The Sunne in Splendour

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Nobility Marries Money: not exactly for Richard and Anne, but the Beauchamp inheritance was an issue with George who wanted it all for himself. Richard himself did gain financially from his marriage to Anne. Truth in Television. Alongside Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, this novel is considered to be one of the classics of Ricardian fiction. My Greatest Failure: On her deathbed, Elizabeth's greatest regret was not arranging Stillington's death herself.

When Edward visits Richard in his northern holdings, he recognizes how popular his younger brother has become and admits he doesn't like it. All of these whispers and plans within plans make for a perfect firestorm to be set upon England's starving lower classes, for as someone once said: fealty is not stronger than the blood that is spilled on the battlefield of power. Series Undying Loyalty: Richard towards Edward — for all their disagreements, some enormous and seemingly irreconcilable, Richard never turns on his most beloved brother. Will always has this towards Edward... but not Richard.The Sunne in Splendour is a historical novel written by Sharon Kay Penman. Penman became interested in the subject of Richard III while a student and wrote a manuscript that was stolen from her car. She rewrote the manuscript, which was published in 1982. Most people, including some Lancastrians it is implied, don't believe for a second that Edouard of Lancaster is the son of Henry VI, but since the paternal suspects are all also descended from Edward III, they say nothing. The Yorkists know they can't prove anything, but they also certainly don't believe the childlike Henry VI fathered him. The book takes this far more seriously than the rumor about Edward IV.

Knight Templar Parent: Marguerite d'Anjou is obsessed with securing the throne for her son, Edouard. Penman received her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin, she majored in history, and also received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Rutgers University School of Law, and later worked as a tax lawyer. Ms. Penman's novel, rich in detail and research, attempts to set the record straight . . . it is an uncommonly fine novel, one that brings a far-off time to brilliant life." Richard's is his poor judge of character, causing him to trust certain people he really ought not. As he all but publicly admits before the final battle, had he taken a firmer, more lethal hand with proven traitors and the disloyal, he would not have arrived at the final hour in such a weak position. Second Love: Henry VII was this to Bess, who still thought kindly of Richard after she became Queen of England.

This novel provides examples of:

Historical Hero Upgrade: Richard, possibly. Penman gives him a more than charitable portrayal and is upfront about this in her author's notes, believing him to have been a major victim of Written by the Winners whose alleged crimes are not particularly credible. Cleanly exonerating him of the infamous disappearance of the "Princes in the Tower" is probably the biggest example. This special thirtieth anniversary edition of the bestselling The Sunne in Splendour, features an author's note from Sharon Penman. The Un-Favourite: Richard's bastard son Johnny is acutely aware of being this compared to his younger legitimate brother Ned. When Ned dies Johnny is full of Survivor's Guilt. Richard has to assure Johnny that he loves him and that he would be heartbroken if Johnny really wished he died instead of Ned. We also know more about the life of Edward’s daughter Cecily, for since Sunne’s publication, it has been established that she wed Ralph Scrope in late 1484. He was the son of Thomas, Lord Scrope, but we know little about this brief marriage. Henry Tudor had it annulled upon becoming king so that he could marry her to his uncle, John, Viscount Welles. He was in his forties and Cecily only eighteen, but what little evidence there is suggests the marriage was a happy one. They had two daughters, both of whom died before the viscount’s death in 1499. Cecily had often been in attendance to her sister the queen, but in 1502, she made what had to be a love match with a man of much lesser status, a mere esquire, William Kyme. Tudor was furious, banishing her from court and confiscating her estates. But she had an unlikely champion in Tudor’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, who’d apparently become fond of Cecily, and she interceded with her son on Cecily’s behalf. After the death of her beloved sister, Elizabeth, in 1503, Cecily and her husband retired from the court and settled on the Isle of Wight. She and William had a son, Richard, born in 1505 and a daughter, Margaret, born in 1507. Since Cecily died on August 24, 1507, she may have died from the complications of childbirth. This marriage, too, appears to have been a happy one. I would like to think so, for this daughter of York, said by Sir Thomas More to have been “not so fortunate as fair,” had suffered more than her share of sorrow in her thirty-eight years. Death Seeker: Richard in the end. His supporters are all terrified of this and try to will him out of it.