A bearded Henry VII….?

  Here is an interesting link about the death of Henry VII. It includes an illustration from the TV series The Spanish Princess, in which Henry seems to have sprouted a beard. Really? I don’t think so, somehow. All his portraits show him clean-shaven, including one painted when he was getting on in years. But…

Secret Marriages – Edward IV & his Two Wives, the Novel

Over the years there has been lots of fiction written about Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville and of course Richard III. However, there is one one figure in their story who often gets a mention, but  is rarely portrayed as a living person, with the events long after her death in 1468 taking the forefront instead. …

SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III: HERO OR VILLAIN?

” Never let it be said that fate itself could awe the soul of Richard.            Hence babbling dreams, you threaten here in vain;            Conscience avaunt, Richard’s himself again” (The tragical history of King Richard the Third)[1]   Richard’s himself again: or is he? There is a moment in Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s play…

Seeking the Real Duke of Clarence

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Richard III’s brother, George of Clarence. You know the one–typical ‘middle child’, ‘false fleeting Clarence’, the one drowned in Malmsey who was also a drunk and quite possibly insane, hanging, as he did,  old ladies on the vaguest of suspicions. And I began considering–is George, like Richard, maligned,…

A fictional treason case

In real life, there were no high treason cases in the United Kingdom after 1946 and no peacetime cases after 1913. However, regular viewers of Crown Court, which was shown on ITV from 1972-84, will have seen an episode in which a Congolese man was convicted and sentenced to death during that time. The episode…

Richard III in fiction

An article from the Society’s NSW branch: NOT LOOKING FOR RICHARD? Not every mention of Richard III in fiction is actually in a book about him.

Book Review: We Speak No Treason

We Speak No Treason by Rosemary Hawley Jarman Review by Lisl (2013) Because I sometimes have a tendency to borrow too many books from the library, it happens on occasion that I tire of keeping up with conflicting due dates and end up tossing the lot into a bag to haul them back, unread. Such…

Review of A Cautionary Tale by Joanie Swift

As Joanie Swift herself states, “If only the Battle of Bosworth had not ended in a Tudor victory . . .” Yes, but it did, and we can’t change that, although Joanie takes a huge swipe in the right direction with this hilarious little roman à clef. Instead of Bosworth in 1485, we’re in London…

Historical fiction, and why it grips us so . . . .

This is a blog from me that was written for: http://halebooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/historical-fiction-and-why-it-grips-us-so/ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that . . . . Well, the famous Jane Austen opening line is one of the most memorable of all time, and not only in historical fiction, which is what Pride and Prejudice has now become. It was, of…

It can now be revealed…

Minutes of the Disposal of the Princes Sub Committee Held at the Tower of London, Fetterlock Suite.  Present:  His Grace King Richard III (in the Chair) My Lord Bishop Russell (Chancellor)  (BR) His Grace the Duke of Norfolk (Earl Marshal) (JH) My Lord Viscount Lovel (Chamberlain) (FL) Sir Robert Ratcliffe (Representing the North)  (RR) William…