by G. A. Henty
Produced by Martin Robb
A KNIGHT OF THE WHITE CROSS
By G.A. Henty
PREFACE.
MY DEAR LADS,
The order of the Knights of St. John, which for some centuries playeda very important part in the great struggle between Christianity andMahomedanism, was, at its origin, a semi-religious body, its membersbeing, like other monks, bound by vows of obedience, chastity, andpoverty, and pledged to minister to the wants of the pilgrims whoflocked to the Holy Places, to receive them at their great Hospital--orguest house--at Jerusalem, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and todefend them on their passage to and from the sea, against attack byMoslems. In a comparatively short time the constitution of the order waschanged, and the Knights Hospitallers became, like the Templars, agreat military Order pledged to defend the Holy Sepulchre, and to wareverywhere against the Moslems. The Hospitallers bore a leading sharein the struggle which terminated in the triumph of the Moslems, and thecapture by them of Jerusalem. The Knights of St. John then establishedthemselves at Acre, but after a valiant defence of that fortress,removed to Crete, and shortly afterwards to Rhodes. There they fortifiedthe town, and withstood two terrible sieges by the Turks. At the endof the second they obtained honourable terms from Sultan Solyman, andretiring to Malta established themselves there in an even strongerfortress than that of Rhodes, and repulsed all the efforts of the Turksto dispossess them. The Order was the great bulwark of Christendomagainst the invasion of the Turks, and the tale of their long struggleis one of absorbing interest, and of the many eventful episodes noneis more full of incident and excitement than the first siege of Rhodes,which I have chosen for the subject of my story.
Yours truly, G. A. Henty
CHAPTER I The King Maker
A stately lady was looking out of the window of an apartment in theRoyal Chateau of Amboise, in the month of June, 1470. She was stillhandsome, though many years of anxiety, misfortune, and trouble, hadleft their traces on her face. In the room behind her, a knight wastalking to a lady sitting at a tambour frame; a lad of seventeen wasstanding at another window stroking a hawk that sat on his wrist,while a boy of nine was seated at a table examining the pages of anilluminated missal.
"What will come of it, Eleanor?" the lady at the window said, turningsuddenly and impatiently from it. "It seems past belief that I am tomeet as a friend this haughty earl, who has for fifteen years been thebitterest enemy of my House. It appears almost impossible."
"'Tis strange indeed, my Queen; but so many strange things have befallenyour Majesty that you should be the last to wonder at this. At any rate,as you said but yesterday, naught but good can come of it. He has donehis worst against you, and one can scarce doubt that if he chooses hehas power to do as much good for you, as in past times he has done youevil. 'Tis certain that his coming here shows he is in earnest, forhis presence,--which is sure sooner or later to come to the ears of theUsurper,--will cause him to fall into the deepest disgrace."
"And yet it seemed," the queen said, "that by marrying his daughterto Clarence he had bound himself more firmly than ever to the side ofYork."
"Ay, madam," the knight said. "But Clarence himself is said to be alikeunprincipled and ambitious, and it may well be that Warwick intended toset him up against Edward; had he not done so, such an alliance wouldnot necessarily strengthen his position at Court."
"Methinks your supposition is the true one, Sir Thomas," the queen said."Edward cares not sufficiently for his brother to bestow much favourupon the father of the prince's wife. Thus, he would gain but littleby the marriage unless he were to place Clarence on the throne. Thenhe would again become the real ruler of England, as he was until Edwardmarried Elizabeth Woodville, and the House of Rivers rose to the firstplace in the royal favour, and eclipsed the Star of Warwick. It is nowonder the proud Earl chafes under the ingratitude of the man who oweshis throne to him, and that he is ready to dare everything so that hecan but prove to him that he is not to be slighted with impunity. Butwhy come to me, when he has Clarence as his puppet?"
"He may have convinced himself, madam, that Clarence is even less tobe trusted than Edward, or he may perceive that but few of the Yorkistswould follow him were he to declare against the Usurper, while assuredlyyour adherents would stand aloof altogether from such a struggle.Powerful as he is, Warwick could not alone withstand the united forcesof all the nobles pledged to the support of the House of York. Thence,as I take it, does it happen that he has resolved to throw in his lotwith Lancaster, if your Majesty will but forgive the evil he has doneyour House and accept him as your ally. No doubt he will have terms tomake and conditions to lay down."
