228
Constitutional History.
[chap.
Question of the king ; the duke of Gloucester in Yorkshire. At once
guardian- . ∙∙ι ∙ 1 _ _ . -.. , .
shɪp. the critical question arose, into whose hands the guardianship
of the king and supreme influence in the kingdom should fall.
The queen naturally but unwisely claimed it for herself ; her
son, the marquess of Dorset, seized the treasure in the Tower1,
and her brother Sir Edward Wydville attempted to secure the
fleet2. The council, led by lord Hastings and supported by
the influence of the duke of Buckingham, would have preferred
to adopt the system which had been adopted in the early
day s of Henry VI, and to have governed the kingdom in the
king’s name, with Gloucester as president or protector. The
course of the deliberations is obscure, but the action of the
The Mng and parties was rapid and decisive. The king from Ludlow, the
gotoLondon. duke of Gloucester from York, set out for London ; the council,
knowing that Edward was in the hands of the Wydvilles,
forbade him to bring up with him more than two thousand
men ; he was to be crowned on the first Sunday in May2.
When Gloucester reached Northampton he met the duke of
Buckingham and concerted with him the means of over-
Rivers and throwing the Wydvilles. Fortune played into their hands ;
arrested. lord Bivers and Sir Richard Grey, who had been sent to them
by the king, accompanied them as far as Stony Stratford
where they were to meet the king; but before they entered
the town they were arrested and sent into the north4. The
news travelled rapidly, and the queen on the ɪst May fled into
sanctuary. Dorset and Edward Wydville took to flight. On
Richard the 4th the king and the dukes entered London. After a long
tβcto°,pr° session of the council, in which Hastings vainly flattered
May, 1483. j1j3τιsejf∙ jiιa⅛ ιle was securing the safety of the realm by sup-
porting the claim of Gloucester, duke Richard was proclaimed
ɪ On the 27th commissions were issued for collecting the alien tax; the
marquess of Dorset being among the commissioners, but not Gloucester.
See the 9th Report of the Deputy Keeper, App. ii. p. 7.
1 Nichols, Grants &c. pp. ix, 2, 3. Orders were given to take Sir
Edward and to receive all who would come in, except him and the mar-
quess, on May 14.
3 Cont. Croyl. p. 565.
4 lb. ; More’s Edward V (Kennett, Complete Histoiy, vol. i),
p. 482.
XVIIi.] Ttichardds Usurpation. 229
protector of the kingdom1. On the 13th of May, a summons Parliament
was issued for Parliament to meet on June 252 ; on the 16th
the duke of Buckingham was made chief justice of Wales.
About the same time, archbishop Rotherham was made to 1^ussoll11
surrender the great seal, which was entrusted to bishop Russell
of Lincoln. The coronation had already been deferred to the
22nd of June3.
Whether Richard had been long laying his schemes for a Richardwina
• . τ ∙ i’i ιιι the duke of
usurpation, or yielded to the temptation which was suddenly Buckingham
put before him, and how he won over the duke of Bucking- to hui ɪ'11
ham to support him, are among the obscure questions of the
time. Buckingham, when on the 16th of May he was made
justiciar of Wales4, must even then have placed himself at
Gloucester’s disposal. Some time elapsed before the plot,
if it were a plot, reached completeness. During this time,
most probably, was concocted the claim which Richard was
about to advance, and the petition on which he grounded his
acceptance of the crown. A writ of supersedeas was issued Pafhament
to prevent the meeting of parliamentδ, and the city was filled
with the armed followers of the duke6. When all was ready, Hastings
beheaded.
on the ɪɜth of June, he seized lord Hastings, who had been
1 On the 14th. of May the commissions of justices of the peace were
issued, one of them addressed to Richard as protector. See the 9th Report
of the Dep. Keeper of the Records, App. ii. ρ. 3 ; Nichols, Grants &c.
p. xiii ; Cont. Croyl. p, 566.
2 The writ to the archbishop of Canterbury, dated May 13, is in
Bourchier’s Register at Lambeth and printed in Nichols, Royal Wills,
p. 347* York was ordered to elect four citizens, who were chosen on the
6th of June. The writ for convocation was bsued on the 16th ; see Nichob,
Grants &c. p. 13; on the 20th the abbot of S. Mary’s, York, was excused
attendance in parliament ; ib. p. 18.
3 Rymer, xii. 185.
4 Rot. Pat. Edw. V (Report of the Deputy Keeper, ix. App. ii), p. 2.
The same day he had a commission of array for the western counties ; ib.
p. 9; Rymer, xii. 180. The grant was renewed July 15; Rot. Pat.
Ric. HI, p. 12.
5 Davies, York Records, p. 154; the writ of supersedeas was received
at York on the 2ist of June. It is quite clear that the parliament was
never held. See Nichols, Grants &c. pp. J2, 13. But before the writ was
issued the new chancellor had prepared his speech, which is printed by
Nichols, pp. xxxix-1.
6 Twenty thousand of Gloucester’s and Buckingham’s men were expected
in London on the 2ɪst of June ; Exc. Hist. p. 17. See also Paston Letter*,
iii. 306.