The RICHARD III MUSEUM offers something of educational value to all school children.

A visit to the Museum will take approx. 30 minutes, and can be incorporated into a walk on the City Walls between Bootham Bar and Monk Bar (approx. 20 minutes). The TRIAL OF RICHARD III lasts approx. 13 minutes, and is continuous, at 5 minute intervals.

An amount of background knowledge of the Richard III controversy may well prove useful to Teachers. In the TRIAL the Museum offers the following cases for/against King Richard.

COUNSEL FOR THE PROSECUTION
Richard III was offered the Crown by Parliament in 1483 on the questionable grounds that his two nephews were illegitimate. Having assumed power, it was therefore impossible for him to leave them alive, as at any given time they could become the focus of rebellion. If he is, as his supporters claim, innocent of the crime, why did he not produce the two princes in the Summer of 1483, when London was awash with rumours that the two boys had been murdered?

COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENCE
Up until 1483, when his brother Edward IV died, Richard had proved himself a loyal and capable administrator. There was no sign of the murderous, power-seeking villain we are presented with by History and Shakespeare. Following Richard's death on Bosworth Battlefield in 1485, Henry Tudor, having only a slender claim to the throne, declared himself King through 'right of conquest'. Tudor therefore made it his major priority to blacken the name of his predecessor.

OTHER MATTERS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST TO SCHOOL VISITS :

1) HISTORICAL BIAS
"Whoever wins the War, gets to write the History" (From Michael S. Bennett's play 'An Audience with King Richard III'). Just how much of the History we are taught is reliable?

2) THE PRESENTATION OF HISTORY
The RICHARD III MUSEUM has been praised for its unusual and imaginative presentation.