Richard III and the Princes in the Tower

by Alison Weir

  It is this question of deformity that has long puzzled historians. In Richard’s lifetime no writer made reference to any: Croyland, Commines and the Great Chronicle make no mention of deformity, neither do the two earlier eyewitnesses, Whitelaw and von Poppelau. The Elizabethan antiquarian John Stow told Sir George Buck ‘he had spoken with old and grave men who had often seen Richard, and they had affirmed he was not deformed but of person and bodily shape comely enough’, which is slightly at variance with the eyewitness reports. In 1491, moreover, York Civic Records record that in the course of a fight a schoolmaster called John Payntour called Richard a ‘Crouchback’, the first instance of him being referred to by what later became a popular nickname. Richard had often been in York and was well-known there. Perhaps Master Payntour was merely being provocative, but it is quite possible that he had seen Richard and knew there was no longer any need for tact.

  As the Tudor period drew on, so the legend of the deformed king was elaborated upon. Rous, writing before 1490, stated that he had ‘unequal’ shoulders, ‘the right higher and the left lower’, and a humped back. In Vergil’s account it is the left shoulder that is ‘higher than the right’. More, who also claimed one shoulder was higher than the other, echoed Vergil. The eyewitness von Poppelau wrote of Richard’s ‘delicate arms and limbs’; by More’s time it was believed that he had been ‘ill featured of limbs’ and ‘crook-backed’, with a ‘shrivelled withered arm’.

  To contemporary eyes, physical deformity was the outward manifestation of evil character. Thus portraits of Richard, held to have been painted with the aim of flattering him, were altered in Tudor times to reflect what people believed he had really looked like. The earliest representation of him is the line drawing by John Rous in the first York Roll, which shows no deformity. Then there are three portrait types, of which several versions exist. The earliest is in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a masterful and evidently faithful copy of an original believed to have been from life, which has been tree-ring dated to c. 1516–22. In this, Richard has no apparent deformity.

  The second portrait type is that in the Royal Collection, which has been tree-ring dated to c. 1518–23. This is the most important of the three as it was the one on display in the royal palaces, which is probably why it was radically altered. X-rays taken in the 1950s and 1973 show that the right shoulder has been overpainted above the still-visible original shoulder line by a later hand, and that the eyes have been narrowed. About thirty copies of this portrait are in existence, including that in the National Portrait Gallery, and all show the added deformities.

  The third likeness is also in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries, and is entitled the ‘Broken Sword’ portrait; this has been tree-ring dated to c. 1533–43. Again, X-rays show drastic alterations. The portrait originally had a much-raised left shoulder and deformed left arm, but in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, it was altered to show Richard with a more normal appearance. A copy of this portrait, unaltered and showing the left arm ending in a stump, was sold in 1921 in Brussels to a private collector.

  Richard’s face in his portraits matches the descriptions given by Rous and Vergil, the latter writing that he had ‘a short and sour countenance’, and also More, who said he was ‘hard-featured of visage’. It is a stern face, with cold eyes and a thin-lipped, tightly pursed mouth, a portrait of a man looking older than his years.

  So what was the truth about Richard’s appearance? It would appear that he did have some slight deformity which eyewitnesses either did not notice or were too tactful to refer to overtly. It is possible that he suffered a mild form of Sprengel’s deformity, or under-development of the right or left scapula leading to inefficient flexing of the shoulder muscles. There must, after all, have been some grain of truth in what the early Tudor chroniclers wrote, for there were many people still alive who could have pointed out any gross anomalies in their works, people who remembered Richard well. Nevertheless, as memories faded and the years passed, the truth became more distorted, until by 1534 it was generally accepted that he had been a villainous hunchback with a withered arm. And there were then few of his contemporaries still alive to pour scorn on such nonsense.

