by Sandra Worth
The Rose of York
LOVE
& WAR
SANDRA WORTH
END TABLE BOOKS
First edition 2003
Copyright © 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011
by Sandra Worth
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
END TABLE BOOKS
Yarnell, Arizona, USA
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
web www.endtablebooks.com
email [email protected]
Cover image: God Speed by Edmund Blair-Leighton.
Oil on canvas, 1900. Image in the public domain.
Contents
Title page
Imprint page
What reviewers are saying
Praise for Sandra Worth
Books by Sandra Worth
Foreword
Characters
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Author’s note
What reviewers are saying
“Expounding an historical epic of honor and love during the time of the Wars of the Roses, The Rose Of York (Love & War) is both dramatic and evocative in its portrayal of struggling souls making the best choices they can in an unjust world. A deftly written, reader engaging, thoroughly entertaining and enthusiastically recommended historical novel which documents its author as a gifted literary talent.” – Small Press BookWatch, Midwest Book Review
“Extraordinary… will breathe glorious light into an era of history that’s dark (and) tumultuous.” – Heartstrings Novels and Reviews
A Romantic Times November 2003 TOP PICK! “[M]arvelous... Worth’s depiction of the troubled times, uncertainty of life and the portrayal of historical figures as multidimensional people with good intentions, bad decisions, greed, jealousy and goodness of heart will leave you wanting the next book immediately.” – The Romantic Times BOOKclub
“A Perfect Ten.” – Jani Brooks, romancereviewstoday.com
“Favorite Romance Book of the Year” – Joy Calderwood, theindependentreviewsite.org
“Five Hearts.” – theromancestudio.com
“[S]o real that one agrees this must have been what they said, the way things happened.” – Ricardian Register, Quarterly Publication of the Richard III Society, Inc., Vol. XXIII, No. 2
“A true classic.” – Viviane Crystal, Member Reviewers International Organization
~*~
PRAISE FOR SANDRA WORTH
“[A] luminous portrait... an impressive feat.” ~ Publishers Weekly “Authenticity, rich period detail, and well crafted characters.” ~ St. Paul Pioneer Press
“[A] rich, magnificent novel.” ~ Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti.
~*~
Sandra Worth is the acclaimed author of six novels set during England's Wars of the Roses. She numbers among her fifteen awards BEST HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY from the Reviewers at the Romantic Times, BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL from the Reviewers at Romance Reviews Today, and the ABPA Glyph Award for Best Fiction-Adult.
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BOOKS BY SANDRA WORTH
The Rose of York trilogy, published by End Table Books
The Rose of York: Love & War ~ ISBN 978-0975126400
The Rose of York: Crown of Destiny ~ ISBN 978-0975126486
The Rose of York: Fall from Grace ~ ISBN 978-0975126493
Published by the Penguin Group
Lady of the Roses ~ ISBN 978-0425219140
The King’s Daughter ~ ISBN 978-0425221440
Pale Rose of England ~ ISBN 978-0425238776
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Foreword
by Roxane C. Murph
The Wars of the Roses, the fifteenth century dynastic conflict between the houses of Lancaster and York for the crown of England, had its origin in 1399. In that year, John of Gaunt’s eldest son, Henry of Bolingbroke, who had been exiled by his cousin Richard II, returned to England with an army. Claiming that he had returned only to reclaim his inheritance, he gained the support of many of the English against the unpopular king and his hated favorites, and he succeeded in seizing the throne, and eventually had Richard murdered. The former king’s heir apparent, the young Roger Mortimer, was thus deprived of his rights, and for more than fifty years the Lancastrians, in the persons of Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI, held the throne in relative peace.
The reign of Henry VI, who suffered frequent bouts of madness, became markedly more troubled after his marriage to Marguerite d’Anjou. She dominated both king and court, and was bitterly opposed to the Duke of York, Mortimer’s heir, who had a better claim to the throne than Henry. In the 1450s, when the enmity of the queen and her favorites began to pose real danger to the Yorkists, the duke, in company with his cousin the earl of Warwick, rebelled, and in October, 1460, after five years of sometimes-open hostilities, York laid claim to the throne. In December of that year he was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, and his eldest son was successful in claiming the throne as Edward IV.
