Richard III

Page 1

the downfall of the Yorkist monarchy, 1483-1486

the coup d'état by Richard of Gloucester: the issue of the princes in the tower and Richard III's position as a usurper

Richard's takeover:

before edward died he called to his bedside: the queen, Hastings and her son Thomas Grey. he asked them to all make peace with each other. Edward died on April 9th 1483 and on the 11th his son was proclaimed Edward V

the Woodville's were insistent that Edward be crowned as soon as possible, in order to end Hastings' protectorate and give themselves more power. Hastings recognised this and wrote to Richard of Gloucester to suggest that he come to the capital and intercept the young king.

Richard received the letter and wrote a series of letters: to Anthony Woodville expressing an interest in meeting up with the king and to Hastings and Buckingham warning them of the consequences if the Woodvilles came into power. he also wrote to the queen in which he promised to come in submission. he then left to go to London.

in London, the council met and decided that the power would go to Richard while Edward was in his minority as he was his uncle.

Richard held a funeral ceremony and had all of the nobility in York take an oath of loyalty to the young king, Richard was the first to do so.

Richard and Buckingham arrested Rivers and the young king's household officers and dismissed his escort, R then sent a letter to the council explaining his actions

Elizabeth took her family into sanctuary

may 4th: Edward V enters London and Richard orders all the magnates and citizens to swear fealty to Edward

May 10th: Richard was in control when the council met, he dismissed some members and kept others such as Stanley and Hastings. Richard was made Protector and given sovereign power. however, the protectorate would only last until Edward came of age, at which point Richard would be powerless and have to answer for his decisions. he also began to reward his supporters such as Henry Percy

a clique began to form around Richard including John Howard and Buckingham

in June, the mood began to shift away from Richard as they began to feel that he was against the king and power hungry, Hastings even employed his lawyer to spy on Richard's meetings.

Richard spread rumours that Edward had been pre-contracted to another woman before Elizabeth, making their marriage invalid and Edward V a bastard.

June 12th: Richard summoned Buckingham, Hastings, Morton, Stanley, John Howard and his son Thomas to a meeting at the tower of London, where he arrested Hastings and executed him. John Morton was also sent to the Tower later.

Buckingham began to tour the city meeting with different groups of aldermen and merchants explaining Richard's rightful claim to the throne.

June 25th: Buckingham met with the assembled lords and delivered an attack on the government of Edward IV and let the lords decide what to do, they deposed Edward V.

June 26th: the lords gathered to petition Richard to take the throne, Buckingham was the master of ceremonies

July 6th: Richard was crowned Richard III.

The Princes in the Tower:

Richard declared that the boys were illegitimate and put them in the tower, which at this point was not a prison but a residence.

after the summer of Richard's coronation, the princes were never seen again.

in Richard's absence (he went north and spent the summer with his wife and son), the boys were left with Henry Stafford, Buckingham, giving him the motive and opportunity.

However, James Tyrell did confess to murdering the princes whilst under torture.

the princes had to be got rid of, as they were the 'true' heirs to the throne and could grow up to dethrone Richard

Richard's position as a usurper:

the princes in the tower's suspicious deaths made Richard seem suspicious, dishonest and unpopular.

the usurpation also showed him as ruthless and power hungry, as he killed Hastings without a trial and arrested the Woodvilles

however his position was made stronger as he had declared the Princes as illegitimate and their claim was now officially broken, however this does make his decision to kill the princes seem even more cold-hearted and unnecessary.

Page 2

factional rivalries; the mergence of henry tudor, dissensions among the Yorkist nobility, Buckingham's rebellion.