she was asking John not to forget her, she was clearly fed‐up with having been abandoned at such a crucial time. The second rite is birth, a most dangerous time for mother and child, especially with so little being known III Society was a most unexpected honour which took me of what was actually happening within the woman’s completely by surprise. I tend to be the kind of person body. We were shown a medieval picture of ‘foetuses in whose work is done behind the scenes and isn’t easily utero’, the panels looking like so many hot‐air balloons, categorized, but in my way I help to make things happen, each containing an adult man! Helen mentioned the use and in the context of the Looking for Richard project I of caesarian section, usually performed when the have tried to remain a presence at Philippa’s elbow to mother had died and it was necessary to extract the lighten the load. As a non‐fiction writer I once had a life child so it could be baptised before its own demise. before Richard III, but it seems I now have to surrender Finally, we were told about the need for a good to the inevitable, so he will again be the subject of my death, preferably within the bosom of the family, and next book. Yet certain things have concerned me of late, most definitely in the sanctity of the church, to be such as credibility. I was offered a place at the University followed by a funeral and burial in consecrated ground. of East Anglia to read an MA in Medieval History, but A fascinating talk and we thank Helen for it, the cost and practicalities deterred me. It was a decision especially as, two days before she had cancelled an I wrestled with, because it seems that without this kind interview on Radio 4 because she had completely lost of imprimatur one’s work (in the world of history) is not her voice! sufficient to speak for itself. But then I look at other For those who would know more, you are historians with strings of letters after their names, recommended to read Helen’s book Blood and Roses. including PhDs, and see them branded as amateurs. So Also, if you can get access to it, Helen made a very good this recognition by the Richard III Society is something I series for BBC Television based on the book, called deeply appreciate, because it tells me that in the Medieval Rites of Passage. estimation of my fellow‐members my contribution to the Phil Stone 15 Society NEWS AND NOTICES

New members of the Executive shocked about how little my colleagues knew about the Committee period and the man, but on the other thrilled to discover how interested they then were in what I had to tell We welcome our new Treasurer, Sarah Jury, and Dr them. Sandra Pendlington to the Executive Committee and My hope for the Society is that we can use the thank them both for providing the following profiles: momentum afforded by the current high‐profile and continuing public interest in Richard III to enhance our Sarah Jury credentials as a serious historical research organisation History, and in particular and to help inspire and educate people of all ages and British history, has held a backgrounds about the lives of our fifteenth‐century life‐long interest for me. I ancestors. To be a Ricardian at this time is surely both a suppose that this started privilege and a responsibility. We must not miss this at school, City of London opportunity and I am very grateful to be able to play a Freemen’s, where in my small part alongside people who have striven for years time both the headmaster to uncover and disseminate the evidence against the and deputy head were Tudors’ misrepresentation of Richard III’s record and historians. Unfortunately, reputation. apart from a little bit about the Roman Sandra Pendlington occupation studied in primary school, the British history I come originally from a that I was taught commenced in 1485 with the accession coal‐mining family in of Henry Tudor. Pontefract, so naturally I The Tudor monarchs were of course a colourful, if supported the Yorkists. intolerant and merciless, bunch of characters providing Richard III has been my excellent material to inspire books, TV and students of preferred king since my history. However, as my husband and I found pleasure school days. I taught for in visiting ancient castles, manor houses, abbeys and many years in primary priories with our three children, I began to wonder schools in England and about the lives of the people who lived in them. Canada, holding a variety Several people I have met in the Richard III Society of posts, including 15 have told me that it was Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of years as a headteacher, Time that first sparked their interest in King Richard III. followed by several years of academic research. For me, it was Sharon Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour I have an Advanced Diploma in Mathematical which inspired me to go on and read the many serious Education and a Master of Arts degree in Primary academic studies of the Wars of the Roses era. Education, which included child psychology, English, I regret that I only learned of the Society’s existence mathematics and science (both from the Open from the publicity surrounding the Greyfriars dig, so University). I also tutored at the Open University at was only able join both the main society and the London Masters level. I worked for a research project at the & Home Counties branch last year. I therefore feel University of Oxford producing materials to help particularly honoured to be chosen to serve as Treasurer primary school teachers understand and teach science. after so short a time as a member. My PhD, which was done after retirement, was awarded My professional background is in finance, as a in 2004 in the field of psychology of mathematics manager with Lloyds Bank, and whilst I do not expect education (Graduate School of Education, University of to need my extensive knowledge of businesses in Bristol). I investigated children’s difficulties with financial difficulty here, given the sound financial mathematics and carried out a teaching research project position which I have inherited from my predecessor, to develop psychological and mathematical strategies Paul Foss, I am taking over the role of Treasurer at with low achieving children. The research resulted in something of a pivotal moment. Our Chairman successful, practical methods to help children learn indicated at the recent AGM that a review of the mathematics. constitution is planned for 2015 and it will be a I have always been interested in history and I am a necessary part of my role to ensure that the financial keen genealogist. I enjoy researching original systems, structures and processes in place are documents at archive centres and online. I prefer to find appropriate for an organisation with an income likely to the stories behind the people, not just collect names and exceed £150,000 in this financial year. dates. As an exercise at work, I recently had to give a talk on My husband Alan and I joined the Richard III Society a topic of personal interest, so I chose as my theme: in 1974 and attended events in London and ‘Richard III hero or villain?’. I was on the one hand Fotheringhay before we moved to Scotland. Since then 16 Society NEWS AND NOTICES

very popular and well attended; the city also has a Communications Manager fantastic museum that is very active in the community. With the increasing importance of the world wide There is certainly plenty to get your teeth into. The area web in communicating information and exchanging is easily accessible from the A1 and A14. views, the Society has decided to appoint a ‘We would love the opportunity to raise the Communications Manager to oversee and develop its profile of the Society in this area. My son is deeply website and social media presence. The post will also interested in all things Ricardian and medieval – not have responsibility for co‐ordinating the Society’s hard to understand why, as it has everything to external and internal communications. fascinate young boys. In doing this I feel I can fly the The post‐holder will need to have a working Society flag and keep him interested in history and knowledge of communications technology, and have learning at the same time. Both are important and our experience of website content development (non‐ shared interest will keep it exciting.’ technical) and social media management. Experience Tammy can be contacted by phone on 07877 of working in a multi‐disciplinary environment and 859798 or at [email protected]. She is in full‐time managing a virtual team would be an advantage. work and can’t always answer calls immediately but In common with other voluntary posts within the will respond as soon as possible. Society this is an unpaid role, although out‐of‐pocket expenses can be reimbursed. New South Birmingham Group If you are interested in this post please contact the Deputy Chairman, Wendy Moorhen, for an initial proposed discussion and outline job description. Her contact Pat Taylor would like to form a new group in the south details are on the back inside cover. Birmingham area, covering central Birmingham and the south of the city. Initially the plan is to meet socially and maybe visit places with a Richard III or Plantagenet we have become active in the Scottish Branch. We are connection. If this goes well and members are keen then also members of the Yorkshire Branch and the Penrith speakers can be arranged and other events hosted. If and North Lakes Group. I currently edit the Scottish anyone is interested in joining the new group please Journal and enjoy the challenge of writing and engaging contact Pat at [email protected] or telephone in academic research again. 0121 472 4440. As a member of the Executive Committee, I would like to combine my expertise in education and my And an Oxford Group? commitment to the Richard III Society. Producing materials for young people could prove to be fertile Tula Miller has contacted us to ask if anyone would be ground for the Society to explore and would support willing to establish a group in the Oxford area. Whilst the Society’s aim of securing a re‐assessment of the role she is not in a position to take the lead, she would be of Richard III. happy to assist anyone able to take the initiative in forming the group. Tula would help in any way possible, New group for the Fotheringhay including a venue for meetings, depending on numbers; she lives five miles north of Oxford and can be contacted area at tula.miller@nuffield.ox.ac.uk. Tammy Swiderski writes: ‘My 7‐year‐old son Dylan and I recently joined the Society and would very much like Membership matters to be active members. We cannot afford to regularly travel to Leicester, Norwich or Milton Keynes, which are Renewals the closest to us, so we thought it would be a great idea Thanks to all members who have renewed so promptly. to start a group near us. It just so happens we live very A reminder to those who have not renewed will be sent near Fotheringhay. early in the new year but please note that this is the last ‘Apart from the obvious Ricardian connections the Bulletin that will be mailed out until payment is received. area benefits from a rich history, including Roman, A renewal form can be found in the centre insert. medieval and Tudor right up to the Second World War, with Peterborough Cathedral, Kimbolton Castle, Donations Buckden Towers and Hinchingbrooke House. Norman A big thank you as well to the members who have made Cross is also very near. Our own village once housed a donations to the Society along with their subscription medieval monastery which was destroyed during the renewals. In the continued poor financial climate this is Reformation (and by all accounts was verging on the very generous. dissolute before that!) and has its own historical society. Wendy Moorhen, Membership Officer Peterborough hosts an annual heritage festival which is 17 Society NEWS AND NOTICES

Loyal to Richard III for half a Shirley has amazing organisational skills and has century – a tribute to Shirley hosted scores of fundraising events at her Croydon and Seaford homes, raising in excess of £40,000 for various Linsell charitable causes over the years, including a garden When Shirley Linsell joined the Richard III Society more party which raised £500 for Richard’s statue in than 55 years ago, the Chairman was Patrick Bacon and Leicester. An engaging and informative public speaker, other ‘leading lights’ were Isolde Wigram (Secretary) and she has lectured to many organisations on the subject of Joyce Melhuish. A lot has happened in the intervening Richard III and his times – the proceeds always going to years and Shirley (who recently celebrated her 80th charity. birthday) said that, in addition to all the wonderful The move to Seaford did not diminish Shirley and presents and cards she received from friends and family, Roy’s interest in Richard and in a series of lectures a really special ‘extra’ present had been the discovery of Shirley organised (with the proceeds again going to Richard’s remains in Leicester. In common with so many charity) her talk about Richard at her local church members, she is thrilled that this fantastic event should resulted in a ticket ‘sell‐out’, as did another she gave at have happened in her lifetime, and she is determined to Seaford Museum. be at the reinterment next March. Both Roy and Shirley are avid readers, and on Shirley has some very happy memories of the learning that Seaford was without a library, they set Society’s early days, especially visits to Bosworth, about raising funds for one. Following a long and hard which was not the pristine ‘visitor attraction’ it is today, battle, the town now boasts a most attractive and well but a farmer’s field where barbed‐wire fences often had used library facility, thanks in great measure to Shirley to be scaled and cow pats avoided! Shirley and husband and Roy’s efforts. Roy were very active in the London branch when they As a result of all the voluntary work Shirley and Roy lived in south London and in 1984 Shirley hosted a undertook in their local area, they were asked to attend garden party at her home which led to the formation of a celebratory party hosted by East Sussex County the Croydon Group a year later, with Roy as its Council – only four people from Seaford were invited. chairman. Although Shirley and Roy retired to Seaford In fact, garden parties and the Linsells seem inextricably in 1998, the Croydon Group is still active and always entwined as they were also invited to a Buckingham ‘mans’ the reception desk at London AGMs. Palace garden party as representatives of the Richard III

A happy 80 years young, Shirley Linsell with her Ricardian birthday cake.

18 Society NEWS AND NOTICES

Society in 2003 and were thrilled to be able to talk about have been a fault of the postal service, but in any case, Ricardian matters to the Society’s patron, the Duke of we always respond to advice of non‐delivery and Gloucester. arrange for a replacement copy to be sent. Interestingly, Shirley suffers with scoliosis, the same If you are a paid‐up member and your quarterly condition that affected Richard. She confirms that it is a copy of the Bulletin has not arrived by the end of the very uncomfortable and painful and is full of second week of a publication month (or by the end of admiration for the way Richard handled himself on the the third week in the case of members outside the battlefield while coping with this infirmity. United Kingdom*), please e‐mail the Society’s Business Shirley’s celebration birthday lunch (hosted by son and Distribution Manager, Stephen York, or phone or Nick and daughter‐in‐law Margaret) was also intended write (contact details on the inside back cover of every to be a garden party, but sadly the weather intervened. issue) so that we can deal with the problem without The lunch, held in Nick and Margaret’s lovely dining further delay. Any problems with the quality of your room, had a strong Ricardian theme. A large bowl of copy of the Bulletin (e.g. missing or duplicated pages) white roses formed the table’s centrepiece and the should also be addressed directly to the Business and laminated placemats were specially made by Margaret, Distribution Manager. with three different designs – Richard’s coat of arms, his * Members of the US Branch may receive their copies a ‘device’ and an image of Richard mounted on White little later than these target dates, since copies are Surrey. However, the pièce de resistance was shipped in bulk to the USA and redistributed by the US undoubtedly the beautiful birthday cake which featured Branch. US Branch members experiencing non‐delivery Richard’s ‘device’, surrounded by beautiful white roses. problems should contact [email protected]. Happy Birthday, Shirley and thank you for all the Stephen York, Business and Distribution Manager hard work you have carried out to promote Richard’s good reputation – and please carry on this wonderful Apologies and corrections work for many years to come. Anne Webb We made two errors in September’s Bulletin: an incorrect address for the Yorkshire Branch’s website and the Harleian draw wrong e‐mail contact address for the palaeography course run by Heather Falvey. Our apologies to the Following the advertisement in the June Bulletin, 12 branch and to Heather. The correct addresses are: members asked to be entered in the draw to purchase Yorkshire Branch website: www.richardiiiyorkshire.org one of the two remaining full sets of Harleian 433. The Palaeography course: [email protected]. draw took place during the Bosworth Commemoration weekend. All 12 names were placed in a bag and the Chairman drew two out. The process was witnessed and overseen by Society member, historian and author Julian R3NZ 2015 Humphrys of the Battlefields Trust. The lucky winners were Fiona Price and Sandra Wilson. This means that, AUSTRALASIAN although there are still 16 copies of Volume 4 in stock, CONVENTION there are now no more full sets of Harleian – unless someone out there knows differently! 23rd to 25th October 2015 The Secretaries Angus Inn, Lower Hutt, New Reporting problems with your Zealand Ricardian Bulletin Registration enquiries to The quarterly issues of the Bulletin are scheduled to arrive at members’ addresses by the end of the first week Rob Smith of March, June, September and December (by the end of 61 Udy Street, the second week for overseas members*). Sometimes the need to include vital late news, or technical problems, Greytown, 5712, NZ can delay delivery by a few days. Our distribution company handles over 4,000 +64 6 304 8840 despatches to addresses across the world each time, and very few go astray. However, we very occasionally [email protected] receive complaints from members that their Bulletin has www.richard3nz.org not arrived, and sometimes these complaints come in rather late. Often the non‐delivery turns out later to 19 Future Society EVENTS ‘Richard III Revealed’ + VAT for twin/double. You will need to advise them you will be attending the conference and please note Triennial Conference 17–19 April 2015, that separate payment will be needed for any additional Burleigh Court, Loughborough night(s) when you check out. Rooms will depend on We are still taking bookings for the conference, so if you availability; however the University has another hotel, were undecided you still have time to book. For those of called The Link Hotel, which is about half a mile away, you who have already paid a deposit, the final payment and it may be possible to book a room there. will be required by 15 January 2015. Don’t forget to take Lynda Pidgeon, Research Officer off the deposit from the total cost when sending your balance. Notes for new members about The conference programme is still undergoing some fine tuning. However, I am pleased to confirm that Dr visits Mike Pitts (author of Digging for Richard III and editor of The Visits Team is happy to welcome new Society British Archaeology) will be speaking about the Leicester members on our outings and we thought it a good idea Dig. Other confirmed speakers are David Baldwin, to give old and new members alike some information talking about the locating the Grey Friars, and Bob about us and also a few hints to avoid disappointment Woosnam‐Savage, who will be speaking about the and misunderstanding. injuries sustained by Richard during the battle. Other The Society Visits operation is not a travel agency; we confirmed speakers include Jane Creasy on royal are a small team of volunteers who meet four or five monastic burials and Professor Jane Evans on the times a year to plan outings for the benefit of members. isotope research – see her article p. 51 of this Bulletin. We are not professionals, although we do gain a lot of Regarding the trip to the Richard III Visitor Centre, a experience over time. Visits are not run to make a profit, number of those who have responded so far have but are costed to cover expenses and hopefully to avoid indicated they do not wish to visit the centre; also the a loss. Day trips are organised by individual members week of the reinterment will give members the of the team, but we do have help from a travel agent opportunity to visit. So it makes more sense for people with the planning of long weekends and Continental to make their own way to the Centre if they wish. The trips. concessionary rate for groups is the same as the general On day trips, we hire a coach which picks up from a concessionary charge, so rather than adding this to the point near London Embankment underground station. cost when not everyone is visiting I can keep the cost as Any member who can get to London by 9 a.m. is advertised in the previous Bulletin. welcome to join us; we usually manage to get back to There are many interesting places to visit in Leicester, the same spot somewhere between 7 and 8 p.m., and by April these will also include King Richard’s new depending on traffic. The trips are not limited to tomb in the cathedral and the opportunity for some members only – bring a friend/spouse if you wish. quiet contemplation about the events of the past two On boarding the coach, please leave the front seats, years. Close to the cathedral is the Guildhall, and both preferably by the door, free for the organiser, who needs are within easy walking distance of the Richard III to be off the coach first and also often needs to Visitor Centre. Or you may wish to venture further communicate with the driver during the journey. afield and visit St Mary’s Church and the castle. For However, if we have anyone on the coach with impaired those not wishing to walk around Leicester there are mobility, we offer them a seat near the front. plenty of places for refreshments. Members of the Visits Team pay exactly the same Please note that after 31 October the £50 deposit is not amount as everyone else for each trip. be refundable. Once full payment has been made, any It is a good idea to book promptly, especially for the refund after 15 January will be at the discretion of the Bosworth battle commemoration day and Christmas at hotel, and will reduce the nearer we get to the event. If Fotheringhay. These two trips attract many members you do have to cancel then a full refund may only be who travel by their own transport and, although the possible if a replacement is found for your place. I coach may not be full, places for tea (at Bosworth) and would therefore advise you take out personal insurance lunch (at Fotheringhay) tend to get oversubscribed, so just in case. it’s first come, first served. Do not despair if you have The hotel has a spa and swimming pool facilities missed the closing date stated on the booking form; which we are able to use. If you wish to stay at the hotel contact the organiser or Visits Officer to ascertain either side of the Triennial please ring Burleigh Court availability. Bookings on 01509 633033. The room price should be the If you require a receipt or acknowledgement of same as for the conference, £72.92 + VAT for single, £100 booking, please either provide an e‐mail address or a 20 Future Society EVENTS stamped, addressed envelope. If these are not provided, with the occasional Roman ruin or other place of you will have to keep an eye on your bank statement to interest thrown in. Suggestions for trips are always see if your cheque has gone through. If your cheque is welcome. presented, it means you have a place on the trip; if you Marian Mitchell and the Visits Team are on the waiting list, we will keep your cheque and present it if and when a vacancy occurs and you can Help with hotel accommodation in take that place. But please note that cheques may not be presented immediately. A letter containing information Leicester and/or itinerary for the day will be sent out in good time The Visits Team’s travel agent, Bill Irwin, will be happy nearer to the date of the outing. to give any assistance he can to members seeking Please let the organiser know as soon as possible if accommodation in Leicester for the reinterment week in you have to cancel. There may be a waiting list. We will March 2015. He has an established business and is a give full or partial refunds where possible. Costs for day member of ABTA and The Travel Association and has trips are calculated on 30 participants and if we do not always given us excellent service. Bill deals by e‐mail and achieve that number, it becomes difficult to make a telephone and the Visits Team has found this perfectly refund. satisfactory. His contact details are: Mr Bill Irwin, West Please support our trips. We visit some very Norfolk Travel. Tel: 01553 772910, interesting places – they do not always have a true e‐mail: [email protected]. Ricardian connection, but they are usually medieval – Marian Mitchell, Visits Officer

Ricardian CROSSWORD 10 by SANGLIER Cryptic clues with a Ricardian flavour. Answers on p. 72

Across 23 Richard’s son‐ 1 Ordered ‘Send my robe to in‐law running Queen Elizabeth’s last to earth with residence!’ (10) no initial 6 A church recess is almost a warning. (10) moral failing. (4) 25 An arch style 9 Overthrown by a current that sounds as archbishop – Bourchier, maybe. though it (10) causes surprise 10 Man perhaps hearing a passage in the USA. (4) in church. (4) 26 Stafford’s 12 Comprehensive destruction of knot, for alliance, bringing great military instance, was results initially. (3‐9) mostly a 15 Reversing, go off course with a hindrance on a delivery vehicle in the Spanish medieval ship. (10) with increasing power. (10) kingdom. (7) Down 11 Nation’s parts denoted by 16 Half‐retrieve silk stitched in 1 Often passed for an early George, Andrew, David and medieval dresses. (7) Ricardian. (4) Patrick? (6,6) 17 National disturbances caused 2 Our king has been depicted 13 Examination of a hundred and by rebellious insurgents short fiddling with this sound? (4) ten French who sit within. (10) of gin? (7) 3 Richard’s position in the North 14 Arise and prove disposed to 18 Bring together first cousins of came from extra patronage. (12) give too much credit. (10) Neville to become adherents. 4 Ill‐bred, he’s commonly said to 18 Discipline to be found in the (7) be the man responsible for austere North? (7) 19 Wig astray, hat off, without any toasted sandwich! (2, 5) 20 Garden of delights in blessed hesitation. (12) 5 Sound of 2 could be found on England! (4) 22 The article removed from the this organ? (3) 21 Manners lost his wife (she Irish county is in good shape. 7 Rider maybe sat on pillion and became Richard’s). (4) (4) dropped article. (10) 24 Strange visitation from 8 Wearing green motley, I chant Beaufort. (3) 21 Society REVIEWS Bosworth anniversary event at the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park

A member visiting from overseas wrote this impression of their first visit to Bosworth for the anniversary weekend on 16–17 August this year: Re‐enactments were something I only knew from photographs. So I expected a rather modest affair with some dozens of re‐enactors. Nothing had prepared me for the amazing scale of this anniversary event, and the variety of things to see and do. This was a big event, with thousands of visitors, several hundred re‐enactors, traders and crafters, and an infinite number of white tents lined up along the horizon. During the weekend there was more than enough to take in for those with an interest in history, and if you are a Ricardian particularly so. It was most definitely a well organised family entertainment event, keeping children of all ages busy all day. The entrance fee is rather high (£15 per day/£25 for the weekend), but there can be no doubt that you get back your money’s worth. The day is fully packed with wished for a warmer welcome. Thank you, Phil Stone events every half‐hour from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., some of and all, for making me feel at home. them even simultaneously. Leicester Cathedral, the University of Leicester, and The centre was buzzing with life. There’s the shop, the King Richard III Visitor Centre shared one stall, and the exhibition, the birds of prey, information stalls, there was opportunity to talk to Richard Buckley and traders and crafters. Proceeding through a doorway I Matthew Morris. Their neighbour was historian David came to the next area with more stalls and tents of all Baldwin, with his very well stocked second‐hand kinds, among them the Richard III Society, in the best bookshop, and there were many more familiar faces and spot! I had not met any of the Society members in names. person yet, so I introduced myself, and could not have A meandering path led visitors on to the battlefield,

Above and below: Warriors and camp‐followers await the beginning of hostilities at Bosworth 2014. Running head RIGHT and opened up to the huge sloping main field surrounded by tents and gathering visitors, and another huge field where the majority of the re‐enactors had their camp. Of course, the major event of the day is the battle. There were hundreds of re‐enactors of dozens of retinues participating in the fight – quite impressive to watch them march in and take their place. As a highly professional group of mounted jousters, the ‘Destriers’ had a crucial part in the battle: they represented King Richard leading that fatal charge down the hill. For obvious reasons the jousting and battle took place at a safe distance and the audience had to stay behind a cordon. Since the area is so huge, you can hardly make out what is happening on the battlefield. So the running commentary, not unlike at sports events, was quite helpful. This commentator, doing a very good job Richard Smith, chairman of the Leicestershire Branch, and Society pretending to be Sir William Stanley – who wants to end Secretary David Wells, at the Society’s stand. up on the winning side – explained to the audience signed up 31 new members and we would like to repeat what was going on. our welcome to them all. We were visited by Lancashire But there were also some serious moments: the and England cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff but remembrance minute for all the dead on both sides of sadly cameras were not at the ready. He was definitely the battle of Bosworth battle, the Wars of the Roses, and on the side of the red rose! actually all wars. It is a spine‐chilling experience when Two quotes from the weekend that we think are a field of hundreds of people suddenly goes silent worth sharing. The first involved a family coming to our under this glorious sky – it was a moment to connect stand rather late on the Sunday evening. The wife asked with the past. Sue ‘Why did they bury him under a car park’(!) and the We were truly lucky with the weather – dark clouds, husband retorted that it wasn’t a car park at the time in looming dramatically over the battlefield added language that we cannot repeat here. Suffice to say that beautifully to the atmosphere and made for great photo Sue was sure that the woman’s query was genuine, i.e. opportunities when the sun came out. This was a fully she really did think it was a car park when Richard was packed, wonderful weekend, and I hope to be back next buried there. The second comes from Richard Buckley year, and see and do all that I missed this time. See you and is reproduced with his permission – he quoted a there! visitor to their stand who said ‘When I saw his grave at the Visitor Centre in Leicester, I was overcome with A view from the Society stand emulsion’(!) Perhaps they should have finished painting We had a very successful – indeed, record‐breaking – before they let the public in. weekend in terms of sales and memberships. In fact, we Sue and Dave Wells Society REVIEWS

Service and rose-laying ceremony present day, with particular reference to the centenary to commemorate the battle of of the outbreak of the First World War and the current conflicts in the Middle East. Bosworth Richard Knox from the Battlefield Centre reminded This (now annual) event was organised by the Diocese everyone present of the events of the battle of Bosworth of Leicester and Leicestershire County Council and took and our Chairman spoke about those who fell whose place at the sundial at the Battlefield Centre on the names will never be known who were supporting their morning of Friday 2 August. Amongst those in monarch, lords and masters. He also referred to the attendance were Lady Gretton, the Lord Lieutenant of fallen in the First World War and recent conflicts and of Leicestershire; Mr Bill Boulter, Chairman of Bosworth itself he said ‘There are several contemporary Leicestershire County Council; the Society’s Chairman, accounts of the battle we now call Bosworth and all Dr Phil Stone; and various local mayors and other agree that Richard III was no coward. Instead of calling dignitaries. The clergy were led by Rt Revd Tim Stevens, for a horse, he fought with great courage to the very end Bishop of Leicester and Revd Julia Hargreaves, Team and fell fighting on the field like “a most spirited and Vicar of the Bosworth and Sheepy Group of Churches. courageous prince, after receiving many mortal Anyone present at the Battlefield Centre on that morning wounds”.’ was able to attend the ceremony and about 200 people After the formal service, selected dignitaries gathered around the sundial. including our Chairman laid roses at the base of the There was a procession from the Battlefield Centre to sundial, following which members of the public were the sundial consisting of invited dignitaries, clergy and also invited to do the same – both white and red were re‐enactors. They were led by Dominic Smee (Richard’s available. The morning concluded with a rather body double in the recent Channel 4 TV documentary delicious buffet lunch in the Heritage Room. programme – see p. 43) who was carrying a facsimile We, along with Wendy Moorhen, Beth Stone, Sally crown on a cushion. Henshaw and Marion Hare, were honoured to have At a very moving ceremony, the fallen from both been invited to attend the proceedings. sides were remembered with prayers offered for them Susan and David Wells and all the fallen since the fifteenth century up to the Dominic Smee bearing the king’s banner to the rose‐laying Society presents banners to ceremony. Leicester Cathedral The day of 22 August is one of several key dates for Ricardians, being the date of King Richard’s death at Bosworth. Once again this year the anniversary was marked by a choral evensong in Leicester Cathedral, which was well attended by dignitaries from the city and county. Unsurprisingly, there were a great many members of the Society there as well. A special item in the service was the presentation by the Society and the local branch of two banners to the cathedral. The banners were presented by Richard Smith and Sally Henshaw, the chair and secretary of the Leicestershire Branch. As the anniversary was also being marked by other events around the country the Society’s Chairman was keeping his promise to attend another event and so was represented at this event by Secretaries David and Susan Wells, who laid white roses after the reception of the banners. (The thought occurs that, with so many things happening in the Ricardian world at the moment, we need to clone Phil!) This exciting gift of the banners was chiefly due to the generous bequest made to the Society by one of its Leicester members, the late Margaret York. Margaret taught for over 40 years in secondary schools in Leicester and her memory is still cherished by former pupils. Margaret was also a prolific author and published under several pseudonyms – Margaret Abbey, Elizabeth York, Anne Ratcliffe and Joanna 24 Society REVIEWS

Makepeace. She published over 50 novels, mainly The drawings for the flags were commissioned from historical romances, and not surprisingly many were set the College of Arms, and these are currently still with at the time of King Richard, with titles such as The Son the College, but it is hoped that we can gift them to the of York and Battlefield of Hearts. Although Margaret’s cathedral with mutually agreed inscriptions. The flags books were fictional romances, she always took great were then made up by flagmakers, and until now have care to depict the historical details accurately. In 2010 been kept very carefully in a special drawer underneath Margaret was honoured by the Society with the Robert Sally Henshaw’s bed! Next year the banners will be Hamblin Award for her lifelong membership and mounted on appropriate flagpoles and brackets, which service. Margaret joined the Society in 1957 and helped will be organised once the other exciting alterations to found the Leicestershire Branch in 1971. Sadly Margaret the cathedral have been completed and it will have passed away in August 2011 but she would have been so become clear what is required for the display of these thrilled by the rediscovery of the king’s remains in the banners. When the banners will be displayed close to Leicester Greyfriars dig the following year. Richard’s tomb in Leicester cathedral next year it will be Philippa Langley, who led the Looking for Richard a great way of honouring both Margaret York and King project and featured in the now‐famous Channel 4 Richard. documentary The King in the Car Park, had mentioned Richard Smith, Chair, Leicestershire Branch the idea of flags for the cathedral and so the Society felt that it was an appropriate use of Margaret’s bequest to Richard III Society makes the front page of help fund them, and the local Leicestershire Branch took the Heraldry Gazette the project on. Much correspondence, liaison and There was an interesting follow‐up to the presentation of the communication was undertaken by Sally Henshaw to banners; Leicestershire’s Sally Henshaw explains: fulfil the ambition of banners placed adjacent to King I was asked by the Heraldry Society if the local branch Richard’s tomb. could supply a speaker for their Biennial Congress to be

Sally Henshaw and Richard Smith with the banners in Leicester Cathedral on 22 August 2014. The building work to facilitate the re‐ ordering of the cathedral’s interior ready for King Richard’s reburial in March 2015 has already begun, hence the very plain panels in the picture. (Photo: Angela Parker) Society REVIEWS

held in Leicester, 21–24 encountered along the way, e.g. the gentleman from the August. The theme of the Cathedral Fabrics Commission for England who weekend was ‘Ricardian thought the lions were too elongated and perhaps a Heraldry’. None of our square flag would make them a better shape (obviously members felt able to speak had never seen an England football shirt either). The about heraldry, first drawings that came back from the flag makers particularly to the contained a boar that resembled a cute fluffy toy pig Heraldry Society, so I rather than a fierce creature to put fear into the hearts of volunteered to talk about your enemies (they might have died laughing, of the flags that we had course). made for Leicester I talked a bit about Margaret York and how her Cathedral, to be close to bequest helped to fund the flags and showed them the Richard’s tomb. finished articles that we had actually presented to the I made it clear that this cathedral the previous day. (It was a bit like an old was the story of someone Ealing comedy – present the flags at the front of the who knew little about heraldry, less about flags and cathedral, then nip round the back and reclaim them nothing about church procedures, who got two banners afterwards.) The flags were then displayed and people made for Leicester Cathedral. I also promised to take looked at them and took photographs, one of which the flags along with me. It was a very lighted‐hearted appeared on the front of the Heraldry Gazette. The first I talk about some of the difficulties that I had knew about that was when Phil Stone told me!

