urgent were their necessities, that all the funds which the French
merchant had furnished her were exhausted on her arrival in France.
She found, moreover, that the three friends, the noblemen whom she had
sent to France the summer before, and from whom she had received the
letter we have quoted, had left that country and gone to Scotland to
seek her. They had provided themselves with a vessel, in which they
intended to take the queen away from Scotland and convey her to some
place of safety, not knowing that she had herself embarked for France.
They must have passed the queen's vessel on the way, unless, indeed,
which is very probably the case, they went up the Channel and through
the Straits of Dover, thus taking an altogether different route from
that chosen by the queen.
[Sidenote: Missed by her friends.]
When they reached Scotland they hovered on the coast a long time,
endeavoring to find an opportunity to communicate with her secretly;
but at length they learned that she was gone.
[Sidenote: She goes to France.]
In the mean time, Margaret, having arrived in France, borrowed some
money of the Duke of Brittany, in whose dominions it would seem she
first landed. With this money Margaret supplied the most pressing
wants of her party, and also made arrangements for pursuing her
journey into the country, to the town in Normandy where her cousin the
king was then residing.
[Illustration: Louis XI., Margaret's Cousin.]
[Sidenote: Louis XI.]
It is said that, on arriving at the court of the king and obtaining
admission to his majesty's presence, Margaret took the young prince by
the hand, and, throwing herself down at her cousin's feet, she
implored him, with many tears, to take pity upon her forlorn and
wretched condition, and that of her unhappy husband, and to aid her in
her efforts to recover his throne.
But the king, with true royal heartlessness, was unmoved by her
distress, and manifested no disposition to espouse her cause.
[Sidenote: Negotiations.]
Some negotiations, however, ensued, at the close of which the king
promised to loan her a sum of money--for a consideration. The
consideration was that she was to convey to him the port and town of
Calais, which was still held by the English, and was considered a very
important and very valuable possession, or else pay back double the
money which she borrowed.
[Sidenote: Mortgage of Calais.]
Thus it was not an absolute sale of Calais, but only a mortgage of it,
which the queen executed. But, nevertheless, as soon as this
transaction was made known in England, it excited great indignation
throughout the country, and seriously injured the cause of the queen.
The people accused her of being ready to alienate the possessions of
the crown, possessions which it had cost so much both in blood and
treasure to procure.
[Sidenote: Doubtful security.]
Of course, the security which the king obtained for his loan was of a
somewhat doubtful character, for Margaret's mortgage deed of Calais,
although she gave it in King Henry's name, and was careful to state in
it that she was expressly authorized by him to make it, was of no
force at all so long as Edward of York reigned in England, and was
acknowledged by the people as the rightful king. It was only in the
event of Margaret's succeeding in recovering the throne for her
husband that the mortgage could take effect. The deed which she
executed stipulated that, as soon as King Henry should be restored to
his kingdom, he would appoint one of two persons named, in whom the
King of France had confidence, as governor of the town, with authority
to deliver it up to the King of France in one year in case she did not
within that time pay back double the sum of money borrowed.
[Sidenote: Conditions.]
He seemed to think that, considering the great risk he was taking, a
hundred per cent per annum was not an exorbitant usury.
CHAPTER XIX.
RETURN TO ENGLAND.
[Sidenote: Margaret finds a friend.]
Margaret found one friend in France, who seems to have espoused her
cause from a sentiment of sincere and disinterested attachment to her.
This was a certain knight named Pierre de Breze.[16] He was an officer
of high rank in the government of Normandy, and a man of very
considerable influence among the distinguished personages of those
times.
[Footnote 16: Pronounced Brezzay.]
[Illustration: Map of the Scottish Border.]
[Sidenote: Account of Breze.]
[Sidenote: He enters the queen's service.]
Margaret had known him intimately many years before. He was appointed
one of the commissioners on the French side to negotiate, with Suffolk
and the others, the terms of Margaret's marriage, and he had taken a
very prominent part in the tournaments and other celebrations which
took place in honor of the wedding before Margaret left her native
land. When he now saw the poor queen coming back to France an exile,
bereft of friends, of resources, and almost of hope, the interest
which he had felt for her in former years was revived. It is said
that he fell in love with her. However this may be, it is certain that
Margaret's great beauty must have had a very important influence in
deepening the sentiment of compassion which the misfortunes of the
poor fugitive were so well calculated to inspire. At any rate, Breze
entered at once into the queen's service with great enthusiasm. He
brought with him a force of two thousand men. With this army, and with
the money which she had borrowed of King Louis, Margaret resolved to
make one more attempt to recover her husband's kingdom.
[Sidenote: Margaret's plans.]
At length, in the month of October, 1462, five months after she
arrived in France, she set sail with a small number of vessels,
containing the soldiers that Breze had provided for her. Her plan was
to land in the north of England, for it was in that part of the
country that the friends of the Lancaster line were most numerous and
powerful.
[Sidenote: She goes to England.]
King Edward's government knew something of her plans, or, at least,
suspected them, and they stationed a fleet to watch for her and
intercept her. She, however, contrived to elude them, and reached the
shores of England in safety.
[Sidenote: Hurried flight.]
The fleet approached the shore at Tynemouth, but the guns of the forts
were pointed against her, and she was forbidden to land. She, however,
succeeded, either at that place or at some other point along the
coast, in effecting a debarkation; but she was threatened so soon with
an attack by a large army which she heard was approaching, under the
command of the Earl of Warwick, that the French troops fled
precipitately to their ships, leaving Margaret, the prince, Breze, and
a few others who remained faithful to her, on shore. Being thus
deserted, Margaret and her party were compelled to retreat too. They
embarked on board a fisherman's boat, which was the only means of
conveyance left to them, and in this manner made their way to Berwick,
which town was in the possession of her friends.
[Sidenote: A storm.]
[Sidenote: Ships wrecked.]
[Sidenote: Holy Island.]
They were long in reaching Berwick, being detained by a storm. The
storm, however, caused Margaret a much greater injury than mere
detention. The ships in which the French soldiers had fled were caught
by it off a range of rocky cliffs lying between Tynemouth and Berwick,
the most prominent of which is called Bamborough Head. The ships were
driven upon the rocks and rocky islands which lay along the shore, and
there broken to pieces by the sea which rolled in upon them from the
offing. All the stores, and provisions, and munitions of war which
Margaret had brought from France, and which constituted almost her
sole reliance for carrying on the war, were lost. Most of the men
saved themselves, and made their escape to an island that lay near,
called Holy Island. But here they were soon afterward attacked by a
body of Yorkist troops and cut to pieces.
[Sidenote: Margaret's escape.]
Margaret reached Berwick in her fishing-boat at last, bearing these
terrible tidings to her friends there. One would suppose that the last
hope of her being able to retrieve her fallen fortunes would now be
extinguished, and that she would sink down in utter and absolute
despair.
[Sidenote: Her spirit revives.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Hexham.]
[Sidenote: The king's escape.]
But it was not in Margaret's nature to despair. The more heavily the
pressure of calamity and the hostility of her foes weighed upon her,
the more fierce and determined was the spirit of resistance which they
aroused in her bosom. In this instance, instead of yielding to
dejection and despondency, she began at once to take measures for
assembling a new force, and the ardor and energy which she displayed
inspired all around her with some portion of her confidence and zeal.
