Richard III Read Online Free Page B
Author: Desmond Seward
throne who was quite so rich, so powerful and so popular as York.
Duke Richard returned from Ireland in 1450 to begin his long campaign to obtain power. He was alarmed by his exclusion from the King’s Council. Despite his enormous wealth, he was heavily in debt as a result of his expenses in France, and there was every sign he would never be repaid the £10,000 he was owed while Somerset controlled affairs.
Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, the leader of the court party,was John of Gaunt’s only surviving grandson and therefore York’s second cousin. Even had he wished, Somerset dared not relinquish power – it would have meant his ruin. In any case he was greedy, determined to be the first prince in the land. He had an alternative candidate to block Duke Richard’s succession to the throne: his elder brother’s daughter, Margaret Beaufort, whose son Henry would one day prove indeed to be the ruin of the House of York.
Moreover, Somerset was supported by the Queen, Margaret of Anjou. A scion of a younger branch of the French royal house, she had dominated her husband from the very moment of her arrival in England at the age of fifteen, besides allying herself with the third-rate ministers who had given her a crown and wanted peace with her fellow countrymen. Beautiful, in a dark-haired foreign way, she was proud, hard and meddlesome, excessively ambitious but with poor political judgement, and strong-willed to the point of ferocity. She was incapable of compromise. A correspondent of the Pastons – that rising East Anglian family who so diligently preserved their letters – comments, ‘The queen is a great and strong laboured woman, for she spareth no pain to an intent and conclusion to her power.’
Just what York had to fear may be seen from the destruction of the Duke of Gloucester during the previous decade. In 1441 the court party had ruthlessly exploited the scandal when his silly Duchess, Eleanor Cobham, was found guilty of dabbling in sorcery – to find out if she would ever be Queen – and was made to walk barefoot through London for three days carrying a lighted taper before being imprisoned for life. Her husband was totally discredited. When the government finally arrested him in 1447, he quickly expired from a stroke, probably brought on by rage – at fifty-seven, a ripe old age for the time, he had already suffered attacks of ‘palsy’. Nevertheless, public opinion believed that ‘the good Duke Humphrey’ had been murdered.
When Duke Richard came to London, he demanded that the King should put on trial the ministers responsible for the disasters afflicting the realm. Henry made vague promises, summoning a Parliament. When it met in October 1450, the Commons was strong in support of York, but very few of the Lords were. None of his wishes was met. By the end of 1451 he was gathering an army and preparing to marchon London. In the event, he was arrested the following year and by 1453, although set at liberty, had been humiliated and isolated – he lost his Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland and his allies deserted him.
Then, in August 1453, Henry VI went mad from a ‘sudden fright’, unable to speak or move. (Catatonic schizophrenia has been suggested.) 4 But two months later Margaret of Anjou bore a son, Edward of Lancaster, and demanded the regency. However, a number of peers had begun to support Duke Richard, notably his Nevill in-laws – Salisbury and his son Warwick – largely because they were waging a private war on the Percy family in the North. In March 1454 York was made Protector. He ruled with surprising moderation. Most unfortunately King Henry recovered his wits at the end of 1454, and with the Queen’s assistance Somerset and the court party had regained control of the government by the following spring. Given their refusal to compromise and the availability of private armies and of veteran commanders from the Hundred Years War, bloodshed was inevitable. Admittedly there can
Duke Richard returned from Ireland in 1450 to begin his long campaign to obtain power. He was alarmed by his exclusion from the King’s Council. Despite his enormous wealth, he was heavily in debt as a result of his expenses in France, and there was every sign he would never be repaid the £10,000 he was owed while Somerset controlled affairs.
Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, the leader of the court party,was John of Gaunt’s only surviving grandson and therefore York’s second cousin. Even had he wished, Somerset dared not relinquish power – it would have meant his ruin. In any case he was greedy, determined to be the first prince in the land. He had an alternative candidate to block Duke Richard’s succession to the throne: his elder brother’s daughter, Margaret Beaufort, whose son Henry would one day prove indeed to be the ruin of the House of York.
Moreover, Somerset was supported by the Queen, Margaret of Anjou. A scion of a younger branch of the French royal house, she had dominated her husband from the very moment of her arrival in England at the age of fifteen, besides allying herself with the third-rate ministers who had given her a crown and wanted peace with her fellow countrymen. Beautiful, in a dark-haired foreign way, she was proud, hard and meddlesome, excessively ambitious but with poor political judgement, and strong-willed to the point of ferocity. She was incapable of compromise. A correspondent of the Pastons – that rising East Anglian family who so diligently preserved their letters – comments, ‘The queen is a great and strong laboured woman, for she spareth no pain to an intent and conclusion to her power.’
Just what York had to fear may be seen from the destruction of the Duke of Gloucester during the previous decade. In 1441 the court party had ruthlessly exploited the scandal when his silly Duchess, Eleanor Cobham, was found guilty of dabbling in sorcery – to find out if she would ever be Queen – and was made to walk barefoot through London for three days carrying a lighted taper before being imprisoned for life. Her husband was totally discredited. When the government finally arrested him in 1447, he quickly expired from a stroke, probably brought on by rage – at fifty-seven, a ripe old age for the time, he had already suffered attacks of ‘palsy’. Nevertheless, public opinion believed that ‘the good Duke Humphrey’ had been murdered.
When Duke Richard came to London, he demanded that the King should put on trial the ministers responsible for the disasters afflicting the realm. Henry made vague promises, summoning a Parliament. When it met in October 1450, the Commons was strong in support of York, but very few of the Lords were. None of his wishes was met. By the end of 1451 he was gathering an army and preparing to marchon London. In the event, he was arrested the following year and by 1453, although set at liberty, had been humiliated and isolated – he lost his Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland and his allies deserted him.
Then, in August 1453, Henry VI went mad from a ‘sudden fright’, unable to speak or move. (Catatonic schizophrenia has been suggested.) 4 But two months later Margaret of Anjou bore a son, Edward of Lancaster, and demanded the regency. However, a number of peers had begun to support Duke Richard, notably his Nevill in-laws – Salisbury and his son Warwick – largely because they were waging a private war on the Percy family in the North. In March 1454 York was made Protector. He ruled with surprising moderation. Most unfortunately King Henry recovered his wits at the end of 1454, and with the Queen’s assistance Somerset and the court party had regained control of the government by the following spring. Given their refusal to compromise and the availability of private armies and of veteran commanders from the Hundred Years War, bloodshed was inevitable. Admittedly there can
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