_The Red and White Rose_
We are now come to the time when the history of Coventry is closely
interwoven with that of the nation at large. The city and its
neighbourhood became the chosen home of the Court circle during the
earlier part of the Wars of the Roses. The Lancastrian cause found some
of its staunchest supporters among the folk of the "Queen's secret
harbour," as the city was called, because Margaret of Anjou so often
took refuge therein to plot and scheme for the undoing of the Yorkists.
But the devotion of Coventry to Lancaster did not last throughout the
struggle; the citizens' minds were alienated by the Queen's partizan
fury at the "Diabolical Parliament" in 1460, and by the unruliness of
her troops, and they afterwards professed themselves devoted followers
of Edward IV. These professions did not, however, hinder them from
backing the winning side when Edward's supremacy was imperilled through
Warwick's revolt, and the Yorkist King punished their treachery by the
confiscation of the city liberties. It was only by means of Clarence's
costly mediation and the payment of an enormous fine that the citizens
were enabled to make their peace with Edward. Thus Coventry partook
to a greater extent than other towns of the miseries of this dynastic
conflict. The citizen class were, as a rule, only too glad to let
the barons fight out the question among themselves, submitting, as
far as we can judge, to whichever army was victorious and at their
gates. After all, the battles of the Roses meant little more than
the concentration of the fighting power of the kingdom, usually at
that period employed in desultory local warfare, into one place, and
frequent provincial frays and skirmishes were really more harmful to
the district wherein the feud raged than civil war itself.
Happily for the Coventry men there was in the earlier part of the
fifteenth century no great lord living within the walls to drag them
into his frays and quarrels, and to anticipate that great period of
party strife which was so soon to break in upon the kingdom. It is true
that the townsfolk had not always been able to keep clear of baronial
influence. We hear of fighting between the young Earl Stafford, the
lord of Maxstoke, and the citizens, though we are not told what was
the cause of the quarrel. Such animosity was felt by the two parties
at variance that in 1427 the Duke of Gloucester summoned the mayor
with others of the citizens to Leicester, and bound them over to keep
the peace.[234] Men held this earl, better known by his later title of
the Duke of Buckingham, in great awe, for in war-time he could arm two
thousand fighting men bearing the Stafford knot.[235] "The indignation
of the lordship of the said duke,"[236] said Sir Baldwin Montfort, whom
Buckingham imprisoned in Coventry because he made some difficulty about
surrendering his manor of Coleshill into the duke's keeping ... "had
in those days been too heavy and unportable for me to have born." We
find the citizens, however, on good terms with this omnipotent nobleman
during the civil war; and in 1458 the mayor and his brethren received
an invitation to come and share in the festivities which took place at
Maxstoke Castle on the occasion of the marriage of one of his younger
sons.
It is doubtful whether even Buckingham's great influence would have
been sufficient to turn the scale in favour of Lancaster in the coming
season of strife if the frequent visits of the King and the princes of
the reigning family, as well as the old connexion between the city and
the first prince of the blood as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester,
had not bred among the citizens a feeling of loyalty, which kept them
on the side of Henry and Margaret for many years. The year 1449 marks
a crisis in the reign of King Henry. The re-opening of the French war
was the herald of a series of swift disasters, which put an end to the
rule of the English in France. Town after town opened its gates to the
invading host of Frenchmen, and Rouen, and with Rouen the last English
foothold in Normandy, capitulated after a siege of nineteen days. To
this pass had England been brought under the guidance of Suffolk and
Somerset, and the King not only breathed no word of dismissing these
unpopular ministers, but gave them every mark of his favour and support.
