The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - May 03, 2026


PREVIEW： Epochs #261 ｜ The Life of Richard III - Part 2


Episode Stats


Length

27 minutes

Words per minute

166.38704

Word count

4,628

Sentence count

80

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

14

sentences flagged

Hate speech

16

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome back to Epochs. If you remember last time we just finished up with the two
00:00:25.800 princes in the tower the ill-fated 12-year-old Edward V who got murdered almost certainly got
00:00:31.680 murdered and his little brother Richard the Duke of York were killed probably in my opinion a most
00:00:37.680 serious serious historian's opinion probably on the orders of their paternal uncle Richard Duke
00:00:44.220 of Gloucester who is now King Richard III and that was in the summer sometime over the summer
00:00:50.460 of 1483. Now I've mentioned before a really big date in English history is 1485. That's the Battle
00:00:59.980 of Bosworth Field. It shouldn't be any spoilers. I've already said it myself a couple of times
00:01:03.660 but in the year 1485 is the battle where the Tudors win. Henry Tudor, Henry VII, Henry VIII's dad
00:01:10.820 wins at that battle and we begin the Tudor period. So as historians like to do or anyone who tries
00:01:18.020 To get it straight in their own mind
00:01:19.080 There'll be certain years in history
00:01:21.160 That are of vital importance
00:01:23.060 And you can pin things around that year
00:01:24.800 You know, like 1066 is one, right?
00:01:27.000 1945, let's say
00:01:28.140 1588, the Spanish Armada
00:01:30.500 Well, when you drill down past
00:01:32.560 Some of the most famous ones
00:01:34.120 Like 1066
00:01:34.980 1485 is a big one
00:01:37.780 For English history, anyway
00:01:39.080 1485 is a giant one
00:01:41.040 A bit like the year Constantinople fell
00:01:43.540 1453 0.67
00:01:44.800 1485 in the back of Bosworth Field
00:01:47.220 is sort of a watershed moment when, you know, everything changes.
00:01:50.840 The whole history of England is put on a different timeline, basically,
00:01:55.200 because of that battle, sort of super, super pivotal battle,
00:01:58.100 as pivotal as the Battle of Hastings, arguably, perhaps not quite as pivotal,
00:02:01.820 but, well, not as pivotal, but, you know, it's up there.
00:02:05.100 It's a big one.
00:02:06.260 So that's only two years, less than two years, than where we are in this story.
00:02:10.860 So I should just continue the story on from where we were.
00:02:14.100 I finished last episode, didn't I?
00:02:15.400 Just where they'd been killed basically
00:02:17.580 They'd disappeared
00:02:18.380 Never to be seen again
00:02:19.720 So I'll pick up the story there
00:02:22.180 As always in this series
00:02:23.860 Reading from Professor Sir Charles Oman
00:02:25.720 Professor of History at Oxford University
00:02:27.960 At the very end of the 19th century
00:02:29.600 Very beginning of the 20th century
00:02:30.920 And Sir Winston Churchill
00:02:32.580 His History of the English-speaking peoples
00:02:34.320 So okay
00:02:35.640 I'll let Sir Charles Oman pick up the story
00:02:38.360 Oman says
00:02:39.560 Quote
00:02:40.160 The horror which the disappearance
00:02:42.260 Of the harmless, unoffending young princes
00:02:44.980 caused all over England was far more dangerous to Richard
00:02:48.760 than their survival could possibly have been.
00:02:51.940 Because that's one thing a lot of people have said.
00:02:53.340 It's like, you know, you didn't have to make them disappear or kill them.
00:02:57.160 I'm just going to say that they were killed, they were murdered.
00:02:59.120 If you don't agree with that, okay, but that's my opinion and most people's. 0.97
00:03:03.360 It's certainly Oman's and Churchill's opinion.
00:03:06.100 So you didn't have to murder them, right?
00:03:08.920 They were little boys.
00:03:10.080 You could just have been their protector and been king in all but name
00:03:14.220 For a few years, a good few years
00:03:16.220 And then even when Edward
00:03:18.120 Did grow up, he would still be
00:03:20.140 Like the closest, most powerful
00:03:22.460 Closest person in the world to him
00:03:24.620 And the most powerful man in the country
00:03:26.560 The second to him
00:03:28.140 Was that not good enough? He didn't have
00:03:30.340 To murder them
00:03:31.160 Omar says it caused him more trouble 0.99
00:03:34.200 Than leaving them alive
00:03:36.160 Could possibly have been
