They really got King Richard III of England dirty. Shakespeare did it, and the Tudors did it, after his death. He has this reputation as a coward and a horrible schemer, deformed, hideous, terrible. Dismounted in his final battle, he should have yelled, “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” Balls! Richard wasn’t dismounted, he was dismounted!
For all that he had done wrong in his life, and certainly what happened to those princes in the tower was a sordid affair, Richard’s death at the Battle of Bosworth was incrediblybrave. He absolutely died like a man. Despite suffering from rather severe scoliosis, Richard was a physically capable soldier and an excellent horseman. Single-handedly, he charged into the ranks of his rival Henry Tudor, aiming to overthrow his enemy personally and end the battle. Richard dismounted several famous knights, and then, with his spear already broken beforehand, he removed the country’s most famous jousting champion, Sir John Cheyne, from his saddle – a knight famously 6’8″. Richard was then thrown from the saddle, but fought valiantly against Henry’s men, managing to kill Tudor’s official standard-bearer before being subdued.
In King Richard III’s fierce final stance, he suffered 12 wounds to his body. He was hit in the legs, groin, arms and several times in the head. Some of the blows he received before finally going down were so hard that onlookers claim his helmet was driven into his skull. All of his enemies present that day when he made his final stand would later admit that the king died a brave death. A manly death. The Welshman who delivered the final blow was knighted. When they finally found the king’s body under a parking lot, the examiners who saw his body confirmed many of the official stories of his death, the injuries, everything. Guy went down, but not without fighting very fiercely.
In Wolfgang Peterson’s epic Troy
, Pitt’s Achilles reflects on “Kings fighting their own battles”. Richard III was that king. He tried, and failed, to personally kill Henry Tudor by his own hand. One-on-one, King against suitor. He would have saved the lives of some soldiers that day. This is bravery. That’s the very definition of cojones . I will never stop respecting Richard for that move. Yes, he finally failed. But he stayed within walking distance of Henry Tudor. So close. One stroke, one more lunge of the horse, one more rider dismounted, and it could have been a very, very different story.
King Richard III was not a cowardly conspirator, he was not a physically weak man. Yes, he had a slightly crooked back, but he was strong enough to charge into battle, dismount skilled and trained knights, and kill several enemies before finally being killed. He was the last British king killed in battle, and whatever your opinion of his short reign, he died like a chief.