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The sudden and unexpected cause of King Edward’s death is not entirely known. Some chroniclers say he was struck by apoplexy (a stroke or cerebral haemorrhage) while others believe that his fever and chills indicated an ague (malaria).1 The consensus is that the king suddenly fell ill and collapsed while on a fishing trip on Good Friday, 30 March 1483. He took to his bed at Westminster Palace and lingered in a weakened state for several days. The king knew he was dying so he summoned his councillors to hear his last wishes. He bade them to honour and protect his eldest son Edward and see that he is placed on the throne as King Edward V. He told those gathered around his bedside that he wanted his brother Richard to be lord protector.2 Edward deemed Richard to be the best choice to oversee his son’s minority reign and to teach him the principles of good kingship.
King Edward IV’s death on 9 April 1483 set off a shocking chain of events as all the major players rushed in to fill the power vacuum left by King Edward IV. Immediately after Edward’s death, messengers rode out of London in every direction to spread the news. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was in northern England at Middleham Castle when he received the unexpected news of his brother’s death in mid-April. The messenger, sent by William Hastings, Edward IV’s lord chamberlain, also informed Richard that Edward had named him protector for young Edward’s minority reign.3 Richard would have no choice now but to be pulled back into London politics, far away from the peace and safety of Middleham Castle with his wife and son in the North.
Before leaving Middleham, Richard dispatched two messengers. The first message was sent to young Edward’s uncle and governor, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers who resided at Ludlow Castle on the Welsh March with Prince Edward.3 In his cordial letter, Richard asked to meet up with them so they may enter London together. Earl Rivers agreed and told Richard to meet them on 29 April at Northampton. Secondly, Richard sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth assuring her of his loyalty to her sons.4 Then on 20 April 1483, Richard departed Middleham with a small retinue and began down the road that would lead to his final destiny.
As Richard made his way south, he received several updates from long-time Yorkist ally Lord Hastings. Hastings was in the heart of the drama at London trying to deal with the aftermath of Edward IV’s death. Hastings began sending alarming messages to Richard claiming that the queen and her family were trying to supplant him as protector so they alone could rule through the 12-year-old Prince Edward. In fact, the queen was running council meetings as if she were the ruler, and her brother, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, was issuing orders in his own name as ‘Brother Uterine to the king’.5
The Woodvilles argued strongly that the council should oversee Edward’s minority reign instead of Richard. They insisted that no one man should have the power of the protectorate and things would be better left to the council to govern England.6 Additionally, the Woodvilles took possession of the royal treasury in the Tower and appointed the queen’s brother, Sir Edward Woodville, to the title of Captain of the king’s Ships which authorised him to raise a fleet against their perceived enemies. Lastly, the Woodville council rushed to get King Edward crowned before Richard could reach London by scheduling his coronation date for 4 May 1483.7
On 29 April 1483, Richard and his retinue arrived at Northampton, about 100 kilometres northwest of London, where they were supposed to rendezvous with Earl Rivers and Prince Edward. But when Richard arrived, he learned that young Edward and his Woodville escort had already passed through the town and gone fourteen kilometres south to Stony Stafford. Richard stayed in Northampton for the night rather than moving on to Stony Stafford because he was awaiting the arrival of his ally Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham was second in line to the throne on the Lancastrian side after young Henry Tudor, and he absolutely hated the Woodvilles. Buckingham was from the old nobility while the Woodvilles were new upstarts. Buckingham especially resented Edward IV for making him marry one of the queen’s sisters when he was only 11 years old.8
As soon as Buckingham heard of Edward’s death, he rushed a messenger to Richard at Middleham pledging to help him fight the Woodvilles. Buckingham arrived at Northampton that afternoon, as did young Edward’s uncle Earl Rivers who made the trip with a small retinue to explain they had moved on south only due to scanty accommodations in Northampton.9 Richard, Buckingham, and Rivers dined together that night and by all accounts had a convivial evening. The three men agreed to ride together to Stony Stafford the next morning to meet up with young Edward to escort him to London.10
But on the morning of 30 April 1483, the men did not saddle up and ride out together to join the new king as they had planned. It seems Richard and Buckingham stayed up talking late into the night and came up with a different plan.11 The next morning, Earl Rivers awoke to find his quarters surrounded by armed men wearing Richard’s livery.12 When the earl inquired as to why he was being confined to his lodgings, Richard and Buckingham said he was under arrest for trying to turn the young king against them.