00:03:37.360 It turned away from him the heart
00:03:39.820 Of all save the most callous 0.95
00:03:41.920 And ruffian of his supporters 0.99
00:03:44.060 Within two months of their death
00:03:46.280 A dangerous rebellion broke out
00:03:48.500 So you might think Richard has got no enemies now
00:03:52.860 He's already done away, we mentioned before, didn't we?
00:03:54.980 Some of the most powerful people
00:03:56.200 The Lord Hastings and the Rivers and Woodville family
00:04:00.160 Are obviously completely out of power
00:04:02.200 So you might think he's got everything he needs
00:04:04.360 He's got all the money, all the wealth, all the retainers, all the armies
00:04:07.440 And now the actual crown
00:04:10.100 and the actual proper bloodline claimant of the York family to be the king, what could possibly
00:04:16.120 stand in his way? Well, people hated it so much, what he'd done, that rebellions broke out.
00:04:22.400 Oman continues, it was headed by Buckingham, the very man who had appeared with such shameful
00:04:28.240 prominence at the time of Richard's usurpation. No one can say whether he was shocked by the murder
00:04:34.680 or whether he was merely discontented with the vast bribes that the new king had given him
00:04:40.520 and craved yet more. Again I said before didn't I and it's true that this period is still you know
00:04:46.940 it's the late 15th century we haven't got tons and tons of literary evidence. There aren't lots
00:04:52.160 and lots and lots of surviving letters from dozens of different people in and around the cockpit of
00:04:57.060 power gossiping to each other. We don't have loads and loads of different chronicles that are
00:05:02.640 reliable from the time which tell us exactly what was going on right there's no account from
00:05:08.140 Buckingham or Richard themselves or anything like that sorry because sometimes in history long before
00:05:14.100 this millennia before this we do have that in the age of the first century BC in the age of
00:05:18.960 Julius Caesar and Cicero we do have things like that letters from people but in this period still
00:05:24.540 we don't and so a lot of conjecture can seep in if you want to if you're a historian trying to
00:05:31.280 piece together what actually really happened with very very scanty evidence you can do so
00:05:37.940 so we don't know exactly what Buckingham was thinking and one goes on but we find him Buckingham
00:05:44.240 conspiring with the Queen's surviving kindred right so he's supposed to be a staunch Richard
00:05:51.200 III partisan and his his first enemies are the Woodvilles and the Rivers and Buckingham suddenly
00:05:58.140 now, within just a few months. Flipped sides. Why? We don't know exactly. Okay, so he was conspiring
00:06:04.740 with the Queen's surviving kindred, the Rex of the Lancastrian party, and some faithful adherents
00:06:11.580 of Edward IV to overturn the usurper. So he completely turned 180, Buckingham. They proposed
00:06:18.420 to call over the Earl of Richmond, one Henry Tudor, and to marry him to the Princess Elizabeth,
00:06:25.420 Which was one of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodfield's many daughters 0.61
00:06:29.220 She's got like five daughters
00:06:30.500 And the oldest one, I think it's the oldest one
00:06:32.640 Is an Elizabeth, Elizabeth of York
00:06:34.500 So Buckingham and his conspirators are thinking
00:06:38.820 Let's do away with Richard
00:06:40.160 Bring Henry Tudor over
00:06:41.780 Marry him to Elizabeth of York 0.51
00:06:43.800 Boom, job done
00:06:45.760 Everyone says that that would be the blending of the claims of Lancaster and York
00:06:50.820 Well it would be, yeah
00:06:52.040 The White Rose and the Red Rose together
00:06:55.020 The White Rose of York, the Red Rose of Lancaster
00:06:58.120 They could be joined together
00:06:59.740 Because of course Elizabeth of York is an arch-Yorkist
00:07:02.720 And Henry Tudor is a Lancastrian
00:07:05.920 His mother, Margaret Beaufort
00:07:08.860 They were arch-Lancastrians
00:07:11.460 Well, until they had to turn to York during the Edward IV years
00:07:15.500 But they were always still essentially, basically, Lancastrian
00:07:18.580 So the two houses could maybe be completely reconciled by this one marriage
00:07:24.460 It's sort of a perfect thing on paper
00:07:25.960 You get the two roses come together
00:07:28.160 The Tudor rose, if you've ever seen that
00:07:30.180 It's a combination of a red and a white rose, isn't it?
