With the coronation finished, London returned back to normal
even though Parliament was still in recess until the middle of May 1454. With a significant amount of the members of
Parliament departing back to their homes after the coronation to check on their
estates before Parliament started again, the King and the majority of the
Council remained in London to work on the affairs of state. While working on state matters, Richard III
was active in looking after the vast estates that he had brought to the Crown
as well as those he now controlled via his ascension including the immensely
rich Duchy of Lancaster. As he continued
to gain control of the bureaucracy, Richard III found himself dividing his time
between state and estate matters that would continue throughout the rest of the
summer and fall as he tried to develop a system of management that would work
for him. However, even as the King
worked on current situations he was actively thinking about the future of the
country in terms of his dynasty. And
with that in mind, Richard III started working on the composition of various
regional councils and the creation, or elevating, of peers.
As Parliament came back into session, news came from Baron
Fauconberg’s successfully relieving Roxburgh from the Scots and that he was
actively besieging a Scottish garrison in Berwick. The King ordered a few hundred troops from
London up to Berwick to join Fauconberg’s forces to help in his campaign and
requested in Parliament that the government’s debt to Fauconberg be given high
priority as well as granting him an income to for the upkeep and defense of
Roxburgh. Parliament quickly approved
the King’s request and the members working with Lord High Treasurer Viscount
Bourchier took note. Even as Fauconberg
was putting the Scots in place, there were rumors from Ireland that the Earl of
Ormond, though attainted and with a price on his head, was actively traveling
around the island and meeting with chieftains that had not submitted to the
Crown. Richard III had already said that
he had plans for Ireland, but he told Salisbury and Buckingham that he would be
moving up his plans for Ireland if the rumor about Ormond was true.
As June 1454 arrived so did news from the Berwick in which
Fauconberg had taken the town with the reinforcement the King had sent him and
was holding several Scots as hostage for ransom. Word arrived from Portugal in the form of two
letters, one personally from King Afonso V and one from the English
emissaries. Afonso’s letter was formal
in sending his condolences upon the death of Henry VI, congratulated Richard
for his victory against Edmund Beaufort to show, and welcomed interest in the
hand of his youngest sister. However,
the letter from his emissaries, Bishop Kempe and the Earl of Worchester,
revealed that Afonso was very relieved when they inquired about a marriage because
at the time there had been inquires by Henry IV of Castile who had divorced his
first wife because he had not consummated his marriage. Kempe and Worchester relayed that
negotiations were preceding and went over some of the generous terms Afonso was
willing to give at the beginning. The
King and Council quickly composed responses to the letters, the first was
giving Kempe and Worchester instructions about upon limits as well as the King
giving Worchester the authority to act as a surrogate groom for the Prince of
Wales upon a successful completion of marriage negotiations and the second in
response was a friendly and diplomatic reply to Alfonso’s letter. By the end of the month the letters were on
their way to Portugal.
With the marriage for his heir looking well on the way to a
successful completion, Richard III made his second son, the 11-year old Edmund,
the Duke of Bedford. Also the King
created his brother-in-law Henry Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier, as the Earl of
Essex with the title of Viscount Bourchier being used as a courtesy title for
Henry’s eldest son, William. The King
then arranged with Salisbury and Warwick the marriage of his youngest son, the
nearly 2-year old Richard Plantagenet, to Warwick’s nearly 3-year old daughter
Isabel Neville. None of the three men
expected more than the establishment of a cadet branch of the royal family and
rewarding Neville support, none would have dreamed the impact this marriage
would have on the future. Queen Cicely
had originally hoped that young Richard would have gone into the church,
however with her husband’s ascension to the throne that was out of the
question. But Cicely was determined that
her two youngest sons’ education and training would be the best possible for
the benefit of the realm and in support of their eldest brother, Edward, when he
succeeded his father. Since the King had
been overseeing his two eldest sons’ education for years and would continue to
do so, especially that of the Prince of Wales.
As August approached, Richard III requested that the Earl of
Richmond send his ward, 11-year old Lady Margaret Beaufort, to Queen Cicely at
court. Although it was unclear what the
King’s plans for Lady Margaret were, the formal order styled her Countess of
Somerset as was her right before Henry VI awarded her uncle Edmund the Earldom
and later Dukedom of Somerset. Some
suspected that Richard was planning on marrying Margaret to the young Duke of
Bedford while others thought that the King wanted the young woman secured until
he had a grandson via the Prince of Wales.
However, Richard then named both the Earl of Richmond and his younger
brother, the Earl of Pembroke, to the Council of Wales along with William
Herbert to help administrate and provide justice in the Principality while the
Prince of Wales was still a minor then to help advise him once he was old
enough to take on more responsibility of governance.
