The Princes in the Tower, page 48
21 Tanner & Wright, pp. 9–10.
22 Richard Davey, The Tower of London (1910, 1914, 1919), p. 36. Thanks to Francisca Icaza.
23 ‘Velvet-weaving techniques were developed between the 12th and 13th century and there is a consensus among the scholars that it occurred almost simultaneously in Persia, China and in Europe.’ Thanks to Silvija Banić, V&A Museum, Textiles Curatorial Team (16.5.2022); Dr Mariam Rosser-Owen, Curator Middle East, Asian Department; and Katie Dungate, Administrator, Collections Care and Access. For velvet church vestments in 1250, see Herbert Norris, Church Vestments: Their Origin and Development (1949), p. 80.
24 Seán Ó Súilleabháin, ‘Foundation Sacrifices’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 75, No. 1, March 1945, pp. 45–52; www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095830880.
25 Geoffrey Parnell, The Tower of London (1993), p. 22. By 1171–72, the King’s Apartments were repaired by Henry II.
26 Ibid., pp. 65–68. Charles II’s demolition of the medieval Royal Apartments began on 3 April 1668 and was completed in the 1670s. Buildings including the Jewel House were removed to form a clear and open corridor around the White Tower to safeguard its ordnance and powder magazine.
27 Maligned King, p. 208. Tanner & Wright, p. 8 n. 2, from a note signed by Knight, dated 1674 and written into a copy of Yorke’s The Union of Honour; repeated in print by Francis Sandford, Genealogical History of the Kings of England (1677), p. 402.
28 Parnell, Tower of London, pp. 13–15, 67–68. Demolition began at the south-west corner on 10 March 1674, with the remains of children discovered on 17 July.
29 Ibid., pp. 13, 17. For Colchester Castle, see p. 19.
30 Ibid., p. 16.
31 Maligned King, pp. 211–13, Figures 15–18, detail p. 204.
32 Ibid., pp. 200–203. Also ‘Notes on Opening the Urn’: tinyurl.com/ye5sytzr. For the fate of the young Henry Pole at the Tower (holds the same mtDNA as the princes), see Philippa Langley and Michael Jones, The Lost King, p. 231 and John Ashdown-Hill, The Private life of Edward IV (2017), p. 238.
33 Coronation, p. 369. Believed to be around 16 years old.
34 Ordinances for the Royal Household in the North: Harley 433, Vol. 3, p. 114; Hammond, The Children of Richard III, p. 33. At Edward of Middleham’s investiture on 8 September 1483 in York, Edward, Earl of Warwick and John of Gloucester (Richard’s nephew and bastard son respectively) were knighted with him. This confirms these three were either domiciled in the north or travelled north at the time of the royal progress. Edward of Middleham was not present at Richard III’s coronation on 6 July, which is confirmed by the Middleham accounts (Hammond, p. 22). Henry Lovell, Lord Morley (b.c. 1466) would die at the Battle of Dixmunde on 13 June 1489, supporting Brittany against France.
35 Harley 433, Vol. 2, p. 2.
36 Itinerary, p. 4.
37 At Oxford: Itinerary, p. 5; Robert C. Hairsine, ‘Oxford University and the Life and Legend of Richard III’, Crown & People, pp. 307–32 (p. 309). At Worcester and Warwick (5–14 August): Early Historians, p. 122. At York (29 August–20 September): Hammond, The Children of Richard III, pp. 29, 65–66, Appendix III; Bedern College Statute Book (late fifteenth century), York Minster Library, p. 48. At Grantham (19–20 October): Itinerary, p. 9, CCR, No.117, from CCR 1476–85, pp. 346–47, Kent Archives (thanks to Jean Clare-Tighe). Also Foedera XII, p. 203.
