Evaluating the Effectiveness of Richard III as King of England

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Richard III as King of England

In April 1493, Edward IV died suddenly and Richard was appointed

‘protector’ over his son who was too young to govern on his own.

Richard gained the throne by he imprisoned the two sons of Edward and

may even have had them executed. Like many Kings he murdered nobles

(Hastings and Rivers) and their predecessors but the difference is his

predecessor was a child. The usurpation was too ruthless and too

ambitious that it coloured everything that he did during his reign.

He tried to court popularity by the promotion of Justice, especially

for the poor with the appointment of a master of requests. He donated

money for the completion of St. Georges Chapel at Windsor and great

kings college in Cambridge. He modernized Barnard Castle, built the

great hall at Middleham and the great hall at Sudeley Castle. He

undertook extensive work at Windsor Castle and ordered the renovation

of apartments at one of the towers at Nottingham Castle. He abolished

benevolences in 1484 and established the College of Arms in 1484,

which is still here today. The establishment looks after affairs

concerning heraldry. It contains coats of arms and new ones if you

apply and are entitled to bear a coat of arms (Heraldic achievements).

He plays into the Nobles and gentry’s interests showing a clear divide

in social order so he was able to use this to reward people with.

He moved Henry VI’s remains to Windsor (a more honourable place),

which helped not just to gain support from both the Yorkist and the

Lancastrians. Henry was firstly buried at Chertsey Abbey and then was

move to St George Winds...

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...n lasting only two years and two

months.

He was a skilful tactician more hardworking than Edward and he tried

many different things to try and court popularity.

His assumption of the crown, however, was challenged immediately from

several sides. His two-year reign consisted entirely of fighting

rebellions, including an early, indirect rebellion to put Henry Tudor

on the throne. When this rebellion failed, Henry Tudor took matters

into his own hands and directly confronted Richard. Henry had only the

most tenuous claim to the throne and the Tudor monarchs would spend

the next hundred years propagandising that tenuous claim. The last

fight of this rebellion, at Bosworth in 1485, resulted in the death of

Richard. A new usurper, Henry Tudor took the throne as Henry VII just

as Europe was entering the modern period.