"Many historians look at the execution of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in July 1483 as a coup-d'etat. As Edward IV, the late dead King, had appointed his brother as Regent for his son and Lord Protector of the Realm, technically, by all standards, it was. But what most historians – myself included – notice more is how quickly Elizabeth Woodville struck down on him: within hours of King Edward's death, she had sent her brother from Ludlow… but it was not to bring the new King – it was to take the head of the Duke of Gloucester.
Though he would, indeed, fight valiantly, Richard, Duke of Gloucester would be taken into captivity by the Earl Rivers, as would his wife and son, on the twenty third of April[1]. It was not at all what the Dowager Queen had wanted – she wanted him dead. Her brother managed – through means unknown to us, even to this day – to convince her to allow the Duke of Gloucester to stand trial for attempted Regicide and Usurpation of the throne. Now, in a normal court, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, would have been found innocent – it was not, most historians believe, his intention to seize the throne but merely to remove the King from the influence of his numerous Woodville relatives. However, while Anthony Rivers had, indeed, managed to convince the Dowager Queen to let Richard stand trial, he had said nothing about not packing the court with their allies: Richard was found unanimously guilty by a jury of his peers and sentenced to death – a true and proper Kangaroo Court if there ever was one.
Now assured of her son's safety, she sent her brother rushing to collect him from Ludlow – her younger son, the Duke of York, would remain with her. The New King Edward, fifth of his name, arrived in London on the nineteenth of May for his coronation. With Anthony's return to London, both Bishop Stillington and Ralph Shaa, making grumblings about the validity of the late King Edward's marriage to the Dowager Queen, were silenced permanently – taken to the Tower, from whence they never again emerged…"
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Armand
takes a look at flexible roads made from long-lasting flexible resin.