38 Williamson, op. cit., p. 91, see note 36.
39 Richard III made Tyrell Steward of Llandovery Castle following Buckingham’s execution and gave the town a Royal Charter in 1485 (Harley 433, Vol. 1, pp. 160, 256). See also, ‘Presentation of Freedom of the Borough of Llandovery to HRH the Prince of Wales’ (June 1985), Barton Library downloads, topographical. Thanks to Christine Forbes (21.7.2017).
40 A.J. Pollard, North-Eastern England During the Wars of the Roses (1990), p. 357.
41 Thanks to local residents, Elizabeth Watson and Kim Harding.
42 Richard’s remarkable Charter to Scarborough in spring 1485 made it into a ‘shire incorporate’. See Ross, Richard III, p. 58, ‘a dignity only previously enjoyed by such major towns as London, Bristol and Norwich’. Original vellum is held in Scarborough Collections. Also, for Scarborough under Richard III, see Harley 433, Vol. 1, p. 249. Scarborough Castle, on the coast, was heavily fortified and its Constable was William Tunstall, see Pollard, op. cit., p. 387. Under Henry VII Scarborough lost its county status.
43 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Lovell_1st_Viscount_Lovell (accessed 9.2.2020). In 1474, Lovell inherited a large estate, including Bedale, a possession of the Stapleton family, adjacent to Middleham – this might be the source for the tradition. Thanks to Dr A.J. Hibbard. The Stapleton family arms appear on Lovell’s Garter stall plate in St George’s Chapel.
44 Thanks to Sharon Lock, also Garry Smith, Curator (Collections), Tameside Metropolitan Borough for Portland Basin Museum, Ashton-under-Lyne (13.4.2016).
45 Campbell, Vol. 1, p. 322, grant made on 25 February 1486. A significant question is whether Sir William Stanley discovered information regarding the fate of one or more of the sons of Edward IV during his tenure as Lord of Longdendale, following Lovell’s lordship.
46 Michael J. Bennett, ODNB. At his trial, Sir William Stanley confessed to treason. See also T.B. Howell, Complete Collection of State Trials for High Treason and Other Crimes etc. (1816), Vol. 1 (1163–1600), ‘The Trial of Sir William Stanley, Knight, for High Treason: 10 Hen. VII. AD 1494–5 [Hall and Lord Bacon]’, pp. 277–84.
47 Vergil-2, pp. 73–77.
48 Ibid., pp. 73, 79. Also Buc, p. 161.
10. To Kill a King: The Aftermath of Bosworth
1 Men from the battle reached London (around 100 miles) within two days on the 24th (see note 3). The three-day journey is calculated on factors including Henry’s journey from Leicester–Coventry on 24 August, approx. 24 miles in a day. See notes 22 and 25 for revictualling his forces. A mounted force could travel 40 miles a day, as evidenced by Richard Ratcliffe’s journey from London–York on 10 June 1483, a distance of approx. 195 miles in four to five days (York Books, Vol. 2, loc. cit., pp. 713–14). The force despatched from Leicester on 23 August (Cotton; Windsor Herald) covered about 100 miles to the outskirts of York in time to meet the city fathers on 24 August. If Henry took heavy ordnance to London, it may have taken about four or five days, covering up to 20 miles a day (during the Napoleonic Wars an army with ordnance could march up to 30 miles a day). John Sponer covered Bosworth to York in a day, which was 108 miles (York Books, Vol. 1, pp. 368–69). For information on gaited (ambling) horses travelling up to 20mph, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horses_in_the_Middle_Ages and petticoatsandpistols.com/tag/how-far-a-horse-can-travel-in-a-day.
2 Vergil-2, pp. 3–5: ‘… was greeted with the greatest joy by all. Far and wide the people hastened to assemble by the roadside, saluting him as king and filling the length of his journey with laden tables and overflowing goblets.’
