Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (3 of 6): England (4 of 9): Edward the Fourth, Earle of March, Sonne and Heire to Richard Duke of YorkeHolinshed, Raphael
History
Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (3 of 6): England (4 of 9): Edward the Fourth, Earle of March, Sonne and Heire to Richard Duke of Yorke
Holinshed, Raphael
Great Britain -- History -- Edward IV, 1461-1483; Great Britain -- History -- To 1485; Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603
By reason whereof, king Henrie the seauenth sued to Pope Iulio the
second, to haue him canonized a saint. But for that the canonizing
of a king séemed to be more costlie than for a bishop, the said king
left off his sute in that behalfe; thinking better to saue his monie,
than to purchase a new holie daie of saint Henrie with so great a
price, remitting to God the iudgement of his will and intent. ¶ But
bicause princes princelie qualified, can not be too highlie praised, I
will here record a collection of his commendable conditions, dooings,
and saiengs, as I find them set downe to my hand, to his perpetuall
renowme; and right worthie of imitation, not onelie of such as are
singled out from among infinite thousands, to be magnified with
roialtie; but also of priuat and meane men that conuerse and liue one
with an other in the world.
This king hauing inioied as great prosperitie as fauourable fortune
could afoord, & as great troubles on the other side as she frowning
could powre out; yet in both the states he was patient and vertuous,
that he maie be a patterne of most perfect vertue, as he was a worthie
example of fortunes inconstancie. He was plaine, vpright, farre from
fraud, wholie giuen to praier, reading of scriptures, and almesdeeds;
of such integritie of life, that the bishop which had béene his
confessour ten yeares, auouched that he had not all that time committed
anie mortall crime: so continent, as suspicion of vnchast life neuer
touched him: and hauing in Christmasse a shew of yoong women with their
bare breasts laid out presented before him, he immediatlie departed
with these words: "Fie, fie, for shame; forsooth you be too blame."
Before his marriage, he liked not that women should enter his chamber,
and for this respect he committed his two brethren by the moothers
side, Iasper and Edmund to most honest & vertuous prelats to be brought
vp. So farre he was from couetousnesse, that when the executors of his
vncle the bishop of Winchester, surnamed the rich cardinall, would haue
giuen him two thousand pounds, he plainelie refused it, willing them
to discharge the will of the departed, and would scarselie condescend
at length to accept the same summe of monie toward the indowing of his
colleges in Cambridge & Eaton. He was religiouslie affected (as the
time then was) that at principall holidaies, he would weare sackecloth
next his skin. Oth he vsed none, but in most earnest matters these
words: Forsooth and forsooth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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