Shakespeare's Kings (106 page)

Several
other
noted
preachers
took
up
the
theme,
but
the
Londoners as
a
whole
were
not
persuaded.
They
disliked
being
patronized;
and Shaa's
allegations
were,
so
far
as
they
were
concerned,
an
insult
to
their intelligence.
They
at
least
could
no
longer
fail
to
see
Richard
for
what he
was:
a
man
devoid
of
conscience
or
principle,
who
would
stop
at nothing
to
achieve
his
ambition.
He
might
dress
as
regally
as
he
liked, parade
through
the
city
with
a
dazzling
retinue
of
a
thousand
men
or more,
entertain
hundreds
every
day
to
his
table;
his
popularity
evaporated
until
it
was
as
if
it
had
never
been.
Two
days
after
Shaa's
sermon, Buckingham
himself
addressed
the
mayor,
aldermen
and
all
the
leading citizens
at
Guildhall,
telling
them
of
the
injustices
and
iniquities
they had
suffered
during
the
previous
reign,
blaming
Edward
IV
for
the recent
wars
as
well
as
for
the
murder
of his
own
brother
Clarence,
and castigating
him
for
his
endless
womanizing
from
which,
he
maintained, no
female
in
the
city
had
been
safe.
Would
not
now
all
his
dear
friends present
stand
up
and
call
for
'this
noble
prince,
now
Protector,'
to
be their
King?
They
would
not.
The
only
sound
to
be
heard
in
the
great hall
was
a
low
whispering,
'as
of
a
swarm
of
bees'.

But
there
was
no
going
back
now:
if
Richard
could
not
make
himself King
by
popular
acclamation,
he
would
have
to
do
so
without
it.
On Wednesday
25
June
Buckingham
and
his
principal
followers,
together with
the
Mayor
and
corporation
—
who
by
this
time
were
well
aware

1. More and Holinshed ca
ll him John, but Ralph - or Raff
e, according to Hall and Fabyan - seems to have been his proper name.

of what was expected of them and of what was in store for them if they failed to deliver - visited Richard at his London palace, Baynard's
Castle
. The Protector feigned first astonishment, then reluctance; he impressed all those present with his histrionic abilities, though he deceived no one. At last, with much hesitation he gave his consent. That evening, to confirm and ratify the agreement, a formal petition was drawn up by the lords, knights and burgesses who had come to London for the now-cancelled Parliament. Its words are hard indeed to reconcile with what we know of the ordered and peaceable later reign of Edward IV:

. . . the prosperity of this land daily decreased, so that felicity was turned into misery . . . [Owing to the] murders, extortions and oppressions, namely of poor and impotent people
...
no man was sure of his life, land nor livelihood, nor of his wife, daughter nor servant, every good maiden and woman standing in dread to be ravished and defouled . . .

The said King Edward during his life and the said Elizabeth lived together sinfully and damnably in adultery against the law of God and of his Church
...
It appeareth evide
ntly
and followeth that all the issue and children of the said King Edward be bastards and unable to inherit or to claim anything by inheritance by the law and custom of England.

That same day, Earl Rivers with three of the principal Woodville supporters - Lord Richard Grey, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard Haute - were beheaded on the Protector's orders at Pontefract; their naked corpses were thrown into a common grave.

The final stage of the
coup
took place on Wednesday
26
June, when Richard rode in state from Baynard's Castle to Westminster Hall. On his arrival, in the presence of the assembled Justices of King's Bench and of Common Pleas, he formally seated himself on the marble throne — that same traditional seat of the King as dispenser of justice to which his father had vainly stretched out his hand twenty-three years before. There he took the royal oath, after which he delivered what must have seemed to his audience a remarkably sanctimonious lecture, charging them to administer justice without fear or favour and reminding them that all men were equal in the sight of the law. The reign of King Richard III had begun.

★

The
coronation
took
place
on
Sunday
6
July
1483.
Richard,
in
a
doublet of
blue
cloth
of
gold
and
a
purple
velvet
gown
trimmed
with
ermine, rode
from
the
Tower
-
into
whose
most
sumptuous
apartments
he
had moved
a
few
days
before
—
to
the
Palace
of
Westminster,
accompanied by
Queen
Anne
in
a
magnificent
Utter,
escorted
by
five
ladies-in-waiting on
horseback.
There
followed
the
Duke
of
Buckingham
and
most
of the
English
peerage,
attended
by
a
vast
retinue
of
knights
and
gende-men.
After
a
brief
pause
at
the
palace,
the
King
and
Queen
walked barefoot
to
the
abbey,
where
they
were
duly
crowned.
Despite
the obvious
reluctance
of
Archbishop
Bourchier
to
perform
the
ceremony
—underlined
by
his
refusal
to
attend
the
coronation
banquet
afterwards

-
all
those
present
agreed
that
no
more
impressive
ceremony
could
ever have
been
staged
in
London.

Yet
no
one
could
have
failed
to
note
the
absentees.
Edward
IV's widow,
Queen
Elizabeth,
was
still
in
sanctuary
with
her
daughters
at the
Abbot's
Lodging,
where
the
music
of
the
coronation
service
must have
been
clearly
audible
to
them.
More
significant
still
was
the
absence of
her
two
sons.
Early
in
the
previous
month,
soon
after
the
little
Duke of
York
had
joined
his
brother
in
the
Tower,
the
two
boys
had
been seen
on
several
occasions
playing
together
and
practising
their
archery; more
rece
ntly
,
however,
there
had
been
no
sign
of
them.
Bastards
they might
be,
though
few
people
really
believed
it;
they
remained
the King's
nephews,
and
as
such
might
have
been
expected
to
take
their seats
in
the
abbey,
where
their
very
presence
might
have
been
seen
as an
indication
that
they
had
accepted
their
new
position
and
were
now loyal
subjects
of
their
uncle.
It
would
also
have
successfully
scotched the
rumours
already
circulating
that
they
had
been
quietl
y
done
away with.