Richard III
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There has been an outstanding amount of scholarship written about Richard III, to which I am indebted. The works of Michael Hicks, Rosemary Horrox, Tony Pollard and Anne Sutton are essential reading; I am grateful to Dr Horrox for sharing her expertise with me. Sean Cunningham and Hannes Kleineke have given generously both with their time and sharing documents and translations with me: I am extremely grateful for their friendship, advice and help. Peter Hammond and Carolyn Hammond have been incredibly generous in providing me with materials and transcripts from the Richard III Society; likewise the Society has been equally supportive and helpful in lending me back issues of The Ricardian. I owe a debt of gratitude to those who have helped with this book but have now sadly passed on, including the late Lesley Boatwright, Cliff Davies and David Baldwin. Others who have helped fashion my thinking on Richard, through conversations and correspondence, include Peter Foss, Bob Woosnam-Savage from the Royal Armouries in Leeds, Michael K. Jones, Geoffrey Wheeler, and Richard Knox. I am grateful also to Margaret Lynch for her assistance in translating Polydore Vergil’s Latin manuscript and other documents, and to Erkin Gozutok, Greg Howard, Jessica Lutkin and Callum Warren for their help with research. My mother has, as always, been a valued proofreader. Of course, any mistakes and errors, whether in fact or judgement, that I have made in writing this book are mine alone.
Finally, this book would simply not have been possible without the loving support and dedication of my wife, Lydia. Ever since I began researching Richard III four years ago, she has been both amazingly supportive and patient, allowing me to find the time to write late into the evening, listening to my ideas and providing constructive feedback. During this time, our two children, Clementine and Henry, have joined our family; juggling work, family life and writing a book has been difficult at times, but I could not have done it without her dedicated and loving support constantly in the background. Writing Richard III, has taken us both on a journey; I look forward to many more. For the moment, however, I am proud to dedicate this work to her.
Photos
This arch-topped painting, copied from a prototype painted during his reign, is thought to be the earliest surviving portrait of Richard III.
‘On this day was born Richard III.’ Richard entered his own birth date, 2 October 1452, into the calendar of his personal Book of Hours.
Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire: Richard’s birthplace, and the seat of the Yorkist dynasty. Richard’s parents are buried in the Church of St Mary.
Middleham Castle, Yorkshire: Richard lived here while in the earl of Warwick’s household in the 1460s. In 1471 the castle was granted to him and became his principal residence until he succeeded to the throne.
‘Fail me not at this time in my great need’: Richard’s first surviving letter, dated 1469 and with a postscript in his own hand, requesting a loan for £100 from Sir John Say, under-treasurer to Edward IV.
Edward IV. He came to rely upon his younger brother Richard as a mainstay of the Yorkist dynasty.
The troublesome middle brother: George, duke of Clarence.
Edward enthroned atop Fortune’s wheel, with his brothers ascending the spokes on the left-hand side.
Edward’s controversial choice of bride: the widowed Elizabeth Woodville. The queen and her family’s influence upon the king was resented by the nobility.
The queen’s brother Anthony, earl Rivers, presents the first printed book in English to Edward IV, whose eldest son, the future Edward V, is at his side.
Yorkist supremacy in the civil wars was finally secured by two decisive battles fought within weeks of each other in spring 1471. At Barnet, Edward IV’s rebellious Kingmaker, the earl of Warwick, met his death; while at Tewkesbury, Henry VI’s heir, Edward of Lancaster, was killed, not without controversy. The sixteen-year-old Richard of Gloucester fought in both battles, leading Edward IV’s vanguard. His success greatly enhanced his military reputation.
The descent of the Neville family. At the top are the earl and countess of Warwick. The middle branches show their daughters, Anne and Isabel. Anne is on the left, in-between her first husband, Edward of Lancaster, and her second, Richard of Gloucester. Below is Edward of Middleham, Richard and Anne’s only surviving child. The right-hand branch shows Isabel, her husband George of Clarence, and their two children.
