History A.S Level

Unit 1

Britain 1483-1529

The Accession of Edward the 4^th and the Usurpation of Richard the 3^rd

·         Rivers set out from Ludlow to London with the boy king.

·         Rivers meets Gloucester in Northampton and Buckingham arrives.

·         Gloucester arrests Rivers and his major supporters and has them imprisoned (Rivers is later executed)

·         Elizabeth Woodville flees into sanctuary in Westminster Abbey.

·         Gloucester, Buckingham and Edward the 5^th enter London and plans commence for the coronation.

·         Gloucester is made protector.

·         Hastings becomes jealous with the honours and titles that Gloucester has heaped upon Buckingham (Richard was vulnerable – he had to buy support) so plots with other council members such as Lord Rotherham (Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York) and John Morton (Master of the Rolls). This was a major motivational force in him ending up supporting Henry Tudor.

·         Richard gets wind of the plot and at a special council meeting on 13^th June, Hastings, Rotherham, Morton and Stanley are all arrested and imprisoned. Hastings is executed almost immediately on Tower Hill without trial (this shows he was ruthless).

·         Gloucester forces Elizabeth to release Richard, Duke of York, from Sanctuary and places both princes in the Tower of London (at this time, the Tower was a beautiful palace only after was the tower synonymous with death).

·         Now Bishop Stillington’s ‘revelations’ about the prior betrothal of Edward the 5^th and sermons are preached declaring the two princes bastards (references to Gloucester’s position as legitimate King conveniently forgot about Clarence’s son, Edward Earl of Warwick who was now in possession of Gloucester).

·         Gloucester declared himself King Richard the 3^rd and dates his rule from 26^th of June 1483.

HOW HAD RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER BEEN ABLE TO USURP THE THRONE?

The Princes in the Tower

In the months following his accession, rumours and suspicions grew that he…