A new army was raised during the winter. Very early in the spring it
took the field, and a series of military operations followed, in which
towns and castles were taken and retaken, and skirmishes fought all
along the Scottish frontier. At length the contending forces were
concentrated near a place called Hexham, and a general battle ensued.
The queen's army was defeated. The king, who was in the battle, had a
most narrow escape. He fled on horseback--for when he was in good
bodily health he was an excellent horseman--but he was so hotly
pursued that three of his body-guard were taken.
It is mentioned that one of the men thus taken wore the king's cap of
state, which was embroidered with two crowns of gold, one representing
the kingdom of England and the other that of France, the title to
which country the English sovereigns still pretended to claim, in
virtue of their former extended possessions there, although pretty
much all except the town of Calais was now lost.
Perhaps the pursuers of the king's party were deceived by this royal
cap, and took the wearer of it for the king. At any rate, the officer
wearing the cap was taken, and the king escaped.
[Sidenote: The queen's danger.]
Immediately after the victory on the field at Hexham, a body of the
Yorkist troops broke into the camp where the queen was quartered, and
where, with the young prince, she was awaiting the result of the
battle. As soon as the queen found that the enemy were coming, she
seized the prince and ran off with him, in mortal terror, into a
neighboring wood. She knew well that, if the child was taken, he
would certainly be killed. Indeed, such bloody work had been made on
both sides, with assassinations and executions during the year prior
to this time, that men's minds were in the highest state of
exasperation; and it is probable that both Margaret herself and the
child would have been butchered on the spot if they had remained in
the camp until the victorious troops entered it.
[Sidenote: Narrow escape.]
[Sidenote: Her flight.]
[Sidenote: The robbers.]
As soon as Margaret gained the wood she turned off into the most
obscure and solitary paths that she could find, thinking of nothing
but to escape from her pursuers, who, she imagined in her fright, were
close behind. At length, after wandering about in this manner for some
time, she fell in with a company of men in the wood, who were either a
regular band of robbers, or were tempted to become robbers on that
occasion by the richness of the stranger's dress, and by the articles
of jewelry and other decorations which she wore; for, although
Margaret's means were extremely limited, she still maintained, in some
degree, the bearing and the appointments of a queen.
[Sidenote: An escape.]
The men at once stopped her, and began to plunder her and the prince
of every thing which they could take from them that appeared to be of
value. As soon as they had possessed themselves of this plunder they
began to quarrel about it among themselves. Margaret remained standing
near, in great anxiety and distress, until presently, watching her
opportunity, she caught up the prince in her arms and slipped away
into the adjoining thickets.
[Sidenote: Alone in the woods.]
She ran forward as fast as she could go until she supposed herself out
of the reach of pursuit from the robbers, and then looked for a place
in the densest part of the wood where she could hide, with the
intention of remaining there until night. Her plan was then to find
her way out of the wood, and so wander on until she should come to the
residence of some one of her friends, who she might hope would harbor
and conceal her.
[Sidenote: Night.]
She accordingly continued in her hiding-place until evening came on,
and then, having recovered in some degree, by this interval of rest,
from the excitement, fatigue, and terror which she had endured, she
came out into a path again, leading little Edward by the hand. The
moon was shining, and this enabled her to see where to go.
[Sidenote: A stranger appears.]
After wandering on for some time, she was alarmed by the apparition of
a tall man, armed, who suddenly appeared in the pathway at a short
distance before her. She had no doubt that this was another robber. It
was too late for her to attempt to fly from him. He was too near to
allow her any chance of escape. In this extremity, she conceived the
idea of throwing herself upon his generosity as her last and only
hope. So she advanced boldly toward him, leading the little prince by
the hand, and said to him, presenting the prince,
[Sidenote: Margaret's appeal to the stranger.]
"My friend, this is the son of your king! Save him!"
[Sidenote: The outlaw's cave.]
The man appeared astonished. In a moment he laid his sword down at
Margaret's feet in token of submission to her, and then immediately
offered to conduct her and the prince to a place of safety. He also
explained to her that he was one of her friends. He had been ruined by
the war, and driven from his home, and was now, like the queen
herself, a wanderer and a fugitive. He had taken possession of a cave
in the wood, and there he was now living with his wife as an outlaw.
He led Margaret and the prince to the cave, where they were received
by his wife, and entertained with such hospitalities as a home so
gloomy and comfortless could afford.
[Illustration: Margaret at the Cave.]
[Sidenote: Appearance of the cave.]
Margaret remained an inmate of this cave for two days. The place is
known to this day as Margaret's Cave. It stands in a very secluded
spot on the banks of a small stream. The ground around it is now open,
but in Margaret's time it was in the midst of the forest. The entrance
to the cave is very low. Within, it is high enough for a man to stand
upright. It is about thirty-four feet long, and half as wide. There
are some appearances of its having been once divided by a wall into
two separate apartments.
[Sidenote: Margaret concealed in it.]
[Sidenote: A friend found.]
[Sidenote: Margaret's anger turned to grief.]
For two days Margaret remained in the cave, suffering, of course, the
extreme of suspense and anxiety all the time, being in great
solicitude to hear from her friends, the nobles and generals who had
been defeated with her in the battle. Her host made diligent though
secret inquiries, but could gain no tidings. At length, on the morning
of the third day, to Margaret's infinite relief and joy, he came in
bringing with him De Breze himself, with his squire, whose name was
Barville, and an English gentleman who had escaped with De Breze from
the battle, and had since been wandering about with him, looking every
where for the queen. Margaret was for the moment overjoyed to see
these friends again, but her exultation was soon succeeded by the
deepest grief at hearing the terrible accounts they gave of the death
of her nearest friends, some of whom had been killed in the battle,
and others had been taken prisoners and cruelly executed immediately
afterward. Up to this time, through all the danger and suffering which
she had endured since the battle, she had been either in a state of
stupor, or else filled with resentment and rage against her enemies,
and she had not shed a tear; but now grief for the loss of these dear
and faithful friends seemed to take the place of all other emotions,
and she wept a long time as if her heart would break.
Margaret learned, however, from her friends that the king had made his
escape, and was probably in a place of safety, and this gave her great
consolation. It was thought that the king had succeeded in making his
way to Scotland.
[Sidenote: They leave the cave.]
In the course of the day, one of the party who came with Breze went
out into the neighboring villages to see if he could learn any new
tidings, and before long he returned bringing with him several nobles
of high rank and princes of the Lancastrian line. Margaret felt much
relieved to find her party so strengthened, and arrangements were soon
made by the whole party for Margaret to leave the cave with them, and
endeavor to reach the Scottish frontier, which was not much more, in
a direct line, than thirty miles from where they were.
[Sidenote: Generosity of the outlaw.]
Before they departed from the cave Margaret expressed her thanks very
earnestly to the outlaw and his wife for their kindness in receiving
her and the little prince into their cave, and in doing so much for
their comfort while there, although by so doing they not only
encroached very much upon their own slender means of support, but also
incurred a very serious risk in harboring such a fugitive. Having been
plundered of every thing by the robbers in the wood, she had nothing
but thanks to return to her kind protectors. The nobles who were now
with her offered the wife of the outlaw some money--for they had still
a small supply of money left--but she would not receive it. They would
require all they had, she said, for themselves, before they reached
Scotland.
