The royal charge commenced at 11 A.M. and lasted about half an hour. Each side lost a hundred men in battle, but the treason of the Stanleys was followed by the flight of the royal army towards Stoke Golding, and during the pursuit, which continued for fifty minutes, there was considerable slaughter. Henry then came to the front, and was at Stoke Golding when Sir William Stanley brought him the golden circlet off the late King's helmet, saluting him {158} as King. The place is called 'Crown Hill.' Stanley was made Lord Chamberlain by the usurper; but such a traitor could not be trusted. Henry was conscious that 'though Stanley came in time to save his life, he delayed long enough to endanger it.' The astute and patient King, brought up in the school of Louis XI., bided his time. Before many years his saviour was beheaded. Shameful indignities are said to have been perpetrated on the lifeless body of King Richard. They could have been prevented by a word from Henry, but that word was not spoken. 'Insults offered by the victor to the corpse of a soldier slain in battle evince a great degree of meanness or cowardice on the part of the former.'[22] Richard III. was buried in the church of St. Mary, belonging to the Grey Friars, at Leicester, and a tomb was erected over his grave. Not only has the tomb long since disappeared, but the church also. In 1808 a stone pyramid was built over the well on the battlefield, with a suitable inscription by the learned Dr. Parr, to commemorate the gallant death of the King: AQUA EX HOC PUTEO HAUSTA SITIM SEDAVIT RICABDUS TERTIUS REX ANGLIAE CUM HENRICO COMITE DE RICHMONDIA ACERRIME ATQUE INFENSISSIME PRAELIANS ET VITA PARITEB AC SCEPTRO ANTE NOCTEM CARITURUS II KAL. SEPT. A.D. MCCCCLXXXV In 1871 the arms of King Richard III., impaling those of Queen Anne, were placed on an abutment of the new bridge at Nottingham, as a memorial. {159} Richard III., the last of our Plantagenet kings, is the only one since the Norman Conquest who has fallen on the field of battle. He was also the youngest of our actual reigning sovereigns when he died.[23] Richard passed through the first thirty years of his life, before his accession, with honour and repute. He displayed brilliant courage as a knight, and remarkable ability as a general. In France he upheld the honour of England against the corrupt faction which surrounded his sovereign. In Scotland he did admirable service by the capture of Berwick. He was an efficient and energetic administrator of the Northern Marches, and was the first to establish postal communication by means of relays of horses. He was justly popular throughout the country, and was beloved in Yorkshire, where he was best known. When the news of his death reached York, the people were plunged in grief. The following entry was made in the City Register: 'He was piteously slain and murdered to the great heaviness of this city.'[24]