Ricardian Bulletin Is Produced by the Bulletin Editorial Committee, Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd

Ricardian

Bulletin Magazine of the Richard III Society

ISSN 0308 4337 June 2009

Ricardian

Bulletin June 2009 Contents 2 From the Chairman 3 Society News and Notices 6 The Bosworth Portal Goes Live 7 Bosworth 2009 8 Who Do You Think You Are? The answer is: Ricardians 12 The King Richard III School, Majorca 13 New Exhibition at Barley Hall 14 Beating the Eggheads 15 News and Reviews 23 Media Retrospective 27 The Man Himself: Cashing in on Richard: by David Fiddimore 29 Proceedings of the Triennial Conference 2008: Part 5: Henry VII as Suspect 34 Our Past in Pictures 35 Retrospective on the Quincentenary of the Death of Henry VII: Part 2. Later Opposition 38 Depicting Richard as Founder 39 Richard and Realpolitik: by Gordon Smith 42 A Revised Date for the Dublin Coronation of ‘Edward VI’: by Randolph Jones 45 Miracle in Bedfordshire: by Lesley Boatwright 47 Edward IV’s Precontract of Matrimony: A Clarification: by Marie Barnfield 49 Report on Society Events 51 Correspondence 52 New Members 53 The Barton Library 55 Future Society Events 56 Branches and Groups: Contact Details and Reports 62 Obituaries 64 Calendar

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

The Ricardian Bulletin is produced by the Bulletin Editorial Committee, Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd. © Richard III Society, 2009

From the Chairman

here has been a flood of books about Richard III and related subjects recently, and it seems T that even more are coming. Is this all coincidence or is there a reason? Is there an anniversary that I’ve forgotten about? Whatever the explanation, it is a rather nice antidote to the current plethora of celebrations for the five hundredth anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession. I have no doubt that Henry would have been none too pleased by his great uncle grabbing the posthumous historical limelight almost as much as he has. Our summer issue has another mix of informative and entertaining articles, reviews and notices. How does the editorial team do it? While we continue with the proceedings of last year’s Triennial Conference, the pre-contract debate rolls on, and there are articles on Richard III and realpolitik, the opposition to Henry VII and a new look at the Dublin ‘coronation’ of 1487. David Fiddimore provides a fascinating insight into the marketing of Richard III, which includes examples of some of the very unusual forms this can take. Our presence at this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live event at Olympia provided much positive publicity for the Society, and, I hope, has attracted some new members. There is a comprehensive review in this issue, illustrated with some nice photos of those who took part. I would like to thank them all, especially our ‘star’ attraction, Josephine Tewson. No-one who was there is likely to forget what it was like to see Jo in action, whether it was chatting-up the prospective new members, selling her autograph or posing for pictures (for a fee to the Society, of course). Once again, it was a joy to behold. In the 2005 winter issue of the Bulletin a debate was held on the merits of historical fiction, and in this issue we have a letter that reopens that debate. Prompted by a work of fiction in the spring Bulletin, the letter raises questions about whether we should have fiction in the magazine at all. As you will be aware, we aim to include a broad range of articles and features to match the interests of readers of the Bulletin. However, we are aware that fiction can be contentious, and it would be interesting to hear your views on this matter. Recently, there have been some changes in the way that the Executive Committee operates and these are outlined in full on page 4. Most significant is the establishment of the Ways and Means Sub-committee, which has been set up to consider issues in detail and to make recommendations to the full Executive Committee. This will enable it to make more informed decisions which is especially important at a time like this, when, like other organisations, we need to be more careful with our resources. We also have some new people in post, and I extend a warm welcome to Diana Lee, our new Business Co-ordinator, and Gillian Paxton, our new Papers Librarian. I wish them well. Looking ahead, there is Bosworth, the Australian Convention and the AGM, which this year is back in London. These events will be reviewed in future issues of the Bulletin, of course, but I do ask all members who can to support them. The Society remains strong, and I look forward to seeing and meeting members at various events during the next few months, but we mustn’t be complacent. In these recessionary times, we must work even harder to keep up our membership numbers, while at the same time continuing to spend our money wisely. Enjoy your summer or, if you are in the antipodes, may your winter be kind to you.

Society News and Notices

Richard III Society Members’ Day and Annual General Meeting Saturday 3 October 2009

Notice is hereby given that the 2009 Annual General Meeting of the Richard III Society will be held on Saturday 3 October 2009 in Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn, London WC1V 7QJ. The formal business of the meeting will include reports from the Society’s officers, the presentation of the annual accounts of the Society to 31 March 2009 and the election of the Executive Committee for the coming year. Exact timings for the day will be notified in the autumn Bulletin. Nominations for the Executive Committee should be sent to the Joint Secretaries, Susan and David Wells, by post to 23 Ash Rise, Halstead, Essex, CO9 1RD, to be received not later than Friday 18 September 2009. All nominations must be proposed and seconded and accepted by the nominee in writing. Resolutions for the agenda, also proposed and seconded, should reach the Joint Secretaries at the address and by the same date as set out above. If you intend to come to the Members’ Day and AGM, please let us know by completing the form in this Bulletin.

Call to Branches and Groups If your branch/group wishes to make a report at the AGM, please let the Joint Secretaries know by Friday 18 September so that it can be included on the AGM agenda. Reports may be made in person by a branch/group representative or, for overseas branches/groups, if no local representative is able to attend the AGM in person, a printed report may be supplied to be read at the AGM. Reports should not exceed three minutes, and should consist of new material not previously reported verbally or in print.

Refreshments Light refreshments may be purchased during the informal part of the day. Lunch will be by own arrangements. Information about local facilities will be given in the autumn Bulletin.

STOP PRESS. The speaker at the 2009 AGM will be Dr Tobias Capwell, curator of arms and armour at the Wallace Collection and formerly of the Burrell Collection. More details in the September issue.

New Society Arrangements and Officers

We have a new sub-committee A ‘Ways and Means’ sub-committee has been set up, chaired by our President, Peter Hammond, to look at the funding implications of projects, and ensure that the society receives value for money. The new group will report back to the Executive Committee, so that informed decisions can be made, ensuring that the latter remains as the principal decision-making body of the Society. New projects and proposals may be channelled to the new sub-committee through the Secretariat. This is a new venture, and we hope that it will ensure that our collective energies, and our cash, are concentrated where they will do the most to further the Society’s aims.

Diana Lee is our new Business Co-ordinator Further to the changes in the administration of the Society that have come about following the resignations of Jane Trump and Wendy Moorhen from the Executive Committee, we have created a new post, that of Business Co-ordinator. The holder is not a member of the Executive Committee, but will report to it through the Secretaries or the Chairman. The function of the Co -ordinator is to liaise between the Society and the organisations that provide us with a variety of services, such as Royal Mail, Micropress, our printers, and Portland and Pharos, our distribution houses. It is with very great pleasure that we can announce that the first Business Co-ordinator will be Diana Lee. Diana is well known to many, having been a member of the Society for many years. Indeed, formerly Diana Cumber, she met her husband, Peter, through that well-known dating agency, the Richard III Society. Diana has recently resigned from her role as treasurer to the London Branch and so we are very pleased that she is willing to transfer her talents to the role of Business Co-ordinator. We thank her for taking on the post and wish her well in it. We also thank Wendy, who formerly performed this function, for her offer to advise Diana as necessary.

There are new arrangements for the Bulletin Please now send all material for inclusion in the Bulletin to Lesley Boatwright (contact details inside back cover), preferably by attachment as a simple Word document to an email. Failing that, a typescript or clear hand-written document by post will do. And please don’t put any fancy formatting into the electronic document, as it has to be removed before the file is imported into Publisher, and doesn’t always go quietly. Sometimes formatting that looks correct in the email version does not transfer to Publisher and has to be done again. Everything should ideally be in 10 pt Times New Roman, justified, and with a paragraph indent of half a centimetre, and no extra spaces built in anywhere, such as after paragraphs. Photographs to illustrate articles are very welcome – especially when sent electronically. There are guidelines available for intending contributors – ask Lesley to send you a copy. Articles of the more academic sort should also now be sent to Lesley, who will then circulate them to Peter Hammond and Angela Moreton, who, with Lesley, form an articles sub-committee within the Bulletin team. It would be kind to send these articles well in advance. When Lesley has put the Bulletin together, and the team have discussed it, Heather Falvey will now be in charge of the final proof-reading.

Moira Habberjam has retired as Secretary of Yorkshire Branch

We asked Moira to tell us about her years in office.

In the beginning, I hadn’t much time to speare from my regular commitment to the Yorkshire Archaological Society archives, which was my first and most important interest. I met Pauline Routh while she was researching Dodsworth’s documents in the archives, and she later became a good friend. We ‘old’ members of the YAS used to sit doing our own work, calendaring documents, while the archivisit ran an evening class for beginners and upwards. It was during one of the evening coffee breaks there that I met Arthur Cockerill, Joan Preston, Mary O’Regan, Sharon Stow, Cris Reay and Sheila Jolley, who were members of the class and also Ricardians, and I occasionally went to the Leeds meetings of the local Richard III Society, held at Joan’s or Arthur’s house. I can’t give the precise date when I was roped in to become Secretary of the Yorkshire Branch. It had an enthusiastic and colourful committee, with many members to call on for service, and we were really very active during the eighties and nineties – and had a lot of laughs along the way. I remember the fun Tim Hill and I had preparing our book of cartoons, The Yorkshire Jester, with the much-loved Nancy Metcalfe, who did the cover and many of the cartoons. We also instituted the free public lecture, and I remember with what joy I was eventually allowed to run it at no cost whatsoever in the very prestigious lecture room of the Leeds Art Gallery, but I had to write a pleading and grovelling letter each year for the privilege. By the time that the Director of Public Galleries in Leeds retired, our lecture had become a statutory event that no-one questioned. We invited so many wonderful speakers to talk, sometimes more than once, with never a refusal. We confined our choice of lecturers mainly to those with credible Yorkshire connections, but we were not prejudiced, only prudent with money for travelling expenses and confident that we had enough home-grown talent. The whole Committee came to welcome the speaker for lunch at my house before the lecture, and I remember how hilarious everything was – especially the boned chicken roasted round a ham, which Nicky Bland had helped me to prepare. It looked nothing like the illustration when prepared – in fact it looked more like a frog that had been squashed on the road, but it tasted all right. The Branch was really buzzing in the eighties and nineties. We ran excursions all over the north, a medieval banquet in York every other year, several trips to Middleham each year, and had our AGMs with a speaker in York. And we have continued to meet up with the US Ricardian trip when it passes through Yorkshire each year, led by Linda Treybig. Happy memories!

Last year, of course, Moira received the Robert Hamblin Award for service to the Society. Phil Stone read out the citation before mentioning Moira’s name, and she really didn’t know he was talking about her – hearing her own name at the end was a great surprise to her. As we said in the winter Bulletin of 2008, she was for once at a loss for words.

And we have a new Papers Librarian We are pleased to announce that the Society’s new Papers Librarian is Gillian Paxton, an academic librarian soon to be an archivist. She can be contacted at 70 Grayrigg Drive, Westgate, Morecambe, Lancs, LA4 4UL, or email her at [email protected]. Look out for more details of the move of the Papers Collection in the next Bulletin. We send our grateful thanks to Becky Beale, who has run the Papers Library with great devotion for the past seven years, and also thank the several members who responded to our appeal for help when she was obliged to give up looking after the Collection.

The Bosworth Portal Goes Live PHIL STONE

Further to Wendy Moorhen’s article in the last edition of the Bulletin, I am delighted to report that the Bosworth Portal is up and running and looking very good. Beth and I went up to Bosworth a couple of weeks after the Portal went live, taking with us a large supply of the Society’s brochures for display alongside the Portal. Whilst there, we talked with staff and visitors, who all told us how much they liked the display. Indeed, some of the staff said that it had taught them much more about Richard III. We learnt that staff were pointing out the Portal to visitors as they came in to the exhibition, and Richard Mackinder, who runs the Battlefield Centre, told me that there had, indeed, been a lot of interest amongst members of the public who had seen it. Our thanks go to everyone who has been involved with the Portal, beginning with the folk at the Bosworth Battlefield Centre, and Richard Van Allen for the initial idea. Our thanks, too, to Neil Trump for seeing the technology through to completion; to Graham Turner, Geoffrey Wheeler and Gerry Hitch for the wonderful artwork; and to Wendy Moorhen and John Saunders for the text. And especial thanks go to Wendy for bringing it all together. The Portal looks great and fits in well in the reception area of the Battlefield Centre’s exhibition. It promises to be a great asset for the Society. As the season gets underway and visitor numbers increase, I look forward to learning that the school children of Leicestershire and around are flocking to see our screen and that, as a result, they are pestering their parents to make them members of the Society – well, we can dream.

Visitors to Bosworth find out about

Richard III from the Society’s Portal

The Bosworth Portal is a joint project between the Society and the Bosworth Battle- field Heritage Centre and Country Park. It covers four aspects of Richard’s life, considering him as soldier, duke, king and uncle, and giving details of the campaigns he fought, his home life as Lord of the North, his taking of the throne, and finally the thorny question of the Princes in the

Tower. The Centre has its own website at www.bosworthbattlefield.com

Bosworth 2009: Sunday 23 August

This year our one-day visit to Bosworth comprises the traditional service in Sutton Cheney church, and visit to the Battlefield Centre, including tea. Those attending will be able to visit the completed new exhibition featuring:

 Displays depicting medieval life, warfare in the medieval period, the history of the Wars of the Roses and the birth of Tudor England  An evolving battle room with a graphic re-telling of the events of 22 August 1485  Displays featuring the alternative theories regarding the site of the battle, which will set out the latest archaeological surveys, results and artefacts found as Leicestershire County Council carries out a research programme to determine the battle location  A new film about the Battle of Bosworth, the Wars of the Roses and the lives of Richard III and Henry VII  Costumed guides to talk visitors through the new exhibitions  A timeline history of the Ambion Hill site covering the 5,000 years of occupation

In addition to the exhibition, it will also be possible to visit the Medieval Village, described as ‘Ambion Parva: a collection of reproduction buildings combined to create the sense of medieval village life bringing history alive. The buildings on site include “Captains Retreat”, a two-storey house with jettied crossway; “Gunners Cottage”, a cruck cottage; and “The Old Salt Road Inn”, a medieval ale-house. Foundations have been set for the construction of an Apothecary House and many more buildings are planned, including a church, barn and other workshops.’ It will also be possible to walk the Battlefield Trails. For more information see www.bosworthbattlefield.com/index.htm We hope that many members will attend during the day, as this is one of the Society’s major social events and an occasion during the year when members from all over the world can meet. Please also note that the Visits Committee is considering the format of the Bosworth event for future years, so this year may be the last occasion for some time to visit the Battlefield Centre. NB: comments and suggestions with regard to the nature of the event would be welcome – please contact me, at the address on the booking form or by email: [email protected].

Programme 09.15 Coach departs Embankment Underground Station (Embankment exit). 12.30 Memorial service in Sutton Cheney Church, with Society wreath-laying 13.30 Lunch – bring packed lunch: picnic area available, or pub. Village Hall ploughman’s lunch will be available for those booking, and paying, in advance 14.15 Coach leaves Sutton Cheney for Battlefield Centre 16.30 Tea in Tithe Barn restaurant at battlefield (sandwiches, homemade cakes, pastries etc ) 17.45 Coach leaves Bosworth for London, arriving c. 20.15

Members attending independently may book for such elements of the day as they wish: COST for London Day Outing Coach (coach + battlefield entry + tea) = £32.00 COST for Village Hall lunch = £5.00 Please note: this is now pay-in-advance, rather than on the day, to ensure that bookings are taken up, and that suppliers are not left out of pocket. COST for Tea only = £7.00

Please see booking form in centre pages. Elizabeth Nokes

Who Do You Think You Are? The answer is: Ricardians

he ‘Who Do You Think You Are? – Live’ exhibition was designed to follow on from the T BBC television series which traces the family history of celebrities, who may or may not end up in floods of tears at the revelations. There were no tears visible at the exhibition, though; just crowds of people interested in finding out about the past, of their own families, their own district, or even their own calling. The exhibition contained several hundred stands providing a variety of methodologies and information for both the amateur and the professional genealogist and historian, together with local and national historical and special-interest groups. The Society’s stand was well located – larger and in a much better position than in 2008. As someone from the College of Arms on the stand next door said, ‘this is where the most serious- minded exhibitors are’. Someone hadn’t taken up the other half of our stand, so we were allowed more space than we had paid for, and, once Dave Wells had adjusted the spotlights to shine on our posters rather than into outer space, we had a very visible presence indeed. Opposite us was

The Society’s stand, with Marian Mitchell and Richard Van Allen in attendance the stand where some of the celebrities present came to sign their books: Nick Barratt (now a TV genealogist and house-historian, originally a specialist on finance in the reign of King John), Andy Robertshaw (TV military historian), Sir Matthew Pinsent (Olympic gold medallist oarsman) – so people could feast their eyes on our display while queueing for autographs. Our stand presented a very professional image. It attracted a regular flow of visitors, who varied between the knowledgeable, the inquisitive, and the mildly amused. We had many happy

conversations about the Society’s raison d’être and, hopefully, made some conversions. A number of people said they hadn’t really known that Shakespeare had got it wrong, and would think about it. We shall never know how many of the seeds of doubt we planted in people’s minds at the exhibition will grow into real interest in the truth of what happened in 1483 – that is why it is completely impossible to calculate the gains made from our presence at such events. A lot of people did know that Shakespeare had got it wrong, and most of those knew it because they had read The Daughter of Time. As last year, we sold a number of copies of the Testator Index, and Jeremy Potter’s book Good King Richard?, and we also brought along four sets of The Logge Wills in case there were some more serious- minded family historians about. We sold all four, and took an order for a fifth – the heralds on the College of Richard Van Allen watches Dave Arms stand bought three. Wells adjust the spotlight We were interviewed twice by peripatetic radio people. Richard Van Allen and Lesley Boatwright spoke to Southside Broadcasting, and Phil Stone to Gulf States Radio. Some of our display boards were about family history in the fifteenth century, and what to look at next when researchers had got back past the days of parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. These were officially started in 1538 by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Keeper of the Privy Seal, but only about 800 survive from that time. In 1597 Elizabeth I ordered that these records should be entered into parchment books from then on, and gave the clergy the option of copying up details from the start of her reign in 1558 from the bits of paper still in the parish chest, so many more survive from that period. But their survival is a lottery. Where do family historians find their ancestors before parish registers? We advised people to look in records such as land transfers, records of criminal and civil cases, records of church courts, and, above all, wills. At this point, we broke the bad news: most of these records in the fifteenth century will be in Latin. And we also told them about the Society’s palaeography course, which gives help on how to read fifteenth-century handwriting. Lesley Boatwright,

The Society’s new officers at our stand: Lynda Pidgeon who attended on all three (Research Officer), and Dave and Sue Wells (Secretaries) days as ‘Latin Consul-

tant’, had brought handouts explaining how a medieval will was set out, with examples of the Latin used for the formulaic bits, and what the Latin words were for the most common bequests, such as land and farm animals, bedding and table-ware, pots and pans, clothes and jewellery. A number of people had come up against these problems – we were surprised at how many visitors had managed to trace their family history back to the fifteenth century and even beyond. Generally this was because they had found a ‘gateway’ ancestor, one from a family whose tree was already known and in print. We spoke to people who descended from the Quartermain family, from the Hawtreys, and we even spoke to one man who said he was a Tyrell. We met a woman who said her cousin was married to a Robert Brackenbury who was a Visitors wanted to have their photos taken with Josephine Tewson ... descendant of Richard III’s Robert Brackenbury, and a man who said a friend of his was surnamed Stanley, and some people in Leicester wouldn’t speak to him because of what Those Stanleys had done to Richard. One woman had found her name in the Domesday Book, but when pressed admitted there was a gap between 1086 and her next oldest discovery – in 1710. Another had with her a family tree which showed a descent from Edward III, and Lynda Pidgeon spent a good half hour going through the ramifications with her. ... and to buy her autograph Josephine Tewson, of Keeping Up Appearances and Last of the Summer Wine, was, once again, a great supporter, attending on both Saturday and Sunday and explaining Richard III’s total innocence on all charges. As ever, the ‘double-takes’ of the passers-by were a joy to behold as they realised they were really seeing Josephine Tewson (though one rather confused lady thought she was Josephine Tey). Jo’s patience and enthusiasm

were inexhaustible. She managed, with great charm, to swell our takings by selling autographs and charging for posing for photos, and our thanks go to her for the time and effort she gave so willingly. Various people had brought Latin with them to be translated. Lesley explained his school motto to a schoolboy (‘What you do, do it well’). The moment she arrived on the Sunday she was confronted with a document dated 1703, which is a much later hand than she is used to, but fortunately was able to read enough of it to work out that the man’s ancestor had simply been a witness to the transaction, not a party to it, so she didn’t have to work Society Vice-President Kitty Bristow and Joan out the details of the complicated land Cooksley visit our stand transfer it recorded. The best documents were brought by a woman whose ancestor had been a ship’s captain in the mid seventeenth century, and was paid by the Venetians to fight the Turks. The Turks captured him and were holding him to ransom, but the Venetians wouldn’t pay him the money promised. He appealed to Oliver Cromwell, and then to Charles II, when his imprisonment had already lasted 16 years. Unfortunately, the trail goes cold, and she didn’t know if he had ever been released. There were some very interesting talks and workshops were going on all round us. Celebrities such as Matthew Pinsent, Ainsley Harriot and Lesley Garrett spoke in the open theatre areas about their family history. There was a DNA workshop every day, and people could book time to ask Society of Genealogy experts about difficulties they had met in their own research. The National Archives, centrally placed, were plugging the fact that the 1911 census is now available on line. Across the way from our stand, the Probate Service was extremely busy enlightening visitors on the mysteries of probate. On the other side of us the College of Arms artists were sitting quietly painting coats of arms: in our few spare minutes most of us wandered across in turn to watch. When the Society of Genealogists first began to hold Family History Fairs some years ago, quite a few second-hand booksellers attended, not all of whom priced their medieval books at outrageous prices, but nowadays very few booksellers come, and their medieval books are extremely pricey. A number of people staffed our stand through the weekend. Lesley Boatwright had to be there all three days in case she was needed to do Latin or palaeography for visitors. Richard Van Allen, Howard Choppin, Marian Mitchell, Phil Stone, Dave and Sue Wells, and Geoff Wheeler were there two days each; Lynda Pidgeon was there on the Friday, and Peter and Carolyn Hammond on Sunday. Wendy Moorhen arranged for the production of our display posters, and Richard Van Allen masterminded the whole thing and worked tirelessly on its organisation. The Society’s thanks go to all. A very successful weekend, especially for those who like to lunch on ice-cream. There were some very good Lesley Boatwright at lunch sausages available too.

