Fortunately they escaped in time and the fire was proved to have been started by a madman.

Edward declared that the marriage was a good piece of work, for it had strengthened the alliance between the houses of York and Burgundy.

Warwick was by no means pleased but he knew he had the friendship of one who was as powerful as the Duke of Burgundy: the King of France himself. Louis would be annoyed by the match, and he was already favouring Margaret of Anjou who was in France in exile; he would be a useful ally to his old friend the Earl of Warwick.

Ideas were teeming in Warwick’s head, for the moment of action was coming nearer.


The King was at Westminster and Warwick had installed himself in his castle of Middleham where he was joined by his brother George Neville, Archbishop of York, and by the Duke of Clarence who was ready, as soon as the Pope’s dispensation was received, to marry Isabel.

Warwick had made up his mind. Edward had now escaped from him; perhaps he always would have done so, for he was no puppet; he was a strong-minded man who knew how to rule and he was going to rule in his own way. He had come out in his true colours at the time of his marriage and had shown so clearly then that he would not be led. Edward was a ruler. He would have no master. Warwick had been deceived by his desire to avoid conflict – except in battle – to take the easy line, which Warwick had to admit was often the wise one to take. Edward was pleasure-loving, easy-going and not unkind by nature; these characteristics had been misleading because they had overshadowed the strong man beneath them.

Well, Warwick would have accepted that. He had wanted no weakling. It was the rising power of the Woodvilles in all key places in the country which he was going to put down.

He would do it and at the same time he was going to show Edward that though he was strong, Warwick was stronger.

From Middleham he was sounding out the North. The North had always been for Lancaster which meant it was against York and Warwick believed that if he were going to take up arms against the King it was from the North that he would get his support.

From Middleham to his castle at Sheriff Hutton Warwick watched the effect of his carefully chosen words on those men who, he thought, would side with him against the King. He was not disappointed.

His powerful brother George was for him. He had a deep grievance against Edward for giving his support to Thomas Bourchier, the Archbishop of Canterbury, for elevation to the rank of Cardinal – an honour George had long sought for himself; and when Bourchier was elected to the College of Cardinals Edward had exacerbated the sore point by writing personally to George to tell him, and in such a way as to suggest that he was snapping his fingers at the Nevilles and reminding them that they were definitely out of favour.

It was too much to be borne, and Warwick was incensed.

‘I made him,’ he was fond of reminding people. ‘But for me he would never have reached the throne. And when I have him there, crowned, anointed, what happens? He marries that woman and the Woodvilles are everywhere. It has to be stopped.’

Well, he was going to stop it.

From Middleham he sent messengers to the Court of France. He wanted to know how far the King would support him if he took up arms against Edward.

Louis, who was alarmed by the union of Edward and Burgundy through the marriage of Margaret of York and the Duke, would be eager to see Edward defeated and Warwick thought he could be relied on. He had Clarence with him and he had half promised that ambitious young man that if Edward were deposed Clarence could step into his shoes, which Clarence believed because Warwick wanted him to marry his own daughter Isabel. It would be a glittering prospect for Warwick with a daughter Queen of England.

But the Earl was determined not to strike until he was absolutely sure of victory. He went to Calais in order to make sure of the defences and while he was there some of his supporters who were getting impatient staged uprisings.

The leaders assumed the name of Robin which was meant to imply that they were men of the people, Robin being a friendly sort of name derived from Robin Hood. The first of these outbreaks was headed by a man calling himself Robin of Holderness. It was premature and disorganised and John Neville, whom the King had made Earl of Northumberland, had no difficulty in suppressing it. It was strange that a Neville should be siding with Edward but Warwick had been unable to convince this one of the good sense in antagonising Edward. Robin of Holderness had declared that he had arisen to set the wrongs of the people right and there was no mention of dissatisfaction with the King, although there were hints about his generosity to the predatory relations of the Queen.

Robin of Holderness was beheaded and that little rebellion was over. The uprising of Robin of Redesdale was of a more serious nature. Robin of Redesdale was suspected of being Sir John Conyers, a kinsman of Warwick, and that fact gave his insurrection a more sinister meaning.

Robin of Redesdale’s grievances were heavy taxation, men being called away from their families to military service outside their areas, and victimisation by the nobles of the land. There were also grumblings against the Woodvilles. The names of Lord Rivers and the Duchess Jacquetta were mentioned together with all those who had become so important since the King’s marriage because of their alliances with great families.

Edward shrugged off accounts of these troubles. ‘There is nothing that we cannot handle,’ he said.

But, after a while, the murmuring of what Warwick was plotting and the continued reports of the uprisings began to alarm even him.

Robin of Redesdale was still at large. He was not the amateur Robin of Holderness had been which indicated that Warwick might have a hand in this. The King decided that if Warwick were indeed behind it, he had better get his army together without delay and go in person to see what was happening in the North. Warwick meanwhile was watching events from Calais. His great insistence was that they must not move until they were ready. There was dissatisfaction in the North it was true. How much support would they who had always been Lancastrians be prepared to give Warwick, one of the great architects of the Yorkist success who was only now turning his back on the King he had made?

