Was King Richard III a good king?

A page from Richard III’s Book of Hours. At the root of Richard’s public and private life was a genuine, if conventional, piety. He made more religious endowments than any other Medieval king. He regarded York as his ‘capital’ and the Minster was the major recipient of his generosity. read more

Fortunately, Shakespeare knew the rules of the game well. When he brought out Richard III, he was keenly aware that his arch villain was not some random monarch from a bygone age — Richard was the last Plantagenet king of England, whose throne Henry Tudor (Henry VII) had seized in battle at Bosworth Field a century earlier. read more