Buckinghams Retinue

Introduction

Buckingham's Retinue is a British based reenactment group specializing in the late medieval period now known as the Wars of the Roses.^[1] The groups was formed (and is named in the constitution) as "The Retinue of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham", however is known as "Buckinghams Retinue" or less formally at the "The Bucks".

Buckingham's Retinue are members of two umbrella originations: Livery and Maintenance;^[2] and the Wars of the Roses Federation^[3]

Buckingham's retinue undertakes 10-12 events each year for historic site owners including English Heritage, Skipton Castle, Bolton Castle Leicester County Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Stafford Borough Castle. The group has also undertaken Television work or the BBC and Channel 4

History

Buckingham's Retinue was founded in 1997 by former members of the now defunct Stafford Household re-enactment group, which itself originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the White Company. The decision to form the a new group was taken at multi-period event at Caerphilly Castle in spring 1997. It was initially proposed to call the new group "The Staffords", however this was objected to by Stafford Household as infringement of their trading name, so the name "The Retinue of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham" was selected. The Dukes of Buckingham being the Stafford family, and Earls of Stafford at the time of the Wars of the Roses. The group quickly became known as the shorter "Buckingham's Retinue", though the constitution and rule book of the group use the longer form.

The first event attended by the group was the re-enactment of the Battle of Tewkesbury in July 1997
The first full event organised by the group was at Goodrich Castle in 1998 with an attendance of 9 members.
The group suffered a setback in 2007 when a number of members, including the then Chairperson and Secretary left to join another group (Coventry Militia).
Members of the group participated in the commemorations surrounding the re-interment of Richard III in 2015, firing the 21 gun salute at Bosworth battlefield.

Organisation

The group is a not for profit, voluntary organisation run for the benefit of the members The group elects officers to run the society on an annual basis. Officers consist of a Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and even number of other committee positions. One of the officers is names "captain" a role that involved liaising with other re-enactment groups regarding battle re-enactments.

References

External links

• Buckinghams Retinue medieval re-enactment group