Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/151

 her uncle Charles of Maine ruler of England (, Letters of Kings of England, i. 127). But tha French king contented himself with much Xeta decisive measures. He, however, consented to despatch a small force, variously estimated as between eight hundred and two thousand men, to assist Margaret in a new attack on England. He appointed as leader of these troops her old friend Brezé, now in disgrace at court.

Early in the autumn Margaret and Brezé left Normandy, and, escaping the Yorkist cruisera, reached Scotland in safety. They were there joined by King Henry, and late in October invaded Northumberland, where they captured Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick. But no English Lancastrians rose in favour of the king, who sought to regain his kingdom with the help of the hereditary enemy. A violent tempest detroyed their ships, the crews were captured by the Yorkists, and Margaret and Brezé escaped with difficulty in an open boat to the safe refuge of Berwick, now in Scottish hands. On their retreat Somerset made terms with the Yorkists and surrendered the captured castles.

In 1463 the three border castles were reconquered by the Lanctastrians, or rather by the Scots and French fighting in their name. Margaret again appeared in Northumberland, but she was reduced to the uttermost straits. For five days she, with her son and husband had to live on herrings and no bread, and one day at mass, not having a farthing for the offertory, she was forced to borrow a small sum from a Scottish archer (, iv. 300). One day, when hiding in the woods with her son, she was accosted by a robber, hideous and horrible to see.' But she threw herself on the outlaw's generosity, and begged him to save the son of his king. The brigand respected her rank and misfortunes, and allowed her to escape to a place of safety. Such incidents proved the uselessness of further resistance, and Margaret sailed from Bamburgh with Brezé and about two hundred followers. Next year the last hopes of Lancaster were destroyed at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham. But there is no authority for the common belief that Margaret remained behind in Britain until after those battles. or that, as Bishop Stubbs represents, the returned to Scotland again before those battles were fought (see Mr. Plummer's note on, Governance of England, p. 63). In August 1463 Margaret and her woebegone following landed at Sluys. Margaret had only seven women attendants, who had not a change of raiment between them. All depended on Brezé for their daily bread. The queen at once journeyed to Bruges, where Charles, count of Charolais, mindful that his mother was a granddaughter of John of Gaunt, received the Lancastrian exiles with great hospltality and kindness (, p. 781). But his father, Duke Philip, was much embarrassed by her presence. He yielded at length to her urgency, and granted a personal interview. Margaret drove from Bruges to Saint-Pol in a common country cart, covered with a canvas tilt, 'like a poor lady travelling incognita.' As she passed Béthune she was exposed to some risk of capture by the English garrison at Calais. She reached Saint-Pol on 31 Aug., and was allowed to see the duke. Philip listened sympathetically to her tale of woe, but withdrew the next day, contenting himself with a present of two thousand crowns, his sister, the Duchess of Bourbon, remained behind, and heard from Margaret the highly coloured tale of her adventures, which, with further literary embellish raents, finally found its way into the 'Chronicle' of Chastellain Œuvres, iv. 278-314, 333). Margaret then returned to Bruges, where Charolais again treated her with elaborate and considerate courtesy. But there was no object in her remaining longer in Flauders, and Philip urged on her departure by offering an honourable escort to attend her to her father's dominions. Thither Margaret now went, and took up her quarters at Saint-Michel-en-Barrois. Louis XI, so far from helping her, threw the whole of her support on her impoverished father, who gave her a pension of six thousand crowns a year. She lived obscurely at Saint-Michel for the next seven years, mainly occupied in bringing up her son, for whom Sir John Fortescue (1394?-1476?) [q. v.], who had accompanied her flight, wrote his well-known book 'De Laudibus Legum Angliæ.' 'We be all in great poverty,' wrote Fortescue, 'but yet the queen sustaineth na in meat and drink. Her Highness may do no more to us than she doth' (, p. 64). A constant but feeble agitation was kept up. Fortescue was several times sent to Paris, and great efforts were made to enlist the Lancastrian sympathies of the king of Portugal, the emperor Frederick III, and Charles of Charolais (ib. p. 65;, Family of Fortescue, pp. 69-79).

After 1467 Margaret's hopes rose. Though her old friend Charolais, now Duke of Burgundy, went over to the Yorkists, Louis became more friendly and better able to help her. In 1468 she sent Jasper Tudor to raise a revolt in Wales. In 1469 she collected troops and waited at Harfleur, hoping to invade England (, p. 792). In the spring of 1470 Warwick quarrelled finally with Edward IV and fled to France. He