Shakespeare's Kings (81 page)

But
Henry
did
not
have
long
to
enjoy
his
triumph.
At
the
end
of August
Richard
of
York
returned,
without
permission,
from
Ireland. On
landing
in
Wales,
he
immediately
summoned
considerable
numbers of
retainers
from
the
Welsh
marches
and
advanced
with
them
on London.
His
reception
was
anything
but
friendly:
the
panic-stricken Council
denounced
him
as
a
traitor
and
even
tried
to
hold
him
responsible
for
the
recent
insurrection,
while
more
than
one
attempt
was
made to
to
waylay
him
on
the
road;
but
he
now
had
some
4,000
men
under his
command,
and
such
attempts
were
doomed
to
failure.
Once
in London
he
went
straight
to
the
palace
and
in
face
of
heavy
opposition forced
his
way
into
the
King's
chamber,
where
he
complained
angrily of
the
hostility
with
which
he
had
been
received.
Henry
could
justifiably have
retorted
that
his
cousin
had
left
his
post
without
authorization, and
had
shown
every
sign
of
intending
to
bear
arms
against
him;
but that
was
not
Henry's
way.
Instead,
he
expressed
deep
regret
for
what had
occurred
and
instantly
agreed
to
appoint
a
new
Council,
in
which York
himself
should
be
included.

Unfortunately
the
King
had
recently
taken
another
decision,
of
which few
but
he
would
have
been
capable:
he
had
recalled
Somerset
from Calais,
whither
the
unfortunate
man
had
fled
after
his
expulsion
from Caen,
and
appointed
him
Constable
of
England.
Now
Somerset
was, in
the
eyes
of
every
Englishman,
the
man
who
had
lost
France;
in
consequence
he
was
perhaps
the
most
hated
figure
in
the
country
-and
he
was
particularly
detested
by
Richard
of
York,
who
saw
him
as a
dangerous
rival
for
the
succession.
Since
the
death
of
Duke
Humphrey, this
had
been
far
from
clear.
After
five
years
of
marriage,
King
Henry was
still
childless:
his
three
uncles
-
Clarence,
Bedford
and
Gloucester —
had
all
died
without
issue.
Of
the
House
of
Lancaster
there
remained only
the
Duke
of
Somerset,
grandson
of
John
of
Gaunt
and
Katherine Swynford,
and
his
little
niece
Margaret,
the
daughter
of
his
late
elder brother.
Normally,
such
distinguished
lineage
would
have
given Somerset
a
virtually
incontestable
claim;
the
difficulty
was
that
Henry IV,
when
he
legitimized
his
Beaufort
half-brothers,
had
by
special
Act of
Parliament
expressly
disqualified
them
and
their
descendants from
the
line
of
succession.
The
case
for
Richard
of
York,
on
the
other hand,
though
weaker
in
that
he
could
boast
descent
only
from
Gaunt's younger
brother
Edmund,
was
stronger
in
that
it
was
untainted
with bastardy
and
free
oflegal
embarrassments.
Moreover,
through
his
mother Anne
Mortimer,
York
could
claim
descent
from
Gaunt's
elder
brother, Lionel
Duke
of
Clarence.
There
was
no
doubt
that
the
court
favoured the
Lancastrians,
but
the
unpopularity
of
the
government
in
general and
of
Somerset
in
particular
had
turned
public
opinion
sharply
towards the
Yorkists.
Jack
Cade
had
not
adopted
the
name
of
Mortimer
for nothing.

As
autumn
turned
to
winter
the
hostility
between
the
two
parties steadily
increased,
to
the
point
where
on
i
December
Somerset
was physically
attacked
by
a
Yorkist
mob,
his
life
being
saved
only
by
the providential
appearance
of
the
Earl
of
Devonshire,
who
in
the
nick
of time
carried
him
off
down
the
river
by
barge.
Meanwhile
his
house, together
with
those
of
several
other
leading
Lancastrians,
was
sacked and
plundered.
Fearing
for
his
future
safety,
the
King
quickly
appointed him
Captain
of
Calais;
but
even
this
did
not
prevent
Parliament,
in January
1451,
from
demanding
his
banishment,
with
that
of
some
thirty other
court
favourites
—
demands
which
Henry
largely
ignored.
Just thirteen
months
later,
in
February
1452,
Richard
of
York
issued
an appeal
from
his
castle
at
Ludlow.
Somerset,
he
declared,
having
already been
responsible
for
the
loss
of
Normandy
and
Guyenne,
was
using
his influence
with
the
King
in
such
a
way
that
England
itself
was
likely
to be
destroyed;
and
he
now
called
upon
the
people
of
Shrewsbury
— 'though
it
is
not
my
will
or
intent
to
displease
my
sovereign
lord'
—
to
help him to remove the Duke from the scene once and for all. Many of them rallied to his banner, and with them he set off on his second armed march to London.

Careful as always to emphasize hi
s loyalty, 'at about Shrovetide’
York sent heralds to request formal permission to enter the city; and when, predictably, this was refused he crossed the Thames by Kingston Bridge and continued into Kent - where recent history suggested that he might find considerable popular support - pitching his camp at Dartford. Henry meanwhile advanced to Blackheath on i March, sending forward Kemp, Waynflete and the Bishop of Ely to negotiate an accord. They did so quite quickly; Somerset was becoming increasingly unpopular, and there were many on the King's side who were almost as eager as York to see the last of him. It was therefore agreed that he should be put under arrest, in return for which York immediately disbanded his army and rode to Blackheath to confirm the understanding personally with the King. Entering the royal tent, however, to his astonishment he found Somerset not only at liberty, but standing as usual at Henry's right hand. Despite the King's presence there was a furious altercation between the two men; but York, himself now virtually a prisoner, dared not go too far. He was obliged to return with Henry to London, and there in St Paul's to swear a solemn oath that he would never again assemble any body of men without the King's commandment or licence. Somerset's position, and his power, remained unchanged.