[Sidenote: The queen's gratitude.]
The queen was much moved by this generosity, and she said that of all
that she had lost there was nothing that she regretted so much as the
power of rewarding such goodness.
[Sidenote: The journey.]
[Sidenote: The journey to Kirkcudbright.]
On leaving the wood at Hexham, the party, instead of proceeding north,
directly toward the frontier of Scotland, concluded to journey
westward to Carlisle, intending to take passage by water from that
place through Solway to Kirkcudbright, the port from which Margaret
had sailed when she went to France.[17] They were obliged to use a
great many precautions in traversing the country to prevent being
discovered. The party consisted of Margaret and the young prince,
attended by Breze and his squire, and also by the man of the cave, who
was acquainted with the country, and acted as guide. They reached
Carlisle in safety, and there embarked on board a vessel, which took
them down the Firth and landed them in Kirkcudbright.
[Footnote 17: See the map at the commencement of this
chapter.]
[Sidenote: Her anxiety.]
Though now out of England, Margaret did not feel much more at ease
than before, for during her absence in France a treaty had been made
between King Edward and the Scottish king which would prevent the
latter from openly harboring her in his dominions; so she was obliged
to keep closely concealed.
CHAPTER XX.
YEARS OF EXILE.
[Sidenote: They are discovered.]
[Sidenote: An abduction.]
Margaret had not been long in Kirkcudbright before she was
accidentally seen by a man who knew her. This man was an Englishman.
His name was Cork. He was of the Yorkist party. He said nothing when
he saw the queen, but he immediately formed the resolution to seize
her and all her party, and to convey them to England and give them up
to King Edward. He contrived some way to carry this plot into
execution. He seized de Breze and his squire, and also the queen and
the prince, and carried them on board a boat in the night, having
first bound and gagged them, to disable them from making resistance or
uttering any cries. It seems that De Breze was not with the queen when
he was taken, and as it was dark when they were put on board the boat,
and neither could speak, neither party knew that the others were there
until the morning, when they were far away from the shore, out in the
wide part of the Solway Bay.
[Sidenote: De Breze's exploit.]
In the night, however, De Breze, who was a man of address and of
great personal strength, as well as of undaunted bravery, contrived to
get free from his bonds, and also to free his squire, without letting
the boatmen know what he had done. Then, in the morning, watching for
a good opportunity, they together rose upon the boatmen, seized the
oars, and, after a violent struggle, in which they came very near
upsetting the boat, they finally succeeded in killing some of the men,
and in throwing the others overboard. They immediately liberated
Margaret and the prince, and then attempted to make for the shore.
[Sidenote: Tossed about in Solway Firth.]
After having been tossed about for some time in the Gulf or Firth of
Solway, the boat was carried by the wind away up through the North
Channel more than sixty miles, and finally was thrown upon a sand-bank
near the coast of Cantyre, a famous promontory extending into the sea
in this part of Scotland. The boat struck at some distance from the
dry land, and the sea rolled in so heavily upon it that there was
danger of its being broken to pieces; so De Breze took the queen upon
his shoulders, and, wading through the water, conveyed her to the
shore. Barville, the squire, carried the prince in the same way. And
so they were once more safe on land.
[Sidenote: They land in Scotland.]
They found the coast wild and barren, and the country desolate; but
this was attended with one advantage at least, and that was that the
queen was in little danger of being recognized; for, as one of
Margaret's historians expresses it, the peasants were so ignorant that
they could not conceive of any one's being a queen unless she had a
crown upon her head and a sceptre in her hand.
[Sidenote: Arrival at the hamlet.]
They all went up a little way into the country, and at length found a
small hamlet, where Margaret concluded to remain with the prince until
De Breze could go to Edinburgh and learn what the condition of the
country was, and so enable her to consider what course to pursue.
The report which De Breze brought back on his return was very
discouraging. Margaret, however, on hearing it, determined to go to
Edinburgh herself, to see what she could do. She found, on her arrival
there, that the government were not willing to do any thing more for
her. They would furnish her with the means, they said, if she wished,
of going back to England in a quiet way, with a view of seeking refuge
among some of her friends there, but that was all that they could do.
[Sidenote: Margaret reaches Bamborough.]
So Margaret went back to England, and remained for some little time in
the great castle of Bamborough, which was still in the hands of her
friends. She tried here to contrive some way of reassembling her
scattered adherents and making a new rally, but she found that that
object could not be accomplished. Thus all the resources which could
be furnished by France, Scotland, or England for her failing cause
seemed to be exhausted, and, after turning her eyes in every direction
for help, she concluded to cross the German Ocean into Flanders, to
see if she could find any sympathy or succor there.
[Sidenote: She sails for Flanders.]
[Sidenote: A storm.]
Compared with the number of attendants that were with her in her
flight into Scotland, the retinue of friends and followers by which
she was accompanied in this retreat to the Continent was quite large,
though it is probable that most of this company went with her quite as
much on their own account as on the queen's. The whole party numbered
about two hundred. They embarked from Bamborough on board two ships,
but very soon after they had left the land a storm arose, and the two
ships were separated from each other, and for twelve hours the one
which Margaret and the prince had taken was in imminent danger of
being overwhelmed. The wind rose to a perfect hurricane, and no one
expected that they could possibly escape.
[Sidenote: The Duke of Burgundy.]
At length, however, the gale subsided so as to allow the ship to make
a port; not the port of their destination, however, but one far to the
southward of it, in a territory belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy,
between whom and Margaret there had been, during all Margaret's life,
a hereditary and implacable enmity. Margaret was greatly alarmed at
finding herself thus at the mercy of a person whom she considered as
one of her deadliest foes.
[Sidenote: Generosity of the duke.]
But, very much to her surprise, the duke, as soon as he heard of her
arrival in the country, took pity on her misfortunes, forgot all his
former enmity, and treated her in the most generous manner. He was not
at Lille, his capital, when she arrived, but he sent his son to
receive her, and to conduct her to the capital, with every possible
mark of respect. When she went on afterward to meet the duke, he sent
a guard of honor to escort her, and when she arrived at his court,
which was at that time at a place called St. Pol, he received her in a
very distinguished manner, and prepared great entertainments and
festivities to do her honor.
He rendered her, also, still more substantial services than these, by
furnishing her with an ample supply of funds for all her immediate
wants. He gave to each of the ladies in her train a hundred crowns,
to Breze a thousand, and to Margaret herself an order on his treasurer
for ten thousand.
[Sidenote: Rene's gratitude.]
King Rene, Margaret's father, was very much touched with this
generosity and kindness on the part of his old family enemy. He
himself, at that time, was wholly destitute, and unable to do any
thing for his daughter's relief. He, however, wrote a letter of warm
thanks to Philip, in which he declared that he had not merited and did
not expect such kindness at his hands.
[Sidenote: A rare example.]
