Publications

A scion of one of the wealthiest families in Middlesex, Sir Thomas Charlton (c.1417-1465) could claim relatives among London’s mercantile elite as well as kinship with Alice, countess of Salisbury, and her son, the earl of Warwick. Over the course of his life he served his country diligently. From his position on the Middlesex bench of J.P.s and on local commissions, to years of parliamentary industry and, eventually, the speaker’s chair. In many respects he was an ‘everyman’ for the lives of England’s greater gentry and when he died, following a short illness, in February 1465 his story, like so many others, would have come to an end were it not for the remarkable survival of an extensive collection of inventories and associated post-mortem accounts.

In the former we can walk through the rooms, barns and stables of Sir Thomas’s houses and between the ‘little black ambling nag’ and the enamel livery collar of suns and roses, there lies a microcosm of fifteenth-century life. There are riches that may be mined for material wealth in all its forms, from clothing, plate and jewels to intellectual treasure in a small collection of books; the practicalities of stable, farm and household to the well-stocked armoury of a knight. The meticulously prepared accounts offer a window into the daily details of estate management and the efforts that went into purchasing the wardship of Charlton’s heir and in the daybook of Nicholas Mole we walk in the shoes of one overburdened steward, offering insight into what it meant to be a medieval excecutor.

In life, Sir Thomas Charlton’s story would have been familiar to many members of medieval gentry society. In death he left behind a collection of documents that would have been equally commonplace in their day but which are remarkable in their survival and, as such, invaluable to the historian.

This volume is offered as a tribute to Peter and Carolyn Hammond, who for decades have been an important force in the study of fifteenth-century England, and in particular the life and reign of Richard III. Among much else, they were vital to the foundation of the Yorkist History Trust, with Peter serving as a longstanding chairman and Carolyn as its first secretary. Their successors in 2025 (the year in which the Trust celebrates its Ruby Anniversary), Christian Steer and Richard Asquith, agreed that their manifold contributions to fifteenth-century studies should be recognised and celebrated with this Festschrift volume, which draws together thirty colleagues, friends, and admirers who have contributed essays on a wide variety of subjects and themes.

Reflecting the Hammonds’ own involvement in the field, which bridges the gaps between established academic historians, independent scholars, and those interested in medieval history, contributors include a range of perspectives, a testament to the vitality of the study of the fifteenth century, the Wars of the Roses, and the reign of Richard III. Essays cover microhistories to broad chronological surveys encompassing the later Middle Ages. Traditional historical studies sit alongside discussions of literature and art, and several contributions cross these disciplinary boundaries. The city of York – the Hammonds’ home – features prominently, as do areas relating to the Hammonds’ research interests, including leading figures from the Wars of the Roses, documents such as last wills and testaments, and cases drawn from England’s peerage.

With a population of almost 10,000, Bristol was late medieval England’s second- or third-biggest urban place, and the realm’s second port after London. While not particularly large or wealthy in comparison to the great cities of northern Italy, Flanders or the Rhineland, it was a metropolis in the context of the British Isles. As a port, it was the hub of a trading network that began with England, Wales and Ireland and extended as far as the Iberian Peninsula and Iceland, and for medieval Europeans, it sat on the edge of the known world; as a strategic strongpoint it commanded routes from Ireland, Wales and the west Midlands to London and the south; as an industrial centre, it was a major participant in English textile production. By the eve of the fifteenth century Bristol had already enjoyed a position among England’s leading towns and cities for several centuries.

The Lordship of Middleham was a medieval administrative district centred on Middleham Castle in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire. Two sets of estate accounts survive from the Yorkist period, the first at a time when the lordship was held by the earl of Warwick, the second set when it was the northern base of Richard, duke of Gloucester, who later became Richard III. The extraordinary detail of the accounts reveal much of estate life, the names of tenants and the considerable incomes the lord enjoyed from the estate. The Introduction by Gladys Mary Coles was written in 1961 but has never before been published, though the typescript (an M.A. thesis from the University of Liverpool) has long been respected and often cited by historians. Jonathan Mackman has translated the manuscripts for this edition, the whole overseen by the editors Livia Visser-Fuchs, Jonathan Mackman and the late Anne F. Sutton.

This books is a study of the prime duty of an English king in the late fifteenth century: the defence of his realm and its people. The gazetteers cover the English/Scots border, and the coasts of Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire down to Lincolnshire. The narrative of both the chronological and gazetteer sections endeavours to be precise and tied to date and the book has extensive footnotes, a large bibliography, an index and two maps.

This book is the text and translation of letters written by William, Lord Hastings, Lieutenant of Calais, during the first months of an international crisis that followed the death of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, at Nancy in January 1477. During the subsequent war between France and Burgundy, England maintained diplomatic relations with both parties despite Edward IV’s sister Margaret being Charles of Burgundy’s widow. The book contains a full introduction, both to the letters and to subsequent events up to 1483. A fold out plan of a later copy of a contemporary map of the Calais region is included.

