Richard of Gloucesters Usurpation of Power in 1483 - Essay Example

? Assess the accuracy of the view that Richard of Gloucester's usurpation of power in 1483 is best explained by his fear of the Woodvilles Richard Gloucester had to eradicate the Woodvilles to be the next King of England. The research centers on the reasons of Richard of Gloucester’s fear of the Woodvilles. The research includes the forces surrounding Richard of Gloucester’s plan to usurp the throne from King Edward V. Richard of Gloucester's usurpation of power in 1483 is best explained by his fear of the Woodvilles. According to Wendy Moorhen1, Richard of Gloucester, the Lord Protector, ordered the execution of his brother’s best friend and counselor, Hastings. Within a few days, Richard of Gloucester ascended the throne, in 1483. Richard of Gloucester’s executions made him vulnerable to criticisms from many quarters. With the executions, Richard of Gloucester’s detractors were given many reasons to vilify Richard of Gloucester in many occasions. With the executions, Richard of Gloucester made loud, direct, and plain his plan to be the next king. It is but natural of persons to do their best to remove all obstacles to their objective or goal. Richard of Gloucester was serious in his attempt to take the throne, which was vacated by his brother Kind Edward IV. Richard of Gloucester was not bothered by the fact that his nephew, King Edward V was supposed to be the person who was destined to replace King Edward IV. in the same manner, the Woodvilles felt that Richard of Gloucester was not the man authorized to rise to the throne of England. The Woodvilles preferred that King Edward V rise to the rise to replace King Edward IV. The Woodwillves would go out of their way to ensure that only King Edward V would occupy the vacated King’s throne. However, a struggle will now have to decide who gets the throne. History shows that Richard of Gloucester had more persuasive power and physical might to take the vacated throne. On the other hand, King Edward V was only 10 years old at the time of Richard of Gloucester’s usurpation of the throne. When the usurpation occurred, Richard of Gloucester had no other recourse but remove everyone that impeded his taking the throne as well as holding on to the throne. To keep a firm hold on the throne, Richard of Gloucester, who is now King Richard III, goes out of his way to prevent the moves of William Hastings to prevent King Richard III from continuing his reign as the replacement of King Edward IV. This is the reason why Richard of Gloucester did not have second thoughts when he ordered the execution of William Hastings on the ground of being a threat to the King Richard III throne. On the other hand, Queen Elizabeth had to enter into alliance with the Woodvilles to support her dream that her son, King Edward V take over the throne as early as possible. The Woodvilles did have a strong alliance with the Queen Elizabeth. In response, Richard of Gloucester, now King Richard III, gathered all his forces to eradicate the Woodvilles for being a threat to King Richard III’s throne. In terms of bothering intentions, Richard of Gloucester ordered the execution of his brother’s good friend, William Hastings. Richard of Gloucester’s brother was the deceased King Edward IV. Hastings served under King Edward’s rule under several positions. William Hastings served as politician, diplomat, solider, lord, and landowner. William Hastings served King Edward IV, a young king still reeling from the death of his father, who died in Wakefield. On 17 April 1483, Hastings attended King Edward IV’s obsequies in Westmister Abbey when his body was buried in the magnificent Chapel of St. George, in Windsor. William Hastings felt the sorrow of losing one’s friend and master, made more painful since King Edwar IV was younger than William Hastings. William Hastings was instrumental preventing the Woodvilles from taking the throne. Hastings communicated with Richard of Gloucester to secure the King and stop the dethroning activities of King Edward IV’s maternal uncle, Rivers. Consequently, Richard of Gloucester went to Yorkshire and confronted Rivers at Northampton. Richard of Gloucester ordered the arrest of Rivers and his immediate subjects that precipitated to the downfall of the Woodville treacherous acts to rule England under the Young king. When Queen Elizabeth heard the news, She ran into the safety of the Westminster sanctuary. The loyal subjects of the Queen stayed watch in the Westminster sanctuary. In turn, Queen Elizabeth’s son, Dorset, went to the side of Queen Elizabeth in Westminster. Dorset was the deputy constable of the Tower. On the other hand, the loyal subjects of Richard of Gloucester stayed within reach of the Lord William Hastings. If William Hastings was able to lessen the power of Richard of Gloucester and Buckingham, the Woodvilles, as a political clan, would slowly grow in strength, even to the point of mustering enough forces to overthrow Richard of Gloucester. Hastings made allegiance to the Queen, who preferred that the Woodvilles regain power in England. Hastings still held strong alliance with the former