London and the Kingdom Volume I Part 24

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Matters became more serious as time went on. In June, 1485, the City advanced another sum of 2,000 to a.s.sist Richard against the "rebels," who were daily expected to land in England.(965) Extraordinary precautions were taken to guard the city.(966) At last the blow fell. On the 7th August Henry landed at Milford Haven, and on the 22nd the battle of Bosworth was fought and Richard killed.

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From Bosworth field Henry set out for London. He was met at Sh.o.r.editch by a deputation from the City, accompanied by the Recorder, and was presented with a gift of 1,000 marks.(967) The standards taken on the field of battle were deposited with much pomp and ceremony in St. Paul's Church, where a _Te Deum_ was sung, and for a few days Henry took up his residence in the bishop's palace in St. Paul's Churchyard.(968)

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A cloud soon overshadowed the rejoicings which followed Henry's accession.

An epidemic hitherto unknown in England, although visitations of it followed at intervals during this and the succeeding reign, made its appearance in the city towards the close of September. The "sweating sickness," as this deadly pestilence was called, carried off two mayors and six aldermen within the s.p.a.ce of a week(969)-so sudden and fatal was its attack. Sir Thomas Hille, who was mayor at the time of its first appearance, fell a victim to it on the 23rd September, and was succeeded by William Stocker, appointed on the following day.(970) Within four days Stocker himself was dead. There remained little more than a month before the regular day of election of a mayor (28 Oct.)(971) for the year ensuing, and John Warde was called upon to take office during the interval.(972) He appears to have entertained but little affection for the city, and the civic authorities had some difficulty in getting him to reside in London,(973) where his duties required his presence. When the mayoralty year expired he was not put in nomination for re-election. He probably went back into the country, glad to get away from the pestilential city, and Hugh Brice was elected in his stead.(974) Fortunately for the city, the epidemic departed as suddenly and unexpectedly as it came. By the end of October it had entirely disappeared, and allowed of Henry's coronation taking place on the 30th of that month.

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Within a fortnight of his arrival in London Henry issued a writ of summons for his first parliament. It was not so much for the purpose of obtaining supplies that he was anxious that parliament should meet at the earliest opportunity; he was desirous of obtaining as soon as possible a parliamentary t.i.tle to the crown. As for his immediate necessities, he preferred to apply to the City. He asked for a loan of 6,000 marks, or 4,000; but the citizens would not advance more than half that sum. The loan was repaid the following year-"every penie to the good contentation and satisfying of them that disbursed it."(975)

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In January, 1486, Henry married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, and heiress of the Yorkist family. He had previously taken the precaution of committing to the Tower the Earl of Warwick, son of Clarence, for fear lest he might set up a t.i.tle to the crown.(976) After his marriage he set out on a progress through the country, and on his return to London, in June, was met by the mayor and citizens at Putney, and escorted by them down the river to Westminster.(977)

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A rumour that the Earl of Warwick had escaped from the Tower gave an opportunity for an imposter, Lambert Simnel, to personate the earl. In order to satisfy the Londoners that the rumour of Warwick's escape was a fabrication, Henry caused his prisoner to be paraded through the streets of the city, and exposed to public view at St. Paul's. After Simnel's defeat (16 June, 1487), the Common Council agreed (28 June) to send a deputation, consisting of two aldermen, the recorder, and four commoners, with a suite of 24 men, to meet the king at Kenilworth, and at the same time voted the king a present of 1000.(978) This gift was quickly followed (11 July) by the grant of another loan of 2,000 to be levied on the civic companies as before.(979)

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In October Henry was expected in London,(980) and the Common Council again showed their loyalty by agreeing that the mayor and aldermen should ride forth to meet his highness, clad in cloaks of scarlet, and accompanied by a suite of servants clothed in medley, at the cost of the "Chamber." With them also rode a contingent from the various civic guilds, clothed in violet, and numbering over 400 hors.e.m.e.n. The Mercers, the Grocers, the Drapers, the Fishmongers, and the "Taillours," each sent 30 mounted representatives of their guild; the Goldsmiths sent 24, whilst the rest sent contingents varying from one to twenty.(981) On the occasion of the queen's coronation, which took place the following month (25 Nov.), she was made the recipient of a gift of 1,000 marks by the City.(982)

