The reburial of Richard Duke of York in 1476 - Introduction

550 years ago, between July 21st and July 30th 1476, in an elaborate set of funeral ceremonies the bodies of Richard Duke of York, father of King Edward IV and King Richard III, and of his second son, Edmund Earl of Rutland, who had both been killed at the battle of Wakefield in December 1460 were moved from their first burial place in Pontefract to the family mausoleum of the House of York, the Collegiate Church at Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire.

As this is a significant anniversary of this impressive event, and as Pontefract is my home town, I thought it appropriate to follow the events of those ten days and see what remains today, and also to try to recreate the sights and sounds of the cortège as it travelled south. I also hope to enter into the culture of fifteenth century mourning and to bring the participants into focus.

Richard Duke of York

Glass in a chantry chapel founded by sone of his retainers in Cirencester parish church

Image: David Nash Publishing / Wakefield Historical Society

The Duke and his son having been killed at the battle of Wakefield on December 30th 1460 their bodies were taken to Pontefract. Their heads, together with those of other Yorkists, were displayed on Micklegate Bar in York. Following the Yorkist victory at the battle of Towton on March 29th 1461 the heads were removed and interred with the bodies at Pontefract, and fresh Lancastrian ones put in their place.

Richard Duke of York

Stained glass figure at Trinity College Cambridge 

Together with the Cirencester head shown above these are the only two serious contemporary representations of the Duke. The well known Talbot MS one appears too general beyond giving him fair hair. Apart from a different hair style the two glass portraits appear to be consistent with each other.

Image: History of Parliament.wordpress

Micklegate Bar in York

A view published in 1787 before the early nineteenth century removal of the barbican 

Image: rareoldprints.com

Buried alongside York and his son were two other victims of the battle at Wakefield or its aftermath. These were York’s brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury, and father of Warwick the Kingmaker, who was beheaded at Pontefract after the battle, and one of his sons, Sir Thomas Neville. Their heads were reburied with their bodies at Pontefract and subsequently their remains were exhumed and removed to Bisham Priory in Berkshire in January 1462-3. Salisbury’s very battered effigy survives in Burghfield church near Reading.

The remains of the effigy of the Earl of Salisburyin Burghfield church

Image:lovebritishhistory.co.uk

The 1476 reburial of York and Rutland, which we will follow over coming days, was perhaps delayed by the completion of the church at Fotheringhay which had been largely paid for by the Duke, and by the turbulent politics of the 1460s and early 1470s. By 1476 King Edward IV, having eliminated most of his opponents, rich from a French pension agreed the previous year with King Louis XI, and with a growing family, including two sons, was slipping into a life of luxury and self-indulgence, but did at least find time and money to spend on this exercise in family piety and honouring his father and brother. 

Everything looked set fair for the Yorkist line, and for the King, his children, his brothers and their families and his sisters and their progeny and connections. It might be a reburial but it was also a celebration of Yorkist success. What could possibly go wrong in coming years?

The events of the these ten days are recorded in a series of Herald’s accounts and other records, all of which are edited, together with an introduction, in an invaluable article in The Ricardian. This is, or was, also available as a separate booklet. It is the work of P.W.Hammond, Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs. The authors aimed to not just give a detailed and fascinating record of a significant Yorkist dynastic event, but also to draw attention to the ceremonial blending of the rituals of Church and Crown in this period. It can be accessed online at 6XDqQc9Dwunov6R3v

The discovery of the skeleton of King Richard III and his reburial further raised awareness of these fifteenth century reburials, and indeed political rehabilitations. They might be said to begin with King Henry V’s removal of the body of King Richard Iai from Chertsey Abbey to Westminster at the beginning of his reign and end with that of Mary Queen of Scots from Peterborough Cathedral to Westminster in 1612. In both cases, quite coincidentally, Pontefract and Fotheringhay played a part as the scene of death.

I will return to this article over coming days.

 

In 2010 members of the Wakefield Historical Society followed the route from Pontefract to Fotheringhay and their online account can be accessed at Fotheringhay - Wakefield Historical Society

I am extremely grateful for these two resources. Over the following days I hope to supplement both and also, courteously, to correct one quite serious error.