From the moment in 1468 when Margaret of York (1446–1503), sister of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, she played a central role in Burgundian society and cultural life. Throughout her life, she maintained excellent relations with her step-daughter, Mary of Burgundy, and her stepson-in-law, Maximilian I of Habsburg, as well as with members of the nobility, clergy and the leading men of her dower towns. A woman in a world of men, she was none-the-less able to establish and maintain her authority and influence through her household and affinity, through her patronage of the arts, of religious orders and of humanist learning. This new study looks at all these aspects of Margaret’s life, not omitting, for example, the role of the women who influenced her, her support of the crucial Habsburg marriage, and her attempt to influence English politics by encouraging Yorkist pretenders. There are appendices and a full index and colour pictures.

Proceedings of the 2011 Harlaxton Symposium covering archaeology, political, cultural and religious history. It Includes papers on Richard III and the Office of Arms and his charters to towns: the latter by Ricardian editor, Anne Sutton. This book is published by Shaun Tyas for Paul Watkins Publishing in collaboration with the Harlaxton Medieval Symposium.

The first full modern edition of the narrative now preserved in the British Library. It corrects the incomplete version published by Thomas Herne in the 18th century and makes accessible for the first time a strictly contemporary source for the earliest years of the reign of Henry VII. This new edition takes the reader to the heart of Henry VII’s court as he struggled to hold the throne he had so fortuitously won at Bosworth.

Transcription of William Worsley’s accounts together with an introduction to the life and career of this fascinating cleric. There are biographical details of the individuals mentioned in the accounts, a pedigree, six mono-tone images, glossary, bibliography and index. Published in collaboration with the London Record Society.

A late fifteenth century illustrated life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (1382-1439). This edition provides an introduction to the work and the first detailed biography of Richard Beauchamp, along with an interesting description to accompany each of the illustrations. Full colour facsimile of the British Library manuscript.

The Merchant Taylors’ Company is one of the oldest and largest of the livery companies in the City of London, with extensive records surviving from the late fourteenth century. This book covers seven years of court minutes, the earliest to survive in their original form from any of the ‘Great Twelve’ livery companies. This edition is fully translated and annotated with an extensive introduction.

This book contains copies (often unique ones) of broadsides, private and public letters and literary texts ranging from about 1420 until about 1483. These provide a fascinating overview of English politics and London affairs before and during the Wars of the Roses. Documents are calendared and the book includes introductory essays.

Comprises records of money received and dispersed by John Howard, his family and his household officials, thus casting light on both his estate administration and his domestic expenditure. John Howard was made duke of Norfolk by Richard III in 1483. His household books are one of the major primary sources for the political, social and economic history of late fifteenth century England.

Reduced size facsimile reprint of the rare 19th century transcriptions of the household books, with an introduction covering the early life and career of John Howard. Also includes a new name index and an appendix of newly transcribed related documents.

Papers delivered at the second Richard III Society Symposium in April 1984, two editions published. Subjects include the private life of John Howard; Richard III and Lady Margaret Beaufort; the concept of the Good Prince; a Canonical assessment of the claim that the sons of Edward IV were illegitimate; a re-examination of the evidence on the deaths of the Princes and the bones in Westminster Abbey. Contributors include Anne Crawford, Michael Jones, Keith Dockray, Anne Sutton and Colin Richmond.

A new and complete edition of the York House Books for 1461-1490. This edition provides some of the most important documents from the York city archives, including details of royal visits, proclamations and political events in the Wars of the Roses, as well as local bye-laws, craft regulations and arrangements for the performance of the York mystery plays. They provide an unparalleled view of Richard, who was York’s greatest patron, both as duke of Gloucester and as king of England. Two volume set with introduction and name and subject index.

As a man’s religious convictions can be considered fundamental to his character and behaviour, Richard’s piety has naturally provoked comment, and conclusions have been made linking his piety with his crimes and a need to atone. Some of these theories have drawn on material in the Hours, especially ‘his’ prayer, but none have been based on any real inspection or understanding of the manuscript or of the prayer’s text and purpose. A study of the Hours is therefore long overdue.

Lambeth Ms. 474, here styled the Hours of Richard III, was not made originally for the King. It was produced in London about 1420 for an unknown owner, possibly a cleric. It is a text of unusual length and some distinctive features. At some date after 6 July 1483, the date of his coronation, Richard III chose to use this text as his personal book of hours.

Both its liturgical contents and its decoration presumably appealed to Richard III. The text shows the preoccupations of a devout man of the fifteenth century and its decoration puts it in the context of the development of London manuscript illumination in the same period. Richard III chose a very useful, solid, unflamboyant and English manuscript for his daily use–one that can be shown to be entirely in keeping with the other books he owned. He seems to have chosen his books for their contents.

Digitised along with the original manuscript by Leicester Cathedral, in collaboration with the Trust. Click cover for link.

The Crowland Chronicle Continuations, 1459-1486, are among the major sources for late fifteenth-century English history, containing information found nowhere else on crucial events, including those of the reign of Richard III. They have hitherto only been available in a nineteenth-century English translation and a seventeenth-century Latin version. The present book represents the first scholarly edition. It contains a long Introduction which includes a discussion of the vexed question of the authorship, and parallel Latin and English texts. The publication of this book on the 500th anniversary of the Continuations is a major event for scholars of the period.