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The king would willingly have remained at peace if he were allowed, from motives of economy if for no other reason. England, however, could not sit still and see Brittany overwhelmed by the French king. Before a.s.sistance could be sent to the d.u.c.h.ess Anne, it was imperative that money should be raised. At the close of 1488 the Common Council voted the king a loan of 4,000. The money was ordered to be raised by a.s.sessment on the companies, but the practice was not to be drawn into precedent. The king, like a good paymaster as he always was, whatever other defects he may have had, repaid the money in the following year.(983)

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Early in the following year parliament(984) granted large supplies which enabled Henry to despatch 6,000 Englishmen to Anne's a.s.sistance, but which caused much discontent among the "rude and beastlie" people of Yorkshire and Durham.(985) In June, 1491, another loan of 3,000 was raised, this time by a.s.sessment on the wards;(986) and in October Henry declared to parliament his intention of invading France in person. A grant of two fifteenths and two tenths was immediately made to a.s.sist him in his expedition by parliament; whilst the City contributed a "great benevolence," the fellowship of Drapers contributing more than any other fellowship, and every alderman subscribing, whether he wished it or no, the sum of 200. The amount contributed by the commonalty exceeded 9,000.(987) Thus furnished with supplies, the king crossed over to Calais on the 6th October, 1492. The campaign, however, had scarcely opened before Henry gladly accepted the liberal terms offered him by the French king, and peace was signed at Etaples (3 Nov.).

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The success which, brief as it was, had attended Simnel's enterprise was sufficient to encourage a hope that a better planned project might end in overturning the throne. A report was accordingly blazed abroad that Richard, Duke of York, brother of King Edward V, was yet alive, not having been murdered in the Tower, as had been supposed; and a man called Perkin Warbeck or Warboys, a native of Tournay, a.s.sumed the name of Richard Plantagenet and succeeded in getting a large number of people in Ireland and Scotland to believe that in his person they in fact saw Richard, Duke of York, the rightful heir to the crown. James IV of Scotland not only gave him in marriage the lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of Huntley, but led an army into England in hopes that the appearance of the pretended prince might raise an insurrection in the northern counties.

Instead, however, of joining the invaders the English prepared to repel them, and James retreated into his own country. This took place in 1496.

Parliament granted large supplies to enable the king to meet the danger, but the inhabitants of Cornwall, sick of the constant demands made of them for money, and aware of the large treasure which Henry had already ama.s.sed, openly resisted any attempt at further taxation and determined to march on London.

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The Londoners, who not only abstained from opposing the new demand for money, but volunteered a loan to the king (15 Nov.) of 4,000,(988) lost no time in putting their city into a state of defence. Six aldermen and a number of representatives from the livery companies were deputed to attend to the city's ordnance.(989) The mayor was to be allowed twelve armed men in addition to his usual suite, and the sheriffs forty sergeants and forty valets in order to a.s.sist them in keeping the peace within the city.

Communication was to be kept up at least once in the day between the mayor and the Lord Chancellor. Houses which had been set up on the city's walls, or within sixteen feet of them, were to be abated. John Stokker, who filled the not unworthy office of Common Hunt,(990) was ordered daily to ride out to learn the king's pleasure and report thereon to the mayor and aldermen. Among those appointed to guard the city's gates and Temple Bar was Alderman Fabyan, the chronicler.(991) The state of anxiety which prevailed in the city at this crisis is ill.u.s.trated by "Jesus Mercy" at the head of one side of the page of the City's record, on which the above orders are entered, whilst on the other side are the words _vigilie temporis turbacionis_.(992)

