"Give me some ink and paper" (V.3) and
"These letters will resolve…my mind" (IV.5)
Richard III's letters, from his earliest in 1469 to that of the
Buckingham rebellion in 1483 with its long postscript in his own
hand. With graphological analysis by Josephine Nicholl.
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- Letter of 1469 to Sir John Say
- Brass of Sir John Say
- Signatures of Edward V, Richard, and Buckingham
- Buckingha's rebellion letter with long postscript
in Richard's hand
- Warrant signed as king
- The Angel & Royal at Grantham
- The Great Seal
- The Signet Seal
- Luton Guild Book illustration of Cicely Neville,
Edward IV, Queen Elizabeth
- Copy of Richard's letter to his mother (Harleian
MSS 433)
- Copy of letter about Thomas Lynom and Elizabeth
'Jane' Shore (Harleian MSS 433)
- Brass of 'Jane' Shore
- Richard's signatures (reproduced on following
pages)
Richard's Letters
Richard's earliest surviving letter dates from 1469. When travelling
with Edward IV to put down a disturbance in Yorkshire, he writes
from Castle Rising, Norfolk, this urgent request for a loan of £100,
to Sir John Say, the King's Undertreasurer, whose memorial brass
survives at Broxbourne, Herts. [illustrated]. The Duke's title at
the head and the anxious postscript are in Richard's own hand:
The Duke of Gloucester
Right trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. And forasmuch
as the King's good Grace hath appointed me to attend upon his highness
into the North parts of his land, which will be to me great cost
and charge, whereunto I am so suddenly called, that I am not so
well purveyed of money therefore as it behoves me to be, and therefore
pray you as my special trust is in you, to lend me an hundredth
pound of money unto Easter next coming, at which time I promise
you you shall be truly thereof content and paid again. The bearer
hereof shall inform you, to whom I pray you to give credence therein,
and show me such frendliness in the same as I may do for you hereafter,
wherein you shall find me ready. Written at Rising the 24th day
of June.
R. Gloucestr
Sir J Say, I pray you that you fail me not now at this time
in my great need, as you will that I show you my good lordship in
that matter that you labour to me for.
[British Library Cotton Vespasian Ms. F iii f 19]
This scrap of parchment, cut from its original context by an 18th
century autograph collector, probably represents an attempt by Richard
and Buckingham to gain the confidence of their far from friendly
young king Edward V, between Stony Stratford and St. Albans 2-3
May 1483. At the top in a regally large and rather stiff hand 'Edwardus
Quintus;' next is inscribed, neater than his usual hand 'Loyaulte
me lie' (loyalty binds me -- Richard's later motto); sprawled broad
and carelessly across the bottom appears 'Souvente me souvene' (remember
me often) 'Harry Bokyngham.' The signatures, as well as their mottos,
are not without symbolic value.
[British Library Cotton Vespasian Ms. F XIII f 123]
In 1483 on learning of Buckingham's rebellion against him, King
Richard dictated this letter on October 12, to his chancellor, Bishop
John Russell, which has been described as the most intrinsically
valuable document of his reign which survives. To at least one of
his biographers, P. M. Kendall, the postscript lent weight to his
supposition that Buckingham had saddled Richard and his government
with the crime of the murder of the princes. Although sometimes
represented as symptomatic of Richard's tension at the time of betrayal,
after the conventional greeting he nevertheless finds space to acknowledge
the gifts he had received from Russell's servants and then to ask
for the Great Seal to be sent to him at Lincoln, since the Chancellor
cannot bring it himself on account of his 'infirmities and diseases.'
Richard added the long, poignant and emotional postscript in his
own hand:--
We would most gladly that ye came yourself
if you may, and if ye may not, we pray you not to fail, but to
accomplish in all diligence our said commandment, to send our
seal incontinent upon the sight hereof, as we trust you, with
such as you trust and the officers pertaining to attend with it,
praying you to ascertain us of your news. Here, loved be God,
is all well and truly determined, and for to resist the malice
of him that had best cause to be true, the Duke of Buckingham,
the most untrue creature living; whom with God's grace we shall
not be long till that we will be in those parts, and subdue his
malice. We assure you there was never false traitor better purveyed
for, as this bearer, Gloucester, shall show you.
[Public
Record Office C81-1392 No. 6]
Three days later, Robert Blackwell, one of the Clerks of the Chancery,
delivered the Great Seal, in its white leather bag, into the hands
of the King at the Angel Inn, Grantham. [Illustrations, engraving
of the Great Seal, the Angel & Royal Hotel, Grantham.]
A singular survival of an informal note scribbled by Richard to
his Lord Chancellor, again requesting the use of the Great Seal,
which was in Russell's custody, and had to be specially conveyed
to the King for his use in emergencies. This is an example of Richard
passing the usual bureaucratic process of the Signet, Privy Seal,
and Chancery chain of writs. 'Master Skypton' was Richard Skipton,
a senior chancery clerk, whose name appears frequently in the records.
