Richard The Chird (73 page)

3 Rot. Park, VI, pp. 173-74; Col. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, pp. 72-73.

*Croy. Chron., p. 479; CaL Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 115: a grant to Earl Rivers "in consideration of the injuries perpetrated on him and his parents by George, late Duke of Clarence"; Mancini, pp. 75-77.

5 Croy. Chron., p. 480; Rot. Part., VI, p. 409; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 102; for Clarence impugning the validity of Edward's marriage, see text, p. 259.

6 Calmette and Perinelle, Lotas XI et VAngleterre, Piece Justificative no. 72, p. 377.

7 Clarence was sent to the Tower about the end of June. At this time Richard was, in all probability, in the North: during this year Richard and Anne became members of the Corpus Christi Guild of York and undoubtedly walked in their celebration, which fell, in 1477, on Friday, June 6, the day after Corpus Christi Day. Richard must have returned to London before the end of October, for on October 21 the magistrates of York addressed a letter to him there, to which he replied from London on November 15 (York Records, pp. 89-90).

8 Mancini, writing less than six years later, declares that Richard was bitterly opposed to Clarence's execution: "[He] was so overcome with grief for his brother, that he could not dissimulate so well, but that he was overheard to say that he would one day avenge his brother's death" (p. 77). Even More admits, though with gratuitous suspicion, that Richard begged King Edward to spare Clarence (p. 10). There exists independent documentary testimony to the fact that Richard not only profoundly resented his brother's execution but held the Woodvilles responsible. Among the instructions which, some years later, he gave his councilor the Bishop of Enachden for conferring with the Earl of Desmond, there occurs this passage: "Also he shall show that albeit the father of the said earl . . . was extorciously slain and murdered ... by certain persons then having the governance and rule there [in Ireland, i.e., the Earl of Worcester] . . . ; yet notwithstanding that the semblahle chance 'was and happened sithen, •within this realm of England, as well of his brother the Duke of Clarence, as other his nigh kinsmen and great friends. . . ." (Harleian MS. 433, f. 265^ in Letters and Papers, I, ed. by Gairdner, p. 68). The italics are mine. It was the Queen who had prompted Worcester to murder the foregoing Earl of Desmond's father (see text, pp. 79-80); Richard is reminding the Earl that he too has suffered heavy personal loss at the hands of the Woodvilles.

For Clarence's dangerous assertions see note 5, above.

9 "Narrative of the Marriage of Richard, Duke of York," in W. H. Black, Illustrations of Ancient State and Chivalry, Roxburghe Club, 1840, pp. 27-40.

i* Rot. Park, VI, p. 409.

11 Mancini says flatly that everybody considered the Woodvilles responsible for Clarence's death (p. 83).

12 Cal Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 115: a grant of certain manors for six years to Earl Rivers "in consideration of the injuries perpetrated on him and his parents by George, late Duke of Clarence, and because the said duke on the day of his death and before intended that he should be recompensed." This statement indicates that Clarence was duly informed of his approaching end and was given the customary opportunity to make last requests and T no doubt, to shrive his soul. This supposition is confirmed by an addition Stow made to the Great Chronicle in which he noted that "the Duke of Clarence . . . offered his own mass penny in the Tower of London and about twelve of the clock at noon made his end in a rondelet of malvesey. ..." (p. 226).

The execution of the Duke of Clarence, though private, followed formal and prescribed procedure. The story of Clarence's demise in malmsey wine is so widespread and persistent that it cannot be discounted. Of the two best contemporary sources, the Croyland chronicler is uncertain or unwilling to say how Clarence met his death: "the execution, whatever its nature may have been. . . ." (p. 480); Mancini, however, retails the story (p. 77). It appears on the Continent (Scofield, II, p. 209, note 5). Vergil says cautiously that Clarence "was drowned (as they say) in a butt of malmesey" (pp. 167-68). Stow (quoted above) echoes the tale. See the excellent summary of the evidence given by Armstrong, who accepts its validity (Mancini, pp. 134-35). Despite its inherent improbability, the tale is very likely true. Throughout his life the improbable seems to have been Clarence's habitual milieu.

13 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 67, p. 90, and p. 139; compare Ramsay, Lancaster and York, II, p. 425.

