A Knight of the White Cross | Page 6

doubtless you will be able to rejoin us a few days after
we land. Now let us talk over the noblemen and gentlemen in the west,
upon whom we can rely, if not to join our banner as soon as it is spread,
at least to say no word that will betray you."

Two days later Sir Thomas Tresham started on his journey, while the
queen remained at Amboise eagerly awaiting the news that Warwick
had collected a fleet, and was ready to set sail. Up to this point the
Duke of Clarence had sided with Warwick against his brother, and had
passed over with him to France, believing, no doubt, that if the Earl
should succeed in dethroning Edward, he intended to place him, his
son-in-law, upon the throne. He was rudely awakened from this
delusion by Charles of Burgundy, who, being in all but open rebellion
against his suzerain, the King of France, kept himself intimately
acquainted with all that was going on. He despatched a female emissary
to Clarence to inform him of the league Warwick had made with the
Lancastrians, and the intended marriage between his daughter Anne
and the young prince; imploring him to be reconciled with his brother
and to break off his alliance with the Earl, who was on the point of
waging war against the House of York.
Clarence took the advice, and went over to England, where he made his
peace with Edward, the more easily because the king, who was entirely
given up to pleasure, treated with contempt the warnings the Duke of
Burgundy sent him of the intended invasion by Warwick. And yet a
moment's serious reflection should have shown him that his position
was precarious. The crushing exactions of the tax gatherers, in order to
provide the means for Edward's lavish expenditure, had already caused
very serious insurrections in various parts of the country, and his
unpopularity was deep and general. In one of these risings the royal
troops had suffered a crushing defeat. The Earl Rivers, the father, and
Sir John Woodville, one of the brothers, of the queen had, with the Earl
of Devon, been captured by the rebels, and the three had been beheaded,
and the throne had only been saved by the intervention of Warwick.
Thus, then, Edward had every reason for fearing the result should the
Earl appear in arms against him. He took, however, no measures
whatever to prepare for the coming storm, and although the Duke of
Burgundy despatched a fleet to blockade Harfleur, where Warwick was
fitting out his expedition, and actually sent the name of the port at
which the Earl intended to land if his fleet managed to escape from
Harfleur, Edward continued carelessly to spend his time in pleasure and

dissipation, bestowing his full confidence upon the Archbishop of York
and the Marquis of Montague, both brothers of the Earl of Warwick.
The elements favoured his enemies, for early in September the Duke of
Burgundy's Fleet, off Harfleur, was dispersed by a storm, and Warwick,
as soon as the gale abated, set sail, and on the 13th landed on the
Devonshire coast. His force was a considerable one, for the French king
had furnished him both with money and men; on effecting his landing
he found no army assembled to oppose him. A few hours after his
disembarkation, he was joined by Sir Thomas Tresham, who gave him
the good news that the whole of the west was ready to rise, and that in a
few days all the great landowners would join him with their retainers.
This turned out to be the case, and Warwick, with a great array,
marched eastward. Kent had already risen, and London declared for
King Henry. Warwick, therefore, instead of marching thither, moved
towards Lincolnshire, where Edward was with his army, having gone
north to repress an insurrection that had broken out there at the
instigation of Warwick.
Lord Montague now threw off the mask, and declared for King Henry.
Most of the soldiers followed him, and Edward, finding it hopeless to
oppose Warwick's force, which was now within a short march of him,
took ship with a few friends who remained faithful, and sailed for
Holland. Warwick returned to London, where he took King Henry from
the dungeon in the Tower, into which he himself had, five years before,
thrown him, and proclaimed him king.
On the day that this took place Dame Tresham arrived in London with
her son. The queen had found that she could not for the present cross,
as she was waiting for a large French force which was to accompany
her. As it was uncertain how long the delay might last, she counselled
her friend to join her husband. The revolution had been accomplished
without the loss