The Golden Falcon

The Golden Falcon

Chapter VII/3 - Redrose

The family of Stafford descended from Ralph I, brother of Hugh (son of Hugh de Calvacamp), a monk of St. Denis whom William Longsword, duke of Normandy made Archbishop of Rouen in 942 AD.  Hugh gave his brother the domain of Tosni which formed part of the archbishopric.  Ralph I's descendants intermarried with the family of the dukes of Normandy and his great grandson Ralph de Tony (d.c. 1192) was at the Battle of Hastings and was given lands in 7 counties.  Ralph I's younger brother Robert de Stafford (d. c. 1088) received lands in several counties including Stafford from William I.  His great grand daughter Millicent was her brother's heir and conveyed the lands to Hervey Bagot who assumed the name of de Stafford.

 

Ralf de Tony (nephew of Ralf de Tony, lord of Seaton, Rutland) married (c. 1103) Alice, d. of Maud of Lens (William I's niece) by Waltheof, earl of Northumbria.  Ralph junior's sister Godvere de Tony (d. at Marash, Palestine) was wife of Baldwin of Boulogne, Count of Edessa (later king of Jerusalem).

 

Ralph, lord Stafford = (1) Joan, d. of Piers Gaveston (exec. 19FS.6.1312) = (2) Margaret Audley.

 

London closed its bridge to the Yorkists who were forced to cross the Thames by Kingston bridge to get to Dartford.  Richard of York was captured but released

 

On 10.8.1453 the king went mad and Richard, duke of York, was called upon to be regent.  On 13.10.1453 the Queen gave birth to a son whose paternity was called into doubt.

 

Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset fled the court but John Mowbray II, duke of Norfolk accused him before the council and he was imprisoned in the Tower.

 

On the Lancastrian side James Butler, earl of Wiltshire, lord Bonville, Henry Holland, duke of Exeter, Richard Percy, lord Egremont (son of Henry Percy, 3rd earl of Northumberland), the lords Beaumont, Poynings, Clifford and Humphrey, duke Buckingham gathered their troops.

 

Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury (whose sister Cecily "the Rose of Raby" was married to Richard of York) and his son Richard Neville "the Kingmaker", earl of Warwick; William Neville, lord Fauconberg; George Neville, lord Latimer; Edward Neville, lord Abergavenny; Robert Neville, Bishop of Durham (all sons of Joan Beaufort by Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland), John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk (married to their sister Katherine Neville); Viscount Bourchier (married to York's sister); Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke; Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond (both of whom defected to the Lancastrians); Thomas Courtney, earl of Devon and lord Cobham were Yorkists so was Ralph, lord Cromwell but he later quarrelled with Warwick and the Yorkist party.

 

At the end of 1455 the king recovered his senses although he was still under the Queen's dominance.  Edmund Beaufort, earl of Somerset and Henry Holland, earl of Exeter were released from prison, Richard of York was dismissed as Protector and deprived of power.

 

Richard of York, Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury and his son Richard Neville, earl of Warwick advanced via Royston and Ware to St. Albans were they met the king's army which now included Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke and Thomas Courtney, earl of Devon who had both defected to the Lancastrians.  A battle ensued on 22.5.1455 in which Edmund, earl of Somerset, Henry Percy, 2nd earl of Northumberland and lord Clifford were killed.  The Yorkists maintained they meant the king no harm and as a result, Richard of York was made Constable of England; Thomas Bourchier, Bishop of Ely and Archbishop of Canterbury, remained as Chancellor, his Yorkist brother, Henry Bourchier (later created earl of Essex) was made Treasurer and Richard Neville, earl of Warwick made captain of Calais.

 

James II of Scotland, taking advantage of the troubles in England, intrigued with the French which resulted in Berwick and Calais being attacked in June in 1455 and again in 1456.  The king had a relapse in late 1455 but recovered early next year so Richard of York ceased to be Protector and Queen Margaret of Anjou ruled without Parliament.  A comet appeared in the sky (probably Halley's) which was regarded as an evil omen.

 

In 1458 a Council was held to which Richard Neville, earl of Warwick came from Calais with 600 men in red jackets embroidered with the earl's badge of the bear and ragged staff.  It was also attended by all the Yorkists and Lancastrians, the former lodging at Baynard's Castle, owned by Richard of York and the latter outside Temple Bar, having been refused entry into the city.  The result of the meeting was a false peace between the two parties.

 

Warwick won victories at sea against the French but an attempt in 1458 to replace him with Somerset, as captain of Calais, led to a fight between his followers and those of the kings and an attack against the earl, who fled to Warwick castle and from there to Calais.

 

The Queen ruled in her husband's stead but was very unpopular with the common people.

 

The Yorkists gathered their troops for a renewal of hostilities.  Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury defeated Lord Audley at Blore Heath on 23.9.1459.  The Yorkist forces met at Ludlow where Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, joined them from Calais.