"He may make what conditions he chooses," Queen Margaret saidpassionately, "so that he does but aid me to take vengeance on thatfalse traitor; to place my husband again on the throne; and to obtainfor my son his rightful heritage."
As she spoke a trumpet sounded in the courtyard below.
"He has come," she exclaimed. "Once again, after years of misery andhumiliation, I can hope."
"We had best retire, madam," Sir Thomas Tresham said. "He will speakmore freely to your Majesty if there are no witnesses. Come, Gervaise,it is time that you practised your exercises." And Sir Thomas, with hiswife and child, quitted the room, leaving Queen Margaret with her son tomeet the man who had been the bitterest foe of her House, the author ofher direst misfortunes.
For two hours the Earl of Warwick was closeted with the queen; then hetook horse and rode away. As soon as he did so, a servant informed SirThomas and his wife that the queen desired their presence. Margaret wasstanding radiant when they entered.
"Congratulate me, my friends," she said. "The Star of Lancaster hasrisen again. Warwick has placed all his power and influence at ourdisposal. We have both forgiven all the past: I the countless injurieshe has inflicted on my House, he the execution of his father and so manyof his friends. We have both laid aside all our grievances, and we standunited by our hate for Edward. There is but one condition, and this Iaccepted gladly--namely, that my son should marry his daughter Anne.This will be another bond between us; and by all reports Anne is acharming young lady. Edward has gladly agreed to the match; he couldmake no alliance, even with the proudest princess in Europe, which wouldso aid him, and so strengthen his throne."
"God grant that your hopes may be fulfilled, madam," the knight saidearnestly, "and that peace may be given to our distracted country! TheUsurper has rendered himself unpopular by his extravagance and by theexactions of his tax collectors, and I believe that England will gladlywelcome the return of its lawful king to power. When does Warwickpropose to begin?"
"He will at once get a fleet together. Louis, who has privately broughtabout this meeting, will of course throw no impediment in his way; but,on the other hand, the Duke of Burgundy will do all in his power tothwart the enterprise, and will, as soon as he learns of it, warnEdward. I feel new life in me, Eleanor. After fretting powerless foryears, I seem to be a different woman now that there is a prospect ofaction. I am rejoiced at the thought that at last I shall be able toreward those who have ventured and suffered so much in the cause ofLancaster."
"My hope is, madam, that this enterprise will be the final one,--that,once successful, our dear land will be no longer deluged with blood,and that never again shall I be forced to draw my sword against mycountrymen."
"'Tis a good and pious wish, Sir Thomas, and heartily do I join in it.My married life has been one long round of trouble, and none more than Ihave cause to wish for peace."
"There is the more hope for it, madam, that these wars have greatlydiminish
ed the number of powerful barons. It is they who are the authorsof this struggle; their rivalries and their ambitions are the ruin ofEngland. Save for their retainers there would be no armies to place inthe field; the mass of people stand aloof altogether, desiring only tolive in peace and quiet. 'Tis the same here in France; 'tis the powerfulvassals of the king that are ever causing trouble."
"'Tis so indeed, Sir Thomas. But without his feudal lords how could aking place an army in the field, when his dominions were threatened by apowerful neighbour?"
"Then it would be the people's business to fight, madam, and I doubt notthat they would do so in defence of their hearths and homes. Besides,the neighbour would no longer have the power of invasion were he alsowithout great vassals. These great barons stand between the king andhis subjects; and a monarch would be a king indeed were he able to rulewithout their constant dictation, and undisturbed by their rivalry andambitions."
"That would be a good time indeed, Sir Thomas," the queen said, with asmile; "but methinks there is but little chance of its coming about, forat present it seems to me that the vassals are better able to make orunmake kings, than kings are able to deprive the great vassals ofpower; and never since Norman William set foot in England were they morepowerful than they are at present. What does my chance of recovering ourthrone rest upon? Not upon our right, but on the quarrel between Warwickand the House of Rivers. We are but puppets that the great lords playagainst each other. Did it depend upon my will, it should be as yousay; I would crush them all at a blow. Then only should I feel really aqueen. But that is but a dream that can never be carried out."
"Not in our time, madam. But perhaps it may come sooner than we expect;and this long war, which has destroyed many great families and weakenedothers, may greatly hasten its arrival. I presume until Warwick is readyto move naught will be done, your Majesty?"
"That is not settled yet. Warwick spoke somewhat of causing a risingin the north before he set sail, so that a portion at least of Edward'spower may be up there when we make our landing."
