The Unfortunate Court-Favourites OF ENGLAND Exemplified In some Remarks upon the Lives Actions and Fatal Fall of divers Great Men who have been Favourites to several English Kings and Queens Namely I. Peirce Gaveston Earl of Cornwall II. Hugh Spencer Earl of Winchester â—II Hugh Spencer the Son E. of Glorester â—V Roger Mortimer Earl of March V. Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham VI. Thomas Woolsey Cardinal of York VII Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex VIII Robert Devereux Earl of Essex IX George Villiers Duke of Buckingham X. Thomas Wentworth Earl of Stafford By R. B. LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey 〈◊〉 Cheapside 1695. The Kings and Queens of England to whom the following Unfortunate Great Men were Favourites I. PEirce Gaveston Earl of Cornwal Favourite to King Edward II. II III. Hugh Spencer the Father and Hugh Spencer the Son both Favourites to King Edward II. IV. Roger Mortimer Earl of March Favourite to Queen Isabel Widow to King Edward II. and Mother to King Edward III. V. Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King Richard III. VI. Thomas Woolsey Cardinal of York Favourite to King Henry VIII VII Thomas Cromwel Earl of Essex Favourite to King Henry VIII VIII Robert Devereux Earl of Essex Favourite to Queen Elizabeth IX George Villiers Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King Charles I. and King James I X. Thomas Wentworth Earl of Stafford Favourite to King Charles I. To the Reader NOthing is more obvious than that Ambition Envy and Emulation are the usual Attendants on the Courts of Princes and that the effects of them have been often very fatal to many Great Men who had the fortune to have a larger share in their Masters affections than others It is likewise as notorious That there are certain Crises of Government wherein Princes have been obliged to Sacrifice their darling Ministers either to their own safety or to the importunity of their People Lastly it is as evident That some Court-Favourites have justly merited the unhappy Fate they met with for their many Rapines Insolencies and Enormities as that others have been ruined meerly from the Caprichio or inconstant Temper of the Prince whom they served Of all these in my opinion the ensuing Favourites are pregnant Instances But I shall leave the Reader to particularise them according to his own Judgment and will only add That they are not all to be condemned as Criminal meerly because they all happened to be unfortunate R. B. Remarks on the Life Actions and Fatal Fall of Peirce Gavestone Earl of Cornwall and Favourite to King Edward the Second THAT Unhappy Prince Edward the 2d was certainly the most Unfortunate in his Favourites of any King of England either before or fince his Reign The first and Fatal Favourite he had was in his Youth before he came to the Crown whose name was Peirce Gaveston born in Gascoigne a Province of France and for the good Service performed by his Father in the Wars in that Kingdom his Son was taken into such Favour at Court that by K. Edward the First 's own appointment he was Educated and made a Companion to the young Prince And indeed his outward Accomplishments seemed to render him worthy of such great Honour being a Person of a sharp Wir an excellent Shape and of a valiant Temper of which he gave notable proof in a Battel against the Scots and for which they afterward bore him a mortal Hatred But all these worthy Qualities were utterly defac'd and clouded by his vicious Incliâ—ations so that as to his Christian and Moral Vertues which are only really commendable in Men Authors are very silent in mentioning them though all give large accounts of his Faults and Immoraâ—ities And King Edward was so sensible that his Son the Prince had been debauched by the corrupt Conversation of Gavestone that some time before his Death he was banished the Kingdom And upon his Death-bed commanding the Prince his Son to repair to him with all speed to Carlisle in Cumberland where he was with a great Army ready to invade Scotland He gave him many worthy Admonitions and much good Advice particularly That he should be merciful just and kind faithful in word and deed an incourager of those that were good and ready to relieve those that were in distress That he should be loving to his two Brothers Thomas and Edmund but especially to honour and respect his Mother Queen Margaret That upon pain of his Malediction and Curse he should not presume without common consent to recall Peirce Gavestone from Exile who for abusing his tender Years with wicked practices by common Decree of the Nobility was banished He also added a strange Injunction for a dying man namely That after his Death the Prince should not presume to take the Crown of England till he had honourably revenged the Injuries his Father had received from the Scots and finisht the present Expedition against them and that he should carry his Father's Bones about with him in a Coffin till he had marched through all Scotland and subdued all his Enemies assuring him that while they were with him he should be always victorious Lastly Whereas by the continual Attempts of Bruce King of Scotland he was prevented from performing his Vow of going in Person for the recovery of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Infidels that he should send his Heart thither accompanied with 140 Knights and their Retinue for whose support he had provided Thirty two thousand pounds of Silver That after his Heart was conveyed thither he hoped in God all things would prosper with them Adjuring the Prince upon pain of Eternal Damnation that he should not expend the Money upon any other use After these Admonitions and having taken an Oath of this vain Young Prince to perform his Will he gave up the Ghost After his Father's Death the Son soon made it appear how little regard he had to perform his dying Requests and to shew what his future Behaviour was like to be he in the first place revenged himself upon Walter Langton Bishop of Chester Lord Treasurer of England and Principal Executor of his Father's Last Will whom he imprisoned in Wallingford Castle seizing upon all his Estate no man daring to intercede on his behalf because of the extream hatred which the King shewed against him the Bishop's Crime being only in using a modest freedom in K. Edward's days in gravely reproving 〈…〉 for his 〈◊〉 meanours and not suffering him to have what 〈…〉 he required to waste prodigally upon his 〈…〉 Gavestone against whom he likewise made such great and just Complaints as occasioned the imprisonment of the Prince the banishment of his leud Favourite Soon after the young King married Isabel Daughter to Philip the Fair of France the March being concluded before his Father's death and was now performed with extraordinary Magnificence at Bullen At which Solemnity there were five Kings namely Philip the French King the
kindness and affection for me I will freely unbosom my Thoughts to you After I observed the dissimulation and falshood of King Richard and especially when I heard of the Barbarous Murther of the two Young Princes to which God is my witness I never condescended I so much abhorr'd his presence and company that I left the Court upon a pretended excuse he not in the least perceiving my discontent and so returned to Brecknock to you In my return whether by Inspiration or Melancholy I was possest with many Imaginations and Contrivances how to deprive this Unnatural and Bloody Butcher of his Royal Seat and Dignity First I fancied that if I had a mind to take the Crown now was the time the Tyrant being so generally abhorred and detested of all Men and believing that I had the nearest right to the Succession In this imagination I continued two days at Tewksbury and was ruminating whether I was best to take upon me the Crown as Conqueror but I presently thought that then certainly both the Nobility and Commons would use their utmost Efforts against me But at length I happened on something that I did not doubt would have brought forth fair Flowers yet proved at length nothing but Weeds For I was thinking that Edmund Duke of Somerset my Grandfather was with Henry VI. within two or three degrees of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and my Mother being Eldest Daughter to Duke Edmund I supposed my self to be next Heir to King Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster This Title was well pleasing to those whom I made of my Council but much more to my aspiring mind but while I was perplext whether it were best instantly to publish this my Right or wait some better opportunity observe what happened As I rid from Worcester to Bridgnorth I met the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond now Wife to the Lord Stanley and Daughter and Sole Heir to John Duke of Somerset my Grandfather's Elder Brother whom I had as utterly forgot as if I had never known her so that she and her Son Henry Earl of Richmond have a Right before me By this I perceived my mistake and resolved to relinquish all Ambitious Thoughts and to endeavour the Establishment of the Earl of Richmond Right Heir of the House of Lancaster and that he should Marry the Lady Elizabeth Eldest Daughter to King Edward so that the two Roses might be hereby united And now said the Duke I have told you my whole Heart The Bishop was very glad that they had both hit upon the same design and extolling his well laid contrivance replied Since by your Graces incomparable prudence this Noble Conjunction is intended it will be necessary to consider who are fittest to be acquainted with it By my troth quoth the Duke we will begin with the Countess of Richmond the Earl's Mother who will inform us whether he be under Confinement or at Liberty in Brittain And thus was the Foundation of a League laid by these two Great Men which fully Revenged the Death of the two Innocent Princes And it was prosecuted with all Expedition one Reynold Bray being imployed by the Bishop to his Lady the Countess of Richmond Doctor Lewis the Dutchesses Physician was sent to Queen Elizabeth and two other Persons were ordered privately to wait upon the Earl of Richmond then in France and acquaint him with the Design and procure his consent to the intended Marriage Who coming to the Earl and giving him information of the Plot He thereupon discovers it to the Duke of Brittain who though by Hutton King Rich. Ambassador he had by many great offers been solicited to detain the Earl in Prison yet he readily promised and really offered him his utmost assistance Several Knights and Gentlemen were also brought into the Confederacy in England Bishop Morton though against the Earl's consent retires in disguise into the Isle of Ely where having prepared his Friends to espouse the Earl's Interest he went from thence to Brittain to him and continued there till the Earl when King sent for him home and made him Archbishop of Canterbury But though all was managed with the utmost Privacy and under Oaths of Secresie yet King Richard had made a discovery thereof but pretending Ignorance he sends for the Duke of Buckingham to come to him Which the Duke endeavouring to avoid by pretended excuses He at last peremptorily commands him to appear upon his Allegiance upon which the Duke returned this resolute Answer ' That ne owed no Allegiance to such a perjured inhumane Butcher of his own Flesh and Blood And so from that time preparations of War are made on each side The Duke had Assembled a good number of Welshman and the Marquess of Dorset having got out of Sanctuary was labouring to raise Forces in Yorkshire The two Courtneys were doing the same in Devonshire and Cornwall and the Lords Guilford and Rame in Kent King Richard sets forward with his Forces The Duke of Buckingham Marches to incounter him intending at Glocester to have past the Severn and joined the two Courtneys but the great Rains had