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 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 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.
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, 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 and Anne were happily married in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of York. His age was nineteen, that of his wife sixteen.
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.
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 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 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.
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 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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 faction, which are indeed proved by these overt acts; and which went the length of conspiring against Richard's life.[3]
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. 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 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 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.
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]
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 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 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]
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 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]
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 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 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.
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 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 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.