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Richard III Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Richard III Quizzes, Trivia

Richard III Trivia

Richard III Trivia Quizzes

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3 Richard III quizzes and 30 Richard III trivia questions.
1.
  10 Questions about Richard III   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Richard III is probably the most controversial king of England. Bloodthirsty tyrant or competent ruler who got a raw deal from historians? Test your knowledge on this interesting personality.
Average, 10 Qns, Catamount, Jul 17 04
Average
Catamount
1434 plays
2.
  The Ultimate Richard III Quiz    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Richard III is probably the most controversial king in English history, but in this quiz I have concentrated on some of the facts about Richard's life rather than on the many different theories about him.
Average, 10 Qns, pollygw, Mar 06 06
Average
pollygw
710 plays
3.
  King Richard III    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A brief quiz on the life and times of King Richard III.
Average, 10 Qns, Jaffas85, Jul 17 04
Average
Jaffas85
1117 plays
Related Topics
  Richard III [People] (3 quizzes)


Richard III Trivia Questions
1. Where was Richard born?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Fotheringhay Castle

Richard, the youngest son of Richard Duke of York and Cicely Neville, was born at Fotheringhay Castle (in Northamptonshire) on 2 October 1452 and probably lived there until 1459. It was traditionally the home of the Dukes of York, and Richard's father (who was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460) was reburied at Fotheringhay in 1476. Fotheringhay's other claim to fame is that Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded there in 1587. The castle was razed to the ground in 1627.

2. What year was King Richard III born?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: 1452

Richard Plantagenet was the last son born to his parents, the Duke and Duchess of York.

3. As a young man, Richard lived in the household of his cousin, one of the powerful men of the time. Who was he?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Richard, Earl of Warwick

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (known as the 'Kingmaker') was the son of Richard, Earl of Salisbury, brother of Richard's mother Cicely. The Neville's held huge estates in the north of England, and it is likely that Richard lived at the Neville's castle at Middleham in North Yorkshire as a young man.

4. What was Richard's badge?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: A white boar

The black bull was the badge of George, Duke of Clarence; the white lion belongs to Edward IV; and the white hart to Richard II.

5. Who were the parents of Richard III?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: Richard of York and Cecily Neville

Out of all of the Duke of York's sons Richard clearly resembled him the most, unlike his brother Edward IV.

6. What title was given to Richard when his older brother became King Edward IV in 1461?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Duke of Gloucester

This title, traditionally given to a member of the royal family, was given to Richard in November 1461. He later adopted the white boar as his emblem and his motto was 'Loyaulte me lie' ('Loyalty binds me').

7. What was Richard's motto?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Loyalty binds me

"Loyaulte me lie" was indeed Richard III's motto. "Comfort and joy (Comfort et liesse)" was the motto of Edward IV, the "Rose of Rouen". "Hope is my strength" was the motto of the Percy family, and "None other" was the motto of Edmund, the first Duke of York.

8. Whom did Richard III marry?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: Anne Neville

Richard and Anne were raised in the same household and were childhood friends. They would go on to have a son together.

9. What was Richard's first major battle as commander of the right wing of the Yorkist army?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Barnet

At the Battle of Barnet, on 14 April 1471, Richard successfully led the Yorkist right wing against the Duke of Exeter's men on the Lancastrian left. It was at this battle that Richard's former patron, the Earl of Warwick (who had deserted the Yorkists and joined the Lancastrian side) was killed.

10. Richard was only eighteen when he commanded Yorkist troops on behalf of his brother Edward IV in this battle which cemented the victory of the Yorkist over the Lancastrian forces: the battle of?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Tewkesbury

At the Battle of Tewkesbury the Lancastrian queen Margaret of Anjou was captured and her son Edward killed. The Battle of St. Albans took place in 1455, when Richard was two years old; his father and older brother Edmund were slain by the victorious Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, and Richard himself was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 at the age of 32.

11. Who was the only son of Richard III?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: Edward of Middleham

This was the only son Anne and Richard ever had, and was destined to be King after Richard's death, but Edward died in 1484.

12. Which part of England did Richard virtually govern on behalf of his brother Edward IV in the 1470's?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: North

After the Earl of Warwick's death at Barnet in 1471, Richard was granted many of Warwick's lands north of the River Trent, including the lordships of Middleham and Sherriff Hutton. He took his administrative and judicial reponsiblities for this area seriously, and in 1480 his brother Edward appointed him as the king's lieutenant-general in the north.

