Richard III of England

:For the play Richard III by William Shakespeare, see Richard III (play)

Accession to the Throne

On the death of King Edward IV, in April 1483, the late King's sons (Richard's young nephews), King Edward V, aged 12, and Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, aged 9, were next in the order of succession. Appointed Lord Protector of the Realm in his brother's will, Richard was warned by Lord Hastings, that the Woodvilles were intending to isolate Richard from the position and to consolidate their power at Richard's expense.

Related Topics:
1483 - King Edward V - Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York - Order of succession - Lord Hastings

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When the boy King's retinue was on its way from Wales to London, for his coronation, Richard and Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham joined them at Northampton. He had the king's guardian, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, (brother of Elizabeth Woodville, Edward's Queen Consort) and other advisors arrested and taken to Pontefract Castle, allegedly for planning to assassinate Edward V. Richard then took Edward to stay at the Tower of London (then a royal palace), a move widely supported since much of the country distrusted the former queen's family. Richard called himself Lord Protector and was also made Chief Councillor (head of government).

Related Topics:
Wales - London - Coronation - Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham - Northampton - Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers - Elizabeth Woodville - Pontefract Castle - Assassinate - Tower of London - Palace - Lord Protector

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John Morton, Bishop of Ely and later Archbishop of Canterbury, is considered by some to be an important source of the Tudor propaganda against Richard III. According to Sir Thomas More's History, which may be based in part on Morton's accounts, Lord Hastings (a regular visitor to the young Edward V in the Tower of London) was arrested for alleged treason on 13 June 1483 at a meeting of the Royal Council, at the Tower. A few minutes later, he was beheaded on Tower Green, a clear violation of his rights (i.e., execution without due process) as a Peer guaranteed under Magna Carta. It has been argued that Hastings, whose execution was the first recorded at the Tower of London, was indeed arrested on 13 June, but later formally charged with treason, tried, convicted and sentenced, and legally executed on 18 June; no record of such proceedings survives. Edward's younger brother, Richard, was removed to the Tower on 16 June, following Lord Hastings' arrest and (presumed) execution.

Related Topics:
John Morton - Bishop of Ely - Archbishop of Canterbury - Propaganda - Edward V - Tower of London - Treason - 13 June - 1483 - Beheaded - Magna Carta - 18 June - 16 June

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It is thought that Hastings had allied himself with the Queen Dowager because of the rise in influence of Buckingham and what he saw as Richard's usurpation of the throne. Morton claimed to have been in the council room when Hastings was arrested, and may have been one of several men who were detained for participating in the conspiracy with Hastings.

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Three other members of the alleged conspiracy — the queen's brother Lord Rivers, her second son Richard Grey, and another chamberlain Sir Thomas Vaughan — were also convicted and executed elsewhere. Jane (or Elizabeth) Shore, who had been a mistress of King Edward IV, and then of his step-son Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset (who avoided prosecution in the conspiracy by going into sanctuary at Westminster with his mother), and was now Hastings's mistress, was convicted of only lesser offences and was made to do public penance and briefly imprisoned.

Related Topics:
Richard Grey - Thomas Vaughan - Jane (or Elizabeth) Shore - Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset - Sanctuary - Westminster

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John Morton is also thought to be the source of other accusations against Richard, notably

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• the murder of the Princes in the Tower
• the murder of Henry VI himself
• the "private execution" of his brother George, Duke of Clarence
• the murder of his wife's first husband, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales
• the murder of William, Lord Hastings
• of forcing his wife, Anne Neville, to marry him against her will
• of planning an incestuous marriage to his niece Elizabeth of York (and perhaps killing his wife so he could)
• of accusing his own mother of adultery and his late brother the king of being illegitimate
• of accusing Jane Shore and Elizabeth Woodville of witchcraft in withering his arm
• of being illegitimate himself

Each of these stories first appears in writing either in Sir Thomas More's The History of King Richard III, believed by some to be based on Morton's account, or on the writings of someone else who had heard the stories. (Historians are divided on the issue of Morton's importance as a source, some pointing out that More's own father was an Edwardian loyalist and well-connected in the governmentof the City of London.) The question of whether these stories were true was not of great interest to either Morton or More, history then still being regarded as a branch of literature. Not only that, but Morton, having been arrested by Richard III, had fled to exile in Flanders. He only returned when Henry VII was on the throne and was quickly promoted. It was customary for histories to also serve as propaganda on both sides, to support and strengthen one's patron's cause.

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On June 22, 1483, outside St Paul's Cathedral, a statement was read out on behalf of Richard declaring for the first time that he was taking the throne for himself. When the members of Parliament met on June 25, it apparently heard evidence from a priest that he had conducted a marriage or betrothal between Edward IV and one Lady Eleanor Talbot (or Butler) before his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. Since even a betrothal was a legally binding "pre-contract" in the customs of the time, Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville had been bigamous, therefore all their children were illegitimate. Some of the proceedings of that Parliamentary session survive in a document known as Titulus Regius, which Parliament issued some months later explaining its actions and of which a single copy escaped the destruction of all copies of the Titulus Regius later ordered by Henry VII. The identity of the priest in question - thought to have been Edward IV's sometime Chancellor, Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells - is known from only one source, the French political commentator, Philippe de Commines.

Related Topics:
June 22 - 1483 - St Paul's Cathedral - June 25 - Lady Eleanor Talbot - Titulus Regius - Robert Stillington - Bishop of Bath and Wells - Philippe de Commines

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Despite rumours that Richard's claims were true, evidence was lacking, and until recently it has generally been accepted that Richard's chief motive for taking the crown was that he felt that his own power and wealth would be threatened under Edward V, who was presumably sympathetic to his Woodville relatives. However, a recently-published theory has reopened the question of the additional claim that it was Edward IV who was illegitimate -see was Edward illegitimate? for details.

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