The Ricardian is the historical journal of the Richard III Society and is published annually. In 2026 it will be available to all members online. There is information about ordering print copies on page 15 of the March Bulletin (available in the members’ section of this website). We are still awaiting readers’ reports for some of the articles submitted which means we cannot yet share names of authors here. We also cannot guarantee that contributors will be able to make all changes required of them in time for this issue but, as of 1 March 2026, we expect the contents for volume 36 to be:

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A study of the significance of Richard III’s grant to men of Liddesdale

A reassessment of the evidence for Richard III’s chapel at Towton

A reassessment of the evidence regarding Richard duke of Gloucester’s campaign in Dumfriesshire

An examination of a fifteenth-century poem about St Hilda

An account of the findings resulting from the Edward IV Roll project funded by the Amercian Branch of the Richard III Society

A study of the Stanleys of Elford

A discussion of the consequences of the discovery of Richard III’s scoliosis for the future of disability history

A study of Katherine Gordon’s connection to Margaret Kyme

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Members of the Society receive the current year’s volume as a benefit of membership. After five years, issues are available to everyone free online. The journal welcomes scholarly contributions on any aspect of the life and times of Richard III and these are subject to blind peer review. Full details of submission criteria and notes for contributors are available at Ricardian notes for contributors or email the editor at ricardian.editor@richardiii.net.

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The current editor is Dr J L Laynesmith (Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading). She is supported by Peter Hammond (Former Society Research Officer), Dr David Grummitt (the Open University), Dr Christopher Tinmouth, and Gabriella Williams (doctoral student at the University of Winchester). 

 

The Ricardian was established in 1961 as a quarterly newsletter with historical notes for members of the Richard III Society. In 1974 it became a journal, containing only historical articles and reviews, at which time The Ricardian Bulletin became the Society’s newsletter. Two years later Dr Anne F Sutton took over the editorship from Peter Hammond and she continued in that role until her death in 2022. The 2023 edition was a special issue of eighteen articles on ‘Yorkist People’, edited in Anne’s honour by Dr Christian Steer and Professor Caroline Barron. Along with other recent issues, it can be purchased in the Society shop.

 

Since 2002, The Ricardian has been an annual publication. The key articles from the early issues up to 1981 were combined into a separate volume to mark the quincentenary of Richard’s reign: Richard III: Crown and People, edited by James Petre (1985). All the articles were reread and in some instances improved by their authors. It is therefore recommended to the browsers of this site that they consult this volume as well.

 

The articles on Richard III’s books by Anne F Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs which appeared in The Ricardian from 1986 to 1993 formed the basis of their 1997 volume Richard III’s Books: Ideal and Reality in the Life of a Medieval Prince and their articles on royal funerals have also been published separately.

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The online scan of The Ricardian volumes 3-25, October 1974 to 2017 was put together by James Petre, Anne F Sutton, Christian Steer and Livia Visser-Fuchs, with technical assistance from Stephen York, Amanda Geary and Stewart Armstrong.