Richard III of England

:For the play Richard III by William Shakespeare, see Richard III (play)

Fiction about Richard III

A lasting mystery surrounding the accession of Richard was the disappearance and presumed death of Richard's nephews, known as the Princes in the Tower. One of the most readable accounts of the evidence on all sides of the question is Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, written in 1951 (when some of the sources now available had not yet come to light). Another extremely rich view of the reign of Edward IV and Richard III is The Sunne in Splendor, by Sharon Kay Penman. An award-winning novel published in 2003, The Rose of York: Love & War by Sandra Worth, also presents the account of Richard III from the Ricardian viewpoint. Worth argues that Richard III's contribution to shaping a just society by improvements to the legal system was buried by the Tudors because it conflicted with the image of a villainous and hated monarch that they wished to present.

Related Topics:
Princes in the Tower - Josephine Tey - 1951 - Sharon Kay Penman - Sandra Worth

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The American Branch of the Richard III Society carries out its own review of all the suspects in the case of Richard III, in "Whodunit?" in the online library at http://www.r3.org/bookcase/whodunit.html (external link).

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Another fictional representation is the 1939 film Tower of London, where Basil Rathbone is Richard and Boris Karloff his evil henchman. Interestingly, while this Richard is clearly the monster of Tudor legend, most of his deformity appears to be transferred to Mort, who almost resembles "Igor" of Frankenstein legends!

Related Topics:
1939 - Tower of London - Basil Rathbone - Boris Karloff

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Sadie Sanderson is a upcoming comic book about a 16-year-old with psychic powers that allow her to see ghosts. Among them is King Richard III, who is presented as a somewhat bad-tempered but deeply principled Chancellor of the Dead, who ably fills Sadie's longing for a father figure. Queen Anne Neville, Prince Edward of Middleham (Richard and Anne's son), are featured as well, and oddly enough, Richard finds a rival in Erik, The Phantom of the Opera. As a character, he is given to occasional moodiness due to almost constant physical pain, but Sadie sees through this and adores him.

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Additionally, a secret history of Richard III is presented in the British sitcom Blackadder.

Related Topics:
Secret history - Sitcom - Blackadder

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