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Soon after his coronation, King Richard III set about establishing his authority throughout the kingdom. He needed to show himself as an upright, well-intentioned monarch, not as a usurping king who set aside his nephews for his own gain. The best way for a king to establish his authority and show his majesty was by going on a royal progress across his country. Richard and his wife Queen Anne left London on 19 July 1483 on their first royal progress.1 The huge royal train meandered north through England for several weeks, finally arriving at Pontefract Castle on 24 August where they were reunited with their 10-year-old son, Edward of Middleham, now heir to the throne of England. The little family spent nearly a month together at Pontefract before Richard and Anne departed to make their way back to London, arriving back in the capital city in mid-September 1483.
While the king and queen were on progress, the first stirrings of rebellion began popping up in southern and western England. While it’s true many people were shocked when Richard took the throne, the biggest source of discontent among the people was the treatment of Edward IV’s sons, who became known as ‘the princes in the Tower’. People were used to witnessing brutality when it came to politics but locking up two innocent boys went beyond the bounds of acceptable behaviour. It was a step too far, even for the brutal world of medieval England.
When in the early fall of 1483, the two boys were no longer seen through the Tower apartment windows or playing in the garden, rumours ran rampant that Richard had killed them. In fact, the idea that they were dead within a few weeks of his coronation was widely believed by contemporary chroniclers.2 As long as the boys were alive, Richard’s reign would be in danger. He had the motive, he had the opportunity and obviously, the English believed it was within Richard’s personality to get rid of the princes.
When the Marquess of Dorset and the Woodvilles got word of the insurrections, they threw their lot in with the rebels and worked together with the aim of rescuing the princes from the Tower.3 The biggest jolt of lifeblood to the rebellion was when Richard’s closest friend and ally Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, sent word to the rebels that he would join them. Why did the powerful duke turn against the king when he had helped Richard defeat the hated Woodvilles? Buckingham likely couldn’t stomach Richard’s usurpation. His purpose for helping Richard get control of Prince Edward at Stony Stratford was to secure the protectorship for Richard, not the crown. There is also a possibility that Buckingham had inside knowledge of the fates of the princes. It was in September that chroniclers first started reporting that the princes were no longer being seen at the Tower.4 Tudor writers all date the murder of the princes as occurring days after Buckingham had reached Brecon which would have placed the murders in late July or early August 1483 while King Richard III was on progress.5 It’s certainly possible that their murders would have been Buckingham’s breaking point, enough to risk his own lands and even his life to take out the king he had unwittingly helped seat on the throne.
The duke of Buckingham wasn’t the only noble getting involved in the rebellion, so too was Margaret Beaufort, the wealthiest woman in England. Margaret’s son, Henry Tudor, was the next Lancastrian in line for the throne after Henry VI. The grumblings against Richard were so strong that she decided now was her chance to try to move her son closer to the throne. Henry’s strongest chance of winning English support in his bid for the crown was to promise to marry Edward IV’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the Houses of York and Lancaster. Margaret and Buckingham knew how tired the English people were after thirty years of fighting and how most everyone would welcome the reconciliation of the two Houses so there could finally be peace throughout the kingdom. Margaret and Buckingham sent secret messages to the dowager queen Elizabeth Woodville in sanctuary and she agreed to the marriage for her daughter Elizabeth or York.6 Clearly, the queen believed her two sons were dead at this point, otherwise she would not have married her daughter to a Lancastrian rival.
