|
|
Reply
| (2 recommendations so far) | Message 1 of 3 in Discussion |
| From: Greensleeves (Original Message) | Sent: 8/22/2006 2:50 PM |
Richard III is on the Ricardian minds today being the 521st anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth Field I know some of you have definite opinions as regards the Princes in the Tower....but that's not the only heinousness of which RIII has been posthumously accused. Accusations against Richard, notably: ~the murder of the Princes in the Tower ~the murder of Henry VI himself ~the "private execution" of his brother George, Duke of Clarence ~the murder of his wife's first husband, Edward, Prince of Wales ~the murder of William, Lord Hastings of forcing his wife, Anne Neville, to marry him against her will ~of planning an incestuous marriage to his niece Elizabeth of York (& perhaps killing his wife so he could) ~of accusing his own mother of adultery & his late brother the king of being illegitimate ~of accusing Jane Shore & Elizabeth Woodville of witchcraft in withering his arm ~of being illegitimate himself So....are these additional crimes fact, or fiction? What say you? Yea, or nay? |
|
First
Previous
2-3 of 3
Next
Last
|
Reply
| |
I would say that sounds about right to me. Guilty as charged. |
|
Reply
| |
That's rather a sweepingly gratuitous statement, don't you think? Certainly Edward IV bears the blame for the deaths of Henry VI & Clarence. I hardly think he would have sent his baby brother over to the Tower to do the deeds in person. It's also not clear how Edward Prince of Wales actually met his death at Tewkesbury as there are conflicting chronicles. Richard never applied for any sort of papal dispensation to marry Elizabeth of York after Anne Neville's death. Politically that union with Anne made a great deal of sense after Warwick was killed because it consolidated his power & lands all into the royal family instead of with a subject who could potentially use it as a focal point for rebellion against Edward IV. Certainly Anne Neville, like most women of the times, did not have a lot of say, if any, in choosing a husband, & was probably not thrilled to be used as a pawn with her marriage to the Prince of Wales, either. She may have been relieved to be given in marriage to Richard because he was at least a known entity to her, having been in Warwick's wardship at Middleham while growing up. There's every evidence that Anne suffered from the family curse of consumption, as did her sister Isobel, Clarence's wife, & certainly no contemporary cry of foul play there. As for Richard's own alleged illegitimacy, it has been remarked on how alike he & his father Richard of York were physically. While everyone has wildly divergent opinions on the Princes in the Tower & other behavior of Richard's, I think to say that all of what Greensleeves posted as his "crimes" is without a doubt hard truth is, to say the least, not paying close attention to the facts as we know them. |
|
|