The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-11 23:37:04
Hi, All -
Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
(2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
"The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
fascinating picture of him."
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
(Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
kindle price.
It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
relatively brief.
None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
there are few or no pictures.
Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
"pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
sovereign cut down.
Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
modesty.
It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
sample.
As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
as to when the new edition is available.
This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
(2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
"The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
fascinating picture of him."
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
(Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
kindle price.
It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
relatively brief.
None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
there are few or no pictures.
Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
"pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
sovereign cut down.
Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
modesty.
It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
sample.
As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
as to when the new edition is available.
This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-12 09:04:02
Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
----- Original Message -----
From: Johanne Tournier
To:
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 11:36 PM
Subject: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
Hi, All -
Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
(2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
"The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
fascinating picture of him."
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
(Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
kindle price.
It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
relatively brief.
None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
there are few or no pictures.
Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
"pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
sovereign cut down.
Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
modesty.
It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
sample.
As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
as to when the new edition is available.
This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
----- Original Message -----
From: Johanne Tournier
To:
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 11:36 PM
Subject: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
Hi, All -
Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
(2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
"The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
fascinating picture of him."
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
<http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
(Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
kindle price.
It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
relatively brief.
None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
there are few or no pictures.
Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
"pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
sovereign cut down.
Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
modesty.
It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
sample.
As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
as to when the new edition is available.
This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-12 10:40:02
Thanks for your kind words, Stephen.
I would be honoured to have the review forwarded to Dr. Ashdown-Hill, and
apologize that I neglected to note his academic credentials in the review.
If you have a description of his background, I would be glad to append it to
the review.
In fact, it occurs to me that perhaps I could send this in to Amazon.ca as a
reader comment for the book. Don't know if they have length limits, but if
they do it could be easily edited.
Loyaulte me lie,
Johanne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Stephen Lark
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 5:04 AM
To:
Subject: Re: The Last Days of Richard III by
John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
_._,_.___
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I would be honoured to have the review forwarded to Dr. Ashdown-Hill, and
apologize that I neglected to note his academic credentials in the review.
If you have a description of his background, I would be glad to append it to
the review.
In fact, it occurs to me that perhaps I could send this in to Amazon.ca as a
reader comment for the book. Don't know if they have length limits, but if
they do it could be easily edited.
Loyaulte me lie,
Johanne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Stephen Lark
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 5:04 AM
To:
Subject: Re: The Last Days of Richard III by
John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
_._,_.___
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Re: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-12 14:10:37
He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
--- In , "Stephen Lark" <stephenmlark@...> wrote:
>
> Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Johanne Tournier
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 11:36 PM
> Subject: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
>
>
>
> Hi, All -
>
> Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
> (2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
>
> "The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
> exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
> standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
> avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
> Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
> death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
> re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
> burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
> and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
> there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
> rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
> produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
> life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
> fascinating picture of him."
> <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
>
> <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
>
> I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
> space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
> the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
> that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
> follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
> price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
> course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
> (Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
> paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
> kindle price.
>
> It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
> have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
> relatively brief.
>
> None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
> the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
> that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
> generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
> in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
> the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
> my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
> there are few or no pictures.
>
> Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
> personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
> generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
> cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
> Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
> dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
> which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
> relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
> no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
> period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
> marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
> framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
> information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
> attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
> Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
> historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
> issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
> whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
> battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
> were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
> one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
> admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
> Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
> or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
>
> Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
> his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
> chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
> who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
> Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
> church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
> his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
> which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
> advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
> then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
> indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
> Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
> effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
> equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
> "pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
> headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
> of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
> bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
> was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
> the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
> overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
> death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
> sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
> impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
> make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
> forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
> sovereign cut down.
>
> Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
> body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
> commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
> course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
> brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
> Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
> the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
> exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
> nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
> I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
> would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
> in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
> modesty.
>
> It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
> valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
> is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
> services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
> Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
> Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
> establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
> where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
> describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
> Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
> where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
>
> A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
> individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
> interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
> about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
> dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
> discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
> assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
> Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
> 10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
> to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
> 17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
> and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
>
> A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
> collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
> Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
> Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
> he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
> commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
> Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
> he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
> sample.
>
> As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
> Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
> to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
> and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
> bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
> remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
> abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
> will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
> announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
> Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
> release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
> as to when the new edition is available.
