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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret of Anjou, by Jacob Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Margaret of Anjou
+       Makers of History
+
+Author: Jacob Abbott
+
+Release Date: May 1, 2008 [EBook #25275]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARET OF ANJOU ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
+other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
+has been maintained.]
+
+
+
+                    MAKERS OF HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+                    MARGARET OF ANJOU
+
+
+                           by
+
+
+                      JACOB ABBOTT
+
+
+
+
+                    WITH ENGRAVINGS
+
+
+
+
+                  NEW YORK AND LONDON
+             HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+                         1902
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
+hundred and sixty-one, by
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS,
+
+In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
+of New York.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Bridal Procession.]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The story of Margaret of Anjou forms a part of the history of England,
+for the lady, though of Continental origin, was the queen of one of
+the English kings, and England was the scene of her most remarkable
+adventures and exploits. She lived in very stormy times, and led a
+very stormy life; and her history, besides the interest which it
+excites from the extraordinary personal and political vicissitudes
+which it records, is also useful in throwing a great deal of light
+upon the ideas of right and wrong, and of good and evil, and upon the
+manners and customs, both of peace and war, which prevailed in England
+during the age of chivalry.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+      I. THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER                           15
+
+     II. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIME                            30
+
+    III. KING HENRY VI                                              46
+
+     IV. MARGARET'S FATHER AND MOTHER                               59
+
+      V. ROYAL COURTSHIP                                            75
+
+     VI. THE WEDDING                                                93
+
+    VII. RECEPTION IN ENGLAND                                      115
+
+   VIII. THE STORY OF LADY NEVILLE                                 125
+
+     IX. PLOTTINGS                                                 143
+
+      X. THE FALL OF GLOUCESTER                                    157
+
+     XI. THE FALL OF SUFFOLK                                       171
+
+    XII. BIRTH OF A PRINCE                                         188
+
+   XIII. ILLNESS OF THE KING                                       199
+
+    XIV. ANXIETY AND TROUBLE                                       207
+
+     XV. MARGARET A FUGITIVE                                       222
+
+    XVI. MARGARET TRIUMPHANT                                       231
+
+   XVII. MARGARET AN EXILE                                         237
+
+  XVIII. A ROYAL COUSIN                                            244
+
+    XIX. RETURN TO ENGLAND                                         254
+
+     XX. YEARS OF EXILE                                            269
+
+    XXI. THE RECONCILIATION WITH WARWICK                           278
+
+   XXII. BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT                                     285
+
+  XXIII. CHILDLESS, AND A WIDOW                                    292
+
+   XXIV. CONCLUSION                                                306
+
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+  THE BRIDAL PROCESSION                                 _Frontispiece._
+
+  GENERAL MAP                                                       14
+
+  SELECTING THE ROSES                                               22
+
+  ORDEAL COMBAT                                                     35
+
+  HENRY VI. IN HIS YOUTH                                            54
+
+  THE PENANCE                                                       56
+
+  DISTRESS OF MARGARET'S MOTHER                                     65
+
+  SUFFOLK PRESENTING MARGARET TO THE KING                          107
+
+  ANCIENT PORTRAIT OF QUEEN MARGARET                               117
+
+  FEMALE COSTUME IN THE TIME OF HENRY VI                           138
+
+  THE CHARGES AGAINST GLOUCESTER                                   160
+
+  ROUEN                                                            176
+
+  VIEW OF BORDEAUX                                                 180
+
+  THE TEMPLE GARDEN                                                192
+
+  THE LITTLE PRINCE AND HIS SWANS                                  220
+
+  MURDER OF RICHARD'S CHILD                                        235
+
+  LOUIS XI., MARGARET'S COUSIN                                     251
+
+  MAP OF THE BORDER                                                255
+
+  MARGARET AT THE CAVE                                             263
+
+  DEATH OF WARWICK                                                 289
+
+  TEWKESBURY                                                       297
+
+  THE MURDER OF PRINCE HENRY                                       302
+
+  VIEW OF CHERTSEY                                                 308
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Map, Illustrating the History of Margaret of Anjou.]
+
+
+
+
+MARGARET OF ANJOU.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER.
+
+
+[Sidenote: A real heroine.]
+
+Margaret of Anjou was a heroine; not a heroine of romance and fiction,
+but of stern and terrible reality. Her life was a series of military
+exploits, attended with dangers, privations, sufferings, and wonderful
+vicissitudes of fortune, scarcely to be paralleled in the whole
+history of mankind.
+
+[Sidenote: Two great quarrels.]
+
+She was born and lived in a period during which there prevailed in the
+western part of Europe two great and dreadful quarrels, which lasted
+for more than a hundred years, and which kept France and England, and
+all the countries contiguous to them, in a state of continual
+commotion during all that time.
+
+[Sidenote: Contest between the houses of York and Lancaster.]
+
+The first of these quarrels grew out of a dispute which arose among
+the various branches of the royal family of England in respect to the
+succession to the crown. The two principal branches of the family
+were the descendants respectively of the Dukes of York and Lancaster,
+and the wars which they waged against each other are called in history
+the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster. These wars continued for
+several successive generations, and Margaret of Anjou was the queen of
+one of the most prominent representatives of the Lancaster line. Thus
+she became most intimately involved in the quarrel.
+
+[Sidenote: Wars in France.]
+
+The second great contention which prevailed during this period
+consisted of the wars waged between France and England for the
+possession of the territory which now forms the northern portion of
+France. A large portion of that territory, during the reigns that
+immediately preceded the time of Margaret of Anjou, had belonged to
+England. But the kings of France were continually attempting to regain
+possession of it--the English, of course, all the time making
+desperate resistance. Thus, for a hundred years, including the time
+while Margaret lived, England was involved in a double set of
+wars--the one internal, being waged by one branch of the royal family
+against the other for the possession of the throne, and the other
+external, being waged against France and other Continental powers for
+the possession of the towns and castles, and the country dependent
+upon them, which lay along the southern shore of the English Channel.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of Difficulty.]
+
+In order that the story of Margaret of Anjou may be properly
+understood, it will be necessary first to give some explanations in
+respect to the nature of these two quarrels, and to the progress which
+had been made in them up to the time when Margaret came upon the
+stage. We shall begin with the internal or civil wars which were waged
+between the families of York and Lancaster. Some account of the origin
+and nature of this difficulty is given in our history of Richard III.,
+but it is necessary to allude to it again here, and to state some
+additional particulars in respect to it, on account of the very
+important part which Margaret of Anjou performed in the quarrel.
+
+The difficulty originated among the children and descendants of King
+Edward III. He reigned in the early part of the fourteenth century. He
+occupied the throne a long time, and his reign was considered very
+prosperous and glorious. The prosperity and glory of it consisted, in
+a great measure, in the success of the wars which he waged in France,
+and in the towns, and castles, and districts of country which he
+conquered there, and annexed to the English domain.
+
+[Sidenote: The sons of Edward III.]
+
+In these wars old King Edward was assisted very much by the princes
+his sons, who were very warlike young men, and who were engaged from
+time to time in many victorious campaigns on the Continent. They began
+this career when they were very young, and they continued it through
+all the years of their manhood and middle life, for their father lived
+to an advanced age.
+
+[Sidenote: The Black Prince.]
+
+The most remarkable of these warlike princes were Edward and John.
+Edward was the oldest son, and John the third in order of age of those
+who arrived at maturity. The name of the second was Lionel. Edward,
+the oldest son, was of course the Prince of Wales; but, to distinguish
+him from other Princes of Wales that preceded and followed him, he is
+known commonly in history by the name of the Black Prince. He received
+this name originally on account of something about his armor which was
+black, and which marked his appearance among the other knights on the
+field of battle.
+
+[Sidenote: Richard II.]
+
+The Black Prince did not live to succeed his father and inherit the
+throne, for he lost his health in his campaigns on the Continent, and
+came home to England, and died a few years before his father died.
+His son, whose name was Richard, was his heir, and when at length old
+King Edward died, this young Richard succeeded to the crown, under the
+title of King Richard II. In the history of Richard II., in this
+series, a full account of the life of his father, the Black Prince, is
+given, and of the various remarkable adventures that he met with in
+his Continental campaigns.
+
+[Sidenote: John of Gaunt.]
+
+Prince John, the third of the sons of old King Edward, is commonly
+known in history as John of Gaunt. This word Gaunt was the nearest
+approach that the English people could make in those days to the
+pronunciation of the word Ghent, the name of the town where John was
+born. For King Edward, in the early part of his life, was accustomed
+to take all his family with him in his Continental campaigns, and so
+his several children were born in different places, one in one city
+and another in another, and many of them received names from the
+places where they happened to be born.
+
+[Illustration: Selecting the Roses.]
+
+On the following page we have a genealogical table of the family of
+Edward III. At the head of it we have the names of Edward III. and
+Philippa his wife. In a line below are the names of those four of his
+sons whose descendants figure in English history. It was among
+the descendants of these sons that the celebrated wars between the
+houses of York and Lancaster, called the wars of the roses, arose.
+
+Genealogical Table of the Family of Edward III., Showing the
+Connection of the Houses of York and Lancaster.
+
+Genealogical table of the descendants of Edward III.
+
+                          EDWARD III.==Philippa.
+                                     |
+       ______________________________|_______________________________
+      |                   |                     |                   |
+    EDWARD              LIONEL                JOHN                EDMUND
+  (The Black           (Duke of         (of Gaunt, Duke of       (Duke of
+   Prince).            Clarence).         of Lancaster).           York).
+      |                   |                     |                   |
+      |                   |                     |                   |
+   RICHARD II.  PHILIPPA==Edward Mortimer.   HENRY            RICHARD==Anne.
+                          |                     |         (_See second Column._)
+                          |                     |                   |
+                    ROGER MORTIMER            HENRY V      RICHARD PLANTAGENET
+                   (Earl of Marche).            |            (Duke of York).
+                          |                   HENRY VI.             |
+                          |                     |                   |
+                      ANNE==Richard of York.    |                   |
+                   (_See fourth column._)     EDWARD       _________|__________
+                                            (Prince of    |         |          |
+                                              Wales).  EDWARD IV.  GEORGE   RICHARD III.
+                                                                  (Duke of
+                                                                  Clarence).
+
+  The character == denotes marriage; the short perpendicular line | a
+  descent. There were many other children and descendants in the
+  different branches of the family besides those whose names are
+  inserted in the table. The table includes only those essential to an
+  understanding of the history.
+
+[Sidenote: The roses.]
+
+These wars were called the wars of the roses from the circumstance
+that the white and the red rose happened in some way to be chosen as
+the badges of the two parties--the white rose being that of the house
+of York, and the red that of the house of Lancaster.
+
+[Sidenote: The four brothers.]
+
+The reader will observe that the dukes of Lancaster and York are the
+third and fourth of the brothers enumerated in the table, whereas it
+might have been supposed that any contest which should have arisen in
+respect to the crown would have taken place between families of the
+first and second. But the first and second sons and their descendants
+were soon set aside, as it were, from the competition, in the
+following manner.
+
+[Sidenote: Ambition of Richard's uncles.]
+
+[Sidenote: Richard's character.]
+
+The line of the first brother soon became extinct. Edward himself, the
+Prince of Wales, died during his father's lifetime, leaving his son
+Richard as his heir. Then, when the old king died, Richard succeeded
+him. As he was the oldest living son of the oldest son, his claim
+could not be disputed, and so his uncles acquiesced in it. They wished
+very much, it is true, to govern the realm, but they contented
+themselves with ruling in Richard's name until he became of age, and
+then Richard took the government into his own hands. The country was
+tolerably well satisfied under his dominion for some years, but at
+length Richard became dissipated and vicious, and he domineered over
+the people of England in so haughty a manner, and oppressed them so
+severely by the taxes and other exactions which he laid upon them,
+that a very general discontent prevailed at last against him and
+against his government. This discontent would have given either of his
+uncles a great advantage in any design which they might have formed to
+take away the crown from him. As it was, it greatly increased their
+power and influence in the land, and diminished, in a corresponding
+degree, that of the king. The uncles appear to have been contented
+with this share of power and influence, which seemed naturally to fall
+into their hands, and did not attempt any open rebellion.
+
+[Sidenote: His cousin Henry.]
+
+Richard had a cousin, however, a young man of just about his own age,
+who was driven at last, by a peculiar train of circumstances, to rise
+against him. This cousin was the son of his uncle John. His name was
+Henry Bolingbroke. He appears in the genealogical table as Henry IV.,
+that having been his title subsequently as King of England.
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrel between Henry and Norfolk.]
+
+[Sidenote: The trial.]
+
+This cousin Henry became involved in a quarrel with a certain nobleman
+named Norfolk. Indeed, the nobles of those days were continually
+getting engaged in feuds and quarrels, which they fought out with the
+greatest recklessness, sometimes by regular battles between armies of
+retainers, and sometimes by single combat, in which the parties to the
+dispute were supposed to appeal to Almighty God, who they believed, or
+professed to believe, would give the victory to the just side in the
+quarrel. These single combats were arranged with great ceremony and
+parade, and were performed in a very public and solemn manner; being,
+in fact, a recognized and established part of the system of public law
+as administered in those days. In the next chapter, when speaking more
+particularly of the manners and customs of the times, I shall give an
+account in full of one of these duels. I have only to say here that
+Richard, on hearing of the quarrel between his cousin Henry and
+Norfolk, decreed that they should settle it by single combat, and
+preparations were accordingly made for the trial, and the parties
+appeared, armed and equipped for the fight, in the presence of an
+immense concourse of people assembled to witness the spectacle. The
+king himself was to preside on the occasion.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry is sent into banishment.]
+
+But just before the signal was to be given for the combat to begin,
+the king interrupted the proceedings, and declared that he would
+decide the question himself. He pronounced both the combatants guilty,
+and issued a decree of banishment against both. Henry submitted, and
+both prepared to leave the country. These transactions, of course,
+attracted great attention throughout England, and they operated to
+bring Henry forward in a very conspicuous manner before the people of
+the realm. He was in the direct line of succession to the crown, and
+he was, moreover, a prince of great wealth, and of immense personal
+influence, and so, just in proportion as Richard himself was disliked,
+Henry would naturally become an object of popular sympathy and regard.
+When he set out on his journey toward the southern coast, in order to
+leave the country in pursuance of his sentence, the people flocked
+along the waysides, and assembled in the towns where he passed, as if
+he were a conqueror returning from his victories instead of a
+condemned criminal going into banishment.
+
+[Sidenote: 1400.]
+
+[Sidenote: His estates confiscated.]
+
+Soon after this, the Duke of Lancaster, Henry's father, died, and then
+Richard, instead of allowing his cousin to succeed to the immense
+estates which his father left, confiscated all the property, under the
+pretext that Henry had forfeited it, and so converted it to his own
+use. This last outrage aroused Henry to such a pitch of indignation
+that he resolved to invade England, depose Richard, and claim the
+crown for himself.
+
+[Sidenote: A revolution.]
+
+This plan was carried into effect. Henry raised an armament, crossed
+the Channel, and landed in England. The people took sides. A great
+majority sided with Henry. A full account of this insurrection and
+invasion is given in our history of Richard II. All that it is
+necessary to say here is that the revolution was effected. Richard was
+deposed, and Henry obtained possession of the kingdom. It was thus
+that the house of Lancaster first became established on the throne.
+
+[Sidenote: The elder branches of the family.]
+
+But you will very naturally wonder where the representatives of the
+second brother in Edward the Third's family were all this time, and
+why, when Richard was deposed, who was the son of the first brother,
+they did not appear, and advance their claims in competition with
+Henry. The reason was because there was no male heir of that branch
+living in that line. You will see by referring again to the table that
+the only child of Lionel, the second brother, was Philippa, a girl.
+She had a son, it is true, Roger Mortimer, as appears by the table;
+but he was yet very young, and could do nothing to assert the claims
+of his line. Besides, Henry pretended that, together with his claims
+to the throne through his father, he had others more ancient and
+better founded still through his mother, who, as he attempted to
+prove, was descended from an English king who reigned _before Edward
+III._ The people of England, as they wished to have Henry for king,
+were very easily satisfied with his arguments, and so it was settled
+that he should reign. The line of this second brother, however, did
+not give up their claims, but reserved them, intending to rise and
+assert them on the very first favorable opportunity.
+
+Henry reigned about thirteen years, and then was succeeded by his son,
+Henry V., as appears by the table. There was no attempt to disturb the
+Lancastrian line in their possession of the throne during these two
+reigns. The attention, both of the kings and of the people, during all
+this period, was almost wholly engrossed in the wars which they were
+waging in France. These wars were very successful. The English
+conquered province after province and castle after castle, until at
+length almost the whole country was brought under their sway.
+
+[Sidenote: 1422.]
+
+[Sidenote: Birth and accession of Henry VI.]
+
+This state of things continued until the death of Henry V., which took
+place in 1422. He left for his heir a little son, named also Henry,
+then only about nine months old. This infant was at once invested with
+the royal authority as King of England and France, under the title of
+Henry VI., as seen by the table. It was this Henry who, when he
+arrived at maturity, became the husband of Margaret of Anjou, the
+subject of this volume. It was during his reign, too, that the first
+effective attempt was made to dispute the right of the house of
+Lancaster to the throne, and it was in the terrible contests which
+this attempt brought on that Margaret displayed the extraordinary
+military heroism for which she became so renowned. I shall relate the
+early history of this king, and explain the nature of the combination
+which was formed during his reign against the Lancastrian line, in a
+subsequent chapter, after first giving a brief account of such of the
+manners and customs of those times as are necessary to a proper
+understanding of the story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIME.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The nobles.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their mode of life.]
+
+In the days when Margaret of Anjou lived, the kings, princes, nobles,
+and knights who flourished in the realms of England and France, though
+they were, relatively to the mass of the people, far more wealthy,
+proud, and powerful than their successors are at the present day,
+still lived in many respects in a very rude and barbarous manner. They
+enjoyed very few of the benefits and privileges which all classes
+enjoy in the age in which we live. They had very few books, and very
+little advantage of instruction to enable them to read those that they
+had. There were no good roads by which they could travel comfortably
+from place to place, and no wheeled carriages. They lived in castles,
+very strongly built indeed, and very grand and picturesque sometimes
+in external appearance, but very illy furnished and comfortless
+within. The artisans were skillful in fabricating splendid caparisons
+for the horses, and costly suits of glittering armor for the men, and
+the architects could construct grand cathedrals, and ornament them
+with sculptures and columns which are the wonder of the present age.
+But in respect to all the ordinary means and appliances of daily life,
+even the most wealthy and powerful nobles lived in a very barbarous
+way.
+
+[Sidenote: Retainers of the nobles.]
+
+The mass of the common people were held in a state of abject
+submission to the will of the chieftains, very much in the condition
+of slaves, being compelled to toil in the cultivation of their
+masters' lands, or to go out as soldiers to fight in their quarrels,
+without receiving any compensation. The great ambition of every noble
+and knight was to have as many of these retainers as possible under
+his command. The only limit to the number which each chieftain could
+assemble was his power of feeding them. For in those days men could be
+more easily found to fight than to engage in any other employment, and
+there were great numbers always ready to follow any commander who was
+able to maintain them.
+
+[Sidenote: Their courts.]
+
+Each great noble lived in state in his castle, like a prince or a
+petty king. Those of the highest class had their privy councilors,
+treasurers, marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, heralds,
+pursuivants, pages, guards, trumpeters--in short, all the various
+officers that were to be found in the court of the sovereign. To these
+were added whole bands of minstrels, mimics, jugglers, tumblers,
+rope-dancers, and buffoons. Besides these, there was always attached
+to each great castle a large company of priests and monks, who
+performed divine service according to the usages of those times, in a
+gorgeously-decorated chapel built for this purpose within the castle
+walls.
+
+[Sidenote: Great power of the nobles.]
+
+Thus the whole country was divided, as it were, into a vast number of
+separate jurisdictions, each with an earl, or a baron, or a duke at
+the head of it, who ruled with an almost absolute sway in every thing
+that related to the internal management of his province, while,
+however, he recognized a certain general dominion over all on the part
+of the king. Such being the state of the case, it is not surprising
+that the nobles were often powerful enough, as will appear in the
+course of this narrative, to band together and set up and put down
+kings at their pleasure.
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Warwick.]
+
+Perhaps the most powerful of all the great nobles who flourished
+during the time of Margaret of Anjou was the Earl of Warwick. So great
+was his influence in deciding between the rival claims of different
+pretenders to the crown, that he is known in history by the title of
+the _King-maker_. His wealth was so enormous that it was said that the
+body of retainers that he maintained amounted sometimes in number to
+thirty thousand men.
+
+[Sidenote: Amusements of the nobility.]
+
+The employments, and even the amusements of these great barons and
+nobles, were all military. They looked down with great disdain upon
+all the useful pursuits of art and industry, regarding them as only
+fit occupations for serfs and slaves. Their business was going to war,
+either independently against each other, or, under the command of the
+king, against some common enemy. When they were not engaged in any of
+these wars they amused themselves and the people of their courts with
+tournaments, and mock combats and encounters of all kinds, which they
+arranged in open grounds contiguous to their castles with great pomp
+and parade.
+
+[Sidenote: Courts of justice.]
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrels among the nobles.]
+
+It could not be expected that such powerful and warlike chieftains as
+these could be kept much under the control of law by the ordinary
+machinery of courts of justice. There were, of course, laws and courts
+of justice in those days, but they were administered chiefly upon the
+common people, for the repression of common crimes. The nobles, in
+their quarrels and contentions with each other, were accustomed to
+settle the questions that arose in other ways. Sometimes they did this
+by marshaling their troops and fighting each other in regular
+campaigns, during which they laid siege to castles, and ravaged
+villages and fields, as in times of public war. Sometimes, when the
+power of the king was sufficient to prevent such outbreaks as these,
+the parties to the quarrel were summoned to settle the dispute by
+single combat in the presence of the king and his court, as well as of
+a vast multitude of assembled spectators. These single combats were
+the origin of the modern custom of dueling.
+
+[Sidenote: Dueling.]
+
+At the present day, the settlement of disputes by a private combat
+between the parties to it is made a crime by the laws of the land. It
+is justly considered a barbarous and senseless practice. The man who
+provokes another to a duel and then kills him in the fight, instead of
+acquiring any glory by the deed, has to bear, for the rest of his
+life, both in his own conscience and in the opinion of mankind, the
+mark and stain of murder. And when, in defiance of law, and of the
+opinions and wishes of all good men, any two disputants who have
+become involved in a quarrel are rendered so desperate by their angry
+passions as to desire to satisfy them by this mode, they are obliged
+to resort to all sorts of manoeuvres and stratagems to conceal the
+crime which they are about to commit, and to avoid the interference of
+their friends or of the officers of the law.
+
+[Illustration: Ordeal Combat.]
+
+[Sidenote: The ancient trial by combat.]
+
+[Sidenote: Old representation of it.]
+
+In the days, however, of the semi-savage knights and barons who
+flourished so luxuriantly in the times of which we are writing, the
+settlement of a dispute by single combat between the two parties to it
+was an openly recognized and perfectly legitimate mode of arbitration,
+and the trial of the question was conducted with forms and ceremonies
+even more strict and more solemn than those which governed the
+proceedings in regular courts of justice.
+
+The engraving on the preceding page is a sort of rude emblematic
+representation of such a trial, copied from a drawing in an ancient
+manuscript. We see the combatants in the foreground, with the judges
+and spectators behind.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry Bolingbroke.]
+
+It was to a public and solemn combat of this kind that Richard the
+Second summoned his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, and his enemy, as
+related in the last chapter. In that instance the combat was not
+fought, the king having taken the case into his own hands, and
+condemned both the parties before the contest was begun. But in
+multitudes of other cases the trial was carried through to its
+consummation in the death of one party, and the triumph and acquittal
+of the other.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrangements made.]
+
+[Sidenote: Guards.]
+
+Very many detailed and full accounts of these combats have come down
+to us in the writings of the ancient chroniclers. I will here give a
+description of one of them, as an example of this mode of trial, which
+was fought in the public square in front of King Richard the Second's
+palace, the king himself, all the principal nobles of the court, and a
+great crowd of other persons being provided with seats around the area
+as spectators of the fight. The nobles and knights were all dressed
+in complete armor; and heralds, and squires, and guards were stationed
+in great numbers to regulate the proceedings. It was on a bright
+morning in June when the combat was fought, and the whole aspect of
+the scene was that of a grand and joyful spectacle on a gala day.
+
+[Sidenote: Great concourse of people.]
+
+It was estimated that more people from the surrounding country came to
+London on the occasion of this duel than at the time of the coronation
+of the king. It took place about three years after the coronation.
+
+[Sidenote: The parties.]
+
+The parties to the combat were John Anneslie, a knight, and Thomas
+Katrington, a squire. Anneslie, the knight, was the complainant and
+the challenger. Katrington, the squire, was the defendant. The
+circumstances of the case were as follows.
+
+[Sidenote: Nature of the quarrel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Castle lost.]
+
+Katrington, the squire, was governor of a castle in Normandy. The
+castle belonged to a certain English knight who afterward died, and
+his estate descended to Anneslie, the complainant in this quarrel. If
+the squire had successfully defended the castle from the French who
+attacked it, then it would have descended with the other property to
+Anneslie. But he did not. When the French came and laid siege to the
+castle, Katrington surrendered it, and so it was lost. He maintained
+that he had not a sufficient force to defend it, and that he had no
+alternative but to surrender. Anneslie, on the other hand, alleged
+that he might have defended it, and that he would have done so if he
+had been faithful to his trust; but that he had been _bribed_ by the
+French to give it up. This Katrington denied; so Anneslie, who was
+very angry at the loss of the castle, challenged him to single combat
+to try the question.
+
+[Sidenote: Reason for this mode of trial.]
+
+It is plain that this was a very absurd way of attempting to ascertain
+whether Katrington had or had not been bribed; but, as the affair had
+occurred some years before, and in another country, and as, moreover,
+the giving and receiving of bribes are facts always very difficult to
+be proved by ordinary evidence, it was decided by the government of
+the king that this was a proper case for the trial by combat, and both
+parties were ordered to prepare for the fight. The day, too, was
+fixed, and the place--the public square opposite the king's
+palace--was appointed. As the time drew nigh, the whole country for
+many miles around was excited to the highest pitch of interest and
+expectation.
+
+[Sidenote: The company assemble.]
+
+[Sidenote: The combatants appear.]
+
+At the place where the combat was to be fought a large space was
+railed in by a very substantial barricade. The barricade was made very
+strong, so as to resist the utmost possible pressure of the crowd.
+Elevated seats, commanding a full view of the lists, as the area
+railed in was called, were erected for the use of the king and the
+nobles of the court, and all other necessary preparations were made.
+When the hour arrived on the appointed day, the king and the nobles
+came in great state and took their places. The whole square, with the
+exception of the lists and proper avenues of approach, which were kept
+open by the men-at-arms, had long since been filled with an immense
+crowd of people from the surrounding country. At length, after a brief
+period of expectation, the challenger, Anneslie, was seen coming along
+one of the approaches, mounted on a horse splendidly caparisoned, and
+attended by several knights and squires, his friends, all completely
+armed.
+
+[Sidenote: The horse excluded.]
+
+He stopped when he reached the railing and dismounted from his horse.
+It was against the laws of the combat for either party to enter the
+lists mounted. If a horse went within the inclosure he was forfeited
+by that act to a certain public officer called the high constable of
+England, who was responsible for the regularity and order of the
+proceedings.
+
+Anneslie, having thus dismounted from his horse with the assistance of
+his attendants, walked into the lists all armed and equipped for the
+fight. His squires attended him. He walked there to and fro a few
+minutes, and then a herald, blowing a trumpet, summoned the accused to
+appear.
+
+[Sidenote: Summons to the accused.]
+
+"Thomas Katrington! Thomas Katrington!" he cried out in a loud voice,
+"come and appear, to save the action for which Sir John Anneslie,
+knight, hath publicly and by writing appealed thee!"
+
+[Sidenote: Appearance of Katrington.]
+
+Three times the herald proclaimed this summons. At the third time
+Katrington appeared.
+
+He came, as Anneslie had come, mounted upon a war-horse splendidly
+caparisoned, and with his arms embroidered on the trappings. He was
+attended by his friends, the representatives of the seconds of the
+modern duel. The two stopped at the entrance of the lists, and
+dismounting, passed into the lists on foot. Every body being now
+intent on the combatants, the horse for the moment was let go, and,
+being eager to follow his master, he ran up and down along the
+railing, reaching his head and neck over as far as he could, and
+trying to get over. At length he was taken and led away; but the lord
+high constable said at once that he should claim him for having
+entered the lists.
+
+[Sidenote: Horse's head forfeited.]
+
+"At least," said he, "I shall claim his head and neck, and as much of
+him as was over the railing."
+
+[Sidenote: The pleadings.]
+
+The combatants now stood confronting each other within the lists. A
+written document was produced, which had been prepared, as was said,
+by consent of both parties, containing a statement of the charge made
+against Katrington, namely, that of treason, in having betrayed to the
+enemy for money a castle intrusted to his charge, and his reply. The
+herald read this document with a loud voice, in order that all the
+assembly, or as many as possible, might hear it. As soon as it was
+read, Katrington began to take exceptions to some passages in it. The
+Duke of Lancaster, who seemed to preside on the occasion, put an end
+to his criticisms at once, saying that he had already agreed to the
+paper, and that now, if he made any difficulty about it, and refused
+to fight, he should be adjudged guilty of the treason, and should at
+once be led out to execution.
+
+[Sidenote: Katrington is ready.]
+
+Katrington then said that he was ready to fight his antagonist, not
+only on the points raised in the document which had been read, but on
+any and all other points whatever that might be laid to his charge.
+He had entire confidence, he said, that the justice of his cause would
+secure him the victory.
+
+[Sidenote: Singular oath administered.]
+
+The next proceeding in this strange ceremony was singular enough. It
+was the solemn administering of an oath to each of the combatants, by
+which oath they severally swore that the cause in which they were to
+fight was true, and that they did not deal in any witchcraft or magic
+art, by which they expected to gain the victory over their adversary;
+and also, that they had not about their persons any herb or stone, or
+charm of any kind, by which they hoped to obtain any advantage.
+
+After this oath had been administered, time was allowed for the
+combatants to say their prayers. This ceremony they performed
+apparently in a very devout manner, and then the battle began.
+
+[Sidenote: The battle.]
+
+The combatants fought first with spears, then with swords, and
+finally, coming to very close quarters, with daggers. Anneslie seemed
+to gain the advantage. He succeeded in disarming Katrington of one
+after another of his weapons, and finally threw him down. When
+Katrington was down, Anneslie attempted to throw himself upon him, in
+order to crush him with the weight of his heavy iron armor. But he
+was exhausted by the heat and by the exertion which he had made, and
+the perspiration running down from his forehead under his helmet
+blinded his eyes, so that he could not see exactly where Katrington
+was, and, instead of falling upon him, he came down upon the ground at
+a little distance away. Katrington then contrived to make his way to
+Anneslie and to get upon him, thus pressing him down to the ground
+with his weight. The combatants lay thus a few minutes locked together
+on the ground, and struggling with each other as well as their heavy
+and cumbrous armor would permit, Katrington being all the time
+uppermost, when the king at length gave orders that the contest should
+cease and that the men should be separated.
+
+[Sidenote: The proceedings arrested by the king.]
+
+In obedience to these orders, some men came to rescue Anneslie by
+taking Katrington off from him. But Anneslie begged them not to
+interfere. And when the men had taken Katrington off, he urged them to
+place him back upon him again as he was before, for he said he himself
+was not hurt at all, and he had no doubt that he should gain the
+victory if they would leave him alone. The men, however, having the
+king's order for what they were doing, paid no heed to Anneslie's
+requests, but proceeded to lead Katrington away.
+
+[Sidenote: Katrington's condition.]
+
+They found that he was so weak and exhausted that he could not stand.
+They led him to a chair, and then, taking off his helmet, they tried
+to revive him by bathing his face and giving him some wine.
+
+[Sidenote: Anneslie's request to the king.]
+
+In the mean time, Anneslie, finding that Katrington was taken away,
+allowed himself to be lifted up. When set upon his feet, he walked
+along toward the part of the inclosure which was near the king's seat,
+and begged the king to allow the combat to proceed. He said he was
+sure that he should obtain the victory if they would but permit him to
+continue the combat to the end. Finally the king and nobles gave their
+consent, and ordered that Anneslie should be placed upon the ground
+again, and Katrington upon him, in the same position, as nearly as
+possible, as before.
+
+But on going again to Katrington with a view of executing this decree,
+they found that he was in such a condition as to preclude the
+possibility of it. He had fainted and fallen down out of his chair in
+a deadly swoon. He seemed not to be wounded, but to be utterly
+exhausted by the heat, the weight of his armor, and the extreme
+violence of the exertion which he had made. His friends raised him up
+again, and proceeded to unbuckle and take off his armor. Relieved
+from this burden, he began to come to himself. He opened his eyes and
+looked around, staring with a wild, bewildered, and ghastly look,
+which moved the pity of all the beholders, that is, of all but
+Anneslie. He, on leaving the king, came to where poor Katrington was
+sitting, and, full of rage and hate, began to taunt and revile him,
+calling him traitor, and false, perjured villain, and daring him to
+come out again into the area and finish the fight.
+
+[Sidenote: Anneslie's rage.]
+
+To this Katrington made no answer, but stared wildly about with a
+crazed look, as if he did not know where he was or what they were
+doing to him.
+
+[Sidenote: The termination of the trial.]
+
+So the farther prosecution of the combat was relinquished. Anneslie
+was declared the victor, and poor Katrington was deemed to be proved,
+by his defeat, guilty of the treason which had been charged against
+him. He was borne away by his friends, and put into his bed. He
+continued delirious all that night, and the next morning at nine
+o'clock he died.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus was this combat fought, as the ancient historian says, to the
+great rejoicing of the common people and the discouragement of
+traitors!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+KING HENRY VI.
+
+
+[Sidenote: King Henry's accession.]
+
+King Henry the Sixth, who subsequently became the husband of Margaret
+of Anjou, was only about nine months old, as has already been said,
+when he succeeded to the throne by the death of his father. He was
+proclaimed by the heralds to the sound of trumpets and drums, in all
+parts of London, while he was yet an infant in his nurse's arms.
+
+[Sidenote: His uncles.]
+
+Of course the question was now who should have the rule in England
+while Henry remained a child. And this question chiefly affected the
+little king's uncles, of whom there were three--all rude, turbulent,
+and powerful nobles, such as were briefly described in the last
+chapter. Each of them had a powerful band of retainers and partisans
+attached to his service, and the whole kingdom dreaded greatly the
+quarrels which every one knew were now likely to break out.
+
+The oldest of these uncles was Thomas. He was Duke of Exeter.
+
+The second was John. He was Duke of Bedford.
+
+The third was Humphrey. He was Duke of Gloucester. Thomas and Humphrey
+seem to have been in England at the time of their brother the old
+king's death. John, or Bedford, as he was commonly called, was in
+France, where he had been pursuing a very renowned and successful
+career, in extending and maintaining the English conquests in that
+country.
+
+[Sidenote: Division of power.]
+
+The leading nobles and officers of the government were assembled in
+council soon after the old king's death, and in order to prevent the
+breaking out of the quarrels which were otherwise to have been
+anticipated between these uncles, they determined to divide the power
+as nearly as possible in an equal manner among them. So they appointed
+Thomas, the Duke of Exeter, who seems to have been less ambitious and
+warlike in his character than the rest, to the charge and custody of
+the young king's person. Humphrey, the Duke of Gloucester, was made
+Protector of England, and John, the Duke of Bedford, the Regent of
+France. Thus they were all seemingly satisfied.
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrels.]
+
+[Sidenote: Beaufort and Gloucester.]
+
+But the peace which resulted from this arrangement did not continue
+very long. Pretty soon a certain Henry Beaufort, a bishop, was
+appointed to be associated with Henry's uncle Thomas in the personal
+charge of the king. This Henry Beaufort was Henry's great-uncle, being
+one of the sons of John of Gaunt. He was a younger son of his father,
+and so was brought up to the Church, and had been appointed Bishop of
+Winchester, and afterward made a cardinal. Thus he occupied a very
+exalted position, and possessed a degree of wealth, and power, and
+general consequence little inferior to those of the grandest nobles in
+the land. He was a man, too, of great capacity, very skillful in
+manoeuvring and intriguing, and he immediately began to form ambitious
+schemes for himself which he designed to carry into effect through the
+power which the custody of the young king gave him. He was, of course,
+very jealous of the influence and power of the Duke of Gloucester, and
+the Duke of Gloucester became very jealous of him. It was not long
+before occasions arose which brought the two men, and their bands of
+followers, into direct and open collision.
+
+[Sidenote: Progress of the quarrel.]
+
+I can not here go into a full account of the particulars of the
+quarrel. One of the first difficulties was about the Tower of London,
+which Beaufort had under his command, and where there was a prisoner
+whom Gloucester wished to set at liberty. Then there was a great riot
+and disturbance on London Bridge, which threw the whole city of
+London into a state of alarm. Beaufort alleged that Gloucester had
+formed a plan to seize the person of the king and take him away from
+Beaufort's custody; and that he had designs, moreover, on Beaufort's
+life. To defend himself, and to prevent Gloucester from coming to the
+palace where he was residing, he seized and fortified the passages
+leading to the bridge. He built barricades, and took down the chains
+of the portcullis, and assembled a large armed force to guard the
+point. The people of London were in great alarm. They set watches day
+and night to protect their property from the anticipated violence of
+the soldiers and partisans of the combatants, and thus all was
+commotion and fear. Of course there were no courts of justice powerful
+enough to control such a contest as this, and finally the people sent
+off a delegation to the Duke of Bedford in France, imploring him to
+come to England immediately and see if he could not settle the
+quarrel.
+
+[Sidenote: Bedford summoned home from France.]
+
+The Duke of Bedford came. A Parliament was convened, and the questions
+at issue between the two great disputants were brought to a solemn
+trial. The Duke of Gloucester made out a series of heavy charges
+against the cardinal, and the cardinal made a formal reply which
+contained not only his defense, but also counter charges against the
+duke. These papers were drawn up with great technicality and ceremony
+by the lawyers employed on each side to manage the case, and were
+submitted to the Duke of Bedford and to the Parliament. A series of
+debates ensued, in which the friends of the two parties respectively
+brought criminations and recriminations against each other without
+end. The result was, as is usual in such cases, that both sides
+appeared to have been to blame, and in order to settle the dispute a
+sort of compromise was effected, with which both parties professed to
+be satisfied, and a reconciliation, or what outwardly appeared to be
+such, was made. A new division of powers and prerogatives between
+Gloucester, as Protector of England, and Beaufort, as custodian of the
+king, was arranged, and peace being thus restored, Bedford went back
+again to France.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of Bedford.]
+
+Things went on tolerably well after this for many years; that is,
+there were no more open outbreaks, though the old jealousy and hatred
+between Gloucester and the cardinal still continued. The influence of
+the Duke of Bedford held both parties in check as long as the duke
+lived. At length, however, when the young king was about fourteen
+years old, the Duke of Bedford died. He was in France at the time of
+his death. He was buried with great pomp and ceremony in the city of
+Rouen, which had been in some sense the head-quarters of his dominion
+in that country, and a splendid monument was erected over his tomb.
+
+[Sidenote: Anecdote.]
+
+A curious anecdote is related of the King of France in relation to
+this tomb. Some time after the tomb was built Rouen fell into the
+hands of the French, and some persons proposed to break down the
+monument which had been built in memory of their old enemy; but the
+King of France would not listen to the proposal.
+
+[Sidenote: Generosity of the French king.]
+
+"What honor shall it be to us," said he, "or to you, to break down the
+monument, or to pull out of the ground the dead bones of him whom, in
+his life, neither my father nor your progenitors, with all their
+power, influence, and friends, were ever able to make flee one foot
+backward, but who, by his strength, wit, and policy, kept them all at
+bay. Wherefore I say, let God have his soul; and for his body, let it
+rest in peace where they have laid it."
+
+[Sidenote: Coronation of the young king in France.]
+
+When King Henry was old enough to be crowned, in addition to the
+English part of the ceremony, he went to France to receive the crown
+of that country too. The ceremony, as is usual with the French kings,
+was performed at the town of St. Denis, near Paris, where is an
+ancient royal chapel, in which all the great religious ceremonies
+connected with the French monarchy have been performed. A very curious
+account is given by the ancient chroniclers of the pageants and
+ceremonies which were enacted on this occasion. The king proceeded
+into France and journeyed to St. Denis at the head of a grand
+cavalcade of knights, nobles, and men-at-arms, amounting to many
+thousand men, all of whom were adorned with dresses and trappings of
+the most gorgeous description. At St. Denis the authorities came out
+to meet the king, dressed in robes of vermilion, and bearing splendid
+banners. The king was presented, as he passed through the gates, "with
+three crimson hearts, in one of which were two doves; in another,
+several small birds, which were let fly over his head; while the third
+was filled with violets and flowers, which were thrown over the lords
+that attended and followed him."
+
+At the same place, too, a company of the principal civic dignitaries
+of the town appeared, bearing a gorgeous canopy of blue silk, adorned
+and embroidered in the most beautiful manner with royal emblems. This
+canopy they held over the king as he advanced into the town.
+
+[Sidenote: Curious pageants.]
+
+At one place farther on, where there was a little bridge to be
+crossed, there was a pageant of three savages fighting about a woman
+in a mimic forest. The savages continued fighting until the king had
+passed by. Next came a fountain flowing with wine, with mermaids
+swimming about in it. The wine in this fountain was free to all who
+chose to come and drink it.
+
+Then, farther still, the royal party came to a place where an
+artificial forest had been made, by some means or other, in a large,
+open square. There was a chase going on in this forest at the time
+when the king went by. The chase consisted of a living stag hunted by
+real dogs. The stag came and took refuge at the feet of the king's
+horse, and his majesty saved the poor animal's life.
+
+[Sidenote: The coronation.]
+
+Thus the king was conducted to his palace. Several days were spent in
+preliminary pageants and ceremonies like the above, and then the
+coronation took place in the church, the king and his party being
+stationed on a large platform raised for the purpose in the most
+conspicuous part of the edifice.
+
+[Sidenote: 1441.]
+
+[Sidenote: The banquet.]
+
+After the coronation there was a grand banquet, at which the king,
+with his lords and great officers of state, sat at a marble table in a
+magnificent ancient hall. Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester,
+was the principal personage in all these ceremonies next to the king.
+Gloucester was very jealous of him, in respect to the conspicuous part
+which he took in these proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: Henry VI. in his Youth.]
+
+Henry was quite young at the time of his coronations. He was a very
+pretty boy, and his countenance wore a mild and gentle expression.
+
+[Illustration: The Penance.]
+
+[Sidenote: The old quarrel broke out again.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duchess's penance.]
+
+The quarrel between the Duke of Gloucester and the bishop was kept, in
+some degree, subdued during this period, partly by the influence of
+the Duke of Bedford while he lived, and partly by Gloucester's mind
+being taken up to a considerable extent with other things, especially
+with his campaigns in France; for he was engaged during the period of
+the king's minority in many important military expeditions in that
+country. At length, however, he came back to England, and there, when
+the king was about twenty years of age, the quarrel between him and
+the bishop's party broke out anew. The king himself was, however, now
+old enough to take some part in such a difficulty, and so both sides
+appealed to him. Gloucester made out a series of twenty-four articles
+of complaint against the bishop. The bishop, on the other hand,
+accused the duke of treason, and he specially charged that his wife
+had attempted to destroy the life of the king by witchcraft. The
+duchess was condemned on this charge, and it is said that, by way of
+penance, she was sentenced to walk barefoot through the most public
+street in London with a lighted taper in her hand. Some other persons,
+who were accused of being accomplices in this crime, were put to
+death.
+
+[Sidenote: Witchcraft.]
+
+The witchcraft which it was said these persons practiced was that of
+making a waxen image of the king, and then, after connecting it with
+him in some mysterious and magical way by certain charms and
+incantations, melting it away by degrees before a slow fire, by which
+means the king himself, as was supposed, would be caused to pine and
+wither away, and at last to die. It was universally believed in those
+days that this could be done.
+
+[Sidenote: Position of the king.]
+
+Of course, such proceedings as these only embittered the quarrel more
+and more, and Gloucester became more resolute and determined than ever
+in prosecuting his intrigues for depriving the bishop of influence,
+and for getting the power into his own hands. The king, though he
+favored the cardinal, was so quiet and gentle in his disposition, and
+so little disposed to take an active part in such a quarrel, that the
+bishop could not induce him to act as decidedly as he wished. So he
+finally conceived the idea of finding some very intelligent and
+capable princess as a wife for the king, hoping to increase the power
+which he exercised in the realm through his influence over her.
+
+[Sidenote: Scheme formed by Beaufort.]
+
+The lady that he selected for this purpose was Margaret of Anjou.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+MARGARET'S FATHER AND MOTHER.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1420.]
+
+[Sidenote: Provinces of France.]
+
+In former times, the territory which now constitutes France was
+divided into a great number of separate provinces, each of which
+formed almost a distinct state or kingdom. These several provinces
+were the possessions of lords, dukes, and barons, who ruled over them,
+respectively, like so many petty kings, with almost absolute sway,
+though they all acknowledged a general allegiance to the kings of
+France or of England. The more northern provinces pertained to
+England. Those in the interior and southern portions of the country
+were under the dominion of France.
+
+[Sidenote: Great families.]
+
+The great families who held these provinces as their possessions ruled
+over them in a very lordly manner. They regarded not only the
+territory itself which they held, but the right to govern the
+inhabitants of it as a species of property, which was subject, like
+any other estate, to descend from parent to child by hereditary right,
+to be conveyed to another owner by treaty or surrender, to be assigned
+to a bride as her marriage portion, or to be disposed of in any other
+way that the lordly proprietors might prefer. These great families
+took their names from the provinces over which they ruled.
+
+[Sidenote: Anjou.]
+
+[Sidenote: King René.]
+
+One of these provinces was Anjou.[1] The father of Margaret, the
+subject of this history, was a celebrated personage named Regnier or
+René, commonly called King René. He was a younger son of the family
+which reigned over Anjou. It is from this circumstance that our
+heroine derives the name by which she is generally designated--Margaret
+of Anjou. The reason why her father was called _King_ René will appear
+in the sequel.
+
+         [Footnote 1: See map at the commencement of the volume.]
+
+[Sidenote: Lorraine.]
+
+Another of the provinces of France above referred to was Lorraine.
+Lorraine was a large, and beautiful, and very valuable country,
+situated toward the eastern part of France. Anjou was considerably to
+the westward of it.
+
+[Sidenote: 1429.]
+
+[Sidenote: Marriage of René to Isabella.]
+
+The name of the Duke of Lorraine at this time was Charles. He had a
+daughter named Isabella. She was the heiress to all her father's
+possessions. She was a young lady of great beauty, of high spirit, of
+a very accomplished education, according to the ideas of those times.
+When René was about fourteen years old a match was arranged between
+him and Isabella, who was then only about ten. The marriage was
+celebrated with great parade, and the youthful pair went to reside at
+a palace called Pont à Mousson, in a grand castle which was given to
+Isabella by her father as a bridal gift at the time of her marriage.
+Here it was expected that they would live until the death of her
+father, when they were to come into possession of the whole province
+of Lorraine.
+
+[Sidenote: Birth of Margaret.]
+
+In process of time, while living at this castle, René and Isabella had
+several children. Margaret was the fifth. She was born in 1429. Her
+birthday was March 23.
+
+[Sidenote: Theophanie.]
+
+The little infant was put under the charge of a family nurse named
+Theophanie. Theophanie was a long-tried and very faithful domestic.
+She was successively the nurse to all of Isabella's children, and the
+family became so much attached to her that when she died René caused a
+beautiful monument to be raised to her memory. This monument contained
+a sculptured image of Theophanie, with two of the children in her
+arms.
+
+[Sidenote: 1431.]
+
+Very soon after her birth Margaret was baptized with great pomp in the
+Cathedral in the town of Toul. A large number of relatives of high
+rank witnessed and took part in the ceremony.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella's uncle Antoine.]
+
+[Sidenote: Conflict for the possession of Lorraine.]
+
+When at length Charles, Duke of Lorraine, Isabella's father, died, and
+the province should have descended to Isabella and René, there
+suddenly appeared another claimant, who thought, not that he had a
+better right to the province than Isabella, but that he had more power
+to seize and hold it than she, even with all the aid that her husband
+René could afford her. This claimant was Isabella's uncle, the younger
+brother of Duke Charles who had just died. His name was Antoine de
+Vaudemonte, or, as it would be expressed in English, Anthony of
+Vaudemont. This uncle, on the death of Isabella's father, determined
+to seize the duchy for himself, instead of allowing it to descend to
+Isabella, the proper heir, who, being but a woman, was looked upon
+with very little respect. "Lorraine," he said, "was too noble and
+valuable a fief to descend in the family on the spindle side."
+
+So he collected his adherents and retainers, organized an army, and
+took the field. Isabella, on the other hand, did all in her power to
+induce the people of the country to espouse her cause. René took the
+command of the forces which were raised in her behalf, and went forth
+to meet Antoine. Isabella herself, taking the children with her, went
+to the city of Nancy[2]--which was then, as now, the chief city of
+Lorraine, and was consequently the safest place for her--intending to
+await there the result of the conflict. Little Margaret was at this
+time about two years old.
+
+         [Footnote 2: The position of Nancy, as well as the situation
+         of the two provinces of Anjou and Lorraine, which are now
+         departments of France, may be seen by referring to any good
+         map of that country, or to that at the commencement of this
+         volume.]
+
+[Sidenote: The battle.]
+
+[Sidenote: René wounded and made prisoner.]
+
+The battle was fought at a place called Bulgneville, and the fortune
+of war, as it would seem, turned in this case against the right, for
+René's party were entirely defeated, and he himself was wounded and
+taken prisoner. He fought like a lion, it is said, as long as he
+remained unharmed; but at last he received a desperate wound on his
+brow, and the blood from this wound ran down into his eyes and blinded
+him, so that he could do no more; and he was immediately seized by the
+men who had wounded him, and made prisoner. The person who thus
+wounded and captured him was the squire of a certain knight who had
+espoused the cause of Antoine, named the Count St. Pol.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella's terror and distress.]
+
+In the mean time Isabella had remained at Nancy with the children, in
+a state of the utmost suspense and anxiety, awaiting the result of a
+conflict on which depended the fate of every thing that was valuable
+and dear to her. At length, at the window of the tower where she was
+watching, with little Margaret in her arms, for the coming of a herald
+from her husband to announce his victory, her heart sank within her to
+see, instead of a messenger of joy and triumph, a broken crowd of
+fugitives, breathless and covered with dust and blood, suddenly
+bursting into view, and showing too plainly by their aspect of terror
+and distress that all was lost. Isabella was overwhelmed with
+consternation at the sight. She clasped little Margaret closely in her
+arms, exclaiming in tones of indescribable agony, "My husband is
+killed! my husband is killed!"
+
+[Sidenote: Heavy tidings.]
+
+Her distress and anguish were somewhat calmed by the fugitives
+assuring her, when they arrived, that her husband was safe, though he
+had been wounded and taken prisoner.
+
+[Illustration: Distress of Margaret's Mother.]
+
+[Sidenote: Sympathy for Isabella.]
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella's interview with her uncle.]
+
+There was a great deal of sympathy felt for Isabella in her distress
+by all the people of Nancy. She was very young and very beautiful. Her
+children, and especially Margaret, were very beautiful too, and this
+greatly increased the compassion which the people were disposed to
+feel for her. Isabella's mother was strongly inclined to make new
+efforts to raise an army, in order to meet and fight Antoine again;
+but Isabella herself, who was now more concerned for the safety of her
+husband than for the recovery of her dominions, was disposed to pursue
+a conciliatory course. So she sent word to her uncle that she wished
+to see him, and entreated him to grant her an interview. Antoine
+acceded to her request, and at the interview Isabella begged her uncle
+to make peace with her, and to give her back her husband.
+
+[Sidenote: Negotiations for peace.]
+
+Antoine said that it was out of his power to liberate René, for he had
+delivered him to the custody of the Duke of Burgundy, who had been his
+ally in the war, and the duke had conveyed him away to his castle at
+Dijon, and shut him up there, and that now he would probably not be
+willing to give him up without the payment of a ransom. He said,
+however, that he was willing to make a truce with Isabella for six
+months, to give time to see what arrangement could be made.
+
+[Sidenote: Hostages.]
+
+This truce was agreed upon, and then, at length, after a long
+negotiation, terms of peace were concluded. René was to pay a large
+sum to the Duke of Burgundy for his ransom, and, in the mean time,
+while he was procuring the money, he was to leave his two sons in the
+duke's hands as hostages, to be held by the duke as security. In
+respect to Lorraine, Antoine insisted, as another of the conditions of
+peace, that Isabella's oldest daughter, Yolante, then about nine years
+old, should be betrothed to his son Frederick, so as to combine, in
+the next generation at least, the conflicting claims of the two
+parties to the possession of the territory; and, in order to secure
+the fulfillment of this condition, Yolante was to be delivered
+immediately to the charge and custody of Antoine's wife, the mother of
+her future husband. Thus all of Isabella's children were taken away
+from her except Margaret. And even Margaret, though left for the
+present with her mother, did not escape being involved in the
+entanglements of the treaty. Antoine insisted that she, too, should be
+betrothed to one of his partisans; and, as if to make the case as
+painful and humiliating to René and Isabella as possible, the person
+chosen to be her future husband was the very Count St. Pol whose
+squire had cut down and captured René at the battle of Bulgneville.
+
+[Sidenote: Hard conditions of peace.]
+
+[Sidenote: René can not procure the money for his ransom.]
+
+These conditions were very hard, but Isabella consented to them, as it
+was only by so doing that any hope seemed to be opened before her of
+obtaining the release of her husband. And even this hope, in the end,
+proved delusive. René found that, notwithstanding all his efforts, he
+could not obtain the money which the duke required for his ransom.
+Accordingly, in order to save his boys, whom he had delivered to the
+duke as hostages, he was obliged to return to Dijon and surrender
+himself again a prisoner. His parting with his wife and children,
+before going a second time into a confinement to which they could now
+see no end, was heartrending. Even little Margaret, who was yet so
+very young, joined from sympathy in the general sorrow, and wept
+bitterly when her father went away.
+
+[Sidenote: His long confinement.]
+
+The duke confined his captive in an upper room in a high tower of the
+castle of Dijon, and kept him imprisoned there for several years. One
+of the boys was kept with him, but the other was set at liberty. All
+this time Margaret remained with her mother. She was a very beautiful
+and a very intelligent child, and was a great favorite with all who
+knew her. The interest which was awakened by her beauty and her other
+personal attractions was greatly increased by the general sympathy
+which was felt for the misfortunes of her father, and the loneliness
+and distress of her mother.
+
+[Sidenote: 1436.]
+
+[Sidenote: His occupations and amusements in prison.]
+
+In the mean time, René, shut up in the tower at the castle of Dijon,
+made himself as contented as he could, and employed his time in
+various peaceful and ingenious occupations. Though he had fought well
+in the battle with Antoine, he was, in fact, not at all of a warlike
+disposition. He was very fond of music, and poetry, and painting; and
+he occupied his leisure during his confinement in executing beautiful
+miniatures and paintings upon glass, after the manner of those times.
+Some of these paintings remained in the window of a church in Dijon,
+where they were placed soon after René painted them, for several
+hundred years.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of René's royal title.]
+
+It has already been stated that the name by which Margaret's father is
+commonly designated is King René. The origin of this royal title is
+now to be explained. He had an older brother, who became by
+inheritance, with Joanna his wife, king and queen of the Two Sicilies,
+that is, of the kingdom consisting of the island of Sicily and the
+territory connected with Naples on the main land. The brother, at the
+close of his life, designated René as his heir. This happened in the
+year 1436, while René was still in captivity in the castle of Dijon.
+He could, of course, do nothing himself to assert his claims to this
+new inheritance, but Isabella immediately assumed the title of Queen
+of the Two Sicilies for herself, and began at once to make
+preparation for proceeding to Italy and taking possession of the
+kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella and the children at Tarascon.]
+
+While maturing her plans, she took up her residence for a time at the
+chateau of Tarascon, on the banks of the Rhone, with the two children
+who remained under her care, namely, her son Louis and Margaret. Her
+other son was at Dijon with his father, and the other daughter,
+Yolante, had been given up, as has already been said, to the custody
+of the wife of Antoine, with a view of being married, as soon as she
+was old enough, to Antoine's son.
+
+The children attracted great attention at Tarascon. Their mother
+Isabella was by birth a lady of very high rank, her family being
+intimately connected with the royal family of France. She was now,
+too, by title at least, herself a queen. The children were very
+intelligent and beautiful, and the misfortunes and cruel captivity of
+their father and brother were known and talked of in all the country
+around. So the peasants and their families crowded around the chateau
+to see the children. They brought them wreaths of flowers and other
+votive offerings. They sang songs to serenade them, and they built
+bonfires around the walls of the chateau at night, to drive away the
+infection of the plague, which was then prevailing in some parts of
+the country, and was exciting considerable alarm.
+
+[Sidenote: Witches and the plague.]
+
+The people of the country believed that this plague was produced by
+magic and witchcraft, and there were some poor old women, who came
+with the other peasants to the walls of the chateau of Tarascon to see
+the children, who were believed to be witches. Afterward the plague
+broke out at Tarascon, and Margaret's mother was obliged to go away,
+taking the children with her. The poor women were, however, seized and
+burned at the stake, it being universally believed that it was they
+who had caused the plague.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella goes into Italy.]
+
+Isabella's arrangements were now so far matured that she went at once
+into Italy with the children, and took up her abode there in the town
+of Capua. René still remained in captivity, but Isabella caused him to
+be proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies with great pomp and parade. At
+the time of this ceremony, the two children, Margaret and her brother,
+were seated beside their mother in a grand state carriage, which was
+lined with velvet and embroidered with gold, and in this way they were
+conveyed through the streets of the city.
+
+[Sidenote: René is at last set free.]
+
+After a time René was liberated from his confinement, and restored to
+his family, but he did not long enjoy this apparent return of
+prosperity. His claim to the kingdom of Naples was disputed, and,
+after a conflict, he was expelled from the country. In the mean time,
+the English had so far extended their conquests in France that both
+his native province of Anjou, and his wife's inheritances in Lorraine,
+had fallen into their hands, so that with all the aristocratic
+distinction of their descent, and the grandeur of their royal titles,
+the family were now, as it were, without house or home. They returned
+to France, and Isabella, with the children, found refuge from time to
+time with one and another of the great families to which she was
+related, while René led a wandering life, being reduced often to a
+state of great destitution.
+
+[Sidenote: His temper and disposition.]
+
+[Sidenote: King René's fireside.]
+
+He, however, bore his misfortunes with a very placid temper, and
+amused himself, wherever he was, with music, poetry, and painting. He
+was so cheerful and good-natured withal that he made himself a very
+agreeable companion, and was generally welcome, as a visitor, wherever
+he went. He retained the name of King René as long as he lived, though
+he was a king without a kingdom. At one time he was reduced, it is
+said, to such straits that to warm himself he used to walk to and fro
+in the streets of Marseilles, on the sunny side of the buildings,
+which circumstance gave rise to a proverb long known and often quoted
+in those parts, which designated the act of going out into the sun to
+escape from the cold as warming one's self at King René's fireside.
+
+Such was the family from which Margaret of Anjou sprang.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ROYAL COURTSHIP.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1444.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's talents and accomplishments.]
+
+[Sidenote: Offers of marriage.]
+
+When Margaret was not more than fourteen or fifteen years of age, she
+began to be very celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and
+for the charming vivacity of her conversation and her demeanor. She
+resided with her mother in different families in Lorraine and in other
+parts of France, and was sometimes at the court of the Queen of
+France, who was her near relative. All who knew her were charmed with
+her. She was considered equally remarkable for her talents and for her
+beauty. The arrangement which had been made in her childhood for
+marrying her to the Count of St. Pol was broken off, but several other
+offers were made to her mother for her hand, though none of them was
+accepted. Isabella was very proud of her daughter, and she cherished
+very lofty aspirations in respect to her future destiny. She was
+therefore not at all inclined to be in haste in respect to making
+arrangements for her marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: State of things in England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's character.]
+
+In the mean time, the feud between the uncles and relatives of King
+Henry, in England, as related in a preceding chapter, had been going
+on, and was now reaching a climax. The leaders of the two rival
+parties were, as will be recollected, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of
+Winchester, or Cardinal Beaufort, as he was more commonly called, who
+had had the personal charge of the king during his minority, on one
+side, and the Duke of Gloucester, Henry's uncle, who had been regent
+of England during the same period, on the other. The king himself was
+now about twenty-four years of age, and if he had been a man of vigor
+and resolution, he might perhaps have controlled the angry disputants,
+and by taking the government fully into his own hands, have forced
+them to live together in peace under his paramount authority. But
+Henry was a very timid and feeble-minded man. The turbulence and
+impetuousness of his uncles and their partisans in their quarrel was
+altogether too great for any control that he could hope to exercise
+over them. Indeed, the great question with them was which should
+contrive the means of exercising the greatest control over _him_.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans of the courtiers.]
+
+In order to accomplish this end, both parties began very early to plan
+and manoeuvre with a view of choosing the king a wife. Whichever of
+the two great leaders should succeed in negotiating the marriage of
+the king, they knew well would, by that very act, establish his
+influence at court in the most absolute manner.
+
+[Sidenote: Princes and kings.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their matrimonial plans.]
+
+Princes and kings in those days, as, indeed, is the case to a
+considerable extent now, had some peculiar difficulties to contend
+with in making their matrimonial arrangements, so far at least as
+concerned the indulgence of any personal preferences which they might
+themselves entertain on the subject. Indeed, these arrangements were
+generally made for them, while they were too young to have any voice
+or to take any part in the question, and nothing was left for them but
+to ratify and carry into effect, when they came to years of maturity,
+what their parents, or grand councils of state, had determined for
+them when they were children, or else to refuse to ratify and confirm
+it at the cost of incurring a vast amount of difficulty and political
+entanglement, and perhaps even open and formidable war.
+
+[Sidenote: Embarrassments.]
+
+[Sidenote: Difficulty of leaving the country.]
+
+And even in those cases where the prince or king arrived at an age to
+judge for himself before any arrangements were made for him, which was
+the fact in regard to Henry VI., he was still very much embarrassed
+and circumscribed in his choice if he attempted to select a wife for
+himself. He could not visit foreign courts and see the princesses
+there, so as to judge for himself who would best please him; for in
+those days it was very unsafe for personages of any considerable rank
+or position to visit foreign countries at all, except at the head of
+an army, and in a military campaign. In the case, too, of any actually
+reigning monarch, there was a special difficulty in the way of his
+leaving his kingdom, on account of the feuds and quarrels which always
+in such cases arose in making the necessary arrangements for the
+government of the kingdom during his absence.
+
+[Sidenote: Miniatures.]
+
+[Sidenote: Situation of King Henry.]
+
+For these and various other causes, a king or a prince desiring to
+choose a wife was obliged to content himself with such information
+relating to the several candidates as he could obtain from hearsay in
+respect to their characters, and from miniatures and portraits in
+respect to their personal attractions. This was especially the case
+with King Henry VI. Each of the two great parties, that of Cardinal
+Beaufort on one hand, and that of the Duke of Gloucester on the other,
+were desirous of being the means of finding a bride for the king, and
+both were eagerly looking in all directions, and plotting for the
+accomplishment of this end, and any attempt of the king to leave the
+kingdom for any purpose whatever would undoubtedly have brought these
+parties at once to open war.
+
+[Sidenote: Plan of the Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+The Duke of Gloucester and those who acted with him fixed their eyes
+upon three princesses of a certain great family, called the house of
+Armagnac. Their plan was to open negotiations with this house, and to
+obtain portraits of the three princesses, to be sent to England, in
+order that Henry might take his choice of them. Commissioners were
+appointed to manage the business. They were to open the negotiations
+and obtain the portraits. The cardinal, of course, and his friends
+were greatly interested in preventing the success of this plan,
+though, of course, it was necessary for them to be discreet and
+cautious in manifesting any open opposition to it in the then present
+stage of the affair.
+
+[Sidenote: The three princesses of Armagnac.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their portraits.]
+
+The king was very particular in the instructions which he gave to the
+commissioners in respect to the portraits, with a view of securing, if
+possible, perfectly correct and fair representations of the originals.
+He wished that the princesses should not be flattered at all by the
+artist in his delineation of them, and that they should not be dressed
+at their sittings in any unusually elegant manner. On the contrary,
+they were to be painted "in their kirtles simple, and their visages
+like as ye see, and their stature, and their beauty, and the color of
+their skin, and their countenances, just as they really are." The
+artist was instructed, too, by the commissioners to be expeditious in
+finishing the pictures and sending them to England, in order that the
+king might see them as soon as possible, and make his choice between
+the three young ladies whose "images" were to be thus laid before him.
+
+[Sidenote: The plan fails.]
+
+This plan for giving the king an opportunity to choose between the
+three princesses of Armagnac, nicely arranged as it was in all its
+details, failed of being carried successfully into effect; for the
+father of these princesses, as it happened, was at this same time
+engaged in some negotiations with the King of France in respect to the
+marriage of his daughters, and he wished to keep the negotiations with
+Henry in suspense until he had ascertained whether he could or could
+not do better in that quarter. So he contrived means to interrupt and
+retard the work of the artist, in order to delay for a time the
+finishing of the pictures.
+
+[Sidenote: In what way.]
+
+[Sidenote: The cardinal's scheme.]
+
+In the mean time, while the Duke of Gloucester and his party were thus
+engaged in forwarding their scheme of inducing Henry to make choice of
+one of these three princesses for his wife, the cardinal himself was
+not idle. He had heard of the beautiful and accomplished Margaret of
+Anjou, and after full inquiry and reflection, he determined in his own
+mind to make her his candidate for the honor of being Queen of
+England. The manner in which he contrived to introduce the subject
+first to the notice of the king was this.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier.]
+
+There was a certain man, named Champchevrier, who had been taken
+prisoner in Anjou in the course of the wars between France and
+England, and who was now held for ransom by the knight who had
+captured him. He was not, however, kept in close confinement, but was
+allowed to go at large in England on his parole--that is, on his word
+of honor that he would not make his escape and go back to his native
+land until his ransom was paid.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier at court.]
+
+Now this Champchevrier, though a prisoner, was a gentleman by birth
+and education; and while he remained in England, held by his parole,
+was admitted to the best society there, and he often appeared at
+court, and frequently held converse with the king. In one of these
+interviews he described, in very glowing terms, the beauty and
+remarkable intelligence of Margaret of Anjou. It is supposed that he
+was induced to this by Cardinal Beaufort, who knew of his
+acquaintance with Margaret, and who contrived the interviews between
+Champchevrier and the king, in order to give the former an opportunity
+to speak of the lady to his majesty incidentally, as it were, and in a
+way not to excite the king's suspicions that the commendations of her
+which he heard were prompted by any match-making schemes formed for
+him by his courtiers.
+
+[Sidenote: His conversations with the king.]
+
+If this was the secret plan of the cardinal, it succeeded admirably
+well. The king's curiosity was strongly awakened by the piquant
+accounts that Champchevrier gave him of the brilliancy of young
+Margaret's beauty, and of her charming vivacity and wit.
+
+[Sidenote: The king wishes for a picture.]
+
+"I should like very much to see a picture of the young lady," said the
+king.
+
+"I can easily obtain a picture of her for your majesty," replied
+Champchevrier, "if your majesty will commission me to go to Lorraine
+for the purpose."
+
+Champchevrier considered that a commission from the king to go to
+Lorraine on business for his majesty would be a sufficient release for
+him from the obligations of his parole.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier's expedition.]
+
+The king finally gave Champchevrier the required authority to leave
+the kingdom. Champchevrier was not satisfied with a verbal permission
+merely, but required the king to give him a regular safe-conduct,
+drawn up in due form, and signed by the king's name. Having received
+this document, Champchevrier left London and set out upon his journey,
+the nature and object of the expedition being of course kept a
+profound secret.
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Suffolk.]
+
+A certain nobleman, however, named the Earl of Suffolk, was admitted
+to the confidence of the king in this affair, and was by him
+associated with Champchevrier in the arrangements which were to be
+made for carrying the plan into execution. It would seem that he
+accompanied Champchevrier in his journey to Lorraine, where Margaret
+was then residing with her mother, and there assisted him in making
+arrangements for the painting of the picture. They employed one of the
+first artists in France for this purpose. When the work was finished,
+Champchevrier set out with it on his return to England.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier in danger.]
+
+In the mean time, the English knight whose prisoner Champchevrier was,
+heard in some way that his captive had left England, and had returned
+to France, and the intelligence made him exceedingly angry. He thought
+that Champchevrier had broken his parole and had gone home without
+paying his ransom. Such an act as this was regarded as extremely
+dishonorable in those days, and it was, moreover, not only considered
+dishonorable in a prisoner himself to break his parole, but also in
+any one else to aid or abet him in so doing, or to harbor or protect
+him after his escape. The knight determined, therefore, that he would
+at once communicate with the King of France on the subject, explaining
+the circumstances, and asking him to rearrest the supposed fugitive
+and send him back.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester writes to the King of France.]
+
+So he went to the Duke of Gloucester, and, stating the case to him,
+asked his grace to write to the King of France, informing him that
+Champchevrier had escaped from his parole, and asking him not to give
+him refuge, but to seize and send him back. Gloucester was very
+willing to do this. It is probable that he knew that Champchevrier was
+a friend of the cardinal's, or at least that he was attached to his
+interests, and that it was altogether probable that his going into
+France was connected with some plot or scheme by which the cardinal
+and his party were to derive some advantage. So he wrote the letter,
+and it was at once sent to the King of France. The King of France at
+this time was Charles VII.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier arrested.]
+
+The king, on receiving the letter, gave orders immediately that
+Champchevrier should be arrested. By this time, however, the painting
+was finished, and Champchevrier was on the way with it from Lorraine
+toward England. He was intercepted on his journey, taken to Vincennes,
+and there brought before King Charles, and called upon to give an
+account of himself.
+
+[Sidenote: The whole story comes out.]
+
+Of course he was now obliged to tell the whole story. He said that he
+had not broken his parole at all, nor intended in any manner to
+defraud his captor in England of the ransom money that was due to him,
+but had come to France _by the orders of the King of England_. He
+explained, too, what he had come for, and showed Charles the painting
+which he was carrying back to the king. He also, in proof of the truth
+of what he said, produced the safe-conduct which King Henry had given
+him.
+
+King Charles laughed very heartily at hearing this explanation, and at
+perceiving how neatly he had discovered the secret of King Henry's
+love affairs. He was much pleased, too, with the idea of King Henry's
+taking a fancy to a lady so nearly related to the royal family of
+France. He thought that he might make the negotiation of such a
+marriage the occasion for making peace with England on favorable
+terms. So he dismissed Champchevrier at once, and recommended to him
+to proceed to England as soon as possible, and there to do all in his
+power to induce King Henry to choose Margaret for his queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Trouble in court.]
+
+Champchevrier accordingly returned to England and reported the result
+of his mission. The king was very much pleased with the painting, and
+he immediately determined to send Champchevrier again to Lorraine on a
+secret mission to Margaret's mother. He first, however, determined to
+release Champchevrier entirely from his parole, and so he paid the
+ransom himself for which he had been held. The Duke of Gloucester
+watched all these proceedings with a very jealous eye. When he found
+that Champchevrier, on his return to England, came at once to the
+king's court, and that there he held frequent conferences, which were
+full of mystery, with the king and with the cardinal, and when,
+moreover, he learned that the king had paid the ransom money due to
+the knight, and that Champchevrier was to be sent away again, he at
+once suspected what was going on, and the whole court was soon in a
+great ferment of excitement in respect to the proposed marriage of the
+king to Margaret of Anjou.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester's opposition.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret gains the day.]
+
+[Sidenote: Truce proposed.]
+
+The Duke of Gloucester and his party were, of course, strongly opposed
+to Margaret of Anjou; for they knew well that, as she had been brought
+to the king's notice by the other party, her becoming Queen of England
+would well-nigh destroy their hopes and expectations for all time to
+come. The other party acted as decidedly and vigorously in favor of
+the marriage. There followed a long contest, in which there was
+plotting and counterplotting on one side and on the other, and
+manoeuvres without end. At last the friends of the beautiful little
+Margaret carried the day; and in the year 1444 commissioners were
+formally appointed by the governments of England and France to meet at
+the city of Tours at a specified day, to negotiate a truce between the
+two countries preparatory to a permanent peace, the basis and cement
+of which was to be the marriage of King Henry with Margaret of Anjou.
+The truce was made for two years, so as to allow full time to arrange
+all the details both for a peace between the two countries, and also
+in respect to the terms and conditions of the marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Opposition in England.]
+
+As soon as the news that this truce was made arrived in England, it
+produced great excitement. The Duke of Gloucester and those who were,
+with him, interested to prevent the accomplishment of the marriage,
+formed a powerful political party to oppose it. They did not, however,
+openly object to the marriage itself, thinking that not politic, but
+directed their hostility chiefly against the plan of making peace with
+France just at the time, they said, when the glory of the English arms
+and the progress of the English power in that country were at their
+height. It was very discreditable to the advisers of the king, they
+said, that they should counsel him to stop short in the career of
+conquest which his armies were pursuing, and thus sacrifice the grand
+advantages for the realm of England which were just within reach.
+
+[Sidenote: Violent discussions.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk is alarmed.]
+
+The discussions and dissensions which arose in the court and in
+Parliament on this subject were very violent; but in the end Cardinal
+Beaufort and his party were successful, and the king appointed the
+Earl of Suffolk embassador extraordinary to the court of France to
+negotiate the terms and conditions of the permanent peace which was to
+be made between the two countries, and also of the marriage of the
+king. At first Suffolk was very unwilling to undertake this embassy.
+He feared that, in order to carry out the king's wishes, he should be
+obliged to make such important concessions to France that, at some
+future time, when perhaps the party of the Duke of Gloucester should
+come into power, he might be held responsible for the measure, and be
+tried and condemned, perhaps, for high treason, in having been the
+means of sacrificing the interests and honor of the kingdom by
+advising and negotiating a dishonorable peace. These fears of his were
+probably increased by the intensity of the excitement which he
+perceived in the Gloucester party, and perhaps, also, by open threats
+and demonstrations which they may have uttered for the express purpose
+of intimidating him.
+
+[Sidenote: His safe-conduct.]
+
+At any rate, after receiving the appointment, his courage failed him,
+and he begged the king to excuse him from performing so dangerous a
+commission. The king was, however, very unwilling to do so. Finally,
+it was agreed that the king should give the earl his written order,
+executed in due and solemn form, and signed with the great seal,
+commanding him, on the royal authority, to undertake the embassage.
+Suffolk relied on this document as his means of defense from all legal
+responsibility for his action in case his enemies should at any future
+time have it in their power to bring him to trial for it.
+
+[Sidenote: Various difficulties and objections.]
+
+In negotiating the peace, and in arranging the terms and conditions
+of the marriage, a great many difficulties were found to be in the
+way, but they were all at last overcome. One of these difficulties was
+made by King René, the father of Margaret. He declared that he could
+not consent to give his daughter in marriage to the King of England
+unless the king would first restore to him and to his family the
+province of Anjou, which had been the possession of his ancestors, but
+which King Henry's armies had overrun and conquered. The Earl of
+Suffolk was very unwilling to cede back this territory, for he knew
+very well that nothing would be so unpopular in England, or so likely
+to increase the hostility of the English people to the proposed
+marriage, and consequently to give new life and vigor to the
+Gloucester party in their opposition to it, as the giving up again of
+territory which the English troops had won by so many hard-fought
+battles and the sacrifice of so many lives. But René was inflexible,
+and Suffolk finally yielded, and so Anjou was restored to its former
+possessors.
+
+[Sidenote: The king asks no dowry.]
+
+Another objection which René made was that his fortune was not
+sufficient to enable him to endow his daughter properly for so
+splendid a marriage; not having the means, he said, of sending her in
+a suitable manner into England.
+
+But this the King of England said should make no difference. All that
+he asked was the hand of the princess without any dowry. Her personal
+charms and mental endowments were sufficient to outweigh all the
+riches in the world; and if her royal father and mother would grant
+her to King Henry as his bride, he would not ask to receive with her
+"either penny or farthing."
+
+[Sidenote: The king has a rival.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's wishes.]
+
+King Henry was made all the more eager to close the negotiations for
+the marriage as soon as possible, and to consent to almost any terms
+which the King of France and René might exact, from the fact that
+there was a young prince of the house of Burgundy--a very brave,
+handsome, and accomplished man--who was also a suitor for Margaret's
+hand, and was very devotedly attached to her. This young prince was in
+France at this time, and ready, at any moment, to take advantage of
+any difficulty which might arise in the negotiations with Henry to
+press his claims, and, perhaps, to carry off the prize. Which of the
+two candidates Margaret herself would have preferred there is no means
+of knowing. She was yet only about fifteen years of age, and was
+completely in the power and at the disposal of her father and mother.
+And then the political and family interests which were at stake in
+the decision of the question were too vast to allow of the personal
+preferences of the young girl herself being taken much into the
+account.
+
+[Sidenote: The affair finally settled.]
+
+At last every thing was arranged, and Suffolk returned to England,
+bringing with him the treaty of peace and the contract of marriage, to
+be ratified by the king's council and by Parliament. A new contest now
+ensued between the Gloucester and Beaufort parties. The king, of
+course, threw all his influence on the cardinal's side, and so the
+treaty and the contract carried the day. Both were ratified. The Earl
+of Suffolk, as a reward for his services, was made a marquis, and he
+was appointed the king's proxy to proceed to France and espouse the
+bride in the king's name, according to the usual custom in the case of
+royal marriages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE WEDDING.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Preparations for the wedding.]
+
+[Sidenote: Excitement.]
+
+Preparations were now immediately made for solemnizing the marriage
+and bringing the young queen at once to England. The marriage ceremony
+by which a foreign princess was united to a reigning prince, according
+to the custom of those times, was twofold, or, rather, there were two
+distinct ceremonies to be performed, in one of which the bride, at her
+father's own court, was united to her future husband by proxy, and in
+the second the nuptials were celebrated anew with her husband himself
+in person, after her arrival in his kingdom. Suffolk, as was stated in
+the last chapter, was appointed to act as the king's proxy in this
+case, for the performance of the first of these ceremonies. He was to
+proceed to France, espouse the bride in the king's name, and convey
+her to England. Of course a universal excitement now spread itself
+among all the nobility and among all the ladies of the court, which
+was awakened by the interest which all took in the approaching
+wedding, and the desire they felt to accompany the expedition.
+
+[Sidenote: Dresses.]
+
+[Sidenote: Company.]
+
+A great many of the lords and ladies began to make preparations to
+join Lord and Lady Suffolk. Nothing was talked of but dresses,
+equipments, presents, invitations, and every body was occupied in the
+collecting and packing of stores and baggage for a long journey. At
+length the appointed time arrived, and the expedition set out, and,
+after a journey of many days, the several parties which composed it
+arrived at Nancy, the capital city of Lorraine, where the ceremony was
+to be performed.
+
+[Sidenote: King and Queen of France.]
+
+At about the same time, the King and Queen of France, accompanied by a
+great concourse of nobles and gentlemen from the French court, who
+were to honor the wedding with their presence, arrived. A great many
+other knights and ladies, too, from the provinces and castles of the
+surrounding country, were seen coming in gay and splendid cavalcades
+to the town, when the appointed day drew nigh, eager to witness the
+ceremony, and to join in the magnificent festivities which they well
+knew would be arranged to commemorate and honor the occasion. In a
+word, the whole town became one brilliant scene of gayety, life, and
+excitement.
+
+[Sidenote: The marriage ceremony is performed.]
+
+[Sidenote: The bride's household.]
+
+The marriage ceremony was performed in the church, with great pomp
+and parade, and in the midst of a vast concourse of people, composed
+of the highest nobility of Europe, both lords and ladies, and all
+dressed in the most magnificent and distinguished costumes. No
+spectacle could possibly be more splendid and gay. At the close of the
+ceremony, the bride was placed solemnly in charge of Lady Suffolk, who
+was to be responsible for her safety and welfare until she should
+arrive in England, and there be delivered into the hands of her
+husband. Lady Suffolk was a cousin of Cardinal Beaufort, and she
+undoubtedly received this very exalted appointment through his favor.
+The appointment brought with it a great deal of patronage and
+influence, for a regular and extended household was now to be
+organized for the service of the new queen, and of course, among all
+the lords and ladies who had come from England, there was a very eager
+competition to obtain places in it. There are enumerated among those
+who were appointed to posts of service or honor in attendance on the
+queen, under the Marchioness of Suffolk, five barons and baronesses,
+seventeen knights, sixty-five squires, and no less than one hundred
+and seventy-four valets, besides many other servitors, all under pay.
+Then, in addition to these, so great was the eagerness to occupy some
+recognized station in the train of the bride, that great numbers
+applied for appointments to nominal offices for which they were to
+receive no pay.
+
+[Sidenote: The express.]
+
+If René, Margaret's father, had been possessed of a fortune
+corresponding to his rank, the expense of all these arrangements, at
+least up to the time of the departure of the bridal party, would, have
+been defrayed by him; but as it was, every thing was paid for by King
+Henry, and the precise amount of every expenditure stands recorded in
+certain old books of accounts which still remain among the ancient
+English archives.
+
+[Sidenote: Tournament.]
+
+[Sidenote: The victors in the games.]
+
+The nuptials of the princess were celebrated by a tournament and other
+accompanying festivities, which were continued for eight days. In
+these tournaments a great many mock combats were fought, in which the
+most exalted personages present on the occasion took conspicuous and
+prominent parts. The King of France himself appeared in the lists, and
+fought with René, the father of the bride. The king was beaten. It
+would have been impolite for any one to have vanquished the father of
+the bride at a tournament held in honor of the daughter's nuptials.
+The Count St. Pol, too, who had formerly been betrothed to Margaret,
+but had not been allowed to marry her, fought very successfully, and
+won a valuable prize, which was conferred upon him with great ceremony
+by the hands of the two most distinguished ladies present, namely, the
+Queen of France and Isabella of Lorraine, the bride's mother. Perhaps
+he too was politely allowed to win his victory and his honorary prize,
+in consideration of his submitting so quietly to the loss of the real
+prize which his great competitor, the King of England, was so
+triumphantly bearing away from him.
+
+[Sidenote: Romantic incident.]
+
+[Sidenote: Grand elopement.]
+
+[Sidenote: The parents finally appeased.]
+
+The celebrations of the eight days were interrupted and enlivened by
+one remarkable incident, which for a time threatened to produce very
+serious difficulty. It will be remembered that when the original
+contract and treaty were made between René and the uncle of Isabella,
+Antoine of Vaudemonte, at the time when peace was re-established
+between them, after the battle in which René was taken prisoner, that
+not only was it agreed that Margaret should be betrothed to the Count
+St. Pol, but also that Yolante, Margaret's elder sister, was betrothed
+to Antoine's son Ferry, as he was called.[3] Now Ferry seemed not
+disposed to submit quietly, as St. Pol had done, to the loss of his
+bride, and as he had never thus far been able to induce René and
+Isabella to fulfill their agreement by consenting to the consummation
+of the marriage, he determined now to take the matter into his own
+hands. So he formed the scheme of an elopement. His plan was to take
+advantage of the excitement and confusion attendant on the tournament
+for carrying off his bride. He organized a band of adventurous young
+knights who were willing to aid him in his enterprise, and, laying his
+plans secretly and carefully, he, assisted by his comrades, seized the
+young lady and galloped away with her to a place of safety, intending
+to keep her there in his own custody until King René and her mother
+should consent to her immediate marriage. King René, when he first
+heard of his daughter's abduction, was very angry, and declared that
+he would never forgive either Ferry or Yolante. But the King and Queen
+of France interceded for the lovers, and René at last relented. Ferry
+and Yolante were married, and all parties were made friends again,
+after which the celebrations and festivities were renewed with greater
+spirit and ardor than before.
+
+         [Footnote 3: The name was a contraction of Frederick.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret takes leave of her friends.]
+
+At length the time for the conclusion of the public rejoicings at
+Nancy, and for the commencement of Margaret's journey to England,
+arrived. Thus far, though nominally under the care and keeping of Lord
+and Lady Suffolk, Margaret had of course been really most intimately
+associated with her own family and friends; but now the time had come
+when she was to take a final leave of her father and mother, and of
+all whom she had known and loved from infancy, and be put really and
+fully into the trust and keeping of strangers, to be taken by them to
+a distant and foreign land. The parting was very painful. It seems
+that Margaret's beauty and the charming vivacity of her manners had
+made her universally beloved, and the hearts not only of her father
+and mother, but of the whole circle of those who had known her, were
+filled with grief at the thought of parting with her forever.
+
+[Sidenote: Setting out of the procession.]
+
+The King and Queen of France, who seem to have loved their niece with
+sincere affection, determined to accompany her for a short distance,
+as she set out on her journey from Nancy. Of course, many of the
+courtiers went too. These together with the great number of English
+nobles and gentry that were attached to the service of the bride, made
+so large a company, and the dresses, caparisons, and trappings which
+were exhibited on the occasion were so splendid and fine, that the
+cavalcade, as it set out from the city of Nancy on the morning when
+the journey was to commence, formed one of the gayest and grandest
+bridal processions that the world has ever seen.
+
+[Sidenote: Parting with the King and Queen of France.]
+
+After proceeding for five or six miles the procession came to a halt,
+in order that the King and Queen of France might take their leave. The
+parting filled the hearts of their majesties with grief. The king
+clasped Margaret again and again in his arms when he bade her
+farewell, and told her that in placing her, as he had done, upon one
+of the greatest thrones in Europe, it seemed to him, after all, that
+he had really done nothing for her, "for even such a throne is
+scarcely worthy of you, my darling child," said he. In saying this his
+eyes filled with tears. The queen was so overwhelmed with emotion that
+she could not speak; but, kissing Margaret again and again amid her
+sobbings and tears, she finally turned from her and was borne away.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's parents.]
+
+Margaret's father and mother did not take their leave of her at this
+place, but went on with her two days' journey, as far as to the town
+of Bar le Duc, which was near the frontiers of Lorraine. Here they,
+too, at last took their leave, though their hearts were so full, when
+the moment of final parting came, that they could not speak, but bade
+their child farewell with tears and caresses, unaccompanied with any
+words whatever of farewell.
+
+[Sidenote: The bride's new friends.]
+
+Still Margaret was not left entirely alone among strangers when her
+father and mother left her. One of her brothers, and some other
+friends, were to accompany her to England. She had, moreover, by this
+time become well acquainted with the Marquis and Marchioness of
+Suffolk, under whose charge and protection she was now traveling, and
+she had become strongly attached to them. They were both considerably
+advanced in life, and were grave and quiet in their demeanor, but they
+were very kind and attentive to Margaret in every respect, and they
+made every effort in their power to console the grief that she felt at
+parting with her parents and friends, and leaving her native land, and
+they endeavored in every way to make the journey as comfortable and as
+agreeable as possible to her.
+
+[Sidenote: The vessel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Causes of delay.]
+
+During all this time a vessel, which had been dispatched from England
+for the purpose, was waiting at a certain port on the northern coast
+of France called Kiddelaws, ready to take the queen and her bridal
+train across the Channel. The distance from Nancy to this port was
+very considerable, and the means and facilities for traveling enjoyed
+in those days were so imperfect that a great deal of time was
+necessarily employed on the journey. Besides this, a long delay was
+occasioned by the want of funds. King Henry had himself agreed to
+defray all the expenses of the marriage, and also of the progress of
+the bridal party through France to England. These expenses were
+necessarily great, and it happened at this time that the king was in
+very straitened circumstances in respect to funds. He was greatly
+embarrassed, too, in the efforts which he made to procure money, by
+the difficulties which were thrown in his way by the party of the Duke
+of Gloucester, who resisted by every means in their power all action
+of Parliament tending to furnish the king's treasury with money, and
+thus promote the final accomplishment of the marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's want of money.]
+
+In consequence of all these difficulties and delays, it was nearly
+three months from the time when the bridal ceremony was performed at
+Nancy before Margaret was ready to embark for England in the vessel
+that awaited her at Kiddelaws.
+
+[Sidenote: Expenses to be incurred in England.]
+
+It was not merely for the expenses of the journey through France of
+Margaret and her train that Henry had to provide. On her arrival in
+England there was to be a grand reception, which would require many
+costly equipages, and the giving of many entertainments. Then,
+moreover, the marriage ceremony was to be performed anew, and in a far
+more pompous and imposing manner than before, and after the marriage a
+coronation, with all the attendant festivities and celebrations. All
+these things involved great expense, and Margaret could not come into
+the kingdom until the preparations were made for the whole. To such
+straits was the king reduced in his efforts to raise the money which
+he deemed necessary for the proper reception of his bride, that he was
+obliged to pledge a large portion of the crown jewels, and also of the
+family plate and other personal property of that kind. A considerable
+part of the property so pledged was never redeemed.
+
+[Sidenote: Passage across the Channel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rough weather.]
+
+At length, however, things were so far in readiness that orders
+arrived for the sailing of the expedition. The party accordingly
+embarked, and the vessel sailed. They crossed the Channel, and entered
+Portsmouth harbor, and finally landed at the town of Porchester, which
+is situated at the head of the harbor. The voyage was not very
+agreeable. The vessel was small, and the Channel in this place is
+wide, and Margaret was so sick during the passage, and became so
+entirely exhausted, that when the vessel reached the port she could
+not stand, and Suffolk carried her to the shore in his arms.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's reception.]
+
+The boisterous weather which had attended the party during their
+voyage increased till it ended in a dreadful storm of thunder,
+lightning, and rain, which burst over the town of Porchester just at
+the time while the party were landing. The people, however, paid no
+attention to the storm and rain, but flocked in crowds into the
+streets where the bride was to pass, and strewed rushes along the way
+to make a carpet for her. They also filled the air with joyful
+acclamations as the procession passed along. In this way the royal
+bride was conveyed through the town to a convent in the vicinity,
+where she was to rest for the first night, and prepare for continuing
+her journey to London.
+
+[Sidenote: Passage to Southampton.]
+
+The next day, the weather having become settled and fair, it was
+arranged that Margaret and her party should be conveyed from
+Porchester to Southampton along the shore in barges. The water of this
+passage is smooth, being sheltered every where by the land. The barges
+first moved down Portsmouth harbor, then out into what is called the
+Solent Sea, which is a narrow, sheltered, and beautiful sheet of
+water, lying between the Isle of Wight and the main land, and thence,
+entering Southampton Water, they passed up, a distance of eight or ten
+miles, to the town.[4]
+
+         [Footnote 4: See Frontispiece.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen takes lodgings in a convent.]
+
+On the arrival of the queen at Southampton, she was conveyed again to
+a convent in the vicinity of the town, for this was before the days of
+hotels. Here she was met by persons sent from the king to assist her
+in respect to her farther preparations for appearing at his court.
+Among other measures that were adopted, one was the sending a special
+messenger to London to bring an English dressmaker to Southampton, in
+order that suitable dresses might be prepared for the bride, to enable
+her to appear properly in the presence of the English ladies at the
+approaching ceremonies.
+
+[Sidenote: The king.]
+
+[Sidenote: Lichfield Abbey.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret is seriously sick.]
+
+In the mean time, King Henry, whom the rules of royal etiquette did
+not allow to join the queen until the time should arrive for the
+performance of the second part of the nuptial ceremony, came down from
+London, and took up his abode at a place ten or twelve miles distant,
+called Southwick, where he had a palace and a park. The nuptials were
+to be celebrated at a certain abbey called Lichfield Abbey, which was
+situated about midway between Southampton, where the queen was
+lodged, and Southwick, the place of waiting for the king. The king had
+expected that every thing would be ready in a few days, but he was
+destined to encounter a new delay. Margaret had scarcely arrived in
+Southampton when she was attacked by an eruptive fever of some sort,
+resembling small-pox, which threw all her friends into a state of
+great alarm concerning her. The disease, however, proved less serious
+than was at first apprehended, and after a week or two the danger
+seemed to be over.
+
+During all the time while his bride was thus sick Henry remained in
+great suspense and anxiety at Southwick, being forbidden, by the rigid
+rules of royal etiquette, to see her.
+
+[Sidenote: Recovery.]
+
+At length Margaret recovered, and the day was appointed for the final
+celebration of the nuptials. When the time arrived, Margaret was
+conveyed in great state, and at the head of a splendid cavalcade, to
+the abbey, and there the marriage ceremony was again performed in the
+presence of a great concourse of lords and ladies that had come from
+London and Windsor, or from their various castles in the country
+around, to be present on the occasion.
+
+[Illustration: Suffolk Presenting Margaret to the King.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1445.]
+
+[Sidenote: The final ceremony.]
+
+This final ceremony was performed in April, 1445. Of course, as
+Margaret was born in March, 1429, she was at this time sixteen
+years and one month old.
+
+[Sidenote: Strange bridal present.]
+
+Among other curious incidents which are recorded in connection with
+this wedding, there is an account of Margaret's receiving, as a
+present on the occasion--for a pet, as it were, just as at the present
+day a young bride might receive a gift of a spaniel or a
+canary-bird--a lion. It was very common in those times for the wealthy
+nobles to keep such animals as these at their castles. They were
+confined in dens constructed for them near the castle walls. The kings
+of England, however, kept their lions, when they had any, in the Tower
+of London, and the practice thus established of keeping wild beasts in
+the Tower was continued down to a very late period; so that I remember
+of often reading, when I was a boy, in English story-books, accounts
+of children, when they went to London, being taken by their parents to
+see the "lions in the Tower."
+
+[Sidenote: The lion sent to the Tower.]
+
+Margaret sent her lion to the Tower. In the book of expenses which was
+kept for this famous bridal progress, there is an account of the sum
+of money paid to two men for taking care of this lion, feeding him and
+conveying him to London. The amount was £2 5_s._ 3_d._, which is equal
+to about ten or twelve dollars of our money. This seems very little
+for such a service, but it must be remembered that the value of money
+was much greater in those times than it is now.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret continues her journey toward London.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rejoicings.]
+
+Immediately after the marriage ceremony was completed, the
+preparations for the journey having been all made beforehand, the king
+and queen set out together for London, and it soon began to appear
+that this part of the journey was to be more splendid and gay than any
+other. The people of the country, who had heard marvelous stories of
+the youth and beauty and the early family misfortunes of the queen,
+flocked in crowds along the roadsides to get a glimpse of her as she
+passed, and to gaze on the grand train of knights and nobles that
+accompanied her, and to admire the magnificence of the dresses and
+decorations which were so profusely displayed. Every body came wearing
+a daisy in his cap or in his buttonhole, for the daisy was the flower
+which Margaret had chosen for her emblem. At every town through which
+the bride passed she was met by immense crowds that thronged all the
+accessible places, and filled the windows, and in some places covered
+the roofs of the houses and the tops of the walls, and welcomed her
+with the sound of trumpets, the waving of banners, and with prolonged
+shouts and acclamations.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+[Sidenote: His plans.]
+
+[Sidenote: His invitation to the queen.]
+
+In the mean time, the Duke of Gloucester, who, with his party, had
+done every thing in his power to oppose the marriage, now, finding
+that it was an accomplished fact, and that all farther opposition
+would not only be useless, but would only tend to hasten and complete
+his own utter downfall, concluded to change his course, and join
+heartily himself in the general welcome which was given to the bride.
+His plan was to persuade the queen that the opposition which he had
+made to King Henry's measures was directed only against the peace
+which had been made with France, and which he had opposed for
+political considerations alone, but that, so far as the marriage with
+Margaret was concerned, he approved it. So he prepared to outdo, if
+possible, all the rest of the nobility in the magnificence of the
+welcome which he was to give her on her arrival in London. He
+possessed a palace at Greenwich, on the Thames, a short distance below
+London, and he sent an invitation to Margaret to come there on the
+last day of her journey, in order to rest and refresh herself a little
+preparatory to the excitement and fatigue of entering London. Margaret
+accepted this invitation, and when the bridal procession began to
+draw nigh, Gloucester came forth to meet her at the head of a band of
+five hundred of his own retainers, all dressed in his uniform, and
+wearing the badge of his personal service. This great parade was
+intended partly to do honor to the bride, and partly to impress her
+with a proper sense of his own rank and importance as one of the
+nobles of England, and of the danger that she would incur in making
+him her enemy.
+
+[Sidenote: Great preparations in London.]
+
+[Sidenote: Curious exhibitions.]
+
+[Sidenote: Justice and peace.]
+
+Very splendid preparations were made in the city of London to do honor
+to the royal bride in her passage through the city. It was the custom
+in those times to exhibit in the streets, on great public days,
+tableaux, and emblematic or dramatic representations of certain truths
+or moral sentiments appropriate to the occasion, and sometimes of
+passages of Scripture history. A great many of these exhibitions were
+arranged by the citizens of London, to be seen by the bride and the
+bridal procession as they passed through the streets. Some of these
+were very quaint and queer, and would only be laughed at at the
+present day. For instance, in one place was an arrangement of two
+figures, one dressed to represent justice, and the other peace; and
+these figures were made movable and fitted with strings, so that, at
+the proper moment, when the queen was passing, they could be made to
+come together and apparently kiss each other. This was intended as an
+expression of the text, justice and peace have kissed each other,
+which was considered as an appropriate text to characterize and
+commemorate the peace between England and France which this marriage
+had sealed. In another place there was an emblematical pageant
+representing peace and plenty. There were also, at other places,
+representations of Noah's ark, of the parable of the wise and foolish
+virgins, of the heavenly Jerusalem, and even one of the general
+resurrection and judgment day.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen passes through London.]
+
+On the morning of the day appointed for the queen's entry into London,
+the pageants having all been prepared and set up in their places, a
+grand procession of the mayor and aldermen, and other dignitaries, was
+formed, and proceeded down the river toward Greenwich, in order to
+meet the queen and escort her through the city. These civic officers
+were all mounted on horseback, and dressed in their gay official
+costumes. The chiefs were dressed in scarlet, and the body of their
+followers, arranged in bands according to their respective trades,
+wore blue gowns, with embroidered sleeves and red hoods. In this way
+the royal procession was escorted over London Bridge, and through the
+principal streets of the city to Westminster, where the bride was at
+length safely received in the palace of her husband.
+
+[Sidenote: The coronation.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen left to repose.]
+
+This was on the 28th of May. Two days afterward Margaret was crowned
+queen in Westminster with great parade and ceremony. The coronation
+was followed by a grand tournament of three days' duration,
+accompanied with banquets and other festivities usual on such
+occasions, and then at length the bride had the satisfaction of
+feeling that the long-protracted ceremony was over, and that she was
+now to be left to repose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+Notwithstanding the grand reception which the Duke of Gloucester gave
+to Margaret on her arrival in England, she knew very well that he had
+always been opposed to her marriage, and had not failed to do all in
+his power to prevent it. She accordingly considered him as her enemy;
+and though she endeavored at first, at least, to treat him with
+outward politeness, she felt a secret resentment against him in heart,
+and would have been very glad to have joined his political enemies in
+effecting his overthrow.
+
+[Sidenote: The cardinal.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's affection for Lord and Lady Suffolk.]
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrel.]
+
+Cardinal Beaufort and the Earl of Suffolk, as has already been said,
+were Gloucester's rivals and enemies. The cardinal was a venerable
+man, now quite advanced in years. He was, however, extremely
+ambitious. He was immensely wealthy, and his wealth gave him great
+influence. He had, moreover, been the guardian of the king during his
+minority, and in that capacity had acquired a great influence over his
+mind. The Earl of Suffolk, who, with his lady, had been sent to
+France to bring Margaret over, had inspired Margaret with a great
+friendship for him. She felt a strong affection for him, and also for
+Lady Suffolk, not only on account of their having acted so important a
+part in promoting her marriage, but also on account of the very kind
+and attentive manner in which they had treated her during the whole
+period of her journey. Thus the cardinal and Suffolk, on the one hand,
+had the advantage, in their quarrel with the Duke of Gloucester, of
+great personal influence over the king and queen, while Gloucester
+himself, on the other hand, enjoyed in some respects a still greater
+advantage in his popularity with the mass of the people. Every body
+perceived that the old quarrel between these great personages would
+now, on the arrival of the queen in England, be prosecuted with more
+violence than ever, and all the courtiers were anxious to find out
+which was likely to be the victor, so that, at the end of the battle,
+they might be found on the winning side.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret is left to herself.]
+
+As soon as the coronation was over, the principal personages who had
+been sent with Margaret by her father, for the purpose of accompanying
+her on her journey, and seeing her properly and comfortably
+established in her new home, were dismissed and allowed to set out on
+their return. They all received presents in money from King Henry to
+reimburse them for the expenses of the journey which they had made in
+bringing him his bride.
+
+[Illustration: Ancient Portrait of Queen Margaret.]
+
+[Sidenote: Repair of the palaces.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king's want of money.]
+
+Margaret was thus left to herself in the new station and new sphere of
+duty to which she had been transferred. All the royal palaces had
+been fitted up expressly for her reception. This was very necessary in
+fact, for some years had elapsed since there had been a queen in
+England, and all the royal residences had become very much out of
+repair. Those were rude times, and even the palaces and castles that
+were built for kings and queens were at best very comfortless
+dwellings. But when, during a long minority, they were abandoned to
+the rude tenants and rough usages to which at such times they were
+sure to be devoted, they came, in the end, to be little better than so
+many barracks for soldiery. It required a great deal of time, and no
+little expense, to prepare the Tower and the palaces of Westminster
+and Richmond for the reception of a young and beautiful queen, and of
+the gay company of ladies that were to attend her. King Henry was so
+destitute of money at this time that he found it extremely difficult
+to provide the means of paying the workmen. There is still extant a
+petition which the clerk of the works sent in to the king, praying him
+to supply him with more money to pay the men, for the labor was so
+poorly paid, and the wages were so much in arrears, that it was
+extremely difficult for him to find men, he said, to go on with the
+work.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen attaches herself to Cardinal Beaufort.]
+
+[Sidenote: Jealousy of Gloucester.]
+
+The palaces were, however, at last made ready before Margaret came.
+There were apartments for her in the Tower, and there were also three
+other palaces in and near London, in either of which she could reside
+at her pleasure. Besides this, the cardinal, who, as has already been
+remarked, was possessed of immense wealth, owned, among his other
+establishments, a beautiful mansion at Waltham Forest, a few miles
+north of London. The cardinal set apart a state chamber in this house
+for the exclusive use of the queen when she came to visit him, and
+caused it to be fitted up and furnished in a magnificent manner for
+her. The drapery of the bed was of cloth of gold from Damascus, and
+the other furniture and fittings were to correspond. The queen used
+often to go and visit the cardinal at this country seat. She soon
+became very fond of him, and willing to be guided by his counsel in
+almost every thing that she did. Indeed, the ascendency which the
+cardinal thus exercised over Margaret greatly increased his power over
+the king. The affairs of the court and of the government were directed
+almost wholly by his counsels. The Duke of Gloucester and the nobles
+of his party became more and more indignant and angry at this state of
+things. The realm of England, they said, through the weakness and
+imbecility of the king, had fallen into the hands of a priest and of a
+woman--a French woman, too.
+
+[Sidenote: Great mistakes often made.]
+
+But there was nothing that they could do. Margaret was so young and so
+beautiful that every body was captivated with her person and behavior,
+and whatever she did was thought to be right. Indeed, the general
+course which she pursued on her first arrival in England _was_ right
+in an eminent degree. There have been many cases in which young
+queens, in coming as Margaret did, away from their native land and
+from all their early friends, to reign in a foreign court, have
+brought with them from home personages of distinction to be their
+favorites and friends in their new position. But when this is done,
+jealousies and ill-will always sooner or later spring up between these
+relatives and friends of the foreign bride and the old native advisers
+of the king her husband. The result is, in the end, a king's party and
+a queen's party at court, and perpetual quarrels and dissensions
+ensue, in which at least the people of the country are sure to become
+involved, from their natural jealousy of the foreign influence, as
+they call it, introduced by the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's friends and counselors.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her good sense.]
+
+[Sidenote: Example for all young brides.]
+
+Queen Margaret had the good sense to avoid this danger. All the
+principal persons who came with her to England, for the purpose of
+accompanying her on the journey, and of carrying back to her father
+and friends in France authentic assurances of her having been
+honorably received by her husband as his bride and queen, were
+dismissed and sent home again immediately after the coronation, as we
+have already seen. Margaret retained only certain domestic servants,
+and perhaps some two or three private and personal friends. As for
+counselors and advisers, she threw herself at once upon the ministers
+and counselors of the king--the Cardinal Beaufort, who had been his
+guardian from childhood, and the Earl of Suffolk, who was one of his
+principal ministers, and had been sent by him, as his proxy and
+representative, to negotiate the marriage and bring home the bride.
+She made Lady Suffolk, too--the wife of the earl--her most intimate
+female friend. She appointed her to the principal place of honor in
+her household, and in other ways manifested great affection for her.
+The good sense and discretion which she thus manifested--young as she
+was, for she was not yet seventeen--in choosing for her confidential
+friend a lady of the age and standing of Lady Suffolk, instead of
+attempting to place in that position some foreign belle of her own
+years, whom she had brought with her for the purpose from her native
+land, as many young brides in her situation would have done, deserves
+much commendation. In a word, Margaret, in becoming a wife, gave
+herself up entirely to her husband. She made his friends her friends,
+and his interests her interests, and thus transferred herself, wholly
+and without reserve, to her new position; an example which all young
+ladies whose marriage brings them into entirely new circumstances and
+relations would do well to follow. Nothing is more dangerous than the
+attempt in such cases to bring from the old home influences in any
+form to be introduced with a view of sharing the control in the new.
+
+[Sidenote: Opinions in England.]
+
+In consequence of the discreet course of conduct that Margaret thus
+pursued, and of the effect produced on the court by her beauty, her
+vivacity, and her many polite accomplishments, public opinion--that
+is, the opinion of the outside world, who knew nothing of her secret
+designs or of her real character--turned very soon after her arrival
+in England entirely in her favor. As has already been said, the
+general sentiment of the nobles and of the people was strongly against
+the match when it was first proposed. They opposed it, not because
+they had any personal objection to Margaret herself, but because, in
+order to prepare the way for it, it was necessary to make peace with
+France, and in making peace, to grant certain concessions which they
+thought would weaken the power of the English on the Continent, and,
+at any rate, greatly interfere with the farther extension of their
+power there. But when the people came to see and know the queen, they
+all admired and loved her.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's character.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's character.]
+
+As for the king, he was perfectly enchanted with his bride. He was
+himself, as has already been said, of a very sedate and quiet turn of
+mind; amiable and gentle in disposition; devout, fond of retirement,
+and interested only in such occupations and pleasures as are
+consistent with a life of tranquillity and repose. Margaret was as
+different as possible from all this. Her brilliant personal charms,
+her wit, her spirit, her general intellectual superiority, the
+extraordinary courage for which she afterward became so celebrated,
+and which began to show itself even at this early period, all combined
+to awaken in Henry's mind a profound admiration for his wife, and gave
+her a great and rapidly-increasing ascendency over him.
+
+[Sidenote: Her popularity in England.]
