Tudor Queens of England (12 page)

20
If, as seems likely, this was intended as a warning to Clarence, he paid no heed. Even before the verdict was delivered he

T H E Q U E E N A S L O V E R

57

had accused one of Duchess Isobel’s former servants of having poisoned her. He had the unfortunate Ankarette Twynho seized and taken to Warwick by force, where she was convicted by an intimidated jury and hanged on 13 April.

21
The Duke had simply taken the law into his own hands in manifest contempt of his brother’s authority and for that reason was arrested towards the end of June and committed to the Tower.

Elizabeth had no particular reason to sympathize with Ankarette Twynho but she did have good reason to fear and dislike Clarence. Not only did she not forget his pretensions in 1470, which had been made more threatening by the birth of his son in 1475, she also blamed him for the deaths of her father and uncle. Warwick, who shared that responsibility, was out of reach, but the Duke was now suddenly vulnerable to revenge. There is no direct evidence and the story may simply be a part of that ‘black legend’ that subsequently gathered around the Queen and her kindred but it is quite likely that Elizabeth urged her husband to deal with his troublesome brother once and for all. Something must account for his unprecedented behaviour because he appeared in person in the House of Lords in January 1478, and accused Clarence of Treason. Evidence of criminal misconduct was plentiful and genuine but that of treason was not. However, the King’s word could not be gainsaid in his own Court and the Duke was duly convicted. There then followed a delay of ten days. This was common and was often allowed to the condemned to give them time to make their peace with God but, in this case, because of the peculiar circumstances, it was thought that Edward was struggling with his conscience – and that may well have been the case. The eventual outcome was as unprecedented as the trial because Clarence was neither pardoned nor publicly executed, but privately murdered – allegedly by being drowned in a butt of malmsey wine.

22
This detail is probably a picturesque fabrication, but of the private nature of his execution there can be no doubt. Later historians blamed both the Queen and the Duke of Gloucester for this bizarre outcome and, whereas Richard can certainly be exonerated, similar certainty cannot be deployed in support of Elizabeth. Even her worst enemies did not claim that she was directly responsible and the King himself must take the blame but in the private and unrecorded world of pillow talk the suspicion remains. Elizabeth’s piety appears to have been entirely conventional. She offered dutifully at various shrines and made pious donations of a modest nature. She is alleged to have had a particular devotion to the Virgin Mary as mediatrix but the evidence for any such enthusiasm is slight. She was chief Lady of the Garter but that refl ected her status as queen rather than any particular devotion to chivalry. The only exception to this relative anonymity was her generosity to Queens’

College in Cambridge but she never showed very much interest in the work of the 58

T U D O R Q U E E N S O F E N G L A N D

college and was not a particular patron of scholars. Edward took a lively interest in the work of the new printing press established by William Caxton in 1576 but his main expenditure was not on books but on buildings. He virtually refounded the Order of the Garter and built the sumptuous chapel at Windsor as a setting for its ceremonial – but it was on the refurbishment of his own residences that he spent most of his money and time. His patronage of religion has been described as ‘rather sparse’ but did embrace the Carthusian monastery at Sheen, founded by Henry V, of which both Edward and his queen were generous supporters. In 1480 he was visited by his sister, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy and, on her prompting, introduced the rigorous order of reformed, or Observant, Franciscans. Although he was also well known for the lavish equipment of his chapels this was probably his most signifi cant contribution to the religious life of his kingdom. In literature both their tastes seem to have run to chronicles and French romances. Of humanist scholarship in the sense that that was understood in Italy, his Court appears to have been entirely innocent.

During the last six or seven years of his life, Edward’s main diplomatic concern was the advantageous marriage of his own children and, although Elizabeth’s hand in these negotiations must be assumed, it is often hard to trace. Her eldest son by her fi rst marriage had already been provided for. As we have seen, he had been betrothed at fi rst to Anne, daughter of the Duke of Exeter and, when Anne died young, married to Cecily the daughter and heir of Lord Bonville. He had been created Earl of Huntingdon in 1471, and Marquis of Dorset in 1475. By 1480

at the age of 25, he could consider himself well established in life. The diplomatic activity of 1475–81 was about Edward’s own children. In 1476 the 6-year-old Edward was proposed as a match for the Infanta Isabella of Castile, then for a daughter of the Emperor Frederick III, and then for a daughter of the former Duke of Milan, but in every case ‘… the chief diffi culty which they speak of will be owing to the great quantity of money which the king of England will want’

