Recently, the American Archaeological Society (AIA) has rated the world's top ten archaeological discoveries in the past decade, including the list of Chinese Stone Pass sites, along with the tomb of Richard III excavated in Leicester, England in 2012. Richard III is the english nursery rhyme who "lost a country because of a horseshoe". About him, there are several nursery rhymes alone, and there are many other legends and stories, the most famous of which is of course Shakespeare's play of the same name.
One
At the end of Shakespeare's play Richard III, Richard, who has lost his war horse and is desperate, is deeply surrounded by the enemy, shouting "One horse, one horse, exchange my kingdom for a horse", but no one will give him another horse, even if he is willing to give up a country at this time, he can only face the strong enemy alone. Archaeologists examined Richard's bones and concluded: "11 wounds were found on him, either at or before he was killed." Nine are in the skull and two are in other parts of the body. The location of the wounds shows that Richard had lost his horse and helmet when he faced the enemy. It seems that there is some truth in the statement that "a country is lost because of a horseshoe".
In 1485, Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, and he was the last English monarch to die on the battlefield. His enemy Henry Tudor (Henry VII) came to power and the Tudor dynasty began. After Richard's death, he was exposed for two days and was hastily buried at Graverial Church in Leicester. After Henry VIII, the bones of Richard III are even more difficult to find, and the real Richard III disappears with his bones, leaving only the insults inflicted on him by his enemies. And Shakespeare's plays are even more because of their artistic appeal, so that the story of Richard III, who was "written by the enemy", is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and almost becomes the only canonical history.
At the beginning of Shakespeare's Richard III, Richard says: "I was born with a deformed and ugly appearance, not suitable for flirting and making love, and unable to seek favor with the mirror of affection; I cannot compare with the grace of loving God, how can I walk high in front of The Fairy Of Na out of thin air; I have been stripped of all well-proportioned appearances, and the deceitful Creator has deceived me of my appearance, leaving me incomplete, and before I can grow into shape, he throws me into this breathing world, plus I am so limp and full of inconspicuousness. Even the dog on the side of the road saw me stop and barked a few times... I could not let my spring heart blossom and take advantage of Shaoguang's exuberance to show off my style, so I had to make up my mind to be a gangster and concentrate on hating the idleness in front of me (Fang Chong's translation). This monologue clearly shows that Richard is evil, but in fact, because his appearance is too ugly, he is rejected by the world and even cats and dogs, so he has the evil idea of being an enemy of the world. In the American fantasy hit drama "Game of Thrones", the ugly dwarf "Little Devil" has many shadows of Richard III - obscene, cunning and treacherous, fortunately, the conscience has not been lost, so that readers and viewers hate and love.
When it comes to Richard III's "evil deeds", the most widely known one is the "prince in the tower". If you go to London and visit the Tower of London, your guide will definitely take you to the place where Richard III imprisoned his two nephews and tell you about the well-behaved and tragic faces of the two poor children. According to historical records, Richard's brother Edward IV died suddenly in April 1483 at the age of 40, leaving his 12-year-old heir Edward The Younger, and Richard naturally became the Protector of the Nation, so he rushed to London to "protect" the little prince to ascend the throne. However, the Woodville family on the queen's side united with other families and premeditated to seize power from Richard, even to get rid of him. Richard suppressed the "conspiracy to usurp power", and then proposed that Edward IV had been married to others in his early years, so Queen Elizabeth Woodville could not be counted as "official queen", and the children born to her could naturally not be counted as "concubines" and could not enjoy the right of succession. As a result, Richard established himself as king and called himself Richard III. Edward Jr. and his younger brother Richard Jr. were imprisoned in the Tower of London. Later, the two children did not know their end, so there was a claim that Richard III sent someone to secretly kill the two princes.
The Oxford History of Britain states that richard III's actions revived the fire of dynastic war. In 1483, Thomas, Duke of Buckingham, the fifth son of Edward III, rebelled, and then in 1485 Henry Tudor raised an army from France. Henry climbed up from his mother's side, representing the John line, Edward's son, whose "legitimacy" was rather untenable. Of course, Henry had already married the sisters of the two princes at that time, and with this weight, Henry's army had an additional layer of revenge for his wife and brother. However, it is not so much the justice of Henry's rise to war as it is that he is the luckiest among the many usurpers, because those who have been usurped by him have no descendants, which allows the future Tudor dynasty to be long-lasting.
Two
However, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether Richard III committed that evil deed. In the 1950s, Josephine Tieyi wrote a new solution to the old case in the speculative novel "Daughter of Time" by borrowing the hand of Detective Grant. Bedridden, Grant, flipping through books and materials, overturned an old historical case that was almost an ironclad fact. Iron borrowed Grant's words and denounced the historians. Grant used only one sentence of "who benefits" to point out the problem at once. Obviously, by killing the two little princes so blatantly, Richard really didn't get much benefit. In Grant's view, later generations, including historians, regarded Richard III as too stupid. In fact, by removing two more "qualified" heirs and discrediting Richard, henry Tudor naturally benefited more. Later generations, at least ordinary people, had an impression of Richard III from Tudor propaganda.