so swelled the River that overflowing its Banks there was no Fording over This Inundation was so great that Men were drowned in their Beds Houses overturned Children carried about the Fields Swiming in Cradles and Beasts were drowned on Hills which rage of Water continued Ten days and is to this time in the Countreys adjacent called The Great Water or the Duke of Buckingham's Water The Welshmen were so affrighted with this accident that judging it an ill Omen they all secretly deserted him so that the Duke being alone without either Page or Footman retired to the House of one Humfrey Banister near Shrewsbury who having been advanced by him and his Father he thought himself safe under his roof But Banister upon King Richard's Proclamation of a reward of 1000. Pound to him that should discover the Duke Treacherously and perfidiously discovered him to John Mitton High Sheriff of Shropshire who took him in a Thread-bare Black Cloak walking in an Orchard behind the House and carried him to Shrewsbury where King Richard quartered and there without Arraignment or Legal Proceeding he was in the Market place Beheaded in 1484. Whether Banister received the proclaimed reward from King Richard's hand is uncertain but it is certain he received a reward of a Villain from the hand of Divine Justice for himself was after hanged for Manshughter his Eldest Daughter was Ravished by one of his Plowmen or as some say struck with a loathsome Leprosie his Eldest Son in a desperate Lunacy Murdered himself and his Younger Son was drowned in a small puddle of Water This was the fatal end of the Great Duke of Buckingham who went too far for a good Man in being accessary to the depriving the Innocent Princes of their Birth-right and declaring them Bastards But it seems he went not far enough for so bad a Man as King Richard because he would not
de gentil Mortimer Good Son Good Son take pity upon the gentle Mortimer For she suspected the King was there though she did not see him Then were the Keys sent for and all the Castle with the Amunition and Provisions were delivered up to the King so secretly that none without the Castle had any knowledge of it but only the King's Friends This was counted a very daring enterprize in regard that Mortimer had usually 180 Knights besides Esquires and Gentlemen as a constant Guard for the security of his Person The next Morning early Roger Mortimer and his Accomplices were carried with mighty shoutings and rejoycings of the Common People the poor Earl of Lancaster though blind making up the cry toward London and was committed to the Tower And soon after in open Parliament at Westminster was Condemned by his Peers without being brought to Tryal by a Law of Mortimer's own contriving whereby the Earls of Lancaster Winchester Glocester and Kent were formerly out to Death The following Articles of High Treason were laid to his charge 1. That he was consenting to the Murther of the King's Father 2. That he Treacherously occasioned much loss and dishonour to the King at Stanhope Park by procuring the escape of the Scots for which he had received a great Sum of Money 3. That he caused several Ancient Deeds and Charters to be burnt wherein the King of Scots was obliged to do homage to the King of England and had made a dishonourable Contract between the King's Sister and David Bruce King Robert's Son 4. That he had prodigally and lewdly wasted the King's Treasures as well as those of the two Spencers 5. That he had been an Evil Councellor to the King and had been too familiarly conversant with the Queen Mother All which Articles are sum'd up in the following ragged Rymes which might very well have been in Prose but for their Antiqutty and brevity I will here insert them Five heinous crimes against him soon were had 1. That he caused the King to yield the Scot To make a Peace Towns that were from him got And therewithal the Charter called Ragman 2. He by the Scots was brib'd for private gain 3. That by his means King Edward of Carnarvan In Berkley Castle Treacherously was slain 4. That with his Prince's Mother he had lain 5. And finally with polling at his pleasure Had rob'd the K. and Commons of their Treasure For these Treasons he was sentenced to be hanged and afterward ignominiously drawn in a Sledg to Tyburn the common place of Execution then called the Elms and there upon the common gallows was as ignominiously Executed hanging by the King's command two Days and two Nights a publick and pleasing spectacle to the wronged People There died with him Sir Simon Bedford and John Deverel Esq as well for the expiation of the late King Edward's detestable Murther as in complement as it were to so great a Man's fall who seldom or never perish without company they suffered in 1330. The King by the advice of Parliament deprived the Queen of her excessive Dowry allowing her only a Thousand Pound a Year and confining her to a Monastery during Life but giving her the honour of a visit once or twice a Year though otherwise judging her scarce worthy to live in regard of her Debaucheries with Mortimer and her many other heinous practices From the sudden ruin of this great Favourite Mortimer we may Remark what Inchantments Honour Riches and Power are to the minds of Men how suddenly how strangely do they blow them up with contempt of others and forgetfulness of themselves And surely the frailty and uncertainty of Worldly felicity is very visible in this Great Person who when he was drunk as it were with all humane happiness so that he seemed to fear neither God nor Man was suddenly overtaken by Divine Justice and brought to utter confusion when he least dreamt of it But it was very equitable that he who would not take example by the wretched Fate of his Favourite Predecessors should himself be made an Example by the like shameful and Ignominious Death Remarks on the Life of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King Richard the Third TWO Or three considerable