>
> This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
> and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
> remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
> by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Johanne L. Tournier
>
> Email - jltournier60@...
>
> or jltournier@...
>
> "With God, all things are possible."
>
> - Jesus of Nazareth
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--- In , "Stephen Lark" <stephenmlark@...> wrote:
>
> Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Johanne Tournier
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 11:36 PM
> Subject: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
>
>
>
> Hi, All -
>
> Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
> (2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
>
> "The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
> exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
> standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
> avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
> Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
> death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
> re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
> burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
> and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
> there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
> rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
> produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
> life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
> fascinating picture of him."
> <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
>
> <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
>
> I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
> space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
> the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
> that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
> follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
> price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
> course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
> (Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
> paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
> kindle price.
>
> It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
> have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
> relatively brief.
>
> None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
> the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
> that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
> generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
> in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
> the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
> my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
> there are few or no pictures.
>
> Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
> personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
> generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
> cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
> Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
> dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
> which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
> relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
> no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
> period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
> marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
> framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
> information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
> attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
> Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
> historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
> issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
> whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
> battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
> were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
> one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
> admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
> Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
> or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
>
> Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
> his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
> chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
> who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
> Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
> church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
> his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
> which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
> advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
> then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
> indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
> Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
> effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
> equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
> "pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
> headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
> of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
> bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
> was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
> the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
> overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
> death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
> sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
> impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
> make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
> forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
> sovereign cut down.
>
> Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
> body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
> commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
> course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
> brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
> Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
> the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
> exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
> nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
> I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
> would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
> in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
> modesty.
>
> It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
> valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
> is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
> services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
> Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
> Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
> establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
> where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
> describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
> Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
> where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
>
> A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
> individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
> interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
> about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
> dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
> discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
> assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
> Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
> 10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
> to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
> 17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
> and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
>
> A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
> collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
> Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
> Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
> he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
> commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
> Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
> he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
> sample.
>
> As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
> Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
> to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
> and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
> bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
> remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
> abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
> will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
> announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
> Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
> release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
> as to when the new edition is available.
>
> This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
> and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
> remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
> by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Johanne L. Tournier
>
> Email - jltournier60@...
>
> or jltournier@...
>
> "With God, all things are possible."
>
> - Jesus of Nazareth
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Re: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-12 14:46:35
Another excellent book from Dr Ashdown-Hill.....I hate the ending though! :0/
--- In , "blancsanglier1452" <blancsanglier1452@...> wrote:
>
> He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
>
> --- In , "Stephen Lark" <stephenmlark@> wrote:
> >
> > Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Johanne Tournier
> > To:
> > Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 11:36 PM
> > Subject: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi, All -
> >
> > Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
> > (2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
> >
> > "The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
> > exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
> > standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
> > avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
> > Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
> > death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
> > re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
> > burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
> > and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
> > there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
> > rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
> > produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
> > life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
> > fascinating picture of him."
> > <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> > 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
> >
> > <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> > 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
> >
> > I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
> > space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
> > the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
> > that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
> > follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
> > price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
> > course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
> > (Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
> > paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
> > kindle price.
> >
> > It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
> > have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
> > relatively brief.
> >
> > None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
> > the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
> > that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
> > generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
> > in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
> > the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
> > my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
> > there are few or no pictures.
> >
> > Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
> > personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
> > generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
> > cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
> > Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
> > dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
> > which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
> > relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
> > no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
> > period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
> > marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
> > framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
> > information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
> > attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
> > Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
> > historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
> > issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
> > whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
> > battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
> > were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
> > one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
> > admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
> > Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
> > or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
> >
> > Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
> > his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
> > chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
> > who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
> > Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
> > church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
> > his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
> > which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
> > advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
> > then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
> > indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
> > Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
> > effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
> > equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
> > "pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
> > headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
> > of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
> > bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
> > was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
> > the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
> > overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
> > death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
> > sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
> > impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
> > make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
> > forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
> > sovereign cut down.
> >
> > Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
> > body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
> > commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
> > course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
> > brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
> > Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
> > the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
> > exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
> > nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
> > I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
> > would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
> > in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
> > modesty.
