The people of York vied with each other in the loyalty and cordiality of their welcome. Richard III. was a most popular sovereign, and with good reason. Bishop Langton,[6] who accompanied him on this progress, thus wrote: 'He contents the people where he goes best that ever did Prince, for many a poor man that hath suffered wrong many days has been relieved and helped by him and his commands in his progress. And in many great cities and towns were great sums of money given him which he hath refused.[7] On my truth I never liked the conditions of any Prince so well as his. God hath sent him to us for the weal of us all.'[8] On September 8 King Richard and Queen Anne walked in solemn procession with the crowns on their heads, on the occasion of the creation of their son Edward as Prince of Wales.[9] The young Prince, his cousin the Earl of Warwick, and Galfridus de Sasiola, the Spanish Ambassador, were knighted. The royal party left York on the 20th, and proceeded by Gainsborough towards Lincoln, which city was entered on October 12. Suddenly the news reached the King that the Duke of Buckingham had broken out in rebellion. Never {131} was there an act so unprovoked and treacherous. The Duke seems to have been a weak unprincipled man, full of vanity and self-importance, and his worst qualities were worked upon by the insidious old intriguer Morton, who had been entrusted to his custody. Buckingham's ambition was to seize the crown. In accordance with the 'Titulus Regius,' only two persons stood in his way. These were King Richard III. and his delicate little son. The traitor's scheme was to strike them down and seize the coveted prize. The rebellion was carefully planned. All the Lancastrian and Woodville malcontents were invited to join, and there were to have been several simultaneous risings in the south of England, on October 18. On that day Buckingham unfurled his standard at Brecknock, while Dorset and Sir Thomas St. Leger rose in the west; and even the cautious Henry Tudor sailed across from Brittany, but feared to land. His mother, the wife of Stanley, intrigued actively with the Queen Dowager and the Woodville faction.