Virtually all the figures of the period, both major and minor, have attracted the interest of historians and writers of fiction, but none so much as Richard III, the last Plantagenet king. He has aroused the greatest passions, both for and against him. Beginning with Sir Thomas More, through the Tudor chronicles of Hall, Holinshed, and others, Richard III was portrayed as a murderous, deformed monster who clawed his way to the throne over the bodies of Henry VI and his son, his own brothers, and his two nephews. The most vivid of all these portraits came from Shakespeare, whose depiction of the king stamped itself on the consciousness of all future generations.
This view, however, did not go unchallenged. In the seventeenth century, George Buck and William Cornwallis published defenses of Richard III, as did Horace Walpole in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, Sharon Turner, John Heneage Jesse, Caroline Halstead, and
others also come to Richard’s defense, but the most spirited challenge to the so-called Tudor myth came in the twentieth century, with both historians and writers of fiction joining the fray. Probably the most influential of the king’s defenders were historian Paul Murray Kendal, whose Richard the Third and other books on the Yorkist period viewed him in a sympathetic light, and Josephine Tey, whose novel The Daughter of Time vigorously challenged the traditional view. The Richard III Society, founded in England in 1924 to educate people about the king’s life and times, now has chapters in many countries, and has been responsible for much of the increased interest in the subject.
As interest in Richard III has grown, so has the number of books written about him, both fiction and nonfiction. Although some historians, such as Alison Weir and Desmond Seward, cling to the old stereotype, most historians have generally taken a more balanced view, but the greatest change can be seen in the many novels written by his partisans. Although some novels still portray him as Shakespeare’s monster, the great majority of those written in the past thirty or forty years are much more sympathetic, portraying Richard as a human being who lived through troubled times, showing great courage, devotion, and occasional faulty judgment, while attempting, usually successfully, to live up to his motto, Loyaulte me lie, Loyalty binds me. Love & War, the first novel in The Rose of York trilogy, is a worthy addition to this growing body of work.
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Roxane C. Murph is an independent researcher and freelance writer in fifteenth century English history and the Wars of the Roses. A former Chairman of the U.S. Richard III Society, she is the author of The Wars of the Roses in Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography, 1440—1994, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1995, and Richard III: The Making of a Legend, Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, N.J., 1977, reprinted 1984.
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Characters
In a tumultuous era marked by peril and intrigue, reversals of fortune and violent death, the passions of a few rule the destiny of England and change the course of history…
Richard: Alone in a dangerous world, he is an orphan who has known exile, loss, tragedy, and betrayal. When at last he finds love, his loyalty is first challenged by war, then by the ambitions of a scheming queen.
Edward: A golden warrior-king, reckless, wanton, he can have any woman he wants, but he wants the only one he can’t have. When he marries her secretly and makes her his queen, he dooms himself and all whom he loves.
Bess: Edward’s detested and ambitious queen. Gilt-haired, cunning, and vindictive, she has a heart as dark as her face is fair.
George: Richard’s brother. Handsome, charming, and consumed with hatred and greed, he will do anything it takes to get everything he wants.
Warwick the Kingmaker, aka Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: Richard’s famed cousin, maker and destroyer of kings. More powerful and richer than King Edward himself, he attracts the jealousy of the queen and seals his fate.
Anne Neville: The Kingmaker’s beautiful daughter. She is Richard’s only love, his light, his life…
John Neville, aka Lord Montagu: The Kingmaker’s brother. Valiant and honourable, he is Richard’s beloved kinsman and Edward’s truest subject, but when the queen whispers in the king’s ear, he is forced to confront what no man should have to face.
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, my thanks go to my publisher who accepted this book in August 2003 and, undaunted by the Herculean task of a three-month turnaround necessitated by the unusual circumstances of this book, made the impossible happen in November. I also extend heartfelt appreciation to those special people—many of them strangers—who went out of their way to help turn a false start into a good outcome. They know who they are. No acknowledgement would be complete without thanks to Ricardians Dale Summers, Myrna Smith, and Roxane Murph who wrote the foreword of this book at short notice, as well as P.W. Hammond who granted me an interview in London, and the Yorkshire branch of the Society, which includes John Audsley, the late Anne-Denise Worsnop, and Moira Habberjam who, eight years ago, welcomed a complete stranger into her home to tour the Ricardian North. I also wish to thank the ever-helpful staff of the British Library and the Manuscripts Room, as well as the staff of the university libraries of Berkeley, Boston College, Harvard, Houston, Rice, Stanford, Texas and Toronto. – August 2009
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For Richard, for John,
and for all who shine a light
across the dark chasm of Time
~*~
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King—
Else, wherefore born?
