Текст книги "The Sun in Splendour"
Автор книги: Jean Plaidy
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 25 (всего у книги 25 страниц)
At last one of them said: 'My lord, the Queen's disease in these stages is contagious. You should no longer share a chamber with her.'
The implication of this was obvious. He and Anne would never have another child.
He explained gently to Anne. She understood. She said: 'I can't have long left, Richard. Bear with me for these few weeks. Then when I am gone you must marry again . . . marry a healthy young woman who can give you sons.'
He shook his head. 'There would never be anyone else I could love as I do you. Oh I know I have not told you often enough, not shown you. It is my way.'
'I know ... I know and I would not have had you otherwise. You have been good to me always . . . and it was always you I wanted. Do you remember, Richard, when we were together in those early days at Middleham?
'I have never forgotten them. For that reason I have always loved Middleham. I would we could be there now . . . together . . . with our son. . . .'
'Time passes, Richard. We have had some bad times ... I shall never forget those days I spent in that hot and foul-smelling kitchen. . . . Sometimes it comes back to me now ... I dream . . . and I wake up and am thankful that that is over. But we must look to the future. When I am gone ... I want you to be happy, Richard.'
'I could not hope to be.'
'You will be. You will succeed. You will be a great King—even greater than your brother. Oh Richard, I want you to be happy. If you are, everything that has gone on before will be worth while.'
'You are going to get well/ he said firmly, 'and when you are
we will have children, sons . . . sons and daughters.'
'Yes/ she said to comfort him. 'Oh yes.' And she tried to pretend that she believed that possible.
Christmas had come. It was spent at Westminster and in order to keep his promise to look after his brother's daughters, Richard had them brought to the celebrations. He had said that they should have gowns suitable to their rank and Elizabeth of York was attired as magnificently as the Queen.
She looked beauhful and her stay in Sanctuary had clearly done her no harm. She was sparkling, merry and clearly delighted to be free at last.
She showed marked appreciation to the King who was very gracious to her. She was very beautiful with her long golden hair flowing about her shoulders—a marked contrast to the Queen who, although she made a brave effort, looked as though she were visibly fading away.
Morton's spies at Court noticed Elizabeth's deference to the King and that he paid her due honour. They sent word to Morton who was horrified at the thought of Elizabeth's being at Court and clearly enjoying it, and at the accounts of the King's gracious-ness to her and her willingness to please.
Any marriage of Elizabeth of York not to Henry Tudor would render the scheme of making him King impossible. Elizabeth must not marry . . . until Henry Tudor came to claim her.
Morton did not like all this talk about the King's graciousness to Elizabeth. His task was to win the throne for Henry Tudor and he, shrewd plotter that he was, knew that slander against Richard would be of as great importance as winning a battle. Elizabeth must not marry.
In the meanhme there was a chance to defame Richard further.
Why not send out hints that he was contemplating marrying his niece? He was married to Anne yes, but a little dose of poison would soon remove her and then he would be free.
Anne would be dead soon, according to reports. She was weaker every day. So that story could sound plausible.
Richard could not understand why people should hate him so, why they should continue to send out these evil rumours.
Catesby and Ratcliffe said that it was because Henry Tudor had people working for him secretly and slander was one of the weapons they were using against him.
Events weighed heavily upon him. He must be prepared for
the coming of Henry Tudor and each day he saw Anne growing weaker and weaker.
On the sixteenth of March Richard was summoned to her bedside. He sat there holding her hand while the chamber was filled with darkness.
Outside the people stood about in the streets staring up at the sky for the sun's face was slowly being obscured.
It was the greatest eclipse of the sun which the people of England had ever seen and they thought it must have something to do with the passing of the Queen.
Anne was unaware of it. She knew only that Richard was with her, holding her hand and that she was slowly slipping away from him.
'Richard. . . .' she tried to say his name.
He bent over. 'Rest, dearest/ he said. 'It is best so.'
'Soon I shall be at rest/ she murmured. 'Soon I shall see our son. . . . Oh Richard, I shall be with you . . . always. . . .'
His cheeks were wet. He was surprised. It was long since he had shed a tear.
An utter desolation had come to him.
She had gone . . . this companion of his youth, this faithful wife; the one he had loved even more deeply than he had loved his brother.
There would never be anyone else. He did not change. Loyalty bound him.
The rumours were at their height. He was going to marry his niece.
Elizabeth of York was agreeable and Elizabeth Woodville would welcome the marriage. It would settle differences. The Woodvilles could hardly be against a King who was the husband of one of their daughters.
Marry his niece! It was incest.
Typical of him, they said. He was without scruples.
Richard knew that he must think of marrying.
Rotherham had pointed out that a King without an heir was storing up trouble. He should marry. People were saying that his niece was a strong and healthy woman.
'She is indeed,' replied Richard, 'and I doubt not that she will
bear strong children when the time comes.'
Rotherham reported to Morton that the King was contemplating marrying his niece.
Sir William Catesby and Sir Richard Ratcliffe took an early opportunity of speaking to the King.
He must not marry Elizabeth of York. They themselves were very anxious to keep out the Woodville influence for they feared it would go hard with them if ever that family crept back into power. They had placed themselves on Richard's side so clearly against the Woodvilles. But that was not all. They served Richard faithfully and they feared that a marriage with his niece would damage his reputation even further. They had no doubt that the Pope could be induced to grant a dispensation. But it would be wrong and if Richard was going to look for a bride he must do so elsewhere.
'My dear friends,' said Richard, 'you have no need to warn me. I had no intention of marrying my niece. It is just another of those evil rumours which have suddenly started to circulate about me.'
Catesby and Ratcliffe were greatly relieved.
Richard smiled at them. 'Surely you did not believe I would marry my niece? I tell you this, I am in no mood for marriage. I still mourn the Queen and have other matters more urgent. Spring is coming. The Tudor is certain to make an attempt some time this year.'
'That's so,' said Catesby, 'but all the same I should like to find the source of these rumours.'
Richard sighed. 'My good friends,' he said, '1 agree with you. It is the insidious enemy who can harm us more than the one who comes in battle. I long for the day when I shall face the Tudor on the battlefield. I pray God that the task of taking him may fall to me.'
'In the meantime, my lord,' said Ratcliffe, 'we must put an end to this rumour.'
'I will send Elizabeth away from Court,' said Richard. 'It is not fitting that she should be there—in view of the rumours—now that the Queen is no longer with us.'
'Where should she go, my lord?'
'Why not to Sheriff Hutton. She will be away from the Court there. One or more of her sisters could go with her. It shall be for them to decide. My Clarence nephews are there, Warwick and
Lincoln. She will be company for them and they for her. Yes, to Sheriff Hutton.'
Catesby and Ratcliffe were well pleased. They hoped they had stopped the rumours about Richard and Elizabeth.
BOSWORTH FIELD
August had come and Richard knew that across the Channel plans were coming to a climax. It seemed certain that Henry Tudor would attempt a landing.
Richard was prepared. He was feeling philosophical. Soon the test would come and it was going to be either victory or death for him, he knew.
He faced the future with a kind of nonchalance. He had lost his wife and son. There was nothing left but to fight for the crown.
If he defeated Henry Tudor he would plan a new life. He would try to forget the sadness of old. He would try to be a good King as his brother had been. But that could not be until he had cleared the country of this evil threat of war.
Wars had clouded his life. These incessant Wars of the Roses. He had thought they were over—all had thought so when Edward rose so magnificently out of the horrors of war and took the crown. If Edward had lived . . . . If his son had been a little older ....
But it had not been so and now he was faced with this mighty decision. He would do his best and he would emerge from the struggle either King of England or a dead man.
At the end of July Thomas Lord Stanley had come to him and asked permission to retire to his estates. He was very suspicious of Stanley. Stanley was a time-server. He was a man who had a genius for extricating himself from difficult situations. Such men were bom to survive. They lived by expediency. They swayed with the wind. Richard had little respect for Stanley and yet he needed his help.
He had been arrested at the time of Hastings' execution but after a very short time had been freed, in time to carry the mace at Richard's coronation.
He had married Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor, but he had conhnued to serve Richard.
Richard did not trust him but he was too important to be ignored and it seemed to the King that to have him close at hand was better than to spurn him and send him right into the ranks of the enemy.
