because my lord the King and brother had heard that nobody in the city believed that Warwick and his brother were dead so he had their bodies brought to St Paul’s where they were laid out and uncovered from the chest upwards in the sight of everybody.106
After the battle of Barnet, Edward once more regained possession of the unhappy King Henry. Margaret’s description of the meeting between the two Kings was also designed to show her brother in the best light possible and would throw doubt on the later rumours that Edward had ordered Henry’s death in the Tower. She told Isabelle that Edward and Henry had come together in the presence of the Archbishop of York and that:
my lord and brother offered him his hand but King Henry came and embraced him saying: ‘my cousin you are very welcome, I know that my life will be in no danger in your hands’ and my lord and brother replied that he should have no worries and should be of good cheer.107
Margaret’s propaganda on behalf of her brother may have served some useful purpose at the Burgundian court but there does seem to be a certain futility in her efforts to purify the actions of her bloodstained brothers.
Immediately after Barnet, Queen Margaret and Edward, Prince of Wales, arrived at Weymouth and made their landing totally unaware of the disaster that awaited them. Although the news of the Lancastrian defeat reached them a day later the Queen must have been persuaded that there was still a good chance of victory or she would not have risked the life of her son, whom she had guarded for so long. She had not allowed him to come over to England with Warwick and Clarence and she had delayed their return until the readeption had seemed secure. However, this time she allowed her son’s life to be fully committed to the cause and on 4 May the two armies met at Tewkesbury. The Lancastrian army proved to be no match for Edward. His brother Gloucester was also gaining a reputation for his military abilities, he had fought bravely at Barnet and was rewarded with the leadership of the vanguard at Tewkesbury. All the Lancastrian leaders, including the Duke of Somerset, were killed and the Queen was taken prisoner. Prince Edward was ‘taken fleinge to the townewards and slayne in the fielde’.
On the victor’s return to London, Henry VI ‘which was a gode, simple and innocent man’ died ‘of pure despleasure and meloncholy’ in the Tower.108 The unfortunate Queen Margaret remained in Edward’s prisons until 1476, when she was finally ransomed by Louis XI and returned to her native land, where she passed the rest of her life in great penury, relieved only by the loyalty of one of her French vassals. At her death her only possessions of any value were her hunting dogs and these were quickly appropriated by Louis XI. The Duke of Exeter survived Tewkesbury and fled into sanctuary but his wife, Anne of York, was allowed to secure the annulment of her marriage to him, and she married her lover Thomas St Leger, keeping the bulk of the Holland estates. Another Lancastrian who also evaded capture and found safety abroad was Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, who escaped from Tenby a month after the defeat at Tewkesbury, taking with him his nephew and the new Lancastrian heir, Henry of Richmond, the future Tudor King.
The news of the Yorkist triumph brought great rejoicing to the Burgundian court. Bonfires were lit to pass the news swiftly across the land, and even before the battle of Tewkesbury a large English embassy, including such well-known figures as William Hatcliffe and John Russel, arrived in Bruges. Margaret received them on 6 April and they visited her at Maele where they dined ‘not at her owne table but in a chamber with her chamberleyn’.109 They were also entertained by Count Anthony of La Roche at Bruges and by Gruuthuyse, to whom they brought Edward’s thanks and an invitation to become a Knight of the Garter.
Margaret celebrated with a great banquet at Ghent on 16 June. She was not only pleased at the restoration of her brother, she was also personally relieved to find that she was still the honoured sister of the King of England. Edward rewarded his sister by granting her licences to export a large quantity of English cloth free of all custom dues either into Flanders, or through the ‘strait of Morrok’ (Gibraltar) directly into the Mediterranean in the ‘great ship of Burgundy’, or in other ships.110 This was the first of a series of licences that Edward was to grant to his sister, partly in gratitude and partly, perhaps, as an alternative to paying off the outstanding debt on her dowry which in spite of his many promises remained unpaid.
