Shakespeare's Kings (93 page)

Had
Edward
been
given
two
or
three
days'
prior
warning
of
the betrayal,
he
might
have
saved
the
situation.
He
had
several
powerful lords
on
his
side,
including
his
brother
Richard
and
his
brother-in-law Lord
Rivers,
each
with
his
own
numerous
following;
but
they
were widely
dispersed,
and
there
was
no
hope
of
gathering
them
together
in time
to
face
Montagu's
coming
onslaught.
To
remain
meant
certain death
or
capture.
His
only
hope
lay
in
flight.
With
Gloucester,
Rivers, his
chamberlain
Lord
Hastings
and
about
eight
hundred
men,
he
hurried south-east
to
the
coast
of
Lincolnshire,
commandeered
a
number
of small
boats
and
under
cover
of
darkness
crossed
the
Wash
to
King's Lynn;
and
from
there,
on
2
October,
the
party
took
ship
for
the
Low Countries.
They
were
sighted
almost
immediately,
and
were
pursued all
the
way
to
the
Dutch
coast;
but
with
the
help
of
the
Burgundian Governor
of
Holland
they
shook
off
their
pursuers.
Nine
days
later Edward
was
installed
as
the
Governor's
guest
in
his
house
at
The
Hague.

In
London,
the
news
of
the
King's
flight
caused
chaos.
Vast
numbers of
Lancastrians
emerged
from
their
various
places
of
refuge
and
took to
the
streets,
where
they
were
joined
by
followers
of
the
Earl
of Warwick
and,
after
the
prisons
were
broken
open,
a
whole
rabble
of criminals
and
cut-throats
who
went
on
the
rampage.
Elizabeth
Wood-ville
and
her
two
daughters
sought
sanctuary
at
Westminster,
where
a month
later
she
was
to
give
birth
to
Edward's
first-born
son.
On 5
October
Archbishop
Nevill,
Warwick's
brother,
and
old
Bishop

Waynnete
went
down
to
the
Tower,
where
they
found
King
Henry, after
over
five
years
in
captivity,
'not
so
worshipfuUy
arrayed
nor
so cleanly
kept
as
should
seem
such
a
prince'.
They
arranged
for
him
to be
dressed
in
more
appropriate
robes
and
then
with
great
reverence brought
him,
'mute
as
a
crowned
calf,
to
Westminster.
Warwick
and Clarence
entered
the
capital
on
the
following
day,
with
the
Earl
of Shrewsbury
and
Lord
Stanley
behind
them.
The
King,
they
saw,
had declined
both
physically
and
mentally
during
his
captivity;
still
less
now could
he
ever
hope
to
be
anything
but
a
figurehead,
and
a
deeply uninspiring
one
at
that.
On
21
October,
however,
he
wore
his
crown in
public.
Theoretically
at
least,
as
his
subjects
could
see,
he
was
back on
the
throne.
And
Warwick,
appointed
Lieutenant
of
the
Kingdom, settled
down
to
rule.

But
not,
as
it
turned
out,
for
long.
Warwick's
hold
on
England
was tenuous,
and
he
knew
it.
Queen
Margaret
still
viewed
him
with
intense suspicion.
Although
she
had
refused
to
sail
in
his
company
to
England
she was
bound
to
return
there
before
long,
together
with
her
son
the
Prince of
Wales,
now
seventeen.
Would
the
old
antipathy
between
her
and Warwick
flare
up
again,
and
if
so
what
would
be
its
outcome?
Warwick's most
important
English
ally,
Clarence,
was
treacherous
and
utterly self-seeking;
he
could
not
be
trusted
an
inch.
There
were
of
course other
supporters,
more
reliable
if
less
powerful;
but
sooner
or
later
they too
would
expect
rewards,
and
he
had
none
to
give
them:
after
the
recent events
there
were
no
great
forfeited
estates
to
be
shared
out
among
his friends.
Meanwhile
Edward
IV,
at
liberty
in
Holland
and
still
only
twenty-eight,
was
anything
but
a
spent
force
-
particularly
with
his
brother-in-law
Charles
the
Bold
of
Burgundy
to
help
him
regain
his
throne.

Edward,
however,
had
initially
found
Charles
something
of
a
disappointment.
True,
the
Duke
had
put
the
Burgundian
fleet
at
his disposal
while
he
was
in
power
and
had
been
perfectly
prepared
to
offer him
a
refuge
after
his
flight;
but
the
keystone
of his
foreign
policy
was his
struggle
with
the
King
of
France,
for
which
he
needed
as
an
ally the
effective
King
of
England,
not
a
refugee
pretender.
He
had
therefore entered
into
negotiations
with
Warwick,
and
it
was
only
after
these had
broken
down
-
Warwick
was
now,
after
all,
firmly
and
inextricably bound
to
Louis
XI
—
that
he
had
even
consented
to
grant
his
brother-in-law
an
audience.
But
then,
fortunately
for
Edward,
Louis
began
spoiling for
war
against
Burgundy
and
the
situation
changed.
Charles
granted him
a
considerable
sum
of
money
for
fitting
out
a
fleet,
which
he was
able
to
supplement
with
some
two
dozen
other
vessels
from
the Hanseatic
League
and
elsewhere;
and
on
Monday
n
March
1471,
at the
head
of
thirty-six
ships
and
with
an
army
of
some
2,000
men,
King Edward
IV
sailed
for
England.
Three
days
later
his
ship,
the
Anthony,
docked
at
Ravenscar
on
the
Humber,
exactly
where
Henry
Bolingbroke had
landed
seventy-two
years
before.
It
seemed,
on
the
whole,
a favourable
omen.