Текст книги "The Red Rose of Anjou"

Автор книги: Jean Plaidy

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When he returned he was excited. He believed he had something to say which would give the King great pleasure.

His friend the Abbot had given him a monk’s habit. He suggested that at dawn the King and his friends leave the house. When they had gone a little way the King could change into the habit. He could then leave his friends and present himself to the Abbot. The Abbot would know who he was but no one else would. The Abbot would naturally offer hospitality and perhaps he could mingle with the monks and li>‘e as one of them.

Nothing could have delighted Henry more. He was all eagerness; his friends had never seen him so enthusiastic and ready to embrace a plan.

All went well. He arrived at the monastery, was welcomed by the Abbot and took his place with the monks.

He had not been wrong. This was the life for him. He fitted into it with ease. He lived by the bells. The silence preserved in the monastery was helpful to him and made it easier for him to hide his identity; and as he had often Lived Like a monk, no one would have guessed he was not one.

A few months passed in this happy state but as it was supposed that he was on a visit from another monastery he could not stay too long.

The Abbot however could warn an Abbot of another monastery of the King’s coming and he could rest there for another short period before he passed on.

Henry was happy to do this. He left the monastery with many protestations of gratitude; and then began his wandering life. He realized that none of his sojourns could be long but when he felt the walls of a monastery close about him, when he was in his austere cell he was happier than he had ever been anywhere else.

‘If I could have chosen this life,’ he said, ‘I should have been a happy man.’

The time was passing. Sometimes he thought of Margaret in France and Edward who was growing into a man. They seemed far away. Perhaps in his heart he did not want Margaret to come back. He did not want the conflict to start again.

At length he came to what was known as the Religious House of Whalley in Ribblesdale and here he found refuge as he had in other places of this kind. Eagerly he embraced the life; praying, working in the fields, whatever it was he was happy doing it. Sometimes he completely forgot that other life of ceremonies and arduous duties which he had never felt fit to perform.

‘Oh God,’ he prayed, ‘I thank Thee for bringing me to this rest. If it be Thy Will let me spend the rest of my days in such good life.’

Alas for Henry, his prayers were not to be answered.

Beside the religious house of Whalley was Waddington Hall and when Dr. Manning, Dean of Windsor, was visiting there he asked the honour of the King’s company. Henry accepted the invitation and set out in his monk’s robes for the Hall.

Had he been more observant he would have noticed that for some days one of the monks had been taking a great interest in him. The eyes of this monk were always on him, but Henry had not noticed this. The fact was that the monk was becoming more and more convinced of Henry’s identity, and it occurred to him that if the visiting monk were indeed the one-time King this fact should be made known to those it might interest. The country had been for some years under the rule of Edward the Fourth and no one was going to deny that life had not improved considerably. The French woman was heartily disliked throughout the country and there were constant rumours that she was awaiting an opportunity to return. If this were so this monk was playing a part. He was in hiding waiting for the time when his virago of a wife returned to plunge England into war again.

The monk was now certain that the man he was watching was Henry. He went to Sir John Tempest to whom Waddington Hall belonged. Sir John, with his son-in-law Thomas Talbot, was immediately determined to act. If this monk were indeed the King in disguise, there would be a good reward for his apprehension, moreover it was for the good of the country to have him under surveillance, they assured themselves. He was coming to Waddington Hall that he might converse with the Dean in their dining-hall. They must act promptly. They did not wish to be accused of complicity in any plots to restore Henry to the throne. It was so easy to be caught up in these matters, so easy for innocent men to be called traitors.

So Sir John Tempest with his son-in-law, Thomas Talbot, and Sir James Harrington, who lived at Brierley near Barnsley and was a man who had been to Court, put their heads together. They would take the King while he sat at dinner in Waddington Hall and from there transport him to London, sending messengers on to King Edward and the Earl of Warwick telling them what they had done. They had no doubt that they would be rewarded for their loyalty and prompt action.

Thus while Henry sat at dinner in earnest conversation with the Dean, some of the servants noticed a commotion without. There was one man who had served the King since his escape from Hexham and he had always regarded the King’s safety as being entrusted to him. Alert for danger he scented it immediately and even as the King was eating his frugal meal he was beside him.

