The Richard III Foundation advocates reburial at York Minster
Richard III Foundation – not to be mixed up with The Richard III Society – has issued an official statement – entitled: Time for King Richard III to “come home to York”. In it the Foundation calls for the remains of King Richard III to be brought home to York and interred at York Minster. In the statement the foundation characterizes Richard III thorough his connections to the City of York and the county of Yorkshire.
– “He spent much of his youth at Middleham Castle and for 12 years he ruled the North of England on behalf of his elder brother, King Edward IV, earning a widespread reputation for fair-mindedness and justice. After becoming king, he visited York several times and was showered with gifts each time. His son, Edward, was crowned Prince of Wales whilst in York.
Although entitled to be buried at Westminster Abbey alongside other kings and queens of England, Richard III announced his intention to be buried at York, and in 1483 set in motion plans for a new chantry chapel at York Minster. Indeed, so strongly was Richard linked to York that the City authorities greeted the news of his death at the Battle of Bosworth with these words: “King Richard, late mercifully reigning over us, was, through great treason, piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this city.”
In connection with the issue of the statement, Joe Ann Ricca, Founder and Chief Executive of The Richard III Foundation says: “Richard obviously had no choice after he was killed as to where his remains were taken, but today we have the opportunity to right the many wrongs that have been done to this unjustly maligned king, by correcting the distorted picture that has been painted of Richard over the centuries, and by bringing his remains home to Yorkshire, and to York Minster as he wanted.”
Andy Smith, the Foundation’s UK Public Relations Director, added: “York was Richard’s city. It is where he belongs, and it is only right that this great Lord of the North should return home to Yorkshire after more than five hundred years’ enforced absence. The Richard III Foundation urges the people of Yorkshire to join with us in calling for Richard, our hero and martyr, to be brought home to the city that he loved, and where he is still loved to this day.”
In connection with the official statement the Foundation announces that it will be holding a major conference at Market Bosworth in Leicestershire on Saturday 13th of October on the subject: “Richard III: Monarch and Man”. Speakers at the conference will include the distinguished actor, historian and author Robert Hardy CBE, Hon. Patron of The Richard III Foundation, who said he believed King Richard to have been “a first rate fighting man” and that his death at Bosworth was “a tragedy, a sacrifice to end the civil wars”.
The conference will be preceded on Friday 12 October by a walking tour of the battlefield site at Bosworth, led by historian Mike Ingram, author of a new book on the battle.
The Richard III Foundation
The Richard III Foundation, Inc. is an international not-for-profit educational organization promoting knowledge and understanding of the life and times of Richard III. Its aim is to correct the distorted picture of the king that has come down through literature and popular culture. The Foundation provides grants and scholarships to help promote the study of King Richard and the Wars of the Roses. Its main focus are support of research into the history of Richard III. The foundation is an American initiative, but with branches in UK and Australia.
The Richard III Society is an international organisation with 3500 members; its activities are diverse. Apart from supporting research, conferences and exhibitions, it services its members with a yearbook (The Ricardian) plus a magazine (The Ricardian Bulletin) which is published four times a year. It is the Society, which instigated the excavations at Greyfriars in Leicester. The Society advocates a reburial at Leicester.
Both organisations must have made early investments to get presence in the Internet, as both homepages are obviously very complicated to navigate (and thoroughly dated).