Traitors of the Tower by Alison Weir Page A

council who were wary of Gloucester’s cunning.
    Soon after arriving in London, Gloucester was in complete control of the young King and the country. He got rid of the Queen’s friends on the council, and sent Edward V to live in the palace in the Tower of London. The Tower was not yet known as a prison. Edward IV had held court there many times, and it was usual for a king to spend the days before his crowning at the Tower.
    Hastings was pleased to see Gloucester in charge, and keen to do all he could for him. He showed much joy at this ‘new world’, which had been won without one drop of blood being shed.
    But Gloucester knew he would never be safe. The young King was his mother’s son, and it would only be a matter of time before he turned on his uncle. For his own safety, Gloucester had to make a bid for the throne itself. Some people thought he had plotted that all along.
    Hastings was now part of Edward V’s small court in the Tower, helping the boy to learn how to rule. It was perhaps at this time that the young King gave him the fine book known as ‘The Hastings Hours’, which is now in the British Library in London. Gloucester kept Hastings in the important positions he had held under Edward IV, but there was no reward for helping him gain power. Gloucester ‘loved him well’, but he liked and trusted Buckingham more. He knew that Hastings was deeply loyal to Edward V, and would block any move to depose him. In Gloucester’s mind Hastings was now an enemy.
    On the face of it, all seemed well. Hastings had no reason to doubt Gloucester. But Lord Stanley, who did not trust Gloucester, warned him to be careful. Then Buckingham sounded out Hastings on how he would act if Gloucester claimed the throne. Hastings used ‘terrible words’, saying he would accept him as Protector for Edward V, but never as king – and sealed his own doom.
    Hastings was alarmed to learn that Gloucester was aiming for the crown. He may have warned Edward V of what was afoot. He sought help from other lords of the council. He spoke of seizing the King by force and removing Gloucester. He even tried to gain the support of the Queen, though she had no power to help. But before Hastings could act, Gloucester found out what was going on. He chose to believe that Hastings was plotting his death. He needed to make a case for getting rid of this upright man who stood in his way. As one writer put it, he ‘rushed headlong into crime’.
    On 10 June 1483, Gloucester wrote to powerful people in the city of York asking for aid against the Queen’s family and friends. There can be no doubt that he was thinking of Hastings. He added that these people ‘daily do intend to murder and destroy us and the old royal blood of this realm’. He then sent orders for Rivers and Grey to be put to death, ‘so as to leave no danger to himself from any quarter’.
    Three days later, Hastings was among those called by Gloucester to a council meeting in the Tower of London. They thought they had been brought there to discuss the crowning of Edward V. Gloucester arrived smiling, and chatted with the lords in a friendly manner. After asking the Bishop of Ely to send him some fruit from his garden, he left them to debate state matters. But he had laid his plans with care and cunning.
    An hour or so later, Gloucester came back, in an angry mood. He was ‘frowning, fretting and biting his lips’. He sat silent for a while, then glared at Hastings.
    ‘What do men deserve for plotting the death of me?’ he asked. Hastings said that if they had done such a wicked thing, they were worthy of just punishment.
    ‘If?’ cried Gloucester in a fury, rising to his feet. ‘I tell you, they have done it, and I will make good upon your body, traitor!’ He then accused four other men in the room of being traitors to him, even though crimes against a lord protector were not in fact treason. He said they had plotted with the Queen against his rule and his life. A later