Richard III: A Ruler and His Reputation

Horspool, David

ISBN 10: 1472902998 / ISBN 13: 9781472902993

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London, 2015

About this Item

This mint unread copy is bound in cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling to the spine, tight, white, bright and square. The unclipped dust wrapper is in mint condition. Richard III is an obsession with a vast number of people. The Richard III Society has a huge membership. Shakespeare has helped. Now with the discovery of Richard III's bones under a car park in Leicester the obsession has been even further ignited. Here is one historical subject of compelling interest to scholars but also the huge general reading public who continue to read and buy narrative history - this is the Anthony Beevor, Amanda Forman and Niall Ferguson market. Horspool is as concerned to examine the legend as well as the man, which is every bit as interesting. Have we subsequently considered 'Crook Back Dick' to be the personification of evil and if so how far is this justified? And consequently, where should his remains now be buried. In a Cathedral, a churchyard or burned and scattered to the wind on some blasted heath? The bones of the Princes in the Tower are buried in Westminster Abbey. This is riveting material and the perfect substance for a big selling book. Ref TT5.

Seller Inventory # 016318

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Richard III: A Ruler and His Reputation
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472902998
• ISBN 13: 9781472902993
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Mint
• Dust Jacket Condition: Mint

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

David Horspool is History Editor of the Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of The English Rebel (Viking/Penguin), King Alfred the Great (Amberley) and, with Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove, The People Speak (Canongate).