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 III of England until the last years of Edward's reign. Richard controlled the north of England until Edward IV's death. There, and especially in the city of York, he was highly regarded; although it has been questioned whether this view was reciprocated by Richard. Edward IV set up the Council of the North as an administrative body in 1472 to improve government control and economic prosperity and benefit the whole of Northern England. Kendall and later historians have suggested that this was with the intention of making Richard the "Lord of the North"; Peter Booth, however, has argued that "instead of allowing his