168-450: The flag of Wales ( Welsh : Baner Cymru or Y Ddraig Goch , meaning ' the red dragon ') consists of a red dragon passant on a green and white field . As with many heraldic charges , the exact representation of the dragon is not standardised in law. The colours of green and white are the colours of the Tudor family ; a standard featuring the red dragon was used by Henry VII at
336-759: A Llefelys in the Mabinogion wrote that the red dragon of the Celtic Britons was in opposition with the white dragon of the Saxons . The dragon of Wales was used by numerous Welsh rulers as a propaganda tool; to portray their links to the Arthurian legend, the title given to such rulers is Y Mab Darogan (The prophesied Son). The Welsh term draig , 'dragon' was used to refer to Welsh leaders including Owain Gwynedd , Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn
504-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under
672-594: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified
840-475: A campaign paid for out of a parliamentary grant, and hence out of public funds. Any military prowess was therefore not to be revealed further until the last years of Edward's reign. Richard was the dominant magnate in the north of England until Edward IV's death. There, and especially in the city of York , he was highly regarded; although it has been questioned whether this view was reciprocated by Richard. Edward IV delegated significant authority to Richard in
1008-500: A cause that is unknown, Richard developed a sideways curvature of the spine ( scoliosis ). In 2014, after the discovery of Richard's remains, the osteoarchaeologist Dr. Jo Appleby, of Leicester University's School of Archaeology and Ancient History, imaged the spinal column, and reconstructed a model using 3D printing , and concluded that though the spinal scoliosis looked dramatic, it probably did not cause any major physical deformity that could not be disguised by clothing. Following
1176-663: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had
1344-483: A contingent of French troops, and marched through Pembrokeshire , recruiting soldiers. Henry's forces defeated Richard's army near the Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth . Richard was slain, making him the last English king to die in battle. Henry Tudor then ascended the throne as Henry VII. Richard's corpse was taken to the nearby town of Leicester and buried without ceremony. His original tomb monument
1512-466: A corrupted version was published by Buck's great-nephew in 1646. Buck attacked the "improbable imputations and strange and spiteful scandals" related by Tudor writers, including Richard's alleged deformities and murders. He located lost archival material, including the Titulus Regius , but also claimed to have seen a letter written by Elizabeth of York, according to which Elizabeth sought to marry
1680-707: A decisive Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, Richard married Anne Neville on 12 July 1472. Anne had previously been wedded to Edward of Westminster , only son of Henry VI, to seal her father's allegiance to the Lancastrian party. Edward died at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, while Warwick had died at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471. Richard's marriage plans brought him into conflict with his brother George. John Paston's letter of 17 February 1472 makes it clear that George
1848-784: A declaration to this effect, and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York , called the " Princes in the Tower ", disappeared from the Tower of London around August 1483. There were two major rebellions against Richard during his reign. In October 1483, an unsuccessful revolt was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham . Then, in August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor , landed in Wales with
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#17327658452972016-404: A demoralising effect on the king and his men. Either way, Richard led a cavalry charge deep into the enemy ranks in an attempt to end the battle quickly by striking at Henry Tudor. All accounts note that King Richard fought bravely and ably during this manoeuvre, unhorsing Sir John Cheyne , a well-known jousting champion, killing Henry's standard bearer Sir William Brandon and coming within
2184-510: A difficulty of communications, probably physically hampered any attempt he made to join the fray. Despite appearing "a pillar of the Ricardian regime" and his previous loyalty to Edward IV, Baron Stanley was the stepfather of Henry Tudor and Stanley's inaction combined with his brother's entering the battle on Tudor's behalf was fundamental to Richard's defeat. The death of Richard's close companion John Howard, Duke of Norfolk , may have had
2352-512: A good reputation and that both "his private life and public activities powerfully attracted the esteem of strangers". His bond to the City of York, in particular, was such that on hearing of Richard's demise at the battle of Bosworth the City Council officially deplored the king's death, at the risk of facing the victor's wrath. During his lifetime he was the subject of some attacks. Even in
2520-434: A great heart." Six years after Richard's death, in 1491, a schoolmaster named William Burton, on hearing a defence of Richard, launched into a diatribe, accusing the dead king of being "a hypocrite and a crookback...who was deservedly buried in a ditch like a dog." Richard's death encouraged the furtherance of this later negative image by his Tudor successors due to the fact that it helped to legitimise Henry VII's seizure of
2688-592: A hope for return to his home country. The chorus of " Sunset Strip " uses the imagery of the flag of Wales to further emphasise this: And I sit in the canyon with my back to the sea There's a blood-red dragon on a field of green Calling me back, back to the Black Hills again. In 2018, the flag made an unexpected appearance in Black Panther , during a scene set in the United Nations . The flag
2856-515: A hunch, a limp and a withered arm. With regard to the "hunch", the second quarto edition of Richard III (1598) used the term "hunched-backed" but in the First Folio edition (1623) it became "bunch-backed". Richard's reputation as a promoter of legal fairness persisted, however. William Camden in his Remains Concerning Britain (1605) states that Richard, "albeit he lived wickedly, yet made good laws". Francis Bacon also states that he
3024-480: A leading role), he acted as Edward's witness when the king instructed his delegates to the French court, and received 'some very fine presents' from Louis on a visit to the French king at Amiens . In refusing other gifts, which included 'pensions' in the guise of 'tribute', he was joined only by Cardinal Bourchier . He supposedly disapproved of Edward's policy of personally benefiting—politically and financially—from
3192-606: A marble and alabaster monument. According to a discredited tradition, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries , his body was thrown into the River Soar , although other evidence suggests that a memorial stone was visible in 1612, in a garden built on the site of Greyfriars. The exact location was then lost, owing to more than 400 years of subsequent development, until archaeological investigations in 2012 revealed
