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Richard III

Brother, Protector, King

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Richard III

By: Chris Skidmore
Narrated by: Roger Davis
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Summary

 The last Plantagenet king remains one of England's most famous and controversial monarchs. There are few parallels in English history that can match the drama of Richard III's reign, witnessed in its full bloody intensity.

A dedicated brother and loyal stalwart to the Yorkist dynasty for most of his early life, Richard's personality was forged in the tribulation of exile and the brutality of combat. An ambitious nobleman and successful general with a loyal following, Richard was a man who could claim to have achieved every ambition in life, except one.

Within months of his brother Edward IV's early death, Richard stunned the nation when he seized the throne for himself and disinherited his nephews. Having put to death his rivals, Richard's two-year reign would become one of the most tumultuous in English history, ending in treachery and with his death on the battlefield at Bosworth.

Chris Skidmore's biography strips back the legends that surround Richard's life and reign, and by returning to original manuscript evidence, he rediscovers the man as contemporaries saw him. Rather than vindicate or condemn, Skidmore's compelling study presents every facet of Richard's personality as it deserves to be seen: as one of the most important figures in medieval history, whose actions and behaviour underline the true nature of power in an age of great drama, upheaval and instability.

Read by Roger Davis

(p) 2017 Orion Publishing Group©2016 Chris Skidmore Europe Great Britain Medieval Politics & Activism Royalty England Middle Ages Tudor
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Critic reviews

Exhaustively researched, scrupulously even-handed and a genuinely fresh approach to one of the most ploughed-over and controversial reigns in English history. Skidmore neatly sidesteps the by-now sterile controversy about Richard's character and draws instead on the unusually full documentation of the reign to offer a detailed and persuasive narrative of what Richard actually did - and, at least as importantly, what he was thought to have done (David Starkey)
A fresh, gripping and vivid portrait of a Richard III who is not just chilling, ruthless and terrifying but also a practical politician in a brutal age - a man of his time (Simon Sebag Montefiore)
A bold and fresh new biography of one of the most enduringly fascinating monarchs in all of British history, steeped in the latest research and majestically narrated (Dan Jones)
A deeply absorbing account - intelligent, forensic and thought-provoking - of one of the most dramatic, disturbed and disturbing moments in English history (Helen Castor)
Thrillingly paced, meticulously researched, refreshingly free of psychological speculations, Skidmore's supremely insightful biography is a joy to read (John Guy)
A portrait that chills you to the bone ... Skidmore describes Richard's death in horrifying detail ... It marks the bloody climax to a biography in which the unfolding horror comes from the slow burn of detail drawn from manuscript sources and recent scholarship judiciously presented, and in a story well told (Leanda de Lisle)
Richard III, of all the English monarchs, deserves a fair hearing and Chris Skidmore's meticulous account does justice to this vilified king. With forensic detail, Skidmore looks at sources as well as rumours to build a picture of the last Plantagenet monarch. What shines out from this modern biography is the author's attempt to be fair to the last English king to ride in battle, who took murderous decisions in life; but died a hero (Philippa Gregory)
Scholarly and genuinely objective ... Skidmore is adept at placing in proper perspective the dilemmas that faced Richard ... Highly readable (Andrew Roberts)
Skidmore's new biography of Richard is a full and measured account of his subject ... [He] tells the story with style and the empathy of a well-trained historian ... Skidmore has given us an eminently readable account of Richard's life and reign, firmly anchored in fifteenth-century politics and culture (David Grummitt)
It is all but impossible to write either something fresh, or something fair, about Richard III, yet Chris Skidmore has pulled off both feats. Wide-ranging research brings out a Richard who is neither the crookbacked villain nor the victim, but a man for all political seasons, whose fall illumines his violent, complex age (Sarah Gristwood, author of Game of Queens)
All stars
Most relevant
The fly in the ointment is the narrator's unnecessary attempt at impersonating the foreign participants, e.g. Mancini, with a made up accent which wasn't Italian nor French nor anything I recognized, but from some mysterious land that only exists in his head; it wasn't even consistent, some times Mancini's speech reverts back to an English accent in the same sentence! Off putting that in my opinion, but it doesn't detract from the quality of Chris Skidmore's work.

Well written and researched but...

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Didn't want to stop listening once I started. Well narrated and a gripping tale. It was good to find out the true story and not just Shakespeare's take on it.

Excellent

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In an introduction, the author tells of the intensive researching put into the making of this book but there is almost nothing new here although part two becomes heavier reading as acts and official paperwork begins to be rolled out for the reader's inspection. Until then this had read more like a novel, the everyday story of battling nobility, up to and including the death of Richard's brother, Edward. Then comes organised costs of clothes, land and so forth which would have been far more Interesting had there been a way of knowing a comparable costing in today's money. What would one shilling and nine pence be worth today?
The use of contemporary documents, though offering nothing really new, does make this book much easier to read, giving individuals views of the man. But there is a flaw and that is that, when looking back in time, people's interpretations can be widely different when observing the same facts. And here it becomes obvious that Skidmore cannot be impartial but offers only his own interpretation as fact.
And narrator, Roger David, reinforces those ideas subtly, by slight shading of presentation. A pity.
The very last chapter, however, does attempt to partially restore Richard's reputation, however, mentioning Richard's courage in battle admired even by his enemies, the recent finding of his remains and how, post the accession of Henry Tudor, the 'history' began to be rewritten as those who previously praised the former king began to be censorious in attempts to gain favour from the new sovereign.

An easy read, well narrated,, but biased and missing too much

"Loyalty bonds me."

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Skidmore squeezes every drop out of the available primary source material to present a convincing portrait of a man caught up in a bloody dynastic power struggle. The death of his brother Edward IV left Richard in an unenviable dilemma in which he committed horrific crimes in order to preserve his own life and that of his family. A very good account of his life and death indeed.

The last Plantagenets bloody reign.

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Excellent book, balanced, well researched and informative.
Would recommend to anyone interested in this period of history.

Balanced biography

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