How was a tyrant defined in Richards day?
Sir John Fortescue, the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the reign of Henry VI, who accompanied Margaret of Anjou and her son Edward of Lancaster into exile in 1463 and returned with them in 1471 to defeat at the battle of Tewkesbury, was pardoned by Edward IV and spent his last years (the early 1470s) writing a treatise On the Governance of England. In it he says … it mey appere that … it was bettir to the peple to be ruled politekely and roialy, than to be ruled only roialy. …What Nembroth [Nimrod] be myght for his owne glorie made and incorperate the first realme, and subdued it to hymself bi tyrannye, he wolde not have it governyd bi any other rule or lawe, but bi his owne wille .. and therfore … holy scripture disdeyned to call hym a kynge … but [he] oppressyd the peple bi myght, and therfore he was a tirraunt.
