Physicality

by Carolyn Hammond

Many people’s image of Richard III is influenced by Shakespeare’s portrait of the ‘poisonous bunch-backed toad’, a limping hunch-back with a withered arm. Shakespeare’s sources were the Tudor chroniclers, hostile to Richard. Perhaps Shakespeare also wanted to reflect the medieval idea that an evil mind must dwell in a twisted body. But if we examine what the people who actually saw Richard said, or look at his portraits, then a rather different picture emerges. The earlier portraits, such as that belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, which although not painted in his lifetime are based on originals that could have been done from life, show no sign of deformity. Later portraits, further from the lost originals, and painted to fit in with the established myth, show uneven shoulders and a villainous countenance. The raised shoulder of the Windsor portrait can be shown under X-ray to be a later addition to a painting with a normal shoulder line. The only totally unbiased commentator is von Popplau, who mentions no deformity; the Crowland Chronicler, Mancini and de Commynes, none of them particularly pro-Richard witnesses, also make no mention of any deformity, although they must all have either met Richard themselves, or in the case of Mancini, spoken to those who had.

Those writing under the early Tudors mention the unevenness of Richard’s shoulders, but since they cannot agree on which was higher, this cannot have been very pronounced. Even the hostile witnesses agree on Richard’s bravery and prowess in battle, so any disablement must have been slight enough not to affect his use of weapons or control of his horse. As Sir Winston Churchill said in his History of the English Speaking Peoples: ‘No-one in his (Richard’s) life time seems to have remarked these deformities, but they are now very familiar to us through Shakespeare’s play.’

Scoliosis

One of the most important outcomes from the Greyfriars dig and the identification of the remains of King Richard III was the confirmation that he had adolescent onset scoliosis. This is a condition which usually develops between the ages of 10 to 18 and for which there is no known cause: it results in the spinal column bending to the side which results in one shoulder being slightly higher than the other, in the case of Richard III’s skeleton; the right shoulder.

The evidence clearly shows the king did not have kyphosis, which can result in a ‘hunchback’, contrary to the historical myths about his physical appearance. Kyphosis is a forward bend of the spinal column when the head is pushed forward and down onto the chest. The legend of Richard’s ‘hunchback’ began in the early days of the new Tudor dynasty when it was expedient to denigrate the reputation of the dead king. Care should always be taken when using the word ‘hunchback’ in the context of either kyphosis or scoliosis; its use can be deemed highly insensitive to those living with these conditions.

Although many people have not heard of scoliosis it is surprisingly common; in the UK between three and four in every 1,000 children need treatment for the condition. Nowadays it can be corrected by surgery, as witnessed with Princess Eugenie, although those with the condition may still face challenges in their lives. The Scoliosis Association in the UK (SAUK) notes that many are inspired by older siblings to overcome such challenges so Richard III may well have been similarly inspired by his elder brother, King Edward IV. As Duke of Gloucester and as King, Richard led an active life as an effective administrator and military commander. He rode warhorses in full body armour and wielded a sword and other weapons in battle, demonstrating that scoliosis doesn’t limit physical capability. Today, for example, the former tennis player James Blake has scoliosis, as does the eight-time Olympic gold medallist sprinter Usain Bolt who has the condition in the lower back.

There is no contemporary evidence that Richard III suffered from any visible physical problems. The most detailed surviving description of the King is provided by a Silesian envoy, Niclas von Popplau, who spent time at Richard’s court in 1484 and described the King as lean, with delicate arms and legs and that he was ‘three fingers taller’ than Popplau himself. Popplau also recorded King Richard wore a collar of gold of an order which ‘led over his left shoulder to his back and from there under his right arm’.

While Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard III is famous for equating physical ‘deformity’ with moral depravity, recent scholarly studies have emphasised the fact that there were many different responses to such physical conditions in the Middle Ages. They were by no means universally assumed to be a sign of wickedness or incompetence.

The word ‘disability’ is sometimes used in articles discussing scoliosis, however, it is important to emphasise that the condition does not result in any obvious disability, unless other underlying health issues are present. Idiopathic scoliosis is a physical condition, a disorder. Dominic Smee, for example, has a virtually identical scoliosis to King Richard.

Further Information

Following the discovery of King Richard’s remains in 2012 there have been a number of articles in the Ricardian Bulletin that explore aspects of scoliosis:

1. For a general introduction to scoliosis with examples of people with the condition, together with details about the Scoliosis Association see the article ‘The Nature of Scoliosis’ in the June 2013 Bulletin.
2. For examples of potential treatments for the condition in Richard’s lifetime see ‘Medieval treatments for scoliosis’ in the September 2013 Bulletin.
3. For a detailed discussion about the King’s scoliosis see ‘The scoliosis of King Richard III’ in the March 2014 Bulletin.
4. For an account of the experience of Dominic Smee, whose scoliosis is virtually identical to Richard III’s see ‘Richard III: the new evidence – Dominic’s story’ in the December 2014 Bulletin.

Useful information about scoliosis can also be found here: https://ssr.org.uk/

For a more detailed analysis of the king’s scoliosis The Lancet published a paper ‘The scoliosis of Richard III, last Plantagenet King of England: diagnosis and clinical significance’. This can be accessed here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60762-5/fulltext