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Loyalty
Born to be nobody. Destined to be king. Doomed to be a villain. What matters? Loyalty matters. Loyalty Binds Me. Artist Hans Holbein receives a summons to the home of Sir Thomas More for the commission of his lifetime, but he will leave with a secret that puts his very life at risk. What he will learn is the truth about the life of King Richard III, from his return from exile with his brother, King Edward IV, through his rise to become the king's most powerful subject. From his flourishing personal life to his seizure of the throne. The unfashionable truth about the man the Tudor dynasty has worked tirelessly to villify will be as nothing compared to the reason for it, as Holbein will discover. He is about to be asked to hide the greatest secret in England. A secret that could tear the fragile Tudor regime apart at its seams.
485 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2012
27 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Lewis
2 books28 followersMatthew Lewis was born and grew up in the West Midlands. Having obtained a law degree, he currently lives in the beautiful Shropshire countryside with his wife and children. History and writing have always been a passion of Matthew's, with particular interest in the Wars of the Roses period. His first novel, Loyalty, was born of the joining of those passions.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 27, 2013
This was an enjoyable and surprisingly unique take on Richard III. Lewis uses the unlikely narrator of Thomas More and the theory of his family portrait by Holbein to direct Richard's story. If you are not familiar with the Holbein painting, see http://www.holbeinartworks.org/bfours....
This novel makes use of very beautiful descriptive language. I felt almost as if I was watching a movie, every detail of movement and thought was described so thoroughly. For some portions of the book, I enjoyed this and felt that Richard was very much brought to life. In other sections, I felt the story drag with the verboseness of inner thought and minutia of movements.
Lewis creates one of the more pious versions of Richard that I have read. I applaud the author for including this very realistic faith which Richard undoubtedly had, for it is, in modern times, not what usually makes a novel popular. Though Richard was devout and dutiful, he was also quick-tempered and a little short-sighted. It was a very realistic portrayal.
Maybe the version of this that I read had been through an extra editing step because I did not find the swarm of errors that other reviewers have noted. I found this novel very well-written. The only error that I remember was references to Brittany (where Henry Tudor is in exile) getting confused with a discussion of Burgundy. No, they are not the same place, and, no, this was not vital to any part of the story.
Lewis does an especially good job writing battle scenes. He weaves together Richard's inner thoughts with the action going on around him in a way that brings it to life for the reader. I also enjoyed the somewhat "Hollywood" version of Richard rescuing Anne from George of Clarence's clutches. It inspired the writing of this blog: http://carpelibrum.booklikes.com/post...-. I do not think that Lewis was aiming to write a "sexy Richard" or that Richard really came across that way through the whole book, but this scene did make me wish - just a little bit - that I was Anne Neville.
Overall a very worthwhile and well-written portrayal of Richard III.
This novel makes use of very beautiful descriptive language. I felt almost as if I was watching a movie, every detail of movement and thought was described so thoroughly. For some portions of the book, I enjoyed this and felt that Richard was very much brought to life. In other sections, I felt the story drag with the verboseness of inner thought and minutia of movements.
Lewis creates one of the more pious versions of Richard that I have read. I applaud the author for including this very realistic faith which Richard undoubtedly had, for it is, in modern times, not what usually makes a novel popular. Though Richard was devout and dutiful, he was also quick-tempered and a little short-sighted. It was a very realistic portrayal.
Maybe the version of this that I read had been through an extra editing step because I did not find the swarm of errors that other reviewers have noted. I found this novel very well-written. The only error that I remember was references to Brittany (where Henry Tudor is in exile) getting confused with a discussion of Burgundy. No, they are not the same place, and, no, this was not vital to any part of the story.
Lewis does an especially good job writing battle scenes. He weaves together Richard's inner thoughts with the action going on around him in a way that brings it to life for the reader. I also enjoyed the somewhat "Hollywood" version of Richard rescuing Anne from George of Clarence's clutches. It inspired the writing of this blog: http://carpelibrum.booklikes.com/post...-. I do not think that Lewis was aiming to write a "sexy Richard" or that Richard really came across that way through the whole book, but this scene did make me wish - just a little bit - that I was Anne Neville.
Overall a very worthwhile and well-written portrayal of Richard III.
October 19, 2015
Nailing my colours to the mast, Richard III Duke of Gloucester has been one of my history crushes ever since I read Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time many years ago, so any novel with a sympathetic take on a much maligned monarch and man is bound to go well with me. So what did I think about Matthew Lewis' book? I enjoyed it very much and would award 3.5 stars only because I had reservations about the basic stylistic structure of the novel.
Sir Thomas More calls in Hans Holbein to paint the famous More family portrait then sits him down to tell the truthful account of that most monstrous usurper and nephew killer, Richard III. The problem mostly is the detail. How could More possibly know the thought processes of a dead king, his family and associates, with fully recounted conversations? Every time the narrative returns to its interludes at More's Chelsea home I was taken out of the story and reminded of my reservations. I came to the conclusion Lewis has two stories that might have been better served in separate novels. It wasn't that I didn't like the intriguing story behind that portrait, on the contrary this is fascinating stuff that really got me curious to do some research. However, I just don't buy the fireside tale running to over 400 pages of text with total verbal and visual recall.
Yet I LOVE all that detail, rich description that allows you to 'see' the story as though watching a film. Lewis does such a good job painting his sympathetic but not saintly portrait of Richard I can overlook that problem I had with the More-Holbein bits and recommend the novel to historical fiction enthusiasts. There are places where the narrative lags a little, with perhaps a tad too much introspection, but this is a fine first novel that gives promise of even better to come from a talented writer with a passion for this period of English history.