The gap between literary works and "real" history is naturally not small, even if it is "serious history", it must be carefully considered, so archaeology has become particularly important, because this profession provides more evidence for "history" to rely on. The reappearance of Richard III's bones in Leicester provides key evidence for a historical "cold case".
This evidence is largely due to a fanatical scholar who was fascinated by the "real man" under the clown mask of Richard III, Filipa Langley. She was a member of the Richard III Society, and in the early 21st century, when she was given a task to write a script about Richard III, she became more devoted to the study of the legendary monarch. Many years later, she "ghosted" a parking lot in Leicester, the famous Battle of Bosworth, which took place about 20 miles from Leicester. She raises funds and organizes manpower to dig. In April 2012, the remains of a curved spine that may have died on the battlefield were actually excavated. Later, after scientific identification, this is indeed the bones of Richard III. As soon as the news came out, it shocked the four sides.
In Shakespeare's play Richard III hunched over and withered one arm. The hunched-back image is often placed in Western literature on a scheming schemer, such as the vengeful Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter. The real Richard III, although scoliosis, is not "hunchback", his appearance before his death is at most a shoulder high and a low, if under the cover of a decent shirt, this "defect" is not obvious, far less serious than the so-called "deformed and ugly appearance". In addition, DNA tests also confirmed that the real Richard should be blonde, and the restored facial image also showed that although he was not handsome, he was at least well-featured.
In addition to the bones, Richard's "grave" also reveals a lot of information. There have been many wars in British history, and it is not uncommon to die in battle. The grave was very small, and the bones were curled up inside, barely squeezed down. The deceased was apparently thrown into a hastily dug grave with no coffin, no corpse clothes, and no funeral. Anyone who sees that small grave can't help but sigh, and Matthew Morris, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester who participated in the excavation of Richard III's tomb, said sympathetically: "I have rarely seen such a perfunctory grave." Those who buried Richard III could have made the tomb better without much effort... His enemies had buried him in a hurry. ”
Three
Richard III's life did indeed seem to be "in a hurry": he fled and fought in a hurry, ascended the throne in a hurry, quelled the chaos in a hurry, died in a hurry, and was buried in a hurry. As King of England, Richard III reigned for only two years and did not seem to have time to do anything other than usurp power and try to quell various rebellions.
But this is not the case.
In the field of British historiography, especially in the Richard III Society, many people even believe that Richard III is actually the "best king" in British history. Filipa Langley said: "He always fought for the justice of ordinary people, he opened the bail system, he promoted the printing industry, he provided freedom of books and information to the British, he established the so-called 'presumption of innocence' principle, he promoted 'just' rulings. The rediscovery of Richard is indeed, in part, a reversal of the case for Richard, so that people can see a real medieval man, a medieval king. Of course, the rediscovery of Richard does not mean that Richard III has become a moral model. What we have to do is to abandon the flat, Tudor and Shakespearean caricatures of the past and let people see a three-dimensional image of Richard III. ”
The story of Richard III is more like a tragic story. His father, Richard the Elder, was killed for rebelling against the rule of Henry VI, who had lived a life of upheaval and displacement from an early age. When his brother Edward returned to England, he fought with his brother to oust Henry VI from the throne at the age of 18. After several iterations, Edward finally sat on the throne, but died young. The world will be in chaos, and Richard, as the protector of the country at this time, will face such a situation, and what to do is far from being clear to words such as "evil" or "good". In fact, compared to other kings, Richard treated his enemies, whether they were plotting to deprive him of the position of protector, or later rebelling. According to Tieyi, perhaps he was too "lenient", and even because of this "leniency", it directly led to the enemy being able to attack him again and again until he was put to death.
Moreover, regardless of Richard's personal virtues, he was indeed a good king who treated the people well. Although he reigned for only two years, he was more intelligent than his predecessors (Edward IV) and successors (Henry VII). Perhaps because of this, Richard's body was hastily buried. Perhaps it is unknown whether the people who had been blessed by him saw the tragic condition of his corpse and then rose up against him. In fact, in the British royal war, who is "orthodox", ordinary people have neither interest nor ability to distinguish, who can make the people more comfortable, is the most important. In this sense, it is clear that Richard III's "righteousness" was much greater.
Shakespeare's plays humiliated Richard III for many years, and richard III's bones were seen again, and it is thought that Shakespeare's famous plays will not be lost. The lonely king who shouted "One horse, one horse" may not be the real Richard, but an artistic image that will always be remembered. And the twisted bones of the body curled up in the mud pit should also deserve more sympathy and respect from future generations.
In March 2015, Richard's bones were reburied in the etiquette that a king should enjoy, which is also a posthumous recognition of the "good king" by future generations.
Text/Wang Weibin (The author is an associate professor at the School of Foreign Chinese of Hebei University of Science and Technology)
Source/Guangming Daily
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