Welcome to Buckingham's Retinue, one of the more authentic re-enactment groups for the period 1450-1500. Our society is a non profit orgainsation that exists to reconstruct and re-enact late medieval life, recreating the period known as 'The Wars of the Roses'.
If you are interested in taking up re-enactment as a hobby, check out our recruitment section to see the kinds of things we do and how you can take part. If you want to see us in action, here is Buckingham's Retinues events list for 2010.
If you own or manage a historical site and want to know how Buckingham's Retinue could bring it to life, please read our employers' section.
We also have a wide variety of information about medieval life, from histories of the wars of the roses, guides on clothing, songs, weaponry information, as well as a history of the Stafford Family, who were the first Dukes of Buckingham.
Skipton Castle, seated in the Gateway to the
Dales, and witness to a terrible murder and its investigation.
Blessed
with reasonable weather (neither roasting hot nor drowned) over 30
members of the Buckingham Household descended on Skipton Castle on 24
and 25 July 2010 to play out general life in the castle. Each member
was given their own character, status and motivation to carry them
through the plot and the weekend. There were servants in the
kitchens preparing food and serving the top table; guards on the main
gate to stop and check those who wished to enter, locals from the
town and many more who made up the daily running of the castle.
It
was understood that the Gloucester retinue had been billeted in the
castle for a week, and the day started with the Captain of the
Gloucester's (Jock) demanding an audience with Lady Joan Stanley
(Zoe) and Lady Beaufort (Hill). A man more accustomed to talking to
soldiers, the Captain did not impress the Ladies, and the more he
threw his weight about and leered at Lady Joan's daughter (Laura)
the more infuriated the Ladies became. The Captain was given the
task of finding out where the stolen delivery of wine had gone.
Richard (the Duke of Gloucester)
has been suspicious for a long time that Margaret Beaufort is up to something
and as a result has placed a number of spies in various households around the
north. Not too long ago he received information from Andy Horsfield the spy at
Skipton that Margaret Beaufort was trying to increase her influence with the
northern families in order to help bring her son Henry Tudor back into the
country. As a result of this he sent Sir Richard Brown to take over Skipton and
try to diminish the Stanley's
power base in the north. Unfortunately Margaret was still there when Sir
Richard arrived. New orders were sent to Andy by the way of Kyle Glover who was
a guard in Sir Richards retinue. Kyle was in one respect a good choice to send
secret orders with as no-one would suspect him, but also due to the reason
no-one suspects him he was a poor choice and he dithered over how to smuggle
the orders to the drop off point, taking a week to pluck up courage. When he
did finally workout were they were to go and get them there he was followed by
Richard Scowerer, Jocks henchman, who retrieved them and gave them to Jock on
the Saturday morning. Richard can't read so he didn't know what they were.
