[138c] Holinshed. See also the act of attainder of 14th Edward IV. (1475), in which the battle is stated to have been fought on the 4th of May.—Rot. Parl. 14th Edward IV. vol. vi. fos. 145 and 146. Hall, however, calls it the 3rd of May.
The date of the 4th of May appeared upon the tomb of Sir John Delves, who was slain in the battle, and his body and that of his son are said to have been first interred at Tewkesbury, and afterwards at Wybonbury, in Cheshire.—Pennant’s Journey from Chester to London, pp. 37 and 38; Lysons’ Mag. Brit. Cheshire, p. 828; Ormerod’s Cheshire, vol. iii. pp. 255, 267, 268.
[139a] Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III., the eighth and youngest son of Richard Duke of York and Cecily his wife, was born at Fotheringay Castle, in Northamptonshire, on the 2nd of October, 1452. The Duchess of York, upon hearing of the deaths of her husband the Duke of York, and of her son the Earl of Rutland, at Wakefield, in 1460, sent her younger sons, George, afterwards Duke of Clarence, and Richard, afterwards Duke of Gloucester, abroad to Utrecht, where they remained under the protection of Philip Duke of Burgundy, until the accession of Edward IV. to the throne of England, enabled them to return with safety. Richard was created Duke of Gloucester and Lord Admiral of England, in 1461. He distinguished himself by his valour at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. He married Anne, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (the King-Maker), and widow of Edward Prince of Wales. His reign commenced on the 18th of June; he was proclaimed King on the 22nd of June; was crowned on the 7th of July, 1483; and was slain at the battle of Bosworth on the 22nd of August, 1485, having reigned two years and two months. Queen Anne died in the last year of his reign. He did not leave any issue; Edward, his only child by Queen Anne, who was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, on the 24th of August, 1483, died before him.—See Pedigree No. 2, Chap. IX.
[139b] George Duke of Clarence, the sixth son of Richard Duke of York and Cecily his wife, married Isabel, daughter of Richard Earl of Warwick (the King-Maker), was attainted by Parliament, in 17th year of Edward IV., and was put to death in the Tower of London, on the 18th of February, 1477–78.—See Pedigree No. 2, Chap. IX.
[139c] Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, was the eldest son of Sir John Grey, of Groby (eldest son of Edward Lord Ferrers of Groby), slain at the first battle of St. Alban’s, in 1455, and of Elizabeth Wideville, or Wodeville, afterwards the Queen of Edward IV. He married Cecily, daughter and heir of William Bonvile, Lord Harrington, slain at the battle of Wakefield in 1460, and great-grand-daughter of William Lord Bonvile, who was put to death after the second battle of St. Alban’s, in 1460–1. He was created Lord Harrington and Bonvile, by Edward IV., in the fifteenth year of his reign, and in the same year was also created Marquis of Dorset. After Richard III. had obtained the crown, Dorset was attainted of high treason; but took sanctuary, and got privately away, and fled into Brittany, with a view to taking part with Henry Earl of Richmond. At the instigation of his mother, the Queen Dowager, he appeared for a time to waver, and inclined to leave the party of the Earl of Richmond in despair of his success, and to return to England, and make his peace with Richard III.; but eventually remained abroad, until after the fall of Richard, at the battle of Bosworth, and the accession to the throne of Henry VII.; who then soon sent to Paris for Dorset, who, together with Sir John Bourchier (the brother of the Bishop of Exeter), had been left there by Henry, in pledge for money borrowed there. He returned to England, was restored to his honours, and made one of the Privy Council of Henry VII. He died in the tenth year of Henry VII., 1494, and Cecily his widow afterwards married Henry Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, second son of Henry, second Duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded in the first year of Richard III.
[139d] William Lord Hastings.—See Chap. VI.
[140a] The park of Tewkesbury is mentioned by Leland: “Fordehampton, a faire place, upon Severne, in dextra ripa, a mile beneth Theokesbyri, and agayn the parke of Theokesbyri, standing in læva ripa.”—Lel. Itinerary, vol. vi. fo. 94 [83].
[140b] Holinshed’s Chronicles.
[141a] Holinshed, with reference to Gloucester’s gaining this advantage over Somerset, uses the expression, “winning the hedge and ditch of him, entered the close, and with great violence, put him and his people up towards the hill, from whence they were descended.”
[141b] Holinshed’s Chronicles.