We have, in the conduct of the Duke of Burgundy on this occasion, one
single and solitary example, among all the Christian knights, and
nobles, and princes that figure in this long and melancholy story of
contention, cruelty, and crime, in which the Savior's rule, Forgive
your enemies, do good to them that hate you, was cordially obeyed; and
what happy fruits immediately resulted to all concerned! How much of
all the vast amount of bloodshed and suffering which prevailed during
these gloomy times would have been prevented, if those who professed
to be followers of Christ had been really what they pretended.
[Sidenote: Margaret goes to Lorraine.]
With the money which Margaret obtained from the Duke of Burgundy she
was enabled to continue her journey in some tolerable degree of
comfort to the old home of her childhood in Lorraine. All that her
father could do for her was to furnish her a humble place of refuge in
a castle at Verdun, on the River Moselle, which flows through the
province. She went there, attended with a small number of followers,
and here she remained, in utter seclusion from the world, and almost
forgotten, for seven long years.
[Sidenote: The prince.]
[Sidenote: Bad news from the king.]
[Sidenote: His life spared.]
During all this time she enjoyed the comfort and satisfaction of
having her son, the prince, with her, and of watching his progress to
manhood under her own personal charge and that of one or two
accomplished men who still adhered to her, and who aided her in the
education of her boy. She was, however, hopelessly separated from her
husband. For a long time she did not know what had become of him.
During this time he was leading a very precarious and wandering life
in England, going from one hiding-place to another, wherever his
friends could most conveniently secrete him. At length, however, the
heavy tidings came to the queen, in her retreat at Verdun, that her
husband had been betrayed in one of his retreats, and had been seized
and carried to London as a prisoner in a very ignominious manner. It
was to have been expected that he would be immediately put to death;
but, as a matter of policy, the York party thought it not best to
proceed to that extremity, especially as all his kingly right would
have immediately descended to his son, in whose hands, with such a
mother to aid him, they would have become more formidable than ever.
Thus, on many accounts, it was better for his enemies to allow the old
king to live.
[Sidenote: Cruelties.]
[Sidenote: Men tortured.]
But very special precautions were taken by King Edward's government to
prevent Margaret and the young prince from coming into England again.
A coast guard was set all along the shore, and every one in England
who was suspected of being in communication with the exiled queen was
watched and guarded in the closest manner possible. Some were tortured
and put to death in the attempt to force them to give up letters or
papers supposed to be in their possession. A certain wealthy merchant
of London was accused of treason, and very severely punished, simply
because he had been asked to loan money to Margaret, and, though he
refused to make the loan, did not inform the authorities of the
application which had been made to him.
[Sidenote: Great fidelity.]
Among other examples of the shocking cruelty of which those in power
were guilty, in their hatred of Margaret and her cause, it is said
that one man, who was found out, as they thought, in an attempt to
convey letters to and fro between Margaret and some of her friends in
England, was torn to pieces with red-hot pincers in a fruitless
attempt to make him confess who the persons were in England for whom
the letters were intended. But he bore the torture to the end, and
died without betraying the secret.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE RECONCILIATION WITH WARWICK.
[Sidenote: 1469.]
[Sidenote: Great news.]
[Sidenote: Revolt of Warwick.]
In the fall of 1469, Margaret's mind was aroused to new life and
excitement by news which came from England that great opposition had
gradually grown up in the realm against the government of Edward, that
many of his best friends had forsaken him, and that the friends and
partisans of the Lancaster line were increasing in strength and
courage to such a degree as to make it probable that the time was
drawing nigh when Henry might be restored to the throne. The most
important circumstance connected with the change which had taken place
was that the great Earl of Warwick, who had been the most efficient
and powerful supporter of the house of York, and the most determined
enemy of Margaret and Henry during the whole war, had now abandoned
Edward, and had come to France, and was ready to throw all the weight
of his power and influence on the other side.[18]
[Footnote 18: The nature of the difficulties which had taken
place in England, and the circumstances which led the Earl of
Warwick to abandon Edward's cause, are explained fully in the
history of Richard III.]
[Sidenote: Excitement.]
[Sidenote: Margaret sent for.]
Of course, these tidings produced a great excitement all over France.
King Louis XI. was specially interested in them, as they afforded a
hope that Margaret might regain her throne, and so be able to redeem
her mortgage, or else deliver up to him the security; so he called a
council at Tours to consider what was best to be done, and he sent for
Margaret at Verdun to come with the prince and attend it. He also sent
for Rene, her father, and other influential family friends. It is said
that when Margaret arrived and met her father, she was so much
agitated by the news, and by the hopes which it awakened in her bosom,
that, in embracing him, she burst into tears from the excess of her
excitement and joy.
[Sidenote: Reconciliation with Warwick proposed.]
But she could not endure the idea of a reconciliation with Warwick. At
first she positively refused to see or to speak to him. When, however,
at length he arrived at Tours, the king introduced him into Margaret's
presence, but for a long time she refused to have any thing to do with
him.
"She could never forgive him," she said. "He had been the chief author
of the downfall of her husband, and of all the sorrows and calamities
which had since befallen her and her son.
[Sidenote: Margaret's objections.]
"Besides," she said, "even if she were willing to forgive him for the
intolerable wrongs which he had inflicted upon her, it would be very
prejudicial to her husband's cause to enter into any agreement or
alliance with him whatever; for all her party and friends in England,
whom Warwick had done so much to injure, and who had so long looked
upon him as their worst and deadliest foe, would be wholly alienated
from her if they were to know that she had taken him into favor, and
thus she would lose much more than she would gain."
[Sidenote: Warwick's arguments.]
[Sidenote: His promises.]
Warwick replied to this as well as he could, pleading the injuries
which he had himself received from the Lancaster party as an excuse
for his hostility against them. Then, moreover, he had been the means
of unsettling King Edward in his realm, and of preparing the way for
King Henry to return; and he promised that, if Margaret would receive
him into her service, he would thenceforth be true and faithful to her
as long as he lived, and be as much King Edward's foe as he had
hitherto been his friend. He appealed, moreover, to the King of France
to be his surety that he would faithfully perform these stipulations.
[Sidenote: King Louis intercedes.]
The King of France said that he would be his surety, and he begged
that Margaret would pardon Warwick, and receive him into favor for
_his_ sake, and for the great love that he, the king, bore to him. He
would do more for him, he added, than for any man living.
Margaret at last allowed herself to be persuaded, and Warwick was
forgiven.
[Sidenote: A new proposal.]
There were several other great nobles, who had come over with Warwick,
that were received into Margaret's favor at the same time, and, when
the grand reconciliation was completely effected, the whole party set
out together to go down the Loire to Angers, where the Countess of
Warwick, the earl's wife, and his youngest daughter, Anne, were
awaiting them. The countess and Anne were presented to the queen, and
a short time afterward Louis ventured to propose a marriage between
Anne and Prince Edward.
[Sidenote: Margaret's indignation.]
Margaret received this proposal with astonishment, and rejected it
with scorn. She said she could see neither honor nor profit in it,
either for herself or for her son. But at length, after a fortnight
had been spent in reasoning with her on the advantages of the
connection, and the aid which she would derive from such an alliance
with Warwick in endeavoring to recover her husband's kingdom, she
finally yielded. She was influenced at last, in coming to this
decision, by the advice of her father, who counseled her to consent to
the match.
