Edward the 5 King of EnglaÌ„d â—â—d France Lord of Ireland THE HISTORIE OF THE PITIFVLL Life and unfortunate Death of Edward the fifth and the then Duke of Yorke his brother With the troublesome and tyrannical government of usurping Richard the third and his miserable end Written by the Right Honorable Sir Thomas Moore sometimes Lord Chancellor of England LONDON Printed by Thomas Payne for the Company of Stationers and are to be sold by Mich Young at his shop in Bedford-street in Covent-Garden neere the new Exchange 1641. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR IOHN LENTHALL Knight Marshall of the Kings-bench SIR IT is not unknowne to the World the great eare earnest sedulitie laudable custome that hath alwaies been observed in all ages for the preservation of antiquities by meanes wherof the acts and occurrences of former times are so clearely demonstrated as if they were manifested to the world by a perfect and lively representation which affordeth in it selfe a double profit doth thereby allure all well-disposed persons to the imitation of those things which are honest and vertuous and to the evitation of such things as are evill and obnoxious letting them therby understand the happie issue and successe of the one and the miserable and wretched end and event of the other for histories are as so many Records and Registers of matters that hath beene already past which being a thing that our humane natures are much inclined unto gives a great pleasure and delight in the reading Especially to those that are well affected to the same The consideration hereof hath moved me to revive that which hath for a long time been raked up in the embers of oblivion For there comming by chance into my hand a booke long since printed the authour whereof was that famous and learned Knight Sir Thomas Moore sometimes Lord Chancellour of England wherein is set forth the short Raigne and unfortunate death of the two young Princes Edward the fith the theÌ„ Duke of York his brother with the troublesome and tyrannicall government of usurping Richard the third and his miserable end both which for the matter of the subject the worth of the Authour who lived in those times deserves to bee memorized to succeeding ages which having for many yeares escaped the presse and by that meanes likely to bee utterly lost I have thought it not amisse to put to my helping hand for the restoring of it to the world and because I know you to bee a gentleman that delights your selfe in matters of this nature I am bould to crave your patronage herein and that you would be pleased to shelter it under the wings of your protect on not doubting but by that meanes it will bee as welcome to the world and as wel entertained as it hath formerly beene which being the thing I wish together with your pardon for this my presumption I humbly rest Yours to Command W. S. THE PITTIFVLL LIFE OF KING EDVVARD the Fifth THE Eternall God calling to his Mercy the Noble Prince King Edward the Fourth of that Name Edward his eldest sonne Prince of Wales began his Reigne the ninth day of April in the yeere of our Lord 1483. and in the 23. yeere of Lewis the eleventh then French King Which young Prince reigned a small space and little season over this Realme either in pleasure or liberty For his Uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester within three months deprived him not onely of his Crowne and Regality but also unnaturally bereft him of his naturall life And for the declaration by what crafty engin he first attempted his ungracious purpose and by what false colourable and untrue allegations he set forth openly his pretensed enterprise and finally by what shamefull cruell and detestable act he performed the same Ye must first consider of whom he and his Brother descended their natures conditions and inclinations and then you shall easily perceive that there could not be a more cruell Tyrant appointed to atchieve a more abominable enterprise Their Father was Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke which began not by warre but by Law to challenge the crown of England putting his claime in the Parliament holden the thirtieth yeere of King Henry the sixth where either for right or for favour his cause was so set forth and advanced that the Blood of the said King Henry although he had a goodly Son was clearly abjected and the Crowne of the Realme by authority of Parliament entayled to the Duke of Yorke and his Heires after the decease of the said King Henry the Sixth But the Duke not intending so long to tarry but minding under the pretext of dissention growne and risen within the Realm and of Covenants made in the Parliament not kept but broken to prevent the time and to take upon him the Governance in King Henries life was by too much hardinesse slaine at the Battaile of Wakefield leaving behind him three sonnes Edward George and Richard All these three as they were great estates of Birth so were they great and stately of stomacke greedy of promotions and impatient partners of rule and authority This