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Tudor Books, The Usurpation of Richard III by Mancini
The Usurpation of Richard III by Mancini is in Tudor Books.
13 Jun 1483. One day these three and several others came to the Tower about ten o’clock to salute the protector [King Richard III of England (age 30)], as was their custom. When they had been admitted to the innermost quarters, the protector, as prearranged, cried out that an ambush had been prepared for him, and they had come with hidden arms, that they might be first to open the attack. Thereupon the soldiers, who had been stationed there by their lord, rushed in with the duke of Buckingham (age 28), and cut down Hastings (age 52) on the false pretext of treason; they arrested the others, whose life, it was presumed, was spared out of respect for religion and holy orders. Thus fell Hastings, killed not by those enemies he had always feared, but by a friend whom he had never doubted. But whom will insane lust for power spare, if it dares violate the ties of kin and friendship? After this execution had been done in the citadel, the townsmen, who had heard the uproar but were uncertain of the cause, became panic-stricken, and each one seized his weapons.
But the brothers of Edward, who were then living, although each of them bore the matter heavily, one, however, who was born second to Edward and Duke of Clarence, more openly expressed his displeasure; while he bitterly and openly attacked the obscure origin of Elizabeth; while he preached against the king for marrying a widow, when he should have married a virgin. The other brother, Richard, who now reigns, then Duke of Gloucester, because he was more apt at dissimulation and had less authority due to being younger, did nothing or said nothing that could be argued against. Therefore, after those princes were defeated, who had renewed war against Edward because of such marriages, and had restored Henry's faction to hope of the kingdom; likewise, after Henry himself and his factions were brought to their end, Edward was confirmed in the kingdom: the queen, mindful of the insults to her family and the accusations against herself, namely, that according to the customs of their ancestors she was not the legitimate wife of the king, believed that her offspring already conceived by the king would never reign unless the Duke of Clarence were removed: which she easily persuaded the king himself. This fear of the queen was heightened by the fact that the Duke of Clarence was of the most elegant appearance, so that he seemed worthy of the throne: moreover, he had such popularity of eloquence that nothing he desired seemed difficult to achieve.
Fratres vero Eduardi, qui duo tunc vivebant, etsi graviter uterque eandem rem tulerunt; alter tamen, qui ab Eduardo secundo genitus erat et dux Clarentinorum, manifestius suum stomachum aperuit; dum in obscurum Helisabette genus acriter et palam inveheretur; dumque contra morem viduam a rege ductam predicaret, quem virginem uxorem ducere opportuisset. Alter vero frater, Riccardus qui nunc regnat, tunc Closestriorum dux, tum quia ad dissimulandum aptior erat, tum quia minor natu, minus auctoritatis habebat, [page v] nihil egit aut dixit quo argui posset. Postquam igitur debellatis iis principibus, qui propter huiusmodi nuptias bellum Eduardo renovaverant, et partes Henrici in spem regni reduxerant: postquam item Henrico ipso partibusque suis ad exitum perductis, Eduardus in regno confirmatus fuit: regina, memor contumeliarum in genus suum et criminum in seipsam obiectorum, quod scilicet more maiorum legitima regis uxor non esset, existimavit, nunquam prolem suam ex rege iam susceptam regnaturam, nisi dux Clarentie aufferretur: quod et ipsi regi facile persuasit. Augebat hunc regine timorem, quod dux Clarentie elegantissime erat forme, ut dignus videretur imperio: preterea popularis eloquentie vero habebat tantum, ut nihil quod cuperet difficile ei factu visum esset.
Therefore, whether by fabricated accusation or by true accusation, the Duke of Clarence was accused, because he had aspired to the king's death with magic and witchcraft. With this charge brought, he was condemned: and subjected to the ultimate punishment. But the type of punishment chosen was that he would exchange his life for death by being plunged into a barrel of the softest Falernian wine. At that time, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, moved by grief for his brother, could not help but be heard saying that he would someday avenge his brother's death. From then on, he rarely came to the royal court. He stayed in his own province. He endeavored to bind his own people to himself by his offices and justice. His clear reputation for morals and his studies attracted others to love him not insignificantly. In military matters, he was so renowned that whatever difficult and perilous tasks were to be carried out for the kingdom, they were entrusted to his counsel and leadership. Richard sought the goodwill of the people through these means: and he avoided the envy of the queen, from whom he lived far away.
