Editing George Buck (section)

==Scholarly work==
Buck was an historian and minor poet. His main verse work, ''ΔΑΦΝΙΣ ΠΟΛΥΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ (Daphnis Polystephanos): An Eclog Treating of Crownes, and of Garlandes...'' (1605), an historical-[[pastoral poetry|pastoral poem]], was written to glorify and celebrate King James I's royal ancestors on the occasion of his coronation.<ref name=ODNB/> It mentions [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] favourably "because / All accusations of him are not proued, / And he built churches, and made good law's / And all men held him wise, and valiant", and it concludes that he deserved his royal rank.<ref>Buck, George (1605). ''Daphnis Polystephanos: An eclog treating of crownes, and of garlandes, and to whom of right they appertaine'', London: Printed by G. Eld for Thomas Adams, sig. E4v</ref> Buck's treatise "The Third Vniversite of England" (1615) describes the educational facilities in London, from cosmetology to law and medicine, including heraldry, poetry, music, athletics and drama, and enumerates the diversity of arts, crafts, culture, wealth and populace of the city.<ref>Buck, George. "The Third Vniversite of England", ''passim''</ref> This earned him, in [[William Maitland (historian)|William Maitland]]'s estimate, the place after [[John Stow]] as an early historian of London.<ref>Maitland, vol. 2, p. 811</ref> Among his other works was ''The Baron'', an extensive treatment of the history of English titles and offices, which is not extant, although some of the material he collected for it survives. His only surviving genealogical work, ''A Commentary Vpon ... Liber Domus DEI'', a finished manuscript, describes the history of the families who came to England with [[William the Conqueror]].<ref name=ODNB/>

[[File:George Buck's Richard III.jpg|left|thumb|Title page to corrupted version of Buck's ''History'', misappropriated and published 1647 (2nd issue) by Buck's great-nephew]]
His major prose work was ''The History of King Richard the Third'', which he completed in 1619 and left in rough draft at his death, and which, in 1731, was burnt around the edges in the [[Cotton library#Ashburnham House fire|Cotton library fire]].<ref>Kincaid, Introduction, p. cxxxvi, in Buck, ''History'' (1979)</ref> Before that, the work had suffered more serious damage, coming into the hands of Buck's great-nephew, George Buck, who used it as he did others of Buck's works: he produced manuscript copies that he dedicated to various patrons from whom he sought advancement, passing them off as his own. Gradually he altered the ''History'', cutting it, making it look like something written in his own time, rather than earlier, by deleting names of Buck's learned contemporaries who had shared sources and ''viva voce'' information with him, and altering or deleting documentation of sources, with the details of which, also, his copyist was careless. Finally in 1646 he published a version of the ''History'' that was slightly over half the length of the original. A second issue (usually referred to erroneously as a second edition) appeared the next year, leading to the assumption that Buck invented many of his sources.<ref>Kincaid, Introduction, pp. lxiv–lxxxvi, in Buck, ''History'' (1979); and Kincaid, Arthur. "George Buck Senior and George Buck Junior: a Literary-Historical Mystery Story" in ''Richard III: Crown and People'', James Petre (ed.), Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1985, pp. 245–54</ref> This damaged Buck's scholarly reputation for centuries. The authentic text of Buck's ''History'' was not published until 1979; the editor, Arthur Kincaid, was able to find all but seven of the hundreds of sources that Buck had meticulously documented.<ref>Kincaid, Introduction, pp. lxxxii–lxxxiii, xc–xciv, cxii–cxiv and 307 (note to p. 189, lines 14–29), in Buck, ''History'' (1979). Historians long debated the authenticity and meaning of Buck's summary of a letter, now lost, from [[Edward IV of England|King Edward IV]]'s daughter, [[Elizabeth of York]], to [[John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk]]. Buck's summary says that Elizabeth asks Norfolk to be a "mediator for her in the cause of [the marriage] to the King" (the brackets in Kincaid's reconstruction indicate a [[Lacuna (manuscripts)|lacuna]] caused by damage to Buck's original manuscript, filled in from an early manuscript copy, and the two words are not in serious dispute) and expresses her hope that [[Anne Neville|the queen]] will soon die. See Kincaid, Introduction (1979), pp. xc–xciv; Kincaid, "Buck and the Elizabeth of York Letter: a reply to Dr. Hanham", ''The Ricardian'', Vol. 8, No. 101, pp. 46–49, June 1988; and Baldwin, p. 138</ref>

Buck originated the pattern adopted by all later defences of Richard III, weighing the evidence impartially and pointing out that suspicion has no weight from a legal point of view. He first summarises Richard's life and reign, then discusses the accusations against him in turn, criticising sources of information about them on the basis of their reasons for bias, referring to original authoritative documents and oral reports. He also discusses the legality of Richard's title and surveys his achievements.<ref name=ODNB/> Buck discovered and introduced important new historical sources, such as the ''[[Croyland Chronicle]]'' and through it the petition in Parliament (''[[Titulus Regius]]'') that declared Edward IV's children illegitimate and justified Richard III's accession to the crown<ref>Buck, ''History'' (1979), p. 46</ref> – a document that King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] tried, and almost managed, to suppress.<ref>Bryce, Tracy. [http://home.cogeco.ca/~richardiii/Titulus%20Regius.htm "Titulus Regius: The Title of the King"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901003910/http://home.cogeco.ca/~richardiii/Titulus%20Regius.htm |date=1 September 2013 }}, Richard III Society of Canada, Retrieved 31 October 2014.  See text of the repealing Act of Parliament, ordering that all copies be destroyed: [http://partyparcel.co.uk/information/price-guarantee.html#annullment "''Rotuli Parliamentorum'', A.D. 1485, 1 Henry VII"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902193242/http://www.partyparcel.co.uk/information/price-guarantee.html#annullment |date=2 September 2013 }}</ref> [[William Camden]] praised Buck's scholarship, calling him "a man learned in letters and who observed much in histories and shared it with me".<ref>Camden, William (1600). ''Britannia'', London, 1600, p. 726. (Translation from Latin)</ref>