committed within twelve daies after the said declaration made and denounced XI Item That in every safe conduct to be granted by either of the said Princes this clause to bee added Provided alwaies that the obtainer of this safe conduct be no traytour or rebell XII Item If during this amity and truce any of the subjects of either Prince doe presume or attempt to aide helpe maintaine or serve any other Prince against any of the said contractors Then it shall be lawfull to the Prince and his subjects against whom he shewed himselfe enemy and adversarie to apprehend and attach the said subject going comming or tarrying any act article or clause in this league to the contrary comprehended notwithstanding XIII Item It is agreed apointed and accorded that in this traatie and amitie shall bee comprehended the friends obliged and confederates of both the Princes if they list to enter and accept the league and thereupon to declare their pleasures within sixe moneths next ensuing and specially for the King of Englands part were named for confederates The King of Castile and Lyon the King of Arragon the King of Portugall the Archduke of Austryche and Burgony and the Duke of Britaine On the part of the King of Scotts were named for confederates Charles the French King Iohn King of Denmarke and Norwey and the Duke of Geldres and Brittaine XIIII Item It is agreed and concluded betweene the parties aforesaid that the Lordship of Lorne in the Realme of Scotland nor the Island of Londay lying in the river of Severne in the Realme of England shall not be taken nor comprised within the league but to stand at large as they did before XV. Item That this concord peace and amity should be published proclaymed and divulged the first day of October next ensuing in the most noble and famous cities and townes of both the Realmes and Regions And conservatours were appointed for the sure observation of this league aud amitie on both parts whose names follow For the King of England Iohn Earle of Lincone Henry Earle of Northumberland Ralph Lord Nevell Ralph Lord Greystocke Richard Lord Fitz Hugh Iohn Lord Scrope Thomas Lord Scrope of Massam Sir Christopher Moresby William Clapton Esquier Humfrey Lord Daker Sir Richard Ratcliffe Sir Iohn Conyers Sir Edward Hastings Sir Robert Donstable Sir Hugh Hastings Sir William Evers Sir Iohn Huldeston William Musgrave Esquier Richard Salkeld Esquier For the King of Scotts David Earle of Crafford and Lord Linsey George Earle of Huntlâ—y Lord Gordâ—n and Badzâ—nath Iohn Lord Dornelâ—y Iohn Lord Kynedy Robert Lord Lile Patricke Lord Hales Lawrence Lord Oliphaunt William Lord Borthwike Sir Iohn Rosse of Halkehed Sir Gilbert Iohnson of Elphynstone Sir Iohn Lundy Sir Iames Ogilly of Arly Sir Robert Hamilton of Fingaltâ—n Sir William Balze of Lamington Sir Iohn Kinedy of Blarqhon Sir Iohn Wemes Sir William Rochewen Edward Crochton of Kirke Paty Iohn Dundas Iohn Rosse of Montgrenane these three last were Esquiers XVI Item It is further condesconded and agreed that these commissioners whose names ensue shall meete at Loughmabanstane the eighteenth day of November next ensuing aswell for redresse to bee had of certaine offences done on the Westmarches as also for declaring and publishing of the peace and amitie Commissioners of the English part The Lord Dacre The Lord Fitz Hugh Sir Richard Radcliffe Sir Christopher Moresby Sir Richard Salkeld or three of them Commissioners for the Scottish part The Lord Kenedy The Lord Mountgomory The Lord Lile Iohn Maxwell Stuarde of Annerdâ—le Robert Crechton of Sanquhane or three of them XVII Item The like Commissioners were assigned to meete at Raydon Borne for the East Marches the first day of December and also meete at Haldanstanke the fourth day of the said moneth for the midle Marches Commissioners for the King of England The Earle of Northumberland The Lord Greystorcke The Lord Scrope of Massam Sir William Gastoyn Sir Robert Constable Commissioners for the King of Scotts The Earle of Huntley The Earle of Angus The Earle of Ergile Chancellour of Scotland The Lord Wandale The Lord Seton The Lord Olyphaunt The Lord Stobhill XVIII Item It is agreed that the commessioners aforesaid shall depute and assigne certaine persons to view and declare the bounds and limits appertaining to the Towne of Berwicke according to the true meaning of the league XIX Item It is agreed and appointed that no person of England or Scotland shall during the said truce build eare or sow any lands or ground being within the bounds of the batable ground but to suffer the same to continue in the same condition that it now remaineth When this league and amitie was thus concluded finished and sealed with all due circumstances thereunto required although King Richard judged deemed himselfe somewhat the more strong and quiet by force of this new amitie and concluded confederacie