CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The last hopeless attempt by the Lancastrians to hold their own in the North ended with Hedgeley Moor and Hexham and the eventual capitulation of the Northumbrian fortresses. The few remaining commanders who had avoided Somerset's and Hungerford's destiny fled from Scotland and travelled across the ocean. The leader of them was shortly seen by Philip de Commines on the streets of Ghent "reduced to a level of extreme need and poverty, beyond the comprehension of common beggars. The Duke of Exeter was observed (though he hid his identity) following the Duke of Burgundy's train and begging for food from door to door until he was finally given a little stipend out of sympathy for his plight." Some Somersets, including John and Edmund, brothers of the recently beheaded Duke, were present. Jasper of Pembroke travelled to Wales and then spent a year wandering the hills between counties in search of companions. Nobody could have predicted that the Lancaster cause would ever resurface.
Warwick, like the rest of the Englishmen, may start to occupy himself with matters other than wars and sieges now that the times of war are finally gone. Finally, free in July, he was ready to consider heading south to look for the Midland estates he had only briefly seen during the previous five years. After a brief period of leisure, we find him at the King's Council in September, where he is advocating for two actions that he believes are essential for the complete pacification of the realm.
The first was the signing of a formal peace deal with France. The Lancastrians were used to getting their ships and money from King Louis. As long as England and France remained at war, it seemed guaranteed that King Edward's adversaries would continue to find refuge and support over the Channel. As a result, the Earl pushed for the signing of a treaty. Eventually, he succeeded in getting himself and his friend and supporter Wenlock appointed as ambassadors to Louis. He connected the first of his plans with the second. It was past time for them to get married, as had been suggested by all of England for quite some time. Those close to the person knew that some scandal had already been caused by his successful and unsuccessful attempts on the honour of several ladies around the court. As a result, men "wondered that he abodes so long without any wife, and feared that he was not over chaste of his living." For a while, there had been rumours linking Edward's name to several princesses from foreign royal houses of marriageable age. Some believed he was ready to wed Mary of Gueldres, the Queen Dowager of Scotland.
In contrast, others said he was starting to court Isabel of Castile, the sister of the occupying Spanish King. However, these reports had no basis in reality. Warwick's plan was to wed a French princess to solidify the peace with France, which was indicated explicitly in the initial questions that gave him permission to address Louis. King Edward needed a woman of an appropriate age "to grow him well lineage such as his father had reared," therefore Louis' sisters, who were all married and his daughters, who were just little children, were omitted. The woman Warwick asked them to marry was Bona of Savoy, Charlotte's sister. A princess who resided at the court of her brother-in-law King Louis and whose veins carried the blood of the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France.
Warwick's proposals received no direct opposition from King Edward. King Louis was informed of the idea, safe conduct for the English Embassy was secured, and Warwick and Wenlock were scheduled to arrive at St. Omer on October 3rd or 4th. However, the most astonishing news was delivered to Warwick just before he arrived in Reading on September 28 to receive his master's last instructions. We have a description of the event that has some elements of truth.
The Council convened formally to sanction the marriage arrangements. They were informed of the desire and anticipation of his fellow citizens that he would deign to grant them a Queen by a speaker, most likely Warwick.
They then said that while he did intend to wed, he was worried that his choice of spouse would not be well-liked by everyone there. He would then reveal his destination to the council members who had enquired about his plans. They replied that he would marry Dame Elizabeth Grey, the daughter of Lord Rivers, in a very triumphant voice. The Duchess of Bedford's mother had married a simple knight, so despite being the daughter of a duchess and the niece of the Count of St. Pol, she was still not his wife. They responded that she was not his match, despite how good and Regardless of how attractive she could be, he must be aware that she wasn't the right match for a royal prince like himself. King Edward said that he should not take another wife and that it was his pleasure to hear the lords of his blood and his Council's statements, which it deemed appropriate for them to bring before him.
Then came the last nail in the coffin: he was already married to Dame Elizabeth and couldn't have another wife.
In truth, King Edward had secretly travelled from Stony Stratford to Grafton in Northamptonshire. He married the woman on May 1, five months earlier, when he should have been well on his journey to the North. Nobody had suspected the marriage since they knew little to nothing about Elizabeth Grey, who had been living a secluded life ever since her husband, a Lancastrian knight, died during the second Battle of St. Albans in the final moments of triumph. After meeting her casually, Edward was seduced by her beautiful face and made passionate love to her. Elizabeth was intelligent and wary; she would only consider a formal marriage proposal. The young, completely enamoured with her, had secretly married her at Grafton in front of her mother and two other witnesses. His crucial private business prevented him from showing up to greet York's Parliament.
The marriage came as a complete surprise. The lady's father, Lord Rivers, had been an avid Lancastrian. He was the one who had been caught at Sandwich in 1460 and brought before Warwick and Edward for that peculiar reprimand that has been previously documented. The father-in-law is now this "created lord, who had acquired his money through his marriage." Dame Elizabeth had children who were 12 and 13 years old, making her seven years older than her new spouse. The populace was so shocked by the match that it was frequently said that the Queen's mother, the elderly Duchess of Bedford, must have given King Edward a love philtre because there was no other way the situation could have been explained.
This unexpected news left Warwick, and the other lords of the Council irritated and shocked. The Earl had brought up the idea of King Louis and the French royal wedding, and he was scheduled to show up soon to present the plan for approval. King Louis must now hear him out on how he was deceived in the most heinous way and why he had been kept out of his master's trust the entire time despite the knowledge that the plan was unachievable. Naturally, the Earl decided to cancel the mission since he did not dare to go before the French and request peace when the unity, he had pledged to cement was no longer conceivable.
Even though he must have been frustrated and incensed by how he had been treated, Warwick was too devoted of a York household servant to leave his master's Council. He submitted to necessity and accepted what he did not agree with. Warwick, with George of Clarence, the brother, walked Dame Elizabeth up to the seat provided for her alongside her husband and bowed to her in her capacity as Queen the following day when the proclaimed his marriage in Reading Abbey on the feast of St. Michael.
For a few months, it seemed like the marriage had resulted from a single freak act of adolescent ardour, and the Neville family's dominance in the royal Councils seemed unaffected. Then, as if to atone for how he treated Warwick in the past, Edward appointed his brother George Neville the Chancellor, to the open position of Archbishop of York. Finally, as a show of good faith, he ordered the Earl to prorogue a Parliament that had been called to a session on November 4.
These signs of respect, however, were not meant to last. Even if there was no visible rift between them and his great Minister, the favours would come from somewhere else in the future. The Queen had two sons, five sisters, and three brothers; for them, the royal influence was used in the most astonishing ways throughout the following two years. The house of Rivers was almost as productive as the family of Neville. King Edward didn't only waste his fortune and abuse his position for the sake of his wife's family out of excessive love, though. It quickly became apparent that he had decided to form one of those vast allied groups of noble families, whose power the fourteenth century knew so well, with the help of the Queen's family. This group would set him free from the Nevilles' rule. A few days after the Queen was acknowledged, the Rivers family started experiencing a string of weddings that continued for the next two years. The Queen's sister Margaret wed Thomas Lord Maltravers, the affluent Earl of Arundel's heir, in October 1464, soon following the incident at Reading.
The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk married John Woodville, the youngest of her brothers, in January 1465. The bride was nearly as old as the groom, making this a shameful union, yet, they convinced her to wed the vile young man because she was a wealthy heiress. Within another 18 months, nearly the entire family had been wed: Eleanor Woodville to George Grey, heir to the Earl of Kent; Eleanor Woodville to the Bourchier Earl of Essex; Mary Woodville to the eldest son of Lord Herbert; and, most fortunately for her, The youthful Duke of Buckingham, the greatgrandson of the old Duke who had died in Northampton, was introduced by Catherine Woodville. The only thing left to say to complete the story of this fortunate family's relationships is that, even before Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were wed, her eldest brother Anthony had won Elizabeth, the heiress of Lord Scales who was killed on the Thames in 1460, for himself. The marriages between the Woodvilles and the Nevilles are similar. Warwick sometimes worked for the crown while showering the river's house with favours.
However, he could no longer feel that he played a significant role in setting the course of his monarch's policies. In fact, they have tried to carry out each design according to a different concept than Earl's one. Warwick travelled overseas to talk with the French and Burgundians in the spring of 1465, just before the Queen's official coronation, which he was delighted to miss. At Boulogne and Calais, he met the French and Burgundian diplomats. It was a crucial period for both France and Burgundy since the War of the Public Weal had just started, and each side was eager to win England's support or, at the very least, its neutrality. Warwick initially met with the Burgundians, but no deal could be reached because the Count of Charolais, who now had the upper hand over his ailing father, Duke Philip, refused to make any commitments against aiding the Lancastrians. Because John of Gaunt's granddaughter, Isabel of Portugal, was his mother, he virtually considered himself a Lancastrian prince when he was pensioning the exiled Somersets and Exeter.