00:07:32.900 There's red and white petals in it
00:07:34.860 That is the House of York and the House of Lancaster coming together
00:07:38.320 Okay, Oman goes on saying
00:07:39.880 The insurrection broke out in a dozen different districts all over England
00:07:44.040 But it was foiled by King Richard's untiring energy
00:07:47.880 And great military talent
00:07:49.720 Remember I told you he's quite a badass in his own right
00:07:52.680 He fought in battles, commanded armies in battles
00:07:55.720 Or wings of armies, all on his own
00:07:58.360 You know, his older brother was Edward IV
00:08:00.900 A great military man, truly a great military man
00:08:04.220 So some of that certainly did wear off on his little brother Richard
00:08:09.360 And he's no slouch, Richard, when it comes to fighting battles
00:08:12.620 and commanding men in the field he's not inept so he reacts quickly to buckingham's first
00:08:19.840 rebellion he richard smoked down his enemies before they were able to unite and caught buckingham
00:08:26.640 who had been separated from the bulk of his fellow conspirators by a sudden rising of the seven
00:08:32.080 that's the river seven down in wales in the west country the duke was executed at salisbury
00:08:38.360 Buckingham that is with such of his party as were taken but the majority escaped overseas
00:08:44.180 and joined the Earl of Richmond again that's that's Henry Tudor this was destined to be the
00:08:51.620 last gleam of success that Richard would see the rest of his short reign about two years was a
00:08:58.080 period of unrelieved gloom no protestations of goodwill to England and no attempts however honest
00:09:05.020 to introduce just and even-handed government availed him aught, i.e. he wasn't a good and
00:09:11.740 just and benevolent king. He was moody and self-centred and did what he wanted regardless,
00:09:17.920 basically. He summoned a parliament in 1484 and caused it to pass several laws of excellent
00:09:24.560 intention, but he was not able to observe them himself, much less to enforce them on others,
00:09:30.860 after having with great solemnity abolished the custom of raising benevolences or forced loans
00:09:37.700 such as his brother Edward IV had loved to do Richard was compelled by the emptiness of his
00:09:44.280 treasury to have resource to them again in less than a 12 month after he had disavowed the practice
00:09:51.500 remember benevolences so-called benevolences or forced loans another way of saying that it's just
00:09:57.820 theft right the king comes to you you're a rich person a rich and landed a stated member of the
00:10:05.900 aristocracy or the gentry the king comes to you and just says uh all your stuff and money is mine
00:10:10.700 now or perhaps not all of it but a big chunk of your wealth is just mine now and well even in the 0.91
00:10:17.100 15th century that was illegal completely illegal and unless you're a full-blown military dictator
00:10:26.340 You're not going to be able to get away with it
00:10:28.520 If your grasp on power is something like Stalin
00:10:31.980 Or Genghis Khan
00:10:33.540 Okay, maybe you can get away with that sort of stuff
00:10:35.260 Because no one can possibly stand up to you ever
00:10:38.700 Ever, ever, ever
00:10:39.480 But if you're not that
00:10:41.180 If you're even pretending to be a normal ruler
00:10:44.040 A normal king
00:10:44.720 Working under the law
00:10:46.300 Then that's going to cause giant resentments
00:10:48.900 And eventually you'll have to deal with those resentments
00:10:51.920 See, Edward IV could get away with it
00:10:53.840 Because he didn't do it all that much
00:10:55.880 and when he did do it people it was more it was a slightly earlier time and people just didn't want
00:11:02.720 to raise rebellions against him because they'd already been through the wars of the roses and
00:11:07.300 the internal yorkist war as well and it was just you know often society is so war weary that they'll
00:11:16.040 allow things to happen like that illegal unjust things people have often said that about for
00:11:21.840 example the first century AD in Rome why do people put up with someone like Caligula or Nero
00:11:26.660 basically a completely criminal serial killer type why would they put up with that well it's
00:11:32.840 better than a civil war they've had generations of civil war you may as well let the ruler the
00:11:37.760 emperor the king whoever it is do what they're going to do and as unjust and as unfair as it is
