2021-07-06 Tue

Richard III was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until he died in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the protagonist of Richard III, one of William Shakespeare's history plays.

For almost 500 years after his death, he was generally depicted as the worst and most wicked of kings. Some of those charges are now regarded as excessive, the work of his enemies, and his supporters have attempted to rehabilitate him. Modern scholars take a more balanced approach that avoids the extremes of either side.

Richard's death at Bosworth resulted at the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, which had ruled England since the succession of Henry II in 1154. The last legitimate male Plantagenet, Richard's nephew Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of his brother George, Duke of Clarence), was executed by Henry VII in 1499.

Depicted here is an obverse (front) of a silver groat of Richard III of England. It represents crowned head of a king facing forward.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org