ISSN 0308 4337

Ricardian Bulletin

Magazine of the Richard III Society

ISSN 0308 4337 March 2011

Ricardian Bulletin

Magazine of the Richard III Society

2 From the Chairman

3 Society News and Notices

including notice of the 2012 Triennial Conference (p.5)

11 Obituaries: Bill White, Anne Smith, Tony Gayfer

15 News and Reviews

24 Media Retrospective

27 Paul Murray Kendall, born 1911; a centenary tribute, by John Saunders

28 Paul Murray Kendall and his biography of Richard the Third, by Compton Reeves

31 The Man Himself: Hall, More and Shakespeare: are their descriptions of Richard III

accurate? By Ariana Ellis

35 „Beeth of good comfort, and dreadeth not‟: Edward IV and the Battle of Mortimer‟s Corss

by David Santiuste

39 Medieval Jokes and Fables, part 2, by Heather Falvey

41 Sultan Bayezid II: Richard‟s Turkish Contemporary, by John Saunders

43 St Winefride‟s Well and the Ricardian Chronicle, by Lynda Pidgeon

44 Another Boar Badge, by Rose Skuse

45 Lancashire and the Wars of the Roses, by Graham Ransom

46 Returning to Shakespeare‟s History Plays, by Gillian Lazar

48 Correspondence

53 The Barton Library

55 Future Society Events

56 Branch and Group Contacts

58 Branches and Groups

62 New Members

63 Recently Deceased Members

64 Calendar

The Ricardian Bulletin is produced by the Bulletin Editorial Committee,

Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd. © Richard III Society, 2011

Ricardian Bulletin March 2011

Contents

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

2

From the Chairman

M ost of us in the British Isles had a rare White Christmas, though whether we enjoyed it is a

moot point since it was also one of the coldest Decembers on record. Naturally we all

moaned about the sub-zero temperatures and disruption to daily life, but the New Year brought

news of the tragic flooding in Australia and other parts of the world which rather put our

complaints into perspective. The thoughts of us all are with our Australian members in particular,

and especially those in Queensland, at this time. We hope of course that no members suffered as

a result of these floods.

Again, your Bulletin carries a wide range of articles, reviews and news which we hope will

inform and entertain. David Santiuste writes on the battle of Mortimer‟s Cross, that crucial

milestone on Edward IV‟s path to the throne; Graham Ransom takes a look at Lancashire‟s Wars

of the Roses heritage; and Heather Falvey offers another medieval joke – I wonder how many

more she has in store for us. A new young member from Canada, Ariana Ellis, contributes to The

Man Himself and we welcome this new writing. May we have more of it in future. Reviews range

from an exhibition at Wakefield to a Dutch production of Shakespeare‟s Richard III. There is a

slight Turkish flavour too, with news from John Ashdown-Hill about his time in Turkey and an

introduction to Richard‟s Ottoman contemporary, Sultan Bayezid II.

For many members, Paul Murray Kendall‟s Richard III remains a classic, being the most

comprehensive and sympathetic biography of the king and certainly the best written. We begin

our celebration of PMK‟s centenary with Compton Reeves‟ thoughtful reflection on Kendall‟s

life and work, and we look forward to hearing from his daughters, Callie and Gillian, in June.

The Research Committee has recently been joined by three new members – Marie Barnfield,

Tig Lang and Toni Mount – new to the Committee though hardly new to the Society, of course.

This addition will greatly strengthen the work of the Committee as all three bring much

experience and scholarship with them. I welcome their appointment. Our Research Officer,

Lynda Pidgeon, writes on the new Ricardian Chronicle project as well as giving news of the

exciting Triennial Conference planned for next year.

We are sorry that Diana Lee, our valued Business Manager, is resigning. She will be a hard

act to follow, but we hope that someone will volunteer to do so.

Our new Branches and Groups Liaison Officers, Pauline Pogmore and Angela Moreton, who

are well-known in Yorkshire, introduce themselves to the wider membership. On the subject of

branches, let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Worcestershire Branch on their 25th

anniversary which they celebrate this year.

Sadly, this issue carries a number of obituaries, including those of three prominent

Ricardians, Bill White, Anne Smith and Tony Gayfer, a former Treasurer. Bill and Anne were

long-standing members and made significant contributions to our work, Bill through his

osteological expertise and Anne through her many years as an office holder and Committee

member. Both will be greatly missed.

Another Ricardian year lies ahead of us, and there is much to look forward to. In a few weeks,

some of us will be in York for the study weekend learning about the de la Poles, this being just

one of the many dates in the year‟s calendar. As always, I look forward to meeting members at

these events and elsewhere throughout the year.

3

Society News and Notices

Three New Members for the Research Committee The Research Committee has co-opted three new members, Marie Barnfield (who is also our new

Papers Librarian), Tig Lang and Toni Mount. Members of the Society will know all three from

their contributions to the Bulletin, and all three worked on the Logge wills project. All are active

in fifteenth-century research. We asked each of them to write something about herself for the

Bulletin.

Change is in the Air The Society welcomes three new members to our Research Committee, Marie Barnfield, Tig

Lang and Toni Mount; but sadly we must say goodbye to our Business Manager, Diana Lee. This

means, of course, that we need a new Business Manager: please see page 7 for details.

We have also asked the new Branches and Groups Liaison Officers, Angela Moreton and

Pauline Harrison Pogmore of the Yorkshire Branch, to introduce themselves to the wider

membership. Their profiles are on page 9.

Marie Barnfield writes I grew up not far outside Barnet, vaguely en route to St Albans, so I

suppose an interest in the Wars of the Roses might seem to have

been a rather natural occurrence. I still remember the thrill I felt one

Sunday lunchtime as a child when my father told us about the great

battle that had taken place around the Hadley Highstone in the days

of knights in armour, but my interest in Richard III did not actually

begin until I reached the age of fifteen and read The Daughter of

Time. Why I yanked it off the library shelf is still a mystery –

something haunting about the title, I suppose. At any rate, I was

then hooked and engineered myself a copy of Kendall‟s biography

for a sixteenth birthday present. It was to be another two years,

however, before I tracked down and joined the Society, through its

stall at the Barnet Quincentenary celebrations.

As soon as the Society‟s paleography course came on stream, I

signed up. I was a member of the transcription team for the Logge wills project, and have

attended most of the research weekends since that time. Although I worked only on English wills

for the Logge project, having dropped Latin at school after two years of study, I have since

succeeded in reaching a level of competency with Latin transcription just about sufficient for the

average will (no bishops, please) and routine legal documents, provided I am not expected to

reinstate every abbreviated case-ending. I had also, in my youth, studied French, Middle English

and medieval economic history as part of my degree course, but unfortunately ill health now

precludes me from committing to any formal course of study.

I have written for both the Ricardian and the Bulletin on the subject of Richard and Anne‟s

marriage dispensation, and have also written articles for Blanc Sanglier. My long-term aim is a

biography of that elusive young man, Edward, Earl of Warwick, and I am currently working on

an article about the treason trials of Clarence‟s retainer Thomas Burdet and the astronomers

Stacy and Blake.

4

Tig Lang writes I knew nothing about Richard III until my parents took me to the

National Portrait Gallery exhibition in 1973. I viewed this with

polite interest, and then read The Daughter of Time on the train

on the way home, and wanted to go back to see the exhibition all

over again (sadly not possible). The same year I also began

growing herbs, following an interest in the history

of medicine. These interests combined so that my initial interest

in Richard III expanded into a more general interest in life in the

fifteenth century, and specifically in medicine in the fifteenth

century. My first degree was in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English

language and literature, but in 1990, following a very inspiring talk

by Peter Murray Jones (author of Medieval Medical Miniatures) at the Richard III Society's

conference in York, I began postgraduate work in medieval medicine, obtaining my PhD in 1998

for work on early-fifteenth-century London surgeon John Bradmore. My time for original

research since this has been very limited as I teach my daughter at home, but over the years I

have given talks to local history groups, St. Andrews University students taking history of

medicine as part of their Medieval History degree, and to several Richard III Society study

weekends. I spoke most recently at the Yorkshire Branch 50th Anniversary celebration day. I

have recreated medieval medicines not only for some of these talks, but also for exhibitions in

the Museum of London and at Barley Hall in York, and have appeared on television twice, once

to talk about John Bradmore („Royal Deaths and Diseases‟) and once to recreate a medieval

herbal medicine for paralysis („History Cold Case‟). I first joined the Richard III Society in 1975,

dropped out in 1981 and did not rejoin until 1989, thus missing out on all the quincentenary

celebrations, but have sensibly remained a member ever since.

Toni Mount writes I am a history lecturer and joined the Richard III Society in

1986 – just missing the quincentenary – because I read Charles

Ross‟s biography of the king and couldn‟t believe he was so

villainous, especially as I followed up with V.B. Lamb‟s

version which almost made Richard a saint. I wanted to know

the truth – still do. Along the way, I became fascinated by the

social history of the period and made good use of documentary

evidence in the Barton Library. This evolved into a novel –

working title: Richard Liveth Yet – still awaiting publication.

I earned my BA Hons [Open], studying history, from

Classical Rome to the History of Science. Sadly, the OU doesn‟t „do medieval‟, though in my

final course on the Professionalisation of Medicine, I persuaded them to let me go back to 1420

for my project. My Masters at Kent followed with an in-depth study of a medical manuscript,

dated 1454. The society kindly granted me a bursary and the resulting tome, A Manuscript for All

Seasons: MS8004 in the Context of Medieval Medicine and the Dissemination of Knowledge

(catchy little title, eh?) is available at the Wellcome Library.

As a regular supporter of the Research Weekends, I was an active participant in the society‟s

Wills Project. Having completed the Palaeography Course, it was great to use my new skills,

though I kept to the English wills – despite doing O-level Latin, OU Latin and the National

5

Archives‟ on-line Latin Palaeography course, I‟ve not progressed beyond „graveyard Latin‟: hic

jacet Fred Bloggs, I can manage.

I have written articles and short stories for Blanc Sanglier and kept members up-dated with

the progress of my research in the Bulletin. I published a book on Medieval Housewives &

Women of the Middle Ages for my history students which proved popular. In progress is a piece

on an indenture, drawn up between Edward IV and those who accompanied him on his French

campaign of 1475, including Our Dickon and a number of physicians and surgeons who drew my

attention in the beginning.

As a new recruit to the Research Sub-Committee, I‟m looking forward to the new Ricardian

Chronicle project and hope other members will be enthusiastic too.

The Work of the Research Committee

A very important function of the Research Committee is to organise the annual

Study Weekends and the Triennial Conferences. Our research officer, Lynda

Pidgeon, reports here on two events already in the pipeline.

The Study Weekend, April 2011 This year‟s Study Weekend has proved very popular and we were fully booked in almost record

time. After last year‟s long waiting list members were quicker off the mark in getting their

booking forms to us. Unfortunately, due to December‟s unexpected snow and icy weather, postal

deliveries were disrupted, which didn‟t help matters for some members wishing to attend. We

can‟t anticipate such adverse weather, of course, but we do try and give as much advance notice

of events as circumstances allow. The good news is that we are now able to open bookings for

next year‟s Triennial Conference.

The Triennial Conference, 20-22 April, 2012:

Bosworth and Warfare: new finds, new ideas Our Fiction Librarian, Anne Painter, has been working on behalf of the Research Committee to

find us a suitable venue for next year‟s conference. Anne has a background in the hotel industry

which she has put to good use in locating an excellent venue: the Burleigh Court Conference

Centre at the University of Loughborough. This is a four-star hotel with full conference facilities

and disabled access. For more information visit their website: www.welcometoimago.com/

conference-venues/burleigh-court/

We wanted a venue which had good rail access and was reasonably close to Bosworth to

allow us to take participants by coach to visit the battle site on Saturday afternoon. We also

needed a large conference room and a sufficient number of bedrooms with the flexibility to

increase our booking if we had enough interest. Burleigh Court fits the bill ideally so we have

booked a hundred places with an option to increase to a hundred and fifty if there is the demand.

Speakers confirmed to date are: Glenn Foard, who will speak on the recent discoveries at

Bosworth; Anne Curry speaking on the documentary evidence for the battle and Livia Visser-

Fuchs on Juan de Salazar, the Spanish mercenary who fought for Richard III. Other speakers are

yet to be confirmed, but they will speak on topics that will focus on recent new discoveries and

ideas about the battle of Bosworth and English medieval warfare. The visit to Bosworth on

Saturday afternoon will include a guided tour of the battlefield and a visit to the Battlefield

Centre, which now houses a number of the new finds from the battle‟s new locations.

This will be a very popular conference so to secure your place please book early, using the

form in the centre of your Bulletin. Please return them to the Research Events Administrator,

Jacqui Emerson, at the address on the inside back cover. We are asking for a refundable deposit

6

of £50 now to guarantee a place, since the Society has to pay a deposit itself to the hotel to

confirm our overall booking. Our initial costings are based on the set hotel/conference costs and

the estimated costs for speakers, coach hire and entry to the Battlefield Centre. On this basis we

expect individual costs to be no more than £275 for single room occupancy and £410 for double/

twin room occupancy. Non-residents can also pay their deposit and reserve a place now, although

final costings for this category will take a little longer to determine.

We will keep you updated about the programme and final costs once they are to hand. If you

have any queries, please contact Lynda Pidgeon (details on inside back cover).

Other Study Occasions

The East Midlands Branch Study Day: The Power Behind the Throne This will take place on Saturday 18 June at the Leicester Adult Education College in Wellington

Street, Leicester (the „Hansom‟ building where the 2010 AGM was held), from 9.30 am until

4.30 pm.

The speakers will be David Baldwin on „Warwick the Kingmaker‟, Dr Joanna Laynesmith on

„Cecily Neville, Duchess of York‟, Wendy Moorhen on „William, Lord Hastings‟, and Dr Helen

Castor on „Margaret of Anjou‟.

The day will cost £20 a head, including refreshments (but not lunch, for which please make

your own arrangements).

There is an application form in the centrefold of this Bulletin. If you would like to attend this

Study Day, please send the form, with your cheque, to the Branch secretary, Sally Henshaw, by

20 May 2011. Further information may be obtained from Sally. Her address is 28 Lyncroft Leys,

Scraptoft, Leicester, LE7 9UW. Tel. 0116 243 3785, email: sallyoftarahill@homecall.co.uk.

Advance notice:

The Norfolk Branch Study Day: The Twilight Years of the Yorkist Cause This will take place on Saturday 12 November at The Assembly House, Theatre Street, Norwich.

The speakers will be Sean Cunningham, Rosemary Horrox, Julian Humphrys and Frances

Sparrow.

Full details and a booking form will appear in the June issue of the Bulletin. In the meantime,

if you have any queries, contact Annmarie Hayek (see p. 56 for contact details).

Notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Richard III Society

This year the Society’s AGM and Members’ Day will take place on:

Saturday, 1 October 2011

at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Malet St, London, WC1H 0XG

The speaker will be Dr David Starkey.

Further details will be given in the June Bulletin, but in the meantime

please put this date in your diary

7

Resignation of Business Manager It is with regret that the Executive Committee accepts the resignation of Diana Lee as the

Society‟s Business Manager. Diana took on this role in 2009 and has been the liaison between

the Society‟s printer and mailing agents with regard to the printing and distribution of our

journals, as well as liaising with the Bulletin Committee, the Membership Department, the

Treasurer, and overseas branch officers.

The Committee would like to take this opportunity of thanking Diana for her service over the

past two years and we hope that she and her husband Peter will enjoy their active retirement.

Your Society Needs You

The Society needs a new Business Manager

This is an important role, reporting to the Executive Committee,

concerned with managing the administrative aspects of producing

the Bulletin and the Ricardian by liaising with the Society‟s

printers and mailing house, and with the subsequent distribution of

the publications. The Business Manager is also responsible for

looking after the Society‟s account with Royal Mail. He or she will

need to liaise with the membership department, the editors of the

journals, the treasurer and overseas branch officers.

The Business Manager will also need to maintain a spreadsheet detailing costs of print pro-

duction and distribution, receive and check invoices from the suppliers, and report on a

quarterly basis to the Executive Committee.

We are looking for a responsible person who has good communication skills, a working

knowledge of Microsoft Excel, and access to email.

If you are interested in undertaking this role, please write to or email the Chairman (see

inside back cover for contact details), who will be pleased to discuss the role and provide

further details as required.

The closing date for applications is 31 March.

Membership Matters Following the resignation of Diana Lee as Business Manager, would members please note that if

they do not receive their Bulletin (despatched in early March, June, September and December) or

their Ricardian (despatched in June), they should contact the membership department for a

replacement copy. (Contact details on inside back cover.)

Bequest to the Society Mrs Margaret Walker, whose death at the age of 94 was announced in the December Bulletin, has

kindly left a bequest of £100 to the Richard III Society in her will „in recognition of the pleasure

of being a member of the Society over many years‟. She was a member for at least 25 years, and

even when house-bound in her last years she retained her interest in history, archaeology and all

things Ricardian.

The Hassocks Competition About 35 members sent in the answer to this competition, which was, of course, „The Cat, the

Rat, and Lovell Our Dog, Rule all England under the Hog‟. No-one got it wrong: next time we

must make the competition harder. Enid Thresher of Somerton in Somerset was the first to reply,

followed closely by Philip Ashe, Clair Eglen, Olwen Spence and Anthea Burdess. Answers came

from far and wide, including one from Canada.

8

Branches and Groups Liaison:

more changing scenes

The Chairman reported in the December Bulletin that our former Branches and

Groups Liaison Officer, John Ashdown-Hill, had gone to live and teach English

in Eastern Turkey, and that Angela Moreton and Pauline Harrison Pogmore

would take over as Liaison Officers. We asked John to tell us about his new life

in Turkey, and Angela and Pauline to tell us about themselves, and this is what

they all said.

From John Ashdown-Hill Gaziantep is a large and expanding town in southwestern Turkey, not far from the Syrian border.

Its origins are very ancient, dating back to the Hittite period at least. Later the Persian king,

Darius III, passed by here on his way to meet Alexander the Great at the battle of Issus. The town

of Iskenderun, on the coast, still preserves in mangled form the name of the Macedonian victor.

Founded in 333 BC, it was formerly Alexandria ad Issum.

I live in a suburb of Gaziantep, not far from the zoo. On the whole, life here is really quite

modern, though we have the occasional power failure (UK-1970s-style). Candles stand ready for

this in lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. There is also the occasional annoying internet

interruption.

Just behind my home a new mosque is slowly rising, and although most of the structure is

concrete, it is intriguing to see the medieval-looking wooden scaffolding. The markets in the

town centre also retain something of a medieval flavour, with narrow streets, and small shops

which tend to be grouped together by trade. However, the undulating street levels, which can be

dangerous for the unwary, have more to do with the fact that everything here seems to be

constantly under construction.

Gaziantep is centred around a castle, Roman

in origin, but rebuilt and extended later, in

Byzantine and Ottoman times. Its outer curtain

walls date mainly from the sixth century. Like

the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, they are the work

of the Emperor Justinian.

So why on earth am I here? If you prefer a

simple answer, it is that I‟m teaching English at

one of the local universities, and I chose Turkey

because I had visited the country before, and

liked it. But at a deeper level, I came here for

strong personal reasons. In Turkey it is

possible, at least sometimes, for me to be with

Hanif, whom I love, and who loves me.

Unfortunately, at the moment, being together in the UK is not possible for us – but we live in

hope.

NB my email still works, for anyone who wants to use it: Louis-john@live.co.uk

Gaziantep Castle

9

From Angela Moreton I first met Richard III when Shakespeare‟s panto-villain version was being

played by Paul Daneman in An Age of Kings on BBC TV. I was captivated

by this spiv type, and wondered how on earth he could have been a real

king. Now I know that Shakespeare‟s Richard bears no relation to the

historical person. I read The Daughter of Time and also P.M. Kendall, as

well as old-fashioned historical novels like The Tudor Rose and even

Dickon.

All this happened in the mid-1960s so the thirty-year gap before I

joined the Society in July 1995 is possibly the longest incubation period of

any member! All I can say is that other duties got in the way. I graduated in Spanish and French

from Durham University and subsequently did my PGCE at Leeds.

Over the years I have worked as a civil servant (involving such delights as Bridgwater tax

office and head office at Bootle), a school secretary and a genuine school-room teacher of both

adults and children. While in London in connection with Inland Revenue staff training, I

managed to get to see the NPG Richard III exhibition, which was absolutely marvellous, and I

still remember it fondly. During my years teaching Spanish and Spanish History for the WEA

I was also a private tutor, a job in which I am still engaged.

My household is run by two cats who have been most helpful in producing our magazine,

especially when sitting on the table in front of the screen or on the printer. I have also, it appears,

raised two Ricardian daughters, one of whom has been involved in Branch matters for over ten

years.

I joined the Yorkshire Branch Committee in 1998 and became editor of their long-standing

magazine Blanc Sanglier the following year. I am still proud to be editor of this prestigious

publication (advert!). I became Chairman of the Branch in September 2008, and so had the

privilege of being in post when the Branch celebrated its 50th anniversary year last autumn.

From Pauline Harrison Pogmore I have been a member of the Society since 1995. My education, such as it

was, was at the local comprehensive. However I had a truly magical history

teacher with the good old Yorkshire name of Mrs Ramsbottom. She sparked

my interest in history. On leaving school I achieved my ambition to become

a florist, a career I loved.

My introduction to Richard III other than Shakespeare was in Margaret

Campbell Barnes‟ novel The King’s Bed. Richard plays a very small part but

he certainly is not the character Shakespeare wrote about. My next Ricardian

foray was Paul Murray Kendall, and after that anything I could lay my hands

on. My reason for joining the Society was simple. I hate injustice and it

seemed to me Richard had been very unfairly treated by history. He is also the only English king

to have spent most of his life in God‟s Own County, Yorkshire.

I retired early in 1997 which allowed me to pursue other interests. My first book, Who Was

Who in the Wars of the Roses, was published in 2005. I have achieved another ambition with my

second book, Richard III, the House of York, and their Supporters, published in 2010. My latest

project is an idea I am told the late Arthur Cockerell had, booklets on northern families.

As you have probably gathered, my interest in history is very much the people rather than the

politics. In 2009 I took over as Yorkshire Branch secretary from Moira Habberjam, a hard act to

follow. I am also Vice Chairman, Librarian and Research Officer for the Branch. In my spare

time last year, as secretary, I was responsible for organising the Branch‟s 50th Anniversary Event

in York.

10

Yorkshire Branch Website Some members will probably have been confused and dismayed by all the recent changes in

Yorkshire Branch‟s website. In the last couple of years it seems to have had no fixed abode, but

to have flitted about between different addresses which changed with bewildering rapidity, often

between one issue of the Bulletin or our Newsletter and the next. Now that we have got ourselves

established with what we sincerely hope will be our permanent address, the present Committee

wishes to apologise for all the past upheavals, and in the interests of clarity and good PR try to

explain what all the trouble was about. We feel it‟s the least we can do for those of you who visit

our website and expect to find it still there, and correctly updated.