Warwick and Charles of Charolais were unable to reach a consensus. They celebrated grand feasts together in Boulogne and conducted lengthy councils. Still, they left in rage because each had grown too accustomed to getting their own way. They appear to have had more going on than just a disagreement since they never stopped seeing each other as personal foes after that; the diplomats of King Louis, who saw Warwick a month later, were significantly more hospitable than the impulsive prince of Burgundy. While Warwick agreed that England should refrain from aiding the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne, who were currently in total rebellion against their sovereign, he agreed to set aside the marriage issue and consent to the conclusion of a truce lasting eighteen months. During this time, he committed to refrain from aiding Queen Margaret.
Warwick headed for home in the late summer of 1465, just in time to hear about his master's most recent turn of events. Henry the Sixth had just been taken prisoner in Lancashire. Aside from several priests, the ex-king was alone as he roamed aimlessly from one Lancastrian home to another after leaving his seclusion in Scotland. One of Henry's entertainers betrayed him. John Talbot of Basshall took him into custody while eating in Waddington Hall and sent him to London under surveillance. Warwick rode out to Islington to meet his lateg and, at the command, escorted him around the city. At the same time, his feet were restrained by leather cords to his stirrups. It is difficult to understand why Henry was subjected to such humiliation; there could not reasonably have been any concern about a rescue, and Warwick might have saved his late lord the embarrassment of chains. To the Tower, where he was kept in honourable custody and allowed to receive visits from anybody who requested to see him, Henry was carried through Cheapside and Cornhill.
Warwick was selected to be the godfather of the Queen's first child, Princess Elizabeth, in February of the following year, 1466, demonstrating that he was still somewhat popular with King Edward.
But soon after, a series of things happened that signalled the eventual rift between them and the Nevilles. In March, Edward abruptly removed Warwick's friend Lord Mountjoy from his position as treasurer. He replaced him with Lord Rivers, whom he shortly named an earl. Warwick found the disappearance of his companion to be quite upsetting, but worse was to come. Warwick's nephew George Neville, the brother John's heir, had been engaged to Anne, the exiled Duke of Exeter's heiress; however, the Queen gave the Duchess of Exeter 4,000 marks to call off the engagement, and the young woman later married Thomas Grey, Elizabeth's eldest child from her first marriage. This setback came at the Nevilles' most vulnerable time; even the marriages that had brought them success would later be derailed by royal sway.
The following affront that Warwick endured at the hands of his affected him much more. When his oldest daughter Isabel, born in 1451, turned sixteen years old, her father's mind started to get preoccupied with ideas of her impending marriage. She was deemed worthy of the highest match available in the realm by the Earl. Because she was about to inherit half of Neville, Montacute, Despenser, and Beauchamp's domains, an aggregation of estates that no subject had ever owned before. George Duke of Clarence, the younger brother and a young man of eighteen, was the spouse that Warwick had intended to find for his kid. Clarence was informed and thought the opportunity looked promising enough because the young woman was both fair and wealthy. But they still needed to factor in the King. Edward learned about the prospective marriage after a lengthy visit that Clarence and his younger brother Richard of Gloucester paid to Warwick at the end of 1466. King questioned his brothers about their departure from his court and who had advised them to attend the Earl when he learned they had returned after their visit to the Earl in Cambridge. They responded by saying that everyone but themselves had been the culprit. The Duke of Clarence, who is never slow to tell a falsehood, responded that there had not been any mention of affiancing them to their cousins, the daughters of the Earl when they inquired about it. But King, who was fully aware of everything, was enraged and expelled them.
Clarence and Warwick understood one another, notwithstanding Edward's stern prohibition against the marriage. There was no further discussion then; they were always in contact, much to their chagrin. He did not like seeing his presumed heir and his most important subject getting along so well. After waiting a few more months, he continued to insult his former friends and supporters in a far harsher way. To transform the 18month ceasefire agreed upon in 1465 into a lasting peace on the most favourable conditions, he dispatched Warwick to France in May 1467. The task appeared to be both honourable and beneficial, and Warwick set off on it in good spirits. However, it was designed to remove him from the realm just as he was ready to thwart his most essential schemes.
Warwick and Louis both wanted to end the conflict permanently. He was prepared to make the Earl's job simply because it was crucial that England not align with Burgundy. He prepared Warwick with a welcome that would have been appropriate for a crowned head. Louis travelled five leagues down the Seine to greet the English ambassador and lavishly fed Warwick on the riverside. When they arrived at Rouen, "the King accorded the Earl most honourable reception; the priests from every church in the town came out to welcome him in their copes, with crosses and flags and holy water, and he was led to Notre Dame de Rouen," according to King, Later, so that he may see them, the Queen and her daughters travelled to the mentioned town. After spending twelve days near Warwick, the left and the Earl returned to England. Jean de Poupencourt, Master, the Bishop of Bayeux, the Archbishop of Narbonne, the Bastard of Bourbon (Admiral of France), and William Monipenny, a Scots agent who King had great faith in, all travelled with him as ambassadors from France.