  In 1471, Gloucester and Clarence were reconciled to each other, but not for long. In Clarence’s household lived his wife’s younger sister, Anne Neville, who, with Isabella, was co-heiress to their father, the late Earl of Warwick. Warwick had not been attainted, and his titles and estates should therefore have passed to his widow, Anne Beauchamp, who was entitled to a third share, and to his two daughters, the remainder being divided equally between them. But Edward IV had seized control of the Warwick inheritance and divided it up, giving some lands and offices to Clarence, in right of his wife, and some to Gloucester, whilst ignoring the rights of the Dowager Countess. Clarence, who had received the lion’s share, felt he should have all, and was therefore mortified when in 1471 Richard made it plain that he wanted to marry Anne Neville and claim half her patrimony. ‘This,’ wrote Croyland, ‘did not suit the plans of the Duke of Clarence, since he feared a division of the Earl’s property.’ He knew very well that marriage to Anne would entitle Richard to half the Warwick inheritance, and this made him determined to prevent the marriage. ‘In consequence of this, violent dissensions arose between the brothers.’

  Anne Neville was then fifteen. She had been briefly married, almost certainly in name only, to Prince Edward of Lancaster, and since his death she had been living in Clarence’s great London house, The Erber, in Downegate Street near the Thames. ‘In presence she was seemly, amiable and beauteous, and in conditions full commendable and right virtuous and, according to the interpretation of Anne her name, full gracious,’ wrote Rous, who revered Anne as Warwick’s daughter. There is a drawing of her in royal heraldic robes in the Rous Roll, which shows a slender woman with long fair hair. Richard had known Anne in youth at Middleham, and the Flemish chronicler Majerres claims he became close to her then, yet his motive for marrying her was not so much love as the desire to acquire her lands. Neither Richard nor Clarence would show any regard at any time for the vociferously voiced claims of the Countess of Warwick, who had been illegally deprived by the King of her dower. To men like these, she simply did not count.

  Croyland tells us that Clarence was so determined that Gloucester should not marry Anne Neville that he ‘caused the damsel to be concealed in order that it might not be known by his brother where she was. Still, however, the craftiness of the Duke of Gloucester so far prevailed that, having discovered the girl dressed as a kitchen maid in London, he had her moved to the Sanctuary of St Martin’s’, near Newgate. Clarence demanded that Anne be returned to his house, but he was not her legal guardian and was powerless to prevent Richard from placing her in the care of her uncle, the Archbishop of York.

  ‘At last,’ wrote Croyland, ‘their most loving brother the King agreed to act as mediator, and the whole misunderstanding was set to rest.’ A private war, however, had only just been averted. A seething Clarence had to agree to the carving-up of the Warwick estates, even though he received the greater share of them and was created Earl of Warwick and Salisbury in right of his wife. Gloucester, in turn, was, on marriage, to receive Warwick’s estates in Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumberland, where he would inherit the loyalty and service of those who had served the Nevilles.

  Richard and Anne were married in the spring or summer of 1472 at Westminster, either in the Abbey or in St Stephen’s Chapel. Richard was so anxious for the marriage to go forward that he did not wait for a papal dispensation – which was necessary, as he and Anne were second cousins. After the wedding the couple lived chiefly at Middleham Castle, a massive eleventh-century stronghold on high ground overlooking the River Ure in Yorkshire, which had been previously owned and enlarged by the Nevilles. Although primarily built for defence, the castle was in Richard’s day extremely comfortable, with luxurious private apartments, fireplaces in the domestic ranges, and
communal latrines. The Duke himself built a new great hall with spacious windows above the old keep. There was a chapel, and plenty of accommodation for the many scores of retainers a royal duke needed in his retinue. Middleham is now a ruin, but enough remains to give a good impression of the splendour that once earned it the name ‘the Windsor of the North’.

  We know nothing at all about Richard and Anne’s personal life, nor whether they were happily or unhappily married, nor what they felt about each other. Anne’s health seems to have been delicate, and they had one child only, named Edward of Middleham after the place of his birth, who was probably born in the spring of 1476, as Rous states he was seven and a half in August 1483. He seems to have been a frail boy as he rarely left Middleham, where he was nursed as a baby by one Jane Collins, who earned 100s. per annum, and he was later tutored by a Master Richard Bernall.

