Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors (19 page)

Edward was one of those selected to “appeal” the Duke of Gloucester and the earls of Warwick and Arundel in the Parliament of 1397—in other words publicly to accuse them of treason. This process led to the deaths of Gloucester (uncle to the King and to Edward) and Arundel, and the imprisonment of Warwick.

All their lands and offices were forfeited and Edward received a handsome share of the proceeds. Not least of his rewards was to be made Lord High Constable of England in succession to Gloucester. He was also created Duke of Aumale.

Gloucester seems to have been murdered (or privately executed, if you prefer) at Calais, and it was later alleged that Edward sent one of his squires across the Channel to see to it that the deed was done.

A few months later, Edward’s cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, the son and heir of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, accused Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk of treasonable words. Both these men had sided against Richard in 1387-1388 and with him in 1397. It seems likely that despite fresh honours (dukedoms) laid upon them they were both worried that Richard might at some point take revenge against them for their earlier actions.

Edward was one of those who stood surety for his cousin, Bolingbroke.

Since the quarrel could not be resolved by normal legal processes, because of a lack of witnesses, it was eventually referred for trial by mortal combat. Edward, in his role as Lord High Constable, presided over the trial, but as is well known, the King decided to stop it before it came to blows, and instead banished both men.

Before this event Edward had made what was (for a man in his position) a most unusual marriage. Given that he was at the peak of his political power, and had lately been suggested as a husband for another very young French princess, the most likely explanation for his choice is that he fell in love.

His bride, Philippa Mohun, was at least ten years his senior and had already been widowed twice. She had only a life-interest in modest dower lands and no history of successful child-bearing. As it happens, she was destined not to give Edward children either. The matter of children apart, some may see a congruence with the decision of Edward’s great-nephew, Edward IV, to marry Elizabeth Woodville.

When John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard decided to extend the term of Henry Bolingbroke’s exile to life and took the Lancastrian inheritance into his own hands. Although many nobles, including Edward and his father, received custody of elements of the Lancastrian estates, there is no evidence that Richard intended the confiscation to be permanent. He continued to send his exiled cousin handsome sums of cash for his maintenance, apparently unaware that Henry (currently based in France) was planning to invade England.

On the other hand, Ian Mortimer, in
The Fears of Henry IV,
sets out the theory that Richard II intended to exclude the Mortimers and the Lancastrians from the succession, and appoint Edward of York as his heir. There is some evidence to support this, quite apart from the strange fact that Richard referred to Edward in his grants as “the King’s brother” and not, as was correct, “the King’s kinsman.”

Anyway, such was the King’s confidence in his security that he now undertook a second expedition to Ireland. Edward of York, having been given certain tasks on the Scottish March, was late to join this expedition, and it has been suggested (particularly in the French chronicles) that he was already plotting against the King. This seems unlikely.

Edward’s father, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, was left in charge as Keeper of England, and when Henry landed in Yorkshire, Langley’s attempts at resistance were feeble. It is true that many of the nobility, and perhaps even York himself, sympathised with Henry and were reluctant to fight him.

York’s forces eventually capitulated at Berkeley Castle, in Gloucestershire, with scarcely a blow struck. (The Bishop of Norwich, Henry Despenser, was among those who
did
fight, but they had no chance against the formidable force Henry had gathered.)

Meanwhile, Richard had landed in Wales. He made no urgent effort to advance and seems to have waited for news. When it reached him, it was to the effect that York had gone over to his rebellious cousin. The King seems to have been struck by panic and misled by rumours of plotting. He abandoned his army and made his way to North Wales at the head of a small, picked band of followers. Edward was one of those left behind, doubtless because of his father’s surrender.

Edward promptly made his way eastward and submitted to Henry in his turn. As a result, when King Richard was eventually run to earth at Flint Castle, Edward was in the victorious Henry’s company. Nevertheless, he immediately lost several of his most important offices, including that of Lord Constable, and it must have been clear to him that he did not enjoy Henry’s trust.

A Royal Love Story: Ric
hard II and Anne of Bohemia

by Anita Davison

W
hen Aquitaine belonged to England, Richard was born in Bordeaux, becoming King Richard II as a child of ten. He was the son of the Black Prince and Joan of Kent. William Shakespeare portrayed him as a cruel, vindictive, and irresponsible king who leaned toward madness. However, many more enlightened historians believe he suffered from a personality disorder, even schizophrenia.

