Chapter 6

"The blessyd babe that ye have born prynce Edward is he,Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take this reme (realm) on hand,"

said Prudence to the Queen in the pageant of the four Cardinal Virtues; while the prophet Isaiah declared to the Queen that,—

"Like as mankynde was gladdid by the birght of Jhesus,So shall this empyre joy the birthe of your bodye."

And the companion prophet Jeremiah was equally positive:

"The fragrant floure sprongen of you shall so encrece & sprede,That all the world yn ich (each) party shall cherisshe hym & love & drede."

In his conception of the Queen's character Wedurby was a thorough courtier.

"The mellyflue mekenes of your person shall put all wo away,"

the same prophet said; and S. Edward greeted her as "moder of mekeness."

To what strange freaks will not the rules of his art—and especially alliteration—betray a poet! The "she wolf of France" had nothing of the quality thus assigned to her; her name had merely the same initial letter.

The King and Queen entered Coventry on Holy Cross day, by the Bablake Gate.[255]Close by the entrance was a pageant whereon stood the two above-named prophets, and a "Jesse," or figure representing the genealogy of Christ, was placed upon the gate itself. At the east end of Bablake church were the figures of the Confessor—in allusion to Prince Edward—and S. John the Evangelist. A few paces distant at the conduit in Smithford Street the four Cardinal Virtues were displayed. A second set of pageants, grouped in the open spaces at the Cheaping, next met the Queen's eyes. There were the Nine Conquerors, Hector, Alexander, and the rest; and finally by the conduit a stage was placed whereon S. Margaret appeared, "sleying" a great dragon "by myracull." While upon the cross itself were grouped a company of angels, and the pipes of the conduit ran wine. Between the cross and the conduit the Queen received the homage of the Nine Conquerors, while her name-saint gave to her a final salutation:

"Most notabull princes of wymen erthle,Dame Margarete, the chefe myrth of this empyre,Ye be hertely welcum to this cyte,To the plesure of your highnes I wyll sette my desyre,Bothe nature & gentilnes doth me require,Seth we be both of one name, to shew you kyndnes,Wherfore by my power ye shall have no distresse;I shall pray to the prince that is endeles,To socour you with solas of his high grace.He wyll here my peticion, this is doutles,For I wrought all my lyf & that his wyll wace;Therefore, lady, when ye be yn any dredeful cace,Call on me boldly, ther of I pray you,And trist to me feythefully I well do that may pay yow."

John Wedurby was, no doubt, an indifferent poet, but viewed in the light of subsequent events, his verses have all sorts of ironical and tragic meanings, whereof he was, of course, wholly unconscious.

The pageants and welcome entertainments cost the citizens not a little, we may suppose, in time and treasure. They made the king a present of a tun of wine costing £8, 0s. 4d.; while by the "advice of his council" the mayor distributed 20s. among "divers persons of the king's house."[256]Lord Rivers too had a glass of rose-water at the mayor's expense, whereof the cost was 2s.; thirteen years later his lordship had a very bitter drink at Coventry.[257]Still the coming of the Court no doubt brought trade to the city; had it brought also peace, all would have been well. The council met on October 7, and a blow was aimed at the Duke of York in the dismissal of the Bourchiers.[258]It was even said that the duke's life was in danger, but that his kinsman, the Duke of Buckingham, assisted him to escape. Margaret required the presence of Somerset to lend strength to her party, and with him there came, it seems, a company of turbulent retainers. These men fell out with the city-watch and slew three or four of the townsmen; whereat, says a writer in the Paston series, "the larum belle was ronge and the toun arose andwould have jouperdit to have distressed the men of the duke of Somerset, ne had the duke of Buks taken direccion therin."[259]Coventry was already ceasing to be the well-ordered and peaceful place whereon the mind of King Henry loved to dwell. Next year we hear that the civic finances were disorganised, that the officers of the city were negligent in the performance of their duty, and that the citizens, being "of froward dispositions," were inclined to appeal to "mighty men in strange shires" for their support in carrying on lawsuits against their neighbours in courts without the city.

In February, 1457, the court was again at Coventry; the King came thither on the 11th "to his bedde," and the Queen coming "suddenly" next day "unto her mete."[260]Margaret was doubtless burdened with some weighty tidings, for "she came rydyng byhynde a man, and so rode the most part of all her gentylwemen then, at which tyme she sende vn to the meyre and his brethern that she wold not that [the] spiritualte ne the temporalte shold be laburd to met her then, and so she was not met at that tyme." A great council[261]was held at Coventry from February 15 to March 14, all the great men of both parties being present, and the Duke of York was re-appointed to the deputyship of Ireland. Henry left the city for Kenilworth on March 14, the mayor and his brethren, and a "goodly fellowship of the city" having "right great thank" for accompanying his highness "to the utter side of their franchise." A characteristic touch is given concerning Margaret's departure for Coleshill two days later. The mayor, his brethren, and a "feyre felyship" of the commons—we seem to gather from these words that there was but a scanty attendance—went with Queen Margaret to the boundary of the city liberties. The mayor, having his mace in his hand, rode immediately before her, the sheriffs with their white yards or rods directly preceding the mayor. Hitherto this ceremony in its completeness had only been observed when the King was in question. "And so," theLeet Booksays, "they did never before the quene tyll then, for they bere before that tyme alwey theire servants (sergeants') mases ... at her comynges, at which doyng her officers groged (grudged), seying the quene owed to be met yn like fourme as the kyng shold, which yn dede," the writer continues with some trepidation, "as ys seide owe to be so, except her displeser wold be eschewed."[262]

An unexplained rising took place at Hereford in April, and the King and Queen went thither to quell it, Margaret alienating even her friends in that district by her severity. At Whitsuntide, however, the whole Court again sojourned at Coventry, and a grand procession at the Pentecostal feast dazzled the eyes of the citizens.[263]The Duke of Buckingham followed next after Henry, but Lord Beaumont "bere the kynges treyne," the Earl of Stafford "his cap of astate," and Sir John Tunstall his sword. The great nobles followed every one in his proper rank, while after her the Queen and her chief lady, the Duchess of Buckingham, there came "mony moo ladyes yn her mantels, surcotes, and other appareyll to theyre astates acustumed." Mass was celebrated in the cathedral by the Bishop of Hereford, assisted by the dean of the King's chapel, the prior and his monks.

