JOURNAL ARTICLE: The Hours of Richard III and St. Ninian

This article has given me much detail for thought -- about Richard's thinking as a northerner, about a saint he was attached to, how his piety was reflected in his life in ways that weren't public, how he acquired his Book of Hours after he became king, how its contents were different in many ways, how little we really know about this man....

I can't begin to gather my thoughts about everything author David A. Harrap has discussed.

I've attached the article to this post. I hope it shows up for download.

Thanks, Wednesday. Thanks for posting.

Thank you for including the article. I've downloaded it, and will hopefully find time to read it over the weekend.

You're welcome.

I've been told by tech support that the only way to have attachments available for all to download is to go topic by topic and set them to do so. So I'll be doing that....

Wednesday wrote:

This article has given me much detail for thought -- about Richard's thinking as a northerner, about a saint he was attached to, how his piety was reflected in his life in ways that weren't public, how he acquired his Book of Hours after he became king, how its contents were different in many ways, how little we really know about this man....

I can't begin to gather my thoughts about everything author David A. Harrap has discussed.

I've attached the article to this post. I hope it shows up for download.

Interesting article. However, the author could have strengthened his argument that Richard's devotion to Saint Ninian was not motivated by a desire to conquer Scotland had he realized that Richard, far from being likely to make  war on Scotland, made a three-year truce with James III, including the marriage of his niece, Anne de la Pole, to James's heir, which, of course, never came about. (Poor Anne became a nun under Henry VII.) The very friendly and mutually complimentary letters between the two kings are quoted in Harleian MS 433 and partially quoted by Keith Dockray in his Richard III: A Source Book. It's a shame that the author of the article accepted the conventional view of Richard as an enemy to Scotland. It's also unfortunate that he never explicitly refutes the Shakespearean view of Richard, which fits oddly with his depiction of Richard as a northerner by choice and a conventional Christian. Nevertheless, an interesting article and well worth reading. I was glad to see that he had read and cited Sutton and Visser-Fuchs's Hours of Richard III.

It sounds like another article could be written using the same source material, strengthening the arguments presented here and using additional source material. There's an idea for someone who knows what she's doing....

Since Richard had to guard the border, established the border that still exists today, and likely knew the reivers well on both sides, I wonder if he didn't have a much better understanding of the families living on the border and the reasons why they reived -- from personal disputes and vendettas to winter survival needs -- and have some sort of key to satisyfing their needs and taming their rebellion.

I find it fascinating that he managed to calm the border and make peace with Scotland while he was duke, but after his death everything went to hell on the border as far as the reiving is concerned, well into Elizabeth I's time.

I wish I could get my hands on the Hours of Richard III. It's far too expensive for me to even think about.

Thank you for posting this, Weds - and thank you, Constantia, for your commentary.

Tamara

[quote="Wednesday"

I wish I could get my hands on the Hours of Richard III. It's far too expensive for me to even think about.[/quote]

I am leaping for joy - I have just got my hands on a second-hand copy for £12 - YES ONLY £12 - I can't really believe it!!!!!    It arrived yesterday and I am part way through it.

Thibault wrote:

[quote="Wednesday"

I wish I could get my hands on the Hours of Richard III. It's far too expensive for me to even think about.

I am leaping for joy - I have just got my hands on a second-hand copy for £12 - YES ONLY £12 - I can't really believe it!!!!!    It arrived yesterday and I am part way through it.   [/quote]

I am soooo jellus. How did you manage to get a used copy so inexpensive? Did they not know what treasure they had?

Seconding Wednesday's jealousy!

Tamara

I guess the people selling it had no idea. I found it, like so many Richard III books, simply by searching the Internet.

I have now finished the book. It is very interesting and I certainly know a lot more about books of hours and personal devotions than I did before. It is frustrating that some of the subsequent owners of Richard's Hours cut out various pages and 'rubbed out' parts of the ones left, so we don't have crucial information like the rubric for Richard's prayer. That means we don't know why he chose certain passages in it or named certain saints.

