Chronicles of the White Rose

Chronicles of the White Rose is in Late Medieval Books.

1461 Battles of Ferrybridge and Dintingdale

1464 July 1464 Sieges of Lancastrian Castles

Hearne's Fragment

A FEW PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF KING EDWARD THE FOURTH, FORMERLY EARL OF MARCH. FRAGMENT OF A CONTEMPORARY CHRONICLE.

This curious Fragment is preserved by Hearne, the eminent Antiquary, at the end of his Edition of Sprott's Chronicle. It is written by a partisan of the House of York, who tells us himself, that he was a servant to King Edward the Fourth. In his 16th Chapter he gives us the only means of tracing who he was, and from it we may conclude, that, if not of the Howard Family himself, he was on terms of intimacy with "the right illustrious Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Treasurer of England." in whose house he appears to have been resident. That he was a person of distinction is evident, for he tells us that what he narrates he heard from the mouth of the King, or was mostly present himself, as well within the realm as without, especially from the year 1468 to the year 1482. Amongst his personal friends, who were knighted at the coronation of the Queen, he enumerates the Lord Dumas, Sir Bartelot de Ribaire, Sir John Woodville, the Queen's brother, and four citizens, Sir Thomas Cooke, Sir Matthew Philip, Sir Ralph Jocelyn, and Sir Harry Waver. He finds great fault with the falsification made by the Lancastrian Chroniclers, who, on the accession of Henry VII., sought favour in the eyes of the King by blackening the rival family. This slight fragment, and "The History of the Arrival of King Edward the Fourth, and the final Recovery of his Kingdom, Anno Domini 1471," are almost the only Yorkist Chronicles which have reached our times.

INTRODUCTION

This Edward, Earl or Marche, son and heir of Richard, Duke of York, was born at Rouen, in Normandy (his father then being Regent there,) in the year of our Lord 1440. And in the year of our Lord 1459, and then being the 38th year of King Harry the 6th, the Duke of York fled from Ludlow into Ireland. And this Edward, with the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, departed into Devonshire, and from thence into Guernsey, and so to Calais, &c. After the which departing King Harry rode into Ludlow, and spoiled the Town and Castle, where-at he found the Duchess of York with her two young sons (then) children, the one of thirteen years old, and the other of ten years old: the which Duchess King Harry sent to her sister Anne Duchess of Buckingham. Then after in the 38th year of King Harry, the said Duchess of York being in London, sent her ’foresaid two sons, George and Richard, by sea into the state (city) of Utrecht by (in) Holland, where they remained but a while, &c. [Wherefore the late counterfeiters of Chronicles were worthy much to be punished with the printer so to affirm, the Duke of Clarence,² George to be elder brother to King Edward, considering that he writeth two contraries in his own work.]

Note 2. Referring to Fabyan’s Chronicle, Hall's Chronicle, p. 239, Grafton, p. 741. See also Holinshed, p. 703.

Chapter 1. Edward the Fourth, of that name, and heir of Richard, late Duke of York, after the decease of his father, that was slain at Wakefield the 30th day of December anno 1460,³ (and after) the battle done at St. Albans the Ash Wednesday, and won by the Queen Margaret, and her ‘complices⁴ the said Edward, then being Earl of the Marche, hearing of this adventure, came down with a great number of Welshmen, and met with Richard, Earl of Warwick, upon Cotswold, and so they two joining their hosts came towards London, in the which season Queen Margaret being at Barnet with King Henry sent for victuals, and Lenten stuff to London, the which was prepared by the Mayor and Sheriffs to send unto her, and her host ; and when they with the victuals came to Cripplegate, the commons arose and stopped the carts, and would suffer none to depart out of the City, alledging divers reasons for the same. Whereof when the Queen was certified, and also thereupon assured of the coming of the two Earls of Marche and Warwick, she had no great confidence to those of London, Wherefore she withdrew herself, and turned (changed) her purpose, and with the King, her husband, and such men of war as she had, fled northward, as fast as she might, towards York, where at she thought herself more assured (secure).

Note 3. The Duke reached Wakefield on the 24th of Dec., on which day Hume says the hattle took place. All the old authorities, however, agree with our text. — (See Wethamstede, p. 489., Contin, Hist. Croyl. p. 550., Hall, p. 99.) "The Duke fell in the action, and when his body was found among the slain, his head was cut off by Margaret's orders, and fixed on the Gates of York, with a paper crown upon it, in derision of his pretended title." — (Hume, vol. iii. p. 209.)