+
+The impression which Margaret made upon the people was equally
+favorable. England, they thought, had never seen a queen more worthy
+of the throne than Margaret of Anjou. Some one said of her that no
+woman equaled her in beauty, and few men surpassed her in courage and
+energy. It seemed as if she had been born in order to supply to her
+royal husband the qualities which he required in order to become a
+great king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STORY OF LADY NEVILLE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Intrigues.]
+
+[Sidenote: A romantic story.]
+
+In reading the history of the English monarchy in these early times,
+you will often hear of the _court intrigues_ which mingled with, and
+sometimes greatly complicated, the movement of public affairs.
+Margaret of Anjou found herself, on her arrival in England, involved
+in many such intrigues. Indeed, she was admirably qualified, by her
+sagacity and quickness of apprehension, and by the great ascendency
+which these and other qualities which she possessed gave her over the
+minds of all about her, to take a very active and successful part in
+the management of manoeuvrings of all sorts. The nature of these court
+intrigues is very well illustrated by the narration which the most
+celebrated of Margaret's biographers gives of one in which he says
+that Margaret herself became involved while on her way from France to
+England. The story seems much more like romance than like reality.
+Indeed, it doubtless is a romance, but it nevertheless illustrates
+well the manner in which the private passions and personal and family
+quarrels of the great became involved with, and sometimes entirely
+controlled, the most important events in the national history, and
+therefore it will not be amiss to relate it.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville.]
+
+[Sidenote: First interview.]
+
+[Sidenote: Dauphiness.]
+
+The first connection which Queen Margaret, as we are henceforth to
+call her, had with the affair of Lady Neville, took place at
+Abbeville, a town in France not very far from Calais, when the queen
+was advancing toward the sea-coast on her way to England. While she
+was at Abbeville, there suddenly appeared a young and beautiful lady
+who asked an audience of Margaret, announcing herself simply as one of
+the ladies who had been attached to the service of the dauphiness, who
+was the wife of the oldest son of the king,[5] and who had recently
+died. She was admitted. She remained in private conversation with
+Margaret two hours, and when this mysterious interview was concluded
+she was introduced to the other ladies of Margaret's court as Miss
+Sanders, an English lady who had been attached to the court of the
+dauphiness, but who now, since the death of her mistress, wished to
+return to England in Margaret's train. Margaret informed the other
+ladies that she had received her into her household, and gave
+directions that she should be treated with the utmost consideration.
+
+         [Footnote 5: See map. The oldest son of the King of France
+         and the heir to the crown is styled the Dauphin. His rank and
+         position corresponds with that of the Prince of Wales in
+         England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Curiosity of the ladies.]
+
+[Sidenote: The stranger's reserve.]
+
+The other ladies were very curious to solve the mystery of this case,
+but they could not obtain any clew to it. The stranger was very
+reserved, mingled very little with her new companions, and evinced a
+constant desire to avoid observation. There was something, however, in
+her beauty, and in the expression of deep and constant grief which her
+countenance wore, which made her an object of great interest to all
+the household of the queen, but they could not learn any particulars
+of her history. The facts, however, were these.
+
+[Sidenote: Her story.]
+
+Her real name was Anne Neville. She was the daughter of Richard
+Neville, Earl of Salisbury, one of the leading and most
+highly-connected noblemen in England. When she was about fifteen years
+old she was married to a relative of the family. The marriage,
+however, proved a very unhappy one. Her husband was very jealous of
+her. From her subsequent conduct it would seem probable that he might
+have had good reason to be so. At any rate, he was extremely jealous;
+and as he was of a harsh and cruel temper, he made his young wife
+very miserable by the exactions and privations which he enforced upon
+her, and by the violent invectives with which he continually assailed
+her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her unhappy marriage.]
+
+The incessant anxiety and suffering which these troubles occasioned
+soon began to prey upon the lady's health, and, at length, her father,
+observing that she was growing pale and thin, began to inquire into
+the cause. He soon learned what a dreadful life his daughter was
+leading. Like most of the other great nobles of those days, he was a
+man of violent character, and he immediately determined on rescuing
+his daughter from her husband's power, for he considered her husband
+as the party chiefly, if not wholly, to blame.
+
+[Sidenote: Her marriage dissolved.]
+
+[Sidenote: Pretext.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her marriage annulled.]
+
+He ascertained, or pretended to ascertain, that there had been some
+informalities connected with the marriage. His daughter was distantly
+related to her husband, and there were certain steps which it was
+necessary to take in such cases to obtain a dispensation from the
+Church, in order to render such marriage legal. These steps he now
+alleged had not been properly taken, and he immediately instituted
+proceedings to have the marriage annulled. Whether there was really
+any sufficient ground for such annulling, or whether he obtained the
+decree through influences which his high position enabled him to bring
+to bear upon the court, I do not know. He, however, succeeded in his
+purpose. The marriage was annulled, and his daughter returned home;
+and, in order to obliterate as far as possible all traces of the
+unhappy union into which she had been drawn, she dropped the name
+which she had received from her husband and resumed again her own
+maiden name.
+
+[Sidenote: She becomes free.]
+
+She now began soon to appear at court, where she almost immediately
+attracted great attention. On account of the peculiar circumstances in
+which she was placed, she enjoyed all the privileges of a widow,
+combined with the attractiveness and the charms of a lovely girl.
+Almost every body was ready to fall in love with her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her admirers.]
+
+Among her other admirers was the Duke of Somerset. He was a man of
+high rank and of great accomplishments, but he was married, and he
+could not, therefore, innocently make her the object of his love. He
+was not, however, deterred by this consideration, and he soon
+succeeded in making a strong impression upon Lady Neville's heart.
+They soon contrived means of meeting each other in private,
+resorting to all sorts of manoeuvres and inventions to aid them in
+keeping their guilty attachment to each other from the knowledge of
+those around them.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+In the mean while, the Duke of Gloucester himself, who was now,
+however, considerably advanced in life, lost his wife, she dying about
+this time, and he almost immediately conceived the idea of making Lady
+Neville her successor. He thought it not proper to say any thing to
+Lady Neville herself on this subject until some little time should
+have elapsed, but he spoke to her father, the Earl of Salisbury, who
+readily approved of the plan. Gloucester was at this time prime
+minister of England, and the lady whom he should choose for his wife
+would be elevated by her marriage to the highest pinnacle of grandeur.
+Of course, the importance and influence of her father also, and of all
+the members of her family, would be greatly increased by so splendid
+an alliance.
+
+[Sidenote: Splendid prospect.]
+
+So it was agreed that the match should be made, but the arrangement
+was to be kept secret, not only from the public, but from the intended
+bride herself, until a suitable time should have elapsed for the
+widower to recover from the grief which the death of his former wife
+was supposed to have occasioned him.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester's declaration.]
+
+At length, when the proper time for mourning had expired, Gloucester
+made his declaration of love. Lady Neville listened to it, thinking
+all the time what Somerset would say when she came to communicate the
+news to him. She did communicate it to him on the first opportunity.
+
+[Sidenote: Perplexity of Lady Neville.]
+
+Great was the distress and the perplexity which the lovers felt while
+consulting together and determining what was to be done in such an
+emergency. They could not endure the thought of a separation. They
+could not be married to each other, for Somerset was married already.
+For Lady Neville to remain single all her life in order to be at
+liberty to indulge a guilty passion was an idea not to be entertained.
+They knew, too, that their present relations to each other could not
+long be continued. A thousand circumstances might happen at any time
+to interrupt or to terminate it, and it could not be long, in any
+event, before it must come to an end. So it was agreed between them
+that Lady Neville should accede to the great minister's proposal and
+become his wife. In the mean time, until the period should arrive for
+the consummation of the marriage, they were to renew and redouble
+their intimacy with each other, taking, however, every possible
+precaution to conceal their movements from the eyes of others.
+
+So the duke's offer was accepted, and it was soon made known to all
+the court that Lady Neville was his affianced bride.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke becomes uneasy.]
+
+Thus far Lady Neville had treated the duke with great reserve in her
+accidental intercourse with him at the reunions of the court, but now,
+since he was her accepted lover, he thought he might reasonably expect
+a greater degree of cordiality in her demeanor toward him. But he
+found no change. She continued as formal and reserved as ever.
+Moreover, when he went to visit her, which he did sometimes several
+times a day, she was very often not at home--much too often, he
+thought. He went to the place where her domestics said she had gone in
+such cases, but she was very seldom to be found. He soon came to the
+conclusion that there was some strange mystery involved in the affair,
+and he determined to adopt effectual measures for unraveling it.
+
+[Sidenote: His spies.]
+
+So he employed certain trusty persons who were in his service to watch
+and see where Lady Neville went, and how she passed her time during
+these unaccountable absences from home. For many days this watch was
+continued, but no discoveries were made. The spies reported that they
+could not keep upon the lady's track. In spite of their best exertions
+she would contrive to elude them, and for several hours every day they
+lost sight of her altogether. They saw enough, however, to satisfy
+them that there was something wrong going on. What it was, however,
+they could not discover, so shrewd and complete were the precautions
+which Somerset and Lady Neville had taken to prevent detection.
+
+[Sidenote: Discoveries.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's perplexity.]
+
+[Sidenote: His mode of reasoning.]
+
+The Duke of Gloucester was for a time much perplexed to know what to
+do, whether openly to quarrel with Lady Neville and refuse to
+consummate the marriage, or to banish his suspicions and take her for
+his wife. His love for her finally triumphed, and he resolved to
+proceed with the marriage. He had no positive evidence against her, he
+said to himself, and then, besides, even if there were some secret
+attachment on her part, to account for these mysterious appearances,
+she might, after all, when once married to him, make him a faithful
+and affectionate wife. Some lingering remains of a former affection
+must often necessarily dwell, he thought, in the heart of a bride,
+even when truly and honestly giving herself to the one on whom her
+choice is finally made. Especially is this true in cases where the
+lady is young, accomplished, and lovely, while her husband can only
+offer wealth or high position instead of youth and personal
+attractions as a means of winning her favor.
+
+[Sidenote: The decision.]
+
+So it was decided that the marriage should take place, and the day for
+the wedding was appointed.
+
+[Sidenote: Clandestine meeting of the lovers.]
+
+[Sidenote: Village on the Thames.]
+
+When the time for the wedding drew nigh, and the lovers found that the
+period of their enjoyments was drawing to a close, they determined on
+having a farewell interview with each other on the day before the
+wedding, and in order to be safe from interruption, it was arranged
+that they should spend the day together in a village on the banks of
+the Thames, at some little distance from London.
+
+When the day came, Lady Neville left her home to repair to the place
+of rendezvous. She was followed by Gloucester's spies. She was
+received at the village by Somerset. Somerset was, however, so
+disguised that the spies did not know and could not discover who he
+was. They were satisfied, however, from his demeanor toward Lady
+Neville, that he was her lover, and they at once reported the facts to
+Gloucester in London.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans for her return.]
+
+Gloucester was of course in a great rage. He swore terrible vengeance
+against both Lady Neville herself and her lover, whoever he might be.
+He at once armed a troop of his followers and rode off at the head of
+them, guided by one of the spies, to the village of rendezvous. It was
+dark before he arrived there. Some peasants of whom he made inquiry
+informed him that a lady answering to the description which he gave
+them had gone on board the boat to return to London some time before.
+Gloucester immediately turned, and made all haste back to London
+again, in hopes to reach the landing before the boat should arrive,
+with a full determination to kill both the lady herself and her
+paramour the moment they should touch the shore.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester mistaken.]
+
+He was mistaken, however, in supposing that the paramour, whoever he
+might be, was with the lady. Somerset, in the excess of his
+precaution, had returned to London by land, leaving Lady Neville to
+return by herself in the boat with the other passengers; for the boat
+was a sort of packet which plied regularly between the village and
+London. He, however, had stationed trusty persons not far from the
+landing in London, who were to receive Lady Neville on her arrival and
+convey her home.
+
+[Sidenote: The boat arrives.]
+
+Gloucester arrived at the landing before the boat reached the shore.
+It was, however, now so dark that he despaired of being able to
+recognize the persons he was in pursuit of, especially under the
+disguise which he did not doubt that they would wear. So, in the
+recklessness of his rage, he resolved to kill every body in the boat,
+and thus to make sure of his revenge.
+
+[Sidenote: Assault upon the boat.]
+
+Accordingly, the moment that the boat touched the shore, he and his
+followers rushed on board, and a dreadful scene of consternation and
+terror ensued. Gloucester himself made his way directly toward the
+figure of a lady, whose air, and manner, and style of dress indicated,
+so far as he could discern them in the darkness, that she was probably
+the object of his fury. He plunged his dagger into her breast. She, in
+an agony of terror, leaped into the river. She was buoyed up by her
+dress, and floated down the stream.
+
+[Sidenote: Boatmen murdered.]
+
+In the mean time, the work of murder on board the boat went on. The
+duke and his men continued stabbing and striking down all around them,
+until the passengers and the boatmen were every one killed. The bodies
+were then all thrown into the river, stones having been previously
+tied to them to make them sink.
+
+[Sidenote: Cries.]
+
+The people in the houses of the neighborhood, on the banks of the
+river, heard the cries, and raised their heads a moment from their
+pillows, or paused as they were walking along the silent streets to
+listen. But the cries were soon suppressed, for the massacre was the
+work of a few moments only, and such sounds were far too common in
+those days in the streets of London, and especially on the river, to
+attract much regard.
+
+[Sidenote: The boat sunk.]
+
+The boat was of course covered with blood. The duke ordered his men to
+take it out into the middle of the river and sink it, that being the
+easiest and the quickest way of covering up all traces and proofs of
+the crime.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester.]
+
+The writer who relates this story says that Gloucester's reason for
+wishing to have his agency in this transaction concealed was not that
+he feared any punishment, for the laws in those days were wholly
+powerless to punish deeds of violence like this, committed by men of
+Gloucester's rank and station. He only thought that if it were known
+that he had murdered in this way so many innocent people, in order
+merely to make sure of killing an object of his own private jealousy
+and hate, it would injure his popularity!
+
+[Sidenote: Escape of Lady Neville.]
+
+In the mean time, Lady Neville, for it was really Lady Neville whom
+Gloucester had stabbed, and who had leaped into the river, floated
+on down the stream, borne up by her dress, which was made, according
+to the fashion of the times, in a manner to give it great buoyancy in
+the water, by means of the hoops with which the sleeves of the robe
+were distended, and also from the form of the head-dress, which was
+very large and light, and well adapted to serve as a float to keep the
+head from sinking.
+
+[Illustration: Female Costume in the Time of Henry VI.]
+
+[Sidenote: Under the bridge.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rescued.]
+
+She floated on in this manner down the river until she had passed
+London Bridge, being carried through by the current under one of the
+arches. On emerging from the bridge, she came to the part of the river
+where the ships and other vessels bound down the river were moored. It
+happened that among other vessels lying at anchor in the stream was
+one bound to Normandy. The captain of this vessel had been on shore,
+but he was now coming off in his boat to go on board again. As the
+captain was looking out over the water by the light of a lantern which
+he held in his hand, to discern the way to his vessel, he saw
+something floating at a short distance from him which resembled the
+dress of a woman. He urged the boat forward in that direction. He
+succeeded, with great difficulty, after arriving at the spot, in
+getting the now almost lifeless form of Lady Neville on board his
+boat, and then rowed on as fast as possible to the vessel.
+
+[Sidenote: Received on board a vessel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her determination.]
+
+Here every thing was done which the case required to restore the
+drowning lady to life. She soon recovered her senses, and looked about
+her wild with excitement and terror. She had the presence of mind,
+however, not to say a word that could betray her secret, though her
+dress, and her air and manner, convinced the captain that she was no
+ordinary personage. The wound was examined and found not to be
+serious. She had been protected by some portions of her dress which
+had turned the poniard aside. When she found that the immediate danger
+had passed she became more composed, and began to inquire in regard to
+the persons and scenes around her. When she found that the vessel
+which had received her was bound to Normandy, she determined to escape
+to that country; so she contrived means to induce the captain to
+conceal her on board until the time should arrive for setting sail,
+and then to take her with him down the river and across the Channel.
+
+[Sidenote: She is received by the dauphiness.]
+
+On her arrival in France she repaired at once to the court of the
+dauphiness, who, being an English princess, was predisposed to take
+compassion upon her and to receive her kindly. She remained at this
+court, as we have seen, under the assumed name of Miss Sanders, until
+the death of the dauphiness. She was thus suddenly deprived of her
+protector in France, but almost at the same time the marriage of
+Margaret of Anjou seemed to open to her the means of returning to
+England.
+
+So long as the Duke of Gloucester lived and retained his power, she
+knew very well that she could not return in safety to the English
+court; but she thought that Margaret's going to England would probably
+be the precursor of Gloucester's downfall.
+
+[Sidenote: Political intrigues.]
+
+"_She_ must hate him," said she to herself, "almost as much as I do,
+for he has opposed her marriage from the beginning, and has done all
+in his power to prevent it. Margaret will never be satisfied until she
+has deposed him from his power and put some friend of hers in his
+place. I can help her in this work, if she will receive me under her
+protection and allow me to accompany her to England."
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville and Margaret.]
+
+So she proceeded to Abbeville to intercept the queen on her way to the
+coast, as we have already seen. At the long and secret interview which
+she had with her there she related to Margaret the story of her
+connection with Somerset and with Gloucester, and of her almost
+miraculous escape from death at Gloucester's hands. She now wished for
+revenge; and if Queen Margaret would receive her into her service and
+take her to England, she would concert measures with Somerset, her
+lover, which would greatly aid Margaret in the plans which she might
+form for effecting the downfall of Gloucester.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville returns.]
+
+[Sidenote: Mystery.]
+
+Margaret at once and very gladly acceded to this request, and took
+Lady Neville with her to England. She treated her with great
+consideration and honor; but still Lady Neville maintained a strict
+reserve in all her intercourse with the other ladies of the court,
+and kept herself in great seclusion, especially after the arrival of
+the bridal party in England. Her pretext for this was her deep
+affliction at the loss of her friend and patroness the Dauphiness of
+France. But the other ladies of the court were not wholly satisfied
+with this explanation. They were fully convinced that there was more
+in the case than met the view, especially when they found that on the
+arrival of the party in England the stranger seemed to take special
+pains to avoid meeting the Duke of Gloucester. They exerted all their
+powers of watchfulness and scrutiny to unravel the mystery, but in
+vain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+PLOTTINGS.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Personal and political intrigues.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's beauty.]
+
+It was in this way that public affairs were mingled and complicated
+with private and personal intrigues in the English court at the time
+of Margaret's arrival in the country. Margaret was of a character
+which admirably fitted her to act her part well in the management of
+such intrigues, and in playing off the passions of ambition, love,
+resentment, envy, and hate, as manifested by those around
+her--passions which always glow and rage with greater fury in a court
+than in any other community--so as to accomplish her ends. She was
+very young indeed, but she had arrived at a maturity, both mental and
+personal, far beyond her years. Her countenance was beautiful, and her
+air and manner possessed an inexpressible charm, but her mental powers
+were of a very masculine character, and in the boldness of the plans
+which she formed, and in the mingled shrewdness and energy with which
+she went on to the execution of them, she evinced less the qualities
+of a woman than of a man.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville supposed to be dead.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her father.]
+
+It was supposed by all parties in England that Lady Neville was dead.
+Of course the Duke of Gloucester had no idea that any one could have
+escaped from the boat. He supposed that he had effected the complete
+destruction of all on board of it. Somerset's men, who had been
+stationed at some distance from the landing to receive Lady Neville
+and convey her home, waited until long past the appointed hour, but no
+one came. The inquiries which Somerset made secretly the next day
+showed that the boat had sailed from the village, but no tidings of
+her arrival in London could be obtained, and he supposed that she must
+have been lost, with all on board, by some accident on the river. As
+for the Earl of Salisbury, Lady Neville's father, Gloucester went to
+him at once, and informed him what he had done. He had detected his
+daughter, he said, in a guilty intrigue, which, if it had been made
+public, would have brought not only herself, but all her family, to
+shame. The earl, who was a man of great sternness and severity of
+character, said that Gloucester had done perfectly right, and they
+agreed together to keep the whole transaction secret from the world,
+and to circulate a report that Lady Neville had died from some natural
+cause.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival in London.]
+
+Such was the state of things when Margaret and Lady Neville arrived in
+London. As soon as the queen became somewhat established in her new
+home, she began to revolve in her mind the means of deposing
+Gloucester. Her plan was first to endeavor to arouse her husband from
+his lethargy, and to awaken in his mind something like a spirit of
+independence and a feeling of ambition.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen and Henry.]
+
+"You have in your hands," she used to say to him, "what may be easily
+made the foundation of the noblest realm in Europe. Besides Great
+Britain, you have the whole of Normandy, and other valuable
+possessions in France, which together form a vast kingdom, in the
+government of which you might acquire great glory, if you would take
+the government of it into your own hands."
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's arguments.]
+
+She went on to represent to him how unworthy it was of him to allow
+all the power of such a realm to be wielded by his uncle, instead of
+assuming the command at once himself, as every consideration of
+prudence and policy urged him to do. A great many instances had
+occurred in English history, she said, in which a favorite minister
+had been allowed to hold power so long, and to strengthen himself in
+the possession of it so completely, that he could not be divested of
+it, so that the king himself came at length to be held in subjection
+by his own minister. The Duke of Gloucester was advancing rapidly in
+the same course; and, unless the king aroused himself from his
+inaction, and took the government into his own hands, he would soon
+lose all power to do it, and would sink into a condition of
+humiliating dependence upon one of his own subjects.
+
+[Sidenote: The example of ancestors.]
+
+Then, again, she urged upon him at other times the example of his
+father and grandfather, Henry IV. and Henry V., whose reigns, through
+the personal energy and prowess which they had exhibited in
+strengthening and extending their dominions, had given them a
+world-wide renown. It would be extremely inglorious for the descendant
+of such a line to spend his life in spiritless inactivity, and to
+leave the affairs of his kingdom in the hands of a relative, who of
+course could only be expected to exercise his powers for the purpose
+of promoting his own interest and glory.
+
+[Sidenote: Anne.]
+
+[Sidenote: House of York.]
+
+Moreover, she reminded him of a danger that he was in from the
+representations of other branches of the royal line who still claimed
+the throne, and might at any time, whenever an opportunity offered, be
+expected to attempt to enforce their claims. As will be seen by the
+genealogical table,[6] Lionel, the _second_ son of Edward III.--whose
+immediate descendants had been superseded by those of John of Gaunt,
+the third son, on account of the fact that the only child of Lionel
+was a daughter, and she had been unable to make good her claims--had a
+great-granddaughter, named Anne, who married Richard, a son of Edmund,
+the _fourth_ of the sons of Edward III.[7] Richard Plantagenet, who
+issued from this union, was, of course, the descendant and heir of
+Lionel. He had also other claims to the throne, and Margaret reminded
+her husband that there was danger at any time that he might come
+forward and assert his claims.
+
+         [Footnote 6: On page 20.]
+
+         [Footnote 7: That is, the fourth of the table. There were
+         other children not mentioned here.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king not safe.]
+
+Under these circumstances, it was evident, said she, that the king
+could not consider his interests safe in the care of any person
+whatsoever out of his own immediate family--that is, in any one's
+hands but his own and those of his wife. A minister, however strong
+his professions of fidelity and attachment might be, could not be
+depended upon. If another dynasty offered him more advantageous terms,
+there was not, and there could not be, any security against his
+changing sides; whereas a wife, whose interests were bound up
+inseparably with those of her husband, might be relied upon with
+absolute certainty to be faithful and true to her husband in every
+conceivable emergency.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret makes some impression.]
+
+These representations which Margaret made to her husband from time to
+time, as she had opportunity, produced a very considerable impression
+upon him. Still he seemed not to have resolution and energy enough to
+act in accordance with them. He said that he did not see how he could
+take away from his uncle a power which he had always exercised well
+and faithfully. And then, besides, he himself had not the age and
+experience necessary for the successful management of the affairs of
+so mighty a kingdom. If he were to undertake the duties of government,
+he was convinced that he should make mistakes, and so get into
+difficulty.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry listens to her counsels.]
+
+Margaret, however, clearly perceived that she was making progress in
+producing an impression upon her husband's mind. To increase the
+influence of her representations, she watched for occasions in which
+Gloucester differed in opinion from the king, and failed to carry out
+suggestions or recommendations which the king had made, relating
+probably, in most cases, to appointments to office about the court.
+Some say she _created_ these occasions by artfully inducing her
+husband to make recommendations which she knew the duke would not
+sanction. At all events, such cases occurred, and Margaret took
+advantage of them to urge her views still more upon Henry's mind.
+
+[Sidenote: 1446.]
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's timidity.]
+
+"How humiliating," said she, "that a great monarch should be dependent
+upon one of his subjects for permission to do this or that, when he
+might have all his affairs under his own absolute control!"
+
+But Henry, in reply to this, said that it was not in human nature to
+escape mistakes, and he thought he was very fortunate in having a
+minister who, when he was in danger of making them, could interpose
+and save him from the ill consequences which would otherwise result
+from his errors.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret encourages him.]
+
+To this Margaret rejoined that it was indeed true that human nature
+was liable to err, but that it was very humiliating for a great and
+powerful sovereign to have public attention called to his errors by
+having them corrected in that manner by an inferior, and to be
+restricted in the exercise of his powers by a tutor and a governor, in
+order to keep him from doing wrong, as if he were a child not
+competent to act for himself.
+
+[Sidenote: The world indulgent to the great.]
+
+"Besides," she added, "if you would really take the charge of your
+affairs into your own hands and act independently, what you call your
+errors you may depend upon it the public would designate by a
+different and a softer name. The world is always disposed to consider
+what is done by a great and powerful monarch as of course right, and
+even when it would seem to them wrong they believe that its having
+that appearance is only because they are not in a position to form a
+just judgment on the question, not being fully acquainted with the
+facts, or not seeing all the bearings of them."
+
+She assured her husband, moreover, that if he would take the business
+of the government into his own hands, he would be very successful in
+his administration of public affairs, and would be well sustained by
+all the people of the realm.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's secret designs.]
+
+Besides thus operating upon the mind of the king, Margaret was
+secretly employed all the time in ascertaining the views and feelings
+of the principal nobles and other great personages of the realm, with
+a view to learning who were disposed to feel hostile to the duke, and
+to unite all such into an organized opposition to him. One of the
+first persons to whom she applied with this view was Somerset, the
+former lover of Lady Neville.
+
+[Sidenote: Opposition to the Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+She presumed, of course, that Somerset would be predisposed to a
+feeling of hostility to the duke on account of the old rivalry which
+had existed between them, and she now proposed to make use of Lady
+Neville's return, and of her agency in restoring her to him, as a
+means of inducing him to enter fully into her plans for overturning
+his old rival's power. In order to retain the management of the affair
+wholly in her own hands, she agreed with Lady Neville that Lady
+Neville herself was not in any way to communicate with Somerset until
+she, the queen, had first had an interview with him, and that he was
+to learn the safety of Lady Neville only through her. Lady Neville
+readily consented to this, believing that the queen could manage the
+matter better than she herself could do it.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset.]
+
+It will be recollected that Somerset was married during the period of
+his former acquaintance with Lady Neville, but his wife had died while
+Lady Neville was in France, and he was now free; so that the plan
+which the queen and Lady Neville now formed was to give him an
+opportunity, if he still retained his love for her, to make her his
+wife.
+
+[Sidenote: A secret interview planned.]
+
+In the prosecution of her design, the queen made arrangements for a
+secret interview with Somerset, and in the interview informed him that
+Lady Neville was still alive and well; that she was, moreover, not far
+away, and it was in the queen's power to restore her to him if he
+desired again to see her, and that she would do so on certain
+conditions.
+
+Somerset was overjoyed at hearing this news. At first he could not be
+persuaded that it was true; and when assured positively that it was
+so, and that the long-lost Lady Neville was alive and well, and in
+England, he was in a fever of impatience to see her again. He would
+agree to any conditions, he said, that the queen might name, as the
+price of having her restored to him.
+
+[Sidenote: The three conditions.]
+
+The queen said that the conditions were three.
+
+The first was that he was to see her but once, and that only for a few
+minutes, in order that he might be convinced that she was really
+alive, and then was to leave her and not to see her again until the
+Duke of Gloucester had fallen from power.
+
+The second was that he should pretend to be not on good terms with the
+queen herself, in order to avert suspicion in respect to some of her
+schemes until such time as she should be ready to receive him again
+into favor.
+
+[Sidenote: Party against Gloucester.]
+
+The third was that he should do all he could to increase and
+strengthen the party against the duke, by turning as many as possible
+of his friends, and those over whom he had any influence, against him,
+and then finally, when the party should become sufficiently strong, to
+prefer charges against him in Parliament, and bring him to trial.
+
+Somerset at once agreed to all these conditions, and the queen then
+admitted him to an interview with Lady Neville.
+
+[Sidenote: The interview.]
+
+He was overwhelmed with transports of love and joy at once more
+beholding her and pressing her in his arms. The queen, who was
+present, was very much interested in witnessing the proofs of the
+ardor of the affection by which the lovers were still bound to each
+other, but she soon interrupted their expressions and demonstrations
+of delight by calling Somerset's attention to the steps which were
+next to be taken to further their plans.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville's father.]
+
+"The first thing to be done," said she, "is for you to see the Earl of
+Salisbury and ask the hand of his daughter, and at the same time
+endeavor to induce him to join our party."
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Salisbury.]
+
+The Earl of Salisbury had a son, the brother, of course, of Lady
+Neville, whose title was the Earl of Warwick. He was the celebrated
+king-maker, so called, referred to in a former chapter. He received
+that title on account of the great influence which he subsequently
+exercised in raising up and putting down one after another of the two
+great dynasties. His power was at this time very great, partly on
+account of his immense wealth, and partly on account of his commanding
+personal character. Margaret was extremely desirous of bringing him
+over to her side.
+
+[Sidenote: Progress of the intrigue.]
+
+Somerset readily undertook the duty of communicating with the Earl of
+Salisbury, with a view of informing him of his daughter's safety and
+asking her hand, and at the same time of ascertaining what hope there
+might be of drawing him into the combination which the queen was
+forming against the Duke of Gloucester.
+
+[Sidenote: Revelations.]
+
+Somerset accordingly sought an interview with Salisbury, and told him
+that the report which had been circulated that his daughter was dead
+was not true--that she was still alive--that, instead of having been
+drowned in the Thames, as had been supposed, she had made her escape
+to France, where she had since lived under the protection of the
+dauphiness.
+
+[Sidenote: The case explained.]
+
+He was, of course not willing to make known the real circumstances of
+the case in respect to the cause of her flight, and so he represented
+to the earl that the reason why she left the country was to escape the
+marriage with Gloucester, which would have been extremely disagreeable
+to her. She had now, however, returned, and he was commissioned by her
+to ask the earl's forgiveness for what had passed, and his consent
+that he himself--that is, Somerset, who had always been strongly
+attached to her, and who now, by the death of his former wife, was
+free, should be united to her in marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset's proposal.]
+
+[Sidenote: Cautious advances.]
+
+[Sidenote: The earl's indignation.]
+
+If Somerset had succeeded in this part of his mission, he was then
+intending, when the old earl's love for his daughter should have been
+reawakened in his bosom by the joyful news that she was alive, and by
+the prospect of a brilliant marriage for her, to introduce the subject
+of the Duke of Gloucester, and perhaps cautiously reveal to him the
+true state of the case in respect to the murderous violence with which
+the duke had assailed his daughter, and which was the true cause of
+her flight. But the earl did not give him any opportunity to approach
+the second part of his commission. After having heard the statement
+which Somerset made to him in respect to his daughter, he broke out
+in a furious rage against her. He called her by the most opprobrious
+names. He had full proof of her dishonor, and he would have nothing
+more to do with her. He had disinherited her, and given all her share
+of the family property to her brother; and the only reason why he ever
+wished her to come into his sight again was that he might with a surer
+blow inflict upon her the punishment which Gloucester had designed for
+her.
+
+Somerset saw at once that the case was hopeless, and he withdrew.
+
+[Sidenote: The scheme fails.]
+
+Thus the attempt to draw Salisbury into the conspiracy against the
+duke seemed for the time to fail. But Margaret was not at all
+discouraged. She pushed her manoeuvres and intrigues in other quarters
+with so much diligence and success that, in about two years after her
+arrival in England, she found her party large enough and strong enough
+for action.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FALL OF GLOUCESTER.
+
+
+At length the time arrived when Margaret considered her schemes ripe
+for execution.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's cabinet.]
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester sent for.]
+
+Accordingly, one day, while Henry and herself were together in the
+king's cabinet engaged in transacting some public affairs, Margaret
+made some excuse for sending for Gloucester, and while Gloucester was
+in the cabinet, Somerset, according to a preconcerted arrangement,
+presented himself at the door with an air of excitement and alarm, and
+asked to be admitted. He wished to see the king on business of the
+utmost urgency. He was allowed to come in. He had a paper in his hand,
+and his countenance, as well as his air and manner, denoted great
+apprehension and anxiety. As soon, however, as he saw the Duke of
+Gloucester, he seemed surprised and embarrassed, and was about to
+retire, saying he had supposed that the king and queen were alone.
+
+[Sidenote: Entrance of Somerset.]
+
+But Margaret would not allow him to withdraw.
+
+"Stay," said she, "and let us know what the business is that seems so
+urgent. You can speak freely. There is no one here beside ourselves
+except the minister of the king, and there is nothing to be concealed
+from him."
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset's charges.]
+
+Somerset, on hearing these words, paused for a moment, looked at
+Gloucester, seemed irresolute, and then, as if nerving himself to a
+great effort, he advanced resolutely and presented the paper which he
+had in his hands to the king, saying, at the same time, in a very
+solemn manner, that it contained charges of the gravest character
+against Gloucester; and he added that, on the whole, he was not sorry
+that the accused person was present to know what was laid to his
+charge, and to reply if he had any proper justification to offer.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret interposes.]
+
+The duke seemed thunderstruck. The king, too, was extremely surprised,
+and began to look greatly embarrassed. Margaret put an end to the
+awkward suspense by taking the paper from the king's hand, and opening
+it in order to read it.
+
+"Let us see," said she, "what these charges are."
+
+[Illustration: The Charges against Gloucester.]
+
+[Sidenote: The charges read.]
+
+So she opened the paper and began to read it. The charges were
+numerous. The principal one related to some transactions in respect to
+the English dominions on the Continent, in which Gloucester was
+accused of having sacrificed the rights and interests of the crown in
+order to promote certain private ends of his own. There were a great
+many other accusations, relating to alleged usurpations of the
+prerogative of the king and high-handed violations of the laws of the
+land. Among these last the murder of Lady Neville was specified, and
+the deed was characterized in the severest terms as a crime of the
+deepest dye, and one committed under circumstances of great atrocity,
+although the author of the charges admitted that the details of the
+affair were not fully known.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke declares his innocence.]
+
+As Margaret read these accusations one after another, the duke
+affirmed positively of each one that it was wholly unjust. He seemed
+for a moment surprised and confused when the murder of Lady Neville
+was laid to his charge, but he soon recovered himself, and declared
+that he was innocent of this crime as well as of all the others. The
+whole series of accusations was a tissue of base calumnies, he said,
+from beginning to end.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's artful demeanor.]
+
+Margaret read the paper through, pausing only from time to time to
+hear what Gloucester had to say whenever he manifested a desire to
+speak, but without making any observations of her own. She assumed, in
+fact, the air and manner of an unconcerned and indifferent witness.
+After she had finished reading the paper she folded it up and laid it
+aside, saying at the same time to the king that those were very grave
+and weighty charges, and it would be very unjust to the duke to
+receive them against his positive declarations of his innocence,
+without the most clear and conclusive proof.
+
+[Sidenote: Proposes an investigation.]
+
+"At the same time," she added, "they ought not to be lightly laid
+aside without investigation. We can not suppose that the Duke of
+Somerset can have made such charges without any evidence whatever to
+sustain them."
+
+The Duke of Somerset said immediately that he was prepared with full
+proof of all the charges, and he was ready to offer the evidence in
+respect to any one or all of them whenever his majesty should require
+it.
+
+[Sidenote: Selects a charge.]
+
+Margaret then opened the paper, and, looking over the list of charges
+again with a careless air, at last, as if accidentally, fixed upon the
+one relating to the murder of Lady Neville.
+
+"What proofs have you in respect to this atrocious murder that you
+have charged against the duke?"
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester is pleased.]
+
+[Sidenote: The murder.]
+
+Gloucester felt for the moment much relieved at finding that this was
+the charge selected first for proof; for so effectual had been the
+precautions which he had taken to conceal his crime in this case,
+that he was confident that, instead of any substantial evidence
+against him, there could be, at worst, only vague grounds of
+suspicion, and these he was confident he could easily show were
+insufficient to establish so serious a charge.
+
+[Sidenote: Astonishment of the duke.]
+
+Somerset asked permission to retire for a few moments. Very soon he
+returned, bringing in with him Lady Neville herself. An actual
+resurrection from the dead could not have astounded Gloucester more
+than this apparition. He was overwhelmed with amazement and almost
+with terror. Lady Neville advanced to the king, and, falling upon her
+knees before him, she related the circumstances of the assault made by
+Gloucester upon the boat in the Thames, of the cruel murder of the
+passengers and boatmen, of the wound inflicted upon herself by the
+dagger of the duke, and the almost miraculous manner in which she made
+her escape.
+
+[Sidenote: 1447.]
+
+[Sidenote: Parliament.]
+
+The duke, overwhelmed by the emotions which such a scene might have
+been expected to produce upon his mind, seemed to admit that what Lady
+Neville said was true. At least he could not deny it, and his
+confusion and distress amounted apparently to a virtual confession of
+guilt. Margaret, however, soon interrupted the proceedings by saying
+to the king that the case was plainly too serious to be disposed of in
+so private and informal a manner. It was for the Parliament to
+consider it, she said, and decide what was to be done; and measures
+ought at once to be taken for bringing it before them.
+
+So Gloucester and Somerset were both dismissed from the royal
+presence, leaving the king in a state of great distress and
+perplexity.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's ingenuity.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king brought over.]
+
+Such is the story of the private manoeuvres resorted to by Margaret
+with a view to destroying the hold which the Duke of Gloucester had
+upon the mind of the king, preparatory to more widely-extended plans
+for ruining him with the Parliament and the nation, which is told by
+one of her most celebrated biographers. Whether there was or was not
+any foundation for this particular story, there is no doubt but that
+she exercised all her ingenuity and talent as a manoeuvrer to
+accomplish her object, and that she succeeded. The king was brought
+over to her views, and so strong a party was formed against Gloucester
+among the nobles and other influential personages in the land, that at
+length, in 1447, a Parliament was summoned with a view of bringing the
+affair to a crisis.[8]
+
+         [Footnote 8: The story of Lady Neville, and of her connection
+         with the great political transactions in which Margaret of
+         Anjou was engaged at this time, though it is in all
+         probability to be considered as a romance, is not an
+         invention of the compiler of this narrative. It is interwoven
+         with the history of Margaret of Anjou precisely as it is
+         given here, by one of her most ancient and most oft-quoted
+         biographers. It is chiefly useful to modern readers as
+         illustrating the ideas and the manners of the times.
+
+         We often, in this series, thus repeat narratives which have
+         come down from ancient times, and have thus become part and
+         parcel of the literature of the period, and, as such, ought
+         to be made known to the general reader, but which, at the
+         present day, are not supposed to be historically true. In
+         such cases, however, we intend always to give notice of the
+         fact. In the absence of such notice, the reader may feel sure
+         that all the statements in these narratives, even to the
+         minutest details, are in strict accordance with the testimony
+         of the best authorities now extant.]
+
+[Sidenote: Treason.]
+
+[Sidenote: Romance often mingles in history.]
+
+[Sidenote: An explanation.]
+
+Nothing, however, was said, in calling the Parliament, of the great
+and exciting business which was to be brought before them. So great
+was the power of such a man as Gloucester, that any open attempt to
+arrest him would have been likely to have been met with armed
+resistance, and might have led at once to civil war.
+
+One of the charges against him was that he was intriguing with the
+Duke of York, the representative and heir of the two other branches of
+old King Edward the Third's family, who has already been mentioned as
+claiming the throne. It was said that Gloucester was secretly
+plotting with Richard, with a view of deposing Henry, and raising
+Richard to the throne in his stead.
+
+[Sidenote: Question of succession.]
+
+The question of the succession was really, at this time, in a very
+curious state. The Duke of Gloucester himself was Henry's heir in case
+he should die without children; for Gloucester was Henry's oldest
+uncle, and, of course, in default of his descendants, the crown would
+go back to him. This was one reason, perhaps, why he had opposed
+Henry's marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Position of the Duke of York.]
+
+So long, therefore, as Henry remained unmarried, it was for
+Gloucester's interest to maintain the rights of his branch of the
+family--that is, the Lancaster line--against the claims of the house
+of York. But in case Henry should have children, then he would be cut
+off from the succession on the Lancaster side, and then it might be
+for his interest to espouse the cause of the house of York, provided
+he could make better terms in respect to his own position and the
+rewards which he was to receive for his services on that side than on
+the other.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester alarmed.]
+
+Now Henry was married, and, moreover, it had long been evident to
+Gloucester that his own influence was fast declining. The scene in the
+king's cabinet, when Somerset brought those charges against him, must
+have greatly increased his fears in respect to the continuance of his
+power under Henry's government. Still, if it was true that he was
+contemplating making common cause with the Duke of York, he had not
+yet so far matured his plans as to make any open change in his course
+of conduct.
+
+[Sidenote: Calling of Parliament.]
+
+Accordingly, when the plan of calling a Parliament was determined by
+the king and Margaret, every effort was made to keep it a secret from
+the public that the case of Gloucester was to be brought before it. It
+was summoned on other pretexts. The place of meeting was not, as
+usual, at London, for Gloucester was so great a favorite with the
+people of London that it was thought that, if it were to be attempted
+to arrest him there, he would certainly resist and attempt to raise an
+insurrection.
+
+[Sidenote: Bury St. Edmund's.]
+
+The Parliament was accordingly summoned to meet at Bury St.
+Edmund's--a town situated about fifty or sixty miles to the northeast
+of London, where there was a celebrated abbey.[9] The English
+Parliament was in those days, as it is, in fact, in theory now,
+nothing more nor less than a convocation of the leading personages of
+the realm, called by the king, in order that they might give the
+monarch their counsel or aid in any emergency that might arise, and
+he could call them to attend him at any place within the kingdom that
+he chose to designate.
+
+         [Footnote 9: See map.]
+
+While thus, by summoning Parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmund's, the
+queen's party placed themselves beyond the reach of the friends and
+adherents of Gloucester, who were very numerous in and around the
+capital, they took care to have a strong force there on their own
+side, ready to do whatever might be required of them.
+
+[Sidenote: The abbey.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duke arrested.]
+
+When the appointed day arrived the Parliament assembled. It met in the
+abbey. The great dining-hall of the abbey, or the refectory, as it was
+called, the room in which the monks were accustomed to take their
+meals, was fitted up for their reception. On the first day some
+ordinary business was transacted, and on the second, suddenly, and
+without any previous warning, the duke was arrested by the public
+officer, who was attended and aided in this service by a strong force,
+and immediately taken away to the Tower.
+
+This event, of course, produced great excitement. The news of it
+spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and it awakened universal
+astonishment and alarm.
+
+[Sidenote: Discontents of the people.]
+
+It was expected that charges would be immediately brought against
+him, and that he would be at once arraigned for trial. But the
+excitement which the affair had created was increased to a ten-fold
+degree by the tidings which were circulated a few days afterward that
+he was dead. The story was that he was found dead one morning in his
+prison. People, however, were slow to believe this statement. They
+thought that he had been poisoned, or put to death in some other
+violent manner. The officers of the government declared that it was
+not so; and, in order to convince the people that the duke had died a
+natural death, they caused the body to be exposed to public view for
+several days before they allowed it to be interred, in order that all
+might see that it bore no marks of violence.
+
+The people were, however, not satisfied. They thought that there were
+many ways by which death might be produced without leaving any outward
+indications of violence upon the person. They persisted in believing
+that their favorite had been murdered.
+
+[Sidenote: 1449.]
+
+[Sidenote: Supposed mode of his death.]
+
+One account which was given of the mode of death was that Somerset
+went to visit him in his prison in the Tower, in order to see whether
+he could not come to some terms with him but that Gloucester rejected
+his advances with so much pride and scorn that a furious altercation
+arose, in the course of which Somerset, with the assistance of men
+whom he had brought with him, strangled or suffocated the unhappy
+prisoner on his couch, and then, after arranging his limbs and closing
+his eyes, so as to give him the appearance of being in a state of
+slumber, his murderers went away and left him, to be found in that
+condition by the jailer when he should come to bring him his food.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE FALL OF SUFFOLK.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Two years pass away.]
+
+After the death of the Duke of Gloucester, Queen Margaret was plunged
+in a perfect sea of plots, schemes, manoeuvres, and machinations of
+all sorts, which it would take a volume fully to unravel. This state
+of things continued for two years, during which time she became more
+and more involved in the difficulties and complications which
+surrounded her, until at last she found herself in very serious
+trouble. I can only here briefly allude to the more prominent sources
+of her perplexity.
+
+[Sidenote: Suspicions of the people.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their hearts alienated.]
+
+In the first place, the people of England were very seriously
+displeased at the treatment which Gloucester had received. They would
+not believe that he died a natural death, and the impression gained
+ground very generally that the queen was the cause of his being
+murdered. They did not suppose that she literally ordered him to be
+put to death, but that she gave hints or intimations, as royal
+personages were accustomed to do in such cases in those days, on which
+some zealous and unscrupulous follower ventured to act, certain of
+pleasing her. As Gloucester had been a general favorite with the
+nation, these rumors and suspicions tended greatly to alienate the
+hearts of the people from the queen. Many began to hate her. They
+called her the French woman, and vented their ill-will in obscure
+threats and mutterings.
+
+[Sidenote: Reverses in France.]
+
+[Sidenote: Feeling in England.]
+
+This feeling of hostility to the queen was increased by the very
+unfortunate turn that things were taking in France about this time.
+The provinces of Maine and Anjou lay directly to the south of
+Normandy,[10] which last was the most valuable of the possessions
+which the English crown held in France, and these two provinces had
+been given up to the French at the time of Margaret's marriage. It was
+only on condition that the English would give them up that Lord
+Suffolk could induce Margaret's father to consent to the match.
+Suffolk was extremely unwilling to surrender these provinces. He knew
+that the English nobles and people would be very much dissatisfied as
+soon as they learned that it was done, and he feared that he might at
+some future day be called to account for having been concerned in the
+transaction. But the king was so deeply in love with Margaret that he
+insisted on Suffolk's complying with the terms which were exacted by
+her friends, and the provinces were ceded.
+
+         [Footnote 10: See map at the commencement of the volume.]
+
+[Sidenote: York regent in France.]
+
+The Duke of York was regent in France at that time, but Margaret felt
+some uneasiness in respect to his position there. He was the
+representative and heir of the rival line; and while it was for her
+interest to give him prominence enough under Henry's government to
+prevent his growing discontented and desperate, it was not good policy
+to exalt him to too high a position. She was accordingly somewhat at a
+loss to decide what to do.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset.]
+
+Soon after the death of Gloucester, Somerset, finding that he was an
+object of suspicion, felt himself to be in danger, and he proposed to
+Margaret that he should retire into Normandy for a time. Margaret
+suggested that he should take the regency of Normandy in the Duke of
+York's stead. To this he finally consented. The Duke of York was
+recalled, and Somerset went to take command of Normandy in his stead.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk's intentions.]
+
+[Sidenote: Exposed frontier.]
+
+At the time that Suffolk negotiated the marriage contract between
+Henry and Margaret, a truce had been made with the King of France, as
+has already been stated. Suffolk intended and hoped to conclude a
+permanent peace, but he could not succeed in accomplishing this. The
+King of France, as soon as the marriage was fairly carried into
+effect, seemed bent on renewing hostilities, and as he had now the
+territories of Maine and Anjou in his possession, with all the castles
+and fortresses which those provinces contained, he could advance to
+the frontiers of Normandy on that side with great facility, and
+organize expeditions for invading the country in the most effective
+manner.
+
+[Sidenote: Pretext for war.]
+
+He now only wanted a pretext, and a pretext in such cases is always
+soon found. A certain company of soldiers, who had been dismissed from
+some place in Maine in consequence of the cession of that province to
+France, instead of going across the frontier into Normandy to join the
+English forces there, as they ought to have done, went into Brittany,
+another French province near, and there organized themselves into a
+sort of band of robbers, and committed acts of plunder. The King of
+France complained of this to Somerset, for this was after Somerset had
+assumed the command as regent, or governor of Normandy. Somerset
+admitted the facts, and proposed to pay damages. The king named a sum
+so great that Somerset could not or would not pay it, and so war was
+again declared.
+
+[Illustration: Rouen.]
+
+[Sidenote: Invasion of Normandy.]
+
+In consequence of the advantages which the King of France enjoyed in
+having possession of Maine, he could organize his invading army in a
+very effective manner. He crossed the frontier in great force, and
+after taking a number of towns and castles, and defeating the English
+army in several battles, he at last drove Somerset into Rouen, the
+capital of the province--a very ancient and remarkable town--and shut
+him up there.
+
+After a short siege Rouen was compelled to capitulate, and, besides
+giving up Rouen, Somerset was obliged to surrender several other
+important castles and towns in order to obtain his own liberty.
+
+[Sidenote: Normandy lost.]
+
+Things went on in this way during the year 1449, from bad to worse,
+until finally the whole of Normandy was lost. The town of Cherbourg,
+which has lately become so renowned on account of the immense naval
+and military works which have been constructed there, was the last
+retreat and refuge of the English, and even from this they were
+finally expelled.
+
+[Sidenote: Rage of the English people.]
+
+[Sidenote: The minister responsible.]
+
+The people of England were in a great rage. The principal object of
+their resentment was Lord Suffolk, who was now the first minister and
+the acknowledged head of the government. During the progress of the
+difficulties with Gloucester, Margaret had kept him a great deal in
+the background, in order that the public might not associate him with
+those transactions, nor hold him in any way responsible for them,
+though there was no doubt that he was the queen's confidential friend
+and counselor through the whole. After the death of Gloucester he had
+been gradually brought forward, and he had now, for some time, been
+the acknowledged minister of the crown, and as such responsible,
+according to the theory of the British Constitution and to the ideas
+of Englishmen, for every thing that was done, and especially for every
+thing like misfortune and disaster which occurred.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk in danger.]
+
+There was, of course, a great outcry raised against Suffolk, and also,
+more covertly, against the queen, who had brought Suffolk into power.
+All the mischief originated, too, people said, in the luckless
+marriage of Margaret to the king, and the cession of Maine and Anjou
+to the French as the price of it. The French would never have been
+able to have penetrated into Normandy had it not been for the
+advantage they gained in the possession of those provinces on the
+frontier.
+
+[Illustration: View of Bordeaux.]
+
+[Sidenote: Guienne.]
+
+There were still large possessions held by the English in the
+southwestern part of France on the Garonne. The capital of this
+territory, which was the celebrated province of Guienne, was
+Bordeaux,[11] a large and important city in those days as now. It
+stands on the bank of the river where it begins to widen toward the
+sea, and thus it was accessible to the English in their ships as well
+as when coming with their armies by land. It was a place of great
+strength as well as of commanding position, being provided with
+castles and towers to defend it from the landward side, and thick
+walls and powerful batteries along the margin of the water.
+
+         [Footnote 11: See map.]
+
+[Sidenote: Bordeaux lost.]
+
+Suffolk did all in his power to raise and send off re-enforcements to
+the army in Guienne, but it was in vain. The English were driven out
+of one town and castle after another, until, at last, Bordeaux itself
+fell, and all was lost.
+
+[Sidenote: Excitement in England.]
+
+The resentment and rage of the people of England now knew no bounds.
+Suffolk was universally denounced as the author of all these dire
+calamities. Lampoons and satires were written against him; he was
+hooted sometimes by the populace of London when he appeared in the
+streets, and every thing portended a gathering storm. At length, in
+the fall of 1449, a Parliament was summoned. When it was convened,
+Suffolk appeared in the House of Lords as usual, and, rising in his
+place, he called the attention of the peers to the angry and
+vindictive denunciations which were daily heaped upon him by the
+public, declaring that he was wholly ignorant of the crimes which were
+laid to his charge, and challenging his enemies to bring forward any
+proof to sustain their accusations.
+
+[Sidenote: Braving the storm.]
+
+A spirit of bold defiance like this might have been successful in some
+cases, perhaps, in driving back the tide of hostility and hate which
+was rising so rapidly, but in this instance it seemed to have the
+contrary effect. The enemies of Suffolk in the House of Commons took
+up the challenge at once. They were strong enough to carry the house
+with them. They passed an address to the peers, requesting them to
+cause Suffolk to be arrested and imprisoned. They would, they said,
+immediately bring forward the proofs of his guilt.
+
+[Sidenote: Accusations made.]
+
+The Lords replied that they could not arrest and imprison one of their
+number except upon specific charges made against him. Whereupon the
+Commons very promptly prepared a list of charges and sent them to the
+Lords. On this accusation the Lords ordered Suffolk to be arrested,
+and he was sent to the Tower.
+
+[Sidenote: An impeachment.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk in the Tower.]
+
+During the two months that succeeded his arrest his enemies were
+busily engaged in preparing the bill of impeachment against him in
+form, and collecting the evidence by which they were to sustain it,
+while the queen was equally earnest and anxious in the work of
+contriving means to save him. She visited him secretly, it is said, in
+his prison, and conferred with him on the plan to be pursued. They
+seem to have been both convinced that it was impossible for him to
+remain in England and ride out the storm. The only course of safety
+would be for him to leave the country for a while, provided the means
+could be devised for getting him away. What the plan was which they
+agreed upon for accomplishing this purpose will appear in the sequel.
+
+[Sidenote: He is arraigned.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk's defense.]
+
+[Sidenote: He appeals to the king.]
+
+At length, on the thirteenth of March, he was summoned before the
+House of Lords, and the bill of impeachment was brought forward. There
+were a great many charges, beginning with that of having wickedly and
+with corrupt motives surrendered, and so lost forever to the crown,
+the provinces of Maine and Anjou, and going on to numerous accusations
+of malfeasance in office, of encroachments on the prerogatives of the
+king, and of acts in which the interest and honor of the country had
+been sacrificed to his own personal ambition or private ends.
+Suffolk defended himself in a general speech, without, however,
+demanding, as he was entitled to do, a formal trial by his peers.
+These proceedings occupied several days--as long as any lingering hope
+remained in Suffolk's mind of his being able to stem the torrent. At
+length, however, on the seventeenth of March, finding that the
+pressure against him was continually increasing, and that there would
+be no chance of an acquittal if he were to claim a trial, he appealed
+to the king to decide his case, saying that, though he was entirely
+innocent of the crimes charged against him, he would submit himself
+entirely to his majesty's will.
+
+[Sidenote: Sentence of banishment.]
+
+In response to this appeal, the king declared, through the proper
+officer, in the House of Lords, that he would not decide upon the
+question of the guilt or innocence of the accused, since he had not
+demanded a trial, but he thought it best, under all the circumstances
+of the case, that Suffolk should leave the country. He therefore
+issued a decree of banishment against him for five years. He was
+required to leave England before the first of May, and not to put his
+foot upon any English soil until the five years were expired.
+
+[Sidenote: The people enraged.]
+
+[Sidenote: A riot.]
+
+The Lords were much displeased at having the affair thus taken out of
+their hands. They made a formal protest against this decision, but
+they could do nothing more. The people, too, were very much enraged.
+They declared that Suffolk should never leave London alive; and on the
+day when they expected that he was to be taken from the Tower to be
+conveyed to France, a mob of two thousand men collected in the
+streets, resolved to kill him.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk escapes by sea.]
+
+But the queen devised means for enabling him to evade them. Some of
+his servants and followers were seized, but he succeeded in making his
+escape, and, after going to his castle in the country, and making some
+hurried arrangements there, he went down to the sea-coast at Ipswich,
+a town in the eastern part of the island, and there embarked for
+France in a vessel which the queen had taken the precaution to have
+ready there for him.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk made prisoner again.]
+
+The vessel immediately sailed, steering to the southward, of course,
+toward the Straits of Dover. As she was passing through the Straits,
+between Dover and Calais, a man-of-war named the Nicholas of the
+Tower, hove in sight, coming up to the vessel just as they were
+sending a boat on shore at Calais to inquire whether Suffolk would be
+allowed to land there. The boat was intercepted. At the same time, a
+boat from the man-of-war came on board the vessel, bringing officers
+who were instructed to search her thoroughly. Of course, they found
+Suffolk on board, and the officer, as soon as Suffolk was discovered,
+informed him that he must go with him on board the man-of-war.
+
+Suffolk had no alternative but to obey. The captain of the man-of-war
+received him, as he stepped upon the deck, with the words, I am glad
+to see you, traitor, or something to that effect. Such a salutation
+must have plainly indicated to Suffolk what was before him. The
+man-of-war moved toward the English shore, and began to make signals
+to some parties on the land. She remained there for two days,
+exchanging signals in this way from time to time, and apparently
+awaiting orders.
+
+[Sidenote: His execution in a boat.]
+
+At length, on the third day, a boat came off from the shore, provided
+with every thing that was necessary for the execution of a criminal.
+There was a platform with a block upon it, an axe, or cleaver of some
+sort, and an executioner. Suffolk was conveyed on board the boat, and
+there, with very little ceremony, his head was laid upon the block,
+and the executioner immediately commenced his task of severing it from
+the body. But, either from the unsteadiness of the boat, or the
+unsuitableness of the instrument, or the clumsiness of the operator,
+five several blows were required before the bloody deed was done.
+
+[Sidenote: Disposal of the body.]
+
+The boat immediately proceeded to the shore. The men on board threw
+out the dissevered remains upon the beach, and then went away.
+
+Some friends of Suffolk, hearing what had been done, came down to the
+beach, and, finding the separate portions of the body lying in the
+sand where they had been thrown, placed them reverently together
+again, and gave them honorable burial.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+BIRTH OF A PRINCE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1453.]
+
+After the death of Suffolk the queen was plunged into a sea of anxious
+perplexities and troubles, which continued to disturb the kingdom and
+to agitate her mind, until at length, in 1453, eight or nine years
+after her marriage, she gave birth to a son. This event, strange as it
+may seem, aggravated the difficulties of her situation in a ten-fold
+degree.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret in great trouble.]
+
+[Sidenote: The policy in respect to the Duke of York.]
+
+The reason why the birth of her child increased her troubles was this.
+It has already been said that the Duke of York claimed to be the
+rightful sovereign of England on account of being descended from an
+older branch of the royal family; but that, since Henry was
+established upon the throne, he was inclined to make no attempt to
+assert his claims so long as it was understood that he was to receive
+the kingdom at Henry's death. In order to keep him contented in this
+position, it had been Margaret's policy to treat him with great
+consideration, and to bestow upon him high honors, but, at the same
+time, to watch him very closely, and to avoid conferring upon him any
+such substantial power within the realm of England as would enable him
+to attempt to seize the throne. She accordingly gave him the regency
+of France, and afterward, when she recalled him from that country in
+order to send Somerset there, she sent him to Ireland.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset's return to England.]
+
+After the death of Suffolk, Somerset came home from France. Indeed, he
+was on his way home at the very time that Suffolk was killed, the
+English possessions there having been almost entirely lost. As soon as
+he returned, the queen received him into high favor at court, and soon
+made him the chief minister of the crown. The people of the country
+were displeased at this, and soon showed marks of great discontent.
+They would very likely have risen in open rebellion had it not been
+that Henry's health was so feeble, and the probability was so great
+that he would die without issue--in which case the crown would devolve
+peacefully to the Duke of York and his heirs.
+
+[Sidenote: The people willing to wait.]
+
+"Let us wait," said they, "for a short time, and it will all come
+right. It is better to bear the evils of this state of things a little
+longer than to plunge the country into the horrors of civil war in
+attempting to change the dynasty by force before Henry dies."
+
+[Sidenote: Two parties formed.]
+
+[Sidenote: The nobles.]
+
+[Sidenote: The two leaders.]
+
+In the mean time, however, although this was so far the prevailing
+public sentiment as to prevent an actual outbreak, it did not by any
+means save the community from being unnecessarily agitated by
+anxieties and fears lest an outbreak _should_ take place, nor did it
+prevent innumerable plots and conspiracies being formed tending to
+produce one. The country was divided into two great parties--those
+that favored the Duke of York and his dynasty, and those who adhered
+to the house of Lancaster. The nobles took sides in the quarrel, some
+openly and others in secret. As these nobles were continually moving
+to and fro from one castle to another, or between the country and
+London, at the head of armed bodies of men more or less formidable, no
+one could tell what plans were being formed, or how soon an explosion
+might occur. The Duke of York was, of course, the head and leader of
+one side, and the Duke of Somerset, as the confidential counselor and
+minister of Henry and the queen, was the most prominent on the other
+side, and each of these great leaders regarded the other with feelings
+of mortal enmity.
+
+[Illustration: The Temple Garden.]
+
+This state of things kept both the king and queen in continual
+anxiety. The queen began to find that, by her manoeuvrings and
+management, she had involved herself in difficulties that were
+beyond her control, and the poor king was so harassed by his troubles
+and perplexities that his health, and, at last, his mind, began to
+suffer severely.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of York comes to England.]
+
+At length the Duke of York, without permission from the government,
+crossed the Channel from Ireland and landed in England. He soon
+collected a large armed force, and began to move across the country
+toward London. The government were much alarmed. He professed not to
+have any hostile object in view, and declared that he still
+acknowledged his allegiance to the Lancaster line; but there were no
+means of being sure that this was not a mere pretext, and that he
+might not, at any time, throw off his mask and rise in open rebellion.
+
+[Sidenote: The roses.]
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of these symbols.]
+
+It was about this time that the famous symbols of the red and the
+white rose were chosen as the badges of the houses respectively of
+York and Lancaster, as has already been mentioned. The story goes that
+at a certain time, while several nobles and persons of the court were
+walking in what is called the Temple Garden, a piece of open and
+ornamental ground on the bank of the river in London, Somerset and
+Warwick, who were on different sides in this quarrel, gathered, the
+one a white, and the other a red rose, and proposed to the rest of
+the company to pluck roses too, each according to his own feelings and
+opinions. From this beginning the two colors became the permanent
+badge of the two lines, so much so that artificial roses of red and
+white were manufactured in great numbers at last, to supply the
+soldiers of the respective armies.
+
+[Sidenote: An expedition.]
+
+[Sidenote: Anxiety of the king.]
+
+But to return to the Duke of York. When it was found that he was
+advancing toward London, Somerset urged the king to put himself at the
+head of a body of troops and go out to meet him, and call him to
+account for his proceedings. The king did so, the queen accompanying
+the expedition. She was very anxious, and felt much alarmed for the
+safety of the king. After various marchings and manoeuvrings, the two
+armies came near each other in the county of Kent, to the
+southeastward of London. King Henry, who was eminently a man of peace,
+being possessed of no warlike qualities whatever, and being extremely
+averse to the shedding of blood, instead of attacking the Duke of
+York, sent a messenger to him to know what his intentions were in
+coming into the country at the head of such a force, and what he
+desired.
+
+[Sidenote: Professions.]
+
+The duke replied that he had no designs against the king, but only
+against the traitor Somerset, and he said that if the king would order
+Somerset to be arrested and brought to trial, he should be satisfied,
+and would disband his forces.
+
+[Sidenote: An appointment]
+
+The king, on receiving this message, was much troubled and perplexed,
+but at length he concluded, under the advice of some of his
+counselors, to comply with this demand. He caused Somerset to be
+arrested, and notified the Duke of York that he had done so. The Duke
+of York then disbanded his army, or at least sent the troops away, and
+made an appointment to come unattended and visit the king in his tent,
+with a view to conferring with him on the terms and conditions of a
+permanent reconciliation.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset concealed.]
+
+This interview resulted in a very extraordinary scene. It seems that
+the queen had contrived the means of secretly releasing Somerset after
+his arrest, and bringing him by stealth to the king's pavilion, and
+concealing him there behind the arras at the time the Duke of York was
+to be admitted, in order that he, Somerset, might be a witness of the
+interview. While he was thus secreted, the Duke of York came in. He
+commenced his conference with the king by repeating earnestly what he
+said before, namely, that he had not been actuated in what he had
+done by any feeling of hostility against the king, but only against
+Somerset. His sole object in taking up arms, he said, was that that
+arch traitor might be brought to punishment.
+
+[Sidenote: Scene in the tent.]
+
+[Sidenote: Fierce altercation.]
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of York imprisoned.]
+
+On hearing these words, Somerset could contain himself no longer, but,
+to the astonishment of the Duke of York and to the utter consternation
+of the king, he rushed out from his hiding-place, and began to assail
+the duke with the most violent reproaches, alleging that his
+pretensions of friendship for Henry were false, and that the real
+design of his movements was to usurp the throne. The duke retorted
+with equally fierce denunciations and threats. During the continuance
+of this altercation, the king remained stupefied and speechless, and
+at length, when the duke retired, officers were ready at the door to
+arrest him, having been stationed there by the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Released.]
+
+He was held a prisoner, however, but a short time, for his son, who
+afterward became Edward IV., immediately commenced raising an army to
+come and release him. It was considered, for other reasons, dangerous
+to attempt to hold such a man in durance, since probably more than
+half the kingdom were on his side. So he was offered his liberty on
+condition that he would take the new and solemn oath of fealty to the
+king.
+
+This he consented to do, and the oath was taken with great ceremony in
+St. Paul's Cathedral, and then he was dismissed. He went off to one of
+his castles in the country, muttering deep and earnest threats of
+vengeance.
+
+[Sidenote: Birth of the prince.]
+
+It was about a year after this that Margaret's babe was born. It was a
+son.
+
+[Sidenote: Question of the succession.]
+
+[Sidenote: New difficulties.]
+
+Of course, the birth of this child immensely increased the
+difficulties and dangers in which the kingdom was involved, for it
+seemed to extinguish the hope that the quarrel would be settled by the
+York family succeeding peaceably to the crown on the death of Henry.
+Now, at length, there was an heir to the Lancastrian line. Of course
+Margaret, and all those who were connected with the Lancastrian line,
+either by blood or political partisanship, would resolve to support
+the rights of this heir. On the other hand, it was not to be supposed
+that the Duke of York would relinquish his claims, and he would no
+longer have any inducement to postpone asserting them. Thus the birth
+of the young prince was the occasion of plunging the country in new
+and more feverish excitement than ever. Plots and counter-plots,
+conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, were the order of the day.
+Every body was taking sides, or, at least, making arrangements for
+taking sides, as soon as the outbreak should occur. And no one knew
+how soon this would be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: Prince of Wales.]
+
+The child was born on a certain religious holiday called St. Edward's
+day, and so they named him Edward. In a few months after his birth he
+was made Prince of Wales, and it is by this title only that he is
+known in history, for he never became king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ILLNESS OF THE KING.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Strange reverses.]
+
+The circumstances of poor Margaret's case seem to have reversed all
+ordinary conditions of domestic happiness. The birth of her son placed
+her in a condition of extreme and terrible danger, while the immediate
+bursting of the storm was averted, and the sufferings which she was in
+the end called upon to endure in consequence of it were postponed for
+a time by what would, in ordinary circumstances, be the worst possible
+of calamities, the insanity of her husband. Happy as a queen, says the
+proverb, but what a mockery of happiness is this, when the birth of a
+child is a great domestic calamity, the evils of which were only in
+part averted, or rather postponed, by an unexpected blessing in the
+shape of the insanity of the husband and father.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's insanity.]
+
+[Sidenote: His condition concealed.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's policy.]
+
+Henry's health had been gradually declining during many months before
+the little Edward was born. The cares and anxieties of his situation,
+which often became so extreme as to deprive him of all rest and sleep,
+became, at length, too heavy for him to bear, and his feeble
+intellect, in the end, broke down under them entirely. The queen did
+all in her power to conceal his condition from the people, and even
+from the court. It was comparatively easy to do this, for the
+derangement was not at all violent in its form. It was a sort of
+lethargy, a total failure of the mental powers and almost of
+consciousness--more like idiocy than mania. The queen removed him to
+Windsor, and there kept him closely shut up, admitting that he was
+sick, but concealing his true situation so far as was in her power,
+and, in the mean time, carrying on the government in his name, with
+the aid of Somerset and other great officers of state, whom she
+admitted into her confidence. Parliament and the public were very
+uneasy under this state of things. The Duke of York was laying his
+plans, and every one was anxious to know what was coming. But Margaret
+would allow nobody to enter the king's chamber, under any pretext
+whatever, except those who were in her confidence, and entirely under
+her orders.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of the archbishop.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1454.]
+
+[Sidenote: A deputation.]
+
+At length, about two months after Edward was born, the highest
+dignitary of the Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, died. This
+event, according to the ancient usages of the realm, gave the House
+of Lords the right to send a deputation to the king to condole with
+him, and to ascertain his wishes in respect to the measures to be
+adopted on the occasion.
+
+This committee accordingly proceeded to Windsor, and coming, as they
+did, under the authority of ancient custom, which in England, in those
+days, had even more than the force of law, they could not be refused
+admission. They found the king lying helpless and unconscious, and
+they could not obtain from him any answer to what they said to him, or
+any sign that the slightest spark of intelligence remained in his
+mind.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's policy.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duke made regent.]
+
+The committee reported these facts to the House of Lords. Finding how
+serious the king's illness was, the party of the Duke of York
+concluded to wait a little longer. There was a great probability that
+the king would soon die. The life, too, of the infant son was of
+course very precarious. He might not survive the dangers of infancy,
+and in that case the Duke of York would succeed to the throne at once
+without any struggle. So a sort of compromise was effected. Parliament
+appointed the Duke of York protector and defender of the king during
+his illness, or until such time as Edward, the young prince, should
+arrive at the proper age for undertaking the government. It was at
+this time that young Edward was made Prince of Wales. The conferring
+of this title upon him was confirmed by both houses of Parliament.
+They thus solemnly decreed that, though the Duke of York was to
+exercise the government during the sickness of the king and the
+minority of Edward, still the kingdom was to be reserved for Edward as
+the rightful heir, and he was to be put into possession of the
+sovereign power, either as regent in case his father should continue
+to live until that time, or as king if, in the interim, he should die.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's hopes.]
+
+The Duke of York and his friends acceded to this arrangement, in hopes
+that the prince never would arrive at years of discretion, but that,
+before many years, and perhaps before many months, both father and son
+would die. He thought it better, at any rate, to wait quietly for a
+time, especially as, during the period of this waiting, he was put in
+possession substantially of the supreme power.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret dissatisfied.]
+
+Queen Margaret herself was extremely dissatisfied with the arrangement
+by which the Duke of York was made regent, since it of course deprived
+her of all her power. But she could do nothing to prevent it. Besides,
+her mind was so filled with the maternal feelings and affections
+which her situation inspired and with the care of the infant child,
+that she had for a time no heart for political contention.
+
+[Sidenote: Her condition.]
+
+Then, moreover, the Parliament, at the same time that they made the
+Duke of York regent, and thus virtually deprived the queen of her
+power, settled upon her an ample annuity, by means of which she would
+be enabled to live, with her son, in a state becoming her rank and her
+ambition. One motive, doubtless, which led them to do this was to
+induce her to acquiesce in this change, and remain quiet in the
+position in which they thus placed her.
+
+In addition to the liberal supplies which the Parliament granted to
+the queen, they made ample provision for maintaining the dignity and
+providing for the education of the young prince. Among other things, a
+commission of five physicians was appointed to watch over his health.
+
+[Sidenote: She concludes to submit.]
+
+Margaret was the more easily persuaded to acquiesce in these
+arrangements from believing, as she did, that the state of things to
+which they gave rise would be of short duration. She fully believed
+that her husband would recover, and then the regency of the Duke of
+York would cease, and the king--that is, the king in name, but she
+herself in reality--would come into power again. So she determined to
+bide her time.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's establishment at Greenwich.]
+
+She accordingly retired from London, and set up an establishment of
+her own in her palace at Greenwich, where she held her court, and
+lived in a style of grandeur and ceremony such as would have been
+proper if she had been a reigning queen. Her old favorite, too,
+Somerset, was at first one of the principal personages of her court;
+but one of the first acts of the Duke of York's regency was to issue a
+warrant of arrest against him. The officers, in executing this
+warrant, seized him in the very presence-chamber of the queen.
+Margaret was extremely incensed at this deed. She declared that it was
+not only an act of political hostility, but an insult. She was,
+however, entirely helpless. The Duke of York had the power now, and
+she was compelled to submit.
+
+[Sidenote: Her care of Henry.]
+
+But she was not required to remain long in this humiliating position.
+She procured the best possible medical advice and attendance for her
+husband, and devoted herself to him with the utmost assiduity, and, at
+length, she had the satisfaction of seeing that he was beginning to
+amend. The improvement commenced in November, about eight or ten
+months after he first fell into the state of unconsciousness. When at
+length he came to himself, it seemed to him, he said, as if he was
+awaking from a long dream.
+
+[Sidenote: Recovery.]
+
+Margaret was overjoyed to see these signs of returning intelligence.
+She longed for the time to come when she could show the king her boy.
+He had thus far never seen the child.
+
+[Sidenote: The prince shown to him.]
+
+[Sidenote: Marks of returning consciousness.]
+
+We obtain a pretty clear idea of the state of imbecility or
+unconsciousness in which he had been lying from the account of what he
+did and said at the interview when the little prince was first brought
+into his presence. It is as follows:
+
+     "On Monday, at noon, the queen came to him and brought my lord
+     prince with her, and then he asked 'what the prince's name was,'
+     and the queen told him 'Edward,' and then he held up his hands,
+     and thanked God thereof.
+
+     "And he said he never knew him till that time, nor wist what was
+     said to him, nor wist where he had been, while he had been sick,
+     till now; and he asked who were the godfathers, and the queen
+     told him, and he was well content.
+
+     "And she told him the cardinal was dead,[12] and he said he
+     never knew of it till this time; then he said one of the wisest
+     lords in this land was dead.
+
+     "And my Lord of Winchester and my Lord of St. John of Jerusalem
+     were with him the morrow after Twelfth day, and he did speak to
+     them as well as ever he did, and when they came out they wept for
+     joy. And he saith he is in charity with all the world, and so he
+     would all the lords were. And now he saith matins of our Lady and
+     even-song, and heareth his mass devoutly."
+
+         [Footnote 12: The Archbishop of Canterbury, the circumstance
+         of whose death has already been referred to.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king reinstated.]
+
+The very first moment that the king was able to bear it, Margaret
+caused him to be conveyed into the House of Lords, there to resume the
+exercise of his royal powers by taking his place upon the throne and
+performing some act of sovereignty. The regency was, of course, now at
+an end, and the Duke of York, leaving London, went off into the
+country in high dudgeon.
+
+The queen, of course, now came into power again. The first thing that
+she did was to release Somerset from his confinement, and reinstate
+him as prime minister of the crown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ANXIETY AND TROUBLE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: A great deal of trouble.]
+
+[Sidenote: Angry disputes.]
+
+[Sidenote: Insubordination.]
+
+For about six years after this time, that is, from the birth of Prince
+Edward till he was six years old, and while Margaret was advancing
+from her twenty-fourth to her thirtieth year, her life was one of
+continual anxiety, contention, and alarm. The Duke of York and his
+party made continual difficulty, and the quarrel between him, and the
+Earl of Warwick, and the other nobles who espoused his cause, on one
+side, and the queen, supported by the Duke of Somerset and other great
+Lancastrian partisans on the other, kept the kingdom in a constant
+ferment. Sometimes the force of the quarrel spent itself in intrigues,
+manoeuvres, and plottings, or in fierce and angry debates in
+Parliament, or in bitter animosities and contentions in private and
+social life. At other times it would break out into open war, and
+again and again was Margaret compelled to leave her child in the hands
+of nurses and guardians, while she went with her poor helpless husband
+to follow the camp, in order to meet and overcome the military
+assemblages which the Duke of York was continually bringing together
+at his castles in the country or in the open fields.
+
+The king's health during all this period was so frail, and his mind,
+especially at certain times, was so feeble, that he was almost as
+helpless as a child. There was an hereditary taint of insanity in the
+family, which made his case still more discouraging.
+
+[Sidenote: Modes of amusing the king.]
+
+[Sidenote: The singing boys.]
+
+Queen Margaret took the greatest pains to amuse him, and to provide
+employments for him that would occupy his thoughts in a gentle and
+soothing manner. When traveling about the country, she employed
+minstrels to sing and play to him; and, in order to have a constant
+supply of these performers provided, and to have them well trained to
+their art, she sent instructions to the sheriffs of the counties in
+all parts of the kingdom, requiring them to seek for all the beautiful
+boys that had good voices, and to have them instructed in the art of
+music, so that they might be ready, when called upon, to perform
+before the king. In the mean time they were to be paid good wages, and
+to be considered already, while receiving their instruction, as acting
+under the charge and in the service of the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Pretended pilgrimages.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king comforted.]
+
+Margaret and the other friends of the king used to contrive various
+other ways of amusing and comforting his mind, some of which were not
+very honest. One was, for example, to have different nobles and
+gentlemen come to him and ask his permission that they should leave
+the kingdom to go and make pilgrimages to various foreign shrines, in
+order to fulfill vows and offer oblations and prayers for the
+restoration of his majesty's health. The king was of a very devout
+frame of mind, and his thoughts were accustomed to dwell a great deal
+on religious subjects, and especially on the performance of the rites
+and ceremonies customary in those days, and it seemed to comfort him
+very much to imagine that his friends were going to make such long
+pilgrimages to pray for him.
+
+So the nobles and other great personages would ask his consent that
+they might go, and would take solemn leave of him as if they were
+really going, and then would keep out of sight a little while, until
+the poor patient had forgotten their request.
+
+[Sidenote: One real pilgrimage.]
+
+It is said, however, that one nobleman, the Duke of Norfolk, who was
+so kind-hearted a man that he went by the name of the Good Duke,
+actually made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on this errand, and there
+offered up prayers and supplications at the famous chapel of the Holy
+Sepulchre for the restoration of his sovereign's health.
+
+[Sidenote: The philosopher's stone.]
+
+[Sidenote: Promised treasures.]
+
+They used also to amuse and cheer the king's mind by telling him, from
+time to time, that he was going to be supplied with inexhaustible
+treasures of wealth by the discovery of the philosopher's stone. The
+philosopher's stone was an imaginary substance which the alchemists of
+those days were all the time attempting to discover, by means of which
+lead and iron, and all other metals, could be turned to gold. There
+were royal laboratories, and alchemists continually at work in them
+making experiments, and the queen used to give the king wonderful
+accounts of the progress which they were making, and tell him that the
+discovery was nearly completed, and that very soon he would have in
+his exchequer just as much money as his heart could desire. The poor
+king fully believed all these stories, and was extremely pleased and
+gratified to hear them.
+
+[Sidenote: Intervals of good health.]
+
+There were times during this interval when the king was tolerably
+well, his malady being somewhat periodical in its character. This was
+the case particularly on one occasion, soon after his first recovery
+from the state of total insensibility which has been referred to. The
+Duke of York, as has already been said, was put very much out of humor
+by the king's recovery on this occasion, and by his own consequent
+deposition from the office of regent, and still more so when he found
+that the first act which the queen performed on her recovery of power
+was to release his hated enemy, Somerset, from the prison where he,
+the Duke of York, had confined him, and make him prime minister again.
+He very soon determined that he would not submit to this indignity. He
+assembled an army on the frontiers of Wales, where some of his chief
+strong-holds were situated, and assumed an attitude of hostility so
+defiant that the queen's government determined to take the field to
+oppose him.
+
+[Sidenote: Restoration of Somerset.]
+
+[Sidenote: Armies marshaled.]
+
+So they raised an army, and the Duke of Somerset, with the queen,
+taking the king with them, set out from London and marched toward the
+northwest. They stopped first at the town of St. Alban's.[13] When
+they were about to resume their march from St. Alban's, they saw that
+the hills before them were covered with bands of armed men, the forces
+of the Duke of York, which he was leading on toward the capital.
+Somerset's forces immediately returned to the town. Margaret, who was
+for a time greatly distressed and perplexed to decide between her duty
+toward her husband and toward her child, finally concluded to retire
+to Greenwich with the little prince, and await there the result of the
+battle, leaving the Duke of Somerset to do the best he could with the
+king.
+
+         [Footnote 13: See map.]
+
+[Sidenote: St. Alban's.]
+
+[Sidenote: The parley.]
+
+Very soon a herald came from the Duke of York to the gates of St.
+Alban's, and demanded a parley. He said that the duke had not taken
+arms against the king, but only against Somerset. He professed great
+loyalty and affection for Henry himself, and only wished to save him
+from the dangerous counsels of a corrupt and traitorous minister, and
+he said that if the king would deliver up Somerset to him, he would at
+once disband his armies, and the difficulty would be all at an end.
+
+[Sidenote: Reply.]
+
+The reply sent to this was that the king declared that he would lose
+both his crown and his life before he would deliver up either the Duke
+of Somerset or even the meanest soldier in his army to such a demand.
+
+[Sidenote: Attack on the town.]
+
+[Sidenote: Terrible conflict.]
+
+The Duke of York, on receiving this answer, immediately advanced to
+attack the town. For some time Henry's men defended the walls and
+gates successfully against him, but at length the Earl of Warwick,
+who was the Duke of York's principal confederate and supporter in this
+movement, passed with a strong detachment by another way round a hill,
+and through some gardens, and thence, by breaking down the wall which
+stood between the garden and the town, he succeeded in getting in. A
+terrible conflict then ensued in the streets and narrow lanes of the
+city, and the attention of the besieged being thus drawn off from the
+walls and the gates, the Duke of York soon succeeded in forcing his
+way in too.
+
+[Sidenote: The king taken prisoner.]
+
+King Henry's forces were soon routed with great slaughter. The Duke of
+Somerset and several other prominent nobles were killed. The king
+himself was wounded by an arrow, which struck him in the neck as he
+was standing under his banner in the street with his officers around
+him. When these his attendants saw that the battle was going against
+him, they all forsook him and fled, leaving him by his banner alone.
+He remained here quietly for some time, and then went into a shop near
+by, where presently the Duke of York found him.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's demeanor.]
+
+As soon as the Duke came into the king's presence he kneeled before
+him, thus acknowledging him as king, and said,
+
+"The traitor and public enemy against whom we took up arms is dead,
+and now there will be no farther trouble."
+
+"Then," said the king, "for God's sake, go and stop the slaughter of
+my subjects."
+
+[Sidenote: 1457.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king conveyed to London.]
+
+The duke immediately sent orders to stop the fighting, and, taking the
+king by the hand, he led him to the Abbey of St. Alban's, a venerable
+monastic edifice, greatly celebrated in the histories of these times,
+and there caused him to be conveyed to his apartment. The next day he
+took him to London. He rendered him all external tokens of homage and
+obedience by the way, but still virtually the king was his prisoner.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's despair.]
+
+Poor Queen Margaret was all this time at Greenwich, waiting in the
+utmost suspense and anxiety to hear tidings of the battle. When, at
+length, the news arrived that the battle had been lost, that the king
+had been wounded, and was now virtually a prisoner in the hands of her
+abhorred and hated enemy, she was thrown into a state of utter
+despair, so much so that she remained for some hours in a sort of
+stupor, as if all was now lost, and it was useless and hopeless to
+continue the struggle any longer.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's wound.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen and the prince.]
+
+She however, at length, revived, and began to consider again what was
+to be done. The prospect before her, however, seemed to grow darker
+and darker. The fatigue and excitement which the king had suffered,
+joined to the effects of his wound, which seemed not disposed to heal,
+produced a relapse. The Duke of York appears to have considered that
+the time had not yet come for him to attempt to assert his claims to
+the throne. He contented himself with so exhibiting the condition of
+the king to members of Parliament as to induce that body to appoint
+him protector again. When he had thus regained possession of power, he
+restored the king to the care of the queen, and sent her, with him and
+the little prince, into the country.
+
+[Sidenote: Grand reconciliation.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1458.]
+
+[Sidenote: Mutual distrust.]
+
+One of the most extraordinary circumstances which occurred in the
+course of these anxious and troubled years was a famous reconciliation
+which took place at one time between the parties to this great
+quarrel. It was at a time when England was threatened with an invasion
+from France. Queen Margaret proposed a grand meeting of all the lords
+and nobles on both sides, to agree upon some terms of pacification by
+which the intestine feud which divided and distracted the country
+might be healed, and the way prepared for turning their united
+strength against the foe. But it was a very dangerous thing to attempt
+to bring these turbulent leaders together. They had no confidence in
+each other, and no one of them would be willing to come to the
+congress without bringing with him a large armed force of followers
+and retainers, to defend him in case of violence or treachery.
+Finally, it was agreed to appoint the Lord-mayor of London to keep the
+peace among the various parties, and, to enable him to do this
+effectually, he was provided with a force of ten thousand men. These
+men were volunteers raised from among the citizens of London.
+
+[Sidenote: Meeting of the nobles.]
+
+When the time arrived for the meeting, the various leaders came in
+toward London, each at the head of a body of retainers. One man came
+with five hundred men, another with four hundred, and another with six
+hundred, who were all dressed in uniform with scarlet coats. Another
+nobleman, representing the great Percy family, came at the head of a
+body of fifteen hundred men, all his own personal retainers, and every
+one of them ready to fight any where and against any body, the moment
+that their feudal lord should give the word.
+
+[Sidenote: Armed bands.]
+
+These various chieftains, each at the head of his troops, came to
+London at the appointed time, and established themselves at different
+castles and strong-holds in and around the city, like so many
+independent sovereigns coming together to negotiate a treaty of peace.
+
+[Sidenote: Disputes and debates.]
+
+They spent two whole months in disputes and debates, in which the
+fiercest invectives and the most angry criminations and recriminations
+were uttered continually on both sides. At length, marvelous to
+relate, they came to an agreement. All the points in dispute were
+arranged, a treaty was signed, and a grand reconciliation--that is, a
+pretended one--was the result.
+
+[Sidenote: The treaty.]
+
+This meeting was convened about the middle of January, and on the
+twenty-fourth of March the agreement was finally made and ratified,
+and sealed, in a solemn manner, by the great seal. It contained a
+great variety of agreements and specifications, which it is not
+necessary to recapitulate here, but when all was concluded there was a
+grand public ceremony in commemoration of the event.
+
+[Sidenote: Procession.]
+
+At this celebration the king and queen, wearing their crowns and royal
+robes, walked in solemn procession to St. Paul's Cathedral in the
+city. They were followed by the leading peers and prelates walking two
+and two; and, in order to exhibit to public view the most perfect
+tokens and pledges of the fullness and sincerity of this grand
+reconciliation, it was arranged that those who had been most bitterly
+hostile to each other in the late quarrels should be paired together
+as they walked. Thus, immediately behind the king, who walked alone,
+came the queen and the Duke of York walking together hand in hand, as
+if they were on the most loving terms imaginable, and so with the
+rest.
+
+[Sidenote: Mock reconciliation.]
+
+The citizens of London, and vast crowds of other people who had come
+in from the surrounding towns to witness the spectacle, joined in the
+celebration by forming lines along the streets as the procession
+passed by, and greeting the reconciled pairs with long and loud
+acclamations; and when night came, they brightened up the whole city
+with illuminations of their houses and bonfires in the streets.
+
+[Sidenote: Fighting again.]
+
+In about a year after this the parties to this grand pacification were
+fighting each other more fiercely and furiously than ever.
+
+[Illustration: The Little Prince and his Swans.]
+
+[Sidenote: The prince's journey.]
+
+[Sidenote: The little swans.]
+
+At one time, when the little prince was about six years old, the queen
+made a royal progress through certain counties in the interior of the
+country, ostensibly to benefit the king's health by change of air, and
+by the gentle exercise and agreeable recreation afforded by a journey,
+but really, it is said, to interest the nobles and the people of the
+region through which she passed in her cause, and especially in that
+of the little prince, whom she took on that occasion to show to all
+the people on her route. She had adopted for him the device of his
+renowned ancestor, Edward III., which was a _swan_; and she had caused
+to be made for him a large number of small silver swans, which he was
+to present to the nobles and gentlemen, and to all who were admitted
+to a personal audience, in the towns through which he passed. He was a
+bright and beautiful boy, and he gave these little swans to the people
+who came around him with such a sweet and charming grace, that all who
+saw him were inspired with feelings of the warmest interest and
+affection for him.
+
+[Sidenote: War breaks out again.]
+
+Very soon after this time the war between the two great contending
+parties broke out anew, and took such a course as very soon deprived
+King Henry of his crown. The events which led to this result will be
+related in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+MARGARET A FUGITIVE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1459.]
+
+[Sidenote: The battle of Blore Heath.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's orders.]
+
+In the summer of 1459, the year after the grand reconciliation took
+place which is described in the last chapter, two vast armies,
+belonging respectively to the two parties, which had been gradually
+gathering for a long time, came up together at a place called Blore
+Heath,[14] in Staffordshire, in the heart of England. A great battle
+ensued. During the battle Henry lay dangerously ill in the town of
+Coleshill, which was not far off. Margaret was at Maccleston, another
+village very near the field of battle. From the tower of the church in
+Maccleston she watched the progress of the fight. Salisbury was at the
+head of the York party. Margaret's troops were commanded by Lord
+Audley. When Audley took leave of her to go into battle, she sternly
+ordered him to bring Salisbury to her, dead or alive.
+
+         [Footnote 14: For the situation of Blore Heath, see map.]
+
+[Sidenote: Decorations.]
+
+Audley had ten thousand men under his command. The soldiers were all
+adorned with red rosettes, the symbol of the house of Lancaster. The
+officers wore little silver swans upon their uniform, such as Prince
+Edward had distributed.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle lost.]
+
+The queen watched the progress of the battle with intense anxiety, and
+soon, to her consternation and dismay, she saw that it was going
+against her. She kept her eyes upon Audley's banner, and when, at
+length, she saw it fall, she knew that all was lost. She hurried down
+from the tower, and, with a few friends to accompany her, she fled for
+her life to a strong-hold belonging to her friends that was not at a
+great distance.
+
+[Sidenote: Feeble condition of the king.]
+
+The king, too, had to be removed, in order to prevent his being taken
+prisoner. He was, however, too feeble to know much or to think much of
+what was going on. When they came to take him on his pallet to carry
+him away, he looked up and asked, feebly, "who had got the day," but
+beyond this he gave no indication of taking any interest in the
+momentous events that were transpiring.
+
+[Sidenote: Spirit and temper of the queen.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1460.]
+
+[Sidenote: Success of her efforts.]
+
+This defeat, instead of producing a discouraging and disheartening
+effect upon Margaret's mind, only served to arouse her to new vigor
+and determination. She had been somewhat timid and fearful in the
+earlier part of her troubles, when she had only a husband to think of
+and to care for. But now she had a son; and the maternal instinct
+seemed to operate in her case, as it has done in so many others, to
+make her fearless, desperate, and, in the end, almost ferocious, in
+protecting her offspring from harm, and in maintaining his rights. She
+immediately engaged with the utmost zeal and ardor in raising a new
+army. She did not trust the command of it to any general, but directed
+all the operations of it herself. There is not space to describe in
+detail the campaigns that ensued, but the result was a complete
+victory. Her enemies were, in their turn, entirely defeated, and the
+two great leaders, the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, were
+actually driven out of the kingdom. The Duke of York retreated to
+Ireland, and the Earl of Warwick went across the Straits of Dover to
+Calais, which was still in English possession, and a great naval and
+military station.
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Warwick.]
+
+[Sidenote: His successful advance.]
+
+In a very short time after this, however, Warwick came back again with
+a large armed force, which he had organized at Calais, and landed in
+the southern part of England. He marched toward London, carrying all
+before him. It was now his party's turn to be victorious; for by the
+operation of that strange principle which seems to regulate the ups
+and downs of opposing political parties in all countries and in all
+ages, victory alternates between them with almost the regularity of a
+pendulum. The current of popular sentiment, which had set so strongly
+in favor of the queen's cause only a short year before, appeared to be
+now altogether in favor of her enemies. Every body flocked to
+Warwick's standard as he marched northwardly from the coast toward
+London, and at London the people opened the gates of the city and
+received him and his troops as if they had been an army of deliverers.
+
+[Sidenote: Northampton.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king made captive.]
+
+Warwick did not delay long in London. He marched to the north to meet
+the queen's troops. Another great battle was fought at Northampton.
+Margaret watched the progress of the fight from an eminence not far
+distant. The day went against her. The result of the battle was that
+the poor king was taken prisoner the second time and carried in
+triumph to London.
+
+The captors, however, treated him with great consideration and
+respect--not as their enemy and as their prisoner, but as their
+sovereign, rescued by them from the hands of traitors and foes. The
+time had not even yet come for the York party openly to avow their
+purpose of deposing the king. So they conveyed him to London, and
+lodged him in the palace there, where he was surrounded with all the
+emblems and marks of royalty, but was still, nevertheless, closely
+confined.
+
+[Sidenote: Parliament summoned.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king.]
+
+The Duke of York then summoned a Parliament, acting in the king's
+name, of course, that is, requiring the king to sign the writs and
+other necessary documents. It was not until October that the
+Parliament met. During the interval the king was lodged in a country
+place not far from London, where every effort was made to enable him
+to pass his time agreeably, by giving him an opportunity to hunt, and
+to amuse and recreate himself with other out-door amusements. All the
+while, however, a strict watch was kept over him to prevent the
+possibility of his making his escape, or of the friends of the queen
+coming secretly to take him away.
+
+As for the queen and the little prince, none knew what had become of
+them.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's pretensions.]
+
+When Parliament met, a very extraordinary scene occurred in the House
+of Lords, in which the Duke of York was the principal actor, and which
+excited a great sensation. Up to this time he had put forward no
+actual claim to the throne in behalf of his branch of the family, but
+in all the hostilities in which he had been engaged against the king's
+troops, his object had been, as he had always said, not to oppose the
+king, but only to save him, by separating him from the evil influences
+which surrounded him. But he was now beginning to be somewhat more
+bold.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke comes to Parliament.]
+
+Accordingly, when Parliament met, he came into London at the head of a
+body-guard of five hundred horsemen, and with the sword of state borne
+before him, as if he were the greatest personage in the realm. He rode
+directly to Westminster, and, halting his men with great parade before
+the doors of the hall where the House of Lords was assembled, he went
+in.
+
+[Sidenote: Scene in the House of Lords.]
+
+He advanced directly through the hall to the raised dais at the end on
+which the throne was placed. He ascended the steps, and walked to the
+throne, the whole assembly looking on in solemn awe, to see what he
+was going to do. Some expected that he was going to take his seat upon
+the throne, and thus at once assume the position that he was the true
+and rightful sovereign of England. He, however, did not do so. He
+stood by the throne a few minutes, with his hand upon the crimson
+cloth which covered it, as if hesitating whether to take his seat or
+not, or perhaps waiting for some intimation from his partisans that he
+was expected to do so. But for several minutes no one spoke a word.
+At length the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in some respects the
+most exalted personage in the House of Lords, asked him if he would be
+pleased to go and visit the king, who was at that time in an adjoining
+apartment. He replied in a haughty tone,
+
+"I know no one in this realm whose duty it is not rather to visit me
+than to expect me to visit him."
+
+[Sidenote: His haughty demeanor.]
+
+He then turned and walked proudly out of the house.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's reasoning.]
+
+Although he thus refrained from actually seating himself upon the
+throne, it was evident that the time was rapidly drawing near when he
+would openly assert his claim to it, and some of the peers, thinking
+perhaps that Henry could be induced peaceably to yield, consulted him
+upon the subject, asking him which he thought had the best title to
+the crown, himself or the Duke of York.
+
+To this question Henry replied,
+
+"My father was king; his father was king. I have myself worn the crown
+for forty years, from my cradle. You have all sworn fealty to me as
+your sovereign, and your fathers did the same to my father and to my
+grandfather. How, then, can any one dispute my claim?"
+
+[Sidenote: Contesting claims.]
+
+What Henry said was true. The crown had been in his branch of the
+royal line for three generations, and for more than half a century,
+during all which time the whole nation had acquiesced in their rule.
+The claim of the Duke of York ran back to a period anterior to all
+this, but he maintained that it was legitimate and valid,
+notwithstanding.
+
+[Sidenote: Decision of the question.]
+
+There followed a series of deliberations and negotiations, the result
+of which was a decision on the part of Parliament that the Duke of
+York and his successors were really entitled to the crown, but that,
+by way of compromise, it was not to be in form transferred to them
+until after the death of Henry. So long as he should continue to live,
+he was to be nominally king, but the Duke of York was to govern as
+regent, and, at Henry's death, the crown was to descend to him.
+
+The duke was satisfied with this arrangement, and the first thing to
+be done, in order to secure its being well carried out, was to get the
+little prince, as well as Henry, the king, into his possession; for he
+well knew that, even if he were to dispose of the old king, and
+establish himself in possession of the throne, he could have no peace
+or quietness in the possession of it so long as the little prince,
+with his mother, was at large.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen commanded to return.]
+
+So he found means to induce the king to sign a mandate commanding the
+queen to come to London and bring the prince with her. This mandate
+she was required to obey immediately, under penalty, in case of
+disobedience, of being held guilty of treason.
+
+Officers were immediately dispatched in all directions to search for
+the queen, in order to serve this mandate upon her, but she was
+nowhere to be found.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+MARGARET TRIUMPHANT.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Sudden reverses.]
+
+There followed after this time a series of very rapid and sudden
+reverses, by which first one party and then the other became
+alternately the victors and the vanquished, through changes of fortune
+of the most extraordinary character.
+
+At the end of the battle described in the last chapter, Margaret found
+herself, with the little prince, a helpless fugitive. There were only
+eight persons to accompany her in her flight, and so defenseless were
+they, and such was the wild and lawless condition of the country, that
+it was said her party was stopped while on their way to Wales, and the
+queen was robbed of all her jewels and other valuables. Both she and
+the prince would very probably, too, have been made prisoners and sent
+to London, had it not been that, while the marauders were busy with
+their plunder, she contrived to make her escape.
+
+[Sidenote: Retreat to Scotland.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen re-enters England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Success.]
+
+She remained a very short time in Wales, and then proceeded by sea to
+Scotland, where her party, and she herself personally, had powerful
+friends. By the aid of these friends, and through the influence of
+the indomitable spirit and resolution which she displayed, she was
+soon supplied with a new force. At the head of this force she crossed
+the frontier into England. The people seemed every where to pity her
+misfortunes, and they were so struck with the energy and courage she
+displayed in struggling against them, and in braving the dreadful
+dangers which surrounded her in defense of the rights of her husband
+and child, that they flocked to her standard from all quarters, and
+thus in eight days from the time that the mandate was issued from
+London commanding her to surrender herself a prisoner, she appeared in
+the vicinity of the city of York, the largest and strongest city in
+all the north of England, at the head of an overwhelming force.
+
+[Sidenote: Movement of the duke.]
+
+The Duke of York was astounded when this intelligence reached him in
+London. There was not a moment to be lost. He immediately set out with
+all the troops which he could command, and marched to the northward to
+meet the queen. At the same time, he sent orders to the other leaders
+of his party, in different parts of England, to move to the northward
+as rapidly as possible, and join him there.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Wakefield.]
+
+[Sidenote: Death of the Duke of York.]
+
+The duke himself arrived first in the vicinity of the queen's army,
+but he thought he was not strong enough to attack her, and he
+accordingly concluded to wait until his re-enforcements should come
+up. The queen advanced with a much superior force to meet him. The two
+armies came together near the town of Wakefield, and here, after some
+delay, during which the queen continually challenged the duke to come
+out from his walls and fortifications to meet her, and defied and
+derided him with many taunts and reproaches, a great battle was
+finally fought. Margaret's troops were victorious. Two thousand out of
+five thousand of the duke's troops were left dead upon the field, and
+the duke himself was slain!
+
+Margaret's heart was filled with the wildest exultation and joy when
+she heard that her inveterate and hated foe at last was dead. She
+could scarcely restrain her excitement. One of the nobles of her
+party, Lord Clifford, whose father had been killed in a previous
+battle under circumstances of great atrocity, cut off the duke's head
+from his body, and carried it to Margaret on the end of a pike. She
+was for a moment horror-stricken at the ghastly spectacle, and turned
+her face away; but she finally ordered the head to be set up upon a
+pole on the walls of York, in view of all beholders.
+
+[Sidenote: Murder of his son.]
+
+A young son of the duke's, the Earl of Rutland, who was then about
+twelve years old, was also killed, or rather massacred, on the field
+of battle, after the fight was over, as he was endeavoring to make his
+escape, under the care of his tutor, to a castle near, where he would
+have been safe. This was the castle of Sandal. It was a very strong
+place, and was in the possession of the Duke of York's party. The poor
+boy was cut down mercilessly by the same Lord Clifford who has already
+been spoken of, notwithstanding all that his tutor could do to save
+him.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's cruelties.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her exultation.]
+
+Other most atrocious murders were committed at the close of this
+battle. The Earl of Salisbury was beheaded, and his head was set up
+upon a pike on the walls of York, by the side of the duke's. Margaret
+was almost beside herself at the results of this victory. Her armies
+triumphant, the great leader of the party of her enemies, the man who
+had been for years her dread and torment, slain, and all his chief
+confederates either killed or taken prisoners, and nothing now
+apparently in the way to prevent her marching in triumph to London,
+liberating her husband from his thraldom, and taking complete and
+undisputed possession of the supreme power, there seemed, so far as
+the prospect now before her was concerned, to be nothing more to
+desire.
+
+[Illustration: Murder of Richard's Child.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+MARGARET AN EXILE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: A new reverse.]
+
+Bright as were the hopes and prospects of Margaret after the battle of
+Wakefield, a few short months were sufficient to involve her cause
+again in the deepest darkness and gloom. The battle of Wakefield, and
+the death of the Duke of York, took place near the last of December,
+in 1460. In March, three months later, Margaret was an exile from
+England, outlawed by the supreme power of the realm, and placed under
+such a ban that it was forbidden to all the people of England to have
+any communication with her.
+
+[Sidenote: Reaction.]
+
+[Sidenote: Head of the Duke of York.]
+
+This fatal result was brought about, in a great measure, by the
+reaction in the minds of the people of the country, which resulted
+from the shocking cruelties perpetrated by her and by her party after
+the battle of Wakefield. The accounts of these transactions spread
+through the kingdom, and awakened a universal feeling of disgust and
+abhorrence. It was said that when Lord Clifford carried the head of
+the Duke of York to Margaret on the point of a lance, followed by a
+crowd of other knights and nobles, he said to her,
+
+"Look, madam! The war is over! Here is the ransom for the king!"
+
+Then all the by-standers raised a shout of exultation, and began
+pointing at the ghastly head, with mockings and derisive laughter.
+They had put a paper crown upon the head, which they seemed to think
+produced a comic effect. The queen, though at first she averted her
+face, soon turned back again toward the horrid trophy, and laughed,
+with the rest, at the ridiculous effect produced by the paper crown.
+
+[Sidenote: The country shocked.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's ferocity.]
+
+The murder, too, of the innocent child, the duke's younger son,
+produced a great and very powerful sensation throughout the land. The
+queen, though she had not, perhaps, commanded this deed, still made
+herself an accessory by commending it and exulting over it. The
+ferocious hate with which she was animated against all the family of
+her fallen foe was also shown by another circumstance, and that was,
+that when she commanded the two heads, viz., that of the Duke of York
+and that of the Earl of Salisbury, to be set upon the city walls, she
+ordered that a space should be left between them for two other heads,
+one of which was to be that of Edward, the oldest son of the Duke of
+York, who was still alive, not having been present at the battle of
+Wakefield, and who, of course, now inherited the title and the claims
+of his father.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's heir.]
+
+[Sidenote: Edward.]
+
+This young Edward was at this time about nineteen years of age. His
+title had been hitherto the Earl of March, and he would, of course,
+now become the Duke of York, only he chose to assume that of King of
+England. He was a young man of great energy of character, and he was
+sustained, of course, by all his father's party, who now transferred
+their allegiance to him. Indeed, their zeal in his service was
+redoubled by the terrible resentment and the thirst for vengeance
+which the cruelties of the queen awakened in their minds. Edward
+immediately put himself in motion with all the troops that he could
+command. He was in the western part of England at the time of his
+father's death, and he immediately began to move toward the coast in
+order to intercept Margaret on her march toward London.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle at St. Alban's.]
+
+[Sidenote: Warwick defeated.]
+
+[Sidenote: Henry abandoned.]
+
+At the same time, the Earl of Warwick advanced from London itself to
+the northward to meet the queen, taking with him the king, who had up
+to this time remained in London. The armies of Warwick and of the
+queen came into the vicinity of each other not far from St. Alban's,
+before the young Duke of York came up, and a desperate battle was
+fought. Warwick's army was composed chiefly of men hastily got
+together in London, and they were no match for the experienced and
+sturdy soldiers which Margaret had brought with her from the Scottish
+frontier. They were entirely defeated. They fought all day, but at
+night they dispersed in all directions, and in the hurry and confusion
+of their flight they left the poor king behind them.
+
+[Sidenote: Is saved.]
+
+During the battle Margaret did not know that her husband was on the
+ground. But at night, as soon as Henry's keepers had abandoned him, a
+faithful serving-man who remained with him ran into Margaret's camp,
+and finding one of the nobles in command there, he informed him of the
+situation of the king. The noble immediately informed the queen, and
+she, overjoyed at the news, flew to the place where her husband lay,
+and, on finding him, they embraced each other with the most passionate
+tokens of affection and joy.
+
+[Sidenote: The abbey.]
+
+Margaret brought the little prince to be presented to him, and then
+they all together proceeded to the abbey at St. Alban's, where
+apartments were provided for them. They first, however, went to the
+church, in order to return thanks publicly for the deliverance of the
+king.
+
+They were received at the door of the church by the abbot and the
+monks, who welcomed them with hymns of praise and thanksgiving as they
+approached. After the ceremonies had been performed, they went to the
+apartments in the abbey which had been provided for them, intending to
+devote some days to quiet and repose.
+
+[Sidenote: Great excitement.]
+
+In the mean time the excitement throughout the country continued and
+increased. The queen perpetrated fresh cruelties, ordering the
+execution of all the principal leaders from the other side that fell
+into her hands. She alienated the minds of the people from her cause
+by not restraining her troops from plundering; and, in order to obtain
+money to defray the expenses of her army and to provide them with
+food, she made requisitions upon the towns through which she passed,
+and otherwise harassed the people of the country by fines and
+confiscations.
+
+[Sidenote: The people alarmed.]
+
+The people were at length so exasperated by these high-handed
+proceedings, and by the furious and vindictive spirit which Margaret
+manifested in all that she did, that the current turned altogether in
+favor of the young Duke of York. The scattered forces of his party
+were reassembled. They began soon to assume so formidable an
+appearance that Margaret found it would be best for her to retire
+toward the north again. She of course took with her the king and the
+Prince of Wales.
+
+[Sidenote: Advance of Edward.]
+
+At the same time, Edward, the young Duke of York, advanced toward
+London. The whole city was excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm
+at his approach. A large meeting of citizens declared that Henry
+should reign no longer, but that they would have Edward for king.
+
+[Sidenote: London.]
+
+When Edward arrived in London he was received by the whole population
+as their deliverer. A grand council of the nobles and prelates was
+convened, and, after solemn deliberations, Henry was deposed and
+Edward was declared king.