Edward revenged his Fathers death and deposed King Hâ—nry the Sixth and attained the Crowne and Scepter of the Realme George Duke of Clarence was a goodly and well â—eatured Prince in all things fortunâ—te if either his owne ambition had not for him against his Brother or the envy of his enemies had not set his Brothâ—r against him for were it by the Queene or the Nobles of her Bloud which highly maligned the Kings Kindred as women commonly not of malice but of Nature hate such as their husbands love or were it a proud appetite of the Duke himselfe intending to be King at the least wise heinous Treason was laid to his charge and finally were he in fault or were he faultlesse attainted was hee by Parliament and judged to death and thereupon hastily drowned in a But of Malmsey within the Towre of London Whose death King Edward although hee commanded it when he wist it was done pitteously hee bewailed and sorrowfully repented it Richard Duke of Gloucester the third Sonne of which I must most entreat was in wit and courage equâ—ll with the other but in beauty and lineaments of Nature farre underneath both for he was little of stature evill featured of limbes crooke-backed the left shoulder much higher then the right hard favoured of visage such as in estates is called a warlike visage and among common persons a crabbed face He was malicious wrathfull and envious and as it is reported his Mother the Dutches had much adoe in her travell that shee could not be delivered of him uncut and that hee came into the world the feet forward as men be borne outward and as the fame ran not untoothed whether that men of hatred reported above the truth or that Nature changed his course in his beginning which in his life committed many things unnaturally this I
her wealth she went begging of many that had begged themselves if shee had not hope them such was her chance Now was it devised by the Protectour and his Councell that the same day that the Lord Chamberlain was headed in the Tower of London and about the same houre should be beheaded at Pomfret the Earle Rivers and the Lord Richard the Queenes sonne sir Thomas Vaughan and sir Richard Haute which as you heard were taken at Northampton and Stony stratford by the consent of the Lord Hastings which execution was done by the order and in the presence of sir Richard Ratclif knight whose service the Protectour specially used in the Councell and in the execution of such lawlesse enterprises as a man that had beene long secret with him having experience of the world a notable wit short and rude in speech rough and boysterous of behaviour bold in mischiefe and as farre from pittie as from all feare of God This Knight brought these foure persons to the Scaffold at the day appointed and shewed to all the people that they were Traitours not suffering the Lords to speake and to declare their innocency lest their words might have inclined men to pitty them and to hate the Protectour and his part and so without judgement and processe of the Law caused them to bee beheaded without other earthly guilt but onely they were good men and true to the King too nie to the Queene insomuch that sir Thomas Vaughan going to his death said A mischeife take them that tooke the prophesie that G. should destroy King Edwards children for George Duke of Clarence Lord George which for that suspition is now dead but now remaineth Richard G. Duke of Gloucester which now I see is he that shall and will accomplish the Prophesie and destroy King Edwards children and all their allies and friends as it appeareth by us this day whom I appeale to the high tribunall of God for his wrongfull murther and our true innocency And then Ratclife said you have well appealed lay downe your head yea quoth sir Thomas I dye in right beware you dye not in wrong and so that good Knight was beheaded and the other three and buried naked in the Monasterie at Pomfret When the Lord Hastings and those other Lords and Knights were thus beheaded and rid out of the way then the Protectour caused it to bee proclamed that the Coronation for divers great and urgent causes should bee deferred till the second day of November for then thought he that while men mused what the matter meant and whiles the Lords of the Realme were about him out of their owne strengths and while no man knew what to thinke nor whom to trust or whether they should have time or space to digest the matter and make parts it were best hastily to pursue his purpose and put himselfe in possession of the Crowne before men could have time to devise any waies to resist But now was all the studie how this matter being of it selfe so haynous might be first broken to the people in such wise as it might bee well taken To this councell they tooke divers such as they thought meet to be trusted and likely to be induced to that part and able to stand them in stead either by power or by policie Among whom they made of Councell Edmond Shaw then Mayor of London which upon trust of his owne advancement where he was of a proud heart highly desirous tooke upon