Note 4. The Lord Lovelace, whilst both armies were engaged, treacherously withdrew from the combat, thus deserting the Elarl of Warwick, who commanded the Yorkists. The king, Henry VI., fell again into the hands of his own party. After the battle, the town of St. Albans was given up to plunder. — (Whethamstede, p. 497.)

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Proclamation of Edward IV as King

[4th March 1461] Chapter 2. The two ‘foresaid Earls of Marche and Warwick, from Cotswold kept their way straight to London,⁵ where they arrived, the Thursday in the first week of Lent; to whom resorted all gentlemen, for the more part of the South parts, and East of England, both spiritual and temporal; and thereupon a council was called, whereat King Harry, for his imbecility and insufficiency was by the whole House deposed, and Edward, eldest son of Richard, late Duke of York, by the sole assent and consent of all present, there elected and solemnly chosen for King of England, then being of the age (of) almost 20; and thereupon he with all the Lords went in general procession, accompanied with all the Nobles there present, and the Commons of the city, and (was) immediately conveyed with great honour to Westminster; taking there possession, with sceptre royal in his hand, sitting at the high dais⁶ in the Great Hall. The which done, he went into the Abbey, where he was received with procession of the Abbot and Convent there and after that he had offered in kingly estate at the shrine of Saint Edward, he took homage J and fealty of such noblemen as there were present, the which done he returned to the Bishop’s palace at London that night the 4th day of March.

Note 5. Edward entered London amidst the acclamation of the citizens. "I was present," says William Wyrcester, "heard them, and returned with them into the City." The King was in his 20th year, remarkable for the beauty of his person, his activity, bravery and affability. But with these qualities he combined hardness of heart and severity of character. He was revengefiil to such an extreme, that he is said to have ordered the execution of a poor tradesman, who dwelt at the sign of the Crown, for saying "he would leave his son heir to the Crown," — imagining this harmless pleasantry pointed at his assumed title. The unpopularity of Margaret, in treating the country as a conquered province after her recent successes, hastened the downfall of Henry, and "the nobles of the Kingdom and all the people of the midland part of England, and of the East, West and South deserted Henry. They directed solemn ambassadors to Edward in Wales, to declare to him the wishes of the people, and to urge him to hasten into England, to help them, as delay was producing danger." — (Cont. Croy. p. 532.)

Note 6. This signification of the word dais is the same in which it is used by Matthew Paris: "The newly elected Abbot, solus in refectorio prandebit supremus, habens vastellum, Priore prandente ad magnaim mentam, qnam Dais vulgariter appellamus" i.e. "He shall dine alone in the refectory last, having a small vessel (or bowl), while the Prior dines at the great table, which we commonly call the Dais." — Rich akdson.

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Chapter 3. The voyage (journey) determined by the newly elected King Edward, the Fourth of the name, to follow his enemies. King Henry the Sixth and his Queen Northward. First on the morrow, John Duke of Norfolk went in to his Country with all diligence, to prepare for the war on the part of King Edward; and on the Saturday next following, the Earl of Warwick⁷ with a great band of men departed out of London, Northward; whereat (to the same) on the Wednesday nest following the King’s footmen in a great number, of the which the most part were Welshmen and Kentish men.

Note 7. The forces under the Earl of Warwick are said to have amounted to 40,000 men. Lord Fitzwalter was sent forward to secure the passage of Ferrybridge over the river Ayre, but was driven back by the Lord Clifford, and slain in the action. Lord Clifford himself, in turn, was killed on his retreat, and "being particularly hated lor his murder of the young Duke of Rutland, (brother to Edward IV.) his son was concealed and brought up as a poor shepherd, till Henry VII. obtained the crown, when he was restored to his father's estates." — (Turner, vol. v. p. 297.)

