Gloucestershire people hedging their bets in the political instability of
1470
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
In the winter of 2013-14 the University of Leicester on-line
education vehicle, Future Learn, organised a course entitled “England in the time
of Richard III”. The course is over six weeks with the first week on that of 25th
November 2013. The content of the first week was about the origins and course
of the War of the Roses with a discussion on Bosworth Field. Section 1.7 asked
participants [of which I am one] to write a 1,200 word piece on “How did the
conflicts impact on both the upper and lower classes?”
One of the points in my reply was
that during the wars in Ireland during the 16th and 17th
century you often find families backing both sides in the war. Thus the head of
the Roche family stayed neutral while his son supported the Irish side. When
the victorious English came to declare lands belonging to the rebels as forfeit
to the crown, Lord Roche was able to show his non-involvement in the war and by
such means preserved his family estates. In the 1641-1653 war the head of the
Butler family, James, Earl of Ormond led the English forces in Ireland while
members of the junior branches of the Butler family were prominent on the Irish
side. After the Restoration in 1660 James Butler, by then Duke of Ormond, was
able to use his support during the war to restore members of the Butler family
on the losing side.
It is possible with research to
find families in England, during the War of the Roses, who had members on both
sides; not so much as they believed in their respective cause but to be in a
position to help the side of the family who ended up on the losing side. Ordinary
people caught up in the War also sought out means of surviving. An interesting
few documents from Gloucestershire show how ordinary people found ways to end
up on the winning side without showing clear support for any side.
The source book of the Gloucestershire documents
On 2nd January 1469-70
Robert Bole released to Thomas Bokeland, Henry Bold, clerk, John Hertlaund and
Nichols Hylle all his right in lands and tenements in the districts of
Beggeworth, Uphatherley, Hatherleywood, Great Shurdyngton, Great Bentham and
Little Wydecombe. These places are found at various locations around
Gloucestershire. Robert Bole was the son and heir of Joan Bole, one of the
daughters and heirs of John Brock. Joan Bole, in her widowhood, agreed to the
release by another document in December 1470. The January release grant was
dated according to the 9th year of Edward IV. Having concluded their
agreement the parties went their separate ways happy with the deal.
Both the reign of Edward IV was
far from settled. Lancastrian forces remained active in the north of England
and in Wales. One of Edward’s chief supporters, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick,
became disappointed at his loss of influence at court against the rise of the
king’s wife, Elizabeth Woodville and her supporters. In July 1469 Warwick had
gone over to the Lancastrian cause and took the king’s younger brother, George,
Duke of Clarence with him. The Lancastrians won the Battle of Edgecote Moor and
King Edward was imprisoned for a few months. But by September 1469 Edward was
restored. But the country was still unsettled.
The year of 1470 started with more military manoeuvres
on both sides as Warwick tried to capture King Edward and Edward tried to
capture Warwick. The king was more successful and forced Warwick to flee the
country. After getting support from King Louis XI of France, Warwick staged an
uprising in the north of England. When Edward went north to crush the uprising
Warwick landed a force on the south coast. King Edward turned about to face Warwick
but was trapped between the two Lancastrian forces. On 2nd October
Edward fled to Holland. The previously deposed king, Henry VI, was now restored
to the throne on 19th October.
The people of Gloucester watched
these events as did the rest of the country and tried to understand its impacts
on their lives. The was talk of the new government obliterating all trace of
the reign of Edward IV including declaring all documents dated according to his
reign as null and void. If such rumours should come true the parties to the
release agreement of Robert Bole feared that their document would have no legal
standing because it was dated according to the reign of the now ex-king, Edward
IV.
The parties met at an undisclosed
location to discuss the situation. After some talk they decided to write out
the agreement in the same words as that made on 2nd January 1469-70
but to date it as 2nd January in the 40th year of Henry
VI. By such as means they hoped that if their agreement should be produced in
court in some legal action, it would be accepted as a “politically correct” document.
Delighted with their well laid plan somebody was going to destroy the Edward IV
document until stopped by one of the party. “What will happen if Henry goes
insane again and Edward comes back? Our newly worded deal will be on the wrong
side and have no legal standing”.
After discussion it was proposed
by somebody that both documents would be preserved. They would hide the
document dated according to the reign of Edward IV and produced that dated to
Henry VI for any court action that may happen. If by chance Edward is again
king at some future dated, the parties could hide the Henry document and
produce the “politically correct” one. All the parties were delighted with
their little scheme of how to survive the War of the Roses and the political instability
of 1470 in particular.[1]
Somebody called for a toast and “God
save the King”. “Which one?” said another. “The one who keeps his head while
all the others are losing theirs,” was the reply and all laughed and drank to
good health.
It was a wise decision to keep both documents because within a few months Edward IV had returned to England and retook the throne. Henry VI was sent to the Tower of London where he died violently, it is said, in May 1471.
It was a wise decision to keep both documents because within a few months Edward IV had returned to England and retook the throne. Henry VI was sent to the Tower of London where he died violently, it is said, in May 1471.
Over the centuries both
documents, one dated to the reign of Edward and the other to the reign of Henry,
survived together and became part of the archive of Gloucester Corporation. The
preservation of both documents allows us to see how ordinary people found ways and
means to survive the impact of the War of the Roses and still be there when the
dust settled. People in other parts of the country possibly did similar things
but the evidence is yet to be found.
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The conversation between the parties is a suggestive reconstruction. Their actual discussions in October/November of 1470 are not recorded.
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End of post.
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[1]
W.H. Stevenson (ed.), Calendar of the
Records of the Corporation of Gloucester (Gloucester, 1893), nos. 1159,
1161
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