How to bind the wounds of national division

The best way to “bind the wounds of division” is for Trump to appoint Hillary Clinton to a Cabinet position of importance, symbolic or real.  We can always take hints from history.

For about 70 years (1399-1471) the British kings (Henry IV, V and VI) came from the House of Lancaster, descendants of John of Gaunt (first Duke of Lancaster), this is why John of Gaunt is such an important figure. {refer to the vertical elliptical circle in the center of the ‘Kings’ map’ that I made a few years ago}

Edward IV was the first king of Yorkist; he beat Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.  The reign from the House of York ended in 1485 when Richard III (Edward IV’s brother) was killed by Henry VII’s army (from the House of Lancaster) at the battle of Bosworth.  {refer to the horizontal elliptical circle at the bottom of the ‘Kings’ map’}

William Seward

Henry VII [House of Lancaster] married Elizabeth of York [Edward IV’s daughter, House of York] in 1486, unifying both Houses, thus achieving the true and lasting reconciliation.

Seward would have been the President in 1861 had Lincoln not been in the Republican ticket. Obama’s choosing of Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State was his first act of emulating Lincoln. Lincoln and Seward evolved from fierce political rivals to mutually respected and trustful friends in the four years fighting a savage war together.

Where to bury Richard III? That is the question

There is an article that begins at the front page of today’s (January 19) Wall Street Journal, “Bones of contention: If the skeleton is Richard III, where to bury it?”

Before Richard III said “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” (his last words in Shakespeare’s Richard III), he also said heading to his last battle at Bosworth, in which Shakespeare’s great grand father participated,

“March on, Join bravely, Let us to it pell mell [disorderly, confused]

If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.”

Richard III himself didn’t even know where he was going, heaven or hell? Neither do we.

I had a few posts on this topic a few months ago, “Was Richard III an evil monster or a victim of Thomas More’s and Shakespeare’s pens?

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2012/09/was-richard-iii-evil-monster-or-victim.html 

and “Shakespeare copied Thomas More’s and improved upon it”

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2012/10/shakespeare-copied-thomas-mores-and.html

This is the topic few would be interested and understandably few, if none, would read my posts.  But, I take comfort in that the “amazon.com computer” must have read them, as I soon received the emails from amazon.com recommending Paul Murray Kendall’s Richard the Third (see photo), which was published in 1955.  I never looked for books about Richard III on amazon.com site (although I did look for Shakespeare’s Henry VI books).  amazon.com didn’t succeed entirely as I checked out the book from Waynesburg University library and didn’t buy it.

Corns in Shakespeare’s time and in our garden—not the same thing

While making the post of “The big picture (overview) of the British Civil War”, I used the corns from our garden to match Shakespeare’s lines.  If the Bard sees it he would say, “No, No, No, I was referring to wheat, barley and rye whenever I said ‘corn’; my ‘corn’ was not the kind of corn you American eat ‘on the cob.’”

I was wondering why he wrote, “What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn”, as he clearly meant “autumn harvest (of grains)”, so I did some more readings.

The following is the last scene of Henry VI (Part 3) Act V Scene 7, after Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian army,

King Edward IV

Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,                       
Re-purchased with the blood of enemies.
What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn,
Have we mowed down, in tops of all their pride!
Three Dukes of Somerset, threefold renowned
For hardy and undoubted champions;
Two Cliffords, as the father and the son,
And two Northumberlands; two braver men
Never spurred their coursers at the trumpet’s sound;
With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and Montague
That in their chains fettered the kingly lion
And made the forest tremble when they roared.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat
And made our footstool of security.

(My loose translation to everyday’s English)  Edward IV gave an account of the nobles aligned with the House of Lancaster during the course of wars.

King Edward IV

Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,

Buy (pay) it again with enemy’s blood.

The brave enemy is like our autumn’s harvest (of corn or grain)

We cut them down in their prime!

The ever more famous Dukes of Somerset of three generations

For sure were hardy and true warriors;

Two Cliffords, they are father and son,

And two Northumberlands; two braver men

They fought on their swift horses upon hearing the war trumpet;

Warwick and Montague, the two brave bears (Warwick’s badge is a bear chained with lions)

Chained with the kingly lion

The forest trembled when they roared.