yet to augement more the familiaritie begunne betweene the King of Scots and him and to have a double string for his bow hee entreated a new aliance and marriage to bee concluded betweene the Prince of Rothsay eldest son to the King of Scots and Lady Anne de la Poole daughter to Iohn Duke of Suffolke and Lady Anne sister to King Richard which sister he so much favored that he studying all the waies by the which hee might advance her off-spring and linage did not onely procure and seeke meanes how to make her daughter a Princesse and consequently a Queene but also after the death of his son he proclaimed Iohn Earle of Lincolne his Nephew her son heire apparent to the Crowne of England disinheriting King Edwards daughters whose brethren before you have heard he shamefully killed and murthered The King of Scots having neede of Friends but not so much neede as King Richard which was of necessitie compelled to seeke aiders and to entertaine fautours the one for favouring of flatterers and base borne persons and the other not only for tyranny and unnaturall homicide but also for the usurpation of the Crowne being of all the Realme detested and disdained gladly accepted and joyously consented to King Richards device and conjunction of amitie perfectly remembring that amongst all bonds and obligations of love and amitie that there is neither a surer nor a more perfect locke then the knot of conjunction in the Sacrament of Matrimonie which was in the very beginning of the first age of man ordained and instituted in the holy place of Paradice terrestiall by God himselfe by reason whereof the propagation and succession of the humane nature stablished upon the sure seate of lawfull Matrimonie betweene Princes may nourish peace concord and unity asswage breake the furious rage of truculent Mars and terrible battaile and encrease love favour and familiaritie Wherefore the said Princes sent their Embassadours and Councellors againe to the Towne of Nottingham where the said marriage was by writings and instruments covenanted condiscended and agreed and affiances made and taken by Procters and Deputies on
leave to Gods Judgement Hee was no evill Captaine in warre as to the which his disposition was more inclined then to peace Sundry Victories he had and some Overthrowes but never for default of his owne person either for lacke of hardinesse or politicke order Free hee was of his exspences and somewhat above his power liberall with large gifts he gat him unstedfast friendship for which cause he was faine to borrow pill and extort in other places which gat him stedfast hatred Hee was close and secret a deep dissembler lowly of countenance arrogant of heart outwardly familiar where he inwardly hated not letting to kisse whom he thought to kill spitefull and cruell not alway for ill will but oftner for ambition and to serve his purpose friend and foe were all indifferent where his advantage grew hee spared no mans death whose life withstood his purpose He slew in the Tower King Henry the Sixth saying Now is there no Heire male of King Edward the third but we of the House of Yorke which murder was done without King Edward his assent which would have appointed that butcherly office to some other rather then to his owne Brother Some Wise men also thinke that his drift lacked not in helping forth his owne Brother of Clarence to his death which thing in all appearance he resisted although hee inwardly minded it And the cause thereof was as men noting his doings and proceedings did marke because that he long in King Edwards time thought to obtaine the Crown in case that the King his Brother whose life he looked that ill dyet would soone shorten should happen to decease as he did indeed his children being young And then if the Duke of Clarence had lived his pretensed purpose had been farre hindered For if the Duke of Clarence had kept himselfe true to his Nephew the young King every one of these casts had bin a Trumpe in the Duke of Gloucesters way but when he was sure that his Brother of Clarence wat dead then hee knew that hee might worke without that danger But of these points there is no certainety and whosoever divineth or conjectureth may as well shoot too farre as too short but this conjecture afterward tooke place as few doe as you shall perceive hereafter But before I declare to you how this Richard Duke of Gloucâ—ster began his mischievous imagined and pretended enterprise as apparently shall be opened I must a little put you in remembrance of a loving and charitable act no lesse profitable then pleasing to the whole Commonalty if it had bin so inwardly thought as it was outwardly dissembled which King Edward did lying on his death bed not long before he dyed For in his life although that the division amongst his friends somewhat grieved and vexed him yet in his health he lesse regarded and