The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville & the Age of Chivalry (12 page)

He would certainly want to help his young brother-in-law who was now approaching the age when young noblemen were knighted and could become useful.

Edward Woodville was knighted some time in the first half of 1472. Knighthoods were often conferred on saints’ days, and St George’s Day (23 April) would be entirely appropriate. This was a seminal moment in Edward’s life and, with his brother interested in matters spiritual, Edward would not be taking his vows lightly.

The ceremony would begin in the evening with a vigil, in church, with his arms beside him. It continued the next day with a bath of purification before he was dressed in full armour. Properly dressed, he would be conducted to church by two sponsors – perhaps one was Anthony – where he would hear high mass. After mass Edward knelt before his king who then dubbed him.2 The words used by King Edward would be on the lines of, ‘I now dub thee knight in the name of God and Saint George. Be faithful, bold and fortunate.’ His sword would be belted round his waist and his new gold spurs, that only knights were entitled to wear, strapped to his heels. This strapping was often done by some noble lady who wished the knight well, in this case it might have been by his sister, the Queen.

The main commandments to which Edward would bind himself, in the name of God and the saints, were not to accept false judgement or be party to any form of treason; to honour all women and be ready to aid them to the limit of his power; to hear a mass every day and fast on Fridays (when possible). These were serious commitments undertaken by a young man who believed in the Trinity, also in Salvation and Hell. In addition there may have been further particular vows and undertakings. King Edward was good at display and inspiring allegiance, and this was an event for both of those; it also pleased some of those he wanted to please, such as the Woodvilles, and cost nothing. Such ceremonies were useful but he needed to replenish his treasure chest.

The King had considerable charm and that certainly helped when it came to his financial arrangements. 
The Great Chronicle
 reports that one rich Suffolk widow raised her tax contribution from £10 to £20 in return for a kiss from the King. Another account describes a widow who offered twice as much ‘for thy lovely face’ than he was expecting, so he kissed her in gratitude. She was so delighted that she doubled again the contribution. He needed all the money he could raise and it was not usually that easy. The coffers had been empty when he took the throne and he used a variety of devices to increase the royal revenues.3 He also kept expenditure down by avoiding where he could the expense of war.

However, in March 1472 there was a plea from Duke Francis of Brittany for help against the French who had been conspiring. King Louis was threatening to invade and had persuaded King James III of Scotland to take 6,000 men to seize part of Brittany. But King Edward, rather than commit his realm, gave permission (on 20 June 1472) for his kinsman: ‘Anthony Wydville, Earl of Rivers may take 1,000 men at arms and archers to Brittany and other parts beyond the seas at his own expense with captains appointed by him to go where he pleases.’ 4

Perhaps this was by way of pecuniary punishment for the trip to Portugal; the cost of contracting the men would have been around £2,500 to £3,000, plus rations and ship hire, but he would probably recover the costs from Duke Francis. Anyway the task would have appealed to Anthony, who was recently back from his disappointing ‘day upon the Saracens’.

He raised his troop under the banner of the silver scallop of Scales and sailed to Brittany accompanied by ‘Sir Edward Wydville’. This is the first time we hear formally of Edward who, knighted before the expedition sailed, would then be around 14, the age when young noblemen went to war.5

When the French invaded, the Bretons and their English allies were ready for them, and after a number of skirmishes the French were forced to withdraw in August. The Scots had not come, as King James had been unable to finance the expedition and neither did his Estates approve of their king gallivanting off abroad. King Edward had been watching closely and presumably had forgiven Anthony for his idiosyncratic behaviour, because he now commissioned him to negotiate the terms under which England would help Brittany. It was an interesting time for Edward to be watching and listening to his brother.

