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
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
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
or amend things that were past he determined by doing his dutie in all things to his commons to obliterate and put out of memorie that note of infamie with the which his fame was justly spotted and stayned and to cause the people to conceive so good an opinion of him that from thence forth no calamity nor trouble should bee adjudged to happen to the common wealth either by his negligence or by his misgovernment although it is difficile and strange shortly to turne and plucke out such qualities and usages as have of long time beene incorporated in a mans minde and rooted in his manners and conditions Therefore whether it was for the performance of his former intent of amendment or as common fame flew abroad that he tooke repentance of his mischievous acts and scelerate doings hee turned over the leafe and began an order of a new life and pretended to have the name of a good and vertuous man by the reason that hee shewed himselfe more just more meeker more familiar more liberall especially amongst the poore people then before hee had accustomed to doe and so by this meanes he firmely trusted first to obtaine of God forgivenesse of his offences and crimes and after to live and take away the enemy and inward grudge that the common people bare in their mindes towards him and in conclusion to obtaine their friendly love and assured favour Hee furthermore began and enterprised divers things as well publike as private the which hee being prevented by sodayne death did neither accomplish nor begin to conclusion for hee â—egan to found a Colledge of a hundred Priests which foundation with the founder shortly tooke an end To please the common people also hee in his high Court of Parliament enacted divers and sundry good lawes and profitable statutes and especially one against strangers and foren wrought wares not to bee transported into this Realme which commodious act for the common wealth if hee had lived hee had fully purposed to have advanced and set forward and put in execution But afterwards evidently it appeared to all persons that onely feare which is not a master long in office and in continuall authoritie and not justice caused King Richard at that very time to waxe better and amend his wicked and sinfull life for shortly after the goodnesse of the man which was but painted and fraudulent suddenly waxed cold and vanished away And from thenceforth not onely all his Councellors doings and proceeding suddenly decayed and resorted to none effect But also fortune began to frowne and turned her wheele downewards from him in so much that he lost his onely begotten sonne Edward in the third moneth after hee had created him Prince of Wales The second yeere of his Raigne ANd shortly after in his second yeere of his raigne hee was unquieted by conspiracie or rather a confederacy betweene the Duke of Buckingham and many other Gentlemen against him as yee shall heare But the occasion why the Duke and the King fell out is of diverse folke diversly pretended This Duke as you have heard before assoone as the Duke of Gloucester after the death of King Edward was come to Yorke and there had solemne funerall service done for King Edward sent to him a secret servant of his called Persall with such messages as you have heard before And after the Duke of Buckingham came with three hundred horse to Northampton and still continued with him as partner and chiefe organ of his devices till after his Coronation they departed seeming all to bee very good friends at Gloucester From whence assoone as the Duke came home hee so highly conspired against him that a man would marvell whereof the change grew in so short a space Some say this occasion was that a little before the Coronation the Duke required the King amongst other things to bee restored to the Earle of Herfords lands and forasmuch as the title which hee claymed by inheritance was somewhat interlaced with the title of Lancaster which house made a title to the Crowne and enjoyed the same three descents as all men knew till the house of Yorke deprived the third King which was Henry the sixt King Richard somewhat mistrusted and conceived such an indignation that he rejected the Dukes request with many spitefull and minatorie words which so wounded the Dukes heart with hatred and mistrust that hee could never after indure to looke right on King Richard but ever feared his owne life so farre forth that when the Protectour should ride to his Coronation hee feigned himselfe sicke because he would doe him no honour And the other taking it in evill part sent him word to rise and ride or hee would make him to be carried Whereupon gorgeously apparelled and sumptuously trapped with burning cart navos of gold embrodered he roade befoâ—e the King through London with an evill will and worse heart And that notwithstanding hee rose the day of the Coronation from the feast feining himselfe ficke whicâ— King Richard said was done in hate and dispight of him And therefore men said that each of them ever after lived continually in such hatred and distrust of other that the Duke looked verily to have beene murthered at Gloucester from which hee in faire manner departed but surely such as were right secret with both affirmed all this to be untrue and otherwise men thinke it unlikely the deepe dissembling nature of both these men well considered And what neede in that greene world the Protector had of the Duke and in what perill the Duke stood if hee fell once in suspition of that tyrant that either the Protectour would give the