The Princes in the Tower, page 43
58 Crowland, p. 159.
59 Mythology, p. 115; Kingsford, Stonor Letters and Papers, Vol. 2, p. 161.
60 Hicks, p. 129.
61 Barrie Williams, ‘Rui de Sousa’s Embassy and the Fate of Richard, Duke of York’, Ricardian, June 1981, pp. 341–45. Also, TMPP Research Report: ‘The Movements of Rui de Sousa’, Rosemary Swabey, 12.7.2019.
62 Wroe, pp. 59, 60, 525.
63 Molinet, Vol. 1, Chapter 100, p. 402.
64 Mythology, pp. 116, 280 n. 11 (Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 348).
65 Wroe, pp. 40, 525.
66 BNF, Fonds Espagnol 318, f.83, line 69. Margaret of Burgundy’s letter to Queen Isabella of Spain, Dendermonde, 25 August 1493 (trans. Maria Leotta, 11.3.2020). Text ed./trans. by Dr Betty Knott, Snr Hon. Research Fellow in Classics, Glasgow University (6.2.2021). See Appendix 4.
3. 1483: Two Weeks, One Summer
1 That Elizabeth Woodville would have resided in the dining hall at College Hall (Abbot’s Court complex) is highly unlikely, whereas she had taken sanctuary in Cheneygates Mansion within the complex in 1470 where she gave birth. In 1486, she returned to Cheneygates with a forty-year lease. Thanks to Eileen Bates (2.12.2021).
2 Crowland, p. 159. For Howard, see Vergil-1, p. 6. For payments for river boats travelling the Thames, see Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 402.
3 A contemporary witness describes the young prince as ‘merry’, see Chapter 2.
4 Protector & Constable, p. 57 n. 182 (LMA Common Council 9, 17 June 1483).
5 Ibid., pp. 67, 110 nn. 151, 152.
6 Mancini, pp. 69, 113–14 nn. 165 & 166. Crowland, p. 159, has Richard claiming the throne by pretext. For his election as king, see Chapter 7.
7 Mancini, p. 69, 116 nn. 179 & 180.
8 Protector & Constable, Appendix III, p. 85.
9 This period spanned brief interruptions in 1470–71 of about eleven months.
10 Annette Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’ (11 June 2021), pp. 1–25 (p. 2), tinyurl.com/27k4vm86.
11 Protector & Constable, p. 7.
12 Ibid., p. 24.
13 Ibid., p. 25.
14 Ian Mortimer, ‘Richard II and the Succession’, JHA, Vol. 91 (303), July 2006, pp. 320–36.
15 Ibid., p. 332.
16 Ibid., p. 333.
17 Howard Books, Vol. 2, pp. 389, 398: the date of death is supported by the Howard family’s observances of King Edward’s first month’s mind (3 May, payment for two Masses) and second month’s mind (2 June, payment for Lady Howard’s offerings at St Antholin Church, London, for three days, 2–4 June). For payments for offerings on his first Sunday in London following the king’s death, see ibid., p. 384. His death is also recorded as 3 April by Jean Molinet, Mythology, pp. 41–44, 217, 272 n. 5.
18 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 378; Beloved Cousyn, pp. 82, 164. Given the distance to Suffolk, Edward would have written the letter two days earlier.
19 On 9–10 May, Howard sent thirty-eight men home to Suffolk and Essex: Howard Books, Vol.2, pp. 390–91; Beloved Cousyn, p. 88. He also sent his servant, Browning, home on 15 May: Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 392.
20 Howard Books, Vol.2, p. 383.
21 Mancini, pp. 43, 82 n. 8; Crowland, p. 151.
22 Crowland, p. 153.
23 York Books, Vol. 1, pp. 281–82.
24 See Mancini, pp. 51, 91 n. 61 for questions surrounding this being Hastings.
25 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 384; Beloved Cousyn, p. 83.
26 Crowland, p. 151.
27 Anne Crawford, Yorkist Lord: John Howard, Duke of Norfolk (2010), p. 98; Linda Clark, ODNB: born c. 1411, so aged about 72 in 1483. In 1469, he is already described as an old man who might be ‘happy to dye’ any moment (N. Davis, Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century (2004), I, 337).
28 Royal Funerals, pp. 14–17, 22, 31.
29 Hammond & Sutton, Richard III: The Road to Bosworth Field, pp. 89–91; Rot. Parl., vi, pp. 204–06. For Richard’s successful 1482 Scottish campaign and retrieval of Berwick, Edward IV in Parliament 1483 awarded him an unprecedented palatinate that included Westmorland, Cumberland and parts of Scotland.
30 NYCRO, ZBA 17/1/1 f.3, Bedale, North Yorkshire: Court of Francis Lovell, 15 April 1483, dated first year of the king’s reign (a scribal error names King Edward IV, which cannot be reconciled with Lovell’s age). Bedale, which Lovell only inherited in 1474, was the adjacent manor and lordship to Middleham, Richard’s apparent main residence and family home. Gloucester’s letter took some days to be received/discussed in London by the King’s Council on or around 20 April. See note 53.
