Comments on: Richard III’s remains positively identified http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/04/richard-iiis-remains-positively-identified/ Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts. Tue, 21 May 2013 21:00:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Michael Adams http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/04/richard-iiis-remains-positively-identified/comment-page-1/#comment-151732 Michael Adams Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:45:33 +0000 http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26492#comment-151732 I recommend The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. It’s a detective-novel approach to unraveling the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. I had not read it when I last visited Westminster Abbey, thirty years ago.Parishioners formed a kind of patrol, to keep history tours from over running their church. One lady there, once I understood her purpose and expressed my agreement with the effort, shared a little local gossip, which is often surprisingly reliable, and said she was pretty sure the boys were done in by “that fellow over there,” Henry VII.I don’t know whether she had read Tey’s book, but she was setting forth much of the same information. 

]]> By: jj http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/04/richard-iiis-remains-positively-identified/comment-page-1/#comment-151731 jj Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:36:05 +0000 http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26492#comment-151731 There was once – not too terribly long ago – a lady by the name of Elizabeth Mackintosh in Scotland, who was, somewhat rarely for her day, well-educated.  She had a busy life, and a great talent for which she had no time, her life being as busy as it was.  (She actually went to school to become a physical therapist and phys ed teacher.)  Then one day her father became ill, and remained so for a while.  There being no one else to care for him, she abandoned her busy life and moved home to care for him.  Now she had time.  She used it to create two characters, one named Gordon Daviot, the other Josephine Tey, and under those names she took the previously non-utilized talent out for a walk, and wrote a number of books and plays of all kinds: mysteries, histories, biographies, etc.  (It was a play written by ‘Gordon Daviot’ that launched John Gielgud’s career.)  And, as ‘Josephine Tey’ she wrote a book that has been widely regarded – and named in surveys -  as the finest mystery ever written.  This of course is The Daughter of Time, and it’s about Richard III – and I’m sure everybody here has read it.  And maybe you read it when younger, and didn’t quite realize what it was.  What it is, is a historical investigation and summing-up of arguments, driven by insane research.  (Professional, academic researchers working their way through the Paston letters, for example, discover that she was there ahead of them.)
On the other hand, there are far too many people who think a run through Daughter of Time makes them an expert on Richard III – it doesn’t.  It doesn’t even make you an expert on the evidence.  But what the book does do is summarize the known evidence (and invite you to get interested and go farther); and the arguments.  It does it almost in the form of a brief that would do many a lawyer proud, and it does it very entertainingly.  You are presented the evidence, much as you would be with a case.
And that’s about all anyone can do at this remove.  Bookworm’s right: the forensics aren’t going to tell us much beyond what they already have – he had scoliosis and put up a hell of a fight at Bosworth – and they can’t tell you anything about motives, etc.  Shakespeare’s motive to make Richard a villain was perfectly plain: he was patronized by Elizabethans, who were Tudors, and knew perfectly well they were usurpers and regicides with just about zero claim to the throne – but he obviously couldn’t cross his patroness.  So he didn’t, he created Richard as monster – it was much safer for him.
 
If you haven’t done it in a long time, or if you never read it, check out The Daughter of Time.  You will n ot be rendered an expert, but you may well be rendered interested. 

]]> By: Jose http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/02/04/richard-iiis-remains-positively-identified/comment-page-1/#comment-151727 Jose Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:34:51 +0000 http://www.bookwormroom.com/?p=26492#comment-151727 A most enjoyable read is The Last Plantagenents by Thomas Costain. He has a surprisingly charitable view of Rich III.

It’s been years since I looked at it so I may dig up my copy for another read. When I first picked it up the internet capability of author searches wasn’t available, and now I see he has several other books.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Plantagenets-Thomas-B-Costain/dp/1568493738/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359998517&sr=1-5&keywords=the+plantagenets

]]>