Richard III

Richard III (1452–85) Duke of Gloucester (1461–85) and King of England (1483–85). He was a younger brother of EDWARD IV and the eleventh child of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of YORK. Tudor propaganda, notably the biography by Thomas MORE, portrayed him as a monster from birth, always a traitor to his own family, but as Duke of Gloucester he served Edward faithfully and was an able soldier and a capable administrator in northern England. Upon the accession of his young nephew EDWARD V, he became Protector of England: the council over which he presided included his enemies, the Woodvilles, and he gained in popularity from striking at their power. His usurpation of the throne in June 1483 caused no outright hostility, but in all save the YORKIST north of England there was revulsion when it came to be believed that he had had Edward V and his brother killed in the Tower of London. (When and how they died remains a mystery.) He had long expected a further invasion of England by the LANCASTRIAN Henry Tudor (HENRY VII), but when a battle was fought at BOSWORTH FIELD in August 1485 he was defeated and killed because he had lost the support of his army.

In Shakespeare's play Richard III he is portrayed as a villain and a hunchback, but there is no evidence to support the tradition that he was physically deformed.