The Wars of the Roses - Alison Weir [227]
It had been agreed by the allies that Warwick and Jasper Tudor, who had recently arrived in France, would lead the invasion force, and that Margaret and her son would follow them to England when it was safe to do so. Warwick would sail to the south-east coast, while Jasper would lead an assault on Wales, where he could count on the support of many loyal Lancastrians. Warwick had already sent word of his coming to his affinity in Yorkshire and they were arming themselves, while Queen Margaret wrote to her supporters in England, bidding them be ready to rise when Warwick came.
On the 31st, Margaret, the Prince and Anne Neville left Angers for Amboise, and a day or so later Warwick set off for the coast to prepare for the invasion. Queen Margaret soon joined him at Harfleur in Normandy to help him recruit men. Already, his invasion was expected in England, for on 5 August the Paston Letters record rumours ‘that Clarence and Warwick will essay to land every day, as folks fear’.
Clarence had swallowed his grievances for the time being and rejoined Warwick, and together they produced a manifesto which was addressed to the ‘worshipful, discreet and true commons of England’, and dispatched across the Channel and posted in various towns on church doors and on London Bridge and buildings in Cheapside. The manifesto referred in harsh terms to Edward IV’s misrule and the oppression and injustice that had resulted from it, and ended with a promise from Warwick that he would ‘redeem for ever the said realm from thralldom of all outward nations and make it as free within itself as ever it was heretofore’.
Clarence was especially active in arranging for this and other propaganda material to be displayed in London, and he also went to Calais to rally the garrison. Commines says that, while he was there, a mysterious Englishwoman ‘of few words’ arrived, and told Lord Wenlock that she was a friend of the Duchess Isabel, on her way to comfort her for the loss of her child. He did not believe her, and when pressed she revealed that she had come to negotiate a peace between Edward IV and Warwick, showing Wenlock papers to prove this. Wenlock, no doubt hoping that this time of conflicting loyalties would soon be ended, allowed the woman to go free.
She went straight to Clarence, saying that she had come from England to serve his wife as a waiting woman and would be grateful for a private interview. When they were closeted alone together, the woman – who was undoubtedly a female undercover agent working for the Yorkists – produced a letter from Edward IV to Clarence promising the Duke that, if he forsook Warwick and returned to England, the King would forgive him and restore him to his former position at court. Clarence was heartened by his brother’s message and seriously tempted to accept his offer, but in the end he decided that he had more to hope for from Warwick than Edward at the moment. Nevertheless, he was careful to keep his options open, and sent the woman back with a promise to Edward that he would join him as soon as the opportunity presented itself. According to Commines, the female agent, whose name has never been discovered and who disappears from the records at this point, was ‘the only contriver of the enterprise whereby the Earl of Warwick and his whole faction were utterly destroyed’. From this, we may deduce that she played a greater role behind the scenes than is anywhere recorded in the surviving sources.
By the second week of August, the Milanese ambassador was reporting that Warwick’s embarkation for England was expected at any time. Charles of Burgundy had been deeply concerned about the Earl’s presence in France and had made strong representations to