A ramble around Shropshire and Having endured many alterations during its lifetime, other places the Hall is famous for having no fewer than seven Thursday 10 July–Monday 15 July 2014 priest‐holes, along with a chapel that could undergo a quick‐change into an ordinary room and an underfloor vestment‐hide. It is thought that these hides were Thursday: Harvington Hall devised by the master priest‐hole creator Nicholas A warm summer day brought some 40 Ricardians from Owen. He was a fascinating character, appropriately all corners of the British Isles to the centre of Richard’s proportioned for his role, being less than five feet tall. kingdom for another of the Society’s eagerly anticipated After a few close calls, he was finally arrested at nearby long weekends. Birmingham is a very good central base Hindlip Hall, having given himself up so that another and it did not take us long to get out into the countryside. priest could remain hidden. Hideous torture followed Armed with our expertly produced notes, front cover in the Tower, which led directly to his death. He was illustrated by Geoff Wheeler, we boarded a coach for an canonised in 1970. exploration of Harvington Hall in Worcestershire. This During the nineteenth century the hall was stripped delightful moated medieval and Elizabethan brick‐built of its furniture and left virtually derelict. Purchased by manor house stands on a triangular island, traversed by Mrs Eileen Ryan Ferris and given to the Catholic two stone bridges. Documents from 1270 onwards Archdiocese in 1923, the Hall has been sympathetically record the manor in the ownership of the de restored. Herwyntons until 1344, when it passed to Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and it remained part of Friday: Hereford, Great Malvern and Worcester the Warwick estate for almost 200 years. The ancient city of Hereford was our first stop, where we ‘Mistress Patricia’ demonstrates the priest‐hole at Harvington Hall. had time to look around the cathedral. No matter how many times you see the Mappa Mundi, it is always worth it. Drawn on one large piece of vellum, this is the largest complete map of the world to survive from the Middle Ages, showing Jerusalem in the centre. The cathedral’s Chained Library contains 229 manuscripts dating from the eighth to the sixteenth centuries and around 1,500 printed books. The oldest printed book is a Commentary on the Comedies of Terence, printed in Latin in Strasbourg. There are also books printed by William Caxton. Books can still be accessed by request and the library receives 40–50 such requests each year. Of interest to Ricardians is the Thomas Traherne stained glass window by Thomas Denny, who has been commissioned to make 26 Harvington Hall new windows at Leicester Cathedral commemorating from Worcester called Aldwyn. With the support of the life of Richard III. Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, and a charter from There was just time for a quick walk into the centre of William the Conqueror, Aldwyn built a Benedictine town to see the Old House, a beautifully preserved priory on land that had been given by Edward the seventeenth‐century timber‐framed house, now used as Confessor to his newly‐founded Westminster Abbey. a museum. Also found, on a street off the main high The priory was massively expanded in the 1440s. street, the site of the house where David Garrick was Work finished in 1502, but the building lasted only 40 born. He was, as you all know, a famous Richard III on years in its intended state before the Reformation and stage. Dissolution of the Monasteries. The priory building Great Malvern Priory was founded in 1085 by a monk only survived because the people of Malvern raised the Two Boars, a misericord at Great Malvern Priory. then huge sum of £20 to buy it. Its remoteness helped it to escape destruction during the Civil War in the 1640s. The influx of wealthy Victorian visitors to Malvern brought money into the town and in 1860, under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott, the priory was fully restored. During the Second World War the medieval glass was removed and stored for safety. It was replaced, and re‐dedicated by the Bishop of Worcester in 1946. Above the font is the West Window. Stained glass for the window was given in the 1480s by Richard, duke of Gloucester. When first installed, the window depicted the Day of Judgement, but very little of it has survived. The fragments which were not destroyed (including Richard’s coat of arms) are now scattered in other windows. The Magnificat window was given in 1501 by 27 Society REVIEWS

Henry VII and was the last to be added to the church. built in 1596 for the Drapers’ Guild, which traded in There are two sets of misericords or monks stalls. The woollen cloth from Wales. We next made our way to the earlier group dates from the fourteenth century and Welsh Bridge, which would have been the entry point for shows mythical creatures and scenes from everyday Henry Tudor on his way from Wales to Bosworth, where life. The second set depicts the labours of the months he was initially refused entry by the head bailiff. and was carved in the fifteenth century. The priory’s We visited St Mary’s church, which has one of the collection of medieval tiles is among the largest of any highest needle spires in England, and spent a few English parish church. minutes admiring the Jesse window. On the way to Notes for this review were taken from the Tour of Great Shrewsbury Abbey we came across a wall plaque in St Malvern Priory by Katherine Wells, 2013. Mary’s Street stating this was the execution site of We finished our day in Worcester, where we made David III, prince of Wales, in 1283; Henry Percy’s dead our way to the cathedral first. This beautiful building in body was also displayed here after the Battle of the centre of town was started by Bishop Wulfstan in Shrewsbury in 1403. Going over the English bridge we 1084, replacing a Saxon one. Wulfstan was canonised in briefly visited the Abbey but there was a summer fair in 1203 and the cathedral became a place of pilgrimage. progress which made it rather difficult to look around. King John was buried here in 1216, and Prince Arthur, Then we were off by coach to Haughmond Abbey, an brother of Henry VIII, in 1502. The monastery was Augustinian house built in 1135 on the site of a former dissolved in 1540. The cathedral was badly damaged eleventh‐century religious community. Possibly Henry during the Civil War and a major rebuilding was carried IV camped his army near here on the eve of the 1403 out after the Restoration. battle of Shrewsbury, which took place some two miles A short walk from the cathedral took us to Friar north‐west of the abbey. We travelled the short distance Street, the most historic in Worcester, which is packed to the battlefield site, the exhibition centre being located with the jetties, timber beams and leaded windows of near to where the army of Henry Percy (Hotspur) may late medieval houses. have been arrayed. On show within the exhibition centre was a model of the head of the 16‐year‐old Prince Saturday: in and around Shrewsbury Henry (he of later Agincourt fame), complete with an From St John’s Hill we set off in various directions to find arrow embedded in his face. the places of interest indicated in the tour itinerary, and The nearby church of St Mary Magdalene was some of us began with the Tourist Information Centre, constructed on the site of the thickest part of the fighting which is situated opposite the Old Market Hall. This was and it is believed that some 1,600 bodies may be buried in a pit close to where the church stands.

Sunday: a day in ruins and other old buildings The ruins of both Buildwas Abbey and Wenlock Priory Shrewsbury are imposing and grand. Quiet and peaceful now, it is hard to imagine them as the bustling centres of life they must have been in their heyday. Buildwas was a Cistercian foundation and was settled in 1135 by a small colony of monks in 1135 Abbey of Savigny. It still has the great arches of its church and the chapter house; Wenlock

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The Merchant’s House, St Nicolas Place, King’s Norton. has the south transept and library. Wenlock’s infirmary Grammar School and St Nicolas Church, and is the finest was converted into a private residence in 1540. Wenlock collection of medieval buildings in Birmingham. It won was a Cluniac house and from the ruins we can see that the BBC2 TV programme Restoration in 2004, and opened it had been one of the finest monastic churches in the to the public in 2008. country. The remains that stand today are from the ‘new’ One of our guides was a Ricardian, Pat Taylor. She church built by Prior Humbert c. 1200, which took over expertly explained each building, beginning with the 40 years to complete. Old Grammar School, one of the oldest school buildings Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings is a sort of in the country; its roof timbers have been dated to charming retirement home for previously neglected old having been felled between 1434 and 1460. She told us buildings, which have been lovingly restored. It was how the suffragettes had broken in one night with the opened in 1967, following the rescue by a local group of intention of burning it down, but thought it such a a medieval town house from Bromsgrove when road lovely building they refrained and left a little note to this widening threatened it with demolition. This is the only effect. building which is actually from ‘our’ period and is a The Merchant’s House is a wonderful example of a timber‐framed wattle and daub building of an example building being adapted over the years for various uses. known as a ‘hall house’. It had to be dismantled and It originally belonged to Humphrey Rotsey and is a very transported to Avoncroft. During this operation a coin high‐status house; it has 500‐year‐old timbers and was found in a joint which indicated that the house was original wattle and daub walls. Queen Henrietta Maria built around 1450. reputedly stayed here during the Civil War in a room that preserves the original Tudor decor and fireplace. Monday: Saint Nicolas Place, King’s Norton Thank you to all those Ricardians who came on our A bonus to our weekend was a visit to Saint Nicolas ramble around the West Midland shires. It was a very Place, King’s Norton. This beautiful site comprises the pleasant weekend, which we all enjoyed. Tudor Merchant’s House, the seventeenth‐century Old Steven Green, Diana Powell, Rosemary Waxman 29 Society REVIEWS

Romsey and Portchester visit the remaining house, now a museum, can be seen not only the thirteenth‐century house but also a Tudor 13 September 2014 cottage built on to it. Its architecture is a fascinating tangle. Surviving features include wattle and daub Romsey walls, exposed for the inspection of visitors, and a floor Our visit to Romsey had a general medieval theme. This made of bones obtained from local butchers’ shops and Hampshire town has a long history, the area having been set in sand. There is also a plastered hall with sixteenth‐ the site of prehistoric activity, Roman settlement, and, century graffiti and a Tudor fireplace, as well as some from the fifth century AD, an Anglo‐Saxon settlement. superb medieval stonework and a seventeenth‐century The name Romsey seems to mean ‘fearful’ or ‘wild’ cupboard. place. The village of Romsey grew up around a church The original use of the building is uncertain but it is founded in 907 by Elflaeda, the granddaughter of Alfred clear that at one time it was used for metalworking – the Great. Her church was destroyed by the Vikings in pieces of slag have been found in the grounds – and it 997 and rebuilt seven years later as an abbey. may have been used by clothiers, dyers and shoemakers The Domesday Book describes Romsey as ‘the land as well as the copper makers, since it is situated in an of Romsey church’, the abbey ‘holding the whole village area in which such occupations were carried on. We in which the church itself lies’. The abbey itself held one know that the Tudor part of the building was erected by hide of land – somewhere between 60 and 120 acres or a certain John Foster, and the list of owners includes a ‘as much as would support a family’. The village had 39 husbandman, William Cuffley, who bought it in 1571 villagers, two slaves, a number of smallholders, four for the sum of £63 13s 4d and who may well have sublet freemen and a number of ‘ploughs in lordship’. The the property. The Cuffleys owned the house until the value of the abbey lands was, in 1066 and at the time of eighteenth century, when it became a workhouse. the Domesday survey, 20 shillings, a substantial sum. The museum displays some of the artefacts of Various areas around the village were also valued at a Romsey’s history, including hand axes from the high rate. Thus Romsey was a place of some financial Neolithic period, Roman artefacts and, most substance in the early eleventh century. intriguingly, two undamaged, partially fired Anglo‐ The abbey building that is seen today was built Saxon pots, dug up in the kiln in which they had been between 1120 and 1140 on the foundation of the old sealed for some 1,600 years. A major display concerns Saxon one, and is a fine example of Norman architecture the Moody family, gunsmiths and milliners, of the untouched by the worst excesses of the Victorians. town, the last of whom died in 1969, and who occupied Amongst its feature may be seen two rare Saxon one of the other cottages in the row. survivals, one outside and one inside, in the form of two crosses. The abbey’s survival is something of a miracle, since the fell visitation of plague in 1348–9 saw a King John’s House, Romsey reduction in the number of nuns which began a decline in its fortunes until its dissolution in 1539. The abbey was saved from physical destruction because it was the town’s parish church, purchased by the town in 1544. Set in pleasant, well‐kept grounds, it is now a popular wedding venue. The town of Romsey itself built its fortunes on the woollen industry and, although its wealth declined at the time of the plague, the town survived and thrives today, both prosperous and picturesque. Its medieval street pattern remains, although inevitably the incursion of the car and modern living has altered it considerably. Romsey was granted its first charter by Henry I in the twelfth century and it was given the right to hold a weekly Saturday market and a May fair. These rights were reiterated by Henry III in the following century, when a right to an extra October fair was granted. Of particular note in the town is the thirteenth‐ century house known as ‘King John’s House’, its name having been given in the mistaken belief that it was once that king’s hunting lodge. Originally one of a row of similar cottages, this is a case of fortunate survival. The other houses were demolished in the late 1930s but in 30 Society REVIEWS

Portchester Castle housed within a subsidiary tower, which is now largely The synopsis of the guidebook says: ‘Portchester Castle’s ruined. There are wooden floors and staircases on each remarkable history begins in the third century, when the floor, so it is fairly easy to reach the battlements and Romans built a fort here to combat attacks by barbarian enjoy the marvellous views. Extending from the foot of pirates. In the fifth century it was transformed into a the keep around the west and south sides of the inner Saxon stronghold, or burgh, to protect this part of the bailey are the remains of a grand series of residential coast from Viking raids. After the Norman Conquest in apartments built by Richard II between 1396 and 1399. 1066, a castle was built inside the Roman walls. It later Very little remains of the three ranges that enclosed the became a royal residence. Occupied until the seventeenth east end of the inner bailey, but to the north are the century, it was converted into a prison during the foundations of a twelfth‐century building that served in Napoleonic wars.’ the late Middle Ages as the residence of the constable of Portchester Castle certainly has the ‘wow factor’. The the castle. site, within the Roman walls, stands on a low‐lying Over time the castle has been in habitual use by the tongue of land, which projects into the natural harbour royal family. King John visited the castle regularly, of Portsmouth. The castle was built in the north‐west Richard II built a palace and it was often used by Henry corner of the Roman fort in the late eleventh century, III as a point of embarkation and return for his and is divided from the remainder of the fort enclosure campaigns in France. Edward III did not often stay at by an L‐shaped ditch and wall. In the opposite corner is the castle, but in 1346 he prepared there for the St Mary’s, a Norman church built in the 1120s of Isle of campaign that culminated in his great victory over the Wight stone for a community of Augustinian canons French at Crécy, as did Henry V in 1415 before his from France. Their priory buildings once stretched victory at Agincourt. In 1445 Henry VI greeted his new south to the Roman wall and we could see the toilet bride, Margaret of Anjou, at the castle’s Watergate. chutes from the old monastic buildings while walking Caroline Neuburg and Elaine Robinson around the wall outside. Unfortunately, when we visited there was a wedding taking place so we did not Denys Carden asked us to add this note to the ‘A ramble around venture inside, but the church is normally open for Shropshire’ report: visitors and in fact encourages them with a small café. I have just returned from the West Midlands trip with The castle keep is well worth exploring. We entered Marian Mitchell, who managed it all wonderfully. We all through the ground floor level, which used to be a enjoyed ourselves thoroughly but sadly I was taken ill prison chamber with a chapel above. Today it has a during dinner and had to go to hospital. Jill Davies was small exhibition and models showing how it has an inspiration and I am writing to apologise to all changed over the centuries. The main entrance on the members for perhaps and probably spoiling their dinner. first floor is reached by a small internal spiral staircase They were a truly lovely crowd. My sincere apologies to from ground level or an external stair which was all.

Portchester Castle

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building. Yes, Sir Peter, to answer the question you asked Leicester’s Richard III Visitor Philippa, all those months ago, ‘You built it and they Centre is open for business came!’ A while later, as those first visitors began to emerge, The Richard III Visitor Centre mostly to have coffee or, later, lunch in the sunny opened its doors to the public courtyard, I went up to them, explained who I was and on Saturday 26 July. Most asked what they had thought of the Centre. Nearly impressions have been everyone had been very pleased with what they had seen, positive but some have some even saying that they would come again. When reservations about the asked what I thought – and at one stage, I was interviewed Centre’s approach. However, live for Radio Leicester – I said that I was pleased with what had been achieved so far, adding that my real nearly 20,000 have visited since the opening and the pleasure was in the fact that the visitor centre was there, centre has been shortlisted for the Leicestershire ProCon bringing the real Richard III to the public instead of the Awards, which take place each year to recognise caricature that is Shakespeare’s play. architectural excellence within Leicester and Leicestershire. Our Chairman, Phil Stone, represented Julia McLaren of the North East Group was also there the Society at the official opening and provided the on the opening day and kindly provided this helpful following account of the day and his impressions: account for the Bulletin:

When the remains of King Richard III were found in the I went on the opening day and thoroughly enjoyed my car park in Leicester, the City Council decided to create a visit. I have to admit there was a certain thrill to be special visitor centre that would give the public the facts amongst the first to set foot inside on that day, especially about Richard III. In a brave act of faith – would the after being interested in Richard for nearly 50 years. By people come? – the old school building next to the grave that very fact my review of the Visitor Centre is a personal site was purchased and converted into the centre. one and rather than spoil the detail for those who have yet Members of the Society were invited to take part in to visit, this will be an overview. putting together some aspects of the exhibition. At various First and foremost it must be remembered that this not times Philippa Langley, John Ashdown‐Hill, Annette a museum about Richard III, so do not expect the minutiae Carson, Wendy Moorhen, Lynda Pigeon, Sally Henshaw of his life. Bear in mind the title, ‘Dynasty, Death and and I would attend meetings with the designers, Discovery’. The centre offers just that; information about sometimes in Leicester, sometimes elsewhere, including the dynastic struggles, popularly called the Wars of the one never‐to‐be‐forgotten time on the open concourse of Roses, culminating in the rise to the throne of Richard, his London’s St Pancras Station! Various incongruities and death at Bosworth and the discovery of his remains. The mistakes were removed as we advised on appropriate ground floor is devoted to the history, which is depicted wording, some of which was later discarded by the using a variety of forms, colourful and attractive, without designers in favour of other interpretations. In time, information overload and accessible to all ages. It is full of perhaps, there will be still further changes. The centre is vibrant and dramatic artwork, banners and displays. A very much still a work in progress. Eventually, everything came together and, at the end of July, the centre, entitled Below: Sir Peter Soulsby opens the Richard III Visitor Centre. Top of facing page: the guard of honour was supplied by Les Routiers ‘Dynasty, Death and Discovery’, was opened to the public. de Rouen. (Photos: Phil Stone). Below, facing page: one of the The section on discovery fills the upper floor of the ground‐floor displays. exhibition. There are extracts from Philippa’s dig diary and artefacts from the dig, including the flag that covered the box when the remains were transferred to the University. There are audiovisual displays which allow visitors to better understand DNA analysis and the fatal wounds inflicted upon the king. Shortly before one reaches the end of the exhibition, there is the facial reconstruction made for the Society by Professor Caroline Wilkinson of Dundee University, now on permanent loan from us. At the opening on Saturday morning, 26 July, the entrance was guarded by members of Les Routiers de Rouen, in full medieval fig. The town crier called everyone to attention and the City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, gave a short address on the purpose of the visitor centre. This done, he cut the ribbon and the first visitors entered the

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between the history of the man and the story of the discovery just about right for most visitors who won’t be historians or academics. Speaking as a former teacher I can appreciate that its attractive and interactive displays may entice the younger generations to acquire an interest in medieval history or archaeology. Similarly, the scientific area, with its focus on the methods by which the remains were identified perhaps may inspire budding forensic scientists or geneticists. Last but definitely not least, the grave site. The chapel‐ like building is constructed carefully and tastefully, with seating available for contemplation, perhaps not dissimilar to the original Friary choir. It is set apart from the main centre, so those who have certain sensitivities can avoid that area if they so wish. Not having been lucky enough to see the site during excavation, I found viewing the grave for the first time a very poignant moment. A culmination of those decades of interest, I felt. Reactions will be as varied as the visitors who come.. As I have already said this is a personal review. As with all centres and attractions, some elements may be more, stylised but effective black and white video showing the or even less, successful than others. My advice – visit and battle of Bosworth and Richard’s death attracted much make up your own mind. attention. The exhibitions on the upper floor offer a complete We have received a number of comments about the contrast. This area, much of which is schemed in clinical centre, most agreeing with the sentiments expressed by blue and white, is devoted to the search for Richard’s our two reviewers. Many commented on the good grave, the excavation itself and the subsequent scientific customer service provided by the staff at the centre. identification of the remains. For those not familiar with However, there were some concerns that the contribution archaeology, DNA testing and facial reconstruction the of the Looking for Richard team had not been sufficiently displays gave a clear understanding of the techniques acknowledged. Adverse comments were also made involved, accompanied by a number of interactive about a suit of white armour which looked more Star exhibits. Unfortunately I did feel the display of the various Wars than Wars of the Roses and came across as a literary depictions of Richard was out of context with the gimmick. However, as Phil Stone notes, ‘The exhibition scientific emphasis of this section of the Centre. For me and many readers of this review the Visitor isn’t perfect and members will argue about various Centre may not provide any new knowledge about aspects, but let us rejoice in the fact that it’s there and Richard. But, and it’s a big but, we must bear in mind this people are beginning to think about the king in a new is a visitor centre aimed at members of the general public, way. Perhaps the black legend is becoming, at last, rather who perhaps haven’t been able to study this period of more grey than it was before.’ And as Julia advises above, history. With its focus on Richard, it has the balance visit for yourself and make up your own mind. OTHER NEWS, reviews and events

Ricardians meet in Ludlow House of York came into ownership of the Mortimer’s vast possessions in Wales and the castle in Ludlow. Ricardians from across the south of England joined Although they lived a century apart, Grove also members of the Mortimer History Society and local investigated how the political environment and historians to examine Ludlow’s role in the War of the personalities of Roger Mortimer and Richard, duke of Roses. ‘Richard III, Ludlow and the House of York’ was York were in many ways similar. organised by the Conservation Trust for St Laurence, The battles of Ludford Bridge and Mortimer’s Cross Ludlow, and funds raised will go towards the repair of were described in detail by John Barratt of the Ludlow St Laurence church’s fifteenth‐century great east History Research Group (LHRG). A special authors’ window. panel led by Matthew Lewis provided participants with Professor Michael A. Hicks, Emeritus Professor of insights into writing historical fiction and non‐fiction. Medieval History, University of Winchester, provided Three tours were organised during the day. Clive the morning keynote presentation with an in‐depth Richardson (LHRG) led one tour through medieval review of the period. He was followed by Professor Ludlow and to the possible site of the battle of Ludford Philip Schwyzer, Professor of Renaissance Literature, Bridge. Tours to St Laurence church included the Exeter University, who showed how the memory of history and architecture of the fifteenth‐century Richard III found its way into English literature from building and Yorkist/Mortimer heraldry found in the the Tudor period until the late seventeenth century. church’s stained glass, monuments and famous William West, founder of Englyshe Plate Armourie, misericords. started his presentation with the observation that no In the evening an enthusiastic audience attended a English armour survives from the fifteenth century. The concert of ‘Music in the Age of Richard III’ by Ensemble only English armour, which differs from continental Sine Nomine and I.a.t.B Ensemble at St Laurence’s types, is found on tomb monuments in a few English church. Chris Chatterton, former Mayor of Gloucester, parish churches. Mr West, who makes replica armour of set the songs and music within the context of the War of the period, showed examples of how English armour the Roses and the rise and fall of Richard III. was made and used. Another interesting fact revealed Rory Chase by William West was that it took about 40 minutes for an English knight to dress in full armour (with help from a Portrait of Richard III page or squire). John Grove, founder of the Mortimer History Society, Fiona Field is a well‐known Herefordshire artist who explained how the Mortimers of Wigmore castle and the specialises in watercolour. She has a longstanding House of York became linked when Anne, the last association with the Three Choirs Festival Cathedrals of Mortimer earl of March’s daughter, married Richard Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester. Her work in Plantagenet, duke of Cambridge. With this marriage the portraiture is renowned, and she has included among

The Ensemble Sine Nomine and I.a.t.B Ensemble performing in St Laurence’s Church.

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and Annette Carson. The facial reconstruction of Richard III was on display in the museum, and Fiona Field’s portrait of Richard III was based on this model. Therefore it is one of the very first true likenesses of the king to be produced. It incorporates Richard’s motto Loyaulté me Lie into the painting. The original was sold to a private bidder soon after the festival, but prints of the picture were made and are available to Society members. Anyone wishing to purchase a print should e‐ mail Sebastian Field on sebfi[email protected]. The portrait was also displayed at the event in Ludlow (see previous report). Pontifical Requiem High Mass and Bosworth Field memorial lecture 2014

Once again, the Royal Chantry Chapel of Saint Edmund, King and Martyr at Spital in the Street in Lincolnshire was full to capacity on Bosworth Day, 22 August, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to pray for the souls of King Richard III, members of his family and all those who fell on that awful day in 1485, be they friend or foe. The high catafalque had been set up in the midst of Above: Fiona Field’s portrait of Richard III on display in St the chancel and covered with the specially Laurence’s church, Ludlow. Below: the portrait in detail. commissioned funeral pall bearing the royal arms of Plantagenet England, surmounted by a state crown set her clients the journalist Quentin Letts and the late Sir on a red and gold cushion and surrounded by tall John Paul Getty, Jr. standards, each again bearing the shield with the royal Her portrait of King Richard III was produced in oil arms upon them. for the 2014 Gloucester Richard III Festival. It was The High Mass was sung by Canon Victor Bullock, displayed in the city’s museum during the festival, the Vicar of Fenny Stratford, and presided over from the which saw a number of prominent speakers including throne by Bishop Howard Weston‐Smart, the Senior Dr Phil Stone, Philippa Langley, Bob Woosnam‐Savage Chaplain of the Royal Chantry Chapel. The sermon was delivered by Edward Le Brun Powell, while, as ever, the music, which was contemporary to the period, was sung to great effect by Aitone under the able direction of Rob Durk. Fine weather and the recent surge of interest in all things Ricardian led to the congregation being one of the largest which has gathered on this occasion, and was led by Dr Phil Stone and his wife Beth, who had made the journey to Spital from Bosworth, where they had been earlier in the day. It was a great joy to be able to acknowledge the presence of the Chairman of the Society, who has been unflagging in his support for the requiem since its inception. After the Mass, refreshments were served and the assembled company, some of who were new to Spital had ample opportunity to look over the wonderful building and its grounds, before they settled down to hear Jean Townshend, the Secretary of the Lincolnshire Branch of the Society and a noted, as well as an eloquent, Ricardian speaker, dispel most if not all the of myths relating to Richard which have grown up over 35 OTHER NEWS, reviews and events

painting places of significance to King Richard’s story. The day after meeting Philippa and Michael, she painted the window above the altar of St James’ church in Sutton Cheney. Kirsteen’s home in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, is situated behind the old Roman road to London that Richard would have travelled on in his time in Leicester. She first painted this more than 20 years ago, the landscape having changed significantly since. She has recently discovered that the original drawbridge to Kirby Castle, which was being built at the time of William, Lord Hastings’, death, is being kept in a barn behind her house. Working in a mixed medium of water colour, oil, acrylic and gels, Kirsteen prefers to first obtain a detailed understanding of the local history and paint in situ, benefitting from immersing herself in the surroundings. Kirsteen enjoys talking to people who know these areas and may have personal stories of their own that mean a great deal to them. Revealing the present as well as the recent and distant past, Kirsteen aims to convey the emotional history of a scene as well as its beauty. After the discovery of Richard III and the characters that made this unlikely narrative a reality she has been compelled to visit many of the places that featured in his life to paint them. An art exhibition centred on Richard III’s life is being held at the Guildhall, situated to the side of Leicester Cathedral (painting of Leicester Cathedral below) on Tuesday 24 March 2015. Doors are opening at 7.30 p.m., The high catafalque in the midst of the chancel of the Royal with an official opening at 8 p.m. All Ricardians and art Chantry Chapel at Spital in the Street. lovers welcome. the course of the centuries since his death. Pithy, Kirby Muxloe castle, by Kirsteen Thompson erudite, insightful as well as humorous and vastly entertaining, Jean as ever had us all under her spell of knowledge so lightly delivered. All in all, a wonderful occasion to meet old friends, to make new ones, to exchange views and opinions and thanks to Jean, to learn more and more about our king, but chiefly, an opportunity to commend his soul and all those others for whom we prayed at the Mass to Almighty God, in a manner and form that he would have recognised, felt comfortable with and would, I believe, have appreciated. Msgr Howard Weston‐Smart Fine art by Kirsteen Thomson

Kirsteen Thomson is a British artist, picture framer and photographer. Originally from Scotland, Kirsteen trained in Art and Design at Leicester De Montfort University, Waterford and Perkin Warbeck then embarked on a career as a diplomat in the Foreign It seems you cannot escape Ricardiana – I knew of a and Commonwealth Office. Having been inspired by the connection between Waterford and Perkin Warbeck but story of Richard III, and after meeting Philippa Langley didn’t realise that he was half responsible for its motto. and Michael Jones at their book launch in October 2013, A plaque on the side of the main hotel on Merchants Kirsteen put her camera away to fully concentrate on Quay says ‘The motto “unconquered city” was granted 36 OTHER NEWS, reviews and events

ribbons for her. They are loving and carefree, as sweethearts should be.

• The Battle of Barnet Song (1471) is an amusing account of Yorkist soldiers travelling to battle, but enjoying too much ale and wine and so missing the fight. Jaunty, wry and foot‐tapping. • In Loyalty Binds Me (1472), Richard tells of his adherence to Edward IV. He is Lord of the North, with Anne at his side, a strong prince who will always support his brother. An easy, lilting song. • Edward dies suddenly, entrusting everything to Richard, much against the queen’s wishes. Lord Anthony Woodville (1483) is her brother, who supports her and has charge of the new boy king. Musically, the pace canters with his large cavalcade travelling towards London from Ludlow. He intends to side‐step Richard but makes a fatal halt at Stony Stratford, where Richard catches up with him. • When Richard was named The Lord Protector (1483), the queen tried to snatch power. Too late she realises he’s a man of honour. This sad, slow song reveals her regret, and Richard’s, because discovery of Edward IV’s bigamy means that he, Richard, is the rightful king. The crown is thrust upon him, and his happiness is over. • The splendour of Richard’s coronation is conjured by the instrumental Fanfare for the King (1483), which blends solemnity with a lighter refrain, foretelling England’s prosperity under his rule. • The Lady Anne Neville (1485), a plaintive but uncompromising melody, tells how Richard loses his son and wife, before forfeiting his own life. It’s related through Anne’s eyes, mentioning the eclipse on the day she died. Sad, but defiant. • Sorrowing, alone and doomed, Richard faces a foreign invasion by the usurper, Henry Tudor. The Wheat in the by King Henry VII when Waterford repulsed two Field (1485) concerns Tudor’s army of traitors and pretenders to his throne.’ This I assume was in 1497 and Frenchmen marching through the fields to Bosworth, this attempt on the city by Perkin Warbeck is crushing the harvest. Tunefully determined, the song commemorated by another plaque on Reginald’s Tower strides along to the relentless advance of Richard’s enemy. (above), supposedly built by Reginald the Viking. An advance to his heroic, noble death. Bill Featherstone • The graceful instrumental Tudor Danse pictures a slow dance at the new Tudor king’s court. It seems intentionally muted, because the House of Plantagenet is no more. The A review of The Legendary Ten elegant movements of the dancers are almost visible. Seconds’ album ‘Loyaulté Me Lie’ • Slain through treachery, The House of York (1485) tells of the Once in a while something different comes along. The cruel treatment of Richard’s body and reputation after Bosworth. Henry Tudor denies honour to his predecessor, first haunting notes of the flute on this wonderful album and forfeits his own in the process. A wistful track is, filled tell you a treat is in store. Folk‐rock blends traditional with heartache for what has gone forever. English songs and instruments with electric guitars and • The fate of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ remains unknown. synthesisers, and in this album the result is tuneful, Those who believe in Richard, believe in his innocence. The seamless and melodic. Nothing thudding or brash, it’s Mystery of the Princes (1485) reflects upon the rumours and simply pleasing to the ear. unsolved mystery. The music sways along, spreading like Every track of ‘Loyaulté Me Lie’ pays homage to ripples . . . and rumours. Down the centuries those Richard III, the last, most enigmatic Plantagenet whispers come. monarch. He’s the most notorious – and probably most • Sprightly Sans Charger (1485) is an instrumental with an loved – English king ever, yet only reigned two years. edge of something undefined. The title is the motto of The songs are in chronological order, with only the first Henry’s stepfather, Thomas Stanley, who deserted Richard undated, and lead us from 1471 to 1485. Well, actually, at Bosworth. Both Stanley brothers turned on their anointed king. I like this lovely track, and high‐handedly more recently, with Richard’s discovery in 2012. choose to see it as praising Richard. He is vindicated, • York City Fayre concerns a youthful Richard escorting innocent of all charges. Anne, one day to be his queen, to the fair and buying

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• In 1924, early Ricardians formed The Fellowship of the Whyte pictures can be found at: www.wsimag.com/art/10597‐ Boare. They became the Richard III Society. The story of growing support for Richard is told in this lilting track. magna‐carta. • Finally there comes The King in the Car Park. Imperative Society members should, however, be aware that it’s drumbeats precede glad music telling how Richard is a very small gallery and to make the most of any visit found again. Played over, walked over and even parked you should also visit the larger Art Gallery (of which over, he has been rescued. this is a part), the remains of the Roman amphitheatre and, if open, the medieval Guildhall to make the most of This album is a royal banquet. Richard’s life is celebrated your visit. with music that’s peculiarly intimate, but also novel, We are grateful to Bruce Logan for providing the exceptional and well worth hearing. And there’s to be a above information. See also: second Ricardian banquet! Highly recommended. www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/heritagegallery. Sandra Heath Wilson Loyaulté Me Lie by The Legendary Ten Seconds, Pastime Fanfare for King Richard III Records 030. © 2014 The Legendary Ten Seconds. Amazon: CD http://tinyurl.com/kpvdho8; Amazon: MP3 The composer Paul Lewis has contacted us about his new work: http://tinyurl.com/lpd5ayv. I knew as soon as Richard’s remains were found that I should compose a celebratory fanfare for him and was Richard III and London Guildhall very moved to discover that the day on which I felt suddenly compelled to stop all else and do so was the Art Gallery very anniversary of his becoming king. Here is a link to The London Guildhall Art Gallery has just opened its the publisher’s website where you can hear it, albeit in a City of London Heritage Gallery, which is open daily somewhat unrealistic computer rendition. It exists in and has free admission. In it is the Cartae Antiquae, two versions – the original for brass and percussion and dated to the late 1400s, essentially a collation of charters an arrangement for organ: and statutes from the medieval period. Of interest to www.goodmusicpublishing.co.uk/info/default.aspx/ members is the fact that at the beginning of each regnal Fanfare%20for%20King%20Richard%20III?id=GM141 period is a picture of the relevant king and the book is It was Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with currently open at the page where Richard III’s reign Walton’s music, that inspired me at the age of 12 to begins: he can be seen depicted in a classic regnal pose become a composer. I very soon became aware, enthroned in ermine and surrounded by courtiers within however, that Shakespeare’s pantomime villain of a the letter ‘R’ for Richard. king was very far from the truth and I have been an The display also includes mid‐fifteenth century earnest supporter of Richard ever since. I have had a pictures of city aldermen and the city’s version of the very busy career as a composer of scores for TV drama Magna Carta. Not an original, but dating from 1297 and latterly concert works. when it was re‐issued by Edward I. A good article with In the 1980s I owned a large late fifteenth‐century century silver thumb ring engraved in beautiful Gothic script with a crowned R, published by early jewellery On the lighter side expert Jack Ogden as ‘probably connected with Richard III’, the significance of which was that it was not Enterprising local marketing for a fish and chip engraved in reverse as a seal but the right way round for shop, spotted by our Secretaries in Market identification, and therefore probably worn by a senior Bosworth. member of Richard’s household. Also in the 1980s I purchased and restored the magnificent court house and lodgings built by Margaret Beaufort at Martock in Somerset at the same time as the adjoining church was embellished with her portcullis and the Tudor rose. Aware that I was occupying enemy territory, and to claim the building for Richard, I bought a collection of period glass roundels painted with the white rose and the Yorkist sunburst and mischievously set them into the windows of the court hall! I no longer own the house or the ring but would very much like to track down the latter! For more information about Paul and his work visit: www.paullewiscomposer.com/index.html.

38 OTHER NEWS, reviews and events Richard Buckley in Norwich Tewkesbury roundabout wins award On 10 January 2015 Richard Buckley will be speaking at The Assembly House, Norwich, at an event organised by The UK Roundabout Appreciation Society has awarded the Battlefields Trust. The programme for the day is the title of ‘Roundabout of the Year’ to the Stonehill currently being arranged; to go on the mailing list to roundabout (‘traffic island’, for our overseas readers) on receive final details of the day, please contact Annmarie the A38 road near Tewkesbury. Two giant horse Hayek on 01603 664021 or by e‐mail at : sculptures were erected to commemorate the Battle of [email protected]. Tewkesbury of 1471, funded by the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society at a cost of £65,000. Online course about the Wars of The 5m (16ft)‐tall works feature a victorious knight on horseback and a defeated horse, representing the the Roses victorious Yorkists and the vanquished Lancastrians, Oxford University’s Department for Continuing and took 15 years to plan and two years to make. Education is offering an online course entitled ‘The Wars Sculptor Phil Bews from the Forest of Dean said the of The Roses: power, politics and personalities’. It runs work had been made from green oak, from recently from January to March 2015 and then is repeated from felled Gloucestershire trees. The title of the piece – April. The cost is £245 and further details can be found ‘Arrivall’ – refers of course to the 1471 account of the at www.conted.ox.ac.uk (search for online courses, recovery of the throne by Edward IV. history).

Tewkesbury’s award‐winning roundabout. Photo reproduced by kind permission of Deb Hopton, lavenderhedge.co.uk

39 RESEARCH news From the Research Officer Mabel Slattery She is working on an interdisciplinary PhD under the supervision of Jeremy Goldberg and In this issue I want to take the opportunity to remind Nicola McDonald. Mabel will be looking at comedy and members about our work to promote academic research humour in late medieval society. outside the Society. Our major contribution, in association with the Richard III and Yorkist History Society Bursary Trust, is to provide for two bursaries each year, one In September’s issue I reminded everyone of the Society through the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and Bursary for members undertaking relevant research. I’m the other through the Centre for Medieval Studies at sure there must be a member out there who is York (CMS) undertaking a further degree and is self‐funding, so No doubt due to the increased interest in Richard III please don’t be shy, apply now. I know how hard it can following the discovery of his remains at Leicester, we be to self‐fund and, to quote one of our supermarkets, have had a greater selection of applicants this year. The ‘Every little helps’! The bursary is for £500, and is open aim of our bursaries is to give money to a student who to members who are graduates and whose dissertation is working on a dissertation or thesis related to the later or thesis is related to the later medieval and early Tudor medieval and early Tudor period, c. 1399–1509, and who period, c. 1399–1509. Other conditions are: has no other funding source. • The applicant must have been a member of the IHR Bursary Society for not less than a year. • The bursary will only be awarded to members who This year the IHR Bursary has been awarded to Emma have not previously received a bursary funded by Levitt, who is studying for a PhD at the University of the Richard III Society or the Richard III and Yorkist Huddersfield. While there were two other candidates History Trust, including those administered by the undertaking research in interesting areas, Emma’s thesis IHR and the Centre for Medieval Studies, York. seemed to us to be the most relevant to our historical Receipt of previous small one‐off grants for specific interests. The working title of her thesis is ‘Masculine research or travel expenses from the Society or the Display in Late Medieval Court Culture’. Her main Richard III and Yorkist Trust would not exclude an research aim is ‘to explore the ethos of chivalry that applicant. surrounded high manhood in England from the late • The Research Committee reserves the right not to medieval to the very early modern period. The focus is make an award if the area of study is deemed on representations and expressions of manhood that unsuitable. were produced and practised at the court of Edward IV • The application must be supported by a letter of and at the early court of Henry VIII.’ recommendation by the student’s tutor, together CMS York Bursary with the name and address of a second referee. The York Bursary has proved more complicated: the Centre received a large number of applicants to study an Inquisitions Post Mortem project MA on Ricardian‐related subjects this year. From these Our major project is the IPM project and further on in York nominated a student ‘planning to research Richard this section we have the latest report from Gordon III during the years when he lived in the north’ only to McKelvie, the researcher working on the IPMs for us. learn he had been successful in obtaining a grant of £10,000 paid by the York Master’s Opportunity awards, The Ricardian Chronicle project which assists those students whose family cannot afford The Ricardian Chronicle project was started after the to pay their way for Master’s study. They therefore completion of the successful Logge and York Wills offered a second student, who proposed to research projects. The idea was to see if we could move away from ‘England’s wars in the late fourteenth and fifteenth London and focus on what was happening elsewhere in century’ i.e. the period of the Hundred Years War. We Richard III’s England. We wanted a view of the regions then learnt that this student had been successful in and their responses to the new Ricardian era. Initially we obtaining a £10,000 grant from the same fund. While this looked at the first three months of Richard’s reign and is very good news for our two candidates, and we wish then decided to expand it to cover the whole reign. We them well in their studies, it meant that we still needed a have now concluded that this is too large an area to candidate. realistically attempt with our limited resources. The As the award is also open to PhD students York was events of the last few years and resulting workloads have asked if they had a suitable candidate and I am pleased meant that neither I nor the other members of the to announce that we have accepted their nomination for Research Committee have had sufficient time to work on 40 RunningRESEARCH head RIGHTnews

medieval life that we had hoped the Ricardian Submissions to the Bulletin Chronicle Project might reveal. We know that we have a number of transcribers who Contributions to the Bulletin are welcomed from all have already worked successfully on the Logge and members. All articles and images should be e‐ York wills and we also have new members undertaking mailed to [email protected], preferably the palaeography course who may well want to practise as MS Word file attachments and jpeg files their new skills. So if you are interested in taking part in respectively. the Milles project please do get in touch. If any of you We welcome submissions of photos (preferably have some expertise in Latin we might consider high‐resolution digital images) from members – including the Latin wills in the project. At this stage I am of events, objects, places and people with looking for expressions of interest, as we are still in the Ricardian or Society relevance, whether or not in process of setting up the mechanisms for delivering the connection with a submitted article or letter; we project. Each will is transcribed twice and the two are hope to build up an image bank for use in future then compared and checked by a third person, so it is an issues of the Bulletin in this way. All photos used involved process. We are in particular looking for a will remain the originator’s copyright and will not volunteer to be our central be re‐used without permission. administrator; this post will involve Submission deadlines (articles should be sent issuing wills to transcribers and well in advance of these dates): checkers and maintaining related records of their issue and return. We March edition 1 January would also like to have a newsletter for June edition 1 April the project team – those of you September edition 1 July involved in Logge will remember the December edition 1 October Logge Report. We already have a logo for the new project taken from a doodle made in the margin of the will of John Bold, and we have named him ‘Reg Milles’. the Ricardian Chronicle project to see if there was a more Lynda Pidgeon viable way to manage and develop it. (for contact details see the inside back cover of this issue) The useful information that has been found has not been wasted; there have, for example, been reports from New Calendar of Inquisitions Post Toni Mount in previous issues of the Bulletin, including some of the interesting facts members have found. We Mortem for Richard III – an update have also had articles from Penelope Lawton and In the June edition of the Ricardian Bulletin, Professor Randolph Jones, participants in the project who delved Michael Hicks explained the value and potential of the more deeply into some of the areas they were exploring. new Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem (IPMs) which We will look through the rest of the information that has the Richard III Society has generously agreed to fund. been provided by our researchers to see if we can turn This short article is not only a progress report, but it also any of it into short articles or as ‘titbits’ for this section. highlights areas of interest and identifies aspects of Richard III’s government that can be illuminated by the The Milles project calendar. We are therefore proposing a new project which builds At the time of writing, about 50 inquisitions have on the Ricardian Chronicle and previous work on the been calendared in full, although by the time this Logge and York wills. This is the next register of wills Bulletin is published the number will be higher. held in The National Archives (TNA) following on from Moreover, about 20 have been marked‐up using Logge. ‘Oxygen’, a computer programme which enables users Register Milles covers the years 1487–91 and contains to edit XML documents for online publication; again, by 662 documents. Of these 299 are in English and it is the time of publication the number will be higher. This these wills which we will focus on. Just as Gordon mark‐up will enable the inquisitions to be fully McKelvie tells us about IPMs being interesting for the searchable online when finally published. It is hoped light they throw on individuals and their connections, that some of them will be published online sometime in so wills do the same and much more. It is a small 2015. window into the lives of medieval people; we can learn Several of the original IPMs are in poor condition and about servants, friendships, even relationships that have need to be viewed at The National Archives under UV gone wrong. Clothing, books, jewellery, animals, all can light, since various attempts at taking good‐quality occur in wills. In many ways the IPM project and the images with a digital camera have proved unsuccessful. new wills project will cover many of the aspects of This problem is particularly the case for the Exchequer 41 RESEARCH news copies of the IPMs, many of which are duplicates of the IV’s court and government. Among his feoffees were the main Chancery series; however for some the Exchequer archbishops of York and Canterbury, together with the copy is the only extant version.1 These will also be Chief Justices of the courts of King’s Bench and published in the forthcoming calendar. Common Pleas. Others of his feoffees included John One particularly problematic set of inquisitions is Moreton, clerk, then Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery; those for William, Lord Hastings, who held land in nine John Gunthorp, Edward IV’s almoner; Richard Fowler, counties and in the city of York; in particular, his IPM Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; William Hussey, for the county of Leicestershire, where he was a who became Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in 1481. substantial landowner, is rather faded. However, this These were all men at the heart of Edward IV’s court or problem is easily solved by a trip to The National royal administration. Hastings’ IPMs indicate his Archives and the use of UV lights. It is unfortunate, but personal connections with many of the prominent not unexpected, that it is the IPMs for the wealthiest figures during Edward IV’s reign. nobles, which contain the most information about their Hastings was, however, only one of many prominent lands and feoffees, that have suffered most from the figures to die during the reign of Richard III. The IPMs passage of time. The prominence of men such as for other prominent figures will shed further light on Hastings has meant that they have been examined and the personal connections of the friends and enemies of handled more often and therefore have been subject to Richard III. This short piece has highlighted only a more wear and tear. These problems have been fraction of the enormous potential that a full calendar of exacerbated by the fact that IPMs for the most IPMs for the reign of Richard III will bring to the study prominent landholders are large documents, and of the king, his government and the people that he therefore have been folded and unfolded more often, knew. which compounds this damage. In contrast, the IPMs Gordon McKelvie for smaller landholders, or those recorded as holding no lands or services, are much more legible and can be Notes calendared efficiently. 1. A detailed discussion by Dr Mathew Holford of the The IPMs for Hastings also reveal some of his importance of the Exchequer series of inquisitions post personal connections, notably those who were his mortem is available on the website for the AHRC funded feoffees (a panel of trustees granted property by a donor ‘Mapping the Medieval Country’ project at The to hold to the donor’s use).2 Christine Carpenter has University of Winchester: highlighted the importance of feoffees in illuminating http://blog.inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/2012/10/cipm‐ personal connections, noting that ‘no family would xviii‐416‐and‐the‐exchequer‐series‐of‐ipms. [Accessed 29 entrust its lands to feoffees . . . on whom it could not September 2014] place the strongest reliance’.3 Neither Richard, nor his 2. The Fifteenth‐Century Inquisitions Post Mortem: a brothers, were among the feoffees. Despite the absence companion, ed. Michael Hicks (Woodbridge, 2012), p. xiv. of the king or the royal dukes, Hastings’ feoffees 3. Christine Carpenter, ‘The Duke of Clarence and the Midlands: a study in the interplay of local and national constituted many of the great and the good of Edward politics’, Midland History, 11, 1986, p. 24.

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42 Looking for RICHARD – the follow-up from examination of his skeleton and the services of a Two papers and a documentary ‘body double’, the programme demonstrated Richard’s Following the successful Greyfriars excavation there has fighting abilities and physical state after becoming king. His spine was bent at an 80° angle, some joints were been a regular flow of new research papers and normal, but the thoracic bones showed signs of documentaries. Since the last Bulletin we have had two osteoarthritis, which might have caused him pain. more papers and a new documentary. Dominic Smee, 27, saw reports on TV of the discovery of The Lancet recently published a paper entitled ‘Peri‐ Richard’s scoliosis and realised it was very similar to his mortem Trauma in King Richard III: a skeletal analysis’ own. He willingly volunteered to act as Richard’s double, by a team of authors including Jo Appleby, Bob taking part in experiments specifically designed to test his Woosnam‐Savage, Turi King, Mathew Morris and mobility and strength. On examination, his scoliosis Richard Buckley (The Lancet, Early Online Publication, proved to be almost exactly the same as Richard’s. 17 September 2014). Initial tests were positive, but on the treadmill, Dominic The paper concluded that: tired easily and became breathless due to rib displacement restricting his lung capacity. He then went on to ride a The injuries were consistent with those created by horse and be fitted with medieval‐style armour and take weapons from the later medieval period. We could not part in hand‐to‐hand combat. His armour, fitted by a identify the specific order of the injuries, because they Swedish expert, had to be personally tailored due to his were all distinct, with no overlapping wounds. Three of condition, but once he was fully dressed his condition was the injuries – two to the inferior cranium and one to the not visible. Meanwhile, further examination of Richard’s pelvis – could have been fatal. The wounds to the skull bones revealed that there was a change in his diet once he suggest that Richard was not wearing a helmet, although became king, with a wider variety of food, especially the absence of defensive wounds on his arms and hands meats, and a higher consumption of wine. suggests he was still otherwise armoured. Therefore, the The next challenge for Dominic Smee was to recreate potentially fatal pelvis injury was probably received post Richard III’s last 1,000‐metre cavalry charge at Bosworth. mortem, meaning that the most likely injuries to have The medieval‐style saddle, with stiff supports back and caused his death are the two to the inferior cranium. front, actually helped Dominic, being more secure for him The full paper can be accessed at: than a modern saddle. He made the charge successfully www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140‐ and hit the waiting quintain, thus proving that, when fully armed and mounted on horseback, Richard would have 6736(14)60804‐7/fulltext. been a formidable warrior. Once dismounted, however, The Journal of Archaeological Science published a paper he would have been more vulnerable. in October 2014 entitled ‘Multi‐isotope Analysis In conclusion, the programme proved that Richard III’s Demonstrates Significant Lifestyle Changes in King scoliosis would not have prevented him from being an Richard III’, authored by Angela L. Lamb, Jane E. Evans, effective force on the battlefield. He would have had to be Richard Buckley and Jo Appleby. The article can be very fit, trained for battle since childhood. The accessed at: contribution of Dominic Smee helped the scientists bring http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030544 to life the king’s likely capabilities. 0314002428. This paper formed the basis for the television We asked Dominic if he would be willing to share his documentary Richard III: the new evidence. Regrettably, experiences of the programme with the Bulletin, he some aspects were rather taken out of context by the agreed and his story follows. programme makers, leading to some tabloid‐style headlines about Richard III’s apparent excessive eating Richard III: the new evidence – and drinking. Professor Jane Evans, one of the papers authors, has kindly provided us with a summary of the Dominic’s story scientific findings, at the same time setting Richard’s King Richard III was publicly diagnosed with severe diet in its proper context. We’ve used this very adolescent onset idiopathic thoracic scoliosis during interesting article for this issue’s The Man Himself, Channel 4/DSP’s Richard III: the unseen story which can be found on p. 51. documentary, a follow up from The King in the Car Park, Sue Taylor kindly provided the following summary a documentary that would capture the discovery of the of the programme, which was shown on Channel 4 on remains of the last king of England to die in battle, and 17 August: soon inspire a global media frenzy. This programme fascinated and intrigued me as I also have the same type This intriguing documentary set out to investigate just what Richard III would have been capable of, given his of scoliosis and the degree of my curve looked to be very scoliosis of the spine. Using the latest scientific evidence similar to Richard’s.