Of course Richard has been much in the news with the recent reburial in Leicester following the discovery and identification of his remains last year, and it is now not such a new idea our impression of the last Plantagenet king was for so long coloured by the mighty Tudor propaganda machine. Richard emerges from the story a fundamentally good man, kind and intensely loyal, with a strong faith, an abundance of commons sense, progressive attiudes and quick intelligence. He is deeply insecure and given to fierce rages, but his fatal flaw is his failure to play the political game and secure allegiance from or control over other major players within the aristocracy and their influential families, and this proves his undoing. The section covering Bosworth Field is very well written, exciting, and tense...for just a minute I quite forgot I knew the sad outcome. Now that is what I call very satisfying reading.
As a footnote I ought to confess I might not have been bothered as much by the Thomas More device had I not had the deeply unsympathetic sneery voiced version from Wolf Hall so very much in my head. Which only goes to prove the insidious power of a good story as a means of blackening a man's character. Furthermore I am curious to discover why Sir Thomas More who wrote Richard as evil incarnate in his History of Richard III is so keen to preserve a quite different interpretation for posterity according to this novel. Are we to assume his account was a smokescreen intended to safeguard secrets revealed in the story?
One further niggle was the propensity Lewis' Richard has to weep, which after several instances made my eyes roll. I am not saying a man should not cry but the tears are over-used so the effect is lessened.
Now my Ricardian passion has been rekindled I want to revisit Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, and I will certainly read Matthew Lewis's follow-on novel, Honour.
Sir Thomas More calls in Hans Holbein to paint the famous More family portrait then sits him down to tell the truthful account of that most monstrous usurper and nephew killer, Richard III. The problem mostly is the detail. How could More possibly know the thought processes of a dead king, his family and associates, with fully recounted conversations? Every time the narrative returns to its interludes at More's Chelsea home I was taken out of the story and reminded of my reservations. I came to the conclusion Lewis has two stories that might have been better served in separate novels. It wasn't that I didn't like the intriguing story behind that portrait, on the contrary this is fascinating stuff that really got me curious to do some research. However, I just don't buy the fireside tale running to over 400 pages of text with total verbal and visual recall.
Yet I LOVE all that detail, rich description that allows you to 'see' the story as though watching a film. Lewis does such a good job painting his sympathetic but not saintly portrait of Richard I can overlook that problem I had with the More-Holbein bits and recommend the novel to historical fiction enthusiasts. There are places where the narrative lags a little, with perhaps a tad too much introspection, but this is a fine first novel that gives promise of even better to come from a talented writer with a passion for this period of English history.
Of course Richard has been much in the news with the recent reburial in Leicester following the discovery and identification of his remains last year, and it is now not such a new idea our impression of the last Plantagenet king was for so long coloured by the mighty Tudor propaganda machine. Richard emerges from the story a fundamentally good man, kind and intensely loyal, with a strong faith, an abundance of commons sense, progressive attiudes and quick intelligence. He is deeply insecure and given to fierce rages, but his fatal flaw is his failure to play the political game and secure allegiance from or control over other major players within the aristocracy and their influential families, and this proves his undoing. The section covering Bosworth Field is very well written, exciting, and tense...for just a minute I quite forgot I knew the sad outcome. Now that is what I call very satisfying reading.
As a footnote I ought to confess I might not have been bothered as much by the Thomas More device had I not had the deeply unsympathetic sneery voiced version from Wolf Hall so very much in my head. Which only goes to prove the insidious power of a good story as a means of blackening a man's character. Furthermore I am curious to discover why Sir Thomas More who wrote Richard as evil incarnate in his History of Richard III is so keen to preserve a quite different interpretation for posterity according to this novel. Are we to assume his account was a smokescreen intended to safeguard secrets revealed in the story?
One further niggle was the propensity Lewis' Richard has to weep, which after several instances made my eyes roll. I am not saying a man should not cry but the tears are over-used so the effect is lessened.
Now my Ricardian passion has been rekindled I want to revisit Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, and I will certainly read Matthew Lewis's follow-on novel, Honour.
August 8, 2012
Great story. I especially like the fact that Anne is not portrayed to be a pawn and a pushover like she normally is.
But can I just say??? Someone shoot the copy editor! Typos everywhere!
But can I just say??? Someone shoot the copy editor! Typos everywhere!
February 26, 2021
Loyalty
By Matthew Lewis
Reviewed February 21, 2021
Loyalty is a story within a story. It starts many years after King Richard III’s death, during the reign of Henry VIII. Artist Hans Holbein has been summoned to the home of Sir Thomas More. More wants to commission a painting of him and his family, but before Holbein can begin, More explains, he needs to know the truth about the late King Richard. How the two are connected isn’t revealed until much later in the book.
As More tells his story, we discover a Richard that is at odds with the accepted Tudor version, and I have to say that this is an interesting twist. More defending Richard? This isn’t something I had expected, especially when you consider that his History of King Richard the Third has been used for centuries as proof that Richard was indeed the blackest of villains. On the cover of this book is the subtitle: Father, Husband, Brother, King. I’ll start with Richard as brother.
Richard the brother
Richard’s part of the story (which makes up the bulk of this book), begins with him fighting at his brother Edward’s side at the battle of Barnet. He is 18 years old and this is his first battle. When the fighting is over, we find an introspective Richard. In many ways, his reaction to the carnage once that adrenaline rush subsides is similar to what I’ve read about other soldiers in other centuries following their first time “seeing the elephant” (as it was called during the American Civil War)—young men filled with emotions like guilt and sadness, not the glorious elation felt during the heat of battle.
Closing his eyes, Richard tried to force down the guilt that he already felt rising in his stomach. Surely, this was not how a soldier was supposed to feel upon the field of victory.
Like many a soldier before and after his time, Richard seeks solace and understanding in his religion. He goes to “the moral sanctuary of his tent” and there he collapses into the seat, “instinctively reaching to the table on his right for the leather bound prayer book that was his constant companion. In spite of his will to feel no need for it, he opened the book and read for over two hours, alone.
And that brings me to another thing that has a prominent place in this book – Richard’s faith. Many books treat his piety as something to be briefly mentioned then forgotten for the rest of the story, if it’s mentioned at all. Others go in the opposite direction, turning Richard into some kind of plaster saint.
