FOREWORD
This is a very personal interpretation of Richard IlL No book on the
Heathcliff of English Kings can be anything else. It is difficult to
avoid having strong views on a man who committed the nastiest
state murders in English history.
long time I believe6 passionately in his innocence (so well and per-
suasively argued in ~osephine Tey s charming novel， The Daughter of
Time). As I grew older and learnt to appreciate Thomas More， I began
to wonder how someone of such integrity couId stoop to character
assassination--even though posthumous---as he appeared to， in his
history of Richard. Then， having read Paul Murray Kendall， I was
inclined to think that the Duke of Buckingham had killed Edward V
and his brother (although this was not Kendall s view). Yet More，
not a man to tell lies， still made me uneasy. My final position as a
believer in Richard s innocence was a despairing compromise. Some-
thlng mustbavegonewrong hehadbeenmisunderstoodbyhis
henchmen， who perhaps killed the boys during a crisis.
At last I read the actual sources， the testimony ot raen who had
been observers in London when he seized power in ~483. Reluc-
tantly， I became convinced of h s guilt. Once the conversion started
l found myself suspecting that the seizure and the murders were
both part of a contingency p an--in case his brother Edward IV
should die prematurely--which he had laid well in advance.
As others have discovered before me， the evil Richard is even more
interesting than the good R chard. Instead of being the victim of a
ost cause， he becomes one of the most alarming figures in European
history. But to accept his guilt it is indispensable to read at least a
toSUmmathe b~ook.~f the sources. Hence my regrettably complex Introduction
This is the most hosffie life of Richard III to appear for over
a century. I must apologise for any affront to the feelings of so
many people who are---and who always will be---convinced of his
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