Elizabeth Woodville allows her younger son Richard to quit sanctuary at Westminster and join his brother Edward at the Tower.

Battle of Stoke Field, Nottinghamshire, between the Yorkists on behalf of “Edward VI” and the Tudor government troops.  On the Yorkist side, John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, a nephew of both Edward IV and Richard III, was killed.  He had been considered heir to the throne of Richard III after the death of Edward of Middleham.  It is not quite clear who “Edward VI” actually claimed to be.  According to Tudor sources he was said to pretend to be Edward, the son of George, Duke of Clarence.  As the real Edward was locked up in the Tower, this was impossible.  There is no surviving evidence who his own supporters said he was.

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

Execution of William, 1st Baron Hastings.   He was not attainted and his widow Katherine was placed under Richard’s protection.  With Hastings were arrested John Morton, Bishop of Ely, Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York, and Thomas Lord Stanley.  The reasons  and circumstances for his sudden execution remain controversial.  Peter Hancock’s theory that it was because Richard discovered that Hastings knew about the precontract between Edward IV and Eleanor Talbot, but had kept it secret from him, is certainly interesting.

Bibliography:

Peter A Hancock, Richard III and the Murder in the Tower.  The History Press, Stroud, 2009.  ISBN 978 0 7524 5148 0 (hardback)

Richard and his brother George return to England from exile in Burgundy, where they had been sent for their safety after the Yorkist defeat at the Battle of Wakefield, West Yorkshire (30 December 1460).

The photograph shows Ghent (© Dorothea Preis)

RIII Memorial Stone, Leicester Cathedral

David Guy Barnabas Kindersley, stone-carver and type designer, born in Codicote, Hertfordshire. Among his work is the Richard III Memorial Stone, which used to be in Leicester Cathedral.  The stone is now on loan to the King Richard III Visitor Centre,which also allows access to Richard’s original grave

In the Ricardian Bulletin of December 1982 Jeremy Potter in his AGM report said the following:

“The Leicester Memorial Stone, carved by David Kindersley, dedicated in August, was not a Society project, but that of the Rev T.C.Hunter-Clare; however the Society was glad to have been able to contribute and had much appreciated the dedication service.”

At the previous year’s AGM he said: “The Society had made an initial small donation and a larger later one”.

Around this time the  Leicester Statue fund was wound up and it was agreed the residue would be used for special projects “such as the Leicester Cathedral Memorial and Fotheringhay Chapel.”

More information on David Kindersley: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituariesdavid-kindersley-1571426.html

Wedding of  Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII at the Franciscan church at Greenwich.

Death of Cecily Neville (mother of Edward IV and Richard III) at Berkhamstead Castle, Hertfordshire.  She was buried with her husband Richard and son Edmund at St Mary and All Saints Church, Fotheringhay.

Birth of Margaret Beaufort, daughter and heir of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset (1404–1444), and Margaret (d. 1482), daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.

She was an influential supporter of her son Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.

Coronation of Margaret of Anjou in Westminster Abbey.  The ceremony was performed by the archbishop of Canterbury, John Stafford.

Source: ODNB on Margaret of Anjou