Loyalty, however, finds that happy median with Richard’s faith being a central part of his life without going overboard. This Richard is not saint, but he’s a man with the same kind of faults and frailties we all have, a blend of saint and sinner, who looks to God to guide his steps even if sometimes he errs.
But back to Richard the brother, and throughout the book, we see his growing frustrations with his brother Edward. Although he shows the king nothing but loyalty, Edward has been badly burned in the past and finds it hard to trust even his most trustworthy subject. While Richard tries to offer what he feels are valid concerns, there are times when Edward resorts to playing not just the big brother card, but the “I’m the king” card.
More than once, Edward’s behavior creates awkward moments between the brothers and as Richard gets older and established in the North, he spends less and less time at Court and with his brother the king. As he tells Edward at one of their last meetings, “I know well the trust that you place in me in matters of war. It is the lack of trust that you appear to have in me in matters of politics that concerns me. Do I not administer the north as well as I defend it?”
Richard the husband
An often-included scene in just about every work of Ricardian fiction is Richard seeking out and finding Anne after she has either run away or been forced by her brother-in-law George of Clarence into some kind of menial position. We’ll call her Cook Shop Anne. While this bit of Ricardiana (how’s that for a made up word!) is probably apocryphal, the romance-loving Ricardian fangirl in me laps up the whole thing when done right, and in this instance Matthew Lewis hits it out of the ballpark with what I’m going to call Swashbuckling Richard.
This version works for me because I can easily imagine Richard responding in this way to a damsel in distress. He was, after all, very much into the whole chivalry thing. (See David Hipson’s Richard III and the Death of Chivalry for a book that examines this aspect of his psychological makeup.) So whether he was interested in Anne for her inheritance, because he cared for her, or maybe a combination of both, him going to her rescue is very much in character.
This scene also works because of how Lewis writes it. From Richard showing up at the house where Anne is being kept, his cloak dripping from the rain, to his confrontation with the men assigned to “guard” Anne to keep her from sneaking off, to the actual fighting is all constructed so that it builds up just the right amount of tension. And how can I not love a Richard who is part swashbuckling hero while exhibiting a sardonic sense of humor.
The duke stamped on the blade high, near the hilt, and trapped the man’s hand, pinching it on the floor so that the man’s face screwed up in pain. Making eye contact, Richard shook his head slowly. The other blinked, and then Richard felt him try to pull the sword from under his foot. He tilted his head sideways in exaggerated disapproval, tossed his mace in the air, flipping it so that he caught the top of the shaft.
Richard the father
After Richard and Anne are married and happily ensconced in Middleham Castle, there’s the birth of their son, Edward, and we get to see Richard’s tender side. When he’s brought his infant son immediately after his birth, Richard is overjoyed.
“He is perfect, my lady,” he called, struggling to contain his excitement and restrain his voice. “I love you, Anne.” He turned to walk back out of the room, then turned carefully…“And thank you.”
Tenderly cradling the babe in his arms, he goes to the chapel.
“Lord,” Richard spoke to the altar, “I ask for your eternal blessings upon my son, Edward.” A warm shiver soaked down his back as he used his son’s name aloud for the first time. “I pray that Your strength will protect him when mine fails, that the love of our Lord Jesus Christ shall surround him when mine will not suffice and that the wisdom of the Holy Spirit will guide him where I can offer no lead. Father God, I place my son into your hands and ask that you bless him with a very long and very, very happy life to the glory of Your name. Amen.” Richard crossed himself again.
As he sits in one of the pews, he talks to his son and explains why he chose the boar as his symbol, to protect his family, his king and his country the way the boar protects its own. He also makes a promise to his son.
“Today, Edward,” he continued, speaking slowly and deliberately as though he truly believed that his son understood him, “I make you this promise: I swear to you before almighty God that I shall not allow you to suffer my life as you grow to be a man as long as I am alive to prevent it. You shall not live an uncertain life in the household of others, nor shall you suffer one day of exile as I did, separated from your home and family. I shall build for you a secure and safe future as the king’s greatest subject.” Richard gently stroked his baby son’s cheek and the shining blue eyes flickered and slowly sank until they were closed.
Now fast forward to 1478 and another family crisis. George of Clarence is on trial for treason, and though Richard wants to publicly speak out for his ne’er-do-well brother, George signals that he shouldn’t do so. Days before his brother’s execution, Richard visits George and the two have an interesting conversation.
Richard is aware of undercurrents swirling about him, things happening that he has been deliberately kept ignorant of. There’s more to George’s guilty verdict than meets the eye. He tries to get the information out of Edward, but to no avail.
Later, when he goes to pay his final visit to George, he sees the queen coming from one of the cells in the Tower. She’s not coming from George cell, so why would she be there? Who would she be visiting? Once she’s gone, Richard goes to the same cell door and looks through the window to see an elderly man in what might be clerical robes sitting alone. When he finally reaches George’s cell, the brothers talk.
“There are princes and nobles across Europe who have worked to sculpt an image for years, yet fall short even of your shadow. There is no wealth in all of England to equate to the value of your standing.” George spread his palms in mock amazement. “Yet you have gained all of this by simply being you, using the gifts the Lord blessed you with without even realising that you do so.” George sat back again. “You amaze me, Richard. Never stop. Never compromise. Never cease to be what you are.”
When Richard questions George about the other prisoner, George remains enigmatic. “The truth is all about timing, my dear Richard. A wrongly timed truth is raped of its truest meaning.” But Richard persists.
“What about me?” Richard ventured.
“That is the question.” George spread his arms to meet it. A heavy silence lingered as Richard awaited an answer.
“Well?” Richard demanded impatiently.
“I cannot give you that truth now.” George sighed. Richard rose sharply from his seat and turned to leave. The choice that faced him now was to leave, or to violently assault his brother. “But,” George continued quickly, thoroughly enjoying toying with his little brother, “I can tell you that when the time is right, all of your questions will be answered and then you will have need to ask yourself that last question again.”