Remarks do naturally result from the following History 1. That Tyrants being but single Persons could never perpetrate the many mischiefs which they are usually guilty of did they not meet with proper Instruments to imploy therein 2. That the pravity of Mankind is so deplorable that the temptations of Honour and Riches too often prevail upon Men and ingage them in the most vile and destructive designs 3. That those who are imployed by Tyrants must never boggle not strain at the greatest Villanies since if they be not as thoroughly wicked as their Master he will account them his implacable Enemies and they are subject to be justly ruined by his unjust and revengeful hand All these Maxims seem to be verified in the Life Actions and Fall of this Great Man Henry Stafford Duke of Buckinham He was Son to Humfry Stafford of Brecknock-shire in Wales who was created Duke of Buckingham and Lord High Constable of England by King Henry VI. Being descended from a Daughter of Thomas of Woodstock youngest Son to King Edward III. His Son succeeded him in his Titles and Honour and was a great Favourite to King Richard III. and very Instrumental in advising him to his Usurped Throne as by the following Relation appears When King Edward IV. died he left behind him two Sons Edward his Successor of thirteen and Richard Duke of York of eleven years of Age. The Young King and his Brother were by their Father's Will committed to the care of the Earl of Rivers the Queens Brother whom he made Protector of the King during his Minority The Court was at this time kept at Ludlow in Wales to retain the Welsh in obedience who began to be unruly and in the mean time the Earl of Rivers disposed of all Offices and Places of Preferment which very much dislatisfied the Duke of Glocester Brother to King Edward IV. and Uncle to the Present King who upon his Brother's Death possed from the North where he then was to London and finding the Queen and her Kindred had the whole Government of affairs about the King he was very much displeased as judging it a main obstacle to his Usurpation and and Advancement to the Throne which it seems he had long before designed for it was reported that the very night wherein King Edward IV. died one Misselbrook came early in the morning to one Potter living in Redcross street near Cripplegate and told him that the King was dead By my Troth man says Potter then will my Master the Duke of Glocester be King For surely if he had not been acquainted with his Master's Intentions he would not have thus spoke But the Duke knowing that a business of such consequence was not to be managed alone he
associated to himself the Duke of Buckingham Lord High Constable and the Lord Hastings Lord Chamberlain of England two of the most powerful men in the Kingdom prevailing upon the former by promising him the Earldom of Hereford and the other being hereby in hopes to be revenged upon his former Enemies So that they joined with him in opinion that it was not necessary the Queens Kindred should so wholly engross the King and Persons of better Birth and Nobility should be neglected and therefore they ought to use their utmost endeavours to remove them The young King was now coming toward London with a great Attendance of Lords and their Followers in order to his Coronation which the Duke of Glocester judging to be another rub in his way since he could not bring about his purposes without seeming to make an open War He thereupon sends flattering Letters to the Queen with zealous pretences of Loyalty and Service persuading her to dismiss the great Guards about the King since it might raise Jealousies in the Minds of the rest of the Nobility that her Kindred did not raise these Forces for the security of the King's Person but for some Sinister intent and might cause them to raise a strength proportionable to encounter them and so occasion a Civil War in the Kingdom wherein her Kinsmen would by all the World be judged the first Aggressors These plausible reasons had such influence upon the innocent Princess that she sends positive Order to the King and her Brother instantly to disband their Guards for reasons best known to her self without mentioning by whose advice which if she had they would never have done it but upon the receipt of these Letters they presently discharged the Souldiers and came on with a very mean Train and having passed through Northampton were proceeding to Stony-Stratford twelve Miles from thence where the Dukes of Glocester and Buckingham met them But they pretending that the Town was too little for them and their Retinue went back to Northampton where the Earl Rivers had taken up his Quarters for that night intending the next Mornining to follow the King Several Complements passed upon their Meeting and Supper being ended the two Dukes pretend to retire to rest and the Earl went to his Lodgings The two Dukes wasted a great part of the Night in consulting with their Friends how to execute their enterprize and having got the Keys of the Inn Gate they suffered none to go in or out of which Earl Rivers having notice though he suspected mischief yet in confidence of his own innocence he went boldly into the Dukes Chamber where he found the Duke of Buckingham and the rest closely contriving their business with whom he expostulated the unreasonableness of their making him a Prisoner against his Will but instead of a reply they instantly command him to be seized accusing him of divers crimes whereof they themselves were only culpable and then putting him in safe custody they ride away to the King to Stony Stratford coming just as he was taking Horse whom they salute with much seeming reverence but presently begin a quarrel with the Lord Richard Grey the King 's half Brother The Duke of Buckingham giving the King an account that this Lord the Marquess of Dorset his Brother and the Earl Rivers had contrived and almost effected the ingrossing the management of all the