The Queen’s hesitation gave time for Edward, Earl of March, to act. As soon as he heard of his father’s death, he attacked the royal forces in the west, defeating them at Mortimer’s Cross. With the new ruthlessness which followed Wakefield, Owen Tudor, the King’s stepfather, was executed at the market cross in Hereford. The battle of Mortimer’s Cross became a very important part of the Yorkist iconography. According to tradition, there appeared just before the battle ‘three suns in the firmament shining full clear’.49 With true piety, these were interpreted as signs of the Trinity and therefore of God’s blessing for their cause. Edward adopted the three suns as his emblem and together with the Mortimer roses they gradually replaced the falcon and fetterlock as the main badges of the House of York. When he became King they were adopted as royal symbols.
Fresh from his triumph, Edward marched directly to London and conferred with Warwick as to their next move. With the deaths of both their fathers at Wakefield, a new generation was in the saddle and the young men did not hesitate. Edward was proclaimed King on 4 March, basing his right to the throne on his father’s claim of 1460 and on the fact that royal forces had broken the Act of Accord at Wakefield. It was less than a year since Richard of York had made his abortive bid for the throne but the whole political situation had been transformed. Warwick had lost his possession of King Henry at the second battle of St Albans and the rebels needed a king of their own. Coppini, the Papal Delegate, who like many foreigners, was misled by Warwick’s authority in Calais declared that ‘in the end my Lord of Warwick has come off best and made a new King of the son of the Duke of York’.50 But in England it was more a question of the old Mortimer magic at work, perhaps also something to do with the fact that Edward was a handsome young giant and a proven general, in marked contrast both to his father and to the old King Henry. As one of the chroniclers wrote, ‘let us walk in a new vineyard and let us make a gay garden in the month of March with this fair white rose and herb the Earl of March’.51
Following the declaration of his royal title and the celebration of a Te Deum at St Paul’s, the new King Edward IV left London to put his claim to the decisive ordeal of battle. The hard fought battle of Saxton Field at Towton in the West Riding was the largest and bloodiest conflict of these civil wars.52 Edward claimed, in a letter to his mother, that 28,000 men had died, while modern estimates of the numbers involved in the fighting vary from 50,000 to 75,000. At least three-quarters of the aristocratic families had members on the field, and after the battle 113 attainders were issued. The hapless King Henry, who was not at the battle, escaped with the resolute Queen and her son. Sheltered by loyalists, Queen Margaret, a woman of great courage, fled first to Scotland and later to Burgundy and France where she sought help in vain.
In London, the House of York celebrated the coronation of King Edward. Prominent at the new court was the widowed Duchess Cecily. The most important ladies of the new court were Edward’s three sisters: Anne, Duchess of Exeter (whose husband was an irreconcilable Lancastrian, now also in exile) Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk (whose husband proved to be as reliable as a Yorkist courtier as he would later be as a Tudor courtier) and Margaret (who was now wholly dependent upon her brother the King for her maintenance and a marriage settlement).
On their return from Burgundy, George, newly made Duke of Clarence, was given particular honours as the heir-apparent and the younger brother Richard was made Duke of Gloucester. Both boys became Knights of the Garter and were heaped with lands and offices. Margaret and her two younger brothers were, for a short time at least, all established under one roof at the pleasant country palace of Greenwich.53
It was now Edward’s duty to arrange marriages both for himself and for his siblings. Unfortunately, like his father before him, he would fail lamentably and fatally to provide suitable brides for his brothers and Margaret had to wait long and patiently until an appropriate bridegroom was found for her. The new Yorkist princess was fifteen years old when her brother was proclaimed king. By fifteenth century standards, she was already a young woman whose education and training was complete. By her age, her mother, sisters and most of her other female relations had been betrothed and left the family household, but Margaret was to remain at court and unmarried for another seven years.
