The Secret Queen

All sources are listed. Five documents are reproduced in full. Extracts of nine others are included.

And as to the Ml li. [£1,000] that ys paide for my dowghter, Elianore[’s], mariage, in case the covenantes be not performed on the Lord of Sudeley’s part, that then myn executours suee for the repayment of the summe aforesaide ayenst the seide Lorde Sudeley.

10 May 1453: deed of gift of Lord Sudeley to Thomas Boteler and Lady Eleanor Talbot.²

2 August, c.1463–68: Letter from Dr John Botwright, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, possibly to Sir John Howard:⁵

Right honorabil Syr and our most tender frend, I and all my hool felachip recomende us as hertili as it can be thought unto your most feythful love and diligent favour. Rescityng, that above your magnificous present and affermed promise unto us doon bi your jantilman Cotton⁶ (but late⁷ bi for thys tyme), yet your jantil hert cowde not so be content, but for to send now estesounys agayn another more special massager of my graciouse Ladye service, and your referendary, to wryte un your assured wysdom every parcelle of costs that schuld atteyne to only on of your botraces,⁸ to be made up in all goodly hast possibil, and the nomber of the same, upon your gracious almes.

Unto the first article we answher thus, after the wisest mason, maister of the werkes, wyth many worthie men, howbeit he may not attende in his propir persone, whos sentens thorowed we wryte to your providence in parcell. As for the secunde article, qwhat nomber is pure necessarie within our courtyerd, so thei may appear altogeder, at the next comyng of myn and our most bountous lady, for to make a perfaite work, we arn aboute the grounde of X [ten]. And for as moch as we may not be prescisly, for depnesse of the grounde,⁹ ascertayned of the unntermost costs, goode Maister Thomas Cosyn schall, with help of our bourseres, alwey acertayn your great providence from tyme to tyme ase the case requireth.

And Syr, at the reverence of God, and our pouer contemplacion, late¹⁰ our gracious lady, by this simple bille, and by your circumspecte enformacion, understand clerly, that bisydes all other almesses doon by her greet astat, her noblesse is ensuerd of VII [seven] perpetuell chaplayns for evermore of hir owen, and to have hir placeat, hir commandement, that knowyth the Kyng of kyngs, the qwhych have her Hyghnesse and your blessed persone in his conservacye.

Write at Cambrig, the seconde day of August.

Your daily oratoures, the Maister and Felaws of Corpus

Christi and Blessed Mary College in Cambrig.

4 June 1468: deed of gift of Eleanor Talbot to her sister, Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk.¹¹

It was delivered to the Chancery on the 7th day of September in the 8th year of the reign of Edward IV by the hands of Simon Adams.

Inquisition held at Henley in Arden in the county of Warwick on Tuesday, the morrow of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary in the eighth year of the reign of King Edward the fourth after the Conquest [Tuesday 16 August 1468] before William Motone esquire, escheator of the lord king in the aforesaid county, by virtue of a writ of the same lord king addressed to the same escheator, and this inquisition took place by the sworn oath of Thomas Waryng, John Duston, Richard Boteler, William Fulford, John Haloughton, Thomas Veysy, John Deyster, Laurence Blith, Henry Smyth, William Tyscote, William Hane, Thomas Blith. Who say upon their oath that Ralph Buttiler, knight, Lord of Sudeley, who is yet living, was formerly seised of the manors of Greve and Great Dorset with their appurtenances in the aforesaid county in his demesne as of fee, and being thus seised thereof in the time of the Lord Henry, lately in fact and not of right king of England, the sixth after the Conquest, that is in the twenty-eighth year of his reign [1449/50] he gave them to Thomas Buttiler, knight, son of the same Ralph, and to Eleanor, late wife to the same Thomas, both named in the said writ, and to the heirs of the body of this same Thomas legitimately begotten, to hold of the chief lords of that fief by the services that belong in perpetuity to the aforesaid manors. By virtue of which gift the aforesaid Thomas and Eleanor were seised of the said manors with their appurtenances, that is the same Thomas in his demesne as of fee tail, and the aforesaid Eleanor freely. Afterwards the aforesaid Thomas, while this was the case, died seised thereof without an heir issued of his body, and after his death the aforesaid Eleanor held the same manors with [their] appurtenances and was seised thereof freely for the term of the life of the same Eleanor by right of reversion, and she subsequently died thus seised of the aforesaid manor of Great Dorset with its appurtenances by reversion, which thence, following the death of Eleanor herself, pertains to the above mentioned Ralph and to his heirs. And furthermore the said jurors say upon their oath that the aforesaid Lady Eleanor, before her death, in the time of the aforesaid late (as previously mentioned) king, to wit in the thirty-ninth year of his reign [1460/1], surrendered all her property rights, which she had of and in the aforesaid manor of Greve with its appurtenances, to the aforesaid Ralph, to hold as he had done formerly. To which surrender the same Ralph agreed, and he was then seised of the same manor of Greve with its appurtenances at the time of the aforesaid surrender, and from that time he has remained seised thereof in his demesne as of fee. And thus the aforesaid jurors say that the aforesaid Eleanor had nothing in the same manor of Greve at the time of her death.

And moreover the aforesaid jurors say upon their oath that in the aforesaid manor of Greve [there] is a certain site which is worth annually over and above reprises 3s. 4d. There are also in the same manor 200 acres of land which are worth annually over and above reprises £7; 8 acres of meadow which are worth annually over and above reprises 10s.; 200 acres of grazing which are worth annually over and above reprises £6; 100 acres of woodland which are worth annually over and above reprises 6s. 8d.; 28s. 2d. of rents of villein tenants and £4 11s. of rents of customary tenants, paid annually at the feasts of Easter and of St. Michael the Archangel following, in equal portions.

And in the aforesaid manor of Great Dorset is a certain site which is worth annually over and above reprises 6s. 8d. And that there are in the same manor 125 [? see note 2] acres of arable land which are worth annually over and above reprises 101s. 6d.; 62 acres of meadow which are worth annually over and above reprises 62s.; 17 acres of grazing which are worth annually over and above reprises 8s. 6d together with a rabbit warren which is worth annually over and above reprises 60s.; one windmill which is worth annually over and above reprises 27s. 8d. And also there are in the same place eight pounds of rents of villein tenants paid annually at the terms of Easter and Michaelmas, in equal portions, and ten pounds of rents of customary tenants paid annually at the aforesaid feasts in equal portions.

And the above-mentioned jurors say that the aforesaid manors are held in chief from the lord king for the service of one knight’s fee. And that the aforesaid Eleanor held nothing else, neither lands nor holdings, in demesne or in service, of the lord king nor of anyone else, in the aforesaid county on the day when she died. The which Eleanor died the last day of June last aforesaid.

And that Thomas Talbot, knight, Lord Lisle, is her closest heir (being evidently the son of John Talbot, Lord Lisle, brother of the aforesaid Eleanor) and he is of the age of twenty years, and of full age.

In witness whereof the said escheator and the said jurors have in turn affixed their seals to this indented inquisition. Given on the above mentioned day and in the above mentioned year and place.

The Kyng, oure Sovereigne Lorde, hath called to his remembraunce the manyfold grete conspiracies, malicious and heynous tresons that hertofore hath be compassed by dyverse persones his unnaturall subgetts, rebelles and traytoures, wherby commocions and insurrections have been made within this his royaulme, for entent and purpose to have destroyed his moost roiall persone, and with that to have subverted the state, wele publique and politic of all his said royaulme (ne had so been, that by th’elp of Almyghty God, with the grete laboures and diligences and uttermost explette of his persone by chevalrye and werr, he had mightly and graciously repressed the same). Wherthrogh grete nowmbre of the said his rebelles and traytours he hath at dyvers tymes punysshed, as well by swerd as other punysshments, in exemple to others to have been ware of suche attempting hereafter. And yet as a benigne and a gracious prince moeved unto pitie, after his grete victories sent hym by God, not oonly he hath spared the multitudes in theire feldes and assembles overcomen, but thaym and certeyn other, the grete movers, sturters and executours of suche haynous tresons, at the reverence of God, he hath taken to his mercy and clerly pardoned, as may not be unknowen to all the worlde.

This notwithstondyng, it is comen nowe of late to his knowlage, howe that agaynst his mooste royall persone, and agaynst the persones of the blessed princesse oure alther soveraigne and liege lady the Quene, of my lorde the Prince theire son and heire, and of all the other of thaire moost noble issue, and also against the grete parte of the noble of this lande, the good rule, politike and wele publique of the same, hath been conspired, compassed and purposed a moch higher, moch more malicious, more unnaturall and lothely treason than atte eny tyme hertoforn hath been compassed, purposed and conspired, from the Kyng’s first reigne hiderto. Which treason is, and must be called, so moche and more henyous, unnaturell and lothely, for that not oonly it hath proceded of the moost extreme purpensed malice (incomparably excedyng eny other that hath been aforn) but also for that it hath been contryved, imagined and conspired, by the persone that of all erthely creatures, beside the dutie of ligeaunce, by nature, by benefette, by gratitude, and by yeftes and grauntes of goodes and possessions, hath been moost bounden and behalden to have dradde, loved, honoured, and evere thanked the kyng more largely, than evere was eny other bounden or behalden. Whom to name, it gretely aggruggeth the hert of oure said sovereigne lorde, sauf oonly that he is of necessite compelled, for the suertie, wele and tranquillite of hym and all this royaulme, which were full neer the poynt of perdicion, ne were the help and grace of Almyghty God.