He was a witness in July 1485 when the Cancellor handed the Great
Seal to Thomas Barowe, Master of the Rolls, to convey to Richard
at Nottingham and in March 1486 witnessed its delivery to John Morton.
He continued in office at the Chancery at least until 1495:--
My Lord Chancellor, we pray you, in all haste,
to send us a pardon under our Great Seal to Sir Harry Wode, priest,
&c. and this shall be your warrant.
Ricardus Rex
[Postscript] Master Skypton speed this forth
with expedition.
[Holograph letter and signature.
Public Record Office Chancery Warrants for the Great Seal Series
1 C81 1531 No. 68]
[Illustration: Cast of Richard's signet seal in red wax.]
These two copies of Richard III's letters from 1484 perhaps give
some impression of his personality. The first is the only surviving
example of one to his mother, Cecily Neville, once known as the
'Rose of Raby,' now living the life of a Benedictine abbess at her
castle of Berkhamsted. Though cast in customary form its tone of
filial devotion seems to transcend the mere conventional expression
of the times, when even royal sons were expected to be dutiful to
their mothers. Her officer, William Colyngbourne, is notorious for
the rhyme 'The Cat, the Rat & Lovell our Dog' etc., satirizing
Richard and his ministers. Following his involvement in the Buckingham
rebellion and correspondence with Henry Tudor, he was convicted
of high treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered
on Tower Hill.
Madam, I recommend me to you as heartily as
is to me possible, beseeching you in my most humble and effectuous
wise of your daily blessing to my singular comfort and defence
in my need. And madam, I heartily beseech you that I may often
hear from you to my comfort. And such news as be here, my servant
Thomas Brian, this bearer, shall show to you, to whom please it
you to give credence unto. And madam, I beseech you to be good
and gracious lady to my lord, my Chamberlain, to be your officer
in Wiltshire in such as Colyngbourne had. And that it please you
that by this bearer I may understand your pleasure in this behalf.
Written at Pontefract the 3rd day of June, with the hand of your
most humble son.
Ricardus Rex
[Secretary's copy: British Library
Harleian MSS 433 f2b]
[Illustration: Frontispiece to the 'Luton Guild Book' 1475-1546.
Kneeling before the Trinity are the founders of the Guild: Thomas
Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln, Edward IV and his wife, Queen Elizabeth
Woodville, with immediately behind her, in the robe of the Royal
Arms of England, the King's mother, Cecily Neville, one of the few
rare representations of her that still exist.
When Elizabeth ('Jane') Shore, the former mistress of Edward IV,
was in prison in Ludgate, she engaged the affections of Thomas Lynom,
Richard's solicitor and he wished to marry her. Politically and
morally Richard took a harsh view of Mistress Shore and he may well
have persuaded himself that he was acting in Lynom's good in prohibiting
the match, but the following letter is what he wrote to John Russell,
giving his consent and the marriage duly took place. Lynom appears
to have served Richard faithfully and enjoyed the King's favour.
He lost his legal office under Henry VII but continued to work for
the crown in an administrative capacity:--
By the King
Right reverend father in God etc. Signifying
unto you, that it is showed unto us, that our servant and solicitor,
Thomas Lynom, marvelously blinded and abused with that late wife
of William Shore, now being in Ludgate by our commandment, hath
made a contract of matrimony with her, as it is said, and intendeth,
to our full great marvel, to proceed to effect the same. We for
many causes, would be very sorry that he should be so disposed.
Pray you therefore to send for him, and in that ye goodly may exhort
and stir him to the contrary. And, if ye find him utterly set for
to marry her, and none otherwise would be advertised, then, if it
may stand within the law of the church, we be content, the time
of the marriage being deferred to our coming next to London, that
upon sufficient surety being found for her good a-bearing, ye do
send for her keeper, and discharge him of our said commandment by
warrant of these; committing her to the rule and guiding of her
father, or any other, by your discretion in the mean season.
To the right Reverend father in God etc. The
Bishop of Lincoln our chancellor.
[Secretary's copy: British Library
Harleian MSS 433 f 259]
Immortalized by Thomas More and Shakespeare, 'Jane' Shore's true
identity was only revealed in 1972 by the publication of a series
of articles by Nicholas Barker and Sir Robert Birley in 'Etoniana,'
the magazine of Eton College, where she had been hailed traditionally
as a benefactress, due to her intercession with Edward IV who at
one time sought its destruction. Her father was John Lambert, a
Warden of the Mercers Company, and her mother Amy Marshall, a prosperous
grocer's daughter. She was christened Elizabeth, around 1450. Fifteenth
century sources only refer to her as 'Mistress Shore' or 'Shore's
wife' so that later chroniclers such as Fabyan were ignorant of
her first name, and often left a blank. 'Jane' occurs for the first
time in an Elizabethan play nearly a century later. William Shore,
her first husband, was, like her father, a well-to-do mercer but
it was not a propitious match. When, or how, she met Edward IV is
not known, but she became his mistress and in 1476 petitioned the
Pope for an annulment of the marriage on the grounds of her husband's
impotence. After the death of Edward IV she appears fo have been
successively the mistress of Lord Hastings and the Marquess Dorset,
and upon their downfall, Richard insisted that she do public penance
for harlotry. Her will is extant and refers to her second husband
Thomas Lynom, and gives some indication of her reduced circumstances
in later life. This is the last that is known of her until Thomas
More's description of her destitute old age.
