Congratulations to Anne Easter Smith who just let us know that she won the 2010 Romantic Times Book Review Magazine Award for Best Historical Biography for The King’s Grace.  The Grace of the title is Grace Plantagenet, an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV, her mother is unknown.  Indeed all we know about her is that she was one of two mourners (the other is an unnamed “gentilwoman”) on the funeral barge of Elizabeth Woodville in 1492.  From this Anne spins a fascinating story about the Perkin Warbeck mystery.  For if Perkin Warbeck was indeed Richard of York, this Grace would have been his half-sister.

With the award Anne beat another contender, which also deals with the question of what happened to Elizabeth Woodville’s sons by Edward IV:  Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen.  Having read both books, I can only agree with the judges.  We congratulate Anne on this award.  It is her first, but should not be her last.  I believe Anne is at present working on a book on Cecily of York, the mother of among others Edward IV, Richard III as well as Margaret of Burgundy.  Richard played an important role in Anne’s A Rose for the Crown, while Margaret was portrayed in Daughter of York.  Can’t wait for her to bring Cecily to life!

Tags: Books, Cecily Neville, Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Richard III

Joan Szechtman (author of This Time) pointed us to a fabric, which is based on Richard’s coat in the Society of Antiquaries portrait (left).  This beautiful fabric is produced by Watts & Co. London and described as “A Victorian Gothic design after the William Morris School with further inspiration drawn from a 15th century portrait of Richard III”.   The company specialises in heraldic and ceremonial and has been prominently represented at the four coronations of the 20th century.  To view a swatch, go to Watts & Co., click on Textiles & Trimmings, select Black Fabrics, and then select Fairford Black/Gold Damask.  Thank you Joan for showing this to us.  And thank you Watts & Co for producing this beautiful fabric with such strong links to Richard III.

Tags: Richard III

Should your find yourself in England this summer there is a number of events organised by the Lincolshire Branch which should be of interest.  The first one is the

Annual Requiem Mass Saturday, 26 June 2010

Shrine of Our Lady of Ipswich

The Annual Requiem Mass for King Richard III and Queen Anne Neville will be held on Saturday 26 June at the Church of St Mary at the Elms, Ipswich, and will be celebrated according to the Anglican rite. This church houses the restored shrine of Our Lady of Ipswich (Our Lady of Grace) – a shrine patronised by the Plantagenet royal family, and specifically by members of the house of York and its adherents.

The church can be found just behind the New Wolsey Theatre, at 68 Black Horse Lane Ipswich.  All Society members and friends are welcome to attend.  The Requiem will begin at 12 noon.  Afterwards there will be free time for lunch, and during the afternoon there will opportunities to visit places of interest (either individually or as part of a guided walk).

Members should make their own way to Ipswich (which is easily accessible by train from London Liverpool Street Station in about an hour, and which has excellent park-and-ride schemes to the town centre, serving a bus stop close to the church).

If you are planning to attend, there is no booking form to complete, but please email, telephone, or write to John Ashdown-Hill (louis-john@live.co.uk) indicating how many people will be coming with you, as this is helpful for the production of service booklets, and determining numbers of members interested in a guided walk in the afternoon.

John can also be contacted for any further information that you may require.

There is no charge for this event.

Information on two further fascinating events by the Lincolnshire Branch can be found on their website (here).  The first of these  is a lecture “Henry VIII – Builder or Destroyer?”  by Dr Jonathan Foyle on 3 July 2010.  The other one is on “The Lady & the Unicorn – the Story of a Tapestry”  by Jean Townsend on 7 August 2010.

(Image:  Suffolk Churches)

Tags: Anne Neville, Richard III

When earlier this year archaeologists made the discovery of the true location of the Battle of Bosworth public, they showed various artefacts that led to the discovery.  One of them, and for me the most fascinating and poignant one, was a small silver boar badge.  The White Boar was Richard’s emblem and badges like this would have been worn by his knights.  They were primarily awarded at ceremonies like Richard’s coronation or the investiture of his son as Prince of Wales.  It is believed that this one was lost from the tunic of one his knights as he fought alongside his rightful king against the usurper Henry Tudor. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Battles, Contemporaries, Richard III

Sheriff Hutton Castle, one of Richard III’s main bases in the north, is up for sale.[1]

The first castle was built in 1140 by Bertram de Bulmer, who was then Sheriff of York, as a grand manor house.  Through the marriage of his daughter Emma it passed on to the Nevilles.  The existing castle was built in the 14th century, replacing the original manor.[2]  After Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, the castle came into the possession of Edward IV, who gave it to his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester.[3] Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Castles, Richard III, Yorkshire

During last weekend’s conference, Lynne reviewed Richard:  The Young King to Be by Josephine Wilkinson.  You can read her review here.

Tags: Anne Neville, Edward IV, Richard III

Our day-long mini-conference on 15 May included reviews of several books.  One of them was Peter A Hancock’s Richard III and the Murder in the Tower.  If you missed the conference, you can read it here.

Tags: Books, Contemporaries, Richard III

The following article was first presented as one of the famous ‘Scrabble’ talks to members and friends of our Branch at a General Meeting.  To encourage speakers from within the Branch, some draw a Scrabble tile from a bag and are asked to prepare a ten-minute talk on a subject with a Ricardian or medieval connection beginning with the letter they have drawn.

Ludlow (for a map, click here) is believed to be one of the series of castles built to hold back the unconquered Welsh.  Walter de Lacy who was second in command to William Fitz Osbern, who came over with William the Conqueror, owned land around Ludlow in Shropshire, and began the building.  His sons, Roger and later Hugh, built the earliest surviving parts of the castle. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Castles, Family, Richard III, Shropshire

We first heard on the Ricardian grapevine about a  new analysis the Battle of Wakefield and  a fresh perspective on Richard of York’s final battle on 30 December 1460.  The book by Helen Cox is due to be published later this month.

On her website Helen tells us that historians have for a long time tried to reason why the Duke of York would have taken on the much stronger Lancastrian forces in this battle.  Some believe that the Duke was reckless and stupid, an ageing commander past his prime who made a bad decision – or that he charged out in blind fury because the enemy had sent heralds to insult him. Others think he made a heroic but futile attempt to rescue some of his foragers who were under attack; or that he didn’t realise how big the Lancastrian army was, because many of their troops were cunningly hidden in nearby woodland, waiting to charge out and ambush him.

Helen says that she has never been convinced by these theories, which aren’t well supported by contemporary reports of the battle. So in The Battle of Wakefield Revisited she has tried to pull together and re-examine all the surviving historical and archaeological evidence relating to the encounter.  She promises us a far simpler and more plausible explanation of why the Duke of York rode out to face his enemies that day.

The book will be launched on 31 May 2010 at Mickelgate Bar in York.  Helen and her husband Mick will be there in costume to sell and sign copies.  What a pity that we won’t be able to join them!

So we contacted Helen, to find out how we would be able to get hold of copies of this fascinating new study.  She informed us that the book will be available online from York Publishing Services £12.00 sterling plus p+p (at today’s exchange rate approx. Aus $20 plus p+p).

She also told us that writing the book was a real labour of love for the past 18 months.  She is fortunate enough to live only a mile from the Duke of York’s castle at Sandal, so she regularly visits it and often thinks of him and her favourite of his sons.  And I’m sure you can all guess who that is!

Keep an eye on Helen’s website for further information and developments.

Tags: Battles, Books, House of York, Richard Duke of York, Richard III