He sheweth you therefore, that all this hath been entended by his brother, George, the Duke of Clarence. Wherein it is to be remembered that the Kynge’s Highnesse, of tendre youthe unto now of late, hath evere loved and cherysshed hym as tenderly and as kynderly and eny creature myght his naturell brother, as well it may be declared, by that that he beyng right yonge, not borne to have eny lifelode, butt oonly of the Kynge’s grace he yave hym soo large porcion of possessions that noo memorie is of, or seldom hath been seem, that eny kyng of Englande hertoforn within his royaulme yave soo largely to eny his brothers. And not oonly that, butt above that, he furnyssed hym plenteously of all manere stuff that to a right grete prynce myght well suffice, so that aftre the kynge’s, his lifelode and richesse notably exceded any other within his lande at thatt tyme.

And yet the kyng, not herewith content, butt beyng ryght desirous to make hym of myght and puissance excedyng others, caused the greate parte of all the nobles of this lande to be assured unto hym next His Highnesse, trustyng that not oonly by the bond of nature, butt also by the bondes of soo grete benefitt, he shulde be more obeissaunt to all the kyng’s good pleasures and commaundments, and to all that myght be to the politik wele of his lande.

All this notwithstondyng, it is to remember the large grace and foryevnesse that he yave hym uppon, and for that at dyverse tyme sith he gretely offended the kyng, as in jupartyng the kyng’s royall estate, persone and life, in straite warde, puttyng hym thereby from all his libertie, aftre procuryng grete commocions. And sith the voydaunce oute of his royaulme, assistyng yevyng to his enemies mortall, the usurpers, laboryng also by Parlement to exclude hym and all his from te regalie, and enabling hymself to the same. And by dyverse weyes otherwyse attemptyng; which all the kyng (by nature and love moeved) utterly foryave, entendyng to have putte all in perpetuell oblivion.

The said duke, nathelesse for all this, noo love encreasyng, but growyng daily in more and more malice, hath not left to consedre and conspire newe treasons, more haynous and lothely than ever aforn: how that the said duke falsly and traitrously entended, and puposed fermely, the extreme distruction and disherityng of the kyng and his issue, and to subverte all the polityk rule of this royaulme, by myght to be goten as well outewarde as inwarde. Which false purpose the rather to brynge aboute, he cast and compassed the moyans to enduce the kynge’s naturell subgettes to withdrawe theire herts, loves and affections from the kyng, theire naturell sovereigne lorde, by many subtill, contryved weyes, as in causyng dyverse his servauntes (suche as he coude imagyne moste apte to sowe sedicion and agrugge amonge the people) to goo into diverse parties of this royaulme, and to laboure to enforme the people largely in every place where they shulde come, that Thomas Burdett, his servaunte (which was lawefully and truly atteynted of treason) was wrongefully putte to deth. To some his servauntes of suche like disposicion he yave large money, veneson, therewith to assemble the kynge’s subgects to feste theym and chere theym, and by theire policies and resonyng, enduce hem to beleve that the said Burdett was wrongfully executed, and so to putte it in noyse and herts of the people.

He saide and laboured also to be noysed by such his servauntes apte for that werk, that the kyng, oure sovereigne lorde, wroght by nygromancye, and used crafte to poyson his subgettes, suche as hym pleased, to th’entent to desclaundre the kyng in the moost haynous wyse he couth in the sight and conceipt of his subgettes. And thefore to encorage theym to hate, despice and aggrugge theire herts agaynst hym, thynkyng that he ne lived ne dealid with his subgettes as a Christien Prynce.

And over this, the said duke beyng in full purpose to exalte hymself and his heires to the regallye and corone of Englande (and clerely in opinion to putte aside from the same for ever the said corone from the kyng and his heirez, uppon oon the falsest and moost unnaturall coloured pretense that man myght imagyne) falsely and untruely noysed, published and saide, that the kyng oure sovereigne lorde was a bastard, and not begottone to reigne uppon us. And to contynue and procede ferther in this his moost malicious and traytorous purpose, after this lothely, false and sedicious langage shewed and declared amonge the people, he enduced dyverse of the kynge’s naturall subgetts to be sworne uppon the blessed Sacrament to be true to hym and his heires, noon exception reserved of theire liegeaunce. And after the same othe soo made, he shewed to many other, and to certayn persones, that suche othe had made, that the kyng had taken his lifelode from hym and his men, and disheryed theym, and he wolde utterly endevoire hym to gete hem theire enheritaunce as he wolde doo for his owen.