[Illustration: detail of the figure of Elizabeth ('Jane') Shore
from her parents' memorial brass at Hinxworth, Herts.]
Richard's writing:
A graphologist's view
Richard's writing tells a story -- a story of contrasts and shift-patterns
of behavior, as it traces his development from a young man of seventeen
to the final years of his life.
There is the public man, with his great, formidable, embellished
signatures, emphasizing the importance of the signatory: we have,
by contrast, the small and modest signatures, written in his devotional
books, written for himself alone - the private man, removed from
the need to impress and intimidate. And then there is the mysterious
document containing his signature and motto, together with those
of the young King Edward, and Buckingham.
'John de Brompton' Chronicle signature (see Richard's books)
'Chronique de France' signature (see Richard's books)
Richard's signature and motto from 'Three Signatures' document
Placed high on this document, and presumably the first to be written
is the boy king's wavering and uncertainly directed writing. It
has a refined and somewhat spiritual quality. It is not robust,
but it would be unwise to deduce too much from such a small sample.
Well below this are the signatures of the two men. Richard's, strong
and clear, is centrally placed and beautifully spaced. His is the
writing to which our eyes are first drawn. Of the three, he is the
only person of real substance. As usual, he dominates the scene.
The inherent depression is plain to see, but not as an overwhelming
force.
Finally, we see Buckingham's flattened, threadlike letter-forms.
This writing is a fine example of an elusive, sinuous character
whose chief ability lay in his avoidance of all decisions, his susceptibility
to persuasion, and the ease with which he could glide away into
thin air, leaving no trace. A "most untrue creature" indeed.
Most interesting of all are the letters. The earliest surviving
one written when he was seventeen in 1469, and the famous postscript
written fourteen years later to the Lord Chancellor in 1483.
Richard's earliest letter, of 1469
Letter to William Fitzwilliam, c. 1471-5
All these examples from the same hand show a marked variety of
style, but there is a vein of depression common to practically all
of them. Its continued presence indicates that its origin came from
within himself, and was not caused by circumstances.
In 1469, the seventeen year old Richard's writing is most closely
matched by his signatures in his books of devotion. It is notable
for its clear and unpretentious forms, its sense of order and self-discipline.
The able administrator of the future is evident in the young man.
His latent depression is unconsciously expressed, as is his sense
of isolation. The overall impression, with his curiously wide spacing,
especially between the lines, is one of withdrawal. Compressed energy
and depression are an inflammatory combination, and they uneasily
presage the psychological storms of the future.
Middleham
foundation documents, 1478
The contrast between this writing and the postscript from the time
of Buckingham's rebellion is plain for all to see. It represents
a change over and above the normal process of growth to maturity.
This man would have been emotional, violent and unpredictable. The
writing is of someone in a state of disintegration. He is swept
along by a tide of events, by despair and a dangerously distorted
imagination. And yet, despite the chaotic state of mind and fundamental
instability , there is such eloquence and dynamic energy, the real
man springs to life before our eyes. Here is the flesh and blood
on the bones. Somewhere, in this flawed personality, lay a fine
and clever mind. Those who valued their safety would do well to
keep out of his way. But for good or ill, this was a great character
who would have left a lasting impression on all who crossed his
path.
Letter to Richard Claxton, 1480
Edward V warrant, 1483
Venetian state papers, 1484
Signatures on documents and letters invariably emphasise the importance
of the signatory. Richard's official signatures are large by any
standards. They dwarf their surroundings and they intimidate, as
their author would have dominated any situation at which he was
present. These signatures represent the great Duke of Gloucester
at his most powerful and ominous.
Those after he was king lead us to the final chapter of his story.
"Ricardus Rex" in 1484 often has very inflated loops,
soaring upwards, top-heavy and unbalanced. These signatures are
redolent of the effects of power and pride, which when freed from
a framework of self-restraint, become detached from reality. In
certain respects he could be described as a visionary trying to
grasp something beyond his reach. By 1485, the last year of his
life, the signatures have changed again. They have become uncertain,
shrunken, sick and dispirited, in poignant contrast to those of
the previous year and to the big, overpowering 'Gloucesters.'
Signature as King, 1485
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