THE PROTECTOR AND THE PROTECTORATE.
Before "giving up his soul to GOD" in the Palace of Westminster, the
fourth Edward nominated his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as
Protector of England during the minority of Edward the Fifth. The
choice was one of which the nation could not but approve. Richard was
in the thirty-first year of his life, and in the full vigor of his
intellect; with faculties refined by education and sharpened by use;
knowledge of mankind, acquired in civil strife and in the experience
of startling vicissitudes of fortune; a courage in battle which had
made his slight form and grisly cognizance terrible to foes on fields
of fame; a genius for war which had given him an enviable reputation
throughout Christendom; a temper hitherto so carefully kept under
restraint that any man hinting at the excess of its ferocity would
have been deemed insane; and an ambition hitherto so well masked
by affected humility that no one could have imagined it capable of
prompting political crimes, unjustifiable, save by those Italian maxims
associated with the name of Machiavelli.
It was on the 2d of October, 1452, shortly after the Roses were plucked
in the Temple Gardens, that Cicely, Duchess of York, gave birth to her
youngest son, Richard, in the Castle of Fotheringay. He was, therefore,
scarcely three years old when the Wars of the Roses commenced at St.
Albans, and little more than eight when the Duke of York was slain by
the Lancastrians on Wakefield Green. Alarmed, after that event, at the
aspect of affairs, warned by the murder of her second son, the boy-Earl
of Rutland, and eager to save George and Richard from the fate of their
elder brother, the Duchess Cicely sent them to Holland, trusting that,
even in case of the Lancastrians triumphing, the Duke of Burgundy would
generously afford them protection and insure them safety.
After being sent to the Continent, Richard and his brother remained
for some time in secret at Utrecht; but the Duke of Burgundy, hearing
that the young Plantagenets were in that city, had them sought out and
escorted to Bruges, where they were received with the honors due to
their rank. When, however, his victory at Towton made Edward King of
England, he requested Burgundy to send the princes; and, in the spring
of 1461, "The Good Duke" had them honorably escorted to Calais on their
way home. When, after their return to England, George was dignified
with the dukedom of Clarence, Richard became Duke of Gloucester.
At an early age, Richard, who was energetic and highly educated,
acquired great influence over the indolent and illiterate Edward; and
in the summer of 1470, when scarcely eighteen, he was appointed Warden
of the West Marches. The return of Warwick from France interrupting his
tenure of office, he shared his brother's flight to the territories of
the Duke of Burgundy; and when Edward landed at Ravenspur, to conquer
or die, Richard was by his side, and proved an ally of no mean prowess.
Being intrusted with high command at Barnet and Tewkesbury, his conduct
won him high reputation; and, in spite of his foppery and fondness for
dress and gay apparel, he showed himself, at both of these battles, a
sage counselor in camp and a fiery warrior in conflict.
The Lancastrians having been put down and peace restored, Richard
turned his thoughts to matrimony, and resolved to espouse Anne Neville,
daughter of Warwick and widow of Edward of Lancaster. Clarence, wishing
to keep the Warwick baronies to himself, as husband of Isabel Neville,
attempted, by concealing her sister, to prevent this marriage. But
Richard was not to be baffled. He discovered the fair Anne in London,
disguised as a cook-maid, and carrying the youthful widow off, placed
her for security in the sanctuary of St. Martin's. Nevertheless,
Clarence continued unreasonable. "Richard may have my sister-in-law if
he will," he said, "but we will part no livelihood." Edward, however,
took the matter in hand, pacified his brothers, allotted Anne a
handsome portion out of the Warwick estates, and had the marriage with
Richard forthwith solemnized. One son, destined to figure for a brief
period as Prince of Wales, was the result of this union.
Years rendered memorable by the inglorious expedition to France and
the unfortunate execution of Clarence passed over; and in 1482, when
Edward conspired with the exiled Duke of Albany to dethrone James, King
of Scots, Richard, who, among his contemporaries, had acquired the
reputation of being "a man of deep reach and policy," was intrusted
with the conduct of the war. Having been nominated lieutenant general
against the Scots, and joined by the Earl of Northumberland and Lord
Stanley, he led twenty-five thousand men across the Tweed, regained
Berwick, which had been surrendered by Queen Margaret, and marched to
the gates of Edinburgh. By this expedition Richard acquired an increase
of popularity; and he was still in the north when Edward the Fourth
departed this life and his son was proclaimed as Edward the Fifth.
