Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/149

 council was held, in which Margaret prepared the removal of the Bourchiers from His ministry, but failed to openly assail their patron, the duke. A hollow reconciliation was patched up, and York left. Coventry 'in right good conceit with the king, but not in great conceit with the queen' (ib. i. 408). Next year be was sent out of the v&y as lieutenant of Ireland. Margaret remained mainly in the midlands, fearing, plainly, to approach the Yorkist city of London. To combine the Scots with the Lancactrians she urged the marriage of the young duke of Somerset and his brother to two daughters of the King of Scots (, ii. 352-4). In 1458 there vas a great reconciliation of parties. On 25 SInrcli the Duke of York led the queen to a service of thanksgiving a at St. Paul's. But Margaret at once renewed her intrigues. After seeking in vain to drive Warwick from the governorship of Calais, she again withdrew from the capital. She sought to stir up the turbulent and daring Cheshire men to espouse her cause with the same fierce zeal with which their grand-fathers had fought for Richard II (Chron. Davies, p 79). In the summer of 1459 both parties were again in arms. Henry's march to Ludlow was followed by the dispersal of the Yorkists. In November the Coventry parliament gratified the queen's vindictiveness by the wholesale proscription of the Yorkist leaders. By ordering that the revenues of Cornwall should be paid henceforth directly to the prince, it practically increased the funds which were at Margaret's fettered disposal (, ii. 219; Rot. Parl. v. 356-62). Now, if not earlier, Margaret made a close alliance with her old friend Bresé. The seneschal of Normandy, the communications being carried on through a confidential agent named Doucereau. 'If those with her,' wrote Brezé to Charles II in January 146l, 'knew of her intention, and what she has done, they would join themselves with the other party and put her to death' (Letter of Brezé quoted in, iv. 358-60, ed. Quicherat; cf. , vi. 288). There could be no more damning proof of her treasonable connection with the foreigner.

In 1460 the pendulum swung round. The Yorkist invasion of Kent was followed by the battle of Northampton, the captivity of the king, the Duke of York's claim to the crown, and the compromise devised by the lords that Henry should reign for life, while York was recognised as his successor. York, now proclaimed protector. ruled in Henry's name. The king's weak abandonment of his son's rights seemed in a way to justify the scurrilous Yorkist ballads that Edward was a 'false heir,' born of 'false wedlock' (Chron. Davies, pp. 91-; cf., v. 464 ; , i. 299).

Margaret had not shared her husband's captivity. In June Henry had taken an affectionate farewell of her at Coventry, and bad sent her with the prince to Eccleshall in Stratfordshire, while be marched forth to defeat and captivity at Northampton. On the news of the fatal battle, Margaret fled with Edward from Eccleshall into Cheshire. But her hopes of raising an army there were signally disappointed. Near Malpas she was almost captured by John Cleger, a servant of Lord Stanley's, her own followers robbed her of her goods and jewels (, p. 773). At last a boy of fourteen, John Combe of Amesbury (, p. 209), took Margaret and Edward away from danger, all three riding away on the same horse while the thieves were quarrelling over their booty. After a long journey over the moors and mountains of Wales, the queen and the prince at last found a safe refuge within the walls of Harlech Castle. There isno sufficient evidence to warrant Sir James Ramsay (ii. 236) in placing here the well-known incident of the robber. The only authority for the story, Chastellain, distinctly assigns it to a later date.

The king's half-brothers upheld his cause in 'Wales. On the capture of Denbigh by Jasper Tudor, Margaret made her way thither, where she was joined by the Duke of Exeter and other leaders of her party. She was of no mind to accept the surrender of her son's rights, and strove to continue the war. The Lancastrian lords took up arms in the north. Mnr^rel and Edward took ship from Wales to Scotland. She was 8o poor that she was dependent for her expenses on the Scottish government. James II was just slain, but the regent, Mary of Gelderlond, treated her kindly and entertained her in January 1461 for ten or twelve days at Lincluden Abbey. She offered to marry Edward, now seven years old, to Mary, sister of James III, m return for Scottish help. But Mary of Gelderland also insisted on the surrender of Berwick. Margaret, with her usual contemptuous and ignorant disregard of English feeling, did not hesitate to make the sacrifice. On 5 Jan. a formal treaty was signed (, iv. 357-358). She also resumed her old comp dealings with the faithful Brezé (ib. iv. 357-360). She thus obtained a Scots contingent, or the prospect of one ; but her relations with the national enemies made her prospects in England almost hopeless.