Whilst the remains of the Duke of York and his son rested in the Greyfriars church in Stamford preparations for their reception, and that of the Royal family and other noble mourners, together with many more ecclesiastics, were no doubt gathering apace a few miles down the road at Fotheringhay.
The castle at Fotheringhay had been given to the first Duke, Edmund of Langley, who was still only Earl of Buckingham, by his father King Edward III in 1377. When Duke Edmund died in 1402 he was buried at his birthplace of King’s Langley, but his son, Duke Edward, who was killed at Agincourt in 1415 after a politically adventurous life, was buried at Fotheringhay in the collegiate church he had founded in 1411, and in whose construction Duke Richard had been a prime mover from 1434, just after he came of age and was in charge of his estates.
A reconstruction of Fotheringhay Castle
The collegiate church can be seen in the background
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Reconstruction of the entrance to Fotheringhay Castle
Image: englandexplore.com
At Fotheringhay awaiting the procession were King Edward IV, Queen Elizabeth, some at least of their daughters, the King’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, their brother-in-law the politically ineffectual John, Duke of Suffolk, who was married to their sister Elizabeth, bd their eldest son the Earl of Lincoln.
The effigies of the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk on their tomb in Wingield church in Suffolk
Image: the historyjar.com
Their eldest sister Anne, Duchess of Exeter, had died earlier in the year and their youngest sister Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy does not appear in the record. Their mother Cecily Duchess of York does not appear to have been present.
Also present were the Queen’s son from her first marriage, the Marquess of Dorset, and her eldest brother, Earl Rivers.
Anthony, Earl Rivers
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Duke Richard’s brother-in-law the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Kent were also present. Essex was descended from King Edward III and his siblings married well or, the case of his brother Thomas Bourchier, became Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Essex Kent owed his earldom to King Edward, and his son was to marry one of Queen Elizabeth’s sisters.
Also present were King Edward’s close friend and Chamberlain Lord Hastings, Lord Dacre of the South, the Queen’s Chamberlain, and Lord Audley. These peers were basically, or had become, staunch supporters of the house of York, but not a few had fathers who had fought for the Lancastrians. The regime might look impressive on occasions like this, but it lacked depth.
In addition to the bishops and abbots who had journeyed from Pontefract there now gathered at Fotheringhay the diocesan bishop and Chancellor of the realm, Bishop Thomas Rotherham of Lincoln.
The Bishop of Ely, William Grey, was a scholar and a peacemaker, and the son of Sir Thomas Grey who had been a co-conspirator with Duke Richard’s father, the Earl of Cambridge in the Southampton Plot of 1415, which cost them both their heads.
The Bishop of Norwich, James Goldwell, had served as secretary to the King, and as a diplomat at the Holy See and in negotiations with Denmark and France, before becoming a bishop in 1472. He was notable as a benefactor, including completing rebuilding the spire and adding the presbytery vault in Norwich cathedral following a fire in 1463.
The Bishop of Salisbury, Richard Beauchamp had started his episcopal career in 1448-9 under King Henry VI but was now closely associated with the King’s project to rebuild St George’s Chapel at Windsor
King Edward IV and Bishop Richard Beauchamp kneel before the Cros Gneth, which was kept at Windsor.
A boss in the south choir aisle of St George’s Chapel
Image: The Review
Bishop Edward Story of Carlisle was Queen Elizabeth’s confessor and was later to be translated to Chichester
The effigy of Bishop Edward Story
in Chichester Cathedral
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Bishop Richard Redman of St Asaph was a distinguished Premonstratensian who was to be translated to the much more prestigious sees of Exeter and Ely under King Henry VII.
Meanwhile as these dignitaries, and their travelling households, arrived and were given accommodation at the castle, in the inns in Fotheringhay, or in temporary accommodation, elsewhere the royal kitchen staff were doubtless already well advanced in preparing the funeral feast. They would have a lot of mouths to feed.
That's a large crowd of dignitaries, not to mention lesser nobles, clergymen and retainers.
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