31 Mancini, p. 51.
32 Ibid., p. 53, who asserts that Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, also wrote suggesting he join the king travelling to London, incorrectly assuming Buckingham and Gloucester travelled eastward together, p. 94 n. 76.
33 Crowland, p. 155, reported that in York, Gloucester held a funeral ceremony and swore all the nobility of those parts in fealty to the king’s son: ‘he himself swore first of all’.
34 York Books, Vol. 1, p. 282. On 24 April, the York Council proposed sending a man to London to attend upon Gloucester and request the king to pardon their annual toll fee.
35 Mancini, p. 97.
36 Ibid., p. 95 n. 81; Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 12.
37 Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, pp. 13, 15.
38 Itinerary, p. 1.
39 Hicks, pp. 65, 75. Rivers was appointed by ordinances of 1473, 1483. The prince resided at Ludlow from 1473, aged about 3; his signet warrants are normally dated there from 1474.
40 To be arbitrated by Gloucester’s ‘Council Learned’. C.E. Moreton, ‘A Local Dispute and the Politics of 1483’, Ricardian, Vol. 8, No. 107, December 1989, p. 1 (thanks to Marie Barnfield).
41 Maligned King, p. 16. Crowland, p. 151, records King Edward fell ill at ‘about Easter-time’. Easter Sunday was 30 March.
42 Hall Book 2, NRO KL/C 7/4, see notes 46, 49; Coronation, p. 14.
43 Crowland, p. 155.
44 Ibid., pp. 153–55.
45 Ibid., p. 155, describes them as ‘horse’ and a ‘force’. Mancini pp. 53, 95 n. 80 describes them as ‘companions’, whereas Gloucester’s smaller escort is ‘a large force of soldiers’. Carson notes these distorted descriptions both here and in Vergil, Maligned King, p. 53 n. 6.
46 The haste of the coronation is recorded by Crowland, p. 153, Mancini, p. 53 and Edward V himself, see notes 42 and 49.
47 Mancini, p. 53.
48 Protector & Constable, pp. 1, 2.
49 Hall Book 2, NRO KL/C 7/4: a copy of a letter in the King’s Lynn Archives (transcription Marie Barnfield) indicates Edward knew of his father’s death by 14 April. The letter was apparently received a week later and read to the Council on 24 April.
50 Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 8.
51 Ibid.
52 (Quote) Coronation, p. 15; Mancini, p. 51.
53 Protector & Constable, p. 52.
54 Mancini, pp. 55, 96. Crowland, p. 157.
55 Crowland, p. 155, writes that Rivers was to submit everything to Gloucester’s judgement. Carson argues this is inconsistent with decisions in London, Maligned King, p. 52. For Rivers’ companions, see Mancini, p. 53.
56 Mancini, p. 53.
57 Crowland, pp. 154–55; Mancini, pp. 53, 95 n. 81; Beloved Cousyn, pp. 86–87.
58 GC, p. 230.
59 Mancini, pp. 55, 59.
60 Crowland, p. 157.
61 Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 25.
62 Thanks to Christopher Tinmouth (31.12.2019). Crowland, pp. 157, 161; Rous’ translation, Early Historians, p. 118.
63 Ibid., p. 119; Rous, Historia (c. 1490). Northumberland acted as ‘their chief judge’. Mancini, p. 65, gives the prevailing view in the capital that their execution was to be effected judicially ‘by certain quaestors’ (prosecutors). Also see Chapter 16, note 11.
64 Memorials, pp. 117–18, thanks to Dr Judith Ford. See Langley, ‘Part 4. The Fate of the Sons of King Edward IV: The Aftermath of Bosworth 22 August to 3 September 1485’, Bulletin, September 2020, p. 44 and n. 47. Also, GC, p. 230, records ‘Sir’ Richard Haute (with Vaughan and Grey) taken into ‘safe keeping’ at this time; however, plain ‘Richard Haute’ entered into a bond with William Catesby on 17 June, probably for good behaviour; Coronation, p. 23. No record of his incarceration exists, so if he was taken, he was later released. For Haute as Controller of the prince’s Ludlow household and disambiguation, see Maligned King, p. 52.
65 Those who ‘abetted’ Edward’s ‘lustfulness’ are named as Sir Richard Grey, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and Sir Edward Woodville, in Mancini pp. 47–49. Also named is Lord Hastings, at mortal enmity with Dorset and vying for each other’s mistresses.
66 Mancini, p. 57.
67 Ibid., p. 59.
68 Ibid., p. 55; Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 23.
69 Itinerary, p. 2.
70 Ibid., p. 2; Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 24.
71 Road to Bosworth, p. 103 (for the Stallworth letter, see note 86). Neither Mancini nor Crowland mentions Lionel Woodville.