43 Looking for RICHARD

unwittingly hooked his weapon onto my war hammer and pulled me over, simulating the saddle being cut and the king dragged off to his death. I cover what went through my mind at this very moment in the following excerpt from the book that I am writing:

Surrounded! Betrayed! Abandoned! There are too many – we cannot hold! Where are my men? The merciless onslaught of blows continues to assault me. My arms grow heavy; my body shudders from the relentless attacks. I force myself to carry on; to stand to the last. Left by God and country to die . . . my heart sags under the hopelessness of it all. I watch as the legs of my loyal standard bearer are cruelly hacked off. I raise my arm in protest to block a halberd, but I cannot stop them all. I desperately twist and turn, panic rising as I fight for my life, seeking to parry and deflect the inevitable. The beak of my war hammer is hooked around my opponent’s weapon and the world starts to blur. I tense. Overcome by a sense of finality; powerless to act, I am paralysed. My armour, once a fortress of protection, was to be my undoing, my tomb. A thousand thoughts flash unwittingly across my mind as I am dragged from my mount. CRASH! I hit the ground. My face thrust forwards, a mouthful of grass, aware yet blind, focused yet frantic. Anger bubbles up within as I struggle in vain to prize myself from the dead weight pinning my prone form to the sodden, marshy ground. Once my noble steed had carried me into battle, now he violently thrashes in defiant death throes. Feeling humiliated, and punished by a curvature of the spine, I can do nothing to neither confront nor escape the oncoming hail of blows soon to be raining down upon my stricken body. I feel my crown Dominic Smee, who suffers from the exact same form of scoliosis as Richard III. Photo courtesy of Channel 4. unceremoniously torn from my head. My final thought; ‘Traitors!’, as my body is punctured, pummelled and Due to this apparent similarity, I volunteered to take pillaged. part in a documented experiment to find out whether it An unseen connection tied; a strand of the past united was possible for me to replicate some of Richard’s with the present; a sole witness through the visor of time. recorded achievements. To determine whether he was Suddenly, abruptly, I am acutely aware of how Richard in fact crippled because of his scoliosis, I was to undergo may have felt in his last moments. Once a king, now just intensive riding and fighting training to prepare me for a man scrambling to survive – raw, uncontrolled primal fury lashing out desperately, clinging, clawing onto life at a final test at the end of a gruelling four months. During any cost. the course of filming, I went to Sweden to have some parts of armour custom‐made by Per Lillelund Jensen, Throughout the whole process I struggled with my levels an armourer personally recommended by Dr Tobias of strength. I know that Richard was also described as Capwell. The aim was to discover whether or not it was being of gracile build and of little strength. There is some possible to build a working harness for somebody with conjecture as to whether this is describing his physical severe scoliosis. In doing so we could then suppose that characteristics, or just the charging force accompanying Richard’s own armourer may have tackled his him. My scoliosis does cause me to tire quickly in certain physiological differences in a similar way. situations, but many of the combative techniques require During the final shoot at the end of the programme, muscles that we rarely use in everyday life. Richard we filmed a sequence where I was sitting on a vaulting would have conditioned his body from an early age to horse, surrounded by halberdiers. We were trying to do this, so the question is, would he have noticed the demonstrate how easily Richard could have defended same issue? We do know that Richard believed his sword himself, on an incapacitated mount – stuck in a swamp. arm was cursed, which, in my opinion might be in The plan was to film a little of that with me and have a reference to a reduction in either mobility or physical stunt double come in and get dragged off – for real. In a capacity to do what he required of it, because of his dramatic turn of events, one of the halberdiers scoliosis. 44 Looking for RICHARD

I think having scoliosis has gifted me a level of We asked Dominic to tell us more about the book he is wisdom. By being disadvantaged, I have felt like you planning: have to work harder to get where you want to be, so you ‘Very briefly, the book I’m writing will talk about the are constantly analysing things to determine the best events leading up to my involvement in the course of action. Richard’s scoliosis may have led him to documentary, as well as my experience in the have an awareness of who and what was important. programme (in much more detail than you will get from Because of his own weakness, he may have been able to the programme or in any subsequent talks or Q&As). It see the value in everybody around him, which is why he has been a journey of self‐discovery, as much as an did so much for the common man, and had such a loyal experiment uncovering more about Richard. I have re‐ following. evaluated myself and my scoliosis, certainly over the All things considered, my experience in the Richard years that it developed, but especially during the III: the new evidence programme has only bolstered my filming of the programme. The book will talk about this respect for an incredibly courageous man. He lived his process, the ups and the downs. How I felt along the life in appreciation of the chevalier, and went out in a way, and how I coped with it all. I will share my own heroic last stand. He protected the weak and the life experiences, and how everything has contributed to innocent by introducing the bail system and court of giving me a few ideas about Richard the warrior, and requests. He was pious, loyal and devoted. He was a Richard the man. It will probably finish with my scapegoat for Tudor propaganda, and betrayed by those experience having been on television and how my life around him. has changed, and how I see my future. But who knows, Dominic Smee it could change yet again as I write it.’

30/7, and Times HE 7/8). Richard’s Society of Antiquaries portrait Richard III: the king in the car park was No 70 in a list of ‘100 objects to see in the UK that bring portrayed as the ‘office history to life’ (Daily Mail 3/9). The debate over where Richard III should be reburied has even psychopath’, a glutton and a ‘Star reached Test Match Special, when Yorkshire cricketing legend Wars character’ Geoffrey Boycott ‘complained that the remains of Richard III have been “pinched” by Leicester to make money’. This allegation was immediately refuted by Leicestershire cricket Introduction commentator Jonathan Agnew (Independent i and Leicester During July Martin Freeman’s controversial new production of Mercury 11/8). Meanwhile details concerning the events Richard III received both praise and proscription from the connected with the king’s reburial in Leicester Cathedral on 26 reviewers (Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard and Times March 2015 have been released (Daily Telegraph, Guardian, 10/7, The Lady 18/7, Theatre Record July and Sunday Times 31/8). Independent and Times 8/8). The Plantagenet Alliance were His production was set in a London office during the 1979 dismayed that the Queen was taking no formal interest in the ‘Winter of Discontent’ and Richard was portrayed as a reburial of her ‘14th great‐grand uncle’. Their chairman, Stephen psychopath. Drowning the duke of Clarence in a goldfish tank Nicolay, stated ‘the reinterment of a former monarch should be upset some vegans and animal rights activists, who were an issue of national significance. Any such reburial should have concerned about the well‐being of the fish (Daily Mail and Daily the input of the royal household.’ (Times 21/8). Leicester Telegraph 13/9, Sunday Times 14/9). Freeman’s decision to cut parts Cathedral caused more ‘controversy’ by their clumsy attempt to of the text and add some new material, including the murder of recoup some of the costs of constructing Richard’s new tomb by Anne Neville, prompted comment. However, it should be seeking individual donations of £2,500 ‘for attendance at a remembered that cutting part of one of Shakespeare’s cycle of private service marking the entry of the coffined remains of history plays is not really a radical step, as the three parts of Richard III’ into the cathedral on 22 March, at the start of the Henry VI are regularly abridged. This year’s prize for the worst week‐long reinterment commemoration (Daily Mail and Times adaptation of Richard III should be awarded to the Drag King 2/9). Cathedral representatives have admitted that they expect Richard III (Times 31/7). In 2016 the BBC’s new Richard III will be this event to raise £100,000 (Leicester Mercury 4/9). But, the broadcast as part of The Hollow Crown, their ongoing adaptation Chapter would do well to remember Christ’s words when he of Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses plays (Times 2/10). drove the money‐changers and vendors from the Temple: ‘Stop On 26 July the new £4.5 million Richard III Visitor Centre in making my Father’s house a market place!’ (John 2:16). Richard’s Leicester opened, allowing the public to view his empty grave actual reburial service will be probably be conducted by the and a 3D replica of his skeleton (Guardian 23/7; Daily Telegraph Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, and his 25/7; Leicester Mercury 23–25/7, 4/9 and 9/9 and Current Roman Catholic ‘equivalent’, Cardinal Vincent Nichols (Daily Archaeology September). Prof. Housley stated that the new ‘centre Telegraph, Leicester Mercury and Times 8/9). The ‘debacle’ over does the last Plantagenet proud’ (Leicester Mercury 28/7). Richard’s reinterment and the new ‘installation’ commemorating However, it has not received universal acclaim, as an image of his life in the Cathedral gardens provoked adverse comments Richard III in his suit of white‐painted armour makes him look (Leicester Mercury 23/7 and 28/7). like a ‘Star Wars’ stormtrooper. Annette Carson has described In August the publication of new multi‐isotope analysis of Richard’s white armour as ‘grotesque’ and the projected image elements of Richard III’s skeletal remains, revealed evidence of of the king in his grave as ‘ghoulish’ (Daily Telegraph, Metro, Times a significant change of diet toward the end of his life (when he

45 Looking for RICHARD became king), which could explained by the increased interest in the Wars of the Roses, to such an extent that it has consumption of wine and high protein foods (Journal of now replaced the Tudors at ‘as the most captivating era in Archaeological Science 16/8). This new data was supplemented on English history’ says Chris Skidmore, author of Bosworth: birth 17 August by the broadcast of an informative Channel 4 of the Tudors (Times 4/10). As proof of this popularity The Hollow documentary Richard III: the new evidence (discussed below). Crown: the Wars of the Roses and the rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones Subsequently, Richard III’s skeletal ‘trauma’ has been has received eight praiseworthy reviews and one discussion. investigated by an array of modern forensic techniques, His ‘narrative’ approach to the subject evokes that of ‘the best‐ including micro‐CT scanning, which has also produced a selling, literary historians of the 19th and early 20th century like refined age estimation of 30–34 years (he was 32). It has been Trevelyan and T. B. Macaulay, who wrote, in 1828, that “a truly confirmed that Richard had sustained a horrendous great historian would reclaim those materials which the novelist combination of 11 injuries, but he was probably killed by two has appropriated” ‘ (History Today Oct). Other reviews included blows to the back of his head probably caused by a sword and Bosworth: birth of the Tudors and The King’s Grave: the search for a halberd tip, which implies he was bareheaded, but the absence Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones. The of defensive wounds to his arms and hands suggests that the rediscovery of Richard III continues to inspire the search for rest of his body was still armoured at the time of his death. The other missing English kings (see Review in June Bulletin) and potentially fatal thrust wound through his pelvis is considered generate half‐baked conspiracy theories. The latest one is that likely to have been inflicted while he was still wearing armour Harold survived the Battle of Hastings and years later was (Lancet 17/9). Richard’s three facial injuries were probably buried in the parish church of Waltham Abbey, where ground‐ caused by a dagger and were most likely inflicted after the penetrating radar is now being used to locate his grave (Metro removal of his helmet, so they may represent the mutilation of 5/9). DNA evidence that helped identify Richard III has now his corpse rather than battlefield injuries. The blade wound to said to have been used to ‘solve’ another great historical his right buttock is interpreted as an act of humiliation or an mystery, the identifi cation of ‘Jack the Ripper’ as Aaron insult inflicted on his corpse, perhaps when it was slung over a Kosminski from traces of blood and semen on a shawl recovered horse after the battle (Daily Telegraph 17/9). These three stories from site of one of the murders in 1888 (Independent, Daily were all widely reported in the media. Telegraph and Times 8/9). The rediscovery of Richard III’s remains has increased public

Selective reports from UK journals, newspapers and magazines concerning Richard III’s life and place of reburial For earlier material see previous Ricardian Bulletins. Only significant letters are included. Illustrations are photographs unless detailed otherwise. Autumn 2013 matching anonymous portraits of Edward IV BPP Law School’s Student Publication (issue and Richard III dating to c. 1510–40, consid ‐ 8) ‘Car Park Justice’. Was Richard III an ered to be the two earliest and finest surviving ‘ruthless ruler’ or committed to a fairer judicial portraits of these kings and probably system? A. J. Hennay argues that while produced from lost prototypes made during Richard III did not invent the system of bail, their lifetimes (see Daily Mail 3/9). Also two he actively promoted its use. There are several later portraits of the brothers, one of Edward instances where Richard disregarded the law dated to circa 1520–35, and another of Richard when it suited him, for instance at the council (known as the ‘broken sword’) dating to c. meeting on 13 June 1483 he arrested his 1523–55 ( illustrated here). This unflattering opponents and then had Lord Hastings, the portrait depicts Richard holding a broken Chamberlain summarily executed. While sword (signifying defeat in battle) in his right Richard’s legal reforms made justice ‘fairer hand, while his left shoulder is shown as and more accessible’ the impression is ‘he was higher than his right and according to the using the law for his own gains to strengthen catalogue he has ‘a deformed left arm and the position of his, already weak, Crown . . . hand’. ‘Clearly the intention of this image was All history is subjective, and as such, the to portray Richard as the disfigured and Richard III Society’s focus upon Richard’s defeated usurper of Tudor propaganda.’ The legal reforms as a potential saving grace for interpretation of Richard’s left hand and arm whiplash sarcasm.’ Daily Telegraph ‘This is the “their maligned king” is more subjective than in this portrait as ‘deformed’ is questionable Richard of My Discontent’. ‘Freeman gives a most, ignoring key evidence with little as while they look anatomically incorrect this disappointingly underpowered performance attempt to move beyond face value if it is not could be due to poor representation. as Richard, normally one of the most thrilling beneficial to their case . . . Richard was a July roles in Shakespeare.’ The decision to set the minor, almost transitional king who ruled for 10/7 Evening Standard ‘Star Shakes Off Nice play during the strikes of 1979 was intended only 26 months, and as such his reforms, Guy Image in Production With an Air of as joke based on the opening line: ‘Now is the although in some cases progress, were in Darkness and Real Menace’. Freeman ‘makes winter of our discontent . . .’ Times ‘Freeman’s themselves very minor in shaping our legal the hunchbacked monarch efficient and Office Psychopath is Quietly Electrifying’. system.’ Illus: engraving based on NPG dapper, rather like a prim bureaucrat . . . the ‘Now here’s a Shakespearean debut to Windsor portrait of Richard III. production while undeniably vibrant contains applaud: Martin Freeman limps, lies, smiles, June 2014 (monthly publications) too many flashy gimmicks.’ Daily Mail ‘The stabs, and strangles his way to the crown in Portraying the Past: paintings from the Society of Clearing of the Desks’. ‘Freeman puts his own this excessive but invigorating Richard III who Antiquaries of London (fully illustrated summer stamp on hunch‐backed Richard. He makes is portrayed as the ruthless ‘corporate raider’ exhibition cata logue). This included two him a psycho of shallow attention span and complete with a ‘hunchback and a limp’. 46 Looking for RICHARD

11/7 Leicester Mercury letter: ‘Richard III Last Plantagenet Monarch’, another review of Ricardian Vol. 4, No 53 and Autumn 2004, p. Saga Ups and Downs Causing Disbelief’. A the new visitor centre and a detailed list of 30, for biographical articles on the countess). reminder that ‘without Philippa Langley . . . contributors which includes ‘Philippa 30/7 Daily Telegraph ‘Discontent at Richard none of this would have happened’, arguing Langley, who dreamed of finding King III in “Star Wars”, . Illus: Richard’s suit of that she deserves some civic order such as ‘the Richard III . . . and all the Ricardians who replica white armour. Cartoon of an Imperial freedom of the City of Leicester, for not only helped her on her way’. Illus: seven views of Stormtrooper declaiming: ‘the force, my finding the impossible, but putting Leicester the new centre and its exhibits; plus its new kingdom for the force!’. Leicester Mercury back on the tourist map and overnight logo. 24/7 Times Higher Education Supplement letter: ‘Shakespeare Has No Place in Visitor restoring a chunk of history’. interview: ‘The Leicester Legacy That Bob Centre’; the writer thinks that the 12/7 Times ‘My Manifesto for the Perfect Built’. The Vice‐Chancellor of Leicester ‘Shakespeare’s dramas’ should not be Political Play: from Aeschylus to Bean, University Sir Bob Burgess reflects on his 15 considered part of ‘English history’. Illus: playwrights have tackled big issues. But the years of ‘campus renewal’. ‘Nevertheless, it is stage Richard III’s in the centre. Metro ‘The best leave the audience to make up their own the 2012 discovery of the remains of Richard Force, the Force, my Kingdom for the Force’ minds.’ ‘Richard III, now gorily revived . . . III . . . that did most to bring Burgess and Richard III’s suit of replica white armour carries a strong but uncontentious message: Leicester to public attention. He lauds the (illustrated) is compared with the body avoid civil war, trust the Tudors, and if achievement as a demonstration of the value armour of an Imperial Stormtrooper in the another crookback comes lurching into and excitement of research’. Illus: Sir Bob; the ‘Star Wars’ films (also illustrated). Times politics, don’t let him survive.’ Saturday new university library and staff at the press ‘Richard III Image Anger’. Illus: ditto. Review: ‘What’s On, Critics Choice: Theatre’. briefing on the discovery of Richard III. 31/7 Times Arts, First Night: Theatre, ‘Drag ‘Richard III’, ‘such fine performances, led by 25/7 Daily Telegraph ‘Richard in Pieces’. . King Richard III’, Riverside Studies, London. an extraordinary Shakespeare debut from Illus: 3‐D replica of Richard III’s skeleton. ‘This drama by the American playwright Terri Martin Freeman as a quick, clipped, corporate, Leicester Mercury editorial: ‘Richard III Centre Power aims to explore transgender experience self‐aware Richard.’ Lives up to the Hype’, . in the context of both mainstream society and 18/7 The Lady ‘Mediocre King Dick’, ‘this 26/7 Leicester Mercury ‘Be Proud of all a lesbian relationship . . . What has this do production of Richard III for the twitter Involved in the Story of the King’. Mike Pitts, with Richard III? Precious little, frankly, but generation merely skims the very bloody author of Digging for Richard III: how that doesn’t stop Power crudely gluing surface’. archaeology found the King ‘reflects on just goblets of Shakespeare’s text to her own 19/7 Financial Times Life and Arts: ‘I’ll Take extraordinary finding King Richard III was’, politically questionable writing. The only the King‐Size Bed Tonight’. The Rose Suite in observing that ‘we need to step back from the connection she comes up with is a parallel Warwick Castle, where Edward IV apparently noise and reflect on how extraordinary was between Richard’s “deformity” and Laura’s [a stayed in 1469, is available for £600 per night the successful quest for a lost grave.’ Illus: girl seeking gender reassignment] distaste for complete with four‐poster bed. Illus: an aerial author. Letter: ‘Fed up with Saga’ from a female body in which she feels trapped. But to view of Warwick Castle and the Rose Suite. disgruntled reader who is fed up with Richard suggest that being transgender and being a 21/7 Leicester Mercury letters: ‘Neighbours III. ‘It seems as if every day there is something villainous hunchback are in any way Also Have a Clear Link to Richard III’, five about him in the media.’ How true. analogous is not just dramatically naive, it’s letters reflecting on Richard’s links to the 28/7 Daily Telegraph Travel: Holiday implicitly offensive.’ . county of Northamptonshire and other topics Adventures, included the King Richard III July (monthly publications) including the design of his new tomb. Illus: Visitor Centre, Leicester. The discovery BBC History Magazine Special Edition: ‘The artist’s impression of the tomb design. section of the centre ‘deals tactfully with the Story of the Tudors’. This issue includes 23/7 Independent on Sunday ‘Britain Must passionate involvement of Philippa Langley informative articles by promin ent historians Dig Deeper to Save its Archaeology’. The of the Richard III Society – who with her on the reigns of each monarch and other discovery of Richard III remains is rightly seen colleague John Ashdown‐Hill is really the topics. ‘The Dawn of the Tudors’ by Chris as an archaeological triumph ‘but a funding reason the dig took place at all’. Leicester Skidmore, describes the background to crisis has left British archaeology feeling Mercury ‘The Richard III Experience Will Not Bosworth, Henry VII’s early life, the course of undervalued, understaffed and reliant on Disappoint’. Illus: author. Letter: ‘Where is the the battle and Richard III’s death. He volunteers.’ Illus: Richard’s skeleton in its dignity, honour?’ referring to the letter of 23/7 considers one important fact in Henry’s grave. pointing out that Richard’s previous journey success was that ‘Richard’s usurpation’ 23/7 Guardian ‘Richard III’s Car Park Grave from the battlefield to Leicester was one of prompted many supporters of Edward IV to Goes on Show to the Public’. ‘The attraction ‘humiliation’. Illus: Richard III ‘broken sword’ change sides. Illus: battle of Bosworth tells the tale of Richard’s life, brief reign and portrait. Guardian ‘My Yorkist Claim to Fame’. engraving from David Hume’s History of death’. . Illus: two interior views of the centre. A distant relative of David Boyle wrote a letter England (1754–61); NPG portrait of Edward 23/7 Leicester Mercury ‘Fit for a King: Inside to newspaper in 1919 claiming that Richard III IV; the Tower of London in the poems of Richard III Visitor Centre’ explaining how a was not a hunchback. Her grandfather (born Charles, duke of Orleans MS c. 1500; Richard former school has been transformed ‘into a in 1784), ‘ had told her father that his uncle’s III NPG portrait and an engraving of the room sleek, modern attraction which takes people grandfather had danced with the Countess of in the White Boar Inn at Northgate Street, on a journey from the 15th‐century Battle of Desmond . . .’ who he claimed had also Leicester, where it is claimed Richard spent Bosworth to the 21st‐century return of the ‘danced with the young Richard III when she his last few nights. ‘Henry VII: The Stabliser’ king’. Illus: ten views of the new centre and its was a girl and said that he was very handsome by Steven Gunn. His thesis is that ‘Henry was exhibits including Richard’s grave. Two and had no signs of deformity.’ While it is not just a survivor but a stabiliser . . . He letters: ‘Please Stop This Debacle Over quite probable that Katherine Fitzgerald (c. strengthened the crown both financially and Reinterment’ criticising ‘the four‐day 1500–1604), the ‘old countess of Desmond’, in its ability to do justice . . . The marriage spectacle’ and ‘Council Appears to Have Lost knew people such as her husband Thomas alliance by which his daughter Margaret the Plot’, describing the new ‘installation’ Fitzgerald, 11th earl of Desmond (1454–1534) married James IV of Scotland would lead to consisting of a row of steel plates to who had met Richard III, it seems highly the union of the crowns a century later in the commemorate Richard III’s life as ‘a unlikely that she actually did and her person of his great‐grandson James VI.’ Illus: deplorable waste of money. Illus: artist’s unreliable testimony crops up various NPG portrait Henry VII (1505). ‘The Secret impression of installation. accounts, all of which are at least third‐hand War Against the Tudors’ by Desmond Seward. 24/7 Leicester Mercury ‘Telling the Tale of the (see previous Review p. 35 plus articles in The Despite Henry’s victory at Bosworth he faced 47 Looking for RICHARD various plots and rebellions, including that of above. Illus: NPG portrait of Richard III. form of nitrogen isotope levels of a significant the pretender Perkin Warbeck. Illus: portrait Guardian ‘Spring Reburial Date Set for Richard change of diet toward the end of his life (when countess of Salisbury; engraving of Perkin III’s Remains’, . Independent ‘Richard III to be he became king), which could be explained by Warbeck in the pillory; engraving of the battle Reburied at Leicester Cathedral’. Times ‘Date the ‘increased consumption of wine and rich of Stoke and a pencil sketch (c. 1560) from a Set for Reburial of Richard III’s Bones’. Bricks (high‐protein) foods, perhaps including lost portrait of Perkin Warbeck (c. 1494). ‘The and Mortar, ‘Manor House’, features Fyfield ‘luxury items such as game birds and Perfect Queen’ by Alison Weir is a discussion Manor in Oxfordshire (on sale for £5.5 freshwater fish’. Times Saturday Review of the ‘queenship’ of Elizabeth of York, consort million), once the home of Perkin Warbeck’s featured Richard III: the new evidence, ‘this of Henry VII. ‘That there was affection and widow Lady Kath erine Gordon (d. 1537) and fascinating film . . . shed new light on the tenderness between Henry and Elizabeth her third husband Christopher Ashton. king’s death and his diet and lifestyle . . . with cannot be doubted.’ Illus: NPG portrait of 9/8 Daily Mail Weekend: ‘The Definite surprising results’. Illus: Dominic Smee in Elizabeth; her image in twentieth‐century Article’. ‘We ask a celebrity a set of devilishly armour beside his war horse. Total TV Guide stained glass at Cardiff Castle, an engraving probing questions – and only accept THE ‘King for a Day: How One Young Man is depicting their wedding and a pair of definitive answer.’ This week Colin Dexter. Helping Unlock Secrets About Richard III’. sixteenth‐century portraits of Elizabeth and Question: ‘The figure from history for whom Dominic Smee, Richard III’s ‘body double’, Henry. Theatre Record (vol. 34, issue 14) Cover you’d most like to buy a pie and pint’? says ‘it’s given me a connection with Richard.’ story: ‘Martin Freeman’s Richard III: Wicked Answer: Richard III; ‘I’d love to know what . Illus: Dominic Smee with an insert from a Gloucester or Norfolk and Good?’ A happened to the Princes in the Tower’. 9/8 19th‐century engraving of a mounted Richard comprehensive compendium of 14 reviews by Leicester Mercury editorial: ‘City’s Most III. newspaper critics, the 1979 office set Important Date of Year’, 26 March 2015, when 17/8 Channel 4 documentary, Richard III: the generated some good headlines including ‘ Richard III will be reburied in the cathedral. new evidence, narrated by Dr Ian Mortimer, ‘Murderer Among the Fax Machines’ 11/8 Independent i ‘Leicestershire “pinched” discussed the results of new isotope analysis (Financial Times 10/7) (For reasons of space Richard III’, . This inspired a series of letters (see above), which has revealed evidence of a only five of these reviews are listed in this (12–14/8). Illus: Geoffrey Boycott. Leicester significant change of diet during Richard’s last catalogue). This England (summer) A Royal Mercury ‘Howzat For Arguing Over King’s years and the physical evidence from a ‘body History of England: ‘King Henry VI’. A Bones!’ double’ of how Richard’s scoliosis may have detailed account of Henry’s life from child 12/8 Independent i letter: ‘York Backed affected his stamina, strength and agility in king to unsuccessful but pious sovereign who Lancaster’ during the Wars of the Roses. Times combat. The isotope analysis confirms that as founded Eton College and King’s College, ‘Palace Urged to Take Role in Richard III’s king Richard enjoyed a lot of wine and rich Cambridge. ‘Many consider Eton and King’s Reburial’, . foods, implying that he consumed too much to be Henry’s only lasting memorials. 13/8 Independent i letter: ‘King in the North’, alcohol (perhaps two or three litres per day) Whatever Henry’s achievements, he will pointing out that Richard III ruled northern and attended too many banquets. Considering always be regarded as the catalyst that England for most of his brother’s reign and his this evidence in conjunction with Richard’s unwillingly sparked the Wars of the Roses.’ plans for a chantry at York Minster are a good roundworm infection (see review in Dec 2013 Illus: Windsor Castle and a montage of indication of where he wished to be buried. Bulletin) and of his scoliosis they concluded monarchs; Henry VI’s Soc of Antiq’s portrait; Leicester Mercury ‘One of Most Remarkable while he might have been ‘dissolute’ not he Margaret of Anjou manuscript illustration; Cities in the World – Leicester, 1937’, a was certainly not ‘disabled’, but a combination Joan of Arc’s death at the stake by Hermann discussion of Arthur Mee’s Leicestershire and of his lifestyle and his handicap may well have Stilke (1843); Eton College; King’s College and Rutland (1937), where he incorrectly observes affected his performance at Bosworth. Henry’s final burial place at St George’s that the city ‘threw the worthless dust of a Amazingly, the programme makers had Chapel, Windsor, where he was reinterred in king into its river [sic], and nobly guards the managed to find a 27‐year‐old medieval re‐ 1484 by Richard III. dust of Cardinal Wolsey’. Illus: book jacket enactor, Dominic Smee, who suffers from August and city’s guildhall. almost the same degree (75%) of spinal 2/8 Times ‘Archaeology: King’s Daughter’s 14/8 Independent i letter: ‘Tomb Fit for a curvature as Richard III (80%), so he could be Grave Traced’. Research by Dr Christian Steer King’, as for Richard’s final resting place it’s a used as a ‘body double’ to examine the (see Sept Bulletin, p. 49) has revealed that case of ‘finders keepers’. physical limitations that Richard’s scoliosis Richard III’s illegitimate daughter Lady 16/8 Daily Mail Weekend: included an could have imposed on his combat career. Katherine Plantagenet (d. c. 1485–7) was article about the forthcoming documentary Dominic got a crash course in horsemanship buried in the City of London church of St Richard III: the new evidence, . Illus: Dominic and other aspects of medieval warfare, James Garlickhythe. Illus: Soc of Antiq’s Smee in armour beside his war horse; Richard showing great dexterity, but little stamina portrait of Richard III. III’s skeleton; new facial reconstruction and during exercise due to his restricted lung 3/8 Mail on Sunday ‘Long Live King NPG portrait. Journal of Archaeological Science capacity. Dominic performed well on Richard!’, a guide the places to visit connected vol. 30, 1–7 (available online). ‘Multi‐isotope horseback as the medieval saddle helped bear with the king in and around Leicester, the new Analysis Demonstrates Significant Lifestyle the 30 kg weight of his suit of plate armour. ‘historic hotspot’. Illus: city centre; NPG Changes in King Richard III’ by A. L. Lamb, J. Due to Dominic’s asymmetrical physique it portrait of Richard III; cathedral ledger stone E. Evans, R. Buckley and J. Appleby. Samples was not possible to transfer the weight of his and a 19th‐century engraving of his death at from two of the king’s teeth, from a femur and chest armour to his hips, so instead the entire Bosworth ( A. Hopkins). a rib have been analysed for bioapatite and weight had be carried by his shoulders, which 6/8 Leicester Mercury letter: ‘Tomb Design is collagen. The teeth were intended to provide bearing in mind his spinal weakness was a Taking The Biscuit’, Richard III’s new tomb data about his childhood and early problem and certainly wearing full armour for design is unfavourably compared to a white adolescence, the femur about his long‐term long periods of time would have placed great chocolate Kit‐Kat (illustrated), this inspired health and rib about his more recent health stress on Richard III’s spine, contributing to letters in a similar vein on the 8th, 11th, 15th and lifestyle, as this particular bone remodels his osteoarthritis. On horseback Dominic was and 25th. itself quite quickly. The isotopes confirm that very active and agile, but fighting on foot in 8/8 Daily Telegraph ‘ “State Funeral” for Richard spent his early life in full armour he tired very quickly, a factor Richard III, the Only King of England Left Northamptonshire, but when he was about which may well have contributed to Richard’s Without a Marked Grave’, a statement that is seven he moved westwards, perhaps to the III death once his horse was killed and he incorrect, see Metro 5/9 and Introduction Welsh Marches. There was evidence in the fought on foot. 48 Looking for RICHARD

