> >Look at Richard the Lionheart versus King John.

Not to mention poor old Richard III - it looks like even Shakespeare was prone to a bit of garbling.


The history of Richard III was originally written by Henry VII's Prime minister so it obviously paints him in a poor light. Shakespeare lived over 100 years later and may have used this biased history as the basis for his play.

I highly recommend the detective novel 'The daughter of time' by Josephine Tey (Penguin books) which deals with the supposed murder's of the two princes by Richard in the tower of London. It's a beautifully crafted novel dealing with some incredibly complex material and will leave you looking at that section of history in a whole new light. I just checked my library server and there are at least ten editions in print since it was first published in 1951. An excellent read!