Meanwhile the King marched north but in no great haste, pausing to make a pilgrimage at Bury St Edmunds and Walsingham. He was accompanied by his brother Richard whom he always liked to have near him now that Clarence had defected. He relished Richard’s unconcealed loyalty and rejoiced in it. He was very upset by Clarence’s behaviour – not that he feared his brother, whom he had always considered ineffectual and rather stupid, but because Clarence was his brother and the infidelity of a brother seemed to him a very sad thing indeed. He kept with him, besides Richard, Lord Rivers and Lord Scales, Elizabeth’s father and brother whom he had first cultivated to please Elizabeth and of whom he had now grown quite fond. The Rivers did not argue, did not seek to guide as Warwick had done; they did what he wanted them to and if they were generously rewarded for it, that bothered Edward not at all.

Elizabeth was with them and the three little girls also. They would have to rest somewhere for it was not fitting that a child as young as Cecily should travel with an army. But he liked to have Elizabeth with him and therefore she came; and as he did not insist that the children remained behind they were with them too.

He was at Bury St Edmunds when messengers came from Kent. They had news from Calais. The King’s brother the Duke of Clarence had been married to Warwick’s daughter Isabel.

Edward was astounded. He had expressed his disapproval of the match; in fact he had forbidden it. That Warwick – and worse still his own brother – had openly defied him was impossible to believe. There must be some explanation; it could not be true. He refused to believe that Warwick held him in such contempt that he would deliberately defy him. Warwick had been his greatest friend, his hero, his mentor. George was his brother. He could not go against him. It was all some ridiculous mistake.

Elizabeth wanted to say that it was no mistake at all. It was time he realised who his enemies were. But she said nothing.

More news came. The rebel army was bigger than had first been reported and it was now clear that this was more than just a petty rebellion.

He looked at Elizabeth and thought of the children.

‘I want you to go at once,’ he said. ‘Return to London. If there is going to be trouble this is no place for you.’

She did not protest. She would be glad to have done with the discomfort of travel. She would call at Grafton and Jacquetta could return with her to London.


Elizabeth was glad of her mother’s presence but Jacquetta was uneasy. She sensed that powerful events were looming and they might be of ill omen.

‘I don’t trust Warwick,’ she said. ‘He was too powerful before your marriage ...’

‘Life changed for him after that,’ remarked Elizabeth with a smile.

‘A man like Warwick does not allow himself to be pushed aside.’

‘If the forces which push him are strong enough he has no help for it.’

Jacquetta was silent. At times Elizabeth was a little too complacent. However, she was glad to have her daughter safe from the armies; and the children too. Cecily not yet a year old was far too young to be carried round the country.

Warwick had landed in England and there was great rejoicing in London where he was warmly welcomed. There was trouble in the north, it was said and, the King had asked Warwick and his brother George to come to his aid. Warwick had immediately responded. All was well. Warwick and the King were friends.

It was clear, Jacquetta told her daughter, from what was being said that many believed there was a rift between the King and the Earl. The people of London were really alarmed at that. It could mean civil war.

‘Civil war! Never. Warwick would not dare.’

‘I begin to think,’ said Jacquetta, ‘that Warwick would dare a great deal.’

The days were tense and spent in waiting for news. It came in frustrating briefness, so that it was not easy to piece the events together and see the picture clearly.

Warwick had been lying, it seemed, when he had said he was going to the King’s aid. No such thing. He was joining the rebels.

William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon were marching to Banbury. They had a strong force from Wales and the West Country and they were stalwart adherents of the King. They would soon settle the rebels.

Jacquetta and Elizabeth waited for news of the battle, certain at this stage that the rebels would be crushed and peace restored.

But it was not so, for Warwick’s army had joined the rebels and at Edgecot the loyal men were defeated. Pembroke and his brother were taken prisoner and in accordance with the rule of destroying the leaders were beheaded at Northampton the next day.

‘Warwick has gone too far this time,’ said the Queen, but now she was beginning to be alarmed. She turned to her mother. ‘What is going to happen?’ she demanded. ‘Where will this end?’

But this time the future would not reveal itself to Jacquetta.

The situation was even worse than Jacquetta and Elizabeth in London realised, for when the news of Pembroke’s defeat at Edgecot reached Edward’s small army, men began to desert him and he was left with a very few followers and to his immense chagrin he realised that he had made a vital mistake. He had delayed too long; he had refused to believe the obvious. Stubbornly he had set his mind against accepting the perfidy of his brother and the furious revenge of the Kingmaker.

There was nothing for him to do but wait in the little town of Olney. Richard was with him, Hastings too.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘we are at the mercy of our enemies.’

‘Not for long,’ said Richard. ‘We shall give a good account of ourselves.’

‘We need cunning, brother, rather than bravery. We shall have to meet whatever comes to us with skill. I do not think Warwick or George would want to harm me.’

Richard said: ‘George has always wanted to take your place.’

‘George wouldn’t last a day as King.’

‘With Warwick manipulating him?’