him to frame the Citty to their appetite Of Spirituall men they tooke such as had wit and were in authority amongst the people for opinion of their learning and had no scrupulus conscience Amongst these had they tooke Ralph Shaw clearke brother to the Mayor and Frier Pinkie provinciall of the Augustine Friers both Doctors in Divinity both great Preachers both of more learning then vertue of more fame then learning and yet of more learning then truth For they were before greatly esteemed among the people but after that never none of those two were regarded Shaw made a Sermon in praise of the Protectour before the Coronation and Pynkie made one after the Cornation both so full of tedious flattery that no good mans eares could abide them Pynkie in his Sermon so lost his vocye that hee was faine to leave off and come downe in the midst Doctor Shaw by his Sermon lost his honesty and soone after his life for very shame of the world into the which he durst never after much come abroad but the Frier feared no shame and so it harmed him the lesse Howbeit some doubt and many thinke that Pynkie was not of Councell before the Coronation but after the common manner fell to flattery after namely because his Sermon was not incontinent upon it but at S. Mary Spitle the Easter after But certaine it is that Doctor Shaw was of Councell in the beginning in so much that they determined that hee should first breake the matter in a Sermon at Paules Crosse in which hee should by the authority of his Preaching induce the people to encline to the Protectors ghostly purpose But now was all the labour and study in the device of some convenient pretext for which the people should be content to depose the Prince and accept the Protectour for their King In which deuers things they devised but the cheife thing and the weight of all that invention rested in this that they should alledge bastardy in King Edward himselfe or in his children or both so that he should seeme disabled to inherite the Crowne by the Duke of Yorke and the Prince by him To lay bastardy in King Edward sounded openly to the rebuk of the Protectours owne mother which was mother to them both For in that point could be no other colour but to pretend that his owne mother was an Adultresse but neverthelesse he would that point should bee lesse and more finely and closely handled not even fully plaine and directly but touched upon craftily as though men spared in that point to speake all the truth for feare of his displeasure But that other point concerning the bastardy they devised to surmise in King Edward his Children that hee desired should be openly declared and enforced to the uttermost The colour and pretext whereof cannot be well perceived except wee repeate some things long before done about King Edwards Marriages After King Edward the fourth had deposed King Henry the sixt and was in peaceable possession of the Realme hee determined with himselfe to marry as was requisite both for himselfe and for the Realme he sent the Earle of Warwick and divers other noble men in ambassage to the French King to entreate a marriage betweene the King and Bona sister to the French Queene then being in France In which thing the Earle of Warwick found the parties so toward and willing that hee speedily without any difficultie according to his instructions brought the matter to a good conclusion Now happeneth
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
other of my allies and each of you with other either of kinred or affinity which is the very spirituall affinity and kinred in Christ as all partakers of the Sacraments of Christs Church The weight of which consanguinity if we did beare as would to God wee did then should wee more be moved to spirituall charity then to fleshly consanguinity Our Lord forbid that you love the worse together for the selfe-same cause that you ought to love the better and yet that hapneth for no where finde wee so deadly debate as amongst them which by nature and law most ought to agree together Such a Serpent is ambition and desire of vaine glory and soveraignty while amongst estates when he is once entred he creepeth forth so farre till with division and variance hee turneth all to mischiefe First longing to be next to the best afterward equall with the best and at the last chiefe and above the best Of which immoderate appetite of worship and the debate and dissention that grew thereby what losse what sorrow what trouble hath within these few yeeres growne within this Realme I pray God as well to forget as wee well remember which thing if I could as well have foreseene as I have with my more paine then pleasure proved by God his blessed Lady that was his common oath I would never have won the courtesies oâ— mens knees with the losse of so many heads But sith things passed cannot be called againe much more ought we to beware by what occasion we have taken so great hurt before that wee presently fall not into that occasion againe Now be these griefs pâ—ssed and all is quiet thanked bee God and likely well to prosper