Richard The Chird (70 page)

19 Paston Letters, I, p. 506; see note 16, above.

20 An Eng. Chron., pp. 91-94.

21 More than a decade after this time, Edward W, formerly Earl of March, bestowed a grant upon the Archbishop of Canterbury because "in time past and at the King's request he supported the King's brothers the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester [George and Richard] for a long time at great charges" (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1467-77, p. 206, December 10, 1471). Before the flight from Ludlow in October, 1459, and from September to December of 1460, it would certainly have been the Duke of York, rather than his son Edward, who would have made such a request of the Archbishop. After the return of George and Richard from Burgundy in June of 1461, there appears to be no interval during which they might have been placed under the Archbishop's tutelage. George acted as Steward for Edward's coronation; in January of 1462, it was rumored that he and the Duke of Surf oik would head a commission of oyer and terminer for Norfolk (Paston Letters, II, p. 82); he met the King at Leicester in May (Scofield, I, p. 245, note 5). These activities suggest that he was not in the Archbishop's charge. Furthermore, it appears that Richard went north to enter the household of the Earl of Warwick in the fall of 1461 (see text, p. 49). It is most unlikely that at any time after this the boys would be considered still young enough for such tutelage. By a process of elimination it would seem that the Archbishop must have assumed charge of George and Richard early in 1460, shortly after their mother left Coventry in the Duchess of Buckingham's custody, and maintained them until they rejoined her in September of 1460.

22 It rained all summer, rotting the crops, washing away bridges and houses. See Whethamstede, I, p. 381 and pp. 384-85; Chronicle of John Stone, ed. by W. G. Searle, Cambridge, 1902, p. 78; Three Fif. Cent. Chrons., p. 154; compare Scofield, I, p. 120.

23 Paston Letters, I, p. 525.

f? H

1 Edward Hall, Chronicle [The Union etc.], ed. by Henry Ellis, London, 1809, pp. 250-51; Clifford probably never said this, but he undoubtedly thought it.

2 Croy. Chron., pp. 422-23; the chronicler vividly depicts the fear and hatred which Margaret's inarch aroused in the hearts of southerners and midlanders. "Blessed be God!" he exclaims in wild relief, "who did not give us for a prey unto their teeth!"

3 On October 16, 1461, King Edward .granted John Skelton, Esq., for good service to the King and his brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the office of Surveyor of the Scrutiny in the port of London (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, p. 52). I have conjectured that the service Skelton performed was to escort the two boys across the sea.

* Cal. Milanese Papers, I, pp. 73-74; see also p. 67 and p. 72. Hearne's Fragment, in Chronicles of the White Rose, p. 6. 5 See Caxton's prologue to his Life of Jason; for a description of the court

of Burgundy, see Memoires d'Olivier de la Marche; or for brief modern accounts, J. Calmette, Autour de Louis XI, Paris, 1947, pp. 132-38- or D B Wyndham Lewis, King Spider, London, 1930, pp. 109-24.

e The news reached Bruges on April 12 (Cal. Milanese Papers, I, pp. 67-68). rr

7 Waurin, II, pp. 305-06.

s The Croyland chronicler says that Edward was "a person of most elegant appearance, and remarkable beyond all others for the attractions of his person (pp. 481-82).

According to Vergil, "King Edward was very tall of personage, exceeding the stature almost of all others, of comely visage, pleasant look, broad breasted, the residue even to his feet proportionably correspondent" (p.

Thomas More, in his Richard III, describes Edward: "He was of visage lovely, of body mighty, strong, and clean made. ..." (p. 3).

Du Clerq, a contemporary Burgundian chronicler, calls Edward the handsomest young knight in all England (J. du Clerq, Memoires sur le Regne de Phihppe le Eon, ed. by M. le Baron de Reiffenberg, Brussels i8u-?6 liv IV, c. xvii). " * '

Commynes, meeting Edward for the first time in 1470, declared that he was fort beau prince, plus que nul que j'aye veu jamais en ce temps la, et tres vaillant (Memoir es, I, p. 201). Describing the interview five years later between the Kings of England and of France at Picquigny, he remarked that Edward was "ung tres beau prince et grand . . . et 1'avoye veu autresfoiz plus beau, car je n'ay pas souvenance d'avoir jamais veu ung plus bel homme qu'il estoit quant monsieur de Warvic le feist fouyr d'Angleterre" (I, p. 316) Edward's height has been precisely determined: ". . . when his coffin was opened in 1789, his skeleton was found to measure six feet, three inches and a half" (Scofield, I, p. 127, note 2).