At that time the young king--a boy of thirteen--was residing in the
Castle of Ludlow, on the marches of Wales, and receiving his education
under the auspices of his maternal uncle, Anthony Woodville, Earl
Rivers. Anthony was eminently qualified for the post of tutor, and
every precaution appears to have been taken to render the boy worthy of
the crown which he was destined never to wear.
While the news of his father's death was traveling to young Edward
at Ludlow, the feud between the ancient nobility and the queen's
kindred broke out afresh at Westminster, and London was agitated by
the factious strife. Elizabeth, jealous of the designs of the adverse
faction, wrote to Rivers to raise a large force in Wales, and conduct
the king to the capital to be crowned; and she empowered her son, the
Marquis of Dorset, who was Constable of the Tower, to take the royal
treasure out of that fortress, and fit out a fleet. Hastings, alarmed
at these indications of suspicion, threatened to retire to Calais, of
which he was captain; and both parties appealed to Richard, who had
hitherto so acted as to give offense to neither.
Richard, on learning the state of affairs, immediately wrote to the
queen, recommending that the army gathering round her son should be
dismissed; and the royal widow, who was totally devoid of the intellect
and sagacity necessary for such a crisis, dispatched a messenger to her
brother to disband his troops. The young king, however, set out from
Ludlow, and, attended by Earl Rivers, Elizabeth's second son, Richard
Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan, he approached Northampton on the 22d of
April, and learned that Richard had already arrived at that town.
Richard, as we have said, was on the frontiers of Scotland when his
brother expired at Westminster. On receiving intelligence of this sad
event he rode southward to York, and entered that city with a retinue
of six hundred knights and esquires, all dressed, like himself, in deep
mourning. At York he ordered a grand funeral service to be performed in
the Cathedral; and, having summoned the magnates of the neighborhood to
swear fealty to Edward the Fifth, he set them the example by taking the
oath first. After going through this ceremony, he wrote to Elizabeth
Woodville and to Earl Rivers, expressing the utmost loyalty and
affection for the young king; but, at the same time, a messenger was
sent to the Duke of Buckingham appointing a meeting at Northampton.
Again taking the road southward, Richard reached Northampton on the
22d of April; and, learning that the king was every hour expected,
he resolved to await the arrival of his nephew and escort him safely
to London. Ere long Rivers and Richard Grey appeared to pay their
respects, and announce that the king had gone forward to Stony
Stratford. Richard, who had hitherto given the Woodvilles no cause
for suspicion, was doubtless somewhat surprised at this intelligence.
He, however, suppressed his emotions, listened patiently to Anthony's
frivolous apology about fearing that Northampton would have been too
small a place to accommodate so many people, and with the utmost
courtesy invited the uncle and nephew to remain and sup.
Rivers and Grey accepted without hesitation an invitation given in so
friendly a tone; and soon after, Buckingham arrived at the head of
three hundred horsemen. Every thing went calmly. The two dukes passed
the evening with Rivers and Grey; they all talked in the most friendly
way; and next morning they rode together to Stony Stratford.
On reaching Stony Stratford, Richard found the king mounting to renew
his journey; and this circumstance seems to have convinced him that he
was intended by the Woodvilles first as a dupe and then as a victim.
At all events, their evident anxiety to prevent an interview between
him and his nephew afforded him a fair opportunity for taking strong
measures, and he did not hesitate. Turning to Rivers and Grey, he
immediately charged them with estranging the affections of his nephew,
and caused them to be arrested along with Sir Thomas Vaughan.
Having ordered the prisoners to be conveyed to the castle of Sheriff
Hutton, Richard and Buckingham bent their knees to their youthful
sovereign, and explained to him that Rivers, Grey, and Dorset were
traitors; but Edward, educated by his maternal relatives and much
attached to them, could not conceal his displeasure at their arrest.