in wealthfull peace under your Cousins my children if God send them life and you love and concord Of which two things the lesse losse were they by whom although God did his pleasure yet should this Realme alwayes finde Kâ—ngs and peradventure as good Kings as they But if you amongst your selves in a childes Raigne fall at debate many a good man shall innocently perish and hee and you also ere this Land finde peace and quiet againe wherefore in these last words that ever I look to speak to you I exhort and require you all for the love that you have borne to mee and for the love that I have borne to you and for the love that our Lord beareth to us all From this time forward all griefes forgotten each of you love other which I verily trust you will if you any thing regard God or your Kings affinity or kindred this Realme your owne Country or your owne safety and wealth And therewithall the King for faintnesse no longer enduring to sit up layed him downe on his right side his face toward them And there was none present that could forbeare weeping but the Lords comforted him with as good words as they could and answered for the time as they thought should stand with his pleasure And there in his presence as by their words appeared each forgave other and joyned their hands together when as it after appeared by their deedes their hearts were farre asunder And so within a few dayes this Noble Prince deceased at Westminster the ninth day of April in the yeere of our Lord 1483. after that he had raigned 22. yeeres one month and eight dayes and was with great Funerall pompe conveiged to Windsore leaving behinde him two sons Edward the Prince of whom this story entreateth a childe of 13. yeeres of age Richard Duke of Yorke two yeeres yonger then the Prince and five daughters Elizabeth which by Gods Grace was married to King Henry the seventh and Mother to King Henry the 8. Cicile not so fortunate as faire first wedded to the Vicount Wâ—llâ—â— after to one Kyne and lived not in great wealth Bridâ—â—â—â—rofessed â—rofessed her selfe a close Nunne at Sâ—on Anne was marrieâ— to Lord Thomas Howard Earle of Surrâ—y and Duke of Norfolk Katherine the youngest daughter was married to Lord William Courtney sonne to the Eâ—rle of Devonshire which long time â—â—ssed in either fortune sometime in wealth after in adversity till the benignity of her Nephew King Henry the eighth brought her into a sure estate according to her degree and Progeny This King Edward was such a Prince of Governance and behaviour in the time of peace for in the time of warre each must bee others enemy that there was never any King in this Realme attaining the Crowne by warre and battaile so heartily beloved with the more substance of his people nor hee himselfe so specially favoured in any part of his life as at the time of his death which favour and affection yet after his death by the cruelty mischiefe and trouble of the tempestuous world that followed highly towards him more encreased At such time as he dyed the displeasure of those that bare him a grudge for King Henry the sixth his sake whom he deposed was well asswaged and in effect quenched within the space of 22. yeeres which is a great part of a mans life and some were reconciled and growne into his favour of the which he was never strange when it was with true heart demanded Hee was goodly of Personage and Princely to behold of heart couragious politicke in counsell and in adversity nothing abashed in prosperity rather joyfull then proud in peace just and mercifull in war sharpe and fierce in the Field bold and hardy and yet neverthelesse no farther then reason and policie would adventure whose warres whosoever circumspectly and advisedly considereth hee shall no lesse commend his wisedome and policie where he avoided them then his manhood where hee vanquished them Hee was of visage full-faced and lovely of body mighty strong and clean made with over-liberall and wanton dyet he waxed something corpulent and burly but neverthelesse not uncomely Hee was in youth greatly given to fleshly wantonnesse from the which health of body in great prosperity and fortune without an especiall grace hardly refraineth This fault little grieved his people for neither could any one mans pleasure stretch or extend to the displeasure of very many nor a multitude bee grieved by a private mans fantasie or voluptuousnesse when it was done without violence And in his latter dayes he left all wild dalliance and fell to gravity so that hee brought his Realme into a wealthy and prosperous estate all feare of outward enemies were cleerely extinguisheâ— and no warre was in hand nor none toward but such as no man looked for The people were toward their Prince not in a constrained feare but in a true loving and wilfull obedience among themselves and the Commons were in good peace The Lords whom hee knew at variance hee on his death bed as hee thought brought to good concord love and amity And a little before his death he had left gathering of money of his subjects which is the onely thing that draweth the hearts of English men from their Kings and Princes
