I finally arrived in England today! I was thoroughly surprised by the lack of rain upon arrival and while it isn't sunny at the moment I would consider this a lovely day :)
Now on to the actual project. Before arriving in England I tried to do as much research as I could. I read novels that took various stances on Richard's reputation, watched movies that portrayed him in different lights, and read textbooks that showed what is written down in history and taught to schoolchildren. The novel I read was The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. A light read of 936 pages the book has all of the historical facts mixed in with fascinating and interesting dialogue between main characters. The book also jumps around and is told from various characters points of view. I found it interesting to observe the same event from three or four different points of view. Overall I can say that I appreciate Ms. Penman's enthusiastic approach to trying and redeeming Richard's reputation. She put all of the issues he had to deal with into context and sheds light on what he was able to accomplish as king for only two years and two months. I own a textbook titled The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England. Written by Antonia Fraser the book is the straight facts with all the names and dates. This book helped me gain an understanding of the situation that Richard found himself in. I learned about the warring factions of the House of Plantagenet, the Lancasters, Yorks, and Tudors. The kings I examined were Henry VI (Lancaster), Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III (York), and finally Henry VII (Tudor). All of these men played an important role in the War of Roses and the book helped me grasp just how complex the monarchy of England was. Lastly, I watched three movies based on Richard III. I watched the Ian McKellen and Robert Downey Jr. 1995 version of Shakespeare's famous Richard III, Sir Laurence Olivier's 1955 version, and Al Pacino's 1996 version titled "Looking For Richard". Here are two links for the movies.
The original plan was that tomorrow we would head north to Leicester and visit the parking lot where Richard III's body was recently dug up. Before we headed up there without asking around I emailed Marian Mitchell, the Visits Officer of the Richard III Society. She responded quickly and with a lovely long note about how unfortunately the car park is not open to the public (thank God I asked before I went up there and embarrassed myself) but that there is a exhibit across the street. She was also nice enough to include a list of other places we could visit. We can not go tomorrow because something came up with my nephews. We will instead go next Tuesday. I am very excited about this project. Not only am I getting to research one of my favorite topics but I also get to visit my favorite country and test out writing a blog. Wish me luck!
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