The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville & the Age of Chivalry (16 page)

Anthony was then governor and ruler of the Prince of Wales as well as being the senior figure of the Prince’s Council, which exercised direct control over Wales and the Marches. For efficient, good governance, it was helpful that the majority of the Council were Woodville friends and connections and, even at a lower level, the same names turn up. For instance, John Giles, the schoolmaster who worked for the Queen ten years previously, reappears as tutor to the prince.7 While this may not have been universally popular, the arrangements worked. Mancini wrote a report on the 12-year-old prince: ‘In word and in deed he revealed the fruits of a liberal, indeed a scholarly education, far in advance of his years...He was able to discourse most elegantly on literary matters; whatever book, whether prose or verse, came into his hands he was able to comprehend completely and declaim with clarity and feeling.’

Here is an Italian cleric and scholar who would now be described as a humanist clearly very impressed with the young prince. But then Anthony can also be described as a humanist. These were students of classical learning, a field that was related to educational reform and to a more disciplined training in the principles of good government. Additionally they seem to have had a purity of intention and piety. These were people educated in the classics, who were suspicious of dogma, thought for themselves and applied pragmatism where they could. Mancini approved of Anthony, whom he described as ‘a kind, serious and just man and one tested by every vicissitude of life. Whatever his prosperity he had injured nobody, though benefiting many.’

Mancini also reported on Duke Richard of Gloucester who had been unswervingly loyal to his brother and ‘kept himself within his own lands [the north of England] and set out to acquire the loyalty of his people through favours and justice’. Duke Richard was an able man, ‘sharp witted, provident and subtle’. He also seems to have been a bundle of nervous energy, continually biting his bottom lip while thinking and always pulling his dagger half out of its sheath and pushing it in again.8 During this period he was extending his influence in the north, probably more than his brother was aware of. He had acquired great wealth and wide lands through his wife, Anne Neville, Warwick’s daughter, and even now was gathering up more land and followers. It was real power that could create a dangerous situation if the King’s control faltered.

However, the King had no intention of losing control. He had the sensible policy of devolving power in distant places to trusted men and had no reason to doubt his brother. Duke Richard’s methods were certainly ruthless, and while history has demonstrated his real ambition, there seems to be little sign of it at this stage, except in the acquisition of his wife’s estates.

Neither is there any evidence to show he was at odds with either Anthony Woodville or Queen Elizabeth while the King was alive. Young Edward was still only a minor player, but working his way up. On 1 March 1480 the King gave permission for Anthony to assign one of his important commissions to Edward, who was then about 21. It was the governance of Portsmouth and custody of Porchester Castle, a key base on Southampton Water.9

The castle had been rebuilt 50 years before so that its cannon could properly guard the ships lying in its bay; the King could stay there in style – he visited in 1481 and 1482 – and its captain live in comfort. The outer walls, built by the Romans, still safely enclose the great marshalling ground of eight and a half acres (3.44 hectares). It was here that English armies assembled to go to war with France – Edward III before Crécy and Henry V before Agincourt. Now it was Edward’s responsibility.

Royal favour had obviously helped in Edward’s career, but of critical importance were the men on whom he could call, ‘ones that...were most devoted to the commander Edward’ (Mancini’s report). The brotherhoods of the sea and of soldiers were tight knit and Edward must have earned his acceptance shoulder to shoulder in hardship and, between time, in practising and training. Some of the talk would have been on the pressing issues of the day, with topics ranging from how to increase the range of cannon, the shortage of good yew for bow making, the war in Spain, Portuguese success in Morocco, shipbuilding techniques and the exploration of the oceans.

As commander of Porchester and governor of Portsmouth, not only was Edward the military commander but he also saw sea captains and merchants. Southampton was one of the ports of call for the Venetian galleys sailing to Flanders, while Genoese carracks came there with Eastern produce and other merchant ships on general trade. Edward might have heard intriguing tales of land sighted far to the west; he was living with ships and seamen at the dawn of the Age of Discovery. He was interested in ships and would later be appointed as ‘the King’s great Captain’.

