Shakespeare's Kings (94 page)

In
another
respect
also
Edward
was
to
follow
Bolingbroke.
Finding that
his
country
received
him
with
little
enthusiasm,
he
was
obliged
to give
out
that
he
had
come
to
claim
not
the
crown,
but
his
dukedom only;
to
this
at
least
his
right
was
unquestioned.
It
was
thus
that
he obtained
permission
to
enter
York
-
which
was,
paradoxically
enough, by
now
firmly
Lancastrian
—
from
which
he
passed
on
to
his
family's own
castle
of
Sandal,
where
his
father
had
been
killed
eleven
years before.
Even
in
his
home
territories,
however,
he
gathered
relatively few
adherents;
only
when
he
reached
the
Midlands,
at
Leicester
and Nottingham,
did
appreciable
numbers
rally
to
his
standard.

The
Earl
of
Warwick,
too,
was
recruiting
in
desperate
haste.
At
the end
of
March
he
established
his
headquarters
at
Coventry,
refusing
all Edward's
attempts
to
draw
him
on
to
the
field
until
he
received
the reinforcements
which
he
knew
to
be
approaching
under
Oxford,
Exeter, his
brother
Montagu
and
the
Duke
of
Clarence.
In
little
more
than
a week
the
first
three
had
arrived
-
Exeter
having
had
some
trouble
with a
Yorkist
detachment
on
the
way
-
but
then
disaster
struck.
Almost predictably,
Clarence
decided
once
again
to
change
sides
and
marched off,
with
4,000
men
behind
him,
to
join
his
brother.
At
this
point Edward,
no
longer
troubling
to
conceal
his
true
intentions,
would have
asked
nothing
better
than
a
Battle
;
but
Warwick
knew
he
was outnumbered.
He
knew
too
that
Margaret,
with
the
young
Prince
of Wales
and
the
reinforcements
sent
by
King
Louis,
would
at
any
moment be
arriving
from
France;
why
should
he
risk
an
engagement
which might
well
prove
disastrous?

On
5
April
Edward
headed
for
London.
No
general
likes
to
advance in
the
knowledge
that
he
is
leaving
a
strong
enemy
force
in
his
rear, but
he
had
little
choice:
if
he
were
ever
to
wrest
the
capital
-
and
Henry VI
himself
-
from
Warwick's
control,
now
surely
was
the
moment
to do
so.
Recognizing
the
danger,
Warwick
sent
urgent
messages
to
the Duke
of
Somerset
and
the
other
Lancastrian
leaders
in
the
city,
enjoining them
to
hold
fast
until
his
arrival;
by
an
ironic
chance,
however,
reports had
recently
arrived
to
the
effect
that
Margaret,
her
son
and
her
army had
finally
set
sail
from
Harfleur.
They
were
expected
from
one
day
to the
next
on
the
south
coast,
and
Somerset
had
already
left
to
welcome them.
Authority
in
the
capital
now
lay
with
Warwick's
brother,
George Nevill,
Archbishop
of
York.
The
poor
man
did
his
best,
organizing
on 9
April
what
he
hoped
would
be
an
impressive
parade
of
Lancastrian strength
led
by
King
Henry
in
person;
but
Henry,
in
a
threadbare
gown of
blue
velvet,
barely
able
to
sit
his
horse
and
tightly
clutching
the
archbishop's
hand,
cut
such
a
pathetic
figure
that
the
attempt
did
more
harm than
good.
On
the
following
day
Nevill
submitted,
and
on
the
nth Edward
entered
London
without
opposition.
After
a
hurried
re-coronation
at
Westminster
Abbey
-
Henry
having
returned
to
his
former lodgings
in
the
Tower
-
he
went
straight
to
the
sanctuary
to
be
reunited with
his
wife
and
daughters
and
to
see
his
baby
son
for
the
first
time.

But
time
was
short:
Warwick
was
on
the
march
towards
London
and already
approaching
St
Albans.
It
seems
strange,
in
retrospect,
that
he
had not
waited
for
Margaret
and
her
army
to
join
him,
but
there
were
several uncertainties:
how
long
she
would
be,
where
she
wouldland,
the
strength of
her
army
and
-
most
doubtful
of
all
-
the
extent
to
which
she
would trust
him
and
treat
him
as
an
ally.
His
future
position
would
be
a
good deal
more
secure
if
he
could
come
to
her
as
a
victor,
with
a
decisive
battle behind
him.
Meanwhile
Edward
was
growing
stronger
by
the
minute; the
sooner
the
battle
could
be
fought,
the
better.

The
King,
for
his
part,
felt
much
the
same
way.
He
spent
Good Friday
12
April
in
frantic
preparations,
and
on
Saturday
afternoon
-with
Gloucester,
Clarence,
Hastings,
Rivers
and
a
number
of
other lords
-
led
an
army
estimated
at
10,000
men
up
the
Great
North
Road towards
St
Albans.
Henry
too
was
with
him,
bewildered
as
always,
but a
valuable
hostage
in
case
of
need.
He
found
Warwick
-
with
Montagu, Oxford
and
Exeter,
and
an
army
that
appeared
considerably
larger
than his
own
-
sooner
than
he
expected:
on
the
high
ground,
a
mile
or
so to
the
north
of
the
little
town
of
Barnet
-
and
that
night,
under
cover of
darkness
and
in
rapidly
increasing
fog,
he
drew
up
his
troops
opposite them,
in
what
he
intended
to
be
a
direct
confrontation.