He shewed also that the kyng entended to consume hym in like wyse as a candell consumeth in brennyng, wherof he wolde in brief tyme quyte hym. And overe this, the said duke continuyng ín his false purpose, opteyned and gate an exemplification undre the grete seall of Herry the sexte (late in dede and not in right kyng of this lande) wherin were conteyned alle suche appoyntements as late was made betwene the said duke and Margaret, callyng herself quene of this lande, and other, amonges whiche it was conteyned that if the said Herry, and Edward, his first begoton son, died withoute issue male of theire bodye, that the seid duke and his heires shulde be kyng of this lande. Which exemplificacion the said duke hath kepyd with hymself secrete (not doyng the kyng to have eny knowlegge therof) therby to have abused the kynge’s true subgetts for the rather execucion of his said false purpose.

And also, the same duke purposyng to accomplisse his said false and untrue entent, and to inquiete and trouble the kynge, oure said sovereigne lorde, his leige people and this his royaulme, nowe of late willed and desired the Abbot of Tweybury, Mayster John Tapton, clerk, and Roger Harewell esquier, to cause a straunge childe to have be putte and kept in likelinesse of his sonne and heire, and that they shulde have conveyed and sent his said sonne and heire into Ireland, or into Flaundres, oute of this lande, whereby he myght have goten hym assistaunce and favoure agaynst oure said sovereigne lorde. And for the execucion of the same, sent oon John Taylour, his servaunte, to have had delyveraunce of his said sonne and heire, for to have conveyed hym (the whiche Mayster John Tapton and Roger Harewell denyed the delyveraunce of the said childe, and soo by Goddes grace his said false and untrue entent was lette and undoon).

Over all this, the said duke, compassyng subtelly and trayterously to brynge this his trayterous purpose to the more redy execucion by all meanes possible, and for to putte these said treasons fynally to pleyn execucion, falsely and trayterously he commaunded and caused dyverse of his servauntes to goo unto sundry parties of this royaulme to commove and stirre the kynge’s naturall subgetts (and in grete nowmbre) to be redy in harnays within an houre warnyng, to attend uppon hym and to take his parte to levy werre agaynst the kynge’s moost royall persone, and hym and his heirez utterly to destroye, and therby the corone and royall dignite of this royaulme to obteigne, have, possede and enjoye to hym and to his heirez for evere, contrarie to all nature, ryght and duetie of his ligeaunce.

The kyng, remembryng over that to side the neernesse of blode, howe be nature he myght be kynde to his brother; the tendre love also, whiche of youthe he bare unto hym, couthe have founden in his hert (uppon due submission) to have yet foryeven hym estsones, ne were furst that his said brother (by his former dedes, and nowe by this conspiracye), sheweth hymself to be incorrigible, and in noo wyse reducible to that (by bonde of nature, and of the grete benefices aforn reherced) he were moost soveraynly beholden of all creaturez; secondly, ne were the grete juparty of effusion of Christien blode which most likkely shulde therof ensue; and thridenly and principally, the bond of his conscience, wherby (and by solempne othe) he is bounden anenst God, uppon the peryll of everlastyng dampnacion, to provyde and defende, first the suertie of hymself and his moste royall issue, secondly, the tranquilite of Godde’s Churche within this, his royaulme, and after that, the wele publique, peas and tranquilite of all his lordez, noblemen, comens and others of every degree and condicion; whiche all shulde necessarily stande in extreme jupartie yf justice and due punyshement of soo lothely offencez shulde be pardoned (in pernicious example to all mysdoers, theves, traytours, rebelles and all other suche as lightly wolde therby bee encoraged and enbolded to spare noo manner of wikkednesse).

