What we know of Richard can be viewed through the titles that were bestowed upon him and the dates and events that made up his life. His birth, as his name suggests, was at Shrewsbury, his marriage, at just four years old was to Anne Mowbray. We do not even know what he looked like but this doe's not stop writers, artists and film/television producers portraying him as an innocent, as angelic, a pure almost saintly child. Shakespeare has John Dighton calling Richard and his brother Edward ‘gentle babes.'
The 17th August 1473 is the date of birth of Richard of Shrewsbury, the second son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Richard of Shrewsbury is, of course, was one of the Princes in the Tower. What we know of Richard can be viewed through the titles that were bestowed upon him and the dates and events that made up his life. His birth, as his name suggests, was at Shrewsbury, his marriage, at just four years old was to Anne Mowbray. We do not even know what he looked like but this doe's not stop writers, artists and film/television producers portraying him as an innocent, as angelic, a pure almost saintly child. Shakespeare has John Dighton calling Richard and his brother Edward ‘gentle babes.' They are emotive words that were intended to describe Richard's character - a foil to Shakespeare's protagonist, his uncle Richard of Gloucester in his play Richard III. Shakespeare's portrayal of the young prince would be used again and again over the years by artists, the most famous by Paul Delaroche and John Everett Millais, even the horror movie genre gets in on the act - John Herbert-Bond's young prince to Basil Rathbones Duke of Gloucester. Despite the fact that there is no evidence either way as to what happened to the princes, the tale of Richard's disappearance is the one event that defines this little boys life.
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It was on this day in 1420 that the Treaty of Troyes was ratified. King Henry V had worked hard to bring the French to the negotiation table, he quickly followed this by marrying Catherine of Valois, the daughter of Charles VI of France and the sister of the Dauphin. With the treaty signed Henry V was declared heir and regent to the Charles VI of France, this meant that on Charles's death France and England would be ruled by one king. However, things did not go as expected, in the December of 1421, the hero of Agincourt lay dying from dysentery at the Chateau de Vincennes in France.
His death left his nine-month-old son, Henry King of England and within a year the boy would be king of France I was really surprised to discover that John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford was just twenty-six when he was killed the day before the Battle of Towton, in my mind he was an older man. John Clifford was born on the 8th April in 1435 to Thomas Clifford and Joan Dacre at Conisbrough Castle in Yorkshire and we hear little of him until he was eighteen when he is recorded as siding with the Percy's against the Neville's in their ongoing private wars. He is mentioned again in 1458 as arriving in London in the Percy's retinue as one of the 'yong lordes whoos fadres were sleyne at Seynt Albonys.' Full of energy and fuelled by vengeance Clifford took up the Lancastrian cause. On the 31st of December 1460, Clifford was knighted by the Duke of Somerset before the Battle of Wakefield. It was following this battle that he saw an opportunity to avenge his father's death by murdering the seventeen year old son of the Duke of York. For this, and his 'cruelty in battle.' John Clifford is immortalised, forever remembered as The Butcher, however, this name was only attributed to him in the 16th century in the writings of John Leyland and a century later by William Dugdale. Clifford's on death came when he was struck in the throat by a headless arrow at the Battle of Ferrybridge in the March of the following year and his body, it is said, was thrown into a common burial pit.
When it comes to the anniversary of the Battle of Towton, fought on the 29th March in 1461, I always think of all those men, many of whose names we will never know, who faced each other on that bitterly cold Palm Sunday. However, researching my family history I have discovered the names of two of the men who lost their lives that day. These men were brothers John and Henry Beaumont who were two of the three sons of Thomas Beaumont and his wife Philippa Maureward and they were not yet twenty-five and if that is not sad enough I believe that these brothers were probably twins. Their father had been a veteran of the Hundred Years War and had fought under Edmund of Norwich, Duke of York in France, and on their father's death, the family lands had been divided John, Henry and their brother Thomas. Despite living in a country where a man could be called up for battle at any time these young men must have dreamt of peace, a time to spend in their newly acquired piece of England, but many a dream was shattered in the era that we know as the Wars of the Roses - regardless of which side you fought on. The Beaumonts of Leicestershire were staunchly Lancastrian and at the Battle of Towton, Henry VI's forces would be brought to their knees by Edward IV's Yorkist army. So the Beaumont brothers found themselves on a battlefield in Yorkshire with an icy wind circling around the feet and sleet blowing in their faces. As the battle commenced many soldiers may have thought, judging by the number of men on the field, that Towton would be a decisive battle, but the wind blew harder and the snow increased and hand to hand combat turned into bloody slaughter - decisive it was indeed. By the end of that cold and wretched day, over twenty thousand men lost their lives. I don't know yet of the fate of John and Henry Beaumont's bodies, maybe their battered faces were recognised among the dead and they were taken home but I doubt it. What is more likely is that they were both thrown into one of the many mass graves dug on the battlefield, to spend eternity with the thousands of other nameless poor souls. My post makes grim reading, doesn't it? But what makes even grimmer reading is the shocking evidence of how exactly many of the soldiers at Towton died. One man on the battlefield that day is now known as Towton 25 he was called this because we don't know his name, but what we do know is that what remains of him is gruesome evidence of what he had to endure. Towton 25's story can be found on my blog on my website - you can read it here.
meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/wars-of-the-roses-blog/battle-of-towton-29th-march-14611 To the surprise of many, and disregarding the acknowledged rules of diplomacy King Edward IV had, in the May of 1464, made his own choice of a bride. The king's new wife was one Elizabeth Grey, the daughter of Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, a family of lowly stock from the County of Northampton. There was, of course, a little more to the Woodvilles than the fact they were 'social climbers.' Richard Woodville had been in command of an army during the French wars. He had met Jacquetta, the young widow of the Duke of Bedford when he had accompanied her on the voyage home to England from Rouen. In 1433 Woodville married Jacquetta in secret. Their eldest child, the aforementioned Elizabeth, was born four years later. Jacquetta was a member of Margaret of Anjou's court and Richard Woodville, as a loyal servant to Henry VI was eventually rewarded with a barony in 1448.
Edward, as we all know, fell instantly in lust when he came across Elizabeth. Richard Woodville's daughter was a strong-willed widow with two young sons and eight siblings to boot and Edward, as previously mentioned would undertake this marriage without the knowledge of one man who was so instrumental in bringing him to the throne - Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. This event was a turning point for Richard Neville and the first the nail in the coffin of Richard Woodville. Richard Neville was angered by the fact that the Woodville men were placed in important administrative roles. Other events such as the king’s refusal to sanction the marriage of his daughter to George, Duke of Clarence and the influence of the Herbert family the Earls of Pembroke in the royal court just rubbed salt into his wounds. Richard Neville was about to jump from the Yorkist ship into Lancastrian waters. Warwick’s rebellion would see off William Herbert and his brother Richard at Northampton on the 26th July in 1469 and on this day, just seventeen days later Richard Woodville and his son John would be beheaded as traitors. To Richard Neville, revenge may have been sweet - but in the words of Martin Luther King Jr "The old law of 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind." Richard Neville, his brother Lord Fauconberg and Edward IV, plus the main force of the Yorkist army were making their way to do battle at Northampton, leaving a smaller force to continue the siege of the Tower of London. Thomas, Lord Scales and Robert, Lord Hungerford had been bombarding the city, where it has been said, many of London’s residents were killed. Among others trapped in the Tower were Henry’s Treasurer Thomas Browne, the son of a wealthy city merchant who had made an advantageous marriage to the great great granddaughter of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Browne was also a wealthy landowner and a man of note in Kent.
A seventeen-day siege ensued ending with the death of Lord Scales, and the execution on charges of treason of Thomas Browne. After the Battle of Northampton, Henry VI once again found himself a prisoner and on his way to London, this was followed by the Duke of York’s return to England. Arriving in England on the 9th September he headed for London to make his play for the crown. Thomas Browne was my 16th Great Grandfather, you can read about his family here: meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/chapter-five-getting-personal.html On this day in 1455, following their exclusion from court, Richard Duke of York, along with Richard Neville Earl of Warwick, assembled their forces in the north and marched south to confront the Lancastrian King Henry VI at St Albans. The roller coaster ride continued and the tension mounted but eventually it all came to blows at St Albans, considered by some, to be the first battle of the civil war. In a battle that lasted just one hour, a number of notable Lancastrian nobles including, Henry Percy, Thomas Clifford, and Thomas Vaughan’s patron, Edmund Beaufort were killed. After the battle Henry VI was captured, York assured Henry of his loyalty and along with Warwick accompanied the king to London. Just under two months later, at the beginning of July the king opened Parliament and following that Henry, along with Margaret and their son were moved to Hertford Castle. That November saw the Duke of York appointed as Protector for a second time, and just like the first protectorate it was short, it ended in the last week of February 1456, but York remained an important member of the Royal Council. Three very trouble years ensued and the end of which the Duke of York, with Richard Neville as his enforcer, would make his play for the crown of England.
The above is taken from my website, you can read about this battle in context here: meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/chapter-two-the-beaufort-patronage.html Elizabeth of York, later Duchess of Suffolk was born on the 22nd April in 1444 at Rouen Normandy. She was the second daughter of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville and the sister of both Richard III and Edward IV. Elizabeth was born in France at the time when Henry VI was playing yo-yo with her father's career - the time between Henry appointing the Duke of York as Lieutenant of France and the death of John Beaufort the Duke of Somerset in the May of 1444.