Queen Margaret could occasionally be gracious, and her eagerness to see the Mystery Plays performed at the feast of Corpus Christi must have flattered the citizens. She came "prively" from Kenilworth on the eve of the festival, and "lodged at Richard Wodes, the grocer,[264]where Richard Sharp sometime dwelled; and there all the plays were first played," saveDoomsday, the drapers' pageant, which could not be seen, for evening came on and put a close to the performance. The mayor and bailiffs sent a present to Richard Wood's house, namely "ccc (300) paynemaynes,[265]a pipe of rede wyne, a dosyn capons of haut grece,[266]a dosyn of grete fat pykes, a grete panyer full of pescodes and another panyer of pipyns and orynges, & ij cofyns of counfetys, & a pot of grene gynger." Quite a little court was assembled at the grocer's house to witness those strange spectacles in which the dramatic instinct of the Middle Ages found vent. The Duke of Buckingham and "my lady his wife," who might be regarded as natives of the city, would do the honours of the place; and let us hope those ardent Lancastrians, Lord Rivers and his lady, father and mother of the future queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and the elder and younger Countess of Shrewsbury, applauded the ravings of Pilate and Herod, the pompous characters of the religious drama, or heard with complaisance the devil's jokes. It is hard to imagine Queen Margaret, that tireless fighter and plotter, or Lady Shrewsbury, the great Talbot's widow, whose feud with the Berkeleys filled Gloucestershire with strife for over a generation, engaged in such a harmless amusement as laughing over the quaint performances of their citizen supporters, nibbling the while some of the good mayor's supply of apples and sweetmeats. How delighted the citizens were at her highness's condescension! When she went next day "to her mete" to Coleshill, "right a good feliship—which plesid her highnes right well,"—attended her to the "vtmast side of theyre franchise, where hit plesyd her to gyff them grete thank bothe for theyre present and theyre gentyll attendaunce." In the August of that same year, Henry and his Queen again visited Coventry, sleeping there from August 31 until September 2, and "about x of the belle" on the latter day the Queen rode to Sharneford and on to sleep at Leicester "toward the forest of Rokyngham for to hunt," while at two o'clock Henry rode forth on his journey towards Northampton, and the men of Coventry did not see them again for two years, when a more troubled scene had opened.

The records of Coventry are nothing but a blank during the succeeding years; for the council merely met at the appointed season to elect a mayor, but transacted, as far as we know, no other business; tradition has it that the city was divided against itself, a highly probable case when we consider how high the tide of Yorkist and Lancastrian party spirit was running in the rest of the country. In the political world this season was filled by ineffectual peacemakings and renewed preparations for war. Warwick, after provoking the wrath of the Lancastrian party, fled to Calais, and his father, Salisbury, met and worsted Lord Audley, the royalist leader, who had been sent to capture him, at the field of Bloreheath (September 23, 1459). The Yorkist lords flew to arms; but when the King proposed to give battle at Ludford, weakened by the defection of a certain Andrew Trollope, they all dispersed and fled. The Yorkists being thus humbled, the time was come for Margaret's vengeance. No writs were sent to the principal Yorkist chiefs for the parliament summoned to meet at Coventry on November 20, and the knights and burgesses were nominated by the Lancastrian leaders. The assembly met, and, by one sweeping act of attainder, deprived twenty-three leading Yorkists of their inheritance. People called this the "diabolical parliament"; henceforward there was no hope of a reconciliation between York and Lancaster. A petition[267]presented by John Rous, the antiquary of Guy's Cliffe, to this parliament, calling attention to the enclosure of common lands and increase of pasture, is now lost; it fell on deaf ears at that time of party strife.

It seems that the Queen's late violent proceedings, or the plundering propensities of her followers, had caused the townspeople to grow somewhat cold in her cause. When a commission of array dated from Northampton arrived a few days before the Candlemas feast, 1460, the sheriffs kept it back, and it was fourteen days before the newly elected mayor, John Wyldegrys,[268]received the missive addressed to his predecessor conveying the king's command. This was surely not the result of accident but design, the sheriffs having their own reasons for thwarting the mayor, or being ardent Yorkists. Then the Duke of Buckingham arrived, perhaps to learn the reason of the delay, and the mayor bethought him of this indiscretion. "To my lord of Buckingham," lodging at the "Angel," he sent to ask whether "any hurt might grow to the city" because of the neglect of the commission, and to ensure the duke's goodwill, sent thirty loaves, two pike, two tench, some capons, a peacock, and a peahen to his lodging.

A letter which he received from the King about this time hardly tended, it may be thought, to reassure John Wyldegrys.[269]"For asmuche," the King wrote, "as credible reporte is made vn to us howe diuers of th' inhabitantes of oure cite of Coventre haue, sithe the tyme of oure departyng from thens, vsed and had right vnfittyng langage ayenst oure estate and personne, and in favouring of oure supersticious[270]traitours, and rebelles, nowe late in oure parlement there attaincted, wherbygrete comocions and murmur ben like to folowe, to the grete distourbance of oure feithfull, true subgettes, onlesse that punisshement and remede for the redresse therof the rather be had, we therfor ... charge you diligently t' enquer and make serche among the seid inhabitants of suche vnfittyng langage as is aboue seid, and do theym to be emprysoned and punisshed accordyng to their demerits, and in example of other of semblable condicion, as ye desyre to do that shall plaise vs."[271]