Itaque sive conficto crimine, sive vero facinore delato, dux Clarentie reus est factus, quod in regis mortem cum magicis et maleficis aspirasset. Quo iudicio agitato, condemnatus fuit: et ultimo supplicio affectus. Supplicii autem genus illud placuit, ut in dolium mollissimi falerni mersus vitam cum morte commutaret. Eo tempore Riccardus dux Closestrius ex dolore fratris percitus, nequivit tantum simulare, quin auditus sit cum diceret, se aliquando fratris mortem esse vindicaturum. Ex eo perraro in regiam veniebat. In provincia sua se continebat. Suos officiis et iusticia sibi devincire studebat. Alienos clara fama morum et studiorum suorum ad sui amorem non mediocriter alliciebat. In militia ita clarus erat, ut quicquid arduum et cum periculo pro regno gerendum esset, eius consilio et ductui committeretur. [page vi] Iis artibus Riccardus populorum benivolentiam sibi quesivit: et regine invidiam, a qua procul vivebat, vitavit.
[Aug 1483]. Up to this point, although all the signs of aiming for the kingdom were evident, nevertheless some hope was left, that he would not establish the kingdom for himself, since he boasted of doing all these things as a punisher of injustices and treasons: and since all private memorials and public documents were marked with the titles and name of Edward the Fifth. But after Hastings was removed, all the servants who had served the little king were prohibited from approaching him. He himself, with his brother, was brought into the innermost chambers of his tower, and they began to be seen less and less through the bars and windows each day; so much so that they completely ceased to appear. The Strasbourg doctor, who was the last one his little king used, reported that the little king, as if a victim prepared for sacrifice, sought to cleanse his guilt every day with confession and penance, thinking that death was imminent for him. This place seems to demand that I not pass over the character of the young man in silence. But since there are so many things that he said and did generously, humanely, and even wisely, beyond what was appropriate for his age, I will excuse the labour itself with my right. However, I will not overlook this, that he was extremely learned in literature, so that he could speak elegantly, and whatever came to his hands, whether poetry or prose, unless it was from difficult authors, he understood completely and expressed excellently. He had such dignity in his whole body and such grace in his face that although he greatly delighted the eyes of those who beheld him, he never satisfied them. I have seen not a few people burst into tears and weep when his memory was brought up after he was removed from the sight of men, and it was already suspected that he had been eliminated. Whether he has indeed been removed, and by what manner of death, I have not yet discovered.
Hucusque quamvis affectari regnum omnia argumenta conspicerentur, attamen aliquid spei relinquebatur, quod sibi regnum non astrueret, cum tanquam iniuriarum et proditionis vindicem hec omnia se facere iactaret: cumque omnia privata monumenta et rescripta publica titulis et nomine Eduardi quinti notarentur. Sed postquam Astinco amotus est, omnes familiares qui regulo inservierant ab eius accessu prohibiti sunt. Ipse cum fratre in penitiores ipsius turris edes reducti, rarius per cancellos et fenestras in dies conspici ceperunt ; usque adeo ut penitus desierint apparere. Referebat Argentinus medicus, quo ultimo ex suis regulus usus fuit, regulum tanquam victimam sacrificio paratam singulis diebus confessione et penitentia suas noxas diluere, quod mortem sibi instare putaret. Postulare videtur hic locus ut adolescentis indolem silentio non preteream. Sed cum tam multa sint, que ab eo liberaliter humane quinimmo sapienter dicta et facta preterquam illi convenerat etati, memorantur: [page xxv] ut multo indigeant labore, laborem ipsum meo iure excusabo. Illud tamen non preteribo, quod apprime litteris eruditus fuit, ut loqui eleganter posset, et quicquid ad manus veniret, sive carmen sive prosa, nisi ex difficilioribus auctoribus esset, plane intelligeret et optime enuntiaret. Dignitatis habebat tantum in toto corpore et in vultu gratie, ut intuentium oculos, etsi multum pasceret, nunquam tamen satiaret. Non paucos homines in lacrymas et fletus prorupisse vidi, cum eius memoria fieret postquam a conspectibus hominum est amotus, et jam suspitio foret esse sublatum. An autem sublatus sit, et quo genere mortis, nihil adhuc compertum habeo.
Tudor Books, The Usurpation of Richard III by Mancini Chapter 6
How the duke of Gloucester showed his hand, and how he took possession of the realm at the instigation of the duke of Buckingham, and on what grounds be claimed to deserve the crown.
