I have just finished reading this excellent new book by Helen Cox and would like to recommend it to everyone interested in the period. You can read a review of it here.
Tags: Books, Richard Duke of York, Wakefield
Our branch members Leslie and Doug have just finished reading the Ricardian classic Some Touch of Pity by Rhoda Edwards. We are very happy and grateful that they immediately let us know their thoughts on this excellent novel.
You can find their review on our “Book Shelf” in the “Ricardian Library” or click here.
Tags: Anne Neville, Books, Richard III
In my recent post about the quarrel between William Wallingford, Abbot of St Albans, and John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, we saw that John Morton declared in his letter to Abbot Wallingford that the nunneries at Sopwell and St Mary de Pré were “little better than brothels”.[1] Rather strong words, so I decided to find out a bit more about these houses of ill repute.
They were two of the three cells (or daughter houses) which were situated close to the town and the abbey of St Albans. The third one, the Hospital of St Julian, was for leprous men and was not mentioned in Morton’s letter. It was founded by Abbot Geoffrey (1119-46) along Watling Street. In 1344 it was decided that it should house 6 lepers, primarily from the abbey. If a married man wanted to enter, he had to adopt a religious life, which freed him from the tie of marriage. The hospital was annexed to the abbey in 1505. There are no remains of this hospital, though the name St Julian is still used for an area of the modern city. Several skeletons have been discovered during building works at the corner of Vesta and Watling Street, which probably come from St Julian’s cemetery.[2] Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Hertfordshire, Religious Life
Helen Cox, author of The Battle of Wakefield Revisited, let us know that her book has been launched successfully. Approx. 30 people attended the official moment, among them Peter Hammond, the Chairman of the Richard III Society; Sue Galloway, the Lord Mayor of York; Richard Watson, the Sheriff of York; Terry Suthers, the Chairman of the York Archaeological Trust and Mark Taylor, the Chairman of the Towton Battlefield Society as well as some more friends from the Towton Battlefield Society.
Obviously this was a very exciting occasion for Helen, as this is her first book that she has written on her own and the result of years of research. Helen says that she is especially happy that
it means she can “take a public stand in support of Richard, Duke of York, who usually gets such a rough ride from historians”. The site for this rehabilitation was particularly appropriate as this was where the Battle of Wakefield effectively ended with the heads of Richard of York and his son Edmund and the Earl of Salisbury displayed on the York city walls after the battle.
For the launch Helen came kitted out with the full re-enactors necessities like a basket of crocks and 15th century goodies, swords, helmets, padded jacks, bows and arrows and sundry bits of costume as well as obviously cartons of books.
To find out more about the book have a look at the flyer Helen provided to us (here). You can order the book from YPD Books. I ordered it yesterday for £12.00 + £9.95 for shipping to Australia, which altogether came to approx. Aus$ 40.00. And don’t forget to visit Helen’s website as well.
We would also like to thank Helen for providing the photographs of this exciting occasion to us.
Tags: Battles, Books, Richard Duke of York, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses
As explained in yesterday’s post about St Albans, during the Cousins’ War (or War of the Roses) the abbey showed strong Yorkist sympathies under the leadership of Abbot Wheathampstead with dire consequences after the Second Battle of St Albans.
Wheathampstead’s successor but one, William Wallingford, had a serious disagreement with the then Archbishop of Canterbury, John Morton, in 1490. So according to the motto “My enemy’s enemies are my friends” I started digging and found that many ingredients in this story remind me of Richard III and his reputation under the Tudors. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Henry Tudor, Hertfordshire, John Morton, Religious Life, Richard III
Congratulations to Anne Easter Smith who just let us know that she won the 2010 Romantic Times Book Review Magazine Award for Best Historical Biography for The King’s Grace. The Grace of the title is Grace Plantagenet, an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV, her mother is unknown. Indeed all we know about her is that she was one of two mourners (the other is an unnamed “gentilwoman”) on the funeral barge of Elizabeth Woodville in 1492. From this Anne spins a fascinating story about the Perkin Warbeck mystery. For if Perkin Warbeck was indeed Richard of York, this Grace would have been his half-sister.
With the award Anne beat another contender, which also deals with the question of what happened to Elizabeth Woodville’s sons by Edward IV: Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen. Having read both books, I can only agree with the judges. We congratulate Anne on this award. It is her first, but should not be her last. I believe Anne is at present working on a book on Cecily of York, the mother of among others Edward IV, Richard III as well as Margaret of Burgundy. Richard played an important role in Anne’s A Rose for the Crown, while Margaret was portrayed in Daughter of York. Can’t wait for her to bring Cecily to life!
