THE HISTORY of the Life and Reigne of RICHARD The Third Composed in five Bookes By GEO BUCK Esquire Honorandus est qui injuriam non fecit sed qui alios eam facere non patitur duplici Honore dignus est Plato de legibus Lib. 5. Qui non repellit a proximo injuriam si potest tam est in vitio quam ille qui infert D. Ambros. offic Lib. 3. LONDON Printed by W. Wilson and are to be sold by VV. L. H. M. and D. P. 1647. The true Portraiture of Richard Plantagenest of England and of France King Lord of Ireland the third King Richard TO THE FAVOVRABLE ACCEPTANCE Of the Right Honourable PHILIP Earle of Pembrooke and Mountgomery c. Sir HAving collected these papers out of their dust I was bold to hope there might be somthing in them of a better fate if mine obscure pen darken not that too Please your Lordshipp to let your name make them another witnesse of your noblenesse it may redeeme and improve them to a clearer opinion and acknowlegedment of these times in which I am to meet every Critick at his owne weapon who will challenge the Book at the very Title The Malicious and Malevolent with their blotted Coments the Captious Incredulous with their jealous praecisianâ—sines whose inclinations shewes them of envious perplexed natures to looke at other mens actions and memory by the wrong end of the perspective and me thinks I fancy them to our shaddowes which at noone creepe behind like Dwarfes atevening stalke by like Gyants they will haunte the noblest merits and endeavors to their Sun-set then they monster it but to the Common-rout they are another kind of Genius or ignis fatuus leades them into darke strange wanderings there they stick for to perswade the opinionated vulgar out of their ignorant selves is of as high a beliefe to me as to transpeciate a Beast into a man I therefore shall crave favour to protest these papers beyond their Censure and humour But to those they are wished I hope their weak accesses may be the more pardonable since they are the kindlings and scintillations of a modest Ambition to truth and gratitude which gives me the encouragement to assure your Lordship that if mine Authors be sincere and faithfull my penis free and innocent having learned that a story as it ought must be a just perspicuous Narration of things memorable spoken and don The Historiographer veritable free from all Prosopolepsyes or partiall respects and surely his pen should tast with a great deal of Conscience for there is nothing leaves so an infected a sting or scandall as History it rankles to all posterity wounds our good names to all memory places by an Authentick kind of preiudice I am with his opinion in his excellent Religio Medici who holds it an offence to Charity and as bloody a thought one way as Nero's in another My Lord under these humble addresses this sues to your honoured hand Presented by the unfained wishes of your Honours avowed and humble Servant GEO BUCK The ARGUMENT and CONTENTS of the First Booke The Linage Family Birth Education and Tirociny of King Richard the third THe Royall house of Plantagenest and the beginning of that name What Sobriquets were The antiquity of Sirnames Richard is created Duke of Gloucester his marriage and his issue His martiall imployments His Iourney into Scotland and recovery of Barwick The death of King Edward the 4 th The Duke of Gloucester made Lord Protector and soone after King of England by importunate suite of his Barons and of the People as the next true and lawfull heire Henry Teudor Earle of Richmond practiseth against the King He is conveyed into France The Noble Linage of Sir William Herbert his Imployment He is made Earle of Pembrooke King Edward the 4 th first and after King Richard sollicite the Duke of Brittaine and treat with him for the delivery of the young Earle of Richmond his Prisoner The successe of that businesse The quality and title of the Beauforts or Sommersets The Linage and Family of the Earle of Richmond The solemne Coronations of King Richard and of the Queene his wife his first at Westminster the second at Yorke Nobles Knights and Officers made by him Prince Edward his Son invested in the Principallity of Wales and the Oath of Allegeance made to him King Richard demandeth the Tribute of France His Progresse to Yorke His carefull charge given to the Iudges and Magistrates He holdeth a Parliament wherein the marriage of the King his Brother with the Lady Gray is declared and adjudged unlawfull their children to be illegitimate and not capable of the Crowne The Earle of Richmond and divers others attainted of Treason Many good Laws made The K. declared and approved by Parliament to be the only true and lawfull heire of the Crowne The King and Queene dowager are reconciled He hath secret advertisemeÌ„ts of Innovations and practises against him Createth a vice-Constable of England His sundry treaties with Forraigne Princes Doctor Morton corrupteth the Duke of Buckingham who becometh discontent demanding the Earledome of Hereford with the great Constableship of England He taketh Armes is defeated and put to death by marshall Law THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF RICHARD THE THIRD OF ENGLAND AND OF FRANCE KING AND LORD OF IRELAND RIchard Plantagenet Duke of Glocester and King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland the third of that name was the younger sonne of Sir Richard Plantagenet the fourth Duke of Yorke of that Royall Family and King of England designate by King Henry the sixth and by the most noble Senate and universall Synod of this Kingdome the High Court of Parliament The Mother of this Richard Duke of Glocester was the Lady Cecily Daughter of Sir Ralph de Neville Earle of Westmerland by his wife Ioane de Beaufort the naturall Daughter of Iohn Plantagenet alias de Gaunt Duke of Guiene and Lancaster King of Castile and Leon third Sonne of King Edward the third for in that order this Duke is best accounted because William of Hatfield the second Sonne of King Edward the third dyed in his infancy and this Duke of Yorke and King designate was propagated from two younger sonnes of the same King Edward the third whereby he had both Paternall and Maternall Title to the Crowne of England and France But his better and nearer Title was the Maternall Title or that which came to him by his Mother the Lady Anne de Mortimer the Daughter and heire of Phillippa Plantagenet who was the sole Daughter and heire of Lyonell Plantagenet Duke of Clarence and second Sonne of King Edward the third according to the account and order aforesaid And this Lady Phillip was the Wife of Sir Edmond de Mortimer the great and famous Earle of March and that Duke Richard King designate by his Father Richard Plantagenet Duke of York sirnamed also de Conningsbâ—rrough issued directly and in a
