Richard+III

Richard III was King of England for only two years, from 1483 to his death in 1485. He died in the battle of Bosworth Field, killed by Henry VII in the final battle of the War of the Roses. The War of the Roses was a battle between the Tudors and the Plantagenets over who were the rightful heirs to the English throne. He was the last British King to die on the battlefield. Richard was the king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet Dynasty. He was born October of 1452 he died August 22, 1485.

When Richard's brother Edward IV died, Richard became the proctor for his nephew - the twelve year old who would have been King Edward V. Richard escorted his nephew to London for his coronation, but before he could be crowned king, young Edward's mother's marriage to Edward IV was ruled invalid - therefore Edward and his brother Richard (yeah, I know there are a lot of Eds and Riches in this story) were ineligible to become kings. Richard III was crowned the next day and the young princes were never seen in public again. This gave rise to the Legend of the Princes in the Tower.

Edward and Richard were rumored to be smothered to death by the order of King Richard III. This all took place in the Tower of London, they got there in June of 1483 and were never seen again after July 1483. People accused Richard III even though it was never proved. This story of Richard III as a villain was popularized by the play //Richard III// by William Shakespeare. In the play, Richard is responsible for the deaths of his nephews, so most of what we view today as facts about Richard are actually from Shakespeare's play - and you must remember, that during his lifetime, Shakespeare would often write to impress Queen Elizabeth I, the granddaughter of Henry VII - Richard's arch enemy.

Richard III's bones were found in a car park in Leicester in August of 2012, and scientific analysis of his remains show that many of the negative characteristics that Shakespeare gave him, like a gimpy arm and a hunchback, were not factual. Since history is written by the victors, Richard III has long been viewed as a villain, but history may soon change.

King Richard III is important to London because if he didn't kill the Princes in the Tower the Tudor family would have come into power sooner.