RICHARD III IN THE NORTH

England's most controversial King was Richard III. Forever associated with the murder of his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, he divides the nation. As spectacular as his death at Bosworth in August 1485, the last King of England to die in battle, the astonishing discovery of his bones under a Leicester car park five centuries later renewed interest in him and re-opened old debates. Is he the world's most wicked uncle or is he in the words of the man who most smeared him 'a prince more sinned again than sinning'? Richard was not born in the north and neither did he die there, but this detailed look at his life retraces his steps over the 33 years that he lived, and focusses on the area that he loved and made his own. He had castles at Middleham and Sheriff Hutton, Penrith and Sandal; he fought the Scots along the northern border and on their own territory; his son was born at Middleham and was invested as Prince of Wales at York Minster where Richard planned to set up a college of 100 priests. His white boar device can be found in obscure corners of churches and castles; his laws, framed in the single parliament of his short reign, gave rights to the people who served him and loved him north of the Trent. And when he felt threatened or outnumbered by his enemies during those turbulent years of the Wars of the Roses, it was to the men of the North that Richard turned for support and advice. They became his Knights of the Body; members of the Council of the North which outlived Richard by 150 years. They died with him at Bosworth. The story is not divorced from the violent politics of the day or from events that happened far to the south, but the North was Richard's home and the place he loved. Best known for his true crime and crime fiction works, M. J. Trow was educated as a military historian at King's College, London. 176pp, gazetteer, battle maps, castle plans and photographs this is a full re-examination of the Tudor bias, culminating in Shakespeare's play which continues to distort the truth until today.