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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36451-8.txt b/36451-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8791892 --- /dev/null +++ b/36451-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12998 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Richard III: His Life & Character, by Clements R. Markham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Richard III: His Life & Character + Reviewed in the light of recent research + +Author: Clements R. Markham + +Release Date: June 17, 2011 [EBook #36451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHARD III: HIS LIFE & CHARACTER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: _King Richard III. From a picture in the National +Portrait Gallery_] + + + + + +RICHARD III: HIS LIFE & CHARACTER + + + +REVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH + + + +BY SIR CLEMENTS E. MARKHAM, K.C.B. + + +AUTHOR OF 'THE LIFE OF THE + GREAT LORD FAIRFAX' AND + 'THE FIGHTING VERES' + + + + +WITH A PORTRAIT + + + +LONDON: SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +15 WATERLOO PLACE. 1906 + +(_All rights reserved_) + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +There are periods of history when the greatest caution is called for in +accepting statements put forward by a dominant faction. Very early in +my life I came to the conclusion that the period which witnessed the +change of dynasties from Plantagenet to Tudor was one of these. The +caricature of the last Plantagenet King was too grotesque, and too +grossly opposed to his character derived from official records. The +stories were an outrage on common-sense. I studied the subject at +intervals for many years, and in the course of my researches I found +that I more or less shared my doubts with every author of repute who +had studied the subject for the last three centuries, except Hume and +Lingard. My own conclusions are that Richard III. must be acquitted on +all the counts of the indictment. The present work is divided into two +parts, the first narrating the events of his life and times, and the +second examining the various accusations against him. I did not +contemplate publication because I thought that in these days prejudices +were too strong to make it possible that a fair and candid hearing +should be given to the arguments. But I determined to consult {vi} +some historical friends, and I was pleased to find that to a great +extent I was mistaken. + +In the first place, I wrote a full abstract of my arguments, for +publication in the 'Historical Review,' acting under the advice of my +old schoolfellow, Professor Freeman, to whom I sent it in the first +instance. It so happened that Mr. Freeman had given attention to part +of the subject. He upset some odious fabrications of the chroniclers +affecting the character of Margaret of Anjou, by proving that she was +in Scotland at the time when the battle of Wakefield was fought. +Freeman seldom wrote on so late a period of our history, and we owe +this modern excursion to a visit to Mr. Milnes Gaskell at Thornes. + +After reading what I sent him, Professor Freeman wrote on August 13, +1890: 'Your abstract has set me a-thinking. It is only a Robert of +Bellême who does that kind of thing. On your main point I will talk to +Gardiner and Stubbs. Meanwhile, I have shown your manuscript to Sidney +Owen, who read it and held it to be what lawyers would call +_considerable_. Owen had been at those times, and holds Henry VII. to +be at least capable of it. + +'It would be a self-denying ordinance in Gairdner if he accepted your +view, for he has gone more straight at that time than anybody else. +Gardiner has written to him, and he is a little fierce, as was to be +expected, but if you are like me, no man's fierceness will hinder you +from dining and sleeping as well as usual. The matter is at all events +worth discussing.' + +{vii} + +Professor York Powell read my manuscript, and wrote: 'I have read the +manuscript and think there is something worth looking into. Henry's +conduct to Tyrrell is exceedingly suspicious. Either Richard or Henry +might have put the boys to death, but it would be interesting for many +reasons to know which it was. I am not convinced by Markham, but I do +not think Gairdner has the right to be cocksure. The Morton suggestive +idea is very ingenious and pretty, and quite probable. It has +interested me much to read Markham's letter, for I remember my +difficulties in the matter and the point I got to, that the great men +did not, for a time, hold the now vulgate view of the murder of the +princes. I should rejoice should Markham light upon additional +evidence in favour of his thesis, which _à priori_ is by no means +unlikely. There is something about Richard's character, ability, and +reign which, I think, attracts every real student of history, and gives +one a feeling that he has been unfairly dealt with.' + +In 1891, the abstract of my work was published in the 'Historical +Review,' and Bishop Creighton, who was then the editor, wrote: 'Thank +you for your paper, which I have read with great interest. It +certainly makes out a strong case.' + +There were two rejoinders from Mr. Gairdner, which enabled me to recast +and improve parts of my work by the light of his criticism. + +I lost my adviser, Mr. Freeman, in 1892. One of the last things he did +was to warn me of an objection {viii} taken by Miss Edith Thompson, +which enabled me to meet it.[1] + +After careful revision I showed my manuscript to the late Sir Archibald +Milman, who had given close attention to those times. On December 27, +1897, he wrote: 'It is your bounden duty to tell your story of Richard +III., giving the date for every fact. It is only by sticking to dates +that you get at truth in criminal causes, and the same method must be +followed at the bar of history. It would be a pleasure to think that +the last Plantagenet was not a cruel scoundrel. By giving dates and +authorities for them, you render a great service. Richard's loyalty +and able administration in the north seem inconsistent with such +ferocity. I was much interested in one of your facts, that, according +to the story put forward by Henry VII., the bodies of the little +princes were taken up from the place of hasty interment and placed in +consecrated ground. But lo! they remained under the staircase, where +they were found in Charles II.'s reign.' + +In consequence of Sir A. Milman's letter I made another close scrutiny +of dates given by various authorities for the same events with +important results. I also went very carefully over the ground of the +battlefields of Wakefield, Towton, Barnet, Tewkesbury, and Bosworth; +and I added some chapters to the work. + +{ix} + +The correspondence to which I have referred has led me to the +conclusion that students of history are not, as I once believed, +unwilling to reconsider the questions which form the subject of the +present work, when they are presented from new points of view; and that +the well-known arguments which were supposed to suffice for the defence +of the Tudor stories in the past are in these days insufficient. The +numerous points now raised and submitted for the judgment of students +are at all events worth discussing. The present work is about as +complete as very frequent revision can make it. + + + +[1] She pointed out that the titles of Norfolk and Nottingham, granted +by Edward IV. to his second son Richard, were given by Richard III. to +Lords Howard and Berkeley, and that, therefore, young Richard must have +been dead. The answer is that the grants to Lords Howard and Berkeley +were made on June 28, 1483, before it was even pretended that young +Richard had been murdered. + + + + +{xi} + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v + + +_PART I_ + +CHAPTER I + +BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD + + Description of Fotheringhay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + Possessions of the Duke of York. Marriage . . . . . . . . 2, 3 + Birth of Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 + Letter of Edward and Edmund to their father . . . . . . . 4 + Children of the Duke of York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 + Richard a prisoner of war aged 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 + Refuge in John Paston's chambers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 + + +CHAPTER II + +DEATH OF RICHARD'S FATHER AND BROTHER AT THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD + + The Duke of York declared Heir-Apparent . . . . . . . . . 9 + The Duke and his family united at Baynard's Castle . . . . 10 + March to Sandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 + Description of Sandal Castle and its neighbourhood . . . . 12, 13 + Battle of Wakefield. Death of the Duke . . . . . . . . . 14, 15 + Death of Edmund, Earl of Rutland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 16 + Cruelty and inhuman folly of the Lancastrians . . . . . . 17 + Edward's victory at Mortimer's Cross . . . . . . . . . . . 18 + George and Richard sent to Holland for safety . . . . . . 18, 19 + + +{xii} + +CHAPTER III + +THE CROWNING VICTORY OF TOWTON + + Description of Edward IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 + Edward proclaimed King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 22 + March to the north. Yorkist leaders . . . . . . . . . . . 23 + Lancastrian leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 + Sir Andrew Trollope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 + Description of the country round Towton . . . . . . . . . 26 + Surprise at Ferrybridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 + Chase and death of Clifford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 + Yorkists march to Saxton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 30 + Marshalling of the Lancastrians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 + Battle of Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 33 + Flight of Henry and his partisans. Edward at York . . . . 34 + Coronation of Edward IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 + Edward's generous treatment of his foes . . . . . . . . . 36 + Chapel built by Richard at Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CROWN LOST AND WON--BATTLE OF BARNET + + Return of George and Richard from Holland . . . . . . . . 38 + Their Dukedoms, Earldoms and Richard's K.G. . . . . . . . 38 + Richard chief mourner at his father's obsequies . . . . . 39 + Military training under Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 + Description of Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 + Treason of Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 + Flight of Edward and Richard to Holland. . . . . . . . . . 42, 43 + Expedition fitted out at Veere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 + Landing at Ravenspur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 + Edward's brilliant campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46, 47 + Richard's negotiation with Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . 48 + Battle of Barnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49, 52 + + +CHAPTER V + +MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD + + Birth and marriage of Margaret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53, 54 + Birth of Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 + Adventures in the wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56, 59 + {xiii} + Home at Koeur-la-Petite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 + Edward's conversations with the Chief Justice . . . . . . 61, 66 + Agreement with Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 + Description of young Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY + + Margaret and Edward land at Weymouth . . . . . . . . . . . 69 + Advance to Bristol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 + King Edward's plan of campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 + Description of the battle field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 + March of King Edward's army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 + Battle of Tewkesbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74, 75 + Death of Edward of Lancaster on the battle field . . . . . 75 + Execution of some leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 + Pardon of the rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 + Death of Henry VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 + Ransom of Margaret. Her death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 + + +CHAPTER VII + +MARRIED LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER + + Richard's march to Sandwich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 + Marriage of Richard and Anne Nevill . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 82 + Richard with his brother in France . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 + Description of Middleham Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 + Home life at Middleham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82, 83, 84 + Public duties. Frequent visits to York . . . . . . . . . 84 + Warden of the Marches. Scottish campaign . . . . . . . . 84, 86 + Death of Edward IV. Lady Grey. Children . . . . . . . . 86, 87 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ACCESSION OF RICHARD III + + Conspiracy of the Woodvilles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 + Richard made Protector by his brother's will . . . . . . . 89 + Arrest of Rivers and his colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . 90 + Queen Dowager in sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 + Richard and his mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 + Disclosure of Bishop Stillington . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 + {xiv} + Account of Bishop Stillington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94-95 + Foundation of the College at Acaster . . . . . . . . . . . 96 + Children of Edward IV. illegitimate . . . . . . . . . . . 97 + Hastings-Woodville conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98, 99 + Execution of Rivers and his colleagues . . . . . . . . . . 99, 100 + Richard's title to the crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 + Accession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 + + +CHAPTER IX + +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE + + Results of the Lancastrian usurpation . . . . . . . . . . 103 + Effects of the Wars of the Roses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 + No destruction of the nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 + Scenery. Country life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 + Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 + Hunting and hawking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 + The Peerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 + Town residences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 + Magnificence of the Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 + Wealth of merchants. City Companies . . . . . . . . . . . 112 + Introduction of printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 + Caxton's works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114, 115 + Literary noblemen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115, 116 + Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 + Bishops. Clergy. Monasteries. Pilgrimages . . . . . . . 118-119 + Lawlessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 + Manor houses. Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 + Condition of the people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122-123 + Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 + + +CHAPTER X + +REIGN OF RICHARD III + + Description of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 + Treatment of his nephews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 + Coronation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126-127 + Claim of Buckingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 + Royal Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129-130 + Rebellion of Buckingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131-132 + {xv} + List of traitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132-133 + Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 + Reforms. Revenue. Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 + Convocation. Agreement with the Queen Dowager . . . . . . 136 + Death of the Prince of Wales. His tomb . . . . . . . . . 137 + Edward Earl of Warwick made Heir-Apparent . . . . . . . . 138 + King Richard's popularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 + Conspiracy of Henry Tudor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 + The King assembled troops at Nottingham . . . . . . . . . 141 + Proclamation against Henry Tudor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 + Peerage of Richard III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 + Ministers of Richard III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 + Commissioners for Peace with Scotland . . . . . . . . . . 145 + Judges and Law Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 + Bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 + Knights of the Garter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 + Knights of the Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH + + Treachery of the Stanleys explained . . . . . . . . . . . 148, 149 + King Richard's military talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 + English pluck displayed by Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 + Loyal men flocking to the King's standard . . . . . . . . 151 + Description of the country round Bosworth . . . . . . . . 152 + Positions of the two armies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 + King Richard leads his men to the encounter . . . . . . . 154 + Treachery of Lord Stanley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 + The King's gallant charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 + Death of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155-156-157 + Richard buried at Leicester. Memorials . . . . . . . . . 158 + Character of King Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 + His generosity. Arbitrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 + Able administration. Building operations . . . . . . . . 161 + Literary tastes. Founded the Heralds' College . . . . . . 162 + Comparison of Richard and the Tudors . . . . . . . . . . . 162, 163 + His married life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 + Contemporary Sovereigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 + + + +{xvi} + +_PART II_ + + +CHAPTER I + +THE AUTHORITIES + + The Plantagenet Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 + Character and position of the accusers . . . . . . . . . . 167 + Extravagance of their caricature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 + Writers in the pay of the Tudors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 + The notorious pamphlet by Morton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168-171 + Bernard André . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 + Polydore Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171-172 + Rous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 + Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 + Warkworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 + Continuators of the Croyland Chronicle . . . . . . . . . . 175-178 + Official documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 + Hall, Grafton, Holinshed, Stow, Buck . . . . . . . . . . . 179 + Reaction. Modern authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 + Miss Halsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 + Upholders of the Tudor stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182-183 + + +CHAPTER II + +EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD + + Reckless profusion of abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 + Deformity. Statement of Rous and Morton . . . . . . . . . 185 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 + Object of the calumny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 + Tewkesbury. The truth told by all contemporaries . . . . 188-189 + Fable by Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 + Polydore Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 + Subsequent embellishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 + Silence of Morton and Rous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191-192 + Henry VI. Insinuations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 + Warkworth and Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194-195 + The Croyland Monk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 + Polydore Virgil contradicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 + All unworthy of credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 + Evidence of the accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 + {xvii} + Evidence of a contemporary writer . . . . . . . . . . 198 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 + Marriage. Richard and Anne really attached . . . . . . . 200 + Attack of Miss Strickland, a specimen of the sort + of arguments used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 + Countess of Warwick. False statement of Rous . . . . . . 201 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 + Death of Clarence. Charge absolutely groundless . . . . . 202 + Another specimen of argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 + + +CHAPTER III + +FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III + + Some account of Morton, the chief accuser . . . . . . . . 205-207 + Misrepresentation of events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208-210 + Cunning misrepresentations respecting Hastings . . . . . . 210-212 + Falsification of dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215-217 + The accession. The true claim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 + Attempt of Henry VII. to destroy the evidence . . . . 219 + Polydore Virgil's version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 + Morton's version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 + Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 + Further falsification of dates . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 + Buckingham's treason. False reason given for + his discontent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 + The truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 + Morton's account of conversations . . . . . . . . . . 225, 226 + Second coronation. Statement disproved . . . . . . . . . 227 + Death of the Queen. Slanders of Polydore and Rous . . . . 228 + Elizabeth of York. Absurd rumour spread . . . . . . . . . 229 + Elizabeth's letter to the Duke of Norfolk . . . . . . 229-230 + Intrigues of Henry's mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 + Lord Strange. The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAIN CHARGE AGAINST RICHARD III + + Rests on the truth or falsehood of previous crimes . . . . 233 + Richard's antecedents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 + Nothing to fear from his nephews . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 + {xviii} + Treatment of others in the same position . . . . . . . . . 236 + His nephews were probably members of his household . . . . 236 + Bill, in March 1485, for the elder nephew . . . . . . . . 237 + Conduct of the mother and sister . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238-239 + Alleged rumours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240-242 + Assertion of the French Chancellor . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 + Statements of Fabyan, Rous, Polydore, André . . . . . . . 244 + Sir William Stanley's conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 + Baseless rumours promulgated by Henry . . . . . . . . . . 245 + + +CHAPTER V + +HENRY TUDOR IN THE DOCK + + Description of Henry VII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 + His lawless executions after Bosworth . . . . . . . . . . 247 + Responsible for the lives of royal children . . . . . . . 248 + Henry's character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 + Necessity to strengthen his position . . . . . . . . . . . 250 + His Parliament of outlaws. Unjust attainders . . . . . . 251 + Loyal men attainted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 + Silent about the late King's nephews. Were they missing? 253 + If alive, Henry's marriage necessitated their deaths . . . 254 + Henry's treatment of other victims in his way . . . . . . 255 + The fate of the princes, if alive, was sealed by + the marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 + Imprisonment of the Queen Dowager . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 + Henry put forward a story, in Polydore Virgil . . . . . . 258 + A more detailed story, published by Rastell and Grafton 260-263 + Rewards alleged to have been given by Richard + to murderers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264, 265 + Confession of Tyrrel and Dighton fabricated . . . . . . . 267 + Genesis of these stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 + Some account of Sir James Tyrrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 + Henry's grant to John Green. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 + Tyrrel taken into favour. His two pardons . . . . . . . . 269 + Murder of the two Princes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 + Relations silenced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270-271 + Hush money to 'Black Will' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 + Reward to Dighton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 + Rewards and employments for Tyrrel . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 + Treacherous arrest and hurried execution of Tyrrel . . . . 273 + Dighton to reside at Calais . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 + The story put forward and generally accepted . . . . . . . 274 + {xix} + Judicial murder of the Earl of Warwick . . . . . . . . . . 275 + Henry's remorse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 + Elizabeth saw the cruel treatment of her mother and cousin + Her death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 + Henry's design to kill the Earl of Suffolk . . . . . . . . 277 + His death. Successful as this world counts success . . . 278 + Things unexplained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279, 280 + + +CHAPTER VI + +MR. GAIRDNER'S RICHARD III + + Mr. Gairdner's view of the alleged crimes . . . . . . . . 281 + Views stated in Mr. Gairdner's preface . . . . . . . . . . 282 + Richard's character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 + Richard acquitted of several charges . . . . . . . . . . . 285 + Tudor fables irreconcileable with Richard's character . . 285 + Mr. Gairdner's latest view of the Tewkesbury charge . . . 286-287 + On Edward IV.'s proceedings after Tewkesbury . . . . . . . 289-290 + His view of the Henry VI. charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 + His rejection of the evidence of the writer in Fleetwood . 292 + Acquits Richard of responsibility for the death of + Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294-295 + Position with regard to the title to the crown . . . . . . 296 + Believes in the Duchess of York slander . . . . . . . . . 297 + His reason for the belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 + Murder of the Princes. Story admitted to be full + of inaccuracies and improbabilities . . . . . . . . . . 298 + Richard could not have been a cool, calculating villain . 298 + Must have been headstrong and reckless . . . . . . . . . . 298 + Such a man might have committed the crime on a + sudden impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 + The rising in Kent supposed to be the motive . . . . . . . 299 + But the murders are stated to have been in August, + the rising in October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 + Thus Mr. Gairdner's theory fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 + Mr. Gairdner supplies proofs of the King's popularity . . 300 + Richard was the victim of the perfidy of a few traitors . 300 + Mr. Gairdner's testimony to Richard's good qualities . . . 300 + Great value of Mr. Gairdner's work . . . . . . . . . . . . 300-301 + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 + + + + +{xx} + +GENEALOGICAL TABLES + +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III. . . . _to face page_ 6 + +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL . . . . . . . . . . . " " 82 + + +MAP + +BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . _to face page_ 328 + + +{1} + +LIFE OF RICHARD III + + + +PART I + +CHAPTER I + +BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD + +The castle of Fotheringhay[1] was the birthplace of our last +Plantagenet king. This venerable pile stood on the banks of the river +Nen, in Northamptonshire, amidst 'marvellous fair corn ground and +pasture.' From its battlements there was an extensive view, bounded to +the westward by the forest of Rockingham, while on the other side the +abbey church of Peterborough and the woods of Milton intercepted the +distant expanse of fen country. Originally built by bold Simon de St. +Liz in the twelfth century, the castle had fallen into ruin when it +reverted to the crown, and was granted by Edward III. to his son Edmund +of Langley. + +Edmund, who was created Duke of York by his nephew Richard II., rebuilt +the castle and founded a college hard by. Fotheringhay was surrounded +by a double moat with drawbridges, the river Nen serving as the outer +moat on the south side, and the Mill Brook, {2} flowing between the +castle yard and the little park, to the east. The walls were of stone, +and the great gate in the north front was adorned with the arms of +England, as differenced for Edmund of Langley, impaling the arms of +Castille and Leon.[2] The keep, built in the shape of a fetterlock, +was on a mount in the north-west angle of the castle; and below there +was a great courtyard surrounded by stately buildings, a chapel, and +'very fair lodgings,' as Leland tells us. The great hall was seventy +feet long, with a deep oriel window at one end.[3] + +Here dwelt Edmund the first Duke of York, his son Edward the second +Duke, who fell at Agincourt, and his grandson Richard, the third Duke. +Edmund projected the foundation of a college near the parish church, to +consist of a master, eight clerks, and thirteen choristers. He +commenced the choir, while his son and grandson completed and richly +endowed this religious house. The church was a fine specimen of the +Perpendicular architecture of the time, and the cloisters had numerous +windows filled with stained glass. + +The third Duke of York resided at Fotheringhay during part of every +year when he was in England, {3} with his beautiful wife the Lady +Cicely Nevill, the 'Rose of Raby,' and their troop of fair children. +But he also held vast estates elsewhere. In Yorkshire the castles of +Sandal and Conisborough were part of his paternal inheritance. On the +Welsh borders he had succeeded to all the possessions of the Mortimers, +including Ludlow and Wigmore. For his mother was the heiress of Edmund +Mortimer, Earl of March, and also of Lionel Duke of Clarence, the +second surviving son of King Edward III. Baynard's Castle, in the City +of London, was the Duke's town house. + +The 'Rose of Raby' bore her husband twelve children, and they came of a +right noble English stock. In their veins flowed the blood of +Plantagenet and Holland, Mortimer and FitzAlan, Nevill and Percy, +Clifford and Audley. Five of these fair branches died in infancy. +Ann, the eldest of those who survived early childhood, was born at +Fotheringhay in 1439. The three next, Edward, Edmund and Elizabeth, +first saw the light at Rouen, when their father was making a last +gallant stand for English dominion in France, from 1442 to 1444. +Margaret was born at Fotheringhay. The Duke and Duchess were ruling in +Ireland when George was born at Dublin Castle. The three last births +were at Fotheringhay, but of these only Richard, the eleventh child, +survived infancy. + +Richard Plantagenet was born at Fotheringhay Castle on October 2, 1452. +He probably passed the first five years of his life there with George +and Margaret. The elder sisters, Anne and Elizabeth, were married to +'Lancastrian' noblemen, the Dukes of Exeter and Suffolk, when Richard +was still in infancy. His elder brothers, Edward Earl of March and +Edmund Earl of Rutland, were separated from him by an interval {4} of +ten years, and lived with their tutor Richard Croft at Ludlow or +Wigmore. So that Richard's childhood must have been passed with his +brother George and his sister Margaret, the future Duchess of Burgundy. +But both were a few years older than little Richard. + +We obtain a glimpse of the home life of the two elder boys, Edward and +Edmund, from a letter to their father which has been preserved.[4] + + +'Right high and right mighty prince, our full redoubted and right noble +lord and father. + +'As lowly with all our hearts as we, your true and natural sons can or +may, we recommend us unto your noble grace, humbly beseeching your +noble and worthy fatherhood daily to give us your hearty blessing; +through which we trust much the rather to increase and grow to virtue, +and to speed the better in all matters and things that we shall use, +occupy, and exercise. + +'Right high and right mighty prince, our full redoubted lord and +father-- + +'We thank our blessed Lord, not only of your honourable conduct and +good speed in all your matters and business, of your gracious prevail +against the intent and malice of your evil willers, but also of the +knowledge that it pleased your nobleness to let us now late have of the +same by relation of Sir Walter Devereux Kt.[5] {5} and John Milwater +Esq.,[6] and John at Nokes, yeoman of your honourable chamber. Also we +thank your noble and good fatherhood for our green gowns now late sent +unto us to our great comfort, beseeching your good lordship to remember +our porteux,[7] and that we might have some fine bonnets sent unto us +by the next sure messenger, for necessity so requireth. Over this, +right noble lord and father, please it your highness to wit that we +have charged your servant, William Smyth, bearer of these, for to +declare unto your nobility certain things on our behalf, namely +concerning and touching the odious rule and demeaning of Richard Croft +and of his brother. Wherefore we beseech your gracious lordship and +full noble fatherhood to hear him in exposition of the same, and to his +relation to give full faith and credence. Right high and right mighty +prince, our full redoubted and right noble lord and father, we beseech +Almighty Jesus give you as good life and long, with as much continual +perfect prosperity as your princely heart can best desire. Written at +your castle of Ludlow on Saturday in Easter week. + +'your humble sons + 'Edward (Earl of March) + 'Edmund (Earl of Rutland).' + + +The boys evidently did not like their tutor, declaring him to be +tyrannical and disagreeable.[8] + + +{6} + +CHILDREN OF RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK + +1. Anne. Born at Fotheringhay, August 11, 1439. (Duchess of Exeter.) + +2. Henry. Born at Hatfield, February 10,1441. (Died in infancy.) + +3. Edward. Born at Rouen,[9] April 28, 1442. (Earl of March. King.) + +4. Edmund. Born at Rouen, May 17, 1443. (Earl of Rutland.) + +5. Elizabeth. Born at Rouen, April 22,1444. (Duchess of Suffolk.) + +6. Margaret. Born at Fotheringhay, May 3, 1446. (Duchess of Burgundy. +Died 1503.) + +7. William. Born at Fotheringhay, July 7, 1447. (Died young.) + +8. John. Born at Neath, November 7, 1448. (Died in infancy.) + +9. George. Born at Dublin, October 21, 1449. (Duke of Clarence.) + +10. Thomas. Born at Fotheringhay, 1450. (Died in infancy.) + +11. Richard. Born at Fotheringhay, October 2, 1452.[10] (Duke of +Gloucester. King.) + +12. Ursula. Born at Fotheringhay, July 20,1455. (Died in infancy.) + +W. WYRCESTER, _Annales_, 460-477. + + +[Illustration: SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III.] + +Their father, the Duke of York, first Prince of the blood royal, was +the most powerful and wealthy, as well as one of the ablest noblemen in +the kingdom. He was moderate and prudent, and was unwillingly driven +into resistance to the misgovernment of the corrupt faction which +misused the powers they had seized, owing to the imbecility of Henry +VI. His original object was not to assert his own undoubted title to +the throne, but to obtain just and reasonable government by the removal +of corrupt and incapable ministers. 'After repeated experience of bad +faith, and after {7} fruitlessly endeavouring to bind Henry by pledges, +the Duke was at length forced into advancing his own claim.'[11] + +Disaster followed the first attempt of the Duke of York at open +resistance. He was overpowered by the Lancastrian forces at Ludlow, in +October 1459, and his followers were scattered. The Duke himself, with +his son Edmund, fled to Ireland. His eldest son, Edward Earl of March, +escaped to Calais with the Earl of Warwick. The Duchess of York, and +her three young children, Margaret, George and Richard, were taken +prisoners at Wigmore. They were sent to Tunbridge Castle in the +custody of their mother's sister, the Duchess of Buckingham, who had +married a Lancastrian husband. + +Little Richard was only seven years of age when he became a prisoner of +war. The detention was of short duration. His eldest brother landed +in Kent and marched to London. Troops flocked to the standard of the +gallant youth, and he advanced northwards against his enemies. The +Duchess of York then escaped from Tunbridge, and found an asylum for +her little children at the chambers of John Paston, in the Temple.[12] + +Meanwhile Edward, Earl of March, won a great victory at Northampton, +and Henry VI. became his prisoner. He returned to London, but the +children had not been two days in John Paston's chambers before their +mother was summoned to meet her {8} husband at Hereford, who was +returning from Ireland. The children were left with servants. Young +Edward, however, while busily engaged in preparing for the defence of +the city, found time to visit his little brothers and sister every +day.[13] + + + +[1] 'Fodringeia' in Domesday. 'Fodering' is part of a forest separated +from the rest, for producing hay. + +[2] He married Isabella of Castille and Leon. + +[3] Mary Queen of Scots was tried and beheaded in the great hall of +Fotheringhay. But it is untrue that the castle was destroyed by James +I. on that account. James granted it to Lord Mountjoy, and it was +intact, though out of repair, when it was surveyed in 1625. It began +to be dismantled soon after this survey; but the work of demolition was +very gradual. The college buildings had been desecrated and destroyed +by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, to whom they were granted by +the government of Edward VI. The last remains of the castle were +demolished in the middle of the last century. See _Historic Notices in +reference to Fotheringhay_, by the Rev. H. K. Bonney (Oundle, 1821). + +[4] _MS. Cotton, Vesp._, F. iii., fol. 9. Printed in the first series +of Ellis's original letters, i. 9, letter v. + +[5] This Sir Walter Devereux, son of Walter Chancellor of Ireland 1449, +when the Duke of York was Lord Deputy, was born in 1432. He married +Anne, heiress of Lord Ferrers of Chartley, and was summoned to +Parliament by that title _jure uxoris_. Sir Walter Devereux, Lord +Ferrers of Chartley, fell gloriously at Bosworth, fighting for his +King, Richard III., the younger brother of his two young friends Edward +and Edmund. He was ancestor of the Devereux, Earls of Essex. + +[6] Afterwards esquire to Richard Duke of Gloucester. He fell at the +battle of Barnet, fighting by his young master's side. + +[7] Breviary. + +[8] Richard Croft of Croft Castle, in Herefordshire, is the odious +ruler mentioned by the young princes. He was faithful to King Edward +during the Tewkesbury campaign; but the boys had some insight into +character. For Croft appears to have been a time-server. He got made +Treasurer of the Household to Henry Tudor, and fought for him at Stoke. +To please his new patron he appears to have told some story, +disparaging to Edward IV., which, in a garbled form, appeared in Hall's +_Chronicle_. + +[9] Edwardus quartus Rothomagi natus. _Rous_, p. 210. + +[10] Rous says that Richard was born on the feast of the eleven +thousand virgins, October 21. But this was really George's birthday, +in 1449. + +[11] Gairdner. The Duke's mother, Anne Mortimer, was grand-daughter of +Philippa Countess of March, the only child of Lionel Duke of Clarence, +_second_ son of King Edward III. Henry VI. was great-grandson of John +Duke of Lancaster, _third_ son of Edward III. + +[12] _Paston Letters_, i. 525. Christopher Hansson to John Paston. + +[13] 'And sythe y left here bothe the sunys and the dowztyr, and the +Lord of Marche comyth every day to se them.'--_Paston Letters_. + + + + +{9} + +CHAPTER II + +DEATH OF RICHARD'S FATHER AND BROTHER AT THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD + +In October 1460, the Duke and Duchess of York, with young Edmund Earl +of Rutland, reached London. The Duke's superior right to the crown, as +representative of the second son of Edward III. while Henry VI. only +derived from the third son, was recognised and declared by Act of +Parliament. But, in consideration of the reverence felt for his father +and of his own long tenure, it was enacted that Henry should retain the +throne for life, provided that he acknowledged the Duke as +heir-apparent. This Act of Settlement received the royal assent and +became law, all opposing statutes being repealed. On November 9, the +Duke of York was solemnly declared Heir-Apparent and Lord Protector +during Henry's life. + +But Queen Margaret and her partisans refused to be bound by the acts of +the King, her husband, in Parliament. She fled to Scotland, and the +Lancastrians raised a formidable army in Yorkshire. It is probable +that the Duke of York was not fully aware of the numbers opposed to +him, though he may have foreseen that the Lancastrian army would become +larger if time was allowed to slip away. There was {10} also some +danger from the machinations of the Tudors[1] in Wales. Arrangements +to counteract these evils were promptly made. The Duke assembled a +small force to advance northwards and confront the Lancastrian army. +The Duke of Norfolk, who was warmly attached to the House of York, and +the Earl of Warwick were to remain in London until Christmas, and then +to follow with reinforcements. The young Earl of March advanced to the +Welsh borders to collect forces, disperse the Tudor rising, and then +join his father in Yorkshire. + +On December 1, 1460, the Duke of York was with his wife and children at +Baynard's Castle for the last time. He bade farewell to his loving +Duchess and the children; little Richard was a child of eight, Margaret +and George a few years older. The gallant young Edmund Earl of Rutland +was nearly eighteen, well able to fight by his father's side, and he +accompanied the Duke. On December 2, the Duke of York set out with his +brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of Rutland. +Salisbury had with him his son, Sir Thomas Nevill, and the force, +barely numbering 5,000 men, was led by other experienced captains. +Chief among them was old Sir David Hall, the Duke's faithful friend and +adviser in all military affairs. Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer, +illegitimate brothers of the ill-fated Earl of March, rallied to their +nephew's standard with many Yorkist knights, such as Sir Thomas Parr, +Sir Edward Bourchier, and Sir James Pickering. The force included a +company of Londoners under the {11} command of the Warden of the +Mercers' Company, stout John Harrow. + +The Duke of York advanced by easy marches, for he did not reach his +castle of Sandal, about a mile south of Wakefield, until Christmas Eve. +Here he halted while a summons was sent out to assemble his Yorkshire +tenants and adherents. It is said that Lord Nevill, a kinsman of the +Duchess of York, came to Sandal as a friend of the Duke, and induced +him to grant a commission to raise men; and that when he had raised +about 8,000, he treacherously brought them to swell the ranks of the +Lancastrian army.[2] + +At this time the Duke's eldest son Edward was at Shrewsbury. The poor +Duchess and her young children anxiously waited for news at Baynard's +Castle. Henry VI., with the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick, +observed the festival of Christmas in the palace of the Bishop of +London, in St. Paul's Churchyard. Afterwards the King went to enjoy a +few days' hunting at Greenwich and Eltham. Queen Margaret and her son +were in Scotland. The Lancastrian leaders were assembled with a great +army at Pomfret. + +Edward III. had granted Sandal and Conisborough Castles to his son +Edmund, the Duke's grandfather. The Duke himself had frequently +resided at Sandal, sometimes with his wife and family. The castle +stood on a grassy knoll, steep on one side, with a gentle slope to the +south. It is a little less than a mile from the bridge which spans the +river Calder at the town of Wakefield, the intervening space sloping +gently from Sandal. It was then partly wooded. Leland tells us the +bridge was of stone, with nine arches, and that it had on it 'a right +goodly chapel of our Lady.' It led to the {12} market place whence two +streets, called Norgate and Wrengate,[3] formed communications with +gates on the northern side of the town. The houses were then nearly +all of timber, but there was a handsome parish church consecrated in +1322, with a tower and spire 228 feet high. From the bridge one road +went south by Sandal to Barnsley and Sheffield; another branched off to +the eastward, and divided again into two, one leading to Doncaster, the +other to Pomfret. To the westward the river Calder flanked the fields +between Sandal and Wakefield Bridge. Near the castle is the fine +cruciform church of Sandal Magna, where there was a chantry belonging +to the castle. + +There are scarcely any remains of Sandal Castle, which was razed by +order of the Long Parliament in 1648. But fortunately a drawing was +made in 1560 and preserved in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster. It +is engraved in the 'Vetusta Monumenta.' A lofty donjon, with flanking +round towers, stood on the verge of the steep descent to the +north-east, and two smaller square towers, connected by a wall, formed +the western face. The principal gate, protected by a barbican, was in +the centre of the southern face; and on this side the _enceinte_ +consisted merely of a wall without towers. An arcade or cloister led +from the gate to the main entrance of the donjon, and the roofs of +various buildings appear above the parapet of the southern wall. On +the north-western side of the inner courtyard a flight of steps led to +a covered archway opening on a semicircular stone pulpit supported by a +single pillar. The castle was surrounded by a moat, and the ground it +covered was about forty yards square. We {13} gather these details +from the drawing. The existing ruins consist of part of the gatehouse, +three arches of the arcade leading to the keep, bits of wall on the +west side, and the great mound covering the ruins of the keep. + +Sandal Castle was built on a natural hill of sandstone, and in those +days it must have presented an imposing appearance from Wakefield +Bridge, with its lofty towers rising over the trees. There were +extensive views in every direction from the castle walls. Northward is +Wakefield and the rich valley of the Calder. To the west were the +woods stretching away until the view is bounded by Woolley Edge. The +woods and lake of Chevet are to the south, and a wide extent of country +was visible to the east, with Nostell Priory and Walton Manor hidden +among the trees. But, although Sandal commanded extensive views, yet, +owing to the wooded character of the country, an enemy might approach +without his force being fully known to the garrison. + +The Duke of York kept his Christmas in Sandal Castle, with his son +Edmund Earl of Rutland, his brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury, old +Sir David Hall his trusty military adviser, many other captains, and +5,000 men. Sir David knew that the enemy was near in overwhelming +numbers. He anticipated a siege until relief could come from the +south, and he, therefore, sent out foraging parties to bring in +supplies. + +The Lancastrian chiefs at Pomfret received news of the arrival of the +Duke at Sandal on Christmas Day. They were engaged for three days in +collecting their forces. On the 30th they began their march from +Pomfret, a distance of eight miles. Lord Clifford, with his Yorkshire +friends, led the van, so as to become {14} the right wing in forming +the battle, resting on the river Calder. The Dukes of Somerset and +Exeter and Earls of Devon and Northumberland were in the centre. The +rear, which would form the left wing in wheeling into line, was under +the command of the Earl of Wiltshire. Sir Andrew Trollope was the +principal military adviser and chief of the staff. + +On the last day of the year the division under Lord Clifford came in +sight of the towers of Sandal, and attacked a foraging party which +appears to have been returning from Wakefield. This was seen from the +castle. The Duke determined to come to the rescue with his whole +force. He probably believed that Clifford was considerably in advance +of the main body of the enemy. Sir David Hall thought otherwise, and +strongly represented the danger of running such a risk. But the +chivalrous Duke spurned the idea of leaving his foraging party to be +destroyed without making an effort at their rescue. + +The Lancastrians under Clifford were between the castle and Wakefield +Bridge, and the great gate faced to the south. It was, therefore, +necessary for the Yorkist force, barely 5,000 strong, to march out with +their backs to the enemy, and to deploy round the castle hill, before +forming line to attack. This was done, and a brilliant charge was made +on the field between Sandal and Wakefield--a Balaclava charge. The +Duke himself, rightful heir to the throne, and his trusty +brother-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury, led this forlorn hope. Near +them was the gallant young Prince Edmund in the flower of his age, +about to flesh his maiden sword. There, too, was old David Hall, +knowing that all was lost, but resolved to fight for his beloved master +to the end. Success must have {15} attended on the reckless bravery +which Hall deplored, if Clifford's force, about equal in numbers, had +been unsupported. But the main body of the Lancastrians arrived during +the thick of the fight with overwhelming numbers, while their left +wing, under the Earl of Wiltshire, cut off the retreat to the castle. +There was nothing left but to die bravely. The Duke of York fell, +fighting to the last. Camden says that there was a small space hedged +round enclosing a stone cross, on the spot where the Duke fell. His +faithful knights fell around him. Among them were his uncles John and +Hugh Mortimer, Sir David Hall the tried and trusty councillor, his +wife's nephew Sir Thomas Nevill, Sir Edward Bourchier, Sir Eustace +Wentworth, Sir James Pickering, Sir John Gedding, Sir Thomas Harington, +Sir Hugh Hastings, Captains Fitzjames, Baume, Digby and Ratford. Two +gallant brothers, William and Thomas Parr, fought steadily beside their +master. William was slain, but Thomas escaped, surviving to be the +grandsire of Queen Catherine Parr. Sir Walter Lymbricke, Sir Ralph +Stanley, Captain Hanson and John Harrow, the loyal mercer of London, +were wounded and taken prisoners. + +When all hope was gone young Prince Edmund, with a few followers, +perhaps with the Harry Lovedeyne whose service was 'right agreeable' to +him and his brother in the happy days of their childhood, fought his +way through the encircling foe and reached Wakefield Bridge. But they +were closely pursued by some of Clifford's men, perhaps by Clifford +himself. Leland tells us that the prince 'was overtaken a little above +the bars beyond the bridge, going up a clyming ground'; that is in the +street leading up to the market place from the bridge. He and his few +followers turned at bay, and {16} we may be sure that young Edmund +Plantagenet did not die before his enemies had been made to pay dearly +for his life.[4] + +No quarter was given to the defeated soldiers by the Lancastrians, +2,000 were slaughtered in the field or during the flight, and the +prisoners were all killed. The Earl of Salisbury escaped from the +battle, but was taken prisoner the same night by a servant of Sir +Andrew Trollope and conveyed to Pomfret, where he was put to death. + +The Lancastrian leaders took counsel after the {17} battle, and decided +on the perpetration of an inhuman piece of folly. The bodies of the +Duke of York and of the Earls of Rutland and Salisbury were buried at +Pomfret. But their heads were ordered to be stuck on the gates of +York. The Duke's head was placed upon Micklegate Bar, with a paper +crown on it by way of insult. The heads of the Earls of Salisbury and +Rutland, of Sir Thomas Nevill, Sir Edward Bourchier, Sir Thomas +Harington, Sir William Parr, Sir James Pickering and John Harrow were +also ordered to be stuck on the different gates of York. + +As soon as Queen Margaret received the news in Scotland, she came to +York and joined the victorious army. It was resolved to march direct +to London, and the northern soldiers were bribed by permission to +pillage the whole country. This they did for fifteen miles on either +side of their track; attacking churches, taking away vessels, books and +vestments, and even the sacramental pyx after shaking out the +eucharist, and killing the priests who resisted. Reaching St. Albans +they continued the work of pillage, and defeated the troops sent out +from London to oppose them. They even recovered the person of Henry +VI. But here their successes ended. The gates of London were closed, +provisions ran short, and the Lancastrian marauders retreated into +Yorkshire.[5] + +{18} + +When the dreadful news of the battle of Wakefield reached London, the +Duchess of York was plunged into grief at the loss of her noble husband +and gallant young son, and she was terrified for the safety of her +children. The two little boys, George and Richard, were put on board a +vessel in the Thames and sent to Holland. There, under the protection +of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, they were established at Utrecht +with suitable tutors. The Duchess of York, with her little daughter +Margaret, remained in London awaiting events. + +The age of Edward Earl of March was then only eighteen years and eight +months. He was at Shrewsbury when the terrible blow fell upon him. It +spurred him into resolute action. He had collected a good force, with +which he turned upon the Tudors and crushed them at Mortimer's Cross. +There was a parhelion when the victory was decided. Edward adopted the +sun in splendour as his special cognizance. He then advanced to London +by rapid marches, and was proclaimed king as Edward IV. + +Richard was thus hurried away to Holland. He {19} was but eight years +old when he saw his father and brother Edmund mount their horses at the +gate of Baynard's Castle; and when the sad news came that they were +slain, and that he would see them no more. In after years Richard took +part in the pious act of the children of the Duke of York. They +re-endowed the beautiful chapel on Wakefield Bridge, which was built in +the reign of Edward III.,[6] and dedicated it to the memory of their +brother Edmund. + + + +[1] Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, had three sons by Catharine, the widow +of Henry V.; Edmund and Jasper created by Henry VI. Earls of Richmond +and Pembroke, and Owen a monk at Westminster. They were half-brothers +of Henry VI. + +[2] Stow's _Chronicle_, p. 412. + +[3] An abbreviation of Warenne-gate. The Earls of Warenne and Surrey +were Lords of Wakefield for more than two centuries. + +[4] Of all the baseless fabrications of the Tudor chroniclers, Hall's +story of the death of Edmund Earl of Rutland is the most absurd. Hall +says that the prince was scarcely twelve years of age, that his tutor +and schoolmaster, named Robert Apsall, secretly conveyed the little boy +out of the field, that they were espied and taken by Lord Clifford, +that the child knelt on his knees demanding mercy; that the +schoolmaster made a speech; that Clifford gave a truculent reply; and +that Clifford then struck the child to the heart with a dagger. + +This fable rests on there being a child. If there was no child nothing +of the sort happened. + +The contemporary evidence is simply that after the battle Lord Clifford +killed the Earl of Rutland on or near Wakefield Bridge. William of +Worcester says:--'_et in fugiendo post campum super pontem apud +Wakefelde Dominus de Clyfforde occidit Dominum Edmondum comitem de +Rutlande, filium Ducis Eborum_.' William of Worcester also gives the +birthdays of all the children of the Duke of York. Edmund was born at +Rouen on May 17, 1443. He was in his eighteenth year, and not a child. +It was George, born on October 21, 1449, in Ireland, who was in his +twelfth year when the battle of Wakefield was fought; but he was left +in London with his mother, as any child of that age was sure to have +been. Even if the Duke had brought a child to Sandal, he would have +been left in the castle, not taken into the thick of a desperate +battle. Edmund was old enough to accompany his father, and doubtless +acquitted himself manfully. These facts also relieve the gallant +Clifford's name from a vile calumny. Holinshed and Shakespeare follow +Hall, and all later historians have continued to repeat the absurd +story without taking the trouble to ascertain Rutland's age at the time +of the battle of Wakefield. + +[5] The weight of authority is decisively against the Duke of York +having been taken prisoner, and in favour of his having been killed in +the battle. William of Worcester says: '_Ubi occubuerunt in campo Dux +Eborum, Thomas Nevill_,' &c. The Croyland chronicler, Fabyan, Polydore +Virgil, Hall, and Stow concur. Hall says, '_He, manfully fighting, +within half an hour was slain and dead_.' But Whethamstede states that +the Duke was taken prisoner and grossly insulted: that he was set upon +an ant-hill, a crown of woven grass was put on his head, and that the +soldiers bowed their heads before him, saying in derision: 'Hail, King +without a kingdom!' Whethamstede adds, '_non aliter quam Judæi coram +Domino_.' But this John Bostock of Whethamstede was Abbot of St. +Albans, and violently prejudiced against the Lancastrians for their +marauding and pillaging in his neighbourhood. It is generally stated +that Queen Margaret took part in the barbarities of her adherents. +Stow, for instance, says that Lord Clifford cut off the Duke's head, +put a paper crown on it, stuck it on a pole, and presented it to the +Queen, who 'was not lying far from the field.' But there is clear +proof that the Queen was actually in Scotland when the battle of +Wakefield was fought. William of Worcester says: '_Dicto bello finito +Regina Margareta venit ab Scotia Eboraco_.' This is confirmed by the +Croyland chronicler, who says, '_Inpartibus borealibus morabatur_.' +Margaret had nothing to do with the Lancastrian barbarities, except +that she allowed the heads to remain on the gates of York. She was +forced to tolerate the deeds of her savage adherents. + +[6] See _The Chapel of Edward III. on Wakefield Bridge_, by N. +Scatcherd (1843). + + + + +{20} + +CHAPTER III + +THE CROWNING VICTORY OF TOWTON + +When the Lancastrians, after their success at St. Albans, had failed +before London, they retreated northwards with the person of Henry VI., +and proceeded to collect forces in Yorkshire for one more great effort, +making their headquarters in the city of York. Meanwhile the young +Earl of March, after his victory at Mortimer's Cross on February 2, +1461, advanced to London with his Welsh and border tenantry. He was +joined on the road by the Earl of Warwick, whose incapacity as a +military commander had been the cause of the disaster at St. Albans on +the 17th of the same month. + +Edward was only in his nineteenth year when he entered London and +succeeded to his father's rights, and to the duty of avenging the +cowardly insults heaped upon that father's body. He found his mother, +the widowed Duchess, with his little sister Margaret, at Baynard's +Castle. + +Edward was tall and eminently handsome, with a fair complexion and +flaxen hair, 'the goodliest personage,' says Comines, 'that ever mine +eyes beheld.' His capacity for command, his fortitude, and prudence +were far beyond his years, and he had already acquired experience in +two pitched battles. + +{21} + +On his arrival in London Edward called together a great Council of +Lords, spiritual and temporal, and declared to them his title to the +Crown. The assembled Lords determined that, as King Henry had, +contrary to the solemn agreement made with the Duke of York and the +Parliament which met in October 1460, violated his word, and as he was +useless to the Commonwealth, he should be deprived of all sovereignty. +Edward was elected and acknowledged as King. + +That night the young King was once more at home with his mother and +sister; but it was a melancholy home-coming. Two months before, the +whole family was united at Baynard's Castle, now the father was slain +and his head fixed on Micklegate Bar at York. The beloved brother, +Edward's companion from earliest infancy, also dead; the two younger +brothers sent abroad for safety; his uncle, Salisbury, killed, with Sir +David Hall, the trusted friend of the family, and many more. Yet a +feeling of pride must have mingled with the bereaved mother's grief as +she gazed on the superb young warrior who was the last hope and prop of +her house. + +Next day the citizens of London assembled at their muster in St. John's +Fields, just outside the city, where they were reviewed by Lord +Fauconberg, the King's uncle, an experienced warrior who had seen much +service in France. As Sir William Nevill, he was at the siege of +Orleans, and since 1429 he had been summoned to Parliament _jure +uxoris_, for he had married Joan, the heiress of the last Baron +Fauconberg. As soon as he had completed the muster, his nephew, George +Nevill, Bishop of Exeter, made a speech to the people. He explained to +them how King Henry had broken the agreement solemnly made {22} with +the Duke of York only four short months before; he demanded of them +whether they would have a forsworn king any longer to rule over them; +and he called upon them to serve and obey the Earl of March as their +earthly sovereign lord. The multitude cried 'Yea! Yea!' with great +shouts and clapping of hands. 'I was there,' says William of +Worcester, 'I heard them, and I returned with them into the city.' + +On the same evening the Lords and Commons went to Baynard's Castle to +report what had taken place to young Edward, and he was persuaded to +assume the kingly office by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop +of Exeter. Next day, being March 4, he rode to St. Paul's as King +Edward IV. and made an offering. After _Te Deum_ he was conveyed to +Westminster, where he sat in the Hall while his title was declared to +the people as son and heir of Richard, Duke of York, and by authority +of Parliament. Henry VI. was deposed _quod non stetisset pacto, neque +paruisset senatûs consulti decreto_. Edward then entered the Abbey +under a canopy in solemn procession, and received homage from the +lords, returning by water to London, where he was lodged in the +Bishop's palace. On the 5th he was proclaimed King through the city as +Edward IV; but there was to be no coronation until he was victorious +over his enemies. + +No time was lost. On Saturday, March 7, the Earl of Warwick left +London for the north, with what Fabyan calls 'a great puissance of +people.' Four days afterwards the King's infantry followed, consisting +of borderers from the Welsh marches, Kentish men, and Londoners. On +Friday, March 13, Edward himself rode through Bishopsgate with a great +body of men, {23} and attended by many lords and knights. Since the +death of Sir David Hall, Edward's uncle Fauconberg was the most able +and experienced general on the Yorkist side, and he was now the King's +chief adviser. A powerful adherent was John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, +who is so frequently mentioned in the 'Paston Letters.' Representative +of Thomas de Brotherton, the youngest son of Edward I., the Duke had +vast wealth and great influence in the eastern counties, but he was in +failing health. Sir John Ratcliffe, K.G., called Lord Fitzwalter _jure +uxoris_, Sir Henry Ratcliffe, Lord Scrope of Bolton, Sir Walter Blount, +Sir John Wenlock, Sir John Dynham, Sir Roger Wolferstone, William +Hastings, Robert Home of Kent, the King's cousins Humphry and John +Stafford, were the principal captains. + +The marches were made in a leisurely way to give time for followers to +join from various directions, and it was a fortnight before Edward +formed a junction with the Earl of Warwick, and mustered his army +between Pomfret Castle and Ferrybridge, about forty thousand strong. +Reinforcements had flocked to him during the march, especially in +Nottinghamshire. Sir John Ratcliffe, with a young illegitimate son of +the Earl of Salisbury, was stationed with a small force at Ferrybridge, +to guard the passage of the river Aire. + +Meanwhile, the nobles who had rallied round the proud Margaret of Anjou +were collecting their strength at York. The Duke of Somerset, although +he was only in his twenty-fourth year, was the chief commander in the +Queen's army. The son of her favourite, who had been slain in the +first battle of St. Albans, and the head of a powerful connection, +Margaret {24} placed great reliance on the prowess and influence of the +young Duke. His first cousin was Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, +a lad of twenty, who came to York with the Fulfords, Fortescues, and +other west-country squires. His sister Eleanor was married to James +Butler, Earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire, K.G., a more mature nobleman who +had reached his fortieth year, but who was more noted for running away +than for fighting. His brother, Sir John Butler, accompanied him. +Next to Somerset the most influential leader was Henry Percy, Earl of +Northumberland, who was also in his fortieth year. His family had +fought and bled in the Lancastrian cause. His father was slain at St. +Albans, his brother, Lord Egremont, at Northampton. Another brother, +Sir Richard Percy, now rode by the Earl's side at the head of a +numerous body of retainers. Lord Clifford, Lord Dacre of Gillesland, +Lord FitzHugh, and Sir John Nevill came with a great muster of West +Riding and Westmoreland yeomen; while Lord Welles and Sir William +Talboys rallied the Lincolnshire yeomen round their standards. Lord +Roos, Sir Ralph Eure, and Sir John Bigot of Musgrave Castle, joined the +army with their Yorkshire tenantry; and the Duke of Exeter, Lord +Hungerford, and Lord Beaumont swelled the throng with their levies. + +Nor were lawyers and churchmen wanting to prop the falling cause. Sir +John Fortescue, the Lord Chief Justice, was at York, for he believed +the parliamentary title of King Henry to be good, and would not desert +him in his need. There too, in attendance on poor Henry, was Dr. +Morton, the parson of Bloxworth and Master in Chancery--a treble-dyed +traitor and falsifier of history, who afterwards flourished like {25} a +green bay tree, and died Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury at the age +of ninety. + +So far as experience and military training were concerned, the reliance +of the Lancastrians was on Lord Welles, Lord Hungerford, and Sir Andrew +Trollope. Lionel Lord Welles, now in his fifty-fifth year, had seen +much service in France, and had filled the important posts of +Lieutenant in Ireland and Captain of Calais. Lord Hungerford had +served under the great Talbot, and was present at the fatal battle of +Chastillon, where he was taken prisoner. At that time, during his +father's life, he was known as Lord Molines, in right of his wife. +Trollope was a veteran of the French wars, and seems to have been +looked to as the officer who would marshal the army and select +positions. He had been a trusted Yorkist captain, and was long in +command of the Calais garrison. But when the two rival armies were +confronted near Ludlow, in October 1459, he had secretly deserted with +a large part of the best soldiers from Calais and gone over to Queen +Margaret. This had given her a temporary triumph; and Trollope had +since been her most trusted military adviser. + +The force collected at York numbered 60,000; and the largest bodies of +men that have ever tried conclusions on English ground were thus +gathered together between York and Pomfret. + +A distance of twenty-five miles separated the towers of Pomfret Castle, +under whose shadows young Edward was marshalling his avenging army, +from Micklegate Bar, over which the head of his beloved father was +withering in the chilling gales of that bitter month of March 1461. +Nine of those miles covered the distance from York to Tadcaster on the +river Wharfe, and the {26} rest of the distance, from the Wharfe to the +Aire, was the scene of the momentous campaign. + +The tract of country between the Wharfe and the Aire is a portion of +that magnesian limestone formation which extends in a narrow zone +across Yorkshire. It is crossed by the principal streams flowing to +the Humber, the Ure, the Nidd, the Wharfe, the Aire, the Went, and the +Don; and they all form picturesque gorges, with overhanging limestone +cliffs and crags, before they enter the great alluvial plain of York. +This hilly limestone region, between the Wharfe and the Aire, was once +a great forest of elm trees. It was the Elmet of remote times. When +the forest was cleared the name remained, and the people called the +limestone country 'Elmet lands.' The little river Cock rises on +Bramham Moor, flows through this limestone country in a winding course +among the undulating hills, and falls into the Wharfe below Tadcaster. +Passing the village of Barwick-in-Elmet, it winds along the skirts of +'Becca Banks,' so famous for rare wild flowers, flows under the bridge +at Aberford, and westward to Lead Hall, a farmhouse in a great meadow +about half a mile short of the village of Saxton. Thence it takes a +northerly course to its junction with the Wharfe. Here the winding +little brook has hills on either side, covered with woods, with Towton +on the right bank, and Hazlewood, the ancient seat of the Vavasours, to +the left. It passes through extensive willow garths, and by the +village of Stutton, entering the Wharfe, near Tadcaster, after a course +of about ten miles. + +At present the road from York to Pomfret turns south at the end of +Tadcaster Street, and goes direct to Towton and Sherburn, passing the +lodge gate at {27} Grimston. But in those days it continued along the +left bank of the Cock to beyond Stutton, crossed the little brook by +Renshaw Wood, and led up a gentle slope to the hamlet of Towton. By +this route the Lancastrian army advanced from Tadcaster, and encamped +on the fields between Towton and Saxton. The main road leads direct +from Towton to Sherburn, leaving Saxton on the right, and +Scarthingwell, with its mere and heronry, on the left. From Sherburn +to Ferrybridge the distance is six miles due south. The distance from +Ferrybridge, by Sherburn and Saxton, to the battlefield of Towton is +nine miles. + +On March 26, 1461, the great army of the Lancastrians was encamped +round the hamlet of Towton. King Edward's headquarters were at +Pomfret, and he had an advanced post to defend the passage of the river +Aire in his front, at Ferrybridge, under the command of the titular +Lord Fitzwalter, an experienced veteran of the French wars. The object +of the Lancastrian leader in advancing across the Wharfe was to oppose +the passage of Edward's army over the river Aire at Ferrybridge. The +deposed King and Queen, with Lord Roos and Dr. Morton, awaited the +event at York. But the Lancastrians were too late. Lord Clifford and +Sir John Nevill, however, did press forward in advance, in hopes of +surprising the outlying post of Yorkists at Ferrybridge. In this they +were successful. The guard at the bridge was taken completely by +surprise before the dawn of March 28, and slaughtered by Lord +Clifford's men. Lord Fitzwalter, hearing the noise, thought it was +merely a disturbance among his own soldiers. He jumped out of bed, ran +down with a battle-axe in his hand, and was slain as he came into {28} +the street. The brave young bastard of Salisbury fell with him. + +This unexpected onslaught caused a panic in the Yorkist camp, which was +increased by the conduct of the excitable Earl of Warwick. He lost his +head, galloped up to the King's tent, dismounted and killed his horse, +crying out, 'Let him fly that will, for surely by this cross I will +tarry with him who will tarry with me, fall back fall edge!'[1] The +conduct of young Edward was very different. Perfectly cool and +collected, his firmness restored order among the soldiers. He soon saw +that the attack had been made by a small force which would as rapidly +retreat. He, therefore, gave prompt orders to his uncle, Lord +Fauconberg, to cross the river Aire at Castleford, about three miles to +the left, with troops led by Sir Walter Blount and Robert Home of Kent. +His object was to intercept the retreat of Lord Clifford. This +judicious order was ably carried out by the veteran general. +Fauconberg overtook the enemy, and a complete rout of the Lancastrians +followed. The chase was continued through Sherburn to a little dell or +valley called Dittingdale,[2] between Scarthingwell and Towton. Here +there was a rally, close to the outposts of the main army of the +Lancastrians. Lord Clifford, while taking off his gorget, owing to its +having chafed his neck, was struck {29} by an arrow and killed. Sir +John Nevill was also slain, and there was a great slaughter among the +flying troops. The Yorkist pursuers fell back on their supports +without serious loss. + +Lord Clifford was only in his twenty-sixth year. His father was slain +at the first battle of St. Albans, and he had naturally joined the same +cause with enthusiasm. But, as has already been pointed out, the story +of his having assassinated a defenceless little boy on Wakefield Bridge +is a fiction. There is no reason to believe that Clifford was such a +base caitiff. He was evidently an active and enterprising leader. It +is the tradition of the family that he was buried, with a heap of +undistinguished dead, on the battlefield. Sir John Nevill, a younger +brother of the second Earl of Westmoreland, and father of the third +Earl, was probably buried within Saxton Church.[3] The loss of these +two gallant and influential young leaders, whose scattered fugitives +brought in the news on that Friday night, must have cast a gloom over +the Lancastrian army. + +King Edward now resolved to advance with his whole force and attack the +enemy where he was encamped. He believed that the main body could not +have been very far distant when Lord Clifford was detached to make the +attack at Ferrybridge. The van division of the Yorkist army, led by +Lord Fauconberg and Sir Walter Blount, was already across the river +Aire, and orders were given to them to march northwards by Sherburn and +Saxton. The King himself, {30} with the Earl of Warwick, was to follow +at the head of the main body. The Duke of Norfolk should have led the +van, but he was taken ill, and it was arranged that he should remain +behind at Pomfret, with Sir John Wenlock and Sir John Dynham, and +follow next day with the rear division and any reinforcements that +might have arrived.[4] + +During March 28, the Eve of Palm Sunday, the Yorkist army was marching +northwards in two divisions. It must have been late in the afternoon +when the division of Lord Fauconberg passed through Sherburn-in-Elmet, +a long street with the old Norman church on an isolated hill to the +westward. Two miles more brought him to Saxton late in the evening. +Saxton was a small village, with the manor house of the Hungates, and a +very old church of Norman times. Thence a steep ascent leads northward +to the battlefield. To the east is the high road from York to Pomfret, +passing over elevated ground. To the west is a ravine with sides +sloping down to the valley of the Cock. The latter brook is seen +winding through the {31} green valley, with roads on either side. +Northwards there was high undulating ground, and the hamlet of Towton +is two miles north of Saxton. + +On the ground between Towton and Saxton the Lancastrian army was +encamped. The centre, led by the Earl of Northumberland and Sir +Richard Percy, with Lord Welles and Sir Andrew Trollope, was formed +across the road leading up from Saxton. To the east, forming the +Lancastrian left, Lord Dacre and his brother-in-law Lord FitzHugh were +encamped on some land called 'North Acres.' To the west, forming the +right wing, were the Earls of Devonshire and Wiltshire, and Lords +Hungerford and Beaumont. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter commanded a +reserve at Towton village. + +When Lord Fauconberg arrived at Saxton he ascertained the position of +the enemy and sent intelligence to the King. Edward had probably +reached Sherburn by that time, and he at once pushed forward to the +neighbourhood of Saxton. The whole Yorkist force numbered 48,640 men, +including the reserves, which were still at Pomfret under the Duke of +Norfolk. + +Palm Sunday dawned and found the host of young Edward facing the long +array of Lancastrians. It was bitterly cold. The advance up the +hillside from Saxton village was made between eight and nine o'clock in +the forenoon, and when the hostile forces came in sight there was a +great shouting. At the same time snow began to fall. The wind was +northerly in the early morning, but it veered round, became fresher, +and by nine o'clock it was driving the snow full into the faces of the +Lancastrian troops. The two armies, just before they closed, were {32} +separated by an undulating depression which marks the exact position. + +Lord Fauconberg caused every archer under his standard to shoot one +flight of arrows and then halt. The enemy felt the volley, but could +not judge of distances on account of the blinding snow. Their arrows +fell short. As soon as the quivers of the enemy were nearly empty, +Lord Fauconberg gave the order for his archers to advance, shooting as +they came on, and they not only shot off their own arrows, but gathered +those of the enemy and sent many of them back whence they came. Then +the Earl of Northumberland ordered his men to close, and the battle +became a fierce hand-to-hand combat all along the line. For several +hours the desperate conflict continued, ebbing and flowing with +doubtful result, the snow still falling. King Edward was everywhere, +exhorting and encouraging the men, leading them on when they wavered, +and helping the wounded out of the fray. The struggle was obstinate +and long doubtful. Men were falling fast on both sides. Lord Scrope +of Bolton was severely wounded. Robert Home, the valiant captain of +Kent, who came from Appledore on the Rother, fell dead. + +Messengers had been sent in hot haste to hurry up the Duke of Norfolk +with the reserves. He arrived at about noon. With his trusty +lieutenants Wenlock and Dynham, he led his men up the road from +Sherburn, keeping well to the east of Saxton, and ailing upon the +Lancastrian left flank at 'North Acres.' + +This was the turning point of the battle. The Lancastrians were +disheartened at the arrival of fresh foes. The fighting continued +until late in the {33} afternoon, and the slaughter was prodigious, but +gradually the Lancastrian left wing was doubled up on the centre; the +confusion increased, and there was a complete rout. Lord Dacre had +fallen early in the day. He was killed by a boy who shot him from a +'bur' tree,[5] when he had unclasped his helmet to drink a cup of wine. +The lad thus avenged his father's death, who had been slain by the +northern baron. Lord Caere's friends, Sir John and Sir Thomas +Crakenthorpe, from the banks of the Eden, fell with him. The Earl of +Northumberland, Sir Richard Percy, Lord Welles, and Sir Andrew Trollope +were slain in the thick of the fight, with many more. The retreat to +the eastward being cut off by the Duke of Norfolk, the defeated army +fled down the steep slopes into the valley of the Cock closely pursued. + +The well-mounted noblemen, Somerset and Exeter, Devonshire and +Wiltshire, Beaumont, Hungerford, and FitzHugh, with many knights, +effected their escape. But the footmen were cut down by hundreds in +the pursuit. The little Cock beck is not very wide, but it is deep, +and many fugitives were drowned in it. The country people declared +that the pursuers crossed the brook on dead bodies, and that the river +Wharfe was coloured with blood. The Croyland monk relates that the +blood of the slain lay caked with snow, which then covered the ground, +and that afterwards, when the snow melted, the blood flowed along the +furrows and ditches for a distance of two or three miles. The chase +continued all night and part of next day. + +Fully 10,000 were stated to have been wounded or {34} made prisoners, +and Polydore Virgil says that some were cured and some died. This +disposes of the statement of Hall, which is adopted by modern writers, +that no quarter was given. Edward always gave quarter to the men and +junior officers of a defeated army. + +The fugitive nobles only had time to ride through York, calling upon +Henry and Margaret, with their child, to mount and ride as hard as +their horses would carry them. Away they went out of Bootham, and +through the dark forest of Galtres, to take refuge in Scotland. + +King Edward advanced to York on Monday, March 30, 1461, where he was +received with great solemnity by the mayor and commons of the city, in +procession. They obtained grace through the intercession of Lords +Montagu and Berners. The heads of the Duke of York, the Earl of +Rutland, and the Earl of Salisbury were removed from the gates of York, +and placed with the bodies at Pomfret, preparatory to the subsequent +magnificent obsequies at Fotheringhay and Bisham. + +Only four executions took place at York, of the Earl of Devonshire, Sir +Baldwin Fulford, Sir William Talboys, and Sir William Hill. The Earl +of Wiltshire was captured by William Salkeld at Cockermouth. For this +prominent actor in the barbarous deeds after Wakefield fight there +could be no forgiveness. He was beheaded at Newcastle on May 1. + +The Earl of Northumberland, a first cousin of King Edward, was buried +in the north choir of St. Denis church at York, probably with his +brother Sir Richard Percy. The body of Lord Welles was taken to +Methley, and buried in the Waterton Chapel. Lord Dacre was buried, +with his horse, in Saxton churchyard, on the {35} north side of the +church, where there is a monument to his memory. The undistinguished +dead were at first buried in five great pits on the battlefield, and in +separate graves in the valley. It was a tradition that red and white +roses grew and flourished on the battlefield, and it is true that there +are many rose bushes in the meadows. Leland tells us that Master +Hungate of Saxton caused the dead bodies to be brought from the pits on +the battlefield, and buried in consecrated ground, in a trench running +the whole length of Saxton churchyard. + +King Edward kept his Easter at York, which fell that year on April 5. +He then advanced as far as Durham, whence he returned southwards, +leaving the pacification of the north to the Earl of Warwick and his +brother Lord Montagu. Early in June Edward was at the manor of Sheen, +and on the 26th of that month he came from Sheen to the Tower of +London. On the 27th he created thirty Knights of the Bath, and on +Sunday the 28th he was solemnly crowned in Westminster Abbey by +Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. + +The King liberally rewarded his supporters. The Duke of Norfolk died +in November 1461, and was buried before the high altar at Thetford. +But Lord Fauconberg was created Earl of Kent and Lord High Admiral. He +died in 1463. Sir Walter Blount was created Lord Mountjoy and a Knight +of the Garter. Sir John Dynham, a valued adherent, was created Lord +Dynham; and Sir John Wenlock, already a Knight of the Garter, was +created Lord Wenlock. Many Yorkists were knighted, either on the field +or afterwards at the coronation. Young William Hastings, the King's +most faithful follower, was {36} knighted on the field, and created +Lord Hastings, in July 1461. Among the Knights of the Bath were the +gentlemen of Nottinghamshire who had joined the King on the march +northward, Sir Robert Clifton, Sir Nicholas Byron, and Sir Robert and +Sir John Markham. + +Edward IV. was 'a King who, with many faults, was most honourably +anxious from the first to do justice even to the meanest of his +subjects.'[6] After the first heat of battle had passed he was +placable and forgiving. He had strong and justifiable cause for +resentment against his opponents at Towton. In the white heat of his +indignation, with the sight of his father's head over Micklegate Bar +fresh in his recollection, he stayed his avenging hand after four +executions. The bill of attainder passed by his first Parliament +included 150 names, but many were afterwards granted full pardons, and +all who submitted received back portions of their estates. The Duke of +Somerset made his peace, and was taken into favour. The son of the +Earl of Northumberland was restored to all his father's honours. The +brother of the Earl of Wiltshire, though he was also at Towton, was +restored to all his estates, was taken into favour, and succeeded as +sixth Earl of Ormond. Similar forgiveness was extended to the +Courtenays, and to the brother of Lord Dacre. Although Lord Hungerford +continued in rebellion, Edward IV. treated his wife and young children +with kindness and generosity, making an ample provision for them out of +their father's forfeited lands. The son of Lord Welles was taken into +favour, and had a grant of all his father's forfeited property. Lord +FitzHugh was forgiven and employed in positions of importance. {37} +Mr. Thorold Rogers says:--'I entirely discredit the stories told of the +tyranny and suspiciousness of Edward IV. He never refused a petition +for pardon.'[7] + +All historians unite in the statement that the old nobility of England +was nearly annihilated by the battles and executions during the Wars of +the Roses. But facts are opposed to this theory. Scarcely a single +peerage became extinct owing to the Wars of the Roses.[8] + +The battles of Wakefield and Towton made a deep impression on the mind +of Prince Richard, although he was but eight years old. The fate of +his father and brother in a battle which drove him into exile, and then +the crowning victory following so rapidly, could not fail to do so. In +later years he erected a memorial chapel at Towton, where prayers were +to be offered up for the souls of the fallen. It was standing in +Leland's time, but there is now no vestige of this pious work of King +Richard III.[9] + + + +[1] Mr. Green, in his _History of the English People_, places the time +of Warwick's killing his horse 'at one critical moment' during the +battle of Towton. But the evidence that this act of folly was +perpetrated owing to the panic after the surprise at Ferrybridge is +quite conclusive. + +[2] Hall has _Dintingdale_, Habington spells it _Dindingdale_, Baker +has _Dandingdale_. There is no such place on the maps. But Whitaker, +in his _History of Craven_, says that the Rev. F. Wilkinson, Vicar of +Bordsey, discovered the almost forgotten name of Dittingdale, as that +of a dell or small valley in Scarthingwell Park. + +[3] Leland says that the Earl of Westmoreland was killed, and buried +within Saxton Church. Hall also includes the Earl of Westmoreland +among the slain. They mistook him for Sir John Nevill. The Earl +himself did not die until 1485. Sharon Turner and later writers repeat +the blunder. The Earl of Westmoreland was not in the battle. + +[4] Mr. Green says that 'the Duke of Norfolk came with a fresh force +from the eastern counties.' The Duke came from Pomfret, having left +London with the King. Sharon Turner says: 'We owe the remarkable fact +of the battle beginning at four o'clock in the afternoon and continuing +through the night, and of Norfolk's coming up the next clay at noon to +Hearne's fragment.' This fragment was transcribed by Hearne from an +old manuscript, but not older than Hall's _Chronicle_. The statement +that the battle began at four on Saturday afternoon and went on through +the night, not only contradicts Hall and Stow, but is also impossible. +Edward's army could not have got over the ground in time to begin the +battle at four in the afternoon. Possibly the mistake of the anonymous +writer of Hearne's fragment arose from having been told that Lord +Fauconberg came in sight of the Lancastrian army at twilight. It was +not the twilight of Saturday afternoon, but of Palm Sunday morning, as +Hall explains. + +[5] _Loidis and Elmete_, p. 156. Dr. Whitaker says that the word +'_bur_' is very distinct in Glover's manuscript. It means an alder +tree, from the old Norse '_bur_' or '_baurr_.' + +[6] Gairdner. Introduction to the _Paston Letters_, ii. p. xii. + +[7] _Work and Wages_, ii. 316. + +[8] The Duke of Exeter was separated from his wife, and had no +children. The Duke of Somerset, who was beheaded, had six daughters, +and another was unmarried. But the House of Somerset was perpetuated +in that of Beaufort. A few new peerages became extinct because their +recipients did not marry, such as Egremont and Wenlock. But Lord +Egremont was a Percy, and the family of Percy continued to flourish. +No more peerages became extinct owing to the Wars of the Roses than +would have done so in a time of profound peace. + +[9] There is a warrant for 40_l._ to be given for building the chapel +at Towton, dated November 28, 1483 (Harl. MSS., No. 413). In July +1488, an indulgence of forty days was granted _ad speciosam capellam in +villa de Toughton (per Saxton) de novo a fundamentis sumptuose et +nobiliter erectam, super quodam loco seu fondo ubi corpora procerum et +magnatum ac aliorum hominum multitudine copiosa in quodam bello in +campis circumjacentibus inito interfectorum sepeliuntur_. In December +1502 another indulgence of forty days was granted. The exact site of +the chapel is the garden behind Mr. Kendall's house. + + + + +{38} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CROWN LOST AND WON--BATTLE OF BARNET + +The young princes, George and Richard, were in Holland for about six +months, under the protection of the Duke of Burgundy. They resided at +Utrecht. Then the news came of Edward's accession, and the crowning +victory of Towton. The two boys were brought home again, and were soon +under their mother's immediate care, with their sister Margaret. + +Immediately after the coronation, George was created Duke of Clarence; +and Richard Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Carlisle, and Earl of +Richmond,[1] a title which had merged in the crown after the attainder +of Edmund Tudor. Richard was created a Knight of the Garter in 1465. +In February 1466 his sword and helmet were placed in St. George's +Chapel, and he took possession of his stall in the following April. +His stall plate is now in the ninth stall on the south side of the +choir, in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. The arms are France and +England quarterly, with a silver label of three points, each ermine +with a canton gules. The crest is a crowned leopard gold, on a cap of +estate, with a label as in the arms, round his neck. The helm is +barred as used in the _mêlée_, the only one on the early plates, the +rest all being tilting helms. + +{39} + +The first public appearance of young Richard was on the occasion of his +father's solemn obsequies. The Duke of York's body, and that of his +son Edmund Earl of Rutland, had to be conveyed from Pomfret to +Fotheringhay, and the Duke of Gloucester, then in his fourteenth year, +was appointed by the King to be chief mourner. On July 22, 1466, the +bodies of Richard Duke of York, and of his son, Edmund Earl of Rutland, +were taken from their temporary resting place at Pomfret, and placed in +a chariot covered with black velvet, richly embroidered with cloth of +gold. At the feet of the Duke stood the figure of an angel clothed in +white, bearing a crown of gold, to signify that of right he was a king. +The chariot was drawn by four horses trapped to the ground. Every +horse carried a man, and upon the foremost rode Sir John Skipwith, who +bore the Duke's banner displayed. Bishops and abbots, in their robes, +went two or three miles in front, to prepare the churches for the +reception of the bodies.'[2] The boy Duke of Gloucester followed next +after the chariot, accompanied by noblemen and heralds. In this order +they left Pomfret and rested that night at Doncaster. Thence they +proceeded by easy stages to Blythe, Tuxford, Newark, Grantham, and +Stamford. On Monday, July 27, the procession arrived at Fotheringhay. +The bodies were carried into the church by servants of the deceased, +and received by the King and his Court in deep mourning. + +Edward IV. built a magnificent shrine in the choir, over the tombs of +his father and brother, and completed the works of the college, +including the cloister.[3] + +{40} + +There is reason to believe that the young Duke of Gloucester received +his knightly training in the use of arms from the age of fourteen, in +the household of his cousin the Earl of Warwick. There are payments to +the Earl for costs and expenses incurred by him on account of Richard, +the King's brother. Here he was the companion of Francis Lovel and +Robert Percy, for both of whom he formed a friendship which ended only +with death. Here too he was the playfellow of his cousin Anne Nevill, +and an attachment was probably then formed between them, which was +destined to bear fruit in after years. We find Richard and Anne +sitting together at the installation feast of her uncle the Archbishop +of York in 1467. + +Richard was short in stature, with a delicate fragile frame, the right +shoulder being slightly higher than the left. But he had been inured +to warlike exercises, and was fond of hunting and all manly sports. He +had light brown hair and a very handsome face, full of energy and +decision, yet with a gentle and even melancholy expression when the +features were at rest.[4] + +{41} + +While Richard was receiving a knightly education in the north, his +brother Edward was conducting his own and the country's affairs +recklessly and without wisdom. The secret marriage ceremony he went +through with the widow of Lord Grey of Groby, and her subsequent +coronation, had estranged the nobles, and their disgust was increased +by the promotion and enrichment of her Woodville relations. The Earl +of Warwick, the cousin and formerly the supporter of Edward, became the +chief among the malcontents. He married his daughter Isabella to the +Duke of Clarence, without the King's consent or knowledge, and +afterwards fostered and encouraged disturbances and insurrections. At +last he went to France with Clarence, and made an agreement with +Margaret of Anjou to restore Henry VI. to the throne. Finally he +returned to England, with the Duke of Clarence, as an open enemy of +King Edward. Troops rapidly flocked to his standard, and the country +was lost and won as if by magic. + +Warwick had used all his arts of persuasion to induce the younger +brothers of the King to be false to their allegiance. With Clarence he +succeeded; but Richard never wavered for a moment. His loyalty to his +brother was not to be shaken. There is something very touching in the +unalterable affection between Edward and Richard. In Edward, from the +time when he used to visit his little brother every day in Paston's +chambers, to the hour of his death, there was a loving protection and a +solicitude for the lad's welfare which was shown in many ways. On the +part of Richard there was loyalty and zeal for his elder {42} brother's +service as well as warm affection. His motto was + + 'LOYAULTÉ ME LIE.'[5] + (Loyalty bindeth me.) + +From the moment that Warwick became a traitor, Richard was constantly +by his brother's side, sharing his long marches,[6] his dangers and +hardships. When Warwick landed and proclaimed the restoration of Henry +VI., King Edward summoned his forces to assemble at Doncaster, +particularly relying on the Marquis Montagu, Warwick's brother, in +whose loyalty he implicitly believed. Edward related to the historian +Comines the events immediately preceding his flight from the kingdom. +He was in a fortified house with his friends, to which the only access +was a bridge, and the troops were quartered in the villages near. +Suddenly news arrived that Montagu and others were riding among his +soldiers shouting for Henry. Edward hastily put on his armour and sent +a body of faithful adherents to defend the bridge. There was nothing +left but flight. Accompanied by his brother Richard and a few loyal +friends the King galloped off, leaving Lord Hastings to gain time by +defending the bridge. Hastings made some terms for his followers with +Montagu, and then followed his master. Reaching Lynn, in Norfolk, the +fugitives found two Dutch vessels on the point of sailing. They +immediately went on board without other clothes than _leurs habillemens +de guerre_.[7] The brothers were accompanied in their flight by Lords +Hastings, Rivers, and Saye, and a few faithful knights. Narrowly +escaping capture by an Easterling ship, they landed near Alkmaar {43} +in North Holland. A gown lined with martens was the only thing of +value wherewith King Edward could pay his passage; and he was saved +from capture by the Easterlings through the intervention of the Sieur +Louis de Bruges, Lord of Gruthuus, who received the fugitives with +generous hospitality and conducted them to The Hague. King Edward and +his host were brother Knights of the Golden Fleece, an obligation which +the lord of Gruthuus most fully recognised. He gave up his great house +at Bruges for the use of the exiled princes, who resided there during +the ensuing winter, and he also lent them his château of Oostcamp. +From Bruges, King Edward and his brother proceeded to the court of the +Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol, to seek for aid in recovering the crown of +England. Charles the Bold publicly declined to interfere, and the +Lancastrian Duke of Somerset hurried to London with the good news. But +Charles had been married, in 1468, to the Princess Margaret of York, +who was devotedly attached to her brothers. She opened a +correspondence with the Duke of Clarence in England, to induce him to +return to his allegiance. Through her influence, the aid which had +been withheld publicly was given in secret. She smoothed all +difficulties, and enabled her brothers to undertake their romantic +enterprise. For Edward was resolved to recover his crown, and Richard, +from this time, was his efficient lieutenant. + +Richard's services in Flanders, and especially in fitting out the +expedition, secured for him the full confidence of his brother. The +ships had to be equipped very secretly and with great care. The +Duchess Margaret had procured a grant of 15,000 florins, and permission +to get ready four ships of Flanders and thirteen {44} hired +Easterlings[8] which were to be at Edward's service until he should +land in England, and for fifteen days afterwards. The next step was +the selection of a seaport where the expedition could be quietly fitted +out. The Lord of Gruthuus again proved a friend in need. He had +married Margaret, the sister of Henry van Borselle, Lord of the island +of Walcheren. The traditions of the family of Borselle were adverse to +the House of Lancaster, for Francis van Borselle was the lover, and +eventually the husband, of that unfortunate Jacoba of Holland who was +treated so shamefully by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. The excellent +ports of Veere and Flushing were, therefore, placed at Edward's +disposal. + +The expedition was fitted out in the port of Veere, under the +protection of Henry van Borselle. Besides the King and young Richard, +Lords Hastings, Rivers, and Saye were the principal leaders. The +expeditionary force consisted of 900 men, in addition to the crews of +the ships. A select body of 300 Flemish gunners, armed with hand-guns, +formed part of the little army; and this is nearly the first time that +these new weapons are mentioned in English warfare. The men carried +slow matches, and are called 'smoky gunners' by Fabyan. Richard +actively helped in the preparation of this daring little expedition at +Veere; for by this time the King had learned to appreciate his +brother's remarkable ability and fitness for command. + +By the end of February 1471, the ships were ready. They were brought +down the Channel from Veere to Flushing and the troops were embarked. +{45} But they had to wait nine days in Flushing Roads for a fair wind, +and it was not until Monday, March 11, that the gallant adventurers +sailed for the Norfolk coast. Edward was in one ship with Lord +Hastings, while his brother had a separate command in another vessel, +each being followed by a squadron of transports. It is probable that +the exiled King shaped a course for the coast of Norfolk in the hope +that the influence of the Duke, who was faithful to his cause, would +ensure him a cordial reception. But he was disappointed. Two knights, +named Sir Robert Chamberlain and Sir Gilbert Debenham, went on shore at +Cromer and found the country occupied by Warwick's adherents. Edward, +therefore, steered for Yorkshire, and encountered a gale of wind which +lasted from March 12 to 14, scattering his little squadron. When +Edward and Hastings anchored off Ravenspur,[9] on the Holderness coast, +no other vessel was in sight. The King landed and burnt his ship, +resolved to regain his crown or perish in the attempt. + +Edward stood on that dreary waste of sand with 500 followers. The +look-out was black indeed. He had seen nothing of the other ships +since they were separated by the gale off Cromer. He sent scouts to +the adjacent villages, but not a man ventured to join his standard. +While hesitating what should be the next step, horsemen appeared over +the brow of a rising ground. The adventurers stood to their arms, but +a few minutes turned anxiety into joy. The young Duke of Gloucester +was seen to be at the head of a little force of 300 men. He had +effected a landing {46} at a point about four miles from Ravenspur, and +hurried to join his brother. Soon afterwards Lord Rivers, who had +reached the shore at a place called Pole, fourteen miles away, made his +appearance. Thus was the little force once more united. They marched +to Beverley and thence to York, but although armed men were seen, no +one either molested them or came to their assistance. There appears to +have been no ill-will among the people, but fear of the power of the +Earl of Warwick and a belief that Edward's cause was hopeless. + +The authorities of York did not dare to receive Edward as King. It was +thought advisable that, at this stage, he should only claim his +hereditary dukedom.[10] This deceived no one, but it would enable the +mayor and aldermen of York to defend their conduct in the event of +Edward's overthrow. They received him into their town, gave him +supplies, and next day he marched southwards to Tadcaster. + +The campaign by which Edward regained the crown was one of the most +brilliant that has ever been conducted by an English general. It +elicited proofs of consummate military skill from the Yorkist princes, +and displays of valour and presence of mind in action which were never +surpassed by any of their race. Edward IV. is entitled to an equal +place as a military commander with Edward III. or Henry V. His +strategy and resource were superior to those of either. He never lost +a battle, though he never {47} declined a combat. In three short +months from the time that he landed with a handful of men on the coast +of Holderness, he had outwitted and out-manoeuvred his opponents, had +won two pitched battles, and had recovered his crown. Richard deserves +scarcely less credit. He was only eighteen, yet he contributed largely +to the success of the campaign, while in battle his brother entrusted +the young prince with important separate commands. + +Edward's little band of adventurers was opposed by the whole resources +of England in the hands of the Earl of Warwick. The Earl himself was +posted with a strong force at Coventry. His brother Montagu occupied +an advanced position at Pomfret to intercept the invaders on their +southward march. The Earl of Oxford was advancing from the Eastern +counties, and Clarence from London. By a masterly flank march the King +passed to the westward of Pomfret and reached Nottingham, leaving +Montagu in his rear baffled and outwitted. At Nottingham loyal men +began to flock to the King's standard. The Earl of Oxford and Duke of +Exeter had advanced against him from the Eastern counties, but the +rumoured increase of his forces made them halt at Newark. The King +pressed onwards to Leicester, and marching thence to Coventry, offered +battle to the Earl of Warwick, who was behind the walls with 7,000 men. +Warwick declined. He was taken completely by surprise. This was on +March 29, only a fortnight after Edward had landed. Without losing a +moment the royal army marched on to Warwick, and on the approach of +Clarence from London, his brothers encamped in a field three miles on +the road to Banbury. + +{48} + +The negotiations between King Edward and Clarence were conducted +throughout by their younger brother Richard, and to him is due the +credit of the reconciliation which took place. He thus restored one +brother to his throne, and reclaimed the other from dishonour. The +defection of Clarence left no enemy between the King and his capital. +Edward reached Daventry on the night of April 6, attending divine +service there on Palm Sunday. On the 9th he was at Northampton, and on +the 11th he entered London, where he was joyfully received by the +citizens. + +Warwick was outwitted like his brother. There was nothing left for him +but to follow the King, who could give him battle or not as he chose. +So the baffled Earl concentrated his army, calling up Montagu from +Pomfret, Vere and Exeter from Newark, and Somerset from the west. +Having united his forces he marched towards London, reaching St. Albans +on the 12th, and encamping on Gladmore Heath to the north of Barnet, +and about ten miles from London, on the afternoon of April 13. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Barnet] + +The King only had one full day in London, in which to organise his +little army, now increased to 9,000 men, and to rest the faithful few +who had marched with him from Ravenspur. He entered London on the +11th, and in the forenoon of the 13th he marched out to encounter his +enemies. Advancing to Barnet his scouts drove out the scouts of +Warwick and chased them for half a mile. The King then marched through +the town, and reached Gladmore Heath when it was dusk. He encamped +much nearer the enemy than he intended, and by reason of the darkness +his line was not formed directly in front of the opposing force. {49} +The King's right extended beyond Warwick's left, while his left was +similarly overlapped by Warwick's right. In one respect this was +fortunate, for Warwick's artillery was in his right wing, and he kept +up a fire all through the night[11] without doing any damage to his +adversaries, because their left wing was not posted in front of the +rebel right wing; but somewhat to the eastward of it. + +Warwick had drawn up his army with his brother Montagu and John Vere, +son of the attainted Earl of Oxford, in charge of the right wing +consisting mainly of cavalry; the Duke of Somerset in the centre with +archers and bill-men; and Warwick himself, with the Duke of Exeter, in +command of the left wing. The opposing force of the King was inferior +in numbers to that of the rebels. Edward, accompanied by Clarence and +Henry VI., commanded the centre in person. On the left was Lord +Hastings, while young Richard Duke of Gloucester, who was only eighteen +years of age, had charge of the right wing. A strong body of infantry +was kept in reserve. The King ordered strict silence to be observed +throughout the night. + +When the morning of Easter Sunday, April 14, at length dawned there was +a dense fog, so that the two armies could barely distinguish each +other. At half-past four the King advanced his standards, and sounded +his trumpets for battle. There were flights of arrows, and then the +opposing forces closed and encountered each other with hand strokes, in +the thick mist. For a long time it was impossible for the leaders to +know what was taking place in different parts of the field. Oxford +found little to oppose him. He charged the {50} followers of Lord +Hastings and easily routed them, continuing the chase beyond Barnet. +Then he returned to reinforce the main body; but here a fatal mistake +occurred. The cognizance of King Edward was the sun in splendour, +adopted after seeing the parhelion at Mortimer's Cross. The cognizance +of the Veres was a star with rays.[12] When the soldiers of Warwick's +centre, under Somerset, saw a fresh body of men approaching under the +banner of the star, they mistook it for the King's cognizance and +thought they were attacked in flank. A cry of treason ran through +their ranks. Up to this time they had stubbornly resisted the +onslaughts of King Edward and his men, but now they broke and fled. +Somerset and Vere rode away with their men, and made good their escape. + +Meanwhile the Duke of Gloucester had led his troops to a furious attack +on the enemy's left wing which was commanded by Warwick in person. The +Duke himself plunged into the thickest of the fight. His two esquires, +John Milwater[13] and Thomas Parr, were slain by his side. At the +moment when the fate of the battle was still uncertain, and when the +King heard that his young brother was hard pressed, the reserves were +brought into action, just as Somerset's division began to waver. +Victory then ceased to be {51} doubtful, and soon there was complete +rout all along the rebel line. The Earl of Warwick and his brother +Montagu fell either in the battle or in attempting to escape. The +accounts vary. Though enemies and traitors to the royal brothers, they +were cousins, and had once been devoted friends. The King sincerely +mourned the death of Montagu, and the depth of Richard's sorrow is +proved by his subsequent intercession for Montagu's heirs. The bodies, +after being laid for two days in St. Paul's Cathedral, were honourably +interred in the burial place of their mother's family at Bisham. The +losses on the King's side included Lord Saye, who had shared Edward's +exile, Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell,[14] another Sir Humphrey +Bourchier,[15] son of Lord Berners, and the son and heir of Lord +Mountjoy. The losses, on both sides, {52} amounted to about 1,500 +men.[16] King Edward and the Duke of Gloucester returned to London the +same day, while their army rested for the night on the battlefield. + + + +[1] _Rot. Parl._ vol. vi. p. 227. Halsted, i. 432. + +[2] Sandford, p. 391. + +[3] The tombs were desecrated in the time of Edward VI., when the +college was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Queen +Elizabeth gave orders that they should be restored. The bones of +Richard Duke of York, of the Duchess Cicely, and of Edmund Earl of +Rutland, lapped in lead, were removed into the parish church. For the +choir, where they rested under the beautiful shrine, had been +destroyed. Mean monuments of plaster were then erected over them, and +over the remains of Edward Duke of York, on either side of the altar. +They are specimens of the taste of the Elizabethan age, fluted columns +supporting a frieze and cornice, ornamented with the falcon and +fetter-lock. In the inscriptions they have forgotten the name of young +Edmund Earl of Rutland. + +[4] Portrait at Windsor Castle. Dr. Parr, in a letter to Roscoe, +speaking of the head of Lorenzo (the Magnificent) prefixed to Roscoe's +biography, says: 'I am very much mistaken if, by invigorating a few +traits, it would not make an excellent head of Richard III.'--_Life of +Roscoe_, i. 178. + +[5] Buck, p. 83. + +[6] _Paston Letters_, ii. 357, 389. + +[7] Comines. + +[8] The ships of the towns belonging to the Hanseatic League, in the +Baltic, and on the Elbe, were known in England by the name of +Easterlings. + +[9] Ravenspur appears, from the description of the writer in Fleetwood, +to have been inside Spurn Head. He says: 'He landed within Humber on +Holderness side, at a place called Ravenspoure.' + +[10] The Tudor chroniclers, as is their wont, grossly exaggerate and +misrepresent this incident: introducing imaginary details, including an +oath before an altar, vows of allegiance to Henry VI., and other +romances. These are the offspring of their zeal to please their Tudor +paymasters, by traducing the House of York. + +[11] Warkworth says that: 'each of them loosed guns at other all +night.' Balls have been dug up weighing 1-½ lbs. + +[12] The second Alberic de Vere, father of the first Earl of Oxford, +was a crusader. In 1098 he was in a battle near Antioch when the +infidels were defeated. During the chase, a silver star of five points +was seen to descend from heaven and light on Alberic's shield, there +shining excessively. It had ever since been borne in the first quarter +of the Vere arms. This is the old tradition. Modern heralds suspect +that the mullet was merely a mark of cadency adopted by the second +brother of the second Earl, who retained it when he became third Earl. + +[13] Mentioned in the letter of Edward and Edmund to their father. + +[14] Ralph Cromwell, fourth Baron Cromwell, who was Lord Treasurer for +Henry VI., and was the builder of Tattershall Castle, died childless in +1455. His sister Maud married Sir Richard Stanhope and had a daughter +Maud, whose husband Sir Humphrey Bourchier, third son of Henry +Bourchier Earl of Essex, by the Princess Isabel Plantagenet (aunt of +Edward IV.), took the title of Lord Cromwell _jure uxoris_. This Lord +Cromwell seems to have been a student of law as well as a soldier. +There is a manuscript copy of the statutes of Edward III. in the +Hunterian Library of Glasgow University which once belonged to him. At +the beginning there is the following entry: '_Eximii et preclari +militis liber, Johannis Markham capitalis just, de B. Regis, Liber +Humfredi Bourchier dmus Cromwell ex dono supradicti_'; and at the end: +'_This boke is mine Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell by the gift of the +right noble and famous judge Sir John Markham Chief Justice of the +King's Bench_.' + +[15] Sir John Bourchier, fourth son of William Bourchier Earl of Eu, by +Anne, daughter of Thomas Duke of Gloucester, married the heiress of Sir +Richard Berners, and was summoned to Parliament as Lord Berners in 1455 +to 1472. The second Humphrey Bourchier who was slain at Barnet was his +son. Fabyan and Habington call him 'Lord Barnes.' + +[16] Fabyan gives the number at 1,500. Habington says 4,600. Hall is +unreliable as usual. He says 10,000 on both sides. Although some +writers say that the King's army was superior in numbers, it is +probable that, while Edward only had 9,000 men, the forces of Warwick +were very much more numerous. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER V + +MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD + +It is necessary to look back a few years in order to consider the lives +of the mother and son who now, for a time, come prominently into +connection with the life story of Richard Duke of Gloucester. + +Margaret, second daughter of René of Anjou and Isabelle of Lorraine, +was born at Pont-à-Mousson on March 23, 1429, and baptized at Toul. As +a child she went with her mother to Capua and Naples. Provence was +also one of her homes, but she returned to Lorraine in her fifteenth +year. She was only sixteen when the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk came +to Nancy to demand her hand for Henry VI. of England, and in November +1444 she was married by proxy amidst great rejoicings; for the event +secured a lasting peace with France. There was a great tournament in +the Place de Carrière at Nancy to celebrate the event, at which Charles +VII. and many of the chief nobles of France were present. Charles +tilted with King René, bearing on his shield the serpent of the fairy +Melusina. The daisy was young Margaret's cognizance, and Pierre de +Brezé, Lord of Varenne, and Seneschal of Normandy, maintained the +pre-eminence of the 'daisye flower' against all comers in the Place de +Carrière.[1] This was {54} no passing sentiment. Two at least in that +brilliant throng remained true to the fair princess to the bitter end, +Pierre de Brezé and the Duchess of Suffolk. + +Margaret was not only very beautiful, she was endowed with rare gifts +of intellect, which had been cultivated by travel in Italy and +Provence, and through communion with her accomplished father. She set +out for England attended by the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk and a train +of nobles. On her way she supped with the Duke of York at Mantes, and +reached Honfleur on April 3, 1445. Thence she sailed across to +Portsmouth, where she slept at the Maison Dieu. She was then taken in +a row-boat to Southampton, but her marriage was delayed for some time +by an illness. Henry VI., who was in his twenty-fourth year,[2] had +been waiting for his bride at Southwick. The marriage took place at +Titchfield Abbey on May 30. + +Never was a young girl placed in a more wretched position. Married to +a poor feeble creature who could be neither companion nor protector, +surrounded by self-seeking intriguers, living in a foreign country with +few to sympathise with or care for her; the years that followed her +marriage could not fail to embitter the brave heart that no misfortune +had power to crush. For years she lived on, the memories of the bright +and happy court of her father gradually fading, while the cruel facts +of her miserable position hardened round her. + +It was in the eighth year after her marriage that Margaret became a +mother. Her whole soul opened to the loving influence. All her +pent-up womanly feelings found a vent. She at last had something to +live for. Her brilliant intellect, her fortitude and {55} devotion, +her great powers of endurance, all she had, her whole being, became +centred in this child--the one thing she had to love. For him she +would face dangers, dare more than most men in perils and hardships, +and, if need be, would become as a tigress at bay in defence of her +young. + +The prince was born at Westminster on October 13, 1453, being just one +year younger than Richard. It was at a time when Henry VI. was in one +of his fits of complete mental derangement which came upon him +periodically, as they did upon his grandfather Charles VI. of France, +from whom no doubt he inherited them. The Duke of York was +administering the realm. The child was proclaimed Prince of Wales and +Earl of Chester. His mother was just twenty-four, and Henry was in his +thirty-third year. The Queen had lost her mother, to whom she was +fondly attached, on the previous February 28. In hopes that the name +would endear her boy to the people, Margaret gave him that of Edward. +He was baptized by Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by +Waynflete of Winchester, the Duke of Somerset and Duchess of +Buckingham[3] being sponsors. He was also created a Knight of the +Garter. + +From his very cradle the child was in the midst of war and turmoil. +The misgovernment of the Beauforts had strengthened the legitimate +claim of the Duke of York, which would never have had a chance against +the parliamentary title of an able and popular king. But the Yorkists +now had to reckon with the gifted and intrepid Queen, whose whole soul, +and whose every gift of mind and body, were concentrated with fierce +devotion {56} on the defence of her child's birthright. Nothing but +death could make her desist from efforts on his behalf. + +Young Edward was only in his second year when the first battle of St. +Albans was fought, on May 22, 1455. His mother had taken him to +Greenwich, where she received the news of the death of Somerset and her +other supporters, and of the wound received by Henry. During the +following four years there were hollow reconciliations, but a death +struggle was inevitable; and in June 1459 the court left London for +Warwick, virtually to take the field. The child Edward was only five +years old. He was destined never to see London again. + +Margaret strove to make the child popular with the people, and to +excite a feeling of loyalty for him. He was named Edward to remind +them of the king who added to the glory of England at Cressy and +Poitiers. She adopted the badge of Edward III. as that of the Prince, +and the pretty little boy, with long golden hair, distributed silver +swans among the people wherever he went. The Queen could not bear him +out of her sight, yet her dauntless eagerness would not allow her to be +absent from scenes of strife, when her child's future depended on the +result. Mother and child looked down on the battle of Blore Heath from +the tower of Muccleston Church, and when Lord Audley was routed they +fled to Eccleshall Castle. Then there were a few months of dawning +hope, which was crushed at Northampton. Again Margaret watched the +fortunes of the day with her child. She heard of the treachery of +Grey, she saw the gallant young Edward of York leading his men over the +trenches, and that the day was lost. The King fell into the hands of +her enemies. + +On the evening of that July 9, 1460, she rode away {57} with her +beloved child, a homeless fugitive. Between Eccleshall and Chester she +was made prisoner by a party led by one John Cleger, a servant of Lord +Stanley. Every instinct was on the alert when danger approached her +child. She watched an opportunity while her captors were rifling the +baggage, and escaped with little Edward in her arms. The adventures +through which they passed are not recorded, but she was eventually +joined by the Duke of Somerset, who conducted her to a safe refuge at +Harlech Castle in Wales. + +The Duke of York, with Henry in his power, induced the Parliament to +alter the succession, and the claims of Henry's son were ignored. +Henry VI. wrote a letter to his wife, ordering her to accept the new +settlement, and to join him in London with her child. This must have +been one of the bitterest moments of her unhappy life. But no reverse +could daunt this romantic heroine. She went by sea from Harlech to +Scotland, and thence called upon all her supporters in the north to +rally round the standard of King Henry. Margaret's appeal met with a +prompt answer, and on the last day of the year 1460 the Duke of York +lost his life at Wakefield, overwhelmed by superior numbers. The road +was thus open to London, and Margaret made a vigorous effort to recover +the birthright of her child. On February 17, 1461, she won the second +battle of St. Albans and recovered the person of her husband; but she +failed to induce the citizens of London to open their gates to her, and +was obliged to retreat northwards. The Queen and her child appear to +have been in the thick of the fight; and this was the third battle at +which Edward had been present before he had reached his eighth year. +The royal party retreated to York, while preparations {58} were made +for the final and decisive struggle between the two factions. On March +4, 1461, the young Earl of March was proclaimed King, and on the 29th +he won the crowning victory of Towton. + +Queen Margaret, with her husband and child, had remained at York, and +there she received the news of the destruction of her hopes. There was +nothing left for her but instant and rapid flight. The fugitives from +Towton told her to mount at once, and the unhappy family, with a few +faithful friends, galloped out of Bootham Bar, and plunged into the +forest of Galtres. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter and Lord Roos +attended them. They escaped to Berwick and thence to Edinburgh, where +Henry found a suitable abode with the Grey Friars. Margaret passed the +following winter in Scotland, but in the spring, seeing no present hope +from her English adherents, who appeared to be crushed, she resolved to +seek help from abroad. Taking the little prince with her, she sailed +from Kirkcudbright in April 1462, and landed in Brittany, whence she +proceeded to the court of her cousin Louis XI., who was then at Chinon. +It was resolved that some assistance should be given to the undaunted +heroine in men and money. Her old champion Pierre de Brezé now flew to +the succour of the forlorn Margaret in her distress. He organized an +expedition, and in October 1462 he sailed to the coast of +Northumberland with the Queen and her son. They landed at Tynemouth, +but the foreign levies were repulsed and fled to their ships, +abandoning de Brezé and the Queen. The fugitives were afterwards cut +to pieces by troops under Sir Robert Ogle when they landed at Holy +Island. De Brezé, with Margaret and her child, escaped from Tynemouth +in a fishing boat and, after a {59} perilous voyage, they landed safely +at Berwick, which was then a Scottish port. + +In Scotland there was but a cold welcome for Queen Margaret. It was +necessary to make her way to Bamborough, which still held out for her, +and there, abandoning present hope, the Queen and her child embarked to +commence a life of exile in April 1463. They were accompanied by a +band of faithful friends who would not desert them in their extremity. +Chief among them was the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Fortescue. + +The Duke of Somerset, now a double-dyed traitor, with Sir Hugh Percy +and others then rose in rebellion, and captured the castles of Alnwick +and Bamborough. The Marquis Montagu, followed by Edward IV. in person, +advanced rapidly from the south to put down the new insurrection. On +April 25, 1464, the insurgents were defeated at Hedgley Moor, and soon +afterwards the rest of Somerset's forces entrenched themselves near +Hexham. Poor Henry was brought from Edinburgh, where he was quite +contented with his Grey Friars, to the camp. The entrenchments were +thrown up on Lyvel's plain, near Dowelwater, and Somerset awaited the +attack. On May 8, 1464, Montagu came in sight, assaulted the position, +and, after a desperate resistance, carried it with great slaughter. +The Duke of Somerset, Lords Roos and Hungerford were taken and +beheaded, Henry galloped off on a swift horse in the direction of the +Scottish Border. He concealed himself in the west of Yorkshire for a +year, but was captured at Bolton Hall in June 1465 and taken to the +Tower.[4] + +{60} + +Meanwhile, Queen Margaret encountered a furious gale of wind which +lasted for twelve hours, but her vessel at length reached the Flemish +port of Sluys. Thence she proceeded by Lille and Hesdin to the Court +of the Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol. Here the exiles were hospitably +received and supplied with money, and, after some stay, they went on to +the castle of Koeur-la-Petite near St. Mihiel, on the Meuse. King René +had assigned this castle as the residence of his daughter and grandson, +with their followers. + +No boy who had only reached his eleventh year ever went through such +vicissitudes as Edward of Lancaster. He had been at four pitched +battles, had ridden over hundreds of miles, had been seized by robbers, +had wandered in trackless forests, had passed many nights on the bare +ground, and in open boats. He had made hairbreadth escapes, and had +suffered privations and hardships. Few children could have survived +such a life. He must have had a robust frame combined with the high +courage of his race. Through all, and protecting him at every step, he +had his heroic mother as his companion; surrounding and pervading his +life with her devoted love. Such experiences must have left a deep +impression on the boy's character. It was a wild and turbulent opening +for the young life, but now at last there was to be a brief interval of +rest. For a few years he was to live more peaceably, receiving +instruction and enjoying some pleasures, before destiny hurried him to +a violent death. + +St. Mihiel is a small town on the right bank of the Meuse, in the +diocese of Verdun and Duchy of Bar. Near it there are enormous rocks +overhanging the river, called Les Falaises de St. Mihiel. In the +fifteenth {61} century there was cultivation along the river banks, +while extensive forests covered the Argonne mountains further back. +Nearly opposite St. Mihiel, on the left bank of the river, was the old +castle of Koeur-la-Petite, which René gave to his daughter Margaret[5]; +and he contributed to her support as far as his narrow means would +allow. Here she dwelt for the five succeeding years, watching the +growth and education of her boy, and enjoying more happiness than she +had known since her ill-fated marriage. She was within a few miles of +Pont-à-Mousson, the place of her birth, and often saw her beloved +father, and her sister Iolanthe. + +Young Edward was devoted to field sports and martial exercises. His +companions were the sons of knights and esquires who had remained +faithful to his mother; and he loved to gallop with them over the +valley, and to exercise with sword and lance. So much of his time was +passed in these outdoor exercises that, as his years increased, the +graver advisers of his mother began to think that he should give rather +more of his attention to the acquisition of learning. + +Among the exiles was the most learned and accomplished lawyer who sat +on the English bench during the fifteenth century, and the young prince +enjoyed the advantage of his companionship and instruction. John +Fortescue of Ebrington was born in 1394, was educated at Exeter +College, and became Lord Chief Justice in 1442. Considering the +parliamentary title of the Lancastrian King not only good in itself, +but even better than a merely hereditary title, he became a steady +adherent of Margaret of Anjou. He wrote a treatise supporting the +claim of the Lancastrians on principles of constitutional law; while +his presence in {62} their camp gave judicial countenance to the appeal +to arms. During his exile he mainly resided at St. Mihiel, in +attendance on the little court of Koeur-la-Petite, and superintended +the education of the prince. He was anxious to impart a knowledge of +England and of English constitutional law to a prince who might some +day have to rule over freedom-loving Englishmen, but who left his +country when he was too young to recollect much about it. Fortescue +has related the occasion of these studies being commenced, and the +progress that was made. + +'The Prince,' says the aged Chief Justice, 'as he grew up, applied +himself wholly to martial exercises. He was often mounted on fiery and +wild horses which he did not fear to urge on with the spur. Sometimes +with his lance, sometimes with his sword, he made it his diversion to +assault the young gentlemen, his attendants, according to the rules of +military discipline.' In this Sir John Fortescue encouraged him, but +he also urged him to study law, quoting Deuteronomy xvii. 18, 19. The +boy replied that, although he ought to read the Divine law, it did not +follow that he should study human laws. He said this thoughtfully, and +looking very intently at the old judge. Fortescue answered that human +laws were also sacred, that they were no other than rules whereby the +perfect notion of justice could be determined, and that this justice +must be the subject of the royal care. Quoting Wisdom i. 1, he said, +'Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Love righteousness, ye judges +of the earth. To love justice,' he concluded, 'you must acquire a +competent knowledge of the laws.' Prince Edward was convinced by the +discourse of his venerable tutor. He said, 'You have overcome me, good +Chancellor, with your {63} agreeable discourse, and have kindled within +my breast a thirst for a knowledge of the law.' The boy candidly +confessed that he did not wish to pass all his younger years in such +studies. Then Sir John Fortescue explained to him the amount of legal +knowledge that was necessary for a prince. In one year he could +acquire sufficient acquaintance with the laws of England, and at the +same time he could continue to inure himself to those martial exercises +to which his natural inclination prompted him so much. 'Still make +your diversion as it best please you, at your leisure,' said the tutor. + +After this conversation, the aged judge of seventy-five and the young +prince of fifteen devoted some hours of each day to a study of the +English Constitution. These lectures, in the form of dialogues, were +afterwards embodied by Fortescue in a treatise entitled 'De Laudibus +legum Angliæ,' which was first printed in 1537. Edward began by asking +his instructor to satisfy him that the laws of England were better +adapted for the government of that kingdom than the civil law of the +Holy Roman Empire. Fortescue proceeded to establish this point, +specially dwelling on the fact that the English statutes were not made +by the will of the Kings, but were enacted by the concurrent consent of +the whole people, by their representatives in Parliament. He then +explained the territorial division of England into counties, the duties +of sheriffs, the method of empannelling juries, the procedure in civil +and criminal causes. The boy approved highly of the system of trial by +jury, the jurors being men chosen from among neighbours who knew the +country and people. 'I know of myself,' he remarked, 'more certainly +what is doing at this time in the Barrois where I reside, than what is +doing in England.' + +{64} + +On another day the Chief Justice illustrated the good results of the +English Constitution by comparing the condition of England with that of +France ruled by a despotism. 'In the land of England,' he said, 'there +are no wolves nor bears. The grazing lands are enclosed with hedgerows +and ditches and planted with trees which fence the herds and flocks +from bleak winds and sultry heat. There are many franklins and yeomen, +of estates sufficient to make substantial juries, not a few spending +100_l._ a year and more. Other countries are not in such a happy +situation, and not so well stored with inhabitants.' The prince then +remarked that he could understand how the wealth and populousness of +England had been caused by the superior excellence of her laws. But a +doubt about the number of jurors had occurred to his youthful mind. He +said, 'Although this method of sifting out the truth highly pleases me, +yet there rests this doubt with me. Our blessed Saviour says: "It is +written in your law that the testimony of two men is true" (John viii. +17), and again in Matthew xviii. 16.' Fortescue answered that our jury +law did not contradict this, for if the testimony of two be true, _a +fortiori_ that of twelve ought to be presumed to be so. 'The more +always contains in it that which is less.' Besides in England some +cases may be proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the +high seas, and proceedings before the Lord Constable and Earl Marshal. + +On another occasion, having previously shown that the prosperity of +England was due to laws agreed to by the people, Fortescue illustrated +the evils of despotic power by the condition of France. 'You will +remember,' he said, 'that you saw in France how the villages are {65} +so much oppressed by the King's soldiers that you could scarcely be +accommodated in your travels. The troops pay for nothing, and treat +the people barbarously if they are not satisfied. Thus the poor people +are exposed to great calamities. The King of France will allow no one +to use salt, but what is bought of himself at his own arbitrary price. +All growers of vines must give a fourth to the King. All the towns pay +the King great yearly sums for his men-at-arms; so that the peasants +live in great hardships and misery. They wear no woollen. Their +clothing consists of little short jerkins of sackcloth, no trowse but +from the knees upwards, and legs exposed and naked. The women all go +barefoot. The people eat not meat, except the fat of bacon in their +soup. Nor are the gentry much better off. If an accusation is brought +against them, they are examined in private, and perhaps never more +heard of. + +'In England it is very different. No one can abide in another man's +house without his leave, or take his goods, except the King by his +purveyors at a reasonable price. The King cannot put on taxes, nor +alter the laws, nor make new ones. The English never drink water +except for penance. They eat all sorts of flesh and fish. They are +clothed throughout in good woollens; and are provided with all sorts of +household goods. An Englishman cannot be sued except before the +ordinary judge.' Having drawn this contrast between the French and +English, the old judge continued: 'These advantages are due to the +political mixed government which prevails in England. Those Kings who +have wished to change it preferred ambition, luxury, and impotent +passion to the good of the State. Remember that the king is given for +the sake of the kingdom, not the kingdom for the sake of the king.' + +{66} + +Edward, although he frequently intervened with pertinent questions, +showing that he was giving close attention to the subject, fully +concurred in the arguments of his tutor, and must have derived great +benefit from this course of studies. He was impressed with the duties +of an English king, with the limited character of his power, and with +the importance of a parliamentary title. Fortescue also began to +occupy the young Prince in the active transaction of affairs of State. +Edward himself wrote a despatch to Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormonde, +who was in Portugal representing the cause of the House of Lancaster to +King Alfonso V.,[6] and he was acquainted with the proceedings of Sir +John Fortescue when he made journeys to the court of Louis XI. + +The residence at Koeur-la-Petite lasted for five years, 1465-69. The +peaceful home was broken up through the treachery of the turbulent and +self-seeking Earl of Warwick. Exasperated with Edward IV., owing to +his marriage and connexion with the Woodville faction, Warwick had +resolved to abandon the cause with which he was connected by ties of +relationship and by life-long service. He had married his daughter +Isabel to the Duke of Clarence without the King's consent, and had +alienated that vacillating prince from his brother. He came to France +with the Countess, his two daughters Isabel and Anne, and Clarence: and +proposed to King Louis to espouse the cause of his cousin Margaret, and +to restore Henry to the throne. The fear of an alliance between Edward +IV. and the Duke of Burgundy caused Louis to entertain Warwick's +scheme. But it was most distasteful to Margaret. Much as she {67} +longed for the restoration to her child of his birthright, she found it +difficult to accept such aid. Warwick had not only been the most +inveterate enemy of her family, he had also made himself personally +odious to Margaret. He was now a double-dyed traitor. His motives +were transparently selfish, and she believed neither in his new-born +loyalty nor in his ability to help her. But the persuasions of Louis +XI. and of her own relations at length induced her to come to the +French court. The Queen and her son, attended by Sir John Fortescue +and their other faithful adherents, left the happy home in the lovely +valley of the Meuse in December 1469. + +Margaret arrived at Tours, where the French court then was, accompanied +by Prince Edward, King René, her brother John of Calabria, her sister +Iolanthe, and her brother-in-law Ferry de Vaudemont. Warwick arrived +soon afterwards, and with much reluctance Margaret consented to an +interview. Negotiations were continued for several months; and on July +15 the court moved to Angers, where the Countess of Warwick and her +daughter Anne were in attendance. + +Warwick asked that Prince Edward should marry his daughter Anne, as the +reward of his assistance. At first the Queen positively refused, but +she at last gave a conditional and very unwilling assent, moved by the +importunities of Louis XI. and her relations. The marriage was not to +take place until after Henry VI. was restored to the throne and, if +Warwick failed, the agreement was at an end. 'The said marriage shall +not be perfyted until the Earl of Warwick has recovered the realm of +England for King Henry.'[7] They were never married. They {68} were, +indeed, too young, Edward being seventeen, and Anne barely fourteen.[8] +Knowing the dislike of his mother to such a union, and strongly +prejudiced against it himself, it is not likely that Edward ever took +more notice of Warwick's child than ordinary courtesy required, if +indeed he ever saw her. + +Queen Margaret made preparations for a voyage to England, where her +supporters were expected to rise in the western counties and Wales. +Warwick had preceded her by several months. Margaret was in her +forty-second year, and she had lost some of her buoyancy and vigorous +hopefulness with her youth. Still as determined as ever to assert the +rights of her son, she trembled for his safety. She got ready to +embark with feelings of deep anxiety and foreboding. Edward reached +his seventeenth birthday in October 1470, and in November Queen +Margaret and the Prince entered Paris, and were honoured with a grand +official reception. Edward was now a handsome lad of seventeen, with a +robust frame well seasoned by active outdoor life. He was tall for his +age, with the features of his mother, and long golden hair. He was a +good horseman and a practised man-at-arms. Well instructed in all the +literary culture of the time, and doubtless inheriting some of his +grandfather's love of poetry and romance, young Edward had also +carefully studied the constitution and laws of England. He was fully +convinced of the justice of his cause by the reasoning of one of the +ablest lawyers of the time, and the hereditary bravery of his race now +filled him with martial ardour. But he was still very young, and all +these qualities of head and heart were as yet only budding towards +maturity. + + + +[1] Barante. + +[2] Born in 1421. + +[3] A Nevill. Sister of the Duchess of York. + +[4] See _Archæologia_, 47 (ii), p. 265. Margaret was not at the battle +of Hexham, and the robber story is a fabrication. + +[5] Villeneuve, _Vie de Roi René_. + +[6] Alfonso V. was a grandson of Queen Philippa, sister of Henry IV. of +England, therefore a second cousin of Henry VI. + +[7] Ellis, _Original Letters_, Second Series, i. 132. + +[8] Born June 11, 1456. + + + + +{69} + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY + +There was long delay in the arrival of Queen Margaret in England with +reinforcements. She was prevented from sailing by contrary winds at +Harfleur. Three times the ships put to sea, and were forced to return. +The Countess of Warwick, with her daughter Anne, arrived first at +Portsmouth and, hearing of the death of her husband at Barnet soon +afterwards, she took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey. Queen Margaret with +her son Edward, Sir John Langstrother, Prior of St. John, Sir John +Fortescue, and many exiled knights landed at Weymouth on April 14, the +very day of the battle of Barnet. + +Weymouth was then a small seaport with no suitable accommodation for so +large a concourse. The Queen, therefore, passing through Dorchester, +at once advanced fifteen miles northward from the sea coast, to the +Abbey of Cerne. Dr. Morton, who accompanied her, had once been a monk +at Cerne; and the Abbot was his old friend. This circumstance no doubt +led to the decision of Queen Margaret to seek the hospitality of Abbot +Roger Bemynster, and here she received tidings of the battle of Barnet, +a disaster which seemed fatal to her cause. At first she was +overwhelmed, and wished her boy to return to France. But in a few days +she was joined by Edmund Beaufort, {70} the last Duke of Somerset, and +his brother John. Somerset had commanded the archers at Barnet, but +had escaped and found his way to the Queen. Jasper Tudor,[1] the Earl +of Devonshire, and Lord Wenlock followed closely on the heels of +Somerset. They entreated her to persevere, assuring her that the west +of England was ready to rise in her support, and that levies had +actually been called out, with Exeter as the rendezvous. With some +reluctance she consented, and her gallant son entered upon the last +three weeks of his young life. Tudor was despatched to raise forces in +Wales. Margaret, with the rest of her adherents, left Cerne Abbey +after a stay of about ten days, marched to Exeter and thence, by +Taunton, Glastonbury and Wells, to Bristol. Fresh levies joined and +increased her forces as she advanced. + +On April 16 King Edward heard that Queen Margaret had landed. He had +returned to London two days before, after his victory at Barnet. On +the 19th he went to Windsor and waited to collect men, celebrating the +feast of St. George there on the 23rd. He saw at once that the enemy +had only two courses: either to march on London and give him battle, or +to go northwards and unite with Tudor's levies in Wales. His policy +was to engage his adversaries as soon as possible, before they could be +reinforced. He was not likely to receive more support until he had +gained a decisive victory, and his position was established. Queen +Margaret's generals tried to deceive him by {71} sending detachments in +several directions; but his final conclusion was that they intended to +take a northerly direction, by crossing the Severn and marching into +Wales. This it was his intention to prevent. + +The King left Windsor on April 24, accompanied by his brothers Clarence +and Gloucester, by Lords Hastings and Dorset, and by his old tutor +Richard Croft. He had some artillery, which caused him to proceed by +easy marches. A few reinforcements had arrived. Among them were forty +soldiers paid and clothed by the city of Norwich. On the 27th Edward +was at Abingdon, and on the 29th at Cirencester. He kept a somewhat +northerly line, so as to fall on the enemy's flank if a rush was made +at London. At Abingdon he heard that the Queen was at Wells. News +came to Cirencester that she would be at Bath next day, and then +advance to attack him. So he moved to meet her as far as Malmesbury. +Then the news arrived that she had gone to Bristol, and had resolved to +give him battle at Chipping Sodbury. Lancastrian parties had even been +sent to take ground on Sodbury Hill. On Thursday, May 2, the King +marched to Chipping Sodbury, but found no enemy. It was a feint. The +Lancastrians had gained a day on him, and were in full march to +Gloucester. It was now a race to the Severn. It was life and death to +the Lancastrian army to cross the river and join Tudor on the Welsh +border. It was equally life and death for King Edward to prevent it. +He encamped in a valley between the hill and Sodbury village on the +night of the 2nd, anxiously waiting for correct intelligence. At three +in the next morning he heard that the enemy was making a forced march +on Gloucester. Luckily the castle was held by Richard, son of Lord +{72} Beauchamp of Powyke, for the King. Edward sent a trusty +messenger, urging them to hold out, with the assurance that he was +following rapidly. The messenger arrived in time. + +The Lancastrian army had marched all through the night from Bristol, +over the plain between the Cotswold Hills and the Severn. At ten in +the forenoon of May 3, the Queen's forces came before the gates of +Gloucester and summoned the place. Sir Richard Beauchamp manned the +walls and refused to surrender. There was no time to spare. It was +thought wiser to proceed to Tewkesbury without resting. They arrived +at Tewkesbury at about four in the afternoon of the same day. But the +troops had marched, during that day and the night before, a distance of +thirty-six miles without rest. The men were exhausted, and could go no +further. Margaret wanted them to pass over the Severn, but it was +represented to her that if they could cross the river the King could +follow, and attack them when they were worn out with fatigue. The +Queen was right. It was resolved, however, that the troops should +obtain some rest, and that a strong position should be taken up and +entrenched, outside the town of Tewkesbury. There was a bridge over +the Avon in those days, but none over the Severn at Tewkesbury. + +Close to the first mile-post on the turnpike road, on the west side of +Tewkesbury, there is a range of elevated ground called Holme Hill, +where a castle once stood. The present workhouse is built on part of +the site. Close behind it there is a field called 'the Gastons,'[2] +and some ground laid out as a cemetery. {73} On the east side of the +road is Gupshill farm and gardens, and a field called 'Margaret's +camp.' The Lancastrian position included the Gastons and Gupshill, +with the abbey and the houses of the town immediately in the rear. It +is described as 'a place right evil to approach.'[3] Strong +entrenchments were thrown up in the front and both flanks, strengthened +by muddy lanes and ditches. + +On the same morning of May 3, at early dawn, King Edward marshalled his +forces at Chipping Sodbury in three battalions, and prepared for a long +march, with scouts in front and on the flanks. His infantry numbered +3,000 men. It was a very hot day and he took a direct line over the +Cotswold Hills; rightly judging that the enemy, having failed before +Gloucester, would make for Tewkesbury. Thither, therefore, he marched +direct without a halt. The men found neither food nor even water, +except at one small brook. But the King allowed no rest. He reached +Cheltenham as the enemy got to Tewkesbury. At Cheltenham he served out +the rations that had been brought, the men having marched 28 miles. +Then he resumed the march, and at night he encamped within two miles of +the enemy's position, having marched over thirty-four miles. + +At dawn on Saturday, May 4, 1471, the army of Queen Margaret prepared +to resist the assault of the King's forces. The van was commanded by +Edmund Duke of Somerset, and his brother Sir John {74} Beaufort. Young +Prince Edward was to lead the main battle, assisted by Lord Wenlock and +the Prior of St. John. The rear division was under the Earl of +Devonshire. Queen Margaret parted with her son that morning in deep +anxiety, for the first and alas! the last time. She retired to a small +religious house at Gupshill, with the Countess of Devonshire, the Lady +Vaux and other ladies. + +King Edward[4] arranged his army in three divisions. Young Richard of +Gloucester[5] commanded the van guard with the artillery. The King +himself led the centre. Hastings and Dorset conducted the rear. The +King had observed a park with much wood to the right of the enemy's +position, and he posted 300 spearmen there, to act as occasion might +require. He then displayed his banners, blew his trumpets, and marched +straight on the entrenchments. + +Gloucester found so many hedges and deep dikes in front of him that he +could not break into the enemy's line so as to come hand to hand. He +ordered up the artillery and, also using arrows, opened on Somerset's +division. Galled by the fire, Somerset then led his men down some +lanes on the King's flank, which he had previously reconnoitred, and +fell upon the troops of the Yorkist centre with great fury, driving +them backwards. He charged Gloucester with the same impetuosity, and +was in the full tide of success when, just as the King was rallying his +men, the select 300 spearmen from the wood attacked Somerset's rear and +caused a panic. This gave the King time to reform and resume the +fight. Somerset's {75} men now fell back, while the Duke of Gloucester +made a desperate assault on the Lancastrian centre, behind the +entrenchments. There was a short and gallant struggle, in which young +Prince Edward fleshed his maiden sword, and then the Lancastrians broke +in all directions. The rout was complete. The abbey water mills were +in a meadow close to the town, and here many fugitives were drowned. +There was a great slaughter in the 'Bloody Meadow' to the rear of the +Lancastrian position, for it leads to a ford or ferry over the Severn +called Lower Lode. But soon the King gave orders to spare the +fugitives. + +The brave young Prince, who led the main battle of the Lancastrians, +bore himself valiantly, and played the man before his people in that +supreme moment of his life. Of that we need have no doubt. Borne away +in the rout, and followed closely by the victorious enemy, he was slain +between Gastons and Tewkesbury. The closing scene is dimly shown to +us. The horse is wounded and on its knees. Then the rider receives +his death blow from behind. The helmet had been struck off. The +bright golden locks sink down on the horse's mane,[6] and in another +moment horse and rider fall and are ridden over. Thus ended the life +of Sir Edward Plantagenet, K.G., Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. +His age was seventeen years and six months. He was a boy of great +promise; courageous, intelligent, and affectionate. His short life +must have embraced a large share of happiness. Even during all the +dangers and hardships of his childhood, the loving arm of the devoted +mother must have diverted those terrors {76} which cause misery to +unprotected children. The life at Koeur-la-Petite was a period of +unclouded pleasure. Then came the excitement of the last campaign, and +a glorious death on the battlefield. The body of Prince Edward was +buried in Tewkesbury Abbey church. + +The Earl of Devonshire, Lord Wenlock, Sir John Beaufort, Sir William +Vaux, Sir Edmund Hampton, Sir E. Whittingham, Sir William Melding, Sir +John Seymour, Mr. Henry, a captain of Bristol, and Sir William Roos +were among the slain. Beaufort, Hampton, Vaux, Whittingham and Roos +had shared the Queen's exile at Koeur-la-Petite. + +The lords and knights who escaped from the battlefield took refuge in +the abbey church, which, however, had no special privilege of +sanctuary. They were tried for treason before the Earl Marshal and the +Lord High Constable, a court which is recognised as legal by Chief +Justice Fortescue. Thirteen[7] were condemned, and were beheaded in +the market place of Tewkesbury on May 6, 1471. It must be remembered +that the treason of which most of them were guilty was double-dyed, +that is, they had been forgiven and had again become traitors. + + Duke of Somerset + + Prior of St. John Sir W. Newborough + Sir Gervase Clifton Sir Walter Courtenay + Sir Humphrey Audley James Gower + Sir Hugh Carey Lewis Miles + Sir Thomas Tresham Robert Jackson + Henry Tresham John Flory, of France + + +{77} + +Gower was the young Prince's sword-bearer. Audley and Courtenay shared +the Queen's exile. These might have been spared. Edward IV. was +generous and forgiving after the first fury of the moment had passed. +All inferior officers and soldiers were pardoned. Sir John Fortescue +received pardon and died at a good old age at his seat at Ebrington in +Gloucestershire. The intriguing Earl of Ormonde was also pardoned, as +were many leading captains of the defeated army, Sir Henry Roos, Sir +John Giles, Sir William Grimsby, Fulford, Parker, Basset, Throgmorton, +Walleys and many more. Dr. Morton and Dr. Makerel, who were with the +Queen, were also pardoned. + +The King conferred knighthood on forty-three officers; including his +old tutor Richard Croft, Sir John Pilkington, and Sir Thomas Strickland +from Yorkshire; Sir Terry Robsart, Sir Edward Wodehouse, and Sir +William Brandon from Norfolk; Sir John St. Lo, Sir E. Corbet and Lord +Cobham. The names of Nevill, Courtenay, Berkeley, Hastings, Harington, +Grey, Tyrrel, Pierpoint, Parr, Welby, Ratcliffe, Devereux also appear. + +One turns with shuddering pity from the anguish beyond all power of +utterance, from the black despair in the religious house at Gupshill +where the Queen awaited the issue of the battle with her ladies.[8] +They escaped across the Avon, and took refuge at Payne's Place in the +parish of Bushley. Next day, continuing their journey towards +Worcester, they found shelter in {78} some religious house near that +city. There they were captured by Sir William Stanley. It was +reported that he announced the prince's death with callous brutality. +It mattered little. The blow must have stunned the unhappy mother and +nothing could add to its crushing effect. Her real life ended with +that of her beloved child. Queen Margaret was brought to Edward IV. at +Coventry, by Sir William Stanley, on May 11, and to the Tower of London +on the 22nd. + +Henry VI. died in the Tower on the 24th, at the comparatively early age +of forty-nine. As Margaret arrived on the 22nd, she probably attended +her husband during the last two days of his life. The Lancastrian +leaning of the family of Lord Rivers, who was then Constable of the +Tower, would ensure facilities being extended to her. Thence Margaret +of Anjou was removed to Windsor, a ransom having been demanded for her. +With thoughtful kindness King Edward finally entrusted the charge of +the poor Queen to her old friend the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk at +Ewelme.[9] The Duchess had come to Nancy for Henry's bride, and had +seen the beautiful young princess at the brilliant tournament. She now +received her, after twenty-seven years, a childless and despairing +widow, crushed to the earth by grief unspeakable. Margaret resided +with the Duchess at Ewelme, and afterwards {79} at Wallingford Castle +until the ransom was paid by old King René. + +On August 29,1475, the ransom, amounting to fifty thousand crowns, +having been paid, Queen Margaret proceeded to embark at Sandwich, +attended by three ladies and seven gentlemen, and escorted by Sir John +Haute. She landed at Dieppe, and signed a renunciation of all rights +derived from her marriage, at Rouen on January 29, 1476. Thence she +went to Reculée, a league from Angers, where she lived with her old +father until his death in 1480, aged seventy-two. The last sad years +were passed at the château of Dampierre on the Loire, near Saumur, +under the care of François de Vignolle, an old and faithful servant of +her family. The brave and loving soul was at length released. +Margaret of Anjou died at the age of fifty-two, on August 25, 1482, +eleven years after the light went out of her life. She was buried in +the cathedral of Angers. + + + +[1] Jasper and Edmund Tudor were created Earls of Pembroke and Richmond +by Henry VI. They were attainted and deprived of their earldoms by +Edward's first Parliament. Subsequently Richard, Duke of Gloucester, +was created Earl of Richmond; and the son of King Edward IV. became +Earl of Pembroke. + +[2] Leland says: '_intravit campum nomine Gastum_,' and '_nomina +occisorum in bello Gastriensis prope Theokesbury_.' A place called +'the Vineyard' is mentioned. But 'vineyards' were merely apple +orchards. Where manors were held of the King, the tenants were obliged +to pay yearly a vessel of wine made of apples, or cider. + +[3] 'In a close harde at the toune's end, having the toun and abbey at +their backs, and before them defended by lanes and deep ditches and +hedges.'--Holinshed. + +[4] Then aged twenty-nine. Born April 28, 1442. + +[5] Then aged eighteen and a half. Born October 2, 1452. He was just +a year older than Prince Edward. + +[6] So much is shown in a picture accompanying the narrative sent to +Flanders by an eyewitness. It is in the public library at Ghent. See +also _Archæologia_, xxi. 11-23. + +[7] In the Pastern Letters there is a list of sixteen, Sir John Delves, +Sir William 'Newbery' added, and Audley given twice, Jackson not being +given (iii. 9). + +[8] Speed, p. 684. See also a paper by the Rev. E. E. Dowdeswell on +the 'Movements of Queen Margaret after the battle of Tewkesbury,' in +the Transactions (x. 144) of the Bristol and Gloucestershire +Archæological Society. + +[9] 'As for Queen Margaret, I understand that she is removed from +Windsor to Wallingford nigh to Ewelme, my Lady of Suffolk's place in +Oxfordshire.'--_Paston Letters_, iii. 83. + +Ewelme belonged to the Chaucer family, and Alice, the heiress of +Geoffrey Chaucer, married William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. In 1424 +the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk built a palace at Ewelme, rebuilt the +church, and founded a hospital and a school there. Queen Margaret was +received by the Duchess at Ewelme, and afterwards at Wallingford Castle. + + + + +{80} + +CHAPTER VII + +MARRIED LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER + +While the King was engaged at Tewkesbury, the bastard of his uncle, +Lord Fauconberg, made an attack on London Bridge, and when he was +repulsed, he retreated to Sandwich. This disturbance hastened the +return of Edward IV., who reached the Tower on May 21. To the Duke of +Gloucester was entrusted the duty of following up the bastard, and +early next morning he started for Kent. Arriving by forced marches at +Sandwich, the rebel was taken by surprise and surrendered on the 26th. +He was a first cousin of the King and of the Duke of Gloucester, though +illegitimate; son of the general to whom, next to Edward, the victory +of Towton was due. Richard took him to Middleham, and treated him +kindly as a prisoner at large. But he escaped, was taken at +Southampton, tried for his original treason, and beheaded. + +Peace was once more restored to the land, and the Duke of Gloucester's +great services were recognised by the country. The King and Parliament +were soon afterwards occupied with Richard's marriage. + +The estates of the Earl and Countess of Warwick were forfeited, and the +Duke of Clarence, who had married the elder daughter, Isabella, desired +to obtain the whole for himself. The Countess of Warwick, {81} when +she returned from France with her daughter, Anne, and received the news +of her husband's death, took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey on the +Southampton Water. After Tewkesbury, Clarence claimed the wardship of +Anne, and tried to get her into his power. + +The Duke of Clarence was grasping and selfish. He had no stability of +character, was vacillating, and easily influenced by bad advisers. It +is not clear how his sister-in-law escaped from his clutches; but his +object was to prevent her from marrying and to seize her share of her +parents' property, as well as that of his wife. It is certain that +Anne left her mother at Beaulieu and placed herself under the +protection of her uncle, George Nevill, Archbishop of York. But the +circumstances are unrecorded. There is mention of a disguise as a +cookmaid. The Archbishop placed her in sanctuary at St. +Martin's-le-Grand: where her inclinations and wishes could in no way be +influenced or overridden. + +The young Duke of Gloucester sought the hand of his cousin Anne. They +had been playfellows as children, and now the cousins formed an +attachment which endured until death, Richard only surviving his wife +for four months. Anne accepted the proposal of Richard, and his suit +was approved by the King and by the Archbishop, the guardians of the +two lovers. But Clarence made unreasonable difficulties about the +settlement. From the 'Paston Letters' we learn that 'the King +entreateth my Lord Clarence for my Lord Gloucester, and he answereth +that he may well have my lady, his sister-in-law, but they shall part +no livelihood.' + +At length the marriage settlements were arranged by Parliament. +Middleham was included in Gloucester's share of the Warwick +inheritance. In 1472, Richard {82} and Anne were happily married in +Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of York. His age was nineteen, +that of his wife sixteen. + +[Sidenote: Middleham Castle] + +Their home was at Middleham, in beautiful Wensleydale, and Anne's +mother, the Countess of Warwick, was taken from her sanctuary at +Beaulieu, to live with them. Here the Duke and Duchess passed several +years, winning golden opinions from the people of the north, and +acquiring great popularity in Yorkshire. + +In 1475, the Duke of Gloucester was called from his home to accompany +the King when he invaded France. Louis XI. offered a large sum of +money if Edward IV. would abandon his ally, the Duke of Burgundy, and +make peace. He also bribed Dr. Morton and Edward's principal +courtiers. Under the evil influence of Morton and the Woodville +faction, the King of England, after an interview with Louis, acceded to +the disgraceful bargain. But the Duke of Gloucester also had an +interview with King Louis and was not to be corrupted. He objected to +the arrangement, and would have no part in it. His conduct was +honourable and consistent. He maintained that faith ought to be kept +with England's ally. + +Richard Duke of Gloucester lived at Middleham Castle, with his wife and +child, for ten years, from 1472 to 1482, from his twentieth to his +thirtieth year. Here he had passed his early youth, had formed his +most enduring friendships, and had first seen his cousin Anne. The ten +years of peaceful married residence at Middleham was no doubt the +happiest period of Richard's short but eventful life. + +[Illustration: SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL] + +The ruins of the grand old pile, with the village and the church at +their feet, still form a conspicuous object on the southern slope of +Wensleydale. Middleham {83} is about a mile and a half above the +junction of the Ure and the Cover. In rear of the castle are the +breezy downs, and in front the river Ure flows through rich pastures, +with the town of Leybourne on the opposite slope. The castle consisted +of a lofty Norman keep surrounded by an enceinte eighty yards long by +sixty-five wide. The keep, which was built by Robert FitzRanulph in +1190, was fifty feet high, with walls nine feet thick, strengthened at +the angles by buttresses rising into rectangular turrets. It was +divided into two large rooms on each floor, the great hall having a +lofty arched window, due to the taste of the Duke of Gloucester. In +the north-east angle there was a curious mural chamber, twelve feet +long by nine, opening on to the hall, and the east face of the keep was +one side of the chapel. The outer walls were thirty feet high with +square towers at the angles, and a gatehouse on the north face. The +residential buildings stood against three sides of the _enceinte_, and +seem to have communicated with the great hall in the keep by a covered +passage. + +The nearest neighbours of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were the +Monks of Jervaux and Coverham, their cousin the Lord Scrope of +Bolton,[1] and the Metcalfes of Nappa Hall.[2] + +The manuscript volume No. 433 of the Harleian collection in the British +Museum supplies a few {84} glimpses of the home life at Middleham. We +read of a pack of hounds and of the wages of a jester. There is the +election of a king of rush bearing, and of a king of Middleham, +evidently games for the amusement of the Duke's little son Edward, who +was born about 1473.[3] The child's tutor was Richard Bernall, and the +cost is recorded of his primer and psalter, and of satin to cover them. +There are also payments for green cloth for my lord prince, and for a +feather for my lord prince. + +[Sidenote: Richard's able administration] + +Though Middleham was Richard's home, his official residence, as Chief +Seneschal of the Duchy of Lancaster in the north parts, was at Pomfret +Castle. He also stayed occasionally at Sheriff Hutton, Skipton, and +Barnard Castle. He was regarded as a trusted friend by his neighbours, +and in September 1481 we find Lady Latimer showing her confidence in +his integrity by appointing him supervisor of her will. She was a +sister of his mother-in-law, the Countess of Warwick. The Duke of +Gloucester bestowed great benefits on the city of York, where he was +much beloved. During his frequent visits he was usually the guest of +the Augustine friars,[4] and in their monastery he conferred with the +authorities touching their local affairs. He was actively engaged in +administrative work, and in giving his time to settle the affairs of +his neighbours from 1472. In that year we find him writing about a +robbery of cattle at Spofforth. In 1482 he was an arbitrator in the +dispute between Robert Plumpton and his heirs-general.[5] He improved +and beautified {85} several Yorkshire churches, building an additional +chapel at Sheriff Hutton, founding colleges at Middleham[6] and Barnard +Castle, and a memorial chapel near the battlefield of Towton. Crosby +Place, in Bishopsgate, became the town residence of the Duke and +Duchess of Gloucester, after the death of its wealthy founder, Sir John +Crosby, in 1475. + +Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had been created Great Chamberlain and +Admiral of England by his brother, and he was Lord Warden of the Cinque +Ports. His little son Edward became Earl of Salisbury in 1478.[7] In +1480, when Richard had attained the age of twenty-eight, he was +appointed Lieutenant-General of the North and Warden of the Marches. +By his skill and energy he subdued part of the western border of +Scotland for an extent of more than thirty miles, bringing portions +under obedience to the King of England, 'to the great rest and ease of +the inhabitants of the west marches.'[8] His administration was so +able that it was remembered long after as a very model of +efficiency.[9] In 1482 he received command of an army for the invasion +of Scotland. In the summer of that year he entered Edinburgh, where he +was received by the malcontent nobles rather as a {86} friend than as +an enemy. He reconciled King James III. with his brother, enforced all +the English demands, and captured the town and castle of Berwick after +an obstinate resistance. This was a great achievement, and gave +England an important advantage in case of future hostilities. +Richard's services were cordially recognised by the Parliament which +met in January, and no man stood in higher honour throughout the +kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Children of Edward IV.] + +King Edward IV. died at Westminster on April 9, 1483, and was buried at +Windsor. He had gone through a marriage ceremony with Elizabeth, +daughter of Sir Richard Woodville of Grafton, and widow of Sir John +Grey of Groby, on May 1, 1464. Besides the priest and his assistant, +the only witnesses were Lady Grey's mother and two unnamed gentlewomen. +Edward IV. had three sons and seven daughters by Lady Grey, of whom two +sons and five daughters survived him.[10] He also had one son and one +daughter {87} by Elizabeth Lucy.[11] The Duke of Clarence had left a +son Edward and a daughter[12] by Isabella, daughter of the Earl of +Warwick. + + + +[1] Lord Scrope was faithful to the end. His sister Agnes was married +to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, one of the most loyal of Richard's friends. + +[2] James Metcalfe of Nappa, near Aysgarth, served at the battle of +Agincourt. He had two sons, Miles and Thomas. Immediately after his +accession Richard III. appointed Miles Metcalfe one of the Judges of +the County Palatine of Lancaster, and Thomas Metcalfe Chancellor of the +Duchy (_York Records_, p. 58 _n_). + +[3] According to Rous he was seven and a half in 1483, when he was made +Prince of Wales. But the date in the text is more probable. See +Sandford, p. 410. + +[4] _York Records_, p. 125 _n._ + +[5] _Plumpton Correspondence_. + +[6] See the _History of the Collegiate Church of Middleham_, by the +Rev. Wm. Atthill (Camden Society, 1847). The licence for erecting the +church into a college was granted to the Duke of Gloucester on February +21, 1478, and he issued the Statutes on July 18, 1478. Miss Halsted, +the laborious and conscientious biographer of Richard III., had a +romantic attachment for Middleham, as the scene of the ill-fated young +King's happy married life. She eventually married the Rector, and was +buried in Middleham Church. + +[7] _Rot. Parl._ 17 Ed. iv. p. 2, m. 16. + +[8] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 204. + +[9] Gairdner, p. 48, quoting Brewer's _Letters and Papers of Henry +VIII._, vol. i. nos. 4518-5090, and vol. iv. no. 133. + +[10] Elizabeth, born at Westminster on February 11, 1465. (Sandford +says 1466, but Nicolas gives good reason for 1465 being the year.) + +Cicely. The date of her birth is not recorded; but she came next to +Elizabeth. Henry Tudor married her to his old uncle, Lord Welles, some +time before December 1487. On his death in 1499, she married one Kyme +of Lincolnshire. She died in about 1503. + +Edward was born in sanctuary on November 14, 1470. On July 26, 1471, +he was created Prince of Wales, and on June 20, 1475, Duke of Cornwall +and Earl of Chester. He was also created Earl of March and Pembroke. + +Richard was born at Shrewsbury in 1473, and was created Duke of York on +May 28, 1474, Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Warren and Nottingham on Feb. +7, 1477. On January 15, 1478, he was married to Anne, daughter and +heiress of John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, she being then aged six. She +died soon afterwards. + +Anne was born in 1475, and in 1495 she married Thomas Howard Earl of +Surrey; but no children survived infancy. She died before 1515. + +Katherine, probably born in 1479, and in about 1495 she married William +Courtenay Earl of Devon, and died in 1527. + +Bridget, the youngest child, was born at Eltham on November 10, 1480. +She became a nun at Dartford, where she died in 1517. + +[11] Edward IV. had two children by Elizabeth Lucy. Arthur, who was +created Viscount Lisle in 1524, and died in 1540; and Elizabeth, +married to Lord Lumley. + +[12] George Duke of Clarence, by his wife Isabella, daughter of Richard +Nevill, Earl of Warwick, left two children: + +Edward, born at Warwick Castle on February 21, 1475, and created Earl +of Warwick by his uncle Edward IV., after his father's execution, in +1478. + +Margaret, born at Farley Castle near Bath in 1473, created Countess of +Salisbury in 1514, and married to a Tudor partisan named Richard Pole. +She was murdered by Henry VIII. on May 27, 1541. + + + +{88} + +CHAPTER VIII + +ACCESSION OF RICHARD III + +The Queen and her relations had acquired predominating influence in the +counsels of Edward IV. Her brother Anthony was Earl Rivers, another +brother Lionel was Bishop of Salisbury, her son Thomas Grey had been +created Marquis of Dorset. Her sisters had been married to the Duke of +Buckingham, the Earls of Kent, Arundel, Huntingdon and Lord Strange. +Her brother-in-law, Edward Grey, had been made Viscount Lisle. + +This Woodville faction had the design to monopolise all the powers of +the state. The Woodvilles had received bribes from Louis XI., had +caused the death of Clarence, and had shared his inheritance. They now +looked to the minority of King Edward's son as an opportunity for still +further gratifying their ambition. But they had never succeeded in +alienating the affections of the King from his brother Richard. + +At the time of the King's death his son Edward was residing at Ludlow +in charge of his uncle Lord Rivers, his half brother Sir Richard Grey, +his cousin Sir Richard Haute, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Dr. Alcock, Bishop +of Worcester. The Marquis of Dorset, another half-brother of young +Edward, was in possession of the Tower. The other chief councillors of +the late King, including Bishops Rotherham and {89} Morton, the Duke of +Buckingham, Lords Hastings, Stanley and Howard, were in London. The +Duke of Gloucester was far away in the marches of Scotland. + +[Sidenote: Richard appointed Protector] + +By his will King Edward IV. left the care of his son's person and the +government of the kingdom during the minority to his brother Richard, +without any colleague.[1] Richard Duke of Gloucester was a prince who +had shown valour and generalship in the field, wisdom and ability in +his civil administration. As a councillor he had upheld the honour of +his country. He was beloved by the people of the north, and was +deservedly popular throughout the land. He proceeded to York on +hearing of his brother's death and attended the solemn obsequies in the +minster. He then caused his nephew to be proclaimed, and began the +journey to London, with 600 gentlemen of the north in attendance, all +in deep mourning. He came to assume the responsibilities imposed upon +him by his brother. + +Very different was the conduct of the Woodvilles. They formed a +conspiracy to set aside the late King's wishes, to exclude the Duke of +Gloucester, and to retain by force the authority they had hitherto +exercised through the Queen's influence. Rivers set out from Ludlow +with 2,000 men, and a large supply of arms, on April 24.[2] Dorset +seized the arms and treasure in the Tower, and fitted out a naval force +to secure command of the Channel. Council Orders were issued in the +names of Rivers--'Avunculus Regis,' and of Dorset--'Frater regis +uterinus,' while that of the Duke of Gloucester was excluded. There +can be no doubt of the treasonable designs of the Woodville {90} +faction, which are indeed proved by these overt acts; and which went +the length of conspiring against Richard's life.[3] + +[Sidenote: Arrest of Rivers] + +The Duke of Buckingham hurried from London with 300 men, to warn +Gloucester of his danger, and found him at Northampton on April 29, +where he had expected to meet his nephew. They ascertained that Rivers +had arrived that very morning with young Edward, and had pushed on to +Stony Stratford, fourteen miles nearer London, to avoid a meeting +between the boy and his uncle. This made his conduct still more +suspicious. Rivers then, with Richard Grey and a portion of his force, +returned to Northampton to give some plausible explanation to the two +Dukes, while young Edward was to be hurried on to London. Gloucester +acted with prompt decision. There was not a moment to lose. A Council +was summoned, consisting of the nobles present, and it was resolved +that Rivers and his fellow-conspirators should be arrested. The +combined companies of Gloucester and Buckingham numbered 900 men. +Rivers had a force of 2,000, but he had only brought a portion to +Northampton, and his arrest, with his nephew Richard Grey, was effected +without resistance. Gloucester then advanced rapidly to Stony +Stratford, and was just in time. He found young Edward and his retinue +on the point of starting for London. Vaughan and Haute were arrested; +and the four prisoners were sent to Yorkshire to await their trials. +Lord Rivers was taken to Sheriff Hutton, Grey to Middleham, Vaughan and +Haute to Pomfret. {91} Dr. Alcock was not suspected of complicity in +the plot. He was a Yorkshireman and a staunch supporter of the White +Rose. His subsequent conduct in welcoming King Richard at Oxford, +accompanying him in his progress, and giving him the aid of his +diplomatic services, proves that Bishop Alcock recognised the justice +of that King's accession.[4] + +The troops of Rivers, now without a leader, submitted to the Duke of +Gloucester, who then resumed his journey, in company with his nephew. +They reached London on May 4. As soon as the Queen Dowager heard that +the plot was discovered, she went into sanctuary at Westminster[5] with +her son Richard and five daughters. Here she was joined by her other +son Dorset. + +Young Edward took up his abode at the Bishop's Palace in St. Paul's +Churchyard. Gloucester went to reside with his mother, the widowed +Duchess of York, at Baynard's Castle. This edifice stood at the foot +of St. Andrew's Hill, on the banks of the Thames, a little {92} west of +St. Paul's.[6] After the death of her noble husband at the battle of +Wakefield, in 1460, the Duchess of York took little part in public +affairs, although she survived for upwards of 33 years. A happy +married life of 22 years was followed by a long and sorrowful +widowhood. The wayward and lawless conduct of her eldest son with +regard to his matrimonial affairs doubtless caused her constant +anxiety, while the death of her son George by the hand of his brother +added another pang to the widow's grief. + +Richard, so far as appears, can have given his mother neither anxiety +nor sorrow. Living happily at Middleham, married to his mother's +grand-niece, and always gaining applause and approval whenever he took +part in public affairs, he must have been the son from whom his mother +derived most comfort. It was natural that, in this crisis of his +fortunes, he should have sought counsel and support under that mother's +roof, and we may fairly conclude that the subsequent proceedings, which +led to Richard's assumption of the crown, had the sanction and approval +of the Duchess of York.[7] The Duke of Gloucester had been recognised +{93} as Protector of the Realm before his arrival in London,[8] and on +May 13 he summoned a Parliament to meet on the 25th of the following +month. When the Duchess of Gloucester reached London on June 5, the +Duke left Baynard's Castle, where he had resided with his mother for +upwards of a month, and removed to Crosby Place[9] with his wife. + +[Sidenote: Bishop Stillington's revelation] + +Up to this time affairs had gone smoothly. On June 5 the Protector had +given detailed orders for his nephew's coronation on the 22nd, and had +even caused letters of summons to be issued for the attendance of forty +esquires who were to receive the knighthood of the Bath on the +occasion.[10] But now there came a change. Dr. Robert Stillington, +Bishop of Bath and Wells, apparently on June 8, revealed to the Council +the long-concealed fact that Edward IV. was contracted to the Lady +Eleanor Butler, widow of a son of Lord Butler of Sudeley, and daughter +of the first Earl of Shrewsbury, before he went through a secret +marriage ceremony with the Lady Grey.[11] + +{94} + +Dr. Stillington thus becomes a very important personage in the history +of King Richard's accession; and it will be well to learn all that can +be gleaned of his life. He first saw the light in an old brick manor +house, which still stands on the right bank of the Ouse at Acaster +Selby (then within the parish of Stillingfleet), about nine miles south +of York. + +The family of Stillington had long been established here, renting land +from the Abbot of Selby, when two sons, Thomas and Robert, were born to +Thomas Stillington and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Halthorp. +Thomas succeeded to the paternal estate, while Robert was destined for +the priesthood. He was sent to Oxford, and eventually took the degree +of Doctor of Law with great distinction. He was a Fellow of All Souls, +and became Rector of St. Michael's, Ouse Bridge, and a Canon of York in +1448 and 1451. Stillington was ever loyal to the cause of the White +Rose. At some time in or before 1463, he witnessed the marriage +contract which united Edward IV. to the Lady Eleanor Butler; the King +strictly charging him not to reveal it. When Edward subsequently went +through the same ceremony with the Lady Grey, his mother the Duchess of +York, who was in the secret, remonstrated, but without avail. Edward +was self-willed and headstrong. The Lady Eleanor retired to a convent +in Norwich, where she died on July 30, 1466, and was buried in the +Church of the Carmelites.[12] + +In 1466 Dr. Stillington became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and in the +same year Edward IV. made him Keeper of the Privy Seal. On June 8, +1467, he was installed in the high office of Lord Chancellor, in +succession to Archbishop Nevill. He delivered a very {95} eloquent and +statesmanlike speech at the opening of Parliament in May 1468, which +made a deep impression. After holding the office of Chancellor, with +dignity and credit, for six years, he resigned, owing to ill-health, in +1473. He was afterwards employed on an embassy to Brittany. + +If the Queen Dowager and her relations had any knowledge of the first +marriage, Bishop Stillington would be a source of anxiety and fear to +them; while they could never be certain who else might know the secret +besides the King's mother. We find that the Duke of Clarence was +attainted on February 7, 1478, on a series of charges, most of them +frivolous and none sufficiently grave to account for his death at the +hands of his own brother. There must have been something behind. Mr. +Gairdner has suggested that the execution of Clarence was due to his +having discovered the secret.[13] Certainly that would satisfactorily +account for it. The influence of the Woodvilles was paramount, and it +would then be a necessity of their continuance in power that Clarence +should cease to live. The character of Clarence made it impossible +that a secret would be safe with him. His death was the only safe +course for the Woodvilles. It is very significant that, at the very +time of Clarence's attainder, Bishop Stillington was arrested and +imprisoned[14] for 'uttering words prejudicial to the King and his +State.' He was pardoned in the following June 1478. All this points +clearly to the discovery of the first contract by Clarence, and to the +utterance of some imprudent {96} speech by the bishop, which was +expiated by imprisonment followed by renewed promises of silence. + +During the years following his imprisonment, Bishop Stillington appears +to have devoted himself to the duties of his diocese. He always +retained feelings of affection for the family at Acaster, and for the +home of his childhood on the banks of the Ouse. Towards the close of +his long and honourable career he founded a collegiate chapel on his +brother's land at Acaster, dedicated to St. Andrew, for a provost and +fellows, and for free education in grammar, music and writing. The +grant was confirmed by King Richard III. in 1483. A fine collegiate +church of brick, eighty-seven feet long and twenty-one broad, rose upon +the banks of the Ouse, with twenty windows filled with stained glass. +It was a memorial of the good bishop, and members of his family in +later generations left in their wills that they wished to be buried at +St. Andrew's college. The site is now marked by a few grassy +mounds.[15] + +{97} + +Dr. Stillington was a good and pious bishop, an able statesman, and a +most loyal and faithful adherent of the White Rose. His one fault was +that he did not ensure his own destruction by proclaiming Edward's +secret before that King's death. There was no urgent obligation to do +so; but when the time arrived, he was bound to come forward, and he was +probably urged by the Duchess of York to publish the truth. Richard +had hitherto been ignorant of the early intrigues of his brother. He +was only eleven and a half when the widow of Sir J. Grey was taken into +favour, and the Butler contract was of a still earlier date. + +The announcement must have fallen on Richard and the Council like a +thunder clap. It was inevitable that the matter should be thoroughly +sifted. There was a prolonged sitting of the Lords Spiritual and +Temporal in the Council Chamber at Westminster, on June 9.[16] Bishop +Stillington 'brought in instruments, authentic doctors, proctors, and +notaries of the law, with depositions of divers witnesses.'[17] The +majority of the Council must have seen at once that the illegitimate +son of the late King could not succeed. Such a proceeding would +inevitably be the precursor of innumerable troubles. The case was +prepared to be laid before the Parliament which was summoned to meet on +June 25. + +There was, however, a small but powerful minority in the Council, led +by Lord Hastings and Bishop Morton, to whom the prospect of losing the +openings to their ambition offered by a minority was most distasteful. +They commenced opposition[18] and began to {98} meet apart, plotting +against the Protector's government. This was soon followed by overt +acts. Hitherto all orders and grants had been issued 'by the advice of +our uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester, Protector and Defender.' But on +the 9th, and again on June 12, the conspirators issued orders without +the Protector's name. They were preparing for open hostility. +Hastings was intriguing with his former adversaries, the Woodvilles, +both at Westminster and in Yorkshire. On June 10 the Duke of +Gloucester became thoroughly alarmed. He despatched a letter to his +faithful city of York, asking that troops might be sent up to protect +and support him. It was delivered on the 15th. On the 11th a similar +letter was sent to his cousin, Lord Nevill. Meanwhile, the Hastings +faction was not idle. A _supersedeas_ was secretly issued to the towns +and counties, ordering the Parliament not to assemble.[19] It was +received at York on June 21. This was done to delay or prevent the +consideration of the question of illegitimacy, and of the evidence +submitted by Bishop Stillington. Finally a plot was formed to seize +the Protector and put him to death.[20] + +[Sidenote: Conspirators thwarted] + +The conspiracy was divulged to the Protector by Master William Catesby, +who was in the confidence of Hastings. The danger was imminent. It +was probably a question of hours. Richard acted with characteristic +promptitude and vigour. On June 13 he proceeded in person to the Tower +with a body of retainers, and arrested Lord Hastings at the council +{99} table on a charge of treason. The conspirators were caught, as it +were, red-handed. A proclamation was then issued, giving the details +of the plot, but unfortunately no copy remains. Hastings was condemned +and executed on June 20, a week after his arrest.[21] The danger over, +Richard mourned for the loss of his old companion in arms. +'Undoubtedly the Protector loved him well, and was loth to have lost +him.'[22] A prominent feature in Richard's character was his +generosity to the relations of his political opponents. In this +respect the conduct which was habitual with him was almost +unprecedented in his, and indeed in later times. In the case of +Hastings, he at once restored the children in blood, and granted the +forfeited estates to the widow. He also liberally rewarded the brother +of Hastings for past services, and granted all his requests. + +The conspirators in Yorkshire would probably have been pardoned, if +they had not joined in this new treason with Hastings. But now an +order was sent, through Sir Richard Ratcliffe, for a tribunal to +assemble at Pomfret, to try Lord Rivers and his companions. The Earl +of Northumberland was president of the court. They were found guilty. +The accomplished Earl philosophically prepared for death. He had +played for high stakes, had lost, and was ready to pay the penalty. He +showed his confidence in the integrity and kindly feeling of the Duke +of Gloucester by appointing him supervisor to the will which he made at +Sheriff Hutton on June 23.[23] The trust was not misplaced. On the +{100} 25th, Rivers, Grey, Haute, and Vaughan were beheaded. Those +arrested in London, with Hastings, were treated with unwise leniency. +The treacherous Stanley was not only pardoned, but rewarded. Bishop +Morton was merely taken into custody, and placed in charge of the Duke +of Buckingham. Archbishop Rotherham, a weak tool in the hands of the +others, after a brief detention, was allowed to return to his diocese. + +Jane Shore, the mistress of Dorset, had been the medium of +communication between Hastings and the Woodville faction. A penance +was imposed upon her by the Church for her vicious life. But she was +treated with considerate forbearance by Richard, whom she had tried to +injure. He ordered her to be released, and consented, though +reluctantly, to her marriage with his Solicitor-General. + +The formidable coalition of the two malcontent parties was thus +completely broken. The Woodvilles gave up all further resistance to +the Protector's government. The Bishop of Salisbury, brother of the +Queen-Dowager, and her brother-in-law, Viscount Lisle, came over to his +side.[24] Elizabeth also, at the intercession of the Archbishop of +Canterbury, sent her younger son Richard to join his brother Edward on +June 16.[25] She herself remained in sanctuary with her daughters for +a time, in order to make better terms. + +[Sidenote: Title to the crown] + +In spite of the _supersedeas_ which was treacherously sent out by the +conspirators to prevent the meeting of Parliament,[26] the Lords +Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons had assembled in London on the +day {101} appointed, June 25, and formed what in later times would have +been called a Convention Parliament. The proofs of the previous +contract of Edward IV. with Lady Eleanor Butler were laid before this +assembly by Bishop Stillington and his witnesses, and it was decided by +the three Estates of the Realm that the illegitimate son could not +succeed to the throne. Owing to the attainder of the Duke of Clarence, +his children were not in the succession. The Duke of Gloucester was, +therefore, the legal heir: and it was resolved that he should be called +upon to accept the high office of King. A statement of the royal +title, styled 'Titulus Regius,' was prepared, in which it was set forth +that the children of Edward IV. by the Lady Grey were illegitimate +owing to that King's previous contract with the Lady Eleanor Butler, +that in consequence of the attainder of the Duke of Clarence, his two +children were incapacitated; and that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was +the only true and rightful heir to the throne. + +The children of Edward IV. being illegitimate, Richard was certainly +the legal heir, because the children of Clarence were disabled by law. +But their disability could be set aside at any time by a reversal of +their father's attainder, or by the removal of any corruption in blood +inherited in consequence of that attainder. Edward Earl of Warwick, +son of George Duke of Clarence, was the rightful heir to the throne, +when the children of Edward were proved to be illegitimate. He was +born at Warwick Castle on February 21, 1475, and at this time his age +was eight years and four months. But even if Richard had attempted to +substitute this child for the son of the late King, it is very unlikely +that the assembled {102} notables would have consented. They dreaded, +above all things, a long minority. When his own son died prematurely, +King Richard showed his sense of the strong claim of his nephew by +declaring young Warwick to be his heir. + +It is alleged that on Sunday, June 22, 1483, an eminent preacher named +Dr. Shaw had delivered a sermon at Paul's Cross, in which he explained +the royal title to the people; and that a speech was made to the same +effect, by the Duke of Buckingham, at the Guildhall on the 24th. This +is not improbable. + +On June 26,[27] the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons +proceeded to Baynard's Castle with the _Titulus Regius_, to submit +their resolution and to petition Richard to assume the crown. He +consented. He was then aged thirty years and eight months. On the +27th he delivered the Great Seal to Dr. Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, a +prelate celebrated for learning, piety, and wisdom.[28] On the 28th a +letter was despatched to Lord Mountjoy at Calais, with instructions to +acquaint the garrison of the new King's accession, and to secure their +allegiance. Richard III. then organised his Council, and surrounded +himself with able and upright advisers. There were only two false +friends among them--the traitors Buckingham and Stanley. + + + +[1] Bernard André, 23. Polydore Virgil, 530 (171, 173 Eng. trans.) + +[2] Rous, 212. Croyland, 564. + +[3] Rous says they had contrived the Duke's death, 213. Also the +Croyland Monk, 565: 'Conspiratum est contra eos, quod ipsi +contrivissent mortem ducis Protectoris Angliæ.' + +[4] John Alcock was the son of a burgess of Hull, and was educated at +the grammar school of Beverley. He graduated at Cambridge in 1461. He +was Dean of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and one of the King's Council +in 1470, and Bishop of Rochester in 1472. In 1476 he was translated to +Worcester, and in 1483 was tutor to young Edward. He was at Oxford to +welcome Richard III. after his coronation, and accompanied him on his +progress to Warwick. In 1484 he was one of the Commissioners delegated +to treat with the Scottish Ambassadors. In 1486 he was translated to +Ely, where he built a tower of the Bishop's palace, and a beautiful +chapel for his interment. His attachment to the house of York is shown +by the ornaments in the vaulting of the basement of the tower, and in +the chapel. The rebus on his name (two cocks with their feet on a +globe) occurs alternately with the '_rose en soleil_,' the badge of +Edward IV. Bishop Alcock founded Jesus College at Cambridge. He died +at Wisbeach in 1500. + +[5] Croyland 565. Rous, 213. + +[6] Baynard's Castle was so called from Baynard, one of the companions +of the Conqueror, who had license to fortify his house on Thames bank +within the city. It was fortified by his descendant in 1110 A.D. In +1428 it had become the property of the crown and, having been destroyed +by fire, it was rebuilt by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. On his +attainder it again reverted to the crown, and was granted to Richard +Duke of York. It was long the residence of his widow, and here both +Edward IV. and Richard III. accepted the crown. Baynard's Castle was +gutted in the Great Fire of 1666. It had long been rented by the Earls +of Pembroke, but seems to have been in a ruinous condition. It was +probably pulled down during the clearance operations after the fire. + +[7] One letter has been preserved from Richard III. to his mother, +after his accession. It is written in most affectionate terms, and +shows deference to her wishes. After her last surviving son's death at +Bosworth the Duchess retired from the world entirely, living at her +castle of Berkhampstead, under the rules of one of the monastic orders. +She died in 1493, and was buried by the side of her husband at +Fotheringhay. + +[8] Mr. Gairdner has pointed out that he was styled Protector in two +documents upon the Patent Rolls, dated April 21 and May 2. + +[9] Crosby Place, in Bishopsgate Street, was built by Alderman Sir John +Crosby, who died in 1475. The Duke of Gloucester had a lease of it +from Sir John's widow. It must have been a princely residence, and the +hall is still one of the finest examples of Perpendicular domestic +architecture of the fifteenth century. + +[10] Rymer, vol. xii. p. 186; Anstis, Obs.; Sir Harris Nicolas, +_History of the Orders of Knighthood_, iii. ix.; Ellis, _Original +Letters_, 2nd series. + +[11] Comines says that the contract was made by the Bishop of Bath and +Wells, who told Comines that he afterwards married Edward and Lady +Eleanor. The King charged him strictly not to reveal it. (Phil. de +Comines, ii. 157.) + +[12] Weever's _Funeral Monuments_. + +[13] Gairdner's _Richard III._, p. 91. + +[14] Rymer, xii. 66. In the papers of the Stonor family there is a +letter from Elizabeth Stonor to her husband, dated March 6, 1478, in +which she said that the Bishop of Bath had been brought into the Tower +since her husband departed. + +[15] All was destroyed and sold in the reign of Edward VI. (1552). But +a view of the ruins, and of a monument of the founder of Acaster +College, with a ground plot, is mentioned in Gough's _Topography of +Yorkshire_, 1804, p. 469. Rents at the dissolution 27_l._ 13_s._ +4_d_. Worth 553_l._ 6_s._ 8_d_. Granted in 1552 to John Hulse and +William Pendred. + +The family of Stillington continued to flourish at Acaster and +Kelfield, in the parish of Stillingfleet; greatly improving their +estate by a marriage with the heiress of FitzHenry. In 1520 stained +glass with the arms of Stillington impaling Bigod, was placed in one of +the windows of Stillingfleet church. At that time Dr. Thomas +Stillington was a man of great learning, and became Professor of +Divinity at the University of Louvain. The Stillingtons continued to +flourish at Kelfield Hall throughout the seventeenth century. The last +male of the race was young in the days of Queen Anne. There is a +portrait of him as a boy, in a classical costume, which was painted by +Parmentier in 1708. It is now in the dining room at Moreby Hall. This +Joseph Stillington of Kelfield died in 1742. His daughter Dorothy +married William Peirse of Hutton Bonville. + +[16] Stallworthe's letter to Sir W. Stonor. (_Excerpt. Hist._ p. 16.) + +[17] Morton, in his account of a conversation with the Duke of +Buckingham (Grafton, p. 126). + +[18] Polydore Virgil, p. 540. + +[19] Davies, _York Records_, p. 154. That this _supersedeas_ was +issued by the conspirators and not by the Protector's Council is proved +by Dr. Russell having actually prepared a speech for the opening of +Parliament on June 24. This speech has been preserved. The date of +the _supersedeas_ was probably before June 13. + +[20] Rastell, p. 80, + +[21] Stallworthe to Sir W. Stonor. + +[22] Morton, p. 69, in Rastell. This is the evidence of a bitter enemy. + +[23] The will is given in the _Excerpta Historica_, pp. 246-248. He +also appointed William Catesby, another meritorious but shamefully +maligned public servant, to be his executor. + +[24] 'My Lord Lyle has come to my Lord Protector and waits on him.' +Stallworthe's second letter (_Excerpt. Hist._ p. 16). + +[25] Croyland, p. 566. + +[26] Davies, _York Records_, p. 134. + +[27] The date of Richard's accession is fixed by the _Year Book_. 'Les +Reports des Cases.' See Davies, _York Records_, p. 157 _n_. + +[28] 'A wise man and a good, and of much experience.'--Morton, in +Rastell. + + + + +{103} + +CHAPTER IX + +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE + +At Richard's accession we may pause to glance at the condition of the +people of England 420 years ago, not in any minute detail, not probing +the matter to any depth, but with the object of having the general +surroundings in our minds, while contemplating the brief reign of our +last Plantagenet. + +The Lancastrian usurpation, effected by Henry of Bolingbroke (Duke of +Lancaster), caused much ruthless slaughter, and led to the atrocious +Act _De heretico comburendo_, passed to secure the support of the +clergy for the usurper. His son, Henry of Monmouth, was a fanatic, but +otherwise a man of a far nobler nature than his father. He secured his +position by a popular but most unjust war with France, and by his own +fascinating personality. From his landing at Havre to the death of +Talbot at Châtillon, this war covered a period of thirty-eight years, +from 1415 to 1453. It did not, however, exhaust the wealth of the +country, nor did the other more odious policy of the Lancastrians in +passing an Act for the burning of heretics, destroy all freedom of +thought. But the war filled the country with lawless military +adventurers, and the persecution unsettled men's minds. + +{104} + +The cause of the War of the Roses was the misgovernment of the faction +which ruled in the name of Henry of Windsor, the feeble-minded grandson +of Charles VI. of France, whose malady he inherited. Recognition +during half a century had made the parliamentary title of the usurpers +secure. Owing to the absence of an hereditary title, the House of +Commons had never been more powerful. The Speakers were practically +Chancellors of the Exchequer, and prepared the budgets. Speaker +Tresham, who was murdered in 1450 by Lord Grey de Ruthyn, was the first +to propose a graduated income tax, and was a great statesman. But the +House was not strong enough to control an unprincipled executive. The +usurpation would never have been challenged, after a Parliamentary +recognition of sixty years, if the administration of the usurping +faction had not been intolerably bad. The Duke of York was the +rightful hereditary heir to the throne. His grandfather had been +recognised as heir by a Parliament of Richard II. The Duke was a just +and moderate statesman. Until a month before the battle of Wakefield +his sole purpose had been the reform of abuses. + +The war, however, was not a war of the people. Although London warmly +supported the house of York, it was a war fought out by two parties of +the nobles and their retainers, including some old veterans of the +French war. The struggle did not in the least degree affect the +ordinary life of England. Mr. Thorold Rogers tells us that, though he +has read hundreds of documents compiled for private inspection only, +chiefly manorial accounts, covering the whole period of the war, he has +never met a single allusion to the troubles. 'The people,' he adds, +'were absolutely indifferent. {105} Except the outrages of Margaret's +army in 1461, no injury was done to neutrals. The war was as little +injurious to the great mass of the people, in its immediate effects, as +summer lightning. It had no bearing on work or wages.' + +[Sidenote: The Peerage] + +It is also a mistake, though a frequently reiterated one, that the +English nobility, as a class, was almost destroyed by the War of the +Roses. Nothing of the sort happened. Several noblemen fell in battle, +others lost their lives on the scaffold. There are long lists of +traitors in the bills of attainder. But the death of a nobleman did +not include the deaths of his heirs; and most of those who were +attainted eventually received pardons. After the heat of battle was +over, Edward IV. was placable and good-natured. He never refused a +petition for pardon.[1] Only two peerages became extinct from causes +connected with the war. The Beauforts came to an end, and the Tiptoft +peerage lapsed, the accomplished Earl of Worcester being childless. +The lay peerage, including peers temporarily under attainder, numbered +fifty-four on the accession of Richard III., quite as numerous as it +was before the war. + +We have not, therefore, to contemplate a devastated country and a +decimated peerage at the time when our last Plantagenet King ascended +the throne. England was fairly prosperous, and the numbers and wealth +of the nobility had not been reduced. But how different was the whole +face of the country! The outlines of the hills are alone the same. +There were immense areas of forest and swamp where now the landscape +consists of enclosed fields like a green chessboard. There were few +enclosures,[2] but tracts of common land for each {106} manor, and +cultivation in long strips near the villages and manor houses. The +beaten tracks, some following the lines of the old Roman roads leading +to the towns and castles, were often almost impassable in winter. King +Richard was the first to establish any kind of post. The scenery was +very beautiful on the hills and in the forests, in the quiet valleys, +and in the swampy fens. Wild animals, many now extinct, were then +abundant, hunted occasionally, but, to a great extent, left in peace +over vast areas of absolute solitude. It was a very beautiful England, +but how utterly different from the England of the twentieth century! + +The noble and gentle families passed most of their time in their +counties, hawking and hunting, mustering their armed retainers, often +disputing about their respective rights, sometimes trying to settle +disputes by force regardless of law. Yet many were law-abiding and +maintainers of the King's peace, and a few were giving some attention +to the new learning to which Caxton was now opening the door. Some of +the elders had seen service in the French war which came to an end +thirty years before. Only a great noble could raise or command a +military force, but reliance was placed on the experience of some +veteran, such as Hall or Trollope, to organise and direct as chief of +the staff. In those troublous days the King might, at any time, have +to send forth commissions of array. + +[Sidenote: Castles] + +Castles then studded the country, and the ruins of some of them still +give a correct idea of their accommodation and general plan. Old +Norman keeps reared their massive fronts, surrounded by lodgings and +outworks of later construction. The keeps contained stately halls, +guard rooms, and chapels. The more modern and more comfortable +lodgings followed the lines of the {107} outer defences, generally +having covered communication with the keep. Such were King Richard's +home at Middleham, the royal castles of Richmond, Conisborough and +Tickhill. Hedingham, the home of the Veres in Essex, Rochester, the +Tower of London, and a few others are still standing. Lord Bourchier, +the Treasurer, had quite recently built a castle of brick at +Tattershall in Lincolnshire, with a lofty keep still intact. The +Treasurer's device of a purse frequently recurs there. + +The castles of the later period were, however, generally built without +the central keep. They consisted of square angle towers connected by +curtains, one of which usually formed the great hall, as at Lumley. +These were more numerous and probably more commodious. Bolton and +Lumley are good examples. There was already a tendency to increase the +conveniences and amenities of the old castles by the enlargement of +windows and in other ways, as is shown by the fine oriel window at +Barnard Castle, the work of Richard himself. The royal residences at +Eltham, Sheen, and Windsor are believed to have been designed more for +comfort and pleasure than for defence; although Windsor is a place of +strength, with circular keep, and means to resist an enemy both in the +upper and lower wards. The general tendency, during the last half of +the fifteenth century, was to build for comfort rather than for defence. + +In the courts and at the gates of the castles of noblemen there were +guards wearing more or less of defensive armour, morions or bacinets on +their heads, and brigandines of quilted linen or leather with small +plates of iron sewn on them. Glaives or bills, crossbows with quarrels +or darts, and bows and arrows were in the guard rooms. + +{108} + +The sons of the surrounding gentry were brought up and taught martial +exercises and the other accomplishments of a gentleman of the time, at +the castles of the lords their patrons, a custom which bound the +nobility and lesser gentry together by common interests and common +pursuits. + +Much time was occupied in hunting and hawking, and the adherents of the +House of York were more especially the votaries of the noble art of +venery. The first English book of sport had the second Duke of York +for its author, and was entitled 'The Master of Game.' The Duke +declares that 'hunters live more joyfully than any other men,' and his +work shows that he was a keen observer with a wonderfully accurate +knowledge of natural history. With such a master and guide in their +family the scions of the royal House of York were the leading sportsmen +in the country, closely followed by their friends and numerous cousins +among the nobility and gentry. The 'Book of St. Albans' by Juliana +Berners the Prioress of Sopwell, treating of hawking, hunting, fishing, +and the laws of arms, was also a work of that period, and was first +printed at St. Albans Abbey, by John Insomuch, the Schoolmaster, in +1481.[3] Juliana divides the wild animals into beasts of venery--the +wolf, wild boar, stag, hart and hare; beasts of the chase of the sweet +foot--buck and doe and the roe--and of the stinking foot, wild cat, +badger, fox, weasel, marten, squirrel, and others. She is particular +in explaining the terms to be used in venery, that one must say a covey +of partridges but a bevy of quails, and so forth. Closely allied to +the arts of war and of venery was the law of arms, of which every +gentleman of that day had {110} some knowledge. Charges on shields and +standards, on surcoats and liveries were regulated by the heralds, and +after the ordinance of Henry V. were granted by the Sovereign. But in +the most flourishing days of chivalry, those of Edward III., this was +not essential. There was no Heralds' College,[4] and the only really +interesting armorial bearings are those used in the days of the +Plantagenets. With Tudors and Stuarts heraldry lost its chivalric +significance, and coats of arms subsequently granted are unmeaning and +vulgar. + +====================================================================== + +{109} + +[Sidenote: Peerage of Richard III] + + PEERS + + _Relations of the Sovereign_ + + * Duke of Suffolk (_brother-in-law_), K.G. + *+Earl of Lincoln (_nephew_), K.B. + *+Viscount Lovell (_dearest friend_), + Lord Chamberlain, K.G. + *+Earl of Northumberland (1_st cousin_), K.G. + * Lord Greystoke (1_st cousin_). + * Lord Abergavenny, K.B. }(_cousins_). + Earl of Westmoreland (_sick_) } + + _Minors_ + + Duke of Buckingham } (_cousins_) + Earl of Essex } + Earl of Salisbury (_son_). + * Earl of Warwick (_nephew_). + Earl of Pembroke (_nephew_). + + _Staunch and true_ + + *+Duke of Norfolk, Ld. Admiral, K.G. + *+Earl of Surrey, K.G. + * Lord Audley, Ld. Treasurer. + *+Lord Zouch, K.B. + *+Lord Ferrers. + + Marching to join the King + * Earl of Kent, K.B. + * Lord Dacre. + * Lord FitzHugh. + * Lord Lumley. + * Lord Ogle in the Marches, + * 2 Lords Scrope. + + _Other Peers_ + + * Earl of Arundel, K.G. + * Lord Maltravers, K.G. + * Earl of Nottingham. + * Earl of Huntingdon. + * Earl of Wiltshire. + * Lord Grey of Wilton. + * Lord Grey of Codnor. + * Lord Grey of Powys. + * Lord Beauchamp. + * Lord Morley. + * Lord Stourton. + * Lord Cobham. + Lord Mountjoy (at Calais). + Lord de la Warre (abroad). + Lord Dudley (very old). + + _Minors_ + + Earl of Shrewsbury. + Lord Clifford. + Lord Hastings. + Lord Hungerford. + + Peers 42 + Minors 9 + -- + 33 + -- + + _Traitors_ + + #John Vere, Earl of Oxford (under attainder). + Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. + Grey, Marquis of Dorset. + Woodville, Earl Rivers. + Lord Beaumont. + Lord Welles. + * Lord Lisle. + Lord Dynham. + #Jasper Tudor (late Earl of Pembroke). + #Henry Tudor (calling himself Earl of Richmond). + *#Lord Stanley (turned traitor at the end). + *#Lord Strange. + + + * At the coronation. + + At Bosworth for the King. + # At Bosworth for H. Tudor. + +====================================================================== + +Attendance at the court or the Parliament led to a demand for lodgings +in London. Baynard's Castle was the town residence of the Duke and +Duchess of York. Crosby Place, which is still standing, was the home +of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester during the short protectorate. +Cold Harbour, in Thames Street, alternately lodged the Earl of +Salisbury (1453), Anne Duchess of Exeter, and her brother the Duke of +Clarence. There were other houses of the nobility within the city, +including Ely Place in Holborn, with large gardens behind them; and +some of the richer citizens had handsome residences of which Crosby +Place was an example. It was on the occasion of visits to the capital +that opportunities were offered for those extravagant displays which +were the fashion of that age, especially at the great tournaments. + +The House of York was closely knit to the nobility by ties of kindred. +Of the three Dukes, Suffolk was King Richard's brother-in-law, +Buckingham and Norfolk were his cousins, as were the Earls of +Northumberland, Westmoreland and Essex, and Lords Abergavenny and +Greystoke. Lincoln was his nephew. Richard, moreover, had four first +and several second {111} cousins among the Barons; and the Archbishop +of Canterbury was also his cousin. There must have been a feeling of +kinship as well as of loyalty when the nobles gathered round the +sovereign on state occasions. + +[Sidenote: Magnificence of the court] + +Magnificence in dress was not a sign of ostentation and vanity, but of +what was felt to be due to high rank and to ceremonial functions of +state; and it was undoubtedly good for trade. Long gowns with high +collars were the indoor and civil dresses, and they lent themselves to +displays of great splendour. Thus, in the wardrobe accounts, we find +among the materials for doublets and gowns, black velvet, crimson +velvet, blue velvet figured with tawny, white velvet, white damask with +flowers of divers colours, chequered motley velvet, cloth of gold, +silks and satins, sarsenet, as well as embroidered shoes, and ostrich +feathers. We find green, scarlet and white cloth, ermines, sables, +fringes, gowns of blue velvet lined with white satin, golden aiglettes, +and various furs. The keeper of the King's wardrobe also had in charge +feather beds and bolsters, bed clothes, cushions, table cloths and +napkins, and the King's carriage. Presents from the wardrobe are +recorded as being given to the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Grey, Lord +Stanley, Sir W. Parr, Sir J. Borough, Lord Audley and the College of +Windsor. When the Duchess of Burgundy came to visit her brother, all +her attendants were ordered to be clothed in cloth jackets of murrey +and blue, while the knights appointed to attend upon her received gowns +of velvet. The velvet was ten shillings a yard, the ostrich feathers +ten shillings each. These wardrobe accounts of the last years of +Edward IV. bear silent testimony to the lavish splendour of the court, +and of court ceremonial in those days. + +{112} + +Increasing wealth resulted to the merchants and traders of the City, +the Guilds flourished and increased in numbers, and there were +periodical fairs in the country. At the Stourbridge fair, which was +the chief mart of Lombard Exchange, glass, silks and velvets were sold +by the Venetian and Genoese merchants, linen of Liège and Ghent by the +Flemish weavers, hardware by Spaniards, tar and pitch by Norwegians, +wine by Gascons, furs and amber by the Hanse Towns. Millstones came +from Paris. Our own products were hides and woolpacks, the produce of +the tin mines, and iron from Sussex. At Abingdon there was a cattle +fair, at Winchester a wool and cloth fair. King Richard's Parliament +gave much attention to the advancement of trade. + +In London the wealthy merchants lived in handsome houses with gardens. +The lawyers lived in the Inns of Court, and there were not wanting good +inns and hostelries for passing travellers. We hear of the 'White +Hart' in Southwark, the 'George' at Paul's Wharf, and several others. + +The City Companies were acquiring great influence. The Skinners' +Company founded the 'Brethren of the fraternity of Corpus Christi' of +which the Duke of York and his sons Edward IV. and the Dukes of +Clarence and Gloucester were members. Disputes between City Companies +were amicably settled. There was one between the Skinners' and +Merchant Taylors' with reference to precedence in City processions. In +the reign of Richard III., 10 April, 1484, the two companies agreed to +abide by the judgment of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. + +The award was that the Skinners should invite the Merchant Taylors to +dinner every year, on the Vigil of {113} Corpus Christi, and that the +Merchant Taylors should invite the Skinners on the Feast of the +Nativity of John the Baptist. On the first year after the arbitration +the Skinners were to walk in all processions before the Merchant +Taylors, on the next year the Merchant Taylors before the Skinners, and +so on. Thus was arbitration established in the City during Richard's +reign, a course always favoured and practised by the King himself. + +[Sidenote: Introduction of printing] + +The great glory of the Yorkist kings was the introduction of printing +into England, in which their sister of Burgundy also took a liberal and +enlightened part. Caxton tells us he was born in the Weald of Kent in +1422, and was apprenticed to Robert Large, a mercer of London and Lord +Mayor in 1439. His house was in the north end of the Old Jewry, and +here young Caxton lived until his master died in 1441, leaving him +twenty marks. Caxton went to Bruges in 1441, and in 1453 he was +admitted to the livery of the Mercers' Company. The Merchant +Adventurers were an association of merchants trading to foreign +countries, chiefly mercers. They had a 'domus Angliæ' at Bruges, and +in 1464 Caxton was chosen 'Governor beyond seas.' In 1468 he attended +the marriage of the young English Princess Margaret with Duke Charles +of Burgundy, which was celebrated with great pomp. Caxton was not only +a leading merchant at Bruges, he also took a great interest in +literature and in the new art of printing. In 1469 he began the +translation of 'Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes,' and in the +following year, when Duke Charles was invested with the Garter, Caxton +made his first essay at printing, with the oration of Dr. Russell on +that occasion. When, in October 1470, Edward IV. and his young brother +Richard {114} took refuge in Flanders, they received active assistance +from the loyal merchant and printer, and in the same year Caxton +entered the service of the Duchess Margaret and managed her trading in +English wool for her. He was surrounded hy literary influences at +Bruges, where there was a printing press encouraged by the Duchess. + +In 1476 Caxton came to England, and in November 1477 he had established +a printing press in his house at Westminster, under the shadow of the +Abbey. It was in the Almonry near the old chapel of St. Anne, at the +gate leading into Tothill Street. Caxton's house was the sign of the +_red pale_.[5] John Esteney was then Abbot of Westminster (1474-98), +but it is not recorded that Caxton received help or patronage from him. +The first book printed in England was the 'Dictes and Sayings of +Philosophes,' by Lord Rivers, in 1477. Then followed 'Cordyale' in +1479, and 'Chronicles of England' in 1480, 'Description of Britain' +also in 1480. In that year the Duchess of Burgundy came to London to +visit her brothers, and no doubt she then paid a visit to the printing +press of her old friend Caxton. Five books came from that active press +in 1481. 'The Mirrour of the World' was translated and printed for a +citizen named Hugh Brice as a present to Lord Hastings. 'Reynard the +Fox' was translated by Caxton himself. The 'de senectute,' 'de +amicitiâ,' and 'declamatio' of Cicero were translated by the ill-fated +Earl of Worcester; as well as 'Godefroy de Boulogne.' A second edition +of 'The game and play of Chess' completed the publications for 1481. +During the whole of King Richard's reign, and under his enlightened +patronage, Caxton's printing press showed great activity. The +publications were {115} 'Pilgrimage of the Soul' 'Liber Festivalis,' +'Quatuor Sermones,' the 'Confessio Amantis' of Gower, the 'Golden +Legend,' 'Caton,' 'Knight of the Tower,' 'Æsop,' 'Paris and Vienna,' +'Life of Charles the Great,' the 'Canterbury Tales' of Chaucer, 'Life +of our Lady,' 'King Arthur,' by Sir T. Mallory, who finished his work +in 1470, and the 'Order of Chivalry' translated by Caxton and dedicated +to his redoubted Lord King Richard. + +[Sidenote: Literary noblemen] + +Literature was beginning to receive attention from several members of +the nobility, and the printing press gave this tendency very great +encouragement. Among the books in the Wardrobe Account of Edward IV. +which were ordered to be bound, were the 'Book of the Holy Trinity,' +the Bible, 'Government of Kings and Princes,' 'Froissart,' Titus +Livius, Josephus, 'Bible Historial,' 'La Forteresse de Foy'; and to +this royal library his brother Richard added several books including +the 'Romaunt of Tristram.' + +Lord Rivers was an accomplished nobleman whose translations and +original compositions are well known. But John Tiptoft, Earl of +Worcester, was the most studious and learned, as well as the most +accomplished, author and statesman of Yorkist times. Born at Everton, +Cambridgeshire, Tiptoft was at Balliol College, and completed his +education by a residence of three years in Italy. He was twice Lord +High Treasurer, was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and was created Earl of +Worcester. But he fell a victim to Lancastrian rancour during +Warwick's brief usurpation. He was beheaded in 1470, and Caxton +eloquently mourned his untimely death. + +'This book,' Caxton wrote, 'was translated by the virtuous and noble +Earl of Worcester into our English {116} tongue, son and heir to the +Lord Tiptoft, which in his time flowered in virtue and cunning, to whom +I know none like among the lords of the temporality in science and +moral virtue. I beseech Almighty God to have mercy on his soul, and +pray all them that shall read this little treatise, likewise of your +charity to remember his soul among your prayers. The right virtuous +and noble Earl of Worcester, which late piteously lost his life, whose +soul I recommend to your special prayers, also in his time made many +other virtuous works which I have heard of. O God, blessed Lord, what +great loss was it of that noble, virtuous and well disposed lord, when +I remember and advertise his life, his science and his virtue. +Methinketh God displeased over so great a loss of such a man, +considering his estate and cunning, and also the exercise of the same +with the great labours in going on pilgrimage unto Jerusalem, visiting +there the holy places, and what worship had he in Rome in the presence +of our holy father the Pope, and so in all other places until his +death, at which death every man that was there might learn to die, and +take his death patiently.' + +[Sidenote: Education] + +Rivers and Worcester were not the only men of their day with literary +tastes. The colleges at Oxford and Cambridge numbered among their +_alumni_ laymen as well as churchmen. The three great public schools +of England already existed. The grammar school of Westminster, +afterwards to become St. Peter's College under Queen Elizabeth, had a +continuous existence from the time of Edward I. Winchester College had +been founded by William of Wykeham. Eton College was a foundation due +to Henry of Windsor. All three were flourishing. Boys went very young +to the universities, and parents showed anxiety for their {117} +advancement in learning as well as for their due supply of clothing. +Mrs. Paston desired a tutor named Grenefeld to send her word how her +son Clement is doing his duty as regards his lessons. If he does not +do well, and will not amend, Grenefeld is to lash him until he does +amend, as his former tutor did, who was the best that ever he had at +Cambridge. She is no less particular about his clothes, which were to +be looked to. Clement had a short green gown, a short musterdevelers +(gown of grey woollen cloth), a short blue gown, and a russet gown +furred with beaver: a pretty good supply. + +Later there was a Paston boy at Eton, one of whose letters has come +down to us (1478). He desires hose clothes to be sent to him, one pair +of some colour for holidays, and one for working days. It does not +matter how coarse the one for common use is. He also asks for a +stomacher, two shirts, and a pair of slippers. 'But,' adds the Eton +boy, 'if it lyke you that I may come by water, and sport me with you in +London a day or two this term time, then you may let all this be till +the time that I come; and then I shall tell you when I shall be ready +to come from Eton.' He wanted a holiday in the middle of term time, +and he wanted the fun of boating down the river. So it was with many +hundreds of other boys then as it is now; liking play better than work, +but still learning, with or without the lash which Mrs. Agnes Paston +believed to be so efficacious. The Etonian was about ten years younger +than King Richard. + +The Church, in the Yorkist days, had deteriorated. The devil's compact +between Archbishop Arundel and Henry of Bolingbroke, by which Bishops +were to be allowed to burn heretics on condition that the {118} +usurpation was upheld by the Church, had alienated the people. The Act +_De heretico comburendo_ was not a dead letter. There were many +innocent sufferers. Henry of Monmouth was a fanatic. He argued with +heretics and would gladly pardon on recantation, but if his victim did +not recant he was actually present at executions and witnessed the +cruel tortures. Caxton, some years after Henry's death (1439), saw +with horror the burning on Tower Hill of the good Vicar of Deptford, +whose love and charity had endeared him to the poor. Such scenes would +not endear the Bishops to the people. The prelates were self-seeking +politicians for the most part, and occasionally the people made short +work of them. When Bishop de Moleyns, then Lord Privy Seal, came down +to Portsmouth to pay the sailors and kept back some of their dues, he +was seized by the mob and hanged in front of God's House. Bishop +Ayscough of Salisbury met a similar fate. Mr. Thorold Rogers formed a +very bad opinion of the clergy of the fifteenth century. He says 'the +Bishops were on the whole bad men, parochial clergy not much better, +monks worst of all. People deserted them for the secret but stirring +exhortations of the Bible men.' But there were exceptions. Dr. +Russell of Lincoln, King Richard's Chancellor, was a prelate and +statesman of the highest integrity, so were Stillington of Bath and +Wells, Alcock of Worcester, and Langton of St. David's. + +The great monasteries still stood, in all their glorious architectural +beauty, among the woodlands and by the trout streams; and charity was +dispensed by their inmates. Religious foundations like Middleham +College by King Richard, and Acaster College by Bishop Stillington, +attest the piety of the age; and religious buildings proceeded apace. +The beautiful {119} chapel of St. George at Windsor was approaching +completion in King Richard's time, and many fine church towers, +especially in Suffolk, date from this period. + +There were superstitious pilgrimages to shrines such as those of St. +Thomas at Canterbury and of Our Lady at Walsingham, while obits and +saints' days were scrupulously observed. Letters were almost always +referred to saints' days, scarcely ever to the days of the month. In +the 'Paston Letters' we have 'Monday next after St. Edmund the King,' +'the day next after St. Kateryn,' 'St. Pernall,' 'St. Leonard's Eve,' +'St. Erkenwald's,' and so on: even, in one instance, the date is fixed +by the collect of the preceding Sunday. 'Wednesday next after _Deus +qui errantibus_.' This seems to show that religion, or at least its +rites and ceremonies, was really part of the actual life of the people. +Miracle plays, such as those performed by the Corpus Christi guild at +York, served to keep alive an interest in religion. There were also +allegorical plays, and it seems that 'Every Man,' which has interested +so many in these modern times, may have been acted before, and have +impressed audiences in the days of the Yorkist kings. + +[Sidenote: The Church and the law] + +The law was presided over by conscientious and learned judges. Old +Fuller says of Markham and Fortescue that they were the 'Chief Justices +of the Chief Justices.' Markham boldly resisted any attempt to +intimidate him, and by his firm stand against King Edward established +an important maxim in constitutional law. He did not confine his +judgments to the bench, but upbraided evil-doers when he met them in +the street. John Heydon, Recorder of Norwich, was stopped by the judge +and brought to book in public, {120} for putting away his wife and +living with another; and also for his unjust conduct towards John +Paston, in enforcing the doubtful claim of Lord Moleyns. + +[Sidenote: Condition of the people] + +But the country was in a lawless state. Upright judgments were +pronounced, but they could not always be enforced. Noblemen, like Lord +Moleyns, occasionally acted in defiance of the law, and often there was +no redress. We hear of 'a great multitude of misruled people at the +house of Robert Ledeham who issue at their pleasure, sometimes thirty +and more, armed in steel caps and jackets, with bows and bills, +overriding the country, oppressing the people, and doing many horrible +and abominable deeds.' There is a letter from Paston's wife reporting +that 'they have made bars to bar the doors crossways, and wickets at +every corner of the house to shoot out at, both with bows and hand +guns.' This sounds like an expected siege. For she adds--'My +worshipful husband, I pray you to get some cross bows and wyndacs with +quarrels, for your holes have been made so low that my men cannot shoot +out with a long bow, though we had ever so much need. Also get two or +three short pole axes to keep the doors.' Then we are told of Robert +Letham killing John Wilson's bullocks for arrears of rent, eating them, +and then beating Wilson himself in Plumstead churchyard until he was in +doubt of his life, besides beating John Coke's mother. When Sir Philip +Wentford wants to settle a dispute, instead of going to law, he rides +to Colchester with a hundred armed men. These were not altogether +peaceful times. They were exciting, full of adventure, and there was +much fun to be got out of them. Different, more eventful, perhaps less +safe, than our days of policemen and penitentiaries, but far from +unendurable. + +{121} + +These were trifles, and on the whole the country gentry of the +fifteenth century lived in comfort on their manors. These manors +included the lord's domain cultivated by his bailiff, the small estates +of freeholders paying quit rents, the tenements and lands of the +labourers held for services, and the waste or common on which all +tenants had right of pasture. The manor house was usually built of +stone, though brick was beginning to come into use. The house was +generally divided into three principal rooms: the hall, the +dormitories, and the solar or parlour with a southern aspect. In the +hall the family and household dined. It was also used for the manor +courts, for levying fines, and passing judicial sentences. The table +was on trestles, there were a few stools and benches, and some chests +for linen. Here would also be seen a pot of brass, several dishes, +platters, and trenchers, iron or lateen candlesticks, a brass ewer and +basin, and a box of salt. The walls were hung with mattocks, scythes, +reaping hooks, buckets and corn measures. In the dairy were the pails, +pans, churn, and cheese press. In the grange were the sacks of corn. + +The manor land was ploughed twice, but half the arable remained fallow. +When harvest was over pigs and geese were turned into the stubble. The +means of supporting the stock in winter depended upon the supply of +hay, for there were no root crops. The rest of the stock had to be +killed down for salting on St. Martin's day (November 11). In the +garden and orchard were apples and pears, damsons, cherries, currants, +strawberries, kitchen herbs, onions and leeks, mustard, peas and beans, +and cabbage. Crab apples were collected to make verjuice. + +We are informed of the commissions John Paston {122} received from his +wife, in her numerous letters. Besides weapons of offence and defence +she writes for ginger and almonds and sugar, also for frieze for their +growing child with a note of the best and cheapest shop. Next she +wants two dozen trenchers, syrup, quince preserve, oil for salads. As +regards luggage John Paston writes to his brother, who was at an +inn--the sign of the 'George' in Paul's Wharf--to put up in the mail +his tawny gown furred with black, the doublet of purple satin, the +doublet of black satin, and his writing box of cypress. These +commissions give a little insight into the domestic arrangements of the +time. But for a complete outfit of one of the lesser gentry equipped +for war we must read over the contents of Mr. Payn's luggage, robbed +from him by Jack Cade and his rabble at the sign of the 'White Hart' +near London Bridge. + +There was a fine gown of mixed grey woollen cloth trimmed with fine +beavers. A pair of 'bregandyns,' which were coats of leather or cotton +quilted, having small iron plates sewn over them; also leg harness. A +bluish grey gown furred with martens. Two gowns furred with budge +(lamb skin). Lastly, a gown lined with frieze. But the greatest loss +was a set of Milan harness (armour). They forced Mr. Payn into the +battle on London Bridge, where he was wounded; and robbed his wife in +Kent of all but kirtle and smock. Those were exciting times, and +luggage was not always safe, but on the whole they were times of plenty. + +The fifteenth century was the golden age of the labourer. At no time +were wages relatively so high. The people ate wheaten bread, drank +barley beer, and had plenty of cheap, though perhaps coarse, meat at a +farthing a pound (equal to 3_d._ now). If a labourer had to undertake +a journey, there were houses as well as {123} monasteries where doles +were given to all wayfarers. The cottages of the poor were built of +wattle and daub, but skilled labourers were fed at the table of the +lord of the manor below the salt; and some of them lodged in the +out-buildings. It is said that scurvy, in a virulent form, was a +common disorder; as all the poor, except the numerous class of +poachers, had to live on salt meat for six months, onions and cabbages +being the only esculents. But the prevalence of this disorder has been +exaggerated. + +We have the evidence of Chief Justice Fortescue that the labouring +class in England was far better off as regards lodging, clothing, and +food than the peasantry of France and other countries of Europe. + + + PRICES--1484 + + Wheat, 5s. 3-¾d. the quarter. | Hen, 2d. + Barley, 4s. 1-¼d. | Swan, 2s. 6d. + Oats, 2s. 2-½d. | Duck, 2d. + Beans, 3s. 8d. | Charcoal, 6s. 5d. the load. + Oatmeal, 7d. | Firewood, 1s. 10-½d. the load. + Malt, 3s. 10-¼d. | Hurdles, 2s. the dozen. + Hay, 2s. 2d. the load. | Salt, 4s. 8d. the quarter. + Wool, 5s. 4d. the ton. | Tiles, 6s. 10d. the 1,000. + Ox, 10s. | Bricks, 6s. 8d. the 1,000. + Calf, 3s. | Gascony wine, 9s. 8-½d. the dozen + Sheep, 1s. 4d. | gallons. + Pig, 5s. 4d. | Sugar, 19s. the dozen pounds. + Horse, 60s. | Pepper, 15s. " " + Capon, 3d. | Currants, 2s. 4d. " " + Goose, 1d. | + + Wages--Carpenter 6d. per day, 3s. a week, £9 2s. 6d. a year. + Tiler 6d. " + Unskilled 4d. " 2s. " + + + +[1] Thorold Rogers. + +[2] The enclosure grievance was just beginning to be felt. + +[3] The second edition was brought out by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496. + +[4] It was created by Richard III. in 1484. + +[5] The 'pale' in heraldry. + + + + +{124} + +CHAPTER X + +REIGN OF KING RICHARD III + +King Richard was a young man in his thirtieth year when he came to the +throne. During the previous ten years he had acquired considerable +administrative experience, and had shown himself to possess ability, +powers of application, and resolution. He was extremely popular in the +north of England, where he had generally resided. + +Young Richard was not tall, of slight build, with one shoulder a little +higher than the other, but not so much as to be noticeable or to cause +weakness. He was a formidable adversary in battle. The portrait at +Windsor is so remarkable that it must have been taken from life. The +eyes are a little closed, and give a thoughtful, almost dreamy look. +The other features are regular. The lips thin and firm, the chin +prominent. The whole expression is that of a thoughtful and earnest +man, firm, resolute, and fearless. Dr. Parr remarked on the strong +likeness between Richard III. and Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent. +His wife Anne inherited great beauty from the Nevills and Beauchamps, +but she was fragile and delicate. + +{125} + +[Sidenote: The young nephews] + +On July 4, 1483, King Richard III. and Queen Anne removed to the royal +lodgings in the Tower, where their nephews Edward and Richard were +residing. Owing to his illegitimacy the eldest boy, who had been +proclaimed King and soon afterwards set aside, could not retain the +titles of Wales and Cornwall, nor could the younger one continue to +have the royal title of York. The younger boy had also lost his claim +to the Mowbray titles of Norfolk and Nottingham by the death of the +little Mowbray heiress to whom he had been betrothed. Those titles +justly passed to the representatives of the aunts who succeeded Anne +Mowbray as the heirs of that family, the Ladies Howard and Berkeley. +Their sons were created Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Nottingham +respectively, on June 28. But Edward, the eldest boy, retained the +earldoms separately conferred on him by his father, of Pembroke and +March. + +It was the King's intention to bring his nephews up and provide for +them as became their rank and their near relationship to himself. 'He +promised that he would so provide for them, and so maintain them in +honourable estate, as that all the realm ought and should be +content.'[1] The allegation that they never left the Tower is derived +from the insinuations of very unscrupulous enemies. + +It is much more likely that they resided in the royal household, and +were the companions of the King's other nephew, the Earl of Warwick; at +least until it became necessary to place them in safe keeping on the +invasion of the realm by Henry Tudor. In the regulations for King +Richard's {126} household, dated July 23, 1484, it is ordained that +'the children are to be together at one breakfast.' Who were these +children, if not the King's nephews? They were evidently children of +high rank,[2] and Richard's little son Edward had died in the previous +April. + +Before the coronation, the King created eighteen Knights of the Bath, +four of them sons or brothers of peers. + +The coronation of King Richard III. and Queen Anne took place on +Sunday, July 6, 1483. Its splendour was greater than had ever been +known before. The Cardinal Archbishop placed the crowns on the heads +of the new sovereign and his consort. He was surrounded by bishops, +and nearly the whole peerage was present. Never was accession received +with such unanimous consent by all ranks of the people. The attendance +of a Woodville bishop and a Grey viscount gave grounds for the hope +that even faction was at an end. On scarcely any other occasion was +the aristocracy of England so fully represented. The Duchess of +Suffolk, as sister of the King, walked alone in state, in the +procession. The intriguing wife of Stanley, mother of Henry Tudor, had +the privilege of bearing the Queen's train. + + +====================================================================== + +{127} + +CORONATION PROCESSION OF KING RICHARD III. + + Serjeants of Arms + Heralds + Trumpets and Clarions + The Cross + Priests in grey amices + Bishops, with mitres and croziers + Abbots, with mitres + + BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, bearing a cross + + THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP + + THE EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, bearing the pointless sword of mercy + + LORD STANLEY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, EARL OF LINCOLN + bearing the mace of bearing the sceptre bearing the orb + Constable + + DUKE OF NORFOLK, bearing the crown + + EARL OF SURREY, bearing the sword of state in scabbard + + VISCOUNT LOVELL, B C B C EARL OF KENT + bearing the sword a i a i bearing the sword + (civil) of justice r n r n (ecclesiastical) + o q o q of justice + n u n u + s e s e + THE KING + o P o P + f o f o + r r + BISHOP OF BATH AND t t BISHOP OF DURHAM + WELLS s s + + DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, bearing the King's train + + Earls + Barons + + EARL OF HUNTINGDON, EARL OF WILTSHIRE, VISCOUNT LYLE, + bearing the Queen's bearing the Queen's bearing the rod + sceptre crown with dove + + BISHOP OF EXETER THE QUEEN BISHOP OF NORWICH + + LADY STANLEY, bearing the Queen's train + + DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK (King's sister), in state, alone + + Twenty peeresses + +====================================================================== + + +The Duke of Buckingham put forward an important claim, soon after the +coronation, and its success was an example of the lavish generosity of +Richard III. {128} Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, died +in the year 1372, leaving his two daughters co-heiresses of his vast +estates. Alianore, the eldest, married Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of +Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III. Their daughter and +eventual heiress Anne married Edmund Earl of Stafford, +great-grandfather of the Duke of Buckingham. Mary, the second +daughter, married Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who became Earl +of Hereford by right of his wife, and eventually usurped the crown as +Henry IV. His male descendants ended with his grandson Henry VI. The +Duke of Buckingham claimed that the moiety of the Bohun estates which +Mary brought to Henry IV. and which had merged in the crown, should now +revert to him as the male heir of both sisters. Legally, the claim was +untenable, and it had been rejected by Edward IV. Richard, however, +generously conceded all that Buckingham asked, making a formal grant of +the lands in question under his own sign manual. + +On his accession the generous young King was anxious to be reconciled +with all his subjects with whom he had ever had differences. Among +these was a certain Sir John Fogge, a low intriguer, with whom the King +condescended to shake hands. This treacherous fellow soon afterwards +joined in Buckingham's rebellion. Like Louis XII. of France King +Richard forgot and forgave all offences against the Duke of Gloucester. + +[Sidenote: The Royal Progress] + +The King set out on a progress through England,[3] {129} a fortnight +after the coronation, accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham and a large +retinue. The young Earl of Warwick, Richard's nephew, was also with +him, having been liberated from durance in the Tower, where he had been +kept by the Marquis of Dorset as his ward, ever since the death of his +father Clarence. Young Warwick was also at his uncle's coronation. + +The King left Windsor for Reading on the 23rd, arriving at Oxford on +July 24, where he was received by old Dr. Waynflete, Bishop of +Winchester, and the Bishops of Worcester, St. Asaph, and St. David's. +He was lodged in Magdalen College, and on his departure the aged Dr. +Waynflete caused to be entered in the College register-- + + VIVAT REX IN AETERNUM. + + +On August 1 the King was at Gloucester, and here the Duke of Buckingham +took his leave and proceeded to his estates in Wales, accompanied by +his intriguing prisoner Bishop Morton. Passing on to Tewkesbury on +August 4, Richard arrived at Warwick on the 8th, where he was joined by +the Queen, who came direct from Windsor.[4] The court remained a week +at Warwick, and comprised the young Earl of Warwick, five Bishops,[5] +the Earls of Lincoln, Surrey, and Huntingdon, Lords Stanley, Dudley, +Morley, {130} Scrope, and Lovell, the Chief Justice, the Scottish Duke +of Albany, and the Spanish Ambassador. On the 10th the royal party was +at Coventry, on the 17th at Leicester, on the 22nd at Nottingham. The +King and Queen arrived at Pomfret on the 27th, where they were met by +their little son Edward, who had travelled from Middleham to be with +them. On the 30th they entered the city of York. + +The people of York vied with each other in the loyalty and cordiality +of their welcome. Richard III. was a most popular sovereign, and with +good reason. Bishop Langton,[6] who accompanied him on this progress, +thus wrote: 'He contents the people where he goes best that ever did +Prince, for many a poor man that hath suffered wrong many days has been +relieved and helped by him and his commands in his progress. And in +many great cities and towns were great sums of money given him which he +hath refused.[7] On my truth I never liked the conditions of any +Prince so well as his. God hath sent him to us for the weal of us +all.'[8] On September 8 King Richard and Queen Anne walked in solemn +procession with the crowns on their heads, on the occasion of the +creation of their son Edward as Prince of Wales.[9] The young Prince, +his cousin the Earl of Warwick, and Galfridus de Sasiola, the Spanish +Ambassador, were knighted. The royal party left York on the 20th, and +proceeded by Gainsborough towards Lincoln, which city was entered on +October 12. + +Suddenly the news reached the King that the Duke of Buckingham had +broken out in rebellion. Never {131} was there an act so unprovoked +and treacherous. The Duke seems to have been a weak unprincipled man, +full of vanity and self-importance, and his worst qualities were worked +upon by the insidious old intriguer Morton, who had been entrusted to +his custody. Buckingham's ambition was to seize the crown. In +accordance with the 'Titulus Regius,' only two persons stood in his +way. These were King Richard III. and his delicate little son. The +traitor's scheme was to strike them down and seize the coveted prize. +The rebellion was carefully planned. All the Lancastrian and Woodville +malcontents were invited to join, and there were to have been several +simultaneous risings in the south of England, on October 18. On that +day Buckingham unfurled his standard at Brecknock, while Dorset and Sir +Thomas St. Leger rose in the west; and even the cautious Henry Tudor +sailed across from Brittany, but feared to land. His mother, the wife +of Stanley, intrigued actively with the Queen Dowager and the Woodville +faction. + +The energy and decision with which the King met the danger baffled the +policy of the rebels. As Buckingham was Constable of England, it +became necessary to appoint a Vice-Constable to try rebels in +conjunction with the Earl Marshal, and Sir Ralph Ashton was selected +for the post.[10] Owing to a great flood in the Severn the forces of +Buckingham were unable to cross the river, their provisions failed, and +they disbanded. The wretched traitor put on a disguise and fled; but +he was betrayed and apprehended by the Sheriff of Shropshire. +Meanwhile, the King had organised a sufficient force, and advanced +rapidly to Salisbury, whither Buckingham was brought a prisoner. The +{132} traitor sought an interview with his injured sovereign, with the +intention of assassinating him.[11] Fortunately the request was +refused. He had been caught red-handed, and the Earl Marshal's court +condemned him to death.[12] He was beheaded at Salisbury on November +2. Richard treated the Duke's widow, who was a Woodville, with his +habitual generosity; granting her a pension out of the lordship of +Tunbridge. + +The other rebels fled. Dorset and old Morton escaped abroad. Sir +Thomas St. Leger was caught and beheaded at Exeter, with Thomas Ramme +and one other delinquent. Seven rebels suffered in London. There are +a hundred names in the bill of attainder against the rebels; but most +of them were subsequently pardoned, including Stanley's intriguing +wife, who was merely given into the custody of her perfidious husband, +an act of unwise leniency which amounted to recklessness.[13] + +{133} + +Richard had destroyed all opposition, and he now entered upon the +serious business of government. Although his administration was +profusely liberal, he checked corruption, reformed the public offices, +and {134} promoted economy in the service of the state. Parliament met +on January 23, 1484, and Master William Catesby was chosen Speaker. +Its first business was to give full validity to the 'Titulus Regius' by +embodying it in an Act of Parliament. The public acts of Richard's +parliament are noted for their wisdom and beneficial effects. One of +them gave security to purchasers of land against secret feoffments, +another conferred power on magistrates to accept bail from persons +accused of felony, another was intended to prevent the intimidation of +juries. The abolition of benevolences was a most beneficent measure, +designed to put an end to an oppressive system of extorting money. An +elaborate statute was also passed to check malpractices in the +manufacture of woollen goods. The statutes of Richard III. were the +first that were published in English. The distinction between public +and private acts was also first made in this parliament. The latter +included the reversal of the attainder of the Percys, several other +restitutions, and grants for endowments, including a grant for the +endowment of Bishop Stillington's college at Acaster. + +Lord Bacon, no friendly critic, said of Richard III. that he was 'a +prince in military virtue approved, jealous of the honour of the +English nation, and likewise a good law maker for the ease and solace +of the common people.'[14] In speaking of the parliament of Richard +III. Lord Campbell says: 'We have no difficulty in pronouncing +Richard's parliament the most meritorious national assembly for +protecting the liberty of the subject, and putting down abuses in the +administration of justice that had sat in England since the reign of +Henry III.'