Shortly after his coronation Richard set out on a tour through the kingdom, and during the course of it he was sur prised by the intelligence that Bucking ham was plotting with the friends of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (after ward Henry VII.), the chief representa tive of the House of Lancaster, to effect his overthrow and proclaim Henry king. But the attempted rising soon collapsed, and Buckingham was taken and (Nov. 2, 1484) executed. It seems to have been shortly before this that Richard con trived the murder of his nephews in the Tower. The deed was done so secretly by Sir James Tyrrell, one of Richard's devoted followers, and a couple of hire lings, that the nation did not know of it till some time after (see EDWARD V.).
During the remainder of his short reign Richard directed all his energies to baffling the plans of Richmond, and to making preparations to meet the inva sion which he saw to be imminent. But he was rapidly losing his hold on the nation, alarming and horrifying it by his crimes and tyrannous acts. Henry of Richmond at length landed at Milford Haven on Aug. 7, 1485. Richard met him at Bosworth in Leicestershire on the 22d, and there lost his kingdom and his life, fighting bravely like a king, crown on head, in the midst of his foes (see HENRY VII.). The body of the slain
king was subjected to great indignities, carried to Leicester, and there, after be ing exposed for two days, was buried in the Grey Friars churchyard.
Richard's was a strangely mixed char acter. Its ruling passion was an inor dinate craving for power, to gratify which he stopped at no crime, however heinous. He possessed many of the typi cal qualities of the best of the Plantag enets—a skilful soldier, of great ability and energy, brave, bold, reckless of con sequences, fond of display, yet not in capable of nobler impulses.
He unquestionably had great charm of manner, and knew how to inspire confi dence even in those who had the best reasons for distrusting him. He was liberal, too, and, where his ovm personal ambition was not directly concerned, just and generous. He was also swayed by a lively sense of divine justice, and more than one religious institution owed its foundation to his bitter remorse for the murder of his nephews. In person Richard was short of stature and slight of build, with one shoulder slightly higher than the other; but there is no evidence that he was a hunchback.