her, knowing them to be so, and to promise that he would do the like in England' in as public a manner as he had formerly defamed her. To these humiliating terms the earl agreed to submit ; "which promise being made," says Chastellain, "the said Warwick came where queen Margaret was, and falling on his knees before her, addressed her in the most moving words he could devise, and humbly besought her to pardon and restore him to her favour; to which she scarcely vouchsafed him any answer, and kept him on his knees a full quarter of an hour before she would say she pardoned him, and then only on the above conditions."

This ungracious demeanour on the part of the offended queen is fully confirmed by the following report given by an English contemporary, (supposed to be a spy,) of the first meeting between these deadly foes, at Tours, in the presence of Louis XI., who had engaged to negotiate a reconciliation between them. "In this queen Margaret was right difficult, and showed to the king of France, in presence of the duke of Guienne, that, with honour to herself and her son, she might not, and she would not, pardon the said earl, who had been the greatest cause of the downfall of king Henry; and that never, of her own spirit, might she be contented with him, ne pardon him." In fact the queen maintained "that it would be greatly prejudicial to pardon the carl of Warwick; for in England she and her son had certain parties and friends which they might likely lose by this means, which would do them more hindrance than the earl and his allies could do them good;" wherefore she besought the king of France "to leave off speaking for the said pardon and alliance." The earl of Warwick on this entered into a defence of his conduct, owning "that it was by his means the queen was dethroned; but that before he had done or thought of doing her any harm, her false counsellors had plotted his destruction, body and goods, and that no nobleman, outraged and despaired, [driven to desperation,] could have done otherwise." It does not appear that War

1 George Chastellain.

* Manner and Guiding of the Earl of Warwick: Harleian MS., edited by sir Henry Ellis.

wick mentioned the execution of his father, the earl of Salisbury, which is almost a confirmation of the statements of those historians who deny that he was beheaded by Margaret.

In the foregoing scene, Margaret certainly comported herself more like an offended woman than a political leader; but the more loftily she spoke and looked, the more submissive her former adversary became. "He told her he had been the means of upsetting king Edward, and unsettling his realm; and that he would, for the time to come, be as much his foe as he had formerly been his friend and maker." He besought the queen and prince that so they would take him, and repute him, and forgive him all he had done against them, offering himself to be bounden by all manner of ways to be their true and faithful subject for the time to come; and that he would set, for his surety, the king of France.' King Louis, being then present, agreed to be surety, praying queen Margaret ‘ that, at his request, she would pardon the earl of Warwick, show. ing the great love he had to the said earl, for whom he would do more than any man living.' And so queen Margaret, being likewise urged by the agents of king René her father, after many treaties and messages, pardoned the earl of Warwick, and so did her son also."

The earl of Oxford, who had by the exigency of circumstances been compelled to acknowledge the authority of the White-rose sovereign for awhile, came also with Warwick to entreat queen Margaret's forgiveness, and permission to renew his homage to the house of Lancaster. The queen received his supplication in a very different spirit from that with which she accorded her forgiveness (if such it might be called) to Warwick, for she said, "Your pardon is right easy to purchase, for well I know you and your friends have suffered much things for king Henry's quarrels." On the 15th of July, they all met again at Angers, where the countess of Warwick and her youngest daughter, the lady Anne, were presented to queen Margaret, and a marriage between the prince of Wales 1 Harleian MS., edited by sir H. Ellis.

2 Chron. in Stowe's Collections; Harleian MSS. The words 'much things,' show Margaret's broken English; likewise, the idiom should have been "in king Henry's quarrel."

and the young lady was proposed by Louis XI. It was a project of his own devising, and no one but him would venture to name it to Margaret. She received the first overtures for this strange alliance with ineffable disdain. "What!" she exclaimed, with a burst of indignation which proved that she had not forgotten old offences, "will he indeed give his daughter to my son, whom he has so often branded as the offspring of adultery or fraud?"

Independently of her personal reluctance to this alliance, Margaret appears to have had an intuitive feeling of the danger of the connexion. "Touching the manner of the marriage," pursues the spy, "the queen would not in anywise consent or yield to any request the king of France might make her. Sometimes she said, that she never saw honour nor profit, ne for her, ne for her son the prince.' Another time she alleged, that 'she would, and she should, find a more profitable party, and of more advantage, with the king of England,' (Edward IV.) Indeed, she showed to the king of France a letter, which she said was sent to her out of England that last week, by the which was offered to her son my lady princess."" This was Elizabeth of York, then the heiress of king Edward the Fourth.