72 Mancini, p. 57.
73 Ibid., pp. 57, 99 nn. 101 & 102.
74 C.P. Wilkins, ODNB. Figures for Scottish invasion force can be found in Edward Hall’s Chronicle (1809), p. 331 (thanks to Dr Sandra Pendlington).
75 Mancini, p. 57.
76 Ibid., pp. 59, 100 n. 109.
77 Ibid., pp. 59, 100 n. 111.
78 GC, p. 230.
79 Crowland, p. 157.
80 Mancini, pp. 59, 101–02 n. 116.
81 Coronation, p. 17.
82 Howard Books, Vol. 2, pp. 390–91; Beloved Cousyn, p. 88. Howard sent his servant Browning home on 15 May, Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 392.
83 Edward V signed ‘2 grants this day, in the Cittie of London and Tower of London’, indicating his move to the Tower: Grants of King Edward the Fifth, Camden Society Old Series (1968), pp. 16–17; Harley 433, Vol. 3, pp. 3, 4, 6.
84 Grants, p. 17; Beloved Cousyn, p. 91.
85 Protector & Constable, p. 67; Coronation, p. 19.
86 Road to Bosworth, p. 102. Canon Simon Stallworth, letter of 9 June 1483: ‘The Quene kepys stylle [still] Westminstre’.
87 Ibid., p. 102, Stallworth letter.
88 Ibid., p. 103.
89 Ibid., p. 102, Stallworth letter.
90 York Books, Vol. 1, p. 284. The muster was planned for Wednesday, 18 June.
91 Protector & Constable, p. 102.
92 Coronation, p. 18 suggests it was formulated between 13 May and 5–10 June; transcribed in Protector & Constable, Appendix X, pp. 101–06. For the protectorate to last until the king comes of age, see p. 106.
93 Historical Notes, p. 588; Mancini, pp. 74–76, 106 n. 132.
94 Mancini, p. 63.
95 Vergil-1, pp. 7–10, has the knights in the ‘next chamber’.
96 Coronation, pp. 21–22. For dating the Cely note to March 1483, see Mythology, Chapter 13, pp. 75–78.
97 Historical Notes, p. 588.
98 Protector & Constable, pp. 71–73; Mancini, p. 106 n. 132.
99 Sir Henry Ellis, Three Books of Polydore Vergil’s English History, 1534 (1844), pp. 180–81; Early Historians, p. 167.
100 ‘Ballad of Bosworth Fielde’, line 236.
101 Matthew Lewis, Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me (2018), pp. 273–74.
102 Mancini, pp. 36–37.
103 Ibid., p. 159.
104 Crowland, p. 159.
105 Mythology, p. 115; Kingsford (ed.), Stonor Letters and Papers, Vol. 2, p. 161.
106 Mancini, p. 99 n. 100, for Gloucester’s respect of sanctuary, October 1483, when rebels claimed sanctuary at Beaulieu. On the abbey’s sanctuary rights being ascertained, ‘the fugitives remained there unmolested’. Sanctuaries under Henry VII and VIII first became sealed prisons then lost all rights.
107 Hicks, p. 151: interestingly, the grant was countersigned.
108 Mythology, pp. 220, 292–93 nn. 50 & 60, Appendix 1, ‘Edward V Timeline’; CCR 1476–85, pp. 304, 306.
109 Coronation, p. 25.
110 Judith Ford, ‘A Vale of Mysrye: The Will of Dr Ralph Shaa’, Bulletin, September 2021, pp. 52–55.
111 Coronation, p. 26.
4. The Disappearance: A Timeline
1 Coronation, p. 46.
2 Itinerary, p. 4.
3 CPR 1476–85, p. 364; Horrox, ODNB. Brackenbury was simultaneously appointed Master & Worker of the King’s Moneys and Keeper of the Exchange in the Tower.
4 Beloved Cousyn, pp. 96, 166.
5 Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 2. Paid out of the Honour of Tutbury, named as: Edward John, John Melyonek, Sir Olyvere Underwode, Maister Robert Cam, Maister Smythe, Sir William Sulby, Sir Richard Prestone, Sir William Luce, Richard Holme, John Martyn, Edward Wakefield, Henry Muschamp, John Londone, John Buntynge, Thomas Blaydesmith, Robert Ham and Thomas Coke.
6 J.A.F. Thomson, ‘The Death of Edward V: Dr Richmond’s Dating Reconsidered’, Northern History, 26:1 (1990), pp. 207–11 (p. 210), cites the same description of ‘Edward Bastard’, etc. in a payment of 15 July 1483 to Dr John Gunthorpe, Keeper of the Privy Seal.
7 Orme, p. 123.
8 Various records list Dr John Alcock, former tutor and President of Edward V’s Council, as present with the king on progress from at least 24–26 July at Oxford, see Chapter 17.
