179-519: Usk ( Welsh : Brynbuga ) is a town and community in Monmouthshire , Wales, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Newport . It is located on the River Usk , which is spanned by an arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. Usk Castle , above the town, overlooks the ancient crossing point. It developed as a small market town , with some industry including the making of Japanware , and with
358-531: A Congregational chapel was built in Twyn Square. It was rebuilt, in the Gothic style in 1863, with a turret for one bell and room for 400 worshippers. The Town Clock was originally positioned directly in front of the church. From the late 18th century, Usk became well known for the high quality of its japanware , a process of decorating metals by applying a lacquer to tinplate. The process, known as Pontypool japan ,
537-424: A Papal indulgence obtained by Adam of Usk , who was buried beside the priory altar ; there is a brass monument to him in the church, with an inscription in the form of a cywydd (a Welsh poetic metre from c. 13th century ). Usk later became a centre for pilgrims . The gatehouse of the original convent survives beside the main entrance to the churchyard. However, most of the priory buildings, such as
716-511: A Welsh word for " hillock ". The town was owned by the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford until 1314, when it was claimed by the Earl of Ulster through marriage. It descended in the female line to Lionel Duke of Clarence , the son of Edward III and through him to Mortimer Earl of March , Marshal of England. His nephew, Richard Duke of York then inherited and it became a favourite residence of his. At
895-513: A notable prison built in 1841–42. In recent years, Usk has become known for its history of success in Britain in Bloom competitions, winning the "Wales in Bloom" competition 35 times in a row between 1982 and 2016. The resident population of the town in 2011 was 2,834, decreasing to roughly 2,600 in 2021 . 6.8% of the population are recorded as being able to speak Welsh . William Camden recorded that
1074-441: 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
1253-586: 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
1432-475: 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
1611-500: 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
1790-647: 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
1969-476: 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
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#17328450863712148-459: 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
2327-691: 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
2506-768: 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
2685-404: 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
2864-505: 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
3043-538: A fervent admirer, unveiled a bust of Wallace, sculpted by Felicity Crawley, in Twyn Square. The South Wales Gliding Club is located near Gwernesney , about three miles east of the town. About 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Usk is the 1,000-acre (400 ha) site of the munitions production facility of BAE Systems at Glascoed . Usk was twinned with the German town Graben-Neudorf in Baden-Württemberg in 1980. Over
3222-502: 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
3401-434: 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
3580-509: 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
3759-476: 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
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#17328450863713938-588: 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
4117-618: 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
4296-450: 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
4475-519: 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
4654-443: 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
4833-505: 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
5012-479: 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
5191-581: A small auxiliary fort and civilian settlement at Usk. The Roman remains are buried on the southern side of Usk. Many of the Roman finds from Usk are now housed in the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon. After the fortress was abandoned, it continued to be occupied as a civilian settlement, with evidence of ironworking. The Normans also realised Usk's geographical and military importance within
5370-418: 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
5549-511: 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
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5728-416: 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
5907-590: A thriving market town in the first part of the 19th century, when many of its existing buildings were constructed, and into the Victorian era , although its population fell in the second half of the century as a result of agricultural depression. The road to Monmouth (the A472 ) passes Twyn Square, a large town square, where a clock tower was erected to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. "Usk Island"
6086-465: 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 ,
6265-473: 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
6444-948: 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
6623-554: Is a park at the edge of the river ('island' is a literal translation of the Welsh 'ynys' meaning a river meadow). The park is mostly laid to grass, with surrounding woodland. It also has a substantial adventure playground. Usk Tennis Club was Tennis Wales "Club of the Year" for 2006. The BBC reported in May 2014 that Wales' rarest tree, Ley's Whitebeam ( Sorbus leyana ), would be planted in Usk to honour
6802-580: 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 Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485)
6981-522: 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
7160-667: 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
7339-554: Is likely an example of the linguistic metathesis common in Welsh Topography. Folk etymology has suggested the name derives from Bryn Buga (Buga's Hill) or Bryn Bugeilio (Shepherding Hill). The Roman legionary fortress of Burrium was founded on the River Usk by the military commander Aulus Didius Gallus , around AD 55. He moved his XX Valeria Victrix legion into the area from its earlier base at Glevum ( Gloucester ). It
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7518-522: Is located 3 mi (4.8 km) to the south-west of the town, towards Pontypool . The Rural Life Museum is housed in a former malt barn, possibly of mediaeval origin, on New Market Street. Run by volunteers, it focuses on life in the area as it was between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. It is open to visitors between April and October. Usk Natural Burial Meadow is a 14-acre (5.7 ha) site in Usk Castle Chase that offers full interments, and
7697-505: 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
7876-704: 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
8055-494: 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
8234-461: 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
8413-558: 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
8592-511: 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
8771-474: 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
8950-586: 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
9129-506: 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
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#17328450863719308-692: 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
9487-678: 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
9666-618: 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
