THE QUEEN AND THE YORKIST CHIEFS.
When the battle of St. Albans placed the king and kingdom of England
under the influence of the Yorkists, the duke and his friends
exercised their authority with a moderation rarely exhibited in
such circumstances. No vindictive malice was displayed against the
vanquished; not a drop of blood flowed on the scaffold; not an act of
attainder passed the Legislature. Every thing was done temperately and
in order.
As Henry was again attacked by his malady he was intrusted to
Margaret's care, and York was again declared Protector of the realm,
with a provision that he was to hold the office, not as before at
the king's pleasure, but until discharged from it by the Lords in
Parliament. Salisbury was, at the same time, intrusted with the Great
Seal; and Warwick was appointed to the government of Calais. Comines
calls Calais "the richest prize in the crown of England;" and the
government of the city was an office of greater trust and profit than
any which an English sovereign had to bestow.
Margaret of Anjou, however, was not quite absorbed in her duties as
wife and mother. While educating her helpless son and tending her yet
more helpless husband, she was bent on a struggle for the recovery of
that power which she had already so fatally abused; and as necessity
alone had made her submit to the authority of York and his two noble
kinsmen, who were satirized as the "Triumvirate," she seized the
earliest opportunity of ejecting them from power.
One day in spring, while the queen was pondering projects of ambition,
and glowing with anticipations of vengeance, two noblemen of high rank
and great influence appeared at the palace of Greenwich. One of these
was Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham; the other, Henry Beaufort,
Duke of Somerset; and their errand was to confer with Queen Margaret on
the present state of affairs. The queen received them with open arms,
expressed haughty scorn of her potent foes, and reminded Buckingham of
the son he had lost at St. Albans, and Somerset of the father he had
lost on the same fatal day. The dukes, having listened to all this,
represented to Margaret the indignity to which the king was subjected
in being deprived of all share in the government, while York and his
accomplices managed every thing according to their pleasure. The queen
heard her friends with delight, vowed that the triumph of the Yorkist
chiefs should be brief, and resolved upon acting without delay.
Accordingly it was determined to hold a council; and the enemies of
York were summoned to Greenwich. After some debate as to the most
politic method of restoring the royal authority, the council resolved
that York should be commanded to resign the office of protector, seeing
that the king was of years and discretion sufficient to rule without
a guardian, and that Salisbury should be commanded to surrender the
post of chancellor. "The great seal," they said, "had never been in
his custody, that which he used having been made since the king's
restraint." Henry, for whose opinion none of the Lancastrians had
any respect, was easily prevailed upon to give his sanction to their
measures, and York and Salisbury were discharged from their high
offices, and summoned to appear before the council.
The duke and the earl were much too wise to place themselves in the
power of enemies who had, on former occasions, proved so unscrupulous.
They answered boldly that there existed no power to displace them or
command their appearance, save in Parliament. When, however, the houses
assembled after Christmas, 1456, Henry presented himself and demanded
back his regal power. Every body was surprised; but no doubt was
expressed as to the king's sanity, and York, without a murmur, resigned
the protectorship.
The queen was not content with having deprived the duke and the earl
of power. Her ideas of revenge went far beyond such satisfaction; and
she occupied her brain with schemes for putting her enemies under her
feet. Feigning indifference to affairs of state, the artful woman
pretended to give herself up entirely to the restoration of the king's
health, and announced her intention of affording Henry an opportunity
to indulge in pastimes likely to restore him to vigor of mind and body.
On this pretext the king and queen made a progress into Warwickshire,
hunting and hawking by the way, till they reached Coventry. While
residing in that ancient city, and keeping her court in the Priory,
the queen wrote letters, in affectionate terms, to York, Salisbury,
and Warwick, earnestly entreating them to visit the king on a certain
day; and the duke, with the two earls, suspecting no evil, obeyed the
summons, and rode toward Coventry. On approaching the city, however,
they received warning that foul play was intended, and, turning aside,
escaped the peril that awaited them. York, unattended save by his groom
and page, made for Wigmore; Salisbury repaired to Middleham, a great
castle of the Nevilles in Yorkshire; and Warwick took shipping for
Calais, which soon became his strong-hold and refuge.
