Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (18 page)

It was time to take sides. The simmering feud between Lancaster and York was augmented by the rivalry between the Percys and the Nevilles, the two families who controlled the north of England. With the Percys supporting the King and Lancaster, the Nevilles threw their weight behind York.

In 1453, with defeat after defeat, Calais and the Channel Islands were all that remained of the French possessions, and the title ‘King of France’ was abandoned. There was an air of dissatisfaction in the country, and then Henry lapsed into insanity, entering a trance-like state, unable to speak. His political position improved slightly when the Queen gave birth to a son, Prince Edward; although given Henry’s mental condition and extreme religious behaviour, Somerset was rumoured to be the father. The rumour gained strength when Henry on recovering his sanity joked that the father must have been the Holy Ghost. No one else thought it was funny.

The following year, with Henry relapsing into insanity, the barons took control and ordered Somerset to be imprisoned in the Tower and the Duke of York to be appointed Protector. York’s brother-in-law Richard Neville Earl of Salisbury became Chancellor, and Salisbury’s son (also named Richard Neville) the Earl of Warwick was appointed to the Council in Somerset’s place.

Several months later, just as York and the Nevilles were becoming comfortable with their new-found power, Henry suddenly returned to sanity. Weak as he was, the fact that he was the king forced the barons to back down. Somerset was released from the Tower, and York and Salisbury were dismissed, fleeing north in fear for their lives.

Next, York and Salisbury were ordered to appear before the Council. They came, but knowing what was in store for them, they came with an army; and on 22nd May 1455 at St Albans, the first battle of the Wars of the Roses was fought – the red rose of Lancaster against the white rose of York.
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The battle lasted less than two hours, but it was enough to give victory to York. King Henry was with his army, and whether it was a random arrow or whether a Yorkist archer took careful aim with the intent of killing the King, we do not know. Either way, Henry was struck in the neck by the arrow and he was wounded, but not seriously. The attempt to kill the King had failed. However, Henry was captured, and Somerset and other royal leaders were killed. Richard and the Nevilles took complete control, although Henry remained king.

Later in the year, Somerset’s niece, Margaret Beaufort (the heiress of Somerset’s deceased older brother John), was married off at the age of twelve to Edmund Tudor. Within months, Edmund Tudor had been captured by the Yorkists, and he later died in prison of plague. However, he had been married for long enough to provide a Tudor heir. Edmund and Margaret’s son, Henry, was born three months after Edmund’s death, and Jasper Tudor took his young nephew under his wing.

With the King a prisoner, Queen Margaret assumed the leadership of Lancaster. She assembled an army, and before long the Yorkists were driven out of London, the King was rescued and the Duke of York fled to Ireland. Warwick and the Duke’s son, Edward, escaped to Calais, where they formed a new Yorkist army. They sailed for England in June 1460, and marched to challenge Henry’s forces. As at St Albans, the brief (this time perhaps no more than half-an-hour) Battle of Northampton resulted in a Yorkist victory, the capture of King Henry, and the death of many of the royalist leaders.

Warwick and young Edward of York returned to London where, just as before, the Yorkists took all the positions of power whilst Henry remained king. There was an uneasy calm, until several weeks later the Duke of York returned from Ireland – and this time he wanted the throne.

and in the end a compromise was put forward: Henry VI would remain king for the rest of his life, and when he died he would be succeeded by the Duke of York. Henry agreed, but his strong-willed wife would not abandon the rights of her son, the young Prince Edward (both of them being safe in Scotland). She was supported by Henry VI’s half-brother, Jasper Tudor.

Richard Duke of York spent Christmas 1460 at Sandal Castle in Yorkshire. Then, on 30th December, he rode out with his troops and attacked a larger Lancastrian force. At the Battle of Wakefield, Richard’s men were overpowered. Richard Duke of York would never be king. He was killed as was Salisbury, and Richard’s second son Edmund was captured and executed, the Queen ordering that their heads were to be displayed in York, impaled on spikes.

Young Edward of York, now the Duke, took his late father’s army north to confront the Lancastrians led by Jasper Tudor. At Mortimer’s Cross, near Hereford, Edward’s forces were victorious. Jasper Tudor escaped, but his father, Owen Tudor, was captured and beheaded.

