King Richard III

I was so thrilled when I saw the news yesterday that they have found the bones of King Richard III.  I love the period of British history that involves the War of the Roses.  The roses were the white rose of the House of York and the red rose was of the House of Lancaster.  It was fascinating because families were willing to do anything to put their family members on the throne because they felt that the throne was theirs and they highly motivated by wealth and power.  Richard even turned against his brothers, King Edward IV, and it is believed had his two young nephews killed after locking them in the Tower, to secure his place on the throne.  The nephews became known as the Princes in the Tower.

I recently read a book about King Richard III, which was a page turner.  It is important to remember that the Middle Ages were not warm and fuzzy times, and those who wanted power were pretty ruthless in obtaining whatever they wanted.  Richard was eventually killed by Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster.  There is some high drama throughout all of the story.  So much scheming, murder, marriage, and double crossing.  It really is better than fiction.

So it was very exciting to know that King Richard's story is being revisited.  He was kind of a bad dude, but it was also at a time when a lot of them were bad dudes.  I read a quote yesterday that said that we try to judge against him against today's standards instead of the standard of the times he lived in.  Royal court politics were pretty rough stuff.  Someday I would so love to go to England and visit places like the Tower, which played such a huge roll in royal politics and England's history.  

So I am off to sleep and dream happy dreams...