MARGARET OF ANJOU AND HER SON EDWARD
It is necessary to look back a few years in order to consider the lives
of the mother and son who now, for a time, come prominently into
connection with the life story of Richard Duke of Gloucester.
Margaret, second daughter of Rene of Anjou and Isabelle of Lorraine,
was born at Pont-a-Mousson on March 23, 1429, and baptized at Toul. As
a child she went with her mother to Capua and Naples. Provence was
also one of her homes, but she returned to Lorraine in her fifteenth
year. She was only sixteen when the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk came
to Nancy to demand her hand for Henry VI. of England, and in November
1444 she was married by proxy amidst great rejoicings; for the event
secured a lasting peace with France. There was a great tournament in
the Place de Carriere at Nancy to celebrate the event, at which Charles
VII. and many of the chief nobles of France were present. Charles
tilted with King Rene, bearing on his shield the serpent of the fairy
Melusina. The daisy was young Margaret's cognizance, and Pierre de
Breze, Lord of Varenne, and Seneschal of Normandy, maintained the
pre-eminence of the 'daisye flower' against all comers in the Place de
Carriere.[1] This was {54} no passing sentiment. Two at least in that
brilliant throng remained true to the fair princess to the bitter end,
Pierre de Breze and the Duchess of Suffolk.
Margaret was not only very beautiful, she was endowed with rare gifts
of intellect, which had been cultivated by travel in Italy and
Provence, and through communion with her accomplished father. She set
out for England attended by the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk and a train
of nobles. On her way she supped with the Duke of York at Mantes, and
reached Honfleur on April 3, 1445. Thence she sailed across to
Portsmouth, where she slept at the Maison Dieu. She was then taken in
a row-boat to Southampton, but her marriage was delayed for some time
by an illness. Henry VI., who was in his twenty-fourth year,[2] had
been waiting for his bride at Southwick. The marriage took place at
Titchfield Abbey on May 30.
Never was a young girl placed in a more wretched position. Married to
a poor feeble creature who could be neither companion nor protector,
surrounded by self-seeking intriguers, living in a foreign country with
few to sympathise with or care for her; the years that followed her
marriage could not fail to embitter the brave heart that no misfortune
had power to crush. For years she lived on, the memories of the bright
and happy court of her father gradually fading, while the cruel facts
of her miserable position hardened round her.
It was in the eighth year after her marriage that Margaret became a
mother. Her whole soul opened to the loving influence. All her
pent-up womanly feelings found a vent. She at last had something to
live for. Her brilliant intellect, her fortitude and {55} devotion,
her great powers of endurance, all she had, her whole being, became
centred in this child--the one thing she had to love. For him she
would face dangers, dare more than most men in perils and hardships,
and, if need be, would become as a tigress at bay in defence of her
young.
The prince was born at Westminster on October 13, 1453, being just one
year younger than Richard. It was at a time when Henry VI. was in one
of his fits of complete mental derangement which came upon him
periodically, as they did upon his grandfather Charles VI. of France,
from whom no doubt he inherited them. The Duke of York was
administering the realm. The child was proclaimed Prince of Wales and
Earl of Chester. His mother was just twenty-four, and Henry was in his
thirty-third year. The Queen had lost her mother, to whom she was
fondly attached, on the previous February 28. In hopes that the name
would endear her boy to the people, Margaret gave him that of Edward.
He was baptized by Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by
Waynflete of Winchester, the Duke of Somerset and Duchess of
Buckingham[3] being sponsors. He was also created a Knight of the
Garter.
From his very cradle the child was in the midst of war and turmoil.
The misgovernment of the Beauforts had strengthened the legitimate
claim of the Duke of York, which would never have had a chance against
the parliamentary title of an able and popular king. But the Yorkists
now had to reckon with the gifted and intrepid Queen, whose whole soul,
and whose every gift of mind and body, were concentrated with fierce
devotion {56} on the defence of her child's birthright. Nothing but
death could make her desist from efforts on his behalf.
