Annette Carson > Quotes

“It is crucial to understand, therefore, that the Law of Arms was an internationally recognized system of legal jurisdiction which proceeded in accordance with the forms of civil law, and required neither indictments nor juries.”
― Annette Carson, Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England

“Richard’s Parliament, which concluded on 20 February, is remembered for introducing a catalogue of citizens’ rights and protections which was unparalleled in living memory. Jeremy Potter summarizes thus: There was a programme of law reform which included measures to correct injustice in the ownership and transfer of land, measures to safeguard the individual against abuses of the law in matters affecting juries and bail, measures to prevent the seizure of goods of those arrested but not yet found guilty, and the abolition of a much resented form of taxation known euphemistically as benevolences.”
― Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned King

“In dealing with treason the court superseded the right of the nobility to trial by their assembled peers, and it also extended to encompass not only the ranks of miles but all levels of society.”
― Annette Carson, Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England

“If we are to approach these sources – and Richard III – with an open mind, we need to take into account (a) the Tudor regime’s need to justify its seizure of the throne, (b) the decades that elapsed after Richard’s lifetime before these myriad narratives appeared in print,124 and (c) the scant opportunity available, at that time or since, to verify any of these tales, which historians today would consider it rash to accept were it not that they have become woven into the fabric of our national identity.”
― Annette Carson, Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector and High Constable of England

“Indeed, these rebels knew exactly what they were doing by timing their uprising so as to prevent the upcoming sitting of Parliament scheduled for November 1483. They knew the grounds for Edward V’s disinheritance had been examined and accepted by an overwhelming majority of parliamentary representatives the previous June, and they could expect a formal Parliament to endorse that decision: their overriding concern was to set aside not just Richard III, but the constitutional framework that had set him on the throne.”
― Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned King

“Certain it is that the boys disappeared. Whatever happened to them, Richard’s fatal mistake lay in failing to realize that their disappearance would be used by the Morton-Beaufort-Tudor axis as an opportunity to manoeuvre the unlikely Henry Tudor to centre stage as a challenger for the throne. Regrettably, Richard appears not to have taken sufficient regard of this threat. Thus he would not have foreseen that removing them from view, even if done for the most benign of reasons, would play right into the hands of his opponents.”
― Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned King

“The story of Henry Tudor’s invasion, his landing in Wales, his march to Bosworth Field, and the betrayal of Richard III by a small group of faithless nobles, is recorded to England’s shame in the annals of history. Doubtless Richard contributed to his own defeat by engaging the enemy before his army was at full strength. Even so, his attempt to settle the matter in ancient chivalric style, hand to hand with the pretender, was close to success until forces at his flank cut him down within sight of his objective – and within sight of winning the day, for there is no question as to who would have emerged the victor had it come to mortal combat.”
― Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned King

“The purpose and indeed the strength of the Richard III Society derives from the belief that the truth is more powerful than lies – a faith that even after all these centuries the truth is important. It is proof of our sense of civilised values that something as esoteric and as fragile as a reputation is worth campaigning for.’ HRH The Duke of Gloucester, KG, GCVO, Patron”
― Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned King

“N.B. After the church was found, after LFR funding was used up, and after LCC offered a £5,000 contingency, only then did the University inject new funds and take over the project.”
― Annette Carson, Finding Richard III: The Official Account of Research by the Retrieval and Reburial Project

“On the strict understanding that any filming would be for the historical record and not for wider dissemination, and would be kept securely by ULAS, Langley agreed to the amendment.115 No other changes to the WSI were authorized.”
― Annette Carson, Finding Richard III: The Official Account of Research by the Retrieval and Reburial Project

“such as the degree to which his remains would be protected from public view and media photography, and how long they would be available to ULAS”
― Annette Carson, Finding Richard III: The Official Account of Research by the Retrieval and Reburial Project

“What stirred the southern gentry in October 1483 was not an outburst of moral outrage but the justified belief that they were losing power and influence to intruding northerners.”
― Annette Carson, Richard III: The Maligned King