roses with thorns

Walsingham singles out for particular criticism the relationship between the king and Robert de Vere, dropping hints about the inappropriately familiar status enjoyed by the duke. We see such a campaign of innuendo at work in the description of Richard's behaviour at de Vere's funeral, where Walsingham claims that Richard ordered de Vere's casket opened so that be could look once more at his friend's face and stroke his bejewelled fingers before the body was buried [...] More pointedly political criticism comes when Walsingham claims that, by creating de Vere Duke of Ireland, Richard shared the lordship of the realm with him," To achieve this special status, Walsingham asserts, de Vere (like Alice Perrers with respect to Edward III) used magic to influence the king. Using magic to insinuate one's way into the role of an intimate councillor is a form of accroaching the royal power, and certainly the charge of employing witchcraft adds to de Vere's status as an improper or illicit adviser. But as was also true in the case of Alice Perrers with respect to Edward III, here witchcraft is invoked to emphasize unnatural sexual power. For, in addition to sharing the lordship, Robert de Vere and Richard II were said by Walsingham to have shared an 'obscene intimacy' ('familiaritatis obscenae'),''