Young Edward was only in his second year when the first battle of St.
Albans was fought, on May 22, 1455. His mother had taken him to
Greenwich, where she received the news of the death of Somerset and her
other supporters, and of the wound received by Henry. During the
following four years there were hollow reconciliations, but a death
struggle was inevitable; and in June 1459 the court left London for
Warwick, virtually to take the field. The child Edward was only five
years old. He was destined never to see London again.
Margaret strove to make the child popular with the people, and to
excite a feeling of loyalty for him. He was named Edward to remind
them of the king who added to the glory of England at Cressy and
Poitiers. She adopted the badge of Edward III. as that of the Prince,
and the pretty little boy, with long golden hair, distributed silver
swans among the people wherever he went. The Queen could not bear him
out of her sight, yet her dauntless eagerness would not allow her to be
absent from scenes of strife, when her child's future depended on the
result. Mother and child looked down on the battle of Blore Heath from
the tower of Muccleston Church, and when Lord Audley was routed they
fled to Eccleshall Castle. Then there were a few months of dawning
hope, which was crushed at Northampton. Again Margaret watched the
fortunes of the day with her child. She heard of the treachery of
Grey, she saw the gallant young Edward of York leading his men over the
trenches, and that the day was lost. The King fell into the hands of
her enemies.
On the evening of that July 9, 1460, she rode away {57} with her
beloved child, a homeless fugitive. Between Eccleshall and Chester she
was made prisoner by a party led by one John Cleger, a servant of Lord
Stanley. Every instinct was on the alert when danger approached her
child. She watched an opportunity while her captors were rifling the
baggage, and escaped with little Edward in her arms. The adventures
through which they passed are not recorded, but she was eventually
joined by the Duke of Somerset, who conducted her to a safe refuge at
Harlech Castle in Wales.
The Duke of York, with Henry in his power, induced the Parliament to
alter the succession, and the claims of Henry's son were ignored.
Henry VI. wrote a letter to his wife, ordering her to accept the new
settlement, and to join him in London with her child. This must have
been one of the bitterest moments of her unhappy life. But no reverse
could daunt this romantic heroine. She went by sea from Harlech to
Scotland, and thence called upon all her supporters in the north to
rally round the standard of King Henry. Margaret's appeal met with a
prompt answer, and on the last day of the year 1460 the Duke of York
lost his life at Wakefield, overwhelmed by superior numbers. The road
was thus open to London, and Margaret made a vigorous effort to recover
the birthright of her child. On February 17, 1461, she won the second
battle of St. Albans and recovered the person of her husband; but she
failed to induce the citizens of London to open their gates to her, and
was obliged to retreat northwards. The Queen and her child appear to
have been in the thick of the fight; and this was the third battle at
which Edward had been present before he had reached his eighth year.
The royal party retreated to York, while preparations {58} were made
for the final and decisive struggle between the two factions. On March
4, 1461, the young Earl of March was proclaimed King, and on the 29th
he won the crowning victory of Towton.
Queen Margaret, with her husband and child, had remained at York, and
there she received the news of the destruction of her hopes. There was
nothing left for her but instant and rapid flight. The fugitives from
Towton told her to mount at once, and the unhappy family, with a few
faithful friends, galloped out of Bootham Bar, and plunged into the
forest of Galtres. The Dukes of Somerset and Exeter and Lord Roos
attended them. They escaped to Berwick and thence to Edinburgh, where
Henry found a suitable abode with the Grey Friars. Margaret passed the
following winter in Scotland, but in the spring, seeing no present hope
from her English adherents, who appeared to be crushed, she resolved to
seek help from abroad. Taking the little prince with her, she sailed
from Kirkcudbright in April 1462, and landed in Brittany, whence she
proceeded to the court of her cousin Louis XI., who was then at Chinon.