3360-638: A military alliance with Scotland (in the tradition of the " Auld Alliance "), with the aim of attacking England, according to a contemporary French chronicler. Richard had the authority to summon the Border Levies and issue Commissions of Array to repel the Border raids. Together with the Earl of Northumberland, he launched counter-raids, and when the king and council formally declared war in November 1480, he
3528-454: A neutral viewpoint, but became convinced that Shakespeare and More were essentially correct in their view of the king, despite some exaggerations. Richard was not without his defenders, the first of whom was Sir George Buck , a descendant of one of the king's supporters, who completed The history of King Richard the Third in 1619. The authoritative Buck text was published only in 1979, though
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#17327658452973696-523: A plot aimed at denying him his role as protector and whose perpetrators had been dealt with. He proceeded to escort the king to London. They entered the city on 4 May, displaying the carriages of weapons Rivers had taken with his 2,000-man army. Richard first accommodated Edward in the Bishop's apartments; then, on Buckingham's suggestion, the king was moved to the royal apartments of the Tower of London , where kings customarily awaited their coronation. Within
3864-443: A ruthless and violent age as concerns the upper ranks of society, full of private feuds, intimidation, land-hunger, and litigiousness, and consideration of Richard's life and career against this background has tended to remove him from the lonely pinnacle of Villainy Incarnate on which Shakespeare had placed him. Like most men, he was conditioned by the standards of his age." The Richard III Society, founded in 1924 as "The Fellowship of
4032-505: A sign of his inwardly twisted mind. More describes him as "little of stature, ill-featured of limbs, crook-backed ... hard-favoured of visage". Vergil also says he was "deformed of body ... one shoulder higher than the right". Both emphasise that Richard was devious and flattering, while planning the downfall of both his enemies and supposed friends. Richard's good qualities were his cleverness and bravery. All these characteristics are repeated by Shakespeare, who portrays him as having
4200-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into
4368-418: A storm and were forced to return to Brittany or Normandy, while Henry anchored off Plymouth for a week before learning of Buckingham's failure. Buckingham's army was troubled by the same storm and deserted when Richard's forces came against them. Buckingham tried to escape in disguise, but was either turned in by a retainer for the bounty Richard had put on his head, or was discovered in hiding with him. He
4536-517: A suspect. After the coronation ceremony, Richard and Anne set out on a royal progress to meet their subjects. During this journey through the country, the king and queen endowed King's College and Queens' College at Cambridge University , and made grants to the church. Still feeling a strong bond with his northern estates, Richard later planned the establishment of a large chantry chapel in York Minster with over 100 priests. He also founded
4704-416: A sword's length of Henry Tudor before being surrounded by Sir William Stanley's men and killed. Polydore Vergil , Henry VII's official historian, recorded that "King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies". The Burgundian chronicler, Jean Molinet , states that a Welshman struck the death blow with a halberd while Richard's horse was stuck in the marshy ground. It
4872-470: A valid second marriage with Anne. The following year, Richard was rewarded with all the Neville lands in the north of England, at the expense of Anne's cousin, George Neville, 1st Duke of Bedford . From this point, George seems to have fallen steadily out of King Edward's favour, his discontent coming to a head in 1477 when, following Isabel's death, he was denied the opportunity to marry Mary of Burgundy ,
5040-477: A vehicle for creating his own Marlowesque protagonist. Rous himself in his History of the Kings of England , written during Henry VII's reign, initiated the process. He reversed his earlier position, and now portrayed Richard as a freakish individual who was born with teeth and shoulder-length hair after having been in his mother's womb for two years. His body was stunted and distorted, with one shoulder higher than
5208-990: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave
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5376-600: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Richard III of England Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485)
5544-540: Is believed to have been removed during the English Reformation , and his remains were wrongly thought to have been thrown into the River Soar . In 2012, an archaeological excavation was commissioned by Philippa Langley with the assistance of the Richard III Society on the site previously occupied by Grey Friars Priory . The University of Leicester identified the human skeleton found at
5712-688: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to
5880-706: Is displayed alongside those of independent sovereign nations, leading to speculation that Wales is an independent nation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . The scene led to comments and discussions, including from the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. In 2017, the Unicode Consortium approved emoji support for the flag of Wales, alongside the flags of England and Scotland , in Unicode version 10.0 and Emoji version 5.0. This
6048-511: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain
6216-732: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows
6384-500: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in
6552-466: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in
6720-597: The Battle of Bosworth in 1485, after which it was carried in state to St Paul's Cathedral , and a dragon added as a supporter of the Tudor royal arms. It was officially recognised as the Welsh national flag in 1959. Several cities include a dragon in their flag design, including Cardiff , the Welsh capital. In the Historia Brittonum , there is a narrative in which Vortigern ( Welsh : Gwrtheyrn ), King of
6888-490: The Battle of Bosworth Field , and took the English throne in victory. After the battle, Henry carried the red dragon standard in state to St Paul's Cathedral . The Tudor livery of green and white was added to the flag later. In 1807, the red dragon on a green mount was adopted as the Royal Badge of Wales . On 11 March 1953, the motto Y Ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn ('The red dragon gives impetus' or 'The red dragon leads
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7056-521: The Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460, Richard and George were sent by their mother to the Low Countries . They returned to England following the defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton . They participated in the coronation of their eldest brother as King Edward IV on 28 June 1461, when Richard was named Duke of Gloucester and made both a Knight of the Garter and a Knight of