+
+Two days after this a great procession was formed, at the head of
+which Edward rode royally to Westminster and took his seat upon the
+throne.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Towton.]
+
+Margaret made one more desperate effort to retrieve the fortunes of
+her family by a battle fought at a place called Towton. This battle
+was fought in a snow-storm. It was an awful day. Margaret's party were
+entirely defeated, and nearly thirty thousand of them were left dead
+upon the field.
+
+[Sidenote: Flight of the queen.]
+
+As soon as the result was known, Margaret, taking with her her husband
+and child and a small retinue of attendants, fled to the northward.
+She stopped a short time at the Castle of Alnwick,[15] a strong-hold
+belonging to one of her friends; but, finding that the forces opposed
+to her were gathering strength every day and advancing toward her, and
+that the country generally was becoming more and more disposed to
+yield allegiance to the new king, she concluded that it would not be
+safe for her to remain in England any longer.
+
+         [Footnote 15: See map of the border at the commencement of
+         chapter xix.]
+
+[Sidenote: Alnwick.]
+
+So, taking her husband and the little prince with her, and also a few
+personal attendants, she left Alnwick, and crossed the frontier into
+Scotland, a fugitive and an exile, and with no hope apparently of ever
+being able to enter England again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A ROYAL COUSIN.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1461.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret in Scotland.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her friends.]
+
+As soon as Margaret escaped to Scotland, far from being disheartened
+by her misfortunes, she began at once to concert measures for raising
+a new army and going into England again, with a view of making one
+more effort to recover her husband's throne. She knew, of course, that
+there was a large body of nobles, and of the people of the country,
+who were still faithful to her husband's cause, and who would be ready
+to rally round his standard whenever and wherever it should appear.
+All that she required was the nucleus of an army at the outset, and a
+tolerably successful beginning in entering the country. There were
+knights and nobles, and great numbers of men, every where ready to
+join her as soon as she should appear, but they were nowhere strong
+enough to commence a movement on their own responsibility.
+
+[Sidenote: The prince.]
+
+One of the measures which she adopted for strengthening her interest
+with the royal family of Scotland was to negotiate a marriage between
+the young prince, who was now seven years old, and a Scotch princess.
+She succeeded in conditionally arranging this marriage, but she found
+that she could not raise troops for a second invasion of England.
+
+[Sidenote: Messengers sent to France.]
+
+In the mean time, she had sent three noblemen as her messengers into
+France, to see what could be done in that country. France was her
+native land, and the king at that time, Charles VII., was her uncle.
+She had strong reason to hope, therefore, that she might find aid and
+sympathy there. Toward the close of the summer, however, she received
+a letter from two of her messengers at Dieppe which was not at all
+encouraging.
+
+[Sidenote: Their letter.]
+
+The letter began by saying, on the part of the messengers, that they
+had already written to Margaret three times before; once by the return
+of the vessel, called the _Carvel_, in which they went to France, and
+twice from Dieppe, where they then were, but all the letters were
+substantially to communicate the same evil tidings, namely, that the
+king, her uncle, was dead, and that her cousin had succeeded to the
+throne, but that the new king seemed not at all disposed to regard her
+cause favorably. His officers at Dieppe had caused all their papers to
+be seized and taken to the king, and he had shut up one of their
+number in the castle of Arques, which is situated at a short distance
+from Dieppe. He had been apparently prevented from imprisoning the
+other two by their having been provided with a safe-conduct, which
+protected them.
+
+[Sidenote: The messengers' advice to the queen.]
+
+Furthermore, the writers of the letter bade the queen keep up good
+courage, and advised her, for the present, to remain quietly where she
+was. She must not, they said, venture herself, or the little prince,
+upon the sea in an attempt to come to France, unless she found herself
+exposed to great danger in remaining in Scotland. They wished her to
+notify the king, too, who they supposed was at that time secreted in
+Wales, for they had heard that the Earl of March--they would not call
+him King of England, but still designated him by his old name--was
+going into Wales with an army to look for him.
+
+[Sidenote: Their professions and promises.]
+
+They said, in conclusion, that as soon as they were set at liberty
+they should immediately come to the queen in Scotland. Nothing but
+death would prevent their rejoining her, and they devoutly hoped and
+believed that they should not be called to meet with death until they
+could have the satisfaction of seeing her husband the king and herself
+once more in peaceable possession of their realm.
+
+But the reader may perhaps like to peruse the letter itself in the
+words in which it was written. It is a very good specimen of the form
+in which the English language was written in those days, though it
+seems very quaint and old-fashioned now. It was as follows:
+
+[Sidenote: The letter itself.]
+
+     "MADAM,--Please your good God, we have, since our coming hither,
+     written to your highness thrice; once by the carvel in which we
+     came, the other two from Dieppe. But, madam, it was all one thing
+     in substance, putting you in knowledge of your uncle's death,
+     whom God assoil, and how we stood arrested, and do yet. But on
+     Tuesday next we shall up to the king, your cousin-german. His
+     commissaires, at the first of our tarrying, took all our letters
+     and writings, and bore them up to the king, leaving my Lord of
+     Somerset in keeping at the castle of Arques, and my fellow
+     Whyttingham and me (for we had safe-conduct) in the town of
+     Dieppe, where we are yet.
+
+     "Madam, fear not, but be of good comfort, and beware ye venture
+     not your person, nor my lord the prince, by sea, till ye have
+     other word from us, unless your person can not be sure where ye
+     are, and extreme necessity drive ye thence.
+
+     "And, for God's sake, let the king's highness be advised of the
+     same; for, as we are informed, the Earl of March is into Wales by
+     land, and hath sent his navy thither by sea.
+
+     "And, madam, think verily, as soon as we be delivered, we shall
+     come straight to you, unless death take us by the way, which we
+     trust he will not till we see the king and you peaceably again in
+     your realm; the which we beseech God soon to see, and to send you
+     that your highness desireth. Written at Dieppe the 30th day of
+     August, 1461.
+
+          "Your true subjects and liegemen,
+
+                              "HUNGERFORD and WHYTTINGHAM."
+
+[Sidenote: Fidelity.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suspense.]
+
+[Sidenote: King Louis XI.]
+
+Margaret remained through the winter in Scotland, anxiously
+endeavoring to devise means to rebuild her fallen fortunes. But all
+was in vain; no light or hope appeared. At length, when the spring
+opened, she determined to go herself to France and see the king her
+cousin, in hopes that, by her presence at the court, and her personal
+influence over the king, something might be done.
+
+The king her cousin had been her playmate in their childhood. He was
+the son of Mary, her father René's sister. Mary and René had been very
+strongly attached to each other, and the children had been brought up
+much together. Margaret now hoped that, on seeing her again in her
+present forlorn and helpless condition, his former friendship for her
+would revive, and that he would do something to aid her.
+
+[Sidenote: Want of funds.]
+
+[Sidenote: Gratitude.]
+
+[Sidenote: Voyage to France.]
+
+She was, however, entirely destitute of money, and she would have
+found it very difficult to contrive the means of getting to France,
+had it not been for the kindness of a French merchant who resided in
+Scotland, and whom she had known in former years in Nancy, in
+Lorraine, where she had rendered him some service. The merchant had
+since acquired a large fortune in commercial operations between
+Scotland and Flanders which he conducted. In his prosperity he did not
+forget the kindness he had received from the queen in former years,
+and, now that she was in want and in distress, he came forward
+promptly to relieve her. He furnished her with the funds necessary for
+her voyage, and provided a vessel to convey her and her attendants to
+the coast of France. She sailed from the port of Kirkcudbright, on the
+western coast of Scotland, and so passed down through the Irish Sea
+and St. George's Channel, thus avoiding altogether the Straits of
+Dover, where she would have incurred danger of being intercepted by
+the English men-of-war.
+
+She took the young prince with her. The king it was thought best to
+leave behind.
+
+[Sidenote: 1462.]
+
+[Sidenote: Funds exhausted.]
+
+So great were the number of persons dependent upon the queen, and so
+urgent were their necessities, that all the funds which the French
+merchant had furnished her were exhausted on her arrival in France.
+She found, moreover, that the three friends, the noblemen whom she had
+sent to France the summer before, and from whom she had received the
+letter we have quoted, had left that country and gone to Scotland to
+seek her. They had provided themselves with a vessel, in which they
+intended to take the queen away from Scotland and convey her to some
+place of safety, not knowing that she had herself embarked for France.
+They must have passed the queen's vessel on the way, unless, indeed,
+which is very probably the case, they went up the Channel and through
+the Straits of Dover, thus taking an altogether different route from
+that chosen by the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Missed by her friends.]
+
+When they reached Scotland they hovered on the coast a long time,
+endeavoring to find an opportunity to communicate with her secretly;
+but at length they learned that she was gone.
+
+[Sidenote: She goes to France.]
+
+In the mean time, Margaret, having arrived in France, borrowed some
+money of the Duke of Brittany, in whose dominions it would seem she
+first landed. With this money Margaret supplied the most pressing
+wants of her party, and also made arrangements for pursuing her
+journey into the country, to the town in Normandy where her cousin the
+king was then residing.
+
+[Illustration: Louis XI., Margaret's Cousin.]
+
+[Sidenote: Louis XI.]
+
+It is said that, on arriving at the court of the king and obtaining
+admission to his majesty's presence, Margaret took the young prince by
+the hand, and, throwing herself down at her cousin's feet, she
+implored him, with many tears, to take pity upon her forlorn and
+wretched condition, and that of her unhappy husband, and to aid her in
+her efforts to recover his throne.
+
+But the king, with true royal heartlessness, was unmoved by her
+distress, and manifested no disposition to espouse her cause.
+
+[Sidenote: Negotiations.]
+
+Some negotiations, however, ensued, at the close of which the king
+promised to loan her a sum of money--for a consideration. The
+consideration was that she was to convey to him the port and town of
+Calais, which was still held by the English, and was considered a very
+important and very valuable possession, or else pay back double the
+money which she borrowed.
+
+[Sidenote: Mortgage of Calais.]
+
+Thus it was not an absolute sale of Calais, but only a mortgage of it,
+which the queen executed. But, nevertheless, as soon as this
+transaction was made known in England, it excited great indignation
+throughout the country, and seriously injured the cause of the queen.
+The people accused her of being ready to alienate the possessions of
+the crown, possessions which it had cost so much both in blood and
+treasure to procure.
+
+[Sidenote: Doubtful security.]
+
+Of course, the security which the king obtained for his loan was of a
+somewhat doubtful character, for Margaret's mortgage deed of Calais,
+although she gave it in King Henry's name, and was careful to state in
+it that she was expressly authorized by him to make it, was of no
+force at all so long as Edward of York reigned in England, and was
+acknowledged by the people as the rightful king. It was only in the
+event of Margaret's succeeding in recovering the throne for her
+husband that the mortgage could take effect. The deed which she
+executed stipulated that, as soon as King Henry should be restored to
+his kingdom, he would appoint one of two persons named, in whom the
+King of France had confidence, as governor of the town, with authority
+to deliver it up to the King of France in one year in case she did not
+within that time pay back double the sum of money borrowed.
+
+[Sidenote: Conditions.]
+
+He seemed to think that, considering the great risk he was taking, a
+hundred per cent per annum was not an exorbitant usury.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+RETURN TO ENGLAND.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret finds a friend.]
+
+Margaret found one friend in France, who seems to have espoused her
+cause from a sentiment of sincere and disinterested attachment to her.
+This was a certain knight named Pierre de Brezé.[16] He was an officer
+of high rank in the government of Normandy, and a man of very
+considerable influence among the distinguished personages of those
+times.
+
+         [Footnote 16: Pronounced Brezzay.]
+
+[Illustration: Map of the Scottish Border.]
+
+[Sidenote: Account of Brezé.]
+
+[Sidenote: He enters the queen's service.]
+
+Margaret had known him intimately many years before. He was appointed
+one of the commissioners on the French side to negotiate, with Suffolk
+and the others, the terms of Margaret's marriage, and he had taken a
+very prominent part in the tournaments and other celebrations which
+took place in honor of the wedding before Margaret left her native
+land. When he now saw the poor queen coming back to France an exile,
+bereft of friends, of resources, and almost of hope, the interest
+which he had felt for her in former years was revived. It is said
+that he fell in love with her. However this may be, it is certain that
+Margaret's great beauty must have had a very important influence in
+deepening the sentiment of compassion which the misfortunes of the
+poor fugitive were so well calculated to inspire. At any rate, Brezé
+entered at once into the queen's service with great enthusiasm. He
+brought with him a force of two thousand men. With this army, and with
+the money which she had borrowed of King Louis, Margaret resolved to
+make one more attempt to recover her husband's kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's plans.]
+
+At length, in the month of October, 1462, five months after she
+arrived in France, she set sail with a small number of vessels,
+containing the soldiers that Brezé had provided for her. Her plan was
+to land in the north of England, for it was in that part of the
+country that the friends of the Lancaster line were most numerous and
+powerful.
+
+[Sidenote: She goes to England.]
+
+King Edward's government knew something of her plans, or, at least,
+suspected them, and they stationed a fleet to watch for her and
+intercept her. She, however, contrived to elude them, and reached the
+shores of England in safety.
+
+[Sidenote: Hurried flight.]
+
+The fleet approached the shore at Tynemouth, but the guns of the forts
+were pointed against her, and she was forbidden to land. She, however,
+succeeded, either at that place or at some other point along the
+coast, in effecting a debarkation; but she was threatened so soon with
+an attack by a large army which she heard was approaching, under the
+command of the Earl of Warwick, that the French troops fled
+precipitately to their ships, leaving Margaret, the prince, Brezé, and
+a few others who remained faithful to her, on shore. Being thus
+deserted, Margaret and her party were compelled to retreat too. They
+embarked on board a fisherman's boat, which was the only means of
+conveyance left to them, and in this manner made their way to Berwick,
+which town was in the possession of her friends.
+
+[Sidenote: A storm.]
+
+[Sidenote: Ships wrecked.]
+
+[Sidenote: Holy Island.]
+
+They were long in reaching Berwick, being detained by a storm. The
+storm, however, caused Margaret a much greater injury than mere
+detention. The ships in which the French soldiers had fled were caught
+by it off a range of rocky cliffs lying between Tynemouth and Berwick,
+the most prominent of which is called Bamborough Head. The ships were
+driven upon the rocks and rocky islands which lay along the shore, and
+there broken to pieces by the sea which rolled in upon them from the
+offing. All the stores, and provisions, and munitions of war which
+Margaret had brought from France, and which constituted almost her
+sole reliance for carrying on the war, were lost. Most of the men
+saved themselves, and made their escape to an island that lay near,
+called Holy Island. But here they were soon afterward attacked by a
+body of Yorkist troops and cut to pieces.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's escape.]
+
+Margaret reached Berwick in her fishing-boat at last, bearing these
+terrible tidings to her friends there. One would suppose that the last
+hope of her being able to retrieve her fallen fortunes would now be
+extinguished, and that she would sink down in utter and absolute
+despair.
+
+[Sidenote: Her spirit revives.]
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Hexham.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king's escape.]
+
+But it was not in Margaret's nature to despair. The more heavily the
+pressure of calamity and the hostility of her foes weighed upon her,
+the more fierce and determined was the spirit of resistance which they
+aroused in her bosom. In this instance, instead of yielding to
+dejection and despondency, she began at once to take measures for
+assembling a new force, and the ardor and energy which she displayed
+inspired all around her with some portion of her confidence and zeal.
+A new army was raised during the winter. Very early in the spring it
+took the field, and a series of military operations followed, in which
+towns and castles were taken and retaken, and skirmishes fought all
+along the Scottish frontier. At length the contending forces were
+concentrated near a place called Hexham, and a general battle ensued.
+The queen's army was defeated. The king, who was in the battle, had a
+most narrow escape. He fled on horseback--for when he was in good
+bodily health he was an excellent horseman--but he was so hotly
+pursued that three of his body-guard were taken.
+
+It is mentioned that one of the men thus taken wore the king's cap of
+state, which was embroidered with two crowns of gold, one representing
+the kingdom of England and the other that of France, the title to
+which country the English sovereigns still pretended to claim, in
+virtue of their former extended possessions there, although pretty
+much all except the town of Calais was now lost.
+
+Perhaps the pursuers of the king's party were deceived by this royal
+cap, and took the wearer of it for the king. At any rate, the officer
+wearing the cap was taken, and the king escaped.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's danger.]
+
+Immediately after the victory on the field at Hexham, a body of the
+Yorkist troops broke into the camp where the queen was quartered, and
+where, with the young prince, she was awaiting the result of the
+battle. As soon as the queen found that the enemy were coming, she
+seized the prince and ran off with him, in mortal terror, into a
+neighboring wood. She knew well that, if the child was taken, he
+would certainly be killed. Indeed, such bloody work had been made on
+both sides, with assassinations and executions during the year prior
+to this time, that men's minds were in the highest state of
+exasperation; and it is probable that both Margaret herself and the
+child would have been butchered on the spot if they had remained in
+the camp until the victorious troops entered it.
+
+[Sidenote: Narrow escape.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her flight.]
+
+[Sidenote: The robbers.]
+
+As soon as Margaret gained the wood she turned off into the most
+obscure and solitary paths that she could find, thinking of nothing
+but to escape from her pursuers, who, she imagined in her fright, were
+close behind. At length, after wandering about in this manner for some
+time, she fell in with a company of men in the wood, who were either a
+regular band of robbers, or were tempted to become robbers on that
+occasion by the richness of the stranger's dress, and by the articles
+of jewelry and other decorations which she wore; for, although
+Margaret's means were extremely limited, she still maintained, in some
+degree, the bearing and the appointments of a queen.
+
+[Sidenote: An escape.]
+
+The men at once stopped her, and began to plunder her and the prince
+of every thing which they could take from them that appeared to be of
+value. As soon as they had possessed themselves of this plunder they
+began to quarrel about it among themselves. Margaret remained standing
+near, in great anxiety and distress, until presently, watching her
+opportunity, she caught up the prince in her arms and slipped away
+into the adjoining thickets.
+
+[Sidenote: Alone in the woods.]
+
+She ran forward as fast as she could go until she supposed herself out
+of the reach of pursuit from the robbers, and then looked for a place
+in the densest part of the wood where she could hide, with the
+intention of remaining there until night. Her plan was then to find
+her way out of the wood, and so wander on until she should come to the
+residence of some one of her friends, who she might hope would harbor
+and conceal her.
+
+[Sidenote: Night.]
+
+She accordingly continued in her hiding-place until evening came on,
+and then, having recovered in some degree, by this interval of rest,
+from the excitement, fatigue, and terror which she had endured, she
+came out into a path again, leading little Edward by the hand. The
+moon was shining, and this enabled her to see where to go.
+
+[Sidenote: A stranger appears.]
+
+After wandering on for some time, she was alarmed by the apparition of
+a tall man, armed, who suddenly appeared in the pathway at a short
+distance before her. She had no doubt that this was another robber. It
+was too late for her to attempt to fly from him. He was too near to
+allow her any chance of escape. In this extremity, she conceived the
+idea of throwing herself upon his generosity as her last and only
+hope. So she advanced boldly toward him, leading the little prince by
+the hand, and said to him, presenting the prince,
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's appeal to the stranger.]
+
+"My friend, this is the son of your king! Save him!"
+
+[Sidenote: The outlaw's cave.]
+
+The man appeared astonished. In a moment he laid his sword down at
+Margaret's feet in token of submission to her, and then immediately
+offered to conduct her and the prince to a place of safety. He also
+explained to her that he was one of her friends. He had been ruined by
+the war, and driven from his home, and was now, like the queen
+herself, a wanderer and a fugitive. He had taken possession of a cave
+in the wood, and there he was now living with his wife as an outlaw.
+He led Margaret and the prince to the cave, where they were received
+by his wife, and entertained with such hospitalities as a home so
+gloomy and comfortless could afford.
+
+[Illustration: Margaret at the Cave.]
+
+[Sidenote: Appearance of the cave.]
+
+Margaret remained an inmate of this cave for two days. The place is
+known to this day as Margaret's Cave. It stands in a very secluded
+spot on the banks of a small stream. The ground around it is now open,
+but in Margaret's time it was in the midst of the forest. The entrance
+to the cave is very low. Within, it is high enough for a man to stand
+upright. It is about thirty-four feet long, and half as wide. There
+are some appearances of its having been once divided by a wall into
+two separate apartments.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret concealed in it.]
+
+[Sidenote: A friend found.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's anger turned to grief.]
+
+For two days Margaret remained in the cave, suffering, of course, the
+extreme of suspense and anxiety all the time, being in great
+solicitude to hear from her friends, the nobles and generals who had
+been defeated with her in the battle. Her host made diligent though
+secret inquiries, but could gain no tidings. At length, on the morning
+of the third day, to Margaret's infinite relief and joy, he came in
+bringing with him De Brezé himself, with his squire, whose name was
+Barville, and an English gentleman who had escaped with De Brezé from
+the battle, and had since been wandering about with him, looking every
+where for the queen. Margaret was for the moment overjoyed to see
+these friends again, but her exultation was soon succeeded by the
+deepest grief at hearing the terrible accounts they gave of the death
+of her nearest friends, some of whom had been killed in the battle,
+and others had been taken prisoners and cruelly executed immediately
+afterward. Up to this time, through all the danger and suffering which
+she had endured since the battle, she had been either in a state of
+stupor, or else filled with resentment and rage against her enemies,
+and she had not shed a tear; but now grief for the loss of these dear
+and faithful friends seemed to take the place of all other emotions,
+and she wept a long time as if her heart would break.
+
+Margaret learned, however, from her friends that the king had made his
+escape, and was probably in a place of safety, and this gave her great
+consolation. It was thought that the king had succeeded in making his
+way to Scotland.
+
+[Sidenote: They leave the cave.]
+
+In the course of the day, one of the party who came with Brezé went
+out into the neighboring villages to see if he could learn any new
+tidings, and before long he returned bringing with him several nobles
+of high rank and princes of the Lancastrian line. Margaret felt much
+relieved to find her party so strengthened, and arrangements were soon
+made by the whole party for Margaret to leave the cave with them, and
+endeavor to reach the Scottish frontier, which was not much more, in
+a direct line, than thirty miles from where they were.
+
+[Sidenote: Generosity of the outlaw.]
+
+Before they departed from the cave Margaret expressed her thanks very
+earnestly to the outlaw and his wife for their kindness in receiving
+her and the little prince into their cave, and in doing so much for
+their comfort while there, although by so doing they not only
+encroached very much upon their own slender means of support, but also
+incurred a very serious risk in harboring such a fugitive. Having been
+plundered of every thing by the robbers in the wood, she had nothing
+but thanks to return to her kind protectors. The nobles who were now
+with her offered the wife of the outlaw some money--for they had still
+a small supply of money left--but she would not receive it. They would
+require all they had, she said, for themselves, before they reached
+Scotland.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's gratitude.]
+
+The queen was much moved by this generosity, and she said that of all
+that she had lost there was nothing that she regretted so much as the
+power of rewarding such goodness.
+
+[Sidenote: The journey.]
+
+[Sidenote: The journey to Kirkcudbright.]
+
+On leaving the wood at Hexham, the party, instead of proceeding north,
+directly toward the frontier of Scotland, concluded to journey
+westward to Carlisle, intending to take passage by water from that
+place through Solway to Kirkcudbright, the port from which Margaret
+had sailed when she went to France.[17] They were obliged to use a
+great many precautions in traversing the country to prevent being
+discovered. The party consisted of Margaret and the young prince,
+attended by Brezé and his squire, and also by the man of the cave, who
+was acquainted with the country, and acted as guide. They reached
+Carlisle in safety, and there embarked on board a vessel, which took
+them down the Firth and landed them in Kirkcudbright.
+
+         [Footnote 17: See the map at the commencement of this
+         chapter.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her anxiety.]
+
+Though now out of England, Margaret did not feel much more at ease
+than before, for during her absence in France a treaty had been made
+between King Edward and the Scottish king which would prevent the
+latter from openly harboring her in his dominions; so she was obliged
+to keep closely concealed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+YEARS OF EXILE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: They are discovered.]
+
+[Sidenote: An abduction.]
+
+Margaret had not been long in Kirkcudbright before she was
+accidentally seen by a man who knew her. This man was an Englishman.
+His name was Cork. He was of the Yorkist party. He said nothing when
+he saw the queen, but he immediately formed the resolution to seize
+her and all her party, and to convey them to England and give them up
+to King Edward. He contrived some way to carry this plot into
+execution. He seized de Brezé and his squire, and also the queen and
+the prince, and carried them on board a boat in the night, having
+first bound and gagged them, to disable them from making resistance or
+uttering any cries. It seems that De Brezé was not with the queen when
+he was taken, and as it was dark when they were put on board the boat,
+and neither could speak, neither party knew that the others were there
+until the morning, when they were far away from the shore, out in the
+wide part of the Solway Bay.
+
+[Sidenote: De Brezé's exploit.]
+
+In the night, however, De Brezé, who was a man of address and of
+great personal strength, as well as of undaunted bravery, contrived to
+get free from his bonds, and also to free his squire, without letting
+the boatmen know what he had done. Then, in the morning, watching for
+a good opportunity, they together rose upon the boatmen, seized the
+oars, and, after a violent struggle, in which they came very near
+upsetting the boat, they finally succeeded in killing some of the men,
+and in throwing the others overboard. They immediately liberated
+Margaret and the prince, and then attempted to make for the shore.
+
+[Sidenote: Tossed about in Solway Firth.]
+
+After having been tossed about for some time in the Gulf or Firth of
+Solway, the boat was carried by the wind away up through the North
+Channel more than sixty miles, and finally was thrown upon a sand-bank
+near the coast of Cantyre, a famous promontory extending into the sea
+in this part of Scotland. The boat struck at some distance from the
+dry land, and the sea rolled in so heavily upon it that there was
+danger of its being broken to pieces; so De Brezé took the queen upon
+his shoulders, and, wading through the water, conveyed her to the
+shore. Barville, the squire, carried the prince in the same way. And
+so they were once more safe on land.
+
+[Sidenote: They land in Scotland.]
+
+They found the coast wild and barren, and the country desolate; but
+this was attended with one advantage at least, and that was that the
+queen was in little danger of being recognized; for, as one of
+Margaret's historians expresses it, the peasants were so ignorant that
+they could not conceive of any one's being a queen unless she had a
+crown upon her head and a sceptre in her hand.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival at the hamlet.]
+
+They all went up a little way into the country, and at length found a
+small hamlet, where Margaret concluded to remain with the prince until
+De Brezé could go to Edinburgh and learn what the condition of the
+country was, and so enable her to consider what course to pursue.
+
+The report which De Brezé brought back on his return was very
+discouraging. Margaret, however, on hearing it, determined to go to
+Edinburgh herself, to see what she could do. She found, on her arrival
+there, that the government were not willing to do any thing more for
+her. They would furnish her with the means, they said, if she wished,
+of going back to England in a quiet way, with a view of seeking refuge
+among some of her friends there, but that was all that they could do.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret reaches Bamborough.]
+
+So Margaret went back to England, and remained for some little time in
+the great castle of Bamborough, which was still in the hands of her
+friends. She tried here to contrive some way of reassembling her
+scattered adherents and making a new rally, but she found that that
+object could not be accomplished. Thus all the resources which could
+be furnished by France, Scotland, or England for her failing cause
+seemed to be exhausted, and, after turning her eyes in every direction
+for help, she concluded to cross the German Ocean into Flanders, to
+see if she could find any sympathy or succor there.
+
+[Sidenote: She sails for Flanders.]
+
+[Sidenote: A storm.]
+
+Compared with the number of attendants that were with her in her
+flight into Scotland, the retinue of friends and followers by which
+she was accompanied in this retreat to the Continent was quite large,
+though it is probable that most of this company went with her quite as
+much on their own account as on the queen's. The whole party numbered
+about two hundred. They embarked from Bamborough on board two ships,
+but very soon after they had left the land a storm arose, and the two
+ships were separated from each other, and for twelve hours the one
+which Margaret and the prince had taken was in imminent danger of
+being overwhelmed. The wind rose to a perfect hurricane, and no one
+expected that they could possibly escape.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of Burgundy.]
+
+At length, however, the gale subsided so as to allow the ship to make
+a port; not the port of their destination, however, but one far to the
+southward of it, in a territory belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy,
+between whom and Margaret there had been, during all Margaret's life,
+a hereditary and implacable enmity. Margaret was greatly alarmed at
+finding herself thus at the mercy of a person whom she considered as
+one of her deadliest foes.
+
+[Sidenote: Generosity of the duke.]
+
+But, very much to her surprise, the duke, as soon as he heard of her
+arrival in the country, took pity on her misfortunes, forgot all his
+former enmity, and treated her in the most generous manner. He was not
+at Lille, his capital, when she arrived, but he sent his son to
+receive her, and to conduct her to the capital, with every possible
+mark of respect. When she went on afterward to meet the duke, he sent
+a guard of honor to escort her, and when she arrived at his court,
+which was at that time at a place called St. Pol, he received her in a
+very distinguished manner, and prepared great entertainments and
+festivities to do her honor.
+
+He rendered her, also, still more substantial services than these, by
+furnishing her with an ample supply of funds for all her immediate
+wants. He gave to each of the ladies in her train a hundred crowns,
+to Brezé a thousand, and to Margaret herself an order on his treasurer
+for ten thousand.
+
+[Sidenote: René's gratitude.]
+
+King René, Margaret's father, was very much touched with this
+generosity and kindness on the part of his old family enemy. He
+himself, at that time, was wholly destitute, and unable to do any
+thing for his daughter's relief. He, however, wrote a letter of warm
+thanks to Philip, in which he declared that he had not merited and did
+not expect such kindness at his hands.
+
+[Sidenote: A rare example.]
+
+We have, in the conduct of the Duke of Burgundy on this occasion, one
+single and solitary example, among all the Christian knights, and
+nobles, and princes that figure in this long and melancholy story of
+contention, cruelty, and crime, in which the Savior's rule, Forgive
+your enemies, do good to them that hate you, was cordially obeyed; and
+what happy fruits immediately resulted to all concerned! How much of
+all the vast amount of bloodshed and suffering which prevailed during
+these gloomy times would have been prevented, if those who professed
+to be followers of Christ had been really what they pretended.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret goes to Lorraine.]
+
+With the money which Margaret obtained from the Duke of Burgundy she
+was enabled to continue her journey in some tolerable degree of
+comfort to the old home of her childhood in Lorraine. All that her
+father could do for her was to furnish her a humble place of refuge in
+a castle at Verdun, on the River Moselle, which flows through the
+province. She went there, attended with a small number of followers,
+and here she remained, in utter seclusion from the world, and almost
+forgotten, for seven long years.
+
+[Sidenote: The prince.]
+
+[Sidenote: Bad news from the king.]
+
+[Sidenote: His life spared.]
+
+During all this time she enjoyed the comfort and satisfaction of
+having her son, the prince, with her, and of watching his progress to
+manhood under her own personal charge and that of one or two
+accomplished men who still adhered to her, and who aided her in the
+education of her boy. She was, however, hopelessly separated from her
+husband. For a long time she did not know what had become of him.
+During this time he was leading a very precarious and wandering life
+in England, going from one hiding-place to another, wherever his
+friends could most conveniently secrete him. At length, however, the
+heavy tidings came to the queen, in her retreat at Verdun, that her
+husband had been betrayed in one of his retreats, and had been seized
+and carried to London as a prisoner in a very ignominious manner. It
+was to have been expected that he would be immediately put to death;
+but, as a matter of policy, the York party thought it not best to
+proceed to that extremity, especially as all his kingly right would
+have immediately descended to his son, in whose hands, with such a
+mother to aid him, they would have become more formidable than ever.
+Thus, on many accounts, it was better for his enemies to allow the old
+king to live.
+
+[Sidenote: Cruelties.]
+
+[Sidenote: Men tortured.]
+
+But very special precautions were taken by King Edward's government to
+prevent Margaret and the young prince from coming into England again.
+A coast guard was set all along the shore, and every one in England
+who was suspected of being in communication with the exiled queen was
+watched and guarded in the closest manner possible. Some were tortured
+and put to death in the attempt to force them to give up letters or
+papers supposed to be in their possession. A certain wealthy merchant
+of London was accused of treason, and very severely punished, simply
+because he had been asked to loan money to Margaret, and, though he
+refused to make the loan, did not inform the authorities of the
+application which had been made to him.
+
+[Sidenote: Great fidelity.]
+
+Among other examples of the shocking cruelty of which those in power
+were guilty, in their hatred of Margaret and her cause, it is said
+that one man, who was found out, as they thought, in an attempt to
+convey letters to and fro between Margaret and some of her friends in
+England, was torn to pieces with red-hot pincers in a fruitless
+attempt to make him confess who the persons were in England for whom
+the letters were intended. But he bore the torture to the end, and
+died without betraying the secret.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE RECONCILIATION WITH WARWICK.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1469.]
+
+[Sidenote: Great news.]
+
+[Sidenote: Revolt of Warwick.]
+
+In the fall of 1469, Margaret's mind was aroused to new life and
+excitement by news which came from England that great opposition had
+gradually grown up in the realm against the government of Edward, that
+many of his best friends had forsaken him, and that the friends and
+partisans of the Lancaster line were increasing in strength and
+courage to such a degree as to make it probable that the time was
+drawing nigh when Henry might be restored to the throne. The most
+important circumstance connected with the change which had taken place
+was that the great Earl of Warwick, who had been the most efficient
+and powerful supporter of the house of York, and the most determined
+enemy of Margaret and Henry during the whole war, had now abandoned
+Edward, and had come to France, and was ready to throw all the weight
+of his power and influence on the other side.[18]
+
+         [Footnote 18: The nature of the difficulties which had taken
+         place in England, and the circumstances which led the Earl of
+         Warwick to abandon Edward's cause, are explained fully in the
+         history of Richard III.]
+
+[Sidenote: Excitement.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret sent for.]
+
+Of course, these tidings produced a great excitement all over France.
+King Louis XI. was specially interested in them, as they afforded a
+hope that Margaret might regain her throne, and so be able to redeem
+her mortgage, or else deliver up to him the security; so he called a
+council at Tours to consider what was best to be done, and he sent for
+Margaret at Verdun to come with the prince and attend it. He also sent
+for René, her father, and other influential family friends. It is said
+that when Margaret arrived and met her father, she was so much
+agitated by the news, and by the hopes which it awakened in her bosom,
+that, in embracing him, she burst into tears from the excess of her
+excitement and joy.
+
+[Sidenote: Reconciliation with Warwick proposed.]
+
+But she could not endure the idea of a reconciliation with Warwick. At
+first she positively refused to see or to speak to him. When, however,
+at length he arrived at Tours, the king introduced him into Margaret's
+presence, but for a long time she refused to have any thing to do with
+him.
+
+"She could never forgive him," she said. "He had been the chief author
+of the downfall of her husband, and of all the sorrows and calamities
+which had since befallen her and her son.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's objections.]
+
+"Besides," she said, "even if she were willing to forgive him for the
+intolerable wrongs which he had inflicted upon her, it would be very
+prejudicial to her husband's cause to enter into any agreement or
+alliance with him whatever; for all her party and friends in England,
+whom Warwick had done so much to injure, and who had so long looked
+upon him as their worst and deadliest foe, would be wholly alienated
+from her if they were to know that she had taken him into favor, and
+thus she would lose much more than she would gain."
+
+[Sidenote: Warwick's arguments.]
+
+[Sidenote: His promises.]
+
+Warwick replied to this as well as he could, pleading the injuries
+which he had himself received from the Lancaster party as an excuse
+for his hostility against them. Then, moreover, he had been the means
+of unsettling King Edward in his realm, and of preparing the way for
+King Henry to return; and he promised that, if Margaret would receive
+him into her service, he would thenceforth be true and faithful to her
+as long as he lived, and be as much King Edward's foe as he had
+hitherto been his friend. He appealed, moreover, to the King of France
+to be his surety that he would faithfully perform these stipulations.
+
+[Sidenote: King Louis intercedes.]
+
+The King of France said that he would be his surety, and he begged
+that Margaret would pardon Warwick, and receive him into favor for
+_his_ sake, and for the great love that he, the king, bore to him. He
+would do more for him, he added, than for any man living.
+
+Margaret at last allowed herself to be persuaded, and Warwick was
+forgiven.
+
+[Sidenote: A new proposal.]
+
+There were several other great nobles, who had come over with Warwick,
+that were received into Margaret's favor at the same time, and, when
+the grand reconciliation was completely effected, the whole party set
+out together to go down the Loire to Angers, where the Countess of
+Warwick, the earl's wife, and his youngest daughter, Anne, were
+awaiting them. The countess and Anne were presented to the queen, and
+a short time afterward Louis ventured to propose a marriage between
+Anne and Prince Edward.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's indignation.]
+
+Margaret received this proposal with astonishment, and rejected it
+with scorn. She said she could see neither honor nor profit in it,
+either for herself or for her son. But at length, after a fortnight
+had been spent in reasoning with her on the advantages of the
+connection, and the aid which she would derive from such an alliance
+with Warwick in endeavoring to recover her husband's kingdom, she
+finally yielded. She was influenced at last, in coming to this
+decision, by the advice of her father, who counseled her to consent to
+the match.
+
+[Sidenote: The match finally agreed upon.]
+
+The parties united in a grand religious ceremony in the cathedral
+church of Angers to seal and ratify the covenants and agreements by
+which they were now to be bound.
+
+[Sidenote: The true cross.]
+
+There was a fragment of the true cross, so supposed, among the relics
+in the cathedral, and this was an object of such veneration that an
+oath taken upon it was considered as imposing an obligation of the
+highest sanctity. Each of the three great parties took an oath, in
+turn, upon this holy emblem.
+
+[Sidenote: Oaths taken.]
+
+First, the Earl of Warwick swore that he would, without change, always
+hold to the party of King Henry, and serve him, the queen, and the
+prince, as a true and faithful subject ought to serve his sovereign
+lord.
+
+Next, the King of France swore that he would help and sustain, to the
+utmost of his power, the Earl of Warwick in the quarrel of King Henry.
+
+And, finally, Queen Margaret swore to treat the earl as true and
+faithful to King Henry and the prince, and "for his deeds past never
+to make him any reproach."
+
+[Sidenote: 1470.]
+
+[Sidenote: The betrothal.]
+
+[Sidenote: Conditions.]
+
+It was furthermore agreed at this time that Anne, the Earl of
+Warwick's daughter, who was betrothed to the prince, should be
+delivered to Queen Margaret, and should remain under her charge until
+the marriage should be consummated. But this was not to take place
+until the Earl of Warwick had been into England and had recovered the
+realm, or the greater portion of it at least, and restored it to King
+Henry. Thus the consummation of the marriage was to depend upon
+Warwick's success in restoring Henry his crown.
+
+[Sidenote: Ceremony.]
+
+Still, a sort of marriage ceremony, or, more strictly, a ceremony of
+betrothal, was celebrated at Angers between the prince and his
+affianced bride a few days afterward, with great parade, and then
+Warwick, leaving his countess and his daughter behind with Margaret,
+set out for England with a troop of two thousand men which Louis had
+furnished him.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret sets out for Paris.]
+
+[Sidenote: Reception in Paris.]
+
+After Warwick had gone, Margaret remained at Angers for some weeks,
+and then set out for Paris, escorted by a guard of honor. Her party
+arrived at the capital in November, and Margaret, by Louis's orders,
+was received with all the ceremonies and marks of distinction due to a
+queen. The streets through which she passed were hung with tapestry,
+and ornamented with flags and banners, and with every other suitable
+decoration. The people came out in throngs to see the grand procession
+pass; for, in addition to the guard of honor which had conducted the
+party to the capital, all the great public functionaries and high
+officials joined in the procession at the gates, and accompanied it
+through the city, thus forming a grand and imposing spectacle.
+
+[Sidenote: Good news received.]
+
+Queen Margaret and her party were in this way conducted to the palace,
+and lodged there in great splendor. Their hearts were gladdened, too,
+on their arrival, by receiving the news that Warwick had landed in
+England, and had been completely successful in his undertaking. King
+Edward was deposed, and King Henry had been released from his
+imprisonment in the Tower and placed upon the throne.
+
+Margaret, of course, at once determined that she would immediately
+make preparations for returning to England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Preparations for going to England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Harfleur.]
+
+The preparations which were required for Margaret and her company to
+return to England in suitable state seem to have consumed several
+months; for, although it was as early as November that the great
+entrance into Paris took place, and the news of Henry's restoration
+was received, it was not until February that the royal party were
+ready to embark. There were negotiations to be made, and men to be
+enlisted, and ships to be procured, and funds to be provided, and
+appointments to be decided upon, and dresses to be made, and a
+thousand questions of precedence and etiquette to be considered and
+arranged. At length, however, all was ready, and the whole company
+proceeded together to the port which had been selected as the place of
+embarkation. This port was Harfleur. Harfleur is situated on the coast
+of Normandy, near the more modern port of Havre.
+
+[Sidenote: Wind contrary.]
+
+[Sidenote: Supposed witchcraft.]
+
+When the time arrived for sailing, the weather looked very
+unfavorable; but Margaret, who had become weary with the delays by
+which her return had been so long postponed, and was very impatient to
+arrive in her own dominions again, ordered the ships to put to sea.
+Three times did they make the attempt, and three times were the ships
+driven back into port again. Many of her friends were greatly
+discouraged by these failures. Some said they thought that this
+continued resistance of the elements to her plans ought to be regarded
+as an indication of divine Providence that she was not to go to
+England at present, and they begged her to defer the attempt. Others
+thought that the contrary winds were raised by witches, and they began
+to devise measures for finding out who the witches were.
+
+[Sidenote: Large company.]
+
+[Sidenote: Army to be embarked.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's fears.]
+
+Margaret paid no attention to either of these suggestions, but
+persisted in her determination to sail the moment that the weather
+should allow. This delay was a source of great inconvenience to her,
+and it occasioned a good deal of expense; for, besides her own
+personal officers and attendants, Margaret had collected quite a large
+body of soldiers to cross the Channel with her, in order to re-enforce
+the armies of Warwick and of Henry. This was quite necessary; for,
+although Henry had been nominally restored to the throne, his enemies
+were yet in the field in considerable force, and Margaret was very
+desirous of bringing with her the means of helping to put them down.
+Indeed, she knew that the situation of her husband was extremely
+precarious, and that the fortune of war might at any time turn against
+him. And this consideration made her extremely impatient at the delay
+occasioned by the weather at Harfleur. She did not know but that the
+king might even then be engaged in close conflict with his foes, and
+likely to be overwhelmed by them, and that her force, by being so long
+delayed, would arrive too late to save him.
+
+Alas for poor Margaret! It was, indeed, exactly so.
+
+[Sidenote: Countess of Warwick.]
+
+It was not until the 24th of March that it was possible to leave the
+port; but then, although the weather was by no means settled, the
+queen determined to wait no longer. The Countess of Warwick, who had
+been left in France when the earl her husband went to England, sailed
+from Harfleur at the same time with the queen, though in a different
+vessel. Her daughter, however, the prince regent's bride elect, went
+with the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival in England.]
+
+The weather continued very boisterous after the fleet sailed, and as
+the gales which blew so heavily were from the north, the ships could
+make very little progress. They were kept beating about in the
+Channel, or lying at anchor waiting for a change of wind, for more
+than a fortnight. During all this time Margaret was kept in a perfect
+fever of impatience and anxiety.
+
+At length, about the 10th of April, they reached the land at Weymouth.
+
+[Sidenote: The landing.]
+
+After the ships entered the port, the space of a day or two was
+occupied in making preparations to land. Among these preparations was
+included the work of arranging apartments at an abbey in the vicinity
+of Weymouth to receive the queen and her attendants. In the mean time,
+the landing of the troops was pushed forward as rapidly as possible.
+
+The ship in which the Countess of Warwick embarked had sailed in a
+different direction from Margaret's fleet, and it was not known yet
+what had become of her.
+
+[Sidenote: News of a battle.]
+
+When at last the preparations were completed, the queen and her party
+went on shore and took up their abode in the abbey. Margaret's mind
+was intensely occupied with the arrangements necessary for marshaling
+her troops and getting them ready to march to the assistance of
+Warwick, when, to her amazement and consternation, she received news,
+on the very next day after she took up her abode in the abbey, that
+the party of King Edward had mustered in great force and advanced
+toward London, and that a battle had been fought at a place called
+Barnet, a few miles from London, in which Edward's party had been
+completely victorious.
+
+[Sidenote: Warwick killed.]
+
+The Earl of Warwick had been killed. King Henry her husband had been
+taken prisoner, and their cause seemed to be wholly lost.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Warwick.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1471.]
+
+[Sidenote: Manner of Warwick's death.]
+
+Warwick had gone into the battle on foot, in order the more
+effectually to stimulate the emulation of his men, so that when, in
+the end, his forces were defeated, and fled, he himself, being
+encumbered by his armor, could not save himself, but was overtaken by
+his remorseless enemies and slain.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's despair.]
+
+[Sidenote: Imminent danger.]
+
+The terrible agitation and anguish that this news excited in the mind
+of the queen it would be impossible to describe. She fell at first
+into a swoon, and when at length her senses returned, she was so
+completely overwhelmed with disappointment, vexation, and rage, and
+talked so wildly and incoherently, that her friends almost feared that
+she would lose her reason. Her son, the young prince, who was now
+nearly nineteen years of age, did all in his power to soothe and calm
+her, and at length so far succeeded as to induce her to consider what
+was to be done to secure her own and his safety. To remain where they
+were was to expose themselves to be attacked at any time by a body of
+Edward's victorious troops and conveyed prisoner to the Tower.
+
+[Sidenote: She seeks security.]
+
+[Sidenote: The Countess of Warwick.]
+
+There was another abbey at not a great distance from where Margaret
+now was, which was endowed with certain privileges as a sanctuary,
+such that persons seeking refuge there under certain circumstances
+could not be taken away. The name of this retreat was Beaulieu Abbey.
+Margaret immediately proceeded across the country to this place,
+taking with her the prince and nearly all the others of her party.
+Either on her arrival here, or on the way, she met the Countess of
+Warwick, who, it will be recollected, had left Harfleur at the same
+time that she did. The countess's ship had been driven farther to the
+eastward, and she had finally landed at Portsmouth. Here she too had
+learned the news of the battle of Barnet and of the death of her
+husband, and, being completely overwhelmed with the tidings, and also
+alarmed for her own safety, she had determined to fly for refuge to
+Beaulieu Abbey too.
+
+[Sidenote: Great reverse of fortune.]
+
+The two unhappy ladies, who had parted, three weeks before, on the
+coast of France with such high and excellent expectations, now met,
+both plunged in the deepest and most over whelming sorrow. Their hopes
+were blasted, all their bright prospects were destroyed, and they
+found themselves in the condition of helpless and wretched fugitives,
+dependent upon a religious sanctuary for the hope of even saving their
+lives.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CHILDLESS, AND A WIDOW.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret found by friends.]
+
+Margaret did not trust entirely for her safety to the sacredness of
+the sanctuary where she had sought refuge. She endeavored, by all the
+means in her power, to keep the place of her retreat secret from all
+but her chosen and most trustworthy friends. Very soon, however, she
+was visited by some of these, especially by some young nobles, who
+came to her exasperated, and all on fire with rage and resentment, on
+account of the death of their friends and relatives, who had been
+slain in the battle.
+
+[Sidenote: Her sad condition.]
+
+They found Margaret, however, in a state of mind very different from
+their own. She was beginning to be discouraged. The long-continued and
+bitter experience of failure and disappointment, which had now, for so
+many years, been her constant lot, seemed at last to have had power to
+undermine and destroy even _her_ resolution and energy. Her friends,
+when they came to see her, found her plunged in a sort of stupor of
+wretchedness and despair from which they found it difficult to rouse
+her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her friends encourage her.]
+
+[Sidenote: Little success.]
+
+And when, at length, they succeeded in so far awakening her from her
+despondency as to induce her to take some interest in their
+consultations, her only feeling for the time being seemed to be
+anxiety for the safety of her son. She begged and implored them to
+take some measures to protect _him_. They endeavored to convince her
+that her situation was not so desperate as she imagined. They had
+still a powerful force, they said, on their side. That force was now
+rallying and reassembling, and, with her presence and that of the
+young prince at their head-quarters, the numbers and enthusiasm of
+their troops would be very rapidly increased, and there was great hope
+that they might soon be able again to meet the enemy under more
+favorable auspices than ever.
+
+[Sidenote: Her wishes.]
+
+But the queen seemed very unwilling to accede to their views. It was
+of no use, she said, to make any farther effort. They were not strong
+enough to meet their enemies in battle, and nothing but fresh
+disasters would result from making the attempt. There was nothing to
+be done but for herself and the young prince, with as many others as
+were disposed to share her fortunes, to return as soon as possible to
+France, and there to remain and wait for better times.
+
+[Sidenote: The young prince.]
+
+But the young prince was not willing to adopt this plan. He was young,
+and full of confidence and hope, and he joined the nobles in urging
+his mother to consent to take the field. His influence prevailed; and
+Margaret, though with great reluctance and many forebodings, finally
+yielded.
+
+[Sidenote: An army collected.]
+
+So she left the sanctuary, and, with the prince, was escorted secretly
+to the northward, in order to join the army there. The western
+counties of England, those lying on the borders of Wales, had long
+been very favorable to Henry's cause, and when the people learned that
+the queen and the young prince were there, they came out in great
+numbers, as the nobles had predicted, to join her standard. In a short
+time a large army was ready to take the field.
+
+[Sidenote: To Bath.]
+
+Margaret was at this time at Bath. She soon heard that King Edward was
+coming against her from London with a large army. Her own forces, she
+thought, were not yet strong enough to meet him; so she formed the
+plan of crossing the Severn into Wales, and waiting there until she
+should have a larger force concentrated.
+
+[Sidenote: To Bristol.]
+
+[Sidenote: Endeavors to cross the river.]
+
+Accordingly, from Bath she went down to Bristol, which, as will be
+seen from the map, is on the banks of the Severn, at a place where the
+river is very wide. She could not cross here, the lowest bridge on the
+river being at Gloucester, thirty or forty miles farther up; so she
+moved up to Gloucester, intending to cross there. But she found the
+bridge fortified, and in the possession of an officer under the orders
+of the Duke of Gloucester, who was a partisan of King Edward, and he
+refused to allow the queen to pass without an order from his master.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival of Edward.]
+
+It seemed not expedient to attempt to force the bridge, and,
+accordingly, Margaret and her party went on up the river in order to
+find some other place to cross into Wales. She was very much excited
+on this journey, and suffered great anxiety, for the army of King
+Edward was advancing rapidly, and there was danger that she would be
+intercepted and her retreat cut off; so she pressed forward with the
+utmost diligence, and at length, after having marched thirty-seven
+miles in one day with her troops, she arrived at Tewkesbury, a town
+situated about midway between Gloucester and Worcester. When she
+arrived there, she found that Edward had arrived already within a mile
+of the place, at the head of a great army, and was ready for battle.
+
+[Sidenote: They make a stand.]
+
+There was, however, now an opportunity for Margaret to cross the river
+and retire for a time into Wales, and she was herself extremely
+desirous of doing so, but the young nobles who were with her, and
+especially the Duke of Somerset, a violent and hot-headed young man,
+who acted as the leader of them, would not consent. He declared that
+he would retreat no farther.
+
+"We will make a stand here," said he, "and take such fortune as God
+may send us."
+
+So he pitched his camp in the park which lay upon the confines of the
+town, and threw up intrenchments. Many of the other leaders were
+strongly opposed to his plan of making a stand in this place, but
+Somerset was the chief in command, and he would have his way.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Tewkesbury.]
+
+[Sidenote: Preparations for the fight.]
+
+He, however, showed no disposition to shelter himself personally from
+any portion of the danger to which his friends and followers were to
+be exposed. He took command of the advanced guard. The young prince,
+supported by some other leaders of age and experience, was also to be
+placed in a responsible and important position. When all was ready,
+Margaret and the prince rode along the ranks, speaking words of
+encouragement to the troops, and promising large rewards to them in
+case they gained the victory.
+
+[Illustration: Tewkesbury.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's maternal anxiety.]
+
+Margaret's heart was full of anxiety and agitation as the hour for the
+commencement of hostilities drew nigh. She had often before staked
+very dear and highly-valued friends in the field of battle, but now,
+for the first time, she was putting to hazard the life of her dearly
+beloved and only son. It was very much against her will that she was
+brought to incur this terrible danger. It was only the sternest
+necessity that compelled her to do it.
+
+[Sidenote: She witnesses the fight.]
+
+When the battle began, Margaret withdrew to an elevation within the
+park, from which she could witness the progress of the fight. For some
+time her army remained on the defensive within their intrenchments,
+but at length Somerset, becoming impatient and impetuous, determined
+on making a sally and attacking the assailants in the open field.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset.]
+
+So, ordering the others to follow him, he issued forth from the lines.
+Some obeyed him, and others did not. After a while he returned within
+the lines again, apparently for the purpose of calling those who
+remained there to account for not obeying him. He found Lord Wenlock,
+one of the leaders, sitting upon his horse idle, as he said, in the
+town. He immediately denounced him as a traitor, and, riding up to
+him, cut him down with a blow from his battle-axe, which cleft his
+skull.
+
+[Sidenote: Panic and flight.]
+
+The men who were under Lord Wenlock's banner, seeing their leader thus
+mercilessly slain, immediately began to fly. Their flight caused a
+panic, which rapidly spread among all the other troops, and the whole
+field was soon in utter confusion.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's terror.]
+
+[Sidenote: She swoons.]
+
+When Margaret saw this, and thought of the prince, exposed, as he was,
+to the most imminent danger in the defeat, she became almost frantic
+with excitement and terror. She insisted on rushing into the field to
+find and save her son. Those around found it almost impossible to
+restrain her. At length, in the struggle, her excitement and terror
+entirely overpowered her. She swooned away, and her attendants then
+bore her senseless to a carriage, and she was driven rapidly away out
+through one of the park gates, and thence by a by-road to a religious
+house near by, where it was thought she would be for the moment
+secure.
+
+[Sidenote: Capture of the prince.]
+
+The poor prince was taken prisoner. He was conveyed, after the battle,
+to Edward's tent. The historians of the day relate the following story
+of the sad termination of his career.
+
+[Illustration: The Murder of Prince Henry.]
+
+When Edward, accompanied by his officers and the nobles in attendance
+upon him, covered with the blood and the dust of the conflict, and
+fierce and exultant under the excitement of slaughter and victory,
+came into the tent, and saw the handsome young prince standing there
+in the hands of his captors, he was at first struck with the elegance
+of his appearance and his frank and manly bearing. He, however,
+accosted him fiercely by demanding what brought him to England. The
+prince replied fearlessly that he came to recover his father's crown
+and his own inheritance. Upon this, Edward threw his glove, a heavy
+iron gauntlet, in his face.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of the Prince of Wales.]
+
+The men standing by took this as an indication of Edward's feelings
+and wishes in respect to his prisoner, and they fell upon him at once
+with their swords and murdered him upon the spot.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret receives the tidings.]
+
+Margaret did not know what had become of her son until the following
+day. By that time King Edward had discovered the place of her retreat,
+and he sent a certain Sir William Stanley, who had always been one of
+her most inveterate enemies, to take her prisoner and bring her to
+him. It was this Stanley who, when he came, brought her the news of
+her son's death. He communicated the news to her, it was said, in an
+exultant manner, as if he was not only glad of the prince's death, but
+as if he rejoiced in having the opportunity of witnessing the despair
+and grief with which the mother was overwhelmed in hearing the
+tidings.
+
+[Sidenote: She is borne to London.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her condition on the journey.]
+
+Stanley conveyed the queen to Coventry, where King Edward then was,
+and placed her at his disposal. Edward was then going to London in a
+sort of triumphant march in honor of his victory, and he ordered that
+Stanley should take Margaret with him in his train. Anne of Warwick,
+her son's young bride, was taken to London too, at the same time and
+in the same way.
+
+During the whole of the journey Margaret was in a continued state of
+the highest excitement, being almost wild with grief and rage. She
+uttered continual maledictions against Edward for having murdered her
+boy, and nothing could soothe or quiet her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her last hope.]
+
+[Sidenote: Murder of the king.]
+
+It might be supposed that there would have been one source of comfort
+open to her during this dreadful journey in the thought that, in going
+to the Tower, which was now undoubtedly to be her destination, she
+should rejoin her husband, who had been for some time imprisoned
+there. But the hope of being thus once more united to almost the last
+object of affection that now remained to her upon earth, if Margaret
+really cherished it, was doomed to a bitter disappointment. The death
+of the young prince made it now an object of great importance to the
+reigning line that Henry himself should be put out of the way, and, on
+the very night of Margaret's arrival at the Tower, her husband was
+assassinated in the room which had so long been his prison.
+
+[Sidenote: Terrible reverse of fortune.]
+
+Thus all Queen Margaret's bright hopes of happiness were, in two short
+months, completely and forever destroyed. At the close of the month of
+March she was the proud and happy queen of a monarch ruling over one
+of the most wealthy and powerful kingdoms on the globe, and the mother
+of a prince who was endowed with every personal grace and noble
+accomplishment, affianced to a high-born, beautiful, and immensely
+wealthy bride, and just entering what promised to be a long and
+glorious career. In May, just two months later, she was childless and
+a widow. Both her husband and her son were lying in bloody graves, and
+she herself, fallen from her throne, was shut up, a helpless captive,
+in a gloomy dungeon, with no prospect of deliverance before her to the
+end of her days. The annals even of royalty, filled as they are with
+examples of overwhelming calamity, can perhaps furnish no other
+instance of so total and terrible reverse of fortune as this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The body of King Henry.]
+
+On the day following the assassination of Henry, the body was taken
+from the Tower and conveyed through the streets of London, with a
+strong escort of armed men to guard it, to the Church of St. Paul's,
+there to be publicly exhibited, as was customary on such occasions.
+Such an exhibition was more necessary than usual in this case, as the
+fact of Henry's death might, perhaps, have afterward been called in
+question, and designing men might have continued to agitate the
+country in his name, if there had not been the most positive proof
+furnished to the public that he was no more.
+
+[Illustration: View of Chertsey.]
+
+[Sidenote: Borne away on the river to Chertsey.]
+
+The body remained lying thus during the day. When night came, it was
+taken away and carried down to Blackfriar's--a landing upon the river
+nearly opposite Saint Paul's. Here there was a boat lying ready to
+receive the hearse. It was lighted with torches, and the watermen were
+at their oars. The hearse was put on board, and the body was thus
+borne away, over the dark waters of the river, to the lonely
+village of Chertsey, where it had been decided that he should be
+interred.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret in confinement.]
+
+[Sidenote: Wallingford.]
+
+For some time after Henry's death Margaret was kept in close
+confinement in the Tower. At length, finding that every thing was
+quiet, and that the new government was becoming firmly established,
+the rigor of the unhappy captive's imprisonment was relaxed. She was
+removed first to Windsor, and afterward to Wallingford, a place in the
+interior of the country, where she enjoyed a considerable degree of
+personal freedom, though she was still very closely watched and
+guarded.
+
+[Sidenote: She is ransomed.]
+
+At length, about four years afterward, her father, King René,
+succeeded in obtaining her ransom for the sum of fifty thousand
+crowns. René was not the possessor of so much money himself, but he
+induced King Louis to pay it, on condition of his conveying to him his
+family domain.
+
+The ransom was to be paid in five annual installments, but on the
+payment of the first installment the queen was to be released and
+allowed to return to her native land. It was stipulated, too, that, as
+a condition of her release, she was formally and forever to renounce
+all the rights of every kind within the realm of England to which she
+might have laid claim through her marriage with Henry. It might have
+been supposed that they would have required her to sign this
+renunciation before releasing her. But it was held by the law of
+England, then as now, that a signature made under durance was invalid,
+the signer not being free. So it was arranged that an English
+commissioner was to accompany her across the Channel, and go with her
+to Rouen, where he was to deliver her to the French embassadors, who,
+in the name of Louis, were to be responsible for her signing the
+document.
+
+[Sidenote: 1476.]
+
+[Sidenote: The commissioner.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret crosses the Channel.]
+
+This plan was carried into effect. Margaret set out from the castle of
+Wallingford under the care of a man on whom Edward's government could
+rely for keeping a close watch over her, and taking care that she went
+on quietly through England to the port of embarkation. This port was
+Sandwich. Here she embarked on board a vessel, with a retinue of three
+ladies and seven gentlemen, and bade a final farewell to the kingdom
+which she had entered on her bridal tour with such high and exultant
+expectations of grandeur and happiness.
+
+[Sidenote: At Rouen.]
+
+She arrived at Dieppe in the beginning of 1476, and proceeded
+immediately to Rouen, where the commissioner, who came to attend her,
+delivered her to the French embassadors appointed to receive her, and
+attend to the signing of the renunciation.
+
+[Sidenote: Her renunciation.]
+
+The document was written in Latin, but the import of it was as
+follows:
+
+     I, Margaret, formerly in England married, renounce all that I
+     could pretend to in England, by the conditions of my marriage,
+     with all other things there, to Edward, now King of England.
+
+[Sidenote: Feelings with which she signed it.]
+
+It cost Margaret no effort to sign this paper. With the death of her
+husband and her son all hope had been extinguished in her bosom, and
+life now possessed nothing that she desired. She signed this fatal
+document, renouncing not only all claims to be henceforth considered a
+queen, but all pretension that she had ever been one, with a passive
+indifference and unconcern which showed that her spirit was broken,
+and that the fires of pride and ambition which had burned so fiercely
+in her breast were now, at last, extinguished forever.
+
+[Sidenote: Ungenerousness of Louis.]
+
+When the paper was signed Margaret was dismissed and left at liberty
+to go her own way to her native province of Anjou, where it was her
+intention to spend the remainder of her days. Her plan was to pass by
+the way of Paris, in order to see once more her cousin, King Louis,
+who had treated her with so much consideration and honor when she was
+on her way to England with a fair prospect of finding her husband upon
+the throne. But the case was different now, Louis thought, and instead
+of receiving kindly her intimation that she was intending to visit
+Paris on her way home, he sent her word that she had better not come,
+and advised her instead to make the best of her way to her father in
+Anjou.
+
+[Sidenote: An escort offered.]
+
+He, however, as if to soften this incivility, sent an escort to
+accompany her in her journey home, but Margaret was so stung by her
+cousin's heartless abandonment of her in her distress that she
+resolved to accept no favor at his hands; so she refused the escort,
+and set out with her few personal companions alone.
+
+[Sidenote: Danger.]
+
+[Sidenote: English people in Normandy.]
+
+This little blazing up of the old flames of pride and resentment in
+her heart came near, however, to costing Margaret her life, for she
+had not gone far on her journey before an emergency occurred in which
+an escort would have been of great service to her. It seems that when
+the English were driven out of Normandy, many families and some whole
+villages remained of people who were too poor to return. These
+people were now in a very low and miserable condition. They mourned
+continually the hard necessity by which they had been left without
+friends or protection in a foreign land; and they understood, too,
+that the first beginning of the abandonment of their possessions in
+France by the English was the cession of certain provinces by the
+government of Henry VI. at the time of that monarch's marriage with
+Margaret of Anjou, and that all the subsequent misfortunes of their
+countrymen in France, by which, in the end, the whole country had been
+lost, had their origin in these transactions.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret at the inn.]
+
+[Sidenote: Riot at the inn.]
+
+Now it happened that Margaret, on her journey from Rouen to Anjou,
+stopped the first night at one of these villages. The people, seeing a
+party of strangers come to town, gathered round the inn at night from
+curiosity to learn who they might be. When they were informed that it
+was Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, who had been banished from
+the kingdom, and was now returning home, they were excited to the
+highest pitch of anger against her as the author of all their
+sufferings. They made a rush into the house to seize her, and, if they
+had been successful, they would doubtless have killed her upon the
+spot. But some of the gentlemen who were in her party defended her
+sword in hand, and kept the mob at bay until she gained her apartment.
+They guarded her there until they could send for the authorities, who
+came and dispersed the mob. Margaret immediately returned to Rouen,
+willing enough now to accept of an escort. A proper guard was provided
+for her, and under the protection of it she set out once more on her
+journey, and this time went on in safety.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret arrives in Anjou.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her father.]
+
+When Margaret at last reached her native country of Anjou, she was
+received very kindly by her father, and went to live with him in a
+castle called the castle of Reculée, situated about a league from
+Angers, the capital of the province.
+
+Here she remained about four years. It was a very pleasant place. The
+castle was situated upon the bank of a river, and yet in a commanding
+situation, which afforded a pretty view of the town. There was a
+beautiful garden attached to the castle, and a gallery of painting and
+sculpture. Her father, King René, was a painter himself, and he amused
+himself a great deal in painting pictures to add to his collection or
+to give to his friends.
+
+[Sidenote: Dreadful depression of spirits.]
+
+But Margaret could take no interest in any of these things. Her mind
+was all the time filled with bitter recollections of the past, which,
+even if she did not cling to and cherish them, she could not dispel.
+She dwelt continually upon thoughts of her husband and her child. She
+made ceaseless efforts to obtain possession of their bodies, in order
+that she might have them transported to Anjou, and, as she could not
+succeed in this, she paid annually a considerable sum to secure the
+services of priests to say masses over their graves in England, in
+order to secure the repose of their souls.
+
+[Sidenote: Its effects.]
+
+Indeed, the anguish and agitation which continually reigned in her
+heart preyed upon her like a worm in the centre of a flower. "Her
+eyes, once so brilliant and expressive," says one of her historians,
+"became hollow and dim, and permanently inflamed from continual
+weeping." Indeed, the whole mass of her blood became corrupted, and a
+fearful disease affected her once beautiful skin, making her an object
+of commiseration to all who beheld her.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of her father.]
+
+She continued in this state until her father died. He, on his
+death-bed, committed her to the care of an old and faithful friend,
+who, after King René's decease, took her with him to his own castle of
+Damprierre, which was situated about twenty-five miles farther up the
+river.
+
+[Sidenote: The closing scene.]
+
+But, though Margaret was treated very kindly by the friend to whom
+her father thus consigned her, she did not long survive this change.
+She died, and was buried in the cathedral at Angers, and for centuries
+afterward the ecclesiastics of the chapter, once every year, at the
+return of the proper anniversary, performed a solemn ceremony over her
+grave by walking round it with a slow and measured step, singing a
+hymn.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret of Anjou, by Jacob Abbott
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg e-Book of Margaret of Anjou; Author: Jacob Abbott.</title>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret of Anjou, by Jacob Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Margaret of Anjou
+       Makers of History
+
+Author: Jacob Abbott
+
+Release Date: May 1, 2008 [EBook #25275]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARET OF ANJOU ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<p class="tn">Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected,
+all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been
+maintained.</p>
+
+<p class="p4 center font105 noindent">Makers of History</p>
+
+<h1>Margaret of Anjou</h1>
+
+<p class="p4 center noindent">BY</p>
+
+<h2>JACOB ABBOTT</h2>
+
+<p class="p4 center noindent">WITH ENGRAVINGS</p>
+
+<a id="img000" name="img000"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img000.jpg" width="100" height="122" alt="Editor's arm." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p class="p4 center smaller noindent">NEW YORK AND LONDON<br>
+  HARPER &amp; BROTHERS PUBLISHERS<br>
+  1902</p>
+
+<p class="p4 center smaller noindent">Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
+hundred and sixty-one, by</p>
+
+<p class="center smaller noindent">HARPER &amp; BROTHERS,</p>
+
+<p class="center smaller noindent">In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
+of New York.</p>
+
+<a id="img001" name="img001"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="600" height="345" alt="" title="">
+<p>The Bridal Procession.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page011" name="page011"></a>(p. 011)</span> PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The story of Margaret of Anjou forms a part of the history of England,
+for the lady, though of Continental origin, was the queen of one of
+the English kings, and England was the scene of her most remarkable
+adventures and exploits. She lived in very stormy times, and led a
+very stormy life; and her history, besides the interest which it
+excites from the extraordinary personal and political vicissitudes
+which it records, is also useful in throwing a great deal of light
+upon the ideas of right and wrong, and of good and evil, and upon the
+manners and customs, both of peace and war, which prevailed in England
+during the age of chivalry.</p>
+
+<a id="toc" name="toc"></a>
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page012" name="page012"></a>(p. 012)</span> CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li>CHAPTER                        <span class="ralign">PAGE</span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="roman">
+<li>THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page015" title="Link to page 15">15</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIME
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page030" title="Link to page 30">30</a></span></li>
+
+<li>KING HENRY VI
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page046" title="Link to page 46">46</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MARGARET'S FATHER AND MOTHER
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page059" title="Link to page 59">59</a></span></li>
+
+<li>ROYAL COURTSHIP
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page075" title="Link to page 75">75</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE WEDDING
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page093" title="Link to page 93">93</a></span></li>
+
+<li>RECEPTION IN ENGLAND
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page115" title="Link to page 115">115</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE STORY OF LADY NEVILLE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page125" title="Link to page 125">125</a></span></li>
+
+<li>PLOTTINGS
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page143" title="Link to page 143">143</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE FALL OF GLOUCESTER
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page157" title="Link to page 157">157</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE FALL OF SUFFOLK
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page171" title="Link to page 171">171</a></span></li>
+
+<li>BIRTH OF A PRINCE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page188" title="Link to page 188">188</a></span></li>
+
+<li>ILLNESS OF THE KING
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page199" title="Link to page 199">199</a></span></li>
+
+<li>ANXIETY AND TROUBLE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page207" title="Link to page 207">207</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MARGARET A FUGITIVE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page222" title="Link to page 222">222</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MARGARET TRIUMPHANT
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page231" title="Link to page 231">231</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MARGARET AN EXILE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page237" title="Link to page 237">237</a></span></li>
+
+<li>A ROYAL COUSIN
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page244" title="Link to page 244">244</a></span></li>
+
+<li>RETURN TO ENGLAND
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page254" title="Link to page 254">254</a></span></li>
+
+<li>YEARS OF EXILE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page269" title="Link to page 269">269</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE RECONCILIATION WITH WARWICK
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page278" title="Link to page 278">278</a></span></li>
+
+<li>BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page285" title="Link to page 285">285</a></span></li>
+
+<li>CHILDLESS, AND A WIDOW
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page292" title="Link to page 292">292</a></span></li>
+
+<li>CONCLUSION
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#page306" title="Link to page 306">306</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page013" name="page013"></a>(p. 013)</span> ENGRAVINGS.</h2>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li>&nbsp;                 <span class="ralign">PAGE</span></li>
+
+<li>THE BRIDAL PROCESSION
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img001" title="Link to Illustration"><span class="italic">Frontispiece.</span></a></span></li>
+
+<li>GENERAL MAP
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img002" title="Link to Illustration">14</a></span></li>
+
+<li>SELECTING THE ROSES
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img003" title="Link to Illustration">22</a></span></li>
+
+<li>ORDEAL COMBAT
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img004" title="Link to Illustration">35</a></span></li>
+
+<li>HENRY VI. IN HIS YOUTH
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img005" title="Link to Illustration">54</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE PENANCE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img006" title="Link to Illustration">56</a></span></li>
+
+<li>DISTRESS OF MARGARET'S MOTHER
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img007" title="Link to Illustration">65</a></span></li>
+
+<li>SUFFOLK PRESENTING MARGARET TO THE KING
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img008" title="Link to Illustration">107</a></span></li>
+
+<li>ANCIENT PORTRAIT OF QUEEN MARGARET
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img009" title="Link to Illustration">117</a></span></li>
+
+<li>FEMALE COSTUME IN THE TIME OF HENRY VI
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img010" title="Link to Illustration">138</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE CHARGES AGAINST GLOUCESTER
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img011" title="Link to Illustration">160</a></span></li>
+
+<li>ROUEN
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img012" title="Link to Illustration">176</a></span></li>
+
+<li>VIEW OF BORDEAUX
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img013" title="Link to Illustration">180</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE TEMPLE GARDEN
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img014" title="Link to Illustration">192</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE LITTLE PRINCE AND HIS SWANS
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img015" title="Link to Illustration">220</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MURDER OF RICHARD'S CHILD
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img016" title="Link to Illustration">235</a></span></li>
+
+<li>LOUIS XI., MARGARET'S COUSIN
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img017" title="Link to Illustration">251</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MAP OF THE BORDER
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img018" title="Link to Illustration">255</a></span></li>
+
+<li>MARGARET AT THE CAVE
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img019" title="Link to Illustration">263</a></span></li>
+
+<li>DEATH OF WARWICK
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img020" title="Link to Illustration">289</a></span></li>
+
+<li>TEWKESBURY
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img021" title="Link to Illustration">297</a></span></li>
+
+<li>THE MURDER OF PRINCE HENRY
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img022" title="Link to Illustration">302</a></span></li>
+
+<li>VIEW OF CHERTSEY
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#img023" title="Link to Illustration">308</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page014" name="page014"></a>(p. 014)</span>
+
+<a id="img002" name="img002"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img002.jpg" width="600" height="1047" alt="" title="">
+<p>Map, Illustrating the History of Margaret of Anjou.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h1><span class="pagenum"><a id="page015" name="page015"></a>(p. 015)</span> MARGARET OF ANJOU.</h1>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">The Houses of York and Lancaster.</p>
+
+
+<span class="sidenote">A real heroine.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret of Anjou was a heroine; not a heroine of romance and fiction,
+but of stern and terrible reality. Her life was a series of military
+exploits, attended with dangers, privations, sufferings, and wonderful
+vicissitudes of fortune, scarcely to be paralleled in the whole
+history of mankind.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Two great quarrels.</span>
+
+<p>She was born and lived in a period during which there prevailed in the
+western part of Europe two great and dreadful quarrels, which lasted
+for more than a hundred years, and which kept France and England, and
+all the countries contiguous to them, in a state of continual
+commotion during all that time.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Contest between the houses of York and Lancaster.</span>
+
+<p>The first of these quarrels grew out of a dispute which arose among
+the various branches of the royal family of England in respect to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page016" name="page016"></a>(p. 016)</span> succession to the crown. The two principal branches of the
+family were the descendants respectively of the Dukes of York and
+Lancaster, and the wars which they waged against each other are called
+in history the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster. These wars
+continued for several successive generations, and Margaret of Anjou
+was the queen of one of the most prominent representatives of the
+Lancaster line. Thus she became most intimately involved in the
+quarrel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Wars in France.</span>
+
+<p>The second great contention which prevailed during this period
+consisted of the wars waged between France and England for the
+possession of the territory which now forms the northern portion of
+France. A large portion of that territory, during the reigns that
+immediately preceded the time of Margaret of Anjou, had belonged to
+England. But the kings of France were continually attempting to regain
+possession of it&mdash;the English, of course, all the time making
+desperate resistance. Thus, for a hundred years, including the time
+while Margaret lived, England was involved in a double set of
+wars&mdash;the one internal, being waged by one branch of the royal family
+against the other for the possession of the throne, and the other
+external, being waged against France and other <span class="pagenum"><a id="page017" name="page017"></a>(p. 017)</span> Continental
+powers for the possession of the towns and castles, and the country
+dependent upon them, which lay along the southern shore of the English
+Channel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Origin of Difficulty.</span>
+
+<p>In order that the story of Margaret of Anjou may be properly
+understood, it will be necessary first to give some explanations in
+respect to the nature of these two quarrels, and to the progress which
+had been made in them up to the time when Margaret came upon the
+stage. We shall begin with the internal or civil wars which were waged
+between the families of York and Lancaster. Some account of the origin
+and nature of this difficulty is given in our history of Richard III.,
+but it is necessary to allude to it again here, and to state some
+additional particulars in respect to it, on account of the very
+important part which Margaret of Anjou performed in the quarrel.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty originated among the children and descendants of King
+Edward III. He reigned in the early part of the fourteenth century. He
+occupied the throne a long time, and his reign was considered very
+prosperous and glorious. The prosperity and glory of it consisted, in
+a great measure, in the success of the wars which he waged in France,
+and in the towns, and castles, and districts of country <span class="pagenum"><a id="page018" name="page018"></a>(p. 018)</span>
+which he conquered there, and annexed to the English domain.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The sons of Edward III.</span>
+
+<p>In these wars old King Edward was assisted very much by the princes
+his sons, who were very warlike young men, and who were engaged from
+time to time in many victorious campaigns on the Continent. They began
+this career when they were very young, and they continued it through
+all the years of their manhood and middle life, for their father lived
+to an advanced age.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Black Prince.</span>
+
+<p>The most remarkable of these warlike princes were Edward and John.
+Edward was the oldest son, and John the third in order of age of those
+who arrived at maturity. The name of the second was Lionel. Edward,
+the oldest son, was of course the Prince of Wales; but, to distinguish
+him from other Princes of Wales that preceded and followed him, he is
+known commonly in history by the name of the Black Prince. He received
+this name originally on account of something about his armor which was
+black, and which marked his appearance among the other knights on the
+field of battle.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Richard II.</span>
+
+<p>The Black Prince did not live to succeed his father and inherit the
+throne, for he lost his health in his campaigns on the Continent, and
+came home to England, and died a few years <span class="pagenum"><a id="page019" name="page019"></a>(p. 019)</span> before his father
+died. His son, whose name was Richard, was his heir, and when at
+length old King Edward died, this young Richard succeeded to the
+crown, under the title of King Richard II. In the history of Richard
+II., in this series, a full account of the life of his father, the
+Black Prince, is given, and of the various remarkable adventures that
+he met with in his Continental campaigns.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">John of Gaunt.</span>
+
+<p>Prince John, the third of the sons of old King Edward, is commonly
+known in history as John of Gaunt. This word Gaunt was the nearest
+approach that the English people could make in those days to the
+pronunciation of the word Ghent, the name of the town where John was
+born. For King Edward, in the early part of his life, was accustomed
+to take all his family with him in his Continental campaigns, and so
+his several children were born in different places, one in one city
+and another in another, and many of them received names from the
+places where they happened to be born.</p>
+
+<a id="img003" name="img003"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img003.jpg" width="400" height="587" alt="" title="">
+<p>Selecting the Roses.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the following page we have a genealogical table of the family of
+Edward III. At the head of it we have the names of Edward III. and
+Philippa his wife. In a line below are the names of those four of his
+sons whose descendants figure in English history. It was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page023" name="page023"></a>(p. 023)</span>
+among the descendants of these sons that the celebrated wars between
+the houses of York and Lancaster, called the wars of the roses, arose.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Genealogical Table of the Family of Edward III., Showing the
+Connection of the Houses of York and Lancaster.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Genealogical table of the descendants of Edward III.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0"  summary="Genealogical table of the descendants of Edward III.">
+<colgroup>
+    <col width="13%">
+    <col width="12%">
+    <col width="13%">
+    <col width="12%">
+    <col width="13%">
+    <col width="12%">
+    <col width="4%">
+    <col width="4%">
+    <col width="4%">
+    <col width="4%">
+    <col width="4%">
+    <col width="4%">
+</colgroup>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="12" class="center">EDWARD III.==Philippa.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="4" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-right bdr-top">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-right bdr-top">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="4" class="bdr-right bdr-top">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Edward</span> (The Black Prince).</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Lionel</span> (Duke of Clarence).</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">John</span> (of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster).</td>
+<td colspan="6" class="center"><span class="smcap">Edmund</span> (Duke of York).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="4" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Richard II</span>.</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Philippa</span>==Edward Mortimer.</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Henry IV</span>.</td>
+<td colspan="6" class="center"><span class="smcap">Richard</span>==Anne. (<span class="italic">See second Column.</span>)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="4" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Roger Mortimer</span> (Earl of Marche).</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Henry V</span>.</td>
+<td colspan="3" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="4" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Anne</span>==Richard of York. (<span class="italic">See fourth column.</span>)</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Henry VI</span>.</td>
+<td colspan="6" class="center"><span class="smcap">Richard Plantagenet</span> (Duke of York).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="5" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="4" class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Edward</span> (Prince of Wales).</td>
+<td class="bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-top bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bdr-top bdr-right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="6">&nbsp;</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Edward IV</span>. </td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">George</span> (Duke of Clarence).</td>
+<td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Richard III</span>.</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The character == denotes marriage; the short perpendicular line | a
+descent. There were many other children and descendants in the
+different branches of the family besides those whose names are
+inserted in the table. The table includes only those essential to an
+understanding of the history.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The roses.</span>
+
+<p>These wars were called the wars of the roses from the circumstance
+that the white and the red rose happened in some way to be chosen as
+the badges of the two parties&mdash;the white rose being that of the house
+of York, and the red that of the house of Lancaster.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The four brothers.</span>
+
+<p>The reader will observe that the dukes of Lancaster and York are the
+third and fourth of the brothers enumerated in the table, whereas it
+might have been supposed that any contest which should have arisen in
+respect to the crown would have taken place between families of the
+first and second. But the first and second sons and their descendants
+were soon set aside, as it were, from the competition, in the
+following manner.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Ambition of Richard's uncles.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Richard's character.</span>
+
+<p>The line of the first brother soon became extinct. Edward himself, the
+Prince of Wales, died during his father's lifetime, leaving his son
+Richard as his heir. Then, when the old king died, Richard succeeded
+him. As he was the oldest living son of the oldest son, his claim
+could not be disputed, and so his uncles acquiesced in it. They wished
+very much, it <span class="pagenum"><a id="page024" name="page024"></a>(p. 024)</span> is true, to govern the realm, but they
+contented themselves with ruling in Richard's name until he became of
+age, and then Richard took the government into his own hands. The
+country was tolerably well satisfied under his dominion for some
+years, but at length Richard became dissipated and vicious, and he
+domineered over the people of England in so haughty a manner, and
+oppressed them so severely by the taxes and other exactions which he
+laid upon them, that a very general discontent prevailed at last
+against him and against his government. This discontent would have
+given either of his uncles a great advantage in any design which they
+might have formed to take away the crown from him. As it was, it
+greatly increased their power and influence in the land, and
+diminished, in a corresponding degree, that of the king. The uncles
+appear to have been contented with this share of power and influence,
+which seemed naturally to fall into their hands, and did not attempt
+any open rebellion.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His cousin Henry.</span>
+
+<p>Richard had a cousin, however, a young man of just about his own age,
+who was driven at last, by a peculiar train of circumstances, to rise
+against him. This cousin was the son of his uncle John. His name was
+Henry Bolingbroke. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page025" name="page025"></a>(p. 025)</span> He appears in the genealogical table as
+Henry IV., that having been his title subsequently as King of England.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Quarrel between Henry and Norfolk.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The trial.</span>
+
+<p>This cousin Henry became involved in a quarrel with a certain nobleman
+named Norfolk. Indeed, the nobles of those days were continually
+getting engaged in feuds and quarrels, which they fought out with the
+greatest recklessness, sometimes by regular battles between armies of
+retainers, and sometimes by single combat, in which the parties to the
+dispute were supposed to appeal to Almighty God, who they believed, or
+professed to believe, would give the victory to the just side in the
+quarrel. These single combats were arranged with great ceremony and
+parade, and were performed in a very public and solemn manner; being,
+in fact, a recognized and established part of the system of public law
+as administered in those days. In the next chapter, when speaking more
+particularly of the manners and customs of the times, I shall give an
+account in full of one of these duels. I have only to say here that
+Richard, on hearing of the quarrel between his cousin Henry and
+Norfolk, decreed that they should settle it by single combat, and
+preparations were accordingly made for the trial, and the parties
+appeared, armed and equipped <span class="pagenum"><a id="page026" name="page026"></a>(p. 026)</span> for the fight, in the presence
+of an immense concourse of people assembled to witness the spectacle.
+The king himself was to preside on the occasion.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry is sent into banishment.</span>
+
+<p>But just before the signal was to be given for the combat to begin,
+the king interrupted the proceedings, and declared that he would
+decide the question himself. He pronounced both the combatants guilty,
+and issued a decree of banishment against both. Henry submitted, and
+both prepared to leave the country. These transactions, of course,
+attracted great attention throughout England, and they operated to
+bring Henry forward in a very conspicuous manner before the people of
+the realm. He was in the direct line of succession to the crown, and
+he was, moreover, a prince of great wealth, and of immense personal
+influence, and so, just in proportion as Richard himself was disliked,
+Henry would naturally become an object of popular sympathy and regard.
+When he set out on his journey toward the southern coast, in order to
+leave the country in pursuance of his sentence, the people flocked
+along the waysides, and assembled in the towns where he passed, as if
+he were a conqueror returning from his victories instead of a
+condemned criminal going into banishment.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1400.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His estates confiscated.</span>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page027" name="page027"></a>(p. 027)</span> Soon after this, the Duke of Lancaster, Henry's father, died,
+and then Richard, instead of allowing his cousin to succeed to the
+immense estates which his father left, confiscated all the property,
+under the pretext that Henry had forfeited it, and so converted it to
+his own use. This last outrage aroused Henry to such a pitch of
+indignation that he resolved to invade England, depose Richard, and
+claim the crown for himself.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A revolution.</span>
+
+<p>This plan was carried into effect. Henry raised an armament, crossed
+the Channel, and landed in England. The people took sides. A great
+majority sided with Henry. A full account of this insurrection and
+invasion is given in our history of Richard II. All that it is
+necessary to say here is that the revolution was effected. Richard was
+deposed, and Henry obtained possession of the kingdom. It was thus
+that the house of Lancaster first became established on the throne.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The elder branches of the family.</span>
+
+<p>But you will very naturally wonder where the representatives of the
+second brother in Edward the Third's family were all this time, and
+why, when Richard was deposed, who was the son of the first brother,
+they did not appear, and advance their claims in competition with
+Henry. The reason was because there was no <span class="pagenum"><a id="page028" name="page028"></a>(p. 028)</span> male heir of that
+branch living in that line. You will see by referring again to the
+table that the only child of Lionel, the second brother, was Philippa,
+a girl. She had a son, it is true, Roger Mortimer, as appears by the
+table; but he was yet very young, and could do nothing to assert the
+claims of his line. Besides, Henry pretended that, together with his
+claims to the throne through his father, he had others more ancient
+and better founded still through his mother, who, as he attempted to
+prove, was descended from an English king who reigned <span class="italic">before Edward
+III</span>. The people of England, as they wished to have Henry for king,
+were very easily satisfied with his arguments, and so it was settled
+that he should reign. The line of this second brother, however, did
+not give up their claims, but reserved them, intending to rise and
+assert them on the very first favorable opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Henry reigned about thirteen years, and then was succeeded by his son,
+Henry V., as appears by the table. There was no attempt to disturb the
+Lancastrian line in their possession of the throne during these two
+reigns. The attention, both of the kings and of the people, during all
+this period, was almost wholly engrossed in the wars which they were
+waging <span class="pagenum"><a id="page029" name="page029"></a>(p. 029)</span> in France. These wars were very successful. The
+English conquered province after province and castle after castle,
+until at length almost the whole country was brought under their sway.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1422.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Birth and accession of Henry VI.</span>
+
+<p>This state of things continued until the death of Henry V., which took
+place in 1422. He left for his heir a little son, named also Henry,
+then only about nine months old. This infant was at once invested with
+the royal authority as King of England and France, under the title of
+Henry VI., as seen by the table. It was this Henry who, when he
+arrived at maturity, became the husband of Margaret of Anjou, the
+subject of this volume. It was during his reign, too, that the first
+effective attempt was made to dispute the right of the house of
+Lancaster to the throne, and it was in the terrible contests which
+this attempt brought on that Margaret displayed the extraordinary
+military heroism for which she became so renowned. I shall relate the
+early history of this king, and explain the nature of the combination
+which was formed during his reign against the Lancastrian line, in a
+subsequent chapter, after first giving a brief account of such of the
+manners and customs of those times as are necessary to a proper
+understanding of the story.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page030" name="page030"></a>(p. 030)</span> CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Manners and Customs of The Time.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The nobles.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their mode of life.</span>
+
+<p>In the days when Margaret of Anjou lived, the kings, princes, nobles,
+and knights who flourished in the realms of England and France, though
+they were, relatively to the mass of the people, far more wealthy,
+proud, and powerful than their successors are at the present day,
+still lived in many respects in a very rude and barbarous manner. They
+enjoyed very few of the benefits and privileges which all classes
+enjoy in the age in which we live. They had very few books, and very
+little advantage of instruction to enable them to read those that they
+had. There were no good roads by which they could travel comfortably
+from place to place, and no wheeled carriages. They lived in castles,
+very strongly built indeed, and very grand and picturesque sometimes
+in external appearance, but very illy furnished and comfortless
+within. The artisans were skillful in fabricating splendid caparisons
+for the horses, and costly suits of glittering armor for the men,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page031" name="page031"></a>(p. 031)</span> and the architects could construct grand cathedrals, and
+ornament them with sculptures and columns which are the wonder of the
+present age. But in respect to all the ordinary means and appliances
+of daily life, even the most wealthy and powerful nobles lived in a
+very barbarous way.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Retainers of the nobles.</span>
+
+<p>The mass of the common people were held in a state of abject
+submission to the will of the chieftains, very much in the condition
+of slaves, being compelled to toil in the cultivation of their
+masters' lands, or to go out as soldiers to fight in their quarrels,
+without receiving any compensation. The great ambition of every noble
+and knight was to have as many of these retainers as possible under
+his command. The only limit to the number which each chieftain could
+assemble was his power of feeding them. For in those days men could be
+more easily found to fight than to engage in any other employment, and
+there were great numbers always ready to follow any commander who was
+able to maintain them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their courts.</span>
+
+<p>Each great noble lived in state in his castle, like a prince or a
+petty king. Those of the highest class had their privy councilors,
+treasurers, marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, heralds,
+pursuivants, pages, guards, trumpeters&mdash;in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page032" name="page032"></a>(p. 032)</span> short, all the
+various officers that were to be found in the court of the sovereign.
+To these were added whole bands of minstrels, mimics, jugglers,
+tumblers, rope-dancers, and buffoons. Besides these, there was always
+attached to each great castle a large company of priests and monks,
+who performed divine service according to the usages of those times,
+in a gorgeously-decorated chapel built for this purpose within the
+castle walls.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great power of the nobles.</span>
+
+<p>Thus the whole country was divided, as it were, into a vast number of
+separate jurisdictions, each with an earl, or a baron, or a duke at
+the head of it, who ruled with an almost absolute sway in every thing
+that related to the internal management of his province, while,
+however, he recognized a certain general dominion over all on the part
+of the king. Such being the state of the case, it is not surprising
+that the nobles were often powerful enough, as will appear in the
+course of this narrative, to band together and set up and put down
+kings at their pleasure.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Earl of Warwick.</span>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most powerful of all the great nobles who flourished
+during the time of Margaret of Anjou was the Earl of Warwick. So great
+was his influence in deciding between the rival claims of different
+pretenders to the crown, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page033" name="page033"></a>(p. 033)</span> that he is known in history by the
+title of the <span class="italic">King-maker</span>. His wealth was so enormous that it was said
+that the body of retainers that he maintained amounted sometimes in
+number to thirty thousand men.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Amusements of the nobility.</span>
+
+<p>The employments, and even the amusements of these great barons and
+nobles, were all military. They looked down with great disdain upon
+all the useful pursuits of art and industry, regarding them as only
+fit occupations for serfs and slaves. Their business was going to war,
+either independently against each other, or, under the command of the
+king, against some common enemy. When they were not engaged in any of
+these wars they amused themselves and the people of their courts with
+tournaments, and mock combats and encounters of all kinds, which they
+arranged in open grounds contiguous to their castles with great pomp
+and parade.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Courts of justice.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Quarrels among the nobles.</span>
+
+<p>It could not be expected that such powerful and warlike chieftains as
+these could be kept much under the control of law by the ordinary
+machinery of courts of justice. There were, of course, laws and courts
+of justice in those days, but they were administered chiefly upon the
+common people, for the repression of common crimes. The nobles, in
+their quarrels and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page034" name="page034"></a>(p. 034)</span> contentions with each other, were
+accustomed to settle the questions that arose in other ways. Sometimes
+they did this by marshaling their troops and fighting each other in
+regular campaigns, during which they laid siege to castles, and
+ravaged villages and fields, as in times of public war. Sometimes,
+when the power of the king was sufficient to prevent such outbreaks as
+these, the parties to the quarrel were summoned to settle the dispute
+by single combat in the presence of the king and his court, as well as
+of a vast multitude of assembled spectators. These single combats were
+the origin of the modern custom of dueling.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Dueling.</span>
+
+<p>At the present day, the settlement of disputes by a private combat
+between the parties to it is made a crime by the laws of the land. It
+is justly considered a barbarous and senseless practice. The man who
+provokes another to a duel and then kills him in the fight, instead of
+acquiring any glory by the deed, has to bear, for the rest of his
+life, both in his own conscience and in the opinion of mankind, the
+mark and stain of murder. And when, in defiance of law, and of the
+opinions and wishes of all good men, any two disputants who have
+become involved in a quarrel are rendered so desperate by their angry
+passions as to desire <span class="pagenum"><a id="page035" name="page035"></a>(p. 035)</span> to satisfy them by this mode, they are
+obliged to resort to all sorts of man&oelig;uvres and stratagems to
+conceal the crime which they are about to commit, and to avoid the
+interference of their friends or of the officers of the law.</p>
+
+<a id="img004" name="img004"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img004.jpg" width="500" height="439" alt="" title="">
+<p>Ordeal Combat.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The ancient trial by combat.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Old representation of it.</span>
+
+<p>In the days, however, of the semi-savage knights and barons who
+flourished so luxuriantly in the times of which we are writing, the
+settlement of a dispute by single combat between the two parties to it
+was an openly recognized and perfectly legitimate mode of arbitration,
+and the trial of the question was conducted with forms and ceremonies
+even more <span class="pagenum"><a id="page036" name="page036"></a>(p. 036)</span> strict and more solemn than those which governed
+the proceedings in regular courts of justice.</p>
+
+<p>The engraving on the preceding page is a sort of rude emblematic
+representation of such a trial, copied from a drawing in an ancient
+manuscript. We see the combatants in the foreground, with the judges
+and spectators behind.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry Bolingbroke.</span>
+
+<p>It was to a public and solemn combat of this kind that Richard the
+Second summoned his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, and his enemy, as
+related in the last chapter. In that instance the combat was not
+fought, the king having taken the case into his own hands, and
+condemned both the parties before the contest was begun. But in
+multitudes of other cases the trial was carried through to its
+consummation in the death of one party, and the triumph and acquittal
+of the other.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Arrangements made.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Guards.</span>
+
+<p>Very many detailed and full accounts of these combats have come down
+to us in the writings of the ancient chroniclers. I will here give a
+description of one of them, as an example of this mode of trial, which
+was fought in the public square in front of King Richard the Second's
+palace, the king himself, all the principal nobles of the court, and a
+great crowd of other persons being provided with seats around the area
+as <span class="pagenum"><a id="page037" name="page037"></a>(p. 037)</span> spectators of the fight. The nobles and knights were all
+dressed in complete armor; and heralds, and squires, and guards were
+stationed in great numbers to regulate the proceedings. It was on a
+bright morning in June when the combat was fought, and the whole
+aspect of the scene was that of a grand and joyful spectacle on a gala
+day.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great concourse of people.</span>
+
+<p>It was estimated that more people from the surrounding country came to
+London on the occasion of this duel than at the time of the coronation
+of the king. It took place about three years after the coronation.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The parties.</span>
+
+<p>The parties to the combat were John Anneslie, a knight, and Thomas
+Katrington, a squire. Anneslie, the knight, was the complainant and
+the challenger. Katrington, the squire, was the defendant. The
+circumstances of the case were as follows.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Nature of the quarrel.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Castle lost.</span>
+
+<p>Katrington, the squire, was governor of a castle in Normandy. The
+castle belonged to a certain English knight who afterward died, and
+his estate descended to Anneslie, the complainant in this quarrel. If
+the squire had successfully defended the castle from the French who
+attacked it, then it would have descended with the other property to
+Anneslie. But he did not. When the French came and laid siege to
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page038" name="page038"></a>(p. 038)</span> the castle, Katrington surrendered it, and so it was lost.
+He maintained that he had not a sufficient force to defend it, and
+that he had no alternative but to surrender. Anneslie, on the other
+hand, alleged that he might have defended it, and that he would have
+done so if he had been faithful to his trust; but that he had been
+<span class="italic">bribed</span> by the French to give it up. This Katrington denied; so
+Anneslie, who was very angry at the loss of the castle, challenged him
+to single combat to try the question.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Reason for this mode of trial.</span>
+
+<p>It is plain that this was a very absurd way of attempting to ascertain
+whether Katrington had or had not been bribed; but, as the affair had
+occurred some years before, and in another country, and as, moreover,
+the giving and receiving of bribes are facts always very difficult to
+be proved by ordinary evidence, it was decided by the government of
+the king that this was a proper case for the trial by combat, and both
+parties were ordered to prepare for the fight. The day, too, was
+fixed, and the place&mdash;the public square opposite the king's
+palace&mdash;was appointed. As the time drew nigh, the whole country for
+many miles around was excited to the highest pitch of interest and
+expectation.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The company assemble.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The combatants appear.</span>
+
+<p>At the place where the combat was to be <span class="pagenum"><a id="page039" name="page039"></a>(p. 039)</span> fought a large space
+was railed in by a very substantial barricade. The barricade was made
+very strong, so as to resist the utmost possible pressure of the
+crowd. Elevated seats, commanding a full view of the lists, as the
+area railed in was called, were erected for the use of the king and
+the nobles of the court, and all other necessary preparations were
+made. When the hour arrived on the appointed day, the king and the
+nobles came in great state and took their places. The whole square,
+with the exception of the lists and proper avenues of approach, which
+were kept open by the men-at-arms, had long since been filled with an
+immense crowd of people from the surrounding country. At length, after
+a brief period of expectation, the challenger, Anneslie, was seen
+coming along one of the approaches, mounted on a horse splendidly
+caparisoned, and attended by several knights and squires, his friends,
+all completely armed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The horse excluded.</span>
+
+<p>He stopped when he reached the railing and dismounted from his horse.
+It was against the laws of the combat for either party to enter the
+lists mounted. If a horse went within the inclosure he was forfeited
+by that act to a certain public officer called the high constable of
+England, who was responsible for the regularity and order of the
+proceedings.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page040" name="page040"></a>(p. 040)</span> Anneslie, having thus dismounted from his horse with the
+assistance of his attendants, walked into the lists all armed and
+equipped for the fight. His squires attended him. He walked there to
+and fro a few minutes, and then a herald, blowing a trumpet, summoned
+the accused to appear.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Summons to the accused.</span>
+
+<p>"Thomas Katrington! Thomas Katrington!" he cried out in a loud voice,
+"come and appear, to save the action for which Sir John Anneslie,
+knight, hath publicly and by writing appealed thee!"</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Appearance of Katrington.</span>
+
+<p>Three times the herald proclaimed this summons. At the third time
+Katrington appeared.</p>
+
+<p>He came, as Anneslie had come, mounted upon a war-horse splendidly
+caparisoned, and with his arms embroidered on the trappings. He was
+attended by his friends, the representatives of the seconds of the
+modern duel. The two stopped at the entrance of the lists, and
+dismounting, passed into the lists on foot. Every body being now
+intent on the combatants, the horse for the moment was let go, and,
+being eager to follow his master, he ran up and down along the
+railing, reaching his head and neck over as far as he could, and
+trying to get over. At length he was taken and led away; but the lord
+high constable said at once that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page041" name="page041"></a>(p. 041)</span> he should claim him for
+having entered the lists.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Horse's head forfeited.</span>
+
+<p>"At least," said he, "I shall claim his head and neck, and as much of
+him as was over the railing."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The pleadings.</span>
+
+<p>The combatants now stood confronting each other within the lists. A
+written document was produced, which had been prepared, as was said,
+by consent of both parties, containing a statement of the charge made
+against Katrington, namely, that of treason, in having betrayed to the
+enemy for money a castle intrusted to his charge, and his reply. The
+herald read this document with a loud voice, in order that all the
+assembly, or as many as possible, might hear it. As soon as it was
+read, Katrington began to take exceptions to some passages in it. The
+Duke of Lancaster, who seemed to preside on the occasion, put an end
+to his criticisms at once, saying that he had already agreed to the
+paper, and that now, if he made any difficulty about it, and refused
+to fight, he should be adjudged guilty of the treason, and should at
+once be led out to execution.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Katrington is ready.</span>
+
+<p>Katrington then said that he was ready to fight his antagonist, not
+only on the points raised in the document which had been read, but on
+any and all other points whatever that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page042" name="page042"></a>(p. 042)</span> might be laid to his
+charge. He had entire confidence, he said, that the justice of his
+cause would secure him the victory.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Singular oath administered.</span>
+
+<p>The next proceeding in this strange ceremony was singular enough. It
+was the solemn administering of an oath to each of the combatants, by
+which oath they severally swore that the cause in which they were to
+fight was true, and that they did not deal in any witchcraft or magic
+art, by which they expected to gain the victory over their adversary;
+and also, that they had not about their persons any herb or stone, or
+charm of any kind, by which they hoped to obtain any advantage.</p>
+
+<p>After this oath had been administered, time was allowed for the
+combatants to say their prayers. This ceremony they performed
+apparently in a very devout manner, and then the battle began.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The battle.</span>
+
+<p>The combatants fought first with spears, then with swords, and
+finally, coming to very close quarters, with daggers. Anneslie seemed
+to gain the advantage. He succeeded in disarming Katrington of one
+after another of his weapons, and finally threw him down. When
+Katrington was down, Anneslie attempted to throw himself upon him, in
+order to crush him with the weight of his heavy iron armor. But
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page043" name="page043"></a>(p. 043)</span> he was exhausted by the heat and by the exertion which he
+had made, and the perspiration running down from his forehead under
+his helmet blinded his eyes, so that he could not see exactly where
+Katrington was, and, instead of falling upon him, he came down upon
+the ground at a little distance away. Katrington then contrived to
+make his way to Anneslie and to get upon him, thus pressing him down
+to the ground with his weight. The combatants lay thus a few minutes
+locked together on the ground, and struggling with each other as well
+as their heavy and cumbrous armor would permit, Katrington being all
+the time uppermost, when the king at length gave orders that the
+contest should cease and that the men should be separated.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The proceedings arrested by the king.</span>
+
+<p>In obedience to these orders, some men came to rescue Anneslie by
+taking Katrington off from him. But Anneslie begged them not to
+interfere. And when the men had taken Katrington off, he urged them to
+place him back upon him again as he was before, for he said he himself
+was not hurt at all, and he had no doubt that he should gain the
+victory if they would leave him alone. The men, however, having the
+king's order for what they were doing, paid no heed to Anneslie's
+requests, but proceeded to lead Katrington away.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Katrington's condition.</span>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page044" name="page044"></a>(p. 044)</span> They found that he was so weak and exhausted that he could
+not stand. They led him to a chair, and then, taking off his helmet,
+they tried to revive him by bathing his face and giving him some wine.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Anneslie's request to the king.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, Anneslie, finding that Katrington was taken away,
+allowed himself to be lifted up. When set upon his feet, he walked
+along toward the part of the inclosure which was near the king's seat,
+and begged the king to allow the combat to proceed. He said he was
+sure that he should obtain the victory if they would but permit him to
+continue the combat to the end. Finally the king and nobles gave their
+consent, and ordered that Anneslie should be placed upon the ground
+again, and Katrington upon him, in the same position, as nearly as
+possible, as before.</p>
+
+<p>But on going again to Katrington with a view of executing this decree,
+they found that he was in such a condition as to preclude the
+possibility of it. He had fainted and fallen down out of his chair in
+a deadly swoon. He seemed not to be wounded, but to be utterly
+exhausted by the heat, the weight of his armor, and the extreme
+violence of the exertion which he had made. His friends raised him up
+again, and proceeded to unbuckle and take <span class="pagenum"><a id="page045" name="page045"></a>(p. 045)</span> off his armor.
