Warwick The Kingmaker

THE RETURN OF KING EDWARD

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

King Edward was ejected in a marvellously quick manner. After arriving at Dartmouth eleven days earlier, Warwick was in charge of all of England. For the banished King, not a single stroke had been delivered. Every man rode the Red Rose or the Ragged Staff with genuine or fake expressions of pleasure from Calais to Berwick. The Earl arrived in London on October 6th, and the city's gates were promptly opened with the customary preparedness. It only postponed giving up because of concern about a rowdy group of Kentishmen that Sir Geoffrey Gate had collected on the Earl's behalf. They had caused so much trouble in Southwark that the residents of London would not let them in and would instead wait for Warwick's arrival before officially recognizing King Henry. Meanwhile, every York partisan had either left the city or sought safety. The first son to be born to King Edward, Queen Elizabeth sought safety in the Westminster precincts, where she shortly gave birth to a boy.

When Warwick arrived at the Tower after riding through the city, he saw King Henry there, "not worshipfully adorned as a prince, and not so neatly preserved as should beseem his rank," in the hands of his keeper. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, along with the entire Common Council, walked before him as the Earl led him out of the fortress—where he had himself led him, a prisoner in bonds, five years earlier—arrested him in royal robes, and brought him in the state to St. Paul's, "While everyone to the right and left shouted "God preserve King Henry!" and clapped their hands in celebration. The King then rode down Cheapside and took up residence in the palace of the Bishop of London after paying thanks for his deliverance at the Cathedral.

Henry's incarceration left him severely shattered and weak. One unfavourable historian writes, "He sat on his throne as limp and useless as a bag of wool." Without his consent or knowledge, things were done in his name. He was only a shadow and pretence." Only his righteousness and his calm, long-suffering patience remained intact in him. However, his frailty just made him more suitable for Warwick's agenda. After being set free on October 6th, he started signing a lengthy list of papers that reorganized the realm's governance on October 9th. It was evident from once that Warwick and his associates, not the Lancastrian peers, would be in command of the King. Warwick was appointed the King's Lieutenant in the initial round of appointments, resuming his previous positions as Captain of Calais and Admiral. Sir John Langstrother, Prior of the Hospitallers, got the Treasury that Warwick had given to him in 1469, and George Neville was reinstated to the Chancellorship. The position of Lieutenant of Ireland, which the Duke of Clarence had held under his brother until his banishment in 1470, was given to him. Oxford was appointed Constable among the Lancastrians, while Pembroke was promoted to joint lieutenant under Warwick. The remainder got their seized lands returned, but they didn't get any formal preferment.

Oxford tried Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, one of the few supporters of King Edward that no one could forgive, as his first act as Constable. Warwick recalled the impaling of his supporters in April of the previous year, and Oxford felt compelled to get revenge on him for the Earl's 1462 punishment of drawing and quartering his father and brother. As may be expected, The Butcher of England received no leniency and was executed by beheading on October 18th.

Warwick was keen to make amends with the country as soon as possible; a few days prior, summonses had been issued in the King's name for a Parliament to convene on November 26th. Everything was done to clarify that the new regulation would promote tolerance and amnesty. Even though they had been fierce Yorkists, all of the remaining lords from Edward's final Parliament were invited to see King Henry, except six people who had escaped over the sea: Gloucester, Scales, Hastings, and Say.

George Neville, the Chancellor, welcomed the Parliament and delivered a sermon on Jeremiah's text, "Turn, O ye backsliding children," tailored to the moment. So, unfortunately, the proceedings of the session need to be recovered. Still, we do know that they were primarily formal, confirming the King's appointments to positions, approving the agreement between Queen Margaret and Clarence that the latter should be declared heir to the throne if the Prince of Wales was not born, and overturning the attainder of Somerset, Exeter, and the other Lancastrian lords, who were after that permitted to assume their places in the Upper House.