(M491)
The new king made himself very popular with the citizens. He was not less
a favourite with them because he joined their ranks and became a trader
like themselves, or because he took a wife from among his own subjects and
made her a sharer of his crown. At the coronations, both of Edward and his
queen, which took place after an interval of three years, the City was
fully represented, and its claim to services at the king's coronation
banquet duly acknowledged.(909) At the latter ceremony no less than four
citizens, among them being Ralph Josselyn, the mayor, were created Knights
of the Bath.(910) The citizens had previously shown their respect to
Elizabeth Woodville by riding forth to meet her and escorting her to the
Tower on her first arrival to London, and by presenting her with a gift of
1,000 marks or L750.(911)
(M492)
If the young and handsome prince who now ascended the throne occasionally
carried his familiarity with the wives of city burgesses beyond the limits
of strict propriety, much could be forgotten and forgiven for the
readiness he showed to confirm and enlarge the City's privileges and to
foster the trade of the country. Before he had been on the throne many
months he granted the citizens, by charter, the right of package and
scavage, as well as the office of gauger of wines.(912)
(M493)
In the following March (1462) he confirmed the charter granted to the City
by Henry IV, whereby the citizens obtained the right of taking toll and
custom at Billingsgate, Smithfield and elsewhere, as well as the right of
_tronage_ or weighing wool at the Tron.(913)
(M494)
In August, 1462 Calais was again in danger, and the king wanted money. The
Earl of Worcester and others of the council were sent into the city to ask
for a loan of L3,400. After considering the matter, the civic authorities
agreed to lend him L1,000. The money was to be raised by assessment on the
wards, but Dowgate ward being at the time very poor, was not to be
pressed.(914) In the following October the City again came to the king's
assistance with a further loan of 2,000 marks,(915) and on the 9th
November the City obtained (in return, shall we say?) a charter confirming
its jurisdiction over the Borough of Southwark,(916) originally granted by
Edward III. Again, the coincidence of a charter granted by the king to the
City, with a loan or gift from the City to the king, is remarkable.
(M495)
When Edward returned in February, 1463, from the North, where he had
succeeded with the assistance afforded him by the Londoners in
re-capturing most of the castles which the restless Margaret had taken,
the City resolved to give him a befitting reception. Preparations were
made for the mayor, aldermen and commons to ride forth to meet him in
their finest liveries, but the king having expressed his intention of
coming from Shene to the city by water, the citizens went to meet him in
their barges, with all the pomp and ceremony of a Lord Mayor's day.(917)
(M496)
Edward now gave himself up to a life of luxury and pleasure. In 1464 he
married the young widow of Sir John Grey, better known by her maiden name
of Elizabeth Woodville. His marriage to her gave offence to the nobility,
more especially to the Earl of Warwick, who was planning at the time a
match with France or Burgundy, and to whom the news of the marriage with
one so beneath the king in point of dignity came as an unpleasant
surprise. The earl was still more offended when he learnt that the young
king had secretly effected a marriage treaty between his sister Margaret
(whom Warwick had destined for one of the French princes) and the Duke of
Burgundy. These matrimonial alliances, combined with the inordinate favour
Edward displayed towards his wife's family, led to an estrangement between
the king and his powerful subject.
(M497)
The proposed alliance with Burgundy was far from being distasteful to the
merchants of the city, inasmuch as it was likely to open up trade with
those states of the Low Countries which the Burgundian dukes had
consolidated as a barrier against France. When the Princess Margaret was
about to start (June, 1468) for her future husband's dominions, the mayor
and aldermen of London testified their appreciation of the alliance by
presenting her with a pair of silver gilt dishes, weighing 19 lbs. 8 oz.,
besides the sum of L100 in gold, by way of a wedding gift.(918)
(M498)
Disgusted with the king's unhandsome conduct towards him, Warwick found an
ally in Clarence, the king's brother, gave him one of his daughters in
marriage, and even encouraged him to hope for the succession to the crown.
Edward's extravagant and luxurious life had lost him much of his
popularity. He had ceased, moreover, to possess the goodwill of the
citizens for having allowed the arrest of Sir Thomas Cooke or Coke,(919)
an alderman of the city, on a false charge of treason. Notwithstanding his
acquittal, Cooke had been committed to prison and only regained his
liberty on payment of an extortionate fine to the king and queen.(920)
Warwick and Clarence made use of the general discontent that prevailed to
further their own designs, and the civil war was renewed. The City
endeavoured to steer a middle course. In June (1469) it lent the king the
sum of L200, but in the following month it lent Warwick and Clarence just
five times that amount on the sole security of some jewels of little
value.(921) In May, 1470, when there seemed little hope of the jewels
being redeemed, as Warwick and Clarence had been obliged to flee to
France, the Common Council entertained the thought of selling them for
what they were worth. The sale did not take place, however, but they were
kept some in the "Treasury," and some in the custody of William Taillour,
late mayor, on the express understanding that he was not to be held
responsible in the event of their being stolen or taken by force.(922) In
February, 1471, when the wheel of fortune had once more placed Henry VI on
the throne from which he had been driven by Edward, and Warwick and
Clarence were again in power, the mayor and aldermen caused it to be
placed on record that the loan on the jewels had been made by agreement of
the whole court, with the assistance of certain commoners who had been
called in to contribute. What their object was in so doing is not clear.