‘My lord,’ he said, ‘there is no time for anything but escape. We have been betrayed.’

The Dean rose hastily. The King less so. Sometimes he felt. If they will take me, let them!

But the life of late lived in monasteries and holy places had been good. He did not want to give that up for some prison somewhere where these blessings might be denied him.

‘We should leave...just as we are...’ said his faithful servant. ‘Even now we may be too late.’

Rising from the table Henry allowed himself to be almost dragged from the hall. It was dark outside. ‘We must make for the woods,’ Henry was told.

The trees grew thickly in the woods. ‘Perhaps we could wait here until morning,’ said Henry.

His servant shook his head. ‘Nay. They will be after us. You may depend upon that. We must get as far as we can. Perhaps we could make our way to Bolton Hall.’

Bolton Hall was owned by Sir Ralph Pudsey who had already proved himself a loyal servant of the King.

‘Let us do that,’ said Henry.

They had come to the river Ribble across which were stepping stones.

‘We will cross by the Bungerley Stones,’ his servant told him and as Henry attempted to do so there was a shout close by.

‘Here they are,’ cried Thomas Talbot. ‘They did not get far.’

Henry stared with dismay. His enemies were upon him. As they crowded about him he lifted his head and demanded what they wanted of their King.

‘We must take you to King Edward, sir,’ said Talbot. ‘He wants to know where you are.’

‘It is a sorry state of affairs when the anointed King is treated thus by his subjects.’

The men were silent. They felt overawed. But they were determined to present their quarry to King Edward.

###

It was depressing riding south. They did not show him the respect due to their King. He looked back with longing to those days he had spent in seclusion. Oh for the peace of the holy life! Oh for the comfort of prayer!

They had come to Islington and there waiting for him, having been advised of his arrival, was the Earl of Warwick displaying the Ragged Staff and riding like a king so that an observer must have thought their roles reversed. It is he who comes as a king, thought Henry. But then he is a maker and unmaker of kings. He has made Edward as surely as he has unmade me.

‘Well met, my lord,’ said Warwick.

‘Is it so? You see your King in humble fashion.’

‘I rejoice to see you, none the less. But you are King no more. Edward is our King.’

‘My father reigned as a King and so did my grandfather. I was a King in my cradle. Yet you have decided that I am no King.’

‘Edward is our King now. You are his prisoner. You must make ready to go to the Tower.’

‘And you must do with me what you will.’

‘I doubt harm will come to you if you keep your place.’

‘My place, ah! That is the sorry question. I was anointed King and I think I and others in this realm know my place.’

Warwick gave orders that Henry’s legs should be bound under his horse with leather thongs. They put a straw hat on his head and thus he rode into the City of London.

London was for Edward. Edward had brought prosperity to the country; Edward knew how to rule; he had driven the Angevin virago out of the country. So they came out to watch Henry, pale, aloof and unkingly. How different from handsome

Edward, all smiles and bonhomie, throwing his glances up at the pretty women who leaned out of the windows to cheer for him.

Henry rode forward looking ahead as though not caring what they thought of him. They had never hated him as they did his foreign wife. She was the one who had been the cause of all their troubles, but Henry had allowed her to be as she was. Henry was weak; Edward was strong. The Londoners did not have to ponder long to find out where their allegiance lay.

Some were silent; some jeered. They wished him no harm though. Poor Henry.

So he came to his room in the Tower.

Mildly he remonstrated with those who called him impostor.

‘My father was King of this realm,’ he repeated, ‘and peacefully he possessed the crown for the whole of his life. His father, my grandfather was King before him. And I as a boy, crowned almost in his cradle, was accepted as King by the whole realm and wore the crown for nearly forty years, every lord swearing homage to me as they had done to my father.’

His jailors remonstrated with him. He must be quiet. Good Edward was on the throne and was going to stay there.

It was a sad day for Henry when he had been captured. He did not see Edward, Warwick or any of the noblemen; he was left to guards.

There were many of them who thought themselves mighty to have charge of a King and be able to treat him as inferior to themselves.

Sometimes they struck him when he did not answer readily. ‘Speak up, man,’ they would shout; and marvel that they had struck a king, for King he was, though brought low. It was true that he had been anointed and crowned a King. And there they were with him at their mercy.