,23

by way of dowry. In other words Edward was being greedy, and overpricing his son. More realistically, in 1481, an agreement was almost concluded with Duke Francis II of Brittany for a marriage with his daughter and heir Anne but this was abandoned at the last minute possibly because of the King’s fears of the inevitable reaction from the King of France if the heir to one of his major fi efs were to wed the future King of England. Meanwhile Elizabeth (who was not, of course, the heir) had been betrothed to the Dauphin, and Cecily to the future James IV of Scotland, at the time boy of about 5. Of the older girls, only Mary was uncommitted and she may have been in poor health because she was to die in 1482 at the age of 15. Anne, Catherine and Bridget were too young and too far down the pecking order to have been considered in this context. Richard,

T H E Q U E E N A S L O V E R

59

although almost equally young, was conscripted because John Mowbray the fourth Duke of Norfolk had died in January 1476 leaving an infant daughter as his only heir. With an eye on securing the great Mowbray inheritance, Edward immediately hallmarked her for the young Duke of York and they were actually married at Westminster in Januar

y 1478.24
In the event, she died in November 1481, long before the pair could have co-habited, but the King’s objective had been secured because her inheritance lay vested in Duke Richard for the duration of his life, a situation confi rmed by statute in January 1483.This was the sole extent of the King’s success with all these negotiations, however, and when he died in April 1483 none of his surviving seven children was actually married. The whole job had, it appeared, been left for Elizabeth to do all over again. The King’s unexpected death left the Queen in no-mans land. Edward was a few days short of his 42nd birthday and had been ill for about a month. The cause of his death appears to have been overindulgence in wine, food and sex. In Shakespeare’s words he had ‘overmuch consumed his royal person’ and either his liver, or his heart, or both, collapsed under the strain. Contemporary accounts show him as suitably penitent for his lifestyle when it was too late for amendment and concerned to reconcile the feuds that raged among the courtiers around him, particularly that between Lord Hastings and the Marquis of
Dorset.25 The st
ory that he was exercised by a rivalry between Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester appears to be a later interpolation. The issue that he did not satisfactorily resolve, however, was who should hold the regency for his 12-year-old heir or what kind of offi ce that should be. The last guidance in writing was a will drawn up at the time of his going to France in 1475. As we have seen, he had then left Elizabeth as Governor in his absence, so it was natural that she should have been named as Regent in the event of his demise. Apart from her family her power base at that time consisted of a
de facto
control over the council of the Prince of Wales, a position to which young Edward had been elevated within a year of his birth. For about three months the Queen appears to have presided at Council meetings, although her input into the discussions is not known. The King may have been dissatisfi ed with the results of this experiment because in the last week or so of his life he named his surviving brother, Richard of Gloucester, as Regent. There was no time to commit this formally to writing, but it was well enough known, and the Queen did not challenge it. Just as Edward appears to have transferred his sexual attentions to a new mistress – Jane Shore – in the last year of his life, so at the end he transferred his political trust to his brother. Elizabeth was left with her dower lands but with no political role.

However, the situation was not as straightforward as it appeared. Because Edward had not defi ned the regency that he conferred on his brother, it was 60

T U D O R Q U E E N S O F E N G L A N D

open to interpretation. Although the realm was in ‘quiet and prosperous estate’

