Tonyfest: a tribute to Professor Tony Pollard, Middlesborough: 28th September, 2013

Michael Hicks spoke on ‘The Lancastrian Succession and the Egotism of Kings’ at the conference in tribute to Professor Tony Pollard at Teesside University Middlesbrough on Saturday 28^th September 2013.  A member of the highly distinguished Bristol Connection of late medievalists, Tony worked for 40 years at Teesside, developing both the History Department and North-East regional history, and published extensively on late medieval politics, the Wars of the Roses, Warwick the Kingmaker, Richard III and Robin Hood. The Tonyfest featured seven papers developing different facets of Tony’s work :  by peers like Hicks, Rosemary Horrox(Cambridge) and  Philip Morgan (Keele), former research assistants  Matthew Holford (Winchester) and Andy King (Southampton), and his pupils Janette Garrett and Professor Anny Curry (Southampton). 120 colleagues and former pupils attended. It was a splendid occasion: Middlesbrough supplied excellent weather and the University excellent food.  Hicks’ paper demonstrated that late medieval kings lacked the resources to endow all the royal family and favourites that they wished to promote and demonstrate how Henry IV and V, though determined to secure their dynasty, failed to ensure that they had successors to succeed them. The seven papers will be the core of the dozen papers that will comprise the volume celebrating Tony’s life and works (his festschrift), probably to be published in 2015.