An unmistakable sign of the times was to be found in the fact that the
nobles were quietly arming; and acting probably on a hint from the
Court, the Coventry men made ready to equip a goodly number of men for
the city's defence. Every man that had been mayor was commanded by
order of leet to provide 4 jacks, with as many sallets, habergeons,
and sheaves of arrows for this purpose; while late bailiffs,
chamberlains, and all commoners able to bear the cost were respectively
required to furnish three, two, and one of these several parts of an
archer's accoutrement.[237] By this means there was provision made
for over six hundred men. In the following year, wherein Jack Cade
held London in fear for many days, a strong guard of forty armed
men kept nightly watch within Coventry.[238] As the year drew to a
close, there were expectations of war on every side. Wherefore in
the beginning of Richard Boys' mayoralty (1451) it was resolved that
all the fortifications should be made ready in case of attack. At a
great meeting of the worthies of the council on the Saturday after the
feast of the Purification, a plan of operations was laid down "for
strengthening this city, if need be, which God forbid."[239] The town
ditch was cleansed by common labour, so as to furnish a surer means
of protection. Portcullises were made for the gates, and iron chains
to close up the ends of divers lanes in the city.[240] There was some
debate as to whether aldermen should be made over every ward, to
whom the men of their several districts might have recourse "if ony
aventure falle," but it seems no steps were taken in this direction. Of
ammunition the worthy men laid in a plentiful store. Four "gonnes of
brasse," two greater called "serpentynes,"[241] and two smaller, were
cast and brought from Bristol at great cost, for they weighed, we are
told, 328 lbs., and the price of transport amounted to 6s. 8d. These
guns, "a barell of gonnepowdur" thirteen "pelettes" of iron for the
larger, and four dozen of lead for the smaller guns, were kept in the
tower of Bablake Gate, in readiness for the troubled times which were
at hand.
Though England was rid of Suffolk, who, after his impeachment and
banishment, was killed on board the _Nicholas of the Tower_ by some
political enemies, affairs in 1451 prospered no better under the
guidance of Somerset and the Queen, and the whole kingdom was uneasy
with foreboding of the coming strife. Doubtless the news of the good
order which prevailed in Coventry, and of the great military efforts
the citizens had made, reached the ears of the King, as he made a
progress through the Midlands in the late summer of that year. And
on September 21 he came from Leicester, another famous Lancastrian
fortress, to bestow his praises on the rulers of the city.[242] The men
of Coventry made great preparations for his welcoming. And in order
to avoid "stody and labur" hereafter, the mayor "let to compile" the
account of the King's reception and residence within the city, a sort
of manual of etiquette to be referred to in future.
[Illustration: View of Interior of Saint Michaels]
"When the kyng our soveren lorde," the _Leet Book_ says, "came from
Leycestur toward Coventre, the meyre ... Richard Boys and his wurthy
bredurn arayed in skarlet and all the commonalty[243] cladde in grene
gownes and rede hodes, in Haselwode beyonde the brode oke on horsbak,
attented the comeng of our soveren lorde. And also sone as they haddon
syght of our soveren lordes presens, the meyre and his peres lyghton on
fote, [and] mekely thries kneleng on their knees dud unto our soveren
lorde ther due obeysaunce, the meyre seyeng to hym thes wordes: 'Most
highest and gracious kyng, ye arn welcome to your true lege menne withe
all our hertes'"; and therewith, after taking the mace from a sergeant,
he kissed it, and presented it to Henry. "The kyng," the _Leet Book_
continues, "tarieng and herkening the meyres speche in faverabull wyse,
seyde thes wordes: 'Well seyde, Sir meyre, take your hors.' The meyre
then rode forthe afore the kyng bereng his mase in his honde with the
knyght-constabull next afore the kynges swerde, the bayles of this
cite rideng afore the meyre withe ther mases in ther hondes makeng
wey & rome for the kynges comeng; and so they ridon afore the kyng
till the kyng come to the vttur[244] yate of the priory. The kyng then
forthewithe send for the meyre and his bredurn be a knyght to come to
his presence and to speke withe hym in his chambur, and the meyre and
his peres accordeng to the kynges comaundement come into his chambur,
and thries ther knelleng dudde ther obeysaunse. Thomas Lytelton then
recordur[245] seyde unto the kyng suche wordes as was to his thynkyng
most pleasaunt, our soueren lorde seyeng agayne thes wordes, 'Sirs,
I thank you of your goode rule and demene and in speciall for your
goode rule the last yere past for the best ruled pepull thenne withe
in my reame. And also I thank you for the present that ye nowe gaue to
vs'--the whiche present was a tonne wyne & XXti grete fatte oxon.
The kyng then moreover gaf hem in comaundement to govern well his cite
and to see his pease be well kepte as hit hathe been aforetyme, seyeng
thenne to hem he wolde be ther goode lorde, and so the meyre and his
peres departed."
