Tea at Trianon: The Search for Richard III

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Search for Richard III

They still haven't found his body. Unbelievable.

Richard III was crowned at Westminster Abbey in July 1483 and died in August 1485 fighting his enemies led by Henry Tudor. He was the last English king to be killed in battle and the last Plantagenet king. He was followed by the Tudor kings Henry VII and Henry VIII. Richard Buckley, of the University of Leicester archaeology service, said: "The big question for us is determining the whereabouts of the church on the site and also where in the church the body was buried.

"Although in many ways finding the remains of the king is a long shot, it is a challenge we shall undertake enthusiastically."

The team will use ground-penetrating radar to help find the best places to dig. Philippa Langley, of the Richard III Society, said: "Richard III is a charismatic figure who attracts tremendous interest.

"Partly because he has been so much maligned in past centuries and partly because he occupies a pivotal place in English history.

"The continuing interest in Richard means that many fables have grown up around his grave.

"Although local people like Alderman Herrick in 1612 knew precisely where he was buried - and Herrick was able to show visitors a handsome stone pillar marking the king's grave in his garden - nevertheless at the same time unlikely stories were spread of Richard's bones being dug up and thrown into the river Soar.

"Other fables, equally discredited, claimed that his coffin was used as a horse trough." (Read entire post.)