The King Richard III School, Majorca PAUL FOSS

or some years I have been visiting the beautiful Mediterranean island of Majorca. This is F mostly because I like it, but it is also very easy to get there, with only half a day’s travel. Added to this, I have a cousin who lives in the south-west of the island and I like to visit her. Some years ago I noticed a sign for the King Richard III College in Portals Nous, so I knew of its existence, but when the College principal made an enquiry of the Society, I thought I would visit it on my next trip. The little town of Portals Nous, a few kilometres to the south west of the city of Palma, is now by-passed by the motorway, but that has left a bright and cheerful main street with lots of shops, banks and estate agents, and surgeries of doctors and dentists advertising in English and German. All this is to service a large collection of villas and apartments whose owners would rather carry on their business in the balmy climate of the Balearics than in Birmingham or Bremen, Coventry or Krefeld. The quiet side streets of the town are largely framed with high garden walls overhung with palms and bougainvillea and the Calle Oratorio, the address of King Richard III College, is no exception, with the added charm of the old oratory overlooking the sea. On that first visit I was whisked off for a tour of the school, with the pupils in class, by Mrs Merino, the charming vice-principal. As you might expect, English is the main language of the school, though I understand that there are children of many nationalities, but all conforming, with a common language, smart uniform and exemplary behaviour. The enthusiasm of the children on encountering someone with a direct, even if rather tenuous, link to the King Richard of their school name was both endearing and somewhat alarming in the questions they posed. On my latest trip I took with me a gift from the Society to the pupils – nearly four kilograms of lapel badges. To say the children were over the moon is an understatement and I can think of no better way to increase awareness of Richard in the young. We have here young, enquiring minds and willing carriers of appropriate knowledge all over the world, and even if there are not that many King Richard III Colleges, there are young people for whom a little contact can make the Wars of the Roses seem more than a page in a history book.

Pupils of the King Richard III School wearing their badges

New Exhibition at Barley Hall PETER HAMMOND

splendid new exhibition, called ‘Plague, Poverty and Prayer’, funded by the Wellcome A Trust and designed by York Archaeological Trust, was launched at Barley Hall in February 2009. This new exhibition explores everyday life for the citizens of York from the Norman invasion to Tudor times. Visitors can find out about illnesses and diseases from the period; who may have treated them and some of the remedies used, as well as the importance of folk medicine, prayer, astrology, spells and mysticism to those living in Britain at the time. This exhibition takes four main subject areas to explore the topic: Medical Care, Cures, Living Conditions, and Illness and Disease. The exhibition is housed on the first floor of Barley Hall, using the Gallery and the Lesser and Great Chambers. To illustrate the subject there is archaeological evidence from York, both St Leonard’s Hospital in York, one of the largest hospitals in medieval Europe, and St Nicholas’s Hospital,York’s only leper hospital. As well as these, evidence from other hospital sites in Britain is used, including Soutra in the Scottish Borders, the Great Hospital at Norwich, and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. The Gallery houses ‘Cures and Medicines’ during the period, using environmental archaeological evidence and other primary sources, such as manuscripts including the Killingholme Medicinal and the Barber-

Surgeon Book from York. There are home-cure remedies based on recipes published in the fifteenth century. These medicines were specially made for the exhibition by a Society member, Dr Tig Lang. The other chambers examine living conditions in medieval York and the effects these had on issues such as life expectancy, standards of health, mortality rates in children, and types of disability. A female skeleton from the lost church of St Stephen, excavated by York Archaeological Two views of the new ‘Plague, Poverty and Prayer’ Trust at Dixon’s Yard, is displayed and exhibition at Barley Hall interpreted, alongside recent research material on types and prevalence of disease and illness evident in the period. Subjects covered include tuberculosis, anaemia, dental disease, leprosy, degenerative joint disease, osteoporosis, syphilis, and plague. Normal entry fees to the Hall apply. Opening hours of Barley Hall are currently 10.00 am – 5.00 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. The exhibition is on until November.

Beating the Eggheads BILL WHITE

ou may perhaps have seen me in a Museum of London team in the BBC2 Eggheads quiz on Y 20 March? (In fact, this was a repeat of a show first broadcast on 30 November 2008.) It was great fun and there is Ricardian relevance, however slight. For those who have never seen the show, a visiting team of five friends, working colleagues, society acquaintances, etc, challenges the resident team of five ‘Eggheads’ – people who have been successful in TV or radio quizzes at national level (such as Mastermind or Brain of Britain). There are four rounds, with a random selection from nine categories of questions, in which one by one the challengers take on the Eggheads in rotation. The first three questions each are multiple-choice and if honours are even at the end of this, fresh questions are asked without the benefit of a written choice of answers. Then, it is a matter of ‘sudden death’ and the person who answers a question incorrectly is eliminated. The final round consists of General Knowledge questions and involves as a minimum the Egghead and challenger who have not so far been selected to answer questions, plus those experts and challengers who managed to defeat their opponent during a specialist round. The depleted teams then proceed through three rounds of multiple-choice questions and then ‘sudden death’ until one team emerges as winners. The team of Eggheads usually wins and each day that they defeat their challengers £1,000 is added to the prize money for the next show. My team-mates decided that should the subject of science come up then I was the one best suited to compete in that round. So it transpired: the first category to be declared was science. My team also chose the Egghead for me to challenge directly. It was Judith Keppel, who had been the first contestant to win the top prize on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? We were each successful during the multiple-choice rounds and eventually she was eliminated. My other team members put in a fine performance, although each in turn ultimately was defeated by the Egghead they were challenging. The next topic was my preferred subject of history and my colleague Rob was doing rather well until he gave the wrong answer in a question on The Great Flag Debate of 1965. However, his Egghead opponent was CJ de Mooi, winner of The Weakest Link, and MENSA chess champion, whose weakest subject was thought to be history. ‘In which conflict was the Battle of Hexham?’ he was asked and was offered a choice of the Crimean War, the Wars of the Roses or the English Civil War. Although ‘CJ’ professed not to know the answer he guessed correctly and our team member was eliminated. By the end of four rounds my two colleagues, Vicky and Becky had been eliminated in the said ‘sudden death’ battles, so only Jack (who had not played) and I remained to face the combined talents of the four remaining Eggheads. To cut a long story short, the Eggheads gave an incorrect answer to one of their multiple choice questions on General Knowledge, whereas we answered our three questions correctly and were therefore victorious. Our reward was to share the accumulated winnings of £33,000, which is the second highest sum won in over five years of the competition. The prize money came in useful, of course, but even without it we had a most enjoyable day. The BBC entertained us very well. The arcane dress code (i.e. which coloured or patterned top or shirt did not clash with the background) caused slight problems and this was the first time despite ten years of appearing in TV documentaries that I had to go into make up. This affected our girls the most and we said to Vicki and Becky : ‘Looking like that, you’ll need to find somewhere to go tonight; don’t waste it!’. If anyone is inclined to enter a Richard III Society team to challenge the Eggheads I can thoroughly recommend it.

News and Reviews

Bolton Percy Gatehouse is to be a Holiday Let Ricardians looking for late medieval buildings in which to take their holidays will in future be able to stay in Bolton Percy gatehouse, 10 miles to the southwest of York. The gatehouse is about to be converted into a two-person let by the Vivat Trust, a registered charity, and an active historic buildings preservation trust. Timber-framed gatehouses are rare and this is the only surviving example in the north of England. Built in c. 1467, it is now all that remains of a courtyard which originally included a medieval manor house and a timber-framed barn. Included on English Heritage’s buildings- at-risk register for the past ten years, the gatehouse today looks a rather sorry sight from the outside (indeed, one half of it has already collapsed and been lost). There are some hints however that it was once of high status, e.g. the close studding and a beautiful carved head of a green man. Once inside this is confirmed, particularly in the upper part of the hall, which has some fine carvings including a large rose on The Bolton Percy Rose one of the roof brackets. The original purpose of this hall is unknown. It may have been used by the local Guild of St Mary. There are also records of a school in Bolton Percy in the Middle Ages although the hall seems too fine to have been used for a school room. The gatehouse lies adjacent to the church, All Saints, which was built in the early years of the fifteenth century and con- secrated in 1424. It is unusual in being built all at the same time, replacing what was probably an Anglo-Saxon one with Norman alterations. It is also unusual in having some of its original fifteenth-century glass in the east window and, although restored, this retains an accurate impression of its original appearance. Another of Bolton Upper half of Gatehouse looking north Percy’s attractions is a Garden Churchyard which contains many interesting plants, a peaceful place to reflect on the interesting buildings standing close by. Doreen Leach

The National Trust is Disappointed We said in the last Bulletin that, following the inaccurate references to Richard in an article about the city of York by Vicky Sartain in The National Trust Magazine for spring 2009, Phil Stone had sent a stern letter to the National Trust. Phil has received the following letter from its editor, Sue Herdman:

Thank you very much for your letter regarding the recent Days Away feature. You are right to point out the historical errors and I will be taking time to discuss this element of the feature further with the writer. Miss Sartain spent several days in York gathering information and the tourist board also checked the piece, so it is disappointing to discover that there are so many inaccuracies. Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.

At the time of going to press the summer issue of The National Trust Magazine had not arrived, so we don’t know if any of our indignant members who wrote in to them have had their letters published.

Richard III to be performed at Wilmcote Susan Finch tells us that there is to be an outdoor production of Richard III in the grounds of Mary Ardern’s House, Wilmcote, on 31 July and 1 August. No other details are available. Susan spotted it in a leaflet on the Shakespeare properties.

Was Richard III Humpty Dumpty? Sylvia Sherwood recently looked on the web to see if she could track down the origin of Humpty Dumpty. On a page called The Phrase Finder (www.phrases.org.uk) she found some theories: that it was a powerful cannon in Colchester mounted on a church tower during the English Civil War, which was toppled by an enemy shell; that it referred to an inept British use of a Roman siege-engine known as a testudo; – and that Humpty Dumpty was really Richard III, who fell off his horse named ‘Wall’ at Bosworth and was hacked to pieces, so that ‘all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again’.

Conservation of York Minster East Window In 1402 John Thornton of Coventry was commissioned to produce the biggest single expanse of stained glass in York Minster the Great East Window. This was to depict the history of the world from the beginning to the end, and the task was completed three years later. It is hoped that when Richard III saw it the glass was still in prime condition. Since then it has suffered from poor restoration techniques and damage in a fire in 1829. Doreen Leach tells us that now a mammoth project is under way to return the window to its original splendour. So far, all the glass has been removed and put into storage, and conservation is about to start, thanks to a Heritage Lottery Grant and other fund-raising activities. Before removal, all the individual panels were photographed and an impressive actual-size replica banner now hangs in front of the tracery, giving visitors at least an impression of the window while it is being worked on. The Bedern Glaziers Studio (located in the thirteenth-century chapel of the Vicars Choral close to the Minster) was recently opened by the York Glaziers Trust to enable visitors to watch conservation of the glass taking place. The Trust is one of Europe’s leading stained-glass conservation studios and visitors get a close-up view of the work being undertaken, and an opportunity to chat to conservators. Further information can be obtained from York Minster: http://yorkminster.org/visiting/what-to-see-and-do/glass-conservation-studio/

Conferences to Come

International Medieval Congress, Leeds 13-16 July 2009

There was a brief note in the last Bulletin reporting that the Society will be sponsoring a session and having a sales stall at this prestigious annual event. The Leeds Medieval Congress brings together thousands of scholars from all over the world. Although the sessions only take up four days, it is a marathon event. There are four time-slots on the first three days and two on the last, each lasting an hour and a half. This year more than 375 individual sessions are on offer, all of which will be fitted somewhere into those time-slots, so there will be over 25 sessions on offer at any given moment. This means that many difficult choices have to be made by those attending, who often wish they could be in two places at once. Each year the congress has one special thematic strand. Last year it was ‘The Natural World’, which had already been chosen before it was announced that 2008 would be the UN ‘International Year of Planet Earth’; they responded by having 160 sessions exploring the natural world and its interaction with human civilisation in the medieval period. This year it is ‘Heresy and Orthodoxy’, and Leeds say this has triggered an unprecedented response from a wide range of scholars. These special strands run alongside many others. Last year English Heritage sponsored four sessions on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the University of York arranged a series of sessions entitled ‘Desperately Seeking the First-Person Narrative’. There are also individual sessions, whose subjects may be wonderfully diverse. Last year there were sessions on Monks as Water Managers, Exemplary Animals, Unnatural Offspring and Filial Impiety in Old French Literature, Children in the Medieval Village, and even Bodily Functions in Late Medieval Literature and Art. There are also special evening lectures, musical performances, a medieval banquet, a dance workshop, and workshops on calligraphy, cosmetics and textiles. We have been allocated a very good slot for our session, from 9.00 to 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 14 July, but we are up against some stiff competition: How to Spot a Heretic, Some Medieval European Ideas on Magic, and Daily Life in a Cisterican Abbey, to name but three. Our session is called Will Power: Sex, Politics and Salvation in the Logge Register of PCC Wills 1479-86. Lesley Boatwright will deal with the salvation aspect in her paper on ‘Admission Fees at the Pearly Gates: Nice Little Earners for the Craftsmen and the Chaplains’. Lynda Pidgeon will speak on ‘Merry Widows and Grave Choices’, and Wendy Moorhen on ‘The Will of William, Lord Hastings, executed 1483’. Unfortunately, the conference isn’t the sort of event that you can drop in on. Even speakers, coming up to give their paper and go away again the same day, have to pay for a day pass at a fee of £94.50. So we will not be expecting many members to come along to hear us.

Other conferences

The Harlaxton Medieval Symposium 2009 This symposium is on ‘Ritual and Space’, and will take place 20-23 July at Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincs. Papers include Catherine Lawless on ‘Saints, Gender, Space and the City’, Philip Morgan on ‘Inhabiting the Battlefield in the Middle Ages’ and Jennifer Alexander on ‘Symbols to Ward off the Evil Eye’. There will be croquet on the lawn (weather permitting) and an excursion to Lincoln Cathedral. For a provisional programme and booking form, email the organiser Christian Steer at [email protected]. Closing date 30 June 2009.

The Monumental Brass Society’s 2009 Conference Entitled ‘Canons, Clergy and Churchmen’, this will be held at Salisbury, 4-6 September. Papers include Nigel Saul on ‘The Monuments and Brasses in Salisbury Cathedral’, Martin Heale on ‘The Funerary Monuments of Abbots and Priors in Late Medieval England’, and Christian Steer on ‘The Canons of St Paul’s and their brasses’. There will be a tour of the Cathedral and a visit to the parish church of St Thomas. For further information and details of how to book, visit the Society’s website, www.mbs-brasses.co.uk or email [email protected].

Fotheringhay News The ninth Annual Organ Concert will take place at 7.30 pm on Saturday 26 September. It will be given by William Saunders of Ipswich. Tickets can be bought at the door. (£11, £9.50, students £2)

The AGM of the Friends of Fotheringhay Church will take place in the Village Hall at 2.30 pm on Saturday 7 November. The speaker at the annual lecture will be William Craven, and his subject will be on a matter relating to Mary, Queen of Scots. Members will be admitted free. The fee for non-members is £5.

Jousting Results from the Royal Armouries Richard III Society member and ‘jousting artist’ Graham Turner made his debut at the Sword of Honour Team Tournament held at the Royal Armouries last Easter in the four-man team fielded by Destrier. After four days of jousting and very intense competition, Destrier managed to beat the Royal Armouries team to reach the final against the title holders, the Order of the Crescent, but unfortunately they couldn’t quite continue their run of form and had to settle for second place. Next year they hope to do even better ... Graham’s horse Magic, who is not yet fully trained and did not take part in the Sword of Honour Team Tournament, will be present at some slightly lower-key Destrier events during the summer to give him the experience he needs to prepare him for the big tournaments. The next visit to the Royal Armouries will be for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Individual Championships over the August bank holiday weekend, and Graham is delighted to be one of the twelve knights invited to take part. Graham’s involvement in jousting provides considerable inspiration for his paintings, and he is currently working on a new canvas that focuses on the moment of impact from the rider’s viewpoint, something Graham is probably uniquely qualified to convey. He will be exhibiting his work as usual at the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival on 11 and 12 July. Details of his paintings, prints and cards can be found on his website: www.studio88.co.uk – along with a selection of photos and information about his jousting experiences.