9 My account of Richard's initiation is based upon a minute description of the ritual in "The Manner of making Knights after the custom of England in time of peace, and at the coronation, that is to say, Knights of the Bath," from "Stowe's Historical Memoranda," printed in Three Fif. Cent. Chrons., pp. 106-13. See also Hearne's Fragment, in Chronicles of the White Rose, p. 10.

10 Dignity of a Peer, V, p. 327.

11 Scofield, I, p. 216.

12 See ?i for example, A Relation of the Island of England, written by an ^ Italian visitor of a generation later: ". . . everyone, however rich he may be, /\ sends away his children into the houses of others. . . ." (p. 23).

13 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, p. 66.

14 See note 21 of chapter I, above.

m

1 In th r e fall of 1465 King Edward granted Warwick a thousand pounds to defray the costs and expenses he had incurred in maintaining Richard, Duke of Gloucester. See Tellers' Roll-, Mich. 5 Edw. IV (no. 36), m.2.; quoted by Scofield, I, p. 216, note 6.

The precise times at which Richard entered and departed from War-

wick's household are unknown. In view of the sum granted the Earl, Richard's attaining the age of thirteen in the fall of 1465, the break between Edward and Warwick following the announcement in September of 1464 of Edward's marriage, and a record of Richard's being at court in May of 1465, it seems likely that he entered Warwick's household in November of 1461, following his appointment as Commissioner of Array for the North Parts, and that he had left it by the early spring of 1465.

Davies (York Records, p. 48) declares that Middleham was "the favourite retreat of ... Warwick." It had been the chief residence of his father, the Earl of Salisbury. The Countess of Warwick was certainly here in the late spring of 1462 (see York Records, p. 15).

2 Sir Charles R. Peers, Middleham Castle, HJVI.S.O., 1943 (reprinted, 1951); though in ruins, the castle is still impressive.

3 See, for example, York Records, p. 15.

4 Ibid., p. 58; Miles Metcalfe became one of Richard's councilors (see text, p. 152, and other Metcalfes were in his favor (Harleian MS. 433).

5 York Records, p. 194, note; though the DNB says that Lovell was one of Richard's companions at Middleham, the statement should be phrased as a probability rather than a certainty. The thousand pounds that Warwick received for Richard's maintenance came out of the profits from Lovell's wardship and marriage (see note i, above), and this alone proves that Lovell was not then Warwick's ward. Not until 1467 was the Earl granted Lovell's lands during his minority and his custody and marriage (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1467-77, p. 51).

6 See the following note; compare H. F. M. Prescott, Mary Tudor, London, 1952, pp. 8-9.

7 See Scofield, II, pp. 451-55, for the sort of books King Edward read; and for the general upper-class reading of the time consult the Paston Letters.

This account of the training and daily regimen of Richard is based upon the household regulations of Edward IV (the Liber Niger) and the household regulations of George, Duke of Clarence, published in Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household. The former (p. 45) includes the duties of the "Maistyr of Henxmen" (noble pages and apprentices in knighthood) to Edward IV. Warwick undoubtedly had his "Master of Henchmen" too. The "livery" I have used is that issued to a gentleman in the household of the Duke of Clarence (p. 91); Warwick's would be similar. Compare the "livery" of a baron in the royal household (p. 30.

8 For a discussion of Richard's appearance, see note 26, p. 537.

9 The information concerning the ceremony at Fothennghay is drawn from the enrollments of Wardrobe Accounts and from the Issue Rolls, as cited by Scofield, I, p. 268; for the Neville interment at Bisham, see Collection of Ordinances and Regulations •, p. 131.

10 That Richard was in London in the late spring of 1463 is indicated by his witnessing, along with his brother George, Warwick, and Hastings, the confirmation of a borough charter (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, pp. 307-08). Though the patent was sealed on June 23, it must have been drawn up at least three weeks earlier because Warwick left London on June 3 (see Scofield, I r p. 288). Since he was in London in the late spring, it seems likely

that Richard accompanied Edward south in January to honor his father's memory and that he returned to the North with Warwick. He paid a brief visit to Canterbury in late August of 1463 (Chronicle of John Stone, p. 88). Richard was apparently not summoned to Parliament until 1469, when he received a writ for Warwick's Parliament that never met (Dignity of a Peer, IV, pp. 966-70).

