THE FALL OF GLOUCESTER.
At length the time arrived when Margaret considered her schemes ripe
for execution.
[Sidenote: The king's cabinet.]
[Sidenote: Gloucester sent for.]
Accordingly, one day, while Henry and herself were together in the
king's cabinet engaged in transacting some public affairs, Margaret
made some excuse for sending for Gloucester, and while Gloucester was
in the cabinet, Somerset, according to a preconcerted arrangement,
presented himself at the door with an air of excitement and alarm, and
asked to be admitted. He wished to see the king on business of the
utmost urgency. He was allowed to come in. He had a paper in his hand,
and his countenance, as well as his air and manner, denoted great
apprehension and anxiety. As soon, however, as he saw the Duke of
Gloucester, he seemed surprised and embarrassed, and was about to
retire, saying he had supposed that the king and queen were alone.
[Sidenote: Entrance of Somerset.]
But Margaret would not allow him to withdraw.
"Stay," said she, "and let us know what the business is that seems so
urgent. You can speak freely. There is no one here beside ourselves
except the minister of the king, and there is nothing to be concealed
from him."
[Sidenote: Somerset's charges.]
Somerset, on hearing these words, paused for a moment, looked at
Gloucester, seemed irresolute, and then, as if nerving himself to a
great effort, he advanced resolutely and presented the paper which he
had in his hands to the king, saying, at the same time, in a very
solemn manner, that it contained charges of the gravest character
against Gloucester; and he added that, on the whole, he was not sorry
that the accused person was present to know what was laid to his
charge, and to reply if he had any proper justification to offer.
[Sidenote: Margaret interposes.]
The duke seemed thunderstruck. The king, too, was extremely surprised,
and began to look greatly embarrassed. Margaret put an end to the
awkward suspense by taking the paper from the king's hand, and opening
it in order to read it.
"Let us see," said she, "what these charges are."
[Illustration: The Charges against Gloucester.]
[Sidenote: The charges read.]
So she opened the paper and began to read it. The charges were
numerous. The principal one related to some transactions in respect to
the English dominions on the Continent, in which Gloucester was
accused of having sacrificed the rights and interests of the crown in
order to promote certain private ends of his own. There were a great
many other accusations, relating to alleged usurpations of the
prerogative of the king and high-handed violations of the laws of the
land. Among these last the murder of Lady Neville was specified, and
the deed was characterized in the severest terms as a crime of the
deepest dye, and one committed under circumstances of great atrocity,
although the author of the charges admitted that the details of the
affair were not fully known.
[Sidenote: The duke declares his innocence.]
As Margaret read these accusations one after another, the duke
affirmed positively of each one that it was wholly unjust. He seemed
for a moment surprised and confused when the murder of Lady Neville
was laid to his charge, but he soon recovered himself, and declared
that he was innocent of this crime as well as of all the others. The
whole series of accusations was a tissue of base calumnies, he said,
from beginning to end.
[Sidenote: Margaret's artful demeanor.]
Margaret read the paper through, pausing only from time to time to
hear what Gloucester had to say whenever he manifested a desire to
speak, but without making any observations of her own. She assumed, in
fact, the air and manner of an unconcerned and indifferent witness.
After she had finished reading the paper she folded it up and laid it
aside, saying at the same time to the king that those were very grave
and weighty charges, and it would be very unjust to the duke to
receive them against his positive declarations of his innocence,
without the most clear and conclusive proof.
[Sidenote: Proposes an investigation.]
"At the same time," she added, "they ought not to be lightly laid
aside without investigation. We can not suppose that the Duke of
Somerset can have made such charges without any evidence whatever to
sustain them."
The Duke of Somerset said immediately that he was prepared with full
proof of all the charges, and he was ready to offer the evidence in
respect to any one or all of them whenever his majesty should require
it.
[Sidenote: Selects a charge.]
Margaret then opened the paper, and, looking over the list of charges
again with a careless air, at last, as if accidentally, fixed upon the
one relating to the murder of Lady Neville.
"What proofs have you in respect to this atrocious murder that you
have charged against the duke?"
[Sidenote: Gloucester is pleased.]