the King might beleeve he was forward to come as near his desires as in honour could be he engaged himselfe to keep so carefull and vigilant a watch upon them that they should have no more power to endanger him then if they were in strict Prison This being returned though not agreable to the Kings hope and wishes yet bearing such a Caution of Honour and Wisdome he remained satisfied and so it paused for the space of eight yeares as I conjecture for the King made this demand in the twelfth yeare of his Raigne 1472 all which time he was very intent to preserve the League with good Summes of Mony and costly Presents In the twentieth of his Raigne 1480 he received intelligence that the Earle of Richmond had stird up fresh Embers and new friends in the French Court to blow them and that the French King had dealt by solicitation of the Earle of Pembrook and others privately to get the Earl of Richmond and offered great Sums to the Duke of Brittaine This gave new disturbance and the King must now by the best meanes he could renue his former sâ—te to the Duke of Brittaine for which employment he intrusts Doctor Stillington Bishop of Bath his Secretary a man of a Wise Learned and Eloquent endeavour of good acquaintance and credit with the Duke of Brittaine who gave him an honourable and respective entertainement The Bishop after he had prepared him by the earnest of a very rich present tenders the Summe of his Employment not forgetting what he was now to Act and what to promise on the Kings part And for a more glorious insinuation tells him how the King had elected him into the noble Society of St. Georges Order as the most honourable intimation he could give of his love to qualifie all exceptious too and jealousies assures him the King had no intent to the Earle of Richmond but what was answerable to his owne worth and quality of the Kings Kinsman having declared a propensity and purpose to bestow one of his daughters upon him The Duke well mollified and perswades delivered the Earle by a strong Guard to the Bishop at St. Maloes Port a change of much passion and amazement to him whose sufferings tooke hold upon the affable disposition of the Noble Peir de Landois Treasurer to the Duke who had the Earle in Charge and Conduct to St. Malo He urges the cause from him of his so altered and present condition with Protestation of all the aide he could The Earle thus fairely and happily provoked and perceiving the sparkles of his sorrow had hapt into a tender bosome freely exposed himselfe and with such an overcomming Countenance of teares and sighes framed his own Story and prest Landois that it so wrought upon his temper he perswaded the Earle to put on clearer hopes assures him there should some meanes be found to shift the Tempest thereupon writes a sad Relation to the Duke to move his compassion and favour and knowing the Baron Chandais a great man in credit with him well affected to the Earle by a long and reciprocall affection he repaired to his house neare Saint Malo and prevailed with him to use his power with the Duke for returning the Earle who posted to Vanes where the Court was then and tooke the Duke at such an advantage by suggesting his credulity abused and cunningly drawne into this contract by the King that there was a Post dispatcht to stay the Earle In that interim Landois had not been Idle to find a way to let the Earle escape into the Abbey Church of St. Malo where he claimed the benefit of the holy Asyle which was easily contrived by corrupting his Keepers But the Duke to stand cleare of the Kings suspition sent over Maurice Brumell to satisfie him that the Earle according to promise was sent to Saint Malo there delivered to his servants deputed whose negligence let him escape and that he had demanded him of the Covent who denyed to render him without security caution that he should be continued a prisonerin Vanes with as much courtesie as formerly Now being it was falne into those strict and peremptory termes and within the contumacie of such lawlesse persons where he could not use power he yet faithfully protested no suite from the French King or any other should draw him from his former promise All which he religiously performed whilst King Edward lived the space of twelve yeares after Phillip de Comines in which circle of time it may with admiration be observed through what changes and interchanges of hazards dangers and difficulties he was preserved Soone after King Edwards decease King Richard renewed and continued the Treaty by Sir Thomas Hutton of Yorkshire receiving the same satisfaction in Answer but was failed in the performance and so dishonourably that it then appeared the Duke had kept in with Edward more for feare then for love or honour the name of Edward and the Earle of March being indeed accounted terrible where his victorious sword was drawne which breach of the Dukes was not left unpunished at least as that age then guessed by a divine revenge for having married Margaret Daughter and Co-heire of Francis de Mountford Duke of Brittaine she dying without issue he married Margaret Daughter of Gaston de Foix King of Navarr by whom he had one only daughter Anne married to the French King Charles 8. Thus Duke Francis dyed without issue male the Dutchy being swallowed up and drowned in the Lillies or Crapands of France and with his Family of Brittaine irrecoverably lost and absorpted Thus much for the jealousie and feares of those two Kings now to the progresse of ouâ— Story where the Barons and Commons with one generall dislike and an universall negative voice refused the sonnes of King Edward not for any ill will or malice but for their disabilities and incapacities the opinions of those times too held them not legitimate and the Queene Elizabeth Gray or Woodvill no lawfull Wife nor yet a Woman worthy to be the Kings Wife by reason of her extreame unequall quality For these and other causes the Barons and Prelates unanimously cast their Election upon the Protector as the most worthiest and nearest by the experience of his owne deservings and the strength of his Alliance importuning the Duke of Buckingham to become their Speaker who accompanied with many of the chiefe Lords and other grave and learned persons having Audience granted in the great Chamber at Baynards Castle then Yorke-house thus addrest him to the Lord Protector SIR May it please your Grace to be informed that after much grave Consultation amongst the Noble Barons and other worthy persons of this Realme it stands concluded and resolved that the sons of King Edward shall not raigne for who is not sensible how miserable a fortune and dangerous estate that Kingdome must be in where a childe is King according to the Wise man Vaetibi
against the Sonnes of King Edward And therefore being certaine there is no man to whom the Crowne by just Title can be so due as to our selfe the rightfull Sonne and Heire of our most deare and Princely Father Richard Duke of Yorke to which Title of blood and nature your favours have joyned this of Election wherein wee hold our selfe to be most strong and safe And having the lawfull power of both why should I endure my professed Enemy to â—surpemy right and become a Vassall to my envious Subject The necessitie of these causes as admitting no other remedy urges me to accept your offer and according to your request and our owne right we here assume the Regall Praeheminence of the two Kingdoms England and France from this day forward by us and our heires to Govern and defend the one and by Gods grace and your good aydes to recover and establish the other to the Ancient Allegeance of England desiring of God to live no longer then wee intend and endeavour the advancement and flourishing Estate of this Kingdome at which they all cry'd God save King Richard And thus he became King But yet his Detractors stick not to slander and accuse all that was said or done in these proceedings of State for meer dissimulation by which justice they may as well censure At siâ— Reverentia dictum all the Barons worthy and grave Commons which had their Votes therein which would fall a most impudent and intolerable Scandall upon all the High Court of Parliament for in short time after all that was alledged and acted in that Treatie and Colloquy was approved and ratified by the Court of