Edward IV

by Charles Ross

  1 CPR, 1467–77, 173, 175–6.

  2 Below, pp. 144–5.

  1 For a discussion of this view, and the evidence, see Appendix V.

  2 E.g., S. B. Chrimes, Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 103; J. R. Lander, ‘The Treason and Death of the Duke of Clarence: a Re-interpretation’, Canadian Journal of History, ii (1967), 4 n.

  3 See Appendix V.

  4 Warkworth, Chronicle, 8; R. L. Storey, ‘Lincolnshire and the Wars of the Roses’, Nottingham Medieval Studies, xiv (1970), 64–82.

  5 J. Smyth, Lives of the Berkeleys, II, 111–12.

  1 Coventry Leet Book, II, 353; Scofield, I, 511. Welles and his son were pardoned on 3 March, Dymmock on 6 March.

  2 According to Edward’s proclamation from Newark on 16 March, CCR, 1468–76, 137–8.

  1 ‘Confession of Sir Robert Welles’. For the support for Redesdale, see the pardon to Richard FitzWilliam, sheriff of Lincolnshire, November 1468-November 1469, for great losses ‘through the insurrection of divers lieges’, CPR, 1467–77, 185.

  2 Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire, 6.

  3 The narrative which follows is based, except where otherwise stated, on Chron. Lines. Rebellion, 6–16, from which the quotations come; ‘Confession of Sir Robert Welles’; Warkworth, 8–9; Kingsford, Chronicles of London, 180–1; Flenley, Six Town Chronicles, 164 (names of lords with Edward); Polydore Vergil, English History, 126–8; CPR, 1467–77, 218 (commissions of array to Warwick and Clarence, 7 March, issued verbally).

  1 CPR, 1467–77, 217, for commissions 16 March to FitzWarin, Dinham and the sheriff of Devon against the Courtenays. For the close connections of Sir Hugh Courtenay of Boconnoc and Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham and his several sons with Clarence, see J. A. F. Thomson, ‘The Courtenay Family in the Yorkist Period’, BIHR, xlv (1972), 234–8.

  1 These lords were with the king at York on 25 March, P.R.O., C. 53/195, m. 1; for the commissions, CPR, 1467–77, 199–200.

  2 PL, V, 71.

  3 CPR, 1467–77, 218–19 (25 April 1470).

  4 The details which follow are derived mainly from Wedgwood, Hist. Parl., Biog., s.n. For Wrottesley, see G. Wrottesley, ‘A History of the Family of Wrottesley’, Collections Hist. Staffs., vi (ii), (1903), 220; for Courtenay, Thomson, op. cit., 234–5.

  1 CPR, 1467–77, 208–9, 212.

  2 According to CSP, Milan, I, 137, quoting information received from an English knight on his way to Jerusalem, Talbot, Stanley and John, Lord Scrope, were named as lords in the company of Warwick and Clarence, and he found it prudent to take out a pardon on 26 April (CPR, 1467–77, 210).

  3 PL, V, 71; Polydore Vergil, English History, 128; CPR, 1467–77, 211 (pardon, 2 June); Kendall, Richard III, 83–4, 448 n.

  1 Archbishop George Nevill, however, was less trustworthy, and his arrest was ordered on 3 April (CPR, 1467–77, 217).

  2 Chron. Lines. Rebellion, 16–18; CCR, 1468–76, 137–8.

  3 Rymer, Foedera, XI, 648. He also gave bonds for £5,000 for his good behaviour in the next six months, and the bishop of Ely, Arundel, Kent and Ferrers stood surety for him in a further £3,000 (CCR, 1468–76, 100–1).

  1 Warkworth, Chronicle, 10; J. M. W. Bean, The Estates of the Percy Family, 109–10. The West-Country estates may have compensated for the Percy lands in Northumberland, but he received nothing in exchange for the rest of the Percy inheritance placed in the custody of the new earl on 26 March 1470 (CPR, 1467–77, 206). For the wardenship, see R. L. Storey, ‘Wardens of the Marches’, 615.

