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

166.39

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 .

The story of the disappearance of Edward V and Richard the Duke of York continues in this episode of Epochs, with Sir Charles Oman's account of the events leading up to the fall of the Tudor dynasty and the murder of the young royal couple.

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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