9845-492: The cloister and chapter house , were destroyed and their stones later used in town buildings. The Sessions House is a Victorian courthouse by Thomas Henry Wyatt of 1877. It has been designated a Grade II* listed building since 4 January 1974. Her Majesty's Prison Usk is situated close to the centre of the town. It was built in 1842–44 to a Victorian 'rotunda' design, similar to that of Pentonville in London. The architect
10024-573: 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
10203-532: 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
10382-409: 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 ,
10561-430: 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
10740-405: 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
10919-412: 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
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#173284508637111098-402: The Castle Inn in Twyn Square, the Glen Yr-Afon Hotel on the Pontypool Road and the Three Salmons Hotel on Bridge Street. The resident population of the town in 2011 was 2,834. In 2021, the population of Usk was recorded 2,600 (rounded to the nearest 100). Of this, 30.3% were between the ages of 45 and 64, above the county average of 29.7%. The largest ethnic group is White who make up 96.9% of
11277-422: 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
11456-531: 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
11635-422: 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
11814-447: 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
11993-434: 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
12172-432: 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
12351-421: 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
12530-593: 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
12709-600: 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
12888-558: 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
13067-512: 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
13246-426: 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
13425-702: 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,
13604-577: The United Kingdom in European competitions. Usk has a brass band , which has represented the town at the National Finals of Great Britain regularly since registering as a competing band in 2014. The town is administered by Monmouthshire County Council and a town council . The Usk electoral ward, coterminous with the community, is represented by one county councillor. The town was the birthplace of
13783-548: 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
13962-470: The Usk in Bloom committee in 1981. The voluntary committee aims to improve the local environment by the imaginative planting of trees, shrubs, bulbs and floral displays; and to foster partnerships with other organisations and residents for work on environmental issues in the town. The town has won the "Wales in Bloom" competition for 35 times in a row between 1982 and 2016; won the "large village" category of " Britain in Bloom " four times; and twice represented
14141-556: 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
14320-489: 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,
14499-673: 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
14678-584: 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
14857-515: 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
15036-481: 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
15215-654: 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
15394-666: 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
15573-614: 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),
15752-467: The building retains many original features including chimney stacks and decorative plaster ceilings. The town market was moved from Twyn Square in 1598 to a location closer to the river, at New Market Street. The Old Town Hall was built on the street at the same time; this was later partially rebuilt at several times during the 19th century, and is now used by the Royal British Legion . In 1621
15931-472: The burial or scattering of cremation ashes. The site is located 1 mile (1.6 km) from the town centre along Monmouth Road and was established in 2005. It was awarded Cemetery of the Year in 2008 by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM). Usk is a centre for recreational fishing , with the River Usk being known for its salmon fishing. The town has a number of inns and hotels, including
16110-583: The castle. In 2005 the 600th anniversary of the battle of Pwll Melyn was commemorated by a son-et-lumiere show at the castle. The town appears as "Uck" and "Branbuga" on the Cambriae Typus map of 1573. The Great House of the town, later subdivided into smaller units, was built on Old Market Street in the mid-16th century for the Williams family. Its original entrance was at the rear of the present building, and faced onto gardens and meadows. Though much altered,
16289-456: 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
16468-607: 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
16647-415: 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
16826-414: 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
17005-489: 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
17184-445: 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
17363-472: The death of Richard III in 1485 it was given by Henry VII to his son Arthur, Prince of Wales . In 1544 it became part of the dowry of Queen Katherine Parr and on the death of Catherine it was granted by Edward VI to the Earl of Pembroke . Its location meant that it was inevitably frequently caught up in the border disputes between the English and the Welsh in this section of the Welsh Marches . Usk
17542-470: 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
17721-492: 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
17900-600: 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
18079-485: 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
18258-655: 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
18437-463: 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
18616-469: 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
18795-451: 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
18974-554: 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
19153-566: 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
19332-587: 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
19511-547: 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
19690-546: 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 )
19869-539: The man who rediscovered them, Peter Charlesworth. The parish church of St Mary originated as part of the Benedictine priory founded by Richard de Clare in the 12th century. The northern aisle of the convent church was added in the 13th century for the use of the town's residents, and after the Dissolution of the nunnery in 1536 the nave was also incorporated as part of the parish church. The original 12th-century crossing remains, as does an original font . Most of
20048-602: 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
20227-610: 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
20406-448: 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,
20585-427: 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
20764-558: 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
20943-411: 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
21122-620: The past few years, there have been numerous visits between the two towns, with the Usk Youth Brass Band making its most recent visit in autumn 2006. In 2006, the colour scheme of Usk in Bloom was based on those within the crests of both Usk and Graben-Neudorf. The following people have received the Freedom of the Town of Usk. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )
21301-464: 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
21480-534: 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 ,
21659-436: 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
21838-471: 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
22017-502: 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
22196-407: 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
22375-448: The population, matching the county average, with the second largest being Asian/Asian British with 1.7% of the population, above the county average of 1.3%. The largest religious group is Christianity at 51.4%, above the county average of 48.7%, with the second largest being No religion with 39.5% of the population, below the county average of 43.4%. 6.8% of the population are recorded as being able to speak Welsh . Local residents formed
22554-410: The priest and chronicler Adam of Usk , around 1352. In 1679 Usk was the site of the martyrdom of Jesuit father David Lewis , who was hanged for his alleged part in the fictitious Popish Plot conspiracy of Titus Oates . In 1823 Llanbadoc , just across the river from Usk, was the birthplace of Alfred Russel Wallace , a notable proponent of the theory of evolution . In November 2021 Bill Bailey ,
22733-431: The region, and the powerful de Clare family built Usk Castle as part of their plans for controlling the area's resources and people. The castle, now hidden from view by surrounding trees planted in the early 20th century, is one of the few castles still privately owned and occupied. The town was laid out in rectangular building plots, centred on the market square. Markets were originally held in Twyn Square, twyn being
22912-625: 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
23091-569: 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
23270-409: 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
23449-474: 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
23628-512: 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
23807-424: 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
23986-482: 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
24165-579: 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
24344-455: 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
24523-533: 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 ,
24702-467: 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
24881-496: 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
25060-428: The structure derives from the 14th century, although the two porches and the notably fine rood screen date from the 15th century and were probably built for William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke , who was constable of the castle. The church was partly rebuilt and extended c. 1844 by the architect T. H. Wyatt , and further restored and extended in 1899–1900. The priory's poor finances were improved in 1404 by
25239-471: 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
25418-669: 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
25597-622: 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
25776-611: 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
25955-475: 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
26134-473: The town's English name derives from Caer-usk (the Caer or Castrum on the River Usk ). The name of the river itself may mean "abounding in fish" or simply "water". The origin of the Welsh name Brynbuga ( Welsh: [brɨ̞nˈbɨ̞ga] ) is less certain. The local Brythonic name adopted into Latin as Burrium or Burrio was recorded as Brunebegy and Burenbegie in the 15th century. The modern name
26313-518: 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
26492-438: 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
26671-505: The wealthy Midlands wool merchant Roger Edwards , the owner of Allt-y-Bela in Llangwm, founded Usk Grammar School . The first stone bridge at Usk, replacing one of wood, was built to the designs of Welsh architect William Edwards . Unlike the bridge downstream at Caerleon, it withstood the great floods of 1795. The bridge was strengthened and widened in 1836, but two of its arches were destroyed by floods in 1877 and later replaced. In 1769
26850-673: 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
27029-420: 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
27208-409: 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
27387-401: 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
27566-497: 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
27745-571: 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
27924-416: Was T. H. Wyatt. It became the County Gaol for Monmouthshire in 1870, and operated until 1922. After being closed for more than a decade, it was reopened in 1939, adapted for use as a borstal to hold youth offenders. In 1990 it was adapted again for use as a Category C establishment for vulnerable prisoners, including sex offenders . The sister establishment of HM Prison Usk is HM Prison Prescoed , which
28103-490: 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
28282-498: 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
28461-505: 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
28640-470: 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
28819-400: Was first developed in the west by Thomas Allgood of nearby Pontypool and was taken on in Usk in 1763 by his grandsons Thomas and Edward Allgood. Products from Usk included tin trays, jardinières , and coal boxes. However output declined with changing fashions in the 19th century, and the last Usk japanware was produced in 1860 on the site of what is now Bunning's builders' merchants. Usk was
28998-445: 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
29177-517: 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
29356-428: 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
29535-456: 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
29714-596: 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
29893-419: 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
30072-438: 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
30251-518: 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
30430-399: 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
30609-399: 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
30788-658: 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
30967-488: 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
31146-407: 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
31325-401: 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
31504-438: 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
31683-544: Was the birthplace of Adam of Usk . His chronicle records the ' Welsh Revolt ' in 1403, when Owain Glyndŵr burned Usk to the ground while gaining control of much of South Wales from the English under King Henry IV and his son, later to become King Henry V . The important Battle of Pwll Melyn in 1405 occurred immediately north of Usk Castle, when English forces routed their Welsh opponents, causing much loss of life, including that of Owain's brother Tudur. After their defeat, three hundred Welsh prisoners were executed in front of
31862-436: Was the earliest legionary fortress in Wales and although the site was constricted by hills, subject to flooding, and not on a navigable river, it did offer good communications inland up the river. The fortress at Usk was surrounded by ramparts and covered a large area. However, by around 75 AD, its disadvantages had become apparent and the Romans relocated their permanent military base further south to Caerleon , leaving only
32041-492: 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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