In last Saturday’s Telegraph (the newspaper in the UK, not the Australian one) Allan Massie, famous Scottish writer and columnist, wrote a column on Gaddafi’s death.  In it he says ‘The death of a tyrant may be a matter for rejoicing, but it may also be the stuff of tragedy or at least pathos.’

He makes his point by comparing Gaddafi’s death to the fall of the tyrants in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III.  In both cases the popular image of the real-life king has been very much influenced and overshadowed by the Bard.  Allan Massie is very well aware of Shakespeare’s influence and is careful to distinguish between the literary Richard III and the historic Richard III as represented by the Richard III Society.  This is what he had to say:

To forestall complaints from members of the Richard III Society who think him a much maligned figure, a victim of scurrilous Tudor propaganda – and that much is certainly true – let me say that it is Shakespeare’s Richard, not the historical Richard of whom one knows little for certain, that I am talking about. Shakespeare’s Richard then is a scoundrel, a liar, seducer, murderer and tyrant, granted only two redeeming qualities – wit and courage.

We appreciate all the good work the Richard III Society, of which we are just one small part, is doing.  Allan Massie’s column shows us that the efforts are bearing fruit.  Keep up the good work!

You can find the article from the Telegraph here.

Tags: Richard III, Shakespeare

J. M. Robinson, Treasures of the English Churches.  Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995.   ISBN  9781856192866

This book is the culmination of a search of England to find interesting features of local churches, profusely illustrated in black and white and colour.  Not best pleased, however, to see on p. 131 a reference to  St Mary’s and All Saints, Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire:  Back of the pulpit with Tudor Royal Arms (and a colour picture).   Surely there are other treasures in this church that they could have chosen…

We do rather better with the Digger’s Club Garden Annual catalogue which lists on p. 28 – “King Richard:  The King of leeks.  An excellent early variety.  Produces extra long shanks with a creamy texture.”

I have adopted this vegetable for our King Richard.

Tags: Books, Richard III

On Thursday, 13 October 2011, an impressive number of people arrived at the New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney, not to watch politicians at work from the Gallery, but to hear Professor Stephanie Trigg from Melbourne University speak on “The Traditional, the Quaint and the Medieval in Australian Parliamentary Practice”.

There could be no better place to hear Professor Trigg speak than the Parliamentary Theatrette and, warmly welcomed by the hosts, Heraldry Australia, and some delicious refreshments beforehand, we sat back to enjoy a talk delivered with knowledge, humour and expertise.

The illustrated talk invited us to explore the medieval component of parliamentary rituals, objects and traditions, together with the relationship between the medievalism of such objects and practiced and the tradition that remains in Australian parliamentary practice.

The medievalism of course is based on the Westminster parliamentary system, and we were engrossed by the various uniform requirements for officers such as Black Rod and Speakers – some of which have been modified for modern suitability, and the option major figures have now of wearing wigs.

Some marvellous examples of the all important mace were shown, and we enjoyed the description of a makeshift mace made from a plumbing pipe when the correct one had not been finished in time. Even more curious was its mount (a toilet float) and the handles formerly on old shaving mugs.  Creativity at work when needs must …

A highlight of the evening was surely the picture of the valued and almost unique copy of the English 1297 version of Magna Carta, bought for Australia from the Kings School in Somerset for £ 2,500 in 1957.

Explanations of various parliamentary roles were given – and apparently they weren’t all safe and sure appointments, considering the amount of Speakers of the English Parliament who were murdered or beheaded in the 14th and 15th centuries.

This was something followed up by Christopher Puplik, the former Senator for NSW (and publicity office for our Branch of the Richard III Society in the 1980s), when he rose to thank Professor Trigg for her presentation that was so informative and inspiring.  He told the audience that members of the Richard III Society can relate to the execution of Speakers, remembering William Catesby, beheaded by Henry Tudor immediately after the Battle of Bosworth.

It was a memorable evening, something that didn’t surprise those of us who attended Professor Triggs’ presentation of “Ladies of the Garter” a few years ago, and we look forward to her return to Sydney next year in connection with her book on the Order of the Garter.

Tags: Heraldry Australia, Parliament

At our AGM on 8 October, the NSW Branch unanimously decided to support the Middleham Church Appeal with a donation of $300.  Of course individual members are also encouraged to think about making a private donation – and I know that some members have done so since we first published the Appeal on our website in September.  However, the branch committee felt it was also important to do something as a branch and to give everyone the opportunity to feel involved.

I’m sure our members will be pleased to know that our contribution, though it might be small in the scope of the repairs needed, did not go unnoticed.  Phil Stone, Chairman of the Richard III Society, send us a ‘thank you’ on behalf of the Appeal and the Executive Committee of the Society saying that it will be appreciated by the folks in Middleham, who would probably not be able to raise the necessary funds on their own.  The Society also thanked us on their Facebook page.

The Church of  St Mary and St Alkelda has such strong Ricardian connections that we would not expect the community of Middleham to shoulder the costs on their own and feel it only right to express our support for Richard III in this way.

