Ricardian Bulletin

The Ricardian Bulletin is the Society’s house magazine and is published four times a year in the Spring (early March), Summer (early June), Autumn (early September) and Winter (early December). The seasons are based on those recognisable by Richard III and we apologise in advance if we upset the sensibilities of non-UK residents!

The  Bulletin has a number of regular features including a report from the Chairman, Society news and notices, a review of media items, news and reviews of external events and programmes, correspondence from members, a library update, information and reviews of Society events, reports from branches and groups, lists of new members, obituaries and a calendar. In addition there are articles, with one each issue dedicated to ‘the man himself’ and in every other issue a debate on a matter of Ricardian interest, with responses published in the interim issue.

A selection of Contents from the Winter 2005 Ricardian Bulletin

From the Chairman

The regular report from Phil Stone was extended in this issue to include a full transcript of his ‘state of the nation’ address at the AGM held in October.

Richard III Society - Celebrating 50 Years

The Richard III Society is running a series of events in 2006 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Society’s re-founding. These include two seminars, to be held at the Tower of London in March and Windsor Castle in October.  The first seminar focuses on military history and the second on Windsor’s St George’s Chapel, the Order of the Garter and the concept of chivalry in the fifteenth century.  Speakers include some of the leading academics in their field.  In May a reception will be held, attended by the Society’s Patron, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, who will present prizes to winners of the Society’s anniversary art and essay competition for schools.  Full details of the programme can be found in the Winter 2005 Ricardian Bulletin.

Media Retrospective

Visit Richard in the Media for the latest.

The Society’s In Memoriam Notice

Over the years, many of you will have seen the small ‘In Memoriam’ announcement that the Society has placed in the in the four leading quality newspapers. This announcement, although small, is nevertheless quite costly and therefore the Society will now only be placing it in the Daily Telegraph – which has one of the highest circulations in this type of newspaper. For a full report go to Richard in the Media/Press/The Times and the Bosworth Commemoration.

News and Reviews

Monarchy by David Starkey

Richard van Allen looked at the second segment of programmes in David Starkey’s television series on Britain’s monarchy on Channel 4. Richard thought that ‘Starkey painted a not unreasonable picture of Richard III’, considering Starkey’s general hostility to the king.  Richard notes that criticism was directed at Henry VII also.  Richard’s full review can be found in the Winter 2005 Ricardian Bulletin.  Full report in Richard in the Media/Television.

An Audience with Richard III

Geoffrey Wheeler viewed a recording of An Audience with King Richard III, a recording of Michael Bennett’s one-man show at York St John College.  He found it unconvincing and disappointing and doubted ‘if any of his contemporaries would recognise this petulant and whining individual, with more than an overtone of … Richard Wilson’s Victor Meldrew.’

Report from Brancepeth – St Brandon’s Church

Following the fire in 1998, the structural rebuilding was completed in November 2003, and interior fitting is ongoing, each item of liturgical furniture being designed and made as an individual commission, using local craftsmen and designers. On St Brandon’s Day, 15 May, 2005, the church was re-categorised from being ‘redundant’ during the rebuilding to ‘parish church’, enabling worship to resume. The building was re-dedicated on 23 October, followed by an inaugural concert for the Father Willis Organ on 28 October, and the first full peal of bells is being rung to coincide with the annual reunion of the Durham University Society of Change Ringers. The Brancepeth Festival of Flowers and Music takes place from 15 to 18 June 2006, and the end of major work on the rebuilding project will be celebrated with a service of thanksgiving, culminating with celebration in Autumn 2006. For information email brancepath-church@btconnect.com or visit www.brancepathchurch.

News from Barley Hall

Barley Hall, the restored medieval town house in York, is supported by the Society in numerous ways, by financial support and by using the Hall for. Next year Barley Hall intends to take part in the Corpus Christi Mystery Plays by holding a medieval pilgrimage. This will take place in the week of 6 to 9 July and will consist of an event at Nostell Priory, the Prior of which built Barley Hall in the fourteenth century, followed by a walk pulling a medieval pageant wagon from there to York over the next few days. Planning is still in the very early stages but organisers hope to include various stops for a variety of events so as to involve as many people as possible. People are invited to join the walk just for a day or for the full four days and it is hoped to get as much sponsorship as possible. At least half of the money raised will go to Barley Hall but other charities will also be supported. Each year Barley Hall has to raise funds to maintain this rambling property and at Christmas 2005 a special appeal has been launched asking visitors and supporters of Barley Hall to Give a Present to the Past and so help to preserve this wonderful project into the future. Donations of any size will be welcomed but many people may instead (or also) prefer to join our organisation of Friends or Guild of supporters. You can give online at our website (www.barleyhall.org.uk) where you can also apply to join our Friends and or our Guild of supporters, or you can write to Barley Hall at 2 Coffee Yard, Off Stonegate, York YO1 8AR (phone 01904 610275). More information about Barley Hall and its work in bringing the fifteenth century to life can be found in an article in the Winter 2005 Ricardian Bulletin.

