Richard III

by Matthew Lewis

Overview

King Richard III remains one of the most infamous and recognizable monarchs in English or British history, despite only sitting on the throne for two years and fifty-eight days. His hold on the popular imagination is largely due to the fictional portrayal of him by William Shakespeare which, combined with the workings of five centuries of rumor and gossip, has created two opposing versions of Richard. In fiction he is the evil, scheming murderer who revels in his plots, but many of the facts point towards a very different man.

Dissecting a real Richard III from the fictional versions that have taken hold is made difficult by the inability to discern motives in many instances, leaving a wide gap for interpretation that can be favorable or damning in varying degrees. It is the facts that will act as the scalpel to begin the operation of finding a truth obscured by fiction.

Richard III may have been a monster, a saint, or just a man trying to survive, but any view of him should be based in the realities of his life, not the myths built on rumor and theater. How much of what we think we know about England’s most controversial monarch will remain when the facts are sifted from the fictions?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526727978
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	05/23/2019
Series:	Fact and Fictions
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	314,390
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Matthew Lewis trained in law and is now a full time author of historical fiction and non-fiction. He also blogs on his website, Matt’s History Blog, and can be found on Twitter as @mattlewisauthor. His main interest is medieval history and he has a number of books on that topic, including The Wars of the Roses: The Key Players in the Struggle for Supremacy and Richard, Duke of York: King by Right.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 A Son of York 5

Chapter 2 Regaining The Kingdom 23

Chapter 3 In The North 32

Chapter 4 The Crisis of 1483 49

Chapter 5 Taking The Throne 67

Chapter 6 The Business of Ruling 79

Chapter 7 Personal Disasters 85

Chapter 8 The Battle of Bosworth Field 97

Chapter 9 Richard's Legacy 108

Conclusion 125

Editorial Reviews

The informed and informative result of remarkably painstaking and meticulous research that is deftly organized and presented so as to be of especially impressive value to scholars and non-specialist general readers alike, this edition of "Richard III" by Matthew Lewis will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community and academic library late Medieval English Biography collections in general, and King Richard III supplemental studies reading lists in particular

Midwest Book Review