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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Richard III
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(1452–85) King of England from 1483. The youngest son of Richard, duke of York (see the *royal house), he succeeded his brother *Edward IV and his nephew *Edward V. His traditional reputation as the deepest of villains (reinforced by Shakespeare's *Richard III) derives partly from the need of the Tudor monarchs to blacken the name of the last representative of the royal house they had displaced. Richard's moral scruples were certainly few, even by the standards of the time, and it seems probable that he was responsible for the murder of *Henry VI and of the *princes in the Tower.
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On the other hand as duke of Gloucester he had been unusually loyal when his brother was on the throne, and had governed northern England with skill and good judgement. In 1471 he married Anne Neville, a daughter of *Warwick the Kingmaker, but their only son died in 1484. Richard himself was killed the following year in battle with his successor, *Henry VII, at *Bosworth Field.
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