Richard's prayer

It's been a long, long time since I last wrote something here. Now I ask you a favour: I know that in one of Richard's book it was found a prayer, apparently written by Richard himself, in which he expressed anguish and worries related in the opinion of some historians to the guilt for the princes' death. Could someone of you send me the text of this letter or tell me where can I find the whole text of it? Many thanks,
Cecilia

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--- In , Cecilia Latella
<cabepfir@...> wrote:
>
> It's been a long, long time since I last wrote something here. Now
I ask you a favour: I know that in one of Richard's book it was found
a prayer, apparently written by Richard himself, in which he
expressed anguish and worries related in the opinion of some
historians to the guilt for the princes' death. Could someone of you
send me the text of this letter or tell me where can I find the whole
text of it?

I take it you mean the so-called 'Prayer of Richard III', addressed
to St Julian (a saint who unwittingly murdered his parents). The
significance of the prayer was discussed fully in Chapter 6 of 'The
Hours of Richard III' by Anne Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs,
published by Alan Sutton for the Richard III and Yorkist History
Trust in 1990. The text of the prayer is give at the end of that
chapter, with a translation on pages 77-78. [The printed translation
leaves out a couple of lines - so make sure you get a copy including
the erratum slip!]

As a result of that analysis, Rosemary Horrox made changes to the
reference to the prayer on page 331 of 'Richard III: a Study in
Service' between the hardback publication in 1989 and the paperback
reprint in 1991.

You can also look at 'The Religious Life of Richard III' by Jonathan
Hughes, Sutton, 1997 - follow up the references to St Julian in the
index there.

In his book, /The Three Richards, /Nigel Saul spends much of the final
chapter refuting Hughes analysis.

Eric wrote:
>
> --- In
> <mailto:%40yahoogroups.com>, Cecilia Latella
> <cabepfir@...> wrote:
> >
> > It's been a long, long time since I last wrote something here. Now
> I ask you a favour: I know that in one of Richard's book it was found
> a prayer, apparently written by Richard himself, in which he
> expressed anguish and worries related in the opinion of some
> historians to the guilt for the princes' death. Could someone of you
> send me the text of this letter or tell me where can I find the whole
> text of it?
>
> I take it you mean the so-called 'Prayer of Richard III', addressed
> to St Julian (a saint who unwittingly murdered his parents). The
> significance of the prayer was discussed fully in Chapter 6 of 'The
> Hours of Richard III' by Anne Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs,
> published by Alan Sutton for the Richard III and Yorkist History
> Trust in 1990. The text of the prayer is give at the end of that
> chapter, with a translation on pages 77-78. [The printed translation
> leaves out a couple of lines - so make sure you get a copy including
> the erratum slip!]
>
> As a result of that analysis, Rosemary Horrox made changes to the
> reference to the prayer on page 331 of 'Richard III: a Study in
> Service' between the hardback publication in 1989 and the paperback
> reprint in 1991.
>
> You can also look at 'The Religious Life of Richard III' by Jonathan
> Hughes, Sutton, 1997 - follow up the references to St Julian in the
> index there.
>
>

Thanks for the replies! After a few searching I remembered I read about it in Pollard's RIII and the Princes in the Tower and in Charles Ross' RIII. Both quote a few lines of the prayer. Unfortunately I don't have the books you suggested me at hand but I'll look for them when I'll have the time.
Cecilia

Bill Barber <bbarber@...> ha scritto:
In his book, /The Three Richards, /Nigel Saul spends much of the final
chapter refuting Hughes analysis.

Eric wrote:
>
> --- In
> <mailto:%40yahoogroups.com>, Cecilia Latella
> <cabepfir@...> wrote:
> >
> > It's been a long, long time since I last wrote something here. Now
> I ask you a favour: I know that in one of Richard's book it was found
> a prayer, apparently written by Richard himself, in which he
> expressed anguish and worries related in the opinion of some
> historians to the guilt for the princes' death. Could someone of you
> send me the text of this letter or tell me where can I find the whole
> text of it?
>
> I take it you mean the so-called 'Prayer of Richard III', addressed
> to St Julian (a saint who unwittingly murdered his parents). The
> significance of the prayer was discussed fully in Chapter 6 of 'The
> Hours of Richard III' by Anne Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs,
> published by Alan Sutton for the Richard III and Yorkist History
> Trust in 1990. The text of the prayer is give at the end of that
> chapter, with a translation on pages 77-78. [The printed translation
> leaves out a couple of lines - so make sure you get a copy including
> the erratum slip!]
>
> As a result of that analysis, Rosemary Horrox made changes to the
> reference to the prayer on page 331 of 'Richard III: a Study in
> Service' between the hardback publication in 1989 and the paperback
> reprint in 1991.
>
> You can also look at 'The Religious Life of Richard III' by Jonathan
> Hughes, Sutton, 1997 - follow up the references to St Julian in the
> index there.
>
>







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--- In , "Eric"
<ej.thompson@...> wrote:
>
> --- In , Cecilia Latella
> <cabepfir@> wrote:
> >
> > It's been a long, long time since I last wrote something here.
Now
> I ask you a favour: I know that in one of Richard's book it was
found
> a prayer, apparently written by Richard himself, in which he
> expressed anguish and worries related in the opinion of some
> historians to the guilt for the princes' death. Could someone of
you
> send me the text of this letter or tell me where can I find the
whole
> text of it?
>
> I take it you mean the so-called 'Prayer of Richard III', addressed
> to St Julian (a saint who unwittingly murdered his parents).

Ah, now fortunately for Richard it turned out that wasn't the case.
When it was published back in the catalogue of the Richard III
exhibition in London back in the 1970s, the prayer was shown as
starting like that, and a lost of hostile historians since have
described St Julian as the patron saint of murderers and tried to use
this as evidence that Richard considered himself one.

Actually, what it turned out (and I think it was Anne and Livia who
alerted the world to this) was that the "Of the blessed Julian" at
the beginning belonged to a completely separate prayer. What you have
is:-
1) The last page of the proper text of the book, ending with the
start of a prayer: "Of the Blessed Julian";
2) a page torn out, the remnant apparently still visible;
3) What was a blank page at the end, in which Richard's prayer has
been written in.
Of course, there is no patron saint of murderers. St Julian was
apparently looked on as a patron saint of travellers, and there was a
standard prayer to him before setting out on a journey which was
included in Books of Hours.