honest man and substantiall amongst you And in that point which in good faith I am sory to speake of saving that it is vaine to keepe in Counsell that thing that all men knowe the Kings greedy appetite was insatiable and every where over all the Realme intolerable For no woman was there any where young or old poor or rich whom he set his eye upon whom hee any thing liked either for person or beauty speech pace or countenance but without any feare of God or respect of his Honour murmure or grudging of the world hee would importunately pursue his appetite and have her to the great destruction of many a good woman and great dolour to their husbands and friends which being honest people of themselves so much regarded the cleannesse of their houses the chastity of their wives and children that they had rather lose all that they had besides then to have such a villany done to them And albeit that with this and other importable dealing the Realme was in every place annoyed yet specially you the Citizens of this Nobility as for that amongst you is most plenty of such things as minister matter to such injuries as for that you were neerest hand sith that neere here about was his most common abiding And yet be yee a people whom he had as singular a cause well and truly to intreat as any part of his Realme not onely for that the Prince by this Noble Citie as of his speciall Chamber and renouned Citie of this Realme receiveth much honourable fame amongst all other Nations but also for that you not without your great cost and sundry favours and dangers in all his warres bare ever your especiall favour to his part which your kinde mindes borne to the house of Yorke sith hee hath nothing worthily requirid you there is of the house now which by Gods grace shall make you full recompence which thing to shew you is the whole summe and effect of our arrand It shall not neede I hope to rehearse unto you againe that you have already heard of him that can better tell it and of whom I am sure ye will better beleeve it and reason it is that it should bee so I am not so proud to looke therefore that you should receive my words of so great authority as the Preachers of the word of God namely a man so cunning and so wise that no man knoweth better what hee should doe and say and thereto so good and vertuous that he would not say the thing which hee ought not to say in the pulpit namely into the which no honest man commeth to lie which honorable preacher ye well remember substantially declared to you at Paules Crosse on Sunday last past the right and title of the most excellent Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester now Protector of this his Realme which he hath unto the Crowne of the Kingdome of the same For that worshipfull man made it perfectly and groundedly open unto you The children of King Edward the fourth were never lawfully begotten for as much as the King leaving his very wife Dame Elizabeth Lucy was never lawfully married to the Queene their mother whose blood saving hee set his voluptuous pleasure before his honour was full unmeetly to bee matched with his the mingling of which two bloods together hath beene the effusion of a great part of the noble blood of this Realme whereby it may well be seene that marriage was not well made of which there is so much mischiefe growne For lacke of which lawfull copulation and also of other things which the said worshipfull Doctor rather signified then fully explained and which thing shall not be spoken for me as the thing that every man forbeareth to say that hee knoweth in avoiding the displeasure that my noble Lord Protector bearing as nature requireth a filiall reverence to the Dutches his Mother For these causes before remembred I say that for lacke of issue lawfully comming of the late noble Prince Richard Duke of Yorke to whose Royall blood the Crownes of England and of France are by the high authority of a parliament entailed the right and title of the same is by just course of inheritance according to the common law of this land devolved and come unto the most excellent Prince the Lord Protector as to the very lawfull begotten sonne of the fore-remembred noble Duke of Yorke Which thing well considered and the knightly prowesse with many vertues which in his noble person singularly doe abound The Nobles and Commons of this Realme and specially of the North parts not willing any bastard blood to have the rule of the land nor theabuses in the same before used and exercised any longer to continue have fully condescended and utterly determined to make humble petition unto the puisant Prince the Lord Protector that it may like his grace at our humble request to take upon him the guiding government of this Realme to the wealth and increase of the same according to his very right and just title which thing I know well hee will bee loth to take upon him as he whose wisedome well perceiveth the labour and study both of mind and body that shall come therewith to him whosoever