By the end of September, plans for a major rebellion were well underway and Buckingham sent secret messages to Henry Tudor in Brittany to keep him apprised of the plan.7 Henry was getting his ships ready to sail to England on 18 October 1483 which was the chosen date for the coordinated uprising. Buckingham had nobles and commoners stationed at various strategic points around England which ended up being part of the problem: it was too large an enterprise to keep secret for long. On 8 October 1483, the men of Kent started their uprising prematurely which totally blew Buckingham’s cover. When Richard arrived at Lincoln on 11 October, he got word of Buckingham’s plans to betray him and immediately began mustering the royal army. Then on 15 October, Richard issued a public proclamation naming Buckingham as a traitor, put a price of £1,000 on his head, and ordered his English subjects to take up arms against the rebels.8
When 18 October rolled around, Buckingham unfurled his banner and the uprisings began in earnest. Richard’s ally, the duke of Norfolk, quickly put down the rebellions in Kent and Surrey, thus protecting the all-important capital city of London. Richard marched south with his army to face Buckingham but in the end, there was no need. Buckingham’s rebellion fizzled out all by itself. He hadn’t been able to draw the number of supporters that he expected, storms had washed out the roads and bridges in his path, and the man who had helped him plan the rebellion, John Morton, Bishop of Ely, had betrayed him and escaped.9 To add to Buckingham’s troubles, Henry Tudor had not arrived with his fleet because bad weather prevented his sailing. The entire plan had fallen apart and now Buckingham, fearful of Richard’s vengeance, fled for his life. He was captured hiding at one of his servant’s homes and sent to Richard at Salisbury where he confessed his part in the rebellion, hoping against all odds that Richard might have pity on him and spare his life. But alas he did not. Buckingham was tried, found guilty, and beheaded as a traitor in the public marketplace of Salisbury on 2 November 1483. The day after Buckingham’s execution, Richard received news that Henry Tudor had attempted to make a landing near Plymouth but quickly sailed away when he learned of the collapse of Buckingham’s rebellion.
Richard returned victorious to London, making his grand entry on 25 November 1483. He doled out punishments for the rebels, including the execution of ten captains and an attainder of treason for ninety-six men.10 Margaret Beaufort was stripped of her titles, although her lands were given to her husband. Had she not been a woman, she probably would have gone to the block along with the other plotters.
Richard did not stop at punishing Margaret but also set out determinedly to get possession of her son, Henry Tudor, who was still in exile in Brittany. Richard tried unsuccessfully to bribe the duke of Brittany to hand over Henry Tudor and he also issued several public proclamations naming Henry Tudor as a usurper and a traitor.11 Much to Richard’s dismay, on Christmas Day 1483 in Brittany, Henry Tudor swore an oath in front of all his followers that if he overthrew Richard III, he would marry Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the Houses of Lancaster and York in peace. Henry was gaining momentum as the disaffected English rebels who could not condone Richard’s behaviour flocked to Henry’s quasi-royal court in Brittany.12
In early 1484, a troubled Richard worried about the stability of his reign and set about building a net of protection. He built up an arsenal of weapons and ammunition in the Tower of London to protect the city from invasion. He personally took a trip to Kent to dispense law and subdue the locals who had instigated a recent uprising. Then King Richard summoned parliament to meet in January 1484 to again confirm him as rightful king. At this parliamentary session he also had his son, Prince Edward, confirmed as the heir to the throne.13
Lastly, Richard succeeded at the enormous task of getting the dowager queen Elizabeth Woodville and her five daughters out of sanctuary where they had spent the last ten months. On 1 March 1484, King Richard took an oath in front of parliament promising that he would not harm the Woodvilles if they came out of sanctuary. He promised to welcome them back to court and to arrange advantageous marriages for the queen’s daughters.14 Despite his promise, Elizabeth Woodville didn’t trust Richard and was hesitant to leave sanctuary but seeing no other options, the dowager queen and her daughters exited Westminster Abbey in mid-March. It was a huge coup for Richard, completely remarkable that he was able to pull it off, but this would be the last of his last successes. From this point forward, things started to go terribly wrong for Richard. Shortly after their exit from sanctuary, Elizabeth petitioned Richard for her own residence away from court and he consented, but the dowager queen’s daughters stayed on at court as Queen Anne’s ladies-in-waiting.15 Soon the presence of his young nieces at court stirred up so much drama that his own reign was put in serious jeopardy.