9 Giles may have been paid off in November 1483 (see note 30): N. Orme, English Schools in the Middle Ages (1973), p. 27 (thanks to Dr David Johnson). See ibid., n. 1 for A.B. Emden, Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D.1500 (1958), Vol. 2, p. 842, likely identification as ‘Jo. Giles granted an annuity of £20 for his good service in instructing the king’s sons, Edward, prince of Wales and Richard, duke of York, in grammar, 1 May 1476’ (CPR 1467–77, p. 592). See Harley 433, Vol. 3, p. 194 for John Giles as a royal tutor (may be dated 1 March 1485 if folios are chronological) – an extensive list of fees and wages granted out of the crown and underwritten by Edward IV names Master John Gilys (Giles) ‘enformer of the kinges children’, so he may have been royal tutor in the north at this time. Others listed with him continued their roles during Richard’s reign. See Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 26, for Giles as ‘Archediacone of Londone and Collector of the pope’, with a payment undated but placed among materials for Sept–Oct 1483. Ordinances for the children at Sandal Castle are recorded on 24 July 1484 (Harley 433, Vol. 3, pp. 114–16) and mention no tutor, but the absence of a tutor would have been highly unusual. Perhaps significantly, only six days later, Master Giles received an annual payment of £20 for life (CPR 1476–85, p. 481), which was originally granted by Edward IV. For heightened security at the Sandal Royal Nursery, see Philippa Langley and Doris Schneider-Coutandin, ‘Niclas von Popplau: Lost in Translation? (Part One)’, Bulletin, December 2020, p. 5, nn. 27, 30–33.
10 Itinerary, p. 5.
11 The Feast Day of St Anne, see Beloved Cousyn, p. 98.
12 Itinerary, p. 5; Howard Books, Vol.2, p. 412. Travel by night is indicated by a payment for the ‘burnynge of a torche’.
13 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 416.
14 CPR 1476–85, p. 363.
15 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 415. Howard’s payment to the ‘master of the barge’ indicates part of his return to London was by river.
16 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 416; SAL MS 77, f.73, 75. At the feast day of St Anne, Howard’s steward paid for an item at Crosby’s Place where activities were in progress under Howard’s supervision (25 July).
17 TNA, C81/1392 No.1; NPG Exhibition Catalogue 1973, p. 98; Road to Bosworth, p. 125.
18 Vernon Harcourt, ‘The Baga de Secretis’, EHR (1908), Vol. 23, No. 91, pp. 508–29. The first reference to the Baga de Secretis occurs in the Controlment Rolls of King’s Bench, Edward III, c. 1345. They were canvas bags containing legal documents pertaining to ‘criminal proceedings at the suit of the crown’. The first extant Baga date from Edward IV in a treason trial against Burdett and Stacey, 1477. At this point, there is a ‘division of these records into privy bags’. The records of Edward of Warwick’s treason trial in 1499 were placed in Henry VII’s Baga and locked in a special closet with three keys: for the Lord Chief Justice, Attorney General and Master of the Crown Office. Indictments of Warwick, plus the trial of rebels supporting Richard of England in 1499 were later discovered in a box containing indictments from the reign of Henry V.
19 There may have been a deliberate campaign under Henry VII to destroy records that were potentially embarrassing to his regime and supporters: A.J. Hibbard, ‘The Missing Evidence’, The Court Journal, Vol. 26, Autumn 2019, p. 27. King Richard’s Baga de Secretis may have been lost or destroyed by Robert Morton, Master of the Rolls, nephew of Henry VII’s close advisor, John Morton.
20 Carson, in Maligned King, pp. 153–55, proposes this ‘enterprise’ was the plot reported by Stow in Annales of England (1631), pp. 459–60. See also Charles Samaran (ed./trans.), Thomas Basin: History of Louis XI (1963–1972), Vol. 3, Chapter 2, pp. 229–39 (p. 235), trans. thanks to Jonathan Mackman. Basin’s account, written in Breda or Utrecht in January 1484: ‘Around fifty men from London had conspired for their [princes’] release, truly believing that, with them beginning the business, the whole city would rise up with them to accomplish it, but when they had no support their effort ceased and came to nothing, and four of them were captured and beheaded.’ Carson suggests Crosby’s Place was prepared for an ad hoc treason trial under the jurisdiction of the Constable’s Court. For the presiding officer being Earl Marshal John Howard, see Protector & Constable, pp. 23–25, 71 n. 244. This may be supported by the purchase of two brigantines (armoured jackets) by Howard’s retainer William Schell on 29 July: see Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 418.
21 Howard Books, Vol. 2, pp. 420, 423. On 6 August, after such a trial, Howard paid for 26 tonnes of ‘fermyng’ (hay/straw), a very large amount that may be indicative of the industrious activities over the past few days at Crosby’s Place. Stow has the trial taking place at Westminster, with heads displayed on London Bridge, but no such contemporary record exists (Constable’s Court records are very scarce). Whatever the conspiracy discovered or foiled, it must have been carefully kept from public knowledge: a wise precaution to maintain calm during the king’s absence.
