Richard and George of York, younger brothers of Edward IV, are created Knights of the Bath.

Tags: George of Clarence, Richard III

Public statement outside St Paul’s Cathedral that Edward IV had been married to Eleanor Talbot when he married Elizabeth Woodville, declaring the children of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate.  This meant that Richard was the next legitimate heir to the throne.  He was offered the crown by the Commons and became King Richard III.

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

Execution of William, 1st Baron Hastings.   He was not attainted and his widow Katherine was placed under Richard’s protection.  With Hastings were arrested John Morton, Bishop of Ely, Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York, and Thomas Lord Stanley.  The reasons  and circumstances for his sudden execution remain controversial.  Peter Hancock’s theory that it was because Richard discovered that Hastings knew about the precontract between Edward IV and Eleanor Talbot, but had kept it secret from him, is certainly interesting.

Bibliography:

Peter A Hancock, Richard III and the Murder in the Tower.  The History Press, Stroud, 2009.  ISBN 978 0 7524 5148 0 (hardback)

Tags: Contemporaries, Richard III

Richard and his brother George return to England from exile in Burgundy, where they had been sent for their safety after the Yorkist defeat at the Battle of Wakefield, West Yorkshire (30 December 1460).

The photograph shows Ghent (© Dorothea Preis)

Tags: Burgundy, George of Clarence, Richard III

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