7224-520: The College of Arms . In 1483, a conspiracy arose among a number of disaffected gentry, many of whom had been supporters of Edward IV and the "whole Yorkist establishment". The conspiracy was nominally led by Richard's former ally, the Duke of Buckingham, although it had begun as a Woodville-Beaufort conspiracy (being "well underway" by the time of the Duke's involvement). Davies has suggested that it
7392-482: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol
7560-600: The Hanseatic merchants , 20,000 pounds , 36 ships and 1,200 men. They left Flushing for England on 11 March 1471. Warwick's arrest of local sympathisers prevented them from landing in Yorkist East Anglia and on 14 March, after being separated in a storm, their ships ran ashore at Holderness . The town of Hull refused Edward entry. He gained entry to York by using the same claim as Henry of Bolingbroke had before deposing Richard II in 1399; that is, that he
7728-517: The Kingdom of Scotland . Although it is debatable whether the English victory was due more to internal Scottish divisions rather than any outstanding military prowess by Richard, it was the last time that the Royal Burgh of Berwick changed hands between the two realms. On the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483, his 12-year-old son, Edward V , succeeded him. Richard was named Lord Protector of
7896-709: The Lambeth Palace library. As well as conventional aristocratic devotional texts, the book contains a Collect of Saint Ninian , referencing a saint popular in the Anglo-Scottish Borders. Despite this, the image of Richard as a ruthless tyrant remained dominant in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 18th-century philosopher and historian David Hume described him as a man who used dissimulation to conceal "his fierce and savage nature" and who had "abandoned all principles of honour and humanity". Hume acknowledged that some historians have argued "that he
8064-756: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and
8232-527: The Union Jack . In April 1916, the mayor at the time, Charles A. Jones (who was also the deputy constable of the castle) said the reasoning behind rejecting the Welsh dragon was that "the authorities were advised that there was no such thing as a Welsh flag.. it was only a badge". In 1932, the 'Welsh Nationalist Party' (who would later be rebranded as Plaid Cymru ) appealed to the Office of Works to replace
8400-640: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has
8568-594: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for
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#17327658452978736-596: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in
8904-536: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,
9072-425: The Anglo-Saxons back to the sea. The Historia Brittonum was written c. 828 , and by this point, the dragon was associated with a coming deliverer from the Saxons and, for the first time, as a symbol of independence. It is also the first time that the colour of the dragon is verifiably given as red. There may well be an older attribution of red to the colour of the dragon in Y Gododdin . The story of Lludd
9240-430: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for
9408-405: The Bath . Edward appointed him the sole Commissioner of Array for the Western Counties in 1464 when he was 11. By the age of 17, he had an independent command. Richard spent several years during his childhood at Middleham Castle in Wensleydale , Yorkshire, under the tutelage of his cousin Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick , later known as 'the Kingmaker' because of his role in the Wars of
9576-412: The Bold, Duke of Burgundy, Edward went to parliament in October 1472 for funding a military campaign, and eventually landed in Calais on 4 July 1475. Richard's was the largest private contingent of his army. Although well known to have publicly been against the eventual treaty signed with Louis XI at Picquigny (and absent from the negotiations, in which one of his rank would have been expected to take
9744-418: The Celtic Britons from Powys is interrupted whilst attempting to build a fort at Dinas Emrys. He is told by Merlin/Ambrosius ( Welsh : Myrddin ) to dig up two dragons beneath the castle. He discovers a red dragon representing the Celtic Britons (now Welsh) and a white dragon representing the Anglo-Saxons (now English). Merlin/Ambrosius prophesies that the Celtic Britons will reclaim the island and push
9912-422: The City of York and others asking for their support against "the Queen, her blood adherents and affinity" whom he suspected of plotting his murder. At a council meeting on 13 June at the Tower of London, Richard accused Hastings and others of having conspired against him with the Woodvilles and accusing Jane Shore , lover to both Hastings and Thomas Grey, of acting as a go-between. According to Thomas More, Hastings
10080-531: The College of Arms in 1484, he banned restrictions on the printing and sale of books, and he ordered the translation of the written Laws and Statutes from the traditional French into English. During his reign, Parliament ended the arbitrary benevolence (a device by which Edward IV raised funds), made it punishable to conceal from a buyer of land that a part of the property had already been disposed of to somebody else, required that land sales be published, laid down property qualifications for jurors, restricted
10248-422: The Duke of York to the Archbishop of Canterbury so that he might attend his brother Edward's coronation, still planned for 22 June. Bishop Robert Stillington , the Bishop of Bath and Wells , is said to have informed Richard that Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid because of Edward's earlier union with Eleanor Butler , making Edward V and his siblings illegitimate. The identity of Stillington
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#173276584529710416-447: The Forest of Cumberland while doing so. It was at the same time that the Duke of Gloucester was appointed High Sheriff of Cumberland for five consecutive years, being described as 'of Penrith Castle' in 1478. By 1480, war with Scotland was looming; on 12 May that year, he was appointed Lieutenant-General of the North (a position created for the occasion) as fears of a Scottish invasion grew. Louis XI of France had attempted to negotiate
10584-434: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published
10752-432: The Kingmaker. It is possible that the grant of Middleham seconded Richard's personal wishes. During the latter part of Edward IV's reign, Richard demonstrated his loyalty to the king, in contrast to their brother George who had allied himself with the Earl of Warwick when the latter rebelled towards the end of the 1460s. Following Warwick's 1470 rebellion, before which he had made peace with Margaret of Anjou and promised
