September 3, 2025 • 18 mins
Explore the tumultuous era of the Wars of the Roses, a dramatic culmination of the Hundred Years War. Following the death of the formidable King Edward III in 1377, his young grandson Richard II ascends the throne, only to face challenges due to his misrule. The rise of the Lancastrians culminates in the downfall of Richard, while Henry Vs legendary victory at the Battle of Agincourt is overshadowed by his untimely death, leaving a vulnerable child king in his wake. As the specter of madness looms over Henry VI, the stage is set for a bitter internal conflict that will engulf the realm. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section thirty eight of the Houses of Lancaster and York
by James Gardner. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain,
read by Pamelinagami, Chapter nine. Edward the fifth Edward, the
son and heir of the deceased king, was at Ludlow
(00:21):
on the borders of Wales when his father died. He
had been sent thither as Prince of Wales to hold
a court and keep the country in good order, for
which purpose a council had been assigned to him, consisting
originally of his uncles, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester,
his maternal uncle Anthony Earl Rivers, Lord Hastings, and several others.
(00:47):
But the Duke of Clarence was dead, the Duke of
Gloucester in the North, and Lord Hastings in London, so
that when young Edward, who was only in his thirteenth year,
received the news of his own accession to the throne,
he was surrounded principally by his mother's relations. Now, it
(01:07):
was most unfortunate for the young king himself that both
his mother and her kinsfolk were looked upon with dislike
and jealousy by the old nobility. The Woodvilles had always
been regarded as upstarts, but under the reign of the
late King, no loyal subject could say anything against them.
(01:28):
The council in London, however, were of opinion that it
would be advisable to remove the new king entirely from
the influence of his maternal relatives, and though the Queen
Dowager desired that he should be brought up to London
with as large an escort as possible, the lords could
not be persuaded to sanction a stronger retinue than was
(01:51):
needed for his personal safety. Lord Hastings, who was governor
of Calais, took alarm and talked of departing immediately across
the sea. The Queen's friends were obliged to give assurances
that no large force should come up, and orders were
sent down to Ludlow that the company should on no
(02:12):
account exceed two thousand horse. On his death bed, the
late king had bequeathed the care of the young prince
and his kingdom, more especially to his brother, Richard, Duke
of Gloucester. When therefore tidings of Edward's death were sent
into the North, Richard at once set out for London.
(02:33):
He reached Northampton on April twenty ninth, and found that
the Young King had been there that day before him,
and had passed on to Stony Stratford, ten miles further on.
He was met, however, by the young King's uncle and
half brother, the Earl Rivers and Lord Richard Gray, who
had ridden back to pay their respects to him and
(02:54):
Edward's name. Henry, Duke of Buckingham, also joined the party. He,
it is said, had been already in communication with Gloucester.
With apparent cordiality, all sat down together to supper, but
after the retirement of Rivers and Gray, the two dukes
held a consultation, the result of which was that early
(03:16):
next morning they caused their guests to be arrested and
pushed on to Stony Stratford. Before the royal party had
time to get away, they obtained an audience of the
young King, and in his presence accused his uncle Rivers
and his two half brothers, the Marquess of Dorset and
Lord Richard Gray, of a design to usurp the government
(03:39):
and oppress the old nobility. Dorset, it seems, who was
constable of the Tower, had taken supplies of arms and
money out of that fortress and fitted out a small fleet,
while Rivers and Lord Richard Gray had shown a most
suspicious haste in bringing Young Edward up to London. The
(04:00):
poor lad could not believe these accusations and burst into
tears on hearing them. The two dukes, however, caused Rivers
and Gray, with two other gentlemen of his household, to
be sent in custody into Yorkshire, where, after being confined
for nearly two months in different places, they were ultimately
(04:21):
beheaded at Pumfort. Meanwhile, the young King continued his journey
to London and the company of his uncle Gloucester and
the Duke of Buckingham. Alarm had been at first created
in the city by the news of the arrests made
at Northampton, but the fact became known that large quantities
of armor and weapons were found among the baggage of
(04:44):
Rivers and the King's attendants, and this discovery produced an
impression that their imprisonment was perfectly justified. The mayor and
citizens accordingly met the young King and his uncle at
Hornsea Park and conducted him into the city. They entered
it on May fourth, fourteen eighty three, a day that
(05:06):
had been originally set apart for Edward's coronation, that ceremony
was now deferred till June twenty second. Meanwhile, the Duke
of Gloucester was declared protector of the young King and
his kingdom, and the Parliament was summoned to assemble three
days after the coronation. But the Queen mother Elizabeth Woodville,
(05:29):
on hearing that her brother and her son had been
arrested at Northampton, had quitted Westminster Palace and gone into
the adjoining sanctuary. Here. Rotherham, Archbishop of York, who had
been Lord Chancellor at the death of Edward the fourth,
brought her the Great Seal of England as a guarantee
(05:50):
that nothing should be done against the interest of her son.