The consequences of the termination of the main Lancastrian line of English kings were not lost on Charles. He made the point of having the Dowager Duchess Isabelle’s rights of inheritance transferred to himself and he registered his formal claim to the English throne with a notary.111 As a great-grandson of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster, Charles was now one of the more eligible Lancastrian claimants. However he had no intention of pressing his claim at that time, occupied as he was with the war against France. He spent the summers of 1471 and 1472 with his armies in northern France, while Margaret passed part of the summer close to the frontier at Le Crotoy. Edward despatched Earl Rivers to support an Anglo-Burgundian ally, Duke Francis II of Brittany, and Lord Hastings, the newly appointed Captain of Calais, was also ordered to give support to the Burgundian armies. But Charles had to wait three years before Edward fulfilled his main promise to bring the English armies across the Channel to invade France. As time went by and Edward’s promises remained unfulfilled, it was observed that ‘the English have cheated the Duke promising to send him men everyday while he sent them money’.112
Throughout the campaigns of the seventies, Margaret and Hugonet were kept busy ‘in Flanders and Brabant pressing the people to obtain money, they made a good collection of 140,000 leoni but the people are very discontented’.113 Margaret was also disappointed with her brother, for as late as May 1476 he was still promising to pay off the debt which he owed on her dowry. She became increasingly anxious about this because, in the event of Charles’ death, her whole dower situation depended on the fulfilment of the original marriage contract. She wrote to Charles asking him to clarify the situation and he warned her that she would receive the full settlement only if Edward had paid the whole dowry. However due to ‘his special love and delight (la singulière amour et delection)’ for his ‘very dear and well loved companion the duchess (mon trèschere et tres amée compagne la duchesse)’, he promised that she would receive all which had been paid into the ducal coffers by Edward, even if the rest of the dowry remained unpaid and he further guaranteed her dower income of 40,000 crowns per year.114
The year 1472/3 was the peak of Charles’ achievements. He had restored his brother-in-law to the English throne and he had withstood the French invasion. Alsace, Guelders and Zutphen were in his hands and he was consolidating his position in Lorraine. Throughout the duchy there was peace and prosperity. The household and the army had been reorganised and his government was functioning well. He was regarded as one of the most successful and powerful princes in Europe. Yet it was this very triumph which eventually led to his fall. His reputation and power struck fear into the minds of other princes and especially into those of the magistrates of the cities. Gradually alliances were formed against him and from 1474 onwards he was drawn into ever more costly campaigns and forced to remain almost constantly in the field with his armies. With the Duke’s increased absence, Margaret was obliged to spend more of her time at Ghent, where she could use her influence with the Estates and keep in touch with the mood of the northern provinces. Her authority in Flanders may be judged by the determination with which the opposition sought to get her removed from Bruges and Ghent after Charles’ death.
Throughout 1474, King Edward was urged to undertake his promised invasion of France and he slowly prepared to fulfil his promises. By the following spring he had mustered the largest English army ever assembled for an invasion of France. Edward told the Milanese ambassador that he had 20,000 men. Modern historians have estimated that it was at least 12,000.115 With the King came all the greatest nobles of the realm including both the royal brothers. Their accoutrements and equipment were lavish, Edward would not retur
n to the continent a beggar.
By the time the English army was ready, Charles had transferred his military activity to the Rhinelands where he was occupied with the siege of Neuss. He showed no inclination to leave his armies to meet Edward and Margaret was kept hard at work encouraging Edward to invade. In the Duke’s absence she was also busy meeting ambassadors from Portugal and raising an army to withstand the French assaults on Artois and Hainault. Early in May she sent orders to Jehan, Lord of Dadizele, the ducal bailiff in Flanders, to come with all possible speed, bringing his levies to fight the French in Artois and Hainault.116 In the same month Earl Rivers arrived in Ghent only to be sent on to Neuss to urge Charles to leave the siege and to return to the Channel, but still Charles did not move and it was left to Margaret to oversee the arrangements for the Burgundian ships, which were to bring over the English army.
On 7 June Margaret left Ghent and travelled down to St Omer, arriving there just two days before Edward landed at Calais with all his court. She immediately rode over to greet her three brothers, taking a gift of tapestries and fine Bruges cloth to placate the King. She spent two nights there and returned to St Omer close to the English lines, where the Dukes of Gloucester and Clarence rode over to visit her. Louis XI commented with satisfaction that so far the English had done nothing but dance at the Duchess’ court.117 Charles finally abandoned the siege of Neuss and travelled across to Calais, arriving on 14 July, but he brought no army with him and his proposals that the English should engage the French alone while he drove into France from the east did not appeal to Edward. Nine days later Charles and Margaret again entertained Edward and his entourage at Fauquemberges, a castle on the river Aa not far from St Omer. Immediately after this, Margaret left for Ghent arriving on 1 August. This was the last time that Margaret was to see either Charles or her brother Clarence.
Charles remained in the area for the next three weeks calling on the Estates of Artois and Hainault to raise troops, but he failed to order his cities to open their gates to the English army. By this time, secret negotiations were well underway between Edward and Louis, both of whom preferred diplomatic agreements to military glory. Charles was kept informed and he had the terms of the Anglo-French deal explained to him. Although he was not best pleased, he left them to continue the talks, ordering the Count of Chimay and the Bishop of Tournai to keep an eye on the negotiations.
