Richard was also able to take the throne by striking a friend ship with the Duke of Buckingham who was seen as very powerful. The Duke of Buckingham helped Richard III to plan the usurpation of Richard III. This was part of his motivation. Another idea was that he no longer wanted any Woodville to be in power. Richard had made enemies with the Woodvilles and their supporters. Richard feared the Woodvilles would try to destroy his power by turning Edward V against him or possibly assassinate him.
Richard was not a stranger to killing in order to obtain power. His brother Edward IV had done this and so had previous rulers. Richard was able to claim the throne through motivation, desire for power, hatred for the Woodvilles, assassination of any threats to his position and his ideas with help from the Duke of Buckingham. Richard also had strong support in the North which helped him claim the title of King.
Richard was only able to maintain the throne for two years. This was mainly due to Henry Tudor, a Lancastrian who had a lot of support. Henry had been living in Brittany from when he was young and was now ready to return to England and seize the throne. Henry firstly traveled to Wales before commuting to England with an army of 5,000 men; he was ready to fight Richard. Richard was only able to gather 6,000 men. He was supposed to have support from Lord Stanley. However, this did not work out and without the help from Lord Stanley and his brother Richard was sure to be defeated. The battle took place in the small village of Bosworth in Leicestershire. Richard was determined to defeat Henry and threatened to kill Lord Stanley’s son in order to gain more support. He still was not powerful enough. Richard was killed at the battle of Bosworth after being knocked off his horse and being surrounded by the enemy. “Richard’s death robbed the country of an effective but cruel monarch.” Source: The Tudor Years second edition.
Other reasons for Richard’s deterioration and overthrow were, his unpopularity after rumors of the murders of his nephews, the continued opposition from the Lancastrians, he did not have a heir and his failure to win support form all the nobility. The Buckingham rebellion also played a part in his overthrow. The Buckingham rebellion was cause by the splits made in the Yorkist party caused by Richard’s usurpation. It is believed Buckingham turned against Richard after the apparent murder of his nephews and also the fact he wanted power for himself.
Richard III took the throne in order to gain power, stop the Woodville’s from taking power as he had strong hatred towards them and also as his brother had died, he had the opportunity to seize the throne. Having support also helped him. However, Richard was unable to full establish himself as he was only in power for a short time. This was due to the Buckingham rebellion and his inability to dispose of his real threat, Henry Tudor who returned to claim the throne.
