Richard II.(Review)

By Nigel Saul. Pp. xiv+514 incl. 3 maps+26 plates. New Haven-London: Yale University Press, 1997. [pounds]25. 0 300 07003 9

'Yes, yes, yes', cried parliament three times during the procedure for Richard II'S deposition and Henry IV's accession in 1399. The bishop of Carlisle, it is now agreed, probably stayed silent. But, if Richard there and then found few friends, his following amongst twentieth-century historians, attracted by the busyness of events and themes in the last quarter of the century, has been embarrassingly large. It is Henry IV who appears friendless; Richard IX the over-ripe candidate for a few seasons of 'set-aside'. Nigel Saul's new biography had …