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(#11) He Loved To Indulge In Foreign Wine And Lots Of Meat
The 2012 discovery of his bones gave researchers the chance to piece together Richard III's life. Studies on his bones have even revealed clues about his eating habits. Consistent with the lifestyle of aristocrats and royals in this period, Richard ate a lot of meat and drank a whole lot of wine. This English king appears to have preferred foreign wines, rather than English ale.
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(#7) He Was Accused Of Poisoning His Wife And Plotting To Marry His Own Niece
Richard III's wife Anne Neville died in March 1485. Though historians are still divided on what caused her death, tuberculosis was probably the culprit. Almost immediately after her death, however, rumors started to swirl that Richard had not only poisoned his wife, but that he had done so in order to marry his own niece, Elizabeth of York.
True, marriage was on his mind. As king, Richard understandably believed he needed to remarry in order to produce a legitimate heir to succeed him – after all, he was 32 in an era when the average life expectancy was 35. But he actually intended to marry Princess Joana of Portugal, rather than his niece.
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(#9) He Had His Nephew Declared Illegitimate In Order To Take The Throne
After the death of King Edward IV in 1483, Richard III's 12-year-old nephew became king with his younger brother as his heir. Richard soon locked both boys in the Tower of London, under the guise of protecting them and shielding them from people who wished to harm them. Richard even declared the boys – along with all of the children of his brother Edward IV and his wife Elizabeth Woodville – illegitimate. This allowed Richard to present himself as the logical, true heir to his brother, and he was legally proclaimed king later that year.
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(#5) He Was Brutally Killed By Troops Who Turned On Him
When Henry Tudor (the future Henry VII) landed in England with a claim to the throne and fewer troops than Richard III, the king was confident he would finally crush the Tudor upstart and secure his throne. But the tide was turning against him. Though the Stanley family had been loyal supporters of Richard and his claim, they suddenly switched sides just before the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. When the battle was going well for the king, the Stanleys led a charge and killed him. Richard's death was brutal: no less than 11 blows brought him down.
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(#6) He Was The Last English King To Be Killed In Battle
Richard III is distinguished for being two significant "lasts" in the history of the English monarchy. For one, he was the last Plantagenet king, a royal dynasty that had been ruling England since the 12th century. But even if the Plantagenet dynasty died with Richard, he has another distinction that at least adds a little honor to his character: when he was struck down at Bosworth Field, he was the very last English king to be killed in battle.
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(#12) Just Like Any Other Celebrity, He Has A Fan Club
In the wake of Richard III's defeat, popular memory imagined him as a corrupt, evil ruler, but, in reality, many people believe that Richard has unfairly gotten a bad rap. In fact, a whole society exists to clear his name. Founded in 1924, the international Richard III Society indicates just how widespread Richard's popularity has become in recent decades.
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Richard III was the last king of the York dynasty in England. It is rumored that he killed his nephew Edward V to obtain the throne. However, this speculation is controversial, and no conclusion proves that Richard is the culprit. Richard III made great achievements during his reign, establishing a complete legal aid system and bail system, but was eventually killed in the war due to the mutiny of his subordinate William Stanley.
Many people don’t know the history of the British king who died in battle, they only remember the "hunchback tyrant" in the literary works of Shakespeare. The random tool explained 12 things about Richard III that most people did not know.
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