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Recently, I became Librarian to the Non-Fiction Library of the Richard III Society’s American Branch. It is a great privilege to be entrusted with maintaining such a large collection of texts related to Richard III and the 15th century. But I never expected the sheer volume of materials that were to be shipped to me…
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The Tragedy of King Richard 111 (not by William Shakespeare)
Coronation, Edward IV, Edward V, Francis Lovell, Hastings Execution, Henry of Buckingham, John Morton, Laurence Olivier, Mancini, pre-contract, Richard III, Shakespeare, Simon Stallworth, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Thomas Lord Stanley, Thomas More, Thomas Rotherham, William Catesby, witchcraft, WoodvillesPart 5 – …” these dukes showed their intention, not in private but openly…” “Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business And finds the testy gentleman so hot That he will lose his head ere give consent His master’s child, as worshipfully he terms it, Shall lose the royalty of England’s throne’ (William Shakespeare) …
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The Tragedy of King Richard 111 (not by William Shakespeare)
Anthony Woodville, Buckingham, Clements Markham, Commines, Crowland, Edward IV, Edward V, Elizabeth of York, Gairdner, Henry VII, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lord Protector of the Realm, pre-contract, Robert Stillington, Shakespeare, Simon Stallworth, Sir William Stonor, Stony Stratford, Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset, Three Estates, WoodvillesPart 4 – “… the corruption of a blemished stock “ “ A beauty-waning and distressed widow, Even in the afternoon of her best days, Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye Seduced the pitch and height of his degree To base declension and loathed bigamy. “ (William Shakespeare)…
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Having just written my first novel, in which Richard III visits the 21st century, I needed to let the reader see a contrast between him and modern people, partly in the way he spoke. I quickly found that this wasn’t as easy as I’d thought, so my Richard has a great facility for languages and…
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In the current edition of the Ricardian Bulletin is an excellent article by Joanna Laynesmith about Cecily, Duchess of York. Laynesmith demontrates conclusively: 1. That there is no evidence Cecily was born at Raby. 2. The ‘Rose of Raby’ epithet dates from no earlier than the eighteenth century and probably comes from – shock horror!…
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It’s time to get up on my hind legs and have a loud bleat about something that is beginning to get my goat. That ‘something’ seems to have become the new ‘must do’. What is it? The sneering and display of often pathetic pseudo-intellectual superiority that is constantly directed at Ricardian fiction. Snide remarks and…
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The “official” version of Richard II’s death is straightforward. After his deposition he was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, and, following a rebellion of his followers in early January 1400, starved to death. The date of death is usually given as 14th February 1400. His body was subsequently taken by stages to London, being publicly exhibited…
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Pare saffron plot, forget it not. His dwelling made trim, look shortly for him. When harvest is gone, then saffron comes on. A little of ground, Brings Saffron a Pound The history of saffron, that exotic spice of the Levant, spans three millennia, landing in England some time in the mid-14th century – although certainly there are…
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Keeping on the subject of mediaeval food, I decided to write about a foodstuff that is no longer commonly eaten or even very well known of in the UK – the lamprey. The lamprey, an ancient and primitive species of fish, was popular in mediaeval times because of the Church’s ruling that people were not…
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And now for something completely different . . . as Monty Python once said. The humble carrot may not be of riveting interest to many, but its history is fascinating and very well recorded. In my writing research I had sudden cause to wonder if carrots had always been “orange”. I wanted to write about…
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