  In the summer of 1473 Gloucester arranged for his mother-in-law, the Countess of Warwick, to join the household at Middleham. This unfortunate lady, still in her forties, had been living in the Sanctuary at Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire since Warwick’s death, occupying herself by sending urgent petitions for the restoration of her lands to the King, the Queen, the King’s mother the Duchess of York, and even the young Princess Elizabeth, but to no avail. On 13th June, 1473, the Paston Letters record that ‘the Countess is now out of Beaulieu sanctuary, and Sir James Tyrell conveyeth her northward, men say by the King’s assent’. Tyrell was one of Richard’s most trusted retainers. Rous later stated that the Countess had fled to Gloucester ‘as her chief refuge’, only to find herself ‘locked up for the duration of his life’. As Rous had always taken such a particular interest in the Beauchamp and Neville families, and made it his business to record their deeds, it is quite possible that this was the Countess’s fate. Certainly she made no public appearances after this time. Indeed, both Gloucester and Clarence were instrumental in bringing about the passing, in 1474, of an Act of Parliament settling all the Warwick estates upon themselves in right of their spouses, and ignoring the rights of the Dowager Countess, who was deemed to be ‘naturally’ and legally dead. Gloucester had now learned another valuable political lesson: that Parliament could be manipulated to pass legislation that took no account of the principles of established law.

  4

  Clarence and the Wydvilles

  EDWARD IV MAY have been a licentious man, but his court was decorous and ceremonious. From the beginning his aim was to emulate Burgundy, whose court was then the model for Europe. Thereafter, for several decades, Burgundian influence was to be detected in all aspects of court life.

  Visually, Edward’s court was magnificent – a Bohemian visitor, Gabriel Tetzel, described it in 1466 as ‘the most splendid court that could be found in all Christendom’. The King favoured and refurbished the palaces of the Thames Valley – Westminster, the Tower, Greenwich, Sheen, Eltham and Windsor. In all of these he made extravagant improvements, patronising architects, stonemasons, sculptors, glaziers, silversmiths, goldsmiths, jewellers and merchants dealing in luxury goods such as tapestries and fabrics. Hence the royal palaces were supplied with everything ‘in such costly measure’, says Tetzel, ‘that it is unbelievable that it could be provided’. Rich cloth of Arras adorned the walls, the tables were set with fine napery and gold, silver and gilt plate, chairs and cushions were upholstered in velvet and damask, beds covered with sheets of fine holland cloth and counterpanes of crimson damask or cloth of gold trimmed with ermine. In summer there were elaborate picnics by the river, with tables set up in the gardens under the trees; courtiers could shade themselves in silken tents, and watch the King and his guests glide past along the river in gilded barges: from these issued the music for which Edward’s court was renowned. Croyland tells us that the court presented ‘no other appearance than such as fully befits a most mighty kingdom filled with riches’.

  Court etiquette was very formal and a strict code of courtesy prevailed. Banquets could last three hours and more, and on one occasion the Queen kept her ladies on their knees throughout while she and her guests ate in silence. Even her own mother had to stand until the Queen had been served the first course. On state occasions, and at the Christmas and Easter courts, the King and Queen always appeared wearing their crowns.

  All of this had to be paid for. Although the expenses of his court were actually less in real terms than those of any previous mediaeval English monarch, Edward IV borrowed thousands of pounds from financiers of the City of London and Italian merchant bankers, and pawned some jewels, but in the end stringent economies had to be enforced. These were laid down in the Black Book of the Household in 1471–2 and made Edward rather unpopular, for from thenceforth household supplies such as wood for fires, torches, candles, rushes for floors, straw for mattresses, food, wine and ale were rationed, the duties of servants strictly delineated, and restrictions placed on the number of servants a nobleman might bring to court: a duke was allowed twelve, a baron only four.

  By the early 1470s Edward IV was already carrying out the duties of kingship in a suitably magnificent setting. He was well aware of the political value of lavish display, but during the latter years of his reign there were fewer extravagant ceremonies at court and in public.