tooke heed to it by reason that he thought that he was able in all things to rule both parties were they never so obstinate But in his last sicknesse which continued longer then false and fantasticall tales have untruly and falsely surmised as I my selfe that wrote this Pamphlet truely knew when hee perceived his naturall strength was gone and hoped little of recovery by the arts of all his Physicians which he perceived onely to prolong his life Then he began to consider the youth of his Children howbeit hee nothing lesse mistrusted then that that hapned yet he wisely foreseeing and considering that many harmes might ensue by the debate of his Nobles while the youth of his children should lack discretion and good counsell of their friends for hee knew well that every part would worke for their owne commodity and rather by pleasant advice to win themselves favour then by profitable advertisement to doe the Children good wherefore lying on his death bed at Westminster hee called to him such Lords as then were about him whom hee knew to be at variance especially the Lord Marquesse Dorset son to the Queen and the Lord Hastings against whom the Queene especially grudged for the favour that the King bare him and also she thought him familiar with the King in wanton company her Kin bare him envy aswell for that the King made him Captaine of Calice which office the Lord Rivers Brother to the Queene claimed of the King by his former promise as of divers other gifts which hee received that they looked for And when these Lords with divers other of both parties were come unto the Kings presence he caused himselfe to be raised up with pillowes and as I can guesse said thus or much like in sentence to them My Lords my deare kinsmen and allies in what plight I now lye you see and I perfitly feele by the which I look the lesse while to live with you therefore the more deeply I am moved to care in what case I leave you for such as I leave you such are my children like to finde you which if they should finde at variance as God forbid they themselves might hap to fall at warre ere their discretion would serve to set you at peace You see their youth of which I reckon the onely surety to rest in your concord For it sufficeth not all you to love them if each of you hate other If they were men your faithfulnesse might hap to suffice but childhood must bee maintained by mens authority and slippery youth underpropped with elder counsell which they can never have except you give it nor you give it except you agree for where each laboureth to breake that the other maketh and for hatred each impugneth others counsell there must needes be a long tract ere any good conclusion can issue And further while each partie laboureth to be chiefe flatterer adulation shall then have more place then plaine and faithfull advice of which must needes ensue the evill bringing up of the Prince whose minde in tender youth infected shall readily fall to mischiefe and riot and draw downe this Noble Realme to ruine But if grace turne him to wisedome which God send him then they which by evill meanes pleased him best shall after fall farthest out of favour so that at the length evill drifts drive to naught and good plaine wayes prosper and flourish Great variance hath beene betweene you not alwayes for great causes Sometime a thing right well intended and misconstrued hath beene turned to the worse or a small displeasure done to you either by your owne affection or by instigation of evill tongues hath beene sorely aggravated But this I know wel you had never so great cause of hatred as you have of love because wee be all men and that we be all Christian men This I will leave to Preachers to tell you and yet I know not whether any Preachers words ought more to move you then I that am going by and by to the place that they alpreach of But this shall I desire of you to remember that the one part of you being of my bloud the
nor nothing he enterprised nor tooke in hand by the which he should be driven thereunto For his tribute out of France he had a little before recovered and obtained And the yeere before he dyed hee recovered againe the Towne of Barwicke against the King of Scots And albeit that all the time of his reigne he was so benigne courteous and familiar that no part of his vertues was esteemed more than those high humilities Yet that condition in the end of his last dayes decayed not in the which many Princes by a long continued Soveraignty decline to a proud port and behaviour from their conditions accustomed at their beginning Yet lowlinesse and gentlenesse so farre forth in him increased that the Summer before he dyed hee being at Havering at the Bower sent for the Maior of London thither onely to hunt and make pastime where hee made them not so hearty but so familiar and friendly cheere and sent also to their Wives