Category: Richard III - Meandering Through Time

Richard III's Book of Hours

16/5/2024

Books of Hours formed an important part of religious life in medieval England, they contained a series of prayers recited at specific hours of the day. The most elaborate were created for the wealthy. One of the most famous belonged to Richard III. His Book of Hours is a beautifully decorated piece of art and is thought to have been created in London in about 1420. It has been said it accompanied Richard to Bosworth and was in his tent on the eve of the Battle in August of 1485.

During Richard's reign, a handwritten prayer was added, either by Richard himself or by a scribe. One prayer reads,

"Lord Jesus Christ, deign to free me, your servant King Richard, from every tribulation, sorrow, and trouble in which I am placed..."

Tradition has it that Richard either heard his last Mass in the parish church at Sutton Cheney or before he went into battle. Either way, I have often wondered, would Richard have taken such a precious item with him onto a battlefield? There would not have been a problem if he considered he would be the victor that day, but we know he was unsure of the outcome. In the event of him being unsuccessful, would he really want it to fall into the 'wrong hands!' You could argue that actually, it did - new king's mother!

You can imagine Margaret Beaufort turning the pages, admiring the imagery, and reading the texts. It has been suggested that she crossed out any reference to Richard and wrote her own name on the back of the book. It is true she did write her name, after all, it was a trophy, wasn't it? Not a trophy of war, but a representation of the fulfilment of her ambition. As for vengefully scratching out the king's name, that is just an image created over the years to blacken her name, the stuff of films and television series. Before finding its way into the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard’s Book of Hours passed through the hands of many. One owner, during the Reformation, wiped out every mention of the Pope.

Today we too can stare in wonderment at this fifteenth-century work of art, I was lucky enough to see this book on show in the Usher Gallery in Lincoln a few years ago, and it was easy to visualise this brave king holding it in his hands on the eve of his last day on earth. What is more likely though is that this book remained in a safe place and Richard brought with him his own private prayer book, one that he kept with him, one that he used every day.

Birth of Henry VII

28/1/2021

On this day in 1457 Henry of Richmond, later Henry VII was born at Pembroke Castle the son of Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor.

In 1455, at the age of just twelve years old Henry's mother, a wealthy heiress had married Edmund Tudor, the son of a commoner who had climbed into the bed of a queen of England. Margaret was soon pregnant. Henry was born into a country that was divided by conflict and civil war. Margaret Beaufort was just a child herself and Henry's birth did irreparable damage, this could account for the fact that she never gave birth again, however she turned out to be an influential and dominant figure throughout Henry's life. Margaret was also aware of her son's vulnerability and because of this sent him into the care of his uncle, Jasper Tudor. Following the Battle of Tewkesbury in the May of 1471 Jasper and Henry fled to Brittany and then finally into France. Henry spent, in total, fourteen years of his life in exile.

His return to England in 1485 has been much written about, and most of you will know that he was aided at the Battle of Bosworth by Thomas Stanley his mother's husband, and his brother William. Henry of Richmond became king of England on the 22nd August in 1485.

I, of course, am a Ricardian and see Henry as a usurper, whose claim to the throne is a tenuous one to say the least, however, Richard and Henry's stories are real and to understand Henry, Richard and the Wars of the Roses it is always best to read widely with the aim to gain an understanding of both sides of story, therefore I add this paragraph taken from the Henry Tudor Society about Henry.

"He is a king often accused of being parsimonious, miserly, ruthless, severe and avaricious to the extreme, cold to his wife and cruel to friend and foe alike. The study of Henry’s life, from his beginnings through to the exile, and from his early reign to the tragic end, put forward a different man. It is this man, the real Henry, not the mythical Henry, that we aim to bring to the fore. A man who had an astounding tenacity to survive, to cling to his throne and to pass his crown to his son in a peaceful manner, something which eluded several monarchs before him."

Here a link to the Henry Tudor Society -

https://henrytudorsociety.com/

The Cat, The Rat and the Dog

21/7/2020

It was in the July of 1484 that William Collingbourne, a Wiltshire landowner penned the infamous rhyme 'The Catte, the Ratte and Lovell our dogge rulyth all Englande under a hogge' with the aim of insulting the newly crowned Richard III.

Collingbourne had held a number of positions in local government in his home county of Wiltshire during the reign of Edward IV and had been in the pay of Cecily Neville but had been replaced. Although the reasons for writing the poem are unclear, its probable that its roots lay in resentment and plain old jealously!

