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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ILLUSTRATIONS.

PORTRAIT

RICHARD

III Frontispiece

PORTRAIT

PERKIN WARBECK

To face p. 282

ERRATA.

219,

note

i, 1.

for

(p. 171)

read

(p.

133).

241,

at end of

footnote

for

note

vi.

read note

vii.

315,

1. 2

from bottom

text, after

17th

June

add

1497.

LIFE

AND

REIGN

RICHARD

III.

CHAPTER I.

RICHARD'S CAREER AS DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

UNTIL THE DEATH OF EDWARD IV.

RICHARD III. was one of the first of those dark characters

in history whom it has been the effort of some _.

Disputed

modern writers to present under an aspect not character

, . , . . . , , . Richard III.

altogether so repulsive as that in which his name

and deeds have been handed down to us. The apparent

insufficiency of the testimony to most of his imputed crimes

was first pointed out by Walpole in his Historic Doubts;

and since that day there have not been wanting inquirers who

have inclined to a more favourable view of his character.

Nevertheless, the general opinion is unshaken. The scantiness

of contemporary evidences and the prejudices of original

authorities may be admitted as reasons for doubting isolated

facts,

but can hardly be expected to weaken the conviction—

derived from Shakspeare and tradition as much as from

anything else—that Richard was indeed cruel and unnatural

beyond the ordinary measure even of those violent and fero-

cious times. There is, besides, much in the undisputed facts

G. r

2 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. I.

of the case which, in the eye of common sense, favours greatly

this impression. A reign of violence is naturally short-lived;

and the reigns of Edward V. and Richard III. are the shortest

in English history. Taken together, their duration was less

than two years and a

half;

and it is in vain to deny that

Richard had long before lost the hearts of his subjects—

except upon the common supposition that they were never his

to lose.

Yet, historically considered, Richard III. is not a monster.

He is the natural outgrowth of monstrous and horrible times.

He is the fitting termination of the rule of the House of

York—the exemplification of an old, divinely attested saying,

that they who take the sword shall perish by it. It is true

Richard's father, the Duke of York, who first urged the claims

of that House, was anything but an extreme man. On the

contrary, he protested by every loyal means against misgovern-

ment, and exhausted every form of peaceable remonstrance,

before he finally advanced his title to the crown. But his

moderation—in which, unfortunately, he did not himself per-

severe to the end—was not imitated by his sons. It was,

indeed, very ill requited by his enemies when he fell into their

hands at Wakefield; and the lesson of vindictiveness set by

the friends of Margaret of Anjou was not forgotten when the

next turn of the wheel gave the victory to Edward IV. How

could it be expected that the conqueror should treat his

opponents with greater leniency than they had shown to his

father? Civil war had already blunted all sense of delicacy,

and violence now became a part almost of the established

order of things. The House of York abused their triumph,

became intolerant of rivals, and imbrued their hands in the

blood of princes. Hardened by degrees in acts of cruelty and

perfidy, they grew faithless even to each other. Clarence

rebelled against his brother Edward, and, though forgiven, was

finally put to death by Edward's order. The court was split

up into factions. The old nobility were jealous of the Queen

A.D.

1452. HIS BIRTH.

and of her relations. It was a world which, as Edward

foresaw before his death, was not likely to hold together very

long after him. Such a world, in fact, almost invites a bold

and unscrupulous man to take the rule and subdue it.

Richard III. was born at Fotheringhay, a castle belonging

to his father, the Duke of York, on Monday, Birth

October 2, 1452'. He was a military commander

HI.

before he was nineteen, usurped the throne when he was

thirty-one, and was killed at Bosworth at the age of thirty-

three. Precocious, therefore, he certainly was, and accus-

tomed from his early years to scenes of war and bloodshed.

How early he exhibited the fruits of their teaching in his own

conduct is a question rather difficult to answer. He left such

a reputation behind him that even his birth was said to have

proclaimed him a monster. He had been two years, we are

told, in his mother's womb, and was born—or rather, like

Macduff,

was by a surgical operation separated from his

mother's body—when he came into the world feet foremost,

with teeth in his jaws, and with hair down to the shoulders*.

Such are the combined reports of different writers; and for

effect they may as well be read together.

It is more material, perhaps, to observe that he was the

eleventh in a family of twelve, of whom the eleven

. -ii in 1 "

family.

were born in thirteen years, and the twelfth nearly

three years after his birth. A curious and painstaking collector

of that age, by name William Worcester, has left us an exact

record of the very day, hour, and place of the nativity of each

of these children; so that the ages of Richard and of all his

brothers and sisters are tolerably certain

. Certain enough,

at least, for the historian's purpose; for with all his accuracy,

it must be remarked that there are one or two slight numerical

Will. Wyrc. Annales, 477.

Rous, 215. More.

See W. Wyrc. Annales, 460-477.

4 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. I.

errors in Worcester's account, although very trivial. The

names and dates are, according to him, as follows:—

Anne, Duchess of Exeter, born at Fotheringhay on

August io, 1439, between five and six o'clock on a Tuesday

morning. But August 10, 1439,

was a

Monday, so perhaps

the nth was intended.

