Richard III and the stability and unstability of England.

Sophie Relph

History Essay- Richard III and the stability and unstability of England

Richard became King of England on July the sixth 1483 after the heir to the throne was proclaimed illegitimate. Whether this claim was true or not is questionable. During Richards reign, the stability of England has been debated. Was he the ruler England needed to end the ‘Wars of the Roses’ and bring stability back to the English people? Or did he cause England to be restless and unsettled? Is it a good thing that Henry Tudor defeated him in the Battle of Bosworth? This essay will look at the different points, which, under the reign of Richard III made the country stable or unstable.

England under Richard III was stable in that he had lots of experience. He had been made ruler of the North of England in 1471 and had been allowed to Marry Anne due to his loyalty to his brother Edward IV whilst he was King. He was a loyal supporter even when Edwards other brother Duke Of Clarence became a traitor and sided with Edwards enemies. The fact that he had already had experience in ruling land meant that he knew what he was doing. This helped to maintain stability. He was successful in putting an end to the Wars of the Roses because of his ability to appeal to lots of people. He was a powerful manipulator and he was able to put their minds at ease by telling them how stable and strong the country was.

Richard also made England stable because of the simple fact that he was not a minor and Edward V was. If Edward had been crowned England would have been under turmoil because the choice of people who would want to help Edward run the country would have caused upset and unrest amongst them. Richard did not need anybody to help him run the country apart from some advisors. The final decisions were up to him.

Richard had strong foreign policies, which helped to make England stable. He made good alliances with France by building on previous victories ...

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Richard had strong foreign policies, which helped to make England stable. He made good alliances with France by building on previous victories and signing a three-year truce. This made England stable because there was less worry of having to watch the Scots and make sure they do not start a fight. This made the people of England feel safer because they did not agree with fighting because of all the people who died.

Another factor making England stable and strong under Richards reign was his support. Although it has been said that he was only popular in the North and that the South disliked him this can be proved somewhat untrue because it was the people of London who voted for him to be king. This proved that he had won the support of most of Britain, this was probably because people knew that he had been a loyal supporter of his brother during his reign and most people had liked Edward IV.

Buckingham’s rebellion was dealt with effectively and discreetly to prevent publicity. If the rebellion had been made a bid deal of people might have started to doubt the capability of their ruler.

Another reason why England was seen as stable during Richards’s reign was that he managed to refrain from having any civil war during his time on throne. This was helpful because civil war caused death and if there had been the country would have been seen as unstable. England was quite free from fighting until the Battle of Bosworth began and the plots started taking place.

However, Richard had done some stupid things, which lost him support and gained him many enemies. At the time enemies were bad to have because they could lead to him getting overthrown.

One way in which Britain was unstable during the reign of Richard III was because of the copious amounts of plotting going on behind his back. This made England unstable because there was tension in the air and nobody knew what was happening. The fact that Elizabeth Woodville, who supposedly supported Richard III, was in on the plots made it worse because the pubic would have thought that Richard had less loyalty and they might start doubting there trust in him. The people involved in the plots ranged from The Duke of Buckingham to Margaret Beaufordt who was Henry Tudor’s mother.

Another unstable thing during Richards’s reign was that he didn’t have many people to rely on. He had very few loyal friends and this was proved at the battle of Bosworth when half of his army decided to side with the other side. Having few friends was dangerous because, if people were uncertain about his claim to the throne and they found out that aristocracy felt the same they might start to undermine his rebellion. The ‘Princes in the tower’ phenomenon made England unstable because the claims of illegitimacy were doubtful and made townsfolk wary of his claim to throne.

England was also unstable because the Woodvilles were an unpopular family due to the fact that Elizabeth Woodville already had a grown up family when she married King Edward IV and her previous children wanted land, this meant that other aristocratic people were not getting as much as they would have done if Elizabeth had no other children. People associated Richard with the Woodvilles and this made him unpopular and unstable.

All the executions were another factor to Richards’s instability. Executions were thought of as an excuse for getting rid of your opponents and this was seen to be an easy way out of it.

The rebellions suggest that England under Richard III was unstable. The very fact that there were rebellions means that many people were unhappy with Richard and the way the country was being run. These influences would have unsettled people who mightn’t otherwise question the way the country was being run.

After explaining both sides of the argument the conclusion is that England was unstable under the rule of Richard III. Although he had popularity, he didn’t have the loyal aristocratic support he needed to run the country. Some people thought he was the rightful king but many others doubted him due to the executions. The majority were just waiting for Henry Tudor to come along and side with them. He maintained the country as well as he could but nothing could stop his enemies plotting together to undermine his authority.