Margaret of Anjou’s attempts to have her own son Edward married to a French princess, and the king’s marriage was his prime diplomatic bargaining tool. Warwick had also toyed with the idea of Edward marrying the highly immoral (and sadly for the negotiations, dead) dowager queen of Scotland and later to the 12-year-old Lady Isabella of Castile; she instead married Ferdinand of Aragon, uniting Spain, an event that had huge ramifications, especially in the Americas.
Rivers and Warwick were also old enemies, having fallen out when Woodville had been in charge of the Calais garrison and refused orders until they had been paid. Likewise Cecily Neville also strongly objected to her son’s disastrous choice, and with good reason. While Anthony Woodville, Rivers’s eldest son, was an intellectual who translated the first book printed by William Caxton in England, the Woodvilles as a family were over mighty and unpopular. Elizabeth Woodville was, in the words of one historian, ‘calculating, ambitious, devious, greedy, ruthless and arrogant’. xxvi She had 11 living siblings, who Edward felt obliged to help marry off; John Woodville, her 20-year-old brother, was paired with the 66-year-old Catherine Neville, the king’s aunt, a match known as ‘the diabolical marriage’. She already had three dead husbands and several children older than their new stepfather.
In one of the worst instances, the Duchess of Bedford, the Queen’s mother, took a liking to a tapestry in the house of wealthy London merchant Sir Thomas Cook. She demanded that Cook sell it for under its £800 value but he refused. The Woodvilles then accused him of working for the Lancastrians, and sent retainers to sack his houses in London and the country. Then Rivers had him tried with ‘misprision of treason’ for not disclosing a loan he had made to Margaret’s agent many years before; they gave him a fine of £8,000 and he was ruined.
Warwick, the king’s cousin and 14 years his senior, had been the effective second ruler of the kingdom. Such was his power over Edward that in 1464 a senior French lord told his master Louis XI: ‘They tell me they have two rulers in England – Monsieur de Warwick and another, whose name I have forgotten.’ But he now found himself sidelined by the queen’s brother, Anthony, while Edward also removed Warwick’s brother George Neville from his position as Archbishop of York. Warwick, away in Burgundy, was furious when he found out; it got to such a state in their relationship that the king ignored Warwick when he came to court with his French allies.
The kingmaker approached Edward’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, who was scheming away to get the crown himself. He proposed that his daughter Isobel would marry Clarence, but Edward blocked the idea.
By 1469 there was serious discontent and violence and crime had returned with a vengeance. The troubles started in the spring of 1469, with a rising in the north, led by two men, each called Robin, one of whom was clearly put up to it by Warwick. Warwick then effectively took over in a coup, and sent out his agents to capture the queen’s father and brother Sir John Woodville. He had them beheaded in Coventry (and so poor Catherine Neville found herself widowed for the fourth time). Warwick then had Rivers’ widow arrested on witchcraft charges, accusing her of using black arts to get her daughter married to the king. But she was found not guilty.
Warwick’s authority was at any rate falling to pieces. Humphrey Neville, from a different branch of the family, began a rebellion in the north, which Warwick crushed, having the leader brought back to London to be beheaded.
The king, meanwhile, recalled his lord high executioner, John Tiptoft, from Ireland. A refined and cultured Renaissance man, Tiptoft owned a rarefied collection of books and had made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, but he was also a sadist. In March the king sent the new Earl Rivers to capture
Rivers and Warwick were also old enemies, having fallen out when Woodville had been in charge of the Calais garrison and refused orders until they had been paid. Likewise Cecily Neville also strongly objected to her son’s disastrous choice, and with good reason. While Anthony Woodville, Rivers’s eldest son, was an intellectual who translated the first book printed by William Caxton in England, the Woodvilles as a family were over mighty and unpopular. Elizabeth Woodville was, in the words of one historian, ‘calculating, ambitious, devious, greedy, ruthless and arrogant’. xxvi She had 11 living siblings, who Edward felt obliged to help marry off; John Woodville, her 20-year-old brother, was paired with the 66-year-old Catherine Neville, the king’s aunt, a match known as ‘the diabolical marriage’. She already had three dead husbands and several children older than their new stepfather.
In one of the worst instances, the Duchess of Bedford, the Queen’s mother, took a liking to a tapestry in the house of wealthy London merchant Sir Thomas Cook. She demanded that Cook sell it for under its £800 value but he refused. The Woodvilles then accused him of working for the Lancastrians, and sent retainers to sack his houses in London and the country. Then Rivers had him tried with ‘misprision of treason’ for not disclosing a loan he had made to Margaret’s agent many years before; they gave him a fine of £8,000 and he was ruined.
Warwick, the king’s cousin and 14 years his senior, had been the effective second ruler of the kingdom. Such was his power over Edward that in 1464 a senior French lord told his master Louis XI: ‘They tell me they have two rulers in England – Monsieur de Warwick and another, whose name I have forgotten.’ But he now found himself sidelined by the queen’s brother, Anthony, while Edward also removed Warwick’s brother George Neville from his position as Archbishop of York. Warwick, away in Burgundy, was furious when he found out; it got to such a state in their relationship that the king ignored Warwick when he came to court with his French allies.
The kingmaker approached Edward’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, who was scheming away to get the crown himself. He proposed that his daughter Isobel would marry Clarence, but Edward blocked the idea.
By 1469 there was serious discontent and violence and crime had returned with a vengeance. The troubles started in the spring of 1469, with a rising in the north, led by two men, each called Robin, one of whom was clearly put up to it by Warwick. Warwick then effectively took over in a coup, and sent out his agents to capture the queen’s father and brother Sir John Woodville. He had them beheaded in Coventry (and so poor Catherine Neville found herself widowed for the fourth time). Warwick then had Rivers’ widow arrested on witchcraft charges, accusing her of using black arts to get her daughter married to the king. But she was found not guilty.
Warwick’s authority was at any rate falling to pieces. Humphrey Neville, from a different branch of the family, began a rebellion in the north, which Warwick crushed, having the leader brought back to London to be beheaded.
The king, meanwhile, recalled his lord high executioner, John Tiptoft, from Ireland. A refined and cultured Renaissance man, Tiptoft owned a rarefied collection of books and had made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, but he was also a sadist. In March the king sent the new Earl Rivers to capture
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