His next appearance in the records is in the Scottish campaign of 1482,10 where Duke Richard of Gloucester was commander-in-chief and his brother Anthony sent men. We know that Edward commanded 500 soldiers, the Rivers contingent, and was appointed ‘to attend upon my lord of Gloucester’. He called at Coventry as he marched north and his visit was recorded, with the mayor and council giving him £20 as a contribution in lieu of men.11

It all started because the Scots were making constant border incursions, which worried the keepers of the border who pressed their overlord, Duke Richard, for action. He, in turn, had pressed the King, who was also irritated by Scots scheming and agreed to a campaign. He wondered about it for two years, during which King James seems to have known his thinking, and was getting ready. In October 1480 the Milanese ambassador in France reported that King James had asked King Louis for gunners and artillery. Surprisingly it was Sigismund of Austria who sent him cannon a year later.

Propaganda started with King James inveighing against ‘The Revare [thief] Edward call and him king of Ingland’.12 However, King Edward was still immersed in his convoluted deals with Burgundy, Brittany and France and was reluctant to engage on another front. He prevaricated about the timing and the leadership; perhaps he also worried about his health.

In May 1482 the English under Richard of Gloucester had made a
chevauchée
(major cavalry raid) that sacked Dumfries and infuriated the Scots. King James thought war inevitable and put 500 men to garrison Berwick Castle and another 600 into the border castles. King Edward decided on war and started recruiting – he wanted 20,000 men. Gloucester came south and was appointed lieutenant-general, although King Edward instituted a courier system so he could be kept closely informed of progress.13

A plan developed of installing King James’s younger brother, Duke Alexander of Albany, as a puppet king. Timing was critical, for the army, which was probably nearer 15,000 than the proposed 20,000, was contracted for just one month (e.g. the contingent from York was paid from 14 July up to 11 August) although 1,700 of them were contracted for an additional 14 days. The cost of the campaign was some £13,000. Speed was essential and it seems a surgical strike was planned rather than anything longer term. Presumably King Edward had intelligence that Albany would be a popular substitute for his brother.

The campaign started with an advance into Scotland on 20 July 1482. The town of Berwick immediately capitulated and the army marched on, leaving the castle untouched. Then they began to pillage Roxburghshire and Berwickshire. King James hurried south from Edinburgh to take command of his army. But at Lauder his half-uncles and other nobles led by ‘Bell the Cat’, a.k.a. the Earl of Angus, stopped him.14 They disliked him, his policies and his style – one report says he ‘resorted to tears’ to get his way – and they also probably thought it would be a mistake to fight this English army – much better to let it do its worst and go away.

They arrested King James on 22 July, dispatched him to prison in Edinburgh and hanged three of his advisors from the bridge, which may have been sensible but it left his unfortunate army without direction and so some dispersed while others shadowed the English. Perhaps the Scottish nobles knew Duke Richard had his army for just 30 days and so avoided an unwinnable battle. But Richard would have noted the speed and success of the coup de main where the King was captured, without fuss, by a determined man.

The English marched towards Edinburgh, ranging across the country as they went. On 24 July Duke Richard promoted Edward to the rank of Knight Banneret (field commander of knights and men-at-arms), which meant that there must have been good will between them.15 The army reached and occupied Edinburgh on 1 August; they were starting a half-hearted siege of the castle when a delegation of Scottish nobles arrived to see Duke Richard.

They told him that, as far as they were concerned, the war was over and they had important domestic feuds to attend to. It was a brilliant negotiating position for the English, but Richard asked for no more than the return of 8,000 marks already paid on account for Cecilia’s dower and the rehabilitation of Albany who, typically for out-of-touch exiles, had been much surprised to discover that none of his countrymen wanted him as king. With a treaty agreed on 4 August, the English marched back to Berwick, where on 11 August – the budgeted date – the bulk of the army was disbanded. The remaining 1,700 men besieged the castle, which fell after 12 days. The town has been English ever since.