Book Reviews

The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of His Lost Library by Marcus Tanner

Yale University Press (2008), 265 pages plus illustrations ISBN 978-0-300-12034-9

The Silesian traveller Nicolas von Popplau visited Richard III’s court in the spring of 1484 when it was residing at Pontefract. He had open access to the king and recorded some of the conversations he had with him. Richard had asked him about European princes and politics, especially in relation to the Turks. Nicolas told him about the king of Hungary and the successes that he had had against the Turks and Richard replied, ‘I would like my kingdom and land to lie where the land and kingdom of the king of Hungary lies, on the Turkish frontier itself. Then I would certainly, with my own people alone, without the help of other kings, princes or lords, completely drive away not only the Turks, but all my enemies and opponents!’ This Hungarian king was Matthias Corvinus, one of the most renowned and remembered monarchs of that country. The name Corvinus comes from the Latin for raven, which was the symbol of Matthias family. If you go to Budapest today you will see the words ‘corvin’ and ‘corvinus’ attached to most things of cultural or historical significance. Indeed, during the 1956 Uprising, the Corvina Cinema was the site of some the fiercest fighting against the Soviets. The Raven King is about King Matthias Corvinus, his famous library and the attempts to locate and reassemble it following its disappearance after the sacking of Budapest by the Ottomans in 1526. This quest over subsequent centuries became a litmus test for Hungarian nationalism. Matthias was born in February 1443 in Cluj in modern day Romania, the son of János Hunyadi, who was regent of Hungary from 1446 to 1452. When the childless Ladislas V died in 1458 the fifteen year old Matthias was elected king. His court at Buda became a great centre of learning, and his sumptuous library, known as the Bibliotheca Corvina, was famous for its collection of rare manuscripts. It is said that Matthias tried to persuade the nobles of his court to read books, but he apparently met with little success. The library has been estimated to have held between 2,200 and 2,500 volumes in Greek and Latin alone, and if this number is anywhere near correct it was a vast collection. In comparison the Waynflete library at Magdalen College Oxford would have held some 800 volumes. It is likely that only the Vatican library contained more than the Bibliotheca Corvina. Through a fortuitous marriage to Beatrice, the daughter of Frederick I, King of Naples, Matthias gained better access to the Italian book market and his library certainly grew significantly thereafter. It took a lot of effort to compile; scholars were sent to Italy and entrusted with the purchase of books, which were sometimes bound and illuminated closer to home. Italian scholars, writers and artists took up residence at Matthias's court, which became the most important humanist centre north of the Alps. He introduced printing into Hungary, sent Hungarian students to Italian universities, and founded a university at Bratislava. He also reformed the judicial system and reduced his dependence on the nobility by establishing an independent army of mercenaries – the Black Troops – which he used against both home-grown and foreign foes. Matthias’ lands were considerable, extending in the north almost to Berlin, including Lusatia, Bohemia, Silesia, and Austria, and down the Adriatic coast to include Belgrade. Hungary was one of Europe’s great powers and Matthias a significant Renaissance monarch. Crucially for the rest of Europe, his military strength enabled Hungary to act as a

bulwark against further Ottoman encroachment into Europe following the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Matthias died in Vienna on April 6, 1490 and was buried in the Hungarian Royal city of Székesfehérvár, but no trace of his tomb survives. He left no legitimate heir and so was succeeded by Ladislaus II of Bohemia, one of the sons of the great Polish king Casimir IV. Unfortunately his successors lacked both his strength and capabilities and within forty years of his death the Ottomans overran much of his empire and captured Budapest itself. And that is where the story of the lost library really begins. When the Turkish Sultan entered Buda on 21 September 1526, his soldiers engaged in extensive looting and pillaging. It is not certain what happened to the books from the king’s library; they may have all been taken to Constantinople, but eventually they were dispersed throughout Europe and beyond, becoming lost objects of nostalgia and pride for the Hungarian nation. Myths grew up about the library, particularly over its content and size, both being subject to exaggerations. Its loss became almost as symbolic as the lost library of Alexandria. The Raven King surveys the surviving books from the library and follows their path from the sacking of Budapest to their present homes in the great libraries of Europe and the United States. The book charts the quests of many Hungarians and others to restore the library, which was such an important symbol to the Hungarian nation. With the decline of Ottoman power in the nineteenth century and improved relations with the west, especially with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, some of the books began to emerge. In 1877 fifteen of the original books were returned to Budapest, an event that was treated as a national celebration, almost as though it were the body of King Matthias himself that had been returned. Today some 216 books from the original library have been located. Some are poor and inaccurate translations, but equally many are of great value. The Raven King has a useful appendix which catalogues these books, six of which can be found in British libraries. Whilst the reality suggests that the library was never quite the size that its mythology implied, it was nonetheless one of the most extensive in fifteenth-century Europe. The aspiration to re-establish physically the Bibliotheca Corvina in full is of course no longer achievable, but there is a project to build a virtual re-creation, and details can be found by visiting www.corvina.oszk.hu The Raven King’s author, Marcus Tanner, is a former foreign correspondent for The Independent specialising in the Balkans, and so is well placed to understand the history and politics of that turbulent region. The book is recommended not only for the Indiana Jones type quest for the lost library, but also for the insight it gives into the life and times of the remarkable Matthias Corvinus. Although he was an exact contemporary of King Richard, Matthias is little known in the English speaking world; this book helps to remedy this. I rather think that Richard and Matthias would have got along together quite well. They had similar concerns for chivalric justice and honour and of course they shared a passion for books. How much Richard would have known about the extent of Matthias’s library is uncertain, but he would doubtless have been mightily impressed, and perhaps too a little envious. Interestingly, Richard signed all his books, a habit that was certainly not commonplace at the time. Matthias had all his marked with the raven symbol which greatly helped subsequent authentication of his books, much as Richard’s signature helped Anne Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs trace and identify books from his library. When considering Matthias in the context of his contemporaries Tanner notes, ‘Compared to the grim and miserly Henry VII, Matthias’ sinister father-in-law Ferdinand, or Ferrante, of Naples, or some of the other contemporary European monarchs, his humanity and sense of humour stand out.’ Perhaps Matthias Corvinus gives us a clue as to the type of Renaissance Prince that King Richard III may have become had he won on that fateful August day in 1485.

John Saunders

Mediaeval Colchester’s Lost Landmarks by John Ashdown-Hill Breedon Books, Derby, 2009 Hardback, £14.99. ISBN 978-1-85983-686-6

This is a fascinating book, based on original research in the Essex Archives. It concentrates primarily on Colchester towards the end of the fifteenth century when religious buildings were ‘at their apogee’. Dr Ashdown-Hill hopes that other researchers will be encouraged by his ‘foray into the lost world of Mediaeval Colchester’ and the full references given in the book would be a good starting point for anyone wishing to work on this area. The book is aimed at ‘local readers, visitors to Colchester and anyone with an interest in the past’ so it is not intended for an academic audience. Most of the book is thus very accessible although some statements, particularly relating to the Benedictine Order, could really do with a fuller explanation for the general reader There are ten chapters of varying lengths, the longest and most detailed being about St John’s Abbey and the two priories, St Botolph’s and Greyfriars. Other chapters cover nearly every aspect of town life including, hospitals, churches, houses, inns and markets. Schools, entertainment and even the water-supply and disposal of waste are not forgotten. There is a plan of Colchester c.1460-80 plus some useful appendices including a list of local inhabitants (all male) who swore fealty to Edward IV in 1472. The book is well illustrated (although the pictures are rather dark) and there is a comprehensive index. The author could have been better served by his publisher. The illustrations listed at the front of the book are numbered but no page numbers are given. However, the illustrations as they appear in the text are not numbered so, to find a specific illustration, it is necessary to trawl through the book. I was unable to find the source of the pictures used to illustrate the dust jacket. The chapters themselves are not numbered but on p. 127 there is a reference: ‘see chapter two – Wayside Crosses’ and likewise on p. 138: ‘see chapter six – The Pillory and the Gallows’. Wayside crosses are in fact covered in chapter five. Despite these small niggles this is a book which will be much appreciated by all who deplore the loss of many of Colchester’s important landmarks. Many disappeared quickly after the Reformation but others, such as the church where John Howard, Duke of Norfolk worshipped, lasted into the 1950s before demolition. Hopefully readers will be encouraged to seek out the remains of the sites for themselves and perhaps take up Dr Ashdown-Hill’s challenge to ‘delve further’. Doreen Leach The Cleaving of Paycocke’s by Orlando Wysocki Four O’Clock Press, 2008

Paycockes House in Coggeshall was built in the late fifteenth century by John Paycocke, and is now a National Trust property with a resident custodian. The history of the Paycocke family and its connections with Coggeshall have been well documented by the historian Eileen Power in her book on the family published in 1920. The Cleaving of Paycocke’s is a story that takes place in three time dimensions – the early sixteenth century focussing on John Paycocke’s son, Thomas; the early 1920s focussing on Isobel Holst, the daughter of the composer Gustav Holst who lived there with his family at the time; and in the present day with the National Trust custodian and his two teenage daughters. It is about the relationship they all have with the house and its history, and the similar unexplained happenings that they experience. The book did not attract me because of any anticipated Ricardian story-line; indeed the link to our period takes time to emerge. My attraction was a family history interest in the Paycockes. 21

The novel weaves its three time periods together into a pattern that carries the central story forward and back with skill and a growing sense of anticipation for the reader. Around the central theme of the book the individual lives and experiences of the three main protagonists add further interest and dimension to the novel. It’s the sort of book that once the story takes hold the narrative compels the reader along at a swift pace. In its second half the various strands begin to close-in on the climax and the Ricardian connection suddenly dawns. But that is as much as I will reveal in this review. To tell more would spoil the experience for any new reader. Orlando Wysocki is a new writer and this, his debut novel, shows much promise. It’s a long novel at over five hundred pages, but a jolly good one nonetheless. John Saunders

Desert Island Docs The National Archives have begun a series of podcasts, to be put on their website, in which people who work there choose their favourite TNA document to have with them on their ‘desert island’, and speak about them. It is envisaged as ‘a conversation between the castaway and the document’, with the voice of the document added later by an actor. A new one will appear each month once the series has got under way, though past ones will still be available. This is the brainchild of the Education Technical Officer at TNA. He is interested in using the website to drive learning forward, turning the documents into resources which are useful for schools, believing (quite correctly) that most people don’t have a clear idea of the great range of documents available at TNA, which include maps, fabric samples, photographs etc. The first and second podcasts were on the letter sent by the young Princess Elizabeth to her sister, Queen Mary, protesting her innocence, and on the dead rat that somehow got listed as one of the documents. The speaker on this podcast used the rat to discuss how documents were looked after (or not, as the case may be) through the ages. I did the third podcast, and my chosen document was KB 9/365, the indictment of Alexander Syda, vicar of Bethersden, Kent, as a fifteenth-century football hooligan, which I wrote about in the autumn 2007 Bulletin. I’ve never been recorded speaking into a microphone before, and it was an eye-opener: I had to do quite a bit all over again because I had turned the pages of my notes and the microphone had picked the sound up. I haven’t heard the result yet, so have my fingers crossed that I don’t sound too dreadful. Was I interested in football, they asked? As someone brought up in Watford and living in Charlton, I was glad I could say ‘No’. Lesley Boatwright

Hand numbered and signed limited edition prints depicting Richard III King of England 1483-1485

 An historical interpretation of Richard III  Full colour and black and white prints available  Print size approx. 11½ x 8½ inches (297 x 210mm)  Image size approx. 8 x 5½ inches (200 x 140mm)

Visit our website at www.shakespeare.eu.com and click on the Historic Richard III link or write to us at B J Harris Figurines, 123 Coverdale Road, Great Glen, Leicester, LE8 9EB

Media Retrospective Part 1:

Richard III and the BBC History Magazine The BBC History Magazine for March 2009 had a cover and feature article about Richard, based on a new book, ‘Richard III and the Death of Chivalry’, and also a back-page article on ‘My History Hero’ - Anthony Woodville.

THE ARTICLES reviewed by Dave and Sue Wells

he BBC History Magazine, March 2009, revealed the ‘real reason why Richard III was T butchered’ at Bosworth. The feature article is based upon a new book by Dr David Hipshon: Richard III and the Death of Chivalry (The History Press, 2009). The article claims that Duchy of Lancaster records in The National Archives reveal that there had been a twenty-year power struggle in Lancashire which culminated in William Stanley’s forces supporting Henry Tudor at Bosworth. It suggests that the background to this was the growth of power and landholding by the Stanleys in west Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales. This brought them into conflict with families in east Lancashire, one of whom was the Harringtons of Hornby. During the Wars of the Roses, the Harringtons were Yorkist supporters. After the Battle of Wakefield, the Stanleys were awarded their castle at Hornby by Edward IV, but James Harrington refuse to concede, with consequent increasing friction between the two families, ultimately leading to false indictments by Stanley against the Harringtons. Following the re-adeption of Henry VI, Edward, in an attempt to secure the northwest of England, enrolled the support of his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who displaced Stanley as forester of lands in Amounderness, Blackburn and Bowland, and James Harrington became Richard’s deputy in the Forest of Bowland. Amounderness contained the Harrington’s disputed castle at Hornby. Further struggles continued between the Stanleys and Harringtons and it is suggested that Richard was a strong ally of the Harringtons, who were believed to be working to help Edward recover the throne. However, it appears that, following his reinstatement, Edward IV decided to appease the Stanleys, and the Harringtons were forced to relinquish Hornby, with other properties being awarded in compensation. Disputes between the families were still extant by the time that Edward died in 1483. Many of the leading families in the region had connections through marriage to the Harringtons and when Richard came to power, he made a number of appointments which diminished the influence and power of the Stanleys. Against this background, the article concludes that, with Harrington at his side, Richard III presented Stanleys with an opportunity to take advantage of the situation and support Tudor at Bosworth, which ended fatally for King Richard. The same magazine is rich in Ricardian references. Their Reader Panel was asked to vote on whether they thought that Richard had the Princes in the Tower murdered, with an interesting result. 31% said ‘yes’, 17% ‘no’, and 52% ‘it’s impossible to tell’. This is where we are reminded of that old saying: ‘there are lies, damned lies and statistics’. You could reasonably say that, in a BBC History Magazine poll, 69% of the respondees did not agree that Richard III had the princes murdered. More seriously, are we finally starting to see

signs of the tide turning? We have long argued that there is real reason for doubting the traditional ‘history’. Is this an indication that this view is becoming more widely held – or were most of the respondents Ricardians?

Anthony Woodville: History Hero The magazine’s back page article is less kind to Richard. Entitled ‘My History Hero’, historian and novelist Robert Irwin writes a piece about Anthony Woodville, later Earl Rivers. He says that, ‘Woodville has also suffered in modern times from people who believe that Richard III was one of the greatest saints in English history. They are bound to throw mud at Woodville because Richard III had him killed’. (Is this a reference to the Society?) The item continues, ‘Woodville was appointed protector and tutor of Edward V, the young prince who would be murdered in the Tower, almost certainly on Richard’s orders. Once Richard was in power, Woodville was doomed.’ No sitting on the fence for Mr Irwin, then.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS discussed by Geoffrey Wheeler ‘The Counterfeit Presentment of Two Brothers’ (Hamlet Act III Scene 4)

t has been nine years since a portrait of Richard III made the front cover of the BBC History I Magazine (vol.1 no.3), with the familiar NPG image to promote Michael Hicks’ biography and the provocative caption ‘Dastardly Dick’. Since then numerous articles have featured his ever-controversial life and times, but it is sad to see that in the latest issue the standard of accuracy of the accompanying illustrations has reached a new low. Even the most casual Ricardian observer would see that this cover shows the old version of the Antiquaries ‘Broken Sword’ portrait, before it was cleaned and restored for their 2007 exhibition – the new version is now familiar to members from the past five covers of the Bulletin. In the Time-Line sequence, the image of John de Vere, captioned ‘15th Earl of Oxford’ is indeed taken from an engraving of his likeness on the black marble tomb at Hedingham but, of course, it was the 13th earl of Oxford who fought at Bosworth and Stoke, and who is known from the drawing of his lost tomb, once at Earl’s Colne Priory. Perhaps the most serious errors occur regarding the attributed portraits of the Stanleys. Lurking behind Richard in the main title photo on p.26 is a gentleman in armour who is described in the caption as ‘Sir William Stanley’. The earliest reference to portraits of the Stanleys appears to be in the Notebooks of the engraver and antiquary George Vertue, who records his visit to Wentworth Woodhouse, York, seat of the Fitzwilliam family: ‘Sir Wm Stanley Ld Chamberlain to K. Hen. 7 by whom he was beheaded, in Armour wrought with Gold and an Harquebus (or little Fusil) in his hand, ½ len[gth], he has a bonnet on, and his helmet a t’other

hand’.1 Although only a shadowy vignette of his head and shoulders appears on p.26, this is enough to show the thoroughly Elizabethan ruff and feathered hat, whilst the complete figure displays armour of the 1570s, as seen, for example, in contemporary portraits of Elizabeth’s earls of Essex and Leicester. Additionally, of course, anachronistically for the fifteenth century, he carries an arquebus, or musket-type gun, developed in the sixteenth century. Responsibility for the continued misidentification must stem from its continual repetition in the hallowed pages of the old DNB. Since 1917, James Tait’s entry on Sir William confidently states: ‘a three-quarter- length portrait of Stanley, in richly ornamented armour, is preserved at Wentworth House, York, and was engraved in Baines’s Lancashire (iv g). He is represented with a thinnish face and a short beard.’ Remarkably, this has continued into the new Oxford edition of DNB (2004, vol.5 p.276) where Michael Bennett, author of The Battle of Bosworth (Sutton, 1985) – who, if he had seen an actual reproduction, ought to have had doubts – repeats in his paragraph on ‘Likenesses’: ‘Portrait known to have been at Wentworth House, York, in 1897’. Turning to Lord Thomas, later earl of Derby, again it is Vertue who catalogued it at Wentworth: ‘Stanley, old E. of Derby, in a bonnet, his robes wrought with real Gold & a Gold- headed staff in his hand. ¾ [length] (Thomas).’ Tait’s DNB entry agrees, though describes it, or a copy, ‘At Knowsley, engraved in Baines’s Lancashire, [it] shows a long thin face, with a full beard’. And it was this description which unfortunately Paul Murray Kendall seized upon and took at face value, as in his celebrated biography, when describing Richard’s court in 1485, Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby - he alludes to ‘Thomas, Lord Stanley, with his thin, shrewd face or William Cecil, Lord Burghley? – full of years and gravity and exemplary sentiments and prudent counsel and exudations of loyalty’.2 Again, presumably Kendall had not seen a photograph, though one had appeared in Robert Somerville’s History of the Duchy of Lancaster (vol.1, 1953), identified as ‘Lord Stanley’, as this time there was no mistaking the identity of the sitter: the Knowsley painting is a standard copy of the usual type, attributed to A. van Brounckhorst in the NPG version, of Queen Elizabeth’s William Cecil, Lord Burghley. At least Michael Bennett’s latest entry (DNB vol.5, pp.237-40) omits any reference under ‘Likenesses’, though of course his damaged tomb effigy from Burscough Priory still survives in Ormskirk Church, Lancs.

1. George Vertue, Notebooks, vol.2 p.79 (Walpole Society, 1930-55). 2. P.M. Kendall, Richard III, 1961 edn., p.334 (and note 15, p.489, citing DNB as his source).

APRIL POSTSCRIPT

The April issue of the BBC History Magazine carried a correction: ‘We portrayed the wrong William Stanley on p.26 of the March issue. We used a portrait of William Stanley (1561-1642), 6th Earl of Derby, rather than the William Stanley who fought at Bosworth’. Geoff comments, ‘It looks as if someone has tipped them off about that one but not about the other more easily identifiable and famous Lord Burghley, which was reprinted yet again as an illustration’. The April issue also carries an interesting letter from a John Spiller, who gives his address as Ashton Sixth Form College, which is the school at which the original author, David Hipshon teaches. Spiller thinks the Stanleys are to be admired for the shrewd game that they played during the Wars of the Roses, keeping their options open until the last minute. A rejoinder by Hipshon says ‘we can be fairly sure that Richard was surprised by Stanley’s betrayal at Bosworth’. 25

Media Retrospective Part 2

From George Cobby, Amersham Leicester Mercury, 7 February 2009: Programme for Milton Keynes Theatre’s ‘Richard’s coffin’ at Bosworth, by Jenny production of ‘Noises Off’, by Michael Frayn Ousbey ‘The confusion of identity caused by chance ‘A medieval stone coffin which is rumoured resemblance has always played a significant to be that of King Richard III will be given part in human affairs. Edward IV had a pride of place at Bosworth Battlefield. Now notorious lookalike, Leofric Leadbetter, a fully cleaned, the casket makes its public tallowboiler from Stony Stratford, who fooled debut at the battlefield centre ...’ The article many courtiers and visiting heads of state. quotes Richard Knox as saying, ‘the Not even their wives could tell them apart. On association with Richard III is a bit fanciful, one occasion Leadbetter gave the royal assent but it has captured imaginations’. to three statutes and probably fathered the future King Edward V before the imposture ‘National intrigue’ is putting it rather high, was detected. Some historians believe that in but is this an artefact on its way to becoming the subsequent confusion it was in fact the part of Richard’s accretion of mythology, in king, not Leadbetter, who was hanged.’ spite of all efforts to prevent this? Eds. George comments: ‘This essay is remarkably unfunny, supposedly examining com- From John Knights, Brighton ponents of farce, including identity confusion. Honourable Intentions, by Gavin Lyall I have begun to wonder what I have been (1999), p. 166. missing in my Ricardian reading during the The speaker is a solicitor employed by the last thirty years. If Edward was really Leofric, government: ‘For better, or worse, what the then that gives our Richard an even greater public wants to believe is beyond the reach of claim to the throne. I leave it to others to the law. Look at Richard III: everybody write the book.’ knows that he was a bad hat who murdered the little princes in the Tower. In fact he From Sally Henshaw, Leicester didn’t, and was quite a good king – probably Sally sent us the following two extracts: better than Henry Tudor who rebelled against Leicester Mercury, 2 February 2009: him and won. But don’t ask me how you can Medieval coffin is now a battlefield draw change public opinion after this time.’ ‘A medieval stone coffin which caused national intrigue when it was discovered on a From Elizabeth Nokes, London county building site has been officially WWW.Shortlist.com, 26 February 2009. The unveiled at Bosworth Battlefield. ... Chairman Guest List: Tom Jones’s ultimate moments in of Leicestershire County Council Tony military history. Kershaw and the managing director of David (Sub-heading: ‘Our legendary knight of the Wilson East Midlands, John Reddington, realm unveils his pick of the battles’; officially unveiled the coffin in its new Bosworth is sandwiched between the Korean home ... Councillor Kershaw said: “This is a war and the fall of France in 1940.) tremendous find and where better to place it ‘No. 8. Battle of Bosworth Field. 1485. than Bosworth Battlefield? Everyone should Richard III, of course! He was defeated by come along and take a look at the coffin and Henry VII, who was Welsh. That’s why I like all the other exhibits at the battlefield which this one. Henry won handsomely and it was date back to the time of King Richard III ...”.’ the beginning of the Tudor empire. Britain is The account is illustrated by a picture of such a tiny island, [but] to have all this Councillor Kershaw beaming in front of the fantastic history makes you unbelievably coffin. proud, doesn’t it? It’s remarkable, really.’