That his wife had played a part in the Buckingham insurrection was undeniable. When Buckingham had been beheaded Stanley had expressed his agreement that the Duke had deserved his fate. It would have been a different story, Richard was fully aware, if Buckingham had been successful.
At the time Stanley had promised to restrain his wife. He would keep her quietly in the country, he had said.
Now he wished to go to his estates as they urgently required his attention.
Ratcliffe and Catesby put it to the King that Stanley could turn against them and the wisest course was to watch him. After all he was married to the mother of Henry Tudor.
T know,' said Richard. Tf he is going to turn traitor it is better for him to do so now than on a battle field.'
So Stanley left but Richard said he must leave his son behind to answer for his loyal conduct.
There was nothing for Stanley to do, but comply.
And on the seventh of August Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven.
Richard was at Nottingham when news reached him that Henry Tudor was near Shrewsbury.
He sent for the men he could trust: Norfolk, Catesby, Bracken-bury, Ratcliffe.
Stanley had not returned but had sent an excuse that he was suffering from the sweating sickness. His son. Lord Strange, had attempted to escape but on being captured had confessed that he and his uncle Sir William Stanley had had communication with the invaders.
The Stanleys would betray him, Richard thought, as he had known they would.
There was no time to be lost. They must march now and on the twenty-first of August the two armies arrived at Bosworth Field.
Richard spent a sleepness night. He was fatalistic. Would there be victory on the following day? He felt no great confidence, no great elation. Sorrow weighed heavily upon him. But this should be the turning-point. If Fate showed him that he was to go on and rule he would be a great King. He would learn from his brother's successes and mistakes and he would dedicate himself to the country.
They were there ... his good friends. Brackenbury—his good honest face shining with loyalty—Catesby, Ratcliffe, Norfolk. . . the men he could rely on.
And the Stanleys—where were they?
He mounted his big white horse. No one could mistake him. It was indeed the King's horse. And on his helmet he wore a golden crown.
This day,' he said, 'decides our fate. My friends and loyal subjects remember that victory can be ours if we go into this fight with good hearts and the determination to win the day. At this day's end I will be King or a dead man, I promise you.'
The trumpets were sounding. The moment had come and Richard rode forth at the head of his army.
The battle waged. The sun was hot and the Lancastrians had the advantage because it was at their backs. The Stanleys waited. They would decide which side they were on when the decisive moment came. In the meantime they had no intention of fighting for Richard.
They were Henry Tudor's men and had worked hard for his success. They were ready now . . . waiting for the precise moment which would be best for them to depart.
That moment came. The Stanleys were riding out crying: 'A Tudor. A Tudor.'
Richard heard them and smiled grimly.
Catesby was urging him to fly. He laughed at that. He rode forward brandishing his axe.
He saw Ratcliffe go down and Brackenbury.
My good friends ... he thought. You gave your lives for me ... for truth ... for righteousness ... for loyalty.
A curse on the traitor Tudor!
Treason!' he shouted after the retreating Stanleys who were making their way to the Tudor lines.
He would find Henry Tudor. He should be his special prey. He would take him in single combat. It was their fate which was
being decided. Plantagenet against Tudor. If Richard did not succeed it would not only be the end of a King, it would be the end of a line. Glorious Plantagenet supreme for generations would give way to the new House of Tudor—^begotten by bastards . . . with none but the flimsiest claim to the throne. And the rule of the proud Plantagenets who had governed the land since the glorious days of Henry the Second would be over.
It must not be. It was for him to save it.
'God help me/ he cried. T must find Henry Tudor. The fight is between us two.'
In spite of his small stature he was an impressive figure as he rode forward, the sun glinting on his golden crown, his white horse galloping forward.
His friends called to him but he did not heed them.
'I shall find Henry Tudor,' he shouted.
With his small band of followers he rode right into the midst of the enemy's cavalry.
Now he had seen it—the Welsh banner held aloft by William Brandon, Henry Tudor's standard-bearer. There was the Tudor. He was well protected, surrounded by his men, by no means in the thick of the fight. Trust the Tudor for that.
'I have come to kill you, Tudor,' he muttered. 'It has to be one of us.'
