Silver Boar - Vol VII No. 3 -September 2000
Editor Jane Wilkinson. B.A.
THE WARWICK FAMILY by Jackie Flooks
GREENHALGH CASTLE by Joyce Rossall
MY THEORY ON RICHARD'S LAST RESTING PLACE by David Mason
THE SECOND BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD
THE VINDICATION OF RICHARD III by Dorothy Mitchell
THE WARWICK FAMILY. by Jackie Flooks.
When Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet, 1471, he left two daughters as co- heiresses of his property and titles. Richard III and his younger daughter, Anne, you will all know about. What you may not know is, that Isabel and Clarence had four children.. First, a child that was born on board ship while the family were fleeing England after the return of Edward IV who had been previously overthrown by Warwick who'd restored Henry V to the throne.
Next child was Margaret, but more of her later. Then can me Edward, later Earl of Warwick who probably was mentally retarded or at the very least a little bit simple
The last child was Richard who died young.
As Ricardians are aware, Clarence accused a servant, Annayette Twynhoe, of poisoning his wife and had her arrested. in June 1477, Clarence was arrested on a charge of treason - eight months later he was found drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine in the Tower of London. What happened to his children? Edward was sent to Sheriff Hutton Castle where he lived with Edward IV s children, this was during the reign of Richard III. Maybe Margaret was here also.
After the Battle of Bosworth the young Earl of Warwick was imprisoned in the Tower by Tudor. Lambert Symnell had tried to impersonate Warwick, so the Earl was paraded through the streets of London to show his true identity. A trap was set to allow the Earl and Perkin Warbeck, also in the Tower, to escape. They were caught and executed. Meanwhile Margaret had married Richard Pole, a relative of Tudor's mother. They had five children. Henry, Arthur Reginald, Geoffrey and Ursula. Reginald became the Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury. Ursula married the son of the third Duke of Buckingham, grandson of Richard s friend, and enemy. Strange how things come about. Ursula had a son, Thomas Stafford, who raised a rebellion against Mary Tudor and attacked Scarborough on the East coast. In fact, he was known as the King of Scarborough, unfortunately he was executed by said Mary. Lord Montague was executed in 1578, partly because the Tudors wished to eliminate all Plantaganets and partly because the Catholic party had supported Catherine of Aragon and had been against the break with Rome.
When Henry Pole was executed his ten year old son disappeared into the Tower and was never seen again. Margaret Pole was executed by Henry VIII, despite having been governess to young Arthur. She was hacked to death by an incompetent axeman. So died the last of Warwick s grandchildren.
Henry Montague s grandson married Catherine Dudley, sister of Robert, the Earl of Leicester.
The Countess of London was a descendant of Margaret, so therefore, if the line of Edward IV was illegitimate, the Countess of London as a right to rule England The last descendant of the House of York Edward Courtney, Earl of Devon was executed in 1556. He was unmarried, therefore had no legitimate issue and bastards could not succeed.
GREENHALGH CASTLE by Joyce Rossall.
Recently I went back to the place of my youth. Back to where Thomas Stanley built his castle, after Bosworth. Greenhalgh castle with which Tudor had rewarded him that sad day in 1485, for "rendering Signal Service" (GARSTANG HISTORY) this visit was tinged with sadness, for the farmhouse was to be sold and I knew that the family would feel the wrench of leaving the old place. I was assured that the oak staircase and ancient doors that Stanley had had crafted for his castle, (removed to the farmhouse in 1650) would remain untouched for future generations.
Once more I climbed the hill to the ruin, the last crumbling tower of a once impregnable fortress, built, with the "backhander" for his treachery at Bosworth. I sat and reflected on this character of the man who changed England s history. Tudor had no qualms about taking lands from the local nobles to give to Stanley. They, in turn, started to fight and took their case to the courts at Lancaster. What is more, they won. Returning triumphantly home, they dallied at The Inn in the small village of Galgate where they celebrated their victory until the small hours. Later they found that all their papers of property ownership had been stolen (no prizes for guessing on whose orders). For the need three years, until the castle was completed, Stanley had to watch his back. Local histories of that time reveal that Thomas Stanley was feared and hated even in his own county. His men burned and pillaged at will. Murder was often on the agenda and what Stanley wanted, he got. In March 1470, he tried to take Homby castle from the Harringtons and Richard of Gloucester was sent to end the dispute. Richard and Stanley met on the banks of the Ribble, near Preston, where a skirmish took place.
I don't believe there was any love lost between Richard and Stanley. One can imagine Stanley s enmity festering over the years until its culmination at Bosworth.
Last year the Stanley s ancestral home at Knowsley was in the news as workmen had discovered the foundations of the original house and excavations were in progress.
