Richard III Unspun Quotes

“I invite readers to join me in substituting the name of Richard for that of Hastings. What if we had Richard in Council at Westminster openly threatening to take arms to defend his personal interests by raising the Calais garrison against a too-large Woodville army escorting the king? Wouldn’t traditional historians leap to characterize this as a display of unwarranted aggression by a man who would not scruple to resort to arms, perhaps stoking civil conflict in the process, in pursuit of a personal feud? Would they not take this as an ominous signal that such hatred of the Woodvilles would never tolerate a Woodville child on the throne? Wouldn’t he be classed as a dangerous man all too ready to resort to the sword? Yet Hastings’s character has never been seen in this light,”
― Annette Carson, Richard III Unspun: The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford and The Trouble with Hastings

“This is a remarkable assertion by Mancini, putting the Hastings vs Grey feud at the heart of the confrontation that brought about the downfall of the Woodvilles and the rise of Gloucester. By dividing all these individuals into two opposing camps, for and against the Woodvilles, the thrust of Mancini’s narrative gives a principal role to what he imagined (or was told) was Hastings’s friendship with and influence over Richard”
― Annette Carson, Richard III Unspun: The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford and The Trouble with Hastings

“There has long been a school of thought that most of More’s ‘Richard III’ story was derived from Henry VII’s crafty ally Archbishop John Morton, in whose household More spent some of his formative years. Dr Kincaid’s research has gone deeper into this and revealed a clear basis for it in a manuscript by Morton. This was known and recorded by some of the antiquarians and scholars around the 1590s, who wrote of having seen Morton’s original anti-Richard pamphlet in the library of More’s heir and devoted daughter, Margaret, and son-in-law William Roper.”
― Annette Carson, Richard III Unspun: The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford and The Trouble with Hastings

“a protectorate was a collaborative administration invoked when the king was unable to undertake personal rule, e.g. during a child’s minority. In a protectorate the king’s person was placed in the care of a group of guardians and educators during his minority, while the governance of the realm lay in the hands of the King’s Council under Parliament. The role of the Protector was spelt out explicitly by Parliament as primarily concerned with the security of the kingdom; his full title was Protector and Defender of the Church and Realm in England and Principal Councillor of the King. As the nation’s foremost military commander Richard was the obvious person to fulfil these security responsibilities; and with his mastery of administration, justice and international affairs he was well qualified to be a senior adviser during the inexperienced young king’s minority. In Henry VI’s reign the precise responsibilities of the office had been set out by Parliament, including his duty to deal with rebels (Rot. Parl. iv, 326); it was also decreed that the Protector was entitled to the obedience of all the king’s subjects (Rot. Parl. v, 242).”
― Annette Carson, Richard III Unspun: The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford and The Trouble with Hastings

“I do not apologize for making a case that challenges tradition, especially where tradition is based less on fact than on prejudice. Nor do I feel compelled to be even-handed in the face of unproven condemnation, a condemnation that has prevailed for 500 years without itself seeing fit to proffer an even hand to dissenting opinion. As a Fellow of the Richard III Society, I feel justified in subscribing to its belief that many features of the traditional accounts of Richard III are neither supported”
― Annette Carson, Richard III Unspun: The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford and The Trouble with Hastings