Wherfore thof all [sic]¹⁷ the kynge’s Highnesse be right sory to determyne hymself to the contrarie, yet consideryng that justice is a vertue excellently pleasyng Almyghty God, wherby reaulmes stande, kynges and pryncez reign and governe, all goode rule, polyce and publique wele is mayteigned. And that this vertue standeth not oonly in retribucion and rewarde for goode dedes, butt also in correccion and punysshement of evil doers, after the qualitees of theire mysdoyngs. For whiche premissez and causez the kyng, by the avyse and assent of his lordes speretuell and temporell, and by the commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the auctorite of the same, ordeyneth, enacteth and establith that the said George, Duke of Clarence, be convicte and atteyntit of heigh treason commyttet and doon agaynst the kynge’s moost royall persone; and that the same duke, by the said auctorite, forfett from hym and his heyres for ever the honoure, estate, dignite and name of duke. And also that the same duke, by the said auctorite, forfett from hym and his heyres for ever, all castelles, honoures, maners, landes, tenements, rents, advousons, hereditaments and possessions that the same duke nowe hath by eny of the kynge’s lettrez patents to his owen use, or that any other persone nowe hath to the use of the same duke by eny of the kynge’s letterez patents, or that passed to hym fro the kyng by the same. And that all lettrez patents made by the kyng to the said duke bee from henseforthe utterly voyde and of noon effecte.

And that it be also ordeigned by the same auctorite that noo castelles, honoures, maners, landez, tenementz, rents, advousons, hereditaments or possessions that the same duke nowe hath joyntly with other, or sole to hymself, to the use of eny other persone, be forfett, nor conteyned by or in this present acte; but that by the said auctoritee, every other persone to whose use the said duke is sole seised in enycastelles, honoures, maners, landez, tenements, rents, advousons, hereditaments and possessions, otherwyse than by the kyng’s lettres patents, have power and auctorite by this present acte lawefully to entre into theym, and theym to have and holde after the entent and trust that the said duke nowe hath theryn.

And also where the same duke is joyntly seased with any other persone in any castells, maners, landez, tenementz, rents, hereditaments or possessions to the use of eny other persone, otherwyse than by the kyng’s lettrez patents: that by the said auctorite, the said joynt feffez stonde and be feoffez to the same use and entent as they nowe arre and be. And that suche right, interest and title as the same duke nowe hath with theym in the same premyssez, by the said auctorite be in his cofeffez to the same entent as the duke nowe ys: savyng to every of the kynge’s liege people (other than the said duke and his heyrez), and all other persone and persones that clayme or have eny tytell of interest in eny of the premyssez by the same duke, suche right, tytle and interest as they owe or shulde have in eny of the premyssez, as if this acte had never been made.

A cest Bille les Comunez sont assentuz.

Le Roy le voet.

26 June 1483: Petition to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as quoted in the Act of Parliament of January 1483/4 (titulus regius):¹⁸

Over this, amonges other thinges, more specially we consider howe that the tyme of the raigne of Kyng Edward IV, late-decessed, – after the ungracious, pretensed marriage (as all England hath cause so say) made betwixt the said King Edward and Elizabeth (sometyme wife to Sir John Grey, Knight), late nameing herself (and many years heretofore) “Queene of England”, – the ordre of all politeque rule was perverted, the laws of God and of Gode’s church, and also the lawes of nature, and of Englond, and also the laudable customes and liberties of the same (wherein every Englishman is inheritor) broken, subverted and contempned, against all reason and justice, so that this land was ruled by self-will and pleasure, feare and drede (all manner of equitie and lawes layd apart and despised), whereof ensued many inconvenients and mischiefs (as murders, estortions and oppressions: namely of poor and impotent people) soo that no man was sure of his lif, land ne lyvelode, ne of his wif, doughter ne servaunt; every good maiden and woman standing in drede to be ravished and defouled. And besides this, what discords, inward battailes, effusion of Christian men’s blode (and namely, by the destruction of the noble blode of this londe) was had and comitted within the same, it is evident and notarie through all this reaume (unto the grete sorrowe and heavynesse of all true Englishmen).

And here also we considre howe the said pretensed marriage betwixt the above-named King Edward and Elizabeth Grey was made of grete presumption, without the knowyng or assent of the lordes of this lond, and alsoe by sorcerie and wichecrafte committed by the said Elizabeth and her moder, Jaquett, Duchess of Bedford (as the common opinion of the people and the publique voice and fame is through all this land; and hereafter – if, and as, the case shall require – shall bee proved suffyciently, in tyme and place convenient).

And here also we considre how that the said pretensed marriage was made privatly and secretly, without edition of banns, in a private chamber, a profane place, and not openly, in the face of church, aftre the lawe of Godds churche, but contrarie thereunto, and the laudable custome of the churche of England. And howe also that at the tyme of contract of the same pretensed marriage (and bifore, and longe tyme after) the said King Edward was, and stoode, marryed, and trouth-plyght, to oone Dame Elianore Butteler (doughter of the old Earl of Shrewesbury)¹⁹ with whom the saide King Edward had made a precontracte of matrimonie longe tyme bifore he made the said pretensed mariage with the said Elizabeth Grey in manner and fourme aforesaide.