[15] + +{135} + +[Sidenote: The revenue] + +King Richard III. introduced reforms in the revenue departments, which +were prepared under his own eye. He ordered the Auditor of the +Exchequer to submit an annual return of all revenues, issues, and +profits; while the Lord Treasurer was to make a return of all money +received and disbursed in his office. Formerly the Pell Issue and +Receipt Rolls only showed net sums paid into the Exchequer, 'reprises' +and direct payments being ignored. + +The principal source of revenue was from the customs. The 'antiqua +costuma' consisted of 6_s._ 8_d._ on the sack of wool, and 13_s._ 4_d._ +on the last of leather. The 'parva costuma' included 3_s._ 4_d._ on a +sack of wool, a small tax on cloth and other imports and exports, and +an _ad valorem_ duty of 2_d._ in the pound, and 3_d._ from foreigners, +on general merchandise. Tonnage and poundage was 1_s._ in the pound on +the value of most goods, except wool and leather, and 3_d._ on each tun +of wine. The 'antiqua costuma' and 'parva costuma' were hereditary, +but tonnage and poundage had to be voted by parliament at the beginning +of each reign. Customs duties brought in 18,629_l._ in the first, and +20,743_l._ in the second year of King Richard's reign. The old crown +revenues yielded 17,900_l._, Hanaper 2,930_l._, and other receipts +5,297_l_. The total annual revenue was 50,356_l._ in the first, and +57,122_l._ in the second year. + +[Sidenote: The navy] + +The navy in those days was small, indeed it had ceased to exist during +the wretched misrule of Henry VI. Richard had, as Lord Admiral during +his brother's reign, been gradually restoring the navy to efficiency, +and in 1480 his brother appointed a 'Keeper of the Ships,' the officer +who had control of naval organisation. Thomas Rogers, a merchant and +fishmonger of {136} London, was continued as 'Keeper of the Ships' +during King Richard's reign, the navy consisting of seven ships, the +'Nicholas,' 'Governor,' 'Grace Dieu,' 'Mary of the Tower,' 'Martin +Garcia,' 'Falcon,' and 'Trinity.' + +While parliament was sitting the Convocation also assembled. The +bishops and clergy presented an adulatory address to the King, praying +that he would redress their grievances, 'seeing your most noble and +blessed disposition in all things.' In reply Richard granted a charter +to the clergy, confirming their liberties and immunities; and he took +the opportunity of enjoining a closer attention to their spiritual +duties. With this object he issued a Royal Letter calling upon +Churchmen to enforce discipline and promote morality among the people. +The Convocation voted the King three-tenths, which yielded 5,600_l_. + +Before the prorogation the King took measures to induce the Queen +Dowager to come out of sanctuary with her daughters. He promised that, +if they would be guided and ruled by him, he would treat them kindly +and honourably as his kinswomen, marry them to gentlemen born, and give +them suitable allowances. Elizabeth agreed to these terms, which were +faithfully observed; and the King also undertook to grant a pension of +700 marks a year for her own maintenance. She not only came out of +sanctuary with her daughters, but showed so much confidence in +Richard's good faith that she sent to her son, the Marquis of Dorset, +to return to England and submit himself to the King. + +[Sidenote: Death of the Prince of Wales] + +In March, 1484, the King and Queen left London, and proceeded +northwards by way of Cambridge, reaching Nottingham on April 20. Here +they received intelligence of the death of the young Prince of Wales, +which took place at Middleham on the 9th of the same {137} month. The +unhappy parents were distracted with the most violent grief. 'You +might have seen his father and mother in a state almost bordering on +madness by reason of their sudden grief.'[16] The child was interred +in the chapel built by Richard himself, on the north side of Sheriff +Hutton church. The King had placed 'the sun in splendour,' the +favourite device of his brother Edward, in one of the windows. An +alabaster effigy of the young Prince of Wales, habited in a loose gown +with a coronet on his head, was fixed on an altar tomb. The south side +of the tomb is divided into compartments. In the centre one the +heart-broken father is represented in armour, offering up prayer to the +Almighty, who is supporting a crucifix. On each side, in other +compartments, there are shields now quite plain, probably once painted, +supported by angels; and on the window jamb there is a shield charged +with a cross of St. George in bold relief, the badge of the garter. +The charges on the other shields have probably been wilfully defaced, +as well as any crowns or ensigns of royalty, to conceal the identity of +the monument. This was perhaps done to avoid complete desecration at +Tudor hands. Some months after the child's death, when Richard had to +sign a warrant for the last expenses connected with the funeral of his +'most dear son,' he touchingly added, in his own handwriting, 'whom God +pardon.'[17] This prayer may have suggested the subject of the +sculptured panel on the tomb, where the petition is made to pass, in +form of a scroll, from the suppliant's lips to the ear of God. + +King Richard, after the death of his own son, {138} declared his nephew +Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of his brother Clarence, to be heir to the +throne. It was no doubt intended to reverse the attainder in due time. +Meanwhile young Warwick was given precedence before all other peers. +He resided sometimes at Sheriff Hutton, sometimes with his aunt, as a +member of the King's household.[18] + +It is asserted by Rous that the King changed his mind soon afterwards, +and declared his nephew the Earl of Lincoln to be his heir, closely +imprisoning young Warwick.[19] Rous was a dishonest and unscrupulous +writer, and this particular statement is disproved by documentary +evidence. For on May 13, 1485, the Mayor and Corporation of York +determined to address a letter to the Lords of Warwick and Lincoln and +other of the Council at Sheriff Hutton.[20] The precedence here given +to young Warwick above Lincoln, and the fact of his being addressed as +one of the Council, prove the statement of Rous to be false. It shows +also that Warwick had not been superseded, and that he was still heir +to the throne, just before the battle of Bosworth.[21] He was probably +a member of the King's household, and one of the children mentioned in +the Royal Ordinance of July 23, 1484. + +Richard III. made a progress in the north of England during the summer +of 1484, superintending the {139} coast defences, and in August he was +again at Nottingham receiving an embassy from Scotland. The King gave +audience to the Scottish envoys in the great hall of Nottingham Castle +on September 16, seated under a royal canopy and surrounded by the +chief officers of state. A truce was established for three years, and +a marriage was agreed upon between the eldest son of James III. and the +Lady Anne de la Pole,[22] niece of the King of England. At about the +same time a friendly treaty was ratified between Richard and the Duke +of Brittany. + +In the autumn of 1484 the body of Henry VI. was, by the King's order, +removed from Chertsey and interred in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, +on the south side of the high altar, the tomb of Edward IV. being on +the north side. The chapel was then nearly finished. + +[Sidenote: Popularity of the King] + +Richard III. returned to London on November 9. He was met by the Lord +Mayor and Aldermen with upwards of four hundred citizens, who escorted +him to his residence at the Wardrobe in Blackfriars. Christmas was +kept at Westminster with all gaiety and splendour, the young niece +Elizabeth being richly attired in a dress similar to that of the Queen, +according to the gossiping old monk of Croyland. But the beloved +consort of so many years, the playfellow of Richard's early days, who +had shared all his joys and sorrows, the mother of his lost child, was +passing away. Like her sister Isabella, Queen Anne was delicate, and +she was now in a rapid decline. She died on March 16, 1485,[23] and +was buried in Westminster Abbey; her {140} sorrowing husband shedding +tears over her grave.[24] As an aggravation of the King's grief, an +odious report, probably originating in the wishes of the Queen Dowager +and her daughter, was spread abroad that he meditated a marriage with +his illegitimate niece. As soon as it came to Richard's ears, he gave +it formal and public contradiction.[25] + +As the spring of 1485 advanced it became known that, encouraged and +aided by the French court, the Lancastrian malcontents intended to +attempt an invasion of England, and that, probably at the suggestion of +Bishop Morton, they had put forward a pretender as a claimant of the +crown. This was Henry Tudor, who was born at Pembroke Castle on +January 28, 1457. His father, Edmund Tudor, was the son of a Welsh +esquire with whom the widow of Henry V. had formed a clandestine +connection. Thus Edmund was a half-brother of Henry VI., who created +him Earl of Richmond, and his brother Jasper Earl of Pembroke. Henry +Tudor was born two months after his father's death, when the widow was +only in her fifteenth year. She was daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of +Somerset, and at this time was the wife of Lord Stanley, her third +husband. In 1471 Jasper Tudor fled into Brittany with his nephew +Henry. Both Edmund and Jasper Tudor had been attainted and deprived of +their earldoms. Edward IV. had created his brother Richard Earl of +Richmond,[26] and the title had since merged in the crown. The earldom +of Pembroke had been conferred on King Edward's son Edward. Henry +Tudor, {141} who was never Earl of Richmond, had lived in Brittany for +many years, but in 1484 he had gone to France, where the desire to +injure her English neighbours induced the Lady of Beaujeu, daughter of +Louis XI. and Regent for her young brother Charles VIII., to encourage +the conspirators. Henry's claim to relationship with the Kings of the +House of Lancaster was derived from his mother's descent from an +illegitimate son of John of Gaunt.[27] It was afterwards considered +unadvisable to put this untenable claim forward, except in vague terms, +and Henry's title was based on conquest. + +[Sidenote: Threatened invasion] + +The King, in anticipation of the threatened invasion, took up a central +position at Nottingham Castle in the spring of 1485, and issued +commissions of array. In the early part of the year he had found the +treasury nearly exhausted, and had been obliged to resort to a {142} +loan, in order to raise funds for the defence of the country. His +parliament had abolished the system of 'benevolences,' or forced +contributions, which had often been resorted to by former kings and +were very oppressive. Richard, in his difficulties, would not sanction +this illegal practice, but he appealed to the people for a loan, +delivering 'good and sufficient pledges' for its repayment.[28] Full +payment was to be made in eighteen months, in two instalments. By Good +Friday, April 1, about 20,000_l._ had been received, out of 30,000_l._ +that had been asked for. + +On June 23 a royal proclamation was issued declaring Henry Tydder alias +Tudor and his followers to be traitors and outlaws, and announcing that +this Henry, son of Edmund, son of Owen Tydder, actually pretended to +have a title to the crown. The Earl of Warwick and the King's niece +Elizabeth were sent to Sheriff Hutton for safety. Edward and Richard, +the young sons of Edward IV., must have been sent to the Tower with the +same object. + +Meanwhile the French Regent, although there was no war and no pretext +for hostilities with England, furnished the necessary funds to enable +an expedition to be fitted out at Harfleur, and allowed French troops +to be embarked under the command of a French officer named Philibert de +Shaundé. Thus supported and accompanied, Henry Tudor landed at Milford +Haven on August 8, 1485. He had with him a few Lancastrian exiles. + + +====================================================================== + +{143} + +PEERAGE OF RICHARD III. + +(Those printed in italic type were present at the Coronation.) + +DUKES + + 1. _Duke of Buckingham, K.G._ (Stafford),[1] held the train. + 2. _Duke of Suffolk, K.G._ (Pole), bore the sceptre. + 3. _Duke of Norfolk, K.G._ (Howard), bore the crown. + +ROYAL MINORS + + 4. Earl of Salisbury (Plantagenet),[2] son of the King. + 5. _Earl of Warwick_ " son of Clarence. + 6. Earl of March and Pembroke, K.G. (Plantagenet), illegitimate + son of Edward IV. + +EARLS + + 7. _Earl of Lincoln_ (Pole),[2] bore the orb. + 8. _Earl of Surrey, K.G._ (Howard),[2] bore the sword of state. + 9. _Earl of Arundel, K.G._ (FitzAlan).[1] + 10. _Earl of Northumberland, K.G._ (Percy),[1] bore the sword of mercy. + 11. Earl of Westmoreland (Nevill), sick. + 12. _Earl of Wiltshire_ (Herbert), bore the queen's crown. + 13. _Earl of Kent_ (Grey), bore the ecclesiastical sword of justice. + 14. _Earl of Nottingham_ (Berkeley). + 15. _Earl of Huntingdon_, bore the queen's sceptre. + 16. Earl of Shrewsbury (Talbot) } minors + 17. Earl of Essex (Bourchier) } + +VISCOUNTS + + 18. _Viscount Lovell, K.G._, bore the civil sword of justice. + 19. _Viscount Lisle_ (Grey),[1] bore the rod with dove. + +BARONS + + 20. _Lord Abergavenny_ (Nevill). + 21. _Lord Maltravers, K.G._ (Fitz-Alan).[2] + 22. _Lord Grey of Codnor._ + 23. _Lord Grey of Wilton._ + 24. _Lord Grey of Powys._ + 25. _Lord Morley._ + 26. _Lord Scrope of Bolton, K.G._ + 27. _Lord Scrope of Masham._ + 28. _Lord Beauchamp._ + 29. _Lord Lumley._ + 30. _Lord Audley._ + 31. _Lord Stourton._ + 32. _Lord FitzHugh._ + 33. _Lord Zouch._ + 34. _Lord Dacre._ + 35. _Lord Ferrers, K.G._ + 36. _Lord Cobham._ + 37. _Lord Stanley, K.G._,[1] bore the mace of constable. + + + [1] Turned traitors. + [2] Eldest sons raised to the Upper House. + +====================================================================== + +====================================================================== + +{144} + +BARONS--_Continued_ + + 38. _Lord Strange._[2] + 39. _Lord Welles._[1] + 40. Lord Greystoke, in the marches. + 41. Lord Mountjoy, at Calais. + 42. Lord Dudley, K.G., very old. + 43. Lord Hungerford,[2] a minor. + 44. Lord Ogle, in the marches. + 45. Lord de la Warre, abroad. + +PRELATES + + 1. _Archbishop of Canterbury_ (Bourchier). + 2. _Bishop of Durham_ (Dudley). + 3. " " _Rochester_ (Audley). + 4. " " _Exeter_ (Courtenay). + 5. " " _Norwich_ (Goldwell). + 6. " " _Wells_ (Stillington). + 7. " " _Salisbury_ (Woodville). + 8. " " _Lincoln_ (Russell). + +UNDER ATTAINDER + + 1. Earl of Oxford, Lancastrian. + 2. Earl of Devonshire, " + 3. Lord Rivers, " + 4. Lord Dynham, " + 5. Lord Beaumont, " + 6. Lord Clifford (minor) " + 7. Marquis of Dorset, Woodville faction. + 8. Jasper Tudor, late Earl of Pembroke.[3] + 9. Henry Tudor, calling himself Earl of Richmond.[4] + +MINISTERS OF RICHARD III. + + Earl Marshal--The Duke of Norfolk. + Lord Chancellor--Dr. John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln. + Lord Chamberlain--Viscount Lovell, K.G. (at Bosworth). Slain at Stoke. + Lord Steward--Lord Stanley (traitor). + Lord Constable--Duke of Buckingham (traitor), then Sir Ralph Ashton. + Lord Admiral--Duke of Norfolk, K.G. (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + 'Keeper of the Ships'--Thomas Rogers. + Lord Privy Seal--John Gunthorpe, Dean of Wells. + Lord Treasurer--Lord Audley (died 1491). + Chancellor of the Exchequer--William Catesby (at Bosworth). Killed + by Henry VII. + + + [1] Turned traitors. + [2] Eldest sons raised to the Upper House. + [3] The earldom of Pembroke belonged to young Edward, eldest + illegitimate son of Edward IV. + [4] The earldom of Richmond had merged in the crown, having been + granted to the Duke of Gloucester. + +====================================================================== + + +====================================================================== + +{145} + + Chancellor of the Duchy--Thomas Metcalfe. + Secretary of State--John Kendall (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + Lord Deputy of Ireland--Earl of Kildare (ob. 1513). + Clerk of the Council--James Harington (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + Treasurer of the Household--Walter Hopton (at Bosworth). Slain + in battle. + Comptrollers of the Household--Sir Robert Percy (of Scotton, near + Knaresborough), (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. And Sir John + Buck (at Bosworth). Killed by Henry VII. + Keeper of the Great Wardrobe--Pierce Courteys. + +COMMISSIONERS FOR PEACE WITH SCOTLAND, 1484. + + John Bishop of Lincoln + Richard of St. Asaph + Duke of Norfolk + Earl of Northumberland + Lord Privy Seal + Sir W. Stanley + Lord Stanley + Lord Strange + Lord Powys + Lord FitzHugh + Lord Dacre + Master of the Rolls + Sir Richard Ratcliffe + William Catesby + Richard Salkeld. + +JUDGES AND LAW OFFICERS OF RICHARD III. + + Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench . . William Hussey. + Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas . . . . Thomas Brian. + Chief Baron of the Exchequer . . . . . . . Sir Humphrey Starbury. + Master of the Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Barrow. + Judges--King's Bench . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Townshend. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Guy Fairfax. + Common Pleas . . . . . . . . . . . William Jenney. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Neele. + Exchequer . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Roucliffe. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Ralph Wolseley. + Attorney-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan Kidwelly.[1] + Solicitor-General . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Lymon.[2] + + + [1] Morgan Kidwelly, King Richard's Attorney-General, was supposed, + even by Miss Halsted, to have turned traitor and joined Henry + Tudor. But Mr. Gairdner has cleared his character, and shown + that the idea was due to a resemblance of names. The + Attorney-General was true and loyal to the end. + + [2] The Solicitor-General married Jane Shore, with the consent of + King Richard. + +====================================================================== + +====================================================================== + +{146} + + King's Serjeants . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Tremayne. + " . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Townshend. + " . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Vavasour. + Recorder of London . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicholas Fitzwilliam. + +KING RICHARD'S BISHOPS + + 1454-86. _Thomas Bourchier_,[1][4] _Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury._ + 1480-1501. Thomas Rotherham,[4] Archbishop of York. + 1448-89. Thomas Kempe[4] (then aged 79), Bishop of London. + 1447-87. _William de Waynflete_,[2] _Bishop of Winchester._ + 1476-85. _William Dudley_,[1][2][3] _Bishop of Durham._ + 1465-92. _Robert Stillington_,[1] _Bishop of Bath and Wells._ + 1478-1504. Edward Story,[4] Bishop of Chichester. + 1478-86. John Morton (traitor),[4] Bishop of Ely. + 1478-86. _Peter Courtenay_ (traitor),[1][4] _Bishop of Exeter._ + 1474-92. Thomas Milling (Abbot of Westminster), Bishop of Hereford. + 1459-92. _William Smith_,[3] _Bishop of Lichfield._ + 1480-95. _John Russell_,[1] _Bishop of Lincoln._ + 1472-99. _James Goldwell_,[1][4] _Bishop of Norwich._ + 1480-92. _Edmund Audley_,[1][4] _Bishop of Rochester._ + 1482-85. _Lionel Woodville_ (traitor),[1] _Bishop of Salisbury._ + 1476-86. _John Alcock_,[2][3] _Bishop of Worcester._ + 1478-95. Richard Bell,[4] Bishop of Carlisle. + 1464-96. Thomas Ednam,[4] Bishop of Bangor. + 1478-96. John Marshall,[4] Bishop of Llandaff. + 1472-95. _Richard Redman_,[2][3] _Bishop of St. Asaph._ + 1483. _Thomas Langton_,[2] _Bishop of St. David's._ + 1480-87. Richard Oldham, Bishop of Sodor and Man. + 1474-98. _John Esteney_,[1] _Abbot of Westminster._ + +KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER, CREATED BY RICHARD III. + + 1. Sir John Conyers (at Bosworth). Escaped. + 2. The Earl of Surrey (at Bosworth). Taken prisoner. + 3. Viscount Lovell (at Bosworth). Escaped. Slain at Stoke. The + King's dearest friend. + + + [1] At the coronation. + [2] Received the King at Oxford. + [3] With the King at Warwick + [4] At Henry Tudor's first Parliament. + +====================================================================== + + +====================================================================== + +{147} + + 4. Sir Richard Ratcliffe (at Bosworth). Slain in the battle. + 5. Sir Thomas Burgh. + 6. Lord Stanley (traitor). + 7. Sir Richard Tunstall. + +KNIGHTS + + _Sir Robert Dymoke_ (the champion) was knighted on July 5, 1483. + Sir Robert Percy . . . . . . . . . " " " + Sir Walter Hopton . . . . . . . . " " " + Sir William Jenney (Judge) . . . . " " " + Sir Robert Brackenbury . . . . . . " " " 1485. + +KNIGHTS OF THE BATH, CREATED AT THE CORONATION OF RICHARD III.[1] + + 1. Sir Edmund de la Pole (son of the Duke of Suffolk). + 2. Sir John Grey (son of the Earl of Kent). + 3. Sir William Zouch (brother of Lord Zouch). + 4. Sir George Neville (son of Lord Abergavenny). + 5. Sir Christopher Willoughby. + 6. Sir William Berkeley, of Beverston (traitor). + 7. Sir Henry Babington. (Buck has Bainton.) + 8. Sir Thomas Arundell. + 9. Sir Thomas Boleyn. (Buck has Bullen.) + 10. Sir Edmund Bedingfield. + 11. Sir Gervase Clifton. Wounded at Bosworth. + 12. Sir William Saye (son of Lord Saye, who fell at Barnet). + 13. Sir William Enderby. + 14. Sir Thomas Lewknor (traitor). + 15. Sir Thomas Ormonde. + 16. Sir John Browne. + 17. Sir William Berkeley, of Wyldy. + 18. Sir Edmund Cornwall, Baron of Burford. + + + [1] From Grafton, p. 799, and Holinshed, p. 733; _Harl. MS._ 293, + fol. 208_b_, and 2115, fol. 152; Buck, p. 26. + +====================================================================== + + + +[1] Morton in Grafton, p. 127. + +[2] _Harl MSS._ 433, fol. 269. Their high rank is shown by the order +that no livery is to exceed the allowance, 'but only to my Lord +(Lincoln?) and _the children_.' See Davies, _York Records_, p. 212 +_n._, who also makes the suggestion that these children were the +offspring of Edward IV. and the young Earl of Warwick. + +[3] King Richard's progress: + + Windsor 22 July, 1483 | Gloucester 1 Aug. 1483 + Reading 23 " " | Tewkesbury 4 " " + Oxford 24 " " | Worcester 6 " " + Warwick* 8 Aug. " | Doncaster 25 " " + Coventry 15 " " | Pontefract 27 " " + Leicester 17 " " | York 30 " " + Nottingham+ 22 " " + + * A week. + + Letter of Secretary Kendal to Mayor of York, Aug. 23; Drake, p. 116. + +[4] Rous. + +[5] Worcester, Lichfield, Durham, St. Asaph, and Bangor (Rous, 217). + +[6] Of St. David's. + +[7] See also Rous, p. 216. + +[8] Sheppard's _Christ Church Letters_, 46, quoted by Gairdner, p. 115. + +[9] Rymer, xii. 200, quoted by Gairdner, p. + +[10] Buck, p. 31, who gives the Letters Patent. + +[11] Confession of his son. + +[12] It is generally alleged that there was no trial. The appointment +of Sir Ralph Ashton proves that there was. + +[13] _King Richard's Traitors, Oct._ 1483 + +In the bill of attainder (_Rot. Part._ v. p. 294) there are 100 +persons. Of these were executed + + The Duke of Buckingham at Salisbury. + Sir Thomas St. Leger at Exeter. + A person named Ramme at Exeter. + Some executed after trial at Torrington by Lord Scrope. + +Wm. Collingbourne had offered another man 8_l._ to go to Hy. Tudor in +Brittany and urge him to invade England. If they would land at Poole, +he would get people to rise. Executed in London, and 6 others, 2 taken +in Kent, 4 in Southwark. + + Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter } + Woodville, Bishop of Salisbury } + Morton, Bishop of Ely } + Marquis of Dorset } escaped abroad. + (_son of the Queen Dowager_) } + Lord Welles } + (_uncle of Henry Tudor_) } + + _Proclaimed Traitors--_ + + Henry Tudor, calling himself Earl of Richmond.* + Jasper Tudor, late Earl of Pembroke.* + Sir E. Courtenay. + Margaret, wife of Lord Stanley. + Sir William Cheney, to induce the Duke of Brittany to help. + John Cheney at Salisbury, and others. + Wm. Noreys, of Yachendon } + Sir Wm. Berkeley, of Beverton } + Sir Roger Tocotes, of Bromham, pardoned } 44 at Newbury and in + Sir Wm. Stonor, in Berks. } Berks. + Sir John Fogge, with 26 others } + Richard Beauchamp, of St. Amand } + William Knyvett, of Bodenham } with Buckingham at + John Hush, merchant of London } Bechurch + Thomas Nandike, necromancer of Cambridge } + Sir George Brown, of Bletchworth, and others executed at + Maidstone (Oct. 18), Rochester (Oct. 20), Gravesend (Oct. 22). + Sir John Gifford. + Sir Thomas Lewknor. + Sir Richard Gilford. + Reynald Pympe. + Sir Edward Poynings. + Sir William Brandon. + Sir John Wingfield. + Arthur Keane. + Sir William Hunter, pardoned. + Sir Thomas Ferveys, " + Nicholas Gaynsford, " + +One hundred named in the Bill, a considerable number afterwards +pardoned. + +_Harl. MSS._ No. 433, p. 128; Halsted, ii. 276 _n._; Sharon Turner. + +* Henry Tudor _had never been_ Earl of Richmond. His father was +attainted, and the title was given to Richard Duke of Gloucester, with +whom it merged in the crown. Jasper Tudor _had been_ Earl of Pembroke +before his attainder. Hence Henry Tudor is named as 'calling himself +Earl of Richmond,' while Jasper is 'late Earl of Pembroke.' After the +attainder the Earldom of Pembroke was conferred by Edward IV. on his +son Edward. + +[14] _Life of Henry VII._ + +[15] _Lives of the Lord Chancellors_, i. p. 407. + +[16] 'Vidisses tantisper patrem et matrem, iis novis apud Nothinghaniam +ubi tunc residebant, auditis præ subitis doloribus pene +insanire'--Croyland, p. 571. + +[17] _Harl. MS._ No. 433, fol. 183. + +[18] Rous, pp. 217-218. 'Non multo post principe, ut dicitur, mortuo, +juvenis comes Warwici Edwardus, filius primogenitus Georgii ducis +Clarenciæ, proclamatus est apparens Angliæ in curia regali, et in +serviciis ad mensam et cameram post regem et reginam primo ei +serviebatur.' + +[19] 'Postea sub arta custodia positus, conies Lincolniensis ei +præferrebatur nomine Johannes Pole, filius et heres Johannis Pole ducis +Suffolchiæ.'--Rous, p. 218. + +[20] Davies, _York Records_, p. 210. + +[21] Moreover, Lincoln fell at Stoke, fighting for the Earl of Warwick +as rightful king, not for himself. + +[22] This marriage never took place, and the Lady Anne became a nun at +Sion. + +[23] It is said by the Croyland monk (572) that there was an eclipse of +the sun on the day of her death. This would make it March 16. Some +authorities have the 11th. + +[24] Buck, p. 129. 'Non cum minore honore quam sicut reginam decuit +sepeliri.'--Croyland, i. 572. + +[25] Croyland, _York Records_, pp. 208, 210. + +[26] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 227. + +[27] John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third son of Edward III., +who lived to marry, had for his first wife Blanche, heiress of Henry +Duke of Lancaster, through whom he acquired the title. By her he had +Henry IV., who usurped the crown, Edward and John, who died young, +Philippa, married to Joam I., King of Portugal, and Elizabeth Duchess +of Exeter. He married secondly Constanza, heiress of Pedro King of +Castille and Leon, and had a daughter Catalina, wife of Enrique III., +King of Castille and Leon. A governess was engaged for the daughters +of the Duke of Lancaster. This was Catharine, daughter of a herald of +Hainault, named Payn Roet, who had married Sir Hugh Swynford in 1367. +The Duke had four children by this woman, named John, Henry, Thomas, +and Joan, surnamed Beaufort from the castle in France where they were +born. All were born during the lifetime not only of the Duke's wife, +but also of the governess's husband. The Duchess died in 1394, and the +realm was scandalised by the marriage of the Duke of Lancaster with +this woman on January 13, 1396. The Duke died in February 1399, +Catharine Swynford on May 10, 1403. Their children were granted +letters of legitimation by Richard II. in February 1397, confirmed by +Henry IV. on February 10, 1407, 'excepta dignitate regali.' Henry +Tudor's mother was granddaughter of John, the eldest of the Beauforts. + +[28] Every act of Richard III. has been persistently misrepresented. +This loan is usually alleged to have been a return to the illegal +system of 'benevolences,' which Richard had himself abolished a year +before, by Act of Parliament. Even Miss Halsted is led into this +error. But Mr. Gairdner has completely disposed of the accusation. +See Croyland, p. 572, and Lingard's remarks, iv. 255. Gairdner, p. 198. + + + + +{148} + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH + +Richard's headquarters were at Nottingham Castle, the 'Castle of Care' +as he had called it, since he received the news of his son's death +there. With the aid of the loan a force had been raised and armed; +while reinforcements were on their way from several directions. Here +the news arrived that Henry Tudor[1] had landed at Milford Haven with +2,000 mercenaries. He would never have run this risk unless he had +previously received distinct promises of adherence from the Talbots and +Stanleys. His mother, the wife of Stanley, was an inveterate +intriguer. She had already been detected in treasonable practices and +contemptuously forgiven by the King. Now she had persuaded her +treacherous husband that it would be more for his interests to be +step-father to a new King owing everything to his treason, than to +continue loyal to his generous and forgiving master. This explains the +conduct of the Stanleys, which emboldened the invader to venture upon +such an enterprise. The insurgents advanced by Cardigan and Welshpool +to Shrewsbury. They were joined by several Welsh chiefs, and by Sir +Gilbert Talbot with 2,000 men. Henry Tudor was accompanied by his +uncle Jasper, and by John Vere, {149} son of the attainted Earl of +Oxford. Reginald Bray,[2] his mother's steward, was in attendance on +him, and Dr. Richard Fox[3] acted as his secretary. Most of the +leaders of his troops were exiles who had been concerned in +Buckingham's abortive treason. William Brandon,[4] Sir John Cheney, +Sir Giles Daubeny, Sir Robert Willoughby, Sir John Byron, Richard +Edgcombe,[5] and Sir Thomas Bourchier, all come under this category. +Sir John Savage and Simon Digby[6] joined the invaders after they had +landed, and Walter Hungerford[7] deserted just before the battle. No +peer, except Stanley, joined the rebels. + +Lord Stanley and his brother Sir William had raised forces in +Lancashire and Cheshire, with the base intention of turning traitors to +their King if a good opportunity offered, but of being on the winning +side in any circumstances. With this object their design was to hold +aloof until the last moment. Sir William Stanley had a secret +interview with Henry at Stafford. On August 20 the insurgents, about +8,000 strong, arrived at Atherstone, nine miles beyond Tamworth. Here +the Stanleys again met Henry secretly. They pretended to the King that +they were retreating before the invaders. + +Richard was undoubtedly a man endowed with great military talent. He +had shown remarkable {150} generalship, when quite a boy, at Barnet and +Tewkesbury. He had conducted the Scottish campaign with signal +success. He had promptly stamped out the Buckingham revolt. He was +now to encounter the rebels. There can be no doubt that if he had +waited for the reinforcements which were on their way, especially from +the north, the result would never have been doubtful. But alas! he +despised his enemy, and his open and generous nature prevented him from +harbouring a suspicion of the foul treachery of the Stanleys until it +was too late. + +English pluck has been a motive power which has helped to place the +English-speaking race in the forefront of the world's history. That +dogged courage facing overwhelming odds rather than wait for help or +give ground is the secret of England's success. Often leading to +decisive victory it has sometimes resulted in disaster. Never more +conspicuous than in the audacious campaigns of Crecy and Agincourt, +when fortune was on the side of reckless valour, it was equally present +on the fatal field of Beaugé, when Thomas Duke of Clarence lost his +life. We find it again at Wakefield, a battle which resembles Bosworth +in several respects. The brave and chivalrous father lost his life on +the former, the gallant son on the latter field. Both Richards were +full of English pluck. Both scorned to wait for succour; and +preferred, like the men of Zutphen and of Balaclava, to charge into the +midst of countless odds. Both were betrayed--the Duke of York by +Nevill, the King by the Stanleys. These Plantagenets were fitting +leaders of the people of England. While their dogged English pluck led +some of them to destruction, the very same quality has secured decisive +victory for England on a hundred fields. + +{151} + +On August 14 King Richard was hunting in Beskwood Park. He was an +ardent sportsman, and this was fated to be his last day's sport. +Monday the 15th was the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, and he +devoutly kept it, as we learn from the Duke of Norfolk.[8] He +commenced his march from Nottingham on Wednesday morning. He was +surrounded by loyal and devoted friends. Viscount Lovell and Sir +Robert Percy, the companions of his childhood, rode by his side. The +veteran Duke of Norfolk, who had fought with the great Talbot at +Châtillon, was hurrying up with a contingent from the eastern counties. +His son, the gallant Earl of Surrey, was with him. Lords Ferrers and +Zouch had arrived from the Midlands. The loyal old Constable, Sir +Robert Brackenbury, had come by forced marches from London. The Earl +of Northumberland, who owed much to his royal cousin,[9] was bringing a +first instalment of troops from the north. The faithful city of York +was represented by eighty of her citizens, stout-hearted and well +equipped.[10] Other troops were on their way, and if the King had +waited for them his victory was certain. All the loyal gentry of the +north were in arms, but Richard did not give them time to reach his +camp. Among them were the two Lords Scrope, Lords Dacre and Ogle, Lord +Greystoke of Hinderskelf, the King's cousin,[11] who 'brought a mighty +many,' and among the Yorkshire names of those loyal to King Richard +were Gascoigne and Conyers, Strickland and Constable, Mauleverer and +Plumpton, Tempest and Pudsey, Pilkington and Musgrave. + +{152} + +The King formed his army in two divisions, marching five abreast, with +the cavalry on the flanks. Richard himself was on a white horse richly +caparisoned, and he wore a golden circlet on his helmet. He entered +Leicester in the evening of August 19, and lodged at the 'White +Boar'[12] in North Gate Street. In the morning of Sunday the 21st the +army marched out of Leicester, reaching the little village of +Stapleton, a distance of eight miles, in the afternoon. A camp had +already been prepared in a field near Stapleton, called 'the +Bradshaws,' which is on a slight eminence. + +[Sidenote: The Battle of Bosworth] + +[Illustration: Map: Battle of Bosworth] + +This part of Leicestershire consists of a succession of hills and +dales, with streams flowing westward, and uniting to form the Anker, a +tributary of the Trent. The 'Bradshaws' is on the brow of a gentle +slope, at the base of which flows a rivulet called the Tweed. The Duke +of Norfolk's camp was at Cadeby, about two miles to the north, but he +only arrived at Stapleton the day before the battle. Stanley, still +pretending to retreat, marched with 2,000 men, by Stoke Golding, to a +field now called 'Gamble's Close,' facing the 'Bradshaws,' with the +Tweed flowing between the two positions. Sir William Stanley had a +similar force encamped on the northern side of the field, in front of +the town of Market Bosworth, and near the Duke of Norfolk. Between, +but to the west of Stapleton and Cadeby, there is a ridge known as +Sutton Fields, in front of the village of Sutton Cheney. A gentle +slope sinks thence to Redmore Plain[13] and Ambien Leys, {153} between +which is the hill called Ambien. Further west, across the stream, +there are some fields called the White Moors, with the village of +Shenton to the north, and those of Dadlington and Stoke Golding to the +south-east. + +Henry had arrived at Atherstone on August 20, and lodged at the 'Three +Tuns,' while the rebel troops and their French allies under Philibert +de Shaundé encamped in the meadows north of the church. Tudor was here +joined by another traitor, Robert Hardwicke of Lindley. Next day the +insurgents advanced nearly due east, crossed the bridge over the river +Anker at Witherley, and then turned up the Fenn Lanes, encamping on +White Moors. Hardwicke of Lindley acted as their guide. They were a +mile from Ambien Hill, with Lord Stanley in advance of their right +flank, and Sir William Stanley between their camp and Bosworth, on +their left flank. + +The King had thrown up a breastwork to protect his camp, 300 yards +long, with flanks of fifty yards, facing Lord Stanley. At length the +suspicious conduct of Stanley forced him to entertain the idea of +treachery. But it was too late. He had about 8,000 men, while +Norfolk's contingent numbered 4,000. The Stanleys had about 8,000 men, +and the insurgent army was composed of 2,000 French mercenaries, 2,000 +retainers of Sir Gilbert Talbot, and 4,000 Welsh and English traitors, +in all 8,000 men. Including the Stanley contingents, the enemy largely +outnumbered the royal army. + +During the night Sir Simon Digby got into the royal camp as a spy, and +returned with the report that the troops were in motion. The rebel +leaders, therefore, sounded to arms. This must have been at dawn of +Monday, August 22, 1485. The sun rose that {154} day at a quarter +after five.[14] King Richard marched north-eastward for two miles to +effect a junction with the Duke of Norfolk. The royal army was then +formed in two lines, along the ridge of Sutton Fields. The archers +were in the front line, with a few small pieces of artillery, under the +Duke of Norfolk. The bill-men formed the rear line, and the horse were +on the flanks. Stanley marched at the same time as the King, and +halted to the rear of his left flank. The Earl of Northumberland +arrived the same morning, but he seems to have thought that his men +needed rest. He took no part in the battle. This slackness and want +of zeal were punished in after years by the loyal people of +Yorkshire.[15] + +King Richard was dressed in the same suit of polished steel that he had +worn at Tewkesbury, with a golden circlet round his helmet. He rode to +a knoll, since called 'Dickon's Nook,' and addressed the army in a +spirit-stirring speech, calling on all true Englishmen to resist the +foreign invaders, and appealing to their loyalty and patriotism. He +then led them down the slope, placing his right towards Ambien Leys. +In front of his centre there was a well, since known as King Richard's +Well. + +Philibert de Shaundé had formed the insurgents across Redmore Plain, +with a morass on their right flank. In their first line was John Vere +in the centre, Sir Gilbert Talbot on the right, and Sir John Savage on +the left wing. Jasper Tudor commanded the second line, and his nephew +Henry kept well in {155} the rear. John Vere ordered his men not to +advance more than ten paces in front of their standard; for he knew of +the contemplated treachery, and that the royal troops would be attacked +in the rear. + +As soon as the King saw that the insurgents had left their camp and +advanced round the morass, he gave the order for the attack at about 10 +A.M. A volley of arrows was discharged on either side: probably a few +shots from some small pieces of ordnance were fired by the rebels.[16] +Then the traitor Stanley threw off the mask and fell upon the left rear +of the royal army, throwing it into confusion. The Duke of Norfolk +fought gallantly and fell in the thickest of the battle. + +The young King beheld this treason, and at once made up his mind. He +saw that a desperate charge of cavalry was the only remaining chance. +He received a report that Henry Tudor was skulking in the rear, and +resolved to attack him. It was a well-concerted plan, though made on +the spur of the moment. Richard was surrounded by loyal and devoted +knights. It is said that he stopped to quench his thirst at the well. +Then, putting spurs to his horse, he galloped forward, followed by the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State, the Clerk of the +Council, the Constable of the Tower, Lords Lovell, K.G., Ferrers, and +Zouch; Sir Bryan Stapleton, Sir Thomas and Humphrey Stafford, Sir +Richard Clarendon, Sir Gervase {156} Clifton, Sir Robert Percy,[17] Sir +Richard Ratcliffe, K.G.,[18] the flower of England's loyal chivalry. +Sir William Parker was the standard-bearer. Never was the valour of +the kingly race of Plantagenet more gloriously displayed. Sir Robert +Brackenbury was encountered by the traitor Hungerford, who slew the +grey-headed old warrior, loyal to the last. Sir Gervase Clifton was +overthrown and badly wounded, but he was shielded from further harm by +Sir John Byron, his old friend and neighbour in Nottinghamshire, who +eventually obtained his pardon from the usurper.[19] The King himself +felled William Brandon to the ground. He was the adventurer's +standard-bearer, and the red dragon worked on white and green sarcenet +was hurled into the mud. The lions of England still waved over their +defenders. The King then unhorsed Sir John Cheney, a French pensioner, +and was on the point of reaching Henry Tudor himself, when the last and +foulest act of treachery was perpetrated. Sir William Stanley suddenly +attacked the right flank of the royal army with 3,000 men. King +Richard was surrounded. He was urged to fly by the loyal knights who +stood by him to the last. 'Never,' exclaimed the young hero, 'I will +not budge a foot; I will die King of England,' and he dashed into the +thickest of the fight. Like a sturdy oak sinking under a thousand +blows, at length King Richard fell, fighting an army and covered with +wounds. 'Fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies,' +confessed one of the most unscrupulous {157} among them.[20] He fell +at the foot of the hill in Ambien Leys. Lord Ferrers, Lord Zouch, Sir +Richard Ratcliffe, the Secretary of State, and the Clerk of the Council +fell fighting by his side. Sir William Conyers and Sir Richard +Clarendon were also among the slain, with many other loyal knights and +gentlemen. Sir William Parker (or Thurleball?), the King's +standard-bearer, is said to have kept the lions of England on high +until both his legs were cut from under him, nor, when on the ground, +would he let go while breath was left in his body.[21] + +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] + +On his accession to the throne his character did not alter. He loved +his country, and was a King of great administrative ability. He was +prompt and vigorous in suppressing insurrections, and baffling the +schemes of conspirators; but he was lenient, often unwisely so, when +the immediate danger was over. No other King would have spared such +mischievous traitors as Stanley and Morton. His generosity to the +families of attainted rebels will not find any parallel in our history. +Not only did he show liberal clemency to the wives of Rivers, Hastings, +Buckingham and others: {160} but he actually pensioned the wives of men +who were plotting against him in foreign countries, like John Vere, +Lord Dynham, and Alexander Cheney. His uprightness and good faith were +relied upon by enemies and friends alike. Lord Rivers appointed him +supervisor of his last will, well knowing him to be an honourable and +magnanimous foe. Lady Latimer sought the same service from him, as a +kind and trusty friend. As an arbitrator in family disputes, like that +between Sir Robert Plumpton and his relations, Richard, by his +impartial justice, established peace and concord where there had been +ill-will and litigation.[25] There was nothing mean or sordid in his +nature; he was liberal, open-handed, and generous. + +[Sidenote: Administration of King Richard] + +Richard's Parliament was the best that had met since the time of Edward +I. His administration was patriotic. He checked corruption in the +public service, {161} refused large sums of money that were offered to +him as gifts by several towns,[26] and anxiously sought the welfare of +his people. He took great interest in the administration of justice, +and it is recorded that in Michaelmas term of 1484 he personally +attended in the Star Chamber and propounded questions of law to the +judges. He encouraged trade, and especially voyages to Iceland and the +northern fisheries. In Ireland he was very popular and his government +was successful. His foreign policy was wise and judicious. He made +peace with Scotland, established friendly relations with Brittany and +Spain, observed strict neutrality between Maximilian and the Flemish +towns, while promoting commercial intercourse, and watched the +treacherous regency of France with well-founded suspicion. + +King Richard was a great builder.[27] He founded collegiate churches +at Middleham, Barnard Castle, and All Hallows Barking, built a memorial +chapel at Towton, another at Sheriff Hutton, endowed Queens' College, +Cambridge,[28] and erected a handsome tower at Westminster. He pushed +forward the works at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, begun by his +brother, and repaired the castles of Skipton, Carlisle, Nottingham, and +Warwick. His cognizance of the white boar is still to be seen on the +stonework of an oriel window at Barnard Castle. Richard was a prince +of literary tastes, and among his books a manuscript copy of the +romance of Tristan de Leonnais and a Wickliffe Bible have been +preserved. He was the friend and patron {162} of Caxton, who dedicated +a book 'Of the Ordre of Chyvalry and Knyghthode' to 'his redoubted Lord +King Richard.' By letters patent, dated March 21, 1484, he gave the +Heralds a charter of incorporation, and was thus the founder of the +College of Arms. He also granted them 'a right fayre and stately +house,'[29] called Pulteney's Inn. He was devout and religious, +striving to promote greater activity among the clergy in improving the +morals of the people. Richard was a keen sportsman, devoted to the +chase both with hawk and hound. He kept large hunting establishments +at Westminster and in Yorkshire. + +King Richard was probably conscious of the political change that was +impending in the world, for he was a vigilant observer of the signs of +the times, and was well versed in the political questions which were +engaging the attention of European statesmen. He had witnessed the +fall of his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, and the collapse of the +system he upheld. He must have seen that feudalism was giving way to a +new era, in the age of the Renaissance. The young Plantagenet was well +fitted by nature to rule the destinies of England during this period of +change. He had received an excellent training. For years he had been +accustomed to confer with the authorities at York on their local +affairs, he had often been in consultation with clerical advisers when +framing statutes for his collegiate churches, and from early youth he +had had unusual opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the needs and +wishes of the people. He desired to {163} reign in the hearts of his +countrymen. His proclamations and letters show that he wished to take +his people into his counsels, to consult public opinion, and to be +guided by it. He was an administrator of no mean ability, and although +he was bold even to recklessness in facing the consequences of his +acts, he always showed anxiety to have the public feeling with him. He +would, in all probability, have respected the rights and liberties of +his subjects while leading them into new ways. + +[Sidenote: Richard and the Tudors] + +In all respects Richard was better fitted to reign over England in the +days of change that were inevitable than the two tyrants who succeeded +him. Henry Tudor caused a beautiful chapel to be built at Westminster +for his own tomb, but his son robbed and destroyed scores of far more +beautiful tombs and churches in all parts of England. There might have +been an age of English Renaissance under Richard. There actually was +an age of Vandalic destruction under the Tudors. The father was a +miserly foreigner, the son a rapacious and remorseless tyrant,[30] both +despots by nature, and haters of constitutional freedom. The battle of +Bosworth was a calamity from which England did not soon recover. But +after seventy-three years of tyranny the Great Queen began to reign. +Though a Tudor by name her high qualities were derived from her +mother's English ancestors. She was a true Englishwoman at heart. +Descendant of the brave and loyal Norfolk who fell fighting for King +Richard at Bosworth, the grand-niece of Richard III. was by blood even +more truly English than were her Yorkist great-uncles. + +{164} + +Richard was most agreeable and ingratiating in his manners, and where +he was best known he was most liked.[31] He formed friendships which +endured the test of time. Those who knew and loved him in boyhood +fought by his side on the fatal field at Bosworth.[32] Richard III. +was the only one of our kings who made a true love match. His cousin +Anne, the playmate of his childhood, was his first love. United before +they were twenty, they passed ten years of happy married life together +at Middleham. Their love is proved by their constant companionship. +When the Protector was surrounded by perils and difficulties, his wife +hurried up to London to share them with him. Together they were +crowned, together they sat at public banquets, made progresses and +walked in royal processions. Together they mourned over the death of +their beloved child, and sought comfort in mutual sympathy. Richard +only survived his wife's death for five short months; having shared +with her their joys and sorrows for fourteen years. + +[Sidenote: Contemporary sovereigns] + +The true picture of our last Plantagenet King is not unpleasant to look +upon, when the accumulated garbage and filth of centuries of calumny +have been cleared off its surface. + +{165} + +CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS + + Scotland _James III._ 1460-1488 + France _Anne of Beaujeu_ (Regent for 1483 + _Charles VIII._) + Brittany _Francis II._ 1458-1488 + Low Countries _Mary and Maximilian_ 1477-1493 + Germany _Emperor Frederick III._ 1440-1493 + Denmark, Sweden, _Hans_ 1481-1513 + and Norway + Bohemia _Vladislaus_ 1471-1510 + Hungary _Matthias Corvinus_ 1458-1490 + Poland _Casimir IV._ 1445-1492 + Castille _Isabella_ 1474-1504 + Aragon _Ferdinand_ 1479-1516 + Portugal _Joam II._ 1481-1495 + Naples _Ferdinand of Aragon_ 1458-1494 + Pope _Sixtus IV._ (delle Rovere) 1471-1484 + " _Innocent VIII._ (Cibo) 1484-1492 + Tuscany _Lorenzo de' Medici_ 1469-1492 + Milan _Gian Galeazzo Sforza_ 1476-1494 + Grand Seigneur _Bayazid II._ 1481-1512 + + + +[1] Henry Tudor was not, and never had been, Earl of Richmond. His +father had been deprived by attainder and outlawry. Richard Duke of +Gloucester was created Earl of Richmond by King Edward IV., and when +Richard succeeded, the title merged in the crown. + +[2] Sir Reginald Bray was made a K.B. at Henry's coronation, and +afterwards a Knight of the Garter. He was an architect, and has the +credit of having finished St. George's Chapel at Windsor and built +Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster. + +[3] Fox was a priestly conspirator who had been acting as one of +Morton's agents. He was rewarded with the Bishopric of Winchester. + +[4] Henry's standard-bearer. + +[5] Knighted after the battle. + +[6] Made Lieutenant of the forests of Sherwood, Beskwood, and Clipston, +on Sept. 22, 1485. + +[7] Knighted after the battle. + + +[8] _Paston Letters_, ii. p. 334. + +[9] Their mothers were sisters. Richard III. had passed an Act +restoring all their rights and possessions to the Percys. + +[10] Davies, _York Records_, p. 216. + +[11] Their mothers were sisters. + +[12] Afterwards the 'Blue Boar.' + +[13] The battle was sometimes called Redmore, 'apud Rodemore juxta +Leicestre' (_York Records_, p. 217). See also Drayton's _Polyolbion_, +xxii. + + 'O Redmore then it seemed thy name was not in vain, + When with a thousand's blood the earth was coloured red.' + +[14] Thirty-first of Gregorian era. Sun rises at 5.15 A.M. + +[15] They killed him near Thirsk, on April 28, 1488, when he was +engaged in enforcing the payment of extortionate taxes levied by his +new master (Dugdale's _Baronage_, p. 282). + +[16] Four cannon balls were found on Ambien Hill in the last century. +They are now in possession of Mrs. Park Yates, of Sandiway, near +Northwich, who allowed Mr. Gairdner to examine them. One is of lead, +weighing 14-¾ lbs., another 8-½ lbs., another 4 lbs., and the fourth is +of stone and larger. Mr. Gairdner suggests that the guns may have been +brought by the rebels from Tamworth Castle, which was on their line of +march. + +[17] Son of Robert Percy of Scotton, near Knaresborough. + +[18] Eldest son of Sir Thomas Ratcliffe of Derwentwater. Sir Richard +married Agnes, daughter of Lord Scrope of Bolton. + +[19] Sir Gervase Clifton of Clifton lived until 1493. His tomb is in +Clifton Church. + +[20] Polydore Virgil, p. 224. 'Attamen si ad ejus honorem veritatem +dicam ut nobilis miles licet corpore parvus et viribus debilis ad +ultimum anhelitum suum modo defensorio clarissime se habuit, sæpius se +proditum clamans et dicans "Treason! Treason! Treason!" et sic +gustans quod aliis sæpius propinaverat miserrime vitam finivit.'--Rous, +p. 218. 'Nam inter pugnandum et non in fuga, dictus Rex Richardus, +multis vulneribus ictus, quasi princeps animosus et audentissimus in +campo occubuit.'--_Croyland Chron._, Gale, i. p. 574. + +[21] Hutton's _Bosworth_. The only detailed account of the battle is +in the history of the Italian Polydore Virgil, who came to England in +about 1503. Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed copied from Polydore, or from +each other. Hutton visited the ground in 1788, and again in 1807, and +wrote a history of the battle. Mr. Gairdner also went over the ground +and wrote an account of the battle in the _Archæologia_, lv. pt. vii. +p. 159 (1896), read Jan. 24, 1895. The present writer has twice been +over every part of the ground, and examined it carefully with Polydore +Virgil and Hutton as his guides, the first time accompanied by an +accomplished antiquary, the present Earl of Liverpool. + +[22] Brooke, _Visits to Battle Fields in England_, p. 170. + +[23] Mary II. was two months younger, but she was only a joint +sovereign. Edward VI. never actually reigned. + +[24] Davies, _York Records_, p. 218. + +[25] The history of this Plumpton arbitration illustrates the +difference between Richard III. and Henry VII. The former appears as a +just and upright king, studying the good of his subjects; the latter, +as a pettifogging tyrant, seeking pretexts and excuses for robbery and +spoliation. + +The dispute was between Sir Robert Plumpton and his heirs general as to +rights of succession. At last there was an agreement to abide the +award of the King's Majesty. Richard III. gave the matter his careful +attention, and decided on the merits, solely actuated by the desire of +doing substantial justice. His judgment was given on September 16, +1483. Impartial justice was actually done by Richard's award, and its +conditions were peacefully acquiesced in by both parties, for several +years. + +'But,' as the Editor remarks, 'it was the misfortune of Sir Robert +Plumpton to have lived on into the days of Henry VII., who, under the +pretence of a rigid enforcement of the law, sought only the means to +gratify his avarice.' Every defect of title, which might furnish the +pretext for a suit or fine, was eagerly caught at in order to swell the +revenue. In this manner the claim of the Plumpton heirs general was +re-opened by the infamous Empson, the tool of Henry; and after years of +persecution, Sir Robert was reduced to beggary and a debtors' prison.' +_Plumpton Correspondence_, pp. xc. to cxviii. (_Camden Society_, 1839). + +[26] London, Gloucester, and Worcester. + +[27] 'Erat iste Rex Ricardus in edificiis laudandus, ut +Westmonasteriensi, Notinghamiæ, Warwici, Eboraci et apud Midlam, +multisque aliis locis, ut ad oculum manifesta evidet.'--Rous, p. 215. + +[28] Rous, p. 216. + +[29] Stow. Henry Tudor, when he usurped the crown, seized upon this +property, and turned out the Heralds. They remained houseless until +1555, when the Earl Marshal purchased a house on St. Benet's Hill for +them, the site of the present Heralds' College. + +[30] Henry VIII. was never known to exercise the prerogative of mercy. +Even poor young Lord Dacre was among his victims, for a trivial offence. + +[31] 'Richard was bold in conceiving and reckless in facing the +consequences of his acts, of high and brilliant courage, and seductive +manners.'--W. Campbell, _Introduction to Materials for the History of +the Reign of Henry VII._, p. xiv. + +[32] Lord Lovell and Sir Robert Percy. + + + + +{166} + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE AUTHORITIES + +The dynasty of the Plantagenets had reigned over England for more than +three centuries, when the last King of that royal race fell at the +battle of Bosworth. Under the Plantagenets, Normans and Saxons were +welded into one nation. The House of Commons became a firmly +established institution. The cherished liberties of England took form +and shape. The victories of the Plantagenet kings are the most +glorious traditions of the English people. No other dynasty became so +thoroughly national, and the Yorkist kings were almost pure Englishmen +in blood.[1] A halo of romance would naturally have gathered round our +last Plantagenet, our youngest reigning sovereign,[2] and the only +English monarch since the Conquest who fell in battle, fighting +valiantly for his crown and country. + +Instead of this being the case, the accusations of his enemies have +received full credence. He was charged {167} with the committal of a +series of atrocious crimes, his name has been execrated by posterity, +and historians have vied with each other in heaping opprobrium on his +memory. + +[Sidenote: Rooted prejudice] + +Yet there are obvious reasons for closely criticising the accusations +against King Richard, and for examining them with more than ordinary +care before accepting them as proved. For his successor had no valid +title to the crown. It was not only the new King's interest, but a +necessity of his position, that he should cause grave charges to be +brought against his predecessor, and that they should be accepted as +true. Henry VII. had the power and the will to silence all comment, +and to prevent any defence from being published. Evidence in favour of +Richard was destroyed. Authors employed by Henry, and others who were +anxious to please him and his successors, were alone permitted to write +histories. Not a syllable was allowed to be uttered on the other side +for one hundred and sixty years. The story thus put forward was +dramatised by Shakespeare, and became so familiar to posterity that +even writers of our own day approach the subject with unconscious +prejudice which they cannot resist. If Richard performs kindly acts, +and many such are recorded, he is trying 'to get unsteadfast friends.' +If he punishes treason he is 'a venomous hunchback.' If a rebellion is +put down during his reign he is an inhuman tyrant. His ability is +cunning, his justice is cruelty, his bravery is fury, his generosity is +artfulness, his devotion is hypocrisy. + +In giving some account of the original authorities upon whose testimony +the charges against King Richard rest, I only propose to state general +conclusions with regard to them in the present chapter; because proofs +{168} and arguments will be embodied in the detailed discussions which +follow. + +Bernard André, Archbishop Morton, and Polydore Virgil were actually in +the pay or under the direct influence of the first Tudor King. In this +trio only one was an Englishman. John Rous and Robert Fabyan wrote +during Henry's reign, accepted his version of events, and sought his +favour. The continuator of the Chronicle of Croyland Abbey is the sole +independent source of information. + +[Sidenote: Morton's pamphlet] + +By far the most important of the original authorities, and the one on +which all subsequent history has been based, is Archbishop Morton. His +narrative is contained in the 'History of Richard III.,' erroneously +attributed to Sir Thomas More, who was in Morton's household when a +boy. This work first appeared in Hardyng's Chronicle, printed by +Grafton in 1543. It was embodied in Hall's Chronicle, and copied by +Holinshed. Fourteen years after its publication, another and somewhat +different version was brought out by Rastell in 1557. Rastell was +related to Sir Thomas More, and he alleged that his version was taken +from a manuscript in More's handwriting written about 1513. A Latin +version, written long before its publication, was printed at Louvain in +1566, with various additions to the imaginary speeches, and an address +to Henry VIII. and the Earl of Surrey. Sir George Buck[3] and Sir +John Harington[4] had heard that the work was written {169} by Morton. +The Latin version could not have been, for it is addressed to Henry +VIII., and Morton died in 1500. + +The history, as we have it, contains long speeches and dialogues which +must have been fabricated by the writer. The narrative from the death +of Edward IV. to the accession of Richard was certainly written or +dictated by Morton, for no one else could have been cognizant of some +of the facts. The title given by the publisher is misleading. It is +not a 'history of Richard III.,' but a very detailed narrative of the +events from his brother's death to his own accession, covering a period +of less than three months. It ends abruptly at a point just before the +date of Morton's flight from England. His personal knowledge ceased +with his departure, and here the story suddenly comes to an end. He +was evidently acquainted personally with every detail, and he possessed +an exceptionally accurate memory.[5] The errors and alterations of +dates in the narrative must consequently have been made intentionally +and with an object. Morton's character and the value of his testimony +will be discussed more fully in a future chapter. The story of the +murder of the young princes at the end of the book cannot have been +written by Morton, for it alludes to events which happened after +October 12, 1500, the date of that prelate's death. The outline of the +story of the murder was no doubt inspired, as Lord Bacon shrewdly +suspected, by Henry VII. himself. + +Rastell assumed that the English version of this {170} 'History of +Richard III.' was composed by Sir Thomas More because a copy in his +handwriting was found among his papers. The previous publication by +Grafton proves that there were other copies abroad, differing slightly +from each other, and there is no reason for assuming that the copy in +More's handwriting was the original. Indeed there is evidence that it +was not. Grafton's version contains a good deal at the end which is +not in the narrative attributed to More by Rastell. The latter ends +abruptly, as if the whole had not been copied. More merely made an +unfinished copy. The respect with which this production has been +treated is due to Sir Thomas More's reputed authorship, and to this is +to be attributed its comparative freedom from criticism. It is in +reality an unscrupulous party pamphlet, and its authorship ought not to +affect its character. Yet the reply to any objection to statements +contained in it has hitherto been that it was written by the good and +virtuous Sir Thomas More, and therefore must be true.[6] + +Internal evidence makes it certain that More did not write it. The +author speaks of the death-bed of Edward IV. as an eye-witness.[7] +More was then only five years of age. He was born in February 1478. +{171} This seems conclusive. Sir Thomas made an incomplete copy, when +a young man, of a work which was attracting a good deal of attention, +and of which there were other copies in circulation. The date of the +copy is said by Rastell to be 1513, when More's age was about +thirty-five. The actual compiler of the book, as we have it, is +unknown. But the information and the inspiration of the whole work, +with the exception of the story of the murder of the young princes at +the end, is undoubtedly from Archbishop Morton. I have, therefore, +referred to the work as by Morton, and to the story of the murders, +which is clearly not by Morton, as by Rastell's anonymous historian. + +[Sidenote: Bernard André] + +Henry VII. began the business of vilifying his predecessor very early +in his reign. It was indeed a matter of the utmost moment to him, for +he appears to have considered that a belief in the alleged crimes of +Richard was essential to the security of his own position. He brought +over a blind Gascon from France, named Bernard André, whom he appointed +his poet laureate and historiographer. André began to write a life of +Henry VII. in 1500. It is very brief, with several gaps, and he left +it incomplete when he died in about 1522. + +[Sidenote: Polydore Virgil] + +But the Italian who arrived some years later in Henry's reign was far +more serviceable. Polydore Virgil was the paid historian of the +Tudors. He was a native of Urbino, and was sent to England by his +patron, the infamous Pope Alexander VI., in 1501 as the assistant +collector of the tax called Peter's pence. Henry requested him to +undertake the history, placing all official materials at his disposal, +and doubtless indicating the line he was to take. He proved {172} an +apt pupil and was well rewarded. He was made absentee Rector of Church +Langton, received a prebend at Lincoln, another at Hereford, and was +appointed Archdeacon of Wells. In 1513 he was made a Canon of St. +Paul's with a house, and he had other preferment. His history was +completed in 1534. Polydore Virgil was a man of learning, and his work +is based on original research. But he did not hesitate to misrepresent +facts not only to please his patrons, but in order to gratify his own +spite and malignity.[8] In his account of events in the life of +Richard III. he merely recorded the version that would be pleasing to +his employer. His imperfect knowledge of the English language impairs +the value of his evidence when obtained from oral sources. The tale of +the assassination of young Edward of Lancaster by a King of England and +his chief nobles is peculiarly Italian, and may be claimed by Polydore +as his original conception. It is worthy of this protégé of the +Borgias. His statements respecting King Richard deserve little credit, +unless they are corroborated by independent evidence. Polydore had +access to the written statements of Morton, of which he made +considerable use. He also had the run of all official documents, and +he is said to have made away with numerous original papers, which may +be presumed to have disproved his assertions.[9] One most {173} +important document, which Henry ordered to be destroyed, has been +preserved through a fortunate accident.[10] + +These three writers, André, Morton, and Virgil, were employed by the +Tudors, and considering the sources from whence their statements come, +little weight ought to be attached to them. They are the paid, and +very well paid, counsel and witnesses of King Richard's cunning enemy. +'The sagacious, patient, unchivalrous man,' says Mr. Campbell, +'although he rewarded his panegyrists with, for him, prodigal +liberality, estimated with mercantile keenness the worth which their +eulogies would bear in his own age.'[11] + +[Sidenote: Rous] + +The authors who wrote during the reign of Henry VII., but not in his +pay or directly under his influence, next come under review. John +Rous, the so-called hermit of Guy's Cliff, was an antiquary and an +heraldic draughtsman. He knew Richard personally. He was the author +of 'Historia Regum Angliæ,' which he dedicated to Henry VII., and in +which he heaped virulent abuse on King Richard, crowding his venom into +a page or two at the end--an after-thought to please his new patron. +He also prepared two pictorial heraldic rolls, representing the +pedigree of the Earls of Warwick. Both were executed during the +lifetime {174} of King Richard. One is at Kimbolton, the other at the +Heralds' College. To the latter Rous had access after the accession of +Henry. To the former he had not. In the former Richard is described +as 'a mighty Prince and special good Lord,' and as 'the most victorious +Prince Richard III. In his realm full commendably punishing offenders +of the laws, especially oppressors of his commons, and cherishing those +that were virtuous, by the which discreet guiding he got great thanks +and love of all his subjects rich and poor, and great laud of the +people of all other lands about him.' The latter roll was still in the +hands of Rous when Richard fell. The above passage is expunged. The +portraits of the two Yorkist Kings are taken out. Queen Anne Nevill is +despoiled of her crown, her son is deprived of crown and sceptre, and +Richard is merely alluded to as Anne's 'infelix maritus.' The +testimony of such an unblushing time-server as Rous must be rejected as +worthless. Yet, in one or two instances, he has inadvertently revealed +the truth, where the official writers have intended to conceal it.[12] + +Robert Fabyan was a clothier and alderman of London, who recorded the +events of earlier times and of his own day in a chronicle which was +written during the reign of Henry VII.[13] He was a fulsome Tudor +partisan, anxious to please the reigning powers, and ready to record +any story against the fallen King, even to wholesale falsification of +dates. It will be shown further on that, in concocting part of his +chronicle, he must have been in dishonest collusion with Morton. {175} +Fabyan died in 1513, and his chronicle was first published in 1516. It +was used by Polydore Virgil. + +Dr. Warkworth, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, wrote a diary which +has chiefly been relied upon as evidence of the date of the death of +Henry VI.,[14] but that question will be fully discussed in a future +chapter. + +[Sidenote: The monks of Croyland] + +Morton, Polydore Virgil, Rous, and Fabyan will be found to be dishonest +and untrustworthy narrators, who can be shown to use deception +deliberately, with a full knowledge of the truth. The second +continuation of the Chronicle of Croyland Abbey occupies an entirely +different position. There is every reason for believing that the monks +who wrote it, though the first was prejudiced, and the second was +credulous and easily deceived, intended to relate what they believed to +be true. This continuation long remained in manuscript, in which state +it was seen by Sir George Buck. It was not printed until 1684. It +occupies twenty-eight folio pages.[15] + +The first part of the continuation bears internal evidence of having +been written by one monk who concludes with some local notices +respecting the abbey and its inmates. Then another monk took up the +chronicling pen, and ends his part in the same way. It is capable of +absolute proof that this continuation of the Croyland Chronicle was +written by at least two monks. In referring to the death of Henry VI., +the first monk prays that the tyrant who caused it may be given time +for repentance. This part must, therefore, have been written while the +tyrant in question was alive, whether Edward IV., Richard, or Lord +Rivers the Constable (who was really the responsible person) {176} is +intended. The second monk says at the end, that the work was finished +on April 30, 1486, and that it was written in ten days. Edward, +Richard and Rivers were all dead in April 1486. Consequently these two +passages must have been written by different hands. + +The first of these monks was the more judicious of the two, and he had +probably once mixed in the world. He mentions a councillor of Edward +IV. who was doctor of canon law, and who was sent to Abbeville on an +embassy to the Duke of Burgundy in 1471. In the margin there is a note +to the effect that the same man compiled that part of the chronicle. +If this note is to be relied on, the first monk had once been in the +service of Edward IV., but he had Lancastrian sympathies like Morton. +He refers to the executions after Tewkesbury as vindictive, and he +hints at a rumour that Henry VI. met his death by order of his +successor. His part of the chronicle includes ten pages, and covers +the period from 1471 to the death of Edward IV. + +The second monk seems to have known nothing of the outer world, and was +very credulous. It is with him that we have to do in this inquiry. He +relates the events leading to the accession of Richard III. with +general accuracy, and correctly as regards dates, the same dates being +falsified by Morton and Fabyan. He even gives the true grounds on +which Richard's claim to the crown rested, which are falsified by +Morton and by Polydore Virgil, and which were forbidden by Henry VII. +to be mentioned on pain of imprisonment. The chronicle remained in +manuscript, and the truth-telling monk was not found out. The +contribution of the second monk to the continuation of the Chronicle of +Croyland Abbey was written out in {177} ten days, and finished in the +time of Henry VII., on April 30, 1486. Though generally trustworthy it +contains several errors. It follows Morton, Polydore Virgil, and +Fabyan in stating that Hastings was beheaded on the day of his arrest. +It will be seen in Chapter III. that this is disproved by an +investigation of dates given by those writers, and by Stallworthe. It +follows Morton in the statement that Lord Rivers and his companions +were beheaded without trial. This is disproved by Rous. It asserts +that, after King Richard's coronation, there was a rumour that his +nephews had been put to death. There is no other contemporaneous +mention of this rumour, and reasons will presently be given for +believing that there was no such rumour. It also states that Richard +was crowned a second time at York. Mr. Davies, in his 'York Records,' +has shown that no such coronation ever took place. + +The interesting question arises how the monk was misled on these four +points, when his information was so accurate, and so directly +contradicts Morton, Polydore Virgil, and Fabyan, as regards the dates +of events immediately preceding Richard's accession, and as regards the +nature of his claim to the throne. Could Morton have been at his +elbow? If he was, these errors would be explained, for they are the +most telling points in Morton's case. We know that Morton was sent to +Brecknock Castle, in the custody of the Duke of Buckingham, in August +1483. Later in the autumn he escaped, crossed England in disguise, and +was concealed for some time in the fen country near Ely, before taking +ship for Flanders. He even mentions his object in going there. 'If he +were in the Isle of Ely,' he told Buckingham, 'he could make many {178} +friends to further the enterprise.'[16] He went there to plot and +intrigue. The secluded Abbey of Croyland is a likely asylum for Morton +to have selected as a place of concealment. A political bishop who had +been a principal actor in the recent events would be a Godsend to the +chronicling monk; while the intriguer would be in his element, sowing +the first seeds of his future crop of calumny. The second Croyland +monk would be as clay in the potter's hand. He gives us a striking +instance of his gossiping credulity. He had been told that the King's +niece, Elizabeth, once appeared at Court in a dress similar to that of +the Queen. Instead of the obvious deduction that Queen Anne had kindly +provided the girl with a dress like her own, we are treated to dark +hints about a rival who was to supplant the Queen, and modern +historians have taken the old monk's nonsense in all seriousness. +Morton would have found such a man quite ready to accept without +further inquiry any statement he might make, and to be the channel of +any rumour he chose to spread. + +Such are the witnesses arrayed against the last Plantagenet King by his +Tudor successors. It will be our business to test the value of their +testimony. They had it all their own way. No one was allowed to +answer them. For those who knew the truth it was a choice between +silence and ruin. The accused had no counsel. Whether the Tudor +writers are trustworthy or not, there can be no question that, aided by +these advantages, they served their employers well. They have +completely succeeded in their object. They have blackened the memory +of King Richard III. for all time. + +The chief evidence in Richard's favour can only {179} now be found in +the contradictions, admissions, inadvertent lapses into truth, and +suppressions of his traducers. Official documents and private letters +also tell their tale. Falsifications of dates, and the objects of such +falsifications by the Tudor writers, are often detected by means of +these unimpeachable sources of information. Among the Harleian +manuscripts there is a book kept by Dr. Russell, the Bishop of Lincoln +and Richard's Chancellor, containing all the documents that passed the +Great or Privy Seal during his reign, as well as correspondence with +foreign sovereigns and ambassadors.[17] This manuscript has been a +mine of rebutting evidence. There is also valuable testimony derivable +from the Rolls of Parliament, Patent Rolls, and from Rymer's 'Foedera.' +It is worthy of special note that the undesigned evidence of official +documents often exposes the true character of Tudor testimony. + +Enough has been said to show that the statements of the Tudor writers +call for more than ordinary caution in their use; and that the nearest +approach to the truth, which is all we can hope for, will not be +reached if any fact or insinuation alleged or hinted by them is +accepted without being first subjected to very rigorous scrutiny. + +[Sidenote: Later chroniclers] + +The later chroniclers, such as Hall, Grafton, Holinshed, Stow and Buck, +copied from the earlier writers. They cannot be considered as original +authorities. Hall is little more than a translation of Polydore +Virgil, served up with embellishments invented by himself. Stow is +much more trustworthy. + +These later writers must not be relied upon for facts. It was their +habit to add numerous minor details to the stories they received from +their {180} predecessors, and it cannot reasonably be doubted that +these additions were inventions intended to add force or interest to +their narratives. When they quote from or insert documents the case is +different. Thus Hall and Grafton give the conversation between Morton +and the Duke of Buckingham at Brecknock, being a copy of some original +document. Buck gives the substance of a letter from Elizabeth of York +to the Duke of Norfolk, the original of which he had actually seen. He +also quotes some older narrative for the imprisonment and death of King +Richard's illegitimate son. Hall gives the proceedings of the Council +when the imprisonment of the Queen Dowager, at Bermondsey, was ordered. +In such cases only ought the evidence of the later writers to be +accepted. + +[Sidenote: Modern authors] + +There was a reaction against the acceptance of all the statements put +forth by Tudor writers, which began from the moment that it became safe +to discuss the subject. The caricature was too gross, and too coarsely +drawn for general acceptance. As soon as the last of the Tudors had +passed away, Sir George Buck[18] wrote a defence of Richard III. He +was followed by Carte in his History of England.[19] Rapin, although +he felt {181} obliged to repeat the stories of the Tudor writers, +evidently had no confidence in their accuracy, and warned his readers +against them more than once. Stronger views on the subject were +adopted by Horace Walpole in his 'Historic Doubts'[20] (1768), by +Bayley in his 'History and Antiquities of the Tower of London,'[21] by +Laing in his continuation of 'Henry's History of England,'[22] by Mr. +Courtenay in his 'Commentaries on Shakespeare,'[23] by Miss Halsted in +her 'Life of Richard III.'[24] and by Mr. Legge in his 'Unpopular +King.'[25] Mr. Thorold Rogers rejects the story of the assassination +of Henry VI.; Sharon Turner[26] and Jesse[27] acquit the accused King +on all the counts except the murder of his nephews; while Dr. Hook,[28] +Dr. Stubbs and Sir Harris Nicolas[29] are unable to believe all the +accusations. The arguments put forward by some of {182} these authors +are not always tenable. But they show that there has been, from the +time when discussion was first allowed, a revulsion of feeling among +well-informed students against the acceptance of these accusations +without close scrutiny. It was felt that the statements of Tudor +writers must at least be considered as those of prejudiced and _ex +parte_ witnesses. Miss Halsted's 'Life of Richard III.' is by far the +most complete and the most valuable. Her interest in the slandered +young King led her to pay frequent visits to the ruins of Middleham +Castle, the scene of Richard's boyhood and of his happy married life. +Miss Halsted eventually married the dean of the college founded by +Richard and lies buried in Middleham Church. + +[Sidenote: Tudor fables discredited] + +On the other hand, there have been a few historians who have approached +the questions at issue either without considering the other side at all +or with a strong though possibly unconscious bias. Hume only had a +superficial knowledge of the subject. The most authoritative and +important upholder of the Tudor accusations is Dr. Lingard.[30] He +defends them in their entirety, and in this he stands alone among those +who have really studied the subject. Mr. Gairdner[31] rejects some of +the accusations and supports other Tudor stories with hesitation, and +in an apologetic and more or less doubtful tone. But Mr. Gairdner's +knowledge of the subject is so exhaustive, and his {183} position as a +historian is so justly high, that I have devoted a separate chapter to +the consideration of his views on the chief accusations against King +Richard III. + +The Tudor fables are now discredited and are dying, but they are dying +hard. + + + +[1] Richard II. was the first of our Kings, after the Norman Conquest, +who was partly an Englishman. Henry V., Edward IV., and Richard III. +were almost pure Englishmen. So was Edward VI., and Elizabeth was a +thorough Englishwoman. Mary II. and Anne were half English. + +[2] See p. 159, note 1. + +[3] 'Dr. Morton had taken his revenge and written a book in Latin +against King Richard, which came afterwards to the hands of Mr. More. +The book was lately in the hands of Mr. Roper of Eltham, as Sir Edward +Hoby, who saw it, told me.'--Buck, p. 75. + +[4] 'Written as I have heard by Morton.'--Harington's _Metamorphosis of +Ajax_, p. 46. Mr. Gairdner has suggested that the book attributed to +More is a translation of one written in Latin by Morton. See _Letters +and Papers illustrative of the Reign of Richard III._, &c. Preface +xviii. (_n_). It is really the English version that was dictated or +inspired by Morton. + +[5] More's _Utopia_, p. 20. + +[6] See for instance Sharon Turner (iii. 462), who claims unquestioning +belief in this scurrilous production, because 'all confess More's +ability and integrity.' See also Jesse (p. 156 _n._ and p. 500). + +In the same spirit Sir John Harington defended his own filthy treatise +because 'the worthy and incorrupt Master More' was dirty in his History +of Richard III. These writers seem to think that falsehood becomes +truth, and obscenity becomes decency in this book, merely because its +authorship is attributed to More. See _Metamorphosis of Ajax_, p. 46. + +[7] 'As I myself, who wrote this pamphlet, truly know.' This is not in +Rastell's version; but in the continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle. + +[8] Speaking of Polydore Virgil in his _Life of Henry VIII._ (p. 9), +Lord Herbert of Cherbury adds: 'in whom I have observed not a little +malignity.' The story of Cardinal Wolsey's ingratitude to Fox owes its +parentage to the spite of Polydore Virgil; whom Wolsey imprisoned. It +was quite untrue.--Brewer. + +[9] 'Polydore Virgil committed as many of our ancient manuscript +volumes to the flames as would have filled a waggon, that the faults of +his own work might pass undiscovered.'--Caius, _De Antiquitate +Cantabrigiæ_ (1574), p. 52. + +'Polydore caused all the histories to be burnt which by the King's +authority and the assistance of his friends he could possibly come +at.'--La Poplinière, _Histoire des Histoires_, ix. 485. + +[10] The Act of Parliament explaining the title of Richard III. to the +crown. + +[11] Mr. Campbell's Introduction to the _Materials for the History of +the Reign of Henry VII_. + +[12] Rous was one of the Chantry Priests at Guy's Cliff. He died in +1491, and was buried at St. Mary's, Warwick. + +[13] One proof of this is that he calls Lord Stanley the Earl of Derby. +He was created Earl of Derby by Henry VII. + +[14] _Rerum Anglicarum scriptorum veterum_. Tom. i. (Oxoniæ, 1684.) + +[15] _Alia Hist. Croylandensis continuatio_, pp. 549-578. + +[16] Grafton, p. 130. + +[17] _Harl. MS._ 433. + +[18] Sir George Buck was descended from John Buck, comptroller of King +Richard's household, who was put to death after the battle of Bosworth. +Sir George served with the Earl of Essex in the Cadiz expedition of +1596. He was knighted by James I. in July 1603, and became Master of +the Bevels in 1610, a post which he held until 1622. He died on +September 22, 1623. His _History of the Life and Reign of King Richard +III._, composed in five books, was published in 1646, with 'George +Buck, Esq.,' as author. But the existence of the manuscript in the +British Museum, with Sir George as the author, and in his handwriting, +proves the substitution of 'Esquire' for 'Sir' to be a mistake. Camden +speaks of Buck as a man of distinguished learning. + +[19] Thomas Carte, _History of England to_ 1654 _inclusive_. 4 vols. +folio. 1753. + +[20] Horace Walpole, _Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard +III._, 4to. 1768. + +[21] John Bayley, _History and Antiquities of the Tower of London_, 2 +vols. 4to. 1821. + +[22] Laing, _Continuation of the History of Great Britain by Dr. +Henry_. 1795. + +[23] J. P. Courtenay, _Commentaries on the Plays of Shakespeare_, 2 +vols. 8vo. 1840. + +[24] Miss Halsted, _Life of Richard III_. 2 vols. 8vo. 1844. + +[25] Alfred O. Legge, _The Unpopular King_. _Life and Times of Richard +III_. 2 vols. 8vo. 1883. + +[26] Sharon Turner, _History of England during the Middle Ages_. 5 +vols. 8vo. 1830. + +[27] John H. Jesse, _Memoirs of King Richard III_. 8vo. 1862. + +[28] Dr. W. F. Hook, D.D., _Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury_. 9 +vols. 8vo. 1860-72. He considers the slander of the Duchess of York +incredible. + +[29] Sir N. H. Nicolas, _Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York_. +1830. He utterly rejects the story of Richard having poisoned his +wife, and having wanted to marry Elizabeth of York (p. liii.) Dr. W. +Stubbs, _Constitutional History of England_, vol. ii. Thorold Rogers, +_Work and Wages_, ii. 212. + +[30] Dr. Lingard, _History of England to the Revolution_. 4th ed. +1837; 6th ed. 1854. + +[31] James Gairdner, _Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of +Richard III. and Henry VII_. 1861-63. _Memorials of Henry VII_. +1858. _History of the Life and Reign of Richard III_. 1878. _Life of +Henry VII_. 1889. Article in the _English Historical Review_. 1891. + + + + +{184} + +CHAPTER II + +EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III + + 1. The Deformity. + 2. Murder of Edward of Lancaster. + 3. Murder of Henry VI. + 4. Marriage with Anne Nevill. + 5. Treatment of the Countess of Warwick. + 6. Death of Clarence. + + +An indictment, in many counts, was brought against Richard III. after +his death, by the authors who wrote during the reign of his successor, +and in the interests of that successor's dynasty. It will be seen, in +the course of the discussion, with what object these accusations were +made, and why a belief in them was considered to be so important to the +success of the Tudor usurpation. The reckless profusion of abuse was +due to the complete license of the traducers. No one could appear for +the accused. The brave young King was dead, his body subjected to +cowardly insults, his friends proscribed, his people silenced. Calumny +was triumphant and unchecked. Yet there was method and system in the +scheme of the Tudor writers. Their accusations were all intended to +lead up to a belief in the dead King's guilt with regard to one central +crime. If he was to be deformed, if he was to be an assassin at the +age of eighteen, the murderer of his brother and his wife, a ruthless +usurper {185} and tyrant, it was because such a monster would be more +likely to commit a crime of which he must be thought to be guilty in +the interests of his wily successor. It will now be our business to +examine these charges one by one. The first concerns Richard's +personal appearance. + +[Sidenote: Deformity] + +It is stated that he was two years in his mother's womb,[1] that he was +born feet foremost,[2] with a complete set of teeth,[3] and with hair +down to the shoulders,[4] that he was hump-backed, that his right +shoulder was higher than his left,[5] that his left shoulder was much +higher than his right,[6] and that one of his arms was withered.[7] + +Passing over the obvious fables with the remark that they throw just +suspicion on other statements from the same sources, we come to the +hump-back. We do not find this deformity mentioned by any contemporary +except Morton. If it had existed it is certain that so conspicuous a +blemish would have been dwelt upon by all contemporary detractors. +Stow, the most honest of the later chroniclers, told Sir George Buck +that he had talked to old men who had seen and known Richard, and who +said that he was in bodily shape comely enough.[8] In the two +portraits drawn by Rous no inequality is visible. Richard here has a +handsome youthful face, slight build and good figure. The portrait at +Windsor shows a face full of energy and decision, yet gentle and +melancholy. The shoulders are quite even. + +{186} + +Rous, Polydore Virgil, and Morton are the authorities for the unequal +shoulders. Rous says that the right shoulder was higher. Morton makes +the left shoulder much higher. Their contradictory testimony shows the +worthless character of both these authorities. Polydore Virgil merely +mentions an inequality. Fabyan and the Croyland monk do not say a word +against Richard's personal appearance. A curious piece of evidence was +discovered by Mr. Davies of York, which bears on the question.[9] From +the 'York Records' it appears that, six years after King Richard's +death, a man named Burton was brought before the Lord Mayor accused of +calling that prince, whose memory was so beloved in the north, 'a +crouchback.' One John Poynter, who heard this remark, told Burton that +he lied, and struck at him with a little rod he had in his hand. It +would seem, therefore, that if there was any defect in Richard's +figure, it was so slight that its very existence was matter of dispute +among those who could well remember the King, while it was +imperceptible to Stow's informants. On the whole, we may accept the +conclusion of Miss Halsted that Richard was of slight and delicate +build, and that the severe martial exercises in which his youth had +been spent had caused the shoulder of his sword-arm to be very slightly +higher than the other. + +The story of the withered arm comes from Morton. That astute prelate +always had an object in making his statements. This particular tale +was invented to draw off attention from the real charge made by the +Protector against the Woodvilles. It served its turn, and may be +dismissed as false without any hesitation. {187} For it is not +mentioned by a single other authority. The victor of Barnet and +Tewkesbury, the leader of the brilliant charge at Bosworth, who +unhorsed Sir John Cheney[10] and William Brandon, must have had +serviceable arms. + +The object of the Tudor historians in commencing their grotesque +caricature of an imaginary monster with these stories of his personal +deformity is transparent. They intended to make him detestable from +the outset. They calculated that improbable crimes would be more +readily believed if the alleged perpetrator was a deformed hunchback +born with teeth. They were right. Nothing has more conduced to an +unreasoning prejudice against Richard, and to a firm belief in his +alleged crimes, than the impression of his personal repulsiveness. + +Modern writers have also understood this method of treatment. Lord +Macaulay was careful to prepare the minds of his readers for the +alleged judicial crimes of Sir Elijah by telling them that little Impey +was in the habit of stealing cakes at school.[11] The great essayist, +as well as the Tudor historians, knew their public. The one invented +the pilfering story and the others the deformity with the same motive. +If a judge had been a juvenile thief, or if a king had been a deformed +little monster, the charges against them in after life would be more +readily accepted as true. It is illogical, but it is human nature. + +Richard was described as a venomous hunchback[12] and made to commit +several atrocious crimes in order {188} to prepare men's minds to +receive, without incredulity, the story of the murder of his nephews. +It was evidently anticipated that this final draft on their powers of +belief would be dishonoured unless the alleged murderer had been +steeped in crime from his infancy. + +At the early age of eighteen Richard is accordingly accused of having +committed a cowardly and inhuman murder in cold blood after the battle +of Tewkesbury, on evidence which would be insufficient to hang a +dog.[13] + +[Sidenote: Young Edward's death] + +The battle took place on May 4, 1471. The young Duke of Gloucester had +displayed valour and generalship, and had won for himself a name in +chivalry. On the other side, Prince Edward of Lancaster, who was +exactly one year younger than Richard, led the main battle of his army, +and bore himself manfully. Carried away in the rout and closely +followed by his victorious enemies, he was slain on the field of +battle. There was one eye-witness who wrote an account of the battle +of Tewkesbury. He said that young Edward of Lancaster 'was taken +fleeing to the townwards and slain in the field.'[14] A drawing +accompanies this writer's report, in which we see a horse on its knees, +{189} the rider receiving his deathblow, the helmet struck off, and the +bright golden locks sinking on the horse's mane.[15] This was the +plain truth. He fell, fighting bravely, on the battle-field. All +contemporaries, without an exception, corroborate this evidence. The +next writer was Warkworth, but he was not present. He wrote 'There was +slain on the field Prince Edward, which cried for succour to the Duke +of Clarence.'[16] Bernard André, the paid historian of Henry VII., says +the same, 'Is enim ante Bernardi campum Theoxberye proelio belligerens +ceciderat.' The Croyland monk says that some of the Lancastrian +leaders fell in the battle, others 'by the revengeful hands of certain +persons afterwards,'[17] referring to the fact that some were executed +after trial before the Earl Marshal and Constable. There is no hint +here of the alleged assassination of Edward. Comines tells the same +story, 'et fut le Prince de Galles tué sur le champ et plusieurs autres +grans seigneurs.' Such is the unanimous testimony of contemporaries. + +We now come to the other Tudor writers and their versions of young +Edward's death. Fabyan, writing to please Henry VII., is the first who +said that the Prince was captured and brought before Edward IV., {190} +and he added the following tale: 'The King strake him with his gauntlet +in the face, on which the Prince was by the King's servants +incontinently slain.'[18] Fabyan's baseless gossip came before +Polydore Virgil, and the protégé of Pope Alexander VI. conceived the +idea of giving it a lurid Borgian colouring, better suited to the +latitude of Urbino than to that of Tewkesbury and calculated to make +our flesh creep. It was thus that his ideas found words: 'King Edward +gave no answer, only thrusting the young man from him with his hand, +whom forthwith those that were present, who were George Duke of +Clarence, Richard Duke of Gloucester, and William Lord Hastings, +crewelly murderyd.'[19] This story was improved upon by Grafton, Hall, +Holinshed and other Tudor chroniclers. Dorset was added to the list of +alleged assassins by Habington, Grafton, and Hall. Gloucester is made +to strike the first blow by Holinshed. Here we have a striking example +of the gradual growth of a legend which has eventually become embedded +in history.[20] Its original conception was due to an Italian, not to +an English brain. It is {191} thus that the fable has become a part of +the history of England. Honest John Stow is alone in rejecting the +Italian's embellishment. He discredits the version of Polydore Virgil +as a palpable fraud, and merely repeats Fabyan's statement. + +It is very remarkable that three authorities patronised by Henry VII. +give no countenance to the fable of Polydore Virgil. Bernard André is +in perfect agreement with the contemporaries, simply because Virgil's +story had not been invented when he wrote. Rous is silent for the same +reason. He was the originator of the birth with teeth and with hair to +the shoulders. He heaped calumny on calumny, and would have eagerly +repeated the Tewkesbury story if it had existed in his time. Morton's +silence is still more singular except on the hypothesis that the +slander was not then in existence. + +Dr. Morton was actually present at Tewkesbury. If young Edward was +murdered he must have known it. Yet in a work prepared for the express +purpose of enumerating the alleged crimes of Richard he said {192} +nothing. He had no scruples. He repeats all he can think of, with the +object of heaping opprobrium on Richard's memory. But there is not a +hint about assassinating Edward of Lancaster. Morton's silence, under +these circumstances, amounts to a proof that the story was a +fabrication of later times. André, Rous, and Morton wrote before +Polydore Virgil, and when the Italian's calumny had not yet been +invented. It cannot be that Virgil found out what the less vigilant +André, Rous, and Morton overlooked. If anyone knew all the details of +the battle of Tewkesbury at first hand, it was Morton. He was there. +His silence explodes the fable. It also convicts Polydore Virgil of +having fabricated an exceptionally foul slander, with a rank scent of +its Borgian origin:-- + + 'Virgilii duo sunt: alter Maro: tu Polydore + Alter: Tu Mendax: ille Poeta fuit.'[21] + + +Unless the testimony of those who were absent, and for the most part +unborn, is to be preferred to that of eye-witnesses, and that of future +generations to contemporaries, the fable of young Edward's murder ought +never again to find a place in serious history. + +[Sidenote: Death of Henry VI] + +The charge against the Duke of Gloucester that he murdered Henry VI. is +an insinuation rather than an accusation. None of his traducers state +it as a fact. One says 'as men constantly say,' another, 'it was the +continual report,' another, 'as many believe.' We must, therefore, +first treat this alleged 'continual {193} report' as a rumour only, and +judge of it from probabilities. + +We are asked to believe that young Richard, a boy of eighteen, who had +just won great military renown, arrived at the Tower in the evening of +one day with orders to proceed on active service very early the next +morning; that, although fully occupied with preparations for his +departure, he found time to induce Lord Rivers, the Constable of the +Tower, and his political enemy, to deliver up charge to him in order +that he might assassinate a defenceless and feeble invalid with his own +hand, a deed which might just as well have been perpetrated by any +hired jailer; that it was done without his brother Edward's knowledge, +and that, although the deed must have been done with the knowledge of +Lord Rivers and his officials, of Henry's ten servants and three +readers, yet there was never any certainty about the matter. Rivers, +be it remembered, was not Richard's friend. + +This grossly improbable rumour bears the evidence of its origin clearly +marked. It was put forward in the reign and in the interests of Henry +VII. It was a rumour manufactured by his paid writers and their +followers. We can examine the process. + +Morton says: 'He slew with his own hand King Henry VI. as men +constantly say, and that without knowledge or commandment of the King.' + +Polydore Virgil has the following version: 'King Edward, to the intent +that there should be no new insurrections, travelled not long after +through Kent, which business being despatched, to the intent that every +man might conceive a perfect peace to be attained, Henry VI. being not +long before deprived of his diadem, was put to death in the Tower of +London. {194} The continual report is that Richard Duke of Gloucester +killed him with a sword, whereby his brother might be delivered from +all hostility.' + +Dr. Warkworth tells us that 'the same night that King Edward came to +London, King Harry being in ward in prison in the Tower of London, was +put to death on the 21st of May on a Tuesday night between eleven and +twelve of the clock, being then at the Tower the Duke of Gloucester, +brother to King Edward, and many others. On the morrow he was chested, +and brought to Paul's and his face was open that every man might see +him. And in his lying he bled on the pavement there, and afterwards at +the Blackfriars was brought, and there bled afresh.' This Dr. +Warkworth was Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, from 1473 to +1500. He kept a private diary, receiving his facts from informants he +saw at Cambridge. His account of Henry's death shows that he was +superstitious and credulous. His second-hand report of the time and +manner of the death cannot be received as of any authority. His +mention of Gloucester's presence has been assumed to be intended, by +the writer, to imply that the Duke was concerned in the crime. This +does not follow and, in a mere private diary, such innuendo would be +out of place and improbable. The date of the 21st, given by Warkworth +and Fabyan, would be approved by Henry VII. as throwing suspicion on +his predecessor, and would be fixed as the obit of Henry VI. Any +subsequent repetition of that date gives it no additional authority. +Such repetition has as much or as little authority as is given to it by +the assertions of Warkworth and Fabyan.[22] + +{195} + +Fabyan gives the same date as Warkworth, and adds, 'of the death of +Henry divers tales were told, but the most common fame went that he was +stikked with a dagger, by the hands of Richard of Gloucester.'[23] + +Rous says, 'He killed by others or, as many believe, with his own hand, +that most sacred man Henry VI.'[24] + +The continuator of the Croyland Chronicle insinuates nothing against +Richard. His words are: 'The body of King Henry was found lifeless in +the Tower; may God pardon and give time for repentance to that man, +whoever he was, that dared to lay his sacrilegious hand upon the Lord's +anointed. The doer may obtain the name of a tyrant, the sufferer of a +glorious martyr.'[25] The antithesis of tyrant and martyr shows that +the monk alluded to King Edward and King Henry. The prayer that 'the +doer' may have time for repentance is a proof that the passage was +written during Edward's lifetime, and that there was {196} then a +rumour that Henry had met with foul play. But it also furnishes a +proof that rumour had not then imputed the supposed act to Richard. + +Of these authorities, Warkworth's informant and the City Chronicler are +the only two who perceived that in order to give any plausibility to +the alleged 'continual report,' Henry's death must be made to tally +with young Richard's presence in the Tower. They, therefore, fixed +upon May 21, the single day when Richard was there. Their fabrication +is exposed by the evidence of the accounts for Henry's maintenance, as +will be seen directly; and also by the contradiction of Polydore +Virgil. That author, who had access to all official sources of +information, places Henry's death in the end of May, after King +Edward's progress through Kent. Thus these authorities do not agree, +and are quite unworthy of credit. + +[Sidenote: True date of Henry's death] + +We are not altogether without the means of ascertaining the truth. +Henry VI. was not an old man. His age was 47. But he was feeble and +half-witted. His health was very precarious, his constitution having +been weakened by long illnesses. He inherited the mental and physical +imbecility of his grandfather Charles VI. of France. Shortly before +his liberation by the Earl of Warwick in 1470, some ruffian had stabbed +him[26] and then fled. Henry was said to have been convalescent, but, +with his feeble hold on life, it is not likely that his recovery was +permanent. He gradually sank, and died on May 24, or perhaps in the +night of the 23rd. Queen Margaret of Anjou arrived at the Tower as a +prisoner on the 21st, just in time to soothe her husband's last {197} +moments, and to be with him when he died. The Lancastrian leanings of +the family of Lord Rivers, who was Constable of the Tower, make it +likely that the unhappy queen was granted access to her dying husband. +We know that Margaret was treated with consideration, and allowed to +reside with her most intimate English friend, the old Duchess of +Suffolk, at Wallingford, until her ransom was paid. + +The date of Henry's death is fixed by the evidence of his household +accounts, which are given by Rymer. + + +'_Accounts of the costs and expenses for the custody of King Henry, The +Wednesday after the feast of Holy Trinity, June 12._' + +'To the same William Sayer for money to his own hand delivered for the +expenses and diet of the said Henry and of ten persons his attendants +within the tower, for the custody of the said Henry, namely, for +fourteen days the first beginning on the 11th of May last, as per +account delivered 14_l._ 5_s_.' + +'To William Sayer for money delivered at times, namely at one time, +7_s._ for the hire of three hired readers for the said William and +other attendants within the tower in charge of the King for xiv days +and for the board of the same for the same time, and on another time +3_s._ 10_d._ for the board of said Henry within the said tower as per +account delivered 10_s._ 10_d_.'[27] + + +It is clear from these entries that Henry's accounts were made up on +May 11, and that they were again made up when he died, fourteen days +after May 11, that is, on May 24.[28] We also gather that he was {198} +maintained in becoming state, at a cost of 400_l._ a year, equivalent +to upwards of 2,000_l._ of our money, and that he had ten servants, and +three readers to read aloud to him. Mr. Thorold Rogers says: 'I make +no doubt that Henry was used well during the nine years of his +residence in the Tower: nor do I believe that he was done to death +after Tewkesbury. The story of his assassination in the Tower is, I am +persuaded, a Tudor calumny.'[29] 'I conclude that nature which had hid +his misfortunes from him more than once by a lethargy which seemed +almost like death, at last released him in the same merciful fashion +from the recurrent sorrows of his life.'[30] + +The only contemporary writer was the author of a letter to the citizens +of Bruges, giving an account of the events which led to the restoration +of Edward IV. Speaking from personal knowledge he reported that Henry +VI. died on May 23, and his accuracy is established by the evidence of +the accounts. + +These are the plain facts connected with Henry's death. They are fatal +to the story of the murder. {199} Warkworth and Fabyan give the 21st +for the date of Henry's death, because Gloucester was in the Tower on +that day only. Their assertions are disproved by Polydore Virgil, by +the writer of the letter at Bruges, and by the accounts which show the +date of Henry's death to have been May 23 or 24. On those days +Gloucester was at Sandwich, upwards of seventy miles from the Tower. +The tale of Henry's assassination by the Duke of Gloucester is a Tudor +calumny, and was invented many years afterwards to please Henry VII. +It is possible that a false rumour of foul play may have been spread by +the enemies of Edward IV., and this seems likely from the words of the +Croyland Chronicle. But the absurd accusation against the King's young +brother was concocted after Richard III. had fallen at Bosworth, and +when any calumny against the dead was welcomed and rewarded by a +successor, who believed that his security depended upon a belief in his +predecessor's infamy. Habington, in his life of Edward IV., has +pointed out the absurdity of charging Richard with the alleged +murder.[31] + +The next charge against the Duke of Gloucester is that he forced the +Lady Anne Nevill to marry him, immediately after he had murdered young +Edward of Lancaster, who was her husband.[32] The answers to this are +that Edward was not her husband,[33] that Richard {200} did not murder +him, and that Richard did not force Anne's inclinations. No marriage +between Edward and Anne ever took place. The Croyland monk always +speaks of Anne, at this time, as the 'maiden' and the 'damsel.' + +[Sidenote: Anne Nevill and her mother] + +But there is more to be said. The two young cousins, Richard and Anne, +were brought up together, and their union was most natural. Miss +Halsted has well remarked that Richard showed peculiar delicacy towards +Anne, in placing her in sanctuary at St. Martin's before the marriage, +where her inclinations could in no way be forced. Anne was her +husband's constant companion at every important crisis of his life, and +there is good reason to believe that the marriage was a happy one. + +A very bitter enemy of Richard's memory, in later times, has attempted +to draw conclusions to his disadvantage from the marriage settlements. +There had been no time to obtain the usual dispensations, and it +therefore became advisable that the trustees, for the sake of the +offspring, should guard against any possible informality in the +marriage. A protecting clause was inserted, in case the property could +not be held without a renewal of the marriage ceremony; arising from +any alleged informality in the nuptials. This clause, framed by the +lawyers, was to the effect that if the Duke of Gloucester and the Lady +Anne Nevill should be divorced, and afterwards marry again, the Act for +the partition of property should nevertheless be valid, and that in +case of a divorce, and if the Duke shall do his continual diligence and +effectual devoir by all lawful {201} means to be lawfully married to +the said Anne, he shall have as much of the premises as pertained to +her during her lifetime. It was merely a formal clause inserted by the +lawyers, and probably never even read by Richard or Anne. + +Miss Strickland calls this 'an ominous clause relating to a wedlock of +a few months; proving Anne meditated availing herself of some +informality in her abhorred marriage; but if she had done so her +husband would have remained in possession of her property. The absence +of the dispensation is a negative proof that Anne never consented to +her second marriage, and that it was never legalised may be guessed by +the rumours of a subsequent period when the venomous hunchback +meditated in his turn divorcing her.' + +This is a good example of the sort of stuff which rooted and +unreasoning prejudice allows to pass for argument. + +The next charge is made by only one of the Tudor writers. Rous alleged +that 'Richard imprisoned for life the Countess of Warwick who had fled +to him for refuge.'[34] This is untrue. The Countess of Warwick heard +of the defeat and death of her husband at Barnet, when she landed in +England. She took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire, was attainted, +and all her property passed to her daughters Isabella and Anne, who +married the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. The Countess remained at +Beaulieu for two years, from 1471 to 1473. We next hear of her in a +letter from Sir John Paston dated June 3, 1473. 'The Countess of +Warwick is now out of Beaulieu, and Sir James Tyrrel conveyeth her +northward, men say {202} by the King's assent, whereto some men say +that the Duke of Clarence is not agreed.'[35] Evidently the King had +given his assent to a request of Gloucester that his wife's mother +might be allowed to come and live with her daughter at Middleham. +There was no prison but a home with her child. Tyrrel, who was then an +officer of Edward's Court, was sent to escort her from Beaulieu to +Middleham.[36] + +There is evidence of Richard's kindly feeling towards his wife's +family. He interceded for the heirs of the Marquis Montagu, Warwick's +brother, and it was at the request of Gloucester that the King allowed +them to inherit part of their father's property.[37] Another +indication of the Duke's friendliness, as regards his mother-in-law and +her relations, is afforded by their confidence in him. Lady Latimer, a +sister of the Countess of Warwick, appointed Richard the supervisor of +her will, which was a position of great trust in those days. Such +kindly offices performed for those who were near and dear to the +Countess of Warwick are cogent, though indirect, proofs that the +statement of Rous is a calumny. + +[Sidenote: Death of Clarence] + +Shakespeare and others have further accused Richard of having abetted +and aided in the death of his brother George Duke of Clarence. No +serious historian, except Sandford, has ventured to bring forward the +charge directly. The Croyland monk, Polydore Virgil, André, Rous, +Fabyan are all silent on {203} the subject.[38] But Morton is equal to +the occasion. The passage in which he insinuates suspicion is a good +specimen of the style of this unscrupulous slanderer: + +'Some wise men also ween that his drift, covertly conveyed, lacked not +in helping forth his brother of Clarence to his death; _which he +resisted openly_, howbeit somewhat, as men deemed, more faintly than he +that were heartily minded to his wealth. And they who thus deem think +that he, long time in King Edward's life, forethought to be King in +case that the King his brother (whose life he looked that evil diet +should shorten) should happen to decease (as indeed he did) while his +children were young. And they deem that for this intent he was glad of +his brother's death, the Duke of Clarence, whose life must needs have +hindered him so intending whether the same Clarence had kept him true +to his nephew the young King, or enterprised to be King himself. But +of all this point there is no certainty, and whoso divineth upon +conjectures may as well shoot too far as too short.' + +The object of this involved passage is to leave a sort of general +impression that Richard had something or other to do with the death of +Clarence.[39] By throwing up a dust cloud of verbiage the central fact +that Richard {204} intervened in his brother's favour is obscured and +thrown into the background. + +The guilt of the death of Clarence rests with Rivers and the Woodville +faction. He was a great danger to them, as will be seen in the next +chapter, while they benefited by his attainder and got the wardship of +his son. All Richard did was to protest against the execution of his +brother. + + + +[1] Rous, 214. 'Biennio matris utero tentus, exiens cum dentibus et +capillis ad humeros.' This is false, for Richard was born three years +after his brother George, and there was another child, named Thomas, +between them. + +[2] Morton. + +[3] Rous. + +[4] Rous. + +[5] Rous. + +[6] Morton. + +[7] Morton. + +[8] Buck, p. 79. + +[9] Davies, York Records, May 14, 1190, p. 220. + +[10] 'A man of much fortitude, and exceeding the common +sort.'--Polydore Virgil, p. 224. + +[11] In Macaulay's review of Gleig's _Life of Warren Hastings_. + +[12] Miss Strickland. + +[13] Mr. Gairdner gives the evidence. 'Each crime rests on slender +testimony enough, though any one of them being admitted, lends greater +credit to the others. From this point of view it is not at all +improbable that Richard was a murderer at nineteen' (p. 13). Richard +killed his nephews, consequently he assassinated a prisoner when he was +nineteen. It thus having been shown that he was a murderer when he was +nineteen, what more probable than that he killed his nephews? This +method of arguing has been perfectly satisfactory to generations of +historical students, and appears to be so still. + +[14] _Fleetwood Chron._ p. 30. This is the narrative of the recovery +of his kingdom by Edward IV., in _Harl. MS._ no. 543, printed by the +Camden Society. + +[15] The drawing is in the abridgment sent to Bruges, reproduced in the +_Archæologia_, xxi. p. ii. + +[16] _Warkworth Chronicle_, Camden Society, p. 18. + +[17] The Croyland monk wrote: 'As well in the field as afterwards by +the revengeful hands of certain persons, Prince Edward, Devon, +Somerset,' &c.: that is Prince Edward and Devon on the field, Somerset +by 'the revengeful hands': by which phrase he is pleased to refer to +the Earl Marshal's Court which was a constitutional tribunal (_Chron. +Croyland_, p. 555). 'Tum in campo tum postea ultricibus quorundam +manibus, ipso Principe Edwardo unigenito Regis Henrici, victo Duce +Somersetiæ, Comiteque Devoniæ ac aliis dominis omnibus et singulis +memoratis' (p. 555). + +[18] Fabyan, p. 662. + +[19] Polydore Virgil, p. 336. + +[20] Hall is notorious for the embellishment of fables that were passed +on to him by Polydore Virgil, by adding names and incidents of his own +invention. In the case of the death of the young Earl of Rutland, he +first took several years off his age and made a little child of him, +then gave him a tutor and supplied the tutor's name. With these +properties he got up a very effective scene on Wakefield Bridge. When +Rutland's real age is known, Hall's story becomes absurd, and he is +convicted of intentional inaccuracy. Again when he described the +burial of Henry VI., he said that the corpse was conveyed to Chertsey +'without priest or clerk, torch or taper, singing or saying.' This is +something worse than embellishment, it is absolutely false. The +payments are recorded (and the records are still preserved), for +obsequies and masses said by four orders of brethren, for linen cloth, +spices, and for wages of men carrying torches. The statements of Hall +are certainly unreliable. In retailing Polydore Virgil's calumny about +the assassination of Prince Edward at Tewkesbury, Hall cannot refrain +from similar inventions and embellishments. He adds that Edward was +taken prisoner by Sir Richard Croft and delivered up to the King in +consequence of a proclamation offering a reward of 100_l._ a year to +whosoever should yield up the Prince dead or alive: accompanied by an +assurance that his life should be spared (Hall, p. 301). Habington +repeats this and adds, as his own contribution, that 'the good knight +repented what he had done, and openly professed his service abused and +his faith deluded' (_Life of Edward IV._ p. 96). This statement is +confuted by the fact that it was on the battle-field of Tewkesbury that +Richard Croft received his knighthood from King Edward. This would not +have been so if he had 'openly declared his service abused.' He +afterwards received benefits from King Richard (_Paston Letters_). The +fable of Fabyan was embellished and added to by various hands, until it +became a very elaborate and highly finished lie circumstantial. + +[21] The name of Virgil borne by two, + One Maro and one Polydore. + The first a Poet wise and true, + The last a lying slanderer. + +[22] Mr. Gairdner mentions that there is a MS. City Chronicle among the +_Cottonian MSS._ (Vitell. A. xvi. f. 133), which states that Henry's +body was brought to St. Paul's on Ascension Eve (May 22), '_who was +slain, as it was said, by the Duke of Gloucester_.' In _MS. Arundel_, +28, in the British Museum, there is an old Chronicle, on a fly-leaf of +which, at the end, there are some jottings relating to Edward IV.'s +time in a contemporary hand, and among others--'_eodem die decessit +Henricus sextus_,' meaning the day of Edward's arrival in London. A +MS. in Heralds' College (printed by Mr. Gairdner) dates the death '_in +vigilia Ascencionis Dominicæ_'; a MS. at Oxford (Laud, 674) gives the +same date; a MS. in the Royal Library at the British Museum says: +'_Obitus Regis Henriei Sexti, gui obiit inter vicesimum primum diem +Maii et xxiim diem Maii_.' Henry's obit is set down May 22. None of +these documents have any date. Their statements about May 21 are the +same as those of Warkworth or Fabyan, from whom they must have been +derived. But Warkworth and Fabyan are proved to be wrong by the +evidence of the accounts for Henry's maintenance: and by the evidence +of Polydore Virgil, as well as by the letter at Bruges. + +[23] Fabyan, p. 662. + +[24] Rous, p. 215. 'Ipsum sanctissimum virum Henricum Sextum per alios +vel multis credentibus manu pocius propria interfecit.' + +[25] _Croyland Chron._ p. 557. + +[26] '_Collectarum et mansuetudinum et bonorum morum regis Henrici VI., +et ex collectione magistri Joannis Blakman bacchalaurii theologiæ et +post Cartusiæ monachi Londini._'--Hearne, p. 202. + +[27] Rymer's _Foedera_, xi. pp. 712, 713. + +[28] Laing, in his continuation of _Henry's History of Great Britain_, +in referring to the accounts for the maintenance of Henry VI. in +Rymer's _Foedera_, mistook the day on which they were audited and +passed, namely June 12, for the day on which the expenses were +incurred; and concluded that Henry was alive on June 12. This is +triumphantly pointed out by Dr. Lingard. But the triumph is imaginary. +Dr. Lingard ought to have seen that the date of auditing does not +affect the question. The fact remains that Henry's board was paid, and +that he was consequently alive, for fourteen days after May 11, that is +until May 24, which is fatal to the story of the murder. + +This is shown by Bayley, who quotes the accounts in his _History of the +Tower of London_, and points out that they furnish satisfactory +evidence of Henry having been alive at least until May 24 (second ed. +p. 323). Mr. Gairdner has suggested that the payments up to the 24th +were to Henry's servants who were not discharged until then, and do not +prove that Henry was alive. But this is untenable, for they are for +Henry's keep as well. + +[29] _Work and Wages_, ii. 312. + +[30] _Ibid._ ii. 313. + +[31] 'I cannot believe a man so cunning in declining envy and winning +honour to his name, would have undertaken such a business and executed +it with his own hand. Nor did this concern the Duke of Gloucester so +particularly as to engage him alone in the cruelty.'--Habington, in +_Kennet_, p. 455. + +[32] Gairdner, p. 22. + +[33] Sharon Turner, iii. p. 323. Anne had been contracted to Edward of +Lancaster in July 1470, she being only fourteen, and he sixteen; but +she was never married to him. The marriage was not to take place +unless certain conditions were complied with by Anne's father, the Earl +of Warwick. The conditions were not fulfilled, and the contract, _ipso +facto_, was null and void. + +[34] Rous, p. 215. 'Durante vita sua incarceravit.' The Countess +out-lived Richard III. + +[35] _Paston Letters_, iii. p. 92. + +[36] Mr. Gairdner quotes a letter from William Dengayn to William +Calthorp (_Third Report of Hist. MSS. Commission_, p. 272), from which +it appears that the Countess of Warwick was actually with the Duke of +Gloucester in June 1473.--Gairdner's _Richard III._ p. 27 (_n_). + +[37] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 124. + +[38] Gloucester was in London at the opening of Parliament on January +16, 1478; but there is no evidence where he was in February, the month +of Clarence's death. He was certainly at Middleham in March. Mr. +Gairdner pronounces Gloucester 'guiltless of his brother's death' (p. +40). + +[39] Morton did this so successfully that his imitators soon began to +make a direct accusation. The slander grew and prospered until at last +we find the following passage in Sandford: 'He was drowned in a butt of +malmsey, his brother the Duke of Gloucester assisting thereat with his +own proper hands!' He refers to Hall, p. 246.--_Genealogical History_ +(London, 1707), p. 438. + + + + +{205} + +CHAPTER III + +FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III + + 7. Execution of Hastings. + 8. Execution of Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, and Haute. + 9. The 'Usurpation.' + 10. Refusal of Buckingham's petition. + 11. Second coronation at York. + 12. Poisoning of his wife. + 13. Intended marriage with Elizabeth of York. + 14. Intended execution of Lord Strange. + + +The most elaborate and detailed part of the indictment against Richard +III. refers to the so-called 'usurpation,' including the period from +his arrival in London to his coronation. The events of the interregnum +had to be represented in such a way as that it should appear that Henry +Tudor was righteously superseding an unscrupulous usurper. This was a +matter of vital importance to the intruding dynasty. Accordingly much +art was devoted to the preparation of a plausible story, while careful +but not always effectual efforts were made to destroy all documents +that would contradict it. + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Morton] + +The portion of the history published by Grafton and Rastell was +undoubtedly written or dictated by John Morton himself. It is on +Morton's story that all subsequent historians have relied for their +facts; and as it is on this period that the whole career of Richard as +a sovereign hinges, it is necessary that we should bear in mind what +manner of man this Morton really {206} was. He was born at Beer Regis +in Dorsetshire, but the year is very uncertain, and he received his +first instruction at Cerne Abbey. Thence he proceeded to Oxford, and +began life as a lawyer, practising in the Court of Arches. He became a +Master in Chancery, increasing his income by taking orders, and was +Parson of Bloxworth in Dorsetshire. He took the Lancastrian side, and +was at York when the battle of Towton was fought. In 1462 he fled to +the Continent with Queen Margaret. His fortunes were then at a low +ebb, but they brightened when the Earl of Warwick came to France to +betray the cause of Edward IV. Morton attached himself to Warwick at +Angers, went with him to England in August 1470, escaped from Barnet to +join Queen Margaret at Weymouth, and was with her at Tewkesbury. +Nothing but ill luck had attended his fortunes since he had joined the +Lancastrian party. So he changed sides, obtained a pardon from Edward +IV. and wormed himself into that good-natured monarch's confidence. He +became one of the greatest pluralists on record. 'He was avaricious +and grasping.'[1] He received a bribe from Louis XI. for inducing his +own sovereign to accept dishonourable terms of peace, and was further +bribed with a pension of 2,000 crowns a year.[2] The contrast between +the upright conduct of the Duke of Gloucester and his own corrupt +practices on that occasion explains the wily priest's malignant +hostility to Richard. Morton was made Bishop of Ely in 1479. On the +death of Edward he saw a wide opening for his ambition in the chances +of a long minority. The facts revealed to the Council by Bishop +Stillington were, consequently, distasteful to him. He was the heart +and soul of the conspiracy of Hastings {207} and the Woodville faction +against the Protector. He brought Hastings to his death, but escaped +himself. The incorrigible plotter was entrusted to the custody of the +Duke of Buckingham. By his cunning artifices he induced that weak +nobleman to become a traitor, and claim the crown for himself. He led +Buckingham to his death; but secured his own safety. He then joined +Henry Tudor's conspiracy, and it was doubtless through Morton's advice +that the Welsh adventurer put forward a claim to the crown. Success at +length attended the intriguer's schemes. Henry VII. made him +Chancellor in 1486, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1487, and, after much +importunity, a cardinal's hat was obtained for him, from the Borgian +Pope.[3] He became enormously rich. He revealed to Henry VII. 'the +confessions of as many lords as his grace listed.'[4] He was one of +the most odious instruments of Henry's extortions. The argument that +those who spent little must have saved much, and that those who spent +much must have much, was called 'Morton's fork.'[5] He died in 1500, +hated and execrated by all ranks of the people. + +This is the man from whom history derives the narrative of Richard's +accession. We must remember the circumstances in which he wrote or +dictated his version. He was then Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry +VII. He had to traduce Richard in the interests of his master, and at +the same time he had to conceal from Henry himself certain parts of his +own proceedings, especially as regards his intrigue with Buckingham. + +{208} + +[Sidenote: Morton's misrepresentations] + +Morton was most unscrupulous in fabricating his story, throwing out +misleading insinuations, garbling and suppressing facts, making false +statements, and altering dates. He was a leading actor in, and an +eyewitness of what he described, he was an able and clever man, and he +was intimately acquainted with the facts as they really happened. +Moreover, we are informed by Sir Thomas More, who knew him, that he had +an extraordinary memory.[6] Consequently every mistake that is +detected in his narrative, every date that is altered, must have been +inserted with a special object. It is fortunate for the cause of truth +that he was more careless, and wrote in greater detail, than he +certainly would have done, if there had been any chance of an answer +being put forward by one equally conversant with the facts. But he +knew that he was safe--power unscrupulously enforced was on his side. + +Morton opens his case with the assumption that the Duke of Gloucester +had always intended to supplant his nephew. He asserts that the Duke +concerted plans with Buckingham and Hastings against the Queen and her +relations; that he then, secretly, and by divers means, caused the +Queen to be persuaded to advise her son not to come with a large force +to London; and that he and other lords wrote to the Queen's friends so +lovingly that they, nothing mistrusting, brought the young prince up in +good speed with sober company. Gloucester and Buckingham then went to +Northampton and met Rivers there. For all that appears in this part of +the narrative, Gloucester was in London, and came thence with +Buckingham to Northampton. Gloucester was really in the marches of +Scotland, and he could not possibly have carried on {209} all these +intrigues at that distance, between April 9 when King Edward died and +the 23rd when Rivers left Ludlow. He could not even have heard of the +King's death for several days. It is true that, towards the end of his +lampoon, when telling his story about an alleged quarrel between +Gloucester and Buckingham, Morton does mention the Duke being at York, +and Buckingham having sent a messenger to him who met him at +Nottingham.[7] But this messenger could not have been the channel of +all the intrigues he describes. There was no time. + +The Duke may have received some hasty notice from a messenger, but the +first real news of what had been going on in London came from +Buckingham at Northampton. + +Morton's story about Gloucester's intrigues at this time is therefore a +fabrication. The truth is exactly the reverse of Morton's version. +Richard's conduct was straightforward and loyal. After attending +solemn obsequies of his brother in York Minster, he called on the +nobility and gentry of Yorkshire to swear allegiance to his young +nephew. When he arrived in London, he ordered preparations to be made +for his nephew's coronation, and he sent summonses to forty esquires to +receive knighthood of the Bath on the occasion.[8] He also caused the +dresses to be worn by his nephew at his coronation to be got ready.[9] +These acts were well known to Morton, who passed them over in silence, +{210} because they would tend to give a true impression, where he +wanted to leave a false one. + +Having thus raised a prejudice against the Protector, Morton's next +object was to instil a belief that Hastings worked against the +Woodvilles throughout in concert with Richard. In order to create this +impression he gives two false dates. He makes young Richard leave +sanctuary on June 9. The true date was the 16th.[10] He asserts that +Lord Rivers was beheaded on June 13, the very day of the arrest of +Hastings, and he makes a great point of it, observing as a striking +coincidence that Hastings suffered death on the self-same day and about +the self-same hour as Rivers whose execution he had approved.[11] He +knew this to be false. Rivers made his will on the 23rd, and was not +beheaded until the 25th.[12] Morton had a motive for falsifying the +dates, and it is obvious. He wanted it to appear that Hastings was an +enemy of the Woodville {211} faction to the end, that he was a party to +the removal of young Richard from sanctuary and to the execution of +Rivers. But why? Clearly because Hastings was not an enemy of the +Woodvilles to the end, because he had, with Morton and others, formed a +coalition with them, and entered into a conspiracy with them against +the Protector. It was important to conceal this, because it justified +the Protector's action against Hastings; and Morton did so by resorting +to a falsification of dates. He then proceeds to enter into minute +details, in describing the scene when Hastings was arrested on Friday, +June 13. + +Morton makes the Protector ask him for a mess of strawberries from his +garden at Holborn. He then alleges that Gloucester suddenly altered +his tone, accused the Queen-Dowager of witchcraft, displayed a withered +arm as having been injured by sorcery, upbraided Hastings for having +Jane Shore as a mistress, and ordered Hastings to be beheaded on a log +of wood before dinner. We are also informed that Master William +Catesby made the mischief between the Protector and the Lord +Chamberlain, and that a proclamation was issued setting forth the cause +of the execution of Hastings. + +These details enable us to obtain some glimmering of the truth. We +have the reminiscences of an eyewitness, who was also a schemer so +dealing with the facts as to leave false impressions clothed in the +similitude of veracious recollections. The tale of the strawberries is +doubtless true, and is a masterly touch designed to give an air of +reality to the scene. The withered arm is a fabrication intended to +conceal the real charge made by the Protector. That charge was +contained in the proclamation which Morton mentions {212} as having +been well indited and written on parchment. He professes to give the +substance of it. The seeker after truth would very much prefer the +original text. But it was destroyed. Its destruction is a strong +presumption in favour of the Protector, and justifies the conclusion +that the real charge was a serious one. It is incredible that Catesby +merely revealed the nonsense about Jane Shore's sorcery. Morton has +inserted this rubbish in order to conceal the real charge made by the +Protector. Morton further tells us that 'Shore's wife was of all women +the one the Queen most hated,' and that she was the mistress of +Hastings. She was really the mistress of Dorset,[13] the Queen's son, +and the motive for bringing in the Queen's alleged hatred, in this +place, is to conceal the real position of Jane Shore, which was that of +a secret agent between the party of the Woodvilles and Hastings. + +The fullness of Morton's details defeats his object. He draws +attention to the truth which he elaborately endeavours to hide. We are +thus enabled to deduce from the garrulity of the designing priest the +facts that, probably through his prompting, Hastings had formed a +coalition with the Queen-Dowager and her party against the Protector, +and that the negotiation had been conducted through Jane Shore as +intermediary. We learn that Catesby revealed the plot to the +Protector, who promptly arrested Hastings, and brought a charge of +treason against him. + +[Sidenote: Falsification of dates] + +Morton would have us believe that Hastings was beheaded on the spot +without trial. This version of the story is also told by Fabyan, and +adopted by Polydore Virgil. It was told to the second Croyland {213} +monk, who wrote that Hastings was beheaded on June 13.[14] It was a +version industriously spread by Morton, as a charge of lawless cruelty +and indecent haste against the Protector. It can be proved to be false. + +Morton's story is that Hastings was hurried out of the council room and +beheaded on a log of wood in the court of the Tower, that the Protector +and Buckingham appeared to the citizens in rusty armour, pretending +that they had been in mortal danger from Hastings, and that the +Protector swore he would have the head of Hastings before he dined. + +This is a grossly improbable story on the face of it; but Bishop +Morton, on the accession of Henry VII., was evidently very anxious that +it should be accepted, for he must have given it publicity at a very +early date. It was supplied to the credulous old Croyland monk, and +was accepted by Fabyan, who must have known it to be false, with such +zeal that he added a few extra touches to the story. Fabyan was a +citizen of London and knew the truth. Yet he clearly implies that the +delivery of young Richard and the execution of Rivers took place before +the arrest of Hastings, adopting the falsifications of Morton. He also +falsified dates in order to reconcile the alleged date of the execution +of Hastings with other events, following Morton in this also. This +justifies the conclusion that Fabyan and Morton were in collusion; for +they both were aware of the truth from personal knowledge, and they +both perverted it in the same way.[15] + +{214} + +There is other testimony on this point which is quite above suspicion. +Simon Stallworthe, a prebendary of Lincoln, wrote a letter from London +to Sir William Stonor, a gentleman of Oxfordshire, on Saturday June 21, +1483,[16] in which he said that 'on Friday last was the Lord Chambleyn +[Hastings] hedded sone after noon.' As Saturday was the 21st, Friday +last was the 20th. We here have evidence that Lord Hastings was not +beheaded until a week after his arrest and, as there was no indecent +haste, we may assume that there was a trial and sentence by a proper +tribunal. The story of Morton about the hurried execution on the 13th, +and the log of wood, is therefore false. It has been suggested that +when Stallworthe wrote 'Friday last,' he did not mean Friday last, but +the Friday before Friday last. This theory is exploded by the very +next line in Stallworthe's letter. He there says that 'on Monday last' +young Richard came out of sanctuary. This is certainly the correct +date. But it contradicts both Morton and Fabyan, though it is +corroborated by the Croyland Chronicle. If 'Monday last' meant 'Monday +last,' 'Friday last' must be taken to mean 'Friday last' in +Stallworthe's letter, and not any other date that the exigencies of +calumniators may require. + +The evidence that the story of the hasty execution of Hastings is false +does not rest solely on Stallworthe's letter. Morton and Fabyan are +convicted out of their own mouths. + +{215} + +This is a point which should be clearly understood. It must be borne +in mind that we have certain fixed dates. Hastings was certainly +arrested on June 13. It is also certain that Thursday, June 26, was +the date of Richard's accession: it is fixed by the year book. Dr. +Shaw's sermon was preached on the previous Sunday, that is June 22. +Fabyan, as well as Stallworthe, tells us that the execution of Hastings +took place on the previous Friday. These are fixed beacons, and will +lead us to the truth. They will also enable us to detect the false +lights thrown out by Morton and Fabyan. They both knew the truth well, +but they had to manipulate the dates so as to make it appear that +Hastings was executed on the 13th. It must be borne in mind that, on +Fabyan's own showing, the execution took place on the Friday before +Shaw's sermon was preached. + +In order to give a plausible appearance to the assertion that Hastings +was beheaded on the 13th, Fabyan tried to get rid of the week between +the 13th and the 20th. He thought he was bound to recognise the fact +that the execution was on the Friday before Shaw's sermon, so he +brought the sermon back a week too. But Shaw's sermon was well known +to have been preached on the Sunday before the accession. So he had to +move back the accession also, and he placed it on June 20. Here +Fabyan's dishonesty is detected, for the 20th was not a Thursday, and +that the 26th was the date of the accession is beyond dispute. + +Morton was, of course, in the same difficulty as regards his dates. +But he was far better practised in the manipulation of evidence. Such +an old hand would commit himself to dates as little as possible. {216} +He would fear them as a thief fears a detective. He gives only one, +and he selects the right day of the week, which Fabyan did not. But +this is quite enough to convict him. He chose the 19th for the day of +Richard's accession with the very same object as Fabyan, to get rid of +the gap between the 13th and the 20th; well knowing that the right date +for the accession was the 26th. + +We can now perceive the truth, both through the direct testimony of +Stallworthe and through the detection of the dishonesty of Morton and +Fabyan. Lord Hastings was arrested on June 13 on a charge of treason, +tried and sentenced. He was executed, after a decent interval, on +Friday, June 20. The admission of Morton that a proclamation was +issued, announcing the details of the Hastings-Woodville conspiracy, is +important. This document, and all others relating to the business, +were destroyed in the same way as the Act of Parliament recording +Richard's title was destroyed. The object of making away with the Act +was to conceal the truth. The disappearance of all documents relating +to the execution of Hastings can only be explained in the same way. + +But what must we think of Morton and Fabyan, who are thus proved to +have been guilty of such a fraud? Their evidence against Richard, on +all other points, must be held to be utterly worthless. + +[Sidenote: Trial of Rivers] + +The trial of Lord Rivers, with Grey, Vaughan and Haute, followed on +that of Hastings. They had been charged with treasonable designs, +immediately after the death of King Edward, on the very clearest +evidence. But the long delay in bringing them to trial justifies the +belief that their capital punishment was not intended, if fresh charges +had not been brought {217} against them, arising out of the Hastings +conspiracy. Morton brings forward the same accusation in their case, +and he gives a false date for their execution. He would have us +believe that Rivers and his companions were also put to death 'without +so much as the formality of a trial.' So he appears to have told the +second Croyland monk. But his untruthfulness is exposed by the +evidence of another Tudor witness. Rous inadvertently let out the +truth, not knowing there was any reason for concealing it. He +certainly did not do so out of any good will for King Richard. There +was a trial and the Earl of Northumberland presided at it. He was not +the sole judge, but the President acting with other judges.[17] He +probably sat as a Commissioner to execute the office of Lord Steward, +with a jury of northern Peers, to try Rivers. Morton falsified the +date of the executions, making them earlier by twelve days. One object +of this falsification has already been pointed out. It also served to +indicate such haste in the executions as would make the absence of any +trial appear probable. + +The overt acts of Rivers and his associates show that their +condemnation was just; and their punishment was necessary for the +safety and tranquillity of the country. It was a righteous retribution +for the death of Clarence, by whose fall the Woodvilles had so largely +profited. + +Morton next proceeds to falsify the title of King Richard III. to the +crown. This point is of great importance and merits close attention. +The statement of Richard's title to the crown was drawn up, and adopted +by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, after considering all +the evidence {218} between June 8 and 25. The document was afterwards +embodied in an Act of Parliament entitled the 'Titulus Regius,' with +which the writers employed by Henry VII. must have been well +acquainted. When Henry came to the throne, he ordered this Act to be +repealed without quoting the preamble, with a view to its purport being +concealed. He caused it to be destroyed, and threatened any one who +kept a copy with fine and imprisonment during his pleasure. The reason +he gave for this was that 'all things in the said Act may be forgot.' +In spite of this threat the truth was told by the Croyland monk, but +his chronicle remained in manuscript, and he was not found out. +Henry's conduct affords a strong presumption that the title was valid. +But he did more. He granted an illusory pardon to Bishop Stillington, +who was the principal witness to the truth of the main statement in the +'Titulus Regius.' This was done with the object of keeping silence on +the subject of his real offence, which was telling the truth. Henry +then arrested him on another trumped up charge, and kept him in close +and solitary imprisonment in Windsor Castle until his death in June +1491. + +These proceedings show the immense importance attached by Henry VII. to +a suppression of the truth relating to Richard's title to the crown. +It is certain that if the alleged previous contract with Lady Eleanor +Butler was false, the falsehood would have been eagerly exposed, and +there would have been no occasion to invent any other story. On the +other hand, if the alleged previous contract was true, the evidence +would have been suppressed and another story would have been invented +and promulgated. The evidence was suppressed, and a different tale was +{219} put forward. The conclusion is inevitable that the previous +contract of Edward IV. with Lady Eleanor Butler was a fact. + +[Sidenote: The true claim to the Crown] + +By a mere accident the original draft of the 'Titulus Regius' was not +destroyed. It was discovered long afterwards among the Tower records. +Its tenor was given in the continuation of the Croyland Chronicle.[18] +Richard's title rested on the statement that Edward IV. was already +married to Lady Eleanor Butler, a daughter of the first Earl of +Shrewsbury,[19] when he went through the ceremony with Lady Grey. It +is certain, therefore, that this and this only was the statement made +in inspired sermons and speeches at the time; for it was the official +case of those who advocated Richard's accession. It is impossible that +one ground for the claim should have been put forward officially, and +another which was not only different but contradictory, in the sermons +and speeches directed to be made at the same time. + +Now all this was well known to Morton, and to {220} Polydore Virgil, +when they concocted their stories. They had free access to all +official sources of information. But they clearly believed that the +evidence had been so effectually placed out of reach, that it was safe +for them to adopt what tale they chose. They, therefore, stated that +Dr. Shaw preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on June 22, in which he +calumniated the Duchess of York by maintaining that Edward IV. and +Clarence were her children by some other man, and that Gloucester was +the only legitimate son of the Duke her husband. The object was to +throw the reader off the scent respecting Edward's own connubial +proceedings, by bringing an infamous and very absurd charge against his +mother. This is clearly the line that Polydore Virgil was instructed +to take, for he alludes to the common report that Edward's children +were called bastards, and declares it to be 'void of all truth,' that +there was such a report. He goes further, alleging that the Duchess of +York complained of the injury done her, and that Dr. Shaw died of +sorrow for having uttered the slander.[20] With the 'Titulus Regius' +before us, it will be allowed that this witness did not stick at +trifles. + +[Sidenote: Morton's fabrications] + +But Morton was not to be outdone by the Italian. He puts the slander +about the Duchess of York into Dr. Shaw's mouth, and he also makes the +preacher tell another tale which would make bastards of Edward's +children. According to Polydore Virgil the report that the preacher +made bastards of Edward's children was 'voyd of all truthe.' According +to Morton the preacher said that Edward was previously married to a +woman named Lucy. It will be seen that {221} these authorities +contradict each other. Morton proceeds to knock down his own ninepin, +by telling us that Lucy confessed she was never married to the King. +No one but Morton ever said she was. + +Morton farther alleged that when Edward IV. proposed to marry the widow +of Sir J. Grey he was opposed by his mother, who represented that he +was already contracted before God to Elizabeth Lucy. Morton knew +perfectly well that this never happened, and that Edward went through a +marriage ceremony with Lady Grey without the knowledge of his mother or +any one else. He has only introduced the name of Elizabeth Lucy as a +herring drawn across the scent. His great object was to conceal the +name of Lady Eleanor Butler. + +The absurdity of Morton's fabrications respecting the woman Lucy will +be appreciated when we remember that she actually had two children by +Edward IV.[21] We are asked to believe that Dr. Shaw, in preaching a +sermon in support of Richard's right to the throne, put forward a +statement which, if true, would make two children legitimate, whose +legitimacy would at once bar any claim on the part of Richard. + +These misrepresentations discredit the authority of Polydore Virgil and +Morton. Of course there can be no doubt that Dr. Shaw in his sermon, +if indeed he {222} ever preached it, and the Duke of Buckingham if he +ever made a speech at the Guildhall, simply explained to the people the +contents of the petition stating Richard's title, which was about to be +presented to him: namely that Edward IV. was previously contracted to +the Lady Eleanor Butler, and that the children by Lady Grey were +consequently illegitimate. The invention of the infamous slander +against the Duchess of York by Morton and Polydore Virgil, the careful +exclusion of Lady Eleanor's name and of any allusion to her, and the +elaborate efforts of Henry VII. to destroy all traces of the evidence +are very significant. They amount to a proof that the Butler contract +was a reality, and that (if the children of Clarence were incapacitated +by their father's attainder) King Richard's title was sound and just. + +The Croyland monk and Rous do not mention Dr. Shaw's sermon. Fabyan +tells us that the preacher stated that King Edward's children were not +legitimate, thus contradicting Polydore Virgil, who declares that the +preacher never made any such allegation. But Fabyan does not mention +the slander against the Duchess of York. This is a further proof that +it was invented by Morton. Virgil, in adopting it, had, however, been +instructed to avoid all allusion to Edward's own matrimonial affairs. + +Having misrepresented Dr. Shaw's sermon on Sunday the 22nd, Morton goes +on to say that on the following Tuesday the Duke of Buckingham went to +the Guildhall and made a speech to the people. On Wednesday, according +to Morton, the Lord Mayor and aldermen came to Baynard's Castle, with +Buckingham and divers noblemen, besides many knights and gentlemen. + +{223} + +This is another falsification of dates made as usual with a purpose. +Nothing really happened on Wednesday. On Thursday the 26th, Morton +says that Richard III. went to Westminster Hall in royal state. What +Morton has done is to transfer the events of Thursday to Wednesday, and +to make as little as possible of them, in order to draw off attention +from a very momentous event. No one would gather from Morton's +narrative that on Thursday, June 26, the Convention Parliament, as it +would have been called in later days, consisting of the Lords Spiritual +and Temporal and the Commons, which had been summoned for the 25th and +actually met, proceeded to Crosby Place with the petition embodying +Richard's title, and urged him to accept the crown.[22] Morton ignores +all this, in order that his readers may be kept in ignorance of the +solemn and deliberate proceedings which accompanied Richard's +acceptance of the crown. Polydore Virgil does the same. + +[Sidenote: Buckingham's treason] + +We next come to the treason of the Duke of Buckingham. Its motive was +misrepresented by Morton, with the object of creating a belief that the +Duke advocated the cause of Henry Tudor. A long conversation between +Buckingham and Morton at Brecknock is recorded by Grafton. It is very +characteristic, and is no doubt authentic, so far as that it was +written or communicated by Morton. But whether it ever took place as +narrated is quite another matter. This conversation sets forth the +arguments by which the mischievous old intriguer alleged that he +induced Buckingham to rebel, and the pretended object of the +insurrection. + +It is asserted by Morton and Polydore Virgil that the cause of +Buckingham's discontent was the refusal {224} of Richard III. to grant +him the moiety of the Bohun lands. It is added that Buckingham's suit +was rejected by the King, with many spiteful words, and that there was +ever afterwards hatred and distrust between them. This can be proved +to be false. Richard granted Buckingham's petition, and made him a +grant[23] of the lands under the royal sign manual, giving him the +profits from the date of signature, until the formality was completed +by authority of Parliament. + +[Sidenote: Buckingham and Morton] + +This story must have been fabricated to conceal the true motive of +Buckingham's treason. He probably aspired to the throne as the next +heir of the Plantagenets after Richard and his son, in accordance with +the 'Titulus Regius.' He had himself concurred in declaring the +children of Edward IV. to be illegitimate, and those of Clarence to be +incapacitated. Next came Richard III. and his delicate son, of whom he +would dispose if the rebellion was successful. He ignored the sisters +of the King and their children.[24] This completed the descendants of +the second son of Edward III. The legitimate descendants of the third +son came to an end with Henry VI. Buckingham himself represented the +fifth son of Edward III. + +{225} + +Assailed by the insidious flattery of Morton, he was prematurely +hurried into a rash attempt which cost him his life. When Morton +recorded the conversation with his victim many years afterwards, he was +Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry VII. was King, and it was advisable, in +order to gratify the new sovereign, that Richard should be accused of +murdering his nephews, and that Buckingham should be made to give up +the scheme for his own aggrandisement, in order to risk his life for +the sake of an unknown adventurer in Brittany. It will be admitted +that this is a grossly improbable story. + +It is certainly astounding that the childish nonsense which Morton puts +into Buckingham's mouth should have been gravely accepted as true by +subsequent historians. We are first told that when Buckingham heard of +the murder of the two innocents, to which he never agreed, he abhorred +the sight of the King and could no longer abide with the Court. So he +took his leave at Gloucester with a merry countenance but a despiteful +heart. According to this, the murders took place in July, for +Buckingham left Gloucester on August 1. The more detailed story +directly contradicts Morton, and places the murders in the end of +August. Both are false, but this is one out of many instances of the +utter recklessness of these slanderers. Buckingham is then made to say +that he stopped at Tewkesbury for two days to think. The result was +that he came to the conclusion that he ought to be King, not on the +ground of his descent from the fifth son of Edward III., but because +his mother was a daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset. His mother was +the fourth daughter of that Duke, who had not the remotest right to the +throne, and never put forward a claim. {226} If there had been such a +claim, Buckingham would not have first found it out, by thinking for +two days at Tewkesbury. After this mental effort he continued his +journey towards Shrewsbury, and met Margaret Lady Stanley, the mother +of Henry Tudor, on the road. She told him that she was the daughter of +John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Edmund's elder brother. This, we are +asked to believe, was quite a new idea to Buckingham. We are to +suppose that he knew nothing about his relations before his cogitations +at Tewkesbury and his chat with Lady Stanley, and that the receipt of +the information made him give up his own ambitious plans altogether. +He is made to propose to his fellow-traveller that her son should be +king and that he should marry the eldest daughter of Edward IV. +Buckingham, after examining the evidence, had just concurred in a +solemn declaration that this daughter was illegitimate. But he now +evolved from his inner consciousness the discovery that the evidence +was derived from suborned witnesses. The Duke then took his leave of +Margaret, and proceeded with Morton to Brecknock Castle. Margaret's +steward, Reginald Bray, conveyed messages between the conspirators, and +an insurrection was arranged. Morton acknowledges that he originally +advised Buckingham himself to claim the crown at Brecknock, on which +the Duke related the above wonderful story. To complete the absurdity +of this childish romance, it must be remembered that Morton was +travelling with Buckingham, all the way from Gloucester to Brecknock. + +A man who could be guilty of fabricating such a fable is wholly +unworthy of credit in his reckless accusations against King Richard, +though his minute {227} knowledge of the real facts renders any +inadvertent admissions most important. Such are the statements that +witnesses and other evidence were produced to establish the +illegitimacy of King Edward's children,[25] and that Richard intended +to treat his nephews with kindness and consideration.[26] But it is +incredible that Buckingham should have contemplated the idea of setting +his own claim aside for the sake of an obscure adventurer in Brittany +who had no claim at all; while the pretence that Buckingham was +horrified at the murder of the young princes contradicts Henry's own +clumsy fable. The whole pretended conversation must have been an +afterthought to please the Tudor usurper. + +[Sidenote: The second coronation] + +The next accusation against Richard refers to his conduct at York, and +is derived from the second Croyland monk, who too readily accepted the +gossip that was current when he wrote, and which was pleasing to the +Tudor Government. It is alleged that Richard appropriated to his own +use the treasure which his brother had amassed, and had committed to +the care of his executors after his death. This statement, as Mr. +Gairdner has shown,[27] is contrary to the fact. The whole property +had been placed under ecclesiastical sequestration by the Archbishop of +Canterbury, because the executors had declined to act, and no further +steps had been taken. It was also stated, on the authority of the same +Croyland monk, that Richard went through the ceremony of a second +coronation at York.[28] The deduction intended to be drawn, and which +often has {228} been drawn, was that his title was so doubtful that he +hoped a double coronation might strengthen it. But there was no second +coronation at York. Nothing of the kind ever took place. + +One is loth to refer to the malignant slander involved in the +insinuation that King Richard poisoned his wife. Polydore Virgil says: +'But the Queen, whether she was despatched with sorrowfulness or +poison, died within a few days after.' The wretched wasp of Guy's +Cliff adds his sting: 'Dominam Annam reginam suam intoxicavit.'[29] + +Richard and Anne were cousins, and companions from childhood. Their +union had been a happy one in their hospitable Yorkshire home. In all +the important events of his life Richard had always had the +companionship of his wife. They had been together in sorrow and in +joy. Anne's illness was a lingering decline, during which she was +assiduously watched and cared for by her physicians, and by her +sorrowing husband, who deeply mourned her loss. She was buried, as a +Queen, in Westminster Abbey. It is true that no writer has done more +than insinuate this calumny. But most of the Tudor slanders take the +form of insinuations. 'It is a charge,' wrote Sir Harris Nicolas, +'which is deserving of attention for no other reason than as it affords +a remarkable example of the manner in which ignorance and prejudice +sometimes render what is called history more contemptible than a +romance.' The same may be said of most of the Tudor stories about +Richard III. + +[Sidenote: Elizabeth of York] + +The rumour that King Richard had an intention of marrying his +illegitimate niece Elizabeth is {229} unsustained by any evidence,[30] +and is contrary to all probability. Such a project would have +stultified the Act of Parliament on which his title to the crown was +based. The King was a politician and was not entirely deprived of his +senses. He could not have entertained an idea so absurd. But there is +evidence that the scheme was favoured by the girl herself and her +mother, and this fully accounts for the existence of the rumour. Their +ages were suitable, the King being thirty-two and his niece in her +twenty-first year; and in a letter to the Duke of Norfolk Elizabeth +expressed a strong wish to become the wife of her uncle.[31] The {230} +Church of Rome granted, and still grants, dispensations for such +marriages. But, be this how it may, Richard himself can never have +contemplated a marriage with his niece. 'The whole tale,' says Sir +Harris Nicolas, 'was invented with the view of blackening Richard's +character, to gratify the monarch in whose reign all the contemporary +writers who relate it flourished.' As soon as the rumour came to +Richard's ears he publicly and emphatically denied its truth. + +[Sidenote: Intrigues of Lady Stanley] + +The Tudor writers tell various stories about Henry, while in Brittany, +having promised to marry Elizabeth; and this is used as an argument +that he must have believed her brothers to be dead, for if they were +alive, there would be less object in the marriage. {231} Looking at +the source whence these stories come, there is no reason whatever for +accepting them as true. They are derived from the apocryphal +conversation between the Duke of Buckingham and the Bishop of Ely at +Brecknock. In order to conceal the real object of Buckingham and his +own duplicity, Morton, as has been seen, fabricated a story about his +dupe having conspired with Henry Tudor's mother to set him up as a +claimant to the crown, and a suitor for the hand of Elizabeth of York. +It is likely enough that the intriguing wife of Stanley did conspire +with Buckingham in the hope of advancing her son's interests, and that +she opened negotiations with the Queen Dowager. Her design in the +latter intrigue would be to secure the Woodville interest for +supporting the contemplated rising. She despatched her steward +Reginald Bray to Brecknock, her confessor Urswick to Brittany, and her +doctor Lewis to Westminster Sanctuary. Her treacherous husband was +feigning loyalty all the time, and was in zealous attendance on the +King. She was found out and contemptuously forgiven by Richard. But +the story of a contemplated marriage at that time between Henry Tudor +and Elizabeth was an afterthought of Morton, at a time when Henry and +Elizabeth were actually married. The story was repeated by Polydore +Virgil, and retailed, with the customary embellishments, by Hall and +Grafton. + +It is scarcely necessary to notice the imputed intention of King +Richard to avenge the treachery of Lord Stanley on his son Lord +Strange, who was in the royal camp at the time of the battle of +Bosworth. He remained unharmed. This is the fact. We are asked to +believe that the King intended to behead him, {232} but could not spare +the time before the battle began. There was plenty of time, but no +intention of using it for such a purpose. The proof of this is that +Lord Strange was not injured. The evidence for the alleged intention +to behead him rests solely on the assertions of men who wrote long +afterwards, and the value of whose testimony we are now pretty well +able to estimate. + + + +[1] Hook, v. p. 409. + +[2] He was then Master of the Rolls. + +[3] Alexander VI., 1492-1503. + +[4] Tyndale, _The Practice of Prelates_, p. 305. Parker Society. + +[5] Lord Bacon, _Henry VII._ + +[6] _Utopia_, p. 20. + +[7] Morton was intimately acquainted with the real facts. He makes no +mistakes. His mis-statements are all prepared designedly and with an +object. He even knew the name of Buckingham's messenger, and that of +Gloucester's servant to whom he applied for a secret interview with his +master.--P. 134, ed. 1821. + +[8] Ellis's _Original Letters_, second series, i. p. 147. + +[9] _Wardrobe Accounts_. + +[10] Stallworthe's letter of June 21 (_Exc. Hist._ pp. 14-10). The +Croyland monk also gives the surrender of young Richard after the +arrest of Hastings (p. 566). + +[11] He misled Horace Walpole (p. 49), and Dr. Lingard (iv. p. 227) on +this point. But Dr. Lingard was quite ready to continue in his error. +His account is as follows:--'On the same day that Hastings suffered +(and the time should be noticed) Ratcliffe entered Pomfret Castle at +the head of a numerous body of armed men, seized Rivers, Grey and +Vaughan, observed no judicial forms, and struck off the heads of the +victims.' He calls the Yorkshire troops that came to London 'the +ruffians who had murdered the prisoners at Pontefract.' This is not +very temperate language. Dr. Lingard afterwards found that this was +all wrong. But he would not alter his erroneous text. He merely added +a note in a later edition, showing that he knew Rivers to have been +still alive on the 23rd, and that Rous named the Earl of Northumberland +as presiding at the trial. Yet he retains the assertion in the text +that there were no judicial forms! + +[12] _Croyland_, p. 567. Polydore Virgil gives the correct date; and +the Croyland monk also places the execution of Rivers after the arrest +of Hastings. + +[13] Rymer, xii. p. 204. + +[14] 13 die mensis Junii veniens in Turrim ad consilium, jussu +Protectoris capite truncatus est.--_Croyland Chron_. Gale, i. 566. + +[15] The Croyland Chronicler is quite free from suspicion of +intentional falsification. He was informed that Hastings had been +beheaded on the 13th, the day of his arrest, and he stated what he +believed to be the fact. He, therefore, made no attempt to make this +fit in with other events by falsifying dates, as was the course taken +by Morton and Fabyan. The monk places the delivery of young Richard +and the execution of Rivers in proper order of time, and gives the +correct date for Richard's accession. + +[16] _Excerpt. Hist._ p. 16. + +[17] 'Eorum principalis judex.'--Rous, p. 213. + +[18] Sir George Buck ascertained the truth through having access to the +manuscript of the _Croyland Chronicle_. The writer simply mentions the +pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler; but the Chronicle was not +printed until 1084. Speed was the first to print the full text of the +'Titulus Regius' in his _History of Great Britain_, 1611. + +[19] The first Earl of Shrewsbury had a large family by two wives, but +the names of all his daughters have not been recorded. Dugdale +mentions none. Collins gives Jane married to James Lord Berkeley. +There were also Elizabeth wife of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and +others, including Eleanor. Buck is mistaken in supposing that +Eleanor's first husband was Sir Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley. His wife +was Alice Deincourt, and he was too old. Eleanor's husband may have +been an unrecorded son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley, who died when a +young man before his father. She must have married Edward IV., when a +widow, in or before 1464. She died at Norwich, and was buried in the +church of the White Friars Carmelites.--Weever's _Funeral Monuments_, +p. 805. + +[20] Morton says that 'within few days after he withered and consumed +away' (p. 103). + +[21] I. Arthur was married to a daughter and heiress of Edward Grey, +Viscount Lisle, the brother-in-law of Lady Grey. She was the widow of +Edmund Dudley. In 1533 Arthur was created Viscount Lisle. He had +three daughters, and from the second, Frances wife of John Basset of +Umberleigh, co. Devon, General Monk was descended. Arthur Viscount +Lisle died, without male heirs, in 1541. + +II. Elizabeth wife of Thomas, eldest son of George Lord Lumley, who +died before his father. From her descends the present Earl of +Scarborough. + +[22] Letter from King Richard to Lord Mountjoy. + +[23] The text of the grant is given by Dugdale, with the King's signet +and sign manual, given at his manor at Greenwich on July 13, 1483. A +list of the manors follows.--Dugdale's _Baronage_, i. 168. + +Mr. Gairdner argues that, in spite of this grant, the Duke had reason +to doubt the fulfilment of the promise when Parliament met. I am +unable to follow him. The King had done all that he possibly could do +until Parliament met, and he had put his good faith and sincerity +beyond doubt by giving Buckingham the profits beforehand, in +anticipation of the approval of Parliament. What could he possibly do +more? There was no shadow of a pretext for any such doubt on the part +of Buckingham.--Gairdner's _Richard III._, p. 136. + +[24] He also had to ignore the children of Henry Bourchier, Earl of +Essex, by the Princess Isabel, a sister of Richard Duke of York. + +[25] Morton, in Grafton, p. 126. + +[26] _Ibid._ p. 127. + +[27] _Richard III._ p. 146, quoting from _Royal Wills_, pp. 345-347. + +[28] Rous, p. 217. Drake's _Eborac._ p. 117. The fable is fully +exposed by Mr. Davies in his _York Records_. + +[29] Rous. + +[30] This rumour never reached Fabyan or Rous. It is mentioned by the +Croyland monk. + +[31] On the authority of Sir George Buck. His words are as +follows:--'When February was past, the Lady Elizabeth, being more +impatient and jealous of the success than every one knew or conceived, +writes a letter to the Duke of Norfolk intimating first that he was the +man in whom she most affied, in respect of that love her Father had +ever borne him. Then she congratulates his many courtesies, in +continuance of which she desires him to be a mediator for her to the +King in the behalf of the marriage propounded between them, who, as she +wrote, was her only joy and maker in the world, and that she was his in +heart and thought, withal insinuating that the better part of February +was past, and that she feared the Queen would never die. All these be +her own words written with her own hand, and this is the sum of her +letter, which remaineth in the autograph or original draft under her +own hand, in the magnificent cabinet of Thomas Earl of Arundel and +Surrey.' (Buck, p. 128.) + +Sir Harris Nicolas (_Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York_, p. 1), +as an admirer of Elizabeth of York, was much troubled by this letter. +He attacked Sir George Buck as 'one whose violent prejudices do not +sufficiently account for the mendacity for which his work is +remarkable.' But this is unjust. Buck no doubt was prejudiced, but +not more so than the Tudor chroniclers. He blunders and is uncritical, +yet there is no reason to impugn his good faith. Nor did Sir Harris +Nicolas himself think that the case was sufficiently disposed of by +abusing Sir George Buck. He made various attempts to explain away the +letter, but none satisfactory or even plausible. Dr. Lingard did not +doubt the authenticity of the letter (v. pp. 355-359, ed. 1823, iv. p. +252, ed. 1849). It is not now known to exist, but that proves nothing +if Buck wrote in good faith. + +Mr. Gairdner approaches the subject more calmly. 'Positive testimony +like this,' he says, 'is not to be lightly set aside as incredible. +Yet Buck, if not altogether dishonest (and I see no reason to think him +so), was certainly by no means an impartial historian. At the same +time Buck's abstract of the letter is very minute, and such as would +seem to follow pretty closely the turns of expression in a genuine +original, and he expressly declares the manuscript to be an autograph +or original draft. If it be not a forgery palmed off upon Buck +himself, I am inclined to think it was written, not by Elizabeth, but +by her mother who bore the same Christian name. Every word might just +as well have come from her, except the mention of the father, which may +be a mistake; and there is nothing inconceivable in her anxiety that +Richard should marry her daughter.' He adds 'that Elizabeth could have +been eager to obtain the hand of her brother's murderer is really too +monstrous to be believed.' Why then is it not 'too monstrous to be +believed' that the mother should have been eager to obtain the hand of +her son's murderer for her daughter? It is clear that the grounds for +accepting the letter are too strong for Mr. Gairdner to be able to +reject them. Yet that Elizabeth should wish to marry her brother's +murderer appears incredible to him. The conclusion is inevitable. +Richard was not her brother's murderer, if the letter was authentic +(see Gairdner's _Life of Richard III._ pp. 256-257, and note p. 257). + + + + +{233} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAIN CHARGE AGAINST RICHARD III + + 15. Murder of the Princes in the Tower. Acquittal. + + +In attempting an impartial consideration of the question of the fate of +King Edward's sons, it must always be remembered that the main argument +against their uncle is made to rest upon the truth of his previous +alleged crimes. This argument is destroyed if Richard was not a +venomous hunchback born with teeth, if he was not a cold scheming and +calculating villain who had already committed two atrocious murders, +drowned his brother in a butt of malmsey, poisoned his wife, and waded +through the blood of innocent men to an usurped throne. A careful +study of the evidence establishes the fact that these accusations are +false, and that they were put forward by the writers under a new +dynasty in order to blacken the character of the last Plantagenet King, +and to make the accusation that he murdered his nephews more plausible. +For it was a matter of the most vital importance to Henry VII., not +only that the boys should have been murdered, but that it should be +believed that the crime was perpetrated before his accession. + +We have to deal with a different man altogether. The real Richard, who +is accused of the murder of his {234} nephews, was not previously +steeped in crime. The accusation must now be considered as being +brought against an ordinary prince of the fifteenth century, if not +better certainly not worse than his contemporaries. This at once +destroys the chief points of the evidence against him. His accusers +rightly felt that it was necessary to blacken Richard's character, and +this they did coarsely enough, but very successfully. They knew that, +without this poisoning of the wells, the case against him lost all its +force. 'Nemo repente turpissimus.' + +We must now approach the question relating to the fate of the two young +sons of Edward IV., without having constantly before our minds the +grotesque caricature portrayed by the Tudor writers. Although it is +not possible, especially at this distance of time, to account for the +workings of any man's mind, or for the motives which may control his +actions, it is yet necessary to consider this phase of the question, +with as much light as we can bring to bear upon it. + +It is not disputed that Edward IV. always evinced unshaken love and +affection for his young brother, and showed the most absolute +confidence in him at the time of his death. Richard returned this +affection with devoted loyalty. He had no love for the Woodville +faction, but he must have felt some regard for his brother's children, +being such a man as we believe he has been proved to have been. This +feeling of regard would decrease the strength of any motive producing a +desire to destroy them for his own ends. But there was no such motive. +The boys had been declared to be illegitimate, after an examination of +evidence, by the unanimous voice of Parliament. When the Cardinal +Archbishop, surrounded by his suffragans, {235} placed the crown of St. +Edward on Richard's head, he proclaimed the belief of the Church, and +released from their oaths all who under a misapprehension had sworn +allegiance to Edward V. The boy, as a claimant to the throne, had +ceased to be dangerous. + +[Sidenote: Unanimity at Richard's coronation] + +It should be borne in mind that Parliament was unanimous in recognising +the title of Richard III. Excepting half a dozen Lancastrian exiles +who were equally opposed to any member of the house of York,[1] the +whole peerage was at Richard's coronation except those whose absence is +accounted for by extreme age or youth, or by the calls of duty.[2] +Even the Woodville faction had submitted, and was represented at the +coronation by Viscount Lisle and the Bishop of Salisbury. Henry +Tudor's mother bore the train of Richard's Queen, and his uncle Lord +Welles was also at the coronation. There was absolutely no party for +the illegitimate sons of Edward IV. at the time of their alleged +murders, and consequently no danger to be apprehended from them. If +the story had put the murders after Buckingham's rising it would have +been a little more plausible. But it placed them two months before the +rising, when the King had not the shadow of a suspicion that any +opposition was contemplated. Setting aside all natural or religious +feeling, and even assuming Richard to have been the impossible monster +depicted by Tudor writers, he certainly had no motive for the crime. + +{236} + +But it may be argued that the workings of men's minds are inexplicable, +and that Richard may have committed the crime from a motive which would +seem insufficient to any reasonable man. To decide upon this +proposition we can only turn to a consideration of his conduct as +regards other persons in the same relationship and position as the two +boys, and who were likely to cause Richard as much or as little +trouble. There were seven such persons, namely, the five daughters of +Edward IV. and the two children of the Duke of Clarence. The King +treated his nieces with kindness and consideration as near relations, +when they came under his protection. The young Earl of Warwick, son of +Richard's elder brother Clarence, was a far more formidable rival than +the sons of Edward. The former was incontestably legitimate; while the +latter had been declared to be illegitimate by both Houses of +Parliament. Richard knighted the son of Clarence, placed him at the +head of the nobility, and made him a member of council and of his own +household. We, therefore, know that Richard did not look upon the +children of his elder brothers as enemies to be destroyed, but as +relations to be cherished. + +[Sidenote: The princes alive in Richard's time] + +We find, then, that the two young sons of Edward IV. went to reside in +the royal lodgings of the Tower in June 1483. The statement put forth +by Henry VII. is that they were murdered there in the following August. +But there are two pieces of evidence, one of them positive evidence, +that they were alive throughout the reign of Richard III. + +In the orders for King Richard's household dated after the death of his +own son, children are mentioned of such high rank that they were to be +served before all other Lords. The only children who could occupy +{237} such a position were the sons of Edward IV. and the son of +Clarence. The conclusion must be that all his nephews were members of +his household, and that they were only sent to Sheriff Hutton and to +the Tower when danger threatened the realm from the invasion of Henry +Tudor. + +The other piece of evidence is found in a warrant in Rymer's 'Foedera,' +dated March 9, 1485, to the following effect: it directs Henry Davy 'to +deliver unto John Goddestande, footman unto the Lord Bastard, two +doblets of silk, one jacket of silk, one gown of cloth, two shirts, and +two bonets.'[3] There are other warrants to pay for provisions. Dr. +Lingard[4] tried to destroy the significance of these warrants by +suggesting that they referred to John of Gloucester, an illegitimate +son of the King. But this boy is mentioned in Rymer's 'Foedera,' and +is designated as a bastard son of the King[5] simply and not as a lord, +for no such title belonged to him. Edward, on the other hand, although +he was officially called a bastard, was also a lord. In his case the +designation of Lord was correct. In the 'Wardrobe Account' he was +called the Lord Edward; after the accession of his uncle.[6] The royal +titles of Wales and Cornwall were no longer consistent or proper, and +had indeed been transferred, in due course, to the King's son. But the +earldoms of March {238} and Pembroke, conferred on him by his father, +still belonged to Edward. He would properly be styled the Lord +Bastard, while John of Gloucester could not be and was not. There was +only one 'Lord' Bastard.[7] The warrants, therefore, show that Edward +was alive and well treated in March 1485, four months before the death +of Richard III. + +These two pieces of evidence are in keeping with Morton's statement +that King Richard had declared his intention of maintaining his nephews +in honourable estate. But there is strong collateral evidence pointing +to the same conclusion. If there had been foul play, it is scarcely +credible that the mother could have been induced by any promises to +throw her remaining children on the protection of one who had already +violated the most sacred ties as regards her two sons. It is, however, +just possible that a very unfeeling and selfish woman (though Elizabeth +was neither), weary of confinement in sanctuary, might have been +induced to make terms with the murderer of her sons, in order to obtain +a comfortable provision for herself. But she did more than this. She +sent for her other son, who was safe in France, advising him to return +home and submit himself to the King. It is incredible that she could +have done this unless she knew that the two boys were alive and well +treated. She remained on friendly terms with Richard until his death, +and her daughters attended the festivities at his {239} Court. Still +stronger evidence in the same direction is afforded by the letter to +the Duke of Norfolk, whether it was written by the King's niece +Elizabeth or by her mother, as Mr. Gairdner suggests. The writer could +not have spoken of Richard as her 'joy and maker in the world,' or have +said that she was 'his in heart and thought,' if he had just murdered +the brothers of one and the sons of the other. The thing is quite +impossible. + +The conduct of their mother and sister is a strong corroboration of the +positive evidence that the young princes were alive and well throughout +King Richard's reign. + +[Sidenote: The alleged rumours] + +On the other hand, there is no evidence whatever that they were dead; +beyond rumours of which we only hear long afterwards. We are told that +there were rumours that they had been murdered, and rumours that they +were alive, and had been taken abroad. Rumours but no evidence. + +If they had been smothered the bodies would have been exposed to allay +suspicion, and would have received Christian burial. To hide them +would have been an act of incredible folly. + +There remain then, for consideration, these rumours which are alleged +to have prevailed during the reign of King Richard to the effect that +his nephews had been murdered. It is maintained that if these rumours +were generally believed, Richard must have been guilty, because if he +had been innocent he would have taken some steps to disprove the +rumours, and he took no such steps, or rather--no such steps are +recorded by his enemies. + +The points for investigation are whether such rumours actually existed, +and if so, whether they were {240} so general as to reach the King's +ears and make it advisable that anything should be done to refute them. + +It is alleged that these rumours took shape during the King's progress +to York in the summer and autumn of 1483. There is no evidence that +they prevailed at this or any other time during Richard's reign.[8] +The authority for a rumour about the fate of the two boys in the summer +of 1483 is the Croyland Chronicle; and there can be no doubt that the +statement was made in good faith; although the writer may have been +deceived. + +The passage in the Croyland Chronicle is to the effect that the princes +remaining in custody in the Tower, the people in the south and west of +England became anxious for their liberation, that meetings were held on +the subject, and that proposals were made to arrange the escape of the +daughters of Edward IV. so that, if anything happened to his sons, +there might still be heirs of his body. It was also reported that the +sons of Edward were dead, though it was unknown by what violent means +they met their end.[9] So far the Croyland monk. + +No doubt there were partizans of the defeated factions of Hastings and +the Woodvilles who were ready to spread any rumours injurious to the +King. The question is whether the rumours which reached the ears of +the Croyland monk were ever generally {241} credited by the people, so +as to call for action from the Government. Is it true that they led to +loud murmurings from meetings and assemblages of the people in the +south and west of England, such as would attract general notice? The +only proof offered is that an officer named Nesfield was ordered to +watch the approaches of the Sanctuary at Westminster, and see that no +one left it secretly. But this was a precaution which would have been +taken under any circumstances. Polydore Virgil alleges that Richard +himself spread a report that his nephews were dead; and this is +magnified and embellished by Grafton and Hall, according to their wont. +The statement is grossly improbable in itself, is wholly unsupported, +and is entirely unworthy of credit. + +There is, then, no evidence that these rumours existed, beyond the +passage in the Croyland Chronicle. But there is strong reason for +rejecting the monk's story. If the rumours had really existed, and if +in consequence there were mutinous assemblages of the people +preliminary to an insurrectionary movement, the vigilant and energetic +young King would have made all necessary preparations to meet the +danger. Nothing is more certain in his history than that he was taken +absolutely by surprise when he received tidings of an outbreak in Kent +on October 11, 1483. It was a concerted rising, secretly arranged by +Buckingham. This Duke had taken leave of the King at Gloucester on +August 2 before the alleged action of Richard at Warwick with a view to +the murders, which was on August 8. According to the story, Buckingham +can have known nothing of the murders when he arranged his plot. +Consequently it is not possible that the rising in Kent, arranged by +Buckingham, can {242} have had anything to do with the alleged murder +of the young princes. + +Yet the Croyland monk had certainly been told that there was a rumour +that the boys were dead. If it had not reached him as general talk, it +must have come direct to him from some malignant enemy of the King. +Was there such a man lurking in the fen country round Croyland? We +know that Morton had taken refuge in the fen country (Isle of Ely) at +this very time. If that schemer was at the chronicler's elbow, the +rumour is fully accounted for. It probably originated with Morton +while he was lurking in the fens, and ceased to exist when he sailed +for Flanders. His own narrative, as we have received it, comes to an +abrupt termination while he is conversing with the Duke of Buckingham +at Brecknock. If it had been continued, we should doubtless have had a +highly coloured version of the rumour mentioned in the Croyland +Chronicle. Morton and his slanders went abroad together. The rumour +that the young princes had been put to death appeared no more in +England during Richard's life. But as soon as Morton went to France, +it appeared there. In the autumn of 1483 Morton left England. In +January 1484, the murder of the princes was alleged as a fact by the +Chancellor of France in a speech to the States-General at Tours. +'Regardez, je vous prie, les événements qui après la mort du Roi +Édouard sont arrivés dans ce pays. Contemplez ses enfants, déjà grands +et braves, massacreé impunément, et la couronne transportée a +l'assassin par la faveur des peuples.'[10] The Chancellor may have +received this statement from another Lancastrian exile, but it is {243} +most likely that it came from Morton. Louis XI. had hated Richard +because he opposed the peace which the French King bought from Edward +IV., and because he refused the French bribes with contempt.[11] This +hatred was inherited by the Lady of Beaujeu who became Regent on the +death of Louis XI. in August 1483. Any calumny was seized upon as an +opportunity for reviling the King of England; and with Morton in France +there would be no dearth of such wares. + +The insult to the King of England uttered by the French Chancellor may +not have reached Richard's government. If it did, it must have been +apologised for or explained away, for some months afterwards, in +September 1484, King Richard granted a safe-conduct for an embassy from +the French Regency to treat of peace.[12] The calumny was clearly +received by the French Chancellor from Morton, or some other +unscrupulous outlaw, and not from any general rumour. For it is stated +as a fact; the truth being that it was never known what became of the +two boys, or pretended to be known until after the alleged confession +of Tyrrel in 1502. + +Fabyan, writing in the time of Henry VII., talks of a rumour, and of +its having been the common fame that King Richard put his nephews to +secret death. This was merely what Henry VII. wanted to be the 'common +fame'; and no one dared to gainsay it. In the year after his accession +the usurping Tudor ordered it to be given out that the boys were +murdered by their uncle, and his paid agents had to repeat the +statement. André said they were killed with a sword.[13] {244} Rous +stated that they were put to death by some means unknown.[14] Polydore +followed Rous. Comines, naturally enough, told the story officially +promulgated in England. But Henry never dared to make the accusation +publicly in his first so-called Parliament, and there can have been +only one reason for this silence. The boys were then alive. + +Henry's chroniclers, however, testify that nothing was known, and thus +prove the falsehood of the French Chancellor's statement, while +furnishing additional proof that no general rumour existed during +Richard's reign that the boys were dead. + +It is not to be supposed that Sir William Stanley would have +entertained for a moment the belief that Perkin Warbeck was a son of +Edward IV. unless he knew that the princes were alive throughout +Richard's reign. No one had better means of knowing. The story put +forward by Henry VII. tells us that it remained in doubt whether the +boys were destroyed or not in Richard's day. Polydore Virgil mentions +a rumour that they had escaped abroad. Perkin Warbeck's story was +believed by a great number of people, which could not have been the +case if the rumour of the death of the princes had been generally +credited. + +[Sidenote: Baseless rumours] + +No question arose before King Richard's death. Many persons must have +known that his nephews were alive and well treated. Their mother and +brother knew, and they were silenced by imprisonment. Sir William +Stanley and his fellow-sufferers knew, and they were beheaded. After +Henry's accession, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people who +knew the truth. They had a choice between silence and ruin or {245} +death. The truth might have been, and probably was, mentioned in +private correspondence; but even that would be very perilous, and +scarcely any correspondence of that date has been preserved. In one +letter in the 'Plumpton Correspondence,' the dislike of Henry's illegal +attainders is referred to, but with bated breath. Among the mass of +the people there was no certain knowledge of what had happened to the +boys. Of course many baseless rumours then became current. The +statements accusing Richard, and the assertions that these rumours +received popular credit during his reign, merely indicate what his +successor wanted to be believed on the subject. + + + +[1] Earls of Oxford, Devonshire, and Pembroke, Lords Rivers, Dynham, +and Beaumont. Lord Clifford was a minor, and in hiding in Yorkshire. + +[2] Lord Dudley in extreme old age, Earls of Shrewsbury and Essex, and +Lord Hungerford minors, Lords Greystoke and Ogle in the Marches, Lord +Mountjoy at Calais, Lord de la Warre abroad. The Earl of Westmoreland +was dangerously ill. + +[3] Bayley, _Antiquities of the Tower of London_. (8vo. ed 1830, p. +343 _n_.) + +[4] iv. p. 580 (5th ed. 1849). + +[5] Rymer, xii. p. 265. 'Pro filio bastardo regis.' 'Cum summa +dilecti filii nostri bastardi Johannis de Gloucestriæ ingenii +vivacitas, membrorumque agilitas, et ad omnes bonos mores magnam et +indubiam nobis de futuro ejus servitio bono spem, gratiâ divinâ +promittant.' This warrant granted the wardship of Calais to John of +Gloucester, so soon as he should have reached the age of twenty-one. + +[6] _Archæologia_, i. p. 367. + +[7] Sir Richard, K.G., the second son, was not then a lord. The title +of York was a royal one, like that of Wales, and he could not hold it +when proved to be illegitimate. Those of Norfolk and Nottingham came +from his intended wife, Anne Mowbray, and when she died, they went to +her heirs Howard and Berkeley, by creation of the King on June 8, 1483. +Young Richard, as well as Edward, was a Knight of the Garter, but +Edward was the only 'Lord Bastard.' + +[8] A letter from the King to the Mayor of York, dated April 11, 1485, +is on the subject of the suppression of false reports and lies. But +this refers to the false report that Richard intended to marry his +niece. Davies, _York Records_. Drake incorrectly places this letter +in 1484. Drake's _Ebor._ p. 119. + +[9] 'Vulgatum est dictos Regis Edwardi pueros, quo genere violenti +interitus ignoratur, decessisse in fata.' + +[10] _Journal des Etats-Généraux de France tenus en_ 1483-84 (Documents +Inédits), quoted by Gairdner in his _Richard III._ p. 160. + +[11] He accepted a present of horses from Louis as a matter of courtesy. + +[12] Rymer's _Foedera_, xii. p. 234. + +[13] 'Nepotes clam ferro feriri jussit.'--André. + +[14] 'Ita quod ex post paucissimis notum fuit qua morte martirizati +sunt.'--Rous. + + + + +{246} + +CHAPTER V + +HENRY TUDOR IN THE DOCK + +Murder of the Princes in the Tower. Conviction. + + +[Sidenote: Victims after Bosworth] + +Henry Tydder, _alias_ Tudor, must now take his place in the dock. Let +us first see what manner of man this fortunate adventurer was. In 1485 +he was twenty-eight years of age. He is described as a man of slender +build, about five feet nine inches high, with a saturnine expression, +grey restless eyes, yellow hair, and very little of it. Having passed +his life as a fugitive and conspirator, cunning and dissimulation had +become a second nature to him. The victory gained for him at Bosworth, +by the foulest treachery, placed despotic power in his hands. His +first acts were the illegal and unjust executions of William +Catesby,[1] Chancellor of the Exchequer, of John Buck, the Comptroller +of the late King's Household, of {247} William Bracher, Yeoman of the +Crown, and of his son. These executions were in violation of all law. +They were simply murders; for Henry Tudor himself had no legal status, +and was in fact an attainted outlaw. Catesby was the faithful and +loyal minister of a King who studied the welfare of his subjects, and +was the Speaker of the best Parliament that had sat since the time of +Edward I. He was an able and diligent public servant. This was his +only crime. Nothing tangible has ever been alleged against him, except +that he did his duty by reporting the meditated treason of Hastings. +If the fables of Morton and his colleagues are accepted, the executions +of Rivers, Grey and Vaughan were doubtful acts. But the executions of +Catesby, Buck, and the Brachers were heinous crimes. Richard was the +Chief of the State, though it may be held that his measures were +unjust. Henry was an outlaw without legal authority of any kind, and +his executions were ruthless murders. Thus did this adventurer wade +through the blood of innocent men to his usurped throne.[2] His next +proceeding was to {248} send Sir Robert Willoughby to Sheriff Hutton, +to get possession of young Edward Earl of Warwick, the heir to the +throne, and of the late King's niece Elizabeth. + +Henry Tudor then marched to London and seized the government. He +became responsible for the surviving members of the royal family of +England, legitimate or otherwise. What did he do with them? There +were Edward and Richard, the illegitimate sons of Edward IV., there was +Edward the legitimate son of the Duke of Clarence, and now the rightful +King of England, and there was John, the illegitimate son of Richard +III. They all fell into his power, and he alone became answerable for +their lives. There is too much reason to suspect that they all met +with foul play at his hands. + +Henry Tudor, on usurping the crown of England, necessarily found +himself in a very difficult position. His mother's claim, as heiress +to an illegitimate son of the third son of Edward III., was worthless +in itself, for even if the descent had been legitimate, she must come +after all the descendants of the second son of Edward III. Moreover +the claim, such as it was, had not yet descended to Henry Tudor and +never did, for his mother survived him. He wisely refrained from +stating such a claim as this, although he alleged a vague hereditary +right of some sort, which he did not try to explain. There remained +the right of conquest with the aid of French mercenaries, and he +ventured to put it forward. But he soon saw that he would have to find +some other prop to support his usurpation. + +{249} + +[Sidenote: Character of Henry VII] + +Henry must certainly have been a man of great ability, with an acute +but narrow mind, marvellous powers of dissimulation and of +self-deception, with considerable tact and skill in guiding and +influencing those around him. He was essentially un-English. He was a +near relation of Louis XI., and he made that mean tyrant his model. He +hated English freedom, and that intimate contact with the people which +made the Plantagenets popular. He loved mystery. He surrounded +himself with an armed guard which constantly went about with him, a +thing never done before by former kings.[3] He originated a tribunal +with despotic powers, consisting of a committee of his Council, the +infamous Star Chamber. He established 'a close and secret, a +tyrannical and often a most cruel government.'[4] He extorted money by +means of those illegal 'benevolences' which had been abolished by the +patriotic Parliament of Richard III. He was penurious, greedy, and +mean. He was the first English King who increased his revenue by +forfeitures enforced through legal chicanery. He began the practice of +setting agents to ferret out any claim which the Crown could make, and +a subservient judge would affirm. For he loved the forms of law, which +apparently soothed his conscience. He was very superstitious. When +his own interests were not concerned he was not devoid of natural +affection and he recoiled from crime. Yet he became capable of any +foul deed if he deemed it necessary for his own security. But he +meditated a crime for months and years, and stood trembling on the +brink for a long time before he summoned up {250} courage to act. Even +then he much preferred the forms of law, thinking that if he shared the +deed with others, the guilt became a limited liability. + +Henry had the wisdom to see that, although his claim of conquest and +vague assertion of right by descent[5] might serve for a time, he must +establish some better title to secure any stability for his throne. He +had obtained his position by the favour of a treacherous faction, and +was confirmed in it by a pretended Parliament of his adherents, many of +them still under attainder. Unlike the grand ceremony of King +Richard's coronation, when the whole peerage was present, that of Henry +was very thinly attended. He felt that some step must promptly be +taken, with a view to strengthening his position, and reconciling the +nation to his usurpation. + +There was Elizabeth, the late King's niece, whose person he had +secured. If she was made queen it might propitiate the powerful +Yorkist party. But she was illegitimate, and consequently young +Warwick was the rightful King. There was another more fatal +difficulty, a knowledge of which was shared with the girl's mother, if +not with the girl herself. All evidence of the illegitimacy might be +destroyed. Henry caused the Act of Parliament recording and legalising +King Richard's title to be expunged. He ordered the original Act to be +removed from the Rolls and burnt. Every person who possessed a copy or +remembrance of it, was commanded to deliver up the same, under a +penalty of fine and imprisonment at the tyrant's pleasure.[6] Henry +granted a general pardon to Bishop {251} Stillington in order to avoid +prosecuting him for the offence of having borne witness to the +illegitimacy. For he feared discussion. He then trumped up some other +charge, threw the Bishop into prison, and that unfortunate prelate +never came out alive. + +But this was not enough. There was other work to be done from which +Henry long recoiled. Yet without its perpetration he could not safely +be married to Elizabeth, and there could be no security for his +usurpation. Indeed, his position would be rendered even more +precarious by the destruction of the evidence of illegitimacy. He had +usurped a throne to retain which he saw that the committal of more than +one crime was indispensable. + +Meanwhile Henry had summoned the so-called Parliament of his outlawed +adherents. He got his own attainder reversed. He then caused an act +of attainder to be passed against the late King and many loyal noblemen +and knights, whose property he seized. He had the effrontery to accuse +them of treason to him, by dating the commencement of his reign from +the day previous to the battle of Bosworth. No more shameless act of +injustice is recorded in the annals of tyranny. The bit of legal +chicanery by which an attempt was made to excuse it, shows the +character of the man. + +====================================================================== + +{252} + +LOYAL MEN WITH THE KING AT BOSWORTH + +ILLEGAL ATTAINDERS BY ORDER OF HENRY TUDOR PASSED IN THE SO-CALLED +PARLIAMENT OF 1485 + + + Richard III., King of England, K.G. } + John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, K.G. } _Slain at Bosworth_. + Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, K.G. _Prisoner at Bosworth_. + Francis Viscount Lovell, K.G. _Slain at Stoke_. + Walter Lord Ferrers, K.G. } + John Lord Zouch. } _Slain at Bosworth_. + Sir James Harington. (Clerk of the Council.) _At Bosworth_. + Sir Robert Harington. _At Bosworth_. + Sir Richard Charlton. _At Bosworth_. + Sir Richard Ratcliffe, K.G. _Slain at Bosworth_. + Sir William Berkeley, K.B. (Knight of the Bath at the Coronation.) + Sir Robert Brackenbury. (Constable of the Tower.) _Slain at Bosworth_. + Sir Thomas Pilkington. (Brother-in-law of the Haringtons.) _Slain at Stoke_. + Sir Robert Middleton. + Walter Hopton, Esq. (Treasurer of the Household.) + William Catesby, Esq. (Chancellor of the Exchequer.) _Murdered at Leicester_. + Roger Wake, Esq. + William Sapcote, Esq., of Huntingdonshire. + Humphrey Stafford, Esq. _Put to death by Henry VII_. + William Clarke, Esq., of Wenlock. + Walter St. Germain, Esq. + Walter Watkin, Esq. (Herald.) + Richard Revell, Esq., of Derbyshire. + Thomas Pulter, Esq., of Kent. + John Welch, Esq., _otherwise_ Hastings. + John Kendall, Esq. (Secretary of State.) _Slain at Bosworth_. + John Buck, Esq. (Comptroller of the Household.) _Murdered at Leicester_. + John Batte, Esq. + William Brampton, Esq., of Burford. + + (From the _Plumpton Correspondence_, p. 48.) + +====================================================================== + +This odious measure outraged the feelings of all parties in the +country. 'There was many gentlemen against it, but it would not be for +it was the king's pleasure,' wrote Sir Robert Plumpton's correspondent +from London.[7] The monk of Croyland wrote against the outrage, +exclaiming 'O God! what security are our kings to have henceforth that +in the day of battle they {253} may not be deserted by their subjects +who, acting on the awful summons of a king may, on the decline of that +king's party, as is frequently the case, be bereft of life and fortune +and all their inheritance.'[8] Nor was this insult to King Richard's +memory, and the lawless robbery of his loyal subjects, forgotten by the +people of England. They were resolved to secure themselves against a +repetition of such proceedings. Ten years afterwards the tyrant had +the mortification of being obliged to give his assent to an Act +formally condemning the attainder of King Richard's officers.[9] + +It is very significant that, although in the Act of Attainder King +Richard is reviled for cruelty and tyranny, he is not accused of the +murder of his nephews. This is most remarkable. Henry got possession +of the Tower at once. He arrived in London on August 28. If the young +princes were missing, it is certain that in the Act of Attainder the +usurper would have promptly accused King Richard of having murdered +them. But he did not do so. There can only be one explanation of this +omission. The young princes were not missing. + +[Sidenote: Henry's great difficulty] + +Here then was Henry's great difficulty. This fully accounts for the +long delay in marrying Elizabeth. He was afraid. He was ready to +commit any crime with the forms of law. He did not hold with Lord +Russell, that 'killing by forms of law was the worst kind of murder.' +But a recourse to law was impossible {254} in this case. Whatever he +was to do, must be done in profound secrecy. Yet his timid and +superstitious nature shrank from a crime the responsibility of which he +could not share with others. Its perpetration had, he saw, become +absolutely necessary for his security. He hesitated for months. All +evidence of the illegitimacy had been hidden out of sight. No man +dared to mention it. He long stood on the brink. At length he plunged +into guilt. He married Elizabeth on January 18, 1486, nearly five +months after his accession. The die was then cast. It became a matter +of life and death to Henry VII. that the brothers of his wife should +cease to exist. + +[Sidenote: Tudor victims] + +We must now apply the same tests to Henry as we applied to Richard. +Had Henry sufficient motive for the crime? It is impossible that a man +in his position could have had a stronger motive. He had denied the +illegitimacy, and had thus made his wife's brothers his most formidable +rivals. He could not, he dared not let them live, unless he +relinquished all he had gained. The second test we applied to Richard +was his treatment of those persons who were in his power, and who were, +as regards relationship, in the same position as the sons of Edward IV. +Let us apply the same test to Henry. John of Gloucester, the +illegitimate son of Richard III., fell into the hands of Henry. At +first the boy received a maintenance allowance of 20_l._ a year.[10] +But he was soon thrown into prison, on suspicion of an invitation +having reached him to come to Ireland, and he never came {255} out +alive.[11] This 'active well-disposed boy,'[12] as he is described in +the warrant in Rymer's 'Foedera,' fell a victim to the usurper's fears. +His right to the crown was at least as good as that of Henry Tudor. He +was the illegitimate son of a king. Henry was only the great-grandson +of an illegitimate son of a younger son of a king. The Earl of +Warwick, who was the rightful heir to the crown, was also in Henry's +power. The tyrant hesitated for years before he made up his mind to +commit another foul crime. But he finally slaughtered the unhappy +youth under circumstances of exceptional baseness and infamy, to secure +his own ends. His next supposed danger was caused by the Earl of +Suffolk, another nephew of King Richard. The ill-fated prince was +delivered into Henry's hands under a promise that his life should be +spared. He evaded the promise by enjoining his son to kill the victim. +That son promptly complied, and followed up the death of Suffolk by +putting five other descendants of the Plantagenet royal family to +death. These Tudor kings cannot stand the tests we applied to Richard +III., which he passed unscathed. The conduct of Richard to the +relations who were under his protection was that of a Christian king. +The executions of which Henry VII. and his son were guilty were an +imitation of the policy of Turkish sultans. + +If the young princes were in the Tower when Henry succeeded, his +conduct in analogous cases leaves no doubt of their fate. It was the +fate of John of Gloucester, Warwick, Suffolk, Exeter, {256} Montagu, +Surrey, Buckingham, and the Countess of Salisbury.[13] They may not +have been made away with before Henry's marriage, nor for some months +afterwards. The tyrant had the will but not the courage. He hesitated +long, as in the case of young Warwick. For reasons which will appear +presently it is likely that the boys were murdered, by order of Henry +VII., between June 16 and July 16, 1486, three years after the time +alleged by the official Tudor historians. + +[Sidenote: Imprisonment of the Queen Dowager] + +Then, for the first time, the 'common fame' was ordered to spread the +report that King Richard 'had put them under suer kepynge within the +tower, in such wise that they never came abrode after,' and that 'King +Richard put them unto secrete death.'[14] But Henry feared detection. +The mother knew that this was false. If the boys were murdered in July +1486, that mother must soon have begun to feel uneasy. She was at +Winchester with her daughter when her grandchild Arthur was born on +September 20, 1486, and was present at the baptism. But she was in +London in the autumn, and before many months her suspicions must have +been aroused. She must be silenced. Consequently, in February 1487 +'it was resolved that the Lady Elizabeth, wife of King Edward IV., +should lose and forfeit all her lands and possessions because she had +voluntarily submitted herself and her daughters {257} to the hands of +King Richard. Whereat there was much wondering.'[15] She was ordered +to reside in the nunnery of Bermondsey.[16] Once she was allowed to +appear at Court on a State occasion.[17] The pretext for her detention +was not the real motive, for Henry had made grants of manors and other +property to his mother-in-law soon after his accession,[18] when her +conduct with regard to King Richard was equally well known to him. The +real reason was kept secret, as well it might be. Mr. Gairdner calls +this proceeding 'a very mysterious decision taken about the Queen {258} +Dowager.'[19] Very mysterious, indeed, on the assumption of Henry's +innocence. But not so if the mother knew that her sons were alive when +Richard fell, and could now obtain no tidings of them. If the boys +ceased to live in July 1486, it was high time for Henry to silence the +awkward questions of their mother in the following February. He did so +by condemning her to life-long seclusion in a nunnery. Henry was +terrified that a lady who knew some of his secrets, and probably +suspected more, should be at large. In the end of the following year, +and not till then, Henry's wife Elizabeth was at length crowned on +November 25, 1487. The King and his mother beheld the ceremony from a +stage, but there is no mention of the poor Queen's mother. + +[Sidenote: Polydore Virgil's story] + +Years passed on. Perkin Warbeck personated young Richard, and no one +had such good reason as Henry for knowing that he was an impostor. But +the tyrant dared not tell how he knew that Perkin was a 'feigned boy,' +as he called him. At length, in 1502 or thereabouts, the first +detailed story of the murder of the two princes was put forward, after +the execution of Sir James Tyrrel. It may be considered as Henry's +official statement, and was evidently communicated to his paid +historian Polydore Virgil, in whose hands it took the following form: + +'Richard lived in continual fear, for the expelling thereof by any kind +of means, he determined by death to despatch his nephews, because so +long as they lived he could never be out of hazard. Wherefore he sent +warrant to Robert Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, to procure their +death with all diligence by some means convenient. Then he departed to +York. {259} But the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, after he had +received the King's horrible commission, was astonished with the +cruelty of the fact, and fearing lest, if he should obey, the same +might one time or other turn to his own harm, did therefore defer the +doing thereof in hope that the King would spare his own blood, or their +tender age, or alter that heavy determination. But any one of these +points were so far from taking place, seeing that the mind therein +remained immovable, as that when King Richard understood the Lieutenant +to make delay of that which he had commanded, he anon committed the +charge of hastening that slaughter unto another, that is to say James +Tyrrel, who, being forced to do the King's commandment, rode +sorrowfully to London, and to the worst example that hath been almost +ever heard of, murdered those babes of the issue royal. This end had +Prince Edward and Richard his brother, but with what kind of death +these silly children were executed is not certainly known.' + +This was the story put forward by Henry after Tyrrel's death. He may +have added some other particulars afterwards.[20] It is indeed +probable that he did. A much more detailed fable appeared in the +history attributed to More, and in Grafton, both by the same hand. It +has been seen already that the statements of this writer are unworthy +of credit, and it is very difficult to distinguish what parts were +authorised by Henry,[20] and what parts were fabricated by the writer +himself. His story is as follows: + +'At the time when Sir James Tyrrel and John {260} Dighton were in +prison for treason in 1502, they made the following confession. Taking +his way to Gloucester in August 1483, King Richard sent one John Green +with a letter to Sir Robert Brakenbury, Constable of the Tower, +ordering him to put the children to death. Sir Robert plainly answered +that he would not put them to death; with which answer John Green +returning, recounted the same to King Richard at Warwick. + +'The same night the King said to a secret page of his, "Who shall I +trust to do my bidding?" "Sir," quoth the page, "there lieth one on +your pallet without who I dare well say will do your Grace's pleasure, +the things were right hard that he would refuse." This was Sir James +Tyrrel, who saw with envy that Ratcliffe and Catesby were rising above +him in his master's favour. Going out to Sir James, who was reposing +with his brother Thomas, the King said "what Sirs are you abed so +soon?" then, calling Sir James into his chamber, he brake to him +secretly his mind in this mischievous matter. Tyrrel assented, and was +despatched on the morrow with a letter to Brakenbury, to deliver to Sir +James all the keys of the Tower for one night. After which letter +delivered and the keys received, Sir James appointed the night next +ensuing to destroy them, devising before and preparing the means. The +princes were in charge of Will Slaughter (or Slater) called "Black +Will," who was set to serve them and see them sure. Sir James Tyrrel +devised that they should be murdered in their beds; to the execution +whereof he appointed Miles Forest, one of the four who kept them, a +fellow flesh-bred in murder before time. To him he joined his +horse-keeper, John Dighton, a big, broad, square, strong {261} knave. +They smothered the children, and Tyrrel ordered the murderers to bury +them at the stair foot, metely deep in the ground, under a great heap +of stones. Then rode Sir James in great haste to King Richard, and +shewed him all the manner of the murder, who gave him great thanks, and +as some say, then made him knight. But the King allowed not their +burial in so vile a corner, because they were King's sons. Whereupon a +priest of Sir Robert Brakenbury took them and secretly interred them in +such a place as, by the occasion of his death which only knew it the +very truth could never yet be very well known. Very truth is it and +well known that at such time as Sir James Tyrrel was in the Tower for +treason, committed against King Henry VII., both he and Dighton were +examined together of this point, and both they confessed the murder to +be done in the same manner as you have heard. God never gave a more +notable example of what wretched end ensueth such despiteous cruelty. +Miles Forest at St. Martin-le-Grand piecemeal miserably rotted away. +Sir James Tyrrel died on Tower Hill. Dighton, indeed, yet walketh +alive, in good possibility to be hanged ere he die.' Grafton says: +'John Dighton lived at Calais long after, no less disdained and hated +than pointed at, and there died in great misery.' The version in +Kennet[21] makes both 'Dighton and Forest die in a most horrible +manner, rotting away by degrees.' 'Thus, as I have learned of them +that much knewe and little cause had to lye were these two princes +murdered.' This last sentence is audacious. These informers, if they +ever existed outside the writer's imagination, had very strong cause to +lie. They thus complied with the wishes of {262} the reigning powers, +and furthered their own interests. The truth, if they knew it, would +have been their ruin. + +[Sidenote: The story published by Rastell] + +Such is the detailed accusation which was finally put forward. It +contradicts the story of Morton, in his alleged conversation with +Buckingham, who says that the princes were murdered long before the +King reached Warwick, and while Buckingham was still at Court. On the +face of it there is no confession in this long story. It is a +concocted tale, and, indeed, this is fully admitted. It is merely +represented to be the most probable among several others which were +based on various accounts of the alleged confession. If there ever was +a confession why should there be various accounts of it? The silence +of Fabyan, and of Polydore Virgil, who must have heard of the +confession if it had been made, seems conclusive against the truth of +the story of a confession. + +Even this selected tale, as we have received it, is full of gross +improbabilities and inaccuracies. For instance, Tyrrel, who is said to +have been knighted for the murder, had been a knight for twelve years, +and was also a Knight Banneret of some standing.[22] The first thing +that strikes one is that, if the story had been true, Henry must have +heard the main facts when he came to London, after the battle of +Bosworth. For Sir Robert Brackenbury's supersession during one day, +with the delivery of all the keys to Sir James Tyrrel, must inevitably +have been known to his subordinates. All the officials of the Tower +must have known it, and must also have known that the boys disappeared +at the same time. Many persons must have been acquainted with what +happened. Some of them would certainly have been eager to gain favour +with {263} Henry by telling him, when he enquired about the missing +princes. Yet there is no accusation in the Act of Attainder against +Richard or Tyrrel, and it is pretended that nothing was known until +1502. This proves that the story was a subsequent fabrication. + +There is another proof that the tale was false. It is alleged that +Tyrrel and Dighton both confessed. Yet Tyrrel was beheaded for another +offence in defiance of Henry's plighted word, and Dighton was rewarded +with a residence at Calais and, as will be seen presently, a sinecure +in Lincolnshire. These are proofs that there was no such confession as +was alleged and was embodied in the story which, as it now stands, must +be a fabrication. For if the confessions were ever made, Tyrrel and +Dighton must have been tried and convicted for these atrocious murders, +and duly punished. It has been suggested that Tyrrel could not be +proceeded against because his statement was under the seal of +confession. It is clear from the story that this was not so. The +story tells us that Tyrrel and Dighton were subjected to examination, +and that it was in that way that their confessions were obtained. In +point of fact Dighton does not appear to have been arrested at all. +The names of those who were concerned in Tyrrel's business are given by +the chroniclers, and Dighton is not one of them.[23] + +It seems unnecessary to dwell on the absurdities and contradictions in +the story itself. They have often been exposed, and indeed they are +admitted by Mr. Gairdner, who merely contends that the story may be +{264} true in the main, although the details may not be correct. But +it is worth while to refer to the contention of Sharon Turner, Lingard +and others, that the story must be true, on the ground that the persons +mentioned in it were rewarded by King Richard. + +[Sidenote: Alleged rewards to murderers] + +They maintain that 'Brakenbury and Tyrrel received several grants, +Green was made receiver of the Isle of Wight and of the castle and +lordship of Porchester, Dighton was appointed Bailiff of the manor of +Ayton, Forest was keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard Castle.' But it is +not pretended that 'Black Will' was rewarded by Richard. We shall +presently see that he was by Henry. All this can easily be answered. +Brackenbury and Tyrrel were Yorkist officers of rank, and such grants +would have been made to them in any circumstances for their +distinguished services. As regards the others, either the grants were +made previous to the alleged date of the murders, or there is no +evidence to show whether they were made before or after, or in any way +to connect them with the crime. The statement that Green held the +receiverships of the Isle of Wight and Porchester is derived from an +entirely unsupported note by Strype.[24] There was a man named Green +who was Comptroller of Customs at Boston, and another who was appointed +to provide horse meat and litter for the King's stables. But the dates +of these appointments were July 24 and 30, 1483, before the alleged +date of the murders. + +A man named Dighton was made Bailiff of the manor of Ayton[25]; but +there is nothing to show that {265} this appointment was after the +murder, or that he was Tyrrel's horse keeper, or that Tyrrel ever had a +groom of that name. It will presently be seen that the John Dighton of +the murder was probably a clergyman and not a groom. + +It is alleged of Miles Forest that he was one of four jailers in the +Tower who had charge of the princes, that he was a professional +murderer, and that he rotted away miserably, in sanctuary at St. +Martin's-le-Grand. These assertions are certainly false. Miles Forest +was keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard Castle[26] in the valley of the +Tees in Durham, 244 miles from the Tower of London. There he lived +with his wife Joan and his son Edward. A footman serving at Middleham +Castle, named Henry Forest, was perhaps another son.[27] There is not +the slightest reason for believing that Forest entered upon his +appointment after the date of the alleged murders; but much to disprove +this assumption. He died in September 1484, and, as his wife and son +received a pension for their lives, he must have been an old and +faithful servant who had held the office for many years. + +Dr. Lingard suggests that the pension was granted because Forest held +the post for such a _short_ time, assuming that he was one of the +murderers in the story. This is certainly a very odd reason for +granting a pension![28] Some authors have thought that it was +Baynard's Castle, the residence of the Duchess of York in London, where +Forest was keeper of the wardrobe. But the names in the manuscript are +quite clear. + +Miles Forest was a responsible old official in a royal castle, living +with his wife and grown-up sons in the {266} far north of England; +where he died and his family received a pension for his long service. +We are asked to believe that he was, at the same time, a notorious +murderer who was also a jailer in the Tower of London, and that he died +in sanctuary at St. Martin's-le-Grand. + +[Sidenote: Genesis of the story] + +How Forest's name got into the story concocted from the pretended +confession it is not possible, at this distance of time, to surmise. +But the author of it was quite unscrupulous, and the above +considerations justify the conclusion that Forest's name was used +without any regard for truth. There was a desire to give names and +other details in order to throw an air of verisimilitude over the +fable. We see the same attempt in the use of the name of Dighton. He +was not Tyrrel's horse-keeper, nor probably the actual murderer, but a +different person, as will be seen presently. But there was a John +Dighton living at Calais when the story was made up, who was known to +be connected, in some mysterious way, with the disappearance of the +princes. So the author of the story hit upon his name to do duty as a +strong square knave who did the deed. The name of Forest was doubtless +adopted owing to some similar chance. The name of neither Deighton nor +Forest occurs in the authorised version as given by Polydore Virgil. + +Henry at first only accused Tyrrel of the murders; but it seems likely +that he subsequently put forward some further details. There is an +indication of the Green episode in Polydore Virgil. It is therefore +probable that it was sanctioned by Henry's authority, as well as the +details respecting the interment of the bodies. All the rest about +Dighton and Forest, and the mode in which their crime was committed, is +an impudent fabrication, as regards Richard, based upon {267} the +authorised story which is given by Polydore Virgil. The Italian was +supplied with the statement sanctioned by Henry, and he distinctly +tells us that the mode of death was not divulged. + +If the mode of death was not divulged, the alleged confession of Tyrrel +and Dighton cannot have taken place. For this is the very thing they +would have confessed. + +There remains a circumstantial story which may really have been +connected with a secret tragedy. It has a very suspicious look of +having been parodied out of something which actually happened. It is +unlikely to have been pure invention. The fear of detection must have +been always haunting Henry's mind. He would be tortured with the +apprehension that the vague rumours he had set afloat against Richard +were not believed; and this would be an inducement to promulgate a more +detailed and circumstantial story. He could not and dared not accuse +Tyrrel while he was alive, for a reason which will appear directly, but +as soon as he was dead it would be safe to do so. At the time when he +got rid of Tyrrel his son Arthur had just died. The man's mind would +be filled with fear of retributive justice. Then the terror of +detection would increase upon him. He would long to throw off +suspicion from himself, by something more decisive than vague rumour. +The notion of imputing his own crime, in its real details, to his +predecessor, is quite in keeping with the workings of a subtle and +ingenious mind such as we know Henry's to have been. Hence, Tyrrel, +Green, Dighton, Black Will, may have been the accomplices of Henry +VII., not of Richard III. As soon as Tyrrel was disposed of, the +circumstantial story might be divulged as his confession, merely {268} +substituting the name of Richard for that of Henry, and the name of +Brackenbury for that of Daubeney.[29] + +[Sidenote: Murder of the princes] + +With this clue to guide us, let us see what light can still be thrown +on the dark question of the murders. Sir James Tyrrel of Gipping had +been a knight of some distinction. He had been on a commission for +exercising the office of Lord High Constable under Edward IV. He had +been Master of the Horse and was created a Knight Banneret at Berwick +siege. King Richard made him Master of the Henchmen and conferred many +favours on him. But he was not one of the good men and true who stood +by their sovereign to the end. His name drops out of history during +those last anxious months before Bosworth. He was no doubt a trimmer. +But he could not escape the consequences of his long service under the +Yorkist kings. Henry Tudor deprived him of his Chamberlainship of the +Exchequer, and of his Constableship of Newport, in order to bestow +those appointments on his own friends.[30] Tyrrel had to wait +patiently in the cold shade. But he was ambitious, unscrupulous, and +ready to do a great deal for the sake of the new King's favour. Here +was a ready instrument for such a man as Henry Tudor. + +The die had been cast. The usurper had married Elizabeth of York and +entered upon the year 1486. There was a dark deed which must be done. +Henry set out on a progress to York, leaving London in the middle of +March. On the 11th of the same month, John Green received from the new +King a grant of {269} a third of the manor of Benyngton in +Hertfordshire.[31] For this favour Green had, no doubt, to perform +some secret service which, if satisfactorily executed, would be more +fully rewarded. This grant was a small retaining fee. We know from +the story what that service was. We also know from the story that +Green did not succeed. Henry VII. returned from his progress in June, +only to find that Green had failed him in his need. Then Henry (not +Richard) may well have exclaimed 'Who shall I trust to do my bidding?' +'"Sir," quoth a secret councillor'[32] (called a page in the story), +'"there waiteth without one who I dare well say will do your Grace's +pleasure." So Tyrrel was taken into favour, and undertook to perform +Henry's work with the understanding that he was to receive a sufficient +reward. He became a knight of the King's body.[33] On June 16, 1486, +Sir James Tyrrel late of Gipping received a general pardon.[34] There +is nothing extraordinary in this. It was an ordinary practice, in +those days, to grant general pardons on various occasions. But it +marks the date when Henry found 'one without' who was ready to do his +pleasure. Tyrrel, as the story tells us, was given a warrant to the +Lieutenant of the Tower, conferring on him the needful powers. The +murders were then committed, as the story informs us, by William +Slaughter or Slater, called 'Black Will,' with the aid of John Dighton. +Slater was, no doubt, the jailer. Master Dighton, however, was not +Tyrrel's groom. A John Dighton was a priest, and possibly a chaplain +in the Tower. He may have {270} been only an accessory after the fact, +in connexion with the interments. The bodies, as we are told in the +story, were buried at the stair foot, 'metely deep in the ground'; +where they were discovered in July 1674,[35] 188 years afterwards. The +tale about their removal,[36] and the death of the priest, was no doubt +inserted by Henry, to prevent that discovery. On July 16, 1486, Sir +James Tyrrel received a second general pardon.[37] This would be very +singular under ordinary circumstances, the second pardon having been +granted within a month of the first. But it is not so singular when we +reflect on what probably took place in the interval. There was an +offence to be condoned which must be kept a profound secret. Thus we +are able to fix the time of the murder of the two young princes between +June 16 and July 16, 1486. One was fifteen and a half, the other +twelve years of age. + +[Sidenote: Relations silenced] + +Henry had at length found courage to commit the crime. He may have +excused it to himself from the absolute necessity of his position. It +had been perpetrated in profound secrecy. If the mother, brother, or +sisters suspected anything, they could be silenced. They were +absolutely at his mercy. Henry caused the mother to be stripped of her +property, immured in Bermondsey nunnery, and left dependent on him for +subsistence. She was thus effectually silenced. The Marquis of +Dorset, half brother of the murdered boys, was committed to the Tower +during 1487; but he succeeded in convincing the tyrant that there was +{271} nothing to fear from him, and was eventually released. The +eldest sister was Henry's wife and at his mercy--the wife of a man who, +as his admirers mildly put it, 'was not uxorious.' She was within two +months of her confinement. Doubtless for that reason her mother kept +all misgivings to herself. Henry married the next sister, Cicely, to +his old uncle Lord Welles,[38] who would ensure her silence. She was +married in that very year, and sent off to Lincolnshire. The three +youngest were children, and in due time could be married to his +adherents, or shut up in a nunnery.[39] Others who knew much, and must +have suspected more, were silent in public, for their fortunes, perhaps +their lives, depended on their silence. + +Yet the guilty tyrant could have known no peace. He must have been +haunted by the fear of detection, however industriously he might cause +reports to be spread and histories to be written, in which his +predecessor was charged with his crimes. Then there was the horror of +having to deal with his accomplices. Here fortune favoured him. Green +died in the end of 1486[40]; though hush money seems to have been paid +to 'Black Will' for some time longer.[41] John Dighton {272} was +presented by Henry VII. with the living of Fulbeck near Grantham, in +Lincolnshire, on May 2, 1487.[42] But he was expected to live on the +other side of the Channel. Sir James Tyrrel received ample recompense. +He seems to have been appointed to the office of Constable of Guisnes +immediately after the date of his second general pardon.[43] He was +next sent as ambassador to Maximilian, King of the Romans, to conclude +a perpetual league and treaty. In 1493 Tyrrel was one of the +Commissioners for negotiating the Treaty of Etaples with France. In +August 1487 he received a grant for life of the Stewardship of the +King's Lordship of Ogmore in Wales. But Henry, although he was obliged +to reward his accomplices, was anxious to keep them on the other side +of the Channel as much as possible. Dighton had to reside at Calais. +Tyrrel was required to make an exchange, giving up his estates in Wales +to the King, and receiving revenues from the county of Guisnes of equal +value.[44] In 1498 Henry still addressed him as his well-beloved and +faithful councillor. + +[Sidenote: Arrest of Tyrrel] + +The long-sought pretext for getting rid of Tyrrel was found in 1502. +The usurper dreaded the Earl of Suffolk, King Richard's nephew, as a +claimant to the throne. He heard that Tyrrel had favoured the escape +of the ill-fated young prince to Germany. Henry would be terrified at +the idea of Tyrrel taking the side of another claimant, and publicly +denouncing his misdeeds. {273} He ordered the arrest of his +accomplice, but Tyrrel refused to surrender the castle of Guisnes. He +was besieged by the whole garrison of Calais. Henry then ordered Dr. +Fox, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, one of his most +intimate associates, to send a promise under the privy seal, to the +effect that Tyrrel should come and go in security if he would confer +with Sir Thomas Lovell, Henry's Chancellor of the Exchequer, on board a +ship at Calais. Tyrrel should have known his master by this time. But +even he had not gauged the full depth of Tudor perfidy. He was +deceived by the 'pulchris verbis' of Bishop Fox.[45] When he came on +board he was told that he would be pitched overboard unless he sent a +token to his son to deliver up the castle. The token was sent, and the +King's promise under his privy seal was broken. Tyrrel was safely +locked up in a dungeon of the Tower and beheaded without trial and in +great haste on May 6, 1502. + +At length Henry could breathe freely. Green and Tyrrel were dead. +Slater does not appear again, so it {274} may be assumed that he also +had been got rid of. Only Dighton remained. He had to reside at +Calais on the proceeds of his sinecure in Lincolnshire, and to be +useful as a false witness. We know from Rastell and Grafton that he +did live and die at Calais. The identity of names suggests the +probability that he was a brother or son of the John Dighton who was +Bailiff of Ayton Manor. + +The story told in the publications of Grafton and Rastell was generally +accepted as true; although, even after the lapse of so many years, +there must have been many old people who knew it to be false. These +people had the choice between silence and ruin. As they died off, the +belief in the story became more and more universal. This fable, +appearing first in Grafton, was the final touch to the hideous and +grotesque caricature which was portrayed by the Tudor historians and +dramatised by Shakespeare. The history of its reception in all its +absurd and improbable details, of the ineradicable prejudice which +could keep it alive for four centuries, and long after sound methods of +criticism had begun to be applied to other historical questions, forms +a curious chapter in the record of human credulity. + +[Sidenote: Death of the Earl of Warwick] + +Henry Tudor suffered for his crimes. The secret removal of his wife's +brothers and of her uncle's illegitimate son failed to complete the +catalogue of them. Young Edward Earl of Warwick was another stumbling +block in his way. But again his superstitious mind recoiled from guilt +which his judgment recommended. If his wife had been legitimate, there +would have been no danger to Henry from the Earl of Warwick; that young +prince would have been far removed from the succession. His wife's +illegitimacy {275} made her cousin the rightful heir, and hence another +crime seemed necessary. Henry put off the perpetration of this crime +for years. Ferdinand of Spain refused to allow a marriage between his +daughter and Henry's son Arthur, until the rightful heir to the crown +of England had been put out of the way. This refusal at length gave +Henry a motive for the crime which outweighed his superstitious fears. +He committed it in a way which was thoroughly characteristic. He +caused Perkin Warbeck to be given access to the Earl of Warwick in the +Tower, and some of the jailers were told to suggest an attempt at +escape. An informer, named Robert Cleymound, was employed to listen to +the conversations of the two lads, and to report that an escape was +meditated by them. This was made a capital charge against the young +prince. He was subjected to a mock trial, so that Henry might indulge +in his hope of limited liability for murder, and was then slaughtered +on November 28, 1499. A man who was capable of committing such a +cowardly murder in such a way was certainly as capable of the crime of +which he falsely accused King Richard. + +As soon as Richard III. was dead, Edward Earl of Warwick became _de +jure_ King of England, not only as the acknowledged heir to the dead +King but also as the nearest in succession, and as the last male +Plantagenet. His existence was, at that time, a serious danger to the +usurper, who did not lose a day in securing the poor lad's person. If, +as Henry afterwards caused it to be proclaimed, the declaration of the +illegitimacy of the children of Edward IV. was false, then the Earl of +Warwick ceased to be dangerous; and there was no object in condemning +him to perpetual imprisonment. It was a useless act of injustice {276} +and cruelty. But if Henry knew that, in spite of his attempts to +destroy all evidence of the illegitimacy, the awkward fact remained, +his injustice and cruelty are explained. They afford one more proof of +the truth of Dr. Stillington's evidence, which led to the accession of +King Richard. + +Warwick was now put out of the way, in obedience to the King of Spain. +But remorse gnawed the tyrant's heart. His father confessor, though +doubtless an astute courtier, failed to soothe his conscience. He +sought the help of wizards and quacks. But his superstitions gave him +little consolation. The Spanish Ambassador noticed the change that had +taken place in Henry's appearance since the murder of young Warwick. +Don Pedro de Ayala had been in Scotland during the interval. The King +had come to look many years older in a single month. Dark thoughts +were haunting his mind. His eldest son died, and an anonymous writer +has recorded that he showed some feeling, and exchanged words of +consolation with his wife.[46] This is quite in keeping with one side +of his character. The other side is shown in his harsh treatment of +Catharine of Aragon, in his monstrous proposal to marry her when his +wife died, in his disgusting inquiries respecting the young Queen of +Naples, and in his revolting offer for the hand of Juana (_la loca_). +But the necessities of his position gave him little time for the +indulgence either of such grief as he was capable of feeling or of the +other less creditable sentiments that are revealed in his +correspondence. His son's death must have seemed to him the Nemesis of +his crimes. Yet within a month he was beheading {277} Tyrrel, and +fabricating a story to account for the disappearance of his wife's +brothers. + +We can never know how much that wife suffered. No doubt she was kept +in ignorance of the fate of her brothers. But she knew they were not +killed by her uncle. She saw her mother immured in a nunnery for life. +She saw her brother, the Marquis of Dorset, committed to the Tower. +She saw the sister, nearest to her in age, hurriedly married to old +Lord Welles. She must have suspected much, even if she knew nothing. +She could not have been kept in ignorance of the cruel imprisonment of +her young cousin Warwick. She must have shuddered at his murder. She +would have been less than human if she did not loathe the perpetrator +of these deeds, even though he was the father of her children. The +unhappy wife was released from companionship with the murderer of her +relations on February 11, 1503. + +[Sidenote: Death of the Earl of Suffolk] + +Another crime was contemplated by the miserable usurper, to make his +position safe. But he could not get the Earl of Suffolk into his +clutches without giving a solemn promise to spare his life. He evaded +the promise by advising his son to commit the crime after his +death.[47] Murderous designs thus occupied his mind, even on his +death-bed. + +Yet one of Henry's last acts was an act of restitution. He restored in +blood, and to all his estates, the son of his accomplice, Sir James +Tyrrel, on April 6, 1507, feeling no doubt that the greater criminal of +the two remained unpunished, except by his own remorseful conscience. + +{278} + +Henry became haggard and restless. Prosperous and successful as the +world deemed him, we may rely upon it that his crimes were not +unpunished. His cowardly nature was peculiarly susceptible to the +torturing pangs of remorse. He died, full of terrors, prematurely old +and worn out, at the early age of fifty-two, on April 21, 1509. He was +successful as the world counts success. He accumulated riches by +plunder and extortion. He established a despotic government. He +cleared his path of rivals. We are told that he inaugurated a new +era--era of 'benevolences' and Star Chamber prosecutions. In all these +things he succeeded. He, and the writers he employed, were +pre-eminently successful as slanderers. They succeeded in blackening +for all time the fame of a far better man than Henry Tudor. + +[Sidenote: Things unexplained] + +Hitherto we have been engaged in the investigation of positive +evidence. There is, however, another side to the question--a negative +side. We must now examine Henry's omissions. According to his story +he found the two boys missing when he arrived in London after the +battle of Bosworth. If Henry's story was true, it must have been well +known to every official in the Tower that Sir Robert Brackenbury gave +up charge to Sir James Tyrrel and that the boys had never been seen +since. If Henry made any enquiries he must have heard this, and the +whole story would have come out. Why were not Tyrrel, Dighton, Green, +and Black Will arrested, tried, and hanged? Why was not King Richard +accused of murdering his nephews in the Act of Attainder? It is very +improbable, though just possible, that Henry might have failed to +ascertain the details of the story, assuming it to have been true, when +he first arrived. Still, if the boys were missing, {279} it is certain +that he would have accused Richard of their murder in the Act of +Attainder. His omission to do so amounts to a strong presumption that +they were not missing. According to the story, Tyrrel and Dighton +confessed the murder in 1502. Why were they not tried and executed for +it? This must have been done if there ever was a confession. It was +clearly not made under the seal of confession, according to the story, +but under the pressure of official examination. Tyrrel was actually +beheaded, in great haste, on a frivolous charge, and his capture was a +breach of a royal promise given under the privy seal. Surely this +would have been avoided if there had been any other way, and there was +another way. There was every possible reason for trying him for these +horrible murders and executing him for them. Why was not this done? +There can be only one answer. There was no confession. Henry's +treatment of Dighton is still more extraordinary. It is alleged that +he also confessed the murder. Yet he was not only unpunished, but +allowed to live at large in Calais. When we find that Henry gave +rewards to Tyrrel, Dighton, Green, and Black Will, the conclusion is +inevitable that there was no confession to the King in 1502, because it +was quite unnecessary. The confession was due from Henry himself. + +Another omission in Henry's conduct is equally incriminating. If the +children of Edward IV. were legitimate, why was not the Act of Richard +III. published, which alleged their illegitimacy, and its falsehood +fully exposed by evidence? Why was such extraordinary anxiety shown to +conceal its contents, and violence threatened against anyone who +preserved a record of them? Why were absurd, improbable, {280} and +contradictory tales invented, in substitution of the statements made in +Richard's Act? There can be only one answer. The statements in the +Act were true. + +In no other way can Henry's cruel treatment of the young Earl of +Warwick be accounted for. If Elizabeth was the legitimate heiress of +York, then there could be no danger from Warwick, and no reason for +molesting him. He was simply a harmless young prince, far removed from +the succession. But if Elizabeth and her sisters were not legitimate, +the case was very different. Warwick was then _de jure_ Edward V. +There was every reason for a usurper to imprison and kill him. The +Lambert Simnel insurrection is explained in that case. It would have +been without motive if Warwick came after five others in the succession +to the crown. Here again Henry's conduct can only be explained in one +way. Warwick was imprisoned and killed for the same reason that +Richard's Act of Parliament, declaring his title, was destroyed. + +The conduct of Henry adds weight to all the other evidence. It cannot +be reconciled with his innocence. It can only be explained by his +guilt. + + + +[1] William Catesby was the son of Sir William Catesby of Ashby St. +Leger in Northamptonshire, by Philippa, heiress of Sir William +Bishopston. He was a learned man, well versed in the laws of his +country. On June 30, 1483, he become Chancellor of the Exchequer, and +was chosen Speaker of King Richard's Parliament. Lord Rivers had such +confidence in his integrity that he nominated him executor of his will. +His wife was Margaret, daughter of William Lord Zouch. He made his own +will on August 25, 1485, leaving his wife sole executrix and dividing +his property among his children. His unjust attainder was afterwards +reversed in favour of his son George. + +[2] Yet Dr. Lingard tells us that 'Henry was careful not to stain his +triumph with blood.' This is a strange assertion, when it is directly +followed by the admission that he did stain his triumph with blood. Of +all his prisoners,' he continues, 'three only suffered death, the +notorious [why notorious?] Catesby and two persons of the name of +Brecher, who _probably_ had merited that distinction by their crimes' +(iv. p. 260). This is a pure assumption, unwarranted by any evidence +whatever. If the word 'loyalty' had been substituted for 'crimes,' Dr. +Lingard would have been nearer the truth. All that this historian's +praise amounts to is that Henry refrained from committing a massacre, +such as he caused to be perpetrated on a subsequent occasion, when +Warbeck's followers landed in Kent. + +Mr. Gairdner says: 'Whether these executions were just is another +question, save that the ministers of a bad king must take the +responsibility even of his worst deeds' (p. 311). He evidently sees +that Henry's conduct is indefensible; and he has elsewhere admitted +that Richard was not a bad King. + +The more impartial Hutton says: 'Thus the first regal act performed by +Henry was an act of tyranny' (_Bosworth_, p. 148). + +[3] 'For men remember not any King of England before that tyme which +used such a furniture of daily soldiers.'--Hall, p. 425. + +[4] Gairdner. + +[5] 'De jure belli et de jure Lancastriæ.' + +[6] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 289_a_. The monk of Croyland had a copy, but +luckily for him, he was not found out. + +[7] _Plumpton Correspondence_. Letter dated December 13, 1485 (p. 49). + +[8] Translation by Mr. Gairdner in his _Henry VII._ (p. 38). + +[9] 11 Henry VII. cap. 1 (1496). It was enacted that no person serving +the King and Sovereign Lord of the land for the time being shall be +convicted of high treason, nor suffer any forfeiture or imprisonment. +In the previous year the usurper, also no doubt from fear of public +opinion, had paid 10_l._ 1_s._ to James Keyley for King Richard's tomb +(_Excerp. Hist._ p. 105). + +[10] Grant to John of Gloucester of an annual rent of 20_l._ during the +King's pleasure, from the revenues of the manor of Kingston Lacey, +parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster in the county of Dorset. March 1 +1486.--_Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII._ i. + +[11] 'About the same time there was a base-born son of King Richard +III. made away, having been kept long in prison.'--Buck, p. 105, from +_Chron. MS._ in 4to. apud _Dr. Rob. Cotton_. + +[12] Rymer, xii. p. 265. + +[13] A critic, after reading this work, objected that partiality was +shown by the fact that while the older writers are blamed for +blackening Richard's character in other ways, in order to make the +charge of murdering the princes more plausible, precisely the same +thing is done with Henry VII. But the other charges against Henry are +proved and acknowledged facts. Those against Richard have been +disproved. The older writers are justly blamed for inventing calumnies. + +[14] Fabyan. + +[15] Polydore Virgil. Lord Bacon observes, in his _Life of Henry +VII._, 'which proceeding, being even at that time taxed for rigorous +and undue makes it probable there was some greater matter against her, +which the King, upon reason of policy, would not publish.' +Undoubtedly, there was; she knew too much. + +[16] Dr. Lingard (iv. 279 and 286_n_) and Nicolas (p. lxxviii) bring +forward a negotiation with the King of Scots, in November 1487, in +which Henry proposed that James III. should marry the Queen Dowager, as +a proof that he never deprived her of liberty. If he suspected her, +they argue, he would not have given her the opportunity of plotting +against him, which her situation as Queen of Scotland would have +afforded her. Although Henry may have momentarily entertained the idea +of getting rid of a woman who knew too much by this expatriation, he +soon changed his mind. She was safer in his power. The negotiations +were broken off, and James was killed in the following year. + +[17] She was present when her daughter gave audience to the French +Ambassador in November 1489 (_Leland Coll._ iv. 249). Henry allowed +her a pension of 400_l._ a year from February 19, 1490. Her will, +dated April 10, 1492, is witnessed by the Abbot of Bermondsey. She +here confirms the fact of the seizure of her property by her +son-in-law. Her words are decisive on that point. 'Whereas I have no +worldly goods.' Sir H. Nicolas tried to account for this by suggesting +that she only had a life interest in her income. But this will not +explain so sweeping a statement as that she had no worldly goods at all +(p. lxxx). + +Mr. Gairdner says: 'Henry VII. found it advisable to shut up his +mother-in-law in a monastery, and had not the slightest scruple in +taking her property away from her' (_Richard III._ p. 88). + +[18] _Letters Patent_, March 4, 1486. + +[19] Gairdner's _Henry VII._ + +[20] 'The King's manner of showing things by pieces and side lights +hath so muffled it that it hath left it almost a mystery to this +day.'