Charles Ross evaluates Richard III within the violent political culture of late fifteenth-century England. Beginning with Richard’s service to Edward IV, he traces the protectorate crisis of 1483, the displacement of Edward V and the rapid seizure of the crown.
The biography weighs the evidence surrounding the Princes in the Tower, rebellion and Richard’s attempts to govern and reform. Ross follows the road to Bosworth and the destruction of Yorkist monarchy, offering a rigorous account that neither accepts Tudor vilification uncritically nor excuses the ruthless decisions that made Richard king.