I do confess getting a little teary reading Richard's prayer in its entirety. One of the unusual things about it according to Sutton and Visser-Fuchs is the number of times it refers to 'grief'.

Thibault wrote:

I do confess getting a little teary reading Richard's prayer in its entirety.  One of the unusual things about it according to Sutton and Visser-Fuchs is the number of times it refers to 'grief'.

Could you maybe please-please post the complete prayer here? I've seen references to parts of it, but never the entire prayer.

I'll have a go - I may be some time..........

Richard's Prayer

O most sweet lord Jesus Christ, true God, who was sent from the bosom of the almighty Father into the world to forgive sins, to comfort afflicted sinners, ransom travellers back to their native land, minister to the contrite in heart, comfort the sad, and to console those in grief and distress, deign to release me from the affliction, temptation, grief, sickness, need and danger in which I stand, and give me counsel. And you, Lord, who reconciled the race of man and the Father, who purchased with your own precious blood this proscribed inheritance of paradise and who made peace between men and angels, deign to make and keep concord between me and my enemies, to show me and pour over me your grace and glory, and deign to assuage, turn aside, destroy, and bring to nothing the hatred they bear towards me, even as you delivered Abraham from the hand of the Chaldeans, Isaac from sacrifice by means of the ram, Jacob from the hands of his brother Eseau, Joseph from the hands of his brothers, Noah from the waters of the flood by means of the ark, Lot from the city of the Sodomites, your servants Moses and Aaron and the people of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, and the bondage of Egypt, and likewise Saul from Mount Gilboa, and King David from the hand of Saul and of Goliath the giant. And even as you delivered Susanna from false accusation and testimony and Judith from the hand of Hologernes, Daniel from the den of lions and the three young men from the burning fiery furnace, Jonah from the belling of the whale, the daughter of the woman of Cana from the torment of devils, and Adam from he depths of hell, with your own precious blood, and Peter from the sea and Paul from chains.

Even so, lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, deign to free me, your servant King Richard, from every tribulation, sorrow and trouble in which I am placed and from the plots of my enemies, and deign to send Michael the Archangel to my aid against them, and deign, lord Jesus Christ, to bring to nothing their evil plans that they are making or wish to make against me, even as you brought to nothing the counsel of Achitofel who incited Absalom against King David, even so deign to deliver me by your holy goodness, your incarnation, your nativity, your baptism, and your fasting, by the hunger and thirst the cold and heat,by the labour and suffering, by the spit and abuse, by the blows and the nails, by the crown of thorns, the lance, the drink of vinegar and gall, by your most cruel and shameful death on the cross and the words which you spoke while on the cross. First, praying to your Father, you said: 'Lord Father forgive them, for they know not what they do'. You said, Lord, to the thief hanging on the cross: 'Today you shall be with me in paradise'. You said, Lord, to your mother: 'Mother, behold your son', and to the disciple: 'Behold your mother'. Lord. you said: 'Heloy, heloy, lamazabathasni'. which being interpreted means: 'God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' You said, Lord: 'I thirst', that is to say for the salvation of the blessed souls. Lord, you said: 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit'. You said, Lord: 'It is finished', signifying that you had come to the end of the labours and sorrows which you bore for us wretches.

By all these things, I ask you, most sweet lord Jesus Christ, to keep me, your servant Kind Richard, and defend me from all evil, from the devil and from all perils present, past and to come, and deliver me from all tribulations, sorrows and troubles in which I am placed and deign to console me, by your descent into hell, your resurrection, by your frequent visits of consolation to your disciples, your wonderful ascension, by the grace of the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, and by your coming on the Day of Judgement. Lord, hear me, in the name of all your goodness for which I give and return thanks, and for all those gifts and goods granted to me, because you made me from nothing and redeemed me out of your most bounteous love and pity from eternal damnation by promising eternal life.

