Richard III: His Life & Character, Reviewed in the Light of Recent ResearchMarkham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
History
Richard III: His Life & Character, Reviewed in the Light of Recent Research
Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
Great Britain -- Kings and rulers -- Biography; Richard III, King of England, 1452-1485
Edmund, who was created Duke of York by his nephew Richard II., rebuilt
the castle and founded a college hard by. Fotheringhay was surrounded
by a double moat with drawbridges, the river Nen serving as the outer
moat on the south side, and the Mill Brook, {2} flowing between the
castle yard and the little park, to the east. The walls were of stone,
and the great gate in the north front was adorned with the arms of
England, as differenced for Edmund of Langley, impaling the arms of
Castille and Leon.[2] The keep, built in the shape of a fetterlock,
was on a mount in the north-west angle of the castle; and below there
was a great courtyard surrounded by stately buildings, a chapel, and
'very fair lodgings,' as Leland tells us. The great hall was seventy
feet long, with a deep oriel window at one end.[3]
Here dwelt Edmund the first Duke of York, his son Edward the second
Duke, who fell at Agincourt, and his grandson Richard, the third Duke.
Edmund projected the foundation of a college near the parish church, to
consist of a master, eight clerks, and thirteen choristers. He
commenced the choir, while his son and grandson completed and richly
endowed this religious house. The church was a fine specimen of the
Perpendicular architecture of the time, and the cloisters had numerous
windows filled with stained glass.
The third Duke of York resided at Fotheringhay during part of every
year when he was in England, {3} with his beautiful wife the Lady
Cicely Nevill, the 'Rose of Raby,' and their troop of fair children.
But he also held vast estates elsewhere. In Yorkshire the castles of
Sandal and Conisborough were part of his paternal inheritance. On the
Welsh borders he had succeeded to all the possessions of the Mortimers,
including Ludlow and Wigmore. For his mother was the heiress of Edmund
Mortimer, Earl of March, and also of Lionel Duke of Clarence, the
second surviving son of King Edward III. Baynard's Castle, in the City
of London, was the Duke's town house.
The 'Rose of Raby' bore her husband twelve children, and they came of a
right noble English stock. In their veins flowed the blood of
Plantagenet and Holland, Mortimer and FitzAlan, Nevill and Percy,
Clifford and Audley. Five of these fair branches died in infancy.
Ann, the eldest of those who survived early childhood, was born at
Fotheringhay in 1439. The three next, Edward, Edmund and Elizabeth,
first saw the light at Rouen, when their father was making a last
gallant stand for English dominion in France, from 1442 to 1444.
Margaret was born at Fotheringhay. The Duke and Duchess were ruling in
Ireland when George was born at Dublin Castle. The three last births
were at Fotheringhay, but of these only Richard, the eleventh child,
survived infancy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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