706 



UK IIAKD III. 



he married Anne, the younger daughter of War- 

 wick the Kingmaker, who li.nl been lx-t nil lull to 

 the murdered I'rinee K<lwanl. This alliance wan 

 greatly resented by Clarence, who hail married 

 i In 1 elder sister, and wi-ln-d to keep all of War- 

 wick'- vast posses-inns in his own hands. Clarence 

 quarrelled too with King Kdward, who in 1478 

 procured lux impeachment by parliament. The 

 refractory duke was put to death privately in the 

 Tower on IHth Kehrunry. Of this judicial murder 

 (;|OIM-.-~I.T is likewise accused; hut tin- <>\idence 

 for hi- complicity is very Klight. In I4H2 he was 

 put in command of the army that invaded Scot 

 land. Along with the Duke of Albany he entered 

 Edinburgh ; hut his one warlike achievement waft 

 the capture of Berwick town and castle. In the 

 following year, whilst still in Yorkshire, he heard 

 of King Edward's death (9th April), and learned 

 that he himself had lieen named guardian and 

 protector of his son and heir, Kdward V., then 

 aged thirteen. On his way south the Protector 

 arrested Earl Rivers and Lord Richard Grey, the 

 uncle and step-brother of the young king, and 

 confined them in his northern castles. All who 

 were of the old nobility, and resented the rise of 

 the Woodvilles, rallied round Richard. Whether 

 this accession of strength lirst suggested to him the 

 idea of making himself king, or whether he had 

 conceived it before, cannot of course he known ; 

 but certain it is that from this time Richard of 

 (Iloucester schemed for the crown, and by craft, 

 boldness, and utter unscrupulousneas carried his 

 project into execution. 



The arrest of Rivers and Grey had put the 

 king entirely into his hands, for the queen-mother 

 hail hastened to take sanctuary at Westminster. 

 On 13th June Gloucester suddenly accused Lord 

 Hastings, an influential memlier of the council, 

 of treason, arrested him there and then, and had 

 him instantly l>eheaded. The 'crime' for which 

 Hastings died was changing sides from Richard 

 to the Woodville party. On 16th June the 



aneen-dowager w;is in. hired to give up, at the 

 emand of Richard and the council, her other 

 Ron, the little Duke of York. He was put into 

 the Tower to keep his brother, the king, com- 

 pany. On the Sunday following (22d) a certain 

 I )r Shaw preached at St Paul s cross that the 

 children of Edwanl IV. were illegitimate, nay, 

 that Edward IV. himself ami his brother Clarence 

 were Imth liorn out of lawful wedlock. Three 

 days later the parliament desired Richard to 

 assume the crown : on the next day (28th June 

 1483) he declared himself king, and on 6th July 

 was crowned in state by Cardinal liourchier. 

 Rivers and Grey were executed at I'ontefract on 

 25th June. In point of Jnriii Riehani was a duly 

 elected king, and Edward V. had not vet been 

 crowned ; all the same, his accession was He facto a 

 usurpation. Richard's principal supporter all 

 through, from the date of Edward IV. 'H death, 

 had lieen the Duke of Buckingham, a descendant 

 of the Duke of Gloucester who was privily slain at 

 Calais when Richard II. was kin;:. Shortly after 

 his coronation Richard set out on a tour through the 

 kingdom, and dining the course of it he was 

 surprised by the intelligence that Itiickingham was 

 plotting with the friends of Henry Tudor, Earl of 

 Richmond (afterwards Henry VII.), the chief re- 

 presentative of the House of Lancaster, to effect his 

 overthrow and proclaim Henry king. Hut the 

 attempted rising noon collapsed, and Buckingham 

 wii-iakcn, and on lid Novemlici executed. It seems 

 to h.ive IMH-II shortly before this that Richard con 

 I lived t lie foti I crime- that has branded his name with 

 infamy, and that canned himself inextinguishable 

 remor-e to the day of his death 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 hireling-, that 