3 Mike Ingram, Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth, p. 51; LMA Common Council 9, f. 81d, 82r. Though an organised fighting force, some doubt the London men were sent, but their presence fighting for Richard is indicated by London’s description of Henry as ‘rebell’, the martial law immediately imposed, the speed of the men returning to confirm the king’s death and the enormous sums paid to Henry by the city on his arrival and coronation. Thanks to the late Mike Ingram.
4 Ingram, Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth, p. 207; LMA Common Council 9. See also Ralph A. Griffiths and James Sherborne, Kings and Nobles in the Later Middle Ages (1986), pp. 193–94.
5 Margaret M. Condon, ‘More than the Sum of Its Parts. The London Customs Accounts 1400–1510, a major new resource’, Ricardian, Vol. 29, 2019, p. 109. On 28 August 1485, the Common Council of London sent delegates to meet with the new king. The previous day, Henry had granted himself London’s customs and subsidies.
6 Ingram, op. cit., p. 207. Also, Vergil-2, p. 5: ‘as he [Henry] entered the city: trumpeters went in front with the spoils of the enemy, thundering forth martial sounds’.
7 For immediate post-Bosworth events in York and a copy of Henry’s proclamation, see York Books, Vol. 2, loc. cit., pp. 734–39.
8 Bob Pritchard, The Battle of Bosworth: Nobles and Knights Profiles (2018), p. 54. At Bosworth with King Richard, the herald was believed to be Richard Slack (d. 1502): York Books, Vol. 2, loc. cit., p. 736, the city fathers’ reward to Windsor Herald for his ‘comforthable words’. Slack was made Keeper of Claverdon Park, Warwickshire.
9 Pritchard, p. 38. Sir Roger Cotton (Cotam) is believed to have fought for King Richard and been knighted by him (when Duke of Gloucester) for the Scottish campaign of 1482. See W.C. Metcalfe, A Book of Knights Banneret, knights of the Bath and knights bachelor made between the fourth year of King Henry IV and King Charles II (London, 1885), p. 7, archive.org/details/bookofknightsban00metcuoft/page/n10 (thanks to Dr Sandra Pendlington). By 21 September 1485, Cotton was Sheriff of the counties of Glamorgan and Morgannock; by 17 December, Master of the Horse to ‘the queen’ (Elizabeth of York); by June 1486, he was awarded the Constableship, Stewardship and Honour of the Lordship and Castle of Clare, a significant Yorkist property in ownership of Cecily, Duchess of York (Campbell, Vol. 1, pp. 36, 220, 479).
10 This would seem to be King Richard’s boar device/possible battle standards retrieved from Bosworth by Windsor Herald, perhaps a direct reference to Vergil’s ‘spoils of the enemy’ (see note 6).
11 York Books, Vol. 2. loc. cit., p. 738.
12 Philippa Langley, ‘Robert Willoughby: A Short Biography’, Bulletin (March 2020), pp. 48–51. Available at: www.revealingrichardiii.com/case-study.html.
13 Vergil-2, p. 3. For 10-year-old Warwick incorrectly described as 15 (the age of Edward V), see Philippa Langley, ‘The Fate of the Sons of King Edward IV: Robert Willoughby’s Urgent Mission, Part One’, Bulletin, March 2020, pp. 42–47 (p. 42) www.revealingrichardiii.com/case-study.html, from Gordon Smith, ‘Lambert Simnel and the King From Dublin’, Ricardian, Vol. 10, No. 135, Dec. 1996, pp. 498–536 (p. 502 n. 10). The age discrepancy was first raised by Barrie Williams, ‘Lambert Simnel’s rebellion: how reliable is Polydore Vergil?’, Ricardian, Vol. 6, No. 79, December 1982, pp. 118–23 (p. 120). Vergil also incorrectly describes Warwick as ‘sole survivor’ of George of Clarence – his sister, Margaret, was 12 at the time. Married in November 1487 (aged 14) to King Henry’s cousin, Sir Richard Pole, by 1505 (now widowed), she was out of favour and living at Syon Abbey, Isleworth by London.
