Odd Bits of History: Being Short Chapters Intended to Fill Some Blanks — John Shaqi
Odd Bits of History: Being Short Chapters Intended to Fill Some BlanksWolff, Henry W. (Henry William)
History
Odd Bits of History: Being Short Chapters Intended to Fill Some Blanks
Wolff, Henry W. (Henry William)
History -- Miscellanea
The story of this Englishman's exploits abroad affords some features of
interest. It is a rather curious tale of adventure, love and war, strange
escapades, intrigues, and ambition. And it may be worth telling, because I
find that in English historical writings there is a gaping hiatus on the
subject--which is not a little remarkable. For, considering what an
ever-present weight Richard evidently was on the minds of the two last
Henrys, to what all but incredible lengths those kings carried their
unscrupulous persecution of him--how they offered bribes to kings to
deliver him up, and to meaner men to assassinate him--how not a treaty was
proposed to foreign potentates but contained a special clause forbidding
the harbouring of this dangerous character--one might have supposed that
our chroniclers of the time would have deemed it expedient to tell
posterity something about him. Their silence is explained by a strange
want of materials. So little turns out to have been known in this country
about the great marpeace, that Mr. Burton, in his 'History of Scotland,'
actually assigns to him the wrong christian name, calling him "Reginald."
Mr Gairdner in his interesting preface to one of the volumes of
'Chronicles and Memorials' goes at some length into the history of
Richard's brother Edmund. What became of Richard himself--except that he
fell at Pavia--he confesses that he "cannot trace at all accurately."
Napier in his 'Notices of Swyncombe and Ewelme' supplies fuller
information than any other English writer. But he, too, is evidently at
fault for materials. It is practically only foreign sources, very little
studied in this country, to which we have to look for information on the
subject of how "White Rose" employed the time of his exile, be it
self-imposed or involuntary, which made up the main portion of his life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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