The Brothers York Read online

  Thomas Penn

  * * *

  THE BROTHERS YORK

  An English Tragedy

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  Maps

  Family Tree

  Note on the Text

  Introduction

  PART ONE

  Blood Royal

  Winter 1461 – Summer 1464 1 Three Suns

  2 The Rose Stands Alone

  3 The World is Right Wild

  4 Two Kings of England

  PART TWO

  Blind Affection

  Summer 1464 – Spring 1468 5 Now Take Heed What Love May Do

  6 They Are Not to be Trusted

  7 Love Together as Brothers in Arms

  PART THREE

  A Season of Punishment

  Spring 1468 – Summer 1471 8 Robin Mend-All

  9 The Matter Quickeneth

  10 They Think He Will Leave His Skin There

  11 The Knot is Knit Again

  PART FOUR

  Brother Against Brother

  Summer 1471 – Spring 1483 12 A New Foundation

  13 Master of the Game

  14 War Outward

  15 The Most Extreme Purposed Malice

  16 Diamond Cuts Diamond

  17 They Have Taken Away the Rose of the World

  PART FIVE

  The Gaze of Our Inward Eye

  Spring 1483 – Summer 1485 18 Old Royal Blood

  19 No Long Time in Rest

  20 The Castle of Care

  21 A Beginning or End

  Epilogue

  Illustrations

  Acknowledgements

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  About the Author

  Thomas Penn’s bestselling Winter King was a Book of the Year in nine different publications, and was awarded the H. W. Fisher Best First Biography Prize. He has a PhD in late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century history from Clare College, Cambridge, and writes for, among others, the Guardian and the London Review of Books.

  For my parents, Alan and Jessica

  Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;

  Not separated with the racking clouds,

  But sever’d in a pale clear-shining sky.

  See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,

  As if they vow’d some league inviolable:

  Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun.

  In this the heaven figures some event.

  William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3

  These three brothers possessed such surpassing talent that, if they had been able to avoid conflict, their triple bond could have been broken only with the utmost difficulty.

  Crowland Chronicle Continuations, c. 1486

  Herein may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate, virtue and sin.

  William Caxton, Preface to Malory, Morte d’Arthur, 1485

  List of Illustrations

  1. Detail from the Genealogy of Edward IV, from A Chronicle of the History of the World from Creation to Woden, with a Genealogy of Edward IV, c.1461, English School. (Free Library of Philadelphia, PA, MS Lewis E 201. Photo: Bridgeman Images)

  2. Letter from a young Edward IV and his brother Edmund to their father Richard of York, c. 1454. (British Library, London Cotton Vespasian F iii f. 15r. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  3. List of Yorkist supporters and neutrals, c. January-February 1461. (The National Archives, Kew, TNA E163/28/5)

  4. Detail showing Baynard’s Castle from The Panorama of London as seen from Southwark by Anthonis van den Wyngaerde, sixteenth century. (Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Photo: Bridgeman Images)

  5. Portrait of Edward IV, c.1470–1500, English School. (The Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2019. Photo: The Royal Collection Trust/Bridgeman Images)

  6. Monogram of Edward IV. (The National Archives, Kew, TNA C81/1379/15)

  7. Privy Seal warrant of Edward IV, 16 December 1463, ordering a delivery of wine to his brothers George and Richard. (The National Archives, Kew, TNA E101/82/10)

  8. Great seal of Edward IV, fifteenth century. (The National Archives, Kew. Photo: Bridgeman Images)

  9. Gold ‘angel’ coin of Edward IV, c. 1472–3. (British Museum, London E.4701. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum)

  10. Detail from a biblical pedigree of Edward IV, by Thomas Haselden, c. 1464–5. (Jesus College, Oxford, MS Jesus 114. Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, reproduced by kind permission of Jesus College)

  11. Richard’s name and motto, in an English prose version of Hugh de Rotelande, Ipomedon, fifteenth century. (Longleat House MS 257, f. 98v. Photo: © Reproduced by permission of the Marquess of Bath, Longleat House, Warminster, Wiltshire)

  12. Charles the Bold as Count of Charolais. Painting, c.1454–60, workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. (Berlin, SMB, Gemäldegalerie. Photo: akg images)

  13. Portrait of Louis XI, French School, seventeenth century. (State Collection, France. Photo: Bridgeman Images)

  14. Margaret of York, c.1477, Netherlandish School, fifteenth century. (Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo: Bridgeman Images)

  15. Portrait of Tommaso di Folco Portinari and Maria Portinari, by Hans Memling, c. 1470. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 Acc. No. 14.40.626–27). Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art)

  16. Isabelle Neville and Clarence and their son, detail from The Rous Roll, by John Rous, c.1483. (British Library Additional MS 48976, nos 58-9. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  17. Miniature showing the execution of the duke of Somerset, from Histoire de la rentrée victorieuse du roy Edouard IV et son royaume d’Angleterre, 1471, Flemish school. (Ghent University Library, Ghent MS 235 f. 7. Photo: Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent)