He rarely protested. When he did it would be to utter mildly: ‘Forsooth and forsooth, you do foully to smite a King anointed thus.’

His very meekness irritated them. If he had attempted to fight back they would have respected him more. But his manner invited their curses and neglect. They did not care what they gave him to eat and brought the remains of their dinners for him. It seemed a great joke to them. They would not bring him changes of clothes; his hair grew long; he was getting very thin and turned away from the scraps they brought him.

It would have been kinder to have taken him out to the Green and chopped off his head, thought some of the guards. But Edward was too clever for that. He was not going to have it said that he murdered the King. He had come to the throne through right of succession and conquest. Not murder. Besides there was a Prince in France and a forceful woman who might at any time raise her head.

No, the King’s blood must not be on his hands. If he died a natural death so much the better. There would be one of them out of the way. But Edward agreed with Warwick, there must be no hint of murder.

So while Margaret waited in St. Michiel for an answer to her prayers, Henry languished in the Tower, dirty, unkempt, insulted, often hungry and thirsty, finding comfort only in prayer.

THE QUARREL

At this time Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick was at the height of his powers. None could deny – perhaps not even Edward the King himself – that Warwick was the most important man in the kingdom. He was indeed the King-Maker. Edward could never have attained the crown but for Warwick; and had Warwick decided to throw in his lot with Henry, Henry would be on the throne at this time.

Life had been good to him, he conceded. Not in bringing him into the world with a fortune in his grasp; that had not been so. True he was the son of the Earl of Salisbury but his great fortune had not come from his birth.

No, life had smiled on him when he had married Anne Beauchamp, only daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick although at that time he had no notion of what great good fortune that was. At the time of his marriage two lives had stood between him and the vast Beauchamp inheritance. Anne’s brother Henry, heir of Warwick, died leaving only a daughter as his heiress and two years after her father’s death this child died. Anne was sole heiress and so everything passed to her husband, who had become Earl of Warwick and the richest nobleman in the country.

Anne had brought him a great deal but there was one thing she had failed in. He had no son. He had his two girls, Isabel and Anne – delightful creatures, but girls. And Anne could bear him no more children. Well, she had made him rich and brought him a great title so he must be content, and his two girls would be the greatest heiresses in the Kingdom.

After the first battle of St. Albans and his exploits in Calais he was accepted as one of the heroes of the age and he had become one of those legendary figures who cannot be suppressed. There might be the occasional setback...but there was nothing which could deter them for long. He could turn defeat into victory as he had after the second battle of St. Albans. Who would have believed that after suffering such a defeat—one might say a debacle—he would be riding into London and proclaiming a new King.

He had genius. There was no doubt about it. He knew it and in his cleverness had made others accept that fact.

He was the Lord of the Kingdom.

Edward would have given him any honour he needed. He only had to ask.

‘What shall it be, Richard?’ he had said. I owe so much to you.’

He had shrugged his shoulders. He could not be the King. But he was Warwick.

He said: I will be just Warwick. I think that is enough.’

Edward declared with ready satisfaction that it certainly was. No one in the kingdom should ever doubt what everyone owed to Warwick.

‘Ah, my good friend, you are right. The name Warwick is as proud as any man could wish.’

Edward had that easy charm. He liked to leave things to Warwick. Warwick was shrewd; he had the people with him. But not so much as Edward had. How they loved that golden youth in whom the marks of debauchery had not yet begun to show, but they would, Warwick knew; none could live as Edward did and remain unscathed. The people thought it was manly. God forbid! But it was a change of course after the piety of Henry. It was surprising that though people admired piety and applauded it, they soon grew heartily sick of it; and when a libertine like Edward rode through their streets and eyed the merchants’ wives and daughters the merchants seemed to like it.

There was no doubt that Edward possessed that indefinable quality called charm. That was all to the good. He was the best possible figurehead behind whom a King-Maker could work, as long as Edward did not forget that he owed his position to Warwick.

