History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third

No English king has been the subject of more heated debate than Richard III. In this 1898 revised edition of his classic biography, Gairdner attempts to produce a more balanced analysis of the sources than most earlier writers. While largely accepting the anti-Yorkist position shown by Thomas More and Shakespeare, he does reject some of the crimes attributed to Richard, such as the murder of his brother George, Duke of Clarence. He states at the outset that Richard was not a monster but the product of his times, when violence and ruthlessness were common political weapons. He also offers a more rounded picture of the king, showing good points as well as bad, rather than a caricature of evil. The most significant addition to this edition is the substantial appendix on the imposture of Perkin Warbeck, making use of continental sources hitherto unknown to English historians.