Which premises being true (as in veray trouth they been true), it appeareth and followeth evidently that the said King Edward (duryng his lyfe) and the said Elizabeth lived togather sinfully and dampnably in adultery, against the lawe of God and his church. And therefore noe marvaile that (the souverain lord and head of this londe being of such ungodly disposicion and provokyng the ire and indignation of oure Lorde God) such haynous mischiefs and inconvenients as is above remembered were used and committed in the reame amongst the subjects.

Also it appeareth evidently, and followeth, that all th’issue and children of the said king beene bastards,²⁰ and unable to inherite or to clayme anything by inheritance, by the lawe and custome of England.

The queen [Elizabeth Widville] then remembered the insults to her family and the calumnies with which she was reproached, namely that according to established usage she was not the legitimate wife of the king. Thus she concluded that her offspring by the king would never come to the throne unless the Duke of Clarence were removed.

He [Richard] argued that it would be unjust to crown this lad [Edward V], who was illegitimate, because his father King Edward [IV] on marrying Elizabeth was legally contracted to another wife to whom the duke [sic = earl] of Warwick had joined him.

November 1485: First Parliament of Henry VII: repeal of Titlus regius of Richard III:²²

Where afore this tyme, Richard, late Duke of Gloucester, and after in dede and not of right King of England, called Richard the IIId, caused a false and seditious Bille of false and malicious ymaginaciones, ayenst all good and true disposicion to be put unto hyme, the beginning of which bill is thus:

‘Please it your noble Grace to understand the consideracions, Elleccion and Peticion underwritten’ &c.

Which Bill, after that, with all the continue of the same, by auctoritee of Parliament, holden the first yeere of the usurped Reigne of the said late King Richard the IIId, was ratified, enrolled, approved and authorised; as in the same more plainly appereth. The King, atte the special instance, desire and prayer of the Lordes Spirituell and Temporell and Commons in this present Parlement assembled, will it be ordeined, stablished and enacted, by the advys of the said Lordes Spirituell and Temporell and the Comunes in this present Parlement assembled, and by auctoritee of the same, that the said Bille, Acte and Ratificaion, and all the circumstances and dependants of the same Bill and Act, for the fals and seditious ymaginacions and untrouths thereof, be void, adnulled, repelled, irrite, and of noe force ne effecte. And that it be ordeined by the said auctorite that the said Bill be cancelled, destrued, and that the said Acte, Record and enrollinge shall be taken and avoided out of the Roll and Records of the said Parliament of the said late King, and brente, and utterly destroyed. And over this, be it ordeined by the same auctoritee, that every persoune having anie Coppie or Remembraunces of the said Bill or Acte, bring unto the Chaunceller of England for the tyme being, the same Coppies and Remembraunces, or utterlie destrue theym, afore the Fest of Easter next comen, upon Peine of Ymprisonment, and making fyne and ransome to the Kinge atte his will. So that all thinges said and remembered in the said Bill and Acte thereof maie be for ever out of remembraunce and allso forgott’.²³

Richard the protector claimed for himself the government of the kingdom with the name and title of king. … It was put forward, by means of a supplication contained in a certain parchment roll, that King Edward’s sons were bastards, by submitting that he had been precontracted to a certain Lady Eleanor Boteler before he married Queen Elizabeth and, further, that the blood of his other brother, George, Duke of Clarence, had been attainted, so that, at the time, no certain and uncorrupt blood of the lineage of Richard, Duke of York, was to be found except in the person of the said Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

In the end, with the assistance of the bishop of Bath, who had previously been King Edward’s Chancellor before being dismissed and imprisoned (although he still received his money), on his release the duke carried out the deed which you shall hear described in a moment. This bishop revealed to the Duke of Gloucester that King Edward, being very enamoured of a certain English lady, promised to marry her, provided that he could sleep with her first, and she consented. The bishop said that he had married them when only he and they were present. He was a courtier so he did not disclose this fact but helped to keep the lady quiet and things remained like this for a while. Later King Edward fell in love again and married the daughter of an English knight, Lord Rivers. She was a widow with two sons. …

[Richard] had the two daughters of Edward [IV] degraded and declared illegitimate on the grounds furnished by the bishop of Bath in England. The bishop had previously enjoyed great credit with King Edward, who had then dismissed him and imprisoned him before ransoming him for a sum of money. The bishop said that King Edward had promised to marry an English lady (whom he named) because he was in love with her, in order to get his own way with her, and that he had made this promise in the bishop’s presence. And having done so he slept with her; and he made the promise only to deceive her.

