This Son of York

I enjoyed this fictionalized account of good King Richard III. Smith did a lovely job of bringing Richard and his world to life.

Richard is the fourth and youngest son of Richard, Duke of York. The War of the Roses (or the Cousins' War) started when Richard, who had a much better claim to the throne than King Henry VI, was named Henry's heir, despite Henry having a son of his own. Henry was a very weak and ineffectual king who suffered periods of confusion. England needed a strong ruler, and Richard really was the better choice. Naturally war ensued between the Yorks and the Lancasters. The Duke was killed, along with his second son, Edmund, but his oldest son, Edward, claimed the throne and became king. There was some back and forth, but Edward ruled until his untimely death, and that's when things got really sticky. 

George, Duke of Clarence, the third son, had been put to death for treason and his son was barred from the line of succession. Edward had two sons: Edward and Richard, and he named his youngest brother, Richard, protector of the realm. When Richard gets to London, he's met with a bishop who has a shocking tale: Edward was precontracted in marriage before he married Elizabeth Woodville, therefore his two sons are bastards and cannot inherit the throne. The only one left to be king? Richard himself. 

I truly believe Richard did not want the throne. Contemporary reports at the time (at least the ones that the Tudors didn't destroy in their attempt to rewrite history) talked about his agony over it. He did, reluctantly, agree that he was the right person and was crowned king. 

He was a good king. He was beset by tragedy (his son and wife both died while he was king). He was always being challenged and stabbed in the back by people he trusted. And then he met his terrible, unjust fate at Bosworth Field and England's last warrior king was brutally slain by the forces working with the usurper, Henry Tudor. 

Was Richard perfect? No, of course not. Was he as evil as history remembers? Absolutely not. I'm so grateful for the hard work the Ricardian Society has done over the years to right the wrongs of the last 500 years and restore his reputation.