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Richard III

Page 53

by Chris Skidmore


  56 Chronicles of London, ed. Kingsford, pp. 192–3.

  57 CC, p. 177.

  58 TNA, PSO1/60/3116.

  59 BL, Har 433 II, p. 222. 12 May 1485.

  60 BL, Har MS 787, fo. 2r.

  61 PL, vol. VI, pp. 81–4.

  62 BL, Har MS 433 II, pp. 228–9.

  63 CLRO, Journal IX, fo. 78v.

  64 Lyell and Watney (eds.), Acts of Court, p. 180.

  65 CLRO, Journal IX, fos. 81v–82r.

  66 Foedera, ed. Rymer, vol. XII, pp. 271–2.

  67 CCR, 1476–1485, nos. 1454, 1457, 1458.

  20. ‘INTENDING OUR UTTER DESTRUCTION’

  1 Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 83.

  2 ‘Y mae hiraeth am Harri /Y mae gobaith I’n hiaith ni’: H. T. Evans, Wales and the Wars of the Roses, Stroud, 1995, pp. 218–23.

  3 CC, p. 177; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 157. Richard was informed that a messenger sent by Richard Williams, the constable of Pembroke Castle, had arrived at his court. He had ridden uninterrupted throughout the day and night, using post horses stationed along the way to make his 150-mile journey from Pembroke to Nottingham. The messenger brought news from his master that Richard had been expecting. Henry Tudor had landed, he informed the king, at Angle, on the eastern side of Milford Haven. Williams’s information was evidently wrong, though it can be explained by the fact that Angle was the first in a network of beacons established to signal the alarm of Tudor’s arrival that, once lit, triggered off a chain of further beacons being lit along the Haven, until the news had reached Pembroke Castle itself. Williams was not to know that Tudor had in fact landed on the western side of the Haven; nor was the official who had been given the task of lighting the beacon at St Anne’s Head, near Dale, for Tudor’s forces had chosen the site of their landing at Mill Bay well, it being obscured from view and from any guards on duty. Perhaps the flotilla of ships floating into the harbour had been spotted first, triggering the beacon at Angle to be lit first; nevertheless it would prove a crucial piece of misinformation, leading Richard to believe that Tudor was cut off in the southern region of the Haven. This might explain the accounts of Richard’s initial reaction to Tudor’s landing. O. D. Harris, ‘The Transmission of the News of the Tudor Landing’, The Ricardian, vol. 4, no. 55 (1976).

  4 CC, pp. 177–9.

  5 HMC, 12th Report, Rutland MSS I (1888), p. 7.

  6 TNA, C82/5.

  7 PL, vol. III, p. 320.; TNA, PROB11/8, fos. 17d–18; CIPM, Henry VII, I, pp. 13–14.

  8 Molinet, Chroniques, p. 407: ‘il avoit donne sept cents livres sterlins a un riche nomme Thomas pour lever gens d’armes; et se debvoit trouver avecs le seigneur de Herbat et aultres, pour resister a la descente; mais ils firent le contraire’.

  9 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 232r.

  10 Molinet, Chroniques, p. 407: ‘Le roy Richard se vouloit joindre avecq les seigneurs d’Angleterre, pour ester a la descente, mais ils lui manderent: “Ne vous bougez, nous ferons bien.”‘

  11 GC, p. 237.

  12 YCR, I, pp. 117–18; YCA House Books 2/4 fos. 169–169v.

  13 YCR, pp. 117–18.

  14 When John Nicholson returned to report back on 19 August, it was resolved that the city would send just eighty men ‘defensibly arrayed’ with John Hastings, gentleman to the Mace, acting as captain, and ‘should in all haste possible depart towards the King’s grace for the subduing of his enemies foresaid’. Each soldier was to be paid twelve pence a day in wages for only ten days, totalling ten shillings each. The council resolved that they should meet at two o’clock that same afternoon at the Guildhall to appoint persons to ‘take wages’. Finally, the next day, men from York set out on the 120-mile journey to the king’s court at Nottingham. Few could doubt their loyalty: on 20 August 1485, the Yorkshire squire Robert Morton of Bawtry made his will, in which he stated proudly he was ‘going to maintain our most excellent king Richard III against the rebellion raised against him in this land’. Unfortunately, Morton and his Yorkshire contingent had left their departure far too late to reach Richard’s forces in time.

