Famously depicted as 'Crookback Dick', and as Shakespeare's
'bunch-back'd toad', the alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower
and the warrior vanquished at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III
is one of England's most enigmatic monarchs. Now, with the discovery of
Richard's bones under a car park in Leicester in 2012 and their reburial
in early 2015, the obsession with this mysterious king has been further
ignited.
Historian David Horspool tells the story of Richard, Duke of
Gloucester's birth and upbringing and his part as a young man in the
closing years of the Wars of the Roses; describes what really happened
to the Princes in the Tower, and explains why this character has become
one of the most compelling and divisive rulers in the history of the
British Isles. In his final chapter, with a ringside seat to the pomp
and circumstance of Richard's reburial in Leicester in 2015, Horspool
explains why the public fascination with this flawed king has been so
enduring.
Richard III: A Ruler and his Reputation is concerned to examine the
legend as well as the man. Have we bought in to the myth of Richard III
as the personification of evil, a view maintained by his Tudor
successors and publicised by Raphael Holinshed and William Shakespeare?
Or should we believe the Ricardian narrative of a much maligned monarch,
warrior and statesman made popular by the Richard III Society and
conceded in part by some historians and archaeologists? These questions
and more are discussed in this fascinating insight into one of England's
most elusive kings.