Often he told the King that he was not completely safe. True Margaret was on the continent and Henry in the Tower; but while Margaret lived they must be watchful. She had friends in France. Not only her father—poor ineffectual René, drooling over a young wife now...well, he would do that very well, Warwick was sure. They must not forget him though. He could be in a position to supply Margaret with the means to return. But the big menace was the King of France.

‘He is not so fond of Margaret as his father was,’ said Edward. I doubt he would want to be embroiled.’

‘He would like to harass us...a pastime greatly loved by the French for as long as any of us can remember.’

‘He would not want to go to war with us.’

‘He might like to help Margaret to do so. The North is ready to rise with her. Don’t forget they hid Henry all those years. He has friends up there. Edward, a marriage in the right quarter could do our cause all the good in the world.’

Edward nodded.

‘Marriage with France,’ went on Warwick tentatively.

‘Indeed yes.’ Edward was thinking of the most enchanting woman he had ever met. When he had been hunting she had suddenly appeared before him and throwing herself on her knees had begged him to restore her husband’s estates. Edward had been amazed that one so young could be a widow. Her husband she told him had been killed at the second battle of St. Albans.

Edward fell in love as rapidly and regularly as most people sat down to dinner; and because of his charm and royalty he could invariably dispense with the preliminaries of courtship. It had been different with the fair young widow. She was most elusive, so he was thinking of her and only half listening to Warwick. He knew Warwick was right, of course. He would have to marry and marry soon. He only hoped the French Princess was personable. He could not abide ugly women. But with his habitual easy-going temperament he shrugged all that aside. He would have to do his duty and that need not interfere with his enjoyment.

Warwick was saying something about negotiations with the King of France, talking a little smugly. Edward smiled inwardly. He believed Louis treated Warwick as an equal. It was amazing what store Warwick set on that.

‘No honours,’ he had said. ‘It is enough to be Warwick.’

‘Louis has changed his tune of late,’ said Warwick complacently. ‘He is aware of our strength.’

Warwick was smiling to himself. He meant his power. The wily King of France knew where the power in England lay. The man who had his respect was not so much the King as the King-Maker.

Oh yes, he could be proud. He certainly was at the pinnacle of power.

###

The King of France was indeed his friend. When his ambassador, Jean de Lannoy, arrived in England he had glittering prospects to lay before Warwick. He could work with Louis. There would be peace between their countries. They would stand against Burgundy; and they would be the firm allies which surely fortune had meant two such brilliant men to be.

And of course there should be a French marriage. Edward needed a wife. Perhaps, considered Louis, his daughter was too young. She needed more years to grow up. What of his wife’s sister. Bona of Savoy?

This would be an excellent arrangement Warwick decided. He discussed it with his brother George.

‘The King should settle into matrimony,’ he said. ‘It is very necessary for one of his temperament. He should be producing heirs instead of bastards.’

George said that this was certainly so but he wondered how the King would feel about the choice of bride. Since he had become a connoisseur of feminine charms he might be difficult to please.

‘This is a marriage, George. No need for romance. Let the King marry and produce an heir. Who knows it might even sober him a little.’

George was in full agreement. It was an excellent idea to make a marriage which would please the King of France and strengthen the friendship between their two countries.

Edward listening to the proposal displayed his usual tolerant charm.

‘Can we trust Louis?’ he asked.

‘A marriage will bring us closer to him. When can one ever completely trust one’s allies?’

‘This Bona of Savoy...’ mused Edward.

‘A lovely creature by all accounts.’

‘They always are,’ said Edward. ‘Oh well, I daresay she is fair enough.’

Warwick was pleased when he reported to George.

‘He has given his promise?’

‘He has not said in so many words that he will agree to the marriage, but he will. He will see the advantages. Edward is no fool. He loves his crown. He’ll do everything he can to keep it.’

‘Or let you keep it for him.’

‘I think he is appreciative of what I have done.’

‘I should hope so.’

‘I knew when I made him King what to expect of Edward. I shall be with him shortly. He is pausing for a brief visit to Grafton Regis to stay with Lord Rivers and after that he will join me.’

‘He seems to have become very fond of the Rivers.’

Warwick laughed. ‘I believe his latest flame is Rivers’ daughter. Woodville’s widow.’

‘A very comely woman, I believe.’

