The first branch meeting of the New Year was held on Saturday, 14 February 2015, at the Sydney Mechanics Institute on Pitt Street, with a very good turnout of members and visitors.

Welcoming remarks were offered by our Chairperson, Judith, followed by very brief remarks from the Treasurer, Secretary, and Sales Officer each reporting that all was well in their particular area of responsibility.

The Treasurer was happy to announce our branch will be giving gifts of $100 to St James Anglican Church, and $1000 to the Leicester Cathedral Charitable Trust to assist with the costs of the refurbishment in preparation for Richard III’s reinterment at Leicester Cathedral.

Our guest speaker was Mr Almis Simans who spoke about Alfred Wainwright’s classic “Coast to Coast” walk with specific reference to the areas around York and northern England that would be of particular interest to Ricardians. His interesting talk included video footage and illustrations of the topographical features that Richard and his entourage would have had to traverse when travelling between particular places.

After the presentation, the raffle was drawn and we adjourned for afternoon tea. There was ample time for chatting, and catching up, and it was a good start to another exciting year for Ricardians.

Leslie and Doug McCawley

Tags: Leicester, NSW Branch, Richard III, Yorkshire

Members of New South Wales Branch of the Richard III Society
and their friends are invited to share in remembering Richard’s life
and to commemorate his achievements

at the Anglican Church of St James
at 173 King Street, Sydney
at 11 am
on Sunday, 22nd March, 2015

Refreshments will follow the service

…………………………….

Reinterment of Richard III

Following the discovery of the bones of King Richard III,
Leicester Cathedral has been chosen for his reburial.

After being carried in procession from the Bosworth Battlefield on
Sunday 22nd March 2015 to the Cathedral, his remains will lie in repose until Thursday, 26th March 2015 when he will be reinterred.

Some of our own members are fortunate to be participating in ceremonies in Leicester and we will be able to share with them at St James Church, King Street Sydney on 22nd March.

…………………………….

Tags: NSW Branch, Richard III

Review of 13 December 2014 Richard III Society NSW Branch Meeting

The last meeting of the year of the New South Wales Branch of the Richard III Society was held on Saturday, 13 December 2014. Proceedings opened with remarks made by our Chair Judith with a warm welcome extended to all. We were particularly thrilled to have Kevin and Angela back with us after their recent illnesses. They looked wonderful and we wish them both the best of health!

The floor was then handed over to the guest speaker, Wendy Schmid, of the NSW Embroiderers’ Guild, who related to us her long experience with this handicraft, passing around exquisite examples of various stitches and works of art she has lovingly created over the years. Her expertise regarding fabrics, changing styles in different eras and different countries, the religious motifs used by churches and ecclesial clothing, and the social history of the art of embroidery, was of great interest.

An annual activity at the Christmas meeting that members have come to anticipate is being given the challenge of some form of quiz. This year it was once again provided by Julia, who it was so lovely to see, as she was visiting us from north of Newcastle. The clues, when answered correctly, revealed the name of a popular Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. The answers are given here, as time did not permit on the day: 1. Four colly birds 2. Eleven pipers piping 3. Ten Lords-a-leaping 4. Seven Swans-a-swimming 5. A Partridge in a Pear Tree 6. Five Gold Rings 7. Three French Hens 8. Twelve Drummers drumming 9. Six Geese-a-laying 10. Eight Maids-a-milking 11. Two turtle Doves 12. Nine Ladies Dancing.

We were also happy to welcome Gabbi and her mother again.  As Gabbi attends university in Brisbane, she is unfortuantely not able to attend our meetings as often as she would like to.

Dorothea spoke about the re-interment (by the way, “re-interNment” means ‘put in gaol again’) of the remains of Richard III that will be taking place in March 2015.   There is an overview of the events planned for Reinterment Week on our branch website. She also reminded members of the Australasian Convention being held next October in New Zealand and encouraged members to attend. She advised that you can visit the Convention website to download the registration forms, and there is also some information on our own branch website.

The 2015 issue of our branch annual journal, The Chronicles of the White Rose, was distributed among all the members and friends, who attended the meeting, and should by now have been mailed to those who were not able to attend.

After the raffle, a lovely afternoon tea was then held with special offerings from members’ kitchens. A word of warning to members: it would be advisable for everyone to keep their bags with them at all times, as there is no security on site, and a suspiciously acting young man was kept from entering our meeting room during the afternoon tea. Please try to be aware of people who are obviously not part of our group, and let someone know if they are showing interest in our belongings. Doug is happy to have a word with anyone who has no legitimate business in our space.