“One day, you shall find that put to the ultimate test. You will be forced to decide between your duty, your family, your God, your conscience, your ambition.” George paused. “And it will be your sense of duty that will cloud matters. That which drives you will touch each arm of your confusion and weave them together until you can no longer focus on that which you originally thought was so clear.”
The next few years pass quickly, with Richard spending less and less time in London at his brother’s court. Edward’s apparent distrust of everyone still hangs like a shadow between them.
Back home at Middleham, he admits his doubts about Edward’s governance to Anne. “I was about to say,” he continued with an uncharacteristic nervous edge, “that I could do better service to this nation than Edward. I can’t believe,” he continued quickly, “that I would think such a thing.”
And this is something I’ve often wondered about the real Richard. Did he come to the throne thinking, “I can do a better job than my brother”? Evidence from how he governed in the North and from his first and only Parliament show us a man with a more enlightened approach to ruling that in many ways was diametrically opposed to his brother’s. So I liked the idea that at least one other person has thought this.
Then the day comes when he receives a letter from Lord Hastings, informing Richard of the king’s death. He gathers his closest friends and tells them,
“In the coming weeks,” he continued, pushing her hair from her cheek, “more than ever before, there will be no dark and light, no right and wrong, no good and evil. We must deal in shades of each, for the path shall wind through both sides and shall not be easy, but we must march that path to its righteous destination.”
And this takes us to the Succession Crisis of 1483 with Richard of Gloucester becoming King Richard III, and brother George’s words come back to haunt him.
Richard the king
Through the second half of the book we read the story of Richard’s final years, of the personal tragedies that dogged him and impacted his marriage, the whispers and lies that swirled around him, and that final confrontation at Bosworth Field.
When More finishes his story, he reveals to Holbein how this is tied up to his desire for a family portrait and how this is in turn connected to Richard’s nephews. I won’t go into any more details, because then you’d have no reason to read the book!
I can’t say that the final reveal came as a complete surprise, because several years ago I read a book, Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett, that also featured More, Holbein, and the family painting, and that had a similar reveal. But that doesn’t matter, and didn’t take away from the sheer pleasure of reading this book. And so I give it a very strong 4-star rating.
By Matthew Lewis
Reviewed February 21, 2021
Loyalty is a story within a story. It starts many years after King Richard III’s death, during the reign of Henry VIII. Artist Hans Holbein has been summoned to the home of Sir Thomas More. More wants to commission a painting of him and his family, but before Holbein can begin, More explains, he needs to know the truth about the late King Richard. How the two are connected isn’t revealed until much later in the book.
As More tells his story, we discover a Richard that is at odds with the accepted Tudor version, and I have to say that this is an interesting twist. More defending Richard? This isn’t something I had expected, especially when you consider that his History of King Richard the Third has been used for centuries as proof that Richard was indeed the blackest of villains. On the cover of this book is the subtitle: Father, Husband, Brother, King. I’ll start with Richard as brother.
Richard the brother
Richard’s part of the story (which makes up the bulk of this book), begins with him fighting at his brother Edward’s side at the battle of Barnet. He is 18 years old and this is his first battle. When the fighting is over, we find an introspective Richard. In many ways, his reaction to the carnage once that adrenaline rush subsides is similar to what I’ve read about other soldiers in other centuries following their first time “seeing the elephant” (as it was called during the American Civil War)—young men filled with emotions like guilt and sadness, not the glorious elation felt during the heat of battle.
Closing his eyes, Richard tried to force down the guilt that he already felt rising in his stomach. Surely, this was not how a soldier was supposed to feel upon the field of victory.
Like many a soldier before and after his time, Richard seeks solace and understanding in his religion. He goes to “the moral sanctuary of his tent” and there he collapses into the seat, “instinctively reaching to the table on his right for the leather bound prayer book that was his constant companion. In spite of his will to feel no need for it, he opened the book and read for over two hours, alone.
And that brings me to another thing that has a prominent place in this book – Richard’s faith. Many books treat his piety as something to be briefly mentioned then forgotten for the rest of the story, if it’s mentioned at all. Others go in the opposite direction, turning Richard into some kind of plaster saint.
Loyalty, however, finds that happy median with Richard’s faith being a central part of his life without going overboard. This Richard is not saint, but he’s a man with the same kind of faults and frailties we all have, a blend of saint and sinner, who looks to God to guide his steps even if sometimes he errs.
But back to Richard the brother, and throughout the book, we see his growing frustrations with his brother Edward. Although he shows the king nothing but loyalty, Edward has been badly burned in the past and finds it hard to trust even his most trustworthy subject. While Richard tries to offer what he feels are valid concerns, there are times when Edward resorts to playing not just the big brother card, but the “I’m the king” card.
More than once, Edward’s behavior creates awkward moments between the brothers and as Richard gets older and established in the North, he spends less and less time at Court and with his brother the king. As he tells Edward at one of their last meetings, “I know well the trust that you place in me in matters of war. It is the lack of trust that you appear to have in me in matters of politics that concerns me. Do I not administer the north as well as I defend it?”
Richard the husband
An often-included scene in just about every work of Ricardian fiction is Richard seeking out and finding Anne after she has either run away or been forced by her brother-in-law George of Clarence into some kind of menial position. We’ll call her Cook Shop Anne. While this bit of Ricardiana (how’s that for a made up word!) is probably apocryphal, the romance-loving Ricardian fangirl in me laps up the whole thing when done right, and in this instance Matthew Lewis hits it out of the ballpark with what I’m going to call Swashbuckling Richard.
This version works for me because I can easily imagine Richard responding in this way to a damsel in distress. He was, after all, very much into the whole chivalry thing. (See David Hipson’s Richard III and the Death of Chivalry for a book that examines this aspect of his psychological makeup.) So whether he was interested in Anne for her inheritance, because he cared for her, or maybe a combination of both, him going to her rescue is very much in character.
