Opus 5: Richard III

After the events of 1471, King Edward IV seemed more secure on his throne than any English monarch in several decades. A king in such a position can afford to be munificent. Now that the House of York had won out, Edward strove for reconciliation with even the most fervent partisans of the Lancastrian side. He allowed Margaret of Anjou, who had fought harder for the cause of her deposed and murdered husband than Henry VI himself had in his own behalf, to return to her original homeland of France. And in 1472, he arranged a marriage between his youngest brother Richard, whose title was Duke of Gloucester, and Anne Neville, the daughter of the now-deceased Earl of Warwick and the widow of the equally deceased Lancastrian crown prince Edward, who had been killed just a year earlier at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Richard had fought in the same battle on the opposite side, may even have given the order to execute young Edward. No matter. Richard I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter. What…