Two Dicks

[onyxlynx]

 The discovery of the skeleton of King Richard III under a parking lot almost threatened to wipe the Super Bowl results off the front page (I exaggerate).  The BBC article mentions that Greyfriars church in Leicester, where he was buried, was "demolished" during the 1500s (the English Reformation), and I can't help wondering about that, as the Tudors seemed to be a little vindictive.  

As it happened, last night I was reading about another Richard in high office.  The New Yorker's Thomas Mallon reviews two books about Richard Nixon, and does a little speculative history.  He focuses on the "Checkers" speech (I was a toddler at the time, unfortunately) as a sort of pivot in Nixon's political career.  I will have to read at least one of the books reviewed.

Must be something about guys named "Richard."

Comments

[spiralsheep]

If the Tudors had been feeling vindictive then I'd've expected them to have had Richard dug up and "executed" for mumble-some-show-trialed-crime-or-other-mumble, but Henry was cunning enough to let sleeping dogs lie. Pervasive character assassination of the dead being much more effective than creating a rallying point for opposition around a martyr-for-their-cause. I suspect the clue to the primary reason for the demolition of Greyfriars is in the name (although human actions are complex and often have more than one motivation).

There's a facial reconstruction now too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21328380

[spiralsheep]

A quick google reveals that the Grey Friars in Leicester had a politically interesting history:

"The sympathies of the Leicester Franciscans for Richard II brought serious consequences upon the friary in 1402. A Franciscan declared to Henry IV that he and ten other friars of the house at Leicester, together with a master of divinity, had conspired in favour of the deposed Richard. In consequence eight Franciscans of Leicester, with the master of divinity, were arrested and brought to London for trial. The remaining two friars escaped. After two juries had failed to convict, a third jury found the prisoners guilty, and they were executed. Two other Franciscans from Leicester, presumably the two who had at first escaped, were executed at Lichfield about the same time. (fn. 9) In 1402, at a general chapter of the Franciscans held at Leicester, it was forbidden to any of the Order to speak against the king."

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38172