 tin' nation did not know of it until some time ali.-i 

 (see EnWAlin V.). Indeed, the very fact of their 

 murder has been seriously called in question, though 

 not until much later time-. Itnt from I lie da\- 

 of Richard himself he \va- popularly believed to 

 have effected his nephews' de-uuction, and evidence 

 Mip|NirtM the popular opinion. During the re- 

 mainder of his short reign Richard directed all his 

 energies to battling the plans of Richmond, and to 

 making preparations to meet the invasion v\ hich he 

 saw to lie imminent. But he was rapidly losing 

 his hold upon the nation, alarming and horrifying 

 it by his crimes and tyrannous acts. Henry of 

 Richmond at length landed at Milford Haven mi 

 7th August 14S.V Richard met him at Bosworth 

 in Leicestershire on the 22d, and there lost hi- 

 kingdom and his life, lighting bravely like a king, 

 crown on head, in the midst of his foes ( see HKM:V 

 \ II. i. The body of the slain king was subjected 

 to great indignities, carried to Leicester, and there, 

 aft.-r living exposed for two days, was buried in 

 the (Irey Friars churchyard. 



Richard's was a strangely mixed character. Ite 

 ruling passion was an inordinate craving for power, 

 to gratify which he stop|>ed at no crime, however 

 heinous. He possessed many of the typical 

 qualities of the best of the Plantagenete a skilful 

 soldier, of great ability and energy, brave, bold, 

 reckless of consequences, fond of display, yet not 

 incapable of nobler impulses. Had he been horn 

 the lawful heir to the throne, and succeeded 

 to it peacefully, he would probably have been a 

 great King ; for he was a very capable ruler, 

 aiming at the real welfare of his subjects, pro- 

 moting justice, and furthering religion and mor- 

 ality. Vet circumstances, conflicting with his 

 insatiable ambition, helped the evil tendencies of 

 his nature to get the upper hand ; and these grew 

 and hardened as time went on. till his audacity 

 ami unscrnpnlonsness were matched with a cunning 

 and hypocrisy such as are seldom found united in 

 one man. On the other hand, he unquestionably 

 had great charm of manner, and knew how to 

 inspire confidence even in those who had the In i 

 reasons for distrusting him. He was. libeial too. 

 and, where his own personal ambition was not 

 directly concerned, just and generous. He wa 

 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. Most of his subjects and con tern 

 poraries looked upon him as a monster of wicked- 

 ness ; others, however, cherished his memory a 

 that of a wise and good ruler. The real man was 

 probably not quite so black as the Lancastrian 

 (Tudor) chroniclers have painted him. though their 

 poi trait is probably fairly accurate in ils broad 

 features. In person Richard was short of statnn- 

 and slight of build, with one shoulder slight i\ 

 higher than the other; but there is no evidence 

 that he was a hunchback. His face was thin and 

 intelligent, and in port raits wears a look of sadn 



The best biography is James GainlnerV Life and Kfiyn 

 of Richard 111. (3d cd. 1898). Attempts to defend his 

 memory from somo of the foul crimes laid to his charge 

 have been made by Horace Waliiole, Hirtoric DouliU on 

 thr /.iff am/ Stiff* ( Rirliard III. (176K); J. H. Jesse, 

 Mtmiiinof Kinti nit-hard II I. (1802); A. O. Legge, The 

 Unpopular Kin;i 1 2 vols. 1885) ; and C. K. Markham, in 

 Kmilith Hirtorirnl Jirriiir ( 1WII ). None of them can be 

 Haiti to have been miccessfiil in making Richard out a 

 good man or a good king. Sir T. More's History of King 

 fl 111. 1 1513), though highly coloured and antag- 

 onistic, is full of interest nnd vivid pictures of the king. 

 Thr Paston Isttert, cd. by J. Gairdner ( 1872-75 ), convey 

 a good impression of the life and manners of the period. 

 Shakespeare's drama gives the popular idea of Richard. 