00:11:42.860 that's still better than full war civil war so that's the few reasons why Edward IV could get
00:11:50.480 away with doing this, these benevolences, these false loans. Theft. But Richard doesn't enjoy any
00:11:58.040 of those things in his reign. People just immediately hate him. Just immediately hate him
00:12:03.500 for it. Not prepared to give him any benefit of the doubt, any slack whatsoever. No, you're a
00:12:09.780 despicable sort of child murderer. Regicide. And now you're stealing from us? Yeah, we hate your 1.00
00:12:15.940 guts, bro. We hate you. Okay. Personal misfortunes came upon the king in a way which seemed to mark 1.00
00:12:23.320 the judgment of heaven. In medieval times or pre-modern times, I often thought that, you know,
00:12:28.340 if luck was with you, if politics and or war were with you, it's because heaven wanted it that way.
00:12:35.440 God shone upon you. That was the way destiny and heaven wanted it. And the opposite is true.
00:12:42.800 if you fail and lose and are struck down by illness or everyone around you is struck down
00:12:48.780 by illness or whatever anything like that it's because god and heaven have decided that should
00:12:54.200 be the case less than a year after he had slain his nephews his only son edward prince of wales
00:13:01.260 died suddenly in the flower of his boyhood and again that was in 1484 11 months later his wife
00:13:08.000 Queen Anne, the daughter of the kingmaker
00:13:10.300 Followed his son to the grave
00:13:12.260 Natural causes
00:13:13.260 You can imagine the late medieval mind just sees that
00:13:15.700 You're being punished by God
00:13:17.160 For being a murderer 0.99
00:13:19.620 And a regicide 1.00
00:13:20.500 And an all round scumbag 1.00
00:13:22.600 His enemies accused him of having poisoned her 1.00
00:13:25.920 For all charges were possible
00:13:27.780 Against one who had proved himself
00:13:29.680 So cruel and treacherous
00:13:31.560 I'm not sure if he did poison her
00:13:33.520 There's no reason why he would have done
00:13:35.180 Well there's reasons but
00:13:36.700 I don't think he did I think most people think that was just a slander maybe even a Tudor era
00:13:42.120 slander seems to have loved her I think it is said that Richard thought for a moment after his wife's
00:13:48.120 death of compelling his niece Elizabeth Elizabeth of York does go on to be Henry VIII's mum of
00:13:54.820 compelling her his own niece Edward IV's eldest daughter to marry him in order to merge her claim
00:14:01.120 to the crown in his own but the mere rumor of the intention so shocked the people that all his own
00:14:08.160 partisans urged him to disavow it which he accordingly did. Being wifeless and now childless
00:14:14.880 he nominated as his heir his nephew John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln the son of his eldest sister
00:14:22.880 I won't go into it here now, but the Pohl family, the Dillapol family, play a key role going forward now, all the way through the Tudor period, more or less, and beyond even.
00:14:35.400 Meanwhile, the conspiracy, which had failed to overthrow Richard in the autumn of 1483, was again gathering head.
00:14:42.940 The Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, had obtained loans of men and money from France.
00:14:49.200 a classic, France sees any sort of opening, any sort of chink in the armour of England and the 0.65
00:14:54.080 English throne, and they'll fund and help the other side, and was only waiting for the news 0.81
00:14:59.880 that his friends were ready to make a second attempt on England. With him were all the enemies
00:15:06.360 of King Richard who had escaped death. Dorset, the son of Queen Elizabeth, Edward Woodville,
00:15:13.040 Morton, the Bishop of Ely, and the few surviving Lancastrian exiles headed by the earls of
00:15:19.000 Pembroke and Oxford they relied not on their French soldiery but on the secret allies who were to join
00:15:25.620 them in England and especially on Lord Stanley the Earl of Richmond's father-in-law so Stanley plays
00:15:32.840 a very important role in this crucial absolutely key role in this so remember that name and he's
00:15:39.680 the man if you remember I think I mentioned it before he's the one that's now married to Margaret
00:15:45.460 Beaufort Henry VII's mum she'd had Henry VII when she was very young she was like 12 or 13 years
00:15:53.240 old something like that when she'd had him terribly terribly young to have given birth to him
00:15:58.060 and then her husband had been executed and she'd got remarried a couple of times
