Red Rose, White Rose character #2 Richard, Duke of Yorks mother died giving birth to him and when he was three his father was executed for treason, sentenced for his part in a plot against King Henry V - an inauspicious start for the boy who was to become Duke of York due to the subsequent death of his childless Uncle Edward at the Battle of Agincourt. Later Richard became the ward of the Earl of Westmorland, who quickly betrothed him to his youngest daughter Cicely. As a boy Richard thought Cicely spoilt and wilful and resented the fact that she was taller than him; she found him sulky and diffident. But later, when he returns from several years at court, their opinions of each other change radically. A strict regime of knightly training has made him broad-shouldered and physically impressive and, having come into his inheritance, he is able to afford the grooming and apparel of a man of great wealth and stature and a retinue of 500 men. He finds the seventeen year old Cicely beautiful and accomplished and she finds him powerfully attractive. His immense pride in his position as a royal duke seems justified and her inherent rebelliousness is well disguised. Everything augurs well for a successful and fruitful dynastic partnership... Again, there are no contemporary images of Richard of York so this image is from the other half of the stained glass window I showed for Cicely. I think he looks young and handsome – and rich! And his dramatic heraldic shield reveals his regal Anglo-French (golden lions and lilies) and Castilian (golden castles) ancestry and his significant Plantagenet connections.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 10:11:47 +0000
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