10920-421: The Lancastrian vanguard under Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset , on 4 May 1471, and his role two days later, as Constable of England, sitting alongside John Howard as Earl Marshal , in the trial and sentencing of leading Lancastrians captured after the battle. At least in part resentful of King Louis XI's previous support of his Lancastrian opponents, and possibly in support of his brother-in-law Charles
11088-403: The Last) and "the dragon" Owain Glyndŵr . Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr , a court poet to Owain Gwynedd refers to him in one elegy, personifying him as "The golden dragon of Snowdonia of eagles". Henry VII recognised the red dragon upon its blessing at Saint Paul's Cathedral following his victory at Bosworth Field under the realm of 'England and Wales' in 1485; the United Kingdom would not recognise
11256-593: The Lords and London City Councillors to publicly deny the rumours that he had poisoned Queen Anne and that he had planned marriage to his niece Elizabeth, at the same time ordering the Sheriff of London to imprison anyone spreading such slanders. The same orders were issued throughout the realm, including York where the royal pronouncement recorded in the City Records dates 5 April 1485 and carries specific instructions to suppress seditious talk and remove and destroy evidently hostile placards unread. As for Richard's physical appearance, most contemporary descriptions bear out
11424-600: The North in 1482, a man was prosecuted for offences against the Duke of Gloucester, saying he did "nothing but grin at" the city of York. In 1484, attempts to discredit him took the form of hostile placards, the only surviving one being William Collingbourne 's lampoon of July 1484 "The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell the Dog, all rule England under a Hog" which was pinned to the door of St. Paul's Cathedral and referred to Richard himself (the Hog) and his most trusted councillors William Catesby , Richard Ratcliffe and Francis, Viscount Lovell. On 30 March 1485 Richard felt forced to summon
11592-458: The Realm and at Baron Hastings' urging, Richard assumed his role and left his base in Yorkshire for London. On 29 April, as previously agreed, Richard and his cousin, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham , met Queen Elizabeth 's brother, with Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers , at Northampton . At the queen's request, Earl Rivers was escorting the young king to London with an armed escort of 2,000 men, while Richard and Buckingham's joint escort
11760-416: The Roses , an era when two branches of the royal family contested the throne; Edward and Richard were Yorkists . In 1472, Richard married Anne Neville , daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and widow of Edward of Westminster , son of Henry VI . He governed northern England during Edward's reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482. When Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard
11928-426: The Roses. Warwick supervised Richard's training as a knight ; in the autumn of 1465, Edward IV granted Warwick £1,000 for the expenses of his younger brother's tutelage. With some interruptions, Richard stayed at Middleham either from late 1461 until early 1465, when he was 12 or from 1465 until his coming of age in 1468, when he turned 16. While at Warwick's estate, it is likely that he met both Francis Lovell , who
12096-724: The Tower, and drew unto Crosbies in Bishops gates Street, where the Protector kept his houshold. The Protector had the resort; the King in maner desolate." On hearing the news of her brother's 30 April arrest, the dowager queen fled to sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. Joining her were her son by her first marriage, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset ; her five daughters; and her youngest son, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York . On 10/11 June, Richard wrote to Ralph, Lord Neville,
12264-510: The Union flag with that of the Welsh flag on Caernarfon castle's Eagle tower on St David's Day . The office ignored them; as a consequence, on March 1, a group of Welsh patriots climbed the towers and hauled the Union flag down from the Eagle tower and the eastern tower and replaced it with the Welsh flag. The castle's officials promptly took the Welsh flags down and restored the Union flags. Later in
12432-554: The University of Leicester, said: "The most likely injuries to have caused the king's death are the two to the inferior aspect of the skull—a large sharp force trauma possibly from a sword or staff weapon, such as a halberd or bill, and a penetrating injury from the tip of an edged weapon." The skull showed that a blade had hacked away part of the rear of the skull. Richard III was the last English king to be killed in battle. Henry Tudor succeeded Richard as King Henry VII . He married
12600-570: The Warwick inheritance just as if the Countess of Warwick "was naturally dead". The doubts cast by George on the validity of Richard and Anne's marriage were addressed by a clause protecting their rights in the event they were divorced (i.e. of their marriage being declared null and void by the Church) and then legally remarried to each other, and also protected Richard's rights while waiting for such
12768-496: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,
12936-704: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither
13104-667: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of
13272-526: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer
13440-487: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to
13608-630: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of
13776-687: The Yorkist heiress Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter and Richard III's niece. After the Battle of Bosworth, Richard's naked body was then carried back to Leicester tied to a horse, and early sources strongly suggest that it was displayed in the collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke , prior to being hastily and discreetly buried in the choir of Greyfriars Church in Leicester . In 1495, Henry VII paid 50 pounds for
13944-620: The abusive Courts of Piepowders , regulated cloth sales, instituted certain forms of trade protectionism, prohibited the sale of wine and oil in fraudulent measure, and prohibited fraudulent collection of clergy dues, among others. Churchill implies he improved the law of trusts. Richard's death at Bosworth marked 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),
14112-547: The afternoon, the Union flag was again hauled down from the Eagle tower and taken to the castle square where it was torn to pieces by some 30 or 40 students. The students passed through the turnstiles of the castle as ordinary visitors, climbed the stone steps to the Eagle Tower, and carried away the Union Jack, which had previously been removed during the morning. Several ex-servicemen looked on with evident displeasure at
14280-460: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of
14448-616: The control of central government, it has been described as the king's "most enduring monument", surviving unchanged until 1641. In December 1483, Richard instituted what later became known as the Court of Requests , a court to which poor people who could not afford legal representation could apply for their grievances to be heard. He also improved bail in January 1484, to protect suspected felons from imprisonment before trial and to protect their property from seizure during that time. He founded
