A lot of my jewelry is inspired by royalty, but I focus on females: queens, empresses, queen consorts, princesses. I figure history as it is taught in elementary and high school is basically about men, so I prefer to concentrate on herstory.
However, I have a soft spot for one dude: England’s 15th-century Richard III. He’s always gotten the same kind of bad press that women rulers such as China’s Empress Wu get for fairly typical-of-their-times behavior like usurping thrones and killing family members. What?! That shit was trendy back then, the same way giving duckface in selfies is now. Reasonable and moral people of any era can see that homicidal tyranny and duckface are pure evil, but we must acknowledge that during certain historical eras such horrific acts were and are frequently perpetrated upon innocents. Anyway, so what if Richard did away with his nephews, the “Princes in the Tower”? Look at them! I can see they deserved a good spanking, at the very least.
Don’t they look like brats?!
I blame bad public relations, often bought and paid for by jealous successors, for this uneven treatment of monarchical murder. Shakespeare’s portrayal of a wicked, hunchbacked Richard III is the most notorious, but that was written about a century after Richard’s death, at which point you can expect history to be completely distorted. The medieval historian John Rous, who actually lived during Richard’s reign, described the king as a “good lord” while he sat on the throne. Then, after Richard was defeated in battle by Henry Tudor, Rous changed his tune and described Richard as a monster who lurked in his mother’s womb, elephant-like, for two years before birth, during which time he supposedly grew teeth and shoulder-length hair. As the King of Eyebrows Sam Waterston might say on the tragically cancelled Law & Order: “Were you lying then, or are you lying NOW, Mr. Rous?!”
Considering my fascination with this topic, I’m beyond excited about today’s news that experts have identified bones found under a parking lot in Leicester, England, as the long-lost skeleton of Richard III. Now we can see that he did have scoliosis (which gives a sideways curve to the spine, resulting in uneven shoulders or hips) rather than the spinal curvature known as kyphosis, which is more likely to be responsible for the Quasimodo-like hunchback of Richard III lore. Now, if only archeologists can dig up those annoying princes, we can put CSI on the case and get the facts on them too.
If the news coverage has piqued your interest in Richard III and you enjoy revisionist historical fiction, I recommend The Sunne in Splendour, a nearly 1,000-page novel by Sharon Kay Penman that presents Richard as a decent guy. It has a five-star rating on Amazon that is entirely justified. Penman is also the author of When Christ and His Saints Slept, an equally excellent novel about the 12th-century Empress Matilda, her usurping cousin King Stephen and their devastating 19-year war for the throne of England. That story inspired my Matilda sword necklace and earrings. (Guess who was descended from Matilda? Richard III!) I hope that Richard’s remains are properly buried where I might be able to visit them someday. Maybe jewelry inspiration will strike me while paying my respects. A man’s pinky ring for my collection, perhaps?
A late 16th-century portrait of Richard III from the National Portrait Gallery in London.
I’ve never read The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey’s acclaimed 1951 detective novel about a modern police officer’s investigation into Richard III; I think I’ll bring that as reading material for this summer’s London visit.
UPDATED TO ADD: Speaking of kings, the funeral of former New York City mayor Ed Koch was held today and he went out like Five Boroughs royalty should: in grand style. Yes, David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani — the first two mayors to succeed Koch — attended. Naturally, New York’s current mayor, Mike Bloomberg, spoke. Of course, former President Bill Clinton cut short a trip to Japan to be the headlining eulogist. But the crowning touch came at the end, when Koch’s coffin was carried out to the song “New York, New York,” while the packed house rang with applause.
And that’s how you make an unforgettable exit!
When I first read about this I got excited too! I am so happy to know they’ve confirmed it with the DNA of the living descendent of Richard III’s sister.
He had some nice jewelry :).
Why can’t I find out that I’m a descendent of royalty? Dang!
I love that I get breaking news from your blog before any other media source! What an amazing discovery!
LOL at “don’t they look like brats” and “bad PR.”
And appropriately, my anti-spam is heehee.
😀
Since childhood, I’ve hated the look of those princes! LOL.
I was excited about this news! I love The Daughter of Time, and I’ll definitely check out The Sunne in Splendour.
Hard to believe, isn’t it?!
I think the news coverage on Richard III is so fascinating. I took a lot of archaeology classes in college, so I am definitely a nerd about historic finds.
I kinda still can’t believe it’s him. I mean, I do but I don’t! It’s incredible!
I thought I was the only one excited by them finding Richard! I even had to refresh my memory on the Shakespeare version….
oh and congrats on the Lucky thing! I saw the ad in this months!
Thank you! I still haven’t seen it in person. LOL.
I saw something or heard something about this discovery of the bones a little while ago, it’s pretty fascinating that they can identify these remains! It makes me very intrigued about who they can find next!!
It’s so rare that they actually have the DNA to compare it to…that’s so lucky!
Hi there! Yes, I’ve been following this amazing story too and the documentary on all the excavation and discovery last night was amazing! Apparently the above portrait was ‘tampered’ to exaggerate his ‘monster’ features- the clawed pointy thumb and facial features by later hierachy to further discredit poor Richard! Here’s hoping he does get a fit for a King burial! xx
On Twitter, I saw a lot of my UK friends were watching the documentary. I guess Philippa Langley was quite … passionate.
I always felt sorry for Richard – at least he’ll no longer be buried under a car park! Apparently, he was very good looking and brave.That’s what I want to believe, anyway.
I tend to take the side of the underdogs too.
I am totally fascinated by the Richard III bones. Definitely going to pick up Sunne in Splendor because there is nothing I love more than a really well written history book ala Queen of Fashion.
LOVED Queen of Fashion!
I remember, in a Philosophy of History undergrad course, that we were given a book, with much of the source material surrounding the death of the two princes. Obviously, the material was copied from the original. We had to decide if indeed Richard III had killed his nephews.
My own conclusion based on what I read was that he probably had not. It was a fascinating course but I don’t remember any of the details. I’m off to find the book.
Christine xo
I’m definitely interested in the name of that book!
I don’t know if someone has already said this above, because I haven’t read all the comments. But under a parking lot? Really. I can’t believe that.
In the UK, they aired a documentary subtitled “The King in the Car Park,” which cracks me up.