00:16:03.320 because she's so important she has to be married and apparently it was a sexless relationship with
00:16:09.280 Lord Stanley but nonetheless she is married to Lord Stanley so it's Henry Tudor's father-in-law
00:16:14.020 And he was supposed to be on the side of Richard III
00:16:18.660 And loyal to the crown, the throne in England
00:16:21.620 But should he change sides
00:16:24.320 It might be a game changer
00:16:26.540 He continues saying
00:16:27.740 That noble, though he had been arrested in company
00:16:31.640 With the unfortunate tastings
00:16:33.240 Had been pardoned by King Richard
00:16:35.160 And entrusted by him with much power in Lancashire and Cheshire
00:16:40.020 Richard's court was honeycombed with treason
00:16:43.160 His own attorney general, Morgan of Kidwelly, kept Richard informed of his plans and actions.
00:16:50.760 Of all those about the king, only a very few were really faithful to him.
00:16:55.760 Richard knew that treason was abroad, though he could not identify the traitors.
00:17:00.540 He struck cruelly and harshly at all that he could reach.
00:17:04.520 His ferocity may be gauged from the fact that he actually hung a Wiltshire gentleman named Collingbourne
00:17:11.180 For no more than a copy of verses
00:17:13.460 The unfortunate man had scoffed at Richard's three favourites
00:17:17.440 Lord Lovell, Sir William Catsby
00:17:20.020 And Sir Richard Radcliffe
00:17:21.940 In the lines
00:17:22.940 The cat, the rat and Lovell our dog
00:17:25.560 Rule England under a hog 1.00
00:17:27.540 That's a little bit rude isn't it 0.99
00:17:29.620 Calling Richard a pig basically 0.97
00:17:31.540 Should be allowed to say something like that though 0.98
00:17:33.760 Right, well we hung him for it
00:17:35.800 Just in an extrajudicial manner
00:17:38.680 so you know again even in the 15th century people notice that see that and it's not cool it's not
00:17:47.580 it's not charlemagne right it's not the 8th century it's not william the conqueror it's not
00:17:52.200 the 11th century it's the 15th century now you can't just go around acting like that and expect
00:17:57.180 to just get away with it endlessly okay everyone goes insane the hog was richard himself whose
00:18:03.040 favourite badge was a white boar. In August 1485, Henry of Richmond, Henry Tudor, landed at Milford
00:18:10.180 Haven and was joined by many of the Welsh. Among them, he was popular because of his own Welsh
00:18:15.900 blood. Remember Owen Tudor and Jasper Tudor? They're Welsh first and foremost. They were Welsh
00:18:21.920 squires, Welsh knights. Advancing into England, he met with aid from the Torbots of Shrewsbury
00:18:28.500 And many other Midland gentry
00:18:30.620 Lord Stanley gathered a considerable array
00:18:33.700 In Lancashire and Cheshire
00:18:35.460 But did not openly join
00:18:37.380 And would have been slain
00:18:39.300 If Richard had been certain of his father's treachery
00:18:42.340 End quote
00:18:42.800 So a few things to say there
00:18:44.880 Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond
00:18:47.400 Henry Tudor, has pulled the trigger on this thing
00:18:49.980 There's a giant, giant decision for him
00:18:52.340 He's been waiting abroad in exile
00:18:54.700 Hoping not to be assassinated
00:18:56.660 For years now
00:18:58.260 Years and years and years
00:18:59.760 Growing up, really, abroad
00:19:01.620 Probably thinking that he'll never have an opportunity
00:19:05.600 To ever claim his right
00:19:07.860 His quite shaky right, actually
00:19:09.700 To the throne
00:19:10.520 Probably thinking, you know, while Edward IV lives
00:19:13.180 There's absolutely no way, okay
00:19:15.040 Edward IV then just dies out of nowhere
00:19:17.180 But his younger brother Richard
00:19:19.640 Who's also, you know, not far off
00:19:22.440 In terms of badassery
00:19:24.800 Again, there's no real way back
00:19:27.340 But now, watching, Richard's made himself insanely unpopular,
00:19:33.220 sort of insanely unpopular.
00:19:34.920 So maybe, just maybe, there's an opportunity.
00:19:38.420 Still, it would have taken real guts, real chutzpah,
00:19:42.600 to make that decision to cross the Channel,
00:19:46.560 and one of course landed in Milford Haven, didn't he?
00:19:48.820 To sail round to Milford Haven and, you know,
00:19:52.360 try and launch a campaign, a military campaign,
00:19:55.120 To seize the crown
00:19:57.160 Off of Richard III
00:19:58.900 It's all or nothing isn't it
00:20:00.900 It's life and death
