Gairdner J. History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third: To which is Added the Story of Perkin Warbeck from Original Documents

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130 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. IV.

Such was the awful retribution that overtook this inhuman

king during the two short years that he survived his greatest

crime, till the battle of Bosworth completed the measure of

his punishment. His repentance came too late. The horrid

deed only benefited his opponents. The news, once made

public, ran like wildfire through the country, and was received

with groans and indignation in every street and market-place'.

If there had been secret disaffection before, it was now un-

disguised. A general insurrection had been planned by the

Duke of Buckingham to take place on the 18th of October.

He had written letters to the Earl of Richmond as early as the

24th of September, informing him that his friends would that

day take up arms simultaneously all over the South of England,

and desiring him to make a descent upon the coast himself

at the same time

. But the general excitement led to a

premature outbreak in Kent, in the very beginning of October.

By the 10th, as appears by his letter above quoted,

tion breaks the Duke of Norfolk had heard of it in London;

but it must have taken place at least two days

before. On the nth the king himself had heard of it in

Lincolnshire. On that day he wrote to the corporation of

York for a body of horse to meet him at Leicester on the

21st

. On the 12th he wrote to the Chancellor in haste,

desiring him to bring or send the Great Seal immediately,

that certain commissions might be issued

. On the 16th the

Seal was despatched to him from London, and on the 19th

he received it at Grantham. A proclamation against Buck-

ingham was issued on the 15th, which was published at York

next day

, and at Hull on the 17 th

. Commissions for levying

Hall, 379.

Rolls of Parl. vi. 245.

Davies'

York

Records,

177. On the 13th he wrote in similar wise to

the town of Southampton for a body of horse to meet him at Coventry on

the 22nd. Eleventh Report of Hist. MSS. Commission, App. pt. iii. 103.

Ellis's Letters, second series, i. 159.

Davies' York Records, 179, 180.

Tickell's History of Hull, 134.

A.D.

1483. INSURRECTION. 131

troops were made out on the 23rd, and also on the 5 th of

November

, to which the Great Seal was affixed by verbal

order of the king, instead of by the usual authority of Privy

Seal writs. There was evidently no time to lose.

This outbreak in the Weald of Kent first informed Richard

that the Duke of Buckingham had become his enemy, for

proclamation was made by the rebels that the duke now

repented of the support he had given him, and was raising

a great army against him in Wales

. The intelligence evi-

dently took the king quite by surprise. He was in the midst

of his Northern progress, enjoying every evidence of devoted

loyalty and of his own personal popularity. If, notwith-

standing these demonstrations, he was conscious of one

dreadful fact calculated to turn against him the hearts of the

people, he seems to have been singularly ill prepared for the

consequences. He had not even the Great Seal with him,

and had no means of calling adherents to his aid. And of

all men he least expected the revolt of Buckingham. There

is,

indeed, a story, reported by Grafton and Hall in Henry

VIII.'s time, that, his suspicions being aroused, he craftily

invited the duke by fair words to come to him, and on the

latter replying that he was sick, sent again in a more per-

emptory fashion, when the duke at last flatly refused and

declared himself his mortal enemy. All this, however, is

evidently a pure invention,—or rather, it is an application to

Buckingham's case, of what had occurred in several other

cases of disaffected supporters. The hasty letter written by

Richard to the Chancellor shows at once how little he had

anticipated the rebellion, and how bitterly he resented the

deep perfidy of Buckingham. The postscript, rudely scrawled

in the king's own hand round the margin of the letter, is in

the following words:

' We would most gladly ye came yourself if that ye may ; and

Patent, 1 Richard III. Nos. 17 and 18, in dorso.

Cont. Croyl. 568.

132 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. IV.

if ye may not, we pray you not to fail, but to accomplish in all

diligence our said commandment, to send our Seal incontinent

upon the sight

hereof,

as we trust you, with such as ye trust and

the officers pertaining to attend with it; praying you to ascertain

us of your irews there. Here, loved be God, is all well and truly

determined for to resist the malice of him that had best cause

to be true, the Duke of Buckingham, the most untrue creature

living; whom, with God's grace, we shall not be long till that

we will be in that parts and subdue his malice. We assure you

there never was falser traitor purveyed for, as this bearer Glou-

cester shall shew you

The tone of this letter indicates most clearly that the

king had conceived he had every reason to rely on Buck-

ingham's fidelity. Are we to suppose, then, that he had made

no allowance whatever for the possibility of the duke being

alienated from him by a feeling of moral indignation, when

he learned for the first time the news of the murder? Ap-

parently no suspicion of the sort had ever crossed his mind.