To all Christ’s faithful people to whom the present Indented letter shall come, Thomas Cosyn, Master or warden of the college or house of Corpus Christi and of the Blessed Mary, commonly called the College of St Benedict of Cambridge, and the fellows or scholars of the same college or house [give] eternal greetings in the Lord.

We the aforementioned master and fellows or scholars, in our chapter house assembled, with one accord after much previous discussion, namely on the twentieth day of the month of March in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and ninety five, taking into consideration the fervent love and unfailing devotion which, out of reverence for the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the most blessed Mary, his mother, and the special mindfulness, maintaining and increase of the faith of Jesus Christ, the renowned and devout Eleanor Botelar,²⁷ deceased, once the wife of Sir Thomas Botelar (son and heir of Ralph Buttelar, Lord of Sudeley) and the daughter of John, late Earl of Shrewsbury and of Margaret, wife of the said earl (eldest daughter and one of the heirs of Richard Beauchamp, late Earl of Warwick) and once the wife of Sir Thomas Buttelar (son and heir of Ralph Buttelar, once Lord of Sudeley) our benefactress and close friend, demonstrably bore most sincerely towards us, zealous for the faith of Christ; and because the Lady Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, sister of the said Eleanor and executrix of the testament of the said Eleanor, also wishing well towards us the said master and fellows or scholars, and graciously bearing in mind our favour, has given to us the said master and fellows or scholars two hundred and twenty marcs in good coined money, from the goods of the said Eleanor and Duchess Elizabeth for the upkeep, repair and renewal of the fabric of our houses, messuages and tenements, at the present time in decay, which belong or pertain to us within the said town of Cambridge or elsewhere, – taking all the aforesaid into consideration, we, the said master and fellows or scholars grant, promise and for ourselves and for our successors confirm by this our present written deed to the said Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, that we must choose and establish a well-disposed priest, capable of study, having graduated in arts, as a fellow of the said college at the nomination of the said duchess; and after his first nomination aforesaid, the nomination and choice are to belong to the said master and fellows or scholars of the said college on all future occasions. He is to be capable of studying sacred theology or in another field according to the direction of the master and fellows for the defence and increase of the faith of Jesus Christ. And he will say mass every day unless he is prevented by a good and worthy cause, praying and calling upon God for the souls of the said Thomas Botelar and of Eleanor, [and] of Ralph Buttelar, father of the said Thomas, and for the good estate and the health of body and soul of the said duchess during her lifetime and for the soul of the said duchess when she shall depart from this light, and for the souls of John, Earl of Shrewsbury, and of Margaret his wife, and of all those for whom they were bound [to pray]. And that the said priest when elected a fellow of this house college or house shall say every day a litany with the intercession following, just as other fellows of the said college are bound to do for all the aforesaid souls.

And further we the said master [and] fellows or scholars grant and promise that we and our successors shall give to the said chosen fellow his stipend, wages and salary, namely eight marcs to be paid to him each year and taken with all other annual payments, emoluments and customary payments in manner and form just as the other fellows or scholars of the said college are accustomed to take.

And further we wish and grant that the said chosen fellow will be named and called the priest of the said Eleanor Buttelar and of the said Duchess of Norfolk.

And further we grant and promise truly that as often as and whenever it shall happen that the place of the said chosen fellow becomes vacant by death, promotion, surrender, resignation or by any other means, that then we the said master and fellows or scholars must proceed to a new selection within the one or two months next following the said vacancy, and we must select and install another graduate priest in the aforesaid manner as a fellow and into the said place, so that he may do and observe all the foregoing which pertain to him, to the best of his power, in manner and form as is aforesaid.

And we the said Master and fellows or scholars and their successors shall do and observe all the foregoing which pertains to us in manner and form aforesaid on all future occasions. And moreover having considered the manifold gifts and benefits given to and conferred upon us by the said Eleanor and Duchess Elizabeth, we grant for ourselves and for our successors that we must select one scholar learned in grammar who must study in arts in the same way. And we the said master and fellows or scholars and our successors promise and grant to give to the same scholar forty shillings each year for his maintenance. And that this scholar, by the direction of us [the master] for the time being, or in his absence a deputy, shall read a Bible reading or another reading before our Dean or his deputy, the fellows of the said college being in hearing. And that this scholar, at the end of his reading thus read, shall say in Latin: ‘May the souls of Eleanor Boteler and of Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk’ (when the duchess has departed from this light) ‘and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace’.²⁸ And as often as and whenever it shall happen that the place of this scholar shall be vacant in any way, or the said scholar shall become a master of arts, that then we the said master and fellows or scholars must proceed within the one or two months next following to the selection of another scholar in the manner and form as said before, and thus from one to another when the occasion may require as is said before, on all future occasions.

