Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/109

Edward when wandering about they lost themselves in a forest and were attacked by robbers, who stripped them of all their jewels and afterwards fought among themselves for the booty. Margaret, seizing her advantage, gave her son to one of the brigands and said, 'Here, my friend, save the son of your king!' The conclusion of the story is thus related by the chronicler: 'The brigand took him with very good will, and they departed, so that shortly after they came by sea to Sluys. And from Sluys she went to Bruges, her son still with her, where she was received very honourably, while her husband. King Henry, was in Wales, in one of the strongest places in England' (, iii. 96, ed. 1595). That she and her son, and her husband also when they were together, had suffered very great distress, is attested by another writer of the time, who says that the three had been once five days witnout any food but a herring (, iv. 299, ed. Brussels, 1863). But a slight improvement had taken place in the fortune of war before she crossed the sea, for she sailed from Bamborough, which must have been by that time again recovered for the house of Lancaster, as it was for some months at least. On her landing at Sluys she was received by the Count of Charolois(afterwards Charles the Bold), and conducted by him to his father, Philip, duke of Burgundy, at Lille, who relieved her with money. She then went to her father, René, in Lorraine, with whom she remained for some years watching the course of events in hope of better fortune, while her husband fell into the hands of Edward and was imprisoned in the Tower. During this period she and her son the prince, residing at St. Mihiel in Barrois, received a communication from the Earl of Ormonde, who had taken refuge in Portugal, by which they were encouraged to hope that the king of Portugal would assist in restoring Henry VI to the throne; but nothing appears to have come of their efforts to engage his sympathies. In May 1467 the Duke of Milan's ambassador mentions Margaret and her son as being still in Lorraine (Venetian Cal. vol. i. No. 405). A letter of the French ambassador in England, dated 16 Jan. following, speaks of the great alarm excited among Edward's friends by a report that overtures had been made for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to one of Louis XI's daughters (, ed. Dupont, iii. 190). In 1470 the prince stood godfather to Louis's son, afterwards Charles VIII of France, who was born on 30 June at Amboise. Just after this (15 July) a meeting took place at Angers of Louis XI, Margaret of Anjou, and her father King René, the prince, and the Earl of Warwick, at which Margaret was induced to forgive the earl for his past conduct and consent to the marriage of her son with his second daughter, Anne, in order to have his assistance against Edward IV. The young lady, who was also then at Angers, was placed in Margaret's custody till the marriage should take effect, which was not to be till Warwick had recovered the kingdom, or the most part of it, for Henry; and when that took place the prince was to be regent in behalf of his father, whose incompetence to rule was now past dispute. A plan was then arranged with Louis for the immediate invasion of England, and was ratified by the oaths of the parties in St. Mary's Church at Angers.

Warwick presently sailed with the expedition, and was so successful that in October Edward IV was driven out of the kingdom and Henry VI restored. But unhappily for the Lancastrian cause, Margaret and ner son forbore to cross the sea till March following, and King Edward, having set sail for England again three weeks before them, had practically recovered his kingdom by the time they set foot in it. For although they embarked at Honfleur on 24 March, and might with a favourable breeze have reached the English coast in twelve hours, they were beaten by contrary winds for seventeen days and nights, and only reached Weymouth on the evening of 14 April, the very day the battle of Barnet was fought and the Earl of Warwick slain. They proceeded to Cerne Abbey, where they learned on the 15th the news of this great reverse; but the Duke of Somerset and other friends who came thither to welcome them on their arrival encouraged them to rely on the loyalty of the western counties, which were ready to rise at once in their behalf. They accordingly issued orders for a general muster and proceeded westward to Exeter; then having collected a considerable force advanced to Bristol. King Edward was now on his way to meet them, but was uncertain whether they intended to march on London or draw northwards by the borders of Wales to Cheshire, and they contrived to deceive him as to their movements while they passed on to Gloucester, where, however, they were denied entrance by Lord Beauchamp. They were thus compelled to continue their march to Tewkesbury, where they arrived much fatigued on the afternoon of 3 May, and pitched their camp before the town in a position well secured by 'foul lanes, deep dykes, and many hedges.' The king that evening reached Cheltenham, and next morning,