Re: MR: Was Richard maligned?

[clevin@rci.ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@rci.ripco.com (Craig Levin)

> Poster: edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (Alfredo el Bufon)
> 
> This may be a controversial point of view, and I admit I
> have no first-hand knowledge one way or another, but...

Anything on Richard is controversial...I ought to know, being
something of a specialist in his era, mundanely.

> If Richard III had a "whithered arm", as William
> Shakespeare claims, how could he fight on horseback?

Because Shakespeare was wrong. The portraits that were done of
Richard in the period when living memory would have served to
give a likeness don't show any deformity.

> Wouldn't he need one hand for the reins and another
> for his sword?  And Shakespeare is mistaken on that
> score, mightn't he be wrong also about Richard being
> hunchbacked, and about certain words and actions
> that he attributes to Richard which would tend to
> impugn his character?

Yup, on all counts. I recommend Paul Murray Kendall's book on
Richard's life, not just because it's good, but also because it's
easy to find in used bookshops, and because Prof. Kendall was my
old advisor's predecessor at Ohio University as the master of
later mediaeval English studies.

==
Pedro de Alcazar, AoA
Barony of Storvik, Atlantia
Cornet & Junior Minion
Or, six castles Vert within a bordure Gules semy of roundels Or
-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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