--Lord Bacon. + +[21] i. 501. + +[22] He was made a Knight Banneret at the taking of Berwick, in 1482. + +[23] They were Sir William Courtenay, one Welborne, and Tyrrel's son, +who were pardoned; Sir Walter Tyrrel and Sir John Wyndham beheaded; a +Ship-master hanged at Tyburn, a Poursuivant named Curson, and a Yeoman +named Matthew Jones executed at Guisnes; all on suspicion of having +aided the Earl of Suffolk to escape. + +[24] In Rennet's _England_, i. p. 552. Mr. Gairdner, referring to this +note by Strype, says: 'I own I cannot find his authority.'--_Richard +III._ p. 164. + +[25] _Harl. MS._ 433, fol. 55. + +[26] _Harl. MS._ 433, fol. 78 and 187. + +[27] _Ibid._ 433, fol. 118. + +[28] v. 577. + +[29] The Earl of Oxford was appointed Constable of the Tower for life, +on September 22, 1485. We may hope that Oxford, who did not reside, +had no guilty knowledge. + +[30] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. pp. 41, 95. + +[31] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. p. 384. + +[32] Was this Morton? Buck had heard so. + +[33] _Memorials of Henry VII._ ii. p. 251. + +[34] _Ibid._ i. p. 460. + +[35] Sandford, v. p. 404. + +[36] 'The latter part of the tale, which declares their interment by +the priest and their removal by Richard's order, was evidently +fabricated by Henry, to prevent the hazard of a search.'--Hutton's +_Bosworth_, p. 169. + +[37] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. p. 486. + +[38] Lord Welles was a half brother, on the mother's side, of Henry's +mother. + +[39] Anne was eleven. In due time she was married to the son of the +Earl of Surrey. Katherine was only seven. When she was twenty she +became the wife of the Lancastrian Earl of Devonshire. Bridget, the +youngest, was five. She was immured in a nunnery at Dartford, as soon +as she was old enough. + +[40] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. p. 617. + +[41] As late as 1488 there is a grant of five marks, at Easter, 'by way +of reward,' to William Slater. If this was the jailer, he received +hush money for two years after the perpetration of the murders. He is +not heard of again. _Memorials of Henry VII._ ('Writs under the Privy +Seal. Easter Term 3 Hen. VII.'), ii. p. 298. + +[42] _Memorials of Henry VII._ ii. p. 148. + +[43] This appears from general pardons having been granted to the +former Constable, to the Chaplain, and to twenty-four soldiers of the +garrison of Guisnes on the same date, July 16. No doubt these pardons +were on the occasion of the appointment of a new Constable, and the +return of part of the garrison to England. + +[44] _Memorials of Henry VII._ ii. pp. 188, 251. + +[45] This is an ugly story. Dr. Richard Fox was originally an agent of +Morton and other conspirators abroad. This discreditable work brought +him to Paris early in 1485, where he became known to Henry Tudor. A +man so employed could not have been a good priest. He came with Henry +to England as his Secretary, and was of course well rewarded. He +became Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal; and appears to have +been munificent and diligent as a prelate. By his 'pulchris verbis' he +treacherously drew Tyrrel into the clutches of Sir Thomas Lovell. This +appears from a letter of the Earl of Suffolk to the Emperor Maximilian +dated at Aix-la-Chapelle on May 12, 1502. So hurried were the +proceedings against Tyrrel that he was actually beheaded six days +before the date of Suffolk's letter announcing his treacherous capture. +Bishop Fox has been much eulogised. But no one could be for years in +the inner counsels of such a man as Henry VII. without being in +sympathy with his ways, which certainly do not deserve eulogy. + +[46] _Leland's Coll._ v. p. 373. From an anonymous manuscript. +_Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, B. P. i. Pref. p. 29. + +[47] Lord Herbert of Cherbury, _Life of Henry VIII._ p. 36. 'Our King +executing what his father at his departure out of the world commanded, +as Bellay hath it.' + + + + +{281} + +CHAPTER VI + +MR. GAIRDNER'S RICHARD III + +It will be interesting, in conclusion, to examine the critical +treatment of these questions by the latest historian who has written on +the subject.[1] Mr. Gairdner argues in favour of the Tudor portrait of +the last Plantagenet King, but only to a limited extent. + +The thick and thin believers in the Tudor caricature, such as Hume and +Lingard, aroused doubts in many minds. Mr. Gairdner is the most +formidable enemy to the memory of the gallant young King that has yet +appeared, because he is, beyond comparison, the best informed author +that has ever treated of this part of history, has conscientiously +striven to be fair and impartial, and has stated both sides of the +question, while retaining a belief in Richard's worst crimes. His +predecessors, who have taken his view, simply adopted all the +statements of Tudor writers as facts, and have depicted a cool, +calculating, scheming, cruel, and most revolting villain without a +redeeming feature. They thus portrayed at least a possible monster. +But Mr. Gairdner, while striving to be fair and just, still clings to +what he calls 'tradition,' {282} that is to the Tudor stories of +crimes, told many years after the time. The two things are +incompatible, so that he produces a monster which would be impossible +anywhere. His Richard III. is a prince, headlong and reckless as to +consequences, but of rare gifts and with many redeeming qualities. He +was wise and able, brave, generous, religious, fascinating, and yet had +committed two very cowardly assassinations before he was nineteen, +murdered his defenceless nephews, and gratuitously slandered his +mother. Such a monster is an impossibility in real life. Even Dr. +Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are nothing to it. + +Let us see how Mr. Gairdner arrived at his two-sided monster. He +explains his method in his preface. He demurs to the view of the late +Mr. Buckle that commonly received opinions should be doubted until they +are found to stand the test of argument.[2] He lays it down that no +attempt to set aside traditional views can be successful until the +history of the particular epoch has been re-written, and the new +version exhibits a moral harmony with the facts of subsequent times and +of times preceding.[3] + +'Tradition,' Mr. Gairdner tells us, is an interpreter and nothing more, +and seldom supplies anything material in the way of facts.[4] Yet he +adds that the attempt to discard it is like an attempt to learn a +language without a master, and he thinks that a sceptical spirit is a +most fatal one in history. It is difficult to follow him when he +announces that, in spite of this view of tradition, his plan is to +place the chief reliance on contemporary information, and that this +treatment of history should be adhered to.[5] + +{283} + +'Tradition,' in Richard's case, means the embellishments of later +chroniclers writing long after the events, in the interests of another +dynasty. Unfortunately Mr. Gairdner does not always adhere to +contemporary evidence, but prefers 'tradition.' + +In the case of Richard III. Mr. Gairdner thinks that it is not clearly +shown that the story would be more intelligible without 'tradition,' +and that the said 'tradition' is not well accounted for. + +Let us endeavour to test these two propositions by the light of Mr. +Gairdner's own admissions. + +His Richard stood high in general estimation when Duke of +Gloucester.[6] As King the people showed him marks of loyalty.[7] In +the north undoubtedly, and perhaps with the common people generally, he +was highly popular, and there was every evidence of devoted loyalty and +personal popularity at the time of Buckingham's rising.[8] He was an +able ruler,[9] he had the confidence even of his enemies in his justice +and integrity,[10] he was generous not only to the widows and children +of fallen enemies, but even to the wives of rebels in open revolt,[11] +his generous acts were done graciously and in no grudging spirit,[12] +there was nothing mean or paltry in his character,[13] his manners were +ingratiating, and he had great influence over others. + +A person so described is very unintelligible if the assassinations and +infamies of 'tradition' have to be added. Richard's character is far +more intelligible without them; and 'tradition' is perfectly accounted +for by the necessities of the new dynasty, whose well-paid writers +created it. + +{284} + +Mr. Gairdner acknowledges that 'tradition' seldom supplies anything +material in the way of facts. Yet he maintains that traditional views +cannot be set aside unless the history of the particular epoch is +re-written, and the new version exhibits a moral harmony with the facts +of subsequent times and times preceding. + +Of course certain passages in history would have to be re-written when +they were found to be erroneous. But the truth or falsehood of a +particular accusation cannot be affected by facts of subsequent times +or times preceding. Its truth or falsehood is not established by moral +harmony with something else, but by contemporary evidence. + +My detailed remarks on Mr. Gairdner's views respecting Richard's +alleged crimes are intended to show that his conclusions are mistaken +when they deviate from his own plan of placing the chief reliance on +contemporary evidence; and that a sceptical spirit, in the special case +of Richard, is absolutely necessary if the truth is to be reached. + +Mr. Gairdner assumes that Richard murdered his nephews, and, on the +strength of his guilt in committing that crime, he argues that the +criminal was capable of anything during his former life, and on this +ground believes in some of the other alleged crimes. The earlier +accusers appear to argue in the reverse way. They accumulated every +accusation they could think of, with reference to Richard's former +life, in order to make the main crime more probable. + +Though Mr. Gairdner's sense of justice obliges him to make so many +admissions that the revolting monster of earlier histories almost +disappears in his hands, yet in some respects he goes backwards. For +he still {285} clings to the assassinations of young Edward and of +Henry VI., two horrible stories invented by later chroniclers. Surely +the sound arguments of Sharon Turner and others ought to have been +allowed finally to expunge these revolting fables from our history. + +However, in Mr. Gairdner's book the venomous hunchback, born with +teeth, entirely disappears. He gives us, in his place, a prince 'whose +bodily deformity, though perceptible, was probably not conspicuous.' +In his latest version, he abandons the assassination in the King's tent +by his chief nobles. He thinks that Richard is unduly blamed about the +murder of Henry VI. because it was probably sanctioned by others. He +pronounces Richard to be guiltless of the death of Clarence. He admits +that Anne was not married to young Edward, and that there is some +reason to believe that she regarded Richard with favour. He gives no +countenance to the insinuation that Anne was poisoned by her husband. +He is inclined to credit the pre-contract of Edward IV. with Lady +Eleanor Butler, and admits the strength of the evidence for its truth. +He considers it remarkable that a man (Lord Rivers) who suffered by the +Protector's order could appeal to him to be supervisor of his will. +This would certainly be very remarkable if Gloucester and Rivers had +been accomplices in two cowardly murders. Such monsters do not usually +place confidence in each other. But the simple truth is not +remarkable. Rivers felt that he had failed and must pay the penalty, +but he placed full and deserved confidence in Richard's honour and +integrity, as well as in his generosity. + +{286} + +Mr. Gairdner has thus removed much of the Tudor garbage from the +picture of King Richard, but he will not sweep off the rest. His +researches show him that the accusations of the Tudor writers are +irreconcilable with the results of modern investigations. But his +preconceived convictions, although much shaken, are not yet swept away. +The inevitable result is that the life and character of Richard become +a puzzle to him. Generous, kind, and patriotic acts continue to be +recorded of the young King throughout his life, which are certainly not +the acts of an habitual assassin. Those who are forced to acknowledge +the facts, and yet cling to a belief in the fictions, find themselves +in a tight place. This is Mr. Gairdner's position. He will not give +up all the Tudor fables, and clings to such shreds of them as it seems +to him possible to retain. Yet his own researches force him to abandon +much and to apologize for the rest. The man's acts cannot be made to +harmonize with the Tudor calumnies. The consequent contradictions +necessitate the explanation that 'Richard was not yet even a hardened +criminal' (p. 46); while some of the events which cannot be disputed +are 'certainly remarkable' (p. 91), and others 'almost inconceivable' +(p. 214). + +Mr. Gairdner cannot quite give up the fable of the murder of young +Edward at Tewkesbury. He admits that it was not countenanced by any +contemporary writer, that it was first told by Fabyan many years after +the event, and that the final embellishment, according to which young +Gloucester was a participator in the crime, was a tradition of later +times. Yet in his history, he preferred the tradition of later times +to the story of Fabyan, although he thought the latter had every +appearance of probability, and he preferred both to the {287} unanimous +testimony of contemporaries.[14] There is no reason for this +topsy-turvy criticism, except that what Mr. Gairdner calls a +'tradition' accuses Richard, while Fabyan and the contemporaries do not. + +His arguments in favour of the murder given in his 'Life of Richard +III.' were that Richard may very probably have been a murderer at +nineteen, if any one of his other alleged murders be admitted; and that +he was capable of a cowardly assassination because he condemned +prisoners to death in his judicial capacity. On these grounds alone he +urged that the accusation is not to be rejected. He did not maintain +that it is true, but that it cannot safely be pronounced apocryphal. +He also admitted that Richard ought not to bear the whole +responsibility, as he was only an accessory. This is very different +from the downright condemnation of Hume and Lingard.[15] The fable is +evidently doomed. But there can be no sharing of responsibility. If +Richard stabbed his young cousin he was a cowardly ruffian, whether +other ruffians did the same or not. If he did not, no words can be +strong enough to express the infamy of his Italian slanderer. + +Mr. Gairdner has since shifted his ground,[16] and, adopting +Warkworth's version, has admitted that {288} young Edward was slain in +the field, calling for succour to the Duke of Clarence; but he cannot +bring himself to acquit Richard altogether, and suggests that he was +the slayer, because no meaner person would have taken the +responsibility of slaying so valuable a prisoner. As if these +fine-drawn distinctions were made in the heat of a desperate _mêlée_. +But even so, the two boys being about the same age and weight, it was a +fair fight. There was no crime. Yet Mr. Gairdner still calls it a +'murder'! Of course there is no authority or ground whatever for +bringing Richard in at all, if Warkworth's version is adopted. Verily +the fiction is dying hard! + +There is no reason for considering the Duke of Gloucester to have been +capable of assassinating his cousin because it was his duty to sit in +judgment on prisoners as Lord Constable. The trial of rebels before a +court consisting of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Constable was +perfectly legal and constitutional. Speaking of trial by jury, Chief +Justice Fortescue laid it down that in England 'some cases might be +proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the high seas, and +proceedings before the Earl Marshal and the Lord Constable.' It was a +constitutional tribunal, and, although very young, his office of +Constable made it incumbent on Gloucester to sit in judgment. The Earl +Marshal, being an older man, would probably take the leading part. Mr. +Gairdner says that it was a summary tribunal and that all who were +brought before it were beheaded. It was a constitutional tribunal, and +only thirteen prisoners were condemned to death. As many as twelve of +the leaders were pardoned, if not more, and all the subordinate +officers and soldiers. In comparison with Lancaster {289} and Tudor +proceedings under similar circumstances,[17] the tribunal at Tewkesbury +was lenient.[18] + +Although it does not affect Richard, a serious accusation against +Edward IV. should here receive attention, namely, that his enemies who +had taken refuge in Tewkesbury Abbey might, in Mr. Gairdner's words, +'have saved themselves by flight if Edward had not sworn in church upon +the sacraments to pardon them. As to the executions being vindictive, +I should very much like to know what other character they can possibly +bear except that they were perfidious also.' They may be called +vindictive if all executions for treason in a civil war are to be so +called, but not, as Mr. Gairdner evidently intends, in any special +sense. The sting of the accusation, however, is in the alleged perfidy. + +Here is Habington's version of the accusation referred to by Mr. +Gairdner. 'King Edward with his sword drawn would have entered the +church and forced the fugitives thence. But a priest with the +eucharist in his hand would not let him until he had granted to all a +free pardon. But this pardon betrayed {290} them, for on the Monday +after they were taken out of the church and all beheaded.' + +There are some assertions so contrary to all reasonable probability +that they cannot be accepted, after having been examined with any care. +This is one. The fugitives had taken refuge in the abbey because they +were too closely pursued, and escape was not possible. How could they +have saved themselves by flight when Tewkesbury was occupied, and the +abbey surrounded by Edward's army? We are asked to believe that the +King swore on the sacrament to pardon all, and next day beheaded all. +Why should he commit this wholly useless act of perjury? There was no +object, nothing to gain by it. Even if he refrained from taking the +fugitives out of the church, which the story has it that he did do next +day, he could soon have starved them out. It is untrue that all were +beheaded. The story that he took such an unnecessary oath, intending +to break it next day, is too absurd for acceptance. As the result +proved, the King intended to have the prisoners tried before the Earl +Marshal's Court, to cause some of the condemned to undergo their +sentence, and to pardon others. He may possibly have told a priest +that some would be pardoned. This would soon be turned, by partisans, +into all being pardoned. In point of fact many were pardoned. + +In discussing the alleged murder of Henry VI., Mr. Gairdner admits that +'an after age has been a little unjust to Richard in throwing upon him +the whole responsibility of acts in which others perhaps participated.' +But this amounts to a surrender of the whole point at issue. Richard +either stabbed Henry VI. without his brother's knowledge, as the story +attributed to Sir Thomas More tells us, or he did {291} nothing. The +boy of eighteen either obtained the custody of the Tower from his +political enemy Lord Rivers, without the King's knowledge and consent, +went to Henry's room, and stabbed the unarmed feeble invalid with a +dagger, or he did not. Assuming the murder, Mr. Gairdner appears to +mean by saying that others participated in it, that it was committed by +Edward IV. and his Council, with the complicity of Rivers the Constable +of the Tower. It is difficult to see what else he can mean. In that +case the statement of the historian whom Mr. Gairdner believes to be +Sir Thomas More, that Gloucester committed the murder without his +brother's knowledge, is false. + +Mr. Gairdner is mistaken about the household accounts. He thinks they +only refer to the expenses and diet of Henry's servants. But the +statement is clear and distinct that the expenses and diet for fourteen +days after May 11, that is until May 24, are for Henry himself as well +as his attendants. The only contemporary writer gives the same date, +and Polydore Virgil, the official writer employed by Henry VII., tells +us that his death was long after May 21, the day when Richard was in +the Tower. Fabyan and Warkworth's informant give this date of May 21, +in contradiction to the above conclusive evidence for the 24th or night +of the 23rd. First they assumed the murder, and then they fixed the +date of it on the only day when Gloucester was there to commit it. The +household accounts expose this fabrication of dates. + +Mr. Gairdner settles the difference between these authorities in a very +summary fashion. 'Considering the source from which this statement +comes' (for the 23rd) 'and its total disagreement with the accounts of +almost all other writers in or near the time, it is {292} impossible to +attach any weight to it whatever.' The answer to the last part of this +sentence is that the writer in question was the only one who wrote at +the time; and that Warkworth and Fabyan, who wrote afterwards, are the +only authorities for the 21st. Moreover Polydore Virgil, who had +access to all official records, directly contradicts Warkworth and +Fabyan, giving a much later date for the death of Henry VI. + +Mr. Gairdner's other reason for rejecting the evidence of the writer in +Fleetwood is that his report was official, and that consequently 'it is +impossible to attach any weight to his statement whatever.' But on +this principle Mr. Gairdner ought to sweep away all the accusations +against Richard made by Tudor writers; for they are almost all the work +of official partisans engaged, some of them paid to vilify the +predecessor of their employer. Official chroniclers should be held in +suspicion, and their narratives call for strict scrutiny. But there +ought to be discrimination. If a document is official, it is not _ipso +facto_ false. There must be some evidence against it besides its +official character. The writer who sent a narrative of the restoration +of Edward IV. to the citizens of Bruges has not been detected in any +misrepresentations. He gave a plain statement of the course of events, +with no other object than to convey to the generous Flemings a +knowledge of what had befallen the gallant young King whom they had +befriended. He gave the 23rd as the date of the death of Henry VI. +because the fact was within his own personal knowledge. This was not +the case with any writer who has given a different date. According to +the story the murder was committed in profound secrecy. The most +virulent {293} Tudor chroniclers only mention it as a suspicion. There +was no ground whatever for the accusation, or they would have stated +it. This suspicion, as regards Gloucester, was never whispered until +the Tudor King was in power. It is, therefore, to the last degree +improbable that, assuming there was a crime, it should have been +needlessly divulged to the author of the letter to Bruges with orders +that he should falsify the date. If the murder was a secret, as the +Tudor chroniclers affirm, and if, as two of them assert, the date of +Henry's death was known, it would have been useless to falsify a date +which was known, to conceal an unknown deed. The inevitable conclusion +is that the date was not falsified in the letter to Bruges; and that +the 23rd was the day of Henry's death. The suggested falsification +would be such an act of folly as no writer, even if he wrote +officially, would be at all likely to commit; for it would be uselessly +raising a suspicion where none existed. If anything of the kind had +been attempted, the date of Richard's presence, not of Henry's death, +would have been altered. But there is really nothing to raise a +suspicion of the author's good faith. + +Very different are the authorities who contradict him. Warkworth's +story contains a statement that the Duke of Gloucester was present in +the Tower at the time of Henry's death, and then the date is given with +that excessive minuteness of day and hour which is characteristic of +the lie circumstantial. The whole story is dished up with a miracle or +two. It is not necessary to suppose that Dr. Warkworth was himself +guilty of misrepresentation. He was evidently very credulous, and he +was deceived by his informer. As for Fabyan, he wrote in the days of +Henry VII. and {294} was desirous of suiting his tales to the wishes of +that jealous tyrant. Apart from the undesigned evidence of the +household accounts, the letter to the citizens of Bruges must, on every +principle of historical criticism, be accepted as a more reliable +authority, on this point, than the miracle-monger Warkworth or the +unscrupulous time-server Fabyan. The whole story about Henry VI. +having been murdered by Gloucester is palpably a Tudor calumny invented +long afterwards, and told so clumsily that it certainly did not deserve +the success which has attended it.[19] + +Mr. Gairdner acquits Richard of responsibility for the death of +Clarence, as was inevitable. For he would not be supported even by the +most unscrupulous enemy of Richard's memory if he refused to acquit +him. Clearly there was no belief among his contemporaries that Richard +was in any way to blame. Yet Mr. Gairdner cannot let the matter rest. +He suggests that Richard's foundation of colleges at Middleham and +Barnard Castle, with provision for masses for the souls of his father, +brothers, and sisters, betokens remorse for the death of Clarence, +because the licences to found these colleges were granted soon after +his brother's death. Clarence is not specially mentioned, only +brothers and sisters. This pious act might betoken regret, but it +cannot be supposed to betoken remorse. The man's conscience must +indeed have been morbidly sensitive if it caused remorse for that which +the King and the Parliament had done, but which he had opposed. It was +quite natural that {295} Richard should have provided for these masses +from ordinary feelings of regret and affection for all the deceased +members of his family. The idea of remorse is gratuitous and very +far-fetched; for Richard had arranged for the foundation of these +colleges before the death of Clarence. Mr. Gairdner further remarks +that Richard gained by his brother's death, his son being created Earl +of Salisbury and he himself receiving the whole of a lordship of which +he previously owned half. Richard certainly would not have compassed +his brother's death, even assuming him to have been the monster of +'tradition,' for the sake of an earldom for his son, seeing that the +father had two earldoms already, scarcely for the other half of the +Barnard Castle estate. Mr. Gairdner cannot surely think that Richard +had some hand in his brother's death for the sake of such very small +gains. For he has told us that there was nothing mean or paltry in +Richard's character, and he acquits him of the death of Clarence. King +Edward, naturally enough, gave the vacant earldoms of Warwick and +Salisbury to the infant sons of his two brothers. + +Mr. Gairdner has nothing to say against the young prince with regard to +his marriage. We, therefore, come to our historian's treatment of the +events which led to Richard's accession. Mr. Gairdner dismisses the +accusations against the Duke of Gloucester, that he was carrying on +intrigues with Buckingham and other members of the Council, between the +date of his brother's death and that of his arrival in London.[20] He +also considers the arrest and execution {296} of Lord Rivers and his +companions to have been justifiable. He believes that the Woodville +party intended to keep the government in their own hands by main +force,[21] that the generality of the people were convinced that Rivers +and Grey had entertained designs distinctly treasonable,[22] and he +mentions the fact that their baggage contained large quantities of +armour and implements of war. This is a proof that they contemplated +the raising and arming of a large force. Mr. Gairdner even goes so far +as to admit that the retribution dealt out to Rivers and his companions +was 'not more severe than perhaps law itself might have authorised.' +As we know from Rous that the law was invoked, these admissions amount +to an exculpation of King Richard, as regards his treatment of Rivers, +Vaughan, and Grey. + +Mr. Gairdner's position with regard to Richard's title to the crown is +curious. That title was based on the fact that Edward IV. had entered +into a marriage contract with Lady Eleanor Butler before he went +through the ceremony with the widow of Sir J. Grey. The Tudor King +attempted to destroy all record of this event, and his official writers +then put forward two other statements, which they alleged to have been +made as justifications of Richard's claim to the crown. One of these +was that Richard's elder brothers were illegitimate, the other that the +previous marriage was with a woman named Lucy. The name of Lady +Eleanor is carefully suppressed. Long afterwards the official document +was discovered in which the title is based solely on the previous +contract with Lady Eleanor Butler. + +{297} + +Such is the case very briefly stated. Mr. Gairdner believes that the +story of the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor may be true. He considers +that the care taken by the Tudor writers to suppress and pervert it is +evidence of its truth. He even suggests that the death of Clarence was +due to the fact that he had got possession of the secret. But he fails +to see that the truth of this pre-contract not only invalidates the +other stories invented by the Tudor writers to conceal it, but entirely +destroys their credibility. Morton's statement that it was alleged by +Richard's supporters that the pre-contract was with Lucy must be false, +as well as the assertion that a calumny was promulgated against the +Duchess of York; if the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor is true. Surely +Mr. Gairdner must see that the statement of a title made in an +officially inspired sermon or speech must have been made to agree with +that in the document which Henry VII. attempted to destroy. Having +made away with the document, so that they could mis-state its contents, +Henry's chroniclers put what inventions they pleased into the mouths of +preachers and orators. But the document has since been found. Its +real contents are known. Men who would deliberately make this +elaborate series of false statements are utterly unworthy of credit. +Yet Mr. Gairdner still clings to the belief that the odious slander +about the Duchess of York was promulgated, and continues to quote +Morton's story as if it were authentic and reliable history. + +The sole ground put forward for still believing that the slander was +uttered against the Duchess of York is that one of these authorities +alleges that the people were scandalised at the sermon, and another +that {298} the Duchess complained of the dishonour done her. These +additions to the fable, from the same suspicious sources, can in no +conceivable way strengthen its credibility.[23] + +We now come to the main stronghold of Tudor calumny--the story of the +smothering of the little princes in the Tower. Mr. Gairdner makes a +hesitating defence. He cannot doubt that the dreadful deed was done. +But he admits that the story, as told in the narrative attributed to +Sir Thomas More, is full of inaccuracies and improbabilities. He +contends, however, that it is not necessary for it to be true in all +its details, in order to give credence to the main allegation. He also +admits that the crime imputed to Richard rests upon the assertions of +only a few, and that two of these mention it merely as a report. He +denies that Richard was the cold scheming calculating villain of +previous histories; and apparently thinks that, if this had been his +character, he would not have acted in the way alleged in the story. +Consequently the story could not be true. For a cold calculating +villain would not have been so foolish as to leave London, and then +send his orders to the Tower, without having previously ascertained +that they would be obeyed. Mr. Gairdner's theory is that Richard was +headstrong and reckless as to consequences, a man of violent and +impatient temper. Such a man, Mr. Gairdner thinks, might act in the +way described in the story; {299} if a strong motive was suddenly +supplied to him. Mr. Gairdner looks round for such a motive, and +thinks he has found it in the alleged contemplated rising in favour of +the two young princes. But no such motive existed. The date given for +the alleged murders was August 1483. The rising, even if it had been +in favour of the boys and not of Buckingham, was in October. Mr. +Davies has shown that the first tidings reached the king at Lincoln on +October 11,[24] and Mr. Gairdner fully admits that Richard was taken +completely by surprise. This proves that no motive for the crime was +supplied in August, calculated to make a violent and reckless man take +sudden action. If there was no motive there was no murder. Thus Mr. +Gairdner's explanation fails, while the improbabilities remain as +strong as ever. The difficulties disappear as soon as Richard is +acquitted, and his astute successor is placed in the dock. + +With reference to this horrible accusation against King Richard, Mr. +Gairdner had opened his work with the dictum that 'it is vain to deny +that Richard had long lost the hearts of his subjects.' But Mr. +Gairdner himself has supplied some of the proofs that the King never +lost the hearts of his subjects. Mr. Gairdner acknowledges that up to +September 1483, 'in the north undoubtedly, and perhaps with the common +people generally, Richard was highly popular' (p. 147). In November +1484, when, on the young King's return to London he was received with +demonstrations of loyalty, Mr. Gairdner says that 'perhaps he had to +some extent recovered the good will of the people' (p. 243). But, in +the meanwhile, we are not supplied with a shadow of a {300} proof that +he had ever lost it. He was the victim of the perfidy of a few +traitors. There was no national movement against him in favour of +Henry Tudor. Sharon Turner truly remarked that 'the nation had no +share in the conflict. It was an ambush of a few perfidious and +disaffected noblemen against the crown. Richard was overwhelmed by the +explosion of a new mine, which he had not suspected to be forming +beneath him, because it was prepared and fired by those whom gratitude, +honour and conscience ought to have made faithful.' The city of York +recorded the grief of the people at King Richard's death. He was +popular to the end. + +Mr. Gairdner fully explains the causes of Richard's popularity (p. +313). 'His taste in building was magnificent and princely. There was +nothing mean or paltry in his character (p. 318). Many of his acts +were dictated by charitable feelings or a sense of justice. He had in +him a great deal of native religious sentiment (p. 47). He made it his +endeavour, so far as it lay in his power, to prevent tyranny for the +future (p. 205), and as king he really studied his country's welfare +(p. 313). No wonder that such a King, who was also renowned for his +valour in the field and his wisdom in council, should have been popular +among his subjects! But it is wonderful that thoughtful and +accomplished men, who admit all this, should cling to the vile and +wretched calumnies, the discredited tatters of which still partly +obscure the truth. + +The work of Mr. Gairdner is of great value owing to its conscientious +attempt to be judicially impartial, to the learning and research that +are apparent in every page, and to the considerable number of errors it +exposes, and of mistakes that are finally cleared up {301} by it. The +good points in the character of King Richard III. are prominently +brought forward. The excellence of his government and the generosity +of his character are made so apparent, that one is surprised, in the +midst of this goodly record, to come suddenly on such epithets as +'usurper,' 'tyrant,' 'inhuman King.' Mr. Gairdner's learning and +critical insight have so weakened the traditional fables, a half belief +in which he cannot quite shake off, that they are not likely to retain +a place much longer in serious history. + + + +[1] _History of the Life and Reign of Richard III._, by James Gairdner +(1878), 1st ed. _History of the Life and Reign of Richard III._, by +James Gairdner (1898), 2nd ed. _Henry the Seventh_, by James Gairdner +(1889). Article in the _English Historical Review_, 1891. + +[2] Preface to Gairdner's _Life of Richard III._ p. x. + +[3] _Ibid._ p. x. + +[4] _Ibid._ p. xii. + +[5] _Ibid._ p. xii. + +[6] Gairdner's _Richard III._ p. 38. + +[7] _Ibid._ p. 112. + +[8] _Ibid._ pp. 115, 131. + +[9] _Ibid._ p. 247. + +[10] _Ibid._ p. 73. + +[11] _Ibid._ p. 250. + +[12] _Ibid._ p. 251. + +[13] _Ibid._ p. 251. + +[14] Stow set a better example. He adopted the 'probable story' of +Fabyan, and rejected the 'tradition of later times,' as Mr. Gairdner +calls the unsupported calumny of Polydore Virgil. + +[15] Dr. Lingard says that 'Clarence and Gloucester, perhaps the +Knights in their retinue, despatched young Edward with their swords' +(iv. p. 189). In a foot-note he sees no good reason to doubt Stow. +But Stow says nothing of the kind. He merely adopts Fabyan's tale that +King Edward's servants despatched the prince. He does not even mention +either Clarence or Gloucester. The accusation against the knights in +the retinue of those princes is Lingard's own, unsupported by any +evidence whatever. + +[16] _English Historical Review_, 1891 (July), p. 448. + +[17] The Lancastrians gave no quarter at Wakefield, slaughtering all +prisoners high and low. At the second battle ol St. Albans their +cruelty was deepened by bad faith. After Bosworth, Henry Tudor ordered +four executions which, in his outlawed condition, were lawless murders. +The atrocious conduct of his son, in suppressing the Pilgrimage of +Grace, was still more horrible. Executions went on, long after all +resistance had ceased, with unrelenting cruelty. + +The tribunal at Tewkesbury is unjustly arraigned by modern historians, +while the barbarities of Lancastrians and Tudors are slurred over or +ignored. + +[18] 'I am struck with the singular leniency of Edward IV. towards his +political enemies. The rolls of Parliament are full of petitions for +the reversal of attainders. I do not recollect a single instance in +which the petition was refused.'--Thorold Rogers, _Agriculture and +Prices_, iv. p. 180. + +[19] Dr. Lingard's chief reason for believing that Gloucester murdered +Henry VI. is that 'writers who lived under the next dynasty attributed +the black deed to Richard' (iv. p. 192). Of course they did. They +were well paid to do so. + +[20] P. 61. He considers it more probable that Gloucester was ignorant +of what had been going on in London. + +[21] P. 62. + +[22] P. 66. + +[23] Dr. Lingard's argument in favour of the calumny against the +Duchess of York is that a man who would shed the blood of his nephews +would not refuse to allow his mother to be slandered. Doubtless the +Doctor would have been equally ready with the reversed argument. A man +who would slander his mother would not refuse to allow his nephews to +be murdered (iv. p. 232 _n_). + +[24] _York Records_, p. 181 _n._ + + + + +{303} + +INDEX + +NDX +Aberford, 26 + +Abergavenny, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; cousin to the +King, 110 + +Abingdon, 71; cattle fair at, 112 + +Acaster College, founded by Bishop Stillington, 96, 118. _See_ +Stillington + +Albany, Duke of, with King Richard in the progress, 130 + +Alcock, Bishop, 88, 91, 146; at Oxford to receive King Richard, 129; +account of, 91 _n._ + +Alfonso V. of Portugal, 66 + +Alkmaar, Edward IV. landed at, 42 + +Alnwick, 59 + +Ambien Hill, 153; King Richard slain at the foot of, 157 + +Ambien Lees, 152, 154 + +André, Bernard, historiographer to Henry VII., 168, 171; silent about +the fable of the murder of Edward of Lancaster, 191 + +Angers, 67, 79, 206 + +Anker, river, 152, 153 + +Anne, heiress of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, married Edmund Earl of +Stafford, 128 + +Anne, Nevill, companion of Richard at Middleham, 40; taken to France by +her father, 66, 67; marriage with Edward of Lancaster never took place, +67; return to England, 68; her wardship claimed by Clarence. In +sanctuary, 81; married to Prince Richard, 82; joined by her mother at +Middleham, 82, 202; marriage settlement, 199, 200, 201; her beauty, +124; joined her husband in London, 93 + +Anne, Queen, her coronation, 126, 127; joined the King at Warwick, 129; +at York, 130; grief on her son's death, 137; illness, 139; death and +burial, 139, 140, 228; malignant slander of Polydore Virgil and Rous, +228 + +Anne, daughter of Edward IV., married the Earl of Surrey, 86 _n._, 271 +_n._ + +Anne, sister of Edward IV., Duchess of Exeter, 3; birth, 6, 110 + +Anne de la Pole, betrothed to James III., became a nun at Sion, 139 + +Appledore, home of Captain Horn who fell at Towton, 32 + +Arbitration by King Richard, 84, 113, 160 _n._; by the Lord Mayor, 113 + +Armour and arms, 107, 120, 122; arrows at Towton, 32; hand-guns, 44; +artillery, 49, 155 _n._ + +Arthur, son of Henry VII., 267 + +Arthur Plantagenet, son of Edward IV., 87 _n._, 221 _n._ + +Arundel, Archbishop, 117 + +Arundel, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Arundel collection, letter from Elizabeth of York to the Duke of +Norfolk seen by Buck in, 229 + +Arundell, Sir Thomas, K.B., at Richard's coronation, 147 + +Ashton, Sir Ralph, made Vice-Constable, 131, 132 _n._ + +Atherstone, Henry Tudor at, 149 + +Attorney-General, _see_ Kidwelly, Morgan + +Audley, Lord, Battle of Blore Heath, 56; at Richard's coronation, 109, +143; Lord Treasurer, 144 + +Audley, Edmund, Bishop of Rochester, 146 + +Audley, Sir Humphrey, tried and executed at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Ayala, Don Pedro de, Spanish Ambassador, his evidence respecting the +remorse of Henry VII., 276 + +Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury, 118 + + +Babington, Sir Henry, made K.B., 147 + +Bacon, Lord, his character of Richard III., 134; believed the story of +the murders to have been inspired by Henry VII., 169; on treatment of +the Queen Dowager by Henry VII., 257 _n._ + +Bamborough Castle, 59 + +Banbury, 47 + +Bangor, Thomas Ednam, Bishop of, 146 + +Barnard Castle, 84, 161, 265, 295 + +Barnet, battle of, 49, 50-52; losses at, 52 + +Barrow, Thomas, Master of the Rolls, Commissioner for Peace with +Scotland, 145 + +Basset pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Bath, Knights of the, at coronations of Edward IV., 35; and Richard +III., 126, 147 + +Bath and Wells, Bishop of, at Richard's coronation, 127, 144, 146. +_See_ Stillington + +Baume, Sir Thomas, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +Bayley, 'History of the Tower,' 181, 198 _n._ + +Baynard's Castle, 3, 91, 92 _n._, 102, 110, 222; family of the Duke of +York assembled at, 10, 11, 19, 21; Edward IV. accepted the crown at, 22 + +Beauchamp of Powyke, Lord, 72; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; his +son in command at Gloucester, 72 + +Beaufort, Sir John, 70; slain at Tewkesbury, 73, 76 + +Beaujeu, the Lady of, Regent of France, her enmity to England, 141, 243 + +Beaulieu Abbey, Countess of Warwick in sanctuary at, 70, 81, 82, 201 + +Beaumont, Viscount, at Towton, 24, 31; flight from Towton, 33; under +attainder, 109, 144 + +Becca Banks, 26 + +Bedingfield, Sir Edmund, K.B., at Richard's coronation, 147 + +Bemynster, Robert, Abbot of Cerne, 69 + +Benevolences abolished by Richard's Parliament, 134, 142 _n._ + +Berkeley, Lord, viii _n._ + +Berkeley, Sir William, of Beverston made K.B., 147; a traitor, 133 + +Berkeley, Sir William, of Wyldy made K.B., 147; loyal to the last, 252 + +Bermondsey nunnery, Queen Dowager confined in, until her death, 257 + +Bernall, Richard, tutor to young Edward, 84 + +Berners, Juliana, her 'Book of St. Albans,' 108 + +Berners, Lord, 34, 51 + +Berwick, 86 + +Beskwood Park, King Richard hunting at, 151 + +Beverley, 46 + +Bigot, Sir John, of Musgrave Castle, at Towton for Henry, 24 + +Bisham, Earl of Salisbury buried at, 34; Warwick and Montagu buried at, +51 + +Bishops in the fifteenth century, 118; at Richard's coronation, 126, +127, 146; at Oxford to receive Richard, 129; with him on his progress, +129; list, 146 + +Blore Heath, battle of, 56 + +Blount, Sir Walter, marched north with Edward, 23; in the pursuit of +Clifford, 28; march to Towton, created Lord Mountjoy, 35, _whom see_ + +Blythe, 39 + +Bohun inheritance explained, 128, 223, 224 + +Boleyn, Sir Thomas, made K.B. at Richard's coronation, 147 + +Bolton Castle, 83, 107 + +Bolton Hall, Henry VI. concealed at, 59 + +Bootham Bar, York, 34, 58 + +Borough, Sir John, present to, from the royal wardrobe, 111 + +Bosworth, battle of, 152-157; numbers, 153; artillery at, 155 _n._ + +Bosworth Market, Sir W. Stanley's camp near, 153 + +Bourchier, Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, crowned Edward IV., 35; +cousin to the King, 111; crowned Richard III., 120, 143, 146, 234 + +Bourchier, Sir Edward, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; slain, +15; head stuck on the gate at York, 17 + +Bourchier, Sir Humphrey, two slain at Barnet, 51 _n._ _See_ Cromwell, +Lord + +Bracher, Wm., and his son, loyal servants of King Richard, put to death +by Henry Tudor, 247 + +Brackenbury, Sir Robert, knighted, 147; joined the king at Bosworth, +151; slain, 155, 156; loyal to the last, 252; in the story of the +murders, 258, 260, 261 + +'Bradshaws' a strategic position at Bosworth field, 152 + +Bramham Moor, 26 + +Brampton, Wm., of Burford, loyal to the last, 252 + +Brandon, Sir William, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; traitor, 133 _n._; +Henry Tudor's standard-bearer, slain by the King, 156 + +Bray, Reginald, Lady Stanley's steward, 149; his skill as an architect, +149 _n._; agent to Henry Tudor, 226, 231 + +Brecknock Castle, 226, 227, 231 + +Brezé, Pierre de, Lord of Varenne, devoted to Margaret of Anjou, 53, 58 + +Brian, Sir Thomas, Chief Justice of Common Pleas, 145 + +Bridget, daughter of Edward IV., a nun, 87 _n._, 271 _n._ + +Bristol, 71, 72 + +Brittany, treaty with, 139, 161; Henry Tudor in, 131, 141 + +Browne, Sir John, made K.B., 147 + +Bruges, Edward IV. and Richard at, 43; Caxton at, 113; news of Edward's +success sent to the citizens, 198 + +Buck, Sir George, wrote the life of Richard III.--had seen the true +statement of his claim to the crown, 219; heard that the pamphlet +attributed to Sir Thomas More was written by Morton, 168, 179; account +of, 180 _n._; saw the letter from Elizabeth of York to the Duke of +Norfolk, 229 + +Buck, Sir John, Controller of the Household, 145; put to death by Henry +Tudor, 246 + +Buckingham, Duchess of, 7, 55, 132 + +Buckingham, Duke of, 89; left London to warn Richard, 90; speech at the +Guildhall, 102; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; cousin to the King, +110; bearing the King's train, 127; Lord Constable, 144; his claims, +223, 224; alleged conversations with Morton, 225; object of his +treason, 225; met Lady Stanley on the road, 226; trial and execution at +Salisbury, 131, 132; Richard's generous treatment of his widow, 132 + +Burford, _see_ Cornwall + +Burgundy, Charles the Bold, Duke of, helped Edward secretly, 43; +marriage with Princess Margaret, 43, 113; invested with the Garter, +113; received Margaret of Anjou at St. Pol, 60; Edward's desertion of, +82; fall of, 162 + +Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, George and Richard under protection +of, 18 + +Burgundy, Duchess of, _see_ Margaret, Princess + +Butler, Lady Eleanor, contracted in marriage to Edward IV., 93; truth +of the contract, 218, 219, 222, 296; details respecting her, 219 _n._; +her death, 94, 219 + +Butler, Sir John, at Towton, 24. _See_ Ormonde + +Byron, Sir John, with Henry Tudor, 149; saved Sir Gervase Clifton at +Bosworth, 156 + +Byron, Sir Nicholas, created K.B., 36 + + +Cade, Jack, 122 + +Cadeby, Norfolk's camp at, before Bosworth, 152 + +Calabria, John of, 67 + +Calais, 7, 102; Dighton living at, 261, 274; Tyrrel seized at, 273 + +Cambridge, 117, 136 + +Campbell, Lord, on King Richard's Parliament, 134 + +Canterbury Pilgrimages, 119. Archbishops. _See_ Arundel, Bourchier, +Kemp, Morton + +Cardigan, 148 + +Carlisle, Bishop of, 146 + +Carte, 'History of England,' 180 + +Cary, Sir Hugh, tried and executed at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Castleford, 28 + +Castles in the fifteenth century, 106, 107 + +Catesby, reported the Hastings-Woodville conspiracy to Richard, 98, +211; executor to will of Lord Rivers, 99 _n._; Speaker of the House of +Commons, 134; and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 144; Commissioner for +the Peace with Scotland, 145; at Bosworth, 144, 155; put to death by +Henry Tudor, 246; notice of, 246 _n._ + +Cattle fair, 112 + +Caxton: his own account of himself, 113; helped Edward IV. and Richard +in fitting out their expedition, 113; his first essay at printing, 113; +in the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, 114; came to England, books +printed by him, 114, 115; his house in the Almonry, 114; book of +chivalry dedicated to Richard III., 115; lament on the Earl of +Worcester's death, 115, 116 + +Cerne Abbey, 69 + +Chamberlain, Sir Robert, 45 + +Charles VII. of France, 53 + +Charles VIII. of France, 141 + +Charlton, Sir Richard, loyal to the last, 252 + +Cheltenham, 73 + +Cheney, Sir John, with Henry Tudor, 149 + +Cheney, Sir William, traitor, unhorsed by the King himself at Bosworth, +156 + +Chevet, 13 + +Chichester, Bishop of, 146 + +Chipping Sodbury, 71, 73 + +Church, the, 117, 118. _See_ Convocation; Bishops + +Cicely, Princess, daughter of Edward IV., married to Lord Welles, 86 +_n._, 271 + +Cirencester, 71 + +Clarence, George, Duke of, born at Dublin, 3, 6; taken prisoner at +Ludlow, 7, 8, 10; sent to Holland for safety, 18; married to Isabella +Nevill, 41, 66; his treason, 41, 43; reconciled to his brothers, 48, +71; grasping conduct, 80; attainder, death, 202, 203; cause of his +death, 95; his children, 87 _n._, 236; his attainder barred his +children's succession, 101; town house at Cold Harbour, 110; Richard +interceded for him, 203, 204, 294; Mr. Gairdner's views, 295 + +Clarendon, Sir Richard, at Bosworth for the King, 155, 157 + +Clarke, William, of Wenlock, loyal to the last, 252 + +Cleger, John, a robber who made Margaret of Anjou prisoner, 57 + +Cleymound, Robert, hired informer, 275 + +Clifford, Lord, led the Lancastrian van at Wakefield, 13, 14, 15, 24; +surprised the Yorkists at Ferrybridge, 27; pursued and slain, 28; some +account of him, 29 + +Clifton, Sir Gervase, made K.B., 147; wounded at Bosworth, fighting for +the King, 156 + +Clifton, Sir Robert, created K.B., 36 + +Clothes, in the royal wardrobe, 111; Clement Paston's, 117; an Eton +boy's, 117; John Paston's, 122; Mr. Payn's, 122 + +Cobham, Lord, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; at Richard's coronation, +109, 143 + +Cock beck, near the Towton battlefield, 26, 33 + +Cockermouth, Earl of Wiltshire arrested at, 34 + +Coke's mother, 120 + +Colchester, 120 + +Cold Harbour, 110 + +Collingbourne, a traitor, executed, 132 _n._ + +Comines, details of the flight of Edward IV., 42; marriage of Edward +IV. and Lady Eleanor Butler, 93 _n._; death of Edward of Lancaster, 189 + +Companies, City, influence, dispute settled by arbitration, 112, 113 + +Conisborough Castle, 3 + +Convocation, their address to King Richard, 136 + +Conyers, Sir John, made a Knight of the Garter, 146; faithful to the +King, 151; fell at Bosworth, 157 + +Corbet, Sir K., knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Cornwall, Sir Edmund, Baron of Burford, made K.B., 147 + +Coronation of Richard III., 126, 127; story of a second untrue, 227, 228 + +Corpus Christi, fraternity in London, 112; at York, 119 + +Cotswold Hills, 72, 73 + +Court, splendour of the, 111. _See_ Wardrobe + +Courtenay, Sir E., traitor, 133 + +Courtenay, Sir Walter, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76, 77 + +Courtenay, Sir William, 263 _n._ + +Courtenay, _see_ Exeter, Bishop of + +Courtenay, _see_ Devonshire, Earl of + +Courtenays, forgiven by Edward IV., 36 + +Courteys, Pierce, Keeper of the Wardrobe, 145 + +Coventry, Earl of Warwick at, 47; Edward IV. at, 78; Richard III. at, +in his progress, 130 + +Cover, river, 83 + +Coverham, monks of, 83 + +Crakenthorpe, Sir John and Sir T., slain at Towton, 33 + +Croft, Richard, tutor to Edward and Edmund, 4, 5; knighted after +Tewkesbury, 71, 77, 191 _n._ + +Cromer, 45 + +Cromwell, Lord, slain at Barnet, 51 + +Crosby, Sir J., built Crosby Place, 85 + +Crosby Place rented by Richard III., 85, 93, 110, 223 + +Croyland Chronicle on the slain at Towton, 33; there were two writers, +175, 176; independent witnesses, 175; the second credulous but honest; +his accuracy as regards dates exposes Morton and Fabyan, 176; gives +Richard's title to the crown correctly, 176, 219; his mistakes, 177; no +countenance to the deformity fables, 186; on the Tewkesbury question, +189; on the death of Henry VI., 195, 199; his mistake about a second +coronation at York, 227; retails a rumour about the death of the +princes, 240 + + +Dacre, Lord of Gillesland, 24; death at Towton, 31, 33; tomb at Saxton, +34; his brother forgiven, 36; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; +commissioner for peace with Scotland, 145; hurrying to King Richard's +help, but too late, 151 + +Dampierre, château where Margaret of Anjou died, 79 + +Dartford, Princess Bridget a nun at, 87 _n._ + +Daubeny, Sir Giles, with Henry Tudor, 149; Lieutenant of the Tower, 268 + +Daventry, 48 + +Davies, Mr., _see_ York Records. + +Davy, Henry, to deliver certain garments to John Goddestande, footman +to Edward son of Edward IV., 237 + +Dobenham, Sir Gilbert, 45 + +De la Warre, Lord, 109, 143 + +Deptford, Vicar of, burnt on Tower Hill, 118 + +Devereux, Sir Walter, mentioned in the letter from Edward and Edmund to +their father, 4; Lord Ferrers of Chartley (_whom see_) _jure uxoris_ + +Devonshire, Earl of, at the battle of Wakefield, 14; at Towton, 24, 31; +flight from Towton, 33; beheaded, 34; next Earl with Margaret of Anjou, +70; at Tewkesbury, 74; slain, 76; son married Katherine, daughter of +Edward IV., 87 _n._, 271 _n._; under attainder, 109, 144 + +Dickon's Nook, where King Richard addressed his army, 154 + +Digby, Captain, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +Digby, Simon, joined Henry Tudor, 149; a spy, 153 + +Dighton, John, 260; likely to be hanged, 261; false statements +respecting, 263; bailiff of Ayton, 264, 266, 274; probably a priest, +267, 269; rewarded, 272; lived at Calais, 274 + +Dittingdale, near Towton, 28 + +Doncaster, 42 + +Dorchester, 69 + +Dorset, Marquis of, at Tewkesbury, 74; in command at the Tower when +Edward IV. died, 88; in sanctuary, 91; in rebellion, 109, 144; guardian +to the Earl of Warwick, 129; his rebellion, 131; flight, 132; advised +by his mother to return, 136, 238; imprisoned by Henry VII., 270 + +Dublin, George, Duke of Clarence, born at, 3 + +Dudley, Lord, 109, 129, 143 + +Dudley, William, Bishop of Durham, 146 + +Durham, Bishop of, at Richard's coronation, 144 + +Dymoke, Sir Robert, the champion, knighted, 147 + +Dynham, Sir J., with the reserves at Towton, 23, 30, 32, 35, 109; +traitor, 144; created Lord Dynham, 35 + + +Easterling ships, 42, 43, 44 + +Ebrington, 77 + +Eccleshall castle, 56 + +Edgcombe, Richard, with Henry Tudor, 149 + +Edmund Langley, Duke of York, rebuilt Fotheringhay and founded a +college there, 1, 2, 11 + +Edmund, Earl of Rutland, born at Rouen, 3, 6; letter to his father, 4; +fled to Ireland with his father, 7; came to London, 9; and to Sandal +Castle with his father, 10, 13; in the battle of Wakefield, 14; slain, +15, 16; absurd story about his death, 16 _n._; head on gate at York, +17; obsequies, 39; memorial chapel at Wakefield, 19 + +Ednam, J., Bishop of Bangor, 146 + +Edward, 2nd Duke of York, 2; his book 'The Master of Games,' 108 + +Edward IV., born at Rouen, 3, 6; letter to his father, 4; escaped to +Calais, 7; return, victory at Northampton, 7; visits his brothers and +sister in the Temple every day, 8; at Shrewsbury, 11; victory at +Mortimer's Cross, proclaimed king, 18, 19, 20, 22; description of, 20; +started for the north, 22; head-quarters at Pomfret, 27; conduct at +surprise at Ferrybridge, 28; judicious orders to retrieve the disaster, +28; valour and presence of mind at Towton, 32; always gave quarter, 34; +advance to York, 34; coronation, 35; just, placable, and forgiving, 36; +kindness to Lord Hungerford's family, 36, 37; marriage ceremony with +Lady Grey, 41; affection for his brother Richard, 41; flight to +Holland, 42; reception, 43; expedition to recover the crown, 44; lands +at Ravenspur, 45; at York, 46; march to London, 47, 48; battle of +Barnet, 50; Tewkesbury campaign, 70-78; pardon to several leaders at +Tewkesbury, 77; conduct after Tewkesbury, 289, 290; bribed by Louis XI. +to desert the Duke of Burgundy, 82; death, 86; children, 86, 87 _n._; +buried at Windsor, 86; his will, 89; contract of marriage with Lady +Eleanor Butler, 93, 218, 219, 222; treasure under ecclesiastical +sequestration, 227; his alleged conduct after Tewkesbury discussed, +289, 290 + +Edward of Lancaster, son of Henry VI., birth, 54, 55; at Greenwich, 56; +present at battles, 57; with his mother, 58, 59; life at +Koeur-la-Petite, 61; instruction from Chief Justice Fortescue, 62-65; +proposed marriage with Anne Nevill, 67; character, 68; at battle of +Tewkesbury 74; slain, 75; buried in Tewkesbury Abbey, 75; mode of his +death, Croyland, 189; André, 189; Comines, 189; letter to Bruges, 75 +_n._; Warkworth, 189; Fabyan, 189; Polydore Virgil, 190; Habington, +Grafton, Hall, 190, 191 n.; Holmshed, 190; Stow, 191; silence of Morton +and Rous, 191, 192; Mr. Gairdner, 188 _n._, 286, 287, 288 + +Edward, son of Richard III., 84; created Earl of Salisbury, 85, 295; +Prince of Wales, 130; death, 136; tomb at Sheriff Hutton, 137 + +Edward, son of Duke of Clarence, 87 _n._; birth, 101; ward to Dorset, +129; Earl of Warwick, 125; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; declared +heir to the throne, 102, 138; in King Richard's household, 125; with +the king in his progress, 129; knighted at York, 130; at Sheriff +Hutton, 142; member of council, 236; seized by Henry Tudor, 248, 255; +cruel treatment and death, 275, 280 + +Edward, son of Edward IV., Earl of March and Pembroke, 86 _n._; +proclaimed king, 89; came to London, 91; set aside as illegitimate, 97; +preparations for his coronation, 209; intentions of King Richard +respecting, 125; in King Richard's household, 125, 236; his tailor's +bill, 237. _See_ Murder of the Princes + +Elizabeth Woodville, Lady Grey, marriage ceremony with Edward IV., 41, +86; children, 86 _n._; in sanctuary, 91; allowed her son Richard to +join his brother, 100; agreed with the king to come out of sanctuary, +136, 238; intrigues with Lady Stanley, 231; advised her son Dorset to +come home and submit to the king, 238; her knowledge a cause of fear +for Henry VII., 256; robbed and imprisoned by Henry VII., 257; +attempted explanation by Lingard and Nicolas, 257 _n._; Mr. Gairdner, +257 _n._ + +Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., birth, 86 _n._; her dress like the +queen's, 178; rumour about her marriage with Richard, 140; her letter +to the Duke of Norfolk 229; evidence of Buck, views of Nicolas, +Lingard, Gairdner, 229, 230 _n._; sent to Sheriff Hutton, 142; seized +by Henry Tudor, 248; married to him as Henry VII., 250, 253, 254; her +coronation, 258; treatment of her relations by Henry, 277; death, 277 + +Elizabeth, another daughter of Edward IV., 87 _n._, married to Lord +Lumley, 221 _n._ + +Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk, born at Rouen, 3, 6; at Richard's +coronation, 126, 127 + +Elizabeth, Queen, founded St. Peter's College, Westminster, 116; her +English ancestry, 163 + +Eltham, 11, 107 + +Ely, Isle of, 242 + +Ely, Bishop of, _see_ Morton + +Ely Place, Holborn, 110 + +Enderby, Sir William, made K.B., 147 + +England, face of the country in the fifteenth century, 106; condition +of the people, 65, 121-123; prices, 123; progress of King Richard +through, 128; products, 112 + +Essex, Earl of, 109, 110, 143 + +Esteney, John, Abbot of Westminster, 114, 146 + +Eton, founded by Henry VI., 116; boys at, in the fifteenth century, 117 + +Eure, Sir Ralph, at Towton for Henry, 24 + +Ewelme, 78 + +Exeter, 70, 132 + +Exeter, Bishop of, _see_ Courtenay Nevill + +Exeter, Duchess of, _see_ Anne + +Exeter, Duke of, marriage, 3; at Wakefield, 14; at Towton, 24, 58; +advancing against Edward, 47; at Barnet, 49 + + +Fabyan's Chronicle, 168, 174; untrustworthy, 174, 175; silent about the +deformity, 186; invented a story about the murder of Edward of +Lancaster, 190; on date of Henry's death, 195, 199; gave false dates, +215; contradicts Polydore Virgil respecting Dr. Shaw's sermon, 222; +silent as to calumny against the Duchess of York, 222; common fame that +Richard secretly murdered his nephews, 243; 'smoky gunners,' 44 + +Fairfax, Sir Guy, judge of the King's Bench, 145 + +Fairs, 112 + +Fauconberg, Lord, reviewed the London citizens, 21; his service, 21, +the best general on Edward's side, 23; sent in pursuit of Clifford, +overtook and routed him, 28; march to Towton, 31, 32; his orders to the +archers, 32; created Earl of Kent, 35 + +Fauconberg, bastard of, his insurrection put down by Prince Richard, 80 + +Feilding, Sir William, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Fenn lanes near Bosworth, 153 + +Ferrers of Chartley. _See_ Devereux. At Richard's coronation, 109, +143; hurried to help the king, 151; fell at Bosworth, 155, 157; loyal +to the last, 252 + +Ferrybridge, Yorkist force at, 23, 27 + +FitzHugh, Lord, at Towton on the Lancastrian left, 31 + +FitzJames, Captain, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +FitzRanulph, Robert, founder of Middleham, 83 + +FitzWalter, Lord, _jure uxoris_, Sir John Ratcliff, 23; slain at +Ferrybridge, 27 + +Fitzwilliam, Nicholas, Recorder of London, 146 + +Flory, John, of France, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Flushing, 44 + +Fogge, Sir John, reconciliation with the king, 128; traitor, 133 _n._ + +Forest, Miles, in Henry VII.'s story of the murder of the princes, 260; +said to have rotted away piecemeal, 261; really Keeper of the Wardrobe +at Barnard Castle, 264; an old royal servant falsely accused, 265 + +Fortescue, Sir John, Chief Justice, 24, 59; conversations with Edward +of Lancaster, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65; with Margaret, 67, 69; pardoned after +Tewkesbury, 77; Fuller's praise of him, 119; on the condition of +English labouring class, 123 + +Fortescues followed the Earl of Devon to Towton, 24 + +Fotheringhay Castle, birthplace of Richard III., 1, 3; its history, 1; +description, Dukes of York resided at, 2; subsequent history, 2 _n._; +funeral of the Duke of York, 39; monuments, 40 _n._ + +Fox, Dr. Richard, an agent of Morton, secretary to Henry Tudor, 149; +made Bishop of Winchester, 149 _n._; decoyed Tyrrel into Henry's power, +273; notice of, 273 _n._ + +French Chancellor, assertion that the princes were murdered, 242, 243; +proved to be false, 244 + +Fulford, Sir Baldwin, beheaded at York, 34 + +Fulford pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Fulfords followed the Earl of Devon to Towton, 24 + + +Gainsborugh, 130 + +Gairdner, James, C.B., LL.D., reason for thinking Richard may have been +a murderer at 19, 188 _n._; on the obit of Henry VI., 198 _n._; on the +grant to Buckingham, 224 _n._; on the letter of Elizabeth to the Duke +of Norfolk, 230 _n._; on the executions by Henry Tudor after Bosworth, +247; on the treatment of the Queen Dowager, 257; proved that the king's +Attorney General was loyal to the last, 145 _n._; suggests that the +death of Clarence was due to his knowledge of Edward's marriage +contract, 95; his view of the government of Henry VII., 249; his view +of the extent of Richard's guilt, 281, 282; his method stated in his +preface, 282, 283; remarks on his views, 283, 284; his admissions, 285; +on the deformity, 285; surprise that Rivers should make Richard +supervisor of his will, 285; Richard's acts do not harmonise with the +Tudor stories, 286; his ideas about the death of young Edward at +Tewkesbury, 286-288; views respecting King Edward's treatment of +prisoners after the battle, 289-290; views about the death of Henry +VI., 290-294; acknowledges that Richard interceded for his brother +Clarence, 294; reply to his remarks about Richard's supposed remorse, +295; has nothing to say against Richard's marriage, 295; he admits, +assuming they were not tried, that the sentence of Rivers and his +companions was not more severe than the law might authorise, 296; he +thinks that Edward's precontract with Lady Eleanor Butler may be true, +296; yet he still believes in the slander of the Duchess of York, 297; +his defence of the assertion that Richard murdered his nephews, 298-299 + +Galtres Forest, 34, 58 + +Gamble's Close, position of Lord Stanley at Bosworth, 152 + +Garter, Order of the, stall plate of Richard Duke of Gloucester, 38; +Duke of Burgundy invested, 113; knights made by King Richard, 146 + +Gascoignes faithful to King Richard, 151 + +Gascons, trade in wine, 112 + +Gastons, a position on Tewkesbury battle field, 72 + +Gedding, Sir John, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +George, _see_ Clarence, Duke of Giles, Sir John, pardoned after +Tewkesbury, 77 + +Gladmoor, _see_ Barnet + +Glastonbury, 70 + +Gloucester, 71, 128; King Richard at, 129; Buckingham at, 225 + +Gloucester, Humphrey Duke of, his treatment of Jacoba of Holland, 44 + +Gloucester, John of, illegitimate son of Richard III., 237 _n._; made +away with by Henry VII., 255 _n._ + +Gloucester, Richard Duke of, _see_ Richard III. + +Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of, marriage with the Bohun +co-heiress, 128 + +Goddestande, 237, _see_ Davy + +Golden Fleece, Edward IV. and Gruthuus companions of, 43 + +Goldwell, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, 146 + +Gower, James, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76, 77 + +Grantham, 39 + +Green, John, in the story of the murders, 260; apocryphal grants to, +264; grants to a namesake by Richard III., 264; grant to himself by +Henry VII., 268, 269; his death, 271-273 + +Greenfield, Clement Paston's tutor, 117 + +Greenwich, 56 + +Grey, Lord, of Codnor, 109, 143 + +Grey, Lord, of Powys, 109, 143; Commissioner for Peace with Scotland, +145 + +Grey, Lord, of Wilton, 109, 143 + +Grey, Sir John, made K.B., 147 + +Grey, Sir Richard, with young Edward at Ludlow, 88; arrested, 90; +beheaded, 100 + +Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, _whom see_ + +Grey de Ruthyn, Lord, treachery at Northampton, 56 + +Grey, Lady, _see_ Elizabeth Woodville + +Greystoke, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; cousin to the king, +110; hurrying to help the king, but too late, 151 + +Grimsby, Sir William, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Gruthuus, Louis de Bruges, Lord of, hospitality to Edward IV., 43; help +in fitting out the expedition, 44 + +Guilds, 112 + +Gunners, Flemish, with hand guns, 44 + +Gunthorpe, John, Lord Privy Seal, 144; Commissioner for Peace with +Scotland, 145 + +Gupshill farm near Tewkesbury battle-field, 73; Margaret awaited the +result in a religious house at, 74 + + +Habington's Life of Edward IV., on absurdity of accusing Richard of +murder of Henry VI., 199; his account of Edward's proceedings after +Tewkesbury, 289; with Hall and Grafton adds Dorset to the assassins at +Tewkesbury, 190 + +Hague, the, Edward IV. at, 43 + +Hall, Sir David, the Duke of York's chief adviser, 10, 13, 23; sent out +foraging party from Sandal, 13; battle brought on against his advice, +14; slain, 15, 21, 106 + +Hall's Chronicle, absurd story about the murder of Rutland, 16 _n._, +190 _n._; his statement about funeral of Henry VI., 190 n., and about +Richard Croft and Edward of Lancaster, 191 _n._; the pamphlet inspired +by Morton embodied in, 168; copied from earlier writers, 179, 190, 241 + +Halsted, Miss, biographer of Richard III., 85 _n._, 181, 186; the best +work on the subject, 145 _n._, 182 + +Hampton, Sir Edmund, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Hanson, Captain, wounded at Wakefield, 15 + +Hardwycke, of Lindley, joined Henry Tudor and acted as a guide, 153 + +Hardynge's Chronicle, Morton's lampoon first appeared in, 168 + +Harfleur, Margaret of Anjou embarked at, 69; Henry Tudor embarked at, +142 + +Harington, James, Clerk of the Council, 145; slain at Bosworth, 155, +157; loyal to the last, 252 + +Harington, Sir John, heard that the Morton lampoon was written by +Morton, 168; or by More, 170 _n._ + +Harrow, J., Warden of the Mercers' Company, with the Duke of York at +Wakefield, 11; wounded and put to death, 15; head stuck on a gate at +York, 17 + +Hastings, Wm., 23; knighted on the field of Towton, 36; created Lord +Hastings, 36; flight with Edward IV., 42, 44; at Barnet, 49; at +Tewkesbury, 71, 74, 89; his conspiracy, 97, 98; arrest and execution, +99; his son a minor, 109; Richard's generosity to his widow and family, +99; falsifications of dates respecting his death, 210-216 + +Haute, Sir John, 79 + +Haute, Sir Richard, 88; arrested, 90; beheaded, 100 + +Hedgley Moor, 59 + +Hedingham Castle, 107 + +Henry IV. (Bolingbroke), his usurpation and its consequences, 103, 117; +marriage with the Bohun heiress, 128 + +Henry V. (of Monmouth), his character, war, and persecution of +heretics, 103 + +Henry VI. (of Windsor), taken prisoner at Northampton, 7; marriage, 54; +assent to the Act making the Duke of York heir apparent, 9; hunting at +Greenwich, 11; re-captured by his wife, 17; at York during the battle +of Towton, flight to Scotland, 34, 58; at Hexham, 59; concealed at +Bolton Hall, 59; his death, 78; buried at Windsor, 139; false date for +his death and insinuations by Morton, Polydore Virgil, Warkworth, +Fabyan, Rous, Croyland, 193-195; his accounts reveal the truth, 197, +198, 199; Mr. Gairdner's views respecting his death, 290-4; founded +Eton College, 116 + +Henry VII., _see_ Tudor, Henry; business of vilifying his predecessor, +171, 173; inspired the story of the murder of the princes, as Lord +Bacon suspected, 169, 236, 250, 251; his conduct respecting the Act +settling the crown on Richard, 218; his illegal executions after +Bosworth, 246, 247 _n._; his character and government, 248, 249, 251, +253; his usurpation, 250; marriage, 254: strong motive for the crime, +254; his other victims, 255; silences the relations, 257, 270, 271; +gives out the story, 258, 259; fear of detection, 267; murder of the +princes, 269; rewards to Tyrrel and others, 268, 269, 270; got Tyrrel +into his power by treachery, 273; cruel treatment and death of Edward, +Earl of Warwick, 275; contemplating another crime on his death-bed, +277; restitution to Tyrrel's son, 277; died tormented by remorse, 278; +things unexplained in his conduct, 279, 280. _See_ Murder of the +princes + +Henry, Captain of Bristol, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Heraldry, 110 + +Heralds' College, 110, 162 + +Hereford, 8 + +Hereford, Bishop of, 146 + +Heretics, Lancastrian law for burning, 103, 117, 118 + +Hexham, battle of, 59 + +Heydon, John, Recorder of Norwich, 119 + +Hill, Sir W., beheaded at York, 34 + +Holborn, 110 + +Holderness, 45 + +Holinshed's Chronicle, 179, 190 + +Holme Hill, near Tewkesbury battlefield, 72 + +Hook, Dr., Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, has doubts, 181 + +Hopton, Walter, Treasurer of the Household, 145; knighted, 147; slain +at Bosworth, 145, 252 + +Home, Captain of Appledore, at Towton, 23; in the pursuit of Clifford, +28; slain in the battle, 32 + +Howard, Lord, 89, _see_ Norfolk, Duke of + +Hungates of Saxton, 30, 35 + +Hungerford, Lord, at Towton for Henry, 24, 31; known as Lord Molines, +25; flight, 33; continued in rebellion, 36; beheaded, 59; generosity of +Edward IV. to his family, 36; his son a minor, 109, 143 + +Hungerford, Walter, joined Henry Tudor, 149; slew Sir R. Brackenbury, +156 + +Hunting, 106, 108 + +Huntingdon, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; bore the +queen's sceptre, 127; with the king on his progress, 129 + +Hussey, Sir William, Lord Chief Justice, 145 + + +Iceland, Richard's promotion of trade with, 161 + +Inns in London, 112 + +Inns of Court, 112 + +Insomuch, J., printer of the Book of St. Albans, 108 + +Iolanthe, sister of Margaret of Anjou, 67 + +Ireland, Duke of Clarence born at Dublin, 3; flight of the Duke of York +to, 7; Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy, 145; King Richard's good government +of, 161 + + +Jackson, Robert, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Jacoba of Holland, 44 + +James III. of Scotland, 86, 139, 257 _n._ + +Jenney, Sir William, Judge of Common Pleas, 145; knighted, 147 + +Jervaux, Monks of, 83 + +Jesse, disbelieved most of the Tudor fables, 181 + +John of Gloucester, _see_ Gloucester + +Judges in time of Richard III., 145 + + +Katherine, daughter of Edward IV., married to the Earl of Devonshire, +87 _n._, 271 _n._ + +Kelfield, Stillington family at, 96 _n._ + +Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury, christened Edward of +Lancaster, 55 + +Kempe, J., Bishop of London, 146 + +Kendall, John, Secretary of Slate, 145; slain at Bosworth, 155, 157; +loyal to the last, 252 + +Kent, Earl of, Lord Fauconberg created, 35 + +Kent, Grey, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, carried the +ecclesiastical sword of justice, 109, 127, 143 + +Keyley, James, payment to, for King Richard's tomb, 253 _n._ + +Kidwelly, Morgan, Attorney-General, 145; loyal to the last, 145 _n._ + +Kildare, Earl of, Lord Deputy of Ireland, 145 + +Kirkcudbright, Margaret embarked at, 58 + + +Laing, continuation of Henry's History, disbelief of Tudor stories, +181, 197 _n._ + +Lancaster, Duchy of, Duke of Gloucester, Chief Seneschal, 84; T. +Metcalf, Chancellor of, 83 _n._, 145 + +Lancastrians, Duke of York's two elder daughters married to, 3; +overpowered the Duke of York at Ludlow, 7; raise an army in Yorkshire, +9, 11, 13; atrocities after Wakefield, 16, 17. (_See_ Towton, Barnet, +Tewkesbury.) Malcontents intriguing in France, 140, 141, 231, 243 + +Langstrother, Sir John, Prior of St. John, with Margaret, 69; at +Tewkesbury, 74; tried and executed, 76 + +Langton, Bishop of St. David's, 146; praise of King Richard, 130 + +Latimer, Lady, made Richard supervisor of her will, 84, 160, 202 + +Law, 119 + +Law officers, 145 + +Lawless times, 120 + +Lawyers, 112 + +Legge, 'Unpopular King,' rejects most of the Tudor stories, 181 + +Leicester, 47, 130; King Richard at, 152; buried at, 158 + +Lewis, Dr., sent by Lady Stanley to the Queen Dowager, 231 + +Lewknor, Sir Thomas, traitor, 133 _n._ + +Lichfield, Bishop of, 146 + +Lincoln, King Richard at, when he heard of Buckingham's rebellion, 130 + +Lincoln, Bishop of, _see_ Russell, Dr. + +Lincoln, Earl of, 109; nephew to the king, 110; at Richard's coronation +bearing the orb, 127, 143; with the king on his progress, 129; false +statement of Rous, 138 + +Lingard, Dr., believer in all Tudor stories, 182, 281; on Henry VI., +198 _n._; on the execution of Rivers, 210 _n._; on young Edward's +tailor's account, 237; defence of Henry's executions after Bosworth, +247 _n._; imprisonment of the Queen Dowager, 257 _n._; alleged rewards +to murderers, 264 + +Lisle, Viscount (Grey), 100, 109; at Richard's coronation, 126, 235; +bore the rod with dove, 127, 143 + +Lisle, Viscount, Arthur, son of Edward IV., 87 _n._, 221 _n._ + +Llandaff, J. Marshall, Bishop of, 146 + +Loan raised by King Richard, 142 + +London warmly supported the House of York, 10, 104; residences, 110, +112; inns, 112; city companies, 112; popularity of King Richard, 139; +Recorder, 146; Bishop, 146 + +Londoners with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; citizens declare for +Edward IV., 21; march to Towton, 22 + +Lorenzo the Magnificent, likeness to Richard III., 40 _n._, 124 + +Lorraine, Isabelle of, mother of Margaret of Anjou, 53; death of, 55 + +Louis XI., 58, 66; bribed the ministers of Edward IV., 82; interview +with Prince Richard, 82 + +Louis XII., 128 + +Lovel, Francis, Viscount, friend of Richard, 40; bore the civil sword +of justice at the coronation, 109, 127; Lord Chamberlain, 144; created +a Knight of the Garter, 146; with the king at Bosworth, 151, 155; loyal +to the end, 252 + +Lovell, Sir Thomas, Tyrrel decoyed into his power by treachery, 273 + +Loyal men, at Bosworth and on their way, 151, 155, 157; in Henry's Act +of Attainder, 252 + +Lucy, Elizabeth, mother of two children of Edward IV., 87 _n._, 221 +_n._; false statement of Morton, 220 + +Ludlow, Duke of York succeeds to, 3; Yorkist defeat at, 7; Young Edward +at, 88 + +Lumley, Lord, 87 _n._, 221 _n._; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Lumley Castle, 107 + +Lymbricke, Sir Walter, wounded and taken prisoner at Wakefield, 15 + +Lymon, Thomas, Solicitor-General, 145; married Jane Shore, 100, 145 + +Lynn, 42 + + +Magdalen College, Oxford, King Richard at, 129 + +Malmesbury, 71 + +Maltravers, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Manor houses, 121 + +Mantes, 54 + +March, Earl of (Edward IV.), 7, 8 _n._, 20, 58 + +March, Earl of, and Pembroke, son of Edward IV., 125. _See_ Edward + +Marches, Richard Warden of the, 85 + +Margaret of Anjou, birth, 53; marriage, 54; birth of her son, 54, 55; +strove to make her son popular, 56; adventures in the war, 57-59; +living at Koeur-la-Petite, 60-67; agreement with Warwick, 66, 67; +embarked for England, 68-69; at Cerne Abbey, 69, 70; at Tewkesbury, +72-77; taken prisoner to the Tower, 78; with the Duchess of Suffolk, +78; ransomed, 79; last years and death, 79; her alleged cruelties after +Wakefield untrue, 17 _n._ + +Margaret, Princess, Duchess of Burgundy, birth, 3, 6; taken prisoner, +7; in John Paston's chambers, 7, 8; marriage, 43, 113; help to her +brothers, 43-44; visit to her brothers, 111; patron of Caxton, 113, 114 + +Margaret, Princess, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, Countess of +Salisbury, 87 _n._; killed by Henry VIII., 256 + +Margaret Beaufort, _see_ Stanley, Lady + +Markham, Sir John, created K.B. by Edward IV., 36; his present of a +book to Lord Cromwell, 51 _n._; Lord Chief Justice, 119 + +Markham, Sir Robert, created K.B. by Edward IV., 36 + +Marshall, J., Bishop of Bangor, 146 + +Mauleverers loyal to King Richard, 151 + +Mercers Company, _see_ Harrow. Caxton a Mercer, 113 + +Merchant Adventurers, 113 + +Merchant Taylors' Company, dispute with Skinners, 112 + +Merchants' increasing wealth, 112 + +Metcalfes of Nappa, Thomas made Chancellor of the Duchy, 83, 145 + +Methley, Lord Welles buried at, 34 + +Micklegate, Duke of York's head on, 17, 36 + +Middleham Castle, the home of Richard and Anne, 81, 82; description of, +83, 107; Richard founded a college at 85, 118, 294 + +Middleton, Sir Robert, 252 + +Miles, Lewis, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Milewater, servant to Edward and Edmund, 5; slain at Barnet fighting by +Richard's side, 50 + +Milford Haven, Henry Tudor landed at, 142, 148 + +Milling, Dr., Bishop of Hereford, 146 + +Millstones from Paris, 112 + +Ministers of Richard III., 144-145 + +Miracle plays, 119 + +Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, hanged by sailors, 118 + +Molines or Moleyns, Lord, _see_ Hungerford; lawless conduct, 120 + +Monasteries, 118 + +Montagu, Marquis; his treason, 42; at Hexham, 59; outmanoeuvred, 47; at +Barnet, 49; slain, 51; grief of Richard, 51; who interceded for his +children, 51, 202 + +More, Sir Thomas, the so-called 'History of Richard III.' attributed +to, 168; its freedom from criticism due to More's reputed authorship, +170; not written by More, 170; on Morton's extraordinary memory, 208 + +Morley, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109; with the king on his +progress, 129, 143 + +Mortimer inheritance, Duke of York succeeded to, 3 + +Mortimer, Hugh and Sir John, with the Duke of York, 10; slain at +Wakefield, 15 + +Mortimer's Cross, victory won by the Earl of March, 18, 20 + +Morton, Dr., with Henry VI. at York, 24, 27; with Margaret in exile, +69; at Tewkesbury, pardoned, 77; Bishop of Ely, bribed by Louis XI., +82; intrigues against Richard, 97-99; given in charge to the Duke of +Buckingham, 100; his political pamphlet called 'History of Richard +III.', 168; its authorship, 169-171; account of Morton and his career, +206-207; made Archbishop of Canterbury, 25, 207; on Richard's alleged +deformity, 185-186; silent respecting the death of Edward of Lancaster, +191, 192; insinuation about Henry VI., 193; confessed that Richard +resisted the death of Clarence, 203; his story about Richard's +assumption of the protectorship, 208-210; his version of the Hastings +plot, 210-213; his falsification of dates, 213-216; his version of the +execution of Rivers, 216-217; his falsification of King Richard's +title, 217-221; his shameful slander of the Duchess of York, 220; +unworthy of credit, 221; his false version of Richard's accession, +222-223; his account of conversations with the Duke of Buckingham, +222-227; his evidence of Richard's intentions respecting his nephews, +238; intriguing in the Isle of Ely and in France, 242 + +Mountjoy, Lord (_see_ Sir Walter Blount), 35; son and heir slain at +Barnet, 51; to announce accession of Richard III. at Calais, 102, 109 + +Mowbray, inheritance, 125 + +Muccleston church, 56 + +Murder of the princes, story as given out by Henry VII., 169, 258-259; +fuller story published by Grafton and Rastell, 259-261; question of +their fate, 233; no danger to Richard, 235; alive during Richard's +reign, 236-238; conduct of mother and sister, 238, 239; false rumours, +239, 240; contradictory dates, 225; murdered by order of Henry VII., +256; story put forward contradictory and inaccurate, 262; Tyrrel, 269; +burial, bodies discovered, 270; relations silenced, 270, 271; alleged +rewards to murderers, 264, 265; Henry's rewards, 272; Henry's remorse, +276, 278; Mr. Gairdner's theory, 298, 299 + +Musgraves faithful to King Richard, 151 + + +Nappa Hall, seat of the Metcalfes, 83 + +Navy of Richard III., 135-136. _See_ Rogers, Thomas + +Neale, Richard, Judge of Common Pleas, 145 + +Nesfield, Captain, to watch the Westminster sanctuary, 241 + +Nevill, George, Bishop of Exeter, persuaded Edward to take the kingly +office, 22, 23; Archbishop of York, Richard and Anne sat together at +his installation feast, 40; Anne's guardian, married her to Richard, +81, 82 + +Nevill, Lady Anne, _see_ Anne + +Nevill, Lady Cecily, 3. _See_ York, Duchess of + +Nevill, Lady Isabella, Duchess of Clarence, 41; children, 87 _n._ + +Nevill, 77 + +Nevill, Lord, traitor to the Duke of York, 11 + +Nevill, Lord, Richard wrote to, for reinforcements, 98 + +Nevill, Sir George, son of Lord Abergavenny, made K.B., 147. _See_ +Montagu, Salisbury, Warwick, Westmoreland + +Nevill, Sir John, at Towton for Henry, 24; with Lord Clifford, 27; +slain, 29 + +Nevill, Sir Thomas, 10; slain at Wakefield, 15; head stuck on the gate +at York, 17 + +Newark, 47 + +Newborough, Sir William, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Newcastle, Earl of Wiltshire beheaded at, 34 + +Nicolas, Sir Harris, rejects some of Tudor stories, 181; denounces some +of them, 228, 230 + +Nobility not destroyed by wars of the Roses, 37, 105; life in the +country, 106, 108. _See_ Peerage + +Nokes, John, 5 + +Norfolk, Duke of (Mowbray), 10, 11; at Towton, 32, 35; death of +heiress, 125 + +Norfolk, Duke of (Howard), at Richard's coronation bearing the crown, +109, 127, 143; cousin to the king, 110; present to, from the royal +wardrobe, 111; Earl Marshal, 144; Admiral, 144; commissioner for peace +with Scotland, 145; hurried to the king's help, 151, 154; his camp, +152; slain at Bosworth, 155 + +Norfolk coast, ships of King Edward off, 45 + +Northampton, Battle of, 7, 56; Richard and Buckingham at, 90 + +Northumberland, Earl of, at the battle of Wakefield, 14; at Towton for +Henry, 24; led the centre, 31, 32; slain, 33; buried at York, 34; his +son restored, 36, 134; at Richard's coronation, bore the pointless +sword of mercy, 127; 109, 143; Commissioner for Peace with Scotland, +145; at Bosworth but held back, 151, 154; retribution, 154 _n._; +presided at the trial of Lord Rivers, 99, 217 + +Norwegian traders at Stourbridge fair, 112 + +Norwich sent troop to Edward, 71; Recorder of, _see_ Heydon + +Norwich, Bishop of (Dr. Goldwell), at Richard's coronation, 144, 146 + +Nostell Priory, 13 + +Nottingham, 47, 130, 136; memorial to King Richard III. at, 158 + +Nottingham Castle, 47, 148; King Richard commenced his march from, 151 + +Nottingham, Earl of, 109, 125, 143 + + +Official documents in Richard's favour, 179; value of evidence, 292 + +Ogle, Lord, in the marches during Richard's coronation, 109, 143; +hurrying to join the king at Bosworth, 151 + +Ogle, Sir Robert, 58 + +Oldham, Dr., Bishop of Sodor and Man, 147 + +Ormonde, Earl of, 24 (_see_ Wiltshire); pardoned, 36; in Portugal, 66; +pardoned at Tewkesbury, 77 + +Ormonde, Sir Thomas, created K.B., 147 + +Oxford University, 116; King Richard at, 128, 129 + +Oxford, John Vere Earl of, under attainder, 109, 144; at Barnet, 47, +49, 50; came with Henry Tudor, 148; at Bosworth, 154, 155; origin of +the star in the arms of, 50 _n._ + + +Parker, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Parker, Sir William, the king's standard bearer at Bosworth, 156, 157 + +Parliament, Act making the Duke of York heir apparent, 9; deposed Henry +VI. for violating his word, 21, 22; met in spite of the _supersedeas_, +98, 100; proofs of the illegitimacy submitted, 101; petitions Richard +to assume the crown, 102; great power of the Speaker, 104; Richard's +Parliament met, Acts passed, 134; Acts first published in English, 134; +distinction between public and private Acts first made, 134; Lord +Campbell's opinion, 134. _See_ Titulus Regius + +Parr, Dr., inscription over King Richard's well, 158; remarks on +likeness of Richard to Lorenzo the Magnificent, 40 _n._, 124 + +Parr, Sir Thomas, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; grandfather +of Queen Katherine Parr, 15 + +Parr, Sir William, slain at Wakefield, 15; head stuck on the gate at +York, 17 + +Parr, Thomas, Richard's esquire, slain at Barnet, 50 + +Paston, boy at Eton, 117 + +Paston, Clement, at Cambridge, 117 + +Paston, John, 7, 120, 122, 201 + +Paston, Mrs., 117, 120, 122 + +Paston Letters, 7, 8 _n._, 23, 76 _n._, 81, 151 _n._ + +Payn, Mr., his luggage seized by Jack Cade, 122 + +Payne's Place, Margaret of Anjou took refuge at, 77 + +Peerage, 37, 105, 106; of Richard III., 109, 143; at his coronation, +109, 126, 127; no peer, except Stanley, joined Henry Tudor, 149 + +Pembroke, _see_ Tudor, Jasper, title of Edward, son of Edward IV. +(_whom see_) + +Pembroke Castle, Henry Tudor born at, 140 + +Percy, Sir Richard, 24; slain at Towton, 33, 34 + +Percy, Sir Robert, of Scotton, friend of Richard, 40; Controller of the +Household, 145; knighted, 147; with the king at Bosworth, 151, 156 + +Peterborough, 1 + +Pickering, Sir James, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; slain, +15; head stuck on a gate at York, 17 + +Pilgrimages, 119 + +Pilkington, Sir John, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Pilkington, Sir Thomas, loyal to King Richard, 252 + +Pilkingtons, faithful to King Richard, 151 + +Plantagenets, the Dynasty, 166; the kings of the Lancastrian branch, +103, 104; Yorkist right, 9, 104; children of the Duke of York, 6; of +Edward IV., 86 _n._; of the Duke of Clarence, 87 _n._; slaughter of the +last male, 275 + +Plumpton correspondence, 245; arbitration, 84, 160 _n._ + +Plumptons faithful to King Richard, 151 + +Plumstead churchyard, 120 + +Pole-on-the-Humber, Lord Rivers landed at, 46 + +Pole, de la, _see_ Suffolk, Duke of, Lincoln, Earl of + +Pole, Anne de la, 139 + +Pole, Richard, married to the Princess Margaret, daughter of the Duke +of Clarence, 87 _n._ + +Pole, Sir Edmund de la, created K.B., 147; afterwards Earl of Suffolk + +Polydore Virgil, employed by Henry VII., 168; his coming to England, +171; his numerous preferments, 172; character of his history, 172; +untrustworthy, 175; on the unequal shoulders, 186; on treatment of +captives at Towton, 34; a slanderer, 190, 192; on date of death of +Henry VI., 193, 196; his calumny about the Duchess of York, 220, 222; +statement about Buckingham's claims, 223; silent about Clarence, 202; +contradicts Morton about Shaw's sermon, 220; contemplated marriage with +Elizabeth, 231; battle of Bosworth, 157 _n._; his story of the murder, +258 + +Pomfret, Lancastrian army at, 13; bodies of the Duke of York and Earl +of Rutland at, 34, 39; Montagu at, 47 + +Pomfret Castle, a residence of the Duke of Gloucester, 84; Edward's +headquarters before Towton, 25; execution of Lord Rivers at, 99 + +Pont-à-Mousson, birth place of Margaret of Anjou, 53, 61 + +Portsmouth, 69 + +Post first established by Richard III., 106, 159 + +Prices, 123 + +Printing, _see_ Caxton + +Progress, King Richard's royal, 129-30 + +Pulter, Thomas, loyal to King Richard, 252 + + +Quarter, none given by the Lancastrians at Wakefield, 16, 17; proof +that it was given by Edward at Towton, 34; always given by Edward, 34; +given to inferior officers and soldiers at Tewkesbury, where several +leaders were also pardoned, 77 + +Queen, _see_ Anne Nevill + +Queen, _see_ Elizabeth of York + +Queen Dowager, _see_ Elizabeth Woodville + + +Raby, Rose of, _see_ York, Duchess of + +Ramme, traitor, executed at Exeter, 132 + +Rapin, History of England, 180, 181 + +Ratcliffe, Sir John (Lord Fitzwalter), 23; at Ferrybridge, 23; slain, 27 + +Ratcliffe, Sir Richard, 99, 145; Knight of the Garter, 147; at +Bosworth, 156, 157; loyal to the last, 252 + +Ratford, Capt, slain at the battle of Wakefield, 15 + +Ratte, John, loyal to the end, 252 + +Ravenspur, Edward landed at, 45 + +Redman, Dr., Bishop of St. Asaph, 129, 145, 146 + +Redmore Plain, 152, 154 + +René, King, 53; death, 79 + +Revell, Richard, loyal to the last, 252 + +Richard III. (Duke of Gloucester), son of the Duke of York, born at +Fotheringhay, 3, 6; childhood with Margaret and George, 4; prisoner at +war, 7; in John Paston's chambers in the Temple, 8, 10; sent to Holland +for safety, 18; loss of his father and brother, 18, 19, 38; built a +memorial chapel at Towton, 37; creations, Knight of the Garter, 38; +stall plate at Windsor, 38; chief mourner at his father's funeral, 39; +military training under Warwick, 40; early and enduring friendships, +40; companionship with Anne Nevill, 40; description of, 40, 124; loyal +to Edward IV., 41; flight with Edward to Holland, 42; at Bruges, 43; +fitting out ships at Veere, 44; at Ravenspur, 45; negotiation with +Clarence, 47, 48; at Barnet, 50; at Tewkesbury, 74; marriage and life +at Middleham, 81, 82, 84; with Edward IV. in France, upright conduct, +82; founded colleges, 85, 107, 118, 294; supervisor of wills, 84, 99; +arbitrator, 84, 160 _n._; high offices of State, 84, 85; Warden of the +Marches, campaign in Scotland, excellence of his administration, 85; +takes Berwick, 86; Protector by Edward's will, services and popularity, +89; arrested Rivers, 89, 90; resided with his mother, 91; ignorant of +his brother's matrimonial secrets, 97; stamped out the Hastings +conspiracy, 98, 99; rightful heir, 101; accepts the crown, 102; town +house at Crosby Place, 85, 110; coronation, 126, 127; grant to +Buckingham, 126; progress, 128-130; at York, 130; suppressed +Buckingham's revolt, 131-132; Parliament and administrative reforms, +134, 135; loss of his son, 137; progress and reception of Scotch +ambassadors, 139; popularity in London, 139; his wife's death, 140; +military talent, 149; courage and pluck, 150; formation of his army, +154; resolves on a desperate charge at Bosworth, 155; glorious death, +156; buried at Leicester, 158; memorials, 158; character, 159, 160; +accusations against him, 167, 184; Tudor calumnies, 192, 199; +deformity, 185-187; Mr. Gairdner and the alleged crimes of, 281-301. +_See_ Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI., Anne Nevill, Hastings, Clarence, +Rivers, Titulus Regius, Murder of the Princes + +Richard, second son of Edward IV., 86 _n._; in sanctuary, 91; joined +his brother, 100, 125. _See_ Murder of the princes. + +Richmond, earldom, granted to the Duke of Gloucester, 38, 140; Henry +Tudor had no right to the title, 109, 133 _n._, 144 + +Richmond Castle, 107 + +Rivers, Earl, flight with Edward IV., 42, 44; landed at Pole, 46; +Constable of the Tower, 78; in charge of his nephew at Ludlow, 88; +arrested, 90; tried and executed, 99, 216, 217; made Richard III. +supervisor of his will, 99, 160; his literary attainments, 115; his son +a minor, 109 + +Robsart, Sir Terry, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Rochester, Bishop of, Dr. Audley, at Richard's coronation, 144, 146 + +Rockingham Forest, 1 + +Rogers, Thomas, keeper of the ships, 135, 144 + +Rogers, Mr. Thorold, on the character of Edward IV., 37; on the Wars of +the Roses, 104; opinion of churchmen, 118; disbelief in the murder of +Henry VI., 198 + +Roos, Lord, with Henry and Margaret at York, 24, 27; beheaded at +Hexham, 59 + +Roos, Sir Henry, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Roos, Sir William, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Rose of Raby, _see_ York, Duchess of + +Roses, Wars of the, their causes, 6, 104; the nobility not annihilated, +37, 105; not a war of the people, 104 + +Rotherham, Archbishop, 88, 100 + +Roucliffe, Brian, Baron of the Exchequer, 145 + +Rouen, children of the Duke of York born at, 3, 6 + +Rous, John, an unblushing time server, 173, 174; on Richard's birth, +186; reason of his silence about Tewkesbury, 191; Henry VI., 195; +Countess of Warwick, 201; trial of Rivers, 217 _n._; death of Queen +Anne, 228; adoption of Warwick as heir, alleged supersession by +Lincoln, 138; death of the princes, 244 + +Rumours of the deaths of the princes alleged to have existed, 239; +Croyland Monk, 240; no evidence, 241; Morton in the Isle of Ely, 242; +spread by Henry VII., 256 + +Russell, Dr., Bishop of Lincoln, his speech on investiture of the Duke +of Burgundy with the Garter, 113; an upright prelate, 118; King +Richard's Chancellor, 144; at the coronation, 144; commissioner for +peace with Scotland, 145 + +Rutland, Earl of, _see_ Edmund + + +Saints' days, letters always dated on, 119 + +St. Albans, battles of, 17, 56, 57 + +St. Albans, Book of, 108 + +St. Asaph, Bishop of, B. Redman, 129, 146; commissioner for peace with +Scotland, 145 + +St. David's, Bishop, 109. _See_ Langton + +St. Denis, at York, Earl of Northumberland buried at, 34 + +St. Germain, Walter, loyal to the last, 252 + +St. John, Prior of, _see_ Langstrother + +St. Leger, Sir Thomas, traitor, 131; beheaded, 132 + +St. Liz, Simon de, founder of Fotheringhay, 1 + +St. Lo, Sir John, knighted at Tewkesbury, 77 + +St. Martin's Day, stock killed and salted on, 121 + +St. Martin's le Grand sanctuary, Anne Nevill in, 81 + +St. Miheil, 60 + +St. Pol, Duke of Burgundy's Court, 43, 60 + +Salisbury, Buckingham beheaded at, 132 + +Salisbury, Bishop of, 100; traitor, 132, 146; at Richard's coronation, +144. _See_ Woodville + +Salisbury, Earl of, with the Duke of York at Sandal, 10, 13; at +Wakefield, 14; taken prisoner and put to death, 16, 21; head exposed at +York, 17; funeral at Bisham, 34; town house at Cold Harbour, 110 + +Salisbury, Earl of, _see_ Edward + +Salkeld, Wm., arrested the Earl of Wiltshire at Cockermouth, 34 + +Sanctuary at Westminster, 91, 136, 241; at St. Martin's le Grand, 81 + +Sandal Castle, Duke of York's inheritance, 3; the Duke arrived at, +description, 11-12; ruins, 12; surrounding country, 13; Duke's +Christmas at, 13, 14 + +Sandford, on the death of Clarence, 202, 203 _n._ + +Sandwich, 80 + +Sapcote, William, loyal to the last, 252 + +Sasiola, Galfridus de, _see_ Spanish Ambassador + +Savage, Sir John, joined Henry Tudor at Bosworth, 149, 154 + +Saxton, near Towton, _see_ Towton _and_ Hungate; Lord Dacre buried at, +34, 35 + +Saye, Lord, flight with Edward IV., 42, 44; slain at Barnet, 51 + +Saye, Sir William, created K.B., 147 + +Sayer, William, payments to, for keep of Henry VI., 197 + +Scarthingwell, 27, 28 + +Scotland, flight of Henry VI. to, 34, 58; Richard's campaign in, 85, +86; peace with, 139, 145; Margaret of Anjou in, 9 + +Scotton, _see_ Percy + +Scrope, of Bolton, Lord, with Edward, 23; wounded at Towton, 32; +Richard's neighbour, 130, 143; at Richard's coronation, 109; executions +by, 132 _n._; hurrying to the aid of the king, 151 + +Scrope of Masham, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Severn, 71, 72; slaughter at a ford, after Tewkesbury, 75; great flood, +131 + +Seymour, Sir John, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Shaundé, Philibert de, in command of Henry Tudor's troops, 142; at +Bosworth, 153, 154 + +Shaw, Dr., sermon, misrepresented by Morton and Polydore Virgil, 220, +221; false date, 215 + +Sheen, 35 + +Sherburn, 27, 29 + +Sheriff Hutton, 84; chapel added to the church by Richard, 85; tomb of +Edward Prince of Wales at, 137; Edward, King Richard's heir, at, 138, +142 + +Shore, Jane, 100; married to the Solicitor-General, 145 _n._ + +Shrewsbury, Earl of, a minor, 109, 143 + +Simnel, Lambert, 280 + +Skinners' Company, 112 + +Skipton, 84 + +Skipwith, Sir John, at the Duke of York's obsequies, 39 + +Slaughter or Slater ('Black Will'), 260, 264, 269; rewards to, 271 + +Sluys, 60 + +Smith, Wm., Bishop of Lichfield, 146 + +Smyth, William, 5 + +Sodor and Man, Bishop of, 146 + +Somerset, Duke of, at the battle of Wakefield, 14; and Towton, 23; made +his peace, 36; beheaded at Hexham, 59 + +Somerset, Duke of, Edmund, Buckingham's descent from, 225; at Barnet, +49; with Margaret, 69, 70; at Tewkesbury, 73; his charge, 74, 75; +beheaded, 76; title became extinct, 37 + +Sopwell, Prioress of, _see_ Berners, Juliana + +Southampton, 54 + +Southwick, 54 + +Spanish Ambassador, 130; knighted at York, 130, _see_ Ayala Sasiola + +Spofforth, 84 + +Sport, _see_ Hunting + +Stafford, Humphrey, at Bosworth for the king, 155; loyal to the last, +252 + +Stafford, Sir Thomas, at Bosworth for the king, 155 + +Stallworthe, Reverend Simon, letter to Sir W. Stonor, with real date of +execution of Hastings, 214 + +Stanley, Lady, mother of Henry Tudor, 140; at Richard's coronation bore +the queen's train, 126, 127, 235; her intrigues, 131, 133, 226, 231; +pardoned by the king, 148, 231 + +Stanley, Lord, 109, 111; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; Lord +Steward, 144; commissioner for peace with Scotland, 145; the only Peer +who joined Henry Tudor, 149; raised forces, 149; secret interview with +Henry Tudor, 149; treachery at Bosworth, 150, 152, 153; threw off the +mask, 155, 159; objects of the Stanleys, 148 + +Stanley, Sir Ralph, wounded and taken prisoner at Wakefield, 15 + +Stanley, Sir Wm., captured Margaret of Anjou, 78; treachery at +Bosworth, 156; retribution, 158; knew the truth about the princes, 244 + +Stapleton, Sir Brian, for the king at Bosworth, 155 + +Stapleton village, 152 + +Stillingfleet church, 96 _n._ + +Stillington, Dr., Bishop of Bath and Wells; his disclosure of Edward's +first marriage, 93-97; account of, 94-96; treatment by Henry VII., 251 + +Stoke Golding, 152, 153, 157 + +Stonor, Sir William, _see_ Stallworthe + +Stony Stratford, 90 + +Story, Ed., Bishop of Chichester, 146 + +Stourbridge, 112 + +Stourton, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Stow's Chronicle, 179, 185, 191 + +Strange, Lord, 231-232 + +Strickland, Miss, on Richard's marriage with Anne, 201 + +Strickland, Sir Thomas, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; loyal to the +king, 151 + +Suffolk, Duchess of, _see_ Elizabeth + +Suffolk, Duke and Duchess, 53, 54; received Margaret of Anjou at +Ewelme, 78 + +Suffolk, Duke of, at Richard's coronation bearing the sceptre, 109, +143; king's brother-in-law, 110 + +Supersedeas, _see_ Parliament + +Surrey, Earl of, son married to Anne daughter of Edward IV., 86 _n._; +at Richard's coronation bearing the sword of state in the scabbard, +109, 127, 143; Knight of the Garter, 146; at Bosworth for King Richard, +151, 252 + +Sutton Cheney, 152; king's army formed near, 154 + + +Tadcaster, 26, 27, 46 + +Talbot, Sir Gilbert, his treason, 148; at Bosworth, 154 + +Talbots, 148 + +Talboys, Sir William, at Towton for Henry, 24; beheaded at York, 34 + +Tattershall Castle, built of brick by Lord Bourchier, 107 + +Taunton, 70 + +Temple, John Paston's chambers in, _see_ Paston, John + +Tewkesbury, 72; battle, 74-75, King Richard at, 128, 129; contemporary +accounts, Warkworth, Croyland Monk, Comines, 189; Stories of Fabyan, +190; Polydore Virgil, 190; Grafton, Hall, Holinshed, Habington, 190; +silence of Morton and Rous, 191, 192; Mr. Gairdner's view, 286, 287, +288; executions after the battle, 76, 77, 288; pardons, 77 + +Throgmorton, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Tickhill Castle, 107 + +Tipton, Lord, _see_ Worcester, Earl of + +Titchfield, Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou married at, 54 + +'Titulus Regius,' a State Paper explaining King Richard's title to the +crown, 101; became an Act of Parliament, 134, 218; attempt of Henry +VII. to destroy all copies, 218, 250, 279 + +Townshend, Rodger, Judge of the King's Bench, 145, 146 + +Towton, battle of, numbers, 25, 31; distances, 25; description of the +surrounding country, 26; formation of the Lancastrian line, 31; battle, +32, 33. _See_ Fauconberg, Edward IV., Horne + +Tremayne, Thomas, King's Serjeant, 146 + +Tresham, Speaker, 104 + +Trollope, Sir Andrew, Lancastrian chief of the staff at Wakefield, 14, +16; at Towton, 25; his antecedents, 25; in the centre, 31, 106; slain, +33 + +Tudor, Edmund, created Earl of Richmond, but forfeited by attainder, 38 + +Tudor, Henry, 109, 125; not Earl of Richmond, 38; came across the +Channel but afraid to land, 131; traitor, 133 _n._, claim to the crown, +140, 141 _n._; family and origin, 140; lands at Milford Haven, 142; +interviews with the Stanleys, 149, 153; encamped at White Moors, 153; +in the rear of the battle of Bosworth, 154; contrast between Richard +III. and Henry VII., 160 _n._ _See_ Henry VII. + +Tudor, Jasper, 70; levies in Wales, 70, 71; traitor, 133 _n._, 140; +came with his nephew, 148; at Bosworth, 154; formerly Earl of Pembroke, +but attainted, 133 _n._ + +Tudors in Wales, 10, 18; their paid writers, 168; their fables, 183, 187 + +Tunbridge Castle, Duchess of York and her children prisoners at, 7 + +Tunstall, Sir Richard, Knight of the Garter, 147 + +Turner, Sharon, doubted most of Tudor stories, 181 + +Tuxford, 39 + +Tweed, river near Bosworth, 152 + +Tynemouth, 58 + +Tyrrel, Sir James, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; escorted the Countess +of Warwick to Middleham, 201, 202; stories after his execution, 258, +259, 260, 261; betrayal by Bishop Fox, 273; his previous career, 268; +alleged confession, 263; taken into favour by Henry, 269; his two +pardons, 269, 270; murder of the princes, 269; rewards from Henry, 272; +pretext for getting rid of him, 272, 273, 279; Tyrrel's son restored in +blood, 277 + + +Urswick, Dr., 231 + +Utrecht, Richard and George at, 18, 38 + + +Van Borselle, Lord of Walcheren, 44 + +Vaudemont, Ferry de, 67 + +Vaughan, Sir Thomas, 88; arrested, 90; beheaded, 100 + +Vaux, Lady, 74 + +Vaux, Sir Thomas, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Vavasour, John, King's Serjeant, 146 + +Vavasours, of Hazlewood, near Towton, 26 + +Veere, expedition of Edward IV. fitted out at, 44 + +Venery, works on, by the second Duke of York, 108; Juliana Berners, 108 + +Vere, John, _see_ Oxford, Earl of + +Vignolle, François de, 79 + +Virgil, _see_ Polydore + + +Wake, Roger, loyal to the last, 252 + +Walcheren, 44 + +Walleys pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Wallingford Castle, 79, 197 + +Walsingham pilgrimages, 119 + +Warbeck, Perkin, 258, 275 + +Wardrobe, royal, 111; keeper of the, 145 + +Wardrobe, the, in Blackfriars, a royal residence in the City, 139 + +Warkworth, Dr., on Tewkesbury, 189; on the date of Henry's death, 175, +194, 199 + +Warwick, 47; King Richard at, 129 + +Warwick, Countess of, in France, 66, 67; at Beaulieu, 69; joined her +daughter at Middleham, 82, 84, 201, 202; inheritance, 81, 82 + +Warwick, Earl of, _see_ Edward + +Warwick, Richard Nevill Earl of, 7, 10, 22, 23, 28; gave Richard his +military training, 40; his treason, 66; conspiracy with Margaret of +Anjou, 41, 67; outmanoeuvred by Edward, 47, 48; at Barnet, 49, 50; +slain, 51; buried at Bisham, 51; division of his estates, 80 + +Watkin, Walter, herald in Richard's time, loyal to the last, 252 + +Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, 55; received Richard at Oxford, 129, +146 + +Weavers, Flemish, 112 + +Welch, John, _alias_ Hastings, loyal to the last, 252 + +Welles, Lord, slain at Towton, 33; buried at Methley, 34; son forgiven, +36; traitor, 132 _n._; married Princess Cicely, 86 _n._, 271 + +Wenlock, Sir John, at Towton, 23, 30, 32; created Lord Wenlock, 35; +joined Margaret of Anjou, 70; slain in the battle of Tewkesbury, 74, 76 + +Wensleydale, 82 + +Wentford, Sir Philip, 120 + +Wentworth, Sir Eustace, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +Westminster, John Esteney, Abbot of, 114; coronation of Edward IV., 35; +coronation of Richard III., 126, 127; sanctuary, 91, 136, 241; tower +built by King Richard at, 161 + +Westminster school, its antiquity, 116 + +Westmoreland, Earl of, 109, 143; cousin to the king, 110; not at +Towton, a mistake of Leland followed by Hall, 29 _n._ + +Weymouth, 69 + +'White Hart' Inn, in Southwark, 112, 122 + +White Moors at Bosworth, 153 + +Whittingham, Sir R., slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Wigmore Castle, 3 + +Willoughby, Sir Christopher, created K.B., 147 + +Willoughby, Sir Robert, 149; sent to Sheriff Hutton to seize Edward and +Elizabeth, 248 + +Wilson, John, 120 + +Wiltshire, Earl of, at Wakefield, 14; at Towton, 24, 31; beheaded, 34; +brother restored, 36; at Richard's coronation bearing the queen's +crown, 127, 143 + +Winchester, Bishop of, _see_ Waynflete _and_ Fox + +Winchester School, 116 + +Windsor, St. George's Chapel, stall plate of Richard III., 38; Edward +IV. at, 70; present from the wardrobe to the college, 111; Edward IV. +buried at, 86; Henry VI. buried, 139; nearly finished by Richard III., +139, 161; portrait of Richard III. at, 40 _n._, 124 + +Wodehouse, Sir Edward, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Wolesley, Ralph, Baron of the Exchequer, 145 + +Wolferstone, Sir Roger, at Towton for Edward, 23 + +Woodville, Elizabeth, _see_ Elizabeth + +Woodville faction, their enrichment, 41; bribed by Louis XI., 82; their +designs, 88; caused the death of Clarence, 88, 95; their conspiracy +defeated, 88-91, 131; marriages into noble families, 88. _See_ Rivers + +Woodville, Lionel, Bishop of Salisbury, at Richard's coronation, 126, +235 + +Wool and cloth fair, 112 + +Woolley Edge, 13 + +Worcester, 77, 128 + +Worcester, Bishop of, _see_ Alcock + +Worcester, Tiptoft Earl of, author and statesman, 115; Caxton's lament +at his death, 115, 116 + +Wykeham, William of, founder of Winchester School, 116 + + +York, flight of Henry VI. from, after Towton, 34, 58; King Edward at, +34; Prince Richard's beneficial connection with, 84; King Richard at, +130; loyalty of the citizens, 130; sent 80 men to reinforce the king at +Bosworth, 151; mourned the death of Richard, 159 + +York, Archbishop of, _see_ Nevill, Rotherham. + +York, Duchess of (_see_ Rose of Raby _and_ Nevill, Lady Cecil), 3; +twelve children, 3, 6; taken prisoner at Ludlow, 7; refuge in Paston's +chambers, 7; joined the Duke, 7; last parting with the Duke, 10, 11; +sent her little sons to Holland, 18, 21; Richard residing with her, 91, +92; Richard's letter to his mother, 92 _n._; long widowhood and death, +93 _n._; buried at Fotheringhay, 93 _n._; slanders of Morton and +Polydore Virgil, 220, 221; in the secret of her son's contract with +Lady Eleanor Butler, 94; slandered by Morton and Polydore Virgil, 220, +297 + +York, Edmund Duke of, rebuilt Fotheringhay, 1, 2, 11 + +York, Edward Duke of, author of a work on sport, 108 + +York, Richard Duke of, his great possessions, 3; wife and children, 3, +6; letter from his sons, 4; cause of his resort to arms, 6, 104; defeat +of Ludlow, 7; at Baynard's Castle with his family, 9, 10; march north, +11; at Sandal, 13; betrayed, 11; slain in the battle of Wakefield, 15; +his head stuck on Micklegate Bar, 17; outrages imputed to Margaret and +Clifford untrue, 17 _n._; magnificent obsequies at Fotheringhay, 39 + +'York Records,' edited by Mr. Davies. Evidence of loyalty to King +Richard and against alleged deformity, 186; disproves second coronation +at York, 177, 227, 228; Earl of Warwick a Councillor until May 1485, +138; children in the king's household, 126; the _supersedeas_ and +letter to York, 100 + +Yorkist captains at Wakefield, 10, 15; at Towton, 23 + +Yorkist kings, nearly of pure English blood, 166 + +Yorkist princes, the leading sportsmen of England, 108 + +Yorkists, introduction of printing their chief glory, 113 + + +Zouch, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; hurried to the help of +the king, 151; slain at Bosworth, 155, 157; loyal to the last, 252 + +Zouch, Sir W., created K.B., 147 +ENDX + + + +PRINTED BY + +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. LTD., NEW-STREET SQUARE + +LONDON + + + + +====================================================================== + + + + +NEW AND FORTHCOMING WORKS. + + +THE 'KNUTSFORD' EDITION OF MRS. GASKELL'S WORKS. + +In 8 vols. Crown 8vo. cut edges, cloth, gilt top, price 4s. 6d. each +net. 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Markham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Richard III: His Life & Character + Reviewed in the light of recent research + +Author: Clements R. Markham + +Release Date: June 17, 2011 [EBook #36451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHARD III: HIS LIFE & CHARACTER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="<I>King Richard III. From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery</I>" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +<I>King Richard III. <BR>From a picture in the National Portrait Gallery</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +RICHARD III: HIS LIFE & CHARACTER +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +REVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY SIR CLEMENTS E. MARKHAM, K.C.B. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +AUTHOR OF 'THE LIFE OF THE<BR> +GREAT LORD FAIRFAX' AND<BR> +'THE FIGHTING VERES'<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +WITH A PORTRAIT +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +LONDON: SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. +<BR> +15 WATERLOO PLACE. 1906 +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +(<I>All rights reserved</I>) +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pv"></A>v}</SPAN> +</P> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +There are periods of history when the greatest caution is called for in +accepting statements put forward by a dominant faction. Very early in +my life I came to the conclusion that the period which witnessed the +change of dynasties from Plantagenet to Tudor was one of these. The +caricature of the last Plantagenet King was too grotesque, and too +grossly opposed to his character derived from official records. The +stories were an outrage on common-sense. I studied the subject at +intervals for many years, and in the course of my researches I found +that I more or less shared my doubts with every author of repute who +had studied the subject for the last three centuries, except Hume and +Lingard. My own conclusions are that Richard III. must be acquitted on +all the counts of the indictment. The present work is divided into two +parts, the first narrating the events of his life and times, and the +second examining the various accusations against him. I did not +contemplate publication because I thought that in these days prejudices +were too strong to make it possible that a fair and candid hearing +should be given to the arguments. But I determined to consult +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pvi"></A>vi}</SPAN> +some historical friends, and I was pleased to find that to a great +extent I was mistaken. +</P> + +<P> +In the first place, I wrote a full abstract of my arguments, for +publication in the 'Historical Review,' acting under the advice of my +old schoolfellow, Professor Freeman, to whom I sent it in the first +instance. It so happened that Mr. Freeman had given attention to part +of the subject. He upset some odious fabrications of the chroniclers +affecting the character of Margaret of Anjou, by proving that she was +in Scotland at the time when the battle of Wakefield was fought. +Freeman seldom wrote on so late a period of our history, and we owe +this modern excursion to a visit to Mr. Milnes Gaskell at Thornes. +</P> + +<P> +After reading what I sent him, Professor Freeman wrote on August 13, +1890: 'Your abstract has set me a-thinking. It is only a Robert of +Bellême who does that kind of thing. On your main point I will talk to +Gardiner and Stubbs. Meanwhile, I have shown your manuscript to Sidney +Owen, who read it and held it to be what lawyers would call +<I>considerable</I>. Owen had been at those times, and holds Henry VII. to +be at least capable of it. +</P> + +<P> +'It would be a self-denying ordinance in Gairdner if he accepted your +view, for he has gone more straight at that time than anybody else. +Gardiner has written to him, and he is a little fierce, as was to be +expected, but if you are like me, no man's fierceness will hinder you +from dining and sleeping as well as usual. The matter is at all events +worth discussing.' +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pvii"></A>vii}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Professor York Powell read my manuscript, and wrote: 'I have read the +manuscript and think there is something worth looking into. Henry's +conduct to Tyrrell is exceedingly suspicious. Either Richard or Henry +might have put the boys to death, but it would be interesting for many +reasons to know which it was. I am not convinced by Markham, but I do +not think Gairdner has the right to be cocksure. The Morton suggestive +idea is very ingenious and pretty, and quite probable. It has +interested me much to read Markham's letter, for I remember my +difficulties in the matter and the point I got to, that the great men +did not, for a time, hold the now vulgate view of the murder of the +princes. I should rejoice should Markham light upon additional +evidence in favour of his thesis, which <I>à priori</I> is by no means +unlikely. There is something about Richard's character, ability, and +reign which, I think, attracts every real student of history, and gives +one a feeling that he has been unfairly dealt with.' +</P> + +<P> +In 1891, the abstract of my work was published in the 'Historical +Review,' and Bishop Creighton, who was then the editor, wrote: 'Thank +you for your paper, which I have read with great interest. It +certainly makes out a strong case.' +</P> + +<P> +There were two rejoinders from Mr. Gairdner, which enabled me to recast +and improve parts of my work by the light of his criticism. +</P> + +<P> +I lost my adviser, Mr. Freeman, in 1892. One of the last things he did +was to warn me of an objection +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pviii"></A>viii}</SPAN> +taken by Miss Edith Thompson, +which enabled me to meet it.[<A NAME="chap00fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap00fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P> +After careful revision I showed my manuscript to the late Sir Archibald +Milman, who had given close attention to those times. On December 27, +1897, he wrote: 'It is your bounden duty to tell your story of Richard +III., giving the date for every fact. It is only by sticking to dates +that you get at truth in criminal causes, and the same method must be +followed at the bar of history. It would be a pleasure to think that +the last Plantagenet was not a cruel scoundrel. By giving dates and +authorities for them, you render a great service. Richard's loyalty +and able administration in the north seem inconsistent with such +ferocity. I was much interested in one of your facts, that, according +to the story put forward by Henry VII., the bodies of the little +princes were taken up from the place of hasty interment and placed in +consecrated ground. But lo! they remained under the staircase, where +they were found in Charles II.'s reign.' +</P> + +<P> +In consequence of Sir A. Milman's letter I made another close scrutiny +of dates given by various authorities for the same events with +important results. I also went very carefully over the ground of the +battlefields of Wakefield, Towton, Barnet, Tewkesbury, and Bosworth; +and I added some chapters to the work. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pix"></A>ix}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The correspondence to which I have referred has led me to the +conclusion that students of history are not, as I once believed, +unwilling to reconsider the questions which form the subject of the +present work, when they are presented from new points of view; and that +the well-known arguments which were supposed to suffice for the defence +of the Tudor stories in the past are in these days insufficient. The +numerous points now raised and submitted for the judgment of students +are at all events worth discussing. The present work is about as +complete as very frequent revision can make it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00fn1text">1</A>] She pointed out that the titles of Norfolk and Nottingham, granted +by Edward IV. to his second son Richard, were given by Richard III. to +Lords Howard and Berkeley, and that, therefore, young Richard must have +been dead. The answer is that the grants to Lords Howard and Berkeley +were made on June 28, 1483, before it was even pretended that young +Richard had been murdered. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxi"></A>xi}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + PAGE + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#Pv">v</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<I>PART I</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +CHAPTER I +<BR> +BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Description of Fotheringhay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P1">1</A> + Possessions of the Duke of York. Marriage . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P3">3</A> + Birth of Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P3">3</A> + Letter of Edward and Edmund to their father . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P4">4</A> + Children of the Duke of York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P6">6</A> + Richard a prisoner of war aged 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P7">7</A> + Refuge in John Paston's chambers . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P8">8</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER II +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +DEATH OF RICHARD'S FATHER AND BROTHER AT THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + The Duke of York declared Heir-Apparent . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P9">9</A> + The Duke and his family united at Baynard's Castle . . . . <A HREF="#P10">10</A> + March to Sandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P11">11</A> + Description of Sandal Castle and its neighbourhood . . . . <A HREF="#P12">12</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> + Battle of Wakefield. Death of the Duke . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> + Death of Edmund, Earl of Rutland . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A> + Cruelty and inhuman folly of the Lancastrians . . . . . . <A HREF="#P17">17</A> + Edward's victory at Mortimer's Cross . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P18">18</A> + George and Richard sent to Holland for safety . . . . . . <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxii"></A>xii}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER III +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +THE CROWNING VICTORY OF TOWTON +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Description of Edward IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P20">20</A> + Edward proclaimed King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A> + March to the north. Yorkist leaders . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P23">23</A> + Lancastrian leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P24">24</A> + Sir Andrew Trollope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P25">25</A> + Description of the country round Towton . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P26">26</A> + Surprise at Ferrybridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P27">27</A> + Chase and death of Clifford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P28">28</A> + Yorkists march to Saxton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P29">29</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A> + Marshalling of the Lancastrians . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P31">31</A> + Battle of Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A> + Flight of Henry and his partisans. Edward at York . . . . <A HREF="#P34">34</A> + Coronation of Edward IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P35">35</A> + Edward's generous treatment of his foes . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P36">36</A> + Chapel built by Richard at Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P37">37</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER IV +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +THE CROWN LOST AND WON--BATTLE OF BARNET +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Return of George and Richard from Holland . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P38">38</A> + Their Dukedoms, Earldoms and Richard's K.G. . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P38">38</A> + Richard chief mourner at his father's obsequies . . . . . <A HREF="#P39">39</A> + Military training under Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Description of Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P40">40</A> + Treason of Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P41">41</A> + Flight of Edward and Richard to Holland. . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> + Expedition fitted out at Veere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P44">44</A> + Landing at Ravenspur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P45">45</A> + Edward's brilliant campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> + Richard's negotiation with Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P48">48</A> + Battle of Barnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER V +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Birth and marriage of Margaret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> + Birth of Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P55">55</A> + Adventures in the wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</PRE> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxiii"></A>xiii}</SPAN> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Home at Koeur-la-Petite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P60">60</A> + Edward's conversations with the Chief Justice . . . . . . <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A> + Agreement with Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P67">67</A> + Description of young Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P68">68</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER VI +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Margaret and Edward land at Weymouth . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P69">69</A> + Advance to Bristol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P70">70</A> + King Edward's plan of campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P71">71</A> + Description of the battle field . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P72">72</A> + March of King Edward's army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P73">73</A> + Battle of Tewkesbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A> + Death of Edward of Lancaster on the battle field . . . . . <A HREF="#P75">75</A> + Execution of some leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P76">76</A> + Pardon of the rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P77">77</A> + Death of Henry VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P78">78</A> + Ransom of Margaret. Her death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P79">79</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER VII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +MARRIED LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Richard's march to Sandwich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P80">80</A> + Marriage of Richard and Anne Nevill . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Richard with his brother in France . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P82">82</A> + Description of Middleham Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P83">83</A> + Home life at Middleham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + Public duties. Frequent visits to York . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P84">84</A> + Warden of the Marches. Scottish campaign . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> + Death of Edward IV. Lady Grey. Children . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER VIII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +ACCESSION OF RICHARD III +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Conspiracy of the Woodvilles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P88">88</A> + Richard made Protector by his brother's will . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P89">89</A> + Arrest of Rivers and his colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P90">90</A> + Queen Dowager in sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P91">91</A> + Richard and his mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P92">92</A> + Disclosure of Bishop Stillington . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P93">93</A> +</PRE> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxiv"></A>xiv}</SPAN> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Account of Bishop Stillington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P94">94-95</A> + Foundation of the College at Acaster . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P96">96</A> + Children of Edward IV. illegitimate . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P97">97</A> + Hastings-Woodville conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A> + Execution of Rivers and his colleagues . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A> + Richard's title to the crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P101">101</A> + Accession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P102">102</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER IX +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Results of the Lancastrian usurpation . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P103">103</A> + Effects of the Wars of the Roses . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P104">104</A> + No destruction of the nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P105">105</A> + Scenery. Country life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P106">106</A> + Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P107">107</A> + Hunting and hawking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P108">108</A> + The Peerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P109">109</A> + Town residences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P110">110</A> + Magnificence of the Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P111">111</A> + Wealth of merchants. City Companies . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P112">112</A> + Introduction of printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P113">113</A> + Caxton's works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A> + Literary noblemen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> + Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P117">117</A> + Bishops. Clergy. Monasteries. Pilgrimages . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P118">118-119</A> + Lawlessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P120">120</A> + Manor houses. Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P121">121</A> + Condition of the people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P122">122-123</A> + Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P123">123</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER X +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +REIGN OF RICHARD III +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Description of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P124">124</A> + Treatment of his nephews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P125">125</A> + Coronation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P126">126-127</A> + Claim of Buckingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P128">128</A> + Royal Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P129">129-130</A> + Rebellion of Buckingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P131">131-132</A> +</PRE> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxv"></A>xv}</SPAN> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + List of traitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P132">132-133</A> + Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P134">134</A> + Reforms. Revenue. Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P135">135</A> + Convocation. Agreement with the Queen Dowager . . . . . . <A HREF="#P136">136</A> + Death of the Prince of Wales. His tomb . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P137">137</A> + Edward Earl of Warwick made Heir-Apparent . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P138">138</A> + King Richard's popularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P139">139</A> + Conspiracy of Henry Tudor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P140">140</A> + The King assembled troops at Nottingham . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P141">141</A> + Proclamation against Henry Tudor . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P143">143</A> + Peerage of Richard III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P143">143</A> + Ministers of Richard III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P144">144</A> + Commissioners for Peace with Scotland . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P145">145</A> + Judges and Law Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P145">145</A> + Bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Knights of the Garter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P146">146</A> + Knights of the Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER XI +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Treachery of the Stanleys explained . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P148">148</A>, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> + King Richard's military talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + English pluck displayed by Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P150">150</A> + Loyal men flocking to the King's standard . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P151">151</A> + Description of the country round Bosworth . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P152">152</A> + Positions of the two armies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P153">153</A> + King Richard leads his men to the encounter . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P154">154</A> + Treachery of Lord Stanley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P155">155</A> + The King's gallant charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P155">155</A> + Death of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P155">155-156-157</A> + Richard buried at Leicester. Memorials . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P158">158</A> + Character of King Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P159">159</A> + His generosity. Arbitrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P160">160</A> + Able administration. Building operations . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P161">161</A> + Literary tastes. Founded the Heralds' College . . . . . . <A HREF="#P162">162</A> + Comparison of Richard and the Tudors . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P163">163</A> + His married life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P164">164</A> + Contemporary Sovereigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P165">165</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxvi"></A>xvi}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +<I>PART II</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER I +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +THE AUTHORITIES +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + The Plantagenet Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P166">166</A> + Character and position of the accusers . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P167">167</A> + Extravagance of their caricature . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P167">167</A> + Writers in the pay of the Tudors . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P168">168</A> + The notorious pamphlet by Morton . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P168">168-171</A> + Bernard André . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P171">171</A> + Polydore Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P171">171-172</A> + Rous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P173">173</A> + Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P174">174</A> + Warkworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P175">175</A> + Continuators of the Croyland Chronicle . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P175">175-178</A> + Official documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P179">179</A> + Hall, Grafton, Holinshed, Stow, Buck . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P179">179</A> + Reaction. Modern authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P181">181</A> + Miss Halsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P182">182</A> + Upholders of the Tudor stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P182">182-183</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER II +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Reckless profusion of abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P184">184</A> + Deformity. Statement of Rous and Morton . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P185">185</A> + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P186">186</A> + Object of the calumny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P187">187</A> + Tewkesbury. The truth told by all contemporaries . . . . <A HREF="#P188">188-189</A> + Fable by Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P190">190</A> + Polydore Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P190">190</A> + Subsequent embellishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P190">190</A> + Silence of Morton and Rous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P191">191-192</A> + Henry VI. Insinuations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P193">193</A> + Warkworth and Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P194">194-195</A> + The Croyland Monk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P195">195</A> + Polydore Virgil contradicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P196">196</A> + All unworthy of credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P196">196</A> + Evidence of the accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P197">197</A> +</PRE> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxvii"></A>xvii}</SPAN> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Evidence of a contemporary writer . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P198">198</A> + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P199">199</A> + Marriage. Richard and Anne really attached . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P200">200</A> + Attack of Miss Strickland, a specimen of the sort + of arguments used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P201">201</A> + Countess of Warwick. False statement of Rous . . . . . . <A HREF="#P201">201</A> + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P202">202</A> + Death of Clarence. Charge absolutely groundless . . . . . <A HREF="#P202">202</A> + Another specimen of argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P203">203</A> + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P204">204</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER III +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Some account of Morton, the chief accuser . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P205">205-207</A> + Misrepresentation of events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P208">208-210</A> + Cunning misrepresentations respecting Hastings . . . . . . <A HREF="#P210">210-212</A> + Falsification of dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P215">215-217</A> + The accession. The true claim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P218">218</A> + Attempt of Henry VII. to destroy the evidence . . . . <A HREF="#P219">219</A> + Polydore Virgil's version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P220">220</A> + Morton's version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P221">221</A> + Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P222">222</A> + Further falsification of dates . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P223">223</A> + Buckingham's treason. False reason given for + his discontent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P223">223</A> + The truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P224">224</A> + Morton's account of conversations . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P225">225</A>, <A HREF="#P226">226</A> + Second coronation. Statement disproved . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P227">227</A> + Death of the Queen. Slanders of Polydore and Rous . . . . <A HREF="#P228">228</A> + Elizabeth of York. Absurd rumour spread . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P229">229</A> + Elizabeth's letter to the Duke of Norfolk . . . . . . <A HREF="#P229">229-230</A> + Intrigues of Henry's mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P231">231</A> + Lord Strange. The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P232">232</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER IV +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +THE MAIN CHARGE AGAINST RICHARD III +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Rests on the truth or falsehood of previous crimes . . . . <A HREF="#P233">233</A> + Richard's antecedents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P234">234</A> + Nothing to fear from his nephews . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P235">235</A> +</PRE> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxviii"></A>xviii}</SPAN> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Treatment of others in the same position . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P236">236</A> + His nephews were probably members of his household . . . . <A HREF="#P236">236</A> + Bill, in March 1485, for the elder nephew . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P237">237</A> + Conduct of the mother and sister . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P238">238-239</A> + Alleged rumours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P240">240-242</A> + Assertion of the French Chancellor . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P242">242</A> + Statements of Fabyan, Rous, Polydore, André . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P244">244</A> + Sir William Stanley's conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P244">244</A> + Baseless rumours promulgated by Henry . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P245">245</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER V +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +HENRY TUDOR IN THE DOCK +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Description of Henry VII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P246">246</A> + His lawless executions after Bosworth . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P247">247</A> + Responsible for the lives of royal children . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P248">248</A> + Henry's character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P249">249</A> + Necessity to strengthen his position . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P250">250</A> + His Parliament of outlaws. Unjust attainders . . . . . . <A HREF="#P251">251</A> + Loyal men attainted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P252">252</A> + Silent about the late King's nephews. Were they missing? <A HREF="#P253">253</A> + If alive, Henry's marriage necessitated their deaths . . . <A HREF="#P254">254</A> + Henry's treatment of other victims in his way . . . . . . <A HREF="#P255">255</A> + The fate of the princes, if alive, was sealed by + the marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P256">256</A> + Imprisonment of the Queen Dowager . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P257">257</A> + Henry put forward a story, in Polydore Virgil . . . . . . <A HREF="#P258">258</A> + A more detailed story, published by Rastell and Grafton <A HREF="#P260">260-263</A> + Rewards alleged to have been given by Richard + to murderers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P264">264</A>, <A HREF="#P265">265</A> + Confession of Tyrrel and Dighton fabricated . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P267">267</A> + Genesis of these stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P267">267</A> + Some account of Sir James Tyrrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P268">268</A> + Henry's grant to John Green. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P269">269</A> + Tyrrel taken into favour. His two pardons . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P269">269</A> + Murder of the two Princes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P269">269</A> + Relations silenced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P270">270-271</A> + Hush money to 'Black Will' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P271">271</A> + Reward to Dighton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P272">272</A> + Rewards and employments for Tyrrel . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P272">272</A> + Treacherous arrest and hurried execution of Tyrrel . . . . <A HREF="#P273">273</A> + Dighton to reside at Calais . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P274">274</A> + The story put forward and generally accepted . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P274">274</A> +</PRE> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxix"></A>xix}</SPAN> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Judicial murder of the Earl of Warwick . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P275">275</A> + Henry's remorse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P276">276</A> + Elizabeth saw the cruel treatment of her mother and cousin + Her death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P277">277</A> + Henry's design to kill the Earl of Suffolk . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P277">277</A> + His death. Successful as this world counts success . . . <A HREF="#P278">278</A> + Things unexplained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P279">279</A>, <A HREF="#P280">280</A> +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHAPTER VI +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +MR. GAIRDNER'S RICHARD III +</P> +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Mr. Gairdner's view of the alleged crimes . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P281">281</A> + Views stated in Mr. Gairdner's preface . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P282">282</A> + Richard's character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P283">283</A> + Richard acquitted of several charges . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P285">285</A> + Tudor fables irreconcileable with Richard's character . . <A HREF="#P285">285</A> + Mr. Gairdner's latest view of the Tewkesbury charge . . . <A HREF="#P286">286-287</A> + On Edward IV.'s proceedings after Tewkesbury . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P289">289-290</A> + His view of the Henry VI. charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P290">290</A> + His rejection of the evidence of the writer in Fleetwood . <A HREF="#P292">292</A> + Acquits Richard of responsibility for the death of + Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P294">294-295</A> + Position with regard to the title to the crown . . . . . . <A HREF="#P296">296</A> + Believes in the Duchess of York slander . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P297">297</A> + His reason for the belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P297">297</A> + Murder of the Princes. Story admitted to be full + of inaccuracies and improbabilities . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P298">298</A> + Richard could not have been a cool, calculating villain . <A HREF="#P298">298</A> + Must have been headstrong and reckless . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P298">298</A> + Such a man might have committed the crime on a + sudden impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P299">299</A> + The rising in Kent supposed to be the motive . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P299">299</A> + But the murders are stated to have been in August, + the rising in October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P299">299</A> + Thus Mr. Gairdner's theory fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P299">299</A> + Mr. Gairdner supplies proofs of the King's popularity . . <A HREF="#P300">300</A> + Richard was the victim of the perfidy of a few traitors . <A HREF="#P300">300</A> + Mr. Gairdner's testimony to Richard's good qualities . . . <A HREF="#P300">300</A> + Great value of Mr. Gairdner's work . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P300">300-301</A> + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P303">303</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxx"></A>xx}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +GENEALOGICAL TABLES +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III. . . . <I>to face page</I> <A HREF="#img-006-t">6</A> + +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL . . . . . . . . . . . " " <A HREF="#img-082-t">82</A> +</PRE> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +MAP +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . <I>to face page</I> <A HREF="#img-328-t">328</A> +</PRE> + +<P CLASS="transnote"> +[Transcriber's note: in the source book, the map of the Battle of +Bosworth faced page 328. In this ebook, the map has been moved to +page 152.] +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0101"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P1"></A>1}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIFE OF RICHARD III +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD +</H4> + +<P> +The castle of Fotheringhay[<A NAME="chap0101fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn1">1</A>] was the birthplace of our last +Plantagenet king. This venerable pile stood on the banks of the river +Nen, in Northamptonshire, amidst 'marvellous fair corn ground and +pasture.' From its battlements there was an extensive view, bounded to +the westward by the forest of Rockingham, while on the other side the +abbey church of Peterborough and the woods of Milton intercepted the +distant expanse of fen country. Originally built by bold Simon de St. +Liz in the twelfth century, the castle had fallen into ruin when it +reverted to the crown, and was granted by Edward III. to his son Edmund +of Langley. +</P> + +<P> +Edmund, who was created Duke of York by his nephew Richard II., rebuilt +the castle and founded a college hard by. Fotheringhay was surrounded +by a double moat with drawbridges, the river Nen serving as the outer +moat on the south side, and the Mill Brook, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P2"></A>2}</SPAN> +flowing between the +castle yard and the little park, to the east. The walls were of stone, +and the great gate in the north front was adorned with the arms of +England, as differenced for Edmund of Langley, impaling the arms of +Castille and Leon.[<A NAME="chap0101fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn2">2</A>] The keep, built in the shape of a fetterlock, +was on a mount in the north-west angle of the castle; and below there +was a great courtyard surrounded by stately buildings, a chapel, and +'very fair lodgings,' as Leland tells us. The great hall was seventy +feet long, with a deep oriel window at one end.[<A NAME="chap0101fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Here dwelt Edmund the first Duke of York, his son Edward the second +Duke, who fell at Agincourt, and his grandson Richard, the third Duke. +Edmund projected the foundation of a college near the parish church, to +consist of a master, eight clerks, and thirteen choristers. He +commenced the choir, while his son and grandson completed and richly +endowed this religious house. The church was a fine specimen of the +Perpendicular architecture of the time, and the cloisters had numerous +windows filled with stained glass. +</P> + +<P> +The third Duke of York resided at Fotheringhay during part of every +year when he was in England, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P3"></A>3}</SPAN> +with his beautiful wife the Lady +Cicely Nevill, the 'Rose of Raby,' and their troop of fair children. +But he also held vast estates elsewhere. In Yorkshire the castles of +Sandal and Conisborough were part of his paternal inheritance. On the +Welsh borders he had succeeded to all the possessions of the Mortimers, +including Ludlow and Wigmore. For his mother was the heiress of Edmund +Mortimer, Earl of March, and also of Lionel Duke of Clarence, the +second surviving son of King Edward III. Baynard's Castle, in the City +of London, was the Duke's town house. +</P> + +<P> +The 'Rose of Raby' bore her husband twelve children, and they came of a +right noble English stock. In their veins flowed the blood of +Plantagenet and Holland, Mortimer and FitzAlan, Nevill and Percy, +Clifford and Audley. Five of these fair branches died in infancy. +Ann, the eldest of those who survived early childhood, was born at +Fotheringhay in 1439. The three next, Edward, Edmund and Elizabeth, +first saw the light at Rouen, when their father was making a last +gallant stand for English dominion in France, from 1442 to 1444. +Margaret was born at Fotheringhay. The Duke and Duchess were ruling in +Ireland when George was born at Dublin Castle. The three last births +were at Fotheringhay, but of these only Richard, the eleventh child, +survived infancy. +</P> + +<P> +Richard Plantagenet was born at Fotheringhay Castle on October 2, 1452. +He probably passed the first five years of his life there with George +and Margaret. The elder sisters, Anne and Elizabeth, were married to +'Lancastrian' noblemen, the Dukes of Exeter and Suffolk, when Richard +was still in infancy. His elder brothers, Edward Earl of March and +Edmund Earl of Rutland, were separated from him by an interval +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P4"></A>4}</SPAN> +of +ten years, and lived with their tutor Richard Croft at Ludlow or +Wigmore. So that Richard's childhood must have been passed with his +brother George and his sister Margaret, the future Duchess of Burgundy. +But both were a few years older than little Richard. +</P> + +<P> +We obtain a glimpse of the home life of the two elder boys, Edward and +Edmund, from a letter to their father which has been preserved.[<A NAME="chap0101fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +'Right high and right mighty prince, our full redoubted and right noble +lord and father. +</P> + +<P> +'As lowly with all our hearts as we, your true and natural sons can or +may, we recommend us unto your noble grace, humbly beseeching your +noble and worthy fatherhood daily to give us your hearty blessing; +through which we trust much the rather to increase and grow to virtue, +and to speed the better in all matters and things that we shall use, +occupy, and exercise. +</P> + +<P> +'Right high and right mighty prince, our full redoubted lord and +father— +</P> + +<P> +'We thank our blessed Lord, not only of your honourable conduct and +good speed in all your matters and business, of your gracious prevail +against the intent and malice of your evil willers, but also of the +knowledge that it pleased your nobleness to let us now late have of the +same by relation of Sir Walter Devereux Kt.[<A NAME="chap0101fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn5">5</A>] +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P5"></A>5}</SPAN> +and John Milwater +Esq.,[<A NAME="chap0101fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn6">6</A>] and John at Nokes, yeoman of your honourable chamber. Also we +thank your noble and good fatherhood for our green gowns now late sent +unto us to our great comfort, beseeching your good lordship to remember +our porteux,[<A NAME="chap0101fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn7">7</A>] and that we might have some fine bonnets sent unto us +by the next sure messenger, for necessity so requireth. Over this, +right noble lord and father, please it your highness to wit that we +have charged your servant, William Smyth, bearer of these, for to +declare unto your nobility certain things on our behalf, namely +concerning and touching the odious rule and demeaning of Richard Croft +and of his brother. Wherefore we beseech your gracious lordship and +full noble fatherhood to hear him in exposition of the same, and to his +relation to give full faith and credence. Right high and right mighty +prince, our full redoubted and right noble lord and father, we beseech +Almighty Jesus give you as good life and long, with as much continual +perfect prosperity as your princely heart can best desire. Written at +your castle of Ludlow on Saturday in Easter week. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'your humble sons<BR> + 'Edward (Earl of March)<BR> + 'Edmund (Earl of Rutland).'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The boys evidently did not like their tutor, declaring him to be +tyrannical and disagreeable.[<A NAME="chap0101fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn8">8</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P6"></A>6}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CHILDREN OF RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK +</P> + +<P> +1. Anne. Born at Fotheringhay, August 11, 1439. (Duchess of Exeter.) +</P> + +<P> +2. Henry. Born at Hatfield, February 10,1441. (Died in infancy.) +</P> + +<P> +3. Edward. Born at Rouen,[<A NAME="chap0101fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn9">9</A>] April 28, 1442. (Earl of March. King.) +</P> + +<P> +4. Edmund. Born at Rouen, May 17, 1443. (Earl of Rutland.) +</P> + +<P> +5. Elizabeth. Born at Rouen, April 22,1444. (Duchess of Suffolk.) +</P> + +<P> +6. Margaret. Born at Fotheringhay, May 3, 1446. (Duchess of Burgundy. +Died 1503.) +</P> + +<P> +7. William. Born at Fotheringhay, July 7, 1447. (Died young.) +</P> + +<P> +8. John. Born at Neath, November 7, 1448. (Died in infancy.) +</P> + +<P> +9. George. Born at Dublin, October 21, 1449. (Duke of Clarence.) +</P> + +<P> +10. Thomas. Born at Fotheringhay, 1450. (Died in infancy.) +</P> + +<P> +11. Richard. Born at Fotheringhay, October 2, 1452.[<A NAME="chap0101fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn10">10</A>] (Duke of +Gloucester. King.) +</P> + +<P> +12. Ursula. Born at Fotheringhay, July 20,1455. (Died in infancy.) +</P> + +<P> +W. WYRCESTER, <I>Annales</I>, 460-477. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-006-t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-006.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-006-t.jpg" ALT="SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III." BORDER="2"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Their father, the Duke of York, first Prince of the blood royal, was +the most powerful and wealthy, as well as one of the ablest noblemen in +the kingdom. He was moderate and prudent, and was unwillingly driven +into resistance to the misgovernment of the corrupt faction which +misused the powers they had seized, owing to the imbecility of Henry +VI. His original object was not to assert his own undoubted title to +the throne, but to obtain just and reasonable government by the removal +of corrupt and incapable ministers. 'After repeated experience of bad +faith, and after +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P7"></A>7}</SPAN> +fruitlessly endeavouring to bind Henry by pledges, +the Duke was at length forced into advancing his own claim.'[<A NAME="chap0101fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn11">11</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Disaster followed the first attempt of the Duke of York at open +resistance. He was overpowered by the Lancastrian forces at Ludlow, in +October 1459, and his followers were scattered. The Duke himself, with +his son Edmund, fled to Ireland. His eldest son, Edward Earl of March, +escaped to Calais with the Earl of Warwick. The Duchess of York, and +her three young children, Margaret, George and Richard, were taken +prisoners at Wigmore. They were sent to Tunbridge Castle in the +custody of their mother's sister, the Duchess of Buckingham, who had +married a Lancastrian husband. +</P> + +<P> +Little Richard was only seven years of age when he became a prisoner of +war. The detention was of short duration. His eldest brother landed +in Kent and marched to London. Troops flocked to the standard of the +gallant youth, and he advanced northwards against his enemies. The +Duchess of York then escaped from Tunbridge, and found an asylum for +her little children at the chambers of John Paston, in the Temple.[<A NAME="chap0101fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn12">12</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Edward, Earl of March, won a great victory at Northampton, +and Henry VI. became his prisoner. He returned to London, but the +children had not been two days in John Paston's chambers before their +mother was summoned to meet her +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P8"></A>8}</SPAN> +husband at Hereford, who was +returning from Ireland. The children were left with servants. Young +Edward, however, while busily engaged in preparing for the defence of +the city, found time to visit his little brothers and sister every +day.[<A NAME="chap0101fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn13">13</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn1text">1</A>] 'Fodringeia' in Domesday. 'Fodering' is part of a forest separated +from the rest, for producing hay. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn2text">2</A>] He married Isabella of Castille and Leon. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn3text">3</A>] Mary Queen of Scots was tried and beheaded in the great hall of +Fotheringhay. But it is untrue that the castle was destroyed by James +I. on that account. James granted it to Lord Mountjoy, and it was +intact, though out of repair, when it was surveyed in 1625. It began +to be dismantled soon after this survey; but the work of demolition was +very gradual. The college buildings had been desecrated and destroyed +by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, to whom they were granted by +the government of Edward VI. The last remains of the castle were +demolished in the middle of the last century. See <I>Historic Notices in +reference to Fotheringhay</I>, by the Rev. H. K. Bonney (Oundle, 1821). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn4text">4</A>] <I>MS. Cotton, Vesp.</I>, F. iii., fol. 9. Printed in the first series +of Ellis's original letters, i. 9, letter v. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn5text">5</A>] This Sir Walter Devereux, son of Walter Chancellor of Ireland 1449, +when the Duke of York was Lord Deputy, was born in 1432. He married +Anne, heiress of Lord Ferrers of Chartley, and was summoned to +Parliament by that title <I>jure uxoris</I>. Sir Walter Devereux, Lord +Ferrers of Chartley, fell gloriously at Bosworth, fighting for his +King, Richard III., the younger brother of his two young friends Edward +and Edmund. He was ancestor of the Devereux, Earls of Essex. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn6text">6</A>] Afterwards esquire to Richard Duke of Gloucester. He fell at the +battle of Barnet, fighting by his young master's side. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn7text">7</A>] Breviary. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn8text">8</A>] Richard Croft of Croft Castle, in Herefordshire, is the odious +ruler mentioned by the young princes. He was faithful to King Edward +during the Tewkesbury campaign; but the boys had some insight into +character. For Croft appears to have been a time-server. He got made +Treasurer of the Household to Henry Tudor, and fought for him at Stoke. +To please his new patron he appears to have told some story, +disparaging to Edward IV., which, in a garbled form, appeared in Hall's +<I>Chronicle</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn9text">9</A>] Edwardus quartus Rothomagi natus. <I>Rous</I>, p. 210. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn10text">10</A>] Rous says that Richard was born on the feast of the eleven +thousand virgins, October 21. But this was really George's birthday, +in 1449. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn11text">11</A>] Gairdner. The Duke's mother, Anne Mortimer, was grand-daughter of +Philippa Countess of March, the only child of Lionel Duke of Clarence, +<I>second</I> son of King Edward III. Henry VI. was great-grandson of John +Duke of Lancaster, <I>third</I> son of Edward III. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn12text">12</A>] <I>Paston Letters</I>, i. 525. Christopher Hansson to John Paston. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn13text">13</A>] 'And sythe y left here bothe the sunys and the dowztyr, and the +Lord of Marche comyth every day to se them.'—<I>Paston Letters</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0102"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DEATH OF RICHARD'S FATHER AND BROTHER AT THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD +</H4> + +<P> +In October 1460, the Duke and Duchess of York, with young Edmund Earl +of Rutland, reached London. The Duke's superior right to the crown, as +representative of the second son of Edward III. while Henry VI. only +derived from the third son, was recognised and declared by Act of +Parliament. But, in consideration of the reverence felt for his father +and of his own long tenure, it was enacted that Henry should retain the +throne for life, provided that he acknowledged the Duke as +heir-apparent. This Act of Settlement received the royal assent and +became law, all opposing statutes being repealed. On November 9, the +Duke of York was solemnly declared Heir-Apparent and Lord Protector +during Henry's life. +</P> + +<P> +But Queen Margaret and her partisans refused to be bound by the acts of +the King, her husband, in Parliament. She fled to Scotland, and the +Lancastrians raised a formidable army in Yorkshire. It is probable +that the Duke of York was not fully aware of the numbers opposed to +him, though he may have foreseen that the Lancastrian army would become +larger if time was allowed to slip away. There was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN> +also some +danger from the machinations of the Tudors[<A NAME="chap0102fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0102fn1">1</A>] in Wales. Arrangements +to counteract these evils were promptly made. The Duke assembled a +small force to advance northwards and confront the Lancastrian army. +The Duke of Norfolk, who was warmly attached to the House of York, and +the Earl of Warwick were to remain in London until Christmas, and then +to follow with reinforcements. The young Earl of March advanced to the +Welsh borders to collect forces, disperse the Tudor rising, and then +join his father in Yorkshire. +</P> + +<P> +On December 1, 1460, the Duke of York was with his wife and children at +Baynard's Castle for the last time. He bade farewell to his loving +Duchess and the children; little Richard was a child of eight, Margaret +and George a few years older. The gallant young Edmund Earl of Rutland +was nearly eighteen, well able to fight by his father's side, and he +accompanied the Duke. On December 2, the Duke of York set out with his +brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of Rutland. +Salisbury had with him his son, Sir Thomas Nevill, and the force, +barely numbering 5,000 men, was led by other experienced captains. +Chief among them was old Sir David Hall, the Duke's faithful friend and +adviser in all military affairs. Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer, +illegitimate brothers of the ill-fated Earl of March, rallied to their +nephew's standard with many Yorkist knights, such as Sir Thomas Parr, +Sir Edward Bourchier, and Sir James Pickering. The force included a +company of Londoners under the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN> +command of the Warden of the +Mercers' Company, stout John Harrow. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of York advanced by easy marches, for he did not reach his +castle of Sandal, about a mile south of Wakefield, until Christmas Eve. +Here he halted while a summons was sent out to assemble his Yorkshire +tenants and adherents. It is said that Lord Nevill, a kinsman of the +Duchess of York, came to Sandal as a friend of the Duke, and induced +him to grant a commission to raise men; and that when he had raised +about 8,000, he treacherously brought them to swell the ranks of the +Lancastrian army.[<A NAME="chap0102fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0102fn2">2</A>] +</P> + +<P> +At this time the Duke's eldest son Edward was at Shrewsbury. The poor +Duchess and her young children anxiously waited for news at Baynard's +Castle. Henry VI., with the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick, +observed the festival of Christmas in the palace of the Bishop of +London, in St. Paul's Churchyard. Afterwards the King went to enjoy a +few days' hunting at Greenwich and Eltham. Queen Margaret and her son +were in Scotland. The Lancastrian leaders were assembled with a great +army at Pomfret. +</P> + +<P> +Edward III. had granted Sandal and Conisborough Castles to his son +Edmund, the Duke's grandfather. The Duke himself had frequently +resided at Sandal, sometimes with his wife and family. The castle +stood on a grassy knoll, steep on one side, with a gentle slope to the +south. It is a little less than a mile from the bridge which spans the +river Calder at the town of Wakefield, the intervening space sloping +gently from Sandal. It was then partly wooded. Leland tells us the +bridge was of stone, with nine arches, and that it had on it 'a right +goodly chapel of our Lady.' It led to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN> +market place whence two +streets, called Norgate and Wrengate,[<A NAME="chap0102fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0102fn3">3</A>] formed communications with +gates on the northern side of the town. The houses were then nearly +all of timber, but there was a handsome parish church consecrated in +1322, with a tower and spire 228 feet high. From the bridge one road +went south by Sandal to Barnsley and Sheffield; another branched off to +the eastward, and divided again into two, one leading to Doncaster, the +other to Pomfret. To the westward the river Calder flanked the fields +between Sandal and Wakefield Bridge. Near the castle is the fine +cruciform church of Sandal Magna, where there was a chantry belonging +to the castle. +</P> + +<P> +There are scarcely any remains of Sandal Castle, which was razed by +order of the Long Parliament in 1648. But fortunately a drawing was +made in 1560 and preserved in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster. It +is engraved in the 'Vetusta Monumenta.' A lofty donjon, with flanking +round towers, stood on the verge of the steep descent to the +north-east, and two smaller square towers, connected by a wall, formed +the western face. The principal gate, protected by a barbican, was in +the centre of the southern face; and on this side the <I>enceinte</I> +consisted merely of a wall without towers. An arcade or cloister led +from the gate to the main entrance of the donjon, and the roofs of +various buildings appear above the parapet of the southern wall. On +the north-western side of the inner courtyard a flight of steps led to +a covered archway opening on a semicircular stone pulpit supported by a +single pillar. The castle was surrounded by a moat, and the ground it +covered was about forty yards square. We +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN> +gather these details +from the drawing. The existing ruins consist of part of the gatehouse, +three arches of the arcade leading to the keep, bits of wall on the +west side, and the great mound covering the ruins of the keep. +</P> + +<P> +Sandal Castle was built on a natural hill of sandstone, and in those +days it must have presented an imposing appearance from Wakefield +Bridge, with its lofty towers rising over the trees. There were +extensive views in every direction from the castle walls. Northward is +Wakefield and the rich valley of the Calder. To the west were the +woods stretching away until the view is bounded by Woolley Edge. The +woods and lake of Chevet are to the south, and a wide extent of country +was visible to the east, with Nostell Priory and Walton Manor hidden +among the trees. But, although Sandal commanded extensive views, yet, +owing to the wooded character of the country, an enemy might approach +without his force being fully known to the garrison. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of York kept his Christmas in Sandal Castle, with his son +Edmund Earl of Rutland, his brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury, old +Sir David Hall his trusty military adviser, many other captains, and +5,000 men. Sir David knew that the enemy was near in overwhelming +numbers. He anticipated a siege until relief could come from the +south, and he, therefore, sent out foraging parties to bring in +supplies. +</P> + +<P> +The Lancastrian chiefs at Pomfret received news of the arrival of the +Duke at Sandal on Christmas Day. They were engaged for three days in +collecting their forces. On the 30th they began their march from +Pomfret, a distance of eight miles. Lord Clifford, with his Yorkshire +friends, led the van, so as to become +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN> +the right wing in forming +the battle, resting on the river Calder. The Dukes of Somerset and +Exeter and Earls of Devon and Northumberland were in the centre. The +rear, which would form the left wing in wheeling into line, was under +the command of the Earl of Wiltshire. Sir Andrew Trollope was the +principal military adviser and chief of the staff. +</P> + +<P> +On the last day of the year the division under Lord Clifford came in +sight of the towers of Sandal, and attacked a foraging party which +appears to have been returning from Wakefield. This was seen from the +castle. The Duke determined to come to the rescue with his whole +force. He probably believed that Clifford was considerably in advance +of the main body of the enemy. Sir David Hall thought otherwise, and +strongly represented the danger of running such a risk. But the +chivalrous Duke spurned the idea of leaving his foraging party to be +destroyed without making an effort at their rescue. +</P> + +<P> +The Lancastrians under Clifford were between the castle and Wakefield +Bridge, and the great gate faced to the south. It was, therefore, +necessary for the Yorkist force, barely 5,000 strong, to march out with +their backs to the enemy, and to deploy round the castle hill, before +forming line to attack. This was done, and a brilliant charge was made +on the field between Sandal and Wakefield—a Balaclava charge. The +Duke himself, rightful heir to the throne, and his trusty +brother-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury, led this forlorn hope. Near +them was the gallant young Prince Edmund in the flower of his age, +about to flesh his maiden sword. There, too, was old David Hall, +knowing that all was lost, but resolved to fight for his beloved master +to the end. Success must have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN> +attended on the reckless bravery +which Hall deplored, if Clifford's force, about equal in numbers, had +been unsupported. But the main body of the Lancastrians arrived during +the thick of the fight with overwhelming numbers, while their left +wing, under the Earl of Wiltshire, cut off the retreat to the castle. +There was nothing left but to die bravely. The Duke of York fell, +fighting to the last. Camden says that there was a small space hedged +round enclosing a stone cross, on the spot where the Duke fell. His +faithful knights fell around him. Among them were his uncles John and +Hugh Mortimer, Sir David Hall the tried and trusty councillor, his +wife's nephew Sir Thomas Nevill, Sir Edward Bourchier, Sir Eustace +Wentworth, Sir James Pickering, Sir John Gedding, Sir Thomas Harington, +Sir Hugh Hastings, Captains Fitzjames, Baume, Digby and Ratford. Two +gallant brothers, William and Thomas Parr, fought steadily beside their +master. William was slain, but Thomas escaped, surviving to be the +grandsire of Queen Catherine Parr. Sir Walter Lymbricke, Sir Ralph +Stanley, Captain Hanson and John Harrow, the loyal mercer of London, +were wounded and taken prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +When all hope was gone young Prince Edmund, with a few followers, +perhaps with the Harry Lovedeyne whose service was 'right agreeable' to +him and his brother in the happy days of their childhood, fought his +way through the encircling foe and reached Wakefield Bridge. But they +were closely pursued by some of Clifford's men, perhaps by Clifford +himself. Leland tells us that the prince 'was overtaken a little above +the bars beyond the bridge, going up a clyming ground'; that is in the +street leading up to the market place from the bridge. He and his few +followers turned at bay, and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN> +we may be sure that young Edmund +Plantagenet did not die before his enemies had been made to pay dearly +for his life.[<A NAME="chap0102fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0102fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +No quarter was given to the defeated soldiers by the Lancastrians, +2,000 were slaughtered in the field or during the flight, and the +prisoners were all killed. The Earl of Salisbury escaped from the +battle, but was taken prisoner the same night by a servant of Sir +Andrew Trollope and conveyed to Pomfret, where he was put to death. +</P> + +<P> +The Lancastrian leaders took counsel after the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN> +battle, and decided +on the perpetration of an inhuman piece of folly. The bodies of the +Duke of York and of the Earls of Rutland and Salisbury were buried at +Pomfret. But their heads were ordered to be stuck on the gates of +York. The Duke's head was placed upon Micklegate Bar, with a paper +crown on it by way of insult. The heads of the Earls of Salisbury and +Rutland, of Sir Thomas Nevill, Sir Edward Bourchier, Sir Thomas +Harington, Sir William Parr, Sir James Pickering and John Harrow were +also ordered to be stuck on the different gates of York. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as Queen Margaret received the news in Scotland, she came to +York and joined the victorious army. It was resolved to march direct +to London, and the northern soldiers were bribed by permission to +pillage the whole country. This they did for fifteen miles on either +side of their track; attacking churches, taking away vessels, books and +vestments, and even the sacramental pyx after shaking out the +eucharist, and killing the priests who resisted. Reaching St. Albans +they continued the work of pillage, and defeated the troops sent out +from London to oppose them. They even recovered the person of Henry +VI. But here their successes ended. The gates of London were closed, +provisions ran short, and the Lancastrian marauders retreated into +Yorkshire.[<A NAME="chap0102fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0102fn5">5</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +When the dreadful news of the battle of Wakefield reached London, the +Duchess of York was plunged into grief at the loss of her noble husband +and gallant young son, and she was terrified for the safety of her +children. The two little boys, George and Richard, were put on board a +vessel in the Thames and sent to Holland. There, under the protection +of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, they were established at Utrecht +with suitable tutors. The Duchess of York, with her little daughter +Margaret, remained in London awaiting events. +</P> + +<P> +The age of Edward Earl of March was then only eighteen years and eight +months. He was at Shrewsbury when the terrible blow fell upon him. It +spurred him into resolute action. He had collected a good force, with +which he turned upon the Tudors and crushed them at Mortimer's Cross. +There was a parhelion when the victory was decided. Edward adopted the +sun in splendour as his special cognizance. He then advanced to London +by rapid marches, and was proclaimed king as Edward IV. +</P> + +<P> +Richard was thus hurried away to Holland. He +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN> +was but eight years +old when he saw his father and brother Edmund mount their horses at the +gate of Baynard's Castle; and when the sad news came that they were +slain, and that he would see them no more. In after years Richard took +part in the pious act of the children of the Duke of York. They +re-endowed the beautiful chapel on Wakefield Bridge, which was built in +the reign of Edward III.,[<A NAME="chap0102fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0102fn6">6</A>] and dedicated it to the memory of their +brother Edmund. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0102fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0102fn1text">1</A>] Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, had three sons by Catharine, the widow +of Henry V.; Edmund and Jasper created by Henry VI. Earls of Richmond +and Pembroke, and Owen a monk at Westminster. They were half-brothers +of Henry VI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0102fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0102fn2text">2</A>] Stow's <I>Chronicle</I>, p. 412. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0102fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0102fn3text">3</A>] An abbreviation of Warenne-gate. The Earls of Warenne and Surrey +were Lords of Wakefield for more than two centuries. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0102fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0102fn4text">4</A>] Of all the baseless fabrications of the Tudor chroniclers, Hall's +story of the death of Edmund Earl of Rutland is the most absurd. Hall +says that the prince was scarcely twelve years of age, that his tutor +and schoolmaster, named Robert Apsall, secretly conveyed the little boy +out of the field, that they were espied and taken by Lord Clifford, +that the child knelt on his knees demanding mercy; that the +schoolmaster made a speech; that Clifford gave a truculent reply; and +that Clifford then struck the child to the heart with a dagger. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +This fable rests on there being a child. If there was no child nothing +of the sort happened. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +The contemporary evidence is simply that after the battle Lord Clifford +killed the Earl of Rutland on or near Wakefield Bridge. William of +Worcester says:—'<I>et in fugiendo post campum super pontem apud +Wakefelde Dominus de Clyfforde occidit Dominum Edmondum comitem de +Rutlande, filium Ducis Eborum</I>.' William of Worcester also gives the +birthdays of all the children of the Duke of York. Edmund was born at +Rouen on May 17, 1443. He was in his eighteenth year, and not a child. +It was George, born on October 21, 1449, in Ireland, who was in his +twelfth year when the battle of Wakefield was fought; but he was left +in London with his mother, as any child of that age was sure to have +been. Even if the Duke had brought a child to Sandal, he would have +been left in the castle, not taken into the thick of a desperate +battle. Edmund was old enough to accompany his father, and doubtless +acquitted himself manfully. These facts also relieve the gallant +Clifford's name from a vile calumny. Holinshed and Shakespeare follow +Hall, and all later historians have continued to repeat the absurd +story without taking the trouble to ascertain Rutland's age at the time +of the battle of Wakefield. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0102fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0102fn5text">5</A>] The weight of authority is decisively against the Duke of York +having been taken prisoner, and in favour of his having been killed in +the battle. William of Worcester says: '<I>Ubi occubuerunt in campo Dux +Eborum, Thomas Nevill</I>,' &c. The Croyland chronicler, Fabyan, Polydore +Virgil, Hall, and Stow concur. Hall says, '<I>He, manfully fighting, +within half an hour was slain and dead</I>.' But Whethamstede states that +the Duke was taken prisoner and grossly insulted: that he was set upon +an ant-hill, a crown of woven grass was put on his head, and that the +soldiers bowed their heads before him, saying in derision: 'Hail, King +without a kingdom!' Whethamstede adds, '<I>non aliter quam Judæi coram +Domino</I>.' But this John Bostock of Whethamstede was Abbot of St. +Albans, and violently prejudiced against the Lancastrians for their +marauding and pillaging in his neighbourhood. It is generally stated +that Queen Margaret took part in the barbarities of her adherents. +Stow, for instance, says that Lord Clifford cut off the Duke's head, +put a paper crown on it, stuck it on a pole, and presented it to the +Queen, who 'was not lying far from the field.' But there is clear +proof that the Queen was actually in Scotland when the battle of +Wakefield was fought. William of Worcester says: '<I>Dicto bello finito +Regina Margareta venit ab Scotia Eboraco</I>.' This is confirmed by the +Croyland chronicler, who says, '<I>Inpartibus borealibus morabatur</I>.' +Margaret had nothing to do with the Lancastrian barbarities, except +that she allowed the heads to remain on the gates of York. She was +forced to tolerate the deeds of her savage adherents. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0102fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0102fn6text">6</A>] See <I>The Chapel of Edward III. on Wakefield Bridge</I>, by N. +Scatcherd (1843). +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0103"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CROWNING VICTORY OF TOWTON +</H4> + +<P> +When the Lancastrians, after their success at St. Albans, had failed +before London, they retreated northwards with the person of Henry VI., +and proceeded to collect forces in Yorkshire for one more great effort, +making their headquarters in the city of York. Meanwhile the young +Earl of March, after his victory at Mortimer's Cross on February 2, +1461, advanced to London with his Welsh and border tenantry. He was +joined on the road by the Earl of Warwick, whose incapacity as a +military commander had been the cause of the disaster at St. Albans on +the 17th of the same month. +</P> + +<P> +Edward was only in his nineteenth year when he entered London and +succeeded to his father's rights, and to the duty of avenging the +cowardly insults heaped upon that father's body. He found his mother, +the widowed Duchess, with his little sister Margaret, at Baynard's +Castle. +</P> + +<P> +Edward was tall and eminently handsome, with a fair complexion and +flaxen hair, 'the goodliest personage,' says Comines, 'that ever mine +eyes beheld.' His capacity for command, his fortitude, and prudence +were far beyond his years, and he had already acquired experience in +two pitched battles. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +On his arrival in London Edward called together a great Council of +Lords, spiritual and temporal, and declared to them his title to the +Crown. The assembled Lords determined that, as King Henry had, +contrary to the solemn agreement made with the Duke of York and the +Parliament which met in October 1460, violated his word, and as he was +useless to the Commonwealth, he should be deprived of all sovereignty. +Edward was elected and acknowledged as King. +</P> + +<P> +That night the young King was once more at home with his mother and +sister; but it was a melancholy home-coming. Two months before, the +whole family was united at Baynard's Castle, now the father was slain +and his head fixed on Micklegate Bar at York. The beloved brother, +Edward's companion from earliest infancy, also dead; the two younger +brothers sent abroad for safety; his uncle, Salisbury, killed, with Sir +David Hall, the trusted friend of the family, and many more. Yet a +feeling of pride must have mingled with the bereaved mother's grief as +she gazed on the superb young warrior who was the last hope and prop of +her house. +</P> + +<P> +Next day the citizens of London assembled at their muster in St. John's +Fields, just outside the city, where they were reviewed by Lord +Fauconberg, the King's uncle, an experienced warrior who had seen much +service in France. As Sir William Nevill, he was at the siege of +Orleans, and since 1429 he had been summoned to Parliament <I>jure +uxoris</I>, for he had married Joan, the heiress of the last Baron +Fauconberg. As soon as he had completed the muster, his nephew, George +Nevill, Bishop of Exeter, made a speech to the people. He explained to +them how King Henry had broken the agreement solemnly made +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN> +with +the Duke of York only four short months before; he demanded of them +whether they would have a forsworn king any longer to rule over them; +and he called upon them to serve and obey the Earl of March as their +earthly sovereign lord. The multitude cried 'Yea! Yea!' with great +shouts and clapping of hands. 'I was there,' says William of +Worcester, 'I heard them, and I returned with them into the city.' +</P> + +<P> +On the same evening the Lords and Commons went to Baynard's Castle to +report what had taken place to young Edward, and he was persuaded to +assume the kingly office by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop +of Exeter. Next day, being March 4, he rode to St. Paul's as King +Edward IV. and made an offering. After <I>Te Deum</I> he was conveyed to +Westminster, where he sat in the Hall while his title was declared to +the people as son and heir of Richard, Duke of York, and by authority +of Parliament. Henry VI. was deposed <I>quod non stetisset pacto, neque +paruisset senatûs consulti decreto</I>. Edward then entered the Abbey +under a canopy in solemn procession, and received homage from the +lords, returning by water to London, where he was lodged in the +Bishop's palace. On the 5th he was proclaimed King through the city as +Edward IV; but there was to be no coronation until he was victorious +over his enemies. +</P> + +<P> +No time was lost. On Saturday, March 7, the Earl of Warwick left +London for the north, with what Fabyan calls 'a great puissance of +people.' Four days afterwards the King's infantry followed, consisting +of borderers from the Welsh marches, Kentish men, and Londoners. On +Friday, March 13, Edward himself rode through Bishopsgate with a great +body of men, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN> +and attended by many lords and knights. Since the +death of Sir David Hall, Edward's uncle Fauconberg was the most able +and experienced general on the Yorkist side, and he was now the King's +chief adviser. A powerful adherent was John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, +who is so frequently mentioned in the 'Paston Letters.' Representative +of Thomas de Brotherton, the youngest son of Edward I., the Duke had +vast wealth and great influence in the eastern counties, but he was in +failing health. Sir John Ratcliffe, K.G., called Lord Fitzwalter <I>jure +uxoris</I>, Sir Henry Ratcliffe, Lord Scrope of Bolton, Sir Walter Blount, +Sir John Wenlock, Sir John Dynham, Sir Roger Wolferstone, William +Hastings, Robert Home of Kent, the King's cousins Humphry and John +Stafford, were the principal captains. +</P> + +<P> +The marches were made in a leisurely way to give time for followers to +join from various directions, and it was a fortnight before Edward +formed a junction with the Earl of Warwick, and mustered his army +between Pomfret Castle and Ferrybridge, about forty thousand strong. +Reinforcements had flocked to him during the march, especially in +Nottinghamshire. Sir John Ratcliffe, with a young illegitimate son of +the Earl of Salisbury, was stationed with a small force at Ferrybridge, +to guard the passage of the river Aire. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the nobles who had rallied round the proud Margaret of Anjou +were collecting their strength at York. The Duke of Somerset, although +he was only in his twenty-fourth year, was the chief commander in the +Queen's army. The son of her favourite, who had been slain in the +first battle of St. Albans, and the head of a powerful connection, +Margaret +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN> +placed great reliance on the prowess and influence of the +young Duke. His first cousin was Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, +a lad of twenty, who came to York with the Fulfords, Fortescues, and +other west-country squires. His sister Eleanor was married to James +Butler, Earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire, K.G., a more mature nobleman who +had reached his fortieth year, but who was more noted for running away +than for fighting. His brother, Sir John Butler, accompanied him. +Next to Somerset the most influential leader was Henry Percy, Earl of +Northumberland, who was also in his fortieth year. His family had +fought and bled in the Lancastrian cause. His father was slain at St. +Albans, his brother, Lord Egremont, at Northampton. Another brother, +Sir Richard Percy, now rode by the Earl's side at the head of a +numerous body of retainers. Lord Clifford, Lord Dacre of Gillesland, +Lord FitzHugh, and Sir John Nevill came with a great muster of West +Riding and Westmoreland yeomen; while Lord Welles and Sir William +Talboys rallied the Lincolnshire yeomen round their standards. Lord +Roos, Sir Ralph Eure, and Sir John Bigot of Musgrave Castle, joined the +army with their Yorkshire tenantry; and the Duke of Exeter, Lord +Hungerford, and Lord Beaumont swelled the throng with their levies. +</P> + +<P> +Nor were lawyers and churchmen wanting to prop the falling cause. Sir +John Fortescue, the Lord Chief Justice, was at York, for he believed +the parliamentary title of King Henry to be good, and would not desert +him in his need. There too, in attendance on poor Henry, was Dr. +Morton, the parson of Bloxworth and Master in Chancery—a treble-dyed +traitor and falsifier of history, who afterwards flourished like +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN> +a +green bay tree, and died Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury at the age +of ninety. +</P> + +<P> +So far as experience and military training were concerned, the reliance +of the Lancastrians was on Lord Welles, Lord Hungerford, and Sir Andrew +Trollope. Lionel Lord Welles, now in his fifty-fifth year, had seen +much service in France, and had filled the important posts of +Lieutenant in Ireland and Captain of Calais. Lord Hungerford had +served under the great Talbot, and was present at the fatal battle of +Chastillon, where he was taken prisoner. At that time, during his +father's life, he was known as Lord Molines, in right of his wife. +Trollope was a veteran of the French wars, and seems to have been +looked to as the officer who would marshal the army and select +positions. He had been a trusted Yorkist captain, and was long in +command of the Calais garrison. But when the two rival armies were +confronted near Ludlow, in October 1459, he had secretly deserted with +a large part of the best soldiers from Calais and gone over to Queen +Margaret. This had given her a temporary triumph; and Trollope had +since been her most trusted military adviser. +</P> + +<P> +The force collected at York numbered 60,000; and the largest bodies of +men that have ever tried conclusions on English ground were thus +gathered together between York and Pomfret. +</P> + +<P> +A distance of twenty-five miles separated the towers of Pomfret Castle, +under whose shadows young Edward was marshalling his avenging army, +from Micklegate Bar, over which the head of his beloved father was +withering in the chilling gales of that bitter month of March 1461. +Nine of those miles covered the distance from York to Tadcaster on the +river Wharfe, and the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN> +rest of the distance, from the Wharfe to the +Aire, was the scene of the momentous campaign. +</P> + +<P> +The tract of country between the Wharfe and the Aire is a portion of +that magnesian limestone formation which extends in a narrow zone +across Yorkshire. It is crossed by the principal streams flowing to +the Humber, the Ure, the Nidd, the Wharfe, the Aire, the Went, and the +Don; and they all form picturesque gorges, with overhanging limestone +cliffs and crags, before they enter the great alluvial plain of York. +This hilly limestone region, between the Wharfe and the Aire, was once +a great forest of elm trees. It was the Elmet of remote times. When +the forest was cleared the name remained, and the people called the +limestone country 'Elmet lands.' The little river Cock rises on +Bramham Moor, flows through this limestone country in a winding course +among the undulating hills, and falls into the Wharfe below Tadcaster. +Passing the village of Barwick-in-Elmet, it winds along the skirts of +'Becca Banks,' so famous for rare wild flowers, flows under the bridge +at Aberford, and westward to Lead Hall, a farmhouse in a great meadow +about half a mile short of the village of Saxton. Thence it takes a +northerly course to its junction with the Wharfe. Here the winding +little brook has hills on either side, covered with woods, with Towton +on the right bank, and Hazlewood, the ancient seat of the Vavasours, to +the left. It passes through extensive willow garths, and by the +village of Stutton, entering the Wharfe, near Tadcaster, after a course +of about ten miles. +</P> + +<P> +At present the road from York to Pomfret turns south at the end of +Tadcaster Street, and goes direct to Towton and Sherburn, passing the +lodge gate at +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN> +Grimston. But in those days it continued along the +left bank of the Cock to beyond Stutton, crossed the little brook by +Renshaw Wood, and led up a gentle slope to the hamlet of Towton. By +this route the Lancastrian army advanced from Tadcaster, and encamped +on the fields between Towton and Saxton. The main road leads direct +from Towton to Sherburn, leaving Saxton on the right, and +Scarthingwell, with its mere and heronry, on the left. From Sherburn +to Ferrybridge the distance is six miles due south. The distance from +Ferrybridge, by Sherburn and Saxton, to the battlefield of Towton is +nine miles. +</P> + +<P> +On March 26, 1461, the great army of the Lancastrians was encamped +round the hamlet of Towton. King Edward's headquarters were at +Pomfret, and he had an advanced post to defend the passage of the river +Aire in his front, at Ferrybridge, under the command of the titular +Lord Fitzwalter, an experienced veteran of the French wars. The object +of the Lancastrian leader in advancing across the Wharfe was to oppose +the passage of Edward's army over the river Aire at Ferrybridge. The +deposed King and Queen, with Lord Roos and Dr. Morton, awaited the +event at York. But the Lancastrians were too late. Lord Clifford and +Sir John Nevill, however, did press forward in advance, in hopes of +surprising the outlying post of Yorkists at Ferrybridge. In this they +were successful. The guard at the bridge was taken completely by +surprise before the dawn of March 28, and slaughtered by Lord +Clifford's men. Lord Fitzwalter, hearing the noise, thought it was +merely a disturbance among his own soldiers. He jumped out of bed, ran +down with a battle-axe in his hand, and was slain as he came into +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN> +the street. The brave young bastard of Salisbury fell with him. +</P> + +<P> +This unexpected onslaught caused a panic in the Yorkist camp, which was +increased by the conduct of the excitable Earl of Warwick. He lost his +head, galloped up to the King's tent, dismounted and killed his horse, +crying out, 'Let him fly that will, for surely by this cross I will +tarry with him who will tarry with me, fall back fall edge!'[<A NAME="chap0103fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn1">1</A>] The +conduct of young Edward was very different. Perfectly cool and +collected, his firmness restored order among the soldiers. He soon saw +that the attack had been made by a small force which would as rapidly +retreat. He, therefore, gave prompt orders to his uncle, Lord +Fauconberg, to cross the river Aire at Castleford, about three miles to +the left, with troops led by Sir Walter Blount and Robert Home of Kent. +His object was to intercept the retreat of Lord Clifford. This +judicious order was ably carried out by the veteran general. +Fauconberg overtook the enemy, and a complete rout of the Lancastrians +followed. The chase was continued through Sherburn to a little dell or +valley called Dittingdale,[<A NAME="chap0103fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn2">2</A>] between Scarthingwell and Towton. Here +there was a rally, close to the outposts of the main army of the +Lancastrians. Lord Clifford, while taking off his gorget, owing to its +having chafed his neck, was struck +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN> +by an arrow and killed. Sir +John Nevill was also slain, and there was a great slaughter among the +flying troops. The Yorkist pursuers fell back on their supports +without serious loss. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Clifford was only in his twenty-sixth year. His father was slain +at the first battle of St. Albans, and he had naturally joined the same +cause with enthusiasm. But, as has already been pointed out, the story +of his having assassinated a defenceless little boy on Wakefield Bridge +is a fiction. There is no reason to believe that Clifford was such a +base caitiff. He was evidently an active and enterprising leader. It +is the tradition of the family that he was buried, with a heap of +undistinguished dead, on the battlefield. Sir John Nevill, a younger +brother of the second Earl of Westmoreland, and father of the third +Earl, was probably buried within Saxton Church.[<A NAME="chap0103fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn3">3</A>] The loss of these +two gallant and influential young leaders, whose scattered fugitives +brought in the news on that Friday night, must have cast a gloom over +the Lancastrian army. +</P> + +<P> +King Edward now resolved to advance with his whole force and attack the +enemy where he was encamped. He believed that the main body could not +have been very far distant when Lord Clifford was detached to make the +attack at Ferrybridge. The van division of the Yorkist army, led by +Lord Fauconberg and Sir Walter Blount, was already across the river +Aire, and orders were given to them to march northwards by Sherburn and +Saxton. The King himself, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN> +with the Earl of Warwick, was to follow +at the head of the main body. The Duke of Norfolk should have led the +van, but he was taken ill, and it was arranged that he should remain +behind at Pomfret, with Sir John Wenlock and Sir John Dynham, and +follow next day with the rear division and any reinforcements that +might have arrived.[<A NAME="chap0103fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +During March 28, the Eve of Palm Sunday, the Yorkist army was marching +northwards in two divisions. It must have been late in the afternoon +when the division of Lord Fauconberg passed through Sherburn-in-Elmet, +a long street with the old Norman church on an isolated hill to the +westward. Two miles more brought him to Saxton late in the evening. +Saxton was a small village, with the manor house of the Hungates, and a +very old church of Norman times. Thence a steep ascent leads northward +to the battlefield. To the east is the high road from York to Pomfret, +passing over elevated ground. To the west is a ravine with sides +sloping down to the valley of the Cock. The latter brook is seen +winding through the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN> +green valley, with roads on either side. +Northwards there was high undulating ground, and the hamlet of Towton +is two miles north of Saxton. +</P> + +<P> +On the ground between Towton and Saxton the Lancastrian army was +encamped. The centre, led by the Earl of Northumberland and Sir +Richard Percy, with Lord Welles and Sir Andrew Trollope, was formed +across the road leading up from Saxton. To the east, forming the +Lancastrian left, Lord Dacre and his brother-in-law Lord FitzHugh were +encamped on some land called 'North Acres.' To the west, forming the +right wing, were the Earls of Devonshire and Wiltshire, and Lords +Hungerford and Beaumont. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter commanded a +reserve at Towton village. +</P> + +<P> +When Lord Fauconberg arrived at Saxton he ascertained the position of +the enemy and sent intelligence to the King. Edward had probably +reached Sherburn by that time, and he at once pushed forward to the +neighbourhood of Saxton. The whole Yorkist force numbered 48,640 men, +including the reserves, which were still at Pomfret under the Duke of +Norfolk. +</P> + +<P> +Palm Sunday dawned and found the host of young Edward facing the long +array of Lancastrians. It was bitterly cold. The advance up the +hillside from Saxton village was made between eight and nine o'clock in +the forenoon, and when the hostile forces came in sight there was a +great shouting. At the same time snow began to fall. The wind was +northerly in the early morning, but it veered round, became fresher, +and by nine o'clock it was driving the snow full into the faces of the +Lancastrian troops. The two armies, just before they closed, were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN> +separated by an undulating depression which marks the exact position. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Fauconberg caused every archer under his standard to shoot one +flight of arrows and then halt. The enemy felt the volley, but could +not judge of distances on account of the blinding snow. Their arrows +fell short. As soon as the quivers of the enemy were nearly empty, +Lord Fauconberg gave the order for his archers to advance, shooting as +they came on, and they not only shot off their own arrows, but gathered +those of the enemy and sent many of them back whence they came. Then +the Earl of Northumberland ordered his men to close, and the battle +became a fierce hand-to-hand combat all along the line. For several +hours the desperate conflict continued, ebbing and flowing with +doubtful result, the snow still falling. King Edward was everywhere, +exhorting and encouraging the men, leading them on when they wavered, +and helping the wounded out of the fray. The struggle was obstinate +and long doubtful. Men were falling fast on both sides. Lord Scrope +of Bolton was severely wounded. Robert Home, the valiant captain of +Kent, who came from Appledore on the Rother, fell dead. +</P> + +<P> +Messengers had been sent in hot haste to hurry up the Duke of Norfolk +with the reserves. He arrived at about noon. With his trusty +lieutenants Wenlock and Dynham, he led his men up the road from +Sherburn, keeping well to the east of Saxton, and ailing upon the +Lancastrian left flank at 'North Acres.' +</P> + +<P> +This was the turning point of the battle. The Lancastrians were +disheartened at the arrival of fresh foes. The fighting continued +until late in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN> +afternoon, and the slaughter was prodigious, but +gradually the Lancastrian left wing was doubled up on the centre; the +confusion increased, and there was a complete rout. Lord Dacre had +fallen early in the day. He was killed by a boy who shot him from a +'bur' tree,[<A NAME="chap0103fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn5">5</A>] when he had unclasped his helmet to drink a cup of wine. +The lad thus avenged his father's death, who had been slain by the +northern baron. Lord Caere's friends, Sir John and Sir Thomas +Crakenthorpe, from the banks of the Eden, fell with him. The Earl of +Northumberland, Sir Richard Percy, Lord Welles, and Sir Andrew Trollope +were slain in the thick of the fight, with many more. The retreat to +the eastward being cut off by the Duke of Norfolk, the defeated army +fled down the steep slopes into the valley of the Cock closely pursued. +</P> + +<P> +The well-mounted noblemen, Somerset and Exeter, Devonshire and +Wiltshire, Beaumont, Hungerford, and FitzHugh, with many knights, +effected their escape. But the footmen were cut down by hundreds in +the pursuit. The little Cock beck is not very wide, but it is deep, +and many fugitives were drowned in it. The country people declared +that the pursuers crossed the brook on dead bodies, and that the river +Wharfe was coloured with blood. The Croyland monk relates that the +blood of the slain lay caked with snow, which then covered the ground, +and that afterwards, when the snow melted, the blood flowed along the +furrows and ditches for a distance of two or three miles. The chase +continued all night and part of next day. +</P> + +<P> +Fully 10,000 were stated to have been wounded or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN> +made prisoners, +and Polydore Virgil says that some were cured and some died. This +disposes of the statement of Hall, which is adopted by modern writers, +that no quarter was given. Edward always gave quarter to the men and +junior officers of a defeated army. +</P> + +<P> +The fugitive nobles only had time to ride through York, calling upon +Henry and Margaret, with their child, to mount and ride as hard as +their horses would carry them. Away they went out of Bootham, and +through the dark forest of Galtres, to take refuge in Scotland. +</P> + +<P> +King Edward advanced to York on Monday, March 30, 1461, where he was +received with great solemnity by the mayor and commons of the city, in +procession. They obtained grace through the intercession of Lords +Montagu and Berners. The heads of the Duke of York, the Earl of +Rutland, and the Earl of Salisbury were removed from the gates of York, +and placed with the bodies at Pomfret, preparatory to the subsequent +magnificent obsequies at Fotheringhay and Bisham. +</P> + +<P> +Only four executions took place at York, of the Earl of Devonshire, Sir +Baldwin Fulford, Sir William Talboys, and Sir William Hill. The Earl +of Wiltshire was captured by William Salkeld at Cockermouth. For this +prominent actor in the barbarous deeds after Wakefield fight there +could be no forgiveness. He was beheaded at Newcastle on May 1. +</P> + +<P> +The Earl of Northumberland, a first cousin of King Edward, was buried +in the north choir of St. Denis church at York, probably with his +brother Sir Richard Percy. The body of Lord Welles was taken to +Methley, and buried in the Waterton Chapel. Lord Dacre was buried, +with his horse, in Saxton churchyard, on the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN> +north side of the +church, where there is a monument to his memory. The undistinguished +dead were at first buried in five great pits on the battlefield, and in +separate graves in the valley. It was a tradition that red and white +roses grew and flourished on the battlefield, and it is true that there +are many rose bushes in the meadows. Leland tells us that Master +Hungate of Saxton caused the dead bodies to be brought from the pits on +the battlefield, and buried in consecrated ground, in a trench running +the whole length of Saxton churchyard. +</P> + +<P> +King Edward kept his Easter at York, which fell that year on April 5. +He then advanced as far as Durham, whence he returned southwards, +leaving the pacification of the north to the Earl of Warwick and his +brother Lord Montagu. Early in June Edward was at the manor of Sheen, +and on the 26th of that month he came from Sheen to the Tower of +London. On the 27th he created thirty Knights of the Bath, and on +Sunday the 28th he was solemnly crowned in Westminster Abbey by +Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. +</P> + +<P> +The King liberally rewarded his supporters. The Duke of Norfolk died +in November 1461, and was buried before the high altar at Thetford. +But Lord Fauconberg was created Earl of Kent and Lord High Admiral. He +died in 1463. Sir Walter Blount was created Lord Mountjoy and a Knight +of the Garter. Sir John Dynham, a valued adherent, was created Lord +Dynham; and Sir John Wenlock, already a Knight of the Garter, was +created Lord Wenlock. Many Yorkists were knighted, either on the field +or afterwards at the coronation. Young William Hastings, the King's +most faithful follower, was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN> +knighted on the field, and created +Lord Hastings, in July 1461. Among the Knights of the Bath were the +gentlemen of Nottinghamshire who had joined the King on the march +northward, Sir Robert Clifton, Sir Nicholas Byron, and Sir Robert and +Sir John Markham. +</P> + +<P> +Edward IV. was 'a King who, with many faults, was most honourably +anxious from the first to do justice even to the meanest of his +subjects.'[<A NAME="chap0103fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn6">6</A>] After the first heat of battle had passed he was +placable and forgiving. He had strong and justifiable cause for +resentment against his opponents at Towton. In the white heat of his +indignation, with the sight of his father's head over Micklegate Bar +fresh in his recollection, he stayed his avenging hand after four +executions. The bill of attainder passed by his first Parliament +included 150 names, but many were afterwards granted full pardons, and +all who submitted received back portions of their estates. The Duke of +Somerset made his peace, and was taken into favour. The son of the +Earl of Northumberland was restored to all his father's honours. The +brother of the Earl of Wiltshire, though he was also at Towton, was +restored to all his estates, was taken into favour, and succeeded as +sixth Earl of Ormond. Similar forgiveness was extended to the +Courtenays, and to the brother of Lord Dacre. Although Lord Hungerford +continued in rebellion, Edward IV. treated his wife and young children +with kindness and generosity, making an ample provision for them out of +their father's forfeited lands. The son of Lord Welles was taken into +favour, and had a grant of all his father's forfeited property. Lord +FitzHugh was forgiven and employed in positions of importance. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN> +Mr. Thorold Rogers says:—'I entirely discredit the stories told of the +tyranny and suspiciousness of Edward IV. He never refused a petition +for pardon.'[<A NAME="chap0103fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn7">7</A>] +</P> + +<P> +All historians unite in the statement that the old nobility of England +was nearly annihilated by the battles and executions during the Wars of +the Roses. But facts are opposed to this theory. Scarcely a single +peerage became extinct owing to the Wars of the Roses.[<A NAME="chap0103fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn8">8</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The battles of Wakefield and Towton made a deep impression on the mind +of Prince Richard, although he was but eight years old. The fate of +his father and brother in a battle which drove him into exile, and then +the crowning victory following so rapidly, could not fail to do so. In +later years he erected a memorial chapel at Towton, where prayers were +to be offered up for the souls of the fallen. It was standing in +Leland's time, but there is now no vestige of this pious work of King +Richard III.[<A NAME="chap0103fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0103fn9">9</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn1text">1</A>] Mr. Green, in his <I>History of the English People</I>, places the time +of Warwick's killing his horse 'at one critical moment' during the +battle of Towton. But the evidence that this act of folly was +perpetrated owing to the panic after the surprise at Ferrybridge is +quite conclusive. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn2text">2</A>] Hall has <I>Dintingdale</I>, Habington spells it <I>Dindingdale</I>, Baker +has <I>Dandingdale</I>. There is no such place on the maps. But Whitaker, +in his <I>History of Craven</I>, says that the Rev. F. Wilkinson, Vicar of +Bordsey, discovered the almost forgotten name of Dittingdale, as that +of a dell or small valley in Scarthingwell Park. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn3text">3</A>] Leland says that the Earl of Westmoreland was killed, and buried +within Saxton Church. Hall also includes the Earl of Westmoreland +among the slain. They mistook him for Sir John Nevill. The Earl +himself did not die until 1485. Sharon Turner and later writers repeat +the blunder. The Earl of Westmoreland was not in the battle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn4text">4</A>] Mr. Green says that 'the Duke of Norfolk came with a fresh force +from the eastern counties.' The Duke came from Pomfret, having left +London with the King. Sharon Turner says: 'We owe the remarkable fact +of the battle beginning at four o'clock in the afternoon and continuing +through the night, and of Norfolk's coming up the next clay at noon to +Hearne's fragment.' This fragment was transcribed by Hearne from an +old manuscript, but not older than Hall's <I>Chronicle</I>. The statement +that the battle began at four on Saturday afternoon and went on through +the night, not only contradicts Hall and Stow, but is also impossible. +Edward's army could not have got over the ground in time to begin the +battle at four in the afternoon. Possibly the mistake of the anonymous +writer of Hearne's fragment arose from having been told that Lord +Fauconberg came in sight of the Lancastrian army at twilight. It was +not the twilight of Saturday afternoon, but of Palm Sunday morning, as +Hall explains. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn5text">5</A>] <I>Loidis and Elmete</I>, p. 156. Dr. Whitaker says that the word +'<I>bur</I>' is very distinct in Glover's manuscript. It means an alder +tree, from the old Norse '<I>bur</I>' or '<I>baurr</I>.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn6text">6</A>] Gairdner. Introduction to the <I>Paston Letters</I>, ii. p. xii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn7text">7</A>] <I>Work and Wages</I>, ii. 316. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn8text">8</A>] The Duke of Exeter was separated from his wife, and had no +children. The Duke of Somerset, who was beheaded, had six daughters, +and another was unmarried. But the House of Somerset was perpetuated +in that of Beaufort. A few new peerages became extinct because their +recipients did not marry, such as Egremont and Wenlock. But Lord +Egremont was a Percy, and the family of Percy continued to flourish. +No more peerages became extinct owing to the Wars of the Roses than +would have done so in a time of profound peace. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0103fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0103fn9text">9</A>] There is a warrant for 40<I>l.</I> to be given for building the chapel +at Towton, dated November 28, 1483 (Harl. MSS., No. 413). In July +1488, an indulgence of forty days was granted <I>ad speciosam capellam in +villa de Toughton (per Saxton) de novo a fundamentis sumptuose et +nobiliter erectam, super quodam loco seu fondo ubi corpora procerum et +magnatum ac aliorum hominum multitudine copiosa in quodam bello in +campis circumjacentibus inito interfectorum sepeliuntur</I>. In December +1502 another indulgence of forty days was granted. The exact site of +the chapel is the garden behind Mr. Kendall's house. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0104"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CROWN LOST AND WON—BATTLE OF BARNET +</H4> + +<P> +The young princes, George and Richard, were in Holland for about six +months, under the protection of the Duke of Burgundy. They resided at +Utrecht. Then the news came of Edward's accession, and the crowning +victory of Towton. The two boys were brought home again, and were soon +under their mother's immediate care, with their sister Margaret. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after the coronation, George was created Duke of Clarence; +and Richard Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Carlisle, and Earl of +Richmond,[<A NAME="chap0104fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn1">1</A>] a title which had merged in the crown after the attainder +of Edmund Tudor. Richard was created a Knight of the Garter in 1465. +In February 1466 his sword and helmet were placed in St. George's +Chapel, and he took possession of his stall in the following April. +His stall plate is now in the ninth stall on the south side of the +choir, in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. The arms are France and +England quarterly, with a silver label of three points, each ermine +with a canton gules. The crest is a crowned leopard gold, on a cap of +estate, with a label as in the arms, round his neck. The helm is +barred as used in the <I>mêlée</I>, the only one on the early plates, the +rest all being tilting helms. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The first public appearance of young Richard was on the occasion of his +father's solemn obsequies. The Duke of York's body, and that of his +son Edmund Earl of Rutland, had to be conveyed from Pomfret to +Fotheringhay, and the Duke of Gloucester, then in his fourteenth year, +was appointed by the King to be chief mourner. On July 22, 1466, the +bodies of Richard Duke of York, and of his son, Edmund Earl of Rutland, +were taken from their temporary resting place at Pomfret, and placed in +a chariot covered with black velvet, richly embroidered with cloth of +gold. At the feet of the Duke stood the figure of an angel clothed in +white, bearing a crown of gold, to signify that of right he was a king. +The chariot was drawn by four horses trapped to the ground. Every +horse carried a man, and upon the foremost rode Sir John Skipwith, who +bore the Duke's banner displayed. Bishops and abbots, in their robes, +went two or three miles in front, to prepare the churches for the +reception of the bodies.'[<A NAME="chap0104fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn2">2</A>] The boy Duke of Gloucester followed next +after the chariot, accompanied by noblemen and heralds. In this order +they left Pomfret and rested that night at Doncaster. Thence they +proceeded by easy stages to Blythe, Tuxford, Newark, Grantham, and +Stamford. On Monday, July 27, the procession arrived at Fotheringhay. +The bodies were carried into the church by servants of the deceased, +and received by the King and his Court in deep mourning. +</P> + +<P> +Edward IV. built a magnificent shrine in the choir, over the tombs of +his father and brother, and completed the works of the college, +including the cloister.[<A NAME="chap0104fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There is reason to believe that the young Duke of Gloucester received +his knightly training in the use of arms from the age of fourteen, in +the household of his cousin the Earl of Warwick. There are payments to +the Earl for costs and expenses incurred by him on account of Richard, +the King's brother. Here he was the companion of Francis Lovel and +Robert Percy, for both of whom he formed a friendship which ended only +with death. Here too he was the playfellow of his cousin Anne Nevill, +and an attachment was probably then formed between them, which was +destined to bear fruit in after years. We find Richard and Anne +sitting together at the installation feast of her uncle the Archbishop +of York in 1467. +</P> + +<P> +Richard was short in stature, with a delicate fragile frame, the right +shoulder being slightly higher than the left. But he had been inured +to warlike exercises, and was fond of hunting and all manly sports. He +had light brown hair and a very handsome face, full of energy and +decision, yet with a gentle and even melancholy expression when the +features were at rest.[<A NAME="chap0104fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +While Richard was receiving a knightly education in the north, his +brother Edward was conducting his own and the country's affairs +recklessly and without wisdom. The secret marriage ceremony he went +through with the widow of Lord Grey of Groby, and her subsequent +coronation, had estranged the nobles, and their disgust was increased +by the promotion and enrichment of her Woodville relations. The Earl +of Warwick, the cousin and formerly the supporter of Edward, became the +chief among the malcontents. He married his daughter Isabella to the +Duke of Clarence, without the King's consent or knowledge, and +afterwards fostered and encouraged disturbances and insurrections. At +last he went to France with Clarence, and made an agreement with +Margaret of Anjou to restore Henry VI. to the throne. Finally he +returned to England, with the Duke of Clarence, as an open enemy of +King Edward. Troops rapidly flocked to his standard, and the country +was lost and won as if by magic. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick had used all his arts of persuasion to induce the younger +brothers of the King to be false to their allegiance. With Clarence he +succeeded; but Richard never wavered for a moment. His loyalty to his +brother was not to be shaken. There is something very touching in the +unalterable affection between Edward and Richard. In Edward, from the +time when he used to visit his little brother every day in Paston's +chambers, to the hour of his death, there was a loving protection and a +solicitude for the lad's welfare which was shown in many ways. On the +part of Richard there was loyalty and zeal for his elder +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN> +brother's +service as well as warm affection. His motto was +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +'LOYAULTÉ ME LIE.'[<A NAME="chap0104fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn5">5</A>]<BR> +(Loyalty bindeth me.)<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From the moment that Warwick became a traitor, Richard was constantly +by his brother's side, sharing his long marches,[<A NAME="chap0104fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn6">6</A>] his dangers and +hardships. When Warwick landed and proclaimed the restoration of Henry +VI., King Edward summoned his forces to assemble at Doncaster, +particularly relying on the Marquis Montagu, Warwick's brother, in +whose loyalty he implicitly believed. Edward related to the historian +Comines the events immediately preceding his flight from the kingdom. +He was in a fortified house with his friends, to which the only access +was a bridge, and the troops were quartered in the villages near. +Suddenly news arrived that Montagu and others were riding among his +soldiers shouting for Henry. Edward hastily put on his armour and sent +a body of faithful adherents to defend the bridge. There was nothing +left but flight. Accompanied by his brother Richard and a few loyal +friends the King galloped off, leaving Lord Hastings to gain time by +defending the bridge. Hastings made some terms for his followers with +Montagu, and then followed his master. Reaching Lynn, in Norfolk, the +fugitives found two Dutch vessels on the point of sailing. They +immediately went on board without other clothes than <I>leurs habillemens +de guerre</I>.[<A NAME="chap0104fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn7">7</A>] The brothers were accompanied in their flight by Lords +Hastings, Rivers, and Saye, and a few faithful knights. Narrowly +escaping capture by an Easterling ship, they landed near Alkmaar +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN> +in North Holland. A gown lined with martens was the only thing of +value wherewith King Edward could pay his passage; and he was saved +from capture by the Easterlings through the intervention of the Sieur +Louis de Bruges, Lord of Gruthuus, who received the fugitives with +generous hospitality and conducted them to The Hague. King Edward and +his host were brother Knights of the Golden Fleece, an obligation which +the lord of Gruthuus most fully recognised. He gave up his great house +at Bruges for the use of the exiled princes, who resided there during +the ensuing winter, and he also lent them his château of Oostcamp. +From Bruges, King Edward and his brother proceeded to the court of the +Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol, to seek for aid in recovering the crown of +England. Charles the Bold publicly declined to interfere, and the +Lancastrian Duke of Somerset hurried to London with the good news. But +Charles had been married, in 1468, to the Princess Margaret of York, +who was devotedly attached to her brothers. She opened a +correspondence with the Duke of Clarence in England, to induce him to +return to his allegiance. Through her influence, the aid which had +been withheld publicly was given in secret. She smoothed all +difficulties, and enabled her brothers to undertake their romantic +enterprise. For Edward was resolved to recover his crown, and Richard, +from this time, was his efficient lieutenant. +</P> + +<P> +Richard's services in Flanders, and especially in fitting out the +expedition, secured for him the full confidence of his brother. The +ships had to be equipped very secretly and with great care. The +Duchess Margaret had procured a grant of 15,000 florins, and permission +to get ready four ships of Flanders and thirteen +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN> +hired +Easterlings[<A NAME="chap0104fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn8">8</A>] which were to be at Edward's service until he should +land in England, and for fifteen days afterwards. The next step was +the selection of a seaport where the expedition could be quietly fitted +out. The Lord of Gruthuus again proved a friend in need. He had +married Margaret, the sister of Henry van Borselle, Lord of the island +of Walcheren. The traditions of the family of Borselle were adverse to +the House of Lancaster, for Francis van Borselle was the lover, and +eventually the husband, of that unfortunate Jacoba of Holland who was +treated so shamefully by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. The excellent +ports of Veere and Flushing were, therefore, placed at Edward's +disposal. +</P> + +<P> +The expedition was fitted out in the port of Veere, under the +protection of Henry van Borselle. Besides the King and young Richard, +Lords Hastings, Rivers, and Saye were the principal leaders. The +expeditionary force consisted of 900 men, in addition to the crews of +the ships. A select body of 300 Flemish gunners, armed with hand-guns, +formed part of the little army; and this is nearly the first time that +these new weapons are mentioned in English warfare. The men carried +slow matches, and are called 'smoky gunners' by Fabyan. Richard +actively helped in the preparation of this daring little expedition at +Veere; for by this time the King had learned to appreciate his +brother's remarkable ability and fitness for command. +</P> + +<P> +By the end of February 1471, the ships were ready. They were brought +down the Channel from Veere to Flushing and the troops were embarked. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN> +But they had to wait nine days in Flushing Roads for a fair wind, +and it was not until Monday, March 11, that the gallant adventurers +sailed for the Norfolk coast. Edward was in one ship with Lord +Hastings, while his brother had a separate command in another vessel, +each being followed by a squadron of transports. It is probable that +the exiled King shaped a course for the coast of Norfolk in the hope +that the influence of the Duke, who was faithful to his cause, would +ensure him a cordial reception. But he was disappointed. Two knights, +named Sir Robert Chamberlain and Sir Gilbert Debenham, went on shore at +Cromer and found the country occupied by Warwick's adherents. Edward, +therefore, steered for Yorkshire, and encountered a gale of wind which +lasted from March 12 to 14, scattering his little squadron. When +Edward and Hastings anchored off Ravenspur,[<A NAME="chap0104fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn9">9</A>] on the Holderness coast, +no other vessel was in sight. The King landed and burnt his ship, +resolved to regain his crown or perish in the attempt. +</P> + +<P> +Edward stood on that dreary waste of sand with 500 followers. The +look-out was black indeed. He had seen nothing of the other ships +since they were separated by the gale off Cromer. He sent scouts to +the adjacent villages, but not a man ventured to join his standard. +While hesitating what should be the next step, horsemen appeared over +the brow of a rising ground. The adventurers stood to their arms, but +a few minutes turned anxiety into joy. The young Duke of Gloucester +was seen to be at the head of a little force of 300 men. He had +effected a landing +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN> +at a point about four miles from Ravenspur, and +hurried to join his brother. Soon afterwards Lord Rivers, who had +reached the shore at a place called Pole, fourteen miles away, made his +appearance. Thus was the little force once more united. They marched +to Beverley and thence to York, but although armed men were seen, no +one either molested them or came to their assistance. There appears to +have been no ill-will among the people, but fear of the power of the +Earl of Warwick and a belief that Edward's cause was hopeless. +</P> + +<P> +The authorities of York did not dare to receive Edward as King. It was +thought advisable that, at this stage, he should only claim his +hereditary dukedom.[<A NAME="chap0104fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn10">10</A>] This deceived no one, but it would enable the +mayor and aldermen of York to defend their conduct in the event of +Edward's overthrow. They received him into their town, gave him +supplies, and next day he marched southwards to Tadcaster. +</P> + +<P> +The campaign by which Edward regained the crown was one of the most +brilliant that has ever been conducted by an English general. It +elicited proofs of consummate military skill from the Yorkist princes, +and displays of valour and presence of mind in action which were never +surpassed by any of their race. Edward IV. is entitled to an equal +place as a military commander with Edward III. or Henry V. His +strategy and resource were superior to those of either. He never lost +a battle, though he never +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN> +declined a combat. In three short +months from the time that he landed with a handful of men on the coast +of Holderness, he had outwitted and out-manoeuvred his opponents, had +won two pitched battles, and had recovered his crown. Richard deserves +scarcely less credit. He was only eighteen, yet he contributed largely +to the success of the campaign, while in battle his brother entrusted +the young prince with important separate commands. +</P> + +<P> +Edward's little band of adventurers was opposed by the whole resources +of England in the hands of the Earl of Warwick. The Earl himself was +posted with a strong force at Coventry. His brother Montagu occupied +an advanced position at Pomfret to intercept the invaders on their +southward march. The Earl of Oxford was advancing from the Eastern +counties, and Clarence from London. By a masterly flank march the King +passed to the westward of Pomfret and reached Nottingham, leaving +Montagu in his rear baffled and outwitted. At Nottingham loyal men +began to flock to the King's standard. The Earl of Oxford and Duke of +Exeter had advanced against him from the Eastern counties, but the +rumoured increase of his forces made them halt at Newark. The King +pressed onwards to Leicester, and marching thence to Coventry, offered +battle to the Earl of Warwick, who was behind the walls with 7,000 men. +Warwick declined. He was taken completely by surprise. This was on +March 29, only a fortnight after Edward had landed. Without losing a +moment the royal army marched on to Warwick, and on the approach of +Clarence from London, his brothers encamped in a field three miles on +the road to Banbury. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The negotiations between King Edward and Clarence were conducted +throughout by their younger brother Richard, and to him is due the +credit of the reconciliation which took place. He thus restored one +brother to his throne, and reclaimed the other from dishonour. The +defection of Clarence left no enemy between the King and his capital. +Edward reached Daventry on the night of April 6, attending divine +service there on Palm Sunday. On the 9th he was at Northampton, and on +the 11th he entered London, where he was joyfully received by the +citizens. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick was outwitted like his brother. There was nothing left for him +but to follow the King, who could give him battle or not as he chose. +So the baffled Earl concentrated his army, calling up Montagu from +Pomfret, Vere and Exeter from Newark, and Somerset from the west. +Having united his forces he marched towards London, reaching St. Albans +on the 12th, and encamping on Gladmore Heath to the north of Barnet, +and about ten miles from London, on the afternoon of April 13. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Battle of Barnet +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The King only had one full day in London, in which to organise his +little army, now increased to 9,000 men, and to rest the faithful few +who had marched with him from Ravenspur. He entered London on the +11th, and in the forenoon of the 13th he marched out to encounter his +enemies. Advancing to Barnet his scouts drove out the scouts of +Warwick and chased them for half a mile. The King then marched through +the town, and reached Gladmore Heath when it was dusk. He encamped +much nearer the enemy than he intended, and by reason of the darkness +his line was not formed directly in front of the opposing force. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN> +The King's right extended beyond Warwick's left, while his left was +similarly overlapped by Warwick's right. In one respect this was +fortunate, for Warwick's artillery was in his right wing, and he kept +up a fire all through the night[<A NAME="chap0104fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn11">11</A>] without doing any damage to his +adversaries, because their left wing was not posted in front of the +rebel right wing; but somewhat to the eastward of it. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick had drawn up his army with his brother Montagu and John Vere, +son of the attainted Earl of Oxford, in charge of the right wing +consisting mainly of cavalry; the Duke of Somerset in the centre with +archers and bill-men; and Warwick himself, with the Duke of Exeter, in +command of the left wing. The opposing force of the King was inferior +in numbers to that of the rebels. Edward, accompanied by Clarence and +Henry VI., commanded the centre in person. On the left was Lord +Hastings, while young Richard Duke of Gloucester, who was only eighteen +years of age, had charge of the right wing. A strong body of infantry +was kept in reserve. The King ordered strict silence to be observed +throughout the night. +</P> + +<P> +When the morning of Easter Sunday, April 14, at length dawned there was +a dense fog, so that the two armies could barely distinguish each +other. At half-past four the King advanced his standards, and sounded +his trumpets for battle. There were flights of arrows, and then the +opposing forces closed and encountered each other with hand strokes, in +the thick mist. For a long time it was impossible for the leaders to +know what was taking place in different parts of the field. Oxford +found little to oppose him. He charged the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN> +followers of Lord +Hastings and easily routed them, continuing the chase beyond Barnet. +Then he returned to reinforce the main body; but here a fatal mistake +occurred. The cognizance of King Edward was the sun in splendour, +adopted after seeing the parhelion at Mortimer's Cross. The cognizance +of the Veres was a star with rays.[<A NAME="chap0104fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn12">12</A>] When the soldiers of Warwick's +centre, under Somerset, saw a fresh body of men approaching under the +banner of the star, they mistook it for the King's cognizance and +thought they were attacked in flank. A cry of treason ran through +their ranks. Up to this time they had stubbornly resisted the +onslaughts of King Edward and his men, but now they broke and fled. +Somerset and Vere rode away with their men, and made good their escape. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the Duke of Gloucester had led his troops to a furious attack +on the enemy's left wing which was commanded by Warwick in person. The +Duke himself plunged into the thickest of the fight. His two esquires, +John Milwater[<A NAME="chap0104fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn13">13</A>] and Thomas Parr, were slain by his side. At the +moment when the fate of the battle was still uncertain, and when the +King heard that his young brother was hard pressed, the reserves were +brought into action, just as Somerset's division began to waver. +Victory then ceased to be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN> +doubtful, and soon there was complete +rout all along the rebel line. The Earl of Warwick and his brother +Montagu fell either in the battle or in attempting to escape. The +accounts vary. Though enemies and traitors to the royal brothers, they +were cousins, and had once been devoted friends. The King sincerely +mourned the death of Montagu, and the depth of Richard's sorrow is +proved by his subsequent intercession for Montagu's heirs. The bodies, +after being laid for two days in St. Paul's Cathedral, were honourably +interred in the burial place of their mother's family at Bisham. The +losses on the King's side included Lord Saye, who had shared Edward's +exile, Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell,[<A NAME="chap0104fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn14">14</A>] another Sir Humphrey +Bourchier,[<A NAME="chap0104fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn15">15</A>] son of Lord Berners, and the son and heir of Lord +Mountjoy. The losses, on both sides, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN> +amounted to about 1,500 +men.[<A NAME="chap0104fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0104fn16">16</A>] King Edward and the Duke of Gloucester returned to London the +same day, while their army rested for the night on the battlefield. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn1text">1</A>] <I>Rot. Parl.</I> vol. vi. p. 227. Halsted, i. 432. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn2text">2</A>] Sandford, p. 391. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn3text">3</A>] The tombs were desecrated in the time of Edward VI., when the +college was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Queen +Elizabeth gave orders that they should be restored. The bones of +Richard Duke of York, of the Duchess Cicely, and of Edmund Earl of +Rutland, lapped in lead, were removed into the parish church. For the +choir, where they rested under the beautiful shrine, had been +destroyed. Mean monuments of plaster were then erected over them, and +over the remains of Edward Duke of York, on either side of the altar. +They are specimens of the taste of the Elizabethan age, fluted columns +supporting a frieze and cornice, ornamented with the falcon and +fetter-lock. In the inscriptions they have forgotten the name of young +Edmund Earl of Rutland. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn4text">4</A>] Portrait at Windsor Castle. Dr. Parr, in a letter to Roscoe, +speaking of the head of Lorenzo (the Magnificent) prefixed to Roscoe's +biography, says: 'I am very much mistaken if, by invigorating a few +traits, it would not make an excellent head of Richard III.'—<I>Life of +Roscoe</I>, i. 178. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn5text">5</A>] Buck, p. 83. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn6text">6</A>] <I>Paston Letters</I>, ii. 357, 389. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn7text">7</A>] Comines. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn8text">8</A>] The ships of the towns belonging to the Hanseatic League, in the +Baltic, and on the Elbe, were known in England by the name of +Easterlings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn9text">9</A>] Ravenspur appears, from the description of the writer in Fleetwood, +to have been inside Spurn Head. He says: 'He landed within Humber on +Holderness side, at a place called Ravenspoure.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn10text">10</A>] The Tudor chroniclers, as is their wont, grossly exaggerate and +misrepresent this incident: introducing imaginary details, including an +oath before an altar, vows of allegiance to Henry VI., and other +romances. These are the offspring of their zeal to please their Tudor +paymasters, by traducing the House of York. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn11text">11</A>] Warkworth says that: 'each of them loosed guns at other all +night.' Balls have been dug up weighing 1-½ lbs. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn12text">12</A>] The second Alberic de Vere, father of the first Earl of Oxford, +was a crusader. In 1098 he was in a battle near Antioch when the +infidels were defeated. During the chase, a silver star of five points +was seen to descend from heaven and light on Alberic's shield, there +shining excessively. It had ever since been borne in the first quarter +of the Vere arms. This is the old tradition. Modern heralds suspect +that the mullet was merely a mark of cadency adopted by the second +brother of the second Earl, who retained it when he became third Earl. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn13text">13</A>] Mentioned in the letter of Edward and Edmund to their father. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn14text">14</A>] Ralph Cromwell, fourth Baron Cromwell, who was Lord Treasurer for +Henry VI., and was the builder of Tattershall Castle, died childless in +1455. His sister Maud married Sir Richard Stanhope and had a daughter +Maud, whose husband Sir Humphrey Bourchier, third son of Henry +Bourchier Earl of Essex, by the Princess Isabel Plantagenet (aunt of +Edward IV.), took the title of Lord Cromwell <I>jure uxoris</I>. This Lord +Cromwell seems to have been a student of law as well as a soldier. +There is a manuscript copy of the statutes of Edward III. in the +Hunterian Library of Glasgow University which once belonged to him. At +the beginning there is the following entry: '<I>Eximii et preclari +militis liber, Johannis Markham capitalis just, de B. Regis, Liber +Humfredi Bourchier dmus Cromwell ex dono supradicti</I>'; and at the end: +'<I>This boke is mine Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell by the gift of the +right noble and famous judge Sir John Markham Chief Justice of the +King's Bench</I>.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn15text">15</A>] Sir John Bourchier, fourth son of William Bourchier Earl of Eu, by +Anne, daughter of Thomas Duke of Gloucester, married the heiress of Sir +Richard Berners, and was summoned to Parliament as Lord Berners in 1455 +to 1472. The second Humphrey Bourchier who was slain at Barnet was his +son. Fabyan and Habington call him 'Lord Barnes.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0104fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0104fn16text">16</A>] Fabyan gives the number at 1,500. Habington says 4,600. Hall is +unreliable as usual. He says 10,000 on both sides. Although some +writers say that the King's army was superior in numbers, it is +probable that, while Edward only had 9,000 men, the forces of Warwick +were very much more numerous. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0105"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD +</H4> + +<P> +It is necessary to look back a few years in order to consider the lives +of the mother and son who now, for a time, come prominently into +connection with the life story of Richard Duke of Gloucester. +</P> + +<P> +Margaret, second daughter of René of Anjou and Isabelle of Lorraine, +was born at Pont-à-Mousson on March 23, 1429, and baptized at Toul. As +a child she went with her mother to Capua and Naples. Provence was +also one of her homes, but she returned to Lorraine in her fifteenth +year. She was only sixteen when the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk came +to Nancy to demand her hand for Henry VI. of England, and in November +1444 she was married by proxy amidst great rejoicings; for the event +secured a lasting peace with France. There was a great tournament in +the Place de Carrière at Nancy to celebrate the event, at which Charles +VII. and many of the chief nobles of France were present. Charles +tilted with King René, bearing on his shield the serpent of the fairy +Melusina. The daisy was young Margaret's cognizance, and Pierre de +Brezé, Lord of Varenne, and Seneschal of Normandy, maintained the +pre-eminence of the 'daisye flower' against all comers in the Place de +Carrière.[<A NAME="chap0105fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn1">1</A>] This was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN> +no passing sentiment. Two at least in that +brilliant throng remained true to the fair princess to the bitter end, +Pierre de Brezé and the Duchess of Suffolk. +</P> + +<P> +Margaret was not only very beautiful, she was endowed with rare gifts +of intellect, which had been cultivated by travel in Italy and +Provence, and through communion with her accomplished father. She set +out for England attended by the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk and a train +of nobles. On her way she supped with the Duke of York at Mantes, and +reached Honfleur on April 3, 1445. Thence she sailed across to +Portsmouth, where she slept at the Maison Dieu. She was then taken in +a row-boat to Southampton, but her marriage was delayed for some time +by an illness. Henry VI., who was in his twenty-fourth year,[<A NAME="chap0105fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn2">2</A>] had +been waiting for his bride at Southwick. The marriage took place at +Titchfield Abbey on May 30. +</P> + +<P> +Never was a young girl placed in a more wretched position. Married to +a poor feeble creature who could be neither companion nor protector, +surrounded by self-seeking intriguers, living in a foreign country with +few to sympathise with or care for her; the years that followed her +marriage could not fail to embitter the brave heart that no misfortune +had power to crush. For years she lived on, the memories of the bright +and happy court of her father gradually fading, while the cruel facts +of her miserable position hardened round her. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the eighth year after her marriage that Margaret became a +mother. Her whole soul opened to the loving influence. All her +pent-up womanly feelings found a vent. She at last had something to +live for. Her brilliant intellect, her fortitude and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN> +devotion, +her great powers of endurance, all she had, her whole being, became +centred in this child—the one thing she had to love. For him she +would face dangers, dare more than most men in perils and hardships, +and, if need be, would become as a tigress at bay in defence of her +young. +</P> + +<P> +The prince was born at Westminster on October 13, 1453, being just one +year younger than Richard. It was at a time when Henry VI. was in one +of his fits of complete mental derangement which came upon him +periodically, as they did upon his grandfather Charles VI. of France, +from whom no doubt he inherited them. The Duke of York was +administering the realm. The child was proclaimed Prince of Wales and +Earl of Chester. His mother was just twenty-four, and Henry was in his +thirty-third year. The Queen had lost her mother, to whom she was +fondly attached, on the previous February 28. In hopes that the name +would endear her boy to the people, Margaret gave him that of Edward. +He was baptized by Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by +Waynflete of Winchester, the Duke of Somerset and Duchess of +Buckingham[<A NAME="chap0105fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn3">3</A>] being sponsors. He was also created a Knight of the +Garter. +</P> + +<P> +From his very cradle the child was in the midst of war and turmoil. +The misgovernment of the Beauforts had strengthened the legitimate +claim of the Duke of York, which would never have had a chance against +the parliamentary title of an able and popular king. But the Yorkists +now had to reckon with the gifted and intrepid Queen, whose whole soul, +and whose every gift of mind and body, were concentrated with fierce +devotion +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN> +on the defence of her child's birthright. Nothing but +death could make her desist from efforts on his behalf. +</P> + +<P> +Young Edward was only in his second year when the first battle of St. +Albans was fought, on May 22, 1455. His mother had taken him to +Greenwich, where she received the news of the death of Somerset and her +other supporters, and of the wound received by Henry. During the +following four years there were hollow reconciliations, but a death +struggle was inevitable; and in June 1459 the court left London for +Warwick, virtually to take the field. The child Edward was only five +years old. He was destined never to see London again. +</P> + +<P> +Margaret strove to make the child popular with the people, and to +excite a feeling of loyalty for him. He was named Edward to remind +them of the king who added to the glory of England at Cressy and +Poitiers. She adopted the badge of Edward III. as that of the Prince, +and the pretty little boy, with long golden hair, distributed silver +swans among the people wherever he went. The Queen could not bear him +out of her sight, yet her dauntless eagerness would not allow her to be +absent from scenes of strife, when her child's future depended on the +result. Mother and child looked down on the battle of Blore Heath from +the tower of Muccleston Church, and when Lord Audley was routed they +fled to Eccleshall Castle. Then there were a few months of dawning +hope, which was crushed at Northampton. Again Margaret watched the +fortunes of the day with her child. She heard of the treachery of +Grey, she saw the gallant young Edward of York leading his men over the +trenches, and that the day was lost. The King fell into the hands of +her enemies. +</P> + +<P> +On the evening of that July 9, 1460, she rode away +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN> +with her +beloved child, a homeless fugitive. Between Eccleshall and Chester she +was made prisoner by a party led by one John Cleger, a servant of Lord +Stanley. Every instinct was on the alert when danger approached her +child. She watched an opportunity while her captors were rifling the +baggage, and escaped with little Edward in her arms. The adventures +through which they passed are not recorded, but she was eventually +joined by the Duke of Somerset, who conducted her to a safe refuge at +Harlech Castle in Wales. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of York, with Henry in his power, induced the Parliament to +alter the succession, and the claims of Henry's son were ignored. +Henry VI. wrote a letter to his wife, ordering her to accept the new +settlement, and to join him in London with her child. This must have +been one of the bitterest moments of her unhappy life. But no reverse +could daunt this romantic heroine. She went by sea from Harlech to +Scotland, and thence called upon all her supporters in the north to +rally round the standard of King Henry. Margaret's appeal met with a +prompt answer, and on the last day of the year 1460 the Duke of York +lost his life at Wakefield, overwhelmed by superior numbers. The road +was thus open to London, and Margaret made a vigorous effort to recover +the birthright of her child. On February 17, 1461, she won the second +battle of St. Albans and recovered the person of her husband; but she +failed to induce the citizens of London to open their gates to her, and +was obliged to retreat northwards. The Queen and her child appear to +have been in the thick of the fight; and this was the third battle at +which Edward had been present before he had reached his eighth year. +The royal party retreated to York, while preparations +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN> +were made +for the final and decisive struggle between the two factions. On March +4, 1461, the young Earl of March was proclaimed King, and on the 29th +he won the crowning victory of Towton. +</P> + +<P> +Queen Margaret, with her husband and child, had remained at York, and +there she received the news of the destruction of her hopes. There was +nothing left for her but instant and rapid flight. The fugitives from +Towton told her to mount at once, and the unhappy family, with a few +faithful friends, galloped out of Bootham Bar, and plunged into the +forest of Galtres. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter and Lord Roos +attended them. They escaped to Berwick and thence to Edinburgh, where +Henry found a suitable abode with the Grey Friars. Margaret passed the +following winter in Scotland, but in the spring, seeing no present hope +from her English adherents, who appeared to be crushed, she resolved to +seek help from abroad. Taking the little prince with her, she sailed +from Kirkcudbright in April 1462, and landed in Brittany, whence she +proceeded to the court of her cousin Louis XI., who was then at Chinon. +It was resolved that some assistance should be given to the undaunted +heroine in men and money. Her old champion Pierre de Brezé now flew to +the succour of the forlorn Margaret in her distress. He organized an +expedition, and in October 1462 he sailed to the coast of +Northumberland with the Queen and her son. They landed at Tynemouth, +but the foreign levies were repulsed and fled to their ships, +abandoning de Brezé and the Queen. The fugitives were afterwards cut +to pieces by troops under Sir Robert Ogle when they landed at Holy +Island. De Brezé, with Margaret and her child, escaped from Tynemouth +in a fishing boat and, after a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN> +perilous voyage, they landed safely +at Berwick, which was then a Scottish port. +</P> + +<P> +In Scotland there was but a cold welcome for Queen Margaret. It was +necessary to make her way to Bamborough, which still held out for her, +and there, abandoning present hope, the Queen and her child embarked to +commence a life of exile in April 1463. They were accompanied by a +band of faithful friends who would not desert them in their extremity. +Chief among them was the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Fortescue. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of Somerset, now a double-dyed traitor, with Sir Hugh Percy +and others then rose in rebellion, and captured the castles of Alnwick +and Bamborough. The Marquis Montagu, followed by Edward IV. in person, +advanced rapidly from the south to put down the new insurrection. On +April 25, 1464, the insurgents were defeated at Hedgley Moor, and soon +afterwards the rest of Somerset's forces entrenched themselves near +Hexham. Poor Henry was brought from Edinburgh, where he was quite +contented with his Grey Friars, to the camp. The entrenchments were +thrown up on Lyvel's plain, near Dowelwater, and Somerset awaited the +attack. On May 8, 1464, Montagu came in sight, assaulted the position, +and, after a desperate resistance, carried it with great slaughter. +The Duke of Somerset, Lords Roos and Hungerford were taken and +beheaded, Henry galloped off on a swift horse in the direction of the +Scottish Border. He concealed himself in the west of Yorkshire for a +year, but was captured at Bolton Hall in June 1465 and taken to the +Tower.[<A NAME="chap0105fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Queen Margaret encountered a furious gale of wind which +lasted for twelve hours, but her vessel at length reached the Flemish +port of Sluys. Thence she proceeded by Lille and Hesdin to the Court +of the Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol. Here the exiles were hospitably +received and supplied with money, and, after some stay, they went on to +the castle of Koeur-la-Petite near St. Mihiel, on the Meuse. King René +had assigned this castle as the residence of his daughter and grandson, +with their followers. +</P> + +<P> +No boy who had only reached his eleventh year ever went through such +vicissitudes as Edward of Lancaster. He had been at four pitched +battles, had ridden over hundreds of miles, had been seized by robbers, +had wandered in trackless forests, had passed many nights on the bare +ground, and in open boats. He had made hairbreadth escapes, and had +suffered privations and hardships. Few children could have survived +such a life. He must have had a robust frame combined with the high +courage of his race. Through all, and protecting him at every step, he +had his heroic mother as his companion; surrounding and pervading his +life with her devoted love. Such experiences must have left a deep +impression on the boy's character. It was a wild and turbulent opening +for the young life, but now at last there was to be a brief interval of +rest. For a few years he was to live more peaceably, receiving +instruction and enjoying some pleasures, before destiny hurried him to +a violent death. +</P> + +<P> +St. Mihiel is a small town on the right bank of the Meuse, in the +diocese of Verdun and Duchy of Bar. Near it there are enormous rocks +overhanging the river, called Les Falaises de St. Mihiel. In the +fifteenth +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN> +century there was cultivation along the river banks, +while extensive forests covered the Argonne mountains further back. +Nearly opposite St. Mihiel, on the left bank of the river, was the old +castle of Koeur-la-Petite, which René gave to his daughter Margaret[<A NAME="chap0105fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn5">5</A>]; +and he contributed to her support as far as his narrow means would +allow. Here she dwelt for the five succeeding years, watching the +growth and education of her boy, and enjoying more happiness than she +had known since her ill-fated marriage. She was within a few miles of +Pont-à-Mousson, the place of her birth, and often saw her beloved +father, and her sister Iolanthe. +</P> + +<P> +Young Edward was devoted to field sports and martial exercises. His +companions were the sons of knights and esquires who had remained +faithful to his mother; and he loved to gallop with them over the +valley, and to exercise with sword and lance. So much of his time was +passed in these outdoor exercises that, as his years increased, the +graver advisers of his mother began to think that he should give rather +more of his attention to the acquisition of learning. +</P> + +<P> +Among the exiles was the most learned and accomplished lawyer who sat +on the English bench during the fifteenth century, and the young prince +enjoyed the advantage of his companionship and instruction. John +Fortescue of Ebrington was born in 1394, was educated at Exeter +College, and became Lord Chief Justice in 1442. Considering the +parliamentary title of the Lancastrian King not only good in itself, +but even better than a merely hereditary title, he became a steady +adherent of Margaret of Anjou. He wrote a treatise supporting the +claim of the Lancastrians on principles of constitutional law; while +his presence in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN> +their camp gave judicial countenance to the appeal +to arms. During his exile he mainly resided at St. Mihiel, in +attendance on the little court of Koeur-la-Petite, and superintended +the education of the prince. He was anxious to impart a knowledge of +England and of English constitutional law to a prince who might some +day have to rule over freedom-loving Englishmen, but who left his +country when he was too young to recollect much about it. Fortescue +has related the occasion of these studies being commenced, and the +progress that was made. +</P> + +<P> +'The Prince,' says the aged Chief Justice, 'as he grew up, applied +himself wholly to martial exercises. He was often mounted on fiery and +wild horses which he did not fear to urge on with the spur. Sometimes +with his lance, sometimes with his sword, he made it his diversion to +assault the young gentlemen, his attendants, according to the rules of +military discipline.' In this Sir John Fortescue encouraged him, but +he also urged him to study law, quoting Deuteronomy xvii. 18, 19. The +boy replied that, although he ought to read the Divine law, it did not +follow that he should study human laws. He said this thoughtfully, and +looking very intently at the old judge. Fortescue answered that human +laws were also sacred, that they were no other than rules whereby the +perfect notion of justice could be determined, and that this justice +must be the subject of the royal care. Quoting Wisdom i. 1, he said, +'Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Love righteousness, ye judges +of the earth. To love justice,' he concluded, 'you must acquire a +competent knowledge of the laws.' Prince Edward was convinced by the +discourse of his venerable tutor. He said, 'You have overcome me, good +Chancellor, with your +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN> +agreeable discourse, and have kindled within +my breast a thirst for a knowledge of the law.' The boy candidly +confessed that he did not wish to pass all his younger years in such +studies. Then Sir John Fortescue explained to him the amount of legal +knowledge that was necessary for a prince. In one year he could +acquire sufficient acquaintance with the laws of England, and at the +same time he could continue to inure himself to those martial exercises +to which his natural inclination prompted him so much. 'Still make +your diversion as it best please you, at your leisure,' said the tutor. +</P> + +<P> +After this conversation, the aged judge of seventy-five and the young +prince of fifteen devoted some hours of each day to a study of the +English Constitution. These lectures, in the form of dialogues, were +afterwards embodied by Fortescue in a treatise entitled 'De Laudibus +legum Angliæ,' which was first printed in 1537. Edward began by asking +his instructor to satisfy him that the laws of England were better +adapted for the government of that kingdom than the civil law of the +Holy Roman Empire. Fortescue proceeded to establish this point, +specially dwelling on the fact that the English statutes were not made +by the will of the Kings, but were enacted by the concurrent consent of +the whole people, by their representatives in Parliament. He then +explained the territorial division of England into counties, the duties +of sheriffs, the method of empannelling juries, the procedure in civil +and criminal causes. The boy approved highly of the system of trial by +jury, the jurors being men chosen from among neighbours who knew the +country and people. 'I know of myself,' he remarked, 'more certainly +what is doing at this time in the Barrois where I reside, than what is +doing in England.' +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +On another day the Chief Justice illustrated the good results of the +English Constitution by comparing the condition of England with that of +France ruled by a despotism. 'In the land of England,' he said, 'there +are no wolves nor bears. The grazing lands are enclosed with hedgerows +and ditches and planted with trees which fence the herds and flocks +from bleak winds and sultry heat. There are many franklins and yeomen, +of estates sufficient to make substantial juries, not a few spending +100<I>l.</I> a year and more. Other countries are not in such a happy +situation, and not so well stored with inhabitants.' The prince then +remarked that he could understand how the wealth and populousness of +England had been caused by the superior excellence of her laws. But a +doubt about the number of jurors had occurred to his youthful mind. He +said, 'Although this method of sifting out the truth highly pleases me, +yet there rests this doubt with me. Our blessed Saviour says: "It is +written in your law that the testimony of two men is true" (John viii. +17), and again in Matthew xviii. 16.' Fortescue answered that our jury +law did not contradict this, for if the testimony of two be true, <I>a +fortiori</I> that of twelve ought to be presumed to be so. 'The more +always contains in it that which is less.' Besides in England some +cases may be proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the +high seas, and proceedings before the Lord Constable and Earl Marshal. +</P> + +<P> +On another occasion, having previously shown that the prosperity of +England was due to laws agreed to by the people, Fortescue illustrated +the evils of despotic power by the condition of France. 'You will +remember,' he said, 'that you saw in France how the villages are +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN> +so much oppressed by the King's soldiers that you could scarcely be +accommodated in your travels. The troops pay for nothing, and treat +the people barbarously if they are not satisfied. Thus the poor people +are exposed to great calamities. The King of France will allow no one +to use salt, but what is bought of himself at his own arbitrary price. +All growers of vines must give a fourth to the King. All the towns pay +the King great yearly sums for his men-at-arms; so that the peasants +live in great hardships and misery. They wear no woollen. Their +clothing consists of little short jerkins of sackcloth, no trowse but +from the knees upwards, and legs exposed and naked. The women all go +barefoot. The people eat not meat, except the fat of bacon in their +soup. Nor are the gentry much better off. If an accusation is brought +against them, they are examined in private, and perhaps never more +heard of. +</P> + +<P> +'In England it is very different. No one can abide in another man's +house without his leave, or take his goods, except the King by his +purveyors at a reasonable price. The King cannot put on taxes, nor +alter the laws, nor make new ones. The English never drink water +except for penance. They eat all sorts of flesh and fish. They are +clothed throughout in good woollens; and are provided with all sorts of +household goods. An Englishman cannot be sued except before the +ordinary judge.' Having drawn this contrast between the French and +English, the old judge continued: 'These advantages are due to the +political mixed government which prevails in England. Those Kings who +have wished to change it preferred ambition, luxury, and impotent +passion to the good of the State. Remember that the king is given for +the sake of the kingdom, not the kingdom for the sake of the king.' +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Edward, although he frequently intervened with pertinent questions, +showing that he was giving close attention to the subject, fully +concurred in the arguments of his tutor, and must have derived great +benefit from this course of studies. He was impressed with the duties +of an English king, with the limited character of his power, and with +the importance of a parliamentary title. Fortescue also began to +occupy the young Prince in the active transaction of affairs of State. +Edward himself wrote a despatch to Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormonde, +who was in Portugal representing the cause of the House of Lancaster to +King Alfonso V.,[<A NAME="chap0105fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn6">6</A>] and he was acquainted with the proceedings of Sir +John Fortescue when he made journeys to the court of Louis XI. +</P> + +<P> +The residence at Koeur-la-Petite lasted for five years, 1465-69. The +peaceful home was broken up through the treachery of the turbulent and +self-seeking Earl of Warwick. Exasperated with Edward IV., owing to +his marriage and connexion with the Woodville faction, Warwick had +resolved to abandon the cause with which he was connected by ties of +relationship and by life-long service. He had married his daughter +Isabel to the Duke of Clarence without the King's consent, and had +alienated that vacillating prince from his brother. He came to France +with the Countess, his two daughters Isabel and Anne, and Clarence: and +proposed to King Louis to espouse the cause of his cousin Margaret, and +to restore Henry to the throne. The fear of an alliance between Edward +IV. and the Duke of Burgundy caused Louis to entertain Warwick's +scheme. But it was most distasteful to Margaret. Much as she +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN> +longed for the restoration to her child of his birthright, she found it +difficult to accept such aid. Warwick had not only been the most +inveterate enemy of her family, he had also made himself personally +odious to Margaret. He was now a double-dyed traitor. His motives +were transparently selfish, and she believed neither in his new-born +loyalty nor in his ability to help her. But the persuasions of Louis +XI. and of her own relations at length induced her to come to the +French court. The Queen and her son, attended by Sir John Fortescue +and their other faithful adherents, left the happy home in the lovely +valley of the Meuse in December 1469. +</P> + +<P> +Margaret arrived at Tours, where the French court then was, accompanied +by Prince Edward, King René, her brother John of Calabria, her sister +Iolanthe, and her brother-in-law Ferry de Vaudemont. Warwick arrived +soon afterwards, and with much reluctance Margaret consented to an +interview. Negotiations were continued for several months; and on July +15 the court moved to Angers, where the Countess of Warwick and her +daughter Anne were in attendance. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick asked that Prince Edward should marry his daughter Anne, as the +reward of his assistance. At first the Queen positively refused, but +she at last gave a conditional and very unwilling assent, moved by the +importunities of Louis XI. and her relations. The marriage was not to +take place until after Henry VI. was restored to the throne and, if +Warwick failed, the agreement was at an end. 'The said marriage shall +not be perfyted until the Earl of Warwick has recovered the realm of +England for King Henry.'[<A NAME="chap0105fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn7">7</A>] They were never married. They +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN> +were, +indeed, too young, Edward being seventeen, and Anne barely fourteen.[<A NAME="chap0105fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0105fn8">8</A>] +Knowing the dislike of his mother to such a union, and strongly +prejudiced against it himself, it is not likely that Edward ever took +more notice of Warwick's child than ordinary courtesy required, if +indeed he ever saw her. +</P> + +<P> +Queen Margaret made preparations for a voyage to England, where her +supporters were expected to rise in the western counties and Wales. +Warwick had preceded her by several months. Margaret was in her +forty-second year, and she had lost some of her buoyancy and vigorous +hopefulness with her youth. Still as determined as ever to assert the +rights of her son, she trembled for his safety. She got ready to +embark with feelings of deep anxiety and foreboding. Edward reached +his seventeenth birthday in October 1470, and in November Queen +Margaret and the Prince entered Paris, and were honoured with a grand +official reception. Edward was now a handsome lad of seventeen, with a +robust frame well seasoned by active outdoor life. He was tall for his +age, with the features of his mother, and long golden hair. He was a +good horseman and a practised man-at-arms. Well instructed in all the +literary culture of the time, and doubtless inheriting some of his +grandfather's love of poetry and romance, young Edward had also +carefully studied the constitution and laws of England. He was fully +convinced of the justice of his cause by the reasoning of one of the +ablest lawyers of the time, and the hereditary bravery of his race now +filled him with martial ardour. But he was still very young, and all +these qualities of head and heart were as yet only budding towards +maturity. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn1text">1</A>] Barante. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn2text">2</A>] Born in 1421. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn3text">3</A>] A Nevill. Sister of the Duchess of York. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn4text">4</A>] See <I>Archæologia</I>, 47 (ii), p. 265. Margaret was not at the battle +of Hexham, and the robber story is a fabrication. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn5text">5</A>] Villeneuve, <I>Vie de Roi René</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn6text">6</A>] Alfonso V. was a grandson of Queen Philippa, sister of Henry IV. of +England, therefore a second cousin of Henry VI. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn7text">7</A>] Ellis, <I>Original Letters</I>, Second Series, i. 132. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0105fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0105fn8text">8</A>] Born June 11, 1456. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0106"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY +</H4> + +<P> +There was long delay in the arrival of Queen Margaret in England with +reinforcements. She was prevented from sailing by contrary winds at +Harfleur. Three times the ships put to sea, and were forced to return. +The Countess of Warwick, with her daughter Anne, arrived first at +Portsmouth and, hearing of the death of her husband at Barnet soon +afterwards, she took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey. Queen Margaret with +her son Edward, Sir John Langstrother, Prior of St. John, Sir John +Fortescue, and many exiled knights landed at Weymouth on April 14, the +very day of the battle of Barnet. +</P> + +<P> +Weymouth was then a small seaport with no suitable accommodation for so +large a concourse. The Queen, therefore, passing through Dorchester, +at once advanced fifteen miles northward from the sea coast, to the +Abbey of Cerne. Dr. Morton, who accompanied her, had once been a monk +at Cerne; and the Abbot was his old friend. This circumstance no doubt +led to the decision of Queen Margaret to seek the hospitality of Abbot +Roger Bemynster, and here she received tidings of the battle of Barnet, +a disaster which seemed fatal to her cause. At first she was +overwhelmed, and wished her boy to return to France. But in a few days +she was joined by Edmund Beaufort, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN> +the last Duke of Somerset, and +his brother John. Somerset had commanded the archers at Barnet, but +had escaped and found his way to the Queen. Jasper Tudor,[<A NAME="chap0106fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn1">1</A>] the Earl +of Devonshire, and Lord Wenlock followed closely on the heels of +Somerset. They entreated her to persevere, assuring her that the west +of England was ready to rise in her support, and that levies had +actually been called out, with Exeter as the rendezvous. With some +reluctance she consented, and her gallant son entered upon the last +three weeks of his young life. Tudor was despatched to raise forces in +Wales. Margaret, with the rest of her adherents, left Cerne Abbey +after a stay of about ten days, marched to Exeter and thence, by +Taunton, Glastonbury and Wells, to Bristol. Fresh levies joined and +increased her forces as she advanced. +</P> + +<P> +On April 16 King Edward heard that Queen Margaret had landed. He had +returned to London two days before, after his victory at Barnet. On +the 19th he went to Windsor and waited to collect men, celebrating the +feast of St. George there on the 23rd. He saw at once that the enemy +had only two courses: either to march on London and give him battle, or +to go northwards and unite with Tudor's levies in Wales. His policy +was to engage his adversaries as soon as possible, before they could be +reinforced. He was not likely to receive more support until he had +gained a decisive victory, and his position was established. Queen +Margaret's generals tried to deceive him by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN> +sending detachments in +several directions; but his final conclusion was that they intended to +take a northerly direction, by crossing the Severn and marching into +Wales. This it was his intention to prevent. +</P> + +<P> +The King left Windsor on April 24, accompanied by his brothers Clarence +and Gloucester, by Lords Hastings and Dorset, and by his old tutor +Richard Croft. He had some artillery, which caused him to proceed by +easy marches. A few reinforcements had arrived. Among them were forty +soldiers paid and clothed by the city of Norwich. On the 27th Edward +was at Abingdon, and on the 29th at Cirencester. He kept a somewhat +northerly line, so as to fall on the enemy's flank if a rush was made +at London. At Abingdon he heard that the Queen was at Wells. News +came to Cirencester that she would be at Bath next day, and then +advance to attack him. So he moved to meet her as far as Malmesbury. +Then the news arrived that she had gone to Bristol, and had resolved to +give him battle at Chipping Sodbury. Lancastrian parties had even been +sent to take ground on Sodbury Hill. On Thursday, May 2, the King +marched to Chipping Sodbury, but found no enemy. It was a feint. The +Lancastrians had gained a day on him, and were in full march to +Gloucester. It was now a race to the Severn. It was life and death to +the Lancastrian army to cross the river and join Tudor on the Welsh +border. It was equally life and death for King Edward to prevent it. +He encamped in a valley between the hill and Sodbury village on the +night of the 2nd, anxiously waiting for correct intelligence. At three +in the next morning he heard that the enemy was making a forced march +on Gloucester. Luckily the castle was held by Richard, son of Lord +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN> +Beauchamp of Powyke, for the King. Edward sent a trusty +messenger, urging them to hold out, with the assurance that he was +following rapidly. The messenger arrived in time. +</P> + +<P> +The Lancastrian army had marched all through the night from Bristol, +over the plain between the Cotswold Hills and the Severn. At ten in +the forenoon of May 3, the Queen's forces came before the gates of +Gloucester and summoned the place. Sir Richard Beauchamp manned the +walls and refused to surrender. There was no time to spare. It was +thought wiser to proceed to Tewkesbury without resting. They arrived +at Tewkesbury at about four in the afternoon of the same day. But the +troops had marched, during that day and the night before, a distance of +thirty-six miles without rest. The men were exhausted, and could go no +further. Margaret wanted them to pass over the Severn, but it was +represented to her that if they could cross the river the King could +follow, and attack them when they were worn out with fatigue. The +Queen was right. It was resolved, however, that the troops should +obtain some rest, and that a strong position should be taken up and +entrenched, outside the town of Tewkesbury. There was a bridge over +the Avon in those days, but none over the Severn at Tewkesbury. +</P> + +<P> +Close to the first mile-post on the turnpike road, on the west side of +Tewkesbury, there is a range of elevated ground called Holme Hill, +where a castle once stood. The present workhouse is built on part of +the site. Close behind it there is a field called 'the Gastons,'[<A NAME="chap0106fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn2">2</A>] +and some ground laid out as a cemetery. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN> +On the east side of the +road is Gupshill farm and gardens, and a field called 'Margaret's +camp.' The Lancastrian position included the Gastons and Gupshill, +with the abbey and the houses of the town immediately in the rear. It +is described as 'a place right evil to approach.'[<A NAME="chap0106fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn3">3</A>] Strong +entrenchments were thrown up in the front and both flanks, strengthened +by muddy lanes and ditches. +</P> + +<P> +On the same morning of May 3, at early dawn, King Edward marshalled his +forces at Chipping Sodbury in three battalions, and prepared for a long +march, with scouts in front and on the flanks. His infantry numbered +3,000 men. It was a very hot day and he took a direct line over the +Cotswold Hills; rightly judging that the enemy, having failed before +Gloucester, would make for Tewkesbury. Thither, therefore, he marched +direct without a halt. The men found neither food nor even water, +except at one small brook. But the King allowed no rest. He reached +Cheltenham as the enemy got to Tewkesbury. At Cheltenham he served out +the rations that had been brought, the men having marched 28 miles. +Then he resumed the march, and at night he encamped within two miles of +the enemy's position, having marched over thirty-four miles. +</P> + +<P> +At dawn on Saturday, May 4, 1471, the army of Queen Margaret prepared +to resist the assault of the King's forces. The van was commanded by +Edmund Duke of Somerset, and his brother Sir John +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN> +Beaufort. Young +Prince Edward was to lead the main battle, assisted by Lord Wenlock and +the Prior of St. John. The rear division was under the Earl of +Devonshire. Queen Margaret parted with her son that morning in deep +anxiety, for the first and alas! the last time. She retired to a small +religious house at Gupshill, with the Countess of Devonshire, the Lady +Vaux and other ladies. +</P> + +<P> +King Edward[<A NAME="chap0106fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn4">4</A>] arranged his army in three divisions. Young Richard of +Gloucester[<A NAME="chap0106fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn5">5</A>] commanded the van guard with the artillery. The King +himself led the centre. Hastings and Dorset conducted the rear. The +King had observed a park with much wood to the right of the enemy's +position, and he posted 300 spearmen there, to act as occasion might +require. He then displayed his banners, blew his trumpets, and marched +straight on the entrenchments. +</P> + +<P> +Gloucester found so many hedges and deep dikes in front of him that he +could not break into the enemy's line so as to come hand to hand. He +ordered up the artillery and, also using arrows, opened on Somerset's +division. Galled by the fire, Somerset then led his men down some +lanes on the King's flank, which he had previously reconnoitred, and +fell upon the troops of the Yorkist centre with great fury, driving +them backwards. He charged Gloucester with the same impetuosity, and +was in the full tide of success when, just as the King was rallying his +men, the select 300 spearmen from the wood attacked Somerset's rear and +caused a panic. This gave the King time to reform and resume the +fight. Somerset's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN> +men now fell back, while the Duke of Gloucester +made a desperate assault on the Lancastrian centre, behind the +entrenchments. There was a short and gallant struggle, in which young +Prince Edward fleshed his maiden sword, and then the Lancastrians broke +in all directions. The rout was complete. The abbey water mills were +in a meadow close to the town, and here many fugitives were drowned. +There was a great slaughter in the 'Bloody Meadow' to the rear of the +Lancastrian position, for it leads to a ford or ferry over the Severn +called Lower Lode. But soon the King gave orders to spare the +fugitives. +</P> + +<P> +The brave young Prince, who led the main battle of the Lancastrians, +bore himself valiantly, and played the man before his people in that +supreme moment of his life. Of that we need have no doubt. Borne away +in the rout, and followed closely by the victorious enemy, he was slain +between Gastons and Tewkesbury. The closing scene is dimly shown to +us. The horse is wounded and on its knees. Then the rider receives +his death blow from behind. The helmet had been struck off. The +bright golden locks sink down on the horse's mane,[<A NAME="chap0106fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn6">6</A>] and in another +moment horse and rider fall and are ridden over. Thus ended the life +of Sir Edward Plantagenet, K.G., Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. +His age was seventeen years and six months. He was a boy of great +promise; courageous, intelligent, and affectionate. His short life +must have embraced a large share of happiness. Even during all the +dangers and hardships of his childhood, the loving arm of the devoted +mother must have diverted those terrors +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P76"></A>76}</SPAN> +which cause misery to +unprotected children. The life at Koeur-la-Petite was a period of +unclouded pleasure. Then came the excitement of the last campaign, and +a glorious death on the battlefield. The body of Prince Edward was +buried in Tewkesbury Abbey church. +</P> + +<P> +The Earl of Devonshire, Lord Wenlock, Sir John Beaufort, Sir William +Vaux, Sir Edmund Hampton, Sir E. Whittingham, Sir William Melding, Sir +John Seymour, Mr. Henry, a captain of Bristol, and Sir William Roos +were among the slain. Beaufort, Hampton, Vaux, Whittingham and Roos +had shared the Queen's exile at Koeur-la-Petite. +</P> + +<P> +The lords and knights who escaped from the battlefield took refuge in +the abbey church, which, however, had no special privilege of +sanctuary. They were tried for treason before the Earl Marshal and the +Lord High Constable, a court which is recognised as legal by Chief +Justice Fortescue. Thirteen[<A NAME="chap0106fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn7">7</A>] were condemned, and were beheaded in +the market place of Tewkesbury on May 6, 1471. It must be remembered +that the treason of which most of them were guilty was double-dyed, +that is, they had been forgiven and had again become traitors. +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Duke of Somerset + +Prior of St. John Sir W. Newborough +Sir Gervase Clifton Sir Walter Courtenay +Sir Humphrey Audley James Gower +Sir Hugh Carey Lewis Miles +Sir Thomas Tresham Robert Jackson +Henry Tresham John Flory, of France +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Gower was the young Prince's sword-bearer. Audley and Courtenay shared +the Queen's exile. These might have been spared. Edward IV. was +generous and forgiving after the first fury of the moment had passed. +All inferior officers and soldiers were pardoned. Sir John Fortescue +received pardon and died at a good old age at his seat at Ebrington in +Gloucestershire. The intriguing Earl of Ormonde was also pardoned, as +were many leading captains of the defeated army, Sir Henry Roos, Sir +John Giles, Sir William Grimsby, Fulford, Parker, Basset, Throgmorton, +Walleys and many more. Dr. Morton and Dr. Makerel, who were with the +Queen, were also pardoned. +</P> + +<P> +The King conferred knighthood on forty-three officers; including his +old tutor Richard Croft, Sir John Pilkington, and Sir Thomas Strickland +from Yorkshire; Sir Terry Robsart, Sir Edward Wodehouse, and Sir +William Brandon from Norfolk; Sir John St. Lo, Sir E. Corbet and Lord +Cobham. The names of Nevill, Courtenay, Berkeley, Hastings, Harington, +Grey, Tyrrel, Pierpoint, Parr, Welby, Ratcliffe, Devereux also appear. +</P> + +<P> +One turns with shuddering pity from the anguish beyond all power of +utterance, from the black despair in the religious house at Gupshill +where the Queen awaited the issue of the battle with her ladies.[<A NAME="chap0106fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn8">8</A>] +They escaped across the Avon, and took refuge at Payne's Place in the +parish of Bushley. Next day, continuing their journey towards +Worcester, they found shelter in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN> +some religious house near that +city. There they were captured by Sir William Stanley. It was +reported that he announced the prince's death with callous brutality. +It mattered little. The blow must have stunned the unhappy mother and +nothing could add to its crushing effect. Her real life ended with +that of her beloved child. Queen Margaret was brought to Edward IV. at +Coventry, by Sir William Stanley, on May 11, and to the Tower of London +on the 22nd. +</P> + +<P> +Henry VI. died in the Tower on the 24th, at the comparatively early age +of forty-nine. As Margaret arrived on the 22nd, she probably attended +her husband during the last two days of his life. The Lancastrian +leaning of the family of Lord Rivers, who was then Constable of the +Tower, would ensure facilities being extended to her. Thence Margaret +of Anjou was removed to Windsor, a ransom having been demanded for her. +With thoughtful kindness King Edward finally entrusted the charge of +the poor Queen to her old friend the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk at +Ewelme.[<A NAME="chap0106fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0106fn9">9</A>] The Duchess had come to Nancy for Henry's bride, and had +seen the beautiful young princess at the brilliant tournament. She now +received her, after twenty-seven years, a childless and despairing +widow, crushed to the earth by grief unspeakable. Margaret resided +with the Duchess at Ewelme, and afterwards +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN> +at Wallingford Castle +until the ransom was paid by old King René. +</P> + +<P> +On August 29,1475, the ransom, amounting to fifty thousand crowns, +having been paid, Queen Margaret proceeded to embark at Sandwich, +attended by three ladies and seven gentlemen, and escorted by Sir John +Haute. She landed at Dieppe, and signed a renunciation of all rights +derived from her marriage, at Rouen on January 29, 1476. Thence she +went to Reculée, a league from Angers, where she lived with her old +father until his death in 1480, aged seventy-two. The last sad years +were passed at the château of Dampierre on the Loire, near Saumur, +under the care of François de Vignolle, an old and faithful servant of +her family. The brave and loving soul was at length released. +Margaret of Anjou died at the age of fifty-two, on August 25, 1482, +eleven years after the light went out of her life. She was buried in +the cathedral of Angers. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn1text">1</A>] Jasper and Edmund Tudor were created Earls of Pembroke and Richmond +by Henry VI. They were attainted and deprived of their earldoms by +Edward's first Parliament. Subsequently Richard, Duke of Gloucester, +was created Earl of Richmond; and the son of King Edward IV. became +Earl of Pembroke. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn2text">2</A>] Leland says: '<I>intravit campum nomine Gastum</I>,' and '<I>nomina +occisorum in bello Gastriensis prope Theokesbury</I>.' A place called +'the Vineyard' is mentioned. But 'vineyards' were merely apple +orchards. Where manors were held of the King, the tenants were obliged +to pay yearly a vessel of wine made of apples, or cider. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn3text">3</A>] 'In a close harde at the toune's end, having the toun and abbey at +their backs, and before them defended by lanes and deep ditches and +hedges.'—Holinshed. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn4text">4</A>] Then aged twenty-nine. Born April 28, 1442. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn5text">5</A>] Then aged eighteen and a half. Born October 2, 1452. He was just +a year older than Prince Edward. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn6text">6</A>] So much is shown in a picture accompanying the narrative sent to +Flanders by an eyewitness. It is in the public library at Ghent. See +also <I>Archæologia</I>, xxi. 11-23. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn7text">7</A>] In the Pastern Letters there is a list of sixteen, Sir John Delves, +Sir William 'Newbery' added, and Audley given twice, Jackson not being +given (iii. 9). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn8text">8</A>] Speed, p. 684. See also a paper by the Rev. E. E. Dowdeswell on +the 'Movements of Queen Margaret after the battle of Tewkesbury,' in +the Transactions (x. 144) of the Bristol and Gloucestershire +Archæological Society. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0106fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0106fn9text">9</A>] 'As for Queen Margaret, I understand that she is removed from +Windsor to Wallingford nigh to Ewelme, my Lady of Suffolk's place in +Oxfordshire.'—<I>Paston Letters</I>, iii. 83. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Ewelme belonged to the Chaucer family, and Alice, the heiress of +Geoffrey Chaucer, married William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. In 1424 +the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk built a palace at Ewelme, rebuilt the +church, and founded a hospital and a school there. Queen Margaret was +received by the Duchess at Ewelme, and afterwards at Wallingford Castle. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0107"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MARRIED LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER +</H4> + +<P> +While the King was engaged at Tewkesbury, the bastard of his uncle, +Lord Fauconberg, made an attack on London Bridge, and when he was +repulsed, he retreated to Sandwich. This disturbance hastened the +return of Edward IV., who reached the Tower on May 21. To the Duke of +Gloucester was entrusted the duty of following up the bastard, and +early next morning he started for Kent. Arriving by forced marches at +Sandwich, the rebel was taken by surprise and surrendered on the 26th. +He was a first cousin of the King and of the Duke of Gloucester, though +illegitimate; son of the general to whom, next to Edward, the victory +of Towton was due. Richard took him to Middleham, and treated him +kindly as a prisoner at large. But he escaped, was taken at +Southampton, tried for his original treason, and beheaded. +</P> + +<P> +Peace was once more restored to the land, and the Duke of Gloucester's +great services were recognised by the country. The King and Parliament +were soon afterwards occupied with Richard's marriage. +</P> + +<P> +The estates of the Earl and Countess of Warwick were forfeited, and the +Duke of Clarence, who had married the elder daughter, Isabella, desired +to obtain the whole for himself. The Countess of Warwick, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN> +when +she returned from France with her daughter, Anne, and received the news +of her husband's death, took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey on the +Southampton Water. After Tewkesbury, Clarence claimed the wardship of +Anne, and tried to get her into his power. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of Clarence was grasping and selfish. He had no stability of +character, was vacillating, and easily influenced by bad advisers. It +is not clear how his sister-in-law escaped from his clutches; but his +object was to prevent her from marrying and to seize her share of her +parents' property, as well as that of his wife. It is certain that +Anne left her mother at Beaulieu and placed herself under the +protection of her uncle, George Nevill, Archbishop of York. But the +circumstances are unrecorded. There is mention of a disguise as a +cookmaid. The Archbishop placed her in sanctuary at St. +Martin's-le-Grand: where her inclinations and wishes could in no way be +influenced or overridden. +</P> + +<P> +The young Duke of Gloucester sought the hand of his cousin Anne. They +had been playfellows as children, and now the cousins formed an +attachment which endured until death, Richard only surviving his wife +for four months. Anne accepted the proposal of Richard, and his suit +was approved by the King and by the Archbishop, the guardians of the +two lovers. But Clarence made unreasonable difficulties about the +settlement. From the 'Paston Letters' we learn that 'the King +entreateth my Lord Clarence for my Lord Gloucester, and he answereth +that he may well have my lady, his sister-in-law, but they shall part +no livelihood.' +</P> + +<P> +At length the marriage settlements were arranged by Parliament. +Middleham was included in Gloucester's share of the Warwick +inheritance. In 1472, Richard +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN> +and Anne were happily married in +Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of York. His age was nineteen, +that of his wife sixteen. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Middleham Castle +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Their home was at Middleham, in beautiful Wensleydale, and Anne's +mother, the Countess of Warwick, was taken from her sanctuary at +Beaulieu, to live with them. Here the Duke and Duchess passed several +years, winning golden opinions from the people of the north, and +acquiring great popularity in Yorkshire. +</P> + +<P> +In 1475, the Duke of Gloucester was called from his home to accompany +the King when he invaded France. Louis XI. offered a large sum of +money if Edward IV. would abandon his ally, the Duke of Burgundy, and +make peace. He also bribed Dr. Morton and Edward's principal +courtiers. Under the evil influence of Morton and the Woodville +faction, the King of England, after an interview with Louis, acceded to +the disgraceful bargain. But the Duke of Gloucester also had an +interview with King Louis and was not to be corrupted. He objected to +the arrangement, and would have no part in it. His conduct was +honourable and consistent. He maintained that faith ought to be kept +with England's ally. +</P> + +<P> +Richard Duke of Gloucester lived at Middleham Castle, with his wife and +child, for ten years, from 1472 to 1482, from his twentieth to his +thirtieth year. Here he had passed his early youth, had formed his +most enduring friendships, and had first seen his cousin Anne. The ten +years of peaceful married residence at Middleham was no doubt the +happiest period of Richard's short but eventful life. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-082-t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-082.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-082-t.jpg" ALT="SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL" BORDER="2"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The ruins of the grand old pile, with the village and the church at +their feet, still form a conspicuous object on the southern slope of +Wensleydale. Middleham +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN> +is about a mile and a half above the +junction of the Ure and the Cover. In rear of the castle are the +breezy downs, and in front the river Ure flows through rich pastures, +with the town of Leybourne on the opposite slope. The castle consisted +of a lofty Norman keep surrounded by an enceinte eighty yards long by +sixty-five wide. The keep, which was built by Robert FitzRanulph in +1190, was fifty feet high, with walls nine feet thick, strengthened at +the angles by buttresses rising into rectangular turrets. It was +divided into two large rooms on each floor, the great hall having a +lofty arched window, due to the taste of the Duke of Gloucester. In +the north-east angle there was a curious mural chamber, twelve feet +long by nine, opening on to the hall, and the east face of the keep was +one side of the chapel. The outer walls were thirty feet high with +square towers at the angles, and a gatehouse on the north face. The +residential buildings stood against three sides of the <I>enceinte</I>, and +seem to have communicated with the great hall in the keep by a covered +passage. +</P> + +<P> +The nearest neighbours of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were the +Monks of Jervaux and Coverham, their cousin the Lord Scrope of +Bolton,[<A NAME="chap0107fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn1">1</A>] and the Metcalfes of Nappa Hall.[<A NAME="chap0107fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn2">2</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The manuscript volume No. 433 of the Harleian collection in the British +Museum supplies a few +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN> +glimpses of the home life at Middleham. We +read of a pack of hounds and of the wages of a jester. There is the +election of a king of rush bearing, and of a king of Middleham, +evidently games for the amusement of the Duke's little son Edward, who +was born about 1473.[<A NAME="chap0107fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn3">3</A>] The child's tutor was Richard Bernall, and the +cost is recorded of his primer and psalter, and of satin to cover them. +There are also payments for green cloth for my lord prince, and for a +feather for my lord prince. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Richard's able administration +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Though Middleham was Richard's home, his official residence, as Chief +Seneschal of the Duchy of Lancaster in the north parts, was at Pomfret +Castle. He also stayed occasionally at Sheriff Hutton, Skipton, and +Barnard Castle. He was regarded as a trusted friend by his neighbours, +and in September 1481 we find Lady Latimer showing her confidence in +his integrity by appointing him supervisor of her will. She was a +sister of his mother-in-law, the Countess of Warwick. The Duke of +Gloucester bestowed great benefits on the city of York, where he was +much beloved. During his frequent visits he was usually the guest of +the Augustine friars,[<A NAME="chap0107fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn4">4</A>] and in their monastery he conferred with the +authorities touching their local affairs. He was actively engaged in +administrative work, and in giving his time to settle the affairs of +his neighbours from 1472. In that year we find him writing about a +robbery of cattle at Spofforth. In 1482 he was an arbitrator in the +dispute between Robert Plumpton and his heirs-general.[<A NAME="chap0107fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn5">5</A>] He improved +and beautified +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN> +several Yorkshire churches, building an additional +chapel at Sheriff Hutton, founding colleges at Middleham[<A NAME="chap0107fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn6">6</A>] and Barnard +Castle, and a memorial chapel near the battlefield of Towton. Crosby +Place, in Bishopsgate, became the town residence of the Duke and +Duchess of Gloucester, after the death of its wealthy founder, Sir John +Crosby, in 1475. +</P> + +<P> +Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had been created Great Chamberlain and +Admiral of England by his brother, and he was Lord Warden of the Cinque +Ports. His little son Edward became Earl of Salisbury in 1478.[<A NAME="chap0107fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn7">7</A>] In +1480, when Richard had attained the age of twenty-eight, he was +appointed Lieutenant-General of the North and Warden of the Marches. +By his skill and energy he subdued part of the western border of +Scotland for an extent of more than thirty miles, bringing portions +under obedience to the King of England, 'to the great rest and ease of +the inhabitants of the west marches.'[<A NAME="chap0107fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn8">8</A>] His administration was so +able that it was remembered long after as a very model of +efficiency.[<A NAME="chap0107fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn9">9</A>] In 1482 he received command of an army for the invasion +of Scotland. In the summer of that year he entered Edinburgh, where he +was received by the malcontent nobles rather as a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN> +friend than as +an enemy. He reconciled King James III. with his brother, enforced all +the English demands, and captured the town and castle of Berwick after +an obstinate resistance. This was a great achievement, and gave +England an important advantage in case of future hostilities. +Richard's services were cordially recognised by the Parliament which +met in January, and no man stood in higher honour throughout the +kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Children of Edward IV. +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +King Edward IV. died at Westminster on April 9, 1483, and was buried at +Windsor. He had gone through a marriage ceremony with Elizabeth, +daughter of Sir Richard Woodville of Grafton, and widow of Sir John +Grey of Groby, on May 1, 1464. Besides the priest and his assistant, +the only witnesses were Lady Grey's mother and two unnamed gentlewomen. +Edward IV. had three sons and seven daughters by Lady Grey, of whom two +sons and five daughters survived him.[<A NAME="chap0107fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn10">10</A>] He also had one son and one +daughter +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN> +by Elizabeth Lucy.[<A NAME="chap0107fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn11">11</A>] The Duke of Clarence had left a +son Edward and a daughter[<A NAME="chap0107fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0107fn12">12</A>] by Isabella, daughter of the Earl of +Warwick. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn1text">1</A>] Lord Scrope was faithful to the end. His sister Agnes was married +to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, one of the most loyal of Richard's friends. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn2text">2</A>] James Metcalfe of Nappa, near Aysgarth, served at the battle of +Agincourt. He had two sons, Miles and Thomas. Immediately after his +accession Richard III. appointed Miles Metcalfe one of the Judges of +the County Palatine of Lancaster, and Thomas Metcalfe Chancellor of the +Duchy (<I>York Records</I>, p. 58 <I>n</I>). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn3text">3</A>] According to Rous he was seven and a half in 1483, when he was made +Prince of Wales. But the date in the text is more probable. See +Sandford, p. 410. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn4text">4</A>] <I>York Records</I>, p. 125 <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn5text">5</A>] <I>Plumpton Correspondence</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn6text">6</A>] See the <I>History of the Collegiate Church of Middleham</I>, by the +Rev. Wm. Atthill (Camden Society, 1847). The licence for erecting the +church into a college was granted to the Duke of Gloucester on February +21, 1478, and he issued the Statutes on July 18, 1478. Miss Halsted, +the laborious and conscientious biographer of Richard III., had a +romantic attachment for Middleham, as the scene of the ill-fated young +King's happy married life. She eventually married the Rector, and was +buried in Middleham Church. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn7text">7</A>] <I>Rot. Parl.</I> 17 Ed. iv. p. 2, m. 16. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn8text">8</A>] <I>Rot. Parl.</I> vi. 204. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn9text">9</A>] Gairdner, p. 48, quoting Brewer's <I>Letters and Papers of Henry +VIII.</I>, vol. i. nos. 4518-5090, and vol. iv. no. 133. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn10text">10</A>] Elizabeth, born at Westminster on February 11, 1465. (Sandford +says 1466, but Nicolas gives good reason for 1465 being the year.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Cicely. The date of her birth is not recorded; but she came next to +Elizabeth. Henry Tudor married her to his old uncle, Lord Welles, some +time before December 1487. On his death in 1499, she married one Kyme +of Lincolnshire. She died in about 1503. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Edward was born in sanctuary on November 14, 1470. On July 26, 1471, +he was created Prince of Wales, and on June 20, 1475, Duke of Cornwall +and Earl of Chester. He was also created Earl of March and Pembroke. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Richard was born at Shrewsbury in 1473, and was created Duke of York on +May 28, 1474, Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Warren and Nottingham on Feb. +7, 1477. On January 15, 1478, he was married to Anne, daughter and +heiress of John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, she being then aged six. She +died soon afterwards. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Anne was born in 1475, and in 1495 she married Thomas Howard Earl of +Surrey; but no children survived infancy. She died before 1515. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Katherine, probably born in 1479, and in about 1495 she married William +Courtenay Earl of Devon, and died in 1527. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Bridget, the youngest child, was born at Eltham on November 10, 1480. +She became a nun at Dartford, where she died in 1517. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn11text">11</A>] Edward IV. had two children by Elizabeth Lucy. Arthur, who was +created Viscount Lisle in 1524, and died in 1540; and Elizabeth, +married to Lord Lumley. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0107fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0107fn12text">12</A>] George Duke of Clarence, by his wife Isabella, daughter of Richard +Nevill, Earl of Warwick, left two children: +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Edward, born at Warwick Castle on February 21, 1475, and created Earl +of Warwick by his uncle Edward IV., after his father's execution, in +1478. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Margaret, born at Farley Castle near Bath in 1473, created Countess of +Salisbury in 1514, and married to a Tudor partisan named Richard Pole. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0108"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ACCESSION OF RICHARD III +</H4> + +<P> +The Queen and her relations had acquired predominating influence in the +counsels of Edward IV. Her brother Anthony was Earl Rivers, another +brother Lionel was Bishop of Salisbury, her son Thomas Grey had been +created Marquis of Dorset. Her sisters had been married to the Duke of +Buckingham, the Earls of Kent, Arundel, Huntingdon and Lord Strange. +Her brother-in-law, Edward Grey, had been made Viscount Lisle. +</P> + +<P> +This Woodville faction had the design to monopolise all the powers of +the state. The Woodvilles had received bribes from Louis XI., had +caused the death of Clarence, and had shared his inheritance. They now +looked to the minority of King Edward's son as an opportunity for still +further gratifying their ambition. But they had never succeeded in +alienating the affections of the King from his brother Richard. +</P> + +<P> +At the time of the King's death his son Edward was residing at Ludlow +in charge of his uncle Lord Rivers, his half brother Sir Richard Grey, +his cousin Sir Richard Haute, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Dr. Alcock, Bishop +of Worcester. The Marquis of Dorset, another half-brother of young +Edward, was in possession of the Tower. The other chief councillors of +the late King, including Bishops Rotherham and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN> +Morton, the Duke of +Buckingham, Lords Hastings, Stanley and Howard, were in London. The +Duke of Gloucester was far away in the marches of Scotland. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Richard appointed Protector +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +By his will King Edward IV. left the care of his son's person and the +government of the kingdom during the minority to his brother Richard, +without any colleague.[<A NAME="chap0108fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn1">1</A>] Richard Duke of Gloucester was a prince who +had shown valour and generalship in the field, wisdom and ability in +his civil administration. As a councillor he had upheld the honour of +his country. He was beloved by the people of the north, and was +deservedly popular throughout the land. He proceeded to York on +hearing of his brother's death and attended the solemn obsequies in the +minster. He then caused his nephew to be proclaimed, and began the +journey to London, with 600 gentlemen of the north in attendance, all +in deep mourning. He came to assume the responsibilities imposed upon +him by his brother. +</P> + +<P> +Very different was the conduct of the Woodvilles. They formed a +conspiracy to set aside the late King's wishes, to exclude the Duke of +Gloucester, and to retain by force the authority they had hitherto +exercised through the Queen's influence. Rivers set out from Ludlow +with 2,000 men, and a large supply of arms, on April 24.[<A NAME="chap0108fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn2">2</A>] Dorset +seized the arms and treasure in the Tower, and fitted out a naval force +to secure command of the Channel. Council Orders were issued in the +names of Rivers—'Avunculus Regis,' and of Dorset—'Frater regis +uterinus,' while that of the Duke of Gloucester was excluded. There +can be no doubt of the treasonable designs of the Woodville +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN> +faction, which are indeed proved by these overt acts; and which went +the length of conspiring against Richard's life.[<A NAME="chap0108fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Arrest of Rivers +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of Buckingham hurried from London with 300 men, to warn +Gloucester of his danger, and found him at Northampton on April 29, +where he had expected to meet his nephew. They ascertained that Rivers +had arrived that very morning with young Edward, and had pushed on to +Stony Stratford, fourteen miles nearer London, to avoid a meeting +between the boy and his uncle. This made his conduct still more +suspicious. Rivers then, with Richard Grey and a portion of his force, +returned to Northampton to give some plausible explanation to the two +Dukes, while young Edward was to be hurried on to London. Gloucester +acted with prompt decision. There was not a moment to lose. A Council +was summoned, consisting of the nobles present, and it was resolved +that Rivers and his fellow-conspirators should be arrested. The +combined companies of Gloucester and Buckingham numbered 900 men. +Rivers had a force of 2,000, but he had only brought a portion to +Northampton, and his arrest, with his nephew Richard Grey, was effected +without resistance. Gloucester then advanced rapidly to Stony +Stratford, and was just in time. He found young Edward and his retinue +on the point of starting for London. Vaughan and Haute were arrested; +and the four prisoners were sent to Yorkshire to await their trials. +Lord Rivers was taken to Sheriff Hutton, Grey to Middleham, Vaughan and +Haute to Pomfret. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN> +Dr. Alcock was not suspected of complicity in +the plot. He was a Yorkshireman and a staunch supporter of the White +Rose. His subsequent conduct in welcoming King Richard at Oxford, +accompanying him in his progress, and giving him the aid of his +diplomatic services, proves that Bishop Alcock recognised the justice +of that King's accession.[<A NAME="chap0108fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The troops of Rivers, now without a leader, submitted to the Duke of +Gloucester, who then resumed his journey, in company with his nephew. +They reached London on May 4. As soon as the Queen Dowager heard that +the plot was discovered, she went into sanctuary at Westminster[<A NAME="chap0108fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn5">5</A>] with +her son Richard and five daughters. Here she was joined by her other +son Dorset. +</P> + +<P> +Young Edward took up his abode at the Bishop's Palace in St. Paul's +Churchyard. Gloucester went to reside with his mother, the widowed +Duchess of York, at Baynard's Castle. This edifice stood at the foot +of St. Andrew's Hill, on the banks of the Thames, a little +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN> +west of +St. Paul's.[<A NAME="chap0108fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn6">6</A>] After the death of her noble husband at the battle of +Wakefield, in 1460, the Duchess of York took little part in public +affairs, although she survived for upwards of 33 years. A happy +married life of 22 years was followed by a long and sorrowful +widowhood. The wayward and lawless conduct of her eldest son with +regard to his matrimonial affairs doubtless caused her constant +anxiety, while the death of her son George by the hand of his brother +added another pang to the widow's grief. +</P> + +<P> +Richard, so far as appears, can have given his mother neither anxiety +nor sorrow. Living happily at Middleham, married to his mother's +grand-niece, and always gaining applause and approval whenever he took +part in public affairs, he must have been the son from whom his mother +derived most comfort. It was natural that, in this crisis of his +fortunes, he should have sought counsel and support under that mother's +roof, and we may fairly conclude that the subsequent proceedings, which +led to Richard's assumption of the crown, had the sanction and approval +of the Duchess of York.[<A NAME="chap0108fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn7">7</A>] The Duke of Gloucester had been recognised +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN> +as Protector of the Realm before his arrival in London,[<A NAME="chap0108fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn8">8</A>] and on +May 13 he summoned a Parliament to meet on the 25th of the following +month. When the Duchess of Gloucester reached London on June 5, the +Duke left Baynard's Castle, where he had resided with his mother for +upwards of a month, and removed to Crosby Place[<A NAME="chap0108fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn9">9</A>] with his wife. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Bishop Stillington's revelation +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Up to this time affairs had gone smoothly. On June 5 the Protector had +given detailed orders for his nephew's coronation on the 22nd, and had +even caused letters of summons to be issued for the attendance of forty +esquires who were to receive the knighthood of the Bath on the +occasion.[<A NAME="chap0108fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn10">10</A>] But now there came a change. Dr. Robert Stillington, +Bishop of Bath and Wells, apparently on June 8, revealed to the Council +the long-concealed fact that Edward IV. was contracted to the Lady +Eleanor Butler, widow of a son of Lord Butler of Sudeley, and daughter +of the first Earl of Shrewsbury, before he went through a secret +marriage ceremony with the Lady Grey.[<A NAME="chap0108fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn11">11</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Stillington thus becomes a very important personage in the history +of King Richard's accession; and it will be well to learn all that can +be gleaned of his life. He first saw the light in an old brick manor +house, which still stands on the right bank of the Ouse at Acaster +Selby (then within the parish of Stillingfleet), about nine miles south +of York. +</P> + +<P> +The family of Stillington had long been established here, renting land +from the Abbot of Selby, when two sons, Thomas and Robert, were born to +Thomas Stillington and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Halthorp. +Thomas succeeded to the paternal estate, while Robert was destined for +the priesthood. He was sent to Oxford, and eventually took the degree +of Doctor of Law with great distinction. He was a Fellow of All Souls, +and became Rector of St. Michael's, Ouse Bridge, and a Canon of York in +1448 and 1451. Stillington was ever loyal to the cause of the White +Rose. At some time in or before 1463, he witnessed the marriage +contract which united Edward IV. to the Lady Eleanor Butler; the King +strictly charging him not to reveal it. When Edward subsequently went +through the same ceremony with the Lady Grey, his mother the Duchess of +York, who was in the secret, remonstrated, but without avail. Edward +was self-willed and headstrong. The Lady Eleanor retired to a convent +in Norwich, where she died on July 30, 1466, and was buried in the +Church of the Carmelites.[<A NAME="chap0108fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn12">12</A>] +</P> + +<P> +In 1466 Dr. Stillington became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and in the +same year Edward IV. made him Keeper of the Privy Seal. On June 8, +1467, he was installed in the high office of Lord Chancellor, in +succession to Archbishop Nevill. He delivered a very +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN> +eloquent and +statesmanlike speech at the opening of Parliament in May 1468, which +made a deep impression. After holding the office of Chancellor, with +dignity and credit, for six years, he resigned, owing to ill-health, in +1473. He was afterwards employed on an embassy to Brittany. +</P> + +<P> +If the Queen Dowager and her relations had any knowledge of the first +marriage, Bishop Stillington would be a source of anxiety and fear to +them; while they could never be certain who else might know the secret +besides the King's mother. We find that the Duke of Clarence was +attainted on February 7, 1478, on a series of charges, most of them +frivolous and none sufficiently grave to account for his death at the +hands of his own brother. There must have been something behind. Mr. +Gairdner has suggested that the execution of Clarence was due to his +having discovered the secret.[<A NAME="chap0108fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn13">13</A>] Certainly that would satisfactorily +account for it. The influence of the Woodvilles was paramount, and it +would then be a necessity of their continuance in power that Clarence +should cease to live. The character of Clarence made it impossible +that a secret would be safe with him. His death was the only safe +course for the Woodvilles. It is very significant that, at the very +time of Clarence's attainder, Bishop Stillington was arrested and +imprisoned[<A NAME="chap0108fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn14">14</A>] for 'uttering words prejudicial to the King and his +State.' He was pardoned in the following June 1478. All this points +clearly to the discovery of the first contract by Clarence, and to the +utterance of some imprudent +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN> +speech by the bishop, which was +expiated by imprisonment followed by renewed promises of silence. +</P> + +<P> +During the years following his imprisonment, Bishop Stillington appears +to have devoted himself to the duties of his diocese. He always +retained feelings of affection for the family at Acaster, and for the +home of his childhood on the banks of the Ouse. Towards the close of +his long and honourable career he founded a collegiate chapel on his +brother's land at Acaster, dedicated to St. Andrew, for a provost and +fellows, and for free education in grammar, music and writing. The +grant was confirmed by King Richard III. in 1483. A fine collegiate +church of brick, eighty-seven feet long and twenty-one broad, rose upon +the banks of the Ouse, with twenty windows filled with stained glass. +It was a memorial of the good bishop, and members of his family in +later generations left in their wills that they wished to be buried at +St. Andrew's college. The site is now marked by a few grassy +mounds.[<A NAME="chap0108fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn15">15</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Stillington was a good and pious bishop, an able statesman, and a +most loyal and faithful adherent of the White Rose. His one fault was +that he did not ensure his own destruction by proclaiming Edward's +secret before that King's death. There was no urgent obligation to do +so; but when the time arrived, he was bound to come forward, and he was +probably urged by the Duchess of York to publish the truth. Richard +had hitherto been ignorant of the early intrigues of his brother. He +was only eleven and a half when the widow of Sir J. Grey was taken into +favour, and the Butler contract was of a still earlier date. +</P> + +<P> +The announcement must have fallen on Richard and the Council like a +thunder clap. It was inevitable that the matter should be thoroughly +sifted. There was a prolonged sitting of the Lords Spiritual and +Temporal in the Council Chamber at Westminster, on June 9.[<A NAME="chap0108fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn16">16</A>] Bishop +Stillington 'brought in instruments, authentic doctors, proctors, and +notaries of the law, with depositions of divers witnesses.'[<A NAME="chap0108fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn17">17</A>] The +majority of the Council must have seen at once that the illegitimate +son of the late King could not succeed. Such a proceeding would +inevitably be the precursor of innumerable troubles. The case was +prepared to be laid before the Parliament which was summoned to meet on +June 25. +</P> + +<P> +There was, however, a small but powerful minority in the Council, led +by Lord Hastings and Bishop Morton, to whom the prospect of losing the +openings to their ambition offered by a minority was most distasteful. +They commenced opposition[<A NAME="chap0108fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn18">18</A>] and began to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN> +meet apart, plotting +against the Protector's government. This was soon followed by overt +acts. Hitherto all orders and grants had been issued 'by the advice of +our uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester, Protector and Defender.' But on +the 9th, and again on June 12, the conspirators issued orders without +the Protector's name. They were preparing for open hostility. +Hastings was intriguing with his former adversaries, the Woodvilles, +both at Westminster and in Yorkshire. On June 10 the Duke of +Gloucester became thoroughly alarmed. He despatched a letter to his +faithful city of York, asking that troops might be sent up to protect +and support him. It was delivered on the 15th. On the 11th a similar +letter was sent to his cousin, Lord Nevill. Meanwhile, the Hastings +faction was not idle. A <I>supersedeas</I> was secretly issued to the towns +and counties, ordering the Parliament not to assemble.[<A NAME="chap0108fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn19">19</A>] It was +received at York on June 21. This was done to delay or prevent the +consideration of the question of illegitimacy, and of the evidence +submitted by Bishop Stillington. Finally a plot was formed to seize +the Protector and put him to death.[<A NAME="chap0108fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn20">20</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Conspirators thwarted +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The conspiracy was divulged to the Protector by Master William Catesby, +who was in the confidence of Hastings. The danger was imminent. It +was probably a question of hours. Richard acted with characteristic +promptitude and vigour. On June 13 he proceeded in person to the Tower +with a body of retainers, and arrested Lord Hastings at the council +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN> +table on a charge of treason. The conspirators were caught, as it +were, red-handed. A proclamation was then issued, giving the details +of the plot, but unfortunately no copy remains. Hastings was condemned +and executed on June 20, a week after his arrest.[<A NAME="chap0108fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn21">21</A>] The danger over, +Richard mourned for the loss of his old companion in arms. +'Undoubtedly the Protector loved him well, and was loth to have lost +him.'[<A NAME="chap0108fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn22">22</A>] A prominent feature in Richard's character was his +generosity to the relations of his political opponents. In this +respect the conduct which was habitual with him was almost +unprecedented in his, and indeed in later times. In the case of +Hastings, he at once restored the children in blood, and granted the +forfeited estates to the widow. He also liberally rewarded the brother +of Hastings for past services, and granted all his requests. +</P> + +<P> +The conspirators in Yorkshire would probably have been pardoned, if +they had not joined in this new treason with Hastings. But now an +order was sent, through Sir Richard Ratcliffe, for a tribunal to +assemble at Pomfret, to try Lord Rivers and his companions. The Earl +of Northumberland was president of the court. They were found guilty. +The accomplished Earl philosophically prepared for death. He had +played for high stakes, had lost, and was ready to pay the penalty. He +showed his confidence in the integrity and kindly feeling of the Duke +of Gloucester by appointing him supervisor to the will which he made at +Sheriff Hutton on June 23.[<A NAME="chap0108fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn23">23</A>] The trust was not misplaced. On the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN> +25th, Rivers, Grey, Haute, and Vaughan were beheaded. Those +arrested in London, with Hastings, were treated with unwise leniency. +The treacherous Stanley was not only pardoned, but rewarded. Bishop +Morton was merely taken into custody, and placed in charge of the Duke +of Buckingham. Archbishop Rotherham, a weak tool in the hands of the +others, after a brief detention, was allowed to return to his diocese. +</P> + +<P> +Jane Shore, the mistress of Dorset, had been the medium of +communication between Hastings and the Woodville faction. A penance +was imposed upon her by the Church for her vicious life. But she was +treated with considerate forbearance by Richard, whom she had tried to +injure. He ordered her to be released, and consented, though +reluctantly, to her marriage with his Solicitor-General. +</P> + +<P> +The formidable coalition of the two malcontent parties was thus +completely broken. The Woodvilles gave up all further resistance to +the Protector's government. The Bishop of Salisbury, brother of the +Queen-Dowager, and her brother-in-law, Viscount Lisle, came over to his +side.[<A NAME="chap0108fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn24">24</A>] Elizabeth also, at the intercession of the Archbishop of +Canterbury, sent her younger son Richard to join his brother Edward on +June 16.[<A NAME="chap0108fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn25">25</A>] She herself remained in sanctuary with her daughters for +a time, in order to make better terms. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Title to the crown +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the <I>supersedeas</I> which was treacherously sent out by the +conspirators to prevent the meeting of Parliament,[<A NAME="chap0108fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn26">26</A>] the Lords +Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons had assembled in London on the +day +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN> +appointed, June 25, and formed what in later times would have +been called a Convention Parliament. The proofs of the previous +contract of Edward IV. with Lady Eleanor Butler were laid before this +assembly by Bishop Stillington and his witnesses, and it was decided by +the three Estates of the Realm that the illegitimate son could not +succeed to the throne. Owing to the attainder of the Duke of Clarence, +his children were not in the succession. The Duke of Gloucester was, +therefore, the legal heir: and it was resolved that he should be called +upon to accept the high office of King. A statement of the royal +title, styled 'Titulus Regius,' was prepared, in which it was set forth +that the children of Edward IV. by the Lady Grey were illegitimate +owing to that King's previous contract with the Lady Eleanor Butler, +that in consequence of the attainder of the Duke of Clarence, his two +children were incapacitated; and that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was +the only true and rightful heir to the throne. +</P> + +<P> +The children of Edward IV. being illegitimate, Richard was certainly +the legal heir, because the children of Clarence were disabled by law. +But their disability could be set aside at any time by a reversal of +their father's attainder, or by the removal of any corruption in blood +inherited in consequence of that attainder. Edward Earl of Warwick, +son of George Duke of Clarence, was the rightful heir to the throne, +when the children of Edward were proved to be illegitimate. He was +born at Warwick Castle on February 21, 1475, and at this time his age +was eight years and four months. But even if Richard had attempted to +substitute this child for the son of the late King, it is very unlikely +that the assembled +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN> +notables would have consented. They dreaded, +above all things, a long minority. When his own son died prematurely, +King Richard showed his sense of the strong claim of his nephew by +declaring young Warwick to be his heir. +</P> + +<P> +It is alleged that on Sunday, June 22, 1483, an eminent preacher named +Dr. Shaw had delivered a sermon at Paul's Cross, in which he explained +the royal title to the people; and that a speech was made to the same +effect, by the Duke of Buckingham, at the Guildhall on the 24th. This +is not improbable. +</P> + +<P> +On June 26,[<A NAME="chap0108fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn27">27</A>] the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons +proceeded to Baynard's Castle with the <I>Titulus Regius</I>, to submit +their resolution and to petition Richard to assume the crown. He +consented. He was then aged thirty years and eight months. On the +27th he delivered the Great Seal to Dr. Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, a +prelate celebrated for learning, piety, and wisdom.[<A NAME="chap0108fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn28">28</A>] On the 28th a +letter was despatched to Lord Mountjoy at Calais, with instructions to +acquaint the garrison of the new King's accession, and to secure their +allegiance. Richard III. then organised his Council, and surrounded +himself with able and upright advisers. There were only two false +friends among them—the traitors Buckingham and Stanley. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn1text">1</A>] Bernard André, 23. Polydore Virgil, 530 (171, 173 Eng. trans.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn2text">2</A>] Rous, 212. Croyland, 564. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn3text">3</A>] Rous says they had contrived the Duke's death, 213. Also the +Croyland Monk, 565: 'Conspiratum est contra eos, quod ipsi +contrivissent mortem ducis Protectoris Angliæ.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn4text">4</A>] John Alcock was the son of a burgess of Hull, and was educated at +the grammar school of Beverley. He graduated at Cambridge in 1461. He +was Dean of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and one of the King's Council +in 1470, and Bishop of Rochester in 1472. In 1476 he was translated to +Worcester, and in 1483 was tutor to young Edward. He was at Oxford to +welcome Richard III. after his coronation, and accompanied him on his +progress to Warwick. In 1484 he was one of the Commissioners delegated +to treat with the Scottish Ambassadors. In 1486 he was translated to +Ely, where he built a tower of the Bishop's palace, and a beautiful +chapel for his interment. His attachment to the house of York is shown +by the ornaments in the vaulting of the basement of the tower, and in +the chapel. The rebus on his name (two cocks with their feet on a +globe) occurs alternately with the '<I>rose en soleil</I>,' the badge of +Edward IV. Bishop Alcock founded Jesus College at Cambridge. He died +at Wisbeach in 1500. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn5text">5</A>] Croyland 565. Rous, 213. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn6text">6</A>] Baynard's Castle was so called from Baynard, one of the companions +of the Conqueror, who had license to fortify his house on Thames bank +within the city. It was fortified by his descendant in 1110 A.D. In +1428 it had become the property of the crown and, having been destroyed +by fire, it was rebuilt by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. On his +attainder it again reverted to the crown, and was granted to Richard +Duke of York. It was long the residence of his widow, and here both +Edward IV. and Richard III. accepted the crown. Baynard's Castle was +gutted in the Great Fire of 1666. It had long been rented by the Earls +of Pembroke, but seems to have been in a ruinous condition. It was +probably pulled down during the clearance operations after the fire. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn7text">7</A>] One letter has been preserved from Richard III. to his mother, +after his accession. It is written in most affectionate terms, and +shows deference to her wishes. After her last surviving son's death at +Bosworth the Duchess retired from the world entirely, living at her +castle of Berkhampstead, under the rules of one of the monastic orders. +She died in 1493, and was buried by the side of her husband at +Fotheringhay. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn8text">8</A>] Mr. Gairdner has pointed out that he was styled Protector in two +documents upon the Patent Rolls, dated April 21 and May 2. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn9text">9</A>] Crosby Place, in Bishopsgate Street, was built by Alderman Sir John +Crosby, who died in 1475. The Duke of Gloucester had a lease of it +from Sir John's widow. It must have been a princely residence, and the +hall is still one of the finest examples of Perpendicular domestic +architecture of the fifteenth century. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn10text">10</A>] Rymer, vol. xii. p. 186; Anstis, Obs.; Sir Harris Nicolas, +<I>History of the Orders of Knighthood</I>, iii. ix.; Ellis, <I>Original +Letters</I>, 2nd series. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn11text">11</A>] Comines says that the contract was made by the Bishop of Bath and +Wells, who told Comines that he afterwards married Edward and Lady +Eleanor. The King charged him strictly not to reveal it. (Phil. de +Comines, ii. 157.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn12text">12</A>] Weever's <I>Funeral Monuments</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn13text">13</A>] Gairdner's <I>Richard III.</I>, p. 91. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn14text">14</A>] Rymer, xii. 66. In the papers of the Stonor family there is a +letter from Elizabeth Stonor to her husband, dated March 6, 1478, in +which she said that the Bishop of Bath had been brought into the Tower +since her husband departed. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn15text">15</A>] All was destroyed and sold in the reign of Edward VI. (1552). But +a view of the ruins, and of a monument of the founder of Acaster +College, with a ground plot, is mentioned in Gough's <I>Topography of +Yorkshire</I>, 1804, p. 469. Rents at the dissolution 27<I>l.</I> 13<I>s.</I> +4<I>d</I>. Worth 553<I>l.</I> 6<I>s.</I> 8<I>d</I>. Granted in 1552 to John Hulse and +William Pendred. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +The family of Stillington continued to flourish at Acaster and +Kelfield, in the parish of Stillingfleet; greatly improving their +estate by a marriage with the heiress of FitzHenry. In 1520 stained +glass with the arms of Stillington impaling Bigod, was placed in one of +the windows of Stillingfleet church. At that time Dr. Thomas +Stillington was a man of great learning, and became Professor of +Divinity at the University of Louvain. The Stillingtons continued to +flourish at Kelfield Hall throughout the seventeenth century. The last +male of the race was young in the days of Queen Anne. There is a +portrait of him as a boy, in a classical costume, which was painted by +Parmentier in 1708. It is now in the dining room at Moreby Hall. This +Joseph Stillington of Kelfield died in 1742. His daughter Dorothy +married William Peirse of Hutton Bonville. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn16text">16</A>] Stallworthe's letter to Sir W. Stonor. (<I>Excerpt. Hist.</I> p. 16.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn17text">17</A>] Morton, in his account of a conversation with the Duke of +Buckingham (Grafton, p. 126). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn18text">18</A>] Polydore Virgil, p. 540. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn19text">19</A>] Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 154. That this <I>supersedeas</I> was +issued by the conspirators and not by the Protector's Council is proved +by Dr. Russell having actually prepared a speech for the opening of +Parliament on June 24. This speech has been preserved. The date of +the <I>supersedeas</I> was probably before June 13. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn20text">20</A>] Rastell, p. 80, +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn21text">21</A>] Stallworthe to Sir W. Stonor. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn22text">22</A>] Morton, p. 69, in Rastell. This is the evidence of a bitter enemy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn23text">23</A>] The will is given in the <I>Excerpta Historica</I>, pp. 246-248. He +also appointed William Catesby, another meritorious but shamefully +maligned public servant, to be his executor. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn24text">24</A>] 'My Lord Lyle has come to my Lord Protector and waits on him.' +Stallworthe's second letter (<I>Excerpt. Hist.</I> p. 16). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn25text">25</A>] Croyland, p. 566. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn26text">26</A>] Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 134. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn27text">27</A>] The date of Richard's accession is fixed by the <I>Year Book</I>. 'Les +Reports des Cases.' See Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 157 <I>n</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn28text">28</A>] 'A wise man and a good, and of much experience.'—Morton, in +Rastell. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0109"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE +</H4> + +<P> +At Richard's accession we may pause to glance at the condition of the +people of England 420 years ago, not in any minute detail, not probing +the matter to any depth, but with the object of having the general +surroundings in our minds, while contemplating the brief reign of our +last Plantagenet. +</P> + +<P> +The Lancastrian usurpation, effected by Henry of Bolingbroke (Duke of +Lancaster), caused much ruthless slaughter, and led to the atrocious +Act <I>De heretico comburendo</I>, passed to secure the support of the +clergy for the usurper. His son, Henry of Monmouth, was a fanatic, but +otherwise a man of a far nobler nature than his father. He secured his +position by a popular but most unjust war with France, and by his own +fascinating personality. From his landing at Havre to the death of +Talbot at Châtillon, this war covered a period of thirty-eight years, +from 1415 to 1453. It did not, however, exhaust the wealth of the +country, nor did the other more odious policy of the Lancastrians in +passing an Act for the burning of heretics, destroy all freedom of +thought. But the war filled the country with lawless military +adventurers, and the persecution unsettled men's minds. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The cause of the War of the Roses was the misgovernment of the faction +which ruled in the name of Henry of Windsor, the feeble-minded grandson +of Charles VI. of France, whose malady he inherited. Recognition +during half a century had made the parliamentary title of the usurpers +secure. Owing to the absence of an hereditary title, the House of +Commons had never been more powerful. The Speakers were practically +Chancellors of the Exchequer, and prepared the budgets. Speaker +Tresham, who was murdered in 1450 by Lord Grey de Ruthyn, was the first +to propose a graduated income tax, and was a great statesman. But the +House was not strong enough to control an unprincipled executive. The +usurpation would never have been challenged, after a Parliamentary +recognition of sixty years, if the administration of the usurping +faction had not been intolerably bad. The Duke of York was the +rightful hereditary heir to the throne. His grandfather had been +recognised as heir by a Parliament of Richard II. The Duke was a just +and moderate statesman. Until a month before the battle of Wakefield +his sole purpose had been the reform of abuses. +</P> + +<P> +The war, however, was not a war of the people. Although London warmly +supported the house of York, it was a war fought out by two parties of +the nobles and their retainers, including some old veterans of the +French war. The struggle did not in the least degree affect the +ordinary life of England. Mr. Thorold Rogers tells us that, though he +has read hundreds of documents compiled for private inspection only, +chiefly manorial accounts, covering the whole period of the war, he has +never met a single allusion to the troubles. 'The people,' he adds, +'were absolutely indifferent. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN> +Except the outrages of Margaret's +army in 1461, no injury was done to neutrals. The war was as little +injurious to the great mass of the people, in its immediate effects, as +summer lightning. It had no bearing on work or wages.' +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The Peerage +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It is also a mistake, though a frequently reiterated one, that the +English nobility, as a class, was almost destroyed by the War of the +Roses. Nothing of the sort happened. Several noblemen fell in battle, +others lost their lives on the scaffold. There are long lists of +traitors in the bills of attainder. But the death of a nobleman did +not include the deaths of his heirs; and most of those who were +attainted eventually received pardons. After the heat of battle was +over, Edward IV. was placable and good-natured. He never refused a +petition for pardon.[<A NAME="chap0109fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0109fn1">1</A>] Only two peerages became extinct from causes +connected with the war. The Beauforts came to an end, and the Tiptoft +peerage lapsed, the accomplished Earl of Worcester being childless. +The lay peerage, including peers temporarily under attainder, numbered +fifty-four on the accession of Richard III., quite as numerous as it +was before the war. +</P> + +<P> +We have not, therefore, to contemplate a devastated country and a +decimated peerage at the time when our last Plantagenet King ascended +the throne. England was fairly prosperous, and the numbers and wealth +of the nobility had not been reduced. But how different was the whole +face of the country! The outlines of the hills are alone the same. +There were immense areas of forest and swamp where now the landscape +consists of enclosed fields like a green chessboard. There were few +enclosures,[<A NAME="chap0109fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0109fn2">2</A>] but tracts of common land for each +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN> +manor, and +cultivation in long strips near the villages and manor houses. The +beaten tracks, some following the lines of the old Roman roads leading +to the towns and castles, were often almost impassable in winter. King +Richard was the first to establish any kind of post. The scenery was +very beautiful on the hills and in the forests, in the quiet valleys, +and in the swampy fens. Wild animals, many now extinct, were then +abundant, hunted occasionally, but, to a great extent, left in peace +over vast areas of absolute solitude. It was a very beautiful England, +but how utterly different from the England of the twentieth century! +</P> + +<P> +The noble and gentle families passed most of their time in their +counties, hawking and hunting, mustering their armed retainers, often +disputing about their respective rights, sometimes trying to settle +disputes by force regardless of law. Yet many were law-abiding and +maintainers of the King's peace, and a few were giving some attention +to the new learning to which Caxton was now opening the door. Some of +the elders had seen service in the French war which came to an end +thirty years before. Only a great noble could raise or command a +military force, but reliance was placed on the experience of some +veteran, such as Hall or Trollope, to organise and direct as chief of +the staff. In those troublous days the King might, at any time, have +to send forth commissions of array. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Castles +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Castles then studded the country, and the ruins of some of them still +give a correct idea of their accommodation and general plan. Old +Norman keeps reared their massive fronts, surrounded by lodgings and +outworks of later construction. The keeps contained stately halls, +guard rooms, and chapels. The more modern and more comfortable +lodgings followed the lines of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN> +outer defences, generally +having covered communication with the keep. Such were King Richard's +home at Middleham, the royal castles of Richmond, Conisborough and +Tickhill. Hedingham, the home of the Veres in Essex, Rochester, the +Tower of London, and a few others are still standing. Lord Bourchier, +the Treasurer, had quite recently built a castle of brick at +Tattershall in Lincolnshire, with a lofty keep still intact. The +Treasurer's device of a purse frequently recurs there. +</P> + +<P> +The castles of the later period were, however, generally built without +the central keep. They consisted of square angle towers connected by +curtains, one of which usually formed the great hall, as at Lumley. +These were more numerous and probably more commodious. Bolton and +Lumley are good examples. There was already a tendency to increase the +conveniences and amenities of the old castles by the enlargement of +windows and in other ways, as is shown by the fine oriel window at +Barnard Castle, the work of Richard himself. The royal residences at +Eltham, Sheen, and Windsor are believed to have been designed more for +comfort and pleasure than for defence; although Windsor is a place of +strength, with circular keep, and means to resist an enemy both in the +upper and lower wards. The general tendency, during the last half of +the fifteenth century, was to build for comfort rather than for defence. +</P> + +<P> +In the courts and at the gates of the castles of noblemen there were +guards wearing more or less of defensive armour, morions or bacinets on +their heads, and brigandines of quilted linen or leather with small +plates of iron sewn on them. Glaives or bills, crossbows with quarrels +or darts, and bows and arrows were in the guard rooms. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The sons of the surrounding gentry were brought up and taught martial +exercises and the other accomplishments of a gentleman of the time, at +the castles of the lords their patrons, a custom which bound the +nobility and lesser gentry together by common interests and common +pursuits. +</P> + +<P> +Much time was occupied in hunting and hawking, and the adherents of the +House of York were more especially the votaries of the noble art of +venery. The first English book of sport had the second Duke of York +for its author, and was entitled 'The Master of Game.' The Duke +declares that 'hunters live more joyfully than any other men,' and his +work shows that he was a keen observer with a wonderfully accurate +knowledge of natural history. With such a master and guide in their +family the scions of the royal House of York were the leading sportsmen +in the country, closely followed by their friends and numerous cousins +among the nobility and gentry. The 'Book of St. Albans' by Juliana +Berners the Prioress of Sopwell, treating of hawking, hunting, fishing, +and the laws of arms, was also a work of that period, and was first +printed at St. Albans Abbey, by John Insomuch, the Schoolmaster, in +1481.[<A NAME="chap0109fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0109fn3">3</A>] Juliana divides the wild animals into beasts of venery—the +wolf, wild boar, stag, hart and hare; beasts of the chase of the sweet +foot—buck and doe and the roe—and of the stinking foot, wild cat, +badger, fox, weasel, marten, squirrel, and others. She is particular +in explaining the terms to be used in venery, that one must say a covey +of partridges but a bevy of quails, and so forth. Closely allied to +the arts of war and of venery was the law of arms, of which every +gentleman of that day had +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN> +some knowledge. Charges on shields and +standards, on surcoats and liveries were regulated by the heralds, and +after the ordinance of Henry V. were granted by the Sovereign. But in +the most flourishing days of chivalry, those of Edward III., this was +not essential. There was no Heralds' College,[<A NAME="chap0109fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0109fn4">4</A>] and the only really +interesting armorial bearings are those used in the days of the +Plantagenets. With Tudors and Stuarts heraldry lost its chivalric +significance, and coats of arms subsequently granted are unmeaning and +vulgar. +</P> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Peerage of Richard III +</SPAN> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<PRE> + PEERS + + <I>Relations of the Sovereign</I> + + * Duke of Suffolk (<I>brother-in-law</I>), K.G. + *+Earl of Lincoln (<I>nephew</I>), K.B. + *+Viscount Lovell (<I>dearest friend</I>), + Lord Chamberlain, K.G. + *+Earl of Northumberland (1<I>st cousin</I>), K.G. + * Lord Greystoke (1<I>st cousin</I>). + * Lord Abergavenny, K.B. }(<I>cousins</I>). + Earl of Westmoreland (<I>sick</I>) } + + <I>Minors</I> + + Duke of Buckingham } (<I>cousins</I>) + Earl of Essex } + Earl of Salisbury (<I>son</I>). + * Earl of Warwick (<I>nephew</I>). + Earl of Pembroke (<I>nephew</I>). + + <I>Staunch and true</I> + + *+Duke of Norfolk, Ld. Admiral, K.G. + *+Earl of Surrey, K.G. + * Lord Audley, Ld. Treasurer. + *+Lord Zouch, K.B. + *+Lord Ferrers. + + Marching to join the King + * Earl of Kent, K.B. + * Lord Dacre. + * Lord FitzHugh. + * Lord Lumley. + * Lord Ogle in the Marches, + * 2 Lords Scrope. + + <I>Other Peers</I> + + * Earl of Arundel, K.G. + * Lord Maltravers, K.G. + * Earl of Nottingham. + * Earl of Huntingdon. + * Earl of Wiltshire. + * Lord Grey of Wilton. + * Lord Grey of Codnor. + * Lord Grey of Powys. + * Lord Beauchamp. + * Lord Morley. + * Lord Stourton. + * Lord Cobham. + Lord Mountjoy (at Calais). + Lord de la Warre (abroad). + Lord Dudley (very old). + + <I>Minors</I> + + Earl of Shrewsbury. + Lord Clifford. + Lord Hastings. + Lord Hungerford. + + Peers 42 + Minors 9 + -- + 33 + -- + + <I>Traitors</I> + + #John Vere, Earl of Oxford (under attainder). + Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. + Grey, Marquis of Dorset. + Woodville, Earl Rivers. + Lord Beaumont. + Lord Welles. + * Lord Lisle. + Lord Dynham. + #Jasper Tudor (late Earl of Pembroke). + #Henry Tudor (calling himself Earl of Richmond). + *#Lord Stanley (turned traitor at the end). + *#Lord Strange. + + + * At the coronation. + + At Bosworth for the King. + # At Bosworth for H. Tudor. +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<P> +Attendance at the court or the Parliament led to a demand for lodgings +in London. Baynard's Castle was the town residence of the Duke and +Duchess of York. Crosby Place, which is still standing, was the home +of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester during the short protectorate. +Cold Harbour, in Thames Street, alternately lodged the Earl of +Salisbury (1453), Anne Duchess of Exeter, and her brother the Duke of +Clarence. There were other houses of the nobility within the city, +including Ely Place in Holborn, with large gardens behind them; and +some of the richer citizens had handsome residences of which Crosby +Place was an example. It was on the occasion of visits to the capital +that opportunities were offered for those extravagant displays which +were the fashion of that age, especially at the great tournaments. +</P> + +<P> +The House of York was closely knit to the nobility by ties of kindred. +Of the three Dukes, Suffolk was King Richard's brother-in-law, +Buckingham and Norfolk were his cousins, as were the Earls of +Northumberland, Westmoreland and Essex, and Lords Abergavenny and +Greystoke. Lincoln was his nephew. Richard, moreover, had four first +and several second +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN> +cousins among the Barons; and the Archbishop +of Canterbury was also his cousin. There must have been a feeling of +kinship as well as of loyalty when the nobles gathered round the +sovereign on state occasions. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Magnificence of the court +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Magnificence in dress was not a sign of ostentation and vanity, but of +what was felt to be due to high rank and to ceremonial functions of +state; and it was undoubtedly good for trade. Long gowns with high +collars were the indoor and civil dresses, and they lent themselves to +displays of great splendour. Thus, in the wardrobe accounts, we find +among the materials for doublets and gowns, black velvet, crimson +velvet, blue velvet figured with tawny, white velvet, white damask with +flowers of divers colours, chequered motley velvet, cloth of gold, +silks and satins, sarsenet, as well as embroidered shoes, and ostrich +feathers. We find green, scarlet and white cloth, ermines, sables, +fringes, gowns of blue velvet lined with white satin, golden aiglettes, +and various furs. The keeper of the King's wardrobe also had in charge +feather beds and bolsters, bed clothes, cushions, table cloths and +napkins, and the King's carriage. Presents from the wardrobe are +recorded as being given to the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Grey, Lord +Stanley, Sir W. Parr, Sir J. Borough, Lord Audley and the College of +Windsor. When the Duchess of Burgundy came to visit her brother, all +her attendants were ordered to be clothed in cloth jackets of murrey +and blue, while the knights appointed to attend upon her received gowns +of velvet. The velvet was ten shillings a yard, the ostrich feathers +ten shillings each. These wardrobe accounts of the last years of +Edward IV. bear silent testimony to the lavish splendour of the court, +and of court ceremonial in those days. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P112"></A>112}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Increasing wealth resulted to the merchants and traders of the City, +the Guilds flourished and increased in numbers, and there were +periodical fairs in the country. At the Stourbridge fair, which was +the chief mart of Lombard Exchange, glass, silks and velvets were sold +by the Venetian and Genoese merchants, linen of Liège and Ghent by the +Flemish weavers, hardware by Spaniards, tar and pitch by Norwegians, +wine by Gascons, furs and amber by the Hanse Towns. Millstones came +from Paris. Our own products were hides and woolpacks, the produce of +the tin mines, and iron from Sussex. At Abingdon there was a cattle +fair, at Winchester a wool and cloth fair. King Richard's Parliament +gave much attention to the advancement of trade. +</P> + +<P> +In London the wealthy merchants lived in handsome houses with gardens. +The lawyers lived in the Inns of Court, and there were not wanting good +inns and hostelries for passing travellers. We hear of the 'White +Hart' in Southwark, the 'George' at Paul's Wharf, and several others. +</P> + +<P> +The City Companies were acquiring great influence. The Skinners' +Company founded the 'Brethren of the fraternity of Corpus Christi' of +which the Duke of York and his sons Edward IV. and the Dukes of +Clarence and Gloucester were members. Disputes between City Companies +were amicably settled. There was one between the Skinners' and +Merchant Taylors' with reference to precedence in City processions. In +the reign of Richard III., 10 April, 1484, the two companies agreed to +abide by the judgment of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. +</P> + +<P> +The award was that the Skinners should invite the Merchant Taylors to +dinner every year, on the Vigil of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN> +Corpus Christi, and that the +Merchant Taylors should invite the Skinners on the Feast of the +Nativity of John the Baptist. On the first year after the arbitration +the Skinners were to walk in all processions before the Merchant +Taylors, on the next year the Merchant Taylors before the Skinners, and +so on. Thus was arbitration established in the City during Richard's +reign, a course always favoured and practised by the King himself. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Introduction of printing +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The great glory of the Yorkist kings was the introduction of printing +into England, in which their sister of Burgundy also took a liberal and +enlightened part. Caxton tells us he was born in the Weald of Kent in +1422, and was apprenticed to Robert Large, a mercer of London and Lord +Mayor in 1439. His house was in the north end of the Old Jewry, and +here young Caxton lived until his master died in 1441, leaving him +twenty marks. Caxton went to Bruges in 1441, and in 1453 he was +admitted to the livery of the Mercers' Company. The Merchant +Adventurers were an association of merchants trading to foreign +countries, chiefly mercers. They had a 'domus Angliæ' at Bruges, and +in 1464 Caxton was chosen 'Governor beyond seas.' In 1468 he attended +the marriage of the young English Princess Margaret with Duke Charles +of Burgundy, which was celebrated with great pomp. Caxton was not only +a leading merchant at Bruges, he also took a great interest in +literature and in the new art of printing. In 1469 he began the +translation of 'Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes,' and in the +following year, when Duke Charles was invested with the Garter, Caxton +made his first essay at printing, with the oration of Dr. Russell on +that occasion. When, in October 1470, Edward IV. and his young brother +Richard +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P114"></A>114}</SPAN> +took refuge in Flanders, they received active assistance +from the loyal merchant and printer, and in the same year Caxton +entered the service of the Duchess Margaret and managed her trading in +English wool for her. He was surrounded hy literary influences at +Bruges, where there was a printing press encouraged by the Duchess. +</P> + +<P> +In 1476 Caxton came to England, and in November 1477 he had established +a printing press in his house at Westminster, under the shadow of the +Abbey. It was in the Almonry near the old chapel of St. Anne, at the +gate leading into Tothill Street. Caxton's house was the sign of the +<I>red pale</I>.[<A NAME="chap0109fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0109fn5">5</A>] John Esteney was then Abbot of Westminster (1474-98), +but it is not recorded that Caxton received help or patronage from him. +The first book printed in England was the 'Dictes and Sayings of +Philosophes,' by Lord Rivers, in 1477. Then followed 'Cordyale' in +1479, and 'Chronicles of England' in 1480, 'Description of Britain' +also in 1480. In that year the Duchess of Burgundy came to London to +visit her brothers, and no doubt she then paid a visit to the printing +press of her old friend Caxton. Five books came from that active press +in 1481. 'The Mirrour of the World' was translated and printed for a +citizen named Hugh Brice as a present to Lord Hastings. 'Reynard the +Fox' was translated by Caxton himself. The 'de senectute,' 'de +amicitiâ,' and 'declamatio' of Cicero were translated by the ill-fated +Earl of Worcester; as well as 'Godefroy de Boulogne.' A second edition +of 'The game and play of Chess' completed the publications for 1481. +During the whole of King Richard's reign, and under his enlightened +patronage, Caxton's printing press showed great activity. The +publications were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P115"></A>115}</SPAN> +'Pilgrimage of the Soul' 'Liber Festivalis,' +'Quatuor Sermones,' the 'Confessio Amantis' of Gower, the 'Golden +Legend,' 'Caton,' 'Knight of the Tower,' 'Æsop,' 'Paris and Vienna,' +'Life of Charles the Great,' the 'Canterbury Tales' of Chaucer, 'Life +of our Lady,' 'King Arthur,' by Sir T. Mallory, who finished his work +in 1470, and the 'Order of Chivalry' translated by Caxton and dedicated +to his redoubted Lord King Richard. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Literary noblemen +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Literature was beginning to receive attention from several members of +the nobility, and the printing press gave this tendency very great +encouragement. Among the books in the Wardrobe Account of Edward IV. +which were ordered to be bound, were the 'Book of the Holy Trinity,' +the Bible, 'Government of Kings and Princes,' 'Froissart,' Titus +Livius, Josephus, 'Bible Historial,' 'La Forteresse de Foy'; and to +this royal library his brother Richard added several books including +the 'Romaunt of Tristram.' +</P> + +<P> +Lord Rivers was an accomplished nobleman whose translations and +original compositions are well known. But John Tiptoft, Earl of +Worcester, was the most studious and learned, as well as the most +accomplished, author and statesman of Yorkist times. Born at Everton, +Cambridgeshire, Tiptoft was at Balliol College, and completed his +education by a residence of three years in Italy. He was twice Lord +High Treasurer, was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and was created Earl of +Worcester. But he fell a victim to Lancastrian rancour during +Warwick's brief usurpation. He was beheaded in 1470, and Caxton +eloquently mourned his untimely death. +</P> + +<P> +'This book,' Caxton wrote, 'was translated by the virtuous and noble +Earl of Worcester into our English +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P116"></A>116}</SPAN> +tongue, son and heir to the +Lord Tiptoft, which in his time flowered in virtue and cunning, to whom +I know none like among the lords of the temporality in science and +moral virtue. I beseech Almighty God to have mercy on his soul, and +pray all them that shall read this little treatise, likewise of your +charity to remember his soul among your prayers. The right virtuous +and noble Earl of Worcester, which late piteously lost his life, whose +soul I recommend to your special prayers, also in his time made many +other virtuous works which I have heard of. O God, blessed Lord, what +great loss was it of that noble, virtuous and well disposed lord, when +I remember and advertise his life, his science and his virtue. +Methinketh God displeased over so great a loss of such a man, +considering his estate and cunning, and also the exercise of the same +with the great labours in going on pilgrimage unto Jerusalem, visiting +there the holy places, and what worship had he in Rome in the presence +of our holy father the Pope, and so in all other places until his +death, at which death every man that was there might learn to die, and +take his death patiently.' +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Education +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Rivers and Worcester were not the only men of their day with literary +tastes. The colleges at Oxford and Cambridge numbered among their +<I>alumni</I> laymen as well as churchmen. The three great public schools +of England already existed. The grammar school of Westminster, +afterwards to become St. Peter's College under Queen Elizabeth, had a +continuous existence from the time of Edward I. Winchester College had +been founded by William of Wykeham. Eton College was a foundation due +to Henry of Windsor. All three were flourishing. Boys went very young +to the universities, and parents showed anxiety for their +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P117"></A>117}</SPAN> +advancement in learning as well as for their due supply of clothing. +Mrs. Paston desired a tutor named Grenefeld to send her word how her +son Clement is doing his duty as regards his lessons. If he does not +do well, and will not amend, Grenefeld is to lash him until he does +amend, as his former tutor did, who was the best that ever he had at +Cambridge. She is no less particular about his clothes, which were to +be looked to. Clement had a short green gown, a short musterdevelers +(gown of grey woollen cloth), a short blue gown, and a russet gown +furred with beaver: a pretty good supply. +</P> + +<P> +Later there was a Paston boy at Eton, one of whose letters has come +down to us (1478). He desires hose clothes to be sent to him, one pair +of some colour for holidays, and one for working days. It does not +matter how coarse the one for common use is. He also asks for a +stomacher, two shirts, and a pair of slippers. 'But,' adds the Eton +boy, 'if it lyke you that I may come by water, and sport me with you in +London a day or two this term time, then you may let all this be till +the time that I come; and then I shall tell you when I shall be ready +to come from Eton.' He wanted a holiday in the middle of term time, +and he wanted the fun of boating down the river. So it was with many +hundreds of other boys then as it is now; liking play better than work, +but still learning, with or without the lash which Mrs. Agnes Paston +believed to be so efficacious. The Etonian was about ten years younger +than King Richard. +</P> + +<P> +The Church, in the Yorkist days, had deteriorated. The devil's compact +between Archbishop Arundel and Henry of Bolingbroke, by which Bishops +were to be allowed to burn heretics on condition that the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P118"></A>118}</SPAN> +usurpation was upheld by the Church, had alienated the people. The Act +<I>De heretico comburendo</I> was not a dead letter. There were many +innocent sufferers. Henry of Monmouth was a fanatic. He argued with +heretics and would gladly pardon on recantation, but if his victim did +not recant he was actually present at executions and witnessed the +cruel tortures. Caxton, some years after Henry's death (1439), saw +with horror the burning on Tower Hill of the good Vicar of Deptford, +whose love and charity had endeared him to the poor. Such scenes would +not endear the Bishops to the people. The prelates were self-seeking +politicians for the most part, and occasionally the people made short +work of them. When Bishop de Moleyns, then Lord Privy Seal, came down +to Portsmouth to pay the sailors and kept back some of their dues, he +was seized by the mob and hanged in front of God's House. Bishop +Ayscough of Salisbury met a similar fate. Mr. Thorold Rogers formed a +very bad opinion of the clergy of the fifteenth century. He says 'the +Bishops were on the whole bad men, parochial clergy not much better, +monks worst of all. People deserted them for the secret but stirring +exhortations of the Bible men.' But there were exceptions. Dr. +Russell of Lincoln, King Richard's Chancellor, was a prelate and +statesman of the highest integrity, so were Stillington of Bath and +Wells, Alcock of Worcester, and Langton of St. David's. +</P> + +<P> +The great monasteries still stood, in all their glorious architectural +beauty, among the woodlands and by the trout streams; and charity was +dispensed by their inmates. Religious foundations like Middleham +College by King Richard, and Acaster College by Bishop Stillington, +attest the piety of the age; and religious buildings proceeded apace. +The beautiful +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P119"></A>119}</SPAN> +chapel of St. George at Windsor was approaching +completion in King Richard's time, and many fine church towers, +especially in Suffolk, date from this period. +</P> + +<P> +There were superstitious pilgrimages to shrines such as those of St. +Thomas at Canterbury and of Our Lady at Walsingham, while obits and +saints' days were scrupulously observed. Letters were almost always +referred to saints' days, scarcely ever to the days of the month. In +the 'Paston Letters' we have 'Monday next after St. Edmund the King,' +'the day next after St. Kateryn,' 'St. Pernall,' 'St. Leonard's Eve,' +'St. Erkenwald's,' and so on: even, in one instance, the date is fixed +by the collect of the preceding Sunday. 'Wednesday next after <I>Deus +qui errantibus</I>.' This seems to show that religion, or at least its +rites and ceremonies, was really part of the actual life of the people. +Miracle plays, such as those performed by the Corpus Christi guild at +York, served to keep alive an interest in religion. There were also +allegorical plays, and it seems that 'Every Man,' which has interested +so many in these modern times, may have been acted before, and have +impressed audiences in the days of the Yorkist kings. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The Church and the law +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The law was presided over by conscientious and learned judges. Old +Fuller says of Markham and Fortescue that they were the 'Chief Justices +of the Chief Justices.' Markham boldly resisted any attempt to +intimidate him, and by his firm stand against King Edward established +an important maxim in constitutional law. He did not confine his +judgments to the bench, but upbraided evil-doers when he met them in +the street. John Heydon, Recorder of Norwich, was stopped by the judge +and brought to book in public, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P120"></A>120}</SPAN> +for putting away his wife and +living with another; and also for his unjust conduct towards John +Paston, in enforcing the doubtful claim of Lord Moleyns. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Condition of the people +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +But the country was in a lawless state. Upright judgments were +pronounced, but they could not always be enforced. Noblemen, like Lord +Moleyns, occasionally acted in defiance of the law, and often there was +no redress. We hear of 'a great multitude of misruled people at the +house of Robert Ledeham who issue at their pleasure, sometimes thirty +and more, armed in steel caps and jackets, with bows and bills, +overriding the country, oppressing the people, and doing many horrible +and abominable deeds.' There is a letter from Paston's wife reporting +that 'they have made bars to bar the doors crossways, and wickets at +every corner of the house to shoot out at, both with bows and hand +guns.' This sounds like an expected siege. For she adds—'My +worshipful husband, I pray you to get some cross bows and wyndacs with +quarrels, for your holes have been made so low that my men cannot shoot +out with a long bow, though we had ever so much need. Also get two or +three short pole axes to keep the doors.' Then we are told of Robert +Letham killing John Wilson's bullocks for arrears of rent, eating them, +and then beating Wilson himself in Plumstead churchyard until he was in +doubt of his life, besides beating John Coke's mother. When Sir Philip +Wentford wants to settle a dispute, instead of going to law, he rides +to Colchester with a hundred armed men. These were not altogether +peaceful times. They were exciting, full of adventure, and there was +much fun to be got out of them. Different, more eventful, perhaps less +safe, than our days of policemen and penitentiaries, but far from +unendurable. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P121"></A>121}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +These were trifles, and on the whole the country gentry of the +fifteenth century lived in comfort on their manors. These manors +included the lord's domain cultivated by his bailiff, the small estates +of freeholders paying quit rents, the tenements and lands of the +labourers held for services, and the waste or common on which all +tenants had right of pasture. The manor house was usually built of +stone, though brick was beginning to come into use. The house was +generally divided into three principal rooms: the hall, the +dormitories, and the solar or parlour with a southern aspect. In the +hall the family and household dined. It was also used for the manor +courts, for levying fines, and passing judicial sentences. The table +was on trestles, there were a few stools and benches, and some chests +for linen. Here would also be seen a pot of brass, several dishes, +platters, and trenchers, iron or lateen candlesticks, a brass ewer and +basin, and a box of salt. The walls were hung with mattocks, scythes, +reaping hooks, buckets and corn measures. In the dairy were the pails, +pans, churn, and cheese press. In the grange were the sacks of corn. +</P> + +<P> +The manor land was ploughed twice, but half the arable remained fallow. +When harvest was over pigs and geese were turned into the stubble. The +means of supporting the stock in winter depended upon the supply of +hay, for there were no root crops. The rest of the stock had to be +killed down for salting on St. Martin's day (November 11). In the +garden and orchard were apples and pears, damsons, cherries, currants, +strawberries, kitchen herbs, onions and leeks, mustard, peas and beans, +and cabbage. Crab apples were collected to make verjuice. +</P> + +<P> +We are informed of the commissions John Paston +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P122"></A>122}</SPAN> +received from his +wife, in her numerous letters. Besides weapons of offence and defence +she writes for ginger and almonds and sugar, also for frieze for their +growing child with a note of the best and cheapest shop. Next she +wants two dozen trenchers, syrup, quince preserve, oil for salads. As +regards luggage John Paston writes to his brother, who was at an +inn—the sign of the 'George' in Paul's Wharf—to put up in the mail +his tawny gown furred with black, the doublet of purple satin, the +doublet of black satin, and his writing box of cypress. These +commissions give a little insight into the domestic arrangements of the +time. But for a complete outfit of one of the lesser gentry equipped +for war we must read over the contents of Mr. Payn's luggage, robbed +from him by Jack Cade and his rabble at the sign of the 'White Hart' +near London Bridge. +</P> + +<P> +There was a fine gown of mixed grey woollen cloth trimmed with fine +beavers. A pair of 'bregandyns,' which were coats of leather or cotton +quilted, having small iron plates sewn over them; also leg harness. A +bluish grey gown furred with martens. Two gowns furred with budge +(lamb skin). Lastly, a gown lined with frieze. But the greatest loss +was a set of Milan harness (armour). They forced Mr. Payn into the +battle on London Bridge, where he was wounded; and robbed his wife in +Kent of all but kirtle and smock. Those were exciting times, and +luggage was not always safe, but on the whole they were times of plenty. +</P> + +<P> +The fifteenth century was the golden age of the labourer. At no time +were wages relatively so high. The people ate wheaten bread, drank +barley beer, and had plenty of cheap, though perhaps coarse, meat at a +farthing a pound (equal to 3<I>d.</I> now). If a labourer had to undertake +a journey, there were houses as well as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P123"></A>123}</SPAN> +monasteries where doles +were given to all wayfarers. The cottages of the poor were built of +wattle and daub, but skilled labourers were fed at the table of the +lord of the manor below the salt; and some of them lodged in the +out-buildings. It is said that scurvy, in a virulent form, was a +common disorder; as all the poor, except the numerous class of +poachers, had to live on salt meat for six months, onions and cabbages +being the only esculents. But the prevalence of this disorder has been +exaggerated. +</P> + +<P> +We have the evidence of Chief Justice Fortescue that the labouring +class in England was far better off as regards lodging, clothing, and +food than the peasantry of France and other countries of Europe. +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE> + PRICES--1484 + + Wheat, 5s. 3-¾d. the quarter. | Hen, 2d. + Barley, 4s. 1-¼d. | Swan, 2s. 6d. + Oats, 2s. 2-½d. | Duck, 2d. + Beans, 3s. 8d. | Charcoal, 6s. 5d. the load. + Oatmeal, 7d. | Firewood, 1s. 10-½d. the load. + Malt, 3s. 10-¼d. | Hurdles, 2s. the dozen. + Hay, 2s. 2d. the load. | Salt, 4s. 8d. the quarter. + Wool, 5s. 4d. the ton. | Tiles, 6s. 10d. the 1,000. + Ox, 10s. | Bricks, 6s. 8d. the 1,000. + Calf, 3s. | Gascony wine, 9s. 8-½d. the dozen + Sheep, 1s. 4d. | gallons. + Pig, 5s. 4d. | Sugar, 19s. the dozen pounds. + Horse, 60s. | Pepper, 15s. " " + Capon, 3d. | Currants, 2s. 4d. " " + Goose, 1d. | + + Wages--Carpenter 6d. per day, 3s. a week, £9 2s. 6d. a year. + Tiler 6d. " + Unskilled 4d. " 2s. " +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0109fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0109fn1text">1</A>] Thorold Rogers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0109fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0109fn2text">2</A>] The enclosure grievance was just beginning to be felt. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0109fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0109fn3text">3</A>] The second edition was brought out by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0109fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0109fn4text">4</A>] It was created by Richard III. in 1484. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0109fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0109fn5text">5</A>] The 'pale' in heraldry. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0110"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P124"></A>124}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +REIGN OF KING RICHARD III +</H4> + +<P> +King Richard was a young man in his thirtieth year when he came to the +throne. During the previous ten years he had acquired considerable +administrative experience, and had shown himself to possess ability, +powers of application, and resolution. He was extremely popular in the +north of England, where he had generally resided. +</P> + +<P> +Young Richard was not tall, of slight build, with one shoulder a little +higher than the other, but not so much as to be noticeable or to cause +weakness. He was a formidable adversary in battle. The portrait at +Windsor is so remarkable that it must have been taken from life. The +eyes are a little closed, and give a thoughtful, almost dreamy look. +The other features are regular. The lips thin and firm, the chin +prominent. The whole expression is that of a thoughtful and earnest +man, firm, resolute, and fearless. Dr. Parr remarked on the strong +likeness between Richard III. and Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent. +His wife Anne inherited great beauty from the Nevills and Beauchamps, +but she was fragile and delicate. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P125"></A>125}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The young nephews +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +On July 4, 1483, King Richard III. and Queen Anne removed to the royal +lodgings in the Tower, where their nephews Edward and Richard were +residing. Owing to his illegitimacy the eldest boy, who had been +proclaimed King and soon afterwards set aside, could not retain the +titles of Wales and Cornwall, nor could the younger one continue to +have the royal title of York. The younger boy had also lost his claim +to the Mowbray titles of Norfolk and Nottingham by the death of the +little Mowbray heiress to whom he had been betrothed. Those titles +justly passed to the representatives of the aunts who succeeded Anne +Mowbray as the heirs of that family, the Ladies Howard and Berkeley. +Their sons were created Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Nottingham +respectively, on June 28. But Edward, the eldest boy, retained the +earldoms separately conferred on him by his father, of Pembroke and +March. +</P> + +<P> +It was the King's intention to bring his nephews up and provide for +them as became their rank and their near relationship to himself. 'He +promised that he would so provide for them, and so maintain them in +honourable estate, as that all the realm ought and should be +content.'[<A NAME="chap0110fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn1">1</A>] The allegation that they never left the Tower is derived +from the insinuations of very unscrupulous enemies. +</P> + +<P> +It is much more likely that they resided in the royal household, and +were the companions of the King's other nephew, the Earl of Warwick; at +least until it became necessary to place them in safe keeping on the +invasion of the realm by Henry Tudor. In the regulations for King +Richard's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P126"></A>126}</SPAN> +household, dated July 23, 1484, it is ordained that +'the children are to be together at one breakfast.' Who were these +children, if not the King's nephews? They were evidently children of +high rank,[<A NAME="chap0110fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn2">2</A>] and Richard's little son Edward had died in the previous +April. +</P> + +<P> +Before the coronation, the King created eighteen Knights of the Bath, +four of them sons or brothers of peers. +</P> + +<P> +The coronation of King Richard III. and Queen Anne took place on +Sunday, July 6, 1483. Its splendour was greater than had ever been +known before. The Cardinal Archbishop placed the crowns on the heads +of the new sovereign and his consort. He was surrounded by bishops, +and nearly the whole peerage was present. Never was accession received +with such unanimous consent by all ranks of the people. The attendance +of a Woodville bishop and a Grey viscount gave grounds for the hope +that even faction was at an end. On scarcely any other occasion was +the aristocracy of England so fully represented. The Duchess of +Suffolk, as sister of the King, walked alone in state, in the +procession. The intriguing wife of Stanley, mother of Henry Tudor, had +the privilege of bearing the Queen's train. +</P> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P127"></A>127}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CORONATION PROCESSION OF KING RICHARD III. +</P> + +<PRE> + Serjeants of Arms + Heralds + Trumpets and Clarions + The Cross + Priests in grey amices + Bishops, with mitres and croziers + Abbots, with mitres + + BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, bearing a cross + + THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP + + THE EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, bearing the pointless sword of mercy + + LORD STANLEY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, EARL OF LINCOLN + bearing the mace of bearing the sceptre bearing the orb + Constable + + DUKE OF NORFOLK, bearing the crown + + EARL OF SURREY, bearing the sword of state in scabbard + + VISCOUNT LOVELL, B C B C EARL OF KENT + bearing the sword a i a i bearing the sword + (civil) of justice r n r n (ecclesiastical) + o q o q of justice + n u n u + s e s e + THE KING + o P o P + f o f o + r r + BISHOP OF BATH AND t t BISHOP OF DURHAM + WELLS s s + + DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, bearing the King's train + + Earls + Barons + + EARL OF HUNTINGDON, EARL OF WILTSHIRE, VISCOUNT LYLE, + bearing the Queen's bearing the Queen's bearing the rod + sceptre crown with dove + + BISHOP OF EXETER THE QUEEN BISHOP OF NORWICH + + LADY STANLEY, bearing the Queen's train + + DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK (King's sister), in state, alone + + Twenty peeresses +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Duke of Buckingham put forward an important claim, soon after the +coronation, and its success was an example of the lavish generosity of +Richard III. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P128"></A>128}</SPAN> +Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, died +in the year 1372, leaving his two daughters co-heiresses of his vast +estates. Alianore, the eldest, married Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of +Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III. Their daughter and +eventual heiress Anne married Edmund Earl of Stafford, +great-grandfather of the Duke of Buckingham. Mary, the second +daughter, married Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who became Earl +of Hereford by right of his wife, and eventually usurped the crown as +Henry IV. His male descendants ended with his grandson Henry VI. The +Duke of Buckingham claimed that the moiety of the Bohun estates which +Mary brought to Henry IV. and which had merged in the crown, should now +revert to him as the male heir of both sisters. Legally, the claim was +untenable, and it had been rejected by Edward IV. Richard, however, +generously conceded all that Buckingham asked, making a formal grant of +the lands in question under his own sign manual. +</P> + +<P> +On his accession the generous young King was anxious to be reconciled +with all his subjects with whom he had ever had differences. Among +these was a certain Sir John Fogge, a low intriguer, with whom the King +condescended to shake hands. This treacherous fellow soon afterwards +joined in Buckingham's rebellion. Like Louis XII. of France King +Richard forgot and forgave all offences against the Duke of Gloucester. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The Royal Progress +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The King set out on a progress through England,[<A NAME="chap0110fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn3">3</A>] +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P129"></A>129}</SPAN> +a fortnight +after the coronation, accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham and a large +retinue. The young Earl of Warwick, Richard's nephew, was also with +him, having been liberated from durance in the Tower, where he had been +kept by the Marquis of Dorset as his ward, ever since the death of his +father Clarence. Young Warwick was also at his uncle's coronation. +</P> + +<P> +The King left Windsor for Reading on the 23rd, arriving at Oxford on +July 24, where he was received by old Dr. Waynflete, Bishop of +Winchester, and the Bishops of Worcester, St. Asaph, and St. David's. +He was lodged in Magdalen College, and on his departure the aged Dr. +Waynflete caused to be entered in the College register— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +VIVAT REX IN AETERNUM.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On August 1 the King was at Gloucester, and here the Duke of Buckingham +took his leave and proceeded to his estates in Wales, accompanied by +his intriguing prisoner Bishop Morton. Passing on to Tewkesbury on +August 4, Richard arrived at Warwick on the 8th, where he was joined by +the Queen, who came direct from Windsor.[<A NAME="chap0110fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn4">4</A>] The court remained a week +at Warwick, and comprised the young Earl of Warwick, five Bishops,[<A NAME="chap0110fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn5">5</A>] +the Earls of Lincoln, Surrey, and Huntingdon, Lords Stanley, Dudley, +Morley, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P130"></A>130}</SPAN> +Scrope, and Lovell, the Chief Justice, the Scottish Duke +of Albany, and the Spanish Ambassador. On the 10th the royal party was +at Coventry, on the 17th at Leicester, on the 22nd at Nottingham. The +King and Queen arrived at Pomfret on the 27th, where they were met by +their little son Edward, who had travelled from Middleham to be with +them. On the 30th they entered the city of York. +</P> + +<P> +The people of York vied with each other in the loyalty and cordiality +of their welcome. Richard III. was a most popular sovereign, and with +good reason. Bishop Langton,[<A NAME="chap0110fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn6">6</A>] who accompanied him on this progress, +thus wrote: 'He contents the people where he goes best that ever did +Prince, for many a poor man that hath suffered wrong many days has been +relieved and helped by him and his commands in his progress. And in +many great cities and towns were great sums of money given him which he +hath refused.[<A NAME="chap0110fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn7">7</A>] On my truth I never liked the conditions of any +Prince so well as his. God hath sent him to us for the weal of us +all.'[<A NAME="chap0110fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn8">8</A>] On September 8 King Richard and Queen Anne walked in solemn +procession with the crowns on their heads, on the occasion of the +creation of their son Edward as Prince of Wales.[<A NAME="chap0110fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn9">9</A>] The young Prince, +his cousin the Earl of Warwick, and Galfridus de Sasiola, the Spanish +Ambassador, were knighted. The royal party left York on the 20th, and +proceeded by Gainsborough towards Lincoln, which city was entered on +October 12. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the news reached the King that the Duke of Buckingham had +broken out in rebellion. Never +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P131"></A>131}</SPAN> +was there an act so unprovoked +and treacherous. The Duke seems to have been a weak unprincipled man, +full of vanity and self-importance, and his worst qualities were worked +upon by the insidious old intriguer Morton, who had been entrusted to +his custody. Buckingham's ambition was to seize the crown. In +accordance with the 'Titulus Regius,' only two persons stood in his +way. These were King Richard III. and his delicate little son. The +traitor's scheme was to strike them down and seize the coveted prize. +The rebellion was carefully planned. All the Lancastrian and Woodville +malcontents were invited to join, and there were to have been several +simultaneous risings in the south of England, on October 18. On that +day Buckingham unfurled his standard at Brecknock, while Dorset and Sir +Thomas St. Leger rose in the west; and even the cautious Henry Tudor +sailed across from Brittany, but feared to land. His mother, the wife +of Stanley, intrigued actively with the Queen Dowager and the Woodville +faction. +</P> + +<P> +The energy and decision with which the King met the danger baffled the +policy of the rebels. As Buckingham was Constable of England, it +became necessary to appoint a Vice-Constable to try rebels in +conjunction with the Earl Marshal, and Sir Ralph Ashton was selected +for the post.[<A NAME="chap0110fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn10">10</A>] Owing to a great flood in the Severn the forces of +Buckingham were unable to cross the river, their provisions failed, and +they disbanded. The wretched traitor put on a disguise and fled; but +he was betrayed and apprehended by the Sheriff of Shropshire. +Meanwhile, the King had organised a sufficient force, and advanced +rapidly to Salisbury, whither Buckingham was brought a prisoner. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P132"></A>132}</SPAN> +traitor sought an interview with his injured sovereign, with the +intention of assassinating him.[<A NAME="chap0110fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn11">11</A>] Fortunately the request was +refused. He had been caught red-handed, and the Earl Marshal's court +condemned him to death.[<A NAME="chap0110fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn12">12</A>] He was beheaded at Salisbury on November +2. Richard treated the Duke's widow, who was a Woodville, with his +habitual generosity; granting her a pension out of the lordship of +Tunbridge. +</P> + +<P> +The other rebels fled. Dorset and old Morton escaped abroad. Sir +Thomas St. Leger was caught and beheaded at Exeter, with Thomas Ramme +and one other delinquent. Seven rebels suffered in London. There are +a hundred names in the bill of attainder against the rebels; but most +of them were subsequently pardoned, including Stanley's intriguing +wife, who was merely given into the custody of her perfidious husband, +an act of unwise leniency which amounted to recklessness.[<A NAME="chap0110fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn13">13</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P133"></A>133}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Richard had destroyed all opposition, and he now entered upon the +serious business of government. Although his administration was +profusely liberal, he checked corruption, reformed the public offices, +and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN> +promoted economy in the service of the state. Parliament met +on January 23, 1484, and Master William Catesby was chosen Speaker. +Its first business was to give full validity to the 'Titulus Regius' by +embodying it in an Act of Parliament. The public acts of Richard's +parliament are noted for their wisdom and beneficial effects. One of +them gave security to purchasers of land against secret feoffments, +another conferred power on magistrates to accept bail from persons +accused of felony, another was intended to prevent the intimidation of +juries. The abolition of benevolences was a most beneficent measure, +designed to put an end to an oppressive system of extorting money. An +elaborate statute was also passed to check malpractices in the +manufacture of woollen goods. The statutes of Richard III. were the +first that were published in English. The distinction between public +and private acts was also first made in this parliament. The latter +included the reversal of the attainder of the Percys, several other +restitutions, and grants for endowments, including a grant for the +endowment of Bishop Stillington's college at Acaster. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Bacon, no friendly critic, said of Richard III. that he was 'a +prince in military virtue approved, jealous of the honour of the +English nation, and likewise a good law maker for the ease and solace +of the common people.'[<A NAME="chap0110fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn14">14</A>] In speaking of the parliament of Richard +III. Lord Campbell says: 'We have no difficulty in pronouncing +Richard's parliament the most meritorious national assembly for +protecting the liberty of the subject, and putting down abuses in the +administration of justice that had sat in England since the reign of +Henry III.'[<A NAME="chap0110fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn15">15</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P135"></A>135}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The revenue +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +King Richard III. introduced reforms in the revenue departments, which +were prepared under his own eye. He ordered the Auditor of the +Exchequer to submit an annual return of all revenues, issues, and +profits; while the Lord Treasurer was to make a return of all money +received and disbursed in his office. Formerly the Pell Issue and +Receipt Rolls only showed net sums paid into the Exchequer, 'reprises' +and direct payments being ignored. +</P> + +<P> +The principal source of revenue was from the customs. The 'antiqua +costuma' consisted of 6<I>s.</I> 8<I>d.</I> on the sack of wool, and 13<I>s.</I> 4<I>d.</I> +on the last of leather. The 'parva costuma' included 3<I>s.</I> 4<I>d.</I> on a +sack of wool, a small tax on cloth and other imports and exports, and +an <I>ad valorem</I> duty of 2<I>d.</I> in the pound, and 3<I>d.</I> from foreigners, +on general merchandise. Tonnage and poundage was 1<I>s.</I> in the pound on +the value of most goods, except wool and leather, and 3<I>d.</I> on each tun +of wine. The 'antiqua costuma' and 'parva costuma' were hereditary, +but tonnage and poundage had to be voted by parliament at the beginning +of each reign. Customs duties brought in 18,629<I>l.</I> in the first, and +20,743<I>l.</I> in the second year of King Richard's reign. The old crown +revenues yielded 17,900<I>l.</I>, Hanaper 2,930<I>l.</I>, and other receipts +5,297<I>l</I>. The total annual revenue was 50,356<I>l.</I> in the first, and +57,122<I>l.</I> in the second year. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The navy +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The navy in those days was small, indeed it had ceased to exist during +the wretched misrule of Henry VI. Richard had, as Lord Admiral during +his brother's reign, been gradually restoring the navy to efficiency, +and in 1480 his brother appointed a 'Keeper of the Ships,' the officer +who had control of naval organisation. Thomas Rogers, a merchant and +fishmonger of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P136"></A>136}</SPAN> +London, was continued as 'Keeper of the Ships' +during King Richard's reign, the navy consisting of seven ships, the +'Nicholas,' 'Governor,' 'Grace Dieu,' 'Mary of the Tower,' 'Martin +Garcia,' 'Falcon,' and 'Trinity.' +</P> + +<P> +While parliament was sitting the Convocation also assembled. The +bishops and clergy presented an adulatory address to the King, praying +that he would redress their grievances, 'seeing your most noble and +blessed disposition in all things.' In reply Richard granted a charter +to the clergy, confirming their liberties and immunities; and he took +the opportunity of enjoining a closer attention to their spiritual +duties. With this object he issued a Royal Letter calling upon +Churchmen to enforce discipline and promote morality among the people. +The Convocation voted the King three-tenths, which yielded 5,600<I>l</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Before the prorogation the King took measures to induce the Queen +Dowager to come out of sanctuary with her daughters. He promised that, +if they would be guided and ruled by him, he would treat them kindly +and honourably as his kinswomen, marry them to gentlemen born, and give +them suitable allowances. Elizabeth agreed to these terms, which were +faithfully observed; and the King also undertook to grant a pension of +700 marks a year for her own maintenance. She not only came out of +sanctuary with her daughters, but showed so much confidence in +Richard's good faith that she sent to her son, the Marquis of Dorset, +to return to England and submit himself to the King. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Death of the Prince of Wales +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +In March, 1484, the King and Queen left London, and proceeded +northwards by way of Cambridge, reaching Nottingham on April 20. Here +they received intelligence of the death of the young Prince of Wales, +which took place at Middleham on the 9th of the same +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P137"></A>137}</SPAN> +month. The +unhappy parents were distracted with the most violent grief. 'You +might have seen his father and mother in a state almost bordering on +madness by reason of their sudden grief.'[<A NAME="chap0110fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn16">16</A>] The child was interred +in the chapel built by Richard himself, on the north side of Sheriff +Hutton church. The King had placed 'the sun in splendour,' the +favourite device of his brother Edward, in one of the windows. An +alabaster effigy of the young Prince of Wales, habited in a loose gown +with a coronet on his head, was fixed on an altar tomb. The south side +of the tomb is divided into compartments. In the centre one the +heart-broken father is represented in armour, offering up prayer to the +Almighty, who is supporting a crucifix. On each side, in other +compartments, there are shields now quite plain, probably once painted, +supported by angels; and on the window jamb there is a shield charged +with a cross of St. George in bold relief, the badge of the garter. +The charges on the other shields have probably been wilfully defaced, +as well as any crowns or ensigns of royalty, to conceal the identity of +the monument. This was perhaps done to avoid complete desecration at +Tudor hands. Some months after the child's death, when Richard had to +sign a warrant for the last expenses connected with the funeral of his +'most dear son,' he touchingly added, in his own handwriting, 'whom God +pardon.'[<A NAME="chap0110fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn17">17</A>] This prayer may have suggested the subject of the +sculptured panel on the tomb, where the petition is made to pass, in +form of a scroll, from the suppliant's lips to the ear of God. +</P> + +<P> +King Richard, after the death of his own son, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P138"></A>138}</SPAN> +declared his nephew +Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of his brother Clarence, to be heir to the +throne. It was no doubt intended to reverse the attainder in due time. +Meanwhile young Warwick was given precedence before all other peers. +He resided sometimes at Sheriff Hutton, sometimes with his aunt, as a +member of the King's household.[<A NAME="chap0110fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn18">18</A>] +</P> + +<P> +It is asserted by Rous that the King changed his mind soon afterwards, +and declared his nephew the Earl of Lincoln to be his heir, closely +imprisoning young Warwick.[<A NAME="chap0110fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn19">19</A>] Rous was a dishonest and unscrupulous +writer, and this particular statement is disproved by documentary +evidence. For on May 13, 1485, the Mayor and Corporation of York +determined to address a letter to the Lords of Warwick and Lincoln and +other of the Council at Sheriff Hutton.[<A NAME="chap0110fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn20">20</A>] The precedence here given +to young Warwick above Lincoln, and the fact of his being addressed as +one of the Council, prove the statement of Rous to be false. It shows +also that Warwick had not been superseded, and that he was still heir +to the throne, just before the battle of Bosworth.[<A NAME="chap0110fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn21">21</A>] He was probably +a member of the King's household, and one of the children mentioned in +the Royal Ordinance of July 23, 1484. +</P> + +<P> +Richard III. made a progress in the north of England during the summer +of 1484, superintending the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P139"></A>139}</SPAN> +coast defences, and in August he was +again at Nottingham receiving an embassy from Scotland. The King gave +audience to the Scottish envoys in the great hall of Nottingham Castle +on September 16, seated under a royal canopy and surrounded by the +chief officers of state. A truce was established for three years, and +a marriage was agreed upon between the eldest son of James III. and the +Lady Anne de la Pole,[<A NAME="chap0110fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn22">22</A>] niece of the King of England. At about the +same time a friendly treaty was ratified between Richard and the Duke +of Brittany. +</P> + +<P> +In the autumn of 1484 the body of Henry VI. was, by the King's order, +removed from Chertsey and interred in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, +on the south side of the high altar, the tomb of Edward IV. being on +the north side. The chapel was then nearly finished. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Popularity of the King +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Richard III. returned to London on November 9. He was met by the Lord +Mayor and Aldermen with upwards of four hundred citizens, who escorted +him to his residence at the Wardrobe in Blackfriars. Christmas was +kept at Westminster with all gaiety and splendour, the young niece +Elizabeth being richly attired in a dress similar to that of the Queen, +according to the gossiping old monk of Croyland. But the beloved +consort of so many years, the playfellow of Richard's early days, who +had shared all his joys and sorrows, the mother of his lost child, was +passing away. Like her sister Isabella, Queen Anne was delicate, and +she was now in a rapid decline. She died on March 16, 1485,[<A NAME="chap0110fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn23">23</A>] and +was buried in Westminster Abbey; her +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P140"></A>140}</SPAN> +sorrowing husband shedding +tears over her grave.[<A NAME="chap0110fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn24">24</A>] As an aggravation of the King's grief, an +odious report, probably originating in the wishes of the Queen Dowager +and her daughter, was spread abroad that he meditated a marriage with +his illegitimate niece. As soon as it came to Richard's ears, he gave +it formal and public contradiction.[<A NAME="chap0110fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn25">25</A>] +</P> + +<P> +As the spring of 1485 advanced it became known that, encouraged and +aided by the French court, the Lancastrian malcontents intended to +attempt an invasion of England, and that, probably at the suggestion of +Bishop Morton, they had put forward a pretender as a claimant of the +crown. This was Henry Tudor, who was born at Pembroke Castle on +January 28, 1457. His father, Edmund Tudor, was the son of a Welsh +esquire with whom the widow of Henry V. had formed a clandestine +connection. Thus Edmund was a half-brother of Henry VI., who created +him Earl of Richmond, and his brother Jasper Earl of Pembroke. Henry +Tudor was born two months after his father's death, when the widow was +only in her fifteenth year. She was daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of +Somerset, and at this time was the wife of Lord Stanley, her third +husband. In 1471 Jasper Tudor fled into Brittany with his nephew +Henry. Both Edmund and Jasper Tudor had been attainted and deprived of +their earldoms. Edward IV. had created his brother Richard Earl of +Richmond,[<A NAME="chap0110fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn26">26</A>] and the title had since merged in the crown. The earldom +of Pembroke had been conferred on King Edward's son Edward. Henry +Tudor, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P141"></A>141}</SPAN> +who was never Earl of Richmond, had lived in Brittany for +many years, but in 1484 he had gone to France, where the desire to +injure her English neighbours induced the Lady of Beaujeu, daughter of +Louis XI. and Regent for her young brother Charles VIII., to encourage +the conspirators. Henry's claim to relationship with the Kings of the +House of Lancaster was derived from his mother's descent from an +illegitimate son of John of Gaunt.[<A NAME="chap0110fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn27">27</A>] It was afterwards considered +unadvisable to put this untenable claim forward, except in vague terms, +and Henry's title was based on conquest. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Threatened invasion +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The King, in anticipation of the threatened invasion, took up a central +position at Nottingham Castle in the spring of 1485, and issued +commissions of array. In the early part of the year he had found the +treasury nearly exhausted, and had been obliged to resort to a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P142"></A>142}</SPAN> +loan, in order to raise funds for the defence of the country. His +parliament had abolished the system of 'benevolences,' or forced +contributions, which had often been resorted to by former kings and +were very oppressive. Richard, in his difficulties, would not sanction +this illegal practice, but he appealed to the people for a loan, +delivering 'good and sufficient pledges' for its repayment.[<A NAME="chap0110fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0110fn28">28</A>] Full +payment was to be made in eighteen months, in two instalments. By Good +Friday, April 1, about 20,000<I>l.</I> had been received, out of 30,000<I>l.</I> +that had been asked for. +</P> + +<P> +On June 23 a royal proclamation was issued declaring Henry Tydder alias +Tudor and his followers to be traitors and outlaws, and announcing that +this Henry, son of Edmund, son of Owen Tydder, actually pretended to +have a title to the crown. The Earl of Warwick and the King's niece +Elizabeth were sent to Sheriff Hutton for safety. Edward and Richard, +the young sons of Edward IV., must have been sent to the Tower with the +same object. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the French Regent, although there was no war and no pretext +for hostilities with England, furnished the necessary funds to enable +an expedition to be fitted out at Harfleur, and allowed French troops +to be embarked under the command of a French officer named Philibert de +Shaundé. Thus supported and accompanied, Henry Tudor landed at Milford +Haven on August 8, 1485. He had with him a few Lancastrian exiles. +</P> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P143"></A>143}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +PEERAGE OF RICHARD III. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +(Those printed in italic type were present at the Coronation.) +</P> + +<PRE> +DUKES + + 1. <I>Duke of Buckingham, K.G.</I> (Stafford),[1] held the train. + 2. <I>Duke of Suffolk, K.G.</I> (Pole), bore the sceptre. + 3. <I>Duke of Norfolk, K.G</I> (Howard), bore the crown. + +ROYAL MINORS + + 4. Earl of Salisbury (Plantagenet),[2] son of the King. + 5. <I>Earl of Warwick</I> " son of Clarence. + 6. Earl of March and Pembroke, K.G. (Plantagenet), illegitimate + son of Edward IV. + +EARLS + + 7. <I>Earl of Lincoln</I> (Pole),[2] bore the orb. + 8. <I>Earl of Surrey, K.G.</I> (Howard),[2] bore the sword of state. + 9. <I>Earl of Arundel, K.G.</I> (FitzAlan).[1] + 10. <I>Earl of Northumberland, K.G.</I> (Percy),[1] bore the sword of mercy. + 11. Earl of Westmoreland (Nevill), sick. + 12. <I>Earl of Wiltshire</I> (Herbert), bore the queen's crown. + 13. <I>Earl of Kent</I> (Grey), bore the ecclesiastical sword of justice. + 14. <I>Earl of Nottingham</I> (Berkeley). + 15. <I>Earl of Huntingdon</I>, bore the queen's sceptre. + 16. Earl of Shrewsbury (Talbot) } minors + 17. Earl of Essex (Bourchier) } + +VISCOUNTS + + 18. <I>Viscount Lovell, K.G.</I>, bore the civil sword of justice. + 19. <I>Viscount Lisle</I> (Grey),[1] bore the rod with dove. + +BARONS + + 20. <I>Lord Abergavenny</I> (Nevill). + 21. <I>Lord Maltravers, K.G.</I> (Fitz-Alan).[2] + 22. <I>Lord Grey of Codnor.</I> + 23. <I>Lord Grey of Wilton.</I> + 24. <I>Lord Grey of Powys.</I> + 25. <I>Lord Morley.</I> + 26. <I>Lord Scrope of Bolton, K.G.</I> + 27. <I>Lord Scrope of Masham.</I> + 28. <I>Lord Beauchamp.</I> + 29. <I>Lord Lumley.</I> + 30. <I>Lord Audley.</I> + 31. <I>Lord Stourton.</I> + 32. <I>Lord FitzHugh.</I> + 33. <I>Lord Zouch.</I> + 34. <I>Lord Dacre.</I> + 35. <I>Lord Ferrers, K.G.</I> + 36. <I>Lord Cobham.</I> + 37. <I>Lord Stanley, K.G.</I>,[1] bore the mace of constable. + + + [1] Turned traitors. + [2] Eldest sons raised to the Upper House. +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P144"></A>144}</SPAN> +</P> + +<PRE> +BARONS--<I>Continued</I> + + 38. <I>Lord Strange.</I>[2] + 39. <I>Lord Welles.</I>[1] + 40. Lord Greystoke, in the marches. + 41. Lord Mountjoy, at Calais. + 42. Lord Dudley, K.G., very old. + 43. Lord Hungerford,[2] a minor. + 44. Lord Ogle, in the marches. + 45. Lord de la Warre, abroad. + +PRELATES + + 1. <I>Archbishop of Canterbury</I> (Bourchier). + 2. <I>Bishop of Durham</I> (Dudley). + 3. " " <I>Rochester</I> (Audley). + 4. " " <I>Exeter</I> (Courtenay). + 5. " " <I>Norwich</I> (Goldwell). + 6. " " <I>Wells</I> (Stillington). + 7. " " <I>Salisbury</I> (Woodville). + 8. " " <I>Lincoln</I> (Russell). + +UNDER ATTAINDER + + 1. Earl of Oxford, Lancastrian. + 2. Earl of Devonshire, " + 3. Lord Rivers, " + 4. Lord Dynham, " + 5. Lord Beaumont, " + 6. Lord Clifford (minor) " + 7. Marquis of Dorset, Woodville faction. + 8. Jasper Tudor, late Earl of Pembroke.[3] + 9. Henry Tudor, calling himself Earl of Richmond.[4] + +MINISTERS OF RICHARD III. + + Earl Marshal--The Duke of Norfolk. + Lord Chancellor--Dr. John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln. + Lord Chamberlain--Viscount Lovell, K.G. (at Bosworth). Slain at Stoke. + Lord Steward--Lord Stanley (traitor). + Lord Constable--Duke of Buckingham (traitor), then Sir Ralph Ashton. + Lord Admiral--Duke of Norfolk, K.G. (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + 'Keeper of the Ships'--Thomas Rogers. + Lord Privy Seal--John Gunthorpe, Dean of Wells. + Lord Treasurer--Lord Audley (died 1491). + Chancellor of the Exchequer--William Catesby (at Bosworth). Killed + by Henry VII. + + + [1] Turned traitors. + [2] Eldest sons raised to the Upper House. + [3] The earldom of Pembroke belonged to young Edward, eldest + illegitimate son of Edward IV. + [4] The earldom of Richmond had merged in the crown, having been + granted to the Duke of Gloucester. +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P145"></A>145}</SPAN> +</P> + +<PRE> + Chancellor of the Duchy--Thomas Metcalfe. + Secretary of State--John Kendall (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + Lord Deputy of Ireland--Earl of Kildare (ob. 1513). + Clerk of the Council--James Harington (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + Treasurer of the Household--Walter Hopton (at Bosworth). Slain + in battle. + Comptrollers of the Household--Sir Robert Percy (of Scotton, near + Knaresborough), (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. And Sir John + Buck (at Bosworth). Killed by Henry VII. + Keeper of the Great Wardrobe--Pierce Courteys. + +COMMISSIONERS FOR PEACE WITH SCOTLAND, 1484. + + John Bishop of Lincoln + Richard of St. Asaph + Duke of Norfolk + Earl of Northumberland + Lord Privy Seal + Sir W. Stanley + Lord Stanley + Lord Strange + Lord Powys + Lord FitzHugh + Lord Dacre + Master of the Rolls + Sir Richard Ratcliffe + William Catesby + Richard Salkeld. + +JUDGES AND LAW OFFICERS OF RICHARD III. + + Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench . . William Hussey. + Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas . . . . Thomas Brian. + Chief Baron of the Exchequer . . . . . . . Sir Humphrey Starbury. + Master of the Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Barrow. + Judges--King's Bench . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Townshend. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Guy Fairfax. + Common Pleas . . . . . . . . . . . William Jenney. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Neele. + Exchequer . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Roucliffe. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Ralph Wolseley. + Attorney-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan Kidwelly.[1] + Solicitor-General . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Lymon.[2] + + + [1] Morgan Kidwelly, King Richard's Attorney-General, was supposed, + even by Miss Halsted, to have turned traitor and joined Henry + Tudor. But Mr. Gairdner has cleared his character, and shown + that the idea was due to a resemblance of names. The + Attorney-General was true and loyal to the end. + + [2] The Solicitor-General married Jane Shore, with the consent of + King Richard. +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P146"></A>146}</SPAN> +</P> + +<PRE> + King's Serjeants . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Tremayne. + " . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Townshend. + " . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Vavasour. + Recorder of London . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicholas Fitzwilliam. + +KING RICHARD'S BISHOPS + + 1454-86. <I>Thomas Bourchier</I>,[1][4] <I>Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury.</I> + 1480-1501. Thomas Rotherham,[4] Archbishop of York. + 1448-89. Thomas Kempe[4] (then aged 79), Bishop of London. + 1447-87. <I>William de Waynflete</I>,[2] <I>Bishop of Winchester.</I> + 1476-85. <I>William Dudley</I>,[1][2][3] <I>Bishop of Durham.</I> + 1465-92. <I>Robert Stillington</I>,[1] <I>Bishop of Bath and Wells.</I> + 1478-1504. Edward Story,[4] Bishop of Chichester. + 1478-86. John Morton (traitor),[4] Bishop of Ely. + 1478-86. <I>Peter Courtenay</I> (traitor),[1][4] <I>Bishop of Exeter.</I> + 1474-92. Thomas Milling (Abbot of Westminster), Bishop of Hereford. + 1459-92. <I>William Smith</I>,[3] <I>Bishop of Lichfield.</I> + 1480-95. <I>John Russell</I>,[1] <I>Bishop of Lincoln.</I> + 1472-99. <I>James Goldwell</I>,[1][4] <I>Bishop of Norwich.</I> + 1480-92. <I>Edmund Audley</I>,[1][4] <I>Bishop of Rochester.</I> + 1482-85. <I>Lionel Woodville</I> (traitor),[1] <I>Bishop of Salisbury.</I> + 1476-86. <I>John Alcock</I>,[2][3] <I>Bishop of Worcester.</I> + 1478-95. Richard Bell,[4] Bishop of Carlisle. + 1464-96. Thomas Ednam,[4] Bishop of Bangor. + 1478-96. John Marshall,[4] Bishop of Llandaff. + 1472-95. <I>Richard Redman</I>,[2][3] <I>Bishop of St. Asaph.</I> + 1483. <I>Thomas Langton</I>,[2] <I>Bishop of St. David's.</I> + 1480-87. Richard Oldham, Bishop of Sodor and Man. + 1474-98. <I>John Esteney</I>,[1] <I>Abbot of Westminster.</I> + +KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER, CREATED BY RICHARD III. + + 1. Sir John Conyers (at Bosworth). Escaped. + 2. The Earl of Surrey (at Bosworth). Taken prisoner. + 3. Viscount Lovell (at Bosworth). Escaped. Slain at Stoke. The + King's dearest friend. + + + [1] At the coronation. + [2] Received the King at Oxford. + [3] With the King at Warwick + [4] At Henry Tudor's first Parliament. +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P147"></A>147}</SPAN> +</P> + +<PRE> + 4. Sir Richard Ratcliffe (at Bosworth). Slain in the battle. + 5. Sir Thomas Burgh. + 6. Lord Stanley (traitor). + 7. Sir Richard Tunstall. + +KNIGHTS + + <I>Sir Robert Dymoke</I> (the champion) was knighted on July 5, 1483. + Sir Robert Percy . . . . . . . . . " " " + Sir Walter Hopton . . . . . . . . " " " + Sir William Jenney (Judge) . . . . " " " + Sir Robert Brackenbury . . . . . . " " " 1485. + +KNIGHTS OF THE BATH, CREATED AT THE CORONATION OF RICHARD III.[1] + + 1. Sir Edmund de la Pole (son of the Duke of Suffolk). + 2. Sir John Grey (son of the Earl of Kent). + 3. Sir William Zouch (brother of Lord Zouch). + 4. Sir George Neville (son of Lord Abergavenny). + 5. Sir Christopher Willoughby. + 6. Sir William Berkeley, of Beverston (traitor). + 7. Sir Henry Babington. (Buck has Bainton.) + 8. Sir Thomas Arundell. + 9. Sir Thomas Boleyn. (Buck has Bullen.) + 10. Sir Edmund Bedingfield. + 11. Sir Gervase Clifton. Wounded at Bosworth. + 12. Sir William Saye (son of Lord Saye, who fell at Barnet). + 13. Sir William Enderby. + 14. Sir Thomas Lewknor (traitor). + 15. Sir Thomas Ormonde. + 16. Sir John Browne. + 17. Sir William Berkeley, of Wyldy. + 18. Sir Edmund Cornwall, Baron of Burford. + + + [1] From Grafton, p. 799, and Holinshed, p. 733; <I>Harl. MS.</I> 293, + fol. 208<I>b</I>, and 2115, fol. 152; Buck, p. 26. +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn1text">1</A>] Morton in Grafton, p. 127. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn2text">2</A>] <I>Harl MSS.</I> 433, fol. 269. Their high rank is shown by the order +that no livery is to exceed the allowance, 'but only to my Lord +(Lincoln?) and <I>the children</I>.' See Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 212 +<I>n.</I>, who also makes the suggestion that these children were the +offspring of Edward IV. and the young Earl of Warwick. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn3text">3</A>] King Richard's progress: +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%; font-size: 70%"> + Windsor 22 July, 1483 | Gloucester 1 Aug. 1483 + Reading 23 " " | Tewkesbury 4 " " + Oxford 24 " " | Worcester 6 " " + Warwick* 8 Aug. " | Doncaster 25 " " + Coventry 15 " " | Pontefract 27 " " + Leicester 17 " " | York 30 " " + Nottingham+ 22 " " + + * A week. + + Letter of Secretary Kendal to Mayor of York, Aug. 23; Drake, p. 116. +</PRE> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn4text">4</A>] Rous. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn5text">5</A>] Worcester, Lichfield, Durham, St. Asaph, and Bangor (Rous, 217). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn6text">6</A>] Of St. David's. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn7text">7</A>] See also Rous, p. 216. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn8text">8</A>] Sheppard's <I>Christ Church Letters</I>, 46, quoted by Gairdner, p. 115. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn9text">9</A>] Rymer, xii. 200, quoted by Gairdner, p. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn10text">10</A>] Buck, p. 31, who gives the Letters Patent. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn11text">11</A>] Confession of his son. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn12text">12</A>] It is generally alleged that there was no trial. The appointment +of Sir Ralph Ashton proves that there was. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn13text">13</A>] <I>King Richard's Traitors, Oct.</I> 1483 +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +In the bill of attainder (<I>Rot. Part.</I> v. p. 294) there are 100 +persons. Of these were executed +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +The Duke of Buckingham at Salisbury.<BR> +Sir Thomas St. Leger at Exeter.<BR> +A person named Ramme at Exeter.<BR> +Some executed after trial at Torrington by Lord Scrope.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Wm. Collingbourne had offered another man 8<I>l.</I> to go to Hy. Tudor in +Brittany and urge him to invade England. If they would land at Poole, +he would get people to rise. Executed in London, and 6 others, 2 taken +in Kent, 4 in Southwark. +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%; font-size: 70%"> + Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter } + Woodville, Bishop of Salisbury } + Morton, Bishop of Ely } + Marquis of Dorset } escaped abroad. + (<I>son of the Queen Dowager</I>) } + Lord Welles } + (<I>uncle of Henry Tudor</I>) } +</PRE> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<I>Proclaimed Traitors—</I><BR> +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%; font-size: 70%"> + Henry Tudor, calling himself Earl of Richmond.* + Jasper Tudor, late Earl of Pembroke.* + Sir E. Courtenay. + Margaret, wife of Lord Stanley. + Sir William Cheney, to induce the Duke of Brittany to help. + John Cheney at Salisbury, and others. + Wm. Noreys, of Yachendon } + Sir Wm. Berkeley, of Beverton } + Sir Roger Tocotes, of Bromham, pardoned } 44 at Newbury and in + Sir Wm. Stonor, in Berks. } Berks. + Sir John Fogge, with 26 others } + Richard Beauchamp, of St. Amand } + William Knyvett, of Bodenham } with Buckingham at + John Hush, merchant of London } Bechurch + Thomas Nandike, necromancer of Cambridge } + Sir George Brown, of Bletchworth, and others executed at + Maidstone (Oct. 18), Rochester (Oct. 20), Gravesend (Oct. 22). + Sir John Gifford. + Sir Thomas Lewknor. + Sir Richard Gilford. + Reynald Pympe. + Sir Edward Poynings. + Sir William Brandon. + Sir John Wingfield. + Arthur Keane. + Sir William Hunter, pardoned. + Sir Thomas Ferveys, " + Nicholas Gaynsford, " + +One hundred named in the Bill, a considerable number afterwards +pardoned. + +<I>Harl. MSS.</I> No. 433, p. 128; Halsted, ii. 276 <I>n.</I>; Sharon Turner. +</PRE> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +* Henry Tudor <I>had never been</I> Earl of Richmond. His father was +attainted, and the title was given to Richard Duke of Gloucester, with +whom it merged in the crown. Jasper Tudor <I>had been</I> Earl of Pembroke +before his attainder. Hence Henry Tudor is named as 'calling himself +Earl of Richmond,' while Jasper is 'late Earl of Pembroke.' After the +attainder the Earldom of Pembroke was conferred by Edward IV. on his +son Edward. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn14text">14</A>] <I>Life of Henry VII.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn15text">15</A>] <I>Lives of the Lord Chancellors</I>, i. p. 407. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn16text">16</A>] 'Vidisses tantisper patrem et matrem, iis novis apud Nothinghaniam +ubi tunc residebant, auditis præ subitis doloribus pene +insanire'—Croyland, p. 571. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn17text">17</A>] <I>Harl. MS.</I> No. 433, fol. 183. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn18text">18</A>] Rous, pp. 217-218. 'Non multo post principe, ut dicitur, mortuo, +juvenis comes Warwici Edwardus, filius primogenitus Georgii ducis +Clarenciæ, proclamatus est apparens Angliæ in curia regali, et in +serviciis ad mensam et cameram post regem et reginam primo ei +serviebatur.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn19text">19</A>] 'Postea sub arta custodia positus, conies Lincolniensis ei +præferrebatur nomine Johannes Pole, filius et heres Johannis Pole ducis +Suffolchiæ.'—Rous, p. 218. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn20text">20</A>] Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 210. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn21text">21</A>] Moreover, Lincoln fell at Stoke, fighting for the Earl of Warwick +as rightful king, not for himself. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn22text">22</A>] This marriage never took place, and the Lady Anne became a nun at +Sion. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn23text">23</A>] It is said by the Croyland monk (572) that there was an eclipse of +the sun on the day of her death. This would make it March 16. Some +authorities have the 11th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn24text">24</A>] Buck, p. 129. 'Non cum minore honore quam sicut reginam decuit +sepeliri.'—Croyland, i. 572. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn25text">25</A>] Croyland, <I>York Records</I>, pp. 208, 210. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn26text">26</A>] <I>Rot. Parl.</I> vi. 227. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn27text">27</A>] John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third son of Edward III., +who lived to marry, had for his first wife Blanche, heiress of Henry +Duke of Lancaster, through whom he acquired the title. By her he had +Henry IV., who usurped the crown, Edward and John, who died young, +Philippa, married to Joam I., King of Portugal, and Elizabeth Duchess +of Exeter. He married secondly Constanza, heiress of Pedro King of +Castille and Leon, and had a daughter Catalina, wife of Enrique III., +King of Castille and Leon. A governess was engaged for the daughters +of the Duke of Lancaster. This was Catharine, daughter of a herald of +Hainault, named Payn Roet, who had married Sir Hugh Swynford in 1367. +The Duke had four children by this woman, named John, Henry, Thomas, +and Joan, surnamed Beaufort from the castle in France where they were +born. All were born during the lifetime not only of the Duke's wife, +but also of the governess's husband. The Duchess died in 1394, and the +realm was scandalised by the marriage of the Duke of Lancaster with +this woman on January 13, 1396. The Duke died in February 1399, +Catharine Swynford on May 10, 1403. Their children were granted +letters of legitimation by Richard II. in February 1397, confirmed by +Henry IV. on February 10, 1407, 'excepta dignitate regali.' Henry +Tudor's mother was granddaughter of John, the eldest of the Beauforts. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0110fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0110fn28text">28</A>] Every act of Richard III. has been persistently misrepresented. +This loan is usually alleged to have been a return to the illegal +system of 'benevolences,' which Richard had himself abolished a year +before, by Act of Parliament. Even Miss Halsted is led into this +error. But Mr. Gairdner has completely disposed of the accusation. +See Croyland, p. 572, and Lingard's remarks, iv. 255. Gairdner, p. 198. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0111"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P148"></A>148}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH +</H4> + +<P> +Richard's headquarters were at Nottingham Castle, the 'Castle of Care' +as he had called it, since he received the news of his son's death +there. With the aid of the loan a force had been raised and armed; +while reinforcements were on their way from several directions. Here +the news arrived that Henry Tudor[<A NAME="chap0111fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn1">1</A>] had landed at Milford Haven with +2,000 mercenaries. He would never have run this risk unless he had +previously received distinct promises of adherence from the Talbots and +Stanleys. His mother, the wife of Stanley, was an inveterate +intriguer. She had already been detected in treasonable practices and +contemptuously forgiven by the King. Now she had persuaded her +treacherous husband that it would be more for his interests to be +step-father to a new King owing everything to his treason, than to +continue loyal to his generous and forgiving master. This explains the +conduct of the Stanleys, which emboldened the invader to venture upon +such an enterprise. The insurgents advanced by Cardigan and Welshpool +to Shrewsbury. They were joined by several Welsh chiefs, and by Sir +Gilbert Talbot with 2,000 men. Henry Tudor was accompanied by his +uncle Jasper, and by John Vere, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P149"></A>149}</SPAN> +son of the attainted Earl of +Oxford. Reginald Bray,[<A NAME="chap0111fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn2">2</A>] his mother's steward, was in attendance on +him, and Dr. Richard Fox[<A NAME="chap0111fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn3">3</A>] acted as his secretary. Most of the +leaders of his troops were exiles who had been concerned in +Buckingham's abortive treason. William Brandon,[<A NAME="chap0111fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn4">4</A>] Sir John Cheney, +Sir Giles Daubeny, Sir Robert Willoughby, Sir John Byron, Richard +Edgcombe,[<A NAME="chap0111fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn5">5</A>] and Sir Thomas Bourchier, all come under this category. +Sir John Savage and Simon Digby[<A NAME="chap0111fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn6">6</A>] joined the invaders after they had +landed, and Walter Hungerford[<A NAME="chap0111fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn7">7</A>] deserted just before the battle. No +peer, except Stanley, joined the rebels. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Stanley and his brother Sir William had raised forces in +Lancashire and Cheshire, with the base intention of turning traitors to +their King if a good opportunity offered, but of being on the winning +side in any circumstances. With this object their design was to hold +aloof until the last moment. Sir William Stanley had a secret +interview with Henry at Stafford. On August 20 the insurgents, about +8,000 strong, arrived at Atherstone, nine miles beyond Tamworth. Here +the Stanleys again met Henry secretly. They pretended to the King that +they were retreating before the invaders. +</P> + +<P> +Richard was undoubtedly a man endowed with great military talent. He +had shown remarkable +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P150"></A>150}</SPAN> +generalship, when quite a boy, at Barnet and +Tewkesbury. He had conducted the Scottish campaign with signal +success. He had promptly stamped out the Buckingham revolt. He was +now to encounter the rebels. There can be no doubt that if he had +waited for the reinforcements which were on their way, especially from +the north, the result would never have been doubtful. But alas! he +despised his enemy, and his open and generous nature prevented him from +harbouring a suspicion of the foul treachery of the Stanleys until it +was too late. +</P> + +<P> +English pluck has been a motive power which has helped to place the +English-speaking race in the forefront of the world's history. That +dogged courage facing overwhelming odds rather than wait for help or +give ground is the secret of England's success. Often leading to +decisive victory it has sometimes resulted in disaster. Never more +conspicuous than in the audacious campaigns of Crecy and Agincourt, +when fortune was on the side of reckless valour, it was equally present +on the fatal field of Beaugé, when Thomas Duke of Clarence lost his +life. We find it again at Wakefield, a battle which resembles Bosworth +in several respects. The brave and chivalrous father lost his life on +the former, the gallant son on the latter field. Both Richards were +full of English pluck. Both scorned to wait for succour; and +preferred, like the men of Zutphen and of Balaclava, to charge into the +midst of countless odds. Both were betrayed—the Duke of York by +Nevill, the King by the Stanleys. These Plantagenets were fitting +leaders of the people of England. While their dogged English pluck led +some of them to destruction, the very same quality has secured decisive +victory for England on a hundred fields. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P151"></A>151}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +On August 14 King Richard was hunting in Beskwood Park. He was an +ardent sportsman, and this was fated to be his last day's sport. +Monday the 15th was the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, and he +devoutly kept it, as we learn from the Duke of Norfolk.[<A NAME="chap0111fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn8">8</A>] He +commenced his march from Nottingham on Wednesday morning. He was +surrounded by loyal and devoted friends. Viscount Lovell and Sir +Robert Percy, the companions of his childhood, rode by his side. The +veteran Duke of Norfolk, who had fought with the great Talbot at +Châtillon, was hurrying up with a contingent from the eastern counties. +His son, the gallant Earl of Surrey, was with him. Lords Ferrers and +Zouch had arrived from the Midlands. The loyal old Constable, Sir +Robert Brackenbury, had come by forced marches from London. The Earl +of Northumberland, who owed much to his royal cousin,[<A NAME="chap0111fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn9">9</A>] was bringing a +first instalment of troops from the north. The faithful city of York +was represented by eighty of her citizens, stout-hearted and well +equipped.[<A NAME="chap0111fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn10">10</A>] Other troops were on their way, and if the King had +waited for them his victory was certain. All the loyal gentry of the +north were in arms, but Richard did not give them time to reach his +camp. Among them were the two Lords Scrope, Lords Dacre and Ogle, Lord +Greystoke of Hinderskelf, the King's cousin,[<A NAME="chap0111fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn11">11</A>] who 'brought a mighty +many,' and among the Yorkshire names of those loyal to King Richard +were Gascoigne and Conyers, Strickland and Constable, Mauleverer and +Plumpton, Tempest and Pudsey, Pilkington and Musgrave. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P152"></A>152}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The King formed his army in two divisions, marching five abreast, with +the cavalry on the flanks. Richard himself was on a white horse richly +caparisoned, and he wore a golden circlet on his helmet. He entered +Leicester in the evening of August 19, and lodged at the 'White +Boar'[<A NAME="chap0111fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn12">12</A>] in North Gate Street. In the morning of Sunday the 21st the +army marched out of Leicester, reaching the little village of +Stapleton, a distance of eight miles, in the afternoon. A camp had +already been prepared in a field near Stapleton, called 'the +Bradshaws,' which is on a slight eminence. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The Battle of Bosworth +</SPAN> +</P> + +<A NAME="img-328-t"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-328.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-328-t.jpg" ALT="Map: Battle of Bosworth" BORDER="2"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +Map: Battle of Bosworth +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +This part of Leicestershire consists of a succession of hills and +dales, with streams flowing westward, and uniting to form the Anker, a +tributary of the Trent. The 'Bradshaws' is on the brow of a gentle +slope, at the base of which flows a rivulet called the Tweed. The Duke +of Norfolk's camp was at Cadeby, about two miles to the north, but he +only arrived at Stapleton the day before the battle. Stanley, still +pretending to retreat, marched with 2,000 men, by Stoke Golding, to a +field now called 'Gamble's Close,' facing the 'Bradshaws,' with the +Tweed flowing between the two positions. Sir William Stanley had a +similar force encamped on the northern side of the field, in front of +the town of Market Bosworth, and near the Duke of Norfolk. Between, +but to the west of Stapleton and Cadeby, there is a ridge known as +Sutton Fields, in front of the village of Sutton Cheney. A gentle +slope sinks thence to Redmore Plain[<A NAME="chap0111fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn13">13</A>] and Ambien Leys, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P153"></A>153}</SPAN> +between +which is the hill called Ambien. Further west, across the stream, +there are some fields called the White Moors, with the village of +Shenton to the north, and those of Dadlington and Stoke Golding to the +south-east. +</P> + +<P> +Henry had arrived at Atherstone on August 20, and lodged at the 'Three +Tuns,' while the rebel troops and their French allies under Philibert +de Shaundé encamped in the meadows north of the church. Tudor was here +joined by another traitor, Robert Hardwicke of Lindley. Next day the +insurgents advanced nearly due east, crossed the bridge over the river +Anker at Witherley, and then turned up the Fenn Lanes, encamping on +White Moors. Hardwicke of Lindley acted as their guide. They were a +mile from Ambien Hill, with Lord Stanley in advance of their right +flank, and Sir William Stanley between their camp and Bosworth, on +their left flank. +</P> + +<P> +The King had thrown up a breastwork to protect his camp, 300 yards +long, with flanks of fifty yards, facing Lord Stanley. At length the +suspicious conduct of Stanley forced him to entertain the idea of +treachery. But it was too late. He had about 8,000 men, while +Norfolk's contingent numbered 4,000. The Stanleys had about 8,000 men, +and the insurgent army was composed of 2,000 French mercenaries, 2,000 +retainers of Sir Gilbert Talbot, and 4,000 Welsh and English traitors, +in all 8,000 men. Including the Stanley contingents, the enemy largely +outnumbered the royal army. +</P> + +<P> +During the night Sir Simon Digby got into the royal camp as a spy, and +returned with the report that the troops were in motion. The rebel +leaders, therefore, sounded to arms. This must have been at dawn of +Monday, August 22, 1485. The sun rose that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P154"></A>154}</SPAN> +day at a quarter +after five.[<A NAME="chap0111fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn14">14</A>] King Richard marched north-eastward for two miles to +effect a junction with the Duke of Norfolk. The royal army was then +formed in two lines, along the ridge of Sutton Fields. The archers +were in the front line, with a few small pieces of artillery, under the +Duke of Norfolk. The bill-men formed the rear line, and the horse were +on the flanks. Stanley marched at the same time as the King, and +halted to the rear of his left flank. The Earl of Northumberland +arrived the same morning, but he seems to have thought that his men +needed rest. He took no part in the battle. This slackness and want +of zeal were punished in after years by the loyal people of +Yorkshire.[<A NAME="chap0111fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn15">15</A>] +</P> + +<P> +King Richard was dressed in the same suit of polished steel that he had +worn at Tewkesbury, with a golden circlet round his helmet. He rode to +a knoll, since called 'Dickon's Nook,' and addressed the army in a +spirit-stirring speech, calling on all true Englishmen to resist the +foreign invaders, and appealing to their loyalty and patriotism. He +then led them down the slope, placing his right towards Ambien Leys. +In front of his centre there was a well, since known as King Richard's +Well. +</P> + +<P> +Philibert de Shaundé had formed the insurgents across Redmore Plain, +with a morass on their right flank. In their first line was John Vere +in the centre, Sir Gilbert Talbot on the right, and Sir John Savage on +the left wing. Jasper Tudor commanded the second line, and his nephew +Henry kept well in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P155"></A>155}</SPAN> +the rear. John Vere ordered his men not to +advance more than ten paces in front of their standard; for he knew of +the contemplated treachery, and that the royal troops would be attacked +in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as the King saw that the insurgents had left their camp and +advanced round the morass, he gave the order for the attack at about 10 +A.M. A volley of arrows was discharged on either side: probably a few +shots from some small pieces of ordnance were fired by the rebels.[<A NAME="chap0111fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn16">16</A>] +Then the traitor Stanley threw off the mask and fell upon the left rear +of the royal army, throwing it into confusion. The Duke of Norfolk +fought gallantly and fell in the thickest of the battle. +</P> + +<P> +The young King beheld this treason, and at once made up his mind. He +saw that a desperate charge of cavalry was the only remaining chance. +He received a report that Henry Tudor was skulking in the rear, and +resolved to attack him. It was a well-concerted plan, though made on +the spur of the moment. Richard was surrounded by loyal and devoted +knights. It is said that he stopped to quench his thirst at the well. +Then, putting spurs to his horse, he galloped forward, followed by the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State, the Clerk of the +Council, the Constable of the Tower, Lords Lovell, K.G., Ferrers, and +Zouch; Sir Bryan Stapleton, Sir Thomas and Humphrey Stafford, Sir +Richard Clarendon, Sir Gervase +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P156"></A>156}</SPAN> +Clifton, Sir Robert Percy,[<A NAME="chap0111fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn17">17</A>] Sir +Richard Ratcliffe, K.G.,[<A NAME="chap0111fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn18">18</A>] the flower of England's loyal chivalry. +Sir William Parker was the standard-bearer. Never was the valour of +the kingly race of Plantagenet more gloriously displayed. Sir Robert +Brackenbury was encountered by the traitor Hungerford, who slew the +grey-headed old warrior, loyal to the last. Sir Gervase Clifton was +overthrown and badly wounded, but he was shielded from further harm by +Sir John Byron, his old friend and neighbour in Nottinghamshire, who +eventually obtained his pardon from the usurper.[<A NAME="chap0111fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn19">19</A>] The King himself +felled William Brandon to the ground. He was the adventurer's +standard-bearer, and the red dragon worked on white and green sarcenet +was hurled into the mud. The lions of England still waved over their +defenders. The King then unhorsed Sir John Cheney, a French pensioner, +and was on the point of reaching Henry Tudor himself, when the last and +foulest act of treachery was perpetrated. Sir William Stanley suddenly +attacked the right flank of the royal army with 3,000 men. King +Richard was surrounded. He was urged to fly by the loyal knights who +stood by him to the last. 'Never,' exclaimed the young hero, 'I will +not budge a foot; I will die King of England,' and he dashed into the +thickest of the fight. Like a sturdy oak sinking under a thousand +blows, at length King Richard fell, fighting an army and covered with +wounds. 'Fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies,' +confessed one of the most unscrupulous +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P157"></A>157}</SPAN> +among them.[<A NAME="chap0111fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn20">20</A>] He fell +at the foot of the hill in Ambien Leys. Lord Ferrers, Lord Zouch, Sir +Richard Ratcliffe, the Secretary of State, and the Clerk of the Council +fell fighting by his side. Sir William Conyers and Sir Richard +Clarendon were also among the slain, with many other loyal knights and +gentlemen. Sir William Parker (or Thurleball?), the King's +standard-bearer, is said to have kept the lions of England on high +until both his legs were cut from under him, nor, when on the ground, +would he let go while breath was left in his body.[<A NAME="chap0111fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn21">21</A>] +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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 +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P158"></A>158}</SPAN> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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.'[<A NAME="chap0111fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn22">22</A>] +</P> + +<P> +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: +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +AQUA EX HOC PUTEO HAUSTA<BR> +SITIM SEDAVIT<BR> +RICABDUS TERTIUS REX ANGLIAE<BR> +CUM HENRICO COMITE DE RICHMONDIA<BR> +ACERRIME ATQUE INFENSISSIME PRAELIANS<BR> +ET VITA PARITEB AC SCEPTRO<BR> +ANTE NOCTEM CARITURUS<BR> +II KAL. SEPT. A.D. MCCCCLXXXV<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +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. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P159"></A>159}</SPAN> +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.[<A NAME="chap0111fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn23">23</A>] +</P> + +<P> +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.'[<A NAME="chap0111fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn24">24</A>] +</P> + +<P> +On his accession to the throne his character did not alter. He loved +his country, and was a King of great administrative ability. He was +prompt and vigorous in suppressing insurrections, and baffling the +schemes of conspirators; but he was lenient, often unwisely so, when +the immediate danger was over. No other King would have spared such +mischievous traitors as Stanley and Morton. His generosity to the +families of attainted rebels will not find any parallel in our history. +Not only did he show liberal clemency to the wives of Rivers, Hastings, +Buckingham and others: +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P160"></A>160}</SPAN> +but he actually pensioned the wives of men +who were plotting against him in foreign countries, like John Vere, +Lord Dynham, and Alexander Cheney. His uprightness and good faith were +relied upon by enemies and friends alike. Lord Rivers appointed him +supervisor of his last will, well knowing him to be an honourable and +magnanimous foe. Lady Latimer sought the same service from him, as a +kind and trusty friend. As an arbitrator in family disputes, like that +between Sir Robert Plumpton and his relations, Richard, by his +impartial justice, established peace and concord where there had been +ill-will and litigation.[<A NAME="chap0111fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn25">25</A>] There was nothing mean or sordid in his +nature; he was liberal, open-handed, and generous. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Administration of King Richard +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Richard's Parliament was the best that had met since the time of Edward +I. His administration was patriotic. He checked corruption in the +public service, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P161"></A>161}</SPAN> +refused large sums of money that were offered to +him as gifts by several towns,[<A NAME="chap0111fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn26">26</A>] and anxiously sought the welfare of +his people. He took great interest in the administration of justice, +and it is recorded that in Michaelmas term of 1484 he personally +attended in the Star Chamber and propounded questions of law to the +judges. He encouraged trade, and especially voyages to Iceland and the +northern fisheries. In Ireland he was very popular and his government +was successful. His foreign policy was wise and judicious. He made +peace with Scotland, established friendly relations with Brittany and +Spain, observed strict neutrality between Maximilian and the Flemish +towns, while promoting commercial intercourse, and watched the +treacherous regency of France with well-founded suspicion. +</P> + +<P> +King Richard was a great builder.[<A NAME="chap0111fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn27">27</A>] He founded collegiate churches +at Middleham, Barnard Castle, and All Hallows Barking, built a memorial +chapel at Towton, another at Sheriff Hutton, endowed Queens' College, +Cambridge,[<A NAME="chap0111fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn28">28</A>] and erected a handsome tower at Westminster. He pushed +forward the works at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, begun by his +brother, and repaired the castles of Skipton, Carlisle, Nottingham, and +Warwick. His cognizance of the white boar is still to be seen on the +stonework of an oriel window at Barnard Castle. Richard was a prince +of literary tastes, and among his books a manuscript copy of the +romance of Tristan de Leonnais and a Wickliffe Bible have been +preserved. He was the friend and patron +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P162"></A>162}</SPAN> +of Caxton, who dedicated +a book 'Of the Ordre of Chyvalry and Knyghthode' to 'his redoubted Lord +King Richard.' By letters patent, dated March 21, 1484, he gave the +Heralds a charter of incorporation, and was thus the founder of the +College of Arms. He also granted them 'a right fayre and stately +house,'[<A NAME="chap0111fn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn29">29</A>] called Pulteney's Inn. He was devout and religious, +striving to promote greater activity among the clergy in improving the +morals of the people. Richard was a keen sportsman, devoted to the +chase both with hawk and hound. He kept large hunting establishments +at Westminster and in Yorkshire. +</P> + +<P> +King Richard was probably conscious of the political change that was +impending in the world, for he was a vigilant observer of the signs of +the times, and was well versed in the political questions which were +engaging the attention of European statesmen. He had witnessed the +fall of his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, and the collapse of the +system he upheld. He must have seen that feudalism was giving way to a +new era, in the age of the Renaissance. The young Plantagenet was well +fitted by nature to rule the destinies of England during this period of +change. He had received an excellent training. For years he had been +accustomed to confer with the authorities at York on their local +affairs, he had often been in consultation with clerical advisers when +framing statutes for his collegiate churches, and from early youth he +had had unusual opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the needs and +wishes of the people. He desired to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P163"></A>163}</SPAN> +reign in the hearts of his +countrymen. His proclamations and letters show that he wished to take +his people into his counsels, to consult public opinion, and to be +guided by it. He was an administrator of no mean ability, and although +he was bold even to recklessness in facing the consequences of his +acts, he always showed anxiety to have the public feeling with him. He +would, in all probability, have respected the rights and liberties of +his subjects while leading them into new ways. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Richard and the Tudors +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +In all respects Richard was better fitted to reign over England in the +days of change that were inevitable than the two tyrants who succeeded +him. Henry Tudor caused a beautiful chapel to be built at Westminster +for his own tomb, but his son robbed and destroyed scores of far more +beautiful tombs and churches in all parts of England. There might have +been an age of English Renaissance under Richard. There actually was +an age of Vandalic destruction under the Tudors. The father was a +miserly foreigner, the son a rapacious and remorseless tyrant,[<A NAME="chap0111fn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn30">30</A>] both +despots by nature, and haters of constitutional freedom. The battle of +Bosworth was a calamity from which England did not soon recover. But +after seventy-three years of tyranny the Great Queen began to reign. +Though a Tudor by name her high qualities were derived from her +mother's English ancestors. She was a true Englishwoman at heart. +Descendant of the brave and loyal Norfolk who fell fighting for King +Richard at Bosworth, the grand-niece of Richard III. was by blood even +more truly English than were her Yorkist great-uncles. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P164"></A>164}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Richard was most agreeable and ingratiating in his manners, and where +he was best known he was most liked.[<A NAME="chap0111fn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn31">31</A>] He formed friendships which +endured the test of time. Those who knew and loved him in boyhood +fought by his side on the fatal field at Bosworth.[<A NAME="chap0111fn32text"></A><A HREF="#chap0111fn32">32</A>] Richard III. +was the only one of our kings who made a true love match. His cousin +Anne, the playmate of his childhood, was his first love. United before +they were twenty, they passed ten years of happy married life together +at Middleham. Their love is proved by their constant companionship. +When the Protector was surrounded by perils and difficulties, his wife +hurried up to London to share them with him. Together they were +crowned, together they sat at public banquets, made progresses and +walked in royal processions. Together they mourned over the death of +their beloved child, and sought comfort in mutual sympathy. Richard +only survived his wife's death for five short months; having shared +with her their joys and sorrows for fourteen years. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Contemporary sovereigns +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The true picture of our last Plantagenet King is not unpleasant to look +upon, when the accumulated garbage and filth of centuries of calumny +have been cleared off its surface. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P165"></A>165}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS +</P> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Scotland <I>James III.</I> 1460-1488 + France <I>Anne of Beaujeu</I> (Regent for 1483 + <I>Charles VIII.</I>) + Brittany <I>Francis II.</I> 1458-1488 + Low Countries <I>Mary and Maximilian</I> 1477-1493 + Germany <I>Emperor Frederick III.</I> 1440-1493 + Denmark, Sweden, <I>Hans</I> 1481-1513 + and Norway + Bohemia <I>Vladislaus</I> 1471-1510 + Hungary <I>Matthias Corvinus</I> 1458-1490 + Poland <I>Casimir IV.</I> 1445-1492 + Castille <I>Isabella</I> 1474-1504 + Aragon <I>Ferdinand</I> 1479-1516 + Portugal <I>Joam II.</I> 1481-1495 + Naples <I>Ferdinand of Aragon</I> 1458-1494 + Pope <I>Sixtus IV.</I> (delle Rovere) 1471-1484 + " <I>Innocent VIII.</I> (Cibo) 1484-1492 + Tuscany <I>Lorenzo de' Medici</I> 1469-1492 + Milan <I>Gian Galeazzo Sforza</I> 1476-1494 + Grand Seigneur <I>Bayazid II.</I> 1481-1512 +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn1text">1</A>] Henry Tudor was not, and never had been, Earl of Richmond. His +father had been deprived by attainder and outlawry. Richard Duke of +Gloucester was created Earl of Richmond by King Edward IV., and when +Richard succeeded, the title merged in the crown. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn2text">2</A>] Sir Reginald Bray was made a K.B. at Henry's coronation, and +afterwards a Knight of the Garter. He was an architect, and has the +credit of having finished St. George's Chapel at Windsor and built +Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn3text">3</A>] Fox was a priestly conspirator who had been acting as one of +Morton's agents. He was rewarded with the Bishopric of Winchester. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn4text">4</A>] Henry's standard-bearer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn5text">5</A>] Knighted after the battle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn6text">6</A>] Made Lieutenant of the forests of Sherwood, Beskwood, and Clipston, +on Sept. 22, 1485. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn7text">7</A>] Knighted after the battle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn8text">8</A>] <I>Paston Letters</I>, ii. p. 334. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn9text">9</A>] Their mothers were sisters. Richard III. had passed an Act +restoring all their rights and possessions to the Percys. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn10text">10</A>] Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 216. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn11text">11</A>] Their mothers were sisters. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn12text">12</A>] Afterwards the 'Blue Boar.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn13text">13</A>] The battle was sometimes called Redmore, 'apud Rodemore juxta +Leicestre' (<I>York Records</I>, p. 217). See also Drayton's <I>Polyolbion</I>, +xxii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +'O Redmore then it seemed thy name was not in vain,<BR> +When with a thousand's blood the earth was coloured red.'<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn14text">14</A>] Thirty-first of Gregorian era. Sun rises at 5.15 A.M. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn15text">15</A>] They killed him near Thirsk, on April 28, 1488, when he was +engaged in enforcing the payment of extortionate taxes levied by his +new master (Dugdale's <I>Baronage</I>, p. 282). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn16text">16</A>] Four cannon balls were found on Ambien Hill in the last century. +They are now in possession of Mrs. Park Yates, of Sandiway, near +Northwich, who allowed Mr. Gairdner to examine them. One is of lead, +weighing 14-¾ lbs., another 8-½ lbs., another 4 lbs., and the fourth is +of stone and larger. Mr. Gairdner suggests that the guns may have been +brought by the rebels from Tamworth Castle, which was on their line of +march. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn17text">17</A>] Son of Robert Percy of Scotton, near Knaresborough. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn18text">18</A>] Eldest son of Sir Thomas Ratcliffe of Derwentwater. Sir Richard +married Agnes, daughter of Lord Scrope of Bolton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn19text">19</A>] Sir Gervase Clifton of Clifton lived until 1493. His tomb is in +Clifton Church. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn20text">20</A>] Polydore Virgil, p. 224. 'Attamen si ad ejus honorem veritatem +dicam ut nobilis miles licet corpore parvus et viribus debilis ad +ultimum anhelitum suum modo defensorio clarissime se habuit, sæpius se +proditum clamans et dicans "Treason! Treason! Treason!" et sic +gustans quod aliis sæpius propinaverat miserrime vitam finivit.'—Rous, +p. 218. 'Nam inter pugnandum et non in fuga, dictus Rex Richardus, +multis vulneribus ictus, quasi princeps animosus et audentissimus in +campo occubuit.'—<I>Croyland Chron.</I>, Gale, i. p. 574. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn21text">21</A>] Hutton's <I>Bosworth</I>. The only detailed account of the battle is +in the history of the Italian Polydore Virgil, who came to England in +about 1503. Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed copied from Polydore, or from +each other. Hutton visited the ground in 1788, and again in 1807, and +wrote a history of the battle. Mr. Gairdner also went over the ground +and wrote an account of the battle in the <I>Archæologia</I>, lv. pt. vii. +p. 159 (1896), read Jan. 24, 1895. The present writer has twice been +over every part of the ground, and examined it carefully with Polydore +Virgil and Hutton as his guides, the first time accompanied by an +accomplished antiquary, the present Earl of Liverpool. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn22text">22</A>] Brooke, <I>Visits to Battle Fields in England</I>, p. 170. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn23text">23</A>] Mary II. was two months younger, but she was only a joint +sovereign. Edward VI. never actually reigned. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn24text">24</A>] Davies, <I>York Records</I>, p. 218. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn25text">25</A>] The history of this Plumpton arbitration illustrates the +difference between Richard III. and Henry VII. The former appears as a +just and upright king, studying the good of his subjects; the latter, +as a pettifogging tyrant, seeking pretexts and excuses for robbery and +spoliation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +The dispute was between Sir Robert Plumpton and his heirs general as to +rights of succession. At last there was an agreement to abide the +award of the King's Majesty. Richard III. gave the matter his careful +attention, and decided on the merits, solely actuated by the desire of +doing substantial justice. His judgment was given on September 16, +1483. Impartial justice was actually done by Richard's award, and its +conditions were peacefully acquiesced in by both parties, for several +years. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +'But,' as the Editor remarks, 'it was the misfortune of Sir Robert +Plumpton to have lived on into the days of Henry VII., who, under the +pretence of a rigid enforcement of the law, sought only the means to +gratify his avarice.' Every defect of title, which might furnish the +pretext for a suit or fine, was eagerly caught at in order to swell the +revenue. In this manner the claim of the Plumpton heirs general was +re-opened by the infamous Empson, the tool of Henry; and after years of +persecution, Sir Robert was reduced to beggary and a debtors' prison.' +<I>Plumpton Correspondence</I>, pp. xc. to cxviii. (<I>Camden Society</I>, 1839). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn26text">26</A>] London, Gloucester, and Worcester. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn27text">27</A>] 'Erat iste Rex Ricardus in edificiis laudandus, ut +Westmonasteriensi, Notinghamiæ, Warwici, Eboraci et apud Midlam, +multisque aliis locis, ut ad oculum manifesta evidet.'—Rous, p. 215. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn28text">28</A>] Rous, p. 216. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn29text">29</A>] Stow. Henry Tudor, when he usurped the crown, seized upon this +property, and turned out the Heralds. They remained houseless until +1555, when the Earl Marshal purchased a house on St. Benet's Hill for +them, the site of the present Heralds' College. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn30text">30</A>] Henry VIII. was never known to exercise the prerogative of mercy. +Even poor young Lord Dacre was among his victims, for a trivial offence. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn31text">31</A>] 'Richard was bold in conceiving and reckless in facing the +consequences of his acts, of high and brilliant courage, and seductive +manners.'—W. Campbell, <I>Introduction to Materials for the History of +the Reign of Henry VII.</I>, p. xiv. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0111fn32"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0111fn32text">32</A>] Lord Lovell and Sir Robert Percy. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0201"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P166"></A>166}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +PART II +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE AUTHORITIES +</H4> + +<P> +The dynasty of the Plantagenets had reigned over England for more than +three centuries, when the last King of that royal race fell at the +battle of Bosworth. Under the Plantagenets, Normans and Saxons were +welded into one nation. The House of Commons became a firmly +established institution. The cherished liberties of England took form +and shape. The victories of the Plantagenet kings are the most +glorious traditions of the English people. No other dynasty became so +thoroughly national, and the Yorkist kings were almost pure Englishmen +in blood.[<A NAME="chap0201fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn1">1</A>] A halo of romance would naturally have gathered round our +last Plantagenet, our youngest reigning sovereign,[<A NAME="chap0201fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn2">2</A>] and the only +English monarch since the Conquest who fell in battle, fighting +valiantly for his crown and country. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of this being the case, the accusations of his enemies have +received full credence. He was charged +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P167"></A>167}</SPAN> +with the committal of a +series of atrocious crimes, his name has been execrated by posterity, +and historians have vied with each other in heaping opprobrium on his +memory. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Rooted prejudice +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Yet there are obvious reasons for closely criticising the accusations +against King Richard, and for examining them with more than ordinary +care before accepting them as proved. For his successor had no valid +title to the crown. It was not only the new King's interest, but a +necessity of his position, that he should cause grave charges to be +brought against his predecessor, and that they should be accepted as +true. Henry VII. had the power and the will to silence all comment, +and to prevent any defence from being published. Evidence in favour of +Richard was destroyed. Authors employed by Henry, and others who were +anxious to please him and his successors, were alone permitted to write +histories. Not a syllable was allowed to be uttered on the other side +for one hundred and sixty years. The story thus put forward was +dramatised by Shakespeare, and became so familiar to posterity that +even writers of our own day approach the subject with unconscious +prejudice which they cannot resist. If Richard performs kindly acts, +and many such are recorded, he is trying 'to get unsteadfast friends.' +If he punishes treason he is 'a venomous hunchback.' If a rebellion is +put down during his reign he is an inhuman tyrant. His ability is +cunning, his justice is cruelty, his bravery is fury, his generosity is +artfulness, his devotion is hypocrisy. +</P> + +<P> +In giving some account of the original authorities upon whose testimony +the charges against King Richard rest, I only propose to state general +conclusions with regard to them in the present chapter; because proofs +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P168"></A>168}</SPAN> +and arguments will be embodied in the detailed discussions which +follow. +</P> + +<P> +Bernard André, Archbishop Morton, and Polydore Virgil were actually in +the pay or under the direct influence of the first Tudor King. In this +trio only one was an Englishman. John Rous and Robert Fabyan wrote +during Henry's reign, accepted his version of events, and sought his +favour. The continuator of the Chronicle of Croyland Abbey is the sole +independent source of information. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Morton's pamphlet +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +By far the most important of the original authorities, and the one on +which all subsequent history has been based, is Archbishop Morton. His +narrative is contained in the 'History of Richard III.,' erroneously +attributed to Sir Thomas More, who was in Morton's household when a +boy. This work first appeared in Hardyng's Chronicle, printed by +Grafton in 1543. It was embodied in Hall's Chronicle, and copied by +Holinshed. Fourteen years after its publication, another and somewhat +different version was brought out by Rastell in 1557. Rastell was +related to Sir Thomas More, and he alleged that his version was taken +from a manuscript in More's handwriting written about 1513. A Latin +version, written long before its publication, was printed at Louvain in +1566, with various additions to the imaginary speeches, and an address +to Henry VIII. and the Earl of Surrey. Sir George Buck[<A NAME="chap0201fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn3">3</A>] and Sir +John Harington[<A NAME="chap0201fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn4">4</A>] had heard that the work was written +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P169"></A>169}</SPAN> +by Morton. +The Latin version could not have been, for it is addressed to Henry +VIII., and Morton died in 1500. +</P> + +<P> +The history, as we have it, contains long speeches and dialogues which +must have been fabricated by the writer. The narrative from the death +of Edward IV. to the accession of Richard was certainly written or +dictated by Morton, for no one else could have been cognizant of some +of the facts. The title given by the publisher is misleading. It is +not a 'history of Richard III.,' but a very detailed narrative of the +events from his brother's death to his own accession, covering a period +of less than three months. It ends abruptly at a point just before the +date of Morton's flight from England. His personal knowledge ceased +with his departure, and here the story suddenly comes to an end. He +was evidently acquainted personally with every detail, and he possessed +an exceptionally accurate memory.[<A NAME="chap0201fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn5">5</A>] The errors and alterations of +dates in the narrative must consequently have been made intentionally +and with an object. Morton's character and the value of his testimony +will be discussed more fully in a future chapter. The story of the +murder of the young princes at the end of the book cannot have been +written by Morton, for it alludes to events which happened after +October 12, 1500, the date of that prelate's death. The outline of the +story of the murder was no doubt inspired, as Lord Bacon shrewdly +suspected, by Henry VII. himself. +</P> + +<P> +Rastell assumed that the English version of this +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P170"></A>170}</SPAN> +'History of +Richard III.' was composed by Sir Thomas More because a copy in his +handwriting was found among his papers. The previous publication by +Grafton proves that there were other copies abroad, differing slightly +from each other, and there is no reason for assuming that the copy in +More's handwriting was the original. Indeed there is evidence that it +was not. Grafton's version contains a good deal at the end which is +not in the narrative attributed to More by Rastell. The latter ends +abruptly, as if the whole had not been copied. More merely made an +unfinished copy. The respect with which this production has been +treated is due to Sir Thomas More's reputed authorship, and to this is +to be attributed its comparative freedom from criticism. It is in +reality an unscrupulous party pamphlet, and its authorship ought not to +affect its character. Yet the reply to any objection to statements +contained in it has hitherto been that it was written by the good and +virtuous Sir Thomas More, and therefore must be true.[<A NAME="chap0201fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn6">6</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Internal evidence makes it certain that More did not write it. The +author speaks of the death-bed of Edward IV. as an eye-witness.[<A NAME="chap0201fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn7">7</A>] +More was then only five years of age. He was born in February 1478. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P171"></A>171}</SPAN> +This seems conclusive. Sir Thomas made an incomplete copy, when +a young man, of a work which was attracting a good deal of attention, +and of which there were other copies in circulation. The date of the +copy is said by Rastell to be 1513, when More's age was about +thirty-five. The actual compiler of the book, as we have it, is +unknown. But the information and the inspiration of the whole work, +with the exception of the story of the murder of the young princes at +the end, is undoubtedly from Archbishop Morton. I have, therefore, +referred to the work as by Morton, and to the story of the murders, +which is clearly not by Morton, as by Rastell's anonymous historian. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Bernard André +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Henry VII. began the business of vilifying his predecessor very early +in his reign. It was indeed a matter of the utmost moment to him, for +he appears to have considered that a belief in the alleged crimes of +Richard was essential to the security of his own position. He brought +over a blind Gascon from France, named Bernard André, whom he appointed +his poet laureate and historiographer. André began to write a life of +Henry VII. in 1500. It is very brief, with several gaps, and he left +it incomplete when he died in about 1522. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Polydore Virgil +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +But the Italian who arrived some years later in Henry's reign was far +more serviceable. Polydore Virgil was the paid historian of the +Tudors. He was a native of Urbino, and was sent to England by his +patron, the infamous Pope Alexander VI., in 1501 as the assistant +collector of the tax called Peter's pence. Henry requested him to +undertake the history, placing all official materials at his disposal, +and doubtless indicating the line he was to take. He proved +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P172"></A>172}</SPAN> +an +apt pupil and was well rewarded. He was made absentee Rector of Church +Langton, received a prebend at Lincoln, another at Hereford, and was +appointed Archdeacon of Wells. In 1513 he was made a Canon of St. +Paul's with a house, and he had other preferment. His history was +completed in 1534. Polydore Virgil was a man of learning, and his work +is based on original research. But he did not hesitate to misrepresent +facts not only to please his patrons, but in order to gratify his own +spite and malignity.[<A NAME="chap0201fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn8">8</A>] In his account of events in the life of +Richard III. he merely recorded the version that would be pleasing to +his employer. His imperfect knowledge of the English language impairs +the value of his evidence when obtained from oral sources. The tale of +the assassination of young Edward of Lancaster by a King of England and +his chief nobles is peculiarly Italian, and may be claimed by Polydore +as his original conception. It is worthy of this protégé of the +Borgias. His statements respecting King Richard deserve little credit, +unless they are corroborated by independent evidence. Polydore had +access to the written statements of Morton, of which he made +considerable use. He also had the run of all official documents, and +he is said to have made away with numerous original papers, which may +be presumed to have disproved his assertions.[<A NAME="chap0201fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn9">9</A>] One most +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P173"></A>173}</SPAN> +important document, which Henry ordered to be destroyed, has been +preserved through a fortunate accident.[<A NAME="chap0201fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn10">10</A>] +</P> + +<P> +These three writers, André, Morton, and Virgil, were employed by the +Tudors, and considering the sources from whence their statements come, +little weight ought to be attached to them. They are the paid, and +very well paid, counsel and witnesses of King Richard's cunning enemy. +'The sagacious, patient, unchivalrous man,' says Mr. Campbell, +'although he rewarded his panegyrists with, for him, prodigal +liberality, estimated with mercantile keenness the worth which their +eulogies would bear in his own age.'[<A NAME="chap0201fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn11">11</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Rous +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The authors who wrote during the reign of Henry VII., but not in his +pay or directly under his influence, next come under review. John +Rous, the so-called hermit of Guy's Cliff, was an antiquary and an +heraldic draughtsman. He knew Richard personally. He was the author +of 'Historia Regum Angliæ,' which he dedicated to Henry VII., and in +which he heaped virulent abuse on King Richard, crowding his venom into +a page or two at the end—an after-thought to please his new patron. +He also prepared two pictorial heraldic rolls, representing the +pedigree of the Earls of Warwick. Both were executed during the +lifetime +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P174"></A>174}</SPAN> +of King Richard. One is at Kimbolton, the other at the +Heralds' College. To the latter Rous had access after the accession of +Henry. To the former he had not. In the former Richard is described +as 'a mighty Prince and special good Lord,' and as 'the most victorious +Prince Richard III. In his realm full commendably punishing offenders +of the laws, especially oppressors of his commons, and cherishing those +that were virtuous, by the which discreet guiding he got great thanks +and love of all his subjects rich and poor, and great laud of the +people of all other lands about him.' The latter roll was still in the +hands of Rous when Richard fell. The above passage is expunged. The +portraits of the two Yorkist Kings are taken out. Queen Anne Nevill is +despoiled of her crown, her son is deprived of crown and sceptre, and +Richard is merely alluded to as Anne's 'infelix maritus.' The +testimony of such an unblushing time-server as Rous must be rejected as +worthless. Yet, in one or two instances, he has inadvertently revealed +the truth, where the official writers have intended to conceal it.[<A NAME="chap0201fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn12">12</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Robert Fabyan was a clothier and alderman of London, who recorded the +events of earlier times and of his own day in a chronicle which was +written during the reign of Henry VII.[<A NAME="chap0201fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn13">13</A>] He was a fulsome Tudor +partisan, anxious to please the reigning powers, and ready to record +any story against the fallen King, even to wholesale falsification of +dates. It will be shown further on that, in concocting part of his +chronicle, he must have been in dishonest collusion with Morton. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P175"></A>175}</SPAN> +Fabyan died in 1513, and his chronicle was first published in 1516. It +was used by Polydore Virgil. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Warkworth, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, wrote a diary which +has chiefly been relied upon as evidence of the date of the death of +Henry VI.,[<A NAME="chap0201fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn14">14</A>] but that question will be fully discussed in a future +chapter. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The monks of Croyland +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Morton, Polydore Virgil, Rous, and Fabyan will be found to be dishonest +and untrustworthy narrators, who can be shown to use deception +deliberately, with a full knowledge of the truth. The second +continuation of the Chronicle of Croyland Abbey occupies an entirely +different position. There is every reason for believing that the monks +who wrote it, though the first was prejudiced, and the second was +credulous and easily deceived, intended to relate what they believed to +be true. This continuation long remained in manuscript, in which state +it was seen by Sir George Buck. It was not printed until 1684. It +occupies twenty-eight folio pages.[<A NAME="chap0201fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn15">15</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The first part of the continuation bears internal evidence of having +been written by one monk who concludes with some local notices +respecting the abbey and its inmates. Then another monk took up the +chronicling pen, and ends his part in the same way. It is capable of +absolute proof that this continuation of the Croyland Chronicle was +written by at least two monks. In referring to the death of Henry VI., +the first monk prays that the tyrant who caused it may be given time +for repentance. This part must, therefore, have been written while the +tyrant in question was alive, whether Edward IV., Richard, or Lord +Rivers the Constable (who was really the responsible person) +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P176"></A>176}</SPAN> +is +intended. The second monk says at the end, that the work was finished +on April 30, 1486, and that it was written in ten days. Edward, +Richard and Rivers were all dead in April 1486. Consequently these two +passages must have been written by different hands. +</P> + +<P> +The first of these monks was the more judicious of the two, and he had +probably once mixed in the world. He mentions a councillor of Edward +IV. who was doctor of canon law, and who was sent to Abbeville on an +embassy to the Duke of Burgundy in 1471. In the margin there is a note +to the effect that the same man compiled that part of the chronicle. +If this note is to be relied on, the first monk had once been in the +service of Edward IV., but he had Lancastrian sympathies like Morton. +He refers to the executions after Tewkesbury as vindictive, and he +hints at a rumour that Henry VI. met his death by order of his +successor. His part of the chronicle includes ten pages, and covers +the period from 1471 to the death of Edward IV. +</P> + +<P> +The second monk seems to have known nothing of the outer world, and was +very credulous. It is with him that we have to do in this inquiry. He +relates the events leading to the accession of Richard III. with +general accuracy, and correctly as regards dates, the same dates being +falsified by Morton and Fabyan. He even gives the true grounds on +which Richard's claim to the crown rested, which are falsified by +Morton and by Polydore Virgil, and which were forbidden by Henry VII. +to be mentioned on pain of imprisonment. The chronicle remained in +manuscript, and the truth-telling monk was not found out. The +contribution of the second monk to the continuation of the Chronicle of +Croyland Abbey was written out in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P177"></A>177}</SPAN> +ten days, and finished in the +time of Henry VII., on April 30, 1486. Though generally trustworthy it +contains several errors. It follows Morton, Polydore Virgil, and +Fabyan in stating that Hastings was beheaded on the day of his arrest. +It will be seen in Chapter III. that this is disproved by an +investigation of dates given by those writers, and by Stallworthe. It +follows Morton in the statement that Lord Rivers and his companions +were beheaded without trial. This is disproved by Rous. It asserts +that, after King Richard's coronation, there was a rumour that his +nephews had been put to death. There is no other contemporaneous +mention of this rumour, and reasons will presently be given for +believing that there was no such rumour. It also states that Richard +was crowned a second time at York. Mr. Davies, in his 'York Records,' +has shown that no such coronation ever took place. +</P> + +<P> +The interesting question arises how the monk was misled on these four +points, when his information was so accurate, and so directly +contradicts Morton, Polydore Virgil, and Fabyan, as regards the dates +of events immediately preceding Richard's accession, and as regards the +nature of his claim to the throne. Could Morton have been at his +elbow? If he was, these errors would be explained, for they are the +most telling points in Morton's case. We know that Morton was sent to +Brecknock Castle, in the custody of the Duke of Buckingham, in August +1483. Later in the autumn he escaped, crossed England in disguise, and +was concealed for some time in the fen country near Ely, before taking +ship for Flanders. He even mentions his object in going there. 'If he +were in the Isle of Ely,' he told Buckingham, 'he could make many +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P178"></A>178}</SPAN> +friends to further the enterprise.'[<A NAME="chap0201fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn16">16</A>] He went there to plot and +intrigue. The secluded Abbey of Croyland is a likely asylum for Morton +to have selected as a place of concealment. A political bishop who had +been a principal actor in the recent events would be a Godsend to the +chronicling monk; while the intriguer would be in his element, sowing +the first seeds of his future crop of calumny. The second Croyland +monk would be as clay in the potter's hand. He gives us a striking +instance of his gossiping credulity. He had been told that the King's +niece, Elizabeth, once appeared at Court in a dress similar to that of +the Queen. Instead of the obvious deduction that Queen Anne had kindly +provided the girl with a dress like her own, we are treated to dark +hints about a rival who was to supplant the Queen, and modern +historians have taken the old monk's nonsense in all seriousness. +Morton would have found such a man quite ready to accept without +further inquiry any statement he might make, and to be the channel of +any rumour he chose to spread. +</P> + +<P> +Such are the witnesses arrayed against the last Plantagenet King by his +Tudor successors. It will be our business to test the value of their +testimony. They had it all their own way. No one was allowed to +answer them. For those who knew the truth it was a choice between +silence and ruin. The accused had no counsel. Whether the Tudor +writers are trustworthy or not, there can be no question that, aided by +these advantages, they served their employers well. They have +completely succeeded in their object. They have blackened the memory +of King Richard III. for all time. +</P> + +<P> +The chief evidence in Richard's favour can only +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P179"></A>179}</SPAN> +now be found in +the contradictions, admissions, inadvertent lapses into truth, and +suppressions of his traducers. Official documents and private letters +also tell their tale. Falsifications of dates, and the objects of such +falsifications by the Tudor writers, are often detected by means of +these unimpeachable sources of information. Among the Harleian +manuscripts there is a book kept by Dr. Russell, the Bishop of Lincoln +and Richard's Chancellor, containing all the documents that passed the +Great or Privy Seal during his reign, as well as correspondence with +foreign sovereigns and ambassadors.[<A NAME="chap0201fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn17">17</A>] This manuscript has been a +mine of rebutting evidence. There is also valuable testimony derivable +from the Rolls of Parliament, Patent Rolls, and from Rymer's 'Foedera.' +It is worthy of special note that the undesigned evidence of official +documents often exposes the true character of Tudor testimony. +</P> + +<P> +Enough has been said to show that the statements of the Tudor writers +call for more than ordinary caution in their use; and that the nearest +approach to the truth, which is all we can hope for, will not be +reached if any fact or insinuation alleged or hinted by them is +accepted without being first subjected to very rigorous scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Later chroniclers +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The later chroniclers, such as Hall, Grafton, Holinshed, Stow and Buck, +copied from the earlier writers. They cannot be considered as original +authorities. Hall is little more than a translation of Polydore +Virgil, served up with embellishments invented by himself. Stow is +much more trustworthy. +</P> + +<P> +These later writers must not be relied upon for facts. It was their +habit to add numerous minor details to the stories they received from +their +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P180"></A>180}</SPAN> +predecessors, and it cannot reasonably be doubted that +these additions were inventions intended to add force or interest to +their narratives. When they quote from or insert documents the case is +different. Thus Hall and Grafton give the conversation between Morton +and the Duke of Buckingham at Brecknock, being a copy of some original +document. Buck gives the substance of a letter from Elizabeth of York +to the Duke of Norfolk, the original of which he had actually seen. He +also quotes some older narrative for the imprisonment and death of King +Richard's illegitimate son. Hall gives the proceedings of the Council +when the imprisonment of the Queen Dowager, at Bermondsey, was ordered. +In such cases only ought the evidence of the later writers to be +accepted. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Modern authors +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There was a reaction against the acceptance of all the statements put +forth by Tudor writers, which began from the moment that it became safe +to discuss the subject. The caricature was too gross, and too coarsely +drawn for general acceptance. As soon as the last of the Tudors had +passed away, Sir George Buck[<A NAME="chap0201fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn18">18</A>] wrote a defence of Richard III. He +was followed by Carte in his History of England.[<A NAME="chap0201fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn19">19</A>] Rapin, although +he felt +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P181"></A>181}</SPAN> +obliged to repeat the stories of the Tudor writers, +evidently had no confidence in their accuracy, and warned his readers +against them more than once. Stronger views on the subject were +adopted by Horace Walpole in his 'Historic Doubts'[<A NAME="chap0201fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn20">20</A>] (1768), by +Bayley in his 'History and Antiquities of the Tower of London,'[<A NAME="chap0201fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn21">21</A>] by +Laing in his continuation of 'Henry's History of England,'[<A NAME="chap0201fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn22">22</A>] by Mr. +Courtenay in his 'Commentaries on Shakespeare,'[<A NAME="chap0201fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn23">23</A>] by Miss Halsted in +her 'Life of Richard III.'[<A NAME="chap0201fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn24">24</A>] and by Mr. Legge in his 'Unpopular +King.'[<A NAME="chap0201fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn25">25</A>] Mr. Thorold Rogers rejects the story of the assassination +of Henry VI.; Sharon Turner[<A NAME="chap0201fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn26">26</A>] and Jesse[<A NAME="chap0201fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn27">27</A>] acquit the accused King +on all the counts except the murder of his nephews; while Dr. Hook,[<A NAME="chap0201fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn28">28</A>] +Dr. Stubbs and Sir Harris Nicolas[<A NAME="chap0201fn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn29">29</A>] are unable to believe all the +accusations. The arguments put forward by some of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P182"></A>182}</SPAN> +these authors +are not always tenable. But they show that there has been, from the +time when discussion was first allowed, a revulsion of feeling among +well-informed students against the acceptance of these accusations +without close scrutiny. It was felt that the statements of Tudor +writers must at least be considered as those of prejudiced and <I>ex +parte</I> witnesses. Miss Halsted's 'Life of Richard III.' is by far the +most complete and the most valuable. Her interest in the slandered +young King led her to pay frequent visits to the ruins of Middleham +Castle, the scene of Richard's boyhood and of his happy married life. +Miss Halsted eventually married the dean of the college founded by +Richard and lies buried in Middleham Church. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Tudor fables discredited +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, there have been a few historians who have approached +the questions at issue either without considering the other side at all +or with a strong though possibly unconscious bias. Hume only had a +superficial knowledge of the subject. The most authoritative and +important upholder of the Tudor accusations is Dr. Lingard.[<A NAME="chap0201fn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn30">30</A>] He +defends them in their entirety, and in this he stands alone among those +who have really studied the subject. Mr. Gairdner[<A NAME="chap0201fn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn31">31</A>] rejects some of +the accusations and supports other Tudor stories with hesitation, and +in an apologetic and more or less doubtful tone. But Mr. Gairdner's +knowledge of the subject is so exhaustive, and his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P183"></A>183}</SPAN> +position as a +historian is so justly high, that I have devoted a separate chapter to +the consideration of his views on the chief accusations against King +Richard III. +</P> + +<P> +The Tudor fables are now discredited and are dying, but they are dying +hard. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn1text">1</A>] Richard II. was the first of our Kings, after the Norman Conquest, +who was partly an Englishman. Henry V., Edward IV., and Richard III. +were almost pure Englishmen. So was Edward VI., and Elizabeth was a +thorough Englishwoman. Mary II. and Anne were half English. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn2text">2</A>] See p. 159, note 1. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn3text">3</A>] 'Dr. Morton had taken his revenge and written a book in Latin +against King Richard, which came afterwards to the hands of Mr. More. +The book was lately in the hands of Mr. Roper of Eltham, as Sir Edward +Hoby, who saw it, told me.'—Buck, p. 75. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn4text">4</A>] 'Written as I have heard by Morton.'—Harington's <I>Metamorphosis of +Ajax</I>, p. 46. Mr. Gairdner has suggested that the book attributed to +More is a translation of one written in Latin by Morton. See <I>Letters +and Papers illustrative of the Reign of Richard III.</I>, &c. Preface +xviii. (<I>n</I>). It is really the English version that was dictated or +inspired by Morton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn5text">5</A>] More's <I>Utopia</I>, p. 20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn6text">6</A>] See for instance Sharon Turner (iii. 462), who claims unquestioning +belief in this scurrilous production, because 'all confess More's +ability and integrity.' See also Jesse (p. 156 <I>n.</I> and p. 500). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +In the same spirit Sir John Harington defended his own filthy treatise +because 'the worthy and incorrupt Master More' was dirty in his History +of Richard III. These writers seem to think that falsehood becomes +truth, and obscenity becomes decency in this book, merely because its +authorship is attributed to More. See <I>Metamorphosis of Ajax</I>, p. 46. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn7text">7</A>] 'As I myself, who wrote this pamphlet, truly know.' This is not in +Rastell's version; but in the continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn8text">8</A>] Speaking of Polydore Virgil in his <I>Life of Henry VIII.</I> (p. 9), +Lord Herbert of Cherbury adds: 'in whom I have observed not a little +malignity.' The story of Cardinal Wolsey's ingratitude to Fox owes its +parentage to the spite of Polydore Virgil; whom Wolsey imprisoned. It +was quite untrue.—Brewer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn9text">9</A>] 'Polydore Virgil committed as many of our ancient manuscript +volumes to the flames as would have filled a waggon, that the faults of +his own work might pass undiscovered.'—Caius, <I>De Antiquitate +Cantabrigiæ</I> (1574), p. 52. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +'Polydore caused all the histories to be burnt which by the King's +authority and the assistance of his friends he could possibly come +at.'—La Poplinière, <I>Histoire des Histoires</I>, ix. 485. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn10text">10</A>] The Act of Parliament explaining the title of Richard III. to the +crown. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn11text">11</A>] Mr. Campbell's Introduction to the <I>Materials for the History of +the Reign of Henry VII</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn12text">12</A>] Rous was one of the Chantry Priests at Guy's Cliff. He died in +1491, and was buried at St. Mary's, Warwick. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn13text">13</A>] One proof of this is that he calls Lord Stanley the Earl of Derby. +He was created Earl of Derby by Henry VII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn14text">14</A>] <I>Rerum Anglicarum scriptorum veterum</I>. Tom. i. (Oxoniæ, 1684.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn15text">15</A>] <I>Alia Hist. Croylandensis continuatio</I>, pp. 549-578. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn16text">16</A>] Grafton, p. 130. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn17text">17</A>] <I>Harl. MS.</I> 433. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn18text">18</A>] Sir George Buck was descended from John Buck, comptroller of King +Richard's household, who was put to death after the battle of Bosworth. +Sir George served with the Earl of Essex in the Cadiz expedition of +1596. He was knighted by James I. in July 1603, and became Master of +the Bevels in 1610, a post which he held until 1622. He died on +September 22, 1623. His <I>History of the Life and Reign of King Richard +III.</I>, composed in five books, was published in 1646, with 'George +Buck, Esq.,' as author. But the existence of the manuscript in the +British Museum, with Sir George as the author, and in his handwriting, +proves the substitution of 'Esquire' for 'Sir' to be a mistake. Camden +speaks of Buck as a man of distinguished learning. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn19text">19</A>] Thomas Carte, <I>History of England to</I> 1654 <I>inclusive</I>. 4 vols. +folio. 1753. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn20text">20</A>] Horace Walpole, <I>Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard +III.</I>, 4to. 1768. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn21text">21</A>] John Bayley, <I>History and Antiquities of the Tower of London</I>, 2 +vols. 4to. 1821. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn22text">22</A>] Laing, <I>Continuation of the History of Great Britain by Dr. +Henry</I>. 1795. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn23text">23</A>] J. P. Courtenay, <I>Commentaries on the Plays of Shakespeare</I>, 2 +vols. 8vo. 1840. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn24text">24</A>] Miss Halsted, <I>Life of Richard III</I>. 2 vols. 8vo. 1844. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn25text">25</A>] Alfred O. Legge, <I>The Unpopular King</I>. <I>Life and Times of Richard +III</I>. 2 vols. 8vo. 1883. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn26text">26</A>] Sharon Turner, <I>History of England during the Middle Ages</I>. 5 +vols. 8vo. 1830. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn27text">27</A>] John H. Jesse, <I>Memoirs of King Richard III</I>. 8vo. 1862. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn28text">28</A>] Dr. W. F. Hook, D.D., <I>Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury</I>. 9 +vols. 8vo. 1860-72. He considers the slander of the Duchess of York +incredible. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn29text">29</A>] Sir N. H. Nicolas, <I>Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York</I>. +1830. He utterly rejects the story of Richard having poisoned his +wife, and having wanted to marry Elizabeth of York (p. liii.) Dr. W. +Stubbs, <I>Constitutional History of England</I>, vol. ii. Thorold Rogers, +<I>Work and Wages</I>, ii. 212. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn30text">30</A>] Dr. Lingard, <I>History of England to the Revolution</I>. 4th ed. +1837; 6th ed. 1854. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn31text">31</A>] James Gairdner, <I>Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of +Richard III. and Henry VII</I>. 1861-63. <I>Memorials of Henry VII</I>. +1858. <I>History of the Life and Reign of Richard III</I>. 1878. <I>Life of +Henry VII</I>. 1889. Article in the <I>English Historical Review</I>. 1891. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0202"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P184"></A>184}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III +</H4> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +1. The Deformity.<BR> +2. Murder of Edward of Lancaster.<BR> +3. Murder of Henry VI.<BR> +4. Marriage with Anne Nevill.<BR> +5. Treatment of the Countess of Warwick.<BR> +6. Death of Clarence.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +An indictment, in many counts, was brought against Richard III. after +his death, by the authors who wrote during the reign of his successor, +and in the interests of that successor's dynasty. It will be seen, in +the course of the discussion, with what object these accusations were +made, and why a belief in them was considered to be so important to the +success of the Tudor usurpation. The reckless profusion of abuse was +due to the complete license of the traducers. No one could appear for +the accused. The brave young King was dead, his body subjected to +cowardly insults, his friends proscribed, his people silenced. Calumny +was triumphant and unchecked. Yet there was method and system in the +scheme of the Tudor writers. Their accusations were all intended to +lead up to a belief in the dead King's guilt with regard to one central +crime. If he was to be deformed, if he was to be an assassin at the +age of eighteen, the murderer of his brother and his wife, a ruthless +usurper +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P185"></A>185}</SPAN> +and tyrant, it was because such a monster would be more +likely to commit a crime of which he must be thought to be guilty in +the interests of his wily successor. It will now be our business to +examine these charges one by one. The first concerns Richard's +personal appearance. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Deformity +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It is stated that he was two years in his mother's womb,[<A NAME="chap0202fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn1">1</A>] that he was +born feet foremost,[<A NAME="chap0202fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn2">2</A>] with a complete set of teeth,[<A NAME="chap0202fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn3">3</A>] and with hair +down to the shoulders,[<A NAME="chap0202fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn4">4</A>] that he was hump-backed, that his right +shoulder was higher than his left,[<A NAME="chap0202fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn5">5</A>] that his left shoulder was much +higher than his right,[<A NAME="chap0202fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn6">6</A>] and that one of his arms was withered.[<A NAME="chap0202fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn7">7</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Passing over the obvious fables with the remark that they throw just +suspicion on other statements from the same sources, we come to the +hump-back. We do not find this deformity mentioned by any contemporary +except Morton. If it had existed it is certain that so conspicuous a +blemish would have been dwelt upon by all contemporary detractors. +Stow, the most honest of the later chroniclers, told Sir George Buck +that he had talked to old men who had seen and known Richard, and who +said that he was in bodily shape comely enough.[<A NAME="chap0202fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn8">8</A>] In the two +portraits drawn by Rous no inequality is visible. Richard here has a +handsome youthful face, slight build and good figure. The portrait at +Windsor shows a face full of energy and decision, yet gentle and +melancholy. The shoulders are quite even. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P186"></A>186}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Rous, Polydore Virgil, and Morton are the authorities for the unequal +shoulders. Rous says that the right shoulder was higher. Morton makes +the left shoulder much higher. Their contradictory testimony shows the +worthless character of both these authorities. Polydore Virgil merely +mentions an inequality. Fabyan and the Croyland monk do not say a word +against Richard's personal appearance. A curious piece of evidence was +discovered by Mr. Davies of York, which bears on the question.[<A NAME="chap0202fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn9">9</A>] From +the 'York Records' it appears that, six years after King Richard's +death, a man named Burton was brought before the Lord Mayor accused of +calling that prince, whose memory was so beloved in the north, 'a +crouchback.' One John Poynter, who heard this remark, told Burton that +he lied, and struck at him with a little rod he had in his hand. It +would seem, therefore, that if there was any defect in Richard's +figure, it was so slight that its very existence was matter of dispute +among those who could well remember the King, while it was +imperceptible to Stow's informants. On the whole, we may accept the +conclusion of Miss Halsted that Richard was of slight and delicate +build, and that the severe martial exercises in which his youth had +been spent had caused the shoulder of his sword-arm to be very slightly +higher than the other. +</P> + +<P> +The story of the withered arm comes from Morton. That astute prelate +always had an object in making his statements. This particular tale +was invented to draw off attention from the real charge made by the +Protector against the Woodvilles. It served its turn, and may be +dismissed as false without any hesitation. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P187"></A>187}</SPAN> +For it is not +mentioned by a single other authority. The victor of Barnet and +Tewkesbury, the leader of the brilliant charge at Bosworth, who +unhorsed Sir John Cheney[<A NAME="chap0202fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn10">10</A>] and William Brandon, must have had +serviceable arms. +</P> + +<P> +The object of the Tudor historians in commencing their grotesque +caricature of an imaginary monster with these stories of his personal +deformity is transparent. They intended to make him detestable from +the outset. They calculated that improbable crimes would be more +readily believed if the alleged perpetrator was a deformed hunchback +born with teeth. They were right. Nothing has more conduced to an +unreasoning prejudice against Richard, and to a firm belief in his +alleged crimes, than the impression of his personal repulsiveness. +</P> + +<P> +Modern writers have also understood this method of treatment. Lord +Macaulay was careful to prepare the minds of his readers for the +alleged judicial crimes of Sir Elijah by telling them that little Impey +was in the habit of stealing cakes at school.[<A NAME="chap0202fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn11">11</A>] The great essayist, +as well as the Tudor historians, knew their public. The one invented +the pilfering story and the others the deformity with the same motive. +If a judge had been a juvenile thief, or if a king had been a deformed +little monster, the charges against them in after life would be more +readily accepted as true. It is illogical, but it is human nature. +</P> + +<P> +Richard was described as a venomous hunchback[<A NAME="chap0202fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn12">12</A>] and made to commit +several atrocious crimes in order +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P188"></A>188}</SPAN> +to prepare men's minds to +receive, without incredulity, the story of the murder of his nephews. +It was evidently anticipated that this final draft on their powers of +belief would be dishonoured unless the alleged murderer had been +steeped in crime from his infancy. +</P> + +<P> +At the early age of eighteen Richard is accordingly accused of having +committed a cowardly and inhuman murder in cold blood after the battle +of Tewkesbury, on evidence which would be insufficient to hang a +dog.[<A NAME="chap0202fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn13">13</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Young Edward's death +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The battle took place on May 4, 1471. The young Duke of Gloucester had +displayed valour and generalship, and had won for himself a name in +chivalry. On the other side, Prince Edward of Lancaster, who was +exactly one year younger than Richard, led the main battle of his army, +and bore himself manfully. Carried away in the rout and closely +followed by his victorious enemies, he was slain on the field of +battle. There was one eye-witness who wrote an account of the battle +of Tewkesbury. He said that young Edward of Lancaster 'was taken +fleeing to the townwards and slain in the field.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn14">14</A>] A drawing +accompanies this writer's report, in which we see a horse on its knees, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P189"></A>189}</SPAN> +the rider receiving his deathblow, the helmet struck off, and the +bright golden locks sinking on the horse's mane.[<A NAME="chap0202fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn15">15</A>] This was the +plain truth. He fell, fighting bravely, on the battle-field. All +contemporaries, without an exception, corroborate this evidence. The +next writer was Warkworth, but he was not present. He wrote 'There was +slain on the field Prince Edward, which cried for succour to the Duke +of Clarence.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn16">16</A>] Bernard André, the paid historian of Henry VII., says +the same, 'Is enim ante Bernardi campum Theoxberye proelio belligerens +ceciderat.' The Croyland monk says that some of the Lancastrian +leaders fell in the battle, others 'by the revengeful hands of certain +persons afterwards,'[<A NAME="chap0202fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn17">17</A>] referring to the fact that some were executed +after trial before the Earl Marshal and Constable. There is no hint +here of the alleged assassination of Edward. Comines tells the same +story, 'et fut le Prince de Galles tué sur le champ et plusieurs autres +grans seigneurs.' Such is the unanimous testimony of contemporaries. +</P> + +<P> +We now come to the other Tudor writers and their versions of young +Edward's death. Fabyan, writing to please Henry VII., is the first who +said that the Prince was captured and brought before Edward IV., +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P190"></A>190}</SPAN> +and he added the following tale: 'The King strake him with his gauntlet +in the face, on which the Prince was by the King's servants +incontinently slain.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn18">18</A>] Fabyan's baseless gossip came before +Polydore Virgil, and the protégé of Pope Alexander VI. conceived the +idea of giving it a lurid Borgian colouring, better suited to the +latitude of Urbino than to that of Tewkesbury and calculated to make +our flesh creep. It was thus that his ideas found words: 'King Edward +gave no answer, only thrusting the young man from him with his hand, +whom forthwith those that were present, who were George Duke of +Clarence, Richard Duke of Gloucester, and William Lord Hastings, +crewelly murderyd.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn19">19</A>] This story was improved upon by Grafton, Hall, +Holinshed and other Tudor chroniclers. Dorset was added to the list of +alleged assassins by Habington, Grafton, and Hall. Gloucester is made +to strike the first blow by Holinshed. Here we have a striking example +of the gradual growth of a legend which has eventually become embedded +in history.[<A NAME="chap0202fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn20">20</A>] Its original conception was due to an Italian, not to +an English brain. It is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P191"></A>191}</SPAN> +thus that the fable has become a part of +the history of England. Honest John Stow is alone in rejecting the +Italian's embellishment. He discredits the version of Polydore Virgil +as a palpable fraud, and merely repeats Fabyan's statement. +</P> + +<P> +It is very remarkable that three authorities patronised by Henry VII. +give no countenance to the fable of Polydore Virgil. Bernard André is +in perfect agreement with the contemporaries, simply because Virgil's +story had not been invented when he wrote. Rous is silent for the same +reason. He was the originator of the birth with teeth and with hair to +the shoulders. He heaped calumny on calumny, and would have eagerly +repeated the Tewkesbury story if it had existed in his time. Morton's +silence is still more singular except on the hypothesis that the +slander was not then in existence. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Morton was actually present at Tewkesbury. If young Edward was +murdered he must have known it. Yet in a work prepared for the express +purpose of enumerating the alleged crimes of Richard he said +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P192"></A>192}</SPAN> +nothing. He had no scruples. He repeats all he can think of, with the +object of heaping opprobrium on Richard's memory. But there is not a +hint about assassinating Edward of Lancaster. Morton's silence, under +these circumstances, amounts to a proof that the story was a +fabrication of later times. André, Rous, and Morton wrote before +Polydore Virgil, and when the Italian's calumny had not yet been +invented. It cannot be that Virgil found out what the less vigilant +André, Rous, and Morton overlooked. If anyone knew all the details of +the battle of Tewkesbury at first hand, it was Morton. He was there. +His silence explodes the fable. It also convicts Polydore Virgil of +having fabricated an exceptionally foul slander, with a rank scent of +its Borgian origin:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'Virgilii duo sunt: alter Maro: tu Polydore<BR> + Alter: Tu Mendax: ille Poeta fuit.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn21">21</A>]<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Unless the testimony of those who were absent, and for the most part +unborn, is to be preferred to that of eye-witnesses, and that of future +generations to contemporaries, the fable of young Edward's murder ought +never again to find a place in serious history. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Death of Henry VI +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The charge against the Duke of Gloucester that he murdered Henry VI. is +an insinuation rather than an accusation. None of his traducers state +it as a fact. One says 'as men constantly say,' another, 'it was the +continual report,' another, 'as many believe.' We must, therefore, +first treat this alleged 'continual +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P193"></A>193}</SPAN> +report' as a rumour only, and +judge of it from probabilities. +</P> + +<P> +We are asked to believe that young Richard, a boy of eighteen, who had +just won great military renown, arrived at the Tower in the evening of +one day with orders to proceed on active service very early the next +morning; that, although fully occupied with preparations for his +departure, he found time to induce Lord Rivers, the Constable of the +Tower, and his political enemy, to deliver up charge to him in order +that he might assassinate a defenceless and feeble invalid with his own +hand, a deed which might just as well have been perpetrated by any +hired jailer; that it was done without his brother Edward's knowledge, +and that, although the deed must have been done with the knowledge of +Lord Rivers and his officials, of Henry's ten servants and three +readers, yet there was never any certainty about the matter. Rivers, +be it remembered, was not Richard's friend. +</P> + +<P> +This grossly improbable rumour bears the evidence of its origin clearly +marked. It was put forward in the reign and in the interests of Henry +VII. It was a rumour manufactured by his paid writers and their +followers. We can examine the process. +</P> + +<P> +Morton says: 'He slew with his own hand King Henry VI. as men +constantly say, and that without knowledge or commandment of the King.' +</P> + +<P> +Polydore Virgil has the following version: 'King Edward, to the intent +that there should be no new insurrections, travelled not long after +through Kent, which business being despatched, to the intent that every +man might conceive a perfect peace to be attained, Henry VI. being not +long before deprived of his diadem, was put to death in the Tower of +London. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P194"></A>194}</SPAN> +The continual report is that Richard Duke of Gloucester +killed him with a sword, whereby his brother might be delivered from +all hostility.' +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Warkworth tells us that 'the same night that King Edward came to +London, King Harry being in ward in prison in the Tower of London, was +put to death on the 21st of May on a Tuesday night between eleven and +twelve of the clock, being then at the Tower the Duke of Gloucester, +brother to King Edward, and many others. On the morrow he was chested, +and brought to Paul's and his face was open that every man might see +him. And in his lying he bled on the pavement there, and afterwards at +the Blackfriars was brought, and there bled afresh.' This Dr. +Warkworth was Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, from 1473 to +1500. He kept a private diary, receiving his facts from informants he +saw at Cambridge. His account of Henry's death shows that he was +superstitious and credulous. His second-hand report of the time and +manner of the death cannot be received as of any authority. His +mention of Gloucester's presence has been assumed to be intended, by +the writer, to imply that the Duke was concerned in the crime. This +does not follow and, in a mere private diary, such innuendo would be +out of place and improbable. The date of the 21st, given by Warkworth +and Fabyan, would be approved by Henry VII. as throwing suspicion on +his predecessor, and would be fixed as the obit of Henry VI. Any +subsequent repetition of that date gives it no additional authority. +Such repetition has as much or as little authority as is given to it by +the assertions of Warkworth and Fabyan.[<A NAME="chap0202fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn22">22</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P195"></A>195}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Fabyan gives the same date as Warkworth, and adds, 'of the death of +Henry divers tales were told, but the most common fame went that he was +stikked with a dagger, by the hands of Richard of Gloucester.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn23">23</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Rous says, 'He killed by others or, as many believe, with his own hand, +that most sacred man Henry VI.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn24">24</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The continuator of the Croyland Chronicle insinuates nothing against +Richard. His words are: 'The body of King Henry was found lifeless in +the Tower; may God pardon and give time for repentance to that man, +whoever he was, that dared to lay his sacrilegious hand upon the Lord's +anointed. The doer may obtain the name of a tyrant, the sufferer of a +glorious martyr.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn25">25</A>] The antithesis of tyrant and martyr shows that +the monk alluded to King Edward and King Henry. The prayer that 'the +doer' may have time for repentance is a proof that the passage was +written during Edward's lifetime, and that there was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P196"></A>196}</SPAN> +then a +rumour that Henry had met with foul play. But it also furnishes a +proof that rumour had not then imputed the supposed act to Richard. +</P> + +<P> +Of these authorities, Warkworth's informant and the City Chronicler are +the only two who perceived that in order to give any plausibility to +the alleged 'continual report,' Henry's death must be made to tally +with young Richard's presence in the Tower. They, therefore, fixed +upon May 21, the single day when Richard was there. Their fabrication +is exposed by the evidence of the accounts for Henry's maintenance, as +will be seen directly; and also by the contradiction of Polydore +Virgil. That author, who had access to all official sources of +information, places Henry's death in the end of May, after King +Edward's progress through Kent. Thus these authorities do not agree, +and are quite unworthy of credit. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +True date of Henry's death +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We are not altogether without the means of ascertaining the truth. +Henry VI. was not an old man. His age was 47. But he was feeble and +half-witted. His health was very precarious, his constitution having +been weakened by long illnesses. He inherited the mental and physical +imbecility of his grandfather Charles VI. of France. Shortly before +his liberation by the Earl of Warwick in 1470, some ruffian had stabbed +him[<A NAME="chap0202fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn26">26</A>] and then fled. Henry was said to have been convalescent, but, +with his feeble hold on life, it is not likely that his recovery was +permanent. He gradually sank, and died on May 24, or perhaps in the +night of the 23rd. Queen Margaret of Anjou arrived at the Tower as a +prisoner on the 21st, just in time to soothe her husband's last +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P197"></A>197}</SPAN> +moments, and to be with him when he died. The Lancastrian leanings of +the family of Lord Rivers, who was Constable of the Tower, make it +likely that the unhappy queen was granted access to her dying husband. +We know that Margaret was treated with consideration, and allowed to +reside with her most intimate English friend, the old Duchess of +Suffolk, at Wallingford, until her ransom was paid. +</P> + +<P> +The date of Henry's death is fixed by the evidence of his household +accounts, which are given by Rymer. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +'<I>Accounts of the costs and expenses for the custody of King Henry, The +Wednesday after the feast of Holy Trinity, June 12.</I>' +</P> + +<P> +'To the same William Sayer for money to his own hand delivered for the +expenses and diet of the said Henry and of ten persons his attendants +within the tower, for the custody of the said Henry, namely, for +fourteen days the first beginning on the 11th of May last, as per +account delivered 14<I>l.</I> 5<I>s</I>.' +</P> + +<P> +'To William Sayer for money delivered at times, namely at one time, +7<I>s.</I> for the hire of three hired readers for the said William and +other attendants within the tower in charge of the King for xiv days +and for the board of the same for the same time, and on another time +3<I>s.</I> 10<I>d.</I> for the board of said Henry within the said tower as per +account delivered 10<I>s.</I> 10<I>d</I>.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn27">27</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It is clear from these entries that Henry's accounts were made up on +May 11, and that they were again made up when he died, fourteen days +after May 11, that is, on May 24.[<A NAME="chap0202fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn28">28</A>] We also gather that he was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P198"></A>198}</SPAN> +maintained in becoming state, at a cost of 400<I>l.</I> a year, equivalent +to upwards of 2,000<I>l.</I> of our money, and that he had ten servants, and +three readers to read aloud to him. Mr. Thorold Rogers says: 'I make +no doubt that Henry was used well during the nine years of his +residence in the Tower: nor do I believe that he was done to death +after Tewkesbury. The story of his assassination in the Tower is, I am +persuaded, a Tudor calumny.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn29">29</A>] 'I conclude that nature which had hid +his misfortunes from him more than once by a lethargy which seemed +almost like death, at last released him in the same merciful fashion +from the recurrent sorrows of his life.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn30">30</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The only contemporary writer was the author of a letter to the citizens +of Bruges, giving an account of the events which led to the restoration +of Edward IV. Speaking from personal knowledge he reported that Henry +VI. died on May 23, and his accuracy is established by the evidence of +the accounts. +</P> + +<P> +These are the plain facts connected with Henry's death. They are fatal +to the story of the murder. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P199"></A>199}</SPAN> +Warkworth and Fabyan give the 21st +for the date of Henry's death, because Gloucester was in the Tower on +that day only. Their assertions are disproved by Polydore Virgil, by +the writer of the letter at Bruges, and by the accounts which show the +date of Henry's death to have been May 23 or 24. On those days +Gloucester was at Sandwich, upwards of seventy miles from the Tower. +The tale of Henry's assassination by the Duke of Gloucester is a Tudor +calumny, and was invented many years afterwards to please Henry VII. +It is possible that a false rumour of foul play may have been spread by +the enemies of Edward IV., and this seems likely from the words of the +Croyland Chronicle. But the absurd accusation against the King's young +brother was concocted after Richard III. had fallen at Bosworth, and +when any calumny against the dead was welcomed and rewarded by a +successor, who believed that his security depended upon a belief in his +predecessor's infamy. Habington, in his life of Edward IV., has +pointed out the absurdity of charging Richard with the alleged +murder.[<A NAME="chap0202fn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn31">31</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The next charge against the Duke of Gloucester is that he forced the +Lady Anne Nevill to marry him, immediately after he had murdered young +Edward of Lancaster, who was her husband.[<A NAME="chap0202fn32text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn32">32</A>] The answers to this are +that Edward was not her husband,[<A NAME="chap0202fn33text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn33">33</A>] that Richard +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P200"></A>200}</SPAN> +did not murder +him, and that Richard did not force Anne's inclinations. No marriage +between Edward and Anne ever took place. The Croyland monk always +speaks of Anne, at this time, as the 'maiden' and the 'damsel.' +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Anne Nevill and her mother +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +But there is more to be said. The two young cousins, Richard and Anne, +were brought up together, and their union was most natural. Miss +Halsted has well remarked that Richard showed peculiar delicacy towards +Anne, in placing her in sanctuary at St. Martin's before the marriage, +where her inclinations could in no way be forced. Anne was her +husband's constant companion at every important crisis of his life, and +there is good reason to believe that the marriage was a happy one. +</P> + +<P> +A very bitter enemy of Richard's memory, in later times, has attempted +to draw conclusions to his disadvantage from the marriage settlements. +There had been no time to obtain the usual dispensations, and it +therefore became advisable that the trustees, for the sake of the +offspring, should guard against any possible informality in the +marriage. A protecting clause was inserted, in case the property could +not be held without a renewal of the marriage ceremony; arising from +any alleged informality in the nuptials. This clause, framed by the +lawyers, was to the effect that if the Duke of Gloucester and the Lady +Anne Nevill should be divorced, and afterwards marry again, the Act for +the partition of property should nevertheless be valid, and that in +case of a divorce, and if the Duke shall do his continual diligence and +effectual devoir by all lawful +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P201"></A>201}</SPAN> +means to be lawfully married to +the said Anne, he shall have as much of the premises as pertained to +her during her lifetime. It was merely a formal clause inserted by the +lawyers, and probably never even read by Richard or Anne. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Strickland calls this 'an ominous clause relating to a wedlock of +a few months; proving Anne meditated availing herself of some +informality in her abhorred marriage; but if she had done so her +husband would have remained in possession of her property. The absence +of the dispensation is a negative proof that Anne never consented to +her second marriage, and that it was never legalised may be guessed by +the rumours of a subsequent period when the venomous hunchback +meditated in his turn divorcing her.' +</P> + +<P> +This is a good example of the sort of stuff which rooted and +unreasoning prejudice allows to pass for argument. +</P> + +<P> +The next charge is made by only one of the Tudor writers. Rous alleged +that 'Richard imprisoned for life the Countess of Warwick who had fled +to him for refuge.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn34text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn34">34</A>] This is untrue. The Countess of Warwick heard +of the defeat and death of her husband at Barnet, when she landed in +England. She took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire, was attainted, +and all her property passed to her daughters Isabella and Anne, who +married the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. The Countess remained at +Beaulieu for two years, from 1471 to 1473. We next hear of her in a +letter from Sir John Paston dated June 3, 1473. 'The Countess of +Warwick is now out of Beaulieu, and Sir James Tyrrel conveyeth her +northward, men say +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P202"></A>202}</SPAN> +by the King's assent, whereto some men say +that the Duke of Clarence is not agreed.'[<A NAME="chap0202fn35text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn35">35</A>] Evidently the King had +given his assent to a request of Gloucester that his wife's mother +might be allowed to come and live with her daughter at Middleham. +There was no prison but a home with her child. Tyrrel, who was then an +officer of Edward's Court, was sent to escort her from Beaulieu to +Middleham.[<A NAME="chap0202fn36text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn36">36</A>] +</P> + +<P> +There is evidence of Richard's kindly feeling towards his wife's +family. He interceded for the heirs of the Marquis Montagu, Warwick's +brother, and it was at the request of Gloucester that the King allowed +them to inherit part of their father's property.[<A NAME="chap0202fn37text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn37">37</A>] Another +indication of the Duke's friendliness, as regards his mother-in-law and +her relations, is afforded by their confidence in him. Lady Latimer, a +sister of the Countess of Warwick, appointed Richard the supervisor of +her will, which was a position of great trust in those days. Such +kindly offices performed for those who were near and dear to the +Countess of Warwick are cogent, though indirect, proofs that the +statement of Rous is a calumny. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Death of Clarence +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Shakespeare and others have further accused Richard of having abetted +and aided in the death of his brother George Duke of Clarence. No +serious historian, except Sandford, has ventured to bring forward the +charge directly. The Croyland monk, Polydore Virgil, André, Rous, +Fabyan are all silent on +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P203"></A>203}</SPAN> +the subject.[<A NAME="chap0202fn38text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn38">38</A>] But Morton is equal to +the occasion. The passage in which he insinuates suspicion is a good +specimen of the style of this unscrupulous slanderer: +</P> + +<P> +'Some wise men also ween that his drift, covertly conveyed, lacked not +in helping forth his brother of Clarence to his death; <I>which he +resisted openly</I>, howbeit somewhat, as men deemed, more faintly than he +that were heartily minded to his wealth. And they who thus deem think +that he, long time in King Edward's life, forethought to be King in +case that the King his brother (whose life he looked that evil diet +should shorten) should happen to decease (as indeed he did) while his +children were young. And they deem that for this intent he was glad of +his brother's death, the Duke of Clarence, whose life must needs have +hindered him so intending whether the same Clarence had kept him true +to his nephew the young King, or enterprised to be King himself. But +of all this point there is no certainty, and whoso divineth upon +conjectures may as well shoot too far as too short.' +</P> + +<P> +The object of this involved passage is to leave a sort of general +impression that Richard had something or other to do with the death of +Clarence.[<A NAME="chap0202fn39text"></A><A HREF="#chap0202fn39">39</A>] By throwing up a dust cloud of verbiage the central fact +that Richard +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P204"></A>204}</SPAN> +intervened in his brother's favour is obscured and +thrown into the background. +</P> + +<P> +The guilt of the death of Clarence rests with Rivers and the Woodville +faction. He was a great danger to them, as will be seen in the next +chapter, while they benefited by his attainder and got the wardship of +his son. All Richard did was to protest against the execution of his +brother. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn1text">1</A>] Rous, 214. 'Biennio matris utero tentus, exiens cum dentibus et +capillis ad humeros.' This is false, for Richard was born three years +after his brother George, and there was another child, named Thomas, +between them. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn2text">2</A>] Morton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn3text">3</A>] Rous. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn4text">4</A>] Rous. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn5text">5</A>] Rous. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn6text">6</A>] Morton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn7text">7</A>] Morton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn8text">8</A>] Buck, p. 79. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn9text">9</A>] Davies, York Records, May 14, 1190, p. 220. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn10text">10</A>] 'A man of much fortitude, and exceeding the common +sort.'—Polydore Virgil, p. 224. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn11text">11</A>] In Macaulay's review of Gleig's <I>Life of Warren Hastings</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn12text">12</A>] Miss Strickland. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn13text">13</A>] Mr. Gairdner gives the evidence. 'Each crime rests on slender +testimony enough, though any one of them being admitted, lends greater +credit to the others. From this point of view it is not at all +improbable that Richard was a murderer at nineteen' (p. 13). Richard +killed his nephews, consequently he assassinated a prisoner when he was +nineteen. It thus having been shown that he was a murderer when he was +nineteen, what more probable than that he killed his nephews? This +method of arguing has been perfectly satisfactory to generations of +historical students, and appears to be so still. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn14text">14</A>] <I>Fleetwood Chron.</I> p. 30. This is the narrative of the recovery +of his kingdom by Edward IV., in <I>Harl. MS.</I> no. 543, printed by the +Camden Society. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn15text">15</A>] The drawing is in the abridgment sent to Bruges, reproduced in the +<I>Archæologia</I>, xxi. p. ii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn16text">16</A>] <I>Warkworth Chronicle</I>, Camden Society, p. 18. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn17text">17</A>] The Croyland monk wrote: 'As well in the field as afterwards by +the revengeful hands of certain persons, Prince Edward, Devon, +Somerset,' &c.: that is Prince Edward and Devon on the field, Somerset +by 'the revengeful hands': by which phrase he is pleased to refer to +the Earl Marshal's Court which was a constitutional tribunal (<I>Chron. +Croyland</I>, p. 555). 'Tum in campo tum postea ultricibus quorundam +manibus, ipso Principe Edwardo unigenito Regis Henrici, victo Duce +Somersetiæ, Comiteque Devoniæ ac aliis dominis omnibus et singulis +memoratis' (p. 555). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn18text">18</A>] Fabyan, p. 662. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn19text">19</A>] Polydore Virgil, p. 336. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn20text">20</A>] Hall is notorious for the embellishment of fables that were passed +on to him by Polydore Virgil, by adding names and incidents of his own +invention. In the case of the death of the young Earl of Rutland, he +first took several years off his age and made a little child of him, +then gave him a tutor and supplied the tutor's name. With these +properties he got up a very effective scene on Wakefield Bridge. When +Rutland's real age is known, Hall's story becomes absurd, and he is +convicted of intentional inaccuracy. Again when he described the +burial of Henry VI., he said that the corpse was conveyed to Chertsey +'without priest or clerk, torch or taper, singing or saying.' This is +something worse than embellishment, it is absolutely false. The +payments are recorded (and the records are still preserved), for +obsequies and masses said by four orders of brethren, for linen cloth, +spices, and for wages of men carrying torches. The statements of Hall +are certainly unreliable. In retailing Polydore Virgil's calumny about +the assassination of Prince Edward at Tewkesbury, Hall cannot refrain +from similar inventions and embellishments. He adds that Edward was +taken prisoner by Sir Richard Croft and delivered up to the King in +consequence of a proclamation offering a reward of 100<I>l.</I> a year to +whosoever should yield up the Prince dead or alive: accompanied by an +assurance that his life should be spared (Hall, p. 301). Habington +repeats this and adds, as his own contribution, that 'the good knight +repented what he had done, and openly professed his service abused and +his faith deluded' (<I>Life of Edward IV.</I> p. 96). This statement is +confuted by the fact that it was on the battle-field of Tewkesbury that +Richard Croft received his knighthood from King Edward. This would not +have been so if he had 'openly declared his service abused.' He +afterwards received benefits from King Richard (<I>Paston Letters</I>). The +fable of Fabyan was embellished and added to by various hands, until it +became a very elaborate and highly finished lie circumstantial. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn21text">21</A>] The name of Virgil borne by two,<BR> + One Maro and one Polydore.<BR> + The first a Poet wise and true,<BR> + The last a lying slanderer.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn22text">22</A>] Mr. Gairdner mentions that there is a MS. City Chronicle among the +<I>Cottonian MSS.</I> (Vitell. A. xvi. f. 133), which states that Henry's +body was brought to St. Paul's on Ascension Eve (May 22), '<I>who was +slain, as it was said, by the Duke of Gloucester</I>.' In <I>MS. Arundel</I>, +28, in the British Museum, there is an old Chronicle, on a fly-leaf of +which, at the end, there are some jottings relating to Edward IV.'s +time in a contemporary hand, and among others—'<I>eodem die decessit +Henricus sextus</I>,' meaning the day of Edward's arrival in London. A +MS. in Heralds' College (printed by Mr. Gairdner) dates the death '<I>in +vigilia Ascencionis Dominicæ</I>'; a MS. at Oxford (Laud, 674) gives the +same date; a MS. in the Royal Library at the British Museum says: +'<I>Obitus Regis Henriei Sexti, gui obiit inter vicesimum primum diem +Maii et xxiim diem Maii</I>.' Henry's obit is set down May 22. None of +these documents have any date. Their statements about May 21 are the +same as those of Warkworth or Fabyan, from whom they must have been +derived. But Warkworth and Fabyan are proved to be wrong by the +evidence of the accounts for Henry's maintenance: and by the evidence +of Polydore Virgil, as well as by the letter at Bruges. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn23text">23</A>] Fabyan, p. 662. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn24text">24</A>] Rous, p. 215. 'Ipsum sanctissimum virum Henricum Sextum per alios +vel multis credentibus manu pocius propria interfecit.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn25text">25</A>] <I>Croyland Chron.</I> p. 557. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn26text">26</A>] '<I>Collectarum et mansuetudinum et bonorum morum regis Henrici VI., +et ex collectione magistri Joannis Blakman bacchalaurii theologiæ et +post Cartusiæ monachi Londini.</I>'—Hearne, p. 202. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn27text">27</A>] Rymer's <I>Foedera</I>, xi. pp. 712, 713. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn28text">28</A>] Laing, in his continuation of <I>Henry's History of Great Britain</I>, +in referring to the accounts for the maintenance of Henry VI. in +Rymer's <I>Foedera</I>, mistook the day on which they were audited and +passed, namely June 12, for the day on which the expenses were +incurred; and concluded that Henry was alive on June 12. This is +triumphantly pointed out by Dr. Lingard. But the triumph is imaginary. +Dr. Lingard ought to have seen that the date of auditing does not +affect the question. The fact remains that Henry's board was paid, and +that he was consequently alive, for fourteen days after May 11, that is +until May 24, which is fatal to the story of the murder. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +This is shown by Bayley, who quotes the accounts in his <I>History of the +Tower of London</I>, and points out that they furnish satisfactory +evidence of Henry having been alive at least until May 24 (second ed. +p. 323). Mr. Gairdner has suggested that the payments up to the 24th +were to Henry's servants who were not discharged until then, and do not +prove that Henry was alive. But this is untenable, for they are for +Henry's keep as well. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn29text">29</A>] <I>Work and Wages</I>, ii. 312. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn30text">30</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> ii. 313. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn31text">31</A>] 'I cannot believe a man so cunning in declining envy and winning +honour to his name, would have undertaken such a business and executed +it with his own hand. Nor did this concern the Duke of Gloucester so +particularly as to engage him alone in the cruelty.'—Habington, in +<I>Kennet</I>, p. 455. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn32"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn32text">32</A>] Gairdner, p. 22. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn33"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn33text">33</A>] Sharon Turner, iii. p. 323. Anne had been contracted to Edward of +Lancaster in July 1470, she being only fourteen, and he sixteen; but +she was never married to him. The marriage was not to take place +unless certain conditions were complied with by Anne's father, the Earl +of Warwick. The conditions were not fulfilled, and the contract, <I>ipso +facto</I>, was null and void. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn34"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn34text">34</A>] Rous, p. 215. 'Durante vita sua incarceravit.' The Countess +out-lived Richard III. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn35"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn35text">35</A>] <I>Paston Letters</I>, iii. p. 92. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn36"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn36text">36</A>] Mr. Gairdner quotes a letter from William Dengayn to William +Calthorp (<I>Third Report of Hist. MSS. Commission</I>, p. 272), from which +it appears that the Countess of Warwick was actually with the Duke of +Gloucester in June 1473.—Gairdner's <I>Richard III.</I> p. 27 (<I>n</I>). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn37"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn37text">37</A>] <I>Rot. Parl.</I> vi. 124. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn38"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn38text">38</A>] Gloucester was in London at the opening of Parliament on January +16, 1478; but there is no evidence where he was in February, the month +of Clarence's death. He was certainly at Middleham in March. Mr. +Gairdner pronounces Gloucester 'guiltless of his brother's death' (p. +40). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0202fn39"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0202fn39text">39</A>] Morton did this so successfully that his imitators soon began to +make a direct accusation. The slander grew and prospered until at last +we find the following passage in Sandford: 'He was drowned in a butt of +malmsey, his brother the Duke of Gloucester assisting thereat with his +own proper hands!' He refers to Hall, p. 246.—<I>Genealogical History</I> +(London, 1707), p. 438. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0203"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P205"></A>205}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III +</H4> + +<P CLASS="intro"> + 7. Execution of Hastings.<BR> + 8. Execution of Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, and Haute.<BR> + 9. The 'Usurpation.'<BR> +10. Refusal of Buckingham's petition.<BR> +11. Second coronation at York.<BR> +12. Poisoning of his wife.<BR> +13. Intended marriage with Elizabeth of York.<BR> +14. Intended execution of Lord Strange.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The most elaborate and detailed part of the indictment against Richard +III. refers to the so-called 'usurpation,' including the period from +his arrival in London to his coronation. The events of the interregnum +had to be represented in such a way as that it should appear that Henry +Tudor was righteously superseding an unscrupulous usurper. This was a +matter of vital importance to the intruding dynasty. Accordingly much +art was devoted to the preparation of a plausible story, while careful +but not always effectual efforts were made to destroy all documents +that would contradict it. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Archbishop Morton +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The portion of the history published by Grafton and Rastell was +undoubtedly written or dictated by John Morton himself. It is on +Morton's story that all subsequent historians have relied for their +facts; and as it is on this period that the whole career of Richard as +a sovereign hinges, it is necessary that we should bear in mind what +manner of man this Morton really +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P206"></A>206}</SPAN> +was. He was born at Beer Regis +in Dorsetshire, but the year is very uncertain, and he received his +first instruction at Cerne Abbey. Thence he proceeded to Oxford, and +began life as a lawyer, practising in the Court of Arches. He became a +Master in Chancery, increasing his income by taking orders, and was +Parson of Bloxworth in Dorsetshire. He took the Lancastrian side, and +was at York when the battle of Towton was fought. In 1462 he fled to +the Continent with Queen Margaret. His fortunes were then at a low +ebb, but they brightened when the Earl of Warwick came to France to +betray the cause of Edward IV. Morton attached himself to Warwick at +Angers, went with him to England in August 1470, escaped from Barnet to +join Queen Margaret at Weymouth, and was with her at Tewkesbury. +Nothing but ill luck had attended his fortunes since he had joined the +Lancastrian party. So he changed sides, obtained a pardon from Edward +IV. and wormed himself into that good-natured monarch's confidence. He +became one of the greatest pluralists on record. 'He was avaricious +and grasping.'[<A NAME="chap0203fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn1">1</A>] He received a bribe from Louis XI. for inducing his +own sovereign to accept dishonourable terms of peace, and was further +bribed with a pension of 2,000 crowns a year.[<A NAME="chap0203fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn2">2</A>] The contrast between +the upright conduct of the Duke of Gloucester and his own corrupt +practices on that occasion explains the wily priest's malignant +hostility to Richard. Morton was made Bishop of Ely in 1479. On the +death of Edward he saw a wide opening for his ambition in the chances +of a long minority. The facts revealed to the Council by Bishop +Stillington were, consequently, distasteful to him. He was the heart +and soul of the conspiracy of Hastings +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P207"></A>207}</SPAN> +and the Woodville faction +against the Protector. He brought Hastings to his death, but escaped +himself. The incorrigible plotter was entrusted to the custody of the +Duke of Buckingham. By his cunning artifices he induced that weak +nobleman to become a traitor, and claim the crown for himself. He led +Buckingham to his death; but secured his own safety. He then joined +Henry Tudor's conspiracy, and it was doubtless through Morton's advice +that the Welsh adventurer put forward a claim to the crown. Success at +length attended the intriguer's schemes. Henry VII. made him +Chancellor in 1486, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1487, and, after much +importunity, a cardinal's hat was obtained for him, from the Borgian +Pope.[<A NAME="chap0203fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn3">3</A>] He became enormously rich. He revealed to Henry VII. 'the +confessions of as many lords as his grace listed.'[<A NAME="chap0203fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn4">4</A>] He was one of +the most odious instruments of Henry's extortions. The argument that +those who spent little must have saved much, and that those who spent +much must have much, was called 'Morton's fork.'[<A NAME="chap0203fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn5">5</A>] He died in 1500, +hated and execrated by all ranks of the people. +</P> + +<P> +This is the man from whom history derives the narrative of Richard's +accession. We must remember the circumstances in which he wrote or +dictated his version. He was then Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry +VII. He had to traduce Richard in the interests of his master, and at +the same time he had to conceal from Henry himself certain parts of his +own proceedings, especially as regards his intrigue with Buckingham. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P208"></A>208}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Morton's misrepresentations +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Morton was most unscrupulous in fabricating his story, throwing out +misleading insinuations, garbling and suppressing facts, making false +statements, and altering dates. He was a leading actor in, and an +eyewitness of what he described, he was an able and clever man, and he +was intimately acquainted with the facts as they really happened. +Moreover, we are informed by Sir Thomas More, who knew him, that he had +an extraordinary memory.[<A NAME="chap0203fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn6">6</A>] Consequently every mistake that is +detected in his narrative, every date that is altered, must have been +inserted with a special object. It is fortunate for the cause of truth +that he was more careless, and wrote in greater detail, than he +certainly would have done, if there had been any chance of an answer +being put forward by one equally conversant with the facts. But he +knew that he was safe—power unscrupulously enforced was on his side. +</P> + +<P> +Morton opens his case with the assumption that the Duke of Gloucester +had always intended to supplant his nephew. He asserts that the Duke +concerted plans with Buckingham and Hastings against the Queen and her +relations; that he then, secretly, and by divers means, caused the +Queen to be persuaded to advise her son not to come with a large force +to London; and that he and other lords wrote to the Queen's friends so +lovingly that they, nothing mistrusting, brought the young prince up in +good speed with sober company. Gloucester and Buckingham then went to +Northampton and met Rivers there. For all that appears in this part of +the narrative, Gloucester was in London, and came thence with +Buckingham to Northampton. Gloucester was really in the marches of +Scotland, and he could not possibly have carried on +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P209"></A>209}</SPAN> +all these +intrigues at that distance, between April 9 when King Edward died and +the 23rd when Rivers left Ludlow. He could not even have heard of the +King's death for several days. It is true that, towards the end of his +lampoon, when telling his story about an alleged quarrel between +Gloucester and Buckingham, Morton does mention the Duke being at York, +and Buckingham having sent a messenger to him who met him at +Nottingham.[<A NAME="chap0203fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn7">7</A>] But this messenger could not have been the channel of +all the intrigues he describes. There was no time. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke may have received some hasty notice from a messenger, but the +first real news of what had been going on in London came from +Buckingham at Northampton. +</P> + +<P> +Morton's story about Gloucester's intrigues at this time is therefore a +fabrication. The truth is exactly the reverse of Morton's version. +Richard's conduct was straightforward and loyal. After attending +solemn obsequies of his brother in York Minster, he called on the +nobility and gentry of Yorkshire to swear allegiance to his young +nephew. When he arrived in London, he ordered preparations to be made +for his nephew's coronation, and he sent summonses to forty esquires to +receive knighthood of the Bath on the occasion.[<A NAME="chap0203fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn8">8</A>] He also caused the +dresses to be worn by his nephew at his coronation to be got ready.[<A NAME="chap0203fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn9">9</A>] +These acts were well known to Morton, who passed them over in silence, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P210"></A>210}</SPAN> +because they would tend to give a true impression, where he +wanted to leave a false one. +</P> + +<P> +Having thus raised a prejudice against the Protector, Morton's next +object was to instil a belief that Hastings worked against the +Woodvilles throughout in concert with Richard. In order to create this +impression he gives two false dates. He makes young Richard leave +sanctuary on June 9. The true date was the 16th.[<A NAME="chap0203fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn10">10</A>] He asserts that +Lord Rivers was beheaded on June 13, the very day of the arrest of +Hastings, and he makes a great point of it, observing as a striking +coincidence that Hastings suffered death on the self-same day and about +the self-same hour as Rivers whose execution he had approved.[<A NAME="chap0203fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn11">11</A>] He +knew this to be false. Rivers made his will on the 23rd, and was not +beheaded until the 25th.[<A NAME="chap0203fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn12">12</A>] Morton had a motive for falsifying the +dates, and it is obvious. He wanted it to appear that Hastings was an +enemy of the Woodville +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P211"></A>211}</SPAN> +faction to the end, that he was a party to +the removal of young Richard from sanctuary and to the execution of +Rivers. But why? Clearly because Hastings was not an enemy of the +Woodvilles to the end, because he had, with Morton and others, formed a +coalition with them, and entered into a conspiracy with them against +the Protector. It was important to conceal this, because it justified +the Protector's action against Hastings; and Morton did so by resorting +to a falsification of dates. He then proceeds to enter into minute +details, in describing the scene when Hastings was arrested on Friday, +June 13. +</P> + +<P> +Morton makes the Protector ask him for a mess of strawberries from his +garden at Holborn. He then alleges that Gloucester suddenly altered +his tone, accused the Queen-Dowager of witchcraft, displayed a withered +arm as having been injured by sorcery, upbraided Hastings for having +Jane Shore as a mistress, and ordered Hastings to be beheaded on a log +of wood before dinner. We are also informed that Master William +Catesby made the mischief between the Protector and the Lord +Chamberlain, and that a proclamation was issued setting forth the cause +of the execution of Hastings. +</P> + +<P> +These details enable us to obtain some glimmering of the truth. We +have the reminiscences of an eyewitness, who was also a schemer so +dealing with the facts as to leave false impressions clothed in the +similitude of veracious recollections. The tale of the strawberries is +doubtless true, and is a masterly touch designed to give an air of +reality to the scene. The withered arm is a fabrication intended to +conceal the real charge made by the Protector. That charge was +contained in the proclamation which Morton mentions +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P212"></A>212}</SPAN> +as having +been well indited and written on parchment. He professes to give the +substance of it. The seeker after truth would very much prefer the +original text. But it was destroyed. Its destruction is a strong +presumption in favour of the Protector, and justifies the conclusion +that the real charge was a serious one. It is incredible that Catesby +merely revealed the nonsense about Jane Shore's sorcery. Morton has +inserted this rubbish in order to conceal the real charge made by the +Protector. Morton further tells us that 'Shore's wife was of all women +the one the Queen most hated,' and that she was the mistress of +Hastings. She was really the mistress of Dorset,[<A NAME="chap0203fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn13">13</A>] the Queen's son, +and the motive for bringing in the Queen's alleged hatred, in this +place, is to conceal the real position of Jane Shore, which was that of +a secret agent between the party of the Woodvilles and Hastings. +</P> + +<P> +The fullness of Morton's details defeats his object. He draws +attention to the truth which he elaborately endeavours to hide. We are +thus enabled to deduce from the garrulity of the designing priest the +facts that, probably through his prompting, Hastings had formed a +coalition with the Queen-Dowager and her party against the Protector, +and that the negotiation had been conducted through Jane Shore as +intermediary. We learn that Catesby revealed the plot to the +Protector, who promptly arrested Hastings, and brought a charge of +treason against him. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Falsification of dates +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Morton would have us believe that Hastings was beheaded on the spot +without trial. This version of the story is also told by Fabyan, and +adopted by Polydore Virgil. It was told to the second Croyland +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P213"></A>213}</SPAN> +monk, who wrote that Hastings was beheaded on June 13.[<A NAME="chap0203fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn14">14</A>] It was a +version industriously spread by Morton, as a charge of lawless cruelty +and indecent haste against the Protector. It can be proved to be false. +</P> + +<P> +Morton's story is that Hastings was hurried out of the council room and +beheaded on a log of wood in the court of the Tower, that the Protector +and Buckingham appeared to the citizens in rusty armour, pretending +that they had been in mortal danger from Hastings, and that the +Protector swore he would have the head of Hastings before he dined. +</P> + +<P> +This is a grossly improbable story on the face of it; but Bishop +Morton, on the accession of Henry VII., was evidently very anxious that +it should be accepted, for he must have given it publicity at a very +early date. It was supplied to the credulous old Croyland monk, and +was accepted by Fabyan, who must have known it to be false, with such +zeal that he added a few extra touches to the story. Fabyan was a +citizen of London and knew the truth. Yet he clearly implies that the +delivery of young Richard and the execution of Rivers took place before +the arrest of Hastings, adopting the falsifications of Morton. He also +falsified dates in order to reconcile the alleged date of the execution +of Hastings with other events, following Morton in this also. This +justifies the conclusion that Fabyan and Morton were in collusion; for +they both were aware of the truth from personal knowledge, and they +both perverted it in the same way.[<A NAME="chap0203fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn15">15</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P214"></A>214}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +There is other testimony on this point which is quite above suspicion. +Simon Stallworthe, a prebendary of Lincoln, wrote a letter from London +to Sir William Stonor, a gentleman of Oxfordshire, on Saturday June 21, +1483,[<A NAME="chap0203fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn16">16</A>] in which he said that 'on Friday last was the Lord Chambleyn +[Hastings] hedded sone after noon.' As Saturday was the 21st, Friday +last was the 20th. We here have evidence that Lord Hastings was not +beheaded until a week after his arrest and, as there was no indecent +haste, we may assume that there was a trial and sentence by a proper +tribunal. The story of Morton about the hurried execution on the 13th, +and the log of wood, is therefore false. It has been suggested that +when Stallworthe wrote 'Friday last,' he did not mean Friday last, but +the Friday before Friday last. This theory is exploded by the very +next line in Stallworthe's letter. He there says that 'on Monday last' +young Richard came out of sanctuary. This is certainly the correct +date. But it contradicts both Morton and Fabyan, though it is +corroborated by the Croyland Chronicle. If 'Monday last' meant 'Monday +last,' 'Friday last' must be taken to mean 'Friday last' in +Stallworthe's letter, and not any other date that the exigencies of +calumniators may require. +</P> + +<P> +The evidence that the story of the hasty execution of Hastings is false +does not rest solely on Stallworthe's letter. Morton and Fabyan are +convicted out of their own mouths. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P215"></A>215}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +This is a point which should be clearly understood. It must be borne +in mind that we have certain fixed dates. Hastings was certainly +arrested on June 13. It is also certain that Thursday, June 26, was +the date of Richard's accession: it is fixed by the year book. Dr. +Shaw's sermon was preached on the previous Sunday, that is June 22. +Fabyan, as well as Stallworthe, tells us that the execution of Hastings +took place on the previous Friday. These are fixed beacons, and will +lead us to the truth. They will also enable us to detect the false +lights thrown out by Morton and Fabyan. They both knew the truth well, +but they had to manipulate the dates so as to make it appear that +Hastings was executed on the 13th. It must be borne in mind that, on +Fabyan's own showing, the execution took place on the Friday before +Shaw's sermon was preached. +</P> + +<P> +In order to give a plausible appearance to the assertion that Hastings +was beheaded on the 13th, Fabyan tried to get rid of the week between +the 13th and the 20th. He thought he was bound to recognise the fact +that the execution was on the Friday before Shaw's sermon, so he +brought the sermon back a week too. But Shaw's sermon was well known +to have been preached on the Sunday before the accession. So he had to +move back the accession also, and he placed it on June 20. Here +Fabyan's dishonesty is detected, for the 20th was not a Thursday, and +that the 26th was the date of the accession is beyond dispute. +</P> + +<P> +Morton was, of course, in the same difficulty as regards his dates. +But he was far better practised in the manipulation of evidence. Such +an old hand would commit himself to dates as little as possible. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P216"></A>216}</SPAN> +He would fear them as a thief fears a detective. He gives only one, +and he selects the right day of the week, which Fabyan did not. But +this is quite enough to convict him. He chose the 19th for the day of +Richard's accession with the very same object as Fabyan, to get rid of +the gap between the 13th and the 20th; well knowing that the right date +for the accession was the 26th. +</P> + +<P> +We can now perceive the truth, both through the direct testimony of +Stallworthe and through the detection of the dishonesty of Morton and +Fabyan. Lord Hastings was arrested on June 13 on a charge of treason, +tried and sentenced. He was executed, after a decent interval, on +Friday, June 20. The admission of Morton that a proclamation was +issued, announcing the details of the Hastings-Woodville conspiracy, is +important. This document, and all others relating to the business, +were destroyed in the same way as the Act of Parliament recording +Richard's title was destroyed. The object of making away with the Act +was to conceal the truth. The disappearance of all documents relating +to the execution of Hastings can only be explained in the same way. +</P> + +<P> +But what must we think of Morton and Fabyan, who are thus proved to +have been guilty of such a fraud? Their evidence against Richard, on +all other points, must be held to be utterly worthless. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Trial of Rivers +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The trial of Lord Rivers, with Grey, Vaughan and Haute, followed on +that of Hastings. They had been charged with treasonable designs, +immediately after the death of King Edward, on the very clearest +evidence. But the long delay in bringing them to trial justifies the +belief that their capital punishment was not intended, if fresh charges +had not been brought +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P217"></A>217}</SPAN> +against them, arising out of the Hastings +conspiracy. Morton brings forward the same accusation in their case, +and he gives a false date for their execution. He would have us +believe that Rivers and his companions were also put to death 'without +so much as the formality of a trial.' So he appears to have told the +second Croyland monk. But his untruthfulness is exposed by the +evidence of another Tudor witness. Rous inadvertently let out the +truth, not knowing there was any reason for concealing it. He +certainly did not do so out of any good will for King Richard. There +was a trial and the Earl of Northumberland presided at it. He was not +the sole judge, but the President acting with other judges.[<A NAME="chap0203fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn17">17</A>] He +probably sat as a Commissioner to execute the office of Lord Steward, +with a jury of northern Peers, to try Rivers. Morton falsified the +date of the executions, making them earlier by twelve days. One object +of this falsification has already been pointed out. It also served to +indicate such haste in the executions as would make the absence of any +trial appear probable. +</P> + +<P> +The overt acts of Rivers and his associates show that their +condemnation was just; and their punishment was necessary for the +safety and tranquillity of the country. It was a righteous retribution +for the death of Clarence, by whose fall the Woodvilles had so largely +profited. +</P> + +<P> +Morton next proceeds to falsify the title of King Richard III. to the +crown. This point is of great importance and merits close attention. +The statement of Richard's title to the crown was drawn up, and adopted +by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, after considering all +the evidence +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P218"></A>218}</SPAN> +between June 8 and 25. The document was afterwards +embodied in an Act of Parliament entitled the 'Titulus Regius,' with +which the writers employed by Henry VII. must have been well +acquainted. When Henry came to the throne, he ordered this Act to be +repealed without quoting the preamble, with a view to its purport being +concealed. He caused it to be destroyed, and threatened any one who +kept a copy with fine and imprisonment during his pleasure. The reason +he gave for this was that 'all things in the said Act may be forgot.' +In spite of this threat the truth was told by the Croyland monk, but +his chronicle remained in manuscript, and he was not found out. +Henry's conduct affords a strong presumption that the title was valid. +But he did more. He granted an illusory pardon to Bishop Stillington, +who was the principal witness to the truth of the main statement in the +'Titulus Regius.' This was done with the object of keeping silence on +the subject of his real offence, which was telling the truth. Henry +then arrested him on another trumped up charge, and kept him in close +and solitary imprisonment in Windsor Castle until his death in June +1491. +</P> + +<P> +These proceedings show the immense importance attached by Henry VII. to +a suppression of the truth relating to Richard's title to the crown. +It is certain that if the alleged previous contract with Lady Eleanor +Butler was false, the falsehood would have been eagerly exposed, and +there would have been no occasion to invent any other story. On the +other hand, if the alleged previous contract was true, the evidence +would have been suppressed and another story would have been invented +and promulgated. The evidence was suppressed, and a different tale was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P219"></A>219}</SPAN> +put forward. The conclusion is inevitable that the previous +contract of Edward IV. with Lady Eleanor Butler was a fact. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The true claim to the Crown +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +By a mere accident the original draft of the 'Titulus Regius' was not +destroyed. It was discovered long afterwards among the Tower records. +Its tenor was given in the continuation of the Croyland Chronicle.[<A NAME="chap0203fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn18">18</A>] +Richard's title rested on the statement that Edward IV. was already +married to Lady Eleanor Butler, a daughter of the first Earl of +Shrewsbury,[<A NAME="chap0203fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn19">19</A>] when he went through the ceremony with Lady Grey. It +is certain, therefore, that this and this only was the statement made +in inspired sermons and speeches at the time; for it was the official +case of those who advocated Richard's accession. It is impossible that +one ground for the claim should have been put forward officially, and +another which was not only different but contradictory, in the sermons +and speeches directed to be made at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +Now all this was well known to Morton, and to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P220"></A>220}</SPAN> +Polydore Virgil, +when they concocted their stories. They had free access to all +official sources of information. But they clearly believed that the +evidence had been so effectually placed out of reach, that it was safe +for them to adopt what tale they chose. They, therefore, stated that +Dr. Shaw preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on June 22, in which he +calumniated the Duchess of York by maintaining that Edward IV. and +Clarence were her children by some other man, and that Gloucester was +the only legitimate son of the Duke her husband. The object was to +throw the reader off the scent respecting Edward's own connubial +proceedings, by bringing an infamous and very absurd charge against his +mother. This is clearly the line that Polydore Virgil was instructed +to take, for he alludes to the common report that Edward's children +were called bastards, and declares it to be 'void of all truth,' that +there was such a report. He goes further, alleging that the Duchess of +York complained of the injury done her, and that Dr. Shaw died of +sorrow for having uttered the slander.[<A NAME="chap0203fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn20">20</A>] With the 'Titulus Regius' +before us, it will be allowed that this witness did not stick at +trifles. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Morton's fabrications +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +But Morton was not to be outdone by the Italian. He puts the slander +about the Duchess of York into Dr. Shaw's mouth, and he also makes the +preacher tell another tale which would make bastards of Edward's +children. According to Polydore Virgil the report that the preacher +made bastards of Edward's children was 'voyd of all truthe.' According +to Morton the preacher said that Edward was previously married to a +woman named Lucy. It will be seen that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P221"></A>221}</SPAN> +these authorities +contradict each other. Morton proceeds to knock down his own ninepin, +by telling us that Lucy confessed she was never married to the King. +No one but Morton ever said she was. +</P> + +<P> +Morton farther alleged that when Edward IV. proposed to marry the widow +of Sir J. Grey he was opposed by his mother, who represented that he +was already contracted before God to Elizabeth Lucy. Morton knew +perfectly well that this never happened, and that Edward went through a +marriage ceremony with Lady Grey without the knowledge of his mother or +any one else. He has only introduced the name of Elizabeth Lucy as a +herring drawn across the scent. His great object was to conceal the +name of Lady Eleanor Butler. +</P> + +<P> +The absurdity of Morton's fabrications respecting the woman Lucy will +be appreciated when we remember that she actually had two children by +Edward IV.[<A NAME="chap0203fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn21">21</A>] We are asked to believe that Dr. Shaw, in preaching a +sermon in support of Richard's right to the throne, put forward a +statement which, if true, would make two children legitimate, whose +legitimacy would at once bar any claim on the part of Richard. +</P> + +<P> +These misrepresentations discredit the authority of Polydore Virgil and +Morton. Of course there can be no doubt that Dr. Shaw in his sermon, +if indeed he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P222"></A>222}</SPAN> +ever preached it, and the Duke of Buckingham if he +ever made a speech at the Guildhall, simply explained to the people the +contents of the petition stating Richard's title, which was about to be +presented to him: namely that Edward IV. was previously contracted to +the Lady Eleanor Butler, and that the children by Lady Grey were +consequently illegitimate. The invention of the infamous slander +against the Duchess of York by Morton and Polydore Virgil, the careful +exclusion of Lady Eleanor's name and of any allusion to her, and the +elaborate efforts of Henry VII. to destroy all traces of the evidence +are very significant. They amount to a proof that the Butler contract +was a reality, and that (if the children of Clarence were incapacitated +by their father's attainder) King Richard's title was sound and just. +</P> + +<P> +The Croyland monk and Rous do not mention Dr. Shaw's sermon. Fabyan +tells us that the preacher stated that King Edward's children were not +legitimate, thus contradicting Polydore Virgil, who declares that the +preacher never made any such allegation. But Fabyan does not mention +the slander against the Duchess of York. This is a further proof that +it was invented by Morton. Virgil, in adopting it, had, however, been +instructed to avoid all allusion to Edward's own matrimonial affairs. +</P> + +<P> +Having misrepresented Dr. Shaw's sermon on Sunday the 22nd, Morton goes +on to say that on the following Tuesday the Duke of Buckingham went to +the Guildhall and made a speech to the people. On Wednesday, according +to Morton, the Lord Mayor and aldermen came to Baynard's Castle, with +Buckingham and divers noblemen, besides many knights and gentlemen. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P223"></A>223}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +This is another falsification of dates made as usual with a purpose. +Nothing really happened on Wednesday. On Thursday the 26th, Morton +says that Richard III. went to Westminster Hall in royal state. What +Morton has done is to transfer the events of Thursday to Wednesday, and +to make as little as possible of them, in order to draw off attention +from a very momentous event. No one would gather from Morton's +narrative that on Thursday, June 26, the Convention Parliament, as it +would have been called in later days, consisting of the Lords Spiritual +and Temporal and the Commons, which had been summoned for the 25th and +actually met, proceeded to Crosby Place with the petition embodying +Richard's title, and urged him to accept the crown.[<A NAME="chap0203fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn22">22</A>] Morton ignores +all this, in order that his readers may be kept in ignorance of the +solemn and deliberate proceedings which accompanied Richard's +acceptance of the crown. Polydore Virgil does the same. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Buckingham's treason +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We next come to the treason of the Duke of Buckingham. Its motive was +misrepresented by Morton, with the object of creating a belief that the +Duke advocated the cause of Henry Tudor. A long conversation between +Buckingham and Morton at Brecknock is recorded by Grafton. It is very +characteristic, and is no doubt authentic, so far as that it was +written or communicated by Morton. But whether it ever took place as +narrated is quite another matter. This conversation sets forth the +arguments by which the mischievous old intriguer alleged that he +induced Buckingham to rebel, and the pretended object of the +insurrection. +</P> + +<P> +It is asserted by Morton and Polydore Virgil that the cause of +Buckingham's discontent was the refusal +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P224"></A>224}</SPAN> +of Richard III. to grant +him the moiety of the Bohun lands. It is added that Buckingham's suit +was rejected by the King, with many spiteful words, and that there was +ever afterwards hatred and distrust between them. This can be proved +to be false. Richard granted Buckingham's petition, and made him a +grant[<A NAME="chap0203fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn23">23</A>] of the lands under the royal sign manual, giving him the +profits from the date of signature, until the formality was completed +by authority of Parliament. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Buckingham and Morton +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +This story must have been fabricated to conceal the true motive of +Buckingham's treason. He probably aspired to the throne as the next +heir of the Plantagenets after Richard and his son, in accordance with +the 'Titulus Regius.' He had himself concurred in declaring the +children of Edward IV. to be illegitimate, and those of Clarence to be +incapacitated. Next came Richard III. and his delicate son, of whom he +would dispose if the rebellion was successful. He ignored the sisters +of the King and their children.[<A NAME="chap0203fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn24">24</A>] This completed the descendants of +the second son of Edward III. The legitimate descendants of the third +son came to an end with Henry VI. Buckingham himself represented the +fifth son of Edward III. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P225"></A>225}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Assailed by the insidious flattery of Morton, he was prematurely +hurried into a rash attempt which cost him his life. When Morton +recorded the conversation with his victim many years afterwards, he was +Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry VII. was King, and it was advisable, in +order to gratify the new sovereign, that Richard should be accused of +murdering his nephews, and that Buckingham should be made to give up +the scheme for his own aggrandisement, in order to risk his life for +the sake of an unknown adventurer in Brittany. It will be admitted +that this is a grossly improbable story. +</P> + +<P> +It is certainly astounding that the childish nonsense which Morton puts +into Buckingham's mouth should have been gravely accepted as true by +subsequent historians. We are first told that when Buckingham heard of +the murder of the two innocents, to which he never agreed, he abhorred +the sight of the King and could no longer abide with the Court. So he +took his leave at Gloucester with a merry countenance but a despiteful +heart. According to this, the murders took place in July, for +Buckingham left Gloucester on August 1. The more detailed story +directly contradicts Morton, and places the murders in the end of +August. Both are false, but this is one out of many instances of the +utter recklessness of these slanderers. Buckingham is then made to say +that he stopped at Tewkesbury for two days to think. The result was +that he came to the conclusion that he ought to be King, not on the +ground of his descent from the fifth son of Edward III., but because +his mother was a daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset. His mother was +the fourth daughter of that Duke, who had not the remotest right to the +throne, and never put forward a claim. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P226"></A>226}</SPAN> +If there had been such a +claim, Buckingham would not have first found it out, by thinking for +two days at Tewkesbury. After this mental effort he continued his +journey towards Shrewsbury, and met Margaret Lady Stanley, the mother +of Henry Tudor, on the road. She told him that she was the daughter of +John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Edmund's elder brother. This, we are +asked to believe, was quite a new idea to Buckingham. We are to +suppose that he knew nothing about his relations before his cogitations +at Tewkesbury and his chat with Lady Stanley, and that the receipt of +the information made him give up his own ambitious plans altogether. +He is made to propose to his fellow-traveller that her son should be +king and that he should marry the eldest daughter of Edward IV. +Buckingham, after examining the evidence, had just concurred in a +solemn declaration that this daughter was illegitimate. But he now +evolved from his inner consciousness the discovery that the evidence +was derived from suborned witnesses. The Duke then took his leave of +Margaret, and proceeded with Morton to Brecknock Castle. Margaret's +steward, Reginald Bray, conveyed messages between the conspirators, and +an insurrection was arranged. Morton acknowledges that he originally +advised Buckingham himself to claim the crown at Brecknock, on which +the Duke related the above wonderful story. To complete the absurdity +of this childish romance, it must be remembered that Morton was +travelling with Buckingham, all the way from Gloucester to Brecknock. +</P> + +<P> +A man who could be guilty of fabricating such a fable is wholly +unworthy of credit in his reckless accusations against King Richard, +though his minute +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P227"></A>227}</SPAN> +knowledge of the real facts renders any +inadvertent admissions most important. Such are the statements that +witnesses and other evidence were produced to establish the +illegitimacy of King Edward's children,[<A NAME="chap0203fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn25">25</A>] and that Richard intended +to treat his nephews with kindness and consideration.[<A NAME="chap0203fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn26">26</A>] But it is +incredible that Buckingham should have contemplated the idea of setting +his own claim aside for the sake of an obscure adventurer in Brittany +who had no claim at all; while the pretence that Buckingham was +horrified at the murder of the young princes contradicts Henry's own +clumsy fable. The whole pretended conversation must have been an +afterthought to please the Tudor usurper. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The second coronation +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The next accusation against Richard refers to his conduct at York, and +is derived from the second Croyland monk, who too readily accepted the +gossip that was current when he wrote, and which was pleasing to the +Tudor Government. It is alleged that Richard appropriated to his own +use the treasure which his brother had amassed, and had committed to +the care of his executors after his death. This statement, as Mr. +Gairdner has shown,[<A NAME="chap0203fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn27">27</A>] is contrary to the fact. The whole property +had been placed under ecclesiastical sequestration by the Archbishop of +Canterbury, because the executors had declined to act, and no further +steps had been taken. It was also stated, on the authority of the same +Croyland monk, that Richard went through the ceremony of a second +coronation at York.[<A NAME="chap0203fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn28">28</A>] The deduction intended to be drawn, and which +often has +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P228"></A>228}</SPAN> +been drawn, was that his title was so doubtful that he +hoped a double coronation might strengthen it. But there was no second +coronation at York. Nothing of the kind ever took place. +</P> + +<P> +One is loth to refer to the malignant slander involved in the +insinuation that King Richard poisoned his wife. Polydore Virgil says: +'But the Queen, whether she was despatched with sorrowfulness or +poison, died within a few days after.' The wretched wasp of Guy's +Cliff adds his sting: 'Dominam Annam reginam suam intoxicavit.'[<A NAME="chap0203fn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn29">29</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Richard and Anne were cousins, and companions from childhood. Their +union had been a happy one in their hospitable Yorkshire home. In all +the important events of his life Richard had always had the +companionship of his wife. They had been together in sorrow and in +joy. Anne's illness was a lingering decline, during which she was +assiduously watched and cared for by her physicians, and by her +sorrowing husband, who deeply mourned her loss. She was buried, as a +Queen, in Westminster Abbey. It is true that no writer has done more +than insinuate this calumny. But most of the Tudor slanders take the +form of insinuations. 'It is a charge,' wrote Sir Harris Nicolas, +'which is deserving of attention for no other reason than as it affords +a remarkable example of the manner in which ignorance and prejudice +sometimes render what is called history more contemptible than a +romance.' The same may be said of most of the Tudor stories about +Richard III. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Elizabeth of York +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The rumour that King Richard had an intention of marrying his +illegitimate niece Elizabeth is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P229"></A>229}</SPAN> +unsustained by any evidence,[<A NAME="chap0203fn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn30">30</A>] +and is contrary to all probability. Such a project would have +stultified the Act of Parliament on which his title to the crown was +based. The King was a politician and was not entirely deprived of his +senses. He could not have entertained an idea so absurd. But there is +evidence that the scheme was favoured by the girl herself and her +mother, and this fully accounts for the existence of the rumour. Their +ages were suitable, the King being thirty-two and his niece in her +twenty-first year; and in a letter to the Duke of Norfolk Elizabeth +expressed a strong wish to become the wife of her uncle.[<A NAME="chap0203fn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap0203fn31">31</A>] The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P230"></A>230}</SPAN> +Church of Rome granted, and still grants, dispensations for such +marriages. But, be this how it may, Richard himself can never have +contemplated a marriage with his niece. 'The whole tale,' says Sir +Harris Nicolas, 'was invented with the view of blackening Richard's +character, to gratify the monarch in whose reign all the contemporary +writers who relate it flourished.' As soon as the rumour came to +Richard's ears he publicly and emphatically denied its truth. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Intrigues of Lady Stanley +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The Tudor writers tell various stories about Henry, while in Brittany, +having promised to marry Elizabeth; and this is used as an argument +that he must have believed her brothers to be dead, for if they were +alive, there would be less object in the marriage. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P231"></A>231}</SPAN> +Looking at +the source whence these stories come, there is no reason whatever for +accepting them as true. They are derived from the apocryphal +conversation between the Duke of Buckingham and the Bishop of Ely at +Brecknock. In order to conceal the real object of Buckingham and his +own duplicity, Morton, as has been seen, fabricated a story about his +dupe having conspired with Henry Tudor's mother to set him up as a +claimant to the crown, and a suitor for the hand of Elizabeth of York. +It is likely enough that the intriguing wife of Stanley did conspire +with Buckingham in the hope of advancing her son's interests, and that +she opened negotiations with the Queen Dowager. Her design in the +latter intrigue would be to secure the Woodville interest for +supporting the contemplated rising. She despatched her steward +Reginald Bray to Brecknock, her confessor Urswick to Brittany, and her +doctor Lewis to Westminster Sanctuary. Her treacherous husband was +feigning loyalty all the time, and was in zealous attendance on the +King. She was found out and contemptuously forgiven by Richard. But +the story of a contemplated marriage at that time between Henry Tudor +and Elizabeth was an afterthought of Morton, at a time when Henry and +Elizabeth were actually married. The story was repeated by Polydore +Virgil, and retailed, with the customary embellishments, by Hall and +Grafton. +</P> + +<P> +It is scarcely necessary to notice the imputed intention of King +Richard to avenge the treachery of Lord Stanley on his son Lord +Strange, who was in the royal camp at the time of the battle of +Bosworth. He remained unharmed. This is the fact. We are asked to +believe that the King intended to behead him, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P232"></A>232}</SPAN> +but could not spare +the time before the battle began. There was plenty of time, but no +intention of using it for such a purpose. The proof of this is that +Lord Strange was not injured. The evidence for the alleged intention +to behead him rests solely on the assertions of men who wrote long +afterwards, and the value of whose testimony we are now pretty well +able to estimate. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn1text">1</A>] Hook, v. p. 409. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn2text">2</A>] He was then Master of the Rolls. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn3text">3</A>] Alexander VI., 1492-1503. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn4text">4</A>] Tyndale, <I>The Practice of Prelates</I>, p. 305. Parker Society. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn5text">5</A>] Lord Bacon, <I>Henry VII.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn6text">6</A>] <I>Utopia</I>, p. 20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn7text">7</A>] Morton was intimately acquainted with the real facts. He makes no +mistakes. His mis-statements are all prepared designedly and with an +object. He even knew the name of Buckingham's messenger, and that of +Gloucester's servant to whom he applied for a secret interview with his +master.—P. 134, ed. 1821. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn8text">8</A>] Ellis's <I>Original Letters</I>, second series, i. p. 147. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn9text">9</A>] <I>Wardrobe Accounts</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn10text">10</A>] Stallworthe's letter of June 21 (<I>Exc. Hist.</I> pp. 14-10). The +Croyland monk also gives the surrender of young Richard after the +arrest of Hastings (p. 566). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn11text">11</A>] He misled Horace Walpole (p. 49), and Dr. Lingard (iv. p. 227) on +this point. But Dr. Lingard was quite ready to continue in his error. +His account is as follows:—'On the same day that Hastings suffered +(and the time should be noticed) Ratcliffe entered Pomfret Castle at +the head of a numerous body of armed men, seized Rivers, Grey and +Vaughan, observed no judicial forms, and struck off the heads of the +victims.' He calls the Yorkshire troops that came to London 'the +ruffians who had murdered the prisoners at Pontefract.' This is not +very temperate language. Dr. Lingard afterwards found that this was +all wrong. But he would not alter his erroneous text. He merely added +a note in a later edition, showing that he knew Rivers to have been +still alive on the 23rd, and that Rous named the Earl of Northumberland +as presiding at the trial. Yet he retains the assertion in the text +that there were no judicial forms! +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn12text">12</A>] <I>Croyland</I>, p. 567. Polydore Virgil gives the correct date; and +the Croyland monk also places the execution of Rivers after the arrest +of Hastings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn13text">13</A>] Rymer, xii. p. 204. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn14text">14</A>] 13 die mensis Junii veniens in Turrim ad consilium, jussu +Protectoris capite truncatus est.—<I>Croyland Chron</I>. Gale, i. 566. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn15text">15</A>] The Croyland Chronicler is quite free from suspicion of +intentional falsification. He was informed that Hastings had been +beheaded on the 13th, the day of his arrest, and he stated what he +believed to be the fact. He, therefore, made no attempt to make this +fit in with other events by falsifying dates, as was the course taken +by Morton and Fabyan. The monk places the delivery of young Richard +and the execution of Rivers in proper order of time, and gives the +correct date for Richard's accession. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn16text">16</A>] <I>Excerpt. Hist.</I> p. 16. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn17text">17</A>] 'Eorum principalis judex.'—Rous, p. 213. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn18text">18</A>] Sir George Buck ascertained the truth through having access to the +manuscript of the <I>Croyland Chronicle</I>. The writer simply mentions the +pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler; but the Chronicle was not +printed until 1084. Speed was the first to print the full text of the +'Titulus Regius' in his <I>History of Great Britain</I>, 1611. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn19text">19</A>] The first Earl of Shrewsbury had a large family by two wives, but +the names of all his daughters have not been recorded. Dugdale +mentions none. Collins gives Jane married to James Lord Berkeley. +There were also Elizabeth wife of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and +others, including Eleanor. Buck is mistaken in supposing that +Eleanor's first husband was Sir Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley. His wife +was Alice Deincourt, and he was too old. Eleanor's husband may have +been an unrecorded son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley, who died when a +young man before his father. She must have married Edward IV., when a +widow, in or before 1464. She died at Norwich, and was buried in the +church of the White Friars Carmelites.—Weever's <I>Funeral Monuments</I>, +p. 805. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn20text">20</A>] Morton says that 'within few days after he withered and consumed +away' (p. 103). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn21text">21</A>] I. Arthur was married to a daughter and heiress of Edward Grey, +Viscount Lisle, the brother-in-law of Lady Grey. She was the widow of +Edmund Dudley. In 1533 Arthur was created Viscount Lisle. He had +three daughters, and from the second, Frances wife of John Basset of +Umberleigh, co. Devon, General Monk was descended. Arthur Viscount +Lisle died, without male heirs, in 1541. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +II. Elizabeth wife of Thomas, eldest son of George Lord Lumley, who +died before his father. From her descends the present Earl of +Scarborough. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn22text">22</A>] Letter from King Richard to Lord Mountjoy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn23text">23</A>] The text of the grant is given by Dugdale, with the King's signet +and sign manual, given at his manor at Greenwich on July 13, 1483. A +list of the manors follows.—Dugdale's <I>Baronage</I>, i. 168. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Mr. Gairdner argues that, in spite of this grant, the Duke had reason +to doubt the fulfilment of the promise when Parliament met. I am +unable to follow him. The King had done all that he possibly could do +until Parliament met, and he had put his good faith and sincerity +beyond doubt by giving Buckingham the profits beforehand, in +anticipation of the approval of Parliament. What could he possibly do +more? There was no shadow of a pretext for any such doubt on the part +of Buckingham.—Gairdner's <I>Richard III.</I>, p. 136. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn24text">24</A>] He also had to ignore the children of Henry Bourchier, Earl of +Essex, by the Princess Isabel, a sister of Richard Duke of York. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn25text">25</A>] Morton, in Grafton, p. 126. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn26text">26</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 127. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn27text">27</A>] <I>Richard III.</I> p. 146, quoting from <I>Royal Wills</I>, pp. 345-347. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn28text">28</A>] Rous, p. 217. Drake's <I>Eborac.</I> p. 117. The fable is fully +exposed by Mr. Davies in his <I>York Records</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn29text">29</A>] Rous. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn30text">30</A>] This rumour never reached Fabyan or Rous. It is mentioned by the +Croyland monk. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0203fn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0203fn31text">31</A>] On the authority of Sir George Buck. His words are as +follows:—'When February was past, the Lady Elizabeth, being more +impatient and jealous of the success than every one knew or conceived, +writes a letter to the Duke of Norfolk intimating first that he was the +man in whom she most affied, in respect of that love her Father had +ever borne him. Then she congratulates his many courtesies, in +continuance of which she desires him to be a mediator for her to the +King in the behalf of the marriage propounded between them, who, as she +wrote, was her only joy and maker in the world, and that she was his in +heart and thought, withal insinuating that the better part of February +was past, and that she feared the Queen would never die. All these be +her own words written with her own hand, and this is the sum of her +letter, which remaineth in the autograph or original draft under her +own hand, in the magnificent cabinet of Thomas Earl of Arundel and +Surrey.' (Buck, p. 128.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Sir Harris Nicolas (<I>Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York</I>, p. 1), +as an admirer of Elizabeth of York, was much troubled by this letter. +He attacked Sir George Buck as 'one whose violent prejudices do not +sufficiently account for the mendacity for which his work is +remarkable.' But this is unjust. Buck no doubt was prejudiced, but +not more so than the Tudor chroniclers. He blunders and is uncritical, +yet there is no reason to impugn his good faith. Nor did Sir Harris +Nicolas himself think that the case was sufficiently disposed of by +abusing Sir George Buck. He made various attempts to explain away the +letter, but none satisfactory or even plausible. Dr. Lingard did not +doubt the authenticity of the letter (v. pp. 355-359, ed. 1823, iv. p. +252, ed. 1849). It is not now known to exist, but that proves nothing +if Buck wrote in good faith. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Mr. Gairdner approaches the subject more calmly. 'Positive testimony +like this,' he says, 'is not to be lightly set aside as incredible. +Yet Buck, if not altogether dishonest (and I see no reason to think him +so), was certainly by no means an impartial historian. At the same +time Buck's abstract of the letter is very minute, and such as would +seem to follow pretty closely the turns of expression in a genuine +original, and he expressly declares the manuscript to be an autograph +or original draft. If it be not a forgery palmed off upon Buck +himself, I am inclined to think it was written, not by Elizabeth, but +by her mother who bore the same Christian name. Every word might just +as well have come from her, except the mention of the father, which may +be a mistake; and there is nothing inconceivable in her anxiety that +Richard should marry her daughter.' He adds 'that Elizabeth could have +been eager to obtain the hand of her brother's murderer is really too +monstrous to be believed.' Why then is it not 'too monstrous to be +believed' that the mother should have been eager to obtain the hand of +her son's murderer for her daughter? It is clear that the grounds for +accepting the letter are too strong for Mr. Gairdner to be able to +reject them. Yet that Elizabeth should wish to marry her brother's +murderer appears incredible to him. The conclusion is inevitable. +Richard was not her brother's murderer, if the letter was authentic +(see Gairdner's <I>Life of Richard III.</I> pp. 256-257, and note p. 257). +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0204"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P233"></A>233}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MAIN CHARGE AGAINST RICHARD III +</H4> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +15. Murder of the Princes in the Tower. Acquittal.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In attempting an impartial consideration of the question of the fate of +King Edward's sons, it must always be remembered that the main argument +against their uncle is made to rest upon the truth of his previous +alleged crimes. This argument is destroyed if Richard was not a +venomous hunchback born with teeth, if he was not a cold scheming and +calculating villain who had already committed two atrocious murders, +drowned his brother in a butt of malmsey, poisoned his wife, and waded +through the blood of innocent men to an usurped throne. A careful +study of the evidence establishes the fact that these accusations are +false, and that they were put forward by the writers under a new +dynasty in order to blacken the character of the last Plantagenet King, +and to make the accusation that he murdered his nephews more plausible. +For it was a matter of the most vital importance to Henry VII., not +only that the boys should have been murdered, but that it should be +believed that the crime was perpetrated before his accession. +</P> + +<P> +We have to deal with a different man altogether. The real Richard, who +is accused of the murder of his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P234"></A>234}</SPAN> +nephews, was not previously +steeped in crime. The accusation must now be considered as being +brought against an ordinary prince of the fifteenth century, if not +better certainly not worse than his contemporaries. This at once +destroys the chief points of the evidence against him. His accusers +rightly felt that it was necessary to blacken Richard's character, and +this they did coarsely enough, but very successfully. They knew that, +without this poisoning of the wells, the case against him lost all its +force. 'Nemo repente turpissimus.' +</P> + +<P> +We must now approach the question relating to the fate of the two young +sons of Edward IV., without having constantly before our minds the +grotesque caricature portrayed by the Tudor writers. Although it is +not possible, especially at this distance of time, to account for the +workings of any man's mind, or for the motives which may control his +actions, it is yet necessary to consider this phase of the question, +with as much light as we can bring to bear upon it. +</P> + +<P> +It is not disputed that Edward IV. always evinced unshaken love and +affection for his young brother, and showed the most absolute +confidence in him at the time of his death. Richard returned this +affection with devoted loyalty. He had no love for the Woodville +faction, but he must have felt some regard for his brother's children, +being such a man as we believe he has been proved to have been. This +feeling of regard would decrease the strength of any motive producing a +desire to destroy them for his own ends. But there was no such motive. +The boys had been declared to be illegitimate, after an examination of +evidence, by the unanimous voice of Parliament. When the Cardinal +Archbishop, surrounded by his suffragans, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P235"></A>235}</SPAN> +placed the crown of St. +Edward on Richard's head, he proclaimed the belief of the Church, and +released from their oaths all who under a misapprehension had sworn +allegiance to Edward V. The boy, as a claimant to the throne, had +ceased to be dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Unanimity at Richard's coronation +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +It should be borne in mind that Parliament was unanimous in recognising +the title of Richard III. Excepting half a dozen Lancastrian exiles +who were equally opposed to any member of the house of York,[<A NAME="chap0204fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn1">1</A>] the +whole peerage was at Richard's coronation except those whose absence is +accounted for by extreme age or youth, or by the calls of duty.[<A NAME="chap0204fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn2">2</A>] +Even the Woodville faction had submitted, and was represented at the +coronation by Viscount Lisle and the Bishop of Salisbury. Henry +Tudor's mother bore the train of Richard's Queen, and his uncle Lord +Welles was also at the coronation. There was absolutely no party for +the illegitimate sons of Edward IV. at the time of their alleged +murders, and consequently no danger to be apprehended from them. If +the story had put the murders after Buckingham's rising it would have +been a little more plausible. But it placed them two months before the +rising, when the King had not the shadow of a suspicion that any +opposition was contemplated. Setting aside all natural or religious +feeling, and even assuming Richard to have been the impossible monster +depicted by Tudor writers, he certainly had no motive for the crime. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P236"></A>236}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +But it may be argued that the workings of men's minds are inexplicable, +and that Richard may have committed the crime from a motive which would +seem insufficient to any reasonable man. To decide upon this +proposition we can only turn to a consideration of his conduct as +regards other persons in the same relationship and position as the two +boys, and who were likely to cause Richard as much or as little +trouble. There were seven such persons, namely, the five daughters of +Edward IV. and the two children of the Duke of Clarence. The King +treated his nieces with kindness and consideration as near relations, +when they came under his protection. The young Earl of Warwick, son of +Richard's elder brother Clarence, was a far more formidable rival than +the sons of Edward. The former was incontestably legitimate; while the +latter had been declared to be illegitimate by both Houses of +Parliament. Richard knighted the son of Clarence, placed him at the +head of the nobility, and made him a member of council and of his own +household. We, therefore, know that Richard did not look upon the +children of his elder brothers as enemies to be destroyed, but as +relations to be cherished. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The princes alive in Richard's time +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We find, then, that the two young sons of Edward IV. went to reside in +the royal lodgings of the Tower in June 1483. The statement put forth +by Henry VII. is that they were murdered there in the following August. +But there are two pieces of evidence, one of them positive evidence, +that they were alive throughout the reign of Richard III. +</P> + +<P> +In the orders for King Richard's household dated after the death of his +own son, children are mentioned of such high rank that they were to be +served before all other Lords. The only children who could occupy +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P237"></A>237}</SPAN> +such a position were the sons of Edward IV. and the son of +Clarence. The conclusion must be that all his nephews were members of +his household, and that they were only sent to Sheriff Hutton and to +the Tower when danger threatened the realm from the invasion of Henry +Tudor. +</P> + +<P> +The other piece of evidence is found in a warrant in Rymer's 'Foedera,' +dated March 9, 1485, to the following effect: it directs Henry Davy 'to +deliver unto John Goddestande, footman unto the Lord Bastard, two +doblets of silk, one jacket of silk, one gown of cloth, two shirts, and +two bonets.'[<A NAME="chap0204fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn3">3</A>] There are other warrants to pay for provisions. Dr. +Lingard[<A NAME="chap0204fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn4">4</A>] tried to destroy the significance of these warrants by +suggesting that they referred to John of Gloucester, an illegitimate +son of the King. But this boy is mentioned in Rymer's 'Foedera,' and +is designated as a bastard son of the King[<A NAME="chap0204fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn5">5</A>] simply and not as a lord, +for no such title belonged to him. Edward, on the other hand, although +he was officially called a bastard, was also a lord. In his case the +designation of Lord was correct. In the 'Wardrobe Account' he was +called the Lord Edward; after the accession of his uncle.[<A NAME="chap0204fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn6">6</A>] The royal +titles of Wales and Cornwall were no longer consistent or proper, and +had indeed been transferred, in due course, to the King's son. But the +earldoms of March +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P238"></A>238}</SPAN> +and Pembroke, conferred on him by his father, +still belonged to Edward. He would properly be styled the Lord +Bastard, while John of Gloucester could not be and was not. There was +only one 'Lord' Bastard.[<A NAME="chap0204fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn7">7</A>] The warrants, therefore, show that Edward +was alive and well treated in March 1485, four months before the death +of Richard III. +</P> + +<P> +These two pieces of evidence are in keeping with Morton's statement +that King Richard had declared his intention of maintaining his nephews +in honourable estate. But there is strong collateral evidence pointing +to the same conclusion. If there had been foul play, it is scarcely +credible that the mother could have been induced by any promises to +throw her remaining children on the protection of one who had already +violated the most sacred ties as regards her two sons. It is, however, +just possible that a very unfeeling and selfish woman (though Elizabeth +was neither), weary of confinement in sanctuary, might have been +induced to make terms with the murderer of her sons, in order to obtain +a comfortable provision for herself. But she did more than this. She +sent for her other son, who was safe in France, advising him to return +home and submit himself to the King. It is incredible that she could +have done this unless she knew that the two boys were alive and well +treated. She remained on friendly terms with Richard until his death, +and her daughters attended the festivities at his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P239"></A>239}</SPAN> +Court. Still +stronger evidence in the same direction is afforded by the letter to +the Duke of Norfolk, whether it was written by the King's niece +Elizabeth or by her mother, as Mr. Gairdner suggests. The writer could +not have spoken of Richard as her 'joy and maker in the world,' or have +said that she was 'his in heart and thought,' if he had just murdered +the brothers of one and the sons of the other. The thing is quite +impossible. +</P> + +<P> +The conduct of their mother and sister is a strong corroboration of the +positive evidence that the young princes were alive and well throughout +King Richard's reign. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The alleged rumours +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, there is no evidence whatever that they were dead; +beyond rumours of which we only hear long afterwards. We are told that +there were rumours that they had been murdered, and rumours that they +were alive, and had been taken abroad. Rumours but no evidence. +</P> + +<P> +If they had been smothered the bodies would have been exposed to allay +suspicion, and would have received Christian burial. To hide them +would have been an act of incredible folly. +</P> + +<P> +There remain then, for consideration, these rumours which are alleged +to have prevailed during the reign of King Richard to the effect that +his nephews had been murdered. It is maintained that if these rumours +were generally believed, Richard must have been guilty, because if he +had been innocent he would have taken some steps to disprove the +rumours, and he took no such steps, or rather—no such steps are +recorded by his enemies. +</P> + +<P> +The points for investigation are whether such rumours actually existed, +and if so, whether they were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P240"></A>240}</SPAN> +so general as to reach the King's +ears and make it advisable that anything should be done to refute them. +</P> + +<P> +It is alleged that these rumours took shape during the King's progress +to York in the summer and autumn of 1483. There is no evidence that +they prevailed at this or any other time during Richard's reign.[<A NAME="chap0204fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn8">8</A>] +The authority for a rumour about the fate of the two boys in the summer +of 1483 is the Croyland Chronicle; and there can be no doubt that the +statement was made in good faith; although the writer may have been +deceived. +</P> + +<P> +The passage in the Croyland Chronicle is to the effect that the princes +remaining in custody in the Tower, the people in the south and west of +England became anxious for their liberation, that meetings were held on +the subject, and that proposals were made to arrange the escape of the +daughters of Edward IV. so that, if anything happened to his sons, +there might still be heirs of his body. It was also reported that the +sons of Edward were dead, though it was unknown by what violent means +they met their end.[<A NAME="chap0204fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn9">9</A>] So far the Croyland monk. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt there were partizans of the defeated factions of Hastings and +the Woodvilles who were ready to spread any rumours injurious to the +King. The question is whether the rumours which reached the ears of +the Croyland monk were ever generally +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P241"></A>241}</SPAN> +credited by the people, so +as to call for action from the Government. Is it true that they led to +loud murmurings from meetings and assemblages of the people in the +south and west of England, such as would attract general notice? The +only proof offered is that an officer named Nesfield was ordered to +watch the approaches of the Sanctuary at Westminster, and see that no +one left it secretly. But this was a precaution which would have been +taken under any circumstances. Polydore Virgil alleges that Richard +himself spread a report that his nephews were dead; and this is +magnified and embellished by Grafton and Hall, according to their wont. +The statement is grossly improbable in itself, is wholly unsupported, +and is entirely unworthy of credit. +</P> + +<P> +There is, then, no evidence that these rumours existed, beyond the +passage in the Croyland Chronicle. But there is strong reason for +rejecting the monk's story. If the rumours had really existed, and if +in consequence there were mutinous assemblages of the people +preliminary to an insurrectionary movement, the vigilant and energetic +young King would have made all necessary preparations to meet the +danger. Nothing is more certain in his history than that he was taken +absolutely by surprise when he received tidings of an outbreak in Kent +on October 11, 1483. It was a concerted rising, secretly arranged by +Buckingham. This Duke had taken leave of the King at Gloucester on +August 2 before the alleged action of Richard at Warwick with a view to +the murders, which was on August 8. According to the story, Buckingham +can have known nothing of the murders when he arranged his plot. +Consequently it is not possible that the rising in Kent, arranged by +Buckingham, can +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P242"></A>242}</SPAN> +have had anything to do with the alleged murder +of the young princes. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the Croyland monk had certainly been told that there was a rumour +that the boys were dead. If it had not reached him as general talk, it +must have come direct to him from some malignant enemy of the King. +Was there such a man lurking in the fen country round Croyland? We +know that Morton had taken refuge in the fen country (Isle of Ely) at +this very time. If that schemer was at the chronicler's elbow, the +rumour is fully accounted for. It probably originated with Morton +while he was lurking in the fens, and ceased to exist when he sailed +for Flanders. His own narrative, as we have received it, comes to an +abrupt termination while he is conversing with the Duke of Buckingham +at Brecknock. If it had been continued, we should doubtless have had a +highly coloured version of the rumour mentioned in the Croyland +Chronicle. Morton and his slanders went abroad together. The rumour +that the young princes had been put to death appeared no more in +England during Richard's life. But as soon as Morton went to France, +it appeared there. In the autumn of 1483 Morton left England. In +January 1484, the murder of the princes was alleged as a fact by the +Chancellor of France in a speech to the States-General at Tours. +'Regardez, je vous prie, les événements qui après la mort du Roi +Édouard sont arrivés dans ce pays. Contemplez ses enfants, déjà grands +et braves, massacreé impunément, et la couronne transportée a +l'assassin par la faveur des peuples.'[<A NAME="chap0204fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn10">10</A>] The Chancellor may have +received this statement from another Lancastrian exile, but it is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P243"></A>243}</SPAN> +most likely that it came from Morton. Louis XI. had hated Richard +because he opposed the peace which the French King bought from Edward +IV., and because he refused the French bribes with contempt.[<A NAME="chap0204fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn11">11</A>] This +hatred was inherited by the Lady of Beaujeu who became Regent on the +death of Louis XI. in August 1483. Any calumny was seized upon as an +opportunity for reviling the King of England; and with Morton in France +there would be no dearth of such wares. +</P> + +<P> +The insult to the King of England uttered by the French Chancellor may +not have reached Richard's government. If it did, it must have been +apologised for or explained away, for some months afterwards, in +September 1484, King Richard granted a safe-conduct for an embassy from +the French Regency to treat of peace.[<A NAME="chap0204fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn12">12</A>] The calumny was clearly +received by the French Chancellor from Morton, or some other +unscrupulous outlaw, and not from any general rumour. For it is stated +as a fact; the truth being that it was never known what became of the +two boys, or pretended to be known until after the alleged confession +of Tyrrel in 1502. +</P> + +<P> +Fabyan, writing in the time of Henry VII., talks of a rumour, and of +its having been the common fame that King Richard put his nephews to +secret death. This was merely what Henry VII. wanted to be the 'common +fame'; and no one dared to gainsay it. In the year after his accession +the usurping Tudor ordered it to be given out that the boys were +murdered by their uncle, and his paid agents had to repeat the +statement. André said they were killed with a sword.[<A NAME="chap0204fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn13">13</A>] +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P244"></A>244}</SPAN> +Rous +stated that they were put to death by some means unknown.[<A NAME="chap0204fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0204fn14">14</A>] Polydore +followed Rous. Comines, naturally enough, told the story officially +promulgated in England. But Henry never dared to make the accusation +publicly in his first so-called Parliament, and there can have been +only one reason for this silence. The boys were then alive. +</P> + +<P> +Henry's chroniclers, however, testify that nothing was known, and thus +prove the falsehood of the French Chancellor's statement, while +furnishing additional proof that no general rumour existed during +Richard's reign that the boys were dead. +</P> + +<P> +It is not to be supposed that Sir William Stanley would have +entertained for a moment the belief that Perkin Warbeck was a son of +Edward IV. unless he knew that the princes were alive throughout +Richard's reign. No one had better means of knowing. The story put +forward by Henry VII. tells us that it remained in doubt whether the +boys were destroyed or not in Richard's day. Polydore Virgil mentions +a rumour that they had escaped abroad. Perkin Warbeck's story was +believed by a great number of people, which could not have been the +case if the rumour of the death of the princes had been generally +credited. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Baseless rumours +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +No question arose before King Richard's death. Many persons must have +known that his nephews were alive and well treated. Their mother and +brother knew, and they were silenced by imprisonment. Sir William +Stanley and his fellow-sufferers knew, and they were beheaded. After +Henry's accession, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people who +knew the truth. They had a choice between silence and ruin or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P245"></A>245}</SPAN> +death. The truth might have been, and probably was, mentioned in +private correspondence; but even that would be very perilous, and +scarcely any correspondence of that date has been preserved. In one +letter in the 'Plumpton Correspondence,' the dislike of Henry's illegal +attainders is referred to, but with bated breath. Among the mass of +the people there was no certain knowledge of what had happened to the +boys. Of course many baseless rumours then became current. The +statements accusing Richard, and the assertions that these rumours +received popular credit during his reign, merely indicate what his +successor wanted to be believed on the subject. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn1text">1</A>] Earls of Oxford, Devonshire, and Pembroke, Lords Rivers, Dynham, +and Beaumont. Lord Clifford was a minor, and in hiding in Yorkshire. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn2text">2</A>] Lord Dudley in extreme old age, Earls of Shrewsbury and Essex, and +Lord Hungerford minors, Lords Greystoke and Ogle in the Marches, Lord +Mountjoy at Calais, Lord de la Warre abroad. The Earl of Westmoreland +was dangerously ill. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn3text">3</A>] Bayley, <I>Antiquities of the Tower of London</I>. (8vo. ed 1830, p. +343 <I>n</I>.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn4text">4</A>] iv. p. 580 (5th ed. 1849). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn5text">5</A>] Rymer, xii. p. 265. 'Pro filio bastardo regis.' 'Cum summa +dilecti filii nostri bastardi Johannis de Gloucestriæ ingenii +vivacitas, membrorumque agilitas, et ad omnes bonos mores magnam et +indubiam nobis de futuro ejus servitio bono spem, gratiâ divinâ +promittant.' This warrant granted the wardship of Calais to John of +Gloucester, so soon as he should have reached the age of twenty-one. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn6text">6</A>] <I>Archæologia</I>, i. p. 367. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn7text">7</A>] Sir Richard, K.G., the second son, was not then a lord. The title +of York was a royal one, like that of Wales, and he could not hold it +when proved to be illegitimate. Those of Norfolk and Nottingham came +from his intended wife, Anne Mowbray, and when she died, they went to +her heirs Howard and Berkeley, by creation of the King on June 8, 1483. +Young Richard, as well as Edward, was a Knight of the Garter, but +Edward was the only 'Lord Bastard.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn8text">8</A>] A letter from the King to the Mayor of York, dated April 11, 1485, +is on the subject of the suppression of false reports and lies. But +this refers to the false report that Richard intended to marry his +niece. Davies, <I>York Records</I>. Drake incorrectly places this letter +in 1484. Drake's <I>Ebor.</I> p. 119. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn9text">9</A>] 'Vulgatum est dictos Regis Edwardi pueros, quo genere violenti +interitus ignoratur, decessisse in fata.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn10text">10</A>] <I>Journal des Etats-Généraux de France tenus en</I> 1483-84 (Documents +Inédits), quoted by Gairdner in his <I>Richard III.</I> p. 160. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn11text">11</A>] He accepted a present of horses from Louis as a matter of courtesy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn12text">12</A>] Rymer's <I>Foedera</I>, xii. p. 234. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn13text">13</A>] 'Nepotes clam ferro feriri jussit.'—André. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0204fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0204fn14text">14</A>] 'Ita quod ex post paucissimis notum fuit qua morte martirizati +sunt.'—Rous. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0205"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P246"></A>246}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HENRY TUDOR IN THE DOCK +</H4> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Murder of the Princes in the Tower. Conviction. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Victims after Bosworth +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Henry Tydder, <I>alias</I> Tudor, must now take his place in the dock. Let +us first see what manner of man this fortunate adventurer was. In 1485 +he was twenty-eight years of age. He is described as a man of slender +build, about five feet nine inches high, with a saturnine expression, +grey restless eyes, yellow hair, and very little of it. Having passed +his life as a fugitive and conspirator, cunning and dissimulation had +become a second nature to him. The victory gained for him at Bosworth, +by the foulest treachery, placed despotic power in his hands. His +first acts were the illegal and unjust executions of William +Catesby,[<A NAME="chap0205fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn1">1</A>] Chancellor of the Exchequer, of John Buck, the Comptroller +of the late King's Household, of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P247"></A>247}</SPAN> +William Bracher, Yeoman of the +Crown, and of his son. These executions were in violation of all law. +They were simply murders; for Henry Tudor himself had no legal status, +and was in fact an attainted outlaw. Catesby was the faithful and +loyal minister of a King who studied the welfare of his subjects, and +was the Speaker of the best Parliament that had sat since the time of +Edward I. He was an able and diligent public servant. This was his +only crime. Nothing tangible has ever been alleged against him, except +that he did his duty by reporting the meditated treason of Hastings. +If the fables of Morton and his colleagues are accepted, the executions +of Rivers, Grey and Vaughan were doubtful acts. But the executions of +Catesby, Buck, and the Brachers were heinous crimes. Richard was the +Chief of the State, though it may be held that his measures were +unjust. Henry was an outlaw without legal authority of any kind, and +his executions were ruthless murders. Thus did this adventurer wade +through the blood of innocent men to his usurped throne.[<A NAME="chap0205fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn2">2</A>] His next +proceeding was to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P248"></A>248}</SPAN> +send Sir Robert Willoughby to Sheriff Hutton, +to get possession of young Edward Earl of Warwick, the heir to the +throne, and of the late King's niece Elizabeth. +</P> + +<P> +Henry Tudor then marched to London and seized the government. He +became responsible for the surviving members of the royal family of +England, legitimate or otherwise. What did he do with them? There +were Edward and Richard, the illegitimate sons of Edward IV., there was +Edward the legitimate son of the Duke of Clarence, and now the rightful +King of England, and there was John, the illegitimate son of Richard +III. They all fell into his power, and he alone became answerable for +their lives. There is too much reason to suspect that they all met +with foul play at his hands. +</P> + +<P> +Henry Tudor, on usurping the crown of England, necessarily found +himself in a very difficult position. His mother's claim, as heiress +to an illegitimate son of the third son of Edward III., was worthless +in itself, for even if the descent had been legitimate, she must come +after all the descendants of the second son of Edward III. Moreover +the claim, such as it was, had not yet descended to Henry Tudor and +never did, for his mother survived him. He wisely refrained from +stating such a claim as this, although he alleged a vague hereditary +right of some sort, which he did not try to explain. There remained +the right of conquest with the aid of French mercenaries, and he +ventured to put it forward. But he soon saw that he would have to find +some other prop to support his usurpation. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P249"></A>249}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Character of Henry VII +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Henry must certainly have been a man of great ability, with an acute +but narrow mind, marvellous powers of dissimulation and of +self-deception, with considerable tact and skill in guiding and +influencing those around him. He was essentially un-English. He was a +near relation of Louis XI., and he made that mean tyrant his model. He +hated English freedom, and that intimate contact with the people which +made the Plantagenets popular. He loved mystery. He surrounded +himself with an armed guard which constantly went about with him, a +thing never done before by former kings.[<A NAME="chap0205fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn3">3</A>] He originated a tribunal +with despotic powers, consisting of a committee of his Council, the +infamous Star Chamber. He established 'a close and secret, a +tyrannical and often a most cruel government.'[<A NAME="chap0205fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn4">4</A>] He extorted money by +means of those illegal 'benevolences' which had been abolished by the +patriotic Parliament of Richard III. He was penurious, greedy, and +mean. He was the first English King who increased his revenue by +forfeitures enforced through legal chicanery. He began the practice of +setting agents to ferret out any claim which the Crown could make, and +a subservient judge would affirm. For he loved the forms of law, which +apparently soothed his conscience. He was very superstitious. When +his own interests were not concerned he was not devoid of natural +affection and he recoiled from crime. Yet he became capable of any +foul deed if he deemed it necessary for his own security. But he +meditated a crime for months and years, and stood trembling on the +brink for a long time before he summoned up +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P250"></A>250}</SPAN> +courage to act. Even +then he much preferred the forms of law, thinking that if he shared the +deed with others, the guilt became a limited liability. +</P> + +<P> +Henry had the wisdom to see that, although his claim of conquest and +vague assertion of right by descent[<A NAME="chap0205fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn5">5</A>] might serve for a time, he must +establish some better title to secure any stability for his throne. He +had obtained his position by the favour of a treacherous faction, and +was confirmed in it by a pretended Parliament of his adherents, many of +them still under attainder. Unlike the grand ceremony of King +Richard's coronation, when the whole peerage was present, that of Henry +was very thinly attended. He felt that some step must promptly be +taken, with a view to strengthening his position, and reconciling the +nation to his usurpation. +</P> + +<P> +There was Elizabeth, the late King's niece, whose person he had +secured. If she was made queen it might propitiate the powerful +Yorkist party. But she was illegitimate, and consequently young +Warwick was the rightful King. There was another more fatal +difficulty, a knowledge of which was shared with the girl's mother, if +not with the girl herself. All evidence of the illegitimacy might be +destroyed. Henry caused the Act of Parliament recording and legalising +King Richard's title to be expunged. He ordered the original Act to be +removed from the Rolls and burnt. Every person who possessed a copy or +remembrance of it, was commanded to deliver up the same, under a +penalty of fine and imprisonment at the tyrant's pleasure.[<A NAME="chap0205fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn6">6</A>] Henry +granted a general pardon to Bishop +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P251"></A>251}</SPAN> +Stillington in order to avoid +prosecuting him for the offence of having borne witness to the +illegitimacy. For he feared discussion. He then trumped up some other +charge, threw the Bishop into prison, and that unfortunate prelate +never came out alive. +</P> + +<P> +But this was not enough. There was other work to be done from which +Henry long recoiled. Yet without its perpetration he could not safely +be married to Elizabeth, and there could be no security for his +usurpation. Indeed, his position would be rendered even more +precarious by the destruction of the evidence of illegitimacy. He had +usurped a throne to retain which he saw that the committal of more than +one crime was indispensable. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Henry had summoned the so-called Parliament of his outlawed +adherents. He got his own attainder reversed. He then caused an act +of attainder to be passed against the late King and many loyal noblemen +and knights, whose property he seized. He had the effrontery to accuse +them of treason to him, by dating the commencement of his reign from +the day previous to the battle of Bosworth. No more shameless act of +injustice is recorded in the annals of tyranny. The bit of legal +chicanery by which an attempt was made to excuse it, shows the +character of the man. +</P> + +<HR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P252"></A>252}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +LOYAL MEN WITH THE KING AT BOSWORTH +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +ILLEGAL ATTAINDERS BY ORDER OF HENRY TUDOR PASSED IN THE<BR> +SO-CALLED PARLIAMENT OF 1485 +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + Richard III., King of England, K.G. } + John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, K.G. } <I>Slain at Bosworth</I>. + Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, K.G. <I>Prisoner at Bosworth</I>. + Francis Viscount Lovell, K.G. <I>Slain at Stoke</I>. + Walter Lord Ferrers, K.G. } + John Lord Zouch. } <I>Slain at Bosworth</I>. + Sir James Harington. (Clerk of the Council.) <I>At Bosworth</I>. + Sir Robert Harington. <I>At Bosworth</I>. + Sir Richard Charlton. <I>At Bosworth</I>. + Sir Richard Ratcliffe, K.G. <I>Slain at Bosworth</I>. + Sir William Berkeley, K.B. (Knight of the Bath at the Coronation.) + Sir Robert Brackenbury. (Constable of the Tower.) <I>Slain at Bosworth</I>. + Sir Thomas Pilkington. (Brother-in-law of the Haringtons.) <I>Slain at Stoke</I>. + Sir Robert Middleton. + Walter Hopton, Esq. (Treasurer of the Household.) + William Catesby, Esq. (Chancellor of the Exchequer.) <I>Murdered at Leicester</I>. + Roger Wake, Esq. + William Sapcote, Esq., of Huntingdonshire. + Humphrey Stafford, Esq. <I>Put to death by Henry VII</I>. + William Clarke, Esq., of Wenlock. + Walter St. Germain, Esq. + Walter Watkin, Esq. (Herald.) + Richard Revell, Esq., of Derbyshire. + Thomas Pulter, Esq., of Kent. + John Welch, Esq., <I>otherwise</I> Hastings. + John Kendall, Esq. (Secretary of State.) <I>Slain at Bosworth</I>. + John Buck, Esq. (Comptroller of the Household.) <I>Murdered at Leicester</I>. + John Batte, Esq. + William Brampton, Esq., of Burford. + + (From the <I>Plumpton Correspondence</I>, p. 48.) +</PRE> + +<HR> + +<P> +This odious measure outraged the feelings of all parties in the +country. 'There was many gentlemen against it, but it would not be for +it was the king's pleasure,' wrote Sir Robert Plumpton's correspondent +from London.[<A NAME="chap0205fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn7">7</A>] The monk of Croyland wrote against the outrage, +exclaiming 'O God! what security are our kings to have henceforth that +in the day of battle they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P253"></A>253}</SPAN> +may not be deserted by their subjects +who, acting on the awful summons of a king may, on the decline of that +king's party, as is frequently the case, be bereft of life and fortune +and all their inheritance.'[<A NAME="chap0205fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn8">8</A>] Nor was this insult to King Richard's +memory, and the lawless robbery of his loyal subjects, forgotten by the +people of England. They were resolved to secure themselves against a +repetition of such proceedings. Ten years afterwards the tyrant had +the mortification of being obliged to give his assent to an Act +formally condemning the attainder of King Richard's officers.[<A NAME="chap0205fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn9">9</A>] +</P> + +<P> +It is very significant that, although in the Act of Attainder King +Richard is reviled for cruelty and tyranny, he is not accused of the +murder of his nephews. This is most remarkable. Henry got possession +of the Tower at once. He arrived in London on August 28. If the young +princes were missing, it is certain that in the Act of Attainder the +usurper would have promptly accused King Richard of having murdered +them. But he did not do so. There can only be one explanation of this +omission. The young princes were not missing. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Henry's great difficulty +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Here then was Henry's great difficulty. This fully accounts for the +long delay in marrying Elizabeth. He was afraid. He was ready to +commit any crime with the forms of law. He did not hold with Lord +Russell, that 'killing by forms of law was the worst kind of murder.' +But a recourse to law was impossible +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P254"></A>254}</SPAN> +in this case. Whatever he +was to do, must be done in profound secrecy. Yet his timid and +superstitious nature shrank from a crime the responsibility of which he +could not share with others. Its perpetration had, he saw, become +absolutely necessary for his security. He hesitated for months. All +evidence of the illegitimacy had been hidden out of sight. No man +dared to mention it. He long stood on the brink. At length he plunged +into guilt. He married Elizabeth on January 18, 1486, nearly five +months after his accession. The die was then cast. It became a matter +of life and death to Henry VII. that the brothers of his wife should +cease to exist. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Tudor victims +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +We must now apply the same tests to Henry as we applied to Richard. +Had Henry sufficient motive for the crime? It is impossible that a man +in his position could have had a stronger motive. He had denied the +illegitimacy, and had thus made his wife's brothers his most formidable +rivals. He could not, he dared not let them live, unless he +relinquished all he had gained. The second test we applied to Richard +was his treatment of those persons who were in his power, and who were, +as regards relationship, in the same position as the sons of Edward IV. +Let us apply the same test to Henry. John of Gloucester, the +illegitimate son of Richard III., fell into the hands of Henry. At +first the boy received a maintenance allowance of 20<I>l.</I> a year.[<A NAME="chap0205fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn10">10</A>] +But he was soon thrown into prison, on suspicion of an invitation +having reached him to come to Ireland, and he never came +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P255"></A>255}</SPAN> +out +alive.[<A NAME="chap0205fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn11">11</A>] This 'active well-disposed boy,'[<A NAME="chap0205fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn12">12</A>] as he is described in +the warrant in Rymer's 'Foedera,' fell a victim to the usurper's fears. +His right to the crown was at least as good as that of Henry Tudor. He +was the illegitimate son of a king. Henry was only the great-grandson +of an illegitimate son of a younger son of a king. The Earl of +Warwick, who was the rightful heir to the crown, was also in Henry's +power. The tyrant hesitated for years before he made up his mind to +commit another foul crime. But he finally slaughtered the unhappy +youth under circumstances of exceptional baseness and infamy, to secure +his own ends. His next supposed danger was caused by the Earl of +Suffolk, another nephew of King Richard. The ill-fated prince was +delivered into Henry's hands under a promise that his life should be +spared. He evaded the promise by enjoining his son to kill the victim. +That son promptly complied, and followed up the death of Suffolk by +putting five other descendants of the Plantagenet royal family to +death. These Tudor kings cannot stand the tests we applied to Richard +III., which he passed unscathed. The conduct of Richard to the +relations who were under his protection was that of a Christian king. +The executions of which Henry VII. and his son were guilty were an +imitation of the policy of Turkish sultans. +</P> + +<P> +If the young princes were in the Tower when Henry succeeded, his +conduct in analogous cases leaves no doubt of their fate. It was the +fate of John of Gloucester, Warwick, Suffolk, Exeter, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P256"></A>256}</SPAN> +Montagu, +Surrey, Buckingham, and the Countess of Salisbury.[<A NAME="chap0205fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn13">13</A>] They may not +have been made away with before Henry's marriage, nor for some months +afterwards. The tyrant had the will but not the courage. He hesitated +long, as in the case of young Warwick. For reasons which will appear +presently it is likely that the boys were murdered, by order of Henry +VII., between June 16 and July 16, 1486, three years after the time +alleged by the official Tudor historians. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Imprisonment of the Queen Dowager +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Then, for the first time, the 'common fame' was ordered to spread the +report that King Richard 'had put them under suer kepynge within the +tower, in such wise that they never came abrode after,' and that 'King +Richard put them unto secrete death.'[<A NAME="chap0205fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn14">14</A>] But Henry feared detection. +The mother knew that this was false. If the boys were murdered in July +1486, that mother must soon have begun to feel uneasy. She was at +Winchester with her daughter when her grandchild Arthur was born on +September 20, 1486, and was present at the baptism. But she was in +London in the autumn, and before many months her suspicions must have +been aroused. She must be silenced. Consequently, in February 1487 +'it was resolved that the Lady Elizabeth, wife of King Edward IV., +should lose and forfeit all her lands and possessions because she had +voluntarily submitted herself and her daughters +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P257"></A>257}</SPAN> +to the hands of +King Richard. Whereat there was much wondering.'[<A NAME="chap0205fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn15">15</A>] She was ordered +to reside in the nunnery of Bermondsey.[<A NAME="chap0205fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn16">16</A>] Once she was allowed to +appear at Court on a State occasion.[<A NAME="chap0205fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn17">17</A>] The pretext for her detention +was not the real motive, for Henry had made grants of manors and other +property to his mother-in-law soon after his accession,[<A NAME="chap0205fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn18">18</A>] when her +conduct with regard to King Richard was equally well known to him. The +real reason was kept secret, as well it might be. Mr. Gairdner calls +this proceeding 'a very mysterious decision taken about the Queen +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P258"></A>258}</SPAN> +Dowager.'[<A NAME="chap0205fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn19">19</A>] Very mysterious, indeed, on the assumption of Henry's +innocence. But not so if the mother knew that her sons were alive when +Richard fell, and could now obtain no tidings of them. If the boys +ceased to live in July 1486, it was high time for Henry to silence the +awkward questions of their mother in the following February. He did so +by condemning her to life-long seclusion in a nunnery. Henry was +terrified that a lady who knew some of his secrets, and probably +suspected more, should be at large. In the end of the following year, +and not till then, Henry's wife Elizabeth was at length crowned on +November 25, 1487. The King and his mother beheld the ceremony from a +stage, but there is no mention of the poor Queen's mother. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Polydore Virgil's story +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Years passed on. Perkin Warbeck personated young Richard, and no one +had such good reason as Henry for knowing that he was an impostor. But +the tyrant dared not tell how he knew that Perkin was a 'feigned boy,' +as he called him. At length, in 1502 or thereabouts, the first +detailed story of the murder of the two princes was put forward, after +the execution of Sir James Tyrrel. It may be considered as Henry's +official statement, and was evidently communicated to his paid +historian Polydore Virgil, in whose hands it took the following form: +</P> + +<P> +'Richard lived in continual fear, for the expelling thereof by any kind +of means, he determined by death to despatch his nephews, because so +long as they lived he could never be out of hazard. Wherefore he sent +warrant to Robert Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, to procure their +death with all diligence by some means convenient. Then he departed to +York. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P259"></A>259}</SPAN> +But the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, after he had +received the King's horrible commission, was astonished with the +cruelty of the fact, and fearing lest, if he should obey, the same +might one time or other turn to his own harm, did therefore defer the +doing thereof in hope that the King would spare his own blood, or their +tender age, or alter that heavy determination. But any one of these +points were so far from taking place, seeing that the mind therein +remained immovable, as that when King Richard understood the Lieutenant +to make delay of that which he had commanded, he anon committed the +charge of hastening that slaughter unto another, that is to say James +Tyrrel, who, being forced to do the King's commandment, rode +sorrowfully to London, and to the worst example that hath been almost +ever heard of, murdered those babes of the issue royal. This end had +Prince Edward and Richard his brother, but with what kind of death +these silly children were executed is not certainly known.' +</P> + +<P> +This was the story put forward by Henry after Tyrrel's death. He may +have added some other particulars afterwards.[<A NAME="chap0205fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn20">20</A>] It is indeed +probable that he did. A much more detailed fable appeared in the +history attributed to More, and in Grafton, both by the same hand. It +has been seen already that the statements of this writer are unworthy +of credit, and it is very difficult to distinguish what parts were +authorised by Henry, and what parts were fabricated by the writer +himself. His story is as follows: +</P> + +<P> +'At the time when Sir James Tyrrel and John +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P260"></A>260}</SPAN> +Dighton were in +prison for treason in 1502, they made the following confession. Taking +his way to Gloucester in August 1483, King Richard sent one John Green +with a letter to Sir Robert Brakenbury, Constable of the Tower, +ordering him to put the children to death. Sir Robert plainly answered +that he would not put them to death; with which answer John Green +returning, recounted the same to King Richard at Warwick. +</P> + +<P> +'The same night the King said to a secret page of his, "Who shall I +trust to do my bidding?" "Sir," quoth the page, "there lieth one on +your pallet without who I dare well say will do your Grace's pleasure, +the things were right hard that he would refuse." This was Sir James +Tyrrel, who saw with envy that Ratcliffe and Catesby were rising above +him in his master's favour. Going out to Sir James, who was reposing +with his brother Thomas, the King said "what Sirs are you abed so +soon?" then, calling Sir James into his chamber, he brake to him +secretly his mind in this mischievous matter. Tyrrel assented, and was +despatched on the morrow with a letter to Brakenbury, to deliver to Sir +James all the keys of the Tower for one night. After which letter +delivered and the keys received, Sir James appointed the night next +ensuing to destroy them, devising before and preparing the means. The +princes were in charge of Will Slaughter (or Slater) called "Black +Will," who was set to serve them and see them sure. Sir James Tyrrel +devised that they should be murdered in their beds; to the execution +whereof he appointed Miles Forest, one of the four who kept them, a +fellow flesh-bred in murder before time. To him he joined his +horse-keeper, John Dighton, a big, broad, square, strong +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P261"></A>261}</SPAN> +knave. +They smothered the children, and Tyrrel ordered the murderers to bury +them at the stair foot, metely deep in the ground, under a great heap +of stones. Then rode Sir James in great haste to King Richard, and +shewed him all the manner of the murder, who gave him great thanks, and +as some say, then made him knight. But the King allowed not their +burial in so vile a corner, because they were King's sons. Whereupon a +priest of Sir Robert Brakenbury took them and secretly interred them in +such a place as, by the occasion of his death which only knew it the +very truth could never yet be very well known. Very truth is it and +well known that at such time as Sir James Tyrrel was in the Tower for +treason, committed against King Henry VII., both he and Dighton were +examined together of this point, and both they confessed the murder to +be done in the same manner as you have heard. God never gave a more +notable example of what wretched end ensueth such despiteous cruelty. +Miles Forest at St. Martin-le-Grand piecemeal miserably rotted away. +Sir James Tyrrel died on Tower Hill. Dighton, indeed, yet walketh +alive, in good possibility to be hanged ere he die.' Grafton says: +'John Dighton lived at Calais long after, no less disdained and hated +than pointed at, and there died in great misery.' The version in +Kennet[<A NAME="chap0205fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn21">21</A>] makes both 'Dighton and Forest die in a most horrible +manner, rotting away by degrees.' 'Thus, as I have learned of them +that much knewe and little cause had to lye were these two princes +murdered.' This last sentence is audacious. These informers, if they +ever existed outside the writer's imagination, had very strong cause to +lie. They thus complied with the wishes of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P262"></A>262}</SPAN> +the reigning powers, +and furthered their own interests. The truth, if they knew it, would +have been their ruin. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +The story published by Rastell +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Such is the detailed accusation which was finally put forward. It +contradicts the story of Morton, in his alleged conversation with +Buckingham, who says that the princes were murdered long before the +King reached Warwick, and while Buckingham was still at Court. On the +face of it there is no confession in this long story. It is a +concocted tale, and, indeed, this is fully admitted. It is merely +represented to be the most probable among several others which were +based on various accounts of the alleged confession. If there ever was +a confession why should there be various accounts of it? The silence +of Fabyan, and of Polydore Virgil, who must have heard of the +confession if it had been made, seems conclusive against the truth of +the story of a confession. +</P> + +<P> +Even this selected tale, as we have received it, is full of gross +improbabilities and inaccuracies. For instance, Tyrrel, who is said to +have been knighted for the murder, had been a knight for twelve years, +and was also a Knight Banneret of some standing.[<A NAME="chap0205fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn22">22</A>] The first thing +that strikes one is that, if the story had been true, Henry must have +heard the main facts when he came to London, after the battle of +Bosworth. For Sir Robert Brackenbury's supersession during one day, +with the delivery of all the keys to Sir James Tyrrel, must inevitably +have been known to his subordinates. All the officials of the Tower +must have known it, and must also have known that the boys disappeared +at the same time. Many persons must have been acquainted with what +happened. Some of them would certainly have been eager to gain favour +with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P263"></A>263}</SPAN> +Henry by telling him, when he enquired about the missing +princes. Yet there is no accusation in the Act of Attainder against +Richard or Tyrrel, and it is pretended that nothing was known until +1502. This proves that the story was a subsequent fabrication. +</P> + +<P> +There is another proof that the tale was false. It is alleged that +Tyrrel and Dighton both confessed. Yet Tyrrel was beheaded for another +offence in defiance of Henry's plighted word, and Dighton was rewarded +with a residence at Calais and, as will be seen presently, a sinecure +in Lincolnshire. These are proofs that there was no such confession as +was alleged and was embodied in the story which, as it now stands, must +be a fabrication. For if the confessions were ever made, Tyrrel and +Dighton must have been tried and convicted for these atrocious murders, +and duly punished. It has been suggested that Tyrrel could not be +proceeded against because his statement was under the seal of +confession. It is clear from the story that this was not so. The +story tells us that Tyrrel and Dighton were subjected to examination, +and that it was in that way that their confessions were obtained. In +point of fact Dighton does not appear to have been arrested at all. +The names of those who were concerned in Tyrrel's business are given by +the chroniclers, and Dighton is not one of them.[<A NAME="chap0205fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn23">23</A>] +</P> + +<P> +It seems unnecessary to dwell on the absurdities and contradictions in +the story itself. They have often been exposed, and indeed they are +admitted by Mr. Gairdner, who merely contends that the story may be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P264"></A>264}</SPAN> +true in the main, although the details may not be correct. But +it is worth while to refer to the contention of Sharon Turner, Lingard +and others, that the story must be true, on the ground that the persons +mentioned in it were rewarded by King Richard. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Alleged rewards to murderers +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +They maintain that 'Brakenbury and Tyrrel received several grants, +Green was made receiver of the Isle of Wight and of the castle and +lordship of Porchester, Dighton was appointed Bailiff of the manor of +Ayton, Forest was keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard Castle.' But it is +not pretended that 'Black Will' was rewarded by Richard. We shall +presently see that he was by Henry. All this can easily be answered. +Brackenbury and Tyrrel were Yorkist officers of rank, and such grants +would have been made to them in any circumstances for their +distinguished services. As regards the others, either the grants were +made previous to the alleged date of the murders, or there is no +evidence to show whether they were made before or after, or in any way +to connect them with the crime. The statement that Green held the +receiverships of the Isle of Wight and Porchester is derived from an +entirely unsupported note by Strype.[<A NAME="chap0205fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn24">24</A>] There was a man named Green +who was Comptroller of Customs at Boston, and another who was appointed +to provide horse meat and litter for the King's stables. But the dates +of these appointments were July 24 and 30, 1483, before the alleged +date of the murders. +</P> + +<P> +A man named Dighton was made Bailiff of the manor of Ayton[<A NAME="chap0205fn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn25">25</A>]; but +there is nothing to show that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P265"></A>265}</SPAN> +this appointment was after the +murder, or that he was Tyrrel's horse keeper, or that Tyrrel ever had a +groom of that name. It will presently be seen that the John Dighton of +the murder was probably a clergyman and not a groom. +</P> + +<P> +It is alleged of Miles Forest that he was one of four jailers in the +Tower who had charge of the princes, that he was a professional +murderer, and that he rotted away miserably, in sanctuary at St. +Martin's-le-Grand. These assertions are certainly false. Miles Forest +was keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard Castle[<A NAME="chap0205fn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn26">26</A>] in the valley of the +Tees in Durham, 244 miles from the Tower of London. There he lived +with his wife Joan and his son Edward. A footman serving at Middleham +Castle, named Henry Forest, was perhaps another son.[<A NAME="chap0205fn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn27">27</A>] There is not +the slightest reason for believing that Forest entered upon his +appointment after the date of the alleged murders; but much to disprove +this assumption. He died in September 1484, and, as his wife and son +received a pension for their lives, he must have been an old and +faithful servant who had held the office for many years. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Lingard suggests that the pension was granted because Forest held +the post for such a <I>short</I> time, assuming that he was one of the +murderers in the story. This is certainly a very odd reason for +granting a pension![<A NAME="chap0205fn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn28">28</A>] Some authors have thought that it was +Baynard's Castle, the residence of the Duchess of York in London, where +Forest was keeper of the wardrobe. But the names in the manuscript are +quite clear. +</P> + +<P> +Miles Forest was a responsible old official in a royal castle, living +with his wife and grown-up sons in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P266"></A>266}</SPAN> +far north of England; +where he died and his family received a pension for his long service. +We are asked to believe that he was, at the same time, a notorious +murderer who was also a jailer in the Tower of London, and that he died +in sanctuary at St. Martin's-le-Grand. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Genesis of the story +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +How Forest's name got into the story concocted from the pretended +confession it is not possible, at this distance of time, to surmise. +But the author of it was quite unscrupulous, and the above +considerations justify the conclusion that Forest's name was used +without any regard for truth. There was a desire to give names and +other details in order to throw an air of verisimilitude over the +fable. We see the same attempt in the use of the name of Dighton. He +was not Tyrrel's horse-keeper, nor probably the actual murderer, but a +different person, as will be seen presently. But there was a John +Dighton living at Calais when the story was made up, who was known to +be connected, in some mysterious way, with the disappearance of the +princes. So the author of the story hit upon his name to do duty as a +strong square knave who did the deed. The name of Forest was doubtless +adopted owing to some similar chance. The name of neither Deighton nor +Forest occurs in the authorised version as given by Polydore Virgil. +</P> + +<P> +Henry at first only accused Tyrrel of the murders; but it seems likely +that he subsequently put forward some further details. There is an +indication of the Green episode in Polydore Virgil. It is therefore +probable that it was sanctioned by Henry's authority, as well as the +details respecting the interment of the bodies. All the rest about +Dighton and Forest, and the mode in which their crime was committed, is +an impudent fabrication, as regards Richard, based upon +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P267"></A>267}</SPAN> +the +authorised story which is given by Polydore Virgil. The Italian was +supplied with the statement sanctioned by Henry, and he distinctly +tells us that the mode of death was not divulged. +</P> + +<P> +If the mode of death was not divulged, the alleged confession of Tyrrel +and Dighton cannot have taken place. For this is the very thing they +would have confessed. +</P> + +<P> +There remains a circumstantial story which may really have been +connected with a secret tragedy. It has a very suspicious look of +having been parodied out of something which actually happened. It is +unlikely to have been pure invention. The fear of detection must have +been always haunting Henry's mind. He would be tortured with the +apprehension that the vague rumours he had set afloat against Richard +were not believed; and this would be an inducement to promulgate a more +detailed and circumstantial story. He could not and dared not accuse +Tyrrel while he was alive, for a reason which will appear directly, but +as soon as he was dead it would be safe to do so. At the time when he +got rid of Tyrrel his son Arthur had just died. The man's mind would +be filled with fear of retributive justice. Then the terror of +detection would increase upon him. He would long to throw off +suspicion from himself, by something more decisive than vague rumour. +The notion of imputing his own crime, in its real details, to his +predecessor, is quite in keeping with the workings of a subtle and +ingenious mind such as we know Henry's to have been. Hence, Tyrrel, +Green, Dighton, Black Will, may have been the accomplices of Henry +VII., not of Richard III. As soon as Tyrrel was disposed of, the +circumstantial story might be divulged as his confession, merely +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P268"></A>268}</SPAN> +substituting the name of Richard for that of Henry, and the name of +Brackenbury for that of Daubeney.[<A NAME="chap0205fn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn29">29</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Murder of the princes +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +With this clue to guide us, let us see what light can still be thrown +on the dark question of the murders. Sir James Tyrrel of Gipping had +been a knight of some distinction. He had been on a commission for +exercising the office of Lord High Constable under Edward IV. He had +been Master of the Horse and was created a Knight Banneret at Berwick +siege. King Richard made him Master of the Henchmen and conferred many +favours on him. But he was not one of the good men and true who stood +by their sovereign to the end. His name drops out of history during +those last anxious months before Bosworth. He was no doubt a trimmer. +But he could not escape the consequences of his long service under the +Yorkist kings. Henry Tudor deprived him of his Chamberlainship of the +Exchequer, and of his Constableship of Newport, in order to bestow +those appointments on his own friends.[<A NAME="chap0205fn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn30">30</A>] Tyrrel had to wait +patiently in the cold shade. But he was ambitious, unscrupulous, and +ready to do a great deal for the sake of the new King's favour. Here +was a ready instrument for such a man as Henry Tudor. +</P> + +<P> +The die had been cast. The usurper had married Elizabeth of York and +entered upon the year 1486. There was a dark deed which must be done. +Henry set out on a progress to York, leaving London in the middle of +March. On the 11th of the same month, John Green received from the new +King a grant of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P269"></A>269}</SPAN> +a third of the manor of Benyngton in +Hertfordshire.[<A NAME="chap0205fn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn31">31</A>] For this favour Green had, no doubt, to perform +some secret service which, if satisfactorily executed, would be more +fully rewarded. This grant was a small retaining fee. We know from +the story what that service was. We also know from the story that +Green did not succeed. Henry VII. returned from his progress in June, +only to find that Green had failed him in his need. Then Henry (not +Richard) may well have exclaimed 'Who shall I trust to do my bidding?' +'"Sir," quoth a secret councillor'[<A NAME="chap0205fn32text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn32">32</A>] (called a page in the story), +'"there waiteth without one who I dare well say will do your Grace's +pleasure." So Tyrrel was taken into favour, and undertook to perform +Henry's work with the understanding that he was to receive a sufficient +reward. He became a knight of the King's body.[<A NAME="chap0205fn33text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn33">33</A>] On June 16, 1486, +Sir James Tyrrel late of Gipping received a general pardon.[<A NAME="chap0205fn34text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn34">34</A>] There +is nothing extraordinary in this. It was an ordinary practice, in +those days, to grant general pardons on various occasions. But it +marks the date when Henry found 'one without' who was ready to do his +pleasure. Tyrrel, as the story tells us, was given a warrant to the +Lieutenant of the Tower, conferring on him the needful powers. The +murders were then committed, as the story informs us, by William +Slaughter or Slater, called 'Black Will,' with the aid of John Dighton. +Slater was, no doubt, the jailer. Master Dighton, however, was not +Tyrrel's groom. A John Dighton was a priest, and possibly a chaplain +in the Tower. He may have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P270"></A>270}</SPAN> +been only an accessory after the fact, +in connexion with the interments. The bodies, as we are told in the +story, were buried at the stair foot, 'metely deep in the ground'; +where they were discovered in July 1674,[<A NAME="chap0205fn35text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn35">35</A>] 188 years afterwards. The +tale about their removal,[<A NAME="chap0205fn36text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn36">36</A>] and the death of the priest, was no doubt +inserted by Henry, to prevent that discovery. On July 16, 1486, Sir +James Tyrrel received a second general pardon.[<A NAME="chap0205fn37text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn37">37</A>] This would be very +singular under ordinary circumstances, the second pardon having been +granted within a month of the first. But it is not so singular when we +reflect on what probably took place in the interval. There was an +offence to be condoned which must be kept a profound secret. Thus we +are able to fix the time of the murder of the two young princes between +June 16 and July 16, 1486. One was fifteen and a half, the other +twelve years of age. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Relations silenced +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Henry had at length found courage to commit the crime. He may have +excused it to himself from the absolute necessity of his position. It +had been perpetrated in profound secrecy. If the mother, brother, or +sisters suspected anything, they could be silenced. They were +absolutely at his mercy. Henry caused the mother to be stripped of her +property, immured in Bermondsey nunnery, and left dependent on him for +subsistence. She was thus effectually silenced. The Marquis of +Dorset, half brother of the murdered boys, was committed to the Tower +during 1487; but he succeeded in convincing the tyrant that there was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P271"></A>271}</SPAN> +nothing to fear from him, and was eventually released. The +eldest sister was Henry's wife and at his mercy—the wife of a man who, +as his admirers mildly put it, 'was not uxorious.' She was within two +months of her confinement. Doubtless for that reason her mother kept +all misgivings to herself. Henry married the next sister, Cicely, to +his old uncle Lord Welles,[<A NAME="chap0205fn38text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn38">38</A>] who would ensure her silence. She was +married in that very year, and sent off to Lincolnshire. The three +youngest were children, and in due time could be married to his +adherents, or shut up in a nunnery.[<A NAME="chap0205fn39text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn39">39</A>] Others who knew much, and must +have suspected more, were silent in public, for their fortunes, perhaps +their lives, depended on their silence. +</P> + +<P> +Yet the guilty tyrant could have known no peace. He must have been +haunted by the fear of detection, however industriously he might cause +reports to be spread and histories to be written, in which his +predecessor was charged with his crimes. Then there was the horror of +having to deal with his accomplices. Here fortune favoured him. Green +died in the end of 1486[<A NAME="chap0205fn40text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn40">40</A>]; though hush money seems to have been paid +to 'Black Will' for some time longer.[<A NAME="chap0205fn41text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn41">41</A>] John Dighton +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P272"></A>272}</SPAN> +was +presented by Henry VII. with the living of Fulbeck near Grantham, in +Lincolnshire, on May 2, 1487.[<A NAME="chap0205fn42text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn42">42</A>] But he was expected to live on the +other side of the Channel. Sir James Tyrrel received ample recompense. +He seems to have been appointed to the office of Constable of Guisnes +immediately after the date of his second general pardon.[<A NAME="chap0205fn43text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn43">43</A>] He was +next sent as ambassador to Maximilian, King of the Romans, to conclude +a perpetual league and treaty. In 1493 Tyrrel was one of the +Commissioners for negotiating the Treaty of Etaples with France. In +August 1487 he received a grant for life of the Stewardship of the +King's Lordship of Ogmore in Wales. But Henry, although he was obliged +to reward his accomplices, was anxious to keep them on the other side +of the Channel as much as possible. Dighton had to reside at Calais. +Tyrrel was required to make an exchange, giving up his estates in Wales +to the King, and receiving revenues from the county of Guisnes of equal +value.[<A NAME="chap0205fn44text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn44">44</A>] In 1498 Henry still addressed him as his well-beloved and +faithful councillor. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Arrest of Tyrrel +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +The long-sought pretext for getting rid of Tyrrel was found in 1502. +The usurper dreaded the Earl of Suffolk, King Richard's nephew, as a +claimant to the throne. He heard that Tyrrel had favoured the escape +of the ill-fated young prince to Germany. Henry would be terrified at +the idea of Tyrrel taking the side of another claimant, and publicly +denouncing his misdeeds. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P273"></A>273}</SPAN> +He ordered the arrest of his +accomplice, but Tyrrel refused to surrender the castle of Guisnes. He +was besieged by the whole garrison of Calais. Henry then ordered Dr. +Fox, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, one of his most +intimate associates, to send a promise under the privy seal, to the +effect that Tyrrel should come and go in security if he would confer +with Sir Thomas Lovell, Henry's Chancellor of the Exchequer, on board a +ship at Calais. Tyrrel should have known his master by this time. But +even he had not gauged the full depth of Tudor perfidy. He was +deceived by the 'pulchris verbis' of Bishop Fox.[<A NAME="chap0205fn45text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn45">45</A>] When he came on +board he was told that he would be pitched overboard unless he sent a +token to his son to deliver up the castle. The token was sent, and the +King's promise under his privy seal was broken. Tyrrel was safely +locked up in a dungeon of the Tower and beheaded without trial and in +great haste on May 6, 1502. +</P> + +<P> +At length Henry could breathe freely. Green and Tyrrel were dead. +Slater does not appear again, so it +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P274"></A>274}</SPAN> +may be assumed that he also +had been got rid of. Only Dighton remained. He had to reside at +Calais on the proceeds of his sinecure in Lincolnshire, and to be +useful as a false witness. We know from Rastell and Grafton that he +did live and die at Calais. The identity of names suggests the +probability that he was a brother or son of the John Dighton who was +Bailiff of Ayton Manor. +</P> + +<P> +The story told in the publications of Grafton and Rastell was generally +accepted as true; although, even after the lapse of so many years, +there must have been many old people who knew it to be false. These +people had the choice between silence and ruin. As they died off, the +belief in the story became more and more universal. This fable, +appearing first in Grafton, was the final touch to the hideous and +grotesque caricature which was portrayed by the Tudor historians and +dramatised by Shakespeare. The history of its reception in all its +absurd and improbable details, of the ineradicable prejudice which +could keep it alive for four centuries, and long after sound methods of +criticism had begun to be applied to other historical questions, forms +a curious chapter in the record of human credulity. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Death of the Earl of Warwick +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Henry Tudor suffered for his crimes. The secret removal of his wife's +brothers and of her uncle's illegitimate son failed to complete the +catalogue of them. Young Edward Earl of Warwick was another stumbling +block in his way. But again his superstitious mind recoiled from guilt +which his judgment recommended. If his wife had been legitimate, there +would have been no danger to Henry from the Earl of Warwick; that young +prince would have been far removed from the succession. His wife's +illegitimacy +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P275"></A>275}</SPAN> +made her cousin the rightful heir, and hence another +crime seemed necessary. Henry put off the perpetration of this crime +for years. Ferdinand of Spain refused to allow a marriage between his +daughter and Henry's son Arthur, until the rightful heir to the crown +of England had been put out of the way. This refusal at length gave +Henry a motive for the crime which outweighed his superstitious fears. +He committed it in a way which was thoroughly characteristic. He +caused Perkin Warbeck to be given access to the Earl of Warwick in the +Tower, and some of the jailers were told to suggest an attempt at +escape. An informer, named Robert Cleymound, was employed to listen to +the conversations of the two lads, and to report that an escape was +meditated by them. This was made a capital charge against the young +prince. He was subjected to a mock trial, so that Henry might indulge +in his hope of limited liability for murder, and was then slaughtered +on November 28, 1499. A man who was capable of committing such a +cowardly murder in such a way was certainly as capable of the crime of +which he falsely accused King Richard. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as Richard III. was dead, Edward Earl of Warwick became <I>de +jure</I> King of England, not only as the acknowledged heir to the dead +King but also as the nearest in succession, and as the last male +Plantagenet. His existence was, at that time, a serious danger to the +usurper, who did not lose a day in securing the poor lad's person. If, +as Henry afterwards caused it to be proclaimed, the declaration of the +illegitimacy of the children of Edward IV. was false, then the Earl of +Warwick ceased to be dangerous; and there was no object in condemning +him to perpetual imprisonment. It was a useless act of injustice +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P276"></A>276}</SPAN> +and cruelty. But if Henry knew that, in spite of his attempts to +destroy all evidence of the illegitimacy, the awkward fact remained, +his injustice and cruelty are explained. They afford one more proof of +the truth of Dr. Stillington's evidence, which led to the accession of +King Richard. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick was now put out of the way, in obedience to the King of Spain. +But remorse gnawed the tyrant's heart. His father confessor, though +doubtless an astute courtier, failed to soothe his conscience. He +sought the help of wizards and quacks. But his superstitions gave him +little consolation. The Spanish Ambassador noticed the change that had +taken place in Henry's appearance since the murder of young Warwick. +Don Pedro de Ayala had been in Scotland during the interval. The King +had come to look many years older in a single month. Dark thoughts +were haunting his mind. His eldest son died, and an anonymous writer +has recorded that he showed some feeling, and exchanged words of +consolation with his wife.[<A NAME="chap0205fn46text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn46">46</A>] This is quite in keeping with one side +of his character. The other side is shown in his harsh treatment of +Catharine of Aragon, in his monstrous proposal to marry her when his +wife died, in his disgusting inquiries respecting the young Queen of +Naples, and in his revolting offer for the hand of Juana (<I>la loca</I>). +But the necessities of his position gave him little time for the +indulgence either of such grief as he was capable of feeling or of the +other less creditable sentiments that are revealed in his +correspondence. His son's death must have seemed to him the Nemesis of +his crimes. Yet within a month he was beheading +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P277"></A>277}</SPAN> +Tyrrel, and +fabricating a story to account for the disappearance of his wife's +brothers. +</P> + +<P> +We can never know how much that wife suffered. No doubt she was kept +in ignorance of the fate of her brothers. But she knew they were not +killed by her uncle. She saw her mother immured in a nunnery for life. +She saw her brother, the Marquis of Dorset, committed to the Tower. +She saw the sister, nearest to her in age, hurriedly married to old +Lord Welles. She must have suspected much, even if she knew nothing. +She could not have been kept in ignorance of the cruel imprisonment of +her young cousin Warwick. She must have shuddered at his murder. She +would have been less than human if she did not loathe the perpetrator +of these deeds, even though he was the father of her children. The +unhappy wife was released from companionship with the murderer of her +relations on February 11, 1503. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Death of the Earl of Suffolk +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Another crime was contemplated by the miserable usurper, to make his +position safe. But he could not get the Earl of Suffolk into his +clutches without giving a solemn promise to spare his life. He evaded +the promise by advising his son to commit the crime after his +death.[<A NAME="chap0205fn47text"></A><A HREF="#chap0205fn47">47</A>] Murderous designs thus occupied his mind, even on his +death-bed. +</P> + +<P> +Yet one of Henry's last acts was an act of restitution. He restored in +blood, and to all his estates, the son of his accomplice, Sir James +Tyrrel, on April 6, 1507, feeling no doubt that the greater criminal of +the two remained unpunished, except by his own remorseful conscience. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P278"></A>278}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Henry became haggard and restless. Prosperous and successful as the +world deemed him, we may rely upon it that his crimes were not +unpunished. His cowardly nature was peculiarly susceptible to the +torturing pangs of remorse. He died, full of terrors, prematurely old +and worn out, at the early age of fifty-two, on April 21, 1509. He was +successful as the world counts success. He accumulated riches by +plunder and extortion. He established a despotic government. He +cleared his path of rivals. We are told that he inaugurated a new +era—era of 'benevolences' and Star Chamber prosecutions. In all these +things he succeeded. He, and the writers he employed, were +pre-eminently successful as slanderers. They succeeded in blackening +for all time the fame of a far better man than Henry Tudor. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="sidenote"> +Things unexplained +</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto we have been engaged in the investigation of positive +evidence. There is, however, another side to the question—a negative +side. We must now examine Henry's omissions. According to his story +he found the two boys missing when he arrived in London after the +battle of Bosworth. If Henry's story was true, it must have been well +known to every official in the Tower that Sir Robert Brackenbury gave +up charge to Sir James Tyrrel and that the boys had never been seen +since. If Henry made any enquiries he must have heard this, and the +whole story would have come out. Why were not Tyrrel, Dighton, Green, +and Black Will arrested, tried, and hanged? Why was not King Richard +accused of murdering his nephews in the Act of Attainder? It is very +improbable, though just possible, that Henry might have failed to +ascertain the details of the story, assuming it to have been true, when +he first arrived. Still, if the boys were missing, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P279"></A>279}</SPAN> +it is certain +that he would have accused Richard of their murder in the Act of +Attainder. His omission to do so amounts to a strong presumption that +they were not missing. According to the story, Tyrrel and Dighton +confessed the murder in 1502. Why were they not tried and executed for +it? This must have been done if there ever was a confession. It was +clearly not made under the seal of confession, according to the story, +but under the pressure of official examination. Tyrrel was actually +beheaded, in great haste, on a frivolous charge, and his capture was a +breach of a royal promise given under the privy seal. Surely this +would have been avoided if there had been any other way, and there was +another way. There was every possible reason for trying him for these +horrible murders and executing him for them. Why was not this done? +There can be only one answer. There was no confession. Henry's +treatment of Dighton is still more extraordinary. It is alleged that +he also confessed the murder. Yet he was not only unpunished, but +allowed to live at large in Calais. When we find that Henry gave +rewards to Tyrrel, Dighton, Green, and Black Will, the conclusion is +inevitable that there was no confession to the King in 1502, because it +was quite unnecessary. The confession was due from Henry himself. +</P> + +<P> +Another omission in Henry's conduct is equally incriminating. If the +children of Edward IV. were legitimate, why was not the Act of Richard +III. published, which alleged their illegitimacy, and its falsehood +fully exposed by evidence? Why was such extraordinary anxiety shown to +conceal its contents, and violence threatened against anyone who +preserved a record of them? Why were absurd, improbable, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P280"></A>280}</SPAN> +and +contradictory tales invented, in substitution of the statements made in +Richard's Act? There can be only one answer. The statements in the +Act were true. +</P> + +<P> +In no other way can Henry's cruel treatment of the young Earl of +Warwick be accounted for. If Elizabeth was the legitimate heiress of +York, then there could be no danger from Warwick, and no reason for +molesting him. He was simply a harmless young prince, far removed from +the succession. But if Elizabeth and her sisters were not legitimate, +the case was very different. Warwick was then <I>de jure</I> Edward V. +There was every reason for a usurper to imprison and kill him. The +Lambert Simnel insurrection is explained in that case. It would have +been without motive if Warwick came after five others in the succession +to the crown. Here again Henry's conduct can only be explained in one +way. Warwick was imprisoned and killed for the same reason that +Richard's Act of Parliament, declaring his title, was destroyed. +</P> + +<P> +The conduct of Henry adds weight to all the other evidence. It cannot +be reconciled with his innocence. It can only be explained by his +guilt. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn1text">1</A>] William Catesby was the son of Sir William Catesby of Ashby St. +Leger in Northamptonshire, by Philippa, heiress of Sir William +Bishopston. He was a learned man, well versed in the laws of his +country. On June 30, 1483, he become Chancellor of the Exchequer, and +was chosen Speaker of King Richard's Parliament. Lord Rivers had such +confidence in his integrity that he nominated him executor of his will. +His wife was Margaret, daughter of William Lord Zouch. He made his own +will on August 25, 1485, leaving his wife sole executrix and dividing +his property among his children. His unjust attainder was afterwards +reversed in favour of his son George. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn2text">2</A>] Yet Dr. Lingard tells us that 'Henry was careful not to stain his +triumph with blood.' This is a strange assertion, when it is directly +followed by the admission that he did stain his triumph with blood. Of +all his prisoners,' he continues, 'three only suffered death, the +notorious [why notorious?] Catesby and two persons of the name of +Brecher, who <I>probably</I> had merited that distinction by their crimes' +(iv. p. 260). This is a pure assumption, unwarranted by any evidence +whatever. If the word 'loyalty' had been substituted for 'crimes,' Dr. +Lingard would have been nearer the truth. All that this historian's +praise amounts to is that Henry refrained from committing a massacre, +such as he caused to be perpetrated on a subsequent occasion, when +Warbeck's followers landed in Kent. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Mr. Gairdner says: 'Whether these executions were just is another +question, save that the ministers of a bad king must take the +responsibility even of his worst deeds' (p. 311). He evidently sees +that Henry's conduct is indefensible; and he has elsewhere admitted +that Richard was not a bad King. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +The more impartial Hutton says: 'Thus the first regal act performed by +Henry was an act of tyranny' (<I>Bosworth</I>, p. 148). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn3text">3</A>] 'For men remember not any King of England before that tyme which +used such a furniture of daily soldiers.'—Hall, p. 425. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn4text">4</A>] Gairdner. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn5text">5</A>] 'De jure belli et de jure Lancastriæ.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn6text">6</A>] <I>Rot. Parl.</I> vi. 289<I>a</I>. The monk of Croyland had a copy, but +luckily for him, he was not found out. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn7text">7</A>] <I>Plumpton Correspondence</I>. Letter dated December 13, 1485 (p. 49). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn8text">8</A>] Translation by Mr. Gairdner in his <I>Henry VII.</I> (p. 38). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn9text">9</A>] 11 Henry VII. cap. 1 (1496). It was enacted that no person serving +the King and Sovereign Lord of the land for the time being shall be +convicted of high treason, nor suffer any forfeiture or imprisonment. +In the previous year the usurper, also no doubt from fear of public +opinion, had paid 10<I>l.</I> 1<I>s.</I> to James Keyley for King Richard's tomb +(<I>Excerp. Hist.</I> p. 105). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn10text">10</A>] Grant to John of Gloucester of an annual rent of 20<I>l.</I> during the +King's pleasure, from the revenues of the manor of Kingston Lacey, +parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster in the county of Dorset. March 1 +1486.—<I>Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII.</I> i. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn11text">11</A>] 'About the same time there was a base-born son of King Richard +III. made away, having been kept long in prison.'—Buck, p. 105, from +<I>Chron. MS.</I> in 4to. apud <I>Dr. Rob. Cotton</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn12text">12</A>] Rymer, xii. p. 265. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn13text">13</A>] A critic, after reading this work, objected that partiality was +shown by the fact that while the older writers are blamed for +blackening Richard's character in other ways, in order to make the +charge of murdering the princes more plausible, precisely the same +thing is done with Henry VII. But the other charges against Henry are +proved and acknowledged facts. Those against Richard have been +disproved. The older writers are justly blamed for inventing calumnies. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn14text">14</A>] Fabyan. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn15text">15</A>] Polydore Virgil. Lord Bacon observes, in his <I>Life of Henry +VII.</I>, 'which proceeding, being even at that time taxed for rigorous +and undue makes it probable there was some greater matter against her, +which the King, upon reason of policy, would not publish.' +Undoubtedly, there was; she knew too much. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn16text">16</A>] Dr. Lingard (iv. 279 and 286<I>n</I>) and Nicolas (p. lxxviii) bring +forward a negotiation with the King of Scots, in November 1487, in +which Henry proposed that James III. should marry the Queen Dowager, as +a proof that he never deprived her of liberty. If he suspected her, +they argue, he would not have given her the opportunity of plotting +against him, which her situation as Queen of Scotland would have +afforded her. Although Henry may have momentarily entertained the idea +of getting rid of a woman who knew too much by this expatriation, he +soon changed his mind. She was safer in his power. The negotiations +were broken off, and James was killed in the following year. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn17text">17</A>] She was present when her daughter gave audience to the French +Ambassador in November 1489 (<I>Leland Coll.</I> iv. 249). Henry allowed +her a pension of 400<I>l.</I> a year from February 19, 1490. Her will, +dated April 10, 1492, is witnessed by the Abbot of Bermondsey. She +here confirms the fact of the seizure of her property by her +son-in-law. Her words are decisive on that point. 'Whereas I have no +worldly goods.' Sir H. Nicolas tried to account for this by suggesting +that she only had a life interest in her income. But this will not +explain so sweeping a statement as that she had no worldly goods at all +(p. lxxx). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +Mr. Gairdner says: 'Henry VII. found it advisable to shut up his +mother-in-law in a monastery, and had not the slightest scruple in +taking her property away from her' (<I>Richard III.</I> p. 88). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn18text">18</A>] <I>Letters Patent</I>, March 4, 1486. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn19text">19</A>] Gairdner's <I>Henry VII.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn20text">20</A>] 'The King's manner of showing things by pieces and side lights +hath so muffled it that it hath left it almost a mystery to this +day.'—Lord Bacon. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn21text">21</A>] i. 501. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn22text">22</A>] He was made a Knight Banneret at the taking of Berwick, in 1482. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn23text">23</A>] They were Sir William Courtenay, one Welborne, and Tyrrel's son, +who were pardoned; Sir Walter Tyrrel and Sir John Wyndham beheaded; a +Ship-master hanged at Tyburn, a Poursuivant named Curson, and a Yeoman +named Matthew Jones executed at Guisnes; all on suspicion of having +aided the Earl of Suffolk to escape. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn24text">24</A>] In Rennet's <I>England</I>, i. p. 552. Mr. Gairdner, referring to this +note by Strype, says: 'I own I cannot find his authority.'—<I>Richard +III.</I> p. 164. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn25text">25</A>] <I>Harl. MS.</I> 433, fol. 55. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn26text">26</A>] <I>Harl. MS.</I> 433, fol. 78 and 187. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn27text">27</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> 433, fol. 118. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn28text">28</A>] v. 577. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn29text">29</A>] The Earl of Oxford was appointed Constable of the Tower for life, +on September 22, 1485. We may hope that Oxford, who did not reside, +had no guilty knowledge. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn30text">30</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> i. pp. 41, 95. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn31text">31</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> i. p. 384. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn32"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn32text">32</A>] Was this Morton? Buck had heard so. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn33"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn33text">33</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> ii. p. 251. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn34"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn34text">34</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> i. p. 460. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn35"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn35text">35</A>] Sandford, v. p. 404. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn36"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn36text">36</A>] 'The latter part of the tale, which declares their interment by +the priest and their removal by Richard's order, was evidently +fabricated by Henry, to prevent the hazard of a search.'—Hutton's +<I>Bosworth</I>, p. 169. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn37"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn37text">37</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> i. p. 486. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn38"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn38text">38</A>] Lord Welles was a half brother, on the mother's side, of Henry's +mother. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn39"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn39text">39</A>] Anne was eleven. In due time she was married to the son of the +Earl of Surrey. Katherine was only seven. When she was twenty she +became the wife of the Lancastrian Earl of Devonshire. Bridget, the +youngest, was five. She was immured in a nunnery at Dartford, as soon +as she was old enough. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn40"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn40text">40</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> i. p. 617. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn41"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn41text">41</A>] As late as 1488 there is a grant of five marks, at Easter, 'by way +of reward,' to William Slater. If this was the jailer, he received +hush money for two years after the perpetration of the murders. He is +not heard of again. <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> ('Writs under the Privy +Seal. Easter Term 3 Hen. VII.'), ii. p. 298. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn42"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn42text">42</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> ii. p. 148. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn43"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn43text">43</A>] This appears from general pardons having been granted to the +former Constable, to the Chaplain, and to twenty-four soldiers of the +garrison of Guisnes on the same date, July 16. No doubt these pardons +were on the occasion of the appointment of a new Constable, and the +return of part of the garrison to England. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn44"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn44text">44</A>] <I>Memorials of Henry VII.</I> ii. pp. 188, 251. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn45"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn45text">45</A>] This is an ugly story. Dr. Richard Fox was originally an agent of +Morton and other conspirators abroad. This discreditable work brought +him to Paris early in 1485, where he became known to Henry Tudor. A +man so employed could not have been a good priest. He came with Henry +to England as his Secretary, and was of course well rewarded. He +became Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal; and appears to have +been munificent and diligent as a prelate. By his 'pulchris verbis' he +treacherously drew Tyrrel into the clutches of Sir Thomas Lovell. This +appears from a letter of the Earl of Suffolk to the Emperor Maximilian +dated at Aix-la-Chapelle on May 12, 1502. So hurried were the +proceedings against Tyrrel that he was actually beheaded six days +before the date of Suffolk's letter announcing his treacherous capture. +Bishop Fox has been much eulogised. But no one could be for years in +the inner counsels of such a man as Henry VII. without being in +sympathy with his ways, which certainly do not deserve eulogy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn46"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn46text">46</A>] <I>Leland's Coll.</I> v. p. 373. From an anonymous manuscript. +<I>Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII.</I>, B. P. i. Pref. p. 29. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0205fn47"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0205fn47text">47</A>] Lord Herbert of Cherbury, <I>Life of Henry VIII.</I> p. 36. 'Our King +executing what his father at his departure out of the world commanded, +as Bellay hath it.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0206"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P281"></A>281}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MR. GAIRDNER'S RICHARD III +</H4> + +<P> +It will be interesting, in conclusion, to examine the critical +treatment of these questions by the latest historian who has written on +the subject.[<A NAME="chap0206fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn1">1</A>] Mr. Gairdner argues in favour of the Tudor portrait of +the last Plantagenet King, but only to a limited extent. +</P> + +<P> +The thick and thin believers in the Tudor caricature, such as Hume and +Lingard, aroused doubts in many minds. Mr. Gairdner is the most +formidable enemy to the memory of the gallant young King that has yet +appeared, because he is, beyond comparison, the best informed author +that has ever treated of this part of history, has conscientiously +striven to be fair and impartial, and has stated both sides of the +question, while retaining a belief in Richard's worst crimes. His +predecessors, who have taken his view, simply adopted all the +statements of Tudor writers as facts, and have depicted a cool, +calculating, scheming, cruel, and most revolting villain without a +redeeming feature. They thus portrayed at least a possible monster. +But Mr. Gairdner, while striving to be fair and just, still clings to +what he calls 'tradition,' +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P282"></A>282}</SPAN> +that is to the Tudor stories of +crimes, told many years after the time. The two things are +incompatible, so that he produces a monster which would be impossible +anywhere. His Richard III. is a prince, headlong and reckless as to +consequences, but of rare gifts and with many redeeming qualities. He +was wise and able, brave, generous, religious, fascinating, and yet had +committed two very cowardly assassinations before he was nineteen, +murdered his defenceless nephews, and gratuitously slandered his +mother. Such a monster is an impossibility in real life. Even Dr. +Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are nothing to it. +</P> + +<P> +Let us see how Mr. Gairdner arrived at his two-sided monster. He +explains his method in his preface. He demurs to the view of the late +Mr. Buckle that commonly received opinions should be doubted until they +are found to stand the test of argument.[<A NAME="chap0206fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn2">2</A>] He lays it down that no +attempt to set aside traditional views can be successful until the +history of the particular epoch has been re-written, and the new +version exhibits a moral harmony with the facts of subsequent times and +of times preceding.[<A NAME="chap0206fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +'Tradition,' Mr. Gairdner tells us, is an interpreter and nothing more, +and seldom supplies anything material in the way of facts.[<A NAME="chap0206fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn4">4</A>] Yet he +adds that the attempt to discard it is like an attempt to learn a +language without a master, and he thinks that a sceptical spirit is a +most fatal one in history. It is difficult to follow him when he +announces that, in spite of this view of tradition, his plan is to +place the chief reliance on contemporary information, and that this +treatment of history should be adhered to.[<A NAME="chap0206fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn5">5</A>] +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P283"></A>283}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +'Tradition,' in Richard's case, means the embellishments of later +chroniclers writing long after the events, in the interests of another +dynasty. Unfortunately Mr. Gairdner does not always adhere to +contemporary evidence, but prefers 'tradition.' +</P> + +<P> +In the case of Richard III. Mr. Gairdner thinks that it is not clearly +shown that the story would be more intelligible without 'tradition,' +and that the said 'tradition' is not well accounted for. +</P> + +<P> +Let us endeavour to test these two propositions by the light of Mr. +Gairdner's own admissions. +</P> + +<P> +His Richard stood high in general estimation when Duke of +Gloucester.[<A NAME="chap0206fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn6">6</A>] As King the people showed him marks of loyalty.[<A NAME="chap0206fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn7">7</A>] In +the north undoubtedly, and perhaps with the common people generally, he +was highly popular, and there was every evidence of devoted loyalty and +personal popularity at the time of Buckingham's rising.[<A NAME="chap0206fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn8">8</A>] He was an +able ruler,[<A NAME="chap0206fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn9">9</A>] he had the confidence even of his enemies in his justice +and integrity,[<A NAME="chap0206fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn10">10</A>] he was generous not only to the widows and children +of fallen enemies, but even to the wives of rebels in open revolt,[<A NAME="chap0206fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn11">11</A>] +his generous acts were done graciously and in no grudging spirit,[<A NAME="chap0206fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn12">12</A>] +there was nothing mean or paltry in his character,[<A NAME="chap0206fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn13">13</A>] his manners were +ingratiating, and he had great influence over others. +</P> + +<P> +A person so described is very unintelligible if the assassinations and +infamies of 'tradition' have to be added. Richard's character is far +more intelligible without them; and 'tradition' is perfectly accounted +for by the necessities of the new dynasty, whose well-paid writers +created it. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P284"></A>284}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner acknowledges that 'tradition' seldom supplies anything +material in the way of facts. Yet he maintains that traditional views +cannot be set aside unless the history of the particular epoch is +re-written, and the new version exhibits a moral harmony with the facts +of subsequent times and times preceding. +</P> + +<P> +Of course certain passages in history would have to be re-written when +they were found to be erroneous. But the truth or falsehood of a +particular accusation cannot be affected by facts of subsequent times +or times preceding. Its truth or falsehood is not established by moral +harmony with something else, but by contemporary evidence. +</P> + +<P> +My detailed remarks on Mr. Gairdner's views respecting Richard's +alleged crimes are intended to show that his conclusions are mistaken +when they deviate from his own plan of placing the chief reliance on +contemporary evidence; and that a sceptical spirit, in the special case +of Richard, is absolutely necessary if the truth is to be reached. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner assumes that Richard murdered his nephews, and, on the +strength of his guilt in committing that crime, he argues that the +criminal was capable of anything during his former life, and on this +ground believes in some of the other alleged crimes. The earlier +accusers appear to argue in the reverse way. They accumulated every +accusation they could think of, with reference to Richard's former +life, in order to make the main crime more probable. +</P> + +<P> +Though Mr. Gairdner's sense of justice obliges him to make so many +admissions that the revolting monster of earlier histories almost +disappears in his hands, yet in some respects he goes backwards. For +he still +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P285"></A>285}</SPAN> +clings to the assassinations of young Edward and of +Henry VI., two horrible stories invented by later chroniclers. Surely +the sound arguments of Sharon Turner and others ought to have been +allowed finally to expunge these revolting fables from our history. +</P> + +<P> +However, in Mr. Gairdner's book the venomous hunchback, born with +teeth, entirely disappears. He gives us, in his place, a prince 'whose +bodily deformity, though perceptible, was probably not conspicuous.' +In his latest version, he abandons the assassination in the King's tent +by his chief nobles. He thinks that Richard is unduly blamed about the +murder of Henry VI. because it was probably sanctioned by others. He +pronounces Richard to be guiltless of the death of Clarence. He admits +that Anne was not married to young Edward, and that there is some +reason to believe that she regarded Richard with favour. He gives no +countenance to the insinuation that Anne was poisoned by her husband. +He is inclined to credit the pre-contract of Edward IV. with Lady +Eleanor Butler, and admits the strength of the evidence for its truth. +He considers it remarkable that a man (Lord Rivers) who suffered by the +Protector's order could appeal to him to be supervisor of his will. +This would certainly be very remarkable if Gloucester and Rivers had +been accomplices in two cowardly murders. Such monsters do not usually +place confidence in each other. But the simple truth is not +remarkable. Rivers felt that he had failed and must pay the penalty, +but he placed full and deserved confidence in Richard's honour and +integrity, as well as in his generosity. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P286"></A>286}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner has thus removed much of the Tudor garbage from the +picture of King Richard, but he will not sweep off the rest. His +researches show him that the accusations of the Tudor writers are +irreconcilable with the results of modern investigations. But his +preconceived convictions, although much shaken, are not yet swept away. +The inevitable result is that the life and character of Richard become +a puzzle to him. Generous, kind, and patriotic acts continue to be +recorded of the young King throughout his life, which are certainly not +the acts of an habitual assassin. Those who are forced to acknowledge +the facts, and yet cling to a belief in the fictions, find themselves +in a tight place. This is Mr. Gairdner's position. He will not give +up all the Tudor fables, and clings to such shreds of them as it seems +to him possible to retain. Yet his own researches force him to abandon +much and to apologize for the rest. The man's acts cannot be made to +harmonize with the Tudor calumnies. The consequent contradictions +necessitate the explanation that 'Richard was not yet even a hardened +criminal' (p. 46); while some of the events which cannot be disputed +are 'certainly remarkable' (p. 91), and others 'almost inconceivable' +(p. 214). +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner cannot quite give up the fable of the murder of young +Edward at Tewkesbury. He admits that it was not countenanced by any +contemporary writer, that it was first told by Fabyan many years after +the event, and that the final embellishment, according to which young +Gloucester was a participator in the crime, was a tradition of later +times. Yet in his history, he preferred the tradition of later times +to the story of Fabyan, although he thought the latter had every +appearance of probability, and he preferred both to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P287"></A>287}</SPAN> +unanimous +testimony of contemporaries.[<A NAME="chap0206fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn14">14</A>] There is no reason for this +topsy-turvy criticism, except that what Mr. Gairdner calls a +'tradition' accuses Richard, while Fabyan and the contemporaries do not. +</P> + +<P> +His arguments in favour of the murder given in his 'Life of Richard +III.' were that Richard may very probably have been a murderer at +nineteen, if any one of his other alleged murders be admitted; and that +he was capable of a cowardly assassination because he condemned +prisoners to death in his judicial capacity. On these grounds alone he +urged that the accusation is not to be rejected. He did not maintain +that it is true, but that it cannot safely be pronounced apocryphal. +He also admitted that Richard ought not to bear the whole +responsibility, as he was only an accessory. This is very different +from the downright condemnation of Hume and Lingard.[<A NAME="chap0206fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn15">15</A>] The fable is +evidently doomed. But there can be no sharing of responsibility. If +Richard stabbed his young cousin he was a cowardly ruffian, whether +other ruffians did the same or not. If he did not, no words can be +strong enough to express the infamy of his Italian slanderer. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner has since shifted his ground,[<A NAME="chap0206fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn16">16</A>] and, adopting +Warkworth's version, has admitted that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P288"></A>288}</SPAN> +young Edward was slain in +the field, calling for succour to the Duke of Clarence; but he cannot +bring himself to acquit Richard altogether, and suggests that he was +the slayer, because no meaner person would have taken the +responsibility of slaying so valuable a prisoner. As if these +fine-drawn distinctions were made in the heat of a desperate <I>mêlée</I>. +But even so, the two boys being about the same age and weight, it was a +fair fight. There was no crime. Yet Mr. Gairdner still calls it a +'murder'! Of course there is no authority or ground whatever for +bringing Richard in at all, if Warkworth's version is adopted. Verily +the fiction is dying hard! +</P> + +<P> +There is no reason for considering the Duke of Gloucester to have been +capable of assassinating his cousin because it was his duty to sit in +judgment on prisoners as Lord Constable. The trial of rebels before a +court consisting of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Constable was +perfectly legal and constitutional. Speaking of trial by jury, Chief +Justice Fortescue laid it down that in England 'some cases might be +proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the high seas, and +proceedings before the Earl Marshal and the Lord Constable.' It was a +constitutional tribunal, and, although very young, his office of +Constable made it incumbent on Gloucester to sit in judgment. The Earl +Marshal, being an older man, would probably take the leading part. Mr. +Gairdner says that it was a summary tribunal and that all who were +brought before it were beheaded. It was a constitutional tribunal, and +only thirteen prisoners were condemned to death. As many as twelve of +the leaders were pardoned, if not more, and all the subordinate +officers and soldiers. In comparison with Lancaster +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P289"></A>289}</SPAN> +and Tudor +proceedings under similar circumstances,[<A NAME="chap0206fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn17">17</A>] the tribunal at Tewkesbury +was lenient.[<A NAME="chap0206fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn18">18</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Although it does not affect Richard, a serious accusation against +Edward IV. should here receive attention, namely, that his enemies who +had taken refuge in Tewkesbury Abbey might, in Mr. Gairdner's words, +'have saved themselves by flight if Edward had not sworn in church upon +the sacraments to pardon them. As to the executions being vindictive, +I should very much like to know what other character they can possibly +bear except that they were perfidious also.' They may be called +vindictive if all executions for treason in a civil war are to be so +called, but not, as Mr. Gairdner evidently intends, in any special +sense. The sting of the accusation, however, is in the alleged perfidy. +</P> + +<P> +Here is Habington's version of the accusation referred to by Mr. +Gairdner. 'King Edward with his sword drawn would have entered the +church and forced the fugitives thence. But a priest with the +eucharist in his hand would not let him until he had granted to all a +free pardon. But this pardon betrayed +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P290"></A>290}</SPAN> +them, for on the Monday +after they were taken out of the church and all beheaded.' +</P> + +<P> +There are some assertions so contrary to all reasonable probability +that they cannot be accepted, after having been examined with any care. +This is one. The fugitives had taken refuge in the abbey because they +were too closely pursued, and escape was not possible. How could they +have saved themselves by flight when Tewkesbury was occupied, and the +abbey surrounded by Edward's army? We are asked to believe that the +King swore on the sacrament to pardon all, and next day beheaded all. +Why should he commit this wholly useless act of perjury? There was no +object, nothing to gain by it. Even if he refrained from taking the +fugitives out of the church, which the story has it that he did do next +day, he could soon have starved them out. It is untrue that all were +beheaded. The story that he took such an unnecessary oath, intending +to break it next day, is too absurd for acceptance. As the result +proved, the King intended to have the prisoners tried before the Earl +Marshal's Court, to cause some of the condemned to undergo their +sentence, and to pardon others. He may possibly have told a priest +that some would be pardoned. This would soon be turned, by partisans, +into all being pardoned. In point of fact many were pardoned. +</P> + +<P> +In discussing the alleged murder of Henry VI., Mr. Gairdner admits that +'an after age has been a little unjust to Richard in throwing upon him +the whole responsibility of acts in which others perhaps participated.' +But this amounts to a surrender of the whole point at issue. Richard +either stabbed Henry VI. without his brother's knowledge, as the story +attributed to Sir Thomas More tells us, or he did +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P291"></A>291}</SPAN> +nothing. The +boy of eighteen either obtained the custody of the Tower from his +political enemy Lord Rivers, without the King's knowledge and consent, +went to Henry's room, and stabbed the unarmed feeble invalid with a +dagger, or he did not. Assuming the murder, Mr. Gairdner appears to +mean by saying that others participated in it, that it was committed by +Edward IV. and his Council, with the complicity of Rivers the Constable +of the Tower. It is difficult to see what else he can mean. In that +case the statement of the historian whom Mr. Gairdner believes to be +Sir Thomas More, that Gloucester committed the murder without his +brother's knowledge, is false. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner is mistaken about the household accounts. He thinks they +only refer to the expenses and diet of Henry's servants. But the +statement is clear and distinct that the expenses and diet for fourteen +days after May 11, that is until May 24, are for Henry himself as well +as his attendants. The only contemporary writer gives the same date, +and Polydore Virgil, the official writer employed by Henry VII., tells +us that his death was long after May 21, the day when Richard was in +the Tower. Fabyan and Warkworth's informant give this date of May 21, +in contradiction to the above conclusive evidence for the 24th or night +of the 23rd. First they assumed the murder, and then they fixed the +date of it on the only day when Gloucester was there to commit it. The +household accounts expose this fabrication of dates. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner settles the difference between these authorities in a very +summary fashion. 'Considering the source from which this statement +comes' (for the 23rd) 'and its total disagreement with the accounts of +almost all other writers in or near the time, it is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P292"></A>292}</SPAN> +impossible to +attach any weight to it whatever.' The answer to the last part of this +sentence is that the writer in question was the only one who wrote at +the time; and that Warkworth and Fabyan, who wrote afterwards, are the +only authorities for the 21st. Moreover Polydore Virgil, who had +access to all official records, directly contradicts Warkworth and +Fabyan, giving a much later date for the death of Henry VI. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner's other reason for rejecting the evidence of the writer in +Fleetwood is that his report was official, and that consequently 'it is +impossible to attach any weight to his statement whatever.' But on +this principle Mr. Gairdner ought to sweep away all the accusations +against Richard made by Tudor writers; for they are almost all the work +of official partisans engaged, some of them paid to vilify the +predecessor of their employer. Official chroniclers should be held in +suspicion, and their narratives call for strict scrutiny. But there +ought to be discrimination. If a document is official, it is not <I>ipso +facto</I> false. There must be some evidence against it besides its +official character. The writer who sent a narrative of the restoration +of Edward IV. to the citizens of Bruges has not been detected in any +misrepresentations. He gave a plain statement of the course of events, +with no other object than to convey to the generous Flemings a +knowledge of what had befallen the gallant young King whom they had +befriended. He gave the 23rd as the date of the death of Henry VI. +because the fact was within his own personal knowledge. This was not +the case with any writer who has given a different date. According to +the story the murder was committed in profound secrecy. The most +virulent +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P293"></A>293}</SPAN> +Tudor chroniclers only mention it as a suspicion. There +was no ground whatever for the accusation, or they would have stated +it. This suspicion, as regards Gloucester, was never whispered until +the Tudor King was in power. It is, therefore, to the last degree +improbable that, assuming there was a crime, it should have been +needlessly divulged to the author of the letter to Bruges with orders +that he should falsify the date. If the murder was a secret, as the +Tudor chroniclers affirm, and if, as two of them assert, the date of +Henry's death was known, it would have been useless to falsify a date +which was known, to conceal an unknown deed. The inevitable conclusion +is that the date was not falsified in the letter to Bruges; and that +the 23rd was the day of Henry's death. The suggested falsification +would be such an act of folly as no writer, even if he wrote +officially, would be at all likely to commit; for it would be uselessly +raising a suspicion where none existed. If anything of the kind had +been attempted, the date of Richard's presence, not of Henry's death, +would have been altered. But there is really nothing to raise a +suspicion of the author's good faith. +</P> + +<P> +Very different are the authorities who contradict him. Warkworth's +story contains a statement that the Duke of Gloucester was present in +the Tower at the time of Henry's death, and then the date is given with +that excessive minuteness of day and hour which is characteristic of +the lie circumstantial. The whole story is dished up with a miracle or +two. It is not necessary to suppose that Dr. Warkworth was himself +guilty of misrepresentation. He was evidently very credulous, and he +was deceived by his informer. As for Fabyan, he wrote in the days of +Henry VII. and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P294"></A>294}</SPAN> +was desirous of suiting his tales to the wishes of +that jealous tyrant. Apart from the undesigned evidence of the +household accounts, the letter to the citizens of Bruges must, on every +principle of historical criticism, be accepted as a more reliable +authority, on this point, than the miracle-monger Warkworth or the +unscrupulous time-server Fabyan. The whole story about Henry VI. +having been murdered by Gloucester is palpably a Tudor calumny invented +long afterwards, and told so clumsily that it certainly did not deserve +the success which has attended it.[<A NAME="chap0206fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn19">19</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner acquits Richard of responsibility for the death of +Clarence, as was inevitable. For he would not be supported even by the +most unscrupulous enemy of Richard's memory if he refused to acquit +him. Clearly there was no belief among his contemporaries that Richard +was in any way to blame. Yet Mr. Gairdner cannot let the matter rest. +He suggests that Richard's foundation of colleges at Middleham and +Barnard Castle, with provision for masses for the souls of his father, +brothers, and sisters, betokens remorse for the death of Clarence, +because the licences to found these colleges were granted soon after +his brother's death. Clarence is not specially mentioned, only +brothers and sisters. This pious act might betoken regret, but it +cannot be supposed to betoken remorse. The man's conscience must +indeed have been morbidly sensitive if it caused remorse for that which +the King and the Parliament had done, but which he had opposed. It was +quite natural that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P295"></A>295}</SPAN> +Richard should have provided for these masses +from ordinary feelings of regret and affection for all the deceased +members of his family. The idea of remorse is gratuitous and very +far-fetched; for Richard had arranged for the foundation of these +colleges before the death of Clarence. Mr. Gairdner further remarks +that Richard gained by his brother's death, his son being created Earl +of Salisbury and he himself receiving the whole of a lordship of which +he previously owned half. Richard certainly would not have compassed +his brother's death, even assuming him to have been the monster of +'tradition,' for the sake of an earldom for his son, seeing that the +father had two earldoms already, scarcely for the other half of the +Barnard Castle estate. Mr. Gairdner cannot surely think that Richard +had some hand in his brother's death for the sake of such very small +gains. For he has told us that there was nothing mean or paltry in +Richard's character, and he acquits him of the death of Clarence. King +Edward, naturally enough, gave the vacant earldoms of Warwick and +Salisbury to the infant sons of his two brothers. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner has nothing to say against the young prince with regard to +his marriage. We, therefore, come to our historian's treatment of the +events which led to Richard's accession. Mr. Gairdner dismisses the +accusations against the Duke of Gloucester, that he was carrying on +intrigues with Buckingham and other members of the Council, between the +date of his brother's death and that of his arrival in London.[<A NAME="chap0206fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn20">20</A>] He +also considers the arrest and execution +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P296"></A>296}</SPAN> +of Lord Rivers and his +companions to have been justifiable. He believes that the Woodville +party intended to keep the government in their own hands by main +force,[<A NAME="chap0206fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn21">21</A>] that the generality of the people were convinced that Rivers +and Grey had entertained designs distinctly treasonable,[<A NAME="chap0206fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn22">22</A>] and he +mentions the fact that their baggage contained large quantities of +armour and implements of war. This is a proof that they contemplated +the raising and arming of a large force. Mr. Gairdner even goes so far +as to admit that the retribution dealt out to Rivers and his companions +was 'not more severe than perhaps law itself might have authorised.' +As we know from Rous that the law was invoked, these admissions amount +to an exculpation of King Richard, as regards his treatment of Rivers, +Vaughan, and Grey. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner's position with regard to Richard's title to the crown is +curious. That title was based on the fact that Edward IV. had entered +into a marriage contract with Lady Eleanor Butler before he went +through the ceremony with the widow of Sir J. Grey. The Tudor King +attempted to destroy all record of this event, and his official writers +then put forward two other statements, which they alleged to have been +made as justifications of Richard's claim to the crown. One of these +was that Richard's elder brothers were illegitimate, the other that the +previous marriage was with a woman named Lucy. The name of Lady +Eleanor is carefully suppressed. Long afterwards the official document +was discovered in which the title is based solely on the previous +contract with Lady Eleanor Butler. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P297"></A>297}</SPAN> +</P> + +<P> +Such is the case very briefly stated. Mr. Gairdner believes that the +story of the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor may be true. He considers +that the care taken by the Tudor writers to suppress and pervert it is +evidence of its truth. He even suggests that the death of Clarence was +due to the fact that he had got possession of the secret. But he fails +to see that the truth of this pre-contract not only invalidates the +other stories invented by the Tudor writers to conceal it, but entirely +destroys their credibility. Morton's statement that it was alleged by +Richard's supporters that the pre-contract was with Lucy must be false, +as well as the assertion that a calumny was promulgated against the +Duchess of York; if the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor is true. Surely +Mr. Gairdner must see that the statement of a title made in an +officially inspired sermon or speech must have been made to agree with +that in the document which Henry VII. attempted to destroy. Having +made away with the document, so that they could mis-state its contents, +Henry's chroniclers put what inventions they pleased into the mouths of +preachers and orators. But the document has since been found. Its +real contents are known. Men who would deliberately make this +elaborate series of false statements are utterly unworthy of credit. +Yet Mr. Gairdner still clings to the belief that the odious slander +about the Duchess of York was promulgated, and continues to quote +Morton's story as if it were authentic and reliable history. +</P> + +<P> +The sole ground put forward for still believing that the slander was +uttered against the Duchess of York is that one of these authorities +alleges that the people were scandalised at the sermon, and another +that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P298"></A>298}</SPAN> +the Duchess complained of the dishonour done her. These +additions to the fable, from the same suspicious sources, can in no +conceivable way strengthen its credibility.[<A NAME="chap0206fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn23">23</A>] +</P> + +<P> +We now come to the main stronghold of Tudor calumny—the story of the +smothering of the little princes in the Tower. Mr. Gairdner makes a +hesitating defence. He cannot doubt that the dreadful deed was done. +But he admits that the story, as told in the narrative attributed to +Sir Thomas More, is full of inaccuracies and improbabilities. He +contends, however, that it is not necessary for it to be true in all +its details, in order to give credence to the main allegation. He also +admits that the crime imputed to Richard rests upon the assertions of +only a few, and that two of these mention it merely as a report. He +denies that Richard was the cold scheming calculating villain of +previous histories; and apparently thinks that, if this had been his +character, he would not have acted in the way alleged in the story. +Consequently the story could not be true. For a cold calculating +villain would not have been so foolish as to leave London, and then +send his orders to the Tower, without having previously ascertained +that they would be obeyed. Mr. Gairdner's theory is that Richard was +headstrong and reckless as to consequences, a man of violent and +impatient temper. Such a man, Mr. Gairdner thinks, might act in the +way described in the story; +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P299"></A>299}</SPAN> +if a strong motive was suddenly +supplied to him. Mr. Gairdner looks round for such a motive, and +thinks he has found it in the alleged contemplated rising in favour of +the two young princes. But no such motive existed. The date given for +the alleged murders was August 1483. The rising, even if it had been +in favour of the boys and not of Buckingham, was in October. Mr. +Davies has shown that the first tidings reached the king at Lincoln on +October 11,[<A NAME="chap0206fn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap0206fn24">24</A>] and Mr. Gairdner fully admits that Richard was taken +completely by surprise. This proves that no motive for the crime was +supplied in August, calculated to make a violent and reckless man take +sudden action. If there was no motive there was no murder. Thus Mr. +Gairdner's explanation fails, while the improbabilities remain as +strong as ever. The difficulties disappear as soon as Richard is +acquitted, and his astute successor is placed in the dock. +</P> + +<P> +With reference to this horrible accusation against King Richard, Mr. +Gairdner had opened his work with the dictum that 'it is vain to deny +that Richard had long lost the hearts of his subjects.' But Mr. +Gairdner himself has supplied some of the proofs that the King never +lost the hearts of his subjects. Mr. Gairdner acknowledges that up to +September 1483, 'in the north undoubtedly, and perhaps with the common +people generally, Richard was highly popular' (p. 147). In November +1484, when, on the young King's return to London he was received with +demonstrations of loyalty, Mr. Gairdner says that 'perhaps he had to +some extent recovered the good will of the people' (p. 243). But, in +the meanwhile, we are not supplied with a shadow of a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P300"></A>300}</SPAN> +proof that +he had ever lost it. He was the victim of the perfidy of a few +traitors. There was no national movement against him in favour of +Henry Tudor. Sharon Turner truly remarked that 'the nation had no +share in the conflict. It was an ambush of a few perfidious and +disaffected noblemen against the crown. Richard was overwhelmed by the +explosion of a new mine, which he had not suspected to be forming +beneath him, because it was prepared and fired by those whom gratitude, +honour and conscience ought to have made faithful.' The city of York +recorded the grief of the people at King Richard's death. He was +popular to the end. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gairdner fully explains the causes of Richard's popularity (p. +313). 'His taste in building was magnificent and princely. There was +nothing mean or paltry in his character (p. 318). Many of his acts +were dictated by charitable feelings or a sense of justice. He had in +him a great deal of native religious sentiment (p. 47). He made it his +endeavour, so far as it lay in his power, to prevent tyranny for the +future (p. 205), and as king he really studied his country's welfare +(p. 313). No wonder that such a King, who was also renowned for his +valour in the field and his wisdom in council, should have been popular +among his subjects! But it is wonderful that thoughtful and +accomplished men, who admit all this, should cling to the vile and +wretched calumnies, the discredited tatters of which still partly +obscure the truth. +</P> + +<P> +The work of Mr. Gairdner is of great value owing to its conscientious +attempt to be judicially impartial, to the learning and research that +are apparent in every page, and to the considerable number of errors it +exposes, and of mistakes that are finally cleared up +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P301"></A>301}</SPAN> +by it. The +good points in the character of King Richard III. are prominently +brought forward. The excellence of his government and the generosity +of his character are made so apparent, that one is surprised, in the +midst of this goodly record, to come suddenly on such epithets as +'usurper,' 'tyrant,' 'inhuman King.' Mr. Gairdner's learning and +critical insight have so weakened the traditional fables, a half belief +in which he cannot quite shake off, that they are not likely to retain +a place much longer in serious history. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn1text">1</A>] <I>History of the Life and Reign of Richard III.</I>, by James Gairdner +(1878), 1st ed. <I>History of the Life and Reign of Richard III.</I>, by +James Gairdner (1898), 2nd ed. <I>Henry the Seventh</I>, by James Gairdner +(1889). Article in the <I>English Historical Review</I>, 1891. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn2text">2</A>] Preface to Gairdner's <I>Life of Richard III.</I> p. x. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn3text">3</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. x. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn4text">4</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. xii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn5text">5</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. xii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn6text">6</A>] Gairdner's <I>Richard III.</I> p. 38. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn7text">7</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 112. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn8text">8</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> pp. 115, 131. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn9text">9</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 247. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn10text">10</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 73. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn11text">11</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 250. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn12text">12</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 251. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn13text">13</A>] <I>Ibid.</I> p. 251. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn14text">14</A>] Stow set a better example. He adopted the 'probable story' of +Fabyan, and rejected the 'tradition of later times,' as Mr. Gairdner +calls the unsupported calumny of Polydore Virgil. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn15text">15</A>] Dr. Lingard says that 'Clarence and Gloucester, perhaps the +Knights in their retinue, despatched young Edward with their swords' +(iv. p. 189). In a foot-note he sees no good reason to doubt Stow. +But Stow says nothing of the kind. He merely adopts Fabyan's tale that +King Edward's servants despatched the prince. He does not even mention +either Clarence or Gloucester. The accusation against the knights in +the retinue of those princes is Lingard's own, unsupported by any +evidence whatever. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn16text">16</A>] <I>English Historical Review</I>, 1891 (July), p. 448. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn17text">17</A>] The Lancastrians gave no quarter at Wakefield, slaughtering all +prisoners high and low. At the second battle ol St. Albans their +cruelty was deepened by bad faith. After Bosworth, Henry Tudor ordered +four executions which, in his outlawed condition, were lawless murders. +The atrocious conduct of his son, in suppressing the Pilgrimage of +Grace, was still more horrible. Executions went on, long after all +resistance had ceased, with unrelenting cruelty. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +The tribunal at Tewkesbury is unjustly arraigned by modern historians, +while the barbarities of Lancastrians and Tudors are slurred over or +ignored. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn18text">18</A>] 'I am struck with the singular leniency of Edward IV. towards his +political enemies. The rolls of Parliament are full of petitions for +the reversal of attainders. I do not recollect a single instance in +which the petition was refused.'—Thorold Rogers, <I>Agriculture and +Prices</I>, iv. p. 180. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn19text">19</A>] Dr. Lingard's chief reason for believing that Gloucester murdered +Henry VI. is that 'writers who lived under the next dynasty attributed +the black deed to Richard' (iv. p. 192). Of course they did. They +were well paid to do so. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn20text">20</A>] P. 61. He considers it more probable that Gloucester was ignorant +of what had been going on in London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn21text">21</A>] P. 62. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn22text">22</A>] P. 66. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn23text">23</A>] Dr. Lingard's argument in favour of the calumny against the +Duchess of York is that a man who would shed the blood of his nephews +would not refuse to allow his mother to be slandered. Doubtless the +Doctor would have been equally ready with the reversed argument. A man +who would slander his mother would not refuse to allow his nephews to +be murdered (iv. p. 232 <I>n</I>). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0206fn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0206fn24text">24</A>] <I>York Records</I>, p. 181 <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P303"></A>303}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INDEX +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Aberford, <A HREF="#P26">26</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Abergavenny, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; cousin to the +King, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Abingdon, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>; cattle fair at, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Acaster College, founded by Bishop Stillington, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>. <I>See</I> +Stillington +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Albany, Duke of, with King Richard in the progress, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Alcock, Bishop, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; at Oxford to receive King Richard, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; +account of, <A HREF="#P91">91</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Alfonso V. of Portugal, <A HREF="#P66">66</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Alkmaar, Edward IV. landed at, <A HREF="#P42">42</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Alnwick, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ambien Hill, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; King Richard slain at the foot of, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ambien Lees, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +André, Bernard, historiographer to Henry VII., <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>; silent about +the fable of the murder of Edward of Lancaster, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Angers, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P206">206</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anker, river, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anne, heiress of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, married Edmund Earl of +Stafford, <A HREF="#P128">128</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anne, Nevill, companion of Richard at Middleham, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; taken to France by +her father, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; marriage with Edward of Lancaster never took place, +<A HREF="#P67">67</A>; return to England, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>; her wardship claimed by Clarence. In +sanctuary, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>; married to Prince Richard, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>; joined by her mother at +Middleham, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>; marriage settlement, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>, <A HREF="#P200">200</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>; her beauty, +<A HREF="#P124">124</A>; joined her husband in London, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anne, Queen, her coronation, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; joined the King at Warwick, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; +at York, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; grief on her son's death, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>; illness, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>; death and +burial, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P228">228</A>; malignant slander of Polydore Virgil and Rous, +<A HREF="#P228">228</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anne, daughter of Edward IV., married the Earl of Surrey, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> +<I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anne, sister of Edward IV., Duchess of Exeter, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; birth, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anne de la Pole, betrothed to James III., became a nun at Sion, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Appledore, home of Captain Horn who fell at Towton, <A HREF="#P32">32</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arbitration by King Richard, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> <I>n.