RIII Memorial Stone, Leicester Cathedral

David Guy Barnabas Kindersley, stone-carver and type designer, was born in Codicote, Hertfordshire, on 11 June 1915. 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 and on Dottie Tales.

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Leicester, Richard III

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, named Great Chamberlain and Lord High Admiral of England by his brother Edward IV.

Tags: Richard III

Entry of Edward V and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, into London.  Original date set by the Woodville party for Edward’s coronation.  The council decides that Edward should reside at the Tower, the royal palace where traditionally all kings stayed before their coronation.

Tags: Edward V, Princes, Richard III

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.

Tags: Richard III

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.

Tags: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Princes, Richard III

Battle of Barnet, Hertfordshire, defeat of Warwick and his brother Montagu, who both fell in the battle.  Richard is said to have been in command of the vanguard.

Read more about a possible different location for the battle here.

Tags: Barnet, Battles, Edward IV, Hertfordshire, Richard III

Edward IV dies at Westminster, buried at St Georges Chapel, Windsor.  It is assumed that he named his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Lord Protector of England during his son Edward’s minority.

Tags: Edward IV, Richard III

Towton Cross

Battle of Towton – the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil

The Battle of Towton , regarded as  “the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil”, was fought in a snow storm on Palm Sunday, 29 March 1461, between the Lancastrian forces of King Henry VI and the Yorkist forces led by Edward, Earl of March.  It has been said that 28,000 men died that day, out of 50,000 to 100,000 soldiers.  The result was a Yorkist victory and Edward became king as Edward IV.

In 1996 a mass grave of fallen soldiers was found at Towton Hall.  Their remains have been studied by the University of Bradford.

Edward IV had planned to build a memorial chapel at Towton, but it was Richard III, who put this plan into action.  The chapel was nearly finished, when he was killed at Bosworth, and the chapel had been lost.  Or so it was thought.  In October 2013 it was revealed that scientists had found strong evidence of remains of the chapel.

In 2010 fragments of hand held guns and lead shot were found at the battle site, the earliest ever to be found.

References:

James Clark, ‘The Medieval Somme: forgotten battle that was the bloodiest fought on British soil’, The Conversation (13 July 2016).  URL:  https://theconversation.com/the-medieval-somme-forgotten-battle-that-was-the-bloodiest-fought-on-british-soil-62129 [last accessed 2 March 2020]

Helen Cox, ‘The Battle of Towton is alive and well in Yorkshire’, Herstory Writing & Interpretation..  Link “Towton” on URL:  http://helencox-herstorywriting.co.uk/articles/4539783477  [last accessed 2 March 2020]

T. Sutherland & A. Schmidt,’The Towton Battlefield Archaeological Survey Project:  An Integrated Approach to Battlefield Archaeology’, Landscapes, Vol.4, Issue 2 (October 2003), pp.15-25.  Available at URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238691750_The_Towton_Battlefield_Archaeological_Survey_Project_An_Integrated_Approach_to_Battlefield_Archaeology [last accessed 2 March 2020]

‘Richard III Towton chapel remains are ‘found’’, BBC News York & North Yorkshire (7 Oct 2013).  URL:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-24434795  [last accessed 2 March 2020]

A short description of the various battles of the Wars of the Roses can be found on the website of the Richard III Society.

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Battles, Edward IV, Richard III, Towton, Wars of the Roses, Yorkshire

Death of Edward of Middleham, only son of Richard III and Anne Neville

Tags: Anne Neville, Richard III