Timeline

1452

2nd October – Birth of the future Richard III at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. His parents were Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York.

1455

22nd May – The First Battle of St Albans – a victory for Richard, Duke of York. It was the first of a series of battles over the next 32 years that were later known as the Wars of the Roses.

1459

12th-13th October – Yorkist defeat at Ludford Bridge. The Duke of York and his two eldest sons fled into exile. Richard, aged seven, was taken into Lancastrian custody with his siblings and their mother. They lived in the household of the Duchess of Buckingham.

1460

10th July – The Battle of Northampton – Richard’s brother Edward was victorious. In September, the Duke of York unsuccessfully proclaimed his right to the throne, but was declared Henry VI’s heir.

30th December – Richard’s father and brother Edmund perished at the Battle of Wakefield.

1461

2nd February – Edward, now Duke of York, defeated a Lancastrian army at Mortimer’s Cross but shortly afterwards his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick was defeated at St Albans. Richard and his brother George were sent to Utrecht for safety.

29th March – Edward defeated Henry VI’s army at Towton.

28th June – Edward was crowned King Edward IV. Richard was made a Knight of the Bath, then Duke of Gloucester. George became Duke of Clarence.

1464

Edward IV secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, widow of the Lancastrian Sir John Grey and revealed this to his lords in September.

1465

It was probably this summer that Richard moved into the household of the Earl of Warwick.

September – Richard attended a feast at Cawood, along with Warwick’s daughters Isabel and Anne, to celebrate the enthronement of Warwick’s brother, George, as Archbishop of York.

1466

Richard was made a Knight of the Garter.

1468

3rd July – Richard’s sister Margaret married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.

1469

11th July – George, Duke of Clarence married Warwick’s elder daughter Isabel. Clarence and Warwick then rebelled against Edward IV. Richard remained loyal to the king.

17th October – Richard, Duke of Gloucester was appointed Constable of England for life.

1470

It was probably in the early 1470s that Richard adopted the white boar as his emblem.

February – Warwick and Clarence again rebelled unsuccessfully, fleeing to France and joining Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI’s queen. Her son Edward married Warwick’s younger daughter, Anne Neville, at the end of the year.

September – Warwick invaded England and in October Edward fled to the Low Countries. Richard had joined him by mid-November.

1471

14th March – Richard and Edward IV returned from exile. George soon rejoined his brothers.

14th April – The Battle of Barnet was a Yorkist triumph and Warwick was killed.

4th May – Richard led the vanguard at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Margaret of Anjou was taken prisoner and her son Edward was killed in battle. Henry VI died in the Tower of London shortly afterwards.

1473

Richard married Anne Neville, Edward of Lancaster’s widow, Richard became ‘Lord of the North’. Richard and his brother George quarrelled over Warwick’s estates.

1476

Richard’s only legitimate son, Edward of Middleham, was born.

1477

George, Duke of Clarence was arrested, probably for contempt of the law.

January – George tried for treason in parliament.

18th February – George was privately executed in the Tower of London.

1482

Richard led an English army into Scotland and captured Berwick.

1483

Richard had by this time adopted the motto Loyaulte me Lie (Loyalty Binds Me).

9th April – Edward IV’s death announced and he was succeeded by his son Edward, aged 12. Edward V, his maternal uncle Anthony, Earl Rivers and his household begin move from Ludlow to London for his coronation.

30th April – While the Woodvilles attempted to maintain power in London, Richard and Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham took control of Edward V at Stony Stratford. Failing to raise an armed force, Queen Elizabeth and the rest of her children took sanctuary in Westminster Abbey.

4th May – Richard and Buckingham accompanied Edward V on his entry into London. Six days later a council meeting formally appointed Richard as Protector of England.

13th June – During a council meeting in the Tower of London, Richard accused some members of plotting against his protectorship. William, Lord Hastings, a highly favoured member of Edward IV’s household was executed.

16th June – Edward V’s younger brother, Richard, Duke of York, was removed from sanctuary, to join the king in the Royal Apartments in the Tower.

22nd June – A public declaration was made stating Edward V and his siblings were illegitimate as his parents’ marriage had been invalid. It was announced that Edward IV was already married to Eleanor Talbot when his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville took place; Edward V was therefore ineligible to inherit the throne.

25th June – An assembly of the Lords and Commons approved offering Richard the crown.

26th June – Richard, then staying at Baynard’s Castle, London, accepted the crown. His reign is dated from this day.

6th July – King Richard III and Queen Anne were crowned at Westminster Abbey. Richard was probably the first king to say his coronation oath in English.

During the summer or early autumn the sons of Edward IV, known as the ‘Princes in the Tower’ disappeared from view. Hitherto there has been no convincing evidence of their fate, but see new discoveries detailed here.

8th September – Richard invested his son, Edward of Middleham, as Prince of Wales in York.

October – The Duke of Buckingham and others rebelled. The rebellion failed and Buckingham was captured. A number of surviving rebels joined the Lancastrian claimant Henry Tudor in Brittany.

2nd November – Buckingham was executed at Salisbury.

1484

23rd January-20th February – Richard III held what would be his only parliament. He was responsible for several acts to safeguard the rights of the common man and improve the judicial system, including extending the system of bail.

March – Richard and the former queen, Elizabeth Woodville reached an agreement for her daughters to emerge from sanctuary.

March – Richard founded the College of Arms.

April – News of the death of their son, Edward, Prince of Wales, reached Richard and Anne at Nottingham Castle.

1485

16th March – Richard III’s queen, Anne, died. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Late March – King Richard opens marriage negotiations with the Holy Princess, Joanna of Portugal, heir of the House of Lancaster.

7th August – Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven. Richard learned of his invasion at Nottingham and summoned his supporters.

19th August – Richard left Nottingham and moved to Leicester, arriving around sunset.

21st August – Richard III rode out of Leicester for what was to be his last battle.

22nd August – Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth. His naked body was thrown over a horse and taken to Leicester to be displayed.

25th August – Richard was buried by the Greyfriars monks in Leicester.

1924

The Fellowship of the White Boar was founded by Samuel Saxon Barton.

1959

The Fellowship of the White Boar was renamed the Richard III Society.

1975

Audrey Strange published an article in The Ricardian disputing the legend that Richard’s body had been disinterred from the Greyfriars, arguing instead that it still lay beneath what were then car parks in Leicester. (She had unsuccessfully petitioned Leicester City Museums to initiate a dig there in 1962, but this was not widely known about until after the 2012 discovery).

2005

John Ashdown-Hill successfully traced Richard III’s mtDNA sequence.

2009

Philippa Langley launched the Looking For Richard Project.

2012

25th August – Richard’s remains were uncovered under a car park in the Greyfriars.

2013

4th February – It was announced that the remains uncovered at the Greyfriars were those of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England.

2015

26th March – King Richard III was finally laid to rest in Leicester Cathedral with the honour and dignity denied him in 1485.

Requiescat in Pace.