Because of these things and others which the eye has not seen nor the ear heard, and which the heart of man has not understood, I ask you, most sweet lord Jesus Christ, to save me from all perils of body and soul by your love, and to deign always to deliver and help me, and after the journey of this life to deign to bring me before you, the living and true God, who lives and reigns, O God. Through Christ our lord. Amen.

Another thing I learned from the book about Richard's Hours is that Richard's confessor was a Franciscan. That puts an interesting light on the view that the Greyfriars in Leicester went to Henry Tudor and asked to have his body for burial.

Thanks for copying the prayer, Thibault. Wish we had a subforum that was just documents without responses so it would be easier to keep track of these files!

Oh, thank you so much for sharing this, and in modern English, too. Do we even know the name of his confessor?

Didn't he stay at the Franciscan friary in York when he traveled there? That friary was known for its library. I wonder if he didn't make a habit of staying with the brothers whenever he could while traveling. I also wonder if he wasn't destined to enter the church before his father and older brother were killed.

I've just put in an email interlibrary loan order from my local library for this book and two others. I've no idea if they can even get them, but it's the only way I'll ever see the Hours or the book on his coronation.

Thanks again for being so generous with this.

Constantia wrote:

Thanks for copying the prayer, Thibault. Wish we had a subforum that was just documents without responses so it would be easier to keep track of these files!

You have but to ask.

I've created the following subforum (under the main forum "Richard Multimedia" as a repository/library for documents anyone would like to upload. It is set to "no comments." If links are provided for downloading within any message, any forum member can download the link.

DOCUMENTS WITHOUT COMMENTS

What strikes me about this is that although he prayed for his enemies' schemes to come to naught, he asked for peace with them rather than victory over them.

Asking for peace doesn't seem like the act of a child murderer, does it?

I managed to get The Hours of Richard III from interlibrary loan -- the paperback edition. I can't believe such a slim book is selling for over $150, much less the paperback version.

I'm in the process of scanning the entire thing, so I can keep it. Am a bit frustrated that much of it is dedicated to analyzing the art and not quoting/discussing more of what's in his Book of Hours and how he may have related it to his day-to-day life. But I suppose if we really want to know, we can track down the standard prayers of the day in other books.

It's frustrating that whole pages have been torn out, but I suppose whoever owned the book after Richard (and this says that MB gave the book away to someone) -- and after the Reformation -- feared they might be punished for having such "popish" literature.

I found it interesting also that the art/creation date in Richard's book matches the art/creation date of Elizabeth of York's. It makes me wonder if they went shopping for a Book of Hours at the same time.

Also touching is that Richard didn't get one that's garishly illuminated -- this was a working book.

And I hadn't known that the hangings from Richard's tent at Bosworth hung in the Stanley stronghold until the 17th century. I wonder what those looked like.

Am waiting to see if my local library can cough up a copy of The Coronation of Richard III through interlibrary loan. I discovered also that no library in the USA has a copy of the most recent work that Philippa Langley and Annette Carson (and JAH?) collaborated on. And the book is out of print already. This tells me no college professor in the U.S. is much interested in reading about the dig or revised history. And so it goes....

All of his books seem to have been plain and workmanlike, some second-hand - they were books for reading, not for impressing guests with.

Glad you managed to get hold of the book Wednesday. I found it strangely affecting to read about the different prayers and the elements of his own prayer. I felt it brings us closer to the man himself, if only in his religious life.

I would like to get hold of the Coronation Book too. I wonder that the authors don't consider a reprint - there would be a huge market.

Looking back at my last post here about the Coronation Book, I am delighted to say that I eventually did get a copy from the US for only $90. It is an absolutely fascinating tome and full of (to me) unexpected detail.

Any detail we can find always presents new facets to Richard's character, sometimes even insights about those around him. Congratulations on the purchase! Any insights you find, I'd be excited to hear about.