CHAPTER II.ACTS OF RICHARD AS PROTECTOR

KING EDWARD HAD IN HIS lifetime constituted a council for the management of the household and other affairs of his son, the young Prince of Wales, until he should attain the age of fourteen. Among the number originally appointed of this council were the king’s two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, the Earl of Rivers, Lord Hastings, and several other persons of high authority in the state. John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester, was president Sir Thomas Vaughan was chief chamberlain to the prince, and Sir Richard Hawte controller of his household. These and a few others were always near young Edward’s person, by virtue of their offices, while the rest were frequently at a distance. But the Earl of Rivers, his maternal uncle, held the most important post. He was called the young prince’s governor, and had the charge of his person and education, and the complete control of his servants.

Young Edward was, at his father’s death, in his thirteenth year and even if his father had lived longer, these arrangements were to have terminated in a year and a half. But of course the mere fact of his being called to the throne made a total change, and it was the will of the deceased king himself that after his death the care of his son’s person and kingdom should be transferred to Richard, Duke of Gloucester. This confidence may seem extraordinary, in the light of subsequent events; but as the fact is distinctly recorded by two well informed writers of that day, who are by no means friendly to Richard, there cannot be a doubt that such was Edward’s real intention. He had made his will, indeed, some years before at Sandwich, when on the point of embarking on his inglorious expedition against France, and in that will Gloucester was not named. But this must have been due to circumstances that had passed away. Edward certainly had made another will since then, the tenor of which is not on record. The chief danger in those earlier days arose from the mutual jealousies of Gloucester and Clarence and Edward did not then name either of his brothers, even as trustee. But now matters wore a different aspect. Other jealousies distracted the court and filled Edward with forebodings. The queen and her adherents had always been disliked by the old nobility, and it is probable that Richard was the man who seemed to him most likely to be able to keep the peace between two opposite factions.

In the full prospect of death Edward had called before him those lords whom he knew to be at variance, especially the Marquis of Dorset and Lord Hastings, and implored them, for the sake of his children and for the peace of the kingdom, to forget their old quarrels and live thenceforward in amity. The lords were deeply touched by this appeal, and gave each other their hands in presence of the dying man, making formal protestations of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation. Nevertheless, no sooner was the breath out of Edward’s body than symptoms of the old suspicion began to show themselves.

As Richard was in the North when his brother died, he could not have been called upon to take any part in these declarations of amity and goodwill but there is no appearance (notwithstanding what we read in Shakespeare) that he had hitherto shared very strongly the common dislike of Queen Elizabeth Woodville and her relations. He had shown himself all along the zealous champion of his brother’s rights, and if Edward’s confidence in him, at the last moment, was not perfect, he at least had greater confidence in him than in anyone else. Even Sir Thomas More, who is careful to inform us how one Pottyer, dwelling in Redcross Street without Cripplegate, the moment he heard of Edward’s death anticipated that Richard would be king, says nothing whatever to suggest that Edward himself was troubled with any such foreboding. He believed that in committing to his brother the care of his family and kingdom during the minority, he was taking the best means that he could devise to avoid dissensions. It involved, no doubt, the transference from the queen and her relations especially the Earl of Rivers of a guardianship they had hitherto exercised. But this was a mere political necessity in view of altered circumstances. It certainly did not arise from diminished trust in the Woodvilles for at least within six weeks of his death it can be shown that Edward was fully satisfied with the council he had established on the borders of Wales. He most probably died in the hope that the queen’s relations would have been content to exercise hereafter a subordinate authority under the control of Richard as protector of the kingdom.

The Privy Council, which assembled in London after Edward’s death was charged with a more than usual responsibility. What provision was to be made for the government, what retinue should accompany the new king up to London, and what time should be fixed for the coronation, were the points that chiefly engaged attention and two of these subjects led to not a little discussion. Notwithstanding the recent reconciliation, great jealousy was entertained of the queen dowager’s ascendancy; and the more prudent councilors so says the Croyland chronicler considered it expedient to remove the young prince entirely from the sway of his maternal relations. When it is considered that the Croyland chronicler was himself a member of the council, and unquestionably a friend to the late king and his family, his opinion that this was a prudent course ought certainly to have considerable weight. It is evident that the queen dowager and her relations were expected to make a strong effort to preserve by force the authority they had hitherto exercised by their influence over the late king and the council was not inclined to yield to them. When, therefore, the queen dowager expressed her desire that the young king should be escorted by a strong body of followers, the proposal met with the most strenuous opposition. Some of the queen’s friends had even ventured to suggest that the king himself, as being above all laws, should be flowed to determine what retinue he would require. But their was, in fact, only to leave it to his uncle Rivers, and such a proposition could not be listened to for a moment. All were willing to do the young prince honor; all wished to see him peacefully established on his father’s throne but there was a serious objection to his coming with a stronger retinue \than was necessary for his personal safety. Hastings, the Lord Chamberlain, threatened to retire to Calais, of which place he was the governor and what that threat implied men had seen in the case of the King-Maker. A civil war, a disputed empire at sea, a strong naval station across the Channel in the command of the enemy, a descent upon the coast at some unguarded point whenever it seemed convenient, and perhaps a successful revolution after it, were consequences only too apparent. The queen dowager thought it wise to give way, and the matter was compromised in an agreement between the parties that the escort should not be allowed to exceed 2,000 horse.

So far the more prudent counsels had prevailed but this was not the case in all things. Sunday, the 4th of May, was appointed for the coronation, an event which was always considered as terminating any provisional arrangements for a minority, and throwing into the king’s own hand the right to choose his own advisers. The results of an early coronation in such cases had not been hitherto encouraging but it was a move that always suited the interest of one party or another in the council, and in this instance it clearly indicated a desire to set aside the late king’s will as soon as possible. The Queen’s friends had an extreme distrust of the Dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham, and, taking advantage of their absence from London, endeavored to exclude them entirely from every position of influence.

Edward the Fourth died at Westminster on the 9th of April, I483. The news reached Ludlow on the 14th and the young prince wrote to the mayor of Lynn on the 16th intimating that he intended to be at London “in all convenient haste” to be crowned at Westminster. So that it would seem the plan for an immediate coronation had been formed in London even before a messenger was dispatched to intimate to him the news of his father’s death. But this event apparently had been expected for some days, for the news of it was received prematurely at York on the 6th and a dirge was actually sung for him in the minister on the following day by the direction of the dean. To this, and also to a requiem mass on the 8th, the mayor and aldermen were invited.

It is said that the Duke of Gloucester, who was in Yorkshire at the time, was present at some such service but the silence of the York City Records has been thought to throw doubt upon the fact. Not only do these documents make no mention of his being there, but they show that a messenger was dispatched to London as early as the 24th of April, with instructions ‘to attend upon my Lord of Gloucester,’ in order to obtain a remission of 50 a year of the fee farm of the city. The only inference, however, to be drawn from this is, that Richard had already left York before the 24th, not that he had never visited the city at all. The Croyland writer not only speaks of his being there and celebrating his brother’s obsequies in the cathedral, but says that he called on all the nobility and gentry of the neighborhood to swear allegiance to his young nephew as king, himself setting the example. His journey southwards does not appear to have been very expeditious. On the 26th he was expected at...