Succession (39 page)

In this year, being the first year of the reign of King Edward IV, Henry Tudor, only son and heir of Edmund, late Earl of Richmond, and Margaret, Countess of Richmond, was taken from the custody of his uncle, Jasper Earl of Pembroke, and given to one who had caused the deaths of his father, Edmund, and grandfather, Owen, for the duration of his minority, he being at that time four years old, and the right of his marriage awarded to the same.

She paused to press the heel of her hand to her eyes.

Contrary to the will and expectation of his mother, who was wonderfully grieved by this judgement, cast down utterly and brought so low that she could not see how she might once again begin to rise.

 

chron-i-cle: A factual written account of important or historical events in the order of their occurrence
.

England has a rich and varied tradition of chronicle writing. Most early chronicles were written by monks and associated with the great monastic houses, which often had a designated chronicler. The most famous example of this was the monastery of St Albans, a great Benedictine house one day’s journey from London, and thus well placed to receive important guests – monarchs and aristocrats, papal nuncios, etc. – and to record contemporary events in the capital and all over Europe. John Whethamsted, abbot of St Albans from 1420–40, and then from 1452–65, encouraged the compilation of Registers, recording local history (including the accounts of the two battles of St Albans), and may have written some of these himself.

The monastery of Crowland provided a chronicle with continuations that conclude in 1486, and seem not to have been written by a monk, but by a bishop or lawyer who was staying in the monastery.

By the fifteenth century the monastic tradition of chronicle writing was in decline. The Lancastrian kings, however, from Henry IV onwards, were great patrons of literature. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, fourth son of Henry IV, effectively created the university library at Oxford by his great gifts of books. In the reign of Henry VI, various colleges at both Oxford and Cambridge were founded, including King’s College, Cambridge, and Eton College, Windsor, and in the reign of Edward IV, William Caxton brought his printing press to England.

As a result there was a greater variety of chronicle writing than ever before. The
Brut
– a French history of England which begins in legendary pre-history and concludes (in continuation) in 1461 – was widely popular in the fifteenth century and printed by Caxton in 1480. A further continuation, usually ascribed to John Warkworth, Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, covers the first thirteen years of the reign of Edward IV.

Latin was still widely used as the language of chronicle writing. The chronicle attributed to John Benet, vicar of Harlington, was written in Latin. John Rous, an antiquary from Warwick, wrote his histories in both English and Latin, and John Blacman wrote his memoir of Henry VI after the death of the monarch also in Latin. The
Chronicon Angliae
, sometimes known as
Giles’ Chronicle
after its nineteenth-century editor, is an anonymous Latin chronicle written by a cleric at the end of the 1450s containing an account of the reign of Henry VI, and the
Annales Rerum Anglicarum
is a Latin compilation of short, disconnected narratives. However, in this period the English language finally replaced Norman French and Latin as the language of literature. This seems to have opened the field to popular readership and a number of freelance writers of chronicles in English. John Hardyng, a north country squire who fought at Agincourt, presented a verse chronicle to Henry VI in 1437, which was critical of the lawlessness of the reign. William Gregory, a London skinner, sheriff and mayor, wrote his
Historical Collections of a Citizen of London
in English, though since the chronicle finishes three years after his death in 1467 it is assumed that there is an anonymous continuator.

A new group of chronicles came from the towns. These civic narratives were all written in the vernacular, and most were centred on London –
The Great Chronicle of London
,
Chronicles of London
and
The Short English Chronicle
were all written at this time. The author of
The English Chronicle
is unknown, but it seems to have been written soon after Edward IV came to the throne in 1461, and like the
Brut
is strongly Yorkist in sympathies. These chronicles were described by their editor C. L. Kingsford as ‘rude and artless’ but they are a great
source of information about English history in the fifteenth century.

Other accounts of the period are written by foreign emissaries. These include Jean de Waurin, a soldier who fought for the French at Agincourt, and Philippe de Commynes, who wrote his memoirs at the court of Louis XI of France. Domenic Mancini, an Italian poet, was sent from the court of Louis XI to report on English affairs. He provides a particularly valuable account of the usurpation of Richard III.

Polydore Vergil, Italian cleric and Renaissance humanist historian, came to England in 1502 and was encouraged by Henry VII to write a comprehensive history of England, an Anglica Historia, which was not finished until 1531. He has sometimes been called the ‘father of English history’, and his epic work marks a shift in historical writing towards the ‘authorized version’ that could be printed and widely distributed throughout the known world.

None of these chronicles, however, can be said to be definitive. They are partisan, contradictory, unreliable in certain respects, but also vivid and readable accounts of a tumultuous period of English history. Their approach to writing and to history is very different from that of the contemporary historical novel; they convey the spirit of the age without resorting to interior perspective or reflection. It seemed to me that the different approaches were complementary, and might usefully be brought together.

The author is especially indebted to the Royal Literary Fund, for financial support and employment throughout this project.

Several people were helpful to me while I was writing this novel. Especial thanks are due to Fergus Wilde and Josie Christou for help with the Latin translations; to the librarians of the Chetham’s and John Rylands libraries; to Liz and Tom McIlroy for taking me to Pembroke Castle, and to Dave and Jackie Lamb for their hospitality while I was there. Ian Pople supplied me with books and Ian Hunton helped me through several computing crises. Ben Pople and Alan Parry also rendered a similar service with patience and goodwill. I owe a big thank you to my readers, Anna Pollard, Anthony Taylor and Paul Andrews, for supportive and discerning comments. I am especially grateful to Anna for her unstinting support, optimism and help with the family tree. And last (but not least) thank you to my agent and editor for more helpful comments, and for taking me on!

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First published 2014

Copyright © Livi Michael, 2014

Cover: Brooch © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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The moral right of the author has been asserted

Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd, Falkirk, Stirlingshire

ISBN: 978-0-241-96669-3