Thus we have removed the apprehension of our crown

To make the seat of the crown more secure.

Shakespeare copied Thomas More’s and improved upon it

Shakespeare is no historian, but he wrote terrific history plays.  As Churchill wrote of his plays of the wars of roses, “He [Shakespeare] does not attempt to draw conclusions, and for dramatic purposes telescopes [condenses] events and campaigns.”  The Temple Garden scene of picking red or white rose will live in immortality, but I doubted it actually happened.

Richard III

The Bard didn’t make up the story; he did follow the books that were available to him.  This is an example that he followed Thomas More’s The History of King Richard III when writing his play of Richard III .

After the death of Edward IV, the king’s brother, Richard of Gloucester, tried to spread the rumor that the late king’s two sons were bastards as the king’s marriage to Elizabeth’s Woodville was illegitimate.  Richard sent Duke of Buckingham to address the citizens, criticizing the king of “the insatiate greediness of his desire”, of being a womanizer, “And his enforcement of the city wives.”  Buckingham’s smear campaign failed; this is how he reported to Richard,

Buckingham
No, so God help me, they spake [speak] not a word;
But, like dumb statues or breathing stones,
Gazed each on other, and looked deadly pale. 
       Richard III  Act III Scene 7

Thomas More

I like the “dumb statues and breathing stone”; I am sure the Bard got the idea from More’s book.  I read the following from Churchill’s A History of English Speaking Peoples, 

“Richard now appeared, accompanied by Buckingham, evidently expecting to be publically acclaimed; but, says More, “the people were so far from crying ‘King Richard!’ that they stood as if turned into stones for wonder of this shameful sermon.’ Two days later the Duke of Buckingham tried his hand, and according to an eye-witness he was so eloquent and well rehearsed that he did not even pause to spit; but once again the people remained mute, and only some of the Duke’s servants threw up their caps, crying “King Richard!’”

The big picture (overview) of the British Civil War

For about 70 years (1399-1471) the British kings (Henry IV, V and VI) came from the House of Lancaster, descendants of John of Gaunt (first Duke of Lancaster), this is why John of Gaunt is such an important figure. {refer to the vertical elliptical circle in the center of the ‘map’}

Edward IV was the first king of Yorkist; he beat Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.  The reign from the House of York ended in 1485 when Richard III (Edward IV’s brother) was killed by Henry VII’s army (from the House of Lancaster) at the battle of Bosworth.  {refer to the horizontal elliptical circle at the bottom of the ‘map’}

Henry VII married Elizabeth of York (Edward IV’s daughter) in 1486, unifying both Houses, thus achieving the true and lasting reconciliation.

The following is the last scene of Henry VI (Part 3) Act V Scene 7, after Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian army.

corns from our garden

King Edward IV 
Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,
Re-purchased with the blood of enemies.
What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn,
Have we mowed down, in tops of all their pride!
Three Dukes of Somerset, threefold renowned
For hardy and undoubted champions;
Two Cliffords, as the father and the son,
And two Northumberlands; two braver men
Never spurred their coursers at the trumpet’s sound;
With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and Montague
That in their chains fettered the kingly lion
And made the forest tremble when they roared.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat
And made our footstool of security.

corns from our garden

(The following is my loose translation into everyday’s English)  Edward IV gave an account of the nobles aligned with the House of Lancaster during the course of wars.

Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,

Buy (pay) it again with enemy’s blood.

The brave enemy is like our autumn’s harvest (of corn or grain)

We cut them down in their prime!

The ever more famous Dukes of Somerset of three generations

For sure were hardy and true warriors;

Two Cliffords, they are father and son,

And two Northumberlands; two braver men

They fought on their swift horses upon hearing the war trumpet;

Warwick and Montague, the two brave bears (Warwick’s badge is a bear chained with lions)

Chained with the kingly lion

The forest trembled when they roared.

Thus we have removed the apprehension of our crown

To make the seat of the crown more secure.