such plenty of Venison that no one thing in many dayes before gat him either more hearts or more hearty favour amongst the common people which oftentimes more esteeme and take for great kindnesse a little courtesie then a great profit or benefit And so this Noble Prince deceased as you have heard in that time his life was most desired and when his people most desired to keepe him Which love of his people and their entire affection toward him had beene to his Noble Children having in themselves also as many gifts of Nature as many Princely vertues as much good towardnesse as their age could receive a marvellous fortresse and a sure armour if the division and dissention of their friends had not unarmed them and left them destitute and the execrable desire of Soveraignty provoked him to their destruction which if either kind or kindnesse had holden place must needes have beene their defence For Richard Gloucester by nature their Uncle by Office their Protectour to their Father greatly beholden and to them by oath and allegiance bounden all the bonds broken and violated which binde man and man together without any respect of God or the World unnaturally contrived to bereave them not onely of their dignity and pre-eminence but also of their naturall lives and worldly felicity And first to shew you that by conjecture he pretended this thing in his Brothers life yee shall understand for a truth that the same night that King Edward dyed one called Mistelbrooke long ere the day sprung came to the house of one Pottier dwelling in Redcrosse-street without Cripple Gate of London and when he was with hasty wrapping quickly let in the said Mistelbrooke shewed unto Pottier that King Edward was that night deceased by my truth quoth Pottier then will my Master the Duke of Gloucester be King and that I warrant thee What cause hee had so to thinke hard it is to say whether hee being his servant knew any such thing pretended or otherwise had any inkling thereof but of all likelihood hee spake it not of nought But now to returne to the true History were it that the Duke of Gloucester had of old sore practised this conclusion or was before-time moved thereunto and put in hope by the tender age of the young Princes his Nephews as opportunity and likelihood of speed putteth a man in courage of that that he never intended Certaine it is that he being in the North parts for the good governance of the Countrey being advertised of his Brothers death contrived the destruction of his Nephewes with the usurpation of the Royall Dignity and Crowne And forasmuch as he well wist and had holpe to maintaine a long continued grudge and heart-burning betweene the Queenes kindred and the Kings Bloud either part envying others authority he now thought as it was indeed a furtherly beginning to the pursuit of his intent and a sure ground and situation of his unnatural building if hee might under the pretence of revenging of old displeasures abuse the ignorance and anger of the one party to the destruction of the other and then to win to his purpose as many as he could and such as could not be won might be lost ere they looked for it But of one thing hee was certaine that if his intent were once perceived hee should have made peace betweene both parties with his owne bloud but all his intent he kept secret till hee knew his friends of the which Henry the Duke of Buckingham was the first that sent to him after his Brothers death a trusty servant of his called Persivall to the City of Yorke where the Duke of Gloucester kept the K. his brothers Funeralls This Persivall came to Iohn Ward a cret Chamberer to the Duke of Gloucester desiring that hee in close and covert manner might speake with the Duke his Master whereupon in the dead of the night the Duke sent for Persivall all other being avoided which shewed to the Duke of Gloucester that the Duke of Buckingham his Master in this new World would take such part as hee would and would farther waite upon him with a thousand good fellowes if need were The Duke sent backe the Messenger with great thankes and divers privie instructions by mouth which Persivall did so much by his travell that he came to the Duke of Buckingham his Master into the Marches of Wales and presently after with new instructions met with the Duke of Gloucester at Notingham which was come out of the North-country with many Knights and Gentlemen to the number of 600. Horse and more in his journey towards London And after secret meeting and communication had betweene him and the Duke of Gloucester hee returned with such speed that hee brought the Duke of Buckingham his Master to meete with the Duke of Gloucester not far from Northampton with three hundred Horses and so they two came together to Northampton where they first began their unhappy enterprise and so the Duke of Buckingham continued stil with the