[Sidenote: The murder.]
Gloucester felt for the moment much relieved at finding that this was
the charge selected first for proof; for so effectual had been the
precautions which he had taken to conceal his crime in this case,
that he was confident that, instead of any substantial evidence
against him, there could be, at worst, only vague grounds of
suspicion, and these he was confident he could easily show were
insufficient to establish so serious a charge.
[Sidenote: Astonishment of the duke.]
Somerset asked permission to retire for a few moments. Very soon he
returned, bringing in with him Lady Neville herself. An actual
resurrection from the dead could not have astounded Gloucester more
than this apparition. He was overwhelmed with amazement and almost
with terror. Lady Neville advanced to the king, and, falling upon her
knees before him, she related the circumstances of the assault made by
Gloucester upon the boat in the Thames, of the cruel murder of the
passengers and boatmen, of the wound inflicted upon herself by the
dagger of the duke, and the almost miraculous manner in which she made
her escape.
[Sidenote: 1447.]
[Sidenote: Parliament.]
The duke, overwhelmed by the emotions which such a scene might have
been expected to produce upon his mind, seemed to admit that what Lady
Neville said was true. At least he could not deny it, and his
confusion and distress amounted apparently to a virtual confession of
guilt. Margaret, however, soon interrupted the proceedings by saying
to the king that the case was plainly too serious to be disposed of in
so private and informal a manner. It was for the Parliament to
consider it, she said, and decide what was to be done; and measures
ought at once to be taken for bringing it before them.
So Gloucester and Somerset were both dismissed from the royal
presence, leaving the king in a state of great distress and
perplexity.
[Sidenote: Margaret's ingenuity.]
[Sidenote: The king brought over.]
Such is the story of the private manoeuvres resorted to by Margaret
with a view to destroying the hold which the Duke of Gloucester had
upon the mind of the king, preparatory to more widely-extended plans
for ruining him with the Parliament and the nation, which is told by
one of her most celebrated biographers. Whether there was or was not
any foundation for this particular story, there is no doubt but that
she exercised all her ingenuity and talent as a manoeuvrer to
accomplish her object, and that she succeeded. The king was brought
over to her views, and so strong a party was formed against Gloucester
among the nobles and other influential personages in the land, that at
length, in 1447, a Parliament was summoned with a view of bringing the
affair to a crisis.[8]
[Footnote 8: The story of Lady Neville, and of her connection
with the great political transactions in which Margaret of
Anjou was engaged at this time, though it is in all
probability to be considered as a romance, is not an
invention of the compiler of this narrative. It is interwoven
with the history of Margaret of Anjou precisely as it is
given here, by one of her most ancient and most oft-quoted
biographers. It is chiefly useful to modern readers as
illustrating the ideas and the manners of the times.
We often, in this series, thus repeat narratives which have
come down from ancient times, and have thus become part and
parcel of the literature of the period, and, as such, ought
to be made known to the general reader, but which, at the
present day, are not supposed to be historically true. In
such cases, however, we intend always to give notice of the
fact. In the absence of such notice, the reader may feel sure
that all the statements in these narratives, even to the
minutest details, are in strict accordance with the testimony
of the best authorities now extant.]
[Sidenote: Treason.]
[Sidenote: Romance often mingles in history.]
[Sidenote: An explanation.]
Nothing, however, was said, in calling the Parliament, of the great
and exciting business which was to be brought before them. So great
was the power of such a man as Gloucester, that any open attempt to
arrest him would have been likely to have been met with armed
resistance, and might have led at once to civil war.
One of the charges against him was that he was intriguing with the
Duke of York, the representative and heir of the two other branches of
old King Edward the Third's family, who has already been mentioned as
claiming the throne. It was said that Gloucester was secretly
plotting with Richard, with a view of deposing Henry, and raising
Richard to the throne in his stead.
[Sidenote: Question of succession.]
The question of the succession was really, at this time, in a very
curious state. The Duke of Gloucester himself was Henry's heir in case
he should die without children; for Gloucester was Henry's oldest
uncle, and, of course, in default of his descendants, the crown would
go back to him. This was one reason, perhaps, why he had opposed
Henry's marriage.
