England is well worth a bit of false piety

"And look you get a prayer-book in your hand,
And stand betwixt two churchmen......."

                                             Richard III         (III, vii)
 
England's allegedly nefarious King Richard III has been much in the news lately, thanks to the discovery and identification of his bones, through DNA testing and a close study of related evidence by an archaeological team from the University of Leicester. It looks as if they have indeed found their man. Of course, if he was half as evil as Shakespeare made him out to be, having his bones returning to dust in so inglorious a spot as beneath a parking lot might seem providential.

In lines from Shakespeare's Richard III quoted above, the Duke of Buckingham is giving the as-yet-uncrowned Richard a bit of advice on how to look properly pious before the masses. The idea Buckingham is driving at is quite time-worn: vaulting ambition needs to be disguised, lest it make people edgy, suspicious, uncomfortable. So act pious and humble, and get the crown without scaring people off by seeming to want it: not bad advice in any age.

Pictured above, from the collection of Agecroft Hall, is a 1617 copy of Thomas à Kempis' Of the Imitation of Christ, one of the most widely-read works of piety in Europe in the late Middle Ages. The work, originally in Latin, first appeared in manuscript anonymously in the early fifteenth century, before Johan Gutenberg began printing in Mainz.

The author of this devotional work, an Augustinian monk born in Germany, seemed to have a natural piety and humility that struck a chord with many throughout Europe. To us the other-worldly Thomas seems the very antithesis of Richard III, that self-absorbed, crown-bedecked apotheosis of evil. Of the Imitation of Christ was to become a classic of Western literature.

This small volume, which measures 5x3x1.25 inches, has a binding of original vellum, with wallet edges and gilt angels at the center of both the front and back covers. There are also woodcut headpieces and tailpieces. Of the Imitation of Christ  was highly regarded throughout Shakespeare's lifetime. The playwright died just a year before this volume was printed.

Shakespeare imagined Richard III winning some people over with a devotional book in his hands and priests at his side. Machiavelli would have applauded; Thomas à Kempis would have been mortified.