John Wyldegrys probably executed this commission with all the alacrity of fear, and we hear that in the following October the Duke of York had a strange commission to sit in judgment on various offenders in Coventry "to punish them by the fawtes to the kyng's lawys." But the duke, who was on his way home from Ireland, could not afford to tarry, having weightier business on hand, namely, the laying claim to the throne of England, and the drawing up of a genealogy to lay before parliament, showing that his claim to the throne was based on rightful inheritance. Since the battle of Northampton (July 10, 1460), the King had been in the hands of the Yorkist lords, Salisbury and Warwick.[272]At this battle, too, Henry lost Buckingham, the most powerful man at the time in Warwickshire, and a pillar of the Lancastrian cause. After his death, maybe, the men of Coventry felt more free to choose what side they would, and the plunder wherein Margaret's host indulged after Wakefield (December 14) and S. Alban's (February 17, 1461) completed their alienation from the Lancastrian party. The Yorkists had now the upper hand in the city. After the battle of S. Alban's £100 was collected throughout the wards for men to go toLondon with "the earl of March,"[273]who, since his father's death at Wakefield, had become the hope of the Yorkist cause. On the day after his coronation (March 5) Edward IV. dispatched a letter to the mayor and his brethren full of thanks for the citizens' loyalty to his cause, praying for their "good continuance in the same," and praising their "good and substantial rule." He thus assured the support of the people of the place, and on the terrible field of Towton, where "the dead hindered the living from coming to close quarters," the men of Coventry fought under the standard of the Black Ram in the Yorkist ranks. TheLeet Booktells us that £80 was collected throughout the wards for the 100 men "which went with oure soverayn liege lord kyng Edward the IIIItheto the felde yn the north."[274]

Many of the towns took part with Edward in this famous battle, for order and good government seemed more likely to follow from the Yorkist than the Lancastrian rule. Each town went to the field under their ancient ensign. As a contemporary ballad has it:—

"The wolf came fro Worcester, ful sure he thought to byte,The dragon came fro Gloucester, he bent his tayle to smyte;The griffin cam fro Leycester, flying in as tyte,The George cam fro Nottingham, with spere for to fyte."[275]

The citizens certainly continued to deserve the King's favour. They presented him with £100 and a cup to his "welcome to his cite of Coventre from the felde yn the North,"[276]and decorated the city with pageants and goodly shows in his honour, the smiths' craft providing the character of Samson, who no doubt gave in appropriate verses the promise to use his great strength in defending the King's just claim "to his newly-acquiredsovereignty."[277]In that year also all men dwelling in the city were sworn to King Edward to be "his true lege men." In later times the King learnt to distrust this ancient Lancastrian refuge, but for the present there was nothing but amity between himself and the citizens. So vivid was the remembrance of the plundering of Margaret's army, that the old loyalty towards the Lancastrians turned to rancour. And the same spring, on the King-maker's coming—the first important mention of him in the city annals—£40 was collected to be given to him for the payment of forty men that went to the north to resist "kyng Herry and quene Margetthat were, and alle other with theym accompanyed, as Scottes and Frenchemen, of theyre entre yn to this lande." The mere whisper of a foreign alliance and invasion was sufficient to damn the Lancastrian cause, for Lord Rous, with other refugees, aided by the Scots, were making trouble on the Border. The men returned on July 29, for the north was pacified, men believed, the Scots having rebellions, stirred up by King Edward, to look to nearer home.

FOOTNOTES:[234]Leet Book, 112.[235]Ramsay,Lanc. and York, ii. 169.[236]Dugdale,Warw., ii. 1,011.[237]Leet Book, 244. Ajackwas a tunic of stuffed leather; asallet, a helmet; and ahabergeon, a short coat of mail. A unique sallet of the time of the Wars of the Roses, traditionally known as the Black Prince's helmet, is in S. Mary's Hall.[238]Leet Book, 253.[239]Ib., 256-60.[240]Ib., 257.[241]Ib., 260.[242]Leet Book, 263.[243]MS. Coïalte: this contraction will be henceforth written in full. I deviate from the MS. in putting capital letters to proper names, and in writing these in full wherever contractions occur. I have also substituted small letters for capitals whenever the latter would cause confusion to the modern reader.[244]Outer.[245]Thomas Littleton, of famous memory, whom Coke made familiar to all. This official was the exponent of the law in the mayor's court.[246]Ramsay,op. cit., ii. 147.[247]Leet Book, 264-5.[248]Leet Book, 264-5.[249]Leet Book, 265-6. The city and the adjoining hamlets were joined together as a county. The mayor, according to the charter, was made steward and marshal of the king's household.[250]There were great preparations for the civil strife during this year (Ramsay, ii. 169). The prince of Wales was invested with the appanage of Cornwall in 1455 (Ib., ii. 219). The Coventry men henceforth owned him as their lord and protector.[251]Leet Book, 283.[252]Ramsay, ii. 199.[253]Leet Book, 285.[254]Ib., 292.[255]Leet Book, 287; first printed in Sharp,Antiq., pp. 228-231.[256]Leet Book, 292.[257]Beheaded on Gosford Green, 1469.[258]York and Warwick swore to keep the peace (Ramsay, ii, 199).[259]Paston Letters(ed. Gairdner), i. 408.[260]Leet Book, 297.[261]The Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Winchester, London, Lincoln, Norwich, Exeter, Worcester, Chester, Hereford, and Salisbury; the Abbots of Glastonbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Gloucester, Malmesbury, Cirencester; Lawrence Booth, privy seal; the Dukes of Exeter, Buckingham, Somerset; the Earls of Shrewsbury, treasurer, Stafford, Northumberland, Arundel and Devonshire; the Lord of S John's, the Lords Roos, Suydeley, steward of the Household, Stanley, Beauchamp, Berners, Grey de Ruthyn, Lovell, Wells, Willoughby, and Dudley, were present.[262]Leet Book, 298.[263]Ib., 299.[264]Leet Book, 300.[265]Fine white bread;panis dominicus, lord's bread.[266]Fat.[267]Rous,Hist. Reg. Angliæ(Hearne), 120.[268]Leet Book, 308.[269]Ib., 309.[270]Query?[271]Leet Book, 309.[272]Henry was at Coventry when he heard of the landing of the Yorkist lords Salisbury and Warwick on June 23 (Holinshed, iii. 654).[273]Afterwards Edward IV. (Leet Book, 313).[274]Ib., 315.[275]Thompson,Leicester, 88.[276]Leet Book, 316.[277]Sharp,Mysteries, 152.

FOOTNOTES:

[234]Leet Book, 112.

[235]Ramsay,Lanc. and York, ii. 169.

[236]Dugdale,Warw., ii. 1,011.

[237]Leet Book, 244. Ajackwas a tunic of stuffed leather; asallet, a helmet; and ahabergeon, a short coat of mail. A unique sallet of the time of the Wars of the Roses, traditionally known as the Black Prince's helmet, is in S. Mary's Hall.

[238]Leet Book, 253.

[239]Ib., 256-60.

