Usurpers, a New Look at Medieval Kings by Michele Morrical

Author:Michele Morrical [Morrical, Michele]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781526779502
Google: pls9zgEACAAJ
Amazon: 1526779501
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Published: 2021-09-14T18:30:00+00:00

25

The Second Reign of Edward IV

Warwick had no plans to surrender to the man who sat upon the throne of England because of his help. Warwick ignored Edward’s summons and continued marching his army to Rotherham but when he arrived, he was very disappointed to see so few supporters there to join him. So he tried a different mustering point, moving his troops to Lancashire where he erroneously thought he had could count on support. Upon his arrival he found that none of the nobles there would help him either. Helplessly outnumbered by the king’s army, Warwick and Clarence fled to Dartmouth where they took a ship to France to hide in exile. They tried to land in Calais but the king had sent advanced word to the town to repel the two men. As Warwick sailed along the French coast looking for a safe place to land, his daughter Isabel, wife of Clarence, went into labour and her child was stillborn.¹

Desperate, Warwick sent a message to his old friend King Louis XI and was granted political asylum in France. Louis was a staunch Lancastrian supporter and soon persuaded Warwick that he had a better chance of ruling England through old King Henry than through a strong, warrior king like Edward. Convincing Margaret of Anjou to join forces with Warwick was another thing as it took all of King Louis’ powers of persuasion to convince her to join in their plan. Louis, Warwick, and Margaret met at Angers on 22 July 1470 to seal their joint alliance against Edward. A few days later, Margaret’s son, Prince Edward, was betrothed to Warwick’s youngest daughter Anne. This move ensured Warwick that his daughter would be queen one day and he would be the grandfather of kings.

With Warwick in command of the Lancastrian invasion, he once again called on his northern supporters to launch uprisings to make King Edward leave London with his army and head north to deal with the rebellions. While Edward was distracted in the north, Warwick took his opportunity to issue a new proclamation calling on his fellow countrymen to help him rescue Henry VI from the Tower. Warwick and his new allies set sail from Calais on 8 September 1470 with a large fleet of sixty French ships. They landed at Exeter and then marched nearly 250 kilometres to Coventry, gaining members along the way until their ranks swelled to a reported 30,000 soldiers.²

When Edward received news of Warwick’s invasion, he immediately left York and headed south to intercept Warwick’s Lancastrian army. He stopped for the night at Doncaster and there he received the disastrous news that Lord Montagu had defected and joined the Lancastrians. Furthermore, Montagu’s army was quickly approaching Doncaster with orders to capture the king. In a panic, Edward and a small retinue fled the town and travelled to King’s Lynn where he procured three ships to take him and his party to Burgundy, arriving on 11 October 1470. Edward had long cultivated an alliance

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