  The King’s needs were looked after by the officers of the royal household, which was at the core of the court, but many of these posts were sinecures held by the great magnates and delegated to lesser mortals. Then there were in attendance the royal councillors, the civil servants, the domestic servants, visiting nobles, foreign ambassadors and visitors, the ladies and officers of the Queen’s household, and a whole army of petitioners seeking favours from the King. The purchasing and purveying of influence, grace and favour were the main business of the court. Thus ambitious magnates battled for supremacy in an atmosphere charged with vicious competitiveness and ruthless ambition.

  At the centre of this circle of patronage was the King, to whom all sought access. This was usually granted only after receipt of a written request. The King was seen as the fount of all honours and benefits, but Edward was shrewd and only rewarded those who were prepared to serve him well; there were few time-servers at his court. To his credit, he did not allow his many mistresses any political power, nor did he advance his bastards, but he had promoted and favoured the Wydvilles and in the eyes of many that was thought just as bad, especially since, in the years after 1471, their influence was extended to encompass the heir to the throne.

  In June 1471, Elizabeth Darcy was appointed Lady Mistress of the newly-created Prince of Wales’ nursery, and A vice Welles was given the post of nurse. On 3rd July, the King commanded his chief magnates to swear an oath of allegiance to the Prince as ‘the very undoubted son and heir of our sovereign lord’. Forty-seven lords gave their oath, foremost amongst them being the Dukes of Clarence, Gloucester and Buckingham. Five days later the King issued Letters Patent appointing a council that would be responsible for the administration of his son’s household and estates until he reached the age of fourteen, his expected majority. Its members comprised the Queen, Clarence, Gloucester and a panel of bishops. Sir Thomas Vaughan was given the office of Prince’s Chamberlain; his duty was to walk behind the King, carrying the young Edward in his arms, on ceremonial occasions. Vaughan would remain with Edward for most of his life, offering him dedicated service, and it appears that his charge became very close to him.

  In 1473, when he was three, the Prince of Wales’ household was permanently established at Ludlow Castle on the Welsh Marches. On 23rd September that year a series of ordinances governing the Prince’s upbringing and education were drawn up. Although the régime was rather strict for so young a child, these ordinances reveal the tender love felt by the King for his son, and in some respects they show an enlightened approach to child-rearing. The Prince was to rise each morning ‘at a convenient hour according to his age’, and attend Matins and mass before breakfast. Before dinner he was to be instructed ‘in such virtuous learning as his a
ge shall suffer to receive’. This included listening to ‘such noble stories as behoveth a prince to understand and know’. Afternoons were to be spent in physical activity and the acquiring of the knightly arts such as horsemanship, swordsmanship, tossing the quintain and ‘such convenient disports and exercises as behoveth his estate to have experience in’. After Vespers and supper, the Prince was allowed some time for play, when he could indulge in ‘such honest disports as shall be conveniently devised for his recreation’. Until he was twelve, he was sent to bed at 8.00 pm; from 1482, he was allowed to stay up until 9.00 pm. His tutors and servants were sensibly exhorted ‘to enforce themselves to make him merry and joyous towards his bed’, and once he was asleep a watch was kept over him throughout the night in case sudden illness carry off ‘God’s precious sending and gift’ and the King’s ‘most desired treasure’. No ‘swearer, brawler, backbiter, common hazarder or adulterer’ was ever to be allowed into the household; Edward IV was taking no chances.

  On 10th November, 1473, the Prince’s maternal uncle, Anthony Wydville, Earl Rivers, then aged thirty-one, was appointed his Governor, a post which made him effective ruler of Wales; Rivers was also preferred to the Prince’s newly-formed Council, commissioned in the names of Edward and his mother to govern and restore order to the Welsh Marches on behalf of the King. The Council was nominally accountable to the Prince, but the man with real power was its Lord President, John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester (later Bishop of Ely), who had served briefly as Lord Chancellor of England in 1475 and was a founder of Jesus College, Cambridge. Alcock had also been given responsibility for the Prince’s education, and tutored him personally. The faithful Sir Thomas Vaughan was appointed Treasurer to the Prince, and continued to care for the child’s daily needs, there being no women at Ludlow. Edward’s half-brother, Sir Richard Grey, was also on his Council, as was his mother’s relative, Sir Richard Haute.