Gairdner J. History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third: To which is Added the Story of Perkin Warbeck from Original Documents

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7O LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. II.

we should naturally expect between the widow and the mistress

of King Edward.

Such a state of matters, however, is by no means un-

intelligible. At the licentious court of the late king, although

the queen's influence was great with Edward

himself,

she was

scarcely regarded with more respect by the nobility than the

courtesans by whom she was dishonoured. To the last she

and her family were regarded as upstarts, and their interference

in public affairs was generally resented. Something, too, in the

manner of that interference appears to have been generally

objectionable, or at all events indiscreet. Even Henry VII.,

who afterwards became king and married her eldest daughter,

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

. The courtesan, on the other hand, maintained her

influence at least for some little time after Edward's death.

With her bright wit, great beauty, and very fascinating manners,

she was acceptable to all, and had some advantages for political

intrigue which were denied to persons of rank and title. She

was evidently an enemy whom Richard found it more difficult

to deal with than any of the nobles. Apparently he could

think of nothing better to destroy her influence than to inflict

upon her a public humiliation, and he caused her to be brought

before the Bishop of London's court and sentenced to do

penance, as a harlot, with a lighted taper in the streets.

But owing to the patience with which she underwent what was

imposed upon her, the effect was only to make her an object

of more general sympathy and commiseration.

Polydore Vergil, 571. Hall, 431. The fact is confirmed by her will,

which contains the following clause: ' Item, where I have no worldly goods

to do the Queen's Grace, my daughter, a pleasure with, neither to reward

any of my children according to my heart and mind, I beseech Almighty

God to bless her Grace, with all her noble issue, and with as good a heart

and mind as is to me possible I give her Grace my blessing and all the

foresaid my children.' The will is dated April 10, 1492. Royal Wills,

35°-

A.D.

1483. JANE SHORE. 71

Her influence, in fact, after this exhibition, seems at first

rather to have increased than diminished. It was not long

before she found a new protector, of even higher rank than

her last, in the queen's son, the Marquis of Dorset. But after

a while Dorset was driven beyond sea, and she certainly fell

into distress and poverty. Her husband, if he was not dead,

was now divorced from her

, and she became a prisoner in the

city prison of Ludgate. But even here she was aided in the

struggle with affliction by her own personal charms and graces,

which succeeded in captivating no less a person than the

king's solicitor; and notwithstanding her old disgrace and

punishment, he made her an offer of marriage. What is

more striking is the conduct of Richard himself in relation

to this curious affair. He was certainly not gratified by the

intelligence; but at least in this matter he did not show

himself a tyrant. He wrote to his chancellor, the Bishop

of Lincoln, about it, in the following words:

' By the King.

' Right reverend Father in God, &c. Signifying unto you that

it is showed unto us that our servant and solicitor, Thomas Lynom,

marvellously blinded and abused with the late [wife] of William

Shore now being in Ludgate by our commandment, hath made

contract of matrimony with her, as it is said, and intendeth, to our

great marvel, to proceed to the effect of the same. We for many

causes would be sorry that he so should be disposed. Pray you,

therefore, to send for him, and, in that ye goodly may, exhort and

stir him to the contrary; and if

find him utterly set for to marry

her and [he] none otherwise will be advertised, then, if it may

stand with the law of the Church, We be content, the time of

the marriage deferred to our coming next to London, that upon

sufficient surety found of her good bearing, ye do send for her

The plea on which she was put to open penance might perhaps not

have served for a divorce in those days, but many others might have been

found for the dissolution of an ostensible marriage, and the expression in

Richard's letter 'if it may stand with the law of the Church' perhaps

implies that her husband was still alive.