Our original website was set up shortly before the millennium by the late Geoffrey

Richardson, who worked on it with Bryon Symonds to produce a very attractive site which

proved very popular and attracted many membership enquiries. Unfortunately, during 2003 the

server, AOL, froze so that no amendments could be made to the site, and due to members‟ other

commitments it had become necessary to find someone who would be able to run and update the

site full-time for us. Various enquiries were made locally but came to nothing. During 2004,

however, a friend of a then Committee member very kindly agreed to run and maintain our site

for us, and www.richardiiiyorkshire.co.uk. was operating by the end of April 2005. It was

successful for a while, but eventually delays developed in keeping it updated and liaison with the

Committee was not kept up.

In 2008 our then Chairman, Ralph Taylor, said he would take over the site, but after his

sudden death that summer we accepted the offer from a new Committee member to run a new

site with professional help. Since the professional involved was also a family member, it was

appreciated that regular contact would be maintained in amending the site.

www.richardiiiyorkshire.org Unfortunately, this too was closed down in September 2010. Under

the circumstances, and especially bearing in mind the expense already involved, the Committee

opened a new site with a free server. We have recently been made aware that this is not in fact

practicable since constant working onsite is essential or the site will be suspended, so (once

again) we have had to acquire a new site with another server. We are grateful to our new web

manager, James Garton, who is experienced in the construction and maintenance of websites and

who will ensure that Branch and membership information is kept up-to-date and our events

regularly publicised.

The new address (hopefully for the last time of asking!) will be www.richardiiiyorkshire.com.

It is expected to be up and running very shortly, but in the meantime you can still reach us at

www.richardiiiyorkshire.x10.mx. We have been reassured that during the crossover period no

information will be lost.

Angela Moreton

A Request from the Victoria Branch The Victoria Branch of the Richard III Society first met on 2 October 1959. As editor of the

Victorian Newsletter I have been trying to obtain early copies of the Branch Newsletter. The

earliest issues I have are from 21 January 1989.

Does anybody have anything older?

Please contact me if you can help in any way. My email address is

davidbliss@optusnet.com.au David Bliss

The Treasurer has changed his address Please note that Paul Foss is now at 46 Badminton Gardens, Bristol, BS16 6FG. His telephone

no. (0117 957 0045) and email address (ricardianfunds@yahoo.co.uk) remain the same.

11

Obituaries

William (Bill) White, 1944 – 2010 We are very sorry to have to announce the death of

Bill White on 17 November 2010 from complications

following a heart operation. He was aged 66. He was

born in Harlesden in north west London and attended

Acton County Grammar School and Salford

University. From university he joined Glaxo (later

SmithKlineGlaxo) as an analytical chemist and spent

thirty years there helping to develop drugs for the

market.

While working for Glaxo, Bill joined the Society

in Autumn 1972. It did not take him long to become

an active member; he and I first came into contact

when, probably in 1974, he responded to a notice that

as Research Officer I used to put in the Ricardian,

asking members who wanted a research project to

contact me. He undertook to look through the back

volumes of journals, including Archaeologia from

1773, to find useful articles, and indeed found several. His first Ricardian article was published

in 1978 and was on „Changing Burial Practice in Late Medieval England‟, and he contributed

many articles subsequently, many on similar topics. Recently he has reviewed books on death

and bones.

The Spring 2009 issue of the Bulletin contained his paper given to the 2008 Triennial

conference, „The Remains in the Urn – Who were they?‟ This was his last article for us on this

topic, one which fascinated him and which had resulted in the standard paper on the topic in the

Society‟s 1984 Triennial Conference by Bill and myself – he did the bones and I did the

historical introduction. This was published in the conference proceedings, Richard III: Loyalty.

Lordship and Law, ed. P.W. Hammond, 2000. Bill memorably brought an actual skull and an

axis bone to illustrate salient points in the talk. In the Bulletin article he touched on his

suggestion that the bones in Westminster Abbey could be those of three or more individuals

rather than just two, something that I know he wanted to develop further.

While working for Glaxo Bill became interested in archaeology as a hobby and when he was

given early retirement he did not hesitate to study archaeology in a more serious way and took a

diploma course in archaeology and then a post diploma course in human skeletal remains at the

University of London. At this point he said that he realised that this was what he wanted to do

with his life and he became a volunteer at the Museum of London osteology unit. He was invited

to join the permanent staff and eventually became senior curator there, a world-recognised expert

on the study of human remains, researching and giving papers at conferences. In 2003 he helped

found the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology in the Museum and became the inaugural curator of

osteology for the Wellcome Osteological Research Database, a detailed online archive of the

Museum‟s collection of skeletons and a worldwide resource for archaeologists. He took part in

many projects at the Museum, some of international significance, including the opening of the

sealed sarcophagus of a Roman woman excavated at Spitalfields market. Recently he was

involved in the writing up of the research on the discovery of the Anne Mowbray coffin in 1964,

a project close to his heart. He was consulted by many osteologists but also by such people as

12

Patricia Cornwell the crime writer and Damian Hurst the sculptor when Hurst was working on

his platinum cast of a skull encrusted with diamonds. In 2009 he (very) reluctantly retired from

his post at the Museum but returned as an Emeritus Curator of the Osteology unit.

Bill was a man of wide-ranging curiosity, interests and knowledge and captained a team of

the Museum of London to victory in the quiz show Eggheads over a resident team of know-alls.

He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2006, and amongst other societies was a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a founder member of the British Association of

Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. He was a very modest, friendly man, always

willing to help and will be sadly missed by all his many friends and his family, his wife Jenny,

his daughter, his four sons and his grandchildren to whom we send all our sympathy.

Peter Hammond

Anne Elizabeth Smith 1946 – 2011 Anne died, of bone cancer, in the Royal Surrey County Hospital, on 5 January. Her funeral, held

on 21 January in Guildford Cathedral, was well attended by representatives of her many

activities, including a number of members of the Richard III Society, her interest in which was

mentioned in the address, and to which a third of the retiring collection was to be offered.

Anne joined the Society in 1972, and joined the London Branch in

September 1972, an early member though not quite achieving

„founding member‟ status. She was a committee member of the

Society, and Sales Officer, from 1981 to 1994, and the Society‟s

fiction librarian from 1998 to 2003, roles which brought her into

fruitful contact with members – fruitful both for them, as she

provided an exemplary service, and fruitful for her, in that she

enjoyed the contact with members and her ability to provide a service

for them. Carrying parcels to, and receiving them from, the local post

office meant she developed an interesting relationship with her local

postman.

For her work for the Society Anne was awarded the Robert

Hamblin award in 2005, and her „thank you‟ letter on the earlier

occasion of her retirement from Society office can be found in the

December 1994 issue of the Bulletin.

As can be seen, Anne took an active part in the Society, and she

kindly provided the transport for many expeditions that she, Geoffrey

Wheeler, and I, undertook to pursue Ricardian activities, such as the

„year of three plays‟: 1975, when we went to Cleethorpes to see

Dickon, by Gordon Daviot [Josephine Tey], and twice to Stratford-

upon-Avon, to see John Ford‟s Perkin Warbeck and Shakespeare‟s

Richard III. One of the two latter involved staying at a quite ordinary

B&B – except for its novel South American restaurant, while the

other must have been the occasion when we had a sumptuous but

unappreciated lunch at the „Mucky Duck‟ [White Swan] at Minster

Lovell – we all had colds.

Anne had taken her degree in music, and was interested in music and dancing, and was thus a

natural recruit for the 1973 Lyons Corner House Medieval Feast, and the subsequent London

Branch dance team, which was formed to attend Nonsuch Dance classes, and so perform at the

Jubilee Medieval Banquet at Crosby Hall in 1975, as well as at Yorkshire Branch medieval

parties, when she joined the train travellers at the hotel (the White Swan, and subsequently the

Alhambra Court) in York. Her first costume was blue velvet with a white trim, followed by pink

Anne in medieval dress

13

silk with black and silver trim, and a tall steeple henin, which proved a little troublesome to

secure, and, failing hair pins, hat pins, combs, headbands, finally had to be secured by judicious

application of glue.

Anne took the Ricardian sales stock to events wherever it was needed, selling furiously to

American visitors in the courtyard of the London pub to which they had invited us: they were

starved of Ricardian items, and could not buy fast enough. Lalage Clay helped her a great deal

with sales, and I did on occasion: I remember an overnight visit to Leicester to sell at an early

conference, when we were slightly fazed to be offered a £50.00 note: not common currency even

now, and this was many years ago.

Anne taught history at Tolworth Girls‟ School, appreciating children once they became

sufficiently sentient to appreciate history, and, following her retirement, continued to offer

supply teaching: all the advantages of the role with none of the less appealing administration. She

also undertook adult education teaching, as well as attending numerous craft and historical

courses: I would receive postcards from interesting locations, explaining which course she was

doing, in return for mine from foreign parts. While she was teaching, Anne was not usually able

to attend „Melhuish Medieval Tours‟ as they took place in school term time, but she did come on

the first Bruges visit in 1974.

Although we had not met for some time, she and I had continued to keep in contact, with the

aforesaid postcards, and regular Christmas/birthday communication. She has died too soon, and

we shall all miss her very much.

With thanks for facts/reminiscences to, in alphabetical order: Lalage Clay, Carolyn

Hammond, John Saunders and Geoffrey Wheeler.

Elizabeth M. Nokes

Anthony Gayfer 1926 – 2010 Tony Gayfer was Treasurer of the Richard III Society from

1992 to 1996. It was his wife, Ruth, who was the Ricardian,

having joined the Society in 1971. Tony himself was a member

of the George Bernard Shaw Society; indeed, he was its

treasurer, and when Joyce Melhuish said that our Society

needed a treasurer, Tony volunteered.

He had joined in Richard III Society activities long before

becoming treasurer, winning the prize for the Most Original

Costume at the Jubilee Medieval Banquet of April 1975 held at

Crosby Hall. He went as an executioner, in a pair of black

tights, a black tee-shirt, his old R.N. sandals and a black mask,

and he wielded a splendid axe with a long handle which he

made himself. Other medieval banquets he attended as a monk.

As treasurer, of course, he husbanded the Society‟s money

carefully, but was always ready to agree to spend it when

something needed to be done, notably in helping Sutton Cheney

church with necessary repairs, including £750 in September

1995 for stonework in the south aisle.

At his funeral there were beer mats which bore on one side

the legend „Six pints of Special and a cycle ride home‟ and on the other „We believe CAMRA*

now has a new celestial branch‟.

Lesley Boatwright

* The Campaign for Real Ale.

Further obituary notes appear on p. 63.

14

15

News and Reviews

T o create a meaningful display on the Battle of Wakefield is no easy matter – there is hardly

any material to exhibit. No formal archaeological investigations have ever been done on the

tiny surviving fragment of battlefield; and a handful of artefacts found over the centuries,

together with human remains unearthed in the Victorian period, have mostly vanished without

trace. So, with this new temporary exhibition, Wakefield Museum has made something from

virtually nothing – but the achievement is deeply flawed.

The exhibition‟s main strength lies in three themed cases of objects („Weapons‟, „Wounds‟

and „Evidence‟), many of which are seldom seen by the public. Wakefield Museum has

contributed finds from its Sandal Castle collection, including arrowheads, spurs, weapon

components, ceramics and some fine painted window glass, alongside relevant small finds

borrowed from Towton and Bosworth, and two skulls from the mass graves at Towton Hall.

These authentic artefacts are supplemented by excellent replica items loaned by re-enactors:

surgical instruments, weapons and the kit to dress three mannequins for battle (an archer in a

jack, another in a brigandine, and a knight in a handsome full suit of armour). So far, so good –

although the inclusion of a skull fragment from Worksop Priory is a mistake; it has no proven

connection with the „battle‟ of Worksop and may pre-date the Wars of the Roses by several

hundred years.

Otherwise, the exhibition unabashedly plays to the crowd. On the gallery wall, a massed

schools performance of the choral work The Sun in Splendour runs in a continuous loop on a flat-

screen TV. I understand the rationale behind this: introducing a dynamic audio-visual element,

involving the local community and showcasing talents of which the performers can be justly

proud. Great for the participants and their families – unfortunately, it just doesn‟t work very well.

The dramatic impact is lost on the small screen, and the lyrics are unintelligible unless you stand

close – and get eye-strain as the low-resolution image decays into pixillated squares.

But the exhibition‟s greatest weakness lies in a questionable choice of centrepiece: a cartoon

interpretation of the battle by local artist John Welding, printed on banners arranged in a circle.

Around the outside, the main Yorkist and Lancastrian protagonists appear as rather sinister

caricatures with brief descriptions summed up in a word: Richard of York – „ambitious‟; Lord

Neville – „shifty‟; and Edmund of Rutland (as ever) – „young‟. While it may be necessary to

make the extremely complex politics and characters of Wars of the Roses accessible to a general

audience, this degree of dumbing down seems excessive – but even such a simplified version

deserves to be factually correct, which is not always the case as the story continues inside.

Here, the most significant episode in the city‟s medieval history is reduced to a comic-strip,

complete with speech-bubbles and Beano-style exclamations like „Cor!‟ and „Har!‟ It tells us that

as the armies head towards Wakefield, „battles big and small are fought on the way‟. News to me

– I‟ve only heard of the Worksop encounter – so if anyone can enlighten me regarding other

confrontations en route, I‟d appreciate the source references. Then the 15,000-strong Lancastrian

army is described as gathering in secret – a remarkable feat – with heralds shouting insults up to

York on his battlements. Thanks to this amusing image, the most unlikely and poorly evidenced

reason for the Duke‟s decision to give battle will now be lodged firmly in visitors‟ minds. But

apart from the misleading history, the worst gaffe is the scene of talking heads on Micklegate

Bar, where York, Rutland and Salisbury say respectively, „Oh, how humiliating‟; „Oh, boy‟; and

Exhibition: The Battle of Wakefield

Wakefield Museum, 23 October 2010 to 29 January 2011

16

„Good view from up here, though‟. About as respectful and appropriate as illustrating a First

World War battle with a corpse in no-man‟s land observing, „At least the rats are eating well‟.

Altogether, it‟s a shame. John Welding is a marvellous artist whose skills could have been far

better applied. I would have liked more of his moody evocations of Sandal Castle, and wish that

(for instance) he‟d been commissioned to work with West Yorkshire Archaeology Service to

create an accurate picture of the fifteenth-century battlefield landscape. So if you visit this

exhibition expecting the local museum to have marked the Battle of Wakefield‟s 550th

anniversary with a dignified, in-depth treatment, you may be as shocked as I was by its tabloid

approach.

In a word: disappointing.

Helen Cox

September 22 was a beautiful and very warm day and the people in Amsterdam were clearly

enjoying it as the terraces in front of the many pubs were all crowded. It was hard to believe that

it was already late September. Accompanied by a huge full moon I walked through the centre of

Amsterdam on my way to the beautiful nineteenth-century municipal theatre to see

Shakespeare‟s Richard III, played by the theatre company Orkater. I was lucky to have tickets for

the premiere as all the plays had very quickly sold out.

Orkater is a very respected company in the Netherlands, reaching a varied audience of around

70,000 visitors per year. To use their own description, „Orkater (a mixture of the Dutch words

orkest and theater – orchestra and theatre) primarily makes contemporary music-theatre. Orkater

holds dear the freedom with which performances are conceived, made and presented‟.

And so they conceived the idea of combining Richard III with the songs of Tom Waits and

his wife Kathleen Brennan.

Although I know Shakespeare was, in my opinion, the greatest propagandist with regard to

King Richard III, I was still very interested to see this play as it was originally through

Shakespeare that I first learned about „Dickon‟. I very quickly became interested in the real

Richard, and learned about his short and rather sad life and, of course, the misinformation

surrounding him. Besides this, I‟m also a Tom Waits fan, so to have Dickon singing music by

Waits was all the more reason to see the play.

The respected Dutch actor Gijs Scholten van Aschat played, and also sang, the role of

Richard III. He is not only a stage actor but has also appeared in films and television plays.

The play wasn‟t set in any particular time, and, although music was used, you can‟t compare

it with a musical; the songs were used more as an illustration, or to emphasise a scene. There was

also a band on stage, set at the far end, but on occasion the musicians played between, and

together with, the actors. It was fascinating to see a guitar-playing Ratcliffe!

Usually there is a closed curtain to hide the stage wall at the far end of the stage, with the

stage door being in the middle. Orkater didn‟t use the curtains and specifically not the one at the

far end, thus providing more space for the band, so it was quite strange to see a „bare‟ stage in

such a very classical nineteenth-century theatre.

After Richard committed his first murder, two huge metallic plates were lowered from the

ceiling. They ran counter to the stage and filled about a third of it, but leaving enough space for

the actors to walk between them towards the stage door at the far end and „exit the world‟. But,

unseen to the public eye, high up on either side of the stage, huge plastic bags and a metal chain

were also hung. These bags contained, amongst other things, rubbish like empty plastic bottles,

Shakespeare’s Richard III, with music by Tom Waits

The Orkater Theatre Company, Amsterdam

17

little pieces of wood, paper and styro foam. After Richard‟s first victim had walked between the

plates to „exit the world‟, two bags and a metal chain came swinging down from both sides to

crash heavily against the metal plates, accompanied by lots of flashing lights with a sound man

ramping up the crashes into an earthshaking evil roar of thunder while the bags relieved their

rubbish down on to the stage. From now on, every victim of Richard‟s would walk between the

plates while the bags and chain crashed against the plates to tell the audience he was murdered,

and a bigger mess was made. A nice metaphor for the „mess‟ Richard was creating for himself.

This made quite an impression at first, but after a few times the effect lost its meaning, for we all

know that Richard was creating a mess.

I also felt sorry to the crew who had to clean this up night after night.

The moments picked for the songs were good. Richard made use of them while he was

manipulating people, and the dark, raw songs of Waits, being sinister like Richard, fitted

perfectly with his evil intent. At other times the music was used to highlight the murders, with it

being the last thing his victims heard. On one occasion, full of fire, Richard and his cohort sang

the song „God‟s away on business‟ before killing Hastings.

However, in spite of this, it didn‟t really appeal to me. To hear actors play in Dutch and the

next moment sing in English didn‟t make sense to me. Had the lyrics been translated into Dutch

it would have made a big difference. But translating Tom Waits is not a job I would dream of!

Neither did I really like the way they acted. I‟m far from being an expert, but to my mind it was

all a bit overdone and the production and the music, as it was played, too neat. And on a personal

(musician‟s) note: an angry Elizabeth Woodville smashing up a guitar on the floor wasn‟t at all to

my liking. Even though it was a stage-prop guitar, I strongly disagree with instruments being

deliberately destroyed.

The Dutch translation of Richard III was done by the writer Gerrit Komrij and I think he did a

fantastic job.

Overall, I‟m glad to have seen this production so I can add it to my „collection‟ of Richard III

plays I have seen but, above all, I missed profundity in this one. As I like to put it: I had the

feeling the actors were acting from their minds, rather from their guts.

Johanna Hamminga

Note: Johanna tells us that an extra run of this play has been scheduled by the Orkater

Theatre Company from 17 to 26 August 2011.

Tower of London: classic cinema or Hollywood hokum?

Universal’s 1939 film now released as a DVD

1939 was a vintage year in USA cinema, so unsurprisingly this hastily-produced and late-

released film has suffered by comparison. The advance publicity promised much: „See ... blood-

boiling lusty excitement ... vast armies clash before your eyes!‟ posters headlined. „A royal thug,

blood-brother to the devil himself!‟ „From grim pages long hidden by time ... storms the gripping

drama of the most gruesome, most fascinating character in history!‟ Nothing could live up to this

hyperbole. Reviews were muted: „As a horror picture it is broadly etched, but still so strong that

it may provide disturbing nightmares as aftermath.‟ „Authentic crime robustly catalogued.‟ and

Time magazine reported: „Director Rowland V. Lee and his scriptwriter brother have boned

through 350 volumes of British history. This period thriller is less authentic than its elaborately

spookily realisation of London‟s Tower.‟

Unjustly neglected since, with a single outing on UK terrestrial TV (August 1980), though

more frequently seen in the States, and with only two screenings at London‟s NFT (1967, 1976)

in the past 45 years, its reassessment is long overdue. Though appreciated by film buffs devoted

18

to the genre, and respected by fans of its stars, several of whose biographies and websites include

appreciations too of the historical Richard, its release on DVD last year should ensure a wider

audience, and Observer film critic Philip French hailed it as a „cult classic, surprisingly literate‟,

and singled out scenes of „Richard charting his progress by manipulating figurines in a secret

cabinet representing the British court‟. (An inspired debt to Christie‟s Ten Little Indians.)

A cast drawn from notable British ex-pats is headed by Basil Rathbone‟s Richard, at his most

villainously suave. Despite references to his „crookback‟, he exhibits only a slight deformity and

has numerous opportunities to display his swordsmanship. It is Boris Karloff who, as with his

previous „monster‟ roles, has to undergo the most transformation into Richard‟s alter ego Mord,

the club-footed, bald executioner. Ian Hunter essays a bluff, hearty Edward IV, with Vincent

Price‟s Clarence, incipient drunkard, sneering pettishly into his lapdog‟s fur, completing the trio

of Yorkist brothers.

Impressive settings enhance its production values, with full-size exterior re-creations of

Traitor‟s Gate, the Wakefield and Bloody Towers, and costumes, on the whole well designed.

Variations on Richard‟s boar are particularly evident, but the odd eighteenth-century powdered

wig jars. For the ladies, the usual steeple hennins are mercifully absent, though replaced by

unusual butterfly headdresses, resembling the insect rather than the veiled creation.

Unfortunately, most of the original score by Charles Previn (uncle of André) was rejected early

on (a variation of the „Agincourt Carol‟ as a marching-song survives), to be replaced by more

melodramatic themes reprised from the studio‟s Frankenstein films.

Although reduced to around 50 minutes, the labyrinthine plot defies summarising, but what

follows is a résumé of the highlights: the presence of John Wyatt, probably based on the

Disappearing Duchess identified

Speculation arose as to the identity of the lady seen here who appears in several stills from the film Tower of London (Universal 1939) but never in the released film itself, billed only as ‘Dowager Duchess’. Cecily Neville might have been a possibility, with the unnamed priest Stillington or Morton, but the presence of Edward IV (centre) rules this out. Rather, she appears to be Anne Mowbray’s mother Elizabeth, described as ‘that old

crone’, whom the king attempts to marry off to Wyatt (right). An interested Richard looks on (left).

