Page 33 - All About History - Issue 70-18

Richard III

at War

England’s last Plantagenet king is often portrayed as

a villain, but he was a talented soldier who played a

leading role in the final battles of the Wars of the Roses

Written by Tom Garner

I t is 22 August 1485. On a Leicestershire A military upbringing monarch who lost his inherited lands in France.
fighting
for his
battlefield
after Richard was born, the Hundred
is
English king
The year
an
betrayed
and unhorsed,
Born on 2 October 1452, Richard was named
life. He has been
Years’ War ended in a humiliating English defeat.
after his father, the third Duke of York, and was
have
a mental
but unlike the rest of his army he refuses
The calamity
caused
Henry to
retreat. Now alone and without his
to
he would one
of York, who had a
helmet, the monarch is surrounded by enemies. the youngest surviving son ofr Cecily Neville. breakdown. The Duke The
Nobody could have
predicted that
He receives a cut to his lower jaw. Although he day be king, but his father’s political ambitions strong claim to
fights on, he take multiple blows to the head. He dictated his fate. the throne, was term ‘Wars
is brought to his knees and a fatal blow from a In 1452, the Lancastrian Henry VI had been appointed of the Roses’
halberd cuts through his skull. For good measure, on the throne for 30 years but he was a weak Protector of wasn’t coined until
a sword then slices into the back of his head. the 19th century.
This king is Richard III and with his death, the Instead the conflict
rule of the Plantagenet dynasty came to an end, was known to
and arguably, Medieval England itself. The battle’s
victor, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, was the contemporaries as
last Lancastrian claimant to the English crown. the ‘Cousins’
As Henry VII, he and his descendents, which War’
including his son Henry VIII and grandaughter
Elizabeth I, would redefine the nation.
In theory, Richard should have won the Battle of
Bosworth but he suffered a catastrophic defeat. As
his defeat was so decisive, you might assume that
Richard was not just a failed king but also a poor
warrior. In fact, Richard was a highly experienced
soldier who until that fateful day had never been
defeated in battle. He was personally courageous
and could fight vigorously despite having a
disability. In an age where martial achievement
was highly prized Richard was recognised, even
among his enemies, as a “gallant knight”. Today he
is best remembered for the murder of the Princes
of the Tower, but even after his death Richard’s
battlefield courage was never questioned. His
military career is therefore worth exploring
because it reveals a side of the king that Tudor
propaganda could not dispute and it may perhaps
rehabilitate some of his maligned reputation.

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