REVIEW: Richard III-related books, trips and TV!

I have a confession to make: I’ve had a bit of an obsession with Richard III lately. Okay, so given that it was only last year that his remains were discovered after centuries of being lost in Leicester and in April this year that they were scientifically confirmed to be his “beyond a reasonable doubt”, it is probably understandable. But, having since April read five books, visited several places, seen an exhibition and watched a TV documentary and drama series related to Richard, I have been a bit obsessed by the man even by Ricardian standards. Still, it’s all nicely enriched my knowledge of this controversial monarch and enabled me to write this fun review of all the Richard III stuff that I’ve enjoyed when the man has rarely been more topical.

Richard III – in other people’s words 

As I’m an avid novel reader, it seems apt for me to begin my review by mentioning the novels related to Richard that I’ve been reading. Perhaps the best known and most influential novel related to Richard is Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time, so it should hardly be surprising that this was the first of the aforementioned novels that I read.

The Daughter of Time was originally published in 1951 and has been credited with encouraging the huge revision of opinion of Richard that has occurred since its publication. It tells the story of Alan Grant, a Scotland Yard Inspector who, while recovering from a broken leg in hospital, decides to investigate the mystery of Richard and the Princes in the Tower with help from young American researcher Brent Carradine.

The argument for Richard’s innocence put forward by the novel’s characters is essentially that made by Sir Clements Markham in a book about Richard published in 1906. The argument in the novel that – SPOILER ALERT – it is likely that Richard kept the princes alive during his reign and the boys were later murdered by Henry has, in my opinion at least, dated in several crucial ways. For example, Tey did not have access to some then-unpublished source material that contradicts the argument, like Dominic Mancini’s crucial account of his stay in England in 1483. Nonetheless, I reckon that some of the arguments in the novel, like that Tudor sympathiser John Morton was responsible for spreading rumours of Richard having murdered the princes, remain intriguing and apparently plausible.



Two other novels which include intriguing interpretations of what could have really happened to the princes are Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour and Robin Maxwell’s To the Tower Born. In the case of the former, I have only read the relatively few parts concerning the fate of the princes, which seem to suggest what I consider an especially credible theory: that – again, SPOILER ALERT - the duke of Buckingham, widely reported to be personally very ambitious, murdered the princes to further his own claim to the throne. The latter novel, meanwhile, suggests that Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor, arranged for kidnapping of the princes from the Tower to further her son’s attempts to take the throne – a theory that has become more fashionable recently and, to me, certainly seems similar in credibility to the above mentioned duke of Buckingham theory.

Still, though I found these novels well-researched and enlightening, I probably gained even greater insight about Richard from reading a non-fiction book by A. J. Pollard called Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. I bought my copy of this book in 2008 in preparation for first seriously learning about Richard through taking a university module dedicated to him. I’ve long enjoyed this book for its well-balanced view of Richard; it also includes some entertaining sections about many overlooked but intriguing cultural depictions of Richard.

Walking in Richard III’s footsteps - literally

Though I’ve certainly learned much about Richard through reading about him, I often find that visiting historical buildings and monuments can transport me to particular times in ways that books can never quite do. For that reason, I had long wanted to visit places with direct associations with Richard – and Richard appears unique among English monarchs in the sense of having direct associations with many places in North East England and Yorkshire.

One of these places is the town of Barnard Castle. Richard held the town’s lordship among many northern possessions during his time as duke of Gloucester before he became king. The castle at Barnard Castle was one of Richard’s northern residences and, though it is now very much ruined, it remains possible to see a carving of a boar, Richard’s personal emblem, in the roof of an oriel window there. Perhaps this carving is here because Richard especially liked the view, which certainly looked enchanting during my visit to the castle, through the window of the River Tees?

While at the ruins of the castle, I also bought the following English Heritage book at the same time as paying for my ticket for entry to the ruins. The book contains lots of intriguing information about the castle that certainly isn't straightforward to find elsewhere (for example, online), so I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about the castle and its history.

Richard had even stronger associations with the city of York; his son and heir, Edward, was crowned Prince of Wales as part of Richard’s three-week stay there and Richard planned the founding of a college of priests, which ultimately never went ahead, at the city’s cathedral. There are two particular places in York that are connected to Richard and fascinated me when I visited them; the first that I visited was the Richard III Museum, which I have already reviewed on this blog and includes a room the construction of which was funded by Richard, and an exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum including the physical scientific reconstruction of Richard’s head that is pictured below and appeared on TV earlier this year. On what TV programme exactly? Allow me to explain…

Richard III on the small screen

If you, like me, have a keen interest in Richard, you have probably watched the documentary about the discovery that was shown on Channel 4 shortly after it and called Richard III: The King in the Car Park. I certainly found the documentary revelatory and fascinating, even if the limitations of mainstream TV ensured that the programme makers couldn’t reveal quite as much as they likely wanted to. Fortunately, though, an expanded version of the documentary – a version which, by the way, I haven’t watched – is now available on DVD and available to buy through the link below.

Another piece of television related to Richard III that I enjoyed more recently was the BBC historical drama The White Queen. The series was based on three historical fiction novels by Philippa Gregory, each of which dedicated to a different woman significant to the story of the House of York’s rule over England. Frankly, I often felt while watching the series that it should have been based on no more than two of these novels, as I did sometimes find the myriad of subplots difficult to follow. However, the depiction of Richard was refreshingly sympathetic and well portrayed by Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard, who – also refreshingly – wasn’t too far off the age of the actual Richard at the time of the latter’s death. It was enough for me not to feel too bothered that the Battle of Bosworth Field was depicted in a forest rather than a field and in snowy weather even though the actual battle took place in August…