From Jan Ogilvy, Whitehorse, Yukon, puppet festival that saw acts from Taiwan, Canada Bulgaria, Brazil, Sweden and Quebec this Yukon News, 12 December 2008: report by summer. Jan comments, ‘I have no idea why Genesee Keevil on ‘Richard 3.5’, a play this play came to our small city (population performed at Whitehorse by Sandglass 23,000) or where else in North America it is Theater. touring.’ ‘It’s easy to kill a puppet. After all, they’re not alive to begin with. But when Eric Bass From Peter Legge smothers and beheads tiny, inanimate figures Daily Mail Quick Quiz, Friday 27 March in Richard 3.5, the audience still gasps in 2009, question 5: horror. “Actors can never really die and ‘The two Princes Edward and Richard were puppets can never really live,” said Bass ... imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1483 “so bringing puppets to life and then killing by which monarch?’ them begs all the questions that are interesting to the art form – in what way does the From Geoff Wheeler audience bring the puppet to life, and what Evening Standard, 23 January 2009: ‘Let’s happens to the audience when the puppets are enjoy Hollywood’s great love affair with beheaded and suffocated?” A two-man history, flaws and all’, by Dominic Sand- ragtime cabaret revolving round murder, brook (on the latest Oscar-nominated films). Richard 3.5 is a black comedy featuring ‘There is something rather heartening about puppets and candles. It’s based on Shake- Hollywood’s eagerness to embrace the recent speare’s Richard III. “We reduced it to 11 past. In an age when thousands of children murders and seven songs we made from the leave school with only the barest idea of our Shakespeare text,” said Bass. “The murders national story ... any engagement with history are the fun part.” should be welcomed, even when it comes ‘The puppets appear to be made out of from Tom Cruise. ... Fiddling with the candle wax, and as each puppet meets its historical record, of course, has been part of bitter end, one of the giant candles gracing the the writer’s craft since Homer told the story stage flickers out. “So there’s a metaphorical of the fall of Troy and Shakespeare had element to the design – for every life that’s Richard III offering his kingdom for a horse. lost, the world does get a little darker. ... And Nobody goes to the National Theatre those that perpetrate it make the world darker expecting to see plain, unvarnished historical for themselves too.” ...’ truth. So why kick up a fuss when Hollywood Jan’s daughter found more information film-makers make similar alterations? The about the performance on the internet: answer, of course, is cultural snobbery. It’s ‘Richard 3.5: Light Ruminations on Murder fine for high art to distort history ... but a is a collaboration between Sandglass disgrace when tawdry American movies do Theater’s Eric Bass and award-winning it ... This is patronising nonsense. Ordinary physical comedian Bob Berky. ... Surrounded moviegoers are just as capable of distin- by dramatic giant candles, from whose wax guishing fact from fiction as any scholar.’ the puppet victims are created right before your eyes, Richard and his Emcee accomplice From Geoff Wheeler dance and sing their way through this cabaret Stephen Thomas contributed a four-page version of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. See article in the March issue of Family History Richard in a rare television interview, see him magazine, in the Local History section, on win the annual Gloucestershire Pie Eating ‘My Ancestor ... fought in The Wars of the Contest, see him recount for you (and you Roses’. His brief overall survey of the only) the extent of his prowess at conflict was commendably fairly free from annihiliation ....’ serious errors, except for the inevitable faux The Sandglass Theatre also holds work- pas when it came to its title, as he stated the shops and hosts a bi-annual international campaigns ‘became known as the Wars of the

Roses after the insignia of the white rose used surely wins the prize for the most by the House of York and the red rose that misinformed short paragraph. appeared on the coat of arms of the House of Lancaster’. A double confusion, compounded From Geoff Wheeler by large colour illustrations of the respective London Review of Books, 26 February 2009. badges and the combined Tudor Rose. He ‘Wedlock’ by Wendy Moore (Weidenfeld continued, ‘this series of dynastic struggles 2009) reviewed by Deborah Friedell. lasted until 1487, when Henry Tudor (a This quotes from a contemporary pamphlet distant relative of the House of Lancaster) on the illegitimate child of Mary Bowes ‘the killed Yorkist King Richard III at the Battle richest heiress in eighteenth-century Britain’, of Bosworth Field and took the throne for the which was ‘hidden for three months, then Lancastrians’. So, right date, but wrong presented at its baptism as a newborn infant, battle! Naturally, given the nature of the which fooled no-one’. She concludes ‘How publication, the main emphasis is on remarkable it was that Bowers contrives to genealogical source material, and he have children brought into the world with concludes ‘once you have located an ancestor teeth, after the manner of Richard III’. who stands at the gateway to Royalty, work hard among his extended family for clues to a From Elaine Henderson, Devon and Corn- more distinguished past. It is estimated that wall Branch millions have these connections. It is just a Radio Times 18-24 April, ‘Soaps’ by Gareth matter of finding the link.’ The Further McLean, on Coronation Street Information column lists half a dozen ‘Though Maria’s growing closeness to Tony reference books on the period as well as may seem improbable, bear in mind that both websites for manorial records and medieval suffered a great grief at the loss of a loved sources. It’s a pity that presumably it was one. (That Tony is responsible for Maria’s written too early to include a reference to the loss only complicates matters, in a Richard III Society’s publication of the Logge wills and kind of way.)’ the Testator Index.

From Gwen Millan, London From Geoff Wheeler Time Team Special, 13 April, ‘Henry VIII’s Daily Telegraph, 13 April 2009. Stephen Lost Palaces’, said by Tony Robinson as he Adams: Kingdom Come: Regal Suggestion for rushed about explaining things, ‘Henry’s Giant Horse’s Name. father had stolen the throne ...’ ‘Some suggested that it should be called Big From Geoff Wheeler White Elephant or Eyesore. But judges of a Nicholas Robins, ‘Walking Shakespeare’s Daily Telegraph contest to find a name for the London’ (Globetrotter Walking Guides, New giant horse that will cast a shadow over Holland 2004), p. 73. southern England decided that only one ‘The real Princes were allegedly found dead moniker would do: Kingdom. in the Garden Tower a month after Richard’s The unofficial contest, prompted by the coronation. They were buried in the decision to construct a 164 ft sculpture in Wakefield Tower and later removed to an Ebbsfleet, Kent, was won by Mr Alan Hill, of unconsecrated place, probably next to St Sherborne, Dorset. John’s chapel, under those stairs two small Mr Hill ... said that his name for Mark skeletons were found in the late 17th century. Wallinger’s design was inspired by another Charles II had the remains interred in horse embedded deep within English culture: Westminster Abbey.’ that of the ailing monarch in Shakespeare’s Geoff comments: I thought the spring Richard III. Bulletin’s selection from I Never Knew That He laments “A horse! A horse! My king- about England was bad enough, but this dom for a horse!”’ 28

The Man Himself: Cashing in on Richard

DAVID FIDDIMORE

I don’t know why, but my attention has been drawn recently to the concept of Richard III as a brand name. There are people out there selling little pieces of Richard, or using his influence to market their products and services, and I wonder if this is significantly different from the commercial treatment of other UK, or even other European, monarchs? Well, yes, it is. A quick search of the internet will reveal far less commercial attention paid to Richard I, or even Henry V ... and I have yet to come across a Louis the Bold after shave, or a Charlemagne pizza. Whatever else people say about Richard, he certainly sells. The selling of Richard seems to break down into three distinct categories: First, artefacts that somehow promise a little piece of Richard on the mantelpiece. This includes the Dassier medallion, of which I wrote in the winter 2008 Bulletin, and these delightful faux Richard III goblets, a snip at less than £15. A genuine Richard III silver halfpenny (London Mint) will set you back another £375, while you can get an 8-coin set of reproductions from the reigns of Richard III and Edward IV, or a Richard

reproduction gold angel for less than a fiver. Or what about a Richard III Toby jug for a mere £375? Secondly, there are books, literature and films, on DVD or VHS. A quick scoot through eBay the other day threw up (a) 12 DVDs of the Olivier Richard, 4 DVDs of the McKellen version, and 4 of the BBC’s most recent production, all relatively inexpensive; (b) 4 copies of the Shakespeare play, outnumbered by 7 notes and study-guides for the same; (c) Cheetham’s Life and Times, Potter’s Good King Richard, Seward’s Black Legend and Williamson’s Mystery of the Princes in the Tower – the latter outrageously priced, but I suspect the others will be knocked down for less than £10 each. I saw a cheap paperback reprint of Mancini recently, but the bidding went up to a ridiculous £33, and you can buy it for less on Amazon. And I recently bought a miniature, leather-bound copy of Shakespeare’s play designed for a doll’s house.

There are also pictures and postcards galore: Richard at Bosworth, Richard after Tewkesbury, King Richard III at Paddington Station (you work it out) ... Nicolai Abilgaard’s distinctly odd painting Richard III, the David Garrick Richard, and Laurence Olivier, of course, glowering from a dozen ciné stills. My own current favourite is an advertisement for a show at Manchester’s Taurus Bar in November 2008. The tickets were only £6. If I lived in Manchester I’d have found the Shake-scene Company’s Drag King Richard III hard to resist. Lastly, there is the use of Richard as a brand: the use of Richard’s aura and reputation to sell something else. These range from theatre posters for trendy living-room walls (McKellen and Olivier dominate the market, but there are very nice Jonathan Pryce and Peter Dinkledge posters out there if you are prepared to wait) ... to a 1930s US advertisement for a water heater. I have also seen Richard enlisted to sell: the Tate Gallery (poster of Blake’s ‘Richard III and the Ghosts’); the National Portrait Gallery, of course (poster-sized Richard III portrait); the Royal Shakespeare Company (featuring photographs of Guinness’s 1953 Richard III as a web-site selling point; the Union of Young Theatre Artists of Tbilisi, Georgia (in

Georgian); a CD cover of orchestral works by Smetana; Philippe Stark’s Richard III chair; and, on eBay again at present, no fewer than 17 CD copies of the 1997 song ‘Richard III’ by the pop group Supergrass. Who was responsible for creating the ‘brand’ of Richard III? Shakespeare, I’d guess. His grossly distorted caricature has a sort of fascistic anti-attraction that draws one to it, and from Shakespeare’s image flowed both the stream that led to the questioning of his version, and ultimately to the creation of the Society ... and The Richard III Chair the towering theatrical and film performances of the 19th-20th centuries, both of which have kept versions of Richard squarely in the public eye. It is interesting to reflect that the Shakespearean fable which, as Ricardians, we reject as propaganda and over-simplification, may actually have been directly responsible for keeping Richard alive. Without it, he might have remained an obscure, short-lived king from a small, damp country at Europe’s edge. Maybe it’s even time to say ‘Thanks’ to William Shakespeare. When he lifted his pen on The Tragedy of King Richard III, he probably didn’t know what he was about to start.

[We regret we have been unable to contact copyright owners of some of these photographs. Eds.]

Proceedings of the Triennial Conference 2008

Part 5: Henry VII as a Suspect SEAN CUNNINGHAM

here is no doubt that had Edward V and in right of his wife. (Richard, Duke of York, T Richard of York lived, they would have claimed the crown in 1460 through descent ended any theoretical and practical claim to from the second and fourth sons of Edward the crown – other than God’s judgment in III, Lionel of Clarence and Edmund of battle – that Henry Tudor could have Langley, whereas the Lancaster claim was presented. For this very reason Henry needed through the third son, John of Gaunt; this them to have died when most commentators claim was accepted, then transferred to thought that they had died: during Richard’s York’s son, Edward of March, and confirmed reign. We have only to look at the trouble by God’s judgment in the battle of Towton in caused to Henry by the claims of Yorkist 1461.) pretenders to realise the powerful hold that Yorkist legitimacy should have been the fate of the Princes, and the legacy of invested in Edward’s marriage and children. Yorkist rule, retained within the early Tudor It was only Richard III’s allegations of polity. Edward’s pre-contract of marriage to Eleanor Had Henry been able to eliminate the Butler that cast doubt upon the legitimacy of Princes in 1485 and make it well known that Edward’s children. While Richard of they were dead, and so spare himself the Gloucester was able to depose Edward V rigours of dealing with pretenders and rivals largely on this basis, it was clear that Henry’s for the next twenty years then he would only real chance of claiming the crown lay in surely have taken the opportunity. Yet for Elizabeth of York’s right as Edward IV’s Henry to have been guilty, the Princes would legitimate direct heir. This was where have to have been alive on 23 August 1485, Henry’s defamation of Richard began. It was and to have survived over two years’ vital that he disprove the allegations of imprisonment without revealing any Elizabeth’s bastardy, but there was the tricky conclusive evidence or even rumour of their problem that in declaring Elizabeth legitimate whereabouts. and the inheritor of the Yorkist claim, he was Henry’s paternal blood ties to the house of also restoring dynastic weight to Edward V Lancaster carried no weight because they and his brother Richard of York. Their came from Henry V’s queen, Katherine of disappearance and death therefore became Valois, and not from a descendant of Henry vitally important. If there was even a IV. His mother’s Beaufort family was possibility that one of them were alive, connected directly to Edward III, but by an Henry’s attraction as a candidate would illegitimate line. Before the demonstration of disappear, as would Elizabeth’s position as God’s judgment at Bosworth, his main claim inheritor of the Yorkist claim. This fact was to support was undoubtedly his intention to fully understood by Yorkist conspirators marry Elizabeth of York, which would have against the Tudor crown, and was exploited transferred the superior Yorkist claim to him fully by Perkin Warbeck’s backers after 1491.

Why would Henry have pledged at by others. To remove them from the Tower Christmas 1483 to marry Elizabeth when he and send them elsewhere was to take them became king had he not believed the Princes beyond his own direct control. He was more to be dead already? This could have been a likely to have tightened security around the hollow gesture from a pretender with little to Princes than to have slackened it by sending lose and without much prospect of them away. successfully invading and deposing an There is no real evidence that the Princes experienced king. The oath was an were still alive on the night of 22 August acknowledgement by Henry that his hopes 1485.1 Henry became king largely because of rested on a marriage to the surviving senior the political force of his victory against heir of the Yorkist dynasty. Those who had Richard III in battle. His intention to marry been in England after June 1483 but who had Elizabeth cemented the allegiance of those rebelled in the autumn would also have been Yorkists who had rebelled once Richard very reluctant to support Tudor had they deposed Edward V. But this was the root of a believed that either of the sons of Edward IV fundamental problem that Henry faced at the was still alive. Even as a figurehead to a start of his reign. His support and authority further rebellion to free the Princes, he would were generated and applied only by those have been a bizarre choice as leader. His around him and not by Henry himself. With political and military inexperience and his this background, the Princes simply had to be lack of broad support within England would dead for Henry’s regime to have any chance have rendered his involvement pointless in of success. It was for this reason that he chose anything other than a plot to get the crown for not to attempt any kind of prolonged analysis himself. Furthermore, Lancastrian figures of his royal claim or the status of his wife. such as John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, would This has led some to see certain aspects of his not have lent their support to such a plot to behaviour in the period 1485 to 1488 as restore Yorkist rule that was likely to suspicious. continue their own disinheritance. Why did he make no direct accusation that The extent to which many of these men Richard had killed the Princes? Was this a debated the supposed return of Richard of missed opportunity, or had it more to do with York during 1492-4 is a clear indication of the balance of politics and Henry’s urgent the attachment that former service to Edward need to stabilise the polity in his favour? IV and his heirs still held over their ex- Condemning Richard as a monster would household servants, almost a decade after the heap guilt by association upon those of his Princes’ supposed disappearance. former retainers and associates who had Could Henry have had the Princes killed survived Bosworth, escaped attainder, before 1485? Neither he nor his mother, received the general pardon of October 1485 Margaret Beaufort, had access to the Tower and had begun the long process of in Richard’s reign. With Henry overseas and rehabilitation under the new regime. At the Margaret under house-arrest, a pro-Tudor close of 1485 Henry now needed their support conspiracy would have had to recruit to their and experience, if not their acceptance of his plot a senior figure in Richard’s regime to rule, without resistance. Having decided not have gained access to the Princes. The plot of to attaint the majority of Richard’s supporters, John Taylor and Thomas Astwood to spring Henry opened the door for a recovery of their Warbeck and Warwick from the Tower in influence. Going back to a harsh dissection of August 1499 was only viable because they Richard’s methods would only invite had recruited contacts within the garrison of comparison between Richard’s time as an Sir Simon Digby, the lieutenant. It is unlikely experienced and successful lord of the north that the boys were removed from the Tower and as king, and the new, untried Tudor on Richard III’s orders: he was not the kind of regime. Henry could not risk forcing former political animal to leave vitally important opponents to compare him to Richard, which affairs unresolved and open to manipulation would destabilise the weak national authority

that Henry held during his first year as king. seizure of the throne, when they were targeted Some men, like Sir Thomas Broughton or for their malign dominance over Prince Thomas Metcalfe of Middleham, simply Edward. They could have expected to recover bided their time until clear opportunities to their position once Henry was king, with depose Henry arose. So even though there Elizabeth of York as his queen. Yet in March was no natural Ricardian heir, there were 1484 Elizabeth Woodville had come to an enough senior figures of Yorkist blood, such agreement with Richard and brought her as the earl of Warwick, to cause Henry daughters out of sanctuary, which gave her serious problems. It was logical and sensible and Richard an opportunity to find a marriage for him not to look backwards any more than for Princess Elizabeth, and so deprive Henry he had to. of his intended bride – and hence his Yorkist Henry’s first parliament did not overturn allies. When Queen Anne Neville died, a Richard III’s Titulus Regius that had declared marriage between Richard and his niece was Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville discussed – an acknowledgement by Richard invalid, though he did require that all copies and Elizabeth Woodville that the princess of it be destroyed and the enrolment erased. carried real dynastic weight as Edward IV’s Henry simply ignored the problem of heir. Here Tudor and Richard seem to have Elizabeth’s illegitimacy, and used the acknowledged the same thing, that the Princes authority of parliament to end all ambiguities were dead and Elizabeth of York embodied about his royal rights. Close discussion in Edward IV’s line. For Elizabeth Woodville, parliament would only have emphasised the this seemed a far more certain way of more straightforward rights of the earl of ensuring Woodville political survival than Warwick. Henry used parliament to invest the sitting in sanctuary and hoping for Tudor’s future of his dynasty solely in the heirs of his victory. Her cold pragmatism almost wrecked body. Marriage to Elizabeth of York or the basis for Tudor’s plans to invade, and he reliance upon her status was no longer was not the man to forget this. The something to be proclaimed. Woodvilles and the Tudor queen were not Once he had a toehold on power, Henry afforded the status they might have expected. distanced himself from the Yorkists who had Henry did not marry Elizabeth until 18 carried him to the throne. The reversals of January 1486. What should have been an attainders and provisos of the Act of auspicious celebration of the union of the two Resumption in the first Tudor parliament noble houses that had competed for the crown gave clear prominence to Henry’s restored for almost 40 years has left no formal record, Lancastrian relatives and supporters. For and seems to have been a very low-key event. some former Yorkists, this was enough of a Elizabeth was not crowned queen until 25 setback to prompt them into rebellion in November 1487, after Henry had overcome 1486. And had there been any whiff of a two major rebellions and she had given birth rumour that the Princes were alive then these to a healthy Prince of Wales. Was this neglect early defections from the Tudor crown would enough for Elizabeth Woodville to become probably have been more widespread. As it involved in the conspiracy in favour of was, Henry perhaps discovered less about Warwick during early 1487? Or did rumours their fate than he had hoped, and of the survival of one of the Princes oblige subsequently said almost nothing about it to her to question her allegiance to Henry parliament. Tudor? It is difficult to imagine her acting The evidence of disquiet within the against the interests of her daughter and her Woodville group in particular in 1486-7 is grandson, Prince Arthur, in favour of an something that needs a closer look, since it is uncertain rumour that one of her sons might symptomatic of a deterioration in the not have been killed in 1483 after all. But the relationship between the family and Henry obscurity of the evidence, the preponderance VII. What caused it? The Woodvilles had of rumour, and the reliance on biased suffered a heavy blow on Richard III’s observers like Polydore Vergil, make it

impossible to get any closer to the true reason crown. Yet there is only the slenderest of for her isolation from the court. circumstantial evidence that they were not Had the Princes been alive in August dead by the close of 1483. And there is much 1485, then we can be sure they would not more circumstantial evidence that they were have survived for much longer under Henry dead by the end of September that year, as VII. Henry had the same ruthless political Richard learned that he would have to face a pragmatism as did Richard in defending his national rebellion and invasion from Brittany.

1. See the summary of the evidence in Lesley Boatwright’s paper for the Triennial Conference, ’Richard III as Suspect’ (Autumn Bulletin 2008).

