Wars of the Roses: Bloodline: Book 3 (The Wars of the Roses) (34 page)

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Authors: Conn Iggulden

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Beyond the seven great marriages, various titles came
flowing down from the generosity of King Edward to his wife’s family. Her brother Anthony Woodville married the daughter of Baron Scales, the man who had poured wildfire on to the crowds of London. In doing so, Anthony Woodville inherited the title. Under Edward, he also became a knight of the Garter, Lord of the Isle of Wight, Lieutenant of Calais and Captain of the King’s Armada, to name but a few. Elizabeth Woodville’s father became the king’s treasurer and Earl Rivers.

King Edward was a man given to grand gestures and extraordinary generosity. He had made John Neville Earl of Northumberland, but as part of the trimming of the Neville vine, he forgave and then restored the Percy heir, taking the young Henry Percy from the Tower and returning him to his family estates. The idea that Henry Percy might have passed some of the intervening time with Warwick is my own invention. However, Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III, spent some years growing up at Middleham and was apparently happy there.

It is interesting to note that the removal of the Great Seal from Archbishop George Neville went as I have described it, with the king and armed men riding to an inn at Charing Cross to demand it. It is unlikely that King Edward expected an armed response, but it does show how far his wife’s influence had turned him against the Neville family. The name ‘Charing Cross’ may be a corruption of ‘Chère Reine’ (Dear Queen) Cross, named after the commemorative crosses raised by Edward I after the death of his beloved wife Eleanor. Or that story could have been conflated with ‘Cierring’, an Anglo-Saxon word for a bend in a road or river. History truly is a collection of stories – and sometimes a mingling of fact and fiction.

It is also true that Edward sent Warwick to France and then concluded a deal of trade and mutual military support with Burgundy, then an autonomous dukedom, while Warwick was away. It can never be known if Edward might have accepted King Louis XI as his ally. From the start, the English king seemed to favour the dukes of Burgundy and Brittany – anyone, in fact, who was willing to snub the French court. It is speculation, but Edward had been successful on battlefields in Wales and at Towton. It is not beyond belief that the warrior-king of England dreamed of another Agincourt and winning back lands so recently lost.

A Burgundian delegation came to England and were there much flattered and praised. Anthony Woodville fought a famous, violent, two-day demonstration joust with their champion, the man splendidly named ‘the Bastard of Burgundy’. In Paris, Warwick was humiliated once again – and more importantly, King Louis had been publicly scorned. The French king who had earned his nickname of ‘the Universal Spider’, began to consider the problem of Edward and how to solve it.

It is true that Margaret of Anjou spent some time in Paris around this period. It is not known if she and Warwick had any contact at this stage.

For Warwick, the years of Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville had resulted in a string of personal and public humiliations. The final straw was King Edward forbidding George, Duke of Clarence, from marrying Isabel Neville. From Warwick’s point of view, it was a perfect match, a rise in status to offset the extraordinary wealth of his
daughter’s inheritance. For King Edward, it was a union that could have produced sons to threaten his heirs. The house of York had risen to rule over an older line: he could not possibly let George, Duke of Clarence, create
another
royal bloodline that was wealthier than his own.

In addition, it is reasonable to suppose that Elizabeth would rather have found a Woodville for Isabel Neville, perhaps one of her sons. Age difference was clearly not an issue and letting such a plum as the Warwick fortune fall into another’s hands was never going to happen with Elizabeth’s consent. The only way left was for Warwick, Clarence and Isabel to defy King Edward. They travelled to Calais and Warwick’s daughter married George of Clarence in 1469, against Edward’s wishes and command.

