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diff --git a/25275.txt b/25275.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38b1a90 --- /dev/null +++ b/25275.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7627 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARET OF ANJOU *** + +***** This file should be named 25275.txt or 25275.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/2/7/25275/ + +Produced by D. 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