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whose scouts kept him apprised of the King’s movements, sent letters to the city authorities, ordering them to resist Edward and refuse to receive him. He also wrote to his brother Archbishop Neville, ‘desiring him to do all he could to provoke the city against Edward and keep him out for two or three days, promising that he would then not fail to come up with great forces from behind, intending utterly to destroy Edward and his men’. The Archbishop summoned to St Paul’s such lords as were known to be loyal to Henry VI and Warwick, ‘with as many of their armed men and servants as they could muster’, and some 6–7000 gathered there. He then had King Henry mount a horse and ride from St Paul’s down Cheapside and round to Walbrook, then back to St Paul’s and to his lodging in the adjacent bishop’s palace, ‘supposing that when he showed Henry the Londoners would be encouraged to stand by them and come on to their side’. Yet Henry VI and his escort were hardly a sight to inspire confidence – the latter few and armed to the teeth, the former wearing his old blue gown that had seen better days, ‘as though he had no more to change with’, slouched on his horse, and regarding the citizens with sad, tired eyes. It was said that their progress through London was ‘more like a play than a showing of a prince to win men’s hearts, for by this means he lost many and won none, or right few’.

From Dunstable, on 9 April, according to the Arrivall, King Edward sent ‘very comfortable messages to his queen, his true lords and his servants and supporters in London’. ‘Wherefore,’ continues the Arrivall, ‘they considered as secretly as possible how he might be received and welcomed there.’ On the 10th, Edward advanced to St Albans.

That day, according to the Arrivall, ‘the rulers of the city were in council, and had set men at all the gates and wards’. Then, seeing that the power of Henry VI and his adherents ‘was so feeble’, they ‘could find no courage’ to support them. ‘Rather the opposite obtained, as they well saw that Henry’s forces could not resist the King, who was approaching the city, being at St Albans that night. Thus the mayor and the aldermen determined to keep the city for the King, to open it to him at his coming, so they sent to him that they would be guided at his pleasure.’ As many of the Lancastrian lords had by now left London to go to greet Queen Margaret in the West Country, there remained no one powerful enough to hold London against Edward, nor to resist the Lord Mayor’s decision to open the gates to him.

Archbishop Neville, fearful for his own skin, also sent a message to the King, ‘desiring to be admitted to his good grace and promising in return to give [him] great pleasure for his well-being and security’. Edward ‘for his own good reasons agreed to take the Archbishop into his good grace, and the Archbishop, assured of this, was very well pleased and truly acquitted himself of his promise’, undertaking to deliver Henry VI into Edward’s hands. ‘That night, the Tower of London was taken for the King, whereby he had a clear entry into the city.’

On the 11th, Warwick learned that Louis XI had signed a three-month truce with Burgundy, having by now realised that Warwick would not be honouring his part of their agreement and knowing that he himself could not fight Burgundy without England’s support. The truce was a wait-and-see ploy, designed to last until Louis knew the outcome of Warwick’s struggle with Edward IV. Warwick realised that he could expect no further aid from Louis, that he was now on his own, and that confrontation with Edward was imminent.

Late in the morning of the same day, the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London dismissed the city militia, saying they could go home for dinner. At noon King Edward and his brothers marched into the city, which joyfully opened its gates to him as the lawful sovereign of England. The mayor and chief citizens welcomed him warmly and the crowds lining the streets yelled their appreciation. Commines says that there were three reasons for their enthusiasm: the birth of a male heir