00:20:02.340 Oman doesn't dwell on that all that much
00:20:05.840 But it is, it must have been
00:20:06.880 A momentous thing
00:20:08.000 You've got to summon up all your energy
00:20:09.880 All your guts
00:20:11.360 To do something like that
00:20:13.120 Throwing the chips higher
00:20:14.940 And letting them fall where they may
00:20:16.840 Riding the waves of the vicissitudes of fortune
00:20:20.080 However you want to say it
00:20:21.380 Anywhere you cut it it's a gamble
00:20:23.480 and if you want to play a leading role on the stage of history you've got to be a gambler
00:20:28.500 you've got to be prepared to go all in perhaps many many times some people in history of course
00:20:34.820 are handed everything on a plate they didn't do anything other than be born you know like like
00:20:39.800 Henry VI but for a lot of people you've got to put your life on the line and gamble everything
00:20:45.760 someone like Caesar for example Napoleon had to gamble everything again and again and again and
00:20:51.680 again okay this is henry tudor's shot it's his big chance his big moment advancing still further
00:20:58.920 into the midlands henry met the king at bosworth field near leicester richard's army was twice the
00:21:06.120 size of that of the earl that's not going to be any kind of fun is it you're the you're the rebel
00:21:11.720 party he's the incumbent he's the current legit king as far as parliament as far as the letter of
00:21:17.600 the law is concerned, he's the legit king and you're merely a rebel, and he's tried and tested
00:21:23.860 in war, you're not, and he outnumbers you two to one. Doesn't look good. Oman goes on saying,
00:21:30.260 he must have conquered if his men had fought honestly for him. Richard should have won this
00:21:35.860 battle if he hadn't been stabbed in the back, which the accounts tell us is what happened,
00:21:41.640 Omar tells us
00:21:42.580 But when the battle was joined
00:21:44.340 The Earl of Northumberland
00:21:46.000 Who led one wing of Richard's host
00:21:48.600 He drew aside and would not fight
00:21:50.780 And presently Lord Stanley
00:21:53.280 Henry Judah's father-in-law
00:21:54.920 Who hadn't made it clear really perfectly
00:21:57.960 What side he was on
00:21:58.780 Lord Stanley appeared with his contingent
00:22:02.040 And charged the king in the flank
00:22:04.200 The Yorkists began to disperse and fly
00:22:07.220 For they fought with little heart 1.00
00:22:09.720 For their cruel master
00:22:11.080 People didn't like Richard
00:22:12.980 Even his own men didn't like him
00:22:15.200 But Richard himself would not turn back
00:22:18.500 As I say, he's brave in battle, personally
00:22:20.960 We've got to give him that
00:22:21.940 Though his attendants brought him his horse
00:22:25.340 And besought him to save himself
00:22:27.180 He plunged into the thick of the fray
00:22:29.620 Cut his way to Richmond's banner
00:22:32.040 And was there slain
00:22:34.060 Fighting desperately to the last
00:22:36.240 There you go
00:22:37.740 Cut down in battle 0.98
00:22:39.200 A glorious warrior's death
00:22:41.080 You can't say he chickened out and run away with his tail between his legs,
00:22:45.160 like brave, brave Sir Robin.
00:22:46.700 He didn't do that.
00:22:47.700 He didn't run away.
00:22:48.900 Probably saw the way things were going.
00:22:51.140 Sometimes in war, if you personally charge into the fray
00:22:54.660 and your men, the ones that are loyal to you,
00:22:58.320 would die to protect you, they'd join you in the charge
00:23:01.240 and maybe, just maybe, the momentum of a battle is changed
00:23:04.180 on the strength of that.
00:23:05.680 He obviously tried something like that, didn't he?
00:23:07.400 He wasn't prepared to run away, to go into exile himself
00:23:11.160 Try and raise another army further north or anything like that
00:23:14.360 Or in the Low Countries
00:23:16.000 It was today, everything or nothing today
00:23:19.680 Well, he got killed on the field at Bosworth
00:23:23.100 Omar says, with him fell his most faithful adherent, Lord John Howard
00:23:28.240 Whom he had made Duke of Norfolk
00:23:30.640 And a few more of his chief captains
00:23:33.060 His favourite, Sir William Catesby, was taken prisoner and executed when the battle was over
00:23:38.640 Richard's crown, beaten off his helmet by hard blows
00:23:43.360 Was found in a hawthorn bush and placed on Richmond's head by Lord Stanley
00:23:49.560 Who then saluted him as king by the name of Henry VII, Henry Tudor
