Read Online Divorced, Beheaded, Died: The History of Britain's Kings and Queens in Bite-Sized Chunks by Kevin Flude - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kevin Flude
Tags: Historical, History, Biography & Autobiography, Reference, Europe, Great Britain, Royalty, Queens
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no announcements, accusations or excuses were made. Most people blamed the obvious suspect. In 1674 bones of two young boys were found at the foot of a staircase in the Tower and were reburied in Westminster Abbey as the remains of the Princes in the Tower, but the truth remains elusive.
R ICHARD III
Reigned 1483–1485
Richard’s life falls into two halves: the first part when he served his brother King Edward IV and his country with loyalty and distinction, and the second part when as Protector and King he displayed a remarkable capacity for decisive and ruthless action.
He was born in 1452 at Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire. He finished his education in the home of the Earl of Warwick, where he met Anne Neville, who would later be his queen. By the age of seventeen Richard was a leading figure in the civil war and commanded wings of Edward’s army at the crucial battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, where Warwick and the Lancastrian forces were resoundingly defeated.
Richard was given responsibility for the north, where he ruled with diligence and fairness. He ended the Scottish threat, recaptured Berwick and occupied Edinburgh, and gave his brother’s regime some much-needed military success. But he was not charismatic like his brother. He preferred to stay out of London to avoid the debauchery and intrigue of the London court.
When his brother died in April 1483, Richard was in a very difficult position. The young Edward V had been brought up by the Woodvilles, whom Richard blamed for the ill-health and early death of the King. If they gained control, the consequences for Richard were grave. So he took decisive action, executing various members of the Woodville clan and keeping the young King and his brother in the Tower while he sought to have them declared illegitimate. He was successful in this, and was crowned in July 1483. The fate of the two boys remains unknown, but it is likely that they were murdered in the Tower that same year, possibly at Richard’s behest.
Was the failure of Richard’s reign caused by public revulsion at the Princes’ murders, or was his real failure that he could not command the loyalty of those around him? His first year saw his betrayal by his main supporter, the Duke of Buckingham, who joined an alliance composed of the Woodvilles and Henry Tudor, a rival claimant to the throne. Buckingham was executed. Richard was also betrayed by Lord Stanley and the Earl of Northumberland at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and bravely went to his death in a last ‘do or die’ charge aimed at killing Henry Tudor. His crucial mistake had been to narrow his power-base and rely on his old northern followers, thus alienating key nobles.
Richard had fathered up to seven illegitimate offspring before he married Anne Neville, but his one legitimate son had recently died aged nine, leaving the way clear for Henry Tudor to inherit the throne.
The Tudors
The Wars of the Roses killed off many of the leading contenders for the throne. The death of Edward of Lancaster, the son of Henry VI, made Henry Tudor the prominent Lancastrian claimant to the throne, through his mother’s side – even though this Beaufort ancestry (being originally illegitimate) in fact gave him no legal claim at all. His father, Edmund Tudor, was descended from the Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffudd. Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth of York united the Yorkist and Lancastrian lines in the form of their son, Henry VIII. The massacre of aristocrats that took place in the Wars of the Roses and in the subsequent executions ordered by Henry VII and VIII is one of the factors that explains why the medieval age is deemed to have ended with the coming of the Tudors.
H ENRY VII
Reigned 1485–1509
Henry Tudor had at best a very weak claim to the throne, but he was propelled to the top of the Lancastrian leader board by the deaths of Henry VI and his son. The subsequent deaths of Edward IV, the Duke of Clarence, the Princes in the
R ICHARD III
Reigned 1483–1485
Richard’s life falls into two halves: the first part when he served his brother King Edward IV and his country with loyalty and distinction, and the second part when as Protector and King he displayed a remarkable capacity for decisive and ruthless action.
He was born in 1452 at Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire. He finished his education in the home of the Earl of Warwick, where he met Anne Neville, who would later be his queen. By the age of seventeen Richard was a leading figure in the civil war and commanded wings of Edward’s army at the crucial battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, where Warwick and the Lancastrian forces were resoundingly defeated.
Richard was given responsibility for the north, where he ruled with diligence and fairness. He ended the Scottish threat, recaptured Berwick and occupied Edinburgh, and gave his brother’s regime some much-needed military success. But he was not charismatic like his brother. He preferred to stay out of London to avoid the debauchery and intrigue of the London court.
When his brother died in April 1483, Richard was in a very difficult position. The young Edward V had been brought up by the Woodvilles, whom Richard blamed for the ill-health and early death of the King. If they gained control, the consequences for Richard were grave. So he took decisive action, executing various members of the Woodville clan and keeping the young King and his brother in the Tower while he sought to have them declared illegitimate. He was successful in this, and was crowned in July 1483. The fate of the two boys remains unknown, but it is likely that they were murdered in the Tower that same year, possibly at Richard’s behest.
Was the failure of Richard’s reign caused by public revulsion at the Princes’ murders, or was his real failure that he could not command the loyalty of those around him? His first year saw his betrayal by his main supporter, the Duke of Buckingham, who joined an alliance composed of the Woodvilles and Henry Tudor, a rival claimant to the throne. Buckingham was executed. Richard was also betrayed by Lord Stanley and the Earl of Northumberland at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and bravely went to his death in a last ‘do or die’ charge aimed at killing Henry Tudor. His crucial mistake had been to narrow his power-base and rely on his old northern followers, thus alienating key nobles.
Richard had fathered up to seven illegitimate offspring before he married Anne Neville, but his one legitimate son had recently died aged nine, leaving the way clear for Henry Tudor to inherit the throne.
The Tudors
The Wars of the Roses killed off many of the leading contenders for the throne. The death of Edward of Lancaster, the son of Henry VI, made Henry Tudor the prominent Lancastrian claimant to the throne, through his mother’s side – even though this Beaufort ancestry (being originally illegitimate) in fact gave him no legal claim at all. His father, Edmund Tudor, was descended from the Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffudd. Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth of York united the Yorkist and Lancastrian lines in the form of their son, Henry VIII. The massacre of aristocrats that took place in the Wars of the Roses and in the subsequent executions ordered by Henry VII and VIII is one of the factors that explains why the medieval age is deemed to have ended with the coming of the Tudors.
H ENRY VII
Reigned 1485–1509
Henry Tudor had at best a very weak claim to the throne, but he was propelled to the top of the Lancastrian leader board by the deaths of Henry VI and his son. The subsequent deaths of Edward IV, the Duke of Clarence, the Princes in the
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