The Wars of the Roses - Alison Weir [209]
Thanks to Edward’s diplomacy, the terms of the proposed alliance with Burgundy were so advantageous to England that even Warwick had no choice but to agree to it. Privately, however, he was still calculating, even now, how best to sabotage the alliance and persuade Edward to turn to Louis instead for friendship; in June he had met with the French king at Rouen to discuss how best to do this, but on his return he found his brother dismissed from the chancellorship and the King cold in his manner towards himself and his family.
Warwick burned with resentment. Warkworth says he ‘took on as many knights, squires and gentlemen as he could to swell his forces, [while] the King did all he could to reduce the Earl’s power. They were brought together several times, but they never again found pleasure in each other’s company.’ On one occasion, when Warwick went to the King at Westminster to ask if he would receive Louis’s envoys to discuss an alliance, Edward refused to acknowledge his presence; instead, he gazed around the room. Warwick stalked out, hot with anger. The next day he brought the ambassadors with him into the King’s presence, the Queen and her kinsfolk being there. Again, Edward ignored Warwick, and the Frenchmen were much offended. As they left with Warwick in his barge, the Earl cried in agitation, ‘Have you not seen what traitors there are about the King’s person?’ One of the envoys tried to calm him down, saying, ‘My lord, I pray you grow not hot, for some day you shall be avenged.’ Warwick retorted, ‘Know that those very traitors were the men that had my brother displaced from the office of Chancellor!’ It was obvious to him that the Wydvilles now had the upper hand and that Edward was siding with them against him. Croyland states that he had continued to show himself friendly to the Queen and her kindred until he found that, contrary to his wishes, they were using their utmost endeavours to promote the Burgundian alliance, which was concluded in November that year. Desired not only by the King and the Wydvilles, but also by the London merchants who would profit by it, the alliance was in the interests of the nation’s prosperity and appealed to patriotic sentiment, which was against an alliance with France.
Warwick felt he had no choice now but to throw in his lot with Louis. If Louis could offer him more than Edward he would take it, for he was not prepared to play a subordinate role to the Wydvilles and from now on would rarely attend the court if the Queen’s kindred were there. ‘From this moment the feud betwixt these rival families was settled, deadly and never terminated until it had completed the ruin of all parties.’
* Now called Brungerly.
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Secret Negotiations
In 1467 Queen Elizabeth bore another daughter, Mary, who was sent to Greenwich Palace to be brought up with her sister Elizabeth under the care of a governess, Margaret, Lady Berners. In October, the Queen was assigned £400 a year for the maintenance of her daughters.
The King kept Christmas at Coventry, where it was noted that the Duke of Clarence ‘behaved in a friendly way’. Soon after Epiphany, ‘by means of secret friends’, Archbishop Neville persuaded Warwick to attend a council at Coventry, where he and the King were ostensibly reconciled. But nothing had changed. Negotiations between England and Burgundy were now moving towards a successful conclusion, and in February 1468 Edward and Charles signed the treaty providing for the latter’s marriage to Margaret of York. The treaty dashed the hopes of