However, by making his feelings very clear in his poem he did achieve the result he hoped for, I wonder though, did he think that he'd get away with offending a king? He didn't. Collingbourne was arrested, tried and sentenced within four months. He was executed at Tower Hill by hanging, drawing and quartering by the end of the year.

William Collingbourne didn't go to the scaffold because of his poetry alone, it was the choices he made in the summer of 1483 and his support of Henry Tudor's invasion and corresponding with him when he was in exile.

Birth of Richard of Shrewsbury

17/8/2019

The 17th August 1473 is the date of birth of Richard of Shrewsbury, the second son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

Richard of Shrewsbury is, of course, was one of the Princes in the Tower.

What we know of Richard can be viewed through the titles that were bestowed upon him and the dates and events that made up his life. His birth, as his name suggests, was at Shrewsbury, his marriage, at just four years old was to Anne Mowbray. We do not even know what he looked like but this doe's not stop writers, artists and film/television producers portraying him as an innocent, as angelic, a pure almost saintly child. Shakespeare has John Dighton calling Richard and his brother Edward ‘gentle babes.'

They are emotive words that were intended to describe Richard's character - a foil to Shakespeare's protagonist, his uncle Richard of Gloucester in his play Richard III. Shakespeare's portrayal of the young prince would be used again and again over the years by artists, the most famous by Paul Delaroche and John Everett Millais, even the horror movie genre gets in on the act - John Herbert-Bond's young prince to Basil Rathbones Duke of Gloucester.

Despite the fact that there is no evidence either way as to what happened to the princes, the tale of Richard's disappearance is the one event that defines this little boys life.

Berwick on Tweed

24/8/2018

The town of Berwick stands on the banks of the River Tweed in Northumberland. Historically, its position proved useful as it is situated on the border between England and Scotland, and because of this, it has seen its share of both war and peace. Because of its situation, its governance has been the responsibility of both countries on numerous occasions.

In 1357 a treaty was signed here, the first of five Treaties of Berwick, this particular treaty, between King Edward III of England and David II of Scotland, brought to an end Scotland's second attempt at independence.

In 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, when Henry VI's wife Margaret of Anjou had fled to Scotland she negotiated a deal with the recently widowed Mary of Guelders over the town in return for help with her Lancastrian cause. When all the papers are signed Berwick upon Tweed became part of Scotland, and it was not until the August of 1482 that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III retook the town and returned it to England.

A second treaty, signed in 1526, was issued in order to keep the peace between warring factions on the English/Scottish border.

A third, signed on this day in 1560 saw the completion of yet another Treaty of Berwick. This treaty was Elizabeth I's efforts to give some protection to those who practiced Protestantism in Scotland. The document was signed for and on behalf of the queen by Thomas Howard the Duke of Norfolk. The agreement was in respect of an alliance with Scottish nobles who were opposed to the regency of Mary of Guise, the widow of James V of Scotland, who had retained a French army for her protection. The treaty allowed English forces to enter Scotland and expel these French troops and it would be the first time in history that the English and Scottish fought together against a common foe rather than against each another.

There would be two more signing of treaties at Berwick, one in 1586 following an agreement between Elizabeth I and Mary of Guise's grandson King James VI and another in 1639 that ended the First Bishops War.

Richard III's Parliament

23/1/2018

23rd January 1484: Richard III's only Parliament opened at Westminster.

"Be it remembered that on Friday, 23 January in the first year of the reign of King Richard the third since the conquest, that is, on the first day of parliament, with the lord king sitting on the royal throne in the Painted Chamber within his palace of Westminster, then being present many lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons of the realm of England, assembled at the aforesaid parliament at the king's command, the venerable father John, bishop of Lincoln, chancellor of England memorably declared and announced the reasons for summoning the aforesaid parliament, taking as his theme: 'In the body there are many limbs, but not all have the same function.'

Richard of Eastwell

22/12/2017

On the 22nd of December in 1550 the death of Richard of Eastwell

Legend has it that before the Battle of Bosworth in the August of 1485, a young boy visited Richard III in his tent on the battlefield. The king is said to have told this boy, that if victory went his way he would acknowledge him as his son but if it did not that he was to hide his identity.

Following the battle, of which the outcome is well known, the boy fled to London where he lived in the town of Eastwell working for one Sir Thomas Moyle.

He learnt the trade of a bricklayer and kept his secret until the day he died, only Moyle is said to have known after finding him reading Latin. Richard of Eastwell died an old man in 1550, where it is stated in the parish register.

"Rychard Plantagenet was buryed on the 22. daye of December, anno ut supra. Ex registro de Eastwell, sub anno 1550."

It is unlikely that this boy was the son of Richard III, but it is a fascinating myth nonetheless.