Yet the Tudor name lived on not just in Jasper, but in his late brother Edmund Tudor’s young son, Henry Tudor. He was, through his mother Margaret Beaufort, the 2 x great-grandson of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford. So the young Henry was the heir of the Tudors and the heir of the secondary illegitimate Lancaster branch through John of Gaunt’s third marriage.

As the victorious Yorkist army made its way to London, Queen Margaret’s Lancastrian army was ahead of them. Warwick rode out from London with an army to confront the Lancastrians once more at St Albans, but this time the Lancastrians won. Despite her success, Margaret did not advance to London. She held her position in Dunstable, fearing that the Londoners would refuse to open their gates to northern soldiers who had a record of pillaging all towns they entered. That error of judgment allowed Warwick and the Yorkists to retain control of the capital, and days later the 19-year-old Edward Duke of York was proclaimed king.

Edward’s position grew even stronger when he and Warwick rode north with an army and confronted the Lancastrians at Towton in Yorkshire. In this bloody battle fought in a snowstorm, both sides suffered heavy losses, and over 20,000 died. The Lancastrians became aware that they were facing defeat, and they made a concerted effort to kill Edward so as to turn the tide. Fighting was man-to-man as one Lancastrian knight after another tried to kill Edward. However, he was strong and brave, an imposing figure over six feet four inches tall; in fact, the tallest ever British monarch. All the attempts to kill Edward failed as he set about his assailants, striking down those who came near.

After victory at Towton, Edward returned to London where he was crowned King Edward IV – at last, a Mortimer had the throne. The new king’s brother, George, was created Duke of Clarence; and his other brother, Richard, was created Duke of Gloucester.

So now the senior House of Clarence (with the blood of the Mortimers and the name of the House of York through the marriage of Anne Mortimer to the Earl of Cambridge) took its rightful inheritance from the usurpers of the House of Lancaster. But there was still a problem because Henry VI, his wife and their son were alive and at liberty. Queen Margaret and Prince Edward took refuge in France, leaving King Henry to move from one hiding place to another in the north of England.

Although Edward IV was now king, his crown was far from secure. In 1462, a plot to assassinate him was discovered. Before the would-be assassins could strike they were betrayed, and the leaders, the Earl of Oxford and his son, were executed. Two years later the main threat was dealt with when Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower.

It was now time to find a queen for the most eligible bachelor in Europe. There were discussions with several foreign royal houses, national alliance being the principal aim. Then, to everyone’s surprise and annoyance, Edward (who was infatuated with older women) announced that five months earlier he had secretly married the beautiful but penniless Elizabeth Woodville, a widow whose husband Sir John Grey had been killed fighting for Henry VI at the second Battle of St Albans. Worse than the loss of opportunity for national advantage, she brought with her two sons, five brothers and seven unmarried sisters. The Woodvilles’ lust for status and wealth created resentment throughout the nobility. In time, this irresponsible marriage would lead to trouble.

Elizabeth’s sisters were married off to Viscount Bourchier, the Earl of Kent, the Earl of Pembroke, Baron Strange, the Earl of Arundel, the Duke of Buckingham and the Duke of Bedford. One brother became the Bishop of Salisbury, another married Baroness Scales, and the 64-year-old Duchess of Norfolk was forced to marry Elizabeth’s 20-year-old brother, John.

Warwick the Kingmaker was angriest, because there was no one suitable left for his two daughters to marry. So Warwick suggested that his daughter, Isabel, should marry King Edward’s brother, the Duke of Clarence. Annoying his principal ally, Edward refused to allow the joinder of Clarence and Warwick, as he was aware of the power given to him by the joinder of Clarence and York.

Now the Earl of Warwick, so influential in promoting the Duke of York to the throne, could feel his authority waning. His position was further reduced because he was trying to arrange an alliance with France, only to be overruled as the Woodvilles preferred an alliance with Burgundy to whose duke they were related. France was certainly the traditional enemy, but Warwick wanted to end French support of the Lancastrian cause.