Duke of Gloucester till he was crowned King as yee shall plainely perceive hereafter The young King at the death of his Father kept houshold at Ludlow for his Father had sent him thither for Justice to be done in the Marches of Wales to the end that by the authority of his presence the wilde Welshmen and evill disposed persons should refraine from their accustom'd murthers and outrages The governance of this young Prince was committed to Lord Anthony Woodvile Earle Rivers and Lord Scales Brother to the Queene a wise hardy and honourable personage as valiant of hands as politick in Counsell and with him were associate others of the same party and in effect every one as hee was neere of kin unto the Queene so was he planted next about the Prince That drift by the Queene seemed to be devised whereby her bloud might of right in tender youth be so planted in the Princes favour that afterward it should hardly be eradicated out of the same The Duke of
King so set on that she could not pluck him backe so highly she disdained it that under pretence of her duty toward God shee devised to disturbe this marriage and rather to helpe that hee should marry one Dame Elizabeth Lucie whom the King not long before had gotten with childe wherefore the Kings Mother objected openly against this marriage as it were in discharge of her conscience that the King was sure to Dame Elizabeth Lucy and her husband before God by reason of which words such obstacle was made in that matter that either the Bishop durst not or the King would not proceed to the solemnization of the marriage till his fame were cleerely purged and the truth well and openly testified Whereupon Dame Elizabeth Lucy was sent for and albeit shee was by the Kings Mother and many other put in good coÌ„fort that she was ensured to the King yet when she was solemnly sworne to say the truth she confessed she was never ensured Howbeit shee said his Grace spake such loving words to her that shee verily hoped that he would have married her and if such kinde words had not been she would never have shewed such kindenesse to him to let him so kindly get her with child This examination solemnely taken it was cleerely proved that there was no impediment to let the King to marry wherefore he shortly after at Grafton beside Stony Stratford married the Lady Elizabeth Grey very privily which was his enemies wife and had prayed heartily for his losse in the which God loved her better then to grant her her boon for then had shee not been his wife And after that shee was crowned Queene and her father was created Earle Rivers and her sonne created Marquesse Dorset But when the Earle of Warwicke understood of this marriage he took it so highly that thereof ensued much blood-shed as is declared before in the Story of Edward the fourth I have rehearsed this marriage somewhat the more at length because it might thereby the better appeare upon how slippery a ground the Protector builded his colour by which he pretended King Edwards children to be Bastards but the invention as simple as it was liked them to whom it sufficeth to have somewhat to say while they were sure to bee compelled to no larger proofe then themselves list to make Now to returne where I left as I began to shew you it was by the Protector and his Councell concluded that this Doctor Shaw should in a Sermon at Pauls Crosse signifie to the people that neither King Edward himselfe nor the Duke of Clarence were lawfully begotten nor were the very children of the Duke of Yorke but begotten unlawfully by other persons by adultery of the Dutchesse their Mother And Dame Elizabeth Lucy was the very wife of King Edward and so Prince Edward and all the children begotten on the Queen were Bastards And according to this device Doctor Shaw the Sunday after at Paules Crosse in a great audience as alwayes a great number assembled to his preaching came into the Pulpit taking for his Theme Spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices altos Sapien. 4. that is to say Bastard slippes shall never take deepe rootes Whereupon when he had shewed the great grace that God giveth and secretly infundeth in right generation after the Lawes of Matrimony then declared hee that those children commonly lacked that grace and for the punishment of their parents were for the most part unhappy which were ilegitimate and especially in adultery of which though some by the ignorance of the world and truth hid from knowledge have inherited for a season other mens Lands yet God alwayes so provideth that it continueth not in their bloud long but the truth comming to light the rightfull inheritors be restored and the bastard slippes plucked up ere it can be rooted deepe And when hee had layed for the proofe and confirmation of this sentence examples taken out of the old and new Testament and other ancient Histories then began