Perhaps there was no real ground for entertaining it. By the

words of the Croyland writer it would appear that the fact

of the murder was not generally known till the outbreak was

on the eve of taking place, and that the ostensible object of

the rising at first was to release the princes from the Tower.

Yet the murder must certainly have taken place some time

before; and if we may rely on the reported conversations of

Buckingham with Bishop Morton, the duke must have been

very well aware of it. It must, in point of fact, have been

known to all the confederates when it was proposed to invite

the Earl of Richmond over to England; for unless the male

issue of Edward IV. was extinct, Richmond could have no

claim whatever to the crown. Moreover, we know that the

whole plan of the rebellion had been formed in September,

and that Buckingham's letter to the Earl of Richmond, in-

viting him to make a descent upon the coast, was dated the

Ellis's Letters, second series, i. 159.

A.D.

1483. BUCKINGHAM'S REBELLION.

133

24th of that month. The murder then must have been known

to the conspirators, and especially to Buckingham, while as

yet it was a secret to the world at large. Is it probable that

his knowledge of it was altogether innocent?

The rebellion had been very carefully planned. All over

the South of England there were to be a number of separate

risings on the 18th of October. The men of Kent, however,

anticipated the time by about ten days, and gave the king

warning of the coming danger. This was probably the move-

ment for the liberation of the princes, of which we are in-

formed by the contemporary historian; for it is said the Duke

of Buckingham had been actually proclaimed leader of the

movement when the news was spread that the children had

been cut off by violence

. If so, the fact of the murder could

not have been well ascertained till the beginning of October.

On the 18th, however, according to appointment, the parti-

sans of Richmond in all the Southern counties simulta-

neously took up arms. Those in Kent met at Maidstone and

Rochester, and afterwards at Gravesend, while those of Surrey

raised their standard at Guildford. Those in Berkshire met

at Newbury, and farther west there were musters at Salisbury

and at Exeter. The Marquis of Dorset and Sir Thomas St

Leger, Sir William Stonor and Sir John Fogge were among

the leaders of the movement. All rose on the 18th; and

Buckingham, too, that same day unfurled his standard at

Brecknock.

There were, however, various Welsh chieftains who were

jealous of Buckingham's power in their own country

and to prevent the duke effecting a junction with the

Cont. Croyl.

568.

See

Appendix, Note

iv.

Besides these

was

Rice

Thomas,

who,

however, through

the

medium

of the

Countess

Richmond's physician,

Dr Lewis,

was

reconciled

to the

duke,

and

became

supporter

of the

Earl

Richmond.

(Poetical

works of Lewis Glyn Cothi, published

by the

Cyrnmrodorion Society, introductory sketch, xxxi.)

134 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. IV.

other insurgents, Richard employed the services of Sir

Thomas Vaughan, of Tretower, and Humphrey Stafford.

Sir Thomas Vaughan, a warlike potentate of Brecknockshire,

whose father, Sir Roger, lost his life in the cause of the

House of York at the battle of Danesmore in 1469, warmly

took the king's part against Buckingham

. He and his

brothers

and several of his kinsmen planted themselves in

the neighbourhood of Brecknock Castle, and closely guarded

all the roads leading into the interior of Wales. Humphrey

Stafford, on the other hand, who was not improbably a

relation of Buckingham's, occupied all the marches between

Wales and England, and destroyed the bridges across the

Severn

It has been commonly supposed that the Sir Thomas Vaughan put to

death by Richard III. along with Rivers and Lord Richard Grey, was Sir

Thomas Vaughan of Tretower. This is a mistake. Sir Thomas Vaughan

of Tretower not only zealously served Richard against Buckingham, but

lived to share his triumph; and after the rebellion was put down, the king

made him steward of the lordship of Brecknock. (Patent, March 4,

1 Richard III. p. 2, No. m.) He is, moreover, the subject of a Welsh

ode by Lewis Glyn Cothi, of which two stanzas are to the following effect:

.' Strong was he at the head of battalions, twice nine valiant guards,

with King Edward; and [strong] after him to keep the Rose with Richard,

by the sharpness of his dart. King Richard, he warmly judged, is the

strong, fat bull of the towers of York. Dare any man to-day (tusky Boar

that he is!), dare any host, from Exeter or from England, move him

there a wild Irishman, officer or host, who does not tremble [before him],

crowned monarch that he is?'

Strangely enough, the editor of Glyn Cothi, thinking the hero of the

poem to be Richard's victim, supposes the poet to call Richard king by

anticipation only. He writes evidently after the rebellion was put down at

Exeter. For the translation of the above passage, I am indebted to the

kindness of Professor Rhys.

Sir Thomas Vaughan and his two brothers, Walter and Roger,

received pardons from King Henry VII. at the commencement of his reign.