+Relieved from this burden, he began to come to himself. He opened his
+eyes and looked around, staring with a wild, bewildered, and ghastly
+look, which moved the pity of all the beholders, that is, of all but
+Anneslie. He, on leaving the king, came to where poor Katrington was
+sitting, and, full of rage and hate, began to taunt and revile him,
+calling him traitor, and false, perjured villain, and daring him to
+come out again into the area and finish the fight.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Anneslie's rage.</span>
+
+<p>To this Katrington made no answer, but stared wildly about with a
+crazed look, as if he did not know where he was or what they were
+doing to him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The termination of the trial.</span>
+
+<p>So the farther prosecution of the combat was relinquished. Anneslie
+was declared the victor, and poor Katrington was deemed to be proved,
+by his defeat, guilty of the treason which had been charged against
+him. He was borne away by his friends, and put into his bed. He
+continued delirious all that night, and the next morning at nine
+o'clock he died.</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p>Thus was this combat fought, as the ancient historian says, to the
+great rejoicing of the common people and the discouragement of
+traitors!<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page046" name="page046"></a>(p. 046)</span> CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">King Henry VI.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">King Henry's accession.</span>
+
+<p>King Henry the Sixth, who subsequently became the husband of Margaret
+of Anjou, was only about nine months old, as has already been said,
+when he succeeded to the throne by the death of his father. He was
+proclaimed by the heralds to the sound of trumpets and drums, in all
+parts of London, while he was yet an infant in his nurse's arms.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His uncles.</span>
+
+<p>Of course the question was now who should have the rule in England
+while Henry remained a child. And this question chiefly affected the
+little king's uncles, of whom there were three&mdash;all rude, turbulent,
+and powerful nobles, such as were briefly described in the last
+chapter. Each of them had a powerful band of retainers and partisans
+attached to his service, and the whole kingdom dreaded greatly the
+quarrels which every one knew were now likely to break out.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest of these uncles was Thomas. He was Duke of Exeter.</p>
+
+<p>The second was John. He was Duke of Bedford.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page047" name="page047"></a>(p. 047)</span> The third was Humphrey. He was Duke of Gloucester. Thomas and
+Humphrey seem to have been in England at the time of their brother the
+old king's death. John, or Bedford, as he was commonly called, was in
+France, where he had been pursuing a very renowned and successful
+career, in extending and maintaining the English conquests in that
+country.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Division of power.</span>
+
+<p>The leading nobles and officers of the government were assembled in
+council soon after the old king's death, and in order to prevent the
+breaking out of the quarrels which were otherwise to have been
+anticipated between these uncles, they determined to divide the power
+as nearly as possible in an equal manner among them. So they appointed
+Thomas, the Duke of Exeter, who seems to have been less ambitious and
+warlike in his character than the rest, to the charge and custody of
+the young king's person. Humphrey, the Duke of Gloucester, was made
+Protector of England, and John, the Duke of Bedford, the Regent of
+France. Thus they were all seemingly satisfied.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Quarrels.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Beaufort and Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>But the peace which resulted from this arrangement did not continue
+very long. Pretty soon a certain Henry Beaufort, a bishop, was
+appointed to be associated with Henry's uncle <span class="pagenum"><a id="page048" name="page048"></a>(p. 048)</span> Thomas in the
+personal charge of the king. This Henry Beaufort was Henry's
+great-uncle, being one of the sons of John of Gaunt. He was a younger
+son of his father, and so was brought up to the Church, and had been
+appointed Bishop of Winchester, and afterward made a cardinal. Thus he
+occupied a very exalted position, and possessed a degree of wealth,
+and power, and general consequence little inferior to those of the
+grandest nobles in the land. He was a man, too, of great capacity,
+very skillful in man&oelig;uvring and intriguing, and he immediately
+began to form ambitious schemes for himself which he designed to carry
+into effect through the power which the custody of the young king gave
+him. He was, of course, very jealous of the influence and power of the
+Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke of Gloucester became very jealous of
+him. It was not long before occasions arose which brought the two men,
+and their bands of followers, into direct and open collision.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Progress of the quarrel.</span>
+
+<p>I can not here go into a full account of the particulars of the
+quarrel. One of the first difficulties was about the Tower of London,
+which Beaufort had under his command, and where there was a prisoner
+whom Gloucester wished to set at liberty. Then there was a great riot
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page049" name="page049"></a>(p. 049)</span> and disturbance on London Bridge, which threw the whole city
+of London into a state of alarm. Beaufort alleged that Gloucester had
+formed a plan to seize the person of the king and take him away from
+Beaufort's custody; and that he had designs, moreover, on Beaufort's
+life. To defend himself, and to prevent Gloucester from coming to the
+palace where he was residing, he seized and fortified the passages
+leading to the bridge. He built barricades, and took down the chains
+of the portcullis, and assembled a large armed force to guard the
+point. The people of London were in great alarm. They set watches day
+and night to protect their property from the anticipated violence of
+the soldiers and partisans of the combatants, and thus all was
+commotion and fear. Of course there were no courts of justice powerful
+enough to control such a contest as this, and finally the people sent
+off a delegation to the Duke of Bedford in France, imploring him to
+come to England immediately and see if he could not settle the
+quarrel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Bedford summoned home from France.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of Bedford came. A Parliament was convened, and the questions
+at issue between the two great disputants were brought to a solemn
+trial. The Duke of Gloucester made out a series of heavy charges
+against the cardinal, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page050" name="page050"></a>(p. 050)</span> and the cardinal made a formal reply
+which contained not only his defense, but also counter charges against
+the duke. These papers were drawn up with great technicality and
+ceremony by the lawyers employed on each side to manage the case, and
+were submitted to the Duke of Bedford and to the Parliament. A series
+of debates ensued, in which the friends of the two parties
+respectively brought criminations and recriminations against each
+other without end. The result was, as is usual in such cases, that
+both sides appeared to have been to blame, and in order to settle the
+dispute a sort of compromise was effected, with which both parties
+professed to be satisfied, and a reconciliation, or what outwardly
+appeared to be such, was made. A new division of powers and
+prerogatives between Gloucester, as Protector of England, and
+Beaufort, as custodian of the king, was arranged, and peace being thus
+restored, Bedford went back again to France.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Death of Bedford.</span>
+
+<p>Things went on tolerably well after this for many years; that is,
+there were no more open outbreaks, though the old jealousy and hatred
+between Gloucester and the cardinal still continued. The influence of
+the Duke of Bedford held both parties in check as long as the duke
+lived. At length, however, when the young <span class="pagenum"><a id="page051" name="page051"></a>(p. 051)</span> king was about
+fourteen years old, the Duke of Bedford died. He was in France at the
+time of his death. He was buried with great pomp and ceremony in the
+city of Rouen, which had been in some sense the head-quarters of his
+dominion in that country, and a splendid monument was erected over his
+tomb.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Anecdote.</span>
+
+<p>A curious anecdote is related of the King of France in relation to
+this tomb. Some time after the tomb was built Rouen fell into the
+hands of the French, and some persons proposed to break down the
+monument which had been built in memory of their old enemy; but the
+King of France would not listen to the proposal.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Generosity of the French king.</span>
+
+<p>"What honor shall it be to us," said he, "or to you, to break down the
+monument, or to pull out of the ground the dead bones of him whom, in
+his life, neither my father nor your progenitors, with all their
+power, influence, and friends, were ever able to make flee one foot
+backward, but who, by his strength, wit, and policy, kept them all at
+bay. Wherefore I say, let God have his soul; and for his body, let it
+rest in peace where they have laid it."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Coronation of the young king in France.</span>
+
+<p>When King Henry was old enough to be crowned, in addition to the
+English part of the ceremony, he went to France to receive the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page052" name="page052"></a>(p. 052)</span> crown of that country too. The ceremony, as is usual with
+the French kings, was performed at the town of St. Denis, near Paris,
+where is an ancient royal chapel, in which all the great religious
+ceremonies connected with the French monarchy have been performed. A
+very curious account is given by the ancient chroniclers of the
+pageants and ceremonies which were enacted on this occasion. The king
+proceeded into France and journeyed to St. Denis at the head of a
+grand cavalcade of knights, nobles, and men-at-arms, amounting to many
+thousand men, all of whom were adorned with dresses and trappings of
+the most gorgeous description. At St. Denis the authorities came out
+to meet the king, dressed in robes of vermilion, and bearing splendid
+banners. The king was presented, as he passed through the gates, "with
+three crimson hearts, in one of which were two doves; in another,
+several small birds, which were let fly over his head; while the third
+was filled with violets and flowers, which were thrown over the lords
+that attended and followed him."</p>
+
+<p>At the same place, too, a company of the principal civic dignitaries
+of the town appeared, bearing a gorgeous canopy of blue silk, adorned
+and embroidered in the most beautiful manner <span class="pagenum"><a id="page053" name="page053"></a>(p. 053)</span> with royal
+emblems. This canopy they held over the king as he advanced into the
+town.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Curious pageants.</span>
+
+<p>At one place farther on, where there was a little bridge to be
+crossed, there was a pageant of three savages fighting about a woman
+in a mimic forest. The savages continued fighting until the king had
+passed by. Next came a fountain flowing with wine, with mermaids
+swimming about in it. The wine in this fountain was free to all who
+chose to come and drink it.</p>
+
+<p>Then, farther still, the royal party came to a place where an
+artificial forest had been made, by some means or other, in a large,
+open square. There was a chase going on in this forest at the time
+when the king went by. The chase consisted of a living stag hunted by
+real dogs. The stag came and took refuge at the feet of the king's
+horse, and his majesty saved the poor animal's life.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The coronation.</span>
+
+<p>Thus the king was conducted to his palace. Several days were spent in
+preliminary pageants and ceremonies like the above, and then the
+coronation took place in the church, the king and his party being
+stationed on a large platform raised for the purpose in the most
+conspicuous part of the edifice.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1441.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The banquet.</span>
+
+<p>After the coronation there was a grand banquet, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page054" name="page054"></a>(p. 054)</span> at which the
+king, with his lords and great officers of state, sat at a marble
+table in a magnificent ancient hall. Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of
+Winchester, was the principal personage in all these ceremonies next
+to the king. Gloucester was very jealous of him, in respect to the
+conspicuous part which he took in these proceedings.</p>
+
+<a id="img005" name="img005"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img005.jpg" width="400" height="456" alt="" title="">
+<p>Henry VI. in his Youth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Henry was quite young at the time of his coronations. He was a very
+pretty boy, and his countenance wore a mild and gentle expression.</p>
+
+<a id="img006" name="img006"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img006.jpg" width="500" height="365" alt="" title="">
+<p>The Penance.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page057" name="page057"></a>(p. 057)</span> The old quarrel broke out again.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duchess's penance.</span>
+
+<p>The quarrel between the Duke of Gloucester and the bishop was kept, in
+some degree, subdued during this period, partly by the influence of
+the Duke of Bedford while he lived, and partly by Gloucester's mind
+being taken up to a considerable extent with other things, especially
+with his campaigns in France; for he was engaged during the period of
+the king's minority in many important military expeditions in that
+country. At length, however, he came back to England, and there, when
+the king was about twenty years of age, the quarrel between him and
+the bishop's party broke out anew. The king himself was, however, now
+old enough to take some part in such a difficulty, and so both sides
+appealed to him. Gloucester made out a series of twenty-four articles
+of complaint against the bishop. The bishop, on the other hand,
+accused the duke of treason, and he specially charged that his wife
+had attempted to destroy the life of the king by witchcraft. The
+duchess was condemned on this charge, and it is said that, by way of
+penance, she was sentenced to walk barefoot through the most public
+street in London with a lighted taper in her hand. Some other persons,
+who were accused of being accomplices in this crime, were put to
+death.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page058" name="page058"></a>(p. 058)</span> <span class="sidenote">Witchcraft.</span>
+
+<p>The witchcraft which it was said these persons practiced was that of
+making a waxen image of the king, and then, after connecting it with
+him in some mysterious and magical way by certain charms and
+incantations, melting it away by degrees before a slow fire, by which
+means the king himself, as was supposed, would be caused to pine and
+wither away, and at last to die. It was universally believed in those
+days that this could be done.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Position of the king.</span>
+
+<p>Of course, such proceedings as these only embittered the quarrel more
+and more, and Gloucester became more resolute and determined than ever
+in prosecuting his intrigues for depriving the bishop of influence,
+and for getting the power into his own hands. The king, though he
+favored the cardinal, was so quiet and gentle in his disposition, and
+so little disposed to take an active part in such a quarrel, that the
+bishop could not induce him to act as decidedly as he wished. So he
+finally conceived the idea of finding some very intelligent and
+capable princess as a wife for the king, hoping to increase the power
+which he exercised in the realm through his influence over her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Scheme formed by Beaufort.</span>
+
+<p>The lady that he selected for this purpose was Margaret of Anjou.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page059" name="page059"></a>(p. 059)</span> CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Margaret's Father and Mother.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1420.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Provinces of France.</span>
+
+<p>In former times, the territory which now constitutes France was
+divided into a great number of separate provinces, each of which
+formed almost a distinct state or kingdom. These several provinces
+were the possessions of lords, dukes, and barons, who ruled over them,
+respectively, like so many petty kings, with almost absolute sway,
+though they all acknowledged a general allegiance to the kings of
+France or of England. The more northern provinces pertained to
+England. Those in the interior and southern portions of the country
+were under the dominion of France.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great families.</span>
+
+<p>The great families who held these provinces as their possessions ruled
+over them in a very lordly manner. They regarded not only the
+territory itself which they held, but the right to govern the
+inhabitants of it as a species of property, which was subject, like
+any other estate, to descend from parent to child by hereditary right,
+to be conveyed to another owner by treaty or surrender, to be assigned
+to a bride <span class="pagenum"><a id="page060" name="page060"></a>(p. 060)</span> as her marriage portion, or to be disposed of in
+any other way that the lordly proprietors might prefer. These great
+families took their names from the provinces over which they ruled.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Anjou.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">King René.</span>
+
+<p>One of these provinces was Anjou.<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1" title="Go to footnote 1"><span class="small">[1]</span></a> The father of Margaret, the
+subject of this history, was a celebrated personage named Regnier or
+René, commonly called King René. He was a younger son of the family
+which reigned over Anjou. It is from this circumstance that our
+heroine derives the name by which she is generally
+designated&mdash;Margaret of Anjou. The reason why her father was called
+<span class="italic">King</span> René will appear in the sequel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Lorraine.</span>
+
+<p>Another of the provinces of France above referred to was Lorraine.
+Lorraine was a large, and beautiful, and very valuable country,
+situated toward the eastern part of France. Anjou was considerably to
+the westward of it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1429.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Marriage of René to Isabella.</span>
+
+<p>The name of the Duke of Lorraine at this time was Charles. He had a
+daughter named Isabella. She was the heiress to all her father's
+possessions. She was a young lady of great beauty, of high spirit, of
+a very accomplished education, according to the ideas of those times.
+When René was about fourteen years old a match was arranged between
+him and Isabella, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page061" name="page061"></a>(p. 061)</span> who was then only about ten. The marriage
+was celebrated with great parade, and the youthful pair went to reside
+at a palace called Pont à Mousson, in a grand castle which was given
+to Isabella by her father as a bridal gift at the time of her
+marriage. Here it was expected that they would live until the death of
+her father, when they were to come into possession of the whole
+province of Lorraine.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Birth of Margaret.</span>
+
+<p>In process of time, while living at this castle, René and Isabella had
+several children. Margaret was the fifth. She was born in 1429. Her
+birthday was March 23.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Theophanie.</span>
+
+<p>The little infant was put under the charge of a family nurse named
+Theophanie. Theophanie was a long-tried and very faithful domestic.
+She was successively the nurse to all of Isabella's children, and the
+family became so much attached to her that when she died René caused a
+beautiful monument to be raised to her memory. This monument contained
+a sculptured image of Theophanie, with two of the children in her
+arms.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1431.</span>
+
+<p>Very soon after her birth Margaret was baptized with great pomp in the
+Cathedral in the town of Toul. A large number of relatives of high
+rank witnessed and took part in the ceremony.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page062" name="page062"></a>(p. 062)</span> <span class="sidenote">Isabella's uncle Antoine.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Conflict for the possession of Lorraine.</span>
+
+<p>When at length Charles, Duke of Lorraine, Isabella's father, died, and
+the province should have descended to Isabella and René, there
+suddenly appeared another claimant, who thought, not that he had a
+better right to the province than Isabella, but that he had more power
+to seize and hold it than she, even with all the aid that her husband
+René could afford her. This claimant was Isabella's uncle, the younger
+brother of Duke Charles who had just died. His name was Antoine de
+Vaudemonte, or, as it would be expressed in English, Anthony of
+Vaudemont. This uncle, on the death of Isabella's father, determined
+to seize the duchy for himself, instead of allowing it to descend to
+Isabella, the proper heir, who, being but a woman, was looked upon
+with very little respect. "Lorraine," he said, "was too noble and
+valuable a fief to descend in the family on the spindle side."</p>
+
+<p>So he collected his adherents and retainers, organized an army, and
+took the field. Isabella, on the other hand, did all in her power to
+induce the people of the country to espouse her cause. René took the
+command of the forces which were raised in her behalf, and went forth
+to meet Antoine. Isabella herself, taking the children with her, went
+to the city <span class="pagenum"><a id="page063" name="page063"></a>(p. 063)</span> of Nancy<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2" title="Go to footnote 2"><span class="small">[2]</span></a>&mdash;which was then, as now, the chief
+city of Lorraine, and was consequently the safest place for
+her&mdash;intending to await there the result of the conflict. Little
+Margaret was at this time about two years old.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The battle.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">René wounded and made prisoner.</span>
+
+<p>The battle was fought at a place called Bulgneville, and the fortune
+of war, as it would seem, turned in this case against the right, for
+René's party were entirely defeated, and he himself was wounded and
+taken prisoner. He fought like a lion, it is said, as long as he
+remained unharmed; but at last he received a desperate wound on his
+brow, and the blood from this wound ran down into his eyes and blinded
+him, so that he could do no more; and he was immediately seized by the
+men who had wounded him, and made prisoner. The person who thus
+wounded and captured him was the squire of a certain knight who had
+espoused the cause of Antoine, named the Count St. Pol.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Isabella's terror and distress.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time Isabella had remained at Nancy with the children, in
+a state of the utmost suspense and anxiety, awaiting the result
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page064" name="page064"></a>(p. 064)</span> of a conflict on which depended the fate of every thing that
+was valuable and dear to her. At length, at the window of the tower
+where she was watching, with little Margaret in her arms, for the
+coming of a herald from her husband to announce his victory, her heart
+sank within her to see, instead of a messenger of joy and triumph, a
+broken crowd of fugitives, breathless and covered with dust and blood,
+suddenly bursting into view, and showing too plainly by their aspect
+of terror and distress that all was lost. Isabella was overwhelmed
+with consternation at the sight. She clasped little Margaret closely
+in her arms, exclaiming in tones of indescribable agony, "My husband
+is killed! my husband is killed!"</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Heavy tidings.</span>
+
+<p>Her distress and anguish were somewhat calmed by the fugitives
+assuring her, when they arrived, that her husband was safe, though he
+had been wounded and taken prisoner.</p>
+
+<a id="img007" name="img007"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img007.jpg" width="500" height="297" alt="" title="">
+<p>Distress of Margaret's Mother.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Sympathy for Isabella.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Isabella's interview with her uncle.</span>
+
+<p>There was a great deal of sympathy felt for Isabella in her distress
+by all the people of Nancy. She was very young and very beautiful. Her
+children, and especially Margaret, were very beautiful too, and this
+greatly increased the compassion which the people were disposed to
+feel for her. Isabella's mother was strongly inclined to make new
+efforts to raise <span class="pagenum"><a id="page067" name="page067"></a>(p. 067)</span> an army, in order to meet and fight
+Antoine again; but Isabella herself, who was now more concerned for
+the safety of her husband than for the recovery of her dominions, was
+disposed to pursue a conciliatory course. So she sent word to her
+uncle that she wished to see him, and entreated him to grant her an
+interview. Antoine acceded to her request, and at the interview
+Isabella begged her uncle to make peace with her, and to give her back
+her husband.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Negotiations for peace.</span>
+
+<p>Antoine said that it was out of his power to liberate René, for he had
+delivered him to the custody of the Duke of Burgundy, who had been his
+ally in the war, and the duke had conveyed him away to his castle at
+Dijon, and shut him up there, and that now he would probably not be
+willing to give him up without the payment of a ransom. He said,
+however, that he was willing to make a truce with Isabella for six
+months, to give time to see what arrangement could be made.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Hostages.</span>
+
+<p>This truce was agreed upon, and then, at length, after a long
+negotiation, terms of peace were concluded. René was to pay a large
+sum to the Duke of Burgundy for his ransom, and, in the mean time,
+while he was procuring the money, he was to leave his two sons in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page068" name="page068"></a>(p. 068)</span> duke's hands as hostages, to be held by the duke as
+security. In respect to Lorraine, Antoine insisted, as another of the
+conditions of peace, that Isabella's oldest daughter, Yolante, then
+about nine years old, should be betrothed to his son Frederick, so as
+to combine, in the next generation at least, the conflicting claims of
+the two parties to the possession of the territory; and, in order to
+secure the fulfillment of this condition, Yolante was to be delivered
+immediately to the charge and custody of Antoine's wife, the mother of
+her future husband. Thus all of Isabella's children were taken away
+from her except Margaret. And even Margaret, though left for the
+present with her mother, did not escape being involved in the
+entanglements of the treaty. Antoine insisted that she, too, should be
+betrothed to one of his partisans; and, as if to make the case as
+painful and humiliating to René and Isabella as possible, the person
+chosen to be her future husband was the very Count St. Pol whose
+squire had cut down and captured René at the battle of Bulgneville.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Hard conditions of peace.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">René can not procure the money for his ransom.</span>
+
+<p>These conditions were very hard, but Isabella consented to them, as it
+was only by so doing that any hope seemed to be opened before her of
+obtaining the release of her husband. And <span class="pagenum"><a id="page069" name="page069"></a>(p. 069)</span> even this hope, in
+the end, proved delusive. René found that, notwithstanding all his
+efforts, he could not obtain the money which the duke required for his
+ransom. Accordingly, in order to save his boys, whom he had delivered
+to the duke as hostages, he was obliged to return to Dijon and
+surrender himself again a prisoner. His parting with his wife and
+children, before going a second time into a confinement to which they
+could now see no end, was heartrending. Even little Margaret, who was
+yet so very young, joined from sympathy in the general sorrow, and
+wept bitterly when her father went away.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His long confinement.</span>
+
+<p>The duke confined his captive in an upper room in a high tower of the
+castle of Dijon, and kept him imprisoned there for several years. One
+of the boys was kept with him, but the other was set at liberty. All
+this time Margaret remained with her mother. She was a very beautiful
+and a very intelligent child, and was a great favorite with all who
+knew her. The interest which was awakened by her beauty and her other
+personal attractions was greatly increased by the general sympathy
+which was felt for the misfortunes of her father, and the loneliness
+and distress of her mother.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1436.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His occupations and amusements in prison.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, René, shut up in the tower <span class="pagenum"><a id="page070" name="page070"></a>(p. 070)</span> at the castle
+of Dijon, made himself as contented as he could, and employed his time
+in various peaceful and ingenious occupations. Though he had fought
+well in the battle with Antoine, he was, in fact, not at all of a
+warlike disposition. He was very fond of music, and poetry, and
+painting; and he occupied his leisure during his confinement in
+executing beautiful miniatures and paintings upon glass, after the
+manner of those times. Some of these paintings remained in the window
+of a church in Dijon, where they were placed soon after René painted
+them, for several hundred years.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Origin of René's royal title.</span>
+
+<p>It has already been stated that the name by which Margaret's father is
+commonly designated is King René. The origin of this royal title is
+now to be explained. He had an older brother, who became by
+inheritance, with Joanna his wife, king and queen of the Two Sicilies,
+that is, of the kingdom consisting of the island of Sicily and the
+territory connected with Naples on the main land. The brother, at the
+close of his life, designated René as his heir. This happened in the
+year 1436, while René was still in captivity in the castle of Dijon.
+He could, of course, do nothing himself to assert his claims to this
+new inheritance, but Isabella immediately assumed the title of Queen
+of the Two Sicilies <span class="pagenum"><a id="page071" name="page071"></a>(p. 071)</span> for herself, and began at once to make
+preparation for proceeding to Italy and taking possession of the
+kingdom.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Isabella and the children at Tarascon.</span>
+
+<p>While maturing her plans, she took up her residence for a time at the
+chateau of Tarascon, on the banks of the Rhone, with the two children
+who remained under her care, namely, her son Louis and Margaret. Her
+other son was at Dijon with his father, and the other daughter,
+Yolante, had been given up, as has already been said, to the custody
+of the wife of Antoine, with a view of being married, as soon as she
+was old enough, to Antoine's son.</p>
+
+<p>The children attracted great attention at Tarascon. Their mother
+Isabella was by birth a lady of very high rank, her family being
+intimately connected with the royal family of France. She was now,
+too, by title at least, herself a queen. The children were very
+intelligent and beautiful, and the misfortunes and cruel captivity of
+their father and brother were known and talked of in all the country
+around. So the peasants and their families crowded around the chateau
+to see the children. They brought them wreaths of flowers and other
+votive offerings. They sang songs to serenade them, and they built
+bonfires around the walls of the chateau at night, to drive away the
+infection <span class="pagenum"><a id="page072" name="page072"></a>(p. 072)</span> of the plague, which was then prevailing in some
+parts of the country, and was exciting considerable alarm.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Witches and the plague.</span>
+
+<p>The people of the country believed that this plague was produced by
+magic and witchcraft, and there were some poor old women, who came
+with the other peasants to the walls of the chateau of Tarascon to see
+the children, who were believed to be witches. Afterward the plague
+broke out at Tarascon, and Margaret's mother was obliged to go away,
+taking the children with her. The poor women were, however, seized and
+burned at the stake, it being universally believed that it was they
+who had caused the plague.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Isabella goes into Italy.</span>
+
+<p>Isabella's arrangements were now so far matured that she went at once
+into Italy with the children, and took up her abode there in the town
+of Capua. René still remained in captivity, but Isabella caused him to
+be proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies with great pomp and parade. At
+the time of this ceremony, the two children, Margaret and her brother,
+were seated beside their mother in a grand state carriage, which was
+lined with velvet and embroidered with gold, and in this way they were
+conveyed through the streets of the city.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">René is at last set free.</span>
+
+<p>After a time René was liberated from his <span class="pagenum"><a id="page073" name="page073"></a>(p. 073)</span> confinement, and
+restored to his family, but he did not long enjoy this apparent return
+of prosperity. His claim to the kingdom of Naples was disputed, and,
+after a conflict, he was expelled from the country. In the mean time,
+the English had so far extended their conquests in France that both
+his native province of Anjou, and his wife's inheritances in Lorraine,
+had fallen into their hands, so that with all the aristocratic
+distinction of their descent, and the grandeur of their royal titles,
+the family were now, as it were, without house or home. They returned
+to France, and Isabella, with the children, found refuge from time to
+time with one and another of the great families to which she was
+related, while René led a wandering life, being reduced often to a
+state of great destitution.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His temper and disposition.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">King René's fireside.</span>
+
+<p>He, however, bore his misfortunes with a very placid temper, and
+amused himself, wherever he was, with music, poetry, and painting. He
+was so cheerful and good-natured withal that he made himself a very
+agreeable companion, and was generally welcome, as a visitor, wherever
+he went. He retained the name of King René as long as he lived, though
+he was a king without a kingdom. At one time he was reduced, it is
+said, to such straits that to warm himself he used to walk to and fro
+in the streets of Marseilles, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page074" name="page074"></a>(p. 074)</span> on the sunny side of the
+buildings, which circumstance gave rise to a proverb long known and
+often quoted in those parts, which designated the act of going out
+into the sun to escape from the cold as warming one's self at King
+René's fireside.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the family from which Margaret of Anjou sprang.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page075" name="page075"></a>(p. 075)</span> CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Royal Courtship.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1444.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's talents and accomplishments.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Offers of marriage.</span>
+
+<p>When Margaret was not more than fourteen or fifteen years of age, she
+began to be very celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and
+for the charming vivacity of her conversation and her demeanor. She
+resided with her mother in different families in Lorraine and in other
+parts of France, and was sometimes at the court of the Queen of
+France, who was her near relative. All who knew her were charmed with
+her. She was considered equally remarkable for her talents and for her
+beauty. The arrangement which had been made in her childhood for
+marrying her to the Count of St. Pol was broken off, but several other
+offers were made to her mother for her hand, though none of them was
+accepted. Isabella was very proud of her daughter, and she cherished
+very lofty aspirations in respect to her future destiny. She was
+therefore not at all inclined to be in haste in respect to making
+arrangements for her marriage.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">State of things in England.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry's character.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the feud between the uncles <span class="pagenum"><a id="page076" name="page076"></a>(p. 076)</span> and relatives
+of King Henry, in England, as related in a preceding chapter, had been
+going on, and was now reaching a climax. The leaders of the two rival
+parties were, as will be recollected, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of
+Winchester, or Cardinal Beaufort, as he was more commonly called, who
+had had the personal charge of the king during his minority, on one
+side, and the Duke of Gloucester, Henry's uncle, who had been regent
+of England during the same period, on the other. The king himself was
+now about twenty-four years of age, and if he had been a man of vigor
+and resolution, he might perhaps have controlled the angry disputants,
+and by taking the government fully into his own hands, have forced
+them to live together in peace under his paramount authority. But
+Henry was a very timid and feeble-minded man. The turbulence and
+impetuousness of his uncles and their partisans in their quarrel was
+altogether too great for any control that he could hope to exercise
+over them. Indeed, the great question with them was which should
+contrive the means of exercising the greatest control over <span class="italic">him</span>.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Plans of the courtiers.</span>
+
+<p>In order to accomplish this end, both parties began very early to plan
+and man&oelig;uvre with a view of choosing the king a wife. Whichever
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page077" name="page077"></a>(p. 077)</span> of the two great leaders should succeed in negotiating the
+marriage of the king, they knew well would, by that very act,
+establish his influence at court in the most absolute manner.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Princes and kings.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their matrimonial plans.</span>
+
+<p>Princes and kings in those days, as, indeed, is the case to a
+considerable extent now, had some peculiar difficulties to contend
+with in making their matrimonial arrangements, so far at least as
+concerned the indulgence of any personal preferences which they might
+themselves entertain on the subject. Indeed, these arrangements were
+generally made for them, while they were too young to have any voice
+or to take any part in the question, and nothing was left for them but
+to ratify and carry into effect, when they came to years of maturity,
+what their parents, or grand councils of state, had determined for
+them when they were children, or else to refuse to ratify and confirm
+it at the cost of incurring a vast amount of difficulty and political
+entanglement, and perhaps even open and formidable war.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Embarrassments.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Difficulty of leaving the country.</span>
+
+<p>And even in those cases where the prince or king arrived at an age to
+judge for himself before any arrangements were made for him, which was
+the fact in regard to Henry VI., he was still very much embarrassed
+and circumscribed in his choice if he attempted to select a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page078" name="page078"></a>(p. 078)</span>
+wife for himself. He could not visit foreign courts and see the
+princesses there, so as to judge for himself who would best please
+him; for in those days it was very unsafe for personages of any
+considerable rank or position to visit foreign countries at all,
+except at the head of an army, and in a military campaign. In the
+case, too, of any actually reigning monarch, there was a special
+difficulty in the way of his leaving his kingdom, on account of the
+feuds and quarrels which always in such cases arose in making the
+necessary arrangements for the government of the kingdom during his
+absence.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Miniatures.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Situation of King Henry.</span>
+
+<p>For these and various other causes, a king or a prince desiring to
+choose a wife was obliged to content himself with such information
+relating to the several candidates as he could obtain from hearsay in
+respect to their characters, and from miniatures and portraits in
+respect to their personal attractions. This was especially the case
+with King Henry VI. Each of the two great parties, that of Cardinal
+Beaufort on one hand, and that of the Duke of Gloucester on the other,
+were desirous of being the means of finding a bride for the king, and
+both were eagerly looking in all directions, and plotting for the
+accomplishment of this end, and any attempt of the king to leave the
+kingdom for any <span class="pagenum"><a id="page079" name="page079"></a>(p. 079)</span> purpose whatever would undoubtedly have
+brought these parties at once to open war.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Plan of the Duke of Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of Gloucester and those who acted with him fixed their eyes
+upon three princesses of a certain great family, called the house of
+Armagnac. Their plan was to open negotiations with this house, and to
+obtain portraits of the three princesses, to be sent to England, in
+order that Henry might take his choice of them. Commissioners were
+appointed to manage the business. They were to open the negotiations
+and obtain the portraits. The cardinal, of course, and his friends
+were greatly interested in preventing the success of this plan,
+though, of course, it was necessary for them to be discreet and
+cautious in manifesting any open opposition to it in the then present
+stage of the affair.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The three princesses of Armagnac.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their portraits.</span>
+
+<p>The king was very particular in the instructions which he gave to the
+commissioners in respect to the portraits, with a view of securing, if
+possible, perfectly correct and fair representations of the originals.
+He wished that the princesses should not be flattered at all by the
+artist in his delineation of them, and that they should not be dressed
+at their sittings in any unusually elegant manner. On the contrary,
+they were to be painted "in their kirtles simple, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page080" name="page080"></a>(p. 080)</span> and their
+visages like as ye see, and their stature, and their beauty, and the
+color of their skin, and their countenances, just as they really are."
+The artist was instructed, too, by the commissioners to be expeditious
+in finishing the pictures and sending them to England, in order that
+the king might see them as soon as possible, and make his choice
+between the three young ladies whose "images" were to be thus laid
+before him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The plan fails.</span>
+
+<p>This plan for giving the king an opportunity to choose between the
+three princesses of Armagnac, nicely arranged as it was in all its
+details, failed of being carried successfully into effect; for the
+father of these princesses, as it happened, was at this same time
+engaged in some negotiations with the King of France in respect to the
+marriage of his daughters, and he wished to keep the negotiations with
+Henry in suspense until he had ascertained whether he could or could
+not do better in that quarter. So he contrived means to interrupt and
+retard the work of the artist, in order to delay for a time the
+finishing of the pictures.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">In what way.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The cardinal's scheme.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, while the Duke of Gloucester and his party were thus
+engaged in forwarding their scheme of inducing Henry to make choice of
+one of these three princesses for <span class="pagenum"><a id="page081" name="page081"></a>(p. 081)</span> his wife, the cardinal
+himself was not idle. He had heard of the beautiful and accomplished
+Margaret of Anjou, and after full inquiry and reflection, he
+determined in his own mind to make her his candidate for the honor of
+being Queen of England. The manner in which he contrived to introduce
+the subject first to the notice of the king was this.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Champchevrier.</span>
+
+<p>There was a certain man, named Champchevrier, who had been taken
+prisoner in Anjou in the course of the wars between France and
+England, and who was now held for ransom by the knight who had
+captured him. He was not, however, kept in close confinement, but was
+allowed to go at large in England on his parole&mdash;that is, on his word
+of honor that he would not make his escape and go back to his native
+land until his ransom was paid.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Champchevrier at court.</span>
+
+<p>Now this Champchevrier, though a prisoner, was a gentleman by birth
+and education; and while he remained in England, held by his parole,
+was admitted to the best society there, and he often appeared at
+court, and frequently held converse with the king. In one of these
+interviews he described, in very glowing terms, the beauty and
+remarkable intelligence of Margaret of Anjou. It is supposed that he
+was induced to this by Cardinal Beaufort, who knew <span class="pagenum"><a id="page082" name="page082"></a>(p. 082)</span> of his
+acquaintance with Margaret, and who contrived the interviews between
+Champchevrier and the king, in order to give the former an opportunity
+to speak of the lady to his majesty incidentally, as it were, and in a
+way not to excite the king's suspicions that the commendations of her
+which he heard were prompted by any match-making schemes formed for
+him by his courtiers.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His conversations with the king.</span>
+
+<p>If this was the secret plan of the cardinal, it succeeded admirably
+well. The king's curiosity was strongly awakened by the piquant
+accounts that Champchevrier gave him of the brilliancy of young
+Margaret's beauty, and of her charming vivacity and wit.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king wishes for a picture.</span>
+
+<p>"I should like very much to see a picture of the young lady," said the
+king.</p>
+
+<p>"I can easily obtain a picture of her for your majesty," replied
+Champchevrier, "if your majesty will commission me to go to Lorraine
+for the purpose."</p>
+
+<p>Champchevrier considered that a commission from the king to go to
+Lorraine on business for his majesty would be a sufficient release for
+him from the obligations of his parole.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Champchevrier's expedition.</span>
+
+<p>The king finally gave Champchevrier the required authority to leave
+the kingdom. Champchevrier was not satisfied with a verbal permission
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page083" name="page083"></a>(p. 083)</span> merely, but required the king to give him a regular
+safe-conduct, drawn up in due form, and signed by the king's name.
+Having received this document, Champchevrier left London and set out
+upon his journey, the nature and object of the expedition being of
+course kept a profound secret.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Earl of Suffolk.</span>
+
+<p>A certain nobleman, however, named the Earl of Suffolk, was admitted
+to the confidence of the king in this affair, and was by him
+associated with Champchevrier in the arrangements which were to be
+made for carrying the plan into execution. It would seem that he
+accompanied Champchevrier in his journey to Lorraine, where Margaret
+was then residing with her mother, and there assisted him in making
+arrangements for the painting of the picture. They employed one of the
+first artists in France for this purpose. When the work was finished,
+Champchevrier set out with it on his return to England.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Champchevrier in danger.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the English knight whose prisoner Champchevrier was,
+heard in some way that his captive had left England, and had returned
+to France, and the intelligence made him exceedingly angry. He thought
+that Champchevrier had broken his parole and had gone home without
+paying his ransom. Such an <span class="pagenum"><a id="page084" name="page084"></a>(p. 084)</span> act as this was regarded as
+extremely dishonorable in those days, and it was, moreover, not only
+considered dishonorable in a prisoner himself to break his parole, but
+also in any one else to aid or abet him in so doing, or to harbor or
+protect him after his escape. The knight determined, therefore, that
+he would at once communicate with the King of France on the subject,
+explaining the circumstances, and asking him to rearrest the supposed
+fugitive and send him back.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gloucester writes to the King of France.</span>
+
+<p>So he went to the Duke of Gloucester, and, stating the case to him,
+asked his grace to write to the King of France, informing him that
+Champchevrier had escaped from his parole, and asking him not to give
+him refuge, but to seize and send him back. Gloucester was very
+willing to do this. It is probable that he knew that Champchevrier was
+a friend of the cardinal's, or at least that he was attached to his
+interests, and that it was altogether probable that his going into
+France was connected with some plot or scheme by which the cardinal
+and his party were to derive some advantage. So he wrote the letter,
+and it was at once sent to the King of France. The King of France at
+this time was Charles VII.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Champchevrier arrested.</span>
+
+<p>The king, on receiving the letter, gave orders <span class="pagenum"><a id="page085" name="page085"></a>(p. 085)</span> immediately
+that Champchevrier should be arrested. By this time, however, the
+painting was finished, and Champchevrier was on the way with it from
+Lorraine toward England. He was intercepted on his journey, taken to
+Vincennes, and there brought before King Charles, and called upon to
+give an account of himself.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The whole story comes out.</span>
+
+<p>Of course he was now obliged to tell the whole story. He said that he
+had not broken his parole at all, nor intended in any manner to
+defraud his captor in England of the ransom money that was due to him,
+but had come to France <span class="italic">by the orders of the King of England</span>. He
+explained, too, what he had come for, and showed Charles the painting
+which he was carrying back to the king. He also, in proof of the truth
+of what he said, produced the safe-conduct which King Henry had given
+him.</p>
+
+<p>King Charles laughed very heartily at hearing this explanation, and at
+perceiving how neatly he had discovered the secret of King Henry's
+love affairs. He was much pleased, too, with the idea of King Henry's
+taking a fancy to a lady so nearly related to the royal family of
+France. He thought that he might make the negotiation of such a
+marriage the occasion for making peace with England on <span class="pagenum"><a id="page086" name="page086"></a>(p. 086)</span>
+favorable terms. So he dismissed Champchevrier at once, and
+recommended to him to proceed to England as soon as possible, and
+there to do all in his power to induce King Henry to choose Margaret
+for his queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Trouble in court.</span>
+
+<p>Champchevrier accordingly returned to England and reported the result
+of his mission. The king was very much pleased with the painting, and
+he immediately determined to send Champchevrier again to Lorraine on a
+secret mission to Margaret's mother. He first, however, determined to
+release Champchevrier entirely from his parole, and so he paid the
+ransom himself for which he had been held. The Duke of Gloucester
+watched all these proceedings with a very jealous eye. When he found
+that Champchevrier, on his return to England, came at once to the
+king's court, and that there he held frequent conferences, which were
+full of mystery, with the king and with the cardinal, and when,
+moreover, he learned that the king had paid the ransom money due to
+the knight, and that Champchevrier was to be sent away again, he at
+once suspected what was going on, and the whole court was soon in a
+great ferment of excitement in respect to the proposed marriage of the
+king to Margaret of Anjou.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page087" name="page087"></a>(p. 087)</span> <span class="sidenote">Gloucester's opposition.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret gains the day.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Truce proposed.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of Gloucester and his party were, of course, strongly opposed
+to Margaret of Anjou; for they knew well that, as she had been brought
+to the king's notice by the other party, her becoming Queen of England
+would well-nigh destroy their hopes and expectations for all time to
+come. The other party acted as decidedly and vigorously in favor of
+the marriage. There followed a long contest, in which there was
+plotting and counterplotting on one side and on the other, and
+man&oelig;uvres without end. At last the friends of the beautiful little
+Margaret carried the day; and in the year 1444 commissioners were
+formally appointed by the governments of England and France to meet at
+the city of Tours at a specified day, to negotiate a truce between the
+two countries preparatory to a permanent peace, the basis and cement
+of which was to be the marriage of King Henry with Margaret of Anjou.
+The truce was made for two years, so as to allow full time to arrange
+all the details both for a peace between the two countries, and also
+in respect to the terms and conditions of the marriage.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Opposition in England.</span>
+
+<p>As soon as the news that this truce was made arrived in England, it
+produced great excitement. The Duke of Gloucester and those who were,
+with him, interested to prevent the accomplishment <span class="pagenum"><a id="page088" name="page088"></a>(p. 088)</span> of the
+marriage, formed a powerful political party to oppose it. They did
+not, however, openly object to the marriage itself, thinking that not
+politic, but directed their hostility chiefly against the plan of
+making peace with France just at the time, they said, when the glory
+of the English arms and the progress of the English power in that
+country were at their height. It was very discreditable to the
+advisers of the king, they said, that they should counsel him to stop
+short in the career of conquest which his armies were pursuing, and
+thus sacrifice the grand advantages for the realm of England which
+were just within reach.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Violent discussions.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk is alarmed.</span>
+
+<p>The discussions and dissensions which arose in the court and in
+Parliament on this subject were very violent; but in the end Cardinal
+Beaufort and his party were successful, and the king appointed the
+Earl of Suffolk embassador extraordinary to the court of France to
+negotiate the terms and conditions of the permanent peace which was to
+be made between the two countries, and also of the marriage of the
+king. At first Suffolk was very unwilling to undertake this embassy.
+He feared that, in order to carry out the king's wishes, he should be
+obliged to make such important concessions to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page089" name="page089"></a>(p. 089)</span> France that,
+at some future time, when perhaps the party of the Duke of Gloucester
+should come into power, he might be held responsible for the measure,
+and be tried and condemned, perhaps, for high treason, in having been
+the means of sacrificing the interests and honor of the kingdom by
+advising and negotiating a dishonorable peace. These fears of his were
+probably increased by the intensity of the excitement which he
+perceived in the Gloucester party, and perhaps, also, by open threats
+and demonstrations which they may have uttered for the express purpose
+of intimidating him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His safe-conduct.</span>
+
+<p>At any rate, after receiving the appointment, his courage failed him,
+and he begged the king to excuse him from performing so dangerous a
+commission. The king was, however, very unwilling to do so. Finally,
+it was agreed that the king should give the earl his written order,
+executed in due and solemn form, and signed with the great seal,
+commanding him, on the royal authority, to undertake the embassage.
+Suffolk relied on this document as his means of defense from all legal
+responsibility for his action in case his enemies should at any future
+time have it in their power to bring him to trial for it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Various difficulties and objections.</span>
+
+<p>In negotiating the peace, and in arranging <span class="pagenum"><a id="page090" name="page090"></a>(p. 090)</span> the terms and
+conditions of the marriage, a great many difficulties were found to be
+in the way, but they were all at last overcome. One of these
+difficulties was made by King René, the father of Margaret. He
+declared that he could not consent to give his daughter in marriage to
+the King of England unless the king would first restore to him and to
+his family the province of Anjou, which had been the possession of his
+ancestors, but which King Henry's armies had overrun and conquered.
+The Earl of Suffolk was very unwilling to cede back this territory,
+for he knew very well that nothing would be so unpopular in England,
+or so likely to increase the hostility of the English people to the
+proposed marriage, and consequently to give new life and vigor to the
+Gloucester party in their opposition to it, as the giving up again of
+territory which the English troops had won by so many hard-fought
+battles and the sacrifice of so many lives. But René was inflexible,
+and Suffolk finally yielded, and so Anjou was restored to its former
+possessors.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king asks no dowry.</span>
+
+<p>Another objection which René made was that his fortune was not
+sufficient to enable him to endow his daughter properly for so
+splendid a marriage; not having the means, he said, of sending her in
+a suitable manner into England.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page091" name="page091"></a>(p. 091)</span> But this the King of England said should make no difference.
+All that he asked was the hand of the princess without any dowry. Her
+personal charms and mental endowments were sufficient to outweigh all
+the riches in the world; and if her royal father and mother would
+grant her to King Henry as his bride, he would not ask to receive with
+her "either penny or farthing."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king has a rival.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's wishes.</span>
+
+<p>King Henry was made all the more eager to close the negotiations for
+the marriage as soon as possible, and to consent to almost any terms
+which the King of France and René might exact, from the fact that
+there was a young prince of the house of Burgundy&mdash;a very brave,
+handsome, and accomplished man&mdash;who was also a suitor for Margaret's
+hand, and was very devotedly attached to her. This young prince was in
+France at this time, and ready, at any moment, to take advantage of
+any difficulty which might arise in the negotiations with Henry to
+press his claims, and, perhaps, to carry off the prize. Which of the
+two candidates Margaret herself would have preferred there is no means
+of knowing. She was yet only about fifteen years of age, and was
+completely in the power and at the disposal of her father and mother.
+And then the political and family interests <span class="pagenum"><a id="page092" name="page092"></a>(p. 092)</span> which were at
+stake in the decision of the question were too vast to allow of the
+personal preferences of the young girl herself being taken much into
+the account.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The affair finally settled.</span>
+
+<p>At last every thing was arranged, and Suffolk returned to England,
+bringing with him the treaty of peace and the contract of marriage, to
+be ratified by the king's council and by Parliament. A new contest now
+ensued between the Gloucester and Beaufort parties. The king, of
+course, threw all his influence on the cardinal's side, and so the
+treaty and the contract carried the day. Both were ratified. The Earl
+of Suffolk, as a reward for his services, was made a marquis, and he
+was appointed the king's proxy to proceed to France and espouse the
+bride in the king's name, according to the usual custom in the case of
+royal marriages.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page093" name="page093"></a>(p. 093)</span> CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">The Wedding.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Preparations for the wedding.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Excitement.</span>
+
+<p>Preparations were now immediately made for solemnizing the marriage
+and bringing the young queen at once to England. The marriage ceremony
+by which a foreign princess was united to a reigning prince, according
+to the custom of those times, was twofold, or, rather, there were two
+distinct ceremonies to be performed, in one of which the bride, at her
+father's own court, was united to her future husband by proxy, and in
+the second the nuptials were celebrated anew with her husband himself
+in person, after her arrival in his kingdom. Suffolk, as was stated in
+the last chapter, was appointed to act as the king's proxy in this
+case, for the performance of the first of these ceremonies. He was to
+proceed to France, espouse the bride in the king's name, and convey
+her to England. Of course a universal excitement now spread itself
+among all the nobility and among all the ladies of the court, which
+was awakened by the interest which all took in the approaching
+wedding, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page094" name="page094"></a>(p. 094)</span> and the desire they felt to accompany the
+expedition.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Dresses.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Company.</span>
+
+<p>A great many of the lords and ladies began to make preparations to
+join Lord and Lady Suffolk. Nothing was talked of but dresses,
+equipments, presents, invitations, and every body was occupied in the
+collecting and packing of stores and baggage for a long journey. At
+length the appointed time arrived, and the expedition set out, and,
+after a journey of many days, the several parties which composed it
+arrived at Nancy, the capital city of Lorraine, where the ceremony was
+to be performed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">King and Queen of France.</span>
+
+<p>At about the same time, the King and Queen of France, accompanied by a
+great concourse of nobles and gentlemen from the French court, who
+were to honor the wedding with their presence, arrived. A great many
+other knights and ladies, too, from the provinces and castles of the
+surrounding country, were seen coming in gay and splendid cavalcades
+to the town, when the appointed day drew nigh, eager to witness the
+ceremony, and to join in the magnificent festivities which they well
+knew would be arranged to commemorate and honor the occasion. In a
+word, the whole town became one brilliant scene of gayety, life, and
+excitement.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The marriage ceremony is performed.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The bride's household.</span>
+
+<p>The marriage ceremony was performed in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page095" name="page095"></a>(p. 095)</span> the church, with
+great pomp and parade, and in the midst of a vast concourse of people,
+composed of the highest nobility of Europe, both lords and ladies, and
+all dressed in the most magnificent and distinguished costumes. No
+spectacle could possibly be more splendid and gay. At the close of the
+ceremony, the bride was placed solemnly in charge of Lady Suffolk, who
+was to be responsible for her safety and welfare until she should
+arrive in England, and there be delivered into the hands of her
+husband. Lady Suffolk was a cousin of Cardinal Beaufort, and she
+undoubtedly received this very exalted appointment through his favor.
+The appointment brought with it a great deal of patronage and
+influence, for a regular and extended household was now to be
+organized for the service of the new queen, and of course, among all
+the lords and ladies who had come from England, there was a very eager
+competition to obtain places in it. There are enumerated among those
+who were appointed to posts of service or honor in attendance on the
+queen, under the Marchioness of Suffolk, five barons and baronesses,
+seventeen knights, sixty-five squires, and no less than one hundred
+and seventy-four valets, besides many other servitors, all under pay.
+Then, in addition to these, so <span class="pagenum"><a id="page096" name="page096"></a>(p. 096)</span> great was the eagerness to
+occupy some recognized station in the train of the bride, that great
+numbers applied for appointments to nominal offices for which they
+were to receive no pay.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The express.</span>
+
+<p>If René, Margaret's father, had been possessed of a fortune
+corresponding to his rank, the expense of all these arrangements, at
+least up to the time of the departure of the bridal party, would, have
+been defrayed by him; but as it was, every thing was paid for by King
+Henry, and the precise amount of every expenditure stands recorded in
+certain old books of accounts which still remain among the ancient
+English archives.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Tournament.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The victors in the games.</span>
+
+<p>The nuptials of the princess were celebrated by a tournament and other
+accompanying festivities, which were continued for eight days. In
+these tournaments a great many mock combats were fought, in which the
+most exalted personages present on the occasion took conspicuous and
+prominent parts. The King of France himself appeared in the lists, and
+fought with René, the father of the bride. The king was beaten. It
+would have been impolite for any one to have vanquished the father of
+the bride at a tournament held in honor of the daughter's nuptials.
+The Count St. Pol, too, who had formerly been betrothed to Margaret,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page097" name="page097"></a>(p. 097)</span> but had not been allowed to marry her, fought very
+successfully, and won a valuable prize, which was conferred upon him
+with great ceremony by the hands of the two most distinguished ladies
+present, namely, the Queen of France and Isabella of Lorraine, the
+bride's mother. Perhaps he too was politely allowed to win his victory
+and his honorary prize, in consideration of his submitting so quietly
+to the loss of the real prize which his great competitor, the King of
+England, was so triumphantly bearing away from him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Romantic incident.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Grand elopement.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The parents finally appeased.</span>
+
+<p>The celebrations of the eight days were interrupted and enlivened by
+one remarkable incident, which for a time threatened to produce very
+serious difficulty. It will be remembered that when the original
+contract and treaty were made between René and the uncle of Isabella,
+Antoine of Vaudemonte, at the time when peace was re-established
+between them, after the battle in which René was taken prisoner, that
+not only was it agreed that Margaret should be betrothed to the Count
+St. Pol, but also that Yolante, Margaret's elder sister, was betrothed
+to Antoine's son Ferry, as he was called.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3" title="Go to footnote 3"><span class="small">[3]</span></a> Now Ferry seemed not
+disposed to submit quietly, as St. Pol had done, to the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page098" name="page098"></a>(p. 098)</span> loss
+of his bride, and as he had never thus far been able to induce René
+and Isabella to fulfill their agreement by consenting to the
+consummation of the marriage, he determined now to take the matter
+into his own hands. So he formed the scheme of an elopement. His plan
+was to take advantage of the excitement and confusion attendant on the
+tournament for carrying off his bride. He organized a band of
+adventurous young knights who were willing to aid him in his
+enterprise, and, laying his plans secretly and carefully, he, assisted
+by his comrades, seized the young lady and galloped away with her to a
+place of safety, intending to keep her there in his own custody until
+King René and her mother should consent to her immediate marriage.
+King René, when he first heard of his daughter's abduction, was very
+angry, and declared that he would never forgive either Ferry or
+Yolante. But the King and Queen of France interceded for the lovers,
+and René at last relented. Ferry and Yolante were married, and all
+parties were made friends again, after which the celebrations and
+festivities were renewed with greater spirit and ardor than before.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret takes leave of her friends.</span>
+
+<p>At length the time for the conclusion of the public rejoicings at
+Nancy, and for the commencement <span class="pagenum"><a id="page099" name="page099"></a>(p. 099)</span> of Margaret's journey to
+England, arrived. Thus far, though nominally under the care and
+keeping of Lord and Lady Suffolk, Margaret had of course been really
+most intimately associated with her own family and friends; but now
+the time had come when she was to take a final leave of her father and
+mother, and of all whom she had known and loved from infancy, and be
+put really and fully into the trust and keeping of strangers, to be
+taken by them to a distant and foreign land. The parting was very
+painful. It seems that Margaret's beauty and the charming vivacity of
+her manners had made her universally beloved, and the hearts not only
+of her father and mother, but of the whole circle of those who had
+known her, were filled with grief at the thought of parting with her
+forever.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Setting out of the procession.</span>
+
+<p>The King and Queen of France, who seem to have loved their niece with
+sincere affection, determined to accompany her for a short distance,
+as she set out on her journey from Nancy. Of course, many of the
+courtiers went too. These together with the great number of English
+nobles and gentry that were attached to the service of the bride, made
+so large a company, and the dresses, caparisons, and trappings which
+were exhibited on the occasion <span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>(p. 100)</span> were so splendid and fine,
+that the cavalcade, as it set out from the city of Nancy on the
+morning when the journey was to commence, formed one of the gayest and
+grandest bridal processions that the world has ever seen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Parting with the King and Queen of France.</span>
+
+<p>After proceeding for five or six miles the procession came to a halt,
+in order that the King and Queen of France might take their leave. The
+parting filled the hearts of their majesties with grief. The king
+clasped Margaret again and again in his arms when he bade her
+farewell, and told her that in placing her, as he had done, upon one
+of the greatest thrones in Europe, it seemed to him, after all, that
+he had really done nothing for her, "for even such a throne is
+scarcely worthy of you, my darling child," said he. In saying this his
+eyes filled with tears. The queen was so overwhelmed with emotion that
+she could not speak; but, kissing Margaret again and again amid her
+sobbings and tears, she finally turned from her and was borne away.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's parents.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret's father and mother did not take their leave of her at this
+place, but went on with her two days' journey, as far as to the town
+of Bar le Duc, which was near the frontiers of Lorraine. Here they,
+too, at last took their leave, though their hearts were so full,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>(p. 101)</span> when the moment of final parting came, that they could not
+speak, but bade their child farewell with tears and caresses,
+unaccompanied with any words whatever of farewell.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The bride's new friends.</span>
+
+<p>Still Margaret was not left entirely alone among strangers when her
+father and mother left her. One of her brothers, and some other
+friends, were to accompany her to England. She had, moreover, by this
+time become well acquainted with the Marquis and Marchioness of
+Suffolk, under whose charge and protection she was now traveling, and
+she had become strongly attached to them. They were both considerably
+advanced in life, and were grave and quiet in their demeanor, but they
+were very kind and attentive to Margaret in every respect, and they
+made every effort in their power to console the grief that she felt at
+parting with her parents and friends, and leaving her native land, and
+they endeavored in every way to make the journey as comfortable and as
+agreeable as possible to her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The vessel.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Causes of delay.</span>
+
+<p>During all this time a vessel, which had been dispatched from England
+for the purpose, was waiting at a certain port on the northern coast
+of France called Kiddelaws, ready to take the queen and her bridal
+train across the Channel. The distance from Nancy to this port was
+very <span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>(p. 102)</span> considerable, and the means and facilities for
+traveling enjoyed in those days were so imperfect that a great deal of
+time was necessarily employed on the journey. Besides this, a long
+delay was occasioned by the want of funds. King Henry had himself
+agreed to defray all the expenses of the marriage, and also of the
+progress of the bridal party through France to England. These expenses
+were necessarily great, and it happened at this time that the king was
+in very straitened circumstances in respect to funds. He was greatly
+embarrassed, too, in the efforts which he made to procure money, by
+the difficulties which were thrown in his way by the party of the Duke
+of Gloucester, who resisted by every means in their power all action
+of Parliament tending to furnish the king's treasury with money, and
+thus promote the final accomplishment of the marriage.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry's want of money.</span>
+
+<p>In consequence of all these difficulties and delays, it was nearly
+three months from the time when the bridal ceremony was performed at
+Nancy before Margaret was ready to embark for England in the vessel
+that awaited her at Kiddelaws.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Expenses to be incurred in England.</span>
+
+<p>It was not merely for the expenses of the journey through France of
+Margaret and her train that Henry had to provide. On her arrival
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>(p. 103)</span> in England there was to be a grand reception, which would
+require many costly equipages, and the giving of many entertainments.
+Then, moreover, the marriage ceremony was to be performed anew, and in
+a far more pompous and imposing manner than before, and after the
+marriage a coronation, with all the attendant festivities and
+celebrations. All these things involved great expense, and Margaret
+could not come into the kingdom until the preparations were made for
+the whole. To such straits was the king reduced in his efforts to
+raise the money which he deemed necessary for the proper reception of
+his bride, that he was obliged to pledge a large portion of the crown
+jewels, and also of the family plate and other personal property of
+that kind. A considerable part of the property so pledged was never
+redeemed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Passage across the Channel.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Rough weather.</span>
+
+<p>At length, however, things were so far in readiness that orders
+arrived for the sailing of the expedition. The party accordingly
+embarked, and the vessel sailed. They crossed the Channel, and entered
+Portsmouth harbor, and finally landed at the town of Porchester, which
+is situated at the head of the harbor. The voyage was not very
+agreeable. The vessel was small, and the Channel in this place is
+wide, and Margaret was so sick during the passage, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>(p. 104)</span> and
+became so entirely exhausted, that when the vessel reached the port
+she could not stand, and Suffolk carried her to the shore in his arms.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's reception.</span>
+
+<p>The boisterous weather which had attended the party during their
+voyage increased till it ended in a dreadful storm of thunder,
+lightning, and rain, which burst over the town of Porchester just at
+the time while the party were landing. The people, however, paid no
+attention to the storm and rain, but flocked in crowds into the
+streets where the bride was to pass, and strewed rushes along the way
+to make a carpet for her. They also filled the air with joyful
+acclamations as the procession passed along. In this way the royal
+bride was conveyed through the town to a convent in the vicinity,
+where she was to rest for the first night, and prepare for continuing
+her journey to London.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Passage to Southampton.</span>
+
+<p>The next day, the weather having become settled and fair, it was
+arranged that Margaret and her party should be conveyed from
+Porchester to Southampton along the shore in barges. The water of this
+passage is smooth, being sheltered every where by the land. The barges
+first moved down Portsmouth harbor, then out into what is called the
+Solent Sea, which is a narrow, sheltered, and beautiful sheet
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>(p. 105)</span> of water, lying between the Isle of Wight and the main land,
+and thence, entering Southampton Water, they passed up, a distance of
+eight or ten miles, to the town.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4" title="Go to footnote 4"><span class="small">[4]</span></a></p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen takes lodgings in a convent.</span>
+
+<p>On the arrival of the queen at Southampton, she was conveyed again to
+a convent in the vicinity of the town, for this was before the days of
+hotels. Here she was met by persons sent from the king to assist her
+in respect to her farther preparations for appearing at his court.
+Among other measures that were adopted, one was the sending a special
+messenger to London to bring an English dressmaker to Southampton, in
+order that suitable dresses might be prepared for the bride, to enable
+her to appear properly in the presence of the English ladies at the
+approaching ceremonies.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Lichfield Abbey.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret is seriously sick.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, King Henry, whom the rules of royal etiquette did
+not allow to join the queen until the time should arrive for the
+performance of the second part of the nuptial ceremony, came down from
+London, and took up his abode at a place ten or twelve miles distant,
+called Southwick, where he had a palace and a park. The nuptials were
+to be celebrated at a certain abbey called Lichfield Abbey, which was
+situated about midway between <span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>(p. 106)</span> Southampton, where the queen
+was lodged, and Southwick, the place of waiting for the king. The king
+had expected that every thing would be ready in a few days, but he was
+destined to encounter a new delay. Margaret had scarcely arrived in
+Southampton when she was attacked by an eruptive fever of some sort,
+resembling small-pox, which threw all her friends into a state of
+great alarm concerning her. The disease, however, proved less serious
+than was at first apprehended, and after a week or two the danger
+seemed to be over.</p>
+
+<p>During all the time while his bride was thus sick Henry remained in
+great suspense and anxiety at Southwick, being forbidden, by the rigid
+rules of royal etiquette, to see her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Recovery.</span>
+
+<p>At length Margaret recovered, and the day was appointed for the final
+celebration of the nuptials. When the time arrived, Margaret was
+conveyed in great state, and at the head of a splendid cavalcade, to
+the abbey, and there the marriage ceremony was again performed in the
+presence of a great concourse of lords and ladies that had come from
+London and Windsor, or from their various castles in the country
+around, to be present on the occasion.</p>
+
+<a id="img008" name="img008"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img008.jpg" width="500" height="335" alt="" title="">
+<p>Suffolk Presenting Margaret to the King.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1445.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The final ceremony.</span>
+
+<p>This final ceremony was performed in April, 1445. Of course, as
+Margaret was born in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>(p. 109)</span> March, 1429, she was at this time
+sixteen years and one month old.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Strange bridal present.</span>
+
+<p>Among other curious incidents which are recorded in connection with
+this wedding, there is an account of Margaret's receiving, as a
+present on the occasion&mdash;for a pet, as it were, just as at the present
+day a young bride might receive a gift of a spaniel or a
+canary-bird&mdash;a lion. It was very common in those times for the wealthy
+nobles to keep such animals as these at their castles. They were
+confined in dens constructed for them near the castle walls. The kings
+of England, however, kept their lions, when they had any, in the Tower
+of London, and the practice thus established of keeping wild beasts in
+the Tower was continued down to a very late period; so that I remember
+of often reading, when I was a boy, in English story-books, accounts
+of children, when they went to London, being taken by their parents to
+see the "lions in the Tower."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The lion sent to the Tower.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret sent her lion to the Tower. In the book of expenses which was
+kept for this famous bridal progress, there is an account of the sum
+of money paid to two men for taking care of this lion, feeding him and
+conveying him to London. The amount was £2 5<span class="italic">s.</span> 3<span class="italic">d.</span>, which is equal
+to about ten or twelve dollars <span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>(p. 110)</span> of our money. This seems very
+little for such a service, but it must be remembered that the value of
+money was much greater in those times than it is now.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret continues her journey toward London.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Rejoicings.</span>
+
+<p>Immediately after the marriage ceremony was completed, the
+preparations for the journey having been all made beforehand, the king
+and queen set out together for London, and it soon began to appear
+that this part of the journey was to be more splendid and gay than any
+other. The people of the country, who had heard marvelous stories of
+the youth and beauty and the early family misfortunes of the queen,
+flocked in crowds along the roadsides to get a glimpse of her as she
+passed, and to gaze on the grand train of knights and nobles that
+accompanied her, and to admire the magnificence of the dresses and
+decorations which were so profusely displayed. Every body came wearing
+a daisy in his cap or in his buttonhole, for the daisy was the flower
+which Margaret had chosen for her emblem. At every town through which
+the bride passed she was met by immense crowds that thronged all the
+accessible places, and filled the windows, and in some places covered
+the roofs of the houses and the tops of the walls, and welcomed her
+with the sound of trumpets, the waving of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>(p. 111)</span> banners, and with
+prolonged shouts and acclamations.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Duke of Gloucester.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His plans.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His invitation to the queen.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the Duke of Gloucester, who, with his party, had
+done every thing in his power to oppose the marriage, now, finding
+that it was an accomplished fact, and that all farther opposition
+would not only be useless, but would only tend to hasten and complete
+his own utter downfall, concluded to change his course, and join
+heartily himself in the general welcome which was given to the bride.
+His plan was to persuade the queen that the opposition which he had
+made to King Henry's measures was directed only against the peace
+which had been made with France, and which he had opposed for
+political considerations alone, but that, so far as the marriage with
+Margaret was concerned, he approved it. So he prepared to outdo, if
+possible, all the rest of the nobility in the magnificence of the
+welcome which he was to give her on her arrival in London. He
+possessed a palace at Greenwich, on the Thames, a short distance below
+London, and he sent an invitation to Margaret to come there on the
+last day of her journey, in order to rest and refresh herself a little
+preparatory to the excitement and fatigue of entering London. Margaret
+accepted this invitation, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>(p. 112)</span> and when the bridal procession
+began to draw nigh, Gloucester came forth to meet her at the head of a
+band of five hundred of his own retainers, all dressed in his uniform,
+and wearing the badge of his personal service. This great parade was
+intended partly to do honor to the bride, and partly to impress her
+with a proper sense of his own rank and importance as one of the
+nobles of England, and of the danger that she would incur in making
+him her enemy.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great preparations in London.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Curious exhibitions.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Justice and peace.</span>
+
+<p>Very splendid preparations were made in the city of London to do honor
+to the royal bride in her passage through the city. It was the custom
+in those times to exhibit in the streets, on great public days,
+tableaux, and emblematic or dramatic representations of certain truths
+or moral sentiments appropriate to the occasion, and sometimes of
+passages of Scripture history. A great many of these exhibitions were
+arranged by the citizens of London, to be seen by the bride and the
+bridal procession as they passed through the streets. Some of these
+were very quaint and queer, and would only be laughed at at the
+present day. For instance, in one place was an arrangement of two
+figures, one dressed to represent justice, and the other peace; and
+these figures were <span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>(p. 113)</span> made movable and fitted with strings, so
+that, at the proper moment, when the queen was passing, they could be
+made to come together and apparently kiss each other. This was
+intended as an expression of the text, justice and peace have kissed
+each other, which was considered as an appropriate text to
+characterize and commemorate the peace between England and France
+which this marriage had sealed. In another place there was an
+emblematical pageant representing peace and plenty. There were also,
+at other places, representations of Noah's ark, of the parable of the
+wise and foolish virgins, of the heavenly Jerusalem, and even one of
+the general resurrection and judgment day.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen passes through London.</span>
+
+<p>On the morning of the day appointed for the queen's entry into London,
+the pageants having all been prepared and set up in their places, a
+grand procession of the mayor and aldermen, and other dignitaries, was
+formed, and proceeded down the river toward Greenwich, in order to
+meet the queen and escort her through the city. These civic officers
+were all mounted on horseback, and dressed in their gay official
+costumes. The chiefs were dressed in scarlet, and the body of their
+followers, arranged in bands according to their respective trades,
+wore blue <span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>(p. 114)</span> gowns, with embroidered sleeves and red hoods. In
+this way the royal procession was escorted over London Bridge, and
+through the principal streets of the city to Westminster, where the
+bride was at length safely received in the palace of her husband.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The coronation.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen left to repose.</span>
+
+<p>This was on the 28th of May. Two days afterward Margaret was crowned
+queen in Westminster with great parade and ceremony. The coronation
+was followed by a grand tournament of three days' duration,
+accompanied with banquets and other festivities usual on such
+occasions, and then at length the bride had the satisfaction of
+feeling that the long-protracted ceremony was over, and that she was
+now to be left to repose.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>(p. 115)</span> CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Reception in England.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Duke of Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the grand reception which the Duke of Gloucester gave
+to Margaret on her arrival in England, she knew very well that he had
+always been opposed to her marriage, and had not failed to do all in
+his power to prevent it. She accordingly considered him as her enemy;
+and though she endeavored at first, at least, to treat him with
+outward politeness, she felt a secret resentment against him in heart,
+and would have been very glad to have joined his political enemies in
+effecting his overthrow.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The cardinal.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's affection for Lord and Lady Suffolk.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Quarrel.</span>
+
+<p>Cardinal Beaufort and the Earl of Suffolk, as has already been said,
+were Gloucester's rivals and enemies. The cardinal was a venerable
+man, now quite advanced in years. He was, however, extremely
+ambitious. He was immensely wealthy, and his wealth gave him great
+influence. He had, moreover, been the guardian of the king during his
+minority, and in that capacity had acquired a great influence over his
+mind. The Earl of Suffolk, who, with <span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>(p. 116)</span> his lady, had been sent
+to France to bring Margaret over, had inspired Margaret with a great
+friendship for him. She felt a strong affection for him, and also for
+Lady Suffolk, not only on account of their having acted so important a
+part in promoting her marriage, but also on account of the very kind
+and attentive manner in which they had treated her during the whole
+period of her journey. Thus the cardinal and Suffolk, on the one hand,
+had the advantage, in their quarrel with the Duke of Gloucester, of
+great personal influence over the king and queen, while Gloucester
+himself, on the other hand, enjoyed in some respects a still greater
+advantage in his popularity with the mass of the people. Every body
+perceived that the old quarrel between these great personages would
+now, on the arrival of the queen in England, be prosecuted with more
+violence than ever, and all the courtiers were anxious to find out
+which was likely to be the victor, so that, at the end of the battle,
+they might be found on the winning side.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret is left to herself.</span>
+
+<p>As soon as the coronation was over, the principal personages who had
+been sent with Margaret by her father, for the purpose of accompanying
+her on her journey, and seeing her properly and comfortably
+established in her <span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>(p. 117)</span> new home, were dismissed and allowed to
+set out on their return. They all received presents in money from King
+Henry to reimburse them for the expenses of the journey which they had
+made in bringing him his bride.</p>
+
+<a id="img009" name="img009"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img009.jpg" width="400" height="482" alt="" title="">
+<p>Ancient Portrait of Queen Margaret.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Repair of the palaces.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king's want of money.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret was thus left to herself in the new station and new sphere of
+duty to which she <span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>(p. 118)</span> had been transferred. All the royal
+palaces had been fitted up expressly for her reception. This was very
+necessary in fact, for some years had elapsed since there had been a
+queen in England, and all the royal residences had become very much
+out of repair. Those were rude times, and even the palaces and castles
+that were built for kings and queens were at best very comfortless
+dwellings. But when, during a long minority, they were abandoned to
+the rude tenants and rough usages to which at such times they were
+sure to be devoted, they came, in the end, to be little better than so
+many barracks for soldiery. It required a great deal of time, and no
+little expense, to prepare the Tower and the palaces of Westminster
+and Richmond for the reception of a young and beautiful queen, and of
+the gay company of ladies that were to attend her. King Henry was so
+destitute of money at this time that he found it extremely difficult
+to provide the means of paying the workmen. There is still extant a
+petition which the clerk of the works sent in to the king, praying him
+to supply him with more money to pay the men, for the labor was so
+poorly paid, and the wages were so much in arrears, that it was
+extremely difficult for him to find men, he said, to go on with the
+work.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>(p. 119)</span> <span class="sidenote">The queen attaches herself to Cardinal Beaufort.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Jealousy of Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>The palaces were, however, at last made ready before Margaret came.
+There were apartments for her in the Tower, and there were also three
+other palaces in and near London, in either of which she could reside
+at her pleasure. Besides this, the cardinal, who, as has already been
+remarked, was possessed of immense wealth, owned, among his other
+establishments, a beautiful mansion at Waltham Forest, a few miles
+north of London. The cardinal set apart a state chamber in this house
+for the exclusive use of the queen when she came to visit him, and
+caused it to be fitted up and furnished in a magnificent manner for
+her. The drapery of the bed was of cloth of gold from Damascus, and
+the other furniture and fittings were to correspond. The queen used
+often to go and visit the cardinal at this country seat. She soon
+became very fond of him, and willing to be guided by his counsel in
+almost every thing that she did. Indeed, the ascendency which the
+cardinal thus exercised over Margaret greatly increased his power over
+the king. The affairs of the court and of the government were directed
+almost wholly by his counsels. The Duke of Gloucester and the nobles
+of his party became more and more indignant and angry at this state of
+things. The realm of England, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>(p. 120)</span> they said, through the
+weakness and imbecility of the king, had fallen into the hands of a
+priest and of a woman&mdash;a French woman, too.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great mistakes often made.</span>
+
+<p>But there was nothing that they could do. Margaret was so young and so
+beautiful that every body was captivated with her person and behavior,
+and whatever she did was thought to be right. Indeed, the general
+course which she pursued on her first arrival in England <span class="italic">was</span> right
+in an eminent degree. There have been many cases in which young
+queens, in coming as Margaret did, away from their native land and
+from all their early friends, to reign in a foreign court, have
+brought with them from home personages of distinction to be their
+favorites and friends in their new position. But when this is done,
+jealousies and ill-will always sooner or later spring up between these
+relatives and friends of the foreign bride and the old native advisers
+of the king her husband. The result is, in the end, a king's party and
+a queen's party at court, and perpetual quarrels and dissensions
+ensue, in which at least the people of the country are sure to become
+involved, from their natural jealousy of the foreign influence, as
+they call it, introduced by the queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's friends and counselors.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her good sense.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Example for all young brides.</span>
+
+<p>Queen Margaret had the good sense to avoid <span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>(p. 121)</span> this danger. All
+the principal persons who came with her to England, for the purpose of
+accompanying her on the journey, and of carrying back to her father
+and friends in France authentic assurances of her having been
+honorably received by her husband as his bride and queen, were
+dismissed and sent home again immediately after the coronation, as we
+have already seen. Margaret retained only certain domestic servants,
+and perhaps some two or three private and personal friends. As for
+counselors and advisers, she threw herself at once upon the ministers
+and counselors of the king&mdash;the Cardinal Beaufort, who had been his
+guardian from childhood, and the Earl of Suffolk, who was one of his
+principal ministers, and had been sent by him, as his proxy and
+representative, to negotiate the marriage and bring home the bride.
+She made Lady Suffolk, too&mdash;the wife of the earl&mdash;her most intimate
+female friend. She appointed her to the principal place of honor in
+her household, and in other ways manifested great affection for her.
+The good sense and discretion which she thus manifested&mdash;young as she
+was, for she was not yet seventeen&mdash;in choosing for her confidential
+friend a lady of the age and standing of Lady Suffolk, instead of
+attempting to place in that position some foreign <span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>(p. 122)</span> belle of
+her own years, whom she had brought with her for the purpose from her
+native land, as many young brides in her situation would have done,
+deserves much commendation. In a word, Margaret, in becoming a wife,
+gave herself up entirely to her husband. She made his friends her
+friends, and his interests her interests, and thus transferred
+herself, wholly and without reserve, to her new position; an example
+which all young ladies whose marriage brings them into entirely new
+circumstances and relations would do well to follow. Nothing is more
+dangerous than the attempt in such cases to bring from the old home
+influences in any form to be introduced with a view of sharing the
+control in the new.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Opinions in England.</span>
+
+<p>In consequence of the discreet course of conduct that Margaret thus
+pursued, and of the effect produced on the court by her beauty, her
+vivacity, and her many polite accomplishments, public opinion&mdash;that
+is, the opinion of the outside world, who knew nothing of her secret
+designs or of her real character&mdash;turned very soon after her arrival
+in England entirely in her favor. As has already been said, the
+general sentiment of the nobles and of the people was strongly against
+the match when it was first proposed. They opposed it, not because
+they <span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>(p. 123)</span> had any personal objection to Margaret herself, but
+because, in order to prepare the way for it, it was necessary to make
+peace with France, and in making peace, to grant certain concessions
+which they thought would weaken the power of the English on the
+Continent, and, at any rate, greatly interfere with the farther
+extension of their power there. But when the people came to see and
+know the queen, they all admired and loved her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry's character.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's character.</span>
+
+<p>As for the king, he was perfectly enchanted with his bride. He was
+himself, as has already been said, of a very sedate and quiet turn of
+mind; amiable and gentle in disposition; devout, fond of retirement,
+and interested only in such occupations and pleasures as are
+consistent with a life of tranquillity and repose. Margaret was as
+different as possible from all this. Her brilliant personal charms,
+her wit, her spirit, her general intellectual superiority, the
+extraordinary courage for which she afterward became so celebrated,
+and which began to show itself even at this early period, all combined
+to awaken in Henry's mind a profound admiration for his wife, and gave
+her a great and rapidly-increasing ascendency over him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her popularity in England.</span>
+
+<p>The impression which Margaret made upon the people was equally
+favorable. England, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>(p. 124)</span> they thought, had never seen a queen
+more worthy of the throne than Margaret of Anjou. Some one said of her
+that no woman equaled her in beauty, and few men surpassed her in
+courage and energy. It seemed as if she had been born in order to
+supply to her royal husband the qualities which he required in order
+to become a great king.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>(p. 125)</span> CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">The Story of Lady Neville.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Intrigues.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A romantic story.</span>
+
+<p>In reading the history of the English monarchy in these early times,
+you will often hear of the <span class="italic">court intrigues</span> which mingled with, and
+sometimes greatly complicated, the movement of public affairs.
+Margaret of Anjou found herself, on her arrival in England, involved
+in many such intrigues. Indeed, she was admirably qualified, by her
+sagacity and quickness of apprehension, and by the great ascendency
+which these and other qualities which she possessed gave her over the
+minds of all about her, to take a very active and successful part in
+the management of man&oelig;uvrings of all sorts. The nature of these
+court intrigues is very well illustrated by the narration which the
+most celebrated of Margaret's biographers gives of one in which he
+says that Margaret herself became involved while on her way from
+France to England. The story seems much more like romance than like
+reality. Indeed, it doubtless is a romance, but it nevertheless
+illustrates well the manner in which the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>(p. 126)</span> private passions
+and personal and family quarrels of the great became involved with,
+and sometimes entirely controlled, the most important events in the
+national history, and therefore it will not be amiss to relate it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Lady Neville.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">First interview.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Dauphiness.</span>
+
+<p>The first connection which Queen Margaret, as we are henceforth to
+call her, had with the affair of Lady Neville, took place at
+Abbeville, a town in France not very far from Calais, when the queen
+was advancing toward the sea-coast on her way to England. While she
+was at Abbeville, there suddenly appeared a young and beautiful lady
+who asked an audience of Margaret, announcing herself simply as one of
+the ladies who had been attached to the service of the dauphiness, who
+was the wife of the oldest son of the king,<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5" title="Go to footnote 5"><span class="small">[5]</span></a> and who had recently
+died. She was admitted. She remained in private conversation with
+Margaret two hours, and when this mysterious interview was concluded
+she was introduced to the other ladies of Margaret's court as Miss
+Sanders, an English lady who had been attached to the court of the
+dauphiness, but who now, since the death of her <span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>(p. 127)</span> mistress,
+wished to return to England in Margaret's train. Margaret informed the
+other ladies that she had received her into her household, and gave
+directions that she should be treated with the utmost consideration.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Curiosity of the ladies.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The stranger's reserve.</span>
+
+<p>The other ladies were very curious to solve the mystery of this case,
+but they could not obtain any clew to it. The stranger was very
+reserved, mingled very little with her new companions, and evinced a
+constant desire to avoid observation. There was something, however, in
+her beauty, and in the expression of deep and constant grief which her
+countenance wore, which made her an object of great interest to all
+the household of the queen, but they could not learn any particulars
+of her history. The facts, however, were these.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her story.</span>
+
+<p>Her real name was Anne Neville. She was the daughter of Richard
+Neville, Earl of Salisbury, one of the leading and most
+highly-connected noblemen in England. When she was about fifteen years
+old she was married to a relative of the family. The marriage,
+however, proved a very unhappy one. Her husband was very jealous of
+her. From her subsequent conduct it would seem probable that he might
+have had good reason to be so. At any rate, he was extremely jealous;
+and as he was of a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>(p. 128)</span> harsh and cruel temper, he made his young
+wife very miserable by the exactions and privations which he enforced
+upon her, and by the violent invectives with which he continually
+assailed her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her unhappy marriage.</span>
+
+<p>The incessant anxiety and suffering which these troubles occasioned
+soon began to prey upon the lady's health, and, at length, her father,
+observing that she was growing pale and thin, began to inquire into
+the cause. He soon learned what a dreadful life his daughter was
+leading. Like most of the other great nobles of those days, he was a
+man of violent character, and he immediately determined on rescuing
+his daughter from her husband's power, for he considered her husband
+as the party chiefly, if not wholly, to blame.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her marriage dissolved.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Pretext.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her marriage annulled.</span>
+
+<p>He ascertained, or pretended to ascertain, that there had been some
+informalities connected with the marriage. His daughter was distantly
+related to her husband, and there were certain steps which it was
+necessary to take in such cases to obtain a dispensation from the
+Church, in order to render such marriage legal. These steps he now
+alleged had not been properly taken, and he immediately instituted
+proceedings to have the marriage annulled. Whether there was really
+any sufficient <span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>(p. 129)</span> ground for such annulling, or whether he
+obtained the decree through influences which his high position enabled
+him to bring to bear upon the court, I do not know. He, however,
+succeeded in his purpose. The marriage was annulled, and his daughter
+returned home; and, in order to obliterate as far as possible all
+traces of the unhappy union into which she had been drawn, she dropped
+the name which she had received from her husband and resumed again her
+own maiden name.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She becomes free.</span>
+
+<p>She now began soon to appear at court, where she almost immediately
+attracted great attention. On account of the peculiar circumstances in
+which she was placed, she enjoyed all the privileges of a widow,
+combined with the attractiveness and the charms of a lovely girl.
+Almost every body was ready to fall in love with her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her admirers.</span>
+
+<p>Among her other admirers was the Duke of Somerset. He was a man of
+high rank and of great accomplishments, but he was married, and he
+could not, therefore, innocently make her the object of his love. He
+was not, however, deterred by this consideration, and he soon
+succeeded in making a strong impression upon Lady Neville's heart.
+They soon contrived means of meeting each other in private, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>(p. 130)</span>
+resorting to all sorts of man&oelig;uvres and inventions to aid them in
+keeping their guilty attachment to each other from the knowledge of
+those around them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Duke of Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean while, the Duke of Gloucester himself, who was now,
+however, considerably advanced in life, lost his wife, she dying about
+this time, and he almost immediately conceived the idea of making Lady
+Neville her successor. He thought it not proper to say any thing to
+Lady Neville herself on this subject until some little time should
+have elapsed, but he spoke to her father, the Earl of Salisbury, who
+readily approved of the plan. Gloucester was at this time prime
+minister of England, and the lady whom he should choose for his wife
+would be elevated by her marriage to the highest pinnacle of grandeur.
+Of course, the importance and influence of her father also, and of all
+the members of her family, would be greatly increased by so splendid
+an alliance.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Splendid prospect.</span>
+
+<p>So it was agreed that the match should be made, but the arrangement
+was to be kept secret, not only from the public, but from the intended
+bride herself, until a suitable time should have elapsed for the
+widower to recover from the grief which the death of his former wife
+was supposed to have occasioned him.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>(p. 131)</span> <span class="sidenote">Gloucester's declaration.</span>
+
+<p>At length, when the proper time for mourning had expired, Gloucester
+made his declaration of love. Lady Neville listened to it, thinking
+all the time what Somerset would say when she came to communicate the
+news to him. She did communicate it to him on the first opportunity.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Perplexity of Lady Neville.</span>
+
+<p>Great was the distress and the perplexity which the lovers felt while
+consulting together and determining what was to be done in such an
+emergency. They could not endure the thought of a separation. They
+could not be married to each other, for Somerset was married already.
+For Lady Neville to remain single all her life in order to be at
+liberty to indulge a guilty passion was an idea not to be entertained.
+They knew, too, that their present relations to each other could not
+long be continued. A thousand circumstances might happen at any time
+to interrupt or to terminate it, and it could not be long, in any
+event, before it must come to an end. So it was agreed between them
+that Lady Neville should accede to the great minister's proposal and
+become his wife. In the mean time, until the period should arrive for
+the consummation of the marriage, they were to renew and redouble
+their intimacy with each other, taking, however, every possible
+precaution <span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>(p. 132)</span> to conceal their movements from the eyes of
+others.</p>
+
+<p>So the duke's offer was accepted, and it was soon made known to all
+the court that Lady Neville was his affianced bride.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke becomes uneasy.</span>
+
+<p>Thus far Lady Neville had treated the duke with great reserve in her
+accidental intercourse with him at the reunions of the court, but now,
+since he was her accepted lover, he thought he might reasonably expect
+a greater degree of cordiality in her demeanor toward him. But he
+found no change. She continued as formal and reserved as ever.
+Moreover, when he went to visit her, which he did sometimes several
+times a day, she was very often not at home&mdash;much too often, he
+thought. He went to the place where her domestics said she had gone in
+such cases, but she was very seldom to be found. He soon came to the
+conclusion that there was some strange mystery involved in the affair,
+and he determined to adopt effectual measures for unraveling it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His spies.</span>
+
+<p>So he employed certain trusty persons who were in his service to watch
+and see where Lady Neville went, and how she passed her time during
+these unaccountable absences from home. For many days this watch was
+continued, but no discoveries were made. The spies <span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>(p. 133)</span> reported
+that they could not keep upon the lady's track. In spite of their best
+exertions she would contrive to elude them, and for several hours
+every day they lost sight of her altogether. They saw enough, however,
+to satisfy them that there was something wrong going on. What it was,
+however, they could not discover, so shrewd and complete were the
+precautions which Somerset and Lady Neville had taken to prevent
+detection.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Discoveries.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke's perplexity.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His mode of reasoning.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of Gloucester was for a time much perplexed to know what to
+do, whether openly to quarrel with Lady Neville and refuse to
+consummate the marriage, or to banish his suspicions and take her for
+his wife. His love for her finally triumphed, and he resolved to
+proceed with the marriage. He had no positive evidence against her, he
+said to himself, and then, besides, even if there were some secret
+attachment on her part, to account for these mysterious appearances,
+she might, after all, when once married to him, make him a faithful
+and affectionate wife. Some lingering remains of a former affection
+must often necessarily dwell, he thought, in the heart of a bride,
+even when truly and honestly giving herself to the one on whom her
+choice is finally made. Especially is this true in cases where the
+lady is young, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>(p. 134)</span> accomplished, and lovely, while her husband
+can only offer wealth or high position instead of youth and personal
+attractions as a means of winning her favor.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The decision.</span>
+
+<p>So it was decided that the marriage should take place, and the day for
+the wedding was appointed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Clandestine meeting of the lovers.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Village on the Thames.</span>
+
+<p>When the time for the wedding drew nigh, and the lovers found that the
+period of their enjoyments was drawing to a close, they determined on
+having a farewell interview with each other on the day before the
+wedding, and in order to be safe from interruption, it was arranged
+that they should spend the day together in a village on the banks of
+the Thames, at some little distance from London.</p>
+
+<p>When the day came, Lady Neville left her home to repair to the place
+of rendezvous. She was followed by Gloucester's spies. She was
+received at the village by Somerset. Somerset was, however, so
+disguised that the spies did not know and could not discover who he
+was. They were satisfied, however, from his demeanor toward Lady
+Neville, that he was her lover, and they at once reported the facts to
+Gloucester in London.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Plans for her return.</span>
+
+<p>Gloucester was of course in a great rage. He swore terrible vengeance
+against both Lady <span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>(p. 135)</span> Neville herself and her lover, whoever he
+might be. He at once armed a troop of his followers and rode off at
+the head of them, guided by one of the spies, to the village of
+rendezvous. It was dark before he arrived there. Some peasants of whom
+he made inquiry informed him that a lady answering to the description
+which he gave them had gone on board the boat to return to London some
+time before. Gloucester immediately turned, and made all haste back to
+London again, in hopes to reach the landing before the boat should
+arrive, with a full determination to kill both the lady herself and
+her paramour the moment they should touch the shore.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gloucester mistaken.</span>
+
+<p>He was mistaken, however, in supposing that the paramour, whoever he
+might be, was with the lady. Somerset, in the excess of his
+precaution, had returned to London by land, leaving Lady Neville to
+return by herself in the boat with the other passengers; for the boat
+was a sort of packet which plied regularly between the village and
+London. He, however, had stationed trusty persons not far from the
+landing in London, who were to receive Lady Neville on her arrival and
+convey her home.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The boat arrives.</span>
+
+<p>Gloucester arrived at the landing before the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>(p. 136)</span> boat reached
+the shore. It was, however, now so dark that he despaired of being
+able to recognize the persons he was in pursuit of, especially under
+the disguise which he did not doubt that they would wear. So, in the
+recklessness of his rage, he resolved to kill every body in the boat,
+and thus to make sure of his revenge.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Assault upon the boat.</span>
+
+<p>Accordingly, the moment that the boat touched the shore, he and his
+followers rushed on board, and a dreadful scene of consternation and
+terror ensued. Gloucester himself made his way directly toward the
+figure of a lady, whose air, and manner, and style of dress indicated,
+so far as he could discern them in the darkness, that she was probably
+the object of his fury. He plunged his dagger into her breast. She, in
+an agony of terror, leaped into the river. She was buoyed up by her
+dress, and floated down the stream.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Boatmen murdered.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the work of murder on board the boat went on. The
+duke and his men continued stabbing and striking down all around them,
+until the passengers and the boatmen were every one killed. The bodies
+were then all thrown into the river, stones having been previously
+tied to them to make them sink.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Cries.</span>
+
+<p>The people in the houses of the neighborhood, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>(p. 137)</span> on the banks
+of the river, heard the cries, and raised their heads a moment from
+their pillows, or paused as they were walking along the silent streets
+to listen. But the cries were soon suppressed, for the massacre was
+the work of a few moments only, and such sounds were far too common in
+those days in the streets of London, and especially on the river, to
+attract much regard.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The boat sunk.</span>
+
+<p>The boat was of course covered with blood. The duke ordered his men to
+take it out into the middle of the river and sink it, that being the
+easiest and the quickest way of covering up all traces and proofs of
+the crime.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>The writer who relates this story says that Gloucester's reason for
+wishing to have his agency in this transaction concealed was not that
+he feared any punishment, for the laws in those days were wholly
+powerless to punish deeds of violence like this, committed by men of
+Gloucester's rank and station. He only thought that if it were known
+that he had murdered in this way so many innocent people, in order
+merely to make sure of killing an object of his own private jealousy
+and hate, it would injure his popularity!</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Escape of Lady Neville.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, Lady Neville, for it was really Lady Neville whom
+Gloucester had stabbed, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>(p. 138)</span> and who had leaped into the river,
+floated on down the stream, borne up by her dress, which was made,
+according to the fashion of the times, in a manner to give it great
+buoyancy in the water, by means of the hoops with which the sleeves of
+the robe were distended, and also from the form of the head-dress,
+which was very large and light, and well adapted to serve as a float
+to keep the head from sinking.</p>
+
+<a id="img010" name="img010"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img010.jpg" width="500" height="445" alt="" title="">
+<p>Female Costume in the Time of Henry VI.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Under the bridge.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Rescued.</span>
+
+<p>She floated on in this manner down the river until she had passed
+London Bridge, being carried through by the current under one of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>(p. 139)</span> the arches. On emerging from the bridge, she came to the
+part of the river where the ships and other vessels bound down the
+river were moored. It happened that among other vessels lying at
+anchor in the stream was one bound to Normandy. The captain of this
+vessel had been on shore, but he was now coming off in his boat to go
+on board again. As the captain was looking out over the water by the
+light of a lantern which he held in his hand, to discern the way to
+his vessel, he saw something floating at a short distance from him
+which resembled the dress of a woman. He urged the boat forward in
+that direction. He succeeded, with great difficulty, after arriving at
+the spot, in getting the now almost lifeless form of Lady Neville on
+board his boat, and then rowed on as fast as possible to the vessel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Received on board a vessel.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her determination.</span>
+
+<p>Here every thing was done which the case required to restore the
+drowning lady to life. She soon recovered her senses, and looked about
+her wild with excitement and terror. She had the presence of mind,
+however, not to say a word that could betray her secret, though her
+dress, and her air and manner, convinced the captain that she was no
+ordinary personage. The wound was examined and found not to be
+serious. She had been protected by some <span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>(p. 140)</span> portions of her
+dress which had turned the poniard aside. When she found that the
+immediate danger had passed she became more composed, and began to
+inquire in regard to the persons and scenes around her. When she found
+that the vessel which had received her was bound to Normandy, she
+determined to escape to that country; so she contrived means to induce
+the captain to conceal her on board until the time should arrive for
+setting sail, and then to take her with him down the river and across
+the Channel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She is received by the dauphiness.</span>
+
+<p>On her arrival in France she repaired at once to the court of the
+dauphiness, who, being an English princess, was predisposed to take
+compassion upon her and to receive her kindly. She remained at this
+court, as we have seen, under the assumed name of Miss Sanders, until
+the death of the dauphiness. She was thus suddenly deprived of her
+protector in France, but almost at the same time the marriage of
+Margaret of Anjou seemed to open to her the means of returning to
+England.</p>
+
+<p>So long as the Duke of Gloucester lived and retained his power, she
+knew very well that she could not return in safety to the English
+court; but she thought that Margaret's going to England would probably
+be the precursor of Gloucester's downfall.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>(p. 141)</span> <span class="sidenote">Political intrigues.</span>
+
+<p>"<span class="italic">She</span> must hate him," said she to herself, "almost as much as I do,
+for he has opposed her marriage from the beginning, and has done all
+in his power to prevent it. Margaret will never be satisfied until she
+has deposed him from his power and put some friend of hers in his
+place. I can help her in this work, if she will receive me under her
+protection and allow me to accompany her to England."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Lady Neville and Margaret.</span>
+
+<p>So she proceeded to Abbeville to intercept the queen on her way to the
+coast, as we have already seen. At the long and secret interview which
+she had with her there she related to Margaret the story of her
+connection with Somerset and with Gloucester, and of her almost
+miraculous escape from death at Gloucester's hands. She now wished for
+revenge; and if Queen Margaret would receive her into her service and
+take her to England, she would concert measures with Somerset, her
+lover, which would greatly aid Margaret in the plans which she might
+form for effecting the downfall of Gloucester.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Lady Neville returns.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Mystery.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret at once and very gladly acceded to this request, and took
+Lady Neville with her to England. She treated her with great
+consideration and honor; but still Lady Neville maintained a strict
+reserve in all her intercourse <span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>(p. 142)</span> with the other ladies of the
+court, and kept herself in great seclusion, especially after the
+arrival of the bridal party in England. Her pretext for this was her
+deep affliction at the loss of her friend and patroness the Dauphiness
+of France. But the other ladies of the court were not wholly satisfied
+with this explanation. They were fully convinced that there was more
+in the case than met the view, especially when they found that on the
+arrival of the party in England the stranger seemed to take special
+pains to avoid meeting the Duke of Gloucester. They exerted all their
+powers of watchfulness and scrutiny to unravel the mystery, but in
+vain.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>(p. 143)</span> CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Plottings.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Personal and political intrigues.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's beauty.</span>
+
+<p>It was in this way that public affairs were mingled and complicated
+with private and personal intrigues in the English court at the time
+of Margaret's arrival in the country. Margaret was of a character
+which admirably fitted her to act her part well in the management of
+such intrigues, and in playing off the passions of ambition, love,
+resentment, envy, and hate, as manifested by those around
+her&mdash;passions which always glow and rage with greater fury in a court
+than in any other community&mdash;so as to accomplish her ends. She was
+very young indeed, but she had arrived at a maturity, both mental and
+personal, far beyond her years. Her countenance was beautiful, and her
+air and manner possessed an inexpressible charm, but her mental powers
+were of a very masculine character, and in the boldness of the plans
+which she formed, and in the mingled shrewdness and energy with which
+she went on to the execution of them, she evinced less the qualities
+of a woman than of a man.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>(p. 144)</span> <span class="sidenote">Lady Neville supposed to be dead.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her father.</span>
+
+<p>It was supposed by all parties in England that Lady Neville was dead.
+Of course the Duke of Gloucester had no idea that any one could have
+escaped from the boat. He supposed that he had effected the complete
+destruction of all on board of it. Somerset's men, who had been
+stationed at some distance from the landing to receive Lady Neville
+and convey her home, waited until long past the appointed hour, but no
+one came. The inquiries which Somerset made secretly the next day
+showed that the boat had sailed from the village, but no tidings of
+her arrival in London could be obtained, and he supposed that she must
+have been lost, with all on board, by some accident on the river. As
+for the Earl of Salisbury, Lady Neville's father, Gloucester went to
+him at once, and informed him what he had done. He had detected his
+daughter, he said, in a guilty intrigue, which, if it had been made
+public, would have brought not only herself, but all her family, to
+shame. The earl, who was a man of great sternness and severity of
+character, said that Gloucester had done perfectly right, and they
+agreed together to keep the whole transaction secret from the world,
+and to circulate a report that Lady Neville had died from some natural
+cause.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>(p. 145)</span> <span class="sidenote">Arrival in London.</span>
+
+<p>Such was the state of things when Margaret and Lady Neville arrived in
+London. As soon as the queen became somewhat established in her new
+home, she began to revolve in her mind the means of deposing
+Gloucester. Her plan was first to endeavor to arouse her husband from
+his lethargy, and to awaken in his mind something like a spirit of
+independence and a feeling of ambition.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen and Henry.</span>
+
+<p>"You have in your hands," she used to say to him, "what may be easily
+made the foundation of the noblest realm in Europe. Besides Great
+Britain, you have the whole of Normandy, and other valuable
+possessions in France, which together form a vast kingdom, in the
+government of which you might acquire great glory, if you would take
+the government of it into your own hands."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's arguments.</span>
+
+<p>She went on to represent to him how unworthy it was of him to allow
+all the power of such a realm to be wielded by his uncle, instead of
+assuming the command at once himself, as every consideration of
+prudence and policy urged him to do. A great many instances had
+occurred in English history, she said, in which a favorite minister
+had been allowed to hold power so long, and to strengthen himself in
+the possession of it so completely, that he could not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>(p. 146)</span> be
+divested of it, so that the king himself came at length to be held in
+subjection by his own minister. The Duke of Gloucester was advancing
+rapidly in the same course; and, unless the king aroused himself from
+his inaction, and took the government into his own hands, he would
+soon lose all power to do it, and would sink into a condition of
+humiliating dependence upon one of his own subjects.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The example of ancestors.</span>
+
+<p>Then, again, she urged upon him at other times the example of his
+father and grandfather, Henry IV. and Henry V., whose reigns, through
+the personal energy and prowess which they had exhibited in
+strengthening and extending their dominions, had given them a
+world-wide renown. It would be extremely inglorious for the descendant
+of such a line to spend his life in spiritless inactivity, and to
+leave the affairs of his kingdom in the hands of a relative, who of
+course could only be expected to exercise his powers for the purpose
+of promoting his own interest and glory.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Anne.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">House of York.</span>
+
+<p>Moreover, she reminded him of a danger that he was in from the
+representations of other branches of the royal line who still claimed
+the throne, and might at any time, whenever an opportunity offered, be
+expected to attempt to enforce their claims. As will be seen by the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>(p. 147)</span> genealogical table,<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6" title="Go to footnote 6"><span class="small">[6]</span></a> Lionel, the <span class="italic">second</span> son of Edward
+III.&mdash;whose immediate descendants had been superseded by those of John
+of Gaunt, the third son, on account of the fact that the only child of
+Lionel was a daughter, and she had been unable to make good her
+claims&mdash;had a great-granddaughter, named Anne, who married Richard, a
+son of Edmund, the <span class="italic">fourth</span> of the sons of Edward III.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7" title="Go to footnote 7"><span class="small">[7]</span></a> Richard
+Plantagenet, who issued from this union, was, of course, the
+descendant and heir of Lionel. He had also other claims to the throne,
+and Margaret reminded her husband that there was danger at any time
+that he might come forward and assert his claims.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king not safe.</span>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances, it was evident, said she, that the king
+could not consider his interests safe in the care of any person
+whatsoever out of his own immediate family&mdash;that is, in any one's
+hands but his own and those of his wife. A minister, however strong
+his professions of fidelity and attachment might be, could not be
+depended upon. If another dynasty offered him more advantageous terms,
+there was not, and there could not be, any security <span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>(p. 148)</span> against
+his changing sides; whereas a wife, whose interests were bound up
+inseparably with those of her husband, might be relied upon with
+absolute certainty to be faithful and true to her husband in every
+conceivable emergency.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret makes some impression.</span>
+
+<p>These representations which Margaret made to her husband from time to
+time, as she had opportunity, produced a very considerable impression
+upon him. Still he seemed not to have resolution and energy enough to
+act in accordance with them. He said that he did not see how he could
+take away from his uncle a power which he had always exercised well
+and faithfully. And then, besides, he himself had not the age and
+experience necessary for the successful management of the affairs of
+so mighty a kingdom. If he were to undertake the duties of government,
+he was convinced that he should make mistakes, and so get into
+difficulty.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry listens to her counsels.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret, however, clearly perceived that she was making progress in
+producing an impression upon her husband's mind. To increase the
+influence of her representations, she watched for occasions in which
+Gloucester differed in opinion from the king, and failed to carry out
+suggestions or recommendations which the king had made, relating
+probably, in most cases, to appointments to office about the court.
+Some <span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>(p. 149)</span> say she <span class="italic">created</span> these occasions by artfully inducing
+her husband to make recommendations which she knew the duke would not
+sanction. At all events, such cases occurred, and Margaret took
+advantage of them to urge her views still more upon Henry's mind.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1446.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry's timidity.</span>
+
+<p>"How humiliating," said she, "that a great monarch should be dependent
+upon one of his subjects for permission to do this or that, when he
+might have all his affairs under his own absolute control!"</p>
+
+<p>But Henry, in reply to this, said that it was not in human nature to
+escape mistakes, and he thought he was very fortunate in having a
+minister who, when he was in danger of making them, could interpose
+and save him from the ill consequences which would otherwise result
+from his errors.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret encourages him.</span>
+
+<p>To this Margaret rejoined that it was indeed true that human nature
+was liable to err, but that it was very humiliating for a great and
+powerful sovereign to have public attention called to his errors by
+having them corrected in that manner by an inferior, and to be
+restricted in the exercise of his powers by a tutor and a governor, in
+order to keep him from doing wrong, as if he were a child not
+competent to act for himself.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>(p. 150)</span> <span class="sidenote">The world indulgent to the great.</span>
+
+<p>"Besides," she added, "if you would really take the charge of your
+affairs into your own hands and act independently, what you call your
+errors you may depend upon it the public would designate by a
+different and a softer name. The world is always disposed to consider
+what is done by a great and powerful monarch as of course right, and
+even when it would seem to them wrong they believe that its having
+that appearance is only because they are not in a position to form a
+just judgment on the question, not being fully acquainted with the
+facts, or not seeing all the bearings of them."</p>
+
+<p>She assured her husband, moreover, that if he would take the business
+of the government into his own hands, he would be very successful in
+his administration of public affairs, and would be well sustained by
+all the people of the realm.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's secret designs.</span>
+
+<p>Besides thus operating upon the mind of the king, Margaret was
+secretly employed all the time in ascertaining the views and feelings
+of the principal nobles and other great personages of the realm, with
+a view to learning who were disposed to feel hostile to the duke, and
+to unite all such into an organized opposition to him. One of the
+first persons to whom she <span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>(p. 151)</span> applied with this view was
+Somerset, the former lover of Lady Neville.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Opposition to the Duke of Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>She presumed, of course, that Somerset would be predisposed to a
+feeling of hostility to the duke on account of the old rivalry which
+had existed between them, and she now proposed to make use of Lady
+Neville's return, and of her agency in restoring her to him, as a
+means of inducing him to enter fully into her plans for overturning
+his old rival's power. In order to retain the management of the affair
+wholly in her own hands, she agreed with Lady Neville that Lady
+Neville herself was not in any way to communicate with Somerset until
+she, the queen, had first had an interview with him, and that he was
+to learn the safety of Lady Neville only through her. Lady Neville
+readily consented to this, believing that the queen could manage the
+matter better than she herself could do it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset.</span>
+
+<p>It will be recollected that Somerset was married during the period of
+his former acquaintance with Lady Neville, but his wife had died while
+Lady Neville was in France, and he was now free; so that the plan
+which the queen and Lady Neville now formed was to give him an
+opportunity, if he still retained his love for her, to make her his
+wife.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>(p. 152)</span> <span class="sidenote">A secret interview planned.</span>
+
+<p>In the prosecution of her design, the queen made arrangements for a
+secret interview with Somerset, and in the interview informed him that
+Lady Neville was still alive and well; that she was, moreover, not far
+away, and it was in the queen's power to restore her to him if he
+desired again to see her, and that she would do so on certain
+conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset was overjoyed at hearing this news. At first he could not be
+persuaded that it was true; and when assured positively that it was
+so, and that the long-lost Lady Neville was alive and well, and in
+England, he was in a fever of impatience to see her again. He would
+agree to any conditions, he said, that the queen might name, as the
+price of having her restored to him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The three conditions.</span>
+
+<p>The queen said that the conditions were three.</p>
+
+<p>The first was that he was to see her but once, and that only for a few
+minutes, in order that he might be convinced that she was really
+alive, and then was to leave her and not to see her again until the
+Duke of Gloucester had fallen from power.</p>
+
+<p>The second was that he should pretend to be not on good terms with the
+queen herself, in order to avert suspicion in respect to some of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>(p. 153)</span> her schemes until such time as she should be ready to
+receive him again into favor.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Party against Gloucester.</span>
+
+<p>The third was that he should do all he could to increase and
+strengthen the party against the duke, by turning as many as possible
+of his friends, and those over whom he had any influence, against him,
+and then finally, when the party should become sufficiently strong, to
+prefer charges against him in Parliament, and bring him to trial.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset at once agreed to all these conditions, and the queen then
+admitted him to an interview with Lady Neville.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The interview.</span>
+
+<p>He was overwhelmed with transports of love and joy at once more
+beholding her and pressing her in his arms. The queen, who was
+present, was very much interested in witnessing the proofs of the
+ardor of the affection by which the lovers were still bound to each
+other, but she soon interrupted their expressions and demonstrations
+of delight by calling Somerset's attention to the steps which were
+next to be taken to further their plans.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Lady Neville's father.</span>
+
+<p>"The first thing to be done," said she, "is for you to see the Earl of
+Salisbury and ask the hand of his daughter, and at the same time
+endeavor to induce him to join our party."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Earl of Salisbury.</span>
+
+<p>The Earl of Salisbury had a son, the brother, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>(p. 154)</span> of course, of
+Lady Neville, whose title was the Earl of Warwick. He was the
+celebrated king-maker, so called, referred to in a former chapter. He
+received that title on account of the great influence which he
+subsequently exercised in raising up and putting down one after
+another of the two great dynasties. His power was at this time very
+great, partly on account of his immense wealth, and partly on account
+of his commanding personal character. Margaret was extremely desirous
+of bringing him over to her side.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Progress of the intrigue.</span>
+
+<p>Somerset readily undertook the duty of communicating with the Earl of
+Salisbury, with a view of informing him of his daughter's safety and
+asking her hand, and at the same time of ascertaining what hope there
+might be of drawing him into the combination which the queen was
+forming against the Duke of Gloucester.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Revelations.</span>
+
+<p>Somerset accordingly sought an interview with Salisbury, and told him
+that the report which had been circulated that his daughter was dead
+was not true&mdash;that she was still alive&mdash;that, instead of having been
+drowned in the Thames, as had been supposed, she had made her escape
+to France, where she had since lived under the protection of the
+dauphiness.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The case explained.</span>
+
+<p>He was, of course not willing to make known <span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>(p. 155)</span> the real
+circumstances of the case in respect to the cause of her flight, and
+so he represented to the earl that the reason why she left the country
+was to escape the marriage with Gloucester, which would have been
+extremely disagreeable to her. She had now, however, returned, and he
+was commissioned by her to ask the earl's forgiveness for what had
+passed, and his consent that he himself&mdash;that is, Somerset, who had
+always been strongly attached to her, and who now, by the death of his
+former wife, was free, should be united to her in marriage.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset's proposal.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Cautious advances.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The earl's indignation.</span>
+
+<p>If Somerset had succeeded in this part of his mission, he was then
+intending, when the old earl's love for his daughter should have been
+reawakened in his bosom by the joyful news that she was alive, and by
+the prospect of a brilliant marriage for her, to introduce the subject
+of the Duke of Gloucester, and perhaps cautiously reveal to him the
+true state of the case in respect to the murderous violence with which
+the duke had assailed his daughter, and which was the true cause of
+her flight. But the earl did not give him any opportunity to approach
+the second part of his commission. After having heard the statement
+which Somerset made to him in respect to his daughter, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>(p. 156)</span> he
+broke out in a furious rage against her. He called her by the most
+opprobrious names. He had full proof of her dishonor, and he would
+have nothing more to do with her. He had disinherited her, and given
+all her share of the family property to her brother; and the only
+reason why he ever wished her to come into his sight again was that he
+might with a surer blow inflict upon her the punishment which
+Gloucester had designed for her.</p>
+
+<p>Somerset saw at once that the case was hopeless, and he withdrew.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The scheme fails.</span>
+
+<p>Thus the attempt to draw Salisbury into the conspiracy against the
+duke seemed for the time to fail. But Margaret was not at all
+discouraged. She pushed her man&oelig;uvres and intrigues in other
+quarters with so much diligence and success that, in about two years
+after her arrival in England, she found her party large enough and
+strong enough for action.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>(p. 157)</span> CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">The Fall of Gloucester.</p>
+
+At length the time arrived when Margaret considered her schemes ripe
+for execution.