Still from Universal Films, 1939

19

historical Sir Henry,* but here a „cousin‟ of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, and the film‟s love

interest, at the execution of „Lord de Vere‟ (presumably John, Earl of Oxford, executed 1462)

arouses the displeasure of the king and Gloucester. Suggested by the notorious „diabolical

marriage‟, the king proposes a match between Wyatt and the aged duchess of Norfolk, but by

refusing he ends up in the Tower, and is later exiled. News that the Lancastrian Prince of Wales

(an improbable moustachioed middle-aged figure) has invaded prompts Richard to take the

imbecilic „paper-crown‟ King Henry VI to the ensuing Battle of Tewkesbury, but when he

survives Mord despatches him at his prayers on Richard‟s orders. Anne Neville, disguised as a

serving-maid by Clarence, is discovered by Mord and taken by Gloucester to the king who, as pre

-arranged, agrees to release her on condition that she marries Richard. Their betrothal is

announced, much to the chagrin of Clarence, at the wedding of Anne Mowbray to Richard of

York, here staged in St John‟s chapel, not Westminster. Their quarrel over the Warwick estates

and the duke‟s fate are brilliantly realised in a drinking-bout between the brothers, which

culminates in the inevitable butt of Malmsey.

1483 finds Wyatt in France with „that troublesome Henry Tudor‟. On his deathbed Edward

pardons him, encourages him to marry Alice, and names Richard as protector. News is brought to

the two princes, both apparently already in the confines of the Tower, at a game of tennis!

Edward V is proclaimed king, and at a council meeting Richard persuades him that he should be

re-united with his brother York, who has fled to sanctuary with the queen, and it is Hastings

(very much alive) who oversees his delivery. In almost no time the populace are murmuring „the

sentiment in the city is for a strong king‟ and confronting Richard, demanding that he must

accept the crown. (Buckingham‟s role has been ruthlessly excised from the story, as has his later

rebellion.) Richard feigns reluctance. Only after Wyatt‟s return, when persuaded by the queen he

steals the royal treasure, does Richard declare „Edward married beneath him. His son is not of

royal blood‟. After his capture and obligatory torture by Richard and Mord, Wyatt again escapes.

Richard vows to crush the queen‟s spirit once and for all, and orders the murder of the princes

(Millais‟ iconic images brought to life), at which, for once, Mord seems reluctant, and to feel

some compassion, but supervises the deed.

A fog-shrouded Bosworth pits Wyatt against Richard‟s henchman, who falls to his death

down an impossibly deep ravine. Richard‟s last duel is with Henry Tudor, and his body, deprived

of its circlet-crown, is dragged from the muddy field to the insults of soldiers. The final montage

shows Wyatt and Alice marrying at Henry‟s court, and the requisite happy ending.

Just what role a singing Cockney chimney-sweep (years ahead of Mary Poppins) plays in the

tale you will have to discover for yourselves.

The film is now available on video or DVD from the AV Library (contact details on inside

back cover).

* See the September 2010 Bulletin, p. 35.

Geoffrey Wheeler

Kevin Spacey plays Richard III a whole year earlier In the last Bulletin (p.30) we reported that Kevin Spacey was scheduled to play Richard III at the

Old Vic in 2012, news which we found in several sources (including the Press Association), so

the error appears to have been widespread.

We now hear that the production, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Kevin Spacey as

Richard, is scheduled for 18 June until 11 September this year, 2011, not 2012, and will not thus

be a rival attraction to the London Olympics.

Tickets went on sale for Old Vic Friends and Club Members in January, and were available to

the general public some time in February.

20

From our Jousting Correspondent In the last issue of the Bulletin (p.19) we reported that Graham Turner and his horse Magic had

won the Queen‟s Golden Jubilee Trophy, the most prestigious prize in jousting, at the Royal

Armouries, Leeds, in

August 2010. We now

have a picture of this

stirring occasion: Graham

and Magic are on the left.

Graham tells us that

he and Magic are training

through the winter to be

ready to build on their

successes last year. He

will put details of the

events for this year on his

website when he has them

(www.studio88.co.uk).

He will be exhibiting

his work at the Towton

commemoration on 17

April and at the Tewkes-

bury Medieval Festival (9-

10 July). He has made a

splendid new drawing of

Richard III at Bosworth,

of which more in June.

Graham Turner and Magic (left) in action

‘Perfect for the Ricardian in your life’ Philippa Langley recently came across this (extremely lengthy) website and thought it may be of

interest to readers, as it sells artefacts described as „perfect for the Ricardian in your life‟ (you do

have to enter the whole lot): www.zazzle.co.uk/richard_iii_motto_sticker-217899654653230325

The stickers are circular, two sizes, and show a detail of the stained glass window at York

Minister which has Richard‟s arms, boar and motto. Philippa says she couldn‟t resist, and has

ordered some (£4.95 for a sheet of 20 small ones, i.e. 1½ inches across).

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21

Morte d’Arthur at Stratford Little did we guess, when travelling to Stratford in late August 2010 to see this baggy, over-long

performance of Morte d’Arthur, directed by Greg Doran, what we would find. Suddenly, in the

form of Mordred, Arthur‟s wicked illegitimate son who steals his crown, we were confronted by

the villainous figure of „Wicked Uncle Richard‟, resplendent in black velvet doublet, inky hose,

and a natty shoulder-length bob as glossy as a crow‟s wing. On his back, a gilded hoodie raised

the height of the left shoulder by three or four inches. There was a funny walk too – not in the

manner of John Cleese, but more like a disabled insect hopping and gliding across the floor.

The programme told us that Mallory wrote Morte d’Arthur when he was himself in prison for

various crimes. He was a Lancastrian, and it is suggested that he was writing a commentary on

the times: the breakdown of medieval society during the Wars of the Roses and the replacement

of old loyalties amongst the aristocracy by political opportunism. From this, were we to assume,

with this production, that Mallory saw Richard III as the villain of the incredibly long saga that

he wrote?

This turned out to be an oversimplification of Mallory‟s own history. He was imprisoned for

exploiting the lawlessness of the time by acts of theft, extortion and possibly attempted rape but

when released in 1462 he fought under Warwick for the House of York. When Warwick

switched sides, Mallory turned his coat too. In 1468 he was back in prison for a failed

Lancastrian plot, probably imprisoned alongside the deposed Henry VI. In 1470 he was excluded

from the list of Lancastrian prisoners pardoned by Edward IV. He probably began to write Morte

d’Arthur in his early imprisonments but it was finished at last in 1470. His work complete,

Mallory died in the same year. Fifteen years later, in the fateful year of 1485, Caxton published

Morte d’Arthur.

Gillian Lazar

Medieval girl power comes to Bosworth Battlefield ... ... according to a press release issued on 28 January by Leicester County Council‟s Public

Relations Unit.

The free-entry exhibition at Bosworth in 2011 will be „The Medieval Woman: instrument of

the Devil, exulted above all angels‟. It will open on 2 February, and end on 30 December. It will

look at the roles of European women in the Middle Ages, and how they were perceived by the

Church and the Law.

„Girl power‟ is not an obvious aspect of medieval life, as the press release itself

acknowledges: „For much of the time girl power really did not feature in life as medieval women

had their lives controlled by men. A girl obeyed her father and a wife was the property of her

husband‟ ... „there were some opportunities for women to make their own lives, although they

were few and far between ...‟

Women could and did work alongside men in a few areas: in trades, and in the countryside,

where their „power‟ would be the sheer amount of physical slog they were able to put into

agricultural tasks. „Wealthy widows,‟ says the press release, „had a certain amount of

independence, although they could be required by the king to remarry to ensure their lands were

under male control. And the mothers and wives of important men could have enormous influence

on politics.‟

The women whose lives will be followed in the exhibition include Margaret Beautort, the

Empress Matilda, and Eleanor of Aquitaine „the strident mother of Richard the Lion-

heart‟ (strident is a belittling adjective for a forceful lady, if ever I heard one), Roesia de Verdun,

who founded Grace Dieu Priory in Leicestershire, and the French writer Christine de Pisan.

The highlight of the artefacts on display appears to be „a wonderful glass linen presser‟.

22

Shakespeare, George Buc and The Pinner of Wakefield Annette Carson‟s „Cautionary Tale‟ (Bulletin, September 2010, p.45) brought to mind some

passages in James Shapiro‟s book Contested Will (Faber & Faber 2010) on the seemingly endless

controversy – recently resurrected – of the Shakespeare authorship question (a controversy

second only to the re-establishment of Richard III‟s reputation, according to the late Prof. A.L.

Rowse) and a subject which seems also to exercise the minds of many Society members,

particularly Americans. This book should really, once and for all, put an end to the numerous

conspiracy theories that abound – a „must-read‟ for anyone remotely interested.

In his acknowledgement, towards the end of the work, Shapiro, a Columbia University

professor, admits, „One of the unspoken arguments of this book is that electronic resources can

only take scholarship so far; libraries and their largely untapped archival riches remain as crucial

as ever. Libraries have been a second home to me whilst researching this book.‟

His chapter on „The Evidence for Shakespeare‟ throws up a name familiar to Ricardians: „one

of those who recognized Shakespeare and knew him by name was George Buc, a government

servant, book collector, and eventually Master of the Revels – the officer to whom Shakespeare‟s

company would submit all play scripts for approval. A familiar acquaintance of the earl of

Oxford, Buc also knew Shakespeare well enough to stop and ask him about the authorship of an

old anonymous play published in 1599: George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, a copy of

which he had recently obtained. Shakespeare did his best to help Buc, recalling that the play had

been written by a minister, but at this point his memory apparently failed him. But Shakespeare

did volunteer an unusual bit of information: the minister acted in his own play, as the Pinner

(someone who impounds stray animals). A grateful Buc wrote down his finding on the quarto‟s

title page, leaving a space to insert the author‟s name later: “written by ... , a minister who acted

the pinner‟s part himself. Teste (i.e. witnessed by) W. Shakespeare”. Buc‟s flesh-and-blood

encounter with a man he knew both as an actor and a playwright suggests that once you begin to

put Shakespeare back into his own time and place, the notion that he actively conspired to

deceive everyone who knew or met him about the true authorship of his works that bore his name

seems awfully far-fetched.‟

Elsewhere (p.309) Shapiro interestingly relates, „While at work in the British Library, I called

up one of the two surviving copies of a volume of Elizabethan poetry called Licia or Poems of

Love, published anonymously in 1593. It contains 51 sonnets, along with an ode, an elegy and an

unusual poem about “The Rising to the Crown of Richard the Third”, told as if “written by

himself”. It was just the thing that might have caught Shakespeare‟s eye, busy at this time on his

own sonnets and working on his Richard the Third as well.‟

Geoffrey Wheeler

A French Book on Richard III Fred Hepburn has sent us news that Amazon are offering (for 17.10 euros instead of 18) a book

by Sophie Cassagnes-Brouquet entitled Meurtres à la Cour de Richard III, published by

Larousse in March 2008. The dust-jacket has Paul Delaroche‟s picture of the Princes in the

Tower sitting on a bed, clutching a book and looking apprehensively to their right.

The „author‟s presentation‟ given by Amazon says, „ ... Who is Richard III? A bloody tyrant

who did not hesitate to kill his young nephews to take the throne? Or perhaps a shrewd monarch

who tried to restore the greatness of the kingdom, and whose black legend was written by

chroniclers in the service of the rival dynasty of the Tudors? This king has divided opinions for

500 years; he benefits today also from several societies of friends working for his rehabilitation.

In the course of a breathless narrative, Sophie Cassagnes-Brouquet here presents some material

unpublished in French (présente ici des éléments inédits en français).‟

That presumably means „material not published before in French‟ rather than that she is

publishing, in French, material not published (anywhere) before. French scholars please confirm.

23

Medieval England was wealthier than the poorest modern nations Fiona Price has sent us a note about a paper, „British Economic Growth 1270-1870‟, from an

account by Matthew Cooper of the Press Association. The account does not give the paper‟s

place of publication, but says that the research was conducted by „economists at Warwick

University‟s Centre of Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy‟, led by Professor Stephen

Broadberry.

The researchers looked at manorial documents, farming and probate records, and concluded

that per capita incomes in medieval England were substantially higher than the „bare bones sub-

sistence‟ levels experienced by people living in poor countries in the modern world. Previous

estimates had been that incomes averaged 400 US dollars a head (£253) when compared with

currency values in 1990; the new work had shown that the figure was more like 1,000 US dollars

for the late medieval period in general, and about 800 dollars at the start of the Black Death in the

late 1340s.

Professor Broadberry is quoted as saying, „The majority of the British population in medieval

times could afford to consume what we call a “respectability basket” of consumer goods that

allowed for occasional luxuries. By the late Middle Ages, the English people were in a position

to afford a varied diet including meat, dairy produce and ale, as well as the less highly processed

grain products that comprised the bulk of the “bare bones subsistence diet”.‟

There is a page on Warwick University‟s website about the project. The link is:

www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/eri/bulletin/2010-11-1/broadberry

where you will find a link to a pdf of the whole paper (69 pages).

Anne Mowbray Update Peter Hammond writes: Members will remember the interesting article in the September Bulletin

by Bruce Watson, „Anne Mowbray, Duchess of York: her place in history‟. This set the scene for

the forthcoming publication of the research on the discovery of Anne‟s body in 1965. Some of us

went recently to hear Mr Watson talk about this work, and he updated us on the publication,

saying that he and his colleagues will be submitting a paper to the Antiquaries Journal this year.

This will probably be published next year.

He also mentioned a paper in the London Archaeologist in Summer 2010. There is a copy of

this in the Society‟s Papers Library, and a copy of the Antiquaries Journal article will be placed

there in due course.

Masterpieces of Medieval Art Tig Lang recommends that members look at the recent British Museum publication Masterpieces

of Medieval Art, by James Robinson, which has excellent illustrations. Among many other

beautiful things it shows a ring found on the battlefield of Towton, the Fishpool hoard buried

during the Wars of the Roses, and a sword of state which belonged either to Edward V or Edward

of Middleham.

The Society’s new print of King Richard’s Standard In the last issue (p. 6) we announced the production of an A4 print of King Richard III‟s

standard, designed by Geoffrey Wheeler. The pricing information needs clarification. The

members‟ price is £2, plus postage and packing of £1 for the UK, £1.50 for the EU, and £2 for

the rest of the world. We can also offer A3 prints, and framed A4: for prices, apply to the Sales

Liaison Officer, Sally Empson (contact details on inside back cover).

Apologies to Alison Coates for calling her Alison Carter in the account of the AGM in the last Bulletin and

on the caption to a picture of her selling raffle tickets in her character of Widow Jennyt Grooby.

24

Media Retrospective

Discoveries at Towton From Geoff Wheeler, who comments,

‘After the discoveries at Bosworth, the race

is on to find the earliest use of guns’.

Metro (newspaper given away on London

Underground), 3 December 2010, p.42: „First

bullets ever fired in battle found‟, by Fred

Attewill.

„Evidence of the first use of firearms on a

British battlefield nearly 550 years ago has

been uncovered. Bronze barrel fragments and

very early lead shot were unearthed by a

metal detectorist at the site of the 1461 battle

of Towton ... The fragments belonged to two

crudely cast, pole-supported guns which

exploded because of the cold as the battle

raged in a snowstorm, lab tests confirmed. ...‟

The short piece concludes with the comment,

„everybody has heard of King Richard III and

if it hadn‟t been for Towton ... he would not

have taken the throne.‟

Editor. Note the progressive sexing-up of this

story. The article itself says „evidence of the

first use on a British battlefield‟ rather than

„first evidence of the use on a British

battlefield‟ – and the subeditor has gone a

step further: „first bullets ever fired in

battle‟ (in the whole world?). A nice example

of misinformation in the making.

From Richard van Allen

The Economist, 18 December 2010, pp. 50-

52: „Nasty, brutish and not that short‟. No

author is named, but the subheading reads

„Towton. Medieval warfare was just as

terrifying as you might imagine‟ and the first

page (white writing on a black ground) is

mostly taken up by a full frontal picture of a

butchered skull.

„The soldier now known as Towton 25

had survived battle before. A healed skull

fracture points to previous engagements ...

But on March 29th 1461, his luck ran out.

Towton 25 suffered eight wounds to his head

that day. ... The first five blows were

delivered by a bladed weapon to the left-hand

side of his head, presumably by a right-

handed opponent standing in front of him.

None is likely to have been lethal. The next

one almost certainly was. From behind him

someone swung a blade towards his skull ...

the blow opened a huge horizontal gash into

the back of his head ... a slit you could post an

envelope through. ... Another small blow to

the right and back of the head ... Finally

another blade ... bisected his face, opening a

crevice that ran from his left eye to his right

jaw ...‟

This is a most interesting and well-written

article, largely concentrating on the

excavation process and the bones found. The

men were on average 1.71 metres tall, which

is just 4 cm. shorter than the average modern

Englishman. One of the original team of

excavators, Christopher Knüsel, is quoted as

saying, „It is only in the Victorian era that

people started to get very stunted‟. „Dietary

isotopes‟ from their kneebones showed that

the Towton bodies were fairly healthy, and, as

sugar was not widely available then, their

teeth were strong. There was some damage to

their teeth, though. „A few of the Towton

skeletons had been clenching their teeth

together so tightly that bits of them splintered

off.‟

In the 1980s, a brushfire enabled

archaeologists at Little Bighorn in Montana

(the scene of General Custer‟s last stand

against the native Americans in 1876) to map

the site using metal-detectors to locate bullets,

cartridge cases, and so on, which in turn

enabled them to trace the soldiers‟

movements over the battlefield. The

archaeologists tried to do the same at Towton.

The first search, for ferrous materials such as

arrowheads, turned up too much modern

ferrous debris, so they looked for non-ferrous

metals instead, the bits and pieces that

soldiers would have had about their persons:

„badges, belt-buckles, buttons, pendants and

coins that would have been ripped off during

the fighting. [This] proved to be much more

25

fruitful. After identifying clusters of these

personal effects, which seemed to mark the

main lines of battle, researchers went back to

looking for ferrous metals and started finding

a concentration of arrowheads. Arrows were

not the only things flying through the air that

day. Some of the first bullets were, too. The

Towton battlefield has yielded up the earliest

lead-composite shot found in England.‟

Many of the skeletons had suffered mul-

tiple blows. The article quotes Graeme Rimer

of the Royal Armouries as saying, „Given

how much damage you can do with one blow,

why land another twelve?‟ And there were

signs of mutilation: „marks on the left side of

Towton 32‟s head suggest that his ear had

been sliced off‟. Were these skeletons were

men who had fled from the battlefield?

„Disorientated, tired and outnumbered, their

enemies would have had time to indulge in

revenge. Even at this distance the violence is

shocking.‟

Disneyfication of historic buildings The September 2010 Bulletin had an extract

from English Heritage Conservation Bulletin,

Summer 2010, in which the Chairman of the

National Trust, Simon Jenkins, recommended

the restoration of ruins which had become

„just a work of art or piece of archaeology‟. It

was illustrated by a picture of Middleham

Castle, described as a „difficult-to-read ruin‟.

Geoff Wheeler has sent us more on Sir

Simon and his ideas.

Daily Telegraph 16 October 2010, „There are

things to learn from Disney ...‟ Interview with

Sir Simon Jenkins by Peter Stanford.

„The overwhelming message [Sir Simon]

picks up ... is one of approval as [the NT]

changes its ways from a museum-like

stiffness towards much great informality.‟ But

he is facing a members‟ revolt, and some

people are trying to secure an Extraordinary

General Meeting. „This is a battle for the soul

of the trust with the rebels opposing what

they see ... as the “Disneyfication” of historic

houses and the “suburbanisation” of the

countryside by the addition of trails, barbecue

plots and even facilities for surfers ...‟

„Though “Disneyfication” is meant as an

insult, Sir Simon prefers to see the positives.

“There are things we can learn from Disney.

There has been far too much hostile

presentation of the past in our houses – the

signs that say „do not enter‟, „do not touch

this piano‟ ... and all those roped-off areas. I

do not like ropes.‟ He does agree, however,

that there are things too fragile and precious

to be touched. „You cannot have blazing sun

on a medieval tapestry, or children bouncing

on an ancient bed. But it is jolly nice to have

a bed they can bounce on somewhere.‟

The „members‟ revolt‟ seems to have petered

out:

From Lesley Boatwright

National Trust Magazine, Spring 2011, p. 29.

„Looking lively!‟ Report on the National

Trust‟s AGM by Anthony Lambert.

„Chairman Simon Jenkins ... emphasised the

progress towards fulfilling the two messages

he had heard on becoming chairman: the need

to release the Trust from centralisation and to

relieve properties from “corporate identity”.

... He hoped members had noticed a

difference in the way properties are being

animated, but he stressed that every impact of

these changes had been assessed.‟

Talk about an EGM seems to have been

relegated to a discussion about bringing down

the costs, and „the likelihood of one being

called by a single-issue campaign using the

internet‟, though the paragraph on this matter

is obscurely worded. There was, however, a

„light-hearted debate on whether bringing our

properties to life means dumbing down‟. The

Architectural Editor of Country Life said „the

Trust‟s diverse properties called for more

scholarship to interpret them to an audience

eager for history‟. The Chief Curator at

Historic Royal Palaces said, „Some aren‟t

interested in history. We need to use new

ways to reach out.‟ The audience, said the

report, were in full agreement. With what?

Misjudging Henry VI From Geoff Wheeler

History Today, January 2011. „Henry VI: A

Misjudged King?‟ by Michael Hicks

„It is hard to imagine reigns more cata-

strophic than those of Henry VI (1422-61,

and 1470-71).‟ Unimposing, „no athlete, no

26

soldier or jouster and no orator‟, pious, but

completely passive and not in the best mental

health, Henry did not compare well with his

father Henry V.

However, „Henry‟s many critics, both

contemporary and modern, have overlooked

the sheer impossibility of governing mid-15th

-century England. Inheriting an unwinnable

war against the might of France, Henry was

plunged into a 15th-century credit crunch that

bankrupted him, denied him both revenues

and access to credit and enraged his subjects,

who expected government somehow to solve

its problems. .. [but] there could have been no

Wars of the Roses had he simply bowed to his

critics in 1450, 1452 and 1455 and transferred

the reins of government to [the duke of]

York .. there is more to his role than mere

resignation and delegation.‟

He carried out „all the formal duties of

office‟ ... „while taking responsibility for his

decisions, Henry did not acknowledge any-

body to whom he was accountable but God

and hence accepted no personal liability. .. He

simply refused to give way.‟ His loyalty to his

ministers was dangerous, and „his seemingly

eternal willingness to forgive ... did ultimately

enable the defeated Yorkists ... to prevail.‟

„Henry‟s greatest defect was in his man-

management skills, especially in his relations

with Richard, Duke of York. ... Henry

unfortunately accepted York as exceptional

and was unwilling to treat him as harshly or

violently as York had treated the king‟s other

ministers. It was a fatal flaw that brought both

men to ruin and to violent deaths.‟

Hicks ends by noting that Henry‟s

memory was cherished, and pilgrims came to

his tomb, both at Chertsey Abbey and later in

St George‟s Chapel, Windsor – and adds that

Richard III „probably used the pilgrims‟

offerings to finance the move [to Windsor]‟.