> >
> > It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
> > valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
> > is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
> > services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
> > Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
> > Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
> > establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
> > where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
> > describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
> > Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
> > where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
> >
> > A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
> > individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
> > interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
> > about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
> > dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
> > discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
> > assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
> > Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
> > 10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
> > to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
> > 17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
> > and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
> >
> > A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
> > collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
> > Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
> > Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
> > he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
> > commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
> > Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
> > he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
> > sample.
> >
> > As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
> > Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
> > to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
> > and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
> > bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
> > remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
> > abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
> > will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
> > announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
> > Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
> > release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
> > as to when the new edition is available.
> >
> > This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
> > and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
> > remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
> > by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > Johanne L. Tournier
> >
> > Email - jltournier60@
> >
> > or jltournier@
> >
> > "With God, all things are possible."
> >
> > - Jesus of Nazareth
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
--- In , "blancsanglier1452" <blancsanglier1452@...> wrote:
>
> He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
>
> --- In , "Stephen Lark" <stephenmlark@> wrote:
> >
> > Great review which I might even forward to DR. Ashdown-Hill.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Johanne Tournier
> > To:
> > Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 11:36 PM
> > Subject: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi, All -
> >
> > Here is the blurb for John Ashdown-Hill's *The Last Days of Richard III*
> > (2010) from the Amazon.ca website:
> >
> > "The Last Days of Richard III contains a new and uniquely detailed
> > exploration of Richard's last 150 days, and explores these events from the
> > standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately
> > avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth
> > Field, we discover a new Richard: no passive victim, awaiting defeat and
> > death, but a king actively pursuing his own policies and agenda. It also
> > re-examines the aftermath of Bosworth: the treatment of Richard's body; his
> > burial; and the construction of his tomb. Based on newly discovered evidence
> > and wider insights it explores the motives underlying these events. And
> > there is the fascinating story of why, and how, Richard III's DNA was
> > rediscovered, alive and well, and living in Canada. John Ashdown-Hill has
> > produced a stimulating and thought-provoking acount of the end of Richard's
> > life. Even readers very familiar with his short life will discover a new and
> > fascinating picture of him."
> > <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> > 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show More
> >
> > <http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Days-Richard-III-Inspired/dp/0752492055/ref=sr_1_
> > 3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352550386&sr=1-3> Show Less
> >
> > I bought the book for my kindle, which provides the most convenient and
> > space-saving way to acquire a sizable collection of Ricardian reading. Often
> > the kindle books are cheaper than the prices for new print books, though
> > that is not always the case. Amazon advertises *The Last Days of RIII* as
> > follows: digital list price: $26.24, print list price: $16.95, kindle
> > price, $12.56, for a saving of $4.39 (26%) off the print price (and more, of
> > course off the digital list price they quote). But on the amazon.ca
> > (Canadian) website, *The Last Days of RIII* is listed at $13.83 for the
> > paperback and $18.77 for the hardback, not really very much more than the
> > kindle price.
> >
> > It is listed as being 192 pages in length. On the theory that "You can never
> > have too much Richard III," I was a little disappointed that it was
> > relatively brief.
> >
> > None of the amazon write-ups mention illustrations, and there are none in
> > the kindle edition. However, I see a comment in the reader comments section
> > that says that the publisher has included many more pictures than one would
> > generally expect in a book of this size. Unfortunately there are no pictures
> > in the kindle edition, so that is one reason to shell out the extra coin for
> > the print version. The failure to include the images is making me reconsider
> > my decision to buy the digital version, which is usually fine in cases where
> > there are few or no pictures.
> >
> > Ashdown-Hill's writing style is methodical and a bit terse. While my
> > personal preference tends to the run to the more poetic, the writing style
> > generally serves his purposes fairly well. As noted above, he has chosen to
> > cover only the last 150 days of Richard's life leading up to the Battle of
> > Bosworth. Ashdown-Hill commented that this allowed him to avoid getting
> > dragged into the "What happened to the Princes in the Tower" kerfuffle,
> > which is not dealt with at all in this book. Frankly, that's a bit of a
> > relief from my point of view, particularly since we know it's a mystery with
> > no definite solution. Instead, A-H details the noteworthy events of this
> > period (in particular Queen Anne's passing and the commencement of Richard's
> > marriage negotiations with Lancastrian royals in Portugal and Spain), in a
> > framework of Richard's progresses through his kingdom, with some background
> > information on customs of the era (like mealtimes, breaking one's fast after
> > attendance at daily Mass, etc.) which are somewhat speculatively applied to
> > Richard III, as specifics of his practices are often lacking in the
> > historical record. In places this technique is applied to more controversial
> > issues - specifically, how Richard slept the night before the battle and
> > whether he attended a low Mass and broke his fast on the morning of the
> > battle - about which there is some contrary evidence from the sources which
> > were written after the battle (admittedly generally unkind sources). Still
> > one could argue that some of Ashdown-Hill's conclusions are a result of his
> > admitted sympathetic view of Richard, and that this results in him giving
> > Richard the benefit of the doubt in some cases where the evidence is spotty
> > or likely part of the "Tudor propaganda machine."
