As you may (or may not) be aware, one of the few still-existing contemporary sources for the events of the summer of 1483, so important in the story of King Richard III, is the manuscript by Dominic Mancini entitled De Occupatione Regni Anglie per Riccardum Tercium (‘The Occupation of the Throne of England by Richard III’).
Generally viewed as the only ‘eye-witness’ account of the events, it was only discovered in the 1930s and translated at the time by C.A.J. Armstrong, under the perhaps somewhat less than unbiased title ‘The Usurpation of Richard III’! Many people have questioned whether the original translation was as impartial as it should have been – or whether it was coloured by the ‘traditional history’ of Richard as propagated over the centuries in service of the Tudor dynasty’s preferred story. I myself used it with caution in research before writing the relevant sections of The King’s Man.
For some years, Annette Carson, member of the Looking for Richard Project team, and others argued that a new translation was necessary. And now, in the absence of anyone else taking the task on, Annette herself is about to publish a new translation – available from Monday 22 February via Amazon.
As Annette says, the new translation offers: ‘A thoroughgoing analysis of where Mancini derived his attitudes and information, where his knowledge was sadly deficient, his uncritical acceptance of what he was told, and some of the myths perpetuated by his ignorance. (And that’s only the Introduction 🙂.)’
Huge thanks are owed to Annette for taking on this task!
Full details of Annette’s work can be found at
https://www.annettecarson.co.uk/357052362
And her author page can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/Annette-Carson/e/B00MC73V7S/
Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published in 2021.
Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:
My Twitter handle and Matthew Wansford’s
Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17175168.Alex_Marchant
The Order of the White Boar 