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To prove a villain: the case of King Richard III
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206 pages
First published June 1, 1964
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September 4, 2022
To Prove a Villain: The Case of Richard III
By Taylor Littleton and Robert R. Rea
Reviewed September 5, 2022
To Prove a Villain is a college course book from 1964, compiled by two professors at Auburn University. (And here I was always associating Auburn with championship football teams, never Richard III!) The bulk of the book has no original material, but is a great compilation of writings by others, which is why I give this book 4 stars for putting so many sources in one volume.
The works included are both fiction and non-fiction, and covers the spectrum of Richard III’s character– from Shakespeare’s classic villain to Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time that introduced many a reader to a reassessment of the last Plantagenet king. I’ve listed them below for anyone who is interested, with a few comments of my own on some of them.
At the back of the book are two pages of topics for writing and research. The purpose of all this is for the student (or in my case, amateur historian) to determine for him or herself the character of Richard III. Even if you are not taking this course at school, these topics can still make good discussion questions. There are 65 topics in all, so there is plenty of food for thought, and include using primary sources to write character sketches, putting yourself in Richard’s position and writing an account of the day of Lord Hasting’s death, compiling a detailed account of the Battle of Bosworth, and evaluating the death of Queen Anne as a part of the Tudor propaganda.
One of the things that gave me a bit of a chuckle was this paragraph in the Introduction. After a couple short paragraphs about how so often, when people think of Richard III they think of Shakespeare’s creation, mistaking the Bard for a historian, the authors wrote this.
“History? There may be more of history in a modern detective story (referring to The Daughter of Time) than in all of Shakespeare! At least it is a different history, and one that will intrigue as much as the history purloined by the Bard from an imaginative copyist who got it from the usurper’s propagandist. Richard’s missing horse might have told a truer tale!”
To which I replied to no one in particular, “And the horse’s story would probably have been far more interesting!”
My copy is a gently used book, with unobtrusive notes and underlines that strongly suggest the previous owner was Ricardian in sympathies. I even found myself mentally answering some of the previous owner’s questions written in the margins. If only I could meet this person. I’m sure we’d have some good conversations!
Works included in this book.
William Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 3. Act III, Scene ii, 153-195 and The Tragedy of King Richard III (complete text). Having read this in the past and watched several film versions, I only skimmed through parts of this, especially as I have my Manga Shakespeare version of Richard III in my to-be-read pile. One thing I noticed is that in Olivier’s film version, he works in portions from the Henry VI scene into the opening soliloquy. I’m sure I read about this somewhere, but seeing it in print brought it back to mind and caused me to go to YouTube and watch that whole “Winter of our discontent” scene once again.
Sir Thomas More: The History of King Richard. I remember the first time I read this. I was sitting in the car, in the grocery store parking lot, waiting for my mother. Since then, I have referred to it from time to time (like when working on a book review) and only a couple days ago was re-reading the part about the murder of the princes.
Anonymous: The Praise of King Richard III. This essay is an excerpt from William Cornwallis’ Essayes of Certain Paradoxes, said to be the earliest defense of Richard, from 1617 and therefore pre-dating George Buc’s The History of King Richard the Third. However, according to Nicoletta Caputo in Richard III as a Romantic Icon which I read in January, this defense is half-hearted at best. It is a paradoxical encomium, an exercise in rhetoric, in which the object is to “defend the indenfensible.” The Praise of Richard III offers no evidence that discredits what he refers to as the “corrupted historians” and instead of rehabilitating Richard simply “offers awkward justifications of Richard’s deeds interspersed with passages in which his good qualities are pointed out.”
Polydore Vergil: From English History. The Vergil quote I come across most often is his reference to “King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies” so it was a good review to read the section on Richard in one sitting.
The Abbey of Croyland: From The Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland. Many of us who call ourselves Ricardians are familiar with at least some of what the anonymous chronicler wrote.