Investiture of Edward of Middleham and the Princes in the Tower

8/9/2017

On the 8th September 1483, Edward of Middleham, the only child of Richard III and his wife Anne Neville was invested as the Prince of Wales in a spectacular ceremony in the city of York.

The Crowland Chronicler writes of the occasion that Edward was

"elevated to the rank of Prince of Wales, with the insignia of the golden wand, and the wreath upon the head;
while, at the same time, he (Richard) gave most gorgeous and sumptuous feasts and banquets."

Don't be fooled by the writer's tone, the chronicler was not writing of this event in a positive light, far from it. The chronicler went on to state that the celebrations were only for effect to 'gain the affections of the people' and paid for with the amassed wealth entrusted to Richard, as executor of his late brother Edward IV's will - taken it was written 'the very moment that he (Richard) had contemplated the usurpation of the throne.'

What is interesting about this text is that there is a mention that the so called Princes in the Tower were actually in the Tower of London whilst the investiture took place - "in the meantime, and while these things were going on, the two sons of king Edward before-named remained in the Tower of London," surprisingly the writer doe's not seize the opportunity to relay to his readers exactly what happened to the two boys after the investiture seeing that most people thought Richard had 'done away with them' towards the end of the summer of 1483. The chronicler also goes on to state that Edward IV's daughters should leave the sanctuary of Westminster, and

'go in disguise to the parts beyond the sea; in order that, if any fatal mishap should befall the said male children
of the late king in the Tower, the kingdom might still, in consequence of the safety of his daughters, some day fall
again into the hands of the rightful heirs."

The important word in that sentence is IF, doesn't this suggests that nobody, including the writer, knew what happened to the two boys at the time?

We should bare in mind that the Crowland Chronicle was written two years after these events took place - the writers were spouting propaganda, words they thought their new king wished to hear, words that would keep them safe in the new Tudor era and by someone who was educated in law and who was privy to information within the royal court.

The Benedictine residents of Crowland Abbey had at their head one Lambert Fossdyke who had been Abbot at Crowland since January 1484 and who was a Bachelor of Law and it was such a man with a degree in law who was considered to be the writer of malicious rumors about Richard III. John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, is commonly thought to be the author but it could just as well have been Fossdyke dictating to one of his monks?

Of Edward and Richard's fate there is no evidence, however poor Edward of Middleham would only live another seven months, he died in the April of 1484.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester takes Berwick upon Tweed

24/8/2017

As you can see its a bright morning in Berwick, a town on the east coast of England whose river, the Tweed, flows into the North Sea.

At the beginning of February of 1461 my 'ancestor,' Thomas Vaughan, was getting ready to leg it to France with what was called 'York's treasure' but meanwhile Margaret of Anjou was in Scotland, she was preparing to do a deal with the recently widowed Mary of Guelders over Berwick in return for help with her Lancastrian cause.

When all the papers are signed, the border town of Berwick upon Tweed became part of Scotland, and its not until this day, the 24th August in 1482 when Richard, Duke of Gloucester retook the town and returned it to England.

You can read about this in the story of Thomas Vaughan on my website by clicking on the link below

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/chapter-four-kentish-connections-and-opportunities.html

King Richard III After Bosworth

22/8/2017

As Henry Tudor arrived at Crown Hill in the village of Stoke Golding he left the bodies of the dead and dying of both sides on the battle field of Bosworth but not Richard's. The mortal remains of the last monarch to be killed in battle was brought back to city of Leicester, crossing Bow Bridge as he had on his journey the day before. The kings naked and mutilated body was taken through Newark Gateway into the precinct of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary where it lay for two days to prove to the country that he was dead.

A description of this states

“they browght kynge Richard thethar that nyght, as naked as evar he was borne, and in the New Warke was he layd, that many a man might see”.

Historians tell us that this was not an act of vindictiveness by Henry Tudor, it was an attempt to quash all rumours that the crowned monarch could still be alive somewhere and might return to claim his throne.

The Church of the Annunciation contained the tombs of some of Tudor´s ancestors, therefore it would be inappropriate the Richards body lay there too. On Henry orders Richard's body was removed by the Franciscan friars of Leicester and given a simple Christian burial in the choir of their church where he lay until September 2012.

King Richard III's story, within the context of Leicester, came to an end in March of 2015 when he was finally be laid to rest in the city's Cathedral.

In my images from a trip to Leicester we can see the spot where Sir Reynold Bray is thought to have found Richard's crown, Newark Gate, under which Richard III body was brought from Bosworth and the Church of the Annunciation (images five and six) would have been on the left of image five.