Duke occasion of displeasure or the Duke the Protectour occasion of mistrust And surely men thinke that if King Richard had any such opinion conceived in him hee would never have suffered him to avoide his hands or escape his power but very true it is that the Duke of Buckingham was an high minded man and ill could beare the glory of another so that I have heard of some that saw it that he at such time as the Crowne was set upon the Protectors head his eye could never abide the sight thereof but wryed his head another way but men said he was not well at ease and that was both to King Richard well knowne and well taken nor any demand of the Dukes request uncurteously rejected but gently deferred but both hee with great gifts and high behestes in most loving and trusty manner departed from the King to Gloucester Thus every man judged as he thought but soone after his comming home to Brecknocke having there by King Richards commandment Doctor Morton Bishop of Ely who before as you have heard was taken at the Councell at the Tower waxed with him very familiar whose only wisedome abused his pride to his own deliverance and the Dukes destruction The Bishop was a man of great naturall wit very well learned and of honorable behaviour lacking no wise waies to
as they had beene turned into stones for wonder of this shamefull Sermon after which once ended the Preacher gat him home and never after durst looke out for shame but kept him out of sight as an owle and when hee asked any of his old friends what the people talked of him although that his owne conscience will shew him that they talked no good yet when the other answered him that there was in every mans mouth of him much shame spoken it so strooke him to the heart that in few dayes after hee withered away Then on the Tuesday after next following this Sermon being the seventeenth day of Iune there came to Guild Hall London the Duke of Buckingham and divers Lords and Knights more then happily knew the message that they brought And at the East end of the Hall where the Hoystings be kept the Duke and the Major and the other Lords sate downe and the Aldermen also all the commons of the Citty being assembled and standing before them After silence commanded upon a great paine in the Protectours name The Duke stood up and as hee was well learned and of nature marvelously well spoken he said to the people with a cleare and a loud voyce Friends for the the zeale and hearty favour that we bare you we bee come to breake off a matter right great and weightie and no lesse weightie then pleasing to God and profitable to the Realme nor to no part of the Realme more profitable then to you the Citizens of this noble Citie For why the thing that you have long lacked and as we well know sore longed for that you would have gone farre to fetch that thing we be come hither to bring you without your labour paine cost adventure or danger What thing is that Certainely the surety of your owne bodies the quiet of your wives and daughters and the safegard of your wives and daughters and the safegard of your goods Of all which things in times past you stood in doubt For who was hee of you all that could reckon himselfe Lord of his owne goods amongst so many gynnes and trappes as were set for them among so much pilling and polling among so many taxes and talliages of the which there was never end and often times no neede or if any were it grew rather of riot or of unreasonable wast then any necessary honorable chaâ—ge so that there was daily plucked and pilled from good and honest men great substance of goods to bee lashed out among unthrifts so farre forth that fifteenes sufficed not nor any usuall termes of knowne taxes but under an easie name of benevolence and good will the commissioners tooke so much of every man as no man would with his good will have given As though the name of benevolence had signified that every man should pay not what he of himselfe of his good will list to grant but what the King of his good will list to take who never asked little but every thing was haunsed above the measure amercements turned into fines fines into treason where I thinke that no man looketh that wee shall remember you of examples by name as though Burdet were forgotten which was for a word spoken in haste cruelly beheaded This Burdet was a Merchant dwelling in Cheapeside at the signe of the Crowne which now is the signe of the Flower-de-luce over against Soper-lane This man merily in the ruffling time of King Edward the fourths raigne said to his owne sonne that hee would make him inheritor of the Crowne meaning his owne house but these words King Edward made to be misconstrued and interpreted that Burdet meant the Crowne of the Realme wherfore within lesse space then foure houres he was apprehended judged drawne and quartered in Cheapeside by the misconstruing of the lawes of the Realme for the Princes pleasure with no lesse honour to Markam chiefe Justice then which lost his office rathen then hee would assent to that judgement What neede I to speake of sir Thomas Cooke Alderman and Mayor of this noble Cittie who is of you either for negligence that wotteth not or so forgetfull that hee remembreth not or so hard-hearted that he pittieth not that worshipfull mans losse what speake I of losse his wonderfull spoyle and undeserved destruction onely because it happened him to favour them whom the Prince favored not We need not rehearse of these any more by name sith I doubt not that here be many present that either in themselves or their nigh friends aswell their goods as their persons were greatly endangered either by fained quarrells or small matters aggravated with hainous names