 

Sir Andrew Trollope defected to the king with the Calais contingent, Richard of York and his younger son Edmund, earl of Rutland fled to Ireland, the Nevilles and Edward, earl of March (later Edward IV) to Calais and the Lancastrians sacked Ludlow.

 

A Parliament was held during which York, Warwick, Salisbury and their chief leaders were attainted and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York kept captive under her brother-in-law, Humphrey Stafford, duke of Buckingham (who was married to her sister Anne Neville).

 

Soon people began to desert to the Yorkists at Calais; in January 1460 at Sandwich Lancastrian ships sent against them were captured and Sir Richard Woodville, earl Rivers and his son Anthony Woodville taken as prisoners to Calais where they were called upstarts by all including Rivers' future son-in-law Edward of York, earl of March (later Edward IV).

 

On 26.6.1460, the two Nevilles (earls of Salisbury and Warwick) and Edward of York, earl of March landed at Sandwich; Archbishop Bourchier and lord Cobham joined them when they arrived in London and a rumour was spread that the Prince of Wales was not the king's son.

 

The Yorkists under Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury and lord Cobham attacked the Tower of London held for the Lancastrians by the lords Scales and Hungerford.  Richard Neville earl of Warwick, Edward of York, earl of March, Archbishop Bourchier, 4 bishops, William Neville, lord Fauconberg, lord Clinton, Thomas, lord Bourchier, Edward Neville, lord Abergavenny, the lords Scrope, Say and John, lord Audley went to meet the king's army at Northampton on 9.7.1460 where lord Grey of Ruthin defected to the Yorkists.  Humphrey Stafford, duke of Buckingham, John Talbot, 2nd earl of Shrewsbury and the lords Beaumont and Egremont were killed in battle.

 

The king was taken back to London and York, Warwick and Salisbury took up the reins of government again and made George Neville, bishop of Exeter (Warwick's brother) Chancellor.  On 16.10.1460 Richard of York made a formal claim to the throne but parliament wavered and made him the king's heir instead.

 

Meanwhile Henry Percy duke of Northumberland, Thomas Courtney II, earl of Devon, Henry Holland, earl of Exeter, Edmund Beaufort, earl of Somerset and other Lancastrians gathered in Yorkshire and sacked the properties of Richard Neville of Salisbury and Richard of York.  The two armies met in December 1460 near Wakefield and a battle ensued in which Richard of York and his son Edmund of Rutland were killed.  Richard of Salisbury was captured and executed and all their heads set up on the gates of the city of York, Richard of York's adorned with a paper crown.

 

When the Yorkists entered London, the Queen fled to Wales but during the battle of Wakefield she went to Scotland and brought back troops in exchange for Berwick.  James II supported the Lancastrians and attacked Roxburgh but died during the siege.  The Queen's army of Scots, Welsh and foreign mercenaries, described as a swarm of locusts, marched through England, plundering towns and churches.  Richard Neville of Warwick brought the king and the Yorkists including John Mowbray of Norfolk and Michael de la Pole of Suffolk (now married to York's daughter), the earl of Arundel, Viscount Bourchier and Lord Bonville from London to St. Albans where another battle took place on 17.2.1461 which the Lancastrians won.

 

Richard Neville of Warwick fled from the battle to join Edward of York who won a battle at Mortimer's Cross, Herefordshire about 5 and half miles from Leominster against the earls of Wiltshire and Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke after which Owen Tudor and other prisoners was beheaded.  A mad woman lit candles lit around Owen's head which was publicly exhibited in Hereford.  Warwick's brother, George Neville, the Chancellor, held a meeting of citizens and organised a deputation to ask Edward of York to accept the crown.

 

Edward then marched to Towton to meet the Lancastrian army where a battle was fought on 29.3.1461 which the Yorkists won.  Edmund Beaufort, earl of Somerset and Henry Holland, earl of Exeter escaped; Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou fled to Scotland but Henry Percy, 2nd earl of Northumberland and several lords died in battle.  42 knights were captured and executed.  Thomas Courtney II, earl of Devon and two others were beheaded at York and their heads set up on the city gates in place of those of Edward's father, brother and uncle.  The earl of Wiltshire was captured at Cockermouth and executed.

 

Edward of York was crowned on 28.6.1461 and his two brothers, George and Richard were created dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, Henry Bourchier was made Earl of Essex and Warwick's brother William Neville became earl of Kent.  A few Lancastrians were executed and a large number attainted whilst Yorkist attainders were reversed.

 

Edward did not pay the Yorkists' debt to the merchants of Calais but approved several laws to protected English trade, preventing resident foreign merchants undercutting the prices of English merchandise by selling cheap foreign goods of inferior quality.  He prohibited the import of woollens, silks and other commodities, foreign merchants were forbidden to export wool as there was a scarcity of raw material for English weavers, ordered goods to be shipped in English vessels and forbade payment in kind to cloth workers.

 

The civil war continued until 1464 and as the Scots were wavering in their support for the Lancastrians, Margaret of Anjou went to France for help but her uncle Charles VII had died and her cousin Louis XI was unsympathetic, even imprisoning Edmund Beaufort but the duke of Burgundy's son, the count of Charolais, had him released.

 

In England John de Vere, 1st earl of Oxford and other Lancastrians were executed and Joan Beaufort, the Scottish Queen, tried to bargain with the Yorkists but refused to surrender Henry VI.  The Yorkist lords Hastings and Montague captured Alnwick and Naworth but Margaret of Anjou managed to get Louis of France to recognise Henry VI as king of England.

 

In October 1462 she landed at Northumberland whilst Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke raised forces in Ireland and Calais mutinied.  Edmund Beaufort, earl of Somerset and Ralph Percy defected from the Lancastrian side and surrendered Bamborough and Dunstanborough to the Yorkists but Percy and Sir Ralph Grey of Heton rapidly turned their coats again, bringing Bamborough and Alnwick to the Lancastrians, followed swiftly by the earl of Somerset.  Margaret of Anjou had to return to France for fresh reinforcements but Louis and Scotland both signed truces with Edward IV at the end of 1463.  The remaining Lancastrians were defeated at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham by Lord Montagu in April 1464.  Henry Beaufort, 3rd duke of Somerset and many other lords were captured and executed and Henry VI fell into Yorkist hands in July 1465.

 

Warwick negotiated with Louis of France to obtain a marriage for Edward IV with the French king's sister-in-law Bona of Savoy when the news broke that the king had secretly married Elizabeth Woodville (who had been lady of the Bedchamber to Margaret of Anjou) on 1.5.1464.  She was widow of Sir John Grey of Bradgate, Leicester, earl Ferrars of Groby, was very beautiful with long golden hair and Edward fell violently in love with her.  After his marriage Edward proceeded to marry off his Woodville in-laws into the most powerful aristocratic families.

 

Fig. 62 - Woodville of Grafton Regis

 

Richard Woodville, created earl Rivers in 1469 by Richard Neville, earl of Warwick,.  He was protege of Cardinal Beaufort, became Baron Rivers in (1448)), Garter knight & Privy Councillor (1450) & Constable of England = as his 2nd wife Jacquetta of Luxembourg St. Pol, widow of John Plantagenet Duke of Bedford >:

(a) Anne Woodville = Henry, Viscount Bourchier, earl of Essex.

(b) Margaret Woodville = Thomas fitzAlan, lord Maltravers, son of the earl of Arundel.

(c) Mary Woodville = William Herbert, earl of Huntingdon.

(d) Jacquetta Woodville = John le Strange of Knockin, heir of the earl of Derby.

(e) Eleanor Woodville = Anthony Grey of Ruthin, heir of the earl of Kent

(f) Katherine Woodville = (1) Jasper Tudor, earl of Bedford = (2) Henry Stafford, 2nd

    Duke of Buckingham (exe. 1469 by Warwick)

(g) Anthony Woodville = (1) Elizabeth, d. of Lord Scales = (2) Mary, d. of Sir Henry

     fitzLewis of Hornden, Essex

(h) John Woodville = Anne Mowbray, the 80 year-old dowager duchess of Norfolk

     (Warwick's aunt and widow of  John Mowbray)

(i) Elizabeth Woodville = (1) Sir John Grey, Lord Ferrars of Groby of Astley,

    Warwickshire > Richard & Thomas Grey = Anne Holland, d. of Henry Holland, duke of

    Exeter.

(j) Lionel Woodville, Bishop of Salisbury.

 

The English lords may have reviled Richard Woodville, earl Rivers for his lowly birth but he was actually descended from the Reviers, Rivers or Redvers (Riparius in Latin), earls of Devon.

 

His second wife Jacquetta of St. Pol de Luxembourg had blood as blue as that of the kings of England if not bluer.  She was descended not only from Charlemagne but also from the Lusignans, Counts of La Marche who were kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem and from the brother of St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274).  The Flemish counts of St. Pol were kinsmen of the counts of Hesdin, Guisnes and Boulogne.  One of the counts of St. Pol married Margaret, sister of Richard II.  Aymer, son of William de Valence, earl of Pembroke (Henry III's half-brother through their mother Isabella of France) married as his second wife, Marie de St. Pol (d. 1377), daughter of Guy de Chatillon or Chastillon-sur-Marne, count of St. Pol and Butler of France.  William Winter (probably of Barningham, Norfolk) was one of her executors.

 

The original surname of the Counts of St. Pol was Campdevene.  They were related to the Counts of Boulogne and their coat of arms, "azure, 3 garbs or" was inherited by English and Scottish families of Comines or Cumin.

 

The family of St. Pol and their descendants, the Chatillons (to whom the County of St. Pol, a fief of Boulogne, came in the 13th century), became important in the Holy Land where Hugh of St. Pol and his son Engleram (d. at Tortosa) went on the First Crusade in 1095.