king’s government leaders. The leaders include Morton, Stanley, and Rotherham. The meetings of the leaders turned their discontent with the new ruler into sedition talks. William Hastings had strong relevant relationships with the Woodvilles for many years. The relationship did not prevent the Woodvilles and Hastings to cooperatively work together as loyal subjects of King Edward IV. Dorset, of the Woodvilles, was William Hastings’ assistant at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Dorset and William Hastings served together on commissions of oyer and terminer. The oyer and terminer formed part of a group of foeoffees for the Mowbray estate. Both Dorset and William Hastings joined forces to implement the commands of King Edward IV. In addition, Woodville’s Rivers have a common hobby. Their hobby is reading books on different topics. In June 1483, Richard of Gloucester was instrumental in ensuring Dorset was rendered politically powerless. In addition, Rivers was placed under arrest by Richard of Gloucester’s soldiers. William Hastings did not lose any significant point from its alliance with the Woodvilles. In addition, King Edward IV brought William Hastings to Queen Elizabeth in order to make a strong alliance between the queen and King Edward IV’s best friend. Richard of Gloucester was instrumental in the death of one of Queen Elizabeth’s sons, Richard Grey. Consequently, Richard of Gloucester ordered the execution of William Hastings based on the possibility that Hastings connived with the Woodvilles and the Queen to overthrow Richard of Gloucester. Had William Hastings and the Woodvilles made their plans to attack Richard of Gloucester, there would never have been any King Richard III in England. Instead, history will have rewritten itself stating that the 10 year old King Edward V rose to the occasion and became the next King of England, prepared and eager to replace King Edward V’s father, King Edward IV. William Hastings was also charged for conniving and conspiring with Elizabeth Grey, King Edward IV’s wife. Elizabeth was presumed to strive for the crowing of one of her sons to control the England Government. King Edward IV’s death triggered a fight for the next King of England. Queen Elizabeth wanted to take control of England. However, the King’s brother, Richard of Gloucester, had a different plan. Richard of Gloucester planned to be the next King, as a replacement of the recently deceased king. However, both Hasting and Richard of Gloucester moved to neutralize the queen’s move for Kingship. There were many people aiming to promote their own selfish agenda. Margaret Beaufort was one of the people with selfish interests. John Morton is another person with self- interests. In addition, Robert Stillington also set out to fulfill his own goals. William Catesby also set his own goals. Lastly, Henry of Buckingham generated his own interests. William Hastings was fearful of King Edward IV as well as the future of boy. The boy was destined for more than 11 years to be the next King of England. Edward IV made an alliance with the Woodvilles. Richard of Gloucester supported Edward IV’s rulership. However, when Edward the IV died in 1483, Richard of Gloucester disputed the rise to the throne of Edward IV’s son Edward V. Consequently, Richard of Gloucester incarcerated Edward V and his brother Richard in the Tower. After the incarceration, Richard of Gloucester proclaimed himself King of England. Richard of Gloucester crowned himself as King Richard III. With the usurpation of power, Richard of Gloucester, now King Richard III, divided the Yorkist group. In 1483, Henry Stafford, who was the Duke of Buckingham, started a revolt against King Richard III. The revolt ended with the defeat and execution of the Duke of Buckingham in November, 1483. It is clear the many groups were dismayed with Richard of Gloucester’s unauthorized usurpation of the throne from the intended recipient, King Edward V. some groups were vocal against the wrongly taking of the throne. Some of the other groups even voice their dismay by waging a revolt. The revolt conducted by Duke of Buckingham surely indicates the dismay shown by the people for the complete disrespect shown by the usurping Richard of Gloucester of his own brother’s throne. The act of usurpation should have been meted with a death penalty. However, it is also very surprising that the people did not have enough energy or disgust to topple the usurper, King Richard III. There were not enough soldiers representing the Woodvilles that are willing to lay their lives on the line for the sake of protecting the throne from usurpers. ‘ It is also very surprising that Queen Elizabeth did not have enough military might to overthrow King Richard III from the thrown. King Richard is not a superman. The Queen could have the persuasive power to encourage the people to rise against the usurper. The Queen ignite the people to rally against the usurping King Richard. However, the queen had no persuasive power to convince the people to rise up as a community or country to fight the unforgivable King Richard III or Richard of Gloucester. The action of Queen Elizabeth