The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West Part 15

And there could be but one effectual way to "subdue his malys," and to put permanently beyond the power of future mischief this "never falsre traitor to be purvayde for,"--this "most untrew creature lyvynge."

The Duke was closely examined by his captors, and is said to have confessed the whole plan of the insurrection, and all particulars of the conspiracy.

He then made energetic efforts to obtain an interview with Richard, hoping to excite his compa.s.sion, or, as it has been also surmised, purposing if opportunity offered to despatch him with a concealed dagger. But he was sueing a much more able and crafty person than himself. Richard was about the last man to trust himself into the compromising company of his victim, and so into colloquy with one with whom he had aforetime been partner in so many crimes, and to whom he also owed so much, in acquiring his present position. Richard refused to see him, and his doom was immediate death, without further trial or arraignment.

BUCKINGHAM. Will not King Richard let me speak with him?

SHERIFF. No, my good lord; therefore be patient.

BUCKINGHAM. Hastings, and Edward's children, Rivers, Grey, Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward, Vaughan, and all that have miscarried By underhand corrupted foul injustice; If that your moody discontented souls Do through the clouds behold this present hour, Even for revenge mock my destruction!-- This is All-Souls' day, fellows, is it not?

SHERIFF. It is, my lord.

BUCKINGHAM. Why then All-Souls' day is my body's doomsday.

It was even so. On 2 November, 1483, being All-Souls day, the Duke of Buckingham was beheaded in or near the Market Place, at Salisbury.

It is singular that such little knowledge remains as to the exact spot where this unfortunate but unscrupulous man perished, and no official evidence at all exists as to his place of burial. Relative to this Sir R. C. h.o.a.re says,--

"It is remarkable that no allusion to this transaction is found in the doc.u.ments at Salisbury, even though it took place on the second of November, the day of choosing the Mayor and other public officers; whose appointment is recorded in the usual form.

Possibly the city authorities were too deeply implicated in the intended insurrection to risk even a reference to the subject.

The Pipe Roll of the reign of Richard III. has been carefully examined, but the search has been fruitless. It is proper to observe, however, that a stone is still pointed out, as that on which Buckingham suffered. This stone is in the yard adjoining the house now occupied by Messrs. Styles and Large, which formerly belonged to the Blue Boar Inn."

Concerning this, Hall observes,--

"'Without arraignment or judgment, he was, in the open Market-place on a new scaffold, beheaded and put to death. His death he received at the hands of king Richard, whom he had before, in his affairs, purposes, enterprises, holden, sustained, and set forward, above all G.o.d's forbode."

And this account is corroborated by doc.u.ments in the _Stafford MSS._, quoted by the historian of Shrewsbury. The pa.s.sage on the subject is as follows:--

"And so all the gentlemen of Harrefords.h.i.+re weare send for by Privy Seale to King Richard to _Salisburie_, and by that time Duke Henry of Buckingham, was brought by Sir James Tyler, the third daye, wheare he was pittifullie murdered by the said Kinge, for raisinge power to bring in King Henrie the Seventh."

The Duke having been thus summarily disposed of, what became of the wretch that betrayed him? One account narrates,--

"Banister and his whole family were destroyed by the surprizing judgments of the Almighty. The Usurper refused to pay him the thousand pounds promised in the Proclamation, saying, 'He that would betray so good a Master, would be false to any other.'"

But according to another, and truer version, the informer received his reward, and,--

"with the king's commendation of his service in his letters patent; for he gave him the Manour and Lords.h.i.+p of Ealding in Kent, late belonging to the Duke of Buckingham. So the letters ran,--'RICHARD &c.,--_to al and singular the Officers, &c.,--Wit ye, that in consideration of the true and faithful service which our well beloved servant Rauf Banistre Esq, now late hath done unto us, for and about the taking and bringing of our said great Rebel into our hands, we have given unto the said Rauf, and to his heirs male, the said Manour for ever._'"

Both giver and receiver a congenial pair, and the gift that pa.s.sed a characteristic one, being a portion of the spoil of their victim. Of such men it may be said,--

"Shame and Desolation sit By their graves ever."

But where was Buckingham buried, after he had been thus "condemned and executed in such summary way, on a new scaffold erected in the Market-place of Salisbury." A tomb to his memory is erected in Britford church, about a mile and a half distant from that city, but it is a cenotaph only, his body was not interred there; where then was its final resting-place, after his troublous life had found such disastrous extinction? Still further ignominy appears to have remained to be meted out to the inanimate form, after man had wreaked his last vengeance on the life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DISCOVERY MADE IN THE KITCHEN OF THE SARACEN'S HEAD INN, SALISBURY.