This scene also works because of how Lewis writes it. From Richard showing up at the house where Anne is being kept, his cloak dripping from the rain, to his confrontation with the men assigned to “guard” Anne to keep her from sneaking off, to the actual fighting is all constructed so that it builds up just the right amount of tension. And how can I not love a Richard who is part swashbuckling hero while exhibiting a sardonic sense of humor.
The duke stamped on the blade high, near the hilt, and trapped the man’s hand, pinching it on the floor so that the man’s face screwed up in pain. Making eye contact, Richard shook his head slowly. The other blinked, and then Richard felt him try to pull the sword from under his foot. He tilted his head sideways in exaggerated disapproval, tossed his mace in the air, flipping it so that he caught the top of the shaft.
Richard the father
After Richard and Anne are married and happily ensconced in Middleham Castle, there’s the birth of their son, Edward, and we get to see Richard’s tender side. When he’s brought his infant son immediately after his birth, Richard is overjoyed.
“He is perfect, my lady,” he called, struggling to contain his excitement and restrain his voice. “I love you, Anne.” He turned to walk back out of the room, then turned carefully…“And thank you.”
Tenderly cradling the babe in his arms, he goes to the chapel.
“Lord,” Richard spoke to the altar, “I ask for your eternal blessings upon my son, Edward.” A warm shiver soaked down his back as he used his son’s name aloud for the first time. “I pray that Your strength will protect him when mine fails, that the love of our Lord Jesus Christ shall surround him when mine will not suffice and that the wisdom of the Holy Spirit will guide him where I can offer no lead. Father God, I place my son into your hands and ask that you bless him with a very long and very, very happy life to the glory of Your name. Amen.” Richard crossed himself again.
As he sits in one of the pews, he talks to his son and explains why he chose the boar as his symbol, to protect his family, his king and his country the way the boar protects its own. He also makes a promise to his son.
“Today, Edward,” he continued, speaking slowly and deliberately as though he truly believed that his son understood him, “I make you this promise: I swear to you before almighty God that I shall not allow you to suffer my life as you grow to be a man as long as I am alive to prevent it. You shall not live an uncertain life in the household of others, nor shall you suffer one day of exile as I did, separated from your home and family. I shall build for you a secure and safe future as the king’s greatest subject.” Richard gently stroked his baby son’s cheek and the shining blue eyes flickered and slowly sank until they were closed.
Now fast forward to 1478 and another family crisis. George of Clarence is on trial for treason, and though Richard wants to publicly speak out for his ne’er-do-well brother, George signals that he shouldn’t do so. Days before his brother’s execution, Richard visits George and the two have an interesting conversation.
Richard is aware of undercurrents swirling about him, things happening that he has been deliberately kept ignorant of. There’s more to George’s guilty verdict than meets the eye. He tries to get the information out of Edward, but to no avail.
Later, when he goes to pay his final visit to George, he sees the queen coming from one of the cells in the Tower. She’s not coming from George cell, so why would she be there? Who would she be visiting? Once she’s gone, Richard goes to the same cell door and looks through the window to see an elderly man in what might be clerical robes sitting alone. When he finally reaches George’s cell, the brothers talk.
“There are princes and nobles across Europe who have worked to sculpt an image for years, yet fall short even of your shadow. There is no wealth in all of England to equate to the value of your standing.” George spread his palms in mock amazement. “Yet you have gained all of this by simply being you, using the gifts the Lord blessed you with without even realising that you do so.” George sat back again. “You amaze me, Richard. Never stop. Never compromise. Never cease to be what you are.”
When Richard questions George about the other prisoner, George remains enigmatic. “The truth is all about timing, my dear Richard. A wrongly timed truth is raped of its truest meaning.” But Richard persists.
“What about me?” Richard ventured.
“That is the question.” George spread his arms to meet it. A heavy silence lingered as Richard awaited an answer.
“Well?” Richard demanded impatiently.
“I cannot give you that truth now.” George sighed. Richard rose sharply from his seat and turned to leave. The choice that faced him now was to leave, or to violently assault his brother. “But,” George continued quickly, thoroughly enjoying toying with his little brother, “I can tell you that when the time is right, all of your questions will be answered and then you will have need to ask yourself that last question again.”
“One day, you shall find that put to the ultimate test. You will be forced to decide between your duty, your family, your God, your conscience, your ambition.” George paused. “And it will be your sense of duty that will cloud matters. That which drives you will touch each arm of your confusion and weave them together until you can no longer focus on that which you originally thought was so clear.”
The next few years pass quickly, with Richard spending less and less time in London at his brother’s court. Edward’s apparent distrust of everyone still hangs like a shadow between them.
Back home at Middleham, he admits his doubts about Edward’s governance to Anne. “I was about to say,” he continued with an uncharacteristic nervous edge, “that I could do better service to this nation than Edward. I can’t believe,” he continued quickly, “that I would think such a thing.”
And this is something I’ve often wondered about the real Richard. Did he come to the throne thinking, “I can do a better job than my brother”? Evidence from how he governed in the North and from his first and only Parliament show us a man with a more enlightened approach to ruling that in many ways was diametrically opposed to his brother’s. So I liked the idea that at least one other person has thought this.
Then the day comes when he receives a letter from Lord Hastings, informing Richard of the king’s death. He gathers his closest friends and tells them,
“In the coming weeks,” he continued, pushing her hair from her cheek, “more than ever before, there will be no dark and light, no right and wrong, no good and evil. We must deal in shades of each, for the path shall wind through both sides and shall not be easy, but we must march that path to its righteous destination.”
And this takes us to the Succession Crisis of 1483 with Richard of Gloucester becoming King Richard III, and brother George’s words come back to haunt him.
Richard the king
Through the second half of the book we read the story of Richard’s final years, of the personal tragedies that dogged him and impacted his marriage, the whispers and lies that swirled around him, and that final confrontation at Bosworth Field.
When More finishes his story, he reveals to Holbein how this is tied up to his desire for a family portrait and how this is in turn connected to Richard’s nephews. I won’t go into any more details, because then you’d have no reason to read the book!