  15 CCR, 1476–1485, nos. 1454, 1457, 1458.

  16 CC, p. 179.

  17 Ibid.

  18 Ibid.; Jones, Bosworth 1485, pp. 57–8.

  19 CC, p. 179.

  20 Ibid.

  21 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 232r.

  22 CC, p. 179; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, pp. 157–8.

  23 GC, pp. 237–8.

  24 The History of the Gwydir Family, Written by Sir John Wynn, ed. J. Ballinger, Cardiff, 1927, p. 28.

  25 G. Grazebrook, ‘An Unpublished Letter by Henry Earl of Richmond’, Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 4th Series, vol. V (1914), pp. 30–39; Horrox, ‘Henry Tudor’s Letters’, 1983 pp. 155–8.

  26 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 231r.

  27 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 232v.

  28 Great Chronicle, ed. Thomas and Thornley, pp. 237–8; see also Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 232r.

  29 CC, pp. 179–81.

  30 Ibid., p. 179.

  31 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 232v.

  32 Halle, Union of the Two Noble and Illustrious Families, fos. 29d–35; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 169.

  33 RP, vol. I, p. 328.

  21. ‘AN END EITHER OF WARS OR OF HIS LIFE’

  1 CC, p. 181; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 157.

  2 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 233r.

  3 BL, Additional MS 12,060, fo. 19v–20r.

  4 CC, p. 181. Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, pp. 157–8.

  5 W. Hutton, The Battle of Bosworth Field, London, 1813, p. 128.

  6 Ibid., pp. 128–9.

  7 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 234r.

  8 Ibid., fo. 232v.

  9 Ibid., fo. 233v.

  10 ‘il voult ester a pye au milieu de nous’. A. Spont, ‘La malice des francs-archers (1448–1500)’, Revue des questions historiques, vol. 59 (1897), p. 474.

  11 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 234r.

  12 Ibid.

  13 Hutton, Battle of Bosworth Field, p. 129.

  14 G. Doutrepont and O. Jodogne (eds.), Chroniques de Jean Molinet, Brussels, 1935–7, vol. I, pp. 434–6; Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 234r.

  15 Ibid., fo. 234v.

  16 Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 161; translation of G. Doutrepont and O. Jodogne (eds.), Chroniques de Jean Molinet, Brussels, 1935–7, vol. I, pp. 434–6.

  17 BL, Har MS 367, fos. 89–100, printed in Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript, vol. III, pp. 319–63.

  18 CC, p. 181.

  19 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fos. 234r–234v.

  20 CC, p. 183; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 158.

  21 Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 161.

  22 The Chronicle of Fabyan, London, 1559, pp. 519–20; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 163.

  23 Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 160. See text in E. Nokes and G. Wheeler, ‘A Spanish Account of the Battle of Bosworth’, The Ricardian, vol. 2, no. 36 (1972), pp. 1–5. A later Scottish chronicle, written by Robert Lindsay of Pittscottie, but drawing heavily on the oral tradition of Scottish warriors present at the battle, similarly described how Richard’s forces ‘that should have opposed’ the march of Tudor’s army ‘gave them place and let them go by’, while ‘themselves turned around and faced King Richard as if they had been his enemies’. Mackay (ed.), Historie and Chronicles of Scotland …, pp. 190–99; Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 162.

  24 Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 160.

  25 Tudor had previously sought Northumberland’s support when he had sent Christopher Urswick on a mission to England earlier in the year; while Urswick was supposedly unable to make contact with Northumberland; nevertheless the earl and Tudor had been childhood acquaintances, growing up at Raglan Castle together at the court of William Herbert, earl of Pembroke. Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 230r.

  26 Ibid., fo. 235r.

  27 Salazar’s pleas for Richard to flee that battle can be compared to the prose accou
nt of ‘Richard the Third, his Deathe, which records how an unnamed knight requests that Richard depart the battlefield before it is too late, to which Richard replies: ‘Bring me my battle axe in my hand, and set the crown of gold on my head so high; for by him that shape both sea and sand, King of England this day will I die.’ BL, Har MS 542, fo. 34.

  28 CC, p. 181.

  29 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 235r.

  30 Ibid., fo. 234v.

  31 Riley (ed.), Ingulph’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland, p. 504.

  32 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fo. 234v.

  33 Ibid.

  34 Ibid.

  35 Hutton, Battle of Bosworth Field, p. 129.

  36 Ibid., p. 129.

  37 Molinet, Chroniques, p. 409: ‘mais quand il vit ceste desconfiture et se trouva seul sur le camp, il cuida courre après les autres’.

  38 Ibid., p. 409: ‘son cheval saulta en un palud duquel ne se povoit ravoir; et lors fut approche d’un de ceulx de Galles’.

  39 CC, p. 183.

  40 ‘Lladd y baedd, eilliodd ei ben’; R. Griffith, Sir Rhys ap Thomas and His Family: A Study in the Wars of the Roses and Early Tudor Politics, Cardiff, 1993, p. 43.

  41 CC, p. 183.

  42 Hanham, Richard III and His Early Historians, p. 123.

  43 Vatican, MS Urbs Lat 498, fos. 234v–235r.

  EPILOGUE: ‘HIS FAME IS DARKENED’

  1 CC, p. 183.

  2 Great Chronicle, ed. Thomas and Thornley, pp. 237–8.

  3 York City Archives, House Book B2-4, fo. 169v.

  4 D. T. Williams, The Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485, 1975, p. 49.

  5 Vergil; Vatican, MS Urbs Lat, fo. 235r: ‘Iterim corpus Ricardi omnibus indumentis nudatum ac dorso equi resupinum impositum una ex parte equi capite cum brachiis et ex altera tibiis pendentibus Leycestram deportatur’. For Molinet, see Bennett, Battle of Bosworth, p. 161. CC, p. 183.

  6 GC, pp. 237–8.

  7 BL, Additional MS 7099, fo. 129; TNA, C1/206/69; W. Burton, The Description of Leicester Shire (1622), p. 163; D. Baldwin, ‘King Richard’s Grave in Leicester’, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, lx (1986), pp. 21–4.

  8 Tudor-Craig, Richard III, p. 95.

  9 YCA, B6, fo. 23r; YCR, vol. I, p. 160.

  10 Hanham, Richard III and His Early Historians, pp. 118–24; BL, Additional MS 48,976; C. Ross, The Rous Roll, Gloucester, 1980.

  11 GC, p. 238.

  12 CC, p. 185.

  13 Ibid., p. 189.

  14 Ibid., p. 191.

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Act of Attainder

  Albany, Alexander, duke of

  Allington, William

  Anglia Historica (Vergil)

  Anne Neville, Queen

  and coronation

  and death

  and flight

  Anne of Beaujeu

  Argentine, John

  Arras, treaty of

  Arundel, Sir Thomas

  Arundel, William, earl of

  Ashton, Sir Ralph

  Audley, John, Lord

  Baker, Matthew

  Bannister, Ralph

  Barnet, battle of

  Barowe, Thomas

  Basin, Thomas

  Baynard’s Castle

  Beauchamp, Anne

  Beauchamp, Richard

  Beaufort, Margaret

  Bedford, George Neville, duke of

  Beja, Manuel, duke of

  Bell, Richard

  Berkeley, Edward

  Berkeley, William, Lord

  and rebellion

  Berkeley of Beverstone, Sir William

  Berners, John, Lord

  Bigod, Ralph

  Blake, Thomas

  Blamehall, John

  Blore Heath, battle of

  Blount, Sir James

  Bolman, Robert

  Bolton, William

  Bonville, Cecily

  Book of Hours

  Booke of Gostlye Grace, The (Mechtild of Hackeborn)

