The
Ricardian Volume 18 2008
A Welsh Poem on
Richard III
Andrew Breeze
A Welsh poem on Richard's death, the work of the Powys bard Dafydd Llwyd, is a neglected source for English history. Written within days of the battle of Bosworth, the poem links Richard with the murders of Henry VI and the princes in the Tower. It also mentions his executions of English nobles and his short stature, but not to any deformity. It depicts Henry VI as a saint and Henry VII (who surely knew the poet) as a man of destiny, yet speaks positively of Edward IV. It says nothing on tactics or casualties at Bosworth, suggesting that the poet knew nothing of them, and that he wrote as soon as a report on Richard's defeat reached him. The poem is hence significant as a response to the news of Bosworth that can be dated to the August or early September of 1485.
Tres sunt Ricardi and the Crowland Chronicle
Julian Luxford
This short article introduces a newly discovered copy of the poem Tres sunt Ricardi, which has previously been known only from its inclusion in the second continuation of the Crowland Chronicle. The new copy occurs in Eton College MS 213, a Polychronicon formerly belonging to the charterhouse at Witham (Somerset). The geographical and constitutional distance between Crowland and Witham, along with numerous variant readings, show that the Eton version of the poem is an independent text. This discovery has implications for arguments about the integrity and authorship of the second continuation, and these are briefly discussed. It is also argued that the text of the poem contained in George Buck's The History of King Richard III is independent of the Crowland Chronicle.
The Mysterious Affair at Crowland Abbey
Alison Hanham.
The author argues that there is no evidence for the long-held belief that the 'Second Continuation of the Crowland Chronicle' was written by some highly-placed person in government circles. The likely compiler was the monk, Richard Cambridge, who became prior of Crowland in November 1485.
The Epitaph of King Richard III
John Ashdown-Hill
Richard III's epitaph has previously received scant attention. It has even (albeit erroneously) been dismissed as a seventeenth-century fabrication. In this paper two early sixteenth-century manuscript sources for the epitaph are rediscovered and presented, the text of the epitaph is critically examined for the first time, and a new English translation is offered.
The Opening of the Tombs of the Dukes of Richmond and Norfolk, Framlingham,
April 1841: the Account of the Reverend J.W. Darby
John Ashdown-Hill
This paper transcribes and discusses a hitherto unpublished letter reporting the opening of the Howard and Richmond vaults at Framlingham Church, Suffolk, in 1841. Human remains were found, which may include the bodies of John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, and of Anne of York, daughter of Edward IV.
The More Revisited
Heather Falvey
In the early 1990s several articles were published on various aspects of the history of the manor of the More in Rickmansworth (Herts). This new article reconsiders the origins and disappearance of this substantial medieval house that was extended during the first half of the sixteenth century. New evidence for the identity of the original builder is derived not only from documents but also from comparison with other buildings that are still standing. That the house was a ruin by the 1590s had long been known, but the actual reason for its ruination had not: newly discovered documentary evidence suggests that in an effort to raise revenue the crown sold the fabric of the house and the purchasers reused the materials elsewhere.
'Honour is the reward of virtue': The Claudian translation made for Richard,
Duke of York, in 1445.
Livia Visser-Fuchs
In 1445 a manuscript. was made for Richard, Duke of York (died 1460), containing part of Claudius Claudianus' Latin poem 'On the consulate of Stilicho' (c. 400 AD) with a parallel translation. The text extolls the virtues of the politician Stilicho and implies that York was equally virtuous. It has often been considered to be a propagandist treatise supporting York's claim to the throne, but it is here argued that the selection/translation was made rather to comfort York at a difficult period of his life when he was accused of corruption and mismanagement during his lieutenancy of France.
Richard III as a Fop: A Foolish Myth
Anne F. Sutton
The historiography
of this myth from its creation by Sharon Turner under the influence of Shakespeare
to the present day, its use of misunderstood records concerned with the dress
of the past, and its effect on attitudes to Richard as a person.
Taking a Long-term
view: A Note on Richard III and Dublin
Howard Clarke
A convergence of mutual interest between the house of York, Anglo-Irish magnates, and the city of Dublin is briefly reviewed. Only weeks before the battle of Bosworth, the government of Richard III was pursuing vigorously traditional Yorkist policies in Ireland, in association with the earl of Kildare. Nemesis on an English battlefield and attempted apotheosis in an Irish cathedral were intimately and logically interconnected.
Cathedral Deans of the Yorkist Age
A. Compton Reeves
Cathedral deans were ecclesiastics who had administrative and pastoral responsibilities and were also important men in their localities. Both Edward IV and Richard III brought cathedral deans into royal service. This essay identifies the cathedral deans of the Yorkist age and looks at their qualifications for office. Also addressed are the matters of royal influence in selecting deans, how common it was for Yorkist kings to use deans in royal service, and if the office of dean was used as an instrument of royal patronage.