14 Sandal Castle is about 82 miles from Leicester Castle; Sheriff Hutton is 113 miles. Though unaccountably unrecorded, Henry would have been negligent not to send to the Sandal Nursery. For its importance, see Philippa Langley, ‘Niclas von Popplau: Lost in Translation? Part One’, Bulletin, December 2020, pp. 48–49, www.revealingrichardiii.com/niclas-von-popplau.html. For other daughters of King Edward, see note 21.
15 For Willoughby’s post-Bosworth mission to Sheriff Hutton, see Langley, ‘Fate of Sons, Part One’. Described as Henry VII’s ‘first act’ (James Gairdner, Henry The Seventh (1889), p. 31).
16 York Books, Vol. 2, loc. cit., p. 735. For Northumberland’s post-Bosworth imprisonment and oath to Henry for release on 6 December 1485, see Campbell, Vol. 1, pp. 198–99. For his heir taken into Henry’s custody, see Pollard, North-Eastern England, p. 362, but the source remains untraced – Pollard may have confused Northumberland with the Earl of Westmorland and his heir, who were taken into custody on 5 December 1485 (Campbell, Vol. 1, pp. 196, 311; CCR 1485–1500, p. 22). For Northumberland being released by 18 December, see York Books, Vol. 1, p. 391.
17 York Books, Vol. 2, p. 735.
18 York Books, Vol. 1, pp. 373, 392, for 14 October 1485 and the Council’s openly recorded description of Richard as ‘King’, the ‘moost famous prince of blissed memory’; also, their refusal on 18 December to elect King Henry’s chosen candidate as Recorder of York. Consequently, York’s City Archives survived relatively intact.
19 Willoughby’s urgent mission may be explained by Northumberland’s control of the Eastern Marches; his chief seat was Leconfield, about 34 miles from Sheriff Hutton, so he would have been aware of any children domiciled there. Moreover, if the account of Diego de Valera, from 1 March 1486 (within six months of Bosworth) is to be believed, the ‘Lord of Tamorlant’ (Northumberland) aimed to marry his daughter to Warwick may be borne out by Northumberland’s delay in reaching the Battle of Stoke to support Henry. Anthony Goodman and Angus Mackay identify Northumberland as ‘Tamorlant’ in ‘A Castilian Report on English Affairs, 1486’, EHR, Vol. 88, No. 346, January 1973, pp. 95–96. Valera’s letter is translated by Nokes & Wheeler in ‘A Spanish Account’. Valera was a Spanish nobleman and servant of Ferdinand and Isabella. Thanks to Marie Barnfield (23.7.2018). Northumberland’s will, dated 27 July 1485, seems to indicate the intention to participate in the Battle of Bosworth, See ‘A Selection Of Wills From The Registry At York’, Vol. III, The Surtees Society, 1865, pp. 304–10 (with thanks to Dr Heather Falvey). Of the seventeen knights named therein, ten are known to have fought for King Richard and seven seem not to have participated or are untraced. For Henry VII’s personal interrogation of prisoners, see Penn, Winter King, p. 82.
20 The key northern stronghold of Pontefract Castle is about 83 miles from Leicester Castle. Sandal Castle is about 8–9 miles from Pontefract Castle. See notes 13 and 14.
21 Campbell, Vol. 1, p. 311. The children were placed in the care of Henry’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, to whom he granted £200 on 24 February 1486 for her late ‘keeping and guiding’ of the daughters of Edward IV and the young Duke of Buckingham and Earls of Warwick and Westmorland (see note 16). Beaufort kept them a few months from September to December/January. For her custody of Buckingham’s sons (3 August 1486), see Campbell, p. 532. Henry VII’s delayed arrival in London has been attributed to the Sweating Sickness (Hairsine, ‘Oxford University’). However, this sickness reached Oxford only at the end of August/early September, then took hold in London during September (Historical Notes, p. 589; thanks to Dr Judith Ford). Henry, in London by 3 September, would scarcely have entered had the sickness been there.