</I>; by the Lord Mayor, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Armour and arms, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>; arrows at Towton, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; hand-guns, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; +artillery, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arthur, son of Henry VII., <A HREF="#P267">267</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arthur Plantagenet, son of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arundel, Archbishop, <A HREF="#P117">117</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arundel, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arundel collection, letter from Elizabeth of York to the Duke of +Norfolk seen by Buck in, <A HREF="#P229">229</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arundell, Sir Thomas, K.B., at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ashton, Sir Ralph, made Vice-Constable, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Atherstone, Henry Tudor at, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Attorney-General, <I>see</I> Kidwelly, Morgan +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Audley, Lord, Battle of Blore Heath, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, +<A HREF="#P143">143</A>; Lord Treasurer, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Audley, Edmund, Bishop of Rochester, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Audley, Sir Humphrey, tried and executed at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ayala, Don Pedro de, Spanish Ambassador, his evidence respecting the +remorse of Henry VII., <A HREF="#P276">276</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Babington, Sir Henry, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bacon, Lord, his character of Richard III., <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; believed the story of +the murders to have been inspired by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P169">169</A>; on treatment of +the Queen Dowager by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P257">257</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bamborough Castle, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Banbury, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bangor, Thomas Ednam, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Barnard Castle, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>, <A HREF="#P265">265</A>, <A HREF="#P295">295</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Barnet, battle of, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50-52</A>; losses at, <A HREF="#P52">52</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Barrow, Thomas, Master of the Rolls, Commissioner for Peace with +Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Basset pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bath, Knights of the, at coronations of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; and Richard +III., <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bath and Wells, Bishop of, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>. +<I>See</I> Stillington +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Baume, Sir Thomas, slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bayley, 'History of the Tower,' <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Baynard's Castle, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>; family of the Duke of +York assembled at, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; Edward IV. accepted the crown at, <A HREF="#P22">22</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beauchamp of Powyke, Lord, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; his +son in command at Gloucester, <A HREF="#P72">72</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beaufort, Sir John, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beaujeu, the Lady of, Regent of France, her enmity to England, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P243">243</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beaulieu Abbey, Countess of Warwick in sanctuary at, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beaumont, Viscount, at Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; flight from Towton, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; under +attainder, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Becca Banks, <A HREF="#P26">26</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bedingfield, Sir Edmund, K.B., at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bemynster, Robert, Abbot of Cerne, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Benevolences abolished by Richard's Parliament, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Berkeley, Lord, viii <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Berkeley, Sir William, of Beverston made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; a traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Berkeley, Sir William, of Wyldy made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bermondsey nunnery, Queen Dowager confined in, until her death, <A HREF="#P257">257</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bernall, Richard, tutor to young Edward, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Berners, Juliana, her 'Book of St. Albans,' <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Berners, Lord, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Berwick, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beskwood Park, King Richard hunting at, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Beverley, <A HREF="#P46">46</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bigot, Sir John, of Musgrave Castle, at Towton for Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bisham, Earl of Salisbury buried at, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; Warwick and Montagu buried at, +<A HREF="#P51">51</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bishops in the fifteenth century, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, +<A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; at Oxford to receive Richard, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; with him on his progress, +<A HREF="#P129">129</A>; list, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Blore Heath, battle of, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Blount, Sir Walter, marched north with Edward, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; in the pursuit of +Clifford, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; march to Towton, created Lord Mountjoy, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <I>whom see</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Blythe, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bohun inheritance explained, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>, <A HREF="#P224">224</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Boleyn, Sir Thomas, made K.B. at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bolton Castle, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bolton Hall, Henry VI. concealed at, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bootham Bar, York, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Borough, Sir John, present to, from the royal wardrobe, <A HREF="#P111">111</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bosworth, battle of, <A HREF="#P152">152-157</A>; numbers, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; artillery at, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bosworth Market, Sir W. Stanley's camp near, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bourchier, Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, crowned Edward IV., <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; +cousin to the King, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; crowned Richard III., <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, <A HREF="#P234">234</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bourchier, Sir Edward, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; slain, +<A HREF="#P15">15</A>; head stuck on the gate at York, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bourchier, Sir Humphrey, two slain at Barnet, <A HREF="#P51">51</A> <I>n.</I> <I>See</I> Cromwell, +Lord +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bracher, Wm., and his son, loyal servants of King Richard, put to death +by Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P247">247</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brackenbury, Sir Robert, knighted, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; joined the king at Bosworth, +<A HREF="#P151">151</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>; loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A>; in the story of the +murders, <A HREF="#P258">258</A>, <A HREF="#P260">260</A>, <A HREF="#P261">261</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'Bradshaws' a strategic position at Bosworth field, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bramham Moor, <A HREF="#P26">26</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brampton, Wm., of Burford, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brandon, Sir William, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I>; +Henry Tudor's standard-bearer, slain by the King, <A HREF="#P156">156</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bray, Reginald, Lady Stanley's steward, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; his skill as an architect, +<A HREF="#P149">149</A> <I>n.</I>; agent to Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brecknock Castle, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>, <A HREF="#P227">227</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brezé, Pierre de, Lord of Varenne, devoted to Margaret of Anjou, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brian, Sir Thomas, Chief Justice of Common Pleas, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bridget, daughter of Edward IV., a nun, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bristol, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brittany, treaty with, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>; Henry Tudor in, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Browne, Sir John, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bruges, Edward IV. and Richard at, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>; Caxton at, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; news of Edward's +success sent to the citizens, <A HREF="#P198">198</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Buck, Sir George, wrote the life of Richard III.--had seen the true +statement of his claim to the crown, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>; heard that the pamphlet +attributed to Sir Thomas More was written by Morton, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>; account +of, <A HREF="#P180">180</A> <I>n.</I>; saw the letter from Elizabeth of York to the Duke of +Norfolk, <A HREF="#P229">229</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Buck, Sir John, Controller of the Household, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; put to death by Henry +Tudor, <A HREF="#P246">246</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Buckingham, Duchess of, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Buckingham, Duke of, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>; left London to warn Richard, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; speech at the +Guildhall, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; cousin to the King, +<A HREF="#P110">110</A>; bearing the King's train, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; Lord Constable, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; his claims, +<A HREF="#P223">223</A>, <A HREF="#P224">224</A>; alleged conversations with Morton, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>; object of his +treason, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>; met Lady Stanley on the road, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>; trial and execution at +Salisbury, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>; Richard's generous treatment of his widow, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Burford, <I>see</I> Cornwall +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Burgundy, Charles the Bold, Duke of, helped Edward secretly, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>; +marriage with Princess Margaret, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; invested with the Garter, +<A HREF="#P113">113</A>; received Margaret of Anjou at St. Pol, <A HREF="#P60">60</A>; Edward's desertion of, +<A HREF="#P82">82</A>; fall of, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, George and Richard under protection +of, <A HREF="#P18">18</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Burgundy, Duchess of, <I>see</I> Margaret, Princess +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Butler, Lady Eleanor, contracted in marriage to Edward IV., <A HREF="#P93">93</A>; truth +of the contract, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>, <A HREF="#P296">296</A>; details respecting her, <A HREF="#P219">219</A> <I>n.</I>; +her death, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Butler, Sir John, at Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>. <I>See</I> Ormonde +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Byron, Sir John, with Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; saved Sir Gervase Clifton at +Bosworth, <A HREF="#P156">156</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Byron, Sir Nicholas, created K.B., <A HREF="#P36">36</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cade, Jack, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cadeby, Norfolk's camp at, before Bosworth, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Calabria, John of, <A HREF="#P67">67</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Calais, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>; Dighton living at, <A HREF="#P261">261</A>, <A HREF="#P274">274</A>; Tyrrel seized at, <A HREF="#P273">273</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cambridge, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P136">136</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Campbell, Lord, on King Richard's Parliament, <A HREF="#P134">134</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Canterbury Pilgrimages, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>. Archbishops. <I>See</I> Arundel, Bourchier, +Kemp, Morton +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cardigan, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Carlisle, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Carte, 'History of England,' <A HREF="#P180">180</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cary, Sir Hugh, tried and executed at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Castleford, <A HREF="#P28">28</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Castles in the fifteenth century, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Catesby, reported the Hastings-Woodville conspiracy to Richard, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, +<A HREF="#P211">211</A>; executor to will of Lord Rivers, <A HREF="#P99">99</A> <I>n.</I>; Speaker of the House of +Commons, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; and Chancellor of the Exchequer, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; Commissioner for +the Peace with Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>; put to death by +Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P246">246</A>; notice of, <A HREF="#P246">246</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cattle fair, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Caxton: his own account of himself, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; helped Edward IV. and Richard +in fitting out their expedition, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; his first essay at printing, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; +in the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>; came to England, books +printed by him, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>; his house in the Almonry, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>; book of +chivalry dedicated to Richard III., <A HREF="#P115">115</A>; lament on the Earl of +Worcester's death, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cerne Abbey, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chamberlain, Sir Robert, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Charles VII. of France, <A HREF="#P53">53</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Charles VIII. of France, <A HREF="#P141">141</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Charlton, Sir Richard, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cheltenham, <A HREF="#P73">73</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cheney, Sir John, with Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cheney, Sir William, traitor, unhorsed by the King himself at Bosworth, +<A HREF="#P156">156</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chevet, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chichester, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chipping Sodbury, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P73">73</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Church, the, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>. <I>See</I> Convocation; Bishops +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cicely, Princess, daughter of Edward IV., married to Lord Welles, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> +<I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cirencester, <A HREF="#P71">71</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clarence, George, Duke of, born at Dublin, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; taken prisoner at +Ludlow, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; sent to Holland for safety, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>; married to Isabella +Nevill, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; his treason, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>; reconciled to his brothers, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, +<A HREF="#P71">71</A>; grasping conduct, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>; attainder, death, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>; cause of his +death, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>; his children, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P236">236</A>; his attainder barred his +children's succession, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; town house at Cold Harbour, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>; Richard +interceded for him, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>, <A HREF="#P204">204</A>, <A HREF="#P294">294</A>; Mr. Gairdner's views, <A HREF="#P295">295</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clarendon, Sir Richard, at Bosworth for the King, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clarke, William, of Wenlock, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cleger, John, a robber who made Margaret of Anjou prisoner, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cleymound, Robert, hired informer, <A HREF="#P275">275</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clifford, Lord, led the Lancastrian van at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; +surprised the Yorkists at Ferrybridge, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>; pursued and slain, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; some +account of him, <A HREF="#P29">29</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clifton, Sir Gervase, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; wounded at Bosworth, fighting for +the King, <A HREF="#P156">156</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clifton, Sir Robert, created K.B., <A HREF="#P36">36</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Clothes, in the royal wardrobe, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; Clement Paston's, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; an Eton +boy's, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; John Paston's, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>; Mr. Payn's, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cobham, Lord, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; at Richard's coronation, +<A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cock beck, near the Towton battlefield, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cockermouth, Earl of Wiltshire arrested at, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Coke's mother, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Colchester, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cold Harbour, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Collingbourne, a traitor, executed, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Comines, details of the flight of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P42">42</A>; marriage of Edward +IV. and Lady Eleanor Butler, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> <I>n.</I>; death of Edward of Lancaster, <A HREF="#P189">189</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Companies, City, influence, dispute settled by arbitration, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Conisborough Castle, <A HREF="#P3">3</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Convocation, their address to King Richard, <A HREF="#P136">136</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Conyers, Sir John, made a Knight of the Garter, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; faithful to the +King, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; fell at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Corbet, Sir K., knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cornwall, Sir Edmund, Baron of Burford, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Coronation of Richard III., <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; story of a second untrue, <A HREF="#P227">227</A>, <A HREF="#P228">228</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Corpus Christi, fraternity in London, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>; at York, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cotswold Hills, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>, <A HREF="#P73">73</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Court, splendour of the, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>. <I>See</I> Wardrobe +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courtenay, Sir E., traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courtenay, Sir Walter, beheaded at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courtenay, Sir William, <A HREF="#P263">263</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courtenay, <I>see</I> Exeter, Bishop of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courtenay, <I>see</I> Devonshire, Earl of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courtenays, forgiven by Edward IV., <A HREF="#P36">36</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Courteys, Pierce, Keeper of the Wardrobe, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Coventry, Earl of Warwick at, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>; Edward IV. at, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; Richard III. at, +in his progress, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cover, river, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Coverham, monks of, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Crakenthorpe, Sir John and Sir T., slain at Towton, <A HREF="#P33">33</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Croft, Richard, tutor to Edward and Edmund, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>; knighted after +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cromer, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cromwell, Lord, slain at Barnet, <A HREF="#P51">51</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Crosby, Sir J., built Crosby Place, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Crosby Place rented by Richard III., <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P223">223</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Croyland Chronicle on the slain at Towton, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; there were two writers, +<A HREF="#P175">175</A>, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>; independent witnesses, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>; the second credulous but honest; +his accuracy as regards dates exposes Morton and Fabyan, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>; gives +Richard's title to the crown correctly, <A HREF="#P176">176</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>; his mistakes, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>; no +countenance to the deformity fables, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>; on the Tewkesbury question, +<A HREF="#P189">189</A>; on the death of Henry VI., <A HREF="#P195">195</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>; his mistake about a second +coronation at York, <A HREF="#P227">227</A>; retails a rumour about the death of the +princes, <A HREF="#P240">240</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dacre, Lord of Gillesland, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; death at Towton, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; tomb at Saxton, +<A HREF="#P34">34</A>; his brother forgiven, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; +commissioner for peace with Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; hurrying to King Richard's +help, but too late, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dampierre, château where Margaret of Anjou died, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dartford, Princess Bridget a nun at, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Daubeny, Sir Giles, with Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; Lieutenant of the Tower, <A HREF="#P268">268</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Daventry, <A HREF="#P48">48</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Davies, Mr., <I>see</I> York Records. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Davy, Henry, to deliver certain garments to John Goddestande, footman +to Edward son of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P237">237</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dobenham, Sir Gilbert, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +De la Warre, Lord, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Deptford, Vicar of, burnt on Tower Hill, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Devereux, Sir Walter, mentioned in the letter from Edward and Edmund to +their father, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>; Lord Ferrers of Chartley (<I>whom see</I>) <I>jure uxoris</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Devonshire, Earl of, at the battle of Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; at Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; +flight from Towton, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; beheaded, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; next Earl with Margaret of Anjou, +<A HREF="#P70">70</A>; at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>; son married Katherine, daughter of +Edward IV., <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> <I>n.</I>; under attainder, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dickon's Nook, where King Richard addressed his army, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Digby, Captain, slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Digby, Simon, joined Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; a spy, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dighton, John, <A HREF="#P260">260</A>; likely to be hanged, <A HREF="#P261">261</A>; false statements +respecting, <A HREF="#P263">263</A>; bailiff of Ayton, <A HREF="#P264">264</A>, <A HREF="#P266">266</A>, <A HREF="#P274">274</A>; probably a priest, +<A HREF="#P267">267</A>, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; rewarded, <A HREF="#P272">272</A>; lived at Calais, <A HREF="#P274">274</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dittingdale, near Towton, <A HREF="#P28">28</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Doncaster, <A HREF="#P42">42</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dorchester, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dorset, Marquis of, at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; in command at the Tower when +Edward IV. died, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; in sanctuary, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; in rebellion, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; guardian +to the Earl of Warwick, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; his rebellion, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>; flight, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>; advised +by his mother to return, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P238">238</A>; imprisoned by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P270">270</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dublin, George, Duke of Clarence, born at, <A HREF="#P3">3</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dudley, Lord, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dudley, William, Bishop of Durham, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Durham, Bishop of, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dymoke, Sir Robert, the champion, knighted, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dynham, Sir J., with the reserves at Towton, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; +traitor, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; created Lord Dynham, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Easterling ships, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ebrington, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Eccleshall castle, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edgcombe, Richard, with Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edmund Langley, Duke of York, rebuilt Fotheringhay and founded a +college there, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edmund, Earl of Rutland, born at Rouen, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; letter to his father, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>; +fled to Ireland with his father, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; came to London, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>; and to Sandal +Castle with his father, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; in the battle of Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; slain, +<A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>; absurd story about his death, <A HREF="#P16">16</A> <I>n.</I>; head on gate at York, +<A HREF="#P17">17</A>; obsequies, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; memorial chapel at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P19">19</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ednam, J., Bishop of Bangor, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward, 2nd Duke of York, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>; his book 'The Master of Games,' <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward IV., born at Rouen, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; letter to his father, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>; escaped to +Calais, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; return, victory at Northampton, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; visits his brothers and +sister in the Temple every day, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>; at Shrewsbury, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; victory at +Mortimer's Cross, proclaimed king, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>; description of, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>; +started for the north, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>; head-quarters at Pomfret, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>; conduct at +surprise at Ferrybridge, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; judicious orders to retrieve the disaster, +<A HREF="#P28">28</A>; valour and presence of mind at Towton, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; always gave quarter, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; +advance to York, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; coronation, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; just, placable, and forgiving, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; +kindness to Lord Hungerford's family, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>; marriage ceremony with +Lady Grey, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>; affection for his brother Richard, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>; flight to +Holland, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>; reception, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>; expedition to recover the crown, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; lands +at Ravenspur, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>; at York, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>; march to London, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>; battle of +Barnet, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>; Tewkesbury campaign, <A HREF="#P70">70-78</A>; pardon to several leaders at +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; conduct after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P289">289</A>, <A HREF="#P290">290</A>; bribed by Louis XI. +to desert the Duke of Burgundy, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>; death, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>; children, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>; +buried at Windsor, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>; his will, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>; contract of marriage with Lady +Eleanor Butler, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>, <A HREF="#P219">219</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>; treasure under ecclesiastical +sequestration, <A HREF="#P227">227</A>; his alleged conduct after Tewkesbury discussed, +<A HREF="#P289">289</A>, <A HREF="#P290">290</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward of Lancaster, son of Henry VI., birth, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>; at Greenwich, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>; +present at battles, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>; with his mother, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; life at +Koeur-la-Petite, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>; instruction from Chief Justice Fortescue, <A HREF="#P62">62-65</A>; +proposed marriage with Anne Nevill, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; character, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>; at battle of +Tewkesbury <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>; buried in Tewkesbury Abbey, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>; mode of his +death, Croyland, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; André, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; Comines, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; letter to Bruges, <A HREF="#P75">75</A> +<I>n.</I>; Warkworth, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; Fabyan, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; Polydore Virgil, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>; Habington, +Grafton, Hall, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> n.; Holmshed, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>; Stow, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>; silence of Morton +and Rous, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>; Mr. Gairdner, <A HREF="#P188">188</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P286">286</A>, <A HREF="#P287">287</A>, <A HREF="#P288">288</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward, son of Richard III., <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; created Earl of Salisbury, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P295">295</A>; +Prince of Wales, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; death, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>; tomb at Sheriff Hutton, <A HREF="#P137">137</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward, son of Duke of Clarence, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>; birth, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; ward to Dorset, +<A HREF="#P129">129</A>; Earl of Warwick, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; declared +heir to the throne, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>; in King Richard's household, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; with +the king in his progress, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; knighted at York, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; at Sheriff +Hutton, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>; member of council, <A HREF="#P236">236</A>; seized by Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P248">248</A>, <A HREF="#P255">255</A>; +cruel treatment and death, <A HREF="#P275">275</A>, <A HREF="#P280">280</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward, son of Edward IV., Earl of March and Pembroke, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>; +proclaimed king, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>; came to London, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; set aside as illegitimate, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>; +preparations for his coronation, <A HREF="#P209">209</A>; intentions of King Richard +respecting, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; in King Richard's household, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>, <A HREF="#P236">236</A>; his tailor's +bill, <A HREF="#P237">237</A>. <I>See</I> Murder of the Princes +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Elizabeth Woodville, Lady Grey, marriage ceremony with Edward IV., <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, +<A HREF="#P86">86</A>; children, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>; in sanctuary, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; allowed her son Richard to +join his brother, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>; agreed with the king to come out of sanctuary, +<A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P238">238</A>; intrigues with Lady Stanley, <A HREF="#P231">231</A>; advised her son Dorset to +come home and submit to the king, <A HREF="#P238">238</A>; her knowledge a cause of fear +for Henry VII., <A HREF="#P256">256</A>; robbed and imprisoned by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P257">257</A>; +attempted explanation by Lingard and Nicolas, <A HREF="#P257">257</A> <I>n.</I>; Mr. Gairdner, +<A HREF="#P257">257</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., birth, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>; her dress like the +queen's, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>; rumour about her marriage with Richard, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; her letter +to the Duke of Norfolk <A HREF="#P229">229</A>; evidence of Buck, views of Nicolas, +Lingard, Gairdner, <A HREF="#P229">229</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A> <I>n.</I>; sent to Sheriff Hutton, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>; seized +by Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P248">248</A>; married to him as Henry VII., <A HREF="#P250">250</A>, <A HREF="#P253">253</A>, <A HREF="#P254">254</A>; her +coronation, <A HREF="#P258">258</A>; treatment of her relations by Henry, <A HREF="#P277">277</A>; death, <A HREF="#P277">277</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Elizabeth, another daughter of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, married to Lord +Lumley, <A HREF="#P221">221</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk, born at Rouen, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; at Richard's +coronation, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Elizabeth, Queen, founded St. Peter's College, Westminster, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>; her +English ancestry, <A HREF="#P163">163</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Eltham, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ely, Isle of, <A HREF="#P242">242</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ely, Bishop of, <I>see</I> Morton +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ely Place, Holborn, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Enderby, Sir William, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +England, face of the country in the fifteenth century, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>; condition +of the people, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121-123</A>; prices, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>; progress of King Richard +through, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>; products, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Essex, Earl of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Esteney, John, Abbot of Westminster, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Eton, founded by Henry VI., <A HREF="#P116">116</A>; boys at, in the fifteenth century, <A HREF="#P117">117</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Eure, Sir Ralph, at Towton for Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ewelme, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Exeter, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Exeter, Bishop of, <I>see</I> Courtenay Nevill +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Exeter, Duchess of, <I>see</I> Anne +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Exeter, Duke of, marriage, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; at Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>; +advancing against Edward, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>; at Barnet, <A HREF="#P49">49</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fabyan's Chronicle, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>; untrustworthy, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>; silent about the +deformity, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>; invented a story about the murder of Edward of +Lancaster, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>; on date of Henry's death, <A HREF="#P195">195</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>; gave false dates, +<A HREF="#P215">215</A>; contradicts Polydore Virgil respecting Dr. Shaw's sermon, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>; +silent as to calumny against the Duchess of York, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>; common fame that +Richard secretly murdered his nephews, <A HREF="#P243">243</A>; 'smoky gunners,' <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fairfax, Sir Guy, judge of the King's Bench, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fairs, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fauconberg, Lord, reviewed the London citizens, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; his service, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, +the best general on Edward's side, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; sent in pursuit of Clifford, +overtook and routed him, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; march to Towton, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; his orders to the +archers, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; created Earl of Kent, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fauconberg, bastard of, his insurrection put down by Prince Richard, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Feilding, Sir William, slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fenn lanes near Bosworth, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ferrers of Chartley. <I>See</I> Devereux. At Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, +<A HREF="#P143">143</A>; hurried to help the king, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; fell at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>; loyal +to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ferrybridge, Yorkist force at, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +FitzHugh, Lord, at Towton on the Lancastrian left, <A HREF="#P31">31</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +FitzJames, Captain, slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +FitzRanulph, Robert, founder of Middleham, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +FitzWalter, Lord, <I>jure uxoris</I>, Sir John Ratcliff, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; slain at +Ferrybridge, <A HREF="#P27">27</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fitzwilliam, Nicholas, Recorder of London, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Flory, John, of France, beheaded at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Flushing, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fogge, Sir John, reconciliation with the king, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>; traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Forest, Miles, in Henry VII.'s story of the murder of the princes, <A HREF="#P260">260</A>; +said to have rotted away piecemeal, <A HREF="#P261">261</A>; really Keeper of the Wardrobe +at Barnard Castle, <A HREF="#P264">264</A>; an old royal servant falsely accused, <A HREF="#P265">265</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fortescue, Sir John, Chief Justice, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; conversations with Edward +of Lancaster, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65</A>; with Margaret, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; pardoned after +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; Fuller's praise of him, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>; on the condition of +English labouring class, <A HREF="#P123">123</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fortescues followed the Earl of Devon to Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fotheringhay Castle, birthplace of Richard III., <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; its history, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>; +description, Dukes of York resided at, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>; subsequent history, <A HREF="#P2">2</A> <I>n.</I>; +funeral of the Duke of York, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; monuments, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fox, Dr. Richard, an agent of Morton, secretary to Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; +made Bishop of Winchester, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> <I>n.</I>; decoyed Tyrrel into Henry's power, +<A HREF="#P273">273</A>; notice of, <A HREF="#P273">273</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +French Chancellor, assertion that the princes were murdered, <A HREF="#P242">242</A>, <A HREF="#P243">243</A>; +proved to be false, <A HREF="#P244">244</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fulford, Sir Baldwin, beheaded at York, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fulford pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fulfords followed the Earl of Devon to Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gainsborugh, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gairdner, James, C.B., LL.D., reason for thinking Richard may have been +a murderer at <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A> <I>n.</I>; on the obit of Henry VI., <A HREF="#P198">198</A> <I>n.</I>; on the +grant to Buckingham, <A HREF="#P224">224</A> <I>n.</I>; on the letter of Elizabeth to the Duke +of Norfolk, <A HREF="#P230">230</A> <I>n.</I>; on the executions by Henry Tudor after Bosworth, +<A HREF="#P247">247</A>; on the treatment of the Queen Dowager, <A HREF="#P257">257</A>; proved that the king's +Attorney General was loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> <I>n.</I>; suggests that the +death of Clarence was due to his knowledge of Edward's marriage +contract, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>; his view of the government of Henry VII., <A HREF="#P249">249</A>; his view +of the extent of Richard's guilt, <A HREF="#P281">281</A>, <A HREF="#P282">282</A>; his method stated in his +preface, <A HREF="#P282">282</A>, <A HREF="#P283">283</A>; remarks on his views, <A HREF="#P283">283</A>, <A HREF="#P284">284</A>; his admissions, <A HREF="#P285">285</A>; +on the deformity, <A HREF="#P285">285</A>; surprise that Rivers should make Richard +supervisor of his will, <A HREF="#P285">285</A>; Richard's acts do not harmonise with the +Tudor stories, <A HREF="#P286">286</A>; his ideas about the death of young Edward at +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P286">286-288</A>; views respecting King Edward's treatment of +prisoners after the battle, <A HREF="#P289">289-290</A>; views about the death of Henry +VI., <A HREF="#P290">290-294</A>; acknowledges that Richard interceded for his brother +Clarence, <A HREF="#P294">294</A>; reply to his remarks about Richard's supposed remorse, +<A HREF="#P295">295</A>; has nothing to say against Richard's marriage, <A HREF="#P295">295</A>; he admits, +assuming they were not tried, that the sentence of Rivers and his +companions was not more severe than the law might authorise, <A HREF="#P296">296</A>; he +thinks that Edward's precontract with Lady Eleanor Butler may be true, +<A HREF="#P296">296</A>; yet he still believes in the slander of the Duchess of York, <A HREF="#P297">297</A>; +his defence of the assertion that Richard murdered his nephews, <A HREF="#P298">298-299</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Galtres Forest, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gamble's Close, position of Lord Stanley at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Garter, Order of the, stall plate of Richard Duke of Gloucester, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; +Duke of Burgundy invested, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; knights made by King Richard, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gascoignes faithful to King Richard, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gascons, trade in wine, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gastons, a position on Tewkesbury battle field, <A HREF="#P72">72</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gedding, Sir John, slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +George, <I>see</I> Clarence, Duke of Giles, Sir John, pardoned after +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gladmoor, <I>see</I> Barnet +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Glastonbury, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gloucester, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>; King Richard at, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; Buckingham at, <A HREF="#P225">225</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gloucester, Humphrey Duke of, his treatment of Jacoba of Holland, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gloucester, John of, illegitimate son of Richard III., <A HREF="#P237">237</A> <I>n.</I>; made +away with by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P255">255</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gloucester, Richard Duke of, <I>see</I> Richard III. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of, marriage with the Bohun +co-heiress, <A HREF="#P128">128</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Goddestande, <A HREF="#P237">237</A>, <I>see</I> Davy +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Golden Fleece, Edward IV. and Gruthuus companions of, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Goldwell, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gower, James, beheaded at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grantham, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Green, John, in the story of the murders, <A HREF="#P260">260</A>; apocryphal grants to, +<A HREF="#P264">264</A>; grants to a namesake by Richard III., <A HREF="#P264">264</A>; grant to himself by +Henry VII., <A HREF="#P268">268</A>, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; his death, <A HREF="#P271">271-273</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Greenfield, Clement Paston's tutor, <A HREF="#P117">117</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Greenwich, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Lord, of Codnor, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Lord, of Powys, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; Commissioner for Peace with Scotland, +<A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Lord, of Wilton, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Sir John, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Sir Richard, with young Edward at Ludlow, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; arrested, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; +beheaded, <A HREF="#P100">100</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, <I>whom see</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey de Ruthyn, Lord, treachery at Northampton, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Lady, <I>see</I> Elizabeth Woodville +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Greystoke, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; cousin to the king, +<A HREF="#P110">110</A>; hurrying to help the king, but too late, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grimsby, Sir William, pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gruthuus, Louis de Bruges, Lord of, hospitality to Edward IV., <A HREF="#P43">43</A>; help +in fitting out the expedition, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Guilds, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gunners, Flemish, with hand guns, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gunthorpe, John, Lord Privy Seal, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; Commissioner for Peace with +Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gupshill farm near Tewkesbury battle-field, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>; Margaret awaited the +result in a religious house at, <A HREF="#P74">74</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Habington's Life of Edward IV., on absurdity of accusing Richard of +murder of Henry VI., <A HREF="#P199">199</A>; his account of Edward's proceedings after +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P289">289</A>; with Hall and Grafton adds Dorset to the assassins at +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P190">190</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hague, the, Edward IV. at, <A HREF="#P43">43</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hall, Sir David, the Duke of York's chief adviser, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; sent out +foraging party from Sandal, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; battle brought on against his advice, +<A HREF="#P14">14</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hall's Chronicle, absurd story about the murder of Rutland, <A HREF="#P16">16</A> <I>n.</I>, +<A HREF="#P190">190</A> <I>n.</I>; his statement about funeral of Henry VI., <A HREF="#P190">190</A> n., and about +Richard Croft and Edward of Lancaster, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> <I>n.</I>; the pamphlet inspired +by Morton embodied in, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; copied from earlier writers, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>, <A HREF="#P241">241</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Halsted, Miss, biographer of Richard III., <A HREF="#P85">85</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>; the best +work on the subject, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P182">182</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hampton, Sir Edmund, slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hanson, Captain, wounded at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hardwycke, of Lindley, joined Henry Tudor and acted as a guide, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hardynge's Chronicle, Morton's lampoon first appeared in, <A HREF="#P168">168</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Harfleur, Margaret of Anjou embarked at, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; Henry Tudor embarked at, +<A HREF="#P142">142</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Harington, James, Clerk of the Council, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; slain at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, +<A HREF="#P157">157</A>; loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Harington, Sir John, heard that the Morton lampoon was written by +Morton, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; or by More, <A HREF="#P170">170</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Harrow, J., Warden of the Mercers' Company, with the Duke of York at +Wakefield, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; wounded and put to death, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>; head stuck on a gate at +York, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hastings, Wm., <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; knighted on the field of Towton, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; created Lord +Hastings, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; flight with Edward IV., <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; at Barnet, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>; at +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>; his conspiracy, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>; arrest and execution, +<A HREF="#P99">99</A>; his son a minor, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; Richard's generosity to his widow and family, +<A HREF="#P99">99</A>; falsifications of dates respecting his death, <A HREF="#P210">210-216</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Haute, Sir John, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Haute, Sir Richard, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; arrested, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; beheaded, <A HREF="#P100">100</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hedgley Moor, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hedingham Castle, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Henry IV. (Bolingbroke), his usurpation and its consequences, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; +marriage with the Bohun heiress, <A HREF="#P128">128</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Henry V. (of Monmouth), his character, war, and persecution of +heretics, <A HREF="#P103">103</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Henry VI. (of Windsor), taken prisoner at Northampton, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; marriage, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>; +assent to the Act making the Duke of York heir apparent, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>; hunting at +Greenwich, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; re-captured by his wife, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>; at York during the battle +of Towton, flight to Scotland, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>; at Hexham, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; concealed at +Bolton Hall, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; his death, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; buried at Windsor, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>; false date for +his death and insinuations by Morton, Polydore Virgil, Warkworth, +Fabyan, Rous, Croyland, <A HREF="#P193">193-195</A>; his accounts reveal the truth, <A HREF="#P197">197</A>, +<A HREF="#P198">198</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>; Mr. Gairdner's views respecting his death, <A HREF="#P290">290-4</A>; founded +Eton College, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Henry VII., <I>see</I> Tudor, Henry; business of vilifying his predecessor, +<A HREF="#P171">171</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>; inspired the story of the murder of the princes, as Lord +Bacon suspected, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>, <A HREF="#P236">236</A>, <A HREF="#P250">250</A>, <A HREF="#P251">251</A>; his conduct respecting the Act +settling the crown on Richard, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>; his illegal executions after +Bosworth, <A HREF="#P246">246</A>, <A HREF="#P247">247</A> <I>n.</I>; his character and government, <A HREF="#P248">248</A>, <A HREF="#P249">249</A>, <A HREF="#P251">251</A>, +<A HREF="#P253">253</A>; his usurpation, <A HREF="#P250">250</A>; marriage, 254: strong motive for the crime, +<A HREF="#P254">254</A>; his other victims, <A HREF="#P255">255</A>; silences the relations, <A HREF="#P257">257</A>, <A HREF="#P270">270</A>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A>; +gives out the story, <A HREF="#P258">258</A>, <A HREF="#P259">259</A>; fear of detection, <A HREF="#P267">267</A>; murder of the +princes, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; rewards to Tyrrel and others, <A HREF="#P268">268</A>, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>, <A HREF="#P270">270</A>; got Tyrrel +into his power by treachery, <A HREF="#P273">273</A>; cruel treatment and death of Edward, +Earl of Warwick, <A HREF="#P275">275</A>; contemplating another crime on his death-bed, +<A HREF="#P277">277</A>; restitution to Tyrrel's son, <A HREF="#P277">277</A>; died tormented by remorse, <A HREF="#P278">278</A>; +things unexplained in his conduct, <A HREF="#P279">279</A>, <A HREF="#P280">280</A>. <I>See</I> Murder of the +princes +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Henry, Captain of Bristol, slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Heraldry, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Heralds' College, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, <A HREF="#P162">162</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hereford, <A HREF="#P8">8</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hereford, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Heretics, Lancastrian law for burning, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hexham, battle of, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Heydon, John, Recorder of Norwich, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hill, Sir W., beheaded at York, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Holborn, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Holderness, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Holinshed's Chronicle, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P190">190</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Holme Hill, near Tewkesbury battlefield, <A HREF="#P72">72</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hook, Dr., Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, has doubts, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hopton, Walter, Treasurer of the Household, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; knighted, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; slain +at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Home, Captain of Appledore, at Towton, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; in the pursuit of Clifford, +<A HREF="#P28">28</A>; slain in the battle, <A HREF="#P32">32</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Howard, Lord, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <I>see</I> Norfolk, Duke of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hungates of Saxton, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hungerford, Lord, at Towton for Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; known as Lord Molines, +<A HREF="#P25">25</A>; flight, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; continued in rebellion, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; beheaded, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; generosity of +Edward IV. to his family, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; his son a minor, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hungerford, Walter, joined Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; slew Sir R. Brackenbury, +<A HREF="#P156">156</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hunting, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Huntingdon, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; bore the +queen's sceptre, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; with the king on his progress, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hussey, Sir William, Lord Chief Justice, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Iceland, Richard's promotion of trade with, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Inns in London, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Inns of Court, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Insomuch, J., printer of the Book of St. Albans, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Iolanthe, sister of Margaret of Anjou, <A HREF="#P67">67</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ireland, Duke of Clarence born at Dublin, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; flight of the Duke of York +to, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; King Richard's good government +of, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Jackson, Robert, beheaded at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Jacoba of Holland, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +James III. of Scotland, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P257">257</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Jenney, Sir William, Judge of Common Pleas, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; knighted, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Jervaux, Monks of, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Jesse, disbelieved most of the Tudor fables, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +John of Gloucester, <I>see</I> Gloucester +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Judges in time of Richard III., <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Katherine, daughter of Edward IV., married to the Earl of Devonshire, +<A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kelfield, Stillington family at, <A HREF="#P96">96</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury, christened Edward of +Lancaster, <A HREF="#P55">55</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kempe, J., Bishop of London, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kendall, John, Secretary of Slate, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; slain at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>; +loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kent, Earl of, Lord Fauconberg created, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kent, Grey, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, carried the +ecclesiastical sword of justice, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Keyley, James, payment to, for King Richard's tomb, <A HREF="#P253">253</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kidwelly, Morgan, Attorney-General, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kildare, Earl of, Lord Deputy of Ireland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kirkcudbright, Margaret embarked at, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Laing, continuation of Henry's History, disbelief of Tudor stories, +<A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lancaster, Duchy of, Duke of Gloucester, Chief Seneschal, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; T. +Metcalf, Chancellor of, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lancastrians, Duke of York's two elder daughters married to, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; +overpowered the Duke of York at Ludlow, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; raise an army in Yorkshire, +<A HREF="#P9">9</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; atrocities after Wakefield, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>. (<I>See</I> Towton, Barnet, +Tewkesbury.) Malcontents intriguing in France, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A>, <A HREF="#P243">243</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Langstrother, Sir John, Prior of St. John, with Margaret, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; at +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; tried and executed, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Langton, Bishop of St. David's, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; praise of King Richard, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Latimer, Lady, made Richard supervisor of her will, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Law, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Law officers, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lawless times, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lawyers, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Legge, 'Unpopular King,' rejects most of the Tudor stories, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Leicester, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; King Richard at, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>; buried at, <A HREF="#P158">158</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lewis, Dr., sent by Lady Stanley to the Queen Dowager, <A HREF="#P231">231</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lewknor, Sir Thomas, traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lichfield, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lincoln, King Richard at, when he heard of Buckingham's rebellion, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lincoln, Bishop of, <I>see</I> Russell, Dr. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lincoln, Earl of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; nephew to the king, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>; at Richard's coronation +bearing the orb, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; with the king on his progress, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; false +statement of Rous, <A HREF="#P138">138</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lingard, Dr., believer in all Tudor stories, <A HREF="#P182">182</A>, <A HREF="#P281">281</A>; on Henry VI., +<A HREF="#P198">198</A> <I>n.</I>; on the execution of Rivers, <A HREF="#P210">210</A> <I>n.</I>; on young Edward's +tailor's account, <A HREF="#P237">237</A>; defence of Henry's executions after Bosworth, +<A HREF="#P247">247</A> <I>n.</I>; imprisonment of the Queen Dowager, <A HREF="#P257">257</A> <I>n.</I>; alleged rewards +to murderers, <A HREF="#P264">264</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lisle, Viscount (Grey), <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P235">235</A>; +bore the rod with dove, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lisle, Viscount, Arthur, son of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Llandaff, J. Marshall, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Loan raised by King Richard, <A HREF="#P142">142</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +London warmly supported the House of York, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; residences, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>, +<A HREF="#P112">112</A>; inns, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>; city companies, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>; popularity of King Richard, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>; +Recorder, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; Bishop, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Londoners with the Duke of York at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; citizens declare for +Edward IV., <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; march to Towton, <A HREF="#P22">22</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lorenzo the Magnificent, likeness to Richard III., <A HREF="#P40">40</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lorraine, Isabelle of, mother of Margaret of Anjou, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>; death of, <A HREF="#P55">55</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Louis XI., <A HREF="#P58">58</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; bribed the ministers of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P82">82</A>; interview +with Prince Richard, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Louis XII., <A HREF="#P128">128</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lovel, Francis, Viscount, friend of Richard, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; bore the civil sword +of justice at the coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; Lord Chamberlain, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; created +a Knight of the Garter, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; with the king at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>; loyal +to the end, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lovell, Sir Thomas, Tyrrel decoyed into his power by treachery, <A HREF="#P273">273</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Loyal men, at Bosworth and on their way, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>; in Henry's Act +of Attainder, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lucy, Elizabeth, mother of two children of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A> +<I>n.</I>; false statement of Morton, <A HREF="#P220">220</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ludlow, Duke of York succeeds to, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; Yorkist defeat at, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; Young Edward +at, <A HREF="#P88">88</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lumley, Lord, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A> <I>n.</I>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lumley Castle, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lymbricke, Sir Walter, wounded and taken prisoner at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lymon, Thomas, Solicitor-General, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; married Jane Shore, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lynn, <A HREF="#P42">42</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Magdalen College, Oxford, King Richard at, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Malmesbury, <A HREF="#P71">71</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Maltravers, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Manor houses, <A HREF="#P121">121</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mantes, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +March, Earl of (Edward IV.), <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +March, Earl of, and Pembroke, son of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P125">125</A>. <I>See</I> Edward +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Marches, Richard Warden of the, <A HREF="#P85">85</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Margaret of Anjou, birth, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>; marriage, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>; birth of her son, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>; +strove to make her son popular, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>; adventures in the war, <A HREF="#P57">57-59</A>; +living at Koeur-la-Petite, <A HREF="#P60">60-67</A>; agreement with Warwick, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; +embarked for England, <A HREF="#P68">68-69</A>; at Cerne Abbey, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; at Tewkesbury, +<A HREF="#P72">72-77</A>; taken prisoner to the Tower, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; with the Duchess of Suffolk, +<A HREF="#P78">78</A>; ransomed, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>; last years and death, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>; her alleged cruelties after +Wakefield untrue, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Margaret, Princess, Duchess of Burgundy, birth, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; taken prisoner, +<A HREF="#P7">7</A>; in John Paston's chambers, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>; marriage, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; help to her +brothers, <A HREF="#P43">43-44</A>; visit to her brothers, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; patron of Caxton, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Margaret, Princess, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, Countess of +Salisbury, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>; killed by Henry VIII., <A HREF="#P256">256</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Margaret Beaufort, <I>see</I> Stanley, Lady +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Markham, Sir John, created K.B. by Edward IV., <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; his present of a +book to Lord Cromwell, <A HREF="#P51">51</A> <I>n.</I>; Lord Chief Justice, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Markham, Sir Robert, created K.B. by Edward IV., <A HREF="#P36">36</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Marshall, J., Bishop of Bangor, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mauleverers loyal to King Richard, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mercers Company, <I>see</I> Harrow. Caxton a Mercer, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Merchant Adventurers, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Merchant Taylors' Company, dispute with Skinners, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Merchants' increasing wealth, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Metcalfes of Nappa, Thomas made Chancellor of the Duchy, <A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Methley, Lord Welles buried at, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Micklegate, Duke of York's head on, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Middleham Castle, the home of Richard and Anne, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>; description of, +<A HREF="#P83">83</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>; Richard founded a college at <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P294">294</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Middleton, Sir Robert, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Miles, Lewis, beheaded at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Milewater, servant to Edward and Edmund, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>; slain at Barnet fighting by +Richard's side, <A HREF="#P50">50</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Milford Haven, Henry Tudor landed at, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Milling, Dr., Bishop of Hereford, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Millstones from Paris, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ministers of Richard III., <A HREF="#P144">144-145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Miracle plays, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, hanged by sailors, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Molines or Moleyns, Lord, <I>see</I> Hungerford; lawless conduct, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Monasteries, <A HREF="#P118">118</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Montagu, Marquis; his treason, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>; at Hexham, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>; outmanoeuvred, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>; at +Barnet, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; grief of Richard, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; who interceded for his +children, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +More, Sir Thomas, the so-called 'History of Richard III.' attributed +to, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; its freedom from criticism due to More's reputed authorship, +<A HREF="#P170">170</A>; not written by More, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>; on Morton's extraordinary memory, <A HREF="#P208">208</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Morley, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; with the king on his +progress, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mortimer inheritance, Duke of York succeeded to, <A HREF="#P3">3</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mortimer, Hugh and Sir John, with the Duke of York, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; slain at +Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mortimer's Cross, victory won by the Earl of March, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Morton, Dr., with Henry VI. at York, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>; with Margaret in exile, +<A HREF="#P69">69</A>; at Tewkesbury, pardoned, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; Bishop of Ely, bribed by Louis XI., +<A HREF="#P82">82</A>; intrigues against Richard, <A HREF="#P97">97-99</A>; given in charge to the Duke of +Buckingham, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>; his political pamphlet called 'History of Richard +III.', <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; its authorship, <A HREF="#P169">169-171</A>; account of Morton and his career, +<A HREF="#P206">206-207</A>; made Archbishop of Canterbury, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P207">207</A>; on Richard's alleged +deformity, <A HREF="#P185">185-186</A>; silent respecting the death of Edward of Lancaster, +<A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>; insinuation about Henry VI., <A HREF="#P193">193</A>; confessed that Richard +resisted the death of Clarence, <A HREF="#P203">203</A>; his story about Richard's +assumption of the protectorship, <A HREF="#P208">208-210</A>; his version of the Hastings +plot, <A HREF="#P210">210-213</A>; his falsification of dates, <A HREF="#P213">213-216</A>; his version of the +execution of Rivers, <A HREF="#P216">216-217</A>; his falsification of King Richard's +title, <A HREF="#P217">217-221</A>; his shameful slander of the Duchess of York, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>; +unworthy of credit, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>; his false version of Richard's accession, +<A HREF="#P222">222-223</A>; his account of conversations with the Duke of Buckingham, +<A HREF="#P222">222-227</A>; his evidence of Richard's intentions respecting his nephews, +<A HREF="#P238">238</A>; intriguing in the Isle of Ely and in France, <A HREF="#P242">242</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mountjoy, Lord (<I>see</I> Sir Walter Blount), <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; son and heir slain at +Barnet, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; to announce accession of Richard III. at Calais, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mowbray, inheritance, <A HREF="#P125">125</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Muccleston church, <A HREF="#P56">56</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Murder of the princes, story as given out by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P169">169</A>, <A HREF="#P258">258-259</A>; +fuller story published by Grafton and Rastell, <A HREF="#P259">259-261</A>; question of +their fate, <A HREF="#P233">233</A>; no danger to Richard, <A HREF="#P235">235</A>; alive during Richard's +reign, <A HREF="#P236">236-238</A>; conduct of mother and sister, <A HREF="#P238">238</A>, <A HREF="#P239">239</A>; false rumours, +<A HREF="#P239">239</A>, <A HREF="#P240">240</A>; contradictory dates, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>; murdered by order of Henry VII., +<A HREF="#P256">256</A>; story put forward contradictory and inaccurate, <A HREF="#P262">262</A>; Tyrrel, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; +burial, bodies discovered, <A HREF="#P270">270</A>; relations silenced, <A HREF="#P270">270</A>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A>; alleged +rewards to murderers, <A HREF="#P264">264</A>, <A HREF="#P265">265</A>; Henry's rewards, <A HREF="#P272">272</A>; Henry's remorse, +<A HREF="#P276">276</A>, <A HREF="#P278">278</A>; Mr. Gairdner's theory, <A HREF="#P298">298</A>, <A HREF="#P299">299</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Musgraves faithful to King Richard, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nappa Hall, seat of the Metcalfes, <A HREF="#P83">83</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Navy of Richard III., <A HREF="#P135">135-136</A>. <I>See</I> Rogers, Thomas +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Neale, Richard, Judge of Common Pleas, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nesfield, Captain, to watch the Westminster sanctuary, <A HREF="#P241">241</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, George, Bishop of Exeter, persuaded Edward to take the kingly +office, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; Archbishop of York, Richard and Anne sat together at +his installation feast, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; Anne's guardian, married her to Richard, +<A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Lady Anne, <I>see</I> Anne +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Lady Cecily, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>. <I>See</I> York, Duchess of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Lady Isabella, Duchess of Clarence, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>; children, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Lord, traitor to the Duke of York, <A HREF="#P11">11</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Lord, Richard wrote to, for reinforcements, <A HREF="#P98">98</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Sir George, son of Lord Abergavenny, made K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>. <I>See</I> +Montagu, Salisbury, Warwick, Westmoreland +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Sir John, at Towton for Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; with Lord Clifford, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>; +slain, <A HREF="#P29">29</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nevill, Sir Thomas, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>; head stuck on the gate +at York, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Newark, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Newborough, Sir William, beheaded at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Newcastle, Earl of Wiltshire beheaded at, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nicolas, Sir Harris, rejects some of Tudor stories, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>; denounces some +of them, <A HREF="#P228">228</A>, <A HREF="#P230">230</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nobility not destroyed by wars of the Roses, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>; life in the +country, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>. <I>See</I> Peerage +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nokes, John, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norfolk, Duke of (Mowbray), <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; at Towton, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; death of +heiress, <A HREF="#P125">125</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norfolk, Duke of (Howard), at Richard's coronation bearing the crown, +<A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; cousin to the king, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>; present to, from the royal +wardrobe, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; Earl Marshal, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; Admiral, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; commissioner for peace +with Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; hurried to the king's help, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>; his camp, +<A HREF="#P152">152</A>; slain at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norfolk coast, ships of King Edward off, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Northampton, Battle of, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>; Richard and Buckingham at, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Northumberland, Earl of, at the battle of Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; at Towton for +Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; led the centre, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; buried at York, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; his +son restored, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; at Richard's coronation, bore the pointless +sword of mercy, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; Commissioner for Peace with Scotland, +<A HREF="#P145">145</A>; at Bosworth but held back, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>; retribution, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> <I>n.</I>; +presided at the trial of Lord Rivers, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norwegian traders at Stourbridge fair, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norwich sent troop to Edward, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>; Recorder of, <I>see</I> Heydon +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norwich, Bishop of (Dr. Goldwell), at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nostell Priory, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nottingham, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>; memorial to King Richard III. at, <A HREF="#P158">158</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nottingham Castle, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>; King Richard commenced his march from, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nottingham, Earl of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Official documents in Richard's favour, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>; value of evidence, <A HREF="#P292">292</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ogle, Lord, in the marches during Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; +hurrying to join the king at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ogle, Sir Robert, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Oldham, Dr., Bishop of Sodor and Man, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ormonde, Earl of, <A HREF="#P24">24</A> (<I>see</I> Wiltshire); pardoned, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; in Portugal, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; +pardoned at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ormonde, Sir Thomas, created K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Oxford University, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>; King Richard at, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Oxford, John Vere Earl of, under attainder, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; at Barnet, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, +<A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>; came with Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>; at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>; origin of +the star in the arms of, <A HREF="#P50">50</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parker, pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parker, Sir William, the king's standard bearer at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parliament, Act making the Duke of York heir apparent, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>; deposed Henry +VI. for violating his word, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>; met in spite of the <I>supersedeas</I>, +<A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>; proofs of the illegitimacy submitted, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; petitions Richard +to assume the crown, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>; great power of the Speaker, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; Richard's +Parliament met, Acts passed, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; Acts first published in English, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; +distinction between public and private Acts first made, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; Lord +Campbell's opinion, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>. <I>See</I> Titulus Regius +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parr, Dr., inscription over King Richard's well, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>; remarks on +likeness of Richard to Lorenzo the Magnificent, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parr, Sir Thomas, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; grandfather +of Queen Katherine Parr, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parr, Sir William, slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>; head stuck on the gate at +York, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parr, Thomas, Richard's esquire, slain at Barnet, <A HREF="#P50">50</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Paston, boy at Eton, <A HREF="#P117">117</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Paston, Clement, at Cambridge, <A HREF="#P117">117</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Paston, John, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Paston, Mrs., <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Paston Letters, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P8">8</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Payn, Mr., his luggage seized by Jack Cade, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Payne's Place, Margaret of Anjou took refuge at, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Peerage, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>; of Richard III., <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; at his coronation, +<A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; no peer, except Stanley, joined Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pembroke, <I>see</I> Tudor, Jasper, title of Edward, son of Edward IV. +(<I>whom see</I>) +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pembroke Castle, Henry Tudor born at, <A HREF="#P140">140</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Percy, Sir Richard, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; slain at Towton, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Percy, Sir Robert, of Scotton, friend of Richard, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; Controller of the +Household, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; knighted, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; with the king at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Peterborough, <A HREF="#P1">1</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pickering, Sir James, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; slain, +<A HREF="#P15">15</A>; head stuck on a gate at York, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pilgrimages, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pilkington, Sir John, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pilkington, Sir Thomas, loyal to King Richard, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pilkingtons, faithful to King Richard, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Plantagenets, the Dynasty, <A HREF="#P166">166</A>; the kings of the Lancastrian branch, +<A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; Yorkist right, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; children of the Duke of York, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; of +Edward IV., <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>; of the Duke of Clarence, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I>; slaughter of the +last male, <A HREF="#P275">275</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Plumpton correspondence, <A HREF="#P245">245</A>; arbitration, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Plumptons faithful to King Richard, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Plumstead churchyard, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pole-on-the-Humber, Lord Rivers landed at, <A HREF="#P46">46</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pole, de la, <I>see</I> Suffolk, Duke of, Lincoln, Earl of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pole, Anne de la, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pole, Richard, married to the Princess Margaret, daughter of the Duke +of Clarence, <A HREF="#P87">87</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pole, Sir Edmund de la, created K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; afterwards Earl of Suffolk +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Polydore Virgil, employed by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; his coming to England, +<A HREF="#P171">171</A>; his numerous preferments, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>; character of his history, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>; +untrustworthy, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>; on the unequal shoulders, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>; on treatment of +captives at Towton, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; a slanderer, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>; on date of death of +Henry VI., <A HREF="#P193">193</A>, <A HREF="#P196">196</A>; his calumny about the Duchess of York, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>, <A HREF="#P222">222</A>; +statement about Buckingham's claims, <A HREF="#P223">223</A>; silent about Clarence, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>; +contradicts Morton about Shaw's sermon, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>; contemplated marriage with +Elizabeth, <A HREF="#P231">231</A>; battle of Bosworth, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> <I>n.</I>; his story of the murder, +<A HREF="#P258">258</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pomfret, Lancastrian army at, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; bodies of the Duke of York and Earl +of Rutland at, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; Montagu at, <A HREF="#P47">47</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pomfret Castle, a residence of the Duke of Gloucester, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; Edward's +headquarters before Towton, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; execution of Lord Rivers at, <A HREF="#P99">99</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pont-à-Mousson, birth place of Margaret of Anjou, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Portsmouth, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Post first established by Richard III., <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Prices, <A HREF="#P123">123</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Printing, <I>see</I> Caxton +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Progress, King Richard's royal, <A HREF="#P129">129-30</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pulter, Thomas, loyal to King Richard, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Quarter, none given by the Lancastrians at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>; proof +that it was given by Edward at Towton, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; always given by Edward, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; +given to inferior officers and soldiers at Tewkesbury, where several +leaders were also pardoned, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Queen, <I>see</I> Anne Nevill +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Queen, <I>see</I> Elizabeth of York +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Queen Dowager, <I>see</I> Elizabeth Woodville +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Raby, Rose of, <I>see</I> York, Duchess of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ramme, traitor, executed at Exeter, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rapin, History of England, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ratcliffe, Sir John (Lord Fitzwalter), <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; at Ferrybridge, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; slain, <A HREF="#P27">27</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ratcliffe, Sir Richard, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; Knight of the Garter, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; at +Bosworth, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>; loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ratford, Capt, slain at the battle of Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ratte, John, loyal to the end, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ravenspur, Edward landed at, <A HREF="#P45">45</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Redman, Dr., Bishop of St. Asaph, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Redmore Plain, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +René, King, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>; death, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Revell, Richard, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Richard III. (Duke of Gloucester), son of the Duke of York, born at +Fotheringhay, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; childhood with Margaret and George, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>; prisoner at +war, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; in John Paston's chambers in the Temple, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; sent to Holland +for safety, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>; loss of his father and brother, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; built a +memorial chapel at Towton, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>; creations, Knight of the Garter, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; +stall plate at Windsor, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; chief mourner at his father's funeral, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; +military training under Warwick, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; early and enduring friendships, +<A HREF="#P40">40</A>; companionship with Anne Nevill, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; description of, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>; loyal +to Edward IV., <A HREF="#P41">41</A>; flight with Edward to Holland, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>; at Bruges, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>; +fitting out ships at Veere, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; at Ravenspur, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>; negotiation with +Clarence, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>; at Barnet, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>; at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>; marriage and life +at Middleham, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; with Edward IV. in France, upright conduct, +<A HREF="#P82">82</A>; founded colleges, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P294">294</A>; supervisor of wills, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>; +arbitrator, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A> <I>n.</I>; high offices of State, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>; Warden of the +Marches, campaign in Scotland, excellence of his administration, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>; +takes Berwick, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>; Protector by Edward's will, services and popularity, +<A HREF="#P89">89</A>; arrested Rivers, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; resided with his mother, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; ignorant of +his brother's matrimonial secrets, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>; stamped out the Hastings +conspiracy, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>; rightful heir, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; accepts the crown, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>; town +house at Crosby Place, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>; coronation, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; grant to +Buckingham, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>; progress, <A HREF="#P128">128-130</A>; at York, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; suppressed +Buckingham's revolt, <A HREF="#P131">131-132</A>; Parliament and administrative reforms, +<A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>; loss of his son, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>; progress and reception of Scotch +ambassadors, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>; popularity in London, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>; his wife's death, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; +military talent, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; courage and pluck, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>; formation of his army, +<A HREF="#P154">154</A>; resolves on a desperate charge at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>; glorious death, +<A HREF="#P156">156</A>; buried at Leicester, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>; memorials, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>; character, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>; +accusations against him, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>; Tudor calumnies, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A>; +deformity, <A HREF="#P185">185-187</A>; Mr. Gairdner and the alleged crimes of, <A HREF="#P281">281-301</A>. +<I>See</I> Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI., Anne Nevill, Hastings, Clarence, +Rivers, Titulus Regius, Murder of the Princes +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Richard, second son of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>; in sanctuary, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; joined +his brother, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>. <I>See</I> Murder of the princes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Richmond, earldom, granted to the Duke of Gloucester, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; Henry +Tudor had no right to the title, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Richmond Castle, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rivers, Earl, flight with Edward IV., <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; landed at Pole, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>; +Constable of the Tower, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; in charge of his nephew at Ludlow, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; +arrested, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; tried and executed, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P216">216</A>, <A HREF="#P217">217</A>; made Richard III. +supervisor of his will, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>; his literary attainments, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>; his son +a minor, <A HREF="#P109">109</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Robsart, Sir Terry, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rochester, Bishop of, Dr. Audley, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rockingham Forest, <A HREF="#P1">1</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rogers, Thomas, keeper of the ships, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rogers, Mr. Thorold, on the character of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P37">37</A>; on the Wars of +the Roses, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; opinion of churchmen, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>; disbelief in the murder of +Henry VI., <A HREF="#P198">198</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Roos, Lord, with Henry and Margaret at York, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>; beheaded at +Hexham, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Roos, Sir Henry, pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Roos, Sir William, slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rose of Raby, <I>see</I> York, Duchess of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Roses, Wars of the, their causes, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; the nobility not annihilated, +<A HREF="#P37">37</A>, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>; not a war of the people, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rotherham, Archbishop, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Roucliffe, Brian, Baron of the Exchequer, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rouen, children of the Duke of York born at, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rous, John, an unblushing time server, <A HREF="#P173">173</A>, <A HREF="#P174">174</A>; on Richard's birth, +<A HREF="#P186">186</A>; reason of his silence about Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>; Henry VI., <A HREF="#P195">195</A>; +Countess of Warwick, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>; trial of Rivers, <A HREF="#P217">217</A> <I>n.</I>; death of Queen +Anne, <A HREF="#P228">228</A>; adoption of Warwick as heir, alleged supersession by +Lincoln, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>; death of the princes, <A HREF="#P244">244</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rumours of the deaths of the princes alleged to have existed, <A HREF="#P239">239</A>; +Croyland Monk, <A HREF="#P240">240</A>; no evidence, <A HREF="#P241">241</A>; Morton in the Isle of Ely, <A HREF="#P242">242</A>; +spread by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P256">256</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Russell, Dr., Bishop of Lincoln, his speech on investiture of the Duke +of Burgundy with the Garter, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>; an upright prelate, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>; King +Richard's Chancellor, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; at the coronation, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; commissioner for +peace with Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rutland, Earl of, <I>see</I> Edmund +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Saints' days, letters always dated on, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Albans, battles of, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Albans, Book of, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Asaph, Bishop of, B. Redman, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; commissioner for peace with +Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. David's, Bishop, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>. <I>See</I> Langton +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Denis, at York, Earl of Northumberland buried at, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Germain, Walter, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. John, Prior of, <I>see</I> Langstrother +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Leger, Sir Thomas, traitor, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>; beheaded, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Liz, Simon de, founder of Fotheringhay, <A HREF="#P1">1</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Lo, Sir John, knighted at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Martin's Day, stock killed and salted on, <A HREF="#P121">121</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Martin's le Grand sanctuary, Anne Nevill in, <A HREF="#P81">81</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Miheil, <A HREF="#P60">60</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +St. Pol, Duke of Burgundy's Court, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P60">60</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Salisbury, Buckingham beheaded at, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Salisbury, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>; traitor, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; at Richard's coronation, +<A HREF="#P144">144</A>. <I>See</I> Woodville +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Salisbury, Earl of, with the Duke of York at Sandal, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; at +Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; taken prisoner and put to death, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; head exposed at +York, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>; funeral at Bisham, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; town house at Cold Harbour, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Salisbury, Earl of, <I>see</I> Edward +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Salkeld, Wm., arrested the Earl of Wiltshire at Cockermouth, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sanctuary at Westminster, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P241">241</A>; at St. Martin's le Grand, <A HREF="#P81">81</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sandal Castle, Duke of York's inheritance, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; the Duke arrived at, +description, <A HREF="#P11">11-12</A>; ruins, <A HREF="#P12">12</A>; surrounding country, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; Duke's +Christmas at, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P14">14</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sandford, on the death of Clarence, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>, <A HREF="#P203">203</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sandwich, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sapcote, William, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sasiola, Galfridus de, <I>see</I> Spanish Ambassador +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Savage, Sir John, joined Henry Tudor at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Saxton, near Towton, <I>see</I> Towton <I>and</I> Hungate; Lord Dacre buried at, +<A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Saye, Lord, flight with Edward IV., <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>; slain at Barnet, <A HREF="#P51">51</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Saye, Sir William, created K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sayer, William, payments to, for keep of Henry VI., <A HREF="#P197">197</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Scarthingwell, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Scotland, flight of Henry VI. to, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>; Richard's campaign in, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>, +<A HREF="#P86">86</A>; peace with, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; Margaret of Anjou in, <A HREF="#P9">9</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Scotton, <I>see</I> Percy +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Scrope, of Bolton, Lord, with Edward, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; wounded at Towton, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; +Richard's neighbour, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>; executions +by, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> <I>n.</I>; hurrying to the aid of the king, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Scrope of Masham, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Severn, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>; slaughter at a ford, after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>; great flood, +<A HREF="#P131">131</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Seymour, Sir John, slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shaundé, Philibert de, in command of Henry Tudor's troops, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>; at +Bosworth, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shaw, Dr., sermon, misrepresented by Morton and Polydore Virgil, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>, +<A HREF="#P221">221</A>; false date, <A HREF="#P215">215</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sheen, <A HREF="#P35">35</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sherburn, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P29">29</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sheriff Hutton, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; chapel added to the church by Richard, <A HREF="#P85">85</A>; tomb of +Edward Prince of Wales at, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>; Edward, King Richard's heir, at, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, +<A HREF="#P142">142</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shore, Jane, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>; married to the Solicitor-General, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shrewsbury, Earl of, a minor, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Simnel, Lambert, <A HREF="#P280">280</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Skinners' Company, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Skipton, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Skipwith, Sir John, at the Duke of York's obsequies, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Slaughter or Slater ('Black Will'), <A HREF="#P260">260</A>, <A HREF="#P264">264</A>, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; rewards to, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sluys, <A HREF="#P60">60</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Smith, Wm., Bishop of Lichfield, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Smyth, William, <A HREF="#P5">5</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sodor and Man, Bishop of, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Somerset, Duke of, at the battle of Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; and Towton, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; made +his peace, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; beheaded at Hexham, <A HREF="#P59">59</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Somerset, Duke of, Edmund, Buckingham's descent from, <A HREF="#P225">225</A>; at Barnet, +<A HREF="#P49">49</A>; with Margaret, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>; his charge, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>; +beheaded, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>; title became extinct, <A HREF="#P37">37</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sopwell, Prioress of, <I>see</I> Berners, Juliana +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Southampton, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Southwick, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Spanish Ambassador, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; knighted at York, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <I>see</I> Ayala Sasiola +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Spofforth, <A HREF="#P84">84</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sport, <I>see</I> Hunting +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stafford, Humphrey, at Bosworth for the king, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>; loyal to the last, +<A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stafford, Sir Thomas, at Bosworth for the king, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stallworthe, Reverend Simon, letter to Sir W. Stonor, with real date of +execution of Hastings, <A HREF="#P214">214</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stanley, Lady, mother of Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; at Richard's coronation bore +the queen's train, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P235">235</A>; her intrigues, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>, <A HREF="#P226">226</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A>; +pardoned by the king, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>, <A HREF="#P231">231</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stanley, Lord, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; Lord +Steward, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; commissioner for peace with Scotland, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; the only Peer +who joined Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; raised forces, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; secret interview with +Henry Tudor, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; treachery at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; threw off the +mask, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>; objects of the Stanleys, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stanley, Sir Ralph, wounded and taken prisoner at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stanley, Sir Wm., captured Margaret of Anjou, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; treachery at +Bosworth, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>; retribution, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>; knew the truth about the princes, <A HREF="#P244">244</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stapleton, Sir Brian, for the king at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stapleton village, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stillingfleet church, <A HREF="#P96">96</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stillington, Dr., Bishop of Bath and Wells; his disclosure of Edward's +first marriage, <A HREF="#P93">93-97</A>; account of, <A HREF="#P94">94-96</A>; treatment by Henry VII., <A HREF="#P251">251</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stoke Golding, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stonor, Sir William, <I>see</I> Stallworthe +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stony Stratford, <A HREF="#P90">90</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Story, Ed., Bishop of Chichester, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stourbridge, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stourton, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stow's Chronicle, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>, <A HREF="#P191">191</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Strange, Lord, <A HREF="#P231">231-232</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Strickland, Miss, on Richard's marriage with Anne, <A HREF="#P201">201</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Strickland, Sir Thomas, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; loyal to the +king, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Suffolk, Duchess of, <I>see</I> Elizabeth +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Suffolk, Duke and Duchess, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>; received Margaret of Anjou at +Ewelme, <A HREF="#P78">78</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Suffolk, Duke of, at Richard's coronation bearing the sceptre, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, +<A HREF="#P143">143</A>; king's brother-in-law, <A HREF="#P110">110</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Supersedeas, <I>see</I> Parliament +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Surrey, Earl of, son married to Anne daughter of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>; +at Richard's coronation bearing the sword of state in the scabbard, +<A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; Knight of the Garter, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; at Bosworth for King Richard, +<A HREF="#P151">151</A>, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sutton Cheney, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>; king's army formed near, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tadcaster, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Talbot, Sir Gilbert, his treason, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>; at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P154">154</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Talbots, <A HREF="#P148">148</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Talboys, Sir William, at Towton for Henry, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; beheaded at York, <A HREF="#P34">34</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tattershall Castle, built of brick by Lord Bourchier, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Taunton, <A HREF="#P70">70</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Temple, John Paston's chambers in, <I>see</I> Paston, John +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>; battle, <A HREF="#P74">74-75</A>, King Richard at, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>; contemporary +accounts, Warkworth, Croyland Monk, Comines, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; Stories of Fabyan, +<A HREF="#P190">190</A>; Polydore Virgil, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>; Grafton, Hall, Holinshed, Habington, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>; +silence of Morton and Rous, <A HREF="#P191">191</A>, <A HREF="#P192">192</A>; Mr. Gairdner's view, <A HREF="#P286">286</A>, <A HREF="#P287">287</A>, +<A HREF="#P288">288</A>; executions after the battle, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P288">288</A>; pardons, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Throgmorton, pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tickhill Castle, <A HREF="#P107">107</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tipton, Lord, <I>see</I> Worcester, Earl of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Titchfield, Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou married at, <A HREF="#P54">54</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'Titulus Regius,' a State Paper explaining King Richard's title to the +crown, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; became an Act of Parliament, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>; attempt of Henry +VII. to destroy all copies, <A HREF="#P218">218</A>, <A HREF="#P250">250</A>, <A HREF="#P279">279</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Townshend, Rodger, Judge of the King's Bench, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Towton, battle of, numbers, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; distances, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; description of the +surrounding country, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>; formation of the Lancastrian line, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; battle, +<A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>. <I>See</I> Fauconberg, Edward IV., Horne +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tremayne, Thomas, King's Serjeant, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tresham, Speaker, <A HREF="#P104">104</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Trollope, Sir Andrew, Lancastrian chief of the staff at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, +<A HREF="#P16">16</A>; at Towton, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; his antecedents, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; in the centre, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>; slain, +<A HREF="#P33">33</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tudor, Edmund, created Earl of Richmond, but forfeited by attainder, <A HREF="#P38">38</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tudor, Henry, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; not Earl of Richmond, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; came across the +Channel but afraid to land, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>; traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I>, claim to the crown, +<A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A> <I>n.</I>; family and origin, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; lands at Milford Haven, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>; +interviews with the Stanleys, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; encamped at White Moors, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; +in the rear of the battle of Bosworth, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>; contrast between Richard +III. and Henry VII., <A HREF="#P160">160</A> <I>n.</I> <I>See</I> Henry VII. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tudor, Jasper, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; levies in Wales, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>; traitor, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; +came with his nephew, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>; at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>; formerly Earl of Pembroke, +but attainted, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tudors in Wales, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>; their paid writers, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; their fables, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>, <A HREF="#P187">187</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tunbridge Castle, Duchess of York and her children prisoners at, <A HREF="#P7">7</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tunstall, Sir Richard, Knight of the Garter, <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Turner, Sharon, doubted most of Tudor stories, <A HREF="#P181">181</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tuxford, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tweed, river near Bosworth, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tynemouth, <A HREF="#P58">58</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tyrrel, Sir James, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; escorted the Countess +of Warwick to Middleham, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>; stories after his execution, <A HREF="#P258">258</A>, +<A HREF="#P259">259</A>, <A HREF="#P260">260</A>, <A HREF="#P261">261</A>; betrayal by Bishop Fox, <A HREF="#P273">273</A>; his previous career, <A HREF="#P268">268</A>; +alleged confession, <A HREF="#P263">263</A>; taken into favour by Henry, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; his two +pardons, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>, <A HREF="#P270">270</A>; murder of the princes, <A HREF="#P269">269</A>; rewards from Henry, <A HREF="#P272">272</A>; +pretext for getting rid of him, <A HREF="#P272">272</A>, <A HREF="#P273">273</A>, <A HREF="#P279">279</A>; Tyrrel's son restored in +blood, <A HREF="#P277">277</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Urswick, Dr., <A HREF="#P231">231</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Utrecht, Richard and George at, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P38">38</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Van Borselle, Lord of Walcheren, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vaudemont, Ferry de, <A HREF="#P67">67</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vaughan, Sir Thomas, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; arrested, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; beheaded, <A HREF="#P100">100</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vaux, Lady, <A HREF="#P74">74</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vaux, Sir Thomas, slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vavasour, John, King's Serjeant, <A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vavasours, of Hazlewood, near Towton, <A HREF="#P26">26</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Veere, expedition of Edward IV. fitted out at, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Venery, works on, by the second Duke of York, <A HREF="#P108">108</A>; Juliana Berners, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vere, John, <I>see</I> Oxford, Earl of +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vignolle, François de, <A HREF="#P79">79</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Virgil, <I>see</I> Polydore +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wake, Roger, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Walcheren, <A HREF="#P44">44</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Walleys pardoned after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wallingford Castle, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P197">197</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Walsingham pilgrimages, <A HREF="#P119">119</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Warbeck, Perkin, <A HREF="#P258">258</A>, <A HREF="#P275">275</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wardrobe, royal, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; keeper of the, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wardrobe, the, in Blackfriars, a royal residence in the City, <A HREF="#P139">139</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Warkworth, Dr., on Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P189">189</A>; on the date of Henry's death, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>, +<A HREF="#P194">194</A>, <A HREF="#P199">199</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Warwick, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>; King Richard at, <A HREF="#P129">129</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Warwick, Countess of, in France, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; at Beaulieu, <A HREF="#P69">69</A>; joined her +daughter at Middleham, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P201">201</A>, <A HREF="#P202">202</A>; inheritance, <A HREF="#P81">81</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Warwick, Earl of, <I>see</I> Edward +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Warwick, Richard Nevill Earl of, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; gave Richard his +military training, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>; his treason, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>; conspiracy with Margaret of +Anjou, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>; outmanoeuvred by Edward, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>; at Barnet, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>; +slain, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; buried at Bisham, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; division of his estates, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Watkin, Walter, herald in Richard's time, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>; received Richard at Oxford, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, +<A HREF="#P146">146</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Weavers, Flemish, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Welch, John, <I>alias</I> Hastings, loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Welles, Lord, slain at Towton, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>; buried at Methley, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; son forgiven, +<A HREF="#P36">36</A>; traitor, <A HREF="#P132">132</A> <I>n.</I>; married Princess Cicely, <A HREF="#P86">86</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P271">271</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wenlock, Sir John, at Towton, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; created Lord Wenlock, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; +joined Margaret of Anjou, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; slain in the battle of Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wensleydale, <A HREF="#P82">82</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wentford, Sir Philip, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wentworth, Sir Eustace, slain at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Westminster, John Esteney, Abbot of, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>; coronation of Edward IV., <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; +coronation of Richard III., <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; sanctuary, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, <A HREF="#P136">136</A>, <A HREF="#P241">241</A>; tower +built by King Richard at, <A HREF="#P161">161</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Westminster school, its antiquity, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Westmoreland, Earl of, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; cousin to the king, <A HREF="#P110">110</A>; not at +Towton, a mistake of Leland followed by Hall, <A HREF="#P29">29</A> <I>n.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Weymouth, <A HREF="#P69">69</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'White Hart' Inn, in Southwark, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +White Moors at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P153">153</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Whittingham, Sir R., slain at Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P76">76</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wigmore Castle, <A HREF="#P3">3</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Willoughby, Sir Christopher, created K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Willoughby, Sir Robert, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>; sent to Sheriff Hutton to seize Edward and +Elizabeth, <A HREF="#P248">248</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wilson, John, <A HREF="#P120">120</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wiltshire, Earl of, at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; at Towton, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>; beheaded, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; +brother restored, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; at Richard's coronation bearing the queen's +crown, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Winchester, Bishop of, <I>see</I> Waynflete <I>and</I> Fox +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Winchester School, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Windsor, St. George's Chapel, stall plate of Richard III., <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; Edward +IV. at, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; present from the wardrobe to the college, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; Edward IV. +buried at, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>; Henry VI. buried, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>; nearly finished by Richard III., +<A HREF="#P139">139</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>; portrait of Richard III. at, <A HREF="#P40">40</A> <I>n.</I>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wodehouse, Sir Edward, knighted after Tewkesbury, <A HREF="#P77">77</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wolesley, Ralph, Baron of the Exchequer, <A HREF="#P145">145</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wolferstone, Sir Roger, at Towton for Edward, <A HREF="#P23">23</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Woodville, Elizabeth, <I>see</I> Elizabeth +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Woodville faction, their enrichment, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>; bribed by Louis XI., <A HREF="#P82">82</A>; their +designs, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; caused the death of Clarence, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>; their conspiracy +defeated, <A HREF="#P88">88-91</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>; marriages into noble families, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>. <I>See</I> Rivers +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Woodville, Lionel, Bishop of Salisbury, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, +<A HREF="#P235">235</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wool and cloth fair, <A HREF="#P112">112</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Woolley Edge, <A HREF="#P13">13</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Worcester, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P128">128</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Worcester, Bishop of, <I>see</I> Alcock +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Worcester, Tiptoft Earl of, author and statesman, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>; Caxton's lament +at his death, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wykeham, William of, founder of Winchester School, <A HREF="#P116">116</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York, flight of Henry VI. from, after Towton, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>; King Edward at, +<A HREF="#P34">34</A>; Prince Richard's beneficial connection with, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>; King Richard at, +<A HREF="#P130">130</A>; loyalty of the citizens, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>; sent 80 men to reinforce the king at +Bosworth, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; mourned the death of Richard, <A HREF="#P159">159</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York, Archbishop of, <I>see</I> Nevill, Rotherham. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York, Duchess of (<I>see</I> Rose of Raby <I>and</I> Nevill, Lady Cecil), <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; +twelve children, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; taken prisoner at Ludlow, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; refuge in Paston's +chambers, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; joined the Duke, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; last parting with the Duke, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; +sent her little sons to Holland, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>; Richard residing with her, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>, +<A HREF="#P92">92</A>; Richard's letter to his mother, <A HREF="#P92">92</A> <I>n.</I>; long widowhood and death, +<A HREF="#P93">93</A> <I>n.</I>; buried at Fotheringhay, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> <I>n.</I>; slanders of Morton and +Polydore Virgil, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>, <A HREF="#P221">221</A>; in the secret of her son's contract with +Lady Eleanor Butler, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>; slandered by Morton and Polydore Virgil, <A HREF="#P220">220</A>, +<A HREF="#P297">297</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York, Edmund Duke of, rebuilt Fotheringhay, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York, Edward Duke of, author of a work on sport, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York, Richard Duke of, his great possessions, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; wife and children, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, +<A HREF="#P6">6</A>; letter from his sons, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>; cause of his resort to arms, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; defeat +of Ludlow, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; at Baynard's Castle with his family, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>; march north, +<A HREF="#P11">11</A>; at Sandal, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>; betrayed, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; slain in the battle of Wakefield, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>; +his head stuck on Micklegate Bar, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>; outrages imputed to Margaret and +Clifford untrue, <A HREF="#P17">17</A> <I>n.</I>; magnificent obsequies at Fotheringhay, <A HREF="#P39">39</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'York Records,' edited by Mr. Davies. Evidence of loyalty to King +Richard and against alleged deformity, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>; disproves second coronation +at York, <A HREF="#P177">177</A>, <A HREF="#P227">227</A>, <A HREF="#P228">228</A>; Earl of Warwick a Councillor until May 1485, +<A HREF="#P138">138</A>; children in the king's household, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>; the <I>supersedeas</I> and +letter to York, <A HREF="#P100">100</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Yorkist captains at Wakefield, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>; at Towton, <A HREF="#P23">23</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Yorkist kings, nearly of pure English blood, <A HREF="#P166">166</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Yorkist princes, the leading sportsmen of England, <A HREF="#P108">108</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Yorkists, introduction of printing their chief glory, <A HREF="#P113">113</A> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Zouch, Lord, at Richard's coronation, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; hurried to the help of +the king, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; slain at Bosworth, <A HREF="#P155">155</A>, <A HREF="#P157">157</A>; loyal to the last, <A HREF="#P252">252</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Zouch, Sir W., created K.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +PRINTED BY +<BR> +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 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Markham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Richard III: His Life & Character + Reviewed in the light of recent research + +Author: Clements R. Markham + +Release Date: June 17, 2011 [EBook #36451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHARD III: HIS LIFE & CHARACTER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: _King Richard III. From a picture in the National +Portrait Gallery_] + + + + + +RICHARD III: HIS LIFE & CHARACTER + + + +REVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH + + + +BY SIR CLEMENTS E. MARKHAM, K.C.B. + + +AUTHOR OF 'THE LIFE OF THE + GREAT LORD FAIRFAX' AND + 'THE FIGHTING VERES' + + + + +WITH A PORTRAIT + + + +LONDON: SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +15 WATERLOO PLACE. 1906 + +(_All rights reserved_) + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +There are periods of history when the greatest caution is called for in +accepting statements put forward by a dominant faction. Very early in +my life I came to the conclusion that the period which witnessed the +change of dynasties from Plantagenet to Tudor was one of these. The +caricature of the last Plantagenet King was too grotesque, and too +grossly opposed to his character derived from official records. The +stories were an outrage on common-sense. I studied the subject at +intervals for many years, and in the course of my researches I found +that I more or less shared my doubts with every author of repute who +had studied the subject for the last three centuries, except Hume and +Lingard. My own conclusions are that Richard III. must be acquitted on +all the counts of the indictment. The present work is divided into two +parts, the first narrating the events of his life and times, and the +second examining the various accusations against him. I did not +contemplate publication because I thought that in these days prejudices +were too strong to make it possible that a fair and candid hearing +should be given to the arguments. But I determined to consult {vi} +some historical friends, and I was pleased to find that to a great +extent I was mistaken. + +In the first place, I wrote a full abstract of my arguments, for +publication in the 'Historical Review,' acting under the advice of my +old schoolfellow, Professor Freeman, to whom I sent it in the first +instance. It so happened that Mr. Freeman had given attention to part +of the subject. He upset some odious fabrications of the chroniclers +affecting the character of Margaret of Anjou, by proving that she was +in Scotland at the time when the battle of Wakefield was fought. +Freeman seldom wrote on so late a period of our history, and we owe +this modern excursion to a visit to Mr. Milnes Gaskell at Thornes. + +After reading what I sent him, Professor Freeman wrote on August 13, +1890: 'Your abstract has set me a-thinking. It is only a Robert of +Belleme who does that kind of thing. On your main point I will talk to +Gardiner and Stubbs. Meanwhile, I have shown your manuscript to Sidney +Owen, who read it and held it to be what lawyers would call +_considerable_. Owen had been at those times, and holds Henry VII. to +be at least capable of it. + +'It would be a self-denying ordinance in Gairdner if he accepted your +view, for he has gone more straight at that time than anybody else. +Gardiner has written to him, and he is a little fierce, as was to be +expected, but if you are like me, no man's fierceness will hinder you +from dining and sleeping as well as usual. The matter is at all events +worth discussing.' + +{vii} + +Professor York Powell read my manuscript, and wrote: 'I have read the +manuscript and think there is something worth looking into. Henry's +conduct to Tyrrell is exceedingly suspicious. Either Richard or Henry +might have put the boys to death, but it would be interesting for many +reasons to know which it was. I am not convinced by Markham, but I do +not think Gairdner has the right to be cocksure. The Morton suggestive +idea is very ingenious and pretty, and quite probable. It has +interested me much to read Markham's letter, for I remember my +difficulties in the matter and the point I got to, that the great men +did not, for a time, hold the now vulgate view of the murder of the +princes. I should rejoice should Markham light upon additional +evidence in favour of his thesis, which _a priori_ is by no means +unlikely. There is something about Richard's character, ability, and +reign which, I think, attracts every real student of history, and gives +one a feeling that he has been unfairly dealt with.' + +In 1891, the abstract of my work was published in the 'Historical +Review,' and Bishop Creighton, who was then the editor, wrote: 'Thank +you for your paper, which I have read with great interest. It +certainly makes out a strong case.' + +There were two rejoinders from Mr. Gairdner, which enabled me to recast +and improve parts of my work by the light of his criticism. + +I lost my adviser, Mr. Freeman, in 1892. One of the last things he did +was to warn me of an objection {viii} taken by Miss Edith Thompson, +which enabled me to meet it.[1] + +After careful revision I showed my manuscript to the late Sir Archibald +Milman, who had given close attention to those times. On December 27, +1897, he wrote: 'It is your bounden duty to tell your story of Richard +III., giving the date for every fact. It is only by sticking to dates +that you get at truth in criminal causes, and the same method must be +followed at the bar of history. It would be a pleasure to think that +the last Plantagenet was not a cruel scoundrel. By giving dates and +authorities for them, you render a great service. Richard's loyalty +and able administration in the north seem inconsistent with such +ferocity. I was much interested in one of your facts, that, according +to the story put forward by Henry VII., the bodies of the little +princes were taken up from the place of hasty interment and placed in +consecrated ground. But lo! they remained under the staircase, where +they were found in Charles II.'s reign.' + +In consequence of Sir A. Milman's letter I made another close scrutiny +of dates given by various authorities for the same events with +important results. I also went very carefully over the ground of the +battlefields of Wakefield, Towton, Barnet, Tewkesbury, and Bosworth; +and I added some chapters to the work. + +{ix} + +The correspondence to which I have referred has led me to the +conclusion that students of history are not, as I once believed, +unwilling to reconsider the questions which form the subject of the +present work, when they are presented from new points of view; and that +the well-known arguments which were supposed to suffice for the defence +of the Tudor stories in the past are in these days insufficient. The +numerous points now raised and submitted for the judgment of students +are at all events worth discussing. The present work is about as +complete as very frequent revision can make it. + + + +[1] She pointed out that the titles of Norfolk and Nottingham, granted +by Edward IV. to his second son Richard, were given by Richard III. to +Lords Howard and Berkeley, and that, therefore, young Richard must have +been dead. The answer is that the grants to Lords Howard and Berkeley +were made on June 28, 1483, before it was even pretended that young +Richard had been murdered. + + + + +{xi} + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v + + +_PART I_ + +CHAPTER I + +BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD + + Description of Fotheringhay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + Possessions of the Duke of York. Marriage . . . . . . . . 2, 3 + Birth of Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 + Letter of Edward and Edmund to their father . . . . . . . 4 + Children of the Duke of York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 + Richard a prisoner of war aged 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 + Refuge in John Paston's chambers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 + + +CHAPTER II + +DEATH OF RICHARD'S FATHER AND BROTHER AT THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD + + The Duke of York declared Heir-Apparent . . . . . . . . . 9 + The Duke and his family united at Baynard's Castle . . . . 10 + March to Sandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 + Description of Sandal Castle and its neighbourhood . . . . 12, 13 + Battle of Wakefield. Death of the Duke . . . . . . . . . 14, 15 + Death of Edmund, Earl of Rutland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 16 + Cruelty and inhuman folly of the Lancastrians . . . . . . 17 + Edward's victory at Mortimer's Cross . . . . . . . . . . . 18 + George and Richard sent to Holland for safety . . . . . . 18, 19 + + +{xii} + +CHAPTER III + +THE CROWNING VICTORY OF TOWTON + + Description of Edward IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 + Edward proclaimed King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 22 + March to the north. Yorkist leaders . . . . . . . . . . . 23 + Lancastrian leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 + Sir Andrew Trollope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 + Description of the country round Towton . . . . . . . . . 26 + Surprise at Ferrybridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 + Chase and death of Clifford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 + Yorkists march to Saxton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 30 + Marshalling of the Lancastrians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 + Battle of Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 33 + Flight of Henry and his partisans. Edward at York . . . . 34 + Coronation of Edward IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 + Edward's generous treatment of his foes . . . . . . . . . 36 + Chapel built by Richard at Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CROWN LOST AND WON--BATTLE OF BARNET + + Return of George and Richard from Holland . . . . . . . . 38 + Their Dukedoms, Earldoms and Richard's K.G. . . . . . . . 38 + Richard chief mourner at his father's obsequies . . . . . 39 + Military training under Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 + Description of Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 + Treason of Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 + Flight of Edward and Richard to Holland. . . . . . . . . . 42, 43 + Expedition fitted out at Veere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 + Landing at Ravenspur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 + Edward's brilliant campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46, 47 + Richard's negotiation with Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . 48 + Battle of Barnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49, 52 + + +CHAPTER V + +MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD + + Birth and marriage of Margaret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53, 54 + Birth of Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 + Adventures in the wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56, 59 + {xiii} + Home at Koeur-la-Petite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 + Edward's conversations with the Chief Justice . . . . . . 61, 66 + Agreement with Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 + Description of young Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY + + Margaret and Edward land at Weymouth . . . . . . . . . . . 69 + Advance to Bristol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 + King Edward's plan of campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 + Description of the battle field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 + March of King Edward's army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 + Battle of Tewkesbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74, 75 + Death of Edward of Lancaster on the battle field . . . . . 75 + Execution of some leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 + Pardon of the rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 + Death of Henry VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 + Ransom of Margaret. Her death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 + + +CHAPTER VII + +MARRIED LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER + + Richard's march to Sandwich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 + Marriage of Richard and Anne Nevill . . . . . . . . . . . 81, 82 + Richard with his brother in France . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 + Description of Middleham Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 + Home life at Middleham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82, 83, 84 + Public duties. Frequent visits to York . . . . . . . . . 84 + Warden of the Marches. Scottish campaign . . . . . . . . 84, 86 + Death of Edward IV. Lady Grey. Children . . . . . . . . 86, 87 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ACCESSION OF RICHARD III + + Conspiracy of the Woodvilles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 + Richard made Protector by his brother's will . . . . . . . 89 + Arrest of Rivers and his colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . 90 + Queen Dowager in sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 + Richard and his mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 + Disclosure of Bishop Stillington . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 + {xiv} + Account of Bishop Stillington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94-95 + Foundation of the College at Acaster . . . . . . . . . . . 96 + Children of Edward IV. illegitimate . . . . . . . . . . . 97 + Hastings-Woodville conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98, 99 + Execution of Rivers and his colleagues . . . . . . . . . . 99, 100 + Richard's title to the crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 + Accession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 + + +CHAPTER IX + +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE + + Results of the Lancastrian usurpation . . . . . . . . . . 103 + Effects of the Wars of the Roses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 + No destruction of the nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 + Scenery. Country life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 + Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 + Hunting and hawking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 + The Peerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 + Town residences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 + Magnificence of the Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 + Wealth of merchants. City Companies . . . . . . . . . . . 112 + Introduction of printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 + Caxton's works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114, 115 + Literary noblemen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115, 116 + Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 + Bishops. Clergy. Monasteries. Pilgrimages . . . . . . . 118-119 + Lawlessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 + Manor houses. Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 + Condition of the people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122-123 + Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 + + +CHAPTER X + +REIGN OF RICHARD III + + Description of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 + Treatment of his nephews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 + Coronation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126-127 + Claim of Buckingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 + Royal Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129-130 + Rebellion of Buckingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131-132 + {xv} + List of traitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132-133 + Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 + Reforms. Revenue. Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 + Convocation. Agreement with the Queen Dowager . . . . . . 136 + Death of the Prince of Wales. His tomb . . . . . . . . . 137 + Edward Earl of Warwick made Heir-Apparent . . . . . . . . 138 + King Richard's popularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 + Conspiracy of Henry Tudor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 + The King assembled troops at Nottingham . . . . . . . . . 141 + Proclamation against Henry Tudor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 + Peerage of Richard III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 + Ministers of Richard III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 + Commissioners for Peace with Scotland . . . . . . . . . . 145 + Judges and Law Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 + Bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 + Knights of the Garter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 + Knights of the Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH + + Treachery of the Stanleys explained . . . . . . . . . . . 148, 149 + King Richard's military talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 + English pluck displayed by Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 + Loyal men flocking to the King's standard . . . . . . . . 151 + Description of the country round Bosworth . . . . . . . . 152 + Positions of the two armies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 + King Richard leads his men to the encounter . . . . . . . 154 + Treachery of Lord Stanley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 + The King's gallant charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 + Death of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155-156-157 + Richard buried at Leicester. Memorials . . . . . . . . . 158 + Character of King Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 + His generosity. Arbitrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 + Able administration. Building operations . . . . . . . . 161 + Literary tastes. Founded the Heralds' College . . . . . . 162 + Comparison of Richard and the Tudors . . . . . . . . . . . 162, 163 + His married life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 + Contemporary Sovereigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 + + + +{xvi} + +_PART II_ + + +CHAPTER I + +THE AUTHORITIES + + The Plantagenet Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 + Character and position of the accusers . . . . . . . . . . 167 + Extravagance of their caricature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 + Writers in the pay of the Tudors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 + The notorious pamphlet by Morton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168-171 + Bernard Andre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 + Polydore Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171-172 + Rous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 + Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 + Warkworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 + Continuators of the Croyland Chronicle . . . . . . . . . . 175-178 + Official documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 + Hall, Grafton, Holinshed, Stow, Buck . . . . . . . . . . . 179 + Reaction. Modern authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 + Miss Halsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 + Upholders of the Tudor stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182-183 + + +CHAPTER II + +EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD + + Reckless profusion of abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 + Deformity. Statement of Rous and Morton . . . . . . . . . 185 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 + Object of the calumny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 + Tewkesbury. The truth told by all contemporaries . . . . 188-189 + Fable by Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 + Polydore Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 + Subsequent embellishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 + Silence of Morton and Rous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191-192 + Henry VI. Insinuations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 + Warkworth and Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194-195 + The Croyland Monk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 + Polydore Virgil contradicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 + All unworthy of credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 + Evidence of the accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 + {xvii} + Evidence of a contemporary writer . . . . . . . . . . 198 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 + Marriage. Richard and Anne really attached . . . . . . . 200 + Attack of Miss Strickland, a specimen of the sort + of arguments used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 + Countess of Warwick. False statement of Rous . . . . . . 201 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 + Death of Clarence. Charge absolutely groundless . . . . . 202 + Another specimen of argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 + The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 + + +CHAPTER III + +FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III + + Some account of Morton, the chief accuser . . . . . . . . 205-207 + Misrepresentation of events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208-210 + Cunning misrepresentations respecting Hastings . . . . . . 210-212 + Falsification of dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215-217 + The accession. The true claim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 + Attempt of Henry VII. to destroy the evidence . . . . 219 + Polydore Virgil's version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 + Morton's version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 + Fabyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 + Further falsification of dates . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 + Buckingham's treason. False reason given for + his discontent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 + The truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 + Morton's account of conversations . . . . . . . . . . 225, 226 + Second coronation. Statement disproved . . . . . . . . . 227 + Death of the Queen. Slanders of Polydore and Rous . . . . 228 + Elizabeth of York. Absurd rumour spread . . . . . . . . . 229 + Elizabeth's letter to the Duke of Norfolk . . . . . . 229-230 + Intrigues of Henry's mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 + Lord Strange. The truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAIN CHARGE AGAINST RICHARD III + + Rests on the truth or falsehood of previous crimes . . . . 233 + Richard's antecedents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 + Nothing to fear from his nephews . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 + {xviii} + Treatment of others in the same position . . . . . . . . . 236 + His nephews were probably members of his household . . . . 236 + Bill, in March 1485, for the elder nephew . . . . . . . . 237 + Conduct of the mother and sister . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238-239 + Alleged rumours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240-242 + Assertion of the French Chancellor . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 + Statements of Fabyan, Rous, Polydore, Andre . . . . . . . 244 + Sir William Stanley's conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 + Baseless rumours promulgated by Henry . . . . . . . . . . 245 + + +CHAPTER V + +HENRY TUDOR IN THE DOCK + + Description of Henry VII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 + His lawless executions after Bosworth . . . . . . . . . . 247 + Responsible for the lives of royal children . . . . . . . 248 + Henry's character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 + Necessity to strengthen his position . . . . . . . . . . . 250 + His Parliament of outlaws. Unjust attainders . . . . . . 251 + Loyal men attainted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 + Silent about the late King's nephews. Were they missing? 253 + If alive, Henry's marriage necessitated their deaths . . . 254 + Henry's treatment of other victims in his way . . . . . . 255 + The fate of the princes, if alive, was sealed by + the marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 + Imprisonment of the Queen Dowager . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 + Henry put forward a story, in Polydore Virgil . . . . . . 258 + A more detailed story, published by Rastell and Grafton 260-263 + Rewards alleged to have been given by Richard + to murderers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264, 265 + Confession of Tyrrel and Dighton fabricated . . . . . . . 267 + Genesis of these stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 + Some account of Sir James Tyrrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 + Henry's grant to John Green. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 + Tyrrel taken into favour. His two pardons . . . . . . . . 269 + Murder of the two Princes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 + Relations silenced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270-271 + Hush money to 'Black Will' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 + Reward to Dighton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 + Rewards and employments for Tyrrel . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 + Treacherous arrest and hurried execution of Tyrrel . . . . 273 + Dighton to reside at Calais . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 + The story put forward and generally accepted . . . . . . . 274 + {xix} + Judicial murder of the Earl of Warwick . . . . . . . . . . 275 + Henry's remorse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 + Elizabeth saw the cruel treatment of her mother and cousin + Her death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 + Henry's design to kill the Earl of Suffolk . . . . . . . . 277 + His death. Successful as this world counts success . . . 278 + Things unexplained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279, 280 + + +CHAPTER VI + +MR. GAIRDNER'S RICHARD III + + Mr. Gairdner's view of the alleged crimes . . . . . . . . 281 + Views stated in Mr. Gairdner's preface . . . . . . . . . . 282 + Richard's character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 + Richard acquitted of several charges . . . . . . . . . . . 285 + Tudor fables irreconcileable with Richard's character . . 285 + Mr. Gairdner's latest view of the Tewkesbury charge . . . 286-287 + On Edward IV.'s proceedings after Tewkesbury . . . . . . . 289-290 + His view of the Henry VI. charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 + His rejection of the evidence of the writer in Fleetwood . 292 + Acquits Richard of responsibility for the death of + Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294-295 + Position with regard to the title to the crown . . . . . . 296 + Believes in the Duchess of York slander . . . . . . . . . 297 + His reason for the belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 + Murder of the Princes. Story admitted to be full + of inaccuracies and improbabilities . . . . . . . . . . 298 + Richard could not have been a cool, calculating villain . 298 + Must have been headstrong and reckless . . . . . . . . . . 298 + Such a man might have committed the crime on a + sudden impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 + The rising in Kent supposed to be the motive . . . . . . . 299 + But the murders are stated to have been in August, + the rising in October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 + Thus Mr. Gairdner's theory fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 + Mr. Gairdner supplies proofs of the King's popularity . . 300 + Richard was the victim of the perfidy of a few traitors . 300 + Mr. Gairdner's testimony to Richard's good qualities . . . 300 + Great value of Mr. Gairdner's work . . . . . . . . . . . . 300-301 + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 + + + + +{xx} + +GENEALOGICAL TABLES + +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III. . . . _to face page_ 6 + +SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL . . . . . . . . . . . " " 82 + + +MAP + +BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . _to face page_ 328 + + +{1} + +LIFE OF RICHARD III + + + +PART I + +CHAPTER I + +BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD + +The castle of Fotheringhay[1] was the birthplace of our last +Plantagenet king. This venerable pile stood on the banks of the river +Nen, in Northamptonshire, amidst 'marvellous fair corn ground and +pasture.' From its battlements there was an extensive view, bounded to +the westward by the forest of Rockingham, while on the other side the +abbey church of Peterborough and the woods of Milton intercepted the +distant expanse of fen country. Originally built by bold Simon de St. +Liz in the twelfth century, the castle had fallen into ruin when it +reverted to the crown, and was granted by Edward III. to his son Edmund +of Langley. + +Edmund, who was created Duke of York by his nephew Richard II., rebuilt +the castle and founded a college hard by. Fotheringhay was surrounded +by a double moat with drawbridges, the river Nen serving as the outer +moat on the south side, and the Mill Brook, {2} flowing between the +castle yard and the little park, to the east. The walls were of stone, +and the great gate in the north front was adorned with the arms of +England, as differenced for Edmund of Langley, impaling the arms of +Castille and Leon.[2] The keep, built in the shape of a fetterlock, +was on a mount in the north-west angle of the castle; and below there +was a great courtyard surrounded by stately buildings, a chapel, and +'very fair lodgings,' as Leland tells us. The great hall was seventy +feet long, with a deep oriel window at one end.[3] + +Here dwelt Edmund the first Duke of York, his son Edward the second +Duke, who fell at Agincourt, and his grandson Richard, the third Duke. +Edmund projected the foundation of a college near the parish church, to +consist of a master, eight clerks, and thirteen choristers. He +commenced the choir, while his son and grandson completed and richly +endowed this religious house. The church was a fine specimen of the +Perpendicular architecture of the time, and the cloisters had numerous +windows filled with stained glass. + +The third Duke of York resided at Fotheringhay during part of every +year when he was in England, {3} with his beautiful wife the Lady +Cicely Nevill, the 'Rose of Raby,' and their troop of fair children. +But he also held vast estates elsewhere. In Yorkshire the castles of +Sandal and Conisborough were part of his paternal inheritance. On the +Welsh borders he had succeeded to all the possessions of the Mortimers, +including Ludlow and Wigmore. For his mother was the heiress of Edmund +Mortimer, Earl of March, and also of Lionel Duke of Clarence, the +second surviving son of King Edward III. Baynard's Castle, in the City +of London, was the Duke's town house. + +The 'Rose of Raby' bore her husband twelve children, and they came of a +right noble English stock. In their veins flowed the blood of +Plantagenet and Holland, Mortimer and FitzAlan, Nevill and Percy, +Clifford and Audley. Five of these fair branches died in infancy. +Ann, the eldest of those who survived early childhood, was born at +Fotheringhay in 1439. The three next, Edward, Edmund and Elizabeth, +first saw the light at Rouen, when their father was making a last +gallant stand for English dominion in France, from 1442 to 1444. +Margaret was born at Fotheringhay. The Duke and Duchess were ruling in +Ireland when George was born at Dublin Castle. The three last births +were at Fotheringhay, but of these only Richard, the eleventh child, +survived infancy. + +Richard Plantagenet was born at Fotheringhay Castle on October 2, 1452. +He probably passed the first five years of his life there with George +and Margaret. The elder sisters, Anne and Elizabeth, were married to +'Lancastrian' noblemen, the Dukes of Exeter and Suffolk, when Richard +was still in infancy. His elder brothers, Edward Earl of March and +Edmund Earl of Rutland, were separated from him by an interval {4} of +ten years, and lived with their tutor Richard Croft at Ludlow or +Wigmore. So that Richard's childhood must have been passed with his +brother George and his sister Margaret, the future Duchess of Burgundy. +But both were a few years older than little Richard. + +We obtain a glimpse of the home life of the two elder boys, Edward and +Edmund, from a letter to their father which has been preserved.[4] + + +'Right high and right mighty prince, our full redoubted and right noble +lord and father. + +'As lowly with all our hearts as we, your true and natural sons can or +may, we recommend us unto your noble grace, humbly beseeching your +noble and worthy fatherhood daily to give us your hearty blessing; +through which we trust much the rather to increase and grow to virtue, +and to speed the better in all matters and things that we shall use, +occupy, and exercise. + +'Right high and right mighty prince, our full redoubted lord and +father-- + +'We thank our blessed Lord, not only of your honourable conduct and +good speed in all your matters and business, of your gracious prevail +against the intent and malice of your evil willers, but also of the +knowledge that it pleased your nobleness to let us now late have of the +same by relation of Sir Walter Devereux Kt.[5] {5} and John Milwater +Esq.,[6] and John at Nokes, yeoman of your honourable chamber. Also we +thank your noble and good fatherhood for our green gowns now late sent +unto us to our great comfort, beseeching your good lordship to remember +our porteux,[7] and that we might have some fine bonnets sent unto us +by the next sure messenger, for necessity so requireth. Over this, +right noble lord and father, please it your highness to wit that we +have charged your servant, William Smyth, bearer of these, for to +declare unto your nobility certain things on our behalf, namely +concerning and touching the odious rule and demeaning of Richard Croft +and of his brother. Wherefore we beseech your gracious lordship and +full noble fatherhood to hear him in exposition of the same, and to his +relation to give full faith and credence. Right high and right mighty +prince, our full redoubted and right noble lord and father, we beseech +Almighty Jesus give you as good life and long, with as much continual +perfect prosperity as your princely heart can best desire. Written at +your castle of Ludlow on Saturday in Easter week. + +'your humble sons + 'Edward (Earl of March) + 'Edmund (Earl of Rutland).' + + +The boys evidently did not like their tutor, declaring him to be +tyrannical and disagreeable.[8] + + +{6} + +CHILDREN OF RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK + +1. Anne. Born at Fotheringhay, August 11, 1439. (Duchess of Exeter.) + +2. Henry. Born at Hatfield, February 10,1441. (Died in infancy.) + +3. Edward. Born at Rouen,[9] April 28, 1442. (Earl of March. King.) + +4. Edmund. Born at Rouen, May 17, 1443. (Earl of Rutland.) + +5. Elizabeth. Born at Rouen, April 22,1444. (Duchess of Suffolk.) + +6. Margaret. Born at Fotheringhay, May 3, 1446. (Duchess of Burgundy. +Died 1503.) + +7. William. Born at Fotheringhay, July 7, 1447. (Died young.) + +8. John. Born at Neath, November 7, 1448. (Died in infancy.) + +9. George. Born at Dublin, October 21, 1449. (Duke of Clarence.) + +10. Thomas. Born at Fotheringhay, 1450. (Died in infancy.) + +11. Richard. Born at Fotheringhay, October 2, 1452.[10] (Duke of +Gloucester. King.) + +12. Ursula. Born at Fotheringhay, July 20,1455. (Died in infancy.) + +W. WYRCESTER, _Annales_, 460-477. + + +[Illustration: SEIZE QUARTIERS OF EDWARD IV. AND RICHARD III.] + +Their father, the Duke of York, first Prince of the blood royal, was +the most powerful and wealthy, as well as one of the ablest noblemen in +the kingdom. He was moderate and prudent, and was unwillingly driven +into resistance to the misgovernment of the corrupt faction which +misused the powers they had seized, owing to the imbecility of Henry +VI. His original object was not to assert his own undoubted title to +the throne, but to obtain just and reasonable government by the removal +of corrupt and incapable ministers. 'After repeated experience of bad +faith, and after {7} fruitlessly endeavouring to bind Henry by pledges, +the Duke was at length forced into advancing his own claim.'[11] + +Disaster followed the first attempt of the Duke of York at open +resistance. He was overpowered by the Lancastrian forces at Ludlow, in +October 1459, and his followers were scattered. The Duke himself, with +his son Edmund, fled to Ireland. His eldest son, Edward Earl of March, +escaped to Calais with the Earl of Warwick. The Duchess of York, and +her three young children, Margaret, George and Richard, were taken +prisoners at Wigmore. They were sent to Tunbridge Castle in the +custody of their mother's sister, the Duchess of Buckingham, who had +married a Lancastrian husband. + +Little Richard was only seven years of age when he became a prisoner of +war. The detention was of short duration. His eldest brother landed +in Kent and marched to London. Troops flocked to the standard of the +gallant youth, and he advanced northwards against his enemies. The +Duchess of York then escaped from Tunbridge, and found an asylum for +her little children at the chambers of John Paston, in the Temple.[12] + +Meanwhile Edward, Earl of March, won a great victory at Northampton, +and Henry VI. became his prisoner. He returned to London, but the +children had not been two days in John Paston's chambers before their +mother was summoned to meet her {8} husband at Hereford, who was +returning from Ireland. The children were left with servants. Young +Edward, however, while busily engaged in preparing for the defence of +the city, found time to visit his little brothers and sister every +day.[13] + + + +[1] 'Fodringeia' in Domesday. 'Fodering' is part of a forest separated +from the rest, for producing hay. + +[2] He married Isabella of Castille and Leon. + +[3] Mary Queen of Scots was tried and beheaded in the great hall of +Fotheringhay. But it is untrue that the castle was destroyed by James +I. on that account. James granted it to Lord Mountjoy, and it was +intact, though out of repair, when it was surveyed in 1625. It began +to be dismantled soon after this survey; but the work of demolition was +very gradual. The college buildings had been desecrated and destroyed +by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, to whom they were granted by +the government of Edward VI. The last remains of the castle were +demolished in the middle of the last century. See _Historic Notices in +reference to Fotheringhay_, by the Rev. H. K. Bonney (Oundle, 1821). + +[4] _MS. Cotton, Vesp._, F. iii., fol. 9. Printed in the first series +of Ellis's original letters, i. 9, letter v. + +[5] This Sir Walter Devereux, son of Walter Chancellor of Ireland 1449, +when the Duke of York was Lord Deputy, was born in 1432. He married +Anne, heiress of Lord Ferrers of Chartley, and was summoned to +Parliament by that title _jure uxoris_. Sir Walter Devereux, Lord +Ferrers of Chartley, fell gloriously at Bosworth, fighting for his +King, Richard III., the younger brother of his two young friends Edward +and Edmund. He was ancestor of the Devereux, Earls of Essex. + +[6] Afterwards esquire to Richard Duke of Gloucester. He fell at the +battle of Barnet, fighting by his young master's side. + +[7] Breviary. + +[8] Richard Croft of Croft Castle, in Herefordshire, is the odious +ruler mentioned by the young princes. He was faithful to King Edward +during the Tewkesbury campaign; but the boys had some insight into +character. For Croft appears to have been a time-server. He got made +Treasurer of the Household to Henry Tudor, and fought for him at Stoke. +To please his new patron he appears to have told some story, +disparaging to Edward IV., which, in a garbled form, appeared in Hall's +_Chronicle_. + +[9] Edwardus quartus Rothomagi natus. _Rous_, p. 210. + +[10] Rous says that Richard was born on the feast of the eleven +thousand virgins, October 21. But this was really George's birthday, +in 1449. + +[11] Gairdner. The Duke's mother, Anne Mortimer, was grand-daughter of +Philippa Countess of March, the only child of Lionel Duke of Clarence, +_second_ son of King Edward III. Henry VI. was great-grandson of John +Duke of Lancaster, _third_ son of Edward III. + +[12] _Paston Letters_, i. 525. Christopher Hansson to John Paston. + +[13] 'And sythe y left here bothe the sunys and the dowztyr, and the +Lord of Marche comyth every day to se them.'--_Paston Letters_. + + + + +{9} + +CHAPTER II + +DEATH OF RICHARD'S FATHER AND BROTHER AT THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD + +In October 1460, the Duke and Duchess of York, with young Edmund Earl +of Rutland, reached London. The Duke's superior right to the crown, as +representative of the second son of Edward III. while Henry VI. only +derived from the third son, was recognised and declared by Act of +Parliament. But, in consideration of the reverence felt for his father +and of his own long tenure, it was enacted that Henry should retain the +throne for life, provided that he acknowledged the Duke as +heir-apparent. This Act of Settlement received the royal assent and +became law, all opposing statutes being repealed. On November 9, the +Duke of York was solemnly declared Heir-Apparent and Lord Protector +during Henry's life. + +But Queen Margaret and her partisans refused to be bound by the acts of +the King, her husband, in Parliament. She fled to Scotland, and the +Lancastrians raised a formidable army in Yorkshire. It is probable +that the Duke of York was not fully aware of the numbers opposed to +him, though he may have foreseen that the Lancastrian army would become +larger if time was allowed to slip away. There was {10} also some +danger from the machinations of the Tudors[1] in Wales. Arrangements +to counteract these evils were promptly made. The Duke assembled a +small force to advance northwards and confront the Lancastrian army. +The Duke of Norfolk, who was warmly attached to the House of York, and +the Earl of Warwick were to remain in London until Christmas, and then +to follow with reinforcements. The young Earl of March advanced to the +Welsh borders to collect forces, disperse the Tudor rising, and then +join his father in Yorkshire. + +On December 1, 1460, the Duke of York was with his wife and children at +Baynard's Castle for the last time. He bade farewell to his loving +Duchess and the children; little Richard was a child of eight, Margaret +and George a few years older. The gallant young Edmund Earl of Rutland +was nearly eighteen, well able to fight by his father's side, and he +accompanied the Duke. On December 2, the Duke of York set out with his +brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of Rutland. +Salisbury had with him his son, Sir Thomas Nevill, and the force, +barely numbering 5,000 men, was led by other experienced captains. +Chief among them was old Sir David Hall, the Duke's faithful friend and +adviser in all military affairs. Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer, +illegitimate brothers of the ill-fated Earl of March, rallied to their +nephew's standard with many Yorkist knights, such as Sir Thomas Parr, +Sir Edward Bourchier, and Sir James Pickering. The force included a +company of Londoners under the {11} command of the Warden of the +Mercers' Company, stout John Harrow. + +The Duke of York advanced by easy marches, for he did not reach his +castle of Sandal, about a mile south of Wakefield, until Christmas Eve. +Here he halted while a summons was sent out to assemble his Yorkshire +tenants and adherents. It is said that Lord Nevill, a kinsman of the +Duchess of York, came to Sandal as a friend of the Duke, and induced +him to grant a commission to raise men; and that when he had raised +about 8,000, he treacherously brought them to swell the ranks of the +Lancastrian army.[2] + +At this time the Duke's eldest son Edward was at Shrewsbury. The poor +Duchess and her young children anxiously waited for news at Baynard's +Castle. Henry VI., with the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick, +observed the festival of Christmas in the palace of the Bishop of +London, in St. Paul's Churchyard. Afterwards the King went to enjoy a +few days' hunting at Greenwich and Eltham. Queen Margaret and her son +were in Scotland. The Lancastrian leaders were assembled with a great +army at Pomfret. + +Edward III. had granted Sandal and Conisborough Castles to his son +Edmund, the Duke's grandfather. The Duke himself had frequently +resided at Sandal, sometimes with his wife and family. The castle +stood on a grassy knoll, steep on one side, with a gentle slope to the +south. It is a little less than a mile from the bridge which spans the +river Calder at the town of Wakefield, the intervening space sloping +gently from Sandal. It was then partly wooded. Leland tells us the +bridge was of stone, with nine arches, and that it had on it 'a right +goodly chapel of our Lady.' It led to the {12} market place whence two +streets, called Norgate and Wrengate,[3] formed communications with +gates on the northern side of the town. The houses were then nearly +all of timber, but there was a handsome parish church consecrated in +1322, with a tower and spire 228 feet high. From the bridge one road +went south by Sandal to Barnsley and Sheffield; another branched off to +the eastward, and divided again into two, one leading to Doncaster, the +other to Pomfret. To the westward the river Calder flanked the fields +between Sandal and Wakefield Bridge. Near the castle is the fine +cruciform church of Sandal Magna, where there was a chantry belonging +to the castle. + +There are scarcely any remains of Sandal Castle, which was razed by +order of the Long Parliament in 1648. But fortunately a drawing was +made in 1560 and preserved in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster. It +is engraved in the 'Vetusta Monumenta.' A lofty donjon, with flanking +round towers, stood on the verge of the steep descent to the +north-east, and two smaller square towers, connected by a wall, formed +the western face. The principal gate, protected by a barbican, was in +the centre of the southern face; and on this side the _enceinte_ +consisted merely of a wall without towers. An arcade or cloister led +from the gate to the main entrance of the donjon, and the roofs of +various buildings appear above the parapet of the southern wall. On +the north-western side of the inner courtyard a flight of steps led to +a covered archway opening on a semicircular stone pulpit supported by a +single pillar. The castle was surrounded by a moat, and the ground it +covered was about forty yards square. We {13} gather these details +from the drawing. The existing ruins consist of part of the gatehouse, +three arches of the arcade leading to the keep, bits of wall on the +west side, and the great mound covering the ruins of the keep. + +Sandal Castle was built on a natural hill of sandstone, and in those +days it must have presented an imposing appearance from Wakefield +Bridge, with its lofty towers rising over the trees. There were +extensive views in every direction from the castle walls. Northward is +Wakefield and the rich valley of the Calder. To the west were the +woods stretching away until the view is bounded by Woolley Edge. The +woods and lake of Chevet are to the south, and a wide extent of country +was visible to the east, with Nostell Priory and Walton Manor hidden +among the trees. But, although Sandal commanded extensive views, yet, +owing to the wooded character of the country, an enemy might approach +without his force being fully known to the garrison. + +The Duke of York kept his Christmas in Sandal Castle, with his son +Edmund Earl of Rutland, his brother-in-law the Earl of Salisbury, old +Sir David Hall his trusty military adviser, many other captains, and +5,000 men. Sir David knew that the enemy was near in overwhelming +numbers. He anticipated a siege until relief could come from the +south, and he, therefore, sent out foraging parties to bring in +supplies. + +The Lancastrian chiefs at Pomfret received news of the arrival of the +Duke at Sandal on Christmas Day. They were engaged for three days in +collecting their forces. On the 30th they began their march from +Pomfret, a distance of eight miles. Lord Clifford, with his Yorkshire +friends, led the van, so as to become {14} the right wing in forming +the battle, resting on the river Calder. The Dukes of Somerset and +Exeter and Earls of Devon and Northumberland were in the centre. The +rear, which would form the left wing in wheeling into line, was under +the command of the Earl of Wiltshire. Sir Andrew Trollope was the +principal military adviser and chief of the staff. + +On the last day of the year the division under Lord Clifford came in +sight of the towers of Sandal, and attacked a foraging party which +appears to have been returning from Wakefield. This was seen from the +castle. The Duke determined to come to the rescue with his whole +force. He probably believed that Clifford was considerably in advance +of the main body of the enemy. Sir David Hall thought otherwise, and +strongly represented the danger of running such a risk. But the +chivalrous Duke spurned the idea of leaving his foraging party to be +destroyed without making an effort at their rescue. + +The Lancastrians under Clifford were between the castle and Wakefield +Bridge, and the great gate faced to the south. It was, therefore, +necessary for the Yorkist force, barely 5,000 strong, to march out with +their backs to the enemy, and to deploy round the castle hill, before +forming line to attack. This was done, and a brilliant charge was made +on the field between Sandal and Wakefield--a Balaclava charge. The +Duke himself, rightful heir to the throne, and his trusty +brother-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury, led this forlorn hope. Near +them was the gallant young Prince Edmund in the flower of his age, +about to flesh his maiden sword. There, too, was old David Hall, +knowing that all was lost, but resolved to fight for his beloved master +to the end. Success must have {15} attended on the reckless bravery +which Hall deplored, if Clifford's force, about equal in numbers, had +been unsupported. But the main body of the Lancastrians arrived during +the thick of the fight with overwhelming numbers, while their left +wing, under the Earl of Wiltshire, cut off the retreat to the castle. +There was nothing left but to die bravely. The Duke of York fell, +fighting to the last. Camden says that there was a small space hedged +round enclosing a stone cross, on the spot where the Duke fell. His +faithful knights fell around him. Among them were his uncles John and +Hugh Mortimer, Sir David Hall the tried and trusty councillor, his +wife's nephew Sir Thomas Nevill, Sir Edward Bourchier, Sir Eustace +Wentworth, Sir James Pickering, Sir John Gedding, Sir Thomas Harington, +Sir Hugh Hastings, Captains Fitzjames, Baume, Digby and Ratford. Two +gallant brothers, William and Thomas Parr, fought steadily beside their +master. William was slain, but Thomas escaped, surviving to be the +grandsire of Queen Catherine Parr. Sir Walter Lymbricke, Sir Ralph +Stanley, Captain Hanson and John Harrow, the loyal mercer of London, +were wounded and taken prisoners. + +When all hope was gone young Prince Edmund, with a few followers, +perhaps with the Harry Lovedeyne whose service was 'right agreeable' to +him and his brother in the happy days of their childhood, fought his +way through the encircling foe and reached Wakefield Bridge. But they +were closely pursued by some of Clifford's men, perhaps by Clifford +himself. Leland tells us that the prince 'was overtaken a little above +the bars beyond the bridge, going up a clyming ground'; that is in the +street leading up to the market place from the bridge. He and his few +followers turned at bay, and {16} we may be sure that young Edmund +Plantagenet did not die before his enemies had been made to pay dearly +for his life.[4] + +No quarter was given to the defeated soldiers by the Lancastrians, +2,000 were slaughtered in the field or during the flight, and the +prisoners were all killed. The Earl of Salisbury escaped from the +battle, but was taken prisoner the same night by a servant of Sir +Andrew Trollope and conveyed to Pomfret, where he was put to death. + +The Lancastrian leaders took counsel after the {17} battle, and decided +on the perpetration of an inhuman piece of folly. The bodies of the +Duke of York and of the Earls of Rutland and Salisbury were buried at +Pomfret. But their heads were ordered to be stuck on the gates of +York. The Duke's head was placed upon Micklegate Bar, with a paper +crown on it by way of insult. The heads of the Earls of Salisbury and +Rutland, of Sir Thomas Nevill, Sir Edward Bourchier, Sir Thomas +Harington, Sir William Parr, Sir James Pickering and John Harrow were +also ordered to be stuck on the different gates of York. + +As soon as Queen Margaret received the news in Scotland, she came to +York and joined the victorious army. It was resolved to march direct +to London, and the northern soldiers were bribed by permission to +pillage the whole country. This they did for fifteen miles on either +side of their track; attacking churches, taking away vessels, books and +vestments, and even the sacramental pyx after shaking out the +eucharist, and killing the priests who resisted. Reaching St. Albans +they continued the work of pillage, and defeated the troops sent out +from London to oppose them. They even recovered the person of Henry +VI. But here their successes ended. The gates of London were closed, +provisions ran short, and the Lancastrian marauders retreated into +Yorkshire.[5] + +{18} + +When the dreadful news of the battle of Wakefield reached London, the +Duchess of York was plunged into grief at the loss of her noble husband +and gallant young son, and she was terrified for the safety of her +children. The two little boys, George and Richard, were put on board a +vessel in the Thames and sent to Holland. There, under the protection +of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, they were established at Utrecht +with suitable tutors. The Duchess of York, with her little daughter +Margaret, remained in London awaiting events. + +The age of Edward Earl of March was then only eighteen years and eight +months. He was at Shrewsbury when the terrible blow fell upon him. It +spurred him into resolute action. He had collected a good force, with +which he turned upon the Tudors and crushed them at Mortimer's Cross. +There was a parhelion when the victory was decided. Edward adopted the +sun in splendour as his special cognizance. He then advanced to London +by rapid marches, and was proclaimed king as Edward IV. + +Richard was thus hurried away to Holland. He {19} was but eight years +old when he saw his father and brother Edmund mount their horses at the +gate of Baynard's Castle; and when the sad news came that they were +slain, and that he would see them no more. In after years Richard took +part in the pious act of the children of the Duke of York. They +re-endowed the beautiful chapel on Wakefield Bridge, which was built in +the reign of Edward III.,[6] and dedicated it to the memory of their +brother Edmund. + + + +[1] Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, had three sons by Catharine, the widow +of Henry V.; Edmund and Jasper created by Henry VI. Earls of Richmond +and Pembroke, and Owen a monk at Westminster. They were half-brothers +of Henry VI. + +[2] Stow's _Chronicle_, p. 412. + +[3] An abbreviation of Warenne-gate. The Earls of Warenne and Surrey +were Lords of Wakefield for more than two centuries. + +[4] Of all the baseless fabrications of the Tudor chroniclers, Hall's +story of the death of Edmund Earl of Rutland is the most absurd. Hall +says that the prince was scarcely twelve years of age, that his tutor +and schoolmaster, named Robert Apsall, secretly conveyed the little boy +out of the field, that they were espied and taken by Lord Clifford, +that the child knelt on his knees demanding mercy; that the +schoolmaster made a speech; that Clifford gave a truculent reply; and +that Clifford then struck the child to the heart with a dagger. + +This fable rests on there being a child. If there was no child nothing +of the sort happened. + +The contemporary evidence is simply that after the battle Lord Clifford +killed the Earl of Rutland on or near Wakefield Bridge. William of +Worcester says:--'_et in fugiendo post campum super pontem apud +Wakefelde Dominus de Clyfforde occidit Dominum Edmondum comitem de +Rutlande, filium Ducis Eborum_.' William of Worcester also gives the +birthdays of all the children of the Duke of York. Edmund was born at +Rouen on May 17, 1443. He was in his eighteenth year, and not a child. +It was George, born on October 21, 1449, in Ireland, who was in his +twelfth year when the battle of Wakefield was fought; but he was left +in London with his mother, as any child of that age was sure to have +been. Even if the Duke had brought a child to Sandal, he would have +been left in the castle, not taken into the thick of a desperate +battle. Edmund was old enough to accompany his father, and doubtless +acquitted himself manfully. These facts also relieve the gallant +Clifford's name from a vile calumny. Holinshed and Shakespeare follow +Hall, and all later historians have continued to repeat the absurd +story without taking the trouble to ascertain Rutland's age at the time +of the battle of Wakefield. + +[5] The weight of authority is decisively against the Duke of York +having been taken prisoner, and in favour of his having been killed in +the battle. William of Worcester says: '_Ubi occubuerunt in campo Dux +Eborum, Thomas Nevill_,' &c. The Croyland chronicler, Fabyan, Polydore +Virgil, Hall, and Stow concur. Hall says, '_He, manfully fighting, +within half an hour was slain and dead_.' But Whethamstede states that +the Duke was taken prisoner and grossly insulted: that he was set upon +an ant-hill, a crown of woven grass was put on his head, and that the +soldiers bowed their heads before him, saying in derision: 'Hail, King +without a kingdom!' Whethamstede adds, '_non aliter quam Judaei coram +Domino_.' But this John Bostock of Whethamstede was Abbot of St. +Albans, and violently prejudiced against the Lancastrians for their +marauding and pillaging in his neighbourhood. It is generally stated +that Queen Margaret took part in the barbarities of her adherents. +Stow, for instance, says that Lord Clifford cut off the Duke's head, +put a paper crown on it, stuck it on a pole, and presented it to the +Queen, who 'was not lying far from the field.' But there is clear +proof that the Queen was actually in Scotland when the battle of +Wakefield was fought. William of Worcester says: '_Dicto bello finito +Regina Margareta venit ab Scotia Eboraco_.' This is confirmed by the +Croyland chronicler, who says, '_Inpartibus borealibus morabatur_.' +Margaret had nothing to do with the Lancastrian barbarities, except +that she allowed the heads to remain on the gates of York. She was +forced to tolerate the deeds of her savage adherents. + +[6] See _The Chapel of Edward III. on Wakefield Bridge_, by N. +Scatcherd (1843). + + + + +{20} + +CHAPTER III + +THE CROWNING VICTORY OF TOWTON + +When the Lancastrians, after their success at St. Albans, had failed +before London, they retreated northwards with the person of Henry VI., +and proceeded to collect forces in Yorkshire for one more great effort, +making their headquarters in the city of York. Meanwhile the young +Earl of March, after his victory at Mortimer's Cross on February 2, +1461, advanced to London with his Welsh and border tenantry. He was +joined on the road by the Earl of Warwick, whose incapacity as a +military commander had been the cause of the disaster at St. Albans on +the 17th of the same month. + +Edward was only in his nineteenth year when he entered London and +succeeded to his father's rights, and to the duty of avenging the +cowardly insults heaped upon that father's body. He found his mother, +the widowed Duchess, with his little sister Margaret, at Baynard's +Castle. + +Edward was tall and eminently handsome, with a fair complexion and +flaxen hair, 'the goodliest personage,' says Comines, 'that ever mine +eyes beheld.' His capacity for command, his fortitude, and prudence +were far beyond his years, and he had already acquired experience in +two pitched battles. + +{21} + +On his arrival in London Edward called together a great Council of +Lords, spiritual and temporal, and declared to them his title to the +Crown. The assembled Lords determined that, as King Henry had, +contrary to the solemn agreement made with the Duke of York and the +Parliament which met in October 1460, violated his word, and as he was +useless to the Commonwealth, he should be deprived of all sovereignty. +Edward was elected and acknowledged as King. + +That night the young King was once more at home with his mother and +sister; but it was a melancholy home-coming. Two months before, the +whole family was united at Baynard's Castle, now the father was slain +and his head fixed on Micklegate Bar at York. The beloved brother, +Edward's companion from earliest infancy, also dead; the two younger +brothers sent abroad for safety; his uncle, Salisbury, killed, with Sir +David Hall, the trusted friend of the family, and many more. Yet a +feeling of pride must have mingled with the bereaved mother's grief as +she gazed on the superb young warrior who was the last hope and prop of +her house. + +Next day the citizens of London assembled at their muster in St. John's +Fields, just outside the city, where they were reviewed by Lord +Fauconberg, the King's uncle, an experienced warrior who had seen much +service in France. As Sir William Nevill, he was at the siege of +Orleans, and since 1429 he had been summoned to Parliament _jure +uxoris_, for he had married Joan, the heiress of the last Baron +Fauconberg. As soon as he had completed the muster, his nephew, George +Nevill, Bishop of Exeter, made a speech to the people. He explained to +them how King Henry had broken the agreement solemnly made {22} with +the Duke of York only four short months before; he demanded of them +whether they would have a forsworn king any longer to rule over them; +and he called upon them to serve and obey the Earl of March as their +earthly sovereign lord. The multitude cried 'Yea! Yea!' with great +shouts and clapping of hands. 'I was there,' says William of +Worcester, 'I heard them, and I returned with them into the city.' + +On the same evening the Lords and Commons went to Baynard's Castle to +report what had taken place to young Edward, and he was persuaded to +assume the kingly office by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop +of Exeter. Next day, being March 4, he rode to St. Paul's as King +Edward IV. and made an offering. After _Te Deum_ he was conveyed to +Westminster, where he sat in the Hall while his title was declared to +the people as son and heir of Richard, Duke of York, and by authority +of Parliament. Henry VI. was deposed _quod non stetisset pacto, neque +paruisset senatus consulti decreto_. Edward then entered the Abbey +under a canopy in solemn procession, and received homage from the +lords, returning by water to London, where he was lodged in the +Bishop's palace. On the 5th he was proclaimed King through the city as +Edward IV; but there was to be no coronation until he was victorious +over his enemies. + +No time was lost. On Saturday, March 7, the Earl of Warwick left +London for the north, with what Fabyan calls 'a great puissance of +people.' Four days afterwards the King's infantry followed, consisting +of borderers from the Welsh marches, Kentish men, and Londoners. On +Friday, March 13, Edward himself rode through Bishopsgate with a great +body of men, {23} and attended by many lords and knights. Since the +death of Sir David Hall, Edward's uncle Fauconberg was the most able +and experienced general on the Yorkist side, and he was now the King's +chief adviser. A powerful adherent was John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, +who is so frequently mentioned in the 'Paston Letters.' Representative +of Thomas de Brotherton, the youngest son of Edward I., the Duke had +vast wealth and great influence in the eastern counties, but he was in +failing health. Sir John Ratcliffe, K.G., called Lord Fitzwalter _jure +uxoris_, Sir Henry Ratcliffe, Lord Scrope of Bolton, Sir Walter Blount, +Sir John Wenlock, Sir John Dynham, Sir Roger Wolferstone, William +Hastings, Robert Home of Kent, the King's cousins Humphry and John +Stafford, were the principal captains. + +The marches were made in a leisurely way to give time for followers to +join from various directions, and it was a fortnight before Edward +formed a junction with the Earl of Warwick, and mustered his army +between Pomfret Castle and Ferrybridge, about forty thousand strong. +Reinforcements had flocked to him during the march, especially in +Nottinghamshire. Sir John Ratcliffe, with a young illegitimate son of +the Earl of Salisbury, was stationed with a small force at Ferrybridge, +to guard the passage of the river Aire. + +Meanwhile, the nobles who had rallied round the proud Margaret of Anjou +were collecting their strength at York. The Duke of Somerset, although +he was only in his twenty-fourth year, was the chief commander in the +Queen's army. The son of her favourite, who had been slain in the +first battle of St. Albans, and the head of a powerful connection, +Margaret {24} placed great reliance on the prowess and influence of the +young Duke. His first cousin was Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, +a lad of twenty, who came to York with the Fulfords, Fortescues, and +other west-country squires. His sister Eleanor was married to James +Butler, Earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire, K.G., a more mature nobleman who +had reached his fortieth year, but who was more noted for running away +than for fighting. His brother, Sir John Butler, accompanied him. +Next to Somerset the most influential leader was Henry Percy, Earl of +Northumberland, who was also in his fortieth year. His family had +fought and bled in the Lancastrian cause. His father was slain at St. +Albans, his brother, Lord Egremont, at Northampton. Another brother, +Sir Richard Percy, now rode by the Earl's side at the head of a +numerous body of retainers. Lord Clifford, Lord Dacre of Gillesland, +Lord FitzHugh, and Sir John Nevill came with a great muster of West +Riding and Westmoreland yeomen; while Lord Welles and Sir William +Talboys rallied the Lincolnshire yeomen round their standards. Lord +Roos, Sir Ralph Eure, and Sir John Bigot of Musgrave Castle, joined the +army with their Yorkshire tenantry; and the Duke of Exeter, Lord +Hungerford, and Lord Beaumont swelled the throng with their levies. + +Nor were lawyers and churchmen wanting to prop the falling cause. Sir +John Fortescue, the Lord Chief Justice, was at York, for he believed +the parliamentary title of King Henry to be good, and would not desert +him in his need. There too, in attendance on poor Henry, was Dr. +Morton, the parson of Bloxworth and Master in Chancery--a treble-dyed +traitor and falsifier of history, who afterwards flourished like {25} a +green bay tree, and died Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury at the age +of ninety. + +So far as experience and military training were concerned, the reliance +of the Lancastrians was on Lord Welles, Lord Hungerford, and Sir Andrew +Trollope. Lionel Lord Welles, now in his fifty-fifth year, had seen +much service in France, and had filled the important posts of +Lieutenant in Ireland and Captain of Calais. Lord Hungerford had +served under the great Talbot, and was present at the fatal battle of +Chastillon, where he was taken prisoner. At that time, during his +father's life, he was known as Lord Molines, in right of his wife. +Trollope was a veteran of the French wars, and seems to have been +looked to as the officer who would marshal the army and select +positions. He had been a trusted Yorkist captain, and was long in +command of the Calais garrison. But when the two rival armies were +confronted near Ludlow, in October 1459, he had secretly deserted with +a large part of the best soldiers from Calais and gone over to Queen +Margaret. This had given her a temporary triumph; and Trollope had +since been her most trusted military adviser. + +The force collected at York numbered 60,000; and the largest bodies of +men that have ever tried conclusions on English ground were thus +gathered together between York and Pomfret. + +A distance of twenty-five miles separated the towers of Pomfret Castle, +under whose shadows young Edward was marshalling his avenging army, +from Micklegate Bar, over which the head of his beloved father was +withering in the chilling gales of that bitter month of March 1461. +Nine of those miles covered the distance from York to Tadcaster on the +river Wharfe, and the {26} rest of the distance, from the Wharfe to the +Aire, was the scene of the momentous campaign. + +The tract of country between the Wharfe and the Aire is a portion of +that magnesian limestone formation which extends in a narrow zone +across Yorkshire. It is crossed by the principal streams flowing to +the Humber, the Ure, the Nidd, the Wharfe, the Aire, the Went, and the +Don; and they all form picturesque gorges, with overhanging limestone +cliffs and crags, before they enter the great alluvial plain of York. +This hilly limestone region, between the Wharfe and the Aire, was once +a great forest of elm trees. It was the Elmet of remote times. When +the forest was cleared the name remained, and the people called the +limestone country 'Elmet lands.' The little river Cock rises on +Bramham Moor, flows through this limestone country in a winding course +among the undulating hills, and falls into the Wharfe below Tadcaster. +Passing the village of Barwick-in-Elmet, it winds along the skirts of +'Becca Banks,' so famous for rare wild flowers, flows under the bridge +at Aberford, and westward to Lead Hall, a farmhouse in a great meadow +about half a mile short of the village of Saxton. Thence it takes a +northerly course to its junction with the Wharfe. Here the winding +little brook has hills on either side, covered with woods, with Towton +on the right bank, and Hazlewood, the ancient seat of the Vavasours, to +the left. It passes through extensive willow garths, and by the +village of Stutton, entering the Wharfe, near Tadcaster, after a course +of about ten miles. + +At present the road from York to Pomfret turns south at the end of +Tadcaster Street, and goes direct to Towton and Sherburn, passing the +lodge gate at {27} Grimston. But in those days it continued along the +left bank of the Cock to beyond Stutton, crossed the little brook by +Renshaw Wood, and led up a gentle slope to the hamlet of Towton. By +this route the Lancastrian army advanced from Tadcaster, and encamped +on the fields between Towton and Saxton. The main road leads direct +from Towton to Sherburn, leaving Saxton on the right, and +Scarthingwell, with its mere and heronry, on the left. From Sherburn +to Ferrybridge the distance is six miles due south. The distance from +Ferrybridge, by Sherburn and Saxton, to the battlefield of Towton is +nine miles. + +On March 26, 1461, the great army of the Lancastrians was encamped +round the hamlet of Towton. King Edward's headquarters were at +Pomfret, and he had an advanced post to defend the passage of the river +Aire in his front, at Ferrybridge, under the command of the titular +Lord Fitzwalter, an experienced veteran of the French wars. The object +of the Lancastrian leader in advancing across the Wharfe was to oppose +the passage of Edward's army over the river Aire at Ferrybridge. The +deposed King and Queen, with Lord Roos and Dr. Morton, awaited the +event at York. But the Lancastrians were too late. Lord Clifford and +Sir John Nevill, however, did press forward in advance, in hopes of +surprising the outlying post of Yorkists at Ferrybridge. In this they +were successful. The guard at the bridge was taken completely by +surprise before the dawn of March 28, and slaughtered by Lord +Clifford's men. Lord Fitzwalter, hearing the noise, thought it was +merely a disturbance among his own soldiers. He jumped out of bed, ran +down with a battle-axe in his hand, and was slain as he came into {28} +the street. The brave young bastard of Salisbury fell with him. + +This unexpected onslaught caused a panic in the Yorkist camp, which was +increased by the conduct of the excitable Earl of Warwick. He lost his +head, galloped up to the King's tent, dismounted and killed his horse, +crying out, 'Let him fly that will, for surely by this cross I will +tarry with him who will tarry with me, fall back fall edge!'[1] The +conduct of young Edward was very different. Perfectly cool and +collected, his firmness restored order among the soldiers. He soon saw +that the attack had been made by a small force which would as rapidly +retreat. He, therefore, gave prompt orders to his uncle, Lord +Fauconberg, to cross the river Aire at Castleford, about three miles to +the left, with troops led by Sir Walter Blount and Robert Home of Kent. +His object was to intercept the retreat of Lord Clifford. This +judicious order was ably carried out by the veteran general. +Fauconberg overtook the enemy, and a complete rout of the Lancastrians +followed. The chase was continued through Sherburn to a little dell or +valley called Dittingdale,[2] between Scarthingwell and Towton. Here +there was a rally, close to the outposts of the main army of the +Lancastrians. Lord Clifford, while taking off his gorget, owing to its +having chafed his neck, was struck {29} by an arrow and killed. Sir +John Nevill was also slain, and there was a great slaughter among the +flying troops. The Yorkist pursuers fell back on their supports +without serious loss. + +Lord Clifford was only in his twenty-sixth year. His father was slain +at the first battle of St. Albans, and he had naturally joined the same +cause with enthusiasm. But, as has already been pointed out, the story +of his having assassinated a defenceless little boy on Wakefield Bridge +is a fiction. There is no reason to believe that Clifford was such a +base caitiff. He was evidently an active and enterprising leader. It +is the tradition of the family that he was buried, with a heap of +undistinguished dead, on the battlefield. Sir John Nevill, a younger +brother of the second Earl of Westmoreland, and father of the third +Earl, was probably buried within Saxton Church.[3] The loss of these +two gallant and influential young leaders, whose scattered fugitives +brought in the news on that Friday night, must have cast a gloom over +the Lancastrian army. + +King Edward now resolved to advance with his whole force and attack the +enemy where he was encamped. He believed that the main body could not +have been very far distant when Lord Clifford was detached to make the +attack at Ferrybridge. The van division of the Yorkist army, led by +Lord Fauconberg and Sir Walter Blount, was already across the river +Aire, and orders were given to them to march northwards by Sherburn and +Saxton. The King himself, {30} with the Earl of Warwick, was to follow +at the head of the main body. The Duke of Norfolk should have led the +van, but he was taken ill, and it was arranged that he should remain +behind at Pomfret, with Sir John Wenlock and Sir John Dynham, and +follow next day with the rear division and any reinforcements that +might have arrived.[4] + +During March 28, the Eve of Palm Sunday, the Yorkist army was marching +northwards in two divisions. It must have been late in the afternoon +when the division of Lord Fauconberg passed through Sherburn-in-Elmet, +a long street with the old Norman church on an isolated hill to the +westward. Two miles more brought him to Saxton late in the evening. +Saxton was a small village, with the manor house of the Hungates, and a +very old church of Norman times. Thence a steep ascent leads northward +to the battlefield. To the east is the high road from York to Pomfret, +passing over elevated ground. To the west is a ravine with sides +sloping down to the valley of the Cock. The latter brook is seen +winding through the {31} green valley, with roads on either side. +Northwards there was high undulating ground, and the hamlet of Towton +is two miles north of Saxton. + +On the ground between Towton and Saxton the Lancastrian army was +encamped. The centre, led by the Earl of Northumberland and Sir +Richard Percy, with Lord Welles and Sir Andrew Trollope, was formed +across the road leading up from Saxton. To the east, forming the +Lancastrian left, Lord Dacre and his brother-in-law Lord FitzHugh were +encamped on some land called 'North Acres.' To the west, forming the +right wing, were the Earls of Devonshire and Wiltshire, and Lords +Hungerford and Beaumont. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter commanded a +reserve at Towton village. + +When Lord Fauconberg arrived at Saxton he ascertained the position of +the enemy and sent intelligence to the King. Edward had probably +reached Sherburn by that time, and he at once pushed forward to the +neighbourhood of Saxton. The whole Yorkist force numbered 48,640 men, +including the reserves, which were still at Pomfret under the Duke of +Norfolk. + +Palm Sunday dawned and found the host of young Edward facing the long +array of Lancastrians. It was bitterly cold. The advance up the +hillside from Saxton village was made between eight and nine o'clock in +the forenoon, and when the hostile forces came in sight there was a +great shouting. At the same time snow began to fall. The wind was +northerly in the early morning, but it veered round, became fresher, +and by nine o'clock it was driving the snow full into the faces of the +Lancastrian troops. The two armies, just before they closed, were {32} +separated by an undulating depression which marks the exact position. + +Lord Fauconberg caused every archer under his standard to shoot one +flight of arrows and then halt. The enemy felt the volley, but could +not judge of distances on account of the blinding snow. Their arrows +fell short. As soon as the quivers of the enemy were nearly empty, +Lord Fauconberg gave the order for his archers to advance, shooting as +they came on, and they not only shot off their own arrows, but gathered +those of the enemy and sent many of them back whence they came. Then +the Earl of Northumberland ordered his men to close, and the battle +became a fierce hand-to-hand combat all along the line. For several +hours the desperate conflict continued, ebbing and flowing with +doubtful result, the snow still falling. King Edward was everywhere, +exhorting and encouraging the men, leading them on when they wavered, +and helping the wounded out of the fray. The struggle was obstinate +and long doubtful. Men were falling fast on both sides. Lord Scrope +of Bolton was severely wounded. Robert Home, the valiant captain of +Kent, who came from Appledore on the Rother, fell dead. + +Messengers had been sent in hot haste to hurry up the Duke of Norfolk +with the reserves. He arrived at about noon. With his trusty +lieutenants Wenlock and Dynham, he led his men up the road from +Sherburn, keeping well to the east of Saxton, and ailing upon the +Lancastrian left flank at 'North Acres.' + +This was the turning point of the battle. The Lancastrians were +disheartened at the arrival of fresh foes. The fighting continued +until late in the {33} afternoon, and the slaughter was prodigious, but +gradually the Lancastrian left wing was doubled up on the centre; the +confusion increased, and there was a complete rout. Lord Dacre had +fallen early in the day. He was killed by a boy who shot him from a +'bur' tree,[5] when he had unclasped his helmet to drink a cup of wine. +The lad thus avenged his father's death, who had been slain by the +northern baron. Lord Caere's friends, Sir John and Sir Thomas +Crakenthorpe, from the banks of the Eden, fell with him. The Earl of +Northumberland, Sir Richard Percy, Lord Welles, and Sir Andrew Trollope +were slain in the thick of the fight, with many more. The retreat to +the eastward being cut off by the Duke of Norfolk, the defeated army +fled down the steep slopes into the valley of the Cock closely pursued. + +The well-mounted noblemen, Somerset and Exeter, Devonshire and +Wiltshire, Beaumont, Hungerford, and FitzHugh, with many knights, +effected their escape. But the footmen were cut down by hundreds in +the pursuit. The little Cock beck is not very wide, but it is deep, +and many fugitives were drowned in it. The country people declared +that the pursuers crossed the brook on dead bodies, and that the river +Wharfe was coloured with blood. The Croyland monk relates that the +blood of the slain lay caked with snow, which then covered the ground, +and that afterwards, when the snow melted, the blood flowed along the +furrows and ditches for a distance of two or three miles. The chase +continued all night and part of next day. + +Fully 10,000 were stated to have been wounded or {34} made prisoners, +and Polydore Virgil says that some were cured and some died. This +disposes of the statement of Hall, which is adopted by modern writers, +that no quarter was given. Edward always gave quarter to the men and +junior officers of a defeated army. + +The fugitive nobles only had time to ride through York, calling upon +Henry and Margaret, with their child, to mount and ride as hard as +their horses would carry them. Away they went out of Bootham, and +through the dark forest of Galtres, to take refuge in Scotland. + +King Edward advanced to York on Monday, March 30, 1461, where he was +received with great solemnity by the mayor and commons of the city, in +procession. They obtained grace through the intercession of Lords +Montagu and Berners. The heads of the Duke of York, the Earl of +Rutland, and the Earl of Salisbury were removed from the gates of York, +and placed with the bodies at Pomfret, preparatory to the subsequent +magnificent obsequies at Fotheringhay and Bisham. + +Only four executions took place at York, of the Earl of Devonshire, Sir +Baldwin Fulford, Sir William Talboys, and Sir William Hill. The Earl +of Wiltshire was captured by William Salkeld at Cockermouth. For this +prominent actor in the barbarous deeds after Wakefield fight there +could be no forgiveness. He was beheaded at Newcastle on May 1. + +The Earl of Northumberland, a first cousin of King Edward, was buried +in the north choir of St. Denis church at York, probably with his +brother Sir Richard Percy. The body of Lord Welles was taken to +Methley, and buried in the Waterton Chapel. Lord Dacre was buried, +with his horse, in Saxton churchyard, on the {35} north side of the +church, where there is a monument to his memory. The undistinguished +dead were at first buried in five great pits on the battlefield, and in +separate graves in the valley. It was a tradition that red and white +roses grew and flourished on the battlefield, and it is true that there +are many rose bushes in the meadows. Leland tells us that Master +Hungate of Saxton caused the dead bodies to be brought from the pits on +the battlefield, and buried in consecrated ground, in a trench running +the whole length of Saxton churchyard. + +King Edward kept his Easter at York, which fell that year on April 5. +He then advanced as far as Durham, whence he returned southwards, +leaving the pacification of the north to the Earl of Warwick and his +brother Lord Montagu. Early in June Edward was at the manor of Sheen, +and on the 26th of that month he came from Sheen to the Tower of +London. On the 27th he created thirty Knights of the Bath, and on +Sunday the 28th he was solemnly crowned in Westminster Abbey by +Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. + +The King liberally rewarded his supporters. The Duke of Norfolk died +in November 1461, and was buried before the high altar at Thetford. +But Lord Fauconberg was created Earl of Kent and Lord High Admiral. He +died in 1463. Sir Walter Blount was created Lord Mountjoy and a Knight +of the Garter. Sir John Dynham, a valued adherent, was created Lord +Dynham; and Sir John Wenlock, already a Knight of the Garter, was +created Lord Wenlock. Many Yorkists were knighted, either on the field +or afterwards at the coronation. Young William Hastings, the King's +most faithful follower, was {36} knighted on the field, and created +Lord Hastings, in July 1461. Among the Knights of the Bath were the +gentlemen of Nottinghamshire who had joined the King on the march +northward, Sir Robert Clifton, Sir Nicholas Byron, and Sir Robert and +Sir John Markham. + +Edward IV. was 'a King who, with many faults, was most honourably +anxious from the first to do justice even to the meanest of his +subjects.'[6] After the first heat of battle had passed he was +placable and forgiving. He had strong and justifiable cause for +resentment against his opponents at Towton. In the white heat of his +indignation, with the sight of his father's head over Micklegate Bar +fresh in his recollection, he stayed his avenging hand after four +executions. The bill of attainder passed by his first Parliament +included 150 names, but many were afterwards granted full pardons, and +all who submitted received back portions of their estates. The Duke of +Somerset made his peace, and was taken into favour. The son of the +Earl of Northumberland was restored to all his father's honours. The +brother of the Earl of Wiltshire, though he was also at Towton, was +restored to all his estates, was taken into favour, and succeeded as +sixth Earl of Ormond. Similar forgiveness was extended to the +Courtenays, and to the brother of Lord Dacre. Although Lord Hungerford +continued in rebellion, Edward IV. treated his wife and young children +with kindness and generosity, making an ample provision for them out of +their father's forfeited lands. The son of Lord Welles was taken into +favour, and had a grant of all his father's forfeited property. Lord +FitzHugh was forgiven and employed in positions of importance. {37} +Mr. Thorold Rogers says:--'I entirely discredit the stories told of the +tyranny and suspiciousness of Edward IV. He never refused a petition +for pardon.'[7] + +All historians unite in the statement that the old nobility of England +was nearly annihilated by the battles and executions during the Wars of +the Roses. But facts are opposed to this theory. Scarcely a single +peerage became extinct owing to the Wars of the Roses.[8] + +The battles of Wakefield and Towton made a deep impression on the mind +of Prince Richard, although he was but eight years old. The fate of +his father and brother in a battle which drove him into exile, and then +the crowning victory following so rapidly, could not fail to do so. In +later years he erected a memorial chapel at Towton, where prayers were +to be offered up for the souls of the fallen. It was standing in +Leland's time, but there is now no vestige of this pious work of King +Richard III.[9] + + + +[1] Mr. Green, in his _History of the English People_, places the time +of Warwick's killing his horse 'at one critical moment' during the +battle of Towton. But the evidence that this act of folly was +perpetrated owing to the panic after the surprise at Ferrybridge is +quite conclusive. + +[2] Hall has _Dintingdale_, Habington spells it _Dindingdale_, Baker +has _Dandingdale_. There is no such place on the maps. But Whitaker, +in his _History of Craven_, says that the Rev. F. Wilkinson, Vicar of +Bordsey, discovered the almost forgotten name of Dittingdale, as that +of a dell or small valley in Scarthingwell Park. + +[3] Leland says that the Earl of Westmoreland was killed, and buried +within Saxton Church. Hall also includes the Earl of Westmoreland +among the slain. They mistook him for Sir John Nevill. The Earl +himself did not die until 1485. Sharon Turner and later writers repeat +the blunder. The Earl of Westmoreland was not in the battle. + +[4] Mr. Green says that 'the Duke of Norfolk came with a fresh force +from the eastern counties.' The Duke came from Pomfret, having left +London with the King. Sharon Turner says: 'We owe the remarkable fact +of the battle beginning at four o'clock in the afternoon and continuing +through the night, and of Norfolk's coming up the next clay at noon to +Hearne's fragment.' This fragment was transcribed by Hearne from an +old manuscript, but not older than Hall's _Chronicle_. The statement +that the battle began at four on Saturday afternoon and went on through +the night, not only contradicts Hall and Stow, but is also impossible. +Edward's army could not have got over the ground in time to begin the +battle at four in the afternoon. Possibly the mistake of the anonymous +writer of Hearne's fragment arose from having been told that Lord +Fauconberg came in sight of the Lancastrian army at twilight. It was +not the twilight of Saturday afternoon, but of Palm Sunday morning, as +Hall explains. + +[5] _Loidis and Elmete_, p. 156. Dr. Whitaker says that the word +'_bur_' is very distinct in Glover's manuscript. It means an alder +tree, from the old Norse '_bur_' or '_baurr_.' + +[6] Gairdner. Introduction to the _Paston Letters_, ii. p. xii. + +[7] _Work and Wages_, ii. 316. + +[8] The Duke of Exeter was separated from his wife, and had no +children. The Duke of Somerset, who was beheaded, had six daughters, +and another was unmarried. But the House of Somerset was perpetuated +in that of Beaufort. A few new peerages became extinct because their +recipients did not marry, such as Egremont and Wenlock. But Lord +Egremont was a Percy, and the family of Percy continued to flourish. +No more peerages became extinct owing to the Wars of the Roses than +would have done so in a time of profound peace. + +[9] There is a warrant for 40_l._ to be given for building the chapel +at Towton, dated November 28, 1483 (Harl. MSS., No. 413). In July +1488, an indulgence of forty days was granted _ad speciosam capellam in +villa de Toughton (per Saxton) de novo a fundamentis sumptuose et +nobiliter erectam, super quodam loco seu fondo ubi corpora procerum et +magnatum ac aliorum hominum multitudine copiosa in quodam bello in +campis circumjacentibus inito interfectorum sepeliuntur_. In December +1502 another indulgence of forty days was granted. The exact site of +the chapel is the garden behind Mr. Kendall's house. + + + + +{38} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CROWN LOST AND WON--BATTLE OF BARNET + +The young princes, George and Richard, were in Holland for about six +months, under the protection of the Duke of Burgundy. They resided at +Utrecht. Then the news came of Edward's accession, and the crowning +victory of Towton. The two boys were brought home again, and were soon +under their mother's immediate care, with their sister Margaret. + +Immediately after the coronation, George was created Duke of Clarence; +and Richard Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Carlisle, and Earl of +Richmond,[1] a title which had merged in the crown after the attainder +of Edmund Tudor. Richard was created a Knight of the Garter in 1465. +In February 1466 his sword and helmet were placed in St. George's +Chapel, and he took possession of his stall in the following April. +His stall plate is now in the ninth stall on the south side of the +choir, in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. The arms are France and +England quarterly, with a silver label of three points, each ermine +with a canton gules. The crest is a crowned leopard gold, on a cap of +estate, with a label as in the arms, round his neck. The helm is +barred as used in the _melee_, the only one on the early plates, the +rest all being tilting helms. + +{39} + +The first public appearance of young Richard was on the occasion of his +father's solemn obsequies. The Duke of York's body, and that of his +son Edmund Earl of Rutland, had to be conveyed from Pomfret to +Fotheringhay, and the Duke of Gloucester, then in his fourteenth year, +was appointed by the King to be chief mourner. On July 22, 1466, the +bodies of Richard Duke of York, and of his son, Edmund Earl of Rutland, +were taken from their temporary resting place at Pomfret, and placed in +a chariot covered with black velvet, richly embroidered with cloth of +gold. At the feet of the Duke stood the figure of an angel clothed in +white, bearing a crown of gold, to signify that of right he was a king. +The chariot was drawn by four horses trapped to the ground. Every +horse carried a man, and upon the foremost rode Sir John Skipwith, who +bore the Duke's banner displayed. Bishops and abbots, in their robes, +went two or three miles in front, to prepare the churches for the +reception of the bodies.'[2] The boy Duke of Gloucester followed next +after the chariot, accompanied by noblemen and heralds. In this order +they left Pomfret and rested that night at Doncaster. Thence they +proceeded by easy stages to Blythe, Tuxford, Newark, Grantham, and +Stamford. On Monday, July 27, the procession arrived at Fotheringhay. +The bodies were carried into the church by servants of the deceased, +and received by the King and his Court in deep mourning. + +Edward IV. built a magnificent shrine in the choir, over the tombs of +his father and brother, and completed the works of the college, +including the cloister.[3] + +{40} + +There is reason to believe that the young Duke of Gloucester received +his knightly training in the use of arms from the age of fourteen, in +the household of his cousin the Earl of Warwick. There are payments to +the Earl for costs and expenses incurred by him on account of Richard, +the King's brother. Here he was the companion of Francis Lovel and +Robert Percy, for both of whom he formed a friendship which ended only +with death. Here too he was the playfellow of his cousin Anne Nevill, +and an attachment was probably then formed between them, which was +destined to bear fruit in after years. We find Richard and Anne +sitting together at the installation feast of her uncle the Archbishop +of York in 1467. + +Richard was short in stature, with a delicate fragile frame, the right +shoulder being slightly higher than the left. But he had been inured +to warlike exercises, and was fond of hunting and all manly sports. He +had light brown hair and a very handsome face, full of energy and +decision, yet with a gentle and even melancholy expression when the +features were at rest.[4] + +{41} + +While Richard was receiving a knightly education in the north, his +brother Edward was conducting his own and the country's affairs +recklessly and without wisdom. The secret marriage ceremony he went +through with the widow of Lord Grey of Groby, and her subsequent +coronation, had estranged the nobles, and their disgust was increased +by the promotion and enrichment of her Woodville relations. The Earl +of Warwick, the cousin and formerly the supporter of Edward, became the +chief among the malcontents. He married his daughter Isabella to the +Duke of Clarence, without the King's consent or knowledge, and +afterwards fostered and encouraged disturbances and insurrections. At +last he went to France with Clarence, and made an agreement with +Margaret of Anjou to restore Henry VI. to the throne. Finally he +returned to England, with the Duke of Clarence, as an open enemy of +King Edward. Troops rapidly flocked to his standard, and the country +was lost and won as if by magic. + +Warwick had used all his arts of persuasion to induce the younger +brothers of the King to be false to their allegiance. With Clarence he +succeeded; but Richard never wavered for a moment. His loyalty to his +brother was not to be shaken. There is something very touching in the +unalterable affection between Edward and Richard. In Edward, from the +time when he used to visit his little brother every day in Paston's +chambers, to the hour of his death, there was a loving protection and a +solicitude for the lad's welfare which was shown in many ways. On the +part of Richard there was loyalty and zeal for his elder {42} brother's +service as well as warm affection. His motto was + + 'LOYAULTE ME LIE.'[5] + (Loyalty bindeth me.) + +From the moment that Warwick became a traitor, Richard was constantly +by his brother's side, sharing his long marches,[6] his dangers and +hardships. When Warwick landed and proclaimed the restoration of Henry +VI., King Edward summoned his forces to assemble at Doncaster, +particularly relying on the Marquis Montagu, Warwick's brother, in +whose loyalty he implicitly believed. Edward related to the historian +Comines the events immediately preceding his flight from the kingdom. +He was in a fortified house with his friends, to which the only access +was a bridge, and the troops were quartered in the villages near. +Suddenly news arrived that Montagu and others were riding among his +soldiers shouting for Henry. Edward hastily put on his armour and sent +a body of faithful adherents to defend the bridge. There was nothing +left but flight. Accompanied by his brother Richard and a few loyal +friends the King galloped off, leaving Lord Hastings to gain time by +defending the bridge. Hastings made some terms for his followers with +Montagu, and then followed his master. Reaching Lynn, in Norfolk, the +fugitives found two Dutch vessels on the point of sailing. They +immediately went on board without other clothes than _leurs habillemens +de guerre_.[7] The brothers were accompanied in their flight by Lords +Hastings, Rivers, and Saye, and a few faithful knights. Narrowly +escaping capture by an Easterling ship, they landed near Alkmaar {43} +in North Holland. A gown lined with martens was the only thing of +value wherewith King Edward could pay his passage; and he was saved +from capture by the Easterlings through the intervention of the Sieur +Louis de Bruges, Lord of Gruthuus, who received the fugitives with +generous hospitality and conducted them to The Hague. King Edward and +his host were brother Knights of the Golden Fleece, an obligation which +the lord of Gruthuus most fully recognised. He gave up his great house +at Bruges for the use of the exiled princes, who resided there during +the ensuing winter, and he also lent them his chateau of Oostcamp. +From Bruges, King Edward and his brother proceeded to the court of the +Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol, to seek for aid in recovering the crown of +England. Charles the Bold publicly declined to interfere, and the +Lancastrian Duke of Somerset hurried to London with the good news. But +Charles had been married, in 1468, to the Princess Margaret of York, +who was devotedly attached to her brothers. She opened a +correspondence with the Duke of Clarence in England, to induce him to +return to his allegiance. Through her influence, the aid which had +been withheld publicly was given in secret. She smoothed all +difficulties, and enabled her brothers to undertake their romantic +enterprise. For Edward was resolved to recover his crown, and Richard, +from this time, was his efficient lieutenant. + +Richard's services in Flanders, and especially in fitting out the +expedition, secured for him the full confidence of his brother. The +ships had to be equipped very secretly and with great care. The +Duchess Margaret had procured a grant of 15,000 florins, and permission +to get ready four ships of Flanders and thirteen {44} hired +Easterlings[8] which were to be at Edward's service until he should +land in England, and for fifteen days afterwards. The next step was +the selection of a seaport where the expedition could be quietly fitted +out. The Lord of Gruthuus again proved a friend in need. He had +married Margaret, the sister of Henry van Borselle, Lord of the island +of Walcheren. The traditions of the family of Borselle were adverse to +the House of Lancaster, for Francis van Borselle was the lover, and +eventually the husband, of that unfortunate Jacoba of Holland who was +treated so shamefully by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. The excellent +ports of Veere and Flushing were, therefore, placed at Edward's +disposal. + +The expedition was fitted out in the port of Veere, under the +protection of Henry van Borselle. Besides the King and young Richard, +Lords Hastings, Rivers, and Saye were the principal leaders. The +expeditionary force consisted of 900 men, in addition to the crews of +the ships. A select body of 300 Flemish gunners, armed with hand-guns, +formed part of the little army; and this is nearly the first time that +these new weapons are mentioned in English warfare. The men carried +slow matches, and are called 'smoky gunners' by Fabyan. Richard +actively helped in the preparation of this daring little expedition at +Veere; for by this time the King had learned to appreciate his +brother's remarkable ability and fitness for command. + +By the end of February 1471, the ships were ready. They were brought +down the Channel from Veere to Flushing and the troops were embarked. +{45} But they had to wait nine days in Flushing Roads for a fair wind, +and it was not until Monday, March 11, that the gallant adventurers +sailed for the Norfolk coast. Edward was in one ship with Lord +Hastings, while his brother had a separate command in another vessel, +each being followed by a squadron of transports. It is probable that +the exiled King shaped a course for the coast of Norfolk in the hope +that the influence of the Duke, who was faithful to his cause, would +ensure him a cordial reception. But he was disappointed. Two knights, +named Sir Robert Chamberlain and Sir Gilbert Debenham, went on shore at +Cromer and found the country occupied by Warwick's adherents. Edward, +therefore, steered for Yorkshire, and encountered a gale of wind which +lasted from March 12 to 14, scattering his little squadron. When +Edward and Hastings anchored off Ravenspur,[9] on the Holderness coast, +no other vessel was in sight. The King landed and burnt his ship, +resolved to regain his crown or perish in the attempt. + +Edward stood on that dreary waste of sand with 500 followers. The +look-out was black indeed. He had seen nothing of the other ships +since they were separated by the gale off Cromer. He sent scouts to +the adjacent villages, but not a man ventured to join his standard. +While hesitating what should be the next step, horsemen appeared over +the brow of a rising ground. The adventurers stood to their arms, but +a few minutes turned anxiety into joy. The young Duke of Gloucester +was seen to be at the head of a little force of 300 men. He had +effected a landing {46} at a point about four miles from Ravenspur, and +hurried to join his brother. Soon afterwards Lord Rivers, who had +reached the shore at a place called Pole, fourteen miles away, made his +appearance. Thus was the little force once more united. They marched +to Beverley and thence to York, but although armed men were seen, no +one either molested them or came to their assistance. There appears to +have been no ill-will among the people, but fear of the power of the +Earl of Warwick and a belief that Edward's cause was hopeless. + +The authorities of York did not dare to receive Edward as King. It was +thought advisable that, at this stage, he should only claim his +hereditary dukedom.[10] This deceived no one, but it would enable the +mayor and aldermen of York to defend their conduct in the event of +Edward's overthrow. They received him into their town, gave him +supplies, and next day he marched southwards to Tadcaster. + +The campaign by which Edward regained the crown was one of the most +brilliant that has ever been conducted by an English general. It +elicited proofs of consummate military skill from the Yorkist princes, +and displays of valour and presence of mind in action which were never +surpassed by any of their race. Edward IV. is entitled to an equal +place as a military commander with Edward III. or Henry V. His +strategy and resource were superior to those of either. He never lost +a battle, though he never {47} declined a combat. In three short +months from the time that he landed with a handful of men on the coast +of Holderness, he had outwitted and out-manoeuvred his opponents, had +won two pitched battles, and had recovered his crown. Richard deserves +scarcely less credit. He was only eighteen, yet he contributed largely +to the success of the campaign, while in battle his brother entrusted +the young prince with important separate commands. + +Edward's little band of adventurers was opposed by the whole resources +of England in the hands of the Earl of Warwick. The Earl himself was +posted with a strong force at Coventry. His brother Montagu occupied +an advanced position at Pomfret to intercept the invaders on their +southward march. The Earl of Oxford was advancing from the Eastern +counties, and Clarence from London. By a masterly flank march the King +passed to the westward of Pomfret and reached Nottingham, leaving +Montagu in his rear baffled and outwitted. At Nottingham loyal men +began to flock to the King's standard. The Earl of Oxford and Duke of +Exeter had advanced against him from the Eastern counties, but the +rumoured increase of his forces made them halt at Newark. The King +pressed onwards to Leicester, and marching thence to Coventry, offered +battle to the Earl of Warwick, who was behind the walls with 7,000 men. +Warwick declined. He was taken completely by surprise. This was on +March 29, only a fortnight after Edward had landed. Without losing a +moment the royal army marched on to Warwick, and on the approach of +Clarence from London, his brothers encamped in a field three miles on +the road to Banbury. + +{48} + +The negotiations between King Edward and Clarence were conducted +throughout by their younger brother Richard, and to him is due the +credit of the reconciliation which took place. He thus restored one +brother to his throne, and reclaimed the other from dishonour. The +defection of Clarence left no enemy between the King and his capital. +Edward reached Daventry on the night of April 6, attending divine +service there on Palm Sunday. On the 9th he was at Northampton, and on +the 11th he entered London, where he was joyfully received by the +citizens. + +Warwick was outwitted like his brother. There was nothing left for him +but to follow the King, who could give him battle or not as he chose. +So the baffled Earl concentrated his army, calling up Montagu from +Pomfret, Vere and Exeter from Newark, and Somerset from the west. +Having united his forces he marched towards London, reaching St. Albans +on the 12th, and encamping on Gladmore Heath to the north of Barnet, +and about ten miles from London, on the afternoon of April 13. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Barnet] + +The King only had one full day in London, in which to organise his +little army, now increased to 9,000 men, and to rest the faithful few +who had marched with him from Ravenspur. He entered London on the +11th, and in the forenoon of the 13th he marched out to encounter his +enemies. Advancing to Barnet his scouts drove out the scouts of +Warwick and chased them for half a mile. The King then marched through +the town, and reached Gladmore Heath when it was dusk. He encamped +much nearer the enemy than he intended, and by reason of the darkness +his line was not formed directly in front of the opposing force. {49} +The King's right extended beyond Warwick's left, while his left was +similarly overlapped by Warwick's right. In one respect this was +fortunate, for Warwick's artillery was in his right wing, and he kept +up a fire all through the night[11] without doing any damage to his +adversaries, because their left wing was not posted in front of the +rebel right wing; but somewhat to the eastward of it. + +Warwick had drawn up his army with his brother Montagu and John Vere, +son of the attainted Earl of Oxford, in charge of the right wing +consisting mainly of cavalry; the Duke of Somerset in the centre with +archers and bill-men; and Warwick himself, with the Duke of Exeter, in +command of the left wing. The opposing force of the King was inferior +in numbers to that of the rebels. Edward, accompanied by Clarence and +Henry VI., commanded the centre in person. On the left was Lord +Hastings, while young Richard Duke of Gloucester, who was only eighteen +years of age, had charge of the right wing. A strong body of infantry +was kept in reserve. The King ordered strict silence to be observed +throughout the night. + +When the morning of Easter Sunday, April 14, at length dawned there was +a dense fog, so that the two armies could barely distinguish each +other. At half-past four the King advanced his standards, and sounded +his trumpets for battle. There were flights of arrows, and then the +opposing forces closed and encountered each other with hand strokes, in +the thick mist. For a long time it was impossible for the leaders to +know what was taking place in different parts of the field. Oxford +found little to oppose him. He charged the {50} followers of Lord +Hastings and easily routed them, continuing the chase beyond Barnet. +Then he returned to reinforce the main body; but here a fatal mistake +occurred. The cognizance of King Edward was the sun in splendour, +adopted after seeing the parhelion at Mortimer's Cross. The cognizance +of the Veres was a star with rays.