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XV. A Reply to Mr. Tytler's “Historical Remarks on the Death of Richard the Second:” by Thomas Amyot, Esq. F.R.S., Treasurer, in a Letter addressed to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S., Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

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In an Enquiry which I addressed to you some years ago, concerning the death of Richard the Second, I took occasion to advert to the rumours prevalent after the date usually assigned to that event, relative to his supposed escape into Scotland, and his death and burial at Stirling. The story on which these rumours were founded, and to which no credit had been given by any English historian of established reputation, has lately been revived, and its truth defended with much plausibility and ingenuity, by Mr. Fraser Tytler, in an elaborate Dissertation subjoined to the third volume of his valuable History of Scotland. The name and authority of the writer would be sufficient to excite attention to his statements, even if they had not already attracted the notice of two of the most distinguished of his countrymen, though with different results as to the impression produced on them. Sir Walter Scott, on the one hand, has fully avowed his belief in the relation, while on the other, Sir James Mackintosh has, with equal decision, expressed his dissent from it. Had it fallen within the plan of the latter eminent person to state the reasons for his adherence to the common narrative more in detail, and with reference to the authorities on which they were grounded, any further attempt on my part to investigate the subject would have been superfluous. But, as the case now stands, I may be permitted to offer a more circumstantial reply to Mr. Tytler's arguments, bearing in mind the courtesy he has uniformly shown in his references to my former observations.

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Research Article
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Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1831

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References

page 277 note a Archæologia, vol. xx. p. 426, note.

page 277 note b Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. p, 250.

page 277 note c Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 381, note.

page 278 note d Hearne's edition of Fordun and Bower, vol. iv. p. 1133. Goodal's ditto, vol. ii. p. 427.

page 278 note e Hearne's ed. iv. p. 1166. Goodal's, ii. p. 441.

page 279 note f Winton's Chronicle, by M'Pherson, vol. ii. p. 387, 388, 389.

page 280 note g It may here be noticed that I am assured by my respected friend Sir John Swinburne, Bart, of Capheaton (the President of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, and a descendant of Sir Thomas Swinburne above named) that he entirely concurs with me in the opinion I have expressed on this point of the controversy. He has also obligingly confirmed to me the communication which he made to Mr. Tytler, upon the information of his friend Mr. Waterton, who appears to have good reason to believe that his ancestor, Sir Robert Waterton, was Constable of Pontefract Castle at the period of Richard's confinement. How long Sir Richard held that office does not appear, but it is certain that he continued to enjoy the sunshine of royal favour during the reign of his master, Henry the Fourth, by whom, in an instrument in Rymer's Foedera (vol. viii. p. 190) dated the 20th April 1401, he is called “Domicellum nostrum.” While adverting to this subject, I will take the opportunity of referring to an extract, furnished to me by Mr. Ellis, from a MS. in the British Museum, (Lansd. 213, fol. 319) containing the relation of a journey through a part of England in 1634, by “a Captain, a Lieutenant, and an Ancient” of a military company in Norwich. Among other places, this odd travelling triumvirate visited Pontefract Castle, which had then seven famous towers of amplitude, the highest of them, called the Round Tower, in which Richard the Second was “enforc'd to flee round a poste till his barbarous butchers inhumanly depriv'd him of life.” They add that “upon that poste, the cruel hackings and fierce blows doe still remaine.” It thus appears that the Exton battle-axe story, now generally and justly discredited, was the received tradition at Pontefract two centuries ago, and that, at all events, no doubt was entertained of that Castle having been the place of Richard's death.

page 281 note h Boethii Scot. Hist. lib. xvi. p. 339, ed. 1574.

page 281 note i To prove this alliance Mr. Tytler refers to the Rotuli Scotia?, vol. ii. p. 156. But on turning to the License for the safe conduct of Donald and his brother John, contained in that page, it would seem that John, and not Donald, was at that date (5 Feb. 1400-1) Lord of the Isles; Donald being merely described as the brother of John, who is called “Johannes de Insulis, Dominus de Dunwage et de Glynns.” It is right however to state that in a preceding treaty in Rymer's Foedera (viii. p. 146) not reprinted in Rot. Scotias, and not referred to by Mr. Tytler, the relative position of these brothers is reversed. The date of this treaty is 2 June 1400, about four months after Richard's reputed death at Pontefract. The first document, I believe, in which the rumours of Richard's being alive in Scotland are noticed, is Henry's Proclamation “Super Fabricatoribus Mendaciorum,” i n Rymer, viii. p. 261, which is dated 5 June 1402.

page 282 note k Lib. xvi, p. 339, ed. 1574.

page 283 note l Lib. xvi. p. 339, ed. 1574.

page 283 note m The fragment of a Chronicle printed from Asloan's MS. at the Auchinlech press by the late Sir Alexander Boswell, and adverted to in the Archasologia, xx. p. 427 (note) has not been cited by Mr. Tytler in support of his theory. It adds nothing, indeed, in point of authority, to the other works referred to.