[Sidenote: The match finally agreed upon.]
The parties united in a grand religious ceremony in the cathedral
church of Angers to seal and ratify the covenants and agreements by
which they were now to be bound.
[Sidenote: The true cross.]
There was a fragment of the true cross, so supposed, among the relics
in the cathedral, and this was an object of such veneration that an
oath taken upon it was considered as imposing an obligation of the
highest sanctity. Each of the three great parties took an oath, in
turn, upon this holy emblem.
[Sidenote: Oaths taken.]
First, the Earl of Warwick swore that he would, without change, always
hold to the party of King Henry, and serve him, the queen, and the
prince, as a true and faithful subject ought to serve his sovereign
lord.
Next, the King of France swore that he would help and sustain, to the
utmost of his power, the Earl of Warwick in the quarrel of King Henry.
And, finally, Queen Margaret swore to treat the earl as true and
faithful to King Henry and the prince, and "for his deeds past never
to make him any reproach."
[Sidenote: 1470.]
[Sidenote: The betrothal.]
[Sidenote: Conditions.]
It was furthermore agreed at this time that Anne, the Earl of
Warwick's daughter, who was betrothed to the prince, should be
delivered to Queen Margaret, and should remain under her charge until
the marriage should be consummated. But this was not to take place
until the Earl of Warwick had been into England and had recovered the
realm, or the greater portion of it at least, and restored it to King
Henry. Thus the consummation of the marriage was to depend upon
Warwick's success in restoring Henry his crown.
[Sidenote: Ceremony.]
Still, a sort of marriage ceremony, or, more strictly, a ceremony of
betrothal, was celebrated at Angers between the prince and his
affianced bride a few days afterward, with great parade, and then
Warwick, leaving his countess and his daughter behind with Margaret,
set out for England with a troop of two thousand men which Louis had
furnished him.
[Sidenote: Margaret sets out for Paris.]
[Sidenote: Reception in Paris.]
After Warwick had gone, Margaret remained at Angers for some weeks,
and then set out for Paris, escorted by a guard of honor. Her party
arrived at the capital in November, and Margaret, by Louis's orders,
was received with all the ceremonies and marks of distinction due to a
queen. The streets through which she passed were hung with tapestry,
and ornamented with flags and banners, and with every other suitable
decoration. The people came out in throngs to see the grand procession
pass; for, in addition to the guard of honor which had conducted the
party to the capital, all the great public functionaries and high
officials joined in the procession at the gates, and accompanied it
through the city, thus forming a grand and imposing spectacle.
[Sidenote: Good news received.]
Queen Margaret and her party were in this way conducted to the palace,
and lodged there in great splendor. Their hearts were gladdened, too,
on their arrival, by receiving the news that Warwick had landed in
England, and had been completely successful in his undertaking. King
Edward was deposed, and King Henry had been released from his
imprisonment in the Tower and placed upon the throne.
Margaret, of course, at once determined that she would immediately
make preparations for returning to England.
CHAPTER XXII.
BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT.
[Sidenote: Preparations for going to England.]
[Sidenote: Harfleur.]
The preparations which were required for Margaret and her company to
return to England in suitable state seem to have consumed several
months; for, although it was as early as November that the great
entrance into Paris took place, and the news of Henry's restoration
was received, it was not until February that the royal party were
ready to embark. There were negotiations to be made, and men to be
enlisted, and ships to be procured, and funds to be provided, and
appointments to be decided upon, and dresses to be made, and a
thousand questions of precedence and etiquette to be considered and
arranged. At length, however, all was ready, and the whole company
proceeded together to the port which had been selected as the place of
embarkation. This port was Harfleur. Harfleur is situated on the coast
of Normandy, near the more modern port of Havre.
[Sidenote: Wind contrary.]
[Sidenote: Supposed witchcraft.]
When the time arrived for sailing, the weather looked very
unfavorable; but Margaret, who had become weary with the delays by
which her return had been so long postponed, and was very impatient to
arrive in her own dominions again, ordered the ships to put to sea.
Three times did they make the attempt, and three times were the ships
driven back into port again. Many of her friends were greatly
discouraged by these failures. Some said they thought that this
continued resistance of the elements to her plans ought to be regarded
as an indication of divine Providence that she was not to go to
England at present, and they begged her to defer the attempt. Others
thought that the contrary winds were raised by witches, and they began
to devise measures for finding out who the witches were.
[Sidenote: Large company.]
[Sidenote: Army to be embarked.]
[Sidenote: Margaret's fears.]
Margaret paid no attention to either of these suggestions, but
persisted in her determination to sail the moment that the weather
should allow. This delay was a source of great inconvenience to her,
and it occasioned a good deal of expense; for, besides her own
personal officers and attendants, Margaret had collected quite a large
body of soldiers to cross the Channel with her, in order to re-enforce
the armies of Warwick and of Henry. This was quite necessary; for,
although Henry had been nominally restored to the throne, his enemies
were yet in the field in considerable force, and Margaret was very
desirous of bringing with her the means of helping to put them down.
Indeed, she knew that the situation of her husband was extremely
precarious, and that the fortune of war might at any time turn against
him. And this consideration made her extremely impatient at the delay
occasioned by the weather at Harfleur. She did not know but that the
king might even then be engaged in close conflict with his foes, and
likely to be overwhelmed by them, and that her force, by being so long
delayed, would arrive too late to save him.
Alas for poor Margaret! It was, indeed, exactly so.
[Sidenote: Countess of Warwick.]
It was not until the 24th of March that it was possible to leave the
port; but then, although the weather was by no means settled, the
queen determined to wait no longer. The Countess of Warwick, who had
been left in France when the earl her husband went to England, sailed
from Harfleur at the same time with the queen, though in a different
vessel. Her daughter, however, the prince regent's bride elect, went
with the queen.
[Sidenote: Arrival in England.]
The weather continued very boisterous after the fleet sailed, and as
the gales which blew so heavily were from the north, the ships could
make very little progress. They were kept beating about in the
Channel, or lying at anchor waiting for a change of wind, for more
than a fortnight. During all this time Margaret was kept in a perfect
fever of impatience and anxiety.
At length, about the 10th of April, they reached the land at Weymouth.
[Sidenote: The landing.]
After the ships entered the port, the space of a day or two was
occupied in making preparations to land. Among these preparations was
included the work of arranging apartments at an abbey in the vicinity
of Weymouth to receive the queen and her attendants. In the mean time,
the landing of the troops was pushed forward as rapidly as possible.
The ship in which the Countess of Warwick embarked had sailed in a
different direction from Margaret's fleet, and it was not known yet
what had become of her.
[Sidenote: News of a battle.]
When at last the preparations were completed, the queen and her party
went on shore and took up their abode in the abbey. Margaret's mind
was intensely occupied with the arrangements necessary for marshaling
her troops and getting them ready to march to the assistance of
Warwick, when, to her amazement and consternation, she received news,
on the very next day after she took up her abode in the abbey, that
the party of King Edward had mustered in great force and advanced
toward London, and that a battle had been fought at a place called
Barnet, a few miles from London, in which Edward's party had been
completely victorious.
[Sidenote: Warwick killed.]
The Earl of Warwick had been killed. King Henry her husband had been
taken prisoner, and their cause seemed to be wholly lost.