Parliament so that their Cavills onely discover an extreame malice and envy For it was not possible therefore not credible he could upon such an instant as it were by any practice attaine to that power and credit with all the Barons Spirituall and Temporall and Commons to procure and perswade them from the Sonnes of King Edward so unanimously to become his Subjects and put the Crowne upon his head with such Solemnitie and publicke Ceremonies Whilst those matters had their current the Northerne Gentlemen and his Southerne Friends joyned in a Bill Supplicatory to the Lords Spirituall and Temporall earnestly expressing their desires for the Election of the Lord Protector with the former causes urged Also that the blood of the young Earle of Warwicke was attainted and his Title confiscate by Parliament This Bill was delivered to the Lords Assembled in the great hall at Westminster the Lord Protector sitting in the Chaire of Marble amongst them upon the 26 of June some six or seven dayes after he was Proclaimed the tenor of the Bill was thus written in the Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland PRotector eodem die quo Regimen sub titulo regii nominis sibi vendicarit viz 26 o die Iunii Anno Dom. 1483. se apud Magnam Aulam Westmonasterii in Cathedram Marmoream Immisit tum mox omnibus proceribus tam Laicis quam Ecclesiasticis Caeteris assidentibus astantibus c. ostendebatur rotulus quidam in quo per modum supplicationis in nomine procerum populi Borealis exhibita sunt Primum quod silii Regis Edwardi erant Bastardi supponendo illum praecontraxisse matrimonium cum quadam Domina Elianora Boteler antequam Reginam Elizabetham duxisset in uxorem deinde quod sanguis alterius Fratris Georgii Scil Clarensiâ— ducis fuisset Attinctus Ita quod nullus certus incorruptus sanguis Linealis ex parte Richardi Ducis Eboraci poterat inveniri nisi in persona Richardi Protectoris Ducis Glocestriae jam eidem Duci suplicabant ut jus suum in Regno Angliae sibi assumeret Coronam acciperet But the Barons were all accorded before this Bill came both sides moving with an equall and contented forwardnesse And in July next following 1483. was Crown'd and receiv'd with as generall Magnificence and Acclamations as any King in England many years before For as a grave man writeth Fuit dignissimus regno c. non inter malos sed bonos principes Commemorandus That he was most worthy to Reigne and to be numbred amongst the good not bad Princes The Queene his Wife was Crowned with him and with no lesse State and Greatnesse Accompanied him from the Tower to Westminster having in their Traine besides the Nobilitie of the South parts foure thousand Gentlemen of the North. Upon the 19. of June 1483. in the 25. yeare of Lewis the French King he was named King of England the morrow Proclaimed and rode with great Solemnitie from London to Westminster where in the seat Royall he gave the Judges of the Land a strickt and religious charge for the just executing of the Lawes then departed towards the Abbey being met at the Church doore with Procession and the Scepter of King Edward delivered to him by the Abbot so Ascended to Saint Edwards Shrine where he offered the Monks in the meane time singing Te Deum From thence he return'd to the Palace where he lodged untill his Coronation Upon the fourth of July he went to the Tower by water with the Queene his Wife and the next day Created Edward his onely Son about ten yeares old Prince of Wales He Invested Sir Iohn Howard who was made Lord Howard and Knight of the Garter 17. Edward 4. in the Dukedome of Norffolke in a favourable admission of the right of the Lady Margaret his Mother Daughter of Sir Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norffolke and an heire generall of the Mowbrayes Dukes of Norffolke and Earles of Surrey descended from the Lord Tho. Plantagenet of Brotherton a younger Sonne of King Edward the first and Earle of Norffolke This King also made him Marshall and Admirall of England he was as rightfully Lord Mowbray Lord Segrave Lord Bruce as Lord Howard as I have seene him Stiled by Royall Warrant in a Commission for Treatie of Truce with Scotland His eldest Sonne Sir Thomas Howard was at the same time Created Earle of Surrey and made Knight of the Garter Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham was made Constable of England for terme of life but he claimed the Office by inheritance Sir Thomas Moore writes That Sir Thomas Howard Executed the Office of Constable that day William Lord Berkley was Created Earle of Nottingham Francis Lovel Viscount Lovel and Chamberlain to the King the Lord Stanley restor'd to liberty and made Steward of the Household Thomas Rotheram Chancellour and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury having beene committed for delivering the Great Seale to the Queene Widow receiv'd to grace and many Knights Addubbed of the old Order and some of the new or habit of the Bath whose names I have set downe to shew what regard was had of their Family and in those times accused of so much Malignity Sir Edward De-la-Poole Sonne to the Duke of Norfolke George Gray Sonne to the Earle of Kent William Souch Sonne to the
noâ— condiscend to thought the King peremptorily avowed and maintained he might justly assume and beare it having as a Conquerour entred the Land fought for the Crowne and wonne it they answer as peremptorily that he was beholding to them both for his Landing and Victory and by their permission had that faire and prosperous fooâ—ing upon their Coasts not by any stroke of his French which were not so many as the least Legion of the Romans and had found but bloudy entertainment by the valiant English if ever they had landed besides the instigation of a mortall hatred against the Invader never to be extinguished but with an utter expulsion and destruction which they humbly prayed might be worthy of his consideration and not to take from his loving people the just due of their Affections by ascribing so much of his victory to the French or his Welsh Sword Sith they voluntarily opened their Armes and Country to receive him and put the Crowne upon his head that this was their free and voluntary Act they hoped he could not forget and if so why would he make such an Atchievement a Conquest or a purchase of the Sword tearmes of a most harsh and disonant sound to the English who reputed them as Barbarous and Tyrannicall their ends and events to enslave them their Goods and Fortunes under a Licentious power that might Act and will any thing Quicquid Victor audet aut Victus timet The examples of the conquering Gothes and Vandalls Longobards in Italy and Spaine Saxons and Normans in England and lately the Spaniards in America with many other cruell Lords estated onely by their unjust Armes and Swords being fresh and bleeding instances that when but mentioned stirre up thoughts of horrour and detestation of the Swords Title But the more they oppos'd it the more he is constant to have it assented by the Pope with his Title of Lancaster which he thought would be a stronger bridle to check all murmurs but yet indeavoured it not directly and disertly but under a close and borrowed praetext the out-side of his Embassage being only to obtaine a dispensation and pardon for his marriage praetending a feare of Incest his Wife being his Kins-woman Et quarto Coâ—sanguinitatis forsan affiinitatis gradu which Pope Innocentius the eight granted the first yeare of his raigne and afterward upon what occasion I cannot say he renewed the same suit to Pope Alexander the sixt who confirmed and ratified the pardon and dispensation made by his Predecessors in the fourth yeare of this Kings Raigne But it is observable that the Pope herein taketh not upon him to confer or give any new Titles neither did the King publikely solicite the Pope to confirm these two Titles his Embassador had that particular in his private instructions So that by this the Pope seemeth only to make a rehearsall of those Titles as due and proper to him before and the Titles de jure Belli de jure Lancastriae seem'd not as any matters or subject of the Bull but rather some desire the Pope had to expresse a love and honour to the King and that he was pleased Ex proprio mero motu certa scientia sua to make such honourable memoriall of all the Majesticall Titles in the Kings right as the more stately embroideries to his glorious Letters of Apostolicall indulgence for the dispensation of the said marriage conveyed and in these words Hic Rex Angliae de domo Lancastriae originem trahens ac qui notorio jure indubitato proximo successionis titulo Praelatorum procerum Angliae Electione concessione c. Etiam de jure Belli est Rex Angliae After for the more cleare reparing and curing all flawes and defects of Titles the Pope addeth this gracious clause Supplemusque omnes singulos defectus tam juris quam facti si qui intervenerint in regno dicto And then in the end not in the front this Bull is intituled Pagina confirmationis nostrae approbationis pronunciationis constitutionis declarationis suppletionis monitionis requisitionis prohibitionis Benedictionis inhibitionis excommunicationis Anathematizationis in quosâ—unque qui pâ—esumpserint infringere vel ausu temeritatis contravenire his literis Apostolicis For all this must be held and thought to be done Autoritate Apostolica i. by the Authoritie of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul And thus the King received of the Pope the two Titles De Domo Lancastriae and De Iure Belli without any seeking or solicitation as wee are led to credit for there appeareth not any expresse suit or motion by the King to that purpose though by circumstances and probabilitie it was preferred under hand for the other things were but of slight request and no necessitie nor obnoxious to any danger when those two Titles were the present markes his aime was strongly and mainly directed to Though I must confesse after a while he was a lightly satisfied in these notwithstanding the Popes thunder and lightning added to them as in the Titles of Yorke and Lancaster which he discovered and not obscurely when he moved the Estates in his first Parliament to grant an Estate Hereditary and entail'd of the Crowne and Kingdome with all the Appurtenances to the Heires of his body beyond this he could not require much nor they give which was unanimously condiscended unto as a gift of a new Title confirmed by their Act the Copy whereof I have transcribed where I come to rehearse the Titles of our Soveraigne Lord the King that now is Nor is the Devination of this peece so darke but that the cause may be guessed at why he held himselfe not safe in the Titles of Yorke and Lanacster of Beaufort and Somerset already toucht at but may fall more seasonably elsewhere into our Stories without confounding it with Historologies and presenting matters out of their time and place my purpose onely being to take so much light from the Story of Henry the seventh as shall but properly conduce to the true shadowing and proportioning of King Richards being necessarily inforced to inculcate such matters as may seeme of no present conclusion yet loosing their observation wee shall want the knowledge of many things much pertinent to the credit and honour of King Richard and his Actions To which according to the Order and Affaires of time I am now to come againe And here upon our accompt wee shall find it neare upon tenne months since the Duke of Buckingham was suppressed and the Earl of Richmond driven from Poole with the storme who was now againe very busie raysing fresh preparations in France and King Richard upon the intelligence as stickling to Levy Souldiers and reinforce all his Havens and Frontier places But the Earle of Richmond found it not so easie a matter now as at first to draw a party and concurrence from France having sped so ill in his former undertakings
Welsh-men and treates about a Daughter of Sir William Herberts a Gentleman of a Noble Allyance and principall power in the South part of Wales who had married the Eldest Daughter not long before to the Earle of Northumberland to whom the Earle of Pembrooke by a new created friendship betwixt them imbosomes the whole designe and presses his Comprobation in it for by this meanes it was presumed the greatest part of Wales would fall under their Command which had been no small addition to a Banished mans fortune Whilst those things were in their mould Doctor Morton gave him such assurance by Letters of the Countries readinesse to receive him that it was thought best to take the advantage of landing there and in the Month of July they loose from Harfleu and safely arived at Milford Haven in Pembrookeshire his native Country after some refreshing he Marches to a Town called Haverford West and was entring amongst his Brittish kindred who welcomed him as a Prince descended from their ancient Princes of Wales the Country generally very Noble and loving to their friends whilst he continued amongst them Sir Rice ap Thomas Sir Walter Herbert Sir Iohn Savage Sir Gilbert Talbot who drew his young Nephew the Earle of Salop into this Action with him and divers others of all qualities brought or sent their Forces his Army thus strong and united he passes the Severne and Marches to Lichfield purposing to hold on to London if the King had not interposed it who though he lay at Nottingham when the Earle landed and while he marched through Wales had constant Spies upon him But as no Policie or Law can secure their faith that thinke they may dispense with it so all Benefits are too narrow where Ambition and Ingratitude urges merit and to shew there is not much of our Fate in our own providence when this King thought the Nobility most firmly cimented to his side and was to put himself upon their constancy they make a present and general defluxion to the other But he had heightned and contracted his Resolution and judgement to the greatnesse of his Cause and was not now to be outbid by Chance or danger The next day which was Sunday about Evening passing through Leicester in open Pompe the Crowne Royall on his head with him Iohn Duke of Norfolke Marshall of England the Earle of Surrey the Earle of Westmorland the Viscount Lovell and other of the Nobility and Gentry at Redmore Heath the Armies came to an Interview and put themselves in Array the next morning early there was some conference held in the Kings Tent by those Peeres and others of principall trust who gave him particular information of all those secretly revolted and it much amazed him the Earle of Northumberland was one to whom he had ever been most constant and forward in his respects and favours therefore where he had conferred so much he suspected little But no Obligations are Religious if not held so and although in the conflict he stood but as neutrall yet the suddainesse and example of it drew many from the King even at the instant when he was ready to Arme himselfe yet this was not of so great and sensible amazement unto him as the Lord Stanleys defection who in pledge of his faith had left his Son George