‘That is what I am most eager to do and I think the time has come for us to go into action.’
When Richard heard that Buckingham had put himself at the head of an insurrection to come against him he was deeply shocked.
Buckingham, who had been his friend, his Constable, and the one who had been closest to him in the struggle. He could not believe it.
He immediately set about calling an army together and gave instructions that they were to meet at Leicester. He was quiet and calm, hiding how deeply wounded he was. He did say that Buckingham was the most untrue creature living and everyone knew that if ever the Duke fell into the King’s hands that would be the end of him. He was declared a rebel and a price was put on his head.
Richard was supported by his good friends John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Francis, Viscount Lovell, Sir Richard Ratcliffe and William Catesby ... all men on whom he could rely. But then he had thought he could rely on Buckingham. No, Buckingham had come up too quickly. It had been an error of judgement to have relied on him to such an extent. Then there was Stanley. He did not trust Stanley. He was after all the husband of Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudor. He was watchful of Stanley and must make sure that he was given no opportunity to be false.
There were risings in Kent and Surrey and East Anglia. These were quickly suppressed and Richard marched on to Leicester.
Buckingham was in difficulties. He had moved towards the east with a force made up mainly of Welsh troops but when he came into Herefordshire he found the rivers Wye and Severn in flood and impassable. There was no help for it but to attempt to retreat but that became out of the question for he found he was hemmed in by enemy troops. He was forced to wait and the men grew restive. The expedition was ill-timed and ill-planned. Men began to desert and the Duke saw that there was nothing left to him but escape.
There was a big price on his head. If he fell into Richard’s hands there would be no mercy. He could not expect that. Therefore he must escape.
Perhaps he could get across the Channel and join Henry Tudor. Then they could plot together and come back in triumph.
One of his retainers, Ralph Bannister, who had a house near the town of Wem, took him in and Buckingham stayed for a few days at his mansion of Lacon Park.
Everyone was talking about the débâcle and the price on the Duke of Buckingham’s head. It was a large price for Richard was very eager to get the traitor into his hands.
For a day or so Bannister resisted the temptation but after a while it became too much for him. He advised Buckingham to leave his house and showed him a hut where he could stay for a while until he could make good his escape. But no sooner was Buckingham in the hut than he was arrested and taken to Salisbury by the Sheriff of Shropshire.
He asked to see the King. He wanted to talk to him. He confessed that he had been a foolish traitor. He had wronged the King who had been his friend. But if he could but see the King, if he could talk to him, if he could explain ...
It was no use. He could hardly expect Richard to see him in the circumstances for never had a man more blatantly played the traitor.
It was the second of November, a dark day and a Sunday, when Buckingham was taken out to the market-place and there laid his head on the block.
Chapter XVI
RUMOURS
The insurrection was over. Henry Tudor had not landed. Of the fifteen ships which the Duke of Brittany had given him all but two had been destroyed by storm. He had come close to the coast with those two but seeing the soldiers on land had thought it wiser to return and try another time.
Richard was triumphant, but he had received a warning.
Another matter which had deeply disturbed him was the rumour of the death of the Princes and that he was named as their murderer. Of what purpose would their death serve? They were no menace to him. He was the true King. The bastard sons of his brother did not threaten his position.
The only way in which they could do so would be if they were his brother’s legitimate sons. And if they had been it would never have occurred to him to take the throne. He would have remained as Protector of the Realm and guardian of the little King until he was of age to govern.
It was a disturbing rumour. Did it mean that there was a plot afoot to murder the Princes and lay the blame at his door? It was a feasible plan, the logic behind which became clear to him when he heard that in the Cathedral at Rennes Henry Tudor had sworn to marry Elizabeth of York and thus unite the houses of York and Lancaster.
He thought a great deal about the matter and the more he thought the more certain it seemed to him that some harm was planned for the Princes. They were in the Garden Tower at the moment and his very good friend Sir Robert Brackenbury was the Constable.
He decided he would warn him to guard the Princes well, and he summoned to him his Master of Henchmen Sir James Tyrell. He told him that he wished him to take a letter to the Constable of the Tower and that he should prepare himself to leave at once.
Richard then wrote the letter in which he asked Sir Robert to guard the Princes well. He feared for their safety. He thought it would be a good idea if they were removed from their present lodging and put into a secret one until such time as it would be safe for them to emerge.
He would explain his fears to Sir Robert sometime when they were together. For the present he knew he was his very good friend and could trust him.
The year passed uneasily. Richard was aware that the Bishop of Ely was one of his greatest enemies and he heartily repented putting him in Buckingham’s care. After the débâcle Morton had escaped to Flanders and now had probably joined Henry Tudor.
It was difficult to govern as he would have wished with so much to deter him. How lucky Edward had been to have the people with him. After the defection of Buckingham Richard felt he could never trust anyone again.
He wished that everyone would forget their grievances, that they would try to work with him for a prosperous state. He was sorry that Elizabeth Woodville remained in Sanctuary. He wanted her to come forth – she and her daughters.
He sent word to her telling her that if she came out no harm should befall her.
Elizabeth was wary. She could not forget that her brother Anthony and her son Richard had been beheaded at Richard’s orders. He had answered that they had deserved their fate and they would have had his head if events had gone the other way. It was no use going over the past. That was done with. She had five daughters; she should think of their future.
He did not remind her that she had a son, the Marquess of Dorset, who was now on the Continent with Henry Tudor.
A letter was delivered to her in Sanctuary which Richard had written himself.
‘I swear,’ he wrote, ‘that if the daughters of Elizabeth Grey, late calling herself Queen of England, will come to me out of Sanctuary and be guided and ruled by me I shall see that they shall be in surety of their lives and that as they are my kinswomen, being the undoubted daughters of my brother, I will arrange worthy marriages for them ...’
He also offered to pay an annual pension to Elizabeth herself.
Elizabeth considered the offer. He could hardly dishonour it, she said. And she was anxious about her daughters.
On a bleak March day she emerged from Sanctuary and decided that she must accept the offer and rely on the mercy of the King.