  2 Below, pp. 163–4, 202–3.

  1 For these events, and the summary account of Warwick’s activities in France which follows, see in general Scofield, I, 518–36; Calmette and Perinelle, Louis XI et l’Angleterre, 109, 120; Kendall, Warwick, 259, 275; and for the naval operations, C. de la Ronciere, Histoire de la marine française, II, 339–46. The chief contemporary sources are Commynes, I, 192–200; Waurin, ed. Dupont, III, 28–46; ‘The Manner and Guiding of the Earl of Warwick at Angers’, in Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd ser., I, 132–5, also printed in Chron. White Rose of York, chronology as revised by Calmette and Perinelle, 114; Chastellain, Chronique, V, 467–8; CSP, Milan, I, 137–43; Lettres de Louis XI, ed. Vaesen, IV, 110–31.

  2 According to La Ronciere, op. cit., II, 340, the English fleet was commanded by Rivers, not Howard; but Rivers’s appointment was not sealed until 23 June, and part of his squadron was still being mustered on 27 June (CPR, 1467–77, 217, 221; T. Carte, Catalogue, II, 361).

  3 Above, p. 109. Kendall, op. cit., 261, suggests that the idea was Warwick’s.

  1 They could not be formally married, since a dispensation for their relationship in the fourth degree could not be obtained at such short notice: they had a common great-grandfather in John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. They were later married at Amboise, probably on 13 December 1470 (Calmette and Perinelle, 139–40).

  2 Though early Tudor sources say they landed at Dartmouth (e.g. Polydore Vergil, English History, 132; GC, 211; Kingsford, Chron. London, 181), more contemporary writers say Devonshire or the West Country (Warkworth, Chronicle, 10; Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, 183; CC, 553

  1 Commynes, I, 197, 200.

  2 Chronique, V, 486, 492–3.

  3 Calmette and Perinelle, 117, 119; Scofield, I, 523; Jacob, Fifteenth Century, 560.

  4 Chastellain, Chronique, as above.

  5 Above, p. 22.

  1 T. Carte, Catalogue, II, 361; where Howard’s name is given as Thomas, but John Howard was deputy for Hastings in July 1471; Scofield, I, 521 (for Rivers); II, 11.

  2 CPR, 1467–77, 206, 209, 220; Chronicle of John Stone, ed. W. G. Searle (Cambridge Antiquarian Soc., 1902), 113.

  3 CPR, 1467–77, 208. John Porter, master of the Trinity, was given an annuity of £20.

  4 La Ronciere, op. cit., II, 341–4; Scofield, I, 526. For the importance of this element of priority, which had been clearly put before parliament in 1454 by Edward’s father, Duke Richard, see C. F. Richmond, ‘English Naval Power in the Fifteenth Century’, History, Iii (1967), 1–4, 12.

  1 La Ronciere, II, 344; Richmond, op. cit., 4.

  2 Below, p. 169.

  3 Richmond, op. cit., 8, for Warwick’s use of sea-power.

  4 CPR, 1467–77, 207.

  5 Ibid., 209–11. Montagu was present at a meeting of the Great Council at Canterbury in June, went north later, was appointed to a large commission of oyer and terminer for Lincolnshire on 11 July, but was omitted from that for Yorkshire on 21 August (ibid., 221; Chron. John Stone, 114).

  1 GC, 211; Chron. White Rose (‘Hearne’s Fragment’), 29; CPR, 1467–77, 214–16 (pardons to rebels on 10 September).

  2 PL, V, 80.

  3 Chastellain, Chronique, V, 492; Commynes, I, 198–200; Scofield, I, 523, citing accounts of the treasurer of Calais.

  4 PL, V, 80, a view echoed by Scofield, I, 535; Oman, Warwick, 205; Ramsay, Lancaster and York, II, 335.

  1 GC, 211; Chron. White Rose, 28–9; CPR, 1467–77, 214–16; PL, V, 83 (Edward’s letter of 7 September).

  1 The date of Edward’s sailing is established precisely by the records of King’s Lynn, quoted in W. I. Haward, ‘Economic Aspects of the Wars of the Roses in East Anglia’, EHR, xii (1926), 179; not 29 September, as Scofield, I, 542, and other modern writers, following Warkworth, 11. For the events described above, CC, 553–4; GC, 211; Waurin, ed. Dupont, III, 46–8; Commynes, I, 201–5; Chastellain, Chronique, V, 501–3, 508; Chron. White Rose of York, 28–9.