[Sidenote: Position of the Duke of York.]
So long, therefore, as Henry remained unmarried, it was for
Gloucester's interest to maintain the rights of his branch of the
family--that is, the Lancaster line--against the claims of the house
of York. But in case Henry should have children, then he would be cut
off from the succession on the Lancaster side, and then it might be
for his interest to espouse the cause of the house of York, provided
he could make better terms in respect to his own position and the
rewards which he was to receive for his services on that side than on
the other.
[Sidenote: Gloucester alarmed.]
Now Henry was married, and, moreover, it had long been evident to
Gloucester that his own influence was fast declining. The scene in the
king's cabinet, when Somerset brought those charges against him, must
have greatly increased his fears in respect to the continuance of his
power under Henry's government. Still, if it was true that he was
contemplating making common cause with the Duke of York, he had not
yet so far matured his plans as to make any open change in his course
of conduct.
[Sidenote: Calling of Parliament.]
Accordingly, when the plan of calling a Parliament was determined by
the king and Margaret, every effort was made to keep it a secret from
the public that the case of Gloucester was to be brought before it. It
was summoned on other pretexts. The place of meeting was not, as
usual, at London, for Gloucester was so great a favorite with the
people of London that it was thought that, if it were to be attempted
to arrest him there, he would certainly resist and attempt to raise an
insurrection.
[Sidenote: Bury St. Edmund's.]
The Parliament was accordingly summoned to meet at Bury St.
Edmund's--a town situated about fifty or sixty miles to the northeast
of London, where there was a celebrated abbey.[9] The English
Parliament was in those days, as it is, in fact, in theory now,
nothing more nor less than a convocation of the leading personages of
the realm, called by the king, in order that they might give the
monarch their counsel or aid in any emergency that might arise, and
he could call them to attend him at any place within the kingdom that
he chose to designate.
[Footnote 9: See map.]
While thus, by summoning Parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmund's, the
queen's party placed themselves beyond the reach of the friends and
adherents of Gloucester, who were very numerous in and around the
capital, they took care to have a strong force there on their own
side, ready to do whatever might be required of them.
[Sidenote: The abbey.]
[Sidenote: The duke arrested.]
When the appointed day arrived the Parliament assembled. It met in the
abbey. The great dining-hall of the abbey, or the refectory, as it was
called, the room in which the monks were accustomed to take their
meals, was fitted up for their reception. On the first day some
ordinary business was transacted, and on the second, suddenly, and
without any previous warning, the duke was arrested by the public
officer, who was attended and aided in this service by a strong force,
and immediately taken away to the Tower.
This event, of course, produced great excitement. The news of it
spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and it awakened universal
astonishment and alarm.
[Sidenote: Discontents of the people.]
It was expected that charges would be immediately brought against
him, and that he would be at once arraigned for trial. But the
excitement which the affair had created was increased to a ten-fold
degree by the tidings which were circulated a few days afterward that
he was dead. The story was that he was found dead one morning in his
prison. People, however, were slow to believe this statement. They
thought that he had been poisoned, or put to death in some other
violent manner. The officers of the government declared that it was
not so; and, in order to convince the people that the duke had died a
natural death, they caused the body to be exposed to public view for
several days before they allowed it to be interred, in order that all
might see that it bore no marks of violence.
The people were, however, not satisfied. They thought that there were
many ways by which death might be produced without leaving any outward
indications of violence upon the person. They persisted in believing
that their favorite had been murdered.
[Sidenote: 1449.]
[Sidenote: Supposed mode of his death.]
One account which was given of the mode of death was that Somerset
went to visit him in his prison in the Tower, in order to see whether
he could not come to some terms with him but that Gloucester rejected
his advances with so much pride and scorn that a furious altercation
arose, in the course of which Somerset, with the assistance of men
whom he had brought with him, strangled or suffocated the unhappy
prisoner on his couch, and then, after arranging his limbs and closing
his eyes, so as to give him the appearance of being in a state of
slumber, his murderers went away and left him, to be found in that
condition by the jailer when he should come to bring him his food.