This act was a grave official misdemeanor, which he had
soon caused to repent, for the office of Chancellor was
taken from him, and as censure was passed upon him
by the Council for letting the Seal go out of
his custody. The Queen's influence, which had been so great
(06:13):
during the reign of her husband, was now completely at
an end, and the old nobility rejoiced at having got
rid of her ascendancy a revolution, as Lord Hastings triumphantly
remarked that had cost no more blood than a cut finger.
Hastings indeed had been a principal cause of this change,
(06:35):
but notwithstanding his open boast, he seems very soon to
have repented it, and held meetings with the Queen's friends
at Saint Paul's to consider how to get the king
out of Richard's power. Richard, at the same time held
meetings with his supporters at Crosbie's Place in Bishopsgate Street,
(06:55):
where he then resided. At last, at a council held
within the tower. He caused Hastings suddenly to be arrested,
and immediately after beheaded on Tower Green Morton, Bishop of Ely,
and Archbishop Rotherham were also placed in confinement. The Dukes
(07:16):
of Gloucester and Buckingham then sent for the principal citizens, and,
appearing before them in rusty armor which they had suddenly
put on, explained that they had only that morning heard
of a conspiracy formed against them by Hastings and others,
who would have killed the Protector and taken the government
into their own hands. This sudden execution of one who
(07:40):
to outward appearance had been all along most friendly to
the two dukes against whom he was said to have
conspired occasioned general astonishment. The act was certainly quite illegal,
and it is hard to see how it could have
been necessary, even in self defense. Read by the light
of subsequent events, it seems to admit only of one
(08:03):
interpretation that Richard was at this time plotting his own
elevation to the throne, and, finding that Hastings could not
be relied on to second his designs, had determined to
remove him. But an impression does seem to have been conveyed,
which is stated as his simple fact in a history
(08:24):
written many years after that Richard, on this occasion only
anticipated violence by equally high handed measures of his own.
The view, however, which has obtained most general currency, is
derived from a very graphic account of the scene in
the council chamber written by Sir Thomas Moore, who unquestionably
(08:47):
obtained his information from Cardinal Morton, at that time Bishop
of Ely, one of the persons then arrested by the protector.
According to this narrative, the blow which fell upon haste
Things altogether took him by surprise. The story is in
brief as follows. The Protector made his appearance in the
(09:09):
council chamber about nine o'clock in the morning. His manner
was gracious. He blamed his own laziness for not coming earlier,
and turning to Morton, Bishop of Ely, said, my lord,
you have very good strawberries in your garden at Holborn.
I pray you let us have a mess of them.
(09:30):
After this, having opened the business of the council and
engaged the lords in conversation, he took leave of them
for a time. Between ten and eleven o'clock he returned.
His manner was altogether altered, and as he took his
seat he frowned on the assembly and bit his lips.
