40 - Houses of Lancaster and York with the Conquest and Loss of France by James Gairdner

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.)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section forty of the Houses of Lancaster and York by
James Girdner. This librovox recording is in the public domain.
Read by Pamela and Agami, Chapter ten, Part two, The
Rebellion of Buckingham. The news of the murder excited throughout
the country's strong feelings of grief and indignation. But to

(00:23):
those implicated in the conspiracy for the liberation of the princes,
it was more especially alarming. A new object, however, was
presently supplied to them, the male issue of Edward the
fourth being now extinct. A project was formed for marrying
his eldest daughter Elizabeth to Henry, Earl of Richmond, a

(00:45):
refugee in Brittany, who was regarded as the head of
the deposed House of Lancaster and Buckingham wrote to the
Earl to cross the seas while he and others in
England should make an insurrection in his favor. Now it
is true the direct male line of the House of
Lancaster died with King Henry the sixth, but this Earl

(01:09):
of Richmond was descended from John of Gaunt through his
mother Margaret Beaufort, in the manner shown in the subjoined pedigree.
He was also, by the father's side a nephew of
Henry the sixth, but this relationship, it will be seen,
gave him no claim to the crown. On the other hand,

(01:30):
his claim through the Beauforts was a little doubtful, as
John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, the first of the line,
was born before the marriage of his father, John of
Gaunt with his mother Katherine Swinford. The Beauforts, it is true,
had been made legitimate by an Act of Parliament, but

(01:51):
there was still some question whether they were not excluded
from the crown. Richmond, however, was undoubtedly, after the death
of Henry, the most direct representative of the line of
John of Gaunt, and had been carried over to Brittany
by his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, soon after the
final overthrow of the Lancastrians at Tewksbury. Now it will

(02:15):
be seen that the Duke of Buckingham was also descended
from the Beauforts, and it is said that, owing to
this fact, he had thought at one time of laying
claim to the crown himself. It is also supposed that
he had received a private disappointment from King Richard, which
had done much to cool the friendship he had hitherto

(02:38):
entertained towards him. But he was further greatly influenced by
some conversations that he held with Morton, Bishop of Ely,
whom Richard had delivered to his custody after his succession,
and whom he kept as a prisoner at Brecknook. Morton
very soon discovered his disaffection toward King Richard and ed

(03:00):
him gradually into the design of calling over the Earl
of Richmond from Brittany and marrying him to the Princess Elizabeth.
This project was communicated to the Countess of Richmond, the
Earl's mother, and to the Queen Dowager, by both of
whom it was warmly approved. The Marquess of Dorset and

(03:21):
others of the Woodville Party arranged with Buckingham a number
of simultaneous risings to take place on October eighteenth, fourteen
eighty three in the south and west of England, and
the Earl of Richmond was expected at the same time
to land on the southern coast and lead the movement
in person on the day appointed accordingly, the partisans of

(03:45):
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond took up arms under different
leaders in Kent, in Berkshire, at Salisbury and at Exeter.
The Duke of Buckingham also took the field that day
at Brecknook. The King seems to have been nearly taken
by surprise, but the news of the intended outbreak had
reached him a week before it took place. At Lincoln,

(04:09):
he wrote in great haste to his Chancellor to bring
or send immediately the Great Seal, in order that he
might make out commissions of array. Hastening southwards. He received
it at Grantum on the nineteenth. Commissions were immediately sent
out to levy troops in the King's name, and a
singular proclamation was issued on the twenty third, endeavoring to

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excite public indignation against his opponents, as men of immoral lives, who,
despising the general pardon issued by the King for political offenses,
were leagued together for the maintenance of vice and the
indulgence of unlawful pleasures. The marquess off doorsed it, it seems, had,
since the death of Hastings, taken Jane Shore into his keeping, and,

(04:57):
according to this proclamation, had been guilty of many other
acts of immorality. Great rewards were offered by this proclamation
for the capture of Buckingham, Dorset, and the bishops of
Ely and Salisbury. For Bishop Morton, it should be mentioned,
after his conversations with Buckingham, had contrived to make his

(05:19):
escape from Brecknook into the Isle of Ely, and soon
after got beyond sea. The Bishop of Salisbury was a
brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. One thousand pounds in money
or an estate in land worth one hundred pounds a year,
was the price set upon the head of Buckingham. Such

(05:41):
an amount was probably equal in value to about twelve
thousand pounds in modern money or twelve hundred pounds a
year in land. For the others, the sums offered were
not quite so large. Buckingham had boasted that he had
as many liveries of the Stafford, not as Warwick the
kingmaker had, of his cognizance the bear and ragged staff.

(06:06):
But however numerous the forces he could bring into the field,
he was utterly unable to make use of them. Two
gentlemen named Thomas Vaughan and Humphrey Stafford watched the roads
about Brecknook to prevent his leaving whales and destroyed all
the bridges across the Severn. Heavy rains then swelled the

(06:26):
rivers and made a passage utterly impracticable. A great part
of the land was flooded. Provisions were not to be obtained,
and the men of Buckingham disbanded. The Duke himself retired
into Shropshire and took refuge with one of his retainers
named Ralph Banister, who, tempted by the great reward offered

(06:48):
for his apprehension, delivered him up to the sheriff of
the county. Richard, meanwhile, had been collecting forces and advancing
toward the west of England. Buckingham, on his capture, was
brought to him at Salisbury, and the King gave orders
for his instant execution. Richard acted wisely in refusing him

(07:10):
an interview for which he made urgent request for. It
seems to have been well known afterwards that he intended
to have stabbed him to the heart. The capture and
death of Buckingham completely put an end to the rebellion.
Dorset and some of the other leaders at once abandoned
all hope of resistance and fled to Brittany. A few

(07:32):
others were taken and executed, among the rest Sir Thomas
Saint Leger, who had married the Duchess of Exeter, the
King's sister, but the common people were spared. The Earl
of Richmond set sail from Brittany, but met with a
storm in mid channel, which dispersed his ships, and though
his own vessel neared the coast at Pool and at Plymouth,

(07:55):
he could obtain no satisfactory assurance of a friendly reception
on land. He therefore hoisted sail and recrossed the sea.
End of Section forty