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By the 22nd June, 1497, all immediate danger had pa.s.sed, the rebels being on that day utterly defeated at Blackheath. Their leaders were taken and executed; the rest were for the most part made prisoners, but were soon afterwards dismissed without further punishment. The leniency displayed towards them by Henry was ill-repaid by their afterwards flocking to the standard of the _soi-disant_ Richard IV, King of England, who availed himself of their mutinous disposition and appeared in their midst at Bodmin. The news of Perkin Warbeck having arrived in Cornwall from Ireland was brought to the mayor and aldermen of the City of London by letter from the king, which was read to the Common Council on Sat.u.r.day, the 16th September.(993) The rebels made an unsuccesful attempt to get possession of Exeter, but hearing of the approach of the king's forces, Perkin Warbeck withdrew to Taunton, leaving his followers to take care of themselves. From Taunton he went to "Mynet" (Minehead) accompanied by less than sixty adherents,(994) and by the 12th October the king was able to inform the Mayor that Peter "Warboys" had voluntarily submitted himself and had confessed to his being a native of Tournay.(995) The king had him conveyed to London and paraded through the streets on horseback, in a species of mock triumph, and caused his confession to be printed and scattered over the country that people might see the real character of the man. For a time he appears to have been detained in lax custody about the court, but after he had made an attempt to escape and reach the sea-coast, and been re-captured, he was sent to the Tower. There he got into communication with the unfortunate Earl of Warwick, and entered into a plot for effecting his own and the earl's liberty. A charge was formulated against the earl on the most trivial grounds, of a conspiracy to seize the Tower, and Warbeck was indicted as an accomplice. The former, being found guilty by his peers, was beheaded on Tower Hill, while Perkin and three of his accomplices were hanged at Tyburn.(996)

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In the meantime Prince Henry, who afterwards succeeded his father on the throne as King Henry VIII, but was at the time a child of seven years, paid a visit to the city (30 Oct., 1498), where he received a hearty welcome and was presented by the Recorder, on behalf of the citizens, with a pair of gilt goblets. In reply to the Recorder, who in presenting this "litell and powre" gift, promised to remember his grace with a better at some future time, the prince made the following short speech:-(997)

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_"Fader Maire, I thank you and your Brethern here present of this greate and kynd remembraunce which I trist in tyme comyng to deserve. And for asmoche as I can not give unto you according thankes, I shall pray the Kynges Grace to thank you, and for my partye I shall not forget yo__r__ kyndnesse."_

In antic.i.p.ation of the prince's visit, a proclamation had been made by the civic authorities with the view of purging the city of infectious disease, to the effect that all vagabonds and others affected with the "greate pockes" should vacate the city on pain of imprisonment.(998)

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The removal of Warwick-"the one judicial murder of Henry's reign"-if not suggested by Spain, was an act which could not be otherwise than grateful to the Spanish king. For five years past negotiations had been proceeding for a marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Warwick's death cleared away the last of Henry's serious compet.i.tors, and "not a doubtful drop of royal blood" remained in the kingdom to oppose Arthur's claim to the succession. The princess was expected shortly to arrive in England, and a committee composed of aldermen and commoners was appointed (Nov. 1499) to consult with the king's commissioners as to the preparations to be made for her reception.(999) Nearly two years, however, elapsed before she set foot in England. In May, 1500, there were again rumours of her approach, and the Common Council voted a sum of money to be levied on the wards to defray the expenses of her reception.(1000)

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The "garnysshyng of the pagents" for the festive occasion(1001) was interrupted by the death of Edmund, the king's infant son. On the 19th June the members of the various craft guilds were ordered to line the streets of Old Bailey and Fleet Street, through which the funeral procession was to pa.s.s on its way to Westminster. The mayor and aldermen were to stand, clad in their violet gowns, near Saint Dunstan's Church, and the next morning to go to Westminster by barge to attend the solemn requiem.(1002)

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There was no necessity for hurry in regard to the pageants. More than a twelvemonth was yet to elapse before they were wanted. At length-on the 2nd October,(1003) 1501-the princess landed at Plymouth, and five days later the City received notice from the king of her approach to London.