Stanley whilst his wife the Earles mother had made her subtill perswasions of stronger tye and subinduced him to the Lancastrian sice which he ayded with 26000 men if Phillip de Commines be not mistaken for our stories have but five thousand But it was a very great defection and made the Earles Army far stronger so that the chiefest point of Consultation now was how to preserve him by flight and the recovery of some strong hold untill the tempest had scattered or spent its violence which they conceived covld not be long if the Campe brake up and once dissolved But no Argument could fasten on him though the benefit of a swift Horse was offered at his Tent doore nor the fatality and portent of Prodigies related by his friends as presaging some inevitable Calamity and that Propheticall Prediction Iack of Norfolke be not too bold For Dickon thy Master is bought and sold. These things aggravated the weakenesse of his Army objected Counsels Perswasions Terrours Prodigies Prophesies could not make him heare so fatally resolute he stood in the jealousie and reputation of his Honour and Valour perempâ—orily protesting he would rather adventure Life Crowne and Fortunes than his honour to a cowardly and sinister construction this might taste of a desperaâ—e will if he had not afterwards given an apodixis in the battaile upon what plat-forme he had projected and raised that hope which as â—t had much of danger in it so of an inconcusse and great resolution and might have brought the odds of that day to an even bet for knowing the Earle to be thirsty and Appetent after Glory and Renowne but of an unpractised skill in Warre and as inferiour in courage to him he had projected in manner of Stratagem so soone as the Armies approached ready for the Charge to advance himselfe before his Troopes and give the Earle being Generall of his Forces the signall of a Combate And to provoke and single him with a more glorious invitation he wore the Crowne Royall upon his head the fairest marke for Valour and Ambition Polidore saies he wore it thinking that day should either be the last of his life or the first of a better which may aswell be a reason of his wearing it three daies before at Leicester when he rode from thence to Bosworth But doubtlesse by it he intended chiefly that the people might see know him to be their King and those that stood Armed against him looking upon that Imperiall evidence where their own hands and voyces had set it should by the awe and Soveraignty of it consider how lately they had avowed him their Lawfull King and by what Pledges of their Faith and Allegeances they stood solemnly bound to defend him and his Title in it against all other what ever was his mystery it rendred him a valiant and confident Master of his Right and in the constancy of hope and resolution he gives order for the Battaile The Armies confronted and whilst the Alarme and every blow began to be hot and furious forth breakes King Richard towards the Earle wafting him by a signall who seemed readily to accept it and pricking his Horse forward came on very gallantly as if but one Genius had prompted their Spirits and Ambition for a good Author testifieth that Comes Richmondiae directe super Regem Ricardum c. But his cariere soone faltred and Mars became Retrograde it being but a nimble traine to draw the King on to some disadvantages or else he liked not his furious approach for suddenly he makes a halt and with as much credit as he could no harme recovered the Vanguard of his Army whither
or attained of any thing Capitall Therefore now their innocence must bee made guilty And in this I say no more then all our Hâ—storians or others say who agree in one opinion that The KING could not take away the lives of Perkin Warbecke and this Earle of Warwicke untill this practise of their escape was layde to them and they made guilty thereof Therefore they were not Traytors before neither was Perkin now to bee thought a Counterfeit but a Prince of the Bloud clayming the Crowne for otherwayes Hee was Perkin of Flanders a base fellow and a most culpable and notorious Traitor then what neede they looke further for a Crime to put him to Death And if Hee were not a Traitor surely it was a Tyranny to make of an Innocent and guiltlesse Man a guilty Folon and by Traines and Acts to forge an offence out of nothing For doubtlesse an Innocent and a true man may seeke freedome and purpose an act of escape also commit in and yet be still an honest Man and a faithfull good subject for nature and reason teacheth and alloweth all men to eschew injuries and oppression Besides this Practise of those young men to escape was found as Pollidor well observeth Crimen Alienum and not Crimen proprium then how much greater was the wrong to take away their lives But however it may bee laid upon them it was nothing but a desire of liberty out of durance in which they were kept for a small or no offence The Civill law holdeth suspition of flight or escape to bee no crime Suspicio fugae quia non solet detrimentum reipublice ad ferre non censetur crimen so ulpian And by the Lawes of England if a Prisoner doe escape who is not imprisoned for Treason or felony but some lesser fault of trespasse according to the old Law of England Escapae non adjudicabitur versus eum qui Commissus est prisonae pro transgressione Escape shall not bee adjudged for Felony or other crime in one who is committed for trespasse For the offence of the escape is made in the common Law to be of the same nature and guilt with the crime whereof the Prisoner is attainted And certainely neither the Earle of Warwicke nor Richard alias Perkin were attainted of Treason or Felony c. before But to close this dispute and tragedy not long after some of the Instruments which betrayed them into this as Walter Blunt Thomas Astwood servants to the Lieutenant of the Tower finished at Tiburn because they should tell no tales And to this succinct relation there can be no better testimony then the hands of those witnesses who have sealed their confession and knowledge with their bloods Men of all conditions and estates all maintaining at the last gaspe that Perkin was the true Duke of Yorke whose Affirmations I will produce give mee but leave by the way to answer one Objection or Cavill brought against this Duke called in scorn Perkin Warbecke A new Writer affirming him to bee an Impostor whose learning may be as much mistaken in this as other things though he laid a great pretence to knowledge especially in the History of England and other Countreyes indeed his judgement and reading are much exprest alike in his Pamphlet which he cals the History of Perkin Warbecke wherein he forfeits all his skill to make him a parallel in advers fortunes and supposed base quality to the unhappy Don Sebastian late King of Portugall who he also protests an Impostore And to arrive at this huge knowledge he would have us thinke hee tooke much paines in the sifting of Authors and indeed I thinke he did sift them concerning his ignorance in the case of Don Sebastian if he be not too wise to have it informed I will urge some reasons on Don Sebastians side who was King of Portugall and invading the Kingdom of Barbary Anno Dom. 1584. was overthrown in a fierce bloody Battel in the fields of Alcazer by the King of Morucco where it was thought he was slaine but escaped and fled secretly traver stiâ—e or disguised travailing in that manner through many parts of Africa and Asia some 30. yeares in which time and travaile he suffered much lived in Captivity and misery