he to descend to the praise of the Lord Richard Duke of Yorke calling him father to the Protector and declared his Title to the Crowne by inheritance and also by entaiâ—e authorised by Parliament after the death of King Henry the sixth Then shewed he that the Lord Protector was only the right heire of his body lawfully begotten Then declared hee that King Edward was never lawfully married to the Queene but his wife before God was Dame Elizabeth Lucy and so his children were Bastards And besides that that neither King Edward himselfe nor the Duke of Clarence amongst them that were secret in the Duke of Yorkes houshold were never reckoned surely to be the children of the Noble Duke as those that by their favours more resembled other knowne men then him from whose vertuous conditions hee said also that King Edward was farre off But the Lord Protector quoth hee that very Noble Prince the speciall Patron of Knightly Prowesse as well in all Princely behavior as in the lineaments and favour of his visage representeth the very face of the Noble Duke his Father This is quoth he the Fathers owne figure this is his owne countenance the very print of his visage the sure undoubted image the plaine expresse likenesse of that Noble Duke Now was it before devised that in the speaking of these words the Protector should have come in amongst the people to the Sermon to the end that these words so meeting with his presence might have beene taken amongst the hearers as though the Holy Ghost had put them in the Preachers mouth and should have moved the people even there to have cryed King Richard that it might have been after said that he was specialy chosen by God and in manner by miracle but this device quailed either by the Protectors negligence or the Preachers over-hasty diligence For while the Protector found by the way tarrying lest he should have prevented these words the Doctor fearing that he should come ere his Sermon could come to those words hasting his matter thereto he was come to them and past them and entred into other matters ere the Protector came whom when hee beheld comming hee left the matter in hand and out of all order and out of all frame began to repeat those words againe This is the very Noble Prince the especiall Patrone of Knightly prowesse which aswell in all Princely behaviviour as in the lineaments and favour of his visage representeth the very face of the Noble Duke of York his father This is his Fathers owne figure this is his owne countenance the very print of his visage the sure undoubted image the plaine expresse likenesse of that Noble Duke whose remembrance can never dye while hee liveth While these words were speaking the Protector accompanied with the Duke of Buckingham went through the people up into the place where the Doctors stand where they heard out the Sermon but the people were so farre from crying King Richard that they stood
willing him in any wise to leave the Earle and without delay to repaire into England where for him were provided great honours and honourable promotions ascertaining him further that all offences in both parties were forgotten and forgiven and both he and she highly incorporate in the Kings heart Surely the inconstancie of this woman were much to bee marvelled at if all women had bin found constant but let men speake yet women of the very bond of Nature wil follow their owne kinde After that King Richard had thus with glorious promises and flattering words pleased and appeased the mutable mind of Queene Elizabeth which knew nothing lesse then that he most intended he caused all his brothers daughters to be conveighed into his Palace with solemne receiving as though with his new familiar and loving entertainment they should forget and in their mindes obliterate the old committed injury and late perpetrate tyranny Now nothing was contrarie and opposite to his pernicious purpose but that his Mansion was not void of his wife which thing he in any wise adjudged necessary to be done But there was one thing that so much feared and dragged him from committing this abominable murder because as you have heard before hee began to counterfeit the image of a good and well disposed person and therefore he was afraid lest the sudden and immature death of his wife once openly knowne hee should lose the good and credible opinion which the people had of him without desert conceived and reported But in conclusion evill counsell prevailed in a wit lately minded to mischiefe and turned from all goodnesse So that his ungratious desire overcame his honest feare And first to enter into the gates of his imagined enterprise hee abstayned both from the bed and company of his wife After hee complained to divers Noble men of the Realm of the unfortunate sterilitie and barrennesse oâ— his wife because she brought forth no fruit and generation of her body