One cannot help but wonder what plots Tudor's mother and Stanley hatched within its walls. Perhaps it was even the nerve centre of the plans for Tudor's take over. Who knows?
I was pleased to hear that the family who have taken over Castle Farm, my old home, are keeping the field containing the ruined tower, hoping to preserve what little there is left, if only to remind us of what one man s ruthless ambition achieved.
MY THEORY ON RICHARD III's LAST RESTING PLACE. by David Mason.
Many people have their own theories on the death and remains of Richard III. 1 have always been a person who wants both the facts and proof, as far as possible, on what really happened. This is my account, after many years of endless research and travel to the various sites, of what really happened to Richard III at Bosworth, and later, to his remains.
Richard was at Nottingham castle in what was known as The Tower. From here he sent orders for Norfolk and to join him immediately. On Friday, 19 August, Richard and his army marched from Nottingham castle, arriving in Leicester, via the North Gate, the evening of the following day. On learning that the castle, in the Newarke, was in no fit state to house a king, alternate accommodation was found at The White Boar in High Cross street. At sunrise on the morning of Sunday, 21st August, Richard and his army marched out of Leicester via West Bridge and Bow Bridge. Whilst Richard was crossing West Bridge, an old, blind man sees a vision of the changing of the sun and moon and predicts that England will soon have a new ruler. Whilst riding over Bow Bridge one of his spurs strikes the bridge's parapet and a local witch, Black Anna or Annis, who happened to witness the event, predicted that where Richard's spur had struck, so shall his gashed head on his return.
From Leicester Richard made for Bosworth, via Peckleton, close to Sutton Cheyney, rather than that of Cadesby which is usually suggested. Eventually Richard receives word of Tudor's advance and elects Ambion Hill where he made camp. It is that night that a secret son of Richard's is reputed to have joined him. At sunrise on the morning of the 22nd begins his battle preparations. He visits Sutton Cheyney church where he hears mass, then he rides back to do battle. This soon gets under way. Tudor probably had 5 cannon, Richard around 10. First there s an exchange of arrow fire, then, well you all know what happened next, betrayal, etc. Many blows are rained upon him, a fatal one to the head kills him. The body topples, the crown from his battle helm lands in a hawthorn bush. Upon hearing of Richard s death, his illegitimate son is whisked away to safety. The remainder of Norfolk's men make for Dadlington where they were slaughtered, their bodies buried in Dadlington church yard. In the 1960's was found, whilst widening a stretch of Dadlington road, workmen found a hoard of war weapons which the Yorkists had discarded whilst trying to escape Tudor s army.
Blanc Sanglia, Richard s pursuivant, was forced to ride into Leicester on a mule bearing Richard s naked and mutilated body. Whilst passing over Bow Bridge Richard,s head struck the Bridge just as Black Anna predicted. Richard's body was then displayed, naked, in the church of St Mary of the Annunciation which stood where today's Hawthorn University now stands, opposite Trinity Hospital. The 3 arches of the church can still be seen in its basement. On the 25 th August Henry granted the nearby Greyfriar's Abbey Richard s body for burial, then left Leicester for London. New Street car park now stands where the Abbey once stood.
A section of the Abbey wall still remains along with a bricked up entrance of a secret tunnel which used to link Greyfriars with St Martin's Cathedral. Henry visited Leicester only once more then had a marble monument erected to Richard at a cost of £12.
At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII had Richard's bones thrown from Bow Bridge into the River Soar and his stone coffin used as a horse trough outside The White Horse Inn which used to stand where Boot's Store is in Gallow Tree Gate. The inn keeper then moved it to his back garden and it was featured in the Leicester Mercury a few years ago.
As for the remains of Richard, I would say they have already been found. In the early 60's a Mr Stuart Goddard was commissioned to widen Bow Bridge and to reinforce its foundations. There was a drought, the river had shrunk, two male skeletons were unearthed from the river bed. Experts were called in, research showed that they were males in their early thirties. One had a huge axe gash on the forehead. The skeletons are still in existence today and are kept in the Goddard family vault at their home, the Manor, Newton Harcourt, just up the road from me. I believe that the skeleton with the gashed head to be that of Richard, the other, of Norfolk. The sad thing is the Goddards refuse to have the skeletons D.N.A. tested. A pity also that the skulls cannot be reconstructed like they are on Time Team.
In conclusion, a large collection of artifices found on Bosworth Field are to be seen at The Jewry Hall Museum in Leicester, although no longer on display can be seen in the strong room if permission is granted. As for Henry Tudor's and William Stanley's plans of the Battle, drawn up on the day, these can be seen in the British Museum. London.
SOURCES.
Commission of Array, written at Nottingham June 22, 1495, ordering the mustering of troops.Baffle Plans of Richard, Tudor and Stanley, British Museum. London.
