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To: Slyfox
Thomas More's account of Richard III's life was written well after the king's death, and was based on a lot of hearsay and notions popular at the time, and likely colored by More's desire to please his Tudor king, just as Shakespeare was cautious to characterize Richard in a way that satisfied his monarch, also a Tudor. There is no reason to believe that More's account is any more historically accurate than others except for its relative temporal proximity and the legendary integrity of its author.

But by all accounts, Richard and his wife, Anne Neville, were treacherous and even murderous. While it may never be proven that Richard directly ordered the murder of Edward and Richard Plantagenet (the Princes in the Tower), no one stood as much to gain by their deaths as he. Whether he was the actual murderer, its director, or simply a beneficiary, he obviously failed in his promise to King Edward IV to act as Lord Protector.

It is a fair certainty that Richard's brother George, the Duke of Clarence, was not only treasonous but mad.

10 posted on 03/05/2015 6:11:26 AM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack

Still, he wrote the history from which Shakespeare wrote his play.


11 posted on 03/05/2015 6:15:34 AM PST by Slyfox (I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever)
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To: IronJack

I still think it would have been neat to attend this. Witnessing history.


12 posted on 03/05/2015 6:20:35 AM PST by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
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To: IronJack

I wouldn’t base my info on either More or The White Queen - one of the tackiest shows to come out of the BBC in many years.

Remember, More wrote that Richard was two years in his mother’s womb and was born with hair down to his shoulders and a full set of teeth, lol. He supposedly had a withered arm but of course the remains show perfectly formed arms. More was a page to Cardinal Morton who was responsible for several plots against Richard - including the Buckingham and Tudor schemes. The last one worked.

Anne Neville is almost unknown to history. We have no idea what she was like or what she did - The White Queen made all that up. All we know is that she knew Richard from childhood and married him after her first awful husband was killed in battle.

George was a drunk, mostly. Like Richard and Edward, quite brilliant, but unstable. There’s no evidence he was mad, though.

FOR NEW YORK RICARDIANS: I have arranged a memorial Mass for Richard at St. Jean Baptiste Church, 5:30pm, March 26th. The church is at the corner of Lex and 76th. This is the day of his interment.


13 posted on 03/05/2015 6:23:05 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: "I should like to drive away not only the Turks (moslims) but all my foes.")
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