After a pause, he asked what punishment they deserved who
(09:54):
had conspired against the life of one so nearly related
to the king as himself and trusted with the government
of the kingdom. The council was dumbfounded, but Hastings, presuming
on his familiarity with the Protectors, said they deserved the
punishment of traitors. That sorceress my brother's wife, exclaimed Richard
(10:17):
and others with her, see how they have wasted my
body by their sorcery and witchcraft, and as he spoke,
he barred his left arm and showed it to the council,
shrunk and withered, as it always had been. He added
that one of the accomplices of the Queen Dowager in
this business was Jane Shore, who had been one of
(10:39):
the mistresses of the late King, her husband, and since
his death, had become the mistress of Hastings. The accusation
against the Queen Dowager, we are told, was not at
all displeasing to Hastings, who regarded her with deadly hatred.
But when the Protector mentioned the name of Shore's wife,
(10:59):
he felt very differently. He, however, ventured to reply, certainly,
my lords, if they have done so heinously, they are
worthy of heinous punishment. What exclaimed Richard, dost thou serve
me with ifs and ANNs. I tell thee they have
done it, and that I will make good on thy
(11:20):
body Trader. On this he struck his fist upon the
council table with great force. Armed men rushed in crying treason.
Hastings and some others, including Morton, were arrested, and Lord
Stanley had a blow aimed at his head with a
pole axe. Richard then bade Hastings instantly prepare for death,
(11:42):
swearing by Saint Paul that he would not die till
he had seen his head off. He accordingly made his
confession to the first priest that could be found. A
log of timber, intended for some repairs in the tower,
served the purpose of a block, and before noon his
head was severed from his body. In what manner Jane
(12:04):
Shore had incurred the protector's displeasure, it is difficult to understand.
Richard accused her of witchcraft and of being an accomplice
of Hastings in a scheme for his destruction, on which
charges he sent her to prison and stripped her of
almost all her property. After a time, however, he handed
her over to the Bishop of London to inflict spiritual
(12:28):
punishment upon her as an unchased woman, and she was
compelled to do open penance one Sunday, going through the
streets in her kerdel with a taper in her hand.
The exhibition, however, excited the compassion of the spectators, who
looked upon her punishment as due only to malice and
not to any real desire on Richard's part to promote
(12:49):
public morality. Three days before the execution of Hastings, the
Protector had written to the City of York desiring a
force to be sent up a meetingedeately to London to
counteract the designs of the Queen Dowager and her friends,
whom he accused of conspiring against him and Buckingham and
(13:09):
attempting the ruin of the old nobility. Some hasty levies
arrived in consequence in the course of a week or
ten days, and were mustered in more fields. Others were
also sent into the North for the execution of Rivers,
Lord Richard Gray and two other gentlemen who had been
arrested in accompanying the King up to London. Meanwhile, Richard
(13:32):
persuaded the Council that his nephew, Richard, Duke of York,
who was with the Queen his mother in sanctuary, should
be sent for to take up his residence with the
King his brother. A deputation headed by Cardinal Bourscher, Archbishop
of Canterbury, was accordingly sent to the Queen, and she
(13:52):
delivered the lad into their hands. A letter written a
few days after says that he was received by Richard
at the star chamber door with many loving words. He
was conducted by the Cardinal to the tower, and was
treated with all the honor that became his birth. But
neither he nor the king his brother ever left the
(14:13):
tower again. On Sunday, June twenty second, the citizens of
London were astonished by his sermon, delivered at Paul's Cross,
a little open air pulpit which stood at the northeast
corner of Saint Paul's churchyard. Here preachers of distinction often
addressed the people on public questions, but the boldness of
the preacher on this occasion was quite unprecedented. He was
(14:37):
a man of considerable reputation by name Doctor Shaw. His
text was taken from the Book of Wisdom, Chapter four,
verse three, Bastard's slips shall not take deep root, and
the whole line of his argument was to show that
the children of King Edward the fourth were illegitimate. From
(14:57):
this it was inferred that the true right to the
crown was in the person of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who,
having arranged to be present during the discourse, was made
the object of a special compliment. The people, however, listened
in mute astonishment, and the preacher seems to have gained
little credit for an act which was clearly that of
(15:18):
a sycophant. Nevertheless, on the Tuesday following, at a meeting
of the Common Council of the City of London in
the Guildhall, a message was received from the Protector, through
the medium of the Duke of Buckingham and other lords,
as to the claim advanced by him to the Crown. Buckingham,
who spoke with remarkable ability, entered into a statement from
(15:42):
which he drew the conclusion that the title of the
Duke of Gloucester was preferable to that of his nephew Edward.
