Accordingly, on the morrow, a deputation from the city waited on the Duke of Gloucester at Baynard's Castle and invited him to accept the crown. After a considerable show of affected reluctance, Richard assented, and, having assented, lost no time in carrying out his pre-conceived purpose. The very next day he hastened to Westminster and, seating himself on the throne, declared himself king by inheritance and election.
The coronation of Richard III, 6 July, 1433.
On the 6th July the last Angevin king that reigned over England was crowned—crowned with his wife Anne, widow of Prince Edward, killed at Tewkesbury, but after the battle not in it, and of whose blood Richard himself is thought to have been guilty. The City accepted the position and made the new king and queen a present of £1,000; two-thirds for the king and the remainder for the queen. The money was raised in the city by way of a fifteenth; the poor were not to be called upon to contribute, and the gift was not to form a precedent.[954] The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the chief butler at the coronation banquet was made and allowed,[955] the king, sitting crowned in le Whitehawle, presented to the mayor and aldermen who were present on that occasion a gold cup set with pearls and precious stones, to be used by the commonalty at public entertainments in the Guildhall.[956] Concerning this cup there is the following curious entry made in the City's Records, under date 13th July, 1486, when Hugh Brice was mayor:—[957]
"Item it is aggreed this day by the Court that where Hugh Brice Mair of this Citie, hathe in his Kepyng a Cuppe of gold, garneised with perle and precious stone of the gifte of Richard, late in dede and not of right, Kyng of Englond, which gifte was to thuse of the Cominaltie of the said Citee, that if the saide Cuppe be stolen or taken away by thevys[pg 324] oute of his possession, or elles by the casualtie of Fire hereafter it shall hapne the same Cuppe to be brent or lost, that the same Hugh Brice hereafter shall not be hurt or impeched therfore."
This extract is interesting as showing that the coronation cup presented to the mayor of the City by way of honorarium was, at this period at least, looked upon as a gift made to the City's use, and that the mayor could not claim it as his own perquisite, as mayors had been in the habit of doing in days gone by, and as they continued to do afterwards. William Estfeld, who, as mayor, attended the coronation of Henry VI (6 Nov., 1429), and received the customary gold cup and ewer, appropriated the gift to his own use, and, as we have already mentioned, bequeathed them to his grandson.
Rebellion of the Duke of Buckingham, 1483.
His execution, 2 Nov.
Richard had scarcely been seated three months on the throne before the Duke of Buckingham, who had been rewarded for his late services by being appointed lord high constable, was in open rebellion, and Henry, Earl of Richmond, long an exile in France, was meditating an invasion. Buckingham's conspiracy proved a failure, and he paid for his rashness with his head. The Earl of Richmond was detained in France by stress of weather, and danger from that quarter was averted at least for a time.
The king's reception in the city, Nov., 1483.
Bold speech of the Londoners.