With what a glow of pride the town clerk must have recorded all these
gracious sayings, little knowing that the King's good will could
avail them nothing in the troublous times that were at hand! Henry,
it appears, remained several days at Coventry, the Earl of Salisbury
and the Duke of Buckingham attending upon him there with a numerous
following. He was engaged, the historian tells us, upon an ineffectual
attempt to bring the Dukes of York and Somerset to friendly terms,[246]
but the former, far from desiring peace, was at that moment weaving
plans for his rival's overthrow. The good-hearted King did not neglect
religion in all this pressure of political business.[247] "The kyng
then abydeng stille in the seide priory apon Michaelmas Evon sende
the clerke of his closet to the churche of sent Michell to make redy
ther his closette, seyeng that the kyng on Michaelmas day wolde go on
procession and also her there hygh masse." The "meyre and his peres"
suggested that the Bishop of Winchester (Waynflete) should be asked
to officiate. "And agayne the kynges comeng to sent Michell churche,
the meyre and his peres cladde in skarlet gownes with ther clokes and
all oder in ther skarlet gownes wenton vnto the kynges chambur durre
ther abydeng the kynges comeng." Possibly as an especial honour to the
Trinity guild the clerks of Bablake went in the procession through S.
Michael's churchyard before the celebration, the King devoutly walking
in the train, bare-headed, and "cladde in a gowne of gold tussu furred
with a furre of marturn sabull, the meyre bareng the mase afore the
kyng ... tille he come agayne to his closette. At the whyche masse when
the king had offerd and hes lordes also, he sende the lorde Bemond
(Beaumont) his chamburlen to the meyre, seyeng to him, 'hit is the
kinges will ye and your bredurn come and offer,' and so they dudde."
After the evensong the King sent by "two for his body and two yeomen of
the crown," "the seyde gowne and furre ... and gave hit frely to god
and to sent Michell. Ynsomyche that non of them that brought the gown
wolde take no rewarde in no wyse."[248]
Henry did not remain long in Coventry after the celebration of the
Michaelmas festival. On the following Tuesday he went to Kenilworth,
the corporation and the "commonalty" riding with the company and
preserving the same order as they had used at his welcoming a few
days previously. When they came to a place beyond Asthill Grove,
"agayne a brode lane the (that) ledethe to Canley ... the kyng willeng
to speke with the meyre and his bredurn seyde to hem thes wordes:
'Sires, I thank you of your goode rule and demene at this tyme, and
for goode rule among you hadde and in speciall for your good rule of
the yere last past, and where as ye ben nowe baylies we will that ye
be herafter sherefes, and this we graunt to you of our own fre wille
and of no speciall desire. Moreour,'" he went on, mindful no doubt of
his own danger, and of the preparations for war among the factious
nobles of the country, "'we charge you withe our pease among you to be
kepte and that ye suffer no ryottes, conventiculs ne congregasions of
lewde pepull among you, and also that (ye) suffer no lordes lyvereys,
knyghtes, ne swyers (squires) to be reseyved of no man withe in you
for hit is agayne our statutes ... and yif ye be thus ruled we will
be your goode lorde.' And thus don, the meyre and his bredurn takeng
ther leve of the kyng ... departed and ridon to Coventre agayne," no
doubt astounded at the idea of this new responsibility and greatness
now thrust upon them. The mayor and council held great consultations
concerning the bailiffs' acquisition of the sheriffs' dignity summoning
Thomas Littleton, their recorder, and Henry Boteler, who was soon to be
this famous lawyer's successor in the office, to their deliberations,
to learn what privileges were most needful for them to include within
the charter which was to convert their city into "the city and _county_
of Coventry."[249]
In the year 1453, which saw the close of the Hundred Years' War and
the birth of a Prince of Wales, Henry was attacked by insanity.[250]
In 1454 the King's recovery marked the close of the Duke of York's
protectorate and the restoration to power of the Queen's friends,
particularly Somerset. The Yorkist party fell into disgrace, and
measures were taken to compass their destruction the following spring
in a parliament to be held at Leicester. The duke on hearing this drew
sword in the north, and marched on London with a goodly following at
his back. The royal troops barred his way at S. Alban's; but when the
first battle of that long and weary struggle was fought out at that
town on the great London highway, the Coventry men were not found in
Henry's ranks. In fact the battle was hardly looked for at that time.
It is true the townsfolk received a summons for "such feliship ...
in their best and most defensable aray" as they could furnish, and
that "having tendurnes of the well fare and also of the saveguard of
our soveren lorde," they duly equipped 100 men. Much ado was made to
provide the men with a new "pensell" or standard "in tarturne," at a
cost of 16d.; 14d. went "in rybands" to the same, while the making,
with a tassel of silk attached to it, cost a similar sum; "bends," or
badges of red and green, were also provided, with a garment of red,
green, and violet for the captain. But in spite of all this preparation
the men never saw S. Alban's fight, or the terrible execution done
by Richard, Earl of Warwick, among the Lancastrian ranks. For on May
22, the day whereon the mayor received the commission, the battle was
fought and over, and the King in the hands of his victorious enemies.
