Riassunto
Riassunto di Riccardo III: vita e carattere
A chi è rivolto
For readers who enjoy a historical argument, anyone curious about the Wars of the Roses, and those who want to test Shakespeare's Richard against the record.
Che cos’è questo libro
Richard III is the English king most people know through a play. In Shakespeare he is a hunchbacked schemer who murders his way to the crown. In 1906 Sir Clements Markham, a geographer and long-serving head of the Royal Geographical Society, set out to ask whether that picture is fair. His book is a biography and also a defence. It argues that the dark portrait was drawn by the men who defeated Richard, and that the facts look very different when you read the older records with care.
Markham wrote as an amateur historian with a lawyer's habits. He weighs witnesses, asks who gained from a story, and prefers documents from Richard's own time to tales written under the Tudors. What you get is a case for the king as a loyal brother, a capable governor and a lawful ruler who was wronged after his death. You also get a clear view of how history can be bent by the winners. Let us begin where Markham begins, with the question of who told the story of Richard's life.
In questo riassunto
- 1The story was written by his enemiesFree
- 2A loyal brother in a dangerous age
- 3The crisis of 1483 and the crown
- 4What happened to the princes in the Tower
- 5A ruler with a record worth reading
- 6How the case has fared since
Punto chiave 1 di 6
The story was written by his enemies
Markham opens with a problem of evidence. Richard reigned for only about two years, from 1483 to 1485, and he died in battle at Bosworth. The men who then ruled England were the Tudors, and they had every reason to describe him as a monster. Markham argues that nearly all the hostile detail we have comes from writers who lived under Henry VII or Henry VIII.
He points to John Morton, a churchman who had been Richard's prisoner and later became a leading servant of Henry VII. Morton's views are said to stand behind the famous history of Richard written by Thomas More. Markham treats that work as a piece of literature built on gossip, not as sworn testimony. He also notes that More left it unfinished and that it was written long after the events it describes.
The chronicler Polydore Vergil, who wrote at the Tudor court, comes under the same suspicion. Markham asks a plain question again and again. Who was alive to know this, and who paid for the book? Where a story first appears only after Richard was dead and could not answer, Markham asks the reader to hold back belief.
Then comes Shakespeare, who took the Tudor tale and made it unforgettable on the stage. Markham does not blame the playwright, who wanted drama and who worked for a Tudor queen. He simply says that a play is not a source. His first lesson is a habit for any reader of history: before you ask what happened, ask who is telling you and why.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Riccardo III: vita e carattere
What is Richard III: His Life and Character about?
It is a biography of Richard III that tries to clear his name. Markham argues that the king was a loyal brother and a good ruler, and that the tales of his crimes came from Tudor writers.
Did Richard III really murder the princes in the Tower?
Nobody knows for certain. Markham argues Richard was innocent and that the charge rests on late, hostile sources. Many historians still think Richard was responsible or knew of it, so the question remains open.
When was the book written and who was Clements Markham?
It was published in 1906. Markham was a geographer and explorer who led the Royal Geographical Society, and he wrote history as a keen amateur with a strong interest in the late fifteenth century.
Is this book a fair picture of Richard III?
It is a defence, so it argues one side. It is useful for the records it draws on and the questions it asks. Later historians think it trusts friendly sources too much.
How does Markham's Richard differ from Shakespeare's Richard?
Shakespeare shows a scheming villain who kills his way to the throne. Markham shows a loyal, lawful and capable man whose bad name was created by the Tudors, who had defeated him.