Free The Last Days of Richard III and the Fate of His DNA by John Ashdown-Hill Page B

of 1483, there was little option but to set those spurious heirs aside. Even though the eldest boy had by then been named Edward V, and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, it became obvious that by reason of bastardy neither was now eligible to hold those titles, and the Crown must pass to the nearest available legitimate heir – Richard III.
    Inevitably, this caused a split in the Yorkist ranks. The Woodville family had tried hard to forestall any enquiry by keeping the future Richard III in the background and hastening to get Edward V crowned with all possible speed. When this move failed, some members of the Woodville family fled, ending up in the ‘Tudor’ ( soi-disant Lancastrian) camp. Other key Yorkist supporters, like Lord Hastings, while far from sympathetic to the Woodville cause, nevertheless balked at the drastic step of setting aside Edward IV’s Woodville children. In the rather black and white politics of 1483 – and given that the final decision of the royal council went against his opinion – Lord Hastings ultimately had to pay for the uncompromising stance he took on this question with his life.
    Nevertheless, through the dramatic events of that key summer of 1483, Richard III was supported by all the living members of the royal house of York, and also by his cousin, the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham’s subsequent defection and betrayal came as a great shock to Richard, who was in some ways politically naïve, and often over-kind and generous.
    Despite an inevitable degree of public confusion regarding the complex legal points at issue, Richard’s accession seems generally to have been accepted, and the new royal family was well received on its public appearances around the country. However, yet another break in the anticipated order of succession had now occurred. Such upsets were always liable to cause trouble. Richard’s position was additionally undermined by the death of his only legitimate son, Edward of Middleham – a bereavement which was not only a personal tragedy for Richard, but also left him as a king without a direct heir, and with a consort whose own health was also failing. It is at roughly this point that we take up Richard III’s story.

16

The Future of Richard III
    It may seem perverse to conclude this book by seeking to discuss the future of a man and king who has been dead for more than 500 years. However, historical interest in Richard III continues, and the controversy surrounding his name still rages. In one way, of course, this is a pity, since it leads to a vast quantity of circular and rather predictable writing about Richard, based on partie-prise attitudes, and offering few, if any, fresh insights.
    But Ricardian study is not obliged to restrict itself to well-worn and unproductive ruts. This present book constitutes a conscious attempt to avoid the deepest and best-known ruts of the Ricardian controversy, seeking new ways of understanding Richard and the events of his short reign. Its chosen time frame in terms of Richard’s life has mercifully allowed us to largely eschew the hoary and currently unproductive chestnut of ‘who murdered the princes in the Tower’. Nor has it sought to pass any kind of inappropriate retrospective judgement on Richard, whether favourable or unfavourable. Instead, it has tried to give an account of what actually happened during the last months of his life and afterwards. The justification for this approach hopefully lies in the fact that what has emerged as a result is a fresher, rather different picture of Richard III in 1485.
    Perhaps the way to a better understanding of Richard III is by means of a deliberate endeavour to avoid the pantomime, black versus white, good versus bad arguments which have so bedevilled the study of his life and reign, for these merely tend to produce a somewhat 1066 and All That impression. 1 By concentrating instead on the minutiae of Richard’s