The Life and Times of Richard III Read Free

quinzimes, all that came from them was spended on vain, for he held no household he maintained no wars. For these misgovernances, and for many others, the hearts of the people were turned away from them that had the land in governance, and their blessing was turned into cursing.
    In Devonshire the Courtenay family terrorised the countryside in pursuit of private vendettas. In Northumberland the Nevilles took full advantage of their temporary ascendancy over the Percies. In 1457 the French launched a raid on Sandwich and burned it to the ground.
    Early in 1459, York’s youngest son, Richard, then in his seventh year, first felt the impact of war. With the Queen’s party openly preparing for an armed challenge, Richard’s father no longer considered Fotheringhay a safe refuge for his two younger sons, George and Richard. He therefore decided to move them to the greater isolation and superior defences of his great castle at Ludlow, where they joined his two older boys, the seventeen-year-old Edward, Earl of March, and his sixteen-year-old brother Edmund, Earl of Rutland. As it turned out, this was a most unfortunate decision. By early autumn the Queen’s army was gathered at Coventry, poised to march on Ludlow. Despite the arrival of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury and his son Warwick, the Duke of York was heavily outnumbered. On the night of 13 October, with the royal army encamped only a mile from Ludlow, he heard that Warwick’s most experienced troops – a contingent of the Calais garrison – had defected to seek the King’s pardon. The news broke his nerve. The Yorkist leaders took to their heels and made for the Welsh coast. The Duke, who took with him only his elder sons, left his army, his wife and the rest of his family to fend for themselves. He and Edmund sailed for Ireland: Warwick and the others took refuge in Calais.
    The Duchess Cicely and her two younger sons were not harshly treated. They were put into the custody of Richard’s aunt, the Duchess of Buckingham, and lived on one of Buckingham’s manors. In the following year the two boys were attached to the household of Thomas Bourchier, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Late in June 1460 they heard the welcome news that their brother Edward had landed at Sandwich with Salisbury and Warwick. On 2 July the three Earls were welcomed in London, where only the Tower held out for King Henry. Then the Yorkists marched north: once again the Lancastrians were inadequately prepared. When the two armies clashed on 10 July, south of Northampton, the Yorkists carried the day in less than an hour. The Queen had wisely remained in Coventry during the battle and fled with Prince Edward, first to Harlech Castle in Wales, then to Scotland. King Henry was taken in his tent. For a second time he suffered the indignity of being rescued from his councillors in a pitched battle, and was taken back to London to sanction a Yorkist government.
    But York, returning from Ireland in mid-September, had more ambitious plans. The clumsy fiction of the protectorship could be taken away as easily as it was granted. On 10 October he informed the astonished Lords in the Painted Chamber that he claimed the Crown by right of inheritance. Many of those present looked on York as a reformer rather than a candidate for the throne, and were not ready to depose the King in his favour. After much debate a compromise was reached: Henry would continue to rule for his natural life, but on his death the Crown would pass to York and his heirs. In the meantime York was to be Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester – and Protector of the Realm.
    While the embarrassed Yorkist lords were arguing over their leader’s claims, Queen Margaret was busy canvassing support to put another army in the field. In great secrecy a Lancastrian army was assembled at Hull. She was rewarded with total success. On 9 December York divided his strength, sending Edward west to pacify Wales, while he marched north