The Duchess Cecily was no cypher. In spite of her long years of childbearing she had remained constantly at her husband’s side and, after his death, she continued to play an active role in the family and to take part in political and administrative affairs. After the battle of Towton, the Papal Legate Coppini was advised to ‘write to the Duchess of York who has a good regard for you and can rule the King as she pleases’.54 In the first decade of Edward’s reign, we find her energetically supporting the promotion of one of her chaplains, Thomas Bann, to a preferment at Folkestone, despite the combined opposition of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Clinton. In the later years of her life, when most of her day was devoted to religious matters, she still set time aside to deal with her petitioners and business affairs. This diligent pursuit of the long-term interests of the family, both in heaven and on earth, was very typical of the great ladies of the fifteenth century. Margaret’s own success in securing for herself a respected and honoured position at the Burgundian court was due to her constant vigilance and care in matters of administration and politics. She learned much of this from her mother’s example.
However, the Duchess Cecily’s greatest legacy to her youngest daughter was in the field of religion. The central place of religion in the history of the fifteenth century was especially important in the lives of the aristocratic women who had both the time and opportunity to lead a full religious life. Like the Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the future Henry VII, Margaret and Cecily found no conflict between their piety and a ruthless determination to promote the fortunes of their families. These women were typical of their age. Their religious practice was full of indulgences and relics. Schatzel, who travelled to England with Count Leo of Rozmittal early in Edward’s reign, wrote that he had never seen so many relics as in England.55 Without a strong faith and a belief that this world was merely a temporary vale of tears, it is difficult to see how either the Duchess Cecily or her daughter Margaret could have survived the many disasters and disappointments which they had to endure.
The Duchess of York was certainly no patient Griselda, and her survival through all the crises shows a strong and remarkably positive character. Her capacity to endure and her religious zeal were passed on to Margaret.56 Cecily taught Margaret to set aside regular hours for prayer, contemplation and reading. Essential reading included the lives of the saints, Cecily being particularly interested in the lives of St Catherine of Siena and St Brigid of Sweden.57 St Catherine’s life recorded a very emotional religious experience, in which the practitioner tried to imagine the sufferings of Christ and the martyrs. The saint had even signed her letters ‘yours in the blood of Christ’. Both Cecily and her daughter Margaret shunned this level of spiritual excess, but they were both personally and publicly devout. The proper duty of a Christian noblewoman was to provide lavish vestments, books, plate and reliquaries for the Church, to support good clergymen and to observe all the feasts and liturgies of the Christian year. Both Cecily and Margaret fulfilled their duties in this respect with conscientious attention, munificence and splendour.
While Margaret owed her training to her mother, her inheritance from her father was not insubstantial. Richard of York showed considerable skill in maintaining the loyalty of his servants and followers, including those he had inherited from his uncle Edward, Duke of York, and from his predecessor in Rouen, the Regent Bedford. These included John Russel, Sir John Popham and Sir William Oldhall.58 Margaret too was able to keep the allegiance of her staff, such as Olivier de La Marche, who served as chamberlain to both herself and her husband, and later to Philip the Fair. Duke Richard was significantly less successful in attracting support from among his peers, in spite of the large affinity he had acqu
ired through his marriage. Did the emphasis which he placed on his royal blood alienate him from the less royal nobility, or was he personally a cold and reserved man unlike his amiable and charismatic son King Edward? If so, then perhaps Margaret was more like her father, for she was described as reserved and seldom smiling.59 She also inherited a deep sense of dynasty, which showed throughout her life in her steadfast loyalty to the Houses of Burgundy and of York.
Margaret was born at a time when written communication had become an important part of estate management and social life. Great nobles normally used secretaries for their correspondence and business affairs. It was still considered clerkish to write a good hand. But Margaret was sufficiently learned to be able to supervise her officials and subject their work to a close personal scrutiny. She was probably schooled with her younger brothers. Her autograph was very confident and untidy, showing a reasonable degree of literacy and a strong character.60 Classical learning and humanism had not yet affected the education of the English aristocracy, and neither Margaret nor her brothers were given the sort of grounding in Latin which would become commonplace in the next generation. Her extensive use of French translations of Latin authors shows that, like the rest of her family, she was no classicist.
