RICHARD III. EICHARDSON 315 connected therewith, and a large sum of money. Edward IV. died April 9, 1483, and Richard, who was then in the north, prepared to go to London, and took the oath of allegiance to his nephew, Edward V., and compelled all who were under him also to take it. Hastening south, he seized the young king's person, and escorted him to the capital, having imprisoned Lords Rivers and Grey, and some other per- sons of the queen mother's party. Glouces- ter was appointed " protector and defender of the realm" by the council of state, which act parliament confirmed. He now resolved to make himself king, as the only alternative to becoming a victim of the queen moth- er's party. His proceedings are involved in much obscurity, but on June 13 Lord Hastings, the lord chamberlain, was suddenly seized at the tower by Gloucester's order and put to death, without even the form of a trial, on the charge of being concerned in a conspiracy against the protector and for the seizure of the government. Hastings, to whom Gloucester was attached, was probably murdered because the latter knew that he would never be false to Edward V. The children of Edward IV. were declared illegitimate, because their father had entered into a contract with Lady Elinor Butler before he married Elizabeth Grey. The young king was set aside by the estates of the realm, by whom Gloucester was requested to ascend the vacant throne. He complied, and became king June 26, 1483, with the style and title of Richard III. No opposition was made to him, and his coronation took place July 6. But the people soon began to murmur because of the fate of the young princes. (See EDWARD V.) The duke of Buckingham, who had been the chief agent in Richard's elevation to the throne, entered into a conspiracy for his over- throw. The earl of Richmond, who was re- garded as the head of the Lancastrian party, was to be made king, on condition that he espoused Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV. This conspiracy failed, and Buckingham was executed. The queen dowager was pre- vailed upon to leave sanctuary, in which she had taken refuge, and to place herself and family in Richard's hands. The parliament of 1484 confirmed the king's title, and settled the crown on his son Edward, prince of Wales ; but that prince died immediately after. Ed- ward, earl of Warwick, son of the late duke of Clarence, was then named heir to the crown, but was soon set aside, and the earl of Lin- coln, eldest son of the king's eldest living sis- ter, the duchess of Suffolk, was substituted for him. Richard had now become very unpopu- lar, because of the forced loans he had made, though his general legislation was good. The earl of Richmond, after several failures, re- solved to make another attempt to gain the English crown. Assisted by the French gov- ernment and by the duke of Brittany, he land- ed at Milford Haven Aug. 7, 1485. Richard had assembled a large army, and would have easily crushed his rival but for the infidelity of some of his nobles. The two armies met on Bosworth field, Aug. 22, and Lord Stanley went over to Richmond in the heat of the battle, while the earl of Northumberland, who commanded the second line of the royal army, stood aloof. Even then the king might have retrieved his fortune but for the conduct of Sir William Stanley, who had remained neutral until Richard had hewn his way to where Richmond stood, when he joined the Lancas- trians at the head of 3,000 men. This decided the result of the battle. Richard fell fighting bravely, declaring that he would die king of England. His body was basely treated by the victors, and was begged and buried by the nuns of Leicester in their chapel. Richard III. was the last of the Plantagenets, whose dynas- ty was succeeded by that of the Tudors. RICHARD DE BURY. See AUNGEEVTLE. RICHARD PLANTAGENET, earl of Cornwall, a German emperor (known in English history as king of the Romans), born in Winchester in January, 1209, died April 2, 1272. He was the younger son of King John of England, was engaged with his brother Henry III. in his French wars, and fought with the crusaders in Palestine. He availed himself of the distract- ed state of Germany, which followed the death of Conrad IV., to put himself forward as a candidate for the imperial throne, and his immense wealth secured him a partial election (1256), while the adverse party chose Alfonso of Castile. Richard was crowned at Aix-la- Chapelle in May, 1257, but achieved no gen- eral recognition. He took part in the troubles of England, and was made prisoner by Simon de Montfort at the battle of Lewes, May 13, 1264. He finally quitted Germany in 1269. The tin mines of Cornwall made him the rich- est prince in Christendom. RICHARDSON, the S. E. county of Nebraska, separated from Missouri on the east by the Missouri river, bordering S. on Kansas, and watered by the Nemaha and other streams ; area, about 550 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 9,780. It is traversed by the Atchison and Nebraska railroad. The surface is undulating and the soil very fertile. There are extensive prairies and numerous groves. The chief productions in 1870 were 140,143 bushels of wheat, 1,003,- 010 of Indian corn, 143,006 of oats, 98,056 of potatoes, 10,749 Ibs. of wool, 164,358 of but- ter, and 15,398 tons of hay. There were 3,924 horses, 3,829 milch cows, 6,077 other cattle, 3,712 sheep, and 12,743 swine; 3 brick njanu- factories and 3 saw mills. Capital, Falls City. RICHARDSON, iJenjanrin Ward, an English phy- sician, born at Somerby, Leicestershire, Oct. 31, 1828. He took his degree in 1854 at the university of St. Andrews, became a member of the royal college of physicians in 1856, and gained the Astley Cooper prize of 300 for his treatise on the coagulation of the blood, and the Fothergillian gold medal for his dis- quisition on the diseases of the fcetus. He
