Sort of OT, but not really... Why We Should All Love Richard III

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

I will actually bring this to being on topic at the end. Bear with me.

I was just reading the statutes passed by Richard III's only Parliament. One of them goes on for eleven longish sections about what merchants from other countries were and were not allowed to do, to import, to sell, etc.

Then we get to section XII: "Provided always that this Act, or any Part thereof, or any other Act made or to be made in this said Parliament, shall not extend to be in Prejudice, Disturbance, Damage, or Impediment to any Artificer, or Merchant Stranger, of what Nation or Country he be or shall be of, for bringing into the Realm, or selling by Retail or otherwise, any Books written or printed, or for inhabiting within this said Realm for the same Intent, or any Scrivener, Alluminor, Reader, or Printer of such Books, which he hath or shall have to sell by way of Merchandise, or for their dwelling within this said Realm for the Exercise of the said Occupations, this Act or any Part thereof notwithstanding."

So: He protected anybody who wanted to import, print, write, or illustrate books. Yay, Richard III!!!

(And it *is* on topic. a)a king, and b)books.

So there!

Comments

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

This is why we should all love history. <3

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

1. Yayyy!
2. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.

[frosted-feather.livejournal.com]

The Daughter of Time totally! I finished that (after reading Shakespeare's Richard III) and really wondered what the true story was. Could it be that he wasn't a murderer? Will we ever know? An interesting look back at history, certainly.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I read it as a kid and was, and still am, greatly impressed with it. But just now I looked at the WP article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daughter_of_Time), and I see that Tey's/Grant's solution is less solid than I'd thought. Still a great book, though.

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Her book is based on Markham's book (right down to the quote about Englishment drinking water only as penance). It has been overtaken by further evidence, such as the rumors about the death of Edward IV's bastard sons which Mancini reports. Which, since his likely source was definitely anti-Richard, doesn't mean that they were anything but rumors, and if you stretch Tey's argument to include Mancini as well as Morton, lets it stand still. She does have a few other inaccuracies in it, but still it's marvelous.

Thanks for the link, by the way. I thought WP was Washington Post, and was wondering...

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry there! Gotta remember that... I post those so often.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for directing me to that article. I hadn't investigated further, so it's interesting to see that the belief in Richard's guilt is still the main thing. The book is intriguing (as the article points out) because it questions the validity of historical sources and certainly made me consider the many ways that something becomes "history".

-frosted_feather

[(Anonymous)]

While we are off topic. Have you seen the Folio Editions of Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series?

http://www.foliosociety.com/book/SUS/over-sea-under-stone

~mwt

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet - I'll go look at them (though I have to admit here that I really don't like those books at all).

You'll be interested to know, Megan, that this is "1 suspicious comment," according to LJ. Just what have you been up to?

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

I just looked. I liked the covers and the illustrations except, for some reason, the illustrations for Over Sea, Under Stone. I don't know why I didn't like those particular ones, but I didn't.

It's nice that Folio is still proud of making elegant books (though pricey - yikes!). I get really depressed when I look at some of the flimsy, sloppy work that is done on a lot of books these days. (Yes, Scholastic, I am looking at *you* with your Harry Potter books that fall apart if you sigh heavily near them).

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

See?? And everyone (well, Shakespeare) says he was such a bad guy.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Well, Shakespeare said that he never let the truth get between him and a good story. XD

And there's actually a really hilarious H&H skit about exactly that. Check it out. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxTim7fJLis) :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

That was hilarious!

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Ha! Marvelous!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's great. I'd never heard of Horrible Histories (where'd the ampersand come from? That was the automat (http://www.theautomat.net/)).

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Well, I just love automats that much! :) In other words, umm...

However, there is actually a good reason why I made that mistake. During the Bob Hale and newscaster skits on the show, they call their fake news station H-n-H News. They say it so much that the "and" gets stuck in your head.

Getting back to the show, it's a half-hour children's program created by the BBC, and it's very popular in Britain. Definitely check it out. It's educational and hilarious.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I didn't really expect most people to think of Horn and Hardart. But I grew up in NYC in the sixties, and my gang used to hang out in one on Friday evenings.

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

I bought a charming little book about the Automats. I think they would have been marvelous places to eat!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

They were!

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

Good for Good King Richard! And phooey with knobs on to Henry Tudor!

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

"phooey with knobs on" made me giggle.

But how right you are.

[excessiveperky.livejournal.com]

I always think that the Bishop of Ely knew a lot more than he was saying about the Princes in the Tower (at one point he was the paymaster for the man thought to be the actual perpetrator). Plus, there is a Nasty Irony in him passing on the Official Party Line to his student, later Sir Thomas More; More's own probity made people believe the worst of Richard III because he did.

Although if you read WOLF HALL and BRING UP THE BODIES, the sainted More had his own little quirks, like torturing heretics *personally*.

Serves the aforementioned Bishop right, though, for being Henry VIII's first casualty. Frankly, the inventor of Morton's Fork should have been toasted on one.