17/8 Independent on Sunday ‘Swan, Egret, Shakespeare have been without them?’ Roses 35 years later . . . There was one last Heron: the Richard III diet revealed’, good Review of The Hollow Crown by historian important consequence of the dual monarchy, discussion of the Channel 4 documentary. Helen Castor, pointing out that the adult Catherine de Valois, whom Henry V married Illus: Dominic Smee; Richard III’s skeleton; his Henry VI ‘proved no more capable of ruling at Troyes, took as her second husband a Welsh curved spine and facial reconstruction. Mail on that he’d been as a child’ and the loss of squire Owen Tudor and her grandson, Henry, Sunday ‘A Pint, My Kingdom for a Pint! Was England’s French possessions and the would kill the last Plantagenet king, Richard King Richard a drunk?’ Event Pick of the Day: financial crisis the French war created a III.’ Illus: Dan Jones. Richard III: the new evidence. Illus: Dominic ‘political tension’ at home which soon turned September Smee. Sunday Express ‘Proof Richard III Had into a civil war, won by ‘Edward IV, who 2/9 Times ‘Richard III Letter Causes Real Backbone’ and was ‘a warrior king’. Illus: seemed to offer the bloodstained kingdom a Discontent’, . Dominic Smee and the skeleton of Richard III. fresh start. But in this brave new world where 3/9 Daily Mail ‘100 Objects to see in UK Sunday Telegraph ‘Richard III, the “Hunchback a crown could be won on a battlefield, all That Bring History to Life’ included as No 70 King”, Really Could Have Been a Formidable certainties were gone.’ Illus: the battle of Richard III’s portrait in the Soc of Antiq’s. Warrior . . . and his body double Dominic Barnet as depicted in the 1471 Ghent Letter: ‘King and the Knaves’, . Smee Can Prove It’. Weekend, Television, University MS (No 236) Arrivall of Edward IV 4/9 Leicester Mercury ‘Leicester Cathedral featured Richard III: the new evidence. Illus: (the so called short version). Denies it is Cashing in Richard’s Reburial’, . Dominic Smee and an x‐ray of his spine; the 30/8 Times Saturday Review ‘Fifty Years of Letter: ‘Exhibition Shows Why Tomb Design spine of Richard III; a view of the his replica Bloody Bedlam’, review of The Hollow Crown. is a Stumbling Block’. A reader who enjoyed remains in the new visitor centre and his Soc ‘The crown changed hands eight times in 48 his trip to the new Richard III visitor centre of Antiq’s portrait. Sunday Times ‘My years, often as a result of incredible and suggests that Leicester University’s digital Kingdom for a Pint: Richard III Loved his viciousness. Throw in a few impostors, the reconstruction of the king’s original tomb in Drink’, see above. Illus: twentieth‐century scheming French, some mischievous clerics, Greyfriars [illustrated in Sept Bulletin p. 39] is painting of Richard III’s last stand (from Look the murderous Richard III and the overall ‘excellent . . . and puts the modern one and Learn, see collage in Dec 2012 Bulletin, p. picture is confusing and splendidly proposed for the cathedral in the shade.’ Illus: 44). Culture ‘This Son of Leicester’, review of compelling.’ Illus: book jacket; the battle of throne in visitor centre. the Channel 4 documentary. Illus: Dominic Barnet in the Ghent MS; and Helen Mirren 5/9 Leicester Mercury ‘Richard III – in Mint Smee. (Queen Margaret) and Alan Howard (Henry Condition’ a halfpenny of Richard III being 18/8 Independent i ‘Battle Stations’, re‐ VI) in Henry VI Part 2 (RSC 1977). auctioned on 25 September. Illus: head and enactors stage the battle of Tewkesbury at the 31/8 Sunday Telegraph ‘Books: The Real reverse of coin; Richard III’s facial Bosworth Anniversary event. Illus: re‐enactors Game of Thrones’ review of The Hollow Crown reconstruction and a view of the 2012 in action. ‘Revealed: the real King Richard III’, ‘an epic introduction to the bloody struggle Greyfriars excavation. Metro ‘Well . . . That’s lists eight other things that we’ve learnt about for England’s Crown.’ Illus: engraving in the Eye For That One Theory!’ . Illus: King him including he was not a hunchback, had depicting Henry VI presenting a sword to Harold’s death from the Bayeux Tapestry and ‘dental stress’ and enjoyed a ‘royal diet’. Illus: Lord Talbot. Sunday Times ‘I deduce, Watson, a Victorian engraving of him. NPG portrait of Richard III. Leicester Mercury You Hate Being an Everyman’. Martin 8/9 Daily Telegraph ‘Churches United for ‘Royal Bones reveal Details of Richard’s Regal Freeman won an Emmy last week for his role Ceremony to Bury Richard III “With dignity Lifestyle’. Illus: facial reconstruction of as Dr Watson in Sherlock. In this interview he and Honour”‘ and ‘It’s Case Closed For Jack Richard III. discusses his current role as Richard III which the Ripper – alas’, . Independent ‘Does DNA 19/8 Leicester ‘More’ Magazine ‘Richard III has ‘garnered mixed reviews, with some Finally Solve Riddle of Jack the Ripper?’, . The Effect is Helping to Lure More Visitors to critics suggesting that his performance “lacks problem of ‘cross‐contamination’ of the City’, a discussion of the impact of the new all spark and charisma”‘. “What I’m able to samples being analysed and the absence of visitor centre on tourism. Last year income play in Richard III is something that I’ve had full publication of the data are discussed. Illus: from tourism in Leicestershire (county and about me for as long as I’ve been acting. It’s a the shawl being scientifically examined. city) increased by 6%, which ‘demonstrates surprise to other people but that’s always been Leicester Mercury ‘United For Richard, that Richard III is already having a significant in there. It was all that stuff that made me Reburial; Archbishops of Canterbury and impact on the local economy.’ Illus: skeleton want to act, it wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, I want to Westminster Will Attend Service’, . Illus: and facial reconstruction of Richard III, plus be a lovelorn everyman”.’ Richard III’s memorial in Leicester Cathedral; two views of the visitor centre. August (monthly publications) his facial reconstruction and the two 23/8 Daily Telegraph Review Books: ‘The BBC History Magazine Anniversaries: ‘22 archbishops. Times ‘Richard III Reburial’ and Bloody Meadow’ an edited extract from The August 1485 Richard III is Hacked to Death at ‘DNA “proves” That Jack the Ripper was Hollow Crown: the Wars of the Roses and the rise Bosworth’. Illus: James Doyle’s engraving of Polish Barber’. Illus: Aaron Kosminski and a of the Tudors about the ‘barbaric’ battle of Richard III at Bosworth. Letter: ‘It Must be Victorian reconstruction of one the murders. Towton. Illus: a 19th ‐century impression of a Richard’, written in reply to a letter in the 9/9 Leicester Mercury ‘How We Designed a Wars of the Roses battle (probably Bosworth). previous issue (see Sept. Bulletin) which Tourist Attraction Fit For a King: Architects 24/8 Sunday Times Culture ‘Unfit for a claimed that the identification of Richard III Reveal Challenges of Richard III Project’, Illus: Kingdom’. Review of The Hollow Crown. remains was ‘neither foolproof or conclusive’, Maber team leader Paul East; four views of the ‘Henry VI was a born saint – and that was just pointing out that not all the research by centre and Richard III’s facial reconstruction. the problem, as Dan Jones shows in this racy Leicester University has been published yet 13/9 Daily Mail ‘Animal Lovers Get the and vigorous new narrative . . . Henry VI and ‘I would say that it looks like Richard and Hump Over Goldfish Stunt in Richard III’, . failed on all counts and, according to Jones, his sounds like Richard, then it ought to be called Daily Telegraph ‘Water of Discontent as personal failure – or temperamental Richard.’ History Today From the Archive: Richard III Goldfish Offends Animal Group’, unsuitability – was the principal cause of the ‘From Agincourt to Bosworth’. Dan Jones ditto. Editorial: ‘My Kingdom For a Fish’, . instability that dogged his reign, as well as author of The Hollow Crown argues that a 1986 Spectator ‘Brother Against Brother’, a review those of his successors, Edward IV and article on the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, which of The Hollow Crown ‘Jones specialises in Richard III’. Illus: engraving from the recognised Henry V as the legal successor to popular, straightforward narrative history, Shrewsbury Book MS depicting Henry VI Charles VI of France was a personal great largely eschewing analysis and anything that presenting a sword to Lord Talbot. triumph that his family never realised, which gets in the way of a rattling good story.’ Illus: 28/8 Evening Standard ‘Where would merely ‘sowed the seeds of the Wars of the Henry VI at prayer detail from the fifteenth‐ 49 Looking for RICHARD century tapestry, St Mary’s Hall, Coventry. appeared in the Daily Telegraph and Metro. said to be the site of a Lancastrian massacre 14/9 Mail On Sunday ‘A Plague on Both September (monthly publications) after the battle. Their Houses’, review of The Hollow Crown BBC History Magazine Review of Bosworth: birth October described as ‘probably the best introduction of the Tudors, described as ‘vividly readable and 2/10 Times ‘Black King’, Benedict Cumber ‐ to the Wars of the Roses in print.’ Illus: well‐researched’. British Archaeology (No 138) batch (illustrated) is Richard III in the BBC’s engraving of Richard III at Bosworth, James ‘British Archaeological Awards 2014’, Bosworth Hollow Crown series, . Doyle’s (1844). Sunday Times ‘Now is the 1485: a battlefield rediscovered was short listed for 4/10 Times ‘My Kingdom For a Bestseller: Vegan of My Discontent’, . the Best Archaeological Book Award. ‘England Richard III Kicks Tudors Off Top Spot’, . Illus: 17/9 Guardian ‘Death of a King’ . Illus: in The Time of Richard III’ (part of a feature on Holbein portrait of Henry VIII. Richard III’s skull. Daily Express ‘Grim End of online degree courses in archaeology which October (monthly publications) Richard III’. Daily Mail ‘Eleven Blows That included the University of Leicester). This Current Archaeology (No 295) ‘Revealing Killed Richard III on the Battlefield’ or particular course was inspired by the Richard III’s Royal Progress’. Summary of the ‘Richard III “Lost helmet and was hacked to discovery of Richard III’s remains and seeks to multi‐isotope analysis. Illus: Richard III’s death”‘ (London edition) Illus: Richard III’s put his reign in its economic and political skull. BBC History Magazine ‘The History last stand (from Look and Learn) and a halberd. context. Illus: re‐enactors at Bosworth, a table Essay: did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Daily Mirror ‘Stabbed 9 Times in the Skull, No of 1450 community prices and images of four Roses?’ The argument is that Wars of the Wonder He Got the Hump: Richard III War contemporary sovereigns including Richard III Roses did not end at Bosworth, merely Wounds Revealed’. Illus: Richard III’s skull. produced by the Univ. Current Archaeology (No entered a final phase of conflict which lasted Daily Telegraph ‘How Richard III Was Hacked 294) ‘Finding Richard III: Behind the Scenes at at least 30 years, due to various rebellions and to Death Then Mutilated by His Foes’. Illus: the Greyfriars Dig’. This was a résumé of pretenders. Henry VII having won the crown engraving of Richard III’s crown being previous articles, with updates concerning the on the battlefield was well aware that was how presented to Henry VII at Bosworth (artist 3‐D digital model of Richard’s spine and the he could lose it. Illus: Henry Payne’s painting unidentified), views of Richard’s skull and results of the Judicial Review (see Sept of the ‘Plucking the Red and White Roses’; the pelvis plus a diagram showing how his body Bulletin). Illus: cover Soc of Antiq’s portrait of fifteenth‐century ‘Bosworth crucifix’; NPG was probably mutilated while slung over a Richard III. Illustrations include Richard portrait Henry VI; the battle of Barnet in horse. Editorial: ‘Rethinking Richard’, his Buckley, director of the excavation, in his Ghent Ms; Edward IV kneeling before Henry ‘remains . . . continue to provide historians office, various views of the 2012 excavation, after the battle of Northampton, 1460 (British with a wealth of information about . . .’ his Richard III’s skeleton, the 2012 plan of the Lib Harley Ms 7353, Life of Edward IV); pencil ‘final moments . . . It has been an astonishing friary (not showing the 2013 discoveries), sketch (c. 1560) of a contemporary portrait of piece of detective work ‘. Lancet (published Richard Buckley and Sir Bob Burgess Vice‐ Perkin Warbeck and joint portraits of online) ‘Perimortem Trauma in King Richard Chancellor of Leicester University receiving Elizabeth of York and Henry VII, 19th‐century III: A Skeletal Analysis’ by Jo Appleby et al. the Queen’s Anniversary Prize (see June 2014 watercolour by Sarah, countess of Essex. Metro ‘My Kingdom For a Helmet: Richard III Bulletin) and Dr Turi King working on DNA History Today Review of The King’s Grave by Died From Blade Injuries to Skull’. samples. ‘Richard Revisited’ is an in‐depth Desmond Seward (author of Richard III: Illustrations Richard’s facial reconstruction, review of the new Richard III visitor centre in England’s black legend). ‘This is really two plus diagrams showing the location of his 11 Leicester which is ‘the centrepiece of a series books’, one by Philippa Langley who wounds. Sun ‘Whacks on Head KO King’ of local regeneration projects linked to the describes the king’s dramatic discovery and Illustration; NPG portrait of Richard III. Times rediscovery of Richard III’ and includes a piece the other by ‘historian’ Michael Jones who ‘Eleven Wounds That Killed the King’, on his new tomb design. Illus: six views of the ‘studies Richard and his reign.’ ‘As a ‘analysis of Richard III’s bones has revealed new centre and its exhibits, and a computer screenwriter Philippa . . . gives a breathless how he died, with an insult added to his generated image of the king’s new tomb. day‐by‐day narrative of the dig . . . Yet while injuries’. Text box: ‘History’s clues to how Literary Review ‘A Tale of Two Houses’ a it would be churlish not to congratulate the warrior met his maker’, cited Jean Molinet, a thought‐provoking review of The Hollow Richard III Society on their campaign to Burgundian historian, who stated that Crown by Leanda de Lisle, who ‘defends’ the unearth the king, they have shot themselves Richard’s horse got stuck in marshy ground, usage of the term ‘the Wars of the Roses . . . in the foot by proving beyond doubt that he forcing him to dismount and then he was against historian and novelists who have been was a crookback – previously dismissed as killed by Welsh soldiers while fighting on foot. claiming, entirely spuriously, that fiendishly cunning “Tudor propaganda”. The Illus: Richard fighting at Bosworth by A. contemporaries called it the “Cousins’ War” authors differ on whether or not Richard III Hopkins; Soc of Antiq’s portrait and a and that we should too.’ Clearly Philippa killed the Princes in the Tower. Langley diagram explaining his head injuries. Gregory is the novelist to whom these remarks argues for his innocence’ while ‘Jones cannot 21/9 Sunday Times ‘Big Data’ (a are addressed. Illus: the execution of the duke quite bring himself to acquit Richard of compendium of current statistics) included of Somerset in Ghent Ms. This England murdering the Princes.’ He believes that 2,001,926 votes cast for Scotland to remain in (Autumn) ‘A Royal History of England: King Richard reluctantly ordered ‘their elimination the UK and ‘9 injuries found on the skull of Edward IV’ an account of his life and reign, after an attempt to rescue them’ failed. Illus: Richard III . . .’. containing one majestic understatement: his book jacket. ‘Making History: Poirot or 28/9 Mail on Sunday Event: Lit Flicks of the ‘family life was less ordered than his Scheherazade?’ Suzannah Lipscomb disc usses week, Richard III, the 1955 film starring administrative affairs . . . Edward IV had an The Hollow Crown and reflects on the difficult Laurence Olivier (illustrated). ‘Yes this is the eye for the ladies and took many mistresses.’ choice that modern historians make between work of a ham in overdrive mode . . . but Illus include NPG portrait of Edward IV and ‘academic analysis or popular narrative’, that nobody has told the tale with greater clarity Canterbury Cathedral stained glass; Queen’s she compares with methodology of the . . . By making Richard so winningly comical College portrait of Elizabeth Woodville; Daniel fictional detective Hercule Poirot with the and clever, Olivier’s performance sharpens Maclise’s painting depicting Caxton’s narration of One Thousand and One Nights the debate’ about Richard character. workshop; battlefield monuments at Barnet, by the legendary Scheherazade. Illus: Henry 30/9 Times ‘Galloping in’, a sculpture of a Mortimer’s Cross and Towtown; E. Caton‐ VIII and Catherine of Aragon before the Papal mounted wooden knight near the site of the Woodville’s engraving of Towton; battle of court in 1529, painting by Frank Owen (1910). battle of Tewkesbury (illustrated) has won the Barnet in the Ghent Ms; a re‐enactment of the ‘Roundabout Appreciation Society’s top prize.’ battle of Tewkesbury and Didbrook church, Bruce Watson and [See p. 39 of this Bulletin.] The same item Geoffrey Wheeler 50 The Man HIMSELF Richard III: the ISOTOPE ANALYSIS PROFESSOR JANE EVANS

In 2012 the University of Leicester, in collaboration with contacted Richard Buckley to offer our services to the the Richard III Society and Leicester City Council, project. My colleague, Dr Angela Lamb, and I work at undertook to look for the grave of the last Plantagenet the Natural Environment Research Council Isotope King, Richard III. The archaeologists had outlined a plan Geoscience Laboratory (NIGL) and specialise in the of excavation which would enable them to work towards analysis of human teeth and bone as a method of the area of the Friary, the choir area, where Richard’s analysing the migration and diet of people in the past. grave was said to be. Their intention was to (1) find the We were invited to the University of Leicester Friary; (2) understand the orientation of the buildings; Archaeology Department and we took small samples of (3) find the church within the friary, and in this (4) locate tooth and bone. the choir area; and then, hopefully (5) excavate the choir The accumulated evidence that this was the skeleton area and look for the grave. Excavation began in late of Richard III was such that we chose to accept this and August 2012 and a skeleton was discovered on day one. look at what the isotope composition could tell us about However, this body was not excavated immediately as his life, rather than take a more traditional approach of the archaeological excavation continued with its plan to assuming this was an unknown body. We did as much understand the layout of the site so that the position of as we could with the small sample we took. any discoveries could be located accurately as the burial First of all we took slices of dentine from the position would be an important piece of evidence in any premolar tooth and showed that his diet changed discovery. By week two of the excavation it became during the early years from age three to around the age obvious that the body found on day one was located in of seven. By this age, when the enamel on the teeth had the choir area of the church and could be that of Richard formed, we showed that he had moved from III and so its exhumation began. Northamptonshire (as historical records suggest) and he Once the skeleton was fully excavated and was living further west. The data support the possibility osteological examination completed, a number of that he was living in Ludlow around the age of seven. features were apparent that provided evidence that this The next analysis was of the thigh bone. This was, indeed, the remains of the king. The most obvious features were that the individual had a curved spine, a Professor Evans preparing a tooth sample for analysis. feature known to be associated with Richard III. The skeleton was of a lightly built man of about 30 years of age. And it was clear that this individual had been killed by blows to the head that were consistent with injuries that would be received under battle conditions. The position of the body within the grave suggested that it had been a rapid burial with not much attention paid to laying the body out in the grave and it was possible the hands had been tied. The first analytical technique to be applied to the body was carbon 14 dating. This was done in duplicate at Oxford and Glasgow and both labs agreed giving a time of death consistent with that of Richard III. DNA analysis was also done and this showed that the individual was from the correct lineage to be Richard III. I heard about the discovery on the news and I 51 The Man HIMSELF provides an average measurement of his diet and was there another explanation? Conventional oxygen environment for the 10–15 years before his death. It isotope interpretation assumes that you drink water from showed that he was eating a typically high‐status the part of the world in which you live. Water from medieval diet, which would have included wildfowl and eastern England has a different isotope composition from marine and freshwater fish. water in western England. The change in his diet It was the results from the rib bone that were rather suggested that a change in his drinking habits may have unusual. The rib bone records the also occurred. Beer, as it is made last two to three years of a ‘The oxygen isotopes suggested from water, does not cause a large person’s life. In the case of that in his last few years he had lived change in oxygen isotope Richard this related almost composition but wine, which is in the far west of Britain. However, it exactly to the time of his made from grape juice, does have kingship. Therefore we could is historically well documented that a radically different composition. compare the values from his time Richard remained predominantly in We calculated that if 20% of his as king with the values for his eastern England throughout his time intake was from wine rather that previous 10–15 years, as as king. Did the oxygen isotope water, then this would explain recorded in his thigh bone. There results mean that this was not the unusual values we were were significant differences Richard?’ seeing. This seemed a reasonable between his thigh and rib bones. suggestion, consider ing that it The rib had higher nitrogen matched a change in his diet. It is isotope values and higher oxygen isotope values than known that his coronation banquet was lavish and that in the thigh bone, but it had the same carbon isotope his early reign he would have been ‘wined and dined’ as values. The shift in nitrogen composition showed that he travelled around the country to meet his subjects. his diet had got ‘richer’: he was eating more meat, from However, to conclude that he over‐indulged and suffered exotic sources such as freshwater fish and birds such as from this diet is unfounded. It is possible that, had he egret, crane and bittern. lived longer and continued in this lifestyle there might The shift in oxygen values was more difficult to resolve have been health implications, but we can only speculate and came back to our decision to accept that this was about this. Richard III. By conventional interpretations the oxygen Professor Evans is Head of Science‐based Archaeology at the isotopes suggested that in his last few years he had lived NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory of the British Geological in the far west of Britain. However, it is historically well Survey. She is a co‐author of the recent paper, ‘Multi‐isotope documented that Richard remained predominantly in Analysis Demonstrates Significant Lifestyle Changes in King eastern England throughout his time as king. Did the Richard III’ in the Journal of Archaeological Science, oxygen isotope results mean that this was not Richard, or October 2014. Richard III: SCOLIOSIS, PULMONARY DISEASE AND HISTORICAL DATA PETER STRIDE In the last issue we reported that The Lancet has recently published a paper, ‘The Scoliosis of Richard III, Last Plantagenet King of England: diagnosis and clinical significance’, which is available online and is free of charge, although you do have to register to access it. The link also gives access to a video discussing the health consequences of the King Richard’s scoliosis and there is also a reconstructed model of his spine in 3D: www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60762-5/abstract. Peter Stride, one of the co-authors of the article about scoliosis March’s Bulletin, wrote to The Lancet in response to the above article. Unfortunately, they chose not to publish it; however, Peter has kindly offered his short paper to the Bulletin.

The discovery and identification of the remains of King Dowager Queen, of using witchcraft against him, he Richard III, led by the University of Leicester Department complained ‘my breath shorteneth’ amongst other of Archaeology, and by Philippa Langley with other symptoms. members of the Richard III Society, was an astounding Bosworth was the only battle Richard lost, after achievement. However Appleby’s1 statement that he fighting successfully in the front line at Barnet and would not have suffered respiratory distress deserves a Tewkesbury, and campaigning in Scotland, raising the deeper clinical analysis. According to Polydore Vergil,2 possibility of breathlessness on exertion and in combat; when Richard accused Elizabeth Woodville, the however, Richard personally slew Henry Tudor’s 52 The Man HIMSELF standard bearer, Sir William Brandon, and unhorsed Sir dyspnoea is common in the fourth decade of life. Had John Cheney, reputed to be over 200 cm tall, before Richard not been slain at Bosworth he might well have being hacked down from behind, so this seems unlikely. faced a life of increasing dyspnoea and possibly back Appleby also notes Rous’s revised description of pain. None have ever doubted his courage and he may Richard as having an elevated right shoulder. While well have preferred a warrior’s death.11 John Rous3 did write, though only after Richard’s death, that his right shoulder was elevated, Thomas More4 References thought the left was higher than the right. As Winston 1. Appleby, J. et al., ‘The scoliosis of Richard III, last Churchill wrote, ‘no one in his life time seemed to have Plantagenet King of England: diagnosis and clinical 5 remarked these deformities’. It may be considered that significance’, The Lancet, 2014, 384 (9932), p. 1944. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard was so extreme that 2. Vergil, P., Three books of Polydore Vergil’s English History perhaps he intended his play to be a comedy mocking Comprising the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard the Tudors’ self‐importance. The cited evidence from III, J. B. Nicholls & Son, Parliament St, London, 1844, p. Weinstein,6 the 117 studied survivors from the series of 180 444 patients recruited at Iowa University between 1932 3. Rous, J., in Joannis Rossi Antiquarii Warwicensis Historia and 1948, are, by definition, self‐selected long‐term Regum Angliae, Oxford, J. Fletcher & J. Pote, 1745, p. 1486. survivors. 127 subjects could not be located, and 36 had 4. More, T., The History of King Richard the Third, p. 5. died since the previous survey in 1981, three of www.thomasmorestudies.org/docs/Richard.pdf. 5. Churchill, W., A History of the English‐speaking Peoples, pulmonary problems perhaps related to scoliosis. Cassell & Co., London, 1956, Vol. 1, p. 380. Respiratory function was not assessed in 2003. 6 Weinstein, S. et al., ‘Health and Function of Patients with However, 42% had a reduced chest expansion, more Untreated Idiopathic Scoliosis’, JAMA, 2003, 289 (5), pp subjects than controls reported symptomatic dyspnoea 559–67. and patients with curves with Cobb angles >80° with a 7. Jackson, R., Simmons, E. and Stripinis, M., ‘Coronal and thoracic apex (as in the case of Richard III) had Sagittal Plane Spinal Deformities Correlating with Back significantly greater odds of symptomatic dyspnoea Pain and Pulmonary Function in Adult Idiopathic than those with a lumbar scoliosis. Weinstein’s groups Scoliosis’, Spine, 1989, 14 (12), pp 1391–7. show survival to old age is possible for some, but 8. Westgate, H. and Moe, J., ‘Pulmonary Function in symptomatic respiratory problems are common and Kyphoscoliosis Before and After Correction by methodological problems do not permit a categorical Harrington Rods’, Journal of Bone Joint Surgery, 1969, 51 statement. (5), 935–46. 9 Pehrsson, K. et al., ‘Long‐term Follow‐up of Patients with Many studies show decreased pulmonary function Untreated Scoliosis’, Spine, 1992, 17 (9), pp 1092–6. with increasing scoliosis. Jackson7 published pulmonary 10. Swank, S., Winter, R. and Moe, J., ‘Scoliosis and Cor function results in a group of 101 adults presenting with Pulmonale’, Spine, 1982, 7 (4), 343–54. painful idiopathic scoliosis and found a significant 11. Stride, P. et al., ‘The Scoliosis of King Richard III; did he negative correlation between forced vital capacity and experience pain and disability and what treatment could severity of scoliosis. Westgate,8 studying pulmonary twenty‐first century medicine provide?’, Ricardian response to spinal surgery, found a significant negative Bulletin, March 2014, 37–9. correlation comparing vital capacity, maximum breathing capacity and arterial saturation with the Cobb angle. Pehrsson,9 in a study of subjects with scoliosis of Notes varied cause and age of onset with a follow‐up period Peter kindly provided these additional explanatory notes over 50 years, found an increased death rate in those for the Bulletin: with severe scoliosis over 70°, but this was not 1. Cor pulmonale is failure of the right side of the heart significant in those with adolescent onset. The average secondary to lung disease. age of 20 patients seen at the Twin Cities scoliosis 2. Breathlessness (dyspnoea) is a very subjective centre10 with cor pulmonale secondary to scoliosis was 37, sensation; appropriate evaluation of the lungs only five years older than Richard at his death. Rom includes functional measurements such as levels of reported 10 patients who survived into their seventh oxygen and carbon dioxide as well as lung volumes, decade with severe scoliosis, though four died with how much can be exhaled and how fast after a full respiratory problems within a three‐year follow‐up inspiration. The paper cited by Appleby did not period, and of the five survivors who had lung function include measurements. testing, four had a severely reduced vital capacity 3. Most studies of severe adolescent onset scoliosis between 22% and 36% of predicted values. Two had show some quantitative deficiency with time, as they hypoxaemia (pO < 60mmHg). 2 also show more back pain. In conclusion, when scoliosis develops after the lung 4. Scoliosis from specific diseases and early onset reaches maturity by the age of 10, severe lung disease indeed does have a worse outlook. and premature death are unlikely, but symptomatic 53 ARTICLES A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION – medieval to modern TONI MOUNT Many of our modern Christmas traditions date back to Victorian times – cards, crackers and Christmas trees – but some go back much further, things Richard III would have known and celebrated as we do today, but with a medieval twist.