72 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. II.

keeper and discharge him of our said commandment, by warrant

of these, committing her to the rule and guiding of her father or

any other by your direction in the mean season. Given, &c.

the Right Reverend Father in God,

'The Bishop of Lincoln our Chancellor

But, although he could show himself lenient at times,

especially after he was king, to those who had reason to

fear his displeasure, his way to the throne was paved by

other acts of tyranny and violence besides the execution

of Hastings. More tells us, not once but re-

Riversand peatedly, that the Earl of Rivers, Lord Richard

rey

" Grey, and the gentlemen of the king's suite who

were arrested at Stony Stratford, were all executed at Pomfret,

without any trial or form of justice, on the very day that

Hastings met his death in London. This is certainly in-

accurate as to date, for Rivers made his will ten days after

Hastings was beheaded; and some little doubt may even be

entertained whether they had not at least the form of a trial.

Rous tells us, in connection with their execution, that the Earl

of Northumberland was their principal judge; but whether he

means that a commission was sent into the North to try them,

it is difficult to say. In any case the proceeding was clearly

unconstitutional: for Rivers, at least, ought to have been tried

in Parliament, or before the Lord High Steward and a jury of

his peers. The execution of these lords and gentlemen was

therefore a violation of all law.

When Rivers knew that his death was determined on, he

met his fate with courage and resignation. He completed his

will, and made an appeal to the protector's generosity that he

would see it executed. ' I beseech humbly my Lord of Glou-

cester,' he wrote at the close of the document, ' in the worship

of Christ's passion, and for the merit and weal of his soul, to

MS. Harl. 433, f. 340 b.

A.D.

1483. RIVERS AND GREY. 73

comfort, help, and assist as supervisor (for very trust) of

this testament, that mine executors may, with his pleasure,

fulfil this my last will.' It is certainly remarkable that a

man who suffered by the protector's order could appeal to

him in such a fashion. Richard was not even yet, it would

«eem, in the eyes of his very victims, a monster abhorred of

•God and man, from whom no good was to be expected.

The Earl of Rivers made this will at Sheriff Hutton, on the

23rd of June; but Lord Richard Grey had been confined at

Middleham

, and Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard

Hawte perhaps at other places. They were all conveyed

to Pomfret, and there publicly beheaded. The day of their

death appears to have been the 25th of June

, which was also

the last day of Edward V.'s nominal reign.

This,

as the Croyland writer remarks, was the second

shedding of innocent blood in the revolution that was now in

progress. Yet it may be doubted whether the fate of these

men, undeserved as it was, was felt so deeply as might have

been expected. Some, doubtless, pitied the grey hairs of Sir

Thomas Vaughan

, and the world in general certainly knew

well enough that the death both of him and of the others was

a high-handed act of tyranny; but their execution, in a remote

part of the kingdom, produced none of that alarm, and probably

very little of that compassion, which had been called forth by

the fate of Hastings. No sympathy was even yet felt with the

queen's relations; and the many accomplishments of the Earl

of Rivers—his chivalrous disposition, shown in Smithfield

tournaments; his piety, exercised in numerous pilgrimages;

his literary taste and poetic feeling, rare among the nobles

of the time,—do not seem to have excited any more than

usual feeling in connection with his loss. Of all Richard's

Nichols' Grants of Edward V. preface, p. xviii.

Id. xix. MS. Cott. Faustina, B. viii. f. 4 b.

He is called by the Croyland writer ' miles senilis setatis.'

74 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. II.

victims he was certainly the noblest and the most accom-

plished. In the opinion of Sir Thomas More, it was rare

to meet with anyone more prompt in action or more ready

in council. He is well known to have been the patron of

Caxton, our first English printer. But he was much more

than a patron—he contributed to literature

himself.

translated from the French three books, which Caxton

printed—all of a moral and philosophic character. One of

them was a translation into verse of the ' Proverbs' of

Christine of Pisa. He wrote also some original poetry, in

the shape of ballads, against the 'seven deadly sins,' and

he left behind him a curious record of his prison musings

in the following quaint, musical, and melancholy verses

' Somewhat musing,

And more mourning,

In remembring

Th' unsteadfastness:

This world being

Of such wheeling,

Me contrarying,

What may I guess?

I fear, doubtless,

Remediless

Is now to seize

My woeful chance ;

For unkindness,

Withoutenless,

And no redress,

Me doth avaunce

With displeasure

To my grievance,

And no surance

Of remedy;

Printed by Ritson

(Ancient

Songs,

ii.