but at last got away into Europe with purpose to have got into Portugall if possible to repossesse the Kingdome In this returne he came to Venice there discovered himselfe and desires aide of the Venetian States they entertained him as a Prince distressed gave him good words but durst not lend him Assistance fearing the King of Spaine Yet the chiefe Senators and many of the wisest of the Sigmory made no doubt of him Among them Signieur Lorenzo Iustiniano of the Senators Order a man of wise and great abilities was appointed by the States a Commissioner with others to hear and examine this cause of Don Sebastian in which they tooke much paines And this Signieur Lorenzo being lieger Ambassadour in England affirmed and protested solemnly he and all the other Commissioners were clear and very confident he was Don Sebastian King of Portugall notwithstanding they durst not give him aide but councelled him for France where the King favoured right without feare of anothers displeasure But taking Florence in his way in the habit of a Fryer he was observ'd and discovered by some spyes which the Grand Duke of Tuscany had set upon him from Venice who to in sinuate with the King of Spaine Philip the second and for some other commodious considerations delivered Sebastian to the Governour of Orbattelli a Spanish Port in Tuscany from thence sent him by Sea to the Count De le Mos Vice-roy of Naples who conveyed him into Spaine there for a while his entertainment was no better then in the Gallies what other welcome hee had I know not but the fame went certainly he was secretly made away after Philip the third was King The said Vice-roy of Naples confessed in secret to a friend of his he verily believed his prisoner was the true Sebastian King of Portugall and was induced to be of that opinion by the strong Testimonies and many strange and peculiar markes which some Honourable Portugesses did know him by all found about the body of this Sebastian And the French King Henry the 4 th it should seeme was perswaded no lesse for when the newes was told him the Duke of Florence had sent this Sebastian to the King of Spaine he told the Queene what an ill deed her Unckle had done in these words Nostre Uncle a faict un act fort indigne de sa Persone Doctor Stephen de Sampugo in a letter to Ioseph Texere Councellour and Almoner to the most Christian King writes thus The King Don Sebastian is here in Vonice c. So soone as hee arrived here where he hoped to find support the Ambassadour of Castile persecuted him very cruelly perswading the Signeury that he was a Calabrois c. I sweare
proceeding from the vanity and obstinacy of the Prince the other from the peoples opinion of him and his vices And then he must neither raigne nor live any longer Ennius said with Cicero quem oderunt perijsse expetunt And soe all that was practised upon the fortune fame and person of King Richard was by this rule though in the judgment and equity of the most knowing in those times their cunning translatio Criminis could take noe hold of him neither appeares it probable that the Earle of Richmond himselfe when he had got all justice and power in his hand did hold King Richard guilty of the murder and Subornation of those fellowes nor them the Assasines for doubtlesse then being so wise and religious a Prince he would have done all right to the lawes divine and humane And that I beleeve in the extreamest and publick'st way of punishment to make it more satisfactory and terrible to the people and times but they freely inioyed their liberty with security to naturall deaths without any question or apprehension Tirrell excepted who suffered for treason not long after committed by him against King Henry himselfe Neither was Iohn Greene named a party in this murder ever called in question nor doe the Historians of those times though meere temporizers charge him with this practise against his Nephewes untill after his Coronation some say they survived King Richard and giveing this respiâ—e of time there was no cause why after that he should make them away being then secure in his Throne and Title and they longe before pronounced uncapable First by the ecclesiasticall Iudges then by the Barons and Parliament and where was the cause of feare but if King Richard had beene of that bloody constitution the man whose life could be most prejudiciall unto him was the Erle of Warwicke lawfull Sonne of George Plant agenet Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to King Richard now there was a necessitie for the Lancastrian faction if they must have a King of that family to take those Princes away not to leave King Richard or his Sonne nor yet any legitimate issue of Lancaster for all those were before any of the house of Beauforts in the true order of Succession and stood in their way so did the Progeny of Brotherton of Woodstocke of both the Clarencies Glocester c. Though they feared few or none of those Titulare Lords being modest men not affecting Soveraignty but content with their owne private fate and feudall estate when all was one with the Lancastrians who were so vehement in their royall approaches that besides King Edward the Fourth and his two Sonnes King Richard and his Son the Prince of Wales there was afterward and as occasion served The Earle of Warwicke and Duke of Suffolke and others both male and female of that princly family laid in their cold vrnes and it must be so else there could be no place for the Beauforts and Somersets their turnes being last the Kings of Portugall of Castile and other being before them if not excluded by Act of Parliament In this Tragedy there was a Scene acted by Iohn de Vere Earle of Oxenford which may be worthy of our observation for example sake and makes not against the cause of Perkin This Earle of Oxenford much affected and devoted to King Henry the Seventh was a great enemie to this Richard Alias Perkin and I thinke the onely enemie he had of the great Nobility how this dislike grew I cannot say whether out of ignorance or incredulity or out of malice hateing King Edward and all that had a neare relation to that family or else to applyhimselfe to the honour of the King but he and the Cardinall are said to be the châ—ife vrgers of Perkins dispatch and hee being high constable pronounced the sentence against the young Earle of Warwicke which much distasted the Country and ne're to Heveningham Castle that was his cheifest Seate there lived in the woods an old Hermit a very devoute and holy man as the fame of those times admit him who seem'd much troubled to heare this newes for the love he bare to the ancient and Noble family of Oxenford of much anguish of Spirit saying the Earle and his house would repent and rue that guilty and bloody pursuite of the innocent Princes for the event of which prophesy this hath bine observed Not long after the Earle was arrested for an offence so small that no man considering his merit and credit with the King could have thought it worth the question for which he was fined at thirty thousand pounds in those dayes a kingly sum after this he lived many yeares in great discontent and dyed without issue or any child lawfully begotten by him and in much shorter time then his life time that great and stately Earldome of Oxenford with the opulent and Princly patrimony was utterly dissipated and como sal in agna as the Spaniard saith in the refran yet this Earle was a very wise magnificent learned and religious man in the estimation of all that knew him and one more like to raise and acquire a new Erledome