No evidence is adduced for this remark.

Also Observed: From Pamela Spence, Appleby

Beverley Advertiser, 12 August 2010

„Beverley Minister verger Neil Pickford

opens his history books.‟

„Cast your mind back, if you will, to the

glorious days of 1489 when the Tudor King

Henry VII was enjoying his fourth year of

rule after defeating our own Yorkist monarch

Richard III (cue loyal hissing from the back

of the class). ... we have recently opened the

Percy Chapel in our north east corner for

everyone to visit. This contains the tomb of

Henry Percy, the fourth Duke of Northumber-

land ... in the nasty and suspicious mind of

Henry VII a potential rival for the throne

itself. ... So how lucky it was for him that

Henry P. was killed in riots led by Sir John

Egremont of Yorkshire against increased

taxes ...‟

The column goes on to detail some of the

expenses incurred at Percy‟s funeral, from „a

surviving copy‟ (not further described). The

total bill, excluding the costs of the Percy

Chapel itself, came to £1,008 3s.4d., which in

modern terms would be £5.5 million.

From Fiona Price

Lawrence James, The Life and Legend of

Lawrence of Arabia (2005 edition)

„[Aldington] suggested that there might be

two Lawrences: one the figment of his own

and his friends‟ imagination ... and the other

quite different and far less attractive charac-

ter. By arguing ... Aldington had forced sub-

sequent biographers into two camps, traditio-

nal and revisionist. Lawrence was thrown into

that historical literary arena hitherto occupied

by figures such as Richard III, where cham-

pions and their adversaries rode their hobby-

horses into battle.‟

From Susan Toet, Northampton

Beautiful Britain, November 2010

Tower of London, London:

„Hampton Court is not the only royal palace

putting an an ice show this winter. The Tower

of London is famous as a prison for out-of-

favour royalty, but it was actually founded by

William the Conqueror as a luxurious London

residence. The ice rink is in the moat around

the Tower. Skate beneath its battlements and

the White Tower, one of London‟s best-

known landmarks, and take a tour inside to

see where tragic claimants to the throne Lady

Jane Grey, Mary Queen of Scots and the

young sons of Henry VI – the Princes in

the Tower – were kept in captivity.‟

27

Paul Murray Kendall, born 1911:

a Centenary Tribute

JOHN SAUNDERS

P aul Murray Kendall was born in 1911, and this year we are celebrating the centenary of this

iconic biographer of Richard III. We begin with an appreciation by Compton Reeves,

historian and member of the American Branch, who

provides a comprehensive account of Kendall‟s life and his

academic achievements. His daughters Callie and Gillian

will be visiting England for the anniversary of their

father‟s birth, as his ashes were scattered on the battlefield

of Bosworth after his death. We shall carry a report on

their visit in the June Bulletin. They have very kindly

agreed to be interviewed about their father and we shall

also carry this in the next issue.

During 2005, the fiftieth anniversary year of the

publication of his Richard the Third, we published a

number of articles in the Bulletin about Kendall, his book

and its impact on the development of the Society. First

published in England during December 1955, it had

significant impact on Ricardian studies and remains a most

important landmark in the progress of revisionist opinion.

In the words of our late Chairman, Jeremy Potter,

„(Kendall) was the long awaited answer to the revisionists‟

prayers. Here at last was the champion of their dreams, and

a historian well disposed towards Richard who could not

be summarily dismissed as insane like Buck, perversely

eccentric like Walpole, femininely romantic like Halstead or an interloping adventurer like

Markham. Here too was the perfect complement to Josephine Tey. What she achieved at a

popular level he was to match in the world of scholarship.‟

Kendall‟s book was to reign as the principal biography of Richard III for the next quarter-

century and it certainly remains the best written. That it remained so for the important formative

years of the Richard III Society was a distinct advantage. Over the years, Josephine Tey‟s The

Daughter of Time, Olivier‟s Richard III, and Kendall‟s biography of the king have inspired many

to find out about the real Richard III and for many also to join the Society.

A contemporary noted of Kendall‟s character that „always he was a man who found fun and

delight in everything he did, from sowing a lawn to carrying out prodigious researches into

remote areas of history. To him the past was every bit as real as the present.‟ He died in the

autumn of 1973 and his obituary in The Times recorded that „he had a singular gift for writing

vividly and excitingly, while remaining wholly reliable as an historian‟. As we commemorate the

centenary of his birth we should again recall words written by Compton Reeves back in 1995 „…

we students of Richard and his era must in all fairness and candour acknowledge our debt to an

Ohio University Professor of English‟.

Paul Murray Kendall

28

Paul Murray Kendall and his

biography of Richard the Third

COMPTON REEVES

F ifty-six years after its publication in

1955 Paul Murray Kendall‟s Richard the

Third is still in print, and that is an amazing

feat for any book, perhaps especially for a

book on a topic of fifteenth-century English

history. It would be interesting (if impossible)

to know the percentage of today‟s Ricardians

for whom the first non-fiction book they read

about King Richard III was Kendall‟s

Richard the Third. Any book that has

remained in print for so long can only be

judged to have been an excellent introduction

to its subject, and readers of the Bulletin

might be interested in a brief account of

Kendall‟s life, and reading about some of the

early reactions to his Richard the Third.

Kendall spent the majority of his

academic career teaching English at Ohio

University in Athens, Ohio, USA. The

English Department and the Archives and

Special Collections Department at Alden

Library, Ohio University, together with

conversations with Kendall‟s daughter Callie,

have made it possible to put together this

sketch of Kendall‟s life.

Paul Murray Kendall was born on 1

March 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

and graduated from Frankfort High School in

that suburb of Philadelphia in 1928. Outside

of school, Kendall enjoyed tennis, and

became a junior champion in Philadelphia. He

continued his love of tennis, and remained a

good player in adulthood. From Philadelphia,

he moved on to the University of Virginia,

where he took all of his profesional training:

A.B. in 1932, A.M. in 1933, and Ph.D. in

1939. Before completing his doctorate,

Kendall became, in 1937, an instructor in the

English Department at Ohio University. His

primary teaching responsibility was

Renaissance literature with an emphasis upon

Shakespeare. Shakespeare was Kendall‟s

forte, and the history plays were his best

loved. There are stories of students bringing

folding chairs into his fully subscribed Ohio

University classes to get a dose of

Shakespeare according to Kendall, and it was

in contemplating Shakespeare‟s Richard III

that Kendall became curious about the man

behind the bard‟s portrait.

Kendall did not immediately, however,

become one of the more notable members of

the university‟s teaching staff. It was not until

1947, for instance, that he was granted tenure,

and in a letter of 14 May 1951, having

recently turned forty, he expressed the hope

that he might at least be considered for

promotion from Associate Professor to

Professor. Kendall seems to have been

slightly too unconventional for some staid

figures in the Dean‟s office.

He had in 1950 been awarded the

Marburgh Play Prize from The Johns Hopkins

University for his three-act play, The Ant

Village, and he had published some light

verse in such magazines as the Saturday

Evening Post, and a scholarly article on

Shakespeare‟s Troilus and Cressida in a

Festschrift. In the 1951 letter noted above,

Kendall mentioned he had „finished about a

third of a fictional-biographical study of

Richard III, the object of which is to show

that Shakespeare‟s portrait of that monarch is

totally unhistorical‟. In the spring 2005 issue

of the Ricardian Bulletin Callie Kendall

wrote that she was not sure just when King

Richard became a member of the Kendall

family, but it was certainly by 1951.

Kendall could not have helped but feel a

vote of professional confidence when he was

awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship for

1952-53, and the fellowship gave a boost to

29

the completion of Richard the Third, which

was published by W.W. Norton in 1955.

Norton brought out another printing of the

book in 2002 which included an introduction

by his daughter Gillian. In that introduction

she wrote: „My father set himself the fraught

task of retrieving an icon of evil from a work

of great literature [Shakespeare‟s Richard

III].‟ Gillian Murray Kendall went on to say:

„To rescue Richard the Third from fiction and

bring him back into history required a

biography with literary as well as scholarly

merit.‟ The reviews of the book when it

appeared in 1955 were entirely friendly,

suggesting that Kendall achieved the goal he

set for himself as a biographer.

E.F. Jacob, who was six years away from

publishing his volume in the Oxford History

of England series, The Fifteenth Century,

1399-1485, wrote in the Manchester

Guardian (13 January 1956), „This new life

of Richard III has two principal merits: it

deals with his whole career, not merely with

the last two years; and it is carefully

constructed from original authorities‟, and

went on to credit Kendall with „distinguishing

between genuine contemporary testimony

(even if much of that is hearsay) and Tudor

myth, and making it clear when resort is had

to conjecture‟.

R.B. Dooley, writing in the Catholic

World (November 1956) said: „In all the

reams of writing in print that have been

spilled by the enemies and friends of Richard

III, this is actually the first objective

biography‟.

To mention but one more early review,

A.L. Rowse stated in the Chicago Sunday

Tribune (26 August 1956) that „Mr. Kendall

has achieved the best biography of Richard III

that has been written‟. In a review a few

years later, in a demonstration of independent

and unencumbered judgment, Kendall

eviscerated Rowse‟s Bosworth Field and the

Wars of the Roses (1966), and Rowse was

immensely displeased.

As Kendall‟s first book, Richard the Third

had admirable reception and was a runner-up

for the National Book Award in 1956, as well

as being picked one of the best books of the

year by the American Library Association.

Two years after Richard the Third,

Kendall had two more books appear:

Warwick the Kingmaker and History of Land

Warfare. For the academic year 1957-58

Kendall had the first of his two Guggenheim

Fellowships; the second was for 1961-62.

Warwick the Kingmaker won the Ohioana

Award in 1958 as the best nonfiction book

published by an Ohioan in the previous year,

and the New York Times called it one of the

top biographies of 1957. By this time Kendall

had been promoted to professor and in 1959

Ohio University named Kendall and two

other professors the first Distinguished

Professors in the history of the University.

Kendall was not yet finished with fifteenth

-century England, for The Yorkist Age

appeared in 1962 and his second Ohioana

Award followed in 1963. A work edited and

introduced by Kendall was published in 1965:

Richard III: The Great Debate: Sir Thomas

More’s History of King Richard III and

Horace Walpole’s Historic Doubts on the Life

and Reign of King Richard III, and in the

same year there appeared The Art of

Biography, for which Kendall was nominated

for the Pulitzer Prize and which demonstrated

that he had thought hard about the writing of

biography. It is appropriate to mention that

when the biographer of nineteenth-century

United States history, Stephen B. Oates, was

offered a professorial chair at the University

of Massachusetts at Amherst he chose to call

it The Paul Murray Kendall Chair of

Biography.

Further recognition followed for Kendall

during his lifetime. The Ohio Board of

Regents named him a Regents Professor in

1966 and renewed the appointment each year

until 1969 when he was named permanent

Regents Professor. In 1970 Kendall retired

from Ohio University to join Professor

Charleton Hinman in the teaching of

Shakespeare at the University of Kansas.

Kendall was continuing with other projects

also, most notably his projected edition, with

Professor Vincent Ilardi of the University of

Massachusetts, of the fifteenth-century

Milanese ambassadorial dispatches. It was

while at Kansas, in 1971, that Kendall‟s final

historical biography, that of King Louis XI of

30

France, was published. Meanwhile, Ohio

University, where Kendall had taught for

thirty-three years, awarded its Regents

Professor Emeritus an honorary Doctor of

Humane Letters degree.

It should be noted that Kendall was not

the only author living under his roof. In 1939

Kendall married Carol Seeger, one of his

students at Ohio University, and Carol Seeger

Kendall was an author in her own right. She

won an Ohioana Award in 1960 and was

runner-up for the 1960 Newberry Award for

one of her children‟s novels, The Gammage

Cup (issued in Britain as The Minnipins),

published the previous year. Kendall himself

wrote a novel, My Brother Chilperic, which

was published posthumously, in 1979.

The Kendalls had two daughters, Carol

and Gillian, but only the elder had been born

when Richard the Third appeared, and hence

the dedication of the book „To my two

Carols‟. Daughter Carol subsequently

changed her name to Caroline, and is known

as Callie. Callie is a writer, editor, and

researcher, and her son Christopher Kendall

„Tick‟ Ahearn is following a career in

publishing. Gillian Kendall is a professor of

English at Smith College in Massachusetts

where she teaches Shakespeare and other

English courses. She married Robert Dorit, a

professor of biology at Smith College, and is

the mother of Sasha and Gabriel Dorit-

Kendall. Kendall‟s widow resides in

Lawrence, Kansas. Callie Kendall speaks of

her father‟s vast knowledge of historical facts

and the playing of family games similar to

„Twenty Questions‟ – he could stump

everyone with his knowledge of Napoleon‟s

generals – but he displayed an occasional lack

of awareness of the minutiae of life. Kendall

was as great at organizing the details of a trip

as he was at organizing the details of a written

narrative but, in spite of an admiration for

technology, was not especially handy around

the house. He always wore a suit and tie, a

black tie until a class of students imposed

variety upon him, and owned no sport shirts.

Even when tending his garden, which was

known for its tomatoes and flowers, he would

simply remove his suit coat and perhaps his

tie. Callie remembers her father‟s enthusiasm

for the things that he cared about: following

the Ohio University baseball and football

teams, as well as the New York Yankees. He

was an avid fan of American football, and of

English football as well, where he rooted for

Arsenal and did the pools.

Paul Kendall did not have long to work on

the University of Kansas campus in

Lawrence, for he died in Lawrence on 21

November 1973 at the age of sixty-two.

Kendall had been a heavy smoker, and he

died of lung cancer. His ashes were scattered

on Bosworth Field in Leicestershire. In his

career Kendall had written extensively, and

although King Richard III was not his

singular passion, he did a major service for

the study of Richard. He told Richard‟s story

in a compelling fashion and, even if historians

might grumble that Kendall put a major issue

like the disappearance of Edward IV‟s sons in

an appendix of Richard the Third, there could

be no disparaging the interest Kendall

stimulated in the life and reign of King

Richard III.

Books by subsequent writers have

deepened and made more subtle our

understanding of Richard and his times, but

while delving into such tomes as Charles

Ross‟s Richard III (1981), P.W. Hammond‟s

and A.F. Sutton‟s Richard III: The Road to

Bosworth Field (1989), Rosemary Horrox‟s

Richard III: A Study in Service (1989), A.J.

Pollard‟s Richard III and the Princes in the

Tower (1991), or M.A. Hicks‟s Richard III

(2000), students of Richard and his era must

in all fairness and candor acknowledge a

genuine debt to an Ohio University professor

of English born exactly one hundred years

ago, whose own book on Richard III first

appeared in 1955.

About the author:

Compton Reeves is a past Chairman of the

American Branch and Professor Emeritus at

Ohio State University, where Paul Murray

Kendall spent most of his career. Professor

Reeves‟ articles in the Bulletin include

„Cathedral Deans of the Yorkist Age‟ (2008)

and „King Richard III at York in Late

Summer 1483‟ (2002).

31

The Man Himself Hall, More and Shakespeare: are their descriptions of Richard III accurate?

ARIANA ELLIS

Ariana is a pupil in Grade 12 at the Northern Seconary School in Toronto, Canada. She wrote

this essay as part of her Ancient Civilisation course. They were asked to choose a topic and write

a paper on it, and Ariana chose Richard III. She says, „Richard is a historical figure I have long

found interesting. What specifically draws my attention to Richard is the pursuit of the true man

behind the written history, particularly the mystery surrounding his true character, and the

discrepancies in the many differing viewpoints relating to him as a man and as a king. I elaborate

on specific discrepancies in my essay.‟

The majority of information on medieval

personalities used as proof in modern day

historical papers is gleaned from sources

written by notable and trusted contemporary

authors of the period. However, these authors

were not free from bias and influence from

outside sources. This lack of objectivity exists

within the texts, Hall’s Chronicles written by

Edward Hall, The History of King Richard III

by Thomas More, and The Tragedy of King

Richard III by William Shakespeare. These

sources depict King Richard III as an evil,

sinful, conniving and treacherous tyrant with

physical deformities; however, conflicting

information, including that taken from the

aforementioned texts, leads us to question the

image of King Richard III, creating

reasonable doubt as to the accuracy of this

description of his physical appearance,

personality and leadership style.

Richard III has been depicted as greatly

disfigured in all three previously listed

contemporary sources. Confl ict ing

information derived from earlier writings,

nineteenth century analytical resources and

from Hall’s Chronicles itself provides

opposing views. In Shakespeare‟s The

Tragedy of King Richard III, Richard III is

described as a „bunched backed toad‟,1 which

refers to his hunched physique. However,

conflicting evidence can be found within

Sean Cunningham‟s Richard III A Royal

Enigma and Emma Smith‟s Shakespeare’s

Histories. In reference to the „broken sword‟

portrait of Richard III, Sean Cunningham

writes that an „x-ray … of the portrait reveals

deformity of the left hand and a crude hump

painted onto the left shoulder‟.2 Furthermore,

in Emma Smith‟s book, she writes that „A

portrait…painted about 1505, shows a

Richard with straight shoulders, but a second

portrait seems to emblemize the whole

controversy, for in it, x-ray examination

reveals an original straight shoulder line,

which was…painted over to present the raised

right shoulder …‟3 These x-rays of Richard‟s

portraits raise doubts regarding the truth of

Richard‟s disfiguration, as his deformities

were not originally included within the

paintings.

In Thomas More‟s The History of King

Richard III, he writes that Richard is „little of

stature‟.4 However, both modern and

historical writings raise doubts regarding

More‟s assertion. While on diplomatic travels

for the Holy Roman Emperor, Ambassador

Nicolas Von Poppelau visited England. While

staying at the royal court, Poppelau described

his meeting with Richard III in his travel

diary. Poppelau writes that Richard is „Three

32

fingers taller than himself‟.5 Armstrong writes

that Poppelau is thought to be a „big man‟ in

relation to his „extraordinary strength‟, and so

Richard III‟s height must have been

considerable.6

In a modern day context, a letter in the

British Medical Journal states that „Richard

… no doubt…didn‟t make much of a showing

beside his brothers Edward and George …

Poppelau tells us, however, that Richard was

taller … by three fingers, although slighter …

this suggests not ... small… but possibly tall

and thin”.7 Another article, discussing old

age, height and nutrition during the medieval

period, confirms the average male height

during the medieval period to be 5‟ 7½” and

Edward IV‟s height to be 6‟3” and described

as exceeding tall.‟8 Based on this research,

Richard III may have been considered short

and thin in comparison with his brothers, but

tall in comparison to the average male of the

medieval period.

Thomas More also includes the following

description of Richard III in his book: „Of

body he was but low, crooked-backed, hook-

shouldered, splay-footed, and goggle-eyed;

his face little and round, his complexion

swarthy, his left arm from his birth dry and

withered; born a monster in nature, with all

his teeth, with hair on his head, and nails on

his fingers and toes: and just such were the

qualities of his mind.‟9 The accuracy of

More‟s information can be doubted due to the

source of his information, his phrasing, and

contemporary sources of the period. Thomas

More was a young child when Richard III

was killed, and so obtained his information

from Morton, Bishop of Ely, a man he

deemed to be a reliable source. However,

Morton was known for his dislike of Richard

III, due to Richard‟s discovery of an

attempted rebellion in which Morton was

involved, and his subsequent house arrest

with the Duke of Buckingham. This dislike

would have likely led to bias on Morton‟s

part, tainting the information he provided to

More.

When More writes about Richard‟s

appearance, he includes the comment, „as the

fame runs‟,10 which indicates that this

description is a rumour and not factual

evidence. Descriptions of Richard prior to the

Tudor dynasty do not include any distinct

references to Richard‟s physical deformities.

In fact, contemporary historians who disliked

Richard used his attractive physique as a

means of describing an evil character. Rous, a

contemporary historian, writes „ut scorpio

vultu blandiens, cauda pungens, sic et ipse

cunctis se ostendit’. which, roughly

translated, means „when the scorpion

[Richard] smiled to flatter, the poisonous tail

had yet to show itself‟.11* In other words,

Richard‟s smile and good looks fooled others,

and hid the evil personality beneath. In the

works of Hall, More and Shakespeare, small

stature and physical deformity were used as

indications of a vile personality. However,

conflicting evidence arising from a variety of

contemporary and modern sources give rise to

questions regarding the accuracy of these

historical depictions.

The works of Hall, More and Shakespeare

use the physical appearance of Richard III as

an indicator of his evil personality. However,

Richard‟s actions, factual evidence and the

writings of others from the period dispute the

accuracy of these authors‟ statements on

Richard‟s personality. During Richard‟s

initial soliloquy in Shakespeare‟s play, he is

portrayed as a disloyal character. This is

evident in the lines: „Plots have I laid,

inductions dangerous, by drunken prophecies,

libels and dreams, to set my brother Clarence

and the king in deadly hate the one against the

other … This day should Clarence closely be

mew‟d up, about a prophecy, which says that

G of Edward‟s heirs the murderer shall

be.‟12 The disloyal nature displayed in this

quotation can be questioned based on

contemporary evidence. When Edward IV

was forced into exile during 1470, Richard

remained by his side, fighting with his brother

until the throne was regained. Edward IV

confirmed his brother‟s loyalty through his

letter to Pope Sixtus IV in 1482, in which he

wrote, „Thank God, the giver of all gifts for

the support received from our most loving

brother.‟13 Shakespeare‟s play also describes

Richard III as ungenerous. This is evidenced

in his dialogue with Buckingham.

„Buckingham: I am thus bold to put your

33

grace in mind of what you promised me. King

Richard III: … thou keep'st the stroke betwixt

thy begging and my meditation. I am not in

the giving vein to-day.‟14 This quote causes

the reader to assume that Richard is only

generous when it is in his best interests. This

conclusion can be disputed based on

Richard‟s actions.

An excerpt from Richard‟s letter to the

Great Wardrobe concerning clothing for his

son‟s investiture illustrates Richard‟s

generosity towards members of his family.

„We wolle & charge you to deliver unto the

bringere hereof for us thise parcelles folowing

that it to say First one doublet of purpille

satyne lyned with holand clothe and

entrelyned with Buske, one doublet of

Tawney sattyn lyned in likewise, ij short

gowns of Cremsyne clothe of gold that one

with droppis & that other with nettes lyned

with grene velvet …‟15

Richard‟s generous nature towards others

is exhibited through his instructions relating

to the repairs to be done on a church. „… we

of our grace … have graunted unto oure

trusty and wel belovede in god Thabbot &

Convent of Coverham xxli of money

towardes the belding theire Churche and

reperacione of other things necessarie within

thaire place...we therefore wolle & charge

you to content & pay unto the said Abbot &

Convent the said somme ...‟.16 Overall, the

information provided by a variety of

historical sources is antithetical to the portrait

of Richard‟s personality and its effect on

others painted by the renaissance authors

Hall, More and Shakespeare.

