KING RICHARD AND QUEEN CONSORT ANNE NEVILLE OF WARWICK

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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 at start of the Wars of the Roses, but after his death in the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, York leadership was taken over by his eldest son Edward who became Edward IV.

Richard of Gloucester was the youngest brother of Edward IV. His enduring claim to notoriety lies in common belief that he usurped his crown from his brother’s son, Edward V, that he contrived an accusation that the prince was illegitimate, and then he devised a secret means for murdering twelve year-old Edward V together with his nine year-old brother Richard Duke of York. Richard III imprisoned the two sons of Edward IV in the Tower of London, and they are famously known as the Princes in the Tower. After two months, they were never again seen alive. Richard III was blamed for authorizing their murder. Because Richard III was believed to be responsible for deaths of The Princes in the Tower, he has always been considered the worst of English Kings. Shakespeare depicts Richard III’s temperament to be the epitome of evil. Even so, the Richard III Society in London persists in defending Richard’s innocence of any devious role in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower

Richard, Duke of Gloucester was born on October 2, 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamtonshir...

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...n the London residence of her sister and brother-in-law, she served as a scullery maid to keep her presence hidden. However, it is suspected that her confinement in that menial role was part of George of Clarence’s intent to conceal Anne from his younger brother Richard of Gloucester, because George knew his younger brother longed to marry her. It is thought that George planned to put Anne in a nunnery, where she could be forced to take vows of chastity and poverty. In that event, Anne’s half of the huge Warwick estate would revert to her sister Isabelle, George’s wife.

After the Battle of Tewksbury, Anne was treated as a traitor for having been married briefly to Edward of Westminster, the Lancaster Prince of Wales. However, Anne’s cousin Richard of Gloucester was determined to marry her. He discovered Anne’s location and, with King Edward’s approval secured her

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