[240]Ib., 257.

[241]Ib., 260.

[242]Leet Book, 263.

[243]MS. Coïalte: this contraction will be henceforth written in full. I deviate from the MS. in putting capital letters to proper names, and in writing these in full wherever contractions occur. I have also substituted small letters for capitals whenever the latter would cause confusion to the modern reader.

[244]Outer.

[245]Thomas Littleton, of famous memory, whom Coke made familiar to all. This official was the exponent of the law in the mayor's court.

[246]Ramsay,op. cit., ii. 147.

[247]Leet Book, 264-5.

[248]Leet Book, 264-5.

[249]Leet Book, 265-6. The city and the adjoining hamlets were joined together as a county. The mayor, according to the charter, was made steward and marshal of the king's household.

[250]There were great preparations for the civil strife during this year (Ramsay, ii. 169). The prince of Wales was invested with the appanage of Cornwall in 1455 (Ib., ii. 219). The Coventry men henceforth owned him as their lord and protector.

[251]Leet Book, 283.

[252]Ramsay, ii. 199.

[253]Leet Book, 285.

[254]Ib., 292.

[255]Leet Book, 287; first printed in Sharp,Antiq., pp. 228-231.

[256]Leet Book, 292.

[257]Beheaded on Gosford Green, 1469.

[258]York and Warwick swore to keep the peace (Ramsay, ii, 199).

[259]Paston Letters(ed. Gairdner), i. 408.

[260]Leet Book, 297.

[261]The Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Winchester, London, Lincoln, Norwich, Exeter, Worcester, Chester, Hereford, and Salisbury; the Abbots of Glastonbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Gloucester, Malmesbury, Cirencester; Lawrence Booth, privy seal; the Dukes of Exeter, Buckingham, Somerset; the Earls of Shrewsbury, treasurer, Stafford, Northumberland, Arundel and Devonshire; the Lord of S John's, the Lords Roos, Suydeley, steward of the Household, Stanley, Beauchamp, Berners, Grey de Ruthyn, Lovell, Wells, Willoughby, and Dudley, were present.

[262]Leet Book, 298.

[263]Ib., 299.

[264]Leet Book, 300.

[265]Fine white bread;panis dominicus, lord's bread.

[266]Fat.

[267]Rous,Hist. Reg. Angliæ(Hearne), 120.

[268]Leet Book, 308.

[269]Ib., 309.

[270]Query?

[271]Leet Book, 309.

[272]Henry was at Coventry when he heard of the landing of the Yorkist lords Salisbury and Warwick on June 23 (Holinshed, iii. 654).

[273]Afterwards Edward IV. (Leet Book, 313).

[274]Ib., 315.

[275]Thompson,Leicester, 88.

[276]Leet Book, 316.

[277]Sharp,Mysteries, 152.

CHAPTER XI

The Last Struggle of York and Lancaster—the Tudors and Stuarts

Themen of Coventry settled down under the rule of Edward IV.; and if the clash of arms was heard in the north—for Margaret would not tamely submit to lose her son's inheritance—it did not disturb the Midlands. Henry VI., the weak, mad, saintly King, lay in the Tower of London, and men thought the Yorkist firmly seated on his throne. The wars and party troubles had, however, much disorganized the city finances, and it is probably from this time that we must date the backwardness of the city in paying their ferm to the exchequer; and though the vigorous measures of the leet may have kept temporary order for those within and without the ruling body, yet the embarrassments of the corporation were not past. An attack on the franchises,[278]made, so it would appear from some words the steward of Cheylesmore let fall, at the instigation of some of the malcontents within the city in 1464, was the cause of much trouble and fear to the townsfolk. The arrest of one Hikman, a dyer, a craft always at daggers drawn with the corporation, in Cheylesmore Park, was the occasion of the trouble. At the instance of the officials of the royal manor,[279]Edward IV. called in question theright of the city officers to make arrests within the manorial territory. The matter was decided in the city's favour after many journeys and much suffering of the law's delays.

SMITHFORD STREET COVENTRY

Edward treated the Coventry folk graciously enough, paying them several visits at this time[280]; but another figure had begun to loom large in English politics, andWarwick, the King-maker, now exercised even more power in the Midlands than had been enjoyed by the Lancastrian Buckingham. In 1464 the earl first appears as meddling in the internal affairs of Coventry. A quarrel arose between a certain William Bedon and William Huet about a debt—it may have been a party affair between the weavers and tailors—and appeal was made to Edward IV. The matter, the King declared, was "screpulus and doubtefull," and directed that the litigants should abide by the arbitration of certain citizens, or that the mayor, in the event of their inability to decide upon the case before Michaelmas, should step in and dispose of the matter.

Accordingly at the appointed time, when the arbitrators failed to agree, the mayor took the matter into his own hands, and decreed that Huet should ask Bedon's forgiveness for his behaviour towards him, giving also 40s. "for amends." "Which laude and decree," theLeet Booksays, "the seid William Huet yn neyther braunche wold not obey, but utterly refusyd," using "right vnfyttyng, inordinate and ceducious langage sownyng to the derogacion of the kynges lawes and of his peace, yn right evyll example, for the which the seid mair, vmper,[281]be the advyse of his seid brethern, comyttid hym to warde," the King giving him "right good and special thank" for his action in this behalf. Tiptoft, it appears, who was then in the city, kept Edward informed of the progress of the business. But the affair soon assumed serious proportions, and the King wrote to inform the mayor that if any others vexed their neighbours by any "imaginacions, sclaundours or feyned accusacions hereafter," or made any "conventicles," they were to be repressed; the officer requiring all the king's liege men in the city to aid him in the work "at thair peril."[282]

But peace was not to be restored by these means, forthe city authorities had still to reckon with Huet, who lay in prison. By the "meane of his frendes," the account goes on, he "labored vnto my lord of Warrewyk for favor and ease to be had yn the seid decree at my lordes instaunce, so that to ouer gret rebuke ne charge were not don to the seid William yn makyng therof. And theruppon the seid mair, allethough after his dimeretys, well and indifferently be hym vnderstondon, he were worthy to have made as lowly submission as cowde be thought therfore, and to have boron to the utmost of his godes besides that, and rightwesnes without mercy shold have ben don therin; but at the seid instaunce leying rightwesnes apart and folowyng mercy," the mayor "made his laude and decree thus: that the seid William Huet shuld be of good seying and behavyng fro that tyme fourth, and that he shuld yeve the seid William Bedon 10 marcs in amendes towards his costes. And so he did, which amounted not to the thryd peny that he had made hym to spende; and yette further at my seid lordes instaunce"—here the mayor, sadly confused and harassed by the divergence of the paths of "mercy" and "righteousness," takes up the account in his own person—"my worshipfull Brethren and I so effectuelly entreted the seid William Bedon, that he yave the seid Huet agayn V nobles of the seid X marcs." Then Huet, being further bound over to keep the peace, was "set at his large," or released.