[Illustration: Death of Warwick.]
[Sidenote: 1471.]
[Sidenote: Manner of Warwick's death.]
Warwick had gone into the battle on foot, in order the more
effectually to stimulate the emulation of his men, so that when, in
the end, his forces were defeated, and fled, he himself, being
encumbered by his armor, could not save himself, but was overtaken by
his remorseless enemies and slain.
[Sidenote: Margaret's despair.]
[Sidenote: Imminent danger.]
The terrible agitation and anguish that this news excited in the mind
of the queen it would be impossible to describe. She fell at first
into a swoon, and when at length her senses returned, she was so
completely overwhelmed with disappointment, vexation, and rage, and
talked so wildly and incoherently, that her friends almost feared that
she would lose her reason. Her son, the young prince, who was now
nearly nineteen years of age, did all in his power to soothe and calm
her, and at length so far succeeded as to induce her to consider what
was to be done to secure her own and his safety. To remain where they
were was to expose themselves to be attacked at any time by a body of
Edward's victorious troops and conveyed prisoner to the Tower.
[Sidenote: She seeks security.]
[Sidenote: The Countess of Warwick.]
There was another abbey at not a great distance from where Margaret
now was, which was endowed with certain privileges as a sanctuary,
such that persons seeking refuge there under certain circumstances
could not be taken away. The name of this retreat was Beaulieu Abbey.
Margaret immediately proceeded across the country to this place,
taking with her the prince and nearly all the others of her party.
Either on her arrival here, or on the way, she met the Countess of
Warwick, who, it will be recollected, had left Harfleur at the same
time that she did. The countess's ship had been driven farther to the
eastward, and she had finally landed at Portsmouth. Here she too had
learned the news of the battle of Barnet and of the death of her
husband, and, being completely overwhelmed with the tidings, and also
alarmed for her own safety, she had determined to fly for refuge to
Beaulieu Abbey too.
[Sidenote: Great reverse of fortune.]
The two unhappy ladies, who had parted, three weeks before, on the
coast of France with such high and excellent expectations, now met,
both plunged in the deepest and most over whelming sorrow. Their hopes
were blasted, all their bright prospects were destroyed, and they
found themselves in the condition of helpless and wretched fugitives,
dependent upon a religious sanctuary for the hope of even saving their
lives.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHILDLESS, AND A WIDOW.
[Sidenote: Margaret found by friends.]
Margaret did not trust entirely for her safety to the sacredness of
the sanctuary where she had sought refuge. She endeavored, by all the
means in her power, to keep the place of her retreat secret from all
but her chosen and most trustworthy friends. Very soon, however, she
was visited by some of these, especially by some young nobles, who
came to her exasperated, and all on fire with rage and resentment, on
account of the death of their friends and relatives, who had been
slain in the battle.
[Sidenote: Her sad condition.]
They found Margaret, however, in a state of mind very different from
their own. She was beginning to be discouraged. The long-continued and
bitter experience of failure and disappointment, which had now, for so
many years, been her constant lot, seemed at last to have had power to
undermine and destroy even _her_ resolution and energy. Her friends,
when they came to see her, found her plunged in a sort of stupor of
wretchedness and despair from which they found it difficult to rouse
her.
[Sidenote: Her friends encourage her.]
[Sidenote: Little success.]
And when, at length, they succeeded in so far awakening her from her
despondency as to induce her to take some interest in their
consultations, her only feeling for the time being seemed to be
anxiety for the safety of her son. She begged and implored them to
take some measures to protect _him_. They endeavored to convince her
that her situation was not so desperate as she imagined. They had
still a powerful force, they said, on their side. That force was now
rallying and reassembling, and, with her presence and that of the
young prince at their head-quarters, the numbers and enthusiasm of
their troops would be very rapidly increased, and there was great hope
that they might soon be able again to meet the enemy under more
favorable auspices than ever.
[Sidenote: Her wishes.]
But the queen seemed very unwilling to accede to their views. It was
of no use, she said, to make any farther effort. They were not strong
enough to meet their enemies in battle, and nothing but fresh
disasters would result from making the attempt. There was nothing to
be done but for herself and the young prince, with as many others as
were disposed to share her fortunes, to return as soon as possible to
France, and there to remain and wait for better times.
[Sidenote: The young prince.]
But the young prince was not willing to adopt this plan. He was young,
and full of confidence and hope, and he joined the nobles in urging
his mother to consent to take the field. His influence prevailed; and
Margaret, though with great reluctance and many forebodings, finally
yielded.
[Sidenote: An army collected.]
So she left the sanctuary, and, with the prince, was escorted secretly
to the northward, in order to join the army there. The western
counties of England, those lying on the borders of Wales, had long
been very favorable to Henry's cause, and when the people learned that
the queen and the young prince were there, they came out in great
numbers, as the nobles had predicted, to join her standard. In a short
time a large army was ready to take the field.
[Sidenote: To Bath.]
Margaret was at this time at Bath. She soon heard that King Edward was
coming against her from London with a large army. Her own forces, she
thought, were not yet strong enough to meet him; so she formed the
plan of crossing the Severn into Wales, and waiting there until she
should have a larger force concentrated.
[Sidenote: To Bristol.]
[Sidenote: Endeavors to cross the river.]
Accordingly, from Bath she went down to Bristol, which, as will be
seen from the map, is on the banks of the Severn, at a place where the
river is very wide. She could not cross here, the lowest bridge on the
river being at Gloucester, thirty or forty miles farther up; so she
moved up to Gloucester, intending to cross there. But she found the
bridge fortified, and in the possession of an officer under the orders
of the Duke of Gloucester, who was a partisan of King Edward, and he
refused to allow the queen to pass without an order from his master.
[Sidenote: Arrival of Edward.]
It seemed not expedient to attempt to force the bridge, and,
accordingly, Margaret and her party went on up the river in order to
find some other place to cross into Wales. She was very much excited
on this journey, and suffered great anxiety, for the army of King
Edward was advancing rapidly, and there was danger that she would be
intercepted and her retreat cut off; so she pressed forward with the
utmost diligence, and at length, after having marched thirty-seven
miles in one day with her troops, she arrived at Tewkesbury, a town
situated about midway between Gloucester and Worcester. When she
arrived there, she found that Edward had arrived already within a mile
of the place, at the head of a great army, and was ready for battle.
[Sidenote: They make a stand.]
There was, however, now an opportunity for Margaret to cross the river
and retire for a time into Wales, and she was herself extremely
desirous of doing so, but the young nobles who were with her, and
especially the Duke of Somerset, a violent and hot-headed young man,
who acted as the leader of them, would not consent. He declared that
he would retreat no farther.
"We will make a stand here," said he, "and take such fortune as God
may send us."
So he pitched his camp in the park which lay upon the confines of the
town, and threw up intrenchments. Many of the other leaders were
strongly opposed to his plan of making a stand in this place, but
Somerset was the chief in command, and he would have his way.
[Sidenote: Battle of Tewkesbury.]
[Sidenote: Preparations for the fight.]
