The Ricardians

26th March 2013

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          Who are the Ricardians?

Horace Walpole

          Today, many societies which try to rehabilitate King Richard III, were born. Indeed, many people think Richard has to have a better reputation than the picture let by Shakespeare's playwright and they are ready to fight for this. They are called the Ricardians.

          But two men, after the Tudors period, are the king's first defender. George Buck, who declared have seen a letter of Elizabeth of York saying her love for Richard III and her wishes of becoming her wife. And Horace Walpole who wrote "Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III" published in 1768. In this novel, he defended Richard III of not murdering the Princes in the Tower.

          The first society was founded by Saxon Barton, a Liverpool sorgeon in 1924, is called "The Richard III Society". Today, it's an important society and even a member of the Royal Family of England, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the the patron of the society since 1980. And this society, with the help of the University of Leicester, discovered the body of the king in 2012.

          Others societies like "The Society of Friends of King Richard III", founded in 1978, organizes meetings to promote the historical King Richard III. "The Richard III Foundation, Inc", etablished in 2003, is an organization which want to teach the real story of Richard III.

The Richard III Society: ♔

          "The raison d'être of the Richard III Society is to research into the life and times of King Richard III. We believe that history has not dealt justly with his posthumous reputation and we aim to encourage and promote a more balanced view.

          Many commonly held ideas about Richard III emanate from William Shakespeare'splay. The society's view is that Shakespeare's Richard III is a wonderful play, with good theatre achieved through his villainous character; however it is not history, it does not represent fact and it is the society's role to portray the real Richard III

The negative perception of Richard III relates to some or all of the following points:

• He was a nasty hunchback who plotted and schemed his way to the throne;
• He killed Henri VI's son Edward;
• He killed Henri VI ( a sweet, innocent saint);
• He got his brother, the duke of Clarence, executed;
• He killed the Princes in the Tower (sweet, innocent children);
• He killed his wife Anne because he wanted to marry his niece Elizabeth;
• He was a bad king;
• And so it was lucky that Good King Henry Tudor got rid of him for us. "

The Richard III Foundation Inc: ♔

          "The Foundation seeks to challenge the popular viw of King Richard III by demonstrating through rigorous scholarship that the facts of Richard's life and reign are in stark contrast to the Shakespearian caricature.

          "The Foundation further seeks to advance research into all aspects of English history during the period inwhich Richard lived, and the conflict known to history as the "War of the Roses"."    

The Society of Friends of King Richard III: ♔

            "THE SOCIETY OF FRIEND OF KING RICHARD III was formed in 1978, to promote Richard in the North, especially York, something no other Ricardien Society had ever attempted."

And you, do you believe Tudors Propaganda? What do you think about this king?

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