Perhaps they felt some qualms as to what Edward might say or do in respect
of the loan, should he again return to power. They, at the same time,
extended the time for the repayment of the loan, at the desire of the
dukes of Clarence and Warwick. If the jewels were not redeemed by
Whitsuntide at the latest, they were to be sold.(923)
(M499)
Whilst Warwick and Clarence were in France in 1470, they concerted
measures with Queen Margaret for effecting another revolution. By
September matters were ready for execution. On the 13th Warwick landed in
England; and before the end of the month the Kentish men so threatened the
City and Westminster, that the newly-elected sheriffs had to be escorted
by an armed force in order to be sworn in at the Exchequer, whilst a
constant patrol was kept in the streets.(924) On the 1st October it was
made known in the city that the king had taken flight. His queen took
sanctuary at Westminster, leaving the Tower in the hands of the mayor and
aldermen and members of the council of Warwick and Clarence. The
unfortunate Henry was quickly removed from the wretched cell in which he
had so long been confined to a commodious and handsomely furnished
apartment which the queen herself, being _enceinte_ at the time, purposed
occupying when she should be brought to bed. A garrison was placed in the
Tower by order of the Common Council, sitting, for safety's sake, in the
church of St. Stephen, Walbrook. On the 5th October Archbishop Nevill,
Warwick's brother, entered the city with a strong force and relieved the
civic authorities of the custody of the Tower, and on the following day
Warwick himself appeared, accompanied by Clarence and a large following,
and removed Henry from the Tower to the Bishop of London's palace.(925)
Two days later (9 Oct.) he obtained from the Common Council the sum of
L1,000 for the defence of his stronghold, Calais, besides a loan of L100
from the aldermen of the city for his own private use.(926) On the 18th
the Earl of Worcester, Edward's constable and minister of his
cruelties,(927) was beheaded on Tower Hill, the ground being kept by the
Sheriffs of London and a contingent from the several wards.(928)
(M500)
In November Henry was made to hold a parliament, and Sir Thomas Cooke, the
deposed alderman, lost no time in presenting a bill for the restoration of
his lands, which had been seized by the queen's father, Lord Rivers. He
would probably have been successful had fortune continued to favour King
Henry, for, besides being a member of parliament, he was, writes Fabyan (a
brother alderman), "a man of great boldnesse in speche, and well spoken
and syngulerly wytted and well reasoned."(929) John Stokton had recently
been elected mayor, but there is reason for believing that he, like other
aldermen, preferred Edward on the throne, licentious and extravagant as he
was, to an imbecile like Henry. He fell ill, or, as Fabyan puts it,
feigned sickness and took to his bed, and Cooke assumed the duties of the
mayoralty. At Edward's restoration Cooke had to seek refuge in France, but
he was taken at sea before he could reach the continent. The same fate
might have awaited Stokton had he shown himself less cautious at that
critical time.
(M501)
That the aldermen and the better class of citizens favoured Edward, is
shown by the ease with which he effected an entry into the city when he
returned to England in the spring of the following year (1471). The gates,
we are told, were opened to him by Urswyk, the Recorder, and certain
aldermen (their names are not mentioned), who took advantage of the
inhabitants being at dinner to let in Edward.(930) Two days later, having
recruited his forces, Edward marched out of the city, with Henry in his
train, to meet Warwick. He encountered him on Easter Day (14 April) at
Barnet, and totally defeated him, both the earl and his brother being left
dead on the field. By this time Margaret had landed with a fresh army; but
a crushing defeat inflicted upon her at Tewkesbury (4 May) left Edward
once more master of the kingdom.
(M502) (M503)
For a short time the city lay in some peril whilst Edward was engaged with
Warwick and Margaret. The men of Kent again became troublesome. They
affected not to believe that Warwick had actually fallen at Barnet. Under
the leadership of Thomas Fauconberg or Falconbridge, generally spoken of
as the "bastard," being a natural son of William Nevill, first Lord
Fauconberg, Earl of Kent, they marched to London, with the intention of
releasing Henry from confinement and placing him again on the throne.
Fauconberg, who had been made a freeman of the City in 1454,(931) assumed
the title of captain of King Henry's people in Kent, and on the 8th May
wrote from Sittingbourne to inform the inhabitants of the city that he had
undertaken the cause of Henry against the "usurper" Edward, and to ask to
be allowed to pass through the city with his followers, whom he promised
to hold in restraint and prevent doing any mischief. He had written to the
mayor and aldermen to the same effect, and had desired to have a reply
sent to him at Blackheath by a certain day and hour. To this letter the
mayor and aldermen sent an answer on the following day, to the effect that
when Edward left the city, after the battle of Barnet, to follow the
movements of Margaret and endeavour to bring about an action before she
could completely rally her forces, he had charged them on their allegiance
to hold the city of London for him, and for none other. For that reason
they dared not, neither would they, suffer him to pass through the city.
They hesitated to accept his assurance as to the peaceable behaviour of
his followers, judging from past experience. As for the statement he had
caused to be published, that he held a commission as captain of the Navy
of England and men of war by sea and land under the Earl of Warwick, whom
he still supposed to be alive, they assured him that the earl was dead,
and that his corpse, as well as the corpse of Montague, the earl's
brother, had been exposed to view for two days in St. Paul's. They gave
him the names of some of the chief men who had fallen at Tewkesbury,
obtained, they assured him, not from hearsay but from
eye-witnesses--special war correspondents, whom the City had despatched for
the express purpose of reporting on the state of the field, and they
concluded by exhorting him to do as they themselves had done, and to
acknowledge Edward IV as the rightful king. They would even plead for
royal favour on his behalf, but as to letting him and his host pass
through the city, that was out of the question.(932) Having despatched
this answer to Fauconberg, the civic fathers at once set to work to
fortify the river's bank from Castle Baynard to the Tower, where lay the
rebels' fleet. On Sunday, the 12th May, the Kentish men tried to force
London Bridge and set fire to some beer-houses near Saint Katherine's
Hospital. The attack was renewed on the following Tuesday, whilst portions
of the rebel force, amounting it was said to 5,000 persons, were told off
to try and force the gates of Aldgate and Bishopsgate. There, however,
they were repulsed, and nearly 300 of them met their death, either in
actual fight or in their endeavours to get on board their boats at
Blackwall. Urswyk, the city's Recorder, as well as Robert Basset, alderman
of Aldgate Ward, showed conspicuous valour in the fight which took place
in that quarter.(933) The city was never again troubled by Fauconberg.
