part of the men of Calais, under sir Andrew Trollope, a most distinguished commander, departed during the night from the Yorkite camp, and went over to the king. Their desertion prevented the duke from attacking the king at daybreak, as had been intended; it defeated his projects, and so far confounded him, that he fled with his younger son to Ireland; and Warwick, with the earl of March (afterwards Edward IV.), and a select company, could find no safer course than to make their way into Devonshire, and from thence embark for Guernsey, in a ship which a certain squire, by name John Dynham, purchased for them at the price of 110 marks; at Guernsey they recruited themselves, and, sailing from thence to Calais, were there joyfully received at a postern by their friends.* The duke of Somerset meantime had been appointed by the king's party to the command of that important fortress: "but the old husbandman," says the chronicler of our civil wars, sayeth, that, as too hasty sowing oftentimes deceiveth, so too late never well proveth; for if the king at the beginning had dispossessed his adversaries of that refuge and hold, no doubt but he had either tamed or vanquished them with little labour and small danger." + Somerset, rejoicing much in his new office, sailed with great pomp to take possession of it; but when he would have entered the haven, the artillery shot so fiercely both out of the town and Risebank, that he, suffering there a sore repulse, was fain to land at Whitesand bay. When he required the captains of the town to receive him as the king's deputy, they neither regarded his summons, nor looked at his letters patent; and it was well for him that the castle of Guisnes was in the hands of more loyal men: thither he of necessity resorted, and from thence daily skirmished with the garrison of Calais, " more to his loss than gain." The troops whom he took with him were true; not so the seamen, with whom Warwick was a favourite, perhaps for the licence which he allowed them: they carried * Holinshed, 253. Fabyan, 635. + Hall, 242. DYNHAM SURPRISES SANDWICH. 105 some of the ships into Calais, and delivered into Warwick's hands several of his enemies; and that earl, though they had been thus betrayed, incontinently caused their heads to be struck off. This was not the only aid which Warwick and the earl of March received; "no small number of the commonalty daily resorted to them, the seas being open, by reason whereof, although they daily lost people, and had many slain, yet the number was restored, and the gap ever filled, while Somerset suffered continual detriment." That duke applied for reinforcements, and without delay "Richard lord Rivers and sir Anthony Woodville, his son, accompanied with 400 warlike persons, were ordered to join him: and these martial captains endeavouring themselves to the point for the which they were assigned, came to the port of Sandwich, and there abode the wind and the weather, which obeyeth neither king, nor serveth emperor." March and Warwick were well informed of these movements: they had hands enough, and wanted nothing but money wherewith to keep men contented who served them only for the sake of gain. This they provided, by borrowing 18,000l. from the merchants of the staple; and having thus strengthened the sinews of war, they despatched John Dynham with a strong company to Sandwich, looking upon him as one who might be relied on for any service. He sped so well, that he surprised the town, took lord Rivers and his son in their beds, robbed houses, spoiled ships of great riches and merchandise, took the principal ships of the king's navy (except the Grace de Dieu, which was not in a state to be removed), and carried them off, well furnished as they were with ordinance and artillery, "not without consent and agreement of the mariners, which owed their singular favour to the earl of Warwick." Dynham received a wound in the leg which lamed him for life; but though it disabled him for war, it seems in its consequences to have promoted his fortune: for, * Hall, 242. Holinshed, 254. A. D. taking in consequence to a different pursuit, he became at length lord high treasurer. Wounded as he was, he brought the ships royal, laden with money and prisoners, to Calais, and there presented them to the earl of March; "not knowing then," says Hall, "that the lord Rivers's daughter, which then had an husband living, should be the earl's wife, nor thinking that her father, for his sake, should after be destroyed: but who can know the secrets of God, or without Him declare the chances that after shall ensue?" Some of these ships were immediately manned and vic1460. tualled, and Warwick sailed in them to Ireland, there to confer with York. The weather favoured both his going and his return; in other respects he was strong enough to defy fortune. It is said that sir Baldwin Fulford undertook to destroy him, on pain of losing his head, which he afterwards lost as a faithful adherent of the red rose: but, after spending a thousand marks of the king's money, he returned from a bootless quest. The duke of Exeter had been appointed chief admiral, and he lay on the west coast, hoping to intercept Warwick; but he was afraid of his people, captains as well as men, who did not dissemble that Warwick had their good wishes, and that they had neither respect nor liking for their commander; so that Warwick, who was prepared for battle, and expected it, passed by without molestation. Orders were now given for the defence of the sea coast, and all men passing to Flanders were forbidden to touch at Calais on pain of death, lest forced loans should be taken from them, or from the merchants of the staple. Sir Simon Montford was appointed to guard the Downs and the Cinque Ports; but his fortune was even worse than that of the lord Rivers, for a detachment under the lord Fauconbridge was sent from Calais against him: that unlucky town was a second time taken, and Montford and twelve of the principal persons under his command were carried across the Channel, and beheaded on the sands before Risebank. After + Hall, 243. Fabyan, 635. Holinshed, 254. EARL OF WILTSHIRE'S BASENESS. 107 this success, March and Warwick, putting "the castle and town of Calais in sure and safe custody to their only use," sailed for England, landed at Sandwich, and marched against the king.* While the English barons with desperate courage, and at this time with unshaken fidelity, were waging life and land for the contending houses of York and Lancaster, the rare instance occurred of one who looked only to his own security, caring for neither claimant, nor for his country, nor for his own good name. The earl of Wiltshire was at this time treasurer of England: as an active enemy of the Yorkites, he went with the lