The Duke of York delivered to Richard

The death of Hastings was scarcely calculated to remove those suspicions which had caused Queen Elizabeth to seek refuge in the sanctuary at Westminster. But there was now no Woodville party in the council. The queen's friends were either dead or imprisoned. Westminster was full of armed men, and the forces for which Richard had written to his friends at York would be in London before many days. Yet in all probability the protector carried his way by persuasion quite as much as by force, and he received active support from prelates like Cardinal Bourchier, whose position rendered them less apprehensive of personal violence than mere lay lords like Hastings. He was supported with a cordiality that seems altogether wonderful, when, at the meeting of the council on the following Monday, it was proposed that the young Duke of York should be sent for out of sanctuary to keep company with the king, his brother, in the Tower. It was unanimously resolved that the queen should be desired to deliver him up, and there was even some discussion, according to More, whether, in the event of her refusal, he should not be taken by force. The council apparently considered that there was no fear for his safety in the Tower, but that there was a danger of renewed intrigues and factions so long as he remained in sanctuary. In the end it was agreed by all the lay lords, and even by a good portion of the spiritual, that if force was necessary it should be employed; but it was determined that gentle means should be essayed in the first place.