RICHARD III., King of England; son of Richard, Duke of York, a descendant of Edmund, Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III.; born in Fotheringay Cas tle, Oct. 2, 1452. After the defeat and death of his father in 1460 he was sent, along with his brother George, to Utrecht for safety, but returned to England after his eldest brother Ed ward won the crown (1461). Two years later he was created Duke of Glouces ter, his brother George being made Duke of Clarence. In the final struggle be tween the York and Lancaster factions he took an active share; he led the van at the battle of Barnet, rendered val uable aid in winning the fight of Tewkes bury, and is believed, on fairly good evidence, to have had a hand in the mur der of Prince Edward, son of Henry VI., who was slain after that battle. All through the reign of Edward IV. he gave valuable and faithful support to his brother, and was rewarded by him with every confidence, and with numer ous high offices. He was believed to have been concerned in the murder of Henry VI. in the Tower on May 21, 1471; but the evidence, though strongly pointing in that direction, is not con clusive.
In the following year he married Anne, the younger daughter of War wick the Kingmaker, who had been be trothed to the murdered Prince Edward. This alliance was greatly resented by Clarence, who had married the elder sister, and wished to keep all of War wick's vast possessions in his own hands. Clarence quarreled, too, with King Ed ward, who in 1478 procured his impeach ment by Parliament. The refractory duke was put to death privately in the Tower on Feb. 18. Of this judicial mur der Gloucester is likewise accused; but the evidence for his complicity is very slight. In 1482 he was put in command of the army that invaded Scotland. Along with the Duke of Albany he en tered Edinburgh; but his one warlike achievement was the capture of Berwick town and castle. In the following year, while still in Yorkshire, he heard of King Edward's death (April 9), and learned that he himself had been named guardian and protector of his son and heir, Edward V., then aged 13. On his
way S. the Protector arrested Earl Riv ers and Lord Richard Grey, the uncle and step-brother of the young king, and confined them in his castles. All who were of the old nobility, and resented the rise of the Woodvilles, rallied round Richard. From this time Richard of Gloucester schemed for the crown, and by craft, boldness, and utter unscrupu lousness carried his project into execu tion.
The arrest of Rivers and Grey had put the king entirely into his hands, for the queen-mother had hastened to take sanctuary at Westminster. On June 13 Gloucester suddenly accused Lord Hast ings, an influential member of the coun cil, of treason, arrested him there and then, and had him instantly beheaded. The "crime" for which Hastings died was changing sides from Richard to the Woodville party. On June 16 the queen dowager was induced to give up, at the demand of Richard and the council, her other son, the little Duke of York. He was put into the Tower to keep his brother, the king, company. On the Sunday following (22d) a certain Dr. Shaw preached at St. Paul's cross that the children of Edward IV. were ille gitimate, nay, that Edward IV. himself and his brother Clarence were both born out of lawful wedlock. Three days later the Parliament desired Richard to as sume the crown; on the next day (June 26, 1483) he declared himself king, and on July Q was crowned in state by Car dinal Bourchier. Rivers and Grey were executed at Pontefract on June 25. In point of form Richard was a duly elected king, and Edward V. had not yet been crowned; all the same, his accession was de facto a usurpation. Richard's prin cipal supporter all through, from the date of Edward IV.'s death, had been the Duke of Buckingham, a descendant of the Duke of Gloucester, who was priv ily slain at Calais when Richard II. was king.