'Ladies' Favourite' greeting cards

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Ladies' Favourite - Jousting Knight in armour on horse - Medieval equestrian Greeting or Birthday Cards

'Ladies' Favourite' greeting cards Ref: I-6

On 22nd January 1478, a magnificent joust and tourney was held at Westminster to celebrate the marriage seven days earlier of the young Richard, Duke of York, son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, and Anne Mowbray, daughter and heir of the Duke of Norfolk - both around five years old.

'And there entered, first, my Lord Marquis of Dorsett, armed in great triumph...'

A contemporary account of the event describes Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset's appearance, his horse caparisoned in 'crymson velvet, enramplished with Aes of gould curiously imbordered, with goldsmithry'. His shield was painted in the Mowbray colours of blue and tawney, and also decorated with an A (for Anne).

Reproduced from an original painting by Graham Turner.

Supplied with envelopes

Cards are blank inside, allowing you to add your own greeting or making them suitable for use as notelets.

Card size - 124mm x 187mm.

click on image to enlarge

Available either individually or in a pack of five cards of the same design - please select below.

Pack of 5 Cards £6.50

Individual card £1.50

'Ladies' Favourite' Art Print

'Ladies' Favourite' is also available as a high quality Giclée print, individually printed and signed by the artist, Graham Turner - Click Here for Details

Assorted sets of medieval greeting cards

This greeting card is also available as part of an assorted set of five different cards, all reproduced from Graham Turner's medieval paintings.

Two assorted sets are available - CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

The Medieval Art of Graham Turner

Studio 88 publish a large range of prints and cards reproduced from Graham Turner's acclaimed paintings of our medieval past - CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

The Jousting Artist

Graham Turner took part in his first joust in 2004, and his experiences since then have had a dramatic influence on his paintings which convey a sense of immediacy and realism that can only come from such a deep understanding and involvement in this dramatic medieval 'extreme sport'.

CLICK HERE for details of other jousting paintings, prints and cards by Graham Turner, and for links to other pages on the Studio 88 website where you can see photos and find out more about his jousting career.

THE WARS OF THE ROSES

THE MEDIEVAL ART OF GRAHAM TURNER - Signed by Graham Turner

Graham Turner's eagerly anticipated book about the Wars of the Roses is now available.

It includes over 120 of his paintings and drawings, many newly created, with supplementary images and a comprehensive and fascinating text that illuminates the complex, shifting course of events and the people who lived their lives through this tumultuous time.

Order your signed copy now - CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Excerpt from Graham Turner's book -

ENSURING THE DYNASTY

By the close of 1475 Queen Elizabeth had provided Edward with two sons and five daughters, and would go on to give birth to three more. Each provided opportunities for their father's aggrandisement and the future prosperity of their dynasty through the arrangement of suitable marriages, and over the coming years negotiations would be conducted throughout Europe. With their eldest daughter Elizabeth and third daughter Cecily betrothed to the heirs to the thrones of France and Scotland respectively, and a suitable bride for Edward, Prince of Wales, being sought in the courts of Spain, Austria and Milan, their second son Richard was the only one to be matched within the English nobility. When John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, died in January 1476, he left his infant daughter as his sole heir, making her an enticing prospective wife for the royal prince. Anne Mowbray's marriage to Richard, Duke of York, took place amidst all the spectacular pageantry and magnificence of the Yorkist court at Westminster on 15 January 1478, when the bride and groom were around five years old. As she was paraded through the palace from the queen's chamber, Anne's tiny hands were held by Earl Rivers and the earl of Lincoln, and on entering the crowded St Stephen's Chapel, she was led to join her future husband Prince Richard, his parents the king and queen, and other family members, who waited for her under a canopy of cloth of gold. A papal dispensation was required because of the children's 'nearness of blood' (they were both descended from Edward I), and once this had been proclaimed the marriage ceremony itself took place, performed by the bishop of Norwich. As the wedding party prepared to move to the king's great chamber for spices and wine before the matrimonial feast, the duke of Gloucester cast gold and silver 'amongest the comone people'.

The celebrations continued: on 18 January (the day before Clarence was accused of treason), King Edward created 24 knights of the Bath, and on the 22nd, jousts and tourneys were held at Westminster. The challenge had been proclaimed by heralds over a month before - six defenders would take on all comers in three disciplines: 'Justes royall, with helme and shield', 'Osting harneis, alonge a Tilt', and 'to strike certaine strokes with Swoardes, and guise of Torneye'. The defenders' shields or guardbraces (reenforcing plate for the left shoulder) would be painted blue and tawney, the livery colours of the duke of Norfolk, and decorated with a letter A, E or M, each with a precious stone (the A and M likely signifying the initials of Anne Mowbray, and the E Princess Elizabeth, the groom's eldest sister).

The first defender to enter the lists was Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset (Queen Elizabeth's son from her first marriage), 'armed in great triumph for the Justes Royall.' The duke of Buckingham bore his helm, with the knights and squires attending him clothed in his colours of white and murray. Five coursers followed, 'with rich trappers, cloth of gould, cloth of tissue, and crimson velvett' decorated with gold embroidered 'A's, a sixth horse led in hand for 'the accomplishment of his armes'. He was followed by his brother Richard in a similar display of magnificence, with his companions clad in the Norfolk blue and tawney livery. With a theatrical flourish, the celebrated Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, emerged from 'the house of an Hermite, walled and covered with black velvett' dressed in the habit of a 'White Hermite', which his servants pulled from him to reveal him fully armoured for the tourney. Of the challengers, several sported the Yorkist blue and murrey colours, decorated with 'roses of silver in suns of gold'.

The jousting and tourneying was well fought, with many 'speares, well and laudably broken' upon their opponents, and sword strokes exchanged 'with ardent courage'. All seemingly came away with enhanced reputations from their display before the king and queen, the royal family, 'other dukes and earles, ladyes and gentlewomen', and foreign ambassadors, and the festivities concluded with dancing and the presentation of awards by Princess Elizabeth.

Anne Mowbray, the little girl at the centre of all these dynastic negotiations and bewildering ceremonies, would tragically not grow old enough to have any opportunity to enjoy her marriage. She died in 1481 just before her ninth birthday.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS of The Wars of the Roses: The Medieval Art of Graham Turner.