> >
> > Ashdown-Hill covers some new (to me anyway) material. However, I feel that
> > his description of the battle itself seems truncated. He develops a
> > chronology: Richard's rises at 6:10 am, there is some delay in the priests
> > who traveled with his company setting up for the Mass, but A-H holds that
> > Richard attends a low Mass celebrated in his tent (about 6:40 am)(not at the
> > church at Sutton Cheyney, which A-H emphasizes is a 20th. c. legend), breaks
> > his fast and is armed (about 7:10 am), gives instructions to his forces
> > which then took up their positions (about 7:50 am), Henry's forces began
> > advancing (ca 8:00 am), some general milling about (for about 1 hr.), and
> > then Richard's famous last charge toward Henry VII (about 9:00 am). A-H
> > indicates that there was some confusion resulting from the fact that both
> > Richard and Henry displayed the royal standard. In effect, A-H concludes in
> > effect that Richard's forces may have been the victim of the 15th. c.
> > equivalent of friendly fire. A-H does mention the problems caused by the
> > "pike wall" used by the French forces, which protected Henry from Richard's
> > headlong charge, something which A-H indicates would have thrown the horses
> > of Richard and his knights into panicked confusion. He duly notes Richard's
> > bravery in cutting down Henry's standard-bearer (pointing out that Richard
> > was probably inflamed by seeing Henry daring to fly the royal standard) and
> > the giant John Cheyne. Finally, as we know, Richard was tragically
> > overwhelmed and cut down. The way A-H tells it, it was only after Richard's
> > death that the Duke of Norfolk was killed, which is contrary to most of the
> > sources I'm familiar with, who indicate that it was Norfolk's death that
> > impelled Richard into his desperate charge toward Henry. A-H does seem to
> > make it clear that the battle was pretty perfunctory, many of Richard's
> > forces never engaging at all, and many running in flight once they saw their
> > sovereign cut down.
> >
> > Then A-H moves on to a lengthy discussion of the treatment of Richard's
> > body. He concludes that, contrary to the views of the majority of
> > commentators, the way Richard's body was treated was pretty much par for the
> > course for a deposed and defeated monarch. He compares it to the way his
> > brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, who later died in battle on the
> > Continent, was mutilated and stripped, his body only recovered days after
> > the battle. However, in my view, it's one thing to note that they didn't
> > exactly have hearses available, it's another thing to read that Richard's
> > nude body was slung across the back of a horse to be carried into Leicester.
> > I believe criticism of Henry is justified in this case, because there surely
> > would have been some means of displaying Richard's body (which was customary
> > in those days in order to prove the death of the king) while preserving his
> > modesty.
> >
> > It is in the last few chapters of the book that Ashdown-Hill makes his most
> > valuable contributions to Ricardian lore, and for this reason alone the book
> > is a worthwhile purchase. He discusses the evidence as to the funeral
> > services and burial of Richard in the Greyfriars Priory and notes that John
> > Speede, an early commentator, who was unable to locate the remains of the
> > Priory, had been looking at the former Blackfriars, not the Greyfriars. He
> > establishes with fair certainty that the Priory was located on the spot
> > where the Council car park is now located in the center of Leicester. He
> > describes the later rumours of Richard's body being disposed of near the Bow
> > Bridge and concludes that, most probably, Richard still lay in the spot
> > where the Franciscan friars laid him to rest.