affairs of the Kingdom among themselves which might be of dangerous consequence by raising discontents among the Nobility and dissention among the People and that the Marquess had taken out of the Tower of London a great quantity of Money and Arms without Warrant which might justly be suspected is not intended for any good end and that it was therefore thought necessary by the Lords and Peers that he should be seized at Northampton so to be ready to answer what he should be charged with The King not being sensible of their design mildly answered What my Brother Marquess hath done I cannot say but for my Uncle Rivers and my Brother here I am well satisfied that they are ignorant of any unlawful Practices either against me or you Oh says the Duke of Buckingham that hath been their policy to conceal their treachery from your Graces knowledge And thereupon they instantly in the King's presence seized the Lord Grey Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard Hall and carried the King with all his company back to Northampton turning away all his Old Officers and Servants and putting those in their rooms who were under their direction at which harsh usage the young King wept and was much discontented but without remedy Yet to colour their intents the Duke of Glocester being at Dinner sent a Dish of Meat from his own Table to the Lord Rivers biding him he of good cheer for in a short time all would be well The Earl thanking the Duke desired the Messenger to carry the Dish to the Lord Richard Grey with the same message for his comfort as one to whom such troubles were unusual but for himself he had been inured to them all his life and therefore could the better bear them But notwithstanding this pretended kindness the Duke of Glocester sent the Earl Rivers the Lord Grey and Sir Tho. Vaughan into the North and afterward to Pomfret Castle where they were all in the end beheaded by his Order without Trial. The Duke having gotten his Prey in his Clutches marches with the King toward London declaring to all People in the way that the Queens Relations had conspired to destroy the King and all the antient Nobility of the Kingdom and to subvert the Government of the Nation and that they were taken and imprisoned in order to be brought to a Legal Trial. And to make it more probable they carried along with them divers Waggons loaden with Arms with several Chests which they themselves had provided pretending they were full of Money which the Conspirators had provided to pay the Forces they designed to raise But the finest Intreague of all was that five of the Dukes own Creatures were brought along in Chains who in every place where the K. lodged were given out to be Persons of Quality that had been drawn into this horrid Plot and Treason by the Queens Brother who being now very sensible of their guilt had confessed the whole of these wicked contrivances This Pageantry was acted all the way till the King came to London but then the actors were discovered and the cheat was openly detected About midnight of the next day the Queen had notice of these sorrowful accidents and now too late repented her folly in being so treacherously imposed upon by the bloody Duke of Glocester as to dismiss the Guards about her Son's Person by his instigation and doubting that worse would follow she with her youngest Son Richard and five Daughters takes Sanctuary at Westminster lodging in the Abbot's House there The Young King having intelligence of these things with Sighs and Tears exprest
much grief but the two Dukes made so many protestations of their fidelity and care of his safety that they seemed to wonder at his being any way concerned Soon after the Lord Hastings sent a Messenger to the Archbishop of York then Lord Chancellor of England to signifie to him that he need not be disturbed at what happened assuring him that in a little while all would be well again I am sure replied the Archbishop Let it be as well as it will it will never be so well as we have seen it And presently after the Archbishop attended by all his Servants armed in the midst of the Night came to the distressed Queen whom he found sitting alone upon an heap of Rushes much disconsolate and in Tears whom he endeavoured to comfort by telling her That he had good hopes the matter would not be so bad as she suspected the Lord Hastings having by a Messenger sent on purpose assured him that all would end well ' Ah wretch quoth the Queen that man is one of those who endeavour to ruin me and my Family Madam quoth the Bishop pray be pacified for I will ingage that if they dare presume to Crown any but your Son whom they now have with them the next day we will Crown his Brother who is here with you And Madam I here deliver you the Great Seal which was committed to me by that Noble Prince your Husband and which I resign to you only for the use and benefit of your Son After which he departed and in his way home observed the River of Thames full of Boats with the Duke of Glocester's Servants watching to prevent any from going into Sanctuary without being first searcht and examined These proceedings were very distastful to many of the Nobility and Citizens doubting that all this was intended against the King's Person and to prevent his Coronation Whereupon they went armed about the streets and met together to consult of the common safety But the Lords of the Council being assembled the Archbishop of York fearing that he should be charged with want of understanding for delivering the Great Seal to the Queen without the King or Councils leave he privately sent for it again which being returned he brought it as usually into Council The Lord Hastings whose fidelity to the King was real assured the Lords that the Duke of Glocester was faithful and loyal to his Prince and that the Lord Rivers and Lord Richard with the other Knights were secured for some secret practices against the Dukes of Glocester and Buckingham and that the