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I’ve discovered a wonderfully detailed monograph written by a 21st-century professor of history (whose specialty is the social history of early modern England) that illustrates very nicely that the medieval canon laws governing pre-contracted marriages that resulted into the dissolution of Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville survived, intact and without alteration, through the Reformation.…
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When I was younger, I used to dabble in creating horoscopes for my friends and they often remarked how accurate they were as regards personality traits. So I wondered whether Richard III’s horoscope would shed some light on his character and thence his reputation. Obviously, not everyone is convinced about the accuracy of astrology, but…
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The Order of the Garter is the most senior and the oldest British Order of Chivalry and was founded by Edward III in 1348. (http://www.royal.gov.uk) Its 25 members include the Sovereign and 24 “knights-companion” who have contributed in a particular way to national life or who have served the Sovereign personally. When it was founded…
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The novelists in question are Jane Austen (1775-1817) and Charlotte Bronte (1816-55). Jane Austen’s views on Richard III are well known: http://www.richardiii-nsw.org.au/about/a-literary-taste/jane-austen-and-richard-iii/. Was Charlotte Bronte, whose sister Anne is buried on the approach to Richard’s Scarborough Castle, also a Ricardian? Perhaps she left a clue in her 1847 bestseller “Jane Eyre”, in which the eponymous…
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The Tragedy of King Richard 111 (not by William Shakespeare)
Annette Carson, Anthony Woodville, Charles Ross, Crowland, Earl of Northumberland, Edward IV, Edward of Warwick, Edward V, George Buck, George Cely, Henry of Buckingham, Hicks, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, John Morton, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Mancini, Margaret Beaufort, Pontefract Castle, Ralph Neville, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, Robert Stillington, Sir Richard Grey, Thomas Bourchier, Thomas Rotherham, Vaughan, William Catesby, WoodvillesPart 6 – “The peace of England, and our safety enforced us to this…” “So mighty and many are my defects That I would rather hide me from my greatness Being a bark to brook no mighty sea Than in my greatness covet to be had And is the vapour of my glory smothered” (William…
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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!…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 