It was resolved that some assistance should be given to the undaunted
heroine in men and money. Her old champion Pierre de Breze now flew to
the succour of the forlorn Margaret in her distress. He organized an
expedition, and in October 1462 he sailed to the coast of
Northumberland with the Queen and her son. They landed at Tynemouth,
but the foreign levies were repulsed and fled to their ships,
abandoning de Breze and the Queen. The fugitives were afterwards cut
to pieces by troops under Sir Robert Ogle when they landed at Holy
Island. De Breze, with Margaret and her child, escaped from Tynemouth
in a fishing boat and, after a {59} perilous voyage, they landed safely
at Berwick, which was then a Scottish port.
In Scotland there was but a cold welcome for Queen Margaret. It was
necessary to make her way to Bamborough, which still held out for her,
and there, abandoning present hope, the Queen and her child embarked to
commence a life of exile in April 1463. They were accompanied by a
band of faithful friends who would not desert them in their extremity.
Chief among them was the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Fortescue.
The Duke of Somerset, now a double-dyed traitor, with Sir Hugh Percy
and others then rose in rebellion, and captured the castles of Alnwick
and Bamborough. The Marquis Montagu, followed by Edward IV. in person,
advanced rapidly from the south to put down the new insurrection. On
April 25, 1464, the insurgents were defeated at Hedgley Moor, and soon
afterwards the rest of Somerset's forces entrenched themselves near
Hexham. Poor Henry was brought from Edinburgh, where he was quite
contented with his Grey Friars, to the camp. The entrenchments were
thrown up on Lyvel's plain, near Dowelwater, and Somerset awaited the
attack. On May 8, 1464, Montagu came in sight, assaulted the position,
and, after a desperate resistance, carried it with great slaughter.
The Duke of Somerset, Lords Roos and Hungerford were taken and
beheaded, Henry galloped off on a swift horse in the direction of the
Scottish Border. He concealed himself in the west of Yorkshire for a
year, but was captured at Bolton Hall in June 1465 and taken to the
Tower.[4]
{60}
Meanwhile, Queen Margaret encountered a furious gale of wind which
lasted for twelve hours, but her vessel at length reached the Flemish
port of Sluys. Thence she proceeded by Lille and Hesdin to the Court
of the Duke of Burgundy at St. Pol. Here the exiles were hospitably
received and supplied with money, and, after some stay, they went on to
the castle of Koeur-la-Petite near St. Mihiel, on the Meuse. King Rene
had assigned this castle as the residence of his daughter and grandson,
with their followers.
No boy who had only reached his eleventh year ever went through such
vicissitudes as Edward of Lancaster. He had been at four pitched
battles, had ridden over hundreds of miles, had been seized by robbers,
had wandered in trackless forests, had passed many nights on the bare
ground, and in open boats. He had made hairbreadth escapes, and had
suffered privations and hardships. Few children could have survived
such a life. He must have had a robust frame combined with the high
courage of his race. Through all, and protecting him at every step, he
had his heroic mother as his companion; surrounding and pervading his
life with her devoted love. Such experiences must have left a deep
impression on the boy's character. It was a wild and turbulent opening
for the young life, but now at last there was to be a brief interval of
rest. For a few years he was to live more peaceably, receiving
instruction and enjoying some pleasures, before destiny hurried him to
a violent death.
St. Mihiel is a small town on the right bank of the Meuse, in the
diocese of Verdun and Duchy of Bar. Near it there are enormous rocks
overhanging the river, called Les Falaises de St. Mihiel. In the
fifteenth {61} century there was cultivation along the river banks,
while extensive forests covered the Argonne mountains further back.
Nearly opposite St. Mihiel, on the left bank of the river, was the old
castle of Koeur-la-Petite, which Rene gave to his daughter Margaret[5];
and he contributed to her support as far as his narrow means would
allow. Here she dwelt for the five succeeding years, watching the
growth and education of her boy, and enjoying more happiness than she
had known since her ill-fated marriage. She was within a few miles of
Pont-a-Mousson, the place of her birth, and often saw her beloved
father, and her sister Iolanthe.
