"What Shakespeare does for a monarch, it is very hard to undo.Richard III, though softened and cleaned up by assiduous researchers, still limps murderously through the public imagination."

"Lo, ye all Englishmen, see ye not what a mischief here was?"
Sir Thomas Malory, Morte d'Arthur

"He left such a reputation behind him, that even his birth was said to have proclaimed him a monster." James Gairdrer, History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third.

The two years following the death of Edward IV are thought to be the most mysterious in English history. Differing tales told at the time make it difficult to decide which reports on the royals' reputations to believe - Richard III's or Henry VII's.

Edward IV died in April 1483. He was survived by two young sons and several daughters. The older boy became Edward V and during his minority, the obvious choice to be his regent was his uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester. The Council made Richard 'Protector of the Realm and of the King' with absolute power.

Richard feared that the country under a monarch who was a minor would fall prey once more to internal wars. "Woe is that realm that has a child to their King." Acting, therefore, "for reasons of state," Richard decided to have Edward and his brother confined to the Tower for their protection and then to prevent civil strife, made himself king until Edward came of age. There was nothing sinister about the transfer of the boys to the Tower, for at the time the Tower was still a palace, a refuge of the court in times of danger. It was a royal residence with many luxurious apartments as well as a prison.

Richard's reign began with much gaiety. The King and his wife travelled by state barge along the Thames to to the Tower's royal residence from which by tradition Kings and Queens of England rode to their Coronation. Fixed for July 6, its pageants and processions diverted an uneasy public. It was attended by the greatest lords and ladies in the land and considered the most magnificent of the century. From Westminster Hall, Richard and Queen Anne, walked barefoot to Westminster Abbey for a most impressive ceremony. At the high altar, Richard stripped to the waist and was anointed with chrism. Then clothed in cloth-of-gold, he was crowned by a cardinal. The happy couple returned to Westminster Hall for a lavish coronation banquet attended by hundreds of peers of the realm.

Richard III and his Queen Anne Neville

Richard III's Great Seal Richard by the Grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland His full Plantagenet regalia included the white boar crest and his personal motto, Loyaulte me lie (Loyalty binds me).

The Great Seal was delivered to Richard at Nottingham on 11 August, the same day he received word that the Earl of Richmond had landed in England and was marching towards him with an army.

Despite whispered warnings, there was nothing to indicate that Richard coveted his brother's throne. He had served his brother, Edward IV, faithfully and well in a major ministry and had dedicated himself to making life better for the people. His assumption of the throne was not premeditated. Richard's reputation as a brave and courageous knight was well known and it was widely believed he would make a good king.

Following uprisings which he quickly suppressed, he commenced to implement a series of enlightened reforms that included reviving the power of Parliament. The country seemed satisfied with their monarch, still it is recorded that some citzens remained sullen throughout the land and nothing he did availed him of their favour.

During Richard's two-year reign, he suffered personal tragedies. His only son, eleven-year old Edward, died at Middleham Castle on the 9th April 1484, followed the next year by his 28-year old wife. The loss of his son weakened his status as sovereign, for power passed to a son saved the country much confusion and conflict. Meanwhile, his major adversary, Richmond Tudor, had embarked from Barfleur on August 1st with Englishmen - Yorkist as well as Lancastrian - and some French troops and landed at Milford Haven on 7th of August. The fight for the crown was about to begin.

Surviving accounts of this period were largely written under the Tudors and not unnaturally tended to influence those highly opinioned monarchs. With one's neck and one's notables at stake, complimentary comments were the better part of valour. Some claim, however, that the people formed their convictions two years before the Tudors took control, when all men's lips demanded liberation of the princes.

Reports of Richard's reign reflect this highly prejudiced point of view. Foremost among the naysayers was Sir Thomas More, for Richard's reputation rests largely on the biography he wrote, The History of King Richard the Third.

A modern statue of Sir Thomas More in Chelsea, London, where he lived.

More forewarned his readers. "It is therefore somewhat to show you ere we further go, what manner of man this was that could find in his heart so much mischief to conceive. Now fell there mischiefs thick. Where his advantage grew, he spared no man's death whose life withstood his purpose. Where he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his body secretly armoured, his hand ever on his dagger."

More described Richard as "close and secret, a deep dissembler, humble in expression and arrogant in his heart, outwardly friendly, but inwardly not hesitating to kiss whom he meant to kill."