After much wandering he was taken prisoner at Southampton, and thence
conveyed to Middleham, in Yorkshire, where he was beheaded. His head was
afterwards sent to London and set up on London Bridge, "looking into
Kentward."(934)
(M504)
On the night after Edward's return(935) in triumph to London, Henry VI
ended his life in the Tower, murdered, in all probability, at the instance
of the Duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, afterwards King Richard
III. His remains lay in state at St. Paul's and at the Blackfriars a short
while, and were then carried to Chertsey to be buried.(936) Edward
distributed honours among his supporters in the city with a lavish hand.
Not only did the Lord Mayor--the cautious Stokton--receive the honour of
knighthood, but the aldermen(937) besides, whilst the city's doughty
Recorder was soon afterwards raised to be Baron of the Exchequer. The City
was so pleased with its Recorder that it voted him a pipe of wine
annually, but the gift was not to be drawn into precedent.(938)
(M505)
The rest of Edward's reign was undisturbed by any attempt to unseat the
new dynasty, and his position was rendered the more secure by the birth of
a son (afterwards Edward V) in the sanctuary of Westminster, whither his
wife Elizabeth had fled for refuge. Before the young Prince of Wales was
five years old he received the honour of knighthood at Westminster. The
mayor and aldermen went to meet him on his way from the city to
Westminster on that occasion, clad in scarlet robes, whilst the streets
from Bishopsgate to Saint Paul's were thronged with the commons in their
livery.(939)
(M506)
Edward was now free to carry out his foreign policy. Parliament voted
supplies to enable him to make war with France, but these were not
sufficient, and he had recourse to a system of "benevolences" or free
gifts, which few, however, dared to refuse. On the 30th May, 1475, he left
the Bishop of London's palace in St. Paul's Church-yard, and, passing
through Cheapside to London Bridge, took boat to Greenwich for the purpose
of crossing over to France. The livery companies turned out to do him
honour.(940) The expedition ended without a blow, Edward allowing himself
to be bought off with a sum of 75,000 crowns paid down and a pension of
50,000 more. On his return he was met at Blackheath by the mayor and
aldermen in scarlet gowns, with their servants in gowns of
"musterdevilers," accompanied by more than 600 members of the companies in
gowns of bright murrey.(941)
(M507)
By resorting again to benevolences and exacting money from the City in
return for charters, Edward avoided the necessity of summoning parliament
between the years 1478 and 1483. On the 25th May, 1481, the king granted
the City a general pardon,(942) and in the following month the City
returned the compliment by a loan of 5,000 marks.(943) This loan was not
only repaid, but the king in the next year extended his hospitality to the
City by giving a large number of citizens a day's hunting in Waltham
forest, and afterwards regaling them and their wives with venison and
wine.(944)
(M508)
The close of the year 1482 witnessed such a dearth of cereals that the
exportation of wheat or other grain was absolutely forbidden. It was
feared that a famine might arise in the City of London, so vast had its
population become, both from the influx of nobles who had taken up their
quarters within its walls as well as of strangers from foreign lands.
Merchants were therefore encouraged to send their grain to London by a
promise that it should not be intercepted by the king's purveyors.(945)
(M509)
The names of the City's representatives who attended the parliament which
met in January, 1483, are not recorded, but we have the names of four
aldermen and five commoners, who were appointed in the previous month of
December to confer with the City members on matters affecting the
City.(946) In addition to parliamentary grants of a fifteenth and tenth,
and a renewal of the tax on aliens, the citizens agreed to lend the king
the sum of L2,000, each alderman to lay down 50 marks and 80 commoners to
subscribe L15 a piece.(947) Some difficulty was experienced in raising the
money, and the names of eleven persons who had refused to contribute were
forwarded to the king.(948) A little more than a month elapsed and Edward
was dead.
(M510)
The coronation of the young prince who now succeeded to his father's
throne, only to occupy it however for a few weeks, was fixed to take place
on the first Sunday in May; and on the 19th April the City was busy making
arrangements for the prince's reception. It was decided that the mayor and
aldermen should ride forth to meet the king, clad in gowns of scarlet,
their attendants being provided with gowns of the colour of lion's-foot
(_pied de lyon_), at the public cost. Five sergeants-at-mace belonging to
the mayor, and nineteen sergeants-at-mace in the service of the sheriffs,
were also to ride out to meet the king, clad in gowns of the
last-mentioned colour. The sword-bearer was to be provided with a gown of
murrey, and a deputation from the civic guilds, to the number of 410
persons, clad in gowns of the same colour, was to join the cavalcade.(949)
On the 14th May they rode out to Hornsey, where they met the prince and
his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and escorted them to the city. The duke
was the same day appointed Protector, to the great disappointment of the
queen, who again took sanctuary at Westminster. She was induced shortly
afterwards to give up possession of her younger son, the Duke of York, and
he and Prince Edward were lodged in the Tower by order of Gloucester, who
took up his quarters at Crosby Palace, the mansion house of Sir John
Crosby, in Bishopsgate Street.