Our Past in Pictures Yorkshire Branch Banquet 1987

Photo: Geoff Wheeler

In 1987 the Yorkshire Branch Banquet was held in St Oswald’s Hall, Fulford, York. This is an 800-year-old Norman chapel converted into a medieval hall, furnished to look like an authentic fifteenth-century manor house. Its owner, Roy Grant (third from left) organised medieval feasts, and this was one of the most interesting venues the Yorkshire Banquet has visited. Here, the top table are inspecting the fish course, in proper medieval fashion, before it is served to the guests. From left to right: Elizabeth Nokes, the late Joyce Melhuish, Roy Grant, the late Arthur Cockerill, Mary O’Regan, and two serving lads bearing the wonderfully-coiled fish. The Yorkshire Branch hope to hold another Banquet this year (see p. 61).

Retrospective on the Quincentenary of the Death of Henry VII

Part Two: Later Opposition to Henry Tudor WENDY MOORHEN

ill Hampton was right when he wrote known to history as Lambert Simnel. Tudor B that opposition to Henry Tudor’s had survived but this was not to be the regime did not end in the months between greatest military threat to his rule. Bosworth and Stoke Field.1 In fact the Four years later emerged another opposition continued throughout the reign pretender and one who was a great deal and Tudor’s biographer S.B. Chrimes more credible. Claiming to be the younger commented about the ‘long sequence of son of Edward IV, Perkin Warbeck was plots, conspiracies and rebellions’ that might supported at various times by Charles VIII displace his dynasty.2 of France, the duchess of Burgundy, Stoke Field was the culmination of the Maximilian, and James IV of Scotland. fragmented plots and rebellions that had From 1491 until his capture in 1497 he no taken place following Bosworth and which doubt caused Tudor to have many a sleepless began with an Oxford priest, Simonds, night. After making his first appearance as taking a boy to Ireland and passing him off the duke of York in Ireland, Warbeck went as the earl of Warwick. He gained to France but was forced to leave following recognition for the child from the the Treaty of Étaples, and he spent the next discontented Irish aristocracy which two-and-a-half years at the courts of included the earl of Kildare. The conspiracy Margaret and Maximilian. There was gained momentum and attracted the support domestic support for Warbeck and across of several Yorkists, such as Richard England and Europe spies and counter-spies Harleston, the governor of Jersey, Sir Henry wove a web of intrigue. In July 1495 Bodrugan, John Beaumont and Francis Warbeck made his move and sailed to Lovell, but most importantly King Richard’s England with a flotilla of 15 vessels. The nephew and erstwhile heir, the earl of plan was to land in East Anglia, and raise Lincoln, who deserted Tudor and a local support but the weather was foul and comfortable existence in England. Margaret, the ships were blown down through the Duchess of Burgundy, and her son-in-law, channel and eventually reached the coast of Maximilian, King of the Romans, provided Kent at Deal.3 Only 300 men made landfall the Yorkists with 2,000 mercenaries and the but royalist troops were in the vicinity and Irish a rag-tail army. An invasion took place the rebels were massacred on the beach on 4 June but failed. Although the numbers though some survived and were captured. of the rebel army swelled to 8,000, it was The invasion had been compromised months insufficient to beat the 12,000-strong royal earlier when Tudor’s intelligence uncovered army at Stoke in Nottinghamshire on 16 the duplicity at the heart of his court, and the June. Lincoln was killed, and the boy-king major casualty was the king’s own step- captured and sent to the royal kitchens and uncle Sir William Stanley, the man whose

action at Bosworth had made Tudor king. trap between the forces of the earl of Devon, Warbeck abandoned the invasion and sailed Lord Daubenay and the fleet under for Ireland and from there to Scotland where Willoughby de Broke. He fled to Beaulieu he was welcomed by James IV. The Abbey but quickly surrendered. following September, the pair invaded Initially under house arrest, Warbeck was England but Warbeck had no stomach for war sent to the Tower following an escape attempt and perhaps realised that to invade his ‘own from Westminster. In 1499 a further plot was country’ aggressively, rather than to rally uncovered. Malcontents conspired to release support, was not a good idea. He stayed only the pretender and the earl of Warwick and to two days in England though James continued ‘fire’ London but using the services of agents the campaign for another two weeks, burning provocateur Tudor was aware of the plot and and destroying towns. However, James this gave him the excuse to rid himself retained his ambitions of continuing the permanently of Warbeck and Warwick. campaign the following year, and whilst Resistance to Tudor’s reign, however, Tudor concentrated on protecting his northern came not only from the ‘great and the good’ borders more trouble was brewing, this time but from less well-known supporters of the in the west country. Yorkist cause. Bill Hampton has already In May a rebellion broke out in Cornwall. mentioned John Sante, the abbot of A blacksmith, Michael Joseph, and a member Abingdon, in connection with the Humphrey of the gentry, Michael Flamank, led a Stafford conspiracy. Sante’s servant John rebellion of Cornishmen who were protesting Mayne had apparently undertaken a mission against the extortionate taxes raised to for the earl of Lincoln in 1487 and two years support the Scottish war. They were joined later Sante was still supporting the Yorkist by just one peer, James, Lord Audley. The cause when he attempted to free the earl of rebels moved into Devonshire and then Warwick from the Tower. The plot failed and Somerset, rallying men to their cause. By along with Maine, the abbot was executed. early June, at least 15,000 men were Another ecclesiastic and conspirator marching on London and Tudor’s mobilised against Tudor was John Kendal, the English army was already committed to the northern Prior of the Order of Knights of St John of campaign. The king now faced the greatest Jerusalem, who supported Warbeck. threat to his rule since the Battle of Stoke that However, he was involved in yet another had taken place exactly ten years earlier. conspiracy – to murder the royal family by Recruiting from the south of England not poison. The poison was originally to be affected by the rebellion and supported by his obtained from a Spanish astrologer, Rodrigo, nobility, Tudor was once again triumphant but he proved unreliable and another and defeated the rebels at Blackheath. Had Spaniard, John Disant, was approached. Too victory gone the other way and the rebels scared to come to England, Disant gave a reached London we would then have one of small box of poison to Kendal’s servant, the greatest what-ifs for this period. Bernard de Vignolles, in Rome. Disgusted by Fuensalida, the Spanish ambassador to what he was given, Vignolles threw the box Margaret and Maximilian, commented ‘… away but he became afraid, as his master had the King lost the battle he would have would be expecting the poison, so he been finished off and beheaded …’.4 purchased a similar box, counterfeited its Meanwhile Warbeck was making plans to contents and told Kendal that his life would leave Scotland, and on 7 September he landed be in danger if he kept the box in his house in Cornwall and a few days later he declared for more than a day. The second box was himself King Richard IV at Bodmin. Men disposed of and the plot faded away. rallied to the pretender’s standard until he had The new century brought a final threat to some 3,000 4,000 men and he besieged Tudor. Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, Exeter on 17 September. His success was was a nephew and cousin of the Yorkist short-lived as Tudor had Warbeck caught in a kings, and he picked up the mantle of

pretender left by Warbeck. In July 1501 he others, Sir Anthony Brown, lieutenant of the fled England and was received at the court of castle of Calais, whose wife, Lucy Neville, Maximilian, now the Holy Roman Emperor, daughter of the Marquis Montagu, ‘loveth not where he conspired against Tudor. However, the king’s grace’. The report continues that he did not endear himself to Maximilian, as once the king had departed this life, Lady had his predecessor Warbeck, and his Lucy would be prepared to help her kinsman, machinations came to nothing though he was Edmund de la Pole, to enter the castle, and attainted in 1504, along with Sir James Tyrell presumably from there he could return to who had already been executed on 6 May England to pursue his claim to the throne.5 1502 for his alleged complicity with Suffolk. The above narrative is not exhaustive but In the Treaty of Windsor, 1506, concluded perhaps it will give members a feel for the between Maximilian’s son Philip and Tudor, resistance to the Tudor usurpation. By the it was agreed that Suffolk would be handed time he died in 1509, Tudor’s new dynasty over and he was duly imprisoned in the had a secure foothold, partly due to the firm Tower until he was executed by Henry VIII in and repressive policy he adopted after 1513. Although not strictly a conspiracy Blackheath. However, the surviving Yorkists against the King during his lifetime, there is had grown old and only memories could be an interesting footnote to Suffolk’s story. A passed on to the next generation. With Henry report was sent to the King of a confidential VIII, England moved into a new era, but not conversation that took place sometime necessarily a better one. between 1502 and 1506. During the conversation, following an illness of the king and Notes and References fears that he would not be ‘a long-lived man’, 1. Spring Bulletin 2009, pp. 27-9. there were references to discussions by ‘great 2. S.B. Chrimes, Henry VII 1977, pp. 307-8. personages’ who speculated on the future and 3. Ian Arthurson, The Perkin Warbeck Con- some ‘spoke of Buckingham, some of spiracy 1491-1499 , 1994, pp. 108-12. Edmund de la Pole, but none of them spoke 4. Ibid., pp. 166-7 of the Prince of Wales’. One of the men 5. Letters & Papers illustrative of the Reigns taking part in the conversation, Sir Hugh of Richard III and Henry VII, edited by James Conway, mentioned the episode to among Gairdner, 2 vols, 1861-3, vol. 1, pp. 231-4.

Where was the Battle of Barnet fought in 1471?

Peter Hammond writes: A new booklet has been published on this question: Reappraisal of the Battle of Barnet, 1471, by B.Warren, (Potters Bar and District Historical Society, 2009), £2 plus p&p from Mrs Mabel Hammett, 4 Heath Cottages, Heath Road, Potters Bar, Herts, EN6 ILS

The location of the battle of Barnet, fought on 14 April 1471 between the armies of Edward IV and the Earl of Warwick is, like most medieval battles, not known exactly. Mr Warren, who is a local historian, has lived near the site for some 60 years, and has studied extensively the records relating to the area and recreates it at the time of the battle. He has located the chapel which we know was erected after the battle and, partly on the basis of its whereabouts, has located the battle rather north of the usual site. He may well be right in this although I rather doubt his orientation of the battle lines as north south rather than east west. If Warwick had not lined up across the road from London along which he knew Edward was advancing he was inviting a flank attack as soon as Edward reached him. Anyway do buy this booklet and decide for yourself.

Depicting Richard as Founder

We are grateful to the Heraldry Society for allowing us to reprint this article ‘New Heraldic Designs: Our Founder’ from their magazine Coat of Arms (NS Vol.6 no. 133 (1985) pp. 116- 118). In it, the designer, John Bainbridge, describes how he created the drawing we printed in the spring 2009 issue of the Bulletin to illustrate the interview with Clive Cheesman by Peter and Carolyn Hammond.

or some time before 1984 I had been puzzling over a suitable way to celebrate the F Quincentenary [of the granting of the College of Arms charter]. A heraldic painting seemed appropriate but a trifle obvious. Something more imaginative was called for, but what? It occurred to me that some form of representation of Richard III, as the sovereign who had incorporated the College, would solve the problem. The question of what form this should take presented a tantalising dilemma. The character of Richard is so hotly disputed that historians take sides with as fervent a passion as any shown by the Houses of York and Lancaster themselves. How could I depict the king without offending one or other of their sides? Indeed, what did he look like? All the existing contemporary portraits I knew of were held to be either flatteries of a deformed monster or gross distortions intended to defame a noble character. The one thing that would be universally agreed upon was the magnificence of Laurence Olivier’s portrayal. His, then, could be the model for the face and this should have the added, heraldic, merit of being instantly recognisable. Since business concerns of standing take great pride in displaying paintings of their founders in board rooms why not the College? The controversial aspects of Richard’s character could be expressed as interesting side lights, but subservient to his principal role. Immediately I had this idea as the theme everything else fell relatively quickly into place. Initially I had thought of a colour painting but I now felt that a line drawing on the lines of a Victorian steel engraving would better combine the various elements I wished to include in a light-hearted manner but without being too much of a caricature. Benefactors of the medieval period were often shown holding models of their creations and the idea of drawing Richard holding the modern building seemed a pleasingly anachronistic way of representing continuity. I discarded the usual three-quarter length pose of the Victorian founder in favour of the monarch enthroned. The pages at his feet are based on those depicted in the fifteenth-century Froissart illustration of the Coronation of Edward IV as is the pattern of the flooring (but with the addition of the white roses). For the background I decided upon the hanging tapestry and the two bishops. When Richard was offered the crown at Baynard’s Castle he appeared to the people with two ‘deep divines’ to demonstrate his piety as opposed to his brother’s lasciviousness. The inscription on their copes is a direct quotation from Shakespeare’s play and contrasted with the bishops’ appearance is intended to reflect the ambiguity of the king’s character . Richard’s personal motto, Loyalty binds me, is copied accurately from a manuscript in the British Museum which in their own hands has the signatures of Edward V, Richard (Gloucester as he then was) and the Duke of Buckingham. I was particularly struck by the modern character of Richard’s handwriting and have included the motto to emphasise the element of time. The crown and sceptre are modelled on a Lambeth Palace MS of the period. The watch has caused some bewilderment. It is meant partly to fit in with the concept of the founder. All Victorian founders seem ostentatiously to sport watches. In Shakespeare’s play the question of time crops up at a critical moment. Like the building it is anachronistic but is intended, in a whimsical way, to reinforce the idea of the passing of time. The King’s badges are incorporated in the ornamental frame. Two frivolous points: the drapery of the King’s robe melts into that of the bishop’s cope and with Lowry’s five-legged dog in mind I’ve tried to get away with four three-legged lions.

Richard and Realpolitik GORDON SMITH

here are two crimes of Richard III for practical politics. Lynda asks: ‘Did Richard’s T which there is still no adequate answer: actions in 1483 really require him to have a first, his seizure of the throne from his longstanding hatred of the Wydeviles?’ I nephews Edward V and Richard, Duke of think not. York, and second, their subsequent But where does this leave the reasons for disappearance, presumably murdered. The people disliking each other? For example, second was extensively explored in our recent David Johnson claims the Woodvilles ‘held Triennial Conference, now being reported in Hastings personally responsible for the Bulletin. The first has been represented by encouraging much of the late king’s dissolute the recent debate between David Johnson and lifestyle’. This claim hardly seems justified Wendy Moorhen on why Hastings lost his when we find that Edward IV was also head, and in the winter 2008 Bulletin there encouraged by the Queen’s sons Dorset and were also relevant contributions from Lynda Lord Richard Grey and her brother Sir Pidgeon on Richard and the Woodvilles Edward Woodville. (Wydeviles) and from John Ashdown-Hill on I sympathise with David’s view that the the importance of Eleanor Butler, née Talbot. ‘assumption, following Edward IV’s death, Lynda Pidgeon makes a cogent case for that the Lord Chamberlain was first of all Richard’s co-operation with the Woodvilles. I allied with the protector and then with the think that More’s accusation that Richard’s Woodvilles … is fatally flawed’. There is no grief was simulated, when his indifference to evidence for formal alliances. David says, the execution of his brother Clarence would ‘Hastings constituted a powerful third force, have suited More better, suggests at least a totally independent of both the Queen’s party belief Richard was upset by Clarence’s death. and the duke of Gloucester’. I would say This belief could have been embroidered to ‘capable of being independent’. The practical include blaming the Woodvilles and politics, however, turn out to be more Richard’s distrust and hatred of them. complex. Leaving Clarence aside, however, Richard I agree that Hastings’ threat to withdraw may not have liked the Woodvilles. After to Calais after Edward IV’s death shows his Edward IV married the widow Elizabeth ‘unequivocal intention to confront the Woodville her relatives formed a Woodville- Woodvilles with armed force … to defend his Grey party at court, led by her son Thomas threatened interests’. The result, however, Grey, Marquess of Dorset. It was opposed by looks more like a compromise than that the the other court party, led by Edward’s Woodvilles backed down. The Queen agreed chamberlain William, Lord Hastings. It seems to limit the escort of the new boy king likely that nobles outside the court, such as Edward V from Ludlow to 2,000 men – this is Richard and Henry Stafford, Duke of still a small army. Buckingham, would dislike the power of the The compromise would seem to suggest Woodvilles, but this does not mean there was that Hastings was not the primary interest. It necessarily an alliance between Hastings, was Edward IV’s brother Richard, whom he Richard and Buckingham. had appointed protector of his son Edward V We have probably all had to work with in his will. Sources imply Hastings was allied people we do not like. The fact that Richard to Richard, and told him of the reduced and others worked with the Woodvilles is not escort. Yet when Richard was joined at a question of liking or disliking, but of Northampton by Buckingham, their combined

forces numbered 900, less than half the royal the Woodvilles. But I think Wendy escort. Even if Hastings were in corres- Moorhen’s point that the arrests associated pondence with Richard, there were no with the plot cover both camps implies concrete results. Hastings and the Woodvilles were both The escort under Anthony Woodville, Earl involved. Hastings apparently approved of Rivers, was clearly meant to meet Richard Richard and Buckingham, and this charm and Buckingham at Northampton, but Rivers offensive seems to have worked. On 10 June had manoeuvred it to Stony Stratford, nearer Richard’s request for help to the city of York, London. Richard and Buckingham might be quoted by Lynda, mentioned only the expected to set off down the road between Woodvilles (‘the queen, her blood adherents Northampton and Stony Stratford, and fall and affinity’). It seems that the arrest shortly prey to an ambush directed from the afterwards of John Forster, an associate of Woodville manor at Grafton Regis along the both Hastings and the Queen, first apprised road. I have argued (Bulletin, Spring 2004) Richard of Hastings’ involvement. that this was the Woodville plan, and that the Westminster and the City were united, and failure of this assassination attempt led to the Richard was to be killed within Hastings’ capture of Edward V. Richard alleged such an sphere of influence. It is no wonder that attempt was made, and this would have Richard had him summarily executed. provoked hatred of the Woodvilles if it had I find David’s arguments for the not been there before. emergence of Richard’s knowledge of the pre When news of the capture of Edward V -contract of Edward IV and Eleanor after reached the Woodvilles, they bolted for Hastings’ execution persuasive. Given that sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. Insufficient after the execution Edward V was still in forces gathered round them. Another force Richard’s hands, Rotherham’s option of coalesced in the City of London round crowning York instead was the only one still Hastings, who was certainly not then an ally open to Richard’s enemies. A plot to do so of the Woodvilles. Hastings is supposed to would explain why Richard demanded the have sent a message to the Queen via Thomas surrender of York from sanctuary on 16 June. Rotherham, Archbishop of York and Lord There had to be some nominal reason why Chancellor, that all would be well. Rotherham York was legitimate while Edward was not, also blurted out to her that if anything should and this could have led to the fact of the pre- befall Edward V, they would crown his contract coming out. brother York instead. The pre-contract raises the problem of I have suggested (Bulletin, summer 2006) whether any of the children of Edward IV and that Hastings was seeking a rapprochement Elizabeth Woodville could be eligible for the with the Queen. This suggestion is the crown, and this was the subject of Dr Ralph opposite of Paul Murray Kendall’s view that Shaa’s sermon at St Paul’s Cross on 22 June. he was preparing London for the arrival of his If not, the throne was vacant. It seems that on allies Richard and Buckingham. I claimed this this basis the meetings of Lords, Commons, view fails because Kendall’s timings and and London citizens then elected Richard. interpretations do not fit the situation. The crown was offered to Richard, who Hastings called a meeting at St Paul’s to reluctantly accepted. rescue Edward V from Richard and I very much agree with John Ashdown- Buckingham, the aim of the Woodvilles, but Hill that Eleanor matters. Elizabeth’s mother this aim was thwarted by the arrival in Jacquetta Woodville had a reputation as a London of Edward V and the two dukes. witch, so the charge that the marriage was Which side, I asked (Bulletin, summer 2007), invalid because Edward IV was affected by was Hastings really on? the sorcery of the bride and her mother seems David believes Hastings was his own plausible, especially as the secrecy of the man, and plotted to assassinate Richard in the wedding from the lords and the Church Tower of London on 13 June and incriminate suggests a wish to hide this impediment.

Richard could have used these arguments at But, more generally, was he a usurper at all? any time, but the charge that the king was The claims by Mancini that Richard was a already married to Eleanor (the pre-contract) friend of Hastings and aimed at the throne are when he wed Elizabeth was new. questionable. The claims presume the charge of It seems that only after the pre-contract usurpation, which could have been invented by became public knowledge were there moves Richard’s enemies. There was a pressing reason to make Richard king, and his claim to the for invention by his enemies if, as it could be throne rests on the pre-contract. ‘For if argued, their refusal to accept Edward IV’s Eleanor was not married to Edward IV’, as appointment of Richard as protector led to the John says, ‘then Richard III can and should be calamitous events of April to June 1483, and dismissed as a usurper’. In place of a rebuttal may even have placed Richard on the throne. of the pre-contract argument we have sup- The invention spread during Buckingham’s pression of documents, red herrings, and Rebellion in October and, after its defeat, with attempts to belittle Eleanor and remove her the rebels to Brittany and Henry Tudor, and to from history. Such behaviour is consistent France and possibly Mancini. with the pre-contract being true, and therefore So in talking of usurpation aren’t Ricardians Richard was not a usurper as far as the pre- being anti-Richard? contract was concerned.

