Under The Hog

I remembered saying that I did not care for Under The Hog by Patrick
Carleton though many people liked it.

Looking through it today I realized another reason for my dislike was
the portrayal of the elder of the two young Princes, Edward V. In it
he is a little horror and drunk. I'm not saying that twelve years old
cannot be horrors or even get drunk (sadly) but I felt it to be
unfair.

I guess Carleton was trying to get away from the golden haired
innocents they were seen as but I don't like the idea of downing
someone to make another, even if it's Richard, look better. It was
almost as Carleton was saying well you can't blame him killing the
brat.

Helen

--- In , sweethelly2003
<no_reply@y...> wrote:
> I remembered saying that I did not care for Under The Hog by
Patrick
> Carleton though many people liked it.
>
> Looking through it today I realized another reason for my dislike
was
> the portrayal of the elder of the two young Princes, Edward V. In
it
> he is a little horror and drunk. I'm not saying that twelve years
old
> cannot be horrors or even get drunk (sadly) but I felt it to be
> unfair.
>
> I guess Carleton was trying to get away from the golden haired
> innocents they were seen as but I don't like the idea of downing
> someone to make another, even if it's Richard, look better. It was
> almost as Carleton was saying well you can't blame him killing the
> brat.
>
> Helen

While I agree that the Edward in the Hog was unpleasant, I felt it
wasn't so much to make us feel he desrved it as to show the depth of
animosity of the Woodville's and justify what Richard did to them.
Yes it reinforced the idea that Edward, if he reigned, would destroy
Richard, but I did feel it was more about Woodville plans than
Edward himself. I agree that one shouldn't dun down one to right
another - unless there is evidence for it. For instance, in the 6th
century two Frankish queens, Fredegund and Brunhild, feuded,
assassinated their respective husbands (brothers Chilperic and
Sigibert, respectively). Gregory of Tours has nothing but praise for
Brunhild and suggestions of sin and murder for Fredegund. Venantius
Fortunatus is quite the reverse. So anyone writing about these two
could take either as heroine with some justification from sources.
The problem with young Edward is that there is such a lack of
material about him as a person.