Battles of Ferrybridge and Dintingdale

[28th March 1461] Then the Friday ensuing the King Edward issued out of the city in goodly order at Bishopsgate, then being the 12th day of March, and held on his journey following those others, and when the fore prickers came to Ferrybridge, there was a great skirmish whereat John Ratcliff, then Lord Fitzwalter, was slain, and thereupon they ever advanced themselves till they came to Touton, 8 miles out of York,

Battle of Towton

[29th March 1461] ... upon a Friday at night, abiding the residue of their company, the which were assembled in good order on the Saturday, then being Palm Sunday-eve: and about 4 of the clock at night the two battles⁸ joined, and fought all night till on the morrow at after noon; when about the noon the foresaid John Duke of Norfolk with a fresh band of good men of war came in, to the aid of the new elected King Edward. This field was sore fought. For there were slain on both parts 33,000 men, and all the season it snowed. There were slain the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland with others and Sir Andrew Troloppe; and taken the Earls of Devonshire and Wiltshire and beheaded there; The Earls of and the deposed King Harry, his Queen, with Henry, Duke of Somerset, and others, in great haste fled into Scotland.

Note 8. "As if battle wero the gate of paradise, and the future an incomprehensible dream, they raised against each other a tumultuous out of execration and defiance, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, within three hours of complete darkness, began the mortal struggle by Lord Falconbridge advancing to the attack." — (Turner, vol. v . 297.) This was indeed "a sore fought field." Our Fragment aays 33,000 men were slain; the Croyland Chronicler says, "they who buried the dead declared 38,000 had fallen." Fabian says 30,000 fell, and Hall counts the slain during the three days at 36,776 persons. A contemporary writer (Fenn's Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 219-221) gives the Herald's report as 28,000, and he says on Henry's side alone, 20,000 were slain. Amongst these were the Earl of Westmoreland and his brother Sir John Nevil, the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Lords Dacres and Wells, and Sir Andrew Trollope. The Earl of Devonshire was beheaded at York, immediately after the battle. — Wethamstede, p. 517.

Chapter 4. This victory obtained. King Edward followed the chase but a little; but shortly he returned unto York, whereat he kept his Easter, The bruit (news) of the great victory was spread, so that it came to London on Easter eve, whereat was great joy made. The feast of Easter accomplished, the King Edward rode to Durham, and setting all things in good order in the North parts, he left behind him there the Earl of Warwick to have the oversight and governance there, and the King returned Southwards, and Eastwards, arriving at his manor of Sheen, the first day of June, whereat he continued to the 26th day of the same month, in the which season was prepared, and provision made for his coronation.

Coronation of Edward IV

Chapter 5. The same 26th day of June [1461] the King Edward removed from Sheen towards London, then being Thursday, and upon the way, received him the Mayor and his brethren, all in scarlet, with 400 commoners of (common councilmen) well horsed and clad in green, and so advancing themselves, passed the bridge, and through the city, they rode straight unto the Tower of London, and rested there all night, whereat on the morrow he made 32 new Knights of the Bath, the which day at after noon departing from the Tower, in like good order as they came thither, these 32 new Knights proceeding immediately before the King, in their gowns and hoods, and tokens of white silk upon their shoulders, as is accustomed at the Bath;

[27th June 1461] ... and so in this goodly order he was brought to Westminster, whereat on the morrow, being St. Peter’s day, and Sunday, he was solemnly crowned by the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with great triumph and honour; and thereupon he created his brother George, Duke of Clarence, then being of 14 years old, anno 1460.

Chapter 6. In the first year of King Edward a Parliament⁸ was called at Westminster the 4th day of September, and upon the 5th day of the same month, John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk died, and thereupon immediately Richard,⁹ youngest brother of the King, was created Duke of Gloucester, and John Mowbray, son of the aforesaid John, was created Duke of Norfolk, on Allhalowen day. And in the same solemnity Harry Bourchier, Earl of Ewe, was created Earl of Essex. He wedded Isabel, sister to Richard, Duke of York, father to King Edward. And also William Neville, Lord Falconbridge, uncle to the King, was created Earl of Kent, — in the which seasons grew many grudges secretly. In so much that Harry Vere, Lord Aubrey, accused his own father, the Earl of Oxford, of treason, whereupon they were both taken the 12th day of February in the same year, and brought to the Tower of London,¹⁰ and shortly thereupon, the 20th day of the same month, both the father and the son were brought unto the Tower Hill, where they suffered death, both on one day; how be it, the chronicles, lately made, affirmeth that the Earl should be executed 6 days after; for it was a piteous sight to see them both, father and son, in such distress. Item, the same year was taken Sir Baldwin Fulford, and beheaded at Bristol.