Disastrous Regencies?

Peter Hammond has sent us this extract from ‘Reactions to the death of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales’, by Robin Eagles, Historical Research, vol. 80, 2007, p. 353.

n 20 March 1751 Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George II, died suddenly. Since O Frederick’s own eldest son George (later George III) was still a minor at 13 years of age, it was necessary to plan for a possible regency should the king die soon, and a Bill was introduced into Parliament to set up a regency council. The regent was to be the king’s mother, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, but a prominent member of her advisory council was to be William. Duke of Cumberland. Cumberland was not popular, but more to the point in the minds of some was that he was the young king’s uncle. A future young king needing a regency council apparently raised fears (not to say hysteria) in some members of both the houses of Lords and Commons. For example Lord Chesterfield, appealed to the Earl of Huntingdon, Francis Hastings, not to go abroad as he was apparently planning to do, but to stay and fight the bill, reminding him of the terrible fate of his ancestor William Lord Hastings at the hands of another royal uncle, Richard of Gloucester. In the Commons much was made of the example of Richard III, one member alluding specifically to the example of the princes in the Tower and Richard III and what he described as similar disastrous regencies. The bill was still passed easily despite these dire warnings. It seems unlikely that these noble and worthy members of parliament thought of the historical parallel themselves because earlier in 1751 a pamphlet had been published that made a direct comparison between ‘Butcher Cumberland’ and Richard III.

A Revised Date for the Dublin Coronation of ‘Edward VI’?

RANDOLPH JONES

he coronation of the ten-year old Most of the memoranda concern the ap- T ‘Edward VI’ is said to have taken place pointments and deaths of various officials on on 24 May 1487 in Christ Church cathedral, the Irish establishment, particularly during the Dublin. The primary source for this date is the reign of Edward I. However, what caught my earl of Lincoln’s attainder, passed by the eye in particular was the following entry English Parliament in November 1487.1 Since recorded against 27 May: ‘(6 cal.) Coronation then, historians have accepted it without of (erased) at Dublin. (?)’. question. Indeed, the quincentenary of the Although Black doesn't say so, I believe coronation was celebrated with a lecture this entry refers to the coronation of ‘Edward delivered by Professor F.X. Martin in the very VI’, usually known to history as ‘Lambert same cathedral.2 However, a long forgotten Simnel’. There can be little doubt that ‘(6 source, once located much nearer to the event cal.)’ stands for VI Kalendae Jun., which is both in time and space, suggests that the the Roman calendar’s equivalent of 27 May, coronation was held three days later. Can this but, if this is the correct date, why has one be true? three days earlier gained such widespread The Red Book of the Irish Exchequer was acceptance? destroyed in the Four Courts fire of 1922, It is perhaps noteworthy that the date together with much of Ireland's medieval given in Lincoln's attainder appears as the documentary heritage. Probably begun in the ‘.xxiiij. day of May’. Could this have been a reign of King John, it contained a wide simple drafting error for ‘.xxvij.’? It takes just variety of material, both secular and religious. as many strokes of the pen to write ‘xxvij’ as It continued to be used right up until the reign it does ‘xxiiij’, and a ‘v’, not written properly, of Charles II. A full transcription was never could easily have been mistaken for two ‘i’s’. made, but its contents were summarised by However, it is conceded that the number four John Frederick Ferguson and published was usually written as ‘iiij’ at this time, and posthumously in 1856. Ferguson mentions this form is repeated again in the very same that the Red Book contained a calendar, a document. month to each page, in which the memoranda On the other hand, there is a very strong of remarkable events, both local and national, tradition that the coronation took place on had been inserted. He also says that the text Whit Sunday. However, if the date in of these had been published four years Lincoln’s attainder is correct, this cannot have previously by William Henry Black, secretary been the case: 24 May 1487 fell on a of the Chronological Institute of London.3 Thursday – Ascension Day to be precise. 27 Black, who was also Assistant Keeper of the May was the first Sunday thereafter, Whit Public Record Office in London, examined Sunday a week later.5 This Whit-Sunday the Red Book in 1846. However, due to wear tradition is derived from a number of sources. and tear and the destructive effect of gall The first is the Annals of Ulster, which state water, he found some of the entries difficult that ‘the son of the Duke ... was proclaimed to read. He was also grateful to Ferguson for king on the Sunday of the Holy Ghost in the many additions to the published edition of his town of Ath-cliath’. However, these annals notes.4 were compiled in Co. Fermanagh, far away

from English influence and deep in Gaeldom, such a large number of men, together with by the Irish clergyman Cathal óg MacManus their equipment and supplies, militates (d. 1498). It is unlikely that he was present in against such a rapid departure, unless careful Dublin at the time of the coronation and may preparations had been made beforehand. well have confused his feast-days. Indeed, it Large sea-going ships could not enter the is remarkable that he recorded the event at shallow River Liffey and any embarkation all.6 could only have been made from one or more The second is an entry copied by the of the neighbouring seaside ports – Dalkey, seventeenth-century antiquarian Sir James Howth, or Skerries, all several miles away. It Ware from a civic chronicle once kept in the would also have depended on favourable Dublin mayor’s office, but now lost. This weather. Although the coronation of their stated that during Jenico Marks’ mayoralty nominal leader would have been a great (Michaelmas 1486 to Michaelmas 1487), morale booster for Lincoln’s army, a ‘The young K was crowned in Xt church departure for England on the very same day Dublin on Whitson day’.7 seems most unlikely. Perhaps the third source is another entry Even so, it is probable that the Dublin in the calendar of the Red Book, which Black coronation did take place on a Sunday. All the found on the very same page as the fifteenth-century kings of England, from coronation one, recorded against 21 May: Henry V to Henry VII, were crowned on that ‘Memorandum, that in Whitsun week, A.D. day. Even the ill-fated Edward V was 1523, there was a very great tide [fluctus] so scheduled to be crowned on that day too. As that in all the houses from Hamman Lane to the earl of Lincoln had participated at the the bridge the river of Anilyff flowed before coronations of both Richard III and Henry and behind.’ This event is also mentioned in VII, it is likely that, in this most public of another civic chronicle compiled in the late acts, he insisted on due form being observed.9 sixteenth century, The Register of the ye A suitable crown was borrowed from a Mayors of Dublin, which states that the ‘great nearby church, taken from a statue of the floud’ occurred on Whit Sunday itself.8 Virgin Mary. Before the act of coronation What is perhaps significant is that Whit itself, a sermon was preached by the bishop of Sunday fell on 24 May in 1523. Meath, expounding the boy’s superior claim Is it possible that the text of the 1523 to the throne compared to that of Henry VII.10 flood memorandum has some how become Afterwards, a formal procession was made confused with the immediately following one through the streets of Dublin, with the clergy on the Dublin coronation? According to going before the new king, and the earl of Black’s account, there were no other entries Kildare, the archbishop of Dublin, the lord between the two. It is also known that the Red chancellor, the council, the nobility and the Book was used as a source of historical citizens of Dublin following behind.11 Even information by a number of writers from the the fact that ‘king Edward’ was carried on the sixteenth century onwards (e.g. Sir George shoulders of Sir William Darcy of Platten Carew). Unfortunately, due to the Red Book’s doesn’t seem to have been the wildly destruction, we will perhaps never know. impetuous act that it is sometimes thought: Nevertheless, assuming that the after his coronation in 1377, another ten-year coronation did in fact take place on Whit old boy, Richard II, was also carried shoulder Sunday, 3 June 1487, is this date feasible? It high from Westminster Abbey by his tutor, seems unlikely, as Lincoln’s attainder Sir Simon Burley.12 Coins were also minted mentions that he landed with his army at in Dublin and Waterford in king Edward’s Furness, Lancashire, on ‘the iiij.th day of June name. last past’. Although it was possible in the late Therefore, in view of the above, it is medieval period to transport an army across difficult to sustain the tradition that the the Irish Sea, and arrive on the other side on coronation took place on 24 May 1487. It is the following day, the mechanics of moving also problematical that it occurred on Whit

Sunday, 3 June 1487. The alternative date 2. F. X. Martin. ‘The crowning of a king at offered by the Red Book of Sunday, 27 May Dublin, 24 May 1487’ in Hermathena, 1988. 1487, is therefore probably correct. 3. James Frederick Ferguson. ‘Calendar of the It only remains to explain why the name Contents of the Red Book of the Irish of the person crowned in Dublin was missing Exchequer’ in Proceedings and Transactions by the time Black examined the text. of the Kilkenny and South East Ireland At the parliament held at Drogheda in Archaeological Society, 1854-55, Vol. III, December 1494 (‘Poynings’ Parliament’), the (Dublin, 1856), pp. 35-52. following act was passed: ‘An act for the 4. William Henry Black. ‘On the Historical Cancellinge and revocation of all recordes, Memoranda in the Black Book of the English processe, pardons, or any such, done in the Exchequer, and in the Red Book of the Irish name of the pretenced kinge, Latlie Crowned Exchequer’ in Transactions of the Chrono- in Irland. whosoever the[y] be do receave the logical Institute of London, Part 1, (London, abovenamed ordinance Conceale or keepe the 1852), pp. 25-35. same they so doinge after the proclemation, 5. C. R. Cheney. Handbook of Dates for shalbe adjudged traytors attaynted.’13 Students of English History (C.U.P., 1996), Although drastic action seems to have table 25. been taken by some parts of the government 6. B. MacCarthy, Annals of Ulster, Vol. III machinery to remove all traces of the (Dublin, 1895), pp. 315-7. ‘pretenced kinge’s’ reign in Ireland, the 7. Bodleian Library, Oxford. Rawlinson MS, Exchequer officials could not destroy the Red B 484, f. 35v (National Library of Ireland Book itself, nor even remove a whole page microfilm P1463.) from the calendar, as it was a working 8. Dublin City Archives. Gilbert Library MS document. They therefore did the next best 8, f. 7. thing and erased the name of the offending 9. Wendy Moorhen. ‘The Career of John de person instead. By not removing the whole la Pole, Earl of Lincoln’ in The Ricardian, sentence, we were once left with a contem- Vol. XIII (2003), pp. 347, 352. porary record of a unique event. Thanks to 10. Sir James Ware, ‘The Annals of Ireland William Henry Black’s transcription in the during the Reign of King Henry the Seventh’ mid-nineteenth century, it was not lost in The Antiquities and History of Ireland completely when the Red Book was finally (Dublin, 1705), p. 6. destroyed in 1922. 11. T. Crofton Croker, The Popular Songs of Ireland. (London, 1839), pp 312-3. 12. J. S. Brewer and W. Bullen, Calendar of References the Carew Manuscripts Vol. 5, (London, 1. R. E. Horrox (ed.), ‘Henry VII: Parliament 1871), pp. 188-9. Nigel Saul, Richard II (New of 1487, Text and Translation’, in The Haven and London, 1997), p. 26. Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, ed. C. 13. Agnes Conway. Henry VII's relations Given-Wilson et al., item 15. CD-ROM. with Scotland and Ireland 1485-1498 Scholarly Digital Editions, Leicester: 2005. (Cambridge, 1932), p. 210.

Miracle in Bedfordshire LESLEY BOATWRIGHT

am at present helping to edit a Latin manuscript in the British Library (BL MS Royal 13 C I viii) which records 174 miracles attributed to the intercession of Henry VI. As I noted in the Bulletin of summer 2007, this manuscript was commissioned by a dean of Windsor about 1500 and compiled from evidence given by people who had experienced such miracles, and reported them at Henry’s shrine. The idea was to canonise Henry VI, but Henry VII would not pay the necessary money, and Henry VIII broke with the Papacy before anything could be achieved. When I spoke about these miracles earlier this year to the Beds and Bucks group of the Society, I naturally looked for miracles that were said to have taken place in these two counties. There were four in Buckinghamshire: a blind man was cured at Stony Stratford, a blind woman cured at Buckingham, a boy fell out of a tree at Burnham Abbey and was, thanks to King Henry, none the worse for it, and when a barrel of wine fell off a cart on its way to Aylesbury, and split, King Henry saw to it that not a drop of wine went missing. There was just one miracle in Bedfordshire, at Luton, when Walter Barkar was sent mad by a sudden shock. People round him tried various ways of dealing with this, unsuccessfully, for three days, until Walter called upon King Henry and was cured. He is described in the heading to the miracle as Walter Barkar, a vallettus of M.N. Rotherham. Valettus is quite a difficult word to translate. It can be ‘esquire’, ‘yeoman’, ‘groom’, ‘servant’, or simply ‘young man’. The general idea seems to be a respect-worthy younger man who serves a more prestigious one. Who was M.N. Rotherham? People did not, as far as I know, generally have two Christian names in the fifteenth century, so he wasn’t, for example, Michael Norman Rotherham. I’ll come back to this point when I have recounted the miracle. This is what the miracle narrative says.

‘There was at that time in the service of a certain admirable and renowned man a vallettus by the name of Walter, who had his dwelling within the borders of the county of Bedfordshire, in a place whose name is commonly called Luton. That man, on the day before the feast of St Matthew [21 September], namely on the Tuesday, about twilight, while he was walking somewhere on his own, met three men who rushed at him in an unexpected, perhaps indeed hostile manner, and he was struck with terror beyond measure, and ... stood rigid and stupefied, so that, having completely lost the use of his reason, he thus became demented. Wherefore, having laid aside all civilised behaviour, as one crazy and seized by a demon, wandering hither and thither aimlessly, he had tormented himself not a little. Moreover, he also raged against his innocent wife with very excessive and bestial frenzy, and attacked her with both verbal abuse and blows, and harassed her with other dreadful injuries. He listened to no admonitions from his friends or relations, and the more he was implored, or the more mildly he was treated, the more ferocious the abuse he hurled at them, and threatened and molested many. And so certain of the more sensible and well-disposed of his nearest and dearest, when they by no means prevailed to tame him with any reproaches, or pacify him with blandishments, laid violent hands upon him, trying in this way at least to curb him; and, so that he should rage no further, and perhaps be a nuisance and a source of harm to themselves and others, they held and fettered him, and also shackled him with iron manacles, confining him in the stocks, and arrange to guard him safely until he should return to the same sky [i.e., recover his senses]. 45

Then, ... perhaps so that he should not be roused to greater insanity on account of the crowd of spectators, they removed him from the stocks and shut him, still bound and chained, inside a very secure hut, and left him alone, admonishing him and repeating to him over and over again that he should call for the help and aid of glorious King Henry, a thing which they themselves had meanwhile done. And he ... began, although in a confused voice, to shout in these words:1

King Henry, come, help a wretched suppliant, Good king, holy king, I beg, heal me.

And indeed now with the light of the next Friday coming, ... behold, what is indeed miraculous to relate, suddenly the light of right reason is poured back into him, the strength of his judgment is renewed and the scattered powers of all his senses gathered back. Indeed, he immediately regained such sobriety of spirit, modesty of face and gesture, that not even before [his seizure] was he more modest. ... For even then with loud lauding he praised God in his servant Henry, and calmed down rejoicing. Wherefore, with all his friends wondering, and, moreover, exulting in the Lord in their joy, he was at once released from his chains and allowed to go free. Then, thinking that the magnitude of such a great blessing should be remembered, he took with him some neighbours of the more trustworthy sort, and on the next day (for he did not believe that this should be put off longer) sought the sacred threshhold of the holy man, carrying on his shoulders those very fetters with which he had been confined. By the showing of these, and equally by the evidence of the men who came, he demonstrated the complete effect of divine mercy there in his own self.’

Let us go back to M.N. Rotherham. It was tentatively suggested by previous commentators, Ronald Knox and Shane Leslie (in their book The Miracles of King Henry VI, CUP 1923) that the initials stood for Magister Noster, ‘our master’, and that Our Master Rotherham might be the Thomas Rotherham who ended up as Archbishop of York, and died in 1500. The other book on the miracles, by Paul Grosjean (which is entirely in Latin, even the title page and the footnotes, Henrici VI Angliae Regis Miracula Postuma, Brussels, 1935) agrees with this suggestion, on the grounds that yes, canons of Windsor could be described as magistri, ‘masters’. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to any of these eminent scholars to see if there was any connection between Thomas Rotherham and Luton. The Rotherham family were the lords of Luton manor. Thomas’s brother John, whose will was proved in January 1493, described himself as dominus ville de Luton, ‘lord of the town of Luton’. John’s son Thomas, who died in 1504, married Catherine, daughter of Anthony, Lord Grey of Ruthyn. Both these men are buried in Luton church. Archbishop Thomas Rotherham’s will is published in Testamenta Eboracensia, vol. IV, pp. 138-148. He leaves to Luton church ‘where my mother is buried, and my brother also’ a set of vestments of grey [glauco] bawdkyn, worked with pheasants [fesanis] for a priest, deacon and subdeacon; and one gilt chalice, with two cruets’. Unfortunately Thomas was not one of those testators who name each servant when making their wills, but he did take care of them. Each of his servants was to have half a year’s pay; those wanting to live in his house were to be allowed to do so and have their keep for three months while they looked for new masters. And each of them was to have a horse worth 20 shillings, or 20s. in cash. When I gave my talk to the Beds and Bucks branch, they told me that Rotherham tombs are still to be seen in Luton church.

1. In the Latin, these words scan, so are to be taken as two lines of poetry, presumably composed by the monk who wrote up the miracle.

Edward IV’s Precontract of Matrimony: A Clarification MARIE BARNFIELD

n her article ‘Edward IV’s Precontract of Matrimony’ (Bulletin, spring 2009) Alison Hanham I questions John Ashdown-Hill’s interpretation of the precontract (‘Eleanor Matters’, Bulletin, spring 2008). Ashdown-Hill and Hanham differ in their understanding of the statement in Titulus Regius that

‘Edward was and stood married and troth-plight to Dame Elianore Buteler ... with whom the same King Edward had made a precontract of matrimony ...’

Ashdown-Hill had described ‘precontract’ as a legal term for ‘a marriage which actually took place, and which preceded a subsequent (and therefore allegedly bigamous) second marriage’. Thus, he argued, Titulus Regius declared that Eleanor and Edward had been wed. Hanham, however, objects that ‘if the petition’s author meant to say that Edward had been married to Eleanor, betrothed (“troth-plight”), and, before that, contracted to marry her, he was over-egging his pudding.’ Leaving aside the fact that medieval law regularly over-egged its linguistic puddings, the author of Titulus Regius did not mean what Hanham suggests. The word ‘married’ is unambiguous. That the couple ‘stood troth-plight’ merely means they had exchanged vows, whether in the future tense (a betrothal) or the present tense (a marriage: ‘and thereto I plight thee my troth’). A precontract is not, as Hanham seems to suppose, any prior contract, or even a written contract drawn up preparatory to a marriage. The scepticism, and perhaps confusion, of Hanham and James Simons (Correspondence, Bulletin, spring 2009, p.51) regarding Ashdown- Hill’s interpretation of this term is unfortunate because that interpretation is correct. The term ‘precontract’ has been defined as

an engagement entered into by a person, which renders him unable to enter into another; as a promise or covenant of marriage to be had afterwards. When made per verba de presenti, it is in fact a marriage, and in that case the party making it cannot marry another person.1

Under medieval law, bethrothal vows followed by intercourse also constituted a marriage. The purpose of the triple description in Titulus Regius was therefore to make absolutely clear that Edward had not been free to marry Elizabeth Woodville because he had already married Eleanor. Based on her misunderstanding of the term, Hanham proposes that ‘in the absence of any substantial evidence’ we should abandon the notion that Titulus Regius was describing an actual marriage, and instead countenance a possibility for which there is no evidence at all, i.e. that it referred to a pre-nuptial contract drawn up by Edward’s and Eleanor’s fathers when they were children. Hanham seems aware that this would not have constituted an impediment to the Woodville marriage, but claims that ‘knowledge of some such agreement would furnish sufficient ammunition for anyone who wished to argue that Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth was invalid’.’

This is a mistaken view. The propertied classes were well aware that children were not bound by their parents’ arrangements for their marriages. The Church outlawed forced marriages, and upheld a minimum age of consent of fourteen years for a boy and twelve for a girl. Children who pledged themselves in marriage before a priest had the right to renounce those vows after they reached years of discretion (hence the clause in the Stonor-Rokes contract cited by Hanham, voiding it should the boy and girl ‘dislike the marriage’ when they reached such years, and hence the ability of the families’ subsequent quarrel to ‘put the marriage in doubt’). Even had any such contract with York existed, Shrewsbury must have dishonoured it for poorer pickings, as Eleanor married Thomas Butler before Edward had reached the canonical age of consent. In so doing, Eleanor would have voided any childish vows exchanged with any third party, leaving that party free to find another spouse: and indeed by the end of 1453 we find York negotiating for Edward’s marriage to the Duke of Alençon’s daughter. Acceptance by Parliament of a childhood arrangement as an impediment to a future marriage would have both defied the Church’s definition of marriage as a consentual adult union and threatened the legitimacy of members of other landed families, most notably Henry Tudor and the offspring of Richard’s own sister Elizabeth (Suffolk and Margaret Beaufort having been ‘married’ as children). To sum up, King Edward’s alleged precontract of marriage with Eleanor could only have been entered into after Thomas Butler’s death, and this is what people at the time understood. Commines, for instance, believed the alleged prior marriage to have occurred about twenty years before Edward IV’s death, and to have been divulged to Richard by Bishop Stillington, who

said that King Edward had promised to marry an English lady (whom he named) because he was in love with her, in order to get his own way with her, and that he had made this promise in the bishop's presence. And having done so he slept with her; and he made the promise only to deceive her.