Tags: Church, NSW Branch, Richard III Society

For Australians surely there can be no better person that John Bell to listen to about William Shakespeare.  During his childhood in Maitland he was fortunate to have Shakespeare-loving teachers who took classes to see the Olivier Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III, as well as plays performed by visiting companies (not always brilliant).   One teacher told his parents that John’s destiny was inevitable:  to become an actor.

And at Sydney University he made his first appearance in 1959 as Coriolanus in a production by Ken Horler with whom, ten years later, he was to found the Nimrod Theatre.  In the interim he had spent five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK.

As he left to return to Australia he admits he wondered if he was doing the right thing.  Now he recognises it is the best decision he ever made.  He has acted and directed Shakespeare for all the major theatre companies in Australia, and in 1990 he founded the Bell Shakespeare Company without which our theatre world would be a lesser place.

He gave a lively and wonderfully informed talk about his book On Shakespeare* on 11 October 2011 at one of North Sydney Library’s author presentations held in conjunction with The Constant Reader bookshop.  Naturally there was a full house, standing room only eventually, but who noticed as we listened to descriptions of Stratford on Avon and seeing the places where Shakespeare was born and died; of learning of the challenge of performing at the new Globe theatre, a replica of the original, where the vertical audience tiers mean goodbye to a subtle aside and character introspection.  Full on projection to the highest level …

The talk was kept to a reasonable length in order to have time for questions – and the first of these (from someone I could barely see across the crowded room) was about Richard III. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Books, Richard III, Shakespeare

Book Review:  The Lady of the Rivers

Philippa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers, Simon & Schuster.  ISBN HB 978-1-84737-59-2.

This is the third novel in The Cousins’ War series, examining the woman who became the mother of Elizabeth Woodville.  Her importance became evident to the author as she wrote The White Queen, and as we have seen in her previous books, Gregory can focus on the women in history who are frequently placed several places in the rear while men take centre stage, but whose impact on history in enormous.

The story of the young Princess Jacquetta of Luxembourg opens with her recognition of the skills inherited by some of the women in her family thanks to their descent from the water goddess, Melusine.  A few years later she marries John, the great Duke of Bedford, who admits her to his secret world of alchemy and learning and, in England, she soon realises the difficulties she will have to face: not just a new language to learn, but to meet a young, easily led king, his ambitious relatives and confront the jealousy of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester.  And it is the witchcraft trial, hideous deaths of accomplices and incarceration of Eleanor that is a warning of what Jacquetta herself might have to face if she cannot hide her own gifts. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Books, Elizabeth Woodville, Wars of the Roses

The good news this year was that the October 2nd actually fell on a Sunday, our preferred day for our Branch social events.  However what wasn’t such good news was the definitely non-celebratory weather.  The heavens opened and the rain, that would be generally welcomed in our wide brown land, meant that the planned barbecue was not to be.

However this did not deter the small group of New South Wales members who braved early starts to catch the train and a damp misty drive to the Southern Highlands, then enjoyed morning tea with the Ann and David before they gathered at Helen and Allan’s lovely home at Bundanoon.  Aided and abetted by Denise who, with Tony, had journeyed from Canberra, Helen had prepared a delicious lunch to spread before us.

As usual, the conversation was non-stop and entertaining, ranging from great books with accurate sources on the Middle Ages to discovering that some of us had loved the same titles in our childhood.  Helen and Denise had formed their own Richard III Society while still at school, being unaware of another one in the UK, Josephine Tey’s book being their inspiration.

Later in the afternoon there was another viewing of Helen and Denise’s wonderful presentation of “Richard III: the posthumous hunchback” before farewells were made.

Tags: NSW Branch

This was an all-important meeting, time to review the year gone by and to highlight plans for the year ahead. Judith, our Chairperson, welcomed us all, and regretted the absence of those who couldn’t make the meeting. She then gave a summary of our Ricardian year of 2010 – 2011: the many interesting talks that had been given, such Dorothea’s account of the “Blood and Roses” weekend at Oxford, Dr Penny Bishop’s talk on plagues and pestilences in the Middle Ages , Isolde Martyn on life in Medieval London and the always interesting and innovative Scrabble talks.

Several branch members had attended the biennial Australasian Convention in Melbourne, and Kevin, Julia, Helen and Denise had contributed presentations.

Judith thanked all the committee members for their hard work and contribution during the year, especially welcoming Judy who had joined us mid-year as Treasurer, easing Dorothea’s workload. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Church, NSW Branch

Julia and I were talking yesterday about Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer and wife of John de la Pole, duke of Suffolk.  Complementing our discussion is today’s free biography of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  You can find Rowena Archer’s biography of this fascinating woman at http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html, but only during this week.  While you are there make sure that you sign up for the free ‘Lives of the Week’, many of which are relevant to our period of interest.

Illustration: Alice Chaucer’s effigy in Ewelme church (photograph by Dorothea Preis)

Tags: de la Pole