Richard III as a Good Guy

I was pleased to see, for a change, that The Lost King movie chose a nice-looking, undeformed young actor named Harry Lloyd to play the fantasy Richard. And he was downright pleasant throughout, unlike the character in the famous Shakespeare play!

Harry Lloyd as Richard III

Anyone who has read or seen Richard III should know that our Will played hard and fast with the historical record. Such a brilliant play with an enviable lead for an actor, but oh so wrong in many ways.

For example, there's the hunchback bit, which I covered in last week's blog. It was scoliosis--sideways curvature, not kyphosis--hunchbacked.

Then there were the murders attributed to him on his way to "usurping" the throne--even that of Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, who actually died in the first Battle of St. Albans when Richard was only three! How's that for a skilled toddler-warrior? 

And his inappropriate, sleazy seduction of Anne Neville at the funeral of her husband, Edward, prince of Wales? Another aberration! In fact, Anne was forced to marry Edward by her father, the ambitious earl of Warwick, and, far from being terrified of Richard, Anne had known him like a brother during the years of his knightly training at Middleham with her father.

Sadly, what Shakespeare never bothered to tell us, was the moral, loyal and good governor Richard was, first as Edward IV's stalwart support in the north of England for most of Edward's second reign, and then when Richard became king. From his one and only Parliament in 1484, here are some of the statutes he enacted to benefit his subjects:

• The second statute: "The subjects of this realm shall not be charged with any benevolences." Benevolences, created by Edward IV, were arbitrary taxes. Benevolences were considered out and out gifts to the Crown. This statute abolished them.
• The first, fifth and seventh statutes: These statutes protected those who purchased land. Because much land had been confiscated during the previous reigns, the complications of common law could not control the fraudulent disposing of land resulting in frequent lawsuits over property rights.
• The third statute: This important statute was the creation of bail for suspected felons, protecting them from imprisonment before trial. It also covered the prevention of the forfeiture of goods before conviction.
• The fourth statute: The aim of this statute was to set property qualifications for jurors. In order to have a better selection, jurors had to be “of good name and fame' (reputation) and had to own 20 shillings worth of freehold land or copyhold land worth 26 shillings, eight pence. It was thought those of no means were easily bribed to bring about a desired conclusion.
• The eighth statute: This statute sought the prevention of commercial dishonesty in the cloth trade. Safeguards were put in place to ensure that the cloth met strict standards.

And, as a writer, my favorite:

• The ninth statute: Designed to regulate the importing and exporting of goods by merchants, BUT it exempted the printing and selling of books, earning for King Richard III the honor of having created the first legislation that protected the art of printing and fostered learning by books.

So you tell me--Good Guy or Bad Guy? 

Next week, I'll try and change your mind about the demise of those Princes in the Tower!