thanks to the late king’s energetic and continuous judicial perambulations that was a fragile and personal achievement. Those who favoured Richard pointed to his proven track record and argued for a full Protectorate, which would include custody of the King’s person, and would last until he achieved his majority at 18. Those most favourable to the Queen, on the other hand, tried to claim that the Protectorship should last only until the King was crowned – effectively a few weeks – after which the Queen Mother could be as much in control as she might chose. Alternatively, the Protectorate could be interpreted, not as the kind of full power that Humphrey of Gloucester had enjoyed, but as little more than a nominal presidency of the Council. Meanwhile Richard was still in the north, where he dutifully proclaimed Edward V at York as soon as news of the King’s death reached him and wrote a suitable letter of condolence to the Queen. For all his apparent confi dence and ruthlessness, however, Richard appears to have been of a nervous and suspicious disposition, and he undoubtedly knew of the efforts which Elizabeth and her friends were making in council to undermine his position. He had, apparently, no fi xed hostility to the Woodville/Grey connection, but he was suspicious of their intentions, and particularly suspicious of the close relationship that existed between the young Prince of Wales and his maternal uncle, Earl Rivers. He was well aware that he hardly knew the boy himself, and might fi nd it diffi cult to win his confi dence. His suspicions were probably increased by the fact that the Marquis of Dorset was Constable of the Tower, Sir Edward Woodville commanded the fl eet, and that a sizeable force had been assemble in the south-east in anticipation of another spat with France. In other words he feared a coup against himself, and seems to have been persuaded that not only his position but his life was in danger.

Meanwhile, plans were being made to bring the young king from Ludlow, where he had been discharging his princely functions, to London. He would be conducted by Earl Rivers, and Elizabeth, who seems to have had suspicions of her own, argued in council for a large force to escort him. The Council, however, was unwilling to entrust so substantial an army to Earl Rivers, and arguing that there was no need for such precautions, imposed a ceiling of 2,000 on the escort. Ironically Lord Hastings appears to he been the proposer of this limitation. Richard, who was simultaneously moving towards London with a much larger force, seized his opportunity, and intercepted the royal escort at Stony Stratford on the 30 April. Rivers and his nephew Richard Grey were arrested and the royal escort dismissed.

26
The Duke of Gloucester’s intentions at this point are quite unclear because he proceeded towards London with his young charge as though nothing had happened and was welcomed by the Council as Protector.

T H E Q U E E N A S L O V E R

61

Plans for Edward’s coronation proceeded, and it seemed at fi rst that Richard was simply claiming the full Protectorate as that had been proposed by his friends. The Queen, however, with what turned out to be a fully justifi ed premonition of disaster, took refuge again in the Westminster sanctuary with her daughters and her younger son. If there had ever been a Woodville/Grey party bidding for power, it collapsed within a few days. The Marquis of Dorset joined his mother in the sanctuary and Sir Edward Woodville fl ed to Brittany. Richard of Gloucester reached London on 4 May, and the Council immediately confi rmed his full powers. He immediately began to remodel the administration and conferred wide ranging powers upon his ally the Duke of Buckingham. However, he also fi xed Edward’s coronation for 22 June and called a parliament to meet on 25 June.

27

At some point between the end of May and 12 June, Richard decided to seize the Crown. On the latter day he had Lord Hastings arrested at a Council meeting and summarily executed on the grounds that he had been intriguing with the Queen. This he justifi ed on the grounds that ‘… the queen, her blood adherents and affi nity … have daily intended and doth intend to murder and destroy Us and our cousin the Duke of Buckingham.’ This excuse reeks of paranoia, and seems not to have had the slightest justifi cation. However, it did not in itself secure the Crown. That was achieved, partly by mustering large forces loyal to him from the north of England and partly by resurrecting a hoary old scandal that Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth had been invalidated by a precontract.

28
Before he took this step, he had taken the precaution of extracting the young Richard of York from the sanctuary with smooth professions of loyalty and good faith, not unrelated to a discreet show of force. A charade of petition and acceptance having then been played out for the benefi t of the citizens of London, Richard was proclaimed king as Richard III on 26 June and crowned with great pomp on 6 July. Anthony, Earl Rivers and Sir Richard Grey were summarily executed at Pontefract. Edward and his brother remained for some time in the Tower and then notoriously disappeared. By the autumn they were almost certainly dead.
29
Elizabeth had now become a political irrelevance. The parliament which convened in January 1484 obediently decreed that she had never been married to the late King Edward, and that all her children were consequently illegitimate. She was deprived of her dower lands and should theoretically have been reduced to penury. Having now no realistic option, and fi nding the Westminster sanctuary continually surrounded by the King’s soldiers, in March 1484, Elizabeth came to terms. In spite of the carnage that he had wrought among her kindred, the kind of militant last-ditch option that might have appealed to Margaret of Anjou was not for her. She had every reason to suppose that her sons were dead, so there was 62