Although preparations had been made for the coronation, and the City had
appointed representatives from the livery companies to assist the chief
butler at the banquet(950) according to custom, that ceremony never took
place. Gloucester feared that if once the young king was crowned, the
project which he had already begun to entertain of transferring the crown
to his own head would be less capable of realization. Although he took an
oath of allegiance to the new king,(951) it was not long before he
determined to feel the pulse of the citizens as to their feelings towards
himself as a claimant of the crown.
(M511)
In order to do this he called to his assistance Dr. Shaw, an eminent
preacher, whose brother, Sir Edmund Shaa, or Shaw, happened to be mayor at
the time. Acting upon instructions from Gloucester, Shaw preached a sermon
at Paul's Cross on Sunday, the 22nd June (1483), in which he charged the
late king with bigamy, Edward IV having, as he declared, made a contract
of marriage with one of his mistresses before he married Elizabeth
Woodville, and this being the case the late king's children by her were
illegitimate, and Gloucester was the rightful heir to the throne. It was
arranged that at this point in his discourse Gloucester himself should
appear on the scene, coming up, as if by chance, from his lodgings at
Castle Baynard. By some mischance the duke failed to appear at the proper
moment, and the effect was lost. The citizens sat stolidly silent, not a
single cry being raised in favour of Gloucester.
(M512)
Nothing daunted by this dismal failure, Gloucester made another and more
successful attempt to win over the citizens. On the following Tuesday (24
June) he sent the Duke of Buckingham to harangue the citizens at the
Guildhall. The duke began by reminding his hearers of the danger to which
their wives and daughters had been exposed under the late king; of the
undue influence exercised at court by Jane Shore,(952) one only of a
number of respectable women whom Edward, he said, had seduced; of the
excessive taxes and illegal extortions by way of "benevolences" they had
recently suffered, and of the cruel treatment of their own alderman,
Cooke. He then went on to repeat the remarks of Dr. Shaw touching the
illegitimacy of the princes, and spoke of the dangers of having a boy king
on the throne, concluding by saying that although it were doubtful if
Gloucester would accept the crown if asked, he would certainly be greatly
influenced by any request proceeding from the "worshipful citizens of the
metropolis of the kingdom."(953) Buckingham's eloquence was lost on the
citizens, who were as little influenced by what their new Recorder, Thomas
Fitz-William, had to say on the matter. At length the duke lost patience
and plainly told them that the matter lay entirely with the lords and
commons, and that the assent of the citizens, however desirable in itself,
was not a necessity. By this time the back of the hall was packed with
Gloucester's partisans, so that when Buckingham put the question pointedly
to the assembly--would they have the Protector assume the crown?--a cry of
assent arose from this quarter and was taken up by a few lads and
apprentices. This was enough; the voice of the few was accepted as the
voice of the many, and the citizens were bidden to attend on the morrow to
petition Gloucester to accept the crown.
(M513)
Accordingly, on the morrow, a deputation from the city waited on the Duke
of Gloucester at Baynard's Castle and invited him to accept the crown.
After a considerable show of affected reluctance, Richard assented, and,
having assented, lost no time in carrying out his pre-conceived purpose.
The very next day he hastened to Westminster and, seating himself on the
throne, declared himself king by inheritance and election.
(M514)
On the 6th July the last Angevin king that reigned over England was
crowned--crowned with his wife Anne, widow of Prince Edward, killed at
Tewkesbury, but after the battle not in it, and of whose blood Richard
himself is thought to have been guilty. The City accepted the position and
made the new king and queen a present of L1,000; two-thirds for the king
and the remainder for the queen. The money was raised in the city by way
of a fifteenth; the poor were not to be called upon to contribute, and the
gift was not to form a precedent.(954) The claim of the mayor and citizens
to assist the chief butler at the coronation banquet was made and
allowed,(955) the king, sitting crowned in _le Whitehawle_, presented to
the mayor and aldermen who were present on that occasion a gold cup set
with pearls and precious stones, to be used by the commonalty at public
entertainments in the Guildhall.(956) Concerning this cup there is the
following curious entry made in the City's Records, under date 13th July,
1486, when Hugh Brice was mayor:--(957)
"Item it is aggreed this day by the Court that where Hugh Brice
Mair of this Citie, hathe in his Kepyng a Cuppe of gold, garneised
with perle and precious stone of the gifte of Richard, late in
dede and not of right, Kyng of Englond, which gifte was to thuse
of the Cominaltie of the said Citee, that if the saide Cuppe be
stolen or taken away by thevys oute of his possession, or elles by
the casualtie of Fire hereafter it shall hapne the same Cuppe to
be brent or lost, that the same Hugh Brice hereafter shall not be
hurt or impeched therfore."
This extract is interesting as showing that the coronation cup presented
to the mayor of the City by way of _honorarium_ was, at this period at
least, looked upon as a gift made to the City's use, and that the mayor
could not claim it as his own perquisite, as mayors had been in the habit
of doing in days gone by, and as they continued to do afterwards. William
Estfeld, who, as mayor, attended the coronation of Henry VI (6 Nov.,
1429), and received the customary gold cup and ewer, appropriated the gift
to his own use, and, as we have already mentioned, bequeathed them to his
grandson.