‘So you have heard of her. My dear brother the King’s path is strewn with comely women.’

###

It would not be difficult to persuade the King, he was sure. Oh, he was very sure of himself. Rising on the crest of the wave. Warwick supreme. There was no doubt that he was the power in the land. The King of France treated him as though he were royal; he corresponded with him—not with Edward. All over the world he was known as the ruler of England, the power behind the glittering figure of the King, they must deal with him if they wanted friendship with England. Who would be a King when one could be a King-Maker.

He had made sure that his family shared his prosperity. That was wisdom. When he needed support they were at hand to give it. George of course as Chancellor was rich and powerful. John was now Warden of the East Marches; his two sisters had married into influential families, one to William Lord Hastings who was one of the King’s intimate friends and the other to Thomas Lord Stanley, member of a powerful northern family. He had scattered his influence. He believed that if he measured his possessions and his influence against those of the King he would be the richer.

And Edward was amenable. He seemed content to let Warwick rule. Even the King’s licentious habits were in Warwick’s favour. Better for the King to be so interested in the bed rather than politics. Not that Edward was a fool in those matters. There was strength in him and if he did not allow himself to be so often diverted by his pursuit of women he would have been a power to reckon with. So be grateful again, thought Warwick. All the same he must not allow Edward to become too friendly with men like Hastings, Stafford and Herbert. It would not do for him to get it into his head that he could do without Warwick. Not that he had, but he was growing up. It was easier to deal with a boy of seventeen than it was with a man rising into his twenties.

Edward was not a vindictive man. He could easily forgive his enemies; and one who had fought against him one year could become a friend the next. He was even ready to cultivate the young Duke of Somerset whose father had been one of the chief Lancastrians and Edward’s greatest enemy.

‘Unlike the scriptures, I do not visit the sins of the fathers on the third and fourth generation,’ said Edward. ‘If a man likes to come to me and be my friend, I shall be ready to forget what his father has done.’

And he did attract men to him; that ease of manner, that charm, those outstanding good looks brought him admirers and friends as well as a host of mistresses.

He was becoming very fond of the Rivers family, Warwick noticed. Why, Warwick could not understand. Surely it was not because he had at one time taken a fane y to Rivers’ daughter?

‘If he is going to favour the families of his mistresses,’ he joked to George, ‘we shall have so many favoured ones in the land that favours will be the older of the day. But we must get him married. I shall get an answer from him at the very next council meeting.’

###

It was at this council meeting that Warwick received his first intimation that the relationship between himself and Edward had changed.

There were many of Edward’s new and intimate friends present, and Warwick did not realize at first that they were there to rally round the King, who gave no indication to Warwick that anything had changed between them.

Everyone knew what hopes Warwick pinned on friendship with the King of France and how he prided himself on his ability to handle Louis. Therefore the first shock came when Edward declared that he did not trust Louis of France.

‘We have heard from our good friend the Earl of Warwick.’ said the King, ‘that Louis is eager for an alliance with us. But it is a fact that Pierre de Brézé, who is Margaret of Anjou’s warmest and most faithful supporter, is highly favoured at the Court of France.’

‘This is not so,’ cried Warwick. ‘When Louis came to the throne Pierre de Brézé was imprisoned in Loches...’

‘And quickly released,’ retorted Edward. ‘Moreover 1 have it from one of our French prisoners that Louis is plotting against us.’

‘That is nonsense,’ cried Warwick, shattered not so much by these accusations as by the fact that Edward had brought them up before the Council without first consulting him. ‘I shall send a despatch to the King of France immediately informing him of the allegations which have been made against him and asking him to prove to you all that they are nonsense.’

He looked defiantly at the King who met his eyes with a smile as he said that as usual the Earl of Warwick had got to the root of the matter and if he thought that was the right action then so must it be.

Warwick breathed more freely. It was not really a revolt. It was just an opinion he had expressed. He had not meant to go against him deliberately.

‘And now,’ said Warwick, ‘there is the question of the King’s marriage. This must be settled. I hope very nun h that the King will agree with me.’

Again that charming, affable smile. ‘I do, my lord. Indeed I do. Nothing would suit me better than to be married.’

‘Your subjects will be delighted,’ cried Warwick.

