Rebellions, murders, arson and civil unrest spread across the country with extraordinary speed. Elizabeth Woodville had something to do with it, without a doubt, but there were also tens of thousands of soldiers who had fought with Edward at Towton. Only nine years later, they were still alive and did not take kindly to Edward being imprisoned.
Warwick had vastly overreached. In September 1469, he came to Edward and offered him his release in exchange for a complete pardon and amnesty for everything that had happened before. Edward had always been a man of his word and Warwick clearly trusted him and believed the deal would hold. To a modern reader, it is quite surprising that he honestly thought it would, or perhaps he just had no other choice.
I suspect the extent of anti-Neville unrest would not have been recorded by Warwick or anyone else. He could easily have been at his wit’s end and in fear of his life. For once, his huge number of estates estates proved a burden, impossible to protect against organized attacks, vulnerable to night burnings and local unrest. I imagine Warwick had few choices left when he decided to trust Edward’s word and release the king.
It is to Edward’s credit that he did not break the pardon and amnesty he granted. From five centuries on, it is impossible to know if what happened next was a plan to find a loophole in the pardon, or something new. After a few months of peace, Lancastrian rebels apparently named Warwick and George of Clarence as traitors, though we will never know for sure if those were true accusations. The country was still simmering with unrest and dozens of small uprisings. This was new information – and potentially a crime not covered by the amnesty Edward had agreed before. He duly ordered the capture of both men – and they chose to run for the coast with Isabel, then in the last stages of pregnancy. Warwick’s first plan was to reach his great ship Trinity, berthed in Southampton. He was blocked from reaching it by Anthony Woodville, by then an admiral for Edward of York. Warwick, his wife Anne, George, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel, Duchess of Clarence all took a smaller ship to France. Crucially, Edward had already sent word to far-flung commanders that Warwick and Clarence were to be refused all aid, vital letters that were sent to both Ireland and the fortress of Calais.
They were forbidden entry to Calais by the garrison there. The four of them were left stranded, trapped at sea with both England and France blocked to them. Isabel gave birth on board and it is true that the infant girl was either stillborn or died in the spray and the cold, Warwick’s first grandchild. His reaction and his rage over these events would drive him into the arms of Margaret of Anjou – and shake England to the foundations.
Conn Iggulden
London, 2015
Acknowledgements
The loss of my father in September 2014 was a terrible blow. Given that he was ninety-one, it should not have been unexpected, but it was. The trees of your childhood don’t just fall – until they do, and the world no longer holds them.
Without the support of a few key people, this book would certainly never have been finished. With their support, I think it could be the best I’ve written. It helped that I was writing Edward of York and Richard, Earl Warwick, right after they lost their fathers, five hundred years ago.
I give thanks then, for my agent, Victoria Hobbs, my brother David Iggulden, my friend Clive Room and chief of all, my wife Ella.
Conn Iggulden
THE BEGINNING
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MICHAEL JOSEPH
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First published 2015
Copyright © Conn Iggulden, 2015
Cover illustration by Vince McIndoe; Author and title type by Carol Kemp; Series title type by Charles Stewart
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-718-19644-8
Stormbird Page 39