"They wenton not," says the _Leet Book_, with some reticence in
referring to the soldiers, "for certen tydenges that wern brought," the
King having returned to London.[251]
[Illustration: Gosford St]
Henry was shortly after this again attacked by insanity, and for a
few months York was appointed regent. Duke Richard's power did not,
however, wholly cease with the King's recovery, and after March 1456
he continued for some months to direct the government, which was
nominally in the hands of the Bourchiers, half-brothers of the Duke
of Buckingham. Meanwhile the two arch-enemies, the Queen and the Duke
of York, watched and "waited on" each other ceaselessly until August,
when Margaret's plans were laid, and she drew off the King to sport
in the Midlands, having fortified Kenilworth with cannon in case of
another appeal to arms. A great council of notables was summoned to
meet at Coventry for October 7.[252] The news of the Queen's intended
visit reached the city about August 24, and a council was called to
provide for her highness's welcome.[253] A hundred marks was collected
throughout the wards to be given as an offering to the Prince of
Wales and his mother, together with two cups whereof the joint value
amounted to £10, 7s. 1d. The prince did not, however, accompany the
Queen on this occasion, so fifty marks were laid aside "against his
coming," though the magnificence of his mother's reception was not
lessened on this account. The "makyng of the premesses " of the Queen's
welcoming fell to the lot of one John Wedurby, of Leicester,[254] and
by his arrangement pageants as gaily dressed as at the Corpus Christi
festival, with appropriate personages standing thereon to utter words
of welcome, were placed at all the principal points in the streets
between Bablake and the "utter" gate of the Priory. John Wedurby
thought as other men of his time, that Margaret's son would one day
have rule in England, and hoped that each party would forget their
differences and live in peace under his government.
"The blessyd babe that ye have born prynce Edward is he,
Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take this reme (realm) on hand,"
said Prudence to the Queen in the pageant of the four Cardinal Virtues;
while the prophet Isaiah declared to the Queen that,--
"Like as mankynde was gladdid by the birght of Jhesus,
So shall this empyre joy the birthe of your bodye."
And the companion prophet Jeremiah was equally positive:
"The fragrant floure sprongen of you shall so encrece & sprede,
That all the world yn ich (each) party shall cherisshe hym & love & drede."
In his conception of the Queen's character Wedurby was a thorough
courtier.
"The mellyflue mekenes of your person shall put all wo away,"
the same prophet said; and S. Edward greeted her as "moder of mekeness."
To what strange freaks will not the rules of his art--and especially
alliteration--betray a poet! The "she wolf of France" had nothing of
the quality thus assigned to her; her name had merely the same initial
letter.
The King and Queen entered Coventry on Holy Cross day, by the Bablake
Gate.[255] Close by the entrance was a pageant whereon stood the
two above-named prophets, and a "Jesse," or figure representing the
genealogy of Christ, was placed upon the gate itself. At the east end
of Bablake church were the figures of the Confessor--in allusion to
Prince Edward--and S. John the Evangelist. A few paces distant at the
conduit in Smithford Street the four Cardinal Virtues were displayed.
A second set of pageants, grouped in the open spaces at the Cheaping,
next met the Queen's eyes. There were the Nine Conquerors, Hector,
Alexander, and the rest; and finally by the conduit a stage was placed
whereon S. Margaret appeared, "sleying" a great dragon "by myracull."
While upon the cross itself were grouped a company of angels, and the
pipes of the conduit ran wine. Between the cross and the conduit the
Queen received the homage of the Nine Conquerors, while her name-saint
gave to her a final salutation:
"Most notabull princes of wymen erthle,
Dame Margarete, the chefe myrth of this empyre,
Ye be hertely welcum to this cyte,
To the plesure of your highnes I wyll sette my desyre,
Bothe nature & gentilnes doth me require,
Seth we be both of one name, to shew you kyndnes,
Wherfore by my power ye shall have no distresse;
I shall pray to the prince that is endeles,
To socour you with solas of his high grace.
