The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds by Philippa Langley Page A
Authors: Philippa Langley
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monarch, and the way he took the throne, it is vital to focus first on his early career, and, from this, get a sense of both the man and his motivation.
Richard was born at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire on 2 October 1452. He was the youngest son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville, and the youngest surviving of twelve children. His birth may have been difficult, but there is no evidence that he was physically ill, or his life was in danger. His mother Cecily would later write of the painful after-effects of this birth, lamenting in a letter to Margaret of Anjou in the spring of 1453 of the infirmity of her ‘wretched body’, and the results of ‘sloth and discontinuance’, which in the last few months ‘hath grown and grown’. It appears that Cecily was still recovering from Richard’s birth several months later. It may well have been a traumatic and dangerous breech birth, where the mother could not be delivered ‘uncut’, as Thomas More suggested; perhaps the germ of this formed the basis of the hostile Tudor tradition.
At the time of Richard’s birth his father, Richard, Duke of York, was in open conflict with the crown. Earlier that year, he had challenged the weak monarchy of Henry VI directly, in February 1452 marching to Dartford at the head of an armed force with a petition of grievances. This strategy backfired: York was forced to relinquish his demands, and at St Paul’s Cathedral swore a solemn oath that he would never take up arms against the king, an oath that York subsequently felt he had no choice but to break.
As a baby and small child Richard would not have been aware of these concerns, although he may have felt the tension that affected his mother Cecily, who keenly followed her husband’s political fortunes. Cecily complained to Margaret of Anjou in 1453 that her husband’s fall from favour had caused her to be ‘replete with such immeasurable sorrow and heaviness as I doubt not will of the continuance thereof diminish and abridge my days, as it does my worldly joy and comfort’. Cecily dreaded this period of political exile, entreating Margaret that York should no longer be ‘estranged from the grace and benevolent favour … of the king our sovereign lord’. These were heartfelt sentiments, and as Richard grew up he certainly would have heard much more about this exile from court, and reflected upon it.
When Richard was born, Richard, Duke of York was the wealthiest magnate in the realm. He had a distinguished record of service to England’s ruling dynasty, the House of Lancaster, which he had represented as king’s lieutenant, first in France and then in Ireland. He had a keen commitment to good government, and the provision of justice, and was also strongly influenced, as a warrior, by the code of chivalry, in which he took a scrupulous interest. Many of these traits would be passed on to his youngest son, who also bore his name, and consciously adopted by him as a way of commemorating his father and his legacy.
However, in the 1450s Richard, Duke of York had moved from being a loyal servant of the Lancastrian King Henry VI to a political opponent. At first he had insisted that his grievances were not with the king himself, but with the ministers around him, particularly Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. There is no reason to doubt this statement. York resented Somerset’s dominance over the king, and had good reason for doing so. Somerset had presided over the disastrous loss of Normandy in 1449–50, the duchy that had been triumphantly conquered by Henry V in the years following Agincourt, and regained by the French some thirty years later in a swift campaign that met only token opposition from the English forces stationed there. York believed Somerset’s regime was corrupt and found his conduct cowardly. The military collapse in Normandy was a shameful episode, and York’s indictment of it fully justified.
York was outraged at the hold Somerset retained
Richard was born at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire on 2 October 1452. He was the youngest son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville, and the youngest surviving of twelve children. His birth may have been difficult, but there is no evidence that he was physically ill, or his life was in danger. His mother Cecily would later write of the painful after-effects of this birth, lamenting in a letter to Margaret of Anjou in the spring of 1453 of the infirmity of her ‘wretched body’, and the results of ‘sloth and discontinuance’, which in the last few months ‘hath grown and grown’. It appears that Cecily was still recovering from Richard’s birth several months later. It may well have been a traumatic and dangerous breech birth, where the mother could not be delivered ‘uncut’, as Thomas More suggested; perhaps the germ of this formed the basis of the hostile Tudor tradition.
At the time of Richard’s birth his father, Richard, Duke of York, was in open conflict with the crown. Earlier that year, he had challenged the weak monarchy of Henry VI directly, in February 1452 marching to Dartford at the head of an armed force with a petition of grievances. This strategy backfired: York was forced to relinquish his demands, and at St Paul’s Cathedral swore a solemn oath that he would never take up arms against the king, an oath that York subsequently felt he had no choice but to break.
As a baby and small child Richard would not have been aware of these concerns, although he may have felt the tension that affected his mother Cecily, who keenly followed her husband’s political fortunes. Cecily complained to Margaret of Anjou in 1453 that her husband’s fall from favour had caused her to be ‘replete with such immeasurable sorrow and heaviness as I doubt not will of the continuance thereof diminish and abridge my days, as it does my worldly joy and comfort’. Cecily dreaded this period of political exile, entreating Margaret that York should no longer be ‘estranged from the grace and benevolent favour … of the king our sovereign lord’. These were heartfelt sentiments, and as Richard grew up he certainly would have heard much more about this exile from court, and reflected upon it.
When Richard was born, Richard, Duke of York was the wealthiest magnate in the realm. He had a distinguished record of service to England’s ruling dynasty, the House of Lancaster, which he had represented as king’s lieutenant, first in France and then in Ireland. He had a keen commitment to good government, and the provision of justice, and was also strongly influenced, as a warrior, by the code of chivalry, in which he took a scrupulous interest. Many of these traits would be passed on to his youngest son, who also bore his name, and consciously adopted by him as a way of commemorating his father and his legacy.
However, in the 1450s Richard, Duke of York had moved from being a loyal servant of the Lancastrian King Henry VI to a political opponent. At first he had insisted that his grievances were not with the king himself, but with the ministers around him, particularly Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. There is no reason to doubt this statement. York resented Somerset’s dominance over the king, and had good reason for doing so. Somerset had presided over the disastrous loss of Normandy in 1449–50, the duchy that had been triumphantly conquered by Henry V in the years following Agincourt, and regained by the French some thirty years later in a swift campaign that met only token opposition from the English forces stationed there. York believed Somerset’s regime was corrupt and found his conduct cowardly. The military collapse in Normandy was a shameful episode, and York’s indictment of it fully justified.
York was outraged at the hold Somerset retained
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