This scene over, Richard dismissed all domestics with whom Rivers had
surrounded the young king, and conducted his nephew toward London,
giving out as he went that the Woodvilles had been conspiring. On the
4th of May they approached the metropolis; and at Hornsey Wood they
were met by Lord-mayor Shaw, with the sheriffs and aldermen, in their
scarlet robes, and five hundred of the citizens, clad in violet and
gallantly mounted. Attended as became a king, young Edward entered
London. Richard rode bareheaded before his nephew; many knights and
nobles followed; and, amid loud acclamations from the populace, Edward
the Fifth was conducted to the Bishop's Palace. A grand council was
then summoned, and Richard was declared Protector of England.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Woodville had been seized with dread. Alarmed at
the report that her brother and son were under arrest, and apprehensive
of Richard's intentions, she fled to the sanctuary with her five
daughters, her eldest son, the Marquis of Dorset, and her youngest
son, Richard, a boy of ten, who had been created Duke of York, and
contracted in marriage to an heiress of the Mowbrays who died in
infancy. The king, on learning that his mother was alarmed, expressed
his grief with tears in his eyes. At first Richard only protested his
loyalty, and marveled that his nephew should be so melancholy; but ere
long he resolved to turn the royal boy's unhappiness to account, and
with this view sent the Archbishop of York to Elizabeth to say that, to
the king's happiness, the company of his brother was essential.
The prelate carried the Protector's message to the sanctuary, and found
the mournful mother earnestly opposed to delivering up the Duke of
York. The archbishop, however, told her plainly that if she did not
consent, he feared some sharper course would speedily be taken; and at
this warning Elizabeth, who was at once timorous and imprudent, began
to yield. At length she took the boy by the hand and led him to the
archbishop. "My lord," she said, "here he is. For my own part, I never
will deliver him freely; but if you must needs have, take him, and at
your hands I will require him."
At that time Richard and other lords were in the Star Chamber,
and thither the archbishop led the weeping boy. As they entered,
Richard rose, embraced his nephew affectionately, and exclaimed with
characteristic dissimulation, "Welcome, nephew, with all my heart.
Next to my sovereign lord, your brother, nothing gives me so much
contentment as your presence." A few days after this scene was enacted,
Richard declared that it was necessary that the king and his brother
should be sent to some place of security till the distempers of the
commonwealth were healed; and a great council, summoned to discuss
the question, resolved, on the motion of Buckingham, that the princes
should be sent to the Tower. Accordingly, they were conducted to the
metropolitan fortress; and it was intimated that they were to remain
there till preparations had been made for the king's coronation.
The fate of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan having been decided on, the
13th of June was appointed as the day of execution; and Sir Richard
Ratcliffe, an unscrupulous agent of Richard, was intrusted with the
ceremony. Anthony Woodville was prevented from addressing the people on
the occasion, and posterity has been deprived of the satisfaction of
reading the accomplished adventurer's vindication; but Vaughan was more
lucky in his effort to be heard.
"I appeal," said Vaughan, solemnly, "to GOD'S high tribunal against the
Duke of Gloucester for this wrongful murder."
"You have made a goodly appeal," said Ratcliffe, with a sneer, "so lay
down your head."
"I die in the right, Ratcliffe," answered Vaughan; and, preparing to
submit to the blow, he added, "Take heed that you die not in the wrong."
Ere disposing of the Woodvilles, Richard persuaded himself that his
dream of the crown might be realized, and by bribes and promises
purchased Buckingham's aid in overthrowing the obstacles that stood in
his way. Anxious, also, to gain over Hastings, he deputed the task of
sounding him to William Catesby, an eminent lawyer, who descended from
an ancient family at Lapworth, in Warwickshire, and who was destined to
acquire an unenviable notoriety in Richard's service. The result was
not satisfactory. In fact, Hastings, though he heartily concurred in
Richard's measures against the Woodvilles, was determined to stand by
Edward's sons to the death; and, ere long, matters arrived at such a
pass that, while Richard sat at the head of a majority of the council
at Crosby Hall, Hastings presided over a minority at the Tower. The
party of Hastings appeared formidable. Lord Stanley, among others,
took part in its proceedings; and Stanley's son, George, Lord Strange,
was reported to be levying forces in Lancashire to give effect to its
decisions. Richard was not blind to the fact that if he did not destroy
the confederacy forthwith it would destroy him. At such a crisis he was
neither so timid nor so scrupulous as to hesitate as to the means.
Some years before his death, Edward of York, while pursuing his amours
in the city of London, was captivated by the charms of Jane Shore,
a young city dame, whose name occupies an unfortunate place in the
history of the period. This woman, after being for seven years the wife
of a reputable goldsmith, allowed herself, in an evil hour, to be lured
from the house of her husband, and figured for some time as the king's
mistress. Notwithstanding her equivocal position, however, Mistress
Shore exhibited many redeeming qualities. Her wit and beauty giving
her great influence over Edward, she exercised it for worthy purposes,
and was ever ready to relieve the needy, to shield the innocent, and
protect the oppressed.
