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884 [884]

K. Edward. 5. Henry Earle of Richmond returneth to England. Bosworth field.

MarginaliaIames Tyrell, Iohn Dyghton, Myles Forest, cruell traytours and murtherers of their prince.rest, to perpetrate this heynous murder. Whiche Dyghton and Forest, about midnight entryng into their chāber, so bewrapped and entangled them amongest the clothes, kepyng downe the fetherbed and pillowes hard vnto their mouthes, MarginaliaThe ii childrē of king Edward murthered.that within a while, they smothered & stifled thē pituosly in their bed. And thus ended these. ij young princes their lyues, through the wretched crueltie of these forenamed tormentors: who for their detestable and bloudy murder committed, escaped not long vnpunished by the iust hand of God. MarginaliaThe iuste punishmēt of God vpō the murderers of the ii. younge princes.For first Miles Forest, at S. Martins le grand, by peecemeale miserably rotted away. Iohn Dighton lyued at Calys long after so disdayned and hated, that he was pointed at of all men, and there died in great misery. Syr Iames Tyrell was beheaded at Tower hill for treason. MarginaliaThe punishmēt of God vpon K. Richard.Also kyng Richard hym self, within a yeare and halfe after, was slayne in the fielde, hacked and hued of his enemies handes, torne and tugged lyke a curre dogge.

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MarginaliaThe punishmēt of God vpon the duke of Buckyngham.Furthermore, the sayd iustice of Gods hand left not the Duke of Buckyngham escape free, whiche was a great mainteyner and setter vp of this butcherly vsurper: for lesse then within a yeare after so God wrought, that he was hym selfe beheaded for treason by the sayd king, whom he so vniustly before had auaunced & set vp.  

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Foxe passes over the events of Richard III's reign between the deaths of the sons of Edward IV and the invasion of Henry VII, most especially Buckingham's rebellion against Richard in the autumn of 1483.

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In the same catalogue and order of these wycked doers afore recited, we haue also to comprehende two other, as wel worthy of memoriall, as the best, or rather as the worst. MarginaliaDoctour Shaw and doct. Pinkie. ii. flattering preachers.The name of the one was doctour Shaw, aboue rehearsed: The other was Doctour Pinkie, prouinciall of the Austen Friers: both famous preachers, & both Doctours in diuinitie: both of more learnyng then vertue (sayeth the story) of more fame thē learnyng, and yet of more learnyng then truth. Shaw made a sermon in the prayse of the Protectour, before hys coronation, Pinkie preached after his coronatiō. Both were so full of tedious flattery, that no good eares could abyde thē. MarginaliaGods iudgment vpon flattering preachers.Pinkie in his sermon so lost his voyce, that he was faine to leaue of, and came downe in the middest. Doctour Shaw by his sermō lost his honesty, and soone after, his lyfe for very shame of the worlde, so that he durst neuer after that, shew his face agayne. But as for the Frier, he was so farre past shame, that the losse therof did litle touche hym.

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MarginaliaThe first motion of ioyning the two houses, Yorke and Lancaster together.Mention was made a litle before, of Doctour Morton Byshop of Elye, by whose meanes the deuise was first broched for the conioyning the. ij. houses of Yorke and Lancaster together. This deuise was first broken to the Duke of Buckyngham, whiche soone after coste hym his lyfe. But the Byshop more crafty to saue hym selfe, incontinēt fled into Britayne. Notwithstandyng, the deuise once beyng broched, was so plausible & tooke such effect, that message was sent ouer the sea to Henry Earle of Richmond, by his mother and by the Quene, mother to þe Lady Elizabeth, þt if he would make his returne, & promise to mary wt the said Lady Elizabeth K. Edwardes daughter, he should be receaued. To make a longer discourse of this mater, which is sufficiently set forth by Syr Thomas More so ornatelye, it nedeth not.

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Brieflye (to contracte that in a small compasse of woordes, whiche was not so small a thyng in doing) after that  

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From here until the defeat and death of Richard III at Market Bosworth, Foxe's account is based on Polydore Vergil, Anglica historia (Isengrim, 1555), pp. 553-65.