and also there was no crime so great of which there could lacke a pretext For sith the King preventing the time of his inheritance attained the Crowne by battell it sufficed in a rich man for a pretext of treason to have beene of kinred or aliance neere of familiaritie or longer of acquaintance with any of those that were at any time the Kings enemies which was at one time or another more then halfe the Realm Thus were neither your goods nor lands in surety and yet they brought your bodies in jeopardie besides the common adventure of open warre which albeit that it is ever the will and occasion of much mischiefe yet it is never so mischievous as where any people fall in division 〈◊〉 distance among theâ—selves and in no Realme earthly so deadly and so pesâ—ilent as when it happeneth amongst us And among us never contiued so long dissention nor so many battels in any season nor so cruell nor so deadly fought as were in the Kings daies that is dead In whose time and by whose occasion what about the getting of the Garland keeping it leesing and winning it againe it hath cost more English blood then hath the twice winning of France In which inward war amongst our selves hath beene so great effusion of the ancient noble blood of this Realme that scarcely the halfe remaineth to the great enfeebling of this noble land besides many a good towne ransaked and spoyled by them that have been going to the field or returning from thence and peace after not much surer then warre So that no time was there in the which rich men for their money and great men for their lands or some other for some feare or for some displeasure were out of perill For whom trusted hee that mistrusted his owne brother Whom spared hee that killed his owne Brother Could not such manner of folke that he most favoured doe somewhat wee shall for his honour spare to speake howbeit this you know well all that whoso was best bare ever the least rule and more suite in his dayes was to Shores wife a vile and abominable strumpet then to all the Lords in England except unto those that made her their Protector which simple woman was yet well named and honest till the King for his wanton lust and sinfull affection bereft her of her Husband a right
and the blood from the earth cryeth to Almighty God for vengeance If the common people cryed out I assure you the friends of the Queene and her children made no lesse exclamation and complaint with loud voyce lamentably crying and saying alas what will â—e doe to others that thus shamefully murdereth his owne bloud without cause or desert whom will hee save when hee slayeth the poore Lambes committed to him in trust now wee see and behold that the most cruell tyranny hath invaded the Common-wealth now wee see that in him is neither hope of Justice nor trust of Mercy but abundance of cruelty and thirst of innocent bloud But when this newes was first brought to the infortunate mother of the dead children yet being in Sanctuary no doubt but it strake to her heart like the sharpe dart of death for when shee was first informed of the murther of her two Sonnes shee was suddenly amazed with the greatnesse of the cruelty that for feare she sounded and fell downe to the ground and there lay in a great agony like to a dead corps And after that shee came to her memory and was revived againe shee wept and sobbed and with pittifull scrieches shee replenished the whole Mansion her brest shee strooke her faire haire shee tore and pulled in pieces and being overcome with sorrow and pensivenesse rather desired death then life calling by name divers times her sweet Babes accounting her selfe more then mad that she deluded by wile and fraudulent promises delivered her younger sonne out of the Sanctuary to his enemy to be put to death thinking that next the oath made to God broken and the duty of allegeance toward her children violated she of all creatures in that point was most seduced and deceived After long lamentation when shee saw no hope of revenging otherwise she kneeled downe and cryed on God to take vengeance for the deceitfull perjury as who said shee nothing mistrusted but once hee would remember it What is hee living that if hee remember and behold these two noble infants without deserving so shamefully murthered that will not abhorre the fact yea and be moved and tormented with pitty and mercy And yet the world is so fraile and our nature so blinde that few be stirred with such examples obliviously forgetting and little considering that oftentimes for the offences by the Parents perpetrate and committed that sinne is punished in their line and posterity This chance might so happeÌ„ to these innocent children because King Edward their Father and Parent offended in staining his conscience hee made his solemne oath before the Gate of the City of Yorke as you have heard before and promised and sware one thing by his word thinking cleane contrary in his heart as after did appeare And afterward by the death of the Duke of Clarence his brother hee incurred of likelihood the great displeasure toward God After this murther thus perpetrated and that hee had visited his Towne of Gloucester which hee for his old Dignity both loved and with ample liberties and priviledges endowed and decorated he tooke his journy toward the County of Yorke where the people abusing his lawfull favour as hee both favoured and trusted them in his heart had of late presumed to attempt divers routs and riots contray to his lawes and infringing of his peace and upon hope of his maintenance were so elated that no Lord were he never of so great power could either pacifie or rule them till the King himselfelfe came personally thither to set a