reason for giving the messenger a ring which could feed a troop of men for a week."
"So that he, and his master through him, will not think that I need care for the value of one paltry ring."
Henry's voice was patient, but plainly his mind was elsewhere. From then on he turned his attention more closely to the English refugees. During the next few weeks a group among them was singled out to become an inner council. Some were chosen for their birth and connections, others because they had some special ability or skill, and still others because Henry liked them as men.
The man he kept closest to him, to Jasper's dismay, was Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorset, the dowager queen's son by her first husband. To Jasper's protests that, whatever his name, Dorset was a Woodville at heart, shallow and untrustworthy, Henry made no reply other than an inscrutable smile. He had long since realized that Jasper thought as he acted, honestly and directly. If Jasper mistrusted a man, he would banish him if he could not destroy him. That seemed the height of foolhardiness to Henry, whose mind worked along other paths, especially when the man in question was powerful himself or had powerful friends and relatives. Those one must keep under one's eye, cozening them with soft words and, by depriving them of all service while—if necessary—heaping them with empty honors, drain them of ability to do harm.
With the others whom Henry selected, Jasper had no quarrel, although he really approved only of Sir Edward Courtenay. Sir Edward was like Jasper himself, soldierly, honest, and, as eldest male relative, he was heir to the earldom of Devonshire, which had been forfeited by his cousin Thomas Courtenay for dying in the Lancastrian cause at the battle of Tewksbury.
Soon messengers began to pass from Courtenay to his many relatives in England extolling Henry's virtues, detailing his real claim to the throne, describing his growing strength and the increasing hope of a Lancastrian restoration. Henry, who wrote the letters, made sure to add that no Yorkist who did not actively oppose him would suffer. They would be protected by his proposed marriage with Edward's daughter Elizabeth.
Richard Edgecombe also won qualified approval from Henry's uncle. He had a decent family, a sharp wit and a smooth conciliatory manner that was very useful in dealing with men whose tempers were exacerbated by misfortune. In addition, Edgecombe had a minor genius for money, which permitted Henry to pass to him some of the problems of stretching their slender resources.
Richard Guildford fell into the same category and also won his place by having been one of the first four men active in the rebellion against Gloucester. He, too, understood money, although he was better at collecting it than at juggling figures for niggling disbursements.
Also, Guildford had a hobby that might be of great value—the science of new weapons and the means to resist them. He had a passion for big guns. No one else in the group knew as much about artillery or the type of defenses that could withstand it. Guildford discoursed at length, and at the slightest excuse, of trajectories, impact force, and rigid versus flexible barriers. Henry, at least, listened whenever he could, although he was frequently reduced to helpless laughter by terms that grew so technical and so mixed with mathematical equations that Guildford might have been speaking a foreign language for all he could understand.
The other two puzzled Jasper. There was William Brandon, strong as a bull, a deadly and enthusiastic fighter, but not the type of man Henry usually sought out. If Jasper had not been as sure that Henry did not love flattery as he was that his nephew was shrewder than any other man he had ever come across, he would have thought that Brandon's adulation had gained him his place on the council. Not that Brandon said much, but the sheer worship that shone in his eyes was clear to all.
Perhaps Brandon had been
"So that he, and his master through him, will not think that I need care for the value of one paltry ring."
Henry's voice was patient, but plainly his mind was elsewhere. From then on he turned his attention more closely to the English refugees. During the next few weeks a group among them was singled out to become an inner council. Some were chosen for their birth and connections, others because they had some special ability or skill, and still others because Henry liked them as men.
The man he kept closest to him, to Jasper's dismay, was Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorset, the dowager queen's son by her first husband. To Jasper's protests that, whatever his name, Dorset was a Woodville at heart, shallow and untrustworthy, Henry made no reply other than an inscrutable smile. He had long since realized that Jasper thought as he acted, honestly and directly. If Jasper mistrusted a man, he would banish him if he could not destroy him. That seemed the height of foolhardiness to Henry, whose mind worked along other paths, especially when the man in question was powerful himself or had powerful friends and relatives. Those one must keep under one's eye, cozening them with soft words and, by depriving them of all service while—if necessary—heaping them with empty honors, drain them of ability to do harm.
With the others whom Henry selected, Jasper had no quarrel, although he really approved only of Sir Edward Courtenay. Sir Edward was like Jasper himself, soldierly, honest, and, as eldest male relative, he was heir to the earldom of Devonshire, which had been forfeited by his cousin Thomas Courtenay for dying in the Lancastrian cause at the battle of Tewksbury.
Soon messengers began to pass from Courtenay to his many relatives in England extolling Henry's virtues, detailing his real claim to the throne, describing his growing strength and the increasing hope of a Lancastrian restoration. Henry, who wrote the letters, made sure to add that no Yorkist who did not actively oppose him would suffer. They would be protected by his proposed marriage with Edward's daughter Elizabeth.
Richard Edgecombe also won qualified approval from Henry's uncle. He had a decent family, a sharp wit and a smooth conciliatory manner that was very useful in dealing with men whose tempers were exacerbated by misfortune. In addition, Edgecombe had a minor genius for money, which permitted Henry to pass to him some of the problems of stretching their slender resources.
Richard Guildford fell into the same category and also won his place by having been one of the first four men active in the rebellion against Gloucester. He, too, understood money, although he was better at collecting it than at juggling figures for niggling disbursements.
Also, Guildford had a hobby that might be of great value—the science of new weapons and the means to resist them. He had a passion for big guns. No one else in the group knew as much about artillery or the type of defenses that could withstand it. Guildford discoursed at length, and at the slightest excuse, of trajectories, impact force, and rigid versus flexible barriers. Henry, at least, listened whenever he could, although he was frequently reduced to helpless laughter by terms that grew so technical and so mixed with mathematical equations that Guildford might have been speaking a foreign language for all he could understand.
The other two puzzled Jasper. There was William Brandon, strong as a bull, a deadly and enthusiastic fighter, but not the type of man Henry usually sought out. If Jasper had not been as sure that Henry did not love flattery as he was that his nephew was shrewder than any other man he had ever come across, he would have thought that Brandon's adulation had gained him his place on the council. Not that Brandon said much, but the sheer worship that shone in his eyes was clear to all.
Perhaps Brandon had been
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