|
|
|
Back to Basics: A Series for Newer Members
Issue 1 -- June 1992
The
Murder of the Princes
| Francis, Lord Lovel | The Richard
III and Yorkist History Trust | Abbreviations
for Common Sources | Back to Index
This is the first
issue of a new series devoted to brief articles and notes on various
Ricardian topics, intended for new members who may not be aware of recent
scholarship/articles, etc. or the latest thinking on particular subjects.
All of the books and articles mentioned will be available from the Society
Library unless otherwise noted. There will be a regular piece devoted
to organizations of interest to members, starting with the Richard III
and Yorkist History Trust. Suggestions from members for subjects to
be discussed will be welcomed.
The 'Crimes'
of Richard III
We will be working
though these, in no particular order, as space permits. Some have had
considerably more attention given to them than others, some have had
no recent attention at all. To start we deal with:-
One full discussion
of the controversy was published in 1978, The Murder of
the Princes by Audrey Williamson. This is a full and detailed
discussion of the events surrounding the accession of Richard III although
some of this history is rather shaky. Another book published in 1978,
The Princes in the Tower by Elizabeth Jenkins
is in fact a brief history of the Wars of the Roses with some discussion
of the Princes' death. The mystery has also been mentioned in the two
recent biographies of Richard III, Richard III, the man
behind the myth by Michael Hicks and Richard
III and the Princes in the Tower by A.J. Pollard.
The former really only touches on the topic, the latter discusses it
(very well) at some length. Jeremy Potter in Good
King Richard? (1983) has a useful and stimulating
chapter on this subject. A discussion of every possible candidate
(ten are identified in all, including Richard III) for committing the
murder (if murder there was) is found in Helen Maurer's article in the
American journal 'WHODONIT: the
suspects in the case,' Loyaulte me lie: Ricardian
Register, vol. 18, number 3, (1983), pp.4-27. [Ed.
update: another theory on the disappearance of the Princes, by Society
Vice President Isolde Wigram, is put forth in the essay, "Were
the 'Princes in the Tower' Murdered?" Two recent popular
works on the subject have generated much interest. Alison Weir's The
Princes in the Tower (1992 England; 1994 U.S.) is an attempt to
validate Sir Thomas More's account of the murders. Bertram Fields' Royal
Blood (1998) examines the extant evidence from a lawyer's perspective
and in particular rebuts many of Weir's claims.]
The other articles
by Helen Maurer, in the Ricardian, are excellent
on all of the sets of bones found in the Tower, 'Bones in the Tower:
a discussion of time place and circumstance', parts I and II; Ricardian,
vol. VIII, number 111, (1990), pp. 171-193 and vol. IX, number 112,
(1991) pp.2-22. Two discussions on the bones themselves are P.W. Hammond
and W.J. White, 'The sons of Edwrad IV: A re-examination of the evidence
on their deaths and on the bones in Westminster Abbey', pp.104-147 in
the book Richard III: Loyalty, Lordship and Law,
(1986) edited by P.W. Hammond, Theya Molleson, 'Anne Mowbray and the
Princes in the Tower: a study in identity', in London Archaeologist,
vol. 5, (1987, pp. 258-262. An indirect response to this article is
found in two letters in the Times by W.J.
White and P.W. Hammond on 26 May 1987. The most recent attempt to produce
new evidence on the death of the princes was 'The Death of Edward I'
by Colin Richmond in Northern History, vol.
25, (1989) pp.278-280, redating the death of Edward V to three days
before the official end of his reign. This was refuted by Michael Hicks
in 'Did Edward V Outlive his Reign or Did He Outreign his Life' in the
Ricardian, vol. VIII, number 108, (1990),
pp.342-345.
The 'Leslau' theory:
Jack Leslau has written several articles on his theory that the sons
of Edward IV survived not only Richard III but also Henry VII, being
brought up in the household of Sir Thomas More. He supports his theory
by an analysis of messages which he finds in the paintings of Holbein,
relying mainly on the large group portrait of the More family at Nostell
Priory generally attributed to Rowland Lockey. The main group of articles
are in the Ricardian, vol. IV, number 62 (1978),
pp.2-14, ('Did the Sons of Edward IV Outlive Henry VII'), vol. V, number
64, (1979), pp. 24-26, ('Did the Sons of Edward IV Outlive Henry VII:
a Postscript') and vol. V, number 64, (1979), pp. 55-60, ('Did the Sons
etc.: an Answer and a Rejoinder'). These are all available in one pack
from the Library as is a pack of other items on the theory including
an article from the Times and follow up letters.
PWH
Many abbreviations
are used in articles and books to simplify constant references to them.
Where they are used most books print a list somewhere, usually at the
beginning of the book. Some of the abbreviations are not easy to understand,
they sometimes differ slightly between different books. We will print
a selection in every issus of the most common versions, beginning with
the Calendars (a calendar is a sort summary of a document arranged chronologically).
CPR:
Calendar of Patent Rolls. The Patent Rolls contain enrolments
of letters patent, of grants of offices, lands, etc., pardons and so
on. They were issued open with the Great Seal pendant. The two (large)
volumes for 1467-1477 and 1476-1485 are in the Library.
CCR:
Calendar of Close Rolls. The Close Rolls contain enrolments
of letters close (i.e. issued folded and closed by the Great
Seal) of royal orders and instructions and of private deeds such as
land transfers. There are no volumes in the Society Library.