Note 8. Edward concluded his first parliament by the unusual but popular measure of a speech from the throne to the Commons delivered by himself. — (See this curious document at length in Turner's History, vol. 5. p. 302.) It was during this session that the statute was passed, prohibiting the great and rich from giving or wearing any liveries or signs of companionship, except while serving under the King; from receiving or maintaining plunderers, robbers, malefactors, or unlawful hunters; and from allowing dice and cards in their houses beyond the twelve days of Christmas.— (Parl. RoIIs, 488.)

Note 9. Harl, MS. 7371, ad Regnum. He married Anne, second daughter, and one of the heirs of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and Sarum, by whom he had issue, Edmund, who died young. When Richard came to the throne he was only 30 years and 9 months old, as he was bom at Fotheringay, Oct. 2nd, 1452, and little more than thirty-three when he fell at Bosworth field. Sir John Neville, brother to the Earl of Warwick, was made Lord Montacute. The King constituted William Neville, whom he had created Earl of Kent, Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitain, July 13, 1462.— (MS. Brit. Mus. Otho, E. IX.)

Note 10. See Hall's Chronicle, p. 189; Grafton's Chronicle, p. 658, and Fabian's Chronicle, p. 215. The Earl and his son were detected in a correspondence with Queen Margaret, and tried by martial law before the Constable, this law having just been introduced into Civil Government. The office of Constable was abolished by Henry VIII. The power of his court was in direct violation of Magna Charta, and utterly at variance with true constitutional liberty. Indeed if any one will peruse the patent granted to Earl Rivers by Edward IV. it will be evident that in the hands of a dependent on the Crown, a heartless, crael, and vindictive tyrant could commit, under the appearance of a trial, murders, which, but for this unrighteous power, would have brought his head to the block. — (See the word: Constabularius, in Spellman.) Sir Thomas Tudenham, Sir William Tyrrel, and John Montgomery, were also tried and convicted in the same arbitrary court. — (Hume, vol. iii.)

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Chapter 21. King Edward in this mean time was about London, to whom was brought tidings of the departing of the Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick, and that how they passed by Wiltshire westward, had taken Anthony Lord Scales and John Lord Audley: the which two Lords they sent to the Castle of Warder, to be kept out of the way unto a time determinate, that they should have been put to execution: of the which inprisonment a gentleman of Dorsetshire, named John Thomhill, hearing, came the night following with a good company of hardy fellows, and found the means to deliver these two Lords from captivity. Whereupon they weere delivered to liberty. Then the King Edward, seeing these two, Duke and Earl, so departed so suddenly, he marvelled greatly: and he, being in this anguish and trouble, had knowledge of a new rebellion in the North by the means of the Lord Fitzhugh: against whom he prepared a puissance of men, and went northward: of the which when the foresaid Lord Fitzhugh was certified, he fled into Scotland (and in the same season the Earl of Oxford took shipping, and sailed into Normandy to those other Lords).

May 1470 Skirmish of Southampton

[Before 10th May 1470 ] Whereupon one Sir Geoffrey Gate, Knight, with the ‘foresaid Clapham, had prepared at Southampton a company of their ’complices to have passed into France, to those Lords of Clarence and Warwick; but their purpose was soon disclosed. For the Earl of Worcester²⁷ and the Lord Howard prevented them. In so much that many of them were taken, as Sir Geoffrey Gate, the which had his pardon and afterwards went to sanctuary. Clapham was beheaded and divers others hanged, etc.

Note 27. Lord Worcester ordered Clapham (a squire to Lord Warwick) and nineteen others, gentlemen and yeomen, fo be impaled, and from the horror of the spectacle inspired, and the universal odium it attached to Worcester, it is to be feared that the unhappy men were still sensible to the agony of this infliction, though they appear first to have been drawn, and partially hanged. Worcester was popularly called 'the Butcher,’ from his cruelty.’ — (Bulwer's Last of the Barons, vol. iii. p. 107.)

Account Of The Siege Of Bamburgh Castle, May 27th Anno Domini 1464.

July 1464 Sieges of Lancastrian Castles

27th May 1464. The King lay in the Palace of York and kept his estate siege of solemnly, and there created he Sir John Neville Lord Montague, Earl of Northumberland. And then my Lord of Warwick took upon himself the journey by the King's commandment and authority to resist the rebellious of the North, accompanied with him my said Lord of Northumberland, his brother.