The Sunne in Splendour

"The Sunne in Splendour" is an historical novel, the first one written by Sharon Kay Penman.

The story begins in 1459 with the protagonist, the future King Richard III, as a young boy, and ends in 1485 with his defeat in battle. Unlike Shakespeare's unflattering portrayal of Richard as a murderous hunchback in the well known play "Richard III," "Penman creates a Richard whose loyalty to his brothers, love for his wife, and inability to indulge in murder and betrayal contrast sharply with the actions of those around him. Richard dies at the Battle of Bosworth Hill, betrayed by men whom he trusted, men whom he should have either killed or at least sequestered during a period in English history when the rights of reigning monarchs to rule were challenged on the battlefield, in counsel, and in the bedroom. Penman belies the common belief that Richard killed the little princes, the children of his brother King Edward IV, and attributes their deaths to the overly ambitious Duke of Buckingham."The historical backdrop to the novel is the complex War of the Roses, a long running feud between the House of York and Lancaster for the crown of England. With his older and protective brother Edward, Richard is subjected to the rise and fall of the fortunes of the Yorkists, who reach their apogee during the reign of Edward IV and the relative peace and security that follows his coronation in 1461.

Edward dies prematurely at age 40, and Richard becomes the Protector of the Realm during the minority of Edward's sons, Edward and Richard. Richard is forced to make an agonizing decision when he learns that Edward's marriage to the boys' mother might have been illegitimate because of a secret previous marriage. Here is where Penman is at her best. How should a man as just as Richard choose between country, brother and self? Richard, by far the most honest and humane character in the novel, and far more self-righteous than his clever brother the King, must choose between challenging his nephews' right to rule and advancing his own claims to the crown, or protecting the boys during their minorities and raising them to rule in their own rights as Edward requested of him. In the end, he chooses to be King, and from this point on Penman places Richard in a battle against his own soul that transcends in fierceness the battle he faces against others who claim the throne. While the decision to take the crown away from Edward's children is the right one in the eyes of his counselors, who correctly argue that nothing good can come from a regency, it is against Richard's nature to usurp the rights of others, no matter how good the cause. His bond to his dead brother, forged in the years of exile and war with the Lancastrians and his uncle, the Earl of Warwick, is strong and Richard can never escape his betrayal of Edward's wishes and his oath to safeguard his nephews. King Richard can only watch in agony as his son and future heir, and then his beloved wife, die. Is this devine punishment for seizing the throne? After only two years as king, he faces his greatest challenge from the future King Henry VII. At Bosworth, betrayed by two of his most powerful nobles, he charges into battle knowing the odds are against him. He is killed a few feet from Henry, and with him dies the Yorkist cause and the Plantagenet dynasty.

A long novel of more 900 pages, the Sunne in Splendour is rich with characters, both male and female, replete with battle scenes and beheadings, and, to most readers, sad in its conclusion. No, the just do not prevail in the end. Forgiveness, honesty, and kindness die with Richard. The schemers, the betrayers, the indecent are better Kings than he. Penman's last line is "for when all is said and done, the truth be all we have." Only the reader can judge which be the truth--The Sunne in Splendour or Shakespeare's Richard III.