shall occupy that rome I dare say he will if he take it for I warrant you that that roome is no childes office and that the great wise man well perceived when he said Vae regno cujus Rex puer est woe to that Realme whose King is a child wherefore so much the more cause have we to thanke God that this noble personage which is so righteously entituled thereto is of so solid age and thereto of so great wisedome joyned with so great experience which albeit he will bee loth as I have said to take upon him yet shall hee to our petition in that behalfe the more graciously inclin if ye the worshipfull Citizens of this Cittie being the cheife cittie of the Realme joyne with us the nobles in our said request which for your owne weale we doubt not but that ye will And yet neverthelesse wee pray yoâ— so to doe whereby ye shall doe great profit to all this his Realme Beside that in choosing them so good a King it shall bee to your selfe a speciall commoditie to whom his Majestie shall ever after beare so much the more tender favour in how much hee shall perceive you the more prone and benevolently minded towards his election wherein deare friends what minde ye have we require you plainely to shew us When the Duke had said and looked that the people whom he hoped that the Mayor had framed before should after this flattering proposition made have cried King Richard King Richard all was still and mute and not one word answered unto wherewith the Duke was marvellously abashed and taking the Major neere to him with other that were about him privie to the matter said unto them softly What meaneth this that the people be so still
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
at London The Archbishop of Yorke fearing that it would be ascribed as it was indeed to over-much lightnesse that he so suddenly had yeelded up the Great Seale to the Queene to whom the custody thereof nothing appertained without especiall commandement of the King secretly sent for the Seale againe and brought it with him after the accustomed manner to meete with the Lords At this meeting the Lord Hastings whose truth toward the King no man doubted noâ— needed to doubt perswaded the Lords to beleeve that the Duke of Gloucester was faithfull and sure towards his Prince and that the Lord Rivers the Lord Richard and other Knights apprehended were for matters attempted by them against the Dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham put under arrest for their surety and not for the Kings danger and that they were also in safeguard there to remaine till the matter were not by the Dukes onely but also by all the other Lords of the Kings Counsell indifferently examined and by their discretions ordered and either judged or appeased And one thing hee advised them to beware of that they judged not the matter too farre forth ere they knew the truth nor turning their private grudges into the common hurt irriting and provoking men unto anger and disturbing the Kings Coronation toward which the Dukes were comming for that then might peradventure bring the matter so farre out of joynt that it should never bee brought in frame againe which if it should hap as it were likely to come to a field though all parties were in all other things equall yet should the authority bee on that side where the King is himselfe with these perswasions of the Lord Hastings whereof part hee himselfe beleeved and of part hee knew well the contrary these commotions were somewhat appeased But especially because the Dukes of Buckingham and Gloucester were so neere and came on â—o shortly with the King in no other manner nor no other voyce or semblance then to his Coronation causing the â—ame to be blowne about that such persons as were apprehended had contrived the destruction of the Dukes of Gloucester and of Buckingham and other of the Noble Bloud of this Realme to the intent that they alone would rule and governe the King And for the colour thereof such of the Dukes servants as rod with the Carts of their stuffe which was taken among the which stuffe no marvell though some were harnesse which at the breaking up of such an houshold must be brought away or cast away they shewed to the people and as they went said Lo here be the Barrels of harnesse that these Traytors had privily conveyed in their carriages to destroy the Noble Lords withall This divers although it made the matter to wise men more unlikely well perceiving that the intenders of such a purpose would rather have had their harnesse on their backes then to have bound them up in barrels yet much part of the common people were therewith right well satisfied When the King approached neere the City Edmund Shaw Goldsmith then Maior of the City with the Aldermen and Sheriffes in Scarlet and five hundred commoners in murrey received his Grace reverendly at Harnesay Parke and so conveighed him to the City where hee entred the fourth day of May in the first and last yeere of his Reigne and was lodged in the Bishop of Londons Palace but the Duke of Gloucester bare him in open sight so reverently