Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/71

Henry VI important. The Yorkists denounced him as forsworn.

The queen's army advanced as near London as Barnet, but then withdrew to Dunstable. This hesitation to advance was fatal to their cause. The victors of Mortimer's Cross now joined Warwick, and on 4 March 1461 Edward was proclaimed rightful king in London, without even waiting for parliament. Henry and Margaret retreated to York with their ‘northern robbers’ (Three Fifteenth-century Chronicles, pp. 172–3), cruelly devastating the country they traversed. Edward IV hurried in pursuit, and won on Palm Sunday, 29 March, the decisive battle of Towton. Henry was not on the field, preferring to pass so holy a day in prayer at York (, p. 110, Camd. Soc.;, i. 299). He fled northwards in panic flight. It was said in London that he was besieged ‘in a place in Yorkshire called Corumbr, such a name it hath or much like,’ but stole away ‘at a little postern on the backside’ (Paston Letters, ii. 7). It is more certain that he fled through Newcastle to Berwick. He secured a good reception in Scotland by surrendering Berwick to the Scots (Three Fifteenth-century Chronicles, pp. 77–8). Accompanied by Margaret and the Prince of Wales he now crossed the border, ‘full of sorrow and heaviness’ (, p. 217). In November Edward IV's parliament attainted him. He is henceforth described by the Yorkists as ‘Henry late in deed but not of right king of England.’

Henry's subsequent movements are difficult to trace. The rumour that he took refuge in Wales (Cal. State Papers, Venet. 1202–1509, p. 111;, iii. 96, puts it a little later) is apparently of Flemish origin, and is improbable, though accepted by Dr. Lingard (Hist. Engl. iv. 73) and Dr. Pauli (Geschichte von England, v. 367). It is more probable that Henry never left Scotland or its neighbourhood, as the Crowland continuator says, for the next four years (Cont. Croyland Chron. p. 533). In the summer of 1461 he was reported to be at Kirkcudbright ‘with four men and a child,’ while Margaret and Prince Edward were at Edinburgh (Paston Letters, ii. 46). But before February 1462 Linlithgow Palace was prepared for his reception (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vii. 49). Sums were also spent for his entertainment at Durisdeer and Lanark (ib. p. 60). Before July 1462 food was provided for him at Edinburgh at the house of the Black Friars (ib. p. 145), and the accounts of the Edinburgh custumars for the year July 1462 to July 1463 include other expenses on his behalf (ib. p. 211). Margaret was forced to pledge a gold cup to her entertainers, and in January 1464 Henry gave a charter to Edinburgh, allowing the citizens to trade with England on payment of no higher dues than the Londoners paid (ib. Pref. p. xxxvi; Charters of Edinburgh, p. 119, Burgh Records Society). He had previously sought to win over the Earl of Angus by an English dukedom. But other influences were at work. Charles VII's death was a great blow to Henry's cause, while the Lord of the Isles and Douglas signed a treaty with Edward IV (Fœdera, xi. 475, 484, 487).

While Henry rested inactive in Scotland, Margaret vigorously upheld the Lancastrian cause, though her now open association with France and Scotland cut off the last hope of English sympathy, except in the wild north, where the traditional devotion to the house of Lancaster remained strong. She spent the summer of 1462 abroad, coming back in October with Pierre de Brezé and a small French force. By November Alnwick, Dunstanburgh, and Bamburgh were in her hands, Henry himself accompanying her army. But on Edward's approach Henry retired to Scotland. Before the end of the year Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh were again lost. Alnwick surrendered in January 1463, though De Brezé came to its help. Later in the year a Scottish force, together with Henry and the Scottish queen-dowager, appeared on the border and besieged Norham (, p. 220). But on Warwick's approach they retreated. Margaret now sailed for Flanders with her son, leaving Henry in Scotland, ‘not without great grief’ (, ii. 50).

In the spring of 1464 the north again rose in favour of Henry. Henry joined the rebels. But Montague's victories of Hedgley Moor (25 April) and Hexham (15 May) crushed the rising. Henry narrowly escaped capture in the hot pursuit that followed the latter battle, his pages, clad in blue sammet, and his cap of state falling into Montague's hands. In June the Scots concluded a truce for fifteen years with Edward, and abandoned Henry (Fœdera, xi. 525). But the peasantry and gentry of the north still proved faithful, and for a whole year Henry lurked in disguise in the wild hill country that separates Lancashire and Yorkshire. It was reported abroad that he took refuge in a monastery, disguised in monastic garb (, ii. 53). He was more than once entertained at Crackenthorpe, near Appleby in Westmoreland, at the house of John Machell (Fœdera, xi. 574). At another time he was hiding in the Furness Fells (, pp. 232–3). But his favourite refuge seems to have been Upper Ribblesdale, and traditions