Our first gathering in the new year will be on 14 February 2015 when our guest speaker will be Mr. Almis Simans speaking on ‘Myths and Legends of the Countryside in Richard’s England’.

Tags: Arts and Crafts, NSW Branch, Reinterment, Richard III

Santa comes a few days late to Ricardians in Australia, but next Sunday, 28 December 2015, SBS 1 will broadcast the program Richard III:  The New Evidence, first broadcast in the UK on 17 August 2014, at the end of the Bosworth weekend.  The program features Dominic Smee, who has the same degree of scoliosis as Richard did and can be regarded as his body double. Definitely a program not to be missed, even if you have already watched it on YouTube.

Tags: Battles, Bosworth, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Medical Knowledge, Richard III

Good news. There will be various services at Leicester Cathedral to commemorate Richard III during THAT week in March 2015. About a week ago, members of the Richard III Society received their ballot papers to try and get one of the sought-after seats for one of the services.

Yesterday Leicester Cathedral announced that it will be making 200 seats available for members of the general public, representing one third of all the seating in the Cathedral. This will include the following services:

• Sunday, 22 March (6.00pm) – evening service of Compline, at which the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, will preach the sermon
• Thursday, 26 March (11.30am) – the reburial, culminating in the lowering of the coffin below ground into the specially designed tomb
• Friday, 27 March (12.00 noon) – Richard III’s tomb will be revealed

This ballot offers another chance to win a ticket for one of the services. As this ballot is open to the public, it does not include the special service for members of the Richard III Society on Monday, 23 March (7.00pm).

As Revd. Pete Hobson, Canon Missioner and Project Manager, explained on Facebook, “anyone can enter the ballot, for one, two or all three services, but each person will only be selected once and we can’t guarantee for which service if you out in for more than one”. They will also coordinate the allocation of tickets from their ballot with that of the Richard III Society, so that no one gets “double invites”, thus allowing as many people as possible to have a chance to attend one of the services.

Revd. Pete also mentioned that they hope to open the Cathedral to the public by mid-afternoon on Friday, 27 March, to pay their respects at the tomb.

The ballot will open on Friday 12th December, 100 days before the week of events, at 8.00 am (UK time), which is 5.00pm AEST, and close at midday (9.00pm AEST) on 31 December. The lucky ones who will be invited, wll be notified by letter, which are expected to be sent out in the week beginning 12 January. This is the same week, when the Richard III Society will notify those members, who were successful in being chosen.

To find out more about the ballot, visit the website of the Diocese of Leicester (this includes a link to the ballot):
http://www.leicester.anglican.org/news/details/public-ballot-for-king-richard-lll-services

More about the services:
http://www.leicestercathedralkingrichardiii.org/plans/

Tags: Church, Leicester, Richard III

The results of the DNA analysis of the remains found in Leicester in 2012 has been published, amid some quite sensationalist headlines. So what does the research actually show?

The remains were with 99.999% certainty those of Richard III. This was shown by a match of the mitochondrial DNA between Richard III and modern female-line relatives, Michael Ibsen and Wendy Duldig. This is a confirmation of what was already stated at the unforgettable press conference on 3 February 2013. The only addition is the name of the second female-line descendent, who had wished to remain anonymous.

The second finding was more of a surprise. Based on the (posthumous) portraits of Richard III extant, we had the pre-conceived idea that he was dark haired and had dark eyes, the dark one among the here brothers. However, his DNA showed that with a probability of 96% he had blue eyes and with 77% probability blond hair, although this might have darkened during adolescence. The researchers suggest that the Society of Antiquaries portrait probably best reflects Richard’s adult colouring.

The third finding, which caused all the media interest, is that the male line of descent is broken at one or more points in the line between Richard III and living male-line relatives descended from Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort (1744-1803). These modern day descendants of Henry Somerset and Richard III share a common ancestry in Edward III, Richard’s great-great-grandfather (1312-1377). The Beaufort line is assumed to be descended from Edward III’s son John of Gaunt, while Richard is descended from Edmund, duke of York. This ‘false-paternity event’, i.e. where the father is not in fact the assumed father, could have happened in any of the 19 generations, which separate Richard III from Henry Beaufort, though it is not known when in all the time since Edward III.