King should receive no damage thereby and that they should continue Prisoners no longer than till the whole matter was throughly examined before the King and Council He therefore advised the Lords not to judge of it before they had heard it nor to turn their private grudges and quarrels into publick contentions and thereby disturb the King's Coronation which might be of worse consequence than they could at present imagine For the Dukes were now coming to London to that purpose and if the Lords should take up Arms to oppose them they would be counted Rebels Since having the King in their Hands they would pretend his Authority to declare them so to be By these Arguments some of which he knew to be true and others not but chiefly by the near approach of the two Dukes to the City these commotions were pacified At the King's approach the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs of London with five hundred Horse went as far as Hornsey to wait upon him and attended him from thence to London where he arrived May 4. 1483. And was Lodged in the Bishop's Palace A great Council was then held and the Dukes of Glocester and Buckingham with the rest of the Lords present swore Allegiance to the King and the Duke of Glocester carried himself so respectfully to him that all the former jealousies of his designing foul play vanished and he gained such reputation and credit with the Council that by their general consent and approbation he was chosen Protector of the King and Kingdom And thus was the Innocent Lamb delivered into the Custody of the Ravenous Wolf The Council severely check'd the Archbishop of York for so inconsiderately delivering the Great Seal to the Queen which was now taken from him and given to Dr. Russell Bishop of Lincoln one of the Honestest and Learnedst Men of that Time Several Knights and Gentlemen had Places bestowed upon them but the Lord Hastings kept his Office of Lord Chamberlain as formerly and so did divers others The Duke of Glocester knowing he could not finish his mischevious purposes without having the other Son Richard Duke of York in his hands for without them both he was as good have had neither Therefore as his actions had made the King Melancholly he now pretends that he ought to have his Brother's company to make him merry and at the next meeting of the Lords of the Council he represented to them That it was a very heinous 〈◊〉 in the Queen to keep the King's Brother in Sanctuary and not to let them come together and 〈◊〉 pleasure in each others conversation That it 〈◊〉 occasion the People to have ill thoughts of the 〈…〉 Councellors since the Queen durst not trust 〈…〉 Son in the hands or those who were 〈…〉 by the Peers of the 〈◊〉 to have the 〈◊〉 and Guardianship of the 〈◊〉 stoyal Person 〈…〉 and office consisted 〈…〉 in preserving him from Enemies or Poyson but in procuring for him such recreations and pleasures as were suitable to his Youth and Dignity and which he could not enjoy so properly in the company of Grave Councellors or Ancient Persons as in that of his own Dear Brother He therefore advised that the Archbishop of York might be sent to persuade the Queen to deliver her Son out of Sanctuary which would be so much to the advantage of the Young Duke the King 's most Noble Brother and after his Soveraign Lord himself his most Dear Nephew and might also prevent any sinister thoughts of the People concerning the Nobility and Council But if she continued obstinate and would not hearken to the Archbishop's Councel in this matter that then by the King's Authority he should be forcibly taken from her and brought to his Royal presence where he shall be so honourably received and treated that the World shall be convinced it was only the malice frowardness and folly of his Mother which occasioned his being kept in Prison so long already This subtil Speech had such effect upon the Council that they all concluded the motion to be just and reasonable And likewise comfortable and honourable both to the King and his Brother and would prevent Evil surmises provided the Queen could be induced quietly to deliver him The Archbishop undertook to use his utmost endeavours to incline her to it but added if she persisted in refusing it he thought it was not to be attempted against her
assured of their intent he appears to them in the Gallery to prevent any sinister practice against him The Duke of Buckingham with great reverence tells him That he hoped his Highness would pardon him in what he was going to declare in the behalf of the Lord Mayor and Nobility there present and after many circumstances proceeds to discover the cause of their coming That in regard of the urgent necessities of the Common-wealth they all humbly intreated him to take upon him the Government of the Kingdom in his own Right to whom they all tendered their Alleglance At which word the Protector started back as if extreamly surprized and passionately replied ' I little thought good Cousin that you of all Men would have moved me in a matter which of all things in the World I must decline Far be it from me to accept of that which without apparent wrong to the Children of my dear deceased Brother and my own upright Conscience I cannot well approve of And pretending to proceed in this dissembling Harangue the Duke seemed abruptly upon his Knees to stop him ' Since your Grace says he has been pleased to give free liberty to offer to you in the Name of this Great Assembly the free tender of their Obedience to you I must further add That it is unanimously concluded that your late Brother King Edward's Children as being generally known to be Illegitimate shall never be admitted to the Crown of England and therefore if your Grace shall neither regard your self nor us so far as to accept of the same we are fully determined to confer it upon some other of the House of Lancaster that will be more sensible of his own and our good â—hese words seemed to have such powerful effect