According to all three historical sources,

Hall, More and Shakespeare, Richard‟s

personality and evil acts made him unpopular

with the general public. However,

information from Hall’s Chronicles, York

City Records and the personal

correspondence of citizens creates doubt as to

their accuracy. In Hall’s Chronicles, the

author includes the following sentence. „Thus

King Richard … grew to high praise and

honour, and then by the admiration and

judgement of the common multitude he was

most esteemed to be exalted into heaven‟.17

This phrase indicates that the common people

had a high regard for Richard; conflicting

information to that provided by Hall himself,

More and Shakespeare.

Another example of the populace‟s regard

for Richard can be found in the York City

Records dated 1485. Following Richard‟s

death at the battle of Bosworth, it was

recorded that „King Richard, late mercifully

reigning over us was piteously slain and

murdered to the great heaviness of this city.‟18

Overall, the information provided by a variety

of historical sources is antithetical to the

portrait of Richard‟s personality and its effect

on others painted by the Renaissance authors

Hall, More and Shakespeare.

Hall, More and Shakespeare all imply that

Richard was a bad ruler who only thought of

helping himself. These sources make direct

references to Richard‟s cruelty and tyranny.

Contradictory evidence can be found in the

writings of Hall and John Stow, author of A

Survey of London in 1598. Richard III‟s

address at Westminster in 1483 indicates a

rule based on lawfulness and fairness. „…

justly and duly administer the laws without

delay or favour, (dispensing justice)

indifferently to every person, as well as to

poor as to rich.‟19 This speech indicates that

Richard III intended to carry out the laws of

England and consider persons of all different

classes equally. This is diametrically opposed

to the image produced in Hall‟s Chronicles,

More‟s history and Shakespeare‟s play.

According to Richard‟s letters, he also

contributed to the Church and to education.

This is evidenced by John Rous‟ description

of Richard‟s contributions in 1486. „This

King Richard was praiseworthy for his

building, as at Westminster, Nottingham,

Warwick, York, and Middleham, and many

other places … He founded another in the

church of St. Mary of Barking, by the Tower

of London, and endowed the Queen's College

at Cambridge with 500 marks annual rent.

The money which was offered him by the

peoples of London, Gloucester, and

Worcester he declined with thanks, affirming

that he would rather have their love than their

treasure.‟20 This description indicates that

Richard was a ruler interested in helping his

subjects and contributing to the improvement

34

of society; contradicting the descriptions

found throughout Hall‟s Chronicles, More‟s

History of King Richard III and Shake-

speare‟s The Tragedy of King Richard III.

Finally, Hall‟s information and an Annal

written by John Stow indicate that Richard III

listened to his subjects and passed laws for

the benefit of England. John Stow‟s writing

includes a reference to Richard‟s actions in

Woodstock. „The king then removed to

Oxford, and to Woodstock, where by popular

request he disafforested a great area of the

country which King Edward IV his brother

had annexed and incorporated in the forest of

Wychwood under forest law, against

conscience and to the public damage.‟21 This

quotation indicates that Richard took the

people‟s opinions into account when making

decisions regarding his kingdom.

In Hall‟s Chronicles, the author mentions

Richard‟s actions in Parliament, and includes

the sentence, „[Richard] enacted many good

laws and profitable estates, one against

strangers and foreign wrought wares

[taxes].‟22 Since this fact is embedded within

an anti-Richard source it indicates its truth,

and contradicts the assertion that Richard was

a ruler who did nothing to benefit the people.

In summation, there appear to be

discrepancies between Richard‟s leadership

style as described in Hall, More and

Shakespeare, and his leadership style as

illustrated through contemporary evidence

from the period.

The Renaissance sources Hall‟s

Chronicles, Thomas More‟s The History of

King Richard III, and Shakespeare‟s The

Tragedy of King Richard III describe King

Richard III as a tyrannical ruler with an evil

personality and physical deformities.

However, conflicting information garnered

from both historical and modern sources

generates reasonable doubt as to the accuracy

of these Renaissance descriptions. Differing

opinions regarding this controversial king

continue to arise, confirming the thoughts of

the City of York. Richard III truly is „The

most famous prince of blessed memory‟.23

Notes 1 Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard

III, Act IV Scene 4. 2 Cunningham, Sean, Richard III: A royal

enigma, (TNA, 2003), p.96. 3 Smith, Emma J., Shakespeare’s Histories,

Blackwell Guides to Criticism, 2003, p. 49 4 More, Thomas, The History of King

Richard, (Hesperus Classics, 2005), p.7. 5 Mancini, Dominic, The Usurpation of

Richard III, ed. C.A.J. Armstrong (Alan

Sutton, 1984) , p. 137. 6 Armstrong, ibid. 7 Letter from Jeremy Potter in British Medical

Journal, 25 February 1978, p.506. 8 Felinah Memo Hazarah Khad-ad-Din, Old

Age, Height and Nutrition: Common miscon-

ceptions about medieval England, 2003:

www.sirguillaume.com/Downloads/

Old_Age-Height-Nutrition.pdf 9 More, p.7. 10 More, p. 7. 11 Rous, Historia, ed. Alison Hanham,

Richard III and his Early Historians 1483-

1535, 1975, p. 120. 12 Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene 1. 13 Hammond, P.W. and Anne F. Sutton,

Richard III, the Road to Bosworth Field

(Alan Sutton 1985), p. 86. 14 Shakespeare, Richard III, Act IV, Scene 2. 15 Horrox, Rosemary, and P.W. Hammond,

British Library Harleian Manuscript 433,

vol. II, p. 42. 16 Horrox and Hammond, op. cit., p. 20 17 Hall, Chronicles, p. 380. 18 York House Books, ed. Lorraine Attreed

(Alan Sutton, 1991), vol. 1, p. 368. 19 See The Coronation of Richard III: the

Extant Documents, ed. P.W. Hammond and

Anne F. Sutton (Alan Sutton, 1983), p. 25 20 Rous, Historia, in Hanham, loc.cit. 21 Stow, John, A Survey of London (1598). 22 Hall, Chronicles, p.381. 23 York House Books, vol. 1, p. 373.

* Editor‟s note: the more literal translation

of the Latin is „like a scorpion, flattering with

his face, stinging with his tail, he [Richard]

too thus showed himself to all‟.

35

‘Beeth of good comfort, and

dreadeth not’: Edward IV and the

Battle of Mortimer’s Cross DAVID SANTIUSTE

T he year 2011 marks the 550th

anniversary of several battles of the

Wars of the Roses.

Whilst the Battle of Towton will

understandably receive most attention, the

other battles should also be remembered. The

Battle of Mortimer‟s Cross, fought on 3

February 1461, was much less significant in

terms of size than Towton, but in certain other

respects it was vital to the Yorkist cause.

Above all, the battle was a key moment in the

career of the young Edward of York, shortly

afterwards Edward IV. His victory at

Mortimer‟s Cross, which appeared to be

divinely inspired, confirmed Edward‟s

emergence as a formidable military leader.

In order to understand the background to

these events we must return to the previous

year, to October 1460, when a Parliament was

gathered at Westminster. On 10 October the

assembly witnessed the arrival of Edward‟s

father, Richard, duke of York, who then

publicly claimed the throne. York met a cold

reception, however. Yorkist forces had

crushed a royal army at Northampton in July,

but the majority of the lords were still

reluctant to depose Henry VI. Eventually, in

London, a strange compromise was agreed:

Henry would remain king until he died,

although York would become his heir. But of

course this disinherited Henry‟s son, the

young Prince of Wales, and Margaret of

Anjou could hardly have been expected to

honour such an agreement. Within weeks, the

Yorkist leaders were preparing for renewed

civil war.

The Yorkists divided their existing forces

into three. The earl of Warwick remained in

London, while Duke Richard marched out to

confront the growing Lancastrian army in the

north. The third part was entrusted to Edward,

then earl of March, who received his first

independent command. Edward was still only

eighteen years old, but he had already gained

military experience. His first exposure to

warfare came at the first battle of St Albans,1

when he had barely reached his teens,

although it is unlikely that Edward took an

active part in the fighting there. He probably

„won his spurs‟ during the skirmish at

Newnham Bridge, fought on St George‟s Day

1460, when the duke of Somerset‟s forces

were repulsed from Calais. We can be certain

that he subsequently fought at the Battle of

Northampton, where Wavrin tells us that

Edward‟s men were the first to breach the

Lancastrian defences.2

Leaving London in early December,

Edward was despatched to the heartland of

the House of York: the Welsh Marches.

Edward spent Christmas at Shrewsbury (or

perhaps Gloucester), where he gathered

further troops. His army included several men

who would become important figures during

his reign, notably Sir William Herbert.

Doubtless Edward was expecting to campaign

in Wales proper, aiming to break the power of

Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, Henry VI‟s

half-brother. Pembroke‟s movements are

uncertain during this period – he may even

have spent some time abroad – but his

influence remained considerable. The

Lancastrians held the important castles of

Denbigh, Harlech, Pembroke and Tenby, and

it is likely that these strongholds were

Edward‟s key targets.

36

Early in the new year, however, Edward‟s

preparations were interrupted by terrible

news. On 30 December his father had been

defeated and killed at the Battle of Wakefield;

Edward‟s younger brother Edmund, earl of

Rutland, was also among the dead. But there

was little time for Edward to mourn, because

a messenger from South Wales brought him

further disturbing tidings. The earl of

Pembroke was now active in the south-west

of Wales, where he was raising an army.

Pembroke‟s Welsh followers were supported

by a force of Breton mercenaries, who had

landed in Milford Haven. The Lancastrians

were also joined by James Butler, earl of

Wiltshire, who had recruited a force of

Irishmen.

Intelligence reached Edward that

Pembroke was preparing to march east. The

Yorkist commanders decided that he must be

brought to battle. Edward and his advisors

cannot have been certain about Pembroke‟s

intentions, but they correctly determined that

a base near Ludlow would allow them to

intercept the Lancastrians, thereby forcing an

engagement. Moreover, as many of Edward‟s

soldiers were from the Marches, a battle on

home soil would ensure that his men would

fight hard, knowing that a Yorkist victory

would protect their homes and families from

assault.3

On 2 February Edward was at his

ancestral castle of Wigmore, a few miles from

Ludlow, secure in the knowledge that his

enemies were now close at hand. The English

Chronicle provides the most detailed account

of that morning‟s extraordinary events.4 At

around ten o‟ clock, we are told, „were seen

three suns in the firmament shining full

clear‟. The Yorkist soldiers are terrified, but

Edward rises to the occasion magnificently:

The additional „suns‟ are called parhelia, and

are caused by an illusionary effect. Parhelia

come about on particularly cold days, if the

sun is low in the sky, when light is refracted

through ice crystals. Medieval people saw

such things as evidence of divine providence,

however, so the fear displayed by the Yorkist

soldiers is understandable. But Edward, as

portrayed here, shows confidence and resolve.

He provides a simple yet powerful

interpretation of the parhelia that would have

given fresh heart to his men.

Whilst we might question the reliability of

the chronicle, a wide range of evidence

testifies to the significance of the parhelia for

the Yorkists. It is well-known, for example,

that Edward used a „sun with streams‟ as a

personal emblem, which may plausibly have

been intended as a reference to the events at

Wigmore.5 But a clearer, and more striking,

reference to the parhelia comes from a

genealogical roll commissioned early in

Edward‟s reign.6 A series of cartoons

illustrate important episodes from Edward‟s

life. At Mortimer‟s Cross Edward is depicted

calling out to God for guidance, just like Paul

at Damascus: „Lord, what would you have me

do?‟ As if in answer, the three suns are

presented streaming light through three

crowns, representing divine sanction for the

power that Edward would soon hold.

The two armies met on the morning of 3

February, although it is not easy to

reconstruct the course of the battle. As is the

case with many medieval battles, we know

more about the events beforehand and

immediately afterwards then about the

fighting itself. However, local historian

Geoffrey Hodges has identified a plausible

site that would have suited the Yorkists well.7

This is just to the south of the modern

crossroads at Mortimer‟s Cross, about four

miles from Wigmore, near the village of

Kingsland. A battle here would have enabled

Edward‟s forces to take up a position with

well-protected flanks, with the River Lugg to

their left and a steep wooded bank to their

right. (Hodges surmises that the Yorkists

adopted traditional English tactics, with their

archers to the flanks and, initially, to the

front.)

„The noble Earl Edward them comforted

and said, “Beeth of good comfort, and

dreadeth not; this is a good sign, for

these three suns betoken the Father, the

Son and the Holy Ghost, and therefore

let us have a good heart, and in the name

of Almighty God, go we against our

enemies”.‟

37

Edward IV at Mortimer’s Cross. Revised reconstruction from British Library MS Harley 7353,

incorporating the observation by Dr Toby Capwell (Wallace Collection) that the armour of the principal

figures was originally painted in silver leaf (now oxidised to black). (Geoffrey Wheeler)

The heading reads: Sol in forma triplici sic Edwarde r. Anglie (‘the sun in triple form - thus, O Edward, king of England). Edward is saying (as St Paul said on the road to Damascus, Acts of the Apostles 9:6) ‘Domine, quid vis me facere.’ ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ The hand of God holds a scroll with the words ‘veni coronaberis de capite amana de vertice sanir et hermon’ (Song of Songs, 4:8) ‘Come, you shall be crowned from the top of Amana, from the peak of Sanir and Hermon’.

If we may assume the Lancastrians had

fewer archers (because much of their army

was made up of foreign mercenaries), the

onus was on Pembroke to attack. According

to an Elizabethan poem by Michael Drayton,

which may conceivably preserve earlier oral

traditions, Wiltshire and his Irishmen were in

the van.8 Most Irish warriors fought without

armour, so they would have suffered heavy

casualties during the „arrow storm‟, but when

they reached the Yorkist lines a mêlée would

have ensued. The Yorkist archers would have

given ground, allowing the more heavily

armoured noblemen and men-at-arms to close

with the enemy, before then rejoining the

fray.

38

In the chaos of the mêlée there was little

opportunity for commanders to affect the

outcome through tactical decisions, although

they could continue to inspire their men

through individual feats of arms. Testimony

survives of Edward‟s personal prowess at

Towton, Barnet and Tewkesbury. At Barnet,

for example, we are told that he, „with great

violence, beat and bore down afore him all

that stood in his way‟.9 We may therefore also

imagine him in the thick of the action at

Mortimer‟s Cross, wielding the poleaxe that

would have allowed him to make use of his

great height and strength.

Eventually the Lancastrian lines were

broken, and they fled the field, pursued by the

triumphant Yorkists. The earls of Pembroke

and Wiltshire managed to escape, although a

number of prisoners were taken. These

included Owen Tudor, Pembroke‟s father.

The captives were taken to Hereford, where

they would face execution. According to

„Gregory‟s Chronicle‟ Tudor „trusted on

pardon and grace‟, even when he was on the

scaffold, but Edward – doubtless with the fate

of his father and brother in mind – was

implacable.10 The Yorkists left Tudor‟s head

in Hereford, on the highest step of the market

cross, as a grisly symbol of their victory.

The significance of Mortimer‟s Cross was

heightened two weeks later, when the earl of

Warwick was defeated at the second battle of

St Albans. Warwick deserves great credit for

extricating at least part of his army, but this

was a serious blow to his reputation.

Warwick‟s support remained important, of

course, but did Edward really need a

„kingmaker‟? Many of the Yorkist army that

swept into London on 26 February had

followed Edward from the Marches, now

trusting to a bond forged in battle. Edward –

soon to be depicted as a saviour who would

heal the land – had proved himself in

adversity. There would be further tests in the

days and weeks to come, but he was equal to

these challenges. On 29 March Edward stood

victorious on the bloody field at Towton,

indisputably king of England.

Notes

1 Edward‟s presence at the battle may be

inferred from „Brief Notes‟, in Three

Fifteenth Century Chronicles, ed. J. Gairdner,

(Camden Society, 1880), pp. 151-52. 2 J. de Wavrin, Receuil des Croniques et

Anchiennes Istoires de la Grant Bretaigne,

ed. W. Hardy, vol. V (Rolls Series, 1864-91),

p. 300. 3 Following the rout of Ludford, in October

1459, Lancastrian forces had brutally sacked

the town of Ludlow. 4 An English Chronicle, 1377-1461 ed. W.

Marx (Woodbridge, 2003), p. 99. English

spelling has been modernised throughout. 5 Hugh Stanford-London strikes a note of

caution, pointing out that Edward was not the

only medieval king to use a sun badge

(Richard II also used the „sun shining‟ as a

device). See H. Stanford-London, Royal

Beasts (East Knoyle, 1956), p. 31. 6 British Library MS Harley 7353. For

discussion see J. Hughes, Arthurian Myths

and Alchemy: The Kingship of Edward IV

(Stroud, 2002), pp. 82-85. 7 G. Hodges, Ludford Bridge and Mortimer’s

Cross (Almeley, 1989), pp. 48-49. Hodges‟

arguments are supported by place-name

evidence and local traditions. 8 Hodges, op.cit., p.50. 9 Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV in

England and the Finall Recouerye of his

Kingdomes from Henry VI, ed. J. Bruce

(Camden Society, 1838), p. 20. 10 „Gregory‟s Chronicle‟, in Historical

Collections of a Citizen of London, ed. J.

Gairdner (Camden Society, 1876), p. 211.

About the author:

David Santiuste is the author of Edward IV

and the Wars of the Roses. He is a member of

the Society and is a former recipient of the

Richard III Society Bursary.

39

Medieval Jokes and Fables, part 2

HEATHER FALVEY

R eproduced below is the text of the

second of the fables of „Poge the

Florentyn‟ that were published by William

Caxton in 1484, at the end of his edition of

Aesop‟s Fables. The illustration is Geoff

Wheeler‟s version of Caxton‟s original

woodcut for this fable.

This second fable opens another door on

everyday medieval life, showing how, in the

period before the Elizabethan Poor Laws,

which regulated poor relief and criminalised

begging, the poor might go from door-to-door

seeking relief but without actually having to

request it. Householders would give aid

unasked: „somtyme the customme of alle the

poure Was that they Wente before the folks

dores withoute sayene ony Word‟. It also

shows that some aspects of life don‟t change.

If such an episode were played out today

between a wealthy widow and a Big Issue

seller, it might make the News of the World or

a daily tabloid; in the 1480s it provided a

cautionary tale. Perhaps, as has been

suggested to me, the fable is also a medieval

illustration of the saying „there is no such

thing as a free lunch‟.

At first sight, the title of this fable – „of

the Woman and of the ypocryte (hypocrite)‟ –

seems to be at odds with the introductory

paragraph, which is somewhat rambling and

repetitive in style, and obscure in meaning.

The writer notes that the „generacion or byrth

of the ypocryte is moche dampnable and

evylle‟ and he relates how hypocrites might

William Caxton’s original woodcut illustrating the fable of the Woman and the Ypocryte, re-drawn by Geoffrey Wheeler

40

want, or be seen, to give financial aid to the

poor but would actually prefer that person to

remain in their needy state: „an ypocrite have

somtyme Wylle for to helpe somme poure

and Indygent / Nevertheles he hath a

condycyon within hym self / that is to Wete /

that he shold rather see a man at the point of

dethe / than for to save his lyf of an

halfpenny / And this presumpcion is called

ypocrysye‟. This observation seems to imply

that those giving aid to the poor were often

hypocrites; indeed, the fable itself shows how

the woman, having given food to the poor

man, urged him for something in return.

According to the introduction this would

indicate that the woman was a hypocrite;

however, as the fable is „of the woman and of

the ypocrite‟, the title suggests that it was the

poor man who was the hypocrite, his

hypocrisy being demonstrated by his excuse

that he only gave in to the woman‟s urging

because she made him. The OED defines

„hypocrisy‟ as „the assuming of a false

appearance of virtue or goodness, with

dissimulation of real character or

inclinations‟: so, the virtuous poor man was

hiding his real character. But what, then, does

this say of the character of the woman who

wanted something in return for her „charity‟?

The second fable is of the Woman and of

the ypocryte (Caxton, Esope’s Fables, folio

135).

It happed thenne on that tyme that a poure

man moche faire and of good lyf Wente to

serche his lyf fro[m] one dore to another /

And upon a day emonge other he Wente and

sette hym self upon a grete stone before the

yate [gate] of a Wydowe / Whiche Wydowe

was acustommed to gyve hym ever

somewhat / And whan the good Woman

knewe that he Was at hir dore she dyd brynge

to hym his porcion as she was custommed for

to doo / And as she gaf hym the mete she

loked on hym / and seying hym soo fayre /

and wel made of body / she thenne fylled of

carnal concupiscence / and brennynge

[burning] in the fyre of love / requered and

Instantly prayd hym that he Wold retorne

thyder within thre dayes / and promysed to

hym that she shold gyve to hym a ryght good

dyner / And the poure man syd to her / that he

shold doo soo / And Whanne he came

ageyne / he sette hym self as before / atte [at

the] dore of the Wydowes hows / whiche the

Woman knewe Well Whanne he shold come /

Wherfore she came to the yate [gate] and

sayd / Come within good man / For now We

shalle dyne / to the Whiche prayer the poure

man assented / & entred Within the hows / the

whiche wydowe gaf to hym good mete / and

good drynke / And whanne they hade wel

dyned / the sayd wydowe pressyd the good

man strongly / and after she kyssed hym /

requyrynge hym that she might have the

copye of his love / And thene the poure man

al ashamed & vergoynous (OED ashamed)

knowynge her thoughte and her wylle /

ansuerd thus to her / Certaynly my good lady

I dare not / but nevertheles he wold fayne

have done hit / And the wydowe al embraced

with love beseched and prayd hym more and

more / And thenne whan the poure man sawe

that he myght not excuse hym self / he sayd

to the wydowe in this manere / My frend syth

that thow desprest it for to doo soo moche and

soo grete an evylle / I take god to my wytnes /

that thow arte causer of hit / For I am not

consentynge to the faycte or dede / sayenge

these wordes he consented to her wylle.

Source: William Caxton, Here begynneth the

book of the subtyl historyes and fables of

Esope whiche were translated out of Frensshe

in to Englysshe by wylham Caxton at

westmynstre in the yere of oure Lorde M.

CCCC.l xxxiij (Caxton, London, 1484).

Stop Press: Time Team Digs ‘the House of the White Queen’ On Sunday 20 March, Time Team (Channel 4) will conduct excavations – „just three days to do

it‟ – at Groby Old Hall in Leicestershire, the home of the Grey family. Current Archaeology for

March 2011 included a complete episode guide to the new series. The blurb for 20 March says,

„from the Conquest to the 1500s, Groby was the seat of the wealthy and powerful Grey family,

who climbed the social ladder, eventually marrying into Royalty‟.

41

Sultan Bayezid II: Richard’s

Turkish Contemporary

JOHN SAUNDERS

Last year during November, for the first time,

I visited Istanbul, once the legendary city of

Constantinople, the capital and raison d‟être

of the Byzantine Empire. Today the city is the

fastest growing in Europe and its sprawling

modern suburbs stretch rather roughly into

what was once the rural hinterland of the city.