 

Reynald of Chatillon, younger son of the count of Gien, came to Frankish kingdom of Outremer in Palestine with St. Louis IX, king of France.  Reynald became Prince of Antioch (1153-1160), lord of Sidon, Kerak and Moab (1177-87).  He was captured by Manuel Comnenus, Emperor of Constantinople but released.  He took part in the battle of the Horns of Hattin, escaped and was taken prisoner by the Saracens and beheaded by Saladin himself in his tent because he had not kept a promise made to the emir.  Reynald married in 1153 Princess Constance (as her second husband), daughter of Bohemond of Antioch, a descendant of Robert Guiscard and Hauteville kings of Sicily.  After Constance's death, he married as his second wife Stephanie, widow of Miles de Plancy, heiress of Outrejordan.  Reynald married off his stepson, Humphrey of Toron, to Isabella, daughter of Queen Maria of Jerusalem.

 

In 1301 Jacques de Chatillon, Philip le Bel's lieutenant, accompanied by the Comte de St. Pol, fought on the French side in Bruges, Flanders.

 

Fig 63 - Blois, Champagne and Brittany.

 

Theobald, Count of Champagne bur. at Lagny >:

(1) Henry I, " The Generous or Liberal", Count of Champagne & Brie = Marie, d. of Louis

     VII & Eleanor of Aquitaine >:

     A. Henry II, Count of Champagne (nephew of Richard I & Philip Augustus of France)

          took part in the Second & Third Crusades in 1180 & 1190 d. 1197 falling out of a

         window at Jaffa = Isabella, d. of Amalric I (1162-74), king of Jerusalem >:

         a. daughter was Queen of Cyprus

         b. daughter = Erard of Brienne.

     B. Theobald, count of Champagne & Brie.

     C. Louis de Blois & Chartrain (nephews of Philip & France and Richard).

(2) Theobald, Count of Champagne & Brie held tournament in 1197 at Ecry to recruit for

     4th Crusade.

(3) Etienne (Stephen), count of Sancerre.

 

By the time of the battle of Crecy the family of Chatillon had became counts of Blois.

 

Guy I de Chatillon-sur-Marne, Count of St. Pol & Blois (d.1342), Butler of France >:

(a) Marie de Chatillon de St. Pol (d. 1377) = Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke (dsp

     1324).

(b) Louis IV (d. 1346 at Crecy), Count of Blois, Froissart's patron.  He was son-in-law of

     John of Hainault who helped Isabella & Edward III in 1326-7 >:

     (1) Louis V (d. 1372).

     (2) Jean (d. 1381), Count of Blois

(c) Guy II de Chatillon, Count of Blois (1381-97), 3rd son was at Crecy on the French side,

     he and his son-in-law Guy de Luxembourg, Count of St. Pol were taken as hostages with

     king John of France and lived at Palace of Savoy in London with him >

     his son Waleran was sent on a goodwill mission to Richard II.

 

Theobald IV, count of Champagne, king of Navarre (d.1253), great grandson of Louis VII of France & son of Blanche of Navarre, sister of Sancho VII of Navarre and Berengaria (wife of Richard I "Coeur de Lion" of England) >:

(a) Theobald V, count of Champagne, king of Navarre (1253-79) = Isabella, d. of Louis VIII of

     France.

(b) Henry, count of Champagne, king of Navarre (1270-4) = Blanche, d. of Robert of Artois,

     son of Louis VIII of France > Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, Countess of Champagne =

     Philip IV "le Bel", great grandson of Louis VIII of France.

 

Louis VII (1137-1180) of France = (1) Eleanor of Aquitaine > Marie = count of Champagne > Henry II "the Liberal" of Champagne.

 

Louis VII = (2) Constance of Castile >:

(a) Margaret = Henry, eldest son of Henry II of England.

(b) Alice betrothed to Richard I.

 

Louis VII = (3) Adela of  Champagne & Blois > 3 daughters & Philip II "Augustus".

 

Charles of Blois claimed dukedom of Brittany.  He was nephew of Philip VI (1285-1328) who married Jeanne of Navarre, Countess of Champagne & Blois.

 

Jacquetta de St. Pol coveted a tapestry of the Siege of Jerusalem owned by Thomas Cook, a draper, Master of the Drapers Company and mayor of London who was made Knight of the Bath by Edward IV.  Margaret of Anjou's agent, Cornelius was tortured in 1468 to discover the whereabouts of the tapestry.  He accused Hawkins, Lord Warwick's servant who in turn accused Lord Wenlock and Thomas Cook whose house, Gidea Hall, was ransacked by the servants of Lord Rivers and Sir John Fogg (Queen Elizabeth Woodville's father and cousin, who were the Lord Treasurer and Treasurer of the Royal Household respectively.