(M515) (M516)
Richard had scarcely been seated three months on the throne before the
Duke of Buckingham, who had been rewarded for his late services by being
appointed lord high constable, was in open rebellion, and Henry, Earl of
Richmond, long an exile in France, was meditating an invasion.
Buckingham's conspiracy proved a failure, and he paid for his rashness
with his head. The Earl of Richmond was detained in France by stress of
weather, and danger from that quarter was averted at least for a time.
(M517) (M518)
On Richard's return to London after putting down his enemies, he was
welcomed by over 400 members of the various civic companies, who rode out
to meet him in gowns of murrey.(958) His policy was one of conciliation,
and he lent a ready ear to a Petition which the citizens presented to him
setting forth the wrongs which they had suffered: "We be determined" said
the citizens in forcible language, "rather to adventure and to commit us
to the peril of our lives and jeopardy of death, than to live in such
thraldom and bondage as we have lived some time heretofore, oppressed and
injured by extortions and new impositions against the laws of God and man,
and the liberty and laws of this realm wherein every Englishman is
inherited."(959)
(M519)
Richard met this appeal by summoning parliament to meet in January (1484),
when various acts were passed affecting the trade and commerce of the city
and the country, and among them one which forbade aliens keeping any
foreign apprentices or workpeople to assist them in their occupation, and
otherwise imposed great restrictions upon the merchant stranger.(960) This
statute was scarcely less welcome to the citizens of London than that
which declared the practice of exacting money under the guise of
benevolences to be unconstitutional.(961)
(M520)
In the summer he was welcomed wherever he went, yet he knew that danger
threatened. Richmond was preparing for an invasion and the nobles were not
to be trusted. The citizens, too, were aware of the danger, and had in the
early part of the year appointed a joint committee of aldermen and
commoners to survey the city's ordnance, and to supply guns and gunpowder
in place of that which had recently been destroyed by a fire.(962) In
August they had promised Richard a loan of L2,400, each alderman
contributing L100;(963) and in the following November the mayor and
aldermen rode out to Kennington to meet him and escort him to the
Wardrobe, near Blackfriars.(964)
(M521)
Matters became more serious as time went on. In June, 1485, the City
advanced another sum of L2,000 to assist Richard against the "rebels," who
were daily expected to land in England.(965) Extraordinary precautions
were taken to guard the city.(966) At last the blow fell. On the 7th
August Henry landed at Milford Haven, and on the 22nd the battle of
Bosworth was fought and Richard killed.
(M522)
From Bosworth field Henry set out for London. He was met at Shoreditch by
a deputation from the City, accompanied by the Recorder, and was presented
with a gift of 1,000 marks.(967) The standards taken on the field of
battle were deposited with much pomp and ceremony in St. Paul's Church,
where a _Te Deum_ was sung, and for a few days Henry took up his residence
in the bishop's palace in St. Paul's Churchyard.(968)
(M523)
A cloud soon overshadowed the rejoicings which followed Henry's accession.
An epidemic hitherto unknown in England, although visitations of it
followed at intervals during this and the succeeding reign, made its
appearance in the city towards the close of September. The "sweating
sickness," as this deadly pestilence was called, carried off two mayors
and six aldermen within the space of a week(969)--so sudden and fatal was
its attack. Sir Thomas Hille, who was mayor at the time of its first
appearance, fell a victim to it on the 23rd September, and was succeeded
by William Stocker, appointed on the following day.(970) Within four days
Stocker himself was dead. There remained little more than a month before
the regular day of election of a mayor (28 Oct.)(971) for the year
ensuing, and John Warde was called upon to take office during the
interval.(972) He appears to have entertained but little affection for the
city, and the civic authorities had some difficulty in getting him to
reside in London,(973) where his duties required his presence. When the
mayoralty year expired he was not put in nomination for re-election. He
probably went back into the country, glad to get away from the
pestilential city, and Hugh Brice was elected in his stead.(974)
Fortunately for the city, the epidemic departed as suddenly and
unexpectedly as it came. By the end of October it had entirely
disappeared, and allowed of Henry's coronation taking place on the 30th of
that month.