concord and an unity in that Country and to bridle and rule the rude rusticall and blustering bold people of that region and so he by long journeying came to the Citie of Yorke where the Citizens received him with great pompe and triumph according to the qualities of their education and quantity of their substance and ability and made divers dayes playes and Pageants in token of joy and solace Wherefore King Richard magnified and applauded of the North Nation and also to shew himself apparantly before them in habit royall with Scepter in hand and Diadem on his head made Proclamation that all persons should resort to Yorke on the day of the Ascention of our Lord where all men should both behold and see him his Queene and Prince in their high estates and degrees and also for their good wills should have received many thankes large benefits magnificent rewards At the day appointed the whole clergie assembled in Copes richly vested and so with a reverent ceremonie went about the citie in procession after whom folowed the King with his Crowne and Scepter apparelled in his Circot robe royall accoÌ„panied with no smal number of the nobilitie of his Realme after whom marched in order Queene Anne his wife crowned leading in her left hand Prince Edward her son having on his head a demy crown appointed for the degree of a Prince The King was had in that triumph in such honour and the common people of the North so rejoyced that they extolled and praysed him farre above the Starres After this solemne feast and glorious pompe he kept great counsellers there as well for the ordering of the countrey in time as for the brideling and punishing of such as there had misgoverned themselves and further of the gentlemen of that countrey he augmented the number of his domestical Ministers and servants in the which persons he put his whole trust and affiance When all things were thus discreetly ordered hee returned by Notingham and after came to London whom more for dread then for love the Citezens received in great companies Thus King Richard by a new invented crueltie late practised tyranny obtained and grew to high praise and honour and then by the admiration and judgment of the common multitude he was most esteemed to bee exalted into Heaven when hee covertly had intelligence that hee was like to loose his estate and could by no meanes have long continuance in his usurped power for assuredly after the death of King Edwards children when any blustering winde perrilous thunder or terrible tempest chanced or were apparently like to happen Sodainely the people having in their fresh memorie the facinorous act of their King and Prince would openly cry and make vociferation that God did take vengance and punish the poore Englishmen for the crime and offence of their ungratious King whom they blamed accursed and wished to have extreame tortures Although King Richard heard often of these slaunderous words malicious sayings and knew well by what persons they were spoken yet he durst not with strong hand bee on the first inventors revenged knowing that some time it is no wisedome to refuse or disdaine them that tell a ruler his dutie or declare to him his misbehaviour towards the common wealth or counsell him to amend and change his ill life After this great felicity he fell againe into a great feare and pensivenesse of minde and because he could by no meanes either correct
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
to God requiring of him a safe conduct and licence to passe through his countrey of Normandy into Britaine The yong King having compassion of the misfortune and unfortunate chance of the Earle of Richmond not onely gently granted and assigned to him a pasporte but also literally disbursed and departed to him a convenient some of money for his conduct and expenses necessary in his long journey and passage But the Earle trusting on the French Kings humanity adventured to send his ships home into Britaine and to set forward himselfe by land on his journie making no great haste till his messengers were returned which being with the benefit so comforted and with hope of prosperous successe so encouraged marched towards Britaine with all diligent celeritie intending there to consult further with his lovers and friends of his affaires and enterprises When hee was returned againe into Britaine hee was certified by credible information that the Duke of Buckingham had lost his head and that the Marques Dorset and a great number of noble men of England had a little before enquired and searched for him there and were now returned to Vanues When hee had heard these newes thus reported hee first sorrowed dolorously lamented the first attempt and setting forward of his friends and especially of the Nobility not to have more fortunately succeeded Secondly hee rejoyced on the other part that God had sent him so many valiant and prudent Captaines to bee his companions in his martiall enterprises trusting surely and nothing doubting in his owne opinion but that all his businesse should bee wisely compassed and brought to a good conclusion Wherefore hee determining with all diligence to accelerate and set forward his new begun businesse departed to Renes and sent certaine of his privie servitours to conduct and bring the Marquis and the other Noble men to his presence When they knew that hee was safely returned into Britaine Lord how they rejoyced and applauded for before that time they missed him and knew not in what part of the world to make investigation or search for him For they doubted and no lesse feared lest hee had taken land in England and fallen into the hands of King Richard in whose person they knew wel was