And although we are told by a city chronicler that
the matter of his address was not so much admired
as the eloquence with which it was delivered, the Mayor
and the Alderman certainly proceeded to act upon the information
(16:02):
thus given them. A parliament had been summoned to meet
on the following day, and it is certain that a
meeting of lords and commons actually took place, though owing
to some informality, it was not afterwards regarded as a
true parliament. In this assembly, however, the question of Richard's
title was brought forward, and the facts were stated to
(16:24):
be as follows. The marriage of Edward the fourth with
Elizabeth Woodville had been invalid from the first not only
had it been brought about by sorcery and witchcraft. This
was gravely alleged in an Act of Parliament. But at
the very time it took place, Edward was under a
pre contract to marry a certain lady Eleanor Talbot, daughter
(16:47):
of the Earl of Shrewsbury and widow of Lord Butler,
and this, according to the canon Law, made his marriage
to Elizabeth Woodville void. Moreover, the Duke of Clarence had
been a tea painted by Parliament so that none of
his children could inherit. Thus Richard was the only true
heir of his father, Richard, Duke of York and of
(17:09):
the Crown of England, and he was desired by the
lord's spiritual and temporal and the Commons then assembled to
assume that to which he was entitled. A deputation consisting
of a number of the lords and some of the
principal Knights, joined by the Mayor and aldermen and chief
citizens of London, then waited on Richard at Baynard's Castle,
(17:32):
the residence of his mother, the Duchess of York and
presented the petition. Richard intimated his acceptance, and next morning,
accompanied by a great number of the nobility, proceeded in
state to Westminster Hall, and afterwards to the abbey and
Saint Paul's. From that day he began to reign as
(17:54):
king by the name of Richard the third n of
Section thirty eight
Section thirty eight of the Houses of Lancaster and York
by James Gardner. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain,
read by Pamelinagami, Chapter nine. Edward the fifth Edward, the
son and heir of the deceased king, was at Ludlow
(00:21):
on the borders of Wales when his father died. He
had been sent thither as Prince of Wales to hold
a court and keep the country in good order, for
which purpose a council had been assigned to him, consisting
originally of his uncles, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester,
his maternal uncle Anthony Earl Rivers, Lord Hastings, and several others.
(00:47):
But the Duke of Clarence was dead, the Duke of
Gloucester in the North, and Lord Hastings in London, so
that when young Edward, who was only in his thirteenth year,
received the news of his own accession to the throne,
he was surrounded principally by his mother's relations. Now, it
(01:07):
was most unfortunate for the young king himself that both
his mother and her kinsfolk were looked upon with dislike
and jealousy by the old nobility. The Woodvilles had always
been regarded as upstarts, but under the reign of the
late King, no loyal subject could say anything against them.
(01:28):
The council in London, however, were of opinion that it
would be advisable to remove the new king entirely from
the influence of his maternal relatives, and though the Queen
Dowager desired that he should be brought up to London
with as large an escort as possible, the lords could
not be persuaded to sanction a stronger retinue than was
(01:51):
needed for his personal safety. Lord Hastings, who was governor
of Calais, took alarm and talked of departing immediately across
the sea. The Queen's friends were obliged to give assurances
that no large force should come up, and orders were
sent down to Ludlow that the company should on no
(02:12):
account exceed two thousand horse. On his death bed, the
late king had bequeathed the care of the young prince
and his kingdom, more especially to his brother, Richard, Duke
of Gloucester. When therefore tidings of Edward's death were sent
into the North, Richard at once set out for London.