And in speciall hee accompted to Thomas Rotheram Arch-bishop of Yorke whom lately hee had delivered out of ward and captivity these impediments of his Queene and divers others thinking that hee would reveale and open to her all these things trusting the sequell hereof to take his effect that shee hearing this grudge of her husband and taking therefore an inward thought would not long live in this world Of this the Bishop gathered which well knew the complection and usage of the King that the Queenes dayes were short and that hee declared to certaine of his secret friends And thus he procured a common rumour but hee would not have the authour knowne to bee published and spread abroâ—d among the common people that the Qâ—eene was dead to the intent that shee taking some conceit of this strang fame should fall into some sudden sicknesse or grievous malady and to prove if afterwards shee shâ—â—ld fortune by that or any other waies to lose her life whether the people would impute her death to the thought or sicknes or therof would lay the blame to him When the Queene heard tell that so horrible a rumour of her death was sprung amongst the commonaltie shee sore suspected and judged the world to be almost at an end with her and in that sorrowfull agony shee with lamentable countenance and sorrowfull cheere repaired to the presence of the King her husband demanding of him what it should meane that he had judged her worthy to die The King answered her with faire words and with dissembling blandiments and flattering leasings comforted her bidding her to bee of good comfort for to his knowledge shee should have no other cause But howsoever it fortuned either by inward thought and pensivenesse of heart or by intoxication of poyson which is affirmed to bee most likely within a few dayes after the Queene departed out of this transitorie life was with due solemnitie buried in the church of S. Peter at Westminster This is the same Anne one of the daughters of the Earle of Warwicke which as you have heard before at the request of Lewes the French King was married to Prince Edward son to King Henry the Sixt. The King thus according to his long desire loosed out of the bonds of matrimony beganne to cast a foolish phantasie to Lady Elizabeth his neece making much suite to have her joyned with him in lawfull matrimony But because all men and the maiden her selfe most of all detested and abhorred this unlawfull and in a manner unnaturall copulation hee determined to prolong and dâ—fer the matter till he were in a more quietnesse For all that very season hee was oppressed with great weightie and urgent causes and businesses on every side considering that daily part of the nobilitie sailed into France to the Earle of Richmond other privily favoured and aided certaine of the conjuration so that of his short end few or none were in doubt And the common people for the most part were brought to such desperation that many of them had rather be reputed and taken of him in the number of his enemies then to abide the chance and hazard to have their goods taken as a spoyle of victorie by his enemies Amongst the noble men whom hee most mistrusted these were the principall Thomas Lord Stanley Sir William Stanley his brother Gilbert Talbot and six hundred other of whose purposes although King Richard were ignorant yet he gave neither confidence nor credence to any one of them and least of al to the Lord Stanley because hee was joyned in matrimony with the Lady Margaret mother to the Earle of Richmond as afterward apparently ye may perceive For when the said Lord Stanley would have departed into his Countrey to visite his familie and to recreate and refresh his spirits as he openly said but the truth was to the intent to be in a perfect readinesse to receive the Earle of Richmond at his first arrivall into England the King in no wise would suffer him to depart before he had left as an hostage in the Court George Stanley Lord Strange his first begotten son heire While King Richard was thus troubled and vexed with imaginations of the tumultuous time that was like to come Loe even suddenly hee heard newes that fire was sprung out of the smoake and the warre presently begun and that the Castle of Hammes was delivered into the hands of the Earle of Richmond by the meanes of the Earle of Oxford and that not onely hee but also Iames Blunt Captaine of the Castle were fled into France to aide the Earle Henry Wherefore he thinking it great policie to withstand the first brunt sent the most part of the garison of Calice to recover again by force the castle of Hammes They which were in the Castle perceiving their adversaries to approach prepared munitions and engins for their defence and sent also the Earle of Richmond to advertise him of their sodaine obsession requiring him of hasty ayde speedie succour The Earle slipping