 

Coke or Cooke (d. 1478), born in Lavenham, Suffolk, was a go-between with Jack Cade's rebels and their London supporters.  He was alderman of the Ward of Vintry during Edward IV's reign, lord mayor in 1461, MP (1462-3), was knighted in 1465 and attended Elizabeth Woodville's coronation.  He was accused of treason and tried at the Guildhall but was found not guilty.  He paid fines of £18,000 and lost his office of alderman the following year but regained it in 1471.  After the battle of Tewkesbury, he fled to France, was intercepted and jailed again.  He had been sheriff of London in 1453, 5 years after his father-in-law, Philip Malpas, both drapers.  He was believed to have betrayed Cade.  Malpas (d. 1469) was alderman in 1448 and was a staunch Lancastrian who secretly dealt with the Yorkists.  He live at Greengate, Cornhill and was MP in 1439 and 1440.  His house in Southwark (where Cecily Neville, wife of the Duke of York lived) was ransacked by the Cade rebels.  Malpas brought back Cade's treasures from Queenborough Castle which was held by a constable who betrayed Cade although he was a supporter.

 

The family of William Cooke (father-in-law of William Cecil and Nicholas Bacon) and Edward Coke may have been descendants - they bought Gidea Hall.

 

A power struggle arose between Richard Neville, earl of Warwick and the king.  The king's marriage angered Warwick "the Kingmaker".  Although he supported Louis XI and opposed Edward's support of the Charles "le Temeraire", count of Charolais (later duke of Burgundy), he was sent to negotiate marriages between Charles and Edward's sister Margaret (whom Warwick wanted as a bride for his son) and George Plantagenet, duke of Clarence, Edward IV's brother with the count's daughter Mary.

 

Warwick's brother George Neville, Archbishop of York was dismissed as Chancellor and Richard Stillington, Bishop of Bath & Wells took his place - he was destined to drop a bombshell before Edward V (one of the the Princes in the Tower) was crowned.

 

In June 1468 Jasper Tudor landed in Wales and Margaret of Anjou came to Harfleur with troops but he was defeated by Lord Herbert who captured Harlech and was given Tudor's earldom of Pembroke.  In the north the Percies agitated for restoration of the earldom of Northumberland (which John Neville held); Sir John Conyers, known as "Robin of Redesdale" led an uprising and Clarence (d. 18.2.1478) married Anne Neville on 11.7.1469 at Calais, George Neville, Archbishop of York performing the ceremony.  Anne Neville and her sister Isabel were heiresses to the lordship of Tewkesbury and great estates.

 

Warwick, the Archbishop and Clarence returned to England and marched to Nottingham where a battle took place at Edgecote Field near Banbury.  William Herbert and his brother Richard were captured and executed at Northampton, John Woodville (son of Richard, Earl Rivers) met the same fate at Kenilworth and Edward IV was taken prisoner.

 

Warwick's kinsman, Humphrey Neville of the Westmorland family rebelled and the men of York agreed to quell the uprising on condition king Edward was released.

 

Edward entered London with his brother Richard of Gloucester, Suffolk, Arundel, Northumberland, Essex and other lords.  The king released Henry Percy from the Tower, made him earl of Northumberland and betrothed his daughter Elizabeth Percy to George Neville, making him duke of Bedford.

 

A private quarrel between Lord Welles and Sir Thomas Burgh, a member of the king's household, led to a rebellion which Sir Thomas Dymock joined.  The rebels were defeated at Hornfield, near Empingham and the leaders, including Sir Robert Welles, were executed.

 

Warwick then joined Margaret of Anjou.  The 17-year old Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales was betrothed to Anne Neville, Warwick's daughter in the chapel of St. Florentin in the Castle of Amboise and married on 15.8.1469 in the Cathedral of St. Maurice, Angers.

 

The Lancastrians became popular again in England because of the cruelty of Edward's Constable, Robert Tiptoft, earl of Worcester who had 20 people hanged, drawn, quartered and beheaded in Southampton and impaled their bodies - he also impaled some alive.

 

On 13.9.1470 the Lancastrians under Warwick and Clarence landed at Dartmouth and marched to London where they proclaimed Henry IV king.  John Neville (whom Edward IV trusted) deserted and took a ship from to Lynn to the Netherlands.  In October Henry IV was released from the Tower and the earl of Worcester beheaded.

 

Edward IV's brother-in-law, Charles of Burgundy (married to Margaret Plantagenet), secretly agreed to assist him as the Lancastrians were supported by France and the merchants of the Calais Staple raised funds in support of the Yorkist cause.  Edward sailed for England on 2.3.1471 and landed at Ravenspur near Hull.  As he marched through York, Pontefract, Wakefield, the earl of Warwick appealed for help from his castle in that town then fled to Coventry whilst Clarence defected to his brother.  Edward marched to London, seized the Tower on 10.4.1471 and captured Archbishop Neville.

 

Henry IV was captured in 1464 whilst dining at the house of Richard Tempest at Waddington Hall, Milton, near Bashall by John Tempest, James Harrington, Thomas and John Talbot of Bashall and Salesbury.

