In regard to Hampton Court and Cardinal Wolsey, it was indeed the question of his divorce from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, that prompted Wolsey’s downfall–as well as the Supremacy Act of 1534, which made Henry the head of the Church of England. Wolsey died on 24th November, 1530. Henry did not marry his second wife, Anne Boleyn, until 25th January, 1533.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in British Heritage magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

PIPER FINDLATER

In the article about the Victoria Cross in the December/January issue (page 13), mention is made of Piper Findlater, who, in spite of being wounded in both ankles, continued to play his pipes, which encouraged his comrades to storm the hill at the battle of Dargai and defeat the Afchaus.

As a result of this exploit, children back in England and Scotland began singing a little rhyme which went as follows:

Piper Findlater, Piper Findlater,
Piped "The Cock o’ the North."
He piped it so loud,
That he gathered a crowd,
And he won the Victoria Cross.

This rhyme is found in a short story by George MacDonald Fraser called "The Whisky and the Music," which is in a book called The General Danced at Dawn. This delightful story hinges on whether Piper Findlater did or did not play "The Cock o’ the North" and ends with a wry twist which made me think of someone’s definition of history as "Lies agreed upon."

I would urge everyone to read not only this story, but everything that George MacDonald Fraser has written because they are all most interesting works, especially the "Flashman" stories, the first of which caught many reviewers off guard, believing it to be actual history. Those who had read Thomas Hughes’ classic boys’ tale, "TGM Brown’s School Days," were not fooled. They knew that Harry Flashman was a character in that book–a cad who was dismissed from Rugby School for various nefarious acts.

Wallace L. Mason
Seekonk, Massachusetts

RICHARD III, PART IV

I must take issue with your Editor’s Note in the December/January 1998/99 Letter-Box" (page 4) concerning Richard III and Sir Thomas More. You write "it seems rather premature to label Peter Kilby’s article ‘inaccurate’ because of its inclusion of anti-Richardian quotes such as those by Sir Thomas More." In fact, the article could be labelled inaccurate, if for nothing else, by the inclusion of the More quotes, sounding as they do as though they were an eyewitness account from what should be an unassailable source. Sir Thomas More is so highly respected–indeed, was canonized–for his great courage and integrity in adult life that most people believe anything he wrote must be above reproach; the inclusion of his "testimony" against Richard thus seems damning indeed. But it is testimony that would be inadmissable in any court of law today, except a kangaroo court.

What most people don’t realize is that Thomas More was little more than a toddler during Richard’s reign–he was five years old at the time of Richard’s coronation and seven when Richard died–and that he wrote his History of King Richard III (from which Mr. Kilby’s quotes were taken) some 30 years later, during the reign of Henry VIII, based entirely on hearsay and second-hand information. In the interest of accuracy, Mr. Kilby should have mentioned this fact. Sir Thomas himself acknowledges it several times throughout the History; he prefaces the section from which Mr. Kilby quoted as follows: "I shall rehearse you the dolorous end of those babes, not after every way that I have heard, but after that way that I have so heard by such men and by such means as methinks it were hard but it should be true." (Note, too, that Sir Thomas admits having heard differing versions.)

There can also be little doubt that one of the men from whom Sir Thomas got his information was, as he calls him, "my lord Morton"– John Morton, Bishop of Ely during Richard’s reign, in whose household More grew up. Morton was an avowed enemy of Richard’s and ardently served the Lancastrian and Tudor causes and was even involved in a plot on Richard’s life. Henry VII later made him Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England. Morton (largely remembered for "Morton’s Fork," an unscrupulous method of tax collection he devised for Henry VII) is depicted in More’s History in the most favourable light: "The Bishop was a man of great natural wit, very well learned, and honourable in behaviour, lacking no wise ways to win favour…wise, insightful, godly." Henry VII is referred to as "the noble Prince." King Richard, on the other hand, was "malicious, wrathful, a deep dissembler, lowly of countenance, envious, arrogant, pitiless, cruel, wicked, unnatural, and a traitorous tyrant," to cite but some of More’s epithets (not to mention labelling him a murderer several times over).

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to