  2 Chastellain and Commynes, as above; the latter says (I, 205) that Edward had 500 men in his company.

  3 Ibid., I, 204.

  4 Thus, for example, Warkworth, 10–11.

  5 Commynes, I, 202. The King’s Lynn records (cited above, in Haward, op. cit., 179) say Edward had 3,000 men with him when he reached there.

  1 E.g., Commynes, I, 200–1; Warkworth, Chronicle, 10; Calmette and Perinelle, 317–318 (a letter written from Bruges, 11 October).

  2 Benson and Hatc
her, Old and New Sarum, 175.

  3 Coventry Leet Book, II, 358–9

  1 For the arrests, Hanserecesse von 1431–1476, ed. G. von der Ropp, II, 416; Norfolk at least was at liberty by 16 October, CPR, 1467–77, 245. For the writs, Wedgwood, Hist. Parl., Reg., 378–82. What follows on the Readeption concerns only matters relevant to Edward’s invasion; for general accounts, see Scofield, I, 543–65; Kendall, Warwick, 281–308; Jacob, Fifteenth Century, 561–6.

  2 Warkworth, Chronicle, 13; GC, 212–13; Kingsford, Chronicles of London, 182–3.

  3 Scofield, I, 555, and Ramsay, op. cit., follow the authority of Warkworth and Polydore Vergil for the view that Lancastrian attainders were reversed, and Yorkists other than Edward and Gloucester were attainted; cf. Wedgwood, op. cit., 375, for a more likely view. The absence of any grants on the Patent and Fine Rolls from forfeited estates, and the respect for the rights of heirs, show conclusively that none of Edward supporters was attainted, and that his grants by letters patent were respected.

  1 CPR, 1467–77, 233; CFR, 1461–71, 293, 295. Montagu was restored to his wardenship of the East March, which had been given to Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, on 24 June, and was given the wardship of the estates of the earl of Worcester during the heir’s minority, and of those of John, Lord Clifford (d. 1461); R. L. Storey, ‘Wardens of the Marches’, EHR, lxxii (1957), 615. For grants to Pembroke (including custody of lands of William Herbert and Lord Grey of Powys during minority, CPR, 1467–77, 236, 243; CFR, 1461–71, 283–4.

  2 J. R. Lander, ‘Treason and Death of the Duke of Clarence’, esp. pp. 14–15; and below, pp. 242–3. He may have been recognized as heir to the Duchy of York.

  1 CPR, 1467–77, 241–3; Rymer, Foedera, XI, 693; Scofield, I, 543.

  2 Arrivall of Edward IV, 10 (for this source see below, p. 162); it also details the pressures mentioned below.

  3 CPR, 1467–77, 251–2.

  4 Ibid., 611–12. Yorkists removed from the bench include Howard, Dudley, Dinham, Mountjoy, Audley and Ferrers (ibid., 607–38).

  1 Arrivall, 2, 10.

  2 Polydore Vergil, English History, 112. The Arrivall, 6, also implies that his loyalties were ambivalent in March 1471.

  3 PL, V, 84–5.

  4 Warkworth, Chronicle, 11.

  5 Arrivall, 3–4.

  1 Calmette and Perinelle, 128–33; Scofield, I, 555–63; A. R. Myers, ‘The Outbreak of War between England and Burgundy in February 1471’, BIHR, xxxiii (1960), 114–15.

