On 5th June, Gloucester moved from Baynard's Castle to Crosby Place in Bishopsgate, a house he had leased in 1476 from the widow of its builder, Sir John Crosby, a prosperous grocer. The Elizabethan antiquarian John Stow describes Crosby Place as a 'great house of stone and timber, very large and beautiful, and the highest at that time in London.' It was built round a courtyard and had a solar, a great chamber and chapel, a garden and a superb great hall with an oriel window, a marble floor, and an arched roof decorated in red and gold. This great hall survived the fire that destroyed the rest of the house in the late seventeenth century, and in 1908 was moved to Chelsea, where it stands today. Later the same day, Gloucester welcomed his wife Anne to Crosby Place; she had travelled to London from Yorkshire, leaving their son at Middleham. By now, Gloucester was well aware that there were those on the Council who wished to prevent him from extending his power beyond the coronation. After 5th June, says Rous, he 'showed extraordinary cunning by dividing the Council.' He, and those members who supported him, including Buckingham, met in private at Crosby Place, while the rest--foremost amongst them Hastings, Rotherham, Morton and others loyal to Edward V--met at Baynard's Castle and Westminster to plan the coronation and discuss routine business. Many were convinced that Gloucester and his supporters were conspiring against the King at these secret meetings at Crosby Place, and Mancini learned that those councilors who were concerned for Edward V's safety met in private at each other's homes to discuss the situation. Lord Stanley for one was very worried about the Council being divided like this, for he had his doubts about Gloucester.