"It would be a prudent step, madam. If we can but gain possession ofLondon, the matter would be half finished. The citizens are ever readyto take sides with those whom they regard as likely to win, and just asthey shout at present 'Long live King Edward!' so would they shout 'Longlive King Henry!' did you enter the town."
"This may perhaps change the thought that you have entertained, SirThomas, of making your son a Knight of St. John."
"I have not thought the matter over, madam. If there were quiet in theland I should, were it not for my vow, be well content that he shouldsettle down in peace at my old hall; but if I see that there is stilltrouble and bloodshed ahead, I would in any case far rather that heshould enter the Order, and spend his life in fighting the infidel thanin strife with Englishmen. My good friend, the Grand Prior of the Orderin England, has promised that he will take him as his page, and atany rate in the House of St. John's he will pass his youth in securitywhatsoever fate may befall me. The child himself already bids fair todo honour to our name, and to become a worthy member of the Order. He isfond of study, and under my daily tuition is making good progress in theuse of his weapons."
"That is he," the prince said, speaking for the first time, "It was butyesterday in the great hall downstairs he stood up with blunted swordsagainst young Victor de Paulliac, who is nigh three years his senior. Itwas amusing to see how the little knaves fought against each other;and by my faith Gervaise held his own staunchly, in spite of Victor'ssuperior height and weight. If he join the Order, Sir Thomas, I warrantme he will cleave many an infidel's skull, and will do honour to thelangue of England."
"I hope so, prince," the knight said gravely. "The Moslems ever gain inpower, and it may well be that the Knights of St. John will be hardlypressed to hold their own. If the boy joins them it will be my wish thathe shall as early as possible repair to Rhodes. I do not wish him tobecome one of the drones who live in sloth at their commanderies inEngland, and take no part in the noble struggle of the Order with theMoslem host, who have captured Constantinople and now threaten allEurope. We were childless some years after our marriage, and Eleanor andI vowed that were a son born to us he should join the Order of the WhiteCross, and dedicate his life to the defence of Christian Europe againstthe infidel. Our prayers for a son were granted, and Gervaise will enterthe Order as soon as his age will permit him. That is why I rejoice atthe grand prior's offer to take him as his page, for he will dwell inthe hospital safely until old enough to take the first steps towardsbecoming a knight of the Order."
"I would that I had been born the son of a baron like yourself," theprince said earnestly, "and that I were free to choose my own career.Assuredly in that case I too would have joined the noble Order andhave spent my life in fighting in so grand a cause, free from all thequarrels and disputes and enmities that rend England. Even should I someday gain a throne, surely my lot is not to be envied. Yet, as I havebeen born to the rank, I must try for it, and I trust to do so worthilyand bravely. But who can say what the end will be? Warwick has everbeen our foe, and though my royal mother may use him in order to free myfather, and place him on the throne, she must know well enough that hebut uses us for his own ends alone, and that he will ever stand besidethe throne and be the real ruler of England."
"For a time, Edward," the queen broke in. "We have shown that we canwait, and now it seems that our great hope is likely to be fulfilled.After that, the rest will be easy. There are other nobles, well nigh aspowerful as he, who look with jealousy upon the way in which he lordsit, and be assured that they will look with a still less friendly eyeupon him when he stands, as you say, beside the throne, once your fatheris again seated there. We can afford to bide our time, and assuredly itwill not be long before a party is formed against Warwick. Until thenwe must bear everything. Our interests are the same. If he is contentto remain a prop to the throne, and not to eclipse it, the memory ofthe past will not stand between us, and I shall regard him as the weaponthat has beaten down the House of York and restored us to our own, andshall give him my confidence and friendship. If, on the other hand,he assumes too much, and tries to lord it over us, I shall seek othersupport and gather a party which even he will be unable successfully towithstand. I should have thought, Edward, that you would be even moreglad than I that this long time of weary waiting for action is over, andthat once again the banner of Lancaster will be spread to the winds."
"I shall be that, mother. Rather would I meet death in the field thanlive cooped up here, a pensioner of France. But I own that I should feelmore joy at the prospect if the people of England had declared in ourfavour, instead of its being Warwick--whom you have always taught me tofear and hate--who thus comes to offer to place my father again on thethrone, and whose goodwill towards us is simply the result of pique anddispleasure because he is no longer first in the favour of Edward. Itdoes not seem to me that a throne won by the aid of a traitor can be astable one."