saying to all men as he rode Behold your Prince and Soveraigne Lord and made such semblance of lowlinesse to his Prince that from the great obloquy that hee was in so late before he was suddenly fallen in so great trust that at the Councell next assembled he was made the onely chiefe Ruler and thought most meet to be Protectour of the King and his Realme so that were it destiny or were it folly the Lambe was betaken to the Wolfe to keepe At which counsell the Archbishop of Yorke was sore blamed for delivering the Great Seale to the Queene and the Seale taken from him and delivered to Doctor Iohn Russell Bishop of Lincolne a wise man and a good and of much experience and divers Lords and Knights were appointed to divers roomes the Lord Chamberlaine and some other kept the roomes that they were in before but not many Now were it so that the Protectour which alwayes you must take for the Duke of Gloucester sore thirsted for the atchieving of his pretended enterprise and thought every day a yeere till it were performed yet durst he no farther attempt as long as hee had but halfe his prey in his hand well witting that if hee deposed the one brother all the Realme would fall toth'other if he remained either in Sanctuary or should haply bee shortly conveighed to his Fathers liberty Wherefore incontinent at the next meeting of the Lords in Councell hee propounded to them that it was an heinous thing of the Queene and proceeding of great malice toward the Kings Councellors that she should keepe the Kings Brother in Sanctuary from him whose speciall pleasure and comfort were to have his Brother with him and that to bee done by her to no other intent but to bring all the Lords in an obloquy and murmure of the people as though they were not to bee trusted with the Kings Brother which Lords were by the whole assent of the Nobles of the Realme appointed as the Kings neere friends to the tuition of his Royall Person the prosperity whereof quoth he standeth not alone in keeping from enemies and evill dyet but partly also in recreation and moderate pleasure which hee cannot take in his tender youth in the company of old and ancient persons but in the familiar conversation of those that be not farre under nor farre above his age and neverthelesse of estate convenient to accompany his Majesty wherefore with whom rather then with his owne Brother and if any man thinke this consideration light I thinke no man so thinketh that loveth the King let him consider that sometime without small things greater cannot stand and verily it redoundeth greatly to the dishonour of the Kings highnesse and of all us that bee about his Grace to have it come in any mans mouth not in this Realme onely but also in other Lands as evill words walke farre that the Kings Brother should bee faine to keepe Sanctuary For every man will judge that no man will so doe for nought and such opinions fastned in mens hearts be hard to bee wrested out and may grow to more griefe then any man here can divine Wherefore mee thinketh it were not the worst to send to the Queene some honorable and trusty personage such as tendreth the Kings weale and the honour of his Counce and is also in credit and favour with her for which considerations none seemeth more meetly to me theÌ„ the reverend Father my Lord Cardinall Archbishop of Canterbury who may in this matter doe most good of all men
very patron the only helpe refuge and comfort of the poore amased and desolate commons of this Realme For if you could either devise to set up againe the linage of Lancaster or advance the eldest daughter of King Edward to some high and puissant Prince not onely the new crowned King shall small time enjoy the glory of his dignity but also all civill warre should cease all domesticall discord should sleepe and peace profit and quietnesse should bee set forth and embraced When the Bishoâ— had thus ended his saying the Duke sighâ—d and spake not of a great while which sore abashed the Bishop and made him change colour which thing when the Duke perceived he said be not afraid my Lord all promises shall bee kept to morrow wee will commune more let us goe to supper so that night they communed no more not a little to the inquietation of the Bishop which now was even as desirous to know the Dukes minde and intent as the Duke longed the day before to know his opinion and meaning So the nex day the Duke sent for the Bishop and rehearsed to him in maner for he was both witty and eloquent all the communication had betweene them before and so paused a while and after a little season putting off his bonet hee said O Lord God creator of all things how much is this Realme of England and the people of the same bounden to thy goodnesse for where wee now bee in vexation and trouble with great stormes oppressed sayling and tossing in a desperate ship without good Master or Governour by thy helpe good Lord I trust ere long time past that wee shall provide for such a ruler as shall be both to thy pleasure and also to the security and safeguard of this noble Realme And then he