Elizabeth marriage to John de la Pole was thought to have been arranged by de la Poles mother Alice, it took place three years after the first Battle of St Albans at a time that is often considered the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. At the time of John de la Pole becoming Duke of Suffolk his family was one of the least wealthy titled families in the country -, although if his marriage to Margaret Beaufort (John Beaufort's daughter) had not been annulled John's life may have been a different one altogether. The fifteen-hundred pounds that Elizabeth brought to the marriage was not a patch on what Margaret would have brought, made little difference to his finances. Although this marriage allied de la Pole to the Yorkist party he is noted as having not shown any true support for either side. However, in 1461 he had made his decision, fighting for the Yorkist at the second Battle of St Albans and at Towton. Elizabeth assumed the title of Duchess of Suffolk in the May of 1450 when John became Duke of Suffolk following the murder of his father William de la Pole. Elizabeth gave birth to eleven children, she would outlive eight of them. The three son who did survive their mother were Edmund, William and Richard, all would suffer due to the Yorkist blood that ran through their veins. Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk died in 1503/4 and is buried at Wingfield Church in Suffolk, alongside her husband. On the 22nd of December in 1550 the death of Richard of Eastwell Legend has it that before the Battle of Bosworth in the August of 1485, a young boy visited Richard III in his tent on the battlefield. The king is said to have told this boy, that if victory went his way he would acknowledge him as his son but if it did not that he was to hide his identity.
Following the battle, of which the outcome is well known, the boy fled to London where he lived in the town of Eastwell working for one Sir Thomas Moyle. He learnt the trade of a bricklayer and kept his secret until the day he died, only Moyle is said to have known after finding him reading Latin. Richard of Eastwell died an old man in 1550, where it is stated in the parish register. "Rychard Plantagenet was buryed on the 22. daye of December, anno ut supra. Ex registro de Eastwell, sub anno 1550." It is unlikely that this boy was the son of Richard III, but it is a fascinating myth nonetheless. For a number of years, depending on who was on the throne at the time, England had been on good terms with either France or Burgundy, using this to his advantage Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick proposed to the council that a peace treaty be signed with Louis XI of France. Also, some members of the council had agreed with Warwick’s suggestion that it was high time Edward IV was married. Louis thought so too, an English alliance with France was far better for him than a Burgundian alliance, eventually, Warwick succumbed to a bit of flattery and bribery and put it to Edward that Bona of Savoy would be a perfect match. In the September of 1464, Edward IV made a surprise announcement during a discussion of this subject, and to the amazement of many, Edward indicated that the idea of marriage was indeed a good one, he never batted an eyelid at the suggestion of a French bride, even though he himself favoured Burgundy. After a long silence, he finally relayed the fact that he had already made his choice and in fact, he had already married one Elizabeth Grey, a member of the lowly Woodville family of Northamptonshire. Edward had succumbed to lust and not with a weak, mild-mannered virgin either, but with a strong-willed widow with two young sons, and with eight siblings to boot! Edward had undertaken all this without the knowledge of Richard Neville, the one man who was so instrumental in bringing him to the throne. For Warwick Edward’s news was shattering, he had already pledged Edward in marriage to the sister of the queen of France. Edward's irresponsible behaviour humiliated Warwick and ruined his plans, his prestige both at home and abroad was in tatters, and to say that Warwick was enraged would be an understatement, the dagger of betrayal had cut too deep, and it was a wound that would never heal. By 1469 he had turned his coat and had gone over to the Lancastrians, by 1470 he had restored Henry VI to the throne. Richard Neville was born on the 22nd November in 1428 into a world that shaped him. It was full of powerful characters, in his early life there was his father Richard Neville and uncle Richard, Duke of York and later there were Charles, the Duke of Burgundy, and Louis XI King of France. At some point in his life, Warwick had decided to either to outshine or eclipse them all, but in doing so he became overly ambitious, and somewhat erratic and yet he was quite remarkable - he was a kingmaker! Author Michael Hicks calls him "the very model of medieval nobility" however Paul Kendall calls him a "gigantic failure." Has history been unfair to Warwick? The mind boggles at the thought of what might have been if he had stayed onside in 1469, certainly the Lancastrian cause would have been weaker without him. Did he really think he could rule without a crown? I believe Richard Neville did consider that there was nothing that was beyond his grasp, nothing that could not be overcome yet for someone so brilliant he never considered a failure, he never saw himself teetering at the top of a slippery slope that leads to an abyss. Richard Neville should not bare the total weight of responsibility for the events of 1464 to 1469 Edward's behaviour was reprehensible and unforgivable! Yes, Edward IV was a popular king, he was affable, intelligent, and an outstanding military leader, but he was a fool, he was also ruthless, vengeful, and totally irresponsible. With one swish of the bed sheets, (two as it turns out) Edward undermined everything his father had worked so hard to achieve, not only shortening the life of his brother but that of the Plantagenet dynasty itself. To end, the words of Philippe de Commynes apply quite nicely here, I think. Now you see the deaths of so many great men in so little time, men who have worked so hard to grow great and to win glory
and have suffered so much from passions and cares and shortened their lives, and perchance their souls will pay for it. |
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