3),

and also in

some

editions of

Percy's Reliques. We have Rous's authority for stating that this 'balet,' as

he calls it, was composed by Rivers during his imprisonment. But Rous

only quotes two stanzas.

A.D.

1483. EARL RIVERS. 75

Lo,

in this trance,

Now in substance,

Such is my dance.

Willing to die,

Methinks truly

Bounden am I,

And that greatly,

To be content,

Seeing plainly

Fortune doth wry

All contrary

From mine intent.

My life was lent

Me to one intent;

It is nigh spent;

Welcome Fortune!

But I ne went

Thus to be shent

But she it meant

Such is her won

The above was evidently composed in the fullest expectation

of his impending fate. It is remarkable that within two days of

his death he was ignorant of the time and place appointed for

it. For in his will, which, as already mentioned, was dated on

the 23rd of June, he makes two alternative provisions for his

burial, according as he should die north or south of Trent;

but in a codicil he adds, ' My will is now to be buried before

an image of our blessed Lady Mary, with my Lord Richard, in

Pomfret; and Jesu have mercy of my soul

Turn.

Weened, thought.

Custom.

The will of Rivers is printed in the Excerpta

Historica,

with some

valuable prefatory remarks, pp.

•240—8.

In the Appendix (Note III.) to the

present work will be found two original letters of the Earl of Rivers, never

before printed, which are not without interest as illustrating some of his

occupations.

CHAPTER

III.

TERMINATION OF THE PROTECTORSHIP.

THE

death

Hastings was scarcely calculated

remove

those suspicions which

had

caused Queen Elizabeth

seek

refuge

in the

sanctuary

Westminster.

But

there was now

no Woodville party

in the

council. The queen's friends were

either dead

imprisoned. Westminster was full

armed

men

and the

forces

for

which Richard

had

written

to his

friends

York would

be in

London before many days.

Yet

all

probability

the

protector carried

his

way

persuasion

quite

much

as by

force,

and he

received active support

from prelates like Cardinal Bourchier, whose position rendered

them less apprehensive

personal violence than mere

lay

lords like Hastings. He was supported with

cordiality that

seems altogether wonderful, when, at the meeting of the council

on the following Monday, it was proposed that the young Duke

of York should be sent for out

sanctuary to keep company

with the king, his brother,

the Tower.

was unanimously

resolved that the queen should

desired

deliver him

up,

and there

was

even some discussion, according

More,

whether,

in the

event

her refusal,

should

not be

taken

by force.

The

council apparently considered that there was

no fear for his safety

the Tower, but that there was

danger

Stonor's Second Letter, Excerpta Historica, p.

16.

A.D.

1483. THE DUKE OF YORK DELIVERED. JJ

of renewed intrigues and factions so long as he remained in

sanctuary. In the end it was agreed by all the lay lords, and

even by a good portion of the spiritual, that if force was neces-

sary it should be employed; but it was determined that gentle

means should be essayed in the first place. While the council

were assembled in the Star Chamber at Westminster, a deputa-

tion, headed by Cardinal Bourchier, was sent to the The Duke

queen, and she delivered the child into their hands', delivered to

The many expressions of reluctance with which Richard.

More describes her as parting with him are perhaps supplied

by the writer's imagination

. The well-informed contemporary

narrative of the Croyland chronicler says she complied cheer-

fully, as far as words went, with the demand of the deputation.

Yet the general impression derived from both accounts is very

much the same. There were persuasions urged which it was

needless to resist, for there was force in the background to

give effect to them.

So the Duke of York was taken from that asylum where his

mother and sisters still remained. The Cardinal Archbishop,

the Lord Chancellor, and the other lords of the deputation

received him from his mother. They were met by the Duke

of Buckingham in the middle of Westminster Hall, and at the

door of the Star Chamber by the protector, who embraced his

nephew affectionately, and proceeded along with him to the

Tower, accompanied by the cardinal. Neither he nor the

young king his brother ever left the Tower again.