is normal for a mother. The Queen went out of her way to create strong alliances. The queen needed the alliance in order to ensure her son, King Edward V would be placed on the Throne of England. This is what the Royal ritual of throne ascension is about2. Richard of Gloucester had no other recourse by to rise up against the Woodvilles. With the unexpected Woodvilles’ preference to have 10 year old Kind Edward V as the next king, Richard of Gloucester’s dream of being the next king will remain just that, a dream. Power corrupts. Gilbert Fairholm3 insists that “Power permeates our lives. We are often in situations with others where we are controlling some people or being controlled by them. We cannot choose whether power will be used in our internal organizational political relationships. We can only determine whether we will think about it and act on the basis of an understanding of its use.” In the time of Richard of Gloucester, he was very eager to be the leader of the group. The group is the entire England nation. On the other hand, some persons, especially William Hastings, are happy enough to just live as politicians, soldiers, diplomats and the like. People like William Hastings have to inclination to become the next King of England. Had William Hastings had any ambition to be the next king, William Hastings would not waste any time to gather enough military forces to do William Hastings’s biddings. Had William Hastings had the desire to be the next king, he would not hesitate to go out of his way to remove any obstacles to his taking the throne as the replacement of King Edward IV. This shows the big difference between the leadership intensions of William Hastings and the leadership goals of the future King Richard III. Further Bruce Webster4 mentioned “The events of the years 1450 to 1485 and beyond were certainly dramatic. At no other period since the Norman Conquest had turmoil been so prolonged or drastic; it is tempting therefore to look for causes peculiar to the age. Was there something that made the mid-fifteenth century especially liable to political upheavals? As we have seen already, to Tudor writers the causes were simple.” The Wars of the Roses precipitated from the usurpation of Richard of Gloucester of the throne from the original recipient, King Edward V. the wars of the roses ended with the first King, Henry VII. King Henry VII combined the forces of the two warring groups. By combining the two groups, King Henry was able to delete fights and discontent among the two groups. The above paragraph clearly shows that some people will do whatever it takes to be the next King of England. Society has accepted the policy of survival of the fittest. With the fittest concept, the strong individuals or groups will overthrow or vanquish the weak leader or group. The king is only a king as long as he is strong enough to repel any attacks on his throne. In the same light, any person can be the new king if he or she has enough soldiers to storm and overcome the current king’s armies holding the palace in one solid piece. In addition, Victor Stater5 insists “Seized forcibly from Richard III on Bosworth Field in the summer of 1485, Henry Tudor's crown was by no means secure. Although a Parliament declared his title good, Henry knew as well as anyone that his power might not survive a challenge from an enemy. The new king's experience taught that the English throne was a perilous seat. Moreover, there was no shortage of rivals with closer ties to the blood royal than Henry's own.” Consequently, King Richard III killed King Edward V and King Richard, the sons of King Edward IV. The two were killed because they were potential threats, while alive, to King Richard III’s crown. With the consolidation of the Tudor groups, King Henry VII rose to the throne6. Unity was the secret to the Tudor battle successes7. Under the Tudor rulership, mercy on the subjects who violated the laws of the land was one of its very successful monarchial policies8. Based on the above discussion, Richard Gloucester was forced to over power the Woodvilles to be the next King of England. Richard of Gloucester’s had every reason to fear of the Woodvilles. The forces surrounding Richard of Gloucester’s plan to usurp the throne from King Edward V was successfully launched with the execution of William Hastings. Indeed, Richard of Gloucester's usurpation of power in 1483 is best discussed by his huge fear of the Woodvilles’ threat to put King Edward V on the Throne. CITED WORKS: Anglo, Sydney. Spectacle, Pagaentry and Early Tudor Policy. London. Clarendon Press. P52 Fairholm, Gilbert. Organizational Power Politics. London. Praeger Press. P45 Kelly, Kelly. Thorns on the Tudor Rose. London. University Press. P55 Kesselring, Karl. Mercy and Authority in the Tudor State. London. Cambridge University Press. P91 Moorhen, Wendy. 1993. Richard III. The Ricardian Vol 9 No 122. September 1993. Smith, Layne. The Last Medieval Queens: 1445 -1503 London. University Press. P 72 Stater, Victor. The Political History of Tudor and Stuart England. London. Routledge Press. P91 Webster, Bruce. The Wars of the Roses. London. UCL Press. P 39 Read More