But it thus fell and was wasted the Castles and Mannors dilapidated the Chappell wherein this Iohn de Vere and all his Ancestors lay intombed with their monuments quite defaced to the ground their bones left under the open Aire in the feilds and all this within lesse then threescore yeares after the death of the said Earle Iohn about the same time these unhappie Gentlemen suffered there was a base sone of King Richard the Third made away having beene kept long before in Prison The occasion as it seemeth was the attempt of certaine Irishmen of the West and South parts who would have got him into their power and made him their cheife being strongly affected to any of the house of Yorke were they legitimate or naturall for Richard Duke of Yorkes sake sometimes their viceroy and thus much in breife of that Now to resolve a question why the King deferred so long the death execution of the Earle of Warwick Perkin and tooke so much deliberation after he had resolved it one reason and the cheifest brought by some is That in regard Perkin was an Alien and in the allegeance of a Forraigne Prince therefore he could not be condemned nor executed for felony nor treason by our lawes which is a ridiculous evasion for we have frequent examples in our stories that the naturall subjects of France of Scotland Spaine Portugall Germany and Italy have had judgement and execution by our lawes for felony and treason as Peter de Gaveston a French man Sir Andrew Harcley a Scot and lately Dr. Lopez a Portugall therefore apparantly that was not the cause the King so doubtfully and as it were timerously deferred their Arraignments Executions The Heathens perhaps would have defined it some inward awe or concealed scruple such as they called Eumenides and
then Tyranny according to the style of Sir Thomas Moore When King Henry the Seventh as soon as he had got the Crown sent this young Prince to the Tower afterwards cut off his head yet that was no Tyranny after Sir Thomas Moore But our King Iames of ever happie memory hath thought it an act of so much detestation that particularly he protested against it and shewed another temper of Justice and Power in his Royal Clemencie to certain Noble persons in one of his Kingdoms who being Regal Titulars and pretending title to the Crown there as descended from some King of that Countrey his gracious and pious inclination was so far from seeking their ruine or so much as the restraining them that he suffered their liberty with possession of what they had Then they call the punishment of Iane Shore a Tyrannie A common and notorious Adulteresse as the Duke of Buckingham who knew her very well censured her which she deserved so justly that it was rather favourable then severe or tyrannous Next the death of William Collingborn is made one of his Tyrannies who as some trivial Romancers say was hanged for making a Satyrical Rhyme when the truth is he had committed Treason and was arraigned and condemned of High Treason as may be yet seen in the Record and then it was Justice and not Tyrannie Another proof against their grosse Paralogisms take from this observation made by Demosthenes Tyrannus res est inimica Civibus legibus contraria But King Richard was ever indulgent to his people careful to have the Laws duely observed his making so many good ones being an evident argument of his love to Law and Justice It is further observed that Tyrants contemn good counsel are opinionated of their own wisedoms and obstinate to determine all matters by themselves These Plaintiffs being called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is self-Councellors who say they are natura plerumque occulti insidiosi Arte Astu ea Tagere dissimulare conantur quae agunt non communicantes quicquid de suis Conciliis aut rebus cum aliis nec ab aliis Concilium petentes neque admittentes sed tantum sua Concilia sequuntur Also Erasmus hath this Axiome Nullo Concilio quicquam magnae rei aggredi tyrannicum est But King Richard nor did nor would do any thing of importance without consultation with the wisest and noblest And if in any matters he had delivered his judgement yet his manner as his detractors confesse was to say in the end and conclusion My Lords this is my minde if any of you know what may else be better I shall be ready to change it for I am not wedded to my own will Thus Sir Thomas Moor. Eastly Largition and excessive expences are thought vices proper to Tyrants the rather because the Romane Tyrants for their extreme excesses were called Monstra prodigia lues Imperii pesâ—es reipublicae c. As Caligula Nero Vitellius Domitian Commodus Heliogabolus Caracalla c. King Kichard was ever held to be frugal with the preservation of his honour nor can they tax him with Palliardise Luxury Epicurism nor Gluttony vices following many Tyrants but moderate and temperate in all his actions and appetites which is confessed and therefore needeth no further proof Indeed it had been advantage and safety to him in the event if he had been a Tyrant a while for then he might have preserved his life and kingdom and given a timely check to the practice of Bishop Morton the Marquesse Dorset Earl of Devon and his brother the Bishop the Lord Talbot the Lord Stanley and his brother Sir William Stanley with the Countesse of Richmond his wife and the rest But his remisnesse and patience bred his ruine not his tyranny that had been his protection And now the black curtain of malice and detraction is drawn let us see this King in his proper Royalty and vertues casting up the general and particular notions of A good King and happie Government then peruse what was wanting in him First then There is necessarily required proper to Empire Wisedom Justice Fortitude Beauty Magnificence Temperance and Piety That he had Wisedom and Prudence need no other witnesse then his wise and provident managing both of his own private affairs and Government of the Publike Also in the Military actions in which he was tried both as a Subject and a King his adversaries can allow him to be a wise prudent politick and heroical Prince his Wisedom appearing with his Justice very clearly in the good Laws he made acknowledged and honourably predicated by our Reverend and most learned Professors of the Laws For his further knowledge and love of Justice there can be no fairer argument then his desire and custome to sit in Courts of Justice hearing and distributing Justice indifferently to all men And when he made his Progresse into York-shire being informed there of some extortioners and foul offenders who were apprehended not tried he caused the Law to take the just current giving strict charge and commandment to all Officers of Justice for just administration to all men without partiality or private respects The Fortitude and Magnanimity of this Prince though of lowe stature were so great and famous as they need no Trumpet or Praecony being bred from his youth in Martial actions and the Battels of Barnet Exham Doncaster the second of S t Albans and of Tewksbury will give him the reputation of a Souldier and Captain Being made General of the Kings Armies into Scotland he prevailed happily in his Expedition and particularly recovered that famous and strong Hold of Berwick which King Henry the Sixth had so weakly let go And in this you shall hear the Elogie of one that was loth to speak much in his favour yet occasion forced him to speak his knowledge though coldly and sparingly King Richard was no ill Captain in the War he had sundry Victories and sometimes Overthrows but never by his own default for want of hardinesse or politick order Whereunto he addeth concerning his Bounty Free was he called of dispence and liberal somewhat above his power To which I will adde one Elogie more above all for Credit and Authority recorded in an Act of Parliament and addressed to him in the name of the whole high Court of Parliament in these words We consider your great Wit Prudence Iustice and Courage and we know by experience the memorable and laudable acts done by you in several Battels for the salvation and defence of this Realm Here followeth another general and memorable testimony of him and of more regard and honour because it is averred by one that knew him from his youth the Duke of Buckingham who after Richard was made King and this Duke became ill affected acknowledged to Bishop Morton in private speeches between them That he thought King Richard from his first knowledge even