Credence is given to Commines’ version by Henry VII’s treatment of both Stillington and Titulus Regius, and by a note in Henry VII’s first Year Book naming Stillington as the author of the Act. Deceived or not, troth-plight and bedded, Eleanor would have been Edward’s lawful wedded wife.

1. J. Bouvier, A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States, 1856 edition.

Editors’ note: we hope to have an article by Professor R.H. Helmholz on medieval marriage law in a future edition of the Bulletin. In the meantime, Lynda Pidgeon, our Research Officer, has produced a short bibliography on the subject: Anne Crawford, ‘The King’s Burden? The Consequences of Royal Marriage in Fifteenth-Century England’, in Patronage, the Crown and the Provinces in Later Medieval England, ed. Ralph A. Griffiths, Gloucester, 1981 Conor McCarthy, Marriage in Medieval England: Law, Literature and Practice, Woodbridge 2004 R.B. Outhwaite, Clandestine Marriage in England 1500-1850, London, 1995 Frederik Pedersen, Marriage Disputes in Medieval England, London, 2000 Michael M. Sheehan, ‘Marriage, Family and Law’, in Medieval Europe Collected Studies, ed. J.K. Farge, Cardiff, 1996

Report on Society Events

Requiem Mass, Cambridge, 14 March 2009 On Saturday 14 March 2009, a congregation of some 50 members of the Richard III Society, friends and visitors, assembled in the impressive neo-gothic church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge for the annual Requiem Mass for King Richard III and Queen Anne Neville. This wonderful church has the furnishings and proportions almost of a small cathedral, and thus provided a most impressive setting for the solemn annual Requiem which was celebrated two days prior to the anniversary of the death of Queen Anne. The solemn high mass began with the traditional plainchant introit Requiem aeternam as the celebrant, Fr. Christopher Back, attended by thurifer, crucifer and acolytes, processed beneath the great Rood and into the sanctuary. Fr Back wore a black brocade chasuble, similar to those in use in the fifteenth century, while on the altar burned the unbleached candles which, by ancient tradition, are used at Requiem Masses. Fr Back welcomed the Society on its first such visit to the church, and in his homily he spoke of how strongly the great light of faith had burned in the Middle Ages, and of Richard’s own faith, as evidenced by his prayers, his library and his recorded actions. It was very evident that Fr Back had a deep interest of his own in the king and queen whom he was commemorating. After the mass was over, both he and all the other staff of the church expressed once again their pleasure in the Society’s visit, and the hope that we would come again on future occasions. After lunch (own arrangements) some of the Ricardian visitors explored Cambridge individually. Most, however, reassembled at the nearby Fitzwilliam Museum, where they visited the medieval gallery (small, but nevertheless packed with treasures) and then explored the exhibition ‘I turned it into a Palace’, which comprised artefacts from all periods, but included a very impressive array of high quality medieval illuminated manuscripts, and a most splendid fifteenth century tapestry from Tournai, in astonishingly good condition – the jewel-like colours looking like new. A very enjoyable day concluded in fitting style, with tea in the museum café. John Ashdown-Hill

Queen Anne Neville Commemoration: St John’s Gate and Westminster 21 March 2009 On Saturday 21 March 2009, eighteen Ricardians gathered at St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, for a guided tour. Our guide, Ann, was very knowledgeable and interesting. She explained that the first Knights of St John were called Hospitallers because they ran a hospital for pilgrims in Jersusalem. The hospital was supported by gifts and donations from across Europe. The land at Clerkenwell was given to them in the twelfth century, and they built a monastery as an administration centre to manage the collections of money and supplies from English donors, for forwarding to the Holy Land. After the Knights of St John left the Holy Land they were based in Malta until the British took over the island during the Napoleonic Wars. The monastery, which was dissolved in 1540, was one of the last to be closed as Henry VIII had been a pupil of the Prior. The buildings were not demolished but were rented out and used for various purposes. As they fell into disrepair they were renovated or re-built until the present square evolved and the Clerkenwell Road was built, which effectively divided the original site. The gatehouse was used as an office by the Lord Chamberlain and it is thought that plays were performed here for him to see before he licensed them, so it is possible that Shakespeare performed here in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. By the eighteenth century 49

the first floor had been converted into a tavern and was, for some time, run by the father of William Hogarth. The British Order of St John was founded in the 1830s, being inspired by the Hospitallers and their aims of caring for people in emergencies. In 1888 Queen Victoria granted the order a royal charter, and since then the monarch has always been Sovereign Head of the order. The current Grand Prior is HRH Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Having explained the history of the knights and the order, Ann took us upstairs, past paintings of the trading and war ships used by the order and of knights on diplomatic embassies, to the first floor Grand Hall, which is where large meetings and receptions are held. The whole building was run-down when the Order of St John took it over at the beginning of the twentieth century, and was damaged during WW2, but it has been restored to look as a Tudor hall might have looked, with carved beams on the ceiling. Around the walls are the names and shields of all the Priors, from the eleventh century, with a gap between 1540 and 1830, but giving a feeling of continuity. The windows have modern heraldic glass and the splendid fireplace is carved with crosses of St John. Next we visited the Board Room, directly over the arch of the gatehouse. Its windows would have given a splendid view of visitors approaching and the activities in the square below. It contains pictures of members of the Royal Family, including one of Queen Victoria presenting the charter, and of senior members of the order, well known military and political faces. We then descended half-way down the western tower by a spiral staircase to a panelled room which contained displays of memorabilia of the original Knights of St John, and antique furniture. The furniture, and some beautiful ceramic spice jars, was mostly donated by people on the island of Malta, who wanted to commemorate their association with the Knights of St John by supporting the newly-founded order of St John. We then went down the rest of the spiral staircase to the outside of the building. In the square we were able to see the elaborate carving on the gatehouse itself and Ann pointed out how much the ground level had risen by showing us what had been a door, but of which we could only see about the top third. We then walked across the Clerkenwell Road to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The original church was bombed in WW2, and the only remaining medieval part is the undercroft. In the paved area outside Ann showed us the outline of the church, marked by slate-coloured bricks. John Ashdown-Hill reminded us that it was here, during Holy Week 1485, that Richard III formally announced that he did not intend to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York. The building above the undercroft has been restored, not as a church, but as a hall where presentations and formal gatherings of the order take place. There is a dais instead of an altar, and rows of seating, but it all retains a solemn atmosphere. What remained of the medieval church walls was incorporated in the re-building, which gives a sense of continuity, and around the walls the flags of the international orders of St John hang. Then we went down into the undercroft which is retained as a church and is available for weddings and baptisms for members of the order and their families. The remains of the cadaver tomb of the last Prior have been transferred here from another City church, and there is a tomb of a Spanish knight, with his servant, which was moved here from Valladolid when the church there was refurbished. The windows are below ground, but are lit by artificial light and have coats of arms of former Priors in the glass, which gives a pleasing effect. While it is possible to visit the museum rooms on the ground floor of St John's Gate, the other rooms and the church and undercroft are only accessible on a guided tour, so it was an opportunity to visit another site which Richard III knew and visited himself. Our tour ended here and we thanked Ann for her interesting talk and went out into spring sunshine in search of lunch before going on to Westminster Abbey to remember Queen Anne Neville by attending evensong, and laying a floral tribute at the modern monument marking her grave site. Rosamund Cummings

Correspondence

Will contributors please note that letters may be edited or shortened to conform to the standards of the Bulletin. There’s enough fiction in Shakespeare congratulate you on the splendidly simple and From Chérie Stephens, St Ives, Cornwall clear Logge website which really whets the First of all may I say how much I have been appetite for the books. I have promised enjoying the Bulletin lately with all the myself I’ll purchase them later in the spring – interesting articles and new developments. I I tend to link sizeable purchases to things I am a committed Ricardian; have been a want to commemorate and I’ve got a member of the Society for over 30 years and publishing moment in March that gives me studied Richard since I was 14, when I read the excuse to buy the wills and, perhaps, the The Daughter of Time. That is one work of York Civic Records edition. I think such historical fiction that I feel very happy to behaviour probably counts as eccentric on endorse. It is a wonderful introduction to the several counts (only ‘several’? queries my subject. wife) but thank you for all your hard work However, I regret I am no lover of and I’ll really look forward to browsing and historical fiction and I feel very sad to see it reading the wills in full. Many thanks and included in the spring edition of the Bulletin congratulations on the site and particularly on as a regular feature. When one of our aims is the enormous achievement of all the work to educate people about Richard and his times that went into this vast project I do not feel it is appropriate to include works of fiction which could be misleading and The heir male could potentially erode our credibility as a From Annette Carson, South Africa serious organisation. I do not feel either that May I ask a question in relation to Ian we should follow the modern trend of trying Mortimer’s articles about Henry IV? I have to ‘popularise’ our subject. Fiction is fine for come across only one contemporaneous those who have the talent to write it and those report describing Henry as ‘heir male’ of who wish to read it. I may be in a minority Henry III: An English Chronicle of the Reigns when I say that I have no wish to read it and I of Richard II, Henry IV, etc., by J.S. Davies, did not read the item in question. Maybe it is published in 1856. Since Dr Mortimer’s a debate that should be opened up within the argument hinges on these two important Society. I do not usually write to comment words, can anyone tell me whether they occur but this is something I feel very strongly elsewhere in the records of Henry’s claim to about. the throne? In support of my argument I can only say that Rous, Virgil, More, Shakespeare et al. were all ‘creative’ with their writing of his- The names that cheer tory, and look at all the trouble that caused! I From Doug Weeks, Ashford rest my case. Looking through the publicity for a well- I am not a killjoy, I love to read the amu- known chain of pubs-cum-eateries, I was sing anecdotes and the Media Retrospective, pleased to note that their outlet ‘The Perkin so keep up the good work. Warbeck’ in Taunton is now boasting its own cider bar, so this is two good reasons for The splendid Logge website visiting. We should perhaps recall that this From Ian Dawson, Leeds same establishment was ‘The Last Planta- I have been a ‘silent’ member of the Richard genet’ plus ‘The High Cross’, near the III Society since the 70s, simply reading and original site of the High Cross, across from keeping up-to-date, but I thought I’d write to the White Boar Inn. 51

A fresh approach to Hastings’ death? will want to know whose blade killed so great From Isolde Martyn, Sydney a lord. The solution is swiftly to haul Hastings’ Writing historical fiction is often a series of dead or dying body downstairs and behead light-bulb moments as you try to flesh out him for treason. That way, no individual is to real people and depict events. Dealing with blame, it has become a matter of state and the famous White Tower meeting on Friday there will be no coroner’s inquiry (as there 13 June 1483 threw up an entirely new possi- was, for instance, when the elderly Lord Mor- bility. What if Hastings was already dead timer of Chirk died as a prisoner in the Tower when he was beheaded? in 1326). Since Hastings’ remains are quickly It is highly likely that this is a moment in bundled into a coffin or chest, there is no history when things just got out of hand. request or suggestion from the Lord Mayor Suppose during the argument and ensuing that the body should be examined for dagger kerfuffle in the council chamber, when the wounds. soldiers rush in, Hastings is mortally woun- Of course, this scenario does not throw ded or killed? It’s embarrassing, unforeseen. any light on whether Hastings was guilty of Questions will be asked. The Lord Mayor will plotting against Richard, but maybe it can be on his way when he hears the news and explain why there could be no trial.

New Members

UK 1 January to 31 March 2009

Helen Bartlett, Ashford, Middx Caroline Preston, Flackwell Heath, Bucks Robert Binks, Bolton Linda Redhead, Annery Kiln, Devon David Bracegirdle, Coventry Susan Rees, Harpenden, Herts Jennifer Chandler, Northampton Philip Schwyzer, University of Exeter, Devon Peter Craig, Weybridge, Surrey Richard Smith, Goring-on-Thames, Oxon Jane Flynn, Northolt, Middx Ellis Spencer, Stockton-on-Tees Richard Foster, Stretton, Rutland Joan Torode, East Marden, Dorset Lizzie Gould, Tonbridge, Kent Kate Treacher, Gloucester Malcolm Gregory, Carnforth, Lancs G. Underwood, Leicester Celia Herrmann, Hucclecote, Glos Geoffrey Wallis, Consett, co. Durham Alysoun Hedges, Ely Helen Walsh, Horncastle, Lincs Paul Johnston, Chessington, Surrey Stephen York, St Ives, Cambs Catherine Kelley, Bathgate, West Lothian Richard & Ericka Munn, Brackley Nower Hill High School, Pinner, Middx

Overseas 1 January to 31 March 2009

Nigel Dole, Sydney, New South Wales Sandra Worth, Houston, Texas Lisa Holt-Jones, Baddeck, Nova Scotia

US Branch 1 January to 31 March 2009

Kora Stoynova, Washington John James Diffley, New Mexico Jennifer A.T. Smith, California Mr & Mrs Reid & Jewell Hausmann, NJ Louis Leslie, Maryland Ben Schmidt, Pennslyvania Jemimi Fowlkes, Georgia Barry K. Mills, Maine

The Barton Library

New Papers Librarian Great news: we have a new Papers Librarian; her name is Gillian Paxton, she is an academic librarian, soon to be an archivist. We will tell you more about the changes in the next Bulletin. You can write to her at: 70 Grayrigg Drive, Westgate, Morecambe, Lancs LA4 4UL, or email her at [email protected]

Non-Fiction Books A new book to borrow: Edward IV by Hannes Kleineke (Routledge, paperback, 2009). The reign of King Edward IV occupies a pivotal place in late medieval English history, marking the transition from a medieval to a renaissance monarchy. The personality of the young monarch was undoubtedly a factor in this transition, yet there has been much controversy over the king’s character: was Edward a vain and self-indulgent playboy, more interested in his own pleasures than the well-being of his kingdom, or was his life cut tragically short, thus preventing him from fully establishing the ‘new monarchy’ now more commonly associated with his son-in-law, Henry VII? Other books in the pipeline, but not yet arrived are: Eleanor the Secret Queen by John Ashdown-Hill (History Press), Richard III and the Death of Chivalry by David Hipshon (History Press) and Richard III the Young King to be by Jo Wilkinson (Amberley Publications). Do not forget that the Barton Library is here for the members and anything I can do to help with studies, queries etc, just email me and I will do my best to help. If I cannot, I know a few people to ask.

Novels If members enjoyed reading the short story by Sandra Worth in the spring edition of the Bulletin they may like to read one of her four full length novels that are in the Barton Fiction Library – all are paperbacks, so not too expensive in postage. The first three novels form ‘The Rose of York Trilogy’: Love and War (2006): the story of Richard of Gloucester and Anne Neville from 1460 until the birth of their son Edward. Crown of Destiny (2006): continues the story of Richard and Anne, opening with Edward IV’s expedition to France in 1476, and on through the deaths of Clarence and Edward IV, and ends with Richard accepting the throne of England. Fall from Grace (2007) concludes the trilogy with the coronation of Richard and Anne and ends on Bosworth Field; with an epilogue in 1503 when Elizabeth of York is looking back over the last eighteen years as she is dying, soon after the birth of her last daughter. Sandra’s latest novel is Lady of the Roses (2008): the love-story of Isobel Ingoldesthorpe, ward of Queen Margaret of Anjou, and John Neville, Marquess Montagu, in a time of conflict and divided loyalties, 1456 to 1476.

Additions to the Audio-Visual Collection: Audio Tapes BBC2 TV: Celebrity Mastermind: Philippa Gregory answers questions on Elizabeth Woodville, the subject of her forthcoming novel The White Queen, due out in September this year. BBC Radio 4: Lights, Camera, Landmark: looking at London film locations including Battersea Power Station, scene of the Battle of Bosworth in the McKellen/Loncraine film Richard III (1995). BBC Radio 4: Being Prince of Wales: first of two episodes on the royal title holders; unusually it avoids any reference to Richard and the Tower Princes, passing swiftly from Henry V to Prince

Arthur, unlike the 1969 TV programme (also available) to mark Prince Charles' investiture, where narrator William Squire memorably declared that the Princes ‘took up residence in the Tower, which they entered with some hesitation, and alas were never heard of again! When the people began to wonder what had happened, their uncle Richard announced very solemnly, that somehow or other they had died, and reluctantly accepted the fact that he would have to be king himself’. Finally, a recording of the March podcast from BBC History Magazine in which editor Dr David Musgrove discusses with author David Hipshon the events leading to Richard III’s death at Bosworth (see pp. 23-5). Kindly donated by Tim Tuggey, Reading.

Contact details for all the Librarians are on the inside back cover

The Western Australian Branch will be hosting the bi-annual Australasian Convention from 9 to 11 October, 2009. For further information and/or registration please contact Helen Hardegen at [email protected] or Jenny Gee at [email protected].

Future Society Events

Bookable Events For Bosworth, please see page 7. Visit to Crowland Abbey and Peterborough, Saturday 5 September 2009 The small fenland village of Crowland is, of course, the site of the great eighth-century Benedictine Abbey of Croyland where the famous Chronicle was written. Sadly, all that now remains of one of the largest religious foundations in England is a spectacular Norman arch and the thirteenth-century west front, with the north aisle of the abbey church now used as the parish church. Also of interest is a unique fourteenth-century triangular bridge which, now on dry land, once provided a crossing over the confluence of three streams. We hope to arrive in Crowland at about 11.30 am and will go straight to the Abbey. Lunch, which is included in the cost of the trip, will be provided by the local WI and will consist of a Ploughman’s Lunch, dessert and tea/coffee – and is very good value! We will leave Crowland at about 2.30 pm for the short trip to Peterborough. Peterborough is an ancient city; excavations have found habitation from 3700 BC, a large Roman fortress and a seventh-century monastery. The magnificent Norman cathedral was built between 1118 and 1258 and has a glorious thirteenth-century painted roof. Catherine of Aragon is buried here, and Mary, Queen of Scots, was first interred here before her body was taken to Westminster Abbey in 1612. The Norman great gate is outside the cathedral and the guildhall dates from 1671. Our coach will leave from London Embankment at 9.00 am and we should arrive back in London between 7.00 and 7.30 pm. A pick-up can be arranged at Bromley for those who let me know. The cost of the trip is £26.50 per person, which includes cost of coach, driver’s tip and lunch in Crowland. Please note that I have not included a donation to Croyland Abbey in the cost of the trip; this will be left to members’ own discretion. Please let me have a cheque for £26.50 per person by 7 August 2009. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Richard III Society’, endorsed ‘Croyland’ and sent to: Marian Mitchell, 20 Constance Close, Witham, Essex, CM8 1XL. (Email [email protected] Tel: 01376 501984.

Norfolk Branch Study Day Towton - Past and Present: Saturday 14 November 2009

Speakers: Mark Taylor, The Towton Battlefield Society ‘The Battle of Towton’; Dr David Grummitt ‘Towton 1461 – the false dawn of the Yorkist Age’; Helen Cox and Mick Doggett, ‘Interpreting Towton through living history’ and Anthea Boylsdon, Bradford Archaeological Department ‘The Towton Project: An Update’. The day will start at 9.30 a.m. and finish at 5.00 p.m. The venue is The Assembly House, Theatre Street, Norwich. Cost £22. There are a few places left for this Study Day.

Please contact Ann Marie Hayek, 20 Rowington Rd, Norwich NR1 3RR or email: [email protected].

