Richard appears to have done very well indeed. Besides the Nevill and Montagu estates in the North he secured the Salisbury lands and the Lordships in the Welsh Marches. Clarence kept the Beauchamp and Despenser estates, together with his late father-in-law’s splendid London mansion. Throughout, Gloucester had shown himself as flexible as he wasdetermined, even surrendering the office of Great Chamberlain to George at the King’s request. He knew that Edward IV’s favour must be retained, whatever the cost.
It was about this time that Richard Gloucester adopted his famous motto, ‘
Loyauté me lie
’ (loyalty binds me), of which he was obviously proud and which he sometimes wrote after his signature – even during the reign of his luckless nephew. There is no need to question his loyalty to Edward. He was far too astute not to realize that the Yorkish family simply could not afford to intrigue against its head – at any rate not while the King remained alive and formidable. He had seen how Edward was unbeatable, both as a soldier and as a politician, and that he was supremely ruthless. As Machiavelli observes, ‘It is necessary for a prince who wants to survive to know how to do wrong.’ It is worth emphasizing that it was the King who gave Gloucester his first lessons in political murder. Disloyalty to such a brother could lead only to disaster, while fidelity was sure to procure rich rewards.
On the other hand, Richard’s brutally realistic loyalty is by no means a proof – as has often been argued – that he did not covet the crown. More says some discerning contemporaries suspected that ‘he long time forethought to be King in case that the King his brother (whose life he looked that evil diet should shorten) should happen to decease (as indeed he did) while his children were young’. Sir Thomas admits that this would never be known for certain, but plainly he considered it quite possible.
Gloucester also adopted a badge, his famous device of a white boar with golden tusks and golden bristles. There is no record of the reason for his choice. If we knew, it might well explain how he saw himself. Admittedly members of the House of York had borne a boar before, but it had been blue and not white. Perhaps, in the symbolism so dear to the fifteenth century, the colour was intended to represent purity of heart and loyalty. As for the animal, it was pre-eminently an emblem of ferocity; Malory’s Sir Gawain was ‘as brim [fierce] as any boar’. The great seventeenth-century herald, Guillim, describes its significance in terms which might just possibly be thought to have been inspired by Richard’s reputation, but certainly reflect what late medieval Englishmen thought of the boar. He is ‘the most absolute champion amongbeasts’ and ‘so cruel and stomachful in his fight, that he foameth all the while for rage’. Guillim continues, ‘The bearing of the boar in arms betokeneth a man of a bold spirit, skilful, politic in warlike feats, and one of that high resolution that he will rather die valorously in the field, than he will secure himself by ignominious flight.’ These qualities were undoubtedly cultivated by the Duke. 3
The failure of Oxford had shown even Clarence that he had little to hope from Lancastrian intrigues. But by now his brother the King was setting on foot a ‘great enterprise’ which was so exciting that for a while even George seems to have forgotten his discontent. Edward IV intended to revive the traditions of Henry V and launch an invasion across the English Channel – after all, he styled himself King of France and had been born in Normandy. He was too practical to hope to reconquer the lost kingdom, but there was an excellent possibility that he might gain some territory and even win a little glory. At the very least he could stop Louis XI from supporting Lancastrian intrigues. Edward’s brother-in-law, Charles of Burgundy, was ready to revive the alliance with which Henry V
It was about this time that Richard Gloucester adopted his famous motto, ‘
Loyauté me lie
’ (loyalty binds me), of which he was obviously proud and which he sometimes wrote after his signature – even during the reign of his luckless nephew. There is no need to question his loyalty to Edward. He was far too astute not to realize that the Yorkish family simply could not afford to intrigue against its head – at any rate not while the King remained alive and formidable. He had seen how Edward was unbeatable, both as a soldier and as a politician, and that he was supremely ruthless. As Machiavelli observes, ‘It is necessary for a prince who wants to survive to know how to do wrong.’ It is worth emphasizing that it was the King who gave Gloucester his first lessons in political murder. Disloyalty to such a brother could lead only to disaster, while fidelity was sure to procure rich rewards.
On the other hand, Richard’s brutally realistic loyalty is by no means a proof – as has often been argued – that he did not covet the crown. More says some discerning contemporaries suspected that ‘he long time forethought to be King in case that the King his brother (whose life he looked that evil diet should shorten) should happen to decease (as indeed he did) while his children were young’. Sir Thomas admits that this would never be known for certain, but plainly he considered it quite possible.
Gloucester also adopted a badge, his famous device of a white boar with golden tusks and golden bristles. There is no record of the reason for his choice. If we knew, it might well explain how he saw himself. Admittedly members of the House of York had borne a boar before, but it had been blue and not white. Perhaps, in the symbolism so dear to the fifteenth century, the colour was intended to represent purity of heart and loyalty. As for the animal, it was pre-eminently an emblem of ferocity; Malory’s Sir Gawain was ‘as brim [fierce] as any boar’. The great seventeenth-century herald, Guillim, describes its significance in terms which might just possibly be thought to have been inspired by Richard’s reputation, but certainly reflect what late medieval Englishmen thought of the boar. He is ‘the most absolute champion amongbeasts’ and ‘so cruel and stomachful in his fight, that he foameth all the while for rage’. Guillim continues, ‘The bearing of the boar in arms betokeneth a man of a bold spirit, skilful, politic in warlike feats, and one of that high resolution that he will rather die valorously in the field, than he will secure himself by ignominious flight.’ These qualities were undoubtedly cultivated by the Duke. 3
The failure of Oxford had shown even Clarence that he had little to hope from Lancastrian intrigues. But by now his brother the King was setting on foot a ‘great enterprise’ which was so exciting that for a while even George seems to have forgotten his discontent. Edward IV intended to revive the traditions of Henry V and launch an invasion across the English Channel – after all, he styled himself King of France and had been born in Normandy. He was too practical to hope to reconquer the lost kingdom, but there was an excellent possibility that he might gain some territory and even win a little glory. At the very least he could stop Louis XI from supporting Lancastrian intrigues. Edward’s brother-in-law, Charles of Burgundy, was ready to revive the alliance with which Henry V
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