Richard III's Books Quotes

“A unique clue about Richard and his books and his attitude to them is to be found in the fact that he was able to quote from them.”
― Anne F. Sutton, Richard III's Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince

“The boar was a popular heraldic charge, used long before heraldry became standardised. The sanglier was the most dangerous and difficult animal to hunt, a beste noire (like the wolf and the bear) whose killer was greatly honoured. In contrast to the stag (one of the bestes rouges) which came to symbolise the Christian virtues – a flying stag was particularly associated with the kings of France – the boar stood for the sinner,12 but at the same time the boar’s very ferocity and power caused it to develop from a symbol of evil to an emblem of him who defeated it. In most stories the boar of evil is black and it is likely Richard very consciously chose a white boar to exorcise in advance all the vices of the animal and leave it only its virtues.”
― Anne F. Sutton, Richard III's Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince

“Studies of long inventories produced in Italy, France and England have revealed the uniformity of the contents of Latin libraries, the increasing use of vernacular translations of the classics by the princes of those countries, and that all libraries had similar proportions of Latin, vernacular, scriptural, and other texts.”
― Anne F. Sutton, Richard III's Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince

“Ultimately we can only be certain he knew his book of hours well. The dangers of speculating about any library, such as Richard’s, which lacks a surviving, complete, regularly updated and reliable inventory, are great.”
― Anne F. Sutton, Richard III's Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince

“Continual physical training in the shape of hunting and exercise in arms was given first priority by all writers on the subject of chivalry, but many mention the need of theoretical grounding as well.”
― Anne F. Sutton, Richard III's Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince

“Anthony, who had a memorial in the hours of Richard’s father, was closely associated with the pig or boar, the animal that supported Richard’s arms and, when white, was a symbol of resistance to temptation and the rejection of evil. St Anthony had been the first monk, a healer of men and animals, patron of hospitals for the poor and the sick and of a spiritual order of knighthood”
― Anne F. Sutton, Richard III's Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince