Shakespeare's Kings (105 page)

It
was
Friday
13
June
when
the
Duke
of
Gloucester
summoned
a meeting
at
the
Tower
to
discuss
the
final
details
of
the
coming
coronation.
By
this
time
he
was
increasingly
reluctant
even
to
sit
down
with the
Woodvilles,
and
had
consequently
split
the
Council
into
two
parts. This
particular
gathering
consisted
largely
of
his
own
adherents;
also present
were
Hastings
and
Stanley,
together
with
Thomas
Rotherham, Archbishop
of
York,
and
John
Morton,
Bishop
of
Ely.
¹
Richard
arrived at
about
nine
in
the
morning
in
what
appeared
to
be
a
genial
mood, asking
Morton
to
get
him
some
strawberries
from
the
garden
of
his palace
in
Holborn.
Soon
after
the
discussion
had
begun,
however,
he suddenly
left
the
room,
reappearing
an
hour
and
a
half
later
frowning and
withdrawn.
The
table
fell
silent.
What
did
people
deserve,
he
asked very
quietl
y,
for
having
plotted
'the
destruction
of
me,
being
so
near of
blood
unto
the
King,
and
Protector
of
his
royal
person
and
his realm'?
Hastings
replied
at
once
such
men
should
be
punished
as
traitors. Only
then
did
the
Duke
identify
those
to
whom
he
referred:
'yonder sorceress,
my
brother's
wife,
and
others
with
her
.
.
.
You
shall
all
see,' he
continued,
'in
what
wise
that
sorceress
and
that
other
witch
of
her counsel,
Shore's
wife,
with
their
affinity
have
by
their
sorcery
and

1. Morton later became Archbishop of Canterbury and a Cardinal. It was almost certainly his eyewitness account of the meeting which formed the basis for that of Sir Thomas More, the fullest and most circumstantial that we have.

witchcraft
wasted
my
body.'
With
that
he
pulled
up
his
left
sleeve
to show
his
withered
arm.

Had
Richard
been
seriously
concerned
to
prove
his
sincerity,
this would
have
been
a
serious
mistake:
all
those
present
were
well
aware that
his
arm
had
been
damaged
since
his
birth.
But
perhaps
he
hardly cared.
Suddenly
he
turned
on
Hastings
who,
having
kept
Jane
Shore for
some
years
as
his
mistress,
had
ill-advisedly
attempted
to
defend
her. 'They
have
so
done!'
he
shouted.
'And
that
will
I
make
good
upon
thy body,
traitor!'
His
fist
crashed
down
on
the
table;
outside
there
were cries
of
'Treason!';
and
a
body
of
armed
men
burst
into
the
chamber. One
attacked
Stanley,
who
dived
under
the
table,
blood
streaming down
his
face.
He
was
arrested,
together
with
Rotherham
and
Morton. But
Richard's
eyes
were
on
Hastings,
whom
he
told
to
find
a
priest and
confess
himself
at
once,
'for
by
St
Paul
I
will
not
to
dinner
till
I
see thy
head
off.'
The
poor
man
was
beheaded
within
the
hour,
on
Tower Green.
¹
As
to
the
other
accused,
the
Queen
was
still
in
sanctuary
and could
not
be
touched;
Jane
Shore
was
arrested
and
put
on
trial,
first
for witchcraft
and
then
-
when
not
a
shred
of
evidence
could
be
found against
her
-
for
harlotry,
where
admittedly
she
was
on
somewhat weaker
ground.
She
was
condemned,
as
the
Duchess
of
Gloucester
had been
condemned
forty-two
years
before,
²
to
walk
barefoot
through
the streets
of
London
carrying
a
lighted
taper
in
her
hand;
but
the
punishment
seems
to
have
misfired.
She
looked
so
beautiful
that
every
male heart
in
the
crowd
went
out
to
her;
and
it
was
Richard
of
Gloucester, rather
than
Jane
Shore,
whose
reputation
suffered.

Having
dealt
to
his
satisfaction
with
the
Woodvilles
and
with
the
two
little
Princes
now
firmly
in
his
power,
Richard
could
proceed
with
the second
half
of
his
plan.
His
first
action
was
once
again
to
postpone
his nephew's
coronation.
The
next
task
-
a
good
deal
harder
-
was
to persuade
the
people
that
he,
Richard
of
Gloucester,
was
their
rightful King.
Since
there
could
be
no
doubt
that
Edward
V
was
the
legitimate heir
of
Edward
IV,
this
meant
accusing
the
latter
-
his
own
brother
-of
bastardy,
even
at
the
cost
of
dishonouring
their
mother,
the
old

1.
Hastings was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, in a tomb close t
o that of
Edward IV - as the King had specifically asked.

2.
See Chapter
ii
, p. 228-9.

Duchess
of
York,
who
was
still
very
much
alive.
The
propaganda campaign
began
with
a
sermon
preached
at
St
Paul's
Cross,
just
outside the
cathedral,
on
Sunday
22
June
1483
by
a
certain
Dr
Ralph
¹
Shaa,
or Sha,
or
Shaw,
brother
of
the
mayor
of
London.
Dr
Shaa,
not
content with
claiming
that
Edward
IV,
Rudand
and
Clarence
had
all
been bastards
and
that
only
Richard
was
legitimate,
also
held
that
Edward's marriage
to
Elizabeth
Woodville
was
invalid,
he
having
already
plighted his
troth
to
Lady
Eleanor
Butler,
the
daughter
of
the
Earl
of
Shrewsbury, who
had
borne
him
a
child.
Both
Lady
Eleanor
and
the
child
were long
since
dead,
but
they
had
been
alive
at
the
time
of
the
marriage
to Elizabeth
and
canon
law
in
those
days
held
the
ceremony
of
'troth-plight',
unless
formally
dissolved,
to
be
as
binding
as
matrimony
itself; it
would
certainly
have
been
enough
to
have
invalidated
the
marriage.