Edward IV’s sons Richard of Shrewsbury, duke of York, and Edward, Prince of Wales, depicted in a stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral, circa 1482. The following year marked the death of the king and the disappearance of ’The Princes in the Tower’.
The White Tower, in the grounds of the Tower of London. Edward V and his younger brother were last seen withdrawn into its confines.
This scrap of parchment represents an attempt by Richard and Henry, duke of Buckingham, to gain the confidence of the young king on 2–3 May 1483, shortly after seizing him. At the top is Edward’s signature, ‘Edwardus Quintus’; next inscribed is Richard’s motto, ‘Loyaulte Me Lye’ (‘loyalty binds me’); and underneath the broad sprawl of Buckingham’s motto, ‘Souvente Me Souvenir’ (‘remember me often’), and ‘Harry Bokyngham’.
The Garter stall-plate of William, Lord Hastings. As a loyal supporter of the Yorkist dynasty, Hastings opposed Woodville control over Edward V. Yet he was brought down by Richard, who plotted his sudden execution on 13 June 1483, suspicious that Hastings’ loyalty was ultimately to the young king, threatening Richard’s own longterm security.
‘The fact of an enterprise’: Richard’s letter to Lord Chancellor John Russell on 29 July 1483 suggests opposition to his reign had already formed. Other sources indicate that an attempt had been made to free Edward V and his brother from the Tower of London.
Richard is depicted twice in the Rous Roll, described as a ‘most mighty prince’. He all but disappears from a version of the roll made after his deposition, where he is mentioned only as the husband of Anne Neville.
Warwick Castle, the seat of the Beauchamp family, from which Anne was descended. The couple returned here in triumph during the king’s progress of August 1483. It was here that John Rous may have presented them with his roll, praising Richard’s virtues.
The illuminated initial of a charter granted by Richard III in 1484. Above the royal arms with the boar supporters is Richard’s motto.
John, Lord Howard. Howard’s support for Richard’s usurpation was rewarded with the duchy of Norfolk. He loyally served the king, and led the vanguard of Richard’s forces into battle at Bosworth.
William Catesby, one of Richard’s loyal dependants, whose support was crucial in Richard’s seizure of the throne.
On learning of the duke of Buckingham’s rebellion, on 12 October 1483, King Richard dictated this letter to his Chancellor, John Russell, requesting the Great Seal be sent to him at Lincoln. Richard added the lengthy and emotional postscript in his own hand, declaring his determination ‘to resist the malice’ of ‘the most untrue creature living’.
A later copy of a drawing of the young Henry Tudor. Forced into exile after the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, aged just fourteen, Tudor’s own claim to the throne was weak. Yet after the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower, he became the choice of dissident Yorkists to replace Richard III.
Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, was considered an ideal bride for Henry Tudor. Yet after the death of Richard’s queen in 1485, rumours swirled that the king planned to marry his niece Elizabeth himself.
Richard’s final surviving letter, dated 11 August 1485, informing Henry Vernon of the arrival of Tudor from France, four days previously. ‘God be our guide, we be utterly determined in our own person to remove in all haste goodly that we can or may.’ Vernon was to provide men ‘horsed and harnessed’ in all haste, ‘upon pain of forfeiture unto us of all that ye may forfeit and lose’.
The boar symbol of Richard III on a silver gilt badge. It was likely to have been worn by a high-ranking supporter at Bosworth.
A collection of thi
rty-four cannon balls discovered at the site of the battle.
The golden badge of an eagle with a snake in its mouth, discovered at a separate location, possibly near the windmill where the duke of Norfolk was captured and Richard’s vanguard defeated.
A leader of the rebellion against Richard in 1483, Sir John Cheyne fled to Brittany to join Henry Tudor, returning to fight at Bosworth. He came into direct combat with the king, who reportedly struck him with such force that he came off his horse.
Thomas, Lord Stanley. As Henry Tudor’s stepfather, Stanley came under repeated suspicion from Richard, yet he remained too powerful to challenge. Stanley’s inaction at Bosworth, despite leading a force of several thousand men to the battle, may have been the result of Richard holding his son in captivity, or the tactics of a seasoned trimmer. Either way, his refusal to join the king’s forces was decisive.
The critical moment of the battle occurred when Lord Stanley’s younger brother Sir William ordered his troops to charge on Richard III, resulting in his death. Having been declared a traitor by Richard days before Bosworth, Sir William had nothing to lose.
The gravesite of Richard III, discovered in August 2012 under a car park on the site of Greyfriars. The hands had evidently been tied.
Wounds inflicted on Richard’s skull include a fatal blow to the back of his head that sliced through the bone, and a puncture wound at the top of the skull. In total, ten wounds to the skeleton have been identified.
The bones of Richard III clearly demonstrate a curvature of the spine known as scoliosis.
This portrait in the Royal Collection at Windsor seems to have been copied from a contemporary original. Richard’s right shoulder has been heightened to suggest the humpback. His lips and eyes are narrowed to hint at villainy.
A Tudor depiction of Richard with a broken sword, symbolising his defeat and failed monarchy. The left – not the right – shoulder is humped in keeping with John Rous’ descriptions. An X-ray reveals that the king’s left arm was originally shown greatly shortened. This was later painted over.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABBREVIATIONS
Arrivall J. Bruce (ed.), Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV in England and the Finall Recoverye of his Kingdomes from Henry VI A.D.MCCCC. LXXI, London, 1838.
BL, Har 433 R. E. Horrox, and P. W. Hammond (eds.), British Library, Harleian Manuscript 433, 4 vols., 1979–83.
CC The Crowland Chronicle Continuations, 1459–1486, ed. N. Pronay and J. Cox, London, 1986. Supplemented with H. T. Riley (ed.), Ingulph’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland, London, 1854.
CCR Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: 1468–76 (Edward IV), vol. 3, London, 1953; 1476–85 (Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III), vol. 4, London, 1954.
CPR Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: 1461–7 (Edward IV), London, 1897; 1467–77 (Edward IV, Henry VI), London, 1900; 1476–85 (Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III), London, 1901.
CSP, Milan Allen B. Hinds (ed.), Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts in the Archives and Collections of Milan: 1385–1618 (online at www.british-history.ac.uk)
CSP, Venice R. Brown (ed.), Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice, vol. I, 1202–1509, London, 1864.
GC The Great Chronicle of London, ed. A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley, London, 1938.
LPL Lambeth Palace Library
Mancini Dominic Mancini, Usurpation of Richard III, ed. C. A. J. Armstrong, 2nd edn, Oxford, 1969.
More Thomas More, History of King Richard III, ed. R. S. Sylvester, New Haven, Conn., 1963.
PL J. Gairdner (ed.), The Paston Letters 1422–1509, 6 vols., London, 1904. Latest edition: N. Davis et al. (eds.), Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, Oxford, 2004–5.
PROME C. Given-Wilson et al. (eds.), The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 16 vols., Woodbridge, 2005.
Rous ‘John Rous’s account of the reign of Richard III’, translated from Historia Regum Angliae in A. Hanham, Richard III and His Early Historians, Oxford, 1975, pp. 118–24.
RP J. Strachey et al. (eds.), Rotuli Parliamentorum, 6 vols, 1777.
TNA The National Archives, Kew.
Vergil H. Ellis, Three Books of Polydore Vergil’s English History, London, 1844.
Warkworth John Warkworth, A Chronicle of the First Thirteen Years of the Reign of Edward IV (1461–74), ed. J. O. Halliwell, London, 1839.
YCR A. Raine (ed.), York Civic Records, 2 vols., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 98 (1939) and 103 (1941).
YHB L. C. Atreed (ed.), York House Books, 1461–90, 2 vols., Stroud, 1991.
