What's New
See also Calendar of Events
Keep up to date with news about Richard III on this website and the Richard III Society website.
The Yorkist History Trust is publishing a Festschrift volume of essays on the fifteenth century dedicated to Peter and Carolyn Hammond. Entitled Loyalty Binds Me: Yorkist Studies for Peter and Carolyn Hammond, it is edited by Richard Asquith and Christian Steer and will be published in Spring 2025.
The Festschrift will include articles by Joanna Laynesmith, Marie Barnfield, Heather Falvey, Livia Visser-Fuchs, Michael Jones, Anne Curry, A J Pollard, Michael Hicks and many more.
Cost £25, post free in UK, £10 for postage overseas.
The September issue of the Ricardian Bulletin is available online for members of the Richard III Society. You need to login to the Society website and visit the Members' Area.
Some coins from the reign of Richard III were auctioned on 21st June at Essex Coin Auctions. See lots 341, 342, 343, 344. All sold.
The Itinerary of Richard, Duke of Gloucester: 1452-1483 by the Richard III Society's Research Officer, Marie Barnfield, has been published by the Society.
The book offers a meticulously researched overview of Richard III's movements in the years before he became king. Drawing exclusively from primary source documents to trace Richard's whereabouts, the book presents the clearest and most reliable picture of events available.
Organised in a user-friendly tabular format covering the years 1452 to 1483, the itinerary allows readers to follow Richard's journeys chronologically or refer to specific dates with ease. Wherever Richard's location is certain, it is clearly stated, while in cases where his movements are less documented, supplementary primary sources are judiciously utilised to provide informed conjecture.
In addition to being a vital resource because of its comprehensive approach, the itinerary also offers new insight into historically ambiguous periods in Richard's life, including where Richard was living in the 1460s, his preferred dwellings, his travel patterns and regional inclinations, as well as offering additional clarity on the Scottish campaigns of the 1480s. It also features an illuminating appendix detailing Richard's London residences.
This book is the first to comprehensively explore Richard III's movements as a youth and as Duke of Gloucester, and will be an essential resource to any researcher studying the later fifteenth century.The Itinerary of Richard, Duke of Gloucester: 1452-1483 costs £20, or £15 for members, and is now available for pre-order via the Society website.
Philippa Langley unveiled a plaque at Sudeley Castle on April 15 2024, commemorating Richard III's ownership of the castle.
Guardian article (3rd March 2024) about Richard III: Murderer, manipulator. or not that bad at all? The reframing of Richard III
Not Just The Tudors - a podcast featuring Matt Lewis discussing with Nathen Amin the evidence for the survival into Henry VII's reign of the Princes in the Tower, as detailed in Philippa Langley's book
'The Princes in the Tower: Solving History's Greatest Cold Case'.
It lasts about an hour.
The Channel 4 documentary about the missing princes is now on youtube.
Philippa's book, 'The Princes in the Tower: Solving History's Greatest Cold Case' is out now.
The Richard III Society has more information on its home page.
A positive review of this book on History Hit
An article about Coldridge and Edward V.
A review of Philippa's book
Ashley Mantle's book Uncrowned: Royal Heirs Who Didn't Take The Throne is out now.
A promotional video for Ashley Mantle's book Uncrowned
From the Board of the Richard III Society, March 2024:
The Richard III Society has acquired a key document from 1485.
On 30th November 2023, the Richard III Society successfully placed the winning bid at an auction in the United States for a grant given by King Richard III in 1485. The document is a single page on vellum and has retained almost intact an instance of the Great Seal of Richard III. It did not match the requirements of bodies such as The National Archives because it was the received grant, not the government's copy kept on record. The US Branch has been a great support in collecting and storing the grant securely. Special thanks are due to Liz Bateman of the Tidewater Chapter for her invaluable assistance.
The document is a grant of the Lieutenancy of Guînes Castle in Calais to Sir James Tyrell. Sir James was in Richard's service for more than a decade before he became king and has become closely associated with stories of the fates of the Princes in the Tower. The grant, which is in Latin and has been transcribed and translated by member Erik Michaelson, was made at Westminster on 22nd January 1485. It appoints Tyrell as 'Warden, Governor, and Overseer of our Castle of Guysnes' in the wake of the escape of the Earl of Oxford.
'This is something new and exciting for the Richard III Society', said Chair Matt Lewis. 'It is an important document issued by Richard at a time of growing crisis, but the document, and particularly the seal are things of beauty too.'
The grant offers new opportunities for study for the Society, and discussions are underway to put it on display in York during the Society's centenary AGM this year. A permanent home is also being investigated for the document to ensure that it is properly preserved and cared for. The grant was purchased using legacy funds donated to the Society and will see the return of the document to the UK after a long period overseas.
From The Board of the Richard III Society: A new publication of Arthur Kincaid's magisterial edition of The History of King Richard the Third by Sir George Buc (aka Buck). Sir George's masterpiece (1619) was written to vindicate King Richard's actions and career, and even dared to suggest that the sons of Edward IV never met their end at his hands.