wose Genealogie I have seen derived from the antique Kings of Britain and from divers other British Princes And this Henry Teudor or the Seventh to confirm all the Titles of this Kingdom unto his claim by the strongest and greatest authority procured them decreed to him and to his issue so established in himself and his posterity for ever by Act of Parliament in this manner and words TO the Pleasure of Almighty God and for the Wealth and Prosperity and Surety of this Realm of England to the singular Comfort of all the Subjects of the same and for avoyding all Ambiguities and Questions Be it Ordained Established and Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the Inheritance of the Crown of the Realm of England and also of France with all the Pre-eminencies and Dignities Royal to the same appertaining and all Liegances to the King belonging beyond the Seas with the appurtenances thereunto in any wise due or appertaining To be rest remain and abide in the most Royal person of our Soveraign Lord King Henry the Seventh and in the Heirs of his body lawfully comming perpetually with the Grace of God and so to endure and in no other Which is also another Title to our King Heir to Henry the Seventh And this Act was renewed and firmly established for our Soveraign Lord King Iames Anno regni primo Yet King Henry the Seventh obtained of the Pope another Title Iure Belli All which Titles and Rights which ever were appertaining to this Kingdom and to the Empire of Britain are coalesced and met in our Soveraign King for he hath not onely the claims of the ancient Kings of Britain of the Saxons and Anglo-Saxons Kings and of the Norman Race but also the Titles and Rights of the Royal Families of York of Lancaster and of Wales c. And noâ— as the least in reference with these he hath in possession also those singular and particular Monuments of Empire and Raign by some called Fata Regni and Instrumenta Monumenta Regno Imperio destinata One being the Ring of the accounted holy King Edward the son of King Etheldred which was consecrated and extraordinarily blessed by Saint Iohn Baptist in Palestine and sent back by the King as old Writers tell which hath been religiously kept in the Abbey of Westminster and is as Tradition goes the Ring which the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Inauguration and Consecration of the Kings puts upon their finger called in our Stories The Wedding Ring of England The other Monument of the British Empire is the Marble-stone whereupon Iacob laid his head when he had those caelestial and mystical Visions mentioned in holy Writ which stone was brought out of Palestine into Ireland and from thence carried into Scotland by King Keneth after translated to the City of Scone and used for the Chaire wherin the Kings sate at their Coronation brought out of Scotland by Edward the First into England as the best Historians of Scotland and England relate Cathedram Marmoream Regibus Scotorum fatalem in qua insidentes Scotorum Reges Coronare consueverant Rex Edwardus primus e Scona Londinum transtulit in Westmonasterio ubi hodie visitur deposuit It is set or born in a Chaire of Wood and for a perpetual honour upon a Table hanging in the Chappel at Westminster this is writ Si quid habet ueri vel Chronica cana sidesve Clauditu hac Cathedra Nobilis ille lapis Ad caput eximius Jacob quondam Patriarcha Quem posuit cernens numina mirifica Quem tulit a Scotis Edwardus primus c. George Buchanus saith The people are seriously perswaded that in this stone which he calleth Lapidem Marmoreum rudem the state of the kingdom is contained and that fatum Regni is thus understood viz. What King of Scotland soever is Lord of that Stone Soveraignly possessed thereof shall be King and raign in the Countrey where he findeth that stone thus told in a prophetical Distich Ni fallat fatum Scotus quocunque locatum Inveniet lapidem regnare tenetur ibidem Which Prophecie was accomplished in King Iames when he came first into England for his Titles were not onely funiculus triplex qui difficile rumpitur but also funiculus multiplex qui nunquam rumpitur And may those Titles for ever be establisht in his Loins according to that of the heavenly Messenger Regnum perpetuum cujus non est finis Amen Thus I have led you thorow the various Relations and Tragical Interchanges of this Princes Life to his last act and place where after Revenge and Rage had satiated their barbarous cruelties upon his dead body they gave his Royal earth a bed of earth honourably appointed by the Order of King Henry the Seventh in the chief Church of Leicester called Saint Maries belonging to the Order and Society of the Gray Friers the King in short time after causing a fair Tomb of mingled colour'd Marble adorned with his Statue to be erected thereupon to which some grateful pen had also destined an Epitaph the Copie whereof never fixtto his stone I have seen in a recorded Manuscript-Book chained to a Table in a Chamber in the Guild-hall of London which the faults and corruptions being amended is thus represented together with the Title thereunto prefixed as I found it Octob. 9. 1646. Imprimatur Na Brent TO give you him in his equal Draught and Composition He was of a mean or lowe compact but without disproportioÌ„ uneveness either in lineaments or parts as his severall Pictures present him His aspect had most of the Souldier in it so his natural inclination Complexions not uncertainely expounding our Dispositions but what wants of the Courâ—-Planet effeminate Censurers think must needs be harsh and crabbed and Envie will pick quarrels with an hair rather then want Subject The Judgement and Courage of his Sword-actions rendred him of a full Honour and Experience which Fortune gratified with many Victories never any Overthrows through his own default for lack of Valour or Policie At Court and in his general deportment of an affable respect and tractable cleernesse In his dispence of a magnificent liberal hand somewhat above his power as Sir Tho. Moor sets down And surely the many Churches with other good works he founded more then any one former King did in so short a time must commend him charitable and religious as the excellent Laws he made do his wisedom and strain of Government which all men confesse of the best So having even from those his bitterest times the esteem of a valiant wise noble charitable and religious Prince why should ours deprave him so much upon trust deny works their character and place EPITAPHIVM Regis Richardi tertii Sepulti ad Leicestriam jussu sumptibus S ti Regis Henrici Septimi HIc ego quem vario Tellus sub Marmore claudit Tertius a justa