The inhabitants of Sandwich, like all the men of Kent, the inhabitants of Sandwich were ardent supporters of the Earl, so when Warwick and the French ambassadors arrived, they were given a warm welcome. Posts were dispatched to inform them of their arrival, and the party set out to ride up to London. The Earl was a little annoyed when no one met them to welcome them on behalf of the King as they drew closer to the city. Still, eventually, the Duke of Clarence arrived, riding alone to meet him. He brought him information that bitterly vexed him in spirit despite his satisfaction at the success of the French negotiations.
King began to formulate his plans after Warwick was safely over the water, confident that he would not be disturbed. However, since he had decided to form an alliance with Burgundy rather than France, the minute the coast was clear, a Burgundian diplomat showed up in London. Warwick was ascending the Seine when Antony, "the Grand Bastard," the dependable agent of the Court of Charolais, ascended the Thames. He supposedly arrived on a noble mission to duel with the Queen's brother Lord Scales in front of all the Burgundian women. However, instead of reporting the significant political events of the year, the English chroniclers provided all the details of the proper holding of the passing of arms, which was greatly enjoyed by the people of London. The Bastard's journey was intended to broker an English alliance for his brother. Still, he was so successful that he was given permission to pledge the Count of Charolais Margaret's hand in marriage when he returned to Flanders.
But Warwick wanted to know more than how they had secretly agreed with Burgundy to stymie his talks with France. Now he knew that just two days had passed before his arrival. Edward had gone to his brother, the Archbishop of York, who was unwell at his home at Westminster Barrs, without warning or explanation, abruptly removed him from the Chancellorship and stolen the great seal from him. In the Neville household, an open war had been proclaimed.
Despite his intense annoyance at his sovereign's double-dealing, Warwick continued to do the formalities of his job. When he arrived, he immediately rushed to the, told him his mission had been successful and pleaded for a day of the audience for the French Ambassadors. "The Earl saw from the King's countenance that he was paying no attention at all to what he was saying, so he took himself home, sorely displeased," the author writes. The Earl mentioned how King Louis had made him extremely happy and had given him the keys to every castle and town he travelled through.
The French had the audience the next day. The Ambassadors were greatly embarrassed to see him since he presented himself as a royal with an arrogant air, said Lord Hastings of their reception in the state, accompanied by Rivers, Scales, John Woodville, and Lord Hastings. Warwick then gave a brief introduction before Master Jean de Poupencourt, speaking on behalf of the group, presented the King with Louis' suggestions. Edward replied briefly, explaining that he could not speak with them directly due to urgent business. However, they may voice their opinions through specific lords he would designate. After that, they led away from him. Obviously, he wouldn't help them in any way, and the entire scheme had merely been thought up to get Warwick out of the way. It was supposed to be abortive, and it actually was.
The Earl was enraged when he left the palace; his customary composure and affability had fled, and he had already begun yelling at locals. " The Frenchmen talked a lot to one another as they rowed their barge home. Have you not seen how many traitors King is surrounded by? Warwick asked the French Admiral in a rage that he could not suppress. However, in response, the Admiral said, "My Lord, I beseech you to become not heated; someday, you shall be fully avenged." However, the Earl said, "Know that those very traitors were the persons who had my brother removed from his position as Chancellor and forced the King to take the seal from him."
The following day, Edward left for Windsor, paying no further attention to the Ambassadors. They went six weeks without hearing from him and saw no one other than Warwick, who tried his best to amuse them, and Warwick's new friend, the Duke of Clarence. However, he has yet to make an appointment to meet with them. After finally leaving with nothing achieved, they drove themselves home. On their departure, King sent them a meagre gift of hunting horns, leather flasks, and mastiffs in exchange for the golden hanaps, bowls, and priceless jewellery they had brought from France.
Warwick would no longer interact with his master. Instead, he followed the Ambassadors back as far as Sandwich before rushing off to Middleham in a foul mood. He had lengthy, in-depth conversations with his brothers, John of Montagu, the Earl of Northumberland, and George, the dispossessed chancellor. He responded to this summons at Christmas by saying that he would never return to Council "while all his mortal adversaries, who were about the King's person, particularly Lord Rivers the Treasurer, Lord Scales, Lord Herbert, and Sir John Woodville, remained there present." Warwick's relationship with his owner had utterly broken down.