The diplomatic efforts culminated in the Treaty of Châteaugiron (September 1472) which was underpinned by the arrival of 2,000 archers from King Edward. This gave Duke Francis an edge when he negotiated a peace treaty with France in October and, a month later, John Paston was writing from London with the news that Lord Rivers was expected back shortly but had lost many soldiers through 
fflyxe
 or dysentery. While they were campaigning, the brothers’ mother died; she left Edward a manor in Northamptonshire, which he later sold for £200, plus an annuity of £50.6

In Brittany Anthony had been given the additional task of getting ‘possession of therls of Pembroke and Richmond’ who had fled there from Wales after Tewkesbury. King Edward wanted both Tudors, Earl Jasper of Pembroke and Earl Henry of Richmond, under lock and key in England, as Lancastrians on the loose were dangerous. But Duke Francis had given his word for their safety and could not be persuaded to hand them over.

Nevertheless, after much haggling and prevarication, by the following summer England, Burgundy and Brittany had reached agreement on a battle plan against France under which England was to mount an invasion before July the following year. This meant the rest of the summer was free for private activities and so it is hardly surprising that Anthony took himself off on a pilgrimage to Spain and – given ‘Sir Edward Wydville’s’ later interest in Spain – he was most probably accompanied by his brother.

They sailed from Southampton for the Jubilee and Pardon at Santiago de Compostela, the shrine of St James the Greater. Anthony wrote, ‘I shipped from Southampton in the month of July the said year, and so sailed from thence till I came into the Spanish sea, there lacking sight of all lands, the wind being good and the weather fair, then for recreation and a passing of time I had delight and asked to read some good history.’

One of his fellow pilgrims was ‘Lowys de Bretaylles’ or Louis de Bretelles, a Gascon knight who had been in English service since the 1450s.7 He gave Anthony a French manuscript to while away the time on the voyage. It was titled 
Dits Moraulx
 and was a compendium of information on a range of philosophers and heroes: Plato, Diogenes, Hippocrates, Alexander the Great and so on. Anthony much appreciated the gift, commenting that it was ‘a book that he trusted I should like it right well’. The work has an interesting history, first compiled in a comparable form by an Arab philosopher in Damascus around ad 1053, then translated into Spanish in the thirteenth century, then into Latin and, in the late fourteenth century, into French.

The Cathedral of Santiago was described as ‘immense, with four round and two square towers’ where there are ‘innumerable relics of St James, the most interesting were the sickle with which he was beheaded and his famous banner, already falling into sore decay’. It is ‘of a red colour, and on it is painted his image, seated on a white horse and clad in garments of white. On the horse and on the head dress of the rider are to be seen painted shells or scales.’ 8 So there was Anthony’s scallop of Scales in pride of place at Santiago. No wonder he kept it as his badge even after he became Earl Rivers.

On their return to England appointments were heaped on Anthony: Chief Butler of England9 and the Receivership of Cornwall – the latter having only recently been surrendered by Lord Hastings. In November Anthony was awarded the greatest honour with his appointment as ‘Governor and ruler of the King’s first begotten son that he may be virtuously, cunningly and knightly brought up’.10

This was a public statement of the King’s belief in his brother-in-law’s integrity and ability; Anthony was responsible for the prince’s education. He thought about his new role: ‘After the King’s grace command me to give my mine attendance upon my lord the Prince...when I had leisure I looked upon the said book (
Dits Moraulx
) and at the last concluded in myself to translate it into the English tongue.’ His title was 
The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers
. There was some editing; for instance he omitted Socrates’s rather rude observations about women, writing, ‘and the said Socrates had many seyings ayenst women which is not translated’.

It is clear that Anthony was an exceptional man and he must have been a wonderful elder brother. Thomas More declared Anthony to be ‘a right honourable man, as valiant of hand as politic [prudent] in council’, while Philippe de Commines, a senior civil servant, first in Burgundy and then in France, who knew him both socially and professionally, wrote that Anthony was ‘un tres gentil chevalier’ (a very gentle knight).11

Meanwhile the first steps were being taken towards the proposed war. It is fascinating to see how the diplomatic manoeuvring developed various alliances, then moved towards the invasion. However, there seems to have been a secret agenda – King Edward was concocting a plan to extricate England from the war, if necessary.