14616-415: The couple, and the marriage was therefore illegal on the ground of first-degree consanguinity following George's marriage to Anne's sister Isabel. There would have been first-degree consanguinity if Richard had sought to marry Isabel (in case of widowhood) after she had married his brother George, but no such consanguinity applied for Anne and Richard. Richard's marriage to Anne was never declared null, and it
14784-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within
14952-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of
15120-445: The crimes he was charged with, although Pollard observes that this retraction is frequently overlooked by later admirers of Richard. Other defenders of Richard include the noted explorer Clements Markham , whose Richard III: His Life and Character (1906) replied to the work of Gairdner. He argued that Henry VII killed the princes and that the bulk of evidence against Richard was nothing more than Tudor propaganda. An intermediate view
15288-479: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over
15456-549: The eleventh of the twelve children of Richard, 3rd Duke of York , and Cecily Neville , and the youngest to survive infancy. His childhood coincided with the beginning of what has traditionally been labelled the ' Wars of the Roses ', a period of political instability and periodic open civil war in England during the second half of the fifteenth century, between the Yorkists , who supported Richard's father (a potential claimant to
15624-654: The evidence that aside from having one shoulder higher than the other (with chronicler Rous not able to correctly remember which one, as slight as the difference was), Richard had no other noticeable bodily deformity. John Stow talked to old men who, remembering him, said "that he was of bodily shape comely enough, only of low stature" and a German traveller, Nicolas von Poppelau, who spent ten days in Richard's household in May 1484, describes him as "three fingers taller than himself...much more lean, with delicate arms and legs and also
15792-685: The flag's official status again until 1959, despite the dragon being used by Romanised Celtic Britons since at least the fall of the Roman empire in the 6th century AD. The Senior line of the House of Aberffraw descended from Prince Llywelyn the Great in patriline succession and became extinct on the death of Owain Lawgoch in 1378. In 1400, Owain Glyndŵr raised the dragon standard during his revolts against
15960-530: The flag, include Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers , who will often drape the Welsh flag over amps when playing live, and Cerys Matthews who has worn the image on her clothes, while classical singer Katherine Jenkins has taken the flag on stage during live performances. Former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters 's album Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) follows the story of a young disabled Welsh man, grounded in California, who regularly expresses nostalgia and
16128-491: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of
16296-673: The forfeited lands of the Lancastrian John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford , in East Anglia . In 1462, on his birthday, he was made Constable of Gloucester and Corfe Castles and Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitaine and appointed Governor of the North, becoming the richest and most powerful noble in England. On 17 October 1469, he was made Constable of England . In November, he replaced William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings , as Chief Justice of North Wales. The following year, he
16464-469: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval
16632-476: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to
16800-456: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period
16968-569: The king's peace and punishing lawbreakers. Richard's increasing role in the north from the mid-1470s to some extent explains his withdrawal from the royal court. He had been Warden of the West March on the Scottish border since 10 September 1470, and again from May 1471; he used Penrith as a base while 'taking effectual measures' against the Scots, and 'enjoyed the revenues of the estates' of
17136-576: The king. Elizabeth's supposed letter was never produced. Documents which later emerged from the Portuguese royal archives show that after Queen Anne's death, Richard's ambassadors were sent on a formal errand to negotiate a double marriage between Richard and the Portuguese king's sister Joanna, of Lancastrian descent, and between Elizabeth of York and Joanna's cousin Manuel, Duke of Viseu (later King of Portugal). Significant among Richard's defenders
17304-595: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for
17472-562: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to
17640-555: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c. 600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )
17808-616: The mediation of arbitrators; while all the rest were to remain in the possession of the Duke of Clarence". The date of Paston's letter suggests the marriage was still being negotiated in February 1472. In order to win George's final consent to the marriage, Richard renounced most of the Earl of Warwick's land and property including the earldoms of Warwick (which the Kingmaker had held in his wife's right) and Salisbury and surrendered to George
17976-622: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in
18144-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,
18312-635: The occupation of Wales by the English crown. Owain 's banner known as Y Ddraig Aur ('The Golden Dragon') was raised over Caernarfon during the Battle of Tuthill in 1401 against the English. Glyndŵr chose to fly the standard of a golden dragon on a white background, the traditional standard. In 1485, Henry Tudor flew the red dragon during his invasion of England. Henry was of Welsh descent and after leaving France with an army of 2,000, landed at Milford Haven on 7 August. He made capital of his Welsh ancestry by gathering support and gaining safe passage through Wales. Henry met and fought Richard III at
18480-427: The office of Great Chamberlain of England. Richard retained Neville's forfeit estates he had already been granted in the summer of 1471: Penrith, Sheriff Hutton and Middleham, where he later established his marital household. The requisite papal dispensation was obtained dated 22 April 1472. Michael Hicks has suggested that the terms of the dispensation deliberately understated the degrees of consanguinity between
18648-567: The other, and he was "slight in body and weak in strength". Rous also attributes the murder of Henry VI to Richard, and claims that he poisoned his own wife. Jeremy Potter, a former Chair of the Richard III Society, claims that "At the bar of history Richard III continues to be guilty because it is impossible to prove him innocent. The Tudors ride high in popular esteem." Polydore Vergil and Thomas More expanded on this portrayal, emphasising Richard's outward physical deformities as
