The first general meeting of 2010 promises to be a special treat and we are sure you will want to mark 13 February in red in your diary.

Our  speaker at this meeting will be Dr Carole Cusack.   A historian and broadcaster, Carole is Associate Professor in the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney.  She has often been a guest speaker of our Branch of the Richard III Society, and for the last 10 years she has been the Honorary President of the Plantagenet Society.  Those of us who had the pleasure of hearing Carole speak on earlier occasions know what an exceptional pleasure it is to listen to her well-researched and lively talks.

This time her topic will be  “Writing about Richard:  Admissible Sources and Emotional Responses”.  She is going to look at the way how different historians’ biographical treatments of Richard III approach the question of admissible sources (remember, only Dominic Mancini is actually contemporary, all other sources were written at a later date).   Which sources historians accept, influences their picture of Richard III’s reign as well as their judgement on difficult questions like whether he ‘could have’ done away with his nephews.

Finally, reception history is interested in the way that historical persons and events are received by audiences across cultures and time periods.  What is it about Richard III that provokes an emotional response, when so many other British monarchs are of scant interest to twenty-first century people?

This is a meeting not to be missed.

As always, guests are most welcome.

Tags: Richard III