open. The western windows were ornamented with the rose, the white hart, the fetterlock, and the lion. 'The whole,' says Stukeley, 'were saved during the Civil War by the minister of the parish, who bribed the soldiers to preserve them.' Many of these figures were perfect in the year 1787, but at present not a window retains its former beauty. In 1817, when the canopy of the pulpit was under repair, some of the ancient gilding was discovered. At the back is a shield of arms, bearing France and England quarterly, supported on the dexter side by a lion rampant guardant, for the earldom of March, and a bull for Clare; on the sinister by a hart, showing descent from Richard II., who took that device; and by a boar for the honour of Windsor, possessed by Richard III. Gray, alluding to the murder of the princes, characterizes Richard by this badge: 'The bristled bore, in infant gore, It should be mentioned that the device of the fetterlock remained in most of the windows of the church till the year 1807; and it is retained to this day upon the point of the flag-pole on the lantern-tower. 'The Church of Fotheringhay,' says Mr. Richard Brooke, who visited the site in 1857 and 1858, 'must once have been a magnificent edifice; but at present, all that remains of it is the nave with its side aisles, and the tower, which are very beautiful. The nave is now used for divine service. The church contains a very handsome and large stone font, apparently of the early part of the fifteenth century, which is not only an object of interest from its beauty, but, as King Richard III. was born at Fotheringhay on October 2, 1452 (see William of Wyrcester), it is only a reasonable inference that he was baptized at that font' (Notes and Queries, 2d S. vi.). Resuming our history of the castle at the death of Edmund, who had been successively created Earl of Cambridge and Duke of York, the fortress descended to his son Edward Earl of Rutland, who succeeded also to his father's honours. But on his falling in the battle of Agincourt, and dying without issue, the castle and lordship descended to his nephew Richard, the son of his brother Richard Earl of Cambridge, who was beheaded in the third year of Henry v., for conspiring against that king. Fotheringhay thus became the residence of the House of York, and the birthplace of Richard III. : 'Lo! on that mound, in days of feudal pride, Thy tow'ring castle frown'd above the tide; Flung wide her gates, where troops of vassals met With awe the brow of high Plantaganet. But, ah! what chiefs in sable vest appear! What bright achievements mark yon warrior's bier! They bear the fallen hero o'er the main ; The hero of Agincourt left minute directions for his funeral, ordering his body to be buried in the church of Fotheringhay, in the midst of the choir, near the steps, under a flat marble. His remains were accordingly brought over to England and carried to Westminster, and thence to Fotheringhay, where, on December 1, 1415, they were interred. The tomb is described by Leland, who saw it, 'as a flat marble stone, and upon it was his image flat in brass.' Richard III. was the eleventh child of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and nearest of kin to Edward III., the common ancestor of all the royal houses which have, since his death, reigned in Great Britain. His mother was also of royal blood, being the daughter of Ralph Neville, who had married Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt. From his earliest childhood at Fotheringhay he was bred up amidst the violence and confusion of civil war, and was only seven years old when, with his mother, he was imprisoned by Henry VI. ; and one of his earliest recollections must have been his father's death in the battle of Wakefield. Although Shakspeare assigns him a prominent part in this battle, where his father the Duke of York was taken and put to death after exclaiming, 'Three times did Richard make a line to me, And thrice cried, Courage, father, fight it out,' Richard was then only in his ninth year. His father's body was first interred at Pontefract, but afterwards removed, with that of his son Edmund Earl of Rutland, in great pomp, to Fotheringhay. On July 22, 1466, their remains were put into a chariot covered with black velvet, richly wrapped in cloth of gold and royal habit. At the feet of the Duke stood the figure of an angel clothed in white, and bearing a crown of gold, to signify that of right he was a king. The chariot was drawn by seven horses, trapped to the ground, and covered with black, charged with escutcheons of that prince's arms. Every horse carried a man, and upon the foremost rode Sir John Skipwith, who bore the Duke's banner displayed. The bishops and abbots in their robes went two or three miles before, to prepare the reception of the remains. Richard Duke of Gloucester followed next after the chariot, accompanied by several of the nobility and officers of arms. In this order they left Pontefract, and that night rested at Doncaster, where they were received by the convent of Cordeliers in grey habit. Thence, by easy stages, they proceeded to Blithe, Tuxfordin-the-Clay, Newark, Grantham, and Stamford; and on Monday, July 29, the procession reached Fotheringhay, where the bodies were received by several bishops and abbots in their robes, and supported by twelve servants of the deceased. At the entrance of the churchyard, King Edward IV., accompanied by several dukes, earls, and barons, in mourning, were in attendance, and proceeded to the choir of the church, near the high altar, where was a hearse covered with black, furnished with banners and other insignia. Upon this hearse were placed the remains of the Duke 1 and his son Edmund. The queen 1 and her two daughters were also present in mourning, attended by ladies and others. Over the image was a cloth of majesty and black sarcenet, with the figure of our Lord, sitting on a rainbow, of beaten gold; it had in every corner an escutcheon of the arms of France and England quarterly, with a valence round the hearse, fringed half a yard deep, and ornamented with three angels of beaten gold, holding the Duke's arms within a garter, in every part above the hearse. Upon the morrow, the 30th, several masses were said; and at the offertory of the mass of requiem, the king offered for the prince his father; and the queen, her two daughters, and the Duchess (Countess) of Richmond, offered afterwards. Then Norroy King-of-arms offered the prince's coat-of-arms; March King-of-arms the target; Ireland King-of-arms the sword; Windsor herald of England, and Ravendor herald of Scotland, offered the helmet; and M. de Ferreys, the harness and courser : 'So sumptuous, yet so perishing withal! A thousand mourners deck the pomp of death: In silence and in darkness seize their prey.' Edward Earl of March, afterwards Edward Iv., succeeded his father both in the honours of his house and the 1 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Woodville, and widow of Sir John Gray, Kent, who was killed in the battle of St. Albans. |