John Dolman, Francis Seager, Thomas Churchyard: A Mirror for Magistrates. Three poems in this section. From "The Tragedy of Lord Hastings", ascribed to John Dolman. From "The Tragedy of Richard, Duke of Gloucester", ascribed to Francis Seager. From "The Tragedy of Jane Shore", ascribed to Thomas Churchyard. Definitely works from the Tudor spin machine.
Ralph Holinshed: From Chronicles. These chronicles were used by Shakespeare as the basis for many of his history plays. By the time Holinshed wrote his Chronicles, the Tudor version of things was firmly in place.
Sir Francis Bacon: From History of the Reign of King Henry VII. This was new to me. A short piece that is nothing more than a rehash of the same Tudor version of history. My favorite part is where Bacon writes that the “wholesome laws” Richard enacted during his short reign were nothing more than “the brocage of an usurper” meant to “woo and win the hearts of the people.”
Horace Walpole: Historic Doubts. This is another work I have read before, so did not re-read it here. Another of the early defenses of Richard III.
Charles Dickens: A Child’s History of England. Well, I won’t be reading Dickens any more if this is the attitude he’s going to take! Definitely written in the Tudor tradition.
Clements R. Markham: Richard III, A Doubtful Verdict Reviewed. Markham is of the opinion that More did not write the History attributed to him, but had simply begun copying a manuscript that Bishop Morton had originally written. Either way, he does a good job of dismantling the charges leveled against Richard, although I’m not sure I buy all of his conclusions.
J Dover Wilson: From A Note on Richard III. Another new piece for me to read. From an article that first appeared in the Modern Language Review in 1957. Calls into question the whole withered arm business, which more recent events have firmly debunked.
A R Myers: The Character of Richard III. And yet another! This one from the 1950s. Enjoyed the line that says, “...for if Richard III was not a usurper, then Henry was.” Another reassessment of the king’s character.
Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time (complete text). The detective story that introduced a generation to Richard III. Another I have read in the past, so I just skimmed over sections. Again, it’s nice having the full text available here.
By Taylor Littleton and Robert R. Rea
Reviewed September 5, 2022
To Prove a Villain is a college course book from 1964, compiled by two professors at Auburn University. (And here I was always associating Auburn with championship football teams, never Richard III!) The bulk of the book has no original material, but is a great compilation of writings by others, which is why I give this book 4 stars for putting so many sources in one volume.
The works included are both fiction and non-fiction, and covers the spectrum of Richard III’s character– from Shakespeare’s classic villain to Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time that introduced many a reader to a reassessment of the last Plantagenet king. I’ve listed them below for anyone who is interested, with a few comments of my own on some of them.
At the back of the book are two pages of topics for writing and research. The purpose of all this is for the student (or in my case, amateur historian) to determine for him or herself the character of Richard III. Even if you are not taking this course at school, these topics can still make good discussion questions. There are 65 topics in all, so there is plenty of food for thought, and include using primary sources to write character sketches, putting yourself in Richard’s position and writing an account of the day of Lord Hasting’s death, compiling a detailed account of the Battle of Bosworth, and evaluating the death of Queen Anne as a part of the Tudor propaganda.
One of the things that gave me a bit of a chuckle was this paragraph in the Introduction. After a couple short paragraphs about how so often, when people think of Richard III they think of Shakespeare’s creation, mistaking the Bard for a historian, the authors wrote this.
“History? There may be more of history in a modern detective story (referring to The Daughter of Time) than in all of Shakespeare! At least it is a different history, and one that will intrigue as much as the history purloined by the Bard from an imaginative copyist who got it from the usurper’s propagandist. Richard’s missing horse might have told a truer tale!”
To which I replied to no one in particular, “And the horse’s story would probably have been far more interesting!”
My copy is a gently used book, with unobtrusive notes and underlines that strongly suggest the previous owner was Ricardian in sympathies. I even found myself mentally answering some of the previous owner’s questions written in the margins. If only I could meet this person. I’m sure we’d have some good conversations!
Works included in this book.
William Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 3. Act III, Scene ii, 153-195 and The Tragedy of King Richard III (complete text). Having read this in the past and watched several film versions, I only skimmed through parts of this, especially as I have my Manga Shakespeare version of Richard III in my to-be-read pile. One thing I noticed is that in Olivier’s film version, he works in portions from the Henry VI scene into the opening soliloquy. I’m sure I read about this somewhere, but seeing it in print brought it back to mind and caused me to go to YouTube and watch that whole “Winter of our discontent” scene once again.
Sir Thomas More: The History of King Richard. I remember the first time I read this. I was sitting in the car, in the grocery store parking lot, waiting for my mother. Since then, I have referred to it from time to time (like when working on a book review) and only a couple days ago was re-reading the part about the murder of the princes.
Anonymous: The Praise of King Richard III. This essay is an excerpt from William Cornwallis’ Essayes of Certain Paradoxes, said to be the earliest defense of Richard, from 1617 and therefore pre-dating George Buc’s The History of King Richard the Third. However, according to Nicoletta Caputo in Richard III as a Romantic Icon which I read in January, this defense is half-hearted at best. It is a paradoxical encomium, an exercise in rhetoric, in which the object is to “defend the indenfensible.” The Praise of Richard III offers no evidence that discredits what he refers to as the “corrupted historians” and instead of rehabilitating Richard simply “offers awkward justifications of Richard’s deeds interspersed with passages in which his good qualities are pointed out.”
Polydore Vergil: From English History. The Vergil quote I come across most often is his reference to “King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies” so it was a good review to read the section on Richard in one sitting.
The Abbey of Croyland: From The Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland. Many of us who call ourselves Ricardians are familiar with at least some of what the anonymous chronicler wrote.
John Dolman, Francis Seager, Thomas Churchyard: A Mirror for Magistrates. Three poems in this section. From "The Tragedy of Lord Hastings", ascribed to John Dolman. From "The Tragedy of Richard, Duke of Gloucester", ascribed to Francis Seager. From "The Tragedy of Jane Shore", ascribed to Thomas Churchyard. Definitely works from the Tudor spin machine.
Ralph Holinshed: From Chronicles. These chronicles were used by Shakespeare as the basis for many of his history plays. By the time Holinshed wrote his Chronicles, the Tudor version of things was firmly in place.
Sir Francis Bacon: From History of the Reign of King Henry VII. This was new to me. A short piece that is nothing more than a rehash of the same Tudor version of history. My favorite part is where Bacon writes that the “wholesome laws” Richard enacted during his short reign were nothing more than “the brocage of an usurper” meant to “woo and win the hearts of the people.”
Horace Walpole: Historic Doubts. This is another work I have read before, so did not re-read it here. Another of the early defenses of Richard III.
Charles Dickens: A Child’s History of England. Well, I won’t be reading Dickens any more if this is the attitude he’s going to take! Definitely written in the Tudor tradition.
Clements R. Markham: Richard III, A Doubtful Verdict Reviewed. Markham is of the opinion that More did not write the History attributed to him, but had simply begun copying a manuscript that Bishop Morton had originally written. Either way, he does a good job of dismantling the charges leveled against Richard, although I’m not sure I buy all of his conclusions.
J Dover Wilson: From A Note on Richard III. Another new piece for me to read. From an article that first appeared in the Modern Language Review in 1957. Calls into question the whole withered arm business, which more recent events have firmly debunked.
A R Myers: The Character of Richard III. And yet another! This one from the 1950s. Enjoyed the line that says, “...for if Richard III was not a usurper, then Henry was.” Another reassessment of the king’s character.
Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time (complete text). The detective story that introduced a generation to Richard III. Another I have read in the past, so I just skimmed over sections. Again, it’s nice having the full text available here.
January 20, 2009
This is a college course book from 1964 compiled by Professors Taylor Littleton and Robert Rea of Auburn University--both long since retired and/or dead. The book is out of print as well, but if you happen to see a copy in a used book store and want to know the state of play circa 1964 of the academic discussion of Richard III: villain or saint, it might be worth a look. It contains the complete text of Shakespeare's play and excerpts from Thomas More, Polydore Virgil and others, and the complete text of Josephine Tey's "The Daughter of Time." The latter is really all you need to read.
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