—Idylls of the King, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
For the whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men;
and their story is not graven only on stone
over their native land,
but lives on far away without visible symbol,
woven into the stuff of other men’s lives.
—Thucydides
~*~
Prologue
Caen Castle, 1470
“I won’t!” Anne cried. “I won’t wed him, Mother!” “What’s this?” demanded a harsh voice behind her. Anne whirled around. Her father stood at the threshold of her bedchamber. “She says she’ll not wed Prince Edouard, my lord husband. I can’t make her see reason…”
Warwick’s expression hardened. He entered with long, angry strides, stopping in front of her. “Are you mad, girl? Do you not comprehend? I have arranged a marriage for you with a prince. A future king!”
“I wish no marriage, my lord father,” entreated Anne. “I don’t love him. I love Richard.”
“What has love to do with marriage?” he thundered. “King Edward married for love; ’tis the reason we are here! Had he done his duty, we would not have been exiled, deprived of all we hold dear. I see now that we’ve indulged you, you insolent little fool. God’s blood, but you shall marry. You shall do your duty!”
“I wish to be a nun, Father. Let me take the veil, dear Father…”
“A nun? A nun? You choose to be a nun instead of a queen, you unworthy wretch?” He took a threatening step towards her.
Anne gathered her shift around her and backed away. “I’ll not wed! I don’t love him!”
“You shall be Queen of England one day! Are you not proud? Do you not count yourself blessed?” Warwick blustered, reddening. A vein throbbed in his temple. “Is this our thanks?”
“Father, I beseech you on my knees!” pleaded Anne. “Don’t make me do this.”
“You will do it, or by God, I’ll have no more to do with you!”
“Let me take the veil,” she sobbed. “I pray you, Father…”
“You’ll do as I say or I’ll throw you into the streets, you disobedient wench!” He stepped forward, raising his hand to strike her. Anne shrank against the wall, trembling. She didn’t know this glowering, fuming stranger. The father she’d known could never have hit her. She shielded her face, braced herself for the blow.
The Countess threw herself between them. “Nay, my lord! Let it lie. She’ll come to her senses, I promise you. She’s a good child. She’ll do what she must. She’ll wed him.”
“She will indeed, or I’ll turn her out,” he raged. “You can beg, die, hang, starve in the streets, for on my soul, you’ll not see my face again! I’ll have nothing to do with you. I have given my word to King Louis, and I’ll not go back on it. By God, you shall marry Edouard!”
~ * * * ~
Chapter 1
“Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel…”
The messenger tore through the night. The desolate, snowy streets of London posed little danger in the comforting dark, but at London Bridge he reined in his nervous mount. Torches flared along the bridge, casting lurid shadows on the traitors’ heads lining the poles. They leered at him with mocking grins as snowflakes melted into their empty eye-sockets and rotting flesh, pervading the eerie night with menace. He calmed his horse and braced himself. Cautiously, he trotted pas
t the chilling sight, averting his face from the light. The sound of lapping water drew his attention to the inky river below where a boat was bearing a prisoner to the Tower. The man’s chains glittered a warning as he passed beneath the bridge. The messenger wondered if it was someone he knew, and shuddered.
Once over the bridge and safe again in the shadows of the night, he spurred his mount. Minutes later, at a stately stone mansion on the Thames, he gave the password and gained hasty entry. Racing up the steps, he was surprised to find himself face to face, not with the captain he’d come to seek, but with the Commander of the Yorkist army who was said to be fighting in the Midlands, the mighty lord known to all England as Kingmaker. He fell to his knees and delivered his fearful tidings.
The Kingmaker paled. Barking orders, he grabbed his cloak and made for his horse, his retinue in hot pursuit. Together they galloped along the deserted streets and drew up before a gabled home set behind a wall.
“Who goes there?” demanded a guard.
“The Kingmaker, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.”
“Password?”
“White Rose Vanquishes Red.”
“Enter!” The gate was thrust open.
The small courtyard filled with the shouts of men and the neighing of horses. Two young faces, one blond, one dark, appeared at the window above the entry, noses pressed against the glass. The boys’ eyes widened when they saw the Kingmaker. He entered the house, and the faces disappeared from the window.