neither mercy nor compassion Wherefore in all speedy manner they galloped towards him and him reverently saluted which meeting after great joy and solace and no small thanks and gratifications given and rendered on both parts they consulted and advisedly debated commoned of their great businesse and weightie enterprise in the which season the solene feast of the Nativitie of our Saviour Christ happened on which day all the English Lords went with great solemnity to the chiefe Church of the Cittie and there each gave faith and promise to other The Earle himselfe first tooke a corporall oath and on his honour promising that incontinent after he should be possessed of the Crowne and dignity of the Realme of England hee would bee conjoyned in matrimony with the Lady Elizabeth daughter to King Edward the fourth Then all the company sware to him fealtie and did to him homage as though he had beene that time the Crowned King and annointed Prince promising faithfully fiâ—mely assuring that they would not onely lose their worldly substance but also bee deprived of their lives and worldly felicity rather then to suffer King Richard that tyrant longer to rule and â—aigne over them Which solemne oathes made and taken the Earle of Richmond declared and communicated all these doings to Francis Duke of Brittaine desiring and most heartily requiring him to aide him with a great army to conduct him into his Countrey which so sore longed and looked for his returne and to the which he was by the more part of the Nobilitie called and desired which with Gods ayde and the Dukes comfort hee doubted not in short time to obtaine requiring him further to lend to him a convenient some of money affirming that all such somes of money which he had received of his especiall friends were spent and exhausted in the preparation of the last journey made towards England which somes of money after his enterprise once atchived he in the word of a Prince faithfully promised to repay and restore againe The Duke promised him aide and helpe upon confidence wherof he rigged his ships set forth his Navie well decked with ordinance warlikely furnished with all things necessary to the intent to saile forward shortly and to see no convenient time slackly overpassed nor bee pretermitted In the meane season King Richard apprehended in divers parts of the Realme certaine gentlemen of the Earle of Richmonds faction and confederation which either intended to saile into Britaine towards him or else at his landing to assist and aide him Amongst whom sir George Browne sir Roger Clifford and foure others were put to execution at London and sir Thomas Sentliger which had married the Dutches of Exeter the Kings owne sister and Thomas Rame and diverse others were executed at Exeter Besides these persons diverse of his houshold servants whom either hee suspected or doubted were by great crueltie put to shamefull death After this hee called a Parliament in the which he attainted the Earle of Richmond and all other persons which were fled out of the Realme for feare of any other cause as enemies to him their naturall countrey and all their lands goods and possessions were confiscate and seased to the Kings use And yet not content with this prey which no doubt was of no small value and moment hee laid on the peoples neckes a great taxe and tollage and surely necessity to that act in a manner compelled him For what with purging and declaring his innocencie concerning the murther of his Nephewes towards the world what with cost to obtaine the love and favour of the commonaltie which outwardly glosed and openly dissembled with him hee gave prodigally so many and so great rewards that now both hee lacked and scarce knew honestly how to borrow In this troublous season nothing was more marvelled at then that the Lord Stanley had not beene taken and reputed as an enemie to the King considering the working of the Lady Margaret his wife mother to the Earle of Richmond but forasmuch as the enterprise of a woman was of him reputed of no regard or estimation and that the Lord Thomas her husband had purged himselfe sufficiently to be innocent of all doings and attempts by her perpetrated and committed it was given him in charge to keepe her in some secret place at home without having any servant or company so that from thenceforth shee should never send letter nor messenger to her sonne nor any of his friend or confederates by the which the King might bee molested or troubled or any hurt or prejudice might bee attempted against his realme and commonaltie Which commandement was a while put in execution and accomplished according to his dreadfull commandement Yet the wild
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
in the twenty fifth yeare of Lewis the eleventh then being the King of France and the morrow after hee was Proclamed King and with great solemnity rode to Westminster and there 〈◊〉 in the seate Royall and called the Judges of the Realme before him staightly commanding them to execute the Lawes without favour or delay with many good exhortations of the which hee followed not one and then hee departed towards the Abby and at the Church doore hee was met with Procession and there was delivered to him by the Abbot the Scepter of Saint Edward and so went and offered to Saint Edwards shrine while the Monkes sang Te deum with a faint courage and from the Church hee returned to the Palace where he lodged till the Coronation And to bee sure of all enemies as hee thought hee sent for five thousand men out of the North against his Coronation which came up evill apparelled and worse harnessed in rusty harnesse neither defensable nor scoured to the sale which