Queen Margaret persevered fifteen days before she would consent to the alliance with Warwick; to which, at last, by the advice of the counsellors of her father, king René, she agreed, and the marriage was promised in presence of the king of France and the duke of Guienne, (brother to Louis XI.) according to the following articles :-" First, the earl of Warwick swore upon the true cross at Angers, in St. Mary's church, that without change he hs all always hold the party of king Henry, and serve him, the queen, and the prince, as a true and faithful subject oweth to serve his sovereign lord. The king of France and his brother then, clothed in canvas robes, in the said church of St. Mary, swore they would help and sustain to the utmost of their power the earl of Warwick in the quarrel of king Henry. Queen Margaret then swore to treat the earl as true and faithful to king Henry and the 'George Chastellain. 2 Harleian MS. in Ellis. Chron. in Stowe's Collection; Harleian MSS.

prince, and for his deeds past never to make him any reproach. After the recovery of the kingdom of England, the prince was to be regent of all the realm, and the duke of Clarence to have all his own lands and those of the duke of York. Item, From that time forth the daughter of the earl of Warwick shall be put and remain in the hands and the keeping of the queen Margaret; but the said marriage not to be perfected till the earl of Warwick had been with an army over into England, and recovered the realm in the most part thereof for king Henry. The earl of Warwick affirmed, at the same time, that if he were once over the sea, he should have more than fifty thousand fighters at his commandment; but if the king of France would help him with a few folk, he would pass the sea without delay. Louis gave a subsidy of forty-six thousand crowns, besides two thousand French archers."

According to some of the French chroniclers, the prince of Wales, who had entered his eighteenth year, and was one of the handsomest and most accomplished princes in Europe, was very desirous of becoming the husband of Anne Neville, whom he had seen at Paris some time before. They were allied in blood, for Anne's great-grandmother, the countess of Westmoreland, was Joanna Beaufort, the daughter of John of Gaunt, the patriarchal stem of the royal line of Lancaster. Anne of Warwick was co-heiress to mighty possessions, which rendered her a match, in point of wealth, not unworthy of a spouse in full possession of regal power. While these negotiations were pending, Louis's queen had given birth to a fair son at Amboise, afterwards Charles VIII. Edward prince of Wales was complimented with the office of godfather to the infant dauphin, the other sponsor being Jane of France. Some historians say that Margaret was the godmother; but there had never been any regard between her and the queen of France, Charlotte of Savoy, who, being desirous of marrying her sister, Bona of Savoy, to Edward IV., had always treated the fallen queen of the Lancastrian sovereign with a

'The original of Charles duke of Guienne's oath to assist queen Margaret, approving also of the marriage of the prince of Wales with Anne of Warwick, is to be found in the Cottonian MS., Vespasian, F 111, p. 32, r. o. It is signed by himself, Angers, July 30, 1470.

2 Comines. Wassburg. Villeneuve. Monstrelet.

contempt that the high spirit of Margaret could scarcely brook. After the christening of the young dauphin, which was solemnized with great splendour at Amboise, Edward of Lancaster plighted his nuptial troth to Anne Neville, in the presence of queen Margaret, the king of France, king René and his second wife Jeanne de Laval, the earl and countess of Warwick, the duke and duchess of Clarence, and the faithful adherents of the cause of the Red rose, of whom Margaret's exiled court was composed.2

3

This romantic marriage was celebrated at the latter end of July, or the beginning of August, 1470, and was commemorated with feasts and high rejoicings. Warwick departed from Angers on the 4th of August, leaving his countess and the newly wedded princess of Wales, as pledges of his fidelity, with queen Margaret and her son. They were entertained with princely hospitality by king René till the autumn. Meantime, Clarence and Warwick landed at Dartmouth with their puissance, and proclaimed their intention of delivering king Henry from durance, declaring their commission to be " by the whole voice and assent of the most noble princess Margaret, queen of England, and the right high and mighty prince Edward."4 When the news was spread that king Henry, whose mild sway had been sorely regretted, "should rejoice the land again by reigning as heretofore," his champions were received with universal acclamations. Warwick found himself in a few days at the head of sixty thousand men, the people crying everywhere, "a Henry! a Henry!" Edward IV., being unable to stand his ground, embarked for Holland, leav ing Warwick master of the realm; by whose direction the bishop of Winchester, early in October, went to the Tower of London, took king Henry from his keepers, and new arrayed him, the royal captive not having been attired according to his rank, "nor so cleanly kept as besecmed such a personage.” He was then brought home with great reverence and rejoicing to his palace at Westminster. Te Deum was sung in Paris for 2 Comines. Wassaburg. Bourdigne. Villeneuve.

4

1 Hall.

3 Harleian MSS.

Chart. Antiq. Cotton. xvii. 11; printed in the Notes to Warkworth's Chronicle, edited by J. O. Halliwell, esq.: printed for the Camden Society.