Two American Branch members assisted the Society in repatriating a rare piece of Ricardian history to England.

As reported previously, the Society purchased the 1485 letters patent, with an intact Great Seal of Richard III, at an auction in Virginia. Liz Bateman, chair of the branch’s Tidewater Chapter who lives near the auction house, offered to keep the precious item in her bank’s vault until the Society could find a home for it in the UK. When it was discovered that the expense of shipping the item to England via private carrier was cost-prohibitive, American Branch chair Susan Troxell offered to bring it with her to the AGM in York, where the Yorkshire Museum had agreed to accept it temporarily on loan.

“Having the experience of possessing an original item from Richard III’s reign, even briefly, was such a unique and wonderful opportunity,” says Susan. “Not many Americans can say they’ve been in direct contact with something like that, and as a Ricardian, it was pretty mind-blowing to know that the document and seal had been processed through Richard’s chancery and hand-delivered to James Tyrell at a critical moment in history.” When Liz Bateman took custody of it from the auction house, she was amazed at the size of the Great Seal. “It’s almost as big as a pancake!” she observed.

Adam Parker, Curator of Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum, confirmed that the document and seal arrived in excellent condition, with no damage sustained during its trans-Atlantic crossing. He observed that the seal had obvious signs of being handled over the past 500-plus years, but was otherwise a remarkable survival from the period. He then gave Susan and her husband Erik Michaelson a brief private tour of the museum’s medieval galleries.

UK Society Board member Annette Carson thanked Liz and Susan for their assistance, calling their efforts a “triumph of coordination and generosity”.

The Yorkshire Museum will have the item on display through early January, 2025. Following that, the University of York has agreed to accept it permanently on loan where it will be used as a teaching tool for students of medieval history