Gairdner (Richard III) declares that after Clarence's execution Richard "obtained by grant from the Crown undivided possession of the lordship of Barnard Castle, of which he had hitherto held only a moiety in right of his wife" (pp. 36-37). The fact is, no such grant exists, and the absence of such a grant would itself indicate that Richard's full possession of Barnard Castle, in right of his wife, dates from the division of the Countess' property in 1474. Gairdner based his conclusion upon a confused, and unsupported, statement in Robert Surtees, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, London, 1823, vol. IV, p. 66, that although the Parliament of 1474 transferred the Countess' inheritance to her two daughters and though Clarence's attainder could not destroy his wife's title or, if it could, would cause her half to be vested in the Crown, yet Richard obtained individual possession of Barnard Castle. Surtees possibly entertained the curious notion that the two brothers divided each of the Countess' manors between them, or he may have been confused by a private bill of the Parliament which met to attaint Clarence, in which Richard was granted permission to use, for the establishment of a college and twelve priests (which Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 67, proves to have been the college at Barnard Castle), advowsons (my italics) which had come to him in the partition of the Countess' estates (Rot. ParL, VI, p. 172). Surtees' evidence is

no evidence at all. It seems clear that Barnard Castle, lying close to Richard's other Yorkshire estates, had come to him in the division of property (see, above, note 23 of Chapter I of "Lord of the North"). 14 CaL Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 67.

IV

My account of Richard's relationship with the city of York is based upon the York Records and the York Civic Records, I. Unless otherwise noted, the correspondence and other documentary information relating to the city cited in this chapter are drawn from the York Records, pp. 39-99, pp. 108-127, pp. 140-42, and pp. 227-49 and from the York Civic Records, I, p. 5, p. 8, p. 26, pp. 53-54, pp. 48-52, and p. 56.

1 During March a delegation from the city of York rode to Middleham to confer with the Duke of Gloucester (York Records, p. 59).

2 For proof that Richard was in London during the early part of April, 1481, and departed from the city before April 16, see Stonor Letters and Papers, II, pp. 122-24.

5 P. 77-

4 For the mummings, see Harleian MS, 433, f. 118; for the fairs, see CaL

Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 154.

For glimpses of Richard's minstrels and players as they travel about England performing for a great lord or the burgesses of a town, see, for example, Household Books of John, Duke of Norfolk, p. 70 and p. 207; HMC, V, p. 527 and p. 547; HMC, 9th rep., I, p. 143.

3 CaL Pat. Rolls, 1467-77, p. 184, p. 495, p. 307, p. 511, p. 591, and so on. e For Richard's duties and powers as Warden, see Foedera, XI, pp. 658-60.

7 In Henry VIIFs time, Lord Dacre, Warden of the West March, kept writing plaintively to Wolsey that he shouldn't be expected to equal the accomplishment of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, ed. by J. S. Brewer, London, 1864-76, vol. I, ii, p. 1054 and p. 1260). Wolsey replied severely that Dacre must provide the same kind of effectual rule (ibid., IV, i, p. 52).

8 For the composition of Richard's council, see York Records, p. 41 and Reid, Ki?ig's Council in the North, pp. 44-46.

9 York Records and York Civic Records, I, passim; Reid, King's Council in the North, pp. 52-59; for Holy Trinity Priory, see York Civic Records, I, p. 26.

10 See text, p. 129; for the indenture, see HMC, VI, p. 223; Reid, King's Council in the North, p. 43.

11 See the remainder of this chapter; also CaL Close Rolls, 1468-76, p. 365 and York Records, p. 59 and p. 63.

When one George Willaby declared that he had discovered rich silver mines, both the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Northumberland received a commission to inquire into this interesting report, which turned out to be so promising that Richard and Percy and two merchants secured a grant to work four silver mines for fifteen years (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1467-77, p. 464, p. 505, and p. 513).

12 York Civic Records, I, p. 42.

13 Harleian MS. 433, f. <58b.

i* York Records, pp. 140-41. I have, in the text, edited the reported conversation—without altering the language-by choosing from conflicting testimony what seems to be the essential flow of the dialogue

r

1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 205 and pp. 213-14; York Records, pp. 106-

?£., H ; ? at ? her - Old and New Sarum," in R. Q Hoare, History of Modern Wiltshire, London, 1843, PP- 198-200.

2 Northumberland's letter of October 13 (York Civic Records I p 36) provides a neat explanation for the delegation which the city sent to Richard on October 14, 1480 (York Records, p. 108; York Civic Records, I p. 36). The Earls letter, however, omits the year, and it may possibly have been written in October of 1481, though this does not seem likely

For Edward's statement to the city of York, ibid., p. 42.