He wyll here my peticion, this is doutles,
For I wrought all my lyf & that his wyll wace;
Therefore, lady, when ye be yn any dredeful cace,
Call on me boldly, ther of I pray you,
And trist to me feythefully I well do that may pay yow."
John Wedurby was, no doubt, an indifferent poet, but viewed in the
light of subsequent events, his verses have all sorts of ironical and
tragic meanings, whereof he was, of course, wholly unconscious.
The pageants and welcome entertainments cost the citizens not a little,
we may suppose, in time and treasure. They made the king a present
of a tun of wine costing £8, 0s. 4d.; while by the "advice of his
council" the mayor distributed 20s. among "divers persons of the king's
house."[256] Lord Rivers too had a glass of rose-water at the mayor's
expense, whereof the cost was 2s.; thirteen years later his lordship
had a very bitter drink at Coventry.[257] Still the coming of the
Court no doubt brought trade to the city; had it brought also peace,
all would have been well. The council met on October 7, and a blow was
aimed at the Duke of York in the dismissal of the Bourchiers.[258] It
was even said that the duke's life was in danger, but that his kinsman,
the Duke of Buckingham, assisted him to escape. Margaret required the
presence of Somerset to lend strength to her party, and with him there
came, it seems, a company of turbulent retainers. These men fell out
with the city-watch and slew three or four of the townsmen; whereat,
says a writer in the Paston series, "the larum belle was ronge and the
toun arose and would have jouperdit to have distressed the men of the
duke of Somerset, ne had the duke of Buks taken direccion therin."[259]
Coventry was already ceasing to be the well-ordered and peaceful place
whereon the mind of King Henry loved to dwell. Next year we hear that
the civic finances were disorganised, that the officers of the city
were negligent in the performance of their duty, and that the citizens,
being "of froward dispositions," were inclined to appeal to "mighty men
in strange shires" for their support in carrying on lawsuits against
their neighbours in courts without the city.
In February, 1457, the court was again at Coventry; the King came
thither on the 11th "to his bedde," and the Queen coming "suddenly"
next day "unto her mete."[260] Margaret was doubtless burdened with
some weighty tidings, for "she came rydyng byhynde a man, and so rode
the most part of all her gentylwemen then, at which tyme she sende vn
to the meyre and his brethern that she wold not that [the] spiritualte
ne the temporalte shold be laburd to met her then, and so she was not
met at that tyme." A great council[261] was held at Coventry from
February 15 to March 14, all the great men of both parties being
present, and the Duke of York was re-appointed to the deputyship of
Ireland. Henry left the city for Kenilworth on March 14, the mayor
and his brethren, and a "goodly fellowship of the city" having "right
great thank" for accompanying his highness "to the utter side of their
franchise." A characteristic touch is given concerning Margaret's
departure for Coleshill two days later. The mayor, his brethren, and
a "feyre felyship" of the commons--we seem to gather from these words
that there was but a scanty attendance--went with Queen Margaret to
the boundary of the city liberties. The mayor, having his mace in his
hand, rode immediately before her, the sheriffs with their white yards
or rods directly preceding the mayor. Hitherto this ceremony in its
completeness had only been observed when the King was in question. "And
so," the _Leet Book_ says, "they did never before the quene tyll then,
for they bere before that tyme alwey theire servants (sergeants') mases
... at her comynges, at which doyng her officers groged (grudged),
seying the quene owed to be met yn like fourme as the kyng shold, which
yn dede," the writer continues with some trepidation, "as ys seide owe
to be so, except her displeser wold be eschewed."[262]
An unexplained rising took place at Hereford in April, and the King
and Queen went thither to quell it, Margaret alienating even her
friends in that district by her severity. At Whitsuntide, however, the
whole Court again sojourned at Coventry, and a grand procession at
the Pentecostal feast dazzled the eyes of the citizens.[263] The Duke
of Buckingham followed next after Henry, but Lord Beaumont "bere the
kynges treyne," the Earl of Stafford "his cap of astate," and Sir John
Tunstall his sword. The great nobles followed every one in his proper
rank, while after her the Queen and her chief lady, the Duchess of
Buckingham, there came "mony moo ladyes yn her mantels, surcotes, and
other appareyll to theyre astates acustumed." Mass was celebrated in
the cathedral by the Bishop of Hereford, assisted by the dean of the
King's chapel, the prior and his monks.
