Bosworth and Richard III

One of my biggest delights in High School was History. It still is a delight, especially since it is always mixed in with literature and language. All that is much of the cause behind my choice of my life's career in education, teaching Latin and Greek at the Secondary Level. I don't do that anymore, as those subjects and the Humanities give way to the Sciences and Sports when tight financial times "force" cuts in public education and social services.

This is a betrayal against the people of a Democratic State.

But I digress, slightly, for this is not about the piteous treatment public education is undergoing in these times. This piece is about a King and the Battle of the day, Richard III and Bosworth, a betrayal at the last, and the ignoble grave under what became a common English parking lot. I think I can relate to that.

I recall going through English history and literature, the War of the Roses and Shakespeare, though the experience is more than a bit fuzzy now because at that time I was rabid about the American Civil War and getting very interested in the stories from old Greece and Rome. Not that I didn't enjoy the same sort of stories from England and other places, I just did not relate to them as much. After all, what is it that's most important to a typical teenager in High School?

So a long lost King of England pops up onto the pages of world news for a bit of time, and half-remembered times and faces and names from my past pop up too, friends and teachers.

And betrayal.

One of the strongest impressions I have of any of the countless wars throughout history is that of betrayal or, to put a better face on it, divided loyalties. So here is a short half hour on the Battle of Bosworth, and underneath it an article about Richard with a facial reconstruction based upon the remains of his shattered body. Sometime soon, I'll pull out my copy of Mel Gibson's "Braveheart", a good sketch of Mediaeval Warfare and Betrayal.

http://www.richardiii.net/leicester_dig.php#facetime