12 Months of Shakespeare Readalong, play the first: Richard III

These are the participants:
LadyKnightNiko (hostess)
Ibis3
playtheman
Beachlover2003
istop4books
knitwit
Molyneux
Meirionwen
fsr44
buffra
mojosmom

And the schedule (with links to the appropriate Book Talk Forum Threads):
- Thread 1, Feb. 3, Act I, Act II scenes 1 & 2 *active*
- Thread 2, Feb. 10, Act II scenes 3 & 4, Act III scenes 1, 2, & 3 *active*
- Thread 3, Feb. 17, Act III scenes 4-7, Act IV scenes 1 & 2 *active*
- Thread 4, Feb. 21, Act IV scenes 3-5, Act V

Historical Background
When Edward III died, his son Edward the Black Prince had predeceased him. The Black Prince's son, Richard came to the throne as Richard II but he was just a boy of 10, so his uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas, Duke of Gloucester became regents. As Richard matured he became increasingly unpopular because he fostered his own group of friends and councillors and ignored the established nobility, because he sought to make peace with France, and because he was suspected of having a hand in the murder of his uncle Thomas. Eventually, the nobles had had enough and forced Richard to abdicate in favour of his cousin, John of Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke (now Henry IV). However, the legitimate heir to the childless Richard II was in fact Roger Mortimer, the Earl of March who was the grandson of John of Gaunt's elder brother Lionel (Duke of Clarence).

By the time of Henry V's death, the grandson of Roger (son of his daughter Anne Mortimer and Richard, Earl of Cambridge [who was also a cousin of Richard II] ) , Richard Duke of York was ready to make a play for the throne. Henry VI was extremely unpopular for his military losses in France, had bouts of mental illness and had no power to curtail feuds among the nobility. During one of the periods of mental illness, Richard Duke of York was named regent and started to take over, but upon Henry's recovery was forced out of the court by Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou. Given Henry's weakness, she soon became the de facto leader of the Lancastrian faction. Following a battle and another bout of mental illness for the king, Richard was again appointed Protector. Even after the king's recovery, Richard was kept on the council this time but Margaret eventually forced her husband to send him to a post in Ireland (presumably to protect the claim of her infant son Edward). After several years of intermittent fighting between the two factions, the Yorkists had a decisive win at the battle of Northampton and Henry was taken prisoner. However, the supporters of Richard were not prepared to make him king; instead Parliament declared him Henry's successor, and disinherited the 6 year old prince Edward. Margaret and Edward were exiled from London.

Richard gathered his forces and went north to confront Margaret's army, which outnumbered his two-to-one, at Wakefield. This time Margaret was victorious: Richard was killed, and his seventeen year-old son, Edmund the Earl of Rutland, was captured and beheaded. The eighteen year-old Edward, Earl of March, Richard's eldest son, was now Duke of York and heir to the throne. During another victorious battle for the Lancastrians, Henry VI was recovered. The people of London and the Parliament were afraid of Margaret's looting and ravishing army, and disapproved of the events at Wakefield, and decided to make Edward king, despite Henry's still being alive (the legitimacy of his claim to the throne helped to justify this action, though Edward said he wouldn't have a coronation until Henry and Margaret were executed or exiled). There was another major battle between the two forces at Towton and the Lancastrians were soundly defeated. Henry and Margaret with their son fled to Scotland and the court of James III. A few years later Henry was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Meanwhile all is not well among the Yorkists. Edward has a falling out with his supporter Warwick, primarily over his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville (former maid of Margaret of Anjou and widow of Sir John Grey who died fighting on the Lancastrian side; her two sons from this first marriage are Dorset and Lord Grey in the play). Warwick and Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence form an alliance and imprison Edward and have Elizabeth's father executed. George's plan to have Edward declared illegitimate so the crown will pass to him is foiled by his other brother Richard, Duke of York and the majority of nobles. Warwick and Clarence flee to France where Warwick and Margaret of Anjou form an alliance. A marriage is arranged between Warwick's daughter, Anne Neville (14 yrs old) and Edward, the former Prince of Wales (now 17 yrs old). Seeing that there is little likelihood now of Warwick supporting his bid for the throne, Clarence reverts back to supporting his brother Edward. Warwick invades England from France and his brother John Neville who has a huge army switches sides to support his brother. King Edward and Richard Duke of York are forced to flee to Burgundy and Henry VI is restored to the throne. With the help of Burgundy, King Edward and Richard invade in their turn and defeat the Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. Edward, the Lancastrian heir was killed in the battle but Tudor legend says he was murdered by Edward IV. Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London and soon murdered in order to make the throne secure for the house of York. George, the Duke of Clarence (who had married Anne's sister Isabel Neville in 1469) was restored to royal favour for a time.

And some other useful links:
- our book online and for free at Project Gutenberg!
- Richard III on Wikipedia--beware of spoilers!
- online text of the play with historical notes from the Richard III society
- the Plantagenet family tree from the Royal Family's website (PDF)
- the Wars of the Roses on Wikipedia

12 months of Shakespeare
February- Richard III
March- The Comedy of Errors
April- Titus Andronicus
May- Richard II
June- Much Ado About Nothing
July- Twelfth Night
August- The Merry Wives of Windsor
September- Othello
October- King Lear
November- Antony and Cleopatra
December- The Tempest
January- Henry VIII