  2 Scofield, I, 542 n. The figure of £15,000 is a likely guess by Kendall, Warwick, 288 n.

  3 Ibid., 288–9, citing London Journal 7, ff. 225, 23013–231; and for 1460–61, above, p. 35.

  4 Coventry Leet Book, II, 362; the nature of local militia service is discussed at length by M. R. Powicke, Military Obligation in Medieval England, 182–210, 216–20. Internal defence might include war against the Welsh and Scots.

  1 Commynes, I, 207–11; Commynes, ed. Dupont, III, 271–2 (for the duke’s instructions to Commynes on his mission of friendship).

  2 Commynes, I, 211–12; Scofield, I, 562.

  3 Warkworth, Chronicle, 11; Pugh, The Fifteenth Century, 109 and n.

  4 Calmette and Perinelle, Pièces Justificatives, nos 40 (Edward’s letter to Brittany) and 41 (letter from Bruges to the earl of Ormond, 19 January 1471); Hanserecesse, II, 404–5; Commynes, I, 212; Arrivall, 2; the size of the forces is estimated at 1,200 by Warkworth, 13 (900 English, 300 Flemings with hand-guns) and by Waurin, ed. Dupont, III, 97, probably from French version of the Arrivall; at 2,000 by Arrivall, 1, and Hist. MSS Comm., Rutland MSS, I, 3–4 (Warwick’s letter to Henry Vernon); at 1,000 by GC, 214 (500 English, 500 Flemings).

  1 CPR, 1467–77, 250 (naval preparations); for naval operations, Scofield, I, 554; Calmette and Perinelle, 129; La Ronciere, op. cit., II, 347–50. The letter from Bruges cited in the previous note shows that precise information of Edward’s preparations was reaching a Lancastrian supporter in Rouen.

  1 For these events, and those of the next six weeks, the principal source, on which the following narrative of Edward’s campaign is largely based, is the official account known as the Arrivall of Edward IV. Despite its partisan nature, it is an invaluable narrative, written by one of Edward’s servants who was an eye-witness of much that he describes. It was completed, at least in its shorter form, by 29 May 1471 (Kingsford, English Historical Literature, 174–5). Three French versions of it exist, one of which was used by Waurin (ed. Dupont, III, 96–147), and these have some independent value; see J. A. F. Thomson, ‘“The Arrival of Edward IV” – The Development of the Text’, Speculum, xlvi (1971), 84–93. Other useful narratives are in Warkworth, Chronicle, 13–20; Polydore Vergil, English History, 136–54; CC, 554–6.

  2 CSP, Milan, I, 151 (letter from Beauvais, 9 April).

  1 Warkworth, 14; Arrivall, 3–7.

  2 Arrivall, 7. This lack of support even on York estates is in marked contrast to that aroused by Henry of Lancaster in 1399; see T. B. Pugh, The Fifteenth Century, 109.

  1 Arrivall, 6–7.

  1 Hist. MSS Comm., Rutland MSS, I, 3 (Clarence’s letter to Vernon); for Shrewsbury’s connections with Clarence, above, p. 119; and for the Stanley-Harrington feud, below, pp. 408–9.

  2 According to the French version of the Arrivall, cited by Thomson, op. cit., 91.

  3 Arrivall, 7–12.

  1 GC, 215.

  2 Cited by Scofield, I, 575; Commynes, I, 213.

  3 GC, 216.

  4 According to a letter from Duchess Margaret of Burgundy to the dowager duchess of Burgundy, April 1471, Waurin, ed. Dupont, III, 210–15.

  5 Loc. cit.; Arrivall, 17; GC, 216; letter of Gerhard von Wesel, Hanserecesse, II, 416.

  1 This is the figure given by the Arrivall, 21; cf. Warkworth, Chronicle, 15 (7,000), Duchess Margaret’s letter (12,000). Estimates of the size of the Nevill-Lancastrian army vary from 20,000 to 30,000 in these same sources, but they agree that it was larger.

