To fascinate Sir Thomas More and Shakespeare, Horace Walpole and G.K. Chesterton, is no mean feat. The Life and Death of King Richard the Third is arguably its author’s greatest historical play (although Dr Johnson differed), while More’s biography of him was admitted to be ‘a very beautiful one’ even by Walpole: the latter’s elegant Historic Doubts about Richard’s villainy were admired by Edward Gibbon. In modern times the King has attracted a remarkable assortment of writers. He is the object of a romantic cult that has recently been given new life by the discovery of his skeleton.1 Last of the old Plantagenet dynasty, Richard was not just the last Englishman but the sole Northcountryman – if by adoption – to reign over England. We have had English Kings, French Kings, Welsh Kings, Scots Kings and German Kings, but only once a Northcountry King. His reign was the one reign when the southern English had cause to resent an influx of Northerners into positions of power and influence.