Richard may have been riding high after wooing the Woodvilles out of sanctuary, but his world was about to come crashing down. After the close of parliament, King Richard and Queen Anne made the long journey north to Nottingham Castle where he set up his defensive headquarters. Richard felt he was in a better position to deal with rebels from all directions, including the Scots who were now starting to threaten England, if he were more centrally located in his country. In mid-April 1484, a messenger rode into Nottingham with devastating news: Richard and Anne’s only child, Prince Edward, had died from a sudden illness on 9 April 1484.16 Prince Edward had always been reported to be a sickly child, but his death was not expected, otherwise his devoted parents would have been with him at Middleham Castle. The loss of their son shook them both to the core. Richard’s insecurity was on high alert now that he lacked an heir and he wondered if his son’s death was his own fault. He started to wonder if God was punishing him for taking the crown and causing the deaths of his nephews.
Queen Anne’s grief at the loss of her son had an enormous negative effect on her health. By this time, it was clear that she was already seriously ill, but the death of her son would hasten her end. She had slowly been declining from ‘consumption’, what we in modern times call tuberculosis.17 The disease is contagious and to contract it during medieval times was certainly a death warrant.
Richard dealt with his sorrow by turning his attention to his enemies. First, he had to deal with the pesky Scots and their continual border raids which he was determined to put an end to. From May to July 1484, King Richard issued commission of arrays to recruit men for the northern fighting forces and he oversaw the outfitting of the fleet of ships at Scarborough. Richard won a decisive naval battle over the Scots and he negotiated a three-year truce with King James III, king of the Scots.
Next Richard turned his attention to Henry Tudor who was still in Brittany with his uncle, Jasper Tudor. Although Richard’s first attempt at bribing the duke of Brittany to hand over Henry Tudor was unsuccessful, Richard’s luck in the summer of 1484 was much better. Fortunately for Richard, the duke of Brittany was very ill and his chief treasurer, Pierre Landois, was running the government in his absence. The duke had provided an almost fatherly protection for Henry and Jasper, but Pierre had no such attachment to the English exiles. On 8 June 1484, Pierre signed a treaty with Richard in which he promised to return Henry Tudor to England and deliver him to Richard.18
Richard wasn’t the only one who had spies – so did Henry Tudor. His ally John Morton, the bishop of Ely who had recently betrayed the duke of Buckingham, received word of Richard’s plans and tipped off Henry Tudor just in the nick of time.19 Henry discreetly rode out of Vannes, Brittany, under the guise of visiting some friends for the day but as soon as he was safely away from Pierre Landois’ reach, he ducked in the woods, disguised himself in servants’ clothes, and rode hard for the border of France where he could count on the protection of King Louis. If not for his speed, he likely would have been caught because Landois’ men arrived at the French border less than an hour after Henry has passed.20 When the duke of Brittany found out about Landois’ agreement with Richard, he was outraged. To make up to his Tudor friends, the duke sent Henry assurances that he would support the exiles financially, even though they were in France now, and paid for Henry’s followers to move their court to France.21 Henry Tudor had slipped through Richard’s hands once again.
King Richard finally left the relative safety and comfort of Nottingham Castle in November 1484 for the venomous intrigues of London. In addition to holding his Christmas court at Westminster Palace, he had also come to London to deal with Henry Tudor whose popularity had only grown in the past months. Richard started taking the threat of invasion from Tudor seriously in late November when he learned that the old Lancastrian leader John de Vere had escaped imprisonment and joined Henry Tudor’s court in France.22 On 3 December 1484, King Richard issued his first proclamation against Henry Tudor and his followers as traitors. Days later Richard issued commissions of array across the kingdom, especially for the coastal towns to ready their defences for Tudor’s impending invasion. Richard really jumped the gun here. December was well past the campaigning season when fleets could sail the Channel safely and armies could supply themselves with fresh crops.23 From this point forward Richard was on high alert, driven by his own paranoia and expecting every day that Henry Tudor and the Lancastrians would arrive try to overthrow him.
