Sir, Victoria Solt Dennis (letter, August 19) maintains that with the exception of his military skills there is little favourable to be said of Richard I. Frank McLynn, in his 2006 study of Richard and his brother John, Lionheart and Lackland, explores the criticisms cited by Dennis and reaches a much more positive verdict.

He concludes that “most of the charges in the indictment against Richard, whether on political, administrative or military grounds, fail to convince”. He goes on to note that this particular Angevin managed to avoid the head-on collisions with the papacy and the all-England primates that soured the reigns of both Henry II and John.

Simon McCarthy
London E5

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