The long awaited launch of Helen Cox’s follow-up to The Battle of Wakefield Revisited took place on 19 March 2011 at Waterstone’s Booksellers in Wakefield.

In Walk Wakefield 1460 Helen is our guide to all the sites connected with the battle.   The book contains a brief history, directions to the sites (including maps), and up-to-date information on opening times and admission charges for visiting.

Helen Cox and her husband Mick Doggett at the launch of Walk Wakefield 1460 (photograph © Mike Wilson)

Helen reported that there was a good turnout for the launch and was particuly happy to see some who had travelled long distance to attend, like a Battlefield Society member from Preston in Lancashire, and a Richard III Society member from Beverley in East Yorkshire.  Some people bought copies of both Wakefield Revisited and Walk Wakefield. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Books, Ricardian Authors, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses

A Visit to East Anglia – Book Review:  Richard III and East Anglia

Livia Visser-Fuchs (ed.), Richard III and East Anglia:  Magnates, Gilds and Learned Men, Richard III Society, 2010, ISBN 978 0904 893 19 9

I read about Richard III and East Anglia in a recent Ricardian Bulletin and ordered it.  It contains five of the talks given at the 8th Triennial Conference of the Richard III Society, which took place at Queens’ College, Cambridge, in April 2005.  Queens’ College was an apt venue, as this college was greatly supported by Richard both as Duke of Gloucester and as king.

The contributions cover ‘Richard of Gloucester’s Lands in East Anglia’, the relationship between his family and the Howard and the de Vere family, Richard’s relationship with the University of Cambridge, the relationship between the Earl of Suffolk and Henry VII, but also an interesting article on the ‘Socio-religious Gilds of the Middle Ages’.

In preparation for the Australasian Convention of The Richard III Society in Melbourne in August of this year,  I have been looking at Richard’s attitude to learning and education, the article on his relationship with the University of Cambridge, though the last in the volume, was the first I turned to and was not disappointed.

The book is illustrated with delightful tailpieces, which were inspired by the badges by various of the persons mentioned in the talks, of course Richard’s boar features prominently, as well as manuscripts from his time and secular badges.

This is a book which would be of great interest to any Ricardian and can only be recommended.

You can order it from the Richard III Society in the UK (go to Society Shop on the menu on the left hand side).

Tags: Books, East Anglia, Ricardian Authors, Richard III

Helen Cox, Walk Wakefield 1460: A Visitor Guide to Battle-Related Sites, YPD Books, 2011, ISBN  978-0-9565768-1-1

We all know Helen Cox from her fascinating analysis of the Battle of Wakefield. 

This new book will be essential reading if you plan to visit the site of this decisive battle in the Wars of the Roses,  or are just interested in seeing the historical setting in today’s geography.  Both are aspects which interest me, so Walk Wakefield 1460 has top place on my wish list.

This new book covers the campaign of the winter of 1460, from its opening skirmish at Worksop to the grisly aftermath in York, through sites connected with the battle.  Each section of the concise illustrated guide features a brief history, directions to the sites (including maps), and up-to-date information on opening times and admission charges for visiting.  The sites covered are:

Worksop Priory & Castle
Sandal Castle
Duke of York’s Monument
The Battlefield at Wakefield Green
St Mary’s Chantry Chapel
Pontefract Castle
Micklegate Bar & York City Walls

The book will be launched at Waterstones Booksellers, The Ridings Shopping Centre, Wakefield, on Saturday 19 March 2011, from 11h00 -13h00.  What a pity, this is just before my trip to the UK to attend the Blood and Roses Weekend in Oxford.  Should you be in the area though, I am sure Helen would be delighted to see you and sign a copy for you.

You can also get signed copies of both Helen’s books at the Friends of Sandal Castle Open Meeting at Sandal Castle Visitor Centre on Saturday, 26  March, when she will be speaking alongside popular author Keith Souter on ‘Sandal Castle in Fact and Fiction’.

And for all those who cannot be there, we can order this publication from YPD Books.

Watch this space for more news after the launch!