11 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, p. 391. For Richard's holdings of land, see next note. ,» *

12 For Clarence's and Richard's grants, ibid. '* -*

According to Dignity of a Peer (II, p. 112), the grant of the county, honor, and lordship of Richmond did not carry with it the dignity of the earldom of Richmond, Clarence—to whom Edward soon made over the grant—never having assumed the dignity. Though it is true that in a patent of April, 1463 (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, p. 270), he is called "Duke of Clarence and Lord of Richmond," the fact is that he did assume the title. In a proclamation which he issued during the readeption of Henry VI, 1470-71, he styles himself "George, Duke of Clarence and Earl of Richmond" (Original Letters, series 2, I, p. 139)- It was not beyond Clarence, though, to appropriate a dignity which did not belong to him. In 1471, Henry VI confirmed to him the grant of Richmond (Dignity of a Peer, II, p. 112). As part of the division of estates between Clarence and Richard in 1474, Clarence was confirmed in the possession of the county, honor, castle, town, and fee farm of Richmond, but he was not given the lordship. This omission suggests that, whether or not he had in the past rightfully borne the title of Earl of Richmond, the dignity was now withheld (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1467-77, p. 457). Only the castle and the fee farm of the town of Richmond passed to Richard after Clarence's death (ibid., 1476-85, p. 90). It appears that in the fifteenth century there was no clearly established distinction between the grant of an authority or an estate and the grant of the corresponding dignity. Practice seems to have varied according to the circumstances of each particular case (see Dignity of a Peer, II, passim).

13 See, for example, the comment of Fabyan (p. 654). Almost two decades later a foreign visitor was told that when Edward put a dagger to her throat, she still would not yield her virtue! (Mancini, p. 73).

14 For rumors about Warwick's quarreling with Edward, see Cal. Milanese Papers, I, p. 116.

15 Ibid., p. 100.

IV

* Richard was with the court at Greenwich on May 23, 1465, when Nu-celles pursuivant reported to the King that the Bastard of Burgundy had accepted Lord Scales' challenge to a joust (Excerpta Historica, p. 172).

2 Cust, Gentlemen Errant, pp. 36-39; see also Scofield, I, p. 397, note i. s P. 238.

* For Anthony Woodville's literary accomplishments, see text, p. 204. For Worcester and George Neville as scholars, see Weiss, Humanism in

England during the Fifteenth Century; Mitchell, John Tiptoft (for Tiptoft's death, see pp. 142-43); James Tait, "Letters of John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, and Archbishop Neville to the University of Oxford," Eng. Hist.

Rev., XXXV (1920), pp. 570-74; P. S. Allen, "Bishop Shirwood of Durham and His Library," Eng. Hist. Rev., XXV (1910), pp. 445-56.

5 Scofield, I, p. 310.

6 Gust, Gentlemen Errant, p. 40; of the choir of the royal chapel the Bohemian knights had said that "there are no better singers in the world" (pp. 41-42).

7 It was common opinion on the Continent that Warwick was a coward. So Commynes indicates, and Chastellain writes bluntly, "Warwyc . . . estoit laiche et couard. . . ." See, further, George B. Churchill, "Richard the Third up to Shakespeare," Palaestra, X (1900), Berlin, p. 58.

8 Leland, Collectanea, VI, pp. 1-14.

9 Cal. Venetian Papers, I, p. 117; Cal. Milanese Papers, I, pp. 118-20.

10 As late as 1469, it is true, rumor was still coupling Richard's name with Anne Neville's. In August of that year (by which time Clarence had married Isabel), an Italian observer in London mistakenly reported that Warwick had married his two daughters to the King's two brothers (ibid., p. 131).

13 -Waurin, II, pp. 333-34; Oman accepts this story without giving its source (Warwick, p. 169); C. A. J. Armstrong also seems to accept it (Mancini, p. 134, note 14); the fact is, however, that the court of France in these years abounded in absurd rumors regarding the course of events in England (see Cal. Milanese Papers, I, passim}.

12 See, for example, Mancini, pp. 79-81.

is Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, p. 530.

14 Cal. Milanese Papers, I, p. 122.

^Excerpta Historica, p. 198; for a detailed account of the tournament, see pp. 197-212.

16 There is no record of his participation in any of the great jousts of King Edward's reign. See Scofield, I and n, passim.

17 Fabyan, pp. 655-56.

18 Scofield, I, pp. 456-57.

1 9 Great Chronicle, p. 205.

20 Ibid-, pp. 207-08.

21 See Scofield, I, pp. 436-39; compare Great Chronicle, p. 213; and Mitchell, John Tiptojt, pp. 113-121.

Confirmation for the story appears in a documentary source which has not, apparently, been hitherto cited. Many years later Richard sent word to the heir of the murdered Earl of Desmond that those responsible for his father's death were the same ones who had wrought the ruin of the Duke of Clarence (i.e., the Queen and her kindred)—Harleian MS. 433, f. 265. For a further consideration of this document, see, below, note 8 of chapter III of "Lord of the North." William Worcester states flatly that "the King was at first displeased" by the news of Desmond's execution (Letters and Papers, II, ed. by Stevenson, p. 789).