When Edward had been laid at rest in St. George's Chapel, and Elizabeth
Woodville fled to the sanctuary, Mistress Shore manifested much
sympathy for the distressed queen; and, having formed an intimacy
with Lord Hastings, she framed something resembling a plot against
the Protector. Elizabeth at once forgave Hastings the hostility he
had displayed toward her kindred, and forgave Mistress Shore for
having supplanted her in Edward's affections, and the three became
allies. Richard's jealousy was aroused, and he resolved to make this
extraordinary alliance the means of effecting the ruin of Hastings.
It was Friday, the 13th of June--the day on which Rivers, Grey, and
Vaughan suffered at Pontefract--and Hastings, Stanley, the Bishop of
Ely, the Archbishop of York, with other men of mark, had assembled at
nine o'clock in the Tower, when the Protector suddenly entered the
council chamber and took his seat at the table. Richard appeared in a
lively mood, conversed for a while gayly with those present, and quite
surprised them by the mirth which he exhibited.
Having set the lords somewhat at their ease and persuaded them to
proceed with business, Richard begged them to spare him for a while,
and, leaving the council chamber, he remained absent for an hour.
Between ten and eleven he returned, but frowning and fretting, knitting
his brow and biting his lips.
"What punishment," he asked, seating himself, "do they deserve who have
imagined and compassed my destruction, who am so nearly related to the
king, and intrusted with the government of the realm?"
"Whoever they be," answered Hastings, after a pause, "they deserve the
death of traitors."
"These traitors," cried Richard, "are the sorceress my brother's wife,
and her accomplice, Jane Shore, his mistress, with others, their
associates, who have, by their witchcraft, wasted my body."
"Certainly, my lord," said Hastings, after exhibiting some confusion,
"if they be guilty of these crimes, they deserve the severest
punishment."
"What?" exclaimed Richard, furiously, "do you reply to me with ifs and
with ands? I tell thee they have so done, and that I will make good on
your body, traitor."
After threatening Hastings, Richard struck the council table, and
immediately a cry of "Treason" arose, and armed men rushed into the
chamber.
"I arrest thee, traitor," said Richard, turning to Hastings.
"Me, my lord?" asked Hastings, in surprise.
"Yes, thee, traitor," said Richard; "and, by St. Paul, I swear I will
not to dinner till I have thy head off."
While this conversation was passing between the Protector and Hastings,
one of the soldiers, as if by accident or mistake, struck a blow at
Lord Stanley. But the noble baron, who had no ambition to share his
ally's fate, and who, indeed, contrived to carry his wise head to the
grave, saved himself on this occasion by jerking under the table, and
escaped without any other bodily injury than a bruise.
While Lord Stanley, the Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of Ely
were arrested, and shut up in various parts of the Tower, Hastings
was hurried outside for immediate execution. Richard would not even
allow the headsman time enough to erect a scaffold; but a log of
wood answered the purpose. This, having been found in the court of
the Tower, was carried to the green near the chapel; and the lord
chamberlain, after being led thither, was without farther ceremony
beheaded. At the same time the sheriffs of London proceeded to Mistress
Shore's house, took possession of her goods, which were valued at three
thousand marks, and conveyed her through the city to the Tower. On
being brought before the council, however, on the charge of sorcery,
no evidence worthy of credit was produced, and an acquittal was the
consequence.
The sudden execution of the lord chamberlain naturally excited
much interest in the city; and, as Hastings happened to be a great
favorite with the inhabitants, Richard deemed it necessary to
vouchsafe an explanation. Having therefore sent for some of the
influential citizens, and frankly justified himself as having acted
simply in self-defense, he, within two hours, caused a proclamation,
under the great seal, fairly written on parchment, to be read by a
herald-at-arms, with great solemnity, in various parts of London.
Unfortunately, this vindication appeared so soon after the execution
that people could not help suspecting that it had been drawn up before.
"Here's a gay goodly cast," remarked the schoolmaster of St. Paul's,
as the document was read at the Cross, "soul cast away for haste."
"Ay," said a merchant standing by, "I think it has been written by the
spirit of prophecy."