59 Mythology, p. 115; Kingsford, Stonor Letters and Papers, Vol. 2, p. 161.
60 Hicks, p. 129.
61 Barrie Williams, ‘Rui de Sousa’s Embassy and the Fate of Richard, Duke of York’, Ricardian, June 1981, pp. 341–45. Also, TMPP Research Report: ‘The Movements of Rui de Sousa’, Rosemary Swabey, 12.7.2019.
62 Wroe, pp. 59, 60, 525.
63 Molinet, Vol. 1, Chapter 100, p. 402.
64 Mythology, pp. 116, 280 n. 11 (Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 348).
65 Wroe, pp. 40, 525.
66 BNF, Fonds Espagnol 318, f.83, line 69. Margaret of Burgundy’s letter to Queen Isabella of Spain, Dendermonde, 25 August 1493 (trans. Maria Leotta, 11.3.2020). Text ed./trans. by Dr Betty Knott, Snr Hon. Research Fellow in Classics, Glasgow University (6.2.2021). See Appendix 4.
3. 1483: Two Weeks, One Summer
1 That Elizabeth Woodville would have resided in the dining hall at College Hall (Abbot’s Court complex) is highly unlikely, whereas she had taken sanctuary in Cheneygates Mansion within the complex in 1470 where she gave birth. In 1486, she returned to Cheneygates with a forty-year lease. Thanks to Eileen Bates (2.12.2021).
2 Crowland, p. 159. For Howard, see Vergil-1, p. 6. For payments for river boats travelling the Thames, see Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 402.
3 A contemporary witness describes the young prince as ‘merry’, see Chapter 2.
4 Protector & Constable, p. 57 n. 182 (LMA Common Council 9, 17 June 1483).
5 Ibid., pp. 67, 110 nn. 151, 152.
6 Mancini, pp. 69, 113–14 nn. 165 & 166. Crowland, p. 159, has Richard claiming the throne by pretext. For his election as king, see Chapter 7.
7 Mancini, p. 69, 116 nn. 179 & 180.
8 Protector & Constable, Appendix III, p. 85.
9 This period spanned brief interruptions in 1470–71 of about eleven months.
10 Annette Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’ (11 June 2021), pp. 1–25 (p. 2), tinyurl.com/27k4vm86.
11 Protector & Constable, p. 7.
12 Ibid., p. 24.
13 Ibid., p. 25.
14 Ian Mortimer, ‘Richard II and the Succession’, JHA, Vol. 91 (303), July 2006, pp. 320–36.
15 Ibid., p. 332.
16 Ibid., p. 333.
17 Howard Books, Vol. 2, pp. 389, 398: the date of death is supported by the Howard family’s observances of King Edward’s first month’s mind (3 May, payment for two Masses) and second month’s mind (2 June, payment for Lady Howard’s offerings at St Antholin Church, London, for three days, 2–4 June). For payments for offerings on his first Sunday in London following the king’s death, see ibid., p. 384. His death is also recorded as 3 April by Jean Molinet, Mythology, pp. 41–44, 217, 272 n. 5.
18 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 378; Beloved Cousyn, pp. 82, 164. Given the distance to Suffolk, Edward would have written the letter two days earlier.
19 On 9–10 May, Howard sent thirty-eight men home to Suffolk and Essex: Howard Books, Vol.2, pp. 390–91; Beloved Cousyn, p. 88. He also sent his servant, Browning, home on 15 May: Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 392.
20 Howard Books, Vol.2, p. 383.
21 Mancini, pp. 43, 82 n. 8; Crowland, p. 151.
22 Crowland, p. 153.
23 York Books, Vol. 1, pp. 281–82.
24 See Mancini, pp. 51, 91 n. 61 for questions surrounding this being Hastings.
25 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 384; Beloved Cousyn, p. 83.
26 Crowland, p. 151.
27 Anne Crawford, Yorkist Lord: John Howard, Duke of Norfolk (2010), p. 98; Linda Clark, ODNB: born c. 1411, so aged about 72 in 1483. In 1469, he is already described as an old man who might be ‘happy to dye’ any moment (N. Davis, Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century (2004), I, 337).
28 Royal Funerals, pp. 14–17, 22, 31.
29 Hammond & Sutton, Richard III: The Road to Bosworth Field, pp. 89–91; Rot. Parl., vi, pp. 204–06. For Richard’s successful 1482 Scottish campaign and retrieval of Berwick, Edward IV in Parliament 1483 awarded him an unprecedented palatinate that included Westmorland, Cumberland and parts of Scotland.
30 NYCRO, ZBA 17/1/1 f.3, Bedale, North Yorkshire: Court of Francis Lovell, 15 April 1483, dated first year of the king’s reign (a scribal error names King Edward IV, which cannot be reconciled with Lovell’s age). Bedale, which Lovell only inherited in 1474, was the adjacent manor and lordship to Middleham, Richard’s apparent main residence and family home. Gloucester’s letter took some days to be received/discussed in London by the King’s Council on or around 20 April. See note 53.