(M524)
Within a fortnight of his arrival in London Henry issued a writ of summons
for his first parliament. It was not so much for the purpose of obtaining
supplies that he was anxious that parliament should meet at the earliest
opportunity; he was desirous of obtaining as soon as possible a
parliamentary title to the crown. As for his immediate necessities, he
preferred to apply to the City. He asked for a loan of 6,000 marks, or
L4,000; but the citizens would not advance more than half that sum. The
loan was repaid the following year--"every penie to the good contentation
and satisfying of them that disbursed it."(975)
(M525)
In January, 1486, Henry married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward
IV, and heiress of the Yorkist family. He had previously taken the
precaution of committing to the Tower the Earl of Warwick, son of
Clarence, for fear lest he might set up a title to the crown.(976) After
his marriage he set out on a progress through the country, and on his
return to London, in June, was met by the mayor and citizens at Putney,
and escorted by them down the river to Westminster.(977)
(M526) (M527)
A rumour that the Earl of Warwick had escaped from the Tower gave an
opportunity for an imposter, Lambert Simnel, to personate the earl. In
order to satisfy the Londoners that the rumour of Warwick's escape was a
fabrication, Henry caused his prisoner to be paraded through the streets
of the city, and exposed to public view at St. Paul's. After Simnel's
defeat (16 June, 1487), the Common Council agreed (28 June) to send a
deputation, consisting of two aldermen, the recorder, and four commoners,
with a suite of 24 men, to meet the king at Kenilworth, and at the same
time voted the king a present of L1000.(978) This gift was quickly
followed (11 July) by the grant of another loan of L2,000 to be levied on
the civic companies as before.(979)
(M528) (M529)
In October Henry was expected in London,(980) and the Common Council again
showed their loyalty by agreeing that the mayor and aldermen should ride
forth to meet his highness, clad in cloaks of scarlet, and accompanied by
a suite of servants clothed in medley, at the cost of the "Chamber." With
them also rode a contingent from the various civic guilds, clothed in
violet, and numbering over 400 horsemen. The Mercers, the Grocers, the
Drapers, the Fishmongers, and the "Taillours," each sent 30 mounted
representatives of their guild; the Goldsmiths sent 24, whilst the rest
sent contingents varying from one to twenty.(981) On the occasion of the
queen's coronation, which took place the following month (25 Nov.), she
was made the recipient of a gift of 1,000 marks by the City.(982)
(M530)
The king would willingly have remained at peace if he were allowed, from
motives of economy if for no other reason. England, however, could not sit
still and see Brittany overwhelmed by the French king. Before assistance
could be sent to the Duchess Anne, it was imperative that money should be
raised. At the close of 1488 the Common Council voted the king a loan of
L4,000. The money was ordered to be raised by assessment on the companies,
but the practice was not to be drawn into precedent. The king, like a good
paymaster as he always was, whatever other defects he may have had, repaid
the money in the following year.(983)
(M531)
Early in the following year parliament(984) granted large supplies which
enabled Henry to despatch 6,000 Englishmen to Anne's assistance, but which
caused much discontent among the "rude and beastlie" people of Yorkshire
and Durham.(985) In June, 1491, another loan of L3,000 was raised, this
time by assessment on the wards;(986) and in October Henry declared to
parliament his intention of invading France in person. A grant of two
fifteenths and two tenths was immediately made to assist him in his
expedition by parliament; whilst the City contributed a "great
benevolence," the fellowship of Drapers contributing more than any other
fellowship, and every alderman subscribing, whether he wished it or no,
the sum of L200. The amount contributed by the commonalty exceeded
L9,000.(987) Thus furnished with supplies, the king crossed over to Calais
on the 6th October, 1492. The campaign, however, had scarcely opened
before Henry gladly accepted the liberal terms offered him by the French
king, and peace was signed at Etaples (3 Nov.).
(M532)
The success which, brief as it was, had attended Simnel's enterprise was
sufficient to encourage a hope that a better planned project might end in
overturning the throne. A report was accordingly blazed abroad that
Richard, Duke of York, brother of King Edward V, was yet alive, not having
been murdered in the Tower, as had been supposed; and a man called Perkin
Warbeck or Warboys, a native of Tournay, assumed the name of Richard
Plantagenet and succeeded in getting a large number of people in Ireland
and Scotland to believe that in his person they in fact saw Richard, Duke
of York, the rightful heir to the crown. James IV of Scotland not only
gave him in marriage the lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of
Huntley, but led an army into England in hopes that the appearance of the
pretended prince might raise an insurrection in the northern counties.
Instead, however, of joining the invaders the English prepared to repel
them, and James retreated into his own country. This took place in 1496.
Parliament granted large supplies to enable the king to meet the danger,
but the inhabitants of Cornwall, sick of the constant demands made of them
for money, and aware of the large treasure which Henry had already
amassed, openly resisted any attempt at further taxation and determined to
march on London.
(M533)
The Londoners, who not only abstained from opposing the new demand for
money, but volunteered a loan to the king (15 Nov.) of L4,000,(988) lost
no time in putting their city into a state of defence. Six aldermen and a
number of representatives from the livery companies were deputed to attend
to the city's ordnance.(989) The mayor was to be allowed twelve armed men
in addition to his usual suite, and the sheriffs forty sergeants and forty
valets in order to assist them in keeping the peace within the city.
Communication was to be kept up at least once in the day between the mayor
and the Lord Chancellor. Houses which had been set up on the city's walls,
or within sixteen feet of them, were to be abated. John Stokker, who
filled the not unworthy office of Common Hunt,(990) was ordered daily to
ride out to learn the king's pleasure and report thereon to the mayor and
aldermen. Among those appointed to guard the city's gates and Temple Bar
was Alderman Fabyan, the chronicler.(991) The state of anxiety which
prevailed in the city at this crisis is illustrated by "Jesus Mercy" at
the head of one side of the page of the City's record, on which the above
orders are entered, whilst on the other side are the words _vigilie
temporis turbacionis_.(992)
(M534) (M535) (M536) (M537)
By the 22nd June, 1497, all immediate danger had passed, the rebels being
on that day utterly defeated at Blackheath. Their leaders were taken and
executed; the rest were for the most part made prisoners, but were soon
afterwards dismissed without further punishment. The leniency displayed