  Bosworth, battle of

  Boughton, Richard

  Bourchier, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury

  and Richard of Shrewsbury

  Bourchier of Barnes, Sir Thomas

  Brackenbury, Sir Robert

  Brampton, Sir Edward

  Brandon, Sir William

  Brandon, Thomas

  Bray, Reginald

  Brittany

  Browne, Sir George

  Buck, Sir George

  Buckingham, Anne, duchess of

  Buckingham, Henry Stafford, duke of

  and conspiracy

  and coronation

  and Edward V

  and Hastings

  and Henry Tudor

  and rebellion

  and Richard III

  and Shaa

  Burdett, Thomas

  Burgh, Sir Thomas

  Burgundy

  Burton, William

  Butler, Lady Eleanor

  Bylsby, Thomas

  Calais

  and Hastings

  Carleon, Lewis

  Carmeliano, Pietro

  Catesby, William

  and Elizabeth of York

  and execution

  Cato, Angelo

  Cecily, duchess of York

  and adultery

  and Richard III

  Cecily of York

  Cely, George

  Cely, Richard

  Chandée, Philibert de

  Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy

  and Edward IV

  Charles VII of France, King

  Charles VIII of France, King

  and Henry VII

  Cheyne, Sir John

  Cheyne, William

  Cheyney, Humphrey

  Clarence, George, duke of

  and Anne Neville

  and Burgundy

  and Edward IV

  and execution

  and marriage

  Clarence, Isabel Neville, duchess of

  Clarence, Lionel, duke of

  Clifford, Sir Robert

  Coke, William

  colleges

  Collingborne, William

  Colyns, Christopher

  Commynes, Philippe de

  Conway, Hugh

  Conyers, Sir John

  Corpus Christi

  Cotington, John

  Coton, Sir Roger

  Courtenay, Henry

  Courtenay, Peter, bishop of Exeter

  Cousin, Robert

  Crèvecoeur, Philippe de

  Croft, Sir Richard

  Crowland Chronicle

  and Bosworth

  and Edward IV

  and Richard III

  and Scotland

  Curteys, Piers

  Dacre, Richard, Lord

  Dafydd Llwyd ap Llywelyn ap Gruffudd

  Dagsell, Thomas

  Danvers, Henry

  Daubeney, Sir Giles

  Daubeney, William

  Debenham, Sir Gilbert

  Desmond, earl of

  Devon, Humphrey Stafford, earl of

  Devon, John Beaufort, earl of

  Dhu, Robin

  Digby, Simon

  Dokett, John

  Donne, Sir John

  Dorset, Thomas Grey, marquess of

  and Brittany

  and Henry VII

  and rebellion

  Douglas, James, earl of

  Dudley, Katherine

  Dudley, William, bishop of Durham

  Duke of Buckingham’s Rebellion

  Dymock, Sir Robert

  Dynham, John, Lord

  Ebbchester, Robert

  Edgecombe, Richard

  Edgecote, battle of

  Edward, earl of March see Edward IV

  Edwa
rd III of England, King

  Edward IV of England, King

  and battle

  and brothers

  and Burgundy

  and claim to throne

  and Clarence

  and coronation

  and court life

  and death

  and Edgecote

  and Edward V

  and family

  and finances

  and flight

  and France

  and funeral

  and grants

  and health

  and Henry VII

  and illegitimacy

  and land

  and marriage

  and restoration

  and Richard III

  and Scotland

  and Tewkesbury

  and Warwick

  and will

  Edward V of England, King

  and birth

  and council

  and death

  and Hastings

  and legitimacy

  and Richard III

  and Tower of London

  Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales

  Edward, Prince of Wales

  Elizabeth of York

  Elizabeth Woodville, Queen

  and Clarence

  and conspiracy

  and Edward V

  and family

  and Henry Tudor

  and marriage

  and regency

  and Richard, duke of York

  and sanctuary

  Fabyan, Robert

  Fastolf, Sir John

  Fastolf, Thomas

  Fauconberg, Bastard of

  Ferrers, Sir John

  Fiennes, Thomas

  Fitzhugh, Richard, Lord

  Fitzwarin, John Bourchier, Lord

  Fogge, Sir John

  Forssa, Bernard de la

  Forster, John

  Forster, Rowland

  Fortescue, Sir John

  Fotheringhay Castle

  Fowler, Richard

  Fox, Richard

  France

  and Henry VII

  and invasion

  and marriage alliances

  and Richard III

  and Scotland

  see also Brittany; Burgundy; Calais; Louis XI

  Francis II, duke of Brittany

  Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

  Fulford, Sir Thomas

  Gaynesford, Nicholas

  Gigur, John

  Gloucester, duke of see Richard III

  Goddard, Dr John

  Goldsborough, Edward

  Gower, Edward

  Gowle, Richard

  Grayson, Thomas

  Great Chronicle of London, The (Fabyan)

  and Bosworth

  and Buckingham

  and Collingborne

  and Edward V

  and Hastings

  and Henry VII

 

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