Queen Margaret could occasionally be gracious, and her eagerness to
see the Mystery Plays performed at the feast of Corpus Christi must
have flattered the citizens. She came "prively" from Kenilworth on the
eve of the festival, and "lodged at Richard Wodes, the grocer,[264]
where Richard Sharp sometime dwelled; and there all the plays were
first played," save _Doomsday_, the drapers' pageant, which could not
be seen, for evening came on and put a close to the performance. The
mayor and bailiffs sent a present to Richard Wood's house, namely
"ccc (300) paynemaynes,[265] a pipe of rede wyne, a dosyn capons of
haut grece,[266] a dosyn of grete fat pykes, a grete panyer full of
pescodes and another panyer of pipyns and orynges, & ij cofyns of
counfetys, & a pot of grene gynger." Quite a little court was assembled
at the grocer's house to witness those strange spectacles in which
the dramatic instinct of the Middle Ages found vent. The Duke of
Buckingham and "my lady his wife," who might be regarded as natives
of the city, would do the honours of the place; and let us hope those
ardent Lancastrians, Lord Rivers and his lady, father and mother of the
future queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and the elder and younger Countess
of Shrewsbury, applauded the ravings of Pilate and Herod, the pompous
characters of the religious drama, or heard with complaisance the
devil's jokes. It is hard to imagine Queen Margaret, that tireless
fighter and plotter, or Lady Shrewsbury, the great Talbot's widow,
whose feud with the Berkeleys filled Gloucestershire with strife for
over a generation, engaged in such a harmless amusement as laughing
over the quaint performances of their citizen supporters, nibbling
the while some of the good mayor's supply of apples and sweetmeats.
How delighted the citizens were at her highness's condescension!
When she went next day "to her mete" to Coleshill, "right a good
feliship--which plesid her highnes right well,"--attended her to the
"vtmast side of theyre franchise, where hit plesyd her to gyff them
grete thank bothe for theyre present and theyre gentyll attendaunce."
In the August of that same year, Henry and his Queen again visited
Coventry, sleeping there from August 31 until September 2, and "about x
of the belle" on the latter day the Queen rode to Sharneford and on to
sleep at Leicester "toward the forest of Rokyngham for to hunt," while
at two o'clock Henry rode forth on his journey towards Northampton, and
the men of Coventry did not see them again for two years, when a more
troubled scene had opened.
The records of Coventry are nothing but a blank during the succeeding
years; for the council merely met at the appointed season to elect a
mayor, but transacted, as far as we know, no other business; tradition
has it that the city was divided against itself, a highly probable
case when we consider how high the tide of Yorkist and Lancastrian
party spirit was running in the rest of the country. In the political
world this season was filled by ineffectual peacemakings and renewed
preparations for war. Warwick, after provoking the wrath of the
Lancastrian party, fled to Calais, and his father, Salisbury, met and
worsted Lord Audley, the royalist leader, who had been sent to capture
him, at the field of Bloreheath (September 23, 1459). The Yorkist lords
flew to arms; but when the King proposed to give battle at Ludford,
weakened by the defection of a certain Andrew Trollope, they all
dispersed and fled. The Yorkists being thus humbled, the time was come
for Margaret's vengeance. No writs were sent to the principal Yorkist
chiefs for the parliament summoned to meet at Coventry on November
20, and the knights and burgesses were nominated by the Lancastrian
leaders. The assembly met, and, by one sweeping act of attainder,
deprived twenty-three leading Yorkists of their inheritance. People
called this the "diabolical parliament"; henceforward there was no
hope of a reconciliation between York and Lancaster. A petition[267]
presented by John Rous, the antiquary of Guy's Cliffe, to this
parliament, calling attention to the enclosure of common lands and
increase of pasture, is now lost; it fell on deaf ears at that time of
party strife.
It seems that the Queen's late violent proceedings, or the plundering
propensities of her followers, had caused the townspeople to grow
somewhat cold in her cause. When a commission of array dated from
Northampton arrived a few days before the Candlemas feast, 1460, the
sheriffs kept it back, and it was fourteen days before the newly
elected mayor, John Wyldegrys,[268] received the missive addressed to
his predecessor conveying the king's command. This was surely not the
result of accident but design, the sheriffs having their own reasons
for thwarting the mayor, or being ardent Yorkists. Then the Duke of
Buckingham arrived, perhaps to learn the reason of the delay, and the
mayor bethought him of this indiscretion. "To my lord of Buckingham,"
lodging at the "Angel," he sent to ask whether "any hurt might grow to
the city" because of the neglect of the commission, and to ensure the
duke's goodwill, sent thirty loaves, two pike, two tench, some capons,
a peacock, and a peahen to his lodging.