 

Warwick and Edward met near Barnet where a battle was fought in a thick fog.  Lord Montagu and his brother Warwick were killed on the Lancastrian side and lords Cromwell, Say and Sir Humphrey Bourchier on the Yorkist side.

 

Margaret of Anjou landed at Weymouth and was met by Thomas Courtney, 2nd earl of Devon and Edmund Beaufort, 4th earl of Somerset.  Their troops went to meet Jasper Tudor in Wales and met the Yorkists at Tewkesbury.

 

The earl of Devon was killed and Edward of Lancaster captured.  The prince was killed allegedly in the tent of Edward IV who struck him with his mailed fist on the mouth whereupon his followers stabbed Edward of Lancaster with their daggers.

 

Margaret of Anjou was sent to the Tower where Henry VI was also imprisoned but they were not allowed to meet.  She was then taken to Coventry where she was put on a sumpter horse with her hands tied behind her back and a placard round her neck and then taken back to the Tower.  Henry IV's body was discovered on 22.5.1471.  He was said to have been killed by Richard of Gloucester (later Richard III) and was buried at Chertsey.  George Neville, Archbishop of York was imprisoned (virtually for life) in the castle of Hammes near Calais.

 

At Christmas Margaret was sent to Wallingford to her friend, Alice (nee Chaucer), dowager duchess of Suffolk (buried at Ewelme) with whom she lived for 5 years.

 

Edward sent troops to Calais in June 1475 but neither the duke of Burgundy (who died in January 1477) nor the duke of Brittany were prepared to help.

 

Under the provisions of the peace treaty of Picquigny signed by Louis XI and Edward IV on 29.8.1475, it was agreed that the latter would receive 75,000 crowns and an annual tribute of 50,000 crowns (which was never paid), a marriage would be arranged between the Dauphin and one of Edward's daughters and Margaret of Anjou was ransomed for 50,000 gold crowns plus Provence.  Margaret was taken to Sandwich and sent by fishing boat to France.  She landed at Dieppe on 14.1.1476 and as Louis was not prepared to help her, she went to her father's property, the Maison de Reculee, near Angers.  After René died impoverished in 1480, leaving only 1,000 gold crowns and the castle of Queniez between Anjou and Saumer, Louis drew up a deed on 19.11.1480 promising Margaret an annuity of 600 livres in exchange for her rights to Lorraine, Anjou, Maine, Provence and Barrois but he never paid her.  She went to Saumur to the Castle of Dampierre belonging to Sieur François de la Vignolles of Moraens, one of her father's former servants, where she spent the rest of her life.  She died aged 53 on 25.8.1482.

 

Richard of Gloucester and his brother Clarence (married to Warwick's daughter Isabel Neville) fell out because Richard wanted to marry Warwick's other daughter Anne Neville, Edward of Lancaster's widow.  Isabel died in December 1476 and Clarence's sister, Margaret of Burgundy, suggested he marry her step-daughter Mary.  Ankaretta Twynhoe of Cayford, Somerset (a dependant of the queen) was accused of poisoning Clarence's wife and child and hanged at Warwick in April 1477.

 

Clarence was arrested but before he could be sentenced he was found dead allegedly drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

 

In 1481-2 Richard of Gloucester led an army to fight the Scots and recaptured Berwick and whilst he was still in the North, Edward IV died on 9.4.1483, the only king to have died without a debt.  He had taken a great interest in commerce and granted the Steelyard in London to the German Hansa in 1475, allowing them to establish branches in Lynn and Boston.

 

Edward IV left as his heir, the 12-year old Edward V, whom he left in his brother Richard of Gloucester's care.  There was growing hostility between Richard of Gloucester, lord Hastings, the duke of Buckingham on one side and the Woodvilles on the other led by Anthony Woodville, lord Rivers and the queen's son (by her first husband) Thomas, marquis of Dorset.

 

Gloucester was in the North when Edward died, he attended a requiem mass at York, sent a letter to the queen declaring his loyalty and took the oath of allegiance to his nephew.  On his way south he met the duke of Buckingham (who had married the queen's sister) and were joined by Anthony, lord Rivers and his half-brother Sir Richard Grey who were both arrested and imprisoned.

 

The Woodvilles were separated from the king who was at Stony Stratford.  The queen fled to Westminster for sanctuary with her other children and Gloucester declared himself Protector on 4.5.1483.

 

Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorset and Sir Edward Woodville were at sea with some ships they had gathered and Richard of Gloucester sent letters to the mayor of York and Lord Neville of Westmorland asking for troops.

 

On 13.6.1483 Richard of Gloucester ordered the execution of lord Hastings, followed by those of earl Rivers and lord Grey.  John Morton, Bishop of Ely was imprisoned and the queen surrendered her second son, the 10-year-old Richard, who had been made duke of Norfolk, Nottingham and earl Warenne after marrying Anne, daughter of John Mowbray (d. 1426).  Prince Richard was sent to the Tower (then a royal residence) to join his brother Edward.  It was the 2nd Duke of Stafford and Archbishop Scrope who advised Elizabeth Woodville to entrust her children to their uncle Richard III.