When Richard felt secure from all those dangers that at first he feared, he took off the mourning clothes that he had always worn since his brother’s death, and putting on purple raiment he often rode through the capital surrounded by a thousand attendants. He publicly showed himself so as to receive the attention and applause of the people as yet under the name of protector; but each day he entertained to dinner at his private dwellings an increasingly large number of men.89
Note 89. At York on his first public appearance after his brother’s death Gloucester and his suite assumed mourning (Historia Croylandensis, 565); and, though the king entered London in blue velvet, the duke accompanied him ‘in blak cloth like a mourner’ (Chronicles of London, 190); or, as the Great Chronicle (f. 205V°) expresses it, ‘in course blak cloth’. A liberal feeding of the London populace was a political expedient of which Richard, earl of Warwick, had already shown the possibilities (Great Chronicle, ff. 179vo-180r0).
When he exhibited himself through the streets of the city he was scarcely watched by anybody, rather did they curse him with a fate worthy of his crimes, since no one now doubted at what he was aiming. After that he took a special opportunity of publicly showing his hand; since he so corrupted preachers of the divine word,90 that in their sermons to the people they did not blush to say, in the face of decency and all religion, that the progeny of King Edward should be instantly eradicated, for neither had he been a legitimate king, nor could his issue be so. Edward, said they, was conceived in adultery and in every way was unlike the late duke of York, whose son he was falsely said to be, but Richard, duke of Gloucester, who altogether resembled his father, was to come to the throne as the legitimate successor.
Note 90. Mancini speaks of preachers and sermons as though more than one preacher was induced to advocate Richard’s claim. On Sunday, 22 June, Doctor Ralph Shaw preached at Paul’s Cross, declaring Richard's right to the crown and the bastardy of Edward IV and his children (Great Chronicle, f. 207; Fabyan, Chronicles, 669; Chronicles of London, 190; More, Richard 111, 433-9; Polydor Vergil, Anglica Historia, 691-2. These sources give the vite date, i.e. the Sunday after Hastings’s death; the true date is fixed by cdunting the days backward from Richard's accession on 26 June 1483). More also records a sermon preached in fa preached in favour of Richard by Penket (called Penker by More), an Augustinian Hermit, but this was not until Easter 1484 (More, Richard III, 433).
In the meantime the duke summoned to London all the peers of the realm:91 the latter supposed they were called both to hear the reason for Hastings’s execution, and to decide again about the coronation of Edward, for it seemed after such an unprecedented alarm that the coronation must be deferred. Each came with the retinue that his title and station demanded: but the duke advised them to retain a few attendants, who were indispensable for their personal service, and to send back the others to their own homes. As a pretext for this he alleged the fear of the London citizens, lest so great a concourse of men in a wealthy city might turn to plundering against the will of their masters: and he reminded them that it had happened before.92 They obeyed his instructions, and when the duke saw that all was ready, as though he knew nothing of the affair, he secretly dispatched the duke of Buckingham to the lords with orders to submit to their decision the disposal of the throne.93
Note 91. As early as 13 May 1483 a summons was issued to a parliament on 25 June (Seventh Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, 1846, Appendix II, 212; Collection of Wills of the Kings of England, 347, note). Some members were countermanded as a supersedeas was sent to York, where it was received by the sheriff on 21 June (Davies, Records of York, 154). The assembly, though not legally a parliament, was well attended (Rotuli Parlamentorum, vi. 240; Fabyan, Chronicles, 668; More, Richard 111, 429).
Note 92. Namely, in 1450, when the servants of the lords, who were attending parliament, were responsible for the plundering of the duke of Somerset’s goods and other acts of pillage in London (Fabyan, Chronicles, 626; Chronicles of London, 162).
Note 93. It will be noticed that, unlike other authorities (Great Chronicle, f. 207; Fabyan, Chronicles, 669; Chronicles of London, 190; More, Richard 111, 439; Polydor Vergil, Anglica Historia, 692), Mancini does not report the speech delivered by Buckingham to the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London assembled in the Guildhall, but gives a speech made by Buckingham to the lords whom Richard had summoned to London. Since the speech recorded by Mancini differs substantially from Buckingham’s speech in the Guildhall, as reported by the other authorities, it is just possible that Mancini is here alluding to an assembly of lords concerning which other sources are silent. Perhaps it is more likely that he is only giving a variant of Buckingham’s Guildhall oration, which was delivered on the same day as the speech here reported, namely, on the day before Richard was petitioned to take the crown (cf. supra, page 118, line 20).
He argued that it appeared unjust that this lad, who was illegitimate, should assume the office of kingship: for he was a bastard by reason of his father Edward having married Elizabeth, when by law he was contracted to another wife, whom the duke of Warwick had given him. At Edward’s [IV] command the duke had previously crossed the seas and betrothed the other lady by word of proxy, as they call it.94 Besides, Elizabeth herself had been married to another, and had been ravished rather than espoused by Edward,95 with the result that their entire offspring was unworthy of the kingship. As for the son of the duke of Clarence, he had been rendered ineligible for the crown by the felony of his father: since his father after conviction for treason had forfeited not only his own but also his sons’ right of succession.96
Note 94. This is altogether false. Warwick indeed twice crossed the sea between June and September 1464 with a view to negotiating a match between Edward and Bona of Savoy. But he had no opportunity of pledging the king’s hand by proxy, for on the first occasion he did not go beyond Calais, and on the second scarcely farther (cf. documents published and annotated by C. Scofield, E.H.R. xxi [1906], 732-7). Moreover, at the time of Warwick's journeys Edward was already wedded to Elizabeth Woodville, whom he married on 1 May 1464 (cf. note 10), and whatever obligations Warwick might have undertaken they could not have altered Elizabeth’s title to be Edward’s lawful wife. It is curious that Mancini nowhere refers to any precontract between Edward and Eleanor Butler or Elizabeth Lucy. (rz9)
Note 95. This scandal is also reported by Thomas Basin (Historia Carols VII et Ludovici XI, iii. 135).
Note 96. Nevertheless, after the death of his son in April 1484, Richard for a time recognized Edward, earl of Warwick, as heir to the throne, but soon superseded him by John de Ia Pole, earl of Lincoln, perhaps from a desire to appear consistent (Ross, Historia Regum Anglie, 217-18).
The only survivor of the royal stock was Richard, duke of Gloucester, who was legally entitled to the crown, and could bear its responsibilities thanks to his proficiency. His previous career and blameless morals would be a sure guarantee of his good government. Although he would refuse such a burden, he might yet change his mind if he were asked by the peers. On hearing this the lords consulted their own safety, warned by the example of Hastings, and perceiving the alliance of the two dukes, whose power, supported by a multitude of troops, would be difficult and hazardous to resist. Whereas they saw themselves surrounded and in the hands of the dukes, and therefore they determined to declare Richard their king and ask him to undertake the burden of office. On the following day97 all the lords forgathered at the house of Richard’s mother, whither he had purposely betaken himself, that these events might not take place in the Tower where the young king was confined. There the whole business was transacted, the oaths of allegiance given, and other indispensable acts fittingly performed. On the two following days the people of London and the heads of the clergy98 did likewise. All important matters are deliberated, and decrees made law by these three classes of men, whom they call the three estates.99 This being accomplished, a date was fixed for the coronation: while acts in the name of Edward V since the death of his father were repealed or suspended, seals and titles changed, and everything confirmed and carried on in the name of Richard III.100
Note 97. On Wednesday, 25 June 1483, the duke of Buckingham, accompanied by noblemen, knights, and gentlemen, and the mayor with the aldermen and chief commoners of the city, waited upon the protector at Baynard’s Castle, the home of Cecily, duchess of York, and presented a petition begging him to take the crown, which he accepted (Rotuli Parlamentorum, vi. 240; Historia Croylandensis, 567; More, Richard III, 445-8).
Note 98. A convocation had originally been summoned for 18 April 1483, but it did not meet (Nichols, Grants of Edward V, xxxviii). However, on 16 May a letter under the signet was addressed to the archbishop of Canterbury bidding him assemble a convocation of the clergy of his province at St. Paul's, London (ibid. 13).
Note 99. Mancini was under the impression that the gathering he witnessed was a parliament, which in appearance, though not legally, it was (Rotuli Parlamentorum, vi. 240).
Note 100. Richard's reign began on Thursday, 26 June 1483. On that day he intruded himself into the royal chair in the court of King’s Bench at Westminster Palace (Historia Croylandensis, 566; Fabyan, Chronicles, 669; More, Richard 111, 448; Polydor Vergil, Anglica Historia, 692). Being a stranger Mancini ignored the constitutional significance of this act, and noted the consummation of Richard's usurpation only in the changed official style.