Birth of Cecily Neville (mother of Edward IV and Richard III) at Raby Castle, Durham

Nikolas von Popplau, a Silesian knight, meets King Richard III in York and gives us an eye-witness report of what Richard actually looked like:

“King Richard is … three fingers taller than I, but a bit slimmer and not as thickset as I am, and much more lightly built; he has quite slender arms and thighs, and also a great heart.”

After finding Richard’s remains, we have a better idea of his figure and how tall he was, so Nikolas’s statement adds to our idea of what he looked like.

Possible date for Edward IVs secret marriage Elizabeth Woodville (born 1437), daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, the widow of a Lancastrian.  It was later claimed that he was at that time already – also secretly – married to Eleanor Talbot, who was still alive at this time.  Therefore the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville would be bigamous.

Earl Rivers (brother of Elizabeth Woodville), Sir Richard Grey (son from Elizabeth Woodville’s first marriage) and Sir Thomas Vaughan (chamberlain of Prince Edward) were arrested after the failed meeting in Northampton.

Date for agreed rendezvous of Edward V’s (eldest son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville) entourage coming from Wales to meet at Northampton with Richard, Duke of Gloucester, coming from Yorkshire.  By the time Richard arrives, Edward’s party has moved on to Stony Stratford, 14 miles closer to London.

Birth of Edward of York in Rouen, Normandy (later Edward IV).  Second son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. He was the eldest of the four sons who survived to adulthood.

Baptism of William Shakespeare at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford on Avon.  He was the third child of John Shakespeare and his wife Mary Arden.  His exact birthday is not known, probably either 21, 22 or 23 April.  In the 18th century the story became wide-spread that he was born on 23 April, but there is no contemporary evidence supporting this assumption.

William became later the famous playwright, who to a certain extent is responsible for the bad reputation Richard III “enjoys” to this day.  We must never forget that he wrote a play for the theatre that had to be riveting enough to get ‘bums on seats’, his intention was not to write a historian’s essay.  By all accounts, Richard III is not the only one who suffered this fate – Macbeth was apparently also a perfectly good man.

More information: Peter Holland, ‘Shakespeare, William (1564–1616)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011.

Battle of Hedgeley Moor, Northumberland.  The Yorkist forces were led by John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (brother of Richard Neville ‘The Kingmaker’), the Lancastrians by the Duke of Somerset, supported by Sir Ralph Percy, Lords Roos and Hungerford, and Sir Ralph Grey.  The Lancastrian force soon gave way and fled, except for Sir Ralph Percy, who died in the battle.

Wedding of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou