Shakespeare and the Remains of Richard III

260 Pages·2013·2.26 MB·English

by  Philip Schwyzer

SHAKESPEARE AND THE REMAINS
OF RICHARD III
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Shakespeare and the
Remains of Richard III
PHILIP SCHWYZER
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
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© Philip Schwyzer 2013
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First Edition published 2013
Impression: 1
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ISBN 978–0–19–967610–1
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For my mother
Alison Moore Schwyzer
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Acknowledgements
I must express my gratitude, fi rst of all, for the extraordinarily dynamic and
generous community of colleagues and graduate students at the University
of Exeter whose encouragement and conversation have inspired me at every
stage of this long project. In particular, I wish to thank Pascale Aebischer,
Samir al-Jasim, Jen Barnes, Paul Bryant-Quinn, Karen Edwards, Henry
French, Briony Frost, Marion Gibson, Sarah Hamilton, Johanna Harris,
David Harvey, Eddie Jones, Elliot Kendall, Tim Kendall, Nick McDowell,
Rachel McGregor, Gerald Maclean, Andrew McRae, Ayesha Mukherjee,
Ed Paleit, Victoria Sparey, Jane Whittle, Nicola Whyte, Margaret Yoon, and
Zhiyan Zhang. I am no less grateful for the support and guidance I have
received from colleagues in Britain and the United States, including Stephen
Greenblatt, Steven Gunn, Andrew Hadfi eld, Tom Healy, John Kerrigan, Jef-
frey Knapp, Paulina Kewes, Willy Maley, Stewart Mottram, Ethan Shagan,
Alex Walsham, and Richard Wilson. For advice on archaeological matters I
am particularly grateful to Howard Williams and Estella Weiss-Krejci. My
guide to many aspects of Ricardian lore has been John Ashdown-Hill. In
the last months of writing I received a wonderful intellectual boost from a
workshop on periodization and multitemporality at Freie Universität Ber-
lin, where the participants included Anke Bernau, Andrew Johnston, David
Matthews, Cathy Shrank, and Greg Walker.
Much of the research for this project was enabled by a generous Research
Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, as well as by two periods of study
leave granted by the University of Exeter. I owe a debt of thanks to both
of these institutions. I am additionally grateful to the librarians, archivists,
and keepers of collections at a range of institutions and organizations,
including the Society of Antiquaries, the College of Arms, the Richard III
Society, and the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers.
A version of Chapter 2 has been previously published as “Lees and
Moonshine: Remembering Richard III, 1485–1635,” Renaissance Quar-
terly 63 (2010 ). A version of Chapter 3 has been previously published as
“Trophies, Traces, Relics and Props: Th e Untimely Objects of Richard III,”
Shakespeare Quarterly 63 (2012 ). I am grateful to both journals for permis-
sion to republish these pieces in diff erent form here.
Th is book is dedicated to my mother, Alison Schwyzer, who has never
yet turned down a conversation about Richard III.
No words are suffi cient to acknowledge my debt to Naomi Howell.
Every page bears the mark of our conversations and of her inspiration.
Th is book is truly hers as much as mine.
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Contents
List of Illustrations x
Reference Notes xi
Introduction 1
1. “Where is Plantagenet?” 11
1.1 “Like a dog”: Th e Remains of Richard III 16
1.2 “Th e bones of the children could never be found”:
Th e Mystery of the Princes 38
2. Lees and Moonshine: Memory and Oral Tradition 59
2.1 “For yet she liveth”: Personal Memories, 1485–1572 60
2.2 “Certainty of things which they did not see”:
Active Memory, 1564–1605 71
2.3 “Th e handsomest man in the room”:
Remembering Richard, 1604–35 79
3. Trophies, Relics, and Props: Th e Life Histories of Objects 91
3.1 “Hung up for monuments” 96
3.2 Pretty Relics 101
3.3 Reuse and Reinscription 105
3.4 Haunted Properties 110
4. “He lived wickedly, yet made good laws”:
Institutions and Practices 125
4.1 Institutions (College of Arms, Wax Chandlers) 129
4.2 Buildings (Tower of London, Crosby Place) 144
4.3 Walking in the City 158
5. “Every tale condemns me for a villain”: Stories 173
5.1 Th e Stanley Tradition 176
5.2 Spectral Complaints 183
5.3 Richard III on the Elizabethan Stage 195
5.4 After Shakespeare 208
6. Now 213
Bibliography 223
Index 241