I, too, first became interested in Richard III by reading Josephine Tey's fascinating novel, 'The Daughter of Time." It convinced me that Richard has been greatly and unjustly maligned by history. The besmitching of Richard III's name and reputation was given a major assist by Shakespeare and has been carried forward by some recent writers such as Alison Weir in her "The Princes in the Tower." The best bioraphy of Richard III is by Paul Murray Kendall and entitled simply, "Richard the Third." Richard was, for those times, a just and honorable ruler. He had, however, powerful enemies who succeeded in bringing him down after a brief reign. He fought valiantly at Bosworth only to be betrayed by the Stanleys and others. The line he is said to have uttered, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" is Shakespeare's. He did have his horse killed under him and died fighting on foot. I had not been aware of the song until seeing this thread. If anyone can post the complete lyrics, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll have to check and see if there's a recording on YouTube.

Reiver 2