Moreover, beyond the foregoing, by the unanimous agreement and likewise consent of us all, we wish and grant by this present deed that each and every one of the priests of our said college in saying and celebrating all their masses for evermore will pray for the souls of the said Eleanor and the said duchess (when she has departed from this light) and for the souls for whom he is bound [to pray], just as for the other founders and benefactors of the said college.

Likewise we each and every one of us by universal consent, grant and promise by this present deed that the anniversary day of the said Thomas Buttelar and of Eleanor, his wife, of Margaret, the mother of the said Eleanor, and of John, Duke of Norfolk and of the aforesaid Elizabeth, his wife, will be observed on the second day after the feast of St Barnabas the Apostle [i.e. 13 June],²⁹ by the said chosen fellow every year with funeral rites and a Requiem mass being said for the said souls for ever. And also we promise and grant that the anniversary day of John, Earl of Shrewsbury, and of John, Lord Lisle (son of the said John) and of Ralph Buttelar, Lord of Sudeley, and of his wife, and of the parents of the said Thomas Buttelar, will be observed by the said chosen fellow every year on the feast of St Kenelm [17 July],³⁰ with the funeral rites of the nine readings³¹ and a Requiem mass to be said for the said soul for ever.

And moreover we wish and grant that any said fellow chosen in the aforesaid form, will forever say on three other terms of each year, namely at the term of St John the Baptist [24 June], at the term of St. Michael the Archangel [29 September] and at the term of the Nativity of the Lord [25 December], once at each aforesaid term, the funeral rites of the nine readings and a Requiem mass for all the above-mentioned souls, and for those for whom they are bound [to do so], and for the souls of all the faithful departed.

Moreover, having considered the manifold gifts given to us by the said Eleanor and duchess, we grant for ourselves and our successors that as often and whenever it shall happen that the said chosen fellow and priest preaches the word of God, at the end of his discourses he shall commend [to God] the souls of the said Eleanor and duchess (when she departs from this light) and the souls of all those for whom they are bound.

Therefore so that this our grant, agreement and arrangement may be commended to a more perfect remembrance for all time to come, we grant and promise that we and each one of us and our successors in full receipt and payment of the said two hundred and twenty marcs will keep our word given by a solemn oath that we shall observe faithfully and for ever each and every one of the foregoing arrangements set out in this grant, arrangement and agreement as far as concerns our individual or several persons without trickery, fraud or bad faith.

And further we grant and promise that each one who shall chance to be chosen as master or fellow or scholar of the said college in the future shall give his word by a solemn oath before he is admitted or instituted into the said college that he will stringently observe all the foregoing expressed in the said grant, arrangement or agreement.

And to observe each and every one of these arrangements very stringently, all fraud or trickery cast aside, we bind ourselves in our pure consciences before God and his angels and [we bind] our successors in their pure consciences forever as they will answer before God and his angels. And lest by the lapse of time (may it not happen) all the foregoing be consigned to oblivion, we wish and grant that this present indenture may be read forever clearly and openly in front of the said priest or fellow at his admission.

In witness of which the seals of the said Duchess Elizabeth and of the said college have been placed upon the present indentures the day and year aforesaid.

E[dward] 4 is supposed to deflowre some woman in the E[arl] of Warwickes house.

… Yt caryeth soome colour of truthe, which commonly is reportyd, that king Edward showld have assayed to do soome unhonest act in the earles³⁴ howse; for as much as the king was a man who wold readyly cast an eye uppon yowng ladyes, and loove them inordinately.

16 December 1533: Letter from Eustace Chapuys, Imperial ambassador in England, to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V:³⁵

You cannot imagine the grief of all the people at this abominable government. They are so transported with indignation at what passes, that they complain that your Majesty takes no steps in it, and I am told by many respectable people that they would be glad to see a fleet come hither in your name ...[for] they say you have a better title than the present King, who only claims by his mother, who was declared by sentence of the bishop of Bath [Stillington] a bastard, because Edward [IV] had espoused another wife before the mother of Elizabeth of York.

3 November 1534: Letter from Eustace Chapuys, Imperial ambassador in England, to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V:³⁶

Appendix 1

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE – SUMMARY