Young Edward was devoted to field sports and martial exercises. His
companions were the sons of knights and esquires who had remained
faithful to his mother; and he loved to gallop with them over the
valley, and to exercise with sword and lance. So much of his time was
passed in these outdoor exercises that, as his years increased, the
graver advisers of his mother began to think that he should give rather
more of his attention to the acquisition of learning.
Among the exiles was the most learned and accomplished lawyer who sat
on the English bench during the fifteenth century, and the young prince
enjoyed the advantage of his companionship and instruction. John
Fortescue of Ebrington was born in 1394, was educated at Exeter
College, and became Lord Chief Justice in 1442. Considering the
parliamentary title of the Lancastrian King not only good in itself,
but even better than a merely hereditary title, he became a steady
adherent of Margaret of Anjou. He wrote a treatise supporting the
claim of the Lancastrians on principles of constitutional law; while
his presence in {62} their camp gave judicial countenance to the appeal
to arms. During his exile he mainly resided at St. Mihiel, in
attendance on the little court of Koeur-la-Petite, and superintended
the education of the prince. He was anxious to impart a knowledge of
England and of English constitutional law to a prince who might some
day have to rule over freedom-loving Englishmen, but who left his
country when he was too young to recollect much about it. Fortescue
has related the occasion of these studies being commenced, and the
progress that was made.
'The Prince,' says the aged Chief Justice, 'as he grew up, applied
himself wholly to martial exercises. He was often mounted on fiery and
wild horses which he did not fear to urge on with the spur. Sometimes
with his lance, sometimes with his sword, he made it his diversion to
assault the young gentlemen, his attendants, according to the rules of
military discipline.' In this Sir John Fortescue encouraged him, but
he also urged him to study law, quoting Deuteronomy xvii. 18, 19. The
boy replied that, although he ought to read the Divine law, it did not
follow that he should study human laws. He said this thoughtfully, and
looking very intently at the old judge. Fortescue answered that human
laws were also sacred, that they were no other than rules whereby the
perfect notion of justice could be determined, and that this justice
must be the subject of the royal care. Quoting Wisdom i. 1, he said,
'Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Love righteousness, ye judges
of the earth. To love justice,' he concluded, 'you must acquire a
competent knowledge of the laws.' Prince Edward was convinced by the
discourse of his venerable tutor. He said, 'You have overcome me, good
Chancellor, with your {63} agreeable discourse, and have kindled within
my breast a thirst for a knowledge of the law.' The boy candidly
confessed that he did not wish to pass all his younger years in such
studies. Then Sir John Fortescue explained to him the amount of legal
knowledge that was necessary for a prince. In one year he could
acquire sufficient acquaintance with the laws of England, and at the
same time he could continue to inure himself to those martial exercises
to which his natural inclination prompted him so much. 'Still make
your diversion as it best please you, at your leisure,' said the tutor.
After this conversation, the aged judge of seventy-five and the young
prince of fifteen devoted some hours of each day to a study of the
English Constitution. These lectures, in the form of dialogues, were
afterwards embodied by Fortescue in a treatise entitled 'De Laudibus
legum Angliae,' which was first printed in 1537. Edward began by asking
his instructor to satisfy him that the laws of England were better
adapted for the government of that kingdom than the civil law of the
Holy Roman Empire. Fortescue proceeded to establish this point,
specially dwelling on the fact that the English statutes were not made
by the will of the Kings, but were enacted by the concurrent consent of
the whole people, by their representatives in Parliament. He then
explained the territorial division of England into counties, the duties
of sheriffs, the method of empannelling juries, the procedure in civil
and criminal causes. The boy approved highly of the system of trial by
jury, the jurors being men chosen from among neighbours who knew the
country and people. 'I know of myself,' he remarked, 'more certainly
what is doing at this time in the Barrois where I reside, than what is
doing in England.'
