"Richard III ruled England for a mere twenty-six months, yet few English monarchs remain as compulsively fascinating, and none has been more persistently vilified.

Charles Ross assesses the king within the context of his violent age and explores the critical questions of the reign: why and how Richard Plantagenet usurped the throne; the belief that he ordered the murder of 'The Princes in the Tower'; the events leading to the battle of Bosworth in 1485; and the death of the Yorkist dynasty with Richard himself. In a new foreword, Professor R. A.

Griffiths identifies the attributes which have made Ross's account the leading biography in the field, and assesses the impact of research published since it first appeared in 1981."--BOOK JACKET.