Recently...
22 August 1485
Richard III is hacked to death at Bosworth
The divisive king’s two-year reign comes to a bloody end
It is one of Shakespeare’s most memorable scenes. As Richard III sleeps before the battle of Bosworth, he is visited by the ghosts of the men and women he has murdered. “Despair and die!” they tell him again and again. Richard wakes with a start: “Give me another horse. Bind up my wounds,” he gasps. “Have mercy, Jesu!”
In reality, we have no idea what passed through Richard’s mind in the early hours of 22 August 1485, one of the most decisive days in English history. The former Duke of Gloucester had been king for just over two years, having seized the throne from his young nephew Edward V in a controversial coup.
Even now Richard continues to divide opinion: while some see him as a child-murdering usurper, his admirers point to his well-earned reputation as a soldier and administrator. Yet when Richard woke that morning, he must have known that his crown hung by a thread.
Two weeks earlier his rival Henry Tudor had landed at Milford Haven in Wales with an army of Lancastrian exiles and French mercenaries. On paper, Richard could count on some 10,000 troops, double that of Henry’s army. But which way would the powerful Stanleys, who controlled much of the North West, jump? Richard had Lord Stanley’s son, George, as a hostage. But would that be enough to secure their support?
Historians still argue about exactly what happened - and where - that day. What seems certain is that somewhere outside Market Bosworth, the two rivals clashed, while the Stanleys’ men stood by and waited. When Henry made to ride towards the Stanleys, Richard tried to intercept him, but
was cut off from his main forces and hacked to death.
[From BBC History Magazine]
Richard III is hacked to death at Bosworth
The divisive king’s two-year reign comes to a bloody end
It is one of Shakespeare’s most memorable scenes. As Richard III sleeps before the battle of Bosworth, he is visited by the ghosts of the men and women he has murdered. “Despair and die!” they tell him again and again. Richard wakes with a start: “Give me another horse. Bind up my wounds,” he gasps. “Have mercy, Jesu!”
In reality, we have no idea what passed through Richard’s mind in the early hours of 22 August 1485, one of the most decisive days in English history. The former Duke of Gloucester had been king for just over two years, having seized the throne from his young nephew Edward V in a controversial coup.
Even now Richard continues to divide opinion: while some see him as a child-murdering usurper, his admirers point to his well-earned reputation as a soldier and administrator. Yet when Richard woke that morning, he must have known that his crown hung by a thread.
Two weeks earlier his rival Henry Tudor had landed at Milford Haven in Wales with an army of Lancastrian exiles and French mercenaries. On paper, Richard could count on some 10,000 troops, double that of Henry’s army. But which way would the powerful Stanleys, who controlled much of the North West, jump? Richard had Lord Stanley’s son, George, as a hostage. But would that be enough to secure their support?
Historians still argue about exactly what happened - and where - that day. What seems certain is that somewhere outside Market Bosworth, the two rivals clashed, while the Stanleys’ men stood by and waited. When Henry made to ride towards the Stanleys, Richard tried to intercept him, but
was cut off from his main forces and hacked to death.
[From BBC History Magazine]