*lbid., pp. 40-41; Stonor Letters and Papers, H, pp. 122-24; Scofield, II p. 303, p. 305 and note 3; York Civic Records, I, p. 42.

4 Cat. Venetian Papers, I, p. 145.

5 Scofield (II, p. 316 and note 3) lists a number of indentures for this year, but there is no indication that, the King having failed to take the field, the men proceeded northward. For Richard's attempt this summer to win over Scots to his service, with the help of the Earl of Douglas, see Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, IV, p. 300. The men of York apparently saw no service this summer (York Civic Records, I, p. 46).

6 Northumberland's letters of September 7 to the city of York (ibid., p. 35) and to Robert Plumpton (Plumpton Correspondence, p. 40) omit the year, as does Richard's letter of September 8 to York. Since, however, the men of the city were making hasty preparations for "this viage against the Scots" on September 8, 1481, and on September 9, 1481, changed the date of their departure from Monday to Tuesday (York Civic Records, I, p. 47), it seems almost certain that Northumberland's and Richard's letters belong to 1481. In the early days of September, 1480, Richard and Northumberland had already led a carefully planned expedition northward (see text, p 162). r '

7 Richard's visit to Nottingham is not definitely established. While Edward was at Nottingham, however, he received the gift of a horse from Richard, and in a letter he wrote on October 19 spoke of the good report he had received from his brother of the city's loyal disposition (Scofield, II, p. 320 and note i; York Civic Records, I, p. 36). It seems more likely that Richard himself appeared than that he sent a messenger.

8 For the license for food, see Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 254.

For the pardon for Tynedale and strife in the Duchy of Lancaster see Scofield, II, p. 334.

For the commission of oyer and terminer, see Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 343; see also, Reid, King's Council in the North, p. 44.

fl York Records, pp. 127-28; York Civic Records, I, p. 59.

10 This year, the city fathers of Canterbury noted, upon seeing the King, that his health was not good (HMC, pth rep., I, p. 145).

11 York Records, pp. 128-30.

12 York Civic Records, I, pp. 58-59.

NOTES [pages 168-176]

13 The Croyland Chronicle (in a comment made, apparently, by the monk who edited the true author's material for the "Second Continuation"—see Appendix II, p. 512) deplores Richard's humanity in "leaving that most opulent city untouched" (p. 481). See also Edward's letter to the Pope (Cak Venetian Papers, I, pp. 145-46).

14 Vergil, pp. 170-71; Foedera, XII, p. 160; Hall, pp. 332-33 (which seems to draw on documents of state; compare Scofield, II, pp. 345-49).

15 HMC, III, p. 113.

^Croy. Chron., p. 497; Cely Papers, p. 113; Cak Venetian Papers, I, pp. 45-46. _

17 Richard's presence in London during the Christmas season of 1482 is shown in a payment he later made for New Year's gifts which he purchased from the goldsmith Shaa (Harleian MS. 433, f. 148).

18P *

19 For Edward's entertaining the citizens of London, see More, p. 3 and Fabyan, p. 667. The Croy. Chron* (pp. 483-84), Mancini (pp. 79-83), More (pp. 2-6), and Vergil (p. 172) all give vivid character sketches of Edward which exhibit striking similarities. A brief account of Edward's capacity to charm money from his subjects is given by an Italian visitor to England in 1475 (Cak Milanese Papers, I, pp. 193-94).

20 This profound motif or theme of Richard's life I have inferred not only from the relations between Richard and Edward and Richard's attitude toward Edward's court, as recounted in the five chapters of this section, "Lord of the North," but also from Richard's actions and the manifestations of his character after King Edward's death.

21 More, p. 84 et seq^ his account of Jane Shore is surely the most charming piece of prose that had yet been written in England. For protection for William Shore, see Col. Pat. Rolls, 1476-^85, p. 9. For Hastings' and Dorset's subsequent relations with Jane Shore, see below, note 6 of chapter V of "Protector and Defensor." Richard's attitude toward Jane: there was a streak of the Puritan in Richard, a strong preoccupation with personal morals, which becomes broadly manifest in his last years (see below). It seems a likely conjecture that he would be as impervious to her charm as she would be repelled by his earnestness and sobriety.