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king's cabinet.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gloucester sent for.</span>
+
+<p>Accordingly, one day, while Henry and herself were together in the
+king's cabinet engaged in transacting some public affairs, Margaret
+made some excuse for sending for Gloucester, and while Gloucester was
+in the cabinet, Somerset, according to a preconcerted arrangement,
+presented himself at the door with an air of excitement and alarm, and
+asked to be admitted. He wished to see the king on business of the
+utmost urgency. He was allowed to come in. He had a paper in his hand,
+and his countenance, as well as his air and manner, denoted great
+apprehension and anxiety. As soon, however, as he saw the Duke of
+Gloucester, he seemed surprised and embarrassed, and was about to
+retire, saying he had supposed that the king and queen were alone.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Entrance of Somerset.</span>
+
+<p>But Margaret would not allow him to withdraw.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay," said she, "and let us know what the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>(p. 158)</span> business is that
+seems so urgent. You can speak freely. There is no one here beside
+ourselves except the minister of the king, and there is nothing to be
+concealed from him."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset's charges.</span>
+
+<p>Somerset, on hearing these words, paused for a moment, looked at
+Gloucester, seemed irresolute, and then, as if nerving himself to a
+great effort, he advanced resolutely and presented the paper which he
+had in his hands to the king, saying, at the same time, in a very
+solemn manner, that it contained charges of the gravest character
+against Gloucester; and he added that, on the whole, he was not sorry
+that the accused person was present to know what was laid to his
+charge, and to reply if he had any proper justification to offer.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret interposes.</span>
+
+<p>The duke seemed thunderstruck. The king, too, was extremely surprised,
+and began to look greatly embarrassed. Margaret put an end to the
+awkward suspense by taking the paper from the king's hand, and opening
+it in order to read it.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us see," said she, "what these charges are."</p>
+
+<a id="img011" name="img011"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img011.jpg" width="500" height="291" alt="" title="">
+<p>The Charges against Gloucester.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The charges read.</span>
+
+<p>So she opened the paper and began to read it. The charges were
+numerous. The principal one related to some transactions in respect to
+the English dominions on the Continent, in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>(p. 161)</span> which
+Gloucester was accused of having sacrificed the rights and interests
+of the crown in order to promote certain private ends of his own.
+There were a great many other accusations, relating to alleged
+usurpations of the prerogative of the king and high-handed violations
+of the laws of the land. Among these last the murder of Lady Neville
+was specified, and the deed was characterized in the severest terms as
+a crime of the deepest dye, and one committed under circumstances of
+great atrocity, although the author of the charges admitted that the
+details of the affair were not fully known.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke declares his innocence.</span>
+
+<p>As Margaret read these accusations one after another, the duke
+affirmed positively of each one that it was wholly unjust. He seemed
+for a moment surprised and confused when the murder of Lady Neville
+was laid to his charge, but he soon recovered himself, and declared
+that he was innocent of this crime as well as of all the others. The
+whole series of accusations was a tissue of base calumnies, he said,
+from beginning to end.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's artful demeanor.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret read the paper through, pausing only from time to time to
+hear what Gloucester had to say whenever he manifested a desire to
+speak, but without making any observations of her own. She assumed, in
+fact, the air and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>(p. 162)</span> manner of an unconcerned and indifferent
+witness. After she had finished reading the paper she folded it up and
+laid it aside, saying at the same time to the king that those were
+very grave and weighty charges, and it would be very unjust to the
+duke to receive them against his positive declarations of his
+innocence, without the most clear and conclusive proof.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Proposes an investigation.</span>
+
+<p>"At the same time," she added, "they ought not to be lightly laid
+aside without investigation. We can not suppose that the Duke of
+Somerset can have made such charges without any evidence whatever to
+sustain them."</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Somerset said immediately that he was prepared with full
+proof of all the charges, and he was ready to offer the evidence in
+respect to any one or all of them whenever his majesty should require
+it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Selects a charge.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret then opened the paper, and, looking over the list of charges
+again with a careless air, at last, as if accidentally, fixed upon the
+one relating to the murder of Lady Neville.</p>
+
+<p>"What proofs have you in respect to this atrocious murder that you
+have charged against the duke?"</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gloucester is pleased.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The murder.</span>
+
+<p>Gloucester felt for the moment much relieved at finding that this was
+the charge selected first for proof; for so effectual had been the
+precautions <span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>(p. 163)</span> which he had taken to conceal his crime in this
+case, that he was confident that, instead of any substantial evidence
+against him, there could be, at worst, only vague grounds of
+suspicion, and these he was confident he could easily show were
+insufficient to establish so serious a charge.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Astonishment of the duke.</span>
+
+<p>Somerset asked permission to retire for a few moments. Very soon he
+returned, bringing in with him Lady Neville herself. An actual
+resurrection from the dead could not have astounded Gloucester more
+than this apparition. He was overwhelmed with amazement and almost
+with terror. Lady Neville advanced to the king, and, falling upon her
+knees before him, she related the circumstances of the assault made by
+Gloucester upon the boat in the Thames, of the cruel murder of the
+passengers and boatmen, of the wound inflicted upon herself by the
+dagger of the duke, and the almost miraculous manner in which she made
+her escape.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1447.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Parliament.</span>
+
+<p>The duke, overwhelmed by the emotions which such a scene might have
+been expected to produce upon his mind, seemed to admit that what Lady
+Neville said was true. At least he could not deny it, and his
+confusion and distress amounted apparently to a virtual confession of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>(p. 164)</span> guilt. Margaret, however, soon interrupted the proceedings
+by saying to the king that the case was plainly too serious to be
+disposed of in so private and informal a manner. It was for the
+Parliament to consider it, she said, and decide what was to be done;
+and measures ought at once to be taken for bringing it before them.</p>
+
+<p>So Gloucester and Somerset were both dismissed from the royal
+presence, leaving the king in a state of great distress and
+perplexity.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's ingenuity.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king brought over.</span>
+
+<p>Such is the story of the private man&oelig;uvres resorted to by Margaret
+with a view to destroying the hold which the Duke of Gloucester had
+upon the mind of the king, preparatory to more widely-extended plans
+for ruining him with the Parliament and the nation, which is told by
+one of her most celebrated biographers. Whether there was or was not
+any foundation for this particular story, there is no doubt but that
+she exercised all her ingenuity and talent as a man&oelig;uvrer to
+accomplish her object, and that she succeeded. The king was brought
+over to her views, and so strong a party was formed against Gloucester
+among the nobles and other influential personages in the land, that at
+length, in 1447, a Parliament was summoned with a view of bringing the
+affair to a crisis.<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8" title="Go to footnote 8"><span class="small">[8]</span></a></p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>(p. 165)</span> <span class="sidenote">Treason.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Romance often mingles in history.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An explanation.</span>
+
+<p>Nothing, however, was said, in calling the Parliament, of the great
+and exciting business which was to be brought before them. So great
+was the power of such a man as Gloucester, that any open attempt to
+arrest him would have been likely to have been met with armed
+resistance, and might have led at once to civil war.</p>
+
+<p>One of the charges against him was that he was intriguing with the
+Duke of York, the representative and heir of the two other branches of
+old King Edward the Third's family, who has already been mentioned as
+claiming the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>(p. 166)</span> throne. It was said that Gloucester was
+secretly plotting with Richard, with a view of deposing Henry, and
+raising Richard to the throne in his stead.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Question of succession.</span>
+
+<p>The question of the succession was really, at this time, in a very
+curious state. The Duke of Gloucester himself was Henry's heir in case
+he should die without children; for Gloucester was Henry's oldest
+uncle, and, of course, in default of his descendants, the crown would
+go back to him. This was one reason, perhaps, why he had opposed
+Henry's marriage.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Position of the Duke of York.</span>
+
+<p>So long, therefore, as Henry remained unmarried, it was for
+Gloucester's interest to maintain the rights of his branch of the
+family&mdash;that is, the Lancaster line&mdash;against the claims of the house
+of York. But in case Henry should have children, then he would be cut
+off from the succession on the Lancaster side, and then it might be
+for his interest to espouse the cause of the house of York, provided
+he could make better terms in respect to his own position and the
+rewards which he was to receive for his services on that side than on
+the other.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gloucester alarmed.</span>
+
+<p>Now Henry was married, and, moreover, it had long been evident to
+Gloucester that his own influence was fast declining. The scene in the
+king's cabinet, when Somerset brought those <span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>(p. 167)</span> charges against
+him, must have greatly increased his fears in respect to the
+continuance of his power under Henry's government. Still, if it was
+true that he was contemplating making common cause with the Duke of
+York, he had not yet so far matured his plans as to make any open
+change in his course of conduct.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Calling of Parliament.</span>
+
+<p>Accordingly, when the plan of calling a Parliament was determined by
+the king and Margaret, every effort was made to keep it a secret from
+the public that the case of Gloucester was to be brought before it. It
+was summoned on other pretexts. The place of meeting was not, as
+usual, at London, for Gloucester was so great a favorite with the
+people of London that it was thought that, if it were to be attempted
+to arrest him there, he would certainly resist and attempt to raise an
+insurrection.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Bury St. Edmund's.</span>
+
+<p>The Parliament was accordingly summoned to meet at Bury St.
+Edmund's&mdash;a town situated about fifty or sixty miles to the northeast
+of London, where there was a celebrated abbey.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9" title="Go to footnote 9"><span class="small">[9]</span></a> The English
+Parliament was in those days, as it is, in fact, in theory now,
+nothing more nor less than a convocation of the leading personages of
+the realm, called by the king, in order that they might give the
+monarch their counsel <span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>(p. 168)</span> or aid in any emergency that might
+arise, and he could call them to attend him at any place within the
+kingdom that he chose to designate.</p>
+
+<p>While thus, by summoning Parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmund's, the
+queen's party placed themselves beyond the reach of the friends and
+adherents of Gloucester, who were very numerous in and around the
+capital, they took care to have a strong force there on their own
+side, ready to do whatever might be required of them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The abbey.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke arrested.</span>
+
+<p>When the appointed day arrived the Parliament assembled. It met in the
+abbey. The great dining-hall of the abbey, or the refectory, as it was
+called, the room in which the monks were accustomed to take their
+meals, was fitted up for their reception. On the first day some
+ordinary business was transacted, and on the second, suddenly, and
+without any previous warning, the duke was arrested by the public
+officer, who was attended and aided in this service by a strong force,
+and immediately taken away to the Tower.</p>
+
+<p>This event, of course, produced great excitement. The news of it
+spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and it awakened universal
+astonishment and alarm.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Discontents of the people.</span>
+
+<p>It was expected that charges would be immediately <span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>(p. 169)</span> brought
+against him, and that he would be at once arraigned for trial. But the
+excitement which the affair had created was increased to a ten-fold
+degree by the tidings which were circulated a few days afterward that
+he was dead. The story was that he was found dead one morning in his
+prison. People, however, were slow to believe this statement. They
+thought that he had been poisoned, or put to death in some other
+violent manner. The officers of the government declared that it was
+not so; and, in order to convince the people that the duke had died a
+natural death, they caused the body to be exposed to public view for
+several days before they allowed it to be interred, in order that all
+might see that it bore no marks of violence.</p>
+
+<p>The people were, however, not satisfied. They thought that there were
+many ways by which death might be produced without leaving any outward
+indications of violence upon the person. They persisted in believing
+that their favorite had been murdered.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1449.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Supposed mode of his death.</span>
+
+<p>One account which was given of the mode of death was that Somerset
+went to visit him in his prison in the Tower, in order to see whether
+he could not come to some terms with him but that Gloucester rejected
+his advances <span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>(p. 170)</span> with so much pride and scorn that a furious
+altercation arose, in the course of which Somerset, with the
+assistance of men whom he had brought with him, strangled or
+suffocated the unhappy prisoner on his couch, and then, after
+arranging his limbs and closing his eyes, so as to give him the
+appearance of being in a state of slumber, his murderers went away and
+left him, to be found in that condition by the jailer when he should
+come to bring him his food.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>(p. 171)</span> CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">The Fall of Suffolk.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Two years pass away.</span>
+
+<p>After the death of the Duke of Gloucester, Queen Margaret was plunged
+in a perfect sea of plots, schemes, man&oelig;uvres, and machinations of
+all sorts, which it would take a volume fully to unravel. This state
+of things continued for two years, during which time she became more
+and more involved in the difficulties and complications which
+surrounded her, until at last she found herself in very serious
+trouble. I can only here briefly allude to the more prominent sources
+of her perplexity.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suspicions of the people.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their hearts alienated.</span>
+
+<p>In the first place, the people of England were very seriously
+displeased at the treatment which Gloucester had received. They would
+not believe that he died a natural death, and the impression gained
+ground very generally that the queen was the cause of his being
+murdered. They did not suppose that she literally ordered him to be
+put to death, but that she gave hints or intimations, as royal
+personages were accustomed to do in such cases in those days, on which
+some zealous and unscrupulous follower <span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>(p. 172)</span> ventured to act,
+certain of pleasing her. As Gloucester had been a general favorite
+with the nation, these rumors and suspicions tended greatly to
+alienate the hearts of the people from the queen. Many began to hate
+her. They called her the French woman, and vented their ill-will in
+obscure threats and mutterings.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Reverses in France.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Feeling in England.</span>
+
+<p>This feeling of hostility to the queen was increased by the very
+unfortunate turn that things were taking in France about this time.
+The provinces of Maine and Anjou lay directly to the south of
+Normandy,<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10" title="Go to footnote 10"><span class="small">[10]</span></a> which last was the most valuable of the possessions
+which the English crown held in France, and these two provinces had
+been given up to the French at the time of Margaret's marriage. It was
+only on condition that the English would give them up that Lord
+Suffolk could induce Margaret's father to consent to the match.
+Suffolk was extremely unwilling to surrender these provinces. He knew
+that the English nobles and people would be very much dissatisfied as
+soon as they learned that it was done, and he feared that he might at
+some future day be called to account for having been concerned in the
+transaction. But the king was so deeply in love with Margaret that he
+insisted on Suffolk's <span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>(p. 173)</span> complying with the terms which were
+exacted by her friends, and the provinces were ceded.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">York regent in France.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of York was regent in France at that time, but Margaret felt
+some uneasiness in respect to his position there. He was the
+representative and heir of the rival line; and while it was for her
+interest to give him prominence enough under Henry's government to
+prevent his growing discontented and desperate, it was not good policy
+to exalt him to too high a position. She was accordingly somewhat at a
+loss to decide what to do.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset.</span>
+
+<p>Soon after the death of Gloucester, Somerset, finding that he was an
+object of suspicion, felt himself to be in danger, and he proposed to
+Margaret that he should retire into Normandy for a time. Margaret
+suggested that he should take the regency of Normandy in the Duke of
+York's stead. To this he finally consented. The Duke of York was
+recalled, and Somerset went to take command of Normandy in his stead.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk's intentions.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Exposed frontier.</span>
+
+<p>At the time that Suffolk negotiated the marriage contract between
+Henry and Margaret, a truce had been made with the King of France, as
+has already been stated. Suffolk intended and hoped to conclude a
+permanent peace, but he could not succeed in accomplishing this.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>(p. 174)</span> The King of France, as soon as the marriage was fairly
+carried into effect, seemed bent on renewing hostilities, and as he
+had now the territories of Maine and Anjou in his possession, with all
+the castles and fortresses which those provinces contained, he could
+advance to the frontiers of Normandy on that side with great facility,
+and organize expeditions for invading the country in the most
+effective manner.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Pretext for war.</span>
+
+<p>He now only wanted a pretext, and a pretext in such cases is always
+soon found. A certain company of soldiers, who had been dismissed from
+some place in Maine in consequence of the cession of that province to
+France, instead of going across the frontier into Normandy to join the
+English forces there, as they ought to have done, went into Brittany,
+another French province near, and there organized themselves into a
+sort of band of robbers, and committed acts of plunder. The King of
+France complained of this to Somerset, for this was after Somerset had
+assumed the command as regent, or governor of Normandy. Somerset
+admitted the facts, and proposed to pay damages. The king named a sum
+so great that Somerset could not or would not pay it, and so war was
+again declared.</p>
+
+<a id="img012" name="img012"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img012.jpg" width="500" height="336" alt="" title="">
+<p>Rouen.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>(p. 177)</span> <span class="sidenote">Invasion of Normandy.</span>
+
+<p>In consequence of the advantages which the King of France enjoyed in
+having possession of Maine, he could organize his invading army in a
+very effective manner. He crossed the frontier in great force, and
+after taking a number of towns and castles, and defeating the English
+army in several battles, he at last drove Somerset into Rouen, the
+capital of the province&mdash;a very ancient and remarkable town&mdash;and shut
+him up there.</p>
+
+<p>After a short siege Rouen was compelled to capitulate, and, besides
+giving up Rouen, Somerset was obliged to surrender several other
+important castles and towns in order to obtain his own liberty.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Normandy lost.</span>
+
+<p>Things went on in this way during the year 1449, from bad to worse,
+until finally the whole of Normandy was lost. The town of Cherbourg,
+which has lately become so renowned on account of the immense naval
+and military works which have been constructed there, was the last
+retreat and refuge of the English, and even from this they were
+finally expelled.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Rage of the English people.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The minister responsible.</span>
+
+<p>The people of England were in a great rage. The principal object of
+their resentment was Lord Suffolk, who was now the first minister and
+the acknowledged head of the government. During the progress of the
+difficulties <span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>(p. 178)</span> with Gloucester, Margaret had kept him a great
+deal in the background, in order that the public might not associate
+him with those transactions, nor hold him in any way responsible for
+them, though there was no doubt that he was the queen's confidential
+friend and counselor through the whole. After the death of Gloucester
+he had been gradually brought forward, and he had now, for some time,
+been the acknowledged minister of the crown, and as such responsible,
+according to the theory of the British Constitution and to the ideas
+of Englishmen, for every thing that was done, and especially for every
+thing like misfortune and disaster which occurred.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk in danger.</span>
+
+<p>There was, of course, a great outcry raised against Suffolk, and also,
+more covertly, against the queen, who had brought Suffolk into power.
+All the mischief originated, too, people said, in the luckless
+marriage of Margaret to the king, and the cession of Maine and Anjou
+to the French as the price of it. The French would never have been
+able to have penetrated into Normandy had it not been for the
+advantage they gained in the possession of those provinces on the
+frontier.</p>
+
+<a id="img013" name="img013"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img013.jpg" width="500" height="373" alt="" title="">
+<p>View of Bordeaux.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Guienne.</span>
+
+<p>There were still large possessions held by the English in the
+southwestern part of France <span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>(p. 181)</span> on the Garonne. The capital of
+this territory, which was the celebrated province of Guienne, was
+Bordeaux,<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11" title="Go to footnote 11"><span class="small">[11]</span></a> a large and important city in those days as now. It
+stands on the bank of the river where it begins to widen toward the
+sea, and thus it was accessible to the English in their ships as well
+as when coming with their armies by land. It was a place of great
+strength as well as of commanding position, being provided with
+castles and towers to defend it from the landward side, and thick
+walls and powerful batteries along the margin of the water.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Bordeaux lost.</span>
+
+<p>Suffolk did all in his power to raise and send off re-enforcements to
+the army in Guienne, but it was in vain. The English were driven out
+of one town and castle after another, until, at last, Bordeaux itself
+fell, and all was lost.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Excitement in England.</span>
+
+<p>The resentment and rage of the people of England now knew no bounds.
+Suffolk was universally denounced as the author of all these dire
+calamities. Lampoons and satires were written against him; he was
+hooted sometimes by the populace of London when he appeared in the
+streets, and every thing portended a gathering storm. At length, in
+the fall of 1449, a Parliament was summoned. When it was convened,
+Suffolk appeared in the House of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>(p. 182)</span> Lords as usual, and, rising
+in his place, he called the attention of the peers to the angry and
+vindictive denunciations which were daily heaped upon him by the
+public, declaring that he was wholly ignorant of the crimes which were
+laid to his charge, and challenging his enemies to bring forward any
+proof to sustain their accusations.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Braving the storm.</span>
+
+<p>A spirit of bold defiance like this might have been successful in some
+cases, perhaps, in driving back the tide of hostility and hate which
+was rising so rapidly, but in this instance it seemed to have the
+contrary effect. The enemies of Suffolk in the House of Commons took
+up the challenge at once. They were strong enough to carry the house
+with them. They passed an address to the peers, requesting them to
+cause Suffolk to be arrested and imprisoned. They would, they said,
+immediately bring forward the proofs of his guilt.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Accusations made.</span>
+
+<p>The Lords replied that they could not arrest and imprison one of their
+number except upon specific charges made against him. Whereupon the
+Commons very promptly prepared a list of charges and sent them to the
+Lords. On this accusation the Lords ordered Suffolk to be arrested,
+and he was sent to the Tower.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An impeachment.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk in the Tower.</span>
+
+<p>During the two months that succeeded his <span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>(p. 183)</span> arrest his enemies
+were busily engaged in preparing the bill of impeachment against him
+in form, and collecting the evidence by which they were to sustain it,
+while the queen was equally earnest and anxious in the work of
+contriving means to save him. She visited him secretly, it is said, in
+his prison, and conferred with him on the plan to be pursued. They
+seem to have been both convinced that it was impossible for him to
+remain in England and ride out the storm. The only course of safety
+would be for him to leave the country for a while, provided the means
+could be devised for getting him away. What the plan was which they
+agreed upon for accomplishing this purpose will appear in the sequel.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">He is arraigned.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk's defense.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">He appeals to the king.</span>
+
+<p>At length, on the thirteenth of March, he was summoned before the
+House of Lords, and the bill of impeachment was brought forward. There
+were a great many charges, beginning with that of having wickedly and
+with corrupt motives surrendered, and so lost forever to the crown,
+the provinces of Maine and Anjou, and going on to numerous accusations
+of malfeasance in office, of encroachments on the prerogatives of the
+king, and of acts in which the interest and honor of the country had
+been sacrificed to his own personal ambition or private <span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>(p. 184)</span>
+ends. Suffolk defended himself in a general speech, without, however,
+demanding, as he was entitled to do, a formal trial by his peers.
+These proceedings occupied several days&mdash;as long as any lingering hope
+remained in Suffolk's mind of his being able to stem the torrent. At
+length, however, on the seventeenth of March, finding that the
+pressure against him was continually increasing, and that there would
+be no chance of an acquittal if he were to claim a trial, he appealed
+to the king to decide his case, saying that, though he was entirely
+innocent of the crimes charged against him, he would submit himself
+entirely to his majesty's will.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Sentence of banishment.</span>
+
+<p>In response to this appeal, the king declared, through the proper
+officer, in the House of Lords, that he would not decide upon the
+question of the guilt or innocence of the accused, since he had not
+demanded a trial, but he thought it best, under all the circumstances
+of the case, that Suffolk should leave the country. He therefore
+issued a decree of banishment against him for five years. He was
+required to leave England before the first of May, and not to put his
+foot upon any English soil until the five years were expired.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The people enraged.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A riot.</span>
+
+<p>The Lords were much displeased at having <span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>(p. 185)</span> the affair thus
+taken out of their hands. They made a formal protest against this
+decision, but they could do nothing more. The people, too, were very
+much enraged. They declared that Suffolk should never leave London
+alive; and on the day when they expected that he was to be taken from
+the Tower to be conveyed to France, a mob of two thousand men
+collected in the streets, resolved to kill him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk escapes by sea.</span>
+
+<p>But the queen devised means for enabling him to evade them. Some of
+his servants and followers were seized, but he succeeded in making his
+escape, and, after going to his castle in the country, and making some
+hurried arrangements there, he went down to the sea-coast at Ipswich,
+a town in the eastern part of the island, and there embarked for
+France in a vessel which the queen had taken the precaution to have
+ready there for him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suffolk made prisoner again.</span>
+
+<p>The vessel immediately sailed, steering to the southward, of course,
+toward the Straits of Dover. As she was passing through the Straits,
+between Dover and Calais, a man-of-war named the Nicholas of the
+Tower, hove in sight, coming up to the vessel just as they were
+sending a boat on shore at Calais to inquire whether Suffolk would be
+allowed to land there. The boat was intercepted. At the same time, a
+boat <span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>(p. 186)</span> from the man-of-war came on board the vessel, bringing
+officers who were instructed to search her thoroughly. Of course, they
+found Suffolk on board, and the officer, as soon as Suffolk was
+discovered, informed him that he must go with him on board the
+man-of-war.</p>
+
+<p>Suffolk had no alternative but to obey. The captain of the man-of-war
+received him, as he stepped upon the deck, with the words, I am glad
+to see you, traitor, or something to that effect. Such a salutation
+must have plainly indicated to Suffolk what was before him. The
+man-of-war moved toward the English shore, and began to make signals
+to some parties on the land. She remained there for two days,
+exchanging signals in this way from time to time, and apparently
+awaiting orders.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His execution in a boat.</span>
+
+<p>At length, on the third day, a boat came off from the shore, provided
+with every thing that was necessary for the execution of a criminal.
+There was a platform with a block upon it, an axe, or cleaver of some
+sort, and an executioner. Suffolk was conveyed on board the boat, and
+there, with very little ceremony, his head was laid upon the block,
+and the executioner immediately commenced his task of severing it from
+the body. But, either from the unsteadiness of the boat, or the
+unsuitableness of the instrument, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>(p. 187)</span> or the clumsiness of the
+operator, five several blows were required before the bloody deed was
+done.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Disposal of the body.</span>
+
+<p>The boat immediately proceeded to the shore. The men on board threw
+out the dissevered remains upon the beach, and then went away.</p>
+
+<p>Some friends of Suffolk, hearing what had been done, came down to the
+beach, and, finding the separate portions of the body lying in the
+sand where they had been thrown, placed them reverently together
+again, and gave them honorable burial.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>(p. 188)</span> CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Birth of a Prince.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1453.</span>
+
+<p>After the death of Suffolk the queen was plunged into a sea of anxious
+perplexities and troubles, which continued to disturb the kingdom and
+to agitate her mind, until at length, in 1453, eight or nine years
+after her marriage, she gave birth to a son. This event, strange as it
+may seem, aggravated the difficulties of her situation in a ten-fold
+degree.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret in great trouble.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The policy in respect to the Duke of York.</span>
+
+<p>The reason why the birth of her child increased her troubles was this.
+It has already been said that the Duke of York claimed to be the
+rightful sovereign of England on account of being descended from an
+older branch of the royal family; but that, since Henry was
+established upon the throne, he was inclined to make no attempt to
+assert his claims so long as it was understood that he was to receive
+the kingdom at Henry's death. In order to keep him contented in this
+position, it had been Margaret's policy to treat him with great
+consideration, and to bestow upon him high honors, but, at the same
+time, to watch him very closely, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>(p. 189)</span> to avoid conferring
+upon him any such substantial power within the realm of England as
+would enable him to attempt to seize the throne. She accordingly gave
+him the regency of France, and afterward, when she recalled him from
+that country in order to send Somerset there, she sent him to Ireland.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset's return to England.</span>
+
+<p>After the death of Suffolk, Somerset came home from France. Indeed, he
+was on his way home at the very time that Suffolk was killed, the
+English possessions there having been almost entirely lost. As soon as
+he returned, the queen received him into high favor at court, and soon
+made him the chief minister of the crown. The people of the country
+were displeased at this, and soon showed marks of great discontent.
+They would very likely have risen in open rebellion had it not been
+that Henry's health was so feeble, and the probability was so great
+that he would die without issue&mdash;in which case the crown would devolve
+peacefully to the Duke of York and his heirs.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The people willing to wait.</span>
+
+<p>"Let us wait," said they, "for a short time, and it will all come
+right. It is better to bear the evils of this state of things a little
+longer than to plunge the country into the horrors of civil war in
+attempting to change the dynasty by force before Henry dies."</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>(p. 190)</span> <span class="sidenote">Two parties formed.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The nobles.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The two leaders.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, however, although this was so far the prevailing
+public sentiment as to prevent an actual outbreak, it did not by any
+means save the community from being unnecessarily agitated by
+anxieties and fears lest an outbreak <span class="italic">should</span> take place, nor did it
+prevent innumerable plots and conspiracies being formed tending to
+produce one. The country was divided into two great parties&mdash;those
+that favored the Duke of York and his dynasty, and those who adhered
+to the house of Lancaster. The nobles took sides in the quarrel, some
+openly and others in secret. As these nobles were continually moving
+to and fro from one castle to another, or between the country and
+London, at the head of armed bodies of men more or less formidable, no
+one could tell what plans were being formed, or how soon an explosion
+might occur. The Duke of York was, of course, the head and leader of
+one side, and the Duke of Somerset, as the confidential counselor and
+minister of Henry and the queen, was the most prominent on the other
+side, and each of these great leaders regarded the other with feelings
+of mortal enmity.</p>
+
+<a id="img014" name="img014"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img014.jpg" width="500" height="403" alt="" title="">
+<p>The Temple Garden.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This state of things kept both the king and queen in continual
+anxiety. The queen began to find that, by her man&oelig;uvrings and
+management, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>(p. 193)</span> she had involved herself in difficulties that
+were beyond her control, and the poor king was so harassed by his
+troubles and perplexities that his health, and, at last, his mind,
+began to suffer severely.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Duke of York comes to England.</span>
+
+<p>At length the Duke of York, without permission from the government,
+crossed the Channel from Ireland and landed in England. He soon
+collected a large armed force, and began to move across the country
+toward London. The government were much alarmed. He professed not to
+have any hostile object in view, and declared that he still
+acknowledged his allegiance to the Lancaster line; but there were no
+means of being sure that this was not a mere pretext, and that he
+might not, at any time, throw off his mask and rise in open rebellion.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The roses.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Origin of these symbols.</span>
+
+<p>It was about this time that the famous symbols of the red and the
+white rose were chosen as the badges of the houses respectively of
+York and Lancaster, as has already been mentioned. The story goes that
+at a certain time, while several nobles and persons of the court were
+walking in what is called the Temple Garden, a piece of open and
+ornamental ground on the bank of the river in London, Somerset and
+Warwick, who were on different sides in this quarrel, gathered, the
+one a white, and the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>(p. 194)</span> other a red rose, and proposed to the
+rest of the company to pluck roses too, each according to his own
+feelings and opinions. From this beginning the two colors became the
+permanent badge of the two lines, so much so that artificial roses of
+red and white were manufactured in great numbers at last, to supply
+the soldiers of the respective armies.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An expedition.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Anxiety of the king.</span>
+
+<p>But to return to the Duke of York. When it was found that he was
+advancing toward London, Somerset urged the king to put himself at the
+head of a body of troops and go out to meet him, and call him to
+account for his proceedings. The king did so, the queen accompanying
+the expedition. She was very anxious, and felt much alarmed for the
+safety of the king. After various marchings and man&oelig;uvrings, the
+two armies came near each other in the county of Kent, to the
+southeastward of London. King Henry, who was eminently a man of peace,
+being possessed of no warlike qualities whatever, and being extremely
+averse to the shedding of blood, instead of attacking the Duke of
+York, sent a messenger to him to know what his intentions were in
+coming into the country at the head of such a force, and what he
+desired.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Professions.</span>
+
+<p>The duke replied that he had no designs <span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>(p. 195)</span> against the king,
+but only against the traitor Somerset, and he said that if the king
+would order Somerset to be arrested and brought to trial, he should be
+satisfied, and would disband his forces.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An appointment</span>
+
+<p>The king, on receiving this message, was much troubled and perplexed,
+but at length he concluded, under the advice of some of his
+counselors, to comply with this demand. He caused Somerset to be
+arrested, and notified the Duke of York that he had done so. The Duke
+of York then disbanded his army, or at least sent the troops away, and
+made an appointment to come unattended and visit the king in his tent,
+with a view to conferring with him on the terms and conditions of a
+permanent reconciliation.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset concealed.</span>
+
+<p>This interview resulted in a very extraordinary scene. It seems that
+the queen had contrived the means of secretly releasing Somerset after
+his arrest, and bringing him by stealth to the king's pavilion, and
+concealing him there behind the arras at the time the Duke of York was
+to be admitted, in order that he, Somerset, might be a witness of the
+interview. While he was thus secreted, the Duke of York came in. He
+commenced his conference with the king by repeating earnestly what he
+said before, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>(p. 196)</span> namely, that he had not been actuated in what
+he had done by any feeling of hostility against the king, but only
+against Somerset. His sole object in taking up arms, he said, was that
+that arch traitor might be brought to punishment.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Scene in the tent.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Fierce altercation.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Duke of York imprisoned.</span>
+
+<p>On hearing these words, Somerset could contain himself no longer, but,
+to the astonishment of the Duke of York and to the utter consternation
+of the king, he rushed out from his hiding-place, and began to assail
+the duke with the most violent reproaches, alleging that his
+pretensions of friendship for Henry were false, and that the real
+design of his movements was to usurp the throne. The duke retorted
+with equally fierce denunciations and threats. During the continuance
+of this altercation, the king remained stupefied and speechless, and
+at length, when the duke retired, officers were ready at the door to
+arrest him, having been stationed there by the queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Released.</span>
+
+<p>He was held a prisoner, however, but a short time, for his son, who
+afterward became Edward IV., immediately commenced raising an army to
+come and release him. It was considered, for other reasons, dangerous
+to attempt to hold such a man in durance, since probably more than
+half the kingdom were on his side. So <span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>(p. 197)</span> he was offered his
+liberty on condition that he would take the new and solemn oath of
+fealty to the king.</p>
+
+<p>This he consented to do, and the oath was taken with great ceremony in
+St. Paul's Cathedral, and then he was dismissed. He went off to one of
+his castles in the country, muttering deep and earnest threats of
+vengeance.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Birth of the prince.</span>
+
+<p>It was about a year after this that Margaret's babe was born. It was a
+son.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Question of the succession.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">New difficulties.</span>
+
+<p>Of course, the birth of this child immensely increased the
+difficulties and dangers in which the kingdom was involved, for it
+seemed to extinguish the hope that the quarrel would be settled by the
+York family succeeding peaceably to the crown on the death of Henry.
+Now, at length, there was an heir to the Lancastrian line. Of course
+Margaret, and all those who were connected with the Lancastrian line,
+either by blood or political partisanship, would resolve to support
+the rights of this heir. On the other hand, it was not to be supposed
+that the Duke of York would relinquish his claims, and he would no
+longer have any inducement to postpone asserting them. Thus the birth
+of the young prince was the occasion of plunging the country in new
+and more feverish excitement than ever. Plots and counter-plots,
+conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>(p. 198)</span> were the order of the
+day. Every body was taking sides, or, at least, making arrangements
+for taking sides, as soon as the outbreak should occur. And no one
+knew how soon this would be.</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Prince of Wales.</span>
+
+<p>The child was born on a certain religious holiday called St. Edward's
+day, and so they named him Edward. In a few months after his birth he
+was made Prince of Wales, and it is by this title only that he is
+known in history, for he never became king.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>(p. 199)</span> CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Illness of the King.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Strange reverses.</span>
+
+<p>The circumstances of poor Margaret's case seem to have reversed all
+ordinary conditions of domestic happiness. The birth of her son placed
+her in a condition of extreme and terrible danger, while the immediate
+bursting of the storm was averted, and the sufferings which she was in
+the end called upon to endure in consequence of it were postponed for
+a time by what would, in ordinary circumstances, be the worst possible
+of calamities, the insanity of her husband. Happy as a queen, says the
+proverb, but what a mockery of happiness is this, when the birth of a
+child is a great domestic calamity, the evils of which were only in
+part averted, or rather postponed, by an unexpected blessing in the
+shape of the insanity of the husband and father.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king's insanity.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His condition concealed.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's policy.</span>
+
+<p>Henry's health had been gradually declining during many months before
+the little Edward was born. The cares and anxieties of his situation,
+which often became so extreme as to deprive him of all rest and sleep,
+became, at <span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>(p. 200)</span> length, too heavy for him to bear, and his feeble
+intellect, in the end, broke down under them entirely. The queen did
+all in her power to conceal his condition from the people, and even
+from the court. It was comparatively easy to do this, for the
+derangement was not at all violent in its form. It was a sort of
+lethargy, a total failure of the mental powers and almost of
+consciousness&mdash;more like idiocy than mania. The queen removed him to
+Windsor, and there kept him closely shut up, admitting that he was
+sick, but concealing his true situation so far as was in her power,
+and, in the mean time, carrying on the government in his name, with
+the aid of Somerset and other great officers of state, whom she
+admitted into her confidence. Parliament and the public were very
+uneasy under this state of things. The Duke of York was laying his
+plans, and every one was anxious to know what was coming. But Margaret
+would allow nobody to enter the king's chamber, under any pretext
+whatever, except those who were in her confidence, and entirely under
+her orders.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Death of the archbishop.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1454.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A deputation.</span>
+
+<p>At length, about two months after Edward was born, the highest
+dignitary of the Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, died. This
+event, according to the ancient usages of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>(p. 201)</span> realm, gave
+the House of Lords the right to send a deputation to the king to
+condole with him, and to ascertain his wishes in respect to the
+measures to be adopted on the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>This committee accordingly proceeded to Windsor, and coming, as they
+did, under the authority of ancient custom, which in England, in those
+days, had even more than the force of law, they could not be refused
+admission. They found the king lying helpless and unconscious, and
+they could not obtain from him any answer to what they said to him, or
+any sign that the slightest spark of intelligence remained in his
+mind.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke's policy.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke made regent.</span>
+
+<p>The committee reported these facts to the House of Lords. Finding how
+serious the king's illness was, the party of the Duke of York
+concluded to wait a little longer. There was a great probability that
+the king would soon die. The life, too, of the infant son was of
+course very precarious. He might not survive the dangers of infancy,
+and in that case the Duke of York would succeed to the throne at once
+without any struggle. So a sort of compromise was effected. Parliament
+appointed the Duke of York protector and defender of the king during
+his illness, or until such time as Edward, the young prince, should
+arrive <span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>(p. 202)</span> at the proper age for undertaking the government. It
+was at this time that young Edward was made Prince of Wales. The
+conferring of this title upon him was confirmed by both houses of
+Parliament. They thus solemnly decreed that, though the Duke of York
+was to exercise the government during the sickness of the king and the
+minority of Edward, still the kingdom was to be reserved for Edward as
+the rightful heir, and he was to be put into possession of the
+sovereign power, either as regent in case his father should continue
+to live until that time, or as king if, in the interim, he should die.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke's hopes.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of York and his friends acceded to this arrangement, in hopes
+that the prince never would arrive at years of discretion, but that,
+before many years, and perhaps before many months, both father and son
+would die. He thought it better, at any rate, to wait quietly for a
+time, especially as, during the period of this waiting, he was put in
+possession substantially of the supreme power.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret dissatisfied.</span>
+
+<p>Queen Margaret herself was extremely dissatisfied with the arrangement
+by which the Duke of York was made regent, since it of course deprived
+her of all her power. But she could do nothing to prevent it. Besides,
+her <span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>(p. 203)</span> mind was so filled with the maternal feelings and
+affections which her situation inspired and with the care of the
+infant child, that she had for a time no heart for political
+contention.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her condition.</span>
+
+<p>Then, moreover, the Parliament, at the same time that they made the
+Duke of York regent, and thus virtually deprived the queen of her
+power, settled upon her an ample annuity, by means of which she would
+be enabled to live, with her son, in a state becoming her rank and her
+ambition. One motive, doubtless, which led them to do this was to
+induce her to acquiesce in this change, and remain quiet in the
+position in which they thus placed her.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the liberal supplies which the Parliament granted to
+the queen, they made ample provision for maintaining the dignity and
+providing for the education of the young prince. Among other things, a
+commission of five physicians was appointed to watch over his health.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She concludes to submit.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret was the more easily persuaded to acquiesce in these
+arrangements from believing, as she did, that the state of things to
+which they gave rise would be of short duration. She fully believed
+that her husband would recover, and then the regency of the Duke of
+York would cease, and the king&mdash;that is, the king in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>(p. 204)</span> name,
+but she herself in reality&mdash;would come into power again. So she
+determined to bide her time.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen's establishment at Greenwich.</span>
+
+<p>She accordingly retired from London, and set up an establishment of
+her own in her palace at Greenwich, where she held her court, and
+lived in a style of grandeur and ceremony such as would have been
+proper if she had been a reigning queen. Her old favorite, too,
+Somerset, was at first one of the principal personages of her court;
+but one of the first acts of the Duke of York's regency was to issue a
+warrant of arrest against him. The officers, in executing this
+warrant, seized him in the very presence-chamber of the queen.
+Margaret was extremely incensed at this deed. She declared that it was
+not only an act of political hostility, but an insult. She was,
+however, entirely helpless. The Duke of York had the power now, and
+she was compelled to submit.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her care of Henry.</span>
+
+<p>But she was not required to remain long in this humiliating position.
+She procured the best possible medical advice and attendance for her
+husband, and devoted herself to him with the utmost assiduity, and, at
+length, she had the satisfaction of seeing that he was beginning to
+amend. The improvement commenced in November, about eight or ten
+months after he first <span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>(p. 205)</span> fell into the state of
+unconsciousness. When at length he came to himself, it seemed to him,
+he said, as if he was awaking from a long dream.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Recovery.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret was overjoyed to see these signs of returning intelligence.
+She longed for the time to come when she could show the king her boy.
+He had thus far never seen the child.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The prince shown to him.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Marks of returning consciousness.</span>
+
+<p>We obtain a pretty clear idea of the state of imbecility or
+unconsciousness in which he had been lying from the account of what he
+did and said at the interview when the little prince was first brought
+into his presence. It is as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="quote">
+<p>"On Monday, at noon, the queen came to him and brought my lord
+     prince with her, and then he asked 'what the prince's name was,'
+     and the queen told him 'Edward,' and then he held up his hands,
+     and thanked God thereof.</p>
+
+<p>"And he said he never knew him till that time, nor wist what was
+     said to him, nor wist where he had been, while he had been sick,
+     till now; and he asked who were the godfathers, and the queen
+     told him, and he was well content.</p>
+
+<p>"And she told him the cardinal was dead,<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12" title="Go to footnote 12"><span class="small">[12]</span></a> <span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>(p. 206)</span> and he
+     said he never knew of it till this time; then he said one of the
+     wisest lords in this land was dead.</p>
+
+<p>"And my Lord of Winchester and my Lord of St. John of Jerusalem
+     were with him the morrow after Twelfth day, and he did speak to
+     them as well as ever he did, and when they came out they wept for
+     joy. And he saith he is in charity with all the world, and so he
+     would all the lords were. And now he saith matins of our Lady and
+     even-song, and heareth his mass devoutly."</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king reinstated.</span>
+
+<p>The very first moment that the king was able to bear it, Margaret
+caused him to be conveyed into the House of Lords, there to resume the
+exercise of his royal powers by taking his place upon the throne and
+performing some act of sovereignty. The regency was, of course, now at
+an end, and the Duke of York, leaving London, went off into the
+country in high dudgeon.</p>
+
+<p>The queen, of course, now came into power again. The first thing that
+she did was to release Somerset from his confinement, and reinstate
+him as prime minister of the crown.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207"></a>(p. 207)</span> CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Anxiety and Trouble.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A great deal of trouble.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Angry disputes.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Insubordination.</span>
+
+<p>For about six years after this time, that is, from the birth of Prince
+Edward till he was six years old, and while Margaret was advancing
+from her twenty-fourth to her thirtieth year, her life was one of
+continual anxiety, contention, and alarm. The Duke of York and his
+party made continual difficulty, and the quarrel between him, and the
+Earl of Warwick, and the other nobles who espoused his cause, on one
+side, and the queen, supported by the Duke of Somerset and other great
+Lancastrian partisans on the other, kept the kingdom in a constant
+ferment. Sometimes the force of the quarrel spent itself in intrigues,
+man&oelig;uvres, and plottings, or in fierce and angry debates in
+Parliament, or in bitter animosities and contentions in private and
+social life. At other times it would break out into open war, and
+again and again was Margaret compelled to leave her child in the hands
+of nurses and guardians, while she went with her poor helpless husband
+to follow the camp, in order to meet and overcome <span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208"></a>(p. 208)</span> the
+military assemblages which the Duke of York was continually bringing
+together at his castles in the country or in the open fields.</p>
+
+<p>The king's health during all this period was so frail, and his mind,
+especially at certain times, was so feeble, that he was almost as
+helpless as a child. There was an hereditary taint of insanity in the
+family, which made his case still more discouraging.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Modes of amusing the king.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The singing boys.</span>
+
+<p>Queen Margaret took the greatest pains to amuse him, and to provide
+employments for him that would occupy his thoughts in a gentle and
+soothing manner. When traveling about the country, she employed
+minstrels to sing and play to him; and, in order to have a constant
+supply of these performers provided, and to have them well trained to
+their art, she sent instructions to the sheriffs of the counties in
+all parts of the kingdom, requiring them to seek for all the beautiful
+boys that had good voices, and to have them instructed in the art of
+music, so that they might be ready, when called upon, to perform
+before the king. In the mean time they were to be paid good wages, and
+to be considered already, while receiving their instruction, as acting
+under the charge and in the service of the queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Pretended pilgrimages.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king comforted.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret and the other friends of the king <span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209"></a>(p. 209)</span> used to contrive
+various other ways of amusing and comforting his mind, some of which
+were not very honest. One was, for example, to have different nobles
+and gentlemen come to him and ask his permission that they should
+leave the kingdom to go and make pilgrimages to various foreign
+shrines, in order to fulfill vows and offer oblations and prayers for
+the restoration of his majesty's health. The king was of a very devout
+frame of mind, and his thoughts were accustomed to dwell a great deal
+on religious subjects, and especially on the performance of the rites
+and ceremonies customary in those days, and it seemed to comfort him
+very much to imagine that his friends were going to make such long
+pilgrimages to pray for him.</p>
+
+<p>So the nobles and other great personages would ask his consent that
+they might go, and would take solemn leave of him as if they were
+really going, and then would keep out of sight a little while, until
+the poor patient had forgotten their request.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">One real pilgrimage.</span>
+
+<p>It is said, however, that one nobleman, the Duke of Norfolk, who was
+so kind-hearted a man that he went by the name of the Good Duke,
+actually made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on this errand, and there
+offered up prayers <span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210"></a>(p. 210)</span> and supplications at the famous chapel of
+the Holy Sepulchre for the restoration of his sovereign's health.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The philosopher's stone.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Promised treasures.</span>
+
+<p>They used also to amuse and cheer the king's mind by telling him, from
+time to time, that he was going to be supplied with inexhaustible
+treasures of wealth by the discovery of the philosopher's stone. The
+philosopher's stone was an imaginary substance which the alchemists of
+those days were all the time attempting to discover, by means of which
+lead and iron, and all other metals, could be turned to gold. There
+were royal laboratories, and alchemists continually at work in them
+making experiments, and the queen used to give the king wonderful
+accounts of the progress which they were making, and tell him that the
+discovery was nearly completed, and that very soon he would have in
+his exchequer just as much money as his heart could desire. The poor
+king fully believed all these stories, and was extremely pleased and
+gratified to hear them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Intervals of good health.</span>
+
+<p>There were times during this interval when the king was tolerably
+well, his malady being somewhat periodical in its character. This was
+the case particularly on one occasion, soon after his first recovery
+from the state of total insensibility <span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211"></a>(p. 211)</span> which has been
+referred to. The Duke of York, as has already been said, was put very
+much out of humor by the king's recovery on this occasion, and by his
+own consequent deposition from the office of regent, and still more so
+when he found that the first act which the queen performed on her
+recovery of power was to release his hated enemy, Somerset, from the
+prison where he, the Duke of York, had confined him, and make him
+prime minister again. He very soon determined that he would not submit
+to this indignity. He assembled an army on the frontiers of Wales,
+where some of his chief strong-holds were situated, and assumed an
+attitude of hostility so defiant that the queen's government
+determined to take the field to oppose him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Restoration of Somerset.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Armies marshaled.</span>
+
+<p>So they raised an army, and the Duke of Somerset, with the queen,
+taking the king with them, set out from London and marched toward the
+northwest. They stopped first at the town of St. Alban's.<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13" title="Go to footnote 13"><span class="small">[13]</span></a> When
+they were about to resume their march from St. Alban's, they saw that
+the hills before them were covered with bands of armed men, the forces
+of the Duke of York, which he was leading on toward the capital.
+Somerset's forces immediately <span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212"></a>(p. 212)</span> returned to the town.
+Margaret, who was for a time greatly distressed and perplexed to
+decide between her duty toward her husband and toward her child,
+finally concluded to retire to Greenwich with the little prince, and
+await there the result of the battle, leaving the Duke of Somerset to
+do the best he could with the king.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">St. Alban's.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The parley.</span>
+
+<p>Very soon a herald came from the Duke of York to the gates of St.
+Alban's, and demanded a parley. He said that the duke had not taken
+arms against the king, but only against Somerset. He professed great
+loyalty and affection for Henry himself, and only wished to save him
+from the dangerous counsels of a corrupt and traitorous minister, and
+he said that if the king would deliver up Somerset to him, he would at
+once disband his armies, and the difficulty would be all at an end.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Reply.</span>
+
+<p>The reply sent to this was that the king declared that he would lose
+both his crown and his life before he would deliver up either the Duke
+of Somerset or even the meanest soldier in his army to such a demand.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Attack on the town.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Terrible conflict.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of York, on receiving this answer, immediately advanced to
+attack the town. For some time Henry's men defended the walls and
+gates successfully against him, but at length <span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213"></a>(p. 213)</span> the Earl of
+Warwick, who was the Duke of York's principal confederate and
+supporter in this movement, passed with a strong detachment by another
+way round a hill, and through some gardens, and thence, by breaking
+down the wall which stood between the garden and the town, he
+succeeded in getting in. A terrible conflict then ensued in the
+streets and narrow lanes of the city, and the attention of the
+besieged being thus drawn off from the walls and the gates, the Duke
+of York soon succeeded in forcing his way in too.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king taken prisoner.</span>
+
+<p>King Henry's forces were soon routed with great slaughter. The Duke of
+Somerset and several other prominent nobles were killed. The king
+himself was wounded by an arrow, which struck him in the neck as he
+was standing under his banner in the street with his officers around
+him. When these his attendants saw that the battle was going against
+him, they all forsook him and fled, leaving him by his banner alone.
+He remained here quietly for some time, and then went into a shop near
+by, where presently the Duke of York found him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke's demeanor.</span>
+
+<p>As soon as the Duke came into the king's presence he kneeled before
+him, thus acknowledging him as king, and said,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214"></a>(p. 214)</span> "The traitor and public enemy against whom we took up arms is
+dead, and now there will be no farther trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said the king, "for God's sake, go and stop the slaughter of
+my subjects."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1457.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king conveyed to London.</span>
+
+<p>The duke immediately sent orders to stop the fighting, and, taking the
+king by the hand, he led him to the Abbey of St. Alban's, a venerable
+monastic edifice, greatly celebrated in the histories of these times,
+and there caused him to be conveyed to his apartment. The next day he
+took him to London. He rendered him all external tokens of homage and
+obedience by the way, but still virtually the king was his prisoner.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's despair.</span>
+
+<p>Poor Queen Margaret was all this time at Greenwich, waiting in the
+utmost suspense and anxiety to hear tidings of the battle. When, at
+length, the news arrived that the battle had been lost, that the king
+had been wounded, and was now virtually a prisoner in the hands of her
+abhorred and hated enemy, she was thrown into a state of utter
+despair, so much so that she remained for some hours in a sort of
+stupor, as if all was now lost, and it was useless and hopeless to
+continue the struggle any longer.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king's wound.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen and the prince.</span>
+
+<p>She however, at length, revived, and began to consider again what was
+to be done. The <span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215"></a>(p. 215)</span> prospect before her, however, seemed to grow
+darker and darker. The fatigue and excitement which the king had
+suffered, joined to the effects of his wound, which seemed not
+disposed to heal, produced a relapse. The Duke of York appears to have
+considered that the time had not yet come for him to attempt to assert
+his claims to the throne. He contented himself with so exhibiting the
+condition of the king to members of Parliament as to induce that body
+to appoint him protector again. When he had thus regained possession
+of power, he restored the king to the care of the queen, and sent her,
+with him and the little prince, into the country.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Grand reconciliation.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1458.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Mutual distrust.</span>
+
+<p>One of the most extraordinary circumstances which occurred in the
+course of these anxious and troubled years was a famous reconciliation
+which took place at one time between the parties to this great
+quarrel. It was at a time when England was threatened with an invasion
+from France. Queen Margaret proposed a grand meeting of all the lords
+and nobles on both sides, to agree upon some terms of pacification by
+which the intestine feud which divided and distracted the country
+might be healed, and the way prepared for turning their united
+strength against the foe. But it was a very dangerous thing to attempt
+to bring these turbulent <span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216"></a>(p. 216)</span> leaders together. They had no
+confidence in each other, and no one of them would be willing to come
+to the congress without bringing with him a large armed force of
+followers and retainers, to defend him in case of violence or
+treachery. Finally, it was agreed to appoint the Lord-mayor of London
+to keep the peace among the various parties, and, to enable him to do
+this effectually, he was provided with a force of ten thousand men.
+These men were volunteers raised from among the citizens of London.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Meeting of the nobles.</span>
+
+<p>When the time arrived for the meeting, the various leaders came in
+toward London, each at the head of a body of retainers. One man came
+with five hundred men, another with four hundred, and another with six
+hundred, who were all dressed in uniform with scarlet coats. Another
+nobleman, representing the great Percy family, came at the head of a
+body of fifteen hundred men, all his own personal retainers, and every
+one of them ready to fight any where and against any body, the moment
+that their feudal lord should give the word.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Armed bands.</span>
+
+<p>These various chieftains, each at the head of his troops, came to
+London at the appointed time, and established themselves at different
+castles and strong-holds in and around the city, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217"></a>(p. 217)</span> like so
+many independent sovereigns coming together to negotiate a treaty of
+peace.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Disputes and debates.</span>
+
+<p>They spent two whole months in disputes and debates, in which the
+fiercest invectives and the most angry criminations and recriminations
+were uttered continually on both sides. At length, marvelous to
+relate, they came to an agreement. All the points in dispute were
+arranged, a treaty was signed, and a grand reconciliation&mdash;that is, a
+pretended one&mdash;was the result.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The treaty.</span>
+
+<p>This meeting was convened about the middle of January, and on the
+twenty-fourth of March the agreement was finally made and ratified,
+and sealed, in a solemn manner, by the great seal. It contained a
+great variety of agreements and specifications, which it is not
+necessary to recapitulate here, but when all was concluded there was a
+grand public ceremony in commemoration of the event.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Procession.</span>
+
+<p>At this celebration the king and queen, wearing their crowns and royal
+robes, walked in solemn procession to St. Paul's Cathedral in the
+city. They were followed by the leading peers and prelates walking two
+and two; and, in order to exhibit to public view the most perfect
+tokens and pledges of the fullness and sincerity of this grand
+reconciliation, it was arranged that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218"></a>(p. 218)</span> those who had been most
+bitterly hostile to each other in the late quarrels should be paired
+together as they walked. Thus, immediately behind the king, who walked
+alone, came the queen and the Duke of York walking together hand in
+hand, as if they were on the most loving terms imaginable, and so with
+the rest.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Mock reconciliation.</span>
+
+<p>The citizens of London, and vast crowds of other people who had come
+in from the surrounding towns to witness the spectacle, joined in the
+celebration by forming lines along the streets as the procession
+passed by, and greeting the reconciled pairs with long and loud
+acclamations; and when night came, they brightened up the whole city
+with illuminations of their houses and bonfires in the streets.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Fighting again.</span>
+
+<p>In about a year after this the parties to this grand pacification were
+fighting each other more fiercely and furiously than ever.</p>
+
+<a id="img015" name="img015"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img015.jpg" width="500" height="291" alt="" title="">
+<p>The Little Prince and his Swans.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The prince's journey.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The little swans.</span>
+
+<p>At one time, when the little prince was about six years old, the queen
+made a royal progress through certain counties in the interior of the
+country, ostensibly to benefit the king's health by change of air, and
+by the gentle exercise and agreeable recreation afforded by a journey,
+but really, it is said, to interest the nobles and the people of the
+region through which she passed in her cause, and especially in that
+of the little <span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221"></a>(p. 221)</span> prince, whom she took on that occasion to
+show to all the people on her route. She had adopted for him the
+device of his renowned ancestor, Edward III., which was a <span class="italic">swan</span>; and
+she had caused to be made for him a large number of small silver
+swans, which he was to present to the nobles and gentlemen, and to all
+who were admitted to a personal audience, in the towns through which
+he passed. He was a bright and beautiful boy, and he gave these little
+swans to the people who came around him with such a sweet and charming
+grace, that all who saw him were inspired with feelings of the warmest
+interest and affection for him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">War breaks out again.</span>
+
+<p>Very soon after this time the war between the two great contending
+parties broke out anew, and took such a course as very soon deprived
+King Henry of his crown. The events which led to this result will be
+related in the next chapter.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222"></a>(p. 222)</span> CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Margaret a Fugitive.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1459.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The battle of Blore Heath.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen's orders.</span>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1459, the year after the grand reconciliation took
+place which is described in the last chapter, two vast armies,
+belonging respectively to the two parties, which had been gradually
+gathering for a long time, came up together at a place called Blore
+Heath,<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14" title="Go to footnote 14"><span class="small">[14]</span></a> in Staffordshire, in the heart of England. A great battle
+ensued. During the battle Henry lay dangerously ill in the town of
+Coleshill, which was not far off. Margaret was at Maccleston, another
+village very near the field of battle. From the tower of the church in
+Maccleston she watched the progress of the fight. Salisbury was at the
+head of the York party. Margaret's troops were commanded by Lord
+Audley. When Audley took leave of her to go into battle, she sternly
+ordered him to bring Salisbury to her, dead or alive.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Decorations.</span>
+
+<p>Audley had ten thousand men under his command. The soldiers were all
+adorned with red rosettes, the symbol of the house of Lancaster.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223"></a>(p. 223)</span> The officers wore little silver swans upon their uniform,
+such as Prince Edward had distributed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Battle lost.</span>
+
+<p>The queen watched the progress of the battle with intense anxiety, and
+soon, to her consternation and dismay, she saw that it was going
+against her. She kept her eyes upon Audley's banner, and when, at
+length, she saw it fall, she knew that all was lost. She hurried down
+from the tower, and, with a few friends to accompany her, she fled for
+her life to a strong-hold belonging to her friends that was not at a
+great distance.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Feeble condition of the king.</span>
+
+<p>The king, too, had to be removed, in order to prevent his being taken
+prisoner. He was, however, too feeble to know much or to think much of
+what was going on. When they came to take him on his pallet to carry
+him away, he looked up and asked, feebly, "who had got the day," but
+beyond this he gave no indication of taking any interest in the
+momentous events that were transpiring.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Spirit and temper of the queen.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1460.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Success of her efforts.</span>
+
+<p>This defeat, instead of producing a discouraging and disheartening
+effect upon Margaret's mind, only served to arouse her to new vigor
+and determination. She had been somewhat timid and fearful in the
+earlier part of her troubles, when she had only a husband to think
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224"></a>(p. 224)</span> of and to care for. But now she had a son; and the maternal
+instinct seemed to operate in her case, as it has done in so many
+others, to make her fearless, desperate, and, in the end, almost
+ferocious, in protecting her offspring from harm, and in maintaining
+his rights. She immediately engaged with the utmost zeal and ardor in
+raising a new army. She did not trust the command of it to any
+general, but directed all the operations of it herself. There is not
+space to describe in detail the campaigns that ensued, but the result
+was a complete victory. Her enemies were, in their turn, entirely
+defeated, and the two great leaders, the Duke of York and the Earl of
+Warwick, were actually driven out of the kingdom. The Duke of York
+retreated to Ireland, and the Earl of Warwick went across the Straits
+of Dover to Calais, which was still in English possession, and a great
+naval and military station.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Earl of Warwick.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His successful advance.</span>
+
+<p>In a very short time after this, however, Warwick came back again with
+a large armed force, which he had organized at Calais, and landed in
+the southern part of England. He marched toward London, carrying all
+before him. It was now his party's turn to be victorious; for by the
+operation of that strange principle which seems to regulate the ups
+and downs <span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225"></a>(p. 225)</span> of opposing political parties in all countries and
+in all ages, victory alternates between them with almost the
+regularity of a pendulum. The current of popular sentiment, which had
+set so strongly in favor of the queen's cause only a short year
+before, appeared to be now altogether in favor of her enemies. Every
+body flocked to Warwick's standard as he marched northwardly from the
+coast toward London, and at London the people opened the gates of the
+city and received him and his troops as if they had been an army of
+deliverers.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Northampton.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king made captive.</span>
+
+<p>Warwick did not delay long in London. He marched to the north to meet
+the queen's troops. Another great battle was fought at Northampton.
+Margaret watched the progress of the fight from an eminence not far
+distant. The day went against her. The result of the battle was that
+the poor king was taken prisoner the second time and carried in
+triumph to London.</p>
+
+<p>The captors, however, treated him with great consideration and
+respect&mdash;not as their enemy and as their prisoner, but as their
+sovereign, rescued by them from the hands of traitors and foes. The
+time had not even yet come for the York party openly to avow their
+purpose of deposing the king. So they conveyed him to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226"></a>(p. 226)</span>
+London, and lodged him in the palace there, where he was surrounded
+with all the emblems and marks of royalty, but was still,
+nevertheless, closely confined.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Parliament summoned.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of York then summoned a Parliament, acting in the king's
+name, of course, that is, requiring the king to sign the writs and
+other necessary documents. It was not until October that the
+Parliament met. During the interval the king was lodged in a country
+place not far from London, where every effort was made to enable him
+to pass his time agreeably, by giving him an opportunity to hunt, and
+to amuse and recreate himself with other out-door amusements. All the
+while, however, a strict watch was kept over him to prevent the
+possibility of his making his escape, or of the friends of the queen
+coming secretly to take him away.</p>
+
+<p>As for the queen and the little prince, none knew what had become of
+them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke's pretensions.</span>
+
+<p>When Parliament met, a very extraordinary scene occurred in the House
+of Lords, in which the Duke of York was the principal actor, and which
+excited a great sensation. Up to this time he had put forward no
+actual claim to the throne in behalf of his branch of the family, but
+in all the hostilities in which he had been engaged against the king's
+troops, his object had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227"></a>(p. 227)</span> been, as he had always said, not to
+oppose the king, but only to save him, by separating him from the evil
+influences which surrounded him. But he was now beginning to be
+somewhat more bold.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke comes to Parliament.</span>
+
+<p>Accordingly, when Parliament met, he came into London at the head of a
+body-guard of five hundred horsemen, and with the sword of state borne
+before him, as if he were the greatest personage in the realm. He rode
+directly to Westminster, and, halting his men with great parade before
+the doors of the hall where the House of Lords was assembled, he went
+in.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Scene in the House of Lords.</span>
+
+<p>He advanced directly through the hall to the raised dais at the end on
+which the throne was placed. He ascended the steps, and walked to the
+throne, the whole assembly looking on in solemn awe, to see what he
+was going to do. Some expected that he was going to take his seat upon
+the throne, and thus at once assume the position that he was the true
+and rightful sovereign of England. He, however, did not do so. He
+stood by the throne a few minutes, with his hand upon the crimson
+cloth which covered it, as if hesitating whether to take his seat or
+not, or perhaps waiting for some intimation from his partisans that he
+was expected to do so. But for several minutes no one spoke <span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228"></a>(p. 228)</span>
+a word. At length the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in some
+respects the most exalted personage in the House of Lords, asked him
+if he would be pleased to go and visit the king, who was at that time
+in an adjoining apartment. He replied in a haughty tone,</p>
+
+<p>"I know no one in this realm whose duty it is not rather to visit me
+than to expect me to visit him."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His haughty demeanor.</span>
+
+<p>He then turned and walked proudly out of the house.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry's reasoning.</span>
+
+<p>Although he thus refrained from actually seating himself upon the
+throne, it was evident that the time was rapidly drawing near when he
+would openly assert his claim to it, and some of the peers, thinking
+perhaps that Henry could be induced peaceably to yield, consulted him
+upon the subject, asking him which he thought had the best title to
+the crown, himself or the Duke of York.</p>
+
+<p>To this question Henry replied,</p>
+
+<p>"My father was king; his father was king. I have myself worn the crown
+for forty years, from my cradle. You have all sworn fealty to me as
+your sovereign, and your fathers did the same to my father and to my
+grandfather. How, then, can any one dispute my claim?"</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Contesting claims.</span>
+
+<p>What Henry said was true. The crown had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229"></a>(p. 229)</span> been in his branch
+of the royal line for three generations, and for more than half a
+century, during all which time the whole nation had acquiesced in
+their rule. The claim of the Duke of York ran back to a period
+anterior to all this, but he maintained that it was legitimate and
+valid, notwithstanding.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Decision of the question.</span>
+
+<p>There followed a series of deliberations and negotiations, the result
+of which was a decision on the part of Parliament that the Duke of
+York and his successors were really entitled to the crown, but that,
+by way of compromise, it was not to be in form transferred to them
+until after the death of Henry. So long as he should continue to live,
+he was to be nominally king, but the Duke of York was to govern as
+regent, and, at Henry's death, the crown was to descend to him.</p>
+
+<p>The duke was satisfied with this arrangement, and the first thing to
+be done, in order to secure its being well carried out, was to get the
+little prince, as well as Henry, the king, into his possession; for he
+well knew that, even if he were to dispose of the old king, and
+establish himself in possession of the throne, he could have no peace
+or quietness in the possession of it so long as the little prince,
+with his mother, was at large.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230"></a>(p. 230)</span> <span class="sidenote">The queen commanded to return.</span>
+
+<p>So he found means to induce the king to sign a mandate commanding the
+queen to come to London and bring the prince with her. This mandate
+she was required to obey immediately, under penalty, in case of
+disobedience, of being held guilty of treason.</p>
+
+<p>Officers were immediately dispatched in all directions to search for
+the queen, in order to serve this mandate upon her, but she was
+nowhere to be found.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231"></a>(p. 231)</span> CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Margaret Triumphant.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Sudden reverses.</span>
+
+<p>There followed after this time a series of very rapid and sudden
+reverses, by which first one party and then the other became
+alternately the victors and the vanquished, through changes of fortune
+of the most extraordinary character.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the battle described in the last chapter, Margaret found
+herself, with the little prince, a helpless fugitive. There were only
+eight persons to accompany her in her flight, and so defenseless were
+they, and such was the wild and lawless condition of the country, that
+it was said her party was stopped while on their way to Wales, and the
+queen was robbed of all her jewels and other valuables. Both she and
+the prince would very probably, too, have been made prisoners and sent
+to London, had it not been that, while the marauders were busy with
+their plunder, she contrived to make her escape.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Retreat to Scotland.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen re-enters England.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Success.</span>
+
+<p>She remained a very short time in Wales, and then proceeded by sea to
+Scotland, where her party, and she herself personally, had powerful
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232"></a>(p. 232)</span> friends. By the aid of these friends, and through the
+influence of the indomitable spirit and resolution which she
+displayed, she was soon supplied with a new force. At the head of this
+force she crossed the frontier into England. The people seemed every
+where to pity her misfortunes, and they were so struck with the energy
+and courage she displayed in struggling against them, and in braving
+the dreadful dangers which surrounded her in defense of the rights of
+her husband and child, that they flocked to her standard from all
+quarters, and thus in eight days from the time that the mandate was
+issued from London commanding her to surrender herself a prisoner, she
+appeared in the vicinity of the city of York, the largest and
+strongest city in all the north of England, at the head of an
+overwhelming force.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Movement of the duke.</span>
+
+<p>The Duke of York was astounded when this intelligence reached him in
+London. There was not a moment to be lost. He immediately set out with
+all the troops which he could command, and marched to the northward to
+meet the queen. At the same time, he sent orders to the other leaders
+of his party, in different parts of England, to move to the northward
+as rapidly as possible, and join him there.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Battle of Wakefield.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Death of the Duke of York.</span>
+
+<p>The duke himself arrived first in the vicinity <span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233"></a>(p. 233)</span> of the
+queen's army, but he thought he was not strong enough to attack her,
+and he accordingly concluded to wait until his re-enforcements should
+come up. The queen advanced with a much superior force to meet him.
+The two armies came together near the town of Wakefield, and here,
+after some delay, during which the queen continually challenged the
+duke to come out from his walls and fortifications to meet her, and
+defied and derided him with many taunts and reproaches, a great battle
+was finally fought. Margaret's troops were victorious. Two thousand
+out of five thousand of the duke's troops were left dead upon the
+field, and the duke himself was slain!</p>
+
+<p>Margaret's heart was filled with the wildest exultation and joy when
+she heard that her inveterate and hated foe at last was dead. She
+could scarcely restrain her excitement. One of the nobles of her
+party, Lord Clifford, whose father had been killed in a previous
+battle under circumstances of great atrocity, cut off the duke's head
+from his body, and carried it to Margaret on the end of a pike. She
+was for a moment horror-stricken at the ghastly spectacle, and turned
+her face away; but she finally ordered the head to be set up upon a
+pole on the walls of York, in view of all beholders.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Murder of his son.</span>
+
+<p>A young son of the duke's, the Earl of Rutland, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234"></a>(p. 234)</span> who was then
+about twelve years old, was also killed, or rather massacred, on the
+field of battle, after the fight was over, as he was endeavoring to
+make his escape, under the care of his tutor, to a castle near, where
+he would have been safe. This was the castle of Sandal. It was a very
+strong place, and was in the possession of the Duke of York's party.
+The poor boy was cut down mercilessly by the same Lord Clifford who
+has already been spoken of, notwithstanding all that his tutor could
+do to save him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's cruelties.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her exultation.</span>
+
+<p>Other most atrocious murders were committed at the close of this
+battle. The Earl of Salisbury was beheaded, and his head was set up
+upon a pike on the walls of York, by the side of the duke's. Margaret
+was almost beside herself at the results of this victory. Her armies
+triumphant, the great leader of the party of her enemies, the man who
+had been for years her dread and torment, slain, and all his chief
+confederates either killed or taken prisoners, and nothing now
+apparently in the way to prevent her marching in triumph to London,
+liberating her husband from his thraldom, and taking complete and
+undisputed possession of the supreme power, there seemed, so far as
+the prospect now before her was concerned, to be nothing more to
+desire.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<a id="img016" name="img016"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img016.jpg" width="500" height="391" alt="" title="">
+<p>Murder of Richard's Child.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237"></a>(p. 237)</span> CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Margaret an Exile.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A new reverse.</span>
+
+<p>Bright as were the hopes and prospects of Margaret after the battle of
+Wakefield, a few short months were sufficient to involve her cause
+again in the deepest darkness and gloom. The battle of Wakefield, and
+the death of the Duke of York, took place near the last of December,
+in 1460. In March, three months later, Margaret was an exile from
+England, outlawed by the supreme power of the realm, and placed under
+such a ban that it was forbidden to all the people of England to have
+any communication with her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Reaction.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Head of the Duke of York.</span>
+
+<p>This fatal result was brought about, in a great measure, by the
+reaction in the minds of the people of the country, which resulted
+from the shocking cruelties perpetrated by her and by her party after
+the battle of Wakefield. The accounts of these transactions spread
+through the kingdom, and awakened a universal feeling of disgust and
+abhorrence. It was said that when Lord Clifford carried the head of
+the Duke of York to Margaret on the point of a lance, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238"></a>(p. 238)</span>
+followed by a crowd of other knights and nobles, he said to her,</p>
+
+<p>"Look, madam! The war is over! Here is the ransom for the king!"</p>
+
+<p>Then all the by-standers raised a shout of exultation, and began
+pointing at the ghastly head, with mockings and derisive laughter.
+They had put a paper crown upon the head, which they seemed to think
+produced a comic effect. The queen, though at first she averted her
+face, soon turned back again toward the horrid trophy, and laughed,
+with the rest, at the ridiculous effect produced by the paper crown.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The country shocked.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's ferocity.</span>
+
+<p>The murder, too, of the innocent child, the duke's younger son,
+produced a great and very powerful sensation throughout the land. The
+queen, though she had not, perhaps, commanded this deed, still made
+herself an accessory by commending it and exulting over it. The
+ferocious hate with which she was animated against all the family of
+her fallen foe was also shown by another circumstance, and that was,
+that when she commanded the two heads, viz., that of the Duke of York
+and that of the Earl of Salisbury, to be set upon the city walls, she
+ordered that a space should be left between them for two other heads,
+one of which was to be that of Edward, the oldest son of the Duke
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239"></a>(p. 239)</span> of York, who was still alive, not having been present at the
+battle of Wakefield, and who, of course, now inherited the title and
+the claims of his father.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The duke's heir.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Edward.</span>
+
+<p>This young Edward was at this time about nineteen years of age. His
+title had been hitherto the Earl of March, and he would, of course,
+now become the Duke of York, only he chose to assume that of King of
+England. He was a young man of great energy of character, and he was
+sustained, of course, by all his father's party, who now transferred
+their allegiance to him. Indeed, their zeal in his service was
+redoubled by the terrible resentment and the thirst for vengeance
+which the cruelties of the queen awakened in their minds. Edward
+immediately put himself in motion with all the troops that he could
+command. He was in the western part of England at the time of his
+father's death, and he immediately began to move toward the coast in
+order to intercept Margaret on her march toward London.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Battle at St. Alban's.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Warwick defeated.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Henry abandoned.</span>
+
+<p>At the same time, the Earl of Warwick advanced from London itself to
+the northward to meet the queen, taking with him the king, who had up
+to this time remained in London. The armies of Warwick and of the
+queen came into the vicinity of each other not far from St. Alban's,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240"></a>(p. 240)</span> before the young Duke of York came up, and a desperate
+battle was fought. Warwick's army was composed chiefly of men hastily
+got together in London, and they were no match for the experienced and
+sturdy soldiers which Margaret had brought with her from the Scottish
+frontier. They were entirely defeated. They fought all day, but at
+night they dispersed in all directions, and in the hurry and confusion
+of their flight they left the poor king behind them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Is saved.</span>
+
+<p>During the battle Margaret did not know that her husband was on the
+ground. But at night, as soon as Henry's keepers had abandoned him, a
+faithful serving-man who remained with him ran into Margaret's camp,
+and finding one of the nobles in command there, he informed him of the
+situation of the king. The noble immediately informed the queen, and
+she, overjoyed at the news, flew to the place where her husband lay,
+and, on finding him, they embraced each other with the most passionate
+tokens of affection and joy.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The abbey.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret brought the little prince to be presented to him, and then
+they all together proceeded to the abbey at St. Alban's, where
+apartments were provided for them. They first, however, went to the
+church, in order to return <span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241"></a>(p. 241)</span> thanks publicly for the
+deliverance of the king.</p>
+
+<p>They were received at the door of the church by the abbot and the
+monks, who welcomed them with hymns of praise and thanksgiving as they
+approached. After the ceremonies had been performed, they went to the
+apartments in the abbey which had been provided for them, intending to
+devote some days to quiet and repose.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great excitement.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time the excitement throughout the country continued and
+increased. The queen perpetrated fresh cruelties, ordering the
+execution of all the principal leaders from the other side that fell
+into her hands. She alienated the minds of the people from her cause
+by not restraining her troops from plundering; and, in order to obtain
+money to defray the expenses of her army and to provide them with
+food, she made requisitions upon the towns through which she passed,
+and otherwise harassed the people of the country by fines and
+confiscations.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The people alarmed.</span>
+
+<p>The people were at length so exasperated by these high-handed
+proceedings, and by the furious and vindictive spirit which Margaret
+manifested in all that she did, that the current turned altogether in
+favor of the young Duke of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242"></a>(p. 242)</span> York. The scattered forces of his
+party were reassembled. They began soon to assume so formidable an
+appearance that Margaret found it would be best for her to retire
+toward the north again. She of course took with her the king and the
+Prince of Wales.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Advance of Edward.</span>
+
+<p>At the same time, Edward, the young Duke of York, advanced toward
+London. The whole city was excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm
+at his approach. A large meeting of citizens declared that Henry
+should reign no longer, but that they would have Edward for king.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">London.</span>
+
+<p>When Edward arrived in London he was received by the whole population
+as their deliverer. A grand council of the nobles and prelates was
+convened, and, after solemn deliberations, Henry was deposed and
+Edward was declared king.</p>
+
+<p>Two days after this a great procession was formed, at the head of
+which Edward rode royally to Westminster and took his seat upon the
+throne.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Battle of Towton.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret made one more desperate effort to retrieve the fortunes of
+her family by a battle fought at a place called Towton. This battle
+was fought in a snow-storm. It was an awful day. Margaret's party were
+entirely defeated, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243"></a>(p. 243)</span> and nearly thirty thousand of them were
+left dead upon the field.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Flight of the queen.</span>
+
+<p>As soon as the result was known, Margaret, taking with her her husband
+and child and a small retinue of attendants, fled to the northward.
+She stopped a short time at the Castle of Alnwick,<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15" title="Go to footnote 15"><span class="small">[15]</span></a> a strong-hold
+belonging to one of her friends; but, finding that the forces opposed
+to her were gathering strength every day and advancing toward her, and
+that the country generally was becoming more and more disposed to
+yield allegiance to the new king, she concluded that it would not be
+safe for her to remain in England any longer.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Alnwick.</span>
+
+<p>So, taking her husband and the little prince with her, and also a few
+personal attendants, she left Alnwick, and crossed the frontier into
+Scotland, a fugitive and an exile, and with no hope apparently of ever
+being able to enter England again.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244"></a>(p. 244)</span> CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">A Royal Cousin.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1461.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret in Scotland.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her friends.</span>
+
+<p>As soon as Margaret escaped to Scotland, far from being disheartened
+by her misfortunes, she began at once to concert measures for raising
+a new army and going into England again, with a view of making one
+more effort to recover her husband's throne. She knew, of course, that
+there was a large body of nobles, and of the people of the country,
+who were still faithful to her husband's cause, and who would be ready
+to rally round his standard whenever and wherever it should appear.
+All that she required was the nucleus of an army at the outset, and a
+tolerably successful beginning in entering the country. There were
+knights and nobles, and great numbers of men, every where ready to
+join her as soon as she should appear, but they were nowhere strong
+enough to commence a movement on their own responsibility.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The prince.</span>
+
+<p>One of the measures which she adopted for strengthening her interest
+with the royal family of Scotland was to negotiate a marriage between
+the young prince, who was now seven <span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245"></a>(p. 245)</span> years old, and a Scotch
+princess. She succeeded in conditionally arranging this marriage, but
+she found that she could not raise troops for a second invasion of
+England.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Messengers sent to France.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, she had sent three noblemen as her messengers into
+France, to see what could be done in that country. France was her
+native land, and the king at that time, Charles VII., was her uncle.
+She had strong reason to hope, therefore, that she might find aid and
+sympathy there. Toward the close of the summer, however, she received
+a letter from two of her messengers at Dieppe which was not at all
+encouraging.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their letter.</span>
+
+<p>The letter began by saying, on the part of the messengers, that they
+had already written to Margaret three times before; once by the return
+of the vessel, called the <span class="italic">Carvel</span>, in which they went to France, and
+twice from Dieppe, where they then were, but all the letters were
+substantially to communicate the same evil tidings, namely, that the
+king, her uncle, was dead, and that her cousin had succeeded to the
+throne, but that the new king seemed not at all disposed to regard her
+cause favorably. His officers at Dieppe had caused all their papers to
+be seized and taken to the king, and he had shut up one of their
+number in the castle of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246"></a>(p. 246)</span> Arques, which is situated at a short
+distance from Dieppe. He had been apparently prevented from
+imprisoning the other two by their having been provided with a
+safe-conduct, which protected them.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The messengers' advice to the queen.</span>
+
+<p>Furthermore, the writers of the letter bade the queen keep up good
+courage, and advised her, for the present, to remain quietly where she
+was. She must not, they said, venture herself, or the little prince,
+upon the sea in an attempt to come to France, unless she found herself
+exposed to great danger in remaining in Scotland. They wished her to
+notify the king, too, who they supposed was at that time secreted in
+Wales, for they had heard that the Earl of March&mdash;they would not call
+him King of England, but still designated him by his old name&mdash;was
+going into Wales with an army to look for him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Their professions and promises.</span>
+
+<p>They said, in conclusion, that as soon as they were set at liberty
+they should immediately come to the queen in Scotland. Nothing but
+death would prevent their rejoining her, and they devoutly hoped and
+believed that they should not be called to meet with death until they
+could have the satisfaction of seeing her husband the king and herself
+once more in peaceable possession of their realm.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247"></a>(p. 247)</span> But the reader may perhaps like to peruse the letter itself
+in the words in which it was written. It is a very good specimen of
+the form in which the English language was written in those days,
+though it seems very quaint and old-fashioned now. It was as follows:</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The letter itself.</span>
+
+<div class="quote">
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Madam</span>,&mdash;Please your good God, we have, since our coming hither,
+     written to your highness thrice; once by the carvel in which we
+     came, the other two from Dieppe. But, madam, it was all one thing
+     in substance, putting you in knowledge of your uncle's death,
+     whom God assoil, and how we stood arrested, and do yet. But on
+     Tuesday next we shall up to the king, your cousin-german. His
+     commissaires, at the first of our tarrying, took all our letters
+     and writings, and bore them up to the king, leaving my Lord of
+     Somerset in keeping at the castle of Arques, and my fellow
+     Whyttingham and me (for we had safe-conduct) in the town of
+     Dieppe, where we are yet.</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, fear not, but be of good comfort, and beware ye venture
+     not your person, nor my lord the prince, by sea, till ye have
+     other word from us, unless your person can not be sure where ye
+     are, and extreme necessity drive ye thence.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248"></a>(p. 248)</span> "And, for God's sake, let the king's highness be advised
+     of the same; for, as we are informed, the Earl of March is into
+     Wales by land, and hath sent his navy thither by sea.</p>
+
+<p>"And, madam, think verily, as soon as we be delivered, we shall
+     come straight to you, unless death take us by the way, which we
+     trust he will not till we see the king and you peaceably again in
+     your realm; the which we beseech God soon to see, and to send you
+     that your highness desireth. Written at Dieppe the 30th day of
+     August, 1461.</p>
+
+<p>"Your true subjects and liegemen,<br>
+<span class="left40">"<span class="smcap">Hungerford and Whyttingham</span>."</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Fidelity.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Suspense.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">King Louis XI.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret remained through the winter in Scotland, anxiously
+endeavoring to devise means to rebuild her fallen fortunes. But all
+was in vain; no light or hope appeared. At length, when the spring
+opened, she determined to go herself to France and see the king her
+cousin, in hopes that, by her presence at the court, and her personal
+influence over the king, something might be done.</p>
+
+<p>The king her cousin had been her playmate in their childhood. He was
+the son of Mary, her father René's sister. Mary and René had been very
+strongly attached to each other, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249"></a>(p. 249)</span> the children had been
+brought up much together. Margaret now hoped that, on seeing her again
+in her present forlorn and helpless condition, his former friendship
+for her would revive, and that he would do something to aid her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Want of funds.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Gratitude.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Voyage to France.</span>
+
+<p>She was, however, entirely destitute of money, and she would have
+found it very difficult to contrive the means of getting to France,
+had it not been for the kindness of a French merchant who resided in
+Scotland, and whom she had known in former years in Nancy, in
+Lorraine, where she had rendered him some service. The merchant had
+since acquired a large fortune in commercial operations between
+Scotland and Flanders which he conducted. In his prosperity he did not
+forget the kindness he had received from the queen in former years,
+and, now that she was in want and in distress, he came forward
+promptly to relieve her. He furnished her with the funds necessary for
+her voyage, and provided a vessel to convey her and her attendants to
+the coast of France. She sailed from the port of Kirkcudbright, on the
+western coast of Scotland, and so passed down through the Irish Sea
+and St. George's Channel, thus avoiding altogether the Straits of
+Dover, where she would have incurred <span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250"></a>(p. 250)</span> danger of being
+intercepted by the English men-of-war.</p>
+
+<p>She took the young prince with her. The king it was thought best to
+leave behind.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1462.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Funds exhausted.</span>
+
+<p>So great were the number of persons dependent upon the queen, and so
+urgent were their necessities, that all the funds which the French
+merchant had furnished her were exhausted on her arrival in France.
+She found, moreover, that the three friends, the noblemen whom she had
+sent to France the summer before, and from whom she had received the
+letter we have quoted, had left that country and gone to Scotland to
+seek her. They had provided themselves with a vessel, in which they
+intended to take the queen away from Scotland and convey her to some
+place of safety, not knowing that she had herself embarked for France.
+They must have passed the queen's vessel on the way, unless, indeed,
+which is very probably the case, they went up the Channel and through
+the Straits of Dover, thus taking an altogether different route from
+that chosen by the queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Missed by her friends.</span>
+
+<p>When they reached Scotland they hovered on the coast a long time,
+endeavoring to find an opportunity to communicate with her secretly;
+but at length they learned that she was gone.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251"></a>(p. 251)</span> <span class="sidenote">She goes to France.</span>
+
+<p>In the mean time, Margaret, having arrived in France, borrowed some
+money of the Duke of Brittany, in whose dominions it would seem she
+first landed. With this money Margaret supplied the most pressing
+wants of her party, and also made arrangements for pursuing her
+journey into the country, to the town in Normandy where her cousin the
+king was then residing.</p>
+
+<a id="img017" name="img017"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img017.jpg" width="400" height="540" alt="" title="">
+<p>Louis XI., Margaret's Cousin.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Louis XI.</span>
+
+<p>It is said that, on arriving at the court of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252"></a>(p. 252)</span> king and
+obtaining admission to his majesty's presence, Margaret took the young
+prince by the hand, and, throwing herself down at her cousin's feet,
+she implored him, with many tears, to take pity upon her forlorn and
+wretched condition, and that of her unhappy husband, and to aid her in
+her efforts to recover his throne.</p>
+
+<p>But the king, with true royal heartlessness, was unmoved by her
+distress, and manifested no disposition to espouse her cause.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Negotiations.</span>
+
+<p>Some negotiations, however, ensued, at the close of which the king
+promised to loan her a sum of money&mdash;for a consideration. The
+consideration was that she was to convey to him the port and town of
+Calais, which was still held by the English, and was considered a very
+important and very valuable possession, or else pay back double the
+money which she borrowed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Mortgage of Calais.</span>
+
+<p>Thus it was not an absolute sale of Calais, but only a mortgage of it,
+which the queen executed. But, nevertheless, as soon as this
+transaction was made known in England, it excited great indignation
+throughout the country, and seriously injured the cause of the queen.
+The people accused her of being ready to alienate the possessions of
+the crown, possessions which it had cost so much both in blood and
+treasure to procure.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253"></a>(p. 253)</span> <span class="sidenote">Doubtful security.</span>
+
+<p>Of course, the security which the king obtained for his loan was of a
+somewhat doubtful character, for Margaret's mortgage deed of Calais,
+although she gave it in King Henry's name, and was careful to state in
+it that she was expressly authorized by him to make it, was of no
+force at all so long as Edward of York reigned in England, and was
+acknowledged by the people as the rightful king. It was only in the
+event of Margaret's succeeding in recovering the throne for her
+husband that the mortgage could take effect. The deed which she
+executed stipulated that, as soon as King Henry should be restored to
+his kingdom, he would appoint one of two persons named, in whom the
+King of France had confidence, as governor of the town, with authority
+to deliver it up to the King of France in one year in case she did not
+within that time pay back double the sum of money borrowed.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Conditions.</span>
+
+<p>He seemed to think that, considering the great risk he was taking, a
+hundred per cent per annum was not an exorbitant usury.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254"></a>(p. 254)</span> CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Return To England.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret finds a friend.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret found one friend in France, who seems to have espoused her
+cause from a sentiment of sincere and disinterested attachment to her.
+This was a certain knight named Pierre de Brezé.<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16" title="Go to footnote 16"><span class="small">[16]</span></a> He was an officer
+of high rank in the government of Normandy, and a man of very
+considerable influence among the distinguished personages of those
+times.</p>
+
+<a id="img018" name="img018"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img018.jpg" width="500" height="596" alt="" title="">
+<p>Map of the Scottish Border.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Account of Brezé.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">He enters the queen's service.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret had known him intimately many years before. He was appointed
+one of the commissioners on the French side to negotiate, with Suffolk
+and the others, the terms of Margaret's marriage, and he had taken a
+very prominent part in the tournaments and other celebrations which
+took place in honor of the wedding before Margaret left her native
+land. When he now saw the poor queen coming back to France an exile,
+bereft of friends, of resources, and almost of hope, the interest
+which he had felt for her in former years was revived. It is <span class="pagenum"><a id="page255" name="page255"></a>(p. 255)</span>
+said that he fell in love with her. However this may be, it is certain
+that Margaret's great beauty must have had a very important influence
+in deepening the sentiment of compassion which the misfortunes of the
+poor fugitive were so well calculated to inspire. At any rate, Brezé
+entered at once into the queen's service <span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256"></a>(p. 256)</span> with great
+enthusiasm. He brought with him a force of two thousand men. With this
+army, and with the money which she had borrowed of King Louis,
+Margaret resolved to make one more attempt to recover her husband's
+kingdom.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's plans.</span>
+
+<p>At length, in the month of October, 1462, five months after she
+arrived in France, she set sail with a small number of vessels,
+containing the soldiers that Brezé had provided for her. Her plan was
+to land in the north of England, for it was in that part of the
+country that the friends of the Lancaster line were most numerous and
+powerful.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She goes to England.</span>
+
+<p>King Edward's government knew something of her plans, or, at least,
+suspected them, and they stationed a fleet to watch for her and
+intercept her. She, however, contrived to elude them, and reached the
+shores of England in safety.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Hurried flight.</span>
+
+<p>The fleet approached the shore at Tynemouth, but the guns of the forts
+were pointed against her, and she was forbidden to land. She, however,
+succeeded, either at that place or at some other point along the
+coast, in effecting a debarkation; but she was threatened so soon with
+an attack by a large army which she heard was approaching, under the
+command of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>(p. 257)</span> Earl of Warwick, that the French troops fled
+precipitately to their ships, leaving Margaret, the prince, Brezé, and
+a few others who remained faithful to her, on shore. Being thus
+deserted, Margaret and her party were compelled to retreat too. They
+embarked on board a fisherman's boat, which was the only means of
+conveyance left to them, and in this manner made their way to Berwick,
+which town was in the possession of her friends.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A storm.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Ships wrecked.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Holy Island.</span>
+
+<p>They were long in reaching Berwick, being detained by a storm. The
+storm, however, caused Margaret a much greater injury than mere
+detention. The ships in which the French soldiers had fled were caught
+by it off a range of rocky cliffs lying between Tynemouth and Berwick,
+the most prominent of which is called Bamborough Head. The ships were
+driven upon the rocks and rocky islands which lay along the shore, and
+there broken to pieces by the sea which rolled in upon them from the
+offing. All the stores, and provisions, and munitions of war which
+Margaret had brought from France, and which constituted almost her
+sole reliance for carrying on the war, were lost. Most of the men
+saved themselves, and made their escape to an island that lay near,
+called Holy Island. But here they were soon afterward <span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>(p. 258)</span>
+attacked by a body of Yorkist troops and cut to pieces.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's escape.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret reached Berwick in her fishing-boat at last, bearing these
+terrible tidings to her friends there. One would suppose that the last
+hope of her being able to retrieve her fallen fortunes would now be
+extinguished, and that she would sink down in utter and absolute
+despair.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her spirit revives.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Battle of Hexham.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The king's escape.</span>
+
+<p>But it was not in Margaret's nature to despair. The more heavily the
+pressure of calamity and the hostility of her foes weighed upon her,
+the more fierce and determined was the spirit of resistance which they
+aroused in her bosom. In this instance, instead of yielding to
+dejection and despondency, she began at once to take measures for
+assembling a new force, and the ardor and energy which she displayed
+inspired all around her with some portion of her confidence and zeal.
+A new army was raised during the winter. Very early in the spring it
+took the field, and a series of military operations followed, in which
+towns and castles were taken and retaken, and skirmishes fought all
+along the Scottish frontier. At length the contending forces were
+concentrated near a place called Hexham, and a general battle ensued.
+The queen's army was defeated. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>(p. 259)</span> The king, who was in the
+battle, had a most narrow escape. He fled on horseback&mdash;for when he
+was in good bodily health he was an excellent horseman&mdash;but he was so
+hotly pursued that three of his body-guard were taken.</p>
+
+<p>It is mentioned that one of the men thus taken wore the king's cap of
+state, which was embroidered with two crowns of gold, one representing
+the kingdom of England and the other that of France, the title to
+which country the English sovereigns still pretended to claim, in
+virtue of their former extended possessions there, although pretty
+much all except the town of Calais was now lost.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the pursuers of the king's party were deceived by this royal
+cap, and took the wearer of it for the king. At any rate, the officer
+wearing the cap was taken, and the king escaped.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen's danger.</span>
+
+<p>Immediately after the victory on the field at Hexham, a body of the
+Yorkist troops broke into the camp where the queen was quartered, and
+where, with the young prince, she was awaiting the result of the
+battle. As soon as the queen found that the enemy were coming, she
+seized the prince and ran off with him, in mortal terror, into a
+neighboring wood. She <span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>(p. 260)</span> knew well that, if the child was
+taken, he would certainly be killed. Indeed, such bloody work had been
+made on both sides, with assassinations and executions during the year
+prior to this time, that men's minds were in the highest state of
+exasperation; and it is probable that both Margaret herself and the
+child would have been butchered on the spot if they had remained in
+the camp until the victorious troops entered it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Narrow escape.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her flight.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The robbers.</span>
+
+<p>As soon as Margaret gained the wood she turned off into the most
+obscure and solitary paths that she could find, thinking of nothing
+but to escape from her pursuers, who, she imagined in her fright, were
+close behind. At length, after wandering about in this manner for some
+time, she fell in with a company of men in the wood, who were either a
+regular band of robbers, or were tempted to become robbers on that
+occasion by the richness of the stranger's dress, and by the articles
+of jewelry and other decorations which she wore; for, although
+Margaret's means were extremely limited, she still maintained, in some
+degree, the bearing and the appointments of a queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An escape.</span>
+
+<p>The men at once stopped her, and began to plunder her and the prince
+of every thing which they could take from them that appeared to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>(p. 261)</span> of value. As soon as they had possessed themselves of this
+plunder they began to quarrel about it among themselves. Margaret
+remained standing near, in great anxiety and distress, until
+presently, watching her opportunity, she caught up the prince in her
+arms and slipped away into the adjoining thickets.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Alone in the woods.</span>
+
+<p>She ran forward as fast as she could go until she supposed herself out
+of the reach of pursuit from the robbers, and then looked for a place
+in the densest part of the wood where she could hide, with the
+intention of remaining there until night. Her plan was then to find
+her way out of the wood, and so wander on until she should come to the
+residence of some one of her friends, who she might hope would harbor
+and conceal her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Night.</span>
+
+<p>She accordingly continued in her hiding-place until evening came on,
+and then, having recovered in some degree, by this interval of rest,
+from the excitement, fatigue, and terror which she had endured, she
+came out into a path again, leading little Edward by the hand. The
+moon was shining, and this enabled her to see where to go.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A stranger appears.</span>
+
+<p>After wandering on for some time, she was alarmed by the apparition of
+a tall man, armed, who suddenly appeared in the pathway at a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>(p. 262)</span>
+short distance before her. She had no doubt that this was another
+robber. It was too late for her to attempt to fly from him. He was too
+near to allow her any chance of escape. In this extremity, she
+conceived the idea of throwing herself upon his generosity as her last
+and only hope. So she advanced boldly toward him, leading the little
+prince by the hand, and said to him, presenting the prince,</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's appeal to the stranger.</span>
+
+<p>"My friend, this is the son of your king! Save him!"</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The outlaw's cave.</span>
+
+<p>The man appeared astonished. In a moment he laid his sword down at
+Margaret's feet in token of submission to her, and then immediately
+offered to conduct her and the prince to a place of safety. He also
+explained to her that he was one of her friends. He had been ruined by
+the war, and driven from his home, and was now, like the queen
+herself, a wanderer and a fugitive. He had taken possession of a cave
+in the wood, and there he was now living with his wife as an outlaw.
+He led Margaret and the prince to the cave, where they were received
+by his wife, and entertained with such hospitalities as a home so
+gloomy and comfortless could afford.</p>
+
+<a id="img019" name="img019"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img019.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="" title="">
+<p>Margaret at the Cave.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Appearance of the cave.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret remained an inmate of this cave for two days. The place is
+known to this day <span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>(p. 265)</span> as Margaret's Cave. It stands in a very
+secluded spot on the banks of a small stream. The ground around it is
+now open, but in Margaret's time it was in the midst of the forest.
+The entrance to the cave is very low. Within, it is high enough for a
+man to stand upright. It is about thirty-four feet long, and half as
+wide. There are some appearances of its having been once divided by a
+wall into two separate apartments.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret concealed in it.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A friend found.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's anger turned to grief.</span>
+
+<p>For two days Margaret remained in the cave, suffering, of course, the
+extreme of suspense and anxiety all the time, being in great
+solicitude to hear from her friends, the nobles and generals who had
+been defeated with her in the battle. Her host made diligent though
+secret inquiries, but could gain no tidings. At length, on the morning
+of the third day, to Margaret's infinite relief and joy, he came in
+bringing with him De Brezé himself, with his squire, whose name was
+Barville, and an English gentleman who had escaped with De Brezé from
+the battle, and had since been wandering about with him, looking every
+where for the queen. Margaret was for the moment overjoyed to see
+these friends again, but her exultation was soon succeeded by the
+deepest grief at hearing the terrible accounts they gave of the death
+of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>(p. 266)</span> her nearest friends, some of whom had been killed in the
+battle, and others had been taken prisoners and cruelly executed
+immediately afterward. Up to this time, through all the danger and
+suffering which she had endured since the battle, she had been either
+in a state of stupor, or else filled with resentment and rage against
+her enemies, and she had not shed a tear; but now grief for the loss
+of these dear and faithful friends seemed to take the place of all
+other emotions, and she wept a long time as if her heart would break.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret learned, however, from her friends that the king had made his
+escape, and was probably in a place of safety, and this gave her great
+consolation. It was thought that the king had succeeded in making his
+way to Scotland.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">They leave the cave.</span>
+
+<p>In the course of the day, one of the party who came with Brezé went
+out into the neighboring villages to see if he could learn any new
+tidings, and before long he returned bringing with him several nobles
+of high rank and princes of the Lancastrian line. Margaret felt much
+relieved to find her party so strengthened, and arrangements were soon
+made by the whole party for Margaret to leave the cave with them, and
+endeavor to reach the Scottish <span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>(p. 267)</span> frontier, which was not much
+more, in a direct line, than thirty miles from where they were.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Generosity of the outlaw.</span>
+
+<p>Before they departed from the cave Margaret expressed her thanks very
+earnestly to the outlaw and his wife for their kindness in receiving
+her and the little prince into their cave, and in doing so much for
+their comfort while there, although by so doing they not only
+encroached very much upon their own slender means of support, but also
+incurred a very serious risk in harboring such a fugitive. Having been
+plundered of every thing by the robbers in the wood, she had nothing
+but thanks to return to her kind protectors. The nobles who were now
+with her offered the wife of the outlaw some money&mdash;for they had still
+a small supply of money left&mdash;but she would not receive it. They would
+require all they had, she said, for themselves, before they reached
+Scotland.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The queen's gratitude.</span>
+
+<p>The queen was much moved by this generosity, and she said that of all
+that she had lost there was nothing that she regretted so much as the
+power of rewarding such goodness.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The journey.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The journey to Kirkcudbright.</span>
+
+<p>On leaving the wood at Hexham, the party, instead of proceeding north,
+directly toward the frontier of Scotland, concluded to journey
+westward to Carlisle, intending to take passage by <span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>(p. 268)</span> water
+from that place through Solway to Kirkcudbright, the port from which
+Margaret had sailed when she went to France.<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17" title="Go to footnote 17"><span class="small">[17]</span></a> They were obliged to
+use a great many precautions in traversing the country to prevent
+being discovered. The party consisted of Margaret and the young
+prince, attended by Brezé and his squire, and also by the man of the
+cave, who was acquainted with the country, and acted as guide. They
+reached Carlisle in safety, and there embarked on board a vessel,
+which took them down the Firth and landed them in Kirkcudbright.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her anxiety.</span>
+
+<p>Though now out of England, Margaret did not feel much more at ease
+than before, for during her absence in France a treaty had been made
+between King Edward and the Scottish king which would prevent the
+latter from openly harboring her in his dominions; so she was obliged
+to keep closely concealed.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>(p. 269)</span> CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Years of Exile.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">They are discovered.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An abduction.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret had not been long in Kirkcudbright before she was
+accidentally seen by a man who knew her. This man was an Englishman.
+His name was Cork. He was of the Yorkist party. He said nothing when
+he saw the queen, but he immediately formed the resolution to seize
+her and all her party, and to convey them to England and give them up
+to King Edward. He contrived some way to carry this plot into
+execution. He seized de Brezé and his squire, and also the queen and
+the prince, and carried them on board a boat in the night, having
+first bound and gagged them, to disable them from making resistance or
+uttering any cries. It seems that De Brezé was not with the queen when
+he was taken, and as it was dark when they were put on board the boat,
+and neither could speak, neither party knew that the others were there
+until the morning, when they were far away from the shore, out in the
+wide part of the Solway Bay.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">De Brezé's exploit.</span>
+
+<p>In the night, however, De Brezé, who was a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>(p. 270)</span> man of address
+and of great personal strength, as well as of undaunted bravery,
+contrived to get free from his bonds, and also to free his squire,
+without letting the boatmen know what he had done. Then, in the
+morning, watching for a good opportunity, they together rose upon the
+boatmen, seized the oars, and, after a violent struggle, in which they
+came very near upsetting the boat, they finally succeeded in killing
+some of the men, and in throwing the others overboard. They
+immediately liberated Margaret and the prince, and then attempted to
+make for the shore.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Tossed about in Solway Firth.</span>
+
+<p>After having been tossed about for some time in the Gulf or Firth of
+Solway, the boat was carried by the wind away up through the North
+Channel more than sixty miles, and finally was thrown upon a sand-bank
+near the coast of Cantyre, a famous promontory extending into the sea
+in this part of Scotland. The boat struck at some distance from the
+dry land, and the sea rolled in so heavily upon it that there was
+danger of its being broken to pieces; so De Brezé took the queen upon
+his shoulders, and, wading through the water, conveyed her to the
+shore. Barville, the squire, carried the prince in the same way. And
+so they were once more safe on land.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>(p. 271)</span> <span class="sidenote">They land in Scotland.</span>
+
+<p>They found the coast wild and barren, and the country desolate; but
+this was attended with one advantage at least, and that was that the
+queen was in little danger of being recognized; for, as one of
+Margaret's historians expresses it, the peasants were so ignorant that
+they could not conceive of any one's being a queen unless she had a
+crown upon her head and a sceptre in her hand.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Arrival at the hamlet.</span>
+
+<p>They all went up a little way into the country, and at length found a
+small hamlet, where Margaret concluded to remain with the prince until
+De Brezé could go to Edinburgh and learn what the condition of the
+country was, and so enable her to consider what course to pursue.</p>
+
+<p>The report which De Brezé brought back on his return was very
+discouraging. Margaret, however, on hearing it, determined to go to
+Edinburgh herself, to see what she could do. She found, on her arrival
+there, that the government were not willing to do any thing more for
+her. They would furnish her with the means, they said, if she wished,
+of going back to England in a quiet way, with a view of seeking refuge
+among some of her friends there, but that was all that they could do.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret reaches Bamborough.</span>
+
+<p>So Margaret went back to England, and remained for some little time in
+the great castle <span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>(p. 272)</span> of Bamborough, which was still in the hands
+of her friends. She tried here to contrive some way of reassembling
+her scattered adherents and making a new rally, but she found that
+that object could not be accomplished. Thus all the resources which
+could be furnished by France, Scotland, or England for her failing
+cause seemed to be exhausted, and, after turning her eyes in every
+direction for help, she concluded to cross the German Ocean into
+Flanders, to see if she could find any sympathy or succor there.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She sails for Flanders.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A storm.</span>
+
+<p>Compared with the number of attendants that were with her in her
+flight into Scotland, the retinue of friends and followers by which
+she was accompanied in this retreat to the Continent was quite large,
+though it is probable that most of this company went with her quite as
+much on their own account as on the queen's. The whole party numbered
+about two hundred. They embarked from Bamborough on board two ships,
+but very soon after they had left the land a storm arose, and the two
+ships were separated from each other, and for twelve hours the one
+which Margaret and the prince had taken was in imminent danger of
+being overwhelmed. The wind rose to a perfect hurricane, and no one
+expected that they could possibly escape.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273"></a>(p. 273)</span> <span class="sidenote">The Duke of Burgundy.</span>
+
+<p>At length, however, the gale subsided so as to allow the ship to make
+a port; not the port of their destination, however, but one far to the
+southward of it, in a territory belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy,
+between whom and Margaret there had been, during all Margaret's life,
+a hereditary and implacable enmity. Margaret was greatly alarmed at
+finding herself thus at the mercy of a person whom she considered as
+one of her deadliest foes.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Generosity of the duke.</span>
+
+<p>But, very much to her surprise, the duke, as soon as he heard of her
+arrival in the country, took pity on her misfortunes, forgot all his
+former enmity, and treated her in the most generous manner. He was not
+at Lille, his capital, when she arrived, but he sent his son to
+receive her, and to conduct her to the capital, with every possible
+mark of respect. When she went on afterward to meet the duke, he sent
+a guard of honor to escort her, and when she arrived at his court,
+which was at that time at a place called St. Pol, he received her in a
+very distinguished manner, and prepared great entertainments and
+festivities to do her honor.</p>
+
+<p>He rendered her, also, still more substantial services than these, by
+furnishing her with an ample supply of funds for all her immediate
+wants. He gave to each of the ladies in her <span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274"></a>(p. 274)</span> train a hundred
+crowns, to Brezé a thousand, and to Margaret herself an order on his
+treasurer for ten thousand.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">René's gratitude.</span>
+
+<p>King René, Margaret's father, was very much touched with this
+generosity and kindness on the part of his old family enemy. He
+himself, at that time, was wholly destitute, and unable to do any
+thing for his daughter's relief. He, however, wrote a letter of warm
+thanks to Philip, in which he declared that he had not merited and did
+not expect such kindness at his hands.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A rare example.</span>
+
+<p>We have, in the conduct of the Duke of Burgundy on this occasion, one
+single and solitary example, among all the Christian knights, and
+nobles, and princes that figure in this long and melancholy story of
+contention, cruelty, and crime, in which the Savior's rule, Forgive
+your enemies, do good to them that hate you, was cordially obeyed; and
+what happy fruits immediately resulted to all concerned! How much of
+all the vast amount of bloodshed and suffering which prevailed during
+these gloomy times would have been prevented, if those who professed
+to be followers of Christ had been really what they pretended.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret goes to Lorraine.</span>
+
+<p>With the money which Margaret obtained from the Duke of Burgundy she
+was enabled <span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275"></a>(p. 275)</span> to continue her journey in some tolerable degree
+of comfort to the old home of her childhood in Lorraine. All that her
+father could do for her was to furnish her a humble place of refuge in
+a castle at Verdun, on the River Moselle, which flows through the
+province. She went there, attended with a small number of followers,
+and here she remained, in utter seclusion from the world, and almost
+forgotten, for seven long years.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The prince.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Bad news from the king.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His life spared.</span>
+
+<p>During all this time she enjoyed the comfort and satisfaction of
+having her son, the prince, with her, and of watching his progress to
+manhood under her own personal charge and that of one or two
+accomplished men who still adhered to her, and who aided her in the
+education of her boy. She was, however, hopelessly separated from her
+husband. For a long time she did not know what had become of him.