It‟s grown without any real planning and at an

alarming rate, and it shows. However, within

the land walls of the city and surrounded by

the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, the old

city remains, the ancient core of a modern

megapolis. Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman

traces mingle with the more recent, and all

dominated by the magnificent Hagia Sophia,

once a Byzantine church, then a mosque and

now a museum where chants and prayers are

replaced by the hushed chatter of tourists and

constant clicking of cameras.

We know that Richard III had a deep

desire to go on crusade against the Ottoman

Turks. The Silesian traveller Nicolas von

Popplau, visiting Richard‟s court in the spring

of 1485, recorded his conversations with the

king. Nicolas told him about Mathias Corvinus,

the king of Hungary, and his success in fighting

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!‟

The thought came to me that if Richard

had ever achieved his ambition it would have

been the rulers of the Ottoman Empire that he

would have faced in battle. And who would

they have been and are there any traces of

them left in Istanbul today? The answers were

not hard to find: Richard‟s direct Turkish

contemporary would have been the Sultan

Bayezid II, and both the mosque he founded

and his tomb are still standing and accessible.

Bayezid II was born in about 1447 in

modern day Didymoteicho in western Thrace,

the son of Mehmed II and Mükrime Hatun;

there is a Turkish legend that she was a

French princess kidnapped by Mehmed.

Bayezid married Ayşe Hatun, a Greek convert

to Islam, and she was the mother of his

successor Selim I, who in turn was succeeded

by his son, the rather better known Suleiman

the Magnificent.

Beyazid‟s father Mehmed earned the

epitaph „the Conqueror‟. He was the sultan

who led the siege and capture of

Constantinople in 1453. This seismic event

sent shock waves through western

Christendom and was one of the great

defining moments of that century. Richard III

would have been very well aware of both the

Sultan Bayezid II

42

city‟s fall and its significance to the west.

With the city in Ottoman hands, it made their

incursions into Christendom easier, and they

pushed further and further into the Balkans

and toward the heartlands of Eastern Europe.

It was thanks to strong and intelligent kings

like Mathias and Poland‟s Casimir IV that the

Ottoman tide was stemmed, at least for the

time being. In later centuries they would of

course reach the gates of Vienna.

What sort of ruler was Bayezid? He came

to the throne in the traditional Ottoman way

by quarrelling with his brother Cem, who

claimed the throne himself. Bayezid prevailed

and Cem became a pawn in the hands of Pope

Innocent VIII, who tried to use him to

destabilise Bayezid, but this came to nothing

and Cem ended up in a Naples prison where

he died.

Like his father, Bayezid II was a patron of

western and eastern culture and he was also a

very literate man and wrote poetry in both

Arabic and Persian. Unlike many other

Ottoman rulers he devoted much time to

domestic matters; he built mosques, colleges,

hospitals, and supported jurists, scholars, and

poets. In Ottoman history his name carries the

epitaph „the Just‟ and that very much reflects

the quality of his domestic rule. He was also

active on the foreign policy front; during his

reign Herzegovina came under direct

Ottoman rule, and control over the Crimea

and Anatolia was strengthened. He fought

campaigns against the Persians to the east and

the Mamluks in the south. In the west he

engaged in numerous successful campaigns

against the Venetians to gain control of

Morea (the Peloponnese peninsula in southern

Greece), a strategically important area for the

future of Ottoman naval power in the eastern

Mediterranean.

When Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the

Jews and Moors from Spain in 1492, Bayezid

sent his navy to rescue them and he issued

proclamations that the refugees were to be

welcomed within his empire. He said of

Ferdinand, „You venture to call Ferdinand a

wise ruler – he who has impoverished his

own country and enriched mine‟. These were

perceptive remarks, for the exiled Moors and

Jews of Spain made a significant contribution

to the Ottoman Empire through the ideas and

skills they brought with them. It was no

coincidence that the first printing press in

Constantinople was established by Jews from

Spain in 1493; however, a black mark against

Bayezid is his outlawing of all printing in

Arabic and Turkic, a ban that lasted in the

Islamic world until 1729.

Bayezid II‟s final years saw an inevitable

succession battle between his sons Selim and

Ahmed. Selim triumphed and Bayezid II

abdicated in his favour on 25 April 1512. He

departed for retirement in his native

Didymoteicho, but he died a month later and

was buried next to the Bayezid Mosque in

Istanbul.

The Bayezid Mosque, which dates from

1506, is the oldest surviving Imperial mosque

in the city. Its courtyard is replete with richly-

coloured marble including twenty columns of

verd-antique, syennetic granite and porphyry.

Inside the mosque is a perfect square

mirroring the dimensions of the courtyard,

and it has a great central dome, similar to

Hagia Sophia‟s but smaller. Behind the

mosque is the tranquil turbe garden; turbe is

the Turkish word for tomb or mausoleum.

Here Bayezid is buried in a simple and well-

proportioned limestone turbe. Inside his body

rests in a sarcophagus, at its head a wooden

pole surmounted by a white cloth Ottoman

turban.

His thirty-one-year reign left a strong

legacy. The areas under Ottoman control had

expanded rapidly during the fifteenth century

and this had caused inevitable economic and

social tensions within the empire. These were

successfully addressed and resolved during

the long and relatively peaceful reign of

Bayezid II, thus making possible the empire‟s

even more substantial expansion under his

successors during the first half of the

sixteenth century.

Had Richard ever embarked on that

crusade, I wonder how he and Bayezid would

have regarded each other? Given their

characters, I think there would have been a

large degree of mutual respect, similar

perhaps to that some three centuries earlier

between two other great adversaries – Saladin

and Richard Coeur de Lion.

43

St Winefride’s Well and the

Ricardian Chronicle

LYNDA PIDGEON

D oing research can often seem a time-

consuming, even tedious occupation.

Hours spent trawling through books, records

or more often these days the internet, looking

for that elusive piece of information which

will throw light on a person or event. No, I do

not expect to find that one vital piece of

information, the Holy Grail of Ricardians, the

piece of paper that says „I killed those tire-

some brats, signed … ‟ Although serendipity

does play a large part in research, so you

never know!

This item is for those of you who don‟t

really enjoy research but do enjoy visiting

places of interest between morning coffee and

cake and afternoon cream tea, and may wish

to contribute to the Chronicle. Information on

Richard and his times can be found in the

most unlikely of places. This year I spent my

holiday in North Wales with a promise to my

partner to visit only a couple of castles and

absolutely nothing Ricardian – being in North

Wales this seemed a fairly safe promise.

Trawling through an old guide book I

found that further along the coast from

Llandudno, where we were staying, was

Holywell and the site of St Winefride‟s Well.

The old black and white picture showed a

spectacular building, and, ignoring the

Stanley links I thought it was worth a look. It

was with Brother Cadfael in mind rather than

Richard that we set off for Holywell.

The chapel built above the well was

unfortunately closed. However, the museum

and well were open. Still very much a

working shrine, at specific times pilgrims are

permitted to get into the modern pool, while

inside the museum was a display of discarded

crutches to show that people had been cured

by St Winefride.

What really caught

my attention was one of

the information panels

relating to the medieval

period. According to

Adam of Usk, Henry V

had visited the well from

Shrewsbury to give

thanks for his victory at

Agincourt. It went on to

say that the Welsh poet

T u d u r A l e d h a d

mentioned a visit by

Edward IV in 1461.

Edward had taken some

moss from the well and

placed it upon his crown

in token of his devotion

to the saint. This was

f o l l o w e d b y t h e

St Winifride’s well, Holywell

44

Another Boar Badge ROSE SKUSE

The discovery of one of Richard III‟s boar

badges at Bosworth brought the total known

to four, the previous finds being one at

Chiddingley, one near the Thames and one at

Middleham. However, Geoffrey Wheeler

wrote to me after he saw a photograph of yet

another in the exhibition at Bosworth Battle-

field Centre. It was captioned „P.A.S. Bed-

fordshire‟, and, as this is in our Beds and

Bucks Group area, he thought I might

investigate it as it has not been previously

heard of.

The people at the Battlefield Centre knew

nothing about the badge, or when it was

found, so I contacted the person who deals

with the P.A.S. in Bedfordshire (Portable

Antiquities Scheme, connected to the British

Museum), with the following results.

The badge was found with a metal

detector on Monday 15 June 2009 at Maul-

den, Bedfordshire. It is in the form of a left-

facing boar, cast in copper alloy, 54 mm long,

22 mm wide and 3.5 mm thick. It weighs

11.26 grms. It has a wrinkled snout, bristles

along its back, but has lost most of its legs.

Rather corroded, it has two circular sectional

prongs on the reverse for pinning on.

Its official listing reads: „Medieval, 1460

to 1485, may indicate the wearer‟s allegiance

to Richard III‟.

Unfortunately, once authenticated and

recorded, it was retained by the finder who, it

would appear, did not want the exact location

divulged. Maulden is quite a small place not

far from Bedford, so did Richard and his

retinue visit or pass through at some time?

Were there any Yorkist homes, ruins,

skirmishes, etc., in the area which would

connect with Richard? I can‟t think of any-

thing obvious, but I hope other members may

come up with some ideas.

additional information that „In 1484 the last

medieval English king, Richard III, gave ten

marks annually for the “yearly sustenaction

and salerie of a prieste at the Chappelle of St

Wynefride”.‟

The panel added that in about 1485

William Caxton had published a 14th-century

life of St Winefride by John of Tynemouth,

that five English churches were dedicated to

her and that there is a statue of her in Henry

VII‟s chapel. Other devotees of St Winefride

were William Beauchamp, earl of Warwick,

and his wife Isabel.

Here then was an unexpected piece of

information for the Chronicle, provided I

could trace the source of the information. For

once the guide book was excellent and gave

the reference, „Harleian M.S. 433 F37B‟.

It was almost enough to make me

overlook the author‟s rather barbed comments

on Richard.

Once home I was able to check my copy

of Harley 433. There on p. 119 of vol. 1,

f.37b, was the full entry: „Thabbot and

Convent of Basingwerke x marc yerely for

the sustentacione and salerie of a prest at the

Chapelle of Sent Wynefride, to be perceyved

(of) at thschequer of Chestre by the hands of

the Chambreleyn etc.‟

The Maulden boar, drawn by Geoffrey Wheeler

45

Lancashire and the Wars of the Roses GRAHAM RANSOM

O ne of the curious ironies of the Wars of

the Roses is the question of what is the

significance of the geographical county of

Lancashire. The answer is practically zero

and, as a resident of Lancaster, I was left

scratching my head when asked by a member

of the Society‟s visits committee at the

Bosworth commemoration if a visit to

Lancaster by the Society might be

worthwhile. Of course, popular myth

interprets every clash between a team from

this side of the Pennines with our enemies

from the east as a „Roses Battle‟. Look at the

papers when United play Leeds (if they get

promoted – already red rose 1, white 0), when

Lancashire play Yorkshire at Headingley, or

when the Universities of Lancaster and York

lock pikestaffs in their annual „Roses‟

encounter. The results of this last series of

battles are an amusing inverse of the past and

a very close-run thing, with York currently

ahead by one with one draw after 46 years.

So what can Lancashire actually claim as

a contributor to the events of the fifteenth

century? I am able to list just three episodes:

First, the earl of Lincoln‟s Irish army

landed in Cumbria, marched across the sands

of Morecambe Bay and then across north

Lancashire en route to its doom at Stoke

Field.

Secondly, Henry VI was finally captured

near Brungerley Bridge over the river Ribble

near Clitheroe in July 1465 after his furtive

wanderings through northern England post

Hexham. A plaque in Clitheroe Castle

commemorates his overnight stay there in

prison. The drama of his capture is poignantly

and graphically described by Desmond

Seward1 and, I quote daringly in these pages,

Alison Weir.2I have stood several times on

Brungerley Bridge in quiet reflection of this

sad event. There is nothing there to mark the

spot.

Thirdly, I have recently, and sensationally,

discovered that Lancashire does have a claim

to fame as the home of events that set the seal

on the wars, Richard‟s fate and thus the whole

pattern of English history.3 Just along the

road from me in the village of Hornby is a

magnificent castle, now divided into separate

private residences, built on the site of a

medieval castle which proudly dominated this

part of the Lune Valley. It was owned by the

Harrington family but coveted by – guess

who? – the slimy Stanleys. The Harringtons

were staunch Yorkists, supported in their

struggles with the Stanleys somewhat ambi-

valently by Edward IV because of his wheeler

dealing, but vigorously supported by his

northern lieutenant, the duke of Gloucester.

As we all know the duke put loyalty first,

Harringtons having died with his father at

Wakefield. Even though subsequently

supposedly reconciled and handsomely rewar

-ded, did the Stanleys ever forget Richard‟s

opposition during Hornbygate? – especially

when, jaw-droppingly, they saw Richard

charging across their bows one fateful August

day. Oh Richard, what a dreadful mistake.

This is all wonderful stuff and why many

of us enthusiastic amateurs, including my

daughter, so love learning about the period

and being members of the Society. Laced

with a touch of historical licence, it is brilliant

material with which to regale our visitors to

this beautiful part of the world. Does anyone

know anything else about Lancashire and the

Wars? It would be most gratefully received.

References 1 Desmond Seward, The Wars of the Roses 2 Alison Weir, Lancaster and York, The Wars

of the Roses 3 The Harringtons of Cumbria, published by

the Richard III Foundation Inc.; David Hip-

shon, Richard III and the Death of Chivalry.

46

Returning to Shakespeare’s

History Plays

GILLIAN LAZAR

T he Society‟s visit to Calais last year,

with a fascinating tour of the battlefield

of Azincourt and the Museum, sparked a

return, for me, to Shakespeare‟s History

plays.

As Ricardians, we recognise Shakespeare

the dramatist rather than as a historian;

moreover he was constrained by political

considerations under an Elizabethan police

state. Indeed, as the Society website informs

us, it was not until after the end of the Tudor

dynasty that it was safe or possible to apply

new research and revisionist theory.

We had witness of this fact last year when

driving round the battlefield site as our

French guide was at pains to tell us that the

scene where Henry V returns to camp to find

that the young boys have all been slaughtered

by the French, („I was not angry until now

…‟) is untrue. In the museum later, there was

mention only of the sack of baggage in the

camp.

Orson Wells, whose film Chimes at

Midnight depicts the period covered by Henry

IV, Parts I and II, and who regarded this as

the best film he ever made, spoke memorably

about Shakespeare‟s view of history. Welles,

always interesting if controversial, saw

Falstaff, the great comic anti-hero, beloved by

audiences, as an almost perfect man. He

believed that Shakespeare not only sought to

express, in Falstaff, a romantic idea of

„Merrie England‟, but regretted the passing of

the medieval age of chivalry. Hotspur, the

chivalric ideal, must die, but we regret his

death. Those old enough and lucky enough to

have seen Michael Redgrave‟s Hotspur at

Stratford in 1951, played innovatively with a

rough Northumbrian accent, will remember

that he acted the young Hal (Richard Burton)

off the stage with a success that comes from

the conviction of the dramatist as well as the

skill of the actor.

But of course, readers will be quick to

observe that Hotspur dies at the hands of the

future Henry V, himself an ideal of chivalry.

This is indisputable. It is not until some 80

years later that the calculating Tudor achieves

the death of Richard III and, with it, the end

of the Middle Ages, to be replaced by what

Tudor propaganda coerced posterity to

believe was the beginning of a more modern

and better age. But it is perhaps implicit in

Henry‟s very public rejection of his old friend

Falstaff that he anticipated the Machiavellian

concept of kingship demonstrated so

ruthlessly by the Tudors. In contrast to the

rule of the nobler Richard, no enemy

perceived or potential was ever permitted to

survive.

The three parts of the Henry VI plays were

written before Richard III, early in

Shakespeare‟s career, a first attempt at

writing history plays. The writing is raw and

uneven. If Shakespeare‟s portrayal of Richard

III can be explained by the constraints of

Tudor politics, it must also be understood

within the context of drama at that time.

In his youth, Shakespeare may have seen

the cycles of religious mystery plays. It is

likely that he may have accompanied his

father to see the morality plays performed at

Coventry a few miles away. It is also on

record that in 1569 John Shakespeare, then

bailiff of Stratford on Avon, gave permission

to the players to perform in Stratford itself.

Did Will, then only five years old, creep into

the performance, or sit astride his father‟s

shoulders to watch?

In the 1550s and 1560s the plays

performed in travelling repertory were largely

morality plays. They were of simple stuff, a

47

warning of the consequences of a life of sin.

They had stock characters who embodied

abstract concepts such as Youth or Virtuous

Life and deadly sins like Pride or Lechery.

Evil personified in the character of Vice

struggled for the soul of the protagonist. He

brought humour to the sermonising, the

audience enjoyed his antics and his insulting

of the dull characters of Virtue. In the end

they knew he would be defeated but they

loved Vice just as we love an entertaining

villain today.

It is clear that the Vice was not far from

Shakespeare‟s mind when he created his great

comic character, Falstaff. Hal refers to him as

„that reverend Vice, that grey iniquity‟. In

Richard III, it is Richard who likens himself

to „the formal Vice, Iniquity‟.

In 1587, when Shakespeare was probably

only recently come to London, Marlowe‟s

Tamburlaine was pulling in the crowds and

must have made a great impression on the

young provincial. In this violent and cruel

play, a poor shepherd rises by energy and

ruthlessness to conquer most of the known

world. Shakespeare learned much about his

craft from this play but unlike Marlowe, who

departed entirely from the old morality plays

to leave Tamburlaine unpunished and

unchecked (rewarded both by his conquests

and his forthcoming marriage to a beautiful

young girl), Shakespeare is held by more than

history to conventional morality on sin and its

medieval comeuppance. In time he would

learn to invest his villains with psychological

understanding and create great flawed tragic

heroes such as Hamlet and Lear.

Shakespeare‟s conventionality may have

been driven partially driven by caution.

Through his mother‟s side he was related to

the Ardens, a Catholic family prominent in

Warwickshire. Edward Arden, the head of the

family, was wrongfully implicated in a

Catholic plot and he and his wife were sent to

the Tower where, after torture, Edward was

executed for treason. Another poet, Robert

Southwell, to whom Shakespeare was

distantly related, once Jesuit confessor to the

earl of Southampton, who always swore

loyalty to the Queen, was also executed, in

the 1590s.

Tamburlaine must surely have been at the

back of Shakespeare‟s inventive mind when

he sat down to create his Richard of

Gloucester in the Henry VI trilogy whose

story would be rounded off in Richard III. So

too, was Vice, in Richard‟s shameless

soliloquising, his witty asides and in the grim

humour with which he reviews the murderers

whom he has employed to kill his brother

Clarence. Shakespeare seems to have revelled

in depicting the cynically quick-tongued

Richard, just as he had once revelled in the

wit of the Vice.

When the Birmingham Rep (the first

company to perform a cycle of Histories in

the twentieth century) played the three parts

of Henry VI in the early 1950s, Paul Daneman

was outstanding as the young Richard,

saturnine, dazzlingly attractive, glorying in

his own evil and utterly charismatic. He was

far and away better than Ian Holm on

crutches, or Marius Goring, looking like Ozzy

Osborne in a long red wig, at Stratford in

1953; better by far than Sir Larry hamming

his way through his own film of Richard III.

Today, when I think of Richard and recognise

that Shakespeare got it wrong, I still I feel the

whisper of Daneman‟s presence as Richard in

that little theatre in Birmingham more than 50

years ago.

For me this demonstrates the paradox of

being a Ricardian. Whilst we work towards

our very genuine and necessary purpose – to

research and reassess fifteenth-century history

and Richard in particular, to redress the

wrongs perpetrated on his name and

reputation, to explode Tudor mythology – are

we not in danger of presenting to the world, a

Richard III who was indeed loyal, honest,

worthy, merciful - but unsubtle and a little

dull? I believe our Chairman, Dr Phil Stone,

hinted at this in a recent talk. In describing his

more glamorous brother, Edward IV, I

fancied that there was an implication that

Richard was dull, at least in comparison. I

hereby invite Phil to correct me in no

uncertain terms, if this is not the case.

48

Correspondence

Will contributors please note that letters may be shortened or edited to conform to the standards

of the Bulletin. The Bulletin is not responsible for the opinions expressed by contributors.

Truth and the Historical Novelist From Ian Mortimer

I have to respond to the letter on page 45 of

the December 2010 edition of the Bulletin by

Carol Hartley. She states that, on reading a

piece in this journal ‟s „Media

Retrospective‟ (about an article I had written

in the Guardian about historical fiction,

published under my fiction-writing name

James Forrester), she had been „disgusted‟ by

my statement that „historical novelists should

not be ashamed of telling lies‟. She went on

to snipe at my novel Sacred Treason with a

line about her colleagues at the College of

Arms having better things to do than read it.

What modern heralds read in their spare

time is not my business, but „disgusted‟ is a

very strong word to use, especially as Carol

Hartley had clearly read neither Sacred

Treason nor the original Guardian article that

sparked the „media retrospective‟ piece.

My article „The Lying Art of Historical

Fiction‟ made some serious points about

assumptions of accuracy in historical fiction.

The strapline in the paper explains my stance

neatly: „Judging historical fiction is not as

simple as “accurate equals good” and “in-

accurate equals bad”. It depends on whether

the inaccuracies are constructive lies or

accidental mistakes.‟ The article is freely

available on the Guardian’s website (http://

www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/

aug/06/lying-historical-fiction). I think Carol

Hartley should have read this first before

composing her tirade – it behoves the good

historian to check her sources – even if she

does not want to read my novel.

I would add that she should have looked at

Sacred Treason before speculating that I

„mistook‟ the name of William Harley (my

fictitious character) for William Hervy (the

real Clarenceux king of Arms in 1563). As I

explain in the author‟s note to Sacred

Treason, the change of name was not a

mistake but deliberate, to reflect the fact that I

am writing fiction, and I gave the real

herald‟s name there. The story developed in

my imagination having done considerable

research into a friend of William Hervy‟s –

the writer, parish clerk and Merchant Taylor,

Henry Machyn (d. 1563) – for the Oxford

Dictionary of National Biography.

In not using my historical-writing persona,

in changing the lead character‟s name, and in

explaining that Sacred Treason is a work of

fiction in the first line of the author‟s note, I

have done all that an author possibly can do

to avoid being mistaken for distorting the

past. On this point, Carol Hartley owes me an

apology.

There is a serious question in her letter,

contained in one of her rhetorical questions.

She says: „the mere act of distorting the truth

seems to me disgraceful. What is the point of

selecting a particular historical period, place

and person, if one is then going to give false

particulars about them?‟

I chose to set my story in the year 1563

because I wanted to create a climate of

religious and state-induced terror that one

simply does not have in modern England.

Society does not take religion, heresy, state

secrets and sexual fidelity as seriously today

as it did in 1563.