{64}
On another day the Chief Justice illustrated the good results of the
English Constitution by comparing the condition of England with that of
France ruled by a despotism. 'In the land of England,' he said, 'there
are no wolves nor bears. The grazing lands are enclosed with hedgerows
and ditches and planted with trees which fence the herds and flocks
from bleak winds and sultry heat. There are many franklins and yeomen,
of estates sufficient to make substantial juries, not a few spending
100_l._ a year and more. Other countries are not in such a happy
situation, and not so well stored with inhabitants.' The prince then
remarked that he could understand how the wealth and populousness of
England had been caused by the superior excellence of her laws. But a
doubt about the number of jurors had occurred to his youthful mind. He
said, 'Although this method of sifting out the truth highly pleases me,
yet there rests this doubt with me. Our blessed Saviour says: "It is
written in your law that the testimony of two men is true" (John viii.
17), and again in Matthew xviii. 16.' Fortescue answered that our jury
law did not contradict this, for if the testimony of two be true, _a
fortiori_ that of twelve ought to be presumed to be so. 'The more
always contains in it that which is less.' Besides in England some
cases may be proved before two only, such as facts occurring on the
high seas, and proceedings before the Lord Constable and Earl Marshal.
On another occasion, having previously shown that the prosperity of
England was due to laws agreed to by the people, Fortescue illustrated
the evils of despotic power by the condition of France. 'You will
remember,' he said, 'that you saw in France how the villages are {65}
so much oppressed by the King's soldiers that you could scarcely be
accommodated in your travels. The troops pay for nothing, and treat
the people barbarously if they are not satisfied. Thus the poor people
are exposed to great calamities. The King of France will allow no one
to use salt, but what is bought of himself at his own arbitrary price.
All growers of vines must give a fourth to the King. All the towns pay
the King great yearly sums for his men-at-arms; so that the peasants
live in great hardships and misery. They wear no woollen. Their
clothing consists of little short jerkins of sackcloth, no trowse but
from the knees upwards, and legs exposed and naked. The women all go
barefoot. The people eat not meat, except the fat of bacon in their
soup. Nor are the gentry much better off. If an accusation is brought
against them, they are examined in private, and perhaps never more
heard of.
'In England it is very different. No one can abide in another man's
house without his leave, or take his goods, except the King by his
purveyors at a reasonable price. The King cannot put on taxes, nor
alter the laws, nor make new ones. The English never drink water
except for penance. They eat all sorts of flesh and fish. They are
clothed throughout in good woollens; and are provided with all sorts of
household goods. An Englishman cannot be sued except before the
ordinary judge.' Having drawn this contrast between the French and
English, the old judge continued: 'These advantages are due to the
political mixed government which prevails in England. Those Kings who
have wished to change it preferred ambition, luxury, and impotent
passion to the good of the State. Remember that the king is given for
the sake of the kingdom, not the kingdom for the sake of the king.'
{66}
Edward, although he frequently intervened with pertinent questions,
showing that he was giving close attention to the subject, fully
concurred in the arguments of his tutor, and must have derived great
benefit from this course of studies. He was impressed with the duties
of an English king, with the limited character of his power, and with
the importance of a parliamentary title. Fortescue also began to
occupy the young Prince in the active transaction of affairs of State.
Edward himself wrote a despatch to Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormonde,
who was in Portugal representing the cause of the House of Lancaster to
King Alfonso V.,[6] and he was acquainted with the proceedings of Sir
John Fortescue when he made journeys to the court of Louis XI.
