On Christmas Day 1484 in Rennes Cathedral, Henry Tudor declared his intention of marrying King Edward IV’s eldest daughter, the Lady Elizabeth, when he became king of England. He then spent the next eighteen months planning his invasion. King Richard’s reign was overshadowed by the threat of Tudor’s invasion and by personal loss. Near the anniversary of the death of his brother, Kind Edward, Richard’s son died and the king and queen shut themselves in their apartments at Nottingham Castle to mourn their loss. Richard’s queen died less than a year later. The long-awaited invasion came on the 7th August 1485 when Tudor landed at Milford Haven in Wales. King Richard mobilised his forces and on 22 August king and invader joined battle at Bosworth Field in Leicestershire. Despite Richard’s superior army the battle was lost when king was slain by the forces of Sir William Stanley, who turned traitor in favour of his step-nephew, Henry Tudor. Richard Plantagenet was the last king of England to die on the battlefield. King Richard’s reputation:
Richard III, his actions and behaviour were the subject of attention for many years after his death. He was considered to be wicked and unscrupulous tyrant. However, during his own lifetime, Richard’s reputation was high. He was a loyal brother of Edward IV, who administered the north and defended the country against the Scots. The premature death of Edward IV led to a national crisis in which Richard emerged as king.
The declaration of the illegality of Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville has been interpreted as a useful excuse for Richard to turn down his nephew’s succession. But in fact, when his nephews were bastardised, the young princes were no longer a danger to Richard. However, their murder led to the greatest controversy about Richard – did he or did he not kill his nephews?
The death of Richard’s wife came under suspicion, too. There were rumours of Richard murdering his wife with poison, as well as of murdering her former husband after the battle of Tewkesbury, of murdering King Henry VI and even of murdering his own brother Clarence. But in fact, it was mostly Shakespeare who presented his anti-hero Richard as murderous and deformed tyrant. The Great Debate, as the study of Richard’s reputation became known, truly began in the 17th century when Horace Walpole wrote his Historic Doubts. That debate is not over, yet. Some of the British academics presented Richard as a tyrant and on the other hand the others as a talented administrator, who couldn’t be responsible for the deaths of Henry VI and his son.