Richard III was King of England, and Lord of Ireland, from 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. When his brother Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Arrangements were made for Edward's coronation on 22 June 1483. Before the king could be crowned, the marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially illegitimate, their children were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. (Wikipedia article).   

Anglo-Irish Issues

BNJ References:

C. A. Whitton,         ‘Die links between Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III’, 24 (1941-44), 175-78

E. J. Winstanley,    ‘The angels and groats of Richard III’, 24 (1941-44), 179-89, 2 pls.

F. O. Arnold,          ‘The regnal attribution of the initial mark rose and sun dimidiated’, 26 (1949-51), 164-70

F. M. Stubbs,         ‘Edward coins with obverse mint-mark sun and rose dimidiated’, 30 (1960-61), 193-95 M.

                     Richard III earliest surviving portrait .