The residence at Koeur-la-Petite lasted for five years, 1465-69. The
peaceful home was broken up through the treachery of the turbulent and
self-seeking Earl of Warwick. Exasperated with Edward IV., owing to
his marriage and connexion with the Woodville faction, Warwick had
resolved to abandon the cause with which he was connected by ties of
relationship and by life-long service. He had married his daughter
Isabel to the Duke of Clarence without the King's consent, and had
alienated that vacillating prince from his brother. He came to France
with the Countess, his two daughters Isabel and Anne, and Clarence: and
proposed to King Louis to espouse the cause of his cousin Margaret, and
to restore Henry to the throne. The fear of an alliance between Edward
IV. and the Duke of Burgundy caused Louis to entertain Warwick's
scheme. But it was most distasteful to Margaret. Much as she {67}
longed for the restoration to her child of his birthright, she found it
difficult to accept such aid. Warwick had not only been the most
inveterate enemy of her family, he had also made himself personally
odious to Margaret. He was now a double-dyed traitor. His motives
were transparently selfish, and she believed neither in his new-born
loyalty nor in his ability to help her. But the persuasions of Louis
XI. and of her own relations at length induced her to come to the
French court. The Queen and her son, attended by Sir John Fortescue
and their other faithful adherents, left the happy home in the lovely
valley of the Meuse in December 1469.
Margaret arrived at Tours, where the French court then was, accompanied
by Prince Edward, King Rene, her brother John of Calabria, her sister
Iolanthe, and her brother-in-law Ferry de Vaudemont. Warwick arrived
soon afterwards, and with much reluctance Margaret consented to an
interview. Negotiations were continued for several months; and on July
15 the court moved to Angers, where the Countess of Warwick and her
daughter Anne were in attendance.
Warwick asked that Prince Edward should marry his daughter Anne, as the
reward of his assistance. At first the Queen positively refused, but
she at last gave a conditional and very unwilling assent, moved by the
importunities of Louis XI. and her relations. The marriage was not to
take place until after Henry VI. was restored to the throne and, if
Warwick failed, the agreement was at an end. 'The said marriage shall
not be perfyted until the Earl of Warwick has recovered the realm of
England for King Henry.'[7] They were never married. They {68} were,
indeed, too young, Edward being seventeen, and Anne barely fourteen.[8]
Knowing the dislike of his mother to such a union, and strongly
prejudiced against it himself, it is not likely that Edward ever took
more notice of Warwick's child than ordinary courtesy required, if
indeed he ever saw her.
Queen Margaret made preparations for a voyage to England, where her
supporters were expected to rise in the western counties and Wales.
Warwick had preceded her by several months. Margaret was in her
forty-second year, and she had lost some of her buoyancy and vigorous
hopefulness with her youth. Still as determined as ever to assert the
rights of her son, she trembled for his safety. She got ready to
embark with feelings of deep anxiety and foreboding. Edward reached
his seventeenth birthday in October 1470, and in November Queen
Margaret and the Prince entered Paris, and were honoured with a grand
official reception. Edward was now a handsome lad of seventeen, with a
robust frame well seasoned by active outdoor life. He was tall for his
age, with the features of his mother, and long golden hair. He was a
good horseman and a practised man-at-arms. Well instructed in all the
literary culture of the time, and doubtless inheriting some of his
grandfather's love of poetry and romance, young Edward had also
carefully studied the constitution and laws of England. He was fully
convinced of the justice of his cause by the reasoning of one of the
ablest lawyers of the time, and the hereditary bravery of his race now
filled him with martial ardour. But he was still very young, and all
these qualities of head and heart were as yet only budding towards
maturity.
[1] Barante.
[2] Born in 1421.
[3] A Nevill. Sister of the Duchess of York.
[4] See _Archaeologia_, 47 (ii), p. 265. Margaret was not at the battle
of Hexham, and the robber story is a fabrication.
[5] Villeneuve, _Vie de Roi Rene_.
[6] Alfonso V. was a grandson of Queen Philippa, sister of Henry IV. of
England, therefore a second cousin of Henry VI.
[7] Ellis, _Original Letters_, Second Series, i. 132.
[8] Born June 11, 1456.
{69}