Was Richard III an evil monster or a victim of Thomas More’s and Shakespeare’s pens?

Richard III

No king in medieval England was as demonic as King Richard III (1483-1485); and that was a savage age.  The list of whom he killed and murdered is as long as your arm.  Our knowledge of this infamous king of “this sceptred Isle”, the one we know, mostly comes from Thomas More’s biography of King Richard III and Shakespeare’s play with the same title.

Thomas More was Henry VIII’ councilor.  As we know, Henry VIII’s father, Henry VII, was the founder of Tudor dynasty, which was created when he defeated and killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.  As someone said history was written by the victors (some attributed this saying to Churchill, but I think he said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it,” and he did.) Thomas More’s Richard III was a classic example, a respectable person though he might be.

photo credit: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Royal Britain

Both Thomas More and Shakespeare blamed Richard III to the most heinous royal murder in all ages. Richard III murdered his two nephews (the sons of Edward VI—Richard’s brother), aged 12 and 9 in the Tower of London in 1483.

Thomas wrote the biography 70 years after Richard III was killed and the Bard wrote his play about 110 years later.  It was said that Shakespeare’s great grandfather fought in the Battle of Bosworth and on Henry VII’s camp (?)  It is no secrete that Shakespeare had a romantic admiration of all the Tudor heroes, thus treating Richard III as a villain.

The Bard used roses to describe how innocent the two young princes were after they’re murdered; in Richard III (Act IV Scene 3) we read,

photo credit: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Royal Britain

Their lips were four red Roses on a stalk,
Which in their summer beauty kissed each other.

Churchill is a well known historian; I quote the following from his “A Story of the English Speaking Peoples”,

“Thomas More late in the next reign wrote his celebrated history.  His book was based of course on information given him under the new and strongly established regime.  His object seems to have been less to compose a factual narrative than a moralistic drama.  In it Richard [III] is evil incarnate, and Henry Tudor [Henry VII], the deliverer of the kingdom, all sweetness and light.  The opposite view would have been treason.  Not only is every possible crime attributed by More to Richard, and some impossible ones, but he is presented as a physical monster, crook-backed and withered of arm.  No one in his lifetime seemed to have remarked these deformities, but they are now very familiar to us through Shakespeare’s play.  Needless to say, as soon as the Tudor dynasty was laid to rest defenders of Richard fell to work, and they have been increasingly busy ever since.”

I made this “map” so I can follow the story when I study Shakespeare’s history plays.

“Son of York”: The best pun in literature

Being a history buff, it is only natural that I would be interested in Shakespeare’s history plays.  With the garden season winding down, I may begin to write about it; I know how to alienate the readers from this blog.

The opening lines of Richard III (“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York”) are as famous as that of The Tale of Two Cities (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,”) I also like “Call me Ishmael” that begins Moby-Dick.

Richard:
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
            Richard III  Act I  Scene 1

Shakespeare opened the play with a powerful and lengthy (40 some lines) soliloquy of Richard (Duke of Gloucester, at which time his elsder brother, Edward IV, was the king).  It gives us a hint of who he is and what he will be.

I made a ‘map’ (I will be your GPS) which covers more than two thirds of Shakespeare’s history plays.  The Wars of Roses (1455-1485) were fought between the Houses of Lancaster and York, both are the descendants of Edward III.  For about 60 years Lancastrian clans have been Kings (Henry IV, V and VI—the Bard gave us Henry IV—Part 1 & 2, Henry V, and Henry VI—Part 1, 2 & 3) and that is Richard’s “winter of discontent” as Yorkists (Edward IV and Richard III) finally took over the crown, thus “made glorious summer by this son of York”.  The gloomy winter’s discontent turned into glorious and sunny summer's contendedness, now that his brother is the king (Edward IV).

“this son of York” is the pun of “this sun of York”.  The Wars of Roses were fought by several generations—by the sons of Duke of Lancaster and Duke of York.  And less known is that “sun” is also the emblem of Edward IV’s crown.  The radiance of the glorious ‘sun’ dispelled the gloomy clouds overcasting the House of York.