Richard`s survival…..

The odds were stacked against him. He did have a survival chance on Bosworth field, in seeing the battle turn and his knights offering him an escape from the field. But living in exile, for a man of action and bravery, Im not surprised he considered the odds of the very small success of his last charge. As for continuing to reign as King, with the pot boiling mess around him ( I think Buckingham killed the 2 young Princes)&.well its doubtful&.

Dear Carol -

I am sure that Richard knew that if he were captured alive he would be
executed. He preferred to take his chances with a desperate charge, and he
almost succeeded.

Do you or anyone else know how many knights stayed with Richard to make that
last charge? How many were killed and how many survived? I take it that
Henry VII, <sarcasm on> with his usual winning ways <sarcasm off>, didn't
issue a pardon for all hands - rather the opposite.

Johanne
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Johanne L. Tournier

Email - jltournier60@...
or jltournier@...

"With God, all things are possible."
- Jesus of Nazareth
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-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Carol Darling
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:18 PM
To:
Subject: Richard`s survival...

The odds were stacked against him. He did have a survival chance on
Bosworth field, in seeing the battle turn and his knights offering him an
escape from the field. But living in exile, for a man of action and
bravery, Im not surprised he considered the odds of the very small success
of his last charge. As for continuing to reign as King, with the pot
boiling mess around him ( I think Buckingham killed the 2 young
Princes)..well its doubtful..

------------------------------------

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Carol Darling <cdarlingart1@...> wrote:
>
> The odds were stacked against him. He did have a survival chance on Bosworth field, in seeing the battle turn and his knights offering him an escape from the field. But living in exile, for a man of action and bravery, Im not surprised he considered the odds of the very small success of his last charge. As for continuing to reign as King, with the pot boiling mess around him ( I think Buckingham killed the 2 young Princes)….well its doubtful….
>
Carol responds:

I disagree. I'm not at all sure that he considered the odds of his last charge small (we can't know what was in his mind), and I think that if Richard had won at Bosworth after beheading Henry and executing or permanently imprisoning the major traitors (Oxford, Jasper Tudor, Rhys ap Thomas Reginald Bray, William Stanley imprisoned; Morton, Urswick, Margaret Beaufort, Northumberland, and Thomas Stanley imprisoned), he'd have had nothing to worry about, at least until his nephews (if they survived) were old enough to rebel, and I doubt that Margaret of Burgundy would have let that happen. Her invasions were all aimed at the usurping Tudor, not at her beloved younger brother. (Buckingham, of course, was long dead.)

Any malcontents remaining after Bosworth would have had to accept their circumstances since there would have been no one to put in Richard's place. (His nephews were out of contention.) All Richard would need to do is to marry Juana of Portugal and produce an heir or two. Once he was secure on the throne again (as he had been when his wife and son were alive), he could rule as he chose. With time, peace, and prosperity, the people of England would have come to accept him, as they did the Tudor usurper under less than ideal circumstances, and perhaps to love him as the City of York did (and as no one except his mother loved Henry). The rebellions against Henry were all by Yorkists, who would have no cause to rebel against Richard. Even the few diehards who would have preferred to have Edward V would almost certainly have come to terms with him. Who would dare fight Richard, fine soldier that he was, had he won at Bosworth?

If only!

Carol (T)