Richard III

Much of this website and most of the parent Richard III Society website is about Richard.

Early Life

He was born as a younger son into a family with strong claims to the throne of England from two of the sons of Edward III. All his life until the age of about 30 he was a loyal younger brother to Edward IV until the latter’s death in 1483.

He had the usual upbringing of a young noble, living with another powerful noble: Warwick the ‘kingmaker’. Here he met his future wife, Anne, Warwick’s younger daughter.

His father met a violent death at the hands of  Lancastrians when Richard was aged eight. His older brother, Edward, was able to achieve revenge in battle the following year and become King himself.

Military career

At age 18 he led part of an army fighting alongside his two brothers at Barnet (April 1471) and Tewkesbury (May 1471). These battles ended the lives of Warwick, his former guardian, and also of Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales.

In Edward IV’s second reign he had the responsibility of guarding the north of England from invasion by the Scots.  This also required the skills of keeping the peace between powerful feuding landowners.

Marriage

He married, Anne Neville, the daughter of his former guardian and acquired vast lands and wealth. His brother George had married Anne’s elder sister and tension arose from the sharing of the Neville inheritance.

Kingship

Following his brother’s sudden death in April 1483 he faced several crises in rapid succession. His reign as Richard III began by making enemies of some southern nobles whilst promoting friends from the north.

Richard III was regarded by many of his subjects as a fair and just King. However, his nemesis arrived in 1485 in the form of Henry Tudor.  Both the King of France and Henry’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, had provided support for his invasion.

Richard was brutally killed at Bosworth (22 August 1485) during the last cavalry charge made by a King of England. His naked body was stabbed, put on public display and placed in a hastily cut grave in Greyfriars, Leicester. 

The site of that grave was forgotten over time but rediscovered in 2012.  The full story of this remarkable archaeological investigation can be found in the Richard III Society website and in many books.

After a thorough scientific analysis of his skeleton his remains were reburied with full honours in Leicester Cathedral where you can see his tomb.

IWF

 

 


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