Written by Maister Thomas More then one of the vnder shiriffes of London,about the yeare of our Lord 1513, according to a copie of his owne hand,printed among his other Works.
King Edward the fourth of that name, after that he had liued fiftie & thrée yeeres,seuen moneths, and six daies, and thereof reigned two and twentie yeares, onemoneth, & eight daies, died at Westminster the ninth dale of Aprill, the yeare of ourredemption, a thousand foure hundred fourescore and thrée; leauing much faireissue, that is to wit, Edward the prince, a thirtéene yeares of age, Richard duke ofYorke two yeares yoonger; Elizabeth, whose fortune and grace was after to be quéene,wife vnto king Henrie the seuenth, and mother vnto the eight; Cicilie, not so fortunateas faire; Briget, which representing the vertue of hir, whose name she bare,professed and obserued a religious life in Dertford, an house of close nunnes; Anne,that was after honorablie married vnto Thomas, then lord Howard, and after earle ofSurrie; and Katharine, which long time tossed in either fortune, sometime in wealth,oft in aduersitie, at the last, if this be the last (for[1] yet she liueth) is by the benignitieof hir nephue king Henrie the eight, in verie prosperous estate, and worthie hir birthand vertue.
[1] She liued at such time as this storie was penned.
This noble prince deceassed at his palace of Westminster, and with great funerallhonor and heauinesse of his people from thence conueied, was interred at Windsor. Aking of such gouernance & behauior, in time of peace (for in warre each part mustnéeds be others enimie) that there was neuer anie prince of this land, atteining thecrowne by battell, so heartilie beloued with the substance of the people: nor héehimselfe so speciallie in anie part of his life, as at the time of his death. Whichfauour and affection, yet after his deceasse, by the crueltie, mischiefe, and trouble ofthe tempestuous world that followed, highlie toward him more increased. At suchtime as he died, the displeasure of those that bare him grudge for king Henrie's sakethe sixt, whome he deposed, was well asswaged, & in effect quenched, in that manieof them were dead in more than twentie yeres of his reigne, a great part of a long life:and manie of them in the meane season growne into his fauour, of which he wasneuer strange.
He was a goodlie personage, and princelie to behold, of heart couragious, politikein counsell, in aduersitie nothing abashed, in prosperitie rather ioifull than proud,peace iust and mercifull, in warre sharpe and fierce, in the field bold and hardie, andnathelesse no further (than wisedome would) aduenturous, whose warres who so wellconsidered, he shall no lesse commend his wisedome where he voided, than his manhoodwhere he vanquished. He was of visage louelie, of bodie mightie, strong, andcleane made: howbeit, in his latter daies with ouer liberall diet somewhat corpulent[Pg 361]and boorelie, and nathelesse not vncomelie. He was of youth greatlie giuen to fleshliewantonnesse: from which health of bodie, in great prosperitie and fortune, without aspeciall grace hardl