With the most powerful member of the Woodville family safely under lock and key, Richard and Buckingham rode hard to Stony Stafford to take possession of Prince Edward. When they arrived, they kneeled before the young boy and pledged their loyalty. They explained to him that his father had been ill-counseled by those around him and those same people encouraged the vices which caused his bad health. They told him he could not trust his Woodville relations, he could only trust his uncle Richard. Richard explained how he had always been loyal to King Edward, therefore, young Edward should follow his father’s lead and keep Richard as his chief councillor. The frightened child had little choice but to consent.13 He was taken back to Northampton and put in Richard’s custody and all of Prince Edward’s household servants were dismissed and replaced with Richard’s staff. Richard then ordered the arrest of Prince Edward’s half-brother, Sir Richard Grey, and his treasurer, Sir Thomas Vaughan. Along with Earl Rivers, Grey and Vaughan were taken to Pontefract Castle and beheaded less than two months later.
Richard would have to explain himself for this drastic turn of events, so he dispatched a message to the capital city to explain his actions. His message arrived just before midnight on 1 May, its contents sending the queen and her Woodville kin into a tizzy when they learned her son was in her enemy’s control. The queen and her children rushed to the safety of sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while their servants did their best to haul all the royal possessions into the abbey. Clearly, they feared for their lives now that Richard had control of Prince Edward and had always hated the Woodvilles for the negative effect on his brother Edward.
On 4 May 1483, Richard and Prince Edward made their grand entry into London, accompanied by Buckingham and their large Yorkist retinue. Contemporary chroniclers reported that they were welcomed into the city with cheers from the citizens, happy to be rid of the hated Woodvilles.14 Edward was escorted to his lodgings at the bishop of London’s palace and Richard went to his London town house called Crosby’s Place. A few weeks later Edward was moved to the royal apartments in the Tower of London where he would be safer, according to Richard.15
Richard immediately set about making his protectorate and the Woodville ousting permanent. He first called together all the lords spiritual and temporal and they were made to pledge an oath of fealty to Prince Edward. Then Richard summoned his first council meeting where he was unanimously proclaimed Protector and Defensor of the Realm. The council also decided that Edward’s coronation would be held on 22 June 1483 and called parliament to assemble three days later.16
The council convened again on 13 June with the purpose of discussing the final details of Edward’s coronation but instead, a visibly angry Richard accused his long-time allies Lord Hastings and Thomas Rotherham of plotting with the Woodvilles to stop his protectorship.17 Rotherham was taken to the Tower but Hastings was promptly dragged to the Tower green and beheaded on the spot. Richard circulated a letter around a panicked and confused London explaining that Hastings had been plotting his death.18 He may have been aware that rumours were starting to circulate the city questioning his intentions towards the throne. People were accusing him of acting like he thought he was to be the next king of England, parading through the city in regal fashion and executing noblemen and clergy alike without so much as a trial.
The council also discussed what to do with the queen and her children who were holding out in sanctuary. Most importantly, they wanted to secure Edward’s younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, as next in line to the throne of England. The archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bourchier was sent to speak to the queen on 16 June. Although she refused at first to turn over her son to their custody, Bourchier let her know she could do it willingly or they could take her son by force.19 She chose the former and her 9-year-old son Richard was escorted to the Tower to join his brother Edward under the guise of joining him for his coronation. But shortly after receiving Prince Richard into the Tower, the council delayed Prince Edward’s coronation.
On 22 June 1483, the day that should have been Prince Edward’s coronation, a shocking revelation was put forth that was game-changing. On that day, Richard, Buckingham, and a large number of nobles attended Sunday services at St Paul’s Cross which was led by Friar Ralph Shaa. In an obviously pre-arranged sermon, the friar spoke of Richard’s virtues and then made the bold announcement that Richard was the true king of England. The friar revealed that he had witnessed a marriage pre-contract between Edward IV and Lady Eleanor Butler many years before Edward was king. The revelation meant Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid, making all of their children illegitimate.20 Conveniently, Eleanor Butler had died fifteen years prior so she obviously could not corroborate Friar Shaa’s claim.
What was the friar’s excuse for not bringing this up earlier? Supposedly he had been too afraid to reveal the secret while Edward IV was alive, but now that Edward IV was dead, the friar wanted to make sure the truth came out and the rightful king of England was sitting on the throne. Richard readily supported the friar’s claim without demanding any evidence or formal inquiry into the matter. Whether he really believed it or not is debatable. It certainly was a convenient way for him to step in and oust the Woodvilles.
Over the next two days, Buckingham, a talented orator, spread the friar’s message across London, and succeeded in gaining enough support for Richard to gain full control of the kingdom. On 25 June 1483, an informal gathering of the lords and Commons took place at Westminster and they put forth a petition to make Richard the new king of England. The following day, 26 June 1483, the lords and Commons rode to Baynard’s Castle and formally asked Richard to become the next king of England. Richard then rode in procession to Westminster Hall and took his seat upon the king’s Bench which was a formal indication that he was taking possession of the crown. His coronation took place on Sunday, 6 July 1483, followed by an enormous celebration feast for 3,000 people.21 His reign had certainly started out in grand fashion, but could he maintain control over his shaky foundation?