towards them by Henry was ill-repaid by their afterwards flocking to the
standard of the _soi-disant_ Richard IV, King of England, who availed
himself of their mutinous disposition and appeared in their midst at
Bodmin. The news of Perkin Warbeck having arrived in Cornwall from Ireland
was brought to the mayor and aldermen of the City of London by letter from
the king, which was read to the Common Council on Saturday, the 16th
September.(993) The rebels made an unsuccesful attempt to get possession
of Exeter, but hearing of the approach of the king's forces, Perkin
Warbeck withdrew to Taunton, leaving his followers to take care of
themselves. From Taunton he went to "Mynet" (Minehead) accompanied by less
than sixty adherents,(994) and by the 12th October the king was able to
inform the Mayor that Peter "Warboys" had voluntarily submitted himself
and had confessed to his being a native of Tournay.(995) The king had him
conveyed to London and paraded through the streets on horseback, in a
species of mock triumph, and caused his confession to be printed and
scattered over the country that people might see the real character of the
man. For a time he appears to have been detained in lax custody about the
court, but after he had made an attempt to escape and reach the sea-coast,
and been re-captured, he was sent to the Tower. There he got into
communication with the unfortunate Earl of Warwick, and entered into a
plot for effecting his own and the earl's liberty. A charge was formulated
against the earl on the most trivial grounds, of a conspiracy to seize the
Tower, and Warbeck was indicted as an accomplice. The former, being found
guilty by his peers, was beheaded on Tower Hill, while Perkin and three of
his accomplices were hanged at Tyburn.(996)
(M538)
In the meantime Prince Henry, who afterwards succeeded his father on the
throne as King Henry VIII, but was at the time a child of seven years,
paid a visit to the city (30 Oct., 1498), where he received a hearty
welcome and was presented by the Recorder, on behalf of the citizens, with
a pair of gilt goblets. In reply to the Recorder, who in presenting this
"litell and powre" gift, promised to remember his grace with a better at
some future time, the prince made the following short speech:--(997)
(M539)
_"Fader Maire, I thank you and your Brethern here present of this
greate and kynd remembraunce which I trist in tyme comyng to
deserve. And for asmoche as I can not give unto you according
thankes, I shall pray the Kynges Grace to thank you, and for my
partye I shall not forget yo__r__ kyndnesse."_
In anticipation of the prince's visit, a proclamation had been made by the
civic authorities with the view of purging the city of infectious disease,
to the effect that all vagabonds and others affected with the "greate
pockes" should vacate the city on pain of imprisonment.(998)
(M540) (M541)
The removal of Warwick--"the one judicial murder of Henry's reign"--if not
suggested by Spain, was an act which could not be otherwise than grateful
to the Spanish king. For five years past negotiations had been proceeding
for a marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Warwick's
death cleared away the last of Henry's serious competitors, and "not a
doubtful drop of royal blood" remained in the kingdom to oppose Arthur's
claim to the succession. The princess was expected shortly to arrive in
England, and a committee composed of aldermen and commoners was appointed
(Nov. 1499) to consult with the king's commissioners as to the
preparations to be made for her reception.(999) Nearly two years, however,
elapsed before she set foot in England. In May, 1500, there were again
rumours of her approach, and the Common Council voted a sum of money to be
levied on the wards to defray the expenses of her reception.(1000)
(M542)
The "garnysshyng of the pagents" for the festive occasion(1001) was
interrupted by the death of Edmund, the king's infant son. On the 19th
June the members of the various craft guilds were ordered to line the
streets of Old Bailey and Fleet Street, through which the funeral
procession was to pass on its way to Westminster. The mayor and aldermen
were to stand, clad in their violet gowns, near Saint Dunstan's Church,
and the next morning to go to Westminster by barge to attend the solemn
requiem.(1002)
(M543)
There was no necessity for hurry in regard to the pageants. More than a
twelvemonth was yet to elapse before they were wanted. At length--on the
2nd October,(1003) 1501--the princess landed at Plymouth, and five days
later the City received notice from the king of her approach to London.
The marriage was solemnized at St. Paul's on the 14th November, the
princess being presented with silver flagons by the City in honour of the
occasion.(1004) Five months later (2 April, 1502) the bride was a widow,
Prince Arthur having died at the early age of fifteen.
(M544)
In 1503 the streets of the city were again put into mourning, for in
February of that year Henry lost his queen. A long account of the manner
of "receyvyng of the corps of the most noble princes Quene Elizabeth" is
given in the City's Archives.(1005) In the following month the streets
presented a very different appearance, the occasion being the
solemnization of the league made between Henry and the King of the Romans.
Bonfires were ordered to be lighted at nine different places, and at each
of them was to be placed a hogshead of wine, with two sergeants and two
sheriffs' yeomen to prevent disturbance; but seeing that it was the Lenten
season and that the queen had so recently died, there was to be no
minstrelsy. The City Chamberlain was instructed to provide a certain
quantity of "Ipocras," claret, Rhenish wine and Muscatel, besides comfits
and wafers, and two pots of "Succade" and green ginger, to be presented on
the City's behalf to the ambassadors of the King of the Romans, lying at
"Pasmer Howse"; a similar gift being presented the following day on behalf
of the sheriffs.(1006)
(M545)
Henry's chief merit was that he established order, and for this the
citizens were grateful. This improvement on the weak government of his
immediate predecessors had only been carried out, however, at the cost of
extension of royal power, and the City was made to suffer with the rest of
the kingdom. In 1503 the civic authorities were deprived by statute of
their control over the livery companies,(1007) and in the same year the
Tailors of London obtained a charter which gave umbrage to the mayor and
aldermen of the City, as ousting them of their jurisdiction. The Tailors
maintained their independence, and their wardens are expressly mentioned
as refusing to join the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths
and other fraternities in a petition to parliament (1512) for placing them
formally under the rule of the mayor and aldermen, from which they were
frequently breaking away.(1008)
(M546)
It was not until 1505 that the City succeeded in getting its charter(1009)
from Henry, and then only on payment of the sum of 5,000 marks. The terms
of the charter, moreover, were far from satisfactory, and an attempt was
made to get them altered and obtain an abatement of the fine,(1010) but to
no purpose.