Tags: Books, Cecily Neville, Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Richard III
On a lovely clear autumnal Saturday in May the Richard III Society NSW Branch held their biannual conference, set in the spacious, attractive North Sydney Leagues Club in the Sydney suburb of Cammeray. The event was well attended by regular members and people from the community, with some eager attendees having travelled interstate to attend. A wide range of topics presented throughout the day guaranteed something of interest to everyone.
Carol Gerrard spoke on William Caxton, the first English printer and retailer of printed books and his monumental ‘Description of Britain’. This massive work relied on a variety of 
sources including the Latin Polychronicon of the Benedictine chronicler Ranulf Higden, as well as the Venerable Bede’s History of the English People, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, Gerald of Wales’ writings, and the Domesday Book. The Description of Britain was lavishly filled with myth and legend, fact and fiction, hearsay and conjecture.
Maggie Patton from the NSW Mitchell Library told us about the treasures held by the library, including ancient maps and parchments. We learned about the preparation of vellum, from scraped and treated animal skins and how it took about 180 calves per book. The DNA in the skin now being traceable by modern technology means that books’ origins can be determined, 
which has opened up a fascinating new area for scholars to explore. We learned how the production of books changed drastically with the invention of the printing press so that specialised teams in assembly lines took over from individual monks in scriptoriums painstakingly illuminating manuscripts. The era of manuscripts ended in 1455. Maggie also discussed the transitional works of 1455 to 1501, known as the Incunabula, that used the same conventions as established manuscript makers had used, with the printing presses turning out handwritten and illuminated replicas. The Mitchell Library owns one page of an original Gutenberg Bible, amongst other treasures.
Xavier De Saint-Simon shared his love of the French-language fictional series by Maurice Druon entitled The Accursed Kings, a French perspective on their usually avoided pre-Revolutionary past. Members
Lynne Foley, Kevin Herbert and Dorothea Preis offered critiques of books they had recently read. Author Felicity Pulman gave us a fascinating glimpse into the research undertaken for historical novels, Stephen Szabo from Heraldry Australia taught us about heraldic rolls, while Julia Redlich gave us an insight into a selection of medieval poetry and prose.
The many delicate and thoughtful touches of beauty were very appreciated, from the luncheon serviettes in Ricardian colours of murrey and blue, to the calligraphy nametags beribboned in the same colours and topped off with exquisite little white roses, to the hand-lettered bookmarks in our conference pack. The committee clearly went to a great deal of effort to create a day of beauty, refreshment, and edification for us, and they succeeded wonderfully.
Tags: Books, NSW Branch
We would like to welcome Jenny Savage from the Richard III Society in the UK. Jenny attends our general meetings whenever she is in Sydney, where she is always a most welcome guest. We are very excited that she has agreed to contribute to our website.
Today she makes a start with a review of Blood Red Roses: The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from the Battle of Towton AD 1461 (which you can read here).
We are looking forward to hear from Jenny soon again. All our contributors are highly appreciated, but this goes particularly for those from outside of our branch.
A very big welcome, Jenny!
Tags: Books, NSW Branch
From our friends at Barley Hall in York (more info here), or to be precise from the April 2010 issue of Quid Novi? A newsletter for the friends and supporters of Barley Hall, we learned that the York Archaeological Trust has agreed to take over the Museum at Micklegate Bar and make it one of their attractions. This means that the Bar joins Barley Hall as the second mediaeval attraction in their portfolio.
Micklegate Bar in York (author’s own photograph)
Micklegate Bar is York’s most important gateway and has served a number of important roles since its construction in the 12th century, including being the main point of entry through which a reigning monarch enters the city.
The new museum will open later in May and an interesting programme of events has been planned. To celebrate the launch of the new exhibition, the Wars of the Roses will be brought to life in York once more with various Bank holiday events and talks to tie into.
The programme kicks off on 29 May at Barley Hall with the drama of The Queen’s Tale: Margaret of Anjou. The following day there is a coach tour to Sandal Castle. 31 May sees Helen Cox launching her book The Battle of Wakefield Revisited at Micklegate Bar and at the Mansion House there is a series of talks on Great Battles of the Wars of the Roses.
Later in the (Northern hemisphere) summer there will be a series of guided tours to various battle sites in the area. For Ricardians the most interesting would surely be the one to Sheriff Hutton on 15 June, and a day at Pontefract Castle and the Wakefield battle site under the heading Dukes, Earls and Nursery Rhymes: Yorkshire at War in the 15th Century, which is led by Helen Cox, on 1 August. For more information on all these fascinating events check out the website of Barley hall as well as that of the Jorvik Viking Centre (here).
Our day-long mini-conference on 15 May included reviews of several books. One of them was Peter A Hancock’s Richard III and the Murder in the Tower. If you missed the conference, you can read it here.
Tags: Books, Richard III, William Catesby, William Hastings