I can’t say that the final reveal came as a complete surprise, because several years ago I read a book, Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett, that also featured More, Holbein, and the family painting, and that had a similar reveal. But that doesn’t matter, and didn’t take away from the sheer pleasure of reading this book. And so I give it a very strong 4-star rating.
July 12, 2024
A wonderful unusual telling of King Richards' life. It touched me emotionally! I could really feel all the grief and suffering he felt towards the end of his life. 💔 Very beautifully written, Matt.
February 10, 2015
I have to declare an interest here. I’m in the process of writing an alternative history novel – the starting point being that Richard III is victorious at Bosworth – and the story explores what his post-Bosworth reign might have been like. Matthew Lewis’s narrative of Richard's life and death is beautifully done; remarkably well-written, very moving, and, in my opinion captures a highly credible characterisation of the man as deeply honest, pius, insecure, impulsive, and prone to sudden anger that just as quickly burns out, leaving him ashamed and repentant of his loss of control. A man with an appetite for risk-taking; one who never expected to be king and found the role and function frustrating and foreign to his nature. It is also very much in character that to an unusual degree for a late fifteenth-century man, he loved, respected, and worked closely with his wife. Importantly, the author also brings out Richard’s lack of political 'nous', which reflect the honesty and piety, but without which no monarch, even a constitutional one today, can hope to be successful and even more so for a medieval king. We see a man deeply loyal and affectionate to a very small group of friends who return his love and loyalty - the archetypal introvert - but who fails to understand the needs of, or to attract and commend himself to the wider circle of those he needs as allies and co-operators. In this novel, as in a second, Honour, the author blends two distinct plots – in Loyalty, how Richard became king and what the consequences were, and the possibility that Thomas More's household held the secret of what became of one, or maybe both, of Edward IV's male children. While this is itself a fascinating double-helix tale and each element is told as well as the other - for me as a reader, the double plot creates problems. I found the idea unbelievable that More would have told this version of Richard's story to Holbein as a fireside narrative and the scenario shifts to More's study felt like interruptions. Both stories need telling but perhaps there are actually two books here, not one. Having made this observation about the structure, I find this second plot completely credible. More was 'apprenticed' to Morton for several years, and that man would have known better than anyone what really happened to the two boys and would have boasted of how he had created the myth of the 'wicked uncle'. It also opens the possibility that Henry VII, though married to their sister, did not know of the continued existence of the two boys in England, nor that Perkin Warbeck was indeed a 'fake'.
September 2, 2025
Matthew is now one of the stars of the Ricardian world with the publication of outstanding non-fiction works on Richard III. Loyalty was his first writing venture, a fictional account of Richard III’s life beginning with the teenager’s first appearance on the field of battle at Barnet. It is not a sweeping epic like Penman’s The Sunne in Splendourwhich weaves a colorful tapestry of of events and people; this is a rendition that focuses on Richard’s character and his relationships, primarily with his brother Edward IV and his wife Anne Neville. His relationship with the former is complex with Edward wondering how much he can trust Richard, and Richard is never sure how he can convince his brother of his loyalty. Affection is evident in Edward’s feelings towards his younger brother, but not so much on Richard’s part. Perhaps because he is so uncertain on where he stands with his brother and king. Richard is also shown to have a fiery “Plantagenet” temper.
The crowning achievement is the depiction Richard’s relationship with Anne. Richard does not show his feelings towards Anne in the beginning. Is he solely interested in the wealth she can bring him or is there something more, affection or even love. Whatever his feelings, he is the swashbuckling embodiment of a knight in shining armor when he rescues her from the cook shop where his brother George has put her. If Richard wasn’t head over heels in love with Anne at the beginning, he soon is and not only that, he relies on her advice above all others. But when their son dies, their marriage reaches a breaking point which is portrayed in a heart wrenching scene.
As Duke of Gloucester and the king’s brother, Richard’s position might seem secure, but he and Anne knew it was not. The queen and her family had great influence on Edward, an influence that could well be used to undermine or even destroy Richard. Thus, when Edward dies, we feel the real fear and uncertainty that must have informed Richard’s decisions during that time.
The author has Sir Thomas More tell Richard’s true story to Holbein, the painter. An outstanding novel, but it is a bit “talky” with most of the action being conversations.
The crowning achievement is the depiction Richard’s relationship with Anne. Richard does not show his feelings towards Anne in the beginning. Is he solely interested in the wealth she can bring him or is there something more, affection or even love. Whatever his feelings, he is the swashbuckling embodiment of a knight in shining armor when he rescues her from the cook shop where his brother George has put her. If Richard wasn’t head over heels in love with Anne at the beginning, he soon is and not only that, he relies on her advice above all others. But when their son dies, their marriage reaches a breaking point which is portrayed in a heart wrenching scene.
As Duke of Gloucester and the king’s brother, Richard’s position might seem secure, but he and Anne knew it was not. The queen and her family had great influence on Edward, an influence that could well be used to undermine or even destroy Richard. Thus, when Edward dies, we feel the real fear and uncertainty that must have informed Richard’s decisions during that time.
The author has Sir Thomas More tell Richard’s true story to Holbein, the painter. An outstanding novel, but it is a bit “talky” with most of the action being conversations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2021
A good portrait of Richard III
This is a fictional novel about the life of Richard III since he is a loyal brother fighting next to Edward IV againts Warwick and the Lancasters until the Bosworth field.
The book presents a positive portrait of Richard but not a perfect , the difference is that in this case this book is a political story more than a personal one and there is not balance between thos two aspects , so through the book you will get to know the political issues that Richard faced , the plots and the historical people that is involved in his career as a royal duke ,the lord of the north and King.This part I can say that was refreshing because is something you rarely can read specially in fictional books where you usually only read a general view, so was good to know those things with details.
