He receiueth an oth.
But immediatlie after came the said Coniers againe, with the like tale and information as he had brought before. And thus king Edward one while put in comfort, and another while discouraged, marched foorth till he came to the gates of the citie, where his people staied; whilest he and about sixtéene or seuentéene other such as he thought méetest, went forth and entred the citie with the said Clifford & Burgh. And (as some write) there was a priest readie to saie masse, in which masse time the king receiued the sacrament of the communion, & there solemnlie sware to kéepe and obserue two speciall articles: although it was farre vnlike that he minded to obserue either of them: the one was that he should vse the citizens after a gentle and courteous maner: and the other, that he should be faithfull and obedient vnto king Henries commandements.
For this wilfull periurie (as hath béene thought) the issue of this king suffered (for the fathers offense the depriuation not onelie of lands and worldlie possessions, but also of their naturall liues,) by their cruell vncle K. Richard the third. [And it may well be.] For it is not likelie that God, in whose hands is the bestowing of all souereigntie, will suffer such an indignatie to be doone to his sacred maiestie, and will suffer the same to passe with impunitie. And suerlie, if an oth among priuate men is religiouslie to be kept, sith in the same is an exact triall of faith and honestie; doubtlesse of princes it is verie nicelie and preciselie to be obserued: yea they should rather susteine a blemish and disgrace in their roialtie, than presume to go against their oth and promise, speciallie if the same stand vpon conditions of equitie: otherwise they prooue themselues to be impugners of fidelitie, which is a iewell surpassing gold in price and estimation, as the poet prudentlie saith:
Charior est auro non simulata fides.
The marques Montacute suffereth king Edward to passe by him.
When king Edward had thus gotten into the citie of Yorke, he made such meanes among the citizens, that he got of them a certeine summe of monie; and leauing a garison within the citie contrarie to his oth, for fear least the citizens after his departure, might happilie mooue some rebellion against him, he set forward the next day toward Todcaster, a towne ten miles from thence, belonging to the earle of Northumberland. The next day he tooke his waie toward Wakefield and Sendall, a castell and lordship belonging to the inheritance of the dukes of Yorke, leauing the castell of Pomfret vpon his left hand, where the marques Montacute with his armie laie, and did not once offer to stop him.
Whether the marques suffered him to passe by so, with his good will or no, diuerse haue diuerslie coniectured. Some thinke that it lay not in the power of the marques greatlie to annoie him, both for that the king was well beloued in those parties; & againe, all the lords & commons there for the most part were towards the earle of Northumberland, and without him or his commandement they were not willing to stirre. And therefore the earle in sitting still and not moouing to and fro, was thought to doo king Edward as good seruice as if he had come to him, and raised people to assist him; for diuerse happilie that should haue come with him, remembring displeasures past, would not haue béene so faithfull as the earle himselfe, if it had come to the iumpe of anie hazard of battell.
K. Edward commeth to Northamptō.
Edw. Hall.