Richard II

Author / Editor
Saul, Nigel.

Title
Richard II

Published
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997.

Physical Description
xiv, 514 pp.; 28 b&w illus.

Description
A biography that assesses Richard II, the quality of his rule, and the events of his reign. Uses Shakespeare's play as a point of departure and argues that Richard's accomplishments and excesses resulted in large part from the fusion of "exercise of power" with a narcissistic "sense of being."
References to Chaucer are few, concentrated in a section on the status of the arts in the court of Richard, who favored visual over verbal arts as a means of image-making. Chaucer had little or no royal patronage from Richard.

Chaucer Subjects
Background and General Criticism.
Chaucer's Life.