His dark tale tells of a man so driven by passion to be king, that he committed all manner of mayhem including murder, the most heinous being the killing in the Tower by "the wickedest uncle of all time," of Edward V, age 12 and his 9-year old brother, Richard, Duke of York.

William Shakespeare chose to make More's morbid tale the basis for his play, Richard III. He crafted this creature, a misshapen caricature of tyranny, a malevolent hunchback craving the crown, slinking about the stage. After four centuries, this is the villainous view of Richard we have imbibed from Shakespeare's play.

Tudor historians claimed that Richard declared his nephews to be illegitimate, persuaded Parliament to accept this as fact and had the two boys killed. Richard's defenders point to his loyalty to his brother and the unlikelihood he would betray his trust by having his sons murdered.

Henry Tudor's own claim to the throne was a weak one at best and it was charged that when he found the two boys in the Tower, he feared he would lose the crown and had them killed. Nonsense some said. "Are we led to believe they languished in the Tower for two years until found there by Henry VII, who had them 'and done to death'."

King Richard III Loyaulte me lie, "Loyalty binds me" From a sixteenth-century copy of a lost original Royal Collection, Windsor

This face has had a curious effect on some. A novelist said it showed great responsibility and authority. Another thought it revealed a worrier and a person who suffered ill-health as a child. One writer thought the face showed "remakable intellectual beauty." The eyes, said an admirer, "are direct, earnest and shadowed by great care." An 18th century doctor said it reminded him of Lorenzo de Medici.

Lorenzo de Medici

Richard's Signature as King

Richard III, possibly when still Duke of Gloucester. A copy c. 1520 of a lost original. The Society of Antiquaries of London.

This painting is an early 16th century copy of a lost original and is the earliest surviving likeness. Richard looks in the opposite direction to the better known one above and also shows him fiddling with his ring, a charateristic habit. There is no sign of deformity in either of these paintings. Richard's face was thought by some to indicate a forceful, merciless person.

The Two Princes - Richard & Edward V in the Tower [John Everett Millais,1878] Royal Holloway picture collection.

The Great Chronicle of London reported that the two brothers had been seen on a number of occasions, "shooting and playing in the garden of the Tower." It is thought they were moved twice, first to the Garden Tower and then into the White Tower in which state prisoners were held. They had disappeared for good by the time Richard was crowned. They were not seen again after July 1483. Time passed and rumours circulated that the boys had been killed, smothered with their own pillows as they slept.

Their bodies were never found. Nearly two hundred years later during alterations in the Tower in 1674, two skeletons were discovered, which were thought to be the brothers. King Charles II ordered them interred with all honours in Westminster Abbey. Veiled by the silence of the centuries, "the truth will never be known" about their killer.

Nottingham Castle Richard's Command Centre

Nottingham Castle is an earthwork motte and bailey fortress, founded in 1067 by William the Conqueror. In 1170, King Henry II, founded the stone castle, when making the site the principal royal fortress in the Midlands. The only surviving medieval remains of the upper bailey is Mortimer's Hole, a passage which leads to the base of the rock. In the middle bailey are the foundations of the Black Tower, King Richard's Tower and traces of the bailey curtain wall and ditch. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "'Castle Rock'", with cliffs 130 feet (40 m) high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence. In decline by the 16th century, it was largely demolished in 1649, but sufficient fragments remain to give an impression of the layout of the site. A ducal mansion later occupied the summit of the promontory. This was burnt out by rioters in 1831, and later adapted as an art gallery and museum, which remains in use today.

On 19 August Richard marched down the hill from Nottingham Castle and set out to rid the country of Richmond. Many stayed abed that day, no doubt mindful of the menacing message of terror inspired by the King's threats, preserved in this bit from the ballad of Bosworth Feilde.

"Ladies "well-aday" shall cry,
Widows shall weep and their hands wring;
Many a man shall regret the day
That ever they rose against their King."

Richard's end came on 22 August, 1485 at a place called Bosworth Field, site of the most famous battle of the War of the Roses.

Earlier this year, 6 July 2010, archeologists uncovered a perfectly preserved 1.5-inch silver badge, thought to be from a knight in Richard's retinue, who rode with him to his death on that last charge. After 500 years, it has pinpointed the exact site of the fight which decided the Wars of the Roses, a mile from where historians had believed it took place.

Recently confirmed site of the battlefield, towards Fenn Lane, beyond the treeline in the mid-ground, just glimpsed through the trees.

