Richard II is a figure famous in England's national myths – the king who went insane, the narcissist, the tyrant of Shakespeare's play. History regards his rule either as that of a superhuman monarch or a crazed and vicious ruler. But Richard II was a complex and conflicted man – a person with faults and shortcomings thrust into a role that demanded greatness. In this book, Kathryn Warner returns with the first modern biography of Richard II in decades, to paint a portrait of the king with all of his strengths and imperfections left in the picture. An aesthete and patron of the arts as well as a person troubled by a much-maligned ‘personality disorder’, Richard II here emerges from behind the mask of a theatrical character.

• A famous figure from national myth and legend, featured in Shakespeare, but without a proper biography
• A case study of a medieval man who suffered from a psychological disorder, unexamined before modern times
• Kathryn Warner is a highly respected author of biographies and studies of the period, such as 'Isabella of France' and 'Edward II'.