Owing to these repeated attacks, as well as to the unsettled state of the kingdom, things had not prospered with the Coventry corporation. They were in 1468 £800 in arrear of their annual ferm of £50. The sheriff was ordered to seize the goods of the mayor and men of the place as distress. He could find no more than 106s. worth of goods, and these "remained on his hands for lack of buyers," "and since the said mayor and men had no other goods or lands within the bailiwick that could be taken into the king's hands, no further payment wasthen made,"[283]a rather amusing betrayal of the helplessness of the central government. But the Trinity and Corpus Christi guilds were bodies possessed of great wealth, though upon their funds the exchequer had no claim, thanks to the astuteness of the corporation in thus disposing of its possessions. But no doubt the resources both of guilds and townsmen were failing, even as those of the monastery, for in 1466 the prior was £550 in arrears to the Crown for the rent of the Earl's-half; his tenants in the city must therefore have been backward in paying the rent due to the priory treasury. And to add to the general confusion in 1469 the commonalty rose crying that they were defrauded of their lawful share of the Lammas lands. More serious than all, when civil war again broke loose and Edward and Warwick measured swords together, the men of Coventry chose the losing side, nor did a too late repentance avail to save them from the terrible humiliation of a temporary forfeiture of their franchises.

Meanwhile matters were going from bad to worse in the government of England. The great earl was becoming rapidly estranged from his young kinsman, Edward, whom he had helped to place on the throne. Jealousy of the Queen's relations, and the decay of his own influence in the royal councils, were rapidly converting Warwick into a secret enemy of the ruling house. Edward[284]was in favour of a Burgundian alliance; the King-maker, on the contrary, pressed forward the claims of France to the friendship of England, and when the King treated the French ambassadors with scant courtesy, his too powerful subject entered into intrigues with Louis XI. on his own behalf. He had some thoughts of placing on the throne his future son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence; and Calais, where the earl and the King'sbrother were staying, became in 1469 a perfect hot-bed of conspiracy.

How far Warwick carried with him the general sentiment of English folk is rather doubtful, but so great was his territorial influence that he was a highly dangerous enemy. Besides, there were various elements of disaffection abroad in the land. The Lancastrians had still some hold on the hearts of those living in the north and west, while others who had expected an era of peace and perfection under Yorkist rule were naturally disappointed at the small results of Edward's government. Though there seems to have been no very distinct notion of what the people wanted, one thing was clear, they wanted a change, and the country was filled with the old tokens of unrest and discontent. Bad times seem rather unaccountably to have befallen the people of Coventry; the city was deeply in debt, and on that account the citizens were probably more willing to lend an ear to Warwick's emissaries. It is possible that foreign trade relations may have more to do than we are at present aware with town politics. The great merchants of the Staple, who were heads of the powerful civic families, and who possessed the monopoly of trade in wool, would welcome the alliance with Burgundy, and a ready export of the raw material to Flanders; while the bulk of the townsfolk, cloth workers and artisans, were glad that the wool should be kept in England and be converted into cloth by home manufacture. For that reason Warwick and his anti-Burgundian policy may have been popular in cloth-working towns such as Coventry then was.

We follow with difficulty the record of obscure risings which marked the beginning of a fresh struggle. Two movements agitated the north in the early part of the year 1469. One seems to have been a Lancastrian outbreak; the other, under Robin of Redesdale, was undoubtedly fomented by Warwick. The men ofCoventry found themselves as usual drawn into the strife. They were compelled to pay, and send fifty men to York against the rebels,[285]who joined their forces together, and finally turned southwards under Sir John Coniers towards the Midlands. For some time Edward appeared unconscious of the danger that threatened him, and during June he went quietly on a progress through the eastern counties. At last there came a rude awakening. On July 1,[286]he wrote from Fotheringay, bidding the mayor take and commit to ward any person using seditious language among the King's liege people to the intent to "stor and incens theym to rumor and comocion"; and later letters were urgent in their appeals for dispatch of men. Meanwhile the extent of Warwick's plotting stood revealed. On July 12 came tidings from this arch conspirator, who, far from being the haughty noble of the conventional type, was, as his latest biographer[287]tells us, very affable in his bearing and an ardent seeker after the commonalty's good will. Warwick had very probably gained a strong party among the populace at Coventry, and in addition to the letter destined for the mayor, the messenger bore a duplicate addressed to his master's "servonds and welwyllers" within the city.[288]"Ryght trusty and well belovyd frende,"the earl wrote to the mayor, William Saunders, "I grete you well. Forsomuche as hyt hath pleasyd the kings gode grace to sende at this tyme for hys lords and other hys subgetts to atende on hys hygnes northwards, and that both the rihgt hye and myghty prince, my lord the duke of Clarens, and I be fully purposid, after thesolempnizacion of the maryage by Godds grace in short tyme to be hadde bitwene my sayd lord and my dohgter, to a wayte on the same, and to drawe vn to our sayd soveren lordes hyghnes, therfor desire and pray you that ye woll in the meene tyme geve knowlache to all suche felisshipp as ye mowe make [toward theym] to arredy theym in the best wyse they can, and that bothe ye and they defensibly arrayd be redy apon a days warnyng to accompany my sayd lord and me toward the sayd highnes, as my specyall trust ys in yowe; yevyng credens to this berer in that he shall open vnto you on my behalve, and ore Lord have you in hys keping. Writon at London the xxviii day of Juyn." The marriage thus referred to was solemnised some ten days or more after the date of the missive—July 11, Clarence and Archbishop Neville having secretly stolen over to Calais, where Warwick was then posted, to take part in the ceremony; and the next day the King-maker and his following landed on the coast of Kent.