In the first two books, I have tried to explore the sheer awe felt by some for the person of the king of England. It is the only thing that explains why King Henry remained alive despite being captured by York and held for months at a time. Yet it is also true of human nature that ‘awe’ is less likely when one has witnessed a boy growing up and becoming king. No man is a prophet in his own home – and Warwick was sufficiently exasperated with Edward and his wife to throw it all into the air and arrange Edward’s capture and imprisonment. The history is slightly more complex, though the essence is that they incited and encouraged rebellion in the north to draw Edward out – and then ambushed him. George Neville, Archbishop of York, was indeed part of that capture, as was John Neville, then Marquess Montagu. It is true that Elizabeth Woodville’s father, Earl Rivers, and her brother, Sir John Woodville, were both executed after a rough mockery of a
trial. The Neville family had been robbed and battered. Their revenge was both spectacular and savage.

The exact length of Edward IV’s captivity is unknown, but for the summer of 1469, Richard Neville, Earl Warwick, had
two
kings of England in his custody. Henry of Lancaster was in the Tower of London; Edward of York was in Warwick Castle and Middleham Castle. That unbelievable situation was what earned Richard Neville, Earl Warwick, the name of ‘Kingmaker’, above all else. He must have assumed he would benefit from imprisoning Edward, though his true intentions can never be known. Was it to put George of Clarence on the throne? To restore King Henry? There were a number of options and Warwick chose none of them because the country went up in flames. After an entire life seeing Henry reduced to an unloved and useless pawn, it is not so surprising, but Warwick
completely
misjudged the public response.

Rebellions, murders, arson and civil unrest spread across the country with extraordinary speed. Elizabeth Woodville had something to do with it, without a doubt, but there were also tens of thousands of soldiers who had fought with Edward at Towton. Only nine years later, they were still alive and did not take kindly to Edward being imprisoned.

Warwick had vastly overreached. In September 1469, he came to Edward and offered him his release in exchange for a complete pardon and amnesty for everything that had happened before. Edward had always been a man of his word and Warwick clearly trusted him and believed the deal would hold. To a modern reader, it is quite surprising
that he honestly thought it would, or perhaps he just had no other choice.

I suspect the extent of anti-Neville unrest would not have been recorded by Warwick or anyone else. He could easily have been at his wit’s end and in fear of his life. For once, his huge number of estates estates proved a burden, impossible to protect against organized attacks, vulnerable to night burnings and local unrest. I imagine Warwick had few choices left when he decided to trust Edward’s word and release the king.

It is to Edward’s credit that he did
not
break the pardon and amnesty he granted. From five centuries on, it is impossible to know if what happened next was a plan to find a loophole in the pardon, or something new. After a few months of peace, Lancastrian rebels apparently named Warwick and George of Clarence as traitors, though we will never know for sure if those were true accusations. The country was still simmering with unrest and dozens of small uprisings. This was new information – and potentially a crime not covered by the amnesty Edward had agreed before. He duly ordered the capture of both men – and they chose to run for the coast with Isabel, then in the last stages of pregnancy. Warwick’s first plan was to reach his great ship
Trinity
, berthed in Southampton. He was blocked from reaching it by Anthony Woodville, by then an admiral for Edward of York. Warwick, his wife Anne, George, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel, Duchess of Clarence all took a smaller ship to France. Crucially, Edward had already sent word to far-flung commanders that Warwick and Clarence were to be refused all aid, vital letters that were sent to both Ireland and the fortress of Calais.

They were forbidden entry to Calais by the garrison
there. The four of them were left stranded, trapped at sea with both England and France blocked to them. Isabel gave birth on board and it is true that the infant girl was either stillborn or died in the spray and the cold, Warwick’s first grandchild. His reaction and his rage over these events would drive him into the arms of Margaret of Anjou – and shake England to the foundations.

Conn Iggulden
London, 2015

Acknowledgements

The loss of my father in September 2014 was a terrible blow. Given that he was ninety-one, it should not have been unexpected, but it was. The trees of your childhood don’t just fall – until they do, and the world no longer holds them.

Without the support of a few key people, this book would certainly never have been finished. With their support, I think it could be the best I’ve written. It helped that I was writing Edward of York and Richard, Earl Warwick, right after they lost their fathers, five hundred years ago.

I give thanks then, for my agent, Victoria Hobbs, my brother David Iggulden, my friend Clive Room and chief of all, my wife Ella.

Conn Iggulden