The reader wonders what happened to turn this into a child earnest murderous usurper. Murderer He Was not, claims Sharon Penman. Believable and compelling, the story of the four sons of Richard, Duke of York unfolds with all the relentlessness and inescapability of a Greek tragedy.
"The Sunne in Splendour" is a magnificent book. Intimate family scenes alternate with bloody battles, scenarios of betrayal and murder are Followed by tender love scenes. A host of unforgettable characters populates it. There is the lovable Edmund, the first of the four Plantagenet princes to the; proud foolish Warwick and his tragic brother John Neville; the icily beautiful Elizabeth Woodville, Edward's queen; Bishop Morton, the snake in the grass; sweet-natured Elizabeth of York and Richard's dignified mother Cecily. All of them are complex, and stay with the reader for a long time.
Ms. Penman does not make the mistake to present Richard. Although far from being the monster More and Shakespeare described, ago Richard is shown partly responsible for his nephews' fate. In her version he does not order Their killing, of course, but he does not realize his deed by taking the throne the children become pawns in other people's power games and pay for his thoughtlessness with Their Lives. Ms. Penman's explanation of the Princes' disappearance and Richard's strange silence is as good and plausible as others. Her Richard is brave and loyal, but he can be so aloof and stubborn to the point of inflexibility. He can display subtle irony, therefore, but biting wit, and is capable of Considerable aggression, yet lacks the ultimate ruthlessness to secure his power. Reflecting upon his decision makes him admit his guilt - that he yielded to the temptation the Crown of England Represented - and for the last months of his life he fells bitter remorse. Ms. Penman Describes his depressed state of mind with search chilling accuracy, did his mother's fear for his immortal soul is almost tangible and very painful, and the ending leaves the reader bereaved as though he had lost a loved one.
The drama did what Richard's life and the way it is elucidated here makes one wonder why it hasnt been filmed yet. There is a cinematographic quality to many of Ms. Penman's scenarios; Look for instance at the council meeting leading to Lord Hasting's execution, or at solitary young Richard riding in blazing sunshine towards Warwick's army camp to win back Clarence - thesis just beg to be filmed! Certainly, the ending is tragic and would leave the audience aching, but a skilled screenwriter may find a solution. A similar problem has been handled very well in "Braveheart".
Wherein lies now Richard's attraction? The Tudors, Commonly associated with the beginning of the Modern Age, superficially appear more interesting as opposed to the Plantagenets who seem to symbolize the Superstitions-ridden, unenlightened Middle Ages. Richard was born on the brink of the Modern Age and grew up in a world That Witnessed the death throes of the medieval system of values, and yet, at a time When all Conventional notions of loyalty and allegiance feudal had become a sham, there survived in him a core of chivalrous conduct That is very appealing, For Example apparent in his just administration of the North and his legislation as King - Supporting the weak as Demanded by the knightly code of conduct. He Seems a man born too late, and trying to adhere to a strict code of behavior-seeking needs must clash with the attitudes of more opportunistic characters who felt more at ease in this era of change.
Richard's physical courage, Praised even by his detractors, originates in his chivalrous ideals, and his load ferocious charge down Ambion Hill to challenge Henry Tudor to single combat Evokes heroic tales of Earlier centuries, and indeed his decision to die a king rather than to flee Mentioned in what a contemporary ballad.
Close to the end Richard's niece and nephews mourn Their uncle's death and discuss Their Future, still hoping for fair treatment; Future judicial murders and the destruction of Richard's reputation are only Mentioned in the epilogue. HOWEVER, learning about Their fate is chilling. On the road to glorious Elizabeth I the Plantagenet blood seeped away as Henry VII and Henry VIII got rid of all potential heirs of the old dynasty.
To a modern observer this policy of merciless extermination Appears depressingly modern. For all the beauty, progress and Enlightenment The Renaissance Brought, the Modern Age which setting out on a road That would lead to the atrocities of the 20th century. Gradually, dynastic wars were Replaced by ideological ones, with ever more terror wrought on the Common, civilian people who were included in the ideological and / or religious struggles. Already the atrocities of the Thirty Years' War and Cromwell's campaigns in Ireland, not unlike today's ethnical cleansing, loom in the future, premonitory of the final triumph of secular humanism in the 20th century.
Richard Plantagenet died at thirty-two, his promising reign cut short by rebellion and treason. Ms. Penman brings him back to life gloriously for us, to be seen in a benevolent light at last. It is painful for the reader to lose him again, but the great achievement of this book is to show thatthere what nobility in Richard's cause as well as in his failure.