31 Mancini, p. 51.
32 Ibid., p. 53, who asserts that Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, also wrote suggesting he join the king travelling to London, incorrectly assuming Buckingham and Gloucester travelled eastward together, p. 94 n. 76.
33 Crowland, p. 155, reported that in York, Gloucester held a funeral ceremony and swore all the nobility of those parts in fealty to the king’s son: ‘he himself swore first of all’.
34 York Books, Vol. 1, p. 282. On 24 April, the York Council proposed sending a man to London to attend upon Gloucester and request the king to pardon their annual toll fee.
35 Mancini, p. 97.
36 Ibid., p. 95 n. 81; Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 12.
37 Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, pp. 13, 15.
38 Itinerary, p. 1.
39 Hicks, pp. 65, 75. Rivers was appointed by ordinances of 1473, 1483. The prince resided at Ludlow from 1473, aged about 3; his signet warrants are normally dated there from 1474.
40 To be arbitrated by Gloucester’s ‘Council Learned’. C.E. Moreton, ‘A Local Dispute and the Politics of 1483’, Ricardian, Vol. 8, No. 107, December 1989, p. 1 (thanks to Marie Barnfield).
41 Maligned King, p. 16. Crowland, p. 151, records King Edward fell ill at ‘about Easter-time’. Easter Sunday was 30 March.
42 Hall Book 2, NRO KL/C 7/4, see notes 46, 49; Coronation, p. 14.
43 Crowland, p. 155.
44 Ibid., pp. 153–55.
45 Ibid., p. 155, describes them as ‘horse’ and a ‘force’. Mancini pp. 53, 95 n. 80 describes them as ‘companions’, whereas Gloucester’s smaller escort is ‘a large force of soldiers’. Carson notes these distorted descriptions both here and in Vergil, Maligned King, p. 53 n. 6.
46 The haste of the coronation is recorded by Crowland, p. 153, Mancini, p. 53 and Edward V himself, see notes 42 and 49.
47 Mancini, p. 53.
48 Protector & Constable, pp. 1, 2.
49 Hall Book 2, NRO KL/C 7/4: a copy of a letter in the King’s Lynn Archives (transcription Marie Barnfield) indicates Edward knew of his father’s death by 14 April. The letter was apparently received a week later and read to the Council on 24 April.
50 Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 8.
51 Ibid.
52 (Quote) Coronation, p. 15; Mancini, p. 51.
53 Protector & Constable, p. 52.
54 Mancini, pp. 55, 96. Crowland, p. 157.
55 Crowland, p. 155, writes that Rivers was to submit everything to Gloucester’s judgement. Carson argues this is inconsistent with decisions in London, Maligned King, p. 52. For Rivers’ companions, see Mancini, p. 53.
56 Mancini, p. 53.
57 Crowland, pp. 154–55; Mancini, pp. 53, 95 n. 81; Beloved Cousyn, pp. 86–87.
58 GC, p. 230.
59 Mancini, pp. 55, 59.
60 Crowland, p. 157.
61 Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 25.
62 Thanks to Christopher Tinmouth (31.12.2019). Crowland, pp. 157, 161; Rous’ translation, Early Historians, p. 118.
63 Ibid., p. 119; Rous, Historia (c. 1490). Northumberland acted as ‘their chief judge’. Mancini, p. 65, gives the prevailing view in the capital that their execution was to be effected judicially ‘by certain quaestors’ (prosecutors). Also see Chapter 16, note 11.
64 Memorials, pp. 117–18, thanks to Dr Judith Ford. See Langley, ‘Part 4. The Fate of the Sons of King Edward IV: The Aftermath of Bosworth 22 August to 3 September 1485’, Bulletin, September 2020, p. 44 and n. 47. Also, GC, p. 230, records ‘Sir’ Richard Haute (with Vaughan and Grey) taken into ‘safe keeping’ at this time; however, plain ‘Richard Haute’ entered into a bond with William Catesby on 17 June, probably for good behaviour; Coronation, p. 23. No record of his incarceration exists, so if he was taken, he was later released. For Haute as Controller of the prince’s Ludlow household and disambiguation, see Maligned King, p. 52.
65 Those who ‘abetted’ Edward’s ‘lustfulness’ are named as Sir Richard Grey, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and Sir Edward Woodville, in Mancini pp. 47–49. Also named is Lord Hastings, at mortal enmity with Dorset and vying for each other’s mistresses.
66 Mancini, p. 57.
67 Ibid., p. 59.
68 Ibid., p. 55; Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 23.
69 Itinerary, p. 2.
70 Ibid., p. 2; Carson, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford’, p. 24.
71 Road to Bosworth, p. 103 (for the Stallworth letter, see note 86). Neither Mancini nor Crowland mentions Lionel Woodville.