00:23:55.940 The dead monarch's body was taken to Leicester and exposed naked before the people
00:24:01.180 But ultimately give an honourable burial
00:24:04.060 In the Church of Greyfriars
00:24:05.980 So it was actually found and discovered
00:24:07.940 And dug up just a few years ago, wasn't it?
00:24:10.600 It was found ultimately
00:24:11.720 Under a car park
00:24:13.580 In Leicester, wasn't it?
00:24:15.640 Interesting note, it was lost for centuries
00:24:17.820 People weren't sure exactly where it was
00:24:19.240 But legend always had it
00:24:21.100 That it was buried in the Church of Greyfriars
00:24:23.880 I mean, Oman's writing at the very, very end
00:24:26.000 Of the 19th century
00:24:26.820 Or right at the very, very beginning of the 20th century
00:24:29.020 so over 100 years before it was rediscovered Oman gives us a few more lines then just about
00:24:34.580 the character of Richard III to sum up with him before we enter into the Tudor age Oman tells us
00:24:41.040 this quote thus ended the prince who had wrought so much evil and won his way to power by such
00:24:47.940 unscrupulous cunning and cruelty he was only 33 when he was cut off there have been worst kings
00:24:54.580 In history
00:24:55.100 And had his title been good
00:24:57.260 And his hands clean 0.70
00:24:58.800 Of the blood of his kinsmen
00:25:00.080 He might have filled
00:25:01.280 The English throne
00:25:02.240 Not unworthily
00:25:03.600 But the consequences
00:25:05.000 Of his first fatal crime
00:25:07.000 Drove him deeper and deeper
00:25:08.460 Into wickedness
00:25:09.420 And he left a worse name
00:25:11.160 Behind him
00:25:11.860 Than any of his predecessors
00:25:13.780 That's quite a strong
00:25:15.020 Condemnation from
00:25:15.800 Sir Charles Owen
00:25:16.380 I think there's worse kings
00:25:18.360 Than Richard III
00:25:19.420 Already
00:25:19.840 In English history
00:25:21.240 William Rufus
00:25:22.580 William II
00:25:23.220 Seems worse to me 0.64
00:25:24.140 William the Conqueror arguably the harrying of the north and such things Edward II wasn't great
00:25:29.420 was he Richard II wasn't great but I mean if you believe Richard III did kill his two nephews and
00:25:36.840 all the other things that he's uh slandered with if you believe he did murder his two nephews and 0.56
00:25:42.180 all the other things he's slandered with then he's pretty bad he's up there certainly Charles
00:25:46.740 says he's he's the worst he's the worst up to that point goes on saying the historians of the next
00:25:52.640 generation drew his portraits even darker than he deserved i mean that is also true it was in the 0.68
00:25:58.780 interest of the tudors to make him as bad as humanly possible because their power relied on
00:26:06.540 it right they don't want to be known as just mere usurpers you know the charge of being a mere
00:26:11.840 usurper is lessened the worst the king you usurped was like it was just it was the right thing to do
00:26:18.820 We didn't just steal power for no good reason
00:26:21.140 Because we, the Tudors, are ambitious
00:26:23.640 No, we had to do it
00:26:25.740 It was for the good of England
00:26:26.700 It was the right thing to do
00:26:28.620 So it's in their interest to paint history that way
00:26:33.720 Absolutely
00:26:34.560 And they did lean into it
00:26:36.620 Least of all with somebody like Shakespeare
00:26:39.420 Okay, the historians of the next generation
00:26:41.400 Drew his portrait even darker than he deserved 0.98
00:26:43.840 Making him a hideous hunchback 1.00
00:26:45.820 With a malignant, distorted countenance 0.90
00:26:48.620 As a matter of fact, his deformity was only that his left arm was somewhat withered
00:26:54.080 And his left shoulder consequently lower than his right
00:26:58.200 I think where we found his body only a few years ago
00:27:02.600 There was some evidence of scoliosis of the spine
00:27:04.980 But not an extreme case
00:27:06.680 So there was something slightly wrong with him
00:27:09.320 But he wasn't like the hunchback of Notre Dame
00:27:12.380 And all his face was half melted like some freak
00:27:15.140 That's not really what he was like
00:27:16.880 we don't think, well he wasn't. His portraits show a face not unlike that of his brother Edward
00:27:23.260 but thinner and set in a nervous and joyless look of suspicion. End quote. We hope you enjoyed that
00:27:31.460 video and if you did please head over to lotusetus.com for the full unabridged video.
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