A lot has been made by the media of this last finding, however, as there are so many possibilities where someone was unfaithful, most of these are completely over the top. My thoughtful daughter brought me yesterday an article from MX News, a free daily paper available to commuters with the headline: “Doubtful Heritage: Richard III a bastard if a king”. The present evidence does not suggest any evidence that Richard himself was a bastard, at least where his paternity is concerned (though I also doubt he was a bastard in a figurative sense). Fortunately the article itself keeps to the actual facts.

However, apart from the headline grabbing news about the false-paternity event, the analysis allows us insight into the prehistoric origins of Richard’s family. The male line of the Planatagenets are recorded back to Hugues, Count of Perche (documented in 1028) in northern France. Richard’s genes show that his male ancestor migrated with the first farmers from the Near East and Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Europe about 8000 years ago. They quickly spread along the Mediterranean and into Central Europe and France by 5500BC

(This post has been updated on 5 December 2014 as further information became public.)

References:

King, T.E. et al. 2014 ‘Identification of the remains of King Richard III’, Natural Communications 5, Article number: 5631 (2 December 2014). URL: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141202/ncomms6631/full/ncomms6631.html Date accessed: 3 December 2014

‘King Richard III: DNA and genealogical study confirms identity of remains found in Leicester and uncovers new truths about his appearance and Plantagenet lineage’, University of Leicester – Press Office (2 December 2014). URL: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2014/december/king-richard-iii-dna-and-genealogical-study-confirms-identity-of-remains-found-in-leicester-and-uncovers-new-truths-about-his-appearance-and-plantagenet-lineage Date accessed: 3 December 2014

‘King Richard III Identity: Case closed after 529 years!’, ULAS News (3 December 2014). URL: http://ulasnews.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/king-richard-iii-identity-case-closed-after-529-years/ Date accessed: 4 December 2014

‘Richard III – case closed after 529 years’, University of Cambridge (2 December 2014).  URL:  http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/richard-iii-case-closed-after-529-years  Date accessed:  5 December 2014)

‘Doubtful Heritage: Richard III a bastard if a king’, MX News (3 December 2014), p.9

You might also be interested in Matt Lewis’ analysis of the findings: ‘Richard III’s Remains Rumble On’, Matt’s History Blog (3 December 2014). URL: http://mattlewisauthor.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/richard-iiis-remains-rumble-on/ Date accessed: 4 December 2014

Tags: Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III

My ballot papers for the events in Leicester surrounding Richard III’s reburial in Leicester in March 2015 have arrived today.  The completed papers will have to be returned by Wednesday, 7 January 2015.   I will fill mine in and send them back as soon as possible and hope they won’t get stuck in the Christmas rush.

Wishing all our members who are able to make the journey to Leicester lots of luck.

Tags: Leicester, Richard III, Richard III Society

Richard Plantagenet (later Richard III) created 3rd Duke of Gloucester.

Tags: Richard III

The Annual General Meeting of the New South Wales Branch of the Richard III Society was held on Saturday, 11 October 2014, at the Sydney Mechanics Institute.

Opening remarks were made by Chair Judith along with a warm welcome to all the members and visitors present. Thanks were expressed for the work of all the committee members throughout the year.

All of the officers then gave reports for their areas, and then officially stepped down. Margaret conducted the election process for all of the officers of the branch with most returning unopposed to their roles: Judith continues as Chair, Jacqueline as Deputy Chair, Judy as Treasurer, Dorothea as Webmaster, Lynne as Sales Officer, Joan as Tea Lady, Rachel as Secretary, and Leslie & Doug as Editors of the Affinity newsletter.

The program consisted of three ‘Scrabble’ speakers, giving separate presentations on different and very interesting topics.

Maggie told us of her experiences during her recent trip to the UK during which she laid the wreath on behalf of Australian Branches of the Richard III Society during the Bosworth commemoration ceremonies. Afterwards, she informally showed us interesting photos she had taken during the trip.

Dorothea had the letter ‘Y’ and shared her well-illustrated research about the history of the ancient church of St Mary de Castro in Leicester, which has been in existence for more than 900 years. Richard, duke of York, had in 1426 been knighted in this church.

Rachel spoke on the letter ‘R’ for rehabilitation. In an interesting talk entitled “Was Joan of Arc a Witch?” she addressed the charges raised against Joan, her astute responses to them, and the arguments for her defence that could have been made if her trial had been a fairer one, conducted in less prejudicial circumstances.

Our next gathering will be our Christmas meeting scheduled for 13 December 2014, when our guest speaker Wendy Schmid will be discussing medieval embroidery. All of the 2015 speakers will be listed in the next issue of the branch newsletter, Affinity.

Tags: Bosworth, France, Leicester, NSW Branch, Richard III