18816-411: The outnumbered forces of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field . Richard rode a white courser (an especially swift and strong horse). The size of Richard's army has been estimated at 8,000 and Henry's at 5,000, but exact numbers are not known, though the royal army is believed to have "substantially" outnumbered Henry's. The traditional view of the king's famous cries of "Treason!" before falling
18984-473: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to
19152-551: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,
19320-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase
19488-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over
19656-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by
19824-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in
19992-634: The region. Kendall and later historians have suggested that this was with the intention of making Richard the Lord of the North ; Peter Booth, however, has argued that "instead of allowing his brother Richard carte blanche , [Edward] restricted his influence by using his own agent, Sir William Parr." Following Richard's accession to the throne, he first established the Council of the North and made his nephew John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln , president and formally institutionalised this body as an offshoot of
20160-574: The relationship between the king and Warwick became strained, Edward IV opposed the match. During Warwick's lifetime, George was the only royal brother to marry one of his daughters, the elder, Isabel, on 12 July 1469, without the king's permission. George joined his father-in-law's revolt against the king, while Richard remained loyal to Edward, even though he was rumoured to have been having an affair with Anne. Richard and Edward were forced to flee to Burgundy in October 1470 after Warwick defected to
20328-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of
20496-481: The restoration of Henry VI to the English throne, Richard, the Baron Hastings and Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers , escaped capture at Doncaster by Warwick's brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu . On 2 October they sailed from King's Lynn in two ships; Edward landed at Marsdiep and Richard at Zeeland . It was said that, having left England in such haste as to possess almost nothing, Edward
20664-512: The ride into battle, your head shall be broken on the return". On the ride into battle, his spur struck the bridge stone of Bow Bridge in the city; legend states that as his corpse was carried from the battle over the back of a horse, his head struck the same stone and was broken open. Richard's Council of the North, described as his "one major institutional innovation", derived from his ducal council following his own viceregal appointment by Edward IV; when Richard himself became king, he maintained
20832-424: The royal Council; all its letters and judgements were issued on behalf of the king and in his name. The council had a budget of 2,000 marks per annum and had issued "Regulations" by July of that year: councillors to act impartially, declare vested interests and to meet at least every three months. Its main focus of operations was Yorkshire and the north-east and its responsibilities included land disputes, keeping of
21000-539: The same conciliar structure in his absence. It officially became part of the royal council machinery under the presidency of John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln in April 1484, based at Sandal Castle in Wakefield . It is considered to have greatly improved conditions for northern England, as it was intended to keep the peace and punish lawbreakers, as well as resolve land disputes. Bringing regional governance directly under
21168-599: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in
21336-459: The side of the former Lancastrian queen Margaret of Anjou. In 1468, Richard's sister Margaret had married Charles the Bold , the Duke of Burgundy, and the brothers could expect a welcome there. Edward was restored to the throne in the spring of 1471, following the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury , in both of which the 18-year-old Richard played a crucial role. During his adolescence, and due to
21504-550: The site as that of Richard III as a result of radiocarbon dating , comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, identification of trauma sustained at Bosworth and comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of his sister Anne . He was reburied in Leicester Cathedral in 2015. Richard was born on 2 October 1452, at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire ,
21672-472: The site of the garden and Greyfriars Church. There was a memorial ledger stone in the choir of the cathedral, since replaced by the tomb of the king, and a stone plaque on Bow Bridge where tradition had falsely suggested that his remains had been thrown into the river. According to another tradition, Richard consulted a seer in Leicester before the battle who foretold that "where your spur should strike on
21840-558: The stepdaughter of his sister Margaret, even though Margaret approved the proposed match. There is no evidence of Richard's involvement in George's subsequent conviction and execution on a charge of treason. Richard was granted the Dukedom of Gloucester on 1 November 1461, and on 12 August the next year was awarded large estates in northern England , including the lordships of Richmond in Yorkshire, and Pembroke in Wales. He gained
22008-476: The subjectivity of many of the written sources, reflecting the generally partisan nature of writers of this period, and because none was written by men with an intimate knowledge of Richard. During Richard's reign, the historian John Rous praised him as a "good lord" who punished "oppressors of the commons", adding that he had "a great heart". In 1483, the Italian observer Mancini reported that Richard enjoyed
22176-683: The throne and marry Elizabeth , eldest daughter of Edward IV. It has also been pointed out that as this narrative stems from Richard's parliament of 1484, it should probably be treated "with caution". For his part, Buckingham raised a substantial force from his estates in Wales and the Marches. Henry, in exile in Brittany , enjoyed the support of the Breton treasurer Pierre Landais , who hoped Buckingham's victory would cement an alliance between Brittany and England. Some of Henry Tudor's ships ran into
22344-633: The throne of King Henry VI from birth), and opposed the regime of Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou , and the Lancastrians , who were loyal to the crown. In 1459, his father and the Yorkists were forced to flee England, whereupon Richard and his older brother George were placed in the custody of their aunt Anne Neville, Duchess of Buckingham , and possibly of Cardinal Thomas Bourchier , Archbishop of Canterbury . When their father and elder brother Edmund, Earl of Rutland , were killed at