Richard was the last English king to die in battle. Only 5 feet 4 inches tall, this hardened, courageous veteran of a great many bloody fights, entered the fray that day frowning. His ghastly features were grey, more leaden than usual. Although urged by his men not to wear anything that would immediately identify him, Richard wore a light-weight crown over his iron helmet to symbolize the fight was to defend it, as if to say, today will mark the end or the beginning of my reign.

Battle Axe or 'battle hammer' of the type probably used so effectively by Richard at Bosworth Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery

Never one to hesitate, Richard decided to make straight for his target Richmond - Henry Tudor. Killing him would keep the crown and settle forever, the bloody feud between Lancaster and York. Astride his great white courser with sword, the tool of his trade in hand, Richard charged.

"A King of England rides forth to war." (Note the Crown!) c.1480 City of Bristol Record Office

For a moment it seemed as though his impromptu tactic would turn the tide and see his enterprise crowned with success.

The Charge of Richard III and His Knights

However, after archery and cannonade and the lines were locked in battle, thoughts of victory vanished, Richard's forces failed him and a ring of steel closed about the king. His alienated allies refused to support their sovereign. The Earl of Northumberland commanding Richard's left stood idle at a distance, watching and waiting. Lord Stanley's troops "in coats as red as blood" fought, but for his foe.

Disdainful of doubt and danger, Richard hurled himself into the thickest of the fray, slashing and gashing all and sundry, but finally falling under the onslaught. Anguished, beaten and battered, Richard bellowed as he fell mortally wounded, "Treachery, treachery!"

One foot I will never flee, while the breath is my breast within
As he said, so did it he - if he lost his life he died a king.

The crumpled crown was picked from a bush and placed on the victor's head.

The King is dead. Long live the King.

Henry VII by Michiel Sittow, 1505. The King is holding a red rose of Lancaster and wears a collar of the Golden Fleece over a cloth of gold surcoat lined with white fur.

After the battle Richard's body, stripped and slung across a horse’s back like a sack of potatoes and was carried back to Leicester, passing over Bow Bridge across which Richard had ridden earlier. On Henry VII’s instructions, the naked body was exposed for two days, so that all might know for certain they were rid of Richard. He was then buried at Grey Friars' Church, Leicester, apparently without coffin, stone or epitaph, the location henceforth known to many as a place of infamy called, "the tyrants' sepulchre." Henry VII later donated 10 pounds for a modest marker over his rival. Made of a coloured stone, the tombstone disappeared during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Richard's bones were dug up and thrown into the River Soar and for many years, a coffin said to have been his, was used as a horses' drinking trough and was later broken up to serve as the cellar steps of the White Horse Inn.Sic transit gloria.

The Great Chronicle of London recorded that Richard's body, "despoiled to the skin and nought being left about him so much as to cover his privy member was trussed behind a pursuivant,"[ junior officer] and dragged as would have been done to a hog or other vile beast to a church where he was "indifferently buried".

York's city fathers lamented his death, bemoaning that his "murder brought great heaviness of this city." Richard was mourned in Ireland and a requiem mass is still said in Richard's birthplace, Middleham, on the anniversary of his death.

Defenders of this much-maligned monarch argue not only was he a distinguished soldier and administrator and a loyal servant of his brother, Edward IV, but also that the murderer of the boys has never been known for certain and problably never will be. There are those who believe Richard has been unjustly denigrated and latter-day historians have tried to redress the balance. He was not a humpback, but did have a withered left arm. In fact, he was remembered as being, "the handsomest man in the room - very well made." He was generous, loyal and much loved.

A Richard III Society has even been formed with branches in various English-speaking countries, dedicated to the reassessment of Richard's life and reign.

"The purpose and indeed the strength of the Richard III Society derive from the belief that the truth is more powerful than lies - a faith that even after all these centuries the truth is important. It is proof of our sense of civilised values that something as esoteric and as fragile as reputation is worth campaigning for."

The Richard III Society

"After 500 years, King Ricahrd is still getting bad press and for us it is time to set the record straight." So states the Toronto-based Richard III Society of Canada,,which exists to do just that:
To defend Richard "as a courageous, loyal and honourable man." The Society annually celebrates Richard's memorial day,22 August,the date in 1485 when he was slain defending his kingdom at the Battle of Bosworth.

Loyaulte me lie Loyalty Binds Me

As to the truth of it all,
The Shadow Knows

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Copyright © 2011 W. R. Wilson