Totally unaware of the mischief projected by his spouse, but sincerely
anxious for a reconciliation of parties, Henry resolved on acting as
peace-maker, and, with that view, summoned a great council. The king
was all eagerness to reconcile York and his friends with the Beauforts,
Percies, and Cliffords, whose kinsmen had been slain at St. Albans;
and he swore upon his salvation so to entertain the duke and the two
earls, that all discontent should be removed. London was fixed upon as
the place of meeting; and, at the head of five thousand armed men, the
mayor undertook to prevent strife.
Accompanied by a number of friends and followers, York entered the
capital, and repaired to Baynard's castle; the Earl of Salisbury
arrived, with a feudal following, at his mansion called the Harbor;
and Warwick, landing from Calais, rode into the city, attended by six
hundred men, with his badge, the ragged staff, embroidered on each of
their red coats, and took possession of his residence near the Grey
Friars.
At the same time, the Lancastrian nobles mustered strong. Henry
Beaufort, Duke of Somerset; Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland; and
John, "the black-faced" Lord Clifford, came riding toward London,
in feudal array, attended by hundreds of the men of the west, of
Northumberland, and of the Craven. Each of the three had lost a father
in the first battle of the Roses; and, albeit young and vigorous,
they were to pour out their heart's blood in the struggle, ere a few
years passed over. But in no wise apprehensive did they seem, as they
alighted at their respective lodgings to the west of Temple Bar.
Thither, at the same time, came Exeter, Buckingham, and Thomas Percy,
Lord Egremont, a younger son of that Earl of Northumberland slain at
St. Albans. Devon would have been in London also; but, while on his
way, he fell sick, and died in the Abbey of Abingdon.
One circumstance connected with this attempt at pacification was
particularly noticed. While the Yorkists lodged in the city, the
Beauforts, Percies, and Cliffords, sojourned on the west of Temple Bar;
and while one party held their deliberations in the Black Friars, the
other held their meetings in the Chapter House at Westminster. The wits
of the period had their joke on the occasion, and said, that as the
Jews disdained the company of the Samaritans, so the Lancastrian lords
abhorred the idea of familiarity with the White Rose chiefs.
The farce was played out. The king, who, during the conferences,
resided at Berkhamstead and acted as umpire, in due time gave his
award. The Yorkists appear to have had scanty justice. They were
heavily mulcted, for the benefit of their living foes, and ordered
to build a chapel for the good of the souls of the lords slain at
St. Albans. Every body, however, appeared satisfied, and agreed
to a religious procession to St. Paul's, that they might convince
the populace how real was the concord that existed. The day of the
Conception was appointed for this ceremony; and, to take part in it,
the king and queen came from Berkhamstead to London.
The procession was so arranged as to place in the position of dear
friends those whose enmity was supposed to be the bitterest. The king,
with a crown on his head, and wearing royal robes, was naturally the
principal figure. Before him, hand in hand, walked Salisbury and
Somerset, Warwick and Exeter. Behind him came York leading Margaret
of Anjou. The citizens were, perhaps, convinced that Yorkists and
Lancastrians were the best of friends. All was delusion, however,
naught was truth. Though their hands were joined their hearts were far
asunder, and the blood already shed cried for vengeance. Stern grew the
brows of Lancastrian lords, pale the cheeks of Lancastrian ladies, at
the mention of St. Albans. The Beauforts, Percies, and Cliffords, still
panted for vengeance, and vowed to have an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth.[3]
The procession to St. Paul's took place in spring, and ere the summer
was over events dissipated the illusions which the scene created.
Warwick, as Captain of Calais, interfered with some ships belonging
to the Hanse Towns; and of this the Hanseatic League complained to the
court of England, as an infraction of the law of nations. The earl
was asked for explanations; and to render them more clearly presented
himself at Westminster.
The opportunity for a quarrel was too favorable to be neglected. One
day, when Warwick was attending the council at Westminster, a yeoman of
his retinue, having been struck by one of the royal household, wounded
his assailant. The king's servants assembling at the news watched until
the earl was returning from the council to his barge, and set upon
him with desperate intentions. A fray ensued, and Warwick, with some
difficulty, escaped in a wherry to London. Unfortunately, the mischief
did not end here. The queen, having heard of the affair, acted with
characteristic imprudence, and ordered Warwick to be sent to the
Tower, and a cry was therefore raised that "The Foreign Woman," who
had murdered "The Good Duke Humphrey," was going to murder "The Stout
Earl." Warwick, however, consulted his safety by making for Yorkshire,
where he took counsel with York and Salisbury. After this conference
he passed over to Calais, and during the winter employed himself in
embodying some veteran troops who had served under Bedford and Talbot
in the wars of France.