‘It may be,’ said the King, ‘that my choice may not be 10 the liking of everyone present. No matter, I shall do as I like in this.’

‘My lord,’ said Warwick beaming with pleasure, ‘tell us who is your chosen bride.’

He was certain now that all was well. He had discussed the marriage with Bona of Savoy, and Edward had understood what advantages it could bring.

I hen Warwick could not believe he had heard correctly. Had the King gone mad?

He was saying: ‘I have chosen my bride. She will be Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of Lord Rivers.’

A deep silence fell upon them. Warwick sat as though numb.

At length George Neville spoke. ‘The lady is virtuous and very beautiful, my lord,’ he said, ‘but is she not too far below you for marriage?’

‘She is indeed virtuous and beautiful,’ agreed the King. ‘As for her lowly station, praise be to God that is a matter which can easily be remedied.’

George was trying to divine what his brother was thinking. He knew that he could have had no idea that the King was going to announce this.

He stammered: ‘I know her mother was the Dowager Duchess of Bedford but she is not the daughter of a duke...nor an earl even. How would such a marriage be received, my lord? What would other rulers think?’

‘They shall be at liberty to think what they will. I will have Elizabeth Woodville or no one.’

‘My lord!’ Everyone was intent on Warwick who had now risen to his feet. ‘I know well your jovial nature. You are amusing yourself at our expense. You do not mean this, of course...’

Edward was still smiling but there was a strong note in his voice.

‘I mean it,’ he said. ‘I mean it with all my heart. Stop your efforts to persuade me. In any case they are too late. Elizabeth Woodville and I were married at Grafton Regis...’

Warwick sank to his chair. He said nothing. The beats of his heart were like hammer strokes. He could have struck that smiling, handsome face.

He said nothing, but he knew it was over.

The puppet had turned into a man and was no longer his to control.

###

When Warwick left the council chamber he had a great desire to be alone to think. In all his life he had never felt so shattered. That Edward had acted so was bad enough but it was some time since that May day at Grafton Regis and he had been keeping his marriage secret all this time...and meanwhile he, Warwick, had been negotiating with the King of France. Edward had humiliated him in the extreme. Not only had he broken free but he had actually kept this all important secret from the man who had made him.

Warwick was not sure how to act.

His brother George came to him in great anxiety. For some moments they looked at each other, unable to express their thoughts. George was very worried.

At length he said: ‘What shall you do?’

‘He is determined to act as he fancies. It is this woman. She must be a witch.’

‘He is easily bewitched by women.’

‘He has had so many he must feel very deeply to have been dragged into this by this one. Think what it means. He allowed me to negotiate with Louis while he was actually married. I shall be the laughing stock of all France and England.’

‘Not you, brother. Louis will understand that we have a feckless stallion to deal with.’

‘I shall never forget the way he stood there smiling at me...with that look in his eyes. "I will do what pleases me. I shall take no heed of the needs of my country, of the efforts the man who put the crown on my head made to do just that." Oh George, what base ingratitude!’

‘Indeed it is so,’ agreed George.

‘And think of the implications.’

‘I am thinking of that and wondering how you will act. Do you think it would be better to say nothing just at first? After all the deed is done. They are married. Nothing can change that...save divorce. You behaved with admirable calm at the Council.’

‘I was shocked into silence.’

‘That is not such a bad thing for it might have been dangerous for you to have spoken your thoughts.’

‘By God if I had...’

‘Yes...And we all were with you. This is an act of folly which I doubt not the King will learn to his cost and when he does it is to you he will turn, brother. He will wish that he had listened to you.’

Warwick was silent. George was right, of course. George had a clear, incisive mind. He would have to accept this low-born woman as the Queen. And in time it might well be that having seen his folly the King would turn back to him. He sighed deeply. Then he said: ‘You are right, George. I must be calm. I must say nothing. I must appear to accept this woman as Queen.’

Thus when Edward came to him smiling as though there had been no rift between them he agreed to present the Queen to the lords in Reading Abbey.

‘My brother Clarence will walk on one side of Elizabeth and you, Richard, on the other. That pleases me. My brother and my closest friend to welcome her. She will be so happy...and so shall I.’