Shakespeare's Kings (91 page)

King
Edward
was
at
the
little
town
of
Olney,
on
his
way
from Nottingham
to
his
Northampton
rendezvous,
when
he
heard
the
news. What
then
occurred
is
not
entirely
clear;
it
seems,
however,
that
many of
his
men
deserted,
and
that
he
himself,
perhaps
bewildered
by
the events
of
the
past
month
and
the
sudden
reversal
of his
fortunes,
relaxed his
guard.
At
all
events
he
somehow
allowed
himself
to
fall
into
the hands
of
the
Archbishop
of
York,
who
had
rece
ntly
returned
with
his brother
from
Calais
and
who
now
dispatched
the
King
-
with
every outward
show
of
respect
—
first
to
Warwick
Castle
and
then
to
the
old Nevill
fortress
of
Middleham
in
Yorkshire.

What,
one
wonders,
were
Warwick
and
his
family
trying
to
achieve? It
was
rumoured
in
many
quarters
that
he
was
aiming
to
have
Edward declared
a
bastard,
so
that
the
crown
should
devolve
upon
his
new son-in-law
Clarence;
on
the
other
hand
he
does
not
seem
to
have
made any
deliberate
move
in
this
direction,
and
any
attempt
would
almost certainly
have
failed.
It
seems
on
the
whole
more
probable
that
he
was hoping
to
tame
the
King,
to
reduce
him
to
the
status
of
a
willing
tool,

1. Sir William Herbert had received the Earldom of Pembroke in 1468, after the attainder of Jasper Tudor.

happy
to
carry
out
such
policies
as
he,
Warwick,
might
dictate
to
him. If
so,
he
had
seriously
misjudged
his
man:
Edward,
captive
or
free,
took orders
from
no
one.

It
soon
became
clear
that
the
King's
arrest
had
been
a
serious
mistake. When
Warwick
tried
to
raise
forces
in
the
north
to
put
down
a
new Lancastrian
rebellion
by
his
distant
kinsman
Sir
Humphrey
Nevill
of Brancepeth,
he
found
himself
unable
to
do
so:
while
Edward
remained a
prisoner,
the
land
was
effectively
ungovernable.
He
therefore
proposed to
the
King
that
he
should
return
to
London,
rejoin
his
wife
and
show himself
to
the
people;
and
the
Londoners
for
their
part
were
told
to prepare
a
suitable
welcome.
Edward
-
whose
captivity
had
in
fact
been extremely
comfortable,
to
the
point
where
he
regularly
went
out hunting
-
was
only
too
happy
to
forgive
and
forget,
and
soon
afterwards granted
both
Warwick
and
Clarence
a
general
pardon
for
their
offences.

All
too
soon,
however,
he
was
to
have
reason
to
regret
it.
His
master of
horse,
Sir
Thomas
Burgh
of
Gainsborough
in
Lincolnshire,
had
for some
time
been
at
daggers
drawn
with
his
neighbour,
Lord
Welles
and Willoughby;
and
early
in
1470
Welles
and
his
son
attacked
and
destroyed Burgh's
manor
house,
carrying
off
its
contents.
Feuds
of
this
kind
were frequent
enough
in
the
fourteenth
and
fifteenth
centuries
and
were usually
allowed
to
settle
themselves;
Burgh,
however,
was
a
member of
the
King's
household,
and
Edward
decided
to
go
immediately
to
his assistance.
For
Clarence
and
Warwick,
here
was
precisely
the
opportunity
they
had
been
seeking.
Secretly
allying
themselves
with
the
Welles faction,
they
put
it
about
that
the
real
reason
for
the
King's
visit
to Lincolnshire
was
to
take
his
revenge
on
the
county
for
its
part
in
Robin of
Redesdale's
insurrection;
and
on
Sunday
4
March
Welles's
son,
Sir Robert,
issued
a
proclamation
claiming
that
Edward
intended
'to
destroy the
commons
of
Lincolnshire'.
The
King,
knowing
nothing
of
all
this, had
advanced
only
as
far
as
Royston
when
he
received
a
letter
from Clarence
to
say
that
he
and
Warwick
were
riding
up
to
meet
him.
He replied
in
all
innocence
with
a
handwritten
letter
of
thanks,
authorizing the
two
to
raise
troops
in
Warwickshire
and
Worcestershire.

On
Monday
12
March
he
reached
Stamford,
where
further
letters from
Warwick
and
Clarence
informed
him
that
they
hoped
to
arrive the
same
evening.
He
also
learned
that
a
hostile
army
under
Sir
Robert Welles
was
only
five
miles
away
at
the
little
village
of
Empingham,
and instantly
marched
out
to
meet
it.
Edward's
force
may
have
been
slightly outnumbered,
but
he
was
far
superior
in
cavalry
and
artillery,
and
the fighting
was
soon
over.
Welles
and
his
men
were
soon
in
headlong flight,
tearing
off
their
defensive
clothing
in
such
quantities
that
the place
came
to
be
known
as
'Lose-coat
Field'.
But
the
battle
had
a consequence
which
far
outweighed
its
military
outcome.
Among
the dead
was
a
man
in
Clarence's
livery
carrying
a
casket.
It
contained letters
from
the
Duke
to
Welles,
and
left
no
doubt
in
Edward's
mind that
the
insurrection,
such
as
it
was,
had
the
full
backing
both
of
Clarence and
of
Warwick
—
a
fact
which
was
confirmed
by
Welles
himself
when he
was
captured
a
day
or
two
later.

On
19
March,
at
Doncaster,
Welles
and
his
captain
of
infantry, Richard
Warren,
were
publicly
beheaded
in
view
of
the
entire
army. But
what
was
to
be
done
with
Clarence
and
Warwick?
Great
as
their treachery
had
been,
Edward
still
had
no
taste
for
fratricide;
and
it
was
to Warwick,
as
he
well
knew,
that
he
owed
his
throne.
Several
times
he summoned
the
two
of
them
to
join
him;
on
each
occasion
they
assured him
that
they
were
on
their
way,
then
headed
off
in
another
direction. Finally
he
wrote
to
them
that,
even
if
they
had
indeed
betrayed
him,
he was
prepared
to
receive
them
'with
favour
and
pity,
remembering
their ties
of
blood
and
the
old
love
and
affection
which
had
been
between them';
but
such
vague
assurances
were
not
enough.
They
insisted
on nothing
less
than
free
pardons
and
safe
conducts
for
themselves
and their
followers,
a
demand
to
which
he
in
his
turn
could
not
possibly agree.
Finally,
at
York
on
24
March,
he
issued
a
proclamation.
If
they appeared
before
him
within
four
days,
they
would
be
received
with grace
and
favour;
if
not,
a
price
would
be
put
on
their
heads
and
they could
expect
no
mercy.
Then
he
himself
set
off
in
their
pursuit.