+During this time he was leading a very precarious and wandering life
+in England, going from one hiding-place to another, wherever his
+friends could most conveniently secrete him. At length, however, the
+heavy tidings came to the queen, in her retreat at Verdun, that her
+husband had been betrayed in one of his retreats, and had been seized
+and carried to London as a prisoner in a very ignominious manner.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page276" name="page276"></a>(p. 276)</span> It was to have been expected that he would be immediately
+put to death; but, as a matter of policy, the York party thought it
+not best to proceed to that extremity, especially as all his kingly
+right would have immediately descended to his son, in whose hands,
+with such a mother to aid him, they would have become more formidable
+than ever. Thus, on many accounts, it was better for his enemies to
+allow the old king to live.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Cruelties.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Men tortured.</span>
+
+<p>But very special precautions were taken by King Edward's government to
+prevent Margaret and the young prince from coming into England again.
+A coast guard was set all along the shore, and every one in England
+who was suspected of being in communication with the exiled queen was
+watched and guarded in the closest manner possible. Some were tortured
+and put to death in the attempt to force them to give up letters or
+papers supposed to be in their possession. A certain wealthy merchant
+of London was accused of treason, and very severely punished, simply
+because he had been asked to loan money to Margaret, and, though he
+refused to make the loan, did not inform the authorities of the
+application which had been made to him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great fidelity.</span>
+
+<p>Among other examples of the shocking cruelty <span class="pagenum"><a id="page277" name="page277"></a>(p. 277)</span> of which those
+in power were guilty, in their hatred of Margaret and her cause, it is
+said that one man, who was found out, as they thought, in an attempt
+to convey letters to and fro between Margaret and some of her friends
+in England, was torn to pieces with red-hot pincers in a fruitless
+attempt to make him confess who the persons were in England for whom
+the letters were intended. But he bore the torture to the end, and
+died without betraying the secret.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page278" name="page278"></a>(p. 278)</span> CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">The Reconciliation with Warwick.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1469.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great news.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Revolt of Warwick.</span>
+
+<p>In the fall of 1469, Margaret's mind was aroused to new life and
+excitement by news which came from England that great opposition had
+gradually grown up in the realm against the government of Edward, that
+many of his best friends had forsaken him, and that the friends and
+partisans of the Lancaster line were increasing in strength and
+courage to such a degree as to make it probable that the time was
+drawing nigh when Henry might be restored to the throne. The most
+important circumstance connected with the change which had taken place
+was that the great Earl of Warwick, who had been the most efficient
+and powerful supporter of the house of York, and the most determined
+enemy of Margaret and Henry during the whole war, had now abandoned
+Edward, and had come to France, and was ready to throw all the weight
+of his power and influence on the other side.<a id="footnotetag18" name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18" title="Go to footnote 18"><span class="small">[18]</span></a></p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page279" name="page279"></a>(p. 279)</span> <span class="sidenote">Excitement.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret sent for.</span>
+
+<p>Of course, these tidings produced a great excitement all over France.
+King Louis XI. was specially interested in them, as they afforded a
+hope that Margaret might regain her throne, and so be able to redeem
+her mortgage, or else deliver up to him the security; so he called a
+council at Tours to consider what was best to be done, and he sent for
+Margaret at Verdun to come with the prince and attend it. He also sent
+for René, her father, and other influential family friends. It is said
+that when Margaret arrived and met her father, she was so much
+agitated by the news, and by the hopes which it awakened in her bosom,
+that, in embracing him, she burst into tears from the excess of her
+excitement and joy.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Reconciliation with Warwick proposed.</span>
+
+<p>But she could not endure the idea of a reconciliation with Warwick. At
+first she positively refused to see or to speak to him. When, however,
+at length he arrived at Tours, the king introduced him into Margaret's
+presence, but for a long time she refused to have any thing to do with
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"She could never forgive him," she said. "He had been the chief author
+of the downfall of her husband, and of all the sorrows and calamities
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page280" name="page280"></a>(p. 280)</span> which had since befallen her and her son.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's objections.</span>
+
+<p>"Besides," she said, "even if she were willing to forgive him for the
+intolerable wrongs which he had inflicted upon her, it would be very
+prejudicial to her husband's cause to enter into any agreement or
+alliance with him whatever; for all her party and friends in England,
+whom Warwick had done so much to injure, and who had so long looked
+upon him as their worst and deadliest foe, would be wholly alienated
+from her if they were to know that she had taken him into favor, and
+thus she would lose much more than she would gain."</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Warwick's arguments.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">His promises.</span>
+
+<p>Warwick replied to this as well as he could, pleading the injuries
+which he had himself received from the Lancaster party as an excuse
+for his hostility against them. Then, moreover, he had been the means
+of unsettling King Edward in his realm, and of preparing the way for
+King Henry to return; and he promised that, if Margaret would receive
+him into her service, he would thenceforth be true and faithful to her
+as long as he lived, and be as much King Edward's foe as he had
+hitherto been his friend. He appealed, moreover, to the King of France
+to be his surety that he would faithfully perform these stipulations.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page281" name="page281"></a>(p. 281)</span> <span class="sidenote">King Louis intercedes.</span>
+
+<p>The King of France said that he would be his surety, and he begged
+that Margaret would pardon Warwick, and receive him into favor for
+<span class="italic">his</span> sake, and for the great love that he, the king, bore to him. He
+would do more for him, he added, than for any man living.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret at last allowed herself to be persuaded, and Warwick was
+forgiven.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">A new proposal.</span>
+
+<p>There were several other great nobles, who had come over with Warwick,
+that were received into Margaret's favor at the same time, and, when
+the grand reconciliation was completely effected, the whole party set
+out together to go down the Loire to Angers, where the Countess of
+Warwick, the earl's wife, and his youngest daughter, Anne, were
+awaiting them. The countess and Anne were presented to the queen, and
+a short time afterward Louis ventured to propose a marriage between
+Anne and Prince Edward.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's indignation.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret received this proposal with astonishment, and rejected it
+with scorn. She said she could see neither honor nor profit in it,
+either for herself or for her son. But at length, after a fortnight
+had been spent in reasoning with her on the advantages of the
+connection, and the aid which she would derive from such an alliance
+with Warwick in endeavoring to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page282" name="page282"></a>(p. 282)</span> recover her husband's
+kingdom, she finally yielded. She was influenced at last, in coming to
+this decision, by the advice of her father, who counseled her to
+consent to the match.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The match finally agreed upon.</span>
+
+<p>The parties united in a grand religious ceremony in the cathedral
+church of Angers to seal and ratify the covenants and agreements by
+which they were now to be bound.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The true cross.</span>
+
+<p>There was a fragment of the true cross, so supposed, among the relics
+in the cathedral, and this was an object of such veneration that an
+oath taken upon it was considered as imposing an obligation of the
+highest sanctity. Each of the three great parties took an oath, in
+turn, upon this holy emblem.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Oaths taken.</span>
+
+<p>First, the Earl of Warwick swore that he would, without change, always
+hold to the party of King Henry, and serve him, the queen, and the
+prince, as a true and faithful subject ought to serve his sovereign
+lord.</p>
+
+<p>Next, the King of France swore that he would help and sustain, to the
+utmost of his power, the Earl of Warwick in the quarrel of King Henry.</p>
+
+<p>And, finally, Queen Margaret swore to treat the earl as true and
+faithful to King Henry and the prince, and "for his deeds past never
+to make him any reproach."</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page283" name="page283"></a>(p. 283)</span> <span class="sidenote">1470.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The betrothal.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Conditions.</span>
+
+<p>It was furthermore agreed at this time that Anne, the Earl of
+Warwick's daughter, who was betrothed to the prince, should be
+delivered to Queen Margaret, and should remain under her charge until
+the marriage should be consummated. But this was not to take place
+until the Earl of Warwick had been into England and had recovered the
+realm, or the greater portion of it at least, and restored it to King
+Henry. Thus the consummation of the marriage was to depend upon
+Warwick's success in restoring Henry his crown.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Ceremony.</span>
+
+<p>Still, a sort of marriage ceremony, or, more strictly, a ceremony of
+betrothal, was celebrated at Angers between the prince and his
+affianced bride a few days afterward, with great parade, and then
+Warwick, leaving his countess and his daughter behind with Margaret,
+set out for England with a troop of two thousand men which Louis had
+furnished him.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret sets out for Paris.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Reception in Paris.</span>
+
+<p>After Warwick had gone, Margaret remained at Angers for some weeks,
+and then set out for Paris, escorted by a guard of honor. Her party
+arrived at the capital in November, and Margaret, by Louis's orders,
+was received with all the ceremonies and marks of distinction due to a
+queen. The streets through which she passed were hung with tapestry,
+and ornamented <span class="pagenum"><a id="page284" name="page284"></a>(p. 284)</span> with flags and banners, and with every other
+suitable decoration. The people came out in throngs to see the grand
+procession pass; for, in addition to the guard of honor which had
+conducted the party to the capital, all the great public functionaries
+and high officials joined in the procession at the gates, and
+accompanied it through the city, thus forming a grand and imposing
+spectacle.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Good news received.</span>
+
+<p>Queen Margaret and her party were in this way conducted to the palace,
+and lodged there in great splendor. Their hearts were gladdened, too,
+on their arrival, by receiving the news that Warwick had landed in
+England, and had been completely successful in his undertaking. King
+Edward was deposed, and King Henry had been released from his
+imprisonment in the Tower and placed upon the throne.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret, of course, at once determined that she would immediately
+make preparations for returning to England.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page285" name="page285"></a>(p. 285)</span> CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Bitter Disappointment.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Preparations for going to England.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Harfleur.</span>
+
+<p>The preparations which were required for Margaret and her company to
+return to England in suitable state seem to have consumed several
+months; for, although it was as early as November that the great
+entrance into Paris took place, and the news of Henry's restoration
+was received, it was not until February that the royal party were
+ready to embark. There were negotiations to be made, and men to be
+enlisted, and ships to be procured, and funds to be provided, and
+appointments to be decided upon, and dresses to be made, and a
+thousand questions of precedence and etiquette to be considered and
+arranged. At length, however, all was ready, and the whole company
+proceeded together to the port which had been selected as the place of
+embarkation. This port was Harfleur. Harfleur is situated on the coast
+of Normandy, near the more modern port of Havre.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Wind contrary.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Supposed witchcraft.</span>
+
+<p>When the time arrived for sailing, the weather looked very
+unfavorable; but Margaret, who <span class="pagenum"><a id="page286" name="page286"></a>(p. 286)</span> had become weary with the
+delays by which her return had been so long postponed, and was very
+impatient to arrive in her own dominions again, ordered the ships to
+put to sea. Three times did they make the attempt, and three times
+were the ships driven back into port again. Many of her friends were
+greatly discouraged by these failures. Some said they thought that
+this continued resistance of the elements to her plans ought to be
+regarded as an indication of divine Providence that she was not to go
+to England at present, and they begged her to defer the attempt.
+Others thought that the contrary winds were raised by witches, and
+they began to devise measures for finding out who the witches were.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Large company.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Army to be embarked.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's fears.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret paid no attention to either of these suggestions, but
+persisted in her determination to sail the moment that the weather
+should allow. This delay was a source of great inconvenience to her,
+and it occasioned a good deal of expense; for, besides her own
+personal officers and attendants, Margaret had collected quite a large
+body of soldiers to cross the Channel with her, in order to re-enforce
+the armies of Warwick and of Henry. This was quite necessary; for,
+although Henry had been nominally restored to the throne, his enemies
+were <span class="pagenum"><a id="page287" name="page287"></a>(p. 287)</span> yet in the field in considerable force, and Margaret
+was very desirous of bringing with her the means of helping to put
+them down. Indeed, she knew that the situation of her husband was
+extremely precarious, and that the fortune of war might at any time
+turn against him. And this consideration made her extremely impatient
+at the delay occasioned by the weather at Harfleur. She did not know
+but that the king might even then be engaged in close conflict with
+his foes, and likely to be overwhelmed by them, and that her force, by
+being so long delayed, would arrive too late to save him.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for poor Margaret! It was, indeed, exactly so.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Countess of Warwick.</span>
+
+<p>It was not until the 24th of March that it was possible to leave the
+port; but then, although the weather was by no means settled, the
+queen determined to wait no longer. The Countess of Warwick, who had
+been left in France when the earl her husband went to England, sailed
+from Harfleur at the same time with the queen, though in a different
+vessel. Her daughter, however, the prince regent's bride elect, went
+with the queen.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Arrival in England.</span>
+
+<p>The weather continued very boisterous after the fleet sailed, and as
+the gales which blew so <span class="pagenum"><a id="page288" name="page288"></a>(p. 288)</span> heavily were from the north, the
+ships could make very little progress. They were kept beating about in
+the Channel, or lying at anchor waiting for a change of wind, for more
+than a fortnight. During all this time Margaret was kept in a perfect
+fever of impatience and anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>At length, about the 10th of April, they reached the land at Weymouth.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The landing.</span>
+
+<p>After the ships entered the port, the space of a day or two was
+occupied in making preparations to land. Among these preparations was
+included the work of arranging apartments at an abbey in the vicinity
+of Weymouth to receive the queen and her attendants. In the mean time,
+the landing of the troops was pushed forward as rapidly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The ship in which the Countess of Warwick embarked had sailed in a
+different direction from Margaret's fleet, and it was not known yet
+what had become of her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">News of a battle.</span>
+
+<p>When at last the preparations were completed, the queen and her party
+went on shore and took up their abode in the abbey. Margaret's mind
+was intensely occupied with the arrangements necessary for marshaling
+her troops and getting them ready to march to the assistance of
+Warwick, when, to her amazement and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page289" name="page289"></a>(p. 289)</span> consternation, she
+received news, on the very next day after she took up her abode in the
+abbey, that the party of King Edward had mustered in great force and
+advanced toward London, and that a battle had been fought at a place
+called Barnet, a few miles from London, in which Edward's party had
+been completely victorious.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Warwick killed.</span>
+
+<p>The Earl of Warwick had been killed. King Henry her husband had been
+taken prisoner, and their cause seemed to be wholly lost.</p>
+
+<a id="img020" name="img020"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img020.jpg" width="400" height="415" alt="" title="">
+<p>Death of Warwick.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page290" name="page290"></a>(p. 290)</span> <span class="sidenote">1471.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Manner of Warwick's death.</span>
+
+<p>Warwick had gone into the battle on foot, in order the more
+effectually to stimulate the emulation of his men, so that when, in
+the end, his forces were defeated, and fled, he himself, being
+encumbered by his armor, could not save himself, but was overtaken by
+his remorseless enemies and slain.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's despair.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Imminent danger.</span>
+
+<p>The terrible agitation and anguish that this news excited in the mind
+of the queen it would be impossible to describe. She fell at first
+into a swoon, and when at length her senses returned, she was so
+completely overwhelmed with disappointment, vexation, and rage, and
+talked so wildly and incoherently, that her friends almost feared that
+she would lose her reason. Her son, the young prince, who was now
+nearly nineteen years of age, did all in his power to soothe and calm
+her, and at length so far succeeded as to induce her to consider what
+was to be done to secure her own and his safety. To remain where they
+were was to expose themselves to be attacked at any time by a body of
+Edward's victorious troops and conveyed prisoner to the Tower.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She seeks security.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The Countess of Warwick.</span>
+
+<p>There was another abbey at not a great distance from where Margaret
+now was, which was endowed with certain privileges as a sanctuary,
+such that persons seeking refuge there <span class="pagenum"><a id="page291" name="page291"></a>(p. 291)</span> under certain
+circumstances could not be taken away. The name of this retreat was
+Beaulieu Abbey. Margaret immediately proceeded across the country to
+this place, taking with her the prince and nearly all the others of
+her party. Either on her arrival here, or on the way, she met the
+Countess of Warwick, who, it will be recollected, had left Harfleur at
+the same time that she did. The countess's ship had been driven
+farther to the eastward, and she had finally landed at Portsmouth.
+Here she too had learned the news of the battle of Barnet and of the
+death of her husband, and, being completely overwhelmed with the
+tidings, and also alarmed for her own safety, she had determined to
+fly for refuge to Beaulieu Abbey too.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Great reverse of fortune.</span>
+
+<p>The two unhappy ladies, who had parted, three weeks before, on the
+coast of France with such high and excellent expectations, now met,
+both plunged in the deepest and most over whelming sorrow. Their hopes
+were blasted, all their bright prospects were destroyed, and they
+found themselves in the condition of helpless and wretched fugitives,
+dependent upon a religious sanctuary for the hope of even saving their
+lives.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page292" name="page292"></a>(p. 292)</span> CHAPTER XXIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Childless, and a Widow.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret found by friends.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret did not trust entirely for her safety to the sacredness of
+the sanctuary where she had sought refuge. She endeavored, by all the
+means in her power, to keep the place of her retreat secret from all
+but her chosen and most trustworthy friends. Very soon, however, she
+was visited by some of these, especially by some young nobles, who
+came to her exasperated, and all on fire with rage and resentment, on
+account of the death of their friends and relatives, who had been
+slain in the battle.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her sad condition.</span>
+
+<p>They found Margaret, however, in a state of mind very different from
+their own. She was beginning to be discouraged. The long-continued and
+bitter experience of failure and disappointment, which had now, for so
+many years, been her constant lot, seemed at last to have had power to
+undermine and destroy even <span class="italic">her</span> resolution and energy. Her friends,
+when they came to see her, found her plunged in a sort of stupor of
+wretchedness and despair <span class="pagenum"><a id="page293" name="page293"></a>(p. 293)</span> from which they found it difficult
+to rouse her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her friends encourage her.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Little success.</span>
+
+<p>And when, at length, they succeeded in so far awakening her from her
+despondency as to induce her to take some interest in their
+consultations, her only feeling for the time being seemed to be
+anxiety for the safety of her son. She begged and implored them to
+take some measures to protect <span class="italic">him</span>. They endeavored to convince her
+that her situation was not so desperate as she imagined. They had
+still a powerful force, they said, on their side. That force was now
+rallying and reassembling, and, with her presence and that of the
+young prince at their head-quarters, the numbers and enthusiasm of
+their troops would be very rapidly increased, and there was great hope
+that they might soon be able again to meet the enemy under more
+favorable auspices than ever.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her wishes.</span>
+
+<p>But the queen seemed very unwilling to accede to their views. It was
+of no use, she said, to make any farther effort. They were not strong
+enough to meet their enemies in battle, and nothing but fresh
+disasters would result from making the attempt. There was nothing to
+be done but for herself and the young prince, with as many others as
+were disposed to share her fortunes, to return as soon as possible to
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page294" name="page294"></a>(p. 294)</span> France, and there to remain and wait for better times.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The young prince.</span>
+
+<p>But the young prince was not willing to adopt this plan. He was young,
+and full of confidence and hope, and he joined the nobles in urging
+his mother to consent to take the field. His influence prevailed; and
+Margaret, though with great reluctance and many forebodings, finally
+yielded.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An army collected.</span>
+
+<p>So she left the sanctuary, and, with the prince, was escorted secretly
+to the northward, in order to join the army there. The western
+counties of England, those lying on the borders of Wales, had long
+been very favorable to Henry's cause, and when the people learned that
+the queen and the young prince were there, they came out in great
+numbers, as the nobles had predicted, to join her standard. In a short
+time a large army was ready to take the field.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">To Bath.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret was at this time at Bath. She soon heard that King Edward was
+coming against her from London with a large army. Her own forces, she
+thought, were not yet strong enough to meet him; so she formed the
+plan of crossing the Severn into Wales, and waiting there until she
+should have a larger force concentrated.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">To Bristol.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Endeavors to cross the river.</span>
+
+<p>Accordingly, from Bath she went down to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page295" name="page295"></a>(p. 295)</span> Bristol, which, as
+will be seen from the map, is on the banks of the Severn, at a place
+where the river is very wide. She could not cross here, the lowest
+bridge on the river being at Gloucester, thirty or forty miles farther
+up; so she moved up to Gloucester, intending to cross there. But she
+found the bridge fortified, and in the possession of an officer under
+the orders of the Duke of Gloucester, who was a partisan of King
+Edward, and he refused to allow the queen to pass without an order
+from his master.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Arrival of Edward.</span>
+
+<p>It seemed not expedient to attempt to force the bridge, and,
+accordingly, Margaret and her party went on up the river in order to
+find some other place to cross into Wales. She was very much excited
+on this journey, and suffered great anxiety, for the army of King
+Edward was advancing rapidly, and there was danger that she would be
+intercepted and her retreat cut off; so she pressed forward with the
+utmost diligence, and at length, after having marched thirty-seven
+miles in one day with her troops, she arrived at Tewkesbury, a town
+situated about midway between Gloucester and Worcester. When she
+arrived there, she found that Edward had arrived already within a mile
+of the place, at the head of a great army, and was ready for battle.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page296" name="page296"></a>(p. 296)</span> <span class="sidenote">They make a stand.</span>
+
+<p>There was, however, now an opportunity for Margaret to cross the river
+and retire for a time into Wales, and she was herself extremely
+desirous of doing so, but the young nobles who were with her, and
+especially the Duke of Somerset, a violent and hot-headed young man,
+who acted as the leader of them, would not consent. He declared that
+he would retreat no farther.</p>
+
+<p>"We will make a stand here," said he, "and take such fortune as God
+may send us."</p>
+
+<p>So he pitched his camp in the park which lay upon the confines of the
+town, and threw up intrenchments. Many of the other leaders were
+strongly opposed to his plan of making a stand in this place, but
+Somerset was the chief in command, and he would have his way.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Battle of Tewkesbury.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Preparations for the fight.</span>
+
+<p>He, however, showed no disposition to shelter himself personally from
+any portion of the danger to which his friends and followers were to
+be exposed. He took command of the advanced guard. The young prince,
+supported by some other leaders of age and experience, was also to be
+placed in a responsible and important position. When all was ready,
+Margaret and the prince rode along the ranks, speaking words of
+encouragement to the troops, and promising large rewards to them in
+case they gained the victory.</p>
+
+<a id="img021" name="img021"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img021.jpg" width="500" height="377" alt="" title="">
+<p>Tewkesbury.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page299" name="page299"></a>(p. 299)</span> <span class="sidenote">Margaret's maternal anxiety.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret's heart was full of anxiety and agitation as the hour for the
+commencement of hostilities drew nigh. She had often before staked
+very dear and highly-valued friends in the field of battle, but now,
+for the first time, she was putting to hazard the life of her dearly
+beloved and only son. It was very much against her will that she was
+brought to incur this terrible danger. It was only the sternest
+necessity that compelled her to do it.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She witnesses the fight.</span>
+
+<p>When the battle began, Margaret withdrew to an elevation within the
+park, from which she could witness the progress of the fight. For some
+time her army remained on the defensive within their intrenchments,
+but at length Somerset, becoming impatient and impetuous, determined
+on making a sally and attacking the assailants in the open field.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Somerset.</span>
+
+<p>So, ordering the others to follow him, he issued forth from the lines.
+Some obeyed him, and others did not. After a while he returned within
+the lines again, apparently for the purpose of calling those who
+remained there to account for not obeying him. He found Lord Wenlock,
+one of the leaders, sitting upon his horse idle, as he said, in the
+town. He immediately denounced him as a traitor, and, riding up to
+him, cut him down with a blow from his battle-axe, which cleft his
+skull.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page300" name="page300"></a>(p. 300)</span> <span class="sidenote">Panic and flight.</span>
+
+<p>The men who were under Lord Wenlock's banner, seeing their leader thus
+mercilessly slain, immediately began to fly. Their flight caused a
+panic, which rapidly spread among all the other troops, and the whole
+field was soon in utter confusion.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret's terror.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She swoons.</span>
+
+<p>When Margaret saw this, and thought of the prince, exposed, as he was,
+to the most imminent danger in the defeat, she became almost frantic
+with excitement and terror. She insisted on rushing into the field to
+find and save her son. Those around found it almost impossible to
+restrain her. At length, in the struggle, her excitement and terror
+entirely overpowered her. She swooned away, and her attendants then
+bore her senseless to a carriage, and she was driven rapidly away out
+through one of the park gates, and thence by a by-road to a religious
+house near by, where it was thought she would be for the moment
+secure.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Capture of the prince.</span>
+
+<p>The poor prince was taken prisoner. He was conveyed, after the battle,
+to Edward's tent. The historians of the day relate the following story
+of the sad termination of his career.</p>
+
+<a id="img022" name="img022"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img022.jpg" width="500" height="291" alt="" title="">
+<p>The Murder of Prince Henry.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>When Edward, accompanied by his officers and the nobles in attendance
+upon him, covered with the blood and the dust of the conflict, and
+fierce and exultant under the excitement <span class="pagenum"><a id="page303" name="page303"></a>(p. 303)</span> of slaughter and
+victory, came into the tent, and saw the handsome young prince
+standing there in the hands of his captors, he was at first struck
+with the elegance of his appearance and his frank and manly bearing.
+He, however, accosted him fiercely by demanding what brought him to
+England. The prince replied fearlessly that he came to recover his
+father's crown and his own inheritance. Upon this, Edward threw his
+glove, a heavy iron gauntlet, in his face.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Death of the Prince of Wales.</span>
+
+<p>The men standing by took this as an indication of Edward's feelings
+and wishes in respect to his prisoner, and they fell upon him at once
+with their swords and murdered him upon the spot.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret receives the tidings.</span>
+
+<p>Margaret did not know what had become of her son until the following
+day. By that time King Edward had discovered the place of her retreat,
+and he sent a certain Sir William Stanley, who had always been one of
+her most inveterate enemies, to take her prisoner and bring her to
+him. It was this Stanley who, when he came, brought her the news of
+her son's death. He communicated the news to her, it was said, in an
+exultant manner, as if he was not only glad of the prince's death, but
+as if he rejoiced in having the opportunity of witnessing the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page304" name="page304"></a>(p. 304)</span> despair and grief with which the mother was overwhelmed in
+hearing the tidings.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She is borne to London.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her condition on the journey.</span>
+
+<p>Stanley conveyed the queen to Coventry, where King Edward then was,
+and placed her at his disposal. Edward was then going to London in a
+sort of triumphant march in honor of his victory, and he ordered that
+Stanley should take Margaret with him in his train. Anne of Warwick,
+her son's young bride, was taken to London too, at the same time and
+in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>During the whole of the journey Margaret was in a continued state of
+the highest excitement, being almost wild with grief and rage. She
+uttered continual maledictions against Edward for having murdered her
+boy, and nothing could soothe or quiet her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her last hope.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Murder of the king.</span>
+
+<p>It might be supposed that there would have been one source of comfort
+open to her during this dreadful journey in the thought that, in going
+to the Tower, which was now undoubtedly to be her destination, she
+should rejoin her husband, who had been for some time imprisoned
+there. But the hope of being thus once more united to almost the last
+object of affection that now remained to her upon earth, if Margaret
+really cherished it, was doomed to a bitter disappointment. The death
+of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page305" name="page305"></a>(p. 305)</span> young prince made it now an object of great
+importance to the reigning line that Henry himself should be put out
+of the way, and, on the very night of Margaret's arrival at the Tower,
+her husband was assassinated in the room which had so long been his
+prison.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Terrible reverse of fortune.</span>
+
+<p>Thus all Queen Margaret's bright hopes of happiness were, in two short
+months, completely and forever destroyed. At the close of the month of
+March she was the proud and happy queen of a monarch ruling over one
+of the most wealthy and powerful kingdoms on the globe, and the mother
+of a prince who was endowed with every personal grace and noble
+accomplishment, affianced to a high-born, beautiful, and immensely
+wealthy bride, and just entering what promised to be a long and
+glorious career. In May, just two months later, she was childless and
+a widow. Both her husband and her son were lying in bloody graves, and
+she herself, fallen from her throne, was shut up, a helpless captive,
+in a gloomy dungeon, with no prospect of deliverance before her to the
+end of her days. The annals even of royalty, filled as they are with
+examples of overwhelming calamity, can perhaps furnish no other
+instance of so total and terrible reverse of fortune as this.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+<h3><span class="pagenum"><a id="page306" name="page306"></a>(p. 306)</span> CHAPTER XXIV.</h3>
+
+<p class="chapter">Conclusion.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The body of King Henry.</span>
+
+<p>On the day following the assassination of Henry, the body was taken
+from the Tower and conveyed through the streets of London, with a
+strong escort of armed men to guard it, to the Church of St. Paul's,
+there to be publicly exhibited, as was customary on such occasions.
+Such an exhibition was more necessary than usual in this case, as the
+fact of Henry's death might, perhaps, have afterward been called in
+question, and designing men might have continued to agitate the
+country in his name, if there had not been the most positive proof
+furnished to the public that he was no more.</p>
+
+<a id="img023" name="img023"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img023.jpg" width="500" height="337" alt="" title="">
+<p>View of Chertsey.</p>
+</div>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Borne away on the river to Chertsey.</span>
+
+<p>The body remained lying thus during the day. When night came, it was
+taken away and carried down to Blackfriar's&mdash;a landing upon the river
+nearly opposite Saint Paul's. Here there was a boat lying ready to
+receive the hearse. It was lighted with torches, and the watermen were
+at their oars. The hearse was put on board, and the body was thus
+borne away, over the dark waters of the river, to the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page309" name="page309"></a>(p. 309)</span>
+lonely village of Chertsey, where it had been decided that he should
+be interred.</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret in confinement.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Wallingford.</span>
+
+<p>For some time after Henry's death Margaret was kept in close
+confinement in the Tower. At length, finding that every thing was
+quiet, and that the new government was becoming firmly established,
+the rigor of the unhappy captive's imprisonment was relaxed. She was
+removed first to Windsor, and afterward to Wallingford, a place in the
+interior of the country, where she enjoyed a considerable degree of
+personal freedom, though she was still very closely watched and
+guarded.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">She is ransomed.</span>
+
+<p>At length, about four years afterward, her father, King René,
+succeeded in obtaining her ransom for the sum of fifty thousand
+crowns. René was not the possessor of so much money himself, but he
+induced King Louis to pay it, on condition of his conveying to him his
+family domain.</p>
+
+<p>The ransom was to be paid in five annual installments, but on the
+payment of the first installment the queen was to be released and
+allowed to return to her native land. It was stipulated, too, that, as
+a condition of her release, she was formally and forever to renounce
+all the rights of every kind within the realm of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page310" name="page310"></a>(p. 310)</span> England to
+which she might have laid claim through her marriage with Henry. It
+might have been supposed that they would have required her to sign
+this renunciation before releasing her. But it was held by the law of
+England, then as now, that a signature made under durance was invalid,
+the signer not being free. So it was arranged that an English
+commissioner was to accompany her across the Channel, and go with her
+to Rouen, where he was to deliver her to the French embassadors, who,
+in the name of Louis, were to be responsible for her signing the
+document.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">1476.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The commissioner.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret crosses the Channel.</span>
+
+<p>This plan was carried into effect. Margaret set out from the castle of
+Wallingford under the care of a man on whom Edward's government could
+rely for keeping a close watch over her, and taking care that she went
+on quietly through England to the port of embarkation. This port was
+Sandwich. Here she embarked on board a vessel, with a retinue of three
+ladies and seven gentlemen, and bade a final farewell to the kingdom
+which she had entered on her bridal tour with such high and exultant
+expectations of grandeur and happiness.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">At Rouen.</span>
+
+<p>She arrived at Dieppe in the beginning of 1476, and proceeded
+immediately to Rouen, where the commissioner, who came to attend
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page311" name="page311"></a>(p. 311)</span> her, delivered her to the French embassadors appointed to
+receive her, and attend to the signing of the renunciation.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her renunciation.</span>
+
+<p>The document was written in Latin, but the import of it was as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+     I, Margaret, formerly in England married, renounce all that I
+     could pretend to in England, by the conditions of my marriage,
+     with all other things there, to Edward, now King of England.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Feelings with which she signed it.</span>
+
+<p>It cost Margaret no effort to sign this paper. With the death of her
+husband and her son all hope had been extinguished in her bosom, and
+life now possessed nothing that she desired. She signed this fatal
+document, renouncing not only all claims to be henceforth considered a
+queen, but all pretension that she had ever been one, with a passive
+indifference and unconcern which showed that her spirit was broken,
+and that the fires of pride and ambition which had burned so fiercely
+in her breast were now, at last, extinguished forever.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Ungenerousness of Louis.</span>
+
+<p>When the paper was signed Margaret was dismissed and left at liberty
+to go her own way to her native province of Anjou, where it was her
+intention to spend the remainder of her <span class="pagenum"><a id="page312" name="page312"></a>(p. 312)</span> days. Her plan was
+to pass by the way of Paris, in order to see once more her cousin,
+King Louis, who had treated her with so much consideration and honor
+when she was on her way to England with a fair prospect of finding her
+husband upon the throne. But the case was different now, Louis
+thought, and instead of receiving kindly her intimation that she was
+intending to visit Paris on her way home, he sent her word that she
+had better not come, and advised her instead to make the best of her
+way to her father in Anjou.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">An escort offered.</span>
+
+<p>He, however, as if to soften this incivility, sent an escort to
+accompany her in her journey home, but Margaret was so stung by her
+cousin's heartless abandonment of her in her distress that she
+resolved to accept no favor at his hands; so she refused the escort,
+and set out with her few personal companions alone.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Danger.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">English people in Normandy.</span>
+
+<p>This little blazing up of the old flames of pride and resentment in
+her heart came near, however, to costing Margaret her life, for she
+had not gone far on her journey before an emergency occurred in which
+an escort would have been of great service to her. It seems that when
+the English were driven out of Normandy, many families and some whole
+villages remained of people who were too poor to return. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page313" name="page313"></a>(p. 313)</span>
+These people were now in a very low and miserable condition. They
+mourned continually the hard necessity by which they had been left
+without friends or protection in a foreign land; and they understood,
+too, that the first beginning of the abandonment of their possessions
+in France by the English was the cession of certain provinces by the
+government of Henry VI. at the time of that monarch's marriage with
+Margaret of Anjou, and that all the subsequent misfortunes of their
+countrymen in France, by which, in the end, the whole country had been
+lost, had their origin in these transactions.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret at the inn.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Riot at the inn.</span>
+
+<p>Now it happened that Margaret, on her journey from Rouen to Anjou,
+stopped the first night at one of these villages. The people, seeing a
+party of strangers come to town, gathered round the inn at night from
+curiosity to learn who they might be. When they were informed that it
+was Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, who had been banished from
+the kingdom, and was now returning home, they were excited to the
+highest pitch of anger against her as the author of all their
+sufferings. They made a rush into the house to seize her, and, if they
+had been successful, they would doubtless have killed her upon the
+spot. But some of the gentlemen who were in her party defended
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page314" name="page314"></a>(p. 314)</span> her sword in hand, and kept the mob at bay until she gained
+her apartment. They guarded her there until they could send for the
+authorities, who came and dispersed the mob. Margaret immediately
+returned to Rouen, willing enough now to accept of an escort. A proper
+guard was provided for her, and under the protection of it she set out
+once more on her journey, and this time went on in safety.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Margaret arrives in Anjou.</span>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Her father.</span>
+
+<p>When Margaret at last reached her native country of Anjou, she was
+received very kindly by her father, and went to live with him in a
+castle called the castle of Reculée, situated about a league from
+Angers, the capital of the province.</p>
+
+<p>Here she remained about four years. It was a very pleasant place. The
+castle was situated upon the bank of a river, and yet in a commanding
+situation, which afforded a pretty view of the town. There was a
+beautiful garden attached to the castle, and a gallery of painting and
+sculpture. Her father, King René, was a painter himself, and he amused
+himself a great deal in painting pictures to add to his collection or
+to give to his friends.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Dreadful depression of spirits.</span>
+
+<p>But Margaret could take no interest in any of these things. Her mind
+was all the time filled with bitter recollections of the past, which,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page315" name="page315"></a>(p. 315)</span> even if she did not cling to and cherish them, she could not
+dispel. She dwelt continually upon thoughts of her husband and her
+child. She made ceaseless efforts to obtain possession of their
+bodies, in order that she might have them transported to Anjou, and,
+as she could not succeed in this, she paid annually a considerable sum
+to secure the services of priests to say masses over their graves in
+England, in order to secure the repose of their souls.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Its effects.</span>
+
+<p>Indeed, the anguish and agitation which continually reigned in her
+heart preyed upon her like a worm in the centre of a flower. "Her
+eyes, once so brilliant and expressive," says one of her historians,
+"became hollow and dim, and permanently inflamed from continual
+weeping." Indeed, the whole mass of her blood became corrupted, and a
+fearful disease affected her once beautiful skin, making her an object
+of commiseration to all who beheld her.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">Death of her father.</span>
+
+<p>She continued in this state until her father died. He, on his
+death-bed, committed her to the care of an old and faithful friend,
+who, after King René's decease, took her with him to his own castle of
+Damprierre, which was situated about twenty-five miles farther up the
+river.</p>
+
+<span class="sidenote">The closing scene.</span>
+
+<p>But, though Margaret was treated very kindly <span class="pagenum"><a id="page316" name="page316"></a>(p. 316)</span> by the friend
+to whom her father thus consigned her, she did not long survive this
+change. She died, and was buried in the cathedral at Angers, and for
+centuries afterward the ecclesiastics of the chapter, once every year,
+at the return of the proper anniversary, performed a solemn ceremony
+over her grave by walking round it with a slow and measured step,
+singing a hymn.<a href="#toc"><span class="small">[Back to Contents]</span></a></p>
+
+
+<p class="center font105">The End.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p4"><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 1:</strong> See <a href="#img002">map</a> at the commencement of the volume.<a href="#footnotetag1"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 2:</strong> The position of Nancy, as well as the situation of the
+two provinces of Anjou and Lorraine, which are now departments of
+France, may be seen by referring to any good map of that country, or
+to that at the commencement of this volume.<a href="#footnotetag2"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 3:</strong> The name was a contraction of Frederick.<a href="#footnotetag3"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 4:</strong> See <a href="#img001">Frontispiece</a>.<a href="#footnotetag4"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 5:</strong> See <a href="#img002">map</a>. The oldest son of the King of France and the
+heir to the crown is styled the Dauphin. His rank and position
+corresponds with that of the Prince of Wales in England.<a href="#footnotetag5"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 6:</strong> On page <a href="#page023">20</a>.<a href="#footnotetag6"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 7:</strong> That is, the fourth of the table. There were other
+children not mentioned here.<a href="#footnotetag7"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 8:</strong> The story of Lady Neville, and of her connection with the
+great political transactions in which Margaret of Anjou was engaged at
+this time, though it is in all probability to be considered as a
+romance, is not an invention of the compiler of this narrative. It is
+interwoven with the history of Margaret of Anjou precisely as it is
+given here, by one of her most ancient and most oft-quoted
+biographers. It is chiefly useful to modern readers as illustrating
+the ideas and the manners of the times.</p>
+
+<p>We often, in this series, thus repeat narratives which have come down
+from ancient times, and have thus become part and parcel of the
+literature of the period, and, as such, ought to be made known to the
+general reader, but which, at the present day, are not supposed to be
+historically true. In such cases, however, we intend always to give
+notice of the fact. In the absence of such notice, the reader may feel
+sure that all the statements in these narratives, even to the minutest
+details, are in strict accordance with the testimony of the best
+authorities now extant.<a href="#footnotetag8"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 9:</strong> See <a href="#img002">map</a>.<a href="#footnotetag9"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 10:</strong> See <a href="#img002">map</a> at the commencement of the volume.<a href="#footnotetag10"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 11:</strong> See <a href="#img002">map</a>.<a href="#footnotetag11"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 12:</strong> The Archbishop of Canterbury, the circumstance of whose
+death has already been referred to.<a href="#footnotetag12"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 13:</strong> See <a href="#img002">map</a>.<a href="#footnotetag13"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 14:</strong> For the situation of Blore Heath, see <a href="#img002">map</a>.<a href="#footnotetag14"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 15:</strong> See <a href="#img018">map</a> of the border at the commencement of chapter
+xix.<a href="#footnotetag15"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 16:</strong> Pronounced Brezzay.<a href="#footnotetag16"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 17:</strong> See the <a href="#img018">map</a> at the commencement of this chapter.<a href="#footnotetag17"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a id="footnote18" name="footnote18"></a>
+<strong>Footnote 18:</strong> The nature of the difficulties which had taken place in
+England, and the circumstances which led the Earl of Warwick to
+abandon Edward's cause, are explained fully in the history of Richard
+III.<a href="#footnotetag18"><span class="small">[Back to Main Text]</span></a></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret of Anjou, by Jacob Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Margaret of Anjou
+       Makers of History
+
+Author: Jacob Abbott
+
+Release Date: May 1, 2008 [EBook #25275]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARET OF ANJOU ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
+other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
+has been maintained.]
+
+
+
+                    MAKERS OF HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+                    MARGARET OF ANJOU
+
+
+                           by
+
+
+                      JACOB ABBOTT
+
+
+
+
+                    WITH ENGRAVINGS
+
+
+
+
+                  NEW YORK AND LONDON
+             HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+                         1902
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
+hundred and sixty-one, by
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS,
+
+In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
+of New York.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Bridal Procession.]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The story of Margaret of Anjou forms a part of the history of England,
+for the lady, though of Continental origin, was the queen of one of
+the English kings, and England was the scene of her most remarkable
+adventures and exploits. She lived in very stormy times, and led a
+very stormy life; and her history, besides the interest which it
+excites from the extraordinary personal and political vicissitudes
+which it records, is also useful in throwing a great deal of light
+upon the ideas of right and wrong, and of good and evil, and upon the
+manners and customs, both of peace and war, which prevailed in England
+during the age of chivalry.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+      I. THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER                           15
+
+     II. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIME                            30
+
+    III. KING HENRY VI                                              46
+
+     IV. MARGARET'S FATHER AND MOTHER                               59
+
+      V. ROYAL COURTSHIP                                            75
+
+     VI. THE WEDDING                                                93
+
+    VII. RECEPTION IN ENGLAND                                      115
+
+   VIII. THE STORY OF LADY NEVILLE                                 125
+
+     IX. PLOTTINGS                                                 143
+
+      X. THE FALL OF GLOUCESTER                                    157
+
+     XI. THE FALL OF SUFFOLK                                       171
+
+    XII. BIRTH OF A PRINCE                                         188
+
+   XIII. ILLNESS OF THE KING                                       199
+
+    XIV. ANXIETY AND TROUBLE                                       207
+
+     XV. MARGARET A FUGITIVE                                       222
+
+    XVI. MARGARET TRIUMPHANT                                       231
+
+   XVII. MARGARET AN EXILE                                         237
+
+  XVIII. A ROYAL COUSIN                                            244
+
+    XIX. RETURN TO ENGLAND                                         254
+
+     XX. YEARS OF EXILE                                            269
+
+    XXI. THE RECONCILIATION WITH WARWICK                           278
+
+   XXII. BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT                                     285
+
+  XXIII. CHILDLESS, AND A WIDOW                                    292
+
+   XXIV. CONCLUSION                                                306
+
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+  THE BRIDAL PROCESSION                                 _Frontispiece._
+
+  GENERAL MAP                                                       14
+
+  SELECTING THE ROSES                                               22
+
+  ORDEAL COMBAT                                                     35
+
+  HENRY VI. IN HIS YOUTH                                            54
+
+  THE PENANCE                                                       56
+
+  DISTRESS OF MARGARET'S MOTHER                                     65
+
+  SUFFOLK PRESENTING MARGARET TO THE KING                          107
+
+  ANCIENT PORTRAIT OF QUEEN MARGARET                               117
+
+  FEMALE COSTUME IN THE TIME OF HENRY VI                           138
+
+  THE CHARGES AGAINST GLOUCESTER                                   160
+
+  ROUEN                                                            176
+
+  VIEW OF BORDEAUX                                                 180
+
+  THE TEMPLE GARDEN                                                192
+
+  THE LITTLE PRINCE AND HIS SWANS                                  220
+
+  MURDER OF RICHARD'S CHILD                                        235
+
+  LOUIS XI., MARGARET'S COUSIN                                     251
+
+  MAP OF THE BORDER                                                255
+
+  MARGARET AT THE CAVE                                             263
+
+  DEATH OF WARWICK                                                 289
+
+  TEWKESBURY                                                       297
+
+  THE MURDER OF PRINCE HENRY                                       302
+
+  VIEW OF CHERTSEY                                                 308
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Map, Illustrating the History of Margaret of Anjou.]
+
+
+
+
+MARGARET OF ANJOU.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER.
+
+
+[Sidenote: A real heroine.]
+
+Margaret of Anjou was a heroine; not a heroine of romance and fiction,
+but of stern and terrible reality. Her life was a series of military
+exploits, attended with dangers, privations, sufferings, and wonderful
+vicissitudes of fortune, scarcely to be paralleled in the whole
+history of mankind.
+
+[Sidenote: Two great quarrels.]
+
+She was born and lived in a period during which there prevailed in the
+western part of Europe two great and dreadful quarrels, which lasted
+for more than a hundred years, and which kept France and England, and
+all the countries contiguous to them, in a state of continual
+commotion during all that time.
+
+[Sidenote: Contest between the houses of York and Lancaster.]
+
+The first of these quarrels grew out of a dispute which arose among
+the various branches of the royal family of England in respect to the
+succession to the crown. The two principal branches of the family
+were the descendants respectively of the Dukes of York and Lancaster,
+and the wars which they waged against each other are called in history
+the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster. These wars continued for
+several successive generations, and Margaret of Anjou was the queen of
+one of the most prominent representatives of the Lancaster line. Thus
+she became most intimately involved in the quarrel.
+
+[Sidenote: Wars in France.]
+
+The second great contention which prevailed during this period
+consisted of the wars waged between France and England for the
+possession of the territory which now forms the northern portion of
+France. A large portion of that territory, during the reigns that
+immediately preceded the time of Margaret of Anjou, had belonged to
+England. But the kings of France were continually attempting to regain
+possession of it--the English, of course, all the time making
+desperate resistance. Thus, for a hundred years, including the time
+while Margaret lived, England was involved in a double set of
+wars--the one internal, being waged by one branch of the royal family
+against the other for the possession of the throne, and the other
+external, being waged against France and other Continental powers for
+the possession of the towns and castles, and the country dependent
+upon them, which lay along the southern shore of the English Channel.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of Difficulty.]
+
+In order that the story of Margaret of Anjou may be properly
+understood, it will be necessary first to give some explanations in
+respect to the nature of these two quarrels, and to the progress which
+had been made in them up to the time when Margaret came upon the
+stage. We shall begin with the internal or civil wars which were waged
+between the families of York and Lancaster. Some account of the origin
+and nature of this difficulty is given in our history of Richard III.,
+but it is necessary to allude to it again here, and to state some
+additional particulars in respect to it, on account of the very
+important part which Margaret of Anjou performed in the quarrel.
+
+The difficulty originated among the children and descendants of King
+Edward III. He reigned in the early part of the fourteenth century. He
+occupied the throne a long time, and his reign was considered very
+prosperous and glorious. The prosperity and glory of it consisted, in
+a great measure, in the success of the wars which he waged in France,
+and in the towns, and castles, and districts of country which he
+conquered there, and annexed to the English domain.
+
+[Sidenote: The sons of Edward III.]
+
+In these wars old King Edward was assisted very much by the princes
+his sons, who were very warlike young men, and who were engaged from
+time to time in many victorious campaigns on the Continent. They began
+this career when they were very young, and they continued it through
+all the years of their manhood and middle life, for their father lived
+to an advanced age.
+
+[Sidenote: The Black Prince.]
+
+The most remarkable of these warlike princes were Edward and John.
+Edward was the oldest son, and John the third in order of age of those
+who arrived at maturity. The name of the second was Lionel. Edward,
+the oldest son, was of course the Prince of Wales; but, to distinguish
+him from other Princes of Wales that preceded and followed him, he is
+known commonly in history by the name of the Black Prince. He received
+this name originally on account of something about his armor which was
+black, and which marked his appearance among the other knights on the
+field of battle.
+
+[Sidenote: Richard II.]
+
+The Black Prince did not live to succeed his father and inherit the
+throne, for he lost his health in his campaigns on the Continent, and
+came home to England, and died a few years before his father died.
+His son, whose name was Richard, was his heir, and when at length old
+King Edward died, this young Richard succeeded to the crown, under the
+title of King Richard II. In the history of Richard II., in this
+series, a full account of the life of his father, the Black Prince, is
+given, and of the various remarkable adventures that he met with in
+his Continental campaigns.
+
+[Sidenote: John of Gaunt.]
+
+Prince John, the third of the sons of old King Edward, is commonly
+known in history as John of Gaunt. This word Gaunt was the nearest
+approach that the English people could make in those days to the
+pronunciation of the word Ghent, the name of the town where John was
+born. For King Edward, in the early part of his life, was accustomed
+to take all his family with him in his Continental campaigns, and so
+his several children were born in different places, one in one city
+and another in another, and many of them received names from the
+places where they happened to be born.
+
+[Illustration: Selecting the Roses.]
+
+On the following page we have a genealogical table of the family of
+Edward III. At the head of it we have the names of Edward III. and
+Philippa his wife. In a line below are the names of those four of his
+sons whose descendants figure in English history. It was among
+the descendants of these sons that the celebrated wars between the
+houses of York and Lancaster, called the wars of the roses, arose.
+
+Genealogical Table of the Family of Edward III., Showing the
+Connection of the Houses of York and Lancaster.
+
+Genealogical table of the descendants of Edward III.
+
+                          EDWARD III.==Philippa.
+                                     |
+       ______________________________|_______________________________
+      |                   |                     |                   |
+    EDWARD              LIONEL                JOHN                EDMUND
+  (The Black           (Duke of         (of Gaunt, Duke of       (Duke of
+   Prince).            Clarence).         of Lancaster).           York).
+      |                   |                     |                   |
+      |                   |                     |                   |
+   RICHARD II.  PHILIPPA==Edward Mortimer.   HENRY            RICHARD==Anne.
+                          |                     |         (_See second Column._)
+                          |                     |                   |
+                    ROGER MORTIMER            HENRY V      RICHARD PLANTAGENET
+                   (Earl of Marche).            |            (Duke of York).
+                          |                   HENRY VI.             |
+                          |                     |                   |
+                      ANNE==Richard of York.    |                   |
+                   (_See fourth column._)     EDWARD       _________|__________
+                                            (Prince of    |         |          |
+                                              Wales).  EDWARD IV.  GEORGE   RICHARD III.
+                                                                  (Duke of
+                                                                  Clarence).
+
+  The character == denotes marriage; the short perpendicular line | a
+  descent. There were many other children and descendants in the
+  different branches of the family besides those whose names are
+  inserted in the table. The table includes only those essential to an
+  understanding of the history.
+
+[Sidenote: The roses.]
+
+These wars were called the wars of the roses from the circumstance
+that the white and the red rose happened in some way to be chosen as
+the badges of the two parties--the white rose being that of the house
+of York, and the red that of the house of Lancaster.
+
+[Sidenote: The four brothers.]
+
+The reader will observe that the dukes of Lancaster and York are the
+third and fourth of the brothers enumerated in the table, whereas it
+might have been supposed that any contest which should have arisen in
+respect to the crown would have taken place between families of the
+first and second. But the first and second sons and their descendants
+were soon set aside, as it were, from the competition, in the
+following manner.
+
+[Sidenote: Ambition of Richard's uncles.]
+
+[Sidenote: Richard's character.]
+
+The line of the first brother soon became extinct. Edward himself, the
+Prince of Wales, died during his father's lifetime, leaving his son
+Richard as his heir. Then, when the old king died, Richard succeeded
+him. As he was the oldest living son of the oldest son, his claim
+could not be disputed, and so his uncles acquiesced in it. They wished
+very much, it is true, to govern the realm, but they contented
+themselves with ruling in Richard's name until he became of age, and
+then Richard took the government into his own hands. The country was
+tolerably well satisfied under his dominion for some years, but at
+length Richard became dissipated and vicious, and he domineered over
+the people of England in so haughty a manner, and oppressed them so
+severely by the taxes and other exactions which he laid upon them,
+that a very general discontent prevailed at last against him and
+against his government. This discontent would have given either of his
+uncles a great advantage in any design which they might have formed to
+take away the crown from him. As it was, it greatly increased their
+power and influence in the land, and diminished, in a corresponding
+degree, that of the king. The uncles appear to have been contented
+with this share of power and influence, which seemed naturally to fall
+into their hands, and did not attempt any open rebellion.
+
+[Sidenote: His cousin Henry.]
+
+Richard had a cousin, however, a young man of just about his own age,
+who was driven at last, by a peculiar train of circumstances, to rise
+against him. This cousin was the son of his uncle John. His name was
+Henry Bolingbroke. He appears in the genealogical table as Henry IV.,
+that having been his title subsequently as King of England.
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrel between Henry and Norfolk.]
+
+[Sidenote: The trial.]
+
+This cousin Henry became involved in a quarrel with a certain nobleman
+named Norfolk. Indeed, the nobles of those days were continually
+getting engaged in feuds and quarrels, which they fought out with the
+greatest recklessness, sometimes by regular battles between armies of
+retainers, and sometimes by single combat, in which the parties to the
+dispute were supposed to appeal to Almighty God, who they believed, or
+professed to believe, would give the victory to the just side in the
+quarrel. These single combats were arranged with great ceremony and
+parade, and were performed in a very public and solemn manner; being,
+in fact, a recognized and established part of the system of public law
+as administered in those days. In the next chapter, when speaking more
+particularly of the manners and customs of the times, I shall give an
+account in full of one of these duels. I have only to say here that
+Richard, on hearing of the quarrel between his cousin Henry and
+Norfolk, decreed that they should settle it by single combat, and
+preparations were accordingly made for the trial, and the parties
+appeared, armed and equipped for the fight, in the presence of an
+immense concourse of people assembled to witness the spectacle. The
+king himself was to preside on the occasion.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry is sent into banishment.]
+
+But just before the signal was to be given for the combat to begin,
+the king interrupted the proceedings, and declared that he would
+decide the question himself. He pronounced both the combatants guilty,
+and issued a decree of banishment against both. Henry submitted, and
+both prepared to leave the country. These transactions, of course,
+attracted great attention throughout England, and they operated to
+bring Henry forward in a very conspicuous manner before the people of
+the realm. He was in the direct line of succession to the crown, and
+he was, moreover, a prince of great wealth, and of immense personal
+influence, and so, just in proportion as Richard himself was disliked,
+Henry would naturally become an object of popular sympathy and regard.
+When he set out on his journey toward the southern coast, in order to
+leave the country in pursuance of his sentence, the people flocked
+along the waysides, and assembled in the towns where he passed, as if
+he were a conqueror returning from his victories instead of a
+condemned criminal going into banishment.
+
+[Sidenote: 1400.]
+
+[Sidenote: His estates confiscated.]
+
+Soon after this, the Duke of Lancaster, Henry's father, died, and then
+Richard, instead of allowing his cousin to succeed to the immense
+estates which his father left, confiscated all the property, under the
+pretext that Henry had forfeited it, and so converted it to his own
+use. This last outrage aroused Henry to such a pitch of indignation
+that he resolved to invade England, depose Richard, and claim the
+crown for himself.
+
+[Sidenote: A revolution.]
+
+This plan was carried into effect. Henry raised an armament, crossed
+the Channel, and landed in England. The people took sides. A great
+majority sided with Henry. A full account of this insurrection and
+invasion is given in our history of Richard II. All that it is
+necessary to say here is that the revolution was effected. Richard was
+deposed, and Henry obtained possession of the kingdom. It was thus
+that the house of Lancaster first became established on the throne.
+
+[Sidenote: The elder branches of the family.]
+
+But you will very naturally wonder where the representatives of the
+second brother in Edward the Third's family were all this time, and
+why, when Richard was deposed, who was the son of the first brother,
+they did not appear, and advance their claims in competition with
+Henry. The reason was because there was no male heir of that branch
+living in that line. You will see by referring again to the table that
+the only child of Lionel, the second brother, was Philippa, a girl.
+She had a son, it is true, Roger Mortimer, as appears by the table;
+but he was yet very young, and could do nothing to assert the claims
+of his line. Besides, Henry pretended that, together with his claims
+to the throne through his father, he had others more ancient and
+better founded still through his mother, who, as he attempted to
+prove, was descended from an English king who reigned _before Edward
+III._ The people of England, as they wished to have Henry for king,
+were very easily satisfied with his arguments, and so it was settled
+that he should reign. The line of this second brother, however, did
+not give up their claims, but reserved them, intending to rise and
+assert them on the very first favorable opportunity.
+
+Henry reigned about thirteen years, and then was succeeded by his son,
+Henry V., as appears by the table. There was no attempt to disturb the
+Lancastrian line in their possession of the throne during these two
+reigns. The attention, both of the kings and of the people, during all
+this period, was almost wholly engrossed in the wars which they were
+waging in France. These wars were very successful. The English
+conquered province after province and castle after castle, until at
+length almost the whole country was brought under their sway.
+
+[Sidenote: 1422.]
+
+[Sidenote: Birth and accession of Henry VI.]
+
+This state of things continued until the death of Henry V., which took
+place in 1422. He left for his heir a little son, named also Henry,
+then only about nine months old. This infant was at once invested with
+the royal authority as King of England and France, under the title of
+Henry VI., as seen by the table. It was this Henry who, when he
+arrived at maturity, became the husband of Margaret of Anjou, the
+subject of this volume. It was during his reign, too, that the first
+effective attempt was made to dispute the right of the house of
+Lancaster to the throne, and it was in the terrible contests which
+this attempt brought on that Margaret displayed the extraordinary
+military heroism for which she became so renowned. I shall relate the
+early history of this king, and explain the nature of the combination
+which was formed during his reign against the Lancastrian line, in a
+subsequent chapter, after first giving a brief account of such of the
+manners and customs of those times as are necessary to a proper
+understanding of the story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIME.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The nobles.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their mode of life.]
+
+In the days when Margaret of Anjou lived, the kings, princes, nobles,
+and knights who flourished in the realms of England and France, though
+they were, relatively to the mass of the people, far more wealthy,
+proud, and powerful than their successors are at the present day,
+still lived in many respects in a very rude and barbarous manner. They
+enjoyed very few of the benefits and privileges which all classes
+enjoy in the age in which we live. They had very few books, and very
+little advantage of instruction to enable them to read those that they
+had. There were no good roads by which they could travel comfortably
+from place to place, and no wheeled carriages. They lived in castles,
+very strongly built indeed, and very grand and picturesque sometimes
+in external appearance, but very illy furnished and comfortless
+within. The artisans were skillful in fabricating splendid caparisons
+for the horses, and costly suits of glittering armor for the men, and
+the architects could construct grand cathedrals, and ornament them
+with sculptures and columns which are the wonder of the present age.
+But in respect to all the ordinary means and appliances of daily life,
+even the most wealthy and powerful nobles lived in a very barbarous
+way.
+
+[Sidenote: Retainers of the nobles.]
+
+The mass of the common people were held in a state of abject
+submission to the will of the chieftains, very much in the condition
+of slaves, being compelled to toil in the cultivation of their
+masters' lands, or to go out as soldiers to fight in their quarrels,
+without receiving any compensation. The great ambition of every noble
+and knight was to have as many of these retainers as possible under
+his command. The only limit to the number which each chieftain could
+assemble was his power of feeding them. For in those days men could be
+more easily found to fight than to engage in any other employment, and
+there were great numbers always ready to follow any commander who was
+able to maintain them.
+
+[Sidenote: Their courts.]
+
+Each great noble lived in state in his castle, like a prince or a
+petty king. Those of the highest class had their privy councilors,
+treasurers, marshals, constables, stewards, secretaries, heralds,
+pursuivants, pages, guards, trumpeters--in short, all the various
+officers that were to be found in the court of the sovereign. To these
+were added whole bands of minstrels, mimics, jugglers, tumblers,
+rope-dancers, and buffoons. Besides these, there was always attached
+to each great castle a large company of priests and monks, who
+performed divine service according to the usages of those times, in a
+gorgeously-decorated chapel built for this purpose within the castle
+walls.
+
+[Sidenote: Great power of the nobles.]
+
+Thus the whole country was divided, as it were, into a vast number of
+separate jurisdictions, each with an earl, or a baron, or a duke at
+the head of it, who ruled with an almost absolute sway in every thing
+that related to the internal management of his province, while,
+however, he recognized a certain general dominion over all on the part
+of the king. Such being the state of the case, it is not surprising
+that the nobles were often powerful enough, as will appear in the
+course of this narrative, to band together and set up and put down
+kings at their pleasure.
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Warwick.]
+
+Perhaps the most powerful of all the great nobles who flourished
+during the time of Margaret of Anjou was the Earl of Warwick. So great
+was his influence in deciding between the rival claims of different
+pretenders to the crown, that he is known in history by the title of
+the _King-maker_. His wealth was so enormous that it was said that the
+body of retainers that he maintained amounted sometimes in number to
+thirty thousand men.
+
+[Sidenote: Amusements of the nobility.]
+
+The employments, and even the amusements of these great barons and
+nobles, were all military. They looked down with great disdain upon
+all the useful pursuits of art and industry, regarding them as only
+fit occupations for serfs and slaves. Their business was going to war,
+either independently against each other, or, under the command of the
+king, against some common enemy. When they were not engaged in any of
+these wars they amused themselves and the people of their courts with
+tournaments, and mock combats and encounters of all kinds, which they
+arranged in open grounds contiguous to their castles with great pomp
+and parade.
+
+[Sidenote: Courts of justice.]
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrels among the nobles.]
+
+It could not be expected that such powerful and warlike chieftains as
+these could be kept much under the control of law by the ordinary
+machinery of courts of justice. There were, of course, laws and courts
+of justice in those days, but they were administered chiefly upon the
+common people, for the repression of common crimes. The nobles, in
+their quarrels and contentions with each other, were accustomed to
+settle the questions that arose in other ways. Sometimes they did this
+by marshaling their troops and fighting each other in regular
+campaigns, during which they laid siege to castles, and ravaged
+villages and fields, as in times of public war. Sometimes, when the
+power of the king was sufficient to prevent such outbreaks as these,
+the parties to the quarrel were summoned to settle the dispute by
+single combat in the presence of the king and his court, as well as of
+a vast multitude of assembled spectators. These single combats were
+the origin of the modern custom of dueling.
+
+[Sidenote: Dueling.]
+
+At the present day, the settlement of disputes by a private combat
+between the parties to it is made a crime by the laws of the land. It
+is justly considered a barbarous and senseless practice. The man who
+provokes another to a duel and then kills him in the fight, instead of
+acquiring any glory by the deed, has to bear, for the rest of his
+life, both in his own conscience and in the opinion of mankind, the
+mark and stain of murder. And when, in defiance of law, and of the
+opinions and wishes of all good men, any two disputants who have
+become involved in a quarrel are rendered so desperate by their angry
+passions as to desire to satisfy them by this mode, they are obliged
+to resort to all sorts of manoeuvres and stratagems to conceal the
+crime which they are about to commit, and to avoid the interference of
+their friends or of the officers of the law.
+
+[Illustration: Ordeal Combat.]
+
+[Sidenote: The ancient trial by combat.]
+
+[Sidenote: Old representation of it.]
+
+In the days, however, of the semi-savage knights and barons who
+flourished so luxuriantly in the times of which we are writing, the
+settlement of a dispute by single combat between the two parties to it
+was an openly recognized and perfectly legitimate mode of arbitration,
+and the trial of the question was conducted with forms and ceremonies
+even more strict and more solemn than those which governed the
+proceedings in regular courts of justice.
+
+The engraving on the preceding page is a sort of rude emblematic
+representation of such a trial, copied from a drawing in an ancient
+manuscript. We see the combatants in the foreground, with the judges
+and spectators behind.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry Bolingbroke.]
+
+It was to a public and solemn combat of this kind that Richard the
+Second summoned his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, and his enemy, as
+related in the last chapter. In that instance the combat was not
+fought, the king having taken the case into his own hands, and
+condemned both the parties before the contest was begun. But in
+multitudes of other cases the trial was carried through to its
+consummation in the death of one party, and the triumph and acquittal
+of the other.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrangements made.]
+
+[Sidenote: Guards.]
+
+Very many detailed and full accounts of these combats have come down
+to us in the writings of the ancient chroniclers. I will here give a
+description of one of them, as an example of this mode of trial, which
+was fought in the public square in front of King Richard the Second's
+palace, the king himself, all the principal nobles of the court, and a
+great crowd of other persons being provided with seats around the area
+as spectators of the fight. The nobles and knights were all dressed
+in complete armor; and heralds, and squires, and guards were stationed
+in great numbers to regulate the proceedings. It was on a bright
+morning in June when the combat was fought, and the whole aspect of
+the scene was that of a grand and joyful spectacle on a gala day.
+
+[Sidenote: Great concourse of people.]
+
+It was estimated that more people from the surrounding country came to
+London on the occasion of this duel than at the time of the coronation
+of the king. It took place about three years after the coronation.
+
+[Sidenote: The parties.]
+
+The parties to the combat were John Anneslie, a knight, and Thomas
+Katrington, a squire. Anneslie, the knight, was the complainant and
+the challenger. Katrington, the squire, was the defendant. The
+circumstances of the case were as follows.
+
+[Sidenote: Nature of the quarrel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Castle lost.]
+
+Katrington, the squire, was governor of a castle in Normandy. The
+castle belonged to a certain English knight who afterward died, and
+his estate descended to Anneslie, the complainant in this quarrel. If
+the squire had successfully defended the castle from the French who
+attacked it, then it would have descended with the other property to
+Anneslie. But he did not. When the French came and laid siege to the
+castle, Katrington surrendered it, and so it was lost. He maintained
+that he had not a sufficient force to defend it, and that he had no
+alternative but to surrender. Anneslie, on the other hand, alleged
+that he might have defended it, and that he would have done so if he
+had been faithful to his trust; but that he had been _bribed_ by the
+French to give it up. This Katrington denied; so Anneslie, who was
+very angry at the loss of the castle, challenged him to single combat
+to try the question.
+
+[Sidenote: Reason for this mode of trial.]
+
+It is plain that this was a very absurd way of attempting to ascertain
+whether Katrington had or had not been bribed; but, as the affair had
+occurred some years before, and in another country, and as, moreover,
+the giving and receiving of bribes are facts always very difficult to
+be proved by ordinary evidence, it was decided by the government of
+the king that this was a proper case for the trial by combat, and both
+parties were ordered to prepare for the fight. The day, too, was
+fixed, and the place--the public square opposite the king's
+palace--was appointed. As the time drew nigh, the whole country for
+many miles around was excited to the highest pitch of interest and
+expectation.
+
+[Sidenote: The company assemble.]
+
+[Sidenote: The combatants appear.]
+
+At the place where the combat was to be fought a large space was
+railed in by a very substantial barricade. The barricade was made very
+strong, so as to resist the utmost possible pressure of the crowd.
+Elevated seats, commanding a full view of the lists, as the area
+railed in was called, were erected for the use of the king and the
+nobles of the court, and all other necessary preparations were made.
+When the hour arrived on the appointed day, the king and the nobles
+came in great state and took their places. The whole square, with the
+exception of the lists and proper avenues of approach, which were kept
+open by the men-at-arms, had long since been filled with an immense
+crowd of people from the surrounding country. At length, after a brief
+period of expectation, the challenger, Anneslie, was seen coming along
+one of the approaches, mounted on a horse splendidly caparisoned, and
+attended by several knights and squires, his friends, all completely
+armed.
+
+[Sidenote: The horse excluded.]
+
+He stopped when he reached the railing and dismounted from his horse.
+It was against the laws of the combat for either party to enter the
+lists mounted. If a horse went within the inclosure he was forfeited
+by that act to a certain public officer called the high constable of
+England, who was responsible for the regularity and order of the
+proceedings.
+
+Anneslie, having thus dismounted from his horse with the assistance of
+his attendants, walked into the lists all armed and equipped for the
+fight. His squires attended him. He walked there to and fro a few
+minutes, and then a herald, blowing a trumpet, summoned the accused to
+appear.
+
+[Sidenote: Summons to the accused.]
+
+"Thomas Katrington! Thomas Katrington!" he cried out in a loud voice,
+"come and appear, to save the action for which Sir John Anneslie,
+knight, hath publicly and by writing appealed thee!"
+
+[Sidenote: Appearance of Katrington.]
+
+Three times the herald proclaimed this summons. At the third time
+Katrington appeared.
+
+He came, as Anneslie had come, mounted upon a war-horse splendidly
+caparisoned, and with his arms embroidered on the trappings. He was
+attended by his friends, the representatives of the seconds of the
+modern duel. The two stopped at the entrance of the lists, and
+dismounting, passed into the lists on foot. Every body being now
+intent on the combatants, the horse for the moment was let go, and,
+being eager to follow his master, he ran up and down along the
+railing, reaching his head and neck over as far as he could, and
+trying to get over. At length he was taken and led away; but the lord
+high constable said at once that he should claim him for having
+entered the lists.
+
+[Sidenote: Horse's head forfeited.]
+
+"At least," said he, "I shall claim his head and neck, and as much of
+him as was over the railing."
+
+[Sidenote: The pleadings.]
+
+The combatants now stood confronting each other within the lists. A
+written document was produced, which had been prepared, as was said,
+by consent of both parties, containing a statement of the charge made
+against Katrington, namely, that of treason, in having betrayed to the
+enemy for money a castle intrusted to his charge, and his reply. The
+herald read this document with a loud voice, in order that all the
+assembly, or as many as possible, might hear it. As soon as it was
+read, Katrington began to take exceptions to some passages in it. The
+Duke of Lancaster, who seemed to preside on the occasion, put an end
+to his criticisms at once, saying that he had already agreed to the
+paper, and that now, if he made any difficulty about it, and refused
+to fight, he should be adjudged guilty of the treason, and should at
+once be led out to execution.
+
+[Sidenote: Katrington is ready.]
+
+Katrington then said that he was ready to fight his antagonist, not
+only on the points raised in the document which had been read, but on
+any and all other points whatever that might be laid to his charge.
+He had entire confidence, he said, that the justice of his cause would
+secure him the victory.
+
+[Sidenote: Singular oath administered.]
+
+The next proceeding in this strange ceremony was singular enough. It
+was the solemn administering of an oath to each of the combatants, by
+which oath they severally swore that the cause in which they were to
+fight was true, and that they did not deal in any witchcraft or magic
+art, by which they expected to gain the victory over their adversary;
+and also, that they had not about their persons any herb or stone, or
+charm of any kind, by which they hoped to obtain any advantage.
+
+After this oath had been administered, time was allowed for the
+combatants to say their prayers. This ceremony they performed
+apparently in a very devout manner, and then the battle began.
+
+[Sidenote: The battle.]
+
+The combatants fought first with spears, then with swords, and
+finally, coming to very close quarters, with daggers. Anneslie seemed
+to gain the advantage. He succeeded in disarming Katrington of one
+after another of his weapons, and finally threw him down. When
+Katrington was down, Anneslie attempted to throw himself upon him, in
+order to crush him with the weight of his heavy iron armor. But he
+was exhausted by the heat and by the exertion which he had made, and
+the perspiration running down from his forehead under his helmet
+blinded his eyes, so that he could not see exactly where Katrington
+was, and, instead of falling upon him, he came down upon the ground at
+a little distance away. Katrington then contrived to make his way to
+Anneslie and to get upon him, thus pressing him down to the ground
+with his weight. The combatants lay thus a few minutes locked together
+on the ground, and struggling with each other as well as their heavy
+and cumbrous armor would permit, Katrington being all the time
+uppermost, when the king at length gave orders that the contest should
+cease and that the men should be separated.
+
+[Sidenote: The proceedings arrested by the king.]
+
+In obedience to these orders, some men came to rescue Anneslie by
+taking Katrington off from him. But Anneslie begged them not to
+interfere. And when the men had taken Katrington off, he urged them to
+place him back upon him again as he was before, for he said he himself
+was not hurt at all, and he had no doubt that he should gain the
+victory if they would leave him alone. The men, however, having the
+king's order for what they were doing, paid no heed to Anneslie's
+requests, but proceeded to lead Katrington away.
+
+[Sidenote: Katrington's condition.]
+
+They found that he was so weak and exhausted that he could not stand.
+They led him to a chair, and then, taking off his helmet, they tried
+to revive him by bathing his face and giving him some wine.
+
+[Sidenote: Anneslie's request to the king.]
+
+In the mean time, Anneslie, finding that Katrington was taken away,
+allowed himself to be lifted up. When set upon his feet, he walked
+along toward the part of the inclosure which was near the king's seat,
+and begged the king to allow the combat to proceed. He said he was
+sure that he should obtain the victory if they would but permit him to
+continue the combat to the end. Finally the king and nobles gave their
+consent, and ordered that Anneslie should be placed upon the ground
+again, and Katrington upon him, in the same position, as nearly as
+possible, as before.
+
+But on going again to Katrington with a view of executing this decree,
+they found that he was in such a condition as to preclude the
+possibility of it. He had fainted and fallen down out of his chair in
+a deadly swoon. He seemed not to be wounded, but to be utterly
+exhausted by the heat, the weight of his armor, and the extreme
+violence of the exertion which he had made. His friends raised him up
+again, and proceeded to unbuckle and take off his armor. Relieved
+from this burden, he began to come to himself. He opened his eyes and
+looked around, staring with a wild, bewildered, and ghastly look,
+which moved the pity of all the beholders, that is, of all but
+Anneslie. He, on leaving the king, came to where poor Katrington was
+sitting, and, full of rage and hate, began to taunt and revile him,
+calling him traitor, and false, perjured villain, and daring him to
+come out again into the area and finish the fight.
+
+[Sidenote: Anneslie's rage.]
+
+To this Katrington made no answer, but stared wildly about with a
+crazed look, as if he did not know where he was or what they were
+doing to him.
+
+[Sidenote: The termination of the trial.]
+
+So the farther prosecution of the combat was relinquished. Anneslie
+was declared the victor, and poor Katrington was deemed to be proved,
+by his defeat, guilty of the treason which had been charged against
+him. He was borne away by his friends, and put into his bed. He
+continued delirious all that night, and the next morning at nine
+o'clock he died.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus was this combat fought, as the ancient historian says, to the
+great rejoicing of the common people and the discouragement of
+traitors!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+KING HENRY VI.
+
+
+[Sidenote: King Henry's accession.]
+
+King Henry the Sixth, who subsequently became the husband of Margaret
+of Anjou, was only about nine months old, as has already been said,
+when he succeeded to the throne by the death of his father. He was
+proclaimed by the heralds to the sound of trumpets and drums, in all
+parts of London, while he was yet an infant in his nurse's arms.
+
+[Sidenote: His uncles.]
+
+Of course the question was now who should have the rule in England
+while Henry remained a child. And this question chiefly affected the
+little king's uncles, of whom there were three--all rude, turbulent,
+and powerful nobles, such as were briefly described in the last
+chapter. Each of them had a powerful band of retainers and partisans
+attached to his service, and the whole kingdom dreaded greatly the
+quarrels which every one knew were now likely to break out.
+
+The oldest of these uncles was Thomas. He was Duke of Exeter.
+
+The second was John. He was Duke of Bedford.
+
+The third was Humphrey. He was Duke of Gloucester. Thomas and Humphrey
+seem to have been in England at the time of their brother the old
+king's death. John, or Bedford, as he was commonly called, was in
+France, where he had been pursuing a very renowned and successful
+career, in extending and maintaining the English conquests in that
+country.
+
+[Sidenote: Division of power.]
+
+The leading nobles and officers of the government were assembled in
+council soon after the old king's death, and in order to prevent the
+breaking out of the quarrels which were otherwise to have been
+anticipated between these uncles, they determined to divide the power
+as nearly as possible in an equal manner among them. So they appointed
+Thomas, the Duke of Exeter, who seems to have been less ambitious and
+warlike in his character than the rest, to the charge and custody of
+the young king's person. Humphrey, the Duke of Gloucester, was made
+Protector of England, and John, the Duke of Bedford, the Regent of
+France. Thus they were all seemingly satisfied.
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrels.]
+
+[Sidenote: Beaufort and Gloucester.]
+
+But the peace which resulted from this arrangement did not continue
+very long. Pretty soon a certain Henry Beaufort, a bishop, was
+appointed to be associated with Henry's uncle Thomas in the personal
+charge of the king. This Henry Beaufort was Henry's great-uncle, being
+one of the sons of John of Gaunt. He was a younger son of his father,
+and so was brought up to the Church, and had been appointed Bishop of
+Winchester, and afterward made a cardinal. Thus he occupied a very
+exalted position, and possessed a degree of wealth, and power, and
+general consequence little inferior to those of the grandest nobles in
+the land. He was a man, too, of great capacity, very skillful in
+manoeuvring and intriguing, and he immediately began to form ambitious
+schemes for himself which he designed to carry into effect through the
+power which the custody of the young king gave him. He was, of course,
+very jealous of the influence and power of the Duke of Gloucester, and
+the Duke of Gloucester became very jealous of him. It was not long
+before occasions arose which brought the two men, and their bands of
+followers, into direct and open collision.
+
+[Sidenote: Progress of the quarrel.]
+
+I can not here go into a full account of the particulars of the
+quarrel. One of the first difficulties was about the Tower of London,
+which Beaufort had under his command, and where there was a prisoner
+whom Gloucester wished to set at liberty. Then there was a great riot
+and disturbance on London Bridge, which threw the whole city of
+London into a state of alarm. Beaufort alleged that Gloucester had
+formed a plan to seize the person of the king and take him away from
+Beaufort's custody; and that he had designs, moreover, on Beaufort's
+life. To defend himself, and to prevent Gloucester from coming to the
+palace where he was residing, he seized and fortified the passages
+leading to the bridge. He built barricades, and took down the chains
+of the portcullis, and assembled a large armed force to guard the
+point. The people of London were in great alarm. They set watches day
+and night to protect their property from the anticipated violence of
+the soldiers and partisans of the combatants, and thus all was
+commotion and fear. Of course there were no courts of justice powerful
+enough to control such a contest as this, and finally the people sent
+off a delegation to the Duke of Bedford in France, imploring him to
+come to England immediately and see if he could not settle the
+quarrel.
+
+[Sidenote: Bedford summoned home from France.]
+
+The Duke of Bedford came. A Parliament was convened, and the questions
+at issue between the two great disputants were brought to a solemn
+trial. The Duke of Gloucester made out a series of heavy charges
+against the cardinal, and the cardinal made a formal reply which
+contained not only his defense, but also counter charges against the
+duke. These papers were drawn up with great technicality and ceremony
+by the lawyers employed on each side to manage the case, and were
+submitted to the Duke of Bedford and to the Parliament. A series of
+debates ensued, in which the friends of the two parties respectively
+brought criminations and recriminations against each other without
+end. The result was, as is usual in such cases, that both sides
+appeared to have been to blame, and in order to settle the dispute a
+sort of compromise was effected, with which both parties professed to
+be satisfied, and a reconciliation, or what outwardly appeared to be
+such, was made. A new division of powers and prerogatives between
+Gloucester, as Protector of England, and Beaufort, as custodian of the
+king, was arranged, and peace being thus restored, Bedford went back
+again to France.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of Bedford.]
+
+Things went on tolerably well after this for many years; that is,
+there were no more open outbreaks, though the old jealousy and hatred
+between Gloucester and the cardinal still continued. The influence of
+the Duke of Bedford held both parties in check as long as the duke
+lived. At length, however, when the young king was about fourteen
+years old, the Duke of Bedford died. He was in France at the time of
+his death. He was buried with great pomp and ceremony in the city of
+Rouen, which had been in some sense the head-quarters of his dominion
+in that country, and a splendid monument was erected over his tomb.
+
+[Sidenote: Anecdote.]
+
+A curious anecdote is related of the King of France in relation to
+this tomb. Some time after the tomb was built Rouen fell into the
+hands of the French, and some persons proposed to break down the
+monument which had been built in memory of their old enemy; but the
+King of France would not listen to the proposal.
+
+[Sidenote: Generosity of the French king.]
+
+"What honor shall it be to us," said he, "or to you, to break down the
+monument, or to pull out of the ground the dead bones of him whom, in
+his life, neither my father nor your progenitors, with all their
+power, influence, and friends, were ever able to make flee one foot
+backward, but who, by his strength, wit, and policy, kept them all at
+bay. Wherefore I say, let God have his soul; and for his body, let it
+rest in peace where they have laid it."
+
+[Sidenote: Coronation of the young king in France.]
+
+When King Henry was old enough to be crowned, in addition to the
+English part of the ceremony, he went to France to receive the crown
+of that country too. The ceremony, as is usual with the French kings,
+was performed at the town of St. Denis, near Paris, where is an
+ancient royal chapel, in which all the great religious ceremonies
+connected with the French monarchy have been performed. A very curious
+account is given by the ancient chroniclers of the pageants and
+ceremonies which were enacted on this occasion. The king proceeded
+into France and journeyed to St. Denis at the head of a grand
+cavalcade of knights, nobles, and men-at-arms, amounting to many
+thousand men, all of whom were adorned with dresses and trappings of
+the most gorgeous description. At St. Denis the authorities came out
+to meet the king, dressed in robes of vermilion, and bearing splendid
+banners. The king was presented, as he passed through the gates, "with
+three crimson hearts, in one of which were two doves; in another,
+several small birds, which were let fly over his head; while the third
+was filled with violets and flowers, which were thrown over the lords
+that attended and followed him."
+
+At the same place, too, a company of the principal civic dignitaries
+of the town appeared, bearing a gorgeous canopy of blue silk, adorned
+and embroidered in the most beautiful manner with royal emblems. This
+canopy they held over the king as he advanced into the town.
+
+[Sidenote: Curious pageants.]
+
+At one place farther on, where there was a little bridge to be
+crossed, there was a pageant of three savages fighting about a woman
+in a mimic forest. The savages continued fighting until the king had
+passed by. Next came a fountain flowing with wine, with mermaids
+swimming about in it. The wine in this fountain was free to all who
+chose to come and drink it.
+
+Then, farther still, the royal party came to a place where an
+artificial forest had been made, by some means or other, in a large,
+open square. There was a chase going on in this forest at the time
+when the king went by. The chase consisted of a living stag hunted by
+real dogs. The stag came and took refuge at the feet of the king's
+horse, and his majesty saved the poor animal's life.
+
+[Sidenote: The coronation.]
+
+Thus the king was conducted to his palace. Several days were spent in
+preliminary pageants and ceremonies like the above, and then the
+coronation took place in the church, the king and his party being
+stationed on a large platform raised for the purpose in the most
+conspicuous part of the edifice.
+
+[Sidenote: 1441.]
+
+[Sidenote: The banquet.]
+
+After the coronation there was a grand banquet, at which the king,
+with his lords and great officers of state, sat at a marble table in a
+magnificent ancient hall. Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester,
+was the principal personage in all these ceremonies next to the king.
+Gloucester was very jealous of him, in respect to the conspicuous part
+which he took in these proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: Henry VI. in his Youth.]
+
+Henry was quite young at the time of his coronations. He was a very
+pretty boy, and his countenance wore a mild and gentle expression.
+
+[Illustration: The Penance.]
+
+[Sidenote: The old quarrel broke out again.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duchess's penance.]
+
+The quarrel between the Duke of Gloucester and the bishop was kept, in
+some degree, subdued during this period, partly by the influence of
+the Duke of Bedford while he lived, and partly by Gloucester's mind
+being taken up to a considerable extent with other things, especially
+with his campaigns in France; for he was engaged during the period of
+the king's minority in many important military expeditions in that
+country. At length, however, he came back to England, and there, when
+the king was about twenty years of age, the quarrel between him and
+the bishop's party broke out anew. The king himself was, however, now
+old enough to take some part in such a difficulty, and so both sides
+appealed to him. Gloucester made out a series of twenty-four articles
+of complaint against the bishop. The bishop, on the other hand,
+accused the duke of treason, and he specially charged that his wife
+had attempted to destroy the life of the king by witchcraft. The
+duchess was condemned on this charge, and it is said that, by way of
+penance, she was sentenced to walk barefoot through the most public
+street in London with a lighted taper in her hand. Some other persons,
+who were accused of being accomplices in this crime, were put to
+death.
+
+[Sidenote: Witchcraft.]
+
+The witchcraft which it was said these persons practiced was that of
+making a waxen image of the king, and then, after connecting it with
+him in some mysterious and magical way by certain charms and
+incantations, melting it away by degrees before a slow fire, by which
+means the king himself, as was supposed, would be caused to pine and
+wither away, and at last to die. It was universally believed in those
+days that this could be done.
+
+[Sidenote: Position of the king.]
+
+Of course, such proceedings as these only embittered the quarrel more
+and more, and Gloucester became more resolute and determined than ever
+in prosecuting his intrigues for depriving the bishop of influence,
+and for getting the power into his own hands. The king, though he
+favored the cardinal, was so quiet and gentle in his disposition, and
+so little disposed to take an active part in such a quarrel, that the
+bishop could not induce him to act as decidedly as he wished. So he
+finally conceived the idea of finding some very intelligent and
+capable princess as a wife for the king, hoping to increase the power
+which he exercised in the realm through his influence over her.
+
+[Sidenote: Scheme formed by Beaufort.]
+
+The lady that he selected for this purpose was Margaret of Anjou.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+MARGARET'S FATHER AND MOTHER.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1420.]
+
+[Sidenote: Provinces of France.]
+
+In former times, the territory which now constitutes France was
+divided into a great number of separate provinces, each of which
+formed almost a distinct state or kingdom. These several provinces
+were the possessions of lords, dukes, and barons, who ruled over them,
+respectively, like so many petty kings, with almost absolute sway,
+though they all acknowledged a general allegiance to the kings of
+France or of England. The more northern provinces pertained to
+England. Those in the interior and southern portions of the country
+were under the dominion of France.
+
+[Sidenote: Great families.]
+
+The great families who held these provinces as their possessions ruled
+over them in a very lordly manner. They regarded not only the
+territory itself which they held, but the right to govern the
+inhabitants of it as a species of property, which was subject, like
+any other estate, to descend from parent to child by hereditary right,
+to be conveyed to another owner by treaty or surrender, to be assigned
+to a bride as her marriage portion, or to be disposed of in any other
+way that the lordly proprietors might prefer. These great families
+took their names from the provinces over which they ruled.
+
+[Sidenote: Anjou.]
+
+[Sidenote: King Rene.]
+
+One of these provinces was Anjou.[1] The father of Margaret, the
+subject of this history, was a celebrated personage named Regnier or
+Rene, commonly called King Rene. He was a younger son of the family
+which reigned over Anjou. It is from this circumstance that our
+heroine derives the name by which she is generally designated--Margaret
+of Anjou. The reason why her father was called _King_ Rene will appear
+in the sequel.
+
+         [Footnote 1: See map at the commencement of the volume.]
+
+[Sidenote: Lorraine.]
+
+Another of the provinces of France above referred to was Lorraine.
+Lorraine was a large, and beautiful, and very valuable country,
+situated toward the eastern part of France. Anjou was considerably to
+the westward of it.
+
+[Sidenote: 1429.]
+
+[Sidenote: Marriage of Rene to Isabella.]
+
+The name of the Duke of Lorraine at this time was Charles. He had a
+daughter named Isabella. She was the heiress to all her father's
+possessions. She was a young lady of great beauty, of high spirit, of
+a very accomplished education, according to the ideas of those times.
+When Rene was about fourteen years old a match was arranged between
+him and Isabella, who was then only about ten. The marriage was
+celebrated with great parade, and the youthful pair went to reside at
+a palace called Pont a Mousson, in a grand castle which was given to
+Isabella by her father as a bridal gift at the time of her marriage.
+Here it was expected that they would live until the death of her
+father, when they were to come into possession of the whole province
+of Lorraine.
+
+[Sidenote: Birth of Margaret.]
+
+In process of time, while living at this castle, Rene and Isabella had
+several children. Margaret was the fifth. She was born in 1429. Her
+birthday was March 23.
+
+[Sidenote: Theophanie.]
+
+The little infant was put under the charge of a family nurse named
+Theophanie. Theophanie was a long-tried and very faithful domestic.
+She was successively the nurse to all of Isabella's children, and the
+family became so much attached to her that when she died Rene caused a
+beautiful monument to be raised to her memory. This monument contained
+a sculptured image of Theophanie, with two of the children in her
+arms.
+
+[Sidenote: 1431.]
+
+Very soon after her birth Margaret was baptized with great pomp in the
+Cathedral in the town of Toul. A large number of relatives of high
+rank witnessed and took part in the ceremony.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella's uncle Antoine.]
+
+[Sidenote: Conflict for the possession of Lorraine.]
+
+When at length Charles, Duke of Lorraine, Isabella's father, died, and
+the province should have descended to Isabella and Rene, there
+suddenly appeared another claimant, who thought, not that he had a
+better right to the province than Isabella, but that he had more power
+to seize and hold it than she, even with all the aid that her husband
+Rene could afford her. This claimant was Isabella's uncle, the younger
+brother of Duke Charles who had just died. His name was Antoine de
+Vaudemonte, or, as it would be expressed in English, Anthony of
+Vaudemont. This uncle, on the death of Isabella's father, determined
+to seize the duchy for himself, instead of allowing it to descend to
+Isabella, the proper heir, who, being but a woman, was looked upon
+with very little respect. "Lorraine," he said, "was too noble and
+valuable a fief to descend in the family on the spindle side."
+
+So he collected his adherents and retainers, organized an army, and
+took the field. Isabella, on the other hand, did all in her power to
+induce the people of the country to espouse her cause. Rene took the
+command of the forces which were raised in her behalf, and went forth
+to meet Antoine. Isabella herself, taking the children with her, went
+to the city of Nancy[2]--which was then, as now, the chief city of
+Lorraine, and was consequently the safest place for her--intending to
+await there the result of the conflict. Little Margaret was at this
+time about two years old.
+
+         [Footnote 2: The position of Nancy, as well as the situation
+         of the two provinces of Anjou and Lorraine, which are now
+         departments of France, may be seen by referring to any good
+         map of that country, or to that at the commencement of this
+         volume.]
+
+[Sidenote: The battle.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rene wounded and made prisoner.]
+
+The battle was fought at a place called Bulgneville, and the fortune
+of war, as it would seem, turned in this case against the right, for
+Rene's party were entirely defeated, and he himself was wounded and
+taken prisoner. He fought like a lion, it is said, as long as he
+remained unharmed; but at last he received a desperate wound on his
+brow, and the blood from this wound ran down into his eyes and blinded
+him, so that he could do no more; and he was immediately seized by the
+men who had wounded him, and made prisoner. The person who thus
+wounded and captured him was the squire of a certain knight who had
+espoused the cause of Antoine, named the Count St. Pol.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella's terror and distress.]
+
+In the mean time Isabella had remained at Nancy with the children, in
+a state of the utmost suspense and anxiety, awaiting the result of a
+conflict on which depended the fate of every thing that was valuable
+and dear to her. At length, at the window of the tower where she was
+watching, with little Margaret in her arms, for the coming of a herald
+from her husband to announce his victory, her heart sank within her to
+see, instead of a messenger of joy and triumph, a broken crowd of
+fugitives, breathless and covered with dust and blood, suddenly
+bursting into view, and showing too plainly by their aspect of terror
+and distress that all was lost. Isabella was overwhelmed with
+consternation at the sight. She clasped little Margaret closely in her
+arms, exclaiming in tones of indescribable agony, "My husband is
+killed! my husband is killed!"
+
+[Sidenote: Heavy tidings.]
+
+Her distress and anguish were somewhat calmed by the fugitives
+assuring her, when they arrived, that her husband was safe, though he
+had been wounded and taken prisoner.
+
+[Illustration: Distress of Margaret's Mother.]
+
+[Sidenote: Sympathy for Isabella.]
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella's interview with her uncle.]
+
+There was a great deal of sympathy felt for Isabella in her distress
+by all the people of Nancy. She was very young and very beautiful. Her
+children, and especially Margaret, were very beautiful too, and this
+greatly increased the compassion which the people were disposed to
+feel for her. Isabella's mother was strongly inclined to make new
+efforts to raise an army, in order to meet and fight Antoine again;
+but Isabella herself, who was now more concerned for the safety of her
+husband than for the recovery of her dominions, was disposed to pursue
+a conciliatory course. So she sent word to her uncle that she wished
+to see him, and entreated him to grant her an interview. Antoine
+acceded to her request, and at the interview Isabella begged her uncle
+to make peace with her, and to give her back her husband.
+
+[Sidenote: Negotiations for peace.]
+
+Antoine said that it was out of his power to liberate Rene, for he had
+delivered him to the custody of the Duke of Burgundy, who had been his
+ally in the war, and the duke had conveyed him away to his castle at
+Dijon, and shut him up there, and that now he would probably not be
+willing to give him up without the payment of a ransom. He said,
+however, that he was willing to make a truce with Isabella for six
+months, to give time to see what arrangement could be made.
+
+[Sidenote: Hostages.]
+
+This truce was agreed upon, and then, at length, after a long
+negotiation, terms of peace were concluded. Rene was to pay a large
+sum to the Duke of Burgundy for his ransom, and, in the mean time,
+while he was procuring the money, he was to leave his two sons in the
+duke's hands as hostages, to be held by the duke as security. In
+respect to Lorraine, Antoine insisted, as another of the conditions of
+peace, that Isabella's oldest daughter, Yolante, then about nine years
+old, should be betrothed to his son Frederick, so as to combine, in
+the next generation at least, the conflicting claims of the two
+parties to the possession of the territory; and, in order to secure
+the fulfillment of this condition, Yolante was to be delivered
+immediately to the charge and custody of Antoine's wife, the mother of
+her future husband. Thus all of Isabella's children were taken away
+from her except Margaret. And even Margaret, though left for the
+present with her mother, did not escape being involved in the
+entanglements of the treaty. Antoine insisted that she, too, should be
+betrothed to one of his partisans; and, as if to make the case as
+painful and humiliating to Rene and Isabella as possible, the person
+chosen to be her future husband was the very Count St. Pol whose
+squire had cut down and captured Rene at the battle of Bulgneville.
+
+[Sidenote: Hard conditions of peace.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rene can not procure the money for his ransom.]
+
+These conditions were very hard, but Isabella consented to them, as it
+was only by so doing that any hope seemed to be opened before her of
+obtaining the release of her husband. And even this hope, in the end,
+proved delusive. Rene found that, notwithstanding all his efforts, he
+could not obtain the money which the duke required for his ransom.
+Accordingly, in order to save his boys, whom he had delivered to the
+duke as hostages, he was obliged to return to Dijon and surrender
+himself again a prisoner. His parting with his wife and children,
+before going a second time into a confinement to which they could now
+see no end, was heartrending. Even little Margaret, who was yet so
+very young, joined from sympathy in the general sorrow, and wept
+bitterly when her father went away.
+
+[Sidenote: His long confinement.]
+
+The duke confined his captive in an upper room in a high tower of the
+castle of Dijon, and kept him imprisoned there for several years. One
+of the boys was kept with him, but the other was set at liberty. All
+this time Margaret remained with her mother. She was a very beautiful
+and a very intelligent child, and was a great favorite with all who
+knew her. The interest which was awakened by her beauty and her other
+personal attractions was greatly increased by the general sympathy
+which was felt for the misfortunes of her father, and the loneliness
+and distress of her mother.
+
+[Sidenote: 1436.]
+
+[Sidenote: His occupations and amusements in prison.]
+
+In the mean time, Rene, shut up in the tower at the castle of Dijon,
+made himself as contented as he could, and employed his time in
+various peaceful and ingenious occupations. Though he had fought well
+in the battle with Antoine, he was, in fact, not at all of a warlike
+disposition. He was very fond of music, and poetry, and painting; and
+he occupied his leisure during his confinement in executing beautiful
+miniatures and paintings upon glass, after the manner of those times.
+Some of these paintings remained in the window of a church in Dijon,
+where they were placed soon after Rene painted them, for several
+hundred years.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of Rene's royal title.]
+
+It has already been stated that the name by which Margaret's father is
+commonly designated is King Rene. The origin of this royal title is
+now to be explained. He had an older brother, who became by
+inheritance, with Joanna his wife, king and queen of the Two Sicilies,
+that is, of the kingdom consisting of the island of Sicily and the
+territory connected with Naples on the main land. The brother, at the
+close of his life, designated Rene as his heir. This happened in the
+year 1436, while Rene was still in captivity in the castle of Dijon.
+He could, of course, do nothing himself to assert his claims to this
+new inheritance, but Isabella immediately assumed the title of Queen
+of the Two Sicilies for herself, and began at once to make
+preparation for proceeding to Italy and taking possession of the
+kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella and the children at Tarascon.]
+
+While maturing her plans, she took up her residence for a time at the
+chateau of Tarascon, on the banks of the Rhone, with the two children
+who remained under her care, namely, her son Louis and Margaret. Her
+other son was at Dijon with his father, and the other daughter,
+Yolante, had been given up, as has already been said, to the custody
+of the wife of Antoine, with a view of being married, as soon as she
+was old enough, to Antoine's son.
+
+The children attracted great attention at Tarascon. Their mother
+Isabella was by birth a lady of very high rank, her family being
+intimately connected with the royal family of France. She was now,
+too, by title at least, herself a queen. The children were very
+intelligent and beautiful, and the misfortunes and cruel captivity of
+their father and brother were known and talked of in all the country
+around. So the peasants and their families crowded around the chateau
+to see the children. They brought them wreaths of flowers and other
+votive offerings. They sang songs to serenade them, and they built
+bonfires around the walls of the chateau at night, to drive away the
+infection of the plague, which was then prevailing in some parts of
+the country, and was exciting considerable alarm.
+
+[Sidenote: Witches and the plague.]
+
+The people of the country believed that this plague was produced by
+magic and witchcraft, and there were some poor old women, who came
+with the other peasants to the walls of the chateau of Tarascon to see
+the children, who were believed to be witches. Afterward the plague
+broke out at Tarascon, and Margaret's mother was obliged to go away,
+taking the children with her. The poor women were, however, seized and
+burned at the stake, it being universally believed that it was they
+who had caused the plague.
+
+[Sidenote: Isabella goes into Italy.]
+
+Isabella's arrangements were now so far matured that she went at once
+into Italy with the children, and took up her abode there in the town
+of Capua. Rene still remained in captivity, but Isabella caused him to
+be proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies with great pomp and parade. At
+the time of this ceremony, the two children, Margaret and her brother,
+were seated beside their mother in a grand state carriage, which was
+lined with velvet and embroidered with gold, and in this way they were
+conveyed through the streets of the city.
+
+[Sidenote: Rene is at last set free.]
+
+After a time Rene was liberated from his confinement, and restored to
+his family, but he did not long enjoy this apparent return of
+prosperity. His claim to the kingdom of Naples was disputed, and,
+after a conflict, he was expelled from the country. In the mean time,
+the English had so far extended their conquests in France that both
+his native province of Anjou, and his wife's inheritances in Lorraine,
+had fallen into their hands, so that with all the aristocratic
+distinction of their descent, and the grandeur of their royal titles,
+the family were now, as it were, without house or home. They returned
+to France, and Isabella, with the children, found refuge from time to
+time with one and another of the great families to which she was
+related, while Rene led a wandering life, being reduced often to a
+state of great destitution.
+
+[Sidenote: His temper and disposition.]
+
+[Sidenote: King Rene's fireside.]
+
+He, however, bore his misfortunes with a very placid temper, and
+amused himself, wherever he was, with music, poetry, and painting. He
+was so cheerful and good-natured withal that he made himself a very
+agreeable companion, and was generally welcome, as a visitor, wherever
+he went. He retained the name of King Rene as long as he lived, though
+he was a king without a kingdom. At one time he was reduced, it is
+said, to such straits that to warm himself he used to walk to and fro
+in the streets of Marseilles, on the sunny side of the buildings,
+which circumstance gave rise to a proverb long known and often quoted
+in those parts, which designated the act of going out into the sun to
+escape from the cold as warming one's self at King Rene's fireside.
+
+Such was the family from which Margaret of Anjou sprang.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ROYAL COURTSHIP.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1444.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's talents and accomplishments.]
+
+[Sidenote: Offers of marriage.]
+
+When Margaret was not more than fourteen or fifteen years of age, she
+began to be very celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and
+for the charming vivacity of her conversation and her demeanor. She
+resided with her mother in different families in Lorraine and in other
+parts of France, and was sometimes at the court of the Queen of
+France, who was her near relative. All who knew her were charmed with
+her. She was considered equally remarkable for her talents and for her
+beauty. The arrangement which had been made in her childhood for
+marrying her to the Count of St. Pol was broken off, but several other
+offers were made to her mother for her hand, though none of them was
+accepted. Isabella was very proud of her daughter, and she cherished
+very lofty aspirations in respect to her future destiny. She was
+therefore not at all inclined to be in haste in respect to making
+arrangements for her marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: State of things in England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's character.]
+
+In the mean time, the feud between the uncles and relatives of King
+Henry, in England, as related in a preceding chapter, had been going
+on, and was now reaching a climax. The leaders of the two rival
+parties were, as will be recollected, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of
+Winchester, or Cardinal Beaufort, as he was more commonly called, who
+had had the personal charge of the king during his minority, on one
+side, and the Duke of Gloucester, Henry's uncle, who had been regent
+of England during the same period, on the other. The king himself was
+now about twenty-four years of age, and if he had been a man of vigor
+and resolution, he might perhaps have controlled the angry disputants,
+and by taking the government fully into his own hands, have forced
+them to live together in peace under his paramount authority. But
+Henry was a very timid and feeble-minded man. The turbulence and
+impetuousness of his uncles and their partisans in their quarrel was
+altogether too great for any control that he could hope to exercise
+over them. Indeed, the great question with them was which should
+contrive the means of exercising the greatest control over _him_.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans of the courtiers.]
+
+In order to accomplish this end, both parties began very early to plan
+and manoeuvre with a view of choosing the king a wife. Whichever of
+the two great leaders should succeed in negotiating the marriage of
+the king, they knew well would, by that very act, establish his
+influence at court in the most absolute manner.
+
+[Sidenote: Princes and kings.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their matrimonial plans.]
+
+Princes and kings in those days, as, indeed, is the case to a
+considerable extent now, had some peculiar difficulties to contend
+with in making their matrimonial arrangements, so far at least as
+concerned the indulgence of any personal preferences which they might
+themselves entertain on the subject. Indeed, these arrangements were
+generally made for them, while they were too young to have any voice
+or to take any part in the question, and nothing was left for them but
+to ratify and carry into effect, when they came to years of maturity,
+what their parents, or grand councils of state, had determined for
+them when they were children, or else to refuse to ratify and confirm
+it at the cost of incurring a vast amount of difficulty and political
+entanglement, and perhaps even open and formidable war.
+
+[Sidenote: Embarrassments.]
+
+[Sidenote: Difficulty of leaving the country.]
+
+And even in those cases where the prince or king arrived at an age to
+judge for himself before any arrangements were made for him, which was
+the fact in regard to Henry VI., he was still very much embarrassed
+and circumscribed in his choice if he attempted to select a wife for
+himself. He could not visit foreign courts and see the princesses
+there, so as to judge for himself who would best please him; for in
+those days it was very unsafe for personages of any considerable rank
+or position to visit foreign countries at all, except at the head of
+an army, and in a military campaign. In the case, too, of any actually
+reigning monarch, there was a special difficulty in the way of his
+leaving his kingdom, on account of the feuds and quarrels which always
+in such cases arose in making the necessary arrangements for the
+government of the kingdom during his absence.
+
+[Sidenote: Miniatures.]
+
+[Sidenote: Situation of King Henry.]
+
+For these and various other causes, a king or a prince desiring to
+choose a wife was obliged to content himself with such information
+relating to the several candidates as he could obtain from hearsay in
+respect to their characters, and from miniatures and portraits in
+respect to their personal attractions. This was especially the case
+with King Henry VI. Each of the two great parties, that of Cardinal
+Beaufort on one hand, and that of the Duke of Gloucester on the other,
+were desirous of being the means of finding a bride for the king, and
+both were eagerly looking in all directions, and plotting for the
+accomplishment of this end, and any attempt of the king to leave the
+kingdom for any purpose whatever would undoubtedly have brought these
+parties at once to open war.
+
+[Sidenote: Plan of the Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+The Duke of Gloucester and those who acted with him fixed their eyes
+upon three princesses of a certain great family, called the house of
+Armagnac. Their plan was to open negotiations with this house, and to
+obtain portraits of the three princesses, to be sent to England, in
+order that Henry might take his choice of them. Commissioners were
+appointed to manage the business. They were to open the negotiations
+and obtain the portraits. The cardinal, of course, and his friends
+were greatly interested in preventing the success of this plan,
+though, of course, it was necessary for them to be discreet and
+cautious in manifesting any open opposition to it in the then present
+stage of the affair.
+
+[Sidenote: The three princesses of Armagnac.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their portraits.]
+
+The king was very particular in the instructions which he gave to the
+commissioners in respect to the portraits, with a view of securing, if
+possible, perfectly correct and fair representations of the originals.
+He wished that the princesses should not be flattered at all by the
+artist in his delineation of them, and that they should not be dressed
+at their sittings in any unusually elegant manner. On the contrary,
+they were to be painted "in their kirtles simple, and their visages
+like as ye see, and their stature, and their beauty, and the color of
+their skin, and their countenances, just as they really are." The
+artist was instructed, too, by the commissioners to be expeditious in
+finishing the pictures and sending them to England, in order that the
+king might see them as soon as possible, and make his choice between
+the three young ladies whose "images" were to be thus laid before him.
+
+[Sidenote: The plan fails.]
+
+This plan for giving the king an opportunity to choose between the
+three princesses of Armagnac, nicely arranged as it was in all its
+details, failed of being carried successfully into effect; for the
+father of these princesses, as it happened, was at this same time
+engaged in some negotiations with the King of France in respect to the
+marriage of his daughters, and he wished to keep the negotiations with
+Henry in suspense until he had ascertained whether he could or could
+not do better in that quarter. So he contrived means to interrupt and
+retard the work of the artist, in order to delay for a time the
+finishing of the pictures.
+
+[Sidenote: In what way.]
+
+[Sidenote: The cardinal's scheme.]
+
+In the mean time, while the Duke of Gloucester and his party were thus
+engaged in forwarding their scheme of inducing Henry to make choice of
+one of these three princesses for his wife, the cardinal himself was
+not idle. He had heard of the beautiful and accomplished Margaret of
+Anjou, and after full inquiry and reflection, he determined in his own
+mind to make her his candidate for the honor of being Queen of
+England. The manner in which he contrived to introduce the subject
+first to the notice of the king was this.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier.]
+
+There was a certain man, named Champchevrier, who had been taken
+prisoner in Anjou in the course of the wars between France and
+England, and who was now held for ransom by the knight who had
+captured him. He was not, however, kept in close confinement, but was
+allowed to go at large in England on his parole--that is, on his word
+of honor that he would not make his escape and go back to his native
+land until his ransom was paid.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier at court.]
+
+Now this Champchevrier, though a prisoner, was a gentleman by birth
+and education; and while he remained in England, held by his parole,
+was admitted to the best society there, and he often appeared at
+court, and frequently held converse with the king. In one of these
+interviews he described, in very glowing terms, the beauty and
+remarkable intelligence of Margaret of Anjou. It is supposed that he
+was induced to this by Cardinal Beaufort, who knew of his
+acquaintance with Margaret, and who contrived the interviews between
+Champchevrier and the king, in order to give the former an opportunity
+to speak of the lady to his majesty incidentally, as it were, and in a
+way not to excite the king's suspicions that the commendations of her
+which he heard were prompted by any match-making schemes formed for
+him by his courtiers.
+
+[Sidenote: His conversations with the king.]