22 Crowland, p. 161.
23 Coventry Leet Book/Mayor’s Register, p. 531, ‘payment to divers persons for stuff sent to the field of King Richard’: archive.org/details/coventryleetboo00unkngoog/page/n554.
24 Anne F. Sutton, ‘Camera principis: Good Government, Industry and Ceremony in Richard III’s Coventry’, Ricardian, Vol. 29, 2019, pp. 66, 78, 83. Leading citizens Robert Coleman and Thomas Maideford fought for Richard. Thomas was injured and may have captained the Coventry contingent (p. 83).
25 Griffiths & Sherborne, Kings and Nobles, p. 194.
26 Coventry Leet Book, pp. 194–95. Henry received a gold cup and £100 from the city, plus payments for bread, wine and ale. See also The Lost King, p. 217: 110 gallons of wine to please Henry’s large contingent of French mercenaries (cf. 4.5 gallons of ale).
27 Henry’s army carried three banners to London: St George, the Welsh Dragon and the Dun Cow. The latter was the banner for Coventry and Warwickshire. See Griffiths & Sherborne, Kings and Nobles, p. 197 (it also had a very slight association with Henry’s maternal Beaufort family). Coventry being the nearest city to the battle in Warwickshire, and having supported Richard, Henry’s imagery told a clear story of victory. The acquisition of the Dun Cow banner, whether from the battlefield or while securing Coventry’s submission, seems to explain the detour, ensuring the message of capitulation was evident as Henry’s forces passed by.
28 Sutton, op. cit., pp. 63, 67.
29 Ibid., pp. 50, 69–70 (also for the young Edward V, as Prince of Wales, asserting himself as a warrior in 1481).
30 The distances from Leicester and Coventry to London (Shoreditch) were similar (98 and 93 miles).
31 Gairdner, op. cit., pp. 32–33; André, p. 31. André correctly records the date as a Saturday (this is confirmed as Saturday in other reports). Henry waited until 6 September for his first grant to be presented (Campbell, p. 6).
32 Vergil-2, p. 3.
33 See note 1 for journey time to York (195 miles) at 40 miles a day.
34 Langley, ‘Robert Willoughby’s Urgent Mission, Part One’, p. 42.
35 C.P. Wilkins, ODNB. Edward Woodville was (probably) the youngest child of Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers.
36 He was made Knight-Banneret by his commander, Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
37 ODNB: in May 1483, Woodville had taken two royal ships with 200–300 soldiers/archers, plus £10,250 in gold appropriated from a vessel lying at harbour (Horrox, Financial Memoranda, p. 211). This figure amounted to 15 per cent of royal revenues, a similar figure having financed the 1482 invasion of Scotland.
38 ODNB, also Crowland, p. 181. Woodville is described as ‘a most valiant knight’, one of the ‘chief men’ of Henry’s army and listed before Willoughby.
39 In September 1485, he awarded Woodville the captaincy of the Isle of Wight and restored his command of Portchester Castle.
40 Bennett, pp. 95, 98–99, 131; Heralds’ Memoir, pp. 30, 112. Molinet, who says Woodville supported Henry VII, reports him on the right wing with cavalry, which seems only to have picked off stragglers from the main battle engaged by the Earl of Oxford. For information regarding only the vanguard being engaged, see Bennett, p. 99. Molinet also reports Woodville’s contingent fleeing the Yorkist forces (for reasons unknown), a few days prior to the battle (Bennett, pp. 81, 82, 130).
41 27 April 1488.
42 ODNB. All were killed except one boy: the disaster brought about the end of independent Brittany. Ironically, Woodville’s death in a cavalry charge would mirror that of King Richard.
43 Vergil-1, p. 36. In autumn 1484, Henry escaped Brittany (to France) with only his most trusted followers. Woodville was left behind.