As part of this the author theorize how Richard's position was far of be perfect and solid, he was powerful but weak at the same time, something interesting in this book is how is presented the relationship between Richard and Edward here is not the lovely and pure relationship we usually think ,during his whole life Richard tries to prove his loyalty to his brother who can't trust in Richard 100 percent, one reason is Elizabeth Woodwille who yes is a manipulative wife, the other reason is the bad experience Edward had with Warwick ,specially when he thinks that Richard can be in love with Anne Neville , Warwick's daughter and after his marriage Richard try to protect and help the Warwick family what is very suspicious to Edward's eyes who has never been sure of Richard's loyalty, so yes the king is afraid of be betrayed again so he is careful about the trust that he puts in Richard but specially the power that he gives to Richard so he finds ways to control him in every sense even financial , what hurts Richard and affected him for years .
In this book we have a good view to the man who were close to Richard and how they participate in the important issues what is also a good point and not often showed .
Anne Neville is far from the pawn that history points she was , in this book she is the most important advisor for Richard, she has clear ideas of the world where they live and she learned a lot from her father's experience, she is smart and strong so a new view of her, their marriage is not explored but we have enough to understand it, there is nothing like a romantic telling in this book still we have sweet moments between them but always when some political even important is going, we even have a violent moment of Richard with her (Any other Ricardian book has shown an episode like this ), there is an emotional and very deep moment when Anne dies , but in general there is nothing of Richard in a personal matter, he married Anne not as part of a huge love , is part of life money and power, there is not more explanation since we have not a clear reason in historical events so I respect this .
Other characters had not a big space and actually the number of historical people is moderate, Elizabeth Woodwille surprised me in this book she is not the mean woman often mentioned she is more a human that at the end is more part of the Richard's support system.
The reason why I gave this 3 stars is because the dialogues are so full of descriptions that are long and boring, and between all the politics the book become slow and was not exciting indeed many times I found myself sleeping and without desires of want to keep reading , it doesn't present a full perspective so it was not the best book I have read of this topic .
This is a fictional novel about the life of Richard III since he is a loyal brother fighting next to Edward IV againts Warwick and the Lancasters until the Bosworth field.
The book presents a positive portrait of Richard but not a perfect , the difference is that in this case this book is a political story more than a personal one and there is not balance between thos two aspects , so through the book you will get to know the political issues that Richard faced , the plots and the historical people that is involved in his career as a royal duke ,the lord of the north and King.This part I can say that was refreshing because is something you rarely can read specially in fictional books where you usually only read a general view, so was good to know those things with details.
As part of this the author theorize how Richard's position was far of be perfect and solid, he was powerful but weak at the same time, something interesting in this book is how is presented the relationship between Richard and Edward here is not the lovely and pure relationship we usually think ,during his whole life Richard tries to prove his loyalty to his brother who can't trust in Richard 100 percent, one reason is Elizabeth Woodwille who yes is a manipulative wife, the other reason is the bad experience Edward had with Warwick ,specially when he thinks that Richard can be in love with Anne Neville , Warwick's daughter and after his marriage Richard try to protect and help the Warwick family what is very suspicious to Edward's eyes who has never been sure of Richard's loyalty, so yes the king is afraid of be betrayed again so he is careful about the trust that he puts in Richard but specially the power that he gives to Richard so he finds ways to control him in every sense even financial , what hurts Richard and affected him for years .
In this book we have a good view to the man who were close to Richard and how they participate in the important issues what is also a good point and not often showed .
Anne Neville is far from the pawn that history points she was , in this book she is the most important advisor for Richard, she has clear ideas of the world where they live and she learned a lot from her father's experience, she is smart and strong so a new view of her, their marriage is not explored but we have enough to understand it, there is nothing like a romantic telling in this book still we have sweet moments between them but always when some political even important is going, we even have a violent moment of Richard with her (Any other Ricardian book has shown an episode like this ), there is an emotional and very deep moment when Anne dies , but in general there is nothing of Richard in a personal matter, he married Anne not as part of a huge love , is part of life money and power, there is not more explanation since we have not a clear reason in historical events so I respect this .
Other characters had not a big space and actually the number of historical people is moderate, Elizabeth Woodwille surprised me in this book she is not the mean woman often mentioned she is more a human that at the end is more part of the Richard's support system.
The reason why I gave this 3 stars is because the dialogues are so full of descriptions that are long and boring, and between all the politics the book become slow and was not exciting indeed many times I found myself sleeping and without desires of want to keep reading , it doesn't present a full perspective so it was not the best book I have read of this topic .
July 31, 2020
It was if someone told Lewis his book needed to be about 15% longer when he finished, so he weaved in the framework of the story being told by Thomas More to a very confused Hans Holbein, hinting that his pro Richard III story will have some sort of major pay off. Instead, there's a weird, flat "twist" at the end that doesn't really amount to much, ignoring all the mystery still left unresolved.
It doesn't make any sense for Thomas More to be the narrator, as the story itself is 3rd POV omniscient, constantly getting inside various characters heads and relaying all sorts of details and conversations that no one in the Tudor reign would have been privy to.
Still, when not being distracted by the out of character More and the very bemused Holbein, I did enjoy this retelling of the rise and fall of Richard III. The action sequences were particularly good, really pulling you into the field of battle and the moment-by-moment decisions and actions that would have consequences for centuries.
However, whenever the characters have a moment to catch their breath, the dialogue almost sounds like a meeting of the Richard III Society. When the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower comes up, Richard himself calmly lays out all the possibilities in a Schrödinger's box kind of way as he describes what could have happened, neatly summing everything up as if he was a historian, rather than one of the main suspects, with no emotion.
Which is very odd, because this is the one instance where he isn't yelling or crying or shouting or any of the many other ways he constantly loses it throughout the rest of the book, almost always wearing his heart on his sleeve.
So, I was baffled at some of the author's choices here, but it was entertaining.
