The Life and Times of Richard III by Anthony Cheetham

Author:Anthony Cheetham [Cheetham, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784081492
Publisher: Head of Zeus

BY THE KING

Trusty and well-beloved: we greet you well, and let ye wit that the Duke of Buckingham traitorously has turned upon us, contrary to the duty of his allegiance, and entendeth the utter destruction of us, you and all other our true subjects that have taken our part; whose traitorous intent we with God’s grace intend briefly to resist and subdue. We desire and pray you in our hearty wise that ye will send unto us as many men defensibly arrayed on horseback as ye may goodly make to our town of Leicester the 21st day of this present month without fail as ye will tender our honour and your own weal, and we will see you so paid for your reward as ye shall hold ye well content. Give further credence to our trusty pursuivant this bearer. Given under our signet at our city of Lincoln the 11th day of October.

By the time that he and Northumberland were reviewing their troops at Leicester on the 21st, Richard was cheered to hear of the swift measures taken by his lieutenant in the South, the Duke of Norfolk, for the defence of London. Finding their way to the capital blocked by Norfolk’s men at Gravesend, the Kent and Surrey rebels led by Sir John and Richard Guildford were compelled to withdraw and await the promised arrival of the Duke of Buckingham.

Thanks to the King’s effective early warning system and to an exceptional bout of heavy rains which deluged Wales at this moment, the rebel Duke had sufficient troubles of his own.

In no drowsy manner [reports the Croyland Chronicle] King Richard contrived that, throughout Wales, as well as in all parts of the marches thereof, armed men should be set in readiness around the said Duke, as soon as ever he had set a foot from his home, to pounce upon all his property; who, accordingly, encouraged by the prospect of the Duke’s wealth, which the King had, for that purpose, bestowed upon them were in every way to obstruct his progress. The result was, that, on the side of the castle of Brecknock [Brecon], which looks towards the interior of Wales, Thomas, the son of the late Sir Roger Vaughan, with the aid of his brethren and kinsmen, most carefully watched the whole of the surrounding country; while Humphrey Stafford partly destroyed the bridges and passes by which England was entered, and kept the other part closed by means of a strong force set there to guard the same.

Drenched by the rains and harassed by the guerillas, Buckingham’s retainers lost heart and melted away as they struggled across the Welsh borders into Herefordshire. At Lord Ferrers’s manor of Webley the Duke was abandoned even by Bishop Morton, who fled first to the Fen Country, then to Flanders. Sick with fear, the Duke himself deserted what was left of his following. He disguised himself as a commoner and took refuge in the Shropshire cottage of one of his servants, Ralph Bannaster of Wem.

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