(02:33):
He reached Northampton on April twenty ninth, and found that
the Young King had been there that day before him,
and had passed on to Stony Stratford, ten miles further on.
He was met, however, by the young King's uncle and
half brother, the Earl Rivers and Lord Richard Gray, who
had ridden back to pay their respects to him and
(02:54):
Edward's name. Henry, Duke of Buckingham, also joined the party. He,
it is said, had been already in communication with Gloucester.
With apparent cordiality, all sat down together to supper, but
after the retirement of Rivers and Gray, the two dukes
held a consultation, the result of which was that early
(03:16):
next morning they caused their guests to be arrested and
pushed on to Stony Stratford. Before the royal party had
time to get away, they obtained an audience of the
young King, and in his presence accused his uncle Rivers
and his two half brothers, the Marquess of Dorset and
Lord Richard Gray, of a design to usurp the government
(03:39):
and oppress the old nobility. Dorset, it seems, who was
constable of the Tower, had taken supplies of arms and
money out of that fortress and fitted out a small fleet,
while Rivers and Lord Richard Gray had shown a most
suspicious haste in bringing Young Edward up to London. The
(04:00):
poor lad could not believe these accusations and burst into
tears on hearing them. The two dukes, however, caused Rivers
and Gray, with two other gentlemen of his household, to
be sent in custody into Yorkshire, where, after being confined
for nearly two months in different places, they were ultimately
(04:21):
beheaded at Pumfort. Meanwhile, the young King continued his journey
to London and the company of his uncle Gloucester and
the Duke of Buckingham. Alarm had been at first created
in the city by the news of the arrests made
at Northampton, but the fact became known that large quantities
of armor and weapons were found among the baggage of
(04:44):
Rivers and the King's attendants, and this discovery produced an
impression that their imprisonment was perfectly justified. The mayor and
citizens accordingly met the young King and his uncle at
Hornsea Park and conducted him into the city. They entered
it on May fourth, fourteen eighty three, a day that
(05:06):
had been originally set apart for Edward's coronation, that ceremony
was now deferred till June twenty second. Meanwhile, the Duke
of Gloucester was declared protector of the young King and
his kingdom, and the Parliament was summoned to assemble three
days after the coronation. But the Queen mother Elizabeth Woodville,
(05:29):
on hearing that her brother and her son had been
arrested at Northampton, had quitted Westminster Palace and gone into
the adjoining sanctuary. Here. Rotherham, Archbishop of York, who had
been Lord Chancellor at the death of Edward the fourth,
brought her the Great Seal of England as a guarantee
(05:50):
that nothing should be done against the interest of her son.
This act was a grave official misdemeanor, which he had
soon caused to repent, for the office of Chancellor was
taken from him, and as censure was passed upon him
by the Council for letting the Seal go out of
his custody. The Queen's influence, which had been so great
(06:13):
during the reign of her husband, was now completely at
an end, and the old nobility rejoiced at having got
rid of her ascendancy a revolution, as Lord Hastings triumphantly
remarked that had cost no more blood than a cut finger.
Hastings indeed had been a principal cause of this change,
(06:35):
but notwithstanding his open boast, he seems very soon to
have repented it, and held meetings with the Queen's friends
at Saint Paul's to consider how to get the king
out of Richard's power. Richard, at the same time held
meetings with his supporters at Crosbie's Place in Bishopsgate Street,
(06:55):
where he then resided. At last, at a council held
within the tower. He caused Hastings suddenly to be arrested,
and immediately after beheaded on Tower Green Morton, Bishop of Ely,
and Archbishop Rotherham were also placed in confinement. The Dukes
(07:16):
of Gloucester and Buckingham then sent for the principal citizens, and,
appearing before them in rusty armor which they had suddenly
put on, explained that they had only that morning heard
of a conspiracy formed against them by Hastings and others,
who would have killed the Protector and taken the government
into their own hands. This sudden execution of one who
(07:40):
to outward appearance had been all along most friendly to
the two dukes against whom he was said to have
conspired occasioned general astonishment. The act was certainly quite illegal,
and it is hard to see how it could have
been necessary, even in self defense. Read by the light
of subsequent events, it seems to admit only of one
(08:03):
interpretation that Richard was at this time plotting his own
elevation to the throne, and, finding that Hastings could not
be relied on to second his designs, had determined to
remove him. But an impression does seem to have been conveyed,
which is stated as his simple fact in a history
(08:24):
written many years after that Richard, on this occasion only
anticipated violence by equally high handed measures of his own.