[12] When the soldiers of Warwick's +centre, under Somerset, saw a fresh body of men approaching under the +banner of the star, they mistook it for the King's cognizance and +thought they were attacked in flank. A cry of treason ran through +their ranks. Up to this time they had stubbornly resisted the +onslaughts of King Edward and his men, but now they broke and fled. +Somerset and Vere rode away with their men, and made good their escape. + +Meanwhile the Duke of Gloucester had led his troops to a furious attack +on the enemy's left wing which was commanded by Warwick in person. The +Duke himself plunged into the thickest of the fight. His two esquires, +John Milwater[13] and Thomas Parr, were slain by his side. At the +moment when the fate of the battle was still uncertain, and when the +King heard that his young brother was hard pressed, the reserves were +brought into action, just as Somerset's division began to waver. +Victory then ceased to be {51} doubtful, and soon there was complete +rout all along the rebel line. The Earl of Warwick and his brother +Montagu fell either in the battle or in attempting to escape. The +accounts vary. Though enemies and traitors to the royal brothers, they +were cousins, and had once been devoted friends. The King sincerely +mourned the death of Montagu, and the depth of Richard's sorrow is +proved by his subsequent intercession for Montagu's heirs. The bodies, +after being laid for two days in St. Paul's Cathedral, were honourably +interred in the burial place of their mother's family at Bisham. The +losses on the King's side included Lord Saye, who had shared Edward's +exile, Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell,[14] another Sir Humphrey +Bourchier,[15] son of Lord Berners, and the son and heir of Lord +Mountjoy. The losses, on both sides, {52} amounted to about 1,500 +men.[16] King Edward and the Duke of Gloucester returned to London the +same day, while their army rested for the night on the battlefield. + + + +[1] _Rot. Parl._ vol. vi. p. 227. Halsted, i. 432. + +[2] Sandford, p. 391. + +[3] The tombs were desecrated in the time of Edward VI., when the +college was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Queen +Elizabeth gave orders that they should be restored. The bones of +Richard Duke of York, of the Duchess Cicely, and of Edmund Earl of +Rutland, lapped in lead, were removed into the parish church. For the +choir, where they rested under the beautiful shrine, had been +destroyed. Mean monuments of plaster were then erected over them, and +over the remains of Edward Duke of York, on either side of the altar. +They are specimens of the taste of the Elizabethan age, fluted columns +supporting a frieze and cornice, ornamented with the falcon and +fetter-lock. In the inscriptions they have forgotten the name of young +Edmund Earl of Rutland. + +[4] Portrait at Windsor Castle. Dr. Parr, in a letter to Roscoe, +speaking of the head of Lorenzo (the Magnificent) prefixed to Roscoe's +biography, says: 'I am very much mistaken if, by invigorating a few +traits, it would not make an excellent head of Richard III.'--_Life of +Roscoe_, i. 178. + +[5] Buck, p. 83. + +[6] _Paston Letters_, ii. 357, 389. + +[7] Comines. + +[8] The ships of the towns belonging to the Hanseatic League, in the +Baltic, and on the Elbe, were known in England by the name of +Easterlings. + +[9] Ravenspur appears, from the description of the writer in Fleetwood, +to have been inside Spurn Head. He says: 'He landed within Humber on +Holderness side, at a place called Ravenspoure.' + +[10] The Tudor chroniclers, as is their wont, grossly exaggerate and +misrepresent this incident: introducing imaginary details, including an +oath before an altar, vows of allegiance to Henry VI., and other +romances. These are the offspring of their zeal to please their Tudor +paymasters, by traducing the House of York. + +[11] Warkworth says that: 'each of them loosed guns at other all +night.' Balls have been dug up weighing 1-1/2 lbs. + +[12] The second Alberic de Vere, father of the first Earl of Oxford, +was a crusader. In 1098 he was in a battle near Antioch when the +infidels were defeated. During the chase, a silver star of five points +was seen to descend from heaven and light on Alberic's shield, there +shining excessively. It had ever since been borne in the first quarter +of the Vere arms. This is the old tradition. Modern heralds suspect +that the mullet was merely a mark of cadency adopted by the second +brother of the second Earl, who retained it when he became third Earl. + +[13] Mentioned in the letter of Edward and Edmund to their father. + +[14] Ralph Cromwell, fourth Baron Cromwell, who was Lord Treasurer for +Henry VI., and was the builder of Tattershall Castle, died childless in +1455. His sister Maud married Sir Richard Stanhope and had a daughter +Maud, whose husband Sir Humphrey Bourchier, third son of Henry +Bourchier Earl of Essex, by the Princess Isabel Plantagenet (aunt of +Edward IV.), took the title of Lord Cromwell _jure uxoris_. This Lord +Cromwell seems to have been a student of law as well as a soldier. +There is a manuscript copy of the statutes of Edward III. in the +Hunterian Library of Glasgow University which once belonged to him. At +the beginning there is the following entry: '_Eximii et preclari +militis liber, Johannis Markham capitalis just, de B. Regis, Liber +Humfredi Bourchier dmus Cromwell ex dono supradicti_'; and at the end: +'_This boke is mine Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell by the gift of the +right noble and famous judge Sir John Markham Chief Justice of the +King's Bench_.' + +[15] Sir John Bourchier, fourth son of William Bourchier Earl of Eu, by +Anne, daughter of Thomas Duke of Gloucester, married the heiress of Sir +Richard Berners, and was summoned to Parliament as Lord Berners in 1455 +to 1472. The second Humphrey Bourchier who was slain at Barnet was his +son. Fabyan and Habington call him 'Lord Barnes.' + +[16] Fabyan gives the number at 1,500. Habington says 4,600. Hall is +unreliable as usual. He says 10,000 on both sides. Although some +writers say that the King's army was superior in numbers, it is +probable that, while Edward only had 9,000 men, the forces of Warwick +were very much more numerous. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER V + +MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD + +It is necessary to look back a few years in order to consider the lives +of the mother and son who now, for a time, come prominently into +connection with the life story of Richard Duke of Gloucester. + +Margaret, second daughter of Rene of Anjou and Isabelle of Lorraine, +was born at Pont-a-Mousson on March 23, 1429, and baptized at Toul. As +a child she went with her mother to Capua and Naples. Provence was +also one of her homes, but she returned to Lorraine in her fifteenth +year. She was only sixteen when the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk came +to Nancy to demand her hand for Henry VI. of England, and in November +1444 she was married by proxy amidst great rejoicings; for the event +secured a lasting peace with France. There was a great tournament in +the Place de Carriere at Nancy to celebrate the event, at which Charles +VII. and many of the chief nobles of France were present. Charles +tilted with King Rene, bearing on his shield the serpent of the fairy +Melusina. The daisy was young Margaret's cognizance, and Pierre de +Breze, Lord of Varenne, and Seneschal of Normandy, maintained the +pre-eminence of the 'daisye flower' against all comers in the Place de +Carriere.[1] This was {54} no passing sentiment. Two at least in that +brilliant throng remained true to the fair princess to the bitter end, +Pierre de Breze and the Duchess of Suffolk. + +Margaret was not only very beautiful, she was endowed with rare gifts +of intellect, which had been cultivated by travel in Italy and +Provence, and through communion with her accomplished father. She set +out for England attended by the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk and a train +of nobles. On her way she supped with the Duke of York at Mantes, and +reached Honfleur on April 3, 1445. Thence she sailed across to +Portsmouth, where she slept at the Maison Dieu. She was then taken in +a row-boat to Southampton, but her marriage was delayed for some time +by an illness. Henry VI., who was in his twenty-fourth year,[2] had +been waiting for his bride at Southwick. The marriage took place at +Titchfield Abbey on May 30. + +Never was a young girl placed in a more wretched position. Married to +a poor feeble creature who could be neither companion nor protector, +surrounded by self-seeking intriguers, living in a foreign country with +few to sympathise with or care for her; the years that followed her +marriage could not fail to embitter the brave heart that no misfortune +had power to crush. For years she lived on, the memories of the bright +and happy court of her father gradually fading, while the cruel facts +of her miserable position hardened round her. + +It was in the eighth year after her marriage that Margaret became a +mother. Her whole soul opened to the loving influence. All her +pent-up womanly feelings found a vent. She at last had something to +live for. Her brilliant intellect, her fortitude and {55} devotion, +her great powers of endurance, all she had, her whole being, became +centred in this child--the one thing she had to love. For him she +would face dangers, dare more than most men in perils and hardships, +and, if need be, would become as a tigress at bay in defence of her +young. + +The prince was born at Westminster on October 13, 1453, being just one +year younger than Richard. It was at a time when Henry VI. was in one +of his fits of complete mental derangement which came upon him +periodically, as they did upon his grandfather Charles VI. of France, +from whom no doubt he inherited them. The Duke of York was +administering the realm. The child was proclaimed Prince of Wales and +Earl of Chester. His mother was just twenty-four, and Henry was in his +thirty-third year. The Queen had lost her mother, to whom she was +fondly attached, on the previous February 28. In hopes that the name +would endear her boy to the people, Margaret gave him that of Edward. +He was baptized by Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by +Waynflete of Winchester, the Duke of Somerset and Duchess of +Buckingham[3] being sponsors. He was also created a Knight of the +Garter. + +From his very cradle the child was in the midst of war and turmoil. +The misgovernment of the Beauforts had strengthened the legitimate +claim of the Duke of York, which would never have had a chance against +the parliamentary title of an able and popular king. But the Yorkists +now had to reckon with the gifted and intrepid Queen, whose whole soul, +and whose every gift of mind and body, were concentrated with fierce +devotion {56} on the defence of her child's birthright. Nothing but +death could make her desist from efforts on his behalf. + +Young Edward was only in his second year when the first battle of St. +Albans was fought, on May 22, 1455. His mother had taken him to +Greenwich, where she received the news of the death of Somerset and her +other supporters, and of the wound received by Henry. During the +following four years there were hollow reconciliations, but a death +struggle was inevitable; and in June 1459 the court left London for +Warwick, virtually to take the field. The child Edward was only five +years old. He was destined never to see London again. + +Margaret strove to make the child popular with the people, and to +excite a feeling of loyalty for him. He was named Edward to remind +them of the king who added to the glory of England at Cressy and +Poitiers. She adopted the badge of Edward III. as that of the Prince, +and the pretty little boy, with long golden hair, distributed silver +swans among the people wherever he went. The Queen could not bear him +out of her sight, yet her dauntless eagerness would not allow her to be +absent from scenes of strife, when her child's future depended on the +result. Mother and child looked down on the battle of Blore Heath from +the tower of Muccleston Church, and when Lord Audley was routed they +fled to Eccleshall Castle. Then there were a few months of dawning +hope, which was crushed at Northampton. Again Margaret watched the +fortunes of the day with her child. She heard of the treachery of +Grey, she saw the gallant young Edward of York leading his men over the +trenches, and that the day was lost. The King fell into the hands of +her enemies. + +On the evening of that July 9, 1460, she rode away {57} with her +beloved child, a homeless fugitive. Between Eccleshall and Chester she +was made prisoner by a party led by one John Cleger, a servant of Lord +Stanley. Every instinct was on the alert when danger approached her +child. She watched an opportunity while her captors were rifling the +baggage, and escaped with little Edward in her arms. The adventures +through which they passed are not recorded, but she was eventually +joined by the Duke of Somerset, who conducted her to a safe refuge at +Harlech Castle in Wales. + +The Duke of York, with Henry in his power, induced the Parliament to +alter the succession, and the claims of Henry's son were ignored. +Henry VI. wrote a letter to his wife, ordering her to accept the new +settlement, and to join him in London with her child. This must have +been one of the bitterest moments of her unhappy life. But no reverse +could daunt this romantic heroine. She went by sea from Harlech to +Scotland, and thence called upon all her supporters in the north to +rally round the standard of King Henry. Margaret's appeal met with a +prompt answer, and on the last day of the year 1460 the Duke of York +lost his life at Wakefield, overwhelmed by superior numbers. The road +was thus open to London, and Margaret made a vigorous effort to recover +the birthright of her child. On February 17, 1461, she won the second +battle of St. Albans and recovered the person of her husband; but she +failed to induce the citizens of London to open their gates to her, and +was obliged to retreat northwards. The Queen and her child appear to +have been in the thick of the fight; and this was the third battle at +which Edward had been present before he had reached his eighth year. +The royal party retreated to York, while preparations {58} were made +for the final and decisive struggle between the two factions. On March +4, 1461, the young Earl of March was proclaimed King, and on the 29th +he won the crowning victory of Towton. + +Queen Margaret, with her husband and child, had remained at York, and +there she received the news of the destruction of her hopes. There was +nothing left for her but instant and rapid flight. The fugitives from +Towton told her to mount at once, and the unhappy family, with a few +faithful friends, galloped out of Bootham Bar, and plunged into the +forest of Galtres. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter and Lord Roos +attended them. They escaped to Berwick and thence to Edinburgh, where +Henry found a suitable abode with the Grey Friars. Margaret passed the +following winter in Scotland, but in the spring, seeing no present hope +from her English adherents, who appeared to be crushed, she resolved to +seek help from abroad. Taking the little prince with her, she sailed +from Kirkcudbright in April 1462, and landed in Brittany, whence she +proceeded to the court of her cousin Louis XI., who was then at Chinon. +It was resolved that some assistance should be given to the undaunted +heroine in men and money. Her old champion Pierre de Breze now flew to +the succour of the forlorn Margaret in her distress. He organized an +expedition, and in October 1462 he sailed to the coast of +Northumberland with the Queen and her son. They landed at Tynemouth, +but the foreign levies were repulsed and fled to their ships, +abandoning de Breze and the Queen. The fugitives were afterwards cut +to pieces by troops under Sir Robert Ogle when they landed at Holy +Island. De Breze, with Margaret and her child, escaped from Tynemouth +in a fishing boat and, after a {59} perilous voyage, they landed safely +at Berwick, which was then a Scottish port. + +In Scotland there was but a cold welcome for Queen Margaret. It was +necessary to make her way to Bamborough, which still held out for her, +and there, abandoning present hope, the Queen and her child embarked to +commence a life of exile in April 1463. They were accompanied by a +band of faithful friends who would not desert them in their extremity. +Chief among them was the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Fortescue. + +The Duke of Somerset, now a double-dyed traitor, with Sir Hugh Percy +and others then rose in rebellion, and captured the castles of Alnwick +and Bamborough. The Marquis Montagu, followed by Edward IV. in person, +advanced rapidly from the south to put down the new insurrection. On +April 25, 1464, the insurgents were defeated at Hedgley Moor, and soon +afterwards the rest of Somerset's forces entrenched themselves near +Hexham. Poor Henry was brought from Edinburgh, where he was quite +contented with his Grey Friars, to the camp. The entrenchments were +thrown up on Lyvel's plain, near Dowelwater, and Somerset awaited the +attack. On May 8, 1464, Montagu came in sight, assaulted the position, +and, after a desperate resistance, carried it with great slaughter. +The Duke of Somerset, Lords Roos and Hungerford were taken and +beheaded, Henry galloped off on a swift horse in the direction of the +Scottish Border. He concealed himself in the west of Yorkshire for a +year, but was captured at Bolton Hall in June 1465 and taken to the +Tower.[4] + +{60} + +Meanwhile, Queen Margaret encountered a furious gale of wind which +lasted for twelve hours, but her vessel at length reached the Flemish +port of Sluys. Thence she proceeded by Lille and Hesdin to the Court +of the Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol. Here the exiles were hospitably +received and supplied with money, and, after some stay, they went on to +the castle of Koeur-la-Petite near St. Mihiel, on the Meuse. King Rene +had assigned this castle as the residence of his daughter and grandson, +with their followers. + +No boy who had only reached his eleventh year ever went through such +vicissitudes as Edward of Lancaster. He had been at four pitched +battles, had ridden over hundreds of miles, had been seized by robbers, +had wandered in trackless forests, had passed many nights on the bare +ground, and in open boats. He had made hairbreadth escapes, and had +suffered privations and hardships. Few children could have survived +such a life. He must have had a robust frame combined with the high +courage of his race. Through all, and protecting him at every step, he +had his heroic mother as his companion; surrounding and pervading his +life with her devoted love. Such experiences must have left a deep +impression on the boy's character. It was a wild and turbulent opening +for the young life, but now at last there was to be a brief interval of +rest. For a few years he was to live more peaceably, receiving +instruction and enjoying some pleasures, before destiny hurried him to +a violent death. + +St. Mihiel is a small town on the right bank of the Meuse, in the +diocese of Verdun and Duchy of Bar. Near it there are enormous rocks +overhanging the river, called Les Falaises de St. Mihiel. In the +fifteenth {61} century there was cultivation along the river banks, +while extensive forests covered the Argonne mountains further back. +Nearly opposite St. Mihiel, on the left bank of the river, was the old +castle of Koeur-la-Petite, which Rene gave to his daughter Margaret[5]; +and he contributed to her support as far as his narrow means would +allow. Here she dwelt for the five succeeding years, watching the +growth and education of her boy, and enjoying more happiness than she +had known since her ill-fated marriage. She was within a few miles of +Pont-a-Mousson, the place of her birth, and often saw her beloved +father, and her sister Iolanthe. + +Young Edward was devoted to field sports and martial exercises. His +companions were the sons of knights and esquires who had remained +faithful to his mother; and he loved to gallop with them over the +valley, and to exercise with sword and lance. So much of his time was +passed in these outdoor exercises that, as his years increased, the +graver advisers of his mother began to think that he should give rather +more of his attention to the acquisition of learning. + +Among the exiles was the most learned and accomplished lawyer who sat +on the English bench during the fifteenth century, and the young prince +enjoyed the advantage of his companionship and instruction. John +Fortescue of Ebrington was born in 1394, was educated at Exeter +College, and became Lord Chief Justice in 1442. Considering the +parliamentary title of the Lancastrian King not only good in itself, +but even better than a merely hereditary title, he became a steady +adherent of Margaret of Anjou. He wrote a treatise supporting the +claim of the Lancastrians on principles of constitutional law; while +his presence in {62} their camp gave judicial countenance to the appeal +to arms. During his exile he mainly resided at St. Mihiel, in +attendance on the little court of Koeur-la-Petite, and superintended +the education of the prince. He was anxious to impart a knowledge of +England and of English constitutional law to a prince who might some +day have to rule over freedom-loving Englishmen, but who left his +country when he was too young to recollect much about it. Fortescue +has related the occasion of these studies being commenced, and the +progress that was made. + +'The Prince,' says the aged Chief Justice, 'as he grew up, applied +himself wholly to martial exercises. He was often mounted on fiery and +wild horses which he did not fear to urge on with the spur. Sometimes +with his lance, sometimes with his sword, he made it his diversion to +assault the young gentlemen, his attendants, according to the rules of +military discipline.' In this Sir John Fortescue encouraged him, but +he also urged him to study law, quoting Deuteronomy xvii. 18, 19. The +boy replied that, although he ought to read the Divine law, it did not +follow that he should study human laws. He said this thoughtfully, and +looking very intently at the old judge. Fortescue answered that human +laws were also sacred, that they were no other than rules whereby the +perfect notion of justice could be determined, and that this justice +must be the subject of the royal care. Quoting Wisdom i. 1, he said, +'Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Love righteousness, ye judges +of the earth. To love justice,' he concluded, 'you must acquire a +competent knowledge of the laws.' Prince Edward was convinced by the +discourse of his venerable tutor. He said, 'You have overcome me, good +Chancellor, with your {63} agreeable discourse, and have kindled within +my breast a thirst for a knowledge of the law.' The boy candidly +confessed that he did not wish to pass all his younger years in such +studies. Then Sir John Fortescue explained to him the amount of legal +knowledge that was necessary for a prince. In one year he could +acquire sufficient acquaintance with the laws of England, and at the +same time he could continue to inure himself to those martial exercises +to which his natural inclination prompted him so much. 'Still make +your diversion as it best please you, at your leisure,' said the tutor. + +After this conversation, the aged judge of seventy-five and the young +prince of fifteen devoted some hours of each day to a study of the +English Constitution. These lectures, in the form of dialogues, were +afterwards embodied by Fortescue in a treatise entitled 'De Laudibus +legum Angliae,' which was first printed in 1537. Edward began by asking +his instructor to satisfy him that the laws of England were better +adapted for the government of that kingdom than the civil law of the +Holy Roman Empire. Fortescue proceeded to establish this point, +specially dwelling on the fact that the English statutes were not made +by the will of the Kings, but were enacted by the concurrent consent of +the whole people, by their representatives in Parliament. He then +explained the territorial division of England into counties, the duties +of sheriffs, the method of empannelling juries, the procedure in civil +and criminal causes. The boy approved highly of the system of trial by +jury, the jurors being men chosen from among neighbours who knew the +country and people. 'I know of myself,' he remarked, 'more certainly +what is doing at this time in the Barrois where I reside, than what is +doing in England.' + +{64} + +On another day the Chief Justice illustrated the good results of the +English Constitution by comparing the condition of England with that of +France ruled by a despotism. 'In the land of England,' he said, 'there +are no wolves nor bears. The grazing lands are enclosed with hedgerows +and ditches and planted with trees which fence the herds and flocks +from bleak winds and sultry heat. There are many franklins and yeomen, +of estates sufficient to make substantial juries, not a few spending +100_l._ a year and more. Other countries are not in such a happy +situation, and not so well stored with inhabitants.' The prince then +remarked that he could understand how the wealth and populousness of +England had been caused by the superior excellence of her laws. But a +doubt about the number of jurors had occurred to his youthful mind. He +said, 'Although this method of sifting out the truth highly pleases me, +yet there rests this doubt with me. Our blessed Saviour says: "It is +written in your law that the testimony of two men is true" (John viii. +17), and again in Matthew xviii. 16.' Fortescue answered that our jury +law did not contradict this, for if the testimony of two be true, _a +fortiori_ that of twelve ought to be presumed to be so. 'The more +always contains in it that which is less.' Besides in England some +cases may be proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the +high seas, and proceedings before the Lord Constable and Earl Marshal. + +On another occasion, having previously shown that the prosperity of +England was due to laws agreed to by the people, Fortescue illustrated +the evils of despotic power by the condition of France. 'You will +remember,' he said, 'that you saw in France how the villages are {65} +so much oppressed by the King's soldiers that you could scarcely be +accommodated in your travels. The troops pay for nothing, and treat +the people barbarously if they are not satisfied. Thus the poor people +are exposed to great calamities. The King of France will allow no one +to use salt, but what is bought of himself at his own arbitrary price. +All growers of vines must give a fourth to the King. All the towns pay +the King great yearly sums for his men-at-arms; so that the peasants +live in great hardships and misery. They wear no woollen. Their +clothing consists of little short jerkins of sackcloth, no trowse but +from the knees upwards, and legs exposed and naked. The women all go +barefoot. The people eat not meat, except the fat of bacon in their +soup. Nor are the gentry much better off. If an accusation is brought +against them, they are examined in private, and perhaps never more +heard of. + +'In England it is very different. No one can abide in another man's +house without his leave, or take his goods, except the King by his +purveyors at a reasonable price. The King cannot put on taxes, nor +alter the laws, nor make new ones. The English never drink water +except for penance. They eat all sorts of flesh and fish. They are +clothed throughout in good woollens; and are provided with all sorts of +household goods. An Englishman cannot be sued except before the +ordinary judge.' Having drawn this contrast between the French and +English, the old judge continued: 'These advantages are due to the +political mixed government which prevails in England. Those Kings who +have wished to change it preferred ambition, luxury, and impotent +passion to the good of the State. Remember that the king is given for +the sake of the kingdom, not the kingdom for the sake of the king.' + +{66} + +Edward, although he frequently intervened with pertinent questions, +showing that he was giving close attention to the subject, fully +concurred in the arguments of his tutor, and must have derived great +benefit from this course of studies. He was impressed with the duties +of an English king, with the limited character of his power, and with +the importance of a parliamentary title. Fortescue also began to +occupy the young Prince in the active transaction of affairs of State. +Edward himself wrote a despatch to Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormonde, +who was in Portugal representing the cause of the House of Lancaster to +King Alfonso V.,[6] and he was acquainted with the proceedings of Sir +John Fortescue when he made journeys to the court of Louis XI. + +The residence at Koeur-la-Petite lasted for five years, 1465-69. The +peaceful home was broken up through the treachery of the turbulent and +self-seeking Earl of Warwick. Exasperated with Edward IV., owing to +his marriage and connexion with the Woodville faction, Warwick had +resolved to abandon the cause with which he was connected by ties of +relationship and by life-long service. He had married his daughter +Isabel to the Duke of Clarence without the King's consent, and had +alienated that vacillating prince from his brother. He came to France +with the Countess, his two daughters Isabel and Anne, and Clarence: and +proposed to King Louis to espouse the cause of his cousin Margaret, and +to restore Henry to the throne. The fear of an alliance between Edward +IV. and the Duke of Burgundy caused Louis to entertain Warwick's +scheme. But it was most distasteful to Margaret. Much as she {67} +longed for the restoration to her child of his birthright, she found it +difficult to accept such aid. Warwick had not only been the most +inveterate enemy of her family, he had also made himself personally +odious to Margaret. He was now a double-dyed traitor. His motives +were transparently selfish, and she believed neither in his new-born +loyalty nor in his ability to help her. But the persuasions of Louis +XI. and of her own relations at length induced her to come to the +French court. The Queen and her son, attended by Sir John Fortescue +and their other faithful adherents, left the happy home in the lovely +valley of the Meuse in December 1469. + +Margaret arrived at Tours, where the French court then was, accompanied +by Prince Edward, King Rene, her brother John of Calabria, her sister +Iolanthe, and her brother-in-law Ferry de Vaudemont. Warwick arrived +soon afterwards, and with much reluctance Margaret consented to an +interview. Negotiations were continued for several months; and on July +15 the court moved to Angers, where the Countess of Warwick and her +daughter Anne were in attendance. + +Warwick asked that Prince Edward should marry his daughter Anne, as the +reward of his assistance. At first the Queen positively refused, but +she at last gave a conditional and very unwilling assent, moved by the +importunities of Louis XI. and her relations. The marriage was not to +take place until after Henry VI. was restored to the throne and, if +Warwick failed, the agreement was at an end. 'The said marriage shall +not be perfyted until the Earl of Warwick has recovered the realm of +England for King Henry.'[7] They were never married. They {68} were, +indeed, too young, Edward being seventeen, and Anne barely fourteen.[8] +Knowing the dislike of his mother to such a union, and strongly +prejudiced against it himself, it is not likely that Edward ever took +more notice of Warwick's child than ordinary courtesy required, if +indeed he ever saw her. + +Queen Margaret made preparations for a voyage to England, where her +supporters were expected to rise in the western counties and Wales. +Warwick had preceded her by several months. Margaret was in her +forty-second year, and she had lost some of her buoyancy and vigorous +hopefulness with her youth. Still as determined as ever to assert the +rights of her son, she trembled for his safety. She got ready to +embark with feelings of deep anxiety and foreboding. Edward reached +his seventeenth birthday in October 1470, and in November Queen +Margaret and the Prince entered Paris, and were honoured with a grand +official reception. Edward was now a handsome lad of seventeen, with a +robust frame well seasoned by active outdoor life. He was tall for his +age, with the features of his mother, and long golden hair. He was a +good horseman and a practised man-at-arms. Well instructed in all the +literary culture of the time, and doubtless inheriting some of his +grandfather's love of poetry and romance, young Edward had also +carefully studied the constitution and laws of England. He was fully +convinced of the justice of his cause by the reasoning of one of the +ablest lawyers of the time, and the hereditary bravery of his race now +filled him with martial ardour. But he was still very young, and all +these qualities of head and heart were as yet only budding towards +maturity. + + + +[1] Barante. + +[2] Born in 1421. + +[3] A Nevill. Sister of the Duchess of York. + +[4] See _Archaeologia_, 47 (ii), p. 265. Margaret was not at the battle +of Hexham, and the robber story is a fabrication. + +[5] Villeneuve, _Vie de Roi Rene_. + +[6] Alfonso V. was a grandson of Queen Philippa, sister of Henry IV. of +England, therefore a second cousin of Henry VI. + +[7] Ellis, _Original Letters_, Second Series, i. 132. + +[8] Born June 11, 1456. + + + + +{69} + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY + +There was long delay in the arrival of Queen Margaret in England with +reinforcements. She was prevented from sailing by contrary winds at +Harfleur. Three times the ships put to sea, and were forced to return. +The Countess of Warwick, with her daughter Anne, arrived first at +Portsmouth and, hearing of the death of her husband at Barnet soon +afterwards, she took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey. Queen Margaret with +her son Edward, Sir John Langstrother, Prior of St. John, Sir John +Fortescue, and many exiled knights landed at Weymouth on April 14, the +very day of the battle of Barnet. + +Weymouth was then a small seaport with no suitable accommodation for so +large a concourse. The Queen, therefore, passing through Dorchester, +at once advanced fifteen miles northward from the sea coast, to the +Abbey of Cerne. Dr. Morton, who accompanied her, had once been a monk +at Cerne; and the Abbot was his old friend. This circumstance no doubt +led to the decision of Queen Margaret to seek the hospitality of Abbot +Roger Bemynster, and here she received tidings of the battle of Barnet, +a disaster which seemed fatal to her cause. At first she was +overwhelmed, and wished her boy to return to France. But in a few days +she was joined by Edmund Beaufort, {70} the last Duke of Somerset, and +his brother John. Somerset had commanded the archers at Barnet, but +had escaped and found his way to the Queen. Jasper Tudor,[1] the Earl +of Devonshire, and Lord Wenlock followed closely on the heels of +Somerset. They entreated her to persevere, assuring her that the west +of England was ready to rise in her support, and that levies had +actually been called out, with Exeter as the rendezvous. With some +reluctance she consented, and her gallant son entered upon the last +three weeks of his young life. Tudor was despatched to raise forces in +Wales. Margaret, with the rest of her adherents, left Cerne Abbey +after a stay of about ten days, marched to Exeter and thence, by +Taunton, Glastonbury and Wells, to Bristol. Fresh levies joined and +increased her forces as she advanced. + +On April 16 King Edward heard that Queen Margaret had landed. He had +returned to London two days before, after his victory at Barnet. On +the 19th he went to Windsor and waited to collect men, celebrating the +feast of St. George there on the 23rd. He saw at once that the enemy +had only two courses: either to march on London and give him battle, or +to go northwards and unite with Tudor's levies in Wales. His policy +was to engage his adversaries as soon as possible, before they could be +reinforced. He was not likely to receive more support until he had +gained a decisive victory, and his position was established. Queen +Margaret's generals tried to deceive him by {71} sending detachments in +several directions; but his final conclusion was that they intended to +take a northerly direction, by crossing the Severn and marching into +Wales. This it was his intention to prevent. + +The King left Windsor on April 24, accompanied by his brothers Clarence +and Gloucester, by Lords Hastings and Dorset, and by his old tutor +Richard Croft. He had some artillery, which caused him to proceed by +easy marches. A few reinforcements had arrived. Among them were forty +soldiers paid and clothed by the city of Norwich. On the 27th Edward +was at Abingdon, and on the 29th at Cirencester. He kept a somewhat +northerly line, so as to fall on the enemy's flank if a rush was made +at London. At Abingdon he heard that the Queen was at Wells. News +came to Cirencester that she would be at Bath next day, and then +advance to attack him. So he moved to meet her as far as Malmesbury. +Then the news arrived that she had gone to Bristol, and had resolved to +give him battle at Chipping Sodbury. Lancastrian parties had even been +sent to take ground on Sodbury Hill. On Thursday, May 2, the King +marched to Chipping Sodbury, but found no enemy. It was a feint. The +Lancastrians had gained a day on him, and were in full march to +Gloucester. It was now a race to the Severn. It was life and death to +the Lancastrian army to cross the river and join Tudor on the Welsh +border. It was equally life and death for King Edward to prevent it. +He encamped in a valley between the hill and Sodbury village on the +night of the 2nd, anxiously waiting for correct intelligence. At three +in the next morning he heard that the enemy was making a forced march +on Gloucester. Luckily the castle was held by Richard, son of Lord +{72} Beauchamp of Powyke, for the King. Edward sent a trusty +messenger, urging them to hold out, with the assurance that he was +following rapidly. The messenger arrived in time. + +The Lancastrian army had marched all through the night from Bristol, +over the plain between the Cotswold Hills and the Severn. At ten in +the forenoon of May 3, the Queen's forces came before the gates of +Gloucester and summoned the place. Sir Richard Beauchamp manned the +walls and refused to surrender. There was no time to spare. It was +thought wiser to proceed to Tewkesbury without resting. They arrived +at Tewkesbury at about four in the afternoon of the same day. But the +troops had marched, during that day and the night before, a distance of +thirty-six miles without rest. The men were exhausted, and could go no +further. Margaret wanted them to pass over the Severn, but it was +represented to her that if they could cross the river the King could +follow, and attack them when they were worn out with fatigue. The +Queen was right. It was resolved, however, that the troops should +obtain some rest, and that a strong position should be taken up and +entrenched, outside the town of Tewkesbury. There was a bridge over +the Avon in those days, but none over the Severn at Tewkesbury. + +Close to the first mile-post on the turnpike road, on the west side of +Tewkesbury, there is a range of elevated ground called Holme Hill, +where a castle once stood. The present workhouse is built on part of +the site. Close behind it there is a field called 'the Gastons,'[2] +and some ground laid out as a cemetery. {73} On the east side of the +road is Gupshill farm and gardens, and a field called 'Margaret's +camp.' The Lancastrian position included the Gastons and Gupshill, +with the abbey and the houses of the town immediately in the rear. It +is described as 'a place right evil to approach.'[3] Strong +entrenchments were thrown up in the front and both flanks, strengthened +by muddy lanes and ditches. + +On the same morning of May 3, at early dawn, King Edward marshalled his +forces at Chipping Sodbury in three battalions, and prepared for a long +march, with scouts in front and on the flanks. His infantry numbered +3,000 men. It was a very hot day and he took a direct line over the +Cotswold Hills; rightly judging that the enemy, having failed before +Gloucester, would make for Tewkesbury. Thither, therefore, he marched +direct without a halt. The men found neither food nor even water, +except at one small brook. But the King allowed no rest. He reached +Cheltenham as the enemy got to Tewkesbury. At Cheltenham he served out +the rations that had been brought, the men having marched 28 miles. +Then he resumed the march, and at night he encamped within two miles of +the enemy's position, having marched over thirty-four miles. + +At dawn on Saturday, May 4, 1471, the army of Queen Margaret prepared +to resist the assault of the King's forces. The van was commanded by +Edmund Duke of Somerset, and his brother Sir John {74} Beaufort. Young +Prince Edward was to lead the main battle, assisted by Lord Wenlock and +the Prior of St. John. The rear division was under the Earl of +Devonshire. Queen Margaret parted with her son that morning in deep +anxiety, for the first and alas! the last time. She retired to a small +religious house at Gupshill, with the Countess of Devonshire, the Lady +Vaux and other ladies. + +King Edward[4] arranged his army in three divisions. Young Richard of +Gloucester[5] commanded the van guard with the artillery. The King +himself led the centre. Hastings and Dorset conducted the rear. The +King had observed a park with much wood to the right of the enemy's +position, and he posted 300 spearmen there, to act as occasion might +require. He then displayed his banners, blew his trumpets, and marched +straight on the entrenchments. + +Gloucester found so many hedges and deep dikes in front of him that he +could not break into the enemy's line so as to come hand to hand. He +ordered up the artillery and, also using arrows, opened on Somerset's +division. Galled by the fire, Somerset then led his men down some +lanes on the King's flank, which he had previously reconnoitred, and +fell upon the troops of the Yorkist centre with great fury, driving +them backwards. He charged Gloucester with the same impetuosity, and +was in the full tide of success when, just as the King was rallying his +men, the select 300 spearmen from the wood attacked Somerset's rear and +caused a panic. This gave the King time to reform and resume the +fight. Somerset's {75} men now fell back, while the Duke of Gloucester +made a desperate assault on the Lancastrian centre, behind the +entrenchments. There was a short and gallant struggle, in which young +Prince Edward fleshed his maiden sword, and then the Lancastrians broke +in all directions. The rout was complete. The abbey water mills were +in a meadow close to the town, and here many fugitives were drowned. +There was a great slaughter in the 'Bloody Meadow' to the rear of the +Lancastrian position, for it leads to a ford or ferry over the Severn +called Lower Lode. But soon the King gave orders to spare the +fugitives. + +The brave young Prince, who led the main battle of the Lancastrians, +bore himself valiantly, and played the man before his people in that +supreme moment of his life. Of that we need have no doubt. Borne away +in the rout, and followed closely by the victorious enemy, he was slain +between Gastons and Tewkesbury. The closing scene is dimly shown to +us. The horse is wounded and on its knees. Then the rider receives +his death blow from behind. The helmet had been struck off. The +bright golden locks sink down on the horse's mane,[6] and in another +moment horse and rider fall and are ridden over. Thus ended the life +of Sir Edward Plantagenet, K.G., Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. +His age was seventeen years and six months. He was a boy of great +promise; courageous, intelligent, and affectionate. His short life +must have embraced a large share of happiness. Even during all the +dangers and hardships of his childhood, the loving arm of the devoted +mother must have diverted those terrors {76} which cause misery to +unprotected children. The life at Koeur-la-Petite was a period of +unclouded pleasure. Then came the excitement of the last campaign, and +a glorious death on the battlefield. The body of Prince Edward was +buried in Tewkesbury Abbey church. + +The Earl of Devonshire, Lord Wenlock, Sir John Beaufort, Sir William +Vaux, Sir Edmund Hampton, Sir E. Whittingham, Sir William Melding, Sir +John Seymour, Mr. Henry, a captain of Bristol, and Sir William Roos +were among the slain. Beaufort, Hampton, Vaux, Whittingham and Roos +had shared the Queen's exile at Koeur-la-Petite. + +The lords and knights who escaped from the battlefield took refuge in +the abbey church, which, however, had no special privilege of +sanctuary. They were tried for treason before the Earl Marshal and the +Lord High Constable, a court which is recognised as legal by Chief +Justice Fortescue. Thirteen[7] were condemned, and were beheaded in +the market place of Tewkesbury on May 6, 1471. It must be remembered +that the treason of which most of them were guilty was double-dyed, +that is, they had been forgiven and had again become traitors. + + Duke of Somerset + + Prior of St. John Sir W. Newborough + Sir Gervase Clifton Sir Walter Courtenay + Sir Humphrey Audley James Gower + Sir Hugh Carey Lewis Miles + Sir Thomas Tresham Robert Jackson + Henry Tresham John Flory, of France + + +{77} + +Gower was the young Prince's sword-bearer. Audley and Courtenay shared +the Queen's exile. These might have been spared. Edward IV. was +generous and forgiving after the first fury of the moment had passed. +All inferior officers and soldiers were pardoned. Sir John Fortescue +received pardon and died at a good old age at his seat at Ebrington in +Gloucestershire. The intriguing Earl of Ormonde was also pardoned, as +were many leading captains of the defeated army, Sir Henry Roos, Sir +John Giles, Sir William Grimsby, Fulford, Parker, Basset, Throgmorton, +Walleys and many more. Dr. Morton and Dr. Makerel, who were with the +Queen, were also pardoned. + +The King conferred knighthood on forty-three officers; including his +old tutor Richard Croft, Sir John Pilkington, and Sir Thomas Strickland +from Yorkshire; Sir Terry Robsart, Sir Edward Wodehouse, and Sir +William Brandon from Norfolk; Sir John St. Lo, Sir E. Corbet and Lord +Cobham. The names of Nevill, Courtenay, Berkeley, Hastings, Harington, +Grey, Tyrrel, Pierpoint, Parr, Welby, Ratcliffe, Devereux also appear. + +One turns with shuddering pity from the anguish beyond all power of +utterance, from the black despair in the religious house at Gupshill +where the Queen awaited the issue of the battle with her ladies.[8] +They escaped across the Avon, and took refuge at Payne's Place in the +parish of Bushley. Next day, continuing their journey towards +Worcester, they found shelter in {78} some religious house near that +city. There they were captured by Sir William Stanley. It was +reported that he announced the prince's death with callous brutality. +It mattered little. The blow must have stunned the unhappy mother and +nothing could add to its crushing effect. Her real life ended with +that of her beloved child. Queen Margaret was brought to Edward IV. at +Coventry, by Sir William Stanley, on May 11, and to the Tower of London +on the 22nd. + +Henry VI. died in the Tower on the 24th, at the comparatively early age +of forty-nine. As Margaret arrived on the 22nd, she probably attended +her husband during the last two days of his life. The Lancastrian +leaning of the family of Lord Rivers, who was then Constable of the +Tower, would ensure facilities being extended to her. Thence Margaret +of Anjou was removed to Windsor, a ransom having been demanded for her. +With thoughtful kindness King Edward finally entrusted the charge of +the poor Queen to her old friend the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk at +Ewelme.[9] The Duchess had come to Nancy for Henry's bride, and had +seen the beautiful young princess at the brilliant tournament. She now +received her, after twenty-seven years, a childless and despairing +widow, crushed to the earth by grief unspeakable. Margaret resided +with the Duchess at Ewelme, and afterwards {79} at Wallingford Castle +until the ransom was paid by old King Rene. + +On August 29,1475, the ransom, amounting to fifty thousand crowns, +having been paid, Queen Margaret proceeded to embark at Sandwich, +attended by three ladies and seven gentlemen, and escorted by Sir John +Haute. She landed at Dieppe, and signed a renunciation of all rights +derived from her marriage, at Rouen on January 29, 1476. Thence she +went to Reculee, a league from Angers, where she lived with her old +father until his death in 1480, aged seventy-two. The last sad years +were passed at the chateau of Dampierre on the Loire, near Saumur, +under the care of Francois de Vignolle, an old and faithful servant of +her family. The brave and loving soul was at length released. +Margaret of Anjou died at the age of fifty-two, on August 25, 1482, +eleven years after the light went out of her life. She was buried in +the cathedral of Angers. + + + +[1] Jasper and Edmund Tudor were created Earls of Pembroke and Richmond +by Henry VI. They were attainted and deprived of their earldoms by +Edward's first Parliament. Subsequently Richard, Duke of Gloucester, +was created Earl of Richmond; and the son of King Edward IV. became +Earl of Pembroke. + +[2] Leland says: '_intravit campum nomine Gastum_,' and '_nomina +occisorum in bello Gastriensis prope Theokesbury_.' A place called +'the Vineyard' is mentioned. But 'vineyards' were merely apple +orchards. Where manors were held of the King, the tenants were obliged +to pay yearly a vessel of wine made of apples, or cider. + +[3] 'In a close harde at the toune's end, having the toun and abbey at +their backs, and before them defended by lanes and deep ditches and +hedges.'--Holinshed. + +[4] Then aged twenty-nine. Born April 28, 1442. + +[5] Then aged eighteen and a half. Born October 2, 1452. He was just +a year older than Prince Edward. + +[6] So much is shown in a picture accompanying the narrative sent to +Flanders by an eyewitness. It is in the public library at Ghent. See +also _Archaeologia_, xxi. 11-23. + +[7] In the Pastern Letters there is a list of sixteen, Sir John Delves, +Sir William 'Newbery' added, and Audley given twice, Jackson not being +given (iii. 9). + +[8] Speed, p. 684. See also a paper by the Rev. E. E. Dowdeswell on +the 'Movements of Queen Margaret after the battle of Tewkesbury,' in +the Transactions (x. 144) of the Bristol and Gloucestershire +Archaeological Society. + +[9] 'As for Queen Margaret, I understand that she is removed from +Windsor to Wallingford nigh to Ewelme, my Lady of Suffolk's place in +Oxfordshire.'--_Paston Letters_, iii. 83. + +Ewelme belonged to the Chaucer family, and Alice, the heiress of +Geoffrey Chaucer, married William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. In 1424 +the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk built a palace at Ewelme, rebuilt the +church, and founded a hospital and a school there. Queen Margaret was +received by the Duchess at Ewelme, and afterwards at Wallingford Castle. + + + + +{80} + +CHAPTER VII + +MARRIED LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER + +While the King was engaged at Tewkesbury, the bastard of his uncle, +Lord Fauconberg, made an attack on London Bridge, and when he was +repulsed, he retreated to Sandwich. This disturbance hastened the +return of Edward IV., who reached the Tower on May 21. To the Duke of +Gloucester was entrusted the duty of following up the bastard, and +early next morning he started for Kent. Arriving by forced marches at +Sandwich, the rebel was taken by surprise and surrendered on the 26th. +He was a first cousin of the King and of the Duke of Gloucester, though +illegitimate; son of the general to whom, next to Edward, the victory +of Towton was due. Richard took him to Middleham, and treated him +kindly as a prisoner at large. But he escaped, was taken at +Southampton, tried for his original treason, and beheaded. + +Peace was once more restored to the land, and the Duke of Gloucester's +great services were recognised by the country. The King and Parliament +were soon afterwards occupied with Richard's marriage. + +The estates of the Earl and Countess of Warwick were forfeited, and the +Duke of Clarence, who had married the elder daughter, Isabella, desired +to obtain the whole for himself. The Countess of Warwick, {81} when +she returned from France with her daughter, Anne, and received the news +of her husband's death, took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey on the +Southampton Water. After Tewkesbury, Clarence claimed the wardship of +Anne, and tried to get her into his power. + +The Duke of Clarence was grasping and selfish. He had no stability of +character, was vacillating, and easily influenced by bad advisers. It +is not clear how his sister-in-law escaped from his clutches; but his +object was to prevent her from marrying and to seize her share of her +parents' property, as well as that of his wife. It is certain that +Anne left her mother at Beaulieu and placed herself under the +protection of her uncle, George Nevill, Archbishop of York. But the +circumstances are unrecorded. There is mention of a disguise as a +cookmaid. The Archbishop placed her in sanctuary at St. +Martin's-le-Grand: where her inclinations and wishes could in no way be +influenced or overridden. + +The young Duke of Gloucester sought the hand of his cousin Anne. They +had been playfellows as children, and now the cousins formed an +attachment which endured until death, Richard only surviving his wife +for four months. Anne accepted the proposal of Richard, and his suit +was approved by the King and by the Archbishop, the guardians of the +two lovers. But Clarence made unreasonable difficulties about the +settlement. From the 'Paston Letters' we learn that 'the King +entreateth my Lord Clarence for my Lord Gloucester, and he answereth +that he may well have my lady, his sister-in-law, but they shall part +no livelihood.' + +At length the marriage settlements were arranged by Parliament. +Middleham was included in Gloucester's share of the Warwick +inheritance. In 1472, Richard {82} and Anne were happily married in +Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of York. His age was nineteen, +that of his wife sixteen. + +[Sidenote: Middleham Castle] + +Their home was at Middleham, in beautiful Wensleydale, and Anne's +mother, the Countess of Warwick, was taken from her sanctuary at +Beaulieu, to live with them. Here the Duke and Duchess passed several +years, winning golden opinions from the people of the north, and +acquiring great popularity in Yorkshire. + +In 1475, the Duke of Gloucester was called from his home to accompany +the King when he invaded France. Louis XI. offered a large sum of +money if Edward IV. would abandon his ally, the Duke of Burgundy, and +make peace. He also bribed Dr. Morton and Edward's principal +courtiers. Under the evil influence of Morton and the Woodville +faction, the King of England, after an interview with Louis, acceded to +the disgraceful bargain. But the Duke of Gloucester also had an +interview with King Louis and was not to be corrupted. He objected to +the arrangement, and would have no part in it. His conduct was +honourable and consistent. He maintained that faith ought to be kept +with England's ally. + +Richard Duke of Gloucester lived at Middleham Castle, with his wife and +child, for ten years, from 1472 to 1482, from his twentieth to his +thirtieth year. Here he had passed his early youth, had formed his +most enduring friendships, and had first seen his cousin Anne. The ten +years of peaceful married residence at Middleham was no doubt the +happiest period of Richard's short but eventful life. + +[Illustration: SEIZE QUARTIERS OF ANNE NEVILL] + +The ruins of the grand old pile, with the village and the church at +their feet, still form a conspicuous object on the southern slope of +Wensleydale. Middleham {83} is about a mile and a half above the +junction of the Ure and the Cover. In rear of the castle are the +breezy downs, and in front the river Ure flows through rich pastures, +with the town of Leybourne on the opposite slope. The castle consisted +of a lofty Norman keep surrounded by an enceinte eighty yards long by +sixty-five wide. The keep, which was built by Robert FitzRanulph in +1190, was fifty feet high, with walls nine feet thick, strengthened at +the angles by buttresses rising into rectangular turrets. It was +divided into two large rooms on each floor, the great hall having a +lofty arched window, due to the taste of the Duke of Gloucester. In +the north-east angle there was a curious mural chamber, twelve feet +long by nine, opening on to the hall, and the east face of the keep was +one side of the chapel. The outer walls were thirty feet high with +square towers at the angles, and a gatehouse on the north face. The +residential buildings stood against three sides of the _enceinte_, and +seem to have communicated with the great hall in the keep by a covered +passage. + +The nearest neighbours of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were the +Monks of Jervaux and Coverham, their cousin the Lord Scrope of +Bolton,[1] and the Metcalfes of Nappa Hall.[2] + +The manuscript volume No. 433 of the Harleian collection in the British +Museum supplies a few {84} glimpses of the home life at Middleham. We +read of a pack of hounds and of the wages of a jester. There is the +election of a king of rush bearing, and of a king of Middleham, +evidently games for the amusement of the Duke's little son Edward, who +was born about 1473.[3] The child's tutor was Richard Bernall, and the +cost is recorded of his primer and psalter, and of satin to cover them. +There are also payments for green cloth for my lord prince, and for a +feather for my lord prince. + +[Sidenote: Richard's able administration] + +Though Middleham was Richard's home, his official residence, as Chief +Seneschal of the Duchy of Lancaster in the north parts, was at Pomfret +Castle. He also stayed occasionally at Sheriff Hutton, Skipton, and +Barnard Castle. He was regarded as a trusted friend by his neighbours, +and in September 1481 we find Lady Latimer showing her confidence in +his integrity by appointing him supervisor of her will. She was a +sister of his mother-in-law, the Countess of Warwick. The Duke of +Gloucester bestowed great benefits on the city of York, where he was +much beloved. During his frequent visits he was usually the guest of +the Augustine friars,[4] and in their monastery he conferred with the +authorities touching their local affairs. He was actively engaged in +administrative work, and in giving his time to settle the affairs of +his neighbours from 1472. In that year we find him writing about a +robbery of cattle at Spofforth. In 1482 he was an arbitrator in the +dispute between Robert Plumpton and his heirs-general.[5] He improved +and beautified {85} several Yorkshire churches, building an additional +chapel at Sheriff Hutton, founding colleges at Middleham[6] and Barnard +Castle, and a memorial chapel near the battlefield of Towton. Crosby +Place, in Bishopsgate, became the town residence of the Duke and +Duchess of Gloucester, after the death of its wealthy founder, Sir John +Crosby, in 1475. + +Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had been created Great Chamberlain and +Admiral of England by his brother, and he was Lord Warden of the Cinque +Ports. His little son Edward became Earl of Salisbury in 1478.[7] In +1480, when Richard had attained the age of twenty-eight, he was +appointed Lieutenant-General of the North and Warden of the Marches. +By his skill and energy he subdued part of the western border of +Scotland for an extent of more than thirty miles, bringing portions +under obedience to the King of England, 'to the great rest and ease of +the inhabitants of the west marches.'[8] His administration was so +able that it was remembered long after as a very model of +efficiency.[9] In 1482 he received command of an army for the invasion +of Scotland. In the summer of that year he entered Edinburgh, where he +was received by the malcontent nobles rather as a {86} friend than as +an enemy. He reconciled King James III. with his brother, enforced all +the English demands, and captured the town and castle of Berwick after +an obstinate resistance. This was a great achievement, and gave +England an important advantage in case of future hostilities. +Richard's services were cordially recognised by the Parliament which +met in January, and no man stood in higher honour throughout the +kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Children of Edward IV.] + +King Edward IV. died at Westminster on April 9, 1483, and was buried at +Windsor. He had gone through a marriage ceremony with Elizabeth, +daughter of Sir Richard Woodville of Grafton, and widow of Sir John +Grey of Groby, on May 1, 1464. Besides the priest and his assistant, +the only witnesses were Lady Grey's mother and two unnamed gentlewomen. +Edward IV. had three sons and seven daughters by Lady Grey, of whom two +sons and five daughters survived him.[10] He also had one son and one +daughter {87} by Elizabeth Lucy.[11] The Duke of Clarence had left a +son Edward and a daughter[12] by Isabella, daughter of the Earl of +Warwick. + + + +[1] Lord Scrope was faithful to the end. His sister Agnes was married +to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, one of the most loyal of Richard's friends. + +[2] James Metcalfe of Nappa, near Aysgarth, served at the battle of +Agincourt. He had two sons, Miles and Thomas. Immediately after his +accession Richard III. appointed Miles Metcalfe one of the Judges of +the County Palatine of Lancaster, and Thomas Metcalfe Chancellor of the +Duchy (_York Records_, p. 58 _n_). + +[3] According to Rous he was seven and a half in 1483, when he was made +Prince of Wales. But the date in the text is more probable. See +Sandford, p. 410. + +[4] _York Records_, p. 125 _n._ + +[5] _Plumpton Correspondence_. + +[6] See the _History of the Collegiate Church of Middleham_, by the +Rev. Wm. Atthill (Camden Society, 1847). The licence for erecting the +church into a college was granted to the Duke of Gloucester on February +21, 1478, and he issued the Statutes on July 18, 1478. Miss Halsted, +the laborious and conscientious biographer of Richard III., had a +romantic attachment for Middleham, as the scene of the ill-fated young +King's happy married life. She eventually married the Rector, and was +buried in Middleham Church. + +[7] _Rot. Parl._ 17 Ed. iv. p. 2, m. 16. + +[8] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 204. + +[9] Gairdner, p. 48, quoting Brewer's _Letters and Papers of Henry +VIII._, vol. i. nos. 4518-5090, and vol. iv. no. 133. + +[10] Elizabeth, born at Westminster on February 11, 1465. (Sandford +says 1466, but Nicolas gives good reason for 1465 being the year.) + +Cicely. The date of her birth is not recorded; but she came next to +Elizabeth. Henry Tudor married her to his old uncle, Lord Welles, some +time before December 1487. On his death in 1499, she married one Kyme +of Lincolnshire. She died in about 1503. + +Edward was born in sanctuary on November 14, 1470. On July 26, 1471, +he was created Prince of Wales, and on June 20, 1475, Duke of Cornwall +and Earl of Chester. He was also created Earl of March and Pembroke. + +Richard was born at Shrewsbury in 1473, and was created Duke of York on +May 28, 1474, Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Warren and Nottingham on Feb. +7, 1477. On January 15, 1478, he was married to Anne, daughter and +heiress of John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, she being then aged six. She +died soon afterwards. + +Anne was born in 1475, and in 1495 she married Thomas Howard Earl of +Surrey; but no children survived infancy. She died before 1515. + +Katherine, probably born in 1479, and in about 1495 she married William +Courtenay Earl of Devon, and died in 1527. + +Bridget, the youngest child, was born at Eltham on November 10, 1480. +She became a nun at Dartford, where she died in 1517. + +[11] Edward IV. had two children by Elizabeth Lucy. Arthur, who was +created Viscount Lisle in 1524, and died in 1540; and Elizabeth, +married to Lord Lumley. + +[12] George Duke of Clarence, by his wife Isabella, daughter of Richard +Nevill, Earl of Warwick, left two children: + +Edward, born at Warwick Castle on February 21, 1475, and created Earl +of Warwick by his uncle Edward IV., after his father's execution, in +1478. + +Margaret, born at Farley Castle near Bath in 1473, created Countess of +Salisbury in 1514, and married to a Tudor partisan named Richard Pole. +She was murdered by Henry VIII. on May 27, 1541. + + + +{88} + +CHAPTER VIII + +ACCESSION OF RICHARD III + +The Queen and her relations had acquired predominating influence in the +counsels of Edward IV. Her brother Anthony was Earl Rivers, another +brother Lionel was Bishop of Salisbury, her son Thomas Grey had been +created Marquis of Dorset. Her sisters had been married to the Duke of +Buckingham, the Earls of Kent, Arundel, Huntingdon and Lord Strange. +Her brother-in-law, Edward Grey, had been made Viscount Lisle. + +This Woodville faction had the design to monopolise all the powers of +the state. The Woodvilles had received bribes from Louis XI., had +caused the death of Clarence, and had shared his inheritance. They now +looked to the minority of King Edward's son as an opportunity for still +further gratifying their ambition. But they had never succeeded in +alienating the affections of the King from his brother Richard. + +At the time of the King's death his son Edward was residing at Ludlow +in charge of his uncle Lord Rivers, his half brother Sir Richard Grey, +his cousin Sir Richard Haute, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Dr. Alcock, Bishop +of Worcester. The Marquis of Dorset, another half-brother of young +Edward, was in possession of the Tower. The other chief councillors of +the late King, including Bishops Rotherham and {89} Morton, the Duke of +Buckingham, Lords Hastings, Stanley and Howard, were in London. The +Duke of Gloucester was far away in the marches of Scotland. + +[Sidenote: Richard appointed Protector] + +By his will King Edward IV. left the care of his son's person and the +government of the kingdom during the minority to his brother Richard, +without any colleague.[1] Richard Duke of Gloucester was a prince who +had shown valour and generalship in the field, wisdom and ability in +his civil administration. As a councillor he had upheld the honour of +his country. He was beloved by the people of the north, and was +deservedly popular throughout the land. He proceeded to York on +hearing of his brother's death and attended the solemn obsequies in the +minster. He then caused his nephew to be proclaimed, and began the +journey to London, with 600 gentlemen of the north in attendance, all +in deep mourning. He came to assume the responsibilities imposed upon +him by his brother. + +Very different was the conduct of the Woodvilles. They formed a +conspiracy to set aside the late King's wishes, to exclude the Duke of +Gloucester, and to retain by force the authority they had hitherto +exercised through the Queen's influence. Rivers set out from Ludlow +with 2,000 men, and a large supply of arms, on April 24.[2] Dorset +seized the arms and treasure in the Tower, and fitted out a naval force +to secure command of the Channel. Council Orders were issued in the +names of Rivers--'Avunculus Regis,' and of Dorset--'Frater regis +uterinus,' while that of the Duke of Gloucester was excluded. There +can be no doubt of the treasonable designs of the Woodville {90} +faction, which are indeed proved by these overt acts; and which went +the length of conspiring against Richard's life.[3] + +[Sidenote: Arrest of Rivers] + +The Duke of Buckingham hurried from London with 300 men, to warn +Gloucester of his danger, and found him at Northampton on April 29, +where he had expected to meet his nephew. They ascertained that Rivers +had arrived that very morning with young Edward, and had pushed on to +Stony Stratford, fourteen miles nearer London, to avoid a meeting +between the boy and his uncle. This made his conduct still more +suspicious. Rivers then, with Richard Grey and a portion of his force, +returned to Northampton to give some plausible explanation to the two +Dukes, while young Edward was to be hurried on to London. Gloucester +acted with prompt decision. There was not a moment to lose. A Council +was summoned, consisting of the nobles present, and it was resolved +that Rivers and his fellow-conspirators should be arrested. The +combined companies of Gloucester and Buckingham numbered 900 men. +Rivers had a force of 2,000, but he had only brought a portion to +Northampton, and his arrest, with his nephew Richard Grey, was effected +without resistance. Gloucester then advanced rapidly to Stony +Stratford, and was just in time. He found young Edward and his retinue +on the point of starting for London. Vaughan and Haute were arrested; +and the four prisoners were sent to Yorkshire to await their trials. +Lord Rivers was taken to Sheriff Hutton, Grey to Middleham, Vaughan and +Haute to Pomfret. {91} Dr. Alcock was not suspected of complicity in +the plot. He was a Yorkshireman and a staunch supporter of the White +Rose. His subsequent conduct in welcoming King Richard at Oxford, +accompanying him in his progress, and giving him the aid of his +diplomatic services, proves that Bishop Alcock recognised the justice +of that King's accession.[4] + +The troops of Rivers, now without a leader, submitted to the Duke of +Gloucester, who then resumed his journey, in company with his nephew. +They reached London on May 4. As soon as the Queen Dowager heard that +the plot was discovered, she went into sanctuary at Westminster[5] with +her son Richard and five daughters. Here she was joined by her other +son Dorset. + +Young Edward took up his abode at the Bishop's Palace in St. Paul's +Churchyard. Gloucester went to reside with his mother, the widowed +Duchess of York, at Baynard's Castle. This edifice stood at the foot +of St. Andrew's Hill, on the banks of the Thames, a little {92} west of +St. Paul's.[6] After the death of her noble husband at the battle of +Wakefield, in 1460, the Duchess of York took little part in public +affairs, although she survived for upwards of 33 years. A happy +married life of 22 years was followed by a long and sorrowful +widowhood. The wayward and lawless conduct of her eldest son with +regard to his matrimonial affairs doubtless caused her constant +anxiety, while the death of her son George by the hand of his brother +added another pang to the widow's grief. + +Richard, so far as appears, can have given his mother neither anxiety +nor sorrow. Living happily at Middleham, married to his mother's +grand-niece, and always gaining applause and approval whenever he took +part in public affairs, he must have been the son from whom his mother +derived most comfort. It was natural that, in this crisis of his +fortunes, he should have sought counsel and support under that mother's +roof, and we may fairly conclude that the subsequent proceedings, which +led to Richard's assumption of the crown, had the sanction and approval +of the Duchess of York.[7] The Duke of Gloucester had been recognised +{93} as Protector of the Realm before his arrival in London,[8] and on +May 13 he summoned a Parliament to meet on the 25th of the following +month. When the Duchess of Gloucester reached London on June 5, the +Duke left Baynard's Castle, where he had resided with his mother for +upwards of a month, and removed to Crosby Place[9] with his wife. + +[Sidenote: Bishop Stillington's revelation] + +Up to this time affairs had gone smoothly. On June 5 the Protector had +given detailed orders for his nephew's coronation on the 22nd, and had +even caused letters of summons to be issued for the attendance of forty +esquires who were to receive the knighthood of the Bath on the +occasion.[10] But now there came a change. Dr. Robert Stillington, +Bishop of Bath and Wells, apparently on June 8, revealed to the Council +the long-concealed fact that Edward IV. was contracted to the Lady +Eleanor Butler, widow of a son of Lord Butler of Sudeley, and daughter +of the first Earl of Shrewsbury, before he went through a secret +marriage ceremony with the Lady Grey.[11] + +{94} + +Dr. Stillington thus becomes a very important personage in the history +of King Richard's accession; and it will be well to learn all that can +be gleaned of his life. He first saw the light in an old brick manor +house, which still stands on the right bank of the Ouse at Acaster +Selby (then within the parish of Stillingfleet), about nine miles south +of York. + +The family of Stillington had long been established here, renting land +from the Abbot of Selby, when two sons, Thomas and Robert, were born to +Thomas Stillington and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Halthorp. +Thomas succeeded to the paternal estate, while Robert was destined for +the priesthood. He was sent to Oxford, and eventually took the degree +of Doctor of Law with great distinction. He was a Fellow of All Souls, +and became Rector of St. Michael's, Ouse Bridge, and a Canon of York in +1448 and 1451. Stillington was ever loyal to the cause of the White +Rose. At some time in or before 1463, he witnessed the marriage +contract which united Edward IV. to the Lady Eleanor Butler; the King +strictly charging him not to reveal it. When Edward subsequently went +through the same ceremony with the Lady Grey, his mother the Duchess of +York, who was in the secret, remonstrated, but without avail. Edward +was self-willed and headstrong. The Lady Eleanor retired to a convent +in Norwich, where she died on July 30, 1466, and was buried in the +Church of the Carmelites.[12] + +In 1466 Dr. Stillington became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and in the +same year Edward IV. made him Keeper of the Privy Seal. On June 8, +1467, he was installed in the high office of Lord Chancellor, in +succession to Archbishop Nevill. He delivered a very {95} eloquent and +statesmanlike speech at the opening of Parliament in May 1468, which +made a deep impression. After holding the office of Chancellor, with +dignity and credit, for six years, he resigned, owing to ill-health, in +1473. He was afterwards employed on an embassy to Brittany. + +If the Queen Dowager and her relations had any knowledge of the first +marriage, Bishop Stillington would be a source of anxiety and fear to +them; while they could never be certain who else might know the secret +besides the King's mother. We find that the Duke of Clarence was +attainted on February 7, 1478, on a series of charges, most of them +frivolous and none sufficiently grave to account for his death at the +hands of his own brother. There must have been something behind. Mr. +Gairdner has suggested that the execution of Clarence was due to his +having discovered the secret.[13] Certainly that would satisfactorily +account for it. The influence of the Woodvilles was paramount, and it +would then be a necessity of their continuance in power that Clarence +should cease to live. The character of Clarence made it impossible +that a secret would be safe with him. His death was the only safe +course for the Woodvilles. It is very significant that, at the very +time of Clarence's attainder, Bishop Stillington was arrested and +imprisoned[14] for 'uttering words prejudicial to the King and his +State.' He was pardoned in the following June 1478. All this points +clearly to the discovery of the first contract by Clarence, and to the +utterance of some imprudent {96} speech by the bishop, which was +expiated by imprisonment followed by renewed promises of silence. + +During the years following his imprisonment, Bishop Stillington appears +to have devoted himself to the duties of his diocese. He always +retained feelings of affection for the family at Acaster, and for the +home of his childhood on the banks of the Ouse. Towards the close of +his long and honourable career he founded a collegiate chapel on his +brother's land at Acaster, dedicated to St. Andrew, for a provost and +fellows, and for free education in grammar, music and writing. The +grant was confirmed by King Richard III. in 1483. A fine collegiate +church of brick, eighty-seven feet long and twenty-one broad, rose upon +the banks of the Ouse, with twenty windows filled with stained glass. +It was a memorial of the good bishop, and members of his family in +later generations left in their wills that they wished to be buried at +St. Andrew's college. The site is now marked by a few grassy +mounds.[15] + +{97} + +Dr. Stillington was a good and pious bishop, an able statesman, and a +most loyal and faithful adherent of the White Rose. His one fault was +that he did not ensure his own destruction by proclaiming Edward's +secret before that King's death. There was no urgent obligation to do +so; but when the time arrived, he was bound to come forward, and he was +probably urged by the Duchess of York to publish the truth. Richard +had hitherto been ignorant of the early intrigues of his brother. He +was only eleven and a half when the widow of Sir J. Grey was taken into +favour, and the Butler contract was of a still earlier date. + +The announcement must have fallen on Richard and the Council like a +thunder clap. It was inevitable that the matter should be thoroughly +sifted. There was a prolonged sitting of the Lords Spiritual and +Temporal in the Council Chamber at Westminster, on June 9.[16] Bishop +Stillington 'brought in instruments, authentic doctors, proctors, and +notaries of the law, with depositions of divers witnesses.'[17] The +majority of the Council must have seen at once that the illegitimate +son of the late King could not succeed. Such a proceeding would +inevitably be the precursor of innumerable troubles. The case was +prepared to be laid before the Parliament which was summoned to meet on +June 25. + +There was, however, a small but powerful minority in the Council, led +by Lord Hastings and Bishop Morton, to whom the prospect of losing the +openings to their ambition offered by a minority was most distasteful. +They commenced opposition[18] and began to {98} meet apart, plotting +against the Protector's government. This was soon followed by overt +acts. Hitherto all orders and grants had been issued 'by the advice of +our uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester, Protector and Defender.' But on +the 9th, and again on June 12, the conspirators issued orders without +the Protector's name. They were preparing for open hostility. +Hastings was intriguing with his former adversaries, the Woodvilles, +both at Westminster and in Yorkshire. On June 10 the Duke of +Gloucester became thoroughly alarmed. He despatched a letter to his +faithful city of York, asking that troops might be sent up to protect +and support him. It was delivered on the 15th. On the 11th a similar +letter was sent to his cousin, Lord Nevill. Meanwhile, the Hastings +faction was not idle. A _supersedeas_ was secretly issued to the towns +and counties, ordering the Parliament not to assemble.[19] It was +received at York on June 21. This was done to delay or prevent the +consideration of the question of illegitimacy, and of the evidence +submitted by Bishop Stillington. Finally a plot was formed to seize +the Protector and put him to death.[20] + +[Sidenote: Conspirators thwarted] + +The conspiracy was divulged to the Protector by Master William Catesby, +who was in the confidence of Hastings. The danger was imminent. It +was probably a question of hours. Richard acted with characteristic +promptitude and vigour. On June 13 he proceeded in person to the Tower +with a body of retainers, and arrested Lord Hastings at the council +{99} table on a charge of treason. The conspirators were caught, as it +were, red-handed. A proclamation was then issued, giving the details +of the plot, but unfortunately no copy remains. Hastings was condemned +and executed on June 20, a week after his arrest.[21] The danger over, +Richard mourned for the loss of his old companion in arms. +'Undoubtedly the Protector loved him well, and was loth to have lost +him.'[22] A prominent feature in Richard's character was his +generosity to the relations of his political opponents. In this +respect the conduct which was habitual with him was almost +unprecedented in his, and indeed in later times. In the case of +Hastings, he at once restored the children in blood, and granted the +forfeited estates to the widow. He also liberally rewarded the brother +of Hastings for past services, and granted all his requests. + +The conspirators in Yorkshire would probably have been pardoned, if +they had not joined in this new treason with Hastings. But now an +order was sent, through Sir Richard Ratcliffe, for a tribunal to +assemble at Pomfret, to try Lord Rivers and his companions. The Earl +of Northumberland was president of the court. They were found guilty. +The accomplished Earl philosophically prepared for death. He had +played for high stakes, had lost, and was ready to pay the penalty. He +showed his confidence in the integrity and kindly feeling of the Duke +of Gloucester by appointing him supervisor to the will which he made at +Sheriff Hutton on June 23.[23] The trust was not misplaced. On the +{100} 25th, Rivers, Grey, Haute, and Vaughan were beheaded. Those +arrested in London, with Hastings, were treated with unwise leniency. +The treacherous Stanley was not only pardoned, but rewarded. Bishop +Morton was merely taken into custody, and placed in charge of the Duke +of Buckingham. Archbishop Rotherham, a weak tool in the hands of the +others, after a brief detention, was allowed to return to his diocese. + +Jane Shore, the mistress of Dorset, had been the medium of +communication between Hastings and the Woodville faction. A penance +was imposed upon her by the Church for her vicious life. But she was +treated with considerate forbearance by Richard, whom she had tried to +injure. He ordered her to be released, and consented, though +reluctantly, to her marriage with his Solicitor-General. + +The formidable coalition of the two malcontent parties was thus +completely broken. The Woodvilles gave up all further resistance to +the Protector's government. The Bishop of Salisbury, brother of the +Queen-Dowager, and her brother-in-law, Viscount Lisle, came over to his +side.[24] Elizabeth also, at the intercession of the Archbishop of +Canterbury, sent her younger son Richard to join his brother Edward on +June 16.[25] She herself remained in sanctuary with her daughters for +a time, in order to make better terms. + +[Sidenote: Title to the crown] + +In spite of the _supersedeas_ which was treacherously sent out by the +conspirators to prevent the meeting of Parliament,[26] the Lords +Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons had assembled in London on the +day {101} appointed, June 25, and formed what in later times would have +been called a Convention Parliament. The proofs of the previous +contract of Edward IV. with Lady Eleanor Butler were laid before this +assembly by Bishop Stillington and his witnesses, and it was decided by +the three Estates of the Realm that the illegitimate son could not +succeed to the throne. Owing to the attainder of the Duke of Clarence, +his children were not in the succession. The Duke of Gloucester was, +therefore, the legal heir: and it was resolved that he should be called +upon to accept the high office of King. A statement of the royal +title, styled 'Titulus Regius,' was prepared, in which it was set forth +that the children of Edward IV. by the Lady Grey were illegitimate +owing to that King's previous contract with the Lady Eleanor Butler, +that in consequence of the attainder of the Duke of Clarence, his two +children were incapacitated; and that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was +the only true and rightful heir to the throne. + +The children of Edward IV. being illegitimate, Richard was certainly +the legal heir, because the children of Clarence were disabled by law. +But their disability could be set aside at any time by a reversal of +their father's attainder, or by the removal of any corruption in blood +inherited in consequence of that attainder. Edward Earl of Warwick, +son of George Duke of Clarence, was the rightful heir to the throne, +when the children of Edward were proved to be illegitimate. He was +born at Warwick Castle on February 21, 1475, and at this time his age +was eight years and four months. But even if Richard had attempted to +substitute this child for the son of the late King, it is very unlikely +that the assembled {102} notables would have consented. They dreaded, +above all things, a long minority. When his own son died prematurely, +King Richard showed his sense of the strong claim of his nephew by +declaring young Warwick to be his heir. + +It is alleged that on Sunday, June 22, 1483, an eminent preacher named +Dr. Shaw had delivered a sermon at Paul's Cross, in which he explained +the royal title to the people; and that a speech was made to the same +effect, by the Duke of Buckingham, at the Guildhall on the 24th. This +is not improbable. + +On June 26,[27] the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons +proceeded to Baynard's Castle with the _Titulus Regius_, to submit +their resolution and to petition Richard to assume the crown. He +consented. He was then aged thirty years and eight months. On the +27th he delivered the Great Seal to Dr. Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, a +prelate celebrated for learning, piety, and wisdom.[28] On the 28th a +letter was despatched to Lord Mountjoy at Calais, with instructions to +acquaint the garrison of the new King's accession, and to secure their +allegiance. Richard III. then organised his Council, and surrounded +himself with able and upright advisers. There were only two false +friends among them--the traitors Buckingham and Stanley. + + + +[1] Bernard Andre, 23. Polydore Virgil, 530 (171, 173 Eng. trans.) + +[2] Rous, 212. Croyland, 564. + +[3] Rous says they had contrived the Duke's death, 213. Also the +Croyland Monk, 565: 'Conspiratum est contra eos, quod ipsi +contrivissent mortem ducis Protectoris Angliae.' + +[4] John Alcock was the son of a burgess of Hull, and was educated at +the grammar school of Beverley. He graduated at Cambridge in 1461. He +was Dean of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and one of the King's Council +in 1470, and Bishop of Rochester in 1472. In 1476 he was translated to +Worcester, and in 1483 was tutor to young Edward. He was at Oxford to +welcome Richard III. after his coronation, and accompanied him on his +progress to Warwick. In 1484 he was one of the Commissioners delegated +to treat with the Scottish Ambassadors. In 1486 he was translated to +Ely, where he built a tower of the Bishop's palace, and a beautiful +chapel for his interment. His attachment to the house of York is shown +by the ornaments in the vaulting of the basement of the tower, and in +the chapel. The rebus on his name (two cocks with their feet on a +globe) occurs alternately with the '_rose en soleil_,' the badge of +Edward IV. Bishop Alcock founded Jesus College at Cambridge. He died +at Wisbeach in 1500. + +[5] Croyland 565. Rous, 213. + +[6] Baynard's Castle was so called from Baynard, one of the companions +of the Conqueror, who had license to fortify his house on Thames bank +within the city. It was fortified by his descendant in 1110 A.D. In +1428 it had become the property of the crown and, having been destroyed +by fire, it was rebuilt by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. On his +attainder it again reverted to the crown, and was granted to Richard +Duke of York. It was long the residence of his widow, and here both +Edward IV. and Richard III. accepted the crown. Baynard's Castle was +gutted in the Great Fire of 1666. It had long been rented by the Earls +of Pembroke, but seems to have been in a ruinous condition. It was +probably pulled down during the clearance operations after the fire. + +[7] One letter has been preserved from Richard III. to his mother, +after his accession. It is written in most affectionate terms, and +shows deference to her wishes. After her last surviving son's death at +Bosworth the Duchess retired from the world entirely, living at her +castle of Berkhampstead, under the rules of one of the monastic orders. +She died in 1493, and was buried by the side of her husband at +Fotheringhay. + +[8] Mr. Gairdner has pointed out that he was styled Protector in two +documents upon the Patent Rolls, dated April 21 and May 2. + +[9] Crosby Place, in Bishopsgate Street, was built by Alderman Sir John +Crosby, who died in 1475. The Duke of Gloucester had a lease of it +from Sir John's widow. It must have been a princely residence, and the +hall is still one of the finest examples of Perpendicular domestic +architecture of the fifteenth century. + +[10] Rymer, vol. xii. p. 186; Anstis, Obs.; Sir Harris Nicolas, +_History of the Orders of Knighthood_, iii. ix.; Ellis, _Original +Letters_, 2nd series. + +[11] Comines says that the contract was made by the Bishop of Bath and +Wells, who told Comines that he afterwards married Edward and Lady +Eleanor. The King charged him strictly not to reveal it. (Phil. de +Comines, ii. 157.) + +[12] Weever's _Funeral Monuments_. + +[13] Gairdner's _Richard III._, p. 91. + +[14] Rymer, xii. 66. In the papers of the Stonor family there is a +letter from Elizabeth Stonor to her husband, dated March 6, 1478, in +which she said that the Bishop of Bath had been brought into the Tower +since her husband departed. + +[15] All was destroyed and sold in the reign of Edward VI. (1552). But +a view of the ruins, and of a monument of the founder of Acaster +College, with a ground plot, is mentioned in Gough's _Topography of +Yorkshire_, 1804, p. 469. Rents at the dissolution 27_l._ 13_s._ +4_d_. Worth 553_l._ 6_s._ 8_d_. Granted in 1552 to John Hulse and +William Pendred. + +The family of Stillington continued to flourish at Acaster and +Kelfield, in the parish of Stillingfleet; greatly improving their +estate by a marriage with the heiress of FitzHenry. In 1520 stained +glass with the arms of Stillington impaling Bigod, was placed in one of +the windows of Stillingfleet church. At that time Dr. Thomas +Stillington was a man of great learning, and became Professor of +Divinity at the University of Louvain. The Stillingtons continued to +flourish at Kelfield Hall throughout the seventeenth century. The last +male of the race was young in the days of Queen Anne. There is a +portrait of him as a boy, in a classical costume, which was painted by +Parmentier in 1708. It is now in the dining room at Moreby Hall. This +Joseph Stillington of Kelfield died in 1742. His daughter Dorothy +married William Peirse of Hutton Bonville. + +[16] Stallworthe's letter to Sir W. Stonor. (_Excerpt. Hist._ p. 16.) + +[17] Morton, in his account of a conversation with the Duke of +Buckingham (Grafton, p. 126). + +[18] Polydore Virgil, p. 540. + +[19] Davies, _York Records_, p. 154. That this _supersedeas_ was +issued by the conspirators and not by the Protector's Council is proved +by Dr. Russell having actually prepared a speech for the opening of +Parliament on June 24. This speech has been preserved. The date of +the _supersedeas_ was probably before June 13. + +[20] Rastell, p. 80, + +[21] Stallworthe to Sir W. Stonor. + +[22] Morton, p. 69, in Rastell. This is the evidence of a bitter enemy. + +[23] The will is given in the _Excerpta Historica_, pp. 246-248. He +also appointed William Catesby, another meritorious but shamefully +maligned public servant, to be his executor. + +[24] 'My Lord Lyle has come to my Lord Protector and waits on him.' +Stallworthe's second letter (_Excerpt. Hist._ p. 16). + +[25] Croyland, p. 566. + +[26] Davies, _York Records_, p. 134. + +[27] The date of Richard's accession is fixed by the _Year Book_. 'Les +Reports des Cases.' See Davies, _York Records_, p. 157 _n_. + +[28] 'A wise man and a good, and of much experience.'--Morton, in +Rastell. + + + + +{103} + +CHAPTER IX + +CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE + +At Richard's accession we may pause to glance at the condition of the +people of England 420 years ago, not in any minute detail, not probing +the matter to any depth, but with the object of having the general +surroundings in our minds, while contemplating the brief reign of our +last Plantagenet. + +The Lancastrian usurpation, effected by Henry of Bolingbroke (Duke of +Lancaster), caused much ruthless slaughter, and led to the atrocious +Act _De heretico comburendo_, passed to secure the support of the +clergy for the usurper. His son, Henry of Monmouth, was a fanatic, but +otherwise a man of a far nobler nature than his father. He secured his +position by a popular but most unjust war with France, and by his own +fascinating personality. From his landing at Havre to the death of +Talbot at Chatillon, this war covered a period of thirty-eight years, +from 1415 to 1453. It did not, however, exhaust the wealth of the +country, nor did the other more odious policy of the Lancastrians in +passing an Act for the burning of heretics, destroy all freedom of +thought. But the war filled the country with lawless military +adventurers, and the persecution unsettled men's minds. + +{104} + +The cause of the War of the Roses was the misgovernment of the faction +which ruled in the name of Henry of Windsor, the feeble-minded grandson +of Charles VI. of France, whose malady he inherited. Recognition +during half a century had made the parliamentary title of the usurpers +secure. Owing to the absence of an hereditary title, the House of +Commons had never been more powerful. The Speakers were practically +Chancellors of the Exchequer, and prepared the budgets. Speaker +Tresham, who was murdered in 1450 by Lord Grey de Ruthyn, was the first +to propose a graduated income tax, and was a great statesman. But the +House was not strong enough to control an unprincipled executive. The +usurpation would never have been challenged, after a Parliamentary +recognition of sixty years, if the administration of the usurping +faction had not been intolerably bad. The Duke of York was the +rightful hereditary heir to the throne. His grandfather had been +recognised as heir by a Parliament of Richard II. The Duke was a just +and moderate statesman. Until a month before the battle of Wakefield +his sole purpose had been the reform of abuses. + +The war, however, was not a war of the people. Although London warmly +supported the house of York, it was a war fought out by two parties of +the nobles and their retainers, including some old veterans of the +French war. The struggle did not in the least degree affect the +ordinary life of England. Mr. Thorold Rogers tells us that, though he +has read hundreds of documents compiled for private inspection only, +chiefly manorial accounts, covering the whole period of the war, he has +never met a single allusion to the troubles. 'The people,' he adds, +'were absolutely indifferent. {105} Except the outrages of Margaret's +army in 1461, no injury was done to neutrals. The war was as little +injurious to the great mass of the people, in its immediate effects, as +summer lightning. It had no bearing on work or wages.' + +[Sidenote: The Peerage] + +It is also a mistake, though a frequently reiterated one, that the +English nobility, as a class, was almost destroyed by the War of the +Roses. Nothing of the sort happened. Several noblemen fell in battle, +others lost their lives on the scaffold. There are long lists of +traitors in the bills of attainder. But the death of a nobleman did +not include the deaths of his heirs; and most of those who were +attainted eventually received pardons. After the heat of battle was +over, Edward IV. was placable and good-natured. He never refused a +petition for pardon.[1] Only two peerages became extinct from causes +connected with the war. The Beauforts came to an end, and the Tiptoft +peerage lapsed, the accomplished Earl of Worcester being childless. +The lay peerage, including peers temporarily under attainder, numbered +fifty-four on the accession of Richard III., quite as numerous as it +was before the war. + +We have not, therefore, to contemplate a devastated country and a +decimated peerage at the time when our last Plantagenet King ascended +the throne. England was fairly prosperous, and the numbers and wealth +of the nobility had not been reduced. But how different was the whole +face of the country! The outlines of the hills are alone the same. +There were immense areas of forest and swamp where now the landscape +consists of enclosed fields like a green chessboard. There were few +enclosures,[2] but tracts of common land for each {106} manor, and +cultivation in long strips near the villages and manor houses. The +beaten tracks, some following the lines of the old Roman roads leading +to the towns and castles, were often almost impassable in winter. King +Richard was the first to establish any kind of post. The scenery was +very beautiful on the hills and in the forests, in the quiet valleys, +and in the swampy fens. Wild animals, many now extinct, were then +abundant, hunted occasionally, but, to a great extent, left in peace +over vast areas of absolute solitude. It was a very beautiful England, +but how utterly different from the England of the twentieth century! + +The noble and gentle families passed most of their time in their +counties, hawking and hunting, mustering their armed retainers, often +disputing about their respective rights, sometimes trying to settle +disputes by force regardless of law. Yet many were law-abiding and +maintainers of the King's peace, and a few were giving some attention +to the new learning to which Caxton was now opening the door. Some of +the elders had seen service in the French war which came to an end +thirty years before. Only a great noble could raise or command a +military force, but reliance was placed on the experience of some +veteran, such as Hall or Trollope, to organise and direct as chief of +the staff. In those troublous days the King might, at any time, have +to send forth commissions of array. + +[Sidenote: Castles] + +Castles then studded the country, and the ruins of some of them still +give a correct idea of their accommodation and general plan. Old +Norman keeps reared their massive fronts, surrounded by lodgings and +outworks of later construction. The keeps contained stately halls, +guard rooms, and chapels. The more modern and more comfortable +lodgings followed the lines of the {107} outer defences, generally +having covered communication with the keep. Such were King Richard's +home at Middleham, the royal castles of Richmond, Conisborough and +Tickhill. Hedingham, the home of the Veres in Essex, Rochester, the +Tower of London, and a few others are still standing. Lord Bourchier, +the Treasurer, had quite recently built a castle of brick at +Tattershall in Lincolnshire, with a lofty keep still intact. The +Treasurer's device of a purse frequently recurs there. + +The castles of the later period were, however, generally built without +the central keep. They consisted of square angle towers connected by +curtains, one of which usually formed the great hall, as at Lumley. +These were more numerous and probably more commodious. Bolton and +Lumley are good examples. There was already a tendency to increase the +conveniences and amenities of the old castles by the enlargement of +windows and in other ways, as is shown by the fine oriel window at +Barnard Castle, the work of Richard himself. The royal residences at +Eltham, Sheen, and Windsor are believed to have been designed more for +comfort and pleasure than for defence; although Windsor is a place of +strength, with circular keep, and means to resist an enemy both in the +upper and lower wards. The general tendency, during the last half of +the fifteenth century, was to build for comfort rather than for defence. + +In the courts and at the gates of the castles of noblemen there were +guards wearing more or less of defensive armour, morions or bacinets on +their heads, and brigandines of quilted linen or leather with small +plates of iron sewn on them. Glaives or bills, crossbows with quarrels +or darts, and bows and arrows were in the guard rooms. + +{108} + +The sons of the surrounding gentry were brought up and taught martial +exercises and the other accomplishments of a gentleman of the time, at +the castles of the lords their patrons, a custom which bound the +nobility and lesser gentry together by common interests and common +pursuits. + +Much time was occupied in hunting and hawking, and the adherents of the +House of York were more especially the votaries of the noble art of +venery. The first English book of sport had the second Duke of York +for its author, and was entitled 'The Master of Game.' The Duke +declares that 'hunters live more joyfully than any other men,' and his +work shows that he was a keen observer with a wonderfully accurate +knowledge of natural history. With such a master and guide in their +family the scions of the royal House of York were the leading sportsmen +in the country, closely followed by their friends and numerous cousins +among the nobility and gentry. The 'Book of St. Albans' by Juliana +Berners the Prioress of Sopwell, treating of hawking, hunting, fishing, +and the laws of arms, was also a work of that period, and was first +printed at St. Albans Abbey, by John Insomuch, the Schoolmaster, in +1481.[3] Juliana divides the wild animals into beasts of venery--the +wolf, wild boar, stag, hart and hare; beasts of the chase of the sweet +foot--buck and doe and the roe--and of the stinking foot, wild cat, +badger, fox, weasel, marten, squirrel, and others. She is particular +in explaining the terms to be used in venery, that one must say a covey +of partridges but a bevy of quails, and so forth. Closely allied to +the arts of war and of venery was the law of arms, of which every +gentleman of that day had {110} some knowledge. Charges on shields and +standards, on surcoats and liveries were regulated by the heralds, and +after the ordinance of Henry V. were granted by the Sovereign. But in +the most flourishing days of chivalry, those of Edward III., this was +not essential. There was no Heralds' College,[4] and the only really +interesting armorial bearings are those used in the days of the +Plantagenets. With Tudors and Stuarts heraldry lost its chivalric +significance, and coats of arms subsequently granted are unmeaning and +vulgar. + +====================================================================== + +{109} + +[Sidenote: Peerage of Richard III] + + PEERS + + _Relations of the Sovereign_ + + * Duke of Suffolk (_brother-in-law_), K.G. + *+Earl of Lincoln (_nephew_), K.B. + *+Viscount Lovell (_dearest friend_), + Lord Chamberlain, K.G. + *+Earl of Northumberland (1_st cousin_), K.G. + * Lord Greystoke (1_st cousin_). + * Lord Abergavenny, K.B. }(_cousins_). + Earl of Westmoreland (_sick_) } + + _Minors_ + + Duke of Buckingham } (_cousins_) + Earl of Essex } + Earl of Salisbury (_son_). + * Earl of Warwick (_nephew_). + Earl of Pembroke (_nephew_). + + _Staunch and true_ + + *+Duke of Norfolk, Ld. Admiral, K.G. + *+Earl of Surrey, K.G. + * Lord Audley, Ld. Treasurer. + *+Lord Zouch, K.B. + *+Lord Ferrers. + + Marching to join the King + * Earl of Kent, K.B. + * Lord Dacre. + * Lord FitzHugh. + * Lord Lumley. + * Lord Ogle in the Marches, + * 2 Lords Scrope. + + _Other Peers_ + + * Earl of Arundel, K.G. + * Lord Maltravers, K.G. + * Earl of Nottingham. + * Earl of Huntingdon. + * Earl of Wiltshire. + * Lord Grey of Wilton. + * Lord Grey of Codnor. + * Lord Grey of Powys. + * Lord Beauchamp. + * Lord Morley. + * Lord Stourton. + * Lord Cobham. + Lord Mountjoy (at Calais). + Lord de la Warre (abroad). + Lord Dudley (very old). + + _Minors_ + + Earl of Shrewsbury. + Lord Clifford. + Lord Hastings. + Lord Hungerford. + + Peers 42 + Minors 9 + -- + 33 + -- + + _Traitors_ + + #John Vere, Earl of Oxford (under attainder). + Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. + Grey, Marquis of Dorset. + Woodville, Earl Rivers. + Lord Beaumont. + Lord Welles. + * Lord Lisle. + Lord Dynham. + #Jasper Tudor (late Earl of Pembroke). + #Henry Tudor (calling himself Earl of Richmond). + *#Lord Stanley (turned traitor at the end). + *#Lord Strange. + + + * At the coronation. + + At Bosworth for the King. + # At Bosworth for H. Tudor. + +====================================================================== + +Attendance at the court or the Parliament led to a demand for lodgings +in London. Baynard's Castle was the town residence of the Duke and +Duchess of York. Crosby Place, which is still standing, was the home +of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester during the short protectorate. +Cold Harbour, in Thames Street, alternately lodged the Earl of +Salisbury (1453), Anne Duchess of Exeter, and her brother the Duke of +Clarence. There were other houses of the nobility within the city, +including Ely Place in Holborn, with large gardens behind them; and +some of the richer citizens had handsome residences of which Crosby +Place was an example. It was on the occasion of visits to the capital +that opportunities were offered for those extravagant displays which +were the fashion of that age, especially at the great tournaments. + +The House of York was closely knit to the nobility by ties of kindred. +Of the three Dukes, Suffolk was King Richard's brother-in-law, +Buckingham and Norfolk were his cousins, as were the Earls of +Northumberland, Westmoreland and Essex, and Lords Abergavenny and +Greystoke. Lincoln was his nephew. Richard, moreover, had four first +and several second {111} cousins among the Barons; and the Archbishop +of Canterbury was also his cousin. There must have been a feeling of +kinship as well as of loyalty when the nobles gathered round the +sovereign on state occasions. + +[Sidenote: Magnificence of the court] + +Magnificence in dress was not a sign of ostentation and vanity, but of +what was felt to be due to high rank and to ceremonial functions of +state; and it was undoubtedly good for trade. Long gowns with high +collars were the indoor and civil dresses, and they lent themselves to +displays of great splendour. Thus, in the wardrobe accounts, we find +among the materials for doublets and gowns, black velvet, crimson +velvet, blue velvet figured with tawny, white velvet, white damask with +flowers of divers colours, chequered motley velvet, cloth of gold, +silks and satins, sarsenet, as well as embroidered shoes, and ostrich +feathers. We find green, scarlet and white cloth, ermines, sables, +fringes, gowns of blue velvet lined with white satin, golden aiglettes, +and various furs. The keeper of the King's wardrobe also had in charge +feather beds and bolsters, bed clothes, cushions, table cloths and +napkins, and the King's carriage. Presents from the wardrobe are +recorded as being given to the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Grey, Lord +Stanley, Sir W. Parr, Sir J. Borough, Lord Audley and the College of +Windsor. When the Duchess of Burgundy came to visit her brother, all +her attendants were ordered to be clothed in cloth jackets of murrey +and blue, while the knights appointed to attend upon her received gowns +of velvet. The velvet was ten shillings a yard, the ostrich feathers +ten shillings each. These wardrobe accounts of the last years of +Edward IV. bear silent testimony to the lavish splendour of the court, +and of court ceremonial in those days. + +{112} + +Increasing wealth resulted to the merchants and traders of the City, +the Guilds flourished and increased in numbers, and there were +periodical fairs in the country. At the Stourbridge fair, which was +the chief mart of Lombard Exchange, glass, silks and velvets were sold +by the Venetian and Genoese merchants, linen of Liege and Ghent by the +Flemish weavers, hardware by Spaniards, tar and pitch by Norwegians, +wine by Gascons, furs and amber by the Hanse Towns. Millstones came +from Paris. Our own products were hides and woolpacks, the produce of +the tin mines, and iron from Sussex. At Abingdon there was a cattle +fair, at Winchester a wool and cloth fair. King Richard's Parliament +gave much attention to the advancement of trade. + +In London the wealthy merchants lived in handsome houses with gardens. +The lawyers lived in the Inns of Court, and there were not wanting good +inns and hostelries for passing travellers. We hear of the 'White +Hart' in Southwark, the 'George' at Paul's Wharf, and several others. + +The City Companies were acquiring great influence. The Skinners' +Company founded the 'Brethren of the fraternity of Corpus Christi' of +which the Duke of York and his sons Edward IV. and the Dukes of +Clarence and Gloucester were members. Disputes between City Companies +were amicably settled. There was one between the Skinners' and +Merchant Taylors' with reference to precedence in City processions. In +the reign of Richard III., 10 April, 1484, the two companies agreed to +abide by the judgment of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. + +The award was that the Skinners should invite the Merchant Taylors to +dinner every year, on the Vigil of {113} Corpus Christi, and that the +Merchant Taylors should invite the Skinners on the Feast of the +Nativity of John the Baptist. On the first year after the arbitration +the Skinners were to walk in all processions before the Merchant +Taylors, on the next year the Merchant Taylors before the Skinners, and +so on. Thus was arbitration established in the City during Richard's +reign, a course always favoured and practised by the King himself. + +[Sidenote: Introduction of printing] + +The great glory of the Yorkist kings was the introduction of printing +into England, in which their sister of Burgundy also took a liberal and +enlightened part. Caxton tells us he was born in the Weald of Kent in +1422, and was apprenticed to Robert Large, a mercer of London and Lord +Mayor in 1439. His house was in the north end of the Old Jewry, and +here young Caxton lived until his master died in 1441, leaving him +twenty marks. Caxton went to Bruges in 1441, and in 1453 he was +admitted to the livery of the Mercers' Company. The Merchant +Adventurers were an association of merchants trading to foreign +countries, chiefly mercers. They had a 'domus Angliae' at Bruges, and +in 1464 Caxton was chosen 'Governor beyond seas.' In 1468 he attended +the marriage of the young English Princess Margaret with Duke Charles +of Burgundy, which was celebrated with great pomp. Caxton was not only +a leading merchant at Bruges, he also took a great interest in +literature and in the new art of printing. In 1469 he began the +translation of 'Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes,' and in the +following year, when Duke Charles was invested with the Garter, Caxton +made his first essay at printing, with the oration of Dr. Russell on +that occasion. When, in October 1470, Edward IV. and his young brother +Richard {114} took refuge in Flanders, they received active assistance +from the loyal merchant and printer, and in the same year Caxton +entered the service of the Duchess Margaret and managed her trading in +English wool for her. He was surrounded hy literary influences at +Bruges, where there was a printing press encouraged by the Duchess. + +In 1476 Caxton came to England, and in November 1477 he had established +a printing press in his house at Westminster, under the shadow of the +Abbey. It was in the Almonry near the old chapel of St. Anne, at the +gate leading into Tothill Street. Caxton's house was the sign of the +_red pale_.[5] John Esteney was then Abbot of Westminster (1474-98), +but it is not recorded that Caxton received help or patronage from him. +The first book printed in England was the 'Dictes and Sayings of +Philosophes,' by Lord Rivers, in 1477. Then followed 'Cordyale' in +1479, and 'Chronicles of England' in 1480, 'Description of Britain' +also in 1480. In that year the Duchess of Burgundy came to London to +visit her brothers, and no doubt she then paid a visit to the printing +press of her old friend Caxton. Five books came from that active press +in 1481. 'The Mirrour of the World' was translated and printed for a +citizen named Hugh Brice as a present to Lord Hastings. 'Reynard the +Fox' was translated by Caxton himself. The 'de senectute,' 'de +amicitia,' and 'declamatio' of Cicero were translated by the ill-fated +Earl of Worcester; as well as 'Godefroy de Boulogne.' A second edition +of 'The game and play of Chess' completed the publications for 1481. +During the whole of King Richard's reign, and under his enlightened +patronage, Caxton's printing press showed great activity. The +publications were {115} 'Pilgrimage of the Soul' 'Liber Festivalis,' +'Quatuor Sermones,' the 'Confessio Amantis' of Gower, the 'Golden +Legend,' 'Caton,' 'Knight of the Tower,' 'AEsop,' 'Paris and Vienna,' +'Life of Charles the Great,' the 'Canterbury Tales' of Chaucer, 'Life +of our Lady,' 'King Arthur,' by Sir T. Mallory, who finished his work +in 1470, and the 'Order of Chivalry' translated by Caxton and dedicated +to his redoubted Lord King Richard. + +[Sidenote: Literary noblemen] + +Literature was beginning to receive attention from several members of +the nobility, and the printing press gave this tendency very great +encouragement. Among the books in the Wardrobe Account of Edward IV. +which were ordered to be bound, were the 'Book of the Holy Trinity,' +the Bible, 'Government of Kings and Princes,' 'Froissart,' Titus +Livius, Josephus, 'Bible Historial,' 'La Forteresse de Foy'; and to +this royal library his brother Richard added several books including +the 'Romaunt of Tristram.' + +Lord Rivers was an accomplished nobleman whose translations and +original compositions are well known. But John Tiptoft, Earl of +Worcester, was the most studious and learned, as well as the most +accomplished, author and statesman of Yorkist times. Born at Everton, +Cambridgeshire, Tiptoft was at Balliol College, and completed his +education by a residence of three years in Italy. He was twice Lord +High Treasurer, was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and was created Earl of +Worcester. But he fell a victim to Lancastrian rancour during +Warwick's brief usurpation. He was beheaded in 1470, and Caxton +eloquently mourned his untimely death. + +'This book,' Caxton wrote, 'was translated by the virtuous and noble +Earl of Worcester into our English {116} tongue, son and heir to the +Lord Tiptoft, which in his time flowered in virtue and cunning, to whom +I know none like among the lords of the temporality in science and +moral virtue. I beseech Almighty God to have mercy on his soul, and +pray all them that shall read this little treatise, likewise of your +charity to remember his soul among your prayers. The right virtuous +and noble Earl of Worcester, which late piteously lost his life, whose +soul I recommend to your special prayers, also in his time made many +other virtuous works which I have heard of. O God, blessed Lord, what +great loss was it of that noble, virtuous and well disposed lord, when +I remember and advertise his life, his science and his virtue. +Methinketh God displeased over so great a loss of such a man, +considering his estate and cunning, and also the exercise of the same +with the great labours in going on pilgrimage unto Jerusalem, visiting +there the holy places, and what worship had he in Rome in the presence +of our holy father the Pope, and so in all other places until his +death, at which death every man that was there might learn to die, and +take his death patiently.' + +[Sidenote: Education] + +Rivers and Worcester were not the only men of their day with literary +tastes. The colleges at Oxford and Cambridge numbered among their +_alumni_ laymen as well as churchmen. The three great public schools +of England already existed. The grammar school of Westminster, +afterwards to become St. Peter's College under Queen Elizabeth, had a +continuous existence from the time of Edward I. Winchester College had +been founded by William of Wykeham. Eton College was a foundation due +to Henry of Windsor. All three were flourishing. Boys went very young +to the universities, and parents showed anxiety for their {117} +advancement in learning as well as for their due supply of clothing. +Mrs. Paston desired a tutor named Grenefeld to send her word how her +son Clement is doing his duty as regards his lessons. If he does not +do well, and will not amend, Grenefeld is to lash him until he does +amend, as his former tutor did, who was the best that ever he had at +Cambridge. She is no less particular about his clothes, which were to +be looked to. Clement had a short green gown, a short musterdevelers +(gown of grey woollen cloth), a short blue gown, and a russet gown +furred with beaver: a pretty good supply. + +Later there was a Paston boy at Eton, one of whose letters has come +down to us (1478). He desires hose clothes to be sent to him, one pair +of some colour for holidays, and one for working days. It does not +matter how coarse the one for common use is. He also asks for a +stomacher, two shirts, and a pair of slippers. 'But,' adds the Eton +boy, 'if it lyke you that I may come by water, and sport me with you in +London a day or two this term time, then you may let all this be till +the time that I come; and then I shall tell you when I shall be ready +to come from Eton.' He wanted a holiday in the middle of term time, +and he wanted the fun of boating down the river. So it was with many +hundreds of other boys then as it is now; liking play better than work, +but still learning, with or without the lash which Mrs. Agnes Paston +believed to be so efficacious. The Etonian was about ten years younger +than King Richard. + +The Church, in the Yorkist days, had deteriorated. The devil's compact +between Archbishop Arundel and Henry of Bolingbroke, by which Bishops +were to be allowed to burn heretics on condition that the {118} +usurpation was upheld by the Church, had alienated the people. The Act +_De heretico comburendo_ was not a dead letter. There were many +innocent sufferers. Henry of Monmouth was a fanatic. He argued with +heretics and would gladly pardon on recantation, but if his victim did +not recant he was actually present at executions and witnessed the +cruel tortures. Caxton, some years after Henry's death (1439), saw +with horror the burning on Tower Hill of the good Vicar of Deptford, +whose love and charity had endeared him to the poor. Such scenes would +not endear the Bishops to the people. The prelates were self-seeking +politicians for the most part, and occasionally the people made short +work of them. When Bishop de Moleyns, then Lord Privy Seal, came down +to Portsmouth to pay the sailors and kept back some of their dues, he +was seized by the mob and hanged in front of God's House. Bishop +Ayscough of Salisbury met a similar fate. Mr. Thorold Rogers formed a +very bad opinion of the clergy of the fifteenth century. He says 'the +Bishops were on the whole bad men, parochial clergy not much better, +monks worst of all. People deserted them for the secret but stirring +exhortations of the Bible men.' But there were exceptions. Dr. +Russell of Lincoln, King Richard's Chancellor, was a prelate and +statesman of the highest integrity, so were Stillington of Bath and +Wells, Alcock of Worcester, and Langton of St. David's. + +The great monasteries still stood, in all their glorious architectural +beauty, among the woodlands and by the trout streams; and charity was +dispensed by their inmates. Religious foundations like Middleham +College by King Richard, and Acaster College by Bishop Stillington, +attest the piety of the age; and religious buildings proceeded apace. +The beautiful {119} chapel of St. George at Windsor was approaching +completion in King Richard's time, and many fine church towers, +especially in Suffolk, date from this period. + +There were superstitious pilgrimages to shrines such as those of St. +Thomas at Canterbury and of Our Lady at Walsingham, while obits and +saints' days were scrupulously observed. Letters were almost always +referred to saints' days, scarcely ever to the days of the month. In +the 'Paston Letters' we have 'Monday next after St. Edmund the King,' +'the day next after St. Kateryn,' 'St. Pernall,' 'St. Leonard's Eve,' +'St. Erkenwald's,' and so on: even, in one instance, the date is fixed +by the collect of the preceding Sunday. 'Wednesday next after _Deus +qui errantibus_.' This seems to show that religion, or at least its +rites and ceremonies, was really part of the actual life of the people. +Miracle plays, such as those performed by the Corpus Christi guild at +York, served to keep alive an interest in religion. There were also +allegorical plays, and it seems that 'Every Man,' which has interested +so many in these modern times, may have been acted before, and have +impressed audiences in the days of the Yorkist kings. + +[Sidenote: The Church and the law] + +The law was presided over by conscientious and learned judges. Old +Fuller says of Markham and Fortescue that they were the 'Chief Justices +of the Chief Justices.' Markham boldly resisted any attempt to +intimidate him, and by his firm stand against King Edward established +an important maxim in constitutional law. He did not confine his +judgments to the bench, but upbraided evil-doers when he met them in +the street. John Heydon, Recorder of Norwich, was stopped by the judge +and brought to book in public, {120} for putting away his wife and +living with another; and also for his unjust conduct towards John +Paston, in enforcing the doubtful claim of Lord Moleyns. + +[Sidenote: Condition of the people] + +But the country was in a lawless state. Upright judgments were +pronounced, but they could not always be enforced. Noblemen, like Lord +Moleyns, occasionally acted in defiance of the law, and often there was +no redress. We hear of 'a great multitude of misruled people at the +house of Robert Ledeham who issue at their pleasure, sometimes thirty +and more, armed in steel caps and jackets, with bows and bills, +overriding the country, oppressing the people, and doing many horrible +and abominable deeds.' There is a letter from Paston's wife reporting +that 'they have made bars to bar the doors crossways, and wickets at +every corner of the house to shoot out at, both with bows and hand +guns.' This sounds like an expected siege. For she adds--'My +worshipful husband, I pray you to get some cross bows and wyndacs with +quarrels, for your holes have been made so low that my men cannot shoot +out with a long bow, though we had ever so much need. Also get two or +three short pole axes to keep the doors.' Then we are told of Robert +Letham killing John Wilson's bullocks for arrears of rent, eating them, +and then beating Wilson himself in Plumstead churchyard until he was in +doubt of his life, besides beating John Coke's mother. When Sir Philip +Wentford wants to settle a dispute, instead of going to law, he rides +to Colchester with a hundred armed men. These were not altogether +peaceful times. They were exciting, full of adventure, and there was +much fun to be got out of them. Different, more eventful, perhaps less +safe, than our days of policemen and penitentiaries, but far from +unendurable. + +{121} + +These were trifles, and on the whole the country gentry of the +fifteenth century lived in comfort on their manors. These manors +included the lord's domain cultivated by his bailiff, the small estates +of freeholders paying quit rents, the tenements and lands of the +labourers held for services, and the waste or common on which all +tenants had right of pasture. The manor house was usually built of +stone, though brick was beginning to come into use. The house was +generally divided into three principal rooms: the hall, the +dormitories, and the solar or parlour with a southern aspect. In the +hall the family and household dined. It was also used for the manor +courts, for levying fines, and passing judicial sentences. The table +was on trestles, there were a few stools and benches, and some chests +for linen. Here would also be seen a pot of brass, several dishes, +platters, and trenchers, iron or lateen candlesticks, a brass ewer and +basin, and a box of salt. The walls were hung with mattocks, scythes, +reaping hooks, buckets and corn measures. In the dairy were the pails, +pans, churn, and cheese press. In the grange were the sacks of corn. + +The manor land was ploughed twice, but half the arable remained fallow. +When harvest was over pigs and geese were turned into the stubble. The +means of supporting the stock in winter depended upon the supply of +hay, for there were no root crops. The rest of the stock had to be +killed down for salting on St. Martin's day (November 11). In the +garden and orchard were apples and pears, damsons, cherries, currants, +strawberries, kitchen herbs, onions and leeks, mustard, peas and beans, +and cabbage. Crab apples were collected to make verjuice. + +We are informed of the commissions John Paston {122} received from his +wife, in her numerous letters. Besides weapons of offence and defence +she writes for ginger and almonds and sugar, also for frieze for their +growing child with a note of the best and cheapest shop. Next she +wants two dozen trenchers, syrup, quince preserve, oil for salads. As +regards luggage John Paston writes to his brother, who was at an +inn--the sign of the 'George' in Paul's Wharf--to put up in the mail +his tawny gown furred with black, the doublet of purple satin, the +doublet of black satin, and his writing box of cypress. These +commissions give a little insight into the domestic arrangements of the +time. But for a complete outfit of one of the lesser gentry equipped +for war we must read over the contents of Mr. Payn's luggage, robbed +from him by Jack Cade and his rabble at the sign of the 'White Hart' +near London Bridge. + +There was a fine gown of mixed grey woollen cloth trimmed with fine +beavers. A pair of 'bregandyns,' which were coats of leather or cotton +quilted, having small iron plates sewn over them; also leg harness. A +bluish grey gown furred with martens. Two gowns furred with budge +(lamb skin). Lastly, a gown lined with frieze. But the greatest loss +was a set of Milan harness (armour). They forced Mr. Payn into the +battle on London Bridge, where he was wounded; and robbed his wife in +Kent of all but kirtle and smock. Those were exciting times, and +luggage was not always safe, but on the whole they were times of plenty. + +The fifteenth century was the golden age of the labourer. At no time +were wages relatively so high. The people ate wheaten bread, drank +barley beer, and had plenty of cheap, though perhaps coarse, meat at a +farthing a pound (equal to 3_d._ now). If a labourer had to undertake +a journey, there were houses as well as {123} monasteries where doles +were given to all wayfarers. The cottages of the poor were built of +wattle and daub, but skilled labourers were fed at the table of the +lord of the manor below the salt; and some of them lodged in the +out-buildings. It is said that scurvy, in a virulent form, was a +common disorder; as all the poor, except the numerous class of +poachers, had to live on salt meat for six months, onions and cabbages +being the only esculents. But the prevalence of this disorder has been +exaggerated. + +We have the evidence of Chief Justice Fortescue that the labouring +class in England was far better off as regards lodging, clothing, and +food than the peasantry of France and other countries of Europe. + + + PRICES--1484 + + Wheat, 5s. 3-3/4d. the quarter. | Hen, 2d. + Barley, 4s. 1-1/4d. | Swan, 2s. 6d. + Oats, 2s. 2-1/2d. | Duck, 2d. + Beans, 3s. 8d. | Charcoal, 6s. 5d. the load. + Oatmeal, 7d. | Firewood, 1s. 10-1/2d. the load. + Malt, 3s. 10-1/4d. | Hurdles, 2s. the dozen. + Hay, 2s. 2d. the load. | Salt, 4s. 8d. the quarter. + Wool, 5s. 4d. the ton. | Tiles, 6s. 10d. the 1,000. + Ox, 10s. | Bricks, 6s. 8d. the 1,000. + Calf, 3s. | Gascony wine, 9s. 8-1/2d. the dozen + Sheep, 1s. 4d. | gallons. + Pig, 5s. 4d. | Sugar, 19s. the dozen pounds. + Horse, 60s. | Pepper, 15s. " " + Capon, 3d. | Currants, 2s. 4d. " " + Goose, 1d. | + + Wages--Carpenter 6d. per day, 3s. a week, L9 2s. 6d. a year. + Tiler 6d. " + Unskilled 4d. " 2s. " + + + +[1] Thorold Rogers. + +[2] The enclosure grievance was just beginning to be felt. + +[3] The second edition was brought out by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496. + +[4] It was created by Richard III. in 1484. + +[5] The 'pale' in heraldry. + + + + +{124} + +CHAPTER X + +REIGN OF KING RICHARD III + +King Richard was a young man in his thirtieth year when he came to the +throne. During the previous ten years he had acquired considerable +administrative experience, and had shown himself to possess ability, +powers of application, and resolution. He was extremely popular in the +north of England, where he had generally resided. + +Young Richard was not tall, of slight build, with one shoulder a little +higher than the other, but not so much as to be noticeable or to cause +weakness. He was a formidable adversary in battle. The portrait at +Windsor is so remarkable that it must have been taken from life. The +eyes are a little closed, and give a thoughtful, almost dreamy look. +The other features are regular. The lips thin and firm, the chin +prominent. The whole expression is that of a thoughtful and earnest +man, firm, resolute, and fearless. Dr. Parr remarked on the strong +likeness between Richard III. and Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent. +His wife Anne inherited great beauty from the Nevills and Beauchamps, +but she was fragile and delicate. + +{125} + +[Sidenote: The young nephews] + +On July 4, 1483, King Richard III. and Queen Anne removed to the royal +lodgings in the Tower, where their nephews Edward and Richard were +residing. Owing to his illegitimacy the eldest boy, who had been +proclaimed King and soon afterwards set aside, could not retain the +titles of Wales and Cornwall, nor could the younger one continue to +have the royal title of York. The younger boy had also lost his claim +to the Mowbray titles of Norfolk and Nottingham by the death of the +little Mowbray heiress to whom he had been betrothed. Those titles +justly passed to the representatives of the aunts who succeeded Anne +Mowbray as the heirs of that family, the Ladies Howard and Berkeley. +Their sons were created Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Nottingham +respectively, on June 28. But Edward, the eldest boy, retained the +earldoms separately conferred on him by his father, of Pembroke and +March. + +It was the King's intention to bring his nephews up and provide for +them as became their rank and their near relationship to himself. 'He +promised that he would so provide for them, and so maintain them in +honourable estate, as that all the realm ought and should be +content.'[1] The allegation that they never left the Tower is derived +from the insinuations of very unscrupulous enemies. + +It is much more likely that they resided in the royal household, and +were the companions of the King's other nephew, the Earl of Warwick; at +least until it became necessary to place them in safe keeping on the +invasion of the realm by Henry Tudor. In the regulations for King +Richard's {126} household, dated July 23, 1484, it is ordained that +'the children are to be together at one breakfast.' Who were these +children, if not the King's nephews? They were evidently children of +high rank,[2] and Richard's little son Edward had died in the previous +April. + +Before the coronation, the King created eighteen Knights of the Bath, +four of them sons or brothers of peers. + +The coronation of King Richard III. and Queen Anne took place on +Sunday, July 6, 1483. Its splendour was greater than had ever been +known before. The Cardinal Archbishop placed the crowns on the heads +of the new sovereign and his consort. He was surrounded by bishops, +and nearly the whole peerage was present. Never was accession received +with such unanimous consent by all ranks of the people. The attendance +of a Woodville bishop and a Grey viscount gave grounds for the hope +that even faction was at an end. On scarcely any other occasion was +the aristocracy of England so fully represented. The Duchess of +Suffolk, as sister of the King, walked alone in state, in the +procession. The intriguing wife of Stanley, mother of Henry Tudor, had +the privilege of bearing the Queen's train. + + +====================================================================== + +{127} + +CORONATION PROCESSION OF KING RICHARD III. + + Serjeants of Arms + Heralds + Trumpets and Clarions + The Cross + Priests in grey amices + Bishops, with mitres and croziers + Abbots, with mitres + + BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, bearing a cross + + THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP + + THE EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, bearing the pointless sword of mercy + + LORD STANLEY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, EARL OF LINCOLN + bearing the mace of bearing the sceptre bearing the orb + Constable + + DUKE OF NORFOLK, bearing the crown + + EARL OF SURREY, bearing the sword of state in scabbard + + VISCOUNT LOVELL, B C B C EARL OF KENT + bearing the sword a i a i bearing the sword + (civil) of justice r n r n (ecclesiastical) + o q o q of justice + n u n u + s e s e + THE KING + o P o P + f o f o + r r + BISHOP OF BATH AND t t BISHOP OF DURHAM + WELLS s s + + DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, bearing the King's train + + Earls + Barons + + EARL OF HUNTINGDON, EARL OF WILTSHIRE, VISCOUNT LYLE, + bearing the Queen's bearing the Queen's bearing the rod + sceptre crown with dove + + BISHOP OF EXETER THE QUEEN BISHOP OF NORWICH + + LADY STANLEY, bearing the Queen's train + + DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK (King's sister), in state, alone + + Twenty peeresses + +====================================================================== + + +The Duke of Buckingham put forward an important claim, soon after the +coronation, and its success was an example of the lavish generosity of +Richard III. {128} Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, died +in the year 1372, leaving his two daughters co-heiresses of his vast +estates. Alianore, the eldest, married Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of +Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III. Their daughter and +eventual heiress Anne married Edmund Earl of Stafford, +great-grandfather of the Duke of Buckingham. Mary, the second +daughter, married Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who became Earl +of Hereford by right of his wife, and eventually usurped the crown as +Henry IV. His male descendants ended with his grandson Henry VI. The +Duke of Buckingham claimed that the moiety of the Bohun estates which +Mary brought to Henry IV. and which had merged in the crown, should now +revert to him as the male heir of both sisters. Legally, the claim was +untenable, and it had been rejected by Edward IV. Richard, however, +generously conceded all that Buckingham asked, making a formal grant of +the lands in question under his own sign manual. + +On his accession the generous young King was anxious to be reconciled +with all his subjects with whom he had ever had differences. Among +these was a certain Sir John Fogge, a low intriguer, with whom the King +condescended to shake hands. This treacherous fellow soon afterwards +joined in Buckingham's rebellion. Like Louis XII. of France King +Richard forgot and forgave all offences against the Duke of Gloucester. + +[Sidenote: The Royal Progress] + +The King set out on a progress through England,[3] {129} a fortnight +after the coronation, accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham and a large +retinue. The young Earl of Warwick, Richard's nephew, was also with +him, having been liberated from durance in the Tower, where he had been +kept by the Marquis of Dorset as his ward, ever since the death of his +father Clarence. Young Warwick was also at his uncle's coronation. + +The King left Windsor for Reading on the 23rd, arriving at Oxford on +July 24, where he was received by old Dr. Waynflete, Bishop of +Winchester, and the Bishops of Worcester, St. Asaph, and St. David's. +He was lodged in Magdalen College, and on his departure the aged Dr. +Waynflete caused to be entered in the College register-- + + VIVAT REX IN AETERNUM. + + +On August 1 the King was at Gloucester, and here the Duke of Buckingham +took his leave and proceeded to his estates in Wales, accompanied by +his intriguing prisoner Bishop Morton. Passing on to Tewkesbury on +August 4, Richard arrived at Warwick on the 8th, where he was joined by +the Queen, who came direct from Windsor.[4] The court remained a week +at Warwick, and comprised the young Earl of Warwick, five Bishops,[5] +the Earls of Lincoln, Surrey, and Huntingdon, Lords Stanley, Dudley, +Morley, {130} Scrope, and Lovell, the Chief Justice, the Scottish Duke +of Albany, and the Spanish Ambassador. On the 10th the royal party was +at Coventry, on the 17th at Leicester, on the 22nd at Nottingham. The +King and Queen arrived at Pomfret on the 27th, where they were met by +their little son Edward, who had travelled from Middleham to be with +them. On the 30th they entered the city of York. + +The people of York vied with each other in the loyalty and cordiality +of their welcome. Richard III. was a most popular sovereign, and with +good reason. Bishop Langton,[6] who accompanied him on this progress, +thus wrote: 'He contents the people where he goes best that ever did +Prince, for many a poor man that hath suffered wrong many days has been +relieved and helped by him and his commands in his progress. And in +many great cities and towns were great sums of money given him which he +hath refused.[7] On my truth I never liked the conditions of any +Prince so well as his. God hath sent him to us for the weal of us +all.'[8] On September 8 King Richard and Queen Anne walked in solemn +procession with the crowns on their heads, on the occasion of the +creation of their son Edward as Prince of Wales.[9] The young Prince, +his cousin the Earl of Warwick, and Galfridus de Sasiola, the Spanish +Ambassador, were knighted. The royal party left York on the 20th, and +proceeded by Gainsborough towards Lincoln, which city was entered on +October 12. + +Suddenly the news reached the King that the Duke of Buckingham had +broken out in rebellion. Never {131} was there an act so unprovoked +and treacherous. The Duke seems to have been a weak unprincipled man, +full of vanity and self-importance, and his worst qualities were worked +upon by the insidious old intriguer Morton, who had been entrusted to +his custody. Buckingham's ambition was to seize the crown. In +accordance with the 'Titulus Regius,' only two persons stood in his +way. These were King Richard III. and his delicate little son. The +traitor's scheme was to strike them down and seize the coveted prize. +The rebellion was carefully planned. All the Lancastrian and Woodville +malcontents were invited to join, and there were to have been several +simultaneous risings in the south of England, on October 18. On that +day Buckingham unfurled his standard at Brecknock, while Dorset and Sir +Thomas St. Leger rose in the west; and even the cautious Henry Tudor +sailed across from Brittany, but feared to land. His mother, the wife +of Stanley, intrigued actively with the Queen Dowager and the Woodville +faction. + +The energy and decision with which the King met the danger baffled the +policy of the rebels. As Buckingham was Constable of England, it +became necessary to appoint a Vice-Constable to try rebels in +conjunction with the Earl Marshal, and Sir Ralph Ashton was selected +for the post.[10] Owing to a great flood in the Severn the forces of +Buckingham were unable to cross the river, their provisions failed, and +they disbanded. The wretched traitor put on a disguise and fled; but +he was betrayed and apprehended by the Sheriff of Shropshire. +Meanwhile, the King had organised a sufficient force, and advanced +rapidly to Salisbury, whither Buckingham was brought a prisoner. The +{132} traitor sought an interview with his injured sovereign, with the +intention of assassinating him.[11] Fortunately the request was +refused. He had been caught red-handed, and the Earl Marshal's court +condemned him to death.[12] He was beheaded at Salisbury on November +2. Richard treated the Duke's widow, who was a Woodville, with his +habitual generosity; granting her a pension out of the lordship of +Tunbridge. + +The other rebels fled. Dorset and old Morton escaped abroad. Sir +Thomas St. Leger was caught and beheaded at Exeter, with Thomas Ramme +and one other delinquent. Seven rebels suffered in London. There are +a hundred names in the bill of attainder against the rebels; but most +of them were subsequently pardoned, including Stanley's intriguing +wife, who was merely given into the custody of her perfidious husband, +an act of unwise leniency which amounted to recklessness.[13] + +{133} + +Richard had destroyed all opposition, and he now entered upon the +serious business of government. Although his administration was +profusely liberal, he checked corruption, reformed the public offices, +and {134} promoted economy in the service of the state. Parliament met +on January 23, 1484, and Master William Catesby was chosen Speaker. +Its first business was to give full validity to the 'Titulus Regius' by +embodying it in an Act of Parliament. The public acts of Richard's +parliament are noted for their wisdom and beneficial effects. One of +them gave security to purchasers of land against secret feoffments, +another conferred power on magistrates to accept bail from persons +accused of felony, another was intended to prevent the intimidation of +juries. The abolition of benevolences was a most beneficent measure, +designed to put an end to an oppressive system of extorting money. An +elaborate statute was also passed to check malpractices in the +manufacture of woollen goods. The statutes of Richard III. were the +first that were published in English. The distinction between public +and private acts was also first made in this parliament. The latter +included the reversal of the attainder of the Percys, several other +restitutions, and grants for endowments, including a grant for the +endowment of Bishop Stillington's college at Acaster. + +Lord Bacon, no friendly critic, said of Richard III. that he was 'a +prince in military virtue approved, jealous of the honour of the +English nation, and likewise a good law maker for the ease and solace +of the common people.'[14] In speaking of the parliament of Richard +III. Lord Campbell says: 'We have no difficulty in pronouncing +Richard's parliament the most meritorious national assembly for +protecting the liberty of the subject, and putting down abuses in the +administration of justice that had sat in England since the reign of +Henry III.'[15] + +{135} + +[Sidenote: The revenue] + +King Richard III. introduced reforms in the revenue departments, which +were prepared under his own eye. He ordered the Auditor of the +Exchequer to submit an annual return of all revenues, issues, and +profits; while the Lord Treasurer was to make a return of all money +received and disbursed in his office. Formerly the Pell Issue and +Receipt Rolls only showed net sums paid into the Exchequer, 'reprises' +and direct payments being ignored. + +The principal source of revenue was from the customs. The 'antiqua +costuma' consisted of 6_s._ 8_d._ on the sack of wool, and 13_s._ 4_d._ +on the last of leather. The 'parva costuma' included 3_s._ 4_d._ on a +sack of wool, a small tax on cloth and other imports and exports, and +an _ad valorem_ duty of 2_d._ in the pound, and 3_d._ from foreigners, +on general merchandise. Tonnage and poundage was 1_s._ in the pound on +the value of most goods, except wool and leather, and 3_d._ on each tun +of wine. The 'antiqua costuma' and 'parva costuma' were hereditary, +but tonnage and poundage had to be voted by parliament at the beginning +of each reign. Customs duties brought in 18,629_l._ in the first, and +20,743_l._ in the second year of King Richard's reign. The old crown +revenues yielded 17,900_l._, Hanaper 2,930_l._, and other receipts +5,297_l_. The total annual revenue was 50,356_l._ in the first, and +57,122_l._ in the second year. + +[Sidenote: The navy] + +The navy in those days was small, indeed it had ceased to exist during +the wretched misrule of Henry VI. Richard had, as Lord Admiral during +his brother's reign, been gradually restoring the navy to efficiency, +and in 1480 his brother appointed a 'Keeper of the Ships,' the officer +who had control of naval organisation. Thomas Rogers, a merchant and +fishmonger of {136} London, was continued as 'Keeper of the Ships' +during King Richard's reign, the navy consisting of seven ships, the +'Nicholas,' 'Governor,' 'Grace Dieu,' 'Mary of the Tower,' 'Martin +Garcia,' 'Falcon,' and 'Trinity.' + +While parliament was sitting the Convocation also assembled. The +bishops and clergy presented an adulatory address to the King, praying +that he would redress their grievances, 'seeing your most noble and +blessed disposition in all things.' In reply Richard granted a charter +to the clergy, confirming their liberties and immunities; and he took +the opportunity of enjoining a closer attention to their spiritual +duties. With this object he issued a Royal Letter calling upon +Churchmen to enforce discipline and promote morality among the people. +The Convocation voted the King three-tenths, which yielded 5,600_l_. + +Before the prorogation the King took measures to induce the Queen +Dowager to come out of sanctuary with her daughters. He promised that, +if they would be guided and ruled by him, he would treat them kindly +and honourably as his kinswomen, marry them to gentlemen born, and give +them suitable allowances. Elizabeth agreed to these terms, which were +faithfully observed; and the King also undertook to grant a pension of +700 marks a year for her own maintenance. She not only came out of +sanctuary with her daughters, but showed so much confidence in +Richard's good faith that she sent to her son, the Marquis of Dorset, +to return to England and submit himself to the King. + +[Sidenote: Death of the Prince of Wales] + +In March, 1484, the King and Queen left London, and proceeded +northwards by way of Cambridge, reaching Nottingham on April 20. Here +they received intelligence of the death of the young Prince of Wales, +which took place at Middleham on the 9th of the same {137} month. The +unhappy parents were distracted with the most violent grief. 'You +might have seen his father and mother in a state almost bordering on +madness by reason of their sudden grief.'[16] The child was interred +in the chapel built by Richard himself, on the north side of Sheriff +Hutton church. The King had placed 'the sun in splendour,' the +favourite device of his brother Edward, in one of the windows. An +alabaster effigy of the young Prince of Wales, habited in a loose gown +with a coronet on his head, was fixed on an altar tomb. The south side +of the tomb is divided into compartments. In the centre one the +heart-broken father is represented in armour, offering up prayer to the +Almighty, who is supporting a crucifix. On each side, in other +compartments, there are shields now quite plain, probably once painted, +supported by angels; and on the window jamb there is a shield charged +with a cross of St. George in bold relief, the badge of the garter. +The charges on the other shields have probably been wilfully defaced, +as well as any crowns or ensigns of royalty, to conceal the identity of +the monument. This was perhaps done to avoid complete desecration at +Tudor hands. Some months after the child's death, when Richard had to +sign a warrant for the last expenses connected with the funeral of his +'most dear son,' he touchingly added, in his own handwriting, 'whom God +pardon.'[17] This prayer may have suggested the subject of the +sculptured panel on the tomb, where the petition is made to pass, in +form of a scroll, from the suppliant's lips to the ear of God. + +King Richard, after the death of his own son, {138} declared his nephew +Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of his brother Clarence, to be heir to the +throne. It was no doubt intended to reverse the attainder in due time. +Meanwhile young Warwick was given precedence before all other peers. +He resided sometimes at Sheriff Hutton, sometimes with his aunt, as a +member of the King's household.[18] + +It is asserted by Rous that the King changed his mind soon afterwards, +and declared his nephew the Earl of Lincoln to be his heir, closely +imprisoning young Warwick.[19] Rous was a dishonest and unscrupulous +writer, and this particular statement is disproved by documentary +evidence. For on May 13, 1485, the Mayor and Corporation of York +determined to address a letter to the Lords of Warwick and Lincoln and +other of the Council at Sheriff Hutton.[20] The precedence here given +to young Warwick above Lincoln, and the fact of his being addressed as +one of the Council, prove the statement of Rous to be false. It shows +also that Warwick had not been superseded, and that he was still heir +to the throne, just before the battle of Bosworth.[21] He was probably +a member of the King's household, and one of the children mentioned in +the Royal Ordinance of July 23, 1484. + +Richard III. made a progress in the north of England during the summer +of 1484, superintending the {139} coast defences, and in August he was +again at Nottingham receiving an embassy from Scotland. The King gave +audience to the Scottish envoys in the great hall of Nottingham Castle +on September 16, seated under a royal canopy and surrounded by the +chief officers of state. A truce was established for three years, and +a marriage was agreed upon between the eldest son of James III. and the +Lady Anne de la Pole,[22] niece of the King of England. At about the +same time a friendly treaty was ratified between Richard and the Duke +of Brittany. + +In the autumn of 1484 the body of Henry VI. was, by the King's order, +removed from Chertsey and interred in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, +on the south side of the high altar, the tomb of Edward IV. being on +the north side. The chapel was then nearly finished. + +[Sidenote: Popularity of the King] + +Richard III. returned to London on November 9. He was met by the Lord +Mayor and Aldermen with upwards of four hundred citizens, who escorted +him to his residence at the Wardrobe in Blackfriars. Christmas was +kept at Westminster with all gaiety and splendour, the young niece +Elizabeth being richly attired in a dress similar to that of the Queen, +according to the gossiping old monk of Croyland. But the beloved +consort of so many years, the playfellow of Richard's early days, who +had shared all his joys and sorrows, the mother of his lost child, was +passing away. Like her sister Isabella, Queen Anne was delicate, and +she was now in a rapid decline. She died on March 16, 1485,[23] and +was buried in Westminster Abbey; her {140} sorrowing husband shedding +tears over her grave.[24] As an aggravation of the King's grief, an +odious report, probably originating in the wishes of the Queen Dowager +and her daughter, was spread abroad that he meditated a marriage with +his illegitimate niece. As soon as it came to Richard's ears, he gave +it formal and public contradiction.[25] + +As the spring of 1485 advanced it became known that, encouraged and +aided by the French court, the Lancastrian malcontents intended to +attempt an invasion of England, and that, probably at the suggestion of +Bishop Morton, they had put forward a pretender as a claimant of the +crown. This was Henry Tudor, who was born at Pembroke Castle on +January 28, 1457. His father, Edmund Tudor, was the son of a Welsh +esquire with whom the widow of Henry V. had formed a clandestine +connection. Thus Edmund was a half-brother of Henry VI., who created +him Earl of Richmond, and his brother Jasper Earl of Pembroke. Henry +Tudor was born two months after his father's death, when the widow was +only in her fifteenth year. She was daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of +Somerset, and at this time was the wife of Lord Stanley, her third +husband. In 1471 Jasper Tudor fled into Brittany with his nephew +Henry. Both Edmund and Jasper Tudor had been attainted and deprived of +their earldoms. Edward IV. had created his brother Richard Earl of +Richmond,[26] and the title had since merged in the crown. The earldom +of Pembroke had been conferred on King Edward's son Edward. Henry +Tudor, {141} who was never Earl of Richmond, had lived in Brittany for +many years, but in 1484 he had gone to France, where the desire to +injure her English neighbours induced the Lady of Beaujeu, daughter of +Louis XI. and Regent for her young brother Charles VIII., to encourage +the conspirators. Henry's claim to relationship with the Kings of the +House of Lancaster was derived from his mother's descent from an +illegitimate son of John of Gaunt.[27] It was afterwards considered +unadvisable to put this untenable claim forward, except in vague terms, +and Henry's title was based on conquest. + +[Sidenote: Threatened invasion] + +The King, in anticipation of the threatened invasion, took up a central +position at Nottingham Castle in the spring of 1485, and issued +commissions of array. In the early part of the year he had found the +treasury nearly exhausted, and had been obliged to resort to a {142} +loan, in order to raise funds for the defence of the country. His +parliament had abolished the system of 'benevolences,' or forced +contributions, which had often been resorted to by former kings and +were very oppressive. Richard, in his difficulties, would not sanction +this illegal practice, but he appealed to the people for a loan, +delivering 'good and sufficient pledges' for its repayment.[28] Full +payment was to be made in eighteen months, in two instalments. By Good +Friday, April 1, about 20,000_l._ had been received, out of 30,000_l._ +that had been asked for. + +On June 23 a royal proclamation was issued declaring Henry Tydder alias +Tudor and his followers to be traitors and outlaws, and announcing that +this Henry, son of Edmund, son of Owen Tydder, actually pretended to +have a title to the crown. The Earl of Warwick and the King's niece +Elizabeth were sent to Sheriff Hutton for safety. Edward and Richard, +the young sons of Edward IV., must have been sent to the Tower with the +same object. + +Meanwhile the French Regent, although there was no war and no pretext +for hostilities with England, furnished the necessary funds to enable +an expedition to be fitted out at Harfleur, and allowed French troops +to be embarked under the command of a French officer named Philibert de +Shaunde. Thus supported and accompanied, Henry Tudor landed at Milford +Haven on August 8, 1485. He had with him a few Lancastrian exiles. + + +====================================================================== + +{143} + +PEERAGE OF RICHARD III. + +(Those printed in italic type were present at the Coronation.) + +DUKES + + 1. _Duke of Buckingham, K.G._ (Stafford),[1] held the train. + 2. _Duke of Suffolk, K.G._ (Pole), bore the sceptre. + 3. _Duke of Norfolk, K.G._ (Howard), bore the crown. + +ROYAL MINORS + + 4. Earl of Salisbury (Plantagenet),[2] son of the King. + 5. _Earl of Warwick_ " son of Clarence. + 6. Earl of March and Pembroke, K.G. (Plantagenet), illegitimate + son of Edward IV. + +EARLS + + 7. _Earl of Lincoln_ (Pole),[2] bore the orb. + 8. _Earl of Surrey, K.G._ (Howard),[2] bore the sword of state. + 9. _Earl of Arundel, K.G._ (FitzAlan).[1] + 10. _Earl of Northumberland, K.G._ (Percy),[1] bore the sword of mercy. + 11. Earl of Westmoreland (Nevill), sick. + 12. _Earl of Wiltshire_ (Herbert), bore the queen's crown. + 13. _Earl of Kent_ (Grey), bore the ecclesiastical sword of justice. + 14. _Earl of Nottingham_ (Berkeley). + 15. _Earl of Huntingdon_, bore the queen's sceptre. + 16. Earl of Shrewsbury (Talbot) } minors + 17. Earl of Essex (Bourchier) } + +VISCOUNTS + + 18. _Viscount Lovell, K.G._, bore the civil sword of justice. + 19. _Viscount Lisle_ (Grey),[1] bore the rod with dove. + +BARONS + + 20. _Lord Abergavenny_ (Nevill). + 21. _Lord Maltravers, K.G._ (Fitz-Alan).[2] + 22. _Lord Grey of Codnor._ + 23. _Lord Grey of Wilton._ + 24. _Lord Grey of Powys._ + 25. _Lord Morley._ + 26. _Lord Scrope of Bolton, K.G._ + 27. _Lord Scrope of Masham._ + 28. _Lord Beauchamp._ + 29. _Lord Lumley._ + 30. _Lord Audley._ + 31. _Lord Stourton._ + 32. _Lord FitzHugh._ + 33. _Lord Zouch._ + 34. _Lord Dacre._ + 35. _Lord Ferrers, K.G._ + 36. _Lord Cobham._ + 37. _Lord Stanley, K.G._,[1] bore the mace of constable. + + + [1] Turned traitors. + [2] Eldest sons raised to the Upper House. + +====================================================================== + +====================================================================== + +{144} + +BARONS--_Continued_ + + 38. _Lord Strange._[2] + 39. _Lord Welles._[1] + 40. Lord Greystoke, in the marches. + 41. Lord Mountjoy, at Calais. + 42. Lord Dudley, K.G., very old. + 43. Lord Hungerford,[2] a minor. + 44. Lord Ogle, in the marches. + 45. Lord de la Warre, abroad. + +PRELATES + + 1. _Archbishop of Canterbury_ (Bourchier). + 2. _Bishop of Durham_ (Dudley). + 3. " " _Rochester_ (Audley). + 4. " " _Exeter_ (Courtenay). + 5. " " _Norwich_ (Goldwell). + 6. " " _Wells_ (Stillington). + 7. " " _Salisbury_ (Woodville). + 8. " " _Lincoln_ (Russell). + +UNDER ATTAINDER + + 1. Earl of Oxford, Lancastrian. + 2. Earl of Devonshire, " + 3. Lord Rivers, " + 4. Lord Dynham, " + 5. Lord Beaumont, " + 6. Lord Clifford (minor) " + 7. Marquis of Dorset, Woodville faction. + 8. Jasper Tudor, late Earl of Pembroke.[3] + 9. Henry Tudor, calling himself Earl of Richmond.[4] + +MINISTERS OF RICHARD III. + + Earl Marshal--The Duke of Norfolk. + Lord Chancellor--Dr. John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln. + Lord Chamberlain--Viscount Lovell, K.G. (at Bosworth). Slain at Stoke. + Lord Steward--Lord Stanley (traitor). + Lord Constable--Duke of Buckingham (traitor), then Sir Ralph Ashton. + Lord Admiral--Duke of Norfolk, K.G. (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + 'Keeper of the Ships'--Thomas Rogers. + Lord Privy Seal--John Gunthorpe, Dean of Wells. + Lord Treasurer--Lord Audley (died 1491). + Chancellor of the Exchequer--William Catesby (at Bosworth). Killed + by Henry VII. + + + [1] Turned traitors. + [2] Eldest sons raised to the Upper House. + [3] The earldom of Pembroke belonged to young Edward, eldest + illegitimate son of Edward IV. + [4] The earldom of Richmond had merged in the crown, having been + granted to the Duke of Gloucester. + +====================================================================== + + +====================================================================== + +{145} + + Chancellor of the Duchy--Thomas Metcalfe. + Secretary of State--John Kendall (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + Lord Deputy of Ireland--Earl of Kildare (ob. 1513). + Clerk of the Council--James Harington (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. + Treasurer of the Household--Walter Hopton (at Bosworth). Slain + in battle. + Comptrollers of the Household--Sir Robert Percy (of Scotton, near + Knaresborough), (at Bosworth). Slain in battle. And Sir John + Buck (at Bosworth). Killed by Henry VII. + Keeper of the Great Wardrobe--Pierce Courteys. + +COMMISSIONERS FOR PEACE WITH SCOTLAND, 1484. + + John Bishop of Lincoln + Richard of St. Asaph + Duke of Norfolk + Earl of Northumberland + Lord Privy Seal + Sir W. Stanley + Lord Stanley + Lord Strange + Lord Powys + Lord FitzHugh + Lord Dacre + Master of the Rolls + Sir Richard Ratcliffe + William Catesby + Richard Salkeld. + +JUDGES AND LAW OFFICERS OF RICHARD III. + + Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench . . William Hussey. + Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas . . . . Thomas Brian. + Chief Baron of the Exchequer . . . . . . . Sir Humphrey Starbury. + Master of the Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Barrow. + Judges--King's Bench . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Townshend. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Guy Fairfax. + Common Pleas . . . . . . . . . . . William Jenney. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Neele. + Exchequer . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Roucliffe. + " . . . . . . . . . . . Ralph Wolseley. + Attorney-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan Kidwelly.[1] + Solicitor-General . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Lymon.[2] + + + [1] Morgan Kidwelly, King Richard's Attorney-General, was supposed, + even by Miss Halsted, to have turned traitor and joined Henry + Tudor. But Mr. Gairdner has cleared his character, and shown + that the idea was due to a resemblance of names. The + Attorney-General was true and loyal to the end. + + [2] The Solicitor-General married Jane Shore, with the consent of + King Richard. + +====================================================================== + +====================================================================== + +{146} + + King's Serjeants . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Tremayne. + " . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roger Townshend. + " . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Vavasour. + Recorder of London . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicholas Fitzwilliam. + +KING RICHARD'S BISHOPS + + 1454-86. _Thomas Bourchier_,[1][4] _Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury._ + 1480-1501. Thomas Rotherham,[4] Archbishop of York. + 1448-89. Thomas Kempe[4] (then aged 79), Bishop of London. + 1447-87. _William de Waynflete_,[2] _Bishop of Winchester._ + 1476-85. _William Dudley_,[1][2][3] _Bishop of Durham._ + 1465-92. _Robert Stillington_,[1] _Bishop of Bath and Wells._ + 1478-1504. Edward Story,[4] Bishop of Chichester. + 1478-86. John Morton (traitor),[4] Bishop of Ely. + 1478-86. _Peter Courtenay_ (traitor),[1][4] _Bishop of Exeter._ + 1474-92. Thomas Milling (Abbot of Westminster), Bishop of Hereford. + 1459-92. _William Smith_,[3] _Bishop of Lichfield._ + 1480-95. _John Russell_,[1] _Bishop of Lincoln._ + 1472-99. _James Goldwell_,[1][4] _Bishop of Norwich._ + 1480-92. _Edmund Audley_,[1][4] _Bishop of Rochester._ + 1482-85. _Lionel Woodville_ (traitor),[1] _Bishop of Salisbury._ + 1476-86. _John Alcock_,[2][3] _Bishop of Worcester._ + 1478-95. Richard Bell,[4] Bishop of Carlisle. + 1464-96. Thomas Ednam,[4] Bishop of Bangor. + 1478-96. John Marshall,[4] Bishop of Llandaff. + 1472-95. _Richard Redman_,[2][3] _Bishop of St. Asaph._ + 1483. _Thomas Langton_,[2] _Bishop of St. David's._ + 1480-87. Richard Oldham, Bishop of Sodor and Man. + 1474-98. _John Esteney_,[1] _Abbot of Westminster._ + +KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER, CREATED BY RICHARD III. + + 1. Sir John Conyers (at Bosworth). Escaped. + 2. The Earl of Surrey (at Bosworth). Taken prisoner. + 3. Viscount Lovell (at Bosworth). Escaped. Slain at Stoke. The + King's dearest friend. + + + [1] At the coronation. + [2] Received the King at Oxford. + [3] With the King at Warwick + [4] At Henry Tudor's first Parliament. + +====================================================================== + + +====================================================================== + +{147} + + 4. Sir Richard Ratcliffe (at Bosworth). Slain in the battle. + 5. Sir Thomas Burgh. + 6. Lord Stanley (traitor). + 7. Sir Richard Tunstall. + +KNIGHTS + + _Sir Robert Dymoke_ (the champion) was knighted on July 5, 1483. + Sir Robert Percy . . . . . . . . . " " " + Sir Walter Hopton . . . . . . . . " " " + Sir William Jenney (Judge) . . . . " " " + Sir Robert Brackenbury . . . . . . " " " 1485. + +KNIGHTS OF THE BATH, CREATED AT THE CORONATION OF RICHARD III.[1] + + 1. Sir Edmund de la Pole (son of the Duke of Suffolk). + 2. Sir John Grey (son of the Earl of Kent). + 3. Sir William Zouch (brother of Lord Zouch). + 4. Sir George Neville (son of Lord Abergavenny). + 5. Sir Christopher Willoughby. + 6. Sir William Berkeley, of Beverston (traitor). + 7. Sir Henry Babington. (Buck has Bainton.) + 8. Sir Thomas Arundell. + 9. Sir Thomas Boleyn. (Buck has Bullen.) + 10. Sir Edmund Bedingfield. + 11. Sir Gervase Clifton. Wounded at Bosworth. + 12. Sir William Saye (son of Lord Saye, who fell at Barnet). + 13. Sir William Enderby. + 14. Sir Thomas Lewknor (traitor). + 15. Sir Thomas Ormonde. + 16. Sir John Browne. + 17. Sir William Berkeley, of Wyldy. + 18. Sir Edmund Cornwall, Baron of Burford. + + + [1] From Grafton, p. 799, and Holinshed, p. 733; _Harl. MS._ 293, + fol. 208_b_, and 2115, fol. 152; Buck, p. 26. + +====================================================================== + + + +[1] Morton in Grafton, p. 127. + +[2] _Harl MSS._ 433, fol. 269. Their high rank is shown by the order +that no livery is to exceed the allowance, 'but only to my Lord +(Lincoln?) and _the children_.' See Davies, _York Records_, p. 212 +_n._, who also makes the suggestion that these children were the +offspring of Edward IV. and the young Earl of Warwick. + +[3] King Richard's progress: + + Windsor 22 July, 1483 | Gloucester 1 Aug. 1483 + Reading 23 " " | Tewkesbury 4 " " + Oxford 24 " " | Worcester 6 " " + Warwick* 8 Aug. " | Doncaster 25 " " + Coventry 15 " " | Pontefract 27 " " + Leicester 17 " " | York 30 " " + Nottingham+ 22 " " + + * A week. + + Letter of Secretary Kendal to Mayor of York, Aug. 23; Drake, p. 116. + +[4] Rous. + +[5] Worcester, Lichfield, Durham, St. Asaph, and Bangor (Rous, 217). + +[6] Of St. David's. + +[7] See also Rous, p. 216. + +[8] Sheppard's _Christ Church Letters_, 46, quoted by Gairdner, p. 115. + +[9] Rymer, xii. 200, quoted by Gairdner, p. + +[10] Buck, p. 31, who gives the Letters Patent. + +[11] Confession of his son. + +[12] It is generally alleged that there was no trial. The appointment +of Sir Ralph Ashton proves that there was. + +[13] _King Richard's Traitors, Oct._ 1483 + +In the bill of attainder (_Rot. Part._ v. p. 294) there are 100 +persons. Of these were executed + + The Duke of Buckingham at Salisbury. + Sir Thomas St. Leger at Exeter. + A person named Ramme at Exeter. + Some executed after trial at Torrington by Lord Scrope. + +Wm. Collingbourne had offered another man 8_l._ to go to Hy. Tudor in +Brittany and urge him to invade England. If they would land at Poole, +he would get people to rise. Executed in London, and 6 others, 2 taken +in Kent, 4 in Southwark. + + Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter } + Woodville, Bishop of Salisbury } + Morton, Bishop of Ely } + Marquis of Dorset } escaped abroad. + (_son of the Queen Dowager_) } + Lord Welles } + (_uncle of Henry Tudor_) } + + _Proclaimed Traitors--_ + + Henry Tudor, calling himself Earl of Richmond.* + Jasper Tudor, late Earl of Pembroke.* + Sir E. Courtenay. + Margaret, wife of Lord Stanley. + Sir William Cheney, to induce the Duke of Brittany to help. + John Cheney at Salisbury, and others. + Wm. Noreys, of Yachendon } + Sir Wm. Berkeley, of Beverton } + Sir Roger Tocotes, of Bromham, pardoned } 44 at Newbury and in + Sir Wm. Stonor, in Berks. } Berks. + Sir John Fogge, with 26 others } + Richard Beauchamp, of St. Amand } + William Knyvett, of Bodenham } with Buckingham at + John Hush, merchant of London } Bechurch + Thomas Nandike, necromancer of Cambridge } + Sir George Brown, of Bletchworth, and others executed at + Maidstone (Oct. 18), Rochester (Oct. 20), Gravesend (Oct. 22). + Sir John Gifford. + Sir Thomas Lewknor. + Sir Richard Gilford. + Reynald Pympe. + Sir Edward Poynings. + Sir William Brandon. + Sir John Wingfield. + Arthur Keane. + Sir William Hunter, pardoned. + Sir Thomas Ferveys, " + Nicholas Gaynsford, " + +One hundred named in the Bill, a considerable number afterwards +pardoned. + +_Harl. MSS._ No. 433, p. 128; Halsted, ii. 276 _n._; Sharon Turner. + +* Henry Tudor _had never been_ Earl of Richmond. His father was +attainted, and the title was given to Richard Duke of Gloucester, with +whom it merged in the crown. Jasper Tudor _had been_ Earl of Pembroke +before his attainder. Hence Henry Tudor is named as 'calling himself +Earl of Richmond,' while Jasper is 'late Earl of Pembroke.' After the +attainder the Earldom of Pembroke was conferred by Edward IV. on his +son Edward. + +[14] _Life of Henry VII._ + +[15] _Lives of the Lord Chancellors_, i. p. 407. + +[16] 'Vidisses tantisper patrem et matrem, iis novis apud Nothinghaniam +ubi tunc residebant, auditis prae subitis doloribus pene +insanire'--Croyland, p. 571. + +[17] _Harl. MS._ No. 433, fol. 183. + +[18] Rous, pp. 217-218. 'Non multo post principe, ut dicitur, mortuo, +juvenis comes Warwici Edwardus, filius primogenitus Georgii ducis +Clarenciae, proclamatus est apparens Angliae in curia regali, et in +serviciis ad mensam et cameram post regem et reginam primo ei +serviebatur.' + +[19] 'Postea sub arta custodia positus, conies Lincolniensis ei +praeferrebatur nomine Johannes Pole, filius et heres Johannis Pole ducis +Suffolchiae.'--Rous, p. 218. + +[20] Davies, _York Records_, p. 210. + +[21] Moreover, Lincoln fell at Stoke, fighting for the Earl of Warwick +as rightful king, not for himself. + +[22] This marriage never took place, and the Lady Anne became a nun at +Sion. + +[23] It is said by the Croyland monk (572) that there was an eclipse of +the sun on the day of her death. This would make it March 16. Some +authorities have the 11th. + +[24] Buck, p. 129. 'Non cum minore honore quam sicut reginam decuit +sepeliri.'--Croyland, i. 572. + +[25] Croyland, _York Records_, pp. 208, 210. + +[26] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 227. + +[27] John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third son of Edward III., +who lived to marry, had for his first wife Blanche, heiress of Henry +Duke of Lancaster, through whom he acquired the title. By her he had +Henry IV., who usurped the crown, Edward and John, who died young, +Philippa, married to Joam I., King of Portugal, and Elizabeth Duchess +of Exeter. He married secondly Constanza, heiress of Pedro King of +Castille and Leon, and had a daughter Catalina, wife of Enrique III., +King of Castille and Leon. A governess was engaged for the daughters +of the Duke of Lancaster. This was Catharine, daughter of a herald of +Hainault, named Payn Roet, who had married Sir Hugh Swynford in 1367. +The Duke had four children by this woman, named John, Henry, Thomas, +and Joan, surnamed Beaufort from the castle in France where they were +born. All were born during the lifetime not only of the Duke's wife, +but also of the governess's husband. The Duchess died in 1394, and the +realm was scandalised by the marriage of the Duke of Lancaster with +this woman on January 13, 1396. The Duke died in February 1399, +Catharine Swynford on May 10, 1403. Their children were granted +letters of legitimation by Richard II. in February 1397, confirmed by +Henry IV. on February 10, 1407, 'excepta dignitate regali.' Henry +Tudor's mother was granddaughter of John, the eldest of the Beauforts. + +[28] Every act of Richard III. has been persistently misrepresented. +This loan is usually alleged to have been a return to the illegal +system of 'benevolences,' which Richard had himself abolished a year +before, by Act of Parliament. Even Miss Halsted is led into this +error. But Mr. Gairdner has completely disposed of the accusation. +See Croyland, p. 572, and Lingard's remarks, iv. 255. Gairdner, p. 198. + + + + +{148} + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH + +Richard's headquarters were at Nottingham Castle, the 'Castle of Care' +as he had called it, since he received the news of his son's death +there. With the aid of the loan a force had been raised and armed; +while reinforcements were on their way from several directions. Here +the news arrived that Henry Tudor[1] had landed at Milford Haven with +2,000 mercenaries. He would never have run this risk unless he had +previously received distinct promises of adherence from the Talbots and +Stanleys. His mother, the wife of Stanley, was an inveterate +intriguer. She had already been detected in treasonable practices and +contemptuously forgiven by the King. Now she had persuaded her +treacherous husband that it would be more for his interests to be +step-father to a new King owing everything to his treason, than to +continue loyal to his generous and forgiving master. This explains the +conduct of the Stanleys, which emboldened the invader to venture upon +such an enterprise. The insurgents advanced by Cardigan and Welshpool +to Shrewsbury. They were joined by several Welsh chiefs, and by Sir +Gilbert Talbot with 2,000 men. Henry Tudor was accompanied by his +uncle Jasper, and by John Vere, {149} son of the attainted Earl of +Oxford. Reginald Bray,[2] his mother's steward, was in attendance on +him, and Dr. Richard Fox[3] acted as his secretary. Most of the +leaders of his troops were exiles who had been concerned in +Buckingham's abortive treason. William Brandon,[4] Sir John Cheney, +Sir Giles Daubeny, Sir Robert Willoughby, Sir John Byron, Richard +Edgcombe,[5] and Sir Thomas Bourchier, all come under this category. +Sir John Savage and Simon Digby[6] joined the invaders after they had +landed, and Walter Hungerford[7] deserted just before the battle. No +peer, except Stanley, joined the rebels. + +Lord Stanley and his brother Sir William had raised forces in +Lancashire and Cheshire, with the base intention of turning traitors to +their King if a good opportunity offered, but of being on the winning +side in any circumstances. With this object their design was to hold +aloof until the last moment. Sir William Stanley had a secret +interview with Henry at Stafford. On August 20 the insurgents, about +8,000 strong, arrived at Atherstone, nine miles beyond Tamworth. Here +the Stanleys again met Henry secretly. They pretended to the King that +they were retreating before the invaders. + +Richard was undoubtedly a man endowed with great military talent. He +had shown remarkable {150} generalship, when quite a boy, at Barnet and +Tewkesbury. He had conducted the Scottish campaign with signal +success. He had promptly stamped out the Buckingham revolt. He was +now to encounter the rebels. There can be no doubt that if he had +waited for the reinforcements which were on their way, especially from +the north, the result would never have been doubtful. But alas! he +despised his enemy, and his open and generous nature prevented him from +harbouring a suspicion of the foul treachery of the Stanleys until it +was too late. + +English pluck has been a motive power which has helped to place the +English-speaking race in the forefront of the world's history. That +dogged courage facing overwhelming odds rather than wait for help or +give ground is the secret of England's success. Often leading to +decisive victory it has sometimes resulted in disaster. Never more +conspicuous than in the audacious campaigns of Crecy and Agincourt, +when fortune was on the side of reckless valour, it was equally present +on the fatal field of Beauge, when Thomas Duke of Clarence lost his +life. We find it again at Wakefield, a battle which resembles Bosworth +in several respects. The brave and chivalrous father lost his life on +the former, the gallant son on the latter field. Both Richards were +full of English pluck. Both scorned to wait for succour; and +preferred, like the men of Zutphen and of Balaclava, to charge into the +midst of countless odds. Both were betrayed--the Duke of York by +Nevill, the King by the Stanleys. These Plantagenets were fitting +leaders of the people of England. While their dogged English pluck led +some of them to destruction, the very same quality has secured decisive +victory for England on a hundred fields. + +{151} + +On August 14 King Richard was hunting in Beskwood Park. He was an +ardent sportsman, and this was fated to be his last day's sport. +Monday the 15th was the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, and he +devoutly kept it, as we learn from the Duke of Norfolk.[8] He +commenced his march from Nottingham on Wednesday morning. He was +surrounded by loyal and devoted friends. Viscount Lovell and Sir +Robert Percy, the companions of his childhood, rode by his side. The +veteran Duke of Norfolk, who had fought with the great Talbot at +Chatillon, was hurrying up with a contingent from the eastern counties. +His son, the gallant Earl of Surrey, was with him. Lords Ferrers and +Zouch had arrived from the Midlands. The loyal old Constable, Sir +Robert Brackenbury, had come by forced marches from London. The Earl +of Northumberland, who owed much to his royal cousin,[9] was bringing a +first instalment of troops from the north. The faithful city of York +was represented by eighty of her citizens, stout-hearted and well +equipped.[10] Other troops were on their way, and if the King had +waited for them his victory was certain. All the loyal gentry of the +north were in arms, but Richard did not give them time to reach his +camp. Among them were the two Lords Scrope, Lords Dacre and Ogle, Lord +Greystoke of Hinderskelf, the King's cousin,[11] who 'brought a mighty +many,' and among the Yorkshire names of those loyal to King Richard +were Gascoigne and Conyers, Strickland and Constable, Mauleverer and +Plumpton, Tempest and Pudsey, Pilkington and Musgrave. + +{152} + +The King formed his army in two divisions, marching five abreast, with +the cavalry on the flanks. Richard himself was on a white horse richly +caparisoned, and he wore a golden circlet on his helmet. He entered +Leicester in the evening of August 19, and lodged at the 'White +Boar'[12] in North Gate Street. In the morning of Sunday the 21st the +army marched out of Leicester, reaching the little village of +Stapleton, a distance of eight miles, in the afternoon. A camp had +already been prepared in a field near Stapleton, called 'the +Bradshaws,' which is on a slight eminence. + +[Sidenote: The Battle of Bosworth] + +[Illustration: Map: Battle of Bosworth] + +This part of Leicestershire consists of a succession of hills and +dales, with streams flowing westward, and uniting to form the Anker, a +tributary of the Trent. The 'Bradshaws' is on the brow of a gentle +slope, at the base of which flows a rivulet called the Tweed. The Duke +of Norfolk's camp was at Cadeby, about two miles to the north, but he +only arrived at Stapleton the day before the battle. Stanley, still +pretending to retreat, marched with 2,000 men, by Stoke Golding, to a +field now called 'Gamble's Close,' facing the 'Bradshaws,' with the +Tweed flowing between the two positions. Sir William Stanley had a +similar force encamped on the northern side of the field, in front of +the town of Market Bosworth, and near the Duke of Norfolk. Between, +but to the west of Stapleton and Cadeby, there is a ridge known as +Sutton Fields, in front of the village of Sutton Cheney. A gentle +slope sinks thence to Redmore Plain[13] and Ambien Leys, {153} between +which is the hill called Ambien. Further west, across the stream, +there are some fields called the White Moors, with the village of +Shenton to the north, and those of Dadlington and Stoke Golding to the +south-east. + +Henry had arrived at Atherstone on August 20, and lodged at the 'Three +Tuns,' while the rebel troops and their French allies under Philibert +de Shaunde encamped in the meadows north of the church. Tudor was here +joined by another traitor, Robert Hardwicke of Lindley. Next day the +insurgents advanced nearly due east, crossed the bridge over the river +Anker at Witherley, and then turned up the Fenn Lanes, encamping on +White Moors. Hardwicke of Lindley acted as their guide. They were a +mile from Ambien Hill, with Lord Stanley in advance of their right +flank, and Sir William Stanley between their camp and Bosworth, on +their left flank. + +The King had thrown up a breastwork to protect his camp, 300 yards +long, with flanks of fifty yards, facing Lord Stanley. At length the +suspicious conduct of Stanley forced him to entertain the idea of +treachery. But it was too late. He had about 8,000 men, while +Norfolk's contingent numbered 4,000. The Stanleys had about 8,000 men, +and the insurgent army was composed of 2,000 French mercenaries, 2,000 +retainers of Sir Gilbert Talbot, and 4,000 Welsh and English traitors, +in all 8,000 men. Including the Stanley contingents, the enemy largely +outnumbered the royal army. + +During the night Sir Simon Digby got into the royal camp as a spy, and +returned with the report that the troops were in motion. The rebel +leaders, therefore, sounded to arms. This must have been at dawn of +Monday, August 22, 1485. The sun rose that {154} day at a quarter +after five.[14] King Richard marched north-eastward for two miles to +effect a junction with the Duke of Norfolk. The royal army was then +formed in two lines, along the ridge of Sutton Fields. The archers +were in the front line, with a few small pieces of artillery, under the +Duke of Norfolk. The bill-men formed the rear line, and the horse were +on the flanks. Stanley marched at the same time as the King, and +halted to the rear of his left flank. The Earl of Northumberland +arrived the same morning, but he seems to have thought that his men +needed rest. He took no part in the battle. This slackness and want +of zeal were punished in after years by the loyal people of +Yorkshire.[15] + +King Richard was dressed in the same suit of polished steel that he had +worn at Tewkesbury, with a golden circlet round his helmet. He rode to +a knoll, since called 'Dickon's Nook,' and addressed the army in a +spirit-stirring speech, calling on all true Englishmen to resist the +foreign invaders, and appealing to their loyalty and patriotism. He +then led them down the slope, placing his right towards Ambien Leys. +In front of his centre there was a well, since known as King Richard's +Well. + +Philibert de Shaunde had formed the insurgents across Redmore Plain, +with a morass on their right flank. In their first line was John Vere +in the centre, Sir Gilbert Talbot on the right, and Sir John Savage on +the left wing. Jasper Tudor commanded the second line, and his nephew +Henry kept well in {155} the rear. John Vere ordered his men not to +advance more than ten paces in front of their standard; for he knew of +the contemplated treachery, and that the royal troops would be attacked +in the rear. + +As soon as the King saw that the insurgents had left their camp and +advanced round the morass, he gave the order for the attack at about 10 +A.M. A volley of arrows was discharged on either side: probably a few +shots from some small pieces of ordnance were fired by the rebels.[16] +Then the traitor Stanley threw off the mask and fell upon the left rear +of the royal army, throwing it into confusion. The Duke of Norfolk +fought gallantly and fell in the thickest of the battle. + +The young King beheld this treason, and at once made up his mind. He +saw that a desperate charge of cavalry was the only remaining chance. +He received a report that Henry Tudor was skulking in the rear, and +resolved to attack him. It was a well-concerted plan, though made on +the spur of the moment. Richard was surrounded by loyal and devoted +knights. It is said that he stopped to quench his thirst at the well. +Then, putting spurs to his horse, he galloped forward, followed by the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State, the Clerk of the +Council, the Constable of the Tower, Lords Lovell, K.G., Ferrers, and +Zouch; Sir Bryan Stapleton, Sir Thomas and Humphrey Stafford, Sir +Richard Clarendon, Sir Gervase {156} Clifton, Sir Robert Percy,[17] Sir +Richard Ratcliffe, K.G.,[18] the flower of England's loyal chivalry. +Sir William Parker was the standard-bearer. Never was the valour of +the kingly race of Plantagenet more gloriously displayed. Sir Robert +Brackenbury was encountered by the traitor Hungerford, who slew the +grey-headed old warrior, loyal to the last. Sir Gervase Clifton was +overthrown and badly wounded, but he was shielded from further harm by +Sir John Byron, his old friend and neighbour in Nottinghamshire, who +eventually obtained his pardon from the usurper.[19] The King himself +felled William Brandon to the ground. He was the adventurer's +standard-bearer, and the red dragon worked on white and green sarcenet +was hurled into the mud. The lions of England still waved over their +defenders. The King then unhorsed Sir John Cheney, a French pensioner, +and was on the point of reaching Henry Tudor himself, when the last and +foulest act of treachery was perpetrated. Sir William Stanley suddenly +attacked the right flank of the royal army with 3,000 men. King +Richard was surrounded. He was urged to fly by the loyal knights who +stood by him to the last. 'Never,' exclaimed the young hero, 'I will +not budge a foot; I will die King of England,' and he dashed into the +thickest of the fight. Like a sturdy oak sinking under a thousand +blows, at length King Richard fell, fighting an army and covered with +wounds. 'Fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies,' +confessed one of the most unscrupulous {157} among them.[20] He fell +at the foot of the hill in Ambien Leys. Lord Ferrers, Lord Zouch, Sir +Richard Ratcliffe, the Secretary of State, and the Clerk of the Council +fell fighting by his side. Sir William Conyers and Sir Richard +Clarendon were also among the slain, with many other loyal knights and +gentlemen. Sir William Parker (or Thurleball?), the King's +standard-bearer, is said to have kept the lions of England on high +until both his legs were cut from under him, nor, when on the ground, +would he let go while breath was left in his body.[21] + +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] + +On his accession to the throne his character did not alter. He loved +his country, and was a King of great administrative ability. He was +prompt and vigorous in suppressing insurrections, and baffling the +schemes of conspirators; but he was lenient, often unwisely so, when +the immediate danger was over. No other King would have spared such +mischievous traitors as Stanley and Morton. His generosity to the +families of attainted rebels will not find any parallel in our history. +Not only did he show liberal clemency to the wives of Rivers, Hastings, +Buckingham and others: {160} but he actually pensioned the wives of men +who were plotting against him in foreign countries, like John Vere, +Lord Dynham, and Alexander Cheney. His uprightness and good faith were +relied upon by enemies and friends alike. Lord Rivers appointed him +supervisor of his last will, well knowing him to be an honourable and +magnanimous foe. Lady Latimer sought the same service from him, as a +kind and trusty friend. As an arbitrator in family disputes, like that +between Sir Robert Plumpton and his relations, Richard, by his +impartial justice, established peace and concord where there had been +ill-will and litigation.[25] There was nothing mean or sordid in his +nature; he was liberal, open-handed, and generous. + +[Sidenote: Administration of King Richard] + +Richard's Parliament was the best that had met since the time of Edward +I. His administration was patriotic. He checked corruption in the +public service, {161} refused large sums of money that were offered to +him as gifts by several towns,[26] and anxiously sought the welfare of +his people. He took great interest in the administration of justice, +and it is recorded that in Michaelmas term of 1484 he personally +attended in the Star Chamber and propounded questions of law to the +judges. He encouraged trade, and especially voyages to Iceland and the +northern fisheries. In Ireland he was very popular and his government +was successful. His foreign policy was wise and judicious. He made +peace with Scotland, established friendly relations with Brittany and +Spain, observed strict neutrality between Maximilian and the Flemish +towns, while promoting commercial intercourse, and watched the +treacherous regency of France with well-founded suspicion. + +King Richard was a great builder.[27] He founded collegiate churches +at Middleham, Barnard Castle, and All Hallows Barking, built a memorial +chapel at Towton, another at Sheriff Hutton, endowed Queens' College, +Cambridge,[28] and erected a handsome tower at Westminster. He pushed +forward the works at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, begun by his +brother, and repaired the castles of Skipton, Carlisle, Nottingham, and +Warwick. His cognizance of the white boar is still to be seen on the +stonework of an oriel window at Barnard Castle. Richard was a prince +of literary tastes, and among his books a manuscript copy of the +romance of Tristan de Leonnais and a Wickliffe Bible have been +preserved. He was the friend and patron {162} of Caxton, who dedicated +a book 'Of the Ordre of Chyvalry and Knyghthode' to 'his redoubted Lord +King Richard.' By letters patent, dated March 21, 1484, he gave the +Heralds a charter of incorporation, and was thus the founder of the +College of Arms. He also granted them 'a right fayre and stately +house,'[29] called Pulteney's Inn. He was devout and religious, +striving to promote greater activity among the clergy in improving the +morals of the people. Richard was a keen sportsman, devoted to the +chase both with hawk and hound. He kept large hunting establishments +at Westminster and in Yorkshire. + +King Richard was probably conscious of the political change that was +impending in the world, for he was a vigilant observer of the signs of +the times, and was well versed in the political questions which were +engaging the attention of European statesmen. He had witnessed the +fall of his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, and the collapse of the +system he upheld. He must have seen that feudalism was giving way to a +new era, in the age of the Renaissance. The young Plantagenet was well +fitted by nature to rule the destinies of England during this period of +change. He had received an excellent training. For years he had been +accustomed to confer with the authorities at York on their local +affairs, he had often been in consultation with clerical advisers when +framing statutes for his collegiate churches, and from early youth he +had had unusual opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the needs and +wishes of the people. He desired to {163} reign in the hearts of his +countrymen. His proclamations and letters show that he wished to take +his people into his counsels, to consult public opinion, and to be +guided by it. He was an administrator of no mean ability, and although +he was bold even to recklessness in facing the consequences of his +acts, he always showed anxiety to have the public feeling with him. He +would, in all probability, have respected the rights and liberties of +his subjects while leading them into new ways. + +[Sidenote: Richard and the Tudors] + +In all respects Richard was better fitted to reign over England in the +days of change that were inevitable than the two tyrants who succeeded +him. Henry Tudor caused a beautiful chapel to be built at Westminster +for his own tomb, but his son robbed and destroyed scores of far more +beautiful tombs and churches in all parts of England. There might have +been an age of English Renaissance under Richard. There actually was +an age of Vandalic destruction under the Tudors. The father was a +miserly foreigner, the son a rapacious and remorseless tyrant,[30] both +despots by nature, and haters of constitutional freedom. The battle of +Bosworth was a calamity from which England did not soon recover. But +after seventy-three years of tyranny the Great Queen began to reign. +Though a Tudor by name her high qualities were derived from her +mother's English ancestors. She was a true Englishwoman at heart. +Descendant of the brave and loyal Norfolk who fell fighting for King +Richard at Bosworth, the grand-niece of Richard III. was by blood even +more truly English than were her Yorkist great-uncles. + +{164} + +Richard was most agreeable and ingratiating in his manners, and where +he was best known he was most liked.[31] He formed friendships which +endured the test of time. Those who knew and loved him in boyhood +fought by his side on the fatal field at Bosworth.[32] Richard III. +was the only one of our kings who made a true love match. His cousin +Anne, the playmate of his childhood, was his first love. United before +they were twenty, they passed ten years of happy married life together +at Middleham. Their love is proved by their constant companionship. +When the Protector was surrounded by perils and difficulties, his wife +hurried up to London to share them with him. Together they were +crowned, together they sat at public banquets, made progresses and +walked in royal processions. Together they mourned over the death of +their beloved child, and sought comfort in mutual sympathy. Richard +only survived his wife's death for five short months; having shared +with her their joys and sorrows for fourteen years. + +[Sidenote: Contemporary sovereigns] + +The true picture of our last Plantagenet King is not unpleasant to look +upon, when the accumulated garbage and filth of centuries of calumny +have been cleared off its surface. + +{165} + +CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS + + Scotland _James III._ 1460-1488 + France _Anne of Beaujeu_ (Regent for 1483 + _Charles VIII._) + Brittany _Francis II._ 1458-1488 + Low Countries _Mary and Maximilian_ 1477-1493 + Germany _Emperor Frederick III._ 1440-1493 + Denmark, Sweden, _Hans_ 1481-1513 + and Norway + Bohemia _Vladislaus_ 1471-1510 + Hungary _Matthias Corvinus_ 1458-1490 + Poland _Casimir IV._ 1445-1492 + Castille _Isabella_ 1474-1504 + Aragon _Ferdinand_ 1479-1516 + Portugal _Joam II._ 1481-1495 + Naples _Ferdinand of Aragon_ 1458-1494 + Pope _Sixtus IV._ (delle Rovere) 1471-1484 + " _Innocent VIII._ (Cibo) 1484-1492 + Tuscany _Lorenzo de' Medici_ 1469-1492 + Milan _Gian Galeazzo Sforza_ 1476-1494 + Grand Seigneur _Bayazid II._ 1481-1512 + + + +[1] Henry Tudor was not, and never had been, Earl of Richmond. His +father had been deprived by attainder and outlawry. Richard Duke of +Gloucester was created Earl of Richmond by King Edward IV., and when +Richard succeeded, the title merged in the crown. + +[2] Sir Reginald Bray was made a K.B. at Henry's coronation, and +afterwards a Knight of the Garter. He was an architect, and has the +credit of having finished St. George's Chapel at Windsor and built +Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster. + +[3] Fox was a priestly conspirator who had been acting as one of +Morton's agents. He was rewarded with the Bishopric of Winchester. + +[4] Henry's standard-bearer. + +[5] Knighted after the battle. + +[6] Made Lieutenant of the forests of Sherwood, Beskwood, and Clipston, +on Sept. 22, 1485. + +[7] Knighted after the battle. + + +[8] _Paston Letters_, ii. p. 334. + +[9] Their mothers were sisters. Richard III. had passed an Act +restoring all their rights and possessions to the Percys. + +[10] Davies, _York Records_, p. 216. + +[11] Their mothers were sisters. + +[12] Afterwards the 'Blue Boar.' + +[13] The battle was sometimes called Redmore, 'apud Rodemore juxta +Leicestre' (_York Records_, p. 217). See also Drayton's _Polyolbion_, +xxii. + + 'O Redmore then it seemed thy name was not in vain, + When with a thousand's blood the earth was coloured red.' + +[14] Thirty-first of Gregorian era. Sun rises at 5.15 A.M. + +[15] They killed him near Thirsk, on April 28, 1488, when he was +engaged in enforcing the payment of extortionate taxes levied by his +new master (Dugdale's _Baronage_, p. 282). + +[16] Four cannon balls were found on Ambien Hill in the last century. +They are now in possession of Mrs. Park Yates, of Sandiway, near +Northwich, who allowed Mr. Gairdner to examine them. One is of lead, +weighing 14-3/4 lbs., another 8-1/2 lbs., another 4 lbs., and the fourth is +of stone and larger. Mr. Gairdner suggests that the guns may have been +brought by the rebels from Tamworth Castle, which was on their line of +march. + +[17] Son of Robert Percy of Scotton, near Knaresborough. + +[18] Eldest son of Sir Thomas Ratcliffe of Derwentwater. Sir Richard +married Agnes, daughter of Lord Scrope of Bolton. + +[19] Sir Gervase Clifton of Clifton lived until 1493. His tomb is in +Clifton Church. + +[20] Polydore Virgil, p. 224. 'Attamen si ad ejus honorem veritatem +dicam ut nobilis miles licet corpore parvus et viribus debilis ad +ultimum anhelitum suum modo defensorio clarissime se habuit, saepius se +proditum clamans et dicans "Treason! Treason! Treason!" et sic +gustans quod aliis saepius propinaverat miserrime vitam finivit.'--Rous, +p. 218. 'Nam inter pugnandum et non in fuga, dictus Rex Richardus, +multis vulneribus ictus, quasi princeps animosus et audentissimus in +campo occubuit.'--_Croyland Chron._, Gale, i. p. 574. + +[21] Hutton's _Bosworth_. The only detailed account of the battle is +in the history of the Italian Polydore Virgil, who came to England in +about 1503. Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed copied from Polydore, or from +each other. Hutton visited the ground in 1788, and again in 1807, and +wrote a history of the battle. Mr. Gairdner also went over the ground +and wrote an account of the battle in the _Archaeologia_, lv. pt. vii. +p. 159 (1896), read Jan. 24, 1895. The present writer has twice been +over every part of the ground, and examined it carefully with Polydore +Virgil and Hutton as his guides, the first time accompanied by an +accomplished antiquary, the present Earl of Liverpool. + +[22] Brooke, _Visits to Battle Fields in England_, p. 170. + +[23] Mary II. was two months younger, but she was only a joint +sovereign. Edward VI. never actually reigned. + +[24] Davies, _York Records_, p. 218. + +[25] The history of this Plumpton arbitration illustrates the +difference between Richard III. and Henry VII. The former appears as a +just and upright king, studying the good of his subjects; the latter, +as a pettifogging tyrant, seeking pretexts and excuses for robbery and +spoliation. + +The dispute was between Sir Robert Plumpton and his heirs general as to +rights of succession. At last there was an agreement to abide the +award of the King's Majesty. Richard III. gave the matter his careful +attention, and decided on the merits, solely actuated by the desire of +doing substantial justice. His judgment was given on September 16, +1483. Impartial justice was actually done by Richard's award, and its +conditions were peacefully acquiesced in by both parties, for several +years. + +'But,' as the Editor remarks, 'it was the misfortune of Sir Robert +Plumpton to have lived on into the days of Henry VII., who, under the +pretence of a rigid enforcement of the law, sought only the means to +gratify his avarice.' Every defect of title, which might furnish the +pretext for a suit or fine, was eagerly caught at in order to swell the +revenue. In this manner the claim of the Plumpton heirs general was +re-opened by the infamous Empson, the tool of Henry; and after years of +persecution, Sir Robert was reduced to beggary and a debtors' prison.' +_Plumpton Correspondence_, pp. xc. to cxviii. (_Camden Society_, 1839). + +[26] London, Gloucester, and Worcester. + +[27] 'Erat iste Rex Ricardus in edificiis laudandus, ut +Westmonasteriensi, Notinghamiae, Warwici, Eboraci et apud Midlam, +multisque aliis locis, ut ad oculum manifesta evidet.'--Rous, p. 215. + +[28] Rous, p. 216. + +[29] Stow. Henry Tudor, when he usurped the crown, seized upon this +property, and turned out the Heralds. They remained houseless until +1555, when the Earl Marshal purchased a house on St. Benet's Hill for +them, the site of the present Heralds' College. + +[30] Henry VIII. was never known to exercise the prerogative of mercy. +Even poor young Lord Dacre was among his victims, for a trivial offence. + +[31] 'Richard was bold in conceiving and reckless in facing the +consequences of his acts, of high and brilliant courage, and seductive +manners.'--W. Campbell, _Introduction to Materials for the History of +the Reign of Henry VII._, p. xiv. + +[32] Lord Lovell and Sir Robert Percy. + + + + +{166} + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE AUTHORITIES + +The dynasty of the Plantagenets had reigned over England for more than +three centuries, when the last King of that royal race fell at the +battle of Bosworth. Under the Plantagenets, Normans and Saxons were +welded into one nation. The House of Commons became a firmly +established institution. The cherished liberties of England took form +and shape. The victories of the Plantagenet kings are the most +glorious traditions of the English people. No other dynasty became so +thoroughly national, and the Yorkist kings were almost pure Englishmen +in blood.[1] A halo of romance would naturally have gathered round our +last Plantagenet, our youngest reigning sovereign,[2] and the only +English monarch since the Conquest who fell in battle, fighting +valiantly for his crown and country. + +Instead of this being the case, the accusations of his enemies have +received full credence. He was charged {167} with the committal of a +series of atrocious crimes, his name has been execrated by posterity, +and historians have vied with each other in heaping opprobrium on his +memory. + +[Sidenote: Rooted prejudice] + +Yet there are obvious reasons for closely criticising the accusations +against King Richard, and for examining them with more than ordinary +care before accepting them as proved. For his successor had no valid +title to the crown. It was not only the new King's interest, but a +necessity of his position, that he should cause grave charges to be +brought against his predecessor, and that they should be accepted as +true. Henry VII. had the power and the will to silence all comment, +and to prevent any defence from being published. Evidence in favour of +Richard was destroyed. Authors employed by Henry, and others who were +anxious to please him and his successors, were alone permitted to write +histories. Not a syllable was allowed to be uttered on the other side +for one hundred and sixty years. The story thus put forward was +dramatised by Shakespeare, and became so familiar to posterity that +even writers of our own day approach the subject with unconscious +prejudice which they cannot resist. If Richard performs kindly acts, +and many such are recorded, he is trying 'to get unsteadfast friends.' +If he punishes treason he is 'a venomous hunchback.' If a rebellion is +put down during his reign he is an inhuman tyrant. His ability is +cunning, his justice is cruelty, his bravery is fury, his generosity is +artfulness, his devotion is hypocrisy. + +In giving some account of the original authorities upon whose testimony +the charges against King Richard rest, I only propose to state general +conclusions with regard to them in the present chapter; because proofs +{168} and arguments will be embodied in the detailed discussions which +follow. + +Bernard Andre, Archbishop Morton, and Polydore Virgil were actually in +the pay or under the direct influence of the first Tudor King. In this +trio only one was an Englishman. John Rous and Robert Fabyan wrote +during Henry's reign, accepted his version of events, and sought his +favour. The continuator of the Chronicle of Croyland Abbey is the sole +independent source of information. + +[Sidenote: Morton's pamphlet] + +By far the most important of the original authorities, and the one on +which all subsequent history has been based, is Archbishop Morton. His +narrative is contained in the 'History of Richard III.,' erroneously +attributed to Sir Thomas More, who was in Morton's household when a +boy. This work first appeared in Hardyng's Chronicle, printed by +Grafton in 1543. It was embodied in Hall's Chronicle, and copied by +Holinshed. Fourteen years after its publication, another and somewhat +different version was brought out by Rastell in 1557. Rastell was +related to Sir Thomas More, and he alleged that his version was taken +from a manuscript in More's handwriting written about 1513. A Latin +version, written long before its publication, was printed at Louvain in +1566, with various additions to the imaginary speeches, and an address +to Henry VIII. and the Earl of Surrey. Sir George Buck[3] and Sir +John Harington[4] had heard that the work was written {169} by Morton. +The Latin version could not have been, for it is addressed to Henry +VIII., and Morton died in 1500. + +The history, as we have it, contains long speeches and dialogues which +must have been fabricated by the writer. The narrative from the death +of Edward IV. to the accession of Richard was certainly written or +dictated by Morton, for no one else could have been cognizant of some +of the facts. The title given by the publisher is misleading. It is +not a 'history of Richard III.,' but a very detailed narrative of the +events from his brother's death to his own accession, covering a period +of less than three months. It ends abruptly at a point just before the +date of Morton's flight from England. His personal knowledge ceased +with his departure, and here the story suddenly comes to an end. He +was evidently acquainted personally with every detail, and he possessed +an exceptionally accurate memory.[5] The errors and alterations of +dates in the narrative must consequently have been made intentionally +and with an object. Morton's character and the value of his testimony +will be discussed more fully in a future chapter. The story of the +murder of the young princes at the end of the book cannot have been +written by Morton, for it alludes to events which happened after +October 12, 1500, the date of that prelate's death. The outline of the +story of the murder was no doubt inspired, as Lord Bacon shrewdly +suspected, by Henry VII. himself. + +Rastell assumed that the English version of this {170} 'History of +Richard III.' was composed by Sir Thomas More because a copy in his +handwriting was found among his papers. The previous publication by +Grafton proves that there were other copies abroad, differing slightly +from each other, and there is no reason for assuming that the copy in +More's handwriting was the original. Indeed there is evidence that it +was not. Grafton's version contains a good deal at the end which is +not in the narrative attributed to More by Rastell. The latter ends +abruptly, as if the whole had not been copied. More merely made an +unfinished copy. The respect with which this production has been +treated is due to Sir Thomas More's reputed authorship, and to this is +to be attributed its comparative freedom from criticism. It is in +reality an unscrupulous party pamphlet, and its authorship ought not to +affect its character. Yet the reply to any objection to statements +contained in it has hitherto been that it was written by the good and +virtuous Sir Thomas More, and therefore must be true.[6] + +Internal evidence makes it certain that More did not write it. The +author speaks of the death-bed of Edward IV. as an eye-witness.[7] +More was then only five years of age. He was born in February 1478. +{171} This seems conclusive. Sir Thomas made an incomplete copy, when +a young man, of a work which was attracting a good deal of attention, +and of which there were other copies in circulation. The date of the +copy is said by Rastell to be 1513, when More's age was about +thirty-five. The actual compiler of the book, as we have it, is +unknown. But the information and the inspiration of the whole work, +with the exception of the story of the murder of the young princes at +the end, is undoubtedly from Archbishop Morton. I have, therefore, +referred to the work as by Morton, and to the story of the murders, +which is clearly not by Morton, as by Rastell's anonymous historian. + +[Sidenote: Bernard Andre] + +Henry VII. began the business of vilifying his predecessor very early +in his reign. It was indeed a matter of the utmost moment to him, for +he appears to have considered that a belief in the alleged crimes of +Richard was essential to the security of his own position. He brought +over a blind Gascon from France, named Bernard Andre, whom he appointed +his poet laureate and historiographer. Andre began to write a life of +Henry VII. in 1500. It is very brief, with several gaps, and he left +it incomplete when he died in about 1522. + +[Sidenote: Polydore Virgil] + +But the Italian who arrived some years later in Henry's reign was far +more serviceable. Polydore Virgil was the paid historian of the +Tudors. He was a native of Urbino, and was sent to England by his +patron, the infamous Pope Alexander VI., in 1501 as the assistant +collector of the tax called Peter's pence. Henry requested him to +undertake the history, placing all official materials at his disposal, +and doubtless indicating the line he was to take. He proved {172} an +apt pupil and was well rewarded. He was made absentee Rector of Church +Langton, received a prebend at Lincoln, another at Hereford, and was +appointed Archdeacon of Wells. In 1513 he was made a Canon of St. +Paul's with a house, and he had other preferment. His history was +completed in 1534. Polydore Virgil was a man of learning, and his work +is based on original research. But he did not hesitate to misrepresent +facts not only to please his patrons, but in order to gratify his own +spite and malignity.[8] In his account of events in the life of +Richard III. he merely recorded the version that would be pleasing to +his employer. His imperfect knowledge of the English language impairs +the value of his evidence when obtained from oral sources. The tale of +the assassination of young Edward of Lancaster by a King of England and +his chief nobles is peculiarly Italian, and may be claimed by Polydore +as his original conception. It is worthy of this protege of the +Borgias. His statements respecting King Richard deserve little credit, +unless they are corroborated by independent evidence. Polydore had +access to the written statements of Morton, of which he made +considerable use. He also had the run of all official documents, and +he is said to have made away with numerous original papers, which may +be presumed to have disproved his assertions.[9] One most {173} +important document, which Henry ordered to be destroyed, has been +preserved through a fortunate accident.[10] + +These three writers, Andre, Morton, and Virgil, were employed by the +Tudors, and considering the sources from whence their statements come, +little weight ought to be attached to them. They are the paid, and +very well paid, counsel and witnesses of King Richard's cunning enemy. +'The sagacious, patient, unchivalrous man,' says Mr. Campbell, +'although he rewarded his panegyrists with, for him, prodigal +liberality, estimated with mercantile keenness the worth which their +eulogies would bear in his own age.'[11] + +[Sidenote: Rous] + +The authors who wrote during the reign of Henry VII., but not in his +pay or directly under his influence, next come under review. John +Rous, the so-called hermit of Guy's Cliff, was an antiquary and an +heraldic draughtsman. He knew Richard personally. He was the author +of 'Historia Regum Angliae,' which he dedicated to Henry VII., and in +which he heaped virulent abuse on King Richard, crowding his venom into +a page or two at the end--an after-thought to please his new patron. +He also prepared two pictorial heraldic rolls, representing the +pedigree of the Earls of Warwick. Both were executed during the +lifetime {174} of King Richard. One is at Kimbolton, the other at the +Heralds' College. To the latter Rous had access after the accession of +Henry. To the former he had not. In the former Richard is described +as 'a mighty Prince and special good Lord,' and as 'the most victorious +Prince Richard III. In his realm full commendably punishing offenders +of the laws, especially oppressors of his commons, and cherishing those +that were virtuous, by the which discreet guiding he got great thanks +and love of all his subjects rich and poor, and great laud of the +people of all other lands about him.' The latter roll was still in the +hands of Rous when Richard fell. The above passage is expunged. The +portraits of the two Yorkist Kings are taken out. Queen Anne Nevill is +despoiled of her crown, her son is deprived of crown and sceptre, and +Richard is merely alluded to as Anne's 'infelix maritus.' The +testimony of such an unblushing time-server as Rous must be rejected as +worthless. Yet, in one or two instances, he has inadvertently revealed +the truth, where the official writers have intended to conceal it.[12] + +Robert Fabyan was a clothier and alderman of London, who recorded the +events of earlier times and of his own day in a chronicle which was +written during the reign of Henry VII.[13] He was a fulsome Tudor +partisan, anxious to please the reigning powers, and ready to record +any story against the fallen King, even to wholesale falsification of +dates. It will be shown further on that, in concocting part of his +chronicle, he must have been in dishonest collusion with Morton. {175} +Fabyan died in 1513, and his chronicle was first published in 1516. It +was used by Polydore Virgil. + +Dr. Warkworth, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, wrote a diary which +has chiefly been relied upon as evidence of the date of the death of +Henry VI.,[14] but that question will be fully discussed in a future +chapter. + +[Sidenote: The monks of Croyland] + +Morton, Polydore Virgil, Rous, and Fabyan will be found to be dishonest +and untrustworthy narrators, who can be shown to use deception +deliberately, with a full knowledge of the truth. The second +continuation of the Chronicle of Croyland Abbey occupies an entirely +different position. There is every reason for believing that the monks +who wrote it, though the first was prejudiced, and the second was +credulous and easily deceived, intended to relate what they believed to +be true. This continuation long remained in manuscript, in which state +it was seen by Sir George Buck. It was not printed until 1684. It +occupies twenty-eight folio pages.[15] + +The first part of the continuation bears internal evidence of having +been written by one monk who concludes with some local notices +respecting the abbey and its inmates. Then another monk took up the +chronicling pen, and ends his part in the same way. It is capable of +absolute proof that this continuation of the Croyland Chronicle was +written by at least two monks. In referring to the death of Henry VI., +the first monk prays that the tyrant who caused it may be given time +for repentance. This part must, therefore, have been written while the +tyrant in question was alive, whether Edward IV., Richard, or Lord +Rivers the Constable (who was really the responsible person) {176} is +intended. The second monk says at the end, that the work was finished +on April 30, 1486, and that it was written in ten days. Edward, +Richard and Rivers were all dead in April 1486. Consequently these two +passages must have been written by different hands. + +The first of these monks was the more judicious of the two, and he had +probably once mixed in the world. He mentions a councillor of Edward +IV. who was doctor of canon law, and who was sent to Abbeville on an +embassy to the Duke of Burgundy in 1471. In the margin there is a note +to the effect that the same man compiled that part of the chronicle. +If this note is to be relied on, the first monk had once been in the +service of Edward IV., but he had Lancastrian sympathies like Morton. +He refers to the executions after Tewkesbury as vindictive, and he +hints at a rumour that Henry VI. met his death by order of his +successor. His part of the chronicle includes ten pages, and covers +the period from 1471 to the death of Edward IV. + +The second monk seems to have known nothing of the outer world, and was +very credulous. It is with him that we have to do in this inquiry. He +relates the events leading to the accession of Richard III. with +general accuracy, and correctly as regards dates, the same dates being +falsified by Morton and Fabyan. He even gives the true grounds on +which Richard's claim to the crown rested, which are falsified by +Morton and by Polydore Virgil, and which were forbidden by Henry VII. +to be mentioned on pain of imprisonment. The chronicle remained in +manuscript, and the truth-telling monk was not found out. The +contribution of the second monk to the continuation of the Chronicle of +Croyland Abbey was written out in {177} ten days, and finished in the +time of Henry VII., on April 30, 1486. Though generally trustworthy it +contains several errors. It follows Morton, Polydore Virgil, and +Fabyan in stating that Hastings was beheaded on the day of his arrest. +It will be seen in Chapter III. that this is disproved by an +investigation of dates given by those writers, and by Stallworthe. It +follows Morton in the statement that Lord Rivers and his companions +were beheaded without trial. This is disproved by Rous. It asserts +that, after King Richard's coronation, there was a rumour that his +nephews had been put to death. There is no other contemporaneous +mention of this rumour, and reasons will presently be given for +believing that there was no such rumour. It also states that Richard +was crowned a second time at York. Mr. Davies, in his 'York Records,' +has shown that no such coronation ever took place. + +The interesting question arises how the monk was misled on these four +points, when his information was so accurate, and so directly +contradicts Morton, Polydore Virgil, and Fabyan, as regards the dates +of events immediately preceding Richard's accession, and as regards the +nature of his claim to the throne. Could Morton have been at his +elbow? If he was, these errors would be explained, for they are the +most telling points in Morton's case. We know that Morton was sent to +Brecknock Castle, in the custody of the Duke of Buckingham, in August +1483. Later in the autumn he escaped, crossed England in disguise, and +was concealed for some time in the fen country near Ely, before taking +ship for Flanders. He even mentions his object in going there. 'If he +were in the Isle of Ely,' he told Buckingham, 'he could make many {178} +friends to further the enterprise.'[16] He went there to plot and +intrigue. The secluded Abbey of Croyland is a likely asylum for Morton +to have selected as a place of concealment. A political bishop who had +been a principal actor in the recent events would be a Godsend to the +chronicling monk; while the intriguer would be in his element, sowing +the first seeds of his future crop of calumny. The second Croyland +monk would be as clay in the potter's hand. He gives us a striking +instance of his gossiping credulity. He had been told that the King's +niece, Elizabeth, once appeared at Court in a dress similar to that of +the Queen. Instead of the obvious deduction that Queen Anne had kindly +provided the girl with a dress like her own, we are treated to dark +hints about a rival who was to supplant the Queen, and modern +historians have taken the old monk's nonsense in all seriousness. +Morton would have found such a man quite ready to accept without +further inquiry any statement he might make, and to be the channel of +any rumour he chose to spread. + +Such are the witnesses arrayed against the last Plantagenet King by his +Tudor successors. It will be our business to test the value of their +testimony. They had it all their own way. No one was allowed to +answer them. For those who knew the truth it was a choice between +silence and ruin. The accused had no counsel. Whether the Tudor +writers are trustworthy or not, there can be no question that, aided by +these advantages, they served their employers well. They have +completely succeeded in their object. They have blackened the memory +of King Richard III. for all time. + +The chief evidence in Richard's favour can only {179} now be found in +the contradictions, admissions, inadvertent lapses into truth, and +suppressions of his traducers. Official documents and private letters +also tell their tale. Falsifications of dates, and the objects of such +falsifications by the Tudor writers, are often detected by means of +these unimpeachable sources of information. Among the Harleian +manuscripts there is a book kept by Dr. Russell, the Bishop of Lincoln +and Richard's Chancellor, containing all the documents that passed the +Great or Privy Seal during his reign, as well as correspondence with +foreign sovereigns and ambassadors.[17] This manuscript has been a +mine of rebutting evidence. There is also valuable testimony derivable +from the Rolls of Parliament, Patent Rolls, and from Rymer's 'Foedera.' +It is worthy of special note that the undesigned evidence of official +documents often exposes the true character of Tudor testimony. + +Enough has been said to show that the statements of the Tudor writers +call for more than ordinary caution in their use; and that the nearest +approach to the truth, which is all we can hope for, will not be +reached if any fact or insinuation alleged or hinted by them is +accepted without being first subjected to very rigorous scrutiny. + +[Sidenote: Later chroniclers] + +The later chroniclers, such as Hall, Grafton, Holinshed, Stow and Buck, +copied from the earlier writers. They cannot be considered as original +authorities. Hall is little more than a translation of Polydore +Virgil, served up with embellishments invented by himself. Stow is +much more trustworthy. + +These later writers must not be relied upon for facts. It was their +habit to add numerous minor details to the stories they received from +their {180} predecessors, and it cannot reasonably be doubted that +these additions were inventions intended to add force or interest to +their narratives. When they quote from or insert documents the case is +different. Thus Hall and Grafton give the conversation between Morton +and the Duke of Buckingham at Brecknock, being a copy of some original +document. Buck gives the substance of a letter from Elizabeth of York +to the Duke of Norfolk, the original of which he had actually seen. He +also quotes some older narrative for the imprisonment and death of King +Richard's illegitimate son. Hall gives the proceedings of the Council +when the imprisonment of the Queen Dowager, at Bermondsey, was ordered. +In such cases only ought the evidence of the later writers to be +accepted. + +[Sidenote: Modern authors] + +There was a reaction against the acceptance of all the statements put +forth by Tudor writers, which began from the moment that it became safe +to discuss the subject. The caricature was too gross, and too coarsely +drawn for general acceptance. As soon as the last of the Tudors had +passed away, Sir George Buck[18] wrote a defence of Richard III. He +was followed by Carte in his History of England.[19] Rapin, although +he felt {181} obliged to repeat the stories of the Tudor writers, +evidently had no confidence in their accuracy, and warned his readers +against them more than once. Stronger views on the subject were +adopted by Horace Walpole in his 'Historic Doubts'[20] (1768), by +Bayley in his 'History and Antiquities of the Tower of London,'[21] by +Laing in his continuation of 'Henry's History of England,'[22] by Mr. +Courtenay in his 'Commentaries on Shakespeare,'[23] by Miss Halsted in +her 'Life of Richard III.'[24] and by Mr. Legge in his 'Unpopular +King.'[25] Mr. Thorold Rogers rejects the story of the assassination +of Henry VI.; Sharon Turner[26] and Jesse[27] acquit the accused King +on all the counts except the murder of his nephews; while Dr. Hook,[28] +Dr. Stubbs and Sir Harris Nicolas[29] are unable to believe all the +accusations. The arguments put forward by some of {182} these authors +are not always tenable. But they show that there has been, from the +time when discussion was first allowed, a revulsion of feeling among +well-informed students against the acceptance of these accusations +without close scrutiny. It was felt that the statements of Tudor +writers must at least be considered as those of prejudiced and _ex +parte_ witnesses. Miss Halsted's 'Life of Richard III.' is by far the +most complete and the most valuable. Her interest in the slandered +young King led her to pay frequent visits to the ruins of Middleham +Castle, the scene of Richard's boyhood and of his happy married life. +Miss Halsted eventually married the dean of the college founded by +Richard and lies buried in Middleham Church. + +[Sidenote: Tudor fables discredited] + +On the other hand, there have been a few historians who have approached +the questions at issue either without considering the other side at all +or with a strong though possibly unconscious bias. Hume only had a +superficial knowledge of the subject. The most authoritative and +important upholder of the Tudor accusations is Dr. Lingard.[30] He +defends them in their entirety, and in this he stands alone among those +who have really studied the subject. Mr. Gairdner[31] rejects some of +the accusations and supports other Tudor stories with hesitation, and +in an apologetic and more or less doubtful tone. But Mr. Gairdner's +knowledge of the subject is so exhaustive, and his {183} position as a +historian is so justly high, that I have devoted a separate chapter to +the consideration of his views on the chief accusations against King +Richard III. + +The Tudor fables are now discredited and are dying, but they are dying +hard. + + + +[1] Richard II. was the first of our Kings, after the Norman Conquest, +who was partly an Englishman. Henry V., Edward IV., and Richard III. +were almost pure Englishmen. So was Edward VI., and Elizabeth was a +thorough Englishwoman. Mary II. and Anne were half English. + +[2] See p. 159, note 1. + +[3] 'Dr. Morton had taken his revenge and written a book in Latin +against King Richard, which came afterwards to the hands of Mr. More. +The book was lately in the hands of Mr. Roper of Eltham, as Sir Edward +Hoby, who saw it, told me.'--Buck, p. 75. + +[4] 'Written as I have heard by Morton.'--Harington's _Metamorphosis of +Ajax_, p. 46. Mr. Gairdner has suggested that the book attributed to +More is a translation of one written in Latin by Morton. See _Letters +and Papers illustrative of the Reign of Richard III._, &c. Preface +xviii. (_n_). It is really the English version that was dictated or +inspired by Morton. + +[5] More's _Utopia_, p. 20. + +[6] See for instance Sharon Turner (iii. 462), who claims unquestioning +belief in this scurrilous production, because 'all confess More's +ability and integrity.' See also Jesse (p. 156 _n._ and p. 500). + +In the same spirit Sir John Harington defended his own filthy treatise +because 'the worthy and incorrupt Master More' was dirty in his History +of Richard III. These writers seem to think that falsehood becomes +truth, and obscenity becomes decency in this book, merely because its +authorship is attributed to More. See _Metamorphosis of Ajax_, p. 46. + +[7] 'As I myself, who wrote this pamphlet, truly know.' This is not in +Rastell's version; but in the continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle. + +[8] Speaking of Polydore Virgil in his _Life of Henry VIII._ (p. 9), +Lord Herbert of Cherbury adds: 'in whom I have observed not a little +malignity.' The story of Cardinal Wolsey's ingratitude to Fox owes its +parentage to the spite of Polydore Virgil; whom Wolsey imprisoned. It +was quite untrue.--Brewer. + +[9] 'Polydore Virgil committed as many of our ancient manuscript +volumes to the flames as would have filled a waggon, that the faults of +his own work might pass undiscovered.'--Caius, _De Antiquitate +Cantabrigiae_ (1574), p. 52. + +'Polydore caused all the histories to be burnt which by the King's +authority and the assistance of his friends he could possibly come +at.'--La Popliniere, _Histoire des Histoires_, ix. 485. + +[10] The Act of Parliament explaining the title of Richard III. to the +crown. + +[11] Mr. Campbell's Introduction to the _Materials for the History of +the Reign of Henry VII_. + +[12] Rous was one of the Chantry Priests at Guy's Cliff. He died in +1491, and was buried at St. Mary's, Warwick. + +[13] One proof of this is that he calls Lord Stanley the Earl of Derby. +He was created Earl of Derby by Henry VII. + +[14] _Rerum Anglicarum scriptorum veterum_. Tom. i. (Oxoniae, 1684.) + +[15] _Alia Hist. Croylandensis continuatio_, pp. 549-578. + +[16] Grafton, p. 130. + +[17] _Harl. MS._ 433. + +[18] Sir George Buck was descended from John Buck, comptroller of King +Richard's household, who was put to death after the battle of Bosworth. +Sir George served with the Earl of Essex in the Cadiz expedition of +1596. He was knighted by James I. in July 1603, and became Master of +the Bevels in 1610, a post which he held until 1622. He died on +September 22, 1623. His _History of the Life and Reign of King Richard +III._, composed in five books, was published in 1646, with 'George +Buck, Esq.,' as author. But the existence of the manuscript in the +British Museum, with Sir George as the author, and in his handwriting, +proves the substitution of 'Esquire' for 'Sir' to be a mistake. Camden +speaks of Buck as a man of distinguished learning. + +[19] Thomas Carte, _History of England to_ 1654 _inclusive_. 4 vols. +folio. 1753. + +[20] Horace Walpole, _Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard +III._, 4to. 1768. + +[21] John Bayley, _History and Antiquities of the Tower of London_, 2 +vols. 4to. 1821. + +[22] Laing, _Continuation of the History of Great Britain by Dr. +Henry_. 1795. + +[23] J. P. Courtenay, _Commentaries on the Plays of Shakespeare_, 2 +vols. 8vo. 1840. + +[24] Miss Halsted, _Life of Richard III_. 2 vols. 8vo. 1844. + +[25] Alfred O. Legge, _The Unpopular King_. _Life and Times of Richard +III_. 2 vols. 8vo. 1883. + +[26] Sharon Turner, _History of England during the Middle Ages_. 5 +vols. 8vo. 1830. + +[27] John H. Jesse, _Memoirs of King Richard III_. 8vo. 1862. + +[28] Dr. W. F. Hook, D.D., _Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury_. 9 +vols. 8vo. 1860-72. He considers the slander of the Duchess of York +incredible. + +[29] Sir N. H. Nicolas, _Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York_. +1830. He utterly rejects the story of Richard having poisoned his +wife, and having wanted to marry Elizabeth of York (p. liii.) Dr. W. +Stubbs, _Constitutional History of England_, vol. ii. Thorold Rogers, +_Work and Wages_, ii. 212. + +[30] Dr. Lingard, _History of England to the Revolution_. 4th ed. +1837; 6th ed. 1854. + +[31] James Gairdner, _Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of +Richard III. and Henry VII_. 1861-63. _Memorials of Henry VII_. +1858. _History of the Life and Reign of Richard III_. 1878. _Life of +Henry VII_. 1889. Article in the _English Historical Review_. 1891. + + + + +{184} + +CHAPTER II + +EXAMINATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III + + 1. The Deformity. + 2. Murder of Edward of Lancaster. + 3. Murder of Henry VI. + 4. Marriage with Anne Nevill. + 5. Treatment of the Countess of Warwick. + 6. Death of Clarence. + + +An indictment, in many counts, was brought against Richard III. after +his death, by the authors who wrote during the reign of his successor, +and in the interests of that successor's dynasty. It will be seen, in +the course of the discussion, with what object these accusations were +made, and why a belief in them was considered to be so important to the +success of the Tudor usurpation. The reckless profusion of abuse was +due to the complete license of the traducers. No one could appear for +the accused. The brave young King was dead, his body subjected to +cowardly insults, his friends proscribed, his people silenced. Calumny +was triumphant and unchecked. Yet there was method and system in the +scheme of the Tudor writers. Their accusations were all intended to +lead up to a belief in the dead King's guilt with regard to one central +crime. If he was to be deformed, if he was to be an assassin at the +age of eighteen, the murderer of his brother and his wife, a ruthless +usurper {185} and tyrant, it was because such a monster would be more +likely to commit a crime of which he must be thought to be guilty in +the interests of his wily successor. It will now be our business to +examine these charges one by one. The first concerns Richard's +personal appearance. + +[Sidenote: Deformity] + +It is stated that he was two years in his mother's womb,[1] that he was +born feet foremost,[2] with a complete set of teeth,[3] and with hair +down to the shoulders,[4] that he was hump-backed, that his right +shoulder was higher than his left,[5] that his left shoulder was much +higher than his right,[6] and that one of his arms was withered.[7] + +Passing over the obvious fables with the remark that they throw just +suspicion on other statements from the same sources, we come to the +hump-back. We do not find this deformity mentioned by any contemporary +except Morton. If it had existed it is certain that so conspicuous a +blemish would have been dwelt upon by all contemporary detractors. +Stow, the most honest of the later chroniclers, told Sir George Buck +that he had talked to old men who had seen and known Richard, and who +said that he was in bodily shape comely enough.[8] In the two +portraits drawn by Rous no inequality is visible. Richard here has a +handsome youthful face, slight build and good figure. The portrait at +Windsor shows a face full of energy and decision, yet gentle and +melancholy. The shoulders are quite even. + +{186} + +Rous, Polydore Virgil, and Morton are the authorities for the unequal +shoulders. Rous says that the right shoulder was higher. Morton makes +the left shoulder much higher. Their contradictory testimony shows the +worthless character of both these authorities. Polydore Virgil merely +mentions an inequality. Fabyan and the Croyland monk do not say a word +against Richard's personal appearance. A curious piece of evidence was +discovered by Mr. Davies of York, which bears on the question.[9] From +the 'York Records' it appears that, six years after King Richard's +death, a man named Burton was brought before the Lord Mayor accused of +calling that prince, whose memory was so beloved in the north, 'a +crouchback.' One John Poynter, who heard this remark, told Burton that +he lied, and struck at him with a little rod he had in his hand. It +would seem, therefore, that if there was any defect in Richard's +figure, it was so slight that its very existence was matter of dispute +among those who could well remember the King, while it was +imperceptible to Stow's informants. On the whole, we may accept the +conclusion of Miss Halsted that Richard was of slight and delicate +build, and that the severe martial exercises in which his youth had +been spent had caused the shoulder of his sword-arm to be very slightly +higher than the other. + +The story of the withered arm comes from Morton. That astute prelate +always had an object in making his statements. This particular tale +was invented to draw off attention from the real charge made by the +Protector against the Woodvilles. It served its turn, and may be +dismissed as false without any hesitation. {187} For it is not +mentioned by a single other authority. The victor of Barnet and +Tewkesbury, the leader of the brilliant charge at Bosworth, who +unhorsed Sir John Cheney[10] and William Brandon, must have had +serviceable arms. + +The object of the Tudor historians in commencing their grotesque +caricature of an imaginary monster with these stories of his personal +deformity is transparent. They intended to make him detestable from +the outset. They calculated that improbable crimes would be more +readily believed if the alleged perpetrator was a deformed hunchback +born with teeth. They were right. Nothing has more conduced to an +unreasoning prejudice against Richard, and to a firm belief in his +alleged crimes, than the impression of his personal repulsiveness. + +Modern writers have also understood this method of treatment. Lord +Macaulay was careful to prepare the minds of his readers for the +alleged judicial crimes of Sir Elijah by telling them that little Impey +was in the habit of stealing cakes at school.[11] The great essayist, +as well as the Tudor historians, knew their public. The one invented +the pilfering story and the others the deformity with the same motive. +If a judge had been a juvenile thief, or if a king had been a deformed +little monster, the charges against them in after life would be more +readily accepted as true. It is illogical, but it is human nature. + +Richard was described as a venomous hunchback[12] and made to commit +several atrocious crimes in order {188} to prepare men's minds to +receive, without incredulity, the story of the murder of his nephews. +It was evidently anticipated that this final draft on their powers of +belief would be dishonoured unless the alleged murderer had been +steeped in crime from his infancy. + +At the early age of eighteen Richard is accordingly accused of having +committed a cowardly and inhuman murder in cold blood after the battle +of Tewkesbury, on evidence which would be insufficient to hang a +dog.[13] + +[Sidenote: Young Edward's death] + +The battle took place on May 4, 1471. The young Duke of Gloucester had +displayed valour and generalship, and had won for himself a name in +chivalry. On the other side, Prince Edward of Lancaster, who was +exactly one year younger than Richard, led the main battle of his army, +and bore himself manfully. Carried away in the rout and closely +followed by his victorious enemies, he was slain on the field of +battle. There was one eye-witness who wrote an account of the battle +of Tewkesbury. He said that young Edward of Lancaster 'was taken +fleeing to the townwards and slain in the field.'[14] A drawing +accompanies this writer's report, in which we see a horse on its knees, +{189} the rider receiving his deathblow, the helmet struck off, and the +bright golden locks sinking on the horse's mane.[15] This was the +plain truth. He fell, fighting bravely, on the battle-field. All +contemporaries, without an exception, corroborate this evidence. The +next writer was Warkworth, but he was not present. He wrote 'There was +slain on the field Prince Edward, which cried for succour to the Duke +of Clarence.'[16] Bernard Andre, the paid historian of Henry VII., says +the same, 'Is enim ante Bernardi campum Theoxberye proelio belligerens +ceciderat.' The Croyland monk says that some of the Lancastrian +leaders fell in the battle, others 'by the revengeful hands of certain +persons afterwards,'[17] referring to the fact that some were executed +after trial before the Earl Marshal and Constable. There is no hint +here of the alleged assassination of Edward. Comines tells the same +story, 'et fut le Prince de Galles tue sur le champ et plusieurs autres +grans seigneurs.' Such is the unanimous testimony of contemporaries. + +We now come to the other Tudor writers and their versions of young +Edward's death. Fabyan, writing to please Henry VII., is the first who +said that the Prince was captured and brought before Edward IV., {190} +and he added the following tale: 'The King strake him with his gauntlet +in the face, on which the Prince was by the King's servants +incontinently slain.'[18] Fabyan's baseless gossip came before +Polydore Virgil, and the protege of Pope Alexander VI. conceived the +idea of giving it a lurid Borgian colouring, better suited to the +latitude of Urbino than to that of Tewkesbury and calculated to make +our flesh creep. It was thus that his ideas found words: 'King Edward +gave no answer, only thrusting the young man from him with his hand, +whom forthwith those that were present, who were George Duke of +Clarence, Richard Duke of Gloucester, and William Lord Hastings, +crewelly murderyd.'[19] This story was improved upon by Grafton, Hall, +Holinshed and other Tudor chroniclers. Dorset was added to the list of +alleged assassins by Habington, Grafton, and Hall. Gloucester is made +to strike the first blow by Holinshed. Here we have a striking example +of the gradual growth of a legend which has eventually become embedded +in history.[20] Its original conception was due to an Italian, not to +an English brain. It is {191} thus that the fable has become a part of +the history of England. Honest John Stow is alone in rejecting the +Italian's embellishment. He discredits the version of Polydore Virgil +as a palpable fraud, and merely repeats Fabyan's statement. + +It is very remarkable that three authorities patronised by Henry VII. +give no countenance to the fable of Polydore Virgil. Bernard Andre is +in perfect agreement with the contemporaries, simply because Virgil's +story had not been invented when he wrote. Rous is silent for the same +reason. He was the originator of the birth with teeth and with hair to +the shoulders. He heaped calumny on calumny, and would have eagerly +repeated the Tewkesbury story if it had existed in his time. Morton's +silence is still more singular except on the hypothesis that the +slander was not then in existence. + +Dr. Morton was actually present at Tewkesbury. If young Edward was +murdered he must have known it. Yet in a work prepared for the express +purpose of enumerating the alleged crimes of Richard he said {192} +nothing. He had no scruples. He repeats all he can think of, with the +object of heaping opprobrium on Richard's memory. But there is not a +hint about assassinating Edward of Lancaster. Morton's silence, under +these circumstances, amounts to a proof that the story was a +fabrication of later times. Andre, Rous, and Morton wrote before +Polydore Virgil, and when the Italian's calumny had not yet been +invented. It cannot be that Virgil found out what the less vigilant +Andre, Rous, and Morton overlooked. If anyone knew all the details of +the battle of Tewkesbury at first hand, it was Morton. He was there. +His silence explodes the fable. It also convicts Polydore Virgil of +having fabricated an exceptionally foul slander, with a rank scent of +its Borgian origin:-- + + 'Virgilii duo sunt: alter Maro: tu Polydore + Alter: Tu Mendax: ille Poeta fuit.'[21] + + +Unless the testimony of those who were absent, and for the most part +unborn, is to be preferred to that of eye-witnesses, and that of future +generations to contemporaries, the fable of young Edward's murder ought +never again to find a place in serious history. + +[Sidenote: Death of Henry VI] + +The charge against the Duke of Gloucester that he murdered Henry VI. is +an insinuation rather than an accusation. None of his traducers state +it as a fact. One says 'as men constantly say,' another, 'it was the +continual report,' another, 'as many believe.' We must, therefore, +first treat this alleged 'continual {193} report' as a rumour only, and +judge of it from probabilities. + +We are asked to believe that young Richard, a boy of eighteen, who had +just won great military renown, arrived at the Tower in the evening of +one day with orders to proceed on active service very early the next +morning; that, although fully occupied with preparations for his +departure, he found time to induce Lord Rivers, the Constable of the +Tower, and his political enemy, to deliver up charge to him in order +that he might assassinate a defenceless and feeble invalid with his own +hand, a deed which might just as well have been perpetrated by any +hired jailer; that it was done without his brother Edward's knowledge, +and that, although the deed must have been done with the knowledge of +Lord Rivers and his officials, of Henry's ten servants and three +readers, yet there was never any certainty about the matter. Rivers, +be it remembered, was not Richard's friend. + +This grossly improbable rumour bears the evidence of its origin clearly +marked. It was put forward in the reign and in the interests of Henry +VII. It was a rumour manufactured by his paid writers and their +followers. We can examine the process. + +Morton says: 'He slew with his own hand King Henry VI. as men +constantly say, and that without knowledge or commandment of the King.' + +Polydore Virgil has the following version: 'King Edward, to the intent +that there should be no new insurrections, travelled not long after +through Kent, which business being despatched, to the intent that every +man might conceive a perfect peace to be attained, Henry VI. being not +long before deprived of his diadem, was put to death in the Tower of +London. {194} The continual report is that Richard Duke of Gloucester +killed him with a sword, whereby his brother might be delivered from +all hostility.' + +Dr. Warkworth tells us that 'the same night that King Edward came to +London, King Harry being in ward in prison in the Tower of London, was +put to death on the 21st of May on a Tuesday night between eleven and +twelve of the clock, being then at the Tower the Duke of Gloucester, +brother to King Edward, and many others. On the morrow he was chested, +and brought to Paul's and his face was open that every man might see +him. And in his lying he bled on the pavement there, and afterwards at +the Blackfriars was brought, and there bled afresh.' This Dr. +Warkworth was Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, from 1473 to +1500. He kept a private diary, receiving his facts from informants he +saw at Cambridge. His account of Henry's death shows that he was +superstitious and credulous. His second-hand report of the time and +manner of the death cannot be received as of any authority. His +mention of Gloucester's presence has been assumed to be intended, by +the writer, to imply that the Duke was concerned in the crime. This +does not follow and, in a mere private diary, such innuendo would be +out of place and improbable. The date of the 21st, given by Warkworth +and Fabyan, would be approved by Henry VII. as throwing suspicion on +his predecessor, and would be fixed as the obit of Henry VI. Any +subsequent repetition of that date gives it no additional authority. +Such repetition has as much or as little authority as is given to it by +the assertions of Warkworth and Fabyan.[22] + +{195} + +Fabyan gives the same date as Warkworth, and adds, 'of the death of +Henry divers tales were told, but the most common fame went that he was +stikked with a dagger, by the hands of Richard of Gloucester.'[23] + +Rous says, 'He killed by others or, as many believe, with his own hand, +that most sacred man Henry VI.'[24] + +The continuator of the Croyland Chronicle insinuates nothing against +Richard. His words are: 'The body of King Henry was found lifeless in +the Tower; may God pardon and give time for repentance to that man, +whoever he was, that dared to lay his sacrilegious hand upon the Lord's +anointed. The doer may obtain the name of a tyrant, the sufferer of a +glorious martyr.'[25] The antithesis of tyrant and martyr shows that +the monk alluded to King Edward and King Henry. The prayer that 'the +doer' may have time for repentance is a proof that the passage was +written during Edward's lifetime, and that there was {196} then a +rumour that Henry had met with foul play. But it also furnishes a +proof that rumour had not then imputed the supposed act to Richard. + +Of these authorities, Warkworth's informant and the City Chronicler are +the only two who perceived that in order to give any plausibility to +the alleged 'continual report,' Henry's death must be made to tally +with young Richard's presence in the Tower. They, therefore, fixed +upon May 21, the single day when Richard was there. Their fabrication +is exposed by the evidence of the accounts for Henry's maintenance, as +will be seen directly; and also by the contradiction of Polydore +Virgil. That author, who had access to all official sources of +information, places Henry's death in the end of May, after King +Edward's progress through Kent. Thus these authorities do not agree, +and are quite unworthy of credit. + +[Sidenote: True date of Henry's death] + +We are not altogether without the means of ascertaining the truth. +Henry VI. was not an old man. His age was 47. But he was feeble and +half-witted. His health was very precarious, his constitution having +been weakened by long illnesses. He inherited the mental and physical +imbecility of his grandfather Charles VI. of France. Shortly before +his liberation by the Earl of Warwick in 1470, some ruffian had stabbed +him[26] and then fled. Henry was said to have been convalescent, but, +with his feeble hold on life, it is not likely that his recovery was +permanent. He gradually sank, and died on May 24, or perhaps in the +night of the 23rd. Queen Margaret of Anjou arrived at the Tower as a +prisoner on the 21st, just in time to soothe her husband's last {197} +moments, and to be with him when he died. The Lancastrian leanings of +the family of Lord Rivers, who was Constable of the Tower, make it +likely that the unhappy queen was granted access to her dying husband. +We know that Margaret was treated with consideration, and allowed to +reside with her most intimate English friend, the old Duchess of +Suffolk, at Wallingford, until her ransom was paid. + +The date of Henry's death is fixed by the evidence of his household +accounts, which are given by Rymer. + + +'_Accounts of the costs and expenses for the custody of King Henry, The +Wednesday after the feast of Holy Trinity, June 12._' + +'To the same William Sayer for money to his own hand delivered for the +expenses and diet of the said Henry and of ten persons his attendants +within the tower, for the custody of the said Henry, namely, for +fourteen days the first beginning on the 11th of May last, as per +account delivered 14_l._ 5_s_.' + +'To William Sayer for money delivered at times, namely at one time, +7_s._ for the hire of three hired readers for the said William and +other attendants within the tower in charge of the King for xiv days +and for the board of the same for the same time, and on another time +3_s._ 10_d._ for the board of said Henry within the said tower as per +account delivered 10_s._ 10_d_.'[27] + + +It is clear from these entries that Henry's accounts were made up on +May 11, and that they were again made up when he died, fourteen days +after May 11, that is, on May 24.[28] We also gather that he was {198} +maintained in becoming state, at a cost of 400_l._ a year, equivalent +to upwards of 2,000_l._ of our money, and that he had ten servants, and +three readers to read aloud to him. Mr. Thorold Rogers says: 'I make +no doubt that Henry was used well during the nine years of his +residence in the Tower: nor do I believe that he was done to death +after Tewkesbury. The story of his assassination in the Tower is, I am +persuaded, a Tudor calumny.'[29] 'I conclude that nature which had hid +his misfortunes from him more than once by a lethargy which seemed +almost like death, at last released him in the same merciful fashion +from the recurrent sorrows of his life.'[30] + +The only contemporary writer was the author of a letter to the citizens +of Bruges, giving an account of the events which led to the restoration +of Edward IV. Speaking from personal knowledge he reported that Henry +VI. died on May 23, and his accuracy is established by the evidence of +the accounts. + +These are the plain facts connected with Henry's death. They are fatal +to the story of the murder. {199} Warkworth and Fabyan give the 21st +for the date of Henry's death, because Gloucester was in the Tower on +that day only. Their assertions are disproved by Polydore Virgil, by +the writer of the letter at Bruges, and by the accounts which show the +date of Henry's death to have been May 23 or 24. On those days +Gloucester was at Sandwich, upwards of seventy miles from the Tower. +The tale of Henry's assassination by the Duke of Gloucester is a Tudor +calumny, and was invented many years afterwards to please Henry VII. +It is possible that a false rumour of foul play may have been spread by +the enemies of Edward IV., and this seems likely from the words of the +Croyland Chronicle. But the absurd accusation against the King's young +brother was concocted after Richard III. had fallen at Bosworth, and +when any calumny against the dead was welcomed and rewarded by a +successor, who believed that his security depended upon a belief in his +predecessor's infamy. Habington, in his life of Edward IV., has +pointed out the absurdity of charging Richard with the alleged +murder.[31] + +The next charge against the Duke of Gloucester is that he forced the +Lady Anne Nevill to marry him, immediately after he had murdered young +Edward of Lancaster, who was her husband.