  2 Contemporary accounts of the battle are in Arrivall, 18–21, from which the quotations below are taken; Warkworth, 15–17; Duchess Margaret’s letter, as above. Later and less reliable versions are in GC, 216–17, and Polydore Vergil, English History, 144–7. For modern reconstructions, with plans, see Ramsay, Lancaster and York, II, 370–3, and with a more plausible topography, Burne, Battlefields of England, 108–16, Kendall, Richard III, 93–9, 449–50, and Warwick the Kingmaker, 317–22. Burne was misled by later sources into making the duke of Somerset commander of the Lancastrian centre, though he was not present at the battle at all.

  1 Arrivall, 20–1, and other sources cited above. Sir John Paston, who was present and wounded at the battle, put the casualties on both sides at ‘more than 1,000’ (PL, V, 100); cf. Commynes, I, 215 (1,500 on Edward’s side).

  1 For this paragraph, see Arrivall, 22; Warkworth, Chronicle, 16; Scofield, I, 558–9, 563–4, 582–3; Calmette and Perinelle, 133–42.

  2 Arrivall, 23; Ramsay, op. cit., II, 376.

  3 Arrivall, 31; CPR., 1467–77, 285–8.

  1 This account of the campaign up to the eve of Tewkesbury is based very largely on the Arrivall, 23–8. For a useful table of times and distances, Burne, Battlefields of England, 117–25. For the raising of troops, CPR, 1467–77, 259, 283–5; Coventry Leet Book, II, 367–9; Benson and Hatcher, Old and New Sarum, 178–9.

  1 The only detailed contemporary account of the battle is in Arrivall, 28–30. The best modern reconstruction of the terrain, followed here, is by J. D. Blyth, ‘The Battle of Tewkesbury’, Trans. Bristol and Gloucs. Arch. Soc., lxxx (1961), 99–120. Cf. Burne, op. cit., 125–36; Kendall, Richard III, 101–3; Ramsay, op. cit., 378–81.

  1 All immediately contemporary sources agree that he was killed in the fighting: see Arrivall, 30; PL, V, 104; ‘Brief Latin Chronicle’, in Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, 184; ‘Yorkest Notes, 1471’ and ‘Tewkesbury Abbey Chronicle’, both printed in Kingsford, English Historical Literature, 374, 377; Warkworth, Chronicl
e, 18, which adds that he called to Clarence for succour. Cf. CC, 555. The elaborate scene in Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part III, V, v, is based essentially on Tudor sources, see GC, 218; Polydore Vergil, English History, 152; Hall, Chronicle, 301.

  2 For a list of those spared, Warkworth, Chronicle, 19; cf. Arrivall, 30–1; Waurin, ed. Dupont, III, 140; ‘Tewkesbury Abbey Chronicle’, as above, for this paragraph.

  1 Arrivall, 33; Warkworth, 19. Calais proper was controlled at this time by Sir Walter Wrottesley and Sir Geoffrey Gate, who had rebelled with Warwick in 1470, and the subordinate castles of Guines and Hammes by Richard Whetehill and John Blount, both Nevill appointees. The Bastard seems to have landed before 3 May, when commissions were issued to check insurrections in Kent (CPR, 1467–77, 285).

  2 Arrivall, 32–3. Scofield, I, 589, shows that Edward heard of the northern risings before he left Tewkesbury, not, as the Arrivall suggests, when he reached Worcester.

  3 The following summary account of the attack on London is largely based upon the recent discussion by C. F. Richmond, Fauconberg’s Kentish Rising of May 1471’, EHR, lxxxv (1970), 673–92, and the contemporary accounts in GC, 218–20, and Arrivall, 33–9 (from which the quotation comes).

  1 Accounts of Edward’s entry are in Warkworth, Chronicle, 21; Arrivall, 38; Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, 184–5; and the very contemporary record in ‘Yorkist Notes, 1471’, printed in Kingsford, op. cit., 375, which names twenty-seven of the lords in Edward’s company, and from which the quotation comes.