Tags: Battles, Books, House of York, Ricardian Authors, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, Yorkists

Book Review:  The Logge Register – A wonderful resource

Lesley Boatwright, Moira Habberjam, Peter Hammond (eds.), The Logge Register of PCC Wills, 1479 to 1486, Richard III Society, Knaphill (UK), 2008.  ISBN 978-0-904893-18-2

Due a bit of a mix-up at the UK end of the Richard III Society I received today volume 1  of The Logge Register of PCC Wills, 1479 to 1486 and expect volume 2 to arrive soon.  As an avid reader of The Ricardian and the Ricardian Bulletin, I have heard a lot about this project over the years, but always assumed that its target audience would be academics with very specialised interests.  So it came as a wonderful surprise to realise what a great resource this is.

The Register has two volumes, which contain all of the 379 wills and testaments in the register of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury for the years 1479 to 1486.  Its name Logge Register is derived from the first will in the collection, which is that of John Logge, a woodmonger of London.  Some of the wills are in English, some are in Latin, with translations.  We find the wills of people that every Ricardian knows very well, like William Lord Hastings (will no. 105) and William Catesby (will no. 187), or my old “friend” William Waynflete (will no. 350).  However, also the wills of the less famous make fascinating reading as we can learn so much about the lives – and deaths – of medieval people.

What a wonderful resource and I’m deeply grateful for the mix-up!

The Logge Register can be order from the shop of the Richard III Society (the link on the top left hand corner of the website)

Tags: Books, Medieval Life, Ricardian Authors

May promises to be an interesting month for friends of Ricardian fiction.  Anne Easter Smith’s much anticipated novel about Cecily Neville, Queen by Right, will be published early in the month.  This book on the mother of Edward IV and Richard III should be a real treat, as anyone who has read Anne’s previous books can confirm, including A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York and The King’s Grace.  These are what historical fiction should be:  well-researched and sticking to the facts as we know them with some romance mixed in.

We now hear that Joan Szechtman will continue with the adventures of Richard III in This Time also in May in Loyalty Binds Me.  In This Time we shared Richard’s experiences when he has been transported by time travel from the moment before his death into present day America.

Lots to look forward to in May.

Tags: Books, Cecily Neville, Family, Ricardian Authors, Richard III

We received a Christmas message from John Ashdown-Hill, who used to be responsible for Group and Branch Liaison in the Richard III Society.  We were so pleased to get it – especially as he says he’s writing a new book!  What is the subject next time I wonder?  And good to know The Last Days of Richard III is soon coming out as an e-book.

John and the useful flow of information that he used to send is sorely missed.  All of us in NSW wish him a very happy Christmas, too.

Tags: Ricardian Authors, Richard III Society

We know historical novelist Anne Easter Smith through her books A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York and The King’s Grace, all of which are favourites with a lot of Ricardians.

She was recently interview by the Examiner Pittsburgh, where she talks about her previous novels as well as the upcoming Queen by Right, which is about Cecily Neville, the wife of Richard Duke of York and mother of Richard III.  You can read this interesting interview here.

Tags: Books, Family, Ricardian Authors, Richard III

We have reviewed this new book by Peter Hammond for your information.  Read the review  here.

The book is a thorough analysis of the lead up to the Battle of Bosworth and the battle itself, based on the recent discovery of the actual spot where the battle was fought.  Fascinating reading!

Tags: Battles, Books, Henry Tudor, Ricardian Authors, Richard III

Historical novelist Felicity Pulman gave this delightful talk at the one day convention of the NSW Branch of the Richard III Society in Sydney on 15 May 2010.  You can find out more about Felicity here.

Richard III was the last of the Plantagenet line, whereas my sphere of interest and expertise lies with the progenitors of the line: the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, and her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, he who wore the planta genet, the sprig of broom in his hat that served to name a dynasty.

Let me start with a brief history.   Matilda was born in 1102. Henry’s son, William, heir to the throne of England, was born in 1103.  But he drowned in the White Ship disaster in 1120, leaving Matilda as Henry’s only legitimate heir. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Plantagenet, Ricardian Authors