Chapter 18 KING RICHARD AND QUEEN CONSORT ANNE NEVILLE OF WARWICK SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF KING RICHARD III III (Reign, 1483-1485) Richard III: life dates, 32 years, October 2, 1452—August 22, 1485; reign, 2 years, June 26, 1483—August 22, 1485. Richard of York Duke of Gloucester was the youngest of eight children and fourth of four sons of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville Countess of Westmoreland. His father, Richard Plantagenet, was the primary York protagonist
madness, Richard Duke of York was appointed the Protector of England in his place in March of 1454. However, once the King had regained his sanity, he promptly ousted York as Protector and his predecessor, the Duke of Somerset, was reinstated to the role. Upon his dismissal, York gathered an army and so began the first of the battles of the War of the Roses. The first battle fought in the Wars of the Roses was the First Battle at St Albans. After King Henry VI recovered from his fit, and Richard of York
Though it is likely that Henry V included a clause in his will appointing his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, regent, nobles whose powers had been curtailed by Henry V seized the opportunity to regain their lost power. They claimed the precedent of Richard II's minority (Storey, 30) to support their actions. Though the council did rule fairly on the whole, it created a problem. Later in Henry VI's reign, factions ruled the government and the monarch suffered from a lack of cohesive central authority
Henry VI's Incompetence as the Cause for the Outbreak of the Wars of the Roses The outbreak of the Wars of the Roses had no single cause, but was the result of political activities of individuals such as Henry himself, Margaret of Anjou, Richard, Duke of York and other members of the nobility combined with less controllable factors such as the 100 years war with France with Henry had inherited, an increase in bastard feudalism amongst nobles and Henry VI’s temperate insanity. In
sought to limit the power of the nobles as he was acutely aware the dangers of over mighty subjects with too much power and little love for the crown or just wanted a change like Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick who deposed two kings to replace them. Also Henry’s own rise to the throne was helped by nobles dislike towards Richard III. By restricting the nobles Henry wanted to reduce the power of the nobles and possible threats against him and return the nobles from their quasi king status to leaders in