RICHARD III, king of England: b. Foth ering Castle in Northamptonshire, 2 Oct. 1452; d. Bosworth, Leicestershire, 22 Aug. 1485. He was the youngest son of Richard, Duke of York, and upon the accession of his brother to the throne as Edward IV, he was created Duke of Gloucester and received the grant of exten sive lands with the office of admiral. With Edward he fled to Holland in 1470, and with him returned in the following year, command ing the Yorkist vanguard against the Lancastrian forces at Barnet and Tewkesbury, where he distinguished himself by his couragp and skill. There, too, he gave signs of his innate ferocity, by his execution of the Lancastrian commander Somerset and others. The murders of Edward, Prince of Wales, after Tewkesbury, and that of Henry VI, in the Tower, are also ascribed to him. Richard became grand-chamberlain of England, and, marrying Anne, the younger daughter of Warwick, fell into violent disputes with his brother Clarence who was the husband of an elder daughter. The death of Clarence in 1478, for which Gloucester cannot be made directly responsible, greatly enriched the latter. In 1480 he became lieutenant-general of the north and in 1482 carried on a victorious cam paign in Edward IV died in April 1483 leaving Richard as guardian of his 13 year-old son Edward and protector of the king dom. first move after securing posses sion of the king was to seize the who were soon after sent to execu Lord who at first sided with Richard but showed signs of disaffection at his ambitious schemes was likewise put out of the way. With the aid of the Duke of Buckingham
Richard began openly to work for the crown. Doubts were cast on the legitimacy of Edward IV's children and in June a subservient Parlia ment asked Richard to assume the crown. This he did 26
though the coronation did not take place till 6 July. Soon after the young sons of Edward IV were done to death in prison. Buckingham now began to plot against Richard and in October stirred up an insur rection in Wales and the southern counties, but the movement collapsed and
was sent to the scaffold
More than a year of peace followed during which Richard acquired much popularity by his wise legislative measures and energetic administration. Early in August 1485,
Earl of Richmond, Lan castrian claimant for the
landed in
and Richard going to meet him was defeated and slain at Bosworth
after a display of heroic
The popular conception of him as a dwarf and hunchback rests on no good
Undeniably he was a man of fine powers and bid fair to become one of
ablest
too, how
are his ruthless ferocity and total lack of moral
Consult
and Papers of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry
edited by Gairdner
Series
;
The New Chronicles of England and
• Walpole