Richard III a Character in Richard III by WS

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Richard Plantagenet was born on 2 October 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle in Northampton shire, the youngest son of Richard, Duke of York, and his wife, the former Cecily Neville.

Richard’s brother, Edward, seized the throne of England in March of 1460 and defeated the Lancastrians at Towton on 29 March 1460.

Richard, was created duke of Gloucester at the age of eight and entered the household of his cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, to begin his education as a nobleman.

Richard accompanied Edward to the continent and on their return to England in 1471 the eighteen-year-old duke was given command of the vanguard at the Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. These battles were resounding Yorkist victories and both Warwick and the Lancastrian heir, Prince Edward of Wales, were killed. The former king, Henry VI, died a few days later in London.

Richard now assumed the responsibilities of his position. He had been admiral of England since 1461 and he was now appointed constable. King Edward granted Richard many of Warwick's forfeited estates and the following year the duke married Warwick's younger daughter Anne, who was the widow of Prince Edward who was killed at Tewkesbury.

He remained in the North and tended to his estates; defending the North against an invasion of the Scots.  He left on occasion to help his brother in an invasion of France and again to attend parliament.

On 9 April 1483, a year of great importance to Richard, King Edward died, a few days short of his forty-first birthday. There had been no time to prepare for a transition of power and the heir, another Edward, was twelve years old.

Richard was called to London and moved quickly and decisively to get into a position of power.  He was given responsibility for the protection of the two young princes.  The children were shortly thereafter declared illegitimate heirs to the throne and within four days, Richard was acclaimed King of England

On Christmas Day 1483, in Rennes Cathedral, Henry Tudor declared his intention of marrying King Edward IV's eldest daughter, the Lady Elizabeth, when he became king of England. He then spent the next eighteen months planning his invasion.

The invasion came in August of 1485 and on August 22, on Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, Richard was killed in battle.  He was not yet 33 years old.

A documentary on the finding of his remains, under a parking lot at the location of the Abbey to which his body was reportedly taken, revealed that he died of wounds received in close, hand to hand combat on the battle field.  He was indeed a man of war.  The picture above is based on the skull of the skeleton that was unearthed.

To his credit he instituted the philosophy of being innocent until proven guilty as well as reforming the jury system used in England at that time.  

The source of this information is various websites for Richard III