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Characters during the Wars of the Roses
(15 items)list by Kenji
Published 8 years, 11 months ago 
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1452-1485
One of the most controversial English kings, Richard's remains were recently found at Leicester and his body now lies in the city's cathedral, as a blessed tourist attraction. There are numerous Ricardian societies: Shakespearean demonization has been overturned by modern propaganda, so that now he is widely admired as a virtuous English-born King overthrown by an unworthy Welsh-born one.
This commonly held view is contradicted by reality. He usurped the throne, by executing the protectors of young Edward V, delaying his coronation, and placing him and his younger brother in the tower, where they disappeared, presumed by contemporaries to have been murdered on Richard's orders. Richard claimed that his brother the late king Edward IV was illegitimate, as were the princes in the tower and the son of his other older brother Clarence: therefore he, Richard was rightful ruler.
He seized and had killed his friend Hastings who supported his acting as Protector for Edward V but opposed his taking the crown, and there were earlier instances of his cruelty and ruthlessness.
Popular in the North of England, Richard was considered a very capable military commander, who, before becoming King, had been influential in Yorkist victories, and was acclaimed in England for defeating a Scottish incursion. However, support for his rule was undermined by belief in his usurping the throne.
At the battle of Bosworth in 1485 he fought bravely to the death, after expected supporters turned in favour of his rival Henry Tudor. He was last Plantagenet and Yorkist king of England.
He is even thought by many to be the last truly English king of England. He was in fact of Anglo-Norman-Flemish-French-Spanish parentage, in a line of Kings from Anjou in France.
One of the most controversial English kings, Richard's remains were recently found at Leicester and his body now lies in the city's cathedral, as a blessed tourist attraction. There are numerous Ricardian societies: Shakespearean demonization has been overturned by modern propaganda, so that now he is widely admired as a virtuous English-born King overthrown by an unworthy Welsh-born one.
This commonly held view is contradicted by reality. He usurped the throne, by executing the protectors of young Edward V, delaying his coronation, and placing him and his younger brother in the tower, where they disappeared, presumed by contemporaries to have been murdered on Richard's orders. Richard claimed that his brother the late king Edward IV was illegitimate, as were the princes in the tower and the son of his other older brother Clarence: therefore he, Richard was rightful ruler.
He seized and had killed his friend Hastings who supported his acting as Protector for Edward V but opposed his taking the crown, and there were earlier instances of his cruelty and ruthlessness.
Popular in the North of England, Richard was considered a very capable military commander, who, before becoming King, had been influential in Yorkist victories, and was acclaimed in England for defeating a Scottish incursion. However, support for his rule was undermined by belief in his usurping the throne.
At the battle of Bosworth in 1485 he fought bravely to the death, after expected supporters turned in favour of his rival Henry Tudor. He was last Plantagenet and Yorkist king of England.
He is even thought by many to be the last truly English king of England. He was in fact of Anglo-Norman-Flemish-French-Spanish parentage, in a line of Kings from Anjou in France.