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Hastings’ execution ‘As on Fryday last was the lord Chamberleyn hedded sone upone noon’ that caused much of the trouble about dates.
    Stallworth further reported that the Duke of York had emerged from sanctuary, so we may also assume that the first part of the letter was written either late on or after Monday 16th. Of this event he reports that a ‘gret plenty of harnest men’ accompanied the cardinal, the Lord Chancellor and the Duke of Buckingham, who received the young prince and accompanied him to Westminster Hall, where Richard received him ‘at the Starre Chamber Dore with many lovynge wordys.’ Following the greetings, the young prince was accompanied by the Cardinal to the Tower of London, where Stallworth reported that he was ‘blesid be Jhesus, mery.’ It appeared to Stallworth that Lord Lisle, the queen’s brother-inlaw, ‘is come to my lord protectour, and awaits upon him,’ suggesting some degree of rapprochement on behalf of the former. 65 Stallworth then went on to speculate about the rumour that 20,000 of Gloucester’s and Buckingham’s men would soon be in the capital, presuming their role would be to keep peace and order. He noted that the allegiance of those formerly under the lordship of Hastings had now transferred to Buckingham. Stallworth reported on the fate of the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, Oliver King, John Forster and Jane Shore, speculating on their eventual fate and current circumstances. He excused himself at the end of the letter, noting that his illness was such that ‘I may not wel holde my penne.’
    This and other sources 66 suggest that from 16 June onward, after securing the young Richard, Duke of York, the behaviour of the Protector began to change. For example, Kendall suggested that Richard ceased to wear mourning clothes and started to wear purple, which is an evident sign of royalty. Also, he was seen riding through the city with a train of lords and attendants and dividing his time between Baynard’s Castle and Crosby Place. Further, Kendall asserted that Richard now started to talk openly about Stillington’s ‘revelation’ concerning Edward IV’s alleged marriage pre-contract with Eleanor Butler before he married Elizabeth Woodville. 67 This change in behaviour is helpful in narrowing the window in which the actions of Richard, Duke of Gloucester seem to deviate from an expected course of events leading to Edward V’s coronation and to his own eventual ascension as king. As we work toward a conclusion of the present sequence, it appears that the critical weekend period is from Friday 13 to Monday 16 June, and Stallworth’s letter is a key piece of evidence for this proposition. As such, it is reproduced in full in the Appendix I. As Kendall concludes, ‘When Stallworthe wrote his agitated letter on Saturday [21 June], Richard had come to his fateful decision.’ In respect of Kendall’s conclusion here, I thoroughly concur.
Sunday 22 June 1483
     
    To the Ricardian scholar, the events which followed on from this crucial interval are vital in order to understand the way in which Richard claimed the throne. 68 However, for my present purposes, I shall only give a brief synopsis of these events, 69 since I believe that Richard’s critical decision to assume the throne had been taken nine days earlier. What now plays out is the fulfillment of that fundamental decision. It was on this Sunday that the brother of the Mayor of London, 70 Ralph Shaa (Shaw) preached a sermon at St Paul’s Cross on the theme that ‘bastard slips shall not take root.’ 71 It was clearly and explicitly directed at the sons of Edward IV, and would have certainly been appreciated by his audience as such. Mancini indicates that it was one of a number of such public announcements. 72 This being so, it must have been part of a concerted effort to lay the groundwork for Richard’s taking of the throne. If Mancini is correct, then such a strategy would have required some form