The marriage was solemnized at St. Paul's on the 14th November, the princess being presented with silver flagons by the City in honour of the occasion.(1004) Five months later (2 April, 1502) the bride was a widow, Prince Arthur having died at the early age of fifteen.

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In 1503 the streets of the city were again put into mourning, for in February of that year Henry lost his queen. A long account of the manner of "receyvyng of the corps of the most n.o.ble princes Quene Elizabeth" is given in the City's Archives.(1005) In the following month the streets presented a very different appearance, the occasion being the solemnization of the league made between Henry and the King of the Romans.

Bonfires were ordered to be lighted at nine different places, and at each of them was to be placed a hogshead of wine, with two sergeants and two sheriffs' yeomen to prevent disturbance; but seeing that it was the Lenten season and that the queen had so recently died, there was to be no minstrelsy. The City Chamberlain was instructed to provide a certain quant.i.ty of "Ipocras," claret, Rhenish wine and Muscatel, besides comfits and wafers, and two pots of "Succade" and green ginger, to be presented on the City's behalf to the amba.s.sadors of the King of the Romans, lying at "Pasmer Howse"; a similar gift being presented the following day on behalf of the sheriffs.(1006)

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Henry's chief merit was that he established order, and for this the citizens were grateful. This improvement on the weak government of his immediate predecessors had only been carried out, however, at the cost of extension of royal power, and the City was made to suffer with the rest of the kingdom. In 1503 the civic authorities were deprived by statute of their control over the livery companies,(1007) and in the same year the Tailors of London obtained a charter which gave umbrage to the mayor and aldermen of the City, as ousting them of their jurisdiction. The Tailors maintained their independence, and their wardens are expressly mentioned as refusing to join the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths and other fraternities in a pet.i.tion to parliament (1512) for placing them formally under the rule of the mayor and aldermen, from which they were frequently breaking away.(1008)

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It was not until 1505 that the City succeeded in getting its charter(1009) from Henry, and then only on payment of the sum of 5,000 marks. The terms of the charter, moreover, were far from satisfactory, and an attempt was made to get them altered and obtain an abatement of the fine,(1010) but to no purpose.

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Henry continued his high-handed policy towards the City up to the day of his death, and thereby greatly increased his treasure. His chief instruments were Empson and Dudley, who took up their residence in the city, occupying two houses in Walbrook, whence each had a door into a garden of the Earl of Oxford's house in St. Swithin's Lane.(1011) There they used to meet and concert measures for filling the king's purse and their own. In 1506 Henry removed Robert Johnson, a goldsmith, from the shrievalty within three days of his election, and put William Fitz-William in his place. Johnson took the matter so much to heart that he died.(1012) In the same year Thomas Kneseworth, the late mayor, was committed to the Marshalsea, together with the sheriffs who had served under him, and only regained his liberty on payment of a large sum of money.(1013) In 1507 Sir William Capel, Alderman of Walbrook Ward, who had already fallen a victim to Empson and been heavily fined under an obsolete statute, was again attacked and fined 2,000 for supposed negligence during his mayoralty.

Rather than submit to such extortion he went to prison, and remained there until the king's death, when he obtained his freedom and was soon afterwards re-elected mayor.(1014) Lawrence Aylmer, another mayor, was also a victim of Henry's tyranny, and was committed to the compter, where he remained for the rest of the reign.(1015)

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In the meantime the Archduke Philip happened to fall into Henry's hands (Jan., 1506). Whilst crossing the sea to claim the kingdom of Castile in right of his wife, he was driven by stress of weather into Weymouth. Henry was too shrewd a politician not to make the most of so lucky an event, and detained him in a species of honourable captivity, until Philip had promised him the hand of his sister Margaret with a large dower. This marriage alliance was destined never to be realised. Another scheme, however, was subsequently proposed and met with more success. This was a marriage of Henry's own daughter with Philip's son Charles, Prince of Castile. News of their engagement was conveyed to the mayor and aldermen of the City by a letter from the king himself (25 Dec., 1507), in which he expatiated on the benefits, political and commercial, likely to arise from the match.(1016)