Anthony was directly involved with some of the diplomacy. The main work began with English embassies going to Naples, Urbino, Hungary and the German emperor, Frederick III. The trade war with the Hanseatic League was brought to a close and Scotland was seduced with promises of gold. At home the justice of the war was propounded and Edward needed money from parliament and recruits.

In the Middle Ages a war had to be a 
just
 war. Thomas Aquinas had mulled over the matter of a ‘just war’ in the thirteenth century and, in England, its proof was virtually a legal necessity for requisitioning men and money. War was approved after a public policy had been paraded by the king; the policy had to show a recognizable injustice and be supported by parliament. Of course, the right of spoil rested on the theory that if the king’s war was just then the enemy was unjust and so had no rights to property, which was then available to the just.

King James of Scotland had offered to wage war against the English if King Louis would pay him 60,000 crowns a year (about £12,000), or so the Milanese ambassador reported. King Louis would only offer a conditional 10,000 crowns but would try to arrange a marriage for the Scots heir whom he recommended for one of the Duke of Milan’s daughters. The Duke was unimpressed; he did not think it was suitable for his daughter, commenting that Scotland was ‘in finibus orbis’ (at the ends of the earth). King James was hurt. He needed funds and, having a clear idea of his own importance, offered a treaty to King Edward who was keen to secure his northern frontier and so betrothed his daughter, Cecilia, to the Scots heir.12

On the Continent the diplomatic manoeuvring continued apace. King Louis of France and Duke Charles of Burgundy were both up to their tricks, Louis vicariously and Charles boldly. Alsace had revolted and murdered their Burgundian governor, so Duke Charles decided he would deal with the confederacy of German states, starting with the Electorate of Cologne. He assembled 20,000 men, including 6,000 English mercenary archers, and marched to the city of Neuss. It seems he had expected to walk straight in, but the city had other ideas and he was obliged to settle down for a siege.

The German emperor Frederick III and his electors felt this was an unwarranted incursion into their territory so turned up with an army, which was the best King Louis had hoped for. But the Germans sniffed, skirmished and then wondered about going home, as despite repeated promises, Louis had sent no army to join them. Instead of troops, he had sent an envoy to discuss the dismemberment of Burgundy.

The Emperor had listened and sent the envoy back with a convoluted story about a bear and two debtors. But the answer was clear: the Germans were not going to hang about or do the work, they were going home. So that part of the French plan came apart. However, King Louis was having more success with the Swiss. They were happy to take up arms against Burgundy, provided they were properly paid.

Meanwhile embassies from Burgundy, Brittany and England discussed the detail of the anti-French alliance and plans were made. King Edward agreed to invade France while Duke Charles undertook to provide 6,000 men for the campaign. Edward needed more money in his war chest, and his cash-raising arrangements fascinated a Milanese merchant in London who wrote in March 1475:

he [King Edward] has been very active in the last four months and has discovered an excellent device to raise money. He has plucked out the feathers of his magpies without making them cry out. This autumn the king went into the country, from place to place, and took information of how much each place could pay. He sent for them all, one by one, and told them that he wished to cross to conquer France and deluded them with other words. Finally, he has so contrived that he obtained money from everyone who has more than £40. Everyone seemed to give willingly.

I have frequently seen our neighbours here summoned before the King; when they went they looked as if they were going to the gallows. When they returned they were joyful, saying they had spoken to the King and the King had spoken to them so benignly that they did not regret the money they had paid.

From what I hear people say, the King’s method was to give anyone who went before him a welcome as if he had known him always. After some time the King asked him what he could pay of his free will towards this expedition. If the man offered something proper the king had his notary ready who took down the name and amount. If the king thought otherwise he said: ‘Such a one who is poorer than you has paid so much; you who are richer can easily pay more’ and thus by fair words the King brought him up to the mark. In this way they say he has extracted a very large amount of money.13