Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third

Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.9

Word count: 200K words
Chapters: 21

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third by Horace WalpoleAuthor: Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Dec 28, 2005

Editor's review

Horace Walpole was an eighteenth-century English writer and antiquarian, and the author of the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. This book, Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third, takes a polemical stance, questioning the popular accounts of Richard III, especially the tradition dating from Thomas More that portrays Richard as a deformed tyrant. Its significance lies not in offering definitive conclusions but in demonstrating an early method of historical skepticism: the author examines the sources, points out contradictions among the accounts, and reminds readers to distinguish rumor and propaganda from reliable evidence. For readers interested in English history, historiography, or the debate over Richard III, this is a representative document; for general readers, it can also serve as a case study in understanding "how history is written." Readers should note that the author himself has a position, and his arguments do not meet the standards of modern scholarly verification; they are best read alongside later research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in late medieval English history and the debate over Richard III
Students studying historiography who want to learn about early methods of source criticism
Readers who enjoy polemical writing and are willing to follow the author in examining the evidence point by point
Those studying eighteenth-century English thought and antiquarian culture

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for a systematic, neutral modern biography of Richard III
Beginners lacking basic background in English history who want an easy introduction
Readers who accept only definite conclusions and do not wish to confront disputes over historical sources

Reading tips

First gain a basic understanding of Richard III's life and of Tudor-era historical writing, then approach the book's arguments.
While reading, note the sources the author cites, distinguish his inferences from the evidence, and form your own judgment.
After finishing, compare modern historians' research on the same questions and observe how methods of argument and conclusions have changed.
You can treat the book as a sample of historical writing, focusing on how the author organizes doubts and rebuttals.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an attempt to vindicate Richard III?

It does question the traditional narrative that portrays Richard III as a tyrant, but its focus is on pointing out doubtful sources and contradictions in the accounts, not on providing a complete vindication. The author has his own position, and readers should treat it as a polemical work rather than a final verdict.

Can I read it without any background in English history?

It will be difficult. The book involves fifteenth-century English royal succession, personal relationships, and early chronicle accounts, and it is hard to follow the arguments without background knowledge. It is advisable to read a concise introduction to Richard III's life first, then read this book.

Do the book's source methods still hold up today?

It reflects an early awareness of source skepticism, but its methods and standards of evidence differ from modern scholarly verification, and some of its inferences have been corrected by later research. Its value lies more in showing an early form of historical debate than in being cited as a final conclusion.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797 Author

Horace Walpole (1717–1797) was an English writer, letter writer and antiquarian. Details of his life available on this site are limited, yet his surviving works are enough to show his literary standing. The site holds nineteen of his works, mainly the two-volume Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, the multi-volume collections Letters of Horace Walpole and The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, and the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto, included in Shorter Novels, Eighteenth Century. The Castle of Otranto is often regarded as a founding work of Gothic fiction, with its castle setting, supernatural atmosphere and intense emotion opening a narrative mode of lasting influence. His letters and memoirs are lively and closely observed, and remain valuable sources for the politics and society of eighteenth-century Britain. The site classifies his works under inspirational growth, for reference.