Map of Leicestershire, 1610, John Speed. Leicester Records Office, Wigston, Leicester. Available.
Thomas Featherstone, 1800 s, produced the only sketch of The White Boar Inn, 1838, the year it was demolished
Finds from Bosworth Field. Bosworth Hall,
Chatsworth House, (Devonshire collection) Derbyshire.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD.
This, though more of a skirmish than a battle, was fought on the 1st July, 1644, during the Civil War. The royalist commander, Lord Hastings, and his men were plundering around Hickley when the Roundhead commander, Lord Gray (now there's a couple of names from the past) learning about this sent out an 80 horse force, under the command of Captain Babington, to attack Lord Hastings and his 120 men. The two forces met at Bosworth Field, at Sandeford, where Richard III is said to have been killed. The result, Hasting s men fled, 6 were killed many wounded and about 40 taken prisoners. During the action Babington was shot in the hand, moreover, he only lost one of his men and only a few were wounded. A letter, via Lord Gray and Captain Babington, was addressed to Parliament announcing the action and their victory on July 1st, 1644 from Leicester.
THE VINDICATION OF RICHARD III by Dorothy Mitchell.
Five hundred years did Time trickle through
Indolent fingers. Half a millennium,
One hundred and seventy two thousand,
Five hundred and seventy five digital days
And somniferous nights.
Before entering the next century she was
determined to try and solve history's most
Intriguing mystery,
And set the record straight.So, Time decided that a spiritual court of
Investigation take place.
Arthur of Brittany to act as Inquisitor.
For it was deemed only proper that
Plantaganet tax Plantaganet.
He who should have become a king and was
Killed, interrogate him that killed to
Become a king.
"Call forth the condemned man"
Upon hearing the summons, from that part of
The spirit world where those who are killed in
Battle inhabit, came.......
"King Richard III?"
"That is my name"
"The one whom the world accuses of infanticide?"
"The same"
"A most heinous deed?"
"Agreed"
Brittany grimmed his lips.
Richard's clipped, reluctant responses revealed little.
A different plan of attack must be enacted
If Truth was to he extracted,
"By similar method did my uncle also usurp
England s throne. I likewise was murdered,
In the castle of Rouen, by John's own hands"
"This history ever suspected"
"Your crime still stands"
"That is why I'm here, to be inspected"
"Precisely. How plead you?"
"Guilty"
"Guilty? Good God, man. Then it was true?"The handsome face of haunted torment anguished,
"Permission to sit?"
"Granted"
At this the jury, judges all, attentioned.
Could this be the "Battling Plantaganet retreating
Before Brittany's verbal onslaught?
A stumbling recovery, then valiantly Richard fought...
"Guilty I plead, but of default, not deed, Twas not by
My hand, or command that my nephews were
Feloniously eliminated"
"No? If not by yours, then whose?"
"My cousin, Buckingham, that traitorous wretch,
Whose grasping greed I readily satiated.
The vilest villain who ever moved amongst men"
"With lands and grants and potent place
You made him great. Elaborate"
The jury listened with keen intent...
Edward the Fourth's sudden end.
Richard named as Protector
Whilst the new king remained a minor,
Immediately rescinded by the Woodville faction
Buckingham's immediate inter reaction.
"Immense was your debt, he'd backed your bid for power?"
"True. Too late I learned that his loyalty was but loaned"
"He came and went at will,this Constable of the Tower?"
"Aye, for a day he kept the keys that would unlock
Any villainy he pleased..."
"And?"
Stabbed were Edward's lads by this bloody butcher's hand"Easy to say when the crime was committed,
When the foul deed was done and the corpses
Committed to unconsecrated ground.
An end to unsupported accusation.
Bring forth Buckingham for confrontation.And the monarch, so maliciously maligned by
History's critics, faced once again that rogue
Responsible for his infamous reputation.
His nephews murderer.
Straightway, Brittany began to interrogate.
"When were the Princes killed?"
"End of August, I forget the date"
"By whom, and where?"
"By hired assassins, their bodies buried beneath
A Tower stair"
"At Richard s instigation?"
"No, by me. I hated him as much as the
Woodville conglomeration""But he was your king, and kin. Why?"
"I wanted the throne" came the clever reply,
"I left Richard with a "fait accompli"The jury summed up the evidence.
The "condemned man" had proved his innocence.
Richard had been at Warwick when he d learned
Of the princes demise. Ever after he'd been haunted
With guilt for not keeping keener eyes
On Buckingham's activities.
Satisfied was Time, up to a point.
Within the spirit world Richard Plantaganet was
Vindicated. But he was still a much tormented soul.
Must another five hundred years slide by
On earth, before it likewise acquitted
Richard III of the crime
He never committed?This poem was written in 1985 and this is it's first public appearance. Hope you like it.