Modern mince pies are an essential Christmas treat but in medieval times the ‘Christmas pie’ was more than just a tasty nibble: it was a large centrepiece of the feast, to be shared by everyone. The Christmas pie contained various meats, using up the less choice cuts of beef, mutton, pork, goose, chicken or duck, shredded and all mixed together with suet, sugar, spices and fruit; whatever was available. The dish of leftovers was then baked in a pastry case, or coffin, as it was called. The pastry would have been thick, hard and very salty and wasn’t meant to be eaten; think of it as a purpose‐made pie‐dish. But unlike other round pies, the Christmas pie was usually oval in shape, in which case the pastry container was called a cradle, rather than a coffin, and a Swan pie (and a heron pie) at a Guild Feast, recreated at the pastry baby Jesus would be laid on the lid and the whole Museum of London. construction gilded with gold leaf to make it extra‐ special. It was unlucky to cut such a pie with a knife, so cygnets hatched in May or June, they were taken from the complete lid was lifted off and the delicious contents the nest and fed twice a day with extra grass, as well as dished out with a spoon, the first helping going to the their ‘other food’. At the end of August, the cygnets youngest child, who would make a wish as he tasted the went on a diet of barley to fatten them up. Apparently, first mouthful. as soon as the youngsters moulted their grey chick Christmas pies remained popular with the Tudors feathers, they couldn’t be fattened any more. When their and Stuarts until Cromwell’s Puritan regime decided beautiful white feathers began to appear in December, that making a pastry image of Jesus was an act of they were ready for eating at Christmas. idolatry. They even tried to abolish Christmas! To get According to the recent scientific analysis of his over the ban, Christmas pies changed shape – round remains, it is evident that Richard III ate a far more instead of oval – and no more pastry babies. Over the lavish diet after he became king, including ‘swan, crane, years, the savoury ingredients disappeared and the heron – and copious amounts of wine’. It sounds as enormous dish for sharing was scaled down to though he ate swan far more often than just at individual, bite‐sized mouthfuls of edible pastry. Christmas, so I wonder how they were bred and reared Perhaps the medieval idea of leaving the pastry would to be edible all year round. Perhaps for kings it was be better for our post‐Christmas waistlines. Christmas every day. What about the Christmas bird? Well, it certainly An easier alternative, if the summer seemed far too wouldn’t have been turkey on Richard’s table, since early to plan for Christmas, was to divest any fine‐ they come from the Americas. It is just possible that looking swan of its pure white feathers, skin and all, Henry VIII might have had the opportunity to eat roast a nice plump goose and dress it in the swan’s skin. turkey in the last years of his reign, after c.1540. For The swan meat could always be used in the Christmas Richard, the Christmas bird might have been a swan. pie so nothing was wasted. Incidentally, Elizabeth I, Swans were certainly a princely dish but, if they were to aware that England imported its Christmas turkeys taste at all pleasant, preparation had to begin in June. from Spain, banned turkey dinners, by law, when we Adult swans have virtually no fat on them so their flesh were at war with Spain in 1588: all patriotic Englishmen is very dry, tough and tasteless – hardly the qualities for were to eat goose. a festive feast. It was the cygnets that made good eating Wassail was a traditional Christmas drink to be but only if properly raised and fed. As soon as the shared by the whole household; even an entire village. 54 ARTICLES

Here is a modern version of the Lamb’s Wool Wassail to entertainment because we English invented the spice up the festivities: pantomime dame? Mystery plays were a feature of Ingredients: Christmas celebrations across Europe, but only in 3 litres of ale (India pale ale is good but porter also works England would you have seen Mrs Noah – a great well) comedy character, always played by a man dressed in 12 small apples (crab apples for the traditional recipe, but women’s clothing. The accounts for the Mystery Play of other apples also work) Noah’s Ark, performed in York, include money paid to a 3 tablespoons honey goldsmith’s wife for the loan of her posh frock to ‘Mrs ¼ teaspoon freshly‐ground nutmeg Noah’, a cantankerous, obstinate creature who insisted ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon or 2 sticks on finishing her ale with her friends, despite Noah’s 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger insistence that she go into the ark. In the end, she had to Bake the apples in a hot oven until they begin to split. be carted up the gangplank by her husband and three Divide your ale between two pots. Place about ¾ in one sons, which suggests she was quite a handful – good for pot and heat this gently until warm. Place the remainder a laugh at Christmas? Oh, yes, she is: oh, no, she isn’t . . . of the ale in a second pot, which must be large enough to hold all the liquid. Add the apples, honey and spices to References the second pot and bring to the boil. Now pour the Information on swan preparation and picture credit: warmed ale into this second pot and turn off the heat. http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/a‐swan‐ Keep pouring the heated ale between the two pots until supper‐on‐thames.html plenty of froth has accumulated on the top – this is the Richard III’s diet: in a ‘What we’ve learned this month . . .’ Lamb’s Wool. Pour into a warm bowl and let your guests article in the BBC History magazine, October 2014, p.12. dip in. Wassail recipe from: Away from the table: did you know that Richard could http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/elizabethan/fetch‐ have chuckled over his wine at a traditional recipe.php?rid=eliz‐wassail.

A review of ‘RULERS, RELICS AND THE HOLINESS OF POWER’ SUSAN L. TROXELL Within days of acceding to the throne of England, Richard III made a very curious indenture with the abbot at Westminster Abbey. It concerned the sacred oil of St Thomas à Becket, and it ordered the abbot to store the ampulla of oil with St Edward’s Crown and other coronation regalia, with the stipulation that he was to deliver the sacred oil to the king whenever he requested it. In entering into the indenture, Richard III deviated from the practice of previous English kings, who had kept Becket’s oil in the Jewel House. Richard thus seemingly elevated the oil to the status of national relic, rather than just private monarchical relic. One wonders why he did so, but in contemplating the significance of Becket’s oil to Richard III, this Society member found the following lecture to be most enlightening.

It was given on 3 June 2014 at the Institute of Medieval Religious relics played a wide role in medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University. The society. They were used in judicial process (such as oath lecturer, David Rollason, is an Emeritus Professor of taking), were prominently featured in processions (for History there, as well Honorary Fellow in Humanities at example, being carried at the forefront of a monarch’s Bristol University. The lecture – open to the public – was entry to a city), and were kept in royal treasuries. based on one chapter of his forthcoming book, The Power Rollason expounded on three aspects in the way relics of Place: rulers and their palaces, landscapes, cities, and holy enhanced a ruler’s power. First, they were seen as a places, to be published by Princeton University Press. personification of a ruler and a projection of his Rollason’s thesis is that medieval kingship derived its rulership. Second, they were used to give credence to a power not just from societal constructs and institutions, capital city or a seat of royal power. And, third, they but also from the symbolic use of religious relics, were often used in the coronation ritual by which the palaces, landscapes, cities, saints’ shrines, and other monarch was transformed into someone who stood holy places. His current research and book expands on above the laity. the ideas expressed in his 1986 article ‘Relic‐cults as an Rollason used illustrations from manuscripts, Instrument of Royal Policy, c. 900–c. 1050’, published in photographs of archaeological artefacts, and specific Anglo‐Saxon England, 15, pp. 91–103. objects to demonstrate his points. A ninth‐century 55 ARTICLES carved ivory plaque from Trier depicted an earlier scene observations. He reminded the audience that the tombs involving two bishops holding a reliquary on a chariot, of kings often became relics themselves, especially with the emperor at the forefront, on foot and carrying when sainthood was conferred on the monarch. Aside a taper, leading a procession into a city. The keys to the from princes using them to project their authority, relics city could be handed over as part of such a ceremony. were used at city walls in their defence. Relics were not Later, in the thirteenth century, Louis IX obtained the only objects having supernatural powers; spears Christ’s Crown of Thorns from Constantinople; when were frequently symbols of this power. And, the use of the relic arrived, Louis came barefoot and not in a royal religious relics is not limited to Christian societies. robe but in a tunic. So attired, he took the Crown of Similar examples can be found in Islamic cultures. Thorns into a cathedral. When a vial of Christ’s blood The points made by Professor Rollason could arrived during the reign of Henry III of England, the provoke an interesting discussion on why Richard III king is described in Matthew Paris’Chronica Majora as removed Becket’s oil from his own possession to that of carrying the relic under a canopy in an elaborate the monks of the Abbey. Was it to enhance or to procession. Although liturgical in inspiration, the king diminish his projection of authority? Was he intending in each of these situations is seen as using the power of to illustrate something about his rulership by requiring the relic to project his own. In the case of Henry III that it be brought to him upon demand? Obviously, he carrying the vial of Christ’s blood, the canopy is intended to use the oil in the future by making such a reminiscent of that carried over the king himself during stipulation. One can only imagine the visual impact processions. made by the ceremony of the abbot bringing it forth Examples were given of how relics, and their from the abbey to the hands of the king. repositories, were used to enhance the standing of a Finally, it would be remiss for this reviewer not to royal seat of power or a capital city. In Constantinople, mention the wonderful opportunities made available by the holiest relics were stored in the royal palace, usually Durham University’s Institute for Medieval and Early an on‐site chapel or church. In the eighth century, an Modern Studies. IMEMS holds a wide variety of events Italian ruler in Benevento enhanced his including lectures, seminars, confer‐ prestige by gathering relics from other ‘Why did Richard III ences and workshops – many of which city‐states. Louis IX built the Sainte removed Becket’s oil from touch on the fifteenth century. The Chapelle to house the Crown of above lecture by Professor Rollason Thorns, amongst other Christological his own possession to that was open and free to the public, and relics, and this raised the profile of of the monks of the Abbey? only required pre‐registration. The Paris as a capital city. In what was Was it to enhance or to lecture was followed by a reception, literally a ‘seat of power’, Rollason diminish his projection of where attendees could interact with pointed out that the ‘Aachen throne’, authority?’ the speaker and other academics. A also called ‘Charlemagne’s throne’, look at the IMEMS website is highly was literally constructed of marble recommended for anyone planning to plates that may have been actual relics themselves. visit Durham. The website can be found at: Relics often served to blur the line between what was https://www.dur.ac.uk/imems/events. And all this sacred and what was secular, and the blurring of this occurred only footsteps away from Durham Cathedral, line usually helped the image of royal authority. The where Richard III is reported to have visited the shrine regalia of coronation were frequently treated as sacred of St Cuthbert. objects. For instance, the ‘Crown of Charlemagne’ was Here is a transcription of the indenture made considered a relic because Charlemagne – like other between Richard III and Abbot John Esteney of the monarchs – had been made a saint. The ‘Monza Crown’ Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, dated 7 of the Holy Roman Emperor in Italy contained a nail July, 1483: from the Cross. The ‘Imperial Cross’ used by Holy This endenture made the vij th day of the Moneth of Juyll Roman Emperors had within it an object which was the ffirst yere of the reyne of the most high and excellent supposed to be the Holy Lance of Christ’s crucifixion. Cristen Prynce Richard by the grace of god Kyng of When someone prevailed over a competitor for the Inglond and of ffraunce and lord of Irland the thirde. throne, it was not uncommon for the winner to display Bitwene the same most Excellent Cristen Kyng on that one the relics in their possession. Rollason pointed out that p[ar]tie and John by the sufferaunce of god Abbot of the the royal relic collection housed at Westminster could be monastery of seint Peter of Westm[inste]r and the covent taken on tour along with the king when he went on of the same place on that other p[ar]tie. Witnesseth that progress. This collection, he said, was a close parallel to the said Abbot and covent have receyved the day of that at the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, and helped to makyng of this p[re]sent endenture at the consolidate power behind the king at his primary commaundement and wille of the forsaid most high and excellent cristen prynce and Kyng by the handes and residence in the capital city. Deliv[er]aunce of the right rev[er]end ffaders in god Rollason wrapped up his lecture with other 56 ARTICLES

Richard by the sufferaunce of god Bisshop[pe] of seint abide and remayne after his decesse within the forsaid Asse (St Asaph) And maister Thomas Langton electe monastery among the Regalies now beyng in the same Bisshop[pe] of seint David. An egle of gold garnysshed monastery for evermore. In Witnesse wherof aswele the with perles and precious stones in Which is closed the Signet of the forsaid most excellent cristen prynce and p[re]cious Relique called the Ampulle which the forsaid Kyng as the Seale of the said Abbot and covent to thise Abbot and covent graunte and promyt by this p[re]sent p[re]sent indentures chaungeably been sette. P[r]oven the endenture to deliv[er]e anytyme to the said Kyng day and yere abovesaid. highness whensoev[er] it shall please hym to aske it. And (Transcription from Westminster Abbey Muni‐ the same most excellent cristen prynce and Kyng ments, 9482 provided by Dr. T. Erik Michaelson) ordeyneth and willeth that the same precious relique to The Lady of WARBLINGTON BY DIANA WHITTY About a mile to the west of the Sussex–Hampshire border, on the flat coastal plain that lies at the foot of the South Downs, a tall turret of red brick stands alone among modern farm buildings. Close by is the tiny thirteenth-century church of St Thomas Becket and the wildlife haven of the most northerly creek of Chichester Harbour. The ruin is all that remains of Warblington Castle, a grand sixteenth-century manor house built by Margaret Pole, who was countess of Salisbury in her own right and one of the last remaining links with King Richard III in Tudor England.

The manor of Warblington, like much of this area of the Mille, a groom of the king’s chamber, was appointed to coast, has its origins as a holding of the great Godwin oversee the manor during its owner’s minority. family and was almost certainly inherited by Harold During the reign of Richard III, the two Clarence Godwinson, later King Harold II. After the Norman children appear to have been treated well, although Conquest it was granted to Roger, earl of Shrewsbury, they had no public role. For the most part, they lived and passed subsequently through the hands of several with other royal minors at the castle of Sheriff Hutton, families, according to their political success or otherwise. in Yorkshire. Their fortunes changed, however, with the At the beginning of the fifteenth century it belonged to accession of Henry Tudor, who confined the young earl Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, to the Tower of London, allowing him who held both his earldom and this only a brief appearance at the time of the manor in right of his wife Alice Simnel impersonation of 1487. Edward ‘After the fall of her friend Montacute. When the lands of their was never permitted to enjoy his son, Warwick the Kingmaker, were the queen and the inheritance and was executed in 1499, in divided up after his death at the subsequent turmoil within the wake of the Warbeck rebellion and Battle of Barnet, Warblington, as part church and state, after a long sojourn in the Tower. of the Salisbury estate, passed to Warblington would have Margaret was safely married off to the Isabel Neville, wife of George, duke been a haven from an king’s relatively humble cousin and of Clarence and elder daughter of the increasingly dangerous loyal supporter, Sir Richard Pole. With late earl. Again, the manor and the him she had five children, who would earldom were held by the husband in court.’ have considerable influence on his right of a wife. mother’s eventual fate. As Pole’s wife, It is quite possible that Isabel and George visited Margaret was appointed to the household of Catherine Warblington, in view of its proximity to other lands held of Aragon and Arthur, prince of Wales, and was later by them and of its subsequent history, particularly the one of Catherine’s ladies‐in‐waiting when she became fact that their daughter Margaret chose to make it one of Henry VIII’s queen. her principal homes, going so far as to replace the Indeed, the accession of this king brought about a ancient moated buildings with a modern and general improvement in Margaret’s conditions of life. comfortable manor house. Now a widow, she enjoyed considerable favour at court, Isabel died in the winter of 1476, leaving two young having become a close friend of the queen. It has been children: Margaret, who was then three years old and a suggested that Catherine of Aragon was acutely aware son, Edward, who was not yet two. Young Edward was that Margaret’s brother had lost his life largely on the accepted as earl of Warwick after the death of his father, insistence of her own parents, Ferdinand and Isabella of but the earldom of Salisbury was granted to his cousin Spain, and may possibly have cultivated Margaret out Edward, the son of Richard, duke of Gloucester and his of some sort of vicarious guilt. In any event, the two mother’s sister Anne. Edward of Warwick, however, women do seem to have grown to trust and value each retained Warblington, and a steward, one Edmund other. Margaret was godmother to Catherine’s daughter 57 Mary and retained her title of ‘lady governess’ to the princess, even after the annulment of Catherine’s marriage to Henry. The women shared a deep religious piety, which they probably nurtured in each other and which, in the end, sustained both of them through tribulations and tragic death. The manor of Warblington had remained with the crown throughout the reign of Henry VII and a succession of stewards had been appointed to oversee it. However, in 1514 the earldom that her mother had inherited was restored to Margaret, along with some other estates in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Essex, and she became a countess in her own right. At Warblington she set about building her large fortified house in about 1515, taking about 10 years to complete the staterooms, chapel and great courtyard. She seems to have enjoyed the quiet peace of this corner of Hampshire, with its sea breezes and views of the rolling Downs. After the fall of her friend the queen and the subsequent turmoil within church and state, it would have been a haven from an increasingly dangerous court. However, Margaret’s life was not to end quietly. Her sons, notably Reginald, who had become a cardinal even though he was not yet a priest, were very active in their opposition to the religious changes that the divorce had brought about and her personal loyalty to Catherine of Aragon brought her into conflict with the king on several occasions. Eventually, the subversive activities of her family and her own refusal to abandon her convictions led to her arrest at Warblington on 12 November 1539. She was taken across the Downs to Cowdray, where she was questioned and held for several months in poor conditions. A search of Warblington Castle revealed incriminating items such Above: All that remains of Margaret Pole’s manor house at Warblington. Below: the church of St Thomas Becket. as papal bulls and Catholic vestments. Margaret was conveyed to the Tower and put to death in a hideously botched execution on 27 May 1541. Margaret’s piety and shocking death lead to her beatification by the Roman Catholic Church in 1886. Reginald Pole was ordained and eventually became archbishop of Canterbury. He died on the same day as the Catholic Queen Mary I, the daughter of his mother’s own great friend. After Margaret’s attainder, Warblington was granted temporarily to William, earl of Southampton, and to Sir Thomas Wriothesley, the king’s secretary. In 1551 it passed into the hands of Sir Richard Cotton and disappeared from the history of great men.

Further reading

Dwyer, J. G. ‘Pole, Margaret Plantagenet’, Bl. in New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd edn, Vol. 11, Detroit, Gale, 2003, pp 455–6. Page, W. (ed.). A History of the County of Hampshire, vol 3, 1908, pp 134–9. Pierce, Hazel. ‘Margaret Pole (1473‐1541)’, Loyalty, Lineage and Leadership, University of Wales Press, rev. edn, 2009.

58 ARTICLES PAIN RELIEF in the later Middle Ages TIG LANG I was recently asked what, if any, pain relief could have been available to King Richard III if he were experiencing chronic pain as a result of his scoliosis (as to whether he would actually have experienced such pain, different opinions have been offered, and of course we will never know for certain). A recent study by Esther Cohen of pain, and attitudes to operation itself is well grounded in an actual medieval pain, in this period looks at the subject from many text by John Arderne, a surgeon based in Newark in angles: as a moral/theological problem, as a useful tool Nottinghamshire who specialised in anal fistulae. The in the interrogation of suspects and criminals, as a anaesthetic described in the novel is not taken from John symptom giving indication to a medical practitioner of Arderne’s work, however. It is the so‐called soporific the root of a disease, as a distress to a patient which must sponge, which was first mentioned in the ninth century, be alleviated, and as something to be dreaded after death and thereafter occasionally throughout the Middle in purgatory and hell.1 While some of these aspects may Ages. It consists of a variety of substances, usually not be experienced today, the experience of pain itself is including opium, mandrake juice, hemlock and something we share with our medieval forbears: as henbane, crushed and mixed with water. A sea sponge Cohen points out (p. 4), ‘people may have become used would then be soaked in this mixture and left to dry. to smells and noises, but not to chronic pain’. Indeed, the When it was required it would be wetted and placed evidence from miracle accounts shows that people who under the patient’s nose, so that they could inhale the were in pain were (understandably) keen to get rid of it. fumes. The patient would be awakened afterwards with From the religious point of view, pain was seen as a sponge soaked in vinegar. Whether it was ever morally good for the sufferer. To endure pain stoically actually used is uncertain: surgeons pass on the recipe, was a sign of virtue: furthermore, having pain in one’s or mention the sponge, sometimes with a warning that lifetime could reduce the pain to be expected in it may actually be too dangerous to use, and may kill the purgatory. Pain was therefore theoretically a good patient. It is not mentioned in any account of an actual thing, strengthening the sufferer’s virtue and patience. operation, but that does not necessarily mean it was Until the early twentieth century, historians studying never used.2 the Middle Ages had far greater access to theological Another anaesthetic well attested from a variety of than medical texts, and the idea grew that medieval manuscripts is made from a mixture of various narcotic people were indifferent to suffering, that the healers substances steeped in wine. (English, rather than were unable in any way to relieve pain, and even that continental sources, definitely favour the anaesthetic medieval people, being more ‘primitive’ than ourselves, potion over the soporific sponge.) This drink is called in were in some way immune to pain. However, as more Middle English ‘dwale’, and has been analysed in detail medical texts became available for study, and as by Linda Voigts and Robert Hudson, who note that the scholars pointed out that the short time that has elapsed problem with its use would be ‘the dangerously narrow between the Middle Ages and the present was not margin between effective anaesthesia and death’.3 sufficient for the evolution of different neurological Surgeons of the time were aware of this, and warned of responses to pain, this attitude changed. the dangers of such medicines leading not to sleep Although pain was accepted in the medieval period alone, but to the sleep of death. Thus, although narcotic as an inevitable part of life, the alleviation of pain was substances were known, and recipes for them were written about extensively in both learned medical available both in learned and popular sources, many treatises and the less formal antidotaries and recipe authors cautioned against their use. To what extent they collections. There was also considerable discussion of were actually used, or to what extent they were replaced the nature and definition of pain (which I will not deal by speed of operating, a sharp knife, and ropes to bind with here). There are various occasions when we might the patient down during an operation, cannot now be offer pain relief today, and some, though not all, of these known. were considered candidates for pain relief in the Middle In the case of childbirth, although recipes exist for Ages. Those I will consider here are painful surgical hastening the birth, and dealing with pain after the procedures; childbirth; severe illness, such as cancer, birth, almost none consider pain relief during labour. causing unbearable pain; and illnesses causing chronic The reason for this was not that labour pains, having pain (the latter category probably the most relevant in been laid on Eve as a punishment, must be endured, but the case of Richard III). that the pain was considered to be so closely allied to the Those who have read Toby Clements’ recent novel process of uterine contraction that relieving the pain Kingmaker: winter pilgrims will have come across an might slow down the contractions, which might accurately, and gorily, described medieval surgical dangerously delay the birth. However, enough charms procedure: the operation for an anal fistula. The and prayers asking for a painless delivery exist to 59 ARTICLES suggest that the women themselves felt strongly about Finally, here are a few examples of remedies for obtaining pain relief if they could! various aches and pains, taken from a fifteenth‐century Pain relief during severe illnesses could be given if remedy book.7 the pain became intolerable. If the pain was only For the back that acheth and is sick and ill at ease. Take sporadic, then the doctor should treat the underlying agrimony and mugwort, both the leaves and roots, and cause, the disease, first, and the hope was that the pain stamp them in old swine’s grease, and put vinegar thereto, would then go naturally, or could be alleviated (usually and lay it to the back.8 with topical applications, of which more below). However, if the pain was intense and unceasing it . . . for aching of knees and swelling. Take wormwood, agrimony, vervain, lovage, herb‐benet, pettymorell: and if would have to be dealt with first. It was considered that thou wilt take rue, of each equally much, and stamp them pain might actually cause illness, whether by drawing small; then fry them with two parts of fresh butter, and the humours to gather in one spot, leading to swelling, one part of white wine; and make a plaster as hot as the or by causing spasms, or fever. If the pain became sick may suffer, and lay it to his knee.9 intolerable, surgeon Henri de Mondeville suggested, a strong narcotic might be given, but ‘only small A precious oil for aches is made of laurel leaves, and sage, and lavender, white wine, and new oil, or the best oil, of quantities, highly diluted, and only to those about to each a pound, and half a pound of aqua vitae; and grind die’.4 Miracle collections attest to the possibility of pain thy herbs together, and put them in an earthen pot, 5 being sufficient to drive the sufferer to insanity. In together with the wine and oil, and chafe it a little, and let some acutely painful, though not immediately life‐ it stand a day or two fast stopped; and then strain it threatening, conditions, such as toothache, the through a cloth. And let him sit by the fireside, and anoint practitioner might well resort to the use of charms to him therewith where the sore is.10 promote pain relief. Charms were not on the whole popular in continental medical texts, but occur more I think that sitting by the fire being anointed with oil that often in English treatises. A common toothache remedy smelled of sage, bay and lavender, sounds like a good was to pray to St Apollonia, whose martyrdom had option. included the drawing of all her teeth, and she is well represented in surviving medieval church art, which References attests to her popularity. 1. Esther Cohen, The Modulated Scream: pain in late medieval What, then, could be done for the chronic pain of culture (Chicago, 2010). All that follows is hugely conditions such as arthritis, back pain, gout and indebted to this fascinating book. suchlike? Narcotics, which put the patient to sleep 2. The soporific sponge is discussed in detail in Piers D. rather than the pain, would most likely not have been Mitchell, Medicine in the Crusades: warfare, wounds and the offered, or at least not in the forms that have been medieval surgeon (Cambridge, 2004) pp. 200–2, where its discussed above. Instead, they might have been applied effectiveness is discussed – apparently it was used with to the painful area, typically in the form of a hot poultice success in the nineteenth century, and has more recently or embrocation. Remedies were occasionally laid on been tested on rats, with the result that the rats were cold, as for example laying a plate of cold metal on a sedated, but not to the point of sleeping. It is also wasp or bee sting, but warm or hot applications were discussed in Michael McVaugh, The Rational Surgery of the Middle Ages (Florence, 2006), pp. 109–10, and Esther more usual. Sometimes similar ingredients were used as Cohen, Modulated Scream, pp. 109–10. in dwale, or in the soporific sponge, but this time for 3. Linda Voigts and Robert P. Hudson, ‘A drinke that men external application. Such salves could contain callen dwale to make a man to slepe whyle men kervan mandrake, opium or henbane, for example. These him’, in Sheila Campbell, Bert Hall and David Klausner ingredients, in the classification system of medieval (eds), Health, Disease and Healing in Medieval Culture (New pharmacy, were considered ‘cold’, and were sometimes York, 1992) pp. 34–56. mixed before application with ‘warm’ ingredients such 4. Henri de Mondeville, Chirurgia vol. 2, quoted by M. as oregano, rose, or chamomile. They would be McVaugh, Rational Surgery, p. 108. pounded and mixed with animal fat or oil, and perhaps 5. See Cohen, Modulated Scream, p. 137 for instances. egg white or yolk. Not all remedies were herbal: animal 6. Cohen, Modulated Scream, p.94. or bird dung would sometimes be pounded and 7. Warren R Dawson, A Leechbook or Collection of Medical applied.6 As well as these potentially soothing topical Recipes of the Fifteenth Century (London, 1934), which is a copy of the text of Medical Society of London MS 136 (in applications, the patient would almost certainly have Middle English) with a transcript into modern spelling. been treated by bloodletting and purging, as these The recipes are given here in the modern transcript. would have been seen as beneficial for the imbalance of 8. Dawson, Leechbook, p. 55. humours which might have been the cause of the 9. Dawson, Leechbook, p.177. underlying disease. 10. Dawson, Leechbook, p. 207.