page 284 note n Vol. iii, p. 340.

page 285 note o See the very numerous documents connected with these negociations, which have been published in Rymer's Fcedera and the Rotuli Scotiae, hereafter referred to.

page 286 note p Rymer, ix. p. 417. Rot. Scotiae, ii. p. 219. It was intended in effect to be a ransom of that amount, as James was to be allowed to visit Scotland for a limited period, and the sum in question was to be paid in the event of his not returning to England at its expiratici.

page 287 note q Compare the principal documents in pp. 166, 167, 168, 169, 173, 174, 177, 183, 192, 193, 194, 199, 206, 213, 214, 215, and 219 of vol. ii. of the Rot. Scoriae, with the corresponding articles in pp. 345, 362, 368, 371, 385, 388, 430, 479, 609, 630, 631, and 704, of vol. viii. and pp. 40, 240, 302, 303, 323, 324, and 417; of vol. ix. of Rymer's Fcedera. These references will be found to comprize nearly all that is important in the Rot. Scotioe, during the period in question, viz. from 1404 to 1419. The other documents belonging to that period will be seen to be chiefly Licences for safe conduct, and Commissions for the custody of the Marches.

page 288 note r Ellis's Original Letters, vol. i. p. 2.

page 288 note s Vol. viii. p. 353. The description in the Proclamation is simply “Thomas Warde tie Trumpington, qui se pretende et feigne d'estre Hoy Richard.”

page 288 note t Vol. iv. p. 65.

page 289 note x In this Letter, which is preserved in the Rolls of Parliament (vol. iii. p. 6), Northumberland says it is his purpose “de sustener le droit querelle de mon Souverain S'r le Roy Richard, s'il est vif, et si mort est, de venger sa mort.” No language could be more cautiously hypothetical.

page 289 note y Archæologia, xvi. p. 140. Hardyng's Chronicle by Ellis, p. 353.

page 290 note z Anglia Sacra, ii. p. 362. In this eloquent philippic against Henry, great stress is laid on Richard's death, though the mode of its occurrence is admitted to be uncertain.

page 290 note a “Ea pars saltern corporis, per quod cognosci poterat, facies scil. ab ima parte frontis usque ad guttur.” Otterb. p. 222.

page 290 note b p 405, edit 1574.

page 290 note c “Le chef sur un oreillier noir, e visage découvert,” vol. iv. chap. 119.

page 291 note d “In herse rial his corse lay there I se.” Lansdowne MS. of Hardyng's Chronicle.

page 291 note e Archæologia, vol. xx. pp. 221, 409.

page 291 note f Otterbourne, 228. Walsingham, 404.

page 292 note g “Nee erat qui eos invitaret ad prandium post laborem.” Walsingham, 405. See also the Ypodigma Neustriae of the same author, p. 158, edit. 1574.

page 292 note h Otterb. 274. Walsing. 430.

page 292 note i Edmond Mortimer, the heir to the Crown, was but eleven years old when the battle of Shrewsbury took place. See his Life by my late friend Dr. Sayers, in his Collective Works, edited by Mr. W. Taylor, vol. ii. p. 308; Norwich, 1823, and Mr. Malone's Letter subjoined to it. The Edmond Mortimer who was taken prisoner by Owen Gledower, and afterwards married his daughter, was the uncle of the young Earl of March. Shakspeare's mistake was occasioned by Hall's mistranslation of the Letter of Defiance issued by the Percies before the battle of Shrewsbury.

page 293 note k Biondi's remarks on the whole question appear to me so sensible and just, that I shall not hesitate to transcribe them from Lord Monmouth's translation, the work being now little read in either language. Noticing the narrative of the Scottish Historians, he says, “But if this had beene true, the English writers would have had some little light thereof, some whispering or tradition of it would have been among the common people; Scotland would have made some advantage thereby; France would not have beene quiet; Henry would not have demanded Richard's widow for his sonne, nor would Charles have married her into the House of Orleans; Richard would either have retired himself to France to his wife and father-in-law, or having a minde to become one of the religious in Scotland, he would have procured, by dispensation from Rome, a nullifying of his contracted though not consummated marriage.” History of the Civil Warres of England between the two Houses of Lancaster and York, p. 56.

page 293 note l Note at the end of vol. i.

page 293 note m Vol. iv. chap. 119.

page 294 note n Rymer, viii. pp. 261, 353.

page 295 note o Rot. Parl. vol. iv. p. 65.

page 295 note p Rymer, ix. 300. The internal evidence of the genuineness of this confession will appear strong and satisfactory, as I conceive, to those who will take the trouble of examining it.

page 295 note q Vol. iv. p. 107.

page 295 note r Acts and Monuments, vol. i. 726, 845, edit. 1641.

page 295 note s Wals. Hist. Ang. 446.

page 295 note t Vol. iii. p. 189.