A Meditation on King Richard III

About the Book

Documents may have been destroyed, the graves left unmarked, the records rewritten, but his idea dominated the minds and experiences of those who knew him best and who shared their recollections, so that he has joined that rare group of singular personalities who make friends centuries after they have passed from the world. Richard III was a king, with all that implies, and he has returned after five centuries trailing some of his mediaeval glory. He was also pious. This little book provides a brief biography, describes the form and feature of the time, its ceremony and its hope. It reviews briefly the history of deposed monarchs and concentrates also on the inward life which was the mainspring of action and recalls the lost faith we once all shared with King Richard. Some techniques for contemplation give the reader unfamiliar with such concepts a good start with simple methods, sentences for meditation, and set prayers.

About the Author

Margaret J. Howell was born in Exeter, Devonshire, and educated privately. Afterwards, she graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington. During a varied career she has taught at the Universities of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, and was for twenty-two years a popular teacher of English and History in Vancouver. Her special interests are English literature and history. For sixteen years she was Book Editor for Middle East Perspective. She has published articles on these subjects, two pamphlets of poems, and three books: Byron Tonight: A Poet’s Plays on the Nineteenth Century Stage, an entertaining account of the theatre, and, with Violet W. Walker, late archivist of the City of Nottingham, The House of Byron: A History of the Family from the Norman Conquest, 1066 - 1988. The Spirit of Understanding, published by Xlibris in 2013, was written in response to the removal of literature and history from curricula. Now retired, she likes walking, painting in oils, and reading. She is a member of the Society of Authors.