The tyranny of Richard III
To Tudor historians Richard III was a quintessence of tyranny. This belief was derived from the informed opinion of many who had experienced his brief reign. To them a tyrant was one who came to the throne without right or who governed against the interests of the political nation. There can be little doubt that Richard usurped the throne: it is also the case that in one important respect his government alienated a significant section of the nobility and gentry. Following the revolts of late 1483 Richard systematically placed trusted northern adherents in control of the unreliable and hostile southern counties. This action transgressed the unwritten law that the rule of the counties lay in the hands of their native elites. Its highhandedness was recognized by the author of the Croyland continuation and its pattern can be reconstructed from the record of grants from the Crown during the reign. Not only does the settlement of 1483-4 provide dramatic evidence in support of the Tudor tradition, but its circum...
Hus, the Hussites and Bohemia
In the fifteenth century the king and nobility of Bohemia were in competition to fulfil what each saw as the interests of the kingdom. Along with Moravia, Silesia and Upper and Lower Lusatia, the kingdom of Bohemia was one of five provinces united under the crown of St Wenceslas. By the fourteenth century, lay religious groups such as the Waldensians were active in southern Bohemia, Hradec Kralove, Prague and Žatec, and would supply recruits for the Hussite cause. Nicholas of Hus constituted an example of a man prepared to risk worldly achievements for the sake of Hussite ideals. The fifteenth-century was marked by the Hussite revolution which grew out of an attempt to reform the religious lives of the people. Hus was primarily concerned with the reform of religious life both in the individual and in the Church. The first diet of the Hussite revolution recognised urban power and was determined to give Czechs the dominant position within the realm.
Materials for a history of the reign of Henry VII
William Campbell (1824â€“86) compiled this two-volume work for the Rolls Series between 1873 and 1877. It covers the first five years of the reign of Henry VII, following his accession to the throne after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The contemporary material is rich in information regarding Henry's governance and character, including his meticulous approach to financial matters and his penchant for splendour. Volume 1 brings together a variety of illustrative and carefully transcribed documents, presented in English, Latin and French. Covering the year 1485â€“6, it introduces the people who would come to shape Henry's reign. Revealing Henry's concern to reward his allies, the documents reflect the turbulence of the previous decades and the uneasy character of this period. This is a valuable resource for researchers of the early Tudors, providing insight into Henry's reign in its early, and most anxious, stages of development.