In the letters patent of pardon he is called Thomas Vaughan, knight, alias

Thomas ap Roger; alias Thomas ap Rossell, knight. (Campbell's Materials

for a History of Henry VII. 408.)

Cont. Croyl. 568.

A.D.

1483. RICHARD'S PROCLAMATION. 135

On the 23rd of October, a proclamation was issued against

the rebels in language of the most extraordinary

character. Instead of denouncing the wickedness p

of the revolt

itself,

it inveighed against the im- th

4f?i?

moral lives of the leading conspirators, as if the

more heinous sin of which the king himself was guilty, could

have been palliated by the fact that his opponents were

libertines. That men who had occupied a prominent position

at the licentious court of Edward IV. had not become models

of purity since that king's death was not altogether wonderful.

Jane Shore, it seems, had found a new paramour in the

Marquis of Dorset, a nobleman who was notorious for having

dishonoured ' sundry maids, widows, and wives.' Luxurious

vice was a thing that Richard perhaps looked upon with real

scorn; but it supplied him for the present with an object of

moral indignation, of which he no doubt stood in need to

prevent the torrent bearing too hard upon

himself.

His

proclamation began by reciting how, remembering the solemn

profession he had made at his coronation to govern with

mercy and justice, he had begun with mercy by giving all

offenders his full and general pardon, trusting thereby to have

secured the allegiance of the whole body of his subjects.

Next, as was well known, he had addressed himself to dif-

ferent parts of his kingdom for the impartial administration

of justice, ' having full confidence and trust,' so the document

went on, ' that all oppressors and extortioners of his subjects,

horrible adulterers and bawds, provoking the high indignation

and displeasure of God, should have been reconciled and

reduced to the way of truth and virtue with the abiding in

good disposition.' Nevertheless, the Marquis of Dorset, and

others, in league with the Duke of Buckingham and the

Bishops of Ely and Salisbury, had raised the people, intending

not only the destruction of their sovereign, but the dis-

turbance of the common weal, 'and the damnable main-

tenance of vices and sin, as they had done in times past, to

136 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. IV.

the great displeasure of God, and evil example of all Christian

people.' With this preamble the immoralities of Dorset are

especially set forth, and rewards are offered for the appre-

hension of the rebels. One thousand pounds in money or

an estate in land worth one hundred pounds a year was the

price set upon the head of Buckingham. For the marquis

or either of the two bishops, there was offered one thousand

marks or an estate worth one hundred marks a year; and

for certain others, five hundred marks each or an estate worth

twelve pounds a year. No yeoman or commoner, deluded

into rebellion, was to suffer if he immediately withdrew himself

from the company of these leaders; but all who thereafter

gave assistance to the rebels were to be accounted traitors

The proclamation was published in London and Middlesex,

in all the counties and principal towns south of the Thames

and Severn, in Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire,

and in the city of Coventry. Beyond these limits it does not

appear that there was any disaffection; and after this there

was no great fear that it would spread. The rewards offered

were large, especially considering the value of money in those

days,

and the pardons and the threats held out were equally

politic. For a further security, Richard created a Vice-

Constable of England, with authority to proceed summarily

against persons suspected of treason, and to pronounce sen-

tence without appeal. In times of rebellion these powers

commonly belonged to the Lord High Constable, who held

his office for life; but in this instance the Lord High Con-

stable himself was a rebel, for the office had been conferred

upon Buckingham soon after the coronation. Sir Ralph

Ashton was accordingly appointed Vice-Constable hac vice,

to exercise all the powers of the Lord High Constable for

the particular emergency

Rymer, xii. 204.

Rymer, xii. 205. Compare the powers conferred on Richard, Earl of

Rivers, on his appointment in Edward IV.'s time. (Rymer, xi. 581.)

A.D.

1483. LORD STRANGE'S MUSTERS. 137

The energy and decision with which Richard met the

danger baffled the policy of his enemies. He was, besides,

by no means destitute of supporters ; and even some who,

by reason of family ties, might have been expected to favour

the rebellion, for the present upheld his cause. A letter

written on the 18th of October informs us : ' My lord Strange

goeth forth from Lathom upon Monday next with 10,000

men, whither we cannot say. The Duke of Buckingham has

so many men, as it is said here, that he is able to go where

he will; but I trust he shall be right well withstanded, and

all his malice; and else were great pity.' The writer was

Lord Strange's secretary. That nobleman was married to

a niece of that Earl of Rivers whom Richard had caused

to be beheaded at Pomfret. His father, Lord Stanley, was

married to the Countess of Richmond. These family con-

nections, or, at least, that with the Countess of Richmond,

ultimately determined both father and son to the party of

Richard's enemies; but for the present they took part with

the king. Their loyalty, perhaps, was not very stedfast, but

it was proof against the indignation excited by the murder

of the princes so long as the murderer seemed tolerably secure

upon the throne. They were now, therefore, making active

preparations on the king's

behalf;

and their services, after

the rebellion, were not left unrewarded. Richard made them

a considerable grant of lands

, and besides allowing Lord

Stanley to retain possession of the lands forfeited by his

intriguing wife, the Countess of Richmond

, granted him the

office of Lord High Constable, in the room of Buckingham

The rebellion, however, scarcely required active exertions

to put it down. Buckingham had other than human enemies

Patent, Sept. 17, 2 Richard III. p. 1, No. 113.