upon the Protector 's mind that with a pretended change of countenance and feigned perturbation He replied ' Since I perceive the whole Kingdom are resolved by no means to admit my dear Nephews being but Children to Reign over them and since the Right of Succession justly belongs to me as the undoubted Heir of Richard Plantaginet Duke of York my Renowned Father We are contented to condescend to your Importunities and to accept the Regal Government of the Kingdom and will to the utmost of my power endeavour to procure and maintain the quiet and welfare thereof After this he came down from his Gallery and very formally Saluted them all which so pleased the giddy and inconstant Mobile that they presently shouted out Long live King Richard our Dread Soveraign Lord and so every Man departed Having thus Usurped the Soveraignty He was soon after Crowned Creating his Son Edward a Child of Ten years old Prince of Wales advancing several of the Nobility to higher Honours and Dignifying others And to shew his Clemency and good Nature several whom he suspected would have hindered his proceedings and had been therefore Imprisoned were now released but Morton Bishop of Ely who would never consent to the disinheriting King Edward's Children was committed to the custody of the Duke of Buckingham who secured him in his Castle of Brecknock in Wales And now King Richard with his Queen the Lady Ann Youngest Daughter of the Great Earl of Warwick and the Widow of Prince Edward Son to King Henry VI. whom he had newly Married made a progress to Glocester upon pretence of visiting the place of his former Honour But in truth to be absent while he had a special villany to be acted For though he had satisfied his Ambition by depriving his Nephews of their Livelyhood yet he could not remove his fears without taking away their Lives To perpetrate this villany he durst not use the assistance of his old Friend and Favourite the Duke of Buckingham as being sensible of his abhorrence thereof However it was too easie to find wicked Instruments for Money and upon inquiry he heard of two Brothers in his Court Sir Thomas and Sir James Tyrril the first of an honest sober temper but the other of a proud ambitious humour and ready to commit any wickedness for preferment Being told of this Man as he was at the Close-Stool he instantly rose and went to him whom he found more free to undertake the work than he was to imploy him so the bargain was soon made and nothing remained but an opportunity to effect it King Richard had before sent John Green one of his Privadoes to Sir Robert Brackenbury Lieutenant of the Tower to require him to do the deed he being raised by him but the Lieutenant declaring an absolute aversion thereto Good Lord says the King Whom can a Man trust So that finding he must be removed or else it was impossible to effect it he sends him an absolute Order by Sir James Tyrril immediately to deliver up the Keys of the Tower to him Tyrril being now Lieutenant for the time hires two Rascals like himself Giles Forest and James Leighton his Hostler a stout lusty fellow to join with him in the Murder of these Innocent Children who coming into their Chamber in the Night accompanied only with one Black Will or William Slaughter another bloody Villain they suddenly wrapt them up in the Bed-cloaths and keeping down the Pillow and Bed-cloaths with all their strength upon their Mouths they so stifled them that their breath failing they surrendred up their Innocent Souls to Heaven The Murtherers perceiving First by their strugling with the pangs of Death and then by their long lying still that they were thoroughly Dead they laid their Bodies out upon the Bed and then called Sir James to see them who presently caused their Bodies to be buried under the Stairs under a heap of Stones from whence they were afterward removed to a place of Christian Burial by a Priest of Sir Robert Brackenbury who dying soon after it was never known where they were laid which gave occasion to the Imposture in K. Henry VII Reign of Perkin Warbeck who pretended to be Richard Duke of York the Younger Brother that by the compassion of the Murtherers was saved and sent to seek his Fortune Others write that King Richard caused their Bodies to be taken up and being closed in Lead to be put into a Coffin full of holes hooked at the ends with Iron and so thrown into a place called the Black Deep at the Thames mouth to secure them from being ever seen or rising again But Divine Vengeance soon reached the Murtherers Miles Forrest rotting away alive peice meal at St. Martins Le Grand Leighton dyed at Callice detested of all Men and in great misery Sir James Tyrril was afterward Beheaded for Treason at Tower-Hill and King Richard himself after this execrable Fact never was quiet in mind being tormented with fearful Dreams starting out of his Bed and running about the Chamber with great horror as if all the Fiends in Hell had been about him to torture his vexed Soul And here we may observe That Confederacies in Evil seldom continue long but usually
so weighty a business he made a visit to Mr. Cromwell and giving him an account of the affair he was very importunate with him to accompany him Cromwell knew very well the many Intreagues of the Roman Court and the unreasonable expences they must be at among those Spiritual Cormorants however having some knowledge of the Italian Tongue and being not yet well setled in Religion he was at length prevailed with to adventure with him When they arrived at Rome Cromwell finding it very difficult to get his Pardons dispatcht and being unwilling to spend much time or money he at length perceived that nothing was to be done without making a Present of some Rarity to the Pope and hearing that he was much delighted with delicate new found Dishes he prepared several fine Dishes of Jelly of divers colours according to the English fashion which were not as yet known at Rome Cromwell observing his