Her knowledge of spoken French began in the nursery with Anne of Caux, but although fluent in speech, even after years of living in Burgundy, her written French was still far from accurate. Nevertheless, her ability to read French was such that she was later able to correct Caxton’s translation.61 She also appears to have had no difficulty in learning some Dutch. In Edward IV’s instructions for the education of his son, the Prince of Wales, ‘grammar, music and other exercises of humanity’ were recommended. No doubt Margaret was also taught music, dancing and embroidery, the standard skills for a woman of her class. She would have become a competent rider, though it was the custom for ladies to ride pillion behind a man, or to travel long distances in a ‘chair’ or litter. Travel was never seen as a problem and Margaret, like her mother Cecily, would set off on long and laborious journeys at all seasons of the year.
Very little is known about the personal tastes and interests of Richard of York and his wife. Both he and the Duchess kept a great retinue, and made full use of finery and splendour in their costume, jewels and plate, a great contrast in style to the modesty and simplicity of Henry VI. On the miniatures and paintings that have survived, Margaret is always portrayed dressed with elegance and opulence in the fashion of her day but she was not, like her brother Edward, noted for finery or sense of display.
Her most lavish personal spending was apparently on her purchases of fine manuscripts. She may have acquired her original interest in such matters from her parents but neither of them displayed the discrimination which was to distinguish Margaret’s collection. Duchess Cecily’s books appear to have been confined to religious subjects. Richard of York’s only known instance of literary patronage was an English translation of the book by Consul Stilicho. Since Stilicho was a much-wronged Roman noble who was finally made consul due to the great favour of the populace, the selection of this subject by the Duke was probably a political matter rather than a question of literary taste.62 Her father’s uncle, Edward, Duke of York, had shown some interest in books. He translated and amended a French treatise on hunting and the training of hunting dogs, a work based on much practical experience.63 Margaret’s own interest was to go far beyond that of her parents or her great-uncle, for she was to have the benefit of access to the famous Burgundian library.
This educated young woman with decided religious and bookish interests found herself in 1461 the only unmarried sister of the King of England. For the next seven years she divided her time between the various royal lodgings that were provided for her and the court itself. Three main routes ran across the city and Baynard’s Castle was on the most southerly route in Thames Street. The Royal Wardrobe, where rooms were prepared for Margaret when she stayed in the city, lay on the central route to the east of the Blackfriars monastery where Puddle Dock met the end of Carter Lane. This old royal property had been refurbished to provide lodgings for royal guests and members of the family. It was conveniently close to Baynard’s Castle and a short ride from the Palace of Westminster.64
London, in spite of the hazards of the plague, was a very attractive city. It was relatively small with a population of about 40,000, four times smaller than Paris, but about the same size as Florence or Rome, and larger than any city in Burgundy. It covered an area of about one square mile, from the Tower to Blackfriars and from the river to the north wall. With its many gardens, kites wheeling overhead and salmon and pike in the Thames, London was a very rural place by our standards, but it enjoyed all the advantages of a great medieval city. The most skilful craftsmen worked there and it was famous for its goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers. It was the only place in England where foreign luxuries were readily available. Only in London could one purchase fine cloth, tapestries, wall hangings, furs, spices, sugars and exotic fruit like lemons, oranges and pomegranates. Great sums of money were spent on these luxuries, especially on such fabrics as silks and damasks, which were used for clothing and wall hangings.
Although there had been many contemporary improvements in the collection of sewage and the provision of fresh water, London was still an unhealthy place. In 1464, two hundred people died of the plague in one month alone and 1467 was also a bad year. The prevalence of plague led to the gradual closing down of the public baths though two or three which were well-known for their respectable clientele had survived. Noble ladies were in the habit of dining out at some of the city’s inns, a fact noted with amazement by Schatzel.65
It was perhaps to escape the worst of the plague that the King also accommodated his sister and younger brothers out of the city at the ‘playsaunce’ of Greenwich.66 Like Baynard’s Castle, the Greenwich manor had belonged to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who had rebuilt it to a very high standard of luxury. After Gloucester’s death, Queen Margaret of Anjou made Greenwich her favourite country residence. She had the pillars decorated with marguerites, which would have pleased Margaret of York as well, and a new pier was built. Greenwich would also be used by Edward’s Queen and their first child, Elizabeth of York, was born there. The King had numerous chambers added for the convenience of his family, so that it was possible for George, Duke of Clarence, to stay there with his large household of almost three hundred servants and officials. The households for Margaret and Richard were much more modest, and sometime in 1465 Richard left Greenwich to join the Earl of Warwick’s household.
In the seven years that Margaret was maintained by her brother, she was provided with an income paid out of the Exchequer.67 In 1462 she was to receive 40 livres a year and from 1465, when she was over eighteen, this was raised to 400 marks, a generous but still modest allowance. Like most royal annuities, these payments were frequently in arrears. In addition to her annuity, the officials at the Treasury were expected to meet her expenses, both for the household at Greenwich and for her clothing and personal furnishings. When she stayed at court her expenses would be met directly through the royal household. From 1461 to 1464 her life was conducted within the compass of Greenwich, the Royal Wardrobe and the court, but this modest existence changed dramatically with the marriage of King Edward to Elizabeth Woodville. From 1464 onwards there are more frequent references to Lady Margaret, the King’s sister.
Bearing in mind both Richard of York’s efforts to secure a French princess as a bride for his eldest son, and all the diplomatic activity aimed at procuring a suitable bride for King Edward from the courts of Scotland, France, Italy, Spain or Burgundy, it came as a great surprise to everyone when the King did not marry, ‘some noble progeny out of his realm,’ but ‘a mere widow of England’.68 Cecily seems to have been appalled that her son had been ‘led by blind affection and not by the rule of reason’.
Yet in spite of the lack of international benefit, Edward’s marriage was not the s
heer folly that some contemporaries considered it. Through his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, he had greatly increased his own personal following, attracting a numerous family who had previously been loyal to the House of Lancaster. Nor was Elizabeth Woodville the lowly creature that some commentators suggest. Her mother, Jacquetta de St Pol, was the daughter of one of the most noble and powerful families in Luxembourg and northern France, and could claim a descent from Charlemagne.69 Jacquetta’s first marriage, to the Duke of Bedford, had been a great affair of state, but her second marriage shortly after Bedford’s death to Sir Richard Woodville was a love match. It was regarded as a shocking disparagement by her own family and by the English crown, though she was eventually able to obtain a pardon from King Henry.
Sir Richard Woodville was indeed a mere knight, but he had been knighted at the same ceremony as Richard, Duke of York, and he had served under Bedford in France. In 1448 he was elevated to the peerage as Lord Rivers and he, with his whole family were loyal supporters of Henry VI. His son-in-law, Lord Grey of Groby, was killed fighting for the royal cause at the second battle of St Albans leaving an attractive widow, Elizabeth. With her marriage to Edward the whole family transferred its loyalty to the Yorkist King.
By the time of Elizabeth’s coronation in May 1465 most of the court had come to terms with the new Queen apart, perhaps, from Cecily, who is distinguished by her absence from the lists of those attending the ceremonies.70 The Duke of Clarence, as High Steward of the realm, led the Queen’s procession and her train bearer was Anne, the Dowager Duchess of Buckingham and an old friend of Jacquetta’s. Following the new Queen came Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk, and Margaret. It was the first time that her presence was recorded at a great occasion of this sort. At the coronation banquet Margaret sat on the Queen’s left hand, and from this time on she was one of the circle of ladies who attended upon the Queen.
Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess Page 8