Richard was a patron of Chaucer and a cultured man who loved beauty, described by a contemporary thus:

King Richard was of the common stature, his hair yellowish, his face fair and rosy, rather round than long, and sometimes flushed; He was prodigal in his gifts, extravagantly splendid in his entertainment and dress, timid as to war, very passionate toward his domestics, haughty and too much devoted to voluptousness...yet there were many laudable features in his character: he loved religion and the clergy, he encouraged architecture, he built the church of Westminster almost entirely, and left much property by his will to finish what he had begun.

Richard did have principles; he did not condone Christians killing Christians and sought a way to end the Hundred Years’ War with France, not least because it was turning against the English.

Michael de la Pole, a favourite of Richard’s, arranged his marriage with Anne of Bohemia (Czechoslovakia), the eldest daughter of the Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania.

The union was unpopular, for not only was Anne poor and therefore brought no dowry, her brother, Wenzel of Bohemia also demanded 20,000 florins (around four million pounds in today’s money) for her.

Her arrival in England was postponed by the Peasants’ Revolt, when, under the leadership of Wat Tyler, John Ball, and Jack Straw, the populace gathered at Blackheath in London to air their grievances and demand the end of serfdom. Tyler’s followers sacked the Tower of London and murdered the archbishop of Canterbury, burning John of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace to the ground.

The fourteen-year-old King Richard rode out to meet the rebels at Mile End, and his apparent courage in facing the mob contributed to the failure of the revolt, although Richard’s magnanimous offer of mercy for the leaders was rescinded later by his council.

Anne was sixteen when she left Bohemia for England in December 1381, accompanied by a large train of attendants under the charge of the Duke of Saxony and his wife. Described as a Godly, intelligent young girl with an inquiring mind, Anne was renowned for her love of reading and her command of the Scriptures in three languages, an unusual skill for a woman, even a noble one.

Anne was received by the Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Anne’s aunt and uncle, in Brussels, from whence she was to proceed to Calais by water, thus avoiding travelling through French-held lands. Here they heard that the King of France had sent twelve armed vessels of Normans to intercept her. After a month’s delay and negotiations in Paris, the French king yielded to the Duke of Saxony’s request
, “out of kindness to his cousin Anne, but not out of regard to the King of England.”

Anne reached Dover on the nineteenth of December, and had only just landed when a heavy ground swell caused the ships to collide, and the ship in which she had sailed broke up. The destruction of her fleet was deemed a disastrous omen.

In Canterbury, Anne was received by Richard’s uncle, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, with a large retinue, then at Blackheath by the lord-mayor of London, the scene of the Peasants’ Revolt the previous year.

In London, the bride was welcomed by young girls at the top of a castle and tower throwing a shower of golden snow, with fountains at the sides flowing with wine and pages offering the princess wine from golden cups.

The royal couple married in Westminster chapel in January 1382. King Richard, a year younger than his bride, appeared delighted with Anne, and after a week spent with her and the court in festivities and celebrations, they left for Windsor by barge, accompanied by Richard’s mother, Joan of Kent.

The aftermath of the Peasants’ Revolt was still evident, and the culprits were still being sought out for punishment. Their conditions distressed the young queen, who begged the king to grant a general pardon on the occasion of her coronation, which he allowed.

Anne became a peace-maker, interceding for those who offended the king as she travelled all over the country with him, some reports saying that on several occasions she prostrated herself before him in the great hall to plead for those he would punish.

In the fourteenth century, women rode astride, or pillion (i.e. seated sideways on a cushion behind the male rider’s saddle). Anne was reputed to have introduced sidesaddles, a seat made of wood strapped to the horse’s back with a pommel for a hand grip. A wooden plank, wide enough for both feet hung along the left side of the animal. This method of riding was considered necessary for high-born women to preserve their hymen and thus ensure their purity.

Anne also introduced new fashions into England, including the long-pointed shoes called Cracows (from Cracow, in Poland), which her attendants apparently wore, and horned caps for ladies, often two feet high, and just as wide, arranged on a frame of wire and pasteboard, covered with muslin or gauze. Anne was also reputed to have brought pins into England, as gowns in those days were fastened with tiny skewers made of wood or ivory.

