The King's Artist

Ch 58: Titulus Regius

The news descended upon them as the new year passed and January seeped steadily into February. They currently decided in Vannes, Brittany with four hundred of Henry's supporters. It had taken some time for the news to reach them, but when it did no one was particularly surprised. It was now official. Parliament had passed the act Titulus Regius, which declared Richard the third to be a lawful King. Subsequently, the children of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodsville were deemed illegitimate.

Adelaide couldn't help pitying the young princes who were still missing. No one had seen them in months and Jasper didn't have any informants in the Tower of London, so there was no way of discovering if they were still alive or not. It had her wondering whether or not Richard did have them murdered. Was it even necessary if he was going to pass this act to deem them illegitimate?

But they all knew the real reason why Richard had passed Titulus Regius. It stripped Elizabeth of York of her claim to the throne. He might have hoped it would deter people from supporting her and Henry's marriage, but if anything it added fuel to the fire. Richard's actions only further inflamed the hatred target at him. The people of England may not know Henry, may not even like him, but in comparison to Richard? It no longer mattered who was a York or a Lancaster. They wanted him dead.

The unhappiness of the wealthy and poor alike was growing.

Furthermore, the circle that surrounded and supported Richard was crumbling. Adelaide was with Jasper when he learned about the fate of Henry Stafford, the second Duke of Buckingham. Despite having assisted Richard in taking the throne, the Duke had led a revolt in his name back in October alongside supporters of Edward the Fourth. The uprisings in England and parts of Wales were numerous but ultimately led to defeat. The Duke was executed on November 2nd and Henry had cursed at the loss of an important ally.

The bad news only continued.

Around the time they learned about the declaration of Titulus Regius and the Duke's execution, Richard proceeded to take all of Henry's mother's property and transfer it to her husband, Lord Stanley. It effectively stripped her of whatever control and influence she had been building. Through his anger, Adelaide had only calmed Henry by reminding him that things could have been a lot worse. Margaret Beaufort was lucky. She could have been attainted or executed, and probably should have been considering she was publically supporting her son as the rightful King of England despite being married to a Yorkist. There were also the added charges of her rumored involvement in the Buckingham rebellion as well as her negotiation for Henry's marriage to Elizabeth.

"It's going to be more difficult to communicate with her," Jasper sighed, running a hand over his face. "If I had to guess, I'm assuming Lord Stanley's been instructed by King Richard to keep her from contacting you. It'll probably be harder to reach her in the future, but knowing your mother, she'll keep up her efforts in garnering you support in England."

"We can't worry about your mother at the moment," Hugh Livingston interjected. As always, Henry's advisor was looking sullen and agitated. "She's an important piece to helping you take the throne, but we need more than just her. If we stand a chance at defeating Richard, the number one thing that we need right now is money. We'll need to buy more soldiers. Not to mention weapons and ships."

Henry nodded, his anger cooling into hard concentration and steely resolve.

"Henry, at the moment you have the support of the Duke of Brittany, the Lancastrians, some of the Yorkists who have turned from Richard, and several others," Kayden said with a stern expression. "We should focus on strengthening those alliances before branching out too far."

"That would just delay our efforts," Walter Livingstone said with the same irritation as his father.

"It would ensure that our efforts aren't wasted," snapped Adelaide, annoyed per usual with the Livingstones. "Things are still tenuous between the Lancasters and Yorks who reside with us. The marriage pledge to Elizabeth has helped some matters, but the two families have been at war with one another for a long time. That's not going to go away overnight."