72 Mancini, p. 57.
73 Ibid., pp. 57, 99 nn. 101 & 102.
74 C.P. Wilkins, ODNB. Figures for Scottish invasion force can be found in Edward Hall’s Chronicle (1809), p. 331 (thanks to Dr Sandra Pendlington).
75 Mancini, p. 57.
76 Ibid., pp. 59, 100 n. 109.
77 Ibid., pp. 59, 100 n. 111.
78 GC, p. 230.
79 Crowland, p. 157.
80 Mancini, pp. 59, 101–02 n. 116.
81 Coronation, p. 17.
82 Howard Books, Vol. 2, pp. 390–91; Beloved Cousyn, p. 88. Howard sent his servant Browning home on 15 May, Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 392.
83 Edward V signed ‘2 grants this day, in the Cittie of London and Tower of London’, indicating his move to the Tower: Grants of King Edward the Fifth, Camden Society Old Series (1968), pp. 16–17; Harley 433, Vol. 3, pp. 3, 4, 6.
84 Grants, p. 17; Beloved Cousyn, p. 91.
85 Protector & Constable, p. 67; Coronation, p. 19.
86 Road to Bosworth, p. 102. Canon Simon Stallworth, letter of 9 June 1483: ‘The Quene kepys stylle [still] Westminstre’.
87 Ibid., p. 102, Stallworth letter.
88 Ibid., p. 103.
89 Ibid., p. 102, Stallworth letter.
90 York Books, Vol. 1, p. 284. The muster was planned for Wednesday, 18 June.
91 Protector & Constable, p. 102.
92 Coronation, p. 18 suggests it was formulated between 13 May and 5–10 June; transcribed in Protector & Constable, Appendix X, pp. 101–06. For the protectorate to last until the king comes of age, see p. 106.
93 Historical Notes, p. 588; Mancini, pp. 74–76, 106 n. 132.
94 Mancini, p. 63.
95 Vergil-1, pp. 7–10, has the knights in the ‘next chamber’.
96 Coronation, pp. 21–22. For dating the Cely note to March 1483, see Mythology, Chapter 13, pp. 75–78.
97 Historical Notes, p. 588.
98 Protector & Constable, pp. 71–73; Mancini, p. 106 n. 132.
99 Sir Henry Ellis, Three Books of Polydore Vergil’s English History, 1534 (1844), pp. 180–81; Early Historians, p. 167.
100 ‘Ballad of Bosworth Fielde’, line 236.
101 Matthew Lewis, Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me (2018), pp. 273–74.
102 Mancini, pp. 36–37.
103 Ibid., p. 159.
104 Crowland, p. 159.
105 Mythology, p. 115; Kingsford (ed.), Stonor Letters and Papers, Vol. 2, p. 161.
106 Mancini, p. 99 n. 100, for Gloucester’s respect of sanctuary, October 1483, when rebels claimed sanctuary at Beaulieu. On the abbey’s sanctuary rights being ascertained, ‘the fugitives remained there unmolested’. Sanctuaries under Henry VII and VIII first became sealed prisons then lost all rights.
107 Hicks, p. 151: interestingly, the grant was countersigned.
108 Mythology, pp. 220, 292–93 nn. 50 & 60, Appendix 1, ‘Edward V Timeline’; CCR 1476–85, pp. 304, 306.
109 Coronation, p. 25.
110 Judith Ford, ‘A Vale of Mysrye: The Will of Dr Ralph Shaa’, Bulletin, September 2021, pp. 52–55.
111 Coronation, p. 26.
4. The Disappearance: A Timeline
1 Coronation, p. 46.
2 Itinerary, p. 4.
3 CPR 1476–85, p. 364; Horrox, ODNB. Brackenbury was simultaneously appointed Master & Worker of the King’s Moneys and Keeper of the Exchange in the Tower.
4 Beloved Cousyn, pp. 96, 166.
5 Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 2. Paid out of the Honour of Tutbury, named as: Edward John, John Melyonek, Sir Olyvere Underwode, Maister Robert Cam, Maister Smythe, Sir William Sulby, Sir Richard Prestone, Sir William Luce, Richard Holme, John Martyn, Edward Wakefield, Henry Muschamp, John Londone, John Buntynge, Thomas Blaydesmith, Robert Ham and Thomas Coke.
6 J.A.F. Thomson, ‘The Death of Edward V: Dr Richmond’s Dating Reconsidered’, Northern History, 26:1 (1990), pp. 207–11 (p. 210), cites the same description of ‘Edward Bastard’, etc. in a payment of 15 July 1483 to Dr John Gunthorpe, Keeper of the Privy Seal.
7 Orme, p. 123.
8 Various records list Dr John Alcock, former tutor and President of Edward V’s Council, as present with the king on progress from at least 24–26 July at Oxford, see Chapter 17.