When Edward summoned Warwick to court, Warwick refused to come. He would not return while his enemies the Woodvilles were in control. To underline Warwick’s fall, Edward arranged the marriage of his sister, Margaret, to the Duke of Burgundy. So Warwick found a new person to promote in Edward’s brother, George Duke of Clarence, the probable heir to the throne as so far Edward and Elizabeth Woodville had produced three daughters but no sons.

High taxation and disappointment in Edward’s rule now led to an outbreak of minor rebellions. Some of the uprisings repeated the rumour that Edward was illegitimate, Richard Duke of York said to have been fighting in France when Edward was conceived, the true father being an archer named Blackburn. If that were true, it would make the Duke of Clarence the rightful king. Warwick seemed to be behind this rumour, and he and Clarence quietly slipped away to Calais where Clarence married Warwick’s older daughter.

Warwick and Clarence mustered an army, crossed the Channel and made their way to London. Edward’s forces were defeated at the Battle of Edgecote Moor, and he fell into Warwick’s hands. Nevertheless, Edward continued to reign as king, although he could not prevent the execution of Elizabeth’s father and one of her brothers. Yet Warwick and Clarence were unable to sustain their position, and eventually they were forced to flee.

Having failed with Clarence, Warwick moved on. He made his peace with Henry VI’s queen, sealing the bargain by marrying his younger daughter, Anne, to Prince Edward, the son of Henry VI.

Warwick now had both his sons-in-law as potential kings, and both his daughters as potential queens. Having joined the Lancastrian side, he returned to England with an army in support of Henry VI, and he was joined by Jasper Tudor and his forces. Edward was unprepared, and without a battle (so keeping his supporters alive for next time), he fled with his younger brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester, to Burgundy where their sister was the duchess.

Henry VI was released from the Tower and reinstated as king. It was not over; by March 1471, Edward and his brother Gloucester had raised an army of 2,000 men, and they were ready to strike back. They landed in Yorkshire, their numbers growing as they marched south. No longer Warwick’s choice for king, Clarence rejoined his brother’s side with an army of 4,000 men.

Edward was welcomed into London, where he was declared king once more, and where Henry VI again became his prisoner. However, Warwick and his forces still supported Henry. At the Battle of Barnet, Edward’s army met and defeated the army of the Earl of Warwick, and Warwick himself was seized and killed. With Warwick dead and Henry VI in custody, the last threats to Edward IV were Queen Margaret and her son, Prince Edward.

Richard Duke of Gloucester led Edward’s army against Margaret’s forces at Tewkesbury, where the Yorkists won a crushing victory and where Prince Edward was captured and executed, the only Prince of Wales to die in battle (probably after the battle). Before long, Queen Margaret was in the Tower with her husband, the pathetic Henry VI.

The execution of the Prince of Wales changed everything. There had been no point in seeking Henry’s death while his son was alive, that would only have increased Prince Edward’s status as a rival to King Edward. However, now that Prince Edward had been killed, Henry’s death would end the primary Lancastrian line.

The necessary orders were given as soon as Edward was back in London. On that very night, men were sent to the Tower, men who were not afraid of killing a king. Richard Duke of Gloucester was in the Tower, probably ensuring access for the murderers. Shortly before midnight, they burst into Henry’s room while he was, as usual, at prayer. Before Henry could protest his innocence, before he could plead for mercy, the first blow struck him from above. Within seconds his skull had been crushed, and another King of England had been murdered.

So the son of the hero of Agincourt, having lost the crown of France, the crown of England, his only child and his sanity, now lost all that was left – his life.

Edward had won. He rewarded his supporters, none more than his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester, whose loyalty and military prowess had been constant and vital. Richard became Constable and High Admiral of England, Great Chamberlain and Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Next, Richard asked for permission to marry Warwick’s younger daughter, Anne, the widow of Henry VI’s son, Prince Edward. King Edward’s other brother, Clarence, objected. Clarence was married to Warwick’s older daughter, and he had his eyes on the inheritance when the Countess of Warwick died. In the end a deal was done. Richard married Anne, but Clarence was appointed Great Chamberlain and became entitled to the earldom of Warwick and the bulk of the inheritance, an Act of Parliament being passed declaring that the Countess of Warwick should be treated as legally dead. Surprising reward for Clarence’s treachery and Richard’s loyalty.