> >
> > A-H then details the ways different types of DNA can be used to identify an
> > individual's remains. I found this a fascinating discussion for anyone
> > interested in the broader field of genealogy, not just Richard III. He talks
> > about all humans alive today being descended from "mitochondrial Eve" (who
> > dates from about 145,000 years ago), which I knew about, but then he also
> > discusses the different tribes into which humans in Western Europe can be
> > assigned and notes that Richard's DNA can be assigned to the tribe of
> > Jasmine, which is believed to have originated in the area of Syria, about
> > 10,000 years ago, and whose members are believed to have introduced farming
> > to Europe. A-H indicates that members of the Jasmine tribe represent about
> > 17% of Europeans and are found today in Spain, Portugal, Western Britain,
> > and Central Europe. I found this discussion riveting.
> >
> > A-H also discusses the effort to track DNA for Richard's ancestors and
> > collateral descendants, concluding of course with the remarkable find of Joy
> > Ibsen and her family, Joy being the gx16-niece of Richard's older sister
> > Anne of Exeter. This is a truly remarkable genealogical accomplishment, and
> > he provides a diagram of the family tree showing the descent of the females
> > commencing with Anne and ending with Joy. A-H also mentions that there is
> > Y-chromosome DNA available in the family of the Dukes of Somerset; however,
> > he notes that up to this point the Duke has sadly refused to provide a DNA
> > sample.
> >
> > As I indicated, this section of the book provided the inspiration for
> > Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society to propose the archeological dig
> > to recover and identify Richard's remains, which commenced in August, 2012,
> > and resulted in the discovery of the well-preserved skeleton of a man
> > bearing at least five major indicators that make it likely that they are the
> > remains of Richard III, including peri-mortem battle injuries and spinal
> > abnormalities (i.e. severe scoliosis). As everyone is aware, DNA results
> > will not be available before December, 2012. And perhaps timed to the
> > announcement, A-H is doing a new edition of his book, to be called *The Last
> > Days of Richard III: the book that inspired the dig,* which is scheduled for
> > release on December 10, 2012. You can sign up for an email alert on amazon
> > as to when the new edition is available.
> >
> > This book is an essential volume for the shelves of any serious Ricardian,
> > and in my view, Mr. Ashdown-Hill deserves all the royalties he gets for his
> > remarkable contribution to Ricardian lore. Any shortcomings of the book pale
> > by comparison with A-H's remarkable accomplishment.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > Johanne L. Tournier
> >
> > Email - jltournier60@
> >
> > or jltournier@
> >
> > "With God, all things are possible."
> >
> > - Jesus of Nazareth
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
Re: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-12 15:20:24
Perhaps I should change that to "concise," as I don't want to have my a**
whupped. <sheepish grin>
Loyaulte me lie,
Johanne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of
blancsanglier1452
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 10:11 AM
To:
Subject: Re: The Last Days of Richard III by
John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
whupped. <sheepish grin>
Loyaulte me lie,
Johanne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanne L. Tournier
Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...
"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of
blancsanglier1452
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 10:11 AM
To:
Subject: Re: The Last Days of Richard III by
John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
Re: The Last Days of Richard III by John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
2012-11-12 15:22:31
Lol....
Eileen
--- In , Johanne Tournier <jltournier60@...> wrote:
>
> Perhaps I should change that to "concise," as I don't want to have my a**
> whupped. <sheepish grin>
>
>
>
> Loyaulte me lie,
>
>
>
> Johanne
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Johanne L. Tournier
>
>
>
> Email - jltournier60@...
>
> or jltournier@...
>
>
>
> "With God, all things are possible."
>
> - Jesus of Nazareth
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> From:
> [mailto:] On Behalf Of
> blancsanglier1452
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 10:11 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: The Last Days of Richard III by
> John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
>
>
>
>
>
> He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Eileen
--- In , Johanne Tournier <jltournier60@...> wrote:
>
> Perhaps I should change that to "concise," as I don't want to have my a**
> whupped. <sheepish grin>
>
>
>
> Loyaulte me lie,
>
>
>
> Johanne
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Johanne L. Tournier
>
>
>
> Email - jltournier60@...
>
> or jltournier@...
>
>
>
> "With God, all things are possible."
>
> - Jesus of Nazareth
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> From:
> [mailto:] On Behalf Of
> blancsanglier1452
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 10:11 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: The Last Days of Richard III by
> John Ashdown-Hill - Thoughts
>
>
>
>
>
> He will kick JLT ass for being called terse though :p LOL
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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