Carol Hartley‟s statement that any

distortion of truth is „disgraceful‟ means that

she must find all historical fiction disgraceful

and approves of none of it, including Robert

Graves‟s I Claudius, Tolstoy's War and

Peace, Boris Pasternak‟s Doctor Zhivago,

Mary Renault‟s books and, let‟s face it,

Shakespeare‟s history plays. All of these

writers have deliberately distorted historical

reality for literary effect. This was exactly my

49

original point in the Guardian. You should

not judge historical fiction by its accuracy

(although accidental inaccuracy always

counts against it) but by its literary merit. And

if you want your books to be historically

accurate – read history, not fiction.

Carol Hartley comments:

The editor has kindly given me an oppor-

tunity for a response. There are two points I

would like to make. Dr Mortimer takes me to

task for commenting on Sacred Treason

without having studied it. He is of course

quite correct to do so, and I am happy to offer

him my apologies. In his final paragraph he

says, „Carol Hartley‟s statement that any dis-

tortion of the truth is disgraceful ...‟. In fact

what I said (as quoted by Dr Mortimer else-

where in his letter) was that „the mere act of

distorting the truth seems to me disgraceful‟,

and I‟d like to draw attention to the difference

as courteously as possible. That has always

been my instinctive feeling.

The editor comments:

Apologies to Dr Mortimer for not giving him

the same opportunity to comment on a letter

before publication. We had not realised that

Dr Mortimer was a member of the Society

and therefore ought to have been consulted.

Members might remember that the merits

of historical novels was the subject of The

Debate in the Winter 2005 Bulletin, when

Tony Pollard wrote (p.27): „What most

modern authors do not seem to understand is

that an historical novel is actually about the

timeless in that it uses a particular past to say

something for the concerns of today. All the

great historical novels do this.‟ This is exactly

the point that Dr Mortimer makes, that the

past can be used to illuminate the present.

Richard III and the Murder in the

Tower From Peter A. Hancock

A review of my book Richard III and the

Murder in the Tower appeared in a recent

issue of the Ricardian, in which Livia Visser

Fuchs (LVF) took issue with some of the

points that I raised. Her observation that the

text is „well written and well argued and holds

the attention” is indeed much appreciated. She

further indicates that readers might well find it

„… interesting, if not to agree with, certainly to

discuss its main thesis‟, and then proceeds

directly to raise some issues for debate to which

I feel I should respond.

The first point turns upon the issue of time.

LVF inquires „is it likely, given the

complications and implications of the pre-

contract, which was only important if

considered together with the fact that Edward

IV‟s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was

clandestine, that Richard immediately

comprehended all its political possibilities – as

well as the implications of Hastings‟ silence –

and understood them so well that he became

“incandescent” with rage on the spot and had

his brother‟s trusted associate executed at once

and without trial?‟ [emphasis in the original]. It

is indeed a fair point. However, I will not reply

immediately since LVF‟s next comment is

contingent and rather more critical in nature.

She indicated that: „Unfortunately, Hancock

himself blithely passes over the intricacies of

the legal problem: he says he will not go into

“the nuances of the law”, but leaves them to

others.‟ She then goes on to criticise my

relative neglect at that point of the work of

Professor Helmholtz which addresses such

legal issues in detail. Here I will be the first to

acknowledge that my expertise in the matter of

fifteenth-century law is certainly limited.

Further, I also agree that it might have indeed

been relevant to introduce at least the central

elements of Professor Helmholtz‟s

observations. My only excuse is that I did not

want to plunge the reader into such a complex

argument at that point of the narrative.

However, with respect to the „nuances of the

law‟ I stand myself much in the same position

as Richard himself during the fateful Council

meeting of 13 June 1483. In essence, we both

have alongside of us (myself metaphorically

and Richard most probably in actuality) an

individual who was perhaps the epitome of a

fifteenth-century law expert – William Catesby.

The presence of this man allows us now to

answer both LVF‟s initial and subsequent

inquiry as well as addressing my own legal

shortcomings at one stroke. Richard was able to

50

„immediately comprehend all its political

possibilities – as well as the implications of

Hastings‟ silence‟ because Catesby was there

explicitly to advise him on those very issues.

The question of time and timing is now

addressed since, in the thesis embodied in my

text, Catesby had had some twenty years in

which to consider the complications and

implications of the pre-contract. Presumably,

by then he was extremely well versed in the

exact aspects of the law that impinged upon

the problem and was able to summarize and

communicate these directly to Richard,

although as LVF would emphasise, and I

certainly agree, we have no direct evidence

that this conversation ever occurred.

LVF takes me further to task over my use

and interpretation of the 1855 translation of

de Commines work, as opposed to the

original or Michael Jones‟ later translation. At

first, arguments about individual word

translations may seem somewhat less than

profound concerns. However, if we leave

aside the thorny issue of translation between

differing languages in general, LVF‟s point

here is somewhat more substantive than it

first might appear. The issue concerns the

identification of Robert Stillington, late

Bishop of Bath and Wells, as the source of

Richard‟s knowledge of the pre-contract. If he

was the person who first informed Richard,

clearly Catesby could not be and thus my

thesis would suffer accordingly. De

Commines becomes important as he is the

major source for the identification of

Stillington in this instance. I have argued that

Stillington‟s act was to confirm what Catesby

had told Richard but he was not himself the

original source. Thus De Commines‟

observations take centre stage here. LVF

corrects my interpretation which she directly

asserts are „incorrect‟ translations. However,

the larger point perhaps concerns De

Commines‟ reliability as a source. It has been

noted previously that De Commines was not a

reliable commentator on English politics.

Nevertheless, we must be careful about our

use of sources and, however tempting it is, we

cannot simply dismiss those that prove

inconvenient. For the sake of completeness of

this particular argument I should note that

there is a reference, closer in time to the

actual events, which also identifies

Stillington.* However, in general, LVF‟s

point is well-taken here. For the thesis as

advanced, and especially because of the

degree of speculation involved, there is the

potential for the whole edifice to collapse if

certain assertions are shown manifestly to be

false. In this respect, however, I do not think

the issue of translation is such a falling

keystone.

I hope I have contributed to the beginning

of the solution of one of the mysteries of

Richard‟s reign and will further explore this

and the other mysteries in a forthcoming

larger text on the full reign of Richard III.

* For this reference and my extended

response, see my book, pp. 111-114.

The Croft Brothers Clifford S.L. Davies

In his article on „Edward‟s Younger

Brother‟ (Bulletin, December 2010) Peter

Hammond mentions the letter sent by the young

Edward IV, then earl of March, and his brother

Edmund, earl of Rutland, to their father

Richard, duke of York, probably in April 1454.

The brothers complain about the „odious rule

and demeaning of Richard Croft and his

brother‟. Peter goes on to point out that Richard

Croft later became Treasurer of the Household

to Edward‟s son, Edward, Prince of Wales, at

Ludlow, „so Edward had presumably forgiven

him by then‟. That appointment was in 1473 or

soon after. Before that Richard Croft had

probably fought for York at Ludford Bridge,

had certainly fought for Edward at Mortimer‟s

Cross, had been a leading administrator on the

Yorkist estates in the Marches, and fought

again at Tewkesbury in 1471, when he was

knighted. He was later credited with capturing

the Lancastrian Prince of Wales at Tewkesbury.

The situation is complicated by there having

been two Richard Crofts, brothers or probably

half-brothers. They had a youngest brother,

Thomas. I wrote an article on „The Crofts;

Creation and Defence of a Family Enterprise

under the Yorkists and Henry VII‟ in Historical

Research, 68 (1995), pp. 241-65, in an attempt

51

to disentangle the careers of the three

brothers. The article was summarised in my

entries for Sir Richard and Thomas in the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

(Oxford, 2004; available on-line).

All three brothers were to hold office

under the Yorkist kings. Thomas became

Customer of Bristol. He disappeared from the

English scene early in 1485, and I suggest he

may have joined the future Henry VII in

France, possibly taking with him the Bristol

customs receipts. A different Thomas Croft,

Sir Richard‟s bastard, fought for Henry at

Bosworth. Perhaps because of these

connections all three brothers rapidly

regained favour and office under HenryVII.

The letter from the young earls has often

been taken to imply that the elder Richard

Croft was their tutor or governor. I suggest,

however, that the reference may have been to

the younger Richard and his brother Thomas,

who would have been in their late teens. They

may have been servant-companions, perhaps

mentors, to the earls, aged twelve and almost

ten at the time. Perhaps they bullied or ragged

their charges. But it may be that the letter was

facetious, a joke. Conceivably one of the

Crofts may indeed have been the writer and/

or the bearer of the letter (who was to give

further details). It is difficult to detect

deliberate humour in occasional letters of this

sort.

Whatever the truth of this suggestion, the

Crofts, as I tried to show in my article,

provide a fascinating picture of important

office-holding in a swathe of the country from

the Marches to Oxfordshire, including Bristol,

and its determined defence. That included a

united family party led by Lady Croft

allegedly killing their enemy‟s servant in the

church at Rhyader. Sir Richard‟s own career

culminated in his breaking his staff as

Steward to Arthur, Prince of Wales, into the

prince‟s grave at Worcester in 1502. The

younger Richard acquired extensive property

in Oxfordshire. Thomas in Bristol was

tangentially involved in Atlantic exploration,

the search for „Brazil‟. The elder Richard is

ancestor to a distinguished family still to be

found at Croft Castle in Herefordshire, where

he is buried.

There is, incidentally, an excellent

photograph of the 1454 letter, written in a

secretary hand but signed by the York

brothers, in Charles Ross, Edward IV, (1974),

facing p.48.

Royal Genealogy before it happens Stephen Lark

April 29 will see the marriage of Prince

William of Wales to Miss Catherine Middleton.

When the engagement was announced, many

articles proclaimed their common descent from

Edward III and I have investigated some of

their assertions:

(1) They are descended through the king‟s

second son, Edmund. Quite apart from the

uncertainty in some sources over the seniority

Edward‟s sons, this is false. John of Gaunt is

their common ancestor.

(2) Agnes Gascoigne, great-great-great-

great-grand daughter married Sir Thomas

Fairfax and the lines divide by their two sons:

true.

(3) This Sir Thomas was the Civil War

Parliamentary commander: false. Thomas was a

popular name in the Fairfax family and Agnes‟

husband lived from 1476 to 1520. The soldier

was descended from a cousin, had only a

daughter and no grandchildren.

Catherine Middleton‟s descent passes

through the Meadows family of Chattisham

(near Ipswich) and the Martineau family from

Norwich before marrying into a Yorkshire

family. Prince William‟s descent passes

through the Belasyse family into the Binghams

(earls of Lucan) and into his maternal line.

At the same time, I was able to view Prince

William‟s other maternal ancestry (his paternal

family seven generations back being largely

German or Scottish), including the frequently

mentioned Charles II connection. Furthermore,

he fits my modern definition of „Yorkist‟ in that

he has a descent from one of Richard III‟s

siblings without a Tudor connection – Anne of

Exeter being the matriarch of the (Manners)

earls and dukes of Rutland, the first duke of

Rutland being progenitor of the (Russell) earls

of Bedford, eventually leading to the Spencers.

I can supply a few links on request.

52

Editor’s note:

Agnes Gascoigne‟s mother was a Percy, and

the descent is through Mortimer.

The Coventry Pageants From Angela Moreton

I read with great interest Peter Lee‟s article in

the September Bulletin (p. 44) about the

Coventry pageants, which King Richard may

have seen in June 1485 and which it is

recorded Margaret of Anjou saw in 1457. (It‟s

possible, too, that Shakespeare may have seen

them as a boy since their performances only

ended in 1579.)

Mr Lee states that it is believed there were

about ten separate plays or „pageants‟

performed at different places in the city of

Coventry at Corpus Christi, that the number

of plays seems to have varied from year to

year and that no scripts have survived. While

it‟s true that the fifteenth-century prompt

copies (or their equivalent) have been lost, we

do have early versions of two of the Coventry

plays, and associated with them one of the

most famous of traditional carols.

An MS of the pageant of the Shearmen

and Tailors, which dealt with Biblical events

from the Annunciation to the Massacre of the

Innocents, survived until 1879 when it was

lost in a library fire. Fortunately it had been

transcribed and published by Thomas Sharp

in 1817 and 1825 in about 900 lines. The first

203 lines are reproduced in A.C. Cawley‟s

edition of Everyman and other medieval plays

first published in 1956 (pp 71-7).

The other Coventry pageant to have

survived is that of the Weavers, which

includes the meeting of the young Jesus with

the doctors in the Temple; a sixteenth-century

MS, edited by Hardin Craig for the Early

English Text Society, used to be (and may

still be) in the Coventry civic archives. A

version of this play was performed in 2006.

We also have surviving from the

Shearmen and Tailors‟ play the haunting

„Coventry carol‟, a mother's lament over her

lost child in the massacre at Bethlehem. The

text was first written down in the 1530s and

the best-known tune dates from 1591

(although over the years composers including

Gustav Holst, Peter Warlock and David

Willcocks have also arranged it). Several

medieval poems set to music illustrate the

birth of Jesus with a lullaby, including the

lovely one beginning „lullay, my liking.‟

Kenilworth again From Phil Stone

Further to Geoff Wheeler‟s comment in the

December Bulletin concerning my report on

the visit to Kenilworth, perhaps I ought to

have made it clear that by my reference to the

castle as not being Ricardian I meant that

Richard would not have known any of the

buildings still extant today. It is well known

that Richard visited Kenilworth whilst he

awaited the invasion of Henry Tudor during

the summer of 1485. I apologise for not

making myself clear at the time.

Richard Armitage as Richard III From Elizabeth Butler

With regard to the article in the December

Bulletin (p.30) on the actor Richard Armi-

age, I have read that his father, who was an

avid Ricardian, named his son after King

Richard III. Thus the actor would be an ad-

mirable choice to portray the part, and indeed

a television channel might be persuaded to

present a favourable history of the man.

Lighten up and celebrate! From Steven Guy Nabazas by email

I like your site. It is very informative, it is a

good history. When I have some money, I

will join. Only thing I did not like is that you

overstate the case on how many people

believe him to be a murderer of Princes. At

the time your society started, that was true.

You have great victories and should acknow-

ledge them. Virtually every recent book I see

in bookstores and libraries are all either

putting it on Buckingham, Henry VII or in the

most recent, To Know a Lion by his Claws,

they escaped. Lighten up and celebrate! In

five decades you changed five centuries of

unfair press. He is finally getting fair press.

Until the UK decides to examine the 17th

century bones, it is all speculative anyway.

Thanks for your work.

53

The Barton Library

From the Non-Fiction Books Librarian No new non-fiction books to report on for this Bulletin, but grateful thanks to Peter and Carolyn

Hammond for their donation of a previously missing book, K.S. Wright‟s The Field of Bosworth,

the synopsis of which is on the website under military history.

On the subject of missing books, it would be appreciated if members would have a look on

their shelves to see if they have any books belonging to the Barton Library. Over the years a

sprinkling of books have gone missing and borrowers have become keepers, I am sure

unwittingly for the most part.

The major difficulty faced by the Library is postage costs and I am not really sure how to

solve it. For instance, the book donated by Peter and Carolyn would cost £6.70 return and it is

not particularly heavy. I am prepared to go roughly a two-hour round trip to deliver a book,

which is approximately the southern Lake District or South Cheshire from where I live. If any

member has any suggestions I would be pleased to hear from them. For instance I was thinking

of something like a pony express system, where I drive to a meeting point, drop a book off to a

member, who then passes it on to the member who requested to borrow the book, but in practical

terms it just may not be feasible.

Finally, in the December 2010 Bulletin on page 46 there is an article „Demolishing the Tudor

false front‟. Due to pressure of space it was much truncated, but if any member wants to see the

full article I can send them a copy either via email or Royal Mail.

From the Non-Fiction Papers Librarian The following are some recent additions relating to some of the battles that are currently most

topical: Towton, celebrating (if that is the right word) its 550th anniversary later this month;

Barnet, which will reach its 540th anniversary next month; and Bosworth, the site of which was

just last year announced by the archaeological team to have been found not quite where any

historian had previously placed it.

„Killing Time: Challenging the common perceptions of three Medieval Conflicts – Ferrybridge,

Dintingdale and Towton‟, by Tim Sutherland (Journal of Conflict Archaeology, vol 5, no 1,

2009, pp. 1-25).

Tim Sutherland, Towton battlefield archaeologist, argues, with reference to the archaeology and

contemporary documents, for a reinterpretation of the timeframe of these three conflicts, and of

the relationship of the engagements at Ferrybridge and Dintingdale to the final battle at Towton.

„Nasty, brutish and not that short‟, (The Economist, 16 December 2010, pp. 50-52).

A review of the battle, the physical condition of its participants and the injuries that killed them,

based on information from the human remains discovered during work at Towton Hall in 1996.

Reappraisal of the Battle of Barnet 1471, by B. Warren (Potters Bar and District Historical

Society, 2009).

A 44-page booklet in which local historian Brian Warren, using primary accounts, early maps

and local documentary sources, presents the case for a relocation of the battle about a mile north

of the conventional modern site of Hadley Green.

54

„FOCUS: Finding Bosworth‟ by Glenn Foard (Battlefield, vol. 4, issue 4, Winter 2009/10, pp. 9-

11).

Summarises the conduct of the archaeological survey, the finds to date and their implications for

understanding the battle. Includes colour illustrations of the lead shot recovered from the field.

Additions to the Audio-Visual Library On pp. 17-19 of this Bulletin, Geoff Wheeler has written a review of a new, shortened version of

Universal‟s 1939 film Tower of London, which is now available as a DVD or video from the

Audio-Visual Library.

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

NEW SOCIETY PUBLICATION

RICHARD III AND EAST ANGLIA A record of the proceedings of the Triennial Conference of the

Richard III Society held at Queens’ College, Cambridge, 15-17 April 2005

Edited and with foreword by Livia Visser-Fuchs Contents include: Richard of Gloucester and his East Anglia Lands: Anne F. Sutton Friends and Foes: Richard III and the East Anglian Magnates: The Howard Family: Anne Crawford The de Vere Family and the House of York c.1440-1485: James Ross The Last Yorkist Rebellion? Henry VII and the Earl of Suffolk, 1499-1501: Sean Cunningham Socio-religious Gilds of the Middle Ages: David Dymond ‘As dear to him as the Trojans were to Hector’: Richard III and the University of Cambridge: Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs MEMBERS’ PRICE £5.00 + p&p (UK £3.00, EU £4.50, rest of world £5.50)

Available from Anne Sutton, 44 Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1QF

Please make cheques payable to The Richard III Society

55

Future Society Events

Visit to Abingdon and Oxford Saturday 14 May 2011

Although Abingdon does not seem to have any direct connection with King Richard, it is an

attractive, ancient town with a long history as a commercial, ecclesiastical and administrative

centre. Indeed, it claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited town in Britain, but so do other

places.

It offers a wealth of interesting buildings. We shall be visiting the Merchant‟s House at

26/26A East St Helens Street (which is owned by the Oxford Preservation Trust). This was

originally a merchant‟s hall house and was built c.1430. The Long Alley Almshouses (originally

St Helen‟s Hospital) are close by and can been viewed via the public footpath through St Helen‟s

churchyard. These date back to 1446 and have been owned by Christ‟s Hospital since 1553.

St Helen‟s church itself is worth a visit. Most of it dates to the fifteenth century, including its

beautiful spire, which rises to a height of 150 ft. There are four aisles flanking the nave, which

makes it the second widest church in England, ten feet wider than it is long. The painted ceiling

dates from the end of the fourteenth century. Nearby is Burford Bridge, built 1416.

After lunch, we shall travel the short distance to Oxford, where we know Richard spent two

days in July 1483; his host was Bishop Waynflete, founder and benefactor of the Magdalen

College.

Oxford has an abundance of colleges, museums, libraries and churches waiting to be

explored. The town has always been noted for its distinguished scholars, attracting students since

the twelfth century; they formed small, residential communities which later became the formal

colleges. Merton, Balliol and University dispute the claim to be the oldest; but New College has

the oldest buildings, including a gatehouse and hall dating from 1386.

As well as the colleges, there are other delights such as the Bodleian Library, Christ Church

chapel, Wren‟s Sheldonian Theatre, the Ashmolean, St Mary‟s Church . . . need I go on!

The coach will leave from London Embankment at 9am (from Bromley at 8am) to arrive in

Abingdon just before 11am. We shall go on to Oxford after lunch, where we shall spend the rest

of the day, leaving at approx 5.30pm.

The cost of the trip will be £20 per person, which will include cost of coach, a donation to

Oxford Preservation Trust and driver‟s tip. A booking form is in the centrefold of this Bulletin.

Please send it with your cheque to: Marian Mitchell, 20 Constance Close, Witham, Essex CM8

1XL (tel: 01376 501984; email: emsquared.witham@virgin.net) by 23 April 2011.

If you miss this date, don‟t panic; please contact me to see if there are any vacant seats on the

coach. Members travelling by their own transport are very welcome to join us, but please let me

know you are coming.

Marian Mitchell, Visits Officer

Triennial Conference: Bosworth and Warfare: new finds, new ideas 20-22 April 2012 at the University of Loughborough

For details please see pp. 5-6.

56

Branches

America Nita Musgrave, 48 Tupelo Avenue, Naperville, Illinois 60540, USA.

Tel: 630 355 5578. Email: bnm@wowway.com

Canada Ms Sheilah O‟Connor, 156 Drayton Avenue, Toronto, Ontario,

M4C 3M2 Canada. Tel. 416-693-1241. Email: richardiii@cogeco.ca

Web site: http://home.cogeco.ca/~richardiii

Devon & Cornwall Mrs Anne E Painter, Yoredale, Trewithick Road, Breage, Helston,

Cornwall, TR13 9PZ. Tel. 01326-562023. Email: aepainter@aol.com

Gloucester Angela Iliff, 18 Friezewood Road, Ashton, Bristol, BS3 2AB

Tel: 0117-378-9237. Email: ailiff@soilassociation.org

Greater Manchester Mrs Helen Ashburn, 36 Clumber Road, Gorton, Manchester, M18

7LZ. Tel: 0161-320-6157. Email: hhathorhm@aol.com

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.

Email: ian.townsend@talktalk.net

London & Home Counties Miss E M Nokes, 4 Oakley Street, Chelsea, London SW3 5NN.

Tel: 01689 823569. Email: elizabeth_nokes@hotmail.com

Midlands-East Mrs Sally Henshaw, 28 Lyncroft Leys, Scraptoft, Leicester, LE7

9UW. Tel: 0116-2433785. Email: sallyoftarahill@homecall.co.uk

New South Wales Julia Redlich, 53 Cammeray Towers, 55 Carter Street, New South

Wales, 2062, Australia. Email: info@richardiii-nsw.org.au

Website: www.richardiii-nsw.org.au

New Zealand Robert Smith, „Wattle Downs‟, 61 Udy Street, Greytown, New

Zealand.Email: rob.helen.smith@xtra.co.nz

or secretary@richard3nz.org Web site: www.richard3nz.org

Norfolk Mrs Annmarie Hayek, 20 Rowington Road, Norwich, NR1 3RR.