Richard’s Christmas 1484 celebrations were magnificent by any royal standards, perhaps even grotesquely over the top as if he had to prove the point of his regality and his right to the throne of England. The Twelve Days revels at his Christmas celebrations included masques, pageants, feasts, dancing, singing, jugglers, acrobats, and games. The food was rich and the garments worn by Richard and his courtiers were sumptuous.24 The impending fear of invasion from Henry Tudor may have dampened the mood, as did the constant appearance of the sickly Queen Anne. But the strangest thing about that Christmas was Richard’s peculiar treatment of his niece, Elizabeth of York. She was outfitted in clothes just as rich and luxurious as Queen Anne and Richard was giving her an inordinate amount of attention. Those who witnessed the king’s behaviour at the Christmas court of 1484 grew suspicious that Richard might be preparing Elizabeth of York to be the new queen after Anne’s inevitable death.25 Henry Tudor wanted to marry Elizabeth to bring together the two rival houses. In order to stop Henry Tudor from doing so, Richard may have considered marrying Elizabeth himself.
Just after Christmas, widespread rumours began circulating that King Richard III was, indeed, planning to marry his niece Elizabeth as soon as Anne died. There were even rumours Richard poisoned Anne in order to hasten her death so he could marry Elizabeth sooner.26 Apparently, Anne was barren so Richard must have been eager to remarry and sire a new heir, but marrying his own niece was a step too far for the nobles and commoners alike. Richard need not hasten his wife’s death because she took to her sickbed shortly after Christmas and passed away on 16 March 1485.
The queen’s death further stoked rumours of Richard’s intention to marry Elizabeth of York, so much so that Richard’s councillors insisted he make a public denial just two weeks after the queen’s death. At St Johns church in Clerkenwell, in front of the mayor of London, nobles and commoners, Richard was forced to make a clear denial that he had no intention of marrying his niece. Furthermore, he announced that anyone caught spreading such rumours would immediately be imprisoned.27 His public statement wasn’t enough and the council then made him put into writing a formal denial on 19 April 1485. It was the greatest humiliation of his reign, so far.
Elizabeth was packed off to Sheriff Hutton which was very near Richard’s castle in York. Richard deemed her to be safest at Sheriff Hutton’s fortress in case anyone from Henry Tudor’s party should try to abduct her. Elizabeth was not alone at Sheriff Hutton, in fact, this is where Richard kept all the young royals, including Elizabeth’s sisters and George’s son, Edward, Earl of Warwick, and daughter Margaret.28 Twenty-five-year-old John de la Pole, the earl of Lincoln, was also in safe-keeping at Sheriff Hutton. John was the son of Richard’s sister Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk, and Richard planned to name him as his heir. Although it may sound like a captivity situation, it was far from that. All the children were very well treated, and Sheriff Hutton was like their own little royal court where no expense was spared for the young nobles.
In the spring of 1485, Richard was feeling utterly defeated and he suffered greatly from an uneasy conscience. He felt as if he was losing control of his kingdom, or maybe he never really had control of it in the first place. He was racked with anxiety over the current state of affairs and worried that it was divine retribution for usurping the throne from his nephews. He became increasing isolated, keeping only a small group of friends at his court. The dual betrayals of Lord Hastings and the duke of Buckingham had taught Richard how fast allegiances could change and that no one could be trusted. These last few months of Richard III’s reign were the most unhappy and lonely.29 He had lost his family and he was being prevented from remarrying his choice of bride, which meant no possibility of an heir anytime soon. His rule was already unsteady, and the threat of Henry Tudor’s invasion plagued his mind. But he had no time to sulk. With the spring came a new campaigning season which meant it was time to prepare for the arrival of Henry Tudor and his rebel army.