RICHARD
III (r. 1483-1485)Richard III usurped the throne from the young Edward
V, who disappeared with his younger brother while under their ambitious uncle's
supposed protection.
On becoming king, Richard attempted genuine reconciliation
with the Yorkists by showing consideration to Lancastrians purged from office
by Edward IV, and moved Henry VI's body to St George's Chapel at Windsor. The
first laws written entirely in English were passed during his reign. In 1484,
Richard's only legitimate son Edward predeceased him.
Before becoming king,
Richard had had a strong power base in the north, and his reliance on northerners
during his reign was to increase resentment in the south. Richard concluded a
truce with Scotland to reduce his commitments in the north. Nevertheless, resentment
against Richard grew. On 7 August 1485, Henry Tudor (a direct descendant through
his mother Margaret Beaufort, of John of Gaunt, one of Edward III's younger sons)
landed at Milford Haven in Wales to claim the throne. On 22 August, in a two-hour
battle at Bosworth, Henry's forces (assisted by Lord Stanley's private army of
around 7,000 which was deliberately posted so that he could join the winning side)
defeated Richard's larger army and Richard was killed. Buried without a monument
in Leicester, Richard's bones were scattered during the English Reformation.