A letter which he received from the King about this time hardly tended,
it may be thought, to reassure John Wyldegrys.[269] "For asmuche," the
King wrote, "as credible reporte is made vn to us howe diuers of th'
inhabitantes of oure cite of Coventre haue, sithe the tyme of oure
departyng from thens, vsed and had right vnfittyng langage ayenst
oure estate and personne, and in favouring of oure supersticious[270]
traitours, and rebelles, nowe late in oure parlement there attaincted,
wherby grete comocions and murmur ben like to folowe, to the
grete distourbance of oure feithfull, true subgettes, onlesse that
punisshement and remede for the redresse therof the rather be had, we
therfor ... charge you diligently t' enquer and make serche among the
seid inhabitants of suche vnfittyng langage as is aboue seid, and do
theym to be emprysoned and punisshed accordyng to their demerits, and
in example of other of semblable condicion, as ye desyre to do that
shall plaise vs."[271]
John Wyldegrys probably executed this commission with all the alacrity
of fear, and we hear that in the following October the Duke of York
had a strange commission to sit in judgment on various offenders in
Coventry "to punish them by the fawtes to the kyng's lawys." But the
duke, who was on his way home from Ireland, could not afford to tarry,
having weightier business on hand, namely, the laying claim to the
throne of England, and the drawing up of a genealogy to lay before
parliament, showing that his claim to the throne was based on rightful
inheritance. Since the battle of Northampton (July 10, 1460), the King
had been in the hands of the Yorkist lords, Salisbury and Warwick.[272]
At this battle, too, Henry lost Buckingham, the most powerful man at
the time in Warwickshire, and a pillar of the Lancastrian cause. After
his death, maybe, the men of Coventry felt more free to choose what
side they would, and the plunder wherein Margaret's host indulged after
Wakefield (December 14) and S. Alban's (February 17, 1461) completed
their alienation from the Lancastrian party. The Yorkists had now
the upper hand in the city. After the battle of S. Alban's £100 was
collected throughout the wards for men to go to London with "the earl
of March,"[273] who, since his father's death at Wakefield, had become
the hope of the Yorkist cause. On the day after his coronation (March
5) Edward IV. dispatched a letter to the mayor and his brethren full of
thanks for the citizens' loyalty to his cause, praying for their "good
continuance in the same," and praising their "good and substantial
rule." He thus assured the support of the people of the place, and
on the terrible field of Towton, where "the dead hindered the living
from coming to close quarters," the men of Coventry fought under the
standard of the Black Ram in the Yorkist ranks. The _Leet Book_ tells
us that £80 was collected throughout the wards for the 100 men "which
went with oure soverayn liege lord kyng Edward the IIIIthe to the
felde yn the north."[274]
Many of the towns took part with Edward in this famous battle, for
order and good government seemed more likely to follow from the Yorkist
than the Lancastrian rule. Each town went to the field under their
ancient ensign. As a contemporary ballad has it:--
"The wolf came fro Worcester, ful sure he thought to byte,
The dragon came fro Gloucester, he bent his tayle to smyte;
The griffin cam fro Leycester, flying in as tyte,
The George cam fro Nottingham, with spere for to fyte."[275]
The citizens certainly continued to deserve the King's favour. They
presented him with £100 and a cup to his "welcome to his cite of
Coventre from the felde yn the North,"[276] and decorated the city
with pageants and goodly shows in his honour, the smiths' craft
providing the character of Samson, who no doubt gave in appropriate
verses the promise to use his great strength in defending the King's
just claim "to his newly-acquired sovereignty."[277] In that year
also all men dwelling in the city were sworn to King Edward to be
"his true lege men." In later times the King learnt to distrust this
ancient Lancastrian refuge, but for the present there was nothing but
amity between himself and the citizens. So vivid was the remembrance
of the plundering of Margaret's army, that the old loyalty towards
the Lancastrians turned to rancour. And the same spring, on the
King-maker's coming--the first important mention of him in the city
annals--£40 was collected to be given to him for the payment of forty
men that went to the north to resist "kyng Herry and quene Marget
_that were_, and alle other with theym accompanyed, as Scottes and
Frenchemen, of theyre entre yn to this lande." The mere whisper of a
foreign alliance and invasion was sufficient to damn the Lancastrian
cause, for Lord Rous, with other refugees, aided by the Scots, were
making trouble on the Border. The men returned on July 29, for the
north was pacified, men believed, the Scots having rebellions, stirred
up by King Edward, to look to nearer home.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 234: _Leet Book_, 112.]
