The Art of Kingship: Richard II
A precocious tyrant? A charismatic Renaissance prince? An out-of-touch autocrat? Or a progressive monarch maligned by usurpers? Caroline M. Barron assesses the reign of Richard II.
Richard II continues to command the sympathy and attention of men and women of later generations through a compelling admixture. of charm, power and enigmatic wilfulness. He owes his continuing attraction, in part, to a great work of literature, Shakespeare's haunting portrait of the King in Richard II. Contemporary controversies and later debates have served to push the King himself further from view as historians and biographers occupy the front of the stage.
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