22512-617: The throne was confirmed by Parliament in January 1484 by the document Titulus Regius . The princes , who were still lodged in the royal residence of the Tower of London at the time of Richard's coronation, disappeared from sight after the summer of 1483. Although after his death Richard III was accused of having Edward and his brother killed, notably by More and in Shakespeare's play, the facts surrounding their disappearance remain unknown. Other culprits have been suggested, including Buckingham and even Henry VII, although Richard remains
22680-475: The throne. The Richard III Society contends that this means that "a lot of what people thought they knew about Richard III was pretty much propaganda and myth building." The Tudor characterisation culminated in the famous fictional portrayal of him in Shakespeare's play Richard III as a physically deformed, Machiavellian villain, ruthlessly committing numerous murders in order to claw his way to power; Shakespeare's intention perhaps being to use Richard III as
22848-567: The treatment of the Union Flag and at one point it was likely that a conflict would ensue between the two sections. The flag of Saint David , a yellow cross on a black field, is used in the emblem of the Diocese of St Davids and is flown on St David's Day . An ensign for use aboard ships used by the Welsh Government, such as the patrol boats of the Marine and Fisheries Division ,
23016-526: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from
23184-438: The vanguard at the Battle of Barnet , in his first command, on 14 April 1471, where he outflanked the wing of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter , although the degree to which his command was fundamental may have been exaggerated. That Richard's personal household sustained losses indicate he was in the thick of the fighting. A contemporary source is clear about his holding the vanguard for Edward at Tewkesbury, deployed against
23352-444: The way') was added, a line from the poem by Deio ab Ieuan Du . The badge was the basis of a flag of Wales in which it was placed on a horizontal white and green bicolour. However, the flag was the subject of derision, both because the tail pointed downwards in some iterations and because the motto was a potential double entendre, used in the original poem to allude to the penis of a copulating bull. In 1959, government use of this flag
23520-695: The year 1483, Richard had moved himself to the grandeur of Crosby Hall, London , then in Bishopsgate in the City of London. Robert Fabyan , in his 'The new chronicles of England and of France', writes that "the Duke caused the King (Edward V) to be removed unto the Tower and his broder with hym, and the Duke lodged himselfe in Crosbyes Place in Bisshoppesgate Strete." In Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, he accounts that "little by little all folke withdrew from
23688-420: Was Horace Walpole . In Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third (1768), Walpole disputed all the alleged murders and argued that Richard may have acted in good faith. He also argued that any physical abnormality was probably no more than a minor distortion of the shoulders. However, he retracted his views in 1793 after the Terror , stating he now believed that Richard could have committed
23856-409: Was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York . His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the Middle Ages in England . Richard was created Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession of his brother Edward IV . This was during the period known as the Wars of
24024-401: Was "a good lawmaker for the ease and solace of the common people". In 1525, Cardinal Wolsey upbraided the aldermen and Mayor of London for relying on a statute of Richard to avoid paying an extorted tax (benevolence) but received the reply "although he did evil, yet in his time were many good acts made." Richard was a practising Catholic, as shown by his personal Book of Hours , surviving in
24192-497: Was "only the subsequent parliamentary attainder that placed Buckingham at the centre of events", to blame a disaffected magnate motivated by greed, rather than "the embarrassing truth" that those opposing Richard were actually "overwhelmingly Edwardian loyalists". It is possible that they planned to depose Richard III and place Edward V back on the throne, and that when rumours arose that Edward and his brother were dead, Buckingham proposed that Henry Tudor should return from exile, take
24360-571: Was 600 men. Edward V had been sent further south to Stony Stratford . At first convivial, Richard had Earl Rivers, his nephew Richard Grey and his associate, Thomas Vaughan , arrested. They were taken to Pontefract Castle, where they were executed on 25 June on the charge of treason against the Lord Protector after appearing before a tribunal led by Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland . Rivers had appointed Richard as executor of his will. After having Rivers arrested, Richard and Buckingham moved to Stony Stratford, where Richard informed Edward V of
24528-490: Was appointed Chief Steward and Chamberlain of Wales. On 18 May 1471, Richard was named Great Chamberlain and Lord High Admiral of England . Other positions followed: High Sheriff of Cumberland for life, Lieutenant of the North and Commander-in-Chief against the Scots and hereditary Warden of the West March. Two months later, on 14 July, he gained the Lordships of the strongholds Sheriff Hutton and Middleham in Yorkshire and Penrith in Cumberland, which had belonged to Warwick
24696-498: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to
24864-505: Was convicted of treason and beheaded in Salisbury , near the Bull's Head Inn, on 2 November. His widow, Catherine Woodville , later married Jasper Tudor , the uncle of Henry Tudor. Richard made overtures to Landais, offering military support for Landais's weak regime under Francis II, Duke of Brittany , in exchange for Henry. Henry fled to Paris, where he secured support from the French regent Anne of Beaujeu , who supplied troops for an invasion in 1485. On 22 August 1485, Richard met
25032-408: Was dropped in favour of the current flag at the urging of the Gorsedd of Bards . Today the flag can be seen flying from the Senedd in Cardiff and from Welsh Government buildings, as well as UK Government buildings in Wales. Between 1910 and 1916, Caernarfon town council continuously appealed to have the Welsh flag hoisted on top of Caernarfon castle 's Eagle tower to replace that of
25200-470: Was executed by Henry VII in 1499. There are numerous contemporary, or near-contemporary, sources of information about the reign of Richard III. These include the Croyland Chronicle , Commines' Mémoires , the report of Dominic Mancini , the Paston Letters, the Chronicles of Robert Fabyan and numerous court and official records, including a few letters by Richard himself. However, the debate about Richard's true character and motives continues, both because of
25368-468: Was following a proposal from Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia and Owen Williams of BBC Wales in March 2016. The flag is implemented using the regional indicator symbol sequence GB-WLS . Prior to this update, The Daily Telegraph reported that users had "been able to send emojis of the Union Flag, but not of the individual nations". Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )
25536-445: Was forced to pay their passage with his fur cloak; certainly, Richard borrowed three pounds from Zeeland's town bailiff. They were attainted by Warwick's only Parliament on 26 November. They resided in Bruges with Louis de Gruthuse , who had been the Burgundian Ambassador to Edward's court, but it was not until Louis XI of France declared war on Burgundy that Charles, Duke of Burgundy, assisted their return, providing, along with
25704-517: Was granted 10,000 pounds for wages. The king failed to arrive to lead the English army and the result was intermittent skirmishing until early 1482. Richard witnessed the treaty with Alexander, Duke of Albany , brother of King James III of Scotland . Northumberland, Stanley, Dorset, Sir Edward Woodville, and Richard with approximately 20,000 men took the town of Berwick as part of the English invasion of Scotland . The castle held out until 24 August 1482, when Richard recaptured Berwick-upon-Tweed from
25872-465: Was granted in 2017. The flag is a British blue ensign defaced with a yellow dragon with red claws and tongue. The flag of Wales has been used by those in the arts, sport and business to show a sense of patriotism or recognition with Wales. During the 1999 Rugby World Cup , which was hosted in Wales, the opening ceremony used the motif of the dragon several times; the flag was worn on a dress by Welsh singer Shirley Bassey . Other musicians to have used
26040-428: Was his firm supporter later in his life, and Warwick's younger daughter, his future wife Anne Neville . It is possible that even at this early stage Warwick was considering the king's brothers as strategic matches for his daughters, Isabel and Anne: young aristocrats were often sent to be raised in the households of their intended future partners, as had been the case for the young dukes' father, Richard of York. As
26208-456: Was known only through the memoirs of French diplomat Philippe de Commines . On 22 June, a sermon was preached outside Old St. Paul's Cathedral by Ralph Shaa , declaring Edward IV's children bastards and Richard the rightful king. Shortly after, the citizens of London, both nobles and commons, convened and drew up a petition asking Richard to assume the throne. He accepted on 26 June and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 July. His title to
26376-596: Was merely reclaiming the Dukedom of York rather than the crown. It was in Edward's attempt to regain his throne that Richard began to demonstrate his skill as a military commander. Once Edward had regained the support of his brother George, he mounted a swift and decisive campaign to regain the crown through combat; it is believed that Richard was his principal lieutenant as some of the king's earliest support came from members of Richard's affinity , including Sir James Harrington and Sir William Parr , who brought 600 men-at-arms to them at Doncaster. Richard may have led
26544-419: Was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V . Before arrangements were complete for Edward V's coronation, scheduled for 22 June 1483, the marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially illegitimate, Edward and his siblings were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed
26712-438: Was not happy about the marriage but grudgingly accepted it on the basis that "he may well have my Lady his sister-in-law, but they shall part no livelihood". The reason was the inheritance Anne shared with her elder sister Isabel, whom George had married in 1469. It was not only the earldom that was at stake; Richard Neville had inherited it as a result of his marriage to Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick . The Countess, who
26880-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through
27048-399: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern
27216-399: Was provided by Alfred Legge in The Unpopular King (1885). Legge argued that Richard's "greatness of soul" was eventually "warped and dwarfed" by the ingratitude of others. Some 20th-century historians have been less inclined to moral judgement, seeing Richard's actions as a product of the unstable times. In the words of Charles Ross , "the later fifteenth century in England is now seen as
27384-658: Was public to everyone including secular and canon lawyers for 13 years. In June 1473, Richard persuaded his mother-in-law to leave the sanctuary and come to live under his protection at Middleham. Later in the year, under the terms of the 1473 Act of Resumption, George lost some of the property he held under royal grant and made no secret of his displeasure. John Paston's letter of November 1473 says that King Edward planned to put both his younger brothers in their place by acting as "a stifler atween them". Early in 1474, Parliament assembled and Edward attempted to reconcile his brothers by stating that both men, and their wives, would enjoy
27552-488: Was said that the blows were so violent that the king's helmet was driven into his skull. The contemporary Welsh poet Guto'r Glyn implies a leading Welsh Lancastrian, Rhys ap Thomas , or one of his men killed the king, writing that he "killed the boar, shaved his head". The identification in 2013 of King Richard's body shows that the skeleton had 11 wounds, eight of them to the skull, clearly inflicted in battle and suggesting he had lost his helmet. Professor Guy Rutty, from
27720-407: Was still alive, was technically the owner of the substantial Beauchamp estates, her father having left no male heirs. The Croyland Chronicle records that Richard agreed to a prenuptial contract in the following terms: "the marriage of the Duke of Gloucester with Anne before-named was to take place, and he was to have such and so much of the earl's lands as should be agreed upon between them through
27888-401: Was taken out of the council chambers and summarily executed in the courtyard, while others, like Lord Thomas Stanley and John Morton, Bishop of Ely , were arrested. Hastings was not attainted and Richard sealed an indenture that placed Hastings' widow, Katherine , under his protection. Bishop Morton was released into the custody of Buckingham. On 16 June, the dowager queen agreed to hand over
28056-438: Was that during the battle Richard was abandoned by Baron Stanley (made Earl of Derby in October), Sir William Stanley , and Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. The role of Northumberland is unclear; his position was with the reserve—behind the king's line—and he could not easily have moved forward without a general royal advance, which did not take place. The physical confines behind the crest of Ambion Hill, combined with
28224-492: Was well qualified for government, had he legally obtained it; and that he committed no crimes but such as were necessary to procure him possession of the crown", but he dismissed this view on the grounds that Richard's exercise of arbitrary power encouraged instability. The most important late 19th century biographer of the king was James Gairdner , who also wrote the entry on Richard in the Dictionary of National Biography . Gairdner stated that he had begun to study Richard with
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