Niclas von Popplau reports after his visit to Richard III in spring of 1484 that the king employed a choir which performed ‘the loveliest music I have ever heard in all my life’*, so we can guess that Richard appreciated good music.

Therefore I am sure he would also appreciate the music which is now written in his memory. Here are two examples.

Graham Keitch wrote a beautiful choral piece ‘In memoriam Ricardus Rex’.  Listen to it here.  And a little hint for all who attend the Australasian Convention in July, it might very well feature there as well.

The Richard III has hosted an orchestoral piece by Robert Draper.  You can find out more about this and of course listen to it on the website of the Richard III Society here.

Enjoy!

*Livia Visser-Fuchs, ‘He hardly touched his food, but talked with me all the time:  What Niclas von Popplau really wrote about Richard III’, The Ricardian, Vol.XI, No.145 (June 1999), p.526

Tags: Music, Richard III, Richard III Society

My Google alert found for me an article in the Daily Mail, quoting the views of Mr Shakespeare’s plays from his “contemporaries”.  They also voice their opinion on Richard III.  Thank you, R.B. from Warwick, for putting the record straight!  Though I can also understand Mary P. from Worcestershire.

These opinions from “Ye Internette” are quoted in an article by Craig Brown,a British satirist.  According to his Wikipedia entry he “characteristically [combines] viciousness and honesty”, but don’t fear, he seems to have a good opinion of Richard III.

So if you need something a bit lighter on this grey winter day (at least here in Sydney), read all the opinions here.

Tags: Media, Richard III, Shakespeare

A young man is crowned as Edward VI in Dublin.  The Tudor government identified him later as Lambert Simnel, though it is not sure who he actually was.

Bibliography:  Smith, G, ‘Lambert Simnel and the King from Dublin’. The Ricardian, Vol. X, No.135 (December 1996), pp.498-536.

Tags: Family

Proxy  marriage of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.

Tags: Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou

Marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon is annulled.

Tags: Tudors

Death of Mary of York, second daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, at Greenwich Palace, London, buried at St Georges Chapel, Windsor

Tags: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Family

First Battle of St Albans, Hertfordshire, between the Yorkist forces under Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and the Lancastrian forces of Henry VI under Edmund, Duke of Somerset, who falls in the battle.  Henry VI is captured.  Won by the Yorkists.

This is the first battle in what became known as the Wars of the Roses, with the white rose standing for York and the red for Lancaster (Henry VI).  This battle is unique among all the battles of the Wars of the Roses in that it was entirely fought in the streets of the town and not in a field.  One can’t help wondering what the town’s citizens made of this.

The photograph shows the Market Place in St Albans, where the battle was fought (© Dorothea Preis)

Tags: Battles, St Albans

Another find by our friend Renate – what would we do without her!

On 25 April 2013, Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist of the Greyfriars Dig, gave a talk on the dig and the discovery of Richard’s remains at the Tower of London.  I am sure you all feel you know all about the project by now, it is an interesting review, which puts some details into bigger context.  You can listen to it here.

Tags: Leicester, Richard III

Death of Henry VI in the Tower

Tags: Henry VI