When Thomas Costain's "The Conquerors," came out more than a dozen years ago, and was followed two years later by his "The Magnificent Century," they gave us a treatment of history refreshingly colorful and new. Here indeed was "The Pageant of England" as rich as events woven into medieval tapestries—stories of tournaments, battles, the storming of castles, arranging of international marriages, the plots and counterplots of family intrigues, and more dimly perhaps yet ominously persistent, the struggles of submerged peasants, the growing power of the guilds, the self-realization of citizens of London.

Perhaps it is just as well that Mr. Costain eventually decided to end his "Pageant" with the coming in of the Tudors. The extent of research for these histories—popular in style but sound in substance—seems a life work in itself….

"The Last Plantagenets," picking up England's story where "The Three Edwards" leaves us, gives us six kings from Richard II and great Henry V and the events of his all-too-short reign, with the Battle of Agincourt and his winning of the French princess Katherine. Here, too, are John Ball and the tragic Peasants' Revolt, the devious intrigues of Margaret of Anjou, the political maneuverings of Warwick the Kingmaker—all as fascinating as any swift mystery story. It is history as made by people—people one comes to know well—and events so vividly presented as to seem personally experienced. Nor are the people all kings and queens and their conniving relatives. William Caxton is here, as is also John Wycliffe.

But among them all the most interesting character—because we may long have been unwittingly misled concerning him—is Richard III, the last Plantagenet. Was he really the cruel plotter, usurper, and murderer that Shakespeare's magnificent play and all the school history textbooks depict to us? Did he do away with the little princes in the Tower?

If this absorbing final volume of "The Pageant of England" series were significant for no other reason, it should have interest for this Apologia pro Richard III. Mr. Costain is a scholar: he leaves no stone unturned, no manuscript, letter, rumor, or event untested. And this author finds conclusive evidence that the story and character of Richard as handed down for posterity to swallow is entirely from Henry Tudor, the successor who defeated him and took his throne….

One leaves the Plantagenets with a certain regret. Theirs was a colorful and lusty era. It is of course right that the pageantry and wrongs of feudalism, the extravagance and intrigues of kings and their plotting relatives were made to give place. Heartening were the brave efforts of commoners and peasants toward a recognition of human dignity—a glorious part of this story of England's march of freedom. This was a significant era of break-up, of emergence, of genuine progress. We return to the task of solving the problems of our own time with understanding enriched and courage strengthened for having lived so fully in those pregnant and dramatic days.