+
+If this was the secret plan of the cardinal, it succeeded admirably
+well. The king's curiosity was strongly awakened by the piquant
+accounts that Champchevrier gave him of the brilliancy of young
+Margaret's beauty, and of her charming vivacity and wit.
+
+[Sidenote: The king wishes for a picture.]
+
+"I should like very much to see a picture of the young lady," said the
+king.
+
+"I can easily obtain a picture of her for your majesty," replied
+Champchevrier, "if your majesty will commission me to go to Lorraine
+for the purpose."
+
+Champchevrier considered that a commission from the king to go to
+Lorraine on business for his majesty would be a sufficient release for
+him from the obligations of his parole.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier's expedition.]
+
+The king finally gave Champchevrier the required authority to leave
+the kingdom. Champchevrier was not satisfied with a verbal permission
+merely, but required the king to give him a regular safe-conduct,
+drawn up in due form, and signed by the king's name. Having received
+this document, Champchevrier left London and set out upon his journey,
+the nature and object of the expedition being of course kept a
+profound secret.
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Suffolk.]
+
+A certain nobleman, however, named the Earl of Suffolk, was admitted
+to the confidence of the king in this affair, and was by him
+associated with Champchevrier in the arrangements which were to be
+made for carrying the plan into execution. It would seem that he
+accompanied Champchevrier in his journey to Lorraine, where Margaret
+was then residing with her mother, and there assisted him in making
+arrangements for the painting of the picture. They employed one of the
+first artists in France for this purpose. When the work was finished,
+Champchevrier set out with it on his return to England.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier in danger.]
+
+In the mean time, the English knight whose prisoner Champchevrier was,
+heard in some way that his captive had left England, and had returned
+to France, and the intelligence made him exceedingly angry. He thought
+that Champchevrier had broken his parole and had gone home without
+paying his ransom. Such an act as this was regarded as extremely
+dishonorable in those days, and it was, moreover, not only considered
+dishonorable in a prisoner himself to break his parole, but also in
+any one else to aid or abet him in so doing, or to harbor or protect
+him after his escape. The knight determined, therefore, that he would
+at once communicate with the King of France on the subject, explaining
+the circumstances, and asking him to rearrest the supposed fugitive
+and send him back.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester writes to the King of France.]
+
+So he went to the Duke of Gloucester, and, stating the case to him,
+asked his grace to write to the King of France, informing him that
+Champchevrier had escaped from his parole, and asking him not to give
+him refuge, but to seize and send him back. Gloucester was very
+willing to do this. It is probable that he knew that Champchevrier was
+a friend of the cardinal's, or at least that he was attached to his
+interests, and that it was altogether probable that his going into
+France was connected with some plot or scheme by which the cardinal
+and his party were to derive some advantage. So he wrote the letter,
+and it was at once sent to the King of France. The King of France at
+this time was Charles VII.
+
+[Sidenote: Champchevrier arrested.]
+
+The king, on receiving the letter, gave orders immediately that
+Champchevrier should be arrested. By this time, however, the painting
+was finished, and Champchevrier was on the way with it from Lorraine
+toward England. He was intercepted on his journey, taken to Vincennes,
+and there brought before King Charles, and called upon to give an
+account of himself.
+
+[Sidenote: The whole story comes out.]
+
+Of course he was now obliged to tell the whole story. He said that he
+had not broken his parole at all, nor intended in any manner to
+defraud his captor in England of the ransom money that was due to him,
+but had come to France _by the orders of the King of England_. He
+explained, too, what he had come for, and showed Charles the painting
+which he was carrying back to the king. He also, in proof of the truth
+of what he said, produced the safe-conduct which King Henry had given
+him.
+
+King Charles laughed very heartily at hearing this explanation, and at
+perceiving how neatly he had discovered the secret of King Henry's
+love affairs. He was much pleased, too, with the idea of King Henry's
+taking a fancy to a lady so nearly related to the royal family of
+France. He thought that he might make the negotiation of such a
+marriage the occasion for making peace with England on favorable
+terms. So he dismissed Champchevrier at once, and recommended to him
+to proceed to England as soon as possible, and there to do all in his
+power to induce King Henry to choose Margaret for his queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Trouble in court.]
+
+Champchevrier accordingly returned to England and reported the result
+of his mission. The king was very much pleased with the painting, and
+he immediately determined to send Champchevrier again to Lorraine on a
+secret mission to Margaret's mother. He first, however, determined to
+release Champchevrier entirely from his parole, and so he paid the
+ransom himself for which he had been held. The Duke of Gloucester
+watched all these proceedings with a very jealous eye. When he found
+that Champchevrier, on his return to England, came at once to the
+king's court, and that there he held frequent conferences, which were
+full of mystery, with the king and with the cardinal, and when,
+moreover, he learned that the king had paid the ransom money due to
+the knight, and that Champchevrier was to be sent away again, he at
+once suspected what was going on, and the whole court was soon in a
+great ferment of excitement in respect to the proposed marriage of the
+king to Margaret of Anjou.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester's opposition.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret gains the day.]
+
+[Sidenote: Truce proposed.]
+
+The Duke of Gloucester and his party were, of course, strongly opposed
+to Margaret of Anjou; for they knew well that, as she had been brought
+to the king's notice by the other party, her becoming Queen of England
+would well-nigh destroy their hopes and expectations for all time to
+come. The other party acted as decidedly and vigorously in favor of
+the marriage. There followed a long contest, in which there was
+plotting and counterplotting on one side and on the other, and
+manoeuvres without end. At last the friends of the beautiful little
+Margaret carried the day; and in the year 1444 commissioners were
+formally appointed by the governments of England and France to meet at
+the city of Tours at a specified day, to negotiate a truce between the
+two countries preparatory to a permanent peace, the basis and cement
+of which was to be the marriage of King Henry with Margaret of Anjou.
+The truce was made for two years, so as to allow full time to arrange
+all the details both for a peace between the two countries, and also
+in respect to the terms and conditions of the marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Opposition in England.]
+
+As soon as the news that this truce was made arrived in England, it
+produced great excitement. The Duke of Gloucester and those who were,
+with him, interested to prevent the accomplishment of the marriage,
+formed a powerful political party to oppose it. They did not, however,
+openly object to the marriage itself, thinking that not politic, but
+directed their hostility chiefly against the plan of making peace with
+France just at the time, they said, when the glory of the English arms
+and the progress of the English power in that country were at their
+height. It was very discreditable to the advisers of the king, they
+said, that they should counsel him to stop short in the career of
+conquest which his armies were pursuing, and thus sacrifice the grand
+advantages for the realm of England which were just within reach.
+
+[Sidenote: Violent discussions.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk is alarmed.]
+
+The discussions and dissensions which arose in the court and in
+Parliament on this subject were very violent; but in the end Cardinal
+Beaufort and his party were successful, and the king appointed the
+Earl of Suffolk embassador extraordinary to the court of France to
+negotiate the terms and conditions of the permanent peace which was to
+be made between the two countries, and also of the marriage of the
+king. At first Suffolk was very unwilling to undertake this embassy.
+He feared that, in order to carry out the king's wishes, he should be
+obliged to make such important concessions to France that, at some
+future time, when perhaps the party of the Duke of Gloucester should
+come into power, he might be held responsible for the measure, and be
+tried and condemned, perhaps, for high treason, in having been the
+means of sacrificing the interests and honor of the kingdom by
+advising and negotiating a dishonorable peace. These fears of his were
+probably increased by the intensity of the excitement which he
+perceived in the Gloucester party, and perhaps, also, by open threats
+and demonstrations which they may have uttered for the express purpose
+of intimidating him.
+
+[Sidenote: His safe-conduct.]
+
+At any rate, after receiving the appointment, his courage failed him,
+and he begged the king to excuse him from performing so dangerous a
+commission. The king was, however, very unwilling to do so. Finally,
+it was agreed that the king should give the earl his written order,
+executed in due and solemn form, and signed with the great seal,
+commanding him, on the royal authority, to undertake the embassage.
+Suffolk relied on this document as his means of defense from all legal
+responsibility for his action in case his enemies should at any future
+time have it in their power to bring him to trial for it.
+
+[Sidenote: Various difficulties and objections.]
+
+In negotiating the peace, and in arranging the terms and conditions
+of the marriage, a great many difficulties were found to be in the
+way, but they were all at last overcome. One of these difficulties was
+made by King Rene, the father of Margaret. He declared that he could
+not consent to give his daughter in marriage to the King of England
+unless the king would first restore to him and to his family the
+province of Anjou, which had been the possession of his ancestors, but
+which King Henry's armies had overrun and conquered. The Earl of
+Suffolk was very unwilling to cede back this territory, for he knew
+very well that nothing would be so unpopular in England, or so likely
+to increase the hostility of the English people to the proposed
+marriage, and consequently to give new life and vigor to the
+Gloucester party in their opposition to it, as the giving up again of
+territory which the English troops had won by so many hard-fought
+battles and the sacrifice of so many lives. But Rene was inflexible,
+and Suffolk finally yielded, and so Anjou was restored to its former
+possessors.
+
+[Sidenote: The king asks no dowry.]
+
+Another objection which Rene made was that his fortune was not
+sufficient to enable him to endow his daughter properly for so
+splendid a marriage; not having the means, he said, of sending her in
+a suitable manner into England.
+
+But this the King of England said should make no difference. All that
+he asked was the hand of the princess without any dowry. Her personal
+charms and mental endowments were sufficient to outweigh all the
+riches in the world; and if her royal father and mother would grant
+her to King Henry as his bride, he would not ask to receive with her
+"either penny or farthing."
+
+[Sidenote: The king has a rival.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's wishes.]
+
+King Henry was made all the more eager to close the negotiations for
+the marriage as soon as possible, and to consent to almost any terms
+which the King of France and Rene might exact, from the fact that
+there was a young prince of the house of Burgundy--a very brave,
+handsome, and accomplished man--who was also a suitor for Margaret's
+hand, and was very devotedly attached to her. This young prince was in
+France at this time, and ready, at any moment, to take advantage of
+any difficulty which might arise in the negotiations with Henry to
+press his claims, and, perhaps, to carry off the prize. Which of the
+two candidates Margaret herself would have preferred there is no means
+of knowing. She was yet only about fifteen years of age, and was
+completely in the power and at the disposal of her father and mother.
+And then the political and family interests which were at stake in
+the decision of the question were too vast to allow of the personal
+preferences of the young girl herself being taken much into the
+account.
+
+[Sidenote: The affair finally settled.]
+
+At last every thing was arranged, and Suffolk returned to England,
+bringing with him the treaty of peace and the contract of marriage, to
+be ratified by the king's council and by Parliament. A new contest now
+ensued between the Gloucester and Beaufort parties. The king, of
+course, threw all his influence on the cardinal's side, and so the
+treaty and the contract carried the day. Both were ratified. The Earl
+of Suffolk, as a reward for his services, was made a marquis, and he
+was appointed the king's proxy to proceed to France and espouse the
+bride in the king's name, according to the usual custom in the case of
+royal marriages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE WEDDING.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Preparations for the wedding.]
+
+[Sidenote: Excitement.]
+
+Preparations were now immediately made for solemnizing the marriage
+and bringing the young queen at once to England. The marriage ceremony
+by which a foreign princess was united to a reigning prince, according
+to the custom of those times, was twofold, or, rather, there were two
+distinct ceremonies to be performed, in one of which the bride, at her
+father's own court, was united to her future husband by proxy, and in
+the second the nuptials were celebrated anew with her husband himself
+in person, after her arrival in his kingdom. Suffolk, as was stated in
+the last chapter, was appointed to act as the king's proxy in this
+case, for the performance of the first of these ceremonies. He was to
+proceed to France, espouse the bride in the king's name, and convey
+her to England. Of course a universal excitement now spread itself
+among all the nobility and among all the ladies of the court, which
+was awakened by the interest which all took in the approaching
+wedding, and the desire they felt to accompany the expedition.
+
+[Sidenote: Dresses.]
+
+[Sidenote: Company.]
+
+A great many of the lords and ladies began to make preparations to
+join Lord and Lady Suffolk. Nothing was talked of but dresses,
+equipments, presents, invitations, and every body was occupied in the
+collecting and packing of stores and baggage for a long journey. At
+length the appointed time arrived, and the expedition set out, and,
+after a journey of many days, the several parties which composed it
+arrived at Nancy, the capital city of Lorraine, where the ceremony was
+to be performed.
+
+[Sidenote: King and Queen of France.]
+
+At about the same time, the King and Queen of France, accompanied by a
+great concourse of nobles and gentlemen from the French court, who
+were to honor the wedding with their presence, arrived. A great many
+other knights and ladies, too, from the provinces and castles of the
+surrounding country, were seen coming in gay and splendid cavalcades
+to the town, when the appointed day drew nigh, eager to witness the
+ceremony, and to join in the magnificent festivities which they well
+knew would be arranged to commemorate and honor the occasion. In a
+word, the whole town became one brilliant scene of gayety, life, and
+excitement.
+
+[Sidenote: The marriage ceremony is performed.]
+
+[Sidenote: The bride's household.]
+
+The marriage ceremony was performed in the church, with great pomp
+and parade, and in the midst of a vast concourse of people, composed
+of the highest nobility of Europe, both lords and ladies, and all
+dressed in the most magnificent and distinguished costumes. No
+spectacle could possibly be more splendid and gay. At the close of the
+ceremony, the bride was placed solemnly in charge of Lady Suffolk, who
+was to be responsible for her safety and welfare until she should
+arrive in England, and there be delivered into the hands of her
+husband. Lady Suffolk was a cousin of Cardinal Beaufort, and she
+undoubtedly received this very exalted appointment through his favor.
+The appointment brought with it a great deal of patronage and
+influence, for a regular and extended household was now to be
+organized for the service of the new queen, and of course, among all
+the lords and ladies who had come from England, there was a very eager
+competition to obtain places in it. There are enumerated among those
+who were appointed to posts of service or honor in attendance on the
+queen, under the Marchioness of Suffolk, five barons and baronesses,
+seventeen knights, sixty-five squires, and no less than one hundred
+and seventy-four valets, besides many other servitors, all under pay.
+Then, in addition to these, so great was the eagerness to occupy some
+recognized station in the train of the bride, that great numbers
+applied for appointments to nominal offices for which they were to
+receive no pay.
+
+[Sidenote: The express.]
+
+If Rene, Margaret's father, had been possessed of a fortune
+corresponding to his rank, the expense of all these arrangements, at
+least up to the time of the departure of the bridal party, would, have
+been defrayed by him; but as it was, every thing was paid for by King
+Henry, and the precise amount of every expenditure stands recorded in
+certain old books of accounts which still remain among the ancient
+English archives.
+
+[Sidenote: Tournament.]
+
+[Sidenote: The victors in the games.]
+
+The nuptials of the princess were celebrated by a tournament and other
+accompanying festivities, which were continued for eight days. In
+these tournaments a great many mock combats were fought, in which the
+most exalted personages present on the occasion took conspicuous and
+prominent parts. The King of France himself appeared in the lists, and
+fought with Rene, the father of the bride. The king was beaten. It
+would have been impolite for any one to have vanquished the father of
+the bride at a tournament held in honor of the daughter's nuptials.
+The Count St. Pol, too, who had formerly been betrothed to Margaret,
+but had not been allowed to marry her, fought very successfully, and
+won a valuable prize, which was conferred upon him with great ceremony
+by the hands of the two most distinguished ladies present, namely, the
+Queen of France and Isabella of Lorraine, the bride's mother. Perhaps
+he too was politely allowed to win his victory and his honorary prize,
+in consideration of his submitting so quietly to the loss of the real
+prize which his great competitor, the King of England, was so
+triumphantly bearing away from him.
+
+[Sidenote: Romantic incident.]
+
+[Sidenote: Grand elopement.]
+
+[Sidenote: The parents finally appeased.]
+
+The celebrations of the eight days were interrupted and enlivened by
+one remarkable incident, which for a time threatened to produce very
+serious difficulty. It will be remembered that when the original
+contract and treaty were made between Rene and the uncle of Isabella,
+Antoine of Vaudemonte, at the time when peace was re-established
+between them, after the battle in which Rene was taken prisoner, that
+not only was it agreed that Margaret should be betrothed to the Count
+St. Pol, but also that Yolante, Margaret's elder sister, was betrothed
+to Antoine's son Ferry, as he was called.[3] Now Ferry seemed not
+disposed to submit quietly, as St. Pol had done, to the loss of his
+bride, and as he had never thus far been able to induce Rene and
+Isabella to fulfill their agreement by consenting to the consummation
+of the marriage, he determined now to take the matter into his own
+hands. So he formed the scheme of an elopement. His plan was to take
+advantage of the excitement and confusion attendant on the tournament
+for carrying off his bride. He organized a band of adventurous young
+knights who were willing to aid him in his enterprise, and, laying his
+plans secretly and carefully, he, assisted by his comrades, seized the
+young lady and galloped away with her to a place of safety, intending
+to keep her there in his own custody until King Rene and her mother
+should consent to her immediate marriage. King Rene, when he first
+heard of his daughter's abduction, was very angry, and declared that
+he would never forgive either Ferry or Yolante. But the King and Queen
+of France interceded for the lovers, and Rene at last relented. Ferry
+and Yolante were married, and all parties were made friends again,
+after which the celebrations and festivities were renewed with greater
+spirit and ardor than before.
+
+         [Footnote 3: The name was a contraction of Frederick.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret takes leave of her friends.]
+
+At length the time for the conclusion of the public rejoicings at
+Nancy, and for the commencement of Margaret's journey to England,
+arrived. Thus far, though nominally under the care and keeping of Lord
+and Lady Suffolk, Margaret had of course been really most intimately
+associated with her own family and friends; but now the time had come
+when she was to take a final leave of her father and mother, and of
+all whom she had known and loved from infancy, and be put really and
+fully into the trust and keeping of strangers, to be taken by them to
+a distant and foreign land. The parting was very painful. It seems
+that Margaret's beauty and the charming vivacity of her manners had
+made her universally beloved, and the hearts not only of her father
+and mother, but of the whole circle of those who had known her, were
+filled with grief at the thought of parting with her forever.
+
+[Sidenote: Setting out of the procession.]
+
+The King and Queen of France, who seem to have loved their niece with
+sincere affection, determined to accompany her for a short distance,
+as she set out on her journey from Nancy. Of course, many of the
+courtiers went too. These together with the great number of English
+nobles and gentry that were attached to the service of the bride, made
+so large a company, and the dresses, caparisons, and trappings which
+were exhibited on the occasion were so splendid and fine, that the
+cavalcade, as it set out from the city of Nancy on the morning when
+the journey was to commence, formed one of the gayest and grandest
+bridal processions that the world has ever seen.
+
+[Sidenote: Parting with the King and Queen of France.]
+
+After proceeding for five or six miles the procession came to a halt,
+in order that the King and Queen of France might take their leave. The
+parting filled the hearts of their majesties with grief. The king
+clasped Margaret again and again in his arms when he bade her
+farewell, and told her that in placing her, as he had done, upon one
+of the greatest thrones in Europe, it seemed to him, after all, that
+he had really done nothing for her, "for even such a throne is
+scarcely worthy of you, my darling child," said he. In saying this his
+eyes filled with tears. The queen was so overwhelmed with emotion that
+she could not speak; but, kissing Margaret again and again amid her
+sobbings and tears, she finally turned from her and was borne away.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's parents.]
+
+Margaret's father and mother did not take their leave of her at this
+place, but went on with her two days' journey, as far as to the town
+of Bar le Duc, which was near the frontiers of Lorraine. Here they,
+too, at last took their leave, though their hearts were so full, when
+the moment of final parting came, that they could not speak, but bade
+their child farewell with tears and caresses, unaccompanied with any
+words whatever of farewell.
+
+[Sidenote: The bride's new friends.]
+
+Still Margaret was not left entirely alone among strangers when her
+father and mother left her. One of her brothers, and some other
+friends, were to accompany her to England. She had, moreover, by this
+time become well acquainted with the Marquis and Marchioness of
+Suffolk, under whose charge and protection she was now traveling, and
+she had become strongly attached to them. They were both considerably
+advanced in life, and were grave and quiet in their demeanor, but they
+were very kind and attentive to Margaret in every respect, and they
+made every effort in their power to console the grief that she felt at
+parting with her parents and friends, and leaving her native land, and
+they endeavored in every way to make the journey as comfortable and as
+agreeable as possible to her.
+
+[Sidenote: The vessel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Causes of delay.]
+
+During all this time a vessel, which had been dispatched from England
+for the purpose, was waiting at a certain port on the northern coast
+of France called Kiddelaws, ready to take the queen and her bridal
+train across the Channel. The distance from Nancy to this port was
+very considerable, and the means and facilities for traveling enjoyed
+in those days were so imperfect that a great deal of time was
+necessarily employed on the journey. Besides this, a long delay was
+occasioned by the want of funds. King Henry had himself agreed to
+defray all the expenses of the marriage, and also of the progress of
+the bridal party through France to England. These expenses were
+necessarily great, and it happened at this time that the king was in
+very straitened circumstances in respect to funds. He was greatly
+embarrassed, too, in the efforts which he made to procure money, by
+the difficulties which were thrown in his way by the party of the Duke
+of Gloucester, who resisted by every means in their power all action
+of Parliament tending to furnish the king's treasury with money, and
+thus promote the final accomplishment of the marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's want of money.]
+
+In consequence of all these difficulties and delays, it was nearly
+three months from the time when the bridal ceremony was performed at
+Nancy before Margaret was ready to embark for England in the vessel
+that awaited her at Kiddelaws.
+
+[Sidenote: Expenses to be incurred in England.]
+
+It was not merely for the expenses of the journey through France of
+Margaret and her train that Henry had to provide. On her arrival in
+England there was to be a grand reception, which would require many
+costly equipages, and the giving of many entertainments. Then,
+moreover, the marriage ceremony was to be performed anew, and in a far
+more pompous and imposing manner than before, and after the marriage a
+coronation, with all the attendant festivities and celebrations. All
+these things involved great expense, and Margaret could not come into
+the kingdom until the preparations were made for the whole. To such
+straits was the king reduced in his efforts to raise the money which
+he deemed necessary for the proper reception of his bride, that he was
+obliged to pledge a large portion of the crown jewels, and also of the
+family plate and other personal property of that kind. A considerable
+part of the property so pledged was never redeemed.
+
+[Sidenote: Passage across the Channel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rough weather.]
+
+At length, however, things were so far in readiness that orders
+arrived for the sailing of the expedition. The party accordingly
+embarked, and the vessel sailed. They crossed the Channel, and entered
+Portsmouth harbor, and finally landed at the town of Porchester, which
+is situated at the head of the harbor. The voyage was not very
+agreeable. The vessel was small, and the Channel in this place is
+wide, and Margaret was so sick during the passage, and became so
+entirely exhausted, that when the vessel reached the port she could
+not stand, and Suffolk carried her to the shore in his arms.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's reception.]
+
+The boisterous weather which had attended the party during their
+voyage increased till it ended in a dreadful storm of thunder,
+lightning, and rain, which burst over the town of Porchester just at
+the time while the party were landing. The people, however, paid no
+attention to the storm and rain, but flocked in crowds into the
+streets where the bride was to pass, and strewed rushes along the way
+to make a carpet for her. They also filled the air with joyful
+acclamations as the procession passed along. In this way the royal
+bride was conveyed through the town to a convent in the vicinity,
+where she was to rest for the first night, and prepare for continuing
+her journey to London.
+
+[Sidenote: Passage to Southampton.]
+
+The next day, the weather having become settled and fair, it was
+arranged that Margaret and her party should be conveyed from
+Porchester to Southampton along the shore in barges. The water of this
+passage is smooth, being sheltered every where by the land. The barges
+first moved down Portsmouth harbor, then out into what is called the
+Solent Sea, which is a narrow, sheltered, and beautiful sheet of
+water, lying between the Isle of Wight and the main land, and thence,
+entering Southampton Water, they passed up, a distance of eight or ten
+miles, to the town.[4]
+
+         [Footnote 4: See Frontispiece.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen takes lodgings in a convent.]
+
+On the arrival of the queen at Southampton, she was conveyed again to
+a convent in the vicinity of the town, for this was before the days of
+hotels. Here she was met by persons sent from the king to assist her
+in respect to her farther preparations for appearing at his court.
+Among other measures that were adopted, one was the sending a special
+messenger to London to bring an English dressmaker to Southampton, in
+order that suitable dresses might be prepared for the bride, to enable
+her to appear properly in the presence of the English ladies at the
+approaching ceremonies.
+
+[Sidenote: The king.]
+
+[Sidenote: Lichfield Abbey.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret is seriously sick.]
+
+In the mean time, King Henry, whom the rules of royal etiquette did
+not allow to join the queen until the time should arrive for the
+performance of the second part of the nuptial ceremony, came down from
+London, and took up his abode at a place ten or twelve miles distant,
+called Southwick, where he had a palace and a park. The nuptials were
+to be celebrated at a certain abbey called Lichfield Abbey, which was
+situated about midway between Southampton, where the queen was
+lodged, and Southwick, the place of waiting for the king. The king had
+expected that every thing would be ready in a few days, but he was
+destined to encounter a new delay. Margaret had scarcely arrived in
+Southampton when she was attacked by an eruptive fever of some sort,
+resembling small-pox, which threw all her friends into a state of
+great alarm concerning her. The disease, however, proved less serious
+than was at first apprehended, and after a week or two the danger
+seemed to be over.
+
+During all the time while his bride was thus sick Henry remained in
+great suspense and anxiety at Southwick, being forbidden, by the rigid
+rules of royal etiquette, to see her.
+
+[Sidenote: Recovery.]
+
+At length Margaret recovered, and the day was appointed for the final
+celebration of the nuptials. When the time arrived, Margaret was
+conveyed in great state, and at the head of a splendid cavalcade, to
+the abbey, and there the marriage ceremony was again performed in the
+presence of a great concourse of lords and ladies that had come from
+London and Windsor, or from their various castles in the country
+around, to be present on the occasion.
+
+[Illustration: Suffolk Presenting Margaret to the King.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1445.]
+
+[Sidenote: The final ceremony.]
+
+This final ceremony was performed in April, 1445. Of course, as
+Margaret was born in March, 1429, she was at this time sixteen
+years and one month old.
+
+[Sidenote: Strange bridal present.]
+
+Among other curious incidents which are recorded in connection with
+this wedding, there is an account of Margaret's receiving, as a
+present on the occasion--for a pet, as it were, just as at the present
+day a young bride might receive a gift of a spaniel or a
+canary-bird--a lion. It was very common in those times for the wealthy
+nobles to keep such animals as these at their castles. They were
+confined in dens constructed for them near the castle walls. The kings
+of England, however, kept their lions, when they had any, in the Tower
+of London, and the practice thus established of keeping wild beasts in
+the Tower was continued down to a very late period; so that I remember
+of often reading, when I was a boy, in English story-books, accounts
+of children, when they went to London, being taken by their parents to
+see the "lions in the Tower."
+
+[Sidenote: The lion sent to the Tower.]
+
+Margaret sent her lion to the Tower. In the book of expenses which was
+kept for this famous bridal progress, there is an account of the sum
+of money paid to two men for taking care of this lion, feeding him and
+conveying him to London. The amount was L2 5_s._ 3_d._, which is equal
+to about ten or twelve dollars of our money. This seems very little
+for such a service, but it must be remembered that the value of money
+was much greater in those times than it is now.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret continues her journey toward London.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rejoicings.]
+
+Immediately after the marriage ceremony was completed, the
+preparations for the journey having been all made beforehand, the king
+and queen set out together for London, and it soon began to appear
+that this part of the journey was to be more splendid and gay than any
+other. The people of the country, who had heard marvelous stories of
+the youth and beauty and the early family misfortunes of the queen,
+flocked in crowds along the roadsides to get a glimpse of her as she
+passed, and to gaze on the grand train of knights and nobles that
+accompanied her, and to admire the magnificence of the dresses and
+decorations which were so profusely displayed. Every body came wearing
+a daisy in his cap or in his buttonhole, for the daisy was the flower
+which Margaret had chosen for her emblem. At every town through which
+the bride passed she was met by immense crowds that thronged all the
+accessible places, and filled the windows, and in some places covered
+the roofs of the houses and the tops of the walls, and welcomed her
+with the sound of trumpets, the waving of banners, and with prolonged
+shouts and acclamations.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+[Sidenote: His plans.]
+
+[Sidenote: His invitation to the queen.]
+
+In the mean time, the Duke of Gloucester, who, with his party, had
+done every thing in his power to oppose the marriage, now, finding
+that it was an accomplished fact, and that all farther opposition
+would not only be useless, but would only tend to hasten and complete
+his own utter downfall, concluded to change his course, and join
+heartily himself in the general welcome which was given to the bride.
+His plan was to persuade the queen that the opposition which he had
+made to King Henry's measures was directed only against the peace
+which had been made with France, and which he had opposed for
+political considerations alone, but that, so far as the marriage with
+Margaret was concerned, he approved it. So he prepared to outdo, if
+possible, all the rest of the nobility in the magnificence of the
+welcome which he was to give her on her arrival in London. He
+possessed a palace at Greenwich, on the Thames, a short distance below
+London, and he sent an invitation to Margaret to come there on the
+last day of her journey, in order to rest and refresh herself a little
+preparatory to the excitement and fatigue of entering London. Margaret
+accepted this invitation, and when the bridal procession began to
+draw nigh, Gloucester came forth to meet her at the head of a band of
+five hundred of his own retainers, all dressed in his uniform, and
+wearing the badge of his personal service. This great parade was
+intended partly to do honor to the bride, and partly to impress her
+with a proper sense of his own rank and importance as one of the
+nobles of England, and of the danger that she would incur in making
+him her enemy.
+
+[Sidenote: Great preparations in London.]
+
+[Sidenote: Curious exhibitions.]
+
+[Sidenote: Justice and peace.]
+
+Very splendid preparations were made in the city of London to do honor
+to the royal bride in her passage through the city. It was the custom
+in those times to exhibit in the streets, on great public days,
+tableaux, and emblematic or dramatic representations of certain truths
+or moral sentiments appropriate to the occasion, and sometimes of
+passages of Scripture history. A great many of these exhibitions were
+arranged by the citizens of London, to be seen by the bride and the
+bridal procession as they passed through the streets. Some of these
+were very quaint and queer, and would only be laughed at at the
+present day. For instance, in one place was an arrangement of two
+figures, one dressed to represent justice, and the other peace; and
+these figures were made movable and fitted with strings, so that, at
+the proper moment, when the queen was passing, they could be made to
+come together and apparently kiss each other. This was intended as an
+expression of the text, justice and peace have kissed each other,
+which was considered as an appropriate text to characterize and
+commemorate the peace between England and France which this marriage
+had sealed. In another place there was an emblematical pageant
+representing peace and plenty. There were also, at other places,
+representations of Noah's ark, of the parable of the wise and foolish
+virgins, of the heavenly Jerusalem, and even one of the general
+resurrection and judgment day.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen passes through London.]
+
+On the morning of the day appointed for the queen's entry into London,
+the pageants having all been prepared and set up in their places, a
+grand procession of the mayor and aldermen, and other dignitaries, was
+formed, and proceeded down the river toward Greenwich, in order to
+meet the queen and escort her through the city. These civic officers
+were all mounted on horseback, and dressed in their gay official
+costumes. The chiefs were dressed in scarlet, and the body of their
+followers, arranged in bands according to their respective trades,
+wore blue gowns, with embroidered sleeves and red hoods. In this way
+the royal procession was escorted over London Bridge, and through the
+principal streets of the city to Westminster, where the bride was at
+length safely received in the palace of her husband.
+
+[Sidenote: The coronation.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen left to repose.]
+
+This was on the 28th of May. Two days afterward Margaret was crowned
+queen in Westminster with great parade and ceremony. The coronation
+was followed by a grand tournament of three days' duration,
+accompanied with banquets and other festivities usual on such
+occasions, and then at length the bride had the satisfaction of
+feeling that the long-protracted ceremony was over, and that she was
+now to be left to repose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+Notwithstanding the grand reception which the Duke of Gloucester gave
+to Margaret on her arrival in England, she knew very well that he had
+always been opposed to her marriage, and had not failed to do all in
+his power to prevent it. She accordingly considered him as her enemy;
+and though she endeavored at first, at least, to treat him with
+outward politeness, she felt a secret resentment against him in heart,
+and would have been very glad to have joined his political enemies in
+effecting his overthrow.
+
+[Sidenote: The cardinal.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's affection for Lord and Lady Suffolk.]
+
+[Sidenote: Quarrel.]
+
+Cardinal Beaufort and the Earl of Suffolk, as has already been said,
+were Gloucester's rivals and enemies. The cardinal was a venerable
+man, now quite advanced in years. He was, however, extremely
+ambitious. He was immensely wealthy, and his wealth gave him great
+influence. He had, moreover, been the guardian of the king during his
+minority, and in that capacity had acquired a great influence over his
+mind. The Earl of Suffolk, who, with his lady, had been sent to
+France to bring Margaret over, had inspired Margaret with a great
+friendship for him. She felt a strong affection for him, and also for
+Lady Suffolk, not only on account of their having acted so important a
+part in promoting her marriage, but also on account of the very kind
+and attentive manner in which they had treated her during the whole
+period of her journey. Thus the cardinal and Suffolk, on the one hand,
+had the advantage, in their quarrel with the Duke of Gloucester, of
+great personal influence over the king and queen, while Gloucester
+himself, on the other hand, enjoyed in some respects a still greater
+advantage in his popularity with the mass of the people. Every body
+perceived that the old quarrel between these great personages would
+now, on the arrival of the queen in England, be prosecuted with more
+violence than ever, and all the courtiers were anxious to find out
+which was likely to be the victor, so that, at the end of the battle,
+they might be found on the winning side.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret is left to herself.]
+
+As soon as the coronation was over, the principal personages who had
+been sent with Margaret by her father, for the purpose of accompanying
+her on her journey, and seeing her properly and comfortably
+established in her new home, were dismissed and allowed to set out on
+their return. They all received presents in money from King Henry to
+reimburse them for the expenses of the journey which they had made in
+bringing him his bride.
+
+[Illustration: Ancient Portrait of Queen Margaret.]
+
+[Sidenote: Repair of the palaces.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king's want of money.]
+
+Margaret was thus left to herself in the new station and new sphere of
+duty to which she had been transferred. All the royal palaces had
+been fitted up expressly for her reception. This was very necessary in
+fact, for some years had elapsed since there had been a queen in
+England, and all the royal residences had become very much out of
+repair. Those were rude times, and even the palaces and castles that
+were built for kings and queens were at best very comfortless
+dwellings. But when, during a long minority, they were abandoned to
+the rude tenants and rough usages to which at such times they were
+sure to be devoted, they came, in the end, to be little better than so
+many barracks for soldiery. It required a great deal of time, and no
+little expense, to prepare the Tower and the palaces of Westminster
+and Richmond for the reception of a young and beautiful queen, and of
+the gay company of ladies that were to attend her. King Henry was so
+destitute of money at this time that he found it extremely difficult
+to provide the means of paying the workmen. There is still extant a
+petition which the clerk of the works sent in to the king, praying him
+to supply him with more money to pay the men, for the labor was so
+poorly paid, and the wages were so much in arrears, that it was
+extremely difficult for him to find men, he said, to go on with the
+work.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen attaches herself to Cardinal Beaufort.]
+
+[Sidenote: Jealousy of Gloucester.]
+
+The palaces were, however, at last made ready before Margaret came.
+There were apartments for her in the Tower, and there were also three
+other palaces in and near London, in either of which she could reside
+at her pleasure. Besides this, the cardinal, who, as has already been
+remarked, was possessed of immense wealth, owned, among his other
+establishments, a beautiful mansion at Waltham Forest, a few miles
+north of London. The cardinal set apart a state chamber in this house
+for the exclusive use of the queen when she came to visit him, and
+caused it to be fitted up and furnished in a magnificent manner for
+her. The drapery of the bed was of cloth of gold from Damascus, and
+the other furniture and fittings were to correspond. The queen used
+often to go and visit the cardinal at this country seat. She soon
+became very fond of him, and willing to be guided by his counsel in
+almost every thing that she did. Indeed, the ascendency which the
+cardinal thus exercised over Margaret greatly increased his power over
+the king. The affairs of the court and of the government were directed
+almost wholly by his counsels. The Duke of Gloucester and the nobles
+of his party became more and more indignant and angry at this state of
+things. The realm of England, they said, through the weakness and
+imbecility of the king, had fallen into the hands of a priest and of a
+woman--a French woman, too.
+
+[Sidenote: Great mistakes often made.]
+
+But there was nothing that they could do. Margaret was so young and so
+beautiful that every body was captivated with her person and behavior,
+and whatever she did was thought to be right. Indeed, the general
+course which she pursued on her first arrival in England _was_ right
+in an eminent degree. There have been many cases in which young
+queens, in coming as Margaret did, away from their native land and
+from all their early friends, to reign in a foreign court, have
+brought with them from home personages of distinction to be their
+favorites and friends in their new position. But when this is done,
+jealousies and ill-will always sooner or later spring up between these
+relatives and friends of the foreign bride and the old native advisers
+of the king her husband. The result is, in the end, a king's party and
+a queen's party at court, and perpetual quarrels and dissensions
+ensue, in which at least the people of the country are sure to become
+involved, from their natural jealousy of the foreign influence, as
+they call it, introduced by the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's friends and counselors.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her good sense.]
+
+[Sidenote: Example for all young brides.]
+
+Queen Margaret had the good sense to avoid this danger. All the
+principal persons who came with her to England, for the purpose of
+accompanying her on the journey, and of carrying back to her father
+and friends in France authentic assurances of her having been
+honorably received by her husband as his bride and queen, were
+dismissed and sent home again immediately after the coronation, as we
+have already seen. Margaret retained only certain domestic servants,
+and perhaps some two or three private and personal friends. As for
+counselors and advisers, she threw herself at once upon the ministers
+and counselors of the king--the Cardinal Beaufort, who had been his
+guardian from childhood, and the Earl of Suffolk, who was one of his
+principal ministers, and had been sent by him, as his proxy and
+representative, to negotiate the marriage and bring home the bride.
+She made Lady Suffolk, too--the wife of the earl--her most intimate
+female friend. She appointed her to the principal place of honor in
+her household, and in other ways manifested great affection for her.
+The good sense and discretion which she thus manifested--young as she
+was, for she was not yet seventeen--in choosing for her confidential
+friend a lady of the age and standing of Lady Suffolk, instead of
+attempting to place in that position some foreign belle of her own
+years, whom she had brought with her for the purpose from her native
+land, as many young brides in her situation would have done, deserves
+much commendation. In a word, Margaret, in becoming a wife, gave
+herself up entirely to her husband. She made his friends her friends,
+and his interests her interests, and thus transferred herself, wholly
+and without reserve, to her new position; an example which all young
+ladies whose marriage brings them into entirely new circumstances and
+relations would do well to follow. Nothing is more dangerous than the
+attempt in such cases to bring from the old home influences in any
+form to be introduced with a view of sharing the control in the new.
+
+[Sidenote: Opinions in England.]
+
+In consequence of the discreet course of conduct that Margaret thus
+pursued, and of the effect produced on the court by her beauty, her
+vivacity, and her many polite accomplishments, public opinion--that
+is, the opinion of the outside world, who knew nothing of her secret
+designs or of her real character--turned very soon after her arrival
+in England entirely in her favor. As has already been said, the
+general sentiment of the nobles and of the people was strongly against
+the match when it was first proposed. They opposed it, not because
+they had any personal objection to Margaret herself, but because, in
+order to prepare the way for it, it was necessary to make peace with
+France, and in making peace, to grant certain concessions which they
+thought would weaken the power of the English on the Continent, and,
+at any rate, greatly interfere with the farther extension of their
+power there. But when the people came to see and know the queen, they
+all admired and loved her.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's character.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's character.]
+
+As for the king, he was perfectly enchanted with his bride. He was
+himself, as has already been said, of a very sedate and quiet turn of
+mind; amiable and gentle in disposition; devout, fond of retirement,
+and interested only in such occupations and pleasures as are
+consistent with a life of tranquillity and repose. Margaret was as
+different as possible from all this. Her brilliant personal charms,
+her wit, her spirit, her general intellectual superiority, the
+extraordinary courage for which she afterward became so celebrated,
+and which began to show itself even at this early period, all combined
+to awaken in Henry's mind a profound admiration for his wife, and gave
+her a great and rapidly-increasing ascendency over him.
+
+[Sidenote: Her popularity in England.]
+
+The impression which Margaret made upon the people was equally
+favorable. England, they thought, had never seen a queen more worthy
+of the throne than Margaret of Anjou. Some one said of her that no
+woman equaled her in beauty, and few men surpassed her in courage and
+energy. It seemed as if she had been born in order to supply to her
+royal husband the qualities which he required in order to become a
+great king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STORY OF LADY NEVILLE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Intrigues.]
+
+[Sidenote: A romantic story.]
+
+In reading the history of the English monarchy in these early times,
+you will often hear of the _court intrigues_ which mingled with, and
+sometimes greatly complicated, the movement of public affairs.
+Margaret of Anjou found herself, on her arrival in England, involved
+in many such intrigues. Indeed, she was admirably qualified, by her
+sagacity and quickness of apprehension, and by the great ascendency
+which these and other qualities which she possessed gave her over the
+minds of all about her, to take a very active and successful part in
+the management of manoeuvrings of all sorts. The nature of these court
+intrigues is very well illustrated by the narration which the most
+celebrated of Margaret's biographers gives of one in which he says
+that Margaret herself became involved while on her way from France to
+England. The story seems much more like romance than like reality.
+Indeed, it doubtless is a romance, but it nevertheless illustrates
+well the manner in which the private passions and personal and family
+quarrels of the great became involved with, and sometimes entirely
+controlled, the most important events in the national history, and
+therefore it will not be amiss to relate it.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville.]
+
+[Sidenote: First interview.]
+
+[Sidenote: Dauphiness.]
+
+The first connection which Queen Margaret, as we are henceforth to
+call her, had with the affair of Lady Neville, took place at
+Abbeville, a town in France not very far from Calais, when the queen
+was advancing toward the sea-coast on her way to England. While she
+was at Abbeville, there suddenly appeared a young and beautiful lady
+who asked an audience of Margaret, announcing herself simply as one of
+the ladies who had been attached to the service of the dauphiness, who
+was the wife of the oldest son of the king,[5] and who had recently
+died. She was admitted. She remained in private conversation with
+Margaret two hours, and when this mysterious interview was concluded
+she was introduced to the other ladies of Margaret's court as Miss
+Sanders, an English lady who had been attached to the court of the
+dauphiness, but who now, since the death of her mistress, wished to
+return to England in Margaret's train. Margaret informed the other
+ladies that she had received her into her household, and gave
+directions that she should be treated with the utmost consideration.
+
+         [Footnote 5: See map. The oldest son of the King of France
+         and the heir to the crown is styled the Dauphin. His rank and
+         position corresponds with that of the Prince of Wales in
+         England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Curiosity of the ladies.]
+
+[Sidenote: The stranger's reserve.]
+
+The other ladies were very curious to solve the mystery of this case,
+but they could not obtain any clew to it. The stranger was very
+reserved, mingled very little with her new companions, and evinced a
+constant desire to avoid observation. There was something, however, in
+her beauty, and in the expression of deep and constant grief which her
+countenance wore, which made her an object of great interest to all
+the household of the queen, but they could not learn any particulars
+of her history. The facts, however, were these.
+
+[Sidenote: Her story.]
+
+Her real name was Anne Neville. She was the daughter of Richard
+Neville, Earl of Salisbury, one of the leading and most
+highly-connected noblemen in England. When she was about fifteen years
+old she was married to a relative of the family. The marriage,
+however, proved a very unhappy one. Her husband was very jealous of
+her. From her subsequent conduct it would seem probable that he might
+have had good reason to be so. At any rate, he was extremely jealous;
+and as he was of a harsh and cruel temper, he made his young wife
+very miserable by the exactions and privations which he enforced upon
+her, and by the violent invectives with which he continually assailed
+her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her unhappy marriage.]
+
+The incessant anxiety and suffering which these troubles occasioned
+soon began to prey upon the lady's health, and, at length, her father,
+observing that she was growing pale and thin, began to inquire into
+the cause. He soon learned what a dreadful life his daughter was
+leading. Like most of the other great nobles of those days, he was a
+man of violent character, and he immediately determined on rescuing
+his daughter from her husband's power, for he considered her husband
+as the party chiefly, if not wholly, to blame.
+
+[Sidenote: Her marriage dissolved.]
+
+[Sidenote: Pretext.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her marriage annulled.]
+
+He ascertained, or pretended to ascertain, that there had been some
+informalities connected with the marriage. His daughter was distantly
+related to her husband, and there were certain steps which it was
+necessary to take in such cases to obtain a dispensation from the
+Church, in order to render such marriage legal. These steps he now
+alleged had not been properly taken, and he immediately instituted
+proceedings to have the marriage annulled. Whether there was really
+any sufficient ground for such annulling, or whether he obtained the
+decree through influences which his high position enabled him to bring
+to bear upon the court, I do not know. He, however, succeeded in his
+purpose. The marriage was annulled, and his daughter returned home;
+and, in order to obliterate as far as possible all traces of the
+unhappy union into which she had been drawn, she dropped the name
+which she had received from her husband and resumed again her own
+maiden name.
+
+[Sidenote: She becomes free.]
+
+She now began soon to appear at court, where she almost immediately
+attracted great attention. On account of the peculiar circumstances in
+which she was placed, she enjoyed all the privileges of a widow,
+combined with the attractiveness and the charms of a lovely girl.
+Almost every body was ready to fall in love with her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her admirers.]
+
+Among her other admirers was the Duke of Somerset. He was a man of
+high rank and of great accomplishments, but he was married, and he
+could not, therefore, innocently make her the object of his love. He
+was not, however, deterred by this consideration, and he soon
+succeeded in making a strong impression upon Lady Neville's heart.
+They soon contrived means of meeting each other in private,
+resorting to all sorts of manoeuvres and inventions to aid them in
+keeping their guilty attachment to each other from the knowledge of
+those around them.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+In the mean while, the Duke of Gloucester himself, who was now,
+however, considerably advanced in life, lost his wife, she dying about
+this time, and he almost immediately conceived the idea of making Lady
+Neville her successor. He thought it not proper to say any thing to
+Lady Neville herself on this subject until some little time should
+have elapsed, but he spoke to her father, the Earl of Salisbury, who
+readily approved of the plan. Gloucester was at this time prime
+minister of England, and the lady whom he should choose for his wife
+would be elevated by her marriage to the highest pinnacle of grandeur.
+Of course, the importance and influence of her father also, and of all
+the members of her family, would be greatly increased by so splendid
+an alliance.
+
+[Sidenote: Splendid prospect.]
+
+So it was agreed that the match should be made, but the arrangement
+was to be kept secret, not only from the public, but from the intended
+bride herself, until a suitable time should have elapsed for the
+widower to recover from the grief which the death of his former wife
+was supposed to have occasioned him.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester's declaration.]
+
+At length, when the proper time for mourning had expired, Gloucester
+made his declaration of love. Lady Neville listened to it, thinking
+all the time what Somerset would say when she came to communicate the
+news to him. She did communicate it to him on the first opportunity.
+
+[Sidenote: Perplexity of Lady Neville.]
+
+Great was the distress and the perplexity which the lovers felt while
+consulting together and determining what was to be done in such an
+emergency. They could not endure the thought of a separation. They
+could not be married to each other, for Somerset was married already.
+For Lady Neville to remain single all her life in order to be at
+liberty to indulge a guilty passion was an idea not to be entertained.
+They knew, too, that their present relations to each other could not
+long be continued. A thousand circumstances might happen at any time
+to interrupt or to terminate it, and it could not be long, in any
+event, before it must come to an end. So it was agreed between them
+that Lady Neville should accede to the great minister's proposal and
+become his wife. In the mean time, until the period should arrive for
+the consummation of the marriage, they were to renew and redouble
+their intimacy with each other, taking, however, every possible
+precaution to conceal their movements from the eyes of others.
+
+So the duke's offer was accepted, and it was soon made known to all
+the court that Lady Neville was his affianced bride.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke becomes uneasy.]
+
+Thus far Lady Neville had treated the duke with great reserve in her
+accidental intercourse with him at the reunions of the court, but now,
+since he was her accepted lover, he thought he might reasonably expect
+a greater degree of cordiality in her demeanor toward him. But he
+found no change. She continued as formal and reserved as ever.
+Moreover, when he went to visit her, which he did sometimes several
+times a day, she was very often not at home--much too often, he
+thought. He went to the place where her domestics said she had gone in
+such cases, but she was very seldom to be found. He soon came to the
+conclusion that there was some strange mystery involved in the affair,
+and he determined to adopt effectual measures for unraveling it.
+
+[Sidenote: His spies.]
+
+So he employed certain trusty persons who were in his service to watch
+and see where Lady Neville went, and how she passed her time during
+these unaccountable absences from home. For many days this watch was
+continued, but no discoveries were made. The spies reported that they
+could not keep upon the lady's track. In spite of their best exertions
+she would contrive to elude them, and for several hours every day they
+lost sight of her altogether. They saw enough, however, to satisfy
+them that there was something wrong going on. What it was, however,
+they could not discover, so shrewd and complete were the precautions
+which Somerset and Lady Neville had taken to prevent detection.
+
+[Sidenote: Discoveries.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's perplexity.]
+
+[Sidenote: His mode of reasoning.]
+
+The Duke of Gloucester was for a time much perplexed to know what to
+do, whether openly to quarrel with Lady Neville and refuse to
+consummate the marriage, or to banish his suspicions and take her for
+his wife. His love for her finally triumphed, and he resolved to
+proceed with the marriage. He had no positive evidence against her, he
+said to himself, and then, besides, even if there were some secret
+attachment on her part, to account for these mysterious appearances,
+she might, after all, when once married to him, make him a faithful
+and affectionate wife. Some lingering remains of a former affection
+must often necessarily dwell, he thought, in the heart of a bride,
+even when truly and honestly giving herself to the one on whom her
+choice is finally made. Especially is this true in cases where the
+lady is young, accomplished, and lovely, while her husband can only
+offer wealth or high position instead of youth and personal
+attractions as a means of winning her favor.
+
+[Sidenote: The decision.]
+
+So it was decided that the marriage should take place, and the day for
+the wedding was appointed.
+
+[Sidenote: Clandestine meeting of the lovers.]
+
+[Sidenote: Village on the Thames.]
+
+When the time for the wedding drew nigh, and the lovers found that the
+period of their enjoyments was drawing to a close, they determined on
+having a farewell interview with each other on the day before the
+wedding, and in order to be safe from interruption, it was arranged
+that they should spend the day together in a village on the banks of
+the Thames, at some little distance from London.
+
+When the day came, Lady Neville left her home to repair to the place
+of rendezvous. She was followed by Gloucester's spies. She was
+received at the village by Somerset. Somerset was, however, so
+disguised that the spies did not know and could not discover who he
+was. They were satisfied, however, from his demeanor toward Lady
+Neville, that he was her lover, and they at once reported the facts to
+Gloucester in London.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans for her return.]
+
+Gloucester was of course in a great rage. He swore terrible vengeance
+against both Lady Neville herself and her lover, whoever he might be.
+He at once armed a troop of his followers and rode off at the head of
+them, guided by one of the spies, to the village of rendezvous. It was
+dark before he arrived there. Some peasants of whom he made inquiry
+informed him that a lady answering to the description which he gave
+them had gone on board the boat to return to London some time before.
+Gloucester immediately turned, and made all haste back to London
+again, in hopes to reach the landing before the boat should arrive,
+with a full determination to kill both the lady herself and her
+paramour the moment they should touch the shore.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester mistaken.]
+
+He was mistaken, however, in supposing that the paramour, whoever he
+might be, was with the lady. Somerset, in the excess of his
+precaution, had returned to London by land, leaving Lady Neville to
+return by herself in the boat with the other passengers; for the boat
+was a sort of packet which plied regularly between the village and
+London. He, however, had stationed trusty persons not far from the
+landing in London, who were to receive Lady Neville on her arrival and
+convey her home.
+
+[Sidenote: The boat arrives.]
+
+Gloucester arrived at the landing before the boat reached the shore.
+It was, however, now so dark that he despaired of being able to
+recognize the persons he was in pursuit of, especially under the
+disguise which he did not doubt that they would wear. So, in the
+recklessness of his rage, he resolved to kill every body in the boat,
+and thus to make sure of his revenge.
+
+[Sidenote: Assault upon the boat.]
+
+Accordingly, the moment that the boat touched the shore, he and his
+followers rushed on board, and a dreadful scene of consternation and
+terror ensued. Gloucester himself made his way directly toward the
+figure of a lady, whose air, and manner, and style of dress indicated,
+so far as he could discern them in the darkness, that she was probably
+the object of his fury. He plunged his dagger into her breast. She, in
+an agony of terror, leaped into the river. She was buoyed up by her
+dress, and floated down the stream.
+
+[Sidenote: Boatmen murdered.]
+
+In the mean time, the work of murder on board the boat went on. The
+duke and his men continued stabbing and striking down all around them,
+until the passengers and the boatmen were every one killed. The bodies
+were then all thrown into the river, stones having been previously
+tied to them to make them sink.
+
+[Sidenote: Cries.]
+
+The people in the houses of the neighborhood, on the banks of the
+river, heard the cries, and raised their heads a moment from their
+pillows, or paused as they were walking along the silent streets to
+listen. But the cries were soon suppressed, for the massacre was the
+work of a few moments only, and such sounds were far too common in
+those days in the streets of London, and especially on the river, to
+attract much regard.
+
+[Sidenote: The boat sunk.]
+
+The boat was of course covered with blood. The duke ordered his men to
+take it out into the middle of the river and sink it, that being the
+easiest and the quickest way of covering up all traces and proofs of
+the crime.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester.]
+
+The writer who relates this story says that Gloucester's reason for
+wishing to have his agency in this transaction concealed was not that
+he feared any punishment, for the laws in those days were wholly
+powerless to punish deeds of violence like this, committed by men of
+Gloucester's rank and station. He only thought that if it were known
+that he had murdered in this way so many innocent people, in order
+merely to make sure of killing an object of his own private jealousy
+and hate, it would injure his popularity!
+
+[Sidenote: Escape of Lady Neville.]
+
+In the mean time, Lady Neville, for it was really Lady Neville whom
+Gloucester had stabbed, and who had leaped into the river, floated
+on down the stream, borne up by her dress, which was made, according
+to the fashion of the times, in a manner to give it great buoyancy in
+the water, by means of the hoops with which the sleeves of the robe
+were distended, and also from the form of the head-dress, which was
+very large and light, and well adapted to serve as a float to keep the
+head from sinking.
+
+[Illustration: Female Costume in the Time of Henry VI.]
+
+[Sidenote: Under the bridge.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rescued.]
+
+She floated on in this manner down the river until she had passed
+London Bridge, being carried through by the current under one of the
+arches. On emerging from the bridge, she came to the part of the river
+where the ships and other vessels bound down the river were moored. It
+happened that among other vessels lying at anchor in the stream was
+one bound to Normandy. The captain of this vessel had been on shore,
+but he was now coming off in his boat to go on board again. As the
+captain was looking out over the water by the light of a lantern which
+he held in his hand, to discern the way to his vessel, he saw
+something floating at a short distance from him which resembled the
+dress of a woman. He urged the boat forward in that direction. He
+succeeded, with great difficulty, after arriving at the spot, in
+getting the now almost lifeless form of Lady Neville on board his
+boat, and then rowed on as fast as possible to the vessel.
+
+[Sidenote: Received on board a vessel.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her determination.]
+
+Here every thing was done which the case required to restore the
+drowning lady to life. She soon recovered her senses, and looked about
+her wild with excitement and terror. She had the presence of mind,
+however, not to say a word that could betray her secret, though her
+dress, and her air and manner, convinced the captain that she was no
+ordinary personage. The wound was examined and found not to be
+serious. She had been protected by some portions of her dress which
+had turned the poniard aside. When she found that the immediate danger
+had passed she became more composed, and began to inquire in regard to
+the persons and scenes around her. When she found that the vessel
+which had received her was bound to Normandy, she determined to escape
+to that country; so she contrived means to induce the captain to
+conceal her on board until the time should arrive for setting sail,
+and then to take her with him down the river and across the Channel.
+
+[Sidenote: She is received by the dauphiness.]
+
+On her arrival in France she repaired at once to the court of the
+dauphiness, who, being an English princess, was predisposed to take
+compassion upon her and to receive her kindly. She remained at this
+court, as we have seen, under the assumed name of Miss Sanders, until
+the death of the dauphiness. She was thus suddenly deprived of her
+protector in France, but almost at the same time the marriage of
+Margaret of Anjou seemed to open to her the means of returning to
+England.
+
+So long as the Duke of Gloucester lived and retained his power, she
+knew very well that she could not return in safety to the English
+court; but she thought that Margaret's going to England would probably
+be the precursor of Gloucester's downfall.
+
+[Sidenote: Political intrigues.]
+
+"_She_ must hate him," said she to herself, "almost as much as I do,
+for he has opposed her marriage from the beginning, and has done all
+in his power to prevent it. Margaret will never be satisfied until she
+has deposed him from his power and put some friend of hers in his
+place. I can help her in this work, if she will receive me under her
+protection and allow me to accompany her to England."
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville and Margaret.]
+
+So she proceeded to Abbeville to intercept the queen on her way to the
+coast, as we have already seen. At the long and secret interview which
+she had with her there she related to Margaret the story of her
+connection with Somerset and with Gloucester, and of her almost
+miraculous escape from death at Gloucester's hands. She now wished for
+revenge; and if Queen Margaret would receive her into her service and
+take her to England, she would concert measures with Somerset, her
+lover, which would greatly aid Margaret in the plans which she might
+form for effecting the downfall of Gloucester.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville returns.]
+
+[Sidenote: Mystery.]
+
+Margaret at once and very gladly acceded to this request, and took
+Lady Neville with her to England. She treated her with great
+consideration and honor; but still Lady Neville maintained a strict
+reserve in all her intercourse with the other ladies of the court,
+and kept herself in great seclusion, especially after the arrival of
+the bridal party in England. Her pretext for this was her deep
+affliction at the loss of her friend and patroness the Dauphiness of
+France. But the other ladies of the court were not wholly satisfied
+with this explanation. They were fully convinced that there was more
+in the case than met the view, especially when they found that on the
+arrival of the party in England the stranger seemed to take special
+pains to avoid meeting the Duke of Gloucester. They exerted all their
+powers of watchfulness and scrutiny to unravel the mystery, but in
+vain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+PLOTTINGS.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Personal and political intrigues.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's beauty.]
+
+It was in this way that public affairs were mingled and complicated
+with private and personal intrigues in the English court at the time
+of Margaret's arrival in the country. Margaret was of a character
+which admirably fitted her to act her part well in the management of
+such intrigues, and in playing off the passions of ambition, love,
+resentment, envy, and hate, as manifested by those around
+her--passions which always glow and rage with greater fury in a court
+than in any other community--so as to accomplish her ends. She was
+very young indeed, but she had arrived at a maturity, both mental and
+personal, far beyond her years. Her countenance was beautiful, and her
+air and manner possessed an inexpressible charm, but her mental powers
+were of a very masculine character, and in the boldness of the plans
+which she formed, and in the mingled shrewdness and energy with which
+she went on to the execution of them, she evinced less the qualities
+of a woman than of a man.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville supposed to be dead.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her father.]
+
+It was supposed by all parties in England that Lady Neville was dead.
+Of course the Duke of Gloucester had no idea that any one could have
+escaped from the boat. He supposed that he had effected the complete
+destruction of all on board of it. Somerset's men, who had been
+stationed at some distance from the landing to receive Lady Neville
+and convey her home, waited until long past the appointed hour, but no
+one came. The inquiries which Somerset made secretly the next day
+showed that the boat had sailed from the village, but no tidings of
+her arrival in London could be obtained, and he supposed that she must
+have been lost, with all on board, by some accident on the river. As
+for the Earl of Salisbury, Lady Neville's father, Gloucester went to
+him at once, and informed him what he had done. He had detected his
+daughter, he said, in a guilty intrigue, which, if it had been made
+public, would have brought not only herself, but all her family, to
+shame. The earl, who was a man of great sternness and severity of
+character, said that Gloucester had done perfectly right, and they
+agreed together to keep the whole transaction secret from the world,
+and to circulate a report that Lady Neville had died from some natural
+cause.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival in London.]
+
+Such was the state of things when Margaret and Lady Neville arrived in
+London. As soon as the queen became somewhat established in her new
+home, she began to revolve in her mind the means of deposing
+Gloucester. Her plan was first to endeavor to arouse her husband from
+his lethargy, and to awaken in his mind something like a spirit of
+independence and a feeling of ambition.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen and Henry.]
+
+"You have in your hands," she used to say to him, "what may be easily
+made the foundation of the noblest realm in Europe. Besides Great
+Britain, you have the whole of Normandy, and other valuable
+possessions in France, which together form a vast kingdom, in the
+government of which you might acquire great glory, if you would take
+the government of it into your own hands."
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's arguments.]
+
+She went on to represent to him how unworthy it was of him to allow
+all the power of such a realm to be wielded by his uncle, instead of
+assuming the command at once himself, as every consideration of
+prudence and policy urged him to do. A great many instances had
+occurred in English history, she said, in which a favorite minister
+had been allowed to hold power so long, and to strengthen himself in
+the possession of it so completely, that he could not be divested of
+it, so that the king himself came at length to be held in subjection
+by his own minister. The Duke of Gloucester was advancing rapidly in
+the same course; and, unless the king aroused himself from his
+inaction, and took the government into his own hands, he would soon
+lose all power to do it, and would sink into a condition of
+humiliating dependence upon one of his own subjects.
+
+[Sidenote: The example of ancestors.]
+
+Then, again, she urged upon him at other times the example of his
+father and grandfather, Henry IV. and Henry V., whose reigns, through
+the personal energy and prowess which they had exhibited in
+strengthening and extending their dominions, had given them a
+world-wide renown. It would be extremely inglorious for the descendant
+of such a line to spend his life in spiritless inactivity, and to
+leave the affairs of his kingdom in the hands of a relative, who of
+course could only be expected to exercise his powers for the purpose
+of promoting his own interest and glory.
+
+[Sidenote: Anne.]
+
+[Sidenote: House of York.]
+
+Moreover, she reminded him of a danger that he was in from the
+representations of other branches of the royal line who still claimed
+the throne, and might at any time, whenever an opportunity offered, be
+expected to attempt to enforce their claims. As will be seen by the
+genealogical table,[6] Lionel, the _second_ son of Edward III.--whose
+immediate descendants had been superseded by those of John of Gaunt,
+the third son, on account of the fact that the only child of Lionel
+was a daughter, and she had been unable to make good her claims--had a
+great-granddaughter, named Anne, who married Richard, a son of Edmund,
+the _fourth_ of the sons of Edward III.[7] Richard Plantagenet, who
+issued from this union, was, of course, the descendant and heir of
+Lionel. He had also other claims to the throne, and Margaret reminded
+her husband that there was danger at any time that he might come
+forward and assert his claims.
+
+         [Footnote 6: On page 20.]
+
+         [Footnote 7: That is, the fourth of the table. There were
+         other children not mentioned here.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king not safe.]
+
+Under these circumstances, it was evident, said she, that the king
+could not consider his interests safe in the care of any person
+whatsoever out of his own immediate family--that is, in any one's
+hands but his own and those of his wife. A minister, however strong
+his professions of fidelity and attachment might be, could not be
+depended upon. If another dynasty offered him more advantageous terms,
+there was not, and there could not be, any security against his
+changing sides; whereas a wife, whose interests were bound up
+inseparably with those of her husband, might be relied upon with
+absolute certainty to be faithful and true to her husband in every
+conceivable emergency.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret makes some impression.]
+
+These representations which Margaret made to her husband from time to
+time, as she had opportunity, produced a very considerable impression
+upon him. Still he seemed not to have resolution and energy enough to
+act in accordance with them. He said that he did not see how he could
+take away from his uncle a power which he had always exercised well
+and faithfully. And then, besides, he himself had not the age and
+experience necessary for the successful management of the affairs of
+so mighty a kingdom. If he were to undertake the duties of government,
+he was convinced that he should make mistakes, and so get into
+difficulty.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry listens to her counsels.]
+
+Margaret, however, clearly perceived that she was making progress in
+producing an impression upon her husband's mind. To increase the
+influence of her representations, she watched for occasions in which
+Gloucester differed in opinion from the king, and failed to carry out
+suggestions or recommendations which the king had made, relating
+probably, in most cases, to appointments to office about the court.
+Some say she _created_ these occasions by artfully inducing her
+husband to make recommendations which she knew the duke would not
+sanction. At all events, such cases occurred, and Margaret took
+advantage of them to urge her views still more upon Henry's mind.
+
+[Sidenote: 1446.]
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's timidity.]
+
+"How humiliating," said she, "that a great monarch should be dependent
+upon one of his subjects for permission to do this or that, when he
+might have all his affairs under his own absolute control!"
+
+But Henry, in reply to this, said that it was not in human nature to
+escape mistakes, and he thought he was very fortunate in having a
+minister who, when he was in danger of making them, could interpose
+and save him from the ill consequences which would otherwise result
+from his errors.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret encourages him.]
+
+To this Margaret rejoined that it was indeed true that human nature
+was liable to err, but that it was very humiliating for a great and
+powerful sovereign to have public attention called to his errors by
+having them corrected in that manner by an inferior, and to be
+restricted in the exercise of his powers by a tutor and a governor, in
+order to keep him from doing wrong, as if he were a child not
+competent to act for himself.
+
+[Sidenote: The world indulgent to the great.]
+
+"Besides," she added, "if you would really take the charge of your
+affairs into your own hands and act independently, what you call your
+errors you may depend upon it the public would designate by a
+different and a softer name. The world is always disposed to consider
+what is done by a great and powerful monarch as of course right, and
+even when it would seem to them wrong they believe that its having
+that appearance is only because they are not in a position to form a
+just judgment on the question, not being fully acquainted with the
+facts, or not seeing all the bearings of them."
+
+She assured her husband, moreover, that if he would take the business
+of the government into his own hands, he would be very successful in
+his administration of public affairs, and would be well sustained by
+all the people of the realm.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's secret designs.]
+
+Besides thus operating upon the mind of the king, Margaret was
+secretly employed all the time in ascertaining the views and feelings
+of the principal nobles and other great personages of the realm, with
+a view to learning who were disposed to feel hostile to the duke, and
+to unite all such into an organized opposition to him. One of the
+first persons to whom she applied with this view was Somerset, the
+former lover of Lady Neville.
+
+[Sidenote: Opposition to the Duke of Gloucester.]
+
+She presumed, of course, that Somerset would be predisposed to a
+feeling of hostility to the duke on account of the old rivalry which
+had existed between them, and she now proposed to make use of Lady
+Neville's return, and of her agency in restoring her to him, as a
+means of inducing him to enter fully into her plans for overturning
+his old rival's power. In order to retain the management of the affair
+wholly in her own hands, she agreed with Lady Neville that Lady
+Neville herself was not in any way to communicate with Somerset until
+she, the queen, had first had an interview with him, and that he was
+to learn the safety of Lady Neville only through her. Lady Neville
+readily consented to this, believing that the queen could manage the
+matter better than she herself could do it.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset.]
+
+It will be recollected that Somerset was married during the period of
+his former acquaintance with Lady Neville, but his wife had died while
+Lady Neville was in France, and he was now free; so that the plan
+which the queen and Lady Neville now formed was to give him an
+opportunity, if he still retained his love for her, to make her his
+wife.
+
+[Sidenote: A secret interview planned.]
+
+In the prosecution of her design, the queen made arrangements for a
+secret interview with Somerset, and in the interview informed him that
+Lady Neville was still alive and well; that she was, moreover, not far
+away, and it was in the queen's power to restore her to him if he
+desired again to see her, and that she would do so on certain
+conditions.
+
+Somerset was overjoyed at hearing this news. At first he could not be
+persuaded that it was true; and when assured positively that it was
+so, and that the long-lost Lady Neville was alive and well, and in
+England, he was in a fever of impatience to see her again. He would
+agree to any conditions, he said, that the queen might name, as the
+price of having her restored to him.
+
+[Sidenote: The three conditions.]
+
+The queen said that the conditions were three.
+
+The first was that he was to see her but once, and that only for a few
+minutes, in order that he might be convinced that she was really
+alive, and then was to leave her and not to see her again until the
+Duke of Gloucester had fallen from power.
+
+The second was that he should pretend to be not on good terms with the
+queen herself, in order to avert suspicion in respect to some of her
+schemes until such time as she should be ready to receive him again
+into favor.
+
+[Sidenote: Party against Gloucester.]
+
+The third was that he should do all he could to increase and
+strengthen the party against the duke, by turning as many as possible
+of his friends, and those over whom he had any influence, against him,
+and then finally, when the party should become sufficiently strong, to
+prefer charges against him in Parliament, and bring him to trial.
+
+Somerset at once agreed to all these conditions, and the queen then
+admitted him to an interview with Lady Neville.
+
+[Sidenote: The interview.]
+
+He was overwhelmed with transports of love and joy at once more
+beholding her and pressing her in his arms. The queen, who was
+present, was very much interested in witnessing the proofs of the
+ardor of the affection by which the lovers were still bound to each
+other, but she soon interrupted their expressions and demonstrations
+of delight by calling Somerset's attention to the steps which were
+next to be taken to further their plans.
+
+[Sidenote: Lady Neville's father.]
+
+"The first thing to be done," said she, "is for you to see the Earl of
+Salisbury and ask the hand of his daughter, and at the same time
+endeavor to induce him to join our party."
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Salisbury.]
+
+The Earl of Salisbury had a son, the brother, of course, of Lady
+Neville, whose title was the Earl of Warwick. He was the celebrated
+king-maker, so called, referred to in a former chapter. He received
+that title on account of the great influence which he subsequently
+exercised in raising up and putting down one after another of the two
+great dynasties. His power was at this time very great, partly on
+account of his immense wealth, and partly on account of his commanding
+personal character. Margaret was extremely desirous of bringing him
+over to her side.
+
+[Sidenote: Progress of the intrigue.]
+
+Somerset readily undertook the duty of communicating with the Earl of
+Salisbury, with a view of informing him of his daughter's safety and
+asking her hand, and at the same time of ascertaining what hope there
+might be of drawing him into the combination which the queen was
+forming against the Duke of Gloucester.
+
+[Sidenote: Revelations.]
+
+Somerset accordingly sought an interview with Salisbury, and told him
+that the report which had been circulated that his daughter was dead
+was not true--that she was still alive--that, instead of having been
+drowned in the Thames, as had been supposed, she had made her escape
+to France, where she had since lived under the protection of the
+dauphiness.
+
+[Sidenote: The case explained.]
+
+He was, of course not willing to make known the real circumstances of
+the case in respect to the cause of her flight, and so he represented
+to the earl that the reason why she left the country was to escape the
+marriage with Gloucester, which would have been extremely disagreeable
+to her. She had now, however, returned, and he was commissioned by her
+to ask the earl's forgiveness for what had passed, and his consent
+that he himself--that is, Somerset, who had always been strongly
+attached to her, and who now, by the death of his former wife, was
+free, should be united to her in marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset's proposal.]
+
+[Sidenote: Cautious advances.]
+
+[Sidenote: The earl's indignation.]
+
+If Somerset had succeeded in this part of his mission, he was then
+intending, when the old earl's love for his daughter should have been
+reawakened in his bosom by the joyful news that she was alive, and by
+the prospect of a brilliant marriage for her, to introduce the subject
+of the Duke of Gloucester, and perhaps cautiously reveal to him the
+true state of the case in respect to the murderous violence with which
+the duke had assailed his daughter, and which was the true cause of
+her flight. But the earl did not give him any opportunity to approach
+the second part of his commission. After having heard the statement
+which Somerset made to him in respect to his daughter, he broke out
+in a furious rage against her. He called her by the most opprobrious
+names. He had full proof of her dishonor, and he would have nothing
+more to do with her. He had disinherited her, and given all her share
+of the family property to her brother; and the only reason why he ever
+wished her to come into his sight again was that he might with a surer
+blow inflict upon her the punishment which Gloucester had designed for
+her.
+
+Somerset saw at once that the case was hopeless, and he withdrew.
+
+[Sidenote: The scheme fails.]
+
+Thus the attempt to draw Salisbury into the conspiracy against the
+duke seemed for the time to fail. But Margaret was not at all
+discouraged. She pushed her manoeuvres and intrigues in other quarters
+with so much diligence and success that, in about two years after her
+arrival in England, she found her party large enough and strong enough
+for action.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FALL OF GLOUCESTER.
+
+
+At length the time arrived when Margaret considered her schemes ripe
+for execution.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's cabinet.]
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester sent for.]
+
+Accordingly, one day, while Henry and herself were together in the
+king's cabinet engaged in transacting some public affairs, Margaret
+made some excuse for sending for Gloucester, and while Gloucester was
+in the cabinet, Somerset, according to a preconcerted arrangement,
+presented himself at the door with an air of excitement and alarm, and
+asked to be admitted. He wished to see the king on business of the
+utmost urgency. He was allowed to come in. He had a paper in his hand,
+and his countenance, as well as his air and manner, denoted great
+apprehension and anxiety. As soon, however, as he saw the Duke of
+Gloucester, he seemed surprised and embarrassed, and was about to
+retire, saying he had supposed that the king and queen were alone.
+
+[Sidenote: Entrance of Somerset.]
+
+But Margaret would not allow him to withdraw.
+
+"Stay," said she, "and let us know what the business is that seems so
+urgent. You can speak freely. There is no one here beside ourselves
+except the minister of the king, and there is nothing to be concealed
+from him."
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset's charges.]
+
+Somerset, on hearing these words, paused for a moment, looked at
+Gloucester, seemed irresolute, and then, as if nerving himself to a
+great effort, he advanced resolutely and presented the paper which he
+had in his hands to the king, saying, at the same time, in a very
+solemn manner, that it contained charges of the gravest character
+against Gloucester; and he added that, on the whole, he was not sorry
+that the accused person was present to know what was laid to his
+charge, and to reply if he had any proper justification to offer.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret interposes.]
+
+The duke seemed thunderstruck. The king, too, was extremely surprised,
+and began to look greatly embarrassed. Margaret put an end to the
+awkward suspense by taking the paper from the king's hand, and opening
+it in order to read it.
+
+"Let us see," said she, "what these charges are."
+
+[Illustration: The Charges against Gloucester.]
+
+[Sidenote: The charges read.]
+
+So she opened the paper and began to read it. The charges were
+numerous. The principal one related to some transactions in respect to
+the English dominions on the Continent, in which Gloucester was
+accused of having sacrificed the rights and interests of the crown in
+order to promote certain private ends of his own. There were a great
+many other accusations, relating to alleged usurpations of the
+prerogative of the king and high-handed violations of the laws of the
+land. Among these last the murder of Lady Neville was specified, and
+the deed was characterized in the severest terms as a crime of the
+deepest dye, and one committed under circumstances of great atrocity,
+although the author of the charges admitted that the details of the
+affair were not fully known.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke declares his innocence.]
+
+As Margaret read these accusations one after another, the duke
+affirmed positively of each one that it was wholly unjust. He seemed
+for a moment surprised and confused when the murder of Lady Neville
+was laid to his charge, but he soon recovered himself, and declared
+that he was innocent of this crime as well as of all the others. The
+whole series of accusations was a tissue of base calumnies, he said,
+from beginning to end.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's artful demeanor.]
+
+Margaret read the paper through, pausing only from time to time to
+hear what Gloucester had to say whenever he manifested a desire to
+speak, but without making any observations of her own. She assumed, in
+fact, the air and manner of an unconcerned and indifferent witness.
+After she had finished reading the paper she folded it up and laid it
+aside, saying at the same time to the king that those were very grave
+and weighty charges, and it would be very unjust to the duke to
+receive them against his positive declarations of his innocence,
+without the most clear and conclusive proof.
+
+[Sidenote: Proposes an investigation.]
+
+"At the same time," she added, "they ought not to be lightly laid
+aside without investigation. We can not suppose that the Duke of
+Somerset can have made such charges without any evidence whatever to
+sustain them."
+
+The Duke of Somerset said immediately that he was prepared with full
+proof of all the charges, and he was ready to offer the evidence in
+respect to any one or all of them whenever his majesty should require
+it.
+
+[Sidenote: Selects a charge.]
+
+Margaret then opened the paper, and, looking over the list of charges
+again with a careless air, at last, as if accidentally, fixed upon the
+one relating to the murder of Lady Neville.
+
+"What proofs have you in respect to this atrocious murder that you
+have charged against the duke?"
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester is pleased.]
+
+[Sidenote: The murder.]
+
+Gloucester felt for the moment much relieved at finding that this was
+the charge selected first for proof; for so effectual had been the
+precautions which he had taken to conceal his crime in this case,
+that he was confident that, instead of any substantial evidence
+against him, there could be, at worst, only vague grounds of
+suspicion, and these he was confident he could easily show were
+insufficient to establish so serious a charge.
+
+[Sidenote: Astonishment of the duke.]
+
+Somerset asked permission to retire for a few moments. Very soon he
+returned, bringing in with him Lady Neville herself. An actual
+resurrection from the dead could not have astounded Gloucester more
+than this apparition. He was overwhelmed with amazement and almost
+with terror. Lady Neville advanced to the king, and, falling upon her
+knees before him, she related the circumstances of the assault made by
+Gloucester upon the boat in the Thames, of the cruel murder of the
+passengers and boatmen, of the wound inflicted upon herself by the
+dagger of the duke, and the almost miraculous manner in which she made
+her escape.
+
+[Sidenote: 1447.]
+
+[Sidenote: Parliament.]
+
+The duke, overwhelmed by the emotions which such a scene might have
+been expected to produce upon his mind, seemed to admit that what Lady
+Neville said was true. At least he could not deny it, and his
+confusion and distress amounted apparently to a virtual confession of
+guilt. Margaret, however, soon interrupted the proceedings by saying
+to the king that the case was plainly too serious to be disposed of in
+so private and informal a manner. It was for the Parliament to
+consider it, she said, and decide what was to be done; and measures
+ought at once to be taken for bringing it before them.
+
+So Gloucester and Somerset were both dismissed from the royal
+presence, leaving the king in a state of great distress and
+perplexity.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's ingenuity.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king brought over.]
+
+Such is the story of the private manoeuvres resorted to by Margaret
+with a view to destroying the hold which the Duke of Gloucester had
+upon the mind of the king, preparatory to more widely-extended plans
+for ruining him with the Parliament and the nation, which is told by
+one of her most celebrated biographers. Whether there was or was not
+any foundation for this particular story, there is no doubt but that
+she exercised all her ingenuity and talent as a manoeuvrer to
+accomplish her object, and that she succeeded. The king was brought
+over to her views, and so strong a party was formed against Gloucester
+among the nobles and other influential personages in the land, that at
+length, in 1447, a Parliament was summoned with a view of bringing the
+affair to a crisis.[8]
+
+         [Footnote 8: The story of Lady Neville, and of her connection
+         with the great political transactions in which Margaret of
+         Anjou was engaged at this time, though it is in all
+         probability to be considered as a romance, is not an
+         invention of the compiler of this narrative. It is interwoven
+         with the history of Margaret of Anjou precisely as it is
+         given here, by one of her most ancient and most oft-quoted
+         biographers. It is chiefly useful to modern readers as
+         illustrating the ideas and the manners of the times.
+
+         We often, in this series, thus repeat narratives which have
+         come down from ancient times, and have thus become part and
+         parcel of the literature of the period, and, as such, ought
+         to be made known to the general reader, but which, at the
+         present day, are not supposed to be historically true. In
+         such cases, however, we intend always to give notice of the
+         fact. In the absence of such notice, the reader may feel sure
+         that all the statements in these narratives, even to the
+         minutest details, are in strict accordance with the testimony
+         of the best authorities now extant.]
+
+[Sidenote: Treason.]
+
+[Sidenote: Romance often mingles in history.]
+
+[Sidenote: An explanation.]
+
+Nothing, however, was said, in calling the Parliament, of the great
+and exciting business which was to be brought before them. So great
+was the power of such a man as Gloucester, that any open attempt to
+arrest him would have been likely to have been met with armed
+resistance, and might have led at once to civil war.
+
+One of the charges against him was that he was intriguing with the
+Duke of York, the representative and heir of the two other branches of
+old King Edward the Third's family, who has already been mentioned as
+claiming the throne. It was said that Gloucester was secretly
+plotting with Richard, with a view of deposing Henry, and raising
+Richard to the throne in his stead.
+
+[Sidenote: Question of succession.]
+
+The question of the succession was really, at this time, in a very
+curious state. The Duke of Gloucester himself was Henry's heir in case
+he should die without children; for Gloucester was Henry's oldest
+uncle, and, of course, in default of his descendants, the crown would
+go back to him. This was one reason, perhaps, why he had opposed
+Henry's marriage.
+
+[Sidenote: Position of the Duke of York.]
+
+So long, therefore, as Henry remained unmarried, it was for
+Gloucester's interest to maintain the rights of his branch of the
+family--that is, the Lancaster line--against the claims of the house
+of York. But in case Henry should have children, then he would be cut
+off from the succession on the Lancaster side, and then it might be
+for his interest to espouse the cause of the house of York, provided
+he could make better terms in respect to his own position and the
+rewards which he was to receive for his services on that side than on
+the other.
+
+[Sidenote: Gloucester alarmed.]
+
+Now Henry was married, and, moreover, it had long been evident to
+Gloucester that his own influence was fast declining. The scene in the
+king's cabinet, when Somerset brought those charges against him, must
+have greatly increased his fears in respect to the continuance of his
+power under Henry's government. Still, if it was true that he was
+contemplating making common cause with the Duke of York, he had not
+yet so far matured his plans as to make any open change in his course
+of conduct.
+
+[Sidenote: Calling of Parliament.]
+
+Accordingly, when the plan of calling a Parliament was determined by
+the king and Margaret, every effort was made to keep it a secret from
+the public that the case of Gloucester was to be brought before it. It
+was summoned on other pretexts. The place of meeting was not, as
+usual, at London, for Gloucester was so great a favorite with the
+people of London that it was thought that, if it were to be attempted
+to arrest him there, he would certainly resist and attempt to raise an
+insurrection.
+
+[Sidenote: Bury St. Edmund's.]
+
+The Parliament was accordingly summoned to meet at Bury St.
+Edmund's--a town situated about fifty or sixty miles to the northeast
+of London, where there was a celebrated abbey.[9] The English
+Parliament was in those days, as it is, in fact, in theory now,
+nothing more nor less than a convocation of the leading personages of
+the realm, called by the king, in order that they might give the
+monarch their counsel or aid in any emergency that might arise, and
+he could call them to attend him at any place within the kingdom that
+he chose to designate.
+
+         [Footnote 9: See map.]
+
+While thus, by summoning Parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmund's, the
+queen's party placed themselves beyond the reach of the friends and
+adherents of Gloucester, who were very numerous in and around the
+capital, they took care to have a strong force there on their own
+side, ready to do whatever might be required of them.
+
+[Sidenote: The abbey.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duke arrested.]
+
+When the appointed day arrived the Parliament assembled. It met in the
+abbey. The great dining-hall of the abbey, or the refectory, as it was
+called, the room in which the monks were accustomed to take their
+meals, was fitted up for their reception. On the first day some
+ordinary business was transacted, and on the second, suddenly, and
+without any previous warning, the duke was arrested by the public
+officer, who was attended and aided in this service by a strong force,
+and immediately taken away to the Tower.
+
+This event, of course, produced great excitement. The news of it
+spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and it awakened universal
+astonishment and alarm.
+
+[Sidenote: Discontents of the people.]
+
+It was expected that charges would be immediately brought against
+him, and that he would be at once arraigned for trial. But the
+excitement which the affair had created was increased to a ten-fold
+degree by the tidings which were circulated a few days afterward that
+he was dead. The story was that he was found dead one morning in his
+prison. People, however, were slow to believe this statement. They
+thought that he had been poisoned, or put to death in some other
+violent manner. The officers of the government declared that it was
+not so; and, in order to convince the people that the duke had died a
+natural death, they caused the body to be exposed to public view for
+several days before they allowed it to be interred, in order that all
+might see that it bore no marks of violence.
+
+The people were, however, not satisfied. They thought that there were
+many ways by which death might be produced without leaving any outward
+indications of violence upon the person. They persisted in believing
+that their favorite had been murdered.
+
+[Sidenote: 1449.]
+
+[Sidenote: Supposed mode of his death.]
+
+One account which was given of the mode of death was that Somerset
+went to visit him in his prison in the Tower, in order to see whether
+he could not come to some terms with him but that Gloucester rejected
+his advances with so much pride and scorn that a furious altercation
+arose, in the course of which Somerset, with the assistance of men
+whom he had brought with him, strangled or suffocated the unhappy
+prisoner on his couch, and then, after arranging his limbs and closing
+his eyes, so as to give him the appearance of being in a state of
+slumber, his murderers went away and left him, to be found in that
+condition by the jailer when he should come to bring him his food.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE FALL OF SUFFOLK.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Two years pass away.]
+
+After the death of the Duke of Gloucester, Queen Margaret was plunged
+in a perfect sea of plots, schemes, manoeuvres, and machinations of
+all sorts, which it would take a volume fully to unravel. This state
+of things continued for two years, during which time she became more
+and more involved in the difficulties and complications which
+surrounded her, until at last she found herself in very serious
+trouble. I can only here briefly allude to the more prominent sources
+of her perplexity.
+
+[Sidenote: Suspicions of the people.]
+
+[Sidenote: Their hearts alienated.]
+
+In the first place, the people of England were very seriously
+displeased at the treatment which Gloucester had received. They would
+not believe that he died a natural death, and the impression gained
+ground very generally that the queen was the cause of his being
+murdered. They did not suppose that she literally ordered him to be
+put to death, but that she gave hints or intimations, as royal
+personages were accustomed to do in such cases in those days, on which
+some zealous and unscrupulous follower ventured to act, certain of
+pleasing her. As Gloucester had been a general favorite with the
+nation, these rumors and suspicions tended greatly to alienate the
+hearts of the people from the queen. Many began to hate her. They
+called her the French woman, and vented their ill-will in obscure
+threats and mutterings.
+
+[Sidenote: Reverses in France.]
+
+[Sidenote: Feeling in England.]
+
+This feeling of hostility to the queen was increased by the very
+unfortunate turn that things were taking in France about this time.
+The provinces of Maine and Anjou lay directly to the south of
+Normandy,[10] which last was the most valuable of the possessions
+which the English crown held in France, and these two provinces had
+been given up to the French at the time of Margaret's marriage. It was
+only on condition that the English would give them up that Lord
+Suffolk could induce Margaret's father to consent to the match.
+Suffolk was extremely unwilling to surrender these provinces. He knew
+that the English nobles and people would be very much dissatisfied as
+soon as they learned that it was done, and he feared that he might at
+some future day be called to account for having been concerned in the
+transaction. But the king was so deeply in love with Margaret that he
+insisted on Suffolk's complying with the terms which were exacted by
+her friends, and the provinces were ceded.
+
+         [Footnote 10: See map at the commencement of the volume.]
+
+[Sidenote: York regent in France.]
+
+The Duke of York was regent in France at that time, but Margaret felt
+some uneasiness in respect to his position there. He was the
+representative and heir of the rival line; and while it was for her
+interest to give him prominence enough under Henry's government to
+prevent his growing discontented and desperate, it was not good policy
+to exalt him to too high a position. She was accordingly somewhat at a
+loss to decide what to do.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset.]
+
+Soon after the death of Gloucester, Somerset, finding that he was an
+object of suspicion, felt himself to be in danger, and he proposed to
+Margaret that he should retire into Normandy for a time. Margaret
+suggested that he should take the regency of Normandy in the Duke of
+York's stead. To this he finally consented. The Duke of York was
+recalled, and Somerset went to take command of Normandy in his stead.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk's intentions.]
+
+[Sidenote: Exposed frontier.]
+
+At the time that Suffolk negotiated the marriage contract between
+Henry and Margaret, a truce had been made with the King of France, as
+has already been stated. Suffolk intended and hoped to conclude a
+permanent peace, but he could not succeed in accomplishing this. The
+King of France, as soon as the marriage was fairly carried into
+effect, seemed bent on renewing hostilities, and as he had now the
+territories of Maine and Anjou in his possession, with all the castles
+and fortresses which those provinces contained, he could advance to
+the frontiers of Normandy on that side with great facility, and
+organize expeditions for invading the country in the most effective
+manner.
+
+[Sidenote: Pretext for war.]
+
+He now only wanted a pretext, and a pretext in such cases is always
+soon found. A certain company of soldiers, who had been dismissed from
+some place in Maine in consequence of the cession of that province to
+France, instead of going across the frontier into Normandy to join the
+English forces there, as they ought to have done, went into Brittany,
+another French province near, and there organized themselves into a
+sort of band of robbers, and committed acts of plunder. The King of
+France complained of this to Somerset, for this was after Somerset had
+assumed the command as regent, or governor of Normandy. Somerset
+admitted the facts, and proposed to pay damages. The king named a sum
+so great that Somerset could not or would not pay it, and so war was
+again declared.
+
+[Illustration: Rouen.]
+
+[Sidenote: Invasion of Normandy.]
+
+In consequence of the advantages which the King of France enjoyed in
+having possession of Maine, he could organize his invading army in a
+very effective manner. He crossed the frontier in great force, and
+after taking a number of towns and castles, and defeating the English
+army in several battles, he at last drove Somerset into Rouen, the
+capital of the province--a very ancient and remarkable town--and shut
+him up there.
+
+After a short siege Rouen was compelled to capitulate, and, besides
+giving up Rouen, Somerset was obliged to surrender several other
+important castles and towns in order to obtain his own liberty.
+
+[Sidenote: Normandy lost.]
+
+Things went on in this way during the year 1449, from bad to worse,
+until finally the whole of Normandy was lost. The town of Cherbourg,
+which has lately become so renowned on account of the immense naval
+and military works which have been constructed there, was the last
+retreat and refuge of the English, and even from this they were
+finally expelled.
+
+[Sidenote: Rage of the English people.]
+
+[Sidenote: The minister responsible.]
+
+The people of England were in a great rage. The principal object of
+their resentment was Lord Suffolk, who was now the first minister and
+the acknowledged head of the government. During the progress of the
+difficulties with Gloucester, Margaret had kept him a great deal in
+the background, in order that the public might not associate him with
+those transactions, nor hold him in any way responsible for them,
+though there was no doubt that he was the queen's confidential friend
+and counselor through the whole. After the death of Gloucester he had
+been gradually brought forward, and he had now, for some time, been
+the acknowledged minister of the crown, and as such responsible,
+according to the theory of the British Constitution and to the ideas
+of Englishmen, for every thing that was done, and especially for every
+thing like misfortune and disaster which occurred.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk in danger.]
+
+There was, of course, a great outcry raised against Suffolk, and also,
+more covertly, against the queen, who had brought Suffolk into power.
+All the mischief originated, too, people said, in the luckless
+marriage of Margaret to the king, and the cession of Maine and Anjou
+to the French as the price of it. The French would never have been
+able to have penetrated into Normandy had it not been for the
+advantage they gained in the possession of those provinces on the
+frontier.
+
+[Illustration: View of Bordeaux.]
+
+[Sidenote: Guienne.]
+
+There were still large possessions held by the English in the
+southwestern part of France on the Garonne. The capital of this
+territory, which was the celebrated province of Guienne, was
+Bordeaux,[11] a large and important city in those days as now. It
+stands on the bank of the river where it begins to widen toward the
+sea, and thus it was accessible to the English in their ships as well
+as when coming with their armies by land. It was a place of great
+strength as well as of commanding position, being provided with
+castles and towers to defend it from the landward side, and thick
+walls and powerful batteries along the margin of the water.
+
+         [Footnote 11: See map.]
+
+[Sidenote: Bordeaux lost.]
+
+Suffolk did all in his power to raise and send off re-enforcements to
+the army in Guienne, but it was in vain. The English were driven out
+of one town and castle after another, until, at last, Bordeaux itself
+fell, and all was lost.
+
+[Sidenote: Excitement in England.]
+
+The resentment and rage of the people of England now knew no bounds.
+Suffolk was universally denounced as the author of all these dire
+calamities. Lampoons and satires were written against him; he was
+hooted sometimes by the populace of London when he appeared in the
+streets, and every thing portended a gathering storm. At length, in
+the fall of 1449, a Parliament was summoned. When it was convened,
+Suffolk appeared in the House of Lords as usual, and, rising in his
+place, he called the attention of the peers to the angry and
+vindictive denunciations which were daily heaped upon him by the
+public, declaring that he was wholly ignorant of the crimes which were
+laid to his charge, and challenging his enemies to bring forward any
+proof to sustain their accusations.
+
+[Sidenote: Braving the storm.]
+
+A spirit of bold defiance like this might have been successful in some
+cases, perhaps, in driving back the tide of hostility and hate which
+was rising so rapidly, but in this instance it seemed to have the
+contrary effect. The enemies of Suffolk in the House of Commons took
+up the challenge at once. They were strong enough to carry the house
+with them. They passed an address to the peers, requesting them to
+cause Suffolk to be arrested and imprisoned. They would, they said,
+immediately bring forward the proofs of his guilt.
+
+[Sidenote: Accusations made.]
+
+The Lords replied that they could not arrest and imprison one of their
+number except upon specific charges made against him. Whereupon the
+Commons very promptly prepared a list of charges and sent them to the
+Lords. On this accusation the Lords ordered Suffolk to be arrested,
+and he was sent to the Tower.
+
+[Sidenote: An impeachment.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk in the Tower.]
+
+During the two months that succeeded his arrest his enemies were
+busily engaged in preparing the bill of impeachment against him in
+form, and collecting the evidence by which they were to sustain it,
+while the queen was equally earnest and anxious in the work of
+contriving means to save him. She visited him secretly, it is said, in
+his prison, and conferred with him on the plan to be pursued. They
+seem to have been both convinced that it was impossible for him to
+remain in England and ride out the storm. The only course of safety
+would be for him to leave the country for a while, provided the means
+could be devised for getting him away. What the plan was which they
+agreed upon for accomplishing this purpose will appear in the sequel.
+
+[Sidenote: He is arraigned.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk's defense.]
+
+[Sidenote: He appeals to the king.]
+
+At length, on the thirteenth of March, he was summoned before the
+House of Lords, and the bill of impeachment was brought forward. There
+were a great many charges, beginning with that of having wickedly and
+with corrupt motives surrendered, and so lost forever to the crown,
+the provinces of Maine and Anjou, and going on to numerous accusations
+of malfeasance in office, of encroachments on the prerogatives of the
+king, and of acts in which the interest and honor of the country had
+been sacrificed to his own personal ambition or private ends.
+Suffolk defended himself in a general speech, without, however,
+demanding, as he was entitled to do, a formal trial by his peers.
+These proceedings occupied several days--as long as any lingering hope
+remained in Suffolk's mind of his being able to stem the torrent. At
+length, however, on the seventeenth of March, finding that the
+pressure against him was continually increasing, and that there would
+be no chance of an acquittal if he were to claim a trial, he appealed
+to the king to decide his case, saying that, though he was entirely
+innocent of the crimes charged against him, he would submit himself
+entirely to his majesty's will.
+
+[Sidenote: Sentence of banishment.]
+
+In response to this appeal, the king declared, through the proper
+officer, in the House of Lords, that he would not decide upon the
+question of the guilt or innocence of the accused, since he had not
+demanded a trial, but he thought it best, under all the circumstances
+of the case, that Suffolk should leave the country. He therefore
+issued a decree of banishment against him for five years. He was
+required to leave England before the first of May, and not to put his
+foot upon any English soil until the five years were expired.
+
+[Sidenote: The people enraged.]
+
+[Sidenote: A riot.]
+
+The Lords were much displeased at having the affair thus taken out of
+their hands. They made a formal protest against this decision, but
+they could do nothing more. The people, too, were very much enraged.
+They declared that Suffolk should never leave London alive; and on the
+day when they expected that he was to be taken from the Tower to be
+conveyed to France, a mob of two thousand men collected in the
+streets, resolved to kill him.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk escapes by sea.]
+
+But the queen devised means for enabling him to evade them. Some of
+his servants and followers were seized, but he succeeded in making his
+escape, and, after going to his castle in the country, and making some
+hurried arrangements there, he went down to the sea-coast at Ipswich,
+a town in the eastern part of the island, and there embarked for
+France in a vessel which the queen had taken the precaution to have
+ready there for him.
+
+[Sidenote: Suffolk made prisoner again.]
+
+The vessel immediately sailed, steering to the southward, of course,
+toward the Straits of Dover. As she was passing through the Straits,
+between Dover and Calais, a man-of-war named the Nicholas of the
+Tower, hove in sight, coming up to the vessel just as they were
+sending a boat on shore at Calais to inquire whether Suffolk would be
+allowed to land there. The boat was intercepted. At the same time, a
+boat from the man-of-war came on board the vessel, bringing officers
+who were instructed to search her thoroughly. Of course, they found
+Suffolk on board, and the officer, as soon as Suffolk was discovered,
+informed him that he must go with him on board the man-of-war.
+
+Suffolk had no alternative but to obey. The captain of the man-of-war
+received him, as he stepped upon the deck, with the words, I am glad
+to see you, traitor, or something to that effect. Such a salutation
+must have plainly indicated to Suffolk what was before him. The
+man-of-war moved toward the English shore, and began to make signals
+to some parties on the land. She remained there for two days,
+exchanging signals in this way from time to time, and apparently
+awaiting orders.
+
+[Sidenote: His execution in a boat.]
+
+At length, on the third day, a boat came off from the shore, provided
+with every thing that was necessary for the execution of a criminal.
+There was a platform with a block upon it, an axe, or cleaver of some
+sort, and an executioner. Suffolk was conveyed on board the boat, and
+there, with very little ceremony, his head was laid upon the block,
+and the executioner immediately commenced his task of severing it from
+the body. But, either from the unsteadiness of the boat, or the
+unsuitableness of the instrument, or the clumsiness of the operator,
+five several blows were required before the bloody deed was done.
+
+[Sidenote: Disposal of the body.]
+
+The boat immediately proceeded to the shore. The men on board threw
+out the dissevered remains upon the beach, and then went away.
+
+Some friends of Suffolk, hearing what had been done, came down to the
+beach, and, finding the separate portions of the body lying in the
+sand where they had been thrown, placed them reverently together
+again, and gave them honorable burial.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+BIRTH OF A PRINCE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1453.]
+
+After the death of Suffolk the queen was plunged into a sea of anxious
+perplexities and troubles, which continued to disturb the kingdom and
+to agitate her mind, until at length, in 1453, eight or nine years
+after her marriage, she gave birth to a son. This event, strange as it
+may seem, aggravated the difficulties of her situation in a ten-fold
+degree.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret in great trouble.]
+
+[Sidenote: The policy in respect to the Duke of York.]
+
+The reason why the birth of her child increased her troubles was this.
+It has already been said that the Duke of York claimed to be the
+rightful sovereign of England on account of being descended from an
+older branch of the royal family; but that, since Henry was
+established upon the throne, he was inclined to make no attempt to
+assert his claims so long as it was understood that he was to receive
+the kingdom at Henry's death. In order to keep him contented in this
+position, it had been Margaret's policy to treat him with great
+consideration, and to bestow upon him high honors, but, at the same
+time, to watch him very closely, and to avoid conferring upon him any
+such substantial power within the realm of England as would enable him
+to attempt to seize the throne. She accordingly gave him the regency
+of France, and afterward, when she recalled him from that country in
+order to send Somerset there, she sent him to Ireland.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset's return to England.]
+
+After the death of Suffolk, Somerset came home from France. Indeed, he
+was on his way home at the very time that Suffolk was killed, the
+English possessions there having been almost entirely lost. As soon as
+he returned, the queen received him into high favor at court, and soon
+made him the chief minister of the crown. The people of the country
+were displeased at this, and soon showed marks of great discontent.
+They would very likely have risen in open rebellion had it not been
+that Henry's health was so feeble, and the probability was so great
+that he would die without issue--in which case the crown would devolve
+peacefully to the Duke of York and his heirs.
+
+[Sidenote: The people willing to wait.]
+
+"Let us wait," said they, "for a short time, and it will all come
+right. It is better to bear the evils of this state of things a little
+longer than to plunge the country into the horrors of civil war in
+attempting to change the dynasty by force before Henry dies."
+
+[Sidenote: Two parties formed.]
+
+[Sidenote: The nobles.]
+
+[Sidenote: The two leaders.]
+
+In the mean time, however, although this was so far the prevailing
+public sentiment as to prevent an actual outbreak, it did not by any
+means save the community from being unnecessarily agitated by
+anxieties and fears lest an outbreak _should_ take place, nor did it
+prevent innumerable plots and conspiracies being formed tending to
+produce one. The country was divided into two great parties--those
+that favored the Duke of York and his dynasty, and those who adhered
+to the house of Lancaster. The nobles took sides in the quarrel, some
+openly and others in secret. As these nobles were continually moving
+to and fro from one castle to another, or between the country and
+London, at the head of armed bodies of men more or less formidable, no
+one could tell what plans were being formed, or how soon an explosion
+might occur. The Duke of York was, of course, the head and leader of
+one side, and the Duke of Somerset, as the confidential counselor and
+minister of Henry and the queen, was the most prominent on the other
+side, and each of these great leaders regarded the other with feelings
+of mortal enmity.
+
+[Illustration: The Temple Garden.]
+
+This state of things kept both the king and queen in continual
+anxiety. The queen began to find that, by her manoeuvrings and
+management, she had involved herself in difficulties that were
+beyond her control, and the poor king was so harassed by his troubles
+and perplexities that his health, and, at last, his mind, began to
+suffer severely.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of York comes to England.]
+
+At length the Duke of York, without permission from the government,
+crossed the Channel from Ireland and landed in England. He soon
+collected a large armed force, and began to move across the country
+toward London. The government were much alarmed. He professed not to
+have any hostile object in view, and declared that he still
+acknowledged his allegiance to the Lancaster line; but there were no
+means of being sure that this was not a mere pretext, and that he
+might not, at any time, throw off his mask and rise in open rebellion.
+
+[Sidenote: The roses.]
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of these symbols.]
+
+It was about this time that the famous symbols of the red and the
+white rose were chosen as the badges of the houses respectively of
+York and Lancaster, as has already been mentioned. The story goes that
+at a certain time, while several nobles and persons of the court were
+walking in what is called the Temple Garden, a piece of open and
+ornamental ground on the bank of the river in London, Somerset and
+Warwick, who were on different sides in this quarrel, gathered, the
+one a white, and the other a red rose, and proposed to the rest of
+the company to pluck roses too, each according to his own feelings and
+opinions. From this beginning the two colors became the permanent
+badge of the two lines, so much so that artificial roses of red and
+white were manufactured in great numbers at last, to supply the
+soldiers of the respective armies.
+
+[Sidenote: An expedition.]
+
+[Sidenote: Anxiety of the king.]
+
+But to return to the Duke of York. When it was found that he was
+advancing toward London, Somerset urged the king to put himself at the
+head of a body of troops and go out to meet him, and call him to
+account for his proceedings. The king did so, the queen accompanying
+the expedition. She was very anxious, and felt much alarmed for the
+safety of the king. After various marchings and manoeuvrings, the two
+armies came near each other in the county of Kent, to the
+southeastward of London. King Henry, who was eminently a man of peace,
+being possessed of no warlike qualities whatever, and being extremely
+averse to the shedding of blood, instead of attacking the Duke of
+York, sent a messenger to him to know what his intentions were in
+coming into the country at the head of such a force, and what he
+desired.
+
+[Sidenote: Professions.]
+
+The duke replied that he had no designs against the king, but only
+against the traitor Somerset, and he said that if the king would order
+Somerset to be arrested and brought to trial, he should be satisfied,
+and would disband his forces.
+
+[Sidenote: An appointment]
+
+The king, on receiving this message, was much troubled and perplexed,
+but at length he concluded, under the advice of some of his
+counselors, to comply with this demand. He caused Somerset to be
+arrested, and notified the Duke of York that he had done so. The Duke
+of York then disbanded his army, or at least sent the troops away, and
+made an appointment to come unattended and visit the king in his tent,
+with a view to conferring with him on the terms and conditions of a
+permanent reconciliation.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset concealed.]
+
+This interview resulted in a very extraordinary scene. It seems that
+the queen had contrived the means of secretly releasing Somerset after
+his arrest, and bringing him by stealth to the king's pavilion, and
+concealing him there behind the arras at the time the Duke of York was
+to be admitted, in order that he, Somerset, might be a witness of the
+interview. While he was thus secreted, the Duke of York came in. He
+commenced his conference with the king by repeating earnestly what he
+said before, namely, that he had not been actuated in what he had
+done by any feeling of hostility against the king, but only against
+Somerset. His sole object in taking up arms, he said, was that that
+arch traitor might be brought to punishment.
+
+[Sidenote: Scene in the tent.]
+
+[Sidenote: Fierce altercation.]
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of York imprisoned.]
+
+On hearing these words, Somerset could contain himself no longer, but,
+to the astonishment of the Duke of York and to the utter consternation
+of the king, he rushed out from his hiding-place, and began to assail
+the duke with the most violent reproaches, alleging that his
+pretensions of friendship for Henry were false, and that the real
+design of his movements was to usurp the throne. The duke retorted
+with equally fierce denunciations and threats. During the continuance
+of this altercation, the king remained stupefied and speechless, and
+at length, when the duke retired, officers were ready at the door to
+arrest him, having been stationed there by the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Released.]
+
+He was held a prisoner, however, but a short time, for his son, who
+afterward became Edward IV., immediately commenced raising an army to
+come and release him. It was considered, for other reasons, dangerous
+to attempt to hold such a man in durance, since probably more than
+half the kingdom were on his side. So he was offered his liberty on
+condition that he would take the new and solemn oath of fealty to the
+king.
+
+This he consented to do, and the oath was taken with great ceremony in
+St. Paul's Cathedral, and then he was dismissed. He went off to one of
+his castles in the country, muttering deep and earnest threats of
+vengeance.
+
+[Sidenote: Birth of the prince.]
+
+It was about a year after this that Margaret's babe was born. It was a
+son.
+
+[Sidenote: Question of the succession.]
+
+[Sidenote: New difficulties.]
+
+Of course, the birth of this child immensely increased the
+difficulties and dangers in which the kingdom was involved, for it
+seemed to extinguish the hope that the quarrel would be settled by the
+York family succeeding peaceably to the crown on the death of Henry.
+Now, at length, there was an heir to the Lancastrian line. Of course
+Margaret, and all those who were connected with the Lancastrian line,
+either by blood or political partisanship, would resolve to support
+the rights of this heir. On the other hand, it was not to be supposed
+that the Duke of York would relinquish his claims, and he would no
+longer have any inducement to postpone asserting them. Thus the birth
+of the young prince was the occasion of plunging the country in new
+and more feverish excitement than ever. Plots and counter-plots,
+conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, were the order of the day.
+Every body was taking sides, or, at least, making arrangements for
+taking sides, as soon as the outbreak should occur. And no one knew
+how soon this would be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: Prince of Wales.]
+
+The child was born on a certain religious holiday called St. Edward's
+day, and so they named him Edward. In a few months after his birth he
+was made Prince of Wales, and it is by this title only that he is
+known in history, for he never became king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ILLNESS OF THE KING.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Strange reverses.]