December 4, 2013
The author re-imagines the story of Richard, Duke of Gloucetser's time as loyal servant of his brother, King Edward IV of England, through his death at the Battle of Bosworth. In the story, Richard takes over the throne as a matter of religious duty and is the subject of negative propaganda from the Tudor faction. He does not kill his two nephews or his wife, and strove to promote the interests of the commoner; this was his downfall: he was unliked by the nobility. In the author's notes at the end of the book, he does not mention that the skeleton of Richard I has been found whichgives evidence that Richard did indeed have scoliosis (perhaps this came to light after the book was published, but one would think an ebook could update itself quite easily.)
May 4, 2022
The more modern sections in the book where Thomas More is telling the story of Richard III to Hans Holbein, didn't seem to add much to the story until the end. Richard is given a very sympathetic Portrayal here as a loyal brother, devoted husband and father and a brave fighter in all the battles. Matthew Lewis keeps the book extremely entertaining while still filling it with historic facts. The battle scenes are very gory and the romance between Richard and Anne are very touching. I was interested in the Princes in the tower story and how the author would explain hiw views on what happened. I am not qualified to comment on the accuracy of any facts, but as a story it was quite riveting and I look forward to more of the same. I read the audio book, the reader was perfect and there were interesting end notes after the book had finished.
August 20, 2022
I've been a Ricardian for many years and read many fiction and non-fiction books about Richard III. Matthew Lewis has brought a completely fresh approach to Ricardian perspectives and "Loyalty" is a superb example of how he has achieved this.
"Loyalty" is a novel about Richard and my attention was immediately caught because Sir Thomas More, who wrote the infamous history of Richard on which Shakespeare's play is based, is the narrator. The novel brings Richard to life very vividly and although I know the story so well, I was gripped by the power of the narrative.
Of course, there was a twist right at the end in the greatest historical mystery of the "Princes of the Tower". But I'm not going to spoil it by telling - read it for yourself!
"Loyalty" is a novel about Richard and my attention was immediately caught because Sir Thomas More, who wrote the infamous history of Richard on which Shakespeare's play is based, is the narrator. The novel brings Richard to life very vividly and although I know the story so well, I was gripped by the power of the narrative.
Of course, there was a twist right at the end in the greatest historical mystery of the "Princes of the Tower". But I'm not going to spoil it by telling - read it for yourself!
March 10, 2021
A cracking good read!
Loyalty took me on as wonderful trip inside the life of Richard III. It was great to see him as not perfect, but certainly not the monster Tudor propaganda portrays. The premise of the story being told by Thomas More was clever and very entertaining. I enjoyed Mathew Lewis writing style.
Loyalty took me on as wonderful trip inside the life of Richard III. It was great to see him as not perfect, but certainly not the monster Tudor propaganda portrays. The premise of the story being told by Thomas More was clever and very entertaining. I enjoyed Mathew Lewis writing style.
May 13, 2019
When I ask apologetic RIII books, I'm not asking about this one. Disappointing and bland, that's worse.
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March 7, 2015This is not a perfect book. I have a copy of the paperback edition, which contains quite a few spelling errors/typos, and a number of passages might have been more tightly edited. Having said that, there is also much to admire here. The characterization of Richard III is thoughtful and considered; Lewis's Richard is essentially an attractive figure, although he does have some intriguing flaws. However, the standout character, for me, is Richard's wife, Anne Neville. Of course this is a work of fiction, but no other writer has made me feel Anne's story as much as Matthew Lewis has done; she's involved in some very powerful scenes towards the end. I will definitely read the sequel, Honour.
January 4, 2014
I thought this book was excellent - I've long been interested in Richard III and anything relating to him, and I vowed that this year I would find out more about it all! Loyalty is sympathetic without conferring some sort of God-like status on Richard - in a word, it's balanced. It's also very well-written and interesting. I particularly enjoyed the scene where he rescues his bride-to-be, Anne Neville, from imprisonment by her sister and brother-in-law.
June 30, 2014
Although this book bored me a little in places I found that for most of it I was glued to the pages. The twist at the end I kind of guessed it would be something along them lines about halfway through the book but its a very interesting theory and i instantly looked up the hans holbein portrait. I like the take on Richard and on Anne Neville and never bore of reading about how their life and marriage may have been. I will definitely be reading the next book honour.
August 4, 2014
A refreshing and different telling of King Richard and his struggles with loyalty to his brother & his country. The author raises some new ideas about what truly happened to the "Princes in the Tower" and removes the veil of villainy that has always covered King Richard to allow the reader a glimpse of a man, thought by history to be a monster, but perhaps more of a complex person than he has been given credit for. Excellent historical fiction novel!
January 3, 2015
Long over due!
This is not only a great read it is based on historical fact! I almost did not read it because I have read numerous books on King Richard III and didn't want to re-read the same information. I was presented with information completely different than any previous! I have never been one who believed Richard killed his nephews. This book shows a remarkable man and one of (in my opinion) England's greatest kings.
This is not only a great read it is based on historical fact! I almost did not read it because I have read numerous books on King Richard III and didn't want to re-read the same information. I was presented with information completely different than any previous! I have never been one who believed Richard killed his nephews. This book shows a remarkable man and one of (in my opinion) England's greatest kings.
August 29, 2013
Really interesting and enjoyable take on the reign of Richard 111. It is a sympathetic view of Richard rather than the one portrayed by Shakespeare.
It is a page turner. The author's notes are interesting.
I want to read more about Richard 111 now. Worth reading if you are interested in Richard 111.
It is a page turner. The author's notes are interesting.
I want to read more about Richard 111 now. Worth reading if you are interested in Richard 111.
March 12, 2013
I enjoyed this book despite the spelling mistakes!.. It gives a new dimension to Richard III even though a little Mills and Boon in places. An Interesting theory is put forward at the end of the book (I won't give it away") but it did make me google The More's family portrait by Holbein!.....
January 5, 2014
I really enjoyed this book and it's unusual angle for viewing Richard's reign. This was despite the author's slightly unusual style and the surprising spelling mistakes.
October 4, 2014
Needs more research into the cultures of the times.
July 9, 2017
Interesting take on Richard III. Not use to Thomas More in the role of vindicator of Richard. Easy read.
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