[Footnote 235: Ramsay, _Lanc. and York_, ii. 169.]
[Footnote 236: Dugdale, _Warw._, ii. 1,011.]
[Footnote 237: _Leet Book_, 244. A _jack_ was a tunic of stuffed
leather; a _sallet_, a helmet; and a _habergeon_, a short coat of mail.
A unique sallet of the time of the Wars of the Roses, traditionally
known as the Black Prince's helmet, is in S. Mary's Hall.]
[Footnote 238: _Leet Book_, 253.]
[Footnote 239: _Ib._, 256-60.]
[Footnote 240: _Ib._, 257.]
[Footnote 241: _Ib._, 260.]
[Footnote 242: _Leet Book_, 263.]
[Footnote 243: MS. Coïalte: this contraction will be henceforth written
in full. I deviate from the MS. in putting capital letters to proper
names, and in writing these in full wherever contractions occur. I have
also substituted small letters for capitals whenever the latter would
cause confusion to the modern reader.]
[Footnote 244: Outer.]
[Footnote 245: Thomas Littleton, of famous memory, whom Coke made
familiar to all. This official was the exponent of the law in the
mayor's court.]
[Footnote 246: Ramsay, _op. cit._, ii. 147.]
[Footnote 247: _Leet Book_, 264-5.]
[Footnote 248: _Leet Book_, 264-5.]
[Footnote 249: _Leet Book_, 265-6. The city and the adjoining hamlets
were joined together as a county. The mayor, according to the charter,
was made steward and marshal of the king's household.]
[Footnote 250: There were great preparations for the civil strife
during this year (Ramsay, ii. 169). The prince of Wales was invested
with the appanage of Cornwall in 1455 (_Ib._, ii. 219). The Coventry
men henceforth owned him as their lord and protector.]
[Footnote 251: _Leet Book_, 283.]
[Footnote 252: Ramsay, ii. 199.]
[Footnote 253: _Leet Book_, 285.]
[Footnote 254: _Ib._, 292.]
[Footnote 255: _Leet Book_, 287; first printed in Sharp, _Antiq._, pp.
228-231.]
[Footnote 256: _Leet Book_, 292.]
[Footnote 257: Beheaded on Gosford Green, 1469.]
[Footnote 258: York and Warwick swore to keep the peace (Ramsay, ii,
199).]
[Footnote 259: _Paston Letters_ (ed. Gairdner), i. 408.]
[Footnote 260: _Leet Book_, 297.]
[Footnote 261: The Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Winchester,
London, Lincoln, Norwich, Exeter, Worcester, Chester, Hereford, and
Salisbury; the Abbots of Glastonbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Gloucester,
Malmesbury, Cirencester; Lawrence Booth, privy seal; the Dukes of
Exeter, Buckingham, Somerset; the Earls of Shrewsbury, treasurer,
Stafford, Northumberland, Arundel and Devonshire; the Lord of S John's,
the Lords Roos, Suydeley, steward of the Household, Stanley, Beauchamp,
Berners, Grey de Ruthyn, Lovell, Wells, Willoughby, and Dudley, were
present.]
[Footnote 262: _Leet Book_, 298.]
[Footnote 263: _Ib._, 299.]
[Footnote 264: _Leet Book_, 300.]
[Footnote 265: Fine white bread; _panis dominicus_, lord's bread.]
[Footnote 266: Fat.]
[Footnote 267: Rous, _Hist. Reg. Angliæ_ (Hearne), 120.]
[Footnote 268: _Leet Book_, 308.]
[Footnote 269: _Ib._, 309.]
[Footnote 270: Query?]
[Footnote 271: _Leet Book_, 309.]
[Footnote 272: Henry was at Coventry when he heard of the landing of
the Yorkist lords Salisbury and Warwick on June 23 (Holinshed, iii.
654).]
[Footnote 273: Afterwards Edward IV. (_Leet Book_, 313).]
[Footnote 274: _Ib._, 315.]
[Footnote 275: Thompson, _Leicester_, 88.]
[Footnote 276: _Leet Book_, 316.]
[Footnote 277: Sharp, _Mysteries_, 152.]