the Earle Henry, with such other banished men, as fled out of England at the takyng of the Duke of Buckyngham, had perfect intelligence by hys mother and by the Quene, and other frēdes moe out of Englād, how the case of the realme stode, & how it was here purposed by his frendes, þt is, that he should withall conuenient speade, hast his returne ouer into England, promising to mary with Lady Elizabeth: MarginaliaEarle Henry maketh preparatiō toward his iourney.he with all diligēce as tyme and preparation would serue, auaunced forward his iorney, beyng well helped and furnished by Fraunces Duke of Brytayne, and so shipped his men. Albeit his first viage spedde not, for that the wyndes turning contrary: by force of weather his shippes were dissparcled, & he repulsed backe into Fraūce agayn. His second viage was more prosperous. Who takyng þe seas at Harflet, in þe moneth of August. an. 1485. accompanied onely with. ij. thousād men, and a small number of shippes, MarginaliaThe aryuing of Henry Earle of Richmond in Wales.aryued at Milford Hauen in Wales, and first came to Dale, then to Harford West, where he was ioyfully receaued, and also by the commyng in of Arnold Butler and the Penbroke mē, was in power encreased. From thence he remoued by Cardygan to Shrewsbery, and then to Newport, and so to Stafford, from thēce to Lychefield, his army still more and more augmented. Lyke as a great floode by cōmyng in of many small riuers, gathereth more aboundance of water: so to this Earle diuers noble Captaines and men of power adioyned them selues, as Richarde Griffith, Iohn Morgan. Rice ap Thomas, the Syr George Talbot, with the yong Earle of Shrewsbery his ward, Syr Williā Stāley, Syr Tho. Burchier, and Syr Walter Hungerford, knyghtes. At last the sayd Earle hearyng of the kynges comming, conducted his whole armye to Tomworth.

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MarginaliaKyng Richard gathereth hys power to encounter with Earle Henry.Kyng Richard first hearyng of the arriuall of the Earle Henry in the partes of Wales after such a slender sorte, did geue litle or no regarde vnto it. But after, vnderstandyng that he was come to Lychfield, without resistaunce or encombraunce, hee was sore moued and exceadyngly tooke on, cursing and cryeng out agaynst thē which had so deceaued him, & in all post speede, sent for Iohn duke of Northfolke, Henry Earle of Northūberlād, Thomas Earle of Surrey, wt other his frendes of speciall trust, Robert Brakenbury also lieutenaunt of the tower was sent for, with Sir Thomas Burchier, & Sir Walter Hungerford, with other certain knights and Esquiers, of whom hee partly misdoubted, or had some suspicious gelousie. Thus K. Richard, after most forceable maner well fortefied and accōpanied, leauyng nothing vndone þt diligēce could require, set forward toward his enemies. The earle by this time was come to Tomworth, to whō secretly in the euening resorted Syr Iohn Sauage, sir Bryan Sanford, sir Simon Digby, and many other, forsakyng the part of kyng Richard, whom all good men then hated, as he no otherwise deserued. MarginaliaKyng Richard taketh the field of Bosworth.The kyng hauyng perfecte knowledge the Earle to be encamped at Tomworth, embatled him selfe in a place nere to a village called Bosworth, not farre from Leicester, appointing there to encoūter with his aduersaries. Here þe matter lay in great doubt & suspense concernyng the Lord Stāley MarginaliaThis Lord Stāley was hee whiche was hurt at the tower when the L. Hastynges was arrested. vide. pag. 861.(whiche was þe Earles father in law & had maried his mother) to what part he would encline. For although his hart went (no doubt) with the Earle, and had secret conferēce wt him the night before, yet because of his sonne & heire George Lord Straūge, beyng then in the handes of kynge Richarde, least the kyng shoulde attempt any preiudiciall thyng agaynste hym, durst not be sene openly to go that way, where in hart he fauoured, and therfore closely kept him selfe betwene both, till the pushe came that his helpe myght serue at a pynche.

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The nūber of the Earles part exceded not to the one halfe of the side of kyng Richard. MarginaliaBosworth fieldWhen the tyme, and the place was appointed where these. ij. battails should encounter and ioyne together, sore strypes and great blowes were geuen on both sides, and many slayne. If noumber and multitude might gouerne the successe of battaile, kyng Richarde had double to the Earle. But God is he, not mā, that geueth victory, by what meanes it semeth to his diuine prouidence best. MarginaliaThe hystory of Syr Thomas More, woorde for worde takē out of Polodo. Verg.In what order and by what occasion this fielde was wonne and lost, þe certeine intelligence wee haue not certeynely expressed, but onely by the history of Polydore Vergile, whom Syr Thomas More doth folow word for word.  

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This would seem to indicate that Foxe was using the Latin edition of Thomas More's works, which was printed at Louvain in 1565, as this edition supplemented More's history of Richard III - which ended, incomplete, in 1483 - with Polydore Vergil's account.

In the which hystory it doth appeare, that as these two armyes were

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