Part 21 (1/2)

[Sidenote: London.]

When Edward arrived in London he was received by the whole population as their deliverer. A grand council of the n.o.bles and prelates was convened, and, after solemn deliberations, Henry was deposed and Edward was declared king.

Two days after this a great procession was formed, at the head of which Edward rode royally to Westminster and took his seat upon the throne.

[Sidenote: Battle of Towton.]

Margaret made one more desperate effort to retrieve the fortunes of her family by a battle fought at a place called Towton. This battle was fought in a snow-storm. It was an awful day. Margaret's party were entirely defeated, and nearly thirty thousand of them were left dead upon the field.

[Sidenote: Flight of the queen.]

As soon as the result was known, Margaret, taking with her her husband and child and a small retinue of attendants, fled to the northward.

She stopped a short time at the Castle of Alnwick,[15] a strong-hold belonging to one of her friends; but, finding that the forces opposed to her were gathering strength every day and advancing toward her, and that the country generally was becoming more and more disposed to yield allegiance to the new king, she concluded that it would not be safe for her to remain in England any longer.

[Footnote 15: See map of the border at the commencement of chapter xix.]

[Sidenote: Alnwick.]

So, taking her husband and the little prince with her, and also a few personal attendants, she left Alnwick, and crossed the frontier into Scotland, a fugitive and an exile, and with no hope apparently of ever being able to enter England again.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A ROYAL COUSIN.

[Sidenote: 1461.]

[Sidenote: Margaret in Scotland.]

[Sidenote: Her friends.]

As soon as Margaret escaped to Scotland, far from being disheartened by her misfortunes, she began at once to concert measures for raising a new army and going into England again, with a view of making one more effort to recover her husband's throne. She knew, of course, that there was a large body of n.o.bles, and of the people of the country, who were still faithful to her husband's cause, and who would be ready to rally round his standard whenever and wherever it should appear.

All that she required was the nucleus of an army at the outset, and a tolerably successful beginning in entering the country. There were knights and n.o.bles, and great numbers of men, every where ready to join her as soon as she should appear, but they were nowhere strong enough to commence a movement on their own responsibility.

[Sidenote: The prince.]

One of the measures which she adopted for strengthening her interest with the royal family of Scotland was to negotiate a marriage between the young prince, who was now seven years old, and a Scotch princess.

She succeeded in conditionally arranging this marriage, but she found that she could not raise troops for a second invasion of England.

[Sidenote: Messengers sent to France.]

In the mean time, she had sent three n.o.blemen as her messengers into France, to see what could be done in that country. France was her native land, and the king at that time, Charles VII., was her uncle.

She had strong reason to hope, therefore, that she might find aid and sympathy there. Toward the close of the summer, however, she received a letter from two of her messengers at Dieppe which was not at all encouraging.

[Sidenote: Their letter.]

The letter began by saying, on the part of the messengers, that they had already written to Margaret three times before; once by the return of the vessel, called the _Carvel_, in which they went to France, and twice from Dieppe, where they then were, but all the letters were substantially to communicate the same evil tidings, namely, that the king, her uncle, was dead, and that her cousin had succeeded to the throne, but that the new king seemed not at all disposed to regard her cause favorably. His officers at Dieppe had caused all their papers to be seized and taken to the king, and he had shut up one of their number in the castle of Arques, which is situated at a short distance from Dieppe. He had been apparently prevented from imprisoning the other two by their having been provided with a safe-conduct, which protected them.