Yes Joe, its quite a story. When the Leicester University team declared they were going to try to find him, few people really expected they'd be successful, and understandably so. However, I doubt the discovery of his remains will add much to our knowledge of him, other than establish the true extent of his physical deformity ( much less than has been portrayed over the years, it seems; a slight scoliosis, which many people have, even me ! ). The Richard III Society has been trying to rescue his reputation since the 1920s, and still he is mainly remembered for the alleged murder of the two princes in the Tower. As for Shakespeare, well he lived under the Tudors, a dynasty not shy of removing the heads of those who disagreed with them. Henry Tudor defeated Richard at Bosworth, so Bill knew which side his bread was buttered on.airboatr wrote:Hi Paul K
I've been reading about this over the pass few days, and I find the whole thing very interesting.
Imagine all the people who'd been walking over their former King. I read that bricks from a foundation
were inches from his remains.
It'll be interesting to see how they sort out the details of the actual events during his time as King.
Some say Sheakespeare may have taken a little more than artistic freedom to portray him.
Joe
By the way, such is the interest in Richard III on both sides of the pond, that on August 22nd each year, he is commemorated in the 'In Memoriam' notices in newspapers such as the New York Times, the London Times and the Daily Telegraph. I wouldn't mind betting they appear in Canada and Australia too. I saw last year's one in the Daily Telegraph, and found it fascinating that this thread of history continues today.
http://www.richardiii.net/ How thrilled they must be that he's been found.
And this is a good summary of the two princes...and their skeletons !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princes_in_the_Tower
England used to be quite an interesting place, you know.