 

As preparation were being made to have prince Edward crowned, Richard Stillington. Bishop of Bath and Wells (Chancellor in 1467) dropped his bombshell claiming to have been a witness to the betrothal or marriage in 1465 between Eleanor Talbot, wife of Thomas Butler, earl of Ormonde and daughter of John Talbot, 1st earl of Shrewsbury.  She was great aunt of Gilbert Talbot of Grafton who married his mistress Elizabeth, widow of William Winter in Henry VII's reign.

 

Edward IV's marriage was declared null and void on the grounds of a pre-contract.  Stillington later supported Lambert Simnel's rebellion against Henry VII and returned in 1475 to Wells, next to the Gloucestershire border where the Duke of Clarence had his favourite seat.

 

Sir Thomas More (who had been in John Morton, Bishop of Ely's household) had a copy of a history supported by the Chronicle of Croyland (where Morton had fled) and a French account (after Morton went to France) about the murder of the Princes in the Tower.  John Russell, bishop of Lincoln, was continuator of the Chronicle of Croyland.

 

More's history stated that Edward IV had married Elizabeth Lucy, his mistress by whom he had a son, Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle (John Dudley's step-father) and a daughter.

 

Viscount Lisle's first wife was Elizabeth, lady Grey (widow of Edmund Dudley) by whom Lord Lisle had 3 daughters Frances, Elizabeth and Bridget Plantagenet.

 

His step-sons were John Dudley, later earl of Northumberland and Robert Dudley - the Dudleys were relatives of the Nevilles and a John Dudley was sent to the Tower in 1455 after the Yorkist defeat.  Lord Lisle's stepson, John Dudley was created Viscount Lisle on 12.3.1542-3 a few days after his step-father's as Lord Lisle had no male heirs.

 

Lord Lisle's second wife, Honor, Lady Lisle was the third daughter of Thomas Grenville by his wife Isabella, daughter of Oates Gilbert.  She had been the third wife of John Bassett of Umberleigh by whom she had four daughters Philippa, Anne and Mary and 3 sons, John, George and James Basett.  James Bassett married Frances Plantagenet, lord Lisle's eldest daughter by his first wife.

 

Richard III was crowned on 26.6.1483 and then turned against his friend Humphrey Stafford, 2nd duke of Buckingham who led a movement to release the princes from the Tower.  The duke had been an ally of Richard III but had been persuaded by John Morton, Bishop of Ely (who was in his custody at Brecon) to lead an uprising in favour of Henry Tudor.

 

Reginald Bray was in the household of Henry Stafford, the duke's cousin and stayed on with Margaret Beaufort (who had married Henry after Edmund Tudor's death).  Morton used Bray in confidential negotiations to marry Henry VII to Elizabeth Plantagenet of York (Edward IV's daughter and sister of the Princes in the Tower).  Reginald Bray (cousin of Hasting's wife Katherine) was Margaret Beaufort's agent.  Margery, niece of Reginald Bray, of Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire (whose male line died out) married William Sandys.

 

The Staffords seat was Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire and the 2nd duke was married to Catherine Woodville, sister of Edward IV's Queen Elizabeth.  He was executed in 1483 and Catherine then married Jasper Tudor, earl of Bedford whose brother Edmund had been Margaret Beaufort's first husband.

 

Margaret married for the third time George Stanley, the 1st earl of Derby whose brother William Stanley had married the widow of John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, executed by Warwick in 1471.  Tiptoft (Edward IV's cousin) put to death Thomas fitzGerald, earl of Desmond (Deputy Lieutenant of Ireland in 1465) and his two younger sons at Drogheda.  The earl of Derby and William Stanley deserted Richard III at Bosworth.

 

John Morton, Bishop of Ely, played a part not only in the Buckingham's rebellion but also in the conspiracy of William Hastings (who was hated by Elizabeth Woodville) in which Lord Stanley was also involved.  Katherine Neville, Lady Hastings, was mother-in-law of George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury.  Sir William Catesby, lawyer and protégé of William Lord Hastings, was Chancellor of the earldom of March and made Speaker of the House of Commons on  23.1.1484.

 

The Mercers' Company held a meeting on 15.6.1484 "to discuss a reported conversation" between William, lord Hastings, John Morton, bishop of Ely and Russell (later earl of Bedford)  after which they were sent to the Tower for conspiring.

 

One of Edward IV's mistress (he had four) was Jane or Elizabeth, daughter of William Lambert, a prominent mercer and wife of William Shore or Schore.  She later became mistress of Lord Grey, Marquis of Dorset (son of Elizabeth Woodville by her first marriage).  Jane's jailer, Thomas Lyneham or Lynom petitioned the king for her hand in marriage.

