In October 1483, Richard III`s first royal progress was abruptly ended by news that there was a rebellion brewing, which found encouragement especially in the southern part of England and which involved (one of) his most important supporter(s), his first cousin once removed, Harry, Duke of Buckingham.
The king`s reaction to his cousin`s betrayal has been amply discussed elsewhere, as have the duke`s possible reasons for his actions. There is no consensus on the latter, though it is mostly accepted that greed of some sort played a part, while the former is more clear. King Richard was obviously shaken and personally insulted by the duke turning traitor, and a postscript written in his own hand on a letter to the Bishop of Lincoln, he labeled Buckingham as "the most untrue creature living" and complained that "there was never false traitor better purveyed for".
However, emotional though he seems to have been, this did not prevent Richard at all from making arrangements to stifle the rebellion, which eventually saw it ended without fighting. Already in the postscript mentioned above, written on 12th October Richard mentioned that "[h]ere, loved be God, is all well and truly determined, and for to resist the malice of him that had best cause to be true, the Duke of Buckingham", and the arrangements he made support his words. He gave orders for the protection of London, among others, to John Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
Francis, too, was given orders to help crush the rebellion. Unlike Howard, he was still with Richard when the news of the rebellion came, which must have been around the time the king left Pontefract for Lincoln on 8th October. By 10th October, Howard was notified of it and wrote a letter pertaining to it to John Paston. A day later - a day before the king penned his emotional letter to the Bishop of Lincoln - still in Richard`s company, Francis was issuing orders to raise men to fight for him. Perhaps already somewhat wary of his alliance, he implored his Oxfordshire neighbour William Stonor to meet him in Banbury on 18th October together with his men, so they could meet up with Richard in Leicester two days later, on 20th October.
It is not known when he and Richard learnt of Stonor`s deflection to the rebels` side, but if it was before the assigned day of meeting, it clearly did not change Francis`s plans, for on 17th October, he is reported to have left the king`s company to go to Banbury to gather what men he could. More likely, he went there expecting to meet with Stonor and his men and it was there that he learnt of his betrayal.
By 20th October at the latest, Francis would have known for certain that Stonor had turned traitor, and most likely passed the information on to Richard. His reaction to the news is not known, any more than Francis`s is known, but clearly Richard did not blame Francis. On the contrary, shortly afterwards, on 23rd October, Francis was granted a general commission of array "for the resistance of the rebel Henry, Duke of Buckingham".
There is no telling how many men Francis raised, nor even a number how many were raised in total to squash the rebellion. Since it seems to have been roughly equivalent in size and threat to the Stafford&Lovell Rebellion against Henry VII three years later, it can perhaps be speculated that a similar number to the 3000 men raised then were mobilised by Richard and his men. However, this is of course sheerest guesswork.
However many men were raised, they did not have to fight. In another parallel to the rebellion against Henry three years later, it was defused without fighting. Less than a week after the commission of array was granted to Francis, the biggest threat was over, and the Duke of Buckingham had been captured. He was executed for treason on 2nd November 1483.
Despite this, the fallout of the rebellion had to be dealt with, and Francis was employed for that as well. On 13th November, he led a commission "to arrest and imprison all rebels in the counties of Oxford and Berks[hire], to take their castles, lordships, manors,lands, chattels and possessions into the king`s hands and to enquire into the value and receive the issue of the same, and to certify thereon to the king and council." This commission also included Francis`s close associate Edward Franke, as well as William Catesby and one Richard Harcourt. Since William Stonor fled after the rebellion failed, he was not among those this commission arrested. If they were more successful finding and detaining other rebels is not known.
Whatever the success or lack thereof of the commission, Richard was clearly happy with Francis, and he was to receive several of the lands forfeited by the rebels, especially in the Midlands, including a lot of Stonor`s former property. This may have been, as Rosemary Horrox for example speculated, to foster more loyalty to Richard through Francis, but Francis is not known to have ever even visited or taken an interest in his new lands. It may also simply have been a reward or gift, though it is unlikely this was done without some sort of political motivation.
How much Francis actually managed to accomplish to help quell the rebellion and earn the reward is, again, sadly not known. He clearly tried, but what is remembered most of his involvement in it is his lack of success in getting William Stonor to support Richard. It is possible he was more successful in the other tasks he was given, and whatever his actual success, he remained very high in Richard`s favour, but the only known outcome of one of his actions in connection with it was a failure.
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