Because of Richard’s high-handed behaviour as an adolescent and the extravagance of his household, he was forced to accept a controlling council. Tired after years of their control, he asked his uncle, Gloucester, at the council table to tell him how old he was. When the duke replied that he was twenty-two, Richard declared: “
Then I must be able to manage my own affairs as every heir in my kingdom can do at twenty-one.”

In celebration of having received the great seal and the keys of the exchequer, he arranged a round of celebrations which rivalled his coronation. At a tournament at Smithfield, Anne presented the prizes, which consisted of a richly jewelled clasp and a crown of gold. The tournament was followed by a banquet at the palace of the Bishop of London, with music and dancing, jugglers and acrobats which continued into the night.

Richard kept many establishments in palaces round the country and enjoyed living well, which was yet another characteristic that enraged his impoverished subjects. His entertainments and banquets were magnificent, and three hundred scullions worked in his kitchens.

Anne did not bear the king any children, but this did not appear to affect his devotion to her. Nor did the king take other mistresses as it appears he did not father any illegitimates children either.

In 1394, when Richard was preparing for an expedition into Ireland to quell a rebellion, the queen fell ill at Shene Manor, purportedly of the plague. The king rushed to her side and was with her when she died. Inconsolable at the loss of his beloved wife, Richard ordered Shene to be partially dismantled. He never occupied it again.

Richard summoned all the nobles and barons of England to an extravagant funeral that took two months to prepare, and instructed them to arrive the day before and escort the body from Shene to Westminster Abbey.

A long procession escorted the queen, accompanied by a large number of torch-bearers— so many that wax had to be imported from Flanders expressly for the purpose. Anne was buried in the Confessor’s chapel behind the high altar in Westminster Abbey, where Richard had ordered a double tomb made for them both.

The Earl of Arundel absented himself from the procession, arrived late at the abbey, and then requested permission to leave early on urgent business. Richard was deeply offended and appears to have drawn his sword and struck him. He ordered the presumably injured earl to the Tower and kept him there for a week. For a year after Anne’s death, the grief-stricken king refused to go into any room she’d been in.

Coppersmiths crafted effigies of gilded copper and latten in a canopy above the crowned figures of Richard and Anne, their right hands joined and their left hands holding sceptres.

Anne’s epitaph mentions her as having been kind to “pregnant women”. The Evesham chronicler said, “
this queen, although she did not bear children, was still held to have contributed to the glory and wealth of the realm, as far as she was able
”. She was referred to as “Good Queen Anne”. Her tomb bears this inscription in Latin.

Under this stone lies Anne, here entombed,

Wedded in this world’s life to the second Richard.

To Christ were her meek virtues devoted:

His poor she freely fed from her treasures;

Strife she assuaged, and swelling feuds appeased;

Beauteous her form, her face surpassing fair.

On July’s seventh day, thirteen hundred ninety-four,

All comfort was bereft, for through irremediable sickness

She passed away into interminable joys.

Queen Anne’s tomb was opened in 1871, when many of her bones were found to have been stolen via a hole in the side of the casket.

The rest of Richard’s life wasn’t exactly happy. Richard’s authoritarian approach and his increasing dependence on his favourites provoked resentment. A group of lords headed by his uncle, Gloucester, executed many of Richard’s favourites and forced him to renew his coronation oath.

In the interests of state, he married the six-year-old Isabella of Valois two years after his wife’s death, though he became openly fond of her. He persisted in calling himself king of France and refused to give up Calais; thus, the last two years of his reign were a period of tyranny with the government levying forced loans, carrying out arbitrary arrests, and murdering his rivals.

John of Gaunt died in February 1399, and Richard seized his vast Lancastrian estates, which would have passed to John’s son, Henry Bolingbroke. In May, Richard left to campaign in Ireland, and in his absence Bolingbroke invaded England with support of the barons. When Richard returned that summer, he was captured. Forced to abdicate, he was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he died, allegedly starving to death. Bolingbroke, Richard’s cousin, assumed the throne as Henry IV.

Isabella grieved for Richard deeply, remaining in England while Henry IV quibbled about returning both her and her £83,000 dowry. She returned to France where she married Charles of Angouleme (later Duke of Orléans), but died in childbirth at the age of nineteen.