Itinerary King Richard III June 1483Rhoda Edwards
Oliver King's signature (Edward V's secretary) appears on a surviving Signet writ for the last time on 9th June (PRO PSO/l/56/2848) A Woodville conspiracy was known to Richard by 9th-10th June, in which Oliver King was involved, (he was probably arrested with Hastings, Morton and Rotherham at the fateful council meeting of 13th June. )
It appears that Richard's stay at Crosby's Place when he first arrived in London was brief and that he adopted the greater convenience (easy trans¬port to Westminster and the Tower by barge) of Baynard's Castle, which belonged to his mother. As to the question of Richard's imputation that Edward IV had been a bastard, and his mother, necessarily, an adulteress, a stay at Baynard's Castle means little. If the Duchess of York had been present in London herself, it is unlikely that she and her son could have lived under one roof in these circumstances. However, she was almost certainly not there. Her last recorded public appearance seems to have been the baptism of her grand-daughter, Bridget, in 1482, and she had lived for years largely at Berkhamsted, (she was certainly there in September, 1485, and Richard went to Berkhamsted probably in order to see her in May of that year.) She seems not to have attended Richard's coronation, but whether this was because she disapproved of it, or because of her increasing withdrawal into religious life (she had been granted confraternity of the Benedictines in 1480), we cannot know.
It is perhaps worth noting that the accession of King Richard took place in the week of London's own special public holidays, St. John's Eve being 23rd June and the feast of SS Peter and Paul 29th June. The City militia marched through the streets, and crowds milled about. For this reason, surely, the King's northern soldiers were kept out of the city until the celebrations were over. The appearance of strange soldiers when the London Watch was marching and citizens feasting in the streets, the wine flowing and the bonfires lit, might well have set off a grand scale riot.
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| | June - 1483 | |
| 1/6/1483 | Sunday | |
| 2/6/1483 | Tower of London | Harl 433 Vol 3 p9 PRO PSO 1/56/2847 |
| 3/6/1483 | | |
| 4/6/1483 | | |
| 5/6/1483 | | |
| 6/6/1483 | Tower of London | Harl 433 Vol 3 p19 |
| 7/6/1483 | | |
| 8/6/1483 | Sunday Tower of London | Harl 433 Vol 3 p16 |
| 9/6/1483 | Tower of London | PRO PSO 1/56/2848 |
| 10/6/1483 | | |
| 11/6/1483 | | |
| 12/6/1483 | | |
| 13/6/1483 | | |
| 14/6/1483 | | |
| 15/6/1483 | Sunday | |
| 16/6/1483 | | |
| 17/6/1483 | | |
| 18/6/1483 | | |
| 19/6/1483 | | |
| 20/6/1483 | | |
| 21/6/1483 | | |
| 22/6/1483 | Sunday | |
| 23/6/1483 | | |
| 24/6/1483 | Midsummer Day, 'B' and Nativity of St. John the Baptist | |
| 25/6/1483 | | |
| | Reign of Richard III Begins | |
| 26/6/1483 | City of London and Westminster.King went to Westminster Hall and took his seat in King's Bench. Then went to St.Paul's. | Harl 433 Vol 3 p29 CPR, p360 |
| 27/6/1483 | City of London, Baynard's Castle. Great Seal handed to Bishop of Lincoln by King at 3 p.m. in a room in the chapel at Baynards Castle | CCR, No 1170 |
| 28/6/1483 | City of London. King probably still at Baynards Castle | Harl 433 Vol 3 pp21,31 PRO C81/886/1-3 |
| 29/6/1483 | Sunday - SS Peter and Paul 'A' in London City of London | PRO C81/886/4-5 |
| 30/6/1483 | City of London | PRO C81/886/6A |