Tel: 01603 664021. Email: annmarie@talktalk.net

Queensland as New South Wales

Scotland Juliet Middleton, 49 Ochiltree, Dunblane, Perthshire, FK15 0DF

Tel: 01786 825665. Email: keith.mddltn@xna9791.plus.com

(lower-case l, not figure 1)

South Australia Mrs Sue Walladge, 5 Spencer Street, Cowandilla, South Australia

5033, Australia. Email: walladge@internode.on.net

Thames Valley Sally Empson, 42 Pewsey Vale, Forest Park, Bracknell, Berkshire

RG12 9YA. Email: sally.bracknell@virgin.net

Victoria Hazel Hajdu, 4 Byron Street, Wattle Park, Victoria, 3128, Australia.

Email: hhajdu@tpg.com.au

Western Australia Louise Carson, P.O. Box 240, Maddington 6989, W. Australia

email: Louise.carson@three.com.au

Web site is still http://members.iinet.net.au/~hhardegen/home.html

but this may change soon

Worcestershire Mrs Pam Benstead, 15 St Marys Close, Kempsey WR5 3JX

Email: pb@richardiiiworcs.co.uk. Website: www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk

Yorkshire Mrs P.H. Pogmore, 169, Albert Road, Sheffield, S8 9QX

Tel: 0114 258 6097. Email: yorkistrose2@hotmail.com

Branch and Group Contacts

57

Groups

Bedfordshire/ Mrs Rose Skuse. 12 Brookfield Rd, Newton Longville, Bucks,

Buckinghamshire MK17 0BP Tel: 01908 373524 Email: mskuse@aol.com

Bristol Keith Stenner, 96 Allerton Crescent, Whitchurch, Bristol,

Tel: 01275-541512 (in affiliation with Gloucestershire Branch)

Email: Keith.stenner@airbus.com

Continental in process of formation: contact Rita Diefenhardt-Schmitt at

Ulmenweg 8, 65520 Bad Camberg-O.selters/Ts., Germany

Croydon Miss Denise Price, 190 Roundwood Rd, London NW10

Tel: 020 8451 7689

Cumbria John & Marjorie Smith, 26 Clifford Road, Penrith, Cumbria,

CA11 8PP

Dorset Babs Creamer, 27 Baker Road, Bear Cross, Bournemouth,

BH11 9JD. Tel: 01202 573951 Email: riiidorset@talktalk.net

North East Mrs J McLaren, 11 Sefton Avenue, Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne,

NE6 5QR Tel: 0191 265 3665. Email: jumikmac@yahoo.co.uk

North Mercia Miss Marion Moulton, 6 Shrewbridge Crescent, Nantwich, Cheshire

CW5 5TF. Tel. 01270 623664 Email: moult.dabber@yahoo.co.uk

Nottinghamshire Mrs Anne Ayres, 7 Boots Yard, Huthwaite, Sutton-in-Ashfield

& Derbyshire Notts, NG17 2QW. Email: ajayres@fsmail.net

Sussex Liz Robinson, 14 Queen‟s Park Rise, Brighton, BN2 9ZF, tel.

01273 609971, email: shezcounihan@hotmail.com

West Surrey Rollo Crookshank, Old Willows, 41a Badshot Park, Farnham,

Surrey, GU9 9JU. Email: crookshank@starkmann.co.uk

The Australasian Convention 2011

will be hosted by Victoria Branch

Friday 5 August to Sunday 7 August 2011

at the Victoria Hotel, 215 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Programme

Friday 5 August (evening): informal get-together to welcome interstate and overseas guests;

drinks and canapés included

Saturday 6 August full day of presentations

7.00 pm, banquet (partners and guests most welcome)

Sunday 7 August a casual mix of talks, games, trivia (perhaps a workshop)

followed by lunch

Costs: convention (including Friday night get-together, plus morning and afternoon tea and lunches

on Saturday and Sunday): $ 200.00. Banquet (per person, including wine and soft drinks),

$ 90.00. This does not include accommodation, which should be booked and paid for direct to the

hotel (www.victoriahotel.com.au).

Further details and registration form are available on the Victoria Branch website:

www.home.vicnet.net.au/~richard 3

58

Branches and Groups

Canadian Branch Report 2010 We‟re a little behind the times, but we‟ll try to catch up ...

Our 2009-2010 Ricardian year was typical of most, with seven general meetings in addition

to our AGM and Potluck Banquet in October, and Founder‟s Day picnic. In Toronto, the

monthly meetings featured either research papers prepared by members, a guest speaker, or an

audio-visual presentation.

In November 2009 we were pleased to welcome Linda Phillips, the Artistic Director of the

Poculi Ludique Societas (PLS) who gave an informal chat on the subject of staging medieval

drama. She described some of the plays staged by the PLS, including The True Tragedy of

Richard the Third, and regaled us with behind-the-scenes stories of triumphs and catastrophes.

She also brought along various props, photographs and costumes from past productions,

explaining the difficulties of staging medieval plays in the modern era, given that stage directions

do not survive.

At the same meeting, Amy Macfarlane, an Associate Editor of The Walrus magazine, asked

our members what motivates people to attempt to restore the reputation of a long-dead king.

Needless to say, this generated a flurry of discussion. The final result was a not entirely

flattering article in the June/July 2010 edition of The Walrus: http://www.walrusmagazine.com/

articles/2010.07-frontier-history-in-play/

But, as someone pointed out to me, even negative publicity is better than no publicity.

In January, the exciting news of the discovery of the true location of the Bosworth battlefield

prompted a presentation reviewing past theories on the site of the battle (Foss, Williams, Jones),

culminating with pictures of the fascinating artefacts found to date at the Fenn Lane Farm site.

Victoria Moorshead presented a paper on the Black Death in February, explaining its spread

geographically and interpersonally. She described the social impact of this disease, both during

outbreaks and in the aftermath. Christine Hurlbut took the floor in March to deliver a talk on

medieval sermons, based on her PhD thesis. She related how the common people experienced

church, what they saw and heard, and the all extra-curricular activity (secular and otherwise) that

took place during the service.

The April meeting featured Ray Rawlings‟ paper on „Jews in the Middle Ages‟, in which he

described the intolerance, prejudice and personal danger that Jews experienced in medieval

society. Host Garry Marnoch added interest to the meeting by providing food that was typical of

what a medieval Jewish family would eat, and put us to the test in spotting the anachronisms on

the table.

I presented a paper in May on the battle of Empingham, better known as Lose-Coat Field.

This battle confirmed the treachery of the earl of Warwick and duke of Clarence, and was the

precursor to the decisive battle at Barnet. Following the talk, we had the opportunity to watch an

episode of Mystery Files, the British documentary which attempted to exonerate King Richard of

the murder of the Princes by presenting the other contenders for the dastardly deed: Buckingham

and Henry Tudor. We have Society Chairman Phil Stone to thank for sending us this DVD, which

now resides in our library.

Margaret Towers graciously hosted the annual picnic, which turned out to be an indoor affair

owing to our capricious June weather. Cate DeSantis introduced us to sekanjabin,* a medieval

Arabic version of oxymel, which is a general term for medicinal drinks combining vinegar with

sugar syrup or honey. It was light, refreshing, and a perfect treat.

We concluded our Ricardian year in September 2010 with our annual book club, discussing

the merits of Philippa Gregory‟s The White Queen. For the most part, our readers were not

59

impressed with the book for various reasons, most notably its anachronistically modern speech,

and the tiresome emphasis on the Melusine theme and water imagery. Elizabeth was not a

sympathetic character in the book. However, we agreed its chronology, for the most part, was

sound, and the mystery of the princes was handled in an interesting manner.

We are now into our 2010-2011 year, with interesting things in store, including a presentation

on the Coronation Couture of Richard and Anne, an examination of the life of Machiavelli, a talk

on the Mongols, and an assessment of Richard‟s campaign in Scotland.

Tracy Bryce

* To make sekanjabin

Dissolve 4 cups sugar in 2-1/2 cups of water; when it comes to a boil, add 1 cup good quality

wine vinegar. Simmer 1/2 hour. Remove from fire, let cool. Add a handful of mint, or use a

flavoured vinegar such as raspberry. Dilute the resulting syrup to taste with cold water (about 5

to 10 parts water to 1 part syrup). The syrup stores without refrigeration.

Sekanjabin was first mentioned in the Fihrist of al-Nadim, a tenth-century survey of Muslim

culture.

North Mercia Group Report This group was formed on 13 March 2010, so by the time this report is read we shall be a year

old.

At the moment, we have seventeen members, including an Australian member, a nice way to

have contact long-distance. Members come from South Cheshire, Staffordshire and Flintshire.

We also meet up with members from the Greater Manchester Branch of the Society.

We began to meet once a month on a Wednesday evening, but changed to a Saturday

afternoon when the days got shorter, in October. Meetings consisted of members talking about

their particular interests in the period and book reviews. In June we had our first outing, to

Edstaston church in Shropshire, with lunch at the Battlefield Visitors‟ Centre and a guided tour of

Battlefield church. In October, Julia and Dennis Cranston gave us a very interesting introduction

to heraldry, and then in December we had our first Christmas lunch at the Crown Hotel in Nant-

wich. We sat in the oldest part of the hotel, which is Elizabethan, and the Christmas lunch was

quite sumptuous.

Our next meeting is our AGM, and then in March we hope to have a „pot luck‟ medieval

meal. There is a full programme of meetings up to December, which includes outings to

Buildwas Abbey and Much Wenlock in Shropshire, and Norbury church and manor in Stafford-

shire and a special lunch at The Boar‟s Head at Walgherton in August.

All in all it‟s been an excellent beginning and we hope to enjoy good times and good

camaraderie in the future. Thanks must go to Jacqui Emerson for enabling us to meet in her

home.

Marion Moulton

Yorkshire Branch Report The Branch‟s 50th birthday celebrations in York on 23 October were given a great official write-

up in the last issue of the Bulletin, for which the Committee would like to thank the team at head

office. We have received many messages of thanks and congratulations from members who

clearly enjoyed the day, the banquet, and/or both. I should like to take this opportunity, also, to

thank those members who have sent the Committee Christmas cards – your support is much

appreciated.

The Branch‟s commemoration of the battle of Wakefield, on the 550th anniversary, took

60

place at Sandal on 2 January. We were extremely lucky with the weather, which took time off

from sending large quantities of snow and ice to West Yorkshire so that we could easily travel to

Sandal and place flowers by the Duke of York‟s statue. An illustrated report appeared in the

Wakefield Express; but to many of us who were there the abiding image will be of the

photographer lying at full length in the road in order to get suitable pictures of the group, and of

the flowers – a dignified arrangement including, as always, white roses, and created by our

Secretary Pauline Pogmore.

Once again we were overtaken by events since I reported in the last Bulletin that the Sandal

castle visitor centre would be open at New Year: a victim of „the cuts‟, it remained closed. There

were no re-enactments or displays so the commemoration this year was brief, but the confused

and confusing skirmish at Wakefield had such tremendous repercussions for the House of York

and for England that it should never be forgotten by Ricardians. Among those repercussions is

the untimely death of Edmund of Rutland, a young man whose memory is overshadowed by

those of his surviving brothers but whose contribution to the Yorkist cause in the 1460s and 70s,

had he lived, might well have resulted in a different outcome for this country.

We shall be going to Towton again on Palm Sunday, 17 April, to attend the day‟s activities

organised by the Towton Battlefield Society on the anniversary of the terrible encounter which

put Edward IV on the throne. This year marks the 550th anniversary of that engagement, and this

fact will be reflected in our Arthur Cockerill Spring Branch Lecture, which will be held at

Jacob‟s Well, Trinity Lane, York, on Saturday 7 May at 1.30 p.m. We have had to change the

venue from Leeds since our traditional meeting-place, the City Art Gallery, has put up its charges

so much (the figure of £400 was quoted) that it is now out of the question.

The speaker will be Scowen Sykes, and his topic, naturally, the battle of Towton. Many years

ago Scowen began the campaign to recognise, examine and explain the battlefield as well as the

action of Towton, which has resulted in the Battlefield Society and much recent archaeological

work at the battle site conducted by Bradford University. The lecture has been named in honour

of one of Yorkshire Branch‟s most loyal and hard-working officers: for some thirty years from its

beginnings Arthur was a guiding figure in the Branch, Chairman several times, setting up our

Rosalba Press and maintaining Yorkshire independence in (often rather brisk) dealings with the

parent Society. The present Committee is indebted to him.

Some early notice now of a Branch trip to Conisborough castle on Saturday 2 July; please

meet in the castle visitor centre at 2.00 p.m. for a guided tour and a talk on the FitzWarrenne

family and the building of the castle.

All our future events are advertised on our website, but I have to report that our hopes for our

new site, mentioned in the last Bulletin, have been dashed. We were using a free server, as we

had to keep a keen eye on our finances, but have since been advised that this arrangement is not

appropriate for us, so have had to shop elsewhere. We are due to open the new site

www.richardiiiyorkshire.com very shortly, but you can keep an eye on our existing site for any

developments and during the crossover period no information will be lost.

Elsewhere in this Bulletin there is an item explaining the difficulties the Branch has

experienced over the years with its website. The Committee is aware of the confusion which has

arisen, and appreciates members‟ concern, so we felt it only right to explain the situation.

Finally, may I remind all Branch members that our SGM is to be held at Jacob‟s Well on

Saturday 2 April, starting at 1.30 p.m. Following the business of the meeting there will be a talk

by Pauline Pogmore on „Northern Mediaeval Families‟. Refreshments will be available at £3.50

per head (payment on the day). Would those members who would like refreshments please let

Pauline know in good time?

Angela Moreton

61

Worcester Branch Report Fortunately the severe weather did not cause the cancellation of our winter meetings, though

members did have to battle through the snow to reach one venue.

In November, former Chairman of the Branch, Ralph Richardson, gave a fascinating talk,

entitled „The Bones‟, in which he re-examined many aspects of the story of the bones which were

found in the Tower and decreed by Charles II to be those of the Princes. He also took us through

More‟s account of the Princes‟ murder and Tyrrell‟s confession to lead us into a general and wide

-ranging discussion of the problems of bias and lack of evidence. Members were particularly

perplexed by the problems created by More‟s statement that a hole had been dug under a

staircase during one night without anyone among the residents of the Tower hearing a sound.

Another issue that was highlighted was the possible contamination, or even loss, of the bones

between their discovery and their subsequent burial in the Abbey, since during that time they

were left somewhere in the Tower precincts, not apparently separately preserved.

In December, we held a social meeting with a „bring and share‟ tea and quizzes and a giant

crossword on Ricardian themes. Rather than send each other Christmas cards, we made a

collection which we have sent to Kinlet church as a donation to the fund for preserving the fine

medieval stained glass windows there.

Max Keen, a teacher and a passionate Ricardian, gave us a most entertaining and lively re-

appraisal of Richard III at our meeting in January. He started with a very good imitation of

Laurence Olivier, but then dramatically threw off his cloak and his hump and proceeded to

demolish the traditional interpretation, presenting a picture of a very different king, supporting

his argument with evidence from a range of sources.

2011 is the Worcestershire Branch‟s 25th Anniversary. We have a full programme of events,

including a banquet at Belbroughton in June. Please consult our website for details

(www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk).

Carol Southworth

In The Ricardian for 2011 The Ricardian for June 2011 is shaping up well, though the final list of articles has not been

settled.

Proposed articles include one on supposedly treasonable words spoken in Norwich

concerning Edmund de la Pole, a case which went on to involve Richard Empson.

Earlier in date is a study of another chantry established at Queens‟ College Cambridge,

with Richard of Gloucester‟s support in the 1470s, for Sir John Skrene. Skrene was a young

man of the de la Pole household who had been knighted at Tewkesbury and was accidentally

killed by Edward Tyrell.

A well-documented analysis of the tombs at Minster, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, will interest

those who study monuments and the Cheney family.

The library of John Austell, Canon of Wells (died 1500) adds the clerical world to

subjects covered.

Lastly, a biography of Jacquetta de Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, draws together the

short supply of material surviving on this lady who was the subject of so much gossip and

innuendo.

Anne Sutton

62

New Members

UK 1 October to 31 December 2010

Audrey Adams, Hebden Bridge

Philip Ashe, Leeds

Hector Banda, London

Jan Barnes, Leintwardine

Caryn Barratt, Marlow, Bucks

Dave Besag, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Christopher Bullivant, Huddersfield

Adam Byrom, Truro

M. Cockayne, Bury St Edmunds

Victoria Cooke, Amersham, Bucks

Jacqui Cotton, Southampton

Christine Darlington, Leeds

Joseph Dey, York

Jonathan Evans, Beckenham, Kent

Beverley Fairfoull, Warrington, Cheshire

Madeleine Fowler, Stroud, Glos

Alexandra Gayler, Surbiton, Surrey

Joy Hart, Henryd, Conway

Shaun Hart, Cambridge

Colin Hathersall, Cambridge

Vincent Hirst, Redditch, Worcs

Graham Howard, Edinburgh

Iain Jones, London

Esther Ketskemety, London

Dorothy Latham, Romney Marsh, Kent

Allen & Sue Lovelock, Bath

Kayla McPherson, St Andrews, Fife

Clifton Martin, Barrow-upon-Soar, Leics

Katherine, Gerard & John Michauc, Barnsley

Elizabeth Outen, Brentwood, Essex

Peter & Barbara Page, Bourne

Jessica Palmer, Gloucester

Chris Pattison, Lichfield, Staffs

David Potter, Hinckley, Leics

Christopher Rae, Ilkley, W.Yorks

June Rankin, Scarborough

Duncan Rogers, Ratley, Oxon

John Rubin, Manchester

Jane Simpson, London

Hermione St John Spiggott, Oldham, Lancs

Nigel Sutcliffe, Holt, Norfolk

Helen Teal, Sowerby Bridge, W.Yorks

Keith Tothill, Great Bookham, Surrey

Edward Triance, Huntingdon

Colin Uttley, Bulkington

Geoff Wallis, Consett, Co. Durham

Elaine Ward, Brompton-on-Swale

Jane Weaver, Chingford, Essex

H. Weston-Smart, Grantham, Lincs

Jonathan Wilkinson, Scarborough

David Yorath, Bristol

Overseas

1 October to 31 December 2010

Susan Crawford, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Margaret Dunsdon, Toronto, Canada

Leslie Hart, Westmount, Canada

Juliet Howland, Gatineau, Canada

Roger Hubbard, Toronto, Canada

Peter Ingle, New South Wales

Callie Kendall Orszak, South Hadley, USA

Emilie Laforge, Rockland, Canada

Angela Ledger, Fairlight, Australia

Doug and L. McCawley, Randwick, New

South Wales

Catherine Ollerhead De Santis, Orton, Canada

Seppo Rimmi, Helsinki, Finland

Wendie Ryder, Calgary, Canada

Vera Stratievskaya, Moncton, Canada

US Branch

1 October to 31 December 2010

Connie Davidson, Rochester, MN

Zoe DuPlantis, New Orleans, LA

Grace Lloyd, Chicago, IL

Mary Nair, Chicago, IL

William Nunn, Greencastle, IN

63

Recently Deceased Members

We are sorry to report the death of the following:

Francis Armstrong, Braintree, Essex, joined 2006

Jane Bayley, Christchurch, New Zealand, joined 2006

Rob Brown, Chesham, Bucks, joined before 1985

Tony Gayfer, Blackheath, London, joined before 1985

Anthony Goodrum, Nottingham, joined 2009

Valerie Kerr, Welwyn Garden City, joined 2008

Barbara Plumbridge, Bury St Edmunds, joined before 1985

Anne Smith, Guildford, joined before 1985

Barbara Sykes, Wakefield, joined before 1985

Bill White, Chesham, Bucks, joined before 1985

Obituary Notes

Cressida Lindsay Cressida Lindsay died aged 80 last November; she was the only daughter of Philip Lindsay, the

author and active member of The Fellowship of the White Boar. Philip Lindsay will be best

known to members for his books On Some Bones in Westminster Abbey, King Richard: a

Chronicle, and his numerous historical novels. Cressida was also a novelist, and a number of

years ago was very helpful to me in providing photographs and information about her father.

John Saunders

Barbara Plumridge I never met Barbara, but we corresponded over several years in the 1990s in connection with the

Wills Indexing Project. Working in her local library, Barbara was one of our most prolific

indexers, capturing some 1,700 wills published in several sources, many obscure and local to

East Anglia. Hers was a very significant contribution to the project. Barbara is survived by her

husband, Peter.

Wendy Moorhen

Barbara Sykes We are very sorry to have to report the death of Wakefield member Barbara Sykes on 15 January

after a long illness. Barbara had been in Yorkshire Branch for very many years, and was

responsible for reviving, just after the Millennium, the Sandal wreath-laying, which had been one

of the branch‟s earliest commemorations and is now firmly back in our calendar. With her

husband she was on the „housekeeping rota‟ for the chapel at Lead, near Towton, on behalf of the

branch, who share responsibility for its upkeep with other agencies including the Ramblers

Association. The present committee of the branch was only recently made aware of the extent of

their service to Lead. When the branch‟s Wakefield group was formed some years ago, Barbara

hosted several early meetings to get the enterprise going. She always attended our Spring Lecture

and the Sandal event, and her presence and support will be greatly missed by her Ricardian

friends. Angela Moreton

64

We run a calendar of all forthcoming events notified to us. If you are aware of any events of

Ricardian interest, whether organised by the Society (Executive 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.

Where applicable, full details of forthcoming events will appear in future issues of the Bulletin.

Date Events Originator

2011

26 March The Wars of the Roses: one-day conference Royal Armouries

at the Tower of London celebrating 550th malcolm.mercer@armouries.

anniversary of the battle of Towton org.uk

24-27 March Blood & Roses: special interest weekend at Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford (see Sept 2010 Bulletin)

8-10 April Study Weekend at York Research Committee

(now fully booked, with a waiting list)

14 May Day visit to Abingdon and Oxford Visits Committee (see p.55)

11 June Worcester Branch 25th anniversary Worcester Branch

celebration banquet, Belbroughton Church Hall

18 June East Midlands Study Day on „The Power East Midlands Branch

Behind the Throne‟ (see p. 6)

14-18 July Long Weekend based in Sussex Visits Committee

5-7 August Australasian Convention Victoria Branch

(see p. 57)

3 September Day visit to Anglesey Abbey Visits Committee

(to be confirmed)

1 October Society Annual General Meeting Executive Committee

(see p. 6)

12 November Norfolk Branch Study Day on ‟The Twilight Norfolk Branch (see p. 6)

Years of the Yorkist Cause‟

2012

20-22 April Triennial Conference at Burleigh Court Research Committee (see

Conference Centre, Univ. of Loughborough pp. 5-6)

Calendar