Richard III (1699 play) success with leading actors such as David Garrick playing Richard III. The Shakespeare renaissance of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries deprecated modifications of Shakespeare's plots. Cibber's adaptation could not stand comparison with Shakespearean originals, and has rarely been staged since. The play opens in the reign of King Edward IV before it represents the reign of King Richard III during the Wars of the Roses. The end of the play reflects the accession to the throne of the Earl of Richmond, descendent of the Tudor family and future King Henry VII. Shakespeare's play summarises events around the year 1485, although
Richard II of England Earl of Gloucester. With the forfeited lands of the convicted appellants, the king could reward these men with lands suited to their new ranks. A threat to Richard's authority still existed, however, in the form of the House of Lancaster, represented by John of Gaunt and his son Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford. The House of Lancaster not only possessed greater wealth than any other family in England, they were of royal descent and, as such, likely candidates to succeed the childless Richard. Discord broke out in the inner circles of court in December 1397, when Bolingbroke and Mowbray became