The subsequent usurpation of Richard III. and the death

More, 62. Polydore Vergil, 542.

Yet, in substance, it is not at all improbable that there really did

occur some such conversation as that reported between the queen and the

cardinal. It is remarkable that the queen urges as one reason against

giving up her boy, that he was only recovering from recent illness—a fact

which does not appear elsewhere. Moreover, in the end the queen makes

a show of giving him up with good will, which accords pretty well with the

words of the Croyland writer: ' Ilia, verbis gratanter annuens, dimisit

puerum.'

78 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. III.

of the two princes not unnaturally confused the memory of

these occurrences in men's minds, so that the true sequence

of events came to be misrepresented. More's narrative places

the delivery of the Duke of York before the execution of

Hastings, and treats it as part of the designs of Richard to

get both the princes into his power before removing that noble-

man, who would then be the only obstacle to his design of

usurping the crown. But it is fully established by other

evidence', that the death of Hastings took place on Friday,

the 13th of June, and the delivery of the duke on the Monday

following. It was therefore by no insidious arts to lull suspicion

that the protector effected his purpose. The queen gave up

her child because she felt resistance would be useless. She

knew quite well what had become of the last ally who had

joined her cause. Every lord not actually in prison was now

subservient to the Duke of Gloucester. It was better, perhaps,

to make a show of confidence where it was utterly hopeless to

offer any opposition.

Yet it was clearly a reign of terror. Opinions, probably,

reign of were at the time divided, some distrusting the

terror. protector, some appalled by the belief in a real

conspiracy against him which had only been crushed in time.

On the Saturday after the Duke of York's delivery, Simon

Stallworth wrote again to Sir William Stonor, under the

pressure, apparently, of great alarm; ' for with us,' he says

in the beginning of the letter, 'is much trouble, and every

man doubts the other.' He relates some important facts

about the crisis, but at the end breaks off hurriedly, saying

that he ' is so sick he can hardly hold a pen.' His principal

intelligence is about the fate of Hastings and the event just

mentioned, but he also mentions a fact which shows how

completely the queen was now deserted by her friends. Her

brother-in-law, Lord Lisle, had come over to the protector's

Cont.

Croyl.

566;

and Stallworth's Second Letter,

Excerpta

Historiea,

pp.

14, 16.

A.D.

1483- A REIGN OF TERROR. 79

party. Stallworth adds that 20,000 of Gloucester's and

Buckingham's followers were expected in London within a

week, to what intent he knew not, unless to keep the peace.

Jane Shore was in prison, and what was to be done to her he

could not tell. The followers of the late Lord Hastings had

entered the service of the Duke of Buckingham

The date of this letter is the 21st of June. Next day was

the day that had been not long before appointed for the

coronation, and no small preparation had been made for the

event. But since that dreadful tragedy on the 13th, the day

had again been changed to the 2nd of November

. The

general sense of insecurity must have amply justified the

postponement. Some, perhaps, had already begun to think

it might be a postponement for ever.

In fact, the king's deposition had by this time been quite

resolved on; and the Sunday which was to have witnessed

young Edward's coronation was marked by the first public

proclamation of the protector's title to the crown. Dr Ralph

Shaw, a preacher of high repute for learning and n

shaw's

sagacity, had been engaged to announce it to the

sermon>

people in a sermon at Paul's Cross. He was a brother of the

Lord Mayor of London, Sir Edmund Shaw, whose influence

in all probability had already been secured to promote Richard's

advancement to the throne. He took for his text the words,

Spuria vitulamina non agent radices altas' (' Bastard slips

shall not take deep root'), from the Book of Wisdom (iv. 3);

and after adducing instances from the Old Testament and

elsewhere, impugned the validity of Edward IV.'s marriage

with Elizabeth Woodville. He accordingly, as it is recorded,

showed openly that the children of King Edward IV. were

not legitimate nor rightful inheritors of the crown'; from

which alone it must have followed as a matter of course

that the right and lawful sovereign of England was Richard,

Excerpta Hislorica,

pp. 14, 16.

Grafton,

ii. 102.