COOK STREET, GATE

The letter[289]as it stands conveys but scanty indications of the real state of affairs, but no doubt the citizens read between the lines, and in "giving credence to the bearer" heard as much as the earl wished of his plans for the overthrow of the Queen's relations and the recovery of the Neville influence. Whether they understood that Clarence, Warwick's son-in-law, was to occupy his brother Edward's place, and be raised to the throne, is another matter. Nevertheless they must have been somewhat bewildered by Warwick's change of front. Lancaster they knew, and York they knew, but they might with all justice ask, "Who are ye?" of the King-maker.

Once more, as in Margaret's time, Coventry, with itscommand of the north-western road, became a centre of operations. News now came thick and fast. Coniers' army of Yorkshiremen, supplied with a later manifesto and petition of grievances promulgated by Warwick, and the royal troops under Herbert and Stafford of Southwick, were converging towards Banbury. On Maudlin day (July 22) Coventry was hastily fortified, certain of the principal citizens overlooking the equipment of soldiers and the strengthening of the gates with cannon. On the 26th July the battle of Edgcote was fought near Banbury, ending in the discomfiture of Herbert and the royalist troops. For just when victory seemed assured, a rabble of Northampton men, led by one John Clapham, bearing the banner of the White Bear, and shouting "a Warwick! a Warwick!" appeared over the hillside in the rear of Lord Herbert's men, and they, thinking the Earl himself was come, broke and fled. "Lord Herbert," theLeet Booksays, "was taken in fight by Banbury with Robin of Redesdale" on the vigil of S. James, and was brought to Northampton, and there beheaded, and Lord Richard Herbert, with others.[290]Some days afterwards Edward was captured at Honiley or Olney, near Kenilworth, and brought by Archbishop Neville to Coventry, there to meet the Archbishop's "brother of Warwick."[291]He was detained in the city as a prisoner until August 9. But even then his humiliation was not complete. Three days later, when the King was certainly no further removed from the city than Warwick, the father and brother of Edward's Queen, Lord Rivers and his son, John Woodville, who had been captured by rioters at Chepstow, fell into Warwick's hands, and were beheaded on Gosford Green by his order.[292]TheLeet Bookalso records the executions of Lord Stafford of Southwick at Bridgewater, and again that of Sir Humphrey Neville, a Lancastrian, and Charles, his brother, who had risen in rebellion in September, in the "north coasts," and that of the bailiff of Durham at the same time ("et ballivus de Duram eodem tempore"). It was on the occasion of this northern or Lancastrian rising that the Nevilles found themselves forced to release Edward; for the unpopular ministers having been brought to justice, there was a feeling abroad that the King should be set free.

So far Warwick's revolt had been successful, but it did not wholly gratify his ambition. No doubt he felt that the King was hopelessly alienated, and, whenever powerful enough, would free himself from the influence of the house of Neville. Fresh troubles broke out, this time in Lincolnshire, in February 1470. Warwick's agents so worked on the fears of the people that they rose in great numbers, and converted a local dispute into a rising of some magnitude. A royal missive, bearing date February 9, arrived at Coventry late in the evening, and in accordance with the commission, money was collected throughout the wards for men to go to Grantham by March 12.[293]The King's letter was imperative; there were rebels abroad, it said, "and many assemble for the retaining of the said enemies ... so that if their malice be not ... withstanden, it might grow to the great jeopardy of us and to the destruction of all true subjects." Edward defeated the rebels at Empingham, near Stamford, on 12th March, and so sudden was their flight that the battle received the name ofLose-coat Field. Meanwhile the ringleaders, mainly belonging to the Welles family, were brought in; but beforeexecution they showed that Clarence and Warwick were seriously implicated in their designs. Edward, whose suspicions were thoroughly aroused, sent to the duke and earl at Coventry, bidding them disband their levies, for they were followed by a great number of men, and join him without delay; but they would not, merely sending excuses and promises.[294]And perhaps it was then that Clarence, being in need of money, left in pledge a "coronall," garnished with "rubies, diamonds, and sapphires," in return for a loan of 300 marks from the citizens.[295]Finally Warwick and the King's brother, after trying the disposition of men's minds towards their cause in the northern parts, turned southwards, whither Edward followed them; but they had already taken ship at Dartmouth when the King reached Exeter. Edward passed through Coventry on his way southwards, and forty men went with the King on April 5 to the south coasts, taking the great sum of 12d.[296]a day for payment. For the citizens of Coventry—provident men—afforded help to either party, hoping surely to have their reward whichever side might prevail in the end. They admitted Clarence and Edward, and furnished the former with money and the latter with men. This shows either that they took a dispassionate view of these dynastic and political struggles in which they had no concern, or that they were more deeply involved in them than we imagine, but parties being so evenly balanced in the city, the presence or near neighbourhood of a leader of either party was sufficient for the time being to turn the scale in his favour.

The two conspirators sailed for Calais, but there themerchants of the Staple were heart and soul for Edward and the Burgundian alliance, and the garrison, being in their pay, closed the harbour against them. So they put into the Seine, and Warwick, abandoning his old project of dethroning Edward to make room for Clarence, prepared to take up a more definite policy, and made overtures to the Lancastrians. It is difficult to imagine how Queen Margaret could bring herself to forgive the man who had wrought so much evil to her and hers. But Louis XI., King of France, who knew that if the Yorkists continued to reign they would strengthen Burgundy, his great foe, acted as peacemaker, and the compact between Lancaster and Neville was sealed by the betrothal of Warwick's daughter to the Prince of Wales. When the King-maker and the Lancastrian lords landed at Plymouth in September, they caught Edward unawares in the north, and they replied to his summons, ordering them to appear at court, "humbly and measurably accompanyed," by proclaiming Henry VI. King of England. The army in the north declared for King Henry; for the moment the game was up; Edward IV. fled to Lynn, and took ship for the Low Countries.