60 BOOKS Finding Richard III: the official account of research by ‘perseverance’ is inadequate to describe the willpower the retrieval and reburial project, together with needed to keep the project moving forward. The original materials and documentation. A. J. Carson Richard III Society, individually and collectively, (ed.), J. Ashdown-Hill, D. Johnson, W. Johnson and P. J. emerges as one of the heroes of this part of the story. Langley. Preface by Dr C. C. Thornton, FSA, FRHistS. The documentation reproduced in the appendices – Imprimis Imprimatur, paperback, 96 pages with 22 figs, including the Written Scheme of Investigation agreed maps, diagrams, 7 appendices including 22 pages of with the University, the terms of the Exhumation original documents and papers; bibliography and index, ISBN 9780957684027, £8.50. Licence and the original specifications for King Richard’s new tomb – repays reading in detail. The tone Is there a need for yet another of the book is not unduly polemic, but the factual book on ‘how Richard was account of the project taken in conjunction with the found’? Well, when it is content of some of those documents will do nothing to styled ‘the official account’ dampen down the controversies surrounding the and has been written by the discovery and reburial. team of Ricardians who That the king’s remains were discovered at all was, as instigated and ran the project in the Duke of Wellington’s description of Waterloo, ‘a to find the king’s remains, damned near‐run thing’. This book tells us just how one would probably say near‐run. ‘yes’, and given the Stephen York authorship, this is a book which most members of the Cecily Neville: mother of kings by Amy Licence Society will probably want to Amberley Publishing, 2014, hardback, 256 pp, 46 colour own. Part of the authors’ illustrations, ISBN 978-1-4456-2123-4, £20. motivation may be found in the claim on the back cover: Amy Licence’s sixth ‘In the face of repeated claims that “the university found book in 18 months is a the king” and “archaeology found the king”, those pacey and very original historians and researchers [the authors] have accessible account of the now compiled this Official Account to set the record Wars of the Roses from straight.’ Whatever the professional archaeologists’ the perspective of one of objectives were, the aim of the Looking for Richard team its most important was to find the remains of Richard III, and this book is a female protagonists, necessary counterweight to accounts which stress the Cecily Neville, mother archaeological process that finally uncovered the grave. of Edward IV and The story starts, of course, long before the dig (which Richard III. Given the began, happily, on the anniversary of Richard’s original speed with which it interment). Underneath the wealth of detail in this must have been written, official record, the story follows a clear progression: the the level of detail on reasons for believing that Richard received a proper fifteenth‐century life and Christian burial (including the proper interpretation of on the duke of York’s Polydore Vergil’s phrase sine ullo funerere honore, ‘with household is impressive, no funeral solemnity’ rather than ‘with no funeral’); the despite the various confusions that this speed has led to. reasons for thinking that this burial must have been in For those new to fifteenth‐century studies it is an the Grey Friars priory rather than other proposed engaging and beautifully illustrated introduction to the locations; the precise calculations of where the priory, real ‘white duchess’, which is likely to be much and in particular its choir, was located in relation to appreciated. modern Leicester – with due credit given to the earlier The book’s greatest strength is in its earliest chapters. work of Ricardians Audrey Strange and Rhoda Edwards After a description of Agincourt and the Southampton (see previous two issues of the Bulletin); the preparatory Plot (both events of the year of Cecily’s birth) the author research on genealogy and DNA by John Ashdown‐Hill provides a beguiling account of Cecily’s childhood that would ensure that any remains discovered could be home, Raby Castle. Using an 1875 guidebook, she re‐ objectively identified as those of Richard III; and then imagines the experience of Victorian tourists to the the long and tortuous process, led by Philippa Langley, castle as her introduction to Cecily’s family and in to bring all the necessary players and gatekeepers particular Cecily’s extraordinary mother, Joan Beaufort. together to make the archaeology possible – She then turns to Richard, duke of York’s, childhood 61 BOOKS and attractively draws together evidence for his early Shakespeare and the Remains of Richard III by Philip Schwyzer years in the custody of Robert Waterton. Oxford University Press, 2013, hardcover, 272 pages, Thereafter she weaves sensible hypothesis and vivid ISBN 9780199676101, £55 . accounts of contemporary experience into the basic details of Cecily’s life available in previously published The extraordinary dis‐ histories of the period. However, her interpretation of covery of the burial of the events of Henry VI’s reign largely ignores the last 30 King Richard III in 2012 years of scholarship and she seems unaware of a sparked a renewed and significant number of recent articles about Cecily’s worldwide interest in the books, piety and burial. On the much‐debated question personage regarded by of Edward IV’s legitimacy she concludes that Edward many as England’s most was Richard, duke of York’s, son, but her line of evil monarch. Next year, argument would have been easier had she referred 2015, will see an event either to Cora Scofield’s seminal early biography of that has not happened in Edward IV or Hannes Kleineke’s very recent one. Her England since 1952: the one new angle on Cecily’s story is the suggestion that burial of a king. The Cecily herself invented the rumours of Edward’s remains of Richard III are illegitimacy as a result of her hatred for the Woodvilles scheduled to be placed in and as a means of manipulating her adult sons. a tomb in Leicester As the book progresses the many minor errors Cathedral, near to where become increasingly distracting. It is easy enough to he was found. confuse Cecily’s father Ralph with his grandfather of Despite the title of this book (. . . the Remains . . .), the the same name, or indeed her brother Ralph with his subject of the discovery of Richard’s burial place is only nephew of the same name. But this latter mistake leads briefly mentioned in the Introduction. The focus of the to assertions about the youngest Ralph’s marriage that book is how recollections of his reign influenced really should have rung alarm bells about plausibility. Shakespeare as he wrote the play Richard III in the 1590s, Similarly, she so tangles the Edwards and Edmunds of a century after Richard was killed at the battle of York’s pedigree that she ends up locating the countess Bosworth. of March in the duke of York’s castle of Fotheringhay (a ‘No play of Shakespeare’s is so thoroughly saturated castle which she locates in different counties in different in the sanctimonious and sometimes savage vocabulary chapters). With a similar lack of logical thought she of reform,’ writes author Philip Schwyzer, Professor of asserts that Elizabeth Woodville had a nineteen‐year‐ Renaissance Literature at the University of Exeter. old son called John, who married Cecily’s sister ‘Accounting for the play’s extraordinary hold on Catherine in 1465. This was of course really Elizabeth’s collective memory would be the work of another book. brother, who was only nine years her junior. It is a Yet I submit that much of the play’s power stems from shame that the author did not give herself time to do the historical timing which allowed Shakespeare to justice to her undoubted narrative flair by researching a seize hold of the image of Richard III just a moment little more thoroughly. For instance, a survey of major before its passage beyond active memory.’ texts would soon have revealed to her that Cecily did It is this concept that animates the book, which looks not bear a daughter called Joan in 1438 (one historian’s at what people of the late sixteenth centry remembered mistake repeated widely across the internet), so there is or imagined they remembered about that time a century no reason to assume that Cecily was with her husband ago when Richard was king. Even before ‘Shakespeare in France nine months previously. placed what would prove an all but indelible stamp on The volume does give the disappointing (and the character of Richard III, he was represented inaccurate) impression that Cecily left little more trace variously as a raving, animalistic tyrant and as a in the records of fifteenth‐century England than did her smoothly dissembling Machiavel, as a hell‐spawned elusive daughter‐in‐law Anne Neville. Nonetheless, it is scourge and as a merely mediocre monarch.’ a welcome contribution to the ‘cousin’s war’ literature. Schwyzer looks at everything from tangible objects Cecily was the only major protagonist of the Wars of the (his prayer book, made in 1420, still exists in Lambeth Roses to live right through from the Southampton Plot Palace in which he inscribed ‘in his own sprawling hand to the early stages of Perkin Warbeck’s rebellion, yet for his name and birthday’) to poetry (‘much of the earliest far too long representations of her have been shaped poetry about Richard III is quite literally beastly’). only to shed light on her children’s generation. Amy Since this is also largely a book about a play, the Licence presents a far more sympathetic and complex author looks at portrayals of the king, including the portrait of Cecily’s turbulent life than readers have been most famous one in 1745 by David Garrick (shown in offered hitherto. the painting that appears in black and white on p. 114). Joanna Laynesmith The very ‘stage properties associated with Richard III 62 BOOKS have proven particularly prone to fetishization,’ writes struggling against the constraints and the customs of the the author. Even though the crown, dagger, book and time, often lonely and fearful, but determined not to be bed in the stage productions were made centuries after overwhelmed. the king’s death, they too have become historical objects The novel opens with the marriage of Margaret of whose life is traced here. Anjou to weak, ineffectual Henry VI in 1444. Margaret’s In this book we also see London as Shakespeare saw marriage had been bought at great cost – the loss of it, a city ‘bursting at the seams, reinventing itself at a Maine as part of the marriage settlement – and she is dizzying pace, and often apparently at war with its past. deeply resented for this in her new home. The streets of But it was still in a meaningful sense the city known to London may run with wine on coronation day, but the the fifteenth‐century citizen.’ This is what Schwyzer people shout that she has ‘beggared the country’ and tries with some considerable success to capture, thus she is ‘not worth ten marks’ (p. 21). Hated by the showing us how Richard and his reign still resonated English, isolated and vulnerable, Margaret retreats into with the audience of the play Shakespeare wrote. her relationship with Henry, who is gentle, kind and In a study of Shakespeare’s inspiration for his sweetly loving, although he withdraws from her tragedy, the author also looks at A Mirror for Magistrates, physically, preferring to spend the nights in prayer. published in 1559, a verse history of England that Pragmatic and quick‐witted, the queen knows that her includes the reign of Richard. In the poem, ‘the order of future, and that of the king, depends on producing a chronicle time is always prone to be disrupted by living heir, and that Henry, increasingly querulous and shadows of future events, as well as by characters feeble, cannot rule effectively. There is a growing power returning to influence events after their apparent vacuum at the heart of the state and plots, intrigues and deaths. Shakespeare’s creative encounter with this same shifting alliances swirl around the court as the great aspect of chronicle time is crucial to what happens in noble families compete for power and authority. Richard III.’ Margaret begins to exert her own influence over A valuable addition on several fronts, including Henry’s decisions and thus to control the course of Shakespeare, English royalty, theatre history, and events, rewarding those nobles who support Henry and literature, this book deserves to be widely read. acting against those she sees as disloyal. The birth of Clifford Cunningham their son, Edward, after nine years of marriage Clifford Cunningham is a planetary scientist currently consolidates the king’s power, but before the baby is affiliated with the National Astronomical Research born the king collapses. The dynastic struggle now Institute in the USA. He did his PhD work in the history begins in earnest. of astronomy at James Cook University, and has Meanwhile, Margaret Beaufort’s destiny is also being undergraduate degrees in science and ancient history shaped by the queen: aged only 12, the daughter of the from the University of Waterloo. He is the author of 12 dead duke of Somerset, and heiress to a large fortune, books on asteroids and the history of science. has her first marriage to John, the young son of the duke This review was first published in the Sun News Miami of Suffolk, dissolved at the queen’s instigation and is newspaper, and we are grateful to Dr Cunningham and the married instead to the older Edmund Tudor, earl of newspaper for permission to reproduce it in the Bulletin. Richmond, in 1455. Margaret’s story is well known: pregnancy at a dangerously early age and the terrible Succession by Livi Michael experience of childbirth in a strange, remote land. No Fig Tree/Penguin, 2014, hardback, 339 pp. one except her old nurse cares for Margaret; it is her vast The lives of two remarkable women are at the centre of fortune and family connections that make her of Livi Michael’s novel: significance. Like Queen Margaret, Margaret Beaufort is Margaret of Anjou and isolated and vulnerable, her life deeply enmeshed in the Margaret Beaufort. Both bitter struggle between York and Lancaster. Margaret forced their way through, hopes to take a more positive role in planning her own and left their mark on, the future after Richmond’s death, but his brother, Jasper, turbulent times of the earl of Pembroke, swiftly arranges another marriage for fifteenth‐century dynastic her, to Humphrey Stafford. There seems to be genuine wars, and both have affection between them, but Margaret no longer looks suffered since from the for fulfilment in such a relationship; her whole life is often harsh judgements devoted to protecting and advancing the interests of her of historians and son. Margaret begs the new king, Edward, to have the commentators. Refresh ‐ guardianship of her son but once more she is to be ingly, Livi Michael looks disregarded as Edward gives the wardship of Henry through the received Tudor to William Herbert for the sum of £1,000. wisdom and portrays Margaret is utterly distraught: she is ‘wonderfully both as women, grieved by this judgement, cast down utterly and 63 BOOKS brought so low that she could not see how she might experienced by the once again begin to rise’ (p. 339). But rise she does, of nobility but also by course, and it is to be hoped that Livi Michael will ordinary men and continue her highly accomplished retelling of the women. Dame Hilary extraordinary lives of the queen and Margaret Beaufort. Mantel in reviewing the Elaine Henderson book noted that it was ‘an enthralling adventure Book notices story, honest and powerful. The Wars of the The Dublin King: the true story of Lambert Simnel and Roses are imagined here the princes in the Tower by John Ashdown-Hill with energy, with The History Press Ltd, 2015, hardback, ISBN ferocity, with hunger to 9780750960342, 244 pp, engage the reader’. We £17.99. hope to have our own ‘In 1486 – just a year after review in a future Henry VII had killed Bulletin. Richard III at the battle of Bosworth and seized the The Medieval Housewife and Other Women of the crown – a young man Middle Ages by Toni Mount claiming to be a Yorkist Amberley Publishing, 2014, paperback, 96 pp, ISBN 9781445643700, £9.98. prince appeared to oust the usurper and reclaim This is a new edition of the throne for the the book which originally legitimate royal family. appeared in 2007. Toni . . . Who was this boy? In Mount is a member of the the process of seeking the Society’s Research truth behind the 500‐ Committee and a regular year‐old story of the contributor to the Bulletin. Dublin boy‐king of 1487, the book also sheds new light The book’s blurb states on the stories of the ‘princes in the Tower’ and of the Earl ‘In the past, historians of Warwick.’ have tended to look at The book is due to be published on the 28 January what women could not next year; there will be a book launch and talk by John do. In this book we will at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on Thursday 12 look at the lives of February 2015, at 7.30 p.m. This is at the invitation of the medieval women in a Dean of Christ Church, and organised with the help of more positive light, finding out what rights and the Richard III Society’s Ireland Group. Christ Church is opportunities women did enjoy, attempting to uncover the cathedral at which the 1487 coronation of the boy the real women beneath the layers of dust accumulated king took place. For more information visit John’s over the centuries.’ website, www.johnashdownhill.com Cicely’s King Richard – a clarification Kingmaker: winter pilgrims by Toby Clements Sandra Heath Wilson would like to clarify that in her Century, hardcover, ISBN 1780891695. novel about Princess Cicely and Richard III the fictional The first in proposed series about the Wars of the Roses, physical relationship between the two does not develop this novel is about a young nun and monk caught up in until after she reaches the age of 16. The review of the the rivalries between York and Lancaster. The story novel in September’s Bulletin might have inadvertently covers the battles of Northampton, Mortimer’s Cross and given the impression that it began when Cicely was 14, finally Towton, with a focus on war not just as this is certainly not the case.

64 BOOKS From the Barton Library Contact details for all the librarians are on the inside back cover. Please note: the Audiovisual Library is currently undergoing a major reorganisation. Further details will appear in a later issue.

News from the Non-Fiction Books Library – Trinity Keith Horry by Conn Iggulden (Penguin, 2014, hardback, 493 pp) Reduction in the cost of borrowing books: the Post Office The second book in Conn Iggulden’s ‘Wars of the Roses’ have just announced that larger packages (big enough series. It is 1454 and Henry VI is in all but exile in for two books in most cases) will now qualify as ‘Small Windsor Castle, struck down by his illness. Richard of Parcels’ costing £2.80 to post if they weigh under 1 kg York has extended his influence throughout the kingdom and £3.80 if they are up to 2 kg. However, as a special with the help of the earls of Salisbury and Warwick. offer, available up to 18 January 2015, you can send a When the king recovers his senses the balance of power parcel weighing up to 2 kg for only £2.80 – now is a great is thrown into turmoil. time to borrow some books from the Library! Three new additions to the non‐fiction library, all via The Roaring Tide: a tale of high treason donations, and my thanks go to Annette Carson, Marie by Richard Unwin (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Barnfield and Carolyn Hammond respectively. Platform, 2014, paperback, 410 pp) Richard III is providing England with fair and just Finding Richard III: the official account of research by government but he is tormented by his scheming the retrieval and reburial project Lancastrian enemies, who are supporting Henry Tudor by A. J. Carson (ed.), J. Ashdown-Hill, D. Johnson, W. as claimant to the throne. The king sends Laurence the Johnson & P. J. Langley (Imprimis Imprimatur, 2014, armourer to Brittany to encourage Tudor’s ambition, so paperback) he can tempt him into invading and then defeat him. In 2009 a handful of historians and researchers, who had Tudor ends up the victor at Bosworth but is faced with devoted years of study to Richard III’s life and times, the emergence of Richard of York (Perkin Warbeck). decided that they had accumulated enough knowledge Laurence is called to the side of the duke of York, having to justify an active search for the king’s grave in Leicester. been one of those who previously helped him escape This book is an account of that search (reviewed on p. 61) from England.

Anne Neville: Richard III’s tragic queen Cicely’s Second King by Amy Licence (Amberley Publishing, 2014, paperback) by Sandra Heath Wilson (Buried River Press, 2014, This intriguing and elusive woman is shrouded in paperback, 352 pp) controversy and unanswered questions. The author The second book in the series about Cicely Plantagenet. reassesses the long‐standing myths about Anne’s role, her After the death of her uncle and lover Richard III Cicely health and her marriages, to present a new view of the Plantagenet is grief‐stricken, alone and with child. Henry Kingmaker’s daughter. Reviewed in September’s Bulletin. is advancing with a serpentine charm to lay claim to both Plantagenet sisters, threatening to harm her loved ones The Children’s Book of Richard III if Cicely resists him. Henry killed Richard and poses a by Rosalind Adam (The Reading Shop, Leicester, 2014, mortal threat to her secret son. hardback) This is the interesting story of Richard III king of England Cicely’s Lord Lincoln 1483–5, told simply by the author, with colourful and by Sandra Heath Wilson (Buried River Press, 2014, witty illustrations by Alice Povey. Suitable, I would say, paperback, 288 pp) for children with ages still in single figures. The third book in the series about Cicely Plantagenet. It is 1486 and Cicely is estranged from her husband Sir John Additions to the Fiction Library – Anne Painter Welles after being found in the arms of Henry VII. Henry has been coercing her into his bed by threatening to harm The King’s Curse her husband and her cousin Jack de la Pole, earl of by Philippa Gregory (Simon & Schuster UK, 2014, Lincoln, whom Henry suspects of plotting to take the hardback, 604 pp) throne. Jack draws Cicely ever closer to treason. The sixth and final book in Philippa Gregory’s ‘Cousins’ War’ series. Margaret Pole, cousin to Elizabeth of York, Additions to the Non-Fiction Papers Library – is seen as a rival to the throne by Henry VII and married Marie Barnfield off to a Tudor supporter to keep her in the shadows. Only I am pleased to be able to report that the Papers Library the death of Henry restores her to a place at the court of has acquired two further collections of papers: Henry VIII, where she becomes chief lady‐in‐waiting to Katherine of Aragon. 65 BOOKS

England, France and Burgundy in the Fifteenth ‘Those Were the Days: A Yorkist Pedigree Roll’ by Century: collected studies by C. A. J. Armstrong (1983) Philip Morgan (from Estrangement, Enterprise and and Estrangement, Enterprise and Education in Education). This is partly a discussion of John Rylands Fifteenth Century England, edited by S. D. Michalove and A. C. Reeves (1998). Latin MS 113, a genealogical roll of the early 1500s showing the de la Poles as the rightful heirs to the Contents lists may be found online, but the following are throne, and partly a brief study of the Lewkenor family some of the articles that may be of particular interest to and their connections. members: I should also mention that three articles based on the ‘An Italian Astrologer at the Court of King Henry VII’ study of Richard’s remains have now been published in (from England, France and Burgundy). The astrologer in The Lancet, and may be either downloaded from question is William Parron, the man who famously www.thelancet.com (registration is necessary but costs ended his career by predicting, shortly before she died, nothing) or borrowed from the Papers Library. The that Elizabeth of York would live to be at least 80. articles in question are: Armstrong looks at what is known of Parron’s career ‘The Intestinal Parasites of King Richard III’ by Piers and highlights indications in his writings of some D. Mitchell et al. (September 2013) surprising past political connections. ‘The Scoliosis of Richard III, Last Plantagenet King of ‘Lawrence Booth: Bishop of Durham (1457–76), England: diagnosis and clinical significance’ by Jo Archbishop of York (1476–80)’ by A. Compton Reeves Appleby et al. (May 2014) (from Estrangement, Enterprise and Education). This ‘Perimortem Trauma in King Richard III: a skeletal includes a discussion of Booth’s relationship with analysis’ by Jo Appleby et al. (September 2014). Richard during the last decade of his life.

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66 BRANCH AND GROUP reports

From the Branches and Groups the year we’ve welcomed five new members to the Liaison Officer branch, putting us at about 70 members across the country. While only a small proportion of our members A further update to my report in September’s Bulletin, as have the opportunity to meet, our branch is nevertheless I have some news about four new groups. The South quite active, and we keep in touch through e‐mail Staffordshire Group (SSG) had its first get‐together in communications and our branch newsletter, theRIII . October and will be planning its programme in due We launched our year in September 2013 with our course. Susan Martin has had a very good response and annual book club meeting, dissecting Josephine is pleased to report that SSG has five foundation Wilkinson’s Richard III: the young king to be, finding it an members. Also in the West Midlands, Pat Taylor is exhaustive, if sometimes ill‐focused, biography of hoping to establish a South Birmingham group. Her Richard’s early life. The balance of our monthly planning is still in its initial stages but she has some meetings featured a research paper prepared and members already interested. Over to the east Tammy presented by members. Topics we discussed this year Swiderski’s new Fotheringhay and District group is included The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381; Isabella, getting well under way. There are also hopes for a new Ferdinand and the Spanish Influence; Moving About group for the Oxford area. See p. 17 for notices about the Countryside in the Late Middle Ages; Richard’s these new groups. Medical History, and a biography of Elizabeth of York. Good news, too, from overseas. Anna Bies is setting Last fall, a few of our western members had the up a California Chapter of the American Branch, this is pleasure of attending a talk on the Greyfriars dig given particularly pleasing, as despite America being such a by Dr Jo Appleby of the University of Leicester at the huge country there are comparatively few local Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. As we don’t often chapters. have the opportunity to closely connect to what has I think it is good for the well‐being of the Society that been going on in Leicester, this was a special treat. Dr as many groups as possible are established; smaller Appleby was reported to be ‘a fabulous speaker (who) groups work well and are fun, providing opportunities held the audience’s attention throughout . . . she’s much for bringing together in friendship like‐minded more personable in the flesh’. Ricardians. There can also be mutual benefits when Recent events have, unsurprisingly, sparked a neighbouring groups occasionally join together for joint number of revivals and interpretations of Shakepeare’s outings or funding of speakers. play, notably by Shakespeare in the Ruff and the Trinity Most of the country is now served by branches or College Dramatic Society of the University of Toronto. groups, but there are some large areas which are not. We did our bit to promote the Society and its work by Julia McLaren, the secretary of the North East group, not only attending these productions but also placing meeting in Newcastle upon Tyne, asked me to make a ads in the programmes and directing patrons to special plea for more groups to be established in discover the real story about Richard III. Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire; many In March this year, the Tallis Choir of Toronto interested members who have contacted her find that presented A Requiem for Richard III, with music from the the distances are too far to enable them to join in with Eton Choir Book. This concert was promoted as ‘a re‐ the North East group and therefore they have to miss creation of a requiem mass for Richard III as it may have out on group activities. Other areas without a local been celebrated on August 22, 1499 in the presence of Society presence include Somerset and Wiltshire. Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy and sister of the So, come on folks, start up a group to celebrate late, lamented king. Music of the Chapel Royal of his Richard’s reinterment. It’s easy – contact me for an Tudor usurper, Henry VII’. It was an evening of initial discussion and then send a notice to the Bulletin beautiful music, and we were out in force: once again stating your intent with contact information and wait in promoting the branch and Society with a well placed happy anticipation of meeting new friends to enjoy all advertisement in the programme. things Ricardian. In April, the Society was represented at Forward into Jacqui Emerson the Past, a symposium jointly hosted by the Medieval Students and Archaeology Societies at Wilfred Laurier Canadian Branch University in Waterloo, Ontario. In addition to our information table on Richard III and the Society, Cate The Canadian Branch covers a large geographical area, DeSantis delivered a well attended and well received with the largest concentration of members living in presentation on Richard’s medical history. She southern Ontario, around Toronto. During the course of approached her topic as the medical history of a patient, 67 BRANCH AND GROUP reports looking at what is available to us in the ‘hard echo’ and was thought best to call it off and try again next year. ‘soft echo’ of Richard’s body. Starting with comments Some of us had a wonderful time at the Leicester Study Cecily Neville made of his difficult birth, and ending Day later in July and it was so enjoyable that we signed with the battle injuries evident on the bones, Cate up for the November one too. Sally certainly knows discussed Richard’s scoliosis and its effects on his life how to entertain at coffee time, because she’d impressed and activity, the information provided by his teeth, and Canon Mandy Ford from the cathedral so much she was his roundworm affliction. moved to make some very nice boar‐shaped biscuits for As we do every year, we inserted an In Memoriam to us to have with our coffee. King Richard on 22 August in the national edition of the In August, 15 of us went to Bosworth and had a Globe and Mail, and sponsored one of the Society guided tour of the battlefield, before having lunch in the wreaths laid at St James’ Church in Sutton Cheney on 17 Tithe Barn and then going round the exhibition. It’s a August, at the memorial service to those who fell on tour I would recommend to all new Ricardians. The Bosworth Field. guides are excellent and the whole area is explained. Our Twitter account @RichardIIICA has been very In September we went to Ludlow for a guided tour of active this year, being one which members and non‐ St Lawrence’s church. This was an amazing tour and members look to for information on Richard III and the really enlightening and interesting. There is some Society. As of writing, we have nearly 400 followers, wonderful fifteenth‐century stained glass throughout including the British Museum, the University of the church and in St John’s Chapel there is the story of Leicester, Leicester Cathedral and the Bosworth the Palmer’s Guild, all told in medieval glass. The west Battlefield. Kudos goes to Sheilah O’Connor, our window is magnificent. It holds Victorian glass but Membership and Corresponding Secretary, who keeps depicts the history of the House of York’s connection us relevant in the ‘Twittersphere’. with Ludlow. This tour was then followed by lunch and This year our charitable endeavour was to adopt a free time to explore. It was nice to meet up with Mickie roof boss at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. We chose a O’Neill and Judy Jacobs from the Worcester Branch, white rose of York located in the northwest end of the before parting company to partake of afternoon tea in a nave, installed sometime between 1503 and 1506 to delightful little café in Attorney’s Walk. The tea and commemorate Elizabeth of York. Our donation home‐made scones provided a fitting end to a lovely contributes to the cleaning and conservation of this boss day and Cardinal Morton didn’t get his way with the high in the rafters of the chapel. weather, because it was kind to us throughout the trip Needless to say, the reinterment ceremonies next and it only rained when we were travelling home. March will be especially significant for members of the Some of us have also managed to visit the new Richard III Society. I know a number of Canadian Richard III Visitors’ Centre in Leicester and, apart from members plan to be in England as King Richard is a few ‘faux pas’, found it very tasteful and well done. finally laid to rest with honour and dignity in the We did not like the white suit of armour, but we did find cathedral. We shall be delighted to meet and share this the grave area quite moving. It is certainly well worth extraordinary experience with you. frequent visits. The staff are lovely – helpful and Tracy Bryce, chairman, Richard III Society of Canada friendly and keen to have our approval. We have two more meetings before our Christmas North Mercia Group lunch at the Crown hotel – always a marvellous feast. Then we will celebrate our fifth birthday next year. We The North Mercia Group continues to thrive and share events with the Greater Manchester Branch, so membership is still growing, with a total of almost 50 if this means the name of Richard III is well promoted in the long‐distance members are included. the north‐west. In June we were privileged to welcome Dr John Marian Moulton, branch secretary Ashdown‐Hill, who spoke to us about Richard III’s DNA and his own involvement in the Looking for Richard Thames Valley Branch project. We held the meeting at the Crown Hotel in Nantwich and there was a buffet meal afterwards, so We have enjoyed an excellent year of speakers and visits. members had plenty of time to talk to him. John was also We welcomed Philippa Langley to our November 2013 presented with one of the new busts of Richard III and meeting and thoroughly enjoyed her talk and question Bob Pritchard presented him with an embroidered T‐ time. This was followed by afternoon tea, and again we shirt saying ‘Myth Buster’. John must have enjoyed had afternoon tea following our AGM in December. For himself because he’s coming back next year. our post‐Christmas lunch a group of us returned to The July was a bit of a ‘dead loss’ really, because the July Chequers in Fingest near Henley on Thames. Fortunately outing had to be cancelled, owing to the fact that three this year the snow didn’t mean a postponement as it has days before I fell and dislocated my left shoulder. As I in the past, but it did play a part in the cancellation of the was the only who really knew where we were going, it February meeting. 68 BRANCH AND GROUP reports