  18. Descendants of Countess Anne of Warwick, from the Beauchamp Pageants, c.1483, Netherlandish School. (British Library, London, MS Cotton Julius E. IV, art. 6, f.28. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  19. The author accompanied by Virtues leaving the Forest of Temptation: miniature attributed to the Master of the White Inscriptions, from Jean de Courcy, Le Chemin de Vaillance, last quarter of the fifteenth century. (British Library, London, MS Royal 14 E II, f. 194. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  20. William Caxton, advertisement for the Sarum Ordinal (or Sarum Pye), c.1477 (Bodleian Library, Oxford, G e.37, recto. © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

  21. Garter stall plate of William, Lord Hastings. St George’s Chapel, Windsor. (Photo: Reproduced by permission of the Dean and Canons of Windsor)

  22. Page from a collection of medical recipes. (British Library, London, MS Harleian 1628, f. 35r. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  23. Detail of a medallion of Edward IV from The Genealogy of the kings of England to Richard III (a chronicle of the Percy family to 1485), c.1485. (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Bodleian Rolls 5 view 38. Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)

  24. Detail showing the daughters of Edward IV, from the Royal Window, c.1480, north-west transept of Canterbury Cathedral, Kent. (Photo: Reproduced by courtesy of the Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral)

  25. Richard’s motto and his signature, together with the signatures of Edward V and Henry, duke of Buckingham, plus Buckingham’s motto, 1469. (British Library, London, Cotton Vespasian F xiii, f. 123. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  26. Richard and Anne as king and queen, and their son, detail fro
m The Rous Roll, by John Rous, c.1483. (British Library, London, Additional MS 48976, nos 62–3. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  27. Detail of the illuminated initial of a charter granted by Richard III to the Wax Chandlers, 1484. (Collection of The Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers, London. Photo: By Kind permission of the Beadle of The Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers)

  28. George Brown’s letter to John Paston, c.1483. (British Library, London, Additional MS 34889, f. 72. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  29. Signet warrant of Richard III to chancellor John Russell, bishop of Lincoln, 12 October 1483 (The National Archives, Kew. TNA C81/1392/6)

  30. Signet warrant of Richard III granting a pension to the wife and son of Miles Forest, 8 September 1484 (The National Archives, Kew, TNA PSO 1/58/2963)

  31. Signet warrant of Richard III acquitting his servant Griffith Lloyd of payment of a surety, 18 November 1484 (The National Archives, Kew, TNA PSO 1/58/3000)

  32. Battle standard of Richard III. (British Library, London, MS Harleian 4632, f.242. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  33. Portrait of Richard III by an unknown artist, sixteenth century. (National Portrait Gallery, London. Photo: © National Portrait Gallery)

  Endpapers: British Library, London, MS Harleian 4632, f.242. Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images

  Note on the Text

  I have modernized spellings throughout, including surnames: the family of Edward IV’s queen is ‘Woodville’ rather than the variant ‘Wydeville’. All quotations have likewise been silently modernised.

  The medieval year started on 25 March; notwithstanding this, people celebrated New Year on 1 January. Dating here is in New Style, with the beginning of the year silently adjusted to 1 January.

  Then, as now, the English system of money was based on pounds and pence. There, the similarities end. One pound (liber, abbreviated to l.) comprised 240 pennies (denari, or d.). Other common values were the shilling (solidus, or s.), worth twelve pence, and the mark, worth two thirds of a pound or 160 pence. Edward IV’s recoinage in 1465 introduced two new coins: the rose-noble or ryal (10s.); and the noble-angel, valued at 6s 8d.

  The average yearly income for a knight was around £200; the minimum qualification for gentry status roughly £10 per annum. A skilled labourer could expect to receive anywhere between £6 and £9 per year; the day rate of an agricultural labourer was 4d. The website measuringworth provides a detailed approach to the knotty issue of ascribing modern monetary worth to historical currency values.

  Introduction

  During the mid-fifteenth century, England was crippled by civil war. The conflict dragged on for three decades and more, successive waves of violence engulfing the country before subsiding again, leaving behind a wreckage of mutual mistrust, suspicion and profound instability. This sequence of vendettas and turf wars became known as the Wars of the Roses: a struggle between the two royal houses of York and Lancaster, red rose against white, for the English crown. This was the story told by the Tudors, the leviathan of a dynasty that professed to unite these two warring houses. It was neater that way.

  Yet for most of this period only one of these families dominated England: the house of York. The Yorkist kings – Edward IV, followed by his youngest brother Richard III – ruled the country for just under a quarter of a century, between 1461 and 1485. These years saw the civil wars change in nature. In 1461, the conflict was indisputably between two rival families, the usurping eighteen-year-old Edward taking the crown from the tremulous grasp of the Lancastrian king Henry VI. In the years that followed it began to turn inwards: a destructive chain of rebellion, deposition, vendetta, fratricide, usurpation and regicide, all originating within the house of York itself. The dynasty’s end was brutal. It came on 22 August 1485 at Bosworth, with the killing of Richard III, the ritual humiliation of his battered body and his burial in an unmarked grave in a Leicester priory. But whatever the victorious Tudors later liked to say about Bosworth being the victory of the red rose over the white, the battle was also a settling of scores between two factions of the house of York: white on white.