"You are a foolish boy," the queen said angrily. "Do you not see that bymarrying Warwick's daughter you will attach him firmly to us?"
"Marriages do not count for much, mother. Another of Warwick's daughtersmarried Clarence, Edward's brother, and yet he purposes to dethroneEdward."
The queen gave an angry gesture and said, "You have my permission toretire, Edward. I am in no mood to listen to auguries of evil at thepresent moment."
The prince hesitated for a moment as if about to speak, but with aneffort controlled himself, and bowing deeply to his mother, left theroom.
"Edward is in a perverse humour," the queen said in a tone of muchvexation to Sir Thomas Tresham, when Gervaise had left the room."However, I know he will bear himself well when the hour of trialcomes."
"That I can warrant he will, madam; he has a noble character, frank andfearless, and yet thoughtful beyond his years. He will make, I believe,a noble king, and may well gather round him all parties in the state.But your Majesty must make excuses for his humour. Young people ares
trong in their likes and dislikes. He has never heard you speak aughtbut ill of Warwick, and he knows how much harm the Earl has done to yourHouse. The question of expediency does not weigh with the young as withtheir elders. While you see how great are the benefits that will accruefrom an alliance with Warwick, and are ready to lay aside the hatred ofyears and to forget the wrongs you have suffered, the young prince isunable so quickly to forget that enmity against the Earl that he haslearnt from you."
"You are right, Sir Thomas, and I cannot blame Edward that he is unable,as I am, to forget the past. What steps would you advise that I myselfshould take? Shall I remain passive here, or shall I do what I can torouse our partisans in England?"
"I should say the latter, madam. Of course it will not do to trust toletters, for were one of these to fall into the wrong hands it mightcause the ruin of Warwick's expedition; but I should say that a cautiousmessage sent by word of mouth to some of our old adherents would be ofgreat use. I myself will, if your Majesty chooses to entrust me with themission, undertake to carry it out. I should take ship and land in thewest, and would travel in the guise of a simple country gentleman,and call upon your adherents in all the western counties. It would beneedful first to make out a list of the nobles who have shown themselvesdevoted to your cause, and I should bid these hold themselves and theirretainers in readiness to take the field suddenly. I should say no wordof Warwick, but merely hint that you will not land alone, but with apowerful array, and that all the chances are in your favour."
"But it would be a dangerous mission, Sir Thomas."
"Not greatly so, madam. My own estates lie in Sussex, and there would bebut little chance of my recognition, save by your own adherents, who mayhave seen me among the leaders of your troops in battle; and even thatis improbable. At present Edward deems himself so securely seated onthe throne that men can travel hither and thither through the countrywithout being questioned, and the Lancastrians live quietly with theYorkists. Unless I were so unfortunate as to meet a Yorkist noble whoknew that I was a banished man and one who had the honour of being inyour Majesty's confidence, I do not think that any danger could possiblyarise. What say you, wife?"
"I cannot think that there is no danger," Lady Tresham said; "but evenso I would not say a word to hinder you from doing service to the cause.I know of no one else who could perform the mission. You have left myside to go into battle before now, and I cannot think that the dangerof such an expedition can be as great as that which you would undergoin the field. Therefore, my dear lord, I would say no word now to stayyou."
She spoke bravely and unfalteringly, but her face had paled when SirThomas first made the proposal, and the colour had not yet come back toher cheeks.
"Bravely spoken, dame," the queen said warmly. "Well, Sir Thomas, Iaccept your offer, and trust that you will not be long separated fromyour wife and son, who will of course journey with me when I go toEngland, where doubtless you will be able to rejoin us a few days afterwe land. Now let us talk over the noblemen and gentlemen in the west,upon whom we can rely, if not to join our banner as soon as it isspread, at least to say no word that will betray you."
Two days later Sir Thomas Tresham started on his journey, while thequeen remained at Amboise eagerly awaiting the news that Warwick hadcollected a fleet, and was ready to set sail. Up to this point the Dukeof Clarence had sided with Warwick against his brother, and had passedover with him to France, believing, no doubt, that if the Earl shouldsucceed in dethroning Edward, he intended to place him, his son-in-law,upon the throne. He was rudely awakened from this delusion by Charles ofBurgundy, who, being in all but open rebellion against his suzerain,the King of France, kept himself intimately acquainted with all that wasgoing on. He despatched a female emissary to Clarence to inform himof the league Warwick had made with the Lancastrians, and the intendedmarriage between his daughter Anne and the young prince; imploring himto be reconciled with his brother and to break off his alliance with theEarl, who was on the point of waging war against the House of York.
Clarence took the advice, and went over to England, where he made hispeace with Edward, the more easily because the king, who was entirelygiven up to pleasure, treated with contempt the warnings the Dukeof Burgundy sent him of the intended invasion by Warwick. And yet amoment's serious reflection should have shown him that his position wasprecarious. The crushing exactions of the tax gatherers, in order toprovide the means for Edward's lavish expenditure, had already causedvery serious insurrections in various parts of the country, and hisunpopularity was deep and general. In one of these risings the royaltroops had suffered a crushing defeat. The Earl Rivers, the father, andSir John Woodville, one of the brothers, of the queen had, with the Earlof Devon, been captured by the rebels, and the three had been beheaded,and the throne had only been saved by the intervention of Warwick.
Thus, then, Edward had every reason for fearing the result should theEarl appear in arms against him. He took, however, no measures whateverto prepare for the coming storm, and although the Duke of Burgundydespatched a fleet to blockade Harfleur, where Warwick was fitting outhis expedition, and actually sent the name of the port at which the Earlintended to land if his fleet managed to escape from Harfleur, Edwardcontinued carelessly to spend his time in pleasure and dissipation,bestowing his full confidence upon the Archbishop of York and theMarquis of Montague, both brothers of the Earl of Warwick.
The elements favoured his enemies, for early in September the Duke ofBurgundy's Fleet, off Harfleur, was dispersed by a storm, and Warwick,as soon as the gale abated, set sail, and on the 13th landed on theDevonshire coast. His force was a considerable one, for the French kinghad furnished him both with money and men; on effecting his landinghe found no army assembled to oppose him. A few hours after hisdisembarkation, he was joined by Sir Thomas Tresham, who gave him thegood news that the whole of the west was ready to rise, and that in afew days all the great landowners would join him with their retainers.This turned out to be the case, and Warwick, with a great array, marchedeastward. Kent had already risen, and London declared for KingHenry. Warwick, therefore, instead of marching thither, moved towardsLincolnshire, where Edward was with his army, having gone north torepress an insurrection that had broken out there at the instigation ofWarwick.
Lord Montague now threw off the mask, and declared for King Henry. Mostof the soldiers followed him, and Edward, finding it hopeless to opposeWarwick's force, which was now within a short march of him, took shipwith a few friends who remained faithful, and sailed for Holland.Warwick returned to London, where he took King Henry from the dungeon inthe Tower, into which he himself had, five years before, thrown him, andproclaimed him king.
On the day that this took place Dame Tresham arrived in London with herson. The queen had found that she could not for the present cross, asshe was waiting for a large French force which was to accompany her.As it was uncertain how long the delay might last, she counselled herfriend to join her husband. The revolution had been accomplished withoutthe loss of a single life, with the exception of that of the Earlof Worcester, who was hated for his cruelty by the people. Edward'sprincipal friends took refuge in various religious houses. Thequeen, her three daughters, and her mother, fled to the sanctuary atWestminster. All these were left unmolested, nor was any step takenagainst the other adherents of the House of York. Warwick was nowvirtually King of England. The king, whose intellect had always beenweak, was now almost an imbecile, and Margaret of Anjou was stilldetained in France. Sir Thomas Tresham went down to his estates in Kent,and there lived quietly for some months. The Duke of Clarence had joinedWarwick as soon as he saw that his brother's cause was lost; and asthe Duke had no knowledge of his changed feelings towards him, hewas heartily welcomed. An act of settlement was passed by Parliamententailing the Crown on Henry's son Edward, Prince of Wales, and in caseof that prince's death without issue, on the Duke of Clarence. On the12th of March following (1471) Edward suddenly appeared with a fleetwith which he had been secretly supplied by
the Duke of Burgundy, and,sailing north, landed in the Humber. He found the northern population byno means disposed to aid him, but upon his taking a solemn oath thathe had no designs whatever upon the throne, but simply claimed to berestored to his rights and dignities as Duke of York, he was joined bya sufficient force to enable him to cross the Trent. As he marched southhis army speedily swelled, and he was joined by many great lords.
