8. Richard III
Richard of Gloucester – known as Richard III – was, despite his Shakespearean portrayal, an ambitious and able person, proving valor in combat during a war against Scotland, ascending as Protector of the Kingdom and finally taking the English crown for himself, after imprisoning and probably murdering the former king’s sons. However, he didn’t have time to enjoy his achievements, as he was soon facing a war which has been ongoing for some time, known as the War of the Roses.
Although it was a close conflict, he finally lost his crown and life in the deciding Battle of Bosworth Field. He probably did die in combat, likely from a blow inflicted on his head, but his body faced one of the worst humiliations of an English monarch in history: the victorious Tudor soldiers mutilated his head and body with swords and daggers, including the completely inglorious insertion of a sword into his private parts, cutting part of his pelvis. Afterwards, the former monarch was thrown on a horse like a sack of grain, brought to public witnessing and dismay in the town of Leicester, and finally buried unceremoniously, without even a tombstone. Richard’s ending was one of mockery, one which even the most despicable lowborn criminal would not face.
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