Sir, – I confess to a genuine surprise at the level of interest of the people of England at the reburial of Richard III (1483-1485), undoubtedly a Plantagenet warrior king in the direct line of descent from Edward III, victor over the Scots at Halidon Hill (Berwick-on-Tweed) on July 19th, 1333, through his second (third surviving) son, Lionel of Antwerp.
The English civil war between Yorkists and Lancastrians was the consequence of the illegitimacy of the Lancastrian claimants to the English throne from the time of Henry IV (Earl of Derby) onwards, for the Earl of Derby was the son of only the third (fourth surviving) son of Edward III, John of Gaunt.
Indeed, Henry VII’s claim to the throne was yet more tenuous, since he is the son of Lady Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of the illegitimate line of John of Gaunt, explicitly excluded from the English throne at the time of the marriage of John of Gaunt to his mistress Katherine Swynford (Chaucer’s sister-in-law) as his third wife on January 13th, 1396, in Lincoln Cathedral.
The presence of the Lancastrian usurper on the throne of England in 1485 after Bosworth Field in the heart of England explains the extraordinary circumstance of the presence of England’s enemy, James VI of Scotland, on the throne of England in 1603, for the Scottish claim is through the Beaufort inheritance.
The fact that Richard’s body was disrespected after his heroic death on the field of battle tells us all we need to know about the merit of the Tudor claim to the throne of England. And it also accounts for the subsequent blackening of his name by Tudor propagandists, notably by Shakespeare himself.
The lesson of Richard III teaches us to treasure the study of history at the expense of spin and propaganda. I offer here my sincere congratulations to Philippa Langley who has achieved more than all our professional historians have managed to achieve. She has not only brought dignity at long last to a king of England but has in fact made history herself.
In my opinion it is a pity that the queen of England (now also a queen of the Scots) cannot be present in Leicester Cathedral on March 26th, 2015. – Yours, etc,
Dr GERALD MORGAN,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.