13. In order to marry Anne Neville, Richard had to obtain special papal dispensation. Why?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: They were cousins

Richard's mother Cicely Neville was an aunt of Anne's father Richard, Earl of Warwick. Richard's brother George, Duke of Clarence, faced the same problem when he wanted to marry Anne's older sister Isabel.

14. Who was Richard's elder brother who was sentenced to death and died by drowning in his favourite wine?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: George, Duke of Clarence

George was the tempestuous son of Richard Duke of York who was always keen to stir up trouble and was never fond of his brother Edward IV.

15. Whom did Richard marry in 1472?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Anne Neville

Anne was the daughter of Richard's cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. The date of their marriage is not known exactly, but it followed a quarrel between Richard and his brother George who was married to Anne's sister Isabel over the lands that George expected to inherit through his wife. Their brother the King had to intervene (in early 1472) and it is probable that they married in the spring of 1472. Their son Edward was born in early 1473.

16. What did Edward IV declare Richard upon his death in 1483?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: The Lord Protector of England

The Wydville family deeply resented this enormous power Richard had been given and they were afraid for their safety.

17. Richard led a campaign against the Scots in 1482. As a result the Scots agreed to a border town being permanently returned to the English. Which town?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Berwick

Berwick had changed hands between the English and the Scots 13 times since the 11th century. Since 1482, when Richard recaptured it, it has remained an English town.

18. Which legal concept was introduced by Richard III's parliament?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Legal Aid

Richard III held only one parliament in his two-year reign. It introduced a form of legal aid with a Clerk of Requests and supplications who had to deal with cases of people too poor to go through the regular court system. Other statutes included bail, and protection of accused people's property prior to conviction. The Star Chamber is associated with Henry VII's reign. Trial by jury was secured in the Magna Carta.

19. How did Richard manage to secure the throne for himself?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: Had his nephews declared illegitimate

He maintained that his brother, Edward IV, had previously contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler, thus invalidating his marriage and rendering the children illegitimate. This was a pretty flimsy excuse for Richard to seize the throne; and he also managed to declare the children of his elder brother George not to be worthy of the throne because of their father's treasonous activities.

20. What pretence did Richard use to have his young nephews, Edward V and Richard of York, taken to the Tower of London?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: To ready themselves for Edward's coronation

In early 1483 the two princes were seen playing in the grounds of the Tower, by later on that year were never seen again.

21. When was Richard's coronation?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: 6 July 1483

During May 1483, it was declared that Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 was invalid as he already had a marriage contract to Eleanor Butler at the time. This meant that Edward's sons had been born illegitimately and as a result Richard, as Edward's only surviving brother, was the next in line to the throne.

22. An entry in the official records of the city of York makes reference to the death of King Richard III. What does it say about his death?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: He was "piteously slain and murdered"

The good citizens of York made this entry even though it could not have made them very popular with Henry VII.

23. Who did Richard III describe as 'an unknown Welshman'?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: Henry Tudor

Henry Tudor gathered more and more support throughout England with the many unsatisfied subjects such as the Wydvilles and people who had lost power because of Richard.

24. Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 when his army was defeated by the Lancastrian army led by Henry Tudor. From which city did Richard lead his army to Bosworth on 21st August 1485?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Leicester

Richard's army had left Nottingham on 19 August and arrived in Leicester the following day. On the morning of Sunday 21 August the army marched west out of Leicester to meet Henry's army who were approaching from Atherstone. A local legend says that Richard's spur struck one of the stones of the Bow Bridge on the outskirts of Leicester and a local 'witch' predicted that his head would strike the same spot on his return. After the battle, Richard's body was carried back into the city across a mule, and again legend says that his head struck the bridge just as had been predicted.

25. Which famous author expressed sympathy for Richard in her "History of England"?

From Quiz Richard III

Answer: Jane Austen

She was sixteen when she wrote: "The character of this prince has been in general very severely treated by historians, but as he was York, I am rather inclined to suppose him a very respectable man." It seems she liked her roses white!

26. What was the name of the battle where Richard lost his life and his crown?

From Quiz King Richard III

Answer: Battle of Bosworth

Henry VII himself was nearly killed in this battle, but Richard was eventually struck down. Henry soon after married the eldest daughter of Edward IV to strengthen his weak claim to the throne.

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