In 1871 the arms of King Richard III., impaling those of Queen Anne, were placed on an abutment of the new bridge at Nottingham, as a memorial. Richard III., the last of our Plantagenet kings, is the only one since the Norman Conquest who has fallen on the field of battle. He was also the youngest of our actual reigning sovereigns when he died.[[23]]
Richard passed through the first thirty years of his life, before his accession, with honour and repute. He displayed brilliant courage as a knight, and remarkable ability as a general. In France he upheld the honour of England against the corrupt faction which surrounded his sovereign. In Scotland he did admirable service by the capture of Berwick. He was an efficient and energetic administrator of the Northern Marches, and was the first to establish postal communication by means of relays of horses. He was justly popular throughout the country, and was beloved in Yorkshire, where he was best known. When the news of his death reached York, the people were plunged in grief. The following entry was made in the City Register: 'He was piteously slain and murdered to the great heaviness of this city.'[[24]]
On his accession to the throne his character did not alter. He loved his country, and was a King of great administrative ability. He was prompt and vigorous in suppressing insurrections, and baffling the schemes of conspirators; but he was lenient, often unwisely so, when the immediate danger was over. No other King would have spared such mischievous traitors as Stanley and Morton. His generosity to the families of attainted rebels will not find any parallel in our history. Not only did he show liberal clemency to the wives of Rivers, Hastings, Buckingham and others: but he actually pensioned the wives of men who were plotting against him in foreign countries, like John Vere, Lord Dynham, and Alexander Cheney. His uprightness and good faith were relied upon by enemies and friends alike. Lord Rivers appointed him supervisor of his last will, well knowing him to be an honourable and magnanimous foe. Lady Latimer sought the same service from him, as a kind and trusty friend. As an arbitrator in family disputes, like that between Sir Robert Plumpton and his relations, Richard, by his impartial justice, established peace and concord where there had been ill-will and litigation.[[25]] There was nothing mean or sordid in his nature; he was liberal, open-handed, and generous.
Administration of King Richard
Richard's Parliament was the best that had met since the time of Edward I. His administration was patriotic. He checked corruption in the public service, refused large sums of money that were offered to him as gifts by several towns,[[26]] and anxiously sought the welfare of his people. He took great interest in the administration of justice, and it is recorded that in Michaelmas term of 1484 he personally attended in the Star Chamber and propounded questions of law to the judges. He encouraged trade, and especially voyages to Iceland and the northern fisheries. In Ireland he was very popular and his government was successful. His foreign policy was wise and judicious. He made peace with Scotland, established friendly relations with Brittany and Spain, observed strict neutrality between Maximilian and the Flemish towns, while promoting commercial intercourse, and watched the treacherous regency of France with well-founded suspicion.
King Richard was a great builder.[[27]] He founded collegiate churches at Middleham, Barnard Castle, and All Hallows Barking, built a memorial chapel at Towton, another at Sheriff Hutton, endowed Queens' College, Cambridge,[[28]] and erected a handsome tower at Westminster. He pushed forward the works at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, begun by his brother, and repaired the castles of Skipton, Carlisle, Nottingham, and Warwick. His cognizance of the white boar is still to be seen on the stonework of an oriel window at Barnard Castle. Richard was a prince of literary tastes, and among his books a manuscript copy of the romance of Tristan de Leonnais and a Wickliffe Bible have been preserved. He was the friend and patron of Caxton, who dedicated a book 'Of the Ordre of Chyvalry and Knyghthode' to 'his redoubted Lord King Richard.' By letters patent, dated March 21, 1484, he gave the Heralds a charter of incorporation, and was thus the founder of the College of Arms. He also granted them 'a right fayre and stately house,'[[29]] called Pulteney's Inn. He was devout and religious, striving to promote greater activity among the clergy in improving the morals of the people. Richard was a keen sportsman, devoted to the chase both with hawk and hound. He kept large hunting establishments at Westminster and in Yorkshire.
King Richard was probably conscious of the political change that was impending in the world, for he was a vigilant observer of the signs of the times, and was well versed in the political questions which were engaging the attention of European statesmen. He had witnessed the fall of his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, and the collapse of the system he upheld. He must have seen that feudalism was giving way to a new era, in the age of the Renaissance. The young Plantagenet was well fitted by nature to rule the destinies of England during this period of change. He had received an excellent training. For years he had been accustomed to confer with the authorities at York on their local affairs, he had often been in consultation with clerical advisers when framing statutes for his collegiate churches, and from early youth he had had unusual opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the needs and wishes of the people. He desired to reign in the hearts of his countrymen. His proclamations and letters show that he wished to take his people into his counsels, to consult public opinion, and to be guided by it. He was an administrator of no mean ability, and although he was bold even to recklessness in facing the consequences of his acts, he always showed anxiety to have the public feeling with him. He would, in all probability, have respected the rights and liberties of his subjects while leading them into new ways.
Richard and the Tudors
In all respects Richard was better fitted to reign over England in the days of change that were inevitable than the two tyrants who succeeded him. Henry Tudor caused a beautiful chapel to be built at Westminster for his own tomb, but his son robbed and destroyed scores of far more beautiful tombs and churches in all parts of England. There might have been an age of English Renaissance under Richard. There actually was an age of Vandalic destruction under the Tudors. The father was a miserly foreigner, the son a rapacious and remorseless tyrant,[[30]] both despots by nature, and haters of constitutional freedom. The battle of Bosworth was a calamity from which England did not soon recover. But after seventy-three years of tyranny the Great Queen began to reign. Though a Tudor by name her high qualities were derived from her mother's English ancestors. She was a true Englishwoman at heart. Descendant of the brave and loyal Norfolk who fell fighting for King Richard at Bosworth, the grand-niece of Richard III. was by blood even more truly English than were her Yorkist great-uncles.