_From the Sat.u.r.day Magazine, 6 April, 1839._]

From an article in the _Sat.u.r.day Magazine_, 6 April, 1839, we gather the following,--

"Tradition a.s.signs the court-yard of the Blue Boar Inn, as the scene of this b.l.o.o.d.y tragedy; but great uncertainty seems always to have prevailed as to the spot where the mutilated remains of this unfortunate n.o.bleman were finally deposited. The frontispiece which is presented to our readers, gives a view of the kitchen of an inn (the Saracen's Head) in Salisbury, in which, while some repairs and alterations were being made, a skeleton, in the condition shewn in the picture, was discovered beneath the floor of the apartment, which is on a level with the ground. A view of the appearance of the figure, together with the apartment, was made and published by Mr. J. M. Cullam--of which view, with his permission we have taken a copy. These human remains, are with good reason, supposed to have belonged to that Duke of Buckingham.

"It is supposed that the head and right arm, after having been submitted to the personal inspection of the King, then resident in "the King's house," in the Close, were sent to London to be affixed to Temple Bar, or exposed on Tower Hill, as was commonly used to be done in those times. A tomb in the north chantry of St. Thomas's church, Salisbury, was once supposed to contain the remains of Buckingham, and another in Britford church, near Salisbury, obtained a similar reputation; but sufficient evidence has been found to shew these were only _monuments_ to his memory, and no indications, leading to probability, have ever appeared, to point out the place of the sepulture of the Duke of Buckingham, till the discovery took place represented in our frontispiece.

"The Saracen's Head Inn (owing to the peculiar contiguity of the two places) is supposed to have once formed part of the premises attached to those of the Blue Boar. The grave, therefore, of the Duke, was probably made only a few yards, possibly feet, from the spot where he suffered decapitation. The skeleton was found about eight inches below the surface of the soil; the spinal column appeared imbedded in the clay, and on taking up some of the detached vertebrae, they crumbled to dust in the hands. All the remains were in a like friable condition."

Commenting on this discovery, Sir R. C. h.o.a.re remarks,--

"The most remarkable circ.u.mstance connected with this locality is the recent discovery of a skeleton, found just under the pavement in making some alterations in a kind of kitchen or out-house, belonging to the Saracen's Head, which is close to the site of the Blue Boar. It was that of a person apparently above the middle size and had been deprived of the head and right arm. The workman by whom it was found, omitted to notice whether the bones of the neck had been separated by a sharp instrument, but could remember that the bone of the arm appeared to have been cut off, just below the shoulder, as if by a saw. These remains were destroyed without proper examination.

"Of itself the discovery would prove nothing, but if the fact of Buckingham's execution at Salisbury be indisputably established, we shall not be guilty of too great a stretch of imagination, in supposing these were his mutilated remains, interred clandestinely, or, at least, without ceremony, near the spot where he suffered."

The name of Blue Boar Row is still perpetuated on the south side of the Market Place at Salisbury.

The tomb set up to his memory in Britford church, is in the place of honour, on the north side of the chancel. It is a high-tomb with Purbeck marble cover-stone, but exhibiting no bra.s.s indent, or inscription. Below are six canopied niches containing figures:--1.

Figure gone.--2. Crowned female saint, with remains of cross (?), probably St. Margaret.--3. A bishop with pastoral staff, and hand raised in benediction.--4. A female saint crowned, St. Katharine with wheel and sword.--5. St. George, with sword, s.h.i.+eld, and dragon under his feet.--6. A female saint bearing a pix or shrine, St. Mary Magdalene (?). At the west end are two niches having within them angels holding s.h.i.+elds with the bearings sculptured thereon:--1. _A chevron_, evidently for STAFFORD, and 2. _A fess_ (apparently _cotised engrailed_, but perhaps only an ornament introduced by the sculptor), for WIDVILLE, EARL RIVERS. Over the tomb is a detached ogee arched crocketted canopy, with large finial, springing from embattled and pinnacled side b.u.t.tresses. The canopy is ornamented with vine foliage and fruit; the workmans.h.i.+p of the whole composition is of coa.r.s.e character. On a modern bra.s.s plate affixed above the tomb is this inscription,--

HENRICUSSTAFFORDDUXBUCKINGHAM DECAPITATUS APUD SALISBURIIRICIIIA.D./1483.

It is probable this memento at Britford was erected by the Duke's brother-in-law, Lionel Widville, who was Bishop of Salisbury at the time of Buckingham's execution. Its position outside the city was doubtless adopted to deprecate prominence and discussion at this dangerous era.

The Bishop was the third son of Sir Richard Widville, the first Earl Rivers (so created by Edward IV., in 1466, and who was subsequently beheaded at Northampton, 1467), by his wife Jacqueline of Luxemburg, widow of John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford. He was brother to Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV., and so uncle to the unfortunate Princes so relentlessly destroyed by Gloucester, brother also to Katharine, wife of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and Anthony, Earl Rivers, executed at Pontefract by Richard III. He held the See two years only, 1482-4, and his death is said to have been accelerated by the fate of his brother-in-law at Salisbury, and the other misfortunes that befell his family during the reign of Richard III.

The tomb a.s.signed to Bishop Widville stands under the first arch of the north aisle of the choir of the Cathedral, leading into the transept.