put on his bonet saying to the Bishop my Lord of Ely whose true heart and sincere affection toward me at all times I have evidently perceived and knowne and now most of all our last privie communication and secret devising I must needs in heart think and with mouth confesse and say that you bee a sure friend a trusty counsellor a vigilant foreseer a lover of your countrey a anturall countryman for which kindnesse for my part I most lovingly render to you my harty thanks now with words hereafter trusting to recompence and remunerate you with deedes if life and power shall serve And sith at our last communication you have disclosed and opened the very secrets and privities of your stomacke touching the Duke of Gloucester now usurper of the Crowne and also have a little touched the advancement of the two noble families of Yorke and Lancaster I shall likewise not onely declare and manifest unto you all my open acts attempts and doings but also my privie intents and secret cogitations To the intent that as you have unbuckled your heart of your privie meanings and secret puposes to me so shal all my cloudy working close devices and secret imaginations bee as cleare as the sunne revealed opened and made lightsome to you And to begin I declare that when King Edward was deceased to whom I thought my self little or nothing beholden although wee two had married two sisters because he neither promoted nor preferred mee as I thought I was worthy and had deserved neither favored nor regarded me according to my degree and birth for surely I had by him little authority and lesse rule and in effect nothing at all which caused mee the lesse to favour his children because I found small humanitie or none in their parent I then began to study and with mature deliberation to ponder and consider how and in what manner this Realme should be ruled and governed And first I remembred an old proverbe worthy of memory that often ruineth the Realme where children rule and women governe This old Adage so sunke and setled in my head that I thought it a great errour and extreme mischiefe to the whole Realme either to suffer the young King to rule or the Queene his mother to bee a governour over him considering that her brethren and her first children although they were not extract of high and noble linage tooke more upon them and more exalted themselves by reason of the Queene then did the Kings brethren or any Duke in his Realme Which in conclusion turned to their confusion Then I being perswaded with my self in this point thought it necessarie both for the publique and profitable wealth of this Realme and also for mine owne commodity and emolument to take part with the Duke of Gloucester Whom I asure you I thought to be as cleane without dissimulation as tractable without injury as mercifull without crueltie as now I know him perfectly to bee a dissembler without verity a tyrant without pitty yea and worse then the tyrant Phalaris destitute of all truth clemencie And so by my meanes at the first councell holden at London when hee was most suspected of that thing that after happened as you my Lord know well enough hee was made Protectour and defender both of the King and of the Realme which authority once gotten and the two children partly by policie brought under his governance hee being moved with the gnawing and covetous serpent desired to raigne and never ceased privilie to exhort and require yea and somtimes with minatorie termes to perswade me other Lords aswell spirituall as temporall that hee might take upon him the Crowne till the Prince came to the age of foure and twenty yeares and were able to governe the Realme as a mature and sufficient King Which thing when hee saw me somewhat sticke at both for the strangenesse of the example because no such president had beene seene and also because wee remembred that men once ascended to the highest tipe of honour and authority will not gladly discend againe hee then brought in instruments authentike Doctors Proctors and notaries of the Law with depositions of divers witnesses testifying King Edwards children to be bastards which depositions then I thought to bee as true as now I know them to be fained and â—estified by persons with rewards untruely subordinate When the said depositions were before us read and diligently heard he stood up bareheaded saying Well my Lords even as I and you sage and discreete councellers would that my Nephewes should have no wrong So I pray you to doe mee nothing but right For these witnesses and sayings of famous Doctors being true I am onely the undoubted heire to Lord Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke adjudged to bee the very heire to the Crowne of this Realme by authority of Parliament which things so by learned men to us for a veritie declared caused me and other to take him for our lawfull and undoubted Prince and soveraigne Lord. For well we know that the Duke of Clarence Son by reason of the attainder of his Father was disabled to inherite and also the Duke himselfe was named to be a bastard as I