Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 88

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Nigel Saul
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300149050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 529

Get Book Here

Book Description
Richard II is one of the most enigmatic of English kings. Shakespeare depicted him as a tragic figure, an irresponsible, cruel monarch who nevertheless rose in stature as the substance of power slipped from him. By later writers he has been variously portrayed as a half-crazed autocrat or a conventional ruler whose principal errors were the mismanagement of his nobility and disregard for the political conventions of his age. This book—the first full-length biography of Richard in more than fifty years—offers a radical reinterpretation of the king. Nigel Saul paints a picture of Richard as a highly assertive and determined ruler, one whose key aim was to exalt and dignify the crown. In Richard's view, the crown was threatened by the factiousness of the nobility and the assertiveness of the common people. The king met these challenges by exacting obedience, encouraging lofty new forms of address, and constructing an elaborate system of rule by bonds and oaths. Saul traces the sources of Richard's political ideas and finds that he was influenced by a deeply felt orthodox piety and by the ideas of the civil lawyers. He shows that, although Richard's kingship resembled that of other rulers of the period, unlike theirs, his reign ended in failure because of tactical errors and contradictions in his policies. For all that he promoted the image of a distant, all-powerful monarch, Richard II's rule was in practice characterized by faction and feud. The king was obsessed by the search for personal security: in his subjects, however, he bred only insecurity and fear. A revealing portrait of a complex and fascinating figure, the book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the politics and culture of the English middle ages.

Author: Paul Murray Kendall
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1447495470
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 692

Get Book Here

Book Description
Richard III (2 October 1452 - 22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the fictional historical play Richard III by William Shakespeare. In 2012, an archaeological excavation was conducted on a city council car park using ground-penetrating radar on the site once occupied by Greyfriars, Leicester. The University of Leicester confirmed on 4 February 2013 that the skeleton found in the excavation is that of Richard III, based on the results of radiocarbon dating, a comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, and a comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of Richard III's eldest sister, Anne of York.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 446

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Charles Gross
Publisher: London, Green
ISBN:
Category : Classification
Languages : en
Pages : 650

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Horace Walpole
Publisher: London : Printed for J. Dodsley
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Menella Bute Smedley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Charles Dawson (F. S. A.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hastings (England)
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church and state
Languages : en
Pages : 1306

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Kathryn Warner
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445641321
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 517

Get Book Here

Book Description
The dramatic life and mysterious death of the reviled Edward II, focusing on the vivid personality of the erratic and contradictory king, his unorthodox lifestyle and his passionate relationships with his male favourites, including Piers Gaveston