the administration of justice, and some laws were enacted for the protection of traders and the extension of commerce. The same assembly declared the marriage of Edward IV. and his queen a nullity, and revoked all grants made to her, thus rendering her totally dependent on Richard, who induced her to leave the Sanctuary, by the promise of a suitable maintenance for herself and daughters; it also took an oath to support the right of Richard's son to the throne. This arrangement was foiled by the young prince's death soon after, and then Richard's nephew, John, earl of Lincoln, was recognised as his heir. The king, however, felt his throne perpetually endangered by the hostility of the Lancastrian exiles, and endeavoured, but without success, to get their chiefs into his power. He made a truce with Scotland, and knowing that a plan was on foot for a marriage between Henry, earl of Richmond, and Elizabeth of York, he laboured to thwart it by offering to marry her himself, a proposal to which both she and her mother seem to have agreed1. But before anything could be done, Richmond landed in Wales, and penetrated without opposition to the centre of England, with the secret concurrence of many who professed to adhere to Richard. One decisive battle took place at Bosworth, in Leicestershire, and there the king lost both his crown and his life, on the 22nd of August, 1485. His body, S A strong presumption arises from this that their nearest relatives did not believe Richard to be the murderer of his nephews. The duke of Norfolk, Lord Ferrers, Sir Robert Brakenbury, were killed; and his chancellor of the exchequer, Catesby, taken and beheaded. He is mentioned in a Lancastrian distich as one of Richard's principal councillors : "The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel, that dog, which was found covered with wounds on the field, was carelessly thrown across a horse, and carried into Leicester, where it was interred in the Grey Friars monasteryt. Richard married, after much opposition from his brother Clarence, Anne, the second daughter of the earl of Warwick, and widow of Prince Edward. She died, after a lingering illness, March 16, 1485, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Their only child, Edward, born at Middleham, in Yorkshire, in 1473, was by Edward IV. created earl of Salisbury, and in the first year of Richard's reign, prince of Wales and earl of Chester, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He died April 9, 1484. Richard had a natural daughter, Katherine, who married William Herbert, earl of Huntingdon, but is believed to have died shortly after. Two natural sons are also ascribed to him, and a tale has been told of one of them living in Kent to the time of Edward VI. (1550), and following for safety the craft of a bricklayer, but its truth is very doubtful. The royal arms remained the same as in the time of Edward IV., but Richard adopted different supporters; sometimes a lion and a boar, sometimes two white boars. Beside the badges of his house, the sun in splendour, The Rat is Sir Robert Ratcliff (evidently a devoted partisan; see Note B.) Lovel was particularly obnoxious, both on account of his rank, and as the son of a Lancastrian. A mean tomb was erected over his remains by Henry VII. at a cost, as appears from his Privy I'urse Accounts, of £10. is. At the suppression of the monastery, this was destroyed, and Richard's stone coffin is said to have long after served as a horse-trough at an inn in the town. and the white rose, which he bore sometimes separately, at others one within the other, he had a singular cognisance of a falcon with a virgin's face holding a white The character by which Richard III. is popularly known was drawn in the first instance by two or three obscure writers who lived in the time of his victorious opponent"; but their glaringly prejudiced statements▾ have been adopted, and so embellished and recommended by the talents of Sir Thomas More, Lord Bacon, and Shakspeare, that they have taken a place in history, and have caused him to be generally regarded rather as a monster than a man. The Public Statutes and Records of his reign, however, exhibit him in a very different light, and their unimpeachable testimony ought to decide the question. It may, too, be remarked, that the crimes laid to his charge are not supported by anything like conclusive evidence; while it is certain that his succession to the throne was agree "These are, the anonymous continuer of the Chronicle of Croyland; Thomas Rous, a priest of Warwick; and Robert Fabian, an alderman and city annalist. We give as a specimen a few lines from Rous, which contain the chief charges: "Gloucester obtained, or rather invented, the title of Protector. He received his master, Edward, with kisses and fawning caresses, and in three months murdered him and his brother, poisoned his own wife, and, what was most detestable both to God and the English nation, slew the sanctified Henry VI." able to the main body of the nation, which seems to have imitated the example of Saxon times", in preferring the rule of a man skilled in arms and government to the dangers of a long minority. His enemies are obliged to confess that he swayed the sceptre with vigour and ability, and that wise and equitable laws were enacted by his parliament; they also allow him military skill and courage; and it is now well understood that his fall was the consequence, not of hatred caused by his crimes among the ancient friends of his House, but of the arms of his and their hereditary foes rendered triumphant by treachery. Brief and troubled as was the period of Richard's rule, several matters justly considered as of great importance at the present day date from it. The statutes of his parliament are the first that were drawn up in the English language, as they were also the first that were printed; the office of consul, so necessary to the interest of merchants and travellers abroad, was established by him; and that great engine of modern convenience, the post-office, is based on a system of couriers established by him for the rapid transmission of intelligence during his campaigns in Scotland in 1481 and 1482. The Public Statutes of his reign may perhaps not be considered as conclusive evidence of the real character Ethelred and Alfred the Great both became kings, to the prejudice of their nephews, owing to the disturbed state of the nation. See vol. i. pp. 87, 88. It is, however, done reluctantly: "If I may venture to speak anything to his honour," says Rous, "though he was a little man, he was a noble and valiant soldier." > The English merchants abroad had before his time chosen one of their number governor, but Richard first made him an officer of the state. Laurentio Strozzi, of Florence, was in 1485 appointed consul and president of the English merchants in Italy by patent from the king. of Richard; but numerous entries on his Patent Rolls indicate with certainty that he has been unjustly treated by historians in general. They prove him, like monarchs of very different reputation, to have granted numerous pardons to his opponents', and to have been lenient in his treatment of their families; lavish in his own grants3, and regardful of those of his predecessors; vigilant in providing for the defence of his shores, and the improvement of his ports; anxious to repress piracy, and ready to compensate the sufferers; desirous to encourage trade by affording protection to merchants and foreigners", of which they must have been fully sensible, judging from the numerous denizations recorded; guarding the purchaser against frauds in the wool manufacture, and also protecting the workman by directing his payment to be made in "ready lawful money In his private character he appears grateful for services rendered to his House "in prosperity and adversity";" mindful of old servants 12, and willing to lessen his own revenue to benefit faithful towns, or relieve distress14. He devoted deodands and forfeitures to charity 15; liberated his bondmen 16; founded a collegiate church, and several chantries"; bestowed alms on various religious bodies 18; and was a benefactor to a college in each University 19 y. A.D. 1483. Richard assumes the crown, June 26; he is crowned, with his queen, at Westminster, July 6. See Notes and Illustrations, where the documents on which the above assertions are based will be found cited, with corre sponding numbers. |