  At the heart of this was the relationship between three royal brothers: Edward IV; Richard duke of Gloucester, later Richard III; and, sandwiched between them, the middle brother George duke of Clarence, who wanted to be king but never was. Contemporaries acknowledged that these were three men of unusual gifts: shoulder to shoulder, they were practically invincible. Yet as one Yorkist insider put it in the aftermath of Bosworth, the three brothers could not avoid conflict with each other. This, he implied, was the tragic flaw in the Yorkist dynasty.

  The rise and fall of the house of York remains one of the most seductive and contested stories in English history. By the usual dynastic standards, it was over in the blink of an eye, the Yorkists’ twenty-four-year period in power lasting as long as their successor Henry VII’s reign on its own. The three brothers themselves burned fiercely and died young: Edward at forty; Clarence at twenty-eight; and Richard still only thirty-two when he was killed at Bosworth. Yet the house of York did shake off its usurper origins to establish itself as England’s undisputed ruling dynasty. In the process, it achieved a kind of greatness, restoring the monarchy’s authority and reforming its finances, creating conditions for renewed peace and prosperity. This all happened under Edward IV’s rule. A king of flawed, compulsive magnificence, his manifold excesses and contradictions provoked both admiration and disgust in contemporaries, and have often left historians struggling to reconcile them.

  When Edward seized the throne, Clarence was eleven; Richard was eight. The civil turmoil in which the brothers grew up shaped the way they saw the world and their place in it. It was a time of acute insecurity, when political, social and legal norms were bent out of shape by warring protagonists for whom the system had long since ceased to work and who sensed, in its weaknesses, an opportunity to remould the world according to their desires. At times, the centre seemed unable to hold. Politicians urging unity and moderation watched aghast as factions tore at each other, all restraint set aside. This was a landscape littered by murders and executions enacted through fearful self-defence and hungry ambition, and justified with the merest skim of legal process. Speaking the language of populism and clamouring for reform, squabbling elites raised private armies and manipulated widespread public discontent to their own advantage, sparking insurgency and revolt against a battered political establishment. The system of hereditary monarchy itself seemed to teeter on the brink.

  These outbreaks of bloody score-settling appalled contemporaries. In trying to make sense of the disorder people reached for the language of sickness, both in terms of explaining what had happened to politics and how it made them feel. Trying to survive in this failing, uncertain system was a matter of political agility, timing and luck – and, in the tangle of extended families and networks of affinity that bound England together, it was all too easy to make the wrong choices. Existing attachments and loyalties became more contingent, quickly dropped in favour of new friendships, only to be abandoned in turn.

  All this was especially pronounced for the conflict’s leading protagonists. Circumstances had thrust Edward, Clarence and Richard into a place of exceptional power and wealth. For all three brothers, the sense that they could lose it all at an instant was rarely absent. This sense of precariousness and possibility was, at times, overwhelming. It distorted their behaviour and decision-making, their views of the world and of each other.

  This is a story that stretches across England and Wales: from London and Westminster, the country’s financial and political heart, and the luxurious royal houses of the Thames valley to the north of the country, which it suited some to portray as a very different land – wilder, remote, pricklingly independent, heavily militarized. It moves beyond national boundaries: further north, to Scotland; a
cross the English Channel, to the courts of France and its antagonistic ducal satellites Burgundy and Brittany; to the great entrepôts of Flanders, in whose counting houses, warehouses and ateliers the shockwaves of England’s civil conflict made themselves felt; and to the offices of the Medici bank in Florence and the lobbies of the papal curia in Rome.

  For if the Wars of the Roses were a domestic concern, fought on English soil, they were inextricably entangled with European affairs. The country’s very relationship and attitude to northern Europe were slowly being reshaped. The doubtful glories of the Hundred Years War, with English kings seeking the crown of France, were fading from view; after centuries England was becoming once more an island nation. This was a state of affairs that the Yorkist kings were reluctant to acknowledge, as their entangled, often aggressive, constantly shifting relationships with their northern European neighbours – themselves in a state of flux – made all too clear. These relationships were to play an instrumental role in the house of York’s downfall.

  Other key players, of course, drove and defined this evolving conflict, among them Richard earl of Warwick, ‘the kingmaker’, the powerful, manipulative mentor to all three brothers; and Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s divisive queen, and her upwardly mobile family. Around them was an equally compelling supporting cast, from men like Edward’s loyal friend William Hastings and his legal enforcer John Tiptoft, a man of cultured savagery, to the influential servants and officials, fixers and hangers-on who were the connective tissue of the Yorkist regime and who, ultimately, were involved in ripping it apart. This book portrays a world of household and court that, in its claustrophobic politicking, perhaps resembles the stifling world of the Yorkists’ successor Henry Tudor more closely than historians have hitherto allowed.