The Man Himself: A Marriage Dispensation for

Richard of Gloucester

Peter Hammond writes that most of the details surrounding Richard’s marriage are unclear, including the date. However, an article in the most recent issue of the English Historical Review (‘English Royal Marriages and the Papal Penitentiary in the Fifteenth Century’, Peter D Clarke, vol. 120, pp.1014-1029) has thrown some light on the matter. The new information comes from work in the Vatican archives, in the records of the Papal Penitentiary, the functionary who dealt with everything relating to matters of conscience that appeared before the Pope. These were matters that were reserved to the Pope for absolution and included dispensations from the provisions of canon law prohibiting marriage between couples related within four degrees of blood or marriage (this is second cousin or nearer). Richard’s marriage to Anne Neville would have required such a dispensation, but up until now there appeared to be no record of a dispensation and there has been speculation that they married without one. However speculation is now at an end. Richard and Anne did apply for a dispensation and one was granted to them on 22 April 1472. However, we still do not know when the couple married.  Peter’s full article can be read in Richard in the Media/Books and Papers

The Debate:

Historical Novels: A Good Thing or Not?

Are historical novels a good thing, in that they help bring the past to life or bad because they may mislead us as to what the past was actually like? Bookseller and author Shaun Tyas argues the case for and historian Tony Pollard the case against.  Shaun Tyas has been told by several academic historians that they were moved to take up a career in history after reading children's historical fiction when they were young, though in his article he also notes the decline in this genre.  Tony Pollard believes that the best ‘novels’ on Richard III are those that would claim to be histories – from Thomas More to Paul Murray Kendall. 

Logge Notes and Queries: Education,

Education, Education

Lesley Wynne-Davies delves in the Society’s soon-to-be-published Logge register of contemporary wills (TNA PROB 11/7) to tease out the few references to schooling made by testators.  One example is John Don, mercer of London, who funded two virtuous poor scholars, who intended to preach, to read divinity, one in Oxford and one in Cambridge. Each was to have 6 marks a year for five years. ‘If their condition continnyue not vertuous’ – or they got other funding – another poor scholar was to be substituted in their place. Each had to preach in Don’s parish church of St Thomas the Apostle, London, where he had requested burial, one on Easter Day and the other on the last Sunday in Advent, and each was to get 6s. 8d. travel expenses for the occasion. Lesley’s full article can be found in the Winter 2005 Ricardian Bulletin.

Battling for Bosworth

A D Wright takes issue with some of the theories put forward by Michael Jones in his book – Bosworth 1485 – Psychology of a Battle – relating to the location of the Battle of Bosworth.  In particular, he believes that Michael Jones has ignored or misinterpreted some key early sources. 

Irving, Cibber & Richard III

On the centenary of his death, Angela Moreton reflects on the role that the great actor-manager Sir Henry Irving played in bringing a more authoritative version of Shakespeare’s plays to the Victorian stage; Richard III being a notable example.  He stripped out the ‘improvements’ to the text written by Colley Cibber in 1700 – such gems as ‘Off with his head! So much for Buckingham’ and ‘Richard’s himself again’.  Angela draws on Irving’s writings to show his understanding of how Shakespeare’s Richard should be played – with more subtlety than the overacting of Cibber-inspired performances.  Angela wonders what Irving would have thought of some more recent interpretations of the Shakespearean ogre, who has been rendered as anything from Hitler to Andy Pandy. 

Richard III’s Christmas

John Ashdown-Hill discusses how Christmas was celebrated in Richard III’s time – how it was celebrated in church, what food was eaten and how people entertained themselves.  He reveals that carols were never sung in church and that Christmas Eve was a day of abstinence, among other interesting facts. 

Letter from America - The 2005 American AGM in Chicago

The Richard III Society American Branch’s 2005 AGM took place at the Hilton Garden Inn, Chicago, from 30 September to 2 October 2005.  Workshops were held on the “The Medieval and the Metaphysical” and The Art of Medieval Brass Rubbing”. Callie Kendall, daughter of Paul Murray Kendall, also gave a talk to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of her father’s seminal biography of Richard III. 

Obituary
William (Bill) Hampton, 1924-2005

The historian Bill Hampton, author of Memorials of the Wars of the Roses (1979), died earlier in 2005.  A full obituary by the Society’s president, Peter Hammond and an appreciation by the academic, Tony Pollard, appear in the Winter 2005 Ricardian Bulletin.