OLD HOUSE IN LITTLE PARK STREET

The CoventryLeet Bookthus summarizes the year's events:[297]"In the Lenton when William Stafford was mayor ... the Lord Wellys[298]were byhedyd. The duke of Clarance and the yrle of Warw[ick] w[ent] o[ut] of the londe, and went to the kynge off Franse, and there were gretly cheryshyd, and there was a m[arriage] m[ade] by twix prinse Edward and a dohgter of the sayd yrle of Warwic. And in the monthe of Sept[ember] the sayd duke and yrle with the yrle of Oxynford, the yrle off Pembroke,[299]brother tokyng Harry, the bastard ffawkynbruge[300]comyn a londe at Ex—.[301]They ther drewe to hem muche pepull, or they com to Coventry, they wer xxx thowsand. [Ky]ng Edward laye at Notynham, and sende for lordes and all other men, but ther com so lytell pep[ull] to hym that he was not abyll to made a fylde a gaynes hem, and then he with the yrle [R]evers, the lorde Hastyng,[302]the lord Haward, and the lorde Say went to Lynne, and ther goten hem shippes, and sayledon to the duke of Borgoyne,[303]the whiche duke hade weddydkyng Edwards syster, the lady Margete. And then the duke of Clarans, the yrle off Warwic, the yrle of Oxynford, the yrle of Shroysbere, the lord Stanley, [and] the bysshoppe of Yorke[304]went to the towre at London, and set out of prison kyng Harre the Syxt, the wyche hade be ix yer and a halfe and mor[305]as a prisonere, and brohgt hym to the bysshoppes palys at Powlys[306]in London, and made hym there to take on hym to be kyng as he was afore tyme. And then was the yrle of Wyrseter[307]behedyt at London.... The quene that was wyfe to kyng Edward, with hyr moder, the duches of Bedford,[308]toke seynt wary[309]at Westmynster, and ther the quene was lyght of a son that was crystonyd Edward."

So the year that had seen such astonishing events now drew to a close. England saw one king displaced by a powerful subject after a bloodless struggle, and another, weak, possibly imbecile, and long a neglected prisoner, restored to his former state; a queen driven to take sanctuary for fear of her husband's enemies, and the birth of a Prince of Wales, the history of whose short unhappy life accords well with the inauspicious season of his coming into the world. Though Englishmen passively accepted these changes, Warwick's position was still one of great difficulty; the King's weakness, Margaret's delay in France, and last the unstable temper of "false, fleeting, perjured Clarence," all combined to make the firm establishment of the restored dynasty a matter involving risk on every hand.

John Bette counted the beginning of his mayoralty inJanuary, 1471, according to the regnal year of Henry VI., and the townspeople doubtless considered that the rule of the Yorkists was a thing of the past.[310]Perhaps the craftsmen party were pleased with the reversal of policy which followed on the reaccession of the Lancastrian King. The French King held Warwick to an agreement to make war with Burgundy. And war with Burgundy meant interruption in the Flemish wool trade, and a plentiful supply of wool for the home market. In the following March, forty men, now waged at 6d. a day, were commissioned to go for two months to Flanders. But the Flemings, by their support of the fugitive King, Edward IV., carried the war into the enemy's country. On March 14, 1471, Edward landed at Ravenspur, to claim—so he averred—the duchy of York, his ancestral inheritance. Slipping past Montagu, who had been set to guard the north road, he pressed on towards the Midlands. Followers presently flocked to his standard, and on March 29, coming from Leicester, he offered battle beneath the walls of Coventry. Warwick, who lay within the city, waiting for fresh levies, had not troops sufficient to accept the challenge, and suffered Edward to pass on, and cut off his communications with London.

The citizens of Coventry must have long remembered this terrible season, "the Lenton next afore Barnet ffeld," and the hurried and almost unintelligible writing of theLeet Book, with the frequent and probably intentional mutilation of its pages, bespeak the agitation and confusion which filled men's thoughts. There could be no temporizing now the great earl was within their gates, no making overtures to the returning Yorkists, who, now that there was no army barring the way to the capital, found their position greatly increased in strength. The townsfolk lent Warwick 100 marks,[311]and during that period of terrible anxiety, wherein the earl was waiting for the levies under Montagu from thenorth, Oxford from the east, and Clarence from the south-west, they sent "riders into the country" to bring back tidings, and having fortified their city, kept a strict watch.[312]The levies under Clarence never came to the earl's aid, for meeting Edward on the road between Warwick and Banbury, the duke deserted the cause of his father-in-law, and was "right lovingly reconciled" to Edward. Afterwards Clarence, stung perhaps with remorse at his desertion, sent unto the earl "to require him to take some good way with king Edward[313]... the earle (after he had patientlie heard the duke's message) he seemed greatlie to abhorre his unfaithfull dealing.... To the messengers (as some write) he gave none other answer but this: that he had rather be like himselfe than like a false and perjured duke; and that he was fullie determined never to leave warre till he had either lost his owne life or utterlie subdued his enimies."

Strengthened by Clarence's levies, the King again returned to offer battle on April 5 before the gates of Coventry, but as Warwick still refused, he drew off down the Watling Street towards London. The citizens of Coventry continued faithful to Warwick, and when he left for the capital to stake his all on a battle with Edward, twenty horsemen and twenty foot from the city set forth with him on the eventful march, and fought at Barnet Field. But when the battle was over the terror-stricken townsmen would fain—in Clarence's words—have "made so good a way with king Edward," and did all that in them lay to appease the conqueror. Margaret of Anjou and her son had landed two days after the battle. Prince Edward no doubt expected aid from the Lancastrian stronghold, and sent a proclamation from Chard, where he then was, to Coventry. But the townsfolk knew that the day was with the Yorkist King.

The Leet Book records the receipt of "a letter fro Edward, the son of Harry the VIte, the xxv day of Aprile, that was wryton at Cherd the xviii day of Aprilethe whyche was sent to Kyng Edward and the messenger therewith to Abyndon."[314]But they were not allowed to make their peace after this easy fashion. In May Edward came to Coventry, deprived the mayor, John Bette, of the civic sword, and confiscated the liberties of the city, which were only redeemed by a payment of 500 marks.[315]The citizens owed even this grace to Clarence's mediation. They received a charter of pardon "for the hevy greffe that our soveraign lord beer to the citee ... ffor the tyme that Richard, late Erle of Warwyke, with oder to hym then acompanyed, kept the citee in defence agenst his Royall highnes in the Lenton next afore Barnett ffeld."[316]Clarence's mediation and the king's pardon cost the citizens a further sacrifice. Edward brought his influence to bear upon them for the release of the jewel, which the duke's necessities had induced him to leave in pledge, in return for the loan of 300 marks. This "coronall," the deed declares, "had been utterly forfeit for two years past," as the duke had not discharged the debt. But as Clarence had "laboured to be good lord" unto the citizens, the mayor agreed to remit a portion of the money owing, and to deliver up the jewel "for the singular pleasure and good grace of our sovereign lord, king Edward."[317]

The reconciliation being accomplished, the citizens were eager to show their entire loyalty to King Edward, and accordingly granted a most splendid reception—equal to that given to Margaret eighteen years before—to the four-year-old prince of Wales on his visit to Coventry (April 1474) for S. George's feast. The mayor and divers of the commonalty, arrayed in green and blue, met the prince with the gift of 100 marks in a gilt "cuppe" upon which was a "kerchief of plesaunce." At the Bablake gate stood a pageant, with figures of Richard II. and many nobles thereupon. The character of King Richard II. in allusion to the York genealogy, saluted the child, "of the right lyne of royall blode" with a verse of greeting. There were further pageants "with mynstralcy of harpe and dowsemeris" (dulcimers); and at the Broadgate stood S. Edward (who had done duty on a previous occasion) with "mynstralcy of harpe & lute," and more verses with allusions to the prince's father's "imperial right," wherefrom he "had been excluded by full furious intent," by way of welcome.

What wonderful memories these local poets possessed! Their verses show how the old friendship of the city to Lancaster had wholly escaped their remembrance! When the little prince rode in his "chare" down to the Cheaping, he beheld three prophets at the Cross, and above were "Childer of Issarell" (the Innocents) casting down flowers and cakes, and four pipes running wine. The three kings of Colen (Cologne) were also pressed into the service; but the great feature of the show was the pageant of S. George upon the conduit of the Cheaping, the saint being represented armed, "and a kynges daughter knelyng a fore hym with a lambe, and the father & the moder beyng in a toure a boven, beholdyng Seint George savyng their daughter from the dragon."

"O myghty God, our all socour celestiall,Wich this royme hast geven to dower,To thi moder, and to me, George, proteccion perpetuall,Hit to defende from enimies ffere and nere,And as this mayden defended was here,Bi thy grace from this Dragon devour,So, Lorde, preserve this noble prynce and ever be his socour."[318]

A truly splendid reception for such a young child, who, we will hope, appreciated the "kerchief of plesaunce," if the drift of the political allusions was above his understanding. True to his policy of ingratiating himself with the burghers and moneyed classes, the King allowed his little son to stand godfather to the mayor's child on this occasion. Nevertheless Edward was not content with mere compliments or protestations of loyalty from the lips of actors, but made this visit of his son an opportunity for strengthening his political position. The mayor and his brethren were called upon to cause the commons of the city to swear an oath of allegiance to the Prince of Wales.[319]After this the King and Elizabeth Woodville were all graciousness to the citizens. The Queen in September of that year sent twelve bucks from Fakenham Forest as a present to the mayor, his brethren and their wives.[320]She also praised their "sadde polit[y], guydyng and diligence" in appeasing an affray, and thanked them warmly for their duties ... "by you largely shewed vnto vs and to our derrest son the prince; and in like wyse to all oure childern ther in sundry wises heretofore, and namely vnto our right dere son, the Duc of York, in this time of our absens."[321]Four years later, Edward sent the prince of Wales with his court to Cheylesmore, where the child sojourned for some time, and was admitted a member of the Trinity and Corpus Christi guilds.[322]

But the fair words of royalty often bore a most unwelcome meaning, and the yoke of the Yorkists was not light. Edward, in 1474, applied to "his feythful subgetts" in the city of their "benevolence" to aid him with a substantial sum of money for various undertakings incident to a war with France.[323]The king found "benevolences" or forced loans more convenient than subsidies granted by parliament, and in the wars a treaty better served his purpose than a battle, when the French king was willing to pay for peace. The frequent interference of the Prince of Wales's council in city disputes at first ruffled the tempers of the great folk at Coventry not a little. "We, your humble and true servants here," the corporation wrote to the Prince of Wales in 1480, "know of no variance ... here but that we among ourselves, be the grace of God shall amicably and righteously settle." But all thoughts of resistance had been abandoned, when the next year a commotion, raised by the common folk at the enclosure of the Lammas pastures, put the franchises in danger of confiscation a second time, and the corporation earnestly entreated the Prince of Wales by intercession to avert his father's wrath.

Richard III., in his brief reign, did all that in him lay to conciliate the Coventry folk; in 1485 he kept Whitsuntide at Kenilworth,[324]and paid a visit to the city to witness the Corpus Christi pageants, but we hear of no joyous welcome given him by the citizens. Perhaps—though there was little sentiment in contemporary politics—they could not lightly forget the faces of the two little boys, who had visited the city during their father's lifetime, and had since mysteriously disappeared, men knew not by what means, in the Tower of London. In an interesting letter written probably in the previous year, the King charges the authorities of this thoroughfare city to provide horses for the royal messengers.

"Forasmoche," he says, "as we have appointed andordeined certain of our servants to lye in diverse places and townes betwix us and the west parties of this our royaume for the hasty conveiaunce of tydings and of all other things for us necessarie to have knowledge of, we therefore wol and desire and also charge you that, if any of oure seid servants comyng by you shal nede any horses for thair hasty spede to or from us, ye wil see them shortly for to be provided therof for thair redy money. And also if it fortune any of them to travell from you by nyght that than ye will see that they may have guydes and that they shalbe suffisauntly rewarded for thair labors. And that ye faile not to doo your effectual diligence herein as we trust you, and as we may undrestande the redynesse and good will that ye have to please us."[325]There is an undertone of threat underlying these last few words, shewing maybe something of the anxiety the King felt concerning the loyalty of the citizens. But the inhabitants were decidedly worth conciliating, and Richard wrote very cordially in the last year of his reign praising the "sadness and circumspect wisdoms" of the mayor and his brethren in allaying debate, and acknowledging their "auctorite to provide, make and establisshe ordenaunces and rules ... for the vniversall wele and pollitique guiding of" the said city.[326]

Back to Index Next