Before I write another word, may I wish you all the Compliments of the Season….and warn that my post today has little to do with the sacred and profound meaning of Christmas, but rather with the earthly aspects, both happy and sad.

There were only two Christmases in Richard III’s all too brief reign, and the second one, 1484, is often condemned for its frivolity, extravagance and for being “shameful”. Today I’m considering both Christmases, and why 1483 must have been by far the happier of the two.

In 1483 he still had his wife (Anne Neville, see https://richardiii.net/richard-iii-his-world/his-family/anne-neville-wife/, and son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, (see https://richardiii.net/richard-iii-his-world/his-family/edward-of-middleham-son/). He’d also seen off the Duke of Buckingham’s rebellion (https://www.warsoftheroses.com/a-levels-england/history/the-buckingham-rebellion/) which sent cowardly Henry Tudor scuttling back across the Channel. Richard’s reign now promised to be all that was good and strong, and he was settling to carry out all the reforms and justices that, had he lived, would have made him one of our greatest kings.

The image above is how I have imagined Richard and his son that Christmas of 1483. Laughing together, they’re looking to the future, not knowing that the future was never to be. Both were in good health. Richard himself suffered from scoliosis, but it wasn’t hampering him in any way of which we’re aware. Anne was well too and there was probably still hope that she might bear another child.

But by the following Christmas, 1484, everything had changed, because in the spring of that year Richard and Anne lost Edward to a sudden fatal illness. And as if that were not bad enough, Anne herself was probably by then understood to be suffering from consumption, as tuberculosis was named back then. See https://www.resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(06)00401-X/pdf). It’s not known for certain that consumption was the cause of her death, but it seems likely to have been the case.

By that Christmas her symptoms must have been evident, and death would be suspended over her—and Richard—like a sword of Damocles. He was to be barred from her bed, for fear he’d succumb too, so they would no longer even lie in each other’s arms for comfort and love. By the spring of 1485 she’d be gone.

Within months of her death Richard would confront the second invasion of the unworthy Henry Tudor at Bosworth, and be murdered, not in the ferocious face-to-face combat of battle, but stabbed in the back by a treasonous plot. (See https://richardiii.net/faqs/richard-and-his-world/aftermath/opposition-to-henry-tudor-after-bosworth/.)

An oft-repeated excerpt from the Crowland/Croyland Chronicle Continuations claims that the chronicler called the 1484 Christmas festivities at Richard III’s court “shameful” and that “….during this Christmas festival, too much attention was paid to singing and dancing and to vain exchanges of clothing to Queen Anne and the Lady Elizabeth….” See here https://nerdalicious.com.au/history/a-christmas-feast-in-the-court-of-richard-iii/. The miserably malicious author of the Chronicle seems to have only been happy if everyone else was miserable, and I think we can safely say he didn’t approve of Richard III. If Richard had been sunk in gloom and grief, no doubt he’d have been accused of not making the effort!

Instead Richard seems to have put on a brave face, and done all he could to make happy what he must have known was Anne’s last Christmas. You can read more about the Crowland/Croyland chronicler here https://meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/wars-of-the-roses-blog/christmas-1484-with-richard-iii.

You can read more about Richard’s Christmases here:
(1) https://richardiii.net/richard-iiis-lavish-christmas/
(2) https://authorselectric.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-late-medieval-christmas-or-two-by.html
(3) https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-in-time-of-richard-iii-by.html
(4) https://tinyurl.com/mrdy6hku (Thank you, Dan Moorhouse.)

Poor Richard, everything that had been so good in 1483 was blighted in 1484….and gone forever by 1485, along with Richard himself. His realm, which would have flourished under his honest rule, became austere under the cruelty and misery the House of Tudor brought with it.

In his final moments at Bosworth I hope he had the solace of knowing he was about to be with Anne and Edward again.

So here’s to you, Your Grace! We still salute you and hope that you and your little family are united again.