mustered in Finsbury fiâ—ld to the great disdaine of all the lookers on The fourth day of Iuly hee came to the Tower by water with his wife and the fifth day he created Edward his onely begotten sonne a child of tenne yeares old Prince of Wales and Iohn Haward a man of great knowledge and vertue aswell in councell as in battell hee created Duke of Norfolke and sir Thomas Haward his sonne he created Earle of Surry and William Lord Barkeley was then created Earle of Notingham and Francis Lord Lovell was then made Vicount Lovell and the Kings Chamberlaine and Lord Stanley was delivered out of ward for feare of his sonne the Lord Strange which was then in Lancashire gathering men as men said and the said Lord was made Steward of the Kings houshold likewise the Arch-Bishop of Yorke was delivered But Morton Bishop of Ely was deliverd to the Duke of Buckingham to keepe in ward who sent him to his manour of Brecknoke in Wales from whence hee escaped to King Richards confusion The same night the King made seventeene Knights of the Bath The next day he roade through London with great pompe and especially the Duke of Buckingham was richly apparelled and his horse trapped in blew velvet embroidered with the naves of carts burning of gold which trapper was borne by footmen from the ground with such solemne fashion that all men much admired it On the morrow being the sixt day of Iuly the King came towards his Coronation into Westminster Hall where his Chappell all the Prelates mitered received him And so they in order of Procession passed forward After the Procession followed the Earle of Northumberland with a pointlesse sword naked and the Lord Stanley bore the Mace of the Constableship The Earle of Kent bore the second sword on the right hand of the King naked The Lord Lovell bore an other sword on the left hand Then followed the Duke of Suffolke with the Scepter and the Earle of Lincolne with the Ball and Crosse. After them followed the new Earle of Surrey with the sword of Estate in a rich scabbard On the right side of him went the Duke of Norfolke bearing the Crowne then followed King Richard in a Circot and robe of purple velvet under a Canopie borne by the barrons of the five Ports going betweene the Bishops of Bathe and Duresme The Duke of Buckingham with the rod of the high Steward of England bare the Kings traine After him followed the Earle of Huntington bearing the Queenes Scepter and the Vicount Lisle bearing the rod with the Dove And the Earle of Wiltshire bare the Queenes Crowne Then followed Queene Anne daughter to Richard Earle of Warwicke in robes like to the King between two Bishops and a canopie over her head borne by the Barons of the Ports On her head a rich Coronall set with stones pearles After her followed the countesse of Richmond heire to the Duke of Somerset which bare up the Queenes traine After followed the Dutches of Suffolke and Norfolke with Countesses Barronesses Ladies and many faire Gentlewomen in this order they passed thorow the palace entred the Abbie at the West end and so came to their seates of estate And after diverse songs solemly sung they both descended to the high Altar and were shifted from their robes and had diverse places open from the middle upward in which places they were annointed Then both the King and the Queene changed them into cloathes of gold and ascended to their seates where the Cardinall of Canterbury and other Bishops Crowned them according to the old custome of the Realme giving him the Scepter in his left hand and the ball with the crosse in the right hand and the Queene had the Scepter in her right hand and the rod with the Dove in the left hand On every side of the King stood a Duke and before him stood the Earle of Surrey with the sword in his hands And on every side of the Queene standing a Bishop and a Lady kneeling The Cardinall sung the Masse and after paxe The King the Queene descended and before the high Altar they were both houseled with one host divided betweene them After Masse finished they both offered at Saint Edwards shrine and there the King left the Crowne of Saint Edward and put on his owne Crowne And so in order as they came they departed to Westminster-hall and so to their chambers for a season during which time the Duke of Norfolke came into the Hall his horse trapped to the ground in cloth of gold as high Marshall and voyded the Hall About foure of the clocke the King and Queene entred into the Hall and the King sate in the middle the Queene on the left hand of the table on every side of her a Countesse holding a cloth of pleasance when shee list to drinke And at the right hand of the King sate the Bishop of Canterbury the Ladies sate all on one side in the middle of the Hall and at the table against theÌ„ sate the Chancellour and all the Lordes At the Table next the cupboord sate the Major of London And at the Table behind the Lords sate the Barons of the Ports And at the other boords sate Noble and Worshipfull personages When all persons were set the Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall the Earle of Surrey Constable for that day the Lord Stanlâ—y Lord Steward sir Willâ—am Hopton Treasurer and sir Thomas Percy Controler came in served the King solemnly with one dish of gold and another of silver And the Queene all in gilt vessels and the Bishops all in silver At the second course came into the Hall sir Robert Democke the Kings champion making a Proclamation that whosoever would say that King Richard was not lawfully King hee would fight with him at the utterance and threw downe his Gauntlet and then all the Hall cryed out King Richard And so hee did in three parts of the Hall and then one brought