Henry, the eldest son, born at Hatfield on Feb-

ruary 10, 1441, at five o'clock on a Friday morning.

Edward, the second son (afterwards Edward IV.),

born at Rouen at two

A.M.

on Monday, April 28, 1442. But

April 28 that year was a Saturday.

Edmund, the third son, born at Rouen at seven

P.M.

on Monday, May 17, 1443. Perhaps an error for May 27,

for May 17 was a Friday.

Elizabeth, the second daughter, born at Rouen at

two

A.M.

on Tuesday morning, April 22, 1444. But April 22

was a Wednesday

6. Margaret, third daughter, born at Fotheringhay on

Tuesday, May 3, 1446.

William, fourth son, born at Fotheringhay July 7,

1447-

8. John, the fifth son, born at Neyet, near Westminster,

on November 7, 1448.

9. George, the sixth son, born in Ireland at noon on

Tuesday, October 21, 1449.

10.

Thomas, who died young, is omitted by Worcester.

11.

Richard III., born at Fotheringhay on Monday,

October 2, 1452.

12.

Ursula, born at on S. Margaret's day, July 20,

I45S

But the reader will probably take a greater interest in a

metrical, or at least a rhyming, account of the family, which

The error here appears to be in the month, which should have been

September.

See

the genealogy appended by Hearne to W. Wyrc, 525-6.

See

Wyrc.

Annales,

460-477.

A.D.

52. HIS FAMILY. 5

was written during the life of the Duke of York, while Richard

was still an infant:—

' Sir, aftir the tyme of longe bareynesse

God first sent Anne, which signyfieth grace,

In token that al her hertis hevynesse

He,

as for bareynesse, wold fro hem chace.

Harry, Edward, and Edmonde, each in his place

Succedid, and aftir tweyn doughtris came,

Elizabeth and Margarete, and aftirward William.

John aftir William nexte borne was,

Which bothe be passid to Godis grace.

Georgfe was next, and after Thomas

Borne was, which sone aftir did pace

By the path of dethe to the hevenly place.

Richard liveth yit; but the last of alle

Was Ursula, to Hym whom God list calle.'

The honest rhymester goes on to tell us that Anne was

married in her tender youth to the Duke of Exeter; that

Henry, the eldest son, was dead, and had left Edward, 'now

Earl of March,' to succeed him; who with his brother Ed-

mund, Earl of Rutland, might both be counted ' fortunabil to

right high mariage,' but that the other four were still in their

pupillage

Thus of this family of twelve five had been lost when

Richard was a child; and it would seem that Richard himself

was slender and sickly. A modern historian, who devoted

much thought, and many years of study to the history of

Richard III., found evidence somewhere, as he believed, that

Richard had serious illness as a child, but was not able to refer

to the source of his information

. Another writer suggests

that the expression ' Richard liveth yet' in the above verses

rather favours this supposition; which, perhaps, is plausible.

Vincent on Brooke,

622-3.

Sharon Turner's History of England during the Middle Ages, iii.

444,

note 43 (Ed. 1830).

6 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. I.

But we have distinct testimony to the fact that in after life he

was a small man of feeble bodily powers

—disadvantages

which did not prevent him from exhibiting, not only great

skill as a general, but great bravery on the field of battle.

There is nothing to tell about his early history till he was

His

father's seven years old. Even at his birth the court stood

career. j

rea(

}

f hj

father's claims to the crown, and

the civil war had broken out openly before he was quite three

years old. But in October 1459 a battle seemed imminent at

Ludlow when the Duke of York finding himself deserted by a

portion of his followers broke up his camp and fled to Ireland.

So abrupt was his flight that he was obliged to leave behind

him his duchess with her two youngest sons George and

Richard in Ludlow Castle; and they fell into the hands of

Henry VI., who handed them over to Anne duchess of

Buckingham, the Duke of York's sister

. Next year, however,

the state of matters was, for a brief time, completely reversed.

At the battle of Northampton (10 July 1460) the King fell into

the hands of the victorious Yorkists. The Duke of York

returned from Ireland, and at last openly challenged the

crown in Parliament. For years he had tried a more moderate

policy with never more than temporary success. He had

been met with repeated bad faith, and experience showed

clearly that it was impossible to bind by any pledges a weak-

minded King who was continually in the hands of others. So

he now put forth his claim to be the rightful king himself by

inheritance, the whole line of the house of Lancaster having

been mere intruders. The Lords were undoubtedly intimi-

dated. The case was altogether novel. They sought counsel

of the judges, but the judges declined to advise those who

were themselves the supreme council of the realm in a matter

of so high a nature. Left to themselves, the Lords declined

to dispossess at once a reigning dynasty and an anointed king,

Rous, 218.

Hearne's Fragment at end of Sprott's Chronicle, 284.

A.D.

6o. HIS FATHER.

but agreed that Henry should still be their sovereign for life

and the Duke of York his successor. Meanwhile the Duke

was to have full control of the government as Protector while

King Henry lived.