+
+The circumstances of poor Margaret's case seem to have reversed all
+ordinary conditions of domestic happiness. The birth of her son placed
+her in a condition of extreme and terrible danger, while the immediate
+bursting of the storm was averted, and the sufferings which she was in
+the end called upon to endure in consequence of it were postponed for
+a time by what would, in ordinary circumstances, be the worst possible
+of calamities, the insanity of her husband. Happy as a queen, says the
+proverb, but what a mockery of happiness is this, when the birth of a
+child is a great domestic calamity, the evils of which were only in
+part averted, or rather postponed, by an unexpected blessing in the
+shape of the insanity of the husband and father.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's insanity.]
+
+[Sidenote: His condition concealed.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's policy.]
+
+Henry's health had been gradually declining during many months before
+the little Edward was born. The cares and anxieties of his situation,
+which often became so extreme as to deprive him of all rest and sleep,
+became, at length, too heavy for him to bear, and his feeble
+intellect, in the end, broke down under them entirely. The queen did
+all in her power to conceal his condition from the people, and even
+from the court. It was comparatively easy to do this, for the
+derangement was not at all violent in its form. It was a sort of
+lethargy, a total failure of the mental powers and almost of
+consciousness--more like idiocy than mania. The queen removed him to
+Windsor, and there kept him closely shut up, admitting that he was
+sick, but concealing his true situation so far as was in her power,
+and, in the mean time, carrying on the government in his name, with
+the aid of Somerset and other great officers of state, whom she
+admitted into her confidence. Parliament and the public were very
+uneasy under this state of things. The Duke of York was laying his
+plans, and every one was anxious to know what was coming. But Margaret
+would allow nobody to enter the king's chamber, under any pretext
+whatever, except those who were in her confidence, and entirely under
+her orders.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of the archbishop.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1454.]
+
+[Sidenote: A deputation.]
+
+At length, about two months after Edward was born, the highest
+dignitary of the Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, died. This
+event, according to the ancient usages of the realm, gave the House
+of Lords the right to send a deputation to the king to condole with
+him, and to ascertain his wishes in respect to the measures to be
+adopted on the occasion.
+
+This committee accordingly proceeded to Windsor, and coming, as they
+did, under the authority of ancient custom, which in England, in those
+days, had even more than the force of law, they could not be refused
+admission. They found the king lying helpless and unconscious, and
+they could not obtain from him any answer to what they said to him, or
+any sign that the slightest spark of intelligence remained in his
+mind.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's policy.]
+
+[Sidenote: The duke made regent.]
+
+The committee reported these facts to the House of Lords. Finding how
+serious the king's illness was, the party of the Duke of York
+concluded to wait a little longer. There was a great probability that
+the king would soon die. The life, too, of the infant son was of
+course very precarious. He might not survive the dangers of infancy,
+and in that case the Duke of York would succeed to the throne at once
+without any struggle. So a sort of compromise was effected. Parliament
+appointed the Duke of York protector and defender of the king during
+his illness, or until such time as Edward, the young prince, should
+arrive at the proper age for undertaking the government. It was at
+this time that young Edward was made Prince of Wales. The conferring
+of this title upon him was confirmed by both houses of Parliament.
+They thus solemnly decreed that, though the Duke of York was to
+exercise the government during the sickness of the king and the
+minority of Edward, still the kingdom was to be reserved for Edward as
+the rightful heir, and he was to be put into possession of the
+sovereign power, either as regent in case his father should continue
+to live until that time, or as king if, in the interim, he should die.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's hopes.]
+
+The Duke of York and his friends acceded to this arrangement, in hopes
+that the prince never would arrive at years of discretion, but that,
+before many years, and perhaps before many months, both father and son
+would die. He thought it better, at any rate, to wait quietly for a
+time, especially as, during the period of this waiting, he was put in
+possession substantially of the supreme power.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret dissatisfied.]
+
+Queen Margaret herself was extremely dissatisfied with the arrangement
+by which the Duke of York was made regent, since it of course deprived
+her of all her power. But she could do nothing to prevent it. Besides,
+her mind was so filled with the maternal feelings and affections
+which her situation inspired and with the care of the infant child,
+that she had for a time no heart for political contention.
+
+[Sidenote: Her condition.]
+
+Then, moreover, the Parliament, at the same time that they made the
+Duke of York regent, and thus virtually deprived the queen of her
+power, settled upon her an ample annuity, by means of which she would
+be enabled to live, with her son, in a state becoming her rank and her
+ambition. One motive, doubtless, which led them to do this was to
+induce her to acquiesce in this change, and remain quiet in the
+position in which they thus placed her.
+
+In addition to the liberal supplies which the Parliament granted to
+the queen, they made ample provision for maintaining the dignity and
+providing for the education of the young prince. Among other things, a
+commission of five physicians was appointed to watch over his health.
+
+[Sidenote: She concludes to submit.]
+
+Margaret was the more easily persuaded to acquiesce in these
+arrangements from believing, as she did, that the state of things to
+which they gave rise would be of short duration. She fully believed
+that her husband would recover, and then the regency of the Duke of
+York would cease, and the king--that is, the king in name, but she
+herself in reality--would come into power again. So she determined to
+bide her time.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's establishment at Greenwich.]
+
+She accordingly retired from London, and set up an establishment of
+her own in her palace at Greenwich, where she held her court, and
+lived in a style of grandeur and ceremony such as would have been
+proper if she had been a reigning queen. Her old favorite, too,
+Somerset, was at first one of the principal personages of her court;
+but one of the first acts of the Duke of York's regency was to issue a
+warrant of arrest against him. The officers, in executing this
+warrant, seized him in the very presence-chamber of the queen.
+Margaret was extremely incensed at this deed. She declared that it was
+not only an act of political hostility, but an insult. She was,
+however, entirely helpless. The Duke of York had the power now, and
+she was compelled to submit.
+
+[Sidenote: Her care of Henry.]
+
+But she was not required to remain long in this humiliating position.
+She procured the best possible medical advice and attendance for her
+husband, and devoted herself to him with the utmost assiduity, and, at
+length, she had the satisfaction of seeing that he was beginning to
+amend. The improvement commenced in November, about eight or ten
+months after he first fell into the state of unconsciousness. When at
+length he came to himself, it seemed to him, he said, as if he was
+awaking from a long dream.
+
+[Sidenote: Recovery.]
+
+Margaret was overjoyed to see these signs of returning intelligence.
+She longed for the time to come when she could show the king her boy.
+He had thus far never seen the child.
+
+[Sidenote: The prince shown to him.]
+
+[Sidenote: Marks of returning consciousness.]
+
+We obtain a pretty clear idea of the state of imbecility or
+unconsciousness in which he had been lying from the account of what he
+did and said at the interview when the little prince was first brought
+into his presence. It is as follows:
+
+     "On Monday, at noon, the queen came to him and brought my lord
+     prince with her, and then he asked 'what the prince's name was,'
+     and the queen told him 'Edward,' and then he held up his hands,
+     and thanked God thereof.
+
+     "And he said he never knew him till that time, nor wist what was
+     said to him, nor wist where he had been, while he had been sick,
+     till now; and he asked who were the godfathers, and the queen
+     told him, and he was well content.
+
+     "And she told him the cardinal was dead,[12] and he said he
+     never knew of it till this time; then he said one of the wisest
+     lords in this land was dead.
+
+     "And my Lord of Winchester and my Lord of St. John of Jerusalem
+     were with him the morrow after Twelfth day, and he did speak to
+     them as well as ever he did, and when they came out they wept for
+     joy. And he saith he is in charity with all the world, and so he
+     would all the lords were. And now he saith matins of our Lady and
+     even-song, and heareth his mass devoutly."
+
+         [Footnote 12: The Archbishop of Canterbury, the circumstance
+         of whose death has already been referred to.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king reinstated.]
+
+The very first moment that the king was able to bear it, Margaret
+caused him to be conveyed into the House of Lords, there to resume the
+exercise of his royal powers by taking his place upon the throne and
+performing some act of sovereignty. The regency was, of course, now at
+an end, and the Duke of York, leaving London, went off into the
+country in high dudgeon.
+
+The queen, of course, now came into power again. The first thing that
+she did was to release Somerset from his confinement, and reinstate
+him as prime minister of the crown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ANXIETY AND TROUBLE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: A great deal of trouble.]
+
+[Sidenote: Angry disputes.]
+
+[Sidenote: Insubordination.]
+
+For about six years after this time, that is, from the birth of Prince
+Edward till he was six years old, and while Margaret was advancing
+from her twenty-fourth to her thirtieth year, her life was one of
+continual anxiety, contention, and alarm. The Duke of York and his
+party made continual difficulty, and the quarrel between him, and the
+Earl of Warwick, and the other nobles who espoused his cause, on one
+side, and the queen, supported by the Duke of Somerset and other great
+Lancastrian partisans on the other, kept the kingdom in a constant
+ferment. Sometimes the force of the quarrel spent itself in intrigues,
+manoeuvres, and plottings, or in fierce and angry debates in
+Parliament, or in bitter animosities and contentions in private and
+social life. At other times it would break out into open war, and
+again and again was Margaret compelled to leave her child in the hands
+of nurses and guardians, while she went with her poor helpless husband
+to follow the camp, in order to meet and overcome the military
+assemblages which the Duke of York was continually bringing together
+at his castles in the country or in the open fields.
+
+The king's health during all this period was so frail, and his mind,
+especially at certain times, was so feeble, that he was almost as
+helpless as a child. There was an hereditary taint of insanity in the
+family, which made his case still more discouraging.
+
+[Sidenote: Modes of amusing the king.]
+
+[Sidenote: The singing boys.]
+
+Queen Margaret took the greatest pains to amuse him, and to provide
+employments for him that would occupy his thoughts in a gentle and
+soothing manner. When traveling about the country, she employed
+minstrels to sing and play to him; and, in order to have a constant
+supply of these performers provided, and to have them well trained to
+their art, she sent instructions to the sheriffs of the counties in
+all parts of the kingdom, requiring them to seek for all the beautiful
+boys that had good voices, and to have them instructed in the art of
+music, so that they might be ready, when called upon, to perform
+before the king. In the mean time they were to be paid good wages, and
+to be considered already, while receiving their instruction, as acting
+under the charge and in the service of the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Pretended pilgrimages.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king comforted.]
+
+Margaret and the other friends of the king used to contrive various
+other ways of amusing and comforting his mind, some of which were not
+very honest. One was, for example, to have different nobles and
+gentlemen come to him and ask his permission that they should leave
+the kingdom to go and make pilgrimages to various foreign shrines, in
+order to fulfill vows and offer oblations and prayers for the
+restoration of his majesty's health. The king was of a very devout
+frame of mind, and his thoughts were accustomed to dwell a great deal
+on religious subjects, and especially on the performance of the rites
+and ceremonies customary in those days, and it seemed to comfort him
+very much to imagine that his friends were going to make such long
+pilgrimages to pray for him.
+
+So the nobles and other great personages would ask his consent that
+they might go, and would take solemn leave of him as if they were
+really going, and then would keep out of sight a little while, until
+the poor patient had forgotten their request.
+
+[Sidenote: One real pilgrimage.]
+
+It is said, however, that one nobleman, the Duke of Norfolk, who was
+so kind-hearted a man that he went by the name of the Good Duke,
+actually made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on this errand, and there
+offered up prayers and supplications at the famous chapel of the Holy
+Sepulchre for the restoration of his sovereign's health.
+
+[Sidenote: The philosopher's stone.]
+
+[Sidenote: Promised treasures.]
+
+They used also to amuse and cheer the king's mind by telling him, from
+time to time, that he was going to be supplied with inexhaustible
+treasures of wealth by the discovery of the philosopher's stone. The
+philosopher's stone was an imaginary substance which the alchemists of
+those days were all the time attempting to discover, by means of which
+lead and iron, and all other metals, could be turned to gold. There
+were royal laboratories, and alchemists continually at work in them
+making experiments, and the queen used to give the king wonderful
+accounts of the progress which they were making, and tell him that the
+discovery was nearly completed, and that very soon he would have in
+his exchequer just as much money as his heart could desire. The poor
+king fully believed all these stories, and was extremely pleased and
+gratified to hear them.
+
+[Sidenote: Intervals of good health.]
+
+There were times during this interval when the king was tolerably
+well, his malady being somewhat periodical in its character. This was
+the case particularly on one occasion, soon after his first recovery
+from the state of total insensibility which has been referred to. The
+Duke of York, as has already been said, was put very much out of humor
+by the king's recovery on this occasion, and by his own consequent
+deposition from the office of regent, and still more so when he found
+that the first act which the queen performed on her recovery of power
+was to release his hated enemy, Somerset, from the prison where he,
+the Duke of York, had confined him, and make him prime minister again.
+He very soon determined that he would not submit to this indignity. He
+assembled an army on the frontiers of Wales, where some of his chief
+strong-holds were situated, and assumed an attitude of hostility so
+defiant that the queen's government determined to take the field to
+oppose him.
+
+[Sidenote: Restoration of Somerset.]
+
+[Sidenote: Armies marshaled.]
+
+So they raised an army, and the Duke of Somerset, with the queen,
+taking the king with them, set out from London and marched toward the
+northwest. They stopped first at the town of St. Alban's.[13] When
+they were about to resume their march from St. Alban's, they saw that
+the hills before them were covered with bands of armed men, the forces
+of the Duke of York, which he was leading on toward the capital.
+Somerset's forces immediately returned to the town. Margaret, who was
+for a time greatly distressed and perplexed to decide between her duty
+toward her husband and toward her child, finally concluded to retire
+to Greenwich with the little prince, and await there the result of the
+battle, leaving the Duke of Somerset to do the best he could with the
+king.
+
+         [Footnote 13: See map.]
+
+[Sidenote: St. Alban's.]
+
+[Sidenote: The parley.]
+
+Very soon a herald came from the Duke of York to the gates of St.
+Alban's, and demanded a parley. He said that the duke had not taken
+arms against the king, but only against Somerset. He professed great
+loyalty and affection for Henry himself, and only wished to save him
+from the dangerous counsels of a corrupt and traitorous minister, and
+he said that if the king would deliver up Somerset to him, he would at
+once disband his armies, and the difficulty would be all at an end.
+
+[Sidenote: Reply.]
+
+The reply sent to this was that the king declared that he would lose
+both his crown and his life before he would deliver up either the Duke
+of Somerset or even the meanest soldier in his army to such a demand.
+
+[Sidenote: Attack on the town.]
+
+[Sidenote: Terrible conflict.]
+
+The Duke of York, on receiving this answer, immediately advanced to
+attack the town. For some time Henry's men defended the walls and
+gates successfully against him, but at length the Earl of Warwick,
+who was the Duke of York's principal confederate and supporter in this
+movement, passed with a strong detachment by another way round a hill,
+and through some gardens, and thence, by breaking down the wall which
+stood between the garden and the town, he succeeded in getting in. A
+terrible conflict then ensued in the streets and narrow lanes of the
+city, and the attention of the besieged being thus drawn off from the
+walls and the gates, the Duke of York soon succeeded in forcing his
+way in too.
+
+[Sidenote: The king taken prisoner.]
+
+King Henry's forces were soon routed with great slaughter. The Duke of
+Somerset and several other prominent nobles were killed. The king
+himself was wounded by an arrow, which struck him in the neck as he
+was standing under his banner in the street with his officers around
+him. When these his attendants saw that the battle was going against
+him, they all forsook him and fled, leaving him by his banner alone.
+He remained here quietly for some time, and then went into a shop near
+by, where presently the Duke of York found him.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's demeanor.]
+
+As soon as the Duke came into the king's presence he kneeled before
+him, thus acknowledging him as king, and said,
+
+"The traitor and public enemy against whom we took up arms is dead,
+and now there will be no farther trouble."
+
+"Then," said the king, "for God's sake, go and stop the slaughter of
+my subjects."
+
+[Sidenote: 1457.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king conveyed to London.]
+
+The duke immediately sent orders to stop the fighting, and, taking the
+king by the hand, he led him to the Abbey of St. Alban's, a venerable
+monastic edifice, greatly celebrated in the histories of these times,
+and there caused him to be conveyed to his apartment. The next day he
+took him to London. He rendered him all external tokens of homage and
+obedience by the way, but still virtually the king was his prisoner.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's despair.]
+
+Poor Queen Margaret was all this time at Greenwich, waiting in the
+utmost suspense and anxiety to hear tidings of the battle. When, at
+length, the news arrived that the battle had been lost, that the king
+had been wounded, and was now virtually a prisoner in the hands of her
+abhorred and hated enemy, she was thrown into a state of utter
+despair, so much so that she remained for some hours in a sort of
+stupor, as if all was now lost, and it was useless and hopeless to
+continue the struggle any longer.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's wound.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen and the prince.]
+
+She however, at length, revived, and began to consider again what was
+to be done. The prospect before her, however, seemed to grow darker
+and darker. The fatigue and excitement which the king had suffered,
+joined to the effects of his wound, which seemed not disposed to heal,
+produced a relapse. The Duke of York appears to have considered that
+the time had not yet come for him to attempt to assert his claims to
+the throne. He contented himself with so exhibiting the condition of
+the king to members of Parliament as to induce that body to appoint
+him protector again. When he had thus regained possession of power, he
+restored the king to the care of the queen, and sent her, with him and
+the little prince, into the country.
+
+[Sidenote: Grand reconciliation.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1458.]
+
+[Sidenote: Mutual distrust.]
+
+One of the most extraordinary circumstances which occurred in the
+course of these anxious and troubled years was a famous reconciliation
+which took place at one time between the parties to this great
+quarrel. It was at a time when England was threatened with an invasion
+from France. Queen Margaret proposed a grand meeting of all the lords
+and nobles on both sides, to agree upon some terms of pacification by
+which the intestine feud which divided and distracted the country
+might be healed, and the way prepared for turning their united
+strength against the foe. But it was a very dangerous thing to attempt
+to bring these turbulent leaders together. They had no confidence in
+each other, and no one of them would be willing to come to the
+congress without bringing with him a large armed force of followers
+and retainers, to defend him in case of violence or treachery.
+Finally, it was agreed to appoint the Lord-mayor of London to keep the
+peace among the various parties, and, to enable him to do this
+effectually, he was provided with a force of ten thousand men. These
+men were volunteers raised from among the citizens of London.
+
+[Sidenote: Meeting of the nobles.]
+
+When the time arrived for the meeting, the various leaders came in
+toward London, each at the head of a body of retainers. One man came
+with five hundred men, another with four hundred, and another with six
+hundred, who were all dressed in uniform with scarlet coats. Another
+nobleman, representing the great Percy family, came at the head of a
+body of fifteen hundred men, all his own personal retainers, and every
+one of them ready to fight any where and against any body, the moment
+that their feudal lord should give the word.
+
+[Sidenote: Armed bands.]
+
+These various chieftains, each at the head of his troops, came to
+London at the appointed time, and established themselves at different
+castles and strong-holds in and around the city, like so many
+independent sovereigns coming together to negotiate a treaty of peace.
+
+[Sidenote: Disputes and debates.]
+
+They spent two whole months in disputes and debates, in which the
+fiercest invectives and the most angry criminations and recriminations
+were uttered continually on both sides. At length, marvelous to
+relate, they came to an agreement. All the points in dispute were
+arranged, a treaty was signed, and a grand reconciliation--that is, a
+pretended one--was the result.
+
+[Sidenote: The treaty.]
+
+This meeting was convened about the middle of January, and on the
+twenty-fourth of March the agreement was finally made and ratified,
+and sealed, in a solemn manner, by the great seal. It contained a
+great variety of agreements and specifications, which it is not
+necessary to recapitulate here, but when all was concluded there was a
+grand public ceremony in commemoration of the event.
+
+[Sidenote: Procession.]
+
+At this celebration the king and queen, wearing their crowns and royal
+robes, walked in solemn procession to St. Paul's Cathedral in the
+city. They were followed by the leading peers and prelates walking two
+and two; and, in order to exhibit to public view the most perfect
+tokens and pledges of the fullness and sincerity of this grand
+reconciliation, it was arranged that those who had been most bitterly
+hostile to each other in the late quarrels should be paired together
+as they walked. Thus, immediately behind the king, who walked alone,
+came the queen and the Duke of York walking together hand in hand, as
+if they were on the most loving terms imaginable, and so with the
+rest.
+
+[Sidenote: Mock reconciliation.]
+
+The citizens of London, and vast crowds of other people who had come
+in from the surrounding towns to witness the spectacle, joined in the
+celebration by forming lines along the streets as the procession
+passed by, and greeting the reconciled pairs with long and loud
+acclamations; and when night came, they brightened up the whole city
+with illuminations of their houses and bonfires in the streets.
+
+[Sidenote: Fighting again.]
+
+In about a year after this the parties to this grand pacification were
+fighting each other more fiercely and furiously than ever.
+
+[Illustration: The Little Prince and his Swans.]
+
+[Sidenote: The prince's journey.]
+
+[Sidenote: The little swans.]
+
+At one time, when the little prince was about six years old, the queen
+made a royal progress through certain counties in the interior of the
+country, ostensibly to benefit the king's health by change of air, and
+by the gentle exercise and agreeable recreation afforded by a journey,
+but really, it is said, to interest the nobles and the people of the
+region through which she passed in her cause, and especially in that
+of the little prince, whom she took on that occasion to show to all
+the people on her route. She had adopted for him the device of his
+renowned ancestor, Edward III., which was a _swan_; and she had caused
+to be made for him a large number of small silver swans, which he was
+to present to the nobles and gentlemen, and to all who were admitted
+to a personal audience, in the towns through which he passed. He was a
+bright and beautiful boy, and he gave these little swans to the people
+who came around him with such a sweet and charming grace, that all who
+saw him were inspired with feelings of the warmest interest and
+affection for him.
+
+[Sidenote: War breaks out again.]
+
+Very soon after this time the war between the two great contending
+parties broke out anew, and took such a course as very soon deprived
+King Henry of his crown. The events which led to this result will be
+related in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+MARGARET A FUGITIVE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1459.]
+
+[Sidenote: The battle of Blore Heath.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's orders.]
+
+In the summer of 1459, the year after the grand reconciliation took
+place which is described in the last chapter, two vast armies,
+belonging respectively to the two parties, which had been gradually
+gathering for a long time, came up together at a place called Blore
+Heath,[14] in Staffordshire, in the heart of England. A great battle
+ensued. During the battle Henry lay dangerously ill in the town of
+Coleshill, which was not far off. Margaret was at Maccleston, another
+village very near the field of battle. From the tower of the church in
+Maccleston she watched the progress of the fight. Salisbury was at the
+head of the York party. Margaret's troops were commanded by Lord
+Audley. When Audley took leave of her to go into battle, she sternly
+ordered him to bring Salisbury to her, dead or alive.
+
+         [Footnote 14: For the situation of Blore Heath, see map.]
+
+[Sidenote: Decorations.]
+
+Audley had ten thousand men under his command. The soldiers were all
+adorned with red rosettes, the symbol of the house of Lancaster. The
+officers wore little silver swans upon their uniform, such as Prince
+Edward had distributed.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle lost.]
+
+The queen watched the progress of the battle with intense anxiety, and
+soon, to her consternation and dismay, she saw that it was going
+against her. She kept her eyes upon Audley's banner, and when, at
+length, she saw it fall, she knew that all was lost. She hurried down
+from the tower, and, with a few friends to accompany her, she fled for
+her life to a strong-hold belonging to her friends that was not at a
+great distance.
+
+[Sidenote: Feeble condition of the king.]
+
+The king, too, had to be removed, in order to prevent his being taken
+prisoner. He was, however, too feeble to know much or to think much of
+what was going on. When they came to take him on his pallet to carry
+him away, he looked up and asked, feebly, "who had got the day," but
+beyond this he gave no indication of taking any interest in the
+momentous events that were transpiring.
+
+[Sidenote: Spirit and temper of the queen.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1460.]
+
+[Sidenote: Success of her efforts.]
+
+This defeat, instead of producing a discouraging and disheartening
+effect upon Margaret's mind, only served to arouse her to new vigor
+and determination. She had been somewhat timid and fearful in the
+earlier part of her troubles, when she had only a husband to think of
+and to care for. But now she had a son; and the maternal instinct
+seemed to operate in her case, as it has done in so many others, to
+make her fearless, desperate, and, in the end, almost ferocious, in
+protecting her offspring from harm, and in maintaining his rights. She
+immediately engaged with the utmost zeal and ardor in raising a new
+army. She did not trust the command of it to any general, but directed
+all the operations of it herself. There is not space to describe in
+detail the campaigns that ensued, but the result was a complete
+victory. Her enemies were, in their turn, entirely defeated, and the
+two great leaders, the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, were
+actually driven out of the kingdom. The Duke of York retreated to
+Ireland, and the Earl of Warwick went across the Straits of Dover to
+Calais, which was still in English possession, and a great naval and
+military station.
+
+[Sidenote: The Earl of Warwick.]
+
+[Sidenote: His successful advance.]
+
+In a very short time after this, however, Warwick came back again with
+a large armed force, which he had organized at Calais, and landed in
+the southern part of England. He marched toward London, carrying all
+before him. It was now his party's turn to be victorious; for by the
+operation of that strange principle which seems to regulate the ups
+and downs of opposing political parties in all countries and in all
+ages, victory alternates between them with almost the regularity of a
+pendulum. The current of popular sentiment, which had set so strongly
+in favor of the queen's cause only a short year before, appeared to be
+now altogether in favor of her enemies. Every body flocked to
+Warwick's standard as he marched northwardly from the coast toward
+London, and at London the people opened the gates of the city and
+received him and his troops as if they had been an army of deliverers.
+
+[Sidenote: Northampton.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king made captive.]
+
+Warwick did not delay long in London. He marched to the north to meet
+the queen's troops. Another great battle was fought at Northampton.
+Margaret watched the progress of the fight from an eminence not far
+distant. The day went against her. The result of the battle was that
+the poor king was taken prisoner the second time and carried in
+triumph to London.
+
+The captors, however, treated him with great consideration and
+respect--not as their enemy and as their prisoner, but as their
+sovereign, rescued by them from the hands of traitors and foes. The
+time had not even yet come for the York party openly to avow their
+purpose of deposing the king. So they conveyed him to London, and
+lodged him in the palace there, where he was surrounded with all the
+emblems and marks of royalty, but was still, nevertheless, closely
+confined.
+
+[Sidenote: Parliament summoned.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king.]
+
+The Duke of York then summoned a Parliament, acting in the king's
+name, of course, that is, requiring the king to sign the writs and
+other necessary documents. It was not until October that the
+Parliament met. During the interval the king was lodged in a country
+place not far from London, where every effort was made to enable him
+to pass his time agreeably, by giving him an opportunity to hunt, and
+to amuse and recreate himself with other out-door amusements. All the
+while, however, a strict watch was kept over him to prevent the
+possibility of his making his escape, or of the friends of the queen
+coming secretly to take him away.
+
+As for the queen and the little prince, none knew what had become of
+them.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's pretensions.]
+
+When Parliament met, a very extraordinary scene occurred in the House
+of Lords, in which the Duke of York was the principal actor, and which
+excited a great sensation. Up to this time he had put forward no
+actual claim to the throne in behalf of his branch of the family, but
+in all the hostilities in which he had been engaged against the king's
+troops, his object had been, as he had always said, not to oppose the
+king, but only to save him, by separating him from the evil influences
+which surrounded him. But he was now beginning to be somewhat more
+bold.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke comes to Parliament.]
+
+Accordingly, when Parliament met, he came into London at the head of a
+body-guard of five hundred horsemen, and with the sword of state borne
+before him, as if he were the greatest personage in the realm. He rode
+directly to Westminster, and, halting his men with great parade before
+the doors of the hall where the House of Lords was assembled, he went
+in.
+
+[Sidenote: Scene in the House of Lords.]
+
+He advanced directly through the hall to the raised dais at the end on
+which the throne was placed. He ascended the steps, and walked to the
+throne, the whole assembly looking on in solemn awe, to see what he
+was going to do. Some expected that he was going to take his seat upon
+the throne, and thus at once assume the position that he was the true
+and rightful sovereign of England. He, however, did not do so. He
+stood by the throne a few minutes, with his hand upon the crimson
+cloth which covered it, as if hesitating whether to take his seat or
+not, or perhaps waiting for some intimation from his partisans that he
+was expected to do so. But for several minutes no one spoke a word.
+At length the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was in some respects the
+most exalted personage in the House of Lords, asked him if he would be
+pleased to go and visit the king, who was at that time in an adjoining
+apartment. He replied in a haughty tone,
+
+"I know no one in this realm whose duty it is not rather to visit me
+than to expect me to visit him."
+
+[Sidenote: His haughty demeanor.]
+
+He then turned and walked proudly out of the house.
+
+[Sidenote: Henry's reasoning.]
+
+Although he thus refrained from actually seating himself upon the
+throne, it was evident that the time was rapidly drawing near when he
+would openly assert his claim to it, and some of the peers, thinking
+perhaps that Henry could be induced peaceably to yield, consulted him
+upon the subject, asking him which he thought had the best title to
+the crown, himself or the Duke of York.
+
+To this question Henry replied,
+
+"My father was king; his father was king. I have myself worn the crown
+for forty years, from my cradle. You have all sworn fealty to me as
+your sovereign, and your fathers did the same to my father and to my
+grandfather. How, then, can any one dispute my claim?"
+
+[Sidenote: Contesting claims.]
+
+What Henry said was true. The crown had been in his branch of the
+royal line for three generations, and for more than half a century,
+during all which time the whole nation had acquiesced in their rule.
+The claim of the Duke of York ran back to a period anterior to all
+this, but he maintained that it was legitimate and valid,
+notwithstanding.
+
+[Sidenote: Decision of the question.]
+
+There followed a series of deliberations and negotiations, the result
+of which was a decision on the part of Parliament that the Duke of
+York and his successors were really entitled to the crown, but that,
+by way of compromise, it was not to be in form transferred to them
+until after the death of Henry. So long as he should continue to live,
+he was to be nominally king, but the Duke of York was to govern as
+regent, and, at Henry's death, the crown was to descend to him.
+
+The duke was satisfied with this arrangement, and the first thing to
+be done, in order to secure its being well carried out, was to get the
+little prince, as well as Henry, the king, into his possession; for he
+well knew that, even if he were to dispose of the old king, and
+establish himself in possession of the throne, he could have no peace
+or quietness in the possession of it so long as the little prince,
+with his mother, was at large.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen commanded to return.]
+
+So he found means to induce the king to sign a mandate commanding the
+queen to come to London and bring the prince with her. This mandate
+she was required to obey immediately, under penalty, in case of
+disobedience, of being held guilty of treason.
+
+Officers were immediately dispatched in all directions to search for
+the queen, in order to serve this mandate upon her, but she was
+nowhere to be found.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+MARGARET TRIUMPHANT.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Sudden reverses.]
+
+There followed after this time a series of very rapid and sudden
+reverses, by which first one party and then the other became
+alternately the victors and the vanquished, through changes of fortune
+of the most extraordinary character.
+
+At the end of the battle described in the last chapter, Margaret found
+herself, with the little prince, a helpless fugitive. There were only
+eight persons to accompany her in her flight, and so defenseless were
+they, and such was the wild and lawless condition of the country, that
+it was said her party was stopped while on their way to Wales, and the
+queen was robbed of all her jewels and other valuables. Both she and
+the prince would very probably, too, have been made prisoners and sent
+to London, had it not been that, while the marauders were busy with
+their plunder, she contrived to make her escape.
+
+[Sidenote: Retreat to Scotland.]
+
+[Sidenote: The queen re-enters England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Success.]
+
+She remained a very short time in Wales, and then proceeded by sea to
+Scotland, where her party, and she herself personally, had powerful
+friends. By the aid of these friends, and through the influence of
+the indomitable spirit and resolution which she displayed, she was
+soon supplied with a new force. At the head of this force she crossed
+the frontier into England. The people seemed every where to pity her
+misfortunes, and they were so struck with the energy and courage she
+displayed in struggling against them, and in braving the dreadful
+dangers which surrounded her in defense of the rights of her husband
+and child, that they flocked to her standard from all quarters, and
+thus in eight days from the time that the mandate was issued from
+London commanding her to surrender herself a prisoner, she appeared in
+the vicinity of the city of York, the largest and strongest city in
+all the north of England, at the head of an overwhelming force.
+
+[Sidenote: Movement of the duke.]
+
+The Duke of York was astounded when this intelligence reached him in
+London. There was not a moment to be lost. He immediately set out with
+all the troops which he could command, and marched to the northward to
+meet the queen. At the same time, he sent orders to the other leaders
+of his party, in different parts of England, to move to the northward
+as rapidly as possible, and join him there.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Wakefield.]
+
+[Sidenote: Death of the Duke of York.]
+
+The duke himself arrived first in the vicinity of the queen's army,
+but he thought he was not strong enough to attack her, and he
+accordingly concluded to wait until his re-enforcements should come
+up. The queen advanced with a much superior force to meet him. The two
+armies came together near the town of Wakefield, and here, after some
+delay, during which the queen continually challenged the duke to come
+out from his walls and fortifications to meet her, and defied and
+derided him with many taunts and reproaches, a great battle was
+finally fought. Margaret's troops were victorious. Two thousand out of
+five thousand of the duke's troops were left dead upon the field, and
+the duke himself was slain!
+
+Margaret's heart was filled with the wildest exultation and joy when
+she heard that her inveterate and hated foe at last was dead. She
+could scarcely restrain her excitement. One of the nobles of her
+party, Lord Clifford, whose father had been killed in a previous
+battle under circumstances of great atrocity, cut off the duke's head
+from his body, and carried it to Margaret on the end of a pike. She
+was for a moment horror-stricken at the ghastly spectacle, and turned
+her face away; but she finally ordered the head to be set up upon a
+pole on the walls of York, in view of all beholders.
+
+[Sidenote: Murder of his son.]
+
+A young son of the duke's, the Earl of Rutland, who was then about
+twelve years old, was also killed, or rather massacred, on the field
+of battle, after the fight was over, as he was endeavoring to make his
+escape, under the care of his tutor, to a castle near, where he would
+have been safe. This was the castle of Sandal. It was a very strong
+place, and was in the possession of the Duke of York's party. The poor
+boy was cut down mercilessly by the same Lord Clifford who has already
+been spoken of, notwithstanding all that his tutor could do to save
+him.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's cruelties.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her exultation.]
+
+Other most atrocious murders were committed at the close of this
+battle. The Earl of Salisbury was beheaded, and his head was set up
+upon a pike on the walls of York, by the side of the duke's. Margaret
+was almost beside herself at the results of this victory. Her armies
+triumphant, the great leader of the party of her enemies, the man who
+had been for years her dread and torment, slain, and all his chief
+confederates either killed or taken prisoners, and nothing now
+apparently in the way to prevent her marching in triumph to London,
+liberating her husband from his thraldom, and taking complete and
+undisputed possession of the supreme power, there seemed, so far as
+the prospect now before her was concerned, to be nothing more to
+desire.
+
+[Illustration: Murder of Richard's Child.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+MARGARET AN EXILE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: A new reverse.]
+
+Bright as were the hopes and prospects of Margaret after the battle of
+Wakefield, a few short months were sufficient to involve her cause
+again in the deepest darkness and gloom. The battle of Wakefield, and
+the death of the Duke of York, took place near the last of December,
+in 1460. In March, three months later, Margaret was an exile from
+England, outlawed by the supreme power of the realm, and placed under
+such a ban that it was forbidden to all the people of England to have
+any communication with her.
+
+[Sidenote: Reaction.]
+
+[Sidenote: Head of the Duke of York.]
+
+This fatal result was brought about, in a great measure, by the
+reaction in the minds of the people of the country, which resulted
+from the shocking cruelties perpetrated by her and by her party after
+the battle of Wakefield. The accounts of these transactions spread
+through the kingdom, and awakened a universal feeling of disgust and
+abhorrence. It was said that when Lord Clifford carried the head of
+the Duke of York to Margaret on the point of a lance, followed by a
+crowd of other knights and nobles, he said to her,
+
+"Look, madam! The war is over! Here is the ransom for the king!"
+
+Then all the by-standers raised a shout of exultation, and began
+pointing at the ghastly head, with mockings and derisive laughter.
+They had put a paper crown upon the head, which they seemed to think
+produced a comic effect. The queen, though at first she averted her
+face, soon turned back again toward the horrid trophy, and laughed,
+with the rest, at the ridiculous effect produced by the paper crown.
+
+[Sidenote: The country shocked.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's ferocity.]
+
+The murder, too, of the innocent child, the duke's younger son,
+produced a great and very powerful sensation throughout the land. The
+queen, though she had not, perhaps, commanded this deed, still made
+herself an accessory by commending it and exulting over it. The
+ferocious hate with which she was animated against all the family of
+her fallen foe was also shown by another circumstance, and that was,
+that when she commanded the two heads, viz., that of the Duke of York
+and that of the Earl of Salisbury, to be set upon the city walls, she
+ordered that a space should be left between them for two other heads,
+one of which was to be that of Edward, the oldest son of the Duke of
+York, who was still alive, not having been present at the battle of
+Wakefield, and who, of course, now inherited the title and the claims
+of his father.
+
+[Sidenote: The duke's heir.]
+
+[Sidenote: Edward.]
+
+This young Edward was at this time about nineteen years of age. His
+title had been hitherto the Earl of March, and he would, of course,
+now become the Duke of York, only he chose to assume that of King of
+England. He was a young man of great energy of character, and he was
+sustained, of course, by all his father's party, who now transferred
+their allegiance to him. Indeed, their zeal in his service was
+redoubled by the terrible resentment and the thirst for vengeance
+which the cruelties of the queen awakened in their minds. Edward
+immediately put himself in motion with all the troops that he could
+command. He was in the western part of England at the time of his
+father's death, and he immediately began to move toward the coast in
+order to intercept Margaret on her march toward London.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle at St. Alban's.]
+
+[Sidenote: Warwick defeated.]
+
+[Sidenote: Henry abandoned.]
+
+At the same time, the Earl of Warwick advanced from London itself to
+the northward to meet the queen, taking with him the king, who had up
+to this time remained in London. The armies of Warwick and of the
+queen came into the vicinity of each other not far from St. Alban's,
+before the young Duke of York came up, and a desperate battle was
+fought. Warwick's army was composed chiefly of men hastily got
+together in London, and they were no match for the experienced and
+sturdy soldiers which Margaret had brought with her from the Scottish
+frontier. They were entirely defeated. They fought all day, but at
+night they dispersed in all directions, and in the hurry and confusion
+of their flight they left the poor king behind them.
+
+[Sidenote: Is saved.]
+
+During the battle Margaret did not know that her husband was on the
+ground. But at night, as soon as Henry's keepers had abandoned him, a
+faithful serving-man who remained with him ran into Margaret's camp,
+and finding one of the nobles in command there, he informed him of the
+situation of the king. The noble immediately informed the queen, and
+she, overjoyed at the news, flew to the place where her husband lay,
+and, on finding him, they embraced each other with the most passionate
+tokens of affection and joy.
+
+[Sidenote: The abbey.]
+
+Margaret brought the little prince to be presented to him, and then
+they all together proceeded to the abbey at St. Alban's, where
+apartments were provided for them. They first, however, went to the
+church, in order to return thanks publicly for the deliverance of the
+king.
+
+They were received at the door of the church by the abbot and the
+monks, who welcomed them with hymns of praise and thanksgiving as they
+approached. After the ceremonies had been performed, they went to the
+apartments in the abbey which had been provided for them, intending to
+devote some days to quiet and repose.
+
+[Sidenote: Great excitement.]
+
+In the mean time the excitement throughout the country continued and
+increased. The queen perpetrated fresh cruelties, ordering the
+execution of all the principal leaders from the other side that fell
+into her hands. She alienated the minds of the people from her cause
+by not restraining her troops from plundering; and, in order to obtain
+money to defray the expenses of her army and to provide them with
+food, she made requisitions upon the towns through which she passed,
+and otherwise harassed the people of the country by fines and
+confiscations.
+
+[Sidenote: The people alarmed.]
+
+The people were at length so exasperated by these high-handed
+proceedings, and by the furious and vindictive spirit which Margaret
+manifested in all that she did, that the current turned altogether in
+favor of the young Duke of York. The scattered forces of his party
+were reassembled. They began soon to assume so formidable an
+appearance that Margaret found it would be best for her to retire
+toward the north again. She of course took with her the king and the
+Prince of Wales.
+
+[Sidenote: Advance of Edward.]
+
+At the same time, Edward, the young Duke of York, advanced toward
+London. The whole city was excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm
+at his approach. A large meeting of citizens declared that Henry
+should reign no longer, but that they would have Edward for king.
+
+[Sidenote: London.]
+
+When Edward arrived in London he was received by the whole population
+as their deliverer. A grand council of the nobles and prelates was
+convened, and, after solemn deliberations, Henry was deposed and
+Edward was declared king.
+
+Two days after this a great procession was formed, at the head of
+which Edward rode royally to Westminster and took his seat upon the
+throne.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Towton.]
+
+Margaret made one more desperate effort to retrieve the fortunes of
+her family by a battle fought at a place called Towton. This battle
+was fought in a snow-storm. It was an awful day. Margaret's party were
+entirely defeated, and nearly thirty thousand of them were left dead
+upon the field.
+
+[Sidenote: Flight of the queen.]
+
+As soon as the result was known, Margaret, taking with her her husband
+and child and a small retinue of attendants, fled to the northward.
+She stopped a short time at the Castle of Alnwick,[15] a strong-hold
+belonging to one of her friends; but, finding that the forces opposed
+to her were gathering strength every day and advancing toward her, and
+that the country generally was becoming more and more disposed to
+yield allegiance to the new king, she concluded that it would not be
+safe for her to remain in England any longer.
+
+         [Footnote 15: See map of the border at the commencement of
+         chapter xix.]
+
+[Sidenote: Alnwick.]
+
+So, taking her husband and the little prince with her, and also a few
+personal attendants, she left Alnwick, and crossed the frontier into
+Scotland, a fugitive and an exile, and with no hope apparently of ever
+being able to enter England again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A ROYAL COUSIN.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1461.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret in Scotland.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her friends.]
+
+As soon as Margaret escaped to Scotland, far from being disheartened
+by her misfortunes, she began at once to concert measures for raising
+a new army and going into England again, with a view of making one
+more effort to recover her husband's throne. She knew, of course, that
+there was a large body of nobles, and of the people of the country,
+who were still faithful to her husband's cause, and who would be ready
+to rally round his standard whenever and wherever it should appear.
+All that she required was the nucleus of an army at the outset, and a
+tolerably successful beginning in entering the country. There were
+knights and nobles, and great numbers of men, every where ready to
+join her as soon as she should appear, but they were nowhere strong
+enough to commence a movement on their own responsibility.
+
+[Sidenote: The prince.]
+
+One of the measures which she adopted for strengthening her interest
+with the royal family of Scotland was to negotiate a marriage between
+the young prince, who was now seven years old, and a Scotch princess.
+She succeeded in conditionally arranging this marriage, but she found
+that she could not raise troops for a second invasion of England.
+
+[Sidenote: Messengers sent to France.]
+
+In the mean time, she had sent three noblemen as her messengers into
+France, to see what could be done in that country. France was her
+native land, and the king at that time, Charles VII., was her uncle.
+She had strong reason to hope, therefore, that she might find aid and
+sympathy there. Toward the close of the summer, however, she received
+a letter from two of her messengers at Dieppe which was not at all
+encouraging.
+
+[Sidenote: Their letter.]
+
+The letter began by saying, on the part of the messengers, that they
+had already written to Margaret three times before; once by the return
+of the vessel, called the _Carvel_, in which they went to France, and
+twice from Dieppe, where they then were, but all the letters were
+substantially to communicate the same evil tidings, namely, that the
+king, her uncle, was dead, and that her cousin had succeeded to the
+throne, but that the new king seemed not at all disposed to regard her
+cause favorably. His officers at Dieppe had caused all their papers to
+be seized and taken to the king, and he had shut up one of their
+number in the castle of Arques, which is situated at a short distance
+from Dieppe. He had been apparently prevented from imprisoning the
+other two by their having been provided with a safe-conduct, which
+protected them.
+
+[Sidenote: The messengers' advice to the queen.]
+
+Furthermore, the writers of the letter bade the queen keep up good
+courage, and advised her, for the present, to remain quietly where she
+was. She must not, they said, venture herself, or the little prince,
+upon the sea in an attempt to come to France, unless she found herself
+exposed to great danger in remaining in Scotland. They wished her to
+notify the king, too, who they supposed was at that time secreted in
+Wales, for they had heard that the Earl of March--they would not call
+him King of England, but still designated him by his old name--was
+going into Wales with an army to look for him.
+
+[Sidenote: Their professions and promises.]
+
+They said, in conclusion, that as soon as they were set at liberty
+they should immediately come to the queen in Scotland. Nothing but
+death would prevent their rejoining her, and they devoutly hoped and
+believed that they should not be called to meet with death until they
+could have the satisfaction of seeing her husband the king and herself
+once more in peaceable possession of their realm.
+
+But the reader may perhaps like to peruse the letter itself in the
+words in which it was written. It is a very good specimen of the form
+in which the English language was written in those days, though it
+seems very quaint and old-fashioned now. It was as follows:
+
+[Sidenote: The letter itself.]
+
+     "MADAM,--Please your good God, we have, since our coming hither,
+     written to your highness thrice; once by the carvel in which we
+     came, the other two from Dieppe. But, madam, it was all one thing
+     in substance, putting you in knowledge of your uncle's death,
+     whom God assoil, and how we stood arrested, and do yet. But on
+     Tuesday next we shall up to the king, your cousin-german. His
+     commissaires, at the first of our tarrying, took all our letters
+     and writings, and bore them up to the king, leaving my Lord of
+     Somerset in keeping at the castle of Arques, and my fellow
+     Whyttingham and me (for we had safe-conduct) in the town of
+     Dieppe, where we are yet.
+
+     "Madam, fear not, but be of good comfort, and beware ye venture
+     not your person, nor my lord the prince, by sea, till ye have
+     other word from us, unless your person can not be sure where ye
+     are, and extreme necessity drive ye thence.
+
+     "And, for God's sake, let the king's highness be advised of the
+     same; for, as we are informed, the Earl of March is into Wales by
+     land, and hath sent his navy thither by sea.
+
+     "And, madam, think verily, as soon as we be delivered, we shall
+     come straight to you, unless death take us by the way, which we
+     trust he will not till we see the king and you peaceably again in
+     your realm; the which we beseech God soon to see, and to send you
+     that your highness desireth. Written at Dieppe the 30th day of
+     August, 1461.
+
+          "Your true subjects and liegemen,
+
+                              "HUNGERFORD and WHYTTINGHAM."
+
+[Sidenote: Fidelity.]
+
+[Sidenote: Suspense.]
+
+[Sidenote: King Louis XI.]
+
+Margaret remained through the winter in Scotland, anxiously
+endeavoring to devise means to rebuild her fallen fortunes. But all
+was in vain; no light or hope appeared. At length, when the spring
+opened, she determined to go herself to France and see the king her
+cousin, in hopes that, by her presence at the court, and her personal
+influence over the king, something might be done.
+
+The king her cousin had been her playmate in their childhood. He was
+the son of Mary, her father Rene's sister. Mary and Rene had been very
+strongly attached to each other, and the children had been brought up
+much together. Margaret now hoped that, on seeing her again in her
+present forlorn and helpless condition, his former friendship for her
+would revive, and that he would do something to aid her.
+
+[Sidenote: Want of funds.]
+
+[Sidenote: Gratitude.]
+
+[Sidenote: Voyage to France.]
+
+She was, however, entirely destitute of money, and she would have
+found it very difficult to contrive the means of getting to France,
+had it not been for the kindness of a French merchant who resided in
+Scotland, and whom she had known in former years in Nancy, in
+Lorraine, where she had rendered him some service. The merchant had
+since acquired a large fortune in commercial operations between
+Scotland and Flanders which he conducted. In his prosperity he did not
+forget the kindness he had received from the queen in former years,
+and, now that she was in want and in distress, he came forward
+promptly to relieve her. He furnished her with the funds necessary for
+her voyage, and provided a vessel to convey her and her attendants to
+the coast of France. She sailed from the port of Kirkcudbright, on the
+western coast of Scotland, and so passed down through the Irish Sea
+and St. George's Channel, thus avoiding altogether the Straits of
+Dover, where she would have incurred danger of being intercepted by
+the English men-of-war.
+
+She took the young prince with her. The king it was thought best to
+leave behind.
+
+[Sidenote: 1462.]
+
+[Sidenote: Funds exhausted.]
+
+So great were the number of persons dependent upon the queen, and so
+urgent were their necessities, that all the funds which the French
+merchant had furnished her were exhausted on her arrival in France.
+She found, moreover, that the three friends, the noblemen whom she had
+sent to France the summer before, and from whom she had received the
+letter we have quoted, had left that country and gone to Scotland to
+seek her. They had provided themselves with a vessel, in which they
+intended to take the queen away from Scotland and convey her to some
+place of safety, not knowing that she had herself embarked for France.
+They must have passed the queen's vessel on the way, unless, indeed,
+which is very probably the case, they went up the Channel and through
+the Straits of Dover, thus taking an altogether different route from
+that chosen by the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Missed by her friends.]
+
+When they reached Scotland they hovered on the coast a long time,
+endeavoring to find an opportunity to communicate with her secretly;
+but at length they learned that she was gone.
+
+[Sidenote: She goes to France.]
+
+In the mean time, Margaret, having arrived in France, borrowed some
+money of the Duke of Brittany, in whose dominions it would seem she
+first landed. With this money Margaret supplied the most pressing
+wants of her party, and also made arrangements for pursuing her
+journey into the country, to the town in Normandy where her cousin the
+king was then residing.
+
+[Illustration: Louis XI., Margaret's Cousin.]
+
+[Sidenote: Louis XI.]
+
+It is said that, on arriving at the court of the king and obtaining
+admission to his majesty's presence, Margaret took the young prince by
+the hand, and, throwing herself down at her cousin's feet, she
+implored him, with many tears, to take pity upon her forlorn and
+wretched condition, and that of her unhappy husband, and to aid her in
+her efforts to recover his throne.
+
+But the king, with true royal heartlessness, was unmoved by her
+distress, and manifested no disposition to espouse her cause.
+
+[Sidenote: Negotiations.]
+
+Some negotiations, however, ensued, at the close of which the king
+promised to loan her a sum of money--for a consideration. The
+consideration was that she was to convey to him the port and town of
+Calais, which was still held by the English, and was considered a very
+important and very valuable possession, or else pay back double the
+money which she borrowed.
+
+[Sidenote: Mortgage of Calais.]
+
+Thus it was not an absolute sale of Calais, but only a mortgage of it,
+which the queen executed. But, nevertheless, as soon as this
+transaction was made known in England, it excited great indignation
+throughout the country, and seriously injured the cause of the queen.
+The people accused her of being ready to alienate the possessions of
+the crown, possessions which it had cost so much both in blood and
+treasure to procure.
+
+[Sidenote: Doubtful security.]
+
+Of course, the security which the king obtained for his loan was of a
+somewhat doubtful character, for Margaret's mortgage deed of Calais,
+although she gave it in King Henry's name, and was careful to state in
+it that she was expressly authorized by him to make it, was of no
+force at all so long as Edward of York reigned in England, and was
+acknowledged by the people as the rightful king. It was only in the
+event of Margaret's succeeding in recovering the throne for her
+husband that the mortgage could take effect. The deed which she
+executed stipulated that, as soon as King Henry should be restored to
+his kingdom, he would appoint one of two persons named, in whom the
+King of France had confidence, as governor of the town, with authority
+to deliver it up to the King of France in one year in case she did not
+within that time pay back double the sum of money borrowed.
+
+[Sidenote: Conditions.]
+
+He seemed to think that, considering the great risk he was taking, a
+hundred per cent per annum was not an exorbitant usury.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+RETURN TO ENGLAND.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret finds a friend.]
+
+Margaret found one friend in France, who seems to have espoused her
+cause from a sentiment of sincere and disinterested attachment to her.
+This was a certain knight named Pierre de Breze.[16] He was an officer
+of high rank in the government of Normandy, and a man of very
+considerable influence among the distinguished personages of those
+times.
+
+         [Footnote 16: Pronounced Brezzay.]
+
+[Illustration: Map of the Scottish Border.]
+
+[Sidenote: Account of Breze.]
+
+[Sidenote: He enters the queen's service.]
+
+Margaret had known him intimately many years before. He was appointed
+one of the commissioners on the French side to negotiate, with Suffolk
+and the others, the terms of Margaret's marriage, and he had taken a
+very prominent part in the tournaments and other celebrations which
+took place in honor of the wedding before Margaret left her native
+land. When he now saw the poor queen coming back to France an exile,
+bereft of friends, of resources, and almost of hope, the interest
+which he had felt for her in former years was revived. It is said
+that he fell in love with her. However this may be, it is certain that
+Margaret's great beauty must have had a very important influence in
+deepening the sentiment of compassion which the misfortunes of the
+poor fugitive were so well calculated to inspire. At any rate, Breze
+entered at once into the queen's service with great enthusiasm. He
+brought with him a force of two thousand men. With this army, and with
+the money which she had borrowed of King Louis, Margaret resolved to
+make one more attempt to recover her husband's kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's plans.]
+
+At length, in the month of October, 1462, five months after she
+arrived in France, she set sail with a small number of vessels,
+containing the soldiers that Breze had provided for her. Her plan was
+to land in the north of England, for it was in that part of the
+country that the friends of the Lancaster line were most numerous and
+powerful.
+
+[Sidenote: She goes to England.]
+
+King Edward's government knew something of her plans, or, at least,
+suspected them, and they stationed a fleet to watch for her and
+intercept her. She, however, contrived to elude them, and reached the
+shores of England in safety.
+
+[Sidenote: Hurried flight.]
+
+The fleet approached the shore at Tynemouth, but the guns of the forts
+were pointed against her, and she was forbidden to land. She, however,
+succeeded, either at that place or at some other point along the
+coast, in effecting a debarkation; but she was threatened so soon with
+an attack by a large army which she heard was approaching, under the
+command of the Earl of Warwick, that the French troops fled
+precipitately to their ships, leaving Margaret, the prince, Breze, and
+a few others who remained faithful to her, on shore. Being thus
+deserted, Margaret and her party were compelled to retreat too. They
+embarked on board a fisherman's boat, which was the only means of
+conveyance left to them, and in this manner made their way to Berwick,
+which town was in the possession of her friends.
+
+[Sidenote: A storm.]
+
+[Sidenote: Ships wrecked.]
+
+[Sidenote: Holy Island.]
+
+They were long in reaching Berwick, being detained by a storm. The
+storm, however, caused Margaret a much greater injury than mere
+detention. The ships in which the French soldiers had fled were caught
+by it off a range of rocky cliffs lying between Tynemouth and Berwick,
+the most prominent of which is called Bamborough Head. The ships were
+driven upon the rocks and rocky islands which lay along the shore, and
+there broken to pieces by the sea which rolled in upon them from the
+offing. All the stores, and provisions, and munitions of war which
+Margaret had brought from France, and which constituted almost her
+sole reliance for carrying on the war, were lost. Most of the men
+saved themselves, and made their escape to an island that lay near,
+called Holy Island. But here they were soon afterward attacked by a
+body of Yorkist troops and cut to pieces.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's escape.]
+
+Margaret reached Berwick in her fishing-boat at last, bearing these
+terrible tidings to her friends there. One would suppose that the last
+hope of her being able to retrieve her fallen fortunes would now be
+extinguished, and that she would sink down in utter and absolute
+despair.
+
+[Sidenote: Her spirit revives.]
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Hexham.]
+
+[Sidenote: The king's escape.]
+
+But it was not in Margaret's nature to despair. The more heavily the
+pressure of calamity and the hostility of her foes weighed upon her,
+the more fierce and determined was the spirit of resistance which they
+aroused in her bosom. In this instance, instead of yielding to
+dejection and despondency, she began at once to take measures for
+assembling a new force, and the ardor and energy which she displayed
+inspired all around her with some portion of her confidence and zeal.
+A new army was raised during the winter. Very early in the spring it
+took the field, and a series of military operations followed, in which
+towns and castles were taken and retaken, and skirmishes fought all
+along the Scottish frontier. At length the contending forces were
+concentrated near a place called Hexham, and a general battle ensued.
+The queen's army was defeated. The king, who was in the battle, had a
+most narrow escape. He fled on horseback--for when he was in good
+bodily health he was an excellent horseman--but he was so hotly
+pursued that three of his body-guard were taken.
+
+It is mentioned that one of the men thus taken wore the king's cap of
+state, which was embroidered with two crowns of gold, one representing
+the kingdom of England and the other that of France, the title to
+which country the English sovereigns still pretended to claim, in
+virtue of their former extended possessions there, although pretty
+much all except the town of Calais was now lost.
+
+Perhaps the pursuers of the king's party were deceived by this royal
+cap, and took the wearer of it for the king. At any rate, the officer
+wearing the cap was taken, and the king escaped.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's danger.]
+
+Immediately after the victory on the field at Hexham, a body of the
+Yorkist troops broke into the camp where the queen was quartered, and
+where, with the young prince, she was awaiting the result of the
+battle. As soon as the queen found that the enemy were coming, she
+seized the prince and ran off with him, in mortal terror, into a
+neighboring wood. She knew well that, if the child was taken, he
+would certainly be killed. Indeed, such bloody work had been made on
+both sides, with assassinations and executions during the year prior
+to this time, that men's minds were in the highest state of
+exasperation; and it is probable that both Margaret herself and the
+child would have been butchered on the spot if they had remained in
+the camp until the victorious troops entered it.
+
+[Sidenote: Narrow escape.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her flight.]
+
+[Sidenote: The robbers.]
+
+As soon as Margaret gained the wood she turned off into the most
+obscure and solitary paths that she could find, thinking of nothing
+but to escape from her pursuers, who, she imagined in her fright, were
+close behind. At length, after wandering about in this manner for some
+time, she fell in with a company of men in the wood, who were either a
+regular band of robbers, or were tempted to become robbers on that
+occasion by the richness of the stranger's dress, and by the articles
+of jewelry and other decorations which she wore; for, although
+Margaret's means were extremely limited, she still maintained, in some
+degree, the bearing and the appointments of a queen.
+
+[Sidenote: An escape.]
+
+The men at once stopped her, and began to plunder her and the prince
+of every thing which they could take from them that appeared to be of
+value. As soon as they had possessed themselves of this plunder they
+began to quarrel about it among themselves. Margaret remained standing
+near, in great anxiety and distress, until presently, watching her
+opportunity, she caught up the prince in her arms and slipped away
+into the adjoining thickets.
+
+[Sidenote: Alone in the woods.]
+
+She ran forward as fast as she could go until she supposed herself out
+of the reach of pursuit from the robbers, and then looked for a place
+in the densest part of the wood where she could hide, with the
+intention of remaining there until night. Her plan was then to find
+her way out of the wood, and so wander on until she should come to the
+residence of some one of her friends, who she might hope would harbor
+and conceal her.
+
+[Sidenote: Night.]
+
+She accordingly continued in her hiding-place until evening came on,
+and then, having recovered in some degree, by this interval of rest,
+from the excitement, fatigue, and terror which she had endured, she
+came out into a path again, leading little Edward by the hand. The
+moon was shining, and this enabled her to see where to go.
+
+[Sidenote: A stranger appears.]
+
+After wandering on for some time, she was alarmed by the apparition of
+a tall man, armed, who suddenly appeared in the pathway at a short
+distance before her. She had no doubt that this was another robber. It
+was too late for her to attempt to fly from him. He was too near to
+allow her any chance of escape. In this extremity, she conceived the
+idea of throwing herself upon his generosity as her last and only
+hope. So she advanced boldly toward him, leading the little prince by
+the hand, and said to him, presenting the prince,
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's appeal to the stranger.]
+
+"My friend, this is the son of your king! Save him!"
+
+[Sidenote: The outlaw's cave.]
+
+The man appeared astonished. In a moment he laid his sword down at
+Margaret's feet in token of submission to her, and then immediately
+offered to conduct her and the prince to a place of safety. He also
+explained to her that he was one of her friends. He had been ruined by
+the war, and driven from his home, and was now, like the queen
+herself, a wanderer and a fugitive. He had taken possession of a cave
+in the wood, and there he was now living with his wife as an outlaw.
+He led Margaret and the prince to the cave, where they were received
+by his wife, and entertained with such hospitalities as a home so
+gloomy and comfortless could afford.
+
+[Illustration: Margaret at the Cave.]
+
+[Sidenote: Appearance of the cave.]
+
+Margaret remained an inmate of this cave for two days. The place is
+known to this day as Margaret's Cave. It stands in a very secluded
+spot on the banks of a small stream. The ground around it is now open,
+but in Margaret's time it was in the midst of the forest. The entrance
+to the cave is very low. Within, it is high enough for a man to stand
+upright. It is about thirty-four feet long, and half as wide. There
+are some appearances of its having been once divided by a wall into
+two separate apartments.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret concealed in it.]
+
+[Sidenote: A friend found.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's anger turned to grief.]
+
+For two days Margaret remained in the cave, suffering, of course, the
+extreme of suspense and anxiety all the time, being in great
+solicitude to hear from her friends, the nobles and generals who had
+been defeated with her in the battle. Her host made diligent though
+secret inquiries, but could gain no tidings. At length, on the morning
+of the third day, to Margaret's infinite relief and joy, he came in
+bringing with him De Breze himself, with his squire, whose name was
+Barville, and an English gentleman who had escaped with De Breze from
+the battle, and had since been wandering about with him, looking every
+where for the queen. Margaret was for the moment overjoyed to see
+these friends again, but her exultation was soon succeeded by the
+deepest grief at hearing the terrible accounts they gave of the death
+of her nearest friends, some of whom had been killed in the battle,
+and others had been taken prisoners and cruelly executed immediately
+afterward. Up to this time, through all the danger and suffering which
+she had endured since the battle, she had been either in a state of
+stupor, or else filled with resentment and rage against her enemies,
+and she had not shed a tear; but now grief for the loss of these dear
+and faithful friends seemed to take the place of all other emotions,
+and she wept a long time as if her heart would break.
+
+Margaret learned, however, from her friends that the king had made his
+escape, and was probably in a place of safety, and this gave her great
+consolation. It was thought that the king had succeeded in making his
+way to Scotland.
+
+[Sidenote: They leave the cave.]
+
+In the course of the day, one of the party who came with Breze went
+out into the neighboring villages to see if he could learn any new
+tidings, and before long he returned bringing with him several nobles
+of high rank and princes of the Lancastrian line. Margaret felt much
+relieved to find her party so strengthened, and arrangements were soon
+made by the whole party for Margaret to leave the cave with them, and
+endeavor to reach the Scottish frontier, which was not much more, in
+a direct line, than thirty miles from where they were.
+
+[Sidenote: Generosity of the outlaw.]
+
+Before they departed from the cave Margaret expressed her thanks very
+earnestly to the outlaw and his wife for their kindness in receiving
+her and the little prince into their cave, and in doing so much for
+their comfort while there, although by so doing they not only
+encroached very much upon their own slender means of support, but also
+incurred a very serious risk in harboring such a fugitive. Having been
+plundered of every thing by the robbers in the wood, she had nothing
+but thanks to return to her kind protectors. The nobles who were now
+with her offered the wife of the outlaw some money--for they had still
+a small supply of money left--but she would not receive it. They would
+require all they had, she said, for themselves, before they reached
+Scotland.
+
+[Sidenote: The queen's gratitude.]
+
+The queen was much moved by this generosity, and she said that of all
+that she had lost there was nothing that she regretted so much as the
+power of rewarding such goodness.
+
+[Sidenote: The journey.]
+
+[Sidenote: The journey to Kirkcudbright.]
+
+On leaving the wood at Hexham, the party, instead of proceeding north,
+directly toward the frontier of Scotland, concluded to journey
+westward to Carlisle, intending to take passage by water from that
+place through Solway to Kirkcudbright, the port from which Margaret
+had sailed when she went to France.[17] They were obliged to use a
+great many precautions in traversing the country to prevent being
+discovered. The party consisted of Margaret and the young prince,
+attended by Breze and his squire, and also by the man of the cave, who
+was acquainted with the country, and acted as guide. They reached
+Carlisle in safety, and there embarked on board a vessel, which took
+them down the Firth and landed them in Kirkcudbright.
+
+         [Footnote 17: See the map at the commencement of this
+         chapter.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her anxiety.]
+
+Though now out of England, Margaret did not feel much more at ease
+than before, for during her absence in France a treaty had been made
+between King Edward and the Scottish king which would prevent the
+latter from openly harboring her in his dominions; so she was obliged
+to keep closely concealed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+YEARS OF EXILE.
+
+
+[Sidenote: They are discovered.]
+
+[Sidenote: An abduction.]
+
+Margaret had not been long in Kirkcudbright before she was
+accidentally seen by a man who knew her. This man was an Englishman.
+His name was Cork. He was of the Yorkist party. He said nothing when
+he saw the queen, but he immediately formed the resolution to seize
+her and all her party, and to convey them to England and give them up
+to King Edward. He contrived some way to carry this plot into
+execution. He seized de Breze and his squire, and also the queen and
+the prince, and carried them on board a boat in the night, having
+first bound and gagged them, to disable them from making resistance or
+uttering any cries. It seems that De Breze was not with the queen when
+he was taken, and as it was dark when they were put on board the boat,
+and neither could speak, neither party knew that the others were there
+until the morning, when they were far away from the shore, out in the
+wide part of the Solway Bay.
+
+[Sidenote: De Breze's exploit.]
+
+In the night, however, De Breze, who was a man of address and of
+great personal strength, as well as of undaunted bravery, contrived to
+get free from his bonds, and also to free his squire, without letting
+the boatmen know what he had done. Then, in the morning, watching for
+a good opportunity, they together rose upon the boatmen, seized the
+oars, and, after a violent struggle, in which they came very near
+upsetting the boat, they finally succeeded in killing some of the men,
+and in throwing the others overboard. They immediately liberated
+Margaret and the prince, and then attempted to make for the shore.
+
+[Sidenote: Tossed about in Solway Firth.]
+
+After having been tossed about for some time in the Gulf or Firth of
+Solway, the boat was carried by the wind away up through the North
+Channel more than sixty miles, and finally was thrown upon a sand-bank
+near the coast of Cantyre, a famous promontory extending into the sea
+in this part of Scotland. The boat struck at some distance from the
+dry land, and the sea rolled in so heavily upon it that there was
+danger of its being broken to pieces; so De Breze took the queen upon
+his shoulders, and, wading through the water, conveyed her to the
+shore. Barville, the squire, carried the prince in the same way. And
+so they were once more safe on land.
+
+[Sidenote: They land in Scotland.]
+
+They found the coast wild and barren, and the country desolate; but
+this was attended with one advantage at least, and that was that the
+queen was in little danger of being recognized; for, as one of
+Margaret's historians expresses it, the peasants were so ignorant that
+they could not conceive of any one's being a queen unless she had a
+crown upon her head and a sceptre in her hand.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival at the hamlet.]
+
+They all went up a little way into the country, and at length found a
+small hamlet, where Margaret concluded to remain with the prince until
+De Breze could go to Edinburgh and learn what the condition of the
+country was, and so enable her to consider what course to pursue.
+
+The report which De Breze brought back on his return was very
+discouraging. Margaret, however, on hearing it, determined to go to
+Edinburgh herself, to see what she could do. She found, on her arrival
+there, that the government were not willing to do any thing more for
+her. They would furnish her with the means, they said, if she wished,
+of going back to England in a quiet way, with a view of seeking refuge
+among some of her friends there, but that was all that they could do.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret reaches Bamborough.]
+
+So Margaret went back to England, and remained for some little time in
+the great castle of Bamborough, which was still in the hands of her
+friends. She tried here to contrive some way of reassembling her
+scattered adherents and making a new rally, but she found that that
+object could not be accomplished. Thus all the resources which could
+be furnished by France, Scotland, or England for her failing cause
+seemed to be exhausted, and, after turning her eyes in every direction
+for help, she concluded to cross the German Ocean into Flanders, to
+see if she could find any sympathy or succor there.
+
+[Sidenote: She sails for Flanders.]
+
+[Sidenote: A storm.]
+
+Compared with the number of attendants that were with her in her
+flight into Scotland, the retinue of friends and followers by which
+she was accompanied in this retreat to the Continent was quite large,
+though it is probable that most of this company went with her quite as
+much on their own account as on the queen's. The whole party numbered
+about two hundred. They embarked from Bamborough on board two ships,
+but very soon after they had left the land a storm arose, and the two
+ships were separated from each other, and for twelve hours the one
+which Margaret and the prince had taken was in imminent danger of
+being overwhelmed. The wind rose to a perfect hurricane, and no one
+expected that they could possibly escape.
+
+[Sidenote: The Duke of Burgundy.]
+
+At length, however, the gale subsided so as to allow the ship to make
+a port; not the port of their destination, however, but one far to the
+southward of it, in a territory belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy,
+between whom and Margaret there had been, during all Margaret's life,
+a hereditary and implacable enmity. Margaret was greatly alarmed at
+finding herself thus at the mercy of a person whom she considered as
+one of her deadliest foes.
+
+[Sidenote: Generosity of the duke.]
+
+But, very much to her surprise, the duke, as soon as he heard of her
+arrival in the country, took pity on her misfortunes, forgot all his
+former enmity, and treated her in the most generous manner. He was not
+at Lille, his capital, when she arrived, but he sent his son to
+receive her, and to conduct her to the capital, with every possible
+mark of respect. When she went on afterward to meet the duke, he sent
+a guard of honor to escort her, and when she arrived at his court,
+which was at that time at a place called St. Pol, he received her in a
+very distinguished manner, and prepared great entertainments and
+festivities to do her honor.
+
+He rendered her, also, still more substantial services than these, by
+furnishing her with an ample supply of funds for all her immediate
+wants. He gave to each of the ladies in her train a hundred crowns,
+to Breze a thousand, and to Margaret herself an order on his treasurer
+for ten thousand.
+
+[Sidenote: Rene's gratitude.]
+
+King Rene, Margaret's father, was very much touched with this
+generosity and kindness on the part of his old family enemy. He
+himself, at that time, was wholly destitute, and unable to do any
+thing for his daughter's relief. He, however, wrote a letter of warm
+thanks to Philip, in which he declared that he had not merited and did
+not expect such kindness at his hands.
+
+[Sidenote: A rare example.]
+
+We have, in the conduct of the Duke of Burgundy on this occasion, one
+single and solitary example, among all the Christian knights, and
+nobles, and princes that figure in this long and melancholy story of
+contention, cruelty, and crime, in which the Savior's rule, Forgive
+your enemies, do good to them that hate you, was cordially obeyed; and
+what happy fruits immediately resulted to all concerned! How much of
+all the vast amount of bloodshed and suffering which prevailed during
+these gloomy times would have been prevented, if those who professed
+to be followers of Christ had been really what they pretended.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret goes to Lorraine.]
+
+With the money which Margaret obtained from the Duke of Burgundy she
+was enabled to continue her journey in some tolerable degree of
+comfort to the old home of her childhood in Lorraine. All that her
+father could do for her was to furnish her a humble place of refuge in
+a castle at Verdun, on the River Moselle, which flows through the
+province. She went there, attended with a small number of followers,
+and here she remained, in utter seclusion from the world, and almost
+forgotten, for seven long years.
+
+[Sidenote: The prince.]
+
+[Sidenote: Bad news from the king.]
+
+[Sidenote: His life spared.]
+
+During all this time she enjoyed the comfort and satisfaction of
+having her son, the prince, with her, and of watching his progress to
+manhood under her own personal charge and that of one or two
+accomplished men who still adhered to her, and who aided her in the
+education of her boy. She was, however, hopelessly separated from her
+husband. For a long time she did not know what had become of him.
+During this time he was leading a very precarious and wandering life
+in England, going from one hiding-place to another, wherever his
+friends could most conveniently secrete him. At length, however, the
+heavy tidings came to the queen, in her retreat at Verdun, that her
+husband had been betrayed in one of his retreats, and had been seized
+and carried to London as a prisoner in a very ignominious manner. It
+was to have been expected that he would be immediately put to death;
+but, as a matter of policy, the York party thought it not best to
+proceed to that extremity, especially as all his kingly right would
+have immediately descended to his son, in whose hands, with such a
+mother to aid him, they would have become more formidable than ever.
+Thus, on many accounts, it was better for his enemies to allow the old
+king to live.
+
+[Sidenote: Cruelties.]
+
+[Sidenote: Men tortured.]
+
+But very special precautions were taken by King Edward's government to
+prevent Margaret and the young prince from coming into England again.
+A coast guard was set all along the shore, and every one in England
+who was suspected of being in communication with the exiled queen was
+watched and guarded in the closest manner possible. Some were tortured
+and put to death in the attempt to force them to give up letters or
+papers supposed to be in their possession. A certain wealthy merchant
+of London was accused of treason, and very severely punished, simply
+because he had been asked to loan money to Margaret, and, though he
+refused to make the loan, did not inform the authorities of the
+application which had been made to him.
+
+[Sidenote: Great fidelity.]
+
+Among other examples of the shocking cruelty of which those in power
+were guilty, in their hatred of Margaret and her cause, it is said
+that one man, who was found out, as they thought, in an attempt to
+convey letters to and fro between Margaret and some of her friends in
+England, was torn to pieces with red-hot pincers in a fruitless
+attempt to make him confess who the persons were in England for whom
+the letters were intended. But he bore the torture to the end, and
+died without betraying the secret.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE RECONCILIATION WITH WARWICK.
+
+
+[Sidenote: 1469.]
+
+[Sidenote: Great news.]
+
+[Sidenote: Revolt of Warwick.]
+
+In the fall of 1469, Margaret's mind was aroused to new life and
+excitement by news which came from England that great opposition had
+gradually grown up in the realm against the government of Edward, that
+many of his best friends had forsaken him, and that the friends and
+partisans of the Lancaster line were increasing in strength and
+courage to such a degree as to make it probable that the time was
+drawing nigh when Henry might be restored to the throne. The most
+important circumstance connected with the change which had taken place
+was that the great Earl of Warwick, who had been the most efficient
+and powerful supporter of the house of York, and the most determined
+enemy of Margaret and Henry during the whole war, had now abandoned
+Edward, and had come to France, and was ready to throw all the weight
+of his power and influence on the other side.[18]
+
+         [Footnote 18: The nature of the difficulties which had taken
+         place in England, and the circumstances which led the Earl of
+         Warwick to abandon Edward's cause, are explained fully in the
+         history of Richard III.]
+
+[Sidenote: Excitement.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret sent for.]
+
+Of course, these tidings produced a great excitement all over France.
+King Louis XI. was specially interested in them, as they afforded a
+hope that Margaret might regain her throne, and so be able to redeem
+her mortgage, or else deliver up to him the security; so he called a
+council at Tours to consider what was best to be done, and he sent for
+Margaret at Verdun to come with the prince and attend it. He also sent
+for Rene, her father, and other influential family friends. It is said
+that when Margaret arrived and met her father, she was so much
+agitated by the news, and by the hopes which it awakened in her bosom,
+that, in embracing him, she burst into tears from the excess of her
+excitement and joy.
+
+[Sidenote: Reconciliation with Warwick proposed.]
+
+But she could not endure the idea of a reconciliation with Warwick. At
+first she positively refused to see or to speak to him. When, however,
+at length he arrived at Tours, the king introduced him into Margaret's
+presence, but for a long time she refused to have any thing to do with
+him.
+
+"She could never forgive him," she said. "He had been the chief author
+of the downfall of her husband, and of all the sorrows and calamities
+which had since befallen her and her son.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's objections.]
+
+"Besides," she said, "even if she were willing to forgive him for the
+intolerable wrongs which he had inflicted upon her, it would be very
+prejudicial to her husband's cause to enter into any agreement or
+alliance with him whatever; for all her party and friends in England,
+whom Warwick had done so much to injure, and who had so long looked
+upon him as their worst and deadliest foe, would be wholly alienated
+from her if they were to know that she had taken him into favor, and
+thus she would lose much more than she would gain."
+
+[Sidenote: Warwick's arguments.]
+
+[Sidenote: His promises.]
+
+Warwick replied to this as well as he could, pleading the injuries
+which he had himself received from the Lancaster party as an excuse
+for his hostility against them. Then, moreover, he had been the means
+of unsettling King Edward in his realm, and of preparing the way for
+King Henry to return; and he promised that, if Margaret would receive
+him into her service, he would thenceforth be true and faithful to her
+as long as he lived, and be as much King Edward's foe as he had
+hitherto been his friend. He appealed, moreover, to the King of France
+to be his surety that he would faithfully perform these stipulations.
+
+[Sidenote: King Louis intercedes.]
+
+The King of France said that he would be his surety, and he begged
+that Margaret would pardon Warwick, and receive him into favor for
+_his_ sake, and for the great love that he, the king, bore to him. He
+would do more for him, he added, than for any man living.
+
+Margaret at last allowed herself to be persuaded, and Warwick was
+forgiven.
+
+[Sidenote: A new proposal.]
+
+There were several other great nobles, who had come over with Warwick,
+that were received into Margaret's favor at the same time, and, when
+the grand reconciliation was completely effected, the whole party set
+out together to go down the Loire to Angers, where the Countess of
+Warwick, the earl's wife, and his youngest daughter, Anne, were
+awaiting them. The countess and Anne were presented to the queen, and
+a short time afterward Louis ventured to propose a marriage between
+Anne and Prince Edward.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's indignation.]
+
+Margaret received this proposal with astonishment, and rejected it
+with scorn. She said she could see neither honor nor profit in it,
+either for herself or for her son. But at length, after a fortnight
+had been spent in reasoning with her on the advantages of the
+connection, and the aid which she would derive from such an alliance
+with Warwick in endeavoring to recover her husband's kingdom, she
+finally yielded. She was influenced at last, in coming to this
+decision, by the advice of her father, who counseled her to consent to
+the match.
+
+[Sidenote: The match finally agreed upon.]
+
+The parties united in a grand religious ceremony in the cathedral
+church of Angers to seal and ratify the covenants and agreements by
+which they were now to be bound.
+
+[Sidenote: The true cross.]
+
+There was a fragment of the true cross, so supposed, among the relics
+in the cathedral, and this was an object of such veneration that an
+oath taken upon it was considered as imposing an obligation of the
+highest sanctity. Each of the three great parties took an oath, in
+turn, upon this holy emblem.
+
+[Sidenote: Oaths taken.]
+
+First, the Earl of Warwick swore that he would, without change, always
+hold to the party of King Henry, and serve him, the queen, and the
+prince, as a true and faithful subject ought to serve his sovereign
+lord.
+
+Next, the King of France swore that he would help and sustain, to the
+utmost of his power, the Earl of Warwick in the quarrel of King Henry.
+
+And, finally, Queen Margaret swore to treat the earl as true and
+faithful to King Henry and the prince, and "for his deeds past never
+to make him any reproach."
+
+[Sidenote: 1470.]
+
+[Sidenote: The betrothal.]
+
+[Sidenote: Conditions.]
+
+It was furthermore agreed at this time that Anne, the Earl of
+Warwick's daughter, who was betrothed to the prince, should be
+delivered to Queen Margaret, and should remain under her charge until
+the marriage should be consummated. But this was not to take place
+until the Earl of Warwick had been into England and had recovered the
+realm, or the greater portion of it at least, and restored it to King
+Henry. Thus the consummation of the marriage was to depend upon
+Warwick's success in restoring Henry his crown.
+
+[Sidenote: Ceremony.]
+
+Still, a sort of marriage ceremony, or, more strictly, a ceremony of
+betrothal, was celebrated at Angers between the prince and his
+affianced bride a few days afterward, with great parade, and then
+Warwick, leaving his countess and his daughter behind with Margaret,
+set out for England with a troop of two thousand men which Louis had
+furnished him.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret sets out for Paris.]
+
+[Sidenote: Reception in Paris.]
+
+After Warwick had gone, Margaret remained at Angers for some weeks,
+and then set out for Paris, escorted by a guard of honor. Her party
+arrived at the capital in November, and Margaret, by Louis's orders,
+was received with all the ceremonies and marks of distinction due to a
+queen. The streets through which she passed were hung with tapestry,
+and ornamented with flags and banners, and with every other suitable
+decoration. The people came out in throngs to see the grand procession
+pass; for, in addition to the guard of honor which had conducted the
+party to the capital, all the great public functionaries and high
+officials joined in the procession at the gates, and accompanied it
+through the city, thus forming a grand and imposing spectacle.
+
+[Sidenote: Good news received.]
+
+Queen Margaret and her party were in this way conducted to the palace,
+and lodged there in great splendor. Their hearts were gladdened, too,
+on their arrival, by receiving the news that Warwick had landed in
+England, and had been completely successful in his undertaking. King
+Edward was deposed, and King Henry had been released from his
+imprisonment in the Tower and placed upon the throne.
+
+Margaret, of course, at once determined that she would immediately
+make preparations for returning to England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Preparations for going to England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Harfleur.]
+
+The preparations which were required for Margaret and her company to
+return to England in suitable state seem to have consumed several
+months; for, although it was as early as November that the great
+entrance into Paris took place, and the news of Henry's restoration
+was received, it was not until February that the royal party were
+ready to embark. There were negotiations to be made, and men to be
+enlisted, and ships to be procured, and funds to be provided, and
+appointments to be decided upon, and dresses to be made, and a
+thousand questions of precedence and etiquette to be considered and
+arranged. At length, however, all was ready, and the whole company
+proceeded together to the port which had been selected as the place of
+embarkation. This port was Harfleur. Harfleur is situated on the coast
+of Normandy, near the more modern port of Havre.
+
+[Sidenote: Wind contrary.]
+
+[Sidenote: Supposed witchcraft.]
+
+When the time arrived for sailing, the weather looked very
+unfavorable; but Margaret, who had become weary with the delays by
+which her return had been so long postponed, and was very impatient to
+arrive in her own dominions again, ordered the ships to put to sea.
+Three times did they make the attempt, and three times were the ships
+driven back into port again. Many of her friends were greatly
+discouraged by these failures. Some said they thought that this
+continued resistance of the elements to her plans ought to be regarded
+as an indication of divine Providence that she was not to go to
+England at present, and they begged her to defer the attempt. Others
+thought that the contrary winds were raised by witches, and they began
+to devise measures for finding out who the witches were.
+
+[Sidenote: Large company.]
+
+[Sidenote: Army to be embarked.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's fears.]
+
+Margaret paid no attention to either of these suggestions, but
+persisted in her determination to sail the moment that the weather
+should allow. This delay was a source of great inconvenience to her,
+and it occasioned a good deal of expense; for, besides her own
+personal officers and attendants, Margaret had collected quite a large
+body of soldiers to cross the Channel with her, in order to re-enforce
+the armies of Warwick and of Henry. This was quite necessary; for,
+although Henry had been nominally restored to the throne, his enemies
+were yet in the field in considerable force, and Margaret was very
+desirous of bringing with her the means of helping to put them down.
+Indeed, she knew that the situation of her husband was extremely
+precarious, and that the fortune of war might at any time turn against
+him. And this consideration made her extremely impatient at the delay
+occasioned by the weather at Harfleur. She did not know but that the
+king might even then be engaged in close conflict with his foes, and
+likely to be overwhelmed by them, and that her force, by being so long
+delayed, would arrive too late to save him.
+
+Alas for poor Margaret! It was, indeed, exactly so.
+
+[Sidenote: Countess of Warwick.]
+
+It was not until the 24th of March that it was possible to leave the
+port; but then, although the weather was by no means settled, the
+queen determined to wait no longer. The Countess of Warwick, who had
+been left in France when the earl her husband went to England, sailed
+from Harfleur at the same time with the queen, though in a different
+vessel. Her daughter, however, the prince regent's bride elect, went
+with the queen.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival in England.]
+
+The weather continued very boisterous after the fleet sailed, and as
+the gales which blew so heavily were from the north, the ships could
+make very little progress. They were kept beating about in the
+Channel, or lying at anchor waiting for a change of wind, for more
+than a fortnight. During all this time Margaret was kept in a perfect
+fever of impatience and anxiety.
+
+At length, about the 10th of April, they reached the land at Weymouth.
+
+[Sidenote: The landing.]
+
+After the ships entered the port, the space of a day or two was
+occupied in making preparations to land. Among these preparations was
+included the work of arranging apartments at an abbey in the vicinity
+of Weymouth to receive the queen and her attendants. In the mean time,
+the landing of the troops was pushed forward as rapidly as possible.
+
+The ship in which the Countess of Warwick embarked had sailed in a
+different direction from Margaret's fleet, and it was not known yet
+what had become of her.
+
+[Sidenote: News of a battle.]
+
+When at last the preparations were completed, the queen and her party
+went on shore and took up their abode in the abbey. Margaret's mind
+was intensely occupied with the arrangements necessary for marshaling
+her troops and getting them ready to march to the assistance of
+Warwick, when, to her amazement and consternation, she received news,
+on the very next day after she took up her abode in the abbey, that
+the party of King Edward had mustered in great force and advanced
+toward London, and that a battle had been fought at a place called
+Barnet, a few miles from London, in which Edward's party had been
+completely victorious.
+
+[Sidenote: Warwick killed.]
+
+The Earl of Warwick had been killed. King Henry her husband had been
+taken prisoner, and their cause seemed to be wholly lost.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Warwick.]
+
+[Sidenote: 1471.]
+
+[Sidenote: Manner of Warwick's death.]
+
+Warwick had gone into the battle on foot, in order the more
+effectually to stimulate the emulation of his men, so that when, in
+the end, his forces were defeated, and fled, he himself, being
+encumbered by his armor, could not save himself, but was overtaken by
+his remorseless enemies and slain.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's despair.]
+
+[Sidenote: Imminent danger.]
+
+The terrible agitation and anguish that this news excited in the mind
+of the queen it would be impossible to describe. She fell at first
+into a swoon, and when at length her senses returned, she was so
+completely overwhelmed with disappointment, vexation, and rage, and
+talked so wildly and incoherently, that her friends almost feared that
+she would lose her reason. Her son, the young prince, who was now
+nearly nineteen years of age, did all in his power to soothe and calm
+her, and at length so far succeeded as to induce her to consider what
+was to be done to secure her own and his safety. To remain where they
+were was to expose themselves to be attacked at any time by a body of
+Edward's victorious troops and conveyed prisoner to the Tower.
+
+[Sidenote: She seeks security.]
+
+[Sidenote: The Countess of Warwick.]
+
+There was another abbey at not a great distance from where Margaret
+now was, which was endowed with certain privileges as a sanctuary,
+such that persons seeking refuge there under certain circumstances
+could not be taken away. The name of this retreat was Beaulieu Abbey.
+Margaret immediately proceeded across the country to this place,
+taking with her the prince and nearly all the others of her party.
+Either on her arrival here, or on the way, she met the Countess of
+Warwick, who, it will be recollected, had left Harfleur at the same
+time that she did. The countess's ship had been driven farther to the
+eastward, and she had finally landed at Portsmouth. Here she too had
+learned the news of the battle of Barnet and of the death of her
+husband, and, being completely overwhelmed with the tidings, and also
+alarmed for her own safety, she had determined to fly for refuge to
+Beaulieu Abbey too.
+
+[Sidenote: Great reverse of fortune.]
+
+The two unhappy ladies, who had parted, three weeks before, on the
+coast of France with such high and excellent expectations, now met,
+both plunged in the deepest and most over whelming sorrow. Their hopes
+were blasted, all their bright prospects were destroyed, and they
+found themselves in the condition of helpless and wretched fugitives,
+dependent upon a religious sanctuary for the hope of even saving their
+lives.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+CHILDLESS, AND A WIDOW.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret found by friends.]
+
+Margaret did not trust entirely for her safety to the sacredness of
+the sanctuary where she had sought refuge. She endeavored, by all the
+means in her power, to keep the place of her retreat secret from all
+but her chosen and most trustworthy friends. Very soon, however, she
+was visited by some of these, especially by some young nobles, who
+came to her exasperated, and all on fire with rage and resentment, on
+account of the death of their friends and relatives, who had been
+slain in the battle.
+
+[Sidenote: Her sad condition.]
+
+They found Margaret, however, in a state of mind very different from
+their own. She was beginning to be discouraged. The long-continued and
+bitter experience of failure and disappointment, which had now, for so
+many years, been her constant lot, seemed at last to have had power to
+undermine and destroy even _her_ resolution and energy. Her friends,
+when they came to see her, found her plunged in a sort of stupor of
+wretchedness and despair from which they found it difficult to rouse
+her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her friends encourage her.]
+
+[Sidenote: Little success.]
+
+And when, at length, they succeeded in so far awakening her from her
+despondency as to induce her to take some interest in their
+consultations, her only feeling for the time being seemed to be
+anxiety for the safety of her son. She begged and implored them to
+take some measures to protect _him_. They endeavored to convince her
+that her situation was not so desperate as she imagined. They had
+still a powerful force, they said, on their side. That force was now
+rallying and reassembling, and, with her presence and that of the
+young prince at their head-quarters, the numbers and enthusiasm of
+their troops would be very rapidly increased, and there was great hope
+that they might soon be able again to meet the enemy under more
+favorable auspices than ever.
+
+[Sidenote: Her wishes.]
+
+But the queen seemed very unwilling to accede to their views. It was
+of no use, she said, to make any farther effort. They were not strong
+enough to meet their enemies in battle, and nothing but fresh
+disasters would result from making the attempt. There was nothing to
+be done but for herself and the young prince, with as many others as
+were disposed to share her fortunes, to return as soon as possible to
+France, and there to remain and wait for better times.
+
+[Sidenote: The young prince.]
+
+But the young prince was not willing to adopt this plan. He was young,
+and full of confidence and hope, and he joined the nobles in urging
+his mother to consent to take the field. His influence prevailed; and
+Margaret, though with great reluctance and many forebodings, finally
+yielded.
+
+[Sidenote: An army collected.]
+
+So she left the sanctuary, and, with the prince, was escorted secretly
+to the northward, in order to join the army there. The western
+counties of England, those lying on the borders of Wales, had long
+been very favorable to Henry's cause, and when the people learned that
+the queen and the young prince were there, they came out in great
+numbers, as the nobles had predicted, to join her standard. In a short
+time a large army was ready to take the field.
+
+[Sidenote: To Bath.]
+
+Margaret was at this time at Bath. She soon heard that King Edward was
+coming against her from London with a large army. Her own forces, she
+thought, were not yet strong enough to meet him; so she formed the
+plan of crossing the Severn into Wales, and waiting there until she
+should have a larger force concentrated.
+
+[Sidenote: To Bristol.]
+
+[Sidenote: Endeavors to cross the river.]
+
+Accordingly, from Bath she went down to Bristol, which, as will be
+seen from the map, is on the banks of the Severn, at a place where the
+river is very wide. She could not cross here, the lowest bridge on the
+river being at Gloucester, thirty or forty miles farther up; so she
+moved up to Gloucester, intending to cross there. But she found the
+bridge fortified, and in the possession of an officer under the orders
+of the Duke of Gloucester, who was a partisan of King Edward, and he
+refused to allow the queen to pass without an order from his master.
+
+[Sidenote: Arrival of Edward.]
+
+It seemed not expedient to attempt to force the bridge, and,
+accordingly, Margaret and her party went on up the river in order to
+find some other place to cross into Wales. She was very much excited
+on this journey, and suffered great anxiety, for the army of King
+Edward was advancing rapidly, and there was danger that she would be
+intercepted and her retreat cut off; so she pressed forward with the
+utmost diligence, and at length, after having marched thirty-seven
+miles in one day with her troops, she arrived at Tewkesbury, a town
+situated about midway between Gloucester and Worcester. When she
+arrived there, she found that Edward had arrived already within a mile
+of the place, at the head of a great army, and was ready for battle.
+
+[Sidenote: They make a stand.]
+
+There was, however, now an opportunity for Margaret to cross the river
+and retire for a time into Wales, and she was herself extremely
+desirous of doing so, but the young nobles who were with her, and
+especially the Duke of Somerset, a violent and hot-headed young man,
+who acted as the leader of them, would not consent. He declared that
+he would retreat no farther.
+
+"We will make a stand here," said he, "and take such fortune as God
+may send us."
+
+So he pitched his camp in the park which lay upon the confines of the
+town, and threw up intrenchments. Many of the other leaders were
+strongly opposed to his plan of making a stand in this place, but
+Somerset was the chief in command, and he would have his way.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Tewkesbury.]
+
+[Sidenote: Preparations for the fight.]
+
+He, however, showed no disposition to shelter himself personally from
+any portion of the danger to which his friends and followers were to
+be exposed. He took command of the advanced guard. The young prince,
+supported by some other leaders of age and experience, was also to be
+placed in a responsible and important position. When all was ready,
+Margaret and the prince rode along the ranks, speaking words of
+encouragement to the troops, and promising large rewards to them in
+case they gained the victory.
+
+[Illustration: Tewkesbury.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's maternal anxiety.]
+
+Margaret's heart was full of anxiety and agitation as the hour for the
+commencement of hostilities drew nigh. She had often before staked
+very dear and highly-valued friends in the field of battle, but now,
+for the first time, she was putting to hazard the life of her dearly
+beloved and only son. It was very much against her will that she was
+brought to incur this terrible danger. It was only the sternest
+necessity that compelled her to do it.
+
+[Sidenote: She witnesses the fight.]
+
+When the battle began, Margaret withdrew to an elevation within the
+park, from which she could witness the progress of the fight. For some
+time her army remained on the defensive within their intrenchments,
+but at length Somerset, becoming impatient and impetuous, determined
+on making a sally and attacking the assailants in the open field.
+
+[Sidenote: Somerset.]
+
+So, ordering the others to follow him, he issued forth from the lines.
+Some obeyed him, and others did not. After a while he returned within
+the lines again, apparently for the purpose of calling those who
+remained there to account for not obeying him. He found Lord Wenlock,
+one of the leaders, sitting upon his horse idle, as he said, in the
+town. He immediately denounced him as a traitor, and, riding up to
+him, cut him down with a blow from his battle-axe, which cleft his
+skull.
+
+[Sidenote: Panic and flight.]
+
+The men who were under Lord Wenlock's banner, seeing their leader thus
+mercilessly slain, immediately began to fly. Their flight caused a
+panic, which rapidly spread among all the other troops, and the whole
+field was soon in utter confusion.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret's terror.]
+
+[Sidenote: She swoons.]
+
+When Margaret saw this, and thought of the prince, exposed, as he was,
+to the most imminent danger in the defeat, she became almost frantic
+with excitement and terror. She insisted on rushing into the field to
+find and save her son. Those around found it almost impossible to
+restrain her. At length, in the struggle, her excitement and terror
+entirely overpowered her. She swooned away, and her attendants then
+bore her senseless to a carriage, and she was driven rapidly away out
+through one of the park gates, and thence by a by-road to a religious
+house near by, where it was thought she would be for the moment
+secure.
+
+[Sidenote: Capture of the prince.]
+
+The poor prince was taken prisoner. He was conveyed, after the battle,
+to Edward's tent. The historians of the day relate the following story
+of the sad termination of his career.
+
+[Illustration: The Murder of Prince Henry.]
+
+When Edward, accompanied by his officers and the nobles in attendance
+upon him, covered with the blood and the dust of the conflict, and
+fierce and exultant under the excitement of slaughter and victory,
+came into the tent, and saw the handsome young prince standing there
+in the hands of his captors, he was at first struck with the elegance
+of his appearance and his frank and manly bearing. He, however,
+accosted him fiercely by demanding what brought him to England. The
+prince replied fearlessly that he came to recover his father's crown
+and his own inheritance. Upon this, Edward threw his glove, a heavy
+iron gauntlet, in his face.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of the Prince of Wales.]
+
+The men standing by took this as an indication of Edward's feelings
+and wishes in respect to his prisoner, and they fell upon him at once
+with their swords and murdered him upon the spot.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret receives the tidings.]
+
+Margaret did not know what had become of her son until the following
+day. By that time King Edward had discovered the place of her retreat,
+and he sent a certain Sir William Stanley, who had always been one of
+her most inveterate enemies, to take her prisoner and bring her to
+him. It was this Stanley who, when he came, brought her the news of
+her son's death. He communicated the news to her, it was said, in an
+exultant manner, as if he was not only glad of the prince's death, but
+as if he rejoiced in having the opportunity of witnessing the despair
+and grief with which the mother was overwhelmed in hearing the
+tidings.
+
+[Sidenote: She is borne to London.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her condition on the journey.]
+
+Stanley conveyed the queen to Coventry, where King Edward then was,
+and placed her at his disposal. Edward was then going to London in a
+sort of triumphant march in honor of his victory, and he ordered that
+Stanley should take Margaret with him in his train. Anne of Warwick,
+her son's young bride, was taken to London too, at the same time and
+in the same way.
+
+During the whole of the journey Margaret was in a continued state of
+the highest excitement, being almost wild with grief and rage. She
+uttered continual maledictions against Edward for having murdered her
+boy, and nothing could soothe or quiet her.
+
+[Sidenote: Her last hope.]
+
+[Sidenote: Murder of the king.]
+
+It might be supposed that there would have been one source of comfort
+open to her during this dreadful journey in the thought that, in going
+to the Tower, which was now undoubtedly to be her destination, she
+should rejoin her husband, who had been for some time imprisoned
+there. But the hope of being thus once more united to almost the last
+object of affection that now remained to her upon earth, if Margaret
+really cherished it, was doomed to a bitter disappointment. The death
+of the young prince made it now an object of great importance to the
+reigning line that Henry himself should be put out of the way, and, on
+the very night of Margaret's arrival at the Tower, her husband was
+assassinated in the room which had so long been his prison.
+
+[Sidenote: Terrible reverse of fortune.]
+
+Thus all Queen Margaret's bright hopes of happiness were, in two short
+months, completely and forever destroyed. At the close of the month of
+March she was the proud and happy queen of a monarch ruling over one
+of the most wealthy and powerful kingdoms on the globe, and the mother
+of a prince who was endowed with every personal grace and noble
+accomplishment, affianced to a high-born, beautiful, and immensely
+wealthy bride, and just entering what promised to be a long and
+glorious career. In May, just two months later, she was childless and
+a widow. Both her husband and her son were lying in bloody graves, and
+she herself, fallen from her throne, was shut up, a helpless captive,
+in a gloomy dungeon, with no prospect of deliverance before her to the
+end of her days. The annals even of royalty, filled as they are with
+examples of overwhelming calamity, can perhaps furnish no other
+instance of so total and terrible reverse of fortune as this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The body of King Henry.]
+
+On the day following the assassination of Henry, the body was taken
+from the Tower and conveyed through the streets of London, with a
+strong escort of armed men to guard it, to the Church of St. Paul's,
+there to be publicly exhibited, as was customary on such occasions.
+Such an exhibition was more necessary than usual in this case, as the
+fact of Henry's death might, perhaps, have afterward been called in
+question, and designing men might have continued to agitate the
+country in his name, if there had not been the most positive proof
+furnished to the public that he was no more.
+
+[Illustration: View of Chertsey.]
+
+[Sidenote: Borne away on the river to Chertsey.]
+
+The body remained lying thus during the day. When night came, it was
+taken away and carried down to Blackfriar's--a landing upon the river
+nearly opposite Saint Paul's. Here there was a boat lying ready to
+receive the hearse. It was lighted with torches, and the watermen were
+at their oars. The hearse was put on board, and the body was thus
+borne away, over the dark waters of the river, to the lonely
+village of Chertsey, where it had been decided that he should be
+interred.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret in confinement.]
+
+[Sidenote: Wallingford.]
+
+For some time after Henry's death Margaret was kept in close
+confinement in the Tower. At length, finding that every thing was
+quiet, and that the new government was becoming firmly established,
+the rigor of the unhappy captive's imprisonment was relaxed. She was
+removed first to Windsor, and afterward to Wallingford, a place in the
+interior of the country, where she enjoyed a considerable degree of
+personal freedom, though she was still very closely watched and
+guarded.
+
+[Sidenote: She is ransomed.]
+
+At length, about four years afterward, her father, King Rene,
+succeeded in obtaining her ransom for the sum of fifty thousand
+crowns. Rene was not the possessor of so much money himself, but he
+induced King Louis to pay it, on condition of his conveying to him his
+family domain.
+
+The ransom was to be paid in five annual installments, but on the
+payment of the first installment the queen was to be released and
+allowed to return to her native land. It was stipulated, too, that, as
+a condition of her release, she was formally and forever to renounce
+all the rights of every kind within the realm of England to which she
+might have laid claim through her marriage with Henry. It might have
+been supposed that they would have required her to sign this
+renunciation before releasing her. But it was held by the law of
+England, then as now, that a signature made under durance was invalid,
+the signer not being free. So it was arranged that an English
+commissioner was to accompany her across the Channel, and go with her
+to Rouen, where he was to deliver her to the French embassadors, who,
+in the name of Louis, were to be responsible for her signing the
+document.
+
+[Sidenote: 1476.]
+
+[Sidenote: The commissioner.]
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret crosses the Channel.]
+
+This plan was carried into effect. Margaret set out from the castle of
+Wallingford under the care of a man on whom Edward's government could
+rely for keeping a close watch over her, and taking care that she went
+on quietly through England to the port of embarkation. This port was
+Sandwich. Here she embarked on board a vessel, with a retinue of three
+ladies and seven gentlemen, and bade a final farewell to the kingdom
+which she had entered on her bridal tour with such high and exultant
+expectations of grandeur and happiness.
+
+[Sidenote: At Rouen.]
+
+She arrived at Dieppe in the beginning of 1476, and proceeded
+immediately to Rouen, where the commissioner, who came to attend her,
+delivered her to the French embassadors appointed to receive her, and
+attend to the signing of the renunciation.
+
+[Sidenote: Her renunciation.]
+
+The document was written in Latin, but the import of it was as
+follows:
+
+     I, Margaret, formerly in England married, renounce all that I
+     could pretend to in England, by the conditions of my marriage,
+     with all other things there, to Edward, now King of England.
+
+[Sidenote: Feelings with which she signed it.]
+
+It cost Margaret no effort to sign this paper. With the death of her
+husband and her son all hope had been extinguished in her bosom, and
+life now possessed nothing that she desired. She signed this fatal
+document, renouncing not only all claims to be henceforth considered a
+queen, but all pretension that she had ever been one, with a passive
+indifference and unconcern which showed that her spirit was broken,
+and that the fires of pride and ambition which had burned so fiercely
+in her breast were now, at last, extinguished forever.
+
+[Sidenote: Ungenerousness of Louis.]
+
+When the paper was signed Margaret was dismissed and left at liberty
+to go her own way to her native province of Anjou, where it was her
+intention to spend the remainder of her days. Her plan was to pass by
+the way of Paris, in order to see once more her cousin, King Louis,
+who had treated her with so much consideration and honor when she was
+on her way to England with a fair prospect of finding her husband upon
+the throne. But the case was different now, Louis thought, and instead
+of receiving kindly her intimation that she was intending to visit
+Paris on her way home, he sent her word that she had better not come,
+and advised her instead to make the best of her way to her father in
+Anjou.
+
+[Sidenote: An escort offered.]
+
+He, however, as if to soften this incivility, sent an escort to
+accompany her in her journey home, but Margaret was so stung by her
+cousin's heartless abandonment of her in her distress that she
+resolved to accept no favor at his hands; so she refused the escort,
+and set out with her few personal companions alone.
+
+[Sidenote: Danger.]
+
+[Sidenote: English people in Normandy.]
+
+This little blazing up of the old flames of pride and resentment in
+her heart came near, however, to costing Margaret her life, for she
+had not gone far on her journey before an emergency occurred in which
+an escort would have been of great service to her. It seems that when
+the English were driven out of Normandy, many families and some whole
+villages remained of people who were too poor to return. These
+people were now in a very low and miserable condition. They mourned
+continually the hard necessity by which they had been left without
+friends or protection in a foreign land; and they understood, too,
+that the first beginning of the abandonment of their possessions in
+France by the English was the cession of certain provinces by the
+government of Henry VI. at the time of that monarch's marriage with
+Margaret of Anjou, and that all the subsequent misfortunes of their
+countrymen in France, by which, in the end, the whole country had been
+lost, had their origin in these transactions.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret at the inn.]
+
+[Sidenote: Riot at the inn.]
+
+Now it happened that Margaret, on her journey from Rouen to Anjou,
+stopped the first night at one of these villages. The people, seeing a
+party of strangers come to town, gathered round the inn at night from
+curiosity to learn who they might be. When they were informed that it
+was Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, who had been banished from
+the kingdom, and was now returning home, they were excited to the
+highest pitch of anger against her as the author of all their
+sufferings. They made a rush into the house to seize her, and, if they
+had been successful, they would doubtless have killed her upon the
+spot. But some of the gentlemen who were in her party defended her
+sword in hand, and kept the mob at bay until she gained her apartment.
+They guarded her there until they could send for the authorities, who
+came and dispersed the mob. Margaret immediately returned to Rouen,
+willing enough now to accept of an escort. A proper guard was provided
+for her, and under the protection of it she set out once more on her
+journey, and this time went on in safety.
+
+[Sidenote: Margaret arrives in Anjou.]
+
+[Sidenote: Her father.]
+
+When Margaret at last reached her native country of Anjou, she was
+received very kindly by her father, and went to live with him in a
+castle called the castle of Reculee, situated about a league from
+Angers, the capital of the province.
+
+Here she remained about four years. It was a very pleasant place. The
+castle was situated upon the bank of a river, and yet in a commanding
+situation, which afforded a pretty view of the town. There was a
+beautiful garden attached to the castle, and a gallery of painting and
+sculpture. Her father, King Rene, was a painter himself, and he amused
+himself a great deal in painting pictures to add to his collection or
+to give to his friends.
+
+[Sidenote: Dreadful depression of spirits.]
+
+But Margaret could take no interest in any of these things. Her mind
+was all the time filled with bitter recollections of the past, which,
+even if she did not cling to and cherish them, she could not dispel.
+She dwelt continually upon thoughts of her husband and her child. She
+made ceaseless efforts to obtain possession of their bodies, in order
+that she might have them transported to Anjou, and, as she could not
+succeed in this, she paid annually a considerable sum to secure the
+services of priests to say masses over their graves in England, in
+order to secure the repose of their souls.
+
+[Sidenote: Its effects.]
+
+Indeed, the anguish and agitation which continually reigned in her
+heart preyed upon her like a worm in the centre of a flower. "Her
+eyes, once so brilliant and expressive," says one of her historians,
+"became hollow and dim, and permanently inflamed from continual
+weeping." Indeed, the whole mass of her blood became corrupted, and a
+fearful disease affected her once beautiful skin, making her an object
+of commiseration to all who beheld her.
+
+[Sidenote: Death of her father.]
+
+She continued in this state until her father died. He, on his
+death-bed, committed her to the care of an old and faithful friend,
+who, after King Rene's decease, took her with him to his own castle of
+Damprierre, which was situated about twenty-five miles farther up the
+river.
+
+[Sidenote: The closing scene.]
+
+But, though Margaret was treated very kindly by the friend to whom
+her father thus consigned her, she did not long survive this change.
+She died, and was buried in the cathedral at Angers, and for centuries
+afterward the ecclesiastics of the chapter, once every year, at the
+return of the proper anniversary, performed a solemn ceremony over her
+grave by walking round it with a slow and measured step, singing a
+hymn.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret of Anjou, by Jacob Abbott
+
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