[32] The answers to this are +that Edward was not her husband,[33] that Richard {200} did not murder +him, and that Richard did not force Anne's inclinations. No marriage +between Edward and Anne ever took place. The Croyland monk always +speaks of Anne, at this time, as the 'maiden' and the 'damsel.' + +[Sidenote: Anne Nevill and her mother] + +But there is more to be said. The two young cousins, Richard and Anne, +were brought up together, and their union was most natural. Miss +Halsted has well remarked that Richard showed peculiar delicacy towards +Anne, in placing her in sanctuary at St. Martin's before the marriage, +where her inclinations could in no way be forced. Anne was her +husband's constant companion at every important crisis of his life, and +there is good reason to believe that the marriage was a happy one. + +A very bitter enemy of Richard's memory, in later times, has attempted +to draw conclusions to his disadvantage from the marriage settlements. +There had been no time to obtain the usual dispensations, and it +therefore became advisable that the trustees, for the sake of the +offspring, should guard against any possible informality in the +marriage. A protecting clause was inserted, in case the property could +not be held without a renewal of the marriage ceremony; arising from +any alleged informality in the nuptials. This clause, framed by the +lawyers, was to the effect that if the Duke of Gloucester and the Lady +Anne Nevill should be divorced, and afterwards marry again, the Act for +the partition of property should nevertheless be valid, and that in +case of a divorce, and if the Duke shall do his continual diligence and +effectual devoir by all lawful {201} means to be lawfully married to +the said Anne, he shall have as much of the premises as pertained to +her during her lifetime. It was merely a formal clause inserted by the +lawyers, and probably never even read by Richard or Anne. + +Miss Strickland calls this 'an ominous clause relating to a wedlock of +a few months; proving Anne meditated availing herself of some +informality in her abhorred marriage; but if she had done so her +husband would have remained in possession of her property. The absence +of the dispensation is a negative proof that Anne never consented to +her second marriage, and that it was never legalised may be guessed by +the rumours of a subsequent period when the venomous hunchback +meditated in his turn divorcing her.' + +This is a good example of the sort of stuff which rooted and +unreasoning prejudice allows to pass for argument. + +The next charge is made by only one of the Tudor writers. Rous alleged +that 'Richard imprisoned for life the Countess of Warwick who had fled +to him for refuge.'[34] This is untrue. The Countess of Warwick heard +of the defeat and death of her husband at Barnet, when she landed in +England. She took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire, was attainted, +and all her property passed to her daughters Isabella and Anne, who +married the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. The Countess remained at +Beaulieu for two years, from 1471 to 1473. We next hear of her in a +letter from Sir John Paston dated June 3, 1473. 'The Countess of +Warwick is now out of Beaulieu, and Sir James Tyrrel conveyeth her +northward, men say {202} by the King's assent, whereto some men say +that the Duke of Clarence is not agreed.'[35] Evidently the King had +given his assent to a request of Gloucester that his wife's mother +might be allowed to come and live with her daughter at Middleham. +There was no prison but a home with her child. Tyrrel, who was then an +officer of Edward's Court, was sent to escort her from Beaulieu to +Middleham.[36] + +There is evidence of Richard's kindly feeling towards his wife's +family. He interceded for the heirs of the Marquis Montagu, Warwick's +brother, and it was at the request of Gloucester that the King allowed +them to inherit part of their father's property.[37] Another +indication of the Duke's friendliness, as regards his mother-in-law and +her relations, is afforded by their confidence in him. Lady Latimer, a +sister of the Countess of Warwick, appointed Richard the supervisor of +her will, which was a position of great trust in those days. Such +kindly offices performed for those who were near and dear to the +Countess of Warwick are cogent, though indirect, proofs that the +statement of Rous is a calumny. + +[Sidenote: Death of Clarence] + +Shakespeare and others have further accused Richard of having abetted +and aided in the death of his brother George Duke of Clarence. No +serious historian, except Sandford, has ventured to bring forward the +charge directly. The Croyland monk, Polydore Virgil, Andre, Rous, +Fabyan are all silent on {203} the subject.[38] But Morton is equal to +the occasion. The passage in which he insinuates suspicion is a good +specimen of the style of this unscrupulous slanderer: + +'Some wise men also ween that his drift, covertly conveyed, lacked not +in helping forth his brother of Clarence to his death; _which he +resisted openly_, howbeit somewhat, as men deemed, more faintly than he +that were heartily minded to his wealth. And they who thus deem think +that he, long time in King Edward's life, forethought to be King in +case that the King his brother (whose life he looked that evil diet +should shorten) should happen to decease (as indeed he did) while his +children were young. And they deem that for this intent he was glad of +his brother's death, the Duke of Clarence, whose life must needs have +hindered him so intending whether the same Clarence had kept him true +to his nephew the young King, or enterprised to be King himself. But +of all this point there is no certainty, and whoso divineth upon +conjectures may as well shoot too far as too short.' + +The object of this involved passage is to leave a sort of general +impression that Richard had something or other to do with the death of +Clarence.[39] By throwing up a dust cloud of verbiage the central fact +that Richard {204} intervened in his brother's favour is obscured and +thrown into the background. + +The guilt of the death of Clarence rests with Rivers and the Woodville +faction. He was a great danger to them, as will be seen in the next +chapter, while they benefited by his attainder and got the wardship of +his son. All Richard did was to protest against the execution of his +brother. + + + +[1] Rous, 214. 'Biennio matris utero tentus, exiens cum dentibus et +capillis ad humeros.' This is false, for Richard was born three years +after his brother George, and there was another child, named Thomas, +between them. + +[2] Morton. + +[3] Rous. + +[4] Rous. + +[5] Rous. + +[6] Morton. + +[7] Morton. + +[8] Buck, p. 79. + +[9] Davies, York Records, May 14, 1190, p. 220. + +[10] 'A man of much fortitude, and exceeding the common +sort.'--Polydore Virgil, p. 224. + +[11] In Macaulay's review of Gleig's _Life of Warren Hastings_. + +[12] Miss Strickland. + +[13] Mr. Gairdner gives the evidence. 'Each crime rests on slender +testimony enough, though any one of them being admitted, lends greater +credit to the others. From this point of view it is not at all +improbable that Richard was a murderer at nineteen' (p. 13). Richard +killed his nephews, consequently he assassinated a prisoner when he was +nineteen. It thus having been shown that he was a murderer when he was +nineteen, what more probable than that he killed his nephews? This +method of arguing has been perfectly satisfactory to generations of +historical students, and appears to be so still. + +[14] _Fleetwood Chron._ p. 30. This is the narrative of the recovery +of his kingdom by Edward IV., in _Harl. MS._ no. 543, printed by the +Camden Society. + +[15] The drawing is in the abridgment sent to Bruges, reproduced in the +_Archaeologia_, xxi. p. ii. + +[16] _Warkworth Chronicle_, Camden Society, p. 18. + +[17] The Croyland monk wrote: 'As well in the field as afterwards by +the revengeful hands of certain persons, Prince Edward, Devon, +Somerset,' &c.: that is Prince Edward and Devon on the field, Somerset +by 'the revengeful hands': by which phrase he is pleased to refer to +the Earl Marshal's Court which was a constitutional tribunal (_Chron. +Croyland_, p. 555). 'Tum in campo tum postea ultricibus quorundam +manibus, ipso Principe Edwardo unigenito Regis Henrici, victo Duce +Somersetiae, Comiteque Devoniae ac aliis dominis omnibus et singulis +memoratis' (p. 555). + +[18] Fabyan, p. 662. + +[19] Polydore Virgil, p. 336. + +[20] Hall is notorious for the embellishment of fables that were passed +on to him by Polydore Virgil, by adding names and incidents of his own +invention. In the case of the death of the young Earl of Rutland, he +first took several years off his age and made a little child of him, +then gave him a tutor and supplied the tutor's name. With these +properties he got up a very effective scene on Wakefield Bridge. When +Rutland's real age is known, Hall's story becomes absurd, and he is +convicted of intentional inaccuracy. Again when he described the +burial of Henry VI., he said that the corpse was conveyed to Chertsey +'without priest or clerk, torch or taper, singing or saying.' This is +something worse than embellishment, it is absolutely false. The +payments are recorded (and the records are still preserved), for +obsequies and masses said by four orders of brethren, for linen cloth, +spices, and for wages of men carrying torches. The statements of Hall +are certainly unreliable. In retailing Polydore Virgil's calumny about +the assassination of Prince Edward at Tewkesbury, Hall cannot refrain +from similar inventions and embellishments. He adds that Edward was +taken prisoner by Sir Richard Croft and delivered up to the King in +consequence of a proclamation offering a reward of 100_l._ a year to +whosoever should yield up the Prince dead or alive: accompanied by an +assurance that his life should be spared (Hall, p. 301). Habington +repeats this and adds, as his own contribution, that 'the good knight +repented what he had done, and openly professed his service abused and +his faith deluded' (_Life of Edward IV._ p. 96). This statement is +confuted by the fact that it was on the battle-field of Tewkesbury that +Richard Croft received his knighthood from King Edward. This would not +have been so if he had 'openly declared his service abused.' He +afterwards received benefits from King Richard (_Paston Letters_). The +fable of Fabyan was embellished and added to by various hands, until it +became a very elaborate and highly finished lie circumstantial. + +[21] The name of Virgil borne by two, + One Maro and one Polydore. + The first a Poet wise and true, + The last a lying slanderer. + +[22] Mr. Gairdner mentions that there is a MS. City Chronicle among the +_Cottonian MSS._ (Vitell. A. xvi. f. 133), which states that Henry's +body was brought to St. Paul's on Ascension Eve (May 22), '_who was +slain, as it was said, by the Duke of Gloucester_.' In _MS. Arundel_, +28, in the British Museum, there is an old Chronicle, on a fly-leaf of +which, at the end, there are some jottings relating to Edward IV.'s +time in a contemporary hand, and among others--'_eodem die decessit +Henricus sextus_,' meaning the day of Edward's arrival in London. A +MS. in Heralds' College (printed by Mr. Gairdner) dates the death '_in +vigilia Ascencionis Dominicae_'; a MS. at Oxford (Laud, 674) gives the +same date; a MS. in the Royal Library at the British Museum says: +'_Obitus Regis Henriei Sexti, gui obiit inter vicesimum primum diem +Maii et xxiim diem Maii_.' Henry's obit is set down May 22. None of +these documents have any date. Their statements about May 21 are the +same as those of Warkworth or Fabyan, from whom they must have been +derived. But Warkworth and Fabyan are proved to be wrong by the +evidence of the accounts for Henry's maintenance: and by the evidence +of Polydore Virgil, as well as by the letter at Bruges. + +[23] Fabyan, p. 662. + +[24] Rous, p. 215. 'Ipsum sanctissimum virum Henricum Sextum per alios +vel multis credentibus manu pocius propria interfecit.' + +[25] _Croyland Chron._ p. 557. + +[26] '_Collectarum et mansuetudinum et bonorum morum regis Henrici VI., +et ex collectione magistri Joannis Blakman bacchalaurii theologiae et +post Cartusiae monachi Londini._'--Hearne, p. 202. + +[27] Rymer's _Foedera_, xi. pp. 712, 713. + +[28] Laing, in his continuation of _Henry's History of Great Britain_, +in referring to the accounts for the maintenance of Henry VI. in +Rymer's _Foedera_, mistook the day on which they were audited and +passed, namely June 12, for the day on which the expenses were +incurred; and concluded that Henry was alive on June 12. This is +triumphantly pointed out by Dr. Lingard. But the triumph is imaginary. +Dr. Lingard ought to have seen that the date of auditing does not +affect the question. The fact remains that Henry's board was paid, and +that he was consequently alive, for fourteen days after May 11, that is +until May 24, which is fatal to the story of the murder. + +This is shown by Bayley, who quotes the accounts in his _History of the +Tower of London_, and points out that they furnish satisfactory +evidence of Henry having been alive at least until May 24 (second ed. +p. 323). Mr. Gairdner has suggested that the payments up to the 24th +were to Henry's servants who were not discharged until then, and do not +prove that Henry was alive. But this is untenable, for they are for +Henry's keep as well. + +[29] _Work and Wages_, ii. 312. + +[30] _Ibid._ ii. 313. + +[31] 'I cannot believe a man so cunning in declining envy and winning +honour to his name, would have undertaken such a business and executed +it with his own hand. Nor did this concern the Duke of Gloucester so +particularly as to engage him alone in the cruelty.'--Habington, in +_Kennet_, p. 455. + +[32] Gairdner, p. 22. + +[33] Sharon Turner, iii. p. 323. Anne had been contracted to Edward of +Lancaster in July 1470, she being only fourteen, and he sixteen; but +she was never married to him. The marriage was not to take place +unless certain conditions were complied with by Anne's father, the Earl +of Warwick. The conditions were not fulfilled, and the contract, _ipso +facto_, was null and void. + +[34] Rous, p. 215. 'Durante vita sua incarceravit.' The Countess +out-lived Richard III. + +[35] _Paston Letters_, iii. p. 92. + +[36] Mr. Gairdner quotes a letter from William Dengayn to William +Calthorp (_Third Report of Hist. MSS. Commission_, p. 272), from which +it appears that the Countess of Warwick was actually with the Duke of +Gloucester in June 1473.--Gairdner's _Richard III._ p. 27 (_n_). + +[37] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 124. + +[38] Gloucester was in London at the opening of Parliament on January +16, 1478; but there is no evidence where he was in February, the month +of Clarence's death. He was certainly at Middleham in March. Mr. +Gairdner pronounces Gloucester 'guiltless of his brother's death' (p. +40). + +[39] Morton did this so successfully that his imitators soon began to +make a direct accusation. The slander grew and prospered until at last +we find the following passage in Sandford: 'He was drowned in a butt of +malmsey, his brother the Duke of Gloucester assisting thereat with his +own proper hands!' He refers to Hall, p. 246.--_Genealogical History_ +(London, 1707), p. 438. + + + + +{205} + +CHAPTER III + +FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST RICHARD III + + 7. Execution of Hastings. + 8. Execution of Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, and Haute. + 9. The 'Usurpation.' + 10. Refusal of Buckingham's petition. + 11. Second coronation at York. + 12. Poisoning of his wife. + 13. Intended marriage with Elizabeth of York. + 14. Intended execution of Lord Strange. + + +The most elaborate and detailed part of the indictment against Richard +III. refers to the so-called 'usurpation,' including the period from +his arrival in London to his coronation. The events of the interregnum +had to be represented in such a way as that it should appear that Henry +Tudor was righteously superseding an unscrupulous usurper. This was a +matter of vital importance to the intruding dynasty. Accordingly much +art was devoted to the preparation of a plausible story, while careful +but not always effectual efforts were made to destroy all documents +that would contradict it. + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Morton] + +The portion of the history published by Grafton and Rastell was +undoubtedly written or dictated by John Morton himself. It is on +Morton's story that all subsequent historians have relied for their +facts; and as it is on this period that the whole career of Richard as +a sovereign hinges, it is necessary that we should bear in mind what +manner of man this Morton really {206} was. He was born at Beer Regis +in Dorsetshire, but the year is very uncertain, and he received his +first instruction at Cerne Abbey. Thence he proceeded to Oxford, and +began life as a lawyer, practising in the Court of Arches. He became a +Master in Chancery, increasing his income by taking orders, and was +Parson of Bloxworth in Dorsetshire. He took the Lancastrian side, and +was at York when the battle of Towton was fought. In 1462 he fled to +the Continent with Queen Margaret. His fortunes were then at a low +ebb, but they brightened when the Earl of Warwick came to France to +betray the cause of Edward IV. Morton attached himself to Warwick at +Angers, went with him to England in August 1470, escaped from Barnet to +join Queen Margaret at Weymouth, and was with her at Tewkesbury. +Nothing but ill luck had attended his fortunes since he had joined the +Lancastrian party. So he changed sides, obtained a pardon from Edward +IV. and wormed himself into that good-natured monarch's confidence. He +became one of the greatest pluralists on record. 'He was avaricious +and grasping.'[1] He received a bribe from Louis XI. for inducing his +own sovereign to accept dishonourable terms of peace, and was further +bribed with a pension of 2,000 crowns a year.[2] The contrast between +the upright conduct of the Duke of Gloucester and his own corrupt +practices on that occasion explains the wily priest's malignant +hostility to Richard. Morton was made Bishop of Ely in 1479. On the +death of Edward he saw a wide opening for his ambition in the chances +of a long minority. The facts revealed to the Council by Bishop +Stillington were, consequently, distasteful to him. He was the heart +and soul of the conspiracy of Hastings {207} and the Woodville faction +against the Protector. He brought Hastings to his death, but escaped +himself. The incorrigible plotter was entrusted to the custody of the +Duke of Buckingham. By his cunning artifices he induced that weak +nobleman to become a traitor, and claim the crown for himself. He led +Buckingham to his death; but secured his own safety. He then joined +Henry Tudor's conspiracy, and it was doubtless through Morton's advice +that the Welsh adventurer put forward a claim to the crown. Success at +length attended the intriguer's schemes. Henry VII. made him +Chancellor in 1486, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1487, and, after much +importunity, a cardinal's hat was obtained for him, from the Borgian +Pope.[3] He became enormously rich. He revealed to Henry VII. 'the +confessions of as many lords as his grace listed.'[4] He was one of +the most odious instruments of Henry's extortions. The argument that +those who spent little must have saved much, and that those who spent +much must have much, was called 'Morton's fork.'[5] He died in 1500, +hated and execrated by all ranks of the people. + +This is the man from whom history derives the narrative of Richard's +accession. We must remember the circumstances in which he wrote or +dictated his version. He was then Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry +VII. He had to traduce Richard in the interests of his master, and at +the same time he had to conceal from Henry himself certain parts of his +own proceedings, especially as regards his intrigue with Buckingham. + +{208} + +[Sidenote: Morton's misrepresentations] + +Morton was most unscrupulous in fabricating his story, throwing out +misleading insinuations, garbling and suppressing facts, making false +statements, and altering dates. He was a leading actor in, and an +eyewitness of what he described, he was an able and clever man, and he +was intimately acquainted with the facts as they really happened. +Moreover, we are informed by Sir Thomas More, who knew him, that he had +an extraordinary memory.[6] Consequently every mistake that is +detected in his narrative, every date that is altered, must have been +inserted with a special object. It is fortunate for the cause of truth +that he was more careless, and wrote in greater detail, than he +certainly would have done, if there had been any chance of an answer +being put forward by one equally conversant with the facts. But he +knew that he was safe--power unscrupulously enforced was on his side. + +Morton opens his case with the assumption that the Duke of Gloucester +had always intended to supplant his nephew. He asserts that the Duke +concerted plans with Buckingham and Hastings against the Queen and her +relations; that he then, secretly, and by divers means, caused the +Queen to be persuaded to advise her son not to come with a large force +to London; and that he and other lords wrote to the Queen's friends so +lovingly that they, nothing mistrusting, brought the young prince up in +good speed with sober company. Gloucester and Buckingham then went to +Northampton and met Rivers there. For all that appears in this part of +the narrative, Gloucester was in London, and came thence with +Buckingham to Northampton. Gloucester was really in the marches of +Scotland, and he could not possibly have carried on {209} all these +intrigues at that distance, between April 9 when King Edward died and +the 23rd when Rivers left Ludlow. He could not even have heard of the +King's death for several days. It is true that, towards the end of his +lampoon, when telling his story about an alleged quarrel between +Gloucester and Buckingham, Morton does mention the Duke being at York, +and Buckingham having sent a messenger to him who met him at +Nottingham.[7] But this messenger could not have been the channel of +all the intrigues he describes. There was no time. + +The Duke may have received some hasty notice from a messenger, but the +first real news of what had been going on in London came from +Buckingham at Northampton. + +Morton's story about Gloucester's intrigues at this time is therefore a +fabrication. The truth is exactly the reverse of Morton's version. +Richard's conduct was straightforward and loyal. After attending +solemn obsequies of his brother in York Minster, he called on the +nobility and gentry of Yorkshire to swear allegiance to his young +nephew. When he arrived in London, he ordered preparations to be made +for his nephew's coronation, and he sent summonses to forty esquires to +receive knighthood of the Bath on the occasion.[8] He also caused the +dresses to be worn by his nephew at his coronation to be got ready.[9] +These acts were well known to Morton, who passed them over in silence, +{210} because they would tend to give a true impression, where he +wanted to leave a false one. + +Having thus raised a prejudice against the Protector, Morton's next +object was to instil a belief that Hastings worked against the +Woodvilles throughout in concert with Richard. In order to create this +impression he gives two false dates. He makes young Richard leave +sanctuary on June 9. The true date was the 16th.[10] He asserts that +Lord Rivers was beheaded on June 13, the very day of the arrest of +Hastings, and he makes a great point of it, observing as a striking +coincidence that Hastings suffered death on the self-same day and about +the self-same hour as Rivers whose execution he had approved.[11] He +knew this to be false. Rivers made his will on the 23rd, and was not +beheaded until the 25th.[12] Morton had a motive for falsifying the +dates, and it is obvious. He wanted it to appear that Hastings was an +enemy of the Woodville {211} faction to the end, that he was a party to +the removal of young Richard from sanctuary and to the execution of +Rivers. But why? Clearly because Hastings was not an enemy of the +Woodvilles to the end, because he had, with Morton and others, formed a +coalition with them, and entered into a conspiracy with them against +the Protector. It was important to conceal this, because it justified +the Protector's action against Hastings; and Morton did so by resorting +to a falsification of dates. He then proceeds to enter into minute +details, in describing the scene when Hastings was arrested on Friday, +June 13. + +Morton makes the Protector ask him for a mess of strawberries from his +garden at Holborn. He then alleges that Gloucester suddenly altered +his tone, accused the Queen-Dowager of witchcraft, displayed a withered +arm as having been injured by sorcery, upbraided Hastings for having +Jane Shore as a mistress, and ordered Hastings to be beheaded on a log +of wood before dinner. We are also informed that Master William +Catesby made the mischief between the Protector and the Lord +Chamberlain, and that a proclamation was issued setting forth the cause +of the execution of Hastings. + +These details enable us to obtain some glimmering of the truth. We +have the reminiscences of an eyewitness, who was also a schemer so +dealing with the facts as to leave false impressions clothed in the +similitude of veracious recollections. The tale of the strawberries is +doubtless true, and is a masterly touch designed to give an air of +reality to the scene. The withered arm is a fabrication intended to +conceal the real charge made by the Protector. That charge was +contained in the proclamation which Morton mentions {212} as having +been well indited and written on parchment. He professes to give the +substance of it. The seeker after truth would very much prefer the +original text. But it was destroyed. Its destruction is a strong +presumption in favour of the Protector, and justifies the conclusion +that the real charge was a serious one. It is incredible that Catesby +merely revealed the nonsense about Jane Shore's sorcery. Morton has +inserted this rubbish in order to conceal the real charge made by the +Protector. Morton further tells us that 'Shore's wife was of all women +the one the Queen most hated,' and that she was the mistress of +Hastings. She was really the mistress of Dorset,[13] the Queen's son, +and the motive for bringing in the Queen's alleged hatred, in this +place, is to conceal the real position of Jane Shore, which was that of +a secret agent between the party of the Woodvilles and Hastings. + +The fullness of Morton's details defeats his object. He draws +attention to the truth which he elaborately endeavours to hide. We are +thus enabled to deduce from the garrulity of the designing priest the +facts that, probably through his prompting, Hastings had formed a +coalition with the Queen-Dowager and her party against the Protector, +and that the negotiation had been conducted through Jane Shore as +intermediary. We learn that Catesby revealed the plot to the +Protector, who promptly arrested Hastings, and brought a charge of +treason against him. + +[Sidenote: Falsification of dates] + +Morton would have us believe that Hastings was beheaded on the spot +without trial. This version of the story is also told by Fabyan, and +adopted by Polydore Virgil. It was told to the second Croyland {213} +monk, who wrote that Hastings was beheaded on June 13.[14] It was a +version industriously spread by Morton, as a charge of lawless cruelty +and indecent haste against the Protector. It can be proved to be false. + +Morton's story is that Hastings was hurried out of the council room and +beheaded on a log of wood in the court of the Tower, that the Protector +and Buckingham appeared to the citizens in rusty armour, pretending +that they had been in mortal danger from Hastings, and that the +Protector swore he would have the head of Hastings before he dined. + +This is a grossly improbable story on the face of it; but Bishop +Morton, on the accession of Henry VII., was evidently very anxious that +it should be accepted, for he must have given it publicity at a very +early date. It was supplied to the credulous old Croyland monk, and +was accepted by Fabyan, who must have known it to be false, with such +zeal that he added a few extra touches to the story. Fabyan was a +citizen of London and knew the truth. Yet he clearly implies that the +delivery of young Richard and the execution of Rivers took place before +the arrest of Hastings, adopting the falsifications of Morton. He also +falsified dates in order to reconcile the alleged date of the execution +of Hastings with other events, following Morton in this also. This +justifies the conclusion that Fabyan and Morton were in collusion; for +they both were aware of the truth from personal knowledge, and they +both perverted it in the same way.[15] + +{214} + +There is other testimony on this point which is quite above suspicion. +Simon Stallworthe, a prebendary of Lincoln, wrote a letter from London +to Sir William Stonor, a gentleman of Oxfordshire, on Saturday June 21, +1483,[16] in which he said that 'on Friday last was the Lord Chambleyn +[Hastings] hedded sone after noon.' As Saturday was the 21st, Friday +last was the 20th. We here have evidence that Lord Hastings was not +beheaded until a week after his arrest and, as there was no indecent +haste, we may assume that there was a trial and sentence by a proper +tribunal. The story of Morton about the hurried execution on the 13th, +and the log of wood, is therefore false. It has been suggested that +when Stallworthe wrote 'Friday last,' he did not mean Friday last, but +the Friday before Friday last. This theory is exploded by the very +next line in Stallworthe's letter. He there says that 'on Monday last' +young Richard came out of sanctuary. This is certainly the correct +date. But it contradicts both Morton and Fabyan, though it is +corroborated by the Croyland Chronicle. If 'Monday last' meant 'Monday +last,' 'Friday last' must be taken to mean 'Friday last' in +Stallworthe's letter, and not any other date that the exigencies of +calumniators may require. + +The evidence that the story of the hasty execution of Hastings is false +does not rest solely on Stallworthe's letter. Morton and Fabyan are +convicted out of their own mouths. + +{215} + +This is a point which should be clearly understood. It must be borne +in mind that we have certain fixed dates. Hastings was certainly +arrested on June 13. It is also certain that Thursday, June 26, was +the date of Richard's accession: it is fixed by the year book. Dr. +Shaw's sermon was preached on the previous Sunday, that is June 22. +Fabyan, as well as Stallworthe, tells us that the execution of Hastings +took place on the previous Friday. These are fixed beacons, and will +lead us to the truth. They will also enable us to detect the false +lights thrown out by Morton and Fabyan. They both knew the truth well, +but they had to manipulate the dates so as to make it appear that +Hastings was executed on the 13th. It must be borne in mind that, on +Fabyan's own showing, the execution took place on the Friday before +Shaw's sermon was preached. + +In order to give a plausible appearance to the assertion that Hastings +was beheaded on the 13th, Fabyan tried to get rid of the week between +the 13th and the 20th. He thought he was bound to recognise the fact +that the execution was on the Friday before Shaw's sermon, so he +brought the sermon back a week too. But Shaw's sermon was well known +to have been preached on the Sunday before the accession. So he had to +move back the accession also, and he placed it on June 20. Here +Fabyan's dishonesty is detected, for the 20th was not a Thursday, and +that the 26th was the date of the accession is beyond dispute. + +Morton was, of course, in the same difficulty as regards his dates. +But he was far better practised in the manipulation of evidence. Such +an old hand would commit himself to dates as little as possible. {216} +He would fear them as a thief fears a detective. He gives only one, +and he selects the right day of the week, which Fabyan did not. But +this is quite enough to convict him. He chose the 19th for the day of +Richard's accession with the very same object as Fabyan, to get rid of +the gap between the 13th and the 20th; well knowing that the right date +for the accession was the 26th. + +We can now perceive the truth, both through the direct testimony of +Stallworthe and through the detection of the dishonesty of Morton and +Fabyan. Lord Hastings was arrested on June 13 on a charge of treason, +tried and sentenced. He was executed, after a decent interval, on +Friday, June 20. The admission of Morton that a proclamation was +issued, announcing the details of the Hastings-Woodville conspiracy, is +important. This document, and all others relating to the business, +were destroyed in the same way as the Act of Parliament recording +Richard's title was destroyed. The object of making away with the Act +was to conceal the truth. The disappearance of all documents relating +to the execution of Hastings can only be explained in the same way. + +But what must we think of Morton and Fabyan, who are thus proved to +have been guilty of such a fraud? Their evidence against Richard, on +all other points, must be held to be utterly worthless. + +[Sidenote: Trial of Rivers] + +The trial of Lord Rivers, with Grey, Vaughan and Haute, followed on +that of Hastings. They had been charged with treasonable designs, +immediately after the death of King Edward, on the very clearest +evidence. But the long delay in bringing them to trial justifies the +belief that their capital punishment was not intended, if fresh charges +had not been brought {217} against them, arising out of the Hastings +conspiracy. Morton brings forward the same accusation in their case, +and he gives a false date for their execution. He would have us +believe that Rivers and his companions were also put to death 'without +so much as the formality of a trial.' So he appears to have told the +second Croyland monk. But his untruthfulness is exposed by the +evidence of another Tudor witness. Rous inadvertently let out the +truth, not knowing there was any reason for concealing it. He +certainly did not do so out of any good will for King Richard. There +was a trial and the Earl of Northumberland presided at it. He was not +the sole judge, but the President acting with other judges.[17] He +probably sat as a Commissioner to execute the office of Lord Steward, +with a jury of northern Peers, to try Rivers. Morton falsified the +date of the executions, making them earlier by twelve days. One object +of this falsification has already been pointed out. It also served to +indicate such haste in the executions as would make the absence of any +trial appear probable. + +The overt acts of Rivers and his associates show that their +condemnation was just; and their punishment was necessary for the +safety and tranquillity of the country. It was a righteous retribution +for the death of Clarence, by whose fall the Woodvilles had so largely +profited. + +Morton next proceeds to falsify the title of King Richard III. to the +crown. This point is of great importance and merits close attention. +The statement of Richard's title to the crown was drawn up, and adopted +by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, after considering all +the evidence {218} between June 8 and 25. The document was afterwards +embodied in an Act of Parliament entitled the 'Titulus Regius,' with +which the writers employed by Henry VII. must have been well +acquainted. When Henry came to the throne, he ordered this Act to be +repealed without quoting the preamble, with a view to its purport being +concealed. He caused it to be destroyed, and threatened any one who +kept a copy with fine and imprisonment during his pleasure. The reason +he gave for this was that 'all things in the said Act may be forgot.' +In spite of this threat the truth was told by the Croyland monk, but +his chronicle remained in manuscript, and he was not found out. +Henry's conduct affords a strong presumption that the title was valid. +But he did more. He granted an illusory pardon to Bishop Stillington, +who was the principal witness to the truth of the main statement in the +'Titulus Regius.' This was done with the object of keeping silence on +the subject of his real offence, which was telling the truth. Henry +then arrested him on another trumped up charge, and kept him in close +and solitary imprisonment in Windsor Castle until his death in June +1491. + +These proceedings show the immense importance attached by Henry VII. to +a suppression of the truth relating to Richard's title to the crown. +It is certain that if the alleged previous contract with Lady Eleanor +Butler was false, the falsehood would have been eagerly exposed, and +there would have been no occasion to invent any other story. On the +other hand, if the alleged previous contract was true, the evidence +would have been suppressed and another story would have been invented +and promulgated. The evidence was suppressed, and a different tale was +{219} put forward. The conclusion is inevitable that the previous +contract of Edward IV. with Lady Eleanor Butler was a fact. + +[Sidenote: The true claim to the Crown] + +By a mere accident the original draft of the 'Titulus Regius' was not +destroyed. It was discovered long afterwards among the Tower records. +Its tenor was given in the continuation of the Croyland Chronicle.[18] +Richard's title rested on the statement that Edward IV. was already +married to Lady Eleanor Butler, a daughter of the first Earl of +Shrewsbury,[19] when he went through the ceremony with Lady Grey. It +is certain, therefore, that this and this only was the statement made +in inspired sermons and speeches at the time; for it was the official +case of those who advocated Richard's accession. It is impossible that +one ground for the claim should have been put forward officially, and +another which was not only different but contradictory, in the sermons +and speeches directed to be made at the same time. + +Now all this was well known to Morton, and to {220} Polydore Virgil, +when they concocted their stories. They had free access to all +official sources of information. But they clearly believed that the +evidence had been so effectually placed out of reach, that it was safe +for them to adopt what tale they chose. They, therefore, stated that +Dr. Shaw preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on June 22, in which he +calumniated the Duchess of York by maintaining that Edward IV. and +Clarence were her children by some other man, and that Gloucester was +the only legitimate son of the Duke her husband. The object was to +throw the reader off the scent respecting Edward's own connubial +proceedings, by bringing an infamous and very absurd charge against his +mother. This is clearly the line that Polydore Virgil was instructed +to take, for he alludes to the common report that Edward's children +were called bastards, and declares it to be 'void of all truth,' that +there was such a report. He goes further, alleging that the Duchess of +York complained of the injury done her, and that Dr. Shaw died of +sorrow for having uttered the slander.[20] With the 'Titulus Regius' +before us, it will be allowed that this witness did not stick at +trifles. + +[Sidenote: Morton's fabrications] + +But Morton was not to be outdone by the Italian. He puts the slander +about the Duchess of York into Dr. Shaw's mouth, and he also makes the +preacher tell another tale which would make bastards of Edward's +children. According to Polydore Virgil the report that the preacher +made bastards of Edward's children was 'voyd of all truthe.' According +to Morton the preacher said that Edward was previously married to a +woman named Lucy. It will be seen that {221} these authorities +contradict each other. Morton proceeds to knock down his own ninepin, +by telling us that Lucy confessed she was never married to the King. +No one but Morton ever said she was. + +Morton farther alleged that when Edward IV. proposed to marry the widow +of Sir J. Grey he was opposed by his mother, who represented that he +was already contracted before God to Elizabeth Lucy. Morton knew +perfectly well that this never happened, and that Edward went through a +marriage ceremony with Lady Grey without the knowledge of his mother or +any one else. He has only introduced the name of Elizabeth Lucy as a +herring drawn across the scent. His great object was to conceal the +name of Lady Eleanor Butler. + +The absurdity of Morton's fabrications respecting the woman Lucy will +be appreciated when we remember that she actually had two children by +Edward IV.[21] We are asked to believe that Dr. Shaw, in preaching a +sermon in support of Richard's right to the throne, put forward a +statement which, if true, would make two children legitimate, whose +legitimacy would at once bar any claim on the part of Richard. + +These misrepresentations discredit the authority of Polydore Virgil and +Morton. Of course there can be no doubt that Dr. Shaw in his sermon, +if indeed he {222} ever preached it, and the Duke of Buckingham if he +ever made a speech at the Guildhall, simply explained to the people the +contents of the petition stating Richard's title, which was about to be +presented to him: namely that Edward IV. was previously contracted to +the Lady Eleanor Butler, and that the children by Lady Grey were +consequently illegitimate. The invention of the infamous slander +against the Duchess of York by Morton and Polydore Virgil, the careful +exclusion of Lady Eleanor's name and of any allusion to her, and the +elaborate efforts of Henry VII. to destroy all traces of the evidence +are very significant. They amount to a proof that the Butler contract +was a reality, and that (if the children of Clarence were incapacitated +by their father's attainder) King Richard's title was sound and just. + +The Croyland monk and Rous do not mention Dr. Shaw's sermon. Fabyan +tells us that the preacher stated that King Edward's children were not +legitimate, thus contradicting Polydore Virgil, who declares that the +preacher never made any such allegation. But Fabyan does not mention +the slander against the Duchess of York. This is a further proof that +it was invented by Morton. Virgil, in adopting it, had, however, been +instructed to avoid all allusion to Edward's own matrimonial affairs. + +Having misrepresented Dr. Shaw's sermon on Sunday the 22nd, Morton goes +on to say that on the following Tuesday the Duke of Buckingham went to +the Guildhall and made a speech to the people. On Wednesday, according +to Morton, the Lord Mayor and aldermen came to Baynard's Castle, with +Buckingham and divers noblemen, besides many knights and gentlemen. + +{223} + +This is another falsification of dates made as usual with a purpose. +Nothing really happened on Wednesday. On Thursday the 26th, Morton +says that Richard III. went to Westminster Hall in royal state. What +Morton has done is to transfer the events of Thursday to Wednesday, and +to make as little as possible of them, in order to draw off attention +from a very momentous event. No one would gather from Morton's +narrative that on Thursday, June 26, the Convention Parliament, as it +would have been called in later days, consisting of the Lords Spiritual +and Temporal and the Commons, which had been summoned for the 25th and +actually met, proceeded to Crosby Place with the petition embodying +Richard's title, and urged him to accept the crown.[22] Morton ignores +all this, in order that his readers may be kept in ignorance of the +solemn and deliberate proceedings which accompanied Richard's +acceptance of the crown. Polydore Virgil does the same. + +[Sidenote: Buckingham's treason] + +We next come to the treason of the Duke of Buckingham. Its motive was +misrepresented by Morton, with the object of creating a belief that the +Duke advocated the cause of Henry Tudor. A long conversation between +Buckingham and Morton at Brecknock is recorded by Grafton. It is very +characteristic, and is no doubt authentic, so far as that it was +written or communicated by Morton. But whether it ever took place as +narrated is quite another matter. This conversation sets forth the +arguments by which the mischievous old intriguer alleged that he +induced Buckingham to rebel, and the pretended object of the +insurrection. + +It is asserted by Morton and Polydore Virgil that the cause of +Buckingham's discontent was the refusal {224} of Richard III. to grant +him the moiety of the Bohun lands. It is added that Buckingham's suit +was rejected by the King, with many spiteful words, and that there was +ever afterwards hatred and distrust between them. This can be proved +to be false. Richard granted Buckingham's petition, and made him a +grant[23] of the lands under the royal sign manual, giving him the +profits from the date of signature, until the formality was completed +by authority of Parliament. + +[Sidenote: Buckingham and Morton] + +This story must have been fabricated to conceal the true motive of +Buckingham's treason. He probably aspired to the throne as the next +heir of the Plantagenets after Richard and his son, in accordance with +the 'Titulus Regius.' He had himself concurred in declaring the +children of Edward IV. to be illegitimate, and those of Clarence to be +incapacitated. Next came Richard III. and his delicate son, of whom he +would dispose if the rebellion was successful. He ignored the sisters +of the King and their children.[24] This completed the descendants of +the second son of Edward III. The legitimate descendants of the third +son came to an end with Henry VI. Buckingham himself represented the +fifth son of Edward III. + +{225} + +Assailed by the insidious flattery of Morton, he was prematurely +hurried into a rash attempt which cost him his life. When Morton +recorded the conversation with his victim many years afterwards, he was +Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry VII. was King, and it was advisable, in +order to gratify the new sovereign, that Richard should be accused of +murdering his nephews, and that Buckingham should be made to give up +the scheme for his own aggrandisement, in order to risk his life for +the sake of an unknown adventurer in Brittany. It will be admitted +that this is a grossly improbable story. + +It is certainly astounding that the childish nonsense which Morton puts +into Buckingham's mouth should have been gravely accepted as true by +subsequent historians. We are first told that when Buckingham heard of +the murder of the two innocents, to which he never agreed, he abhorred +the sight of the King and could no longer abide with the Court. So he +took his leave at Gloucester with a merry countenance but a despiteful +heart. According to this, the murders took place in July, for +Buckingham left Gloucester on August 1. The more detailed story +directly contradicts Morton, and places the murders in the end of +August. Both are false, but this is one out of many instances of the +utter recklessness of these slanderers. Buckingham is then made to say +that he stopped at Tewkesbury for two days to think. The result was +that he came to the conclusion that he ought to be King, not on the +ground of his descent from the fifth son of Edward III., but because +his mother was a daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset. His mother was +the fourth daughter of that Duke, who had not the remotest right to the +throne, and never put forward a claim. {226} If there had been such a +claim, Buckingham would not have first found it out, by thinking for +two days at Tewkesbury. After this mental effort he continued his +journey towards Shrewsbury, and met Margaret Lady Stanley, the mother +of Henry Tudor, on the road. She told him that she was the daughter of +John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Edmund's elder brother. This, we are +asked to believe, was quite a new idea to Buckingham. We are to +suppose that he knew nothing about his relations before his cogitations +at Tewkesbury and his chat with Lady Stanley, and that the receipt of +the information made him give up his own ambitious plans altogether. +He is made to propose to his fellow-traveller that her son should be +king and that he should marry the eldest daughter of Edward IV. +Buckingham, after examining the evidence, had just concurred in a +solemn declaration that this daughter was illegitimate. But he now +evolved from his inner consciousness the discovery that the evidence +was derived from suborned witnesses. The Duke then took his leave of +Margaret, and proceeded with Morton to Brecknock Castle. Margaret's +steward, Reginald Bray, conveyed messages between the conspirators, and +an insurrection was arranged. Morton acknowledges that he originally +advised Buckingham himself to claim the crown at Brecknock, on which +the Duke related the above wonderful story. To complete the absurdity +of this childish romance, it must be remembered that Morton was +travelling with Buckingham, all the way from Gloucester to Brecknock. + +A man who could be guilty of fabricating such a fable is wholly +unworthy of credit in his reckless accusations against King Richard, +though his minute {227} knowledge of the real facts renders any +inadvertent admissions most important. Such are the statements that +witnesses and other evidence were produced to establish the +illegitimacy of King Edward's children,[25] and that Richard intended +to treat his nephews with kindness and consideration.[26] But it is +incredible that Buckingham should have contemplated the idea of setting +his own claim aside for the sake of an obscure adventurer in Brittany +who had no claim at all; while the pretence that Buckingham was +horrified at the murder of the young princes contradicts Henry's own +clumsy fable. The whole pretended conversation must have been an +afterthought to please the Tudor usurper. + +[Sidenote: The second coronation] + +The next accusation against Richard refers to his conduct at York, and +is derived from the second Croyland monk, who too readily accepted the +gossip that was current when he wrote, and which was pleasing to the +Tudor Government. It is alleged that Richard appropriated to his own +use the treasure which his brother had amassed, and had committed to +the care of his executors after his death. This statement, as Mr. +Gairdner has shown,[27] is contrary to the fact. The whole property +had been placed under ecclesiastical sequestration by the Archbishop of +Canterbury, because the executors had declined to act, and no further +steps had been taken. It was also stated, on the authority of the same +Croyland monk, that Richard went through the ceremony of a second +coronation at York.[28] The deduction intended to be drawn, and which +often has {228} been drawn, was that his title was so doubtful that he +hoped a double coronation might strengthen it. But there was no second +coronation at York. Nothing of the kind ever took place. + +One is loth to refer to the malignant slander involved in the +insinuation that King Richard poisoned his wife. Polydore Virgil says: +'But the Queen, whether she was despatched with sorrowfulness or +poison, died within a few days after.' The wretched wasp of Guy's +Cliff adds his sting: 'Dominam Annam reginam suam intoxicavit.'[29] + +Richard and Anne were cousins, and companions from childhood. Their +union had been a happy one in their hospitable Yorkshire home. In all +the important events of his life Richard had always had the +companionship of his wife. They had been together in sorrow and in +joy. Anne's illness was a lingering decline, during which she was +assiduously watched and cared for by her physicians, and by her +sorrowing husband, who deeply mourned her loss. She was buried, as a +Queen, in Westminster Abbey. It is true that no writer has done more +than insinuate this calumny. But most of the Tudor slanders take the +form of insinuations. 'It is a charge,' wrote Sir Harris Nicolas, +'which is deserving of attention for no other reason than as it affords +a remarkable example of the manner in which ignorance and prejudice +sometimes render what is called history more contemptible than a +romance.' The same may be said of most of the Tudor stories about +Richard III. + +[Sidenote: Elizabeth of York] + +The rumour that King Richard had an intention of marrying his +illegitimate niece Elizabeth is {229} unsustained by any evidence,[30] +and is contrary to all probability. Such a project would have +stultified the Act of Parliament on which his title to the crown was +based. The King was a politician and was not entirely deprived of his +senses. He could not have entertained an idea so absurd. But there is +evidence that the scheme was favoured by the girl herself and her +mother, and this fully accounts for the existence of the rumour. Their +ages were suitable, the King being thirty-two and his niece in her +twenty-first year; and in a letter to the Duke of Norfolk Elizabeth +expressed a strong wish to become the wife of her uncle.[31] The {230} +Church of Rome granted, and still grants, dispensations for such +marriages. But, be this how it may, Richard himself can never have +contemplated a marriage with his niece. 'The whole tale,' says Sir +Harris Nicolas, 'was invented with the view of blackening Richard's +character, to gratify the monarch in whose reign all the contemporary +writers who relate it flourished.' As soon as the rumour came to +Richard's ears he publicly and emphatically denied its truth. + +[Sidenote: Intrigues of Lady Stanley] + +The Tudor writers tell various stories about Henry, while in Brittany, +having promised to marry Elizabeth; and this is used as an argument +that he must have believed her brothers to be dead, for if they were +alive, there would be less object in the marriage. {231} Looking at +the source whence these stories come, there is no reason whatever for +accepting them as true. They are derived from the apocryphal +conversation between the Duke of Buckingham and the Bishop of Ely at +Brecknock. In order to conceal the real object of Buckingham and his +own duplicity, Morton, as has been seen, fabricated a story about his +dupe having conspired with Henry Tudor's mother to set him up as a +claimant to the crown, and a suitor for the hand of Elizabeth of York. +It is likely enough that the intriguing wife of Stanley did conspire +with Buckingham in the hope of advancing her son's interests, and that +she opened negotiations with the Queen Dowager. Her design in the +latter intrigue would be to secure the Woodville interest for +supporting the contemplated rising. She despatched her steward +Reginald Bray to Brecknock, her confessor Urswick to Brittany, and her +doctor Lewis to Westminster Sanctuary. Her treacherous husband was +feigning loyalty all the time, and was in zealous attendance on the +King. She was found out and contemptuously forgiven by Richard. But +the story of a contemplated marriage at that time between Henry Tudor +and Elizabeth was an afterthought of Morton, at a time when Henry and +Elizabeth were actually married. The story was repeated by Polydore +Virgil, and retailed, with the customary embellishments, by Hall and +Grafton. + +It is scarcely necessary to notice the imputed intention of King +Richard to avenge the treachery of Lord Stanley on his son Lord +Strange, who was in the royal camp at the time of the battle of +Bosworth. He remained unharmed. This is the fact. We are asked to +believe that the King intended to behead him, {232} but could not spare +the time before the battle began. There was plenty of time, but no +intention of using it for such a purpose. The proof of this is that +Lord Strange was not injured. The evidence for the alleged intention +to behead him rests solely on the assertions of men who wrote long +afterwards, and the value of whose testimony we are now pretty well +able to estimate. + + + +[1] Hook, v. p. 409. + +[2] He was then Master of the Rolls. + +[3] Alexander VI., 1492-1503. + +[4] Tyndale, _The Practice of Prelates_, p. 305. Parker Society. + +[5] Lord Bacon, _Henry VII._ + +[6] _Utopia_, p. 20. + +[7] Morton was intimately acquainted with the real facts. He makes no +mistakes. His mis-statements are all prepared designedly and with an +object. He even knew the name of Buckingham's messenger, and that of +Gloucester's servant to whom he applied for a secret interview with his +master.--P. 134, ed. 1821. + +[8] Ellis's _Original Letters_, second series, i. p. 147. + +[9] _Wardrobe Accounts_. + +[10] Stallworthe's letter of June 21 (_Exc. Hist._ pp. 14-10). The +Croyland monk also gives the surrender of young Richard after the +arrest of Hastings (p. 566). + +[11] He misled Horace Walpole (p. 49), and Dr. Lingard (iv. p. 227) on +this point. But Dr. Lingard was quite ready to continue in his error. +His account is as follows:--'On the same day that Hastings suffered +(and the time should be noticed) Ratcliffe entered Pomfret Castle at +the head of a numerous body of armed men, seized Rivers, Grey and +Vaughan, observed no judicial forms, and struck off the heads of the +victims.' He calls the Yorkshire troops that came to London 'the +ruffians who had murdered the prisoners at Pontefract.' This is not +very temperate language. Dr. Lingard afterwards found that this was +all wrong. But he would not alter his erroneous text. He merely added +a note in a later edition, showing that he knew Rivers to have been +still alive on the 23rd, and that Rous named the Earl of Northumberland +as presiding at the trial. Yet he retains the assertion in the text +that there were no judicial forms! + +[12] _Croyland_, p. 567. Polydore Virgil gives the correct date; and +the Croyland monk also places the execution of Rivers after the arrest +of Hastings. + +[13] Rymer, xii. p. 204. + +[14] 13 die mensis Junii veniens in Turrim ad consilium, jussu +Protectoris capite truncatus est.--_Croyland Chron_. Gale, i. 566. + +[15] The Croyland Chronicler is quite free from suspicion of +intentional falsification. He was informed that Hastings had been +beheaded on the 13th, the day of his arrest, and he stated what he +believed to be the fact. He, therefore, made no attempt to make this +fit in with other events by falsifying dates, as was the course taken +by Morton and Fabyan. The monk places the delivery of young Richard +and the execution of Rivers in proper order of time, and gives the +correct date for Richard's accession. + +[16] _Excerpt. Hist._ p. 16. + +[17] 'Eorum principalis judex.'--Rous, p. 213. + +[18] Sir George Buck ascertained the truth through having access to the +manuscript of the _Croyland Chronicle_. The writer simply mentions the +pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler; but the Chronicle was not +printed until 1084. Speed was the first to print the full text of the +'Titulus Regius' in his _History of Great Britain_, 1611. + +[19] The first Earl of Shrewsbury had a large family by two wives, but +the names of all his daughters have not been recorded. Dugdale +mentions none. Collins gives Jane married to James Lord Berkeley. +There were also Elizabeth wife of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and +others, including Eleanor. Buck is mistaken in supposing that +Eleanor's first husband was Sir Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley. His wife +was Alice Deincourt, and he was too old. Eleanor's husband may have +been an unrecorded son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley, who died when a +young man before his father. She must have married Edward IV., when a +widow, in or before 1464. She died at Norwich, and was buried in the +church of the White Friars Carmelites.--Weever's _Funeral Monuments_, +p. 805. + +[20] Morton says that 'within few days after he withered and consumed +away' (p. 103). + +[21] I. Arthur was married to a daughter and heiress of Edward Grey, +Viscount Lisle, the brother-in-law of Lady Grey. She was the widow of +Edmund Dudley. In 1533 Arthur was created Viscount Lisle. He had +three daughters, and from the second, Frances wife of John Basset of +Umberleigh, co. Devon, General Monk was descended. Arthur Viscount +Lisle died, without male heirs, in 1541. + +II. Elizabeth wife of Thomas, eldest son of George Lord Lumley, who +died before his father. From her descends the present Earl of +Scarborough. + +[22] Letter from King Richard to Lord Mountjoy. + +[23] The text of the grant is given by Dugdale, with the King's signet +and sign manual, given at his manor at Greenwich on July 13, 1483. A +list of the manors follows.--Dugdale's _Baronage_, i. 168. + +Mr. Gairdner argues that, in spite of this grant, the Duke had reason +to doubt the fulfilment of the promise when Parliament met. I am +unable to follow him. The King had done all that he possibly could do +until Parliament met, and he had put his good faith and sincerity +beyond doubt by giving Buckingham the profits beforehand, in +anticipation of the approval of Parliament. What could he possibly do +more? There was no shadow of a pretext for any such doubt on the part +of Buckingham.--Gairdner's _Richard III._, p. 136. + +[24] He also had to ignore the children of Henry Bourchier, Earl of +Essex, by the Princess Isabel, a sister of Richard Duke of York. + +[25] Morton, in Grafton, p. 126. + +[26] _Ibid._ p. 127. + +[27] _Richard III._ p. 146, quoting from _Royal Wills_, pp. 345-347. + +[28] Rous, p. 217. Drake's _Eborac._ p. 117. The fable is fully +exposed by Mr. Davies in his _York Records_. + +[29] Rous. + +[30] This rumour never reached Fabyan or Rous. It is mentioned by the +Croyland monk. + +[31] On the authority of Sir George Buck. His words are as +follows:--'When February was past, the Lady Elizabeth, being more +impatient and jealous of the success than every one knew or conceived, +writes a letter to the Duke of Norfolk intimating first that he was the +man in whom she most affied, in respect of that love her Father had +ever borne him. Then she congratulates his many courtesies, in +continuance of which she desires him to be a mediator for her to the +King in the behalf of the marriage propounded between them, who, as she +wrote, was her only joy and maker in the world, and that she was his in +heart and thought, withal insinuating that the better part of February +was past, and that she feared the Queen would never die. All these be +her own words written with her own hand, and this is the sum of her +letter, which remaineth in the autograph or original draft under her +own hand, in the magnificent cabinet of Thomas Earl of Arundel and +Surrey.' (Buck, p. 128.) + +Sir Harris Nicolas (_Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York_, p. 1), +as an admirer of Elizabeth of York, was much troubled by this letter. +He attacked Sir George Buck as 'one whose violent prejudices do not +sufficiently account for the mendacity for which his work is +remarkable.' But this is unjust. Buck no doubt was prejudiced, but +not more so than the Tudor chroniclers. He blunders and is uncritical, +yet there is no reason to impugn his good faith. Nor did Sir Harris +Nicolas himself think that the case was sufficiently disposed of by +abusing Sir George Buck. He made various attempts to explain away the +letter, but none satisfactory or even plausible. Dr. Lingard did not +doubt the authenticity of the letter (v. pp. 355-359, ed. 1823, iv. p. +252, ed. 1849). It is not now known to exist, but that proves nothing +if Buck wrote in good faith. + +Mr. Gairdner approaches the subject more calmly. 'Positive testimony +like this,' he says, 'is not to be lightly set aside as incredible. +Yet Buck, if not altogether dishonest (and I see no reason to think him +so), was certainly by no means an impartial historian. At the same +time Buck's abstract of the letter is very minute, and such as would +seem to follow pretty closely the turns of expression in a genuine +original, and he expressly declares the manuscript to be an autograph +or original draft. If it be not a forgery palmed off upon Buck +himself, I am inclined to think it was written, not by Elizabeth, but +by her mother who bore the same Christian name. Every word might just +as well have come from her, except the mention of the father, which may +be a mistake; and there is nothing inconceivable in her anxiety that +Richard should marry her daughter.' He adds 'that Elizabeth could have +been eager to obtain the hand of her brother's murderer is really too +monstrous to be believed.' Why then is it not 'too monstrous to be +believed' that the mother should have been eager to obtain the hand of +her son's murderer for her daughter? It is clear that the grounds for +accepting the letter are too strong for Mr. Gairdner to be able to +reject them. Yet that Elizabeth should wish to marry her brother's +murderer appears incredible to him. The conclusion is inevitable. +Richard was not her brother's murderer, if the letter was authentic +(see Gairdner's _Life of Richard III._ pp. 256-257, and note p. 257). + + + + +{233} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAIN CHARGE AGAINST RICHARD III + + 15. Murder of the Princes in the Tower. Acquittal. + + +In attempting an impartial consideration of the question of the fate of +King Edward's sons, it must always be remembered that the main argument +against their uncle is made to rest upon the truth of his previous +alleged crimes. This argument is destroyed if Richard was not a +venomous hunchback born with teeth, if he was not a cold scheming and +calculating villain who had already committed two atrocious murders, +drowned his brother in a butt of malmsey, poisoned his wife, and waded +through the blood of innocent men to an usurped throne. A careful +study of the evidence establishes the fact that these accusations are +false, and that they were put forward by the writers under a new +dynasty in order to blacken the character of the last Plantagenet King, +and to make the accusation that he murdered his nephews more plausible. +For it was a matter of the most vital importance to Henry VII., not +only that the boys should have been murdered, but that it should be +believed that the crime was perpetrated before his accession. + +We have to deal with a different man altogether. The real Richard, who +is accused of the murder of his {234} nephews, was not previously +steeped in crime. The accusation must now be considered as being +brought against an ordinary prince of the fifteenth century, if not +better certainly not worse than his contemporaries. This at once +destroys the chief points of the evidence against him. His accusers +rightly felt that it was necessary to blacken Richard's character, and +this they did coarsely enough, but very successfully. They knew that, +without this poisoning of the wells, the case against him lost all its +force. 'Nemo repente turpissimus.' + +We must now approach the question relating to the fate of the two young +sons of Edward IV., without having constantly before our minds the +grotesque caricature portrayed by the Tudor writers. Although it is +not possible, especially at this distance of time, to account for the +workings of any man's mind, or for the motives which may control his +actions, it is yet necessary to consider this phase of the question, +with as much light as we can bring to bear upon it. + +It is not disputed that Edward IV. always evinced unshaken love and +affection for his young brother, and showed the most absolute +confidence in him at the time of his death. Richard returned this +affection with devoted loyalty. He had no love for the Woodville +faction, but he must have felt some regard for his brother's children, +being such a man as we believe he has been proved to have been. This +feeling of regard would decrease the strength of any motive producing a +desire to destroy them for his own ends. But there was no such motive. +The boys had been declared to be illegitimate, after an examination of +evidence, by the unanimous voice of Parliament. When the Cardinal +Archbishop, surrounded by his suffragans, {235} placed the crown of St. +Edward on Richard's head, he proclaimed the belief of the Church, and +released from their oaths all who under a misapprehension had sworn +allegiance to Edward V. The boy, as a claimant to the throne, had +ceased to be dangerous. + +[Sidenote: Unanimity at Richard's coronation] + +It should be borne in mind that Parliament was unanimous in recognising +the title of Richard III. Excepting half a dozen Lancastrian exiles +who were equally opposed to any member of the house of York,[1] the +whole peerage was at Richard's coronation except those whose absence is +accounted for by extreme age or youth, or by the calls of duty.[2] +Even the Woodville faction had submitted, and was represented at the +coronation by Viscount Lisle and the Bishop of Salisbury. Henry +Tudor's mother bore the train of Richard's Queen, and his uncle Lord +Welles was also at the coronation. There was absolutely no party for +the illegitimate sons of Edward IV. at the time of their alleged +murders, and consequently no danger to be apprehended from them. If +the story had put the murders after Buckingham's rising it would have +been a little more plausible. But it placed them two months before the +rising, when the King had not the shadow of a suspicion that any +opposition was contemplated. Setting aside all natural or religious +feeling, and even assuming Richard to have been the impossible monster +depicted by Tudor writers, he certainly had no motive for the crime. + +{236} + +But it may be argued that the workings of men's minds are inexplicable, +and that Richard may have committed the crime from a motive which would +seem insufficient to any reasonable man. To decide upon this +proposition we can only turn to a consideration of his conduct as +regards other persons in the same relationship and position as the two +boys, and who were likely to cause Richard as much or as little +trouble. There were seven such persons, namely, the five daughters of +Edward IV. and the two children of the Duke of Clarence. The King +treated his nieces with kindness and consideration as near relations, +when they came under his protection. The young Earl of Warwick, son of +Richard's elder brother Clarence, was a far more formidable rival than +the sons of Edward. The former was incontestably legitimate; while the +latter had been declared to be illegitimate by both Houses of +Parliament. Richard knighted the son of Clarence, placed him at the +head of the nobility, and made him a member of council and of his own +household. We, therefore, know that Richard did not look upon the +children of his elder brothers as enemies to be destroyed, but as +relations to be cherished. + +[Sidenote: The princes alive in Richard's time] + +We find, then, that the two young sons of Edward IV. went to reside in +the royal lodgings of the Tower in June 1483. The statement put forth +by Henry VII. is that they were murdered there in the following August. +But there are two pieces of evidence, one of them positive evidence, +that they were alive throughout the reign of Richard III. + +In the orders for King Richard's household dated after the death of his +own son, children are mentioned of such high rank that they were to be +served before all other Lords. The only children who could occupy +{237} such a position were the sons of Edward IV. and the son of +Clarence. The conclusion must be that all his nephews were members of +his household, and that they were only sent to Sheriff Hutton and to +the Tower when danger threatened the realm from the invasion of Henry +Tudor. + +The other piece of evidence is found in a warrant in Rymer's 'Foedera,' +dated March 9, 1485, to the following effect: it directs Henry Davy 'to +deliver unto John Goddestande, footman unto the Lord Bastard, two +doblets of silk, one jacket of silk, one gown of cloth, two shirts, and +two bonets.'[3] There are other warrants to pay for provisions. Dr. +Lingard[4] tried to destroy the significance of these warrants by +suggesting that they referred to John of Gloucester, an illegitimate +son of the King. But this boy is mentioned in Rymer's 'Foedera,' and +is designated as a bastard son of the King[5] simply and not as a lord, +for no such title belonged to him. Edward, on the other hand, although +he was officially called a bastard, was also a lord. In his case the +designation of Lord was correct. In the 'Wardrobe Account' he was +called the Lord Edward; after the accession of his uncle.[6] The royal +titles of Wales and Cornwall were no longer consistent or proper, and +had indeed been transferred, in due course, to the King's son. But the +earldoms of March {238} and Pembroke, conferred on him by his father, +still belonged to Edward. He would properly be styled the Lord +Bastard, while John of Gloucester could not be and was not. There was +only one 'Lord' Bastard.[7] The warrants, therefore, show that Edward +was alive and well treated in March 1485, four months before the death +of Richard III. + +These two pieces of evidence are in keeping with Morton's statement +that King Richard had declared his intention of maintaining his nephews +in honourable estate. But there is strong collateral evidence pointing +to the same conclusion. If there had been foul play, it is scarcely +credible that the mother could have been induced by any promises to +throw her remaining children on the protection of one who had already +violated the most sacred ties as regards her two sons. It is, however, +just possible that a very unfeeling and selfish woman (though Elizabeth +was neither), weary of confinement in sanctuary, might have been +induced to make terms with the murderer of her sons, in order to obtain +a comfortable provision for herself. But she did more than this. She +sent for her other son, who was safe in France, advising him to return +home and submit himself to the King. It is incredible that she could +have done this unless she knew that the two boys were alive and well +treated. She remained on friendly terms with Richard until his death, +and her daughters attended the festivities at his {239} Court. Still +stronger evidence in the same direction is afforded by the letter to +the Duke of Norfolk, whether it was written by the King's niece +Elizabeth or by her mother, as Mr. Gairdner suggests. The writer could +not have spoken of Richard as her 'joy and maker in the world,' or have +said that she was 'his in heart and thought,' if he had just murdered +the brothers of one and the sons of the other. The thing is quite +impossible. + +The conduct of their mother and sister is a strong corroboration of the +positive evidence that the young princes were alive and well throughout +King Richard's reign. + +[Sidenote: The alleged rumours] + +On the other hand, there is no evidence whatever that they were dead; +beyond rumours of which we only hear long afterwards. We are told that +there were rumours that they had been murdered, and rumours that they +were alive, and had been taken abroad. Rumours but no evidence. + +If they had been smothered the bodies would have been exposed to allay +suspicion, and would have received Christian burial. To hide them +would have been an act of incredible folly. + +There remain then, for consideration, these rumours which are alleged +to have prevailed during the reign of King Richard to the effect that +his nephews had been murdered. It is maintained that if these rumours +were generally believed, Richard must have been guilty, because if he +had been innocent he would have taken some steps to disprove the +rumours, and he took no such steps, or rather--no such steps are +recorded by his enemies. + +The points for investigation are whether such rumours actually existed, +and if so, whether they were {240} so general as to reach the King's +ears and make it advisable that anything should be done to refute them. + +It is alleged that these rumours took shape during the King's progress +to York in the summer and autumn of 1483. There is no evidence that +they prevailed at this or any other time during Richard's reign.[8] +The authority for a rumour about the fate of the two boys in the summer +of 1483 is the Croyland Chronicle; and there can be no doubt that the +statement was made in good faith; although the writer may have been +deceived. + +The passage in the Croyland Chronicle is to the effect that the princes +remaining in custody in the Tower, the people in the south and west of +England became anxious for their liberation, that meetings were held on +the subject, and that proposals were made to arrange the escape of the +daughters of Edward IV. so that, if anything happened to his sons, +there might still be heirs of his body. It was also reported that the +sons of Edward were dead, though it was unknown by what violent means +they met their end.[9] So far the Croyland monk. + +No doubt there were partizans of the defeated factions of Hastings and +the Woodvilles who were ready to spread any rumours injurious to the +King. The question is whether the rumours which reached the ears of +the Croyland monk were ever generally {241} credited by the people, so +as to call for action from the Government. Is it true that they led to +loud murmurings from meetings and assemblages of the people in the +south and west of England, such as would attract general notice? The +only proof offered is that an officer named Nesfield was ordered to +watch the approaches of the Sanctuary at Westminster, and see that no +one left it secretly. But this was a precaution which would have been +taken under any circumstances. Polydore Virgil alleges that Richard +himself spread a report that his nephews were dead; and this is +magnified and embellished by Grafton and Hall, according to their wont. +The statement is grossly improbable in itself, is wholly unsupported, +and is entirely unworthy of credit. + +There is, then, no evidence that these rumours existed, beyond the +passage in the Croyland Chronicle. But there is strong reason for +rejecting the monk's story. If the rumours had really existed, and if +in consequence there were mutinous assemblages of the people +preliminary to an insurrectionary movement, the vigilant and energetic +young King would have made all necessary preparations to meet the +danger. Nothing is more certain in his history than that he was taken +absolutely by surprise when he received tidings of an outbreak in Kent +on October 11, 1483. It was a concerted rising, secretly arranged by +Buckingham. This Duke had taken leave of the King at Gloucester on +August 2 before the alleged action of Richard at Warwick with a view to +the murders, which was on August 8. According to the story, Buckingham +can have known nothing of the murders when he arranged his plot. +Consequently it is not possible that the rising in Kent, arranged by +Buckingham, can {242} have had anything to do with the alleged murder +of the young princes. + +Yet the Croyland monk had certainly been told that there was a rumour +that the boys were dead. If it had not reached him as general talk, it +must have come direct to him from some malignant enemy of the King. +Was there such a man lurking in the fen country round Croyland? We +know that Morton had taken refuge in the fen country (Isle of Ely) at +this very time. If that schemer was at the chronicler's elbow, the +rumour is fully accounted for. It probably originated with Morton +while he was lurking in the fens, and ceased to exist when he sailed +for Flanders. His own narrative, as we have received it, comes to an +abrupt termination while he is conversing with the Duke of Buckingham +at Brecknock. If it had been continued, we should doubtless have had a +highly coloured version of the rumour mentioned in the Croyland +Chronicle. Morton and his slanders went abroad together. The rumour +that the young princes had been put to death appeared no more in +England during Richard's life. But as soon as Morton went to France, +it appeared there. In the autumn of 1483 Morton left England. In +January 1484, the murder of the princes was alleged as a fact by the +Chancellor of France in a speech to the States-General at Tours. +'Regardez, je vous prie, les evenements qui apres la mort du Roi +Edouard sont arrives dans ce pays. Contemplez ses enfants, deja grands +et braves, massacree impunement, et la couronne transportee a +l'assassin par la faveur des peuples.'[10] The Chancellor may have +received this statement from another Lancastrian exile, but it is {243} +most likely that it came from Morton. Louis XI. had hated Richard +because he opposed the peace which the French King bought from Edward +IV., and because he refused the French bribes with contempt.[11] This +hatred was inherited by the Lady of Beaujeu who became Regent on the +death of Louis XI. in August 1483. Any calumny was seized upon as an +opportunity for reviling the King of England; and with Morton in France +there would be no dearth of such wares. + +The insult to the King of England uttered by the French Chancellor may +not have reached Richard's government. If it did, it must have been +apologised for or explained away, for some months afterwards, in +September 1484, King Richard granted a safe-conduct for an embassy from +the French Regency to treat of peace.[12] The calumny was clearly +received by the French Chancellor from Morton, or some other +unscrupulous outlaw, and not from any general rumour. For it is stated +as a fact; the truth being that it was never known what became of the +two boys, or pretended to be known until after the alleged confession +of Tyrrel in 1502. + +Fabyan, writing in the time of Henry VII., talks of a rumour, and of +its having been the common fame that King Richard put his nephews to +secret death. This was merely what Henry VII. wanted to be the 'common +fame'; and no one dared to gainsay it. In the year after his accession +the usurping Tudor ordered it to be given out that the boys were +murdered by their uncle, and his paid agents had to repeat the +statement. Andre said they were killed with a sword.[13] {244} Rous +stated that they were put to death by some means unknown.[14] Polydore +followed Rous. Comines, naturally enough, told the story officially +promulgated in England. But Henry never dared to make the accusation +publicly in his first so-called Parliament, and there can have been +only one reason for this silence. The boys were then alive. + +Henry's chroniclers, however, testify that nothing was known, and thus +prove the falsehood of the French Chancellor's statement, while +furnishing additional proof that no general rumour existed during +Richard's reign that the boys were dead. + +It is not to be supposed that Sir William Stanley would have +entertained for a moment the belief that Perkin Warbeck was a son of +Edward IV. unless he knew that the princes were alive throughout +Richard's reign. No one had better means of knowing. The story put +forward by Henry VII. tells us that it remained in doubt whether the +boys were destroyed or not in Richard's day. Polydore Virgil mentions +a rumour that they had escaped abroad. Perkin Warbeck's story was +believed by a great number of people, which could not have been the +case if the rumour of the death of the princes had been generally +credited. + +[Sidenote: Baseless rumours] + +No question arose before King Richard's death. Many persons must have +known that his nephews were alive and well treated. Their mother and +brother knew, and they were silenced by imprisonment. Sir William +Stanley and his fellow-sufferers knew, and they were beheaded. After +Henry's accession, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people who +knew the truth. They had a choice between silence and ruin or {245} +death. The truth might have been, and probably was, mentioned in +private correspondence; but even that would be very perilous, and +scarcely any correspondence of that date has been preserved. In one +letter in the 'Plumpton Correspondence,' the dislike of Henry's illegal +attainders is referred to, but with bated breath. Among the mass of +the people there was no certain knowledge of what had happened to the +boys. Of course many baseless rumours then became current. The +statements accusing Richard, and the assertions that these rumours +received popular credit during his reign, merely indicate what his +successor wanted to be believed on the subject. + + + +[1] Earls of Oxford, Devonshire, and Pembroke, Lords Rivers, Dynham, +and Beaumont. Lord Clifford was a minor, and in hiding in Yorkshire. + +[2] Lord Dudley in extreme old age, Earls of Shrewsbury and Essex, and +Lord Hungerford minors, Lords Greystoke and Ogle in the Marches, Lord +Mountjoy at Calais, Lord de la Warre abroad. The Earl of Westmoreland +was dangerously ill. + +[3] Bayley, _Antiquities of the Tower of London_. (8vo. ed 1830, p. +343 _n_.) + +[4] iv. p. 580 (5th ed. 1849). + +[5] Rymer, xii. p. 265. 'Pro filio bastardo regis.' 'Cum summa +dilecti filii nostri bastardi Johannis de Gloucestriae ingenii +vivacitas, membrorumque agilitas, et ad omnes bonos mores magnam et +indubiam nobis de futuro ejus servitio bono spem, gratia divina +promittant.' This warrant granted the wardship of Calais to John of +Gloucester, so soon as he should have reached the age of twenty-one. + +[6] _Archaeologia_, i. p. 367. + +[7] Sir Richard, K.G., the second son, was not then a lord. The title +of York was a royal one, like that of Wales, and he could not hold it +when proved to be illegitimate. Those of Norfolk and Nottingham came +from his intended wife, Anne Mowbray, and when she died, they went to +her heirs Howard and Berkeley, by creation of the King on June 8, 1483. +Young Richard, as well as Edward, was a Knight of the Garter, but +Edward was the only 'Lord Bastard.' + +[8] A letter from the King to the Mayor of York, dated April 11, 1485, +is on the subject of the suppression of false reports and lies. But +this refers to the false report that Richard intended to marry his +niece. Davies, _York Records_. Drake incorrectly places this letter +in 1484. Drake's _Ebor._ p. 119. + +[9] 'Vulgatum est dictos Regis Edwardi pueros, quo genere violenti +interitus ignoratur, decessisse in fata.' + +[10] _Journal des Etats-Generaux de France tenus en_ 1483-84 (Documents +Inedits), quoted by Gairdner in his _Richard III._ p. 160. + +[11] He accepted a present of horses from Louis as a matter of courtesy. + +[12] Rymer's _Foedera_, xii. p. 234. + +[13] 'Nepotes clam ferro feriri jussit.'--Andre. + +[14] 'Ita quod ex post paucissimis notum fuit qua morte martirizati +sunt.'--Rous. + + + + +{246} + +CHAPTER V + +HENRY TUDOR IN THE DOCK + +Murder of the Princes in the Tower. Conviction. + + +[Sidenote: Victims after Bosworth] + +Henry Tydder, _alias_ Tudor, must now take his place in the dock. Let +us first see what manner of man this fortunate adventurer was. In 1485 +he was twenty-eight years of age. He is described as a man of slender +build, about five feet nine inches high, with a saturnine expression, +grey restless eyes, yellow hair, and very little of it. Having passed +his life as a fugitive and conspirator, cunning and dissimulation had +become a second nature to him. The victory gained for him at Bosworth, +by the foulest treachery, placed despotic power in his hands. His +first acts were the illegal and unjust executions of William +Catesby,[1] Chancellor of the Exchequer, of John Buck, the Comptroller +of the late King's Household, of {247} William Bracher, Yeoman of the +Crown, and of his son. These executions were in violation of all law. +They were simply murders; for Henry Tudor himself had no legal status, +and was in fact an attainted outlaw. Catesby was the faithful and +loyal minister of a King who studied the welfare of his subjects, and +was the Speaker of the best Parliament that had sat since the time of +Edward I. He was an able and diligent public servant. This was his +only crime. Nothing tangible has ever been alleged against him, except +that he did his duty by reporting the meditated treason of Hastings. +If the fables of Morton and his colleagues are accepted, the executions +of Rivers, Grey and Vaughan were doubtful acts. But the executions of +Catesby, Buck, and the Brachers were heinous crimes. Richard was the +Chief of the State, though it may be held that his measures were +unjust. Henry was an outlaw without legal authority of any kind, and +his executions were ruthless murders. Thus did this adventurer wade +through the blood of innocent men to his usurped throne.[2] His next +proceeding was to {248} send Sir Robert Willoughby to Sheriff Hutton, +to get possession of young Edward Earl of Warwick, the heir to the +throne, and of the late King's niece Elizabeth. + +Henry Tudor then marched to London and seized the government. He +became responsible for the surviving members of the royal family of +England, legitimate or otherwise. What did he do with them? There +were Edward and Richard, the illegitimate sons of Edward IV., there was +Edward the legitimate son of the Duke of Clarence, and now the rightful +King of England, and there was John, the illegitimate son of Richard +III. They all fell into his power, and he alone became answerable for +their lives. There is too much reason to suspect that they all met +with foul play at his hands. + +Henry Tudor, on usurping the crown of England, necessarily found +himself in a very difficult position. His mother's claim, as heiress +to an illegitimate son of the third son of Edward III., was worthless +in itself, for even if the descent had been legitimate, she must come +after all the descendants of the second son of Edward III. Moreover +the claim, such as it was, had not yet descended to Henry Tudor and +never did, for his mother survived him. He wisely refrained from +stating such a claim as this, although he alleged a vague hereditary +right of some sort, which he did not try to explain. There remained +the right of conquest with the aid of French mercenaries, and he +ventured to put it forward. But he soon saw that he would have to find +some other prop to support his usurpation. + +{249} + +[Sidenote: Character of Henry VII] + +Henry must certainly have been a man of great ability, with an acute +but narrow mind, marvellous powers of dissimulation and of +self-deception, with considerable tact and skill in guiding and +influencing those around him. He was essentially un-English. He was a +near relation of Louis XI., and he made that mean tyrant his model. He +hated English freedom, and that intimate contact with the people which +made the Plantagenets popular. He loved mystery. He surrounded +himself with an armed guard which constantly went about with him, a +thing never done before by former kings.[3] He originated a tribunal +with despotic powers, consisting of a committee of his Council, the +infamous Star Chamber. He established 'a close and secret, a +tyrannical and often a most cruel government.'[4] He extorted money by +means of those illegal 'benevolences' which had been abolished by the +patriotic Parliament of Richard III. He was penurious, greedy, and +mean. He was the first English King who increased his revenue by +forfeitures enforced through legal chicanery. He began the practice of +setting agents to ferret out any claim which the Crown could make, and +a subservient judge would affirm. For he loved the forms of law, which +apparently soothed his conscience. He was very superstitious. When +his own interests were not concerned he was not devoid of natural +affection and he recoiled from crime. Yet he became capable of any +foul deed if he deemed it necessary for his own security. But he +meditated a crime for months and years, and stood trembling on the +brink for a long time before he summoned up {250} courage to act. Even +then he much preferred the forms of law, thinking that if he shared the +deed with others, the guilt became a limited liability. + +Henry had the wisdom to see that, although his claim of conquest and +vague assertion of right by descent[5] might serve for a time, he must +establish some better title to secure any stability for his throne. He +had obtained his position by the favour of a treacherous faction, and +was confirmed in it by a pretended Parliament of his adherents, many of +them still under attainder. Unlike the grand ceremony of King +Richard's coronation, when the whole peerage was present, that of Henry +was very thinly attended. He felt that some step must promptly be +taken, with a view to strengthening his position, and reconciling the +nation to his usurpation. + +There was Elizabeth, the late King's niece, whose person he had +secured. If she was made queen it might propitiate the powerful +Yorkist party. But she was illegitimate, and consequently young +Warwick was the rightful King. There was another more fatal +difficulty, a knowledge of which was shared with the girl's mother, if +not with the girl herself. All evidence of the illegitimacy might be +destroyed. Henry caused the Act of Parliament recording and legalising +King Richard's title to be expunged. He ordered the original Act to be +removed from the Rolls and burnt. Every person who possessed a copy or +remembrance of it, was commanded to deliver up the same, under a +penalty of fine and imprisonment at the tyrant's pleasure.[6] Henry +granted a general pardon to Bishop {251} Stillington in order to avoid +prosecuting him for the offence of having borne witness to the +illegitimacy. For he feared discussion. He then trumped up some other +charge, threw the Bishop into prison, and that unfortunate prelate +never came out alive. + +But this was not enough. There was other work to be done from which +Henry long recoiled. Yet without its perpetration he could not safely +be married to Elizabeth, and there could be no security for his +usurpation. Indeed, his position would be rendered even more +precarious by the destruction of the evidence of illegitimacy. He had +usurped a throne to retain which he saw that the committal of more than +one crime was indispensable. + +Meanwhile Henry had summoned the so-called Parliament of his outlawed +adherents. He got his own attainder reversed. He then caused an act +of attainder to be passed against the late King and many loyal noblemen +and knights, whose property he seized. He had the effrontery to accuse +them of treason to him, by dating the commencement of his reign from +the day previous to the battle of Bosworth. No more shameless act of +injustice is recorded in the annals of tyranny. The bit of legal +chicanery by which an attempt was made to excuse it, shows the +character of the man. + +====================================================================== + +{252} + +LOYAL MEN WITH THE KING AT BOSWORTH + +ILLEGAL ATTAINDERS BY ORDER OF HENRY TUDOR PASSED IN THE SO-CALLED +PARLIAMENT OF 1485 + + + Richard III., King of England, K.G. } + John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, K.G. } _Slain at Bosworth_. + Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, K.G. _Prisoner at Bosworth_. + Francis Viscount Lovell, K.G. _Slain at Stoke_. + Walter Lord Ferrers, K.G. } + John Lord Zouch. } _Slain at Bosworth_. + Sir James Harington. (Clerk of the Council.) _At Bosworth_. + Sir Robert Harington. _At Bosworth_. + Sir Richard Charlton. _At Bosworth_. + Sir Richard Ratcliffe, K.G. _Slain at Bosworth_. + Sir William Berkeley, K.B. (Knight of the Bath at the Coronation.) + Sir Robert Brackenbury. (Constable of the Tower.) _Slain at Bosworth_. + Sir Thomas Pilkington. (Brother-in-law of the Haringtons.) _Slain at Stoke_. + Sir Robert Middleton. + Walter Hopton, Esq. (Treasurer of the Household.) + William Catesby, Esq. (Chancellor of the Exchequer.) _Murdered at Leicester_. + Roger Wake, Esq. + William Sapcote, Esq., of Huntingdonshire. + Humphrey Stafford, Esq. _Put to death by Henry VII_. + William Clarke, Esq., of Wenlock. + Walter St. Germain, Esq. + Walter Watkin, Esq. (Herald.) + Richard Revell, Esq., of Derbyshire. + Thomas Pulter, Esq., of Kent. + John Welch, Esq., _otherwise_ Hastings. + John Kendall, Esq. (Secretary of State.) _Slain at Bosworth_. + John Buck, Esq. (Comptroller of the Household.) _Murdered at Leicester_. + John Batte, Esq. + William Brampton, Esq., of Burford. + + (From the _Plumpton Correspondence_, p. 48.) + +====================================================================== + +This odious measure outraged the feelings of all parties in the +country. 'There was many gentlemen against it, but it would not be for +it was the king's pleasure,' wrote Sir Robert Plumpton's correspondent +from London.[7] The monk of Croyland wrote against the outrage, +exclaiming 'O God! what security are our kings to have henceforth that +in the day of battle they {253} may not be deserted by their subjects +who, acting on the awful summons of a king may, on the decline of that +king's party, as is frequently the case, be bereft of life and fortune +and all their inheritance.'[8] Nor was this insult to King Richard's +memory, and the lawless robbery of his loyal subjects, forgotten by the +people of England. They were resolved to secure themselves against a +repetition of such proceedings. Ten years afterwards the tyrant had +the mortification of being obliged to give his assent to an Act +formally condemning the attainder of King Richard's officers.[9] + +It is very significant that, although in the Act of Attainder King +Richard is reviled for cruelty and tyranny, he is not accused of the +murder of his nephews. This is most remarkable. Henry got possession +of the Tower at once. He arrived in London on August 28. If the young +princes were missing, it is certain that in the Act of Attainder the +usurper would have promptly accused King Richard of having murdered +them. But he did not do so. There can only be one explanation of this +omission. The young princes were not missing. + +[Sidenote: Henry's great difficulty] + +Here then was Henry's great difficulty. This fully accounts for the +long delay in marrying Elizabeth. He was afraid. He was ready to +commit any crime with the forms of law. He did not hold with Lord +Russell, that 'killing by forms of law was the worst kind of murder.' +But a recourse to law was impossible {254} in this case. Whatever he +was to do, must be done in profound secrecy. Yet his timid and +superstitious nature shrank from a crime the responsibility of which he +could not share with others. Its perpetration had, he saw, become +absolutely necessary for his security. He hesitated for months. All +evidence of the illegitimacy had been hidden out of sight. No man +dared to mention it. He long stood on the brink. At length he plunged +into guilt. He married Elizabeth on January 18, 1486, nearly five +months after his accession. The die was then cast. It became a matter +of life and death to Henry VII. that the brothers of his wife should +cease to exist. + +[Sidenote: Tudor victims] + +We must now apply the same tests to Henry as we applied to Richard. +Had Henry sufficient motive for the crime? It is impossible that a man +in his position could have had a stronger motive. He had denied the +illegitimacy, and had thus made his wife's brothers his most formidable +rivals. He could not, he dared not let them live, unless he +relinquished all he had gained. The second test we applied to Richard +was his treatment of those persons who were in his power, and who were, +as regards relationship, in the same position as the sons of Edward IV. +Let us apply the same test to Henry. John of Gloucester, the +illegitimate son of Richard III., fell into the hands of Henry. At +first the boy received a maintenance allowance of 20_l._ a year.[10] +But he was soon thrown into prison, on suspicion of an invitation +having reached him to come to Ireland, and he never came {255} out +alive.[11] This 'active well-disposed boy,'[12] as he is described in +the warrant in Rymer's 'Foedera,' fell a victim to the usurper's fears. +His right to the crown was at least as good as that of Henry Tudor. He +was the illegitimate son of a king. Henry was only the great-grandson +of an illegitimate son of a younger son of a king. The Earl of +Warwick, who was the rightful heir to the crown, was also in Henry's +power. The tyrant hesitated for years before he made up his mind to +commit another foul crime. But he finally slaughtered the unhappy +youth under circumstances of exceptional baseness and infamy, to secure +his own ends. His next supposed danger was caused by the Earl of +Suffolk, another nephew of King Richard. The ill-fated prince was +delivered into Henry's hands under a promise that his life should be +spared. He evaded the promise by enjoining his son to kill the victim. +That son promptly complied, and followed up the death of Suffolk by +putting five other descendants of the Plantagenet royal family to +death. These Tudor kings cannot stand the tests we applied to Richard +III., which he passed unscathed. The conduct of Richard to the +relations who were under his protection was that of a Christian king. +The executions of which Henry VII. and his son were guilty were an +imitation of the policy of Turkish sultans. + +If the young princes were in the Tower when Henry succeeded, his +conduct in analogous cases leaves no doubt of their fate. It was the +fate of John of Gloucester, Warwick, Suffolk, Exeter, {256} Montagu, +Surrey, Buckingham, and the Countess of Salisbury.[13] They may not +have been made away with before Henry's marriage, nor for some months +afterwards. The tyrant had the will but not the courage. He hesitated +long, as in the case of young Warwick. For reasons which will appear +presently it is likely that the boys were murdered, by order of Henry +VII., between June 16 and July 16, 1486, three years after the time +alleged by the official Tudor historians. + +[Sidenote: Imprisonment of the Queen Dowager] + +Then, for the first time, the 'common fame' was ordered to spread the +report that King Richard 'had put them under suer kepynge within the +tower, in such wise that they never came abrode after,' and that 'King +Richard put them unto secrete death.'[14] But Henry feared detection. +The mother knew that this was false. If the boys were murdered in July +1486, that mother must soon have begun to feel uneasy. She was at +Winchester with her daughter when her grandchild Arthur was born on +September 20, 1486, and was present at the baptism. But she was in +London in the autumn, and before many months her suspicions must have +been aroused. She must be silenced. Consequently, in February 1487 +'it was resolved that the Lady Elizabeth, wife of King Edward IV., +should lose and forfeit all her lands and possessions because she had +voluntarily submitted herself and her daughters {257} to the hands of +King Richard. Whereat there was much wondering.'[15] She was ordered +to reside in the nunnery of Bermondsey.[16] Once she was allowed to +appear at Court on a State occasion.[17] The pretext for her detention +was not the real motive, for Henry had made grants of manors and other +property to his mother-in-law soon after his accession,[18] when her +conduct with regard to King Richard was equally well known to him. The +real reason was kept secret, as well it might be. Mr. Gairdner calls +this proceeding 'a very mysterious decision taken about the Queen {258} +Dowager.'[19] Very mysterious, indeed, on the assumption of Henry's +innocence. But not so if the mother knew that her sons were alive when +Richard fell, and could now obtain no tidings of them. If the boys +ceased to live in July 1486, it was high time for Henry to silence the +awkward questions of their mother in the following February. He did so +by condemning her to life-long seclusion in a nunnery. Henry was +terrified that a lady who knew some of his secrets, and probably +suspected more, should be at large. In the end of the following year, +and not till then, Henry's wife Elizabeth was at length crowned on +November 25, 1487. The King and his mother beheld the ceremony from a +stage, but there is no mention of the poor Queen's mother. + +[Sidenote: Polydore Virgil's story] + +Years passed on. Perkin Warbeck personated young Richard, and no one +had such good reason as Henry for knowing that he was an impostor. But +the tyrant dared not tell how he knew that Perkin was a 'feigned boy,' +as he called him. At length, in 1502 or thereabouts, the first +detailed story of the murder of the two princes was put forward, after +the execution of Sir James Tyrrel. It may be considered as Henry's +official statement, and was evidently communicated to his paid +historian Polydore Virgil, in whose hands it took the following form: + +'Richard lived in continual fear, for the expelling thereof by any kind +of means, he determined by death to despatch his nephews, because so +long as they lived he could never be out of hazard. Wherefore he sent +warrant to Robert Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, to procure their +death with all diligence by some means convenient. Then he departed to +York. {259} But the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, after he had +received the King's horrible commission, was astonished with the +cruelty of the fact, and fearing lest, if he should obey, the same +might one time or other turn to his own harm, did therefore defer the +doing thereof in hope that the King would spare his own blood, or their +tender age, or alter that heavy determination. But any one of these +points were so far from taking place, seeing that the mind therein +remained immovable, as that when King Richard understood the Lieutenant +to make delay of that which he had commanded, he anon committed the +charge of hastening that slaughter unto another, that is to say James +Tyrrel, who, being forced to do the King's commandment, rode +sorrowfully to London, and to the worst example that hath been almost +ever heard of, murdered those babes of the issue royal. This end had +Prince Edward and Richard his brother, but with what kind of death +these silly children were executed is not certainly known.' + +This was the story put forward by Henry after Tyrrel's death. He may +have added some other particulars afterwards.[20] It is indeed +probable that he did. A much more detailed fable appeared in the +history attributed to More, and in Grafton, both by the same hand. It +has been seen already that the statements of this writer are unworthy +of credit, and it is very difficult to distinguish what parts were +authorised by Henry,[20] and what parts were fabricated by the writer +himself. His story is as follows: + +'At the time when Sir James Tyrrel and John {260} Dighton were in +prison for treason in 1502, they made the following confession. Taking +his way to Gloucester in August 1483, King Richard sent one John Green +with a letter to Sir Robert Brakenbury, Constable of the Tower, +ordering him to put the children to death. Sir Robert plainly answered +that he would not put them to death; with which answer John Green +returning, recounted the same to King Richard at Warwick. + +'The same night the King said to a secret page of his, "Who shall I +trust to do my bidding?" "Sir," quoth the page, "there lieth one on +your pallet without who I dare well say will do your Grace's pleasure, +the things were right hard that he would refuse." This was Sir James +Tyrrel, who saw with envy that Ratcliffe and Catesby were rising above +him in his master's favour. Going out to Sir James, who was reposing +with his brother Thomas, the King said "what Sirs are you abed so +soon?" then, calling Sir James into his chamber, he brake to him +secretly his mind in this mischievous matter. Tyrrel assented, and was +despatched on the morrow with a letter to Brakenbury, to deliver to Sir +James all the keys of the Tower for one night. After which letter +delivered and the keys received, Sir James appointed the night next +ensuing to destroy them, devising before and preparing the means. The +princes were in charge of Will Slaughter (or Slater) called "Black +Will," who was set to serve them and see them sure. Sir James Tyrrel +devised that they should be murdered in their beds; to the execution +whereof he appointed Miles Forest, one of the four who kept them, a +fellow flesh-bred in murder before time. To him he joined his +horse-keeper, John Dighton, a big, broad, square, strong {261} knave. +They smothered the children, and Tyrrel ordered the murderers to bury +them at the stair foot, metely deep in the ground, under a great heap +of stones. Then rode Sir James in great haste to King Richard, and +shewed him all the manner of the murder, who gave him great thanks, and +as some say, then made him knight. But the King allowed not their +burial in so vile a corner, because they were King's sons. Whereupon a +priest of Sir Robert Brakenbury took them and secretly interred them in +such a place as, by the occasion of his death which only knew it the +very truth could never yet be very well known. Very truth is it and +well known that at such time as Sir James Tyrrel was in the Tower for +treason, committed against King Henry VII., both he and Dighton were +examined together of this point, and both they confessed the murder to +be done in the same manner as you have heard. God never gave a more +notable example of what wretched end ensueth such despiteous cruelty. +Miles Forest at St. Martin-le-Grand piecemeal miserably rotted away. +Sir James Tyrrel died on Tower Hill. Dighton, indeed, yet walketh +alive, in good possibility to be hanged ere he die.' Grafton says: +'John Dighton lived at Calais long after, no less disdained and hated +than pointed at, and there died in great misery.' The version in +Kennet[21] makes both 'Dighton and Forest die in a most horrible +manner, rotting away by degrees.' 'Thus, as I have learned of them +that much knewe and little cause had to lye were these two princes +murdered.' This last sentence is audacious. These informers, if they +ever existed outside the writer's imagination, had very strong cause to +lie. They thus complied with the wishes of {262} the reigning powers, +and furthered their own interests. The truth, if they knew it, would +have been their ruin. + +[Sidenote: The story published by Rastell] + +Such is the detailed accusation which was finally put forward. It +contradicts the story of Morton, in his alleged conversation with +Buckingham, who says that the princes were murdered long before the +King reached Warwick, and while Buckingham was still at Court. On the +face of it there is no confession in this long story. It is a +concocted tale, and, indeed, this is fully admitted. It is merely +represented to be the most probable among several others which were +based on various accounts of the alleged confession. If there ever was +a confession why should there be various accounts of it? The silence +of Fabyan, and of Polydore Virgil, who must have heard of the +confession if it had been made, seems conclusive against the truth of +the story of a confession. + +Even this selected tale, as we have received it, is full of gross +improbabilities and inaccuracies. For instance, Tyrrel, who is said to +have been knighted for the murder, had been a knight for twelve years, +and was also a Knight Banneret of some standing.[22] The first thing +that strikes one is that, if the story had been true, Henry must have +heard the main facts when he came to London, after the battle of +Bosworth. For Sir Robert Brackenbury's supersession during one day, +with the delivery of all the keys to Sir James Tyrrel, must inevitably +have been known to his subordinates. All the officials of the Tower +must have known it, and must also have known that the boys disappeared +at the same time. Many persons must have been acquainted with what +happened. Some of them would certainly have been eager to gain favour +with {263} Henry by telling him, when he enquired about the missing +princes. Yet there is no accusation in the Act of Attainder against +Richard or Tyrrel, and it is pretended that nothing was known until +1502. This proves that the story was a subsequent fabrication. + +There is another proof that the tale was false. It is alleged that +Tyrrel and Dighton both confessed. Yet Tyrrel was beheaded for another +offence in defiance of Henry's plighted word, and Dighton was rewarded +with a residence at Calais and, as will be seen presently, a sinecure +in Lincolnshire. These are proofs that there was no such confession as +was alleged and was embodied in the story which, as it now stands, must +be a fabrication. For if the confessions were ever made, Tyrrel and +Dighton must have been tried and convicted for these atrocious murders, +and duly punished. It has been suggested that Tyrrel could not be +proceeded against because his statement was under the seal of +confession. It is clear from the story that this was not so. The +story tells us that Tyrrel and Dighton were subjected to examination, +and that it was in that way that their confessions were obtained. In +point of fact Dighton does not appear to have been arrested at all. +The names of those who were concerned in Tyrrel's business are given by +the chroniclers, and Dighton is not one of them.[23] + +It seems unnecessary to dwell on the absurdities and contradictions in +the story itself. They have often been exposed, and indeed they are +admitted by Mr. Gairdner, who merely contends that the story may be +{264} true in the main, although the details may not be correct. But +it is worth while to refer to the contention of Sharon Turner, Lingard +and others, that the story must be true, on the ground that the persons +mentioned in it were rewarded by King Richard. + +[Sidenote: Alleged rewards to murderers] + +They maintain that 'Brakenbury and Tyrrel received several grants, +Green was made receiver of the Isle of Wight and of the castle and +lordship of Porchester, Dighton was appointed Bailiff of the manor of +Ayton, Forest was keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard Castle.' But it is +not pretended that 'Black Will' was rewarded by Richard. We shall +presently see that he was by Henry. All this can easily be answered. +Brackenbury and Tyrrel were Yorkist officers of rank, and such grants +would have been made to them in any circumstances for their +distinguished services. As regards the others, either the grants were +made previous to the alleged date of the murders, or there is no +evidence to show whether they were made before or after, or in any way +to connect them with the crime. The statement that Green held the +receiverships of the Isle of Wight and Porchester is derived from an +entirely unsupported note by Strype.[24] There was a man named Green +who was Comptroller of Customs at Boston, and another who was appointed +to provide horse meat and litter for the King's stables. But the dates +of these appointments were July 24 and 30, 1483, before the alleged +date of the murders. + +A man named Dighton was made Bailiff of the manor of Ayton[25]; but +there is nothing to show that {265} this appointment was after the +murder, or that he was Tyrrel's horse keeper, or that Tyrrel ever had a +groom of that name. It will presently be seen that the John Dighton of +the murder was probably a clergyman and not a groom. + +It is alleged of Miles Forest that he was one of four jailers in the +Tower who had charge of the princes, that he was a professional +murderer, and that he rotted away miserably, in sanctuary at St. +Martin's-le-Grand. These assertions are certainly false. Miles Forest +was keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard Castle[26] in the valley of the +Tees in Durham, 244 miles from the Tower of London. There he lived +with his wife Joan and his son Edward. A footman serving at Middleham +Castle, named Henry Forest, was perhaps another son.[27] There is not +the slightest reason for believing that Forest entered upon his +appointment after the date of the alleged murders; but much to disprove +this assumption. He died in September 1484, and, as his wife and son +received a pension for their lives, he must have been an old and +faithful servant who had held the office for many years. + +Dr. Lingard suggests that the pension was granted because Forest held +the post for such a _short_ time, assuming that he was one of the +murderers in the story. This is certainly a very odd reason for +granting a pension![28] Some authors have thought that it was +Baynard's Castle, the residence of the Duchess of York in London, where +Forest was keeper of the wardrobe. But the names in the manuscript are +quite clear. + +Miles Forest was a responsible old official in a royal castle, living +with his wife and grown-up sons in the {266} far north of England; +where he died and his family received a pension for his long service. +We are asked to believe that he was, at the same time, a notorious +murderer who was also a jailer in the Tower of London, and that he died +in sanctuary at St. Martin's-le-Grand. + +[Sidenote: Genesis of the story] + +How Forest's name got into the story concocted from the pretended +confession it is not possible, at this distance of time, to surmise. +But the author of it was quite unscrupulous, and the above +considerations justify the conclusion that Forest's name was used +without any regard for truth. There was a desire to give names and +other details in order to throw an air of verisimilitude over the +fable. We see the same attempt in the use of the name of Dighton. He +was not Tyrrel's horse-keeper, nor probably the actual murderer, but a +different person, as will be seen presently. But there was a John +Dighton living at Calais when the story was made up, who was known to +be connected, in some mysterious way, with the disappearance of the +princes. So the author of the story hit upon his name to do duty as a +strong square knave who did the deed. The name of Forest was doubtless +adopted owing to some similar chance. The name of neither Deighton nor +Forest occurs in the authorised version as given by Polydore Virgil. + +Henry at first only accused Tyrrel of the murders; but it seems likely +that he subsequently put forward some further details. There is an +indication of the Green episode in Polydore Virgil. It is therefore +probable that it was sanctioned by Henry's authority, as well as the +details respecting the interment of the bodies. All the rest about +Dighton and Forest, and the mode in which their crime was committed, is +an impudent fabrication, as regards Richard, based upon {267} the +authorised story which is given by Polydore Virgil. The Italian was +supplied with the statement sanctioned by Henry, and he distinctly +tells us that the mode of death was not divulged. + +If the mode of death was not divulged, the alleged confession of Tyrrel +and Dighton cannot have taken place. For this is the very thing they +would have confessed. + +There remains a circumstantial story which may really have been +connected with a secret tragedy. It has a very suspicious look of +having been parodied out of something which actually happened. It is +unlikely to have been pure invention. The fear of detection must have +been always haunting Henry's mind. He would be tortured with the +apprehension that the vague rumours he had set afloat against Richard +were not believed; and this would be an inducement to promulgate a more +detailed and circumstantial story. He could not and dared not accuse +Tyrrel while he was alive, for a reason which will appear directly, but +as soon as he was dead it would be safe to do so. At the time when he +got rid of Tyrrel his son Arthur had just died. The man's mind would +be filled with fear of retributive justice. Then the terror of +detection would increase upon him. He would long to throw off +suspicion from himself, by something more decisive than vague rumour. +The notion of imputing his own crime, in its real details, to his +predecessor, is quite in keeping with the workings of a subtle and +ingenious mind such as we know Henry's to have been. Hence, Tyrrel, +Green, Dighton, Black Will, may have been the accomplices of Henry +VII., not of Richard III. As soon as Tyrrel was disposed of, the +circumstantial story might be divulged as his confession, merely {268} +substituting the name of Richard for that of Henry, and the name of +Brackenbury for that of Daubeney.[29] + +[Sidenote: Murder of the princes] + +With this clue to guide us, let us see what light can still be thrown +on the dark question of the murders. Sir James Tyrrel of Gipping had +been a knight of some distinction. He had been on a commission for +exercising the office of Lord High Constable under Edward IV. He had +been Master of the Horse and was created a Knight Banneret at Berwick +siege. King Richard made him Master of the Henchmen and conferred many +favours on him. But he was not one of the good men and true who stood +by their sovereign to the end. His name drops out of history during +those last anxious months before Bosworth. He was no doubt a trimmer. +But he could not escape the consequences of his long service under the +Yorkist kings. Henry Tudor deprived him of his Chamberlainship of the +Exchequer, and of his Constableship of Newport, in order to bestow +those appointments on his own friends.[30] Tyrrel had to wait +patiently in the cold shade. But he was ambitious, unscrupulous, and +ready to do a great deal for the sake of the new King's favour. Here +was a ready instrument for such a man as Henry Tudor. + +The die had been cast. The usurper had married Elizabeth of York and +entered upon the year 1486. There was a dark deed which must be done. +Henry set out on a progress to York, leaving London in the middle of +March. On the 11th of the same month, John Green received from the new +King a grant of {269} a third of the manor of Benyngton in +Hertfordshire.[31] For this favour Green had, no doubt, to perform +some secret service which, if satisfactorily executed, would be more +fully rewarded. This grant was a small retaining fee. We know from +the story what that service was. We also know from the story that +Green did not succeed. Henry VII. returned from his progress in June, +only to find that Green had failed him in his need. Then Henry (not +Richard) may well have exclaimed 'Who shall I trust to do my bidding?' +'"Sir," quoth a secret councillor'[32] (called a page in the story), +'"there waiteth without one who I dare well say will do your Grace's +pleasure." So Tyrrel was taken into favour, and undertook to perform +Henry's work with the understanding that he was to receive a sufficient +reward. He became a knight of the King's body.[33] On June 16, 1486, +Sir James Tyrrel late of Gipping received a general pardon.[34] There +is nothing extraordinary in this. It was an ordinary practice, in +those days, to grant general pardons on various occasions. But it +marks the date when Henry found 'one without' who was ready to do his +pleasure. Tyrrel, as the story tells us, was given a warrant to the +Lieutenant of the Tower, conferring on him the needful powers. The +murders were then committed, as the story informs us, by William +Slaughter or Slater, called 'Black Will,' with the aid of John Dighton. +Slater was, no doubt, the jailer. Master Dighton, however, was not +Tyrrel's groom. A John Dighton was a priest, and possibly a chaplain +in the Tower. He may have {270} been only an accessory after the fact, +in connexion with the interments. The bodies, as we are told in the +story, were buried at the stair foot, 'metely deep in the ground'; +where they were discovered in July 1674,[35] 188 years afterwards. The +tale about their removal,[36] and the death of the priest, was no doubt +inserted by Henry, to prevent that discovery. On July 16, 1486, Sir +James Tyrrel received a second general pardon.[37] This would be very +singular under ordinary circumstances, the second pardon having been +granted within a month of the first. But it is not so singular when we +reflect on what probably took place in the interval. There was an +offence to be condoned which must be kept a profound secret. Thus we +are able to fix the time of the murder of the two young princes between +June 16 and July 16, 1486. One was fifteen and a half, the other +twelve years of age. + +[Sidenote: Relations silenced] + +Henry had at length found courage to commit the crime. He may have +excused it to himself from the absolute necessity of his position. It +had been perpetrated in profound secrecy. If the mother, brother, or +sisters suspected anything, they could be silenced. They were +absolutely at his mercy. Henry caused the mother to be stripped of her +property, immured in Bermondsey nunnery, and left dependent on him for +subsistence. She was thus effectually silenced. The Marquis of +Dorset, half brother of the murdered boys, was committed to the Tower +during 1487; but he succeeded in convincing the tyrant that there was +{271} nothing to fear from him, and was eventually released. The +eldest sister was Henry's wife and at his mercy--the wife of a man who, +as his admirers mildly put it, 'was not uxorious.' She was within two +months of her confinement. Doubtless for that reason her mother kept +all misgivings to herself. Henry married the next sister, Cicely, to +his old uncle Lord Welles,[38] who would ensure her silence. She was +married in that very year, and sent off to Lincolnshire. The three +youngest were children, and in due time could be married to his +adherents, or shut up in a nunnery.[39] Others who knew much, and must +have suspected more, were silent in public, for their fortunes, perhaps +their lives, depended on their silence. + +Yet the guilty tyrant could have known no peace. He must have been +haunted by the fear of detection, however industriously he might cause +reports to be spread and histories to be written, in which his +predecessor was charged with his crimes. Then there was the horror of +having to deal with his accomplices. Here fortune favoured him. Green +died in the end of 1486[40]; though hush money seems to have been paid +to 'Black Will' for some time longer.[41] John Dighton {272} was +presented by Henry VII. with the living of Fulbeck near Grantham, in +Lincolnshire, on May 2, 1487.[42] But he was expected to live on the +other side of the Channel. Sir James Tyrrel received ample recompense. +He seems to have been appointed to the office of Constable of Guisnes +immediately after the date of his second general pardon.[43] He was +next sent as ambassador to Maximilian, King of the Romans, to conclude +a perpetual league and treaty. In 1493 Tyrrel was one of the +Commissioners for negotiating the Treaty of Etaples with France. In +August 1487 he received a grant for life of the Stewardship of the +King's Lordship of Ogmore in Wales. But Henry, although he was obliged +to reward his accomplices, was anxious to keep them on the other side +of the Channel as much as possible. Dighton had to reside at Calais. +Tyrrel was required to make an exchange, giving up his estates in Wales +to the King, and receiving revenues from the county of Guisnes of equal +value.[44] In 1498 Henry still addressed him as his well-beloved and +faithful councillor. + +[Sidenote: Arrest of Tyrrel] + +The long-sought pretext for getting rid of Tyrrel was found in 1502. +The usurper dreaded the Earl of Suffolk, King Richard's nephew, as a +claimant to the throne. He heard that Tyrrel had favoured the escape +of the ill-fated young prince to Germany. Henry would be terrified at +the idea of Tyrrel taking the side of another claimant, and publicly +denouncing his misdeeds. {273} He ordered the arrest of his +accomplice, but Tyrrel refused to surrender the castle of Guisnes. He +was besieged by the whole garrison of Calais. Henry then ordered Dr. +Fox, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, one of his most +intimate associates, to send a promise under the privy seal, to the +effect that Tyrrel should come and go in security if he would confer +with Sir Thomas Lovell, Henry's Chancellor of the Exchequer, on board a +ship at Calais. Tyrrel should have known his master by this time. But +even he had not gauged the full depth of Tudor perfidy. He was +deceived by the 'pulchris verbis' of Bishop Fox.[45] When he came on +board he was told that he would be pitched overboard unless he sent a +token to his son to deliver up the castle. The token was sent, and the +King's promise under his privy seal was broken. Tyrrel was safely +locked up in a dungeon of the Tower and beheaded without trial and in +great haste on May 6, 1502. + +At length Henry could breathe freely. Green and Tyrrel were dead. +Slater does not appear again, so it {274} may be assumed that he also +had been got rid of. Only Dighton remained. He had to reside at +Calais on the proceeds of his sinecure in Lincolnshire, and to be +useful as a false witness. We know from Rastell and Grafton that he +did live and die at Calais. The identity of names suggests the +probability that he was a brother or son of the John Dighton who was +Bailiff of Ayton Manor. + +The story told in the publications of Grafton and Rastell was generally +accepted as true; although, even after the lapse of so many years, +there must have been many old people who knew it to be false. These +people had the choice between silence and ruin. As they died off, the +belief in the story became more and more universal. This fable, +appearing first in Grafton, was the final touch to the hideous and +grotesque caricature which was portrayed by the Tudor historians and +dramatised by Shakespeare. The history of its reception in all its +absurd and improbable details, of the ineradicable prejudice which +could keep it alive for four centuries, and long after sound methods of +criticism had begun to be applied to other historical questions, forms +a curious chapter in the record of human credulity. + +[Sidenote: Death of the Earl of Warwick] + +Henry Tudor suffered for his crimes. The secret removal of his wife's +brothers and of her uncle's illegitimate son failed to complete the +catalogue of them. Young Edward Earl of Warwick was another stumbling +block in his way. But again his superstitious mind recoiled from guilt +which his judgment recommended. If his wife had been legitimate, there +would have been no danger to Henry from the Earl of Warwick; that young +prince would have been far removed from the succession. His wife's +illegitimacy {275} made her cousin the rightful heir, and hence another +crime seemed necessary. Henry put off the perpetration of this crime +for years. Ferdinand of Spain refused to allow a marriage between his +daughter and Henry's son Arthur, until the rightful heir to the crown +of England had been put out of the way. This refusal at length gave +Henry a motive for the crime which outweighed his superstitious fears. +He committed it in a way which was thoroughly characteristic. He +caused Perkin Warbeck to be given access to the Earl of Warwick in the +Tower, and some of the jailers were told to suggest an attempt at +escape. An informer, named Robert Cleymound, was employed to listen to +the conversations of the two lads, and to report that an escape was +meditated by them. This was made a capital charge against the young +prince. He was subjected to a mock trial, so that Henry might indulge +in his hope of limited liability for murder, and was then slaughtered +on November 28, 1499. A man who was capable of committing such a +cowardly murder in such a way was certainly as capable of the crime of +which he falsely accused King Richard. + +As soon as Richard III. was dead, Edward Earl of Warwick became _de +jure_ King of England, not only as the acknowledged heir to the dead +King but also as the nearest in succession, and as the last male +Plantagenet. His existence was, at that time, a serious danger to the +usurper, who did not lose a day in securing the poor lad's person. If, +as Henry afterwards caused it to be proclaimed, the declaration of the +illegitimacy of the children of Edward IV. was false, then the Earl of +Warwick ceased to be dangerous; and there was no object in condemning +him to perpetual imprisonment. It was a useless act of injustice {276} +and cruelty. But if Henry knew that, in spite of his attempts to +destroy all evidence of the illegitimacy, the awkward fact remained, +his injustice and cruelty are explained. They afford one more proof of +the truth of Dr. Stillington's evidence, which led to the accession of +King Richard. + +Warwick was now put out of the way, in obedience to the King of Spain. +But remorse gnawed the tyrant's heart. His father confessor, though +doubtless an astute courtier, failed to soothe his conscience. He +sought the help of wizards and quacks. But his superstitions gave him +little consolation. The Spanish Ambassador noticed the change that had +taken place in Henry's appearance since the murder of young Warwick. +Don Pedro de Ayala had been in Scotland during the interval. The King +had come to look many years older in a single month. Dark thoughts +were haunting his mind. His eldest son died, and an anonymous writer +has recorded that he showed some feeling, and exchanged words of +consolation with his wife.[46] This is quite in keeping with one side +of his character. The other side is shown in his harsh treatment of +Catharine of Aragon, in his monstrous proposal to marry her when his +wife died, in his disgusting inquiries respecting the young Queen of +Naples, and in his revolting offer for the hand of Juana (_la loca_). +But the necessities of his position gave him little time for the +indulgence either of such grief as he was capable of feeling or of the +other less creditable sentiments that are revealed in his +correspondence. His son's death must have seemed to him the Nemesis of +his crimes. Yet within a month he was beheading {277} Tyrrel, and +fabricating a story to account for the disappearance of his wife's +brothers. + +We can never know how much that wife suffered. No doubt she was kept +in ignorance of the fate of her brothers. But she knew they were not +killed by her uncle. She saw her mother immured in a nunnery for life. +She saw her brother, the Marquis of Dorset, committed to the Tower. +She saw the sister, nearest to her in age, hurriedly married to old +Lord Welles. She must have suspected much, even if she knew nothing. +She could not have been kept in ignorance of the cruel imprisonment of +her young cousin Warwick. She must have shuddered at his murder. She +would have been less than human if she did not loathe the perpetrator +of these deeds, even though he was the father of her children. The +unhappy wife was released from companionship with the murderer of her +relations on February 11, 1503. + +[Sidenote: Death of the Earl of Suffolk] + +Another crime was contemplated by the miserable usurper, to make his +position safe. But he could not get the Earl of Suffolk into his +clutches without giving a solemn promise to spare his life. He evaded +the promise by advising his son to commit the crime after his +death.[47] Murderous designs thus occupied his mind, even on his +death-bed. + +Yet one of Henry's last acts was an act of restitution. He restored in +blood, and to all his estates, the son of his accomplice, Sir James +Tyrrel, on April 6, 1507, feeling no doubt that the greater criminal of +the two remained unpunished, except by his own remorseful conscience. + +{278} + +Henry became haggard and restless. Prosperous and successful as the +world deemed him, we may rely upon it that his crimes were not +unpunished. His cowardly nature was peculiarly susceptible to the +torturing pangs of remorse. He died, full of terrors, prematurely old +and worn out, at the early age of fifty-two, on April 21, 1509. He was +successful as the world counts success. He accumulated riches by +plunder and extortion. He established a despotic government. He +cleared his path of rivals. We are told that he inaugurated a new +era--era of 'benevolences' and Star Chamber prosecutions. In all these +things he succeeded. He, and the writers he employed, were +pre-eminently successful as slanderers. They succeeded in blackening +for all time the fame of a far better man than Henry Tudor. + +[Sidenote: Things unexplained] + +Hitherto we have been engaged in the investigation of positive +evidence. There is, however, another side to the question--a negative +side. We must now examine Henry's omissions. According to his story +he found the two boys missing when he arrived in London after the +battle of Bosworth. If Henry's story was true, it must have been well +known to every official in the Tower that Sir Robert Brackenbury gave +up charge to Sir James Tyrrel and that the boys had never been seen +since. If Henry made any enquiries he must have heard this, and the +whole story would have come out. Why were not Tyrrel, Dighton, Green, +and Black Will arrested, tried, and hanged? Why was not King Richard +accused of murdering his nephews in the Act of Attainder? It is very +improbable, though just possible, that Henry might have failed to +ascertain the details of the story, assuming it to have been true, when +he first arrived. Still, if the boys were missing, {279} it is certain +that he would have accused Richard of their murder in the Act of +Attainder. His omission to do so amounts to a strong presumption that +they were not missing. According to the story, Tyrrel and Dighton +confessed the murder in 1502. Why were they not tried and executed for +it? This must have been done if there ever was a confession. It was +clearly not made under the seal of confession, according to the story, +but under the pressure of official examination. Tyrrel was actually +beheaded, in great haste, on a frivolous charge, and his capture was a +breach of a royal promise given under the privy seal. Surely this +would have been avoided if there had been any other way, and there was +another way. There was every possible reason for trying him for these +horrible murders and executing him for them. Why was not this done? +There can be only one answer. There was no confession. Henry's +treatment of Dighton is still more extraordinary. It is alleged that +he also confessed the murder. Yet he was not only unpunished, but +allowed to live at large in Calais. When we find that Henry gave +rewards to Tyrrel, Dighton, Green, and Black Will, the conclusion is +inevitable that there was no confession to the King in 1502, because it +was quite unnecessary. The confession was due from Henry himself. + +Another omission in Henry's conduct is equally incriminating. If the +children of Edward IV. were legitimate, why was not the Act of Richard +III. published, which alleged their illegitimacy, and its falsehood +fully exposed by evidence? Why was such extraordinary anxiety shown to +conceal its contents, and violence threatened against anyone who +preserved a record of them? Why were absurd, improbable, {280} and +contradictory tales invented, in substitution of the statements made in +Richard's Act? There can be only one answer. The statements in the +Act were true. + +In no other way can Henry's cruel treatment of the young Earl of +Warwick be accounted for. If Elizabeth was the legitimate heiress of +York, then there could be no danger from Warwick, and no reason for +molesting him. He was simply a harmless young prince, far removed from +the succession. But if Elizabeth and her sisters were not legitimate, +the case was very different. Warwick was then _de jure_ Edward V. +There was every reason for a usurper to imprison and kill him. The +Lambert Simnel insurrection is explained in that case. It would have +been without motive if Warwick came after five others in the succession +to the crown. Here again Henry's conduct can only be explained in one +way. Warwick was imprisoned and killed for the same reason that +Richard's Act of Parliament, declaring his title, was destroyed. + +The conduct of Henry adds weight to all the other evidence. It cannot +be reconciled with his innocence. It can only be explained by his +guilt. + + + +[1] William Catesby was the son of Sir William Catesby of Ashby St. +Leger in Northamptonshire, by Philippa, heiress of Sir William +Bishopston. He was a learned man, well versed in the laws of his +country. On June 30, 1483, he become Chancellor of the Exchequer, and +was chosen Speaker of King Richard's Parliament. Lord Rivers had such +confidence in his integrity that he nominated him executor of his will. +His wife was Margaret, daughter of William Lord Zouch. He made his own +will on August 25, 1485, leaving his wife sole executrix and dividing +his property among his children. His unjust attainder was afterwards +reversed in favour of his son George. + +[2] Yet Dr. Lingard tells us that 'Henry was careful not to stain his +triumph with blood.' This is a strange assertion, when it is directly +followed by the admission that he did stain his triumph with blood. Of +all his prisoners,' he continues, 'three only suffered death, the +notorious [why notorious?] Catesby and two persons of the name of +Brecher, who _probably_ had merited that distinction by their crimes' +(iv. p. 260). This is a pure assumption, unwarranted by any evidence +whatever. If the word 'loyalty' had been substituted for 'crimes,' Dr. +Lingard would have been nearer the truth. All that this historian's +praise amounts to is that Henry refrained from committing a massacre, +such as he caused to be perpetrated on a subsequent occasion, when +Warbeck's followers landed in Kent. + +Mr. Gairdner says: 'Whether these executions were just is another +question, save that the ministers of a bad king must take the +responsibility even of his worst deeds' (p. 311). He evidently sees +that Henry's conduct is indefensible; and he has elsewhere admitted +that Richard was not a bad King. + +The more impartial Hutton says: 'Thus the first regal act performed by +Henry was an act of tyranny' (_Bosworth_, p. 148). + +[3] 'For men remember not any King of England before that tyme which +used such a furniture of daily soldiers.'--Hall, p. 425. + +[4] Gairdner. + +[5] 'De jure belli et de jure Lancastriae.' + +[6] _Rot. Parl._ vi. 289_a_. The monk of Croyland had a copy, but +luckily for him, he was not found out. + +[7] _Plumpton Correspondence_. Letter dated December 13, 1485 (p. 49). + +[8] Translation by Mr. Gairdner in his _Henry VII._ (p. 38). + +[9] 11 Henry VII. cap. 1 (1496). It was enacted that no person serving +the King and Sovereign Lord of the land for the time being shall be +convicted of high treason, nor suffer any forfeiture or imprisonment. +In the previous year the usurper, also no doubt from fear of public +opinion, had paid 10_l._ 1_s._ to James Keyley for King Richard's tomb +(_Excerp. Hist._ p. 105). + +[10] Grant to John of Gloucester of an annual rent of 20_l._ during the +King's pleasure, from the revenues of the manor of Kingston Lacey, +parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster in the county of Dorset. March 1 +1486.--_Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII._ i. + +[11] 'About the same time there was a base-born son of King Richard +III. made away, having been kept long in prison.'--Buck, p. 105, from +_Chron. MS._ in 4to. apud _Dr. Rob. Cotton_. + +[12] Rymer, xii. p. 265. + +[13] A critic, after reading this work, objected that partiality was +shown by the fact that while the older writers are blamed for +blackening Richard's character in other ways, in order to make the +charge of murdering the princes more plausible, precisely the same +thing is done with Henry VII. But the other charges against Henry are +proved and acknowledged facts. Those against Richard have been +disproved. The older writers are justly blamed for inventing calumnies. + +[14] Fabyan. + +[15] Polydore Virgil. Lord Bacon observes, in his _Life of Henry +VII._, 'which proceeding, being even at that time taxed for rigorous +and undue makes it probable there was some greater matter against her, +which the King, upon reason of policy, would not publish.' +Undoubtedly, there was; she knew too much. + +[16] Dr. Lingard (iv. 279 and 286_n_) and Nicolas (p. lxxviii) bring +forward a negotiation with the King of Scots, in November 1487, in +which Henry proposed that James III. should marry the Queen Dowager, as +a proof that he never deprived her of liberty. If he suspected her, +they argue, he would not have given her the opportunity of plotting +against him, which her situation as Queen of Scotland would have +afforded her. Although Henry may have momentarily entertained the idea +of getting rid of a woman who knew too much by this expatriation, he +soon changed his mind. She was safer in his power. The negotiations +were broken off, and James was killed in the following year. + +[17] She was present when her daughter gave audience to the French +Ambassador in November 1489 (_Leland Coll._ iv. 249). Henry allowed +her a pension of 400_l._ a year from February 19, 1490. Her will, +dated April 10, 1492, is witnessed by the Abbot of Bermondsey. She +here confirms the fact of the seizure of her property by her +son-in-law. Her words are decisive on that point. 'Whereas I have no +worldly goods.' Sir H. Nicolas tried to account for this by suggesting +that she only had a life interest in her income. But this will not +explain so sweeping a statement as that she had no worldly goods at all +(p. lxxx). + +Mr. Gairdner says: 'Henry VII. found it advisable to shut up his +mother-in-law in a monastery, and had not the slightest scruple in +taking her property away from her' (_Richard III._ p. 88). + +[18] _Letters Patent_, March 4, 1486. + +[19] Gairdner's _Henry VII._ + +[20] 'The King's manner of showing things by pieces and side lights +hath so muffled it that it hath left it almost a mystery to this +day.'--Lord Bacon. + +[21] i. 501. + +[22] He was made a Knight Banneret at the taking of Berwick, in 1482. + +[23] They were Sir William Courtenay, one Welborne, and Tyrrel's son, +who were pardoned; Sir Walter Tyrrel and Sir John Wyndham beheaded; a +Ship-master hanged at Tyburn, a Poursuivant named Curson, and a Yeoman +named Matthew Jones executed at Guisnes; all on suspicion of having +aided the Earl of Suffolk to escape. + +[24] In Rennet's _England_, i. p. 552. Mr. Gairdner, referring to this +note by Strype, says: 'I own I cannot find his authority.'--_Richard +III._ p. 164. + +[25] _Harl. MS._ 433, fol. 55. + +[26] _Harl. MS._ 433, fol. 78 and 187. + +[27] _Ibid._ 433, fol. 118. + +[28] v. 577. + +[29] The Earl of Oxford was appointed Constable of the Tower for life, +on September 22, 1485. We may hope that Oxford, who did not reside, +had no guilty knowledge. + +[30] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. pp. 41, 95. + +[31] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. p. 384. + +[32] Was this Morton? Buck had heard so. + +[33] _Memorials of Henry VII._ ii. p. 251. + +[34] _Ibid._ i. p. 460. + +[35] Sandford, v. p. 404. + +[36] 'The latter part of the tale, which declares their interment by +the priest and their removal by Richard's order, was evidently +fabricated by Henry, to prevent the hazard of a search.'--Hutton's +_Bosworth_, p. 169. + +[37] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. p. 486. + +[38] Lord Welles was a half brother, on the mother's side, of Henry's +mother. + +[39] Anne was eleven. In due time she was married to the son of the +Earl of Surrey. Katherine was only seven. When she was twenty she +became the wife of the Lancastrian Earl of Devonshire. Bridget, the +youngest, was five. She was immured in a nunnery at Dartford, as soon +as she was old enough. + +[40] _Memorials of Henry VII._ i. p. 617. + +[41] As late as 1488 there is a grant of five marks, at Easter, 'by way +of reward,' to William Slater. If this was the jailer, he received +hush money for two years after the perpetration of the murders. He is +not heard of again. _Memorials of Henry VII._ ('Writs under the Privy +Seal. Easter Term 3 Hen. VII.'), ii. p. 298. + +[42] _Memorials of Henry VII._ ii. p. 148. + +[43] This appears from general pardons having been granted to the +former Constable, to the Chaplain, and to twenty-four soldiers of the +garrison of Guisnes on the same date, July 16. No doubt these pardons +were on the occasion of the appointment of a new Constable, and the +return of part of the garrison to England. + +[44] _Memorials of Henry VII._ ii. pp. 188, 251. + +[45] This is an ugly story. Dr. Richard Fox was originally an agent of +Morton and other conspirators abroad. This discreditable work brought +him to Paris early in 1485, where he became known to Henry Tudor. A +man so employed could not have been a good priest. He came with Henry +to England as his Secretary, and was of course well rewarded. He +became Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal; and appears to have +been munificent and diligent as a prelate. By his 'pulchris verbis' he +treacherously drew Tyrrel into the clutches of Sir Thomas Lovell. This +appears from a letter of the Earl of Suffolk to the Emperor Maximilian +dated at Aix-la-Chapelle on May 12, 1502. So hurried were the +proceedings against Tyrrel that he was actually beheaded six days +before the date of Suffolk's letter announcing his treacherous capture. +Bishop Fox has been much eulogised. But no one could be for years in +the inner counsels of such a man as Henry VII. without being in +sympathy with his ways, which certainly do not deserve eulogy. + +[46] _Leland's Coll._ v. p. 373. From an anonymous manuscript. +_Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._, B. P. i. Pref. p. 29. + +[47] Lord Herbert of Cherbury, _Life of Henry VIII._ p. 36. 'Our King +executing what his father at his departure out of the world commanded, +as Bellay hath it.' + + + + +{281} + +CHAPTER VI + +MR. GAIRDNER'S RICHARD III + +It will be interesting, in conclusion, to examine the critical +treatment of these questions by the latest historian who has written on +the subject.[1] Mr. Gairdner argues in favour of the Tudor portrait of +the last Plantagenet King, but only to a limited extent. + +The thick and thin believers in the Tudor caricature, such as Hume and +Lingard, aroused doubts in many minds. Mr. Gairdner is the most +formidable enemy to the memory of the gallant young King that has yet +appeared, because he is, beyond comparison, the best informed author +that has ever treated of this part of history, has conscientiously +striven to be fair and impartial, and has stated both sides of the +question, while retaining a belief in Richard's worst crimes. His +predecessors, who have taken his view, simply adopted all the +statements of Tudor writers as facts, and have depicted a cool, +calculating, scheming, cruel, and most revolting villain without a +redeeming feature. They thus portrayed at least a possible monster. +But Mr. Gairdner, while striving to be fair and just, still clings to +what he calls 'tradition,' {282} that is to the Tudor stories of +crimes, told many years after the time. The two things are +incompatible, so that he produces a monster which would be impossible +anywhere. His Richard III. is a prince, headlong and reckless as to +consequences, but of rare gifts and with many redeeming qualities. He +was wise and able, brave, generous, religious, fascinating, and yet had +committed two very cowardly assassinations before he was nineteen, +murdered his defenceless nephews, and gratuitously slandered his +mother. Such a monster is an impossibility in real life. Even Dr. +Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are nothing to it. + +Let us see how Mr. Gairdner arrived at his two-sided monster. He +explains his method in his preface. He demurs to the view of the late +Mr. Buckle that commonly received opinions should be doubted until they +are found to stand the test of argument.[2] He lays it down that no +attempt to set aside traditional views can be successful until the +history of the particular epoch has been re-written, and the new +version exhibits a moral harmony with the facts of subsequent times and +of times preceding.[3] + +'Tradition,' Mr. Gairdner tells us, is an interpreter and nothing more, +and seldom supplies anything material in the way of facts.[4] Yet he +adds that the attempt to discard it is like an attempt to learn a +language without a master, and he thinks that a sceptical spirit is a +most fatal one in history. It is difficult to follow him when he +announces that, in spite of this view of tradition, his plan is to +place the chief reliance on contemporary information, and that this +treatment of history should be adhered to.[5] + +{283} + +'Tradition,' in Richard's case, means the embellishments of later +chroniclers writing long after the events, in the interests of another +dynasty. Unfortunately Mr. Gairdner does not always adhere to +contemporary evidence, but prefers 'tradition.' + +In the case of Richard III. Mr. Gairdner thinks that it is not clearly +shown that the story would be more intelligible without 'tradition,' +and that the said 'tradition' is not well accounted for. + +Let us endeavour to test these two propositions by the light of Mr. +Gairdner's own admissions. + +His Richard stood high in general estimation when Duke of +Gloucester.[6] As King the people showed him marks of loyalty.[7] In +the north undoubtedly, and perhaps with the common people generally, he +was highly popular, and there was every evidence of devoted loyalty and +personal popularity at the time of Buckingham's rising.[8] He was an +able ruler,[9] he had the confidence even of his enemies in his justice +and integrity,[10] he was generous not only to the widows and children +of fallen enemies, but even to the wives of rebels in open revolt,[11] +his generous acts were done graciously and in no grudging spirit,[12] +there was nothing mean or paltry in his character,[13] his manners were +ingratiating, and he had great influence over others. + +A person so described is very unintelligible if the assassinations and +infamies of 'tradition' have to be added. Richard's character is far +more intelligible without them; and 'tradition' is perfectly accounted +for by the necessities of the new dynasty, whose well-paid writers +created it. + +{284} + +Mr. Gairdner acknowledges that 'tradition' seldom supplies anything +material in the way of facts. Yet he maintains that traditional views +cannot be set aside unless the history of the particular epoch is +re-written, and the new version exhibits a moral harmony with the facts +of subsequent times and times preceding. + +Of course certain passages in history would have to be re-written when +they were found to be erroneous. But the truth or falsehood of a +particular accusation cannot be affected by facts of subsequent times +or times preceding. Its truth or falsehood is not established by moral +harmony with something else, but by contemporary evidence. + +My detailed remarks on Mr. Gairdner's views respecting Richard's +alleged crimes are intended to show that his conclusions are mistaken +when they deviate from his own plan of placing the chief reliance on +contemporary evidence; and that a sceptical spirit, in the special case +of Richard, is absolutely necessary if the truth is to be reached. + +Mr. Gairdner assumes that Richard murdered his nephews, and, on the +strength of his guilt in committing that crime, he argues that the +criminal was capable of anything during his former life, and on this +ground believes in some of the other alleged crimes. The earlier +accusers appear to argue in the reverse way. They accumulated every +accusation they could think of, with reference to Richard's former +life, in order to make the main crime more probable. + +Though Mr. Gairdner's sense of justice obliges him to make so many +admissions that the revolting monster of earlier histories almost +disappears in his hands, yet in some respects he goes backwards. For +he still {285} clings to the assassinations of young Edward and of +Henry VI., two horrible stories invented by later chroniclers. Surely +the sound arguments of Sharon Turner and others ought to have been +allowed finally to expunge these revolting fables from our history. + +However, in Mr. Gairdner's book the venomous hunchback, born with +teeth, entirely disappears. He gives us, in his place, a prince 'whose +bodily deformity, though perceptible, was probably not conspicuous.' +In his latest version, he abandons the assassination in the King's tent +by his chief nobles. He thinks that Richard is unduly blamed about the +murder of Henry VI. because it was probably sanctioned by others. He +pronounces Richard to be guiltless of the death of Clarence. He admits +that Anne was not married to young Edward, and that there is some +reason to believe that she regarded Richard with favour. He gives no +countenance to the insinuation that Anne was poisoned by her husband. +He is inclined to credit the pre-contract of Edward IV. with Lady +Eleanor Butler, and admits the strength of the evidence for its truth. +He considers it remarkable that a man (Lord Rivers) who suffered by the +Protector's order could appeal to him to be supervisor of his will. +This would certainly be very remarkable if Gloucester and Rivers had +been accomplices in two cowardly murders. Such monsters do not usually +place confidence in each other. But the simple truth is not +remarkable. Rivers felt that he had failed and must pay the penalty, +but he placed full and deserved confidence in Richard's honour and +integrity, as well as in his generosity. + +{286} + +Mr. Gairdner has thus removed much of the Tudor garbage from the +picture of King Richard, but he will not sweep off the rest. His +researches show him that the accusations of the Tudor writers are +irreconcilable with the results of modern investigations. But his +preconceived convictions, although much shaken, are not yet swept away. +The inevitable result is that the life and character of Richard become +a puzzle to him. Generous, kind, and patriotic acts continue to be +recorded of the young King throughout his life, which are certainly not +the acts of an habitual assassin. Those who are forced to acknowledge +the facts, and yet cling to a belief in the fictions, find themselves +in a tight place. This is Mr. Gairdner's position. He will not give +up all the Tudor fables, and clings to such shreds of them as it seems +to him possible to retain. Yet his own researches force him to abandon +much and to apologize for the rest. The man's acts cannot be made to +harmonize with the Tudor calumnies. The consequent contradictions +necessitate the explanation that 'Richard was not yet even a hardened +criminal' (p. 46); while some of the events which cannot be disputed +are 'certainly remarkable' (p. 91), and others 'almost inconceivable' +(p. 214). + +Mr. Gairdner cannot quite give up the fable of the murder of young +Edward at Tewkesbury. He admits that it was not countenanced by any +contemporary writer, that it was first told by Fabyan many years after +the event, and that the final embellishment, according to which young +Gloucester was a participator in the crime, was a tradition of later +times. Yet in his history, he preferred the tradition of later times +to the story of Fabyan, although he thought the latter had every +appearance of probability, and he preferred both to the {287} unanimous +testimony of contemporaries.[14] There is no reason for this +topsy-turvy criticism, except that what Mr. Gairdner calls a +'tradition' accuses Richard, while Fabyan and the contemporaries do not. + +His arguments in favour of the murder given in his 'Life of Richard +III.' were that Richard may very probably have been a murderer at +nineteen, if any one of his other alleged murders be admitted; and that +he was capable of a cowardly assassination because he condemned +prisoners to death in his judicial capacity. On these grounds alone he +urged that the accusation is not to be rejected. He did not maintain +that it is true, but that it cannot safely be pronounced apocryphal. +He also admitted that Richard ought not to bear the whole +responsibility, as he was only an accessory. This is very different +from the downright condemnation of Hume and Lingard.[15] The fable is +evidently doomed. But there can be no sharing of responsibility. If +Richard stabbed his young cousin he was a cowardly ruffian, whether +other ruffians did the same or not. If he did not, no words can be +strong enough to express the infamy of his Italian slanderer. + +Mr. Gairdner has since shifted his ground,[16] and, adopting +Warkworth's version, has admitted that {288} young Edward was slain in +the field, calling for succour to the Duke of Clarence; but he cannot +bring himself to acquit Richard altogether, and suggests that he was +the slayer, because no meaner person would have taken the +responsibility of slaying so valuable a prisoner. As if these +fine-drawn distinctions were made in the heat of a desperate _melee_. +But even so, the two boys being about the same age and weight, it was a +fair fight. There was no crime. Yet Mr. Gairdner still calls it a +'murder'! Of course there is no authority or ground whatever for +bringing Richard in at all, if Warkworth's version is adopted. Verily +the fiction is dying hard! + +There is no reason for considering the Duke of Gloucester to have been +capable of assassinating his cousin because it was his duty to sit in +judgment on prisoners as Lord Constable. The trial of rebels before a +court consisting of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Constable was +perfectly legal and constitutional. Speaking of trial by jury, Chief +Justice Fortescue laid it down that in England 'some cases might be +proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the high seas, and +proceedings before the Earl Marshal and the Lord Constable.' It was a +constitutional tribunal, and, although very young, his office of +Constable made it incumbent on Gloucester to sit in judgment. The Earl +Marshal, being an older man, would probably take the leading part. Mr. +Gairdner says that it was a summary tribunal and that all who were +brought before it were beheaded. It was a constitutional tribunal, and +only thirteen prisoners were condemned to death. As many as twelve of +the leaders were pardoned, if not more, and all the subordinate +officers and soldiers. In comparison with Lancaster {289} and Tudor +proceedings under similar circumstances,[17] the tribunal at Tewkesbury +was lenient.[18] + +Although it does not affect Richard, a serious accusation against +Edward IV. should here receive attention, namely, that his enemies who +had taken refuge in Tewkesbury Abbey might, in Mr. Gairdner's words, +'have saved themselves by flight if Edward had not sworn in church upon +the sacraments to pardon them. As to the executions being vindictive, +I should very much like to know what other character they can possibly +bear except that they were perfidious also.' They may be called +vindictive if all executions for treason in a civil war are to be so +called, but not, as Mr. Gairdner evidently intends, in any special +sense. The sting of the accusation, however, is in the alleged perfidy. + +Here is Habington's version of the accusation referred to by Mr. +Gairdner. 'King Edward with his sword drawn would have entered the +church and forced the fugitives thence. But a priest with the +eucharist in his hand would not let him until he had granted to all a +free pardon. But this pardon betrayed {290} them, for on the Monday +after they were taken out of the church and all beheaded.' + +There are some assertions so contrary to all reasonable probability +that they cannot be accepted, after having been examined with any care. +This is one. The fugitives had taken refuge in the abbey because they +were too closely pursued, and escape was not possible. How could they +have saved themselves by flight when Tewkesbury was occupied, and the +abbey surrounded by Edward's army? We are asked to believe that the +King swore on the sacrament to pardon all, and next day beheaded all. +Why should he commit this wholly useless act of perjury? There was no +object, nothing to gain by it. Even if he refrained from taking the +fugitives out of the church, which the story has it that he did do next +day, he could soon have starved them out. It is untrue that all were +beheaded. The story that he took such an unnecessary oath, intending +to break it next day, is too absurd for acceptance. As the result +proved, the King intended to have the prisoners tried before the Earl +Marshal's Court, to cause some of the condemned to undergo their +sentence, and to pardon others. He may possibly have told a priest +that some would be pardoned. This would soon be turned, by partisans, +into all being pardoned. In point of fact many were pardoned. + +In discussing the alleged murder of Henry VI., Mr. Gairdner admits that +'an after age has been a little unjust to Richard in throwing upon him +the whole responsibility of acts in which others perhaps participated.' +But this amounts to a surrender of the whole point at issue. Richard +either stabbed Henry VI. without his brother's knowledge, as the story +attributed to Sir Thomas More tells us, or he did {291} nothing. The +boy of eighteen either obtained the custody of the Tower from his +political enemy Lord Rivers, without the King's knowledge and consent, +went to Henry's room, and stabbed the unarmed feeble invalid with a +dagger, or he did not. Assuming the murder, Mr. Gairdner appears to +mean by saying that others participated in it, that it was committed by +Edward IV. and his Council, with the complicity of Rivers the Constable +of the Tower. It is difficult to see what else he can mean. In that +case the statement of the historian whom Mr. Gairdner believes to be +Sir Thomas More, that Gloucester committed the murder without his +brother's knowledge, is false. + +Mr. Gairdner is mistaken about the household accounts. He thinks they +only refer to the expenses and diet of Henry's servants. But the +statement is clear and distinct that the expenses and diet for fourteen +days after May 11, that is until May 24, are for Henry himself as well +as his attendants. The only contemporary writer gives the same date, +and Polydore Virgil, the official writer employed by Henry VII., tells +us that his death was long after May 21, the day when Richard was in +the Tower. Fabyan and Warkworth's informant give this date of May 21, +in contradiction to the above conclusive evidence for the 24th or night +of the 23rd. First they assumed the murder, and then they fixed the +date of it on the only day when Gloucester was there to commit it. The +household accounts expose this fabrication of dates. + +Mr. Gairdner settles the difference between these authorities in a very +summary fashion. 'Considering the source from which this statement +comes' (for the 23rd) 'and its total disagreement with the accounts of +almost all other writers in or near the time, it is {292} impossible to +attach any weight to it whatever.' The answer to the last part of this +sentence is that the writer in question was the only one who wrote at +the time; and that Warkworth and Fabyan, who wrote afterwards, are the +only authorities for the 21st. Moreover Polydore Virgil, who had +access to all official records, directly contradicts Warkworth and +Fabyan, giving a much later date for the death of Henry VI. + +Mr. Gairdner's other reason for rejecting the evidence of the writer in +Fleetwood is that his report was official, and that consequently 'it is +impossible to attach any weight to his statement whatever.' But on +this principle Mr. Gairdner ought to sweep away all the accusations +against Richard made by Tudor writers; for they are almost all the work +of official partisans engaged, some of them paid to vilify the +predecessor of their employer. Official chroniclers should be held in +suspicion, and their narratives call for strict scrutiny. But there +ought to be discrimination. If a document is official, it is not _ipso +facto_ false. There must be some evidence against it besides its +official character. The writer who sent a narrative of the restoration +of Edward IV. to the citizens of Bruges has not been detected in any +misrepresentations. He gave a plain statement of the course of events, +with no other object than to convey to the generous Flemings a +knowledge of what had befallen the gallant young King whom they had +befriended. He gave the 23rd as the date of the death of Henry VI. +because the fact was within his own personal knowledge. This was not +the case with any writer who has given a different date. According to +the story the murder was committed in profound secrecy. The most +virulent {293} Tudor chroniclers only mention it as a suspicion. There +was no ground whatever for the accusation, or they would have stated +it. This suspicion, as regards Gloucester, was never whispered until +the Tudor King was in power. It is, therefore, to the last degree +improbable that, assuming there was a crime, it should have been +needlessly divulged to the author of the letter to Bruges with orders +that he should falsify the date. If the murder was a secret, as the +Tudor chroniclers affirm, and if, as two of them assert, the date of +Henry's death was known, it would have been useless to falsify a date +which was known, to conceal an unknown deed. The inevitable conclusion +is that the date was not falsified in the letter to Bruges; and that +the 23rd was the day of Henry's death. The suggested falsification +would be such an act of folly as no writer, even if he wrote +officially, would be at all likely to commit; for it would be uselessly +raising a suspicion where none existed. If anything of the kind had +been attempted, the date of Richard's presence, not of Henry's death, +would have been altered. But there is really nothing to raise a +suspicion of the author's good faith. + +Very different are the authorities who contradict him. Warkworth's +story contains a statement that the Duke of Gloucester was present in +the Tower at the time of Henry's death, and then the date is given with +that excessive minuteness of day and hour which is characteristic of +the lie circumstantial. The whole story is dished up with a miracle or +two. It is not necessary to suppose that Dr. Warkworth was himself +guilty of misrepresentation. He was evidently very credulous, and he +was deceived by his informer. As for Fabyan, he wrote in the days of +Henry VII. and {294} was desirous of suiting his tales to the wishes of +that jealous tyrant. Apart from the undesigned evidence of the +household accounts, the letter to the citizens of Bruges must, on every +principle of historical criticism, be accepted as a more reliable +authority, on this point, than the miracle-monger Warkworth or the +unscrupulous time-server Fabyan. The whole story about Henry VI. +having been murdered by Gloucester is palpably a Tudor calumny invented +long afterwards, and told so clumsily that it certainly did not deserve +the success which has attended it.[19] + +Mr. Gairdner acquits Richard of responsibility for the death of +Clarence, as was inevitable. For he would not be supported even by the +most unscrupulous enemy of Richard's memory if he refused to acquit +him. Clearly there was no belief among his contemporaries that Richard +was in any way to blame. Yet Mr. Gairdner cannot let the matter rest. +He suggests that Richard's foundation of colleges at Middleham and +Barnard Castle, with provision for masses for the souls of his father, +brothers, and sisters, betokens remorse for the death of Clarence, +because the licences to found these colleges were granted soon after +his brother's death. Clarence is not specially mentioned, only +brothers and sisters. This pious act might betoken regret, but it +cannot be supposed to betoken remorse. The man's conscience must +indeed have been morbidly sensitive if it caused remorse for that which +the King and the Parliament had done, but which he had opposed. It was +quite natural that {295} Richard should have provided for these masses +from ordinary feelings of regret and affection for all the deceased +members of his family. The idea of remorse is gratuitous and very +far-fetched; for Richard had arranged for the foundation of these +colleges before the death of Clarence. Mr. Gairdner further remarks +that Richard gained by his brother's death, his son being created Earl +of Salisbury and he himself receiving the whole of a lordship of which +he previously owned half. Richard certainly would not have compassed +his brother's death, even assuming him to have been the monster of +'tradition,' for the sake of an earldom for his son, seeing that the +father had two earldoms already, scarcely for the other half of the +Barnard Castle estate. Mr. Gairdner cannot surely think that Richard +had some hand in his brother's death for the sake of such very small +gains. For he has told us that there was nothing mean or paltry in +Richard's character, and he acquits him of the death of Clarence. King +Edward, naturally enough, gave the vacant earldoms of Warwick and +Salisbury to the infant sons of his two brothers. + +Mr. Gairdner has nothing to say against the young prince with regard to +his marriage. We, therefore, come to our historian's treatment of the +events which led to Richard's accession. Mr. Gairdner dismisses the +accusations against the Duke of Gloucester, that he was carrying on +intrigues with Buckingham and other members of the Council, between the +date of his brother's death and that of his arrival in London.[20] He +also considers the arrest and execution {296} of Lord Rivers and his +companions to have been justifiable. He believes that the Woodville +party intended to keep the government in their own hands by main +force,[21] that the generality of the people were convinced that Rivers +and Grey had entertained designs distinctly treasonable,[22] and he +mentions the fact that their baggage contained large quantities of +armour and implements of war. This is a proof that they contemplated +the raising and arming of a large force. Mr. Gairdner even goes so far +as to admit that the retribution dealt out to Rivers and his companions +was 'not more severe than perhaps law itself might have authorised.' +As we know from Rous that the law was invoked, these admissions amount +to an exculpation of King Richard, as regards his treatment of Rivers, +Vaughan, and Grey. + +Mr. Gairdner's position with regard to Richard's title to the crown is +curious. That title was based on the fact that Edward IV. had entered +into a marriage contract with Lady Eleanor Butler before he went +through the ceremony with the widow of Sir J. Grey. The Tudor King +attempted to destroy all record of this event, and his official writers +then put forward two other statements, which they alleged to have been +made as justifications of Richard's claim to the crown. One of these +was that Richard's elder brothers were illegitimate, the other that the +previous marriage was with a woman named Lucy. The name of Lady +Eleanor is carefully suppressed. Long afterwards the official document +was discovered in which the title is based solely on the previous +contract with Lady Eleanor Butler. + +{297} + +Such is the case very briefly stated. Mr. Gairdner believes that the +story of the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor may be true. He considers +that the care taken by the Tudor writers to suppress and pervert it is +evidence of its truth. He even suggests that the death of Clarence was +due to the fact that he had got possession of the secret. But he fails +to see that the truth of this pre-contract not only invalidates the +other stories invented by the Tudor writers to conceal it, but entirely +destroys their credibility. Morton's statement that it was alleged by +Richard's supporters that the pre-contract was with Lucy must be false, +as well as the assertion that a calumny was promulgated against the +Duchess of York; if the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor is true. Surely +Mr. Gairdner must see that the statement of a title made in an +officially inspired sermon or speech must have been made to agree with +that in the document which Henry VII. attempted to destroy. Having +made away with the document, so that they could mis-state its contents, +Henry's chroniclers put what inventions they pleased into the mouths of +preachers and orators. But the document has since been found. Its +real contents are known. Men who would deliberately make this +elaborate series of false statements are utterly unworthy of credit. +Yet Mr. Gairdner still clings to the belief that the odious slander +about the Duchess of York was promulgated, and continues to quote +Morton's story as if it were authentic and reliable history. + +The sole ground put forward for still believing that the slander was +uttered against the Duchess of York is that one of these authorities +alleges that the people were scandalised at the sermon, and another +that {298} the Duchess complained of the dishonour done her. These +additions to the fable, from the same suspicious sources, can in no +conceivable way strengthen its credibility.[23] + +We now come to the main stronghold of Tudor calumny--the story of the +smothering of the little princes in the Tower. Mr. Gairdner makes a +hesitating defence. He cannot doubt that the dreadful deed was done. +But he admits that the story, as told in the narrative attributed to +Sir Thomas More, is full of inaccuracies and improbabilities. He +contends, however, that it is not necessary for it to be true in all +its details, in order to give credence to the main allegation. He also +admits that the crime imputed to Richard rests upon the assertions of +only a few, and that two of these mention it merely as a report. He +denies that Richard was the cold scheming calculating villain of +previous histories; and apparently thinks that, if this had been his +character, he would not have acted in the way alleged in the story. +Consequently the story could not be true. For a cold calculating +villain would not have been so foolish as to leave London, and then +send his orders to the Tower, without having previously ascertained +that they would be obeyed. Mr. Gairdner's theory is that Richard was +headstrong and reckless as to consequences, a man of violent and +impatient temper. Such a man, Mr. Gairdner thinks, might act in the +way described in the story; {299} if a strong motive was suddenly +supplied to him. Mr. Gairdner looks round for such a motive, and +thinks he has found it in the alleged contemplated rising in favour of +the two young princes. But no such motive existed. The date given for +the alleged murders was August 1483. The rising, even if it had been +in favour of the boys and not of Buckingham, was in October. Mr. +Davies has shown that the first tidings reached the king at Lincoln on +October 11,[24] and Mr. Gairdner fully admits that Richard was taken +completely by surprise. This proves that no motive for the crime was +supplied in August, calculated to make a violent and reckless man take +sudden action. If there was no motive there was no murder. Thus Mr. +Gairdner's explanation fails, while the improbabilities remain as +strong as ever. The difficulties disappear as soon as Richard is +acquitted, and his astute successor is placed in the dock. + +With reference to this horrible accusation against King Richard, Mr. +Gairdner had opened his work with the dictum that 'it is vain to deny +that Richard had long lost the hearts of his subjects.' But Mr. +Gairdner himself has supplied some of the proofs that the King never +lost the hearts of his subjects. Mr. Gairdner acknowledges that up to +September 1483, 'in the north undoubtedly, and perhaps with the common +people generally, Richard was highly popular' (p. 147). In November +1484, when, on the young King's return to London he was received with +demonstrations of loyalty, Mr. Gairdner says that 'perhaps he had to +some extent recovered the good will of the people' (p. 243). But, in +the meanwhile, we are not supplied with a shadow of a {300} proof that +he had ever lost it. He was the victim of the perfidy of a few +traitors. There was no national movement against him in favour of +Henry Tudor. Sharon Turner truly remarked that 'the nation had no +share in the conflict. It was an ambush of a few perfidious and +disaffected noblemen against the crown. Richard was overwhelmed by the +explosion of a new mine, which he had not suspected to be forming +beneath him, because it was prepared and fired by those whom gratitude, +honour and conscience ought to have made faithful.' The city of York +recorded the grief of the people at King Richard's death. He was +popular to the end. + +Mr. Gairdner fully explains the causes of Richard's popularity (p. +313). 'His taste in building was magnificent and princely. There was +nothing mean or paltry in his character (p. 318). Many of his acts +were dictated by charitable feelings or a sense of justice. He had in +him a great deal of native religious sentiment (p. 47). He made it his +endeavour, so far as it lay in his power, to prevent tyranny for the +future (p. 205), and as king he really studied his country's welfare +(p. 313). No wonder that such a King, who was also renowned for his +valour in the field and his wisdom in council, should have been popular +among his subjects! But it is wonderful that thoughtful and +accomplished men, who admit all this, should cling to the vile and +wretched calumnies, the discredited tatters of which still partly +obscure the truth. + +The work of Mr. Gairdner is of great value owing to its conscientious +attempt to be judicially impartial, to the learning and research that +are apparent in every page, and to the considerable number of errors it +exposes, and of mistakes that are finally cleared up {301} by it. The +good points in the character of King Richard III. are prominently +brought forward. The excellence of his government and the generosity +of his character are made so apparent, that one is surprised, in the +midst of this goodly record, to come suddenly on such epithets as +'usurper,' 'tyrant,' 'inhuman King.' Mr. Gairdner's learning and +critical insight have so weakened the traditional fables, a half belief +in which he cannot quite shake off, that they are not likely to retain +a place much longer in serious history. + + + +[1] _History of the Life and Reign of Richard III._, by James Gairdner +(1878), 1st ed. _History of the Life and Reign of Richard III._, by +James Gairdner (1898), 2nd ed. _Henry the Seventh_, by James Gairdner +(1889). Article in the _English Historical Review_, 1891. + +[2] Preface to Gairdner's _Life of Richard III._ p. x. + +[3] _Ibid._ p. x. + +[4] _Ibid._ p. xii. + +[5] _Ibid._ p. xii. + +[6] Gairdner's _Richard III._ p. 38. + +[7] _Ibid._ p. 112. + +[8] _Ibid._ pp. 115, 131. + +[9] _Ibid._ p. 247. + +[10] _Ibid._ p. 73. + +[11] _Ibid._ p. 250. + +[12] _Ibid._ p. 251. + +[13] _Ibid._ p. 251. + +[14] Stow set a better example. He adopted the 'probable story' of +Fabyan, and rejected the 'tradition of later times,' as Mr. Gairdner +calls the unsupported calumny of Polydore Virgil. + +[15] Dr. Lingard says that 'Clarence and Gloucester, perhaps the +Knights in their retinue, despatched young Edward with their swords' +(iv. p. 189). In a foot-note he sees no good reason to doubt Stow. +But Stow says nothing of the kind. He merely adopts Fabyan's tale that +King Edward's servants despatched the prince. He does not even mention +either Clarence or Gloucester. The accusation against the knights in +the retinue of those princes is Lingard's own, unsupported by any +evidence whatever. + +[16] _English Historical Review_, 1891 (July), p. 448. + +[17] The Lancastrians gave no quarter at Wakefield, slaughtering all +prisoners high and low. At the second battle ol St. Albans their +cruelty was deepened by bad faith. After Bosworth, Henry Tudor ordered +four executions which, in his outlawed condition, were lawless murders. +The atrocious conduct of his son, in suppressing the Pilgrimage of +Grace, was still more horrible. Executions went on, long after all +resistance had ceased, with unrelenting cruelty. + +The tribunal at Tewkesbury is unjustly arraigned by modern historians, +while the barbarities of Lancastrians and Tudors are slurred over or +ignored. + +[18] 'I am struck with the singular leniency of Edward IV. towards his +political enemies. The rolls of Parliament are full of petitions for +the reversal of attainders. I do not recollect a single instance in +which the petition was refused.'--Thorold Rogers, _Agriculture and +Prices_, iv. p. 180. + +[19] Dr. Lingard's chief reason for believing that Gloucester murdered +Henry VI. is that 'writers who lived under the next dynasty attributed +the black deed to Richard' (iv. p. 192). Of course they did. They +were well paid to do so. + +[20] P. 61. He considers it more probable that Gloucester was ignorant +of what had been going on in London. + +[21] P. 62. + +[22] P. 66. + +[23] Dr. Lingard's argument in favour of the calumny against the +Duchess of York is that a man who would shed the blood of his nephews +would not refuse to allow his mother to be slandered. Doubtless the +Doctor would have been equally ready with the reversed argument. A man +who would slander his mother would not refuse to allow his nephews to +be murdered (iv. p. 232 _n_). + +[24] _York Records_, p. 181 _n._ + + + + +{303} + +INDEX + +NDX +Aberford, 26 + +Abergavenny, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; cousin to the +King, 110 + +Abingdon, 71; cattle fair at, 112 + +Acaster College, founded by Bishop Stillington, 96, 118. _See_ +Stillington + +Albany, Duke of, with King Richard in the progress, 130 + +Alcock, Bishop, 88, 91, 146; at Oxford to receive King Richard, 129; +account of, 91 _n._ + +Alfonso V. of Portugal, 66 + +Alkmaar, Edward IV. landed at, 42 + +Alnwick, 59 + +Ambien Hill, 153; King Richard slain at the foot of, 157 + +Ambien Lees, 152, 154 + +Andre, Bernard, historiographer to Henry VII., 168, 171; silent about +the fable of the murder of Edward of Lancaster, 191 + +Angers, 67, 79, 206 + +Anker, river, 152, 153 + +Anne, heiress of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, married Edmund Earl of +Stafford, 128 + +Anne, Nevill, companion of Richard at Middleham, 40; taken to France by +her father, 66, 67; marriage with Edward of Lancaster never took place, +67; return to England, 68; her wardship claimed by Clarence. In +sanctuary, 81; married to Prince Richard, 82; joined by her mother at +Middleham, 82, 202; marriage settlement, 199, 200, 201; her beauty, +124; joined her husband in London, 93 + +Anne, Queen, her coronation, 126, 127; joined the King at Warwick, 129; +at York, 130; grief on her son's death, 137; illness, 139; death and +burial, 139, 140, 228; malignant slander of Polydore Virgil and Rous, +228 + +Anne, daughter of Edward IV., married the Earl of Surrey, 86 _n._, 271 +_n._ + +Anne, sister of Edward IV., Duchess of Exeter, 3; birth, 6, 110 + +Anne de la Pole, betrothed to James III., became a nun at Sion, 139 + +Appledore, home of Captain Horn who fell at Towton, 32 + +Arbitration by King Richard, 84, 113, 160 _n._; by the Lord Mayor, 113 + +Armour and arms, 107, 120, 122; arrows at Towton, 32; hand-guns, 44; +artillery, 49, 155 _n._ + +Arthur, son of Henry VII., 267 + +Arthur Plantagenet, son of Edward IV., 87 _n._, 221 _n._ + +Arundel, Archbishop, 117 + +Arundel, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Arundel collection, letter from Elizabeth of York to the Duke of +Norfolk seen by Buck in, 229 + +Arundell, Sir Thomas, K.B., at Richard's coronation, 147 + +Ashton, Sir Ralph, made Vice-Constable, 131, 132 _n._ + +Atherstone, Henry Tudor at, 149 + +Attorney-General, _see_ Kidwelly, Morgan + +Audley, Lord, Battle of Blore Heath, 56; at Richard's coronation, 109, +143; Lord Treasurer, 144 + +Audley, Edmund, Bishop of Rochester, 146 + +Audley, Sir Humphrey, tried and executed at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Ayala, Don Pedro de, Spanish Ambassador, his evidence respecting the +remorse of Henry VII., 276 + +Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury, 118 + + +Babington, Sir Henry, made K.B., 147 + +Bacon, Lord, his character of Richard III., 134; believed the story of +the murders to have been inspired by Henry VII., 169; on treatment of +the Queen Dowager by Henry VII., 257 _n._ + +Bamborough Castle, 59 + +Banbury, 47 + +Bangor, Thomas Ednam, Bishop of, 146 + +Barnard Castle, 84, 161, 265, 295 + +Barnet, battle of, 49, 50-52; losses at, 52 + +Barrow, Thomas, Master of the Rolls, Commissioner for Peace with +Scotland, 145 + +Basset pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Bath, Knights of the, at coronations of Edward IV., 35; and Richard +III., 126, 147 + +Bath and Wells, Bishop of, at Richard's coronation, 127, 144, 146. +_See_ Stillington + +Baume, Sir Thomas, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +Bayley, 'History of the Tower,' 181, 198 _n._ + +Baynard's Castle, 3, 91, 92 _n._, 102, 110, 222; family of the Duke of +York assembled at, 10, 11, 19, 21; Edward IV. accepted the crown at, 22 + +Beauchamp of Powyke, Lord, 72; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; his +son in command at Gloucester, 72 + +Beaufort, Sir John, 70; slain at Tewkesbury, 73, 76 + +Beaujeu, the Lady of, Regent of France, her enmity to England, 141, 243 + +Beaulieu Abbey, Countess of Warwick in sanctuary at, 70, 81, 82, 201 + +Beaumont, Viscount, at Towton, 24, 31; flight from Towton, 33; under +attainder, 109, 144 + +Becca Banks, 26 + +Bedingfield, Sir Edmund, K.B., at Richard's coronation, 147 + +Bemynster, Robert, Abbot of Cerne, 69 + +Benevolences abolished by Richard's Parliament, 134, 142 _n._ + +Berkeley, Lord, viii _n._ + +Berkeley, Sir William, of Beverston made K.B., 147; a traitor, 133 + +Berkeley, Sir William, of Wyldy made K.B., 147; loyal to the last, 252 + +Bermondsey nunnery, Queen Dowager confined in, until her death, 257 + +Bernall, Richard, tutor to young Edward, 84 + +Berners, Juliana, her 'Book of St. Albans,' 108 + +Berners, Lord, 34, 51 + +Berwick, 86 + +Beskwood Park, King Richard hunting at, 151 + +Beverley, 46 + +Bigot, Sir John, of Musgrave Castle, at Towton for Henry, 24 + +Bisham, Earl of Salisbury buried at, 34; Warwick and Montagu buried at, +51 + +Bishops in the fifteenth century, 118; at Richard's coronation, 126, +127, 146; at Oxford to receive Richard, 129; with him on his progress, +129; list, 146 + +Blore Heath, battle of, 56 + +Blount, Sir Walter, marched north with Edward, 23; in the pursuit of +Clifford, 28; march to Towton, created Lord Mountjoy, 35, _whom see_ + +Blythe, 39 + +Bohun inheritance explained, 128, 223, 224 + +Boleyn, Sir Thomas, made K.B. at Richard's coronation, 147 + +Bolton Castle, 83, 107 + +Bolton Hall, Henry VI. concealed at, 59 + +Bootham Bar, York, 34, 58 + +Borough, Sir John, present to, from the royal wardrobe, 111 + +Bosworth, battle of, 152-157; numbers, 153; artillery at, 155 _n._ + +Bosworth Market, Sir W. Stanley's camp near, 153 + +Bourchier, Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, crowned Edward IV., 35; +cousin to the King, 111; crowned Richard III., 120, 143, 146, 234 + +Bourchier, Sir Edward, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; slain, +15; head stuck on the gate at York, 17 + +Bourchier, Sir Humphrey, two slain at Barnet, 51 _n._ _See_ Cromwell, +Lord + +Bracher, Wm., and his son, loyal servants of King Richard, put to death +by Henry Tudor, 247 + +Brackenbury, Sir Robert, knighted, 147; joined the king at Bosworth, +151; slain, 155, 156; loyal to the last, 252; in the story of the +murders, 258, 260, 261 + +'Bradshaws' a strategic position at Bosworth field, 152 + +Bramham Moor, 26 + +Brampton, Wm., of Burford, loyal to the last, 252 + +Brandon, Sir William, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; traitor, 133 _n._; +Henry Tudor's standard-bearer, slain by the King, 156 + +Bray, Reginald, Lady Stanley's steward, 149; his skill as an architect, +149 _n._; agent to Henry Tudor, 226, 231 + +Brecknock Castle, 226, 227, 231 + +Breze, Pierre de, Lord of Varenne, devoted to Margaret of Anjou, 53, 58 + +Brian, Sir Thomas, Chief Justice of Common Pleas, 145 + +Bridget, daughter of Edward IV., a nun, 87 _n._, 271 _n._ + +Bristol, 71, 72 + +Brittany, treaty with, 139, 161; Henry Tudor in, 131, 141 + +Browne, Sir John, made K.B., 147 + +Bruges, Edward IV. and Richard at, 43; Caxton at, 113; news of Edward's +success sent to the citizens, 198 + +Buck, Sir George, wrote the life of Richard III.--had seen the true +statement of his claim to the crown, 219; heard that the pamphlet +attributed to Sir Thomas More was written by Morton, 168, 179; account +of, 180 _n._; saw the letter from Elizabeth of York to the Duke of +Norfolk, 229 + +Buck, Sir John, Controller of the Household, 145; put to death by Henry +Tudor, 246 + +Buckingham, Duchess of, 7, 55, 132 + +Buckingham, Duke of, 89; left London to warn Richard, 90; speech at the +Guildhall, 102; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; cousin to the King, +110; bearing the King's train, 127; Lord Constable, 144; his claims, +223, 224; alleged conversations with Morton, 225; object of his +treason, 225; met Lady Stanley on the road, 226; trial and execution at +Salisbury, 131, 132; Richard's generous treatment of his widow, 132 + +Burford, _see_ Cornwall + +Burgundy, Charles the Bold, Duke of, helped Edward secretly, 43; +marriage with Princess Margaret, 43, 113; invested with the Garter, +113; received Margaret of Anjou at St. Pol, 60; Edward's desertion of, +82; fall of, 162 + +Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, George and Richard under protection +of, 18 + +Burgundy, Duchess of, _see_ Margaret, Princess + +Butler, Lady Eleanor, contracted in marriage to Edward IV., 93; truth +of the contract, 218, 219, 222, 296; details respecting her, 219 _n._; +her death, 94, 219 + +Butler, Sir John, at Towton, 24. _See_ Ormonde + +Byron, Sir John, with Henry Tudor, 149; saved Sir Gervase Clifton at +Bosworth, 156 + +Byron, Sir Nicholas, created K.B., 36 + + +Cade, Jack, 122 + +Cadeby, Norfolk's camp at, before Bosworth, 152 + +Calabria, John of, 67 + +Calais, 7, 102; Dighton living at, 261, 274; Tyrrel seized at, 273 + +Cambridge, 117, 136 + +Campbell, Lord, on King Richard's Parliament, 134 + +Canterbury Pilgrimages, 119. Archbishops. _See_ Arundel, Bourchier, +Kemp, Morton + +Cardigan, 148 + +Carlisle, Bishop of, 146 + +Carte, 'History of England,' 180 + +Cary, Sir Hugh, tried and executed at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Castleford, 28 + +Castles in the fifteenth century, 106, 107 + +Catesby, reported the Hastings-Woodville conspiracy to Richard, 98, +211; executor to will of Lord Rivers, 99 _n._; Speaker of the House of +Commons, 134; and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 144; Commissioner for +the Peace with Scotland, 145; at Bosworth, 144, 155; put to death by +Henry Tudor, 246; notice of, 246 _n._ + +Cattle fair, 112 + +Caxton: his own account of himself, 113; helped Edward IV. and Richard +in fitting out their expedition, 113; his first essay at printing, 113; +in the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, 114; came to England, books +printed by him, 114, 115; his house in the Almonry, 114; book of +chivalry dedicated to Richard III., 115; lament on the Earl of +Worcester's death, 115, 116 + +Cerne Abbey, 69 + +Chamberlain, Sir Robert, 45 + +Charles VII. of France, 53 + +Charles VIII. of France, 141 + +Charlton, Sir Richard, loyal to the last, 252 + +Cheltenham, 73 + +Cheney, Sir John, with Henry Tudor, 149 + +Cheney, Sir William, traitor, unhorsed by the King himself at Bosworth, +156 + +Chevet, 13 + +Chichester, Bishop of, 146 + +Chipping Sodbury, 71, 73 + +Church, the, 117, 118. _See_ Convocation; Bishops + +Cicely, Princess, daughter of Edward IV., married to Lord Welles, 86 +_n._, 271 + +Cirencester, 71 + +Clarence, George, Duke of, born at Dublin, 3, 6; taken prisoner at +Ludlow, 7, 8, 10; sent to Holland for safety, 18; married to Isabella +Nevill, 41, 66; his treason, 41, 43; reconciled to his brothers, 48, +71; grasping conduct, 80; attainder, death, 202, 203; cause of his +death, 95; his children, 87 _n._, 236; his attainder barred his +children's succession, 101; town house at Cold Harbour, 110; Richard +interceded for him, 203, 204, 294; Mr. Gairdner's views, 295 + +Clarendon, Sir Richard, at Bosworth for the King, 155, 157 + +Clarke, William, of Wenlock, loyal to the last, 252 + +Cleger, John, a robber who made Margaret of Anjou prisoner, 57 + +Cleymound, Robert, hired informer, 275 + +Clifford, Lord, led the Lancastrian van at Wakefield, 13, 14, 15, 24; +surprised the Yorkists at Ferrybridge, 27; pursued and slain, 28; some +account of him, 29 + +Clifton, Sir Gervase, made K.B., 147; wounded at Bosworth, fighting for +the King, 156 + +Clifton, Sir Robert, created K.B., 36 + +Clothes, in the royal wardrobe, 111; Clement Paston's, 117; an Eton +boy's, 117; John Paston's, 122; Mr. Payn's, 122 + +Cobham, Lord, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; at Richard's coronation, +109, 143 + +Cock beck, near the Towton battlefield, 26, 33 + +Cockermouth, Earl of Wiltshire arrested at, 34 + +Coke's mother, 120 + +Colchester, 120 + +Cold Harbour, 110 + +Collingbourne, a traitor, executed, 132 _n._ + +Comines, details of the flight of Edward IV., 42; marriage of Edward +IV. and Lady Eleanor Butler, 93 _n._; death of Edward of Lancaster, 189 + +Companies, City, influence, dispute settled by arbitration, 112, 113 + +Conisborough Castle, 3 + +Convocation, their address to King Richard, 136 + +Conyers, Sir John, made a Knight of the Garter, 146; faithful to the +King, 151; fell at Bosworth, 157 + +Corbet, Sir K., knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Cornwall, Sir Edmund, Baron of Burford, made K.B., 147 + +Coronation of Richard III., 126, 127; story of a second untrue, 227, 228 + +Corpus Christi, fraternity in London, 112; at York, 119 + +Cotswold Hills, 72, 73 + +Court, splendour of the, 111. _See_ Wardrobe + +Courtenay, Sir E., traitor, 133 + +Courtenay, Sir Walter, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76, 77 + +Courtenay, Sir William, 263 _n._ + +Courtenay, _see_ Exeter, Bishop of + +Courtenay, _see_ Devonshire, Earl of + +Courtenays, forgiven by Edward IV., 36 + +Courteys, Pierce, Keeper of the Wardrobe, 145 + +Coventry, Earl of Warwick at, 47; Edward IV. at, 78; Richard III. at, +in his progress, 130 + +Cover, river, 83 + +Coverham, monks of, 83 + +Crakenthorpe, Sir John and Sir T., slain at Towton, 33 + +Croft, Richard, tutor to Edward and Edmund, 4, 5; knighted after +Tewkesbury, 71, 77, 191 _n._ + +Cromer, 45 + +Cromwell, Lord, slain at Barnet, 51 + +Crosby, Sir J., built Crosby Place, 85 + +Crosby Place rented by Richard III., 85, 93, 110, 223 + +Croyland Chronicle on the slain at Towton, 33; there were two writers, +175, 176; independent witnesses, 175; the second credulous but honest; +his accuracy as regards dates exposes Morton and Fabyan, 176; gives +Richard's title to the crown correctly, 176, 219; his mistakes, 177; no +countenance to the deformity fables, 186; on the Tewkesbury question, +189; on the death of Henry VI., 195, 199; his mistake about a second +coronation at York, 227; retails a rumour about the death of the +princes, 240 + + +Dacre, Lord of Gillesland, 24; death at Towton, 31, 33; tomb at Saxton, +34; his brother forgiven, 36; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; +commissioner for peace with Scotland, 145; hurrying to King Richard's +help, but too late, 151 + +Dampierre, chateau where Margaret of Anjou died, 79 + +Dartford, Princess Bridget a nun at, 87 _n._ + +Daubeny, Sir Giles, with Henry Tudor, 149; Lieutenant of the Tower, 268 + +Daventry, 48 + +Davies, Mr., _see_ York Records. + +Davy, Henry, to deliver certain garments to John Goddestande, footman +to Edward son of Edward IV., 237 + +Dobenham, Sir Gilbert, 45 + +De la Warre, Lord, 109, 143 + +Deptford, Vicar of, burnt on Tower Hill, 118 + +Devereux, Sir Walter, mentioned in the letter from Edward and Edmund to +their father, 4; Lord Ferrers of Chartley (_whom see_) _jure uxoris_ + +Devonshire, Earl of, at the battle of Wakefield, 14; at Towton, 24, 31; +flight from Towton, 33; beheaded, 34; next Earl with Margaret of Anjou, +70; at Tewkesbury, 74; slain, 76; son married Katherine, daughter of +Edward IV., 87 _n._, 271 _n._; under attainder, 109, 144 + +Dickon's Nook, where King Richard addressed his army, 154 + +Digby, Captain, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +Digby, Simon, joined Henry Tudor, 149; a spy, 153 + +Dighton, John, 260; likely to be hanged, 261; false statements +respecting, 263; bailiff of Ayton, 264, 266, 274; probably a priest, +267, 269; rewarded, 272; lived at Calais, 274 + +Dittingdale, near Towton, 28 + +Doncaster, 42 + +Dorchester, 69 + +Dorset, Marquis of, at Tewkesbury, 74; in command at the Tower when +Edward IV. died, 88; in sanctuary, 91; in rebellion, 109, 144; guardian +to the Earl of Warwick, 129; his rebellion, 131; flight, 132; advised +by his mother to return, 136, 238; imprisoned by Henry VII., 270 + +Dublin, George, Duke of Clarence, born at, 3 + +Dudley, Lord, 109, 129, 143 + +Dudley, William, Bishop of Durham, 146 + +Durham, Bishop of, at Richard's coronation, 144 + +Dymoke, Sir Robert, the champion, knighted, 147 + +Dynham, Sir J., with the reserves at Towton, 23, 30, 32, 35, 109; +traitor, 144; created Lord Dynham, 35 + + +Easterling ships, 42, 43, 44 + +Ebrington, 77 + +Eccleshall castle, 56 + +Edgcombe, Richard, with Henry Tudor, 149 + +Edmund Langley, Duke of York, rebuilt Fotheringhay and founded a +college there, 1, 2, 11 + +Edmund, Earl of Rutland, born at Rouen, 3, 6; letter to his father, 4; +fled to Ireland with his father, 7; came to London, 9; and to Sandal +Castle with his father, 10, 13; in the battle of Wakefield, 14; slain, +15, 16; absurd story about his death, 16 _n._; head on gate at York, +17; obsequies, 39; memorial chapel at Wakefield, 19 + +Ednam, J., Bishop of Bangor, 146 + +Edward, 2nd Duke of York, 2; his book 'The Master of Games,' 108 + +Edward IV., born at Rouen, 3, 6; letter to his father, 4; escaped to +Calais, 7; return, victory at Northampton, 7; visits his brothers and +sister in the Temple every day, 8; at Shrewsbury, 11; victory at +Mortimer's Cross, proclaimed king, 18, 19, 20, 22; description of, 20; +started for the north, 22; head-quarters at Pomfret, 27; conduct at +surprise at Ferrybridge, 28; judicious orders to retrieve the disaster, +28; valour and presence of mind at Towton, 32; always gave quarter, 34; +advance to York, 34; coronation, 35; just, placable, and forgiving, 36; +kindness to Lord Hungerford's family, 36, 37; marriage ceremony with +Lady Grey, 41; affection for his brother Richard, 41; flight to +Holland, 42; reception, 43; expedition to recover the crown, 44; lands +at Ravenspur, 45; at York, 46; march to London, 47, 48; battle of +Barnet, 50; Tewkesbury campaign, 70-78; pardon to several leaders at +Tewkesbury, 77; conduct after Tewkesbury, 289, 290; bribed by Louis XI. +to desert the Duke of Burgundy, 82; death, 86; children, 86, 87 _n._; +buried at Windsor, 86; his will, 89; contract of marriage with Lady +Eleanor Butler, 93, 218, 219, 222; treasure under ecclesiastical +sequestration, 227; his alleged conduct after Tewkesbury discussed, +289, 290 + +Edward of Lancaster, son of Henry VI., birth, 54, 55; at Greenwich, 56; +present at battles, 57; with his mother, 58, 59; life at +Koeur-la-Petite, 61; instruction from Chief Justice Fortescue, 62-65; +proposed marriage with Anne Nevill, 67; character, 68; at battle of +Tewkesbury 74; slain, 75; buried in Tewkesbury Abbey, 75; mode of his +death, Croyland, 189; Andre, 189; Comines, 189; letter to Bruges, 75 +_n._; Warkworth, 189; Fabyan, 189; Polydore Virgil, 190; Habington, +Grafton, Hall, 190, 191 n.; Holmshed, 190; Stow, 191; silence of Morton +and Rous, 191, 192; Mr. Gairdner, 188 _n._, 286, 287, 288 + +Edward, son of Richard III., 84; created Earl of Salisbury, 85, 295; +Prince of Wales, 130; death, 136; tomb at Sheriff Hutton, 137 + +Edward, son of Duke of Clarence, 87 _n._; birth, 101; ward to Dorset, +129; Earl of Warwick, 125; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; declared +heir to the throne, 102, 138; in King Richard's household, 125; with +the king in his progress, 129; knighted at York, 130; at Sheriff +Hutton, 142; member of council, 236; seized by Henry Tudor, 248, 255; +cruel treatment and death, 275, 280 + +Edward, son of Edward IV., Earl of March and Pembroke, 86 _n._; +proclaimed king, 89; came to London, 91; set aside as illegitimate, 97; +preparations for his coronation, 209; intentions of King Richard +respecting, 125; in King Richard's household, 125, 236; his tailor's +bill, 237. _See_ Murder of the Princes + +Elizabeth Woodville, Lady Grey, marriage ceremony with Edward IV., 41, +86; children, 86 _n._; in sanctuary, 91; allowed her son Richard to +join his brother, 100; agreed with the king to come out of sanctuary, +136, 238; intrigues with Lady Stanley, 231; advised her son Dorset to +come home and submit to the king, 238; her knowledge a cause of fear +for Henry VII., 256; robbed and imprisoned by Henry VII., 257; +attempted explanation by Lingard and Nicolas, 257 _n._; Mr. Gairdner, +257 _n._ + +Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., birth, 86 _n._; her dress like the +queen's, 178; rumour about her marriage with Richard, 140; her letter +to the Duke of Norfolk 229; evidence of Buck, views of Nicolas, +Lingard, Gairdner, 229, 230 _n._; sent to Sheriff Hutton, 142; seized +by Henry Tudor, 248; married to him as Henry VII., 250, 253, 254; her +coronation, 258; treatment of her relations by Henry, 277; death, 277 + +Elizabeth, another daughter of Edward IV., 87 _n._, married to Lord +Lumley, 221 _n._ + +Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk, born at Rouen, 3, 6; at Richard's +coronation, 126, 127 + +Elizabeth, Queen, founded St. Peter's College, Westminster, 116; her +English ancestry, 163 + +Eltham, 11, 107 + +Ely, Isle of, 242 + +Ely, Bishop of, _see_ Morton + +Ely Place, Holborn, 110 + +Enderby, Sir William, made K.B., 147 + +England, face of the country in the fifteenth century, 106; condition +of the people, 65, 121-123; prices, 123; progress of King Richard +through, 128; products, 112 + +Essex, Earl of, 109, 110, 143 + +Esteney, John, Abbot of Westminster, 114, 146 + +Eton, founded by Henry VI., 116; boys at, in the fifteenth century, 117 + +Eure, Sir Ralph, at Towton for Henry, 24 + +Ewelme, 78 + +Exeter, 70, 132 + +Exeter, Bishop of, _see_ Courtenay Nevill + +Exeter, Duchess of, _see_ Anne + +Exeter, Duke of, marriage, 3; at Wakefield, 14; at Towton, 24, 58; +advancing against Edward, 47; at Barnet, 49 + + +Fabyan's Chronicle, 168, 174; untrustworthy, 174, 175; silent about the +deformity, 186; invented a story about the murder of Edward of +Lancaster, 190; on date of Henry's death, 195, 199; gave false dates, +215; contradicts Polydore Virgil respecting Dr. Shaw's sermon, 222; +silent as to calumny against the Duchess of York, 222; common fame that +Richard secretly murdered his nephews, 243; 'smoky gunners,' 44 + +Fairfax, Sir Guy, judge of the King's Bench, 145 + +Fairs, 112 + +Fauconberg, Lord, reviewed the London citizens, 21; his service, 21, +the best general on Edward's side, 23; sent in pursuit of Clifford, +overtook and routed him, 28; march to Towton, 31, 32; his orders to the +archers, 32; created Earl of Kent, 35 + +Fauconberg, bastard of, his insurrection put down by Prince Richard, 80 + +Feilding, Sir William, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Fenn lanes near Bosworth, 153 + +Ferrers of Chartley. _See_ Devereux. At Richard's coronation, 109, +143; hurried to help the king, 151; fell at Bosworth, 155, 157; loyal +to the last, 252 + +Ferrybridge, Yorkist force at, 23, 27 + +FitzHugh, Lord, at Towton on the Lancastrian left, 31 + +FitzJames, Captain, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +FitzRanulph, Robert, founder of Middleham, 83 + +FitzWalter, Lord, _jure uxoris_, Sir John Ratcliff, 23; slain at +Ferrybridge, 27 + +Fitzwilliam, Nicholas, Recorder of London, 146 + +Flory, John, of France, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Flushing, 44 + +Fogge, Sir John, reconciliation with the king, 128; traitor, 133 _n._ + +Forest, Miles, in Henry VII.'s story of the murder of the princes, 260; +said to have rotted away piecemeal, 261; really Keeper of the Wardrobe +at Barnard Castle, 264; an old royal servant falsely accused, 265 + +Fortescue, Sir John, Chief Justice, 24, 59; conversations with Edward +of Lancaster, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65; with Margaret, 67, 69; pardoned after +Tewkesbury, 77; Fuller's praise of him, 119; on the condition of +English labouring class, 123 + +Fortescues followed the Earl of Devon to Towton, 24 + +Fotheringhay Castle, birthplace of Richard III., 1, 3; its history, 1; +description, Dukes of York resided at, 2; subsequent history, 2 _n._; +funeral of the Duke of York, 39; monuments, 40 _n._ + +Fox, Dr. Richard, an agent of Morton, secretary to Henry Tudor, 149; +made Bishop of Winchester, 149 _n._; decoyed Tyrrel into Henry's power, +273; notice of, 273 _n._ + +French Chancellor, assertion that the princes were murdered, 242, 243; +proved to be false, 244 + +Fulford, Sir Baldwin, beheaded at York, 34 + +Fulford pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Fulfords followed the Earl of Devon to Towton, 24 + + +Gainsborugh, 130 + +Gairdner, James, C.B., LL.D., reason for thinking Richard may have been +a murderer at 19, 188 _n._; on the obit of Henry VI., 198 _n._; on the +grant to Buckingham, 224 _n._; on the letter of Elizabeth to the Duke +of Norfolk, 230 _n._; on the executions by Henry Tudor after Bosworth, +247; on the treatment of the Queen Dowager, 257; proved that the king's +Attorney General was loyal to the last, 145 _n._; suggests that the +death of Clarence was due to his knowledge of Edward's marriage +contract, 95; his view of the government of Henry VII., 249; his view +of the extent of Richard's guilt, 281, 282; his method stated in his +preface, 282, 283; remarks on his views, 283, 284; his admissions, 285; +on the deformity, 285; surprise that Rivers should make Richard +supervisor of his will, 285; Richard's acts do not harmonise with the +Tudor stories, 286; his ideas about the death of young Edward at +Tewkesbury, 286-288; views respecting King Edward's treatment of +prisoners after the battle, 289-290; views about the death of Henry +VI., 290-294; acknowledges that Richard interceded for his brother +Clarence, 294; reply to his remarks about Richard's supposed remorse, +295; has nothing to say against Richard's marriage, 295; he admits, +assuming they were not tried, that the sentence of Rivers and his +companions was not more severe than the law might authorise, 296; he +thinks that Edward's precontract with Lady Eleanor Butler may be true, +296; yet he still believes in the slander of the Duchess of York, 297; +his defence of the assertion that Richard murdered his nephews, 298-299 + +Galtres Forest, 34, 58 + +Gamble's Close, position of Lord Stanley at Bosworth, 152 + +Garter, Order of the, stall plate of Richard Duke of Gloucester, 38; +Duke of Burgundy invested, 113; knights made by King Richard, 146 + +Gascoignes faithful to King Richard, 151 + +Gascons, trade in wine, 112 + +Gastons, a position on Tewkesbury battle field, 72 + +Gedding, Sir John, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +George, _see_ Clarence, Duke of Giles, Sir John, pardoned after +Tewkesbury, 77 + +Gladmoor, _see_ Barnet + +Glastonbury, 70 + +Gloucester, 71, 128; King Richard at, 129; Buckingham at, 225 + +Gloucester, Humphrey Duke of, his treatment of Jacoba of Holland, 44 + +Gloucester, John of, illegitimate son of Richard III., 237 _n._; made +away with by Henry VII., 255 _n._ + +Gloucester, Richard Duke of, _see_ Richard III. + +Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of, marriage with the Bohun +co-heiress, 128 + +Goddestande, 237, _see_ Davy + +Golden Fleece, Edward IV. and Gruthuus companions of, 43 + +Goldwell, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, 146 + +Gower, James, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76, 77 + +Grantham, 39 + +Green, John, in the story of the murders, 260; apocryphal grants to, +264; grants to a namesake by Richard III., 264; grant to himself by +Henry VII., 268, 269; his death, 271-273 + +Greenfield, Clement Paston's tutor, 117 + +Greenwich, 56 + +Grey, Lord, of Codnor, 109, 143 + +Grey, Lord, of Powys, 109, 143; Commissioner for Peace with Scotland, +145 + +Grey, Lord, of Wilton, 109, 143 + +Grey, Sir John, made K.B., 147 + +Grey, Sir Richard, with young Edward at Ludlow, 88; arrested, 90; +beheaded, 100 + +Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, _whom see_ + +Grey de Ruthyn, Lord, treachery at Northampton, 56 + +Grey, Lady, _see_ Elizabeth Woodville + +Greystoke, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; cousin to the king, +110; hurrying to help the king, but too late, 151 + +Grimsby, Sir William, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Gruthuus, Louis de Bruges, Lord of, hospitality to Edward IV., 43; help +in fitting out the expedition, 44 + +Guilds, 112 + +Gunners, Flemish, with hand guns, 44 + +Gunthorpe, John, Lord Privy Seal, 144; Commissioner for Peace with +Scotland, 145 + +Gupshill farm near Tewkesbury battle-field, 73; Margaret awaited the +result in a religious house at, 74 + + +Habington's Life of Edward IV., on absurdity of accusing Richard of +murder of Henry VI., 199; his account of Edward's proceedings after +Tewkesbury, 289; with Hall and Grafton adds Dorset to the assassins at +Tewkesbury, 190 + +Hague, the, Edward IV. at, 43 + +Hall, Sir David, the Duke of York's chief adviser, 10, 13, 23; sent out +foraging party from Sandal, 13; battle brought on against his advice, +14; slain, 15, 21, 106 + +Hall's Chronicle, absurd story about the murder of Rutland, 16 _n._, +190 _n._; his statement about funeral of Henry VI., 190 n., and about +Richard Croft and Edward of Lancaster, 191 _n._; the pamphlet inspired +by Morton embodied in, 168; copied from earlier writers, 179, 190, 241 + +Halsted, Miss, biographer of Richard III., 85 _n._, 181, 186; the best +work on the subject, 145 _n._, 182 + +Hampton, Sir Edmund, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Hanson, Captain, wounded at Wakefield, 15 + +Hardwycke, of Lindley, joined Henry Tudor and acted as a guide, 153 + +Hardynge's Chronicle, Morton's lampoon first appeared in, 168 + +Harfleur, Margaret of Anjou embarked at, 69; Henry Tudor embarked at, +142 + +Harington, James, Clerk of the Council, 145; slain at Bosworth, 155, +157; loyal to the last, 252 + +Harington, Sir John, heard that the Morton lampoon was written by +Morton, 168; or by More, 170 _n._ + +Harrow, J., Warden of the Mercers' Company, with the Duke of York at +Wakefield, 11; wounded and put to death, 15; head stuck on a gate at +York, 17 + +Hastings, Wm., 23; knighted on the field of Towton, 36; created Lord +Hastings, 36; flight with Edward IV., 42, 44; at Barnet, 49; at +Tewkesbury, 71, 74, 89; his conspiracy, 97, 98; arrest and execution, +99; his son a minor, 109; Richard's generosity to his widow and family, +99; falsifications of dates respecting his death, 210-216 + +Haute, Sir John, 79 + +Haute, Sir Richard, 88; arrested, 90; beheaded, 100 + +Hedgley Moor, 59 + +Hedingham Castle, 107 + +Henry IV. (Bolingbroke), his usurpation and its consequences, 103, 117; +marriage with the Bohun heiress, 128 + +Henry V. (of Monmouth), his character, war, and persecution of +heretics, 103 + +Henry VI. (of Windsor), taken prisoner at Northampton, 7; marriage, 54; +assent to the Act making the Duke of York heir apparent, 9; hunting at +Greenwich, 11; re-captured by his wife, 17; at York during the battle +of Towton, flight to Scotland, 34, 58; at Hexham, 59; concealed at +Bolton Hall, 59; his death, 78; buried at Windsor, 139; false date for +his death and insinuations by Morton, Polydore Virgil, Warkworth, +Fabyan, Rous, Croyland, 193-195; his accounts reveal the truth, 197, +198, 199; Mr. Gairdner's views respecting his death, 290-4; founded +Eton College, 116 + +Henry VII., _see_ Tudor, Henry; business of vilifying his predecessor, +171, 173; inspired the story of the murder of the princes, as Lord +Bacon suspected, 169, 236, 250, 251; his conduct respecting the Act +settling the crown on Richard, 218; his illegal executions after +Bosworth, 246, 247 _n._; his character and government, 248, 249, 251, +253; his usurpation, 250; marriage, 254: strong motive for the crime, +254; his other victims, 255; silences the relations, 257, 270, 271; +gives out the story, 258, 259; fear of detection, 267; murder of the +princes, 269; rewards to Tyrrel and others, 268, 269, 270; got Tyrrel +into his power by treachery, 273; cruel treatment and death of Edward, +Earl of Warwick, 275; contemplating another crime on his death-bed, +277; restitution to Tyrrel's son, 277; died tormented by remorse, 278; +things unexplained in his conduct, 279, 280. _See_ Murder of the +princes + +Henry, Captain of Bristol, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Heraldry, 110 + +Heralds' College, 110, 162 + +Hereford, 8 + +Hereford, Bishop of, 146 + +Heretics, Lancastrian law for burning, 103, 117, 118 + +Hexham, battle of, 59 + +Heydon, John, Recorder of Norwich, 119 + +Hill, Sir W., beheaded at York, 34 + +Holborn, 110 + +Holderness, 45 + +Holinshed's Chronicle, 179, 190 + +Holme Hill, near Tewkesbury battlefield, 72 + +Hook, Dr., Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, has doubts, 181 + +Hopton, Walter, Treasurer of the Household, 145; knighted, 147; slain +at Bosworth, 145, 252 + +Home, Captain of Appledore, at Towton, 23; in the pursuit of Clifford, +28; slain in the battle, 32 + +Howard, Lord, 89, _see_ Norfolk, Duke of + +Hungates of Saxton, 30, 35 + +Hungerford, Lord, at Towton for Henry, 24, 31; known as Lord Molines, +25; flight, 33; continued in rebellion, 36; beheaded, 59; generosity of +Edward IV. to his family, 36; his son a minor, 109, 143 + +Hungerford, Walter, joined Henry Tudor, 149; slew Sir R. Brackenbury, +156 + +Hunting, 106, 108 + +Huntingdon, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; bore the +queen's sceptre, 127; with the king on his progress, 129 + +Hussey, Sir William, Lord Chief Justice, 145 + + +Iceland, Richard's promotion of trade with, 161 + +Inns in London, 112 + +Inns of Court, 112 + +Insomuch, J., printer of the Book of St. Albans, 108 + +Iolanthe, sister of Margaret of Anjou, 67 + +Ireland, Duke of Clarence born at Dublin, 3; flight of the Duke of York +to, 7; Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy, 145; King Richard's good government +of, 161 + + +Jackson, Robert, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Jacoba of Holland, 44 + +James III. of Scotland, 86, 139, 257 _n._ + +Jenney, Sir William, Judge of Common Pleas, 145; knighted, 147 + +Jervaux, Monks of, 83 + +Jesse, disbelieved most of the Tudor fables, 181 + +John of Gloucester, _see_ Gloucester + +Judges in time of Richard III., 145 + + +Katherine, daughter of Edward IV., married to the Earl of Devonshire, +87 _n._, 271 _n._ + +Kelfield, Stillington family at, 96 _n._ + +Kemp, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury, christened Edward of +Lancaster, 55 + +Kempe, J., Bishop of London, 146 + +Kendall, John, Secretary of Slate, 145; slain at Bosworth, 155, 157; +loyal to the last, 252 + +Kent, Earl of, Lord Fauconberg created, 35 + +Kent, Grey, Earl of, at Richard's coronation, carried the +ecclesiastical sword of justice, 109, 127, 143 + +Keyley, James, payment to, for King Richard's tomb, 253 _n._ + +Kidwelly, Morgan, Attorney-General, 145; loyal to the last, 145 _n._ + +Kildare, Earl of, Lord Deputy of Ireland, 145 + +Kirkcudbright, Margaret embarked at, 58 + + +Laing, continuation of Henry's History, disbelief of Tudor stories, +181, 197 _n._ + +Lancaster, Duchy of, Duke of Gloucester, Chief Seneschal, 84; T. +Metcalf, Chancellor of, 83 _n._, 145 + +Lancastrians, Duke of York's two elder daughters married to, 3; +overpowered the Duke of York at Ludlow, 7; raise an army in Yorkshire, +9, 11, 13; atrocities after Wakefield, 16, 17. (_See_ Towton, Barnet, +Tewkesbury.) Malcontents intriguing in France, 140, 141, 231, 243 + +Langstrother, Sir John, Prior of St. John, with Margaret, 69; at +Tewkesbury, 74; tried and executed, 76 + +Langton, Bishop of St. David's, 146; praise of King Richard, 130 + +Latimer, Lady, made Richard supervisor of her will, 84, 160, 202 + +Law, 119 + +Law officers, 145 + +Lawless times, 120 + +Lawyers, 112 + +Legge, 'Unpopular King,' rejects most of the Tudor stories, 181 + +Leicester, 47, 130; King Richard at, 152; buried at, 158 + +Lewis, Dr., sent by Lady Stanley to the Queen Dowager, 231 + +Lewknor, Sir Thomas, traitor, 133 _n._ + +Lichfield, Bishop of, 146 + +Lincoln, King Richard at, when he heard of Buckingham's rebellion, 130 + +Lincoln, Bishop of, _see_ Russell, Dr. + +Lincoln, Earl of, 109; nephew to the king, 110; at Richard's coronation +bearing the orb, 127, 143; with the king on his progress, 129; false +statement of Rous, 138 + +Lingard, Dr., believer in all Tudor stories, 182, 281; on Henry VI., +198 _n._; on the execution of Rivers, 210 _n._; on young Edward's +tailor's account, 237; defence of Henry's executions after Bosworth, +247 _n._; imprisonment of the Queen Dowager, 257 _n._; alleged rewards +to murderers, 264 + +Lisle, Viscount (Grey), 100, 109; at Richard's coronation, 126, 235; +bore the rod with dove, 127, 143 + +Lisle, Viscount, Arthur, son of Edward IV., 87 _n._, 221 _n._ + +Llandaff, J. Marshall, Bishop of, 146 + +Loan raised by King Richard, 142 + +London warmly supported the House of York, 10, 104; residences, 110, +112; inns, 112; city companies, 112; popularity of King Richard, 139; +Recorder, 146; Bishop, 146 + +Londoners with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; citizens declare for +Edward IV., 21; march to Towton, 22 + +Lorenzo the Magnificent, likeness to Richard III., 40 _n._, 124 + +Lorraine, Isabelle of, mother of Margaret of Anjou, 53; death of, 55 + +Louis XI., 58, 66; bribed the ministers of Edward IV., 82; interview +with Prince Richard, 82 + +Louis XII., 128 + +Lovel, Francis, Viscount, friend of Richard, 40; bore the civil sword +of justice at the coronation, 109, 127; Lord Chamberlain, 144; created +a Knight of the Garter, 146; with the king at Bosworth, 151, 155; loyal +to the end, 252 + +Lovell, Sir Thomas, Tyrrel decoyed into his power by treachery, 273 + +Loyal men, at Bosworth and on their way, 151, 155, 157; in Henry's Act +of Attainder, 252 + +Lucy, Elizabeth, mother of two children of Edward IV., 87 _n._, 221 +_n._; false statement of Morton, 220 + +Ludlow, Duke of York succeeds to, 3; Yorkist defeat at, 7; Young Edward +at, 88 + +Lumley, Lord, 87 _n._, 221 _n._; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Lumley Castle, 107 + +Lymbricke, Sir Walter, wounded and taken prisoner at Wakefield, 15 + +Lymon, Thomas, Solicitor-General, 145; married Jane Shore, 100, 145 + +Lynn, 42 + + +Magdalen College, Oxford, King Richard at, 129 + +Malmesbury, 71 + +Maltravers, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Manor houses, 121 + +Mantes, 54 + +March, Earl of (Edward IV.), 7, 8 _n._, 20, 58 + +March, Earl of, and Pembroke, son of Edward IV., 125. _See_ Edward + +Marches, Richard Warden of the, 85 + +Margaret of Anjou, birth, 53; marriage, 54; birth of her son, 54, 55; +strove to make her son popular, 56; adventures in the war, 57-59; +living at Koeur-la-Petite, 60-67; agreement with Warwick, 66, 67; +embarked for England, 68-69; at Cerne Abbey, 69, 70; at Tewkesbury, +72-77; taken prisoner to the Tower, 78; with the Duchess of Suffolk, +78; ransomed, 79; last years and death, 79; her alleged cruelties after +Wakefield untrue, 17 _n._ + +Margaret, Princess, Duchess of Burgundy, birth, 3, 6; taken prisoner, +7; in John Paston's chambers, 7, 8; marriage, 43, 113; help to her +brothers, 43-44; visit to her brothers, 111; patron of Caxton, 113, 114 + +Margaret, Princess, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, Countess of +Salisbury, 87 _n._; killed by Henry VIII., 256 + +Margaret Beaufort, _see_ Stanley, Lady + +Markham, Sir John, created K.B. by Edward IV., 36; his present of a +book to Lord Cromwell, 51 _n._; Lord Chief Justice, 119 + +Markham, Sir Robert, created K.B. by Edward IV., 36 + +Marshall, J., Bishop of Bangor, 146 + +Mauleverers loyal to King Richard, 151 + +Mercers Company, _see_ Harrow. Caxton a Mercer, 113 + +Merchant Adventurers, 113 + +Merchant Taylors' Company, dispute with Skinners, 112 + +Merchants' increasing wealth, 112 + +Metcalfes of Nappa, Thomas made Chancellor of the Duchy, 83, 145 + +Methley, Lord Welles buried at, 34 + +Micklegate, Duke of York's head on, 17, 36 + +Middleham Castle, the home of Richard and Anne, 81, 82; description of, +83, 107; Richard founded a college at 85, 118, 294 + +Middleton, Sir Robert, 252 + +Miles, Lewis, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Milewater, servant to Edward and Edmund, 5; slain at Barnet fighting by +Richard's side, 50 + +Milford Haven, Henry Tudor landed at, 142, 148 + +Milling, Dr., Bishop of Hereford, 146 + +Millstones from Paris, 112 + +Ministers of Richard III., 144-145 + +Miracle plays, 119 + +Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, hanged by sailors, 118 + +Molines or Moleyns, Lord, _see_ Hungerford; lawless conduct, 120 + +Monasteries, 118 + +Montagu, Marquis; his treason, 42; at Hexham, 59; outmanoeuvred, 47; at +Barnet, 49; slain, 51; grief of Richard, 51; who interceded for his +children, 51, 202 + +More, Sir Thomas, the so-called 'History of Richard III.' attributed +to, 168; its freedom from criticism due to More's reputed authorship, +170; not written by More, 170; on Morton's extraordinary memory, 208 + +Morley, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109; with the king on his +progress, 129, 143 + +Mortimer inheritance, Duke of York succeeded to, 3 + +Mortimer, Hugh and Sir John, with the Duke of York, 10; slain at +Wakefield, 15 + +Mortimer's Cross, victory won by the Earl of March, 18, 20 + +Morton, Dr., with Henry VI. at York, 24, 27; with Margaret in exile, +69; at Tewkesbury, pardoned, 77; Bishop of Ely, bribed by Louis XI., +82; intrigues against Richard, 97-99; given in charge to the Duke of +Buckingham, 100; his political pamphlet called 'History of Richard +III.', 168; its authorship, 169-171; account of Morton and his career, +206-207; made Archbishop of Canterbury, 25, 207; on Richard's alleged +deformity, 185-186; silent respecting the death of Edward of Lancaster, +191, 192; insinuation about Henry VI., 193; confessed that Richard +resisted the death of Clarence, 203; his story about Richard's +assumption of the protectorship, 208-210; his version of the Hastings +plot, 210-213; his falsification of dates, 213-216; his version of the +execution of Rivers, 216-217; his falsification of King Richard's +title, 217-221; his shameful slander of the Duchess of York, 220; +unworthy of credit, 221; his false version of Richard's accession, +222-223; his account of conversations with the Duke of Buckingham, +222-227; his evidence of Richard's intentions respecting his nephews, +238; intriguing in the Isle of Ely and in France, 242 + +Mountjoy, Lord (_see_ Sir Walter Blount), 35; son and heir slain at +Barnet, 51; to announce accession of Richard III. at Calais, 102, 109 + +Mowbray, inheritance, 125 + +Muccleston church, 56 + +Murder of the princes, story as given out by Henry VII., 169, 258-259; +fuller story published by Grafton and Rastell, 259-261; question of +their fate, 233; no danger to Richard, 235; alive during Richard's +reign, 236-238; conduct of mother and sister, 238, 239; false rumours, +239, 240; contradictory dates, 225; murdered by order of Henry VII., +256; story put forward contradictory and inaccurate, 262; Tyrrel, 269; +burial, bodies discovered, 270; relations silenced, 270, 271; alleged +rewards to murderers, 264, 265; Henry's rewards, 272; Henry's remorse, +276, 278; Mr. Gairdner's theory, 298, 299 + +Musgraves faithful to King Richard, 151 + + +Nappa Hall, seat of the Metcalfes, 83 + +Navy of Richard III., 135-136. _See_ Rogers, Thomas + +Neale, Richard, Judge of Common Pleas, 145 + +Nesfield, Captain, to watch the Westminster sanctuary, 241 + +Nevill, George, Bishop of Exeter, persuaded Edward to take the kingly +office, 22, 23; Archbishop of York, Richard and Anne sat together at +his installation feast, 40; Anne's guardian, married her to Richard, +81, 82 + +Nevill, Lady Anne, _see_ Anne + +Nevill, Lady Cecily, 3. _See_ York, Duchess of + +Nevill, Lady Isabella, Duchess of Clarence, 41; children, 87 _n._ + +Nevill, 77 + +Nevill, Lord, traitor to the Duke of York, 11 + +Nevill, Lord, Richard wrote to, for reinforcements, 98 + +Nevill, Sir George, son of Lord Abergavenny, made K.B., 147. _See_ +Montagu, Salisbury, Warwick, Westmoreland + +Nevill, Sir John, at Towton for Henry, 24; with Lord Clifford, 27; +slain, 29 + +Nevill, Sir Thomas, 10; slain at Wakefield, 15; head stuck on the gate +at York, 17 + +Newark, 47 + +Newborough, Sir William, beheaded at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Newcastle, Earl of Wiltshire beheaded at, 34 + +Nicolas, Sir Harris, rejects some of Tudor stories, 181; denounces some +of them, 228, 230 + +Nobility not destroyed by wars of the Roses, 37, 105; life in the +country, 106, 108. _See_ Peerage + +Nokes, John, 5 + +Norfolk, Duke of (Mowbray), 10, 11; at Towton, 32, 35; death of +heiress, 125 + +Norfolk, Duke of (Howard), at Richard's coronation bearing the crown, +109, 127, 143; cousin to the king, 110; present to, from the royal +wardrobe, 111; Earl Marshal, 144; Admiral, 144; commissioner for peace +with Scotland, 145; hurried to the king's help, 151, 154; his camp, +152; slain at Bosworth, 155 + +Norfolk coast, ships of King Edward off, 45 + +Northampton, Battle of, 7, 56; Richard and Buckingham at, 90 + +Northumberland, Earl of, at the battle of Wakefield, 14; at Towton for +Henry, 24; led the centre, 31, 32; slain, 33; buried at York, 34; his +son restored, 36, 134; at Richard's coronation, bore the pointless +sword of mercy, 127; 109, 143; Commissioner for Peace with Scotland, +145; at Bosworth but held back, 151, 154; retribution, 154 _n._; +presided at the trial of Lord Rivers, 99, 217 + +Norwegian traders at Stourbridge fair, 112 + +Norwich sent troop to Edward, 71; Recorder of, _see_ Heydon + +Norwich, Bishop of (Dr. Goldwell), at Richard's coronation, 144, 146 + +Nostell Priory, 13 + +Nottingham, 47, 130, 136; memorial to King Richard III. at, 158 + +Nottingham Castle, 47, 148; King Richard commenced his march from, 151 + +Nottingham, Earl of, 109, 125, 143 + + +Official documents in Richard's favour, 179; value of evidence, 292 + +Ogle, Lord, in the marches during Richard's coronation, 109, 143; +hurrying to join the king at Bosworth, 151 + +Ogle, Sir Robert, 58 + +Oldham, Dr., Bishop of Sodor and Man, 147 + +Ormonde, Earl of, 24 (_see_ Wiltshire); pardoned, 36; in Portugal, 66; +pardoned at Tewkesbury, 77 + +Ormonde, Sir Thomas, created K.B., 147 + +Oxford University, 116; King Richard at, 128, 129 + +Oxford, John Vere Earl of, under attainder, 109, 144; at Barnet, 47, +49, 50; came with Henry Tudor, 148; at Bosworth, 154, 155; origin of +the star in the arms of, 50 _n._ + + +Parker, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Parker, Sir William, the king's standard bearer at Bosworth, 156, 157 + +Parliament, Act making the Duke of York heir apparent, 9; deposed Henry +VI. for violating his word, 21, 22; met in spite of the _supersedeas_, +98, 100; proofs of the illegitimacy submitted, 101; petitions Richard +to assume the crown, 102; great power of the Speaker, 104; Richard's +Parliament met, Acts passed, 134; Acts first published in English, 134; +distinction between public and private Acts first made, 134; Lord +Campbell's opinion, 134. _See_ Titulus Regius + +Parr, Dr., inscription over King Richard's well, 158; remarks on +likeness of Richard to Lorenzo the Magnificent, 40 _n._, 124 + +Parr, Sir Thomas, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; grandfather +of Queen Katherine Parr, 15 + +Parr, Sir William, slain at Wakefield, 15; head stuck on the gate at +York, 17 + +Parr, Thomas, Richard's esquire, slain at Barnet, 50 + +Paston, boy at Eton, 117 + +Paston, Clement, at Cambridge, 117 + +Paston, John, 7, 120, 122, 201 + +Paston, Mrs., 117, 120, 122 + +Paston Letters, 7, 8 _n._, 23, 76 _n._, 81, 151 _n._ + +Payn, Mr., his luggage seized by Jack Cade, 122 + +Payne's Place, Margaret of Anjou took refuge at, 77 + +Peerage, 37, 105, 106; of Richard III., 109, 143; at his coronation, +109, 126, 127; no peer, except Stanley, joined Henry Tudor, 149 + +Pembroke, _see_ Tudor, Jasper, title of Edward, son of Edward IV. +(_whom see_) + +Pembroke Castle, Henry Tudor born at, 140 + +Percy, Sir Richard, 24; slain at Towton, 33, 34 + +Percy, Sir Robert, of Scotton, friend of Richard, 40; Controller of the +Household, 145; knighted, 147; with the king at Bosworth, 151, 156 + +Peterborough, 1 + +Pickering, Sir James, with the Duke of York at Wakefield, 10; slain, +15; head stuck on a gate at York, 17 + +Pilgrimages, 119 + +Pilkington, Sir John, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Pilkington, Sir Thomas, loyal to King Richard, 252 + +Pilkingtons, faithful to King Richard, 151 + +Plantagenets, the Dynasty, 166; the kings of the Lancastrian branch, +103, 104; Yorkist right, 9, 104; children of the Duke of York, 6; of +Edward IV., 86 _n._; of the Duke of Clarence, 87 _n._; slaughter of the +last male, 275 + +Plumpton correspondence, 245; arbitration, 84, 160 _n._ + +Plumptons faithful to King Richard, 151 + +Plumstead churchyard, 120 + +Pole-on-the-Humber, Lord Rivers landed at, 46 + +Pole, de la, _see_ Suffolk, Duke of, Lincoln, Earl of + +Pole, Anne de la, 139 + +Pole, Richard, married to the Princess Margaret, daughter of the Duke +of Clarence, 87 _n._ + +Pole, Sir Edmund de la, created K.B., 147; afterwards Earl of Suffolk + +Polydore Virgil, employed by Henry VII., 168; his coming to England, +171; his numerous preferments, 172; character of his history, 172; +untrustworthy, 175; on the unequal shoulders, 186; on treatment of +captives at Towton, 34; a slanderer, 190, 192; on date of death of +Henry VI., 193, 196; his calumny about the Duchess of York, 220, 222; +statement about Buckingham's claims, 223; silent about Clarence, 202; +contradicts Morton about Shaw's sermon, 220; contemplated marriage with +Elizabeth, 231; battle of Bosworth, 157 _n._; his story of the murder, +258 + +Pomfret, Lancastrian army at, 13; bodies of the Duke of York and Earl +of Rutland at, 34, 39; Montagu at, 47 + +Pomfret Castle, a residence of the Duke of Gloucester, 84; Edward's +headquarters before Towton, 25; execution of Lord Rivers at, 99 + +Pont-a-Mousson, birth place of Margaret of Anjou, 53, 61 + +Portsmouth, 69 + +Post first established by Richard III., 106, 159 + +Prices, 123 + +Printing, _see_ Caxton + +Progress, King Richard's royal, 129-30 + +Pulter, Thomas, loyal to King Richard, 252 + + +Quarter, none given by the Lancastrians at Wakefield, 16, 17; proof +that it was given by Edward at Towton, 34; always given by Edward, 34; +given to inferior officers and soldiers at Tewkesbury, where several +leaders were also pardoned, 77 + +Queen, _see_ Anne Nevill + +Queen, _see_ Elizabeth of York + +Queen Dowager, _see_ Elizabeth Woodville + + +Raby, Rose of, _see_ York, Duchess of + +Ramme, traitor, executed at Exeter, 132 + +Rapin, History of England, 180, 181 + +Ratcliffe, Sir John (Lord Fitzwalter), 23; at Ferrybridge, 23; slain, 27 + +Ratcliffe, Sir Richard, 99, 145; Knight of the Garter, 147; at +Bosworth, 156, 157; loyal to the last, 252 + +Ratford, Capt, slain at the battle of Wakefield, 15 + +Ratte, John, loyal to the end, 252 + +Ravenspur, Edward landed at, 45 + +Redman, Dr., Bishop of St. Asaph, 129, 145, 146 + +Redmore Plain, 152, 154 + +Rene, King, 53; death, 79 + +Revell, Richard, loyal to the last, 252 + +Richard III. (Duke of Gloucester), son of the Duke of York, born at +Fotheringhay, 3, 6; childhood with Margaret and George, 4; prisoner at +war, 7; in John Paston's chambers in the Temple, 8, 10; sent to Holland +for safety, 18; loss of his father and brother, 18, 19, 38; built a +memorial chapel at Towton, 37; creations, Knight of the Garter, 38; +stall plate at Windsor, 38; chief mourner at his father's funeral, 39; +military training under Warwick, 40; early and enduring friendships, +40; companionship with Anne Nevill, 40; description of, 40, 124; loyal +to Edward IV., 41; flight with Edward to Holland, 42; at Bruges, 43; +fitting out ships at Veere, 44; at Ravenspur, 45; negotiation with +Clarence, 47, 48; at Barnet, 50; at Tewkesbury, 74; marriage and life +at Middleham, 81, 82, 84; with Edward IV. in France, upright conduct, +82; founded colleges, 85, 107, 118, 294; supervisor of wills, 84, 99; +arbitrator, 84, 160 _n._; high offices of State, 84, 85; Warden of the +Marches, campaign in Scotland, excellence of his administration, 85; +takes Berwick, 86; Protector by Edward's will, services and popularity, +89; arrested Rivers, 89, 90; resided with his mother, 91; ignorant of +his brother's matrimonial secrets, 97; stamped out the Hastings +conspiracy, 98, 99; rightful heir, 101; accepts the crown, 102; town +house at Crosby Place, 85, 110; coronation, 126, 127; grant to +Buckingham, 126; progress, 128-130; at York, 130; suppressed +Buckingham's revolt, 131-132; Parliament and administrative reforms, +134, 135; loss of his son, 137; progress and reception of Scotch +ambassadors, 139; popularity in London, 139; his wife's death, 140; +military talent, 149; courage and pluck, 150; formation of his army, +154; resolves on a desperate charge at Bosworth, 155; glorious death, +156; buried at Leicester, 158; memorials, 158; character, 159, 160; +accusations against him, 167, 184; Tudor calumnies, 192, 199; +deformity, 185-187; Mr. Gairdner and the alleged crimes of, 281-301. +_See_ Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI., Anne Nevill, Hastings, Clarence, +Rivers, Titulus Regius, Murder of the Princes + +Richard, second son of Edward IV., 86 _n._; in sanctuary, 91; joined +his brother, 100, 125. _See_ Murder of the princes. + +Richmond, earldom, granted to the Duke of Gloucester, 38, 140; Henry +Tudor had no right to the title, 109, 133 _n._, 144 + +Richmond Castle, 107 + +Rivers, Earl, flight with Edward IV., 42, 44; landed at Pole, 46; +Constable of the Tower, 78; in charge of his nephew at Ludlow, 88; +arrested, 90; tried and executed, 99, 216, 217; made Richard III. +supervisor of his will, 99, 160; his literary attainments, 115; his son +a minor, 109 + +Robsart, Sir Terry, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Rochester, Bishop of, Dr. Audley, at Richard's coronation, 144, 146 + +Rockingham Forest, 1 + +Rogers, Thomas, keeper of the ships, 135, 144 + +Rogers, Mr. Thorold, on the character of Edward IV., 37; on the Wars of +the Roses, 104; opinion of churchmen, 118; disbelief in the murder of +Henry VI., 198 + +Roos, Lord, with Henry and Margaret at York, 24, 27; beheaded at +Hexham, 59 + +Roos, Sir Henry, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Roos, Sir William, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Rose of Raby, _see_ York, Duchess of + +Roses, Wars of the, their causes, 6, 104; the nobility not annihilated, +37, 105; not a war of the people, 104 + +Rotherham, Archbishop, 88, 100 + +Roucliffe, Brian, Baron of the Exchequer, 145 + +Rouen, children of the Duke of York born at, 3, 6 + +Rous, John, an unblushing time server, 173, 174; on Richard's birth, +186; reason of his silence about Tewkesbury, 191; Henry VI., 195; +Countess of Warwick, 201; trial of Rivers, 217 _n._; death of Queen +Anne, 228; adoption of Warwick as heir, alleged supersession by +Lincoln, 138; death of the princes, 244 + +Rumours of the deaths of the princes alleged to have existed, 239; +Croyland Monk, 240; no evidence, 241; Morton in the Isle of Ely, 242; +spread by Henry VII., 256 + +Russell, Dr., Bishop of Lincoln, his speech on investiture of the Duke +of Burgundy with the Garter, 113; an upright prelate, 118; King +Richard's Chancellor, 144; at the coronation, 144; commissioner for +peace with Scotland, 145 + +Rutland, Earl of, _see_ Edmund + + +Saints' days, letters always dated on, 119 + +St. Albans, battles of, 17, 56, 57 + +St. Albans, Book of, 108 + +St. Asaph, Bishop of, B. Redman, 129, 146; commissioner for peace with +Scotland, 145 + +St. David's, Bishop, 109. _See_ Langton + +St. Denis, at York, Earl of Northumberland buried at, 34 + +St. Germain, Walter, loyal to the last, 252 + +St. John, Prior of, _see_ Langstrother + +St. Leger, Sir Thomas, traitor, 131; beheaded, 132 + +St. Liz, Simon de, founder of Fotheringhay, 1 + +St. Lo, Sir John, knighted at Tewkesbury, 77 + +St. Martin's Day, stock killed and salted on, 121 + +St. Martin's le Grand sanctuary, Anne Nevill in, 81 + +St. Miheil, 60 + +St. Pol, Duke of Burgundy's Court, 43, 60 + +Salisbury, Buckingham beheaded at, 132 + +Salisbury, Bishop of, 100; traitor, 132, 146; at Richard's coronation, +144. _See_ Woodville + +Salisbury, Earl of, with the Duke of York at Sandal, 10, 13; at +Wakefield, 14; taken prisoner and put to death, 16, 21; head exposed at +York, 17; funeral at Bisham, 34; town house at Cold Harbour, 110 + +Salisbury, Earl of, _see_ Edward + +Salkeld, Wm., arrested the Earl of Wiltshire at Cockermouth, 34 + +Sanctuary at Westminster, 91, 136, 241; at St. Martin's le Grand, 81 + +Sandal Castle, Duke of York's inheritance, 3; the Duke arrived at, +description, 11-12; ruins, 12; surrounding country, 13; Duke's +Christmas at, 13, 14 + +Sandford, on the death of Clarence, 202, 203 _n._ + +Sandwich, 80 + +Sapcote, William, loyal to the last, 252 + +Sasiola, Galfridus de, _see_ Spanish Ambassador + +Savage, Sir John, joined Henry Tudor at Bosworth, 149, 154 + +Saxton, near Towton, _see_ Towton _and_ Hungate; Lord Dacre buried at, +34, 35 + +Saye, Lord, flight with Edward IV., 42, 44; slain at Barnet, 51 + +Saye, Sir William, created K.B., 147 + +Sayer, William, payments to, for keep of Henry VI., 197 + +Scarthingwell, 27, 28 + +Scotland, flight of Henry VI. to, 34, 58; Richard's campaign in, 85, +86; peace with, 139, 145; Margaret of Anjou in, 9 + +Scotton, _see_ Percy + +Scrope, of Bolton, Lord, with Edward, 23; wounded at Towton, 32; +Richard's neighbour, 130, 143; at Richard's coronation, 109; executions +by, 132 _n._; hurrying to the aid of the king, 151 + +Scrope of Masham, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Severn, 71, 72; slaughter at a ford, after Tewkesbury, 75; great flood, +131 + +Seymour, Sir John, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Shaunde, Philibert de, in command of Henry Tudor's troops, 142; at +Bosworth, 153, 154 + +Shaw, Dr., sermon, misrepresented by Morton and Polydore Virgil, 220, +221; false date, 215 + +Sheen, 35 + +Sherburn, 27, 29 + +Sheriff Hutton, 84; chapel added to the church by Richard, 85; tomb of +Edward Prince of Wales at, 137; Edward, King Richard's heir, at, 138, +142 + +Shore, Jane, 100; married to the Solicitor-General, 145 _n._ + +Shrewsbury, Earl of, a minor, 109, 143 + +Simnel, Lambert, 280 + +Skinners' Company, 112 + +Skipton, 84 + +Skipwith, Sir John, at the Duke of York's obsequies, 39 + +Slaughter or Slater ('Black Will'), 260, 264, 269; rewards to, 271 + +Sluys, 60 + +Smith, Wm., Bishop of Lichfield, 146 + +Smyth, William, 5 + +Sodor and Man, Bishop of, 146 + +Somerset, Duke of, at the battle of Wakefield, 14; and Towton, 23; made +his peace, 36; beheaded at Hexham, 59 + +Somerset, Duke of, Edmund, Buckingham's descent from, 225; at Barnet, +49; with Margaret, 69, 70; at Tewkesbury, 73; his charge, 74, 75; +beheaded, 76; title became extinct, 37 + +Sopwell, Prioress of, _see_ Berners, Juliana + +Southampton, 54 + +Southwick, 54 + +Spanish Ambassador, 130; knighted at York, 130, _see_ Ayala Sasiola + +Spofforth, 84 + +Sport, _see_ Hunting + +Stafford, Humphrey, at Bosworth for the king, 155; loyal to the last, +252 + +Stafford, Sir Thomas, at Bosworth for the king, 155 + +Stallworthe, Reverend Simon, letter to Sir W. Stonor, with real date of +execution of Hastings, 214 + +Stanley, Lady, mother of Henry Tudor, 140; at Richard's coronation bore +the queen's train, 126, 127, 235; her intrigues, 131, 133, 226, 231; +pardoned by the king, 148, 231 + +Stanley, Lord, 109, 111; at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; Lord +Steward, 144; commissioner for peace with Scotland, 145; the only Peer +who joined Henry Tudor, 149; raised forces, 149; secret interview with +Henry Tudor, 149; treachery at Bosworth, 150, 152, 153; threw off the +mask, 155, 159; objects of the Stanleys, 148 + +Stanley, Sir Ralph, wounded and taken prisoner at Wakefield, 15 + +Stanley, Sir Wm., captured Margaret of Anjou, 78; treachery at +Bosworth, 156; retribution, 158; knew the truth about the princes, 244 + +Stapleton, Sir Brian, for the king at Bosworth, 155 + +Stapleton village, 152 + +Stillingfleet church, 96 _n._ + +Stillington, Dr., Bishop of Bath and Wells; his disclosure of Edward's +first marriage, 93-97; account of, 94-96; treatment by Henry VII., 251 + +Stoke Golding, 152, 153, 157 + +Stonor, Sir William, _see_ Stallworthe + +Stony Stratford, 90 + +Story, Ed., Bishop of Chichester, 146 + +Stourbridge, 112 + +Stourton, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143 + +Stow's Chronicle, 179, 185, 191 + +Strange, Lord, 231-232 + +Strickland, Miss, on Richard's marriage with Anne, 201 + +Strickland, Sir Thomas, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; loyal to the +king, 151 + +Suffolk, Duchess of, _see_ Elizabeth + +Suffolk, Duke and Duchess, 53, 54; received Margaret of Anjou at +Ewelme, 78 + +Suffolk, Duke of, at Richard's coronation bearing the sceptre, 109, +143; king's brother-in-law, 110 + +Supersedeas, _see_ Parliament + +Surrey, Earl of, son married to Anne daughter of Edward IV., 86 _n._; +at Richard's coronation bearing the sword of state in the scabbard, +109, 127, 143; Knight of the Garter, 146; at Bosworth for King Richard, +151, 252 + +Sutton Cheney, 152; king's army formed near, 154 + + +Tadcaster, 26, 27, 46 + +Talbot, Sir Gilbert, his treason, 148; at Bosworth, 154 + +Talbots, 148 + +Talboys, Sir William, at Towton for Henry, 24; beheaded at York, 34 + +Tattershall Castle, built of brick by Lord Bourchier, 107 + +Taunton, 70 + +Temple, John Paston's chambers in, _see_ Paston, John + +Tewkesbury, 72; battle, 74-75, King Richard at, 128, 129; contemporary +accounts, Warkworth, Croyland Monk, Comines, 189; Stories of Fabyan, +190; Polydore Virgil, 190; Grafton, Hall, Holinshed, Habington, 190; +silence of Morton and Rous, 191, 192; Mr. Gairdner's view, 286, 287, +288; executions after the battle, 76, 77, 288; pardons, 77 + +Throgmorton, pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Tickhill Castle, 107 + +Tipton, Lord, _see_ Worcester, Earl of + +Titchfield, Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou married at, 54 + +'Titulus Regius,' a State Paper explaining King Richard's title to the +crown, 101; became an Act of Parliament, 134, 218; attempt of Henry +VII. to destroy all copies, 218, 250, 279 + +Townshend, Rodger, Judge of the King's Bench, 145, 146 + +Towton, battle of, numbers, 25, 31; distances, 25; description of the +surrounding country, 26; formation of the Lancastrian line, 31; battle, +32, 33. _See_ Fauconberg, Edward IV., Horne + +Tremayne, Thomas, King's Serjeant, 146 + +Tresham, Speaker, 104 + +Trollope, Sir Andrew, Lancastrian chief of the staff at Wakefield, 14, +16; at Towton, 25; his antecedents, 25; in the centre, 31, 106; slain, +33 + +Tudor, Edmund, created Earl of Richmond, but forfeited by attainder, 38 + +Tudor, Henry, 109, 125; not Earl of Richmond, 38; came across the +Channel but afraid to land, 131; traitor, 133 _n._, claim to the crown, +140, 141 _n._; family and origin, 140; lands at Milford Haven, 142; +interviews with the Stanleys, 149, 153; encamped at White Moors, 153; +in the rear of the battle of Bosworth, 154; contrast between Richard +III. and Henry VII., 160 _n._ _See_ Henry VII. + +Tudor, Jasper, 70; levies in Wales, 70, 71; traitor, 133 _n._, 140; +came with his nephew, 148; at Bosworth, 154; formerly Earl of Pembroke, +but attainted, 133 _n._ + +Tudors in Wales, 10, 18; their paid writers, 168; their fables, 183, 187 + +Tunbridge Castle, Duchess of York and her children prisoners at, 7 + +Tunstall, Sir Richard, Knight of the Garter, 147 + +Turner, Sharon, doubted most of Tudor stories, 181 + +Tuxford, 39 + +Tweed, river near Bosworth, 152 + +Tynemouth, 58 + +Tyrrel, Sir James, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77; escorted the Countess +of Warwick to Middleham, 201, 202; stories after his execution, 258, +259, 260, 261; betrayal by Bishop Fox, 273; his previous career, 268; +alleged confession, 263; taken into favour by Henry, 269; his two +pardons, 269, 270; murder of the princes, 269; rewards from Henry, 272; +pretext for getting rid of him, 272, 273, 279; Tyrrel's son restored in +blood, 277 + + +Urswick, Dr., 231 + +Utrecht, Richard and George at, 18, 38 + + +Van Borselle, Lord of Walcheren, 44 + +Vaudemont, Ferry de, 67 + +Vaughan, Sir Thomas, 88; arrested, 90; beheaded, 100 + +Vaux, Lady, 74 + +Vaux, Sir Thomas, slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Vavasour, John, King's Serjeant, 146 + +Vavasours, of Hazlewood, near Towton, 26 + +Veere, expedition of Edward IV. fitted out at, 44 + +Venery, works on, by the second Duke of York, 108; Juliana Berners, 108 + +Vere, John, _see_ Oxford, Earl of + +Vignolle, Francois de, 79 + +Virgil, _see_ Polydore + + +Wake, Roger, loyal to the last, 252 + +Walcheren, 44 + +Walleys pardoned after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Wallingford Castle, 79, 197 + +Walsingham pilgrimages, 119 + +Warbeck, Perkin, 258, 275 + +Wardrobe, royal, 111; keeper of the, 145 + +Wardrobe, the, in Blackfriars, a royal residence in the City, 139 + +Warkworth, Dr., on Tewkesbury, 189; on the date of Henry's death, 175, +194, 199 + +Warwick, 47; King Richard at, 129 + +Warwick, Countess of, in France, 66, 67; at Beaulieu, 69; joined her +daughter at Middleham, 82, 84, 201, 202; inheritance, 81, 82 + +Warwick, Earl of, _see_ Edward + +Warwick, Richard Nevill Earl of, 7, 10, 22, 23, 28; gave Richard his +military training, 40; his treason, 66; conspiracy with Margaret of +Anjou, 41, 67; outmanoeuvred by Edward, 47, 48; at Barnet, 49, 50; +slain, 51; buried at Bisham, 51; division of his estates, 80 + +Watkin, Walter, herald in Richard's time, loyal to the last, 252 + +Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, 55; received Richard at Oxford, 129, +146 + +Weavers, Flemish, 112 + +Welch, John, _alias_ Hastings, loyal to the last, 252 + +Welles, Lord, slain at Towton, 33; buried at Methley, 34; son forgiven, +36; traitor, 132 _n._; married Princess Cicely, 86 _n._, 271 + +Wenlock, Sir John, at Towton, 23, 30, 32; created Lord Wenlock, 35; +joined Margaret of Anjou, 70; slain in the battle of Tewkesbury, 74, 76 + +Wensleydale, 82 + +Wentford, Sir Philip, 120 + +Wentworth, Sir Eustace, slain at Wakefield, 15 + +Westminster, John Esteney, Abbot of, 114; coronation of Edward IV., 35; +coronation of Richard III., 126, 127; sanctuary, 91, 136, 241; tower +built by King Richard at, 161 + +Westminster school, its antiquity, 116 + +Westmoreland, Earl of, 109, 143; cousin to the king, 110; not at +Towton, a mistake of Leland followed by Hall, 29 _n._ + +Weymouth, 69 + +'White Hart' Inn, in Southwark, 112, 122 + +White Moors at Bosworth, 153 + +Whittingham, Sir R., slain at Tewkesbury, 76 + +Wigmore Castle, 3 + +Willoughby, Sir Christopher, created K.B., 147 + +Willoughby, Sir Robert, 149; sent to Sheriff Hutton to seize Edward and +Elizabeth, 248 + +Wilson, John, 120 + +Wiltshire, Earl of, at Wakefield, 14; at Towton, 24, 31; beheaded, 34; +brother restored, 36; at Richard's coronation bearing the queen's +crown, 127, 143 + +Winchester, Bishop of, _see_ Waynflete _and_ Fox + +Winchester School, 116 + +Windsor, St. George's Chapel, stall plate of Richard III., 38; Edward +IV. at, 70; present from the wardrobe to the college, 111; Edward IV. +buried at, 86; Henry VI. buried, 139; nearly finished by Richard III., +139, 161; portrait of Richard III. at, 40 _n._, 124 + +Wodehouse, Sir Edward, knighted after Tewkesbury, 77 + +Wolesley, Ralph, Baron of the Exchequer, 145 + +Wolferstone, Sir Roger, at Towton for Edward, 23 + +Woodville, Elizabeth, _see_ Elizabeth + +Woodville faction, their enrichment, 41; bribed by Louis XI., 82; their +designs, 88; caused the death of Clarence, 88, 95; their conspiracy +defeated, 88-91, 131; marriages into noble families, 88. _See_ Rivers + +Woodville, Lionel, Bishop of Salisbury, at Richard's coronation, 126, +235 + +Wool and cloth fair, 112 + +Woolley Edge, 13 + +Worcester, 77, 128 + +Worcester, Bishop of, _see_ Alcock + +Worcester, Tiptoft Earl of, author and statesman, 115; Caxton's lament +at his death, 115, 116 + +Wykeham, William of, founder of Winchester School, 116 + + +York, flight of Henry VI. from, after Towton, 34, 58; King Edward at, +34; Prince Richard's beneficial connection with, 84; King Richard at, +130; loyalty of the citizens, 130; sent 80 men to reinforce the king at +Bosworth, 151; mourned the death of Richard, 159 + +York, Archbishop of, _see_ Nevill, Rotherham. + +York, Duchess of (_see_ Rose of Raby _and_ Nevill, Lady Cecil), 3; +twelve children, 3, 6; taken prisoner at Ludlow, 7; refuge in Paston's +chambers, 7; joined the Duke, 7; last parting with the Duke, 10, 11; +sent her little sons to Holland, 18, 21; Richard residing with her, 91, +92; Richard's letter to his mother, 92 _n._; long widowhood and death, +93 _n._; buried at Fotheringhay, 93 _n._; slanders of Morton and +Polydore Virgil, 220, 221; in the secret of her son's contract with +Lady Eleanor Butler, 94; slandered by Morton and Polydore Virgil, 220, +297 + +York, Edmund Duke of, rebuilt Fotheringhay, 1, 2, 11 + +York, Edward Duke of, author of a work on sport, 108 + +York, Richard Duke of, his great possessions, 3; wife and children, 3, +6; letter from his sons, 4; cause of his resort to arms, 6, 104; defeat +of Ludlow, 7; at Baynard's Castle with his family, 9, 10; march north, +11; at Sandal, 13; betrayed, 11; slain in the battle of Wakefield, 15; +his head stuck on Micklegate Bar, 17; outrages imputed to Margaret and +Clifford untrue, 17 _n._; magnificent obsequies at Fotheringhay, 39 + +'York Records,' edited by Mr. Davies. Evidence of loyalty to King +Richard and against alleged deformity, 186; disproves second coronation +at York, 177, 227, 228; Earl of Warwick a Councillor until May 1485, +138; children in the king's household, 126; the _supersedeas_ and +letter to York, 100 + +Yorkist captains at Wakefield, 10, 15; at Towton, 23 + +Yorkist kings, nearly of pure English blood, 166 + +Yorkist princes, the leading sportsmen of England, 108 + +Yorkists, introduction of printing their chief glory, 113 + + +Zouch, Lord, at Richard's coronation, 109, 143; hurried to the help of +the king, 151; slain at Bosworth, 155, 157; loyal to the last, 252 + +Zouch, Sir W., created K.B., 147 +ENDX + + + +PRINTED BY + +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. LTD., NEW-STREET SQUARE + +LONDON + + + + +====================================================================== + + + + +NEW AND FORTHCOMING WORKS. + + +THE 'KNUTSFORD' EDITION OF MRS. GASKELL'S WORKS. + +In 8 vols. Crown 8vo. cut edges, cloth, gilt top, price 4s. 6d. each +net. 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