(M547)
Henry continued his high-handed policy towards the City up to the day of
his death, and thereby greatly increased his treasure. His chief
instruments were Empson and Dudley, who took up their residence in the
city, occupying two houses in Walbrook, whence each had a door into a
garden of the Earl of Oxford's house in St. Swithin's Lane.(1011) There
they used to meet and concert measures for filling the king's purse and
their own. In 1506 Henry removed Robert Johnson, a goldsmith, from the
shrievalty within three days of his election, and put William Fitz-William
in his place. Johnson took the matter so much to heart that he died.(1012)
In the same year Thomas Kneseworth, the late mayor, was committed to the
Marshalsea, together with the sheriffs who had served under him, and only
regained his liberty on payment of a large sum of money.(1013) In 1507 Sir
William Capel, Alderman of Walbrook Ward, who had already fallen a victim
to Empson and been heavily fined under an obsolete statute, was again
attacked and fined L2,000 for supposed negligence during his mayoralty.
Rather than submit to such extortion he went to prison, and remained there
until the king's death, when he obtained his freedom and was soon
afterwards re-elected mayor.(1014) Lawrence Aylmer, another mayor, was
also a victim of Henry's tyranny, and was committed to the compter, where
he remained for the rest of the reign.(1015)
(M548)
In the meantime the Archduke Philip happened to fall into Henry's hands
(Jan., 1506). Whilst crossing the sea to claim the kingdom of Castile in
right of his wife, he was driven by stress of weather into Weymouth. Henry
was too shrewd a politician not to make the most of so lucky an event, and
detained him in a species of honourable captivity, until Philip had
promised him the hand of his sister Margaret with a large dower. This
marriage alliance was destined never to be realised. Another scheme,
however, was subsequently proposed and met with more success. This was a
marriage of Henry's own daughter with Philip's son Charles, Prince of
Castile. News of their engagement was conveyed to the mayor and aldermen
of the City by a letter from the king himself (25 Dec., 1507), in which he
expatiated on the benefits, political and commercial, likely to arise from
the match.(1016)
This letter was followed by another from the king, dated from Greenwich,
the 23rd June following, in which the Corporation was informed that for
the assurance of execution of the marriage treaty both parties had given
pledges, and that the City of London was, among other cities and towns,
included in letters obligatory to that effect, which letters he begged
should be sealed without delay with the Common Seal of the City.(1017) And
so, after the manner of the times, the boy of eight was married (by proxy)
to the girl of twelve, amid great rejoicings in London (17 Dec.,
1508).(1018)
(M549)
If Henry amassed wealth, it was not from any miserly motive. He well knew
the value of the money, and that peace at home was never better secured
than by a full treasury. He made, moreover, a princely use of his money,
encouraging scholarship, music, and architecture, and dazzled the eyes of
foreign ambassadors with the splendour of his receptions. That he had a
fine taste in building no one can deny who has once seen the chapel of
King's College, Cambridge, or the chapel that bears his name at
Westminster.
(M550)
Originally intended by Henry as a resting place for the remains of his
uncle, Henry VI, the last mentioned edifice was diverted from its purposes
and became the chantry as well as the tomb of Henry VII himself. Anxiety
for his soul caused him to bind the Abbot of Westminster by heavy
penalties to the due observance of his obit. These penalties were set out
in six books or deeds, sealed with the Common Seal of the City of London,
and formally delivered to the king by a deputation of the mayor and
aldermen, who received in return a seventh book to remain in their
custody. In 1504--the year that Pope Julius sanctioned the removal of the
remains of Henry VI from Windsor to Westminster--the mayor and citizens
formally sealed the "books" before the Master of the Rolls at the
Guildhall. Two years later certain livery companies undertook to keep the
king's obit on the day that the mayor for the time being went to take his
oath at the Exchequer.(1019)
(M551)
The king died at his palace of Shene, recently renamed in his honour
"Richmond," on the 22nd April,(1020) 1509. Just before his death he
granted a general pardon and paid the debts of prisoners committed to the
compters of London and to Ludgate for debts amounting to forty shillings
or less.(1021) His corpse was conveyed from Richmond to St. Paul's on the
9th May, being met on its way at St. George's Bar, in Southwark, by the
mayor, aldermen and a suite of 104 commoners, all in black clothing and
all on horseback. The streets were lined with other members of the
companies bearing torches, the lowest craft occupying the first place.
Next after the freemen of the city came the "strangers"--Easterlings,
Frenchmen, Spaniards, Venetians, Genoese, Florentines and "Lukeners"--on
horseback and on foot, also bearing torches.(1022) These took up their
position in Gracechurch Street. Cornhill was occupied by the lower crafts,
ordered in such a way that "the most worshipful crafts" stood next unto
"Paules." A similar order was preserved the next day, when the corpse was
removed from Saint Paul's to Westminster. The lowest crafts were placed
nearest to the Cathedral, and the most worshipful next to Temple Bar,
where the civic escort terminated. The mayor and aldermen proceeded to
Westminster by water, to attend the "masse and offering." The mayor, with
his mace in his hand, made his offering next after the Lord Chamberlain;
those aldermen who had passed the chair(1023) offered next after the
Knights of the Garter, and before all "knights for the body"; whilst the
aldermen who had not yet served as mayor made their offering after the
knights.(1024)
When King Henry VIII was about to make an expedition to France in 1544,
the Court of Aldermen gave notice to the Bishop of London that the obit of
Henry VII would be kept on Friday, the 16th May, on which day there would
be a general procession, and that the observance would be continued until
the king departed out of the realm, and then on every Friday and Wednesday
until his return.(1025)