In Memory of King Richard III of England Who Wanted to Kick the Turks Out of Europe

August 22 is the 525th anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth Field in which the controversial English king Richard III died leading a calvary charge against the invading forces of Henry Tudor. Henry survived and became King Henry VII, father of Henry VIII and grandfather of Elizabeth I.

Richard is now acknowledged to have been libeled, slandered, and generally dragged through the muck for political purposes throughout the reigns of the Tudor monarchs. There is an ongoing debate over his actual character and actions that is a hell of a lot more fun than reading about Islam, though the questions raised are, admittedly, of much less timely and urgent concern.

Anyway, being a bit of an amateur "Ricardian" I discovered this tidbit in Bertram Fields 1998 history "Royal Blood". In May 1484 a visiting Silesian knight named Nicholar von Popplau had a meeting with Richard. In the course of their converstation Richard made the following comment: "I wish that my kingdom lay upon the confines of Turkey; with my own people alone and without the help of other princes I should like to drive away... the Turks."

The traditional memorial notice of the British and American Richard III societies goes as follows:

Remember Before God

Richard III

and those who fell at Bosworth Field,

having kept faith

August 22, 1485

Loyaulte Me Lie

[Loyalty Binds Me, which was Richard's motto. His symbol was the White Boar, which would have no doubt annoyed the Turks, as would have Richard had he ever got the chance.]