He, however, showed no disposition to shelter himself personally from
any portion of the danger to which his friends and followers were to
be exposed. He took command of the advanced guard. The young prince,
supported by some other leaders of age and experience, was also to be
placed in a responsible and important position. When all was ready,
Margaret and the prince rode along the ranks, speaking words of
encouragement to the troops, and promising large rewards to them in
case they gained the victory.
[Illustration: Tewkesbury.]
[Sidenote: Margaret's maternal anxiety.]
Margaret's heart was full of anxiety and agitation as the hour for the
commencement of hostilities drew nigh. She had often before staked
very dear and highly-valued friends in the field of battle, but now,
for the first time, she was putting to hazard the life of her dearly
beloved and only son. It was very much against her will that she was
brought to incur this terrible danger. It was only the sternest
necessity that compelled her to do it.
[Sidenote: She witnesses the fight.]
When the battle began, Margaret withdrew to an elevation within the
park, from which she could witness the progress of the fight. For some
time her army remained on the defensive within their intrenchments,
but at length Somerset, becoming impatient and impetuous, determined
on making a sally and attacking the assailants in the open field.
[Sidenote: Somerset.]
So, ordering the others to follow him, he issued forth from the lines.
Some obeyed him, and others did not. After a while he returned within
the lines again, apparently for the purpose of calling those who
remained there to account for not obeying him. He found Lord Wenlock,
one of the leaders, sitting upon his horse idle, as he said, in the
town. He immediately denounced him as a traitor, and, riding up to
him, cut him down with a blow from his battle-axe, which cleft his
skull.
[Sidenote: Panic and flight.]
The men who were under Lord Wenlock's banner, seeing their leader thus
mercilessly slain, immediately began to fly. Their flight caused a
panic, which rapidly spread among all the other troops, and the whole
field was soon in utter confusion.
[Sidenote: Margaret's terror.]
[Sidenote: She swoons.]
When Margaret saw this, and thought of the prince, exposed, as he was,
to the most imminent danger in the defeat, she became almost frantic
with excitement and terror. She insisted on rushing into the field to
find and save her son. Those around found it almost impossible to
restrain her. At length, in the struggle, her excitement and terror
entirely overpowered her. She swooned away, and her attendants then
bore her senseless to a carriage, and she was driven rapidly away out
through one of the park gates, and thence by a by-road to a religious
house near by, where it was thought she would be for the moment
secure.
[Sidenote: Capture of the prince.]
The poor prince was taken prisoner. He was conveyed, after the battle,
to Edward's tent. The historians of the day relate the following story
of the sad termination of his career.
[Illustration: The Murder of Prince Henry.]
When Edward, accompanied by his officers and the nobles in attendance
upon him, covered with the blood and the dust of the conflict, and
fierce and exultant under the excitement of slaughter and victory,
came into the tent, and saw the handsome young prince standing there
in the hands of his captors, he was at first struck with the elegance
of his appearance and his frank and manly bearing. He, however,
accosted him fiercely by demanding what brought him to England. The
prince replied fearlessly that he came to recover his father's crown
and his own inheritance. Upon this, Edward threw his glove, a heavy
iron gauntlet, in his face.
[Sidenote: Death of the Prince of Wales.]
The men standing by took this as an indication of Edward's feelings
and wishes in respect to his prisoner, and they fell upon him at once
with their swords and murdered him upon the spot.
[Sidenote: Margaret receives the tidings.]
Margaret did not know what had become of her son until the following
day. By that time King Edward had discovered the place of her retreat,
and he sent a certain Sir William Stanley, who had always been one of
her most inveterate enemies, to take her prisoner and bring her to
him. It was this Stanley who, when he came, brought her the news of
her son's death. He communicated the news to her, it was said, in an
exultant manner, as if he was not only glad of the prince's death, but
as if he rejoiced in having the opportunity of witnessing the despair
and grief with which the mother was overwhelmed in hearing the
tidings.
[Sidenote: She is borne to London.]
[Sidenote: Her condition on the journey.]
Stanley conveyed the queen to Coventry, where King Edward then was,
and placed her at his disposal. Edward was then going to London in a
sort of triumphant march in honor of his victory, and he ordered that
Stanley should take Margaret with him in his train. Anne of Warwick,
her son's young bride, was taken to London too, at the same time and
in the same way.
During the whole of the journey Margaret was in a continued state of
the highest excitement, being almost wild with grief and rage. She
uttered continual maledictions against Edward for having murdered her
boy, and nothing could soothe or quiet her.
[Sidenote: Her last hope.]
[Sidenote: Murder of the king.]
It might be supposed that there would have been one source of comfort
open to her during this dreadful journey in the thought that, in going
to the Tower, which was now undoubtedly to be her destination, she
should rejoin her husband, who had been for some time imprisoned
there. But the hope of being thus once more united to almost the last
object of affection that now remained to her upon earth, if Margaret
really cherished it, was doomed to a bitter disappointment. The death
of the young prince made it now an object of great importance to the
reigning line that Henry himself should be put out of the way, and, on
the very night of Margaret's arrival at the Tower, her husband was
assassinated in the room which had so long been his prison.
[Sidenote: Terrible reverse of fortune.]
Thus all Queen Margaret's bright hopes of happiness were, in two short
months, completely and forever destroyed. At the close of the month of
March she was the proud and happy queen of a monarch ruling over one
of the most wealthy and powerful kingdoms on the globe, and the mother
of a prince who was endowed with every personal grace and noble
accomplishment, affianced to a high-born, beautiful, and immensely
wealthy bride, and just entering what promised to be a long and
glorious career. In May, just two months later, she was childless and
a widow. Both her husband and her son were lying in bloody graves, and
she herself, fallen from her throne, was shut up, a helpless captive,
in a gloomy dungeon, with no prospect of deliverance before her to the
end of her days. The annals even of royalty, filled as they are with
examples of overwhelming calamity, can perhaps furnish no other
instance of so total and terrible reverse of fortune as this.
CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION.
[Sidenote: The body of King Henry.]
On the day following the assassination of Henry, the body was taken
from the Tower and conveyed through the streets of London, with a
strong escort of armed men to guard it, to the Church of St. Paul's,
there to be publicly exhibited, as was customary on such occasions.
Such an exhibition was more necessary than usual in this case, as the
fact of Henry's death might, perhaps, have afterward been called in
question, and designing men might have continued to agitate the
country in his name, if there had not been the most positive proof
furnished to the public that he was no more.
[Illustration: View of Chertsey.]
[Sidenote: Borne away on the river to Chertsey.]
The body remained lying thus during the day. When night came, it was
taken away and carried down to Blackfriar's--a landing upon the river
nearly opposite Saint Paul's. Here there was a boat lying ready to
receive the hearse. It was lighted with torches, and the watermen were
at their oars. The hearse was put on board, and the body was thus
borne away, over the dark waters of the river, to the lonely
village of Chertsey, where it had been decided that he should be
interred.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Margaret in confinement.]
[Sidenote: Wallingford.]
For some time after Henry's death Margaret was kept in close
confinement in the Tower. At length, finding that every thing was
quiet, and that the new government was becoming firmly established,
the rigor of the unhappy captive's imprisonment was relaxed. She was
removed first to Windsor, and afterward to Wallingford, a place in the
interior of the country, where she enjoyed a considerable degree of
personal freedom, though she was still very closely watched and
guarded.
