Shakespeare's Kings (92 page)

It
was
by
now
clear
that
the
rebel
lords
had
no
intention
of
giving themselves
up
and,
having
failed
to
find
any
more
English
adherents, that
they
would
try
to
seek
refuge
in
France;
and
Edward
reached Exeter
on
14
April
only
to
discover
that
they
had
sailed
a
few
days before,
taking
with
them
Warwick's
wife
and
daughter,
the
heavily pregnant
Duchess
of
Clarence.
By
the
time
they
reached
Calais
she
was in
labour;
even
so,
they
were
refused
entry
to
the
town.
Somehow
the Duchess
survived
her
ordeal,
but
the
baby
lived
only
a
few
hours
and
was buried
a
little
further
down
the
coast.
At
this
point
a
large
Flemish
fleet entered
the
Channel
from
the
north-east,
and
Warwick
-
who,
even when
his
life
was
in
danger,
could
never
resist
a
little
piracy
-
attacked and
plundered
it.
He
and
the
Clarences
then
sailed
on
to
Honfleur, where
they
made
a
formal
request
to
King
Louis
for
protection.

Louis
was
only
too
pleased
to
agree.
Now
that
King
Edward
had
seemingly
antagonized
almost
all
the
most
important
of
his
erstwhile
supporters,
there
seemed
at
last
to
be
a
chance
of
restoring
Henry
VI
and cementing
an
Anglo-French
alliance
against
his
arch-enemy
Charles, Duke
of
Burgundy.
¹
The
principal
stumbling-block
was
Queen
Margaret.
Could
she
ever
be
persuaded
to
overcome
her
hatred
for
Warwick and
ally
herself
with
him?
Louis
prepared
his
ground
carefully;
and
at
last, on
22
July
1470,
the
Earl
of
Warwick
presented
himself
before
Margaret and
flung
himself
at
her
feet.
She
left
him
lying
prone,
we
are
told,
for some
considerable
time
before
agreeing
to
forgive
him,
and
even
then insisted
on
a
further
public
act
of
contrition
at
Westminster
after
her husband's
restoration.
But
Warwick
was
finally
permitted
to
rise
to
his feet
and,
to
celebrate
their
reconciliation,
Margaret's
son
the
Prince
of Wales
was
formally
betrothed
in
the
church
of
St
Mary
at
Angers
to Warwick's
younger
daughter,
Anne
Nevill,
while
all
those
present swore
on
a
relic
of
the
True
Cross
to
remain
faithful
to
Henry
VI.

With
this
problem
safely
out
of
the
way,
Louis
could
now
devote
his energies
to
the
next
stage
of his
plan:
the
invasion
of
England.
For
some time
already
he
had
been
preparing
a
war
fleet,
which
Edward
-
who
was well
aware
of his
intentions—was
doing
his
best
to
immobilize
by
setting up
a
blockade
around
the
Channel
ports
ofBarfleur
and
La
Hogue
where it
lay.
For
most
of
the
summer
he
was
successful;
but
on
8
September
a violent
storm
scattered
the
English
ships
-
driving
them,
we
are
told,
as far
away
as
the
Dutch
and
Scottish
coasts
—
and
Warwick
saw
his
chance. His
fleet
put
to
sea
the
next
day,
making
landfall
at
Dartmouth
and
Plymouth.
Immediately
he
issued
proclamations
in
the
name
of
Henry
VI, calling
on
all
right-thinking
Englishmen
to
rally
to
the
cause
of
their
true King;
then,
with
Clarence
and
the
Earl
of
Oxford
at
his
side,
he
set
off north-eastwards
towards
Coventry,
gathering
forces
as
he
went.

Edward,
who
had
been
pacifying
the
north,
rode
south
to
meet
him. He
was
not,
as
far
as
we
can
understand,
unduly
alarmed.
He
had
already satisfied
himself
that
the
Marquis
of
Montagu,
despite
being
Warwick's

1. Charles the Bold of Burgundy had succeeded his father Philip the Good in 1467; in the following year he had married, as his third wife, Edward IV's sister Margaret.

brother,
would
remain
loyal;
and
with
the
addition
of
the
northern levies
that
Montagu
was
in
the
process
of
raising
he
was
confident
that the
Lancastrian
forces
would
be
comfortably
outnumbered.
He
reached Doncaster,
however,
to
find
calamitous
news
awaiting
him.
His
confidence
had
been
misplaced.
Six
years
before,
he
had
rewarded
Montagu for
his
loyalty
by
creating
him
Earl
of
Northumberland;
unfortunately, however,
and
extremely
unwisely,
he
had
rece
ntly
persuaded
him
to resign
that
earldom
in
favour
of
the
heir
of
the
Percys.
To
compensate him
he
had
raised
him
to
the
dignity
of
a
marquis;
but
since,
as
Montagu himself
said,
'the
King
had
given
him
but
a
magpie's
nest
to
maintain his
estate
with',
this
had
proved
more
a
burden
than
anything
else.
And so,
in
his
resentment,
Montagu
had
betrayed
him
after
all.
Instead
of riding
down
to
his
aid
with
his
troops,
he
had
at
the
last
moment declared
for
Henry
and
was
already
at
Pontefract,
advancing
against
the Yorkist
army.