It is a high altar-tomb, the cover-stone perfectly plain, with indent for inscription on its edge, but the bra.s.s has disappeared. Below are traceried panels, with s.h.i.+elds in their centres, on which were originally bra.s.s escutcheons. Over the tomb is a large and heavy canopy, extending the whole width of the arch of the aisle. The arch of the canopy is depressed, and cusped, with roses on the bosses of the points. The vaulting within is panelled, as are also the side b.u.t.tresses. The spandrels are traceried with s.h.i.+elds in the centres, on which, as on the tomb below, were bra.s.ses. The whole composition is of Purbeck marble, and of plain character.

Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, married Katharine, daughter of Richard Widville,--created Earl Rivers by Edward IV., 24 May, 1466, and const.i.tuted by that monarch Constable of England,--by his wife Jacqueline of Luxemburg, widow of John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford, third son of King Henry IV. She was thus sister to Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV., and so aunt to the unfortunate Princes murdered in the Tower.

By her the Duke had two sons and two daughters. Edward, eldest son, who was restored to all the honours of his father, by Henry VII., and made Constable of England and K.G. He appears to have offended, and, according to Burke, "also excited the enmity of Wolsey," and that ambitious prelate finally succeeded in accomplis.h.i.+ng his ruin. Like his father he was doomed to fall by domestic treason, for having discharged one Knevet, a steward, for oppressing his tenantry; that individual became a fit instrument in the hands of Wolsey to effect the object he had at heart. Knevet declared "that the duke had contemplated the a.s.sa.s.sination of the King, Henry VIII., in order that he might ascend the throne himself as next heir, if his majesty died without issue," and it was further alleged "hee had consulted a monke or wizard, about succession of the crowne."

The Duke made a pa.s.sionate and indignant denial to this frivolous, yet withal foul charge, but nevertheless he was found guilty and beheaded on Tower Hill, 17 May, 1521. Old Weever says, "he was a n.o.ble gentleman, exceedingly much lamented of good men. Of whose death, when the Emperour Charles the fift heard, he said, '_that a Butchers dogge_, (meaning the Cardinall, a butchers sonne) _had deuoured the fairest Buck_ (alluding to the name of Buckingham) _in all England_.'

He sometime lay sumptuously entombed in the church of the Augustine Fryers, in London, and the bodies of a hundred more of exemplarie note and degree, but now their bodies are not only despoiled of all outward funerall ornaments, but digged up out of their requietories, and dwelling houses raised in the place, which was appointed for their eternal rest."

Henry, the second son, was created Earl of Wilts.h.i.+re, 1 Henry VIII., 1509, married first, Margaret, Countess of Wilts, and secondly, Cicely Bonville, Marchioness of Dorset. More of him will be found under the notice of Bonville. He died 6 March, 1523.

Elizabeth, eldest daughter married Robert Ratcliffe, created Lord Fitzwalter, and afterward 28 Dec., 1529, Earl of Suffolk, K.G., and Lord High Chamberlain. He died in 1542.

Anne, married first Sir Walter Herbert, second son of William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke and K.G. By a singular coincidence this Earl met with his death through the desertion of a Stafford, Humphrey, Earl of Devon, of the Suthwyck in Wilts.h.i.+re and Hooke in Dorsets.h.i.+re branch of the family; who withdrew his support at Banbury, and Pembroke was defeated at Danesmore in 1469, and afterward taken to Northampton and beheaded. Secondly, she married George Hastings, first Earl of Huntingdon, of the second creation, who died in 1544, and was buried at Stoke-Pogis. She survived the Earl, and at her death was interred beside him.

The motives that influenced the conduct and actions of Buckingham have been a subject of much speculation among historians, and it is doubtful if any fixed determination or aim lay at the bottom of any of them, beyond the chances or necessities of the pa.s.sing hour. The social aspect of the age in which he lived exhibited merely a succession of plots for the mastery of ruling for the time being, and almost everyone having station above the ordinary citizen, was by turns embroiled or mixed up in them; while those holding distinguished positions by birth or influence, were almost forced to take active part, with all their consequent perils. Ambition, cruelty, and callous hardness, trampled under foot all the finer feelings of the heart and mind,--hypocrisy and treachery invaded the most sacred ties of home and blood-relations.h.i.+p, the desire of worldly power, and holding their neighbours in the yoke of bondage, was the prevalent feeling, to which all others were sacrificed, and the opposing factions met each other on the field of battle, and fought for the governing power at the sword's point, with the sacrifice of myriads of human lives. At this distance of time it may be asked, what result after all, was effected by this bloodshed that surged through the country for half-a-century?

It may be answered, none, beyond letting loose the worst vices that infest humanity, and the consequent r.e.t.a.r.dation of all that tends to civilize the individual.

Amid such a storm of wickedness, strong minds alone had chance to pilot themselves safely through it, and then with much uncertainty, but what would be the fate of weak ones,--vacillating, uncertain, capricious, such as Buckingham was said to possess? Only one in the end, at that era, was reserved for such, and with unsparing revengeful steps it overtook him.

That he was the main instrument of placing the Crown on Gloucester's head, seems to admit of little doubt,--

"The first was I that help'd thee to the crown; The last was I that felt thy tyranny."