Thus the matter was decided in Parliament; but Margaret

of Anjou immediately intrigued with her friends to overthrow

the settlement by force of arms, and the Duke of York was

compelled in December to go down into Yorkshire where he

lost his life at the battle of Wakefield. The conquerors were

ferocious in their triumph. After a mock coronation with a

crown of twisted grass

, they cut off the Duke of York's head,

which Clifford, who also in cold blood killed his son the Duke

of Rutland, had the savage gratification of presenting to

Queen Margaret.

When the Duke of York's widow heard of this crushing

defeat, followed soon afterwards by the news that

Richard

Queen Margaret and her followers were coming up

and

his

to London, and had gained another victory over

George

sent

the Yorkists at St Albans, she sent her two sons,

George and Richard, across the sea to Utrecht for their

security; and there they remained a while under the pro-

tection of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy

. But the

cloud passed away sooner than could have been anticipated.

Young Edward, inheriting his father's pretensions, came

promptly up from the borders of Wales, where he won the

battle of Mortimer's Cross against the Lancastrian party; and

on his approach to London he was received with joy by the

citizens, who by no means liked what they had heard of the

ravages of Margaret's northern followers. The Council in

London named Edward King. The people in St John's

Field ratified their decision, and openly declared with a loud

'No,

No' that Henry should reign over them no longer. Be-

fore a month had passed away Edward had fully vindicated his

Wethamstede (Rolls ed.), i. 382. Hall

says,

of paper.

Hearne's Fragment, 284. Hall, 253.

8 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. I.

pretensions on the bloody field of Towton, in Yorkshire.

Henry and his queen were driven to take refuge in Scotland,

and did not improve their chances of recovering the hearts of

Englishmen by surrendering Berwick to the Scots.

The new king's brothers then returned from Utrecht. The

Richard elder, George, was made Duke of Clarence; the

Duke'of younger, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Although

Gloucester.

even t

e e

i<j

was om

twelve years old, high

offices were conferred on both. Clarence was appointed

Lieutenant of Ireland; Gloucester was made admiral of the

sea. Manors and lands in various counties were also bestowed

on each of them in abundance. The House of York was now

strongly seated upon the throne, and all three brothers lived

for a while, so far as it appears, in harmony. But before many

Dissen- years were over differences began to display

H°use

themselves. Edward's marriage with Elizabeth

York. Woodville was unpopular. The Earl of Warwick

seduced Clarence from his allegiance, but Richard remained

faithful to his brother Edward. Clarence escaped secretly over

sea, and married the Earl of Warwick's daughter at Calais;

then came into England with his father-in-law, and raised a

rebellion. The insurgents beheaded Earl Rivers and Sir John

Woodville, the father and brother of Edward's queen. Next

year Henry VI. was restored, and Clarence was declared by

Parliament next in the succession on the failure of the male

issue of King Henry. Edward, meanwhile, had to seek refuge

with his brother-in-law Charles, Duke of Burgundy. But with

the help of Charles he returned to England at the end of a

stormy winter, before Margaret of Anjou with the young Prince

Edward ventured to leave France to rejoin her husband. On

his coming Clarence again changed sides, and was reconciled

to his brother. Warwick was defeated and slain in the battle

of Barnet, and a few days later Margaret and her son, having

just landed on the south coast, received a final overthrow at

the battle of Tewkesbury.

A.D.

1461-70. ASSISTS IN EDWARD'S RESTORATION. 9

These events are so well known to readers of English

history that we need not enter into them more fully.

Rjch rd

It concerns us only to remark that Edward's con-

adheres

. . , . . his brother

fidence in his younger brother Richard remained King

unshaken, or rather was increased by the desertion

of Clarence

. Richard accompanied him into Norfolk on a

progress just before the breaking out of Robin of Redesdale's

rebellion

. I presume that he also went with him against the

rebels, though whether he shared his imprisonment that year,

when the king fell for a time into Warwick's hands, there is no

evidence to show. He, however, returned to London in his

company

; and immediately afterwards, on the 17th October,

Edward appointed him Constable of England for life, and

Chief Justiciar of South Wales. Next year, also, just before

his sudden expulsion from his kingdom, one of Edward's latest

acts was to make his brother Richard Warden of the West

Marches against Scotland

But the part taken by Richard in his brother's restoration

in 1471 was so important that a few characteristic

details must be given which have hitherto escaped with S'

attention. Richard had shared his brother's exile

fromexile;

and returned along with him; but Edward's fleet was dispersed

by a storm before he reached Ravenspur, and Richard with a

company of 300 men landed at a place four miles off, while

the ship of the Earl of Rivers touched land at fourteen miles'

distance. Next day, however, the companies joined; but the

According to Wavrin (Rolls ed. v. 458-9) Warwick had some time

before attempted to shake the allegiance both of Clarence and of Gloucester,

and got them down to Cambridge, where the marriage was first arranged

between his eldest daughter and Clarence; which coming to Edward's

knowledge he was angry at both of them and placed them for some time

under the custody of four knights. But Richard could have been little

more than a boy at this time, and it is clear that he was always faithful to

him afterwards.

Paston Letters, ii. 357.

16. 389.

Rymer, xi. 658.