Battle of Wakefield

The Battle of Wakefield was fought on 30 December 1460 in West Yorkshire.  Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, father and brother of Edward IV and Richard III, were killed.  Also killed was Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.  Their heads were stuck on poles and displayed over Micklegate Bar, York, the Duke wearing a paper crown.

For a thorough analysis of the battle read Helen Cox, The Battle of Wakefield Revisited:  A Fresh Perspective on Richard of York’s Final Battle, December 1460. You can read more on Helen’s website here.

And for visitors we recommend:  Helen Cox, Walk Wakefield 1460:  A Visitor Guide to Battle-Related Sites

A short description of the various battles of the Wars of the Roses can be found on the website of the Richard III Society (you need to scroll down a bit).

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Battles, Nevilles, Richard Duke of York, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses

Murder of Thomas Becket from an English psalter.

Murder of Thomas Becket

On 29 December 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights.

More information here.

Tags: Church

Westminster Abbey (© D Preis)

Westminster Abbey Consecrated

On 28 December 1065, Westminster Abbey was consecrated under Edward the Confessor.

More information on Edward the Confessor and Westminster Abbey here.

Tags: Church

Frederick II (from ‘De arte venandi cum avibus’)

Birth of Frederick II

Frederick of Hohenstaufen, later Frederick II, was born  on 26 December 1194 in Iesi, near Ancona, Italy, the son of the Emperor Henry VI. He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1220. He was one of the most powerful Emperors. He was an influential supporter of science and the arts. He died on 13 December 1250.

You can find the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Frederick II here.

Tags: Germany, Italy

Wishing all our readers a very merry Christmas

and lots of happiness and peace for the New Year.

Enjoy a carol from King’s College Chapel in Cambridge (click here).

Richard III was a generous benefactor of the building of the chapel, which had been started by Henry VI.  By the end of his reign the first six bays of the Chapel had reached full height and the first five bays, roofed with oak and lead, were in use. [1]  It was the Tudor kings, Henry VII and Henry VIII, who would eventually finish the chapel.

Note:

‘History of the Chapel’, King’s College Cambridge.  URL:  http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/history.html [last accessed 23 November 2018]

Tags: Cambridge, Christmas, Richard III

“A Closer Look at the Roses Used as Symbols During the Wars of the Roses”

presented by Dianne Herbert

Dianne Herbert, a long standing member of the Richard III Society, introduced us to the Alba Semi-Plena, the rose we know of as the White Rose of York. It is not like the mass produced roses we know today, being much simpler but more perfumed. Roses are thought to have originated in Persia (Iran) about 35 million years old and were brought to the west by the Crusaders. The Middle East was a major producer of rosewater, rose attar (rose essence or rose oil) and rose petals, for use in medicine, as food and in cosmetics. The Alba doesn’t interbreed successfully with other roses.

Rosa ‘Semi-plena’ (Photo by A. Barra via Wikimedia Commons)

There are a number of stories associated with roses. Apparently, roses only started to produce thorns when evil appeared in the world. At the Feast of Heliogabalus (204 – 222), guests died after being smothered in rose petals. The oldest rose bush alive today was established by King Louis the Pious (King of the Franks) in 815, and is at Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. In the Middle Ages, a rose suspended from the ceiling meant that those present were sworn to secrecy.

Thousand-year-old rose, Hildesheim (Photo by Bischöfliche Pressestelle Hildesheim via Wikimedia Commons)

Edmund Langley, 1^st Duke of York was the first nobleman to use the White Rose of York. Edmund Crouchback, 1^st Earl of Lancaster used the red rose (Rosa gallica). Margaret of Anjou was known as the Red Rose of Anjou. Edward IV’s wife, Elizabeth Woodville used a white rose. Edward IV’s mistress, Jane Shore was known as the Rose of London. And it was not until 1829 that the term “Wars of the Roses” was used, when Sir Walter Scott included the term in his novel Anne of Geierstein.

White Rose of York

There is a “Jacobite” or “Bonny Prince Charlie’s” rose, as well as a rose called “York and Lancaster”. Roses have been cultivated in China since the 11^th century, and a Rose Museum has recently been opened in Beijing. Unfortunately, there are no native roses in the Southern Hemisphere.

It was interesting to learn about the history of roses and the white rose in particular. We could hear Dianne’s love of roses in her talk. Amongst other roses, she grows “Mr Lincoln”, “Duchess of Provence”, and the “Peace Rose”. I’m sure her garden is spectacular.

Tags: Hildesheim, Rosa Alba Semi-Plena, Rose of York, Roses, Wars of the Roses

Death of Edward Plantagenet (Richard of Eastwell) at Eastwell.  He is said to have claimed to be an illegitimate son of Richard III.

Tags: Richard III

Death of Isabel Neville, wife of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III

Tags: George of Clarence, Nevilles

The NSW Branch held its 1^st Book Club at the Members’ Meeting on 8 June 2019 and it was a very lively and stimulating discussion.  It was so successful the Committee decided that the Book Club will become an annual event.

The books reviewed at our Book Club this year were: –

1. “Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England” by Thomas Penn
2. “The Devil in Ermine” by Isolde Martyn

Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England

The “Winter King” was acknowledged as not an easy read due to the writing style and terminology used by Penn.  The book was a more scholarly read and the narrative was not necessarily chronological, however Members persevered, and a very interesting picture of Henry VII arose, one that we may not have previously understood.  Henry VII emerged as a paranoid, secretive, devious and duplicitous individual who would stop at nothing to hold on to his crown and fill his treasury – he was unsentimental towards those who had served him well and subsequently, had fallen from favour.  Henry was avaricious and Penn’s narrative about how this was enacted was revealing.  Although it was hard going, the majority of the book club members finished the book, and all acknowledged they found it interesting and learnt from the experience.

The Devil in Ermine

“The Devil in Ermine” was acknowledged as excellent, as we have all come to expect from Isolde.  Isolde’s story on the Duke of Buckingham and his revolt was well researched and very informative about this troubling and treasonous event during the reign of Richard III.  Isolde made this complex event into an easy to read and understand narrative that brought to light a treacherous, inexperienced, reactive and emotional character in Buckingham that seriously threatened Richard III and his reign.

We look forward to the next Book Club, to be held on Saturday 4 April 2020.  The Books we will be reading are:

1. “Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses” by Sarah Gristwood
2. “Women of the Cousins’ War: The Real White Queen and Her Rivals” by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones

Please join us!

Tags: Book Club, Books, Isolde Martyn, The Devil in Ermine, Thomas Penn, Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England