CFR:
Calendar of Fine Rolls. The Fine Rolls record payment
to the king for lands an offices, also the patents of appointments of
sheriffs and escheators, and of offices in the gift of the Treasurer
such as customs posts, also various writs dealing with lands. There
are no volumes in the Society Library.
CChR:
Calendar of Charter Rolls. The Charter Rolls recorded
original grants of privileges, lands and possessions and of peerages
and confirmations of previous grants. Their use was slowly being discontinued
by 1483. The Library has an extract covering 1469-1501.
CInqPM:
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem. These documents
record inquests held on the death of any tenant thought to hold land
directly from the king (a tenant in chief) inquiring into lands held,
rents and services related to them and name and age of the heir. The
printed calendars to 1485 are simple lists of manors held by the deceased,
from 1485 onwards they are full calendars. None are held in the Library.
In each issue we
shall be looking at one of the interesting personalities of the period
to find out what has been written about them - again your suggestions
will be welcomed as to whom you would like to read about.
We shall start
with Francis Viscount Lovel, Lord Holland, Deincourt, Burnell and Grey
of Rotherfield, born about 1455/6 (we only know that he was nine years
old when his father died early in 1465), so several years younger than
Richard III. After the members of the royal family themselves he must
be the Ricardian character most often asked about. In an age of enigmas
he provides yet another mystery to exercise our detective powers. Was
he just another of Richard's henchmen, 'Lovel our Dog', or did he have
a closer relationship with his king, Richard's 'boyhood friend' as Philip
Lindsay suggests or even 'the king's dearest friend' as Clements Markham
asserts? No one knows when and how he died, but the story of the sealed
room and the skeleton seated at a table with writing materials has seized
the imagination since it was first promulgated in a letter written to
Francis Peck the antiquary in 1737.
In many ways Francis
is typical of the nobility of the period - he came of a family who had
risen to prominence by acquiring land through advantageous marriages,
but all we can find out about them is the details of the lands they
held and the offices and appointments that came their way. The personal
details of their appearance, their feelings, the reasons behind their
actions and their views of other peoples' actions are all lost to us
for they left no diaries or letters, no reminiscences, not even a portrait.
In the case of
Francis Lovel we are lucky because all the groundwork in tracing his
estates has already been done for us by G.V. Belenger in her 1980 B.A.
thesis 'Francis Viscount Lovel, or the life of a "dog" in the fifteenth
century', which she has kindly allowed the Society to photocopy
for the Library. This, apart from outlining his life, also includes
chapters on his attitude to religion, on the mystery of his death and
full information on the lands he held.
On a smaller scale
the West Midlands Branch in 1982 produced a 30-page booklet on 'The
Life and Times of Francis Lovel', bringing together the known facts
of his life and the legends surrounding his death.
For a figure so
important to members it is not surprising that the Society's journal
the Ricardian has carried a number of interesting
articles on Francis which can be traced through the Indexes
to the Ricardian available from the Sales
Officer. The main ones are:- 'What Happend to Lord Lovel?' by David
Baldwin (vol. VII, number 89, June, 1985, pp.56-65), a detailed discussion
of the fate of Lovel after the Battle of Stoke; 'Francis Lovel and the
Rebels of Furness Fells' by Sheilah O'Connor (vol. VII, number 96, March
1987, pp. 366-370) on the links between Lovel and Sir Thomas Broughton
and the other rebels in the north west and the possibility that Lovel
fled to Scotland after the Battle of Stoke and died there in 1491/2;
and 'The political Career of Francis Viscount Lovell (1456?)' by Joanna
M. Williams (vol. VIII, number 109, June 1990, pp. 382-402) - a detailed
account of Lovel's life concentrating on the period from 1477 when he
attained his majority. CH
Organisations
of interest to members
The Trust was set
up in 1985, the Quincentenary year, to take over the Society's educational
and research work. The Society is the Trust's main source of funds and
the majority of the trustees must come from the Society, but having
a legally separate Trust provides substantial tax advantages (see article
by Eric Thompson in the Ricardian Bulletin,
June 1986, pp.3-4).
The Trust has already
published four important books: the Crowland Chronicle Continuations
1459-1486; Richard III: Loyalty, Lordship and Law, (papers
from our 1984 Cambridge Conference); the Hours of Richard
III; and the York House Books, 1476-1490.
Trust publications are sold to Society members at much redueced prices
- far cheaper than similar books can be bought from commercial publishers.
The next Trust
book will be an edition of the Howard Household Books
for 1461-1471 and 1481-1483, with an introduction and life of John Howard,
Duke of Norfolk by Anne Crawford. The Household Books
include many references to Richard himself and are very important for
the study of the fifteenth century aristocractic household. The book
is due out in the late summer 1992. This will be followed by and edition
of the Beauchamp Pageant, edited by Dr. Alexandra Sinclair.
This pictorial life of Richard, Earl of Warwick will include colour
facsimilies of all the drawings, about 50 of them, constituting a key
source for mediaeval arms and armour, together with an introduction
and life of Richard Beauchamp. It is due out in mid 1993.
The Trust makes
research grants to post graduates studying the Yorkist period and has
also, for example, given £500 to the Yorkshire Archaeological Society
for half the cost of reparing the Wakefield Court Rolls covering Richard's
reign. EJT
[Ed. Note: This page
has been left as it was when written in June 1992. See
the Richard III Society site for updated information on the
activities of the trust.]
|