Warwick had summoned Henry's adherents to the field, and marchednorth to meet him. When the armies approached each other, the Duke ofClarence, who commanded a portion of Henry's army, went over with hiswhole force to Edward, and Warwick, being no longer in a position togive battle, was obliged to draw off and allow Edward to march unopposedtowards London. The citizens, with their usual fickleness, received himwith the same outburst of enthusiasm with which, five months before,they had greeted the entry of Warwick. The unfortunate King Henry wasagain thrown into his dungeon in the Tower, and Edward found himselfonce more King of England.
Sir Thomas Tresham, as soon as he heard of the landing of Edward, hadhastened up to London. In his uncertainty how matters would go, hebrought his wife and son up with him, and left them in lodgings, whilehe marched north with Warwick. As soon as the defection of Clarenceopened the road to London, he left the Earl, promising to return ina few days, and rode to town, arriving there two days before Edward'sentry, and, purchasing another horse, took his wife and son down toSt. Albans, where leaving them, he rejoined Warwick. In a few days thelatter had gathered sufficient forces to enable him to risk the fortunesof a battle, and, marching south, he encamped with his army on thecommon north of Barnet. Edward had come out to meet him, and the twoarmies slept on Easter Eve within two miles of each other.
Late in the evening Clarence sent a messenger to the Earl, offering tomediate, but the offer was indignantly refused by Warwick.
In the darkness, neither party was aware of the other's preciseposition. Warwick was much stronger than the king in artillery, and hadplaced it on his right wing. The king, in his ignorance of the enemy'sposition, had placed his troops considerably more to the right thanthose of Warwick's army. The latter, believing that Edward's line wasfacing his, kept up a heavy cannonade all night upon where he supposedEdward's left to be--a cannonade which was thus entirely futile.
In the morning (April 14th) a heavy mist covered the country andprevented either force from seeing the other's dispositions. Warwicktook the command of his left wing, having with him the Duke of Exeter.Somerset was in command of his centre, and Montague and Oxford of hisright.
Edward placed himself in the centre of his array, the Duke of Gloucestercommanded on his right, and Lord Hastings on his left.
Desirous, from his inferiority in artillery, to fight out the battlehand to hand, Edward, at six o'clock in the morning, ordered histrumpets to blow, and, after firing a few shots, advanced through themist to attack the enemy. His misconception as to Warwick's position,which had saved his troops from the effects of the cannonade during thenight, was now disadvantageous to him, for the Earl's right so greatlyoutflanked his left that when they came into contact Hastings foundhimself nearly surrounded by a vastly superior force. His wing foughtvaliantly, but was at length broken by Oxford's superior numbers, anddriven out of the field. The mist prevented the rest of the armies fromknowing what had happened on the king's left. Edward himself ledthe charge on Warwick's centre, and having his best troops under hiscommand, pressed forward with such force and vehemence that he piercedSomerset's lines and threw them into confusion.
Just as Warwick's right had outflanked the king's left, so his ownleft was outflanked by Gloucester. Warwick's troops fought with greatbravery, and, in spite of the disaster to his centre, were holding theirground until Oxford, returning from his pursuit of the king's left, cameback through the mist. The king's emblem was a sun, that of Oxforda star with streaming rays. In the dim light this was mistaken byWarwick's men for the king's device, and believing that Oxford was faraway on the right, they received him with a discharge of arrows. Thiswas at once returned, and a conflict took place. At last the mistake wasdiscovered, but the confusion caused was irreparable. Warwick andOxford each suspected the other of treachery, and the king's right stillpressing on, the confusion increased, and the battle, which had been sonearly won by the Earl, soon became a complete defeat, and by ten in themorning Warwick's army was in full flight.
Accounts differ as to the strength of the forces engaged, but it isprobable that there was no great inequality, and that each party broughtsome fifteen thousand men into the field. The number of slain is alsovery uncertain, some historians placing the total at ten thousand,others as low as one thousand; but from the number of nobles who fell,the former computation is probably nearest to the truth. Warwick, hisbrother Montague, and many other nobles and gentlemen, were killed, theonly great nobles on his side who escaped being the Earls of Somersetand Oxford; many were also killed on Edward's side, and the slaughteramong the ordinary fighting men was greater than usual.
Hitherto in the battles that had been fought during the civil war; whilethe leaders taken on the field were frequently executed, the commonsoldiers were permitted to return to their homes, as they had onlybeen acting under the orders of their feudal superiors, and were notconsidered responsible for their acts. At Barnet, however, Edward,smarting from the humiliation he had suffered by his enforced flightfrom England, owing to the whole country declaring for his rival, gaveorders that no quarter was to be granted. It was an anxious day at St.Albans, where many ladies whose husbands were with Warwick's army had,like Dame Tresham, taken up their quarters. It was but a few miles fromthe field of battle. In the event of victory they could at once jointheir husbands, while in case of defeat they could take refuge in thesanctuary of the abbey. Messengers the night before had brought the newsthat the battle would begin at the dawn of day, and with intense anxietythey waited for the news.
Dame Tresham and her son attended early mass at the abbey, and hadreturned to their lodgings, when Sir Thomas rode up at full speed.His armour was dinted and his plume shorn away from his helmet. As heentered the house he was met by his wife, who had run downstairs as sheheard his horse stop at the door. A glance at his face was sufficient totell the news.
"We have lost the day," he said. "Warwick and Montague are both killed.All is lost here for the present. Which will you do, my love, ride withme to the West, where Queen Margaret will speedily land, if indeed shehas not landed already, or take sanctuary here with the boy?"
"I will go with you," she said. "I would vastly rather do so."
"I will tell you more on the road," he said. "There is no time to belost now."
The woman of the house was called, and at once set her son to saddlethe other horse and to give a feed to that of the knight. Dame Treshambusied herself with packing the saddlebags while her husband partook ofa hasty meal; and ten minutes after his arrival they set off, Gervaiseriding behind his father, while the latter led the horse on which hiswife was mounted. A thick mist hung over the country.
"This mist told against us in the battle, wife, for as we advanced ourforces fell into confusion, and more than once friend attacked friend,believing that he was an enemy. However, it has proved an advantage tous now, for it has enabled great numbers to escape who might otherwisehave been followed and cut down. I was very fortunate. I had left myhorse at a little farmhouse two miles in the rear of our camp, and inthe fog had but small hope of finding it; but soon after leaving thebattlefield, I came upon a rustic hurrying in the same direction asmyself, and upon questioning him it turned out that he was a hand onthe very farm at which I had left the horse. He had, with two or threeothers, stolen out after midnight to see the battle, and was now makinghis way home again, having seen indeed but little, but having learnedfrom fugitives that we had been defeated. He guided me to the farmhouse,which otherwise I should assuredly never have reached. His master wasfavourable to our party, and let the man take one of the cart horses, onwhich he rode as
my guide until he had placed me upon the high road toSt. Albans, and I was then able to gallop on at full speed."
"And Warwick and his brother Montague are both killed?"
"Both. The great Earl will make and unmake no more kings. He has been acurse to England, with his boundless ambition, his vast possessions, andhis readiness to change sides and to embroil the country in civil warfor purely personal ends. The great nobles are a curse to thecountry, wife. They are, it is true, a check upon kingly ill doing andoppression; but were they, with their great arrays of retainers andfeudal followers, out of the way, methinks that the citizens and yeomenwould be able to hold their own against any king."
"Was the battle a hard fought one?"
"I know but little of what passed, except near the standard of Warwickhimself. There the fighting was fierce indeed, for it was against theEarl that the king finally directed his chief onslaught. Doubtless hewas actuated both by a deep personal resentment against the Earl for thepart he had played and the humiliation he had inflicted upon him, andalso by the knowledge that a defeat of Warwick personally would be theheaviest blow that he could inflict upon the cause of Lancaster."
"Then do you think the cause is lost?"
"I say not that. Pembroke has a strong force in Wales, and if the Westrises, and Queen Margaret on landing can join him, we may yet prevail;but I fear that the news of the field of Barnet will deter many fromjoining us. Men may risk lands and lives for a cause which seems tooffer a fair prospect of success, but they can hardly be blamed forholding back when they see that the chances are all against them.Moreover, as a Frenchwoman, it cannot be denied that Margaret has neverbeen popular in England, and her arrival here, aided by French gold andsurrounded by Frenchmen, will tell against her with the country people.I went as far as I could on the day before I left Amboise, urging her onno account to come hither until matters were settled. It would have beeninfinitely better had the young prince come alone, and landed in theWest without a single follower. The people would have admired his trustin them, and would, I am sure, have gathered strongly round his banner.However, we must still hope for the best. Fortune was against us today:it may be with us next time we give battle. And with parties so equallydivided throughout the country a signal victory would bring such vastnumbers to our banners that Edward would again find it necessary tocross the seas."