In March Lynda Pidgeon gave us a very interesting the Red Lion in Langley for a welcome lunch. Following talk on Isabel of Portugal, granddaughter to John of this we crossed the road to St Mary’s church, where we Gaunt and wife to Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and a were given a tour of the church and Sir John very important and able person in her own right. April Kederminster’s Library. This was an eye‐opener for brought a visit to Reading and I thank Sally Empson for most of us and we are very grateful to Wendy for the following report. arranging the visits. The library, which is in the south aisle of the church, dates from the early 1600s and is Our numbers were limited to 12, owing to the health and safety regulations at the Abbey ruins. Meeting at Reading lined with bookshelves enclosed by panelled doors, Museum, we were given a brief overview of the Abbey each elaborately painted inside and out. We were shown Quarter project, which is a plan to transform Reading some of the books and were especially interested in a Abbey’s precinct into a unique historical and cultural service book from 1483. destination. Various historical sites, buildings and The branch weekend away this year was in structures will be pulled together to provide a natural Northamptonshire. Visits to Kirby Hall, Rockingham progression through the history of the town. Our two Castle and Althorp were enjoyed, especially Kirby Hall, guides are both involved in the project and their which was originally built in 1570 and is being restored. enthusiasm was evident. Pausing briefly outside St We could see the various stages of restoration which are Laurence’s church to be shown evidence of a wartime being retained so it is possible to see how modern ‐ bombing in 1943 that killed 41 people, we stopped for isations were done in the past. further historical information in the graveyard, on top of A group of us met in London in September and our a ‘Civil War’ mound, and in what used to be the cloisters of the abbey. Our final stop was in the ruins of the abbey. tour guide took us on the ‘Livery Companies, Richard This area is now fenced off from public access as the walls Whittington and the Chapel of the Knights Templars’ are literally falling down. Five wheelie bins of fallen stones City of London Walk. Highlights included the site of the have been collected since 2011, so we were more than King’s Wardrobe, the College of Arms and the Inns of happy to be provided with hard hats – however Court. An unexpected bonus was the rebuilt Wren unflattering. The abbey, founded by Henry I, was one of church of St James Garlickhythe. This has recently been the ten wealthiest monastic houses in England by the proved to be the burial place of Richard III’s illegitimate fourteenth century and it changed the shape of Reading. daughter Katherine (see The Ricardian, Vol. XXIV, 2014). Both Henry and his wife are buried in there, although The church happened to be open, so we were very their tombs have disappeared. There is no requirement to pleased to able to have a short visit there. locate or excavate the remains as the site is a Scheduled Our meetings for the remainder of 2014 will take Ancient Monument and not under threat of development. place at Wendy’s home. In October we look forward to Many methods of preserving what is left of the abbey are being investigated, including the need to protect some hearing from John Ashdown‐Hill about ‘The Death of rare plants that are growing out of the walls. Edward V’ and in November Wendy is giving us her talk on John de la Pole. Our year will be rounded up in On a gloriously sunny day in May a group of us met at December with our AGM. Graham Pew’s Print and Framing shop for ‘The Minster Thanks are due to our Secretary Diana Lee and host Lovell Experience’, where we had coffee and a look Wendy Moorhen. Also thanks to Sally Empson, Pauline round his fascinating memorabilia on Richard III and Wiltshire, Maria Hale and Wendy for organising the Francis Lovell. Graham gave us a talk before he escorted tours and visits. us to the ruins of Minster Lovell, the Dovecote and St Judith Ridley Kenelm’s church. Following this, we enjoyed lunch at the Dovecote restaurant. Worcestershire Branch We were fortunate again with the weather for our June meeting. We met at the house of our host, Wendy During the summer the Worcestershire Branch often Moorhen, and during coffee Wendy gave us a talk on travels to historical places or events beyond the county’s the history of Ditton Manor. We had a short walk to the borders and this year was no exception. July saw the Manor and were given a guided tour. Ditton Manor was customary visit to Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, for first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and the Medieval Festival and re‐enactment of the battle. belonged to the de Molyns family for many generations. There were many interested visitors to the branch’s stall; Alianore de Molyns, the heiress, was betrothed to the much information about King Richard and the Society Lancastrian Sir Robert Hungerford, who was executed was given out and many books and other items sold. in 1464, and in 1472 the manors of Ditton and Datchet There were, as usual, many fascinating stalls displaying became crown land under Edward IV. There is evidence a huge range of medieval crafts and activities. The battle that Henry VIII spent money on the property and his re‐enactment was spectacular. daughter Mary spent much time there. In 1812 there Alcester in Warwickshire was the destination in was a devastating fire and the house was rebuilt in 1817. August for an evening walk and pub supper. The After the tour of the house and gardens we walked to excellent local guide explained the fascinating history of 69 BRANCH AND GROUP reports the town, which is sited on a crossroads on the ancient evening, again at the Black Swan, Peasholme Green. We Salt Way, from Roman times onwards. A number of welcomed some new members again this year, and medieval cottages still exist there as well as attractive Pauline had come armed with a fiendish quiz. This year buildings from later centuries. several ladies wore medieval dress to the dinner; In September, after a splendid lunch at England’s originally medieval costume was obligatory at this Gate Inn, members travelled to Hampton Court Castle event but the rule had to be relaxed since so few in Shropshire for a re‐enactment of the Battle of members wanted to appear in it, so it was a nice Mortimer’s Cross. The original manor house was built reminder of old times as well as showing members’ in 1427 by Sir Humphrey Lenthall and licensed for talent and ingenuity in creating their outfits. crenellation seven years later. The peaceful walled We hope to report in the next Bulletin on the Branch garden held an amazing array of fruit, flowers and Day (to be held on 4 October) and also on our meeting vegetables. By contrast the south lawn was occupied by with transatlantic Ricardians at Middleham the a medieval encampment and two armies preparing for following day. I can give some notice now, however, of battle, with armour glistening in the sun and the flags three branch events to be held next year. Our Arthur and banners rippling in the breeze. The battle Cockerill Spring Lecture will be held in York on commenced with great flurries of Yorkist arrows, to Saturday 25 April. We are very glad that David which the Lancastrians soon responded. The soldiers Santiuste has again agreed to talk to us, and his title, engaged very fiercely and the noises of clashing swords ‘Anglo‐Scottish Relations in the Yorkist Period’ can’t be and pikes and of booming cannon were formidable. The said to lack topicality. The lecture will start at 1.30 p.m. commentary was informative and historically accurate. More details of the day later. Sadly, no triple sun phenomenon appeared! The branch Study Day will be held on Saturday 6 The programme for 2015 is on the branch website and June, 10 a.m–4.30 p.m. at Jacobs Well, York, our usual we should naturally be delighted to welcome Society venue for events. The programme is still in the planning members at any of our meetings. stage but full details will appear on our website and in Carol Southworth our regular Branch Updates in due course and there will be a booking form with the April 2015 Newsletter. Yorkshire Branch Please don’t pre‐book. Members who don’t already get the monthly Updates but would like to do so (by post or Branch members old(er) and new visited Jervaulx abbey, e‐mail), please get in touch with Pauline: contact details near Middleham, on 24 August, a beautiful sunny day on p. 2 of our magazine. that showed the extensive abbey ruins and grounds at In June Yorkshire Branch is holding a celebration of their best. Lynda Telford gave a very interesting talk on King Richard’s life at Holy Trinity church, Micklegate, the daily routine at the abbey in its heyday, and also York, on Thursday 25 June – the anniversary of his what happened to its residents at the Dissolution accepting the crown in 1483 – at 1.30 p.m. Entrance will (nothing good, as one might expect), after which we be by ticket only, and full details will be given later. Will explored the site at our leisure and it was very difficult those interested kindly not pre‐book. Holy Trinity was to leave for lunch. However, a total of 39 people, originally a Benedictine priory, founded in 1089 and members and friends, met up again at 3 p.m. at St built on the site of a pre‐Conquest church. The priory Alkelda’s church in Middleham, where King Richard nave and transepts remain in parish use today as an and those who died with him at Bosworth were almost unique monastic survival in York. Micklegate remembered. The chairman gave a brief address and an was a wealthy mercantile district in the Middle Ages, arrangement of flowers (again the work of our secretary and Richard would have known this church through its Pauline) was placed below the window to the king, his connections with the Corpus Christi Guild, of which he wife and son, which was one of the earliest official and his wife became members in 1477. It is an projects of the Richard III Society in the 1930s. The appropriate place in which to recall his contribution to branch committee would especially like to thank Mr York civic life and his lasting good name in the city. David May for welcoming us to the church and holding We are pleased to announce that a reprint of such an appropriate commemoration in King Richard’s Pauline’s popular Who Was Who in the Wars of the Roses own collegiate foundation. has now appeared, at £7 a copy. The branch is also Our branch AGM was held in York on 6 September, selling Pauline’s Richard III, the House of York and their and was well attended and productive. Afterwards, an Supporters, price £8. As a special offer, copies of both excellent tea was provided by committee members books are being sold together for £12.50. They are Pauline, Scowen and Lizzie, but we hope that wasn’t the available from Pauline, and cheques should be made main reason for attending! Members’ suggestions, payable to Rosalba Press, the publishing arm of comments and feedback are very important to the Yorkshire Branch. committee and ensure the democratic running of the Angela Moreton branch. The branch Boar Dinner took place the same 70 MEMBERSHIP New members 1 June–30 September 2014 UK Philip & Cordelia Foster, Hemingford Yvonne Morley, Hampton, Middlesex Lynda Adams, Peterborough Abbots, Huntingdon David Morris, Stourbridge, West Midlands Josephine & Howard Adcock, Pat & Michael Fowler, Beeston Sandy, Anthony & Brigitte Morton, Woking, Surrey Countesthorpe, Leicester Bedfordshire Phil Neatherway, Abingdon, Judith Allsopp, London Sibyl Fry, Lyme Regis, Dorset Helen Neville, Redbourn, Hertfordshire Abigail Arthurson, Edinburgh Margaret Gane, Halesowen, West Midlands Romy Newell, Stapleton, Leicestershire Kate Ball, London Dane Garrod, Abingdon, Oxfordshire Maria Nicolaou, London Pamela Barratt, St Leonards‐on‐Sea, East Rachael Gillibrand, Leeds, West Yorkshire Carl Nisser & Gail Chester, London Sussex Barbara Graham, Sidcup, Kent Hermione Noyce, Rugby Katherine Bartholomew, Nr Winchester, Irene Greatorex, Staines, Middlesex Paul O’ Reilly, Doncaster West Sssex Patricia Griffiths, Droitwich Spa, Karen Parker, Morpeth, Northumberland Marilyn Bassett, London Worcestershire Roseanna Parkhouse, West Bridgford, Jocelyn Bentley, Cuckfield, West Sussex Lyndel Grover, Tonbridge, Kent Nottinghamshire Gill Beswick, Looe, Cornwall David Groves, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire Sam Parsons, Stanmore, Middlesex Melanie & David Blair, Broadstairs, Kent Alex Guest, Rotherham John & Margaret Peacock, Gloucester Jill Blake, Aylsham, Norfolk Julia Hallmann, Winchester Dorothy Pennington, Warrington Susan Bolam, Worthing, West Sussex Moira Halsall, Lytham St Annes John Perkins, Northampton Richard Bracey & Diane Dean, Harrogate, Will Hamilton, Crumlin Norma Postin, Rugby, Warwickshihre North Yorkshire Clare Hardy, Tunbridge Wells, Kent Deborah Potter, Manchester Ann Brightmore‐Armour, Dawlish, Devon Malcolm Harris, Chippenham, Wiltshire Louisa Purcell, Bristol Pat Brown, Salisbury, Wiltshire John Head, Haworth, West Yorkshire Joy Ramsey, Keswick, Cumbria Robin Bryder, Mitcham, Surrey Janita Heaton‐Rue, Holywell Keith Randon, Woodhouse Eaves, Catherine Burfield, London Paul Hemingway, Hinckley, Leicestershire Leicestershire Susan Carrington, Slough, Berkshire Jen Holmes, London Richard Redding, Brighton, East Sussex Valerie Cartlidge & family, Ellesmere, Elaine & Arwen Hoskins, York Janet Rees, Sidmouth, Devon Shropshire Christine Howes, St Neots, Cambridgeshire Jonathan Rimer, Gateshead Linda Cartwright, Stourbridge, West Peter Hughes, Ipswich, Suffolk Jill Rudd, Tavistock, Devon Midlands Susan Ingham, Blackburn, Lancashire Susan & Philip Russell, Market Harborough, Anna Castner, London, Susan Ingleby, Swaffham, Norfolk Leicestershire Noreen Caulfield, Hoddesdon, Bobbette & Brian Ivemey, Brentwood, Essex Barbara Saccaggi, Derby Hertfordshire Elizabeth Jones, Meir Heath, Staffordshire Melinda Salisbury, Southend‐on‐Sea, Essex Anthony Chadwick, Ripon, North Joanne Larner, Rayleigh, Essex Judith Sawbridge, Sutton Coldfield, West Yorkshirhe Jennifer Learmonth, Littlehampton, West Midlands Valerie Chaffe, Cherry Willingham, Sussex Andrew Sharp, Darlington Lincolnshire Daniel Lentell, Edinburgh Catherine Shermon, Weston‐super‐Mare Rosemary Chapman, Peaslake, Surrey Lawrence & Nancy Lentz, Bulwick, Susan Sherville, Coalville, Leicestershire Paul Chilcott, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Northamptonshire Marilyn Shorthouse, Warwick Margaret Clamp, Radcliffe‐on‐Trent, Michael Lewin, Peterborough Becky Simpson, Todmorden Nottinghamshire John & Margaret Lofkin, Llandudno, Philip Simpson, Birmingham Roland Clarke, Bristol Conwy, Wales Amani Skillen, Wimborne Minster, Dorset Linda & Robert Clayton, Dereham, Norfolk Carolyn Lowe, Newton Linford, David Skuse, Morpeth, Northumbrland Claudia Coleman, Chipperfield, Leicestershire Victoria Smallwood, Barnsley, South Hertfordshire Tatyana Malinova, Belfast, Northern Ireland Yorkshire Patricia Connor, Ormskirk, Lancashire Rosie Mangan, Coventry Karen Smith, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear Rebecca Conroy, Washington, Tyne & Wear Judith Mannion, Gloucester Richard Smith, South Croydon, Surrey Marie Contino, Grangetown Catherine Marsters, Peterborough, Adriana Solari, London Dian & David Cope, Eardisland, Cambridgeshire Cathy Southerton, Burnham‐on‐Sea, Herefordshire Clare Mc Cann, Send Somerset Alane Corkill, Onchan, Isle of Man Laurence Mc Cluskey, Belfast, Northern Clifford & Karen Spooner, Hereford, Pamela Cranswick, Lincoln Ireland Corinne Stanton, Tamworth, Staffordshire Derek & Jean Crook, Grimsby Susan McFarlane, Birmingham Isabelle Stewart, Cobham Josephine & Jack Cummins, Glasgow Barbara McHarg, York Jonathan Storey, Llandeilo Karen Davies, Stoke‐on‐Trent Richard McIlvenna, Stroud, Gloucestershire Carol & Richard Storier, Mountsorrel, Mary Dear, Doverbridge, Derbyshire Michael McKenna, Southport Leicestershire Lyndsey Derbyshire, Syston, Leicestershire Suzanne McNeill, Edinburgh, Sue Stuart‐Lyon, Wantage, Oxfordshire Sacha Dick, London Mandy McNichol, Sandown, Isle of Wight Averil Sumners, Bream, Gloucestershire Viv Doji, Ely Natalie Miles, London Tammy & Dylan Swiderski, Huntingdon, Georgina Doji, Ely Nicola Mills & family, Rickmansworth, Cambridgeshire Mary Duffy, Worcester Hertfordshire Scowan & family Sykes, Wakefield Laraine Dunne, Wolverhampton Marie‐Elisabeth Milne, Southampton, Phil Syphe, Hull Chris Dunning & Janet Richardson, Hampshire Michael & Penny Talbot, Sutton Coldfield, Rochdale Karen & Edward Molloy, Luton, West Midlands Richard Dyason, Swadlincote, Derbyshire Bedfordshire Rosie Tanner, Birmingham Lauren Efford, Portsmouth, Hampshire Helena Moon, Pinner, Middlesex David Taylor, Swansea Mark Elliott, Gloucester Eleanor Morgan, Craig Pen Llyn, Vale Of Christina Tett, London Eileen Evans, Glenfield, Leicestershire Glamorgan Wilkie & Alastair Thomas, Chelmsford, Mark Evans, Llangadog Michael Morley, Bampton, Oxfordshire Essex

71 MEMBERSHIP

Janet Turton, Hull, East Yorkshire James & Kathleen Chant, Albany, New York, Athena Tsipnis, Hamlyn Heights, Victoria, Helen Tyrrell, Redditch, Worcestershire USA Australia Anni Vaughan, Ipswich, Suffolk Anne Claffey, Dublin 11, Ireland Deborah Willemen, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium Elizabeth Veasey, Market Bosworth, Shirley Clement, London, Ontario, Canada Siobhan Williams, 47269 Duisburg, Leicestershire Penny Doulgeris, Vienna, Austria Germany Susan Voyce, Burton‐on‐Trent Vincent Doyle, New York, NY, USA Wendy Wolfe, Nungurner, Victoria, Roger Ward, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire Daniel Fernandex De Lis, 28050‐Madrid, Australia Jane Weake, Twickenham Spain Cathy Webster, St Albans, Hertfordshire Vince Gratzer, Los Angeles, California US Branch Jackie White, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Farrell Haynes, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Berle, Peggy A., Clearwater Beach, FL Shirley Whitton, Street, Somerset Olga Hughes, Korumburra, Victoria, Conway, Susyn, Reston, VA Margaret Wilkinson, Thorpe‐le‐Soken Australia Dunbar, Joy, Fredericksburg, VA Ellen Williamson, Lauder James Kashian, Los Angeles, California, Frederick, Marilyn, Rolla, MO Jean Willis, Leatherhead, Surrey USA Henning, Leah, Chicago, IL Claire Wills‐Wilson, Leicester Debra La Prevotte & family, Centreville, Kennel, John, Emporia, KS Richard Woods, Chipping Norton, Virginia, USA Mascall, Roger, Nazareth, PA Oxfordshire Ray Landon, Crisfield, Maryland, USA Massarello, Chloe, Portland, OR Sheila Wren, Saltburn‐by‐the‐Sea, North Anna Litvinskaya, St Petersburg, Russia Massey, Elizabeth T, Irmo, SC Yorkshire Ted Maligranda, Monroe Township, New McGan, Carrie, Burke, VA Linda Yeodal, Winchester, Hampshire Jersey, USA Miller, Georgia, Argyle, TX Janet Yeomans, Loughborough, Mel & Kate Martin, Croydon, Victoria, Neer, Marie, Alturas, CA Leicestershire Australia Nelson, Mary Ann, Freeport, IL Juliette Murray, 79000 Niort, France Poston, William & Melanie, Charleston, SC Overseas Nathalie Nyman, 2061 H C Bloemendaal, Sedacca, Angelo, Little Neck, NY Isabella Batelli & family, Castel Maggiore The Netherlands Sickles, Catherine, Washington, DC (BO), Italy Elena Ougarova, Nanterre, France Sixt, Frank W., Bayville, NY Christine Beaumont, Randwick, NSW, Xenia Pommerencke & family, Sindelfingen, Streaker, Emily Davis, Sykesville, MD Australia Germany Svokos, George, Westwood, NJ Andrea Bellefeuille, Toronto, Ontario, Edgar Price, Broome, WA, Australia True, Cheryl, Claremore, OK Canada Frances Quinn, Dublin 11, Ireland Underwood, Paula, Austin, TX Elisa Bertolini, Pavia, Italy Wolfgang Ritz, 78224 Singen, Germany Worley, Janet, Seattle, WA H Carroll, Dublin 8, Ireland Ansine Timm, 4600 Koge, Denmark Maria Ceccarelli, 00146 Rome, Italy Brittany Trask, Youngstown, Ohio, USA

Recently deceased members

Jean Allen, Ash Vale, Surrey; joined 2000. Jim Reddux, Maidenhead, Berkshire; joined 1986. Laura Foster, Huthwaite in Ashfield, Notts; joined 2013. Obituary Coming in March’s Bulletin

Jim Reddux, 1925–2014 March’s Bulletin will be another large issue, with the latest Society news Jim Reddux passed away at the end and further details about the reburial of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. of September 2014. He will be Other items include: remembered by Richard III Society • a report on the Richard III genome project – we were unable to members who travelled with him on include this in December’s issue as promised, but it will be ready for the summer trips in the 1980s and March and will include details such as Richard III’s hair and eye 90s. Jim was also an active member colour of the Thames Valley Branch and we • a piece about a fifteenth‐century medical charm all enjoyed his company at the • an article about Ralph Rudyard, a reputed regicide Society Triennial Conference in • a focus on the work of the Ricardian Churches Restoration Fund Canterbury. I will always be grate ‐ • and we will be commemorating the 600th anniversary of the birth of ful to Jim’s daughter Anne, a friend Cicely Neville, mother of Edward IV and Richard III. of mine, who bought his member ‐ ship as a birthday present in 1982. I All the above and much more to look forward to. was able at last to join the Society myself as I hadn’t been able to find the address in pre‐computer days. Jim leaves two daughters, a son‐in‐ Answers to Ricardian crossword 10 law and three grandchildren. Across: 1 Bermondsey; 6 Apse; 9 Canterbury; 10 Isle; 12 All‐embracing; 15 Navarre; Judith Ridley 16 Kirtles; 17 Unrests; 18 Conjoin; 19 Straightaway; 22 Trim; 23 Huntingdon; 25 Ogee; 26 Cognisance. Down: 1 Buck; 2 Ring; 3 Overlordship; 4 De Brézé; 5 Ear; 7 Postillion; 8 Energising; 11 Patron saints; 13 Inquisitio; 14 Overpraise; 18 Chasten; 20 Eden; 21 Anne; 24 UFO.

72 Society contacts Chairman & Fotheringhay Librarian, Fiction RIII Mailings Co‐ordinator Anne Painter e‐mail: [email protected] Phil Stone Yoredale, Trewithick Road, Breage, 181 Rock Avenue, Gillingham, Kent Helston, Cornwall TR13 9PZ Research Officer ME7 5PY Tel: 01326 562023 Lynda Pidgeon Tel: 01634 581547 e‐mail: [email protected] 42 Osborne Street, Swindon SN2 1DA e‐mail: [email protected] Tel: 01793 497530 Librarian, Non‐Fiction e‐mail: [email protected] Advertising Officer Keith Horry Howard Choppin 36 Hesketh Lane, Tarleton, Preston, Lancs. Sales and Ricardian & Bulletin back 30 Hawkshill, Dellfield, St Albans PR4 6AQ issues AL1 5HU Tel: 01772 815152 RIII Sales, 5 The Quadrangle Centre, The e‐mail: [email protected] e‐mail: [email protected] Drift, Nacton Road, Ipswich IP3 9QR. e‐mail (enquiries only, not for orders): Branch and Group Liaison Officer Librarian, Non‐Fiction Papers richardiii@e‐mediacy.com & Research Events Administrator Marie Barnfield Jacqui Emerson 25 Egerton, High Legh, Secretaries 5 Ripon Drive, Wistaston, Crewe, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6PT David and Susan Wells Cheshire CW2 6SJ e‐mail: marie.barnfi[email protected] 23 Ash Rise, Halstead, Essex CO9 1RD Tel: 01270 664645 e‐mail: [email protected] e‐mail: [email protected] Librarian, A‐V & Press Records Geoffrey Wheeler Treasurer Bulletin Contact Flat 1, 191 Gloucester Place, London NW1 Sarah Jury Diana Whitty 6BU. Please note new, temporary, address. 26 Rockington Way, Crowborough, Burge’s Cottage, 8 Harold Terrace, Tel: 020 7724 5842 East Sussex TN6 2NJ Bosmere Gardens, Emsworth, Hants Tel: 01892 668227/07710 977756 PO10 7NU. Membership Officer & Deputy Chair e‐mail: [email protected] Tel: 01243 430169. Wendy Moorhen e‐mail: [email protected] 2 Field Hurst, Langley Broom, Visits Officer Langley, Berks SL3 8PQ Marian Mitchell Business and Distribution Manager Tel: 01753 546066 20 Constance Close, Witham, Essex Stephen York e‐mail: [email protected] CM8 1XL Hawthorn Cottage, Back Lane, Tel: 01376 501984 Holywell, St Ives, Cambridgeshire Palaeography Course e‐mail: [email protected] PE27 4TQ Heather Falvey Tel: 01480 465120 119 Winton Drive, Croxley Green, Web Content Manager e‐mail: stephenyork@flagholme.net Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 3QS Beth Stone Tel: 01923 248581 e‐mail: [email protected] Editor of The Ricardian e‐mail: [email protected] Anne Sutton 44 Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds, Press Officer Current subscription rates Suffolk IP33 1QF Peter Secchi Full Member ...... £26 Tel: 07780 866225 Senior Member/Student/Junior* ...... £20 Library Co‐ordinator e‐mail: [email protected] Family ...... £32 Carolyn Hammond Senior Family* ...... £26 Flat 4, 9 Devonhurst Place, Public and Customer Relations The overseas postage supplement applicable Heathfield Terrace, London W4 4JB Richard Van Allen to all non‐UK residents is £9. e‐mail:griff[email protected] 125 Coniston Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 4JA *Senior members are 60 or over, senior Tel: 020 8402 8149 family members all over 60, juniors are e‐mail: [email protected] under 18 and students are 18 plus in full‐ time education.

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 or by others, please let the Bulletin team have full details in sufficient time for entry. The calendar will also be run on the website.

Date Events Originator Date Events Originator 2014 18 July Duxford Chapel and Visits Committee 13 December Christmas at Fotheringhay Chairman Cambridge Botanical (to be confirmed) Gardens 2015 12 September Chenies Manor Visits Committee 22–28 March Reinterment week, Executive Committee (to be confirmed) Leicester (see p. 3) 2016 17–19 April Triennial Conference Research Committee (see p. 20) May Antwerp Weekend Visits Committee deferred from 2015 (to be confirmed) 25 April Arthur Cockerill Spring Yorkshire Branch Lecture, York (see p. 70) 6 June Yorkshire Branch Study Yorkshire Branch Day (see p. 70) rom the Society’s shop This is a small selection of books and merchandise available to members from the Society’s shop. Costs are shown as: Member’s price (plus P&P for UK, EU, Rest of the World) All orders to: RIII Sales, 5 The Quadrangle Centre, The Drift, Nacton Road, f Ipswich IP3 9QR. Please order in good time for Christmas: orders received by 12 December will be despatched for delivery by 23 December (UK only and subject to postal service) BOOKS Blood and Roses Richard III: a source The Battles of Helen Castor book Barnet and The story of the Paston Peter Hammond & Tewkesbury Letters written by a Keith Dockray Peter Hammond Norfolk family across Using contemporary Centres not only on the three generations. It chronicles, letters and battles that marked the tells the story of how records, this book reclaiming of the crown one family survived enables the reader to get for Edward IV but also one of the most behind the mythology with the emergence of tempestuous periods for a more realistic Richard of Gloucester in English history. picture of the king. on the political and NEW £4.40 (£1.60, £2.85, £2.95) £10.00 (£3.50, £5.45, military scene. £8.05) £8.50 (£2.40, £5.40, £5.60) Royal Funerals of The Logge Good King Richard: the House of York Register of PCC an account of at Windsor Wills, 1479 to 1486 Richard III and his Anne F. Sutton & Jeremy (2 volumes) reputation Livia Visser‐Fuchs Potter £25.00 (£8.55, £19.90, with Ralph A. £26.55) An account of Richard III Griffiths and his reputation 1483– This study covers English Wills 1983, by a former Proved in the Chairman of the Society. everything that is Prerogative Court £7.50 ( £3.85, £5.00, £5.20) known about the funerals of Edward IV, of York, 1477–1499 Queen Elizabeth £12.50 (£3.50, £7.25, Woodville, their son George and their daughter £10.75) Mary. 5 colour and 21 black and white illustrations. MERCHANDISE £2.50 (£1.90, £4.45, £4.65) BUST OF BRASS REPLICA PLAQUES RICHARD III Specially commissioned from Canterbury A newly Studios, these brass plaques depicting King commissioned bust Richard III and Queen Anne Neville are 17.5 of the King, based on cm by 7.5 cm and mounted on simulated the facial reconstr ‐ marble with felt backing. There is an uction. Each bust is information label on the reverse. The plaques handmade and are drilled on the reverse to enable wall finished in bronze mounting. effect. It comes in an £20.00 each or £35.00 the pair attractive (p&p per plaque: £4.50, £7.50, £9.50 presentation box per pair: £6.50, £9.00, £15.00) with a certificate signed by the maker. POSTCARDS £60.00 (£7.10, £11.25, Packs of 10 cards. £14.75) Society Coat of Arms Richard III’s Standard Facial Reconstruction of Richard III RICARDIAN KEY RING GOLD ANGEL KEY RING R K R £3.00 per pack of 10 (£2.00, £3.65, £4.20) Silver metal key Key ring with replica gold angel coin of ring with £1/€1 Richard III, based on an original coin size detachable discovered in 2012 close to the site of the token for use in Battle of Bosworth. Presented in a supermarket/ presentation box with explanatory card. airport trolleys. £6.00 (£2.00, £3.65, £4.20) Token has Ricardian boar on one side and the Society name and website address on the other – engraved WHITE ROSE PIN in black outline. White, bonded porcelain rose £4.50 (£1.50, £1.90, £2.50) 2.5 cm diameter on a 4 cm lapel pin, with protective and retaining cap on point – supplied in gift box. £6.00 (£2.00, £3.50, £4.00)