 

When a rumour arose that the princes were dead, the rebels proclaimed Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond (who had been in Brittany) king and planned to marry him to Elizabeth, Edward's daughter.

 

When Henry arrived, he found the Severn floods prevented him from joining Buckingham at Brecon where Thomas, son of Roger Vaughan, had been spying on the duke who was captured at Webley, a the house of Walter Devereaux, Lord Ferrars, where Morton was a visitor at the time.  The duke was executed.

 

Rumours of the princes' death in the Tower persisted and when their sister Elizabeth appeared in court during Christmas 1484, new rumours were spread that Richard intended to marry her and put away his queen (who died in March 1485).

 

In the 19th century the bodies of two children, about the same age as the princes, were found buried under a stairway in the White Tower of London.  On examination of their skeletons, one was found to have had an abscess in the jaw so at least one, if not both of them, may have died of natural causes.

 

According to Sir Thomas More's Chronicle (copied from John Morton, bishop of Ely's account), Sir James Tyrell was supposed to have arranged the murder of the Princes in the Tower by suffocation.  Miles Forrest, John Green (Richard III's servant) and John Dighton (James Tyrell's servant) were accused of the crime.  Intriguingly the surnames Green (a parson who died in 1439) and Dighton were connected (44 years earlier) with Castlecombe (which came to Richard III).

 

The princes were last seen alive in 1483.  There was a legend in the Tyrell family that the they were actually placed in their household and were cared for by them.

 

The Tyrells were descended from Walter Tirel, brother-in-law of Gilbert and Roger de Clare.  Tirel was the alleged assassin of William II "Rufus" (whose court was said to have been the most dissolute in Europe) and fled abroad.  The Tyrells held lands in Ireland: Castleknock in Antrim, Co. Meath was built by Hugh Tyrell who held his lands from Hugh de Lacy after the Norman invasion.  Celbridge, Co. Kildare has a 1548 memorial of the Tyrells who possessed Lyons Demesne, Grange Castle, Edenderry, Co. Offaly, Castlelost in Rochfordbridge, were all Tyrell properties and Stowmarket, Suffolk has a Tyrell monument.

 

Fig 64 – Tyrell

 

(a) Thomas Tyrell

(b) James Tyrell =  Anne > Thomas Tyrell = Margaret > John Tyrell

 

William Tyrell, was Sheriff of Suffolk and Norfolk.  His family seat was at Gipping Hall, Suffolk and his family and that of Richard, Duke of York were connected officially at Fotheringay castle.  Sir James Tyrell was sheriff of Glamorgan, Chief Forester and Constable of Cardiff castle.  James Tyrell was pardoned in 1486 and became captain of Guisnes castle where the last remaining Yorkist heir, Edmund Pole fled to his protection.  Tyrell was executed in 1502 for shielding Pole, admittedly a strange action for a reputed enemy of the Yorkist cause.

 

However previous Tyrells were Lancastrians.  Thomas Tyrell (who stood guard over the mad Henry IV during the battle of St. Albans) was executed by Edward IV after the battle of Towton and his head impaled.  In 1462 Sir William Tyrell was executed after a plot against Edward IV.

 

Of the others who were supposed to have known of the murder of the princes in the tower, Brackenbury (constable of the Tower who refused to carry out the order to kill them) was killed at Bosworth Field together with John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Richard III's last important supporter who remained loyal to him.  John Morton, Bishop of Ely (who had been imprisoned in Brecon and persuaded Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham to rebel) became Henry VII's minister.  There were two rebellions against Henry VII - that of Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel - both of whom claimed to have been Yorkshire heirs.  One was supposed to have been the earl of Warwick (who was actually incarcerated in the Tower) and the other to have been one of the Princes.

 

Henry Tudor with some French help landed at Milford Haven on 7.8. 1485 and the two armies met on Bosworth Field when the duke of Northumberland refused to fight for Richard and Lord Stanley (who had married Henry Tudor's mother), his son Lord Strange and Sir William Stanley defected to Henry Tudor.  Richard died in battle and Henry Tudor was crowned on Bosworth Field, lord Stanley allegedly placing the crown on his step-son's head.  Richard's body was thrown over the back of a pack horse and taken to Leicester where it was buried.

On 1.9.1733 Thomas Brett LL.D., wrote to William Warren, LL.D., President of Trinity Hall about the account he had heard from Lord Heneage, earl of Winchelsea at Eastwell House regarding a bricklayer called Richard Plantagenet who (according to the Eastwell Church register) was buried on 22.12.1550.  Documents at Eastwell Place (property of Sir Thomas Moyle) stated the bricklayer was found studying Latin and said he was the son of Richard III.  As a young boy he was taken to a great house where a man dressed in the star and garter took him to Bosworth Field and told him if he lost the battle, he must hide.  ("Desiderata Curiosa" - Lib. VII, No. VIII - 1735).

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