The view, however, which has obtained most general currency, is
derived from a very graphic account of the scene in
the council chamber written by Sir Thomas Moore, who unquestionably
(08:47):
obtained his information from Cardinal Morton, at that time Bishop
of Ely, one of the persons then arrested by the protector.
According to this narrative, the blow which fell upon haste
Things altogether took him by surprise. The story is in
brief as follows. The Protector made his appearance in the
(09:09):
council chamber about nine o'clock in the morning. His manner
was gracious. He blamed his own laziness for not coming earlier,
and turning to Morton, Bishop of Ely, said, my lord,
you have very good strawberries in your garden at Holborn.
I pray you let us have a mess of them.
(09:30):
After this, having opened the business of the council and
engaged the lords in conversation, he took leave of them
for a time. Between ten and eleven o'clock he returned.
His manner was altogether altered, and as he took his
seat he frowned on the assembly and bit his lips.
After a pause, he asked what punishment they deserved who
(09:54):
had conspired against the life of one so nearly related
to the king as himself and trusted with the government
of the kingdom. The council was dumbfounded, but Hastings, presuming
on his familiarity with the Protectors, said they deserved the
punishment of traitors. That sorceress my brother's wife, exclaimed Richard
(10:17):
and others with her, see how they have wasted my
body by their sorcery and witchcraft, and as he spoke,
he barred his left arm and showed it to the council,
shrunk and withered, as it always had been. He added
that one of the accomplices of the Queen Dowager in
this business was Jane Shore, who had been one of
(10:39):
the mistresses of the late King, her husband, and since
his death, had become the mistress of Hastings. The accusation
against the Queen Dowager, we are told, was not at
all displeasing to Hastings, who regarded her with deadly hatred.
But when the Protector mentioned the name of Shore's wife,
(10:59):
he felt very differently. He, however, ventured to reply, certainly,
my lords, if they have done so heinously, they are
worthy of heinous punishment. What exclaimed Richard, dost thou serve
me with ifs and ANNs. I tell thee they have
done it, and that I will make good on thy
(11:20):
body Trader. On this he struck his fist upon the
council table with great force. Armed men rushed in crying treason.
Hastings and some others, including Morton, were arrested, and Lord
Stanley had a blow aimed at his head with a
pole axe. Richard then bade Hastings instantly prepare for death,
(11:42):
swearing by Saint Paul that he would not die till
he had seen his head off. He accordingly made his
confession to the first priest that could be found. A
log of timber, intended for some repairs in the tower,
served the purpose of a block, and before noon his
head was severed from his body. In what manner Jane
(12:04):
Shore had incurred the protector's displeasure, it is difficult to understand.
Richard accused her of witchcraft and of being an accomplice
of Hastings in a scheme for his destruction, on which
charges he sent her to prison and stripped her of
almost all her property. After a time, however, he handed
her over to the Bishop of London to inflict spiritual
(12:28):
punishment upon her as an unchased woman, and she was
compelled to do open penance one Sunday, going through the
streets in her kerdel with a taper in her hand.