9 Giles may have been paid off in November 1483 (see note 30): N. Orme, English Schools in the Middle Ages (1973), p. 27 (thanks to Dr David Johnson). See ibid., n. 1 for A.B. Emden, Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D.1500 (1958), Vol. 2, p. 842, likely identification as ‘Jo. Giles granted an annuity of £20 for his good service in instructing the king’s sons, Edward, prince of Wales and Richard, duke of York, in grammar, 1 May 1476’ (CPR 1467–77, p. 592). See Harley 433, Vol. 3, p. 194 for John Giles as a royal tutor (may be dated 1 March 1485 if folios are chronological) – an extensive list of fees and wages granted out of the crown and underwritten by Edward IV names Master John Gilys (Giles) ‘enformer of the kinges children’, so he may have been royal tutor in the north at this time. Others listed with him continued their roles during Richard’s reign. See Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 26, for Giles as ‘Archediacone of Londone and Collector of the pope’, with a payment undated but placed among materials for Sept–Oct 1483. Ordinances for the children at Sandal Castle are recorded on 24 July 1484 (Harley 433, Vol. 3, pp. 114–16) and mention no tutor, but the absence of a tutor would have been highly unusual. Perhaps significantly, only six days later, Master Giles received an annual payment of £20 for life (CPR 1476–85, p. 481), which was originally granted by Edward IV. For heightened security at the Sandal Royal Nursery, see Philippa Langley and Doris Schneider-Coutandin, ‘Niclas von Popplau: Lost in Translation? (Part One)’, Bulletin, December 2020, p. 5, nn. 27, 30–33.
10 Itinerary, p. 5.
11 The Feast Day of St Anne, see Beloved Cousyn, p. 98.
12 Itinerary, p. 5; Howard Books, Vol.2, p. 412. Travel by night is indicated by a payment for the ‘burnynge of a torche’.
13 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 416.
14 CPR 1476–85, p. 363.
15 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 415. Howard’s payment to the ‘master of the barge’ indicates part of his return to London was by river.
16 Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 416; SAL MS 77, f.73, 75. At the feast day of St Anne, Howard’s steward paid for an item at Crosby’s Place where activities were in progress under Howard’s supervision (25 July).
17 TNA, C81/1392 No.1; NPG Exhibition Catalogue 1973, p. 98; Road to Bosworth, p. 125.
18 Vernon Harcourt, ‘The Baga de Secretis’, EHR (1908), Vol. 23, No. 91, pp. 508–29. The first reference to the Baga de Secretis occurs in the Controlment Rolls of King’s Bench, Edward III, c. 1345. They were canvas bags containing legal documents pertaining to ‘criminal proceedings at the suit of the crown’. The first extant Baga date from Edward IV in a treason trial against Burdett and Stacey, 1477. At this point, there is a ‘division of these records into privy bags’. The records of Edward of Warwick’s treason trial in 1499 were placed in Henry VII’s Baga and locked in a special closet with three keys: for the Lord Chief Justice, Attorney General and Master of the Crown Office. Indictments of Warwick, plus the trial of rebels supporting Richard of England in 1499 were later discovered in a box containing indictments from the reign of Henry V.
19 There may have been a deliberate campaign under Henry VII to destroy records that were potentially embarrassing to his regime and supporters: A.J. Hibbard, ‘The Missing Evidence’, The Court Journal, Vol. 26, Autumn 2019, p. 27. King Richard’s Baga de Secretis may have been lost or destroyed by Robert Morton, Master of the Rolls, nephew of Henry VII’s close advisor, John Morton.
20 Carson, in Maligned King, pp. 153–55, proposes this ‘enterprise’ was the plot reported by Stow in Annales of England (1631), pp. 459–60. See also Charles Samaran (ed./trans.), Thomas Basin: History of Louis XI (1963–1972), Vol. 3, Chapter 2, pp. 229–39 (p. 235), trans. thanks to Jonathan Mackman. Basin’s account, written in Breda or Utrecht in January 1484: ‘Around fifty men from London had conspired for their [princes’] release, truly believing that, with them beginning the business, the whole city would rise up with them to accomplish it, but when they had no support their effort ceased and came to nothing, and four of them were captured and beheaded.’ Carson suggests Crosby’s Place was prepared for an ad hoc treason trial under the jurisdiction of the Constable’s Court. For the presiding officer being Earl Marshal John Howard, see Protector & Constable, pp. 23–25, 71 n. 244. This may be supported by the purchase of two brigantines (armoured jackets) by Howard’s retainer William Schell on 29 July: see Howard Books, Vol. 2, p. 418.
21 Howard Books, Vol. 2, pp. 420, 423. On 6 August, after such a trial, Howard paid for 26 tonnes of ‘fermyng’ (hay/straw), a very large amount that may be indicative of the industrious activities over the past few days at Crosby’s Place. Stow has the trial taking place at Westminster, with heads displayed on London Bridge, but no such contemporary record exists (Constable’s Court records are very scarce). Whatever the conspiracy discovered or foiled, it must have been carefully kept from public knowledge: a wise precaution to maintain calm during the king’s absence.