MANUSCRIPTS CITED
BRITISH LIBRARY (BL)
Additional MS 7099, 12,060, 12,520, 19,393, 19,398, 48,976
Additional charter 5987, 67,545
Cotton MS Julius B XII
Vespasian F III
Vitellus A XVI
Harleian charter 58.F.49
Harleian MS 433, 542, 787, 793, 1546
Sloane MS 3479
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (TNA)
C 1 Early Chancery proceedings
4 Chancery answers
56 Confirmation rolls
66 Patent rolls
67 Pardon rolls
81 Chancery warrants, series 1
82 Chancery warrants, series 2
244 Corpus cum causa
CP 25 Feet of fines
DL 5 Duchy of Lancaster, council minutes
29 Accounts of auditors, receivers, feodaries and ministers
37 Chancery rolls
39 Forest records
42 Miscellaneous books
E 101 Exchequer, KR, accounts various
159 Memoranda rolls and enrolment books
207 Bille
208 Brevia baronibus
361 Enrolled wardrobe and household accounts
401 Exchequer of receipt, receipt rolls
402 Tellers’ bills
403 Issue rolls and registers
404 Warrants for issues
405 Tellers’ rolls
KB 9 King’s bench, ancient indictments
29 Controlment rolls
PROB 2 Inventories, pre-1661
11 Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills
PSO 1 Privy seal warrants, series 1
SC 1 Ancient correspondence, chancery and exchequer
BIBLIOTECA APOSTOLICA VATICANA, ROME
Urbini Latini 498
BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD
Ashmole MS 1448
CANTERBURY RECORD OFFICE (CRO)
FA 7 City Accounts
COVENTRY CITY ARCHIVES
BA/H/Q/A79/8 Richard III Letter
DEVON RECORD OFFICE, EXETER
ECA Book 51, Hooker’s commonplace book
Exeter receivers’ accounts
KINGSTON UPON HULL RECORD OFFICE
BRG 1/1 fo. 133v
LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (LMA)
Journals of Common Council VII, VIII, IX
Col/cc/01/01/009
NORFOLK RECORD OFFICE
King’s Lynn Hall Books, KL/C7/4
WARWICKSHIRE COUNTY RECORD OFFICE
CR 26/4
YORK CITY ARCHIVES (YCA)
House Books, 1, 2/4, 7
PRINTED PRIMARY SOURCES
Attreed, L. C. (ed.), York House Books 1461–1490, 2 vols., Stroud, 1991
Barnard, F. P., Edward IV’s French Expedition of 1475: The Leaders and Their Badges, Gloucester, 1975
Basin, Thomas, Histoire de Louis XI, ed. C. Samaran and M.-C. Garand, 3 vols., Paris, 1963–72
Bentley, S., Excerpta Historica, or, Illustrations of English History, London, 1833
Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript, ed. J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 3 vols., London, 1868
Blair, C. H. Hunter, ‘Two Letters Patent from Hutton John near Penrith, Cumberland’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th series, vol. 39 (1961), pp. 367–70
British Lib
rary, Harleian MS 433, ed. R. E. Horrox and P. W. Hammond, 4 vols., London, 1979–83
Bruce, J. (ed.), Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV in England and the Finall Recoverye of his Kingdomes from Henry VI A.D.MCCCC. LXXI, London, 1838
Buck, Sir George, The History of King Richard the Third, ed. A. N. Kincaid, Gloucester, 1979
Calendar of Close Rolls (CCR), 1461–85, 3 vols., HMSO, 1949–54
Calendar of Patent Rolls (CPR), 1441–1509, 8 vols., HMSO, 1908–16
Campbell, W. (ed.), Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII, 2 vols., London, 1873–7
Cely Letters 1472–1488, The, ed. A. Hanham, London, 1975
Christ Church Letters, ed. J. B. Sheppard, London, 1877
Chronica Monasterii S. Albani: registra quorundam abbatum monasterii S. Albani, qui saeculo xvmo flouere II Registra Johannis Whethamstede, Willelmi Albon et Willelmi Walingforde, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series, 1873