It was folly he knew. There were too many of them but he was there. He had glimpsed Henry Tudor .... He struck at William Brandon, and the man went down.
He saw Ratcliffe who was trying to protect him. His horse had collapsed under him but he was immediately on his feet.
'My lord . . . my lord . . .'It was Ratcliffe again. But Richard did not hear. He had seen Henry Tudor. He had come close enough to strike down his standard-bearer. He was going to take Henry Tudor.
He went forward wielding his battle-axe.
'Treason!' he cried. 'Come, Henry Tudor .... Come out and
fight.'
His men were falling about him, Ratcliffe was down now, but Richard fought on valiantly, the crown on his head. He was determined to storm his way through to the Tudor. If he were going to die he would take him with him.
They were attacking him now. The blows were coming fast.
Then he was sinking into darkness. He fell to the ground and his crown rolled from his head.
It was the end. The battle was over. It was victory for Henry Tudor. Of Richard's loyal friends Norfolk, Ratcliffe and Brackenbury were slain. Catesby was captured and hanged; Lovell escaped to live on into the new reign.
It was Lord Stanley—to whose treachery Henry Tudor owed his victory—who found the golden crown in a hedge and placed it on Henry Tudor's head.
So ended the battle of Bosworth, the last in the Wars of the Roses. So ended the rule of the Plantagenets. A new reigning family had come to England with the Tudors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aubrey, William Hickman Smith
Clive, Mary
Costain, Thomas
Gairdner, James
Gairdner, James Green, John Richard Green, Mary Anne Everett Guizot, M. Translated by Robert
Black Halsted, Caroline
Hume, David
Jenkins, Elizabeth Kendall, Paul Murray Kendall, Paul Murray Kingsford, C. L.
Thomas More, Sir Oman, Charles Oman, Charles Ramsey, J. H. Ross, Charles Scofield, C. L. Stephen, Sir Leslie
and Lee, Sir Sydney Stratford, Laurence Strickland, Agnes Timbs, John and Gunn, Alexander
Vickers, K. H. Wade, John Walpole, Horace
National and Domestic History of
England This Sun of York
A Biography of Edward IV The Last Plantagenets
The Pageant of England 1377-1485 History and Life and Reign of
Richard III Life and Papers of Richard III History of England Lives of the Princesses of England History of France
Richard III, As Duke of Gloucester and
King of England History of England from the Invasion of
Julius Caesar to the Revolution The Princes in the Tower Richard III
Warwick, the Kingmaker Prejudice and Promise in the Fifteenth
Century Life of Richard III Political History of England Warwick, the Kingmaker Lancaster and York Edward IV
The Life and Reign of Edward IV The Dictionary of National Biography
Edward the Fourth
The Lives of the Queens of England
Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of
England and Wales England in the Later Middle Ages British History Historic Doubts on the Life of Richard
1%#
of the
Sale of this materia! benefits the Library
mmn"
I ^ n .r»
^?
^*uU/y1i
Boston Public Library
(•
SOUTH BOSTON BRANCH LIBRARY
FIC
Pe6015 .I3S9 1983
84 041104-67 SB
The Date Due Card in the pocket indicates the date on or before which this book should be returned to the Library.
Please do not remove cards from this pocket.
(Continfmrfrnrn rrnnr rlnpi
brother George, Duke of Clarence. George's perfidy brought him to a violent end in the Tower of London hut Richard lived on to become the Lord Protector and briefly to wear the crown.
At the center of events was Edward, splendid in appearance and beloved of the people. His favorite device was that of the sun in all its splendor surrounding the white rose of York. Two women he loved above all the others played their part in history – his cool, calculating queen and Jane Shore, the warmhearted goldsmith's wife.
He had lived recklessly and when, on his death, an incident from his past came to light its effect was to change the course of history.
Richard came to the throne but there was one other waiting to take the crown – a man whose very legitimacy was suspect. And so came the fatal confrontation on Bosworth Field which resulted in the coming of Tudor and the end of the long saga of Plantagenet kings.
JEAN PLAMis the pseudonym of a well-known author who resides in England and has captured the world with her writing.
G. R PUTNAM'S SONS Publishers Since 1838 200 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016
