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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
There is perhaps no important event in English history which is involved in greater obscurity than the death of Richard the Second. It is much to be regretted, therefore, that so little light has been thrown upon it by the very curious contemporary narrative which you lately communicated to the Society through the medium of Mr. Webb's spirited translation. Had the writer remained in England till after the King's decease, it cannot be doubted that he would have enriched his work with such details of it as his honest diligence could not have failed to collect. As it is, we have merely his testimony that suspicions were entertained of foul play, and that he himself believed the body which was exposed to public view was not Richard's, but was that of Maudelen his chaplain; not knowing (by reason, probably, of his absence from England) that Maudelen, who is said to have counterfeited his Master in the revolt of Richard's adherents, had already paid the penalty of his fraud, by suffering public execution in a way which rendered further deception impracticable. Availing myself of the strong interest which this chronicle has attracted towards the fate of Richard, I shall not hesitate to submit to the Society a brief notice of such early authorities as have presented themselves to me on this doubtful question.
page 424 note a He was hanged, and afterwards beheaded. Walsingham, Hist. p. 404, edit. Parker, and p. 353, edit. Camden. Otterbourne, p. 228. The best, and, except the “Relation de la Mort,” &c. hereafter noticed, the only early authority I have found for the fact of his having personated Richard when living, is Froissart, tom. IV. p. 345, edit. 1559. His person was probably well known, as he was in authority about the king, and was one of the witnesses to his will. See Rymer's Fœdera, vol. VII. p. 684, and vol. VIII. pp. 20,21, and 77.
page 425 note b Among the errors of this French author is a remarkable one respecting Sir Simon Burley. See p. 207 of the English translation contained in vol. II. of the “Account and Extracts of the MSS. in the Library of the King of France.” London, 1789. The anecdote, there related, of the queen's intercession with the Earl of Arundel for the life of a gentleman, named in the MS. John Carnailly, is a complete misrepresentation of the fact. The intercession was made, not with Arundel, but with the Duke of Gloucester, and was on the behalf, not of Carnailly, but of Sir Simon Burley, Richard's guardian.
page 426 note c These widely circulated rumours which agitated the country for some years after Richard's death, and which obtained an extensive belief among his partizans, serve at least to negative the notoriety of the story of his assassination. Two years after his death, the reports of his being still alive and in Scotland had gained such credit that Henry found it necessary to issue the proclamation “super fabricatoribus mendaciorum,” which bears date the 5th of June 1402, and is preserved in Rymer's Fœdera, vol. VIII. p. 261.
In 1404, after the manifesto of the Percies had appeared, and their first rebellion had been crushed by the battle of Shrewsbury, these rumours were revived, and an impostor assumed the title of the deceased king, with the encouragement of Serle, who had been one of Richard's servants, and of the old Countess of Oxford, the mother of his favourite. This impostor (whose name does not appear in that character in our histories) was Thomas Warde of Trumpington, according to the proclamation in Rymer's Fœdera, vol. VIII. p. 353, from which it will be found that William Serle and Amye Donet were specially excepted from an Act of Grace, with this Thomas Warde, “que se pretende et feigne detre Roy Richard” The believers in this fraud appear to have been very numerous, particularly among ecclesiastics. From a marginal note in Hearne's handwriting, in his copy of Archbishop Parker's edition of Walsingham, now in my possession, it appears that the Abbots and Monks of St. John's, Colchester, and St. Osyth, were among the deceived. Hearne's authority was an imperfect MS. of Walsingham in the library of Magdalen College, from which he has inserted collations. Such was the doubtful state of the public mind on the question of Richard's death for many years after that event had occurred. The story in Boece of Richard's escape to Scotland, and his burial at Stirling, will be noticed subsequently in the text, in addition to which the following odd passage will be found in “Ane Tractat of a part of ye Yngliss Cronikle,” printed from Asloan's Manuscript, at the Auchinleck press, under the superintendence of the late Sir Alexander Boswell. After noticing that Richard had destroyed some Scottish monasteries, it is added “that this King Richert murdret mony of his lords in Yngland, and was exild in to Scotland, ye qwhilk deit a beggar and out of his mynd, and was erdit i ye Blak Frers of Striuiling.” Sign B iiij. Could it have been Thomas Warde who thus continued his imposture after his object had been completely frustrated?
page 427 note d P. 20, edit. 1809.
page 427 note e P. 517, edit. 1587, vol. II.
page 428 note f Archæologia, vol. VI. p. 316.
page 429 note g For an account of the favour shewn to Henry the Fifth in his early youth by Richard, and which may be supposed to have influenced his mind in performing this apparent act of gratitude, see T. de Elmham, Vita et Gesta Hen. V. p. 5; and also T. Liv. For. Jul. Vita Hen, V. p. 3.
page 429 note h Hist, Ang. p. 405, and Ypodigma Neustria, p. 158, in Parker's edition, fol. 1574, or at p. 363 and 556 in Camden's Reprint, fol. 1603.
page 429 note i “Ut fertur.” The author uses the same expression in his Ypodigma Neustria.”
page 429 note k P. 228, as published by Hearne.
page 429 note l P. 169.
page 429 note m Gale and Fell, tom. I. p. 495.
page 430 note n So it appears in the Lansdown MS, in the British Museum, though not in Grafton's two editions, collated and re-edited by Mr. Ellis. The Lansdown MS. was Hardyng's first performance, presented to Henry the Sixth, and comes no lower than 1436. The following stanza, in which Richard's death and the exposure of his corpse are described, contains many variations from the printed text.
Sone after so the Kyng Richerde that dede
And brought to Poules with grete solempnyte
Men sayde he was forhungred, and lapte in lede,
Bot that his masse was done and dyrige,
In herse Rial, his corse lay there I se
And after masse to Westmynster was ledde,
Whar placebo and dyrige he hedde.
page 430 note o See Archæologia, vol. XVI. p. 140, and Mr. Ellis's edition of Hardyng's Chronicles, p. 353.
page 431 note p Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. II. p. 365. This document appears to be preserved in another form in MS. Bodl. 623, according to the obliging information of the Rev. B. Bandinell, who has favoured me with an extract from it.
page 431 note q Stow's Annals, p. 325, edit. 1631.
page 431 note r I have not been able to discover this MS. either by my own enquiries or by the search which has been kindly made for it at my request by Mr. Bandmell.
page 431 note s Mr. Johnes's translation. The whole passage is remarkable for its feeling, and is highly characteristic of that noble simplicity which distinguishes Froissart from all other chroniclers.
page 432 note t P. 357, Mr. Ellis's edition.
page 432 note u “Et cito post Rex Ricardus ad Castrum de Pumfrete transraissus est, ubi post paucos dies obiit.” Annales Rerum Anglicanura, printed at the end of Hearne's Lib. Nig. Scac. p. 451. It may be proper to add, that in the short Chronicle of Godstow, subjoined by Hearne to his edition of Roper's Life of More, the words are, “tandem à cibo & potu per IIIIor vei quinque dies restrictus famis inedia expiravit.” p. 237.
page 436 note a It cannot now be ascertained whether the writer of the passage in the Croyland Chronicle was contemporary, but it seems probable that the continuations of this Chronicle were made in the abbey from time to time, as events occurred.
page 438 note a Monstrelet, I. c. 9.
page 442 note a Mr. Webb, however, is not chargeable with the bad taste above alluded to, since he justly condemns it's general influence, though in the question before us, he thinks that the suspicion of Henry's guilt is fairly to be entertained.