Rolls of Parl. vi. p. 244. Patents, 1 Richard III. p. 3, Nos. 185 and

200;

and p. 4, Nos.

and 10.

Patents, Nov. 18, 1 Richard III. p. 1, No. 78; and Dec. 16, p. 2,

No.

87. Rymer, xii. p. 209.

138 LIFE OF RICHARD III. CH. IV.

to contend with. Just before the day fixed for the rising a

storm of unusual violence broke over the West of England.

Heavy rains swelled the rivers, which overflowed their banks

and flooded all the neighbouring country, sweeping away

houses, corn, and cattle. Two hundred people were said to

have been drowned in or about Bristol, and very serious

damage was done to the shipping

. Children in their cradles

were floated into the fields, and beasts were drowned upon

the hillside. It was a deluge remembered long afterwards

by the name of the 'Great Water.' The Severn became im-

The 'Great passable, and, the bridges having been destroyed

Water

-' by Humphrey Stafford, the forces collected by

Buckingham were cooped up in Wales, where, running short of

provisions, they suffered dreadfully from hunger. Nevertheless,

after setting up his standard at Brecknock, he at first proceeded

in a north-easterly direction to Weobley, the seat of Walter

Devereux, Lord Ferrers, in Herefordshire, and then marched

through the Forest of Dean in the vain hope of being able to

cross the Severn at Gloucester, so as to effect a junction with

the Courtneys in the West of England. But by this time his

followers had been completely disheartened, and, in spite of

all he could do, deserted and returned home. His castle of

Brecknock, meanwhile, had fallen into the hands of the

Vaughans, by whom it was completely rifled.

At length, finding that he could not trust the little band

that remained to him, he put on disguise and left them

. He

turned northwards and took refuge in Shropshire at the house

of one of his retainers named Ralph Banaster. But either the

peril of concealing him or the reward offered for his appre-

hension overcame the man's fidelity. He betrayed his master

to the sheriff and was enriched some time afterwards by a

Seyer*s Memoirs of Bristol, ii. 202. The flood is said to have been

occasioned by a gale on St Wulfran's day (October 15), ' the greatest wind

that ever was at Bristol.'

Cont. Croyl. 568. Hall, 594. Rolls of Parl. vi. 245.

A.D.

1483. BUCKINGHAM BETRAYED. 139

royal grant of the manor of Yalding in Kent

. That this may

not have satisfied his expectations is credible enough, but

Grafton and Hall are certainly in error in stating that his

treachery was altogether balked of its promised reward,

Richard declaring that the man who had been untrue to so

good a master would be false to any other

. The story is

refuted by the conclusive testimony of the Patent Rolls; and

it may be that there is equally little foundation for the judg-

ments said to have been visited upon his family.

It is satisfactory, however, to learn that the duke did not

meet with the same infidelity from all his dependents. At

Weobley he had committed his son and heir, Lord Stafford,

to the keeping of Sir Richard Delabeare, and, notwithstanding

the reward offered for the young lord's apprehension, Dame

Elizabeth Delabeare shaved his head, and, dressing him like

a maid, conveyed him safely to a widow's house at Hereford,

where he remained secure till the time of trouble passed away

Richard, meanwhile, moved rapidly westward at the head

of a considerable army. He arrived at Salisbury, where

Buckingham was brought to him a prisoner. The king caused

him to be examined, and after eliciting from him the designs

of the conspirators, gave orders for his instant execution.

Buckingham made most urgent entreaty to be

allowed an interview, but Richard was firmly ham be-

resolved not to see him. He was beheaded that

same day in the market-place—that very day, although it was

not only the feast of All Souls but also a Sunday, as the monk

of Croyland remarks with something of pious horror

. But

perhaps Richard's precipitancy was not impolitic. Assuredly

his refusal of an interview was most judicious; for it was

Patent,

Richard III. p. 1, No. 58.

So Hall inclines to believe; but he

adds,

a qualification:

' Howbeit

some say that he had a small office or a farm to stop his mouth withal.'

Blakeway's Hist, of Shrewsbury, i. •241.

Conl. Croyl. 568. Hall, 395.