[Sidenote: She is ransomed.]
At length, about four years afterward, her father, King Rene,
succeeded in obtaining her ransom for the sum of fifty thousand
crowns. Rene was not the possessor of so much money himself, but he
induced King Louis to pay it, on condition of his conveying to him his
family domain.
The ransom was to be paid in five annual installments, but on the
payment of the first installment the queen was to be released and
allowed to return to her native land. It was stipulated, too, that, as
a condition of her release, she was formally and forever to renounce
all the rights of every kind within the realm of England to which she
might have laid claim through her marriage with Henry. It might have
been supposed that they would have required her to sign this
renunciation before releasing her. But it was held by the law of
England, then as now, that a signature made under durance was invalid,
the signer not being free. So it was arranged that an English
commissioner was to accompany her across the Channel, and go with her
to Rouen, where he was to deliver her to the French embassadors, who,
in the name of Louis, were to be responsible for her signing the
document.
[Sidenote: 1476.]
[Sidenote: The commissioner.]
[Sidenote: Margaret crosses the Channel.]
This plan was carried into effect. Margaret set out from the castle of
Wallingford under the care of a man on whom Edward's government could
rely for keeping a close watch over her, and taking care that she went
on quietly through England to the port of embarkation. This port was
Sandwich. Here she embarked on board a vessel, with a retinue of three
ladies and seven gentlemen, and bade a final farewell to the kingdom
which she had entered on her bridal tour with such high and exultant
expectations of grandeur and happiness.
[Sidenote: At Rouen.]
She arrived at Dieppe in the beginning of 1476, and proceeded
immediately to Rouen, where the commissioner, who came to attend her,
delivered her to the French embassadors appointed to receive her, and
attend to the signing of the renunciation.
[Sidenote: Her renunciation.]
The document was written in Latin, but the import of it was as
follows:
I, Margaret, formerly in England married, renounce all that I
could pretend to in England, by the conditions of my marriage,
with all other things there, to Edward, now King of England.
[Sidenote: Feelings with which she signed it.]
It cost Margaret no effort to sign this paper. With the death of her
husband and her son all hope had been extinguished in her bosom, and
life now possessed nothing that she desired. She signed this fatal
document, renouncing not only all claims to be henceforth considered a
queen, but all pretension that she had ever been one, with a passive
indifference and unconcern which showed that her spirit was broken,
and that the fires of pride and ambition which had burned so fiercely
in her breast were now, at last, extinguished forever.
[Sidenote: Ungenerousness of Louis.]
When the paper was signed Margaret was dismissed and left at liberty
to go her own way to her native province of Anjou, where it was her
intention to spend the remainder of her days. Her plan was to pass by
the way of Paris, in order to see once more her cousin, King Louis,
who had treated her with so much consideration and honor when she was
on her way to England with a fair prospect of finding her husband upon
the throne. But the case was different now, Louis thought, and instead
of receiving kindly her intimation that she was intending to visit
Paris on her way home, he sent her word that she had better not come,
and advised her instead to make the best of her way to her father in
Anjou.
[Sidenote: An escort offered.]
He, however, as if to soften this incivility, sent an escort to
accompany her in her journey home, but Margaret was so stung by her
cousin's heartless abandonment of her in her distress that she
resolved to accept no favor at his hands; so she refused the escort,
and set out with her few personal companions alone.
[Sidenote: Danger.]
[Sidenote: English people in Normandy.]
This little blazing up of the old flames of pride and resentment in
her heart came near, however, to costing Margaret her life, for she
had not gone far on her journey before an emergency occurred in which
an escort would have been of great service to her. It seems that when
the English were driven out of Normandy, many families and some whole
villages remained of people who were too poor to return. These
people were now in a very low and miserable condition. They mourned
continually the hard necessity by which they had been left without
friends or protection in a foreign land; and they understood, too,
that the first beginning of the abandonment of their possessions in
France by the English was the cession of certain provinces by the
government of Henry VI. at the time of that monarch's marriage with
Margaret of Anjou, and that all the subsequent misfortunes of their
countrymen in France, by which, in the end, the whole country had been
lost, had their origin in these transactions.
[Sidenote: Margaret at the inn.]
[Sidenote: Riot at the inn.]
Now it happened that Margaret, on her journey from Rouen to Anjou,
stopped the first night at one of these villages. The people, seeing a
party of strangers come to town, gathered round the inn at night from
curiosity to learn who they might be. When they were informed that it
was Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, who had been banished from
the kingdom, and was now returning home, they were excited to the
highest pitch of anger against her as the author of all their
sufferings. They made a rush into the house to seize her, and, if they
had been successful, they would doubtless have killed her upon the
spot. But some of the gentlemen who were in her party defended her
sword in hand, and kept the mob at bay until she gained her apartment.
They guarded her there until they could send for the authorities, who
came and dispersed the mob. Margaret immediately returned to Rouen,
willing enough now to accept of an escort. A proper guard was provided
for her, and under the protection of it she set out once more on her
journey, and this time went on in safety.
[Sidenote: Margaret arrives in Anjou.]
[Sidenote: Her father.]
When Margaret at last reached her native country of Anjou, she was
received very kindly by her father, and went to live with him in a
castle called the castle of Reculee, situated about a league from
Angers, the capital of the province.
Here she remained about four years. It was a very pleasant place. The
castle was situated upon the bank of a river, and yet in a commanding
situation, which afforded a pretty view of the town. There was a
beautiful garden attached to the castle, and a gallery of painting and
sculpture. Her father, King Rene, was a painter himself, and he amused
himself a great deal in painting pictures to add to his collection or
to give to his friends.
[Sidenote: Dreadful depression of spirits.]
But Margaret could take no interest in any of these things. Her mind
was all the time filled with bitter recollections of the past, which,
even if she did not cling to and cherish them, she could not dispel.
She dwelt continually upon thoughts of her husband and her child. She
made ceaseless efforts to obtain possession of their bodies, in order
that she might have them transported to Anjou, and, as she could not
succeed in this, she paid annually a considerable sum to secure the
services of priests to say masses over their graves in England, in
order to secure the repose of their souls.
[Sidenote: Its effects.]
Indeed, the anguish and agitation which continually reigned in her
heart preyed upon her like a worm in the centre of a flower. "Her
eyes, once so brilliant and expressive," says one of her historians,
"became hollow and dim, and permanently inflamed from continual
weeping." Indeed, the whole mass of her blood became corrupted, and a
fearful disease affected her once beautiful skin, making her an object
of commiseration to all who beheld her.
[Sidenote: Death of her father.]
She continued in this state until her father died. He, on his
death-bed, committed her to the care of an old and faithful friend,
who, after King Rene's decease, took her with him to his own castle of
Damprierre, which was situated about twenty-five miles farther up the
river.
[Sidenote: The closing scene.]
But, though Margaret was treated very kindly by the friend to whom
her father thus consigned her, she did not long survive this change.
She died, and was buried in the cathedral at Angers, and for centuries
afterward the ecclesiastics of the chapter, once every year, at the
return of the proper anniversary, performed a solemn ceremony over her
grave by walking round it with a slow and measured step, singing a
hymn.
THE END.