The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean (электронную книгу бесплатно без регистрации .txt) 📗

'Henry Tudor is working in Brittany. He could do a great deal. He would have the Welsh with him.'

Buckingham was silent. Henry Tudor was a claimant to the throne.

'It is a pity that you are married, my lord,' said the Bishop.

'Aye. Married to a Woodville . . . forced into it when I was a child. 1 have never forgiven the Woodvilles for that.'

'Nay. That is one thing we shall have to be careful of. We don't want the Woodvilles back in power. I was going to say that if you were not married and could marry the late King's daughter . . . that would please a great number of people. There are still some who crave for the old days and even if he did foist his bastards on the nation people still admire King Edward the Fourth.'

'You mean that if I were unmarried and married Elizabeth of York it would be a sop to the Yorkists?'

'I mean that exactly, my lord.'

There was silence and after a few moments, speaking slowly

and carefully, Morton said: 'Henry Tudor plans to marry Elizabeth of York.'

Buckingham was thoughtful.

After a while the idea began to take form. It was true that his claim to the throne was slight. He could not really see himself being accepted. But this Henry Tudor . . . //he married Elizabeth of York then he would unite the houses of York and Lancaster. That was something which would win the applause of the people. They would see in such a marriage a real end to the Wars of the Roses for although there had been no battles for a number of years the rival factions were shll there. There would always be Lancastrians ready to stand against Yorkists until the houses were united.

Buckingham began to see a great deal of hope in the plan. It would ruin Richard and that was what he wanted.

He wanted Richard deposed and dead; and he began to see that the best hope of bringing that about was to support the Tudor.

Very soon his enthusiasms were won over. It was a superb piece of diplomacy on Morton's part. He could be thankful for his imprisonment which had brought him to Brecknock. This was the beginning of his power. He was going to put Henry Tudor on the throne and win his eternal gratitude.

Ambition had brought him to the Church not religion, for the Church offered opportunities to a man who had great ability and few influential relatives.

And now he had been given this great opportunity. He arranged a meeting between Buckingham and Margaret Beaufort who was delighted to have Buckingham on their side. This was a great breakthrough and Buckingham's help could be decisive. She told him that her son was lying in wait until the moment was ripe. He was leading a very precarious existence on the Continent. Francis Duke of Brittany had been his friend but Francis was now in his dotage and was eager to be on good terms with Richard the Third.

'Francis would have given up my son had Richard sent his men to take him, but good Bishop Morton warned him in time and Henry escaped with his uncle Jasper who has been his constant companion for so many years. He brought him up. We could never have survived without Jasper. But my son Henry is coming back and he will rule this land, I promise you. It will not be long . . . .'

'Amen/ said Buckingham, now one of Henry Tudor's fiercest supporters.

'We have good friends/ said Margaret, 'and Bishop Morton is one of the chief among them. He has brought us you, my lord, and now that you are with us that brings victory very close.'

Buckingham was flattered and eager. He wanted to go into action. There should be no delay.

There were more talks with Morton.

One day Buckingham said: 'Henry Tudor when he has defeated Richard of Gloucester in battle will marry Elizabeth of York. Will it be meet and fitting for a King of England to marry a proclaimed bastard?'

'No,' said Morton. 'It will not.'

'In that case if Elizabeth is not a bastard then neither are her brothers.'

'You speak truth,' said Morton, and hesitated wondering whether to tell the Duke the plan which had been forming in his mind for some time.

'If Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York it would have to be that she was the heiress to the throne in the eyes of those who did not accept the Stillington story.' V 'How could she be while her two brothers lived?'

There was another pause. Then Morton said slowly: 'It could only be after her two brothers were dead.'

'Dead! The elder—King Edward the Fifth, is something of a weakling I beheve. But even if he died there is his brother the Duke of York.'

'When Henry gained the throne they would have to be removed . . . /

'Removed!'

'There is no need to go into details. The position has not arrived just yet. The Houses of York and Lancaster must be united as they would be by Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth must be seen to be the true heiress of York and Henry of Lancaster. Of course if the Princes are alive . . . they would be heirs. Edward first and if he had no children—^and we know he is too young for that—there is Richard, Duke of York. Only if they are removed and Elizabeth proved to be legitimate can she be the heiress to the throne. Henry on one side for Lancaster, Elizabeth on the other for York. It would be the perfect unity.'

'But there are the Princes . . . /

'My lord, sometimes it is necessary to take certain action.'

'You mean that if Henry Tudor landed here and defeated Richard, killed him in battle, that hme would come.'

'You see that it is so, my lord.'

'I see it is so. I see that King Henry Tudor could not marry a bastard, therefore Elizabeth must be legitimate. I see that she can only be heiress to the throne if her brothers are dead.'

'Then you see my point exactly.'

'But the children . . . those two boys in the Tower.'

'The time is not yet ripe. We should not consider that yet. Rest assured it will be taken care of when the time comes.'

'What will the people say of a King who murders children?'

'They will say nothing for they will not know. My lord Buckingham I am talking of things which may never come to pass, but we know you and I that it is sometimes necessary to take actions which are obnoxious to us. But if they are performed for the good of the greater number of people they are acceptable in God's eyes. What this country needs is the unity of York and Lancaster, an end to the conflict which will never really cease until this comes about. The unity of York and Lancaster can be brought about by the marriage of Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York.'

'That I understand but . . . .'

'You concern yourself with the children. It is a minor matter. It may not be. It cannot be until Henry Tudor lands on this island and proclaims himself King and Elizabeth of York his Queen. Thank God she is in Sanctuary and no husband has been found for her. No husband must be found until Henry Tudor comes.'

Buckingham was thoughtful, and the Bishop said no more that day.

Later he told the Duke that if the Princes were removed the blame must be attached to their Uncle Richard.

'On what grounds?' asked Buckingham.

'That he fears them.'

'Why should he? The people accept their bastardy. They have therefore no claim to the throne and Richard is the true heir.'

'That is true. But we must ensure the peaceful reign of the new King. It will never be so if people blame him for removing the Princes.'

'But you say they must... be removed.'

They will be a menace to him because he must in marrying their sister, accept their legitimacy.'

'Exactly, and they provide no threat to Richard who does accept their bastardy.'

'People forget. There are ways of dealing with these matters. If you tell the people something constantly and forcibly enough in time they believe it. I propose to begin now. I am setting some of my servants to whisper in the shops and the streets and the taverns . . . not only here but all over the country and particularly in London. I am going to tell them to spread the rumour that the Princes have been murdered in the Tower.'