Although the campaign had been expensive and distracted attention from the French problem, it had been a useful operation for Duke Richard – it had pleased the northern lords, a group he wanted to favour. Interestingly the treaty is regarded as being soft on the Scots16 and it certainly looks that way. While this may be because Richard was a bad negotiator, it might also have been because he wanted new friends or just because he had to finish by 11 August. He was on a tight budget and against a deadline, which seems to be a good reason for getting the best he could within the available time. King Edward informed the Pope that the ‘chief advantage is the reconquest of the town and castle of Berwick’. It was a reconquest indeed, as Margaret of Anjou had given it to the Scots in 1461 in exchange for aid.17

Meanwhile the King was busy with running his kingdom, but during the summer rumours had emanated from Calais questioning the loyalty of some people, in particular Anthony Woodville, Dorset and a friend of theirs, Robert Radcliffe, who was the Gentleman Porter of Calais and had been commanding the English naval squadron against the Scots in conjunction with Duke Richard’s army.

These rumours had led to a certain John Edward being interrogated by the King and his Council at Westminster. The man withdrew the accusations he had made in Calais, agreeing that they sprang from ‘his own false imagination for fear of his life and putting him in the brake [on the rack] at Calais’. It sounds as if Hastings, as Captain of Calais, had used Edward for mischievous tales. John Edward made a formal confession, of which copies were circulated by Anthony, who seems to have felt damaged by the accusations.18

Around the same time, Anthony complained to the King about Hastings and as a consequence Hastings was ‘highly in the King’s indignation’. The nature of the complaint is unknown. While it may have been related to the John Edward problem, there was also a concurrent rumour of treachery by Hastings who – in turn – suspected the source as Robert Radcliffe. But Radcliffe was away commissioning the King’s ships, so Hastings vented his anger on his servants by throwing them out of Calais. This would have irritated the King.

It seems that there was long-standing ill will between Hastings and Anthony, whose unusual approach to life would not appeal to the old-school apparatchik. William, Lord Hastings, was one of the original Yorkists who had served King Edward’s father, transferred his allegiance and had always been totally loyal. His service extended right into Edward’s personal life where, according to Mancini, ‘he was also the accomplice and partner of his [the King’s] privy pleasure’. Another recorded ‘accomplice’ was Edward, so they would have known each other quite well.

Views of Lord Hastings are mixed, ranging from C.L. Scofield, ‘neither a wise man nor a good man’, while Commines describes him as ‘a person of singular wisdom and virtue in great authority with his master whom he had served faithfully’.19 However, Commines also records that he took a pension from King Louis of ‘two thousand crowns which was double the amount the duke [of Burgundy] had accorded him’; not only that but Hastings refused to sign for it, saying, ‘You will have neither letter nor quittance, for I am entirely unwilling, for my part, that it should be said, the Great Chamberlain has been a pensioner of the King of France, and that my quittance should be found in the Exchequer.’ He was still paid the money.20

Nevertheless Hastings was unwaveringly loyal to King Edward and consequently had been generously rewarded with large estates and lucrative high offices. He was Master of the Mint, which paid a handsome dividend, and the King’s Chamberlain, which meant many nobles, clerics and gentry paid him annuities or gave him presents for his influence with the King. He sounds like a streetwise old soldier, with his trotters in the trough, up for anything and the antithesis of Anthony, the intelligent but austere Champion.

At this stage Commines described the King as ‘a fleshy and lazy man who dearly loved his pleasures, and it would have been impossible for him to endure the toils of making war in France’. He also observed that King Louis worked hard to avoid war, but had no intention of letting the Dauphin and Princess Elizabeth marry. Louis dissembled and paid out pensions in gold; in addition to King Edward, there were eight courtiers and officials who were recipients of pensions, ‘all English envoys’ who were given ‘lavish gifts’.21

Meanwhile the Queen was in her mid-40s, busy promoting her family interests, and could review her work with satisfaction. There was an heir to the throne and a spare – in total a family of ten by King Edward. Her eldest son was the 31-year-old Thomas Grey, created Marquis of Dorset and exceptionally rich through his marriage. Her sisters were well married – one duke, three earls and two barons – although two brothers and her younger son from her first marriage were still unmarried.