Richard III

[Yorel]

For my studies in France, I had to study Richard III by William Shakespeare. I thus decided to document myself a bit on Richard III of England to increase the little knowledge I had on the guy (which comes only from the play and a few things I learned here and there).

I knew Shakespeare's play was all Tudor Propaganda but I was shocked to discover that the Richard III of the play is completely different from the historical Richard III. In Shakespeare, Richard III is an evil schemer, an ambitious man and a machiavellian prince, but historically, he seems to have been a loyal and competent prince.

It also seems to me that he had a very bad stroke of luck during his reign. First, his only son Edward died in 1484. Second, he lost his wife, Anne Neville in March 1485 and he was deeply affected. Third, he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. Fourth and last, he was demonized by Tudor Propaganda after his death.

But let's imagine that this stroke of bad luck never happens. Let's say instead that his son and wife do not die as in OTL and that Richard wins at Bosthworth Field. What would be the consequences of this?
How would Richard be seen nowadays? And how would his reign look like in these conditions?

Subsidiary question : what becomes of Shakespeare in this situation?

 

[Grey Wolf]

As a note his son and wife surviving actually HELPS him at Bosworth as he retains the loyalty of the former Neville retainers and those angry at his supposed intentions on Elizabeth of York are not so pissed off

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

 

[KillerT]

It also seems to me that he had a very bad stroke of luck during his reign. First, his only son Edward died in 1484. Second, he lost his wife, Anne Neville in March 1485 and he was deeply affected. Third, he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. Fourth and last, he was demonized by Tudor Propaganda after his death.

"But let's imagine that this stroke of bad luck never happens. Let's say instead that his son and wife do not die as in OTL and that Richard wins at Bosthworth Field.
What would be the consequences of this?
How would Richard be seen nowadays?
And how would his reign look like in these conditions?"

Consequence of winning at Bosworth - the traitor Henry Tudor was hung drawn and quartered. The Percy and Stanley families were initially rewarded for their crucial intervention in the battle, but later other families such as the De La Poles receive greater recognition.

Richard is now seen as a Healer of the Nation-a real statesmen. Tudor apologists ask 'what became of the princes in the tower' and lots of other succirlous talk but as we know they (and their father) the wrongly crowned Edward IV were bastard descendents of an archer rather than being fully of the purple.

Ireland is still united to the crown

Shakespeare wrote his great plays Richard III parts 1, 2 and 3 and Henry Tudor (the Dragon) to great acclaim in the reign of King Richard V....

 

[Bee]

... historically, he seems to have been a loyal and competent prince.

Well, there is still the issue of the princes in the Tower. Presumably they are also killed off in this ATL since they weren't seen alive after 1483.

 

[Mikestone8]

$64,000 question is what he or his son does about the Reformation. London in particular is very anti-Clerical, and all that monastic land is going to be tempting for any ruler, so the balance of probability is that we still go Protestant at some stage. So probably not a lot changed beside the names af the next few kings and queens.

 

[mcdnab]

He's going to face numerous problems even if he does defeat Henry Tudor at Bosworth.
He has numerous nieces and a nephew who have a stronger claim to the throne than him or his (surviving) son.
(in order Elizabeth, Cecily, Anne, Catherine, Bridget, Edward Earl of Warwick, Lady Margaret Plantagenet.)
Yes i know the arguements - Edward IV's marriage was declared invalid by Richard's Parliament but a future Parliament could revoke it and it is worth remembering that the House of York claimed the throne by right of descent through a female line. Warwick and his sister were debarred by the Act of Attainder on their father - not true - the Act barred them the title and rank of Duke it did not bar them the throne.
The archer story was not used to dispute the rights of Edward V in Richard's first parliament - he made no suggestion that his brother had had no right to the throne. The rumour is hard to substantiate and despite a lot of recent publicity about the claim of Cecily Neville's adultery it is quite hard to prove, and it is also worth remembering that Edward IV was still a descendant of Edward III in the female line through his mother, his wife, Elizabeth Wydeville also had two or three lines of descent from Plantagenet Kings.
Richard is also heavily reliant on the support of his own affinity of northern nobles and gentleman and he has little influence in the Midlands, Wales and the South West. Many of the nobility and gentry of those areas had strong connections and were dependant on Edward IV's court those links were broken by the Usurpation and Richard is so heavily reliant on his northern peers that he is going to struggle to rebuild those links.
His widowed sister in law remains a public embarrasment that he can do very little about. She had forced him to a public vow to get her out of sanctuary, but she'd rented a property and had certainly not returned to court, she had written to her last surviving son Thomas Grey urging him to return but if he remains abroad he poses a danger even if he does return his wife's estates are large and he is a powerful man.
Her daughters are technically under Richard's protection and as they grow he is publically committed to finding them husbands - any ambitious man, however loyal is going to present a problem. If he marries them too high he risks implying their legitimacy. He did marry the second daugther Cecily off to one of his northern friends the fact that he avoided marrying off the eldest Elizabeth is telling in that the risk might have been too high.
His only has one adult male relation - John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln who whilst loyal is married to Elizabeth Wydeville's niece.
He is going to face continued rumour and pressure over his vanished nephews Edward V and Richard Duke of York & Norfolk - he is just as likely to face imposters as Henry Tudor did in OTL. Henry's main problem was that he probably didn't know what had happened to his wife's brothers - Richard himself failed to produce them or give any explanation for what had happened to them even when it would have been to his advantage. The longer he leaves it the harder it gets.