Branch and Group Contacts

Branches America David M. Luitweiler, 1268 Wellington Drive, Victor, New York, 14564 United States of America. Tel: 585-924-5022. E-mail: [email protected] Canada Mrs Tracy Bryce, 5238 Woodhaven Drive, Burlington, Ontario, L7L 3T4, Canada. E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://home.cogeco.ca/~richardiii Devon & Cornwall Mrs Anne E Painter, Yoredale, Trewithick Road, Breage, Helston, Cornwall, TR13 9PZ. Tel. 01326-562023. E-mail: [email protected] Gloucester Angela Iliff, 18 Friezewood Road, Ashton, Bristol, BS3 2AB Tel: 0117-378-9237. E-mail: [email protected] Greater Manchester Mrs Helen Ashburn, 36 Clumber Road, Gorton, Manchester, M18 7LZ. Tel: 0161-320-6157. E-mail: [email protected] Hull & District Terence O’Brien, 2 Hutton Close, Hull, HU4 4LD. Tel: 01482 445312 Lincolnshire Mrs J T Townsend, Westborough Lodge Farm, Westborough, Newark, Notts. NG23 5HP.Tel: 01400 281289. E-mail: [email protected] London & Home Counties Miss E M Nokes, 4 Oakley Street, Chelsea, London SW3 5NN. Tel: 01689 823569. E-mail: [email protected] Midlands-East Mrs Sally Henshaw, 28 Lyncroft Leys, Scraptoft, Leicester, LE7 9UW. Tel: 0116-2433785. E-mail: [email protected] New South Wales Julia Redlich, 53 Cammeray Towers, 55 Carter Street, New South Wales, 2062, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] New Zealand Robert Smith, ‘Wattle Downs’, 61 Udy Street, Greytown, New Zealand. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Web site: www.richard3nz.org Norfolk Mrs Annmarie Hayek, 20 Rowington Road, Norwich, NR1 3RR. Tel: 01603 664021. E-mail: [email protected] Queensland as New South Wales Scotland Juliet Middleton, 49 Ochiltree, Dunblane, Perthshire, FK15 0DF Tel: 01786 825665 E-mail: [email protected] South Australia Mrs Sue Walladge, 5 Spencer Street, Cowandilla, South Australia 5033, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] Thames Valley Sally Empson, 42 Pewsey Vale, Forest Park, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 9YA. E-mail: [email protected] Victoria Hazel Hajdu, 4 Byron Street, Wattle Park, Victoria, 3128, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] Web site:http://home.vicnet.net.au/~richard3/index.html Western Australia Helen Hardegen, 16 Paramatta Road, Doubleview, Western Australia 6018, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://members.iinet.net.au/~hhardegen/

Worcestershire Mrs Pam Benstead, 15 St Marys Close, Kempsey WR5 3JX E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk Yorkshire Mrs P.H. Pogmore, 169, Albert Road, Sheffield, S8 9QX. Tel: 0114 258 6097. E-mail: [email protected]

Groups

Airedale Mrs Christine Symonds, 2 Whitaker Avenue, Bradford, BD2 3HL. Tel: 01274-774680. E-mail: [email protected] Bedfordshire/ Mrs Rose Skuse. 12 Brookfield Rd, Newton Longville, Bucks, Buckinghamshire MK17 0BP Tel: 01908 373524 E-mail: [email protected] Bristol Keith Stenner, 96 Allerton Crescent, Whitchurch, Bristol, Tel:01275-541512 (in affiliation with Gloucestershire Branch) E-mail: [email protected] Croydon Miss Denise Price, 190 Roundwood Rd, London NW10 Tel: 0181 451 7689 Cumbria John & Marjorie Smith, 26 Clifford Road, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 8PP Dorset Mrs Judy Ford, 15 Sandon House, 643 Blandford Rd, Upton, Poole, BH16 5ED Tel: 01202 624938 E-mail: [email protected] Mid Anglia John Ashdown-Hill, 8 Thurlston Close, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3HF. Tel/fax: 01206-523267. E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.freewebs.com/r3midanglia/ North East Mrs J McLaren, 11 Sefton Avenue, Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5QR Tel: 0191 265 3665. E-mail: [email protected] Nottinghamshire Mrs Anne Ayres, 7 Boots Yard, Huthwaite, Sutton-in-Ashfield & Derbyshire Notts, NG17 2QW. E-mail: [email protected] Sussex Robert Parsons, 403 Mile Oak Rd, Portslade-by-Sea, BN41 2RD Tel: 01273 413696 West Surrey Rollo Crookshank, Old Willows, 41a Badshot Park, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 9JU. E-mail: [email protected]

Ancient and Medieval History Books (3500BC-1600AD)

For a catalogue of secondhand fact and fiction send SAE to : Karen Miller, Church Farm Cottage, Church Lane, Kirklington, Nottinghamshire, NG22 8NA

Branches and Groups

London and Home Counties Branch Report Pursuing its policy of seeking prestigious speakers, towards the cost of which the Branch has kindly been given a series of donations, we will be hosting Julian Humphrys speaking on ‘How to capture a castle’, and extend an invitation to all members of the Society who are able to do so, to attend this event. It is on Saturday 13 June 2009, at our regular meeting place at the I.H.R. (Institute for Historical Research) at 2.00 p.m. Full details of venue, timing, etc. available from the Secretary, Elizabeth Nokes (email: [email protected] Tel. [voicemail] 01689- 823569) Julian Humphrys read history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and, after completing a post- graduate year at the Polytechnic of North London, he qualified as a Blue Badge Guide, specialising in the remarkable architecture and history of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. He then joined the staff of Chelsea’s National Army Museum, where he worked for twelve years. He has made numerous radio and television appearances. His knowledge of England’s castles and battlefield is extensive and in 2001 he turned his attention to this aspect of our heritage, developing and leading English Heritage’s Tours Through Time programme of short breaks and guided visits to historic properties and battlefields. He is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and is the author of a number of publications including Clash of Arms: Twelve English Battles, published by English Heritage in 2006, and Enemies at the Gate: English Castles under Siege, published in the following year. Copies of both titles will be available at the lecture. For his illustrated lecture to the Branch he has provided the following abstract: ‘Developments in castle defences and the methods used to capture them have gone hand in hand in history. In this entertaining overview of siege warfare in medieval England Julian looks at how the two influenced each other over the years. However he also shows how a desire to avoid the considerable time, expense and damage involved in besieging a castle meant that such operations were usually only undertaken as a last resort. For most commanders diplomacy and bribery were much more popular options than storm and starvation and the operations in north-east England following the Yorkist victory at Towton in 1461 illustrate this perfectly.’ Further Branch news covers the Branch AGM, held in March 2009, which saw a radical change to the composition of the Branch Committee. Kitty Bristow retired after twenty-eight years, and Diana Lee retired, after five years as Branch Treasurer. At the AGM opportunity was taken to thank them both for their service to the Branch. The Branch Committee now comprises: Howard Choppin, Chairman, Elizabeth Nokes, Secretary, Elaine Robinson, Treasurer, Joan Cooksley, Margaret Stiles and Rosemary Waxman. The Auditor, Derek Barber, also retired from post, and thanks were tendered to him. Elizabeth Nokes

Scottish Branch Report: ‘Honour my Bones’ On Saturday 21 February the Scottish Branch hosted a series of illustrated talks by Dr John Ashdown-Hill entitled ‘Honour My Bones’. The day provided a fascinating insight into John’s various Ricardian research interests and reinforced, in my mind at least, his undoubted status as the Society’s most progressive and innovative member. John’s first talk, ‘My Late Lamented Uncle’, traced the history of Richard III’s remains from burial in 1485 to the present day. The most important point to emerge was the near certainty that Richard’s bones, despite folk lore to the contrary, lay where they were originally interred in the church of the Greyfriars in Leicester. Happily the former site of the monastic church appears not

to have been redeveloped, and is now a car park belonging to Leicester Social Services. This, as many members are acutely aware, opens up the exciting possibility of an archaeological investigation. The importance and relevance of such a project was thrown in to sharp focus by the subject of John’s second talk. ‘Finding the DNA of Richard III’ outlined the painstaking process by which John traced the DNA of Richard’s family from Anne of Exeter through an all female line to a surviving twenty- first century descendent. Not many people would have undertaken such a demanding task or possessed the determination to complete it. There can be little doubt that this is research of the utmost importance. Should remains be uncovered in Leicester the newly-traced DNA sequence will confirm whether or not they belong to a member of Richard’s family. And given the location of any discovery, a positive match can only mean we have found Richard III. The third and final talk, ‘Eleanor’, discussed John’s new book on Lady Eleanor Talbot: ‘the woman who put Richard III on the throne’. Once again this is an important work of scholarship. Other books present the pre-contract controversy with a fairly large question mark, but John argues from the outset that Edward IV’s marriage to Lady Eleanor Talbot is a fact. As Ricardians we should be delighted that someone has at last devoted an entire volume to this crucial issue and to bringing the somewhat obscure figure of Lady Eleanor firmly in to the spotlight. Overall the event was a huge and highly enjoyable success. John is to be congratulated for the manner in which he entertained and informed an enthralled audience. Each talk was accompanied by a superb Power Point presentation and expertly elucidated by John’s patient commentary. Special thanks should also go to Philippa Langley for organising such a memorable occasion (including a delightful lunch at the picturesque Cramond Inn) and for allowing the event to take place in her lovely home. Highly recommended! David Johnson

Worcester Branch Report As our Branch continues to grow we are pleased to welcome more people to our meetings and are even more delighted when they choose to join, whether this be the Branch alone or the Society as a whole. We just like to meet new people of similar interests and new faces usually bring new ideas. At the time of writing we are approaching our AGM and are in need of a new Programme Planner although Joan Ryder, who is retiring from the post, has already arranged most of our programme for 2009. All the other members of the committee are willing to stand again. We enjoyed an interesting talk at our February meeting and Carol Southworth has written the following report: ‘Telling Tales of Adulterous Queens in Medieval England from Olympias of Macedonia to Elizabeth Woodville’ by Joanna Laynesmith at Inkberrow Education Centre on 14 February 2009. Dr Laynesmith began by explaining that by ‘telling tales’ she meant reporting scurrilous and sometimes untrue gossip and rumour about medieval queens for political reasons or to show the political consequences of adultery. She felt that there was often a lack of understanding about the political role of medieval queens: they were far more than mere consorts and providers of heirs, a theme of her recent book The Last Medieval Queens. ‘The importance of marriage to a king was that it allowed him to throw off any remaining tutelage; his queen underlined his maturity and legitimacy and enabled him to father a recognised heir. Losing control of his queen, therefore, through adultery or for any other reason, would inevitably lead to disaster. Adultery was a factor in virtually all cases where a king lost his throne. Dr Laynesmith gave many examples from the history of the medieval period and from its legends and romances. In his sixth-century De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae Gildas drew attention to the link between adultery and failing regimes, as did later writers, including William of Malmesbury. The stories about Eleanor of Aquitaine were retold and exaggerated over the years, whereas Isabella of Angoulême was accused only once and without foundation, but this 59

accusation was a itself a comment on John’s poor kingship. The adultery of Isabella of France, however, was not mentioned since it would have cast doubt on the paternity of the future Edward III; she thus posed a threat to both her husband and her son politically. Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI’s wife, broke all the rules of queenly behaviour, not least as a possibly multiple adulteress whose husband suffered a total mental collapse as well as losing his kingdom. From the legends and romances Dr Laynesmith spoke particularly about the Arthurian stories. Guinivere’s adultery, first mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth, linked to her failure to produce an heir, caused the destruction of the kingdom. Similarly Tristan and Isolde’s love affair led to the destruction of the state. History and legend were linked when Malory told the story of Lancelot and Guinivere in La Mort d’Arthur in 1469, the year when the accusations were made of Cecily Neville’s adultery, which, if true, would have caused the bastardy of Edward IV. ‘Dr Laynesmith further emphasised the importance of queens by making the link back to Homer, with kings owing their thrones to their wives. For example, some kings of Anglo-Saxon England, like Cnut, married the widows of their predecessors. King’s mothers, whether or not they were queens, could also be the subjects of ‘tales’. The legitimacy of both Richard II and his supplanter Henry IV was questioned, as was that of Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI’s son. Polydore Vergil stressed the role of Richard III to avoid the question of the illegitimacy of Edward V, which was the basis of Richard’s claim to the throne. ‘”Tales” were used to attack queens and to fuel fears about foreign queens. These ‘tales’ were rarely true, but were used to explain poor government or the collapse of a regime and to show therefore that sexual sins would inevitably be punished.’ Our March meeting was at a new venue in Malvern that proved easy to locate and had good parking facilities. Unfortunately the acoustics were not very good, which was a shame as Geoffrey Wheeler had travelled a long way to be with us. However we were treated to a whirlwind pictorial tour around the National Portrait Gallery 1973’, Richard III’ Exhibition as Geoffrey related a wealth of information on each exhibit. Some of our members had attended the exhibition and were very impressed with it.

Future programme 11 July: a guided tour of St Wulfstan’s Cathedral, highlighting the Norman remains of the cathedral started in 1084 and Wolfstan’s connections. Our guide will be Christopher Guy, Worcester Cathedral archaeologist.This is a follow on from our January meeting. 8 August will be our annual evening walk; this year we are visiting the lovely village of Knowle in Warwickshire. This will be a 6:00 p.m. start and will conclude in a local hostelry. 12 September sees us on the Herefordshire/Monmouthshire border, where we will have a guided tour of Grosmont Castle and a visit to the churches of Easton Bishop and Castle Frome. Details of our programme can be found on our branch web site www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk or contact our Programme Planner Joan Ryder 01384 394228, for further information. We are always pleased to welcome friends and prospective members at any of our meetings. Pat Parminter

Yorkshire Branch Report Palm Sunday this year must have been one of the warmest on record recently, and those Yorkshire Branch members who attended appreciated the beautiful spring weather at Towton Hall, where the Towton Battlefield Society and other organisations held displays, re-enactments and a short memorial service on the anniversary of the terrible battle which in effect confirmed Edward, Earl of March, as king. It is also, of course, an opportunity for sales and publicity for the Society and the Branch, and we were glad to make contact with several new and old names. One sight which could well have been expected – but which was still rather arresting – was a long line of lords, ladies and fighting men in their finery queueing to buy chips from a van. The famous

Drunken Monk was also present, not with a tent of his own this time but selling his remarkable brews in the barn. The ginger wine should have been available there in 1461: it would surely have helped to guard against the freezing weather. Linda Treybig will be bringing a group of our American Ricardian cousins (and perhaps as well some not from the US, as happened last year) to Yorkshire this June. They hope to be at Bolton Abbey on Sunday 21 June, Middleham on the 22nd and Conisborough on the 25th and would love to meet up with local members if possible. Our usual local programme of meetings continues this summer, including an evening trip to Skipton on Monday 6 July, with supper. It will be the anniversary of King Richard’s coronation, although the date is a coincidence this time. On Sunday 23 August the Branch commemorates Bosworth and those who fell there with a short informal meeting at St Alkelda’s church in Middleham. We meet for 2.00 p.m. but usually have lunch together in Middleham beforehand; if you would like to join us, please contact John Audsley on 0113 294-2656 by 10 August. Our Branch AGM will take place on Saturday 5 September at 1.30 p.m. at the usual venue, Wheatlands Hotel, Scarcroft Road, York (just off the A64). Many of our members will be aware that late December 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Branch, since some of the people who became our very first members gathered at Sandal to commemorate the quincentenary of the battle of Wakefield in 1960. Our Committee intends to mark this birthday with some suitable event, and although there’s been some havering about whether this will be in 2010 or 2011, it will definitely happen! Do come along to our AGM, especially if you haven’t before: there will be a chance to socialise after the business of the meeting, a very good tea and, this year, a special feature on the programme. We hope to see you there. Subscribers to our magazine will receive their booking form for tea as usual with their August newsletters; if you are not a subscriber but live anywhere in Yorkshire you are also actually a member of the Branch, and so are welcome to attend. In the autumn we hope to hold a Branch banquet again, having been unable to do so in 2007. Our new venue is the fourteenth-century Bedern Hall in York, just opposite the Minster. Many of you will know this interesting and atmospheric building, once the lodgings of the Vicars Choral of the Minster and now home to three of the city’s livery companies. We have booked our meal for Saturday 24 October. Further details in our August newsletter, with a booking form. The Committee hopes that many of our old friends will join us, and if you have never attended such an event before, do consider it now. Angela Moreton

In the next issue of the Bulletin:

Part Two of Helen Cox’s ‘Living the History: a Re-enactor’s Experience of the Fifteenth Century. This is on the subject of campfire cookery and period sounds. A report on the Scottish Branch’s Lecture Day in November 2008 (unavoidably held over from this issue for various reasons including space). An article on Elizabeth of York and her relationship to Henry VII, by David Baldwin, as part of our retrospective on the quincentenary of Henry’s death. A report on the Leeds Conference.

We hope also to have an article by Philippa Langley looking at the reputations that other monarchs would have gained if they had reigned for 777 days the length of time that Richard III occupied the throne.

Obituaries

Anne Keighley, (22 July 1930 to 11 February 2009) Anne Keighley, otherwise known as Anne de Bredesden or

Anne Lee, died, at her home in Competa, Malaga, Spain, on 11 February, after a long illness, which had affected her for some years, but which she never let get the better of her: it just meant she had to rest more between days of doing what she wanted. Anne was a nurse by profession, had been a nurse in the navy, and had travelled the world. I went with her and another friend, Judith Eden, to see the Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum, and while queuing for entry, she was able to point out, ‘of course, I saw it in Cairo’. Most of one’s friends are good for a few lines in one’s address book: Anne’s varied addresses rapidly spread to cover a page, then pages … She was based for some time in Greenwich at the Dreadnought Naval Hospital, was in Hertford, then, when she married Dennis Lee, moved north, then returned south and had three addresses in Southampton, before they retired to Spain, and settled in Competa, where Anne cultivated her garden … her orchids, birds and dogs, and used her motor-cycle, sometimes with hair-raising results, to travel down to the coast. That was not quite the end of her journeying however, as she briefly moved to Sri Lanka, to help friends with a hotel there: when this did not work out, she was able to return to Competa. Anne and I go back a very long way: latterly, I had kept her up to date on Ricardian doings, writing her long letters about Ricardian activities, visits etc., which she enjoyed, although wishing she could still go on them, and collecting for her cuttings on any subjects that I thought might interest her – Ricardian, medieval, Roman, orchids, the Cutty Sark. Periodically she would telephone me and we would have long conversations – over the years I grew used to the state of mind-blankness induced by her request to know what was new, thrilling, exciting … Looking in the Society, and subsequently, by inheritance, the London and Home Counties Branch, signing-in book for another purpose, I found our names – at first separate, and then following each other. I stayed put, apart from a brief foray to library school, but she was soon moving about the country. I well recall at one point she thought to set up home in a caravan on Peel Island: this filled Joyce Melhuish with such horror, at Anne’s large, American, misconception of the ease, or lack of, with which she could get down to London, to join in Society activities, that she, Joyce, mobilised all her forces (and those who knew Joyce will know exactly what I mean!) to prove to Anne that this was not a good idea. She contacted caravan clubs, etc., to prove that caravans in a Peel Island winter were not a good thing. On that occasion, Anne desisted. After we had known each other for a few years, we decided to go on holiday together, and, years before the Great Ricardian Coronation Progress Tour (of 1983, a.k.a. ‘The Yomp’), we did our own tour, starting modestly with a visit to York and Yorkshire, using public transport. This we followed up with a week long, countrywide tour, visiting Ricardian sites, with the great help of Ricardian Britain. Anne hired the car and did the driving, I provided the navigation, background information and hotel booking. The car became home to an eclectic collection of souvenirs, including a small, detached, piece of Middleham Castle, (it was already detached,

Anne assured me …) and a lively, personality-filled, Wensleydale cheese – well, it certainly was by the time it arrived in London, a week later. I never managed to get out to Spain to see Anne in situ, but I am very glad we did meet up, for the last time, as it turned out, in April 2008, at Waterloo, for a long lunch and talk – although the event was visited by Morton’s efforts in the travel department: on the first occasion on which Anne tried to travel up from Southampton, a trackside fire outside Waterloo main line station knocked out all the signalling, and she could not get further than Clapham Junction. Fortunately she tried again the next weekend, and we did meet. Elizabeth Nokes

Loraine Winsor, Sydney, New South Wales The Sydney New South Wales Branch is sad to report the death of one of its long-time members, Loraine Winsor. Although she lived some distance from Sydney and was unable to attend general meetings, our contact with her was always valuable. Her husband, Frank, sent us the following message: ‘Loraine was always a supporter of Richard III, long before she joined the Society. One of her greatest pleasures was a visit to Bosworth dudring our trip to the UK in 1999, and her excitement as she roamed the field, visited the well and had her photo taken under the White Boar Standard was unforgettable. As Loraine’s health deteriorated later, she never lost her enthusiasm for the aims of your Society and eagerly awaited the delivery of her Ricardians and Bulletins. On behalf of her family I want to thank the Richard III Society for the pleasure Loraine derived from her membership and wish you all well with every success in the future.’

Calendar

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

Date Events Originator 2009

10-14 July Long Weekend Visit Visits Committee South Wales, based in Swansea

23 August Bosworth Visit Visits Committee see p. 7

23 August Bosworth commemoration, St Alkelda’s Yorkshire Branch church, Middleham, 2.00 pm

5 September Visit to Croyland Abbey Visits Committee

5 September Yorkshire Branch AGM, Wheatlands Hotel, Yorkshire Branch Scarcroft Road, York, 1.30 pm

3 October AGM & Members’ Day Secretary Staple Inn Hall, London

9-11 October Australasian Convention Helen Hardegen

14 November Norwich Branch Study Day: Towton Ann Marie Hayek Past and Present

2010 Visit to France Visits Committee