The exhibition, however, excited the compassion of the spectators, who
looked upon her punishment as due only to malice and
not to any real desire on Richard's part to promote
(12:49):
public morality. Three days before the execution of Hastings, the
Protector had written to the City of York desiring a
force to be sent up a meetingedeately to London to
counteract the designs of the Queen Dowager and her friends,
whom he accused of conspiring against him and Buckingham and
(13:09):
attempting the ruin of the old nobility. Some hasty levies
arrived in consequence in the course of a week or
ten days, and were mustered in more fields. Others were
also sent into the North for the execution of Rivers,
Lord Richard Gray and two other gentlemen who had been
arrested in accompanying the King up to London. Meanwhile, Richard
(13:32):
persuaded the Council that his nephew, Richard, Duke of York,
who was with the Queen his mother in sanctuary, should
be sent for to take up his residence with the
King his brother. A deputation headed by Cardinal Bourscher, Archbishop
of Canterbury, was accordingly sent to the Queen, and she
(13:52):
delivered the lad into their hands. A letter written a
few days after says that he was received by Richard
at the star chamber door with many loving words. He
was conducted by the Cardinal to the tower, and was
treated with all the honor that became his birth. But
neither he nor the king his brother ever left the
(14:13):
tower again. On Sunday, June twenty second, the citizens of
London were astonished by his sermon, delivered at Paul's Cross,
a little open air pulpit which stood at the northeast
corner of Saint Paul's churchyard. Here preachers of distinction often
addressed the people on public questions, but the boldness of
the preacher on this occasion was quite unprecedented. He was
(14:37):
a man of considerable reputation by name Doctor Shaw. His
text was taken from the Book of Wisdom, Chapter four,
verse three, Bastard's slips shall not take deep root, and
the whole line of his argument was to show that
the children of King Edward the fourth were illegitimate. From
(14:57):
this it was inferred that the true right to the
crown was in the person of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who,
having arranged to be present during the discourse, was made
the object of a special compliment. The people, however, listened
in mute astonishment, and the preacher seems to have gained
little credit for an act which was clearly that of
(15:18):
a sycophant. Nevertheless, on the Tuesday following, at a meeting
of the Common Council of the City of London in
the Guildhall, a message was received from the Protector, through
the medium of the Duke of Buckingham and other lords,
as to the claim advanced by him to the Crown. Buckingham,
who spoke with remarkable ability, entered into a statement from
(15:42):
which he drew the conclusion that the title of the
Duke of Gloucester was preferable to that of his nephew Edward.
And although we are told by a city chronicler that
the matter of his address was not so much admired
as the eloquence with which it was delivered, the Mayor
and the Alderman certainly proceeded to act upon the information
(16:02):
thus given them. A parliament had been summoned to meet
on the following day, and it is certain that a
meeting of lords and commons actually took place, though owing
to some informality, it was not afterwards regarded as a
true parliament. In this assembly, however, the question of Richard's
title was brought forward, and the facts were stated to
(16:24):
be as follows. The marriage of Edward the fourth with
Elizabeth Woodville had been invalid from the first not only
had it been brought about by sorcery and witchcraft. This
was gravely alleged in an Act of Parliament. But at
the very time it took place, Edward was under a
pre contract to marry a certain lady Eleanor Talbot, daughter
(16:47):
of the Earl of Shrewsbury and widow of Lord Butler,
and this, according to the canon Law, made his marriage
to Elizabeth Woodville void. Moreover, the Duke of Clarence had
been a tea painted by Parliament so that none of
his children could inherit. Thus Richard was the only true
heir of his father, Richard, Duke of York and of
(17:09):
the Crown of England, and he was desired by the
lord's spiritual and temporal and the Commons then assembled to
assume that to which he was entitled. A deputation consisting
of a number of the lords and some of the
principal Knights, joined by the Mayor and aldermen and chief
citizens of London, then waited on Richard at Baynard's Castle,
(17:32):
the residence of his mother, the Duchess of York and
presented the petition. Richard intimated his acceptance, and next morning,
accompanied by a great number of the nobility, proceeded in
state to Westminster Hall, and afterwards to the abbey and
Saint Paul's. From that day he began to reign as
(17:54):
king by the name of Richard the third n of
Section thirty eight
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