Master of the Revels at the Court of King James I, Buc adhered to the stern principles of the antiquary movement, accepting no tales and fables but demanding evidentiary proof.
Alas for the great man's scholarly reputation, Sir George was hardly cold in his grave than his MS was stolen, and a worthless travesty was published in 1646 (the one on Google Books) - passed off as the work of one 'George Buc Esq' - which has been dismissed and ridiculed for 400 years.
Buc's carefully researched book was rescued from obscurity by Ricardian scholar Arthur Kincaid, with the first authentic edition appearing in 1979. Arthur's assiduous work has now brought it right up to 2021, including a reassessment of Elizabeth of York's letter (illustrated within). Ricardians will love his closing salvo, 'Folklore and History'.
RRP £45, but members enjoy exclusive discounted price of £36. Order from Pen and Sword quoting ISBN 978-0-85431-304-4 and apply your discount code before checkout.
Direct orders in North America can be placed with Casemate and apply your discount code before checkout.
News from The Board of the Richard III Society: In 2024 Barnard Castle will celebrate 550 years since the lordship of the town was granted to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III. Windows for the King will install seven etched glass windows in the porch of St Mary's to mark this anniversary.
St Mary’s church council (PCC), in partnership with the Northern Dales Richard III Group (NDRIIIG), are excited to announce a major project to commemorate Richard III, Duke of Gloucester and King of England, in Barnard Castle. Our ‘Windows for the King’ appeal aims to install seven etched glass windows above the inner porch doorway of St Mary’s Parish Church, Barnard Castle to commemorate Richard and his close connection with St Mary’s.
As Lord of Barnard Castle, Richard invested huge sums of money to re-build St Mary’s and transform it into a Collegiate Church: this project was close to completion when he died at Bosworth. The College would have been dedicated to Christ, the Virgin Mary, St Margaret of Scotland and St Ninian.
Three central etched panels will depict Christ with Mary, and these two northern saints personally connected with Richard. A further two panels will portray St Helen of the Holy Cross and St Catherine of Alexandria, saints with medieval chantries within or close to St Mary’s in the late C15th. The final two panels will show Ricardian boars, as ‘supporters’, as illustrated on the St Anthony effigy near the font in St Mary’s.
Alongside the 1934 Richard III Society window in St Alkelda & St Mary’s Middleham, and the Memorial Window in York Minster, given by the Society of Friends of Richard III in 1997, the Windows for the King will be a lasting tribute to Richard’s personal faith, and demonstrate his dedication to the North and to the town where he was Lord of the Manor from 1474.
You can make a donation to the project here.
Members of the Richard III Society receive a membership card which must be shown to entitle them to the following discounts:
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle: discounted rate of £7 per person for groups of 12 or more.
Ludlow Castle: discount of 10% for groups of 10 or more.
York Archaeological Trust - Barley Hall and the Richard III and Henry VII Experiences: individual discounts of 15%.
King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester: individual discount of 25%. Tickets are valid for a year for free return entry.
Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre & Country Park, Sutton Cheney, Nuneaton CV13 0AD - 20% off
Donington 1620s House and Garden, Manor Road, Donington Le Heath, Coalville LE67 2FW - 20% off
Haddon Hall - individual discount of 10% on full ticket price.
Sudeley Castle no longer offer a discount, as from August 2018.
Tewkesbury Battlefield Society is offering a free guided walk of the battlefield. However, a small donation (£2 - £3) at the end of the tour is requested towards the costs of the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society.
Free walks for Branches or Groups can be arranged outside the scheduled walks. These include a tour of the Abbey which would incur a £5 donation per person paid to the Abbey for its upkeep (that is the amount the Abbey suggests per visitor).
The Tewkesbury Battlefield Society also runs a few additional events each year such as talks and extended walks etc. There is a charge for these and the Society is offering a 20% discount to members of the Richard III Society.
Tewkesbury Abbey has a couple of rooms it lets out, if a branch wanted to have a base in the town for a day. There is a small kitchen for teas etc and a café on site. Contact is best made directly to them via the Abbey website.
The Richard III Society donated a Richard III standard to Middleham Castle. It will be flown on the dates below. The standard was officially donated to the castle on behalf of the Society on 2nd October 2016 at 2.30pm by Susan Wells, Deputy Chairman.
1st February - Richard marries Anne 1473
16th March - Queen Anne’s death 1485
26th March - Reburial in Leicester of Richard III 2015
16th April - Edward of Middleham died 1484
29th June - Richard granted the Neville strongholds of Middleham, Sheriff Hutton and Penrith 1471
First weekend in July - Middleham Festival
6th July - Richard III crowned 1483
22nd August - Richard III died 1485
2nd October - Birth of Richard III 1452Where exact dates are not known for certain events in the aforementioned list, the dates chosen are symbolic and as close to the likely date as we can ascertain. In addition, it has been agreed to fly the banner during the Middleham Festival each July.
Page last updated on 5 October 2024