time when the Pope was newly returned to his Pallace from Hunting he with his English Companions approached him with their Presents which they introduced with singing in English the three Mans Song as it is called The Pope wondring at the Song and understanding they were Englishmen and came not empty handed ordered them to be called in Cromwell making low obeysance presented his jolly junkets being such as he said none but Kings and Princes in England use to Eat desiring his Holiness to accept of them from him and his Companions who were poor Suitors at his Court and had presented them as Novelties proper only for his Table Pope Julius observing the strangeness of the Dishes bid a Cardinal taste them which he liked so well and the Pope after him that inquiring what their business was and then requiring them to give him an account how these Jellies were made he without delay Sealed both the Great and Lesser Pardons and fully dispatcht them All this while Cromwell had no great sense of Religion but was wild youthful and without regard to any thing that was serious as he often declared to Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury being very diligent with Jeffery Chambers in publishing the Pardons of Boston in all the Churches as he travelled and serving sometime under the Duke of Burbon at the Siege of Rome Thus he continued for some years till at length by learning the New Testament of Erasmus by Heart in his going to and from Rome he began to come to a better understanding About this time Cardinal Woolsey began to grow very great in England ruling all under or rather over the King so that Persons of the briskest Wits and noted Abilities addrest themselves to him for imployments Among whom Thomas Cromwell was by him prefer'd to be his Chancellor and at the same time Sir Thomas More and Stephen Gardiner were likewise taken into the Cardinals Family being all three almost of one Age one standing in Learning not much unequal in Wit and their advancements arising from the same foundation though afterward their Studies Dispositions and Fortune were greatly different The Cardinal designing to erect a famous Colledge in Oxford called then Frideswide now Christ Church obtained leave from the Pope to suppress several small Monasteries and Priories in divers parts of the Realm and to convert the Revenues thereof to his own use He committed the charge of this business to Cromwell who used such industry and expedition therein as was displeasing to some Great Persons both of the Nobility and Clergy But afterward the Cardinal who had risen suddenly began to fall as fast first from his Chancellorship which was bestowed on Sir Thomas More and then falling into a Praemunire his Family was dissolved Cromwel being thereby out of Office endeavoured to be retained in the Kings Service and Sir Christopher Hales Master of the Rolls though an earnest Papist yet had so great a kindness for him that he recommended him to the King as a Man most fit to be imployed by him but Cromwel had been so misrepresented by the Popish Clergy for his forwardness in defacing their Monasteries and Altars that the King abhorr'd the very name of him but the Lord Russel Earl of Bedford being present whose Life Cromwel had saved at Bononia in Italy where he was secretly imploy'd in the King's Affairs and was in great danger to be taken had he not been secured by Cromwel's Policy who not forgetting his Benefactor gave him an account of the whole matter and since His Majesty had now to do with the Pope his great Enemy he was of Opinion there was not a fitter Instrument for the King's purpose than he and told him wherein The King hereupon was willing to speak with him of which Cromwel having Private notice he got in readiness the Oath which the English Bishops took to the Pope at their Consecration and being called in after paying his Duty to the King answered to all Points demanded of him whereby he made it plainly appear that his Royal Authority was diminisht within his own Kingdom by the Pope and his Clergy who having sworn Allegiance to the King were afterward dispensed with for the same and sworn anew to the Pope so that he was but half King and they but half Subjects in his own Realm which was derogatory to his Crown and absolutely contrary to the Common Law of England and that his Majesty might therefore justly make himself rich with their forfeited Estates if he pleased to take the present occasion The King was very Attentive to his Discourse especially the last part of it and demanded whether he would justifie what he said He affirmed he would producing the Oath they had taken to the Pope which the King having read he took his Ring off his Finger and first admitting him into his Service by the Advice of his Council sent him therewith to the Convocation then sitting Cromwel coming boldly with the King's Signet into the Convocation House and placing himself among the Bishops Warham being Archbishop of Canterbury declared to them the Authority of the King and the Obedience due from Subjects especially from Bishops and Clergymen to the Laws of the Land which are necessarily provided for the Benefit and quiet of the Commonwealth which Laws notwithstanding they had all highly transgressed to the great Derogation of the King 's Royal Dignity and thereby brought themselves into a Praemunire not only in consenting to the Power Legantine of the late Cardinal Woolsey but also by Swearing to the Pope contrary to their Allegiance to their Soveraign Lord the King whereby they had forfeited all their Spiritual and Temporal Estates real or personal The Bishops were amazed at first to hear this bold Charge and began to deny it but Cromwell shewing them the very Copy of their Oath taken to the Pope at their Consecration made the matter so plain that they began to shrink and desired time to advise about it but however before they could get clear of this Praemunire the two Provinces of Canterbury and York