Louis made every effort to come to terms with Edward. He sent generous presents to the English courtiers and ordered Amiens to open its gates and its taverns freely to the English soldiery. As a result of this and Edward’s resolve to take his army safely back to England before the end of the summer, the two Kings finally met on the bridge at Picquigny. There they agreed on a truce and a treaty. Although it was claimed that Charles was so furious that he could not say what he would do next, within the week the Burgundians were also negotiating with France and they too reached agreement.118
The treaty of Picquigny was very favourable to Edward. In return for withdrawing from France he was given a generous payment of 75,000 crowns, a pension of 55,000 crowns annually and the promise of the betrothal of the Dauphin to the Princess Elizabeth. With the first installment of his ‘danegeld’ in his coffers, Edward began to move his armies out of France. The nearest he came to glory was to spend two nights camping on the field of Agincourt. There were some like Gloucester who were reported to be very displeased with the whole arrangement but most of the protesters were bought off by Louis’ generosity. The royal Dukes were loaded with gifts of horses, plate and wine and Gloucester himself was given some fine pieces of artillery. Nevertheless Edward’s return to England was marred by complaints that the resources of the kingdom had been needlessly consumed.119
By the treaty of Soleuvre, agreed between Burgundy and France early in September, Charles achieved a full restoration of all his lands and a nine years’ truce. The Duke was once more able to concentrate on his affairs in the Rhinelands, where he was further assisted by a contingent of 2,000 English archers who preferred to join the Duke’s armies rather than return empty-handed to England. Charles was not dissatisfied with the outcome and once more Margaret was rewarded too, with more licences permitting her to add wool, tin and lead to her duty-free exports from England.120
If the Duchess had found 1475 a busy year with the French invasion in April followed by the arrival of the English in July, she was to find 1476 even more strenuous. Throughout the year Charles campaigned in Lorraine and Savoy. As the year progressed successive disasters hit the Burgundian armies and they were defeated ignominiously at Grandson in March and at Murten in June. Margaret, Hugonet, Humbercourt and Ravenstein were stretched to the limit, trying to satisfy the ducal demands for troops and they summoned the Estates to obtain their full support. It was not easy to persuade the Flemish Estates to agree to pour more men and money into Lorraine.
When the news of the defeat at Grandson arrived at Ghent, the Estates were summoned to make good the losses. Margaret presided in person at the opening of the assembly and she informed them of the Duke’s demands for men and money, and of his wish that Mary should be sent to join him in Lorraine.121 The Estates vigorously opposed both proposals and Margaret promised to try to persuade the Duke to leave Mary in Ghent. By giving way on this she presumably hoped to carry the day on the issue of troops and money. But the delegates resisted all the demands, especially the ducal order for a further levy of 7,000 troops to be drawn from all the cities of the Low Countries. Chancellor Hugonet met their refusal with anger and he threatened the Estates with the wrath of the Duke if they did not immediately comply with his demands. The session ended in uproar but Margaret continued to work behind the scenes and she managed to ensure more troops were sent to Lorraine.
A contingent of about 8,000 foot soldiers were furnished with two months’ pay and they were sent off in autumn under the Count de Chimay, all of them equipped with uniforms in the Burgundian colours.122 The recruitment had been drawn from Brabant and Flanders and was well supported in the counties of Artois and Hainault, where the threat of war with France was ever present, but the northern provinces opposed both further conscription and extra taxes. The Duchess was forced to disband the Estates and she undertook a series of personal visits, trying to persuade the individual cities and nobles to support the Duke.
Throughout September and October Margaret travelled through Flanders, Brabant and Holland. It was her first trip to the northern province of Holland and she went by the overland route through Malines and Gertrudenberg to Dordrecht and Rotterdam, taking the many river ferries necessary, including the crossing over the wide Hollandse Diep.123 She stayed in The Hague, Leiden, Delft and Gouda and her visit seems to have had a modest success. In all about 4,000 more men were sent to Lorraine.
It was particularly difficult to extract contributions from the Low Countries at that time. Since June 1474, Charles had been trying to collect more money from the Church. He had also imposed a tax on all the lands and property granted to the Church within the last sixty years.124 This levy had been widely opposed and clerical lawyers had drawn up lengthy documents to expose the illegality of this innovative taxation. But the persuasions of the ducal officials prevailed and by the autumn of 1476 much of this tax had been collected. However there was a widespread resentment and there were some in the monasteries and convents who no doubt saw Charles’ defeats as acts of divine punishment for his blasphemous levy on the Church.
The news of the defeat at Murten was received with alarm in the castle of Ghent where, at first, there were fears for Charles’ life, but they were reassured to hear that he was safely in Franche Comté and reports of his speech to the Estates of Burgundy at Salins must have been even more encouraging. His self-confidence was unshaken and he reminded the delegates of the ancient Romans who had been so often defeated by Hannibal but were in the end totally victorious. He was so convincing that the Burgundians agreed to raise another 3,000 men and acquiesced to the ducal order that all the be
lls should be melted down to make new cannon to replace those seized by the Swiss.125
Margaret returned from Holland in November 1476 and was welcomed back to Ghent by her stepdaughter. Within the month they had at least one piece of good news: Charles had at last decided to complete the arrangements for Mary’s marriage to Maximilian. He asked the Emperor to begin preparations for the celebrations which were to take place either at Aachen or Cologne. On 1 December the necessary papal dispensation was issued at Antwerp by the Papal Legate Cardinal Tolentis.126 The news was greeted with delight throughout the Low Countries because it seemed to promise an end to all the wars in the Rhinelands. Bonfires were lit across the whole land to relay the good tidings and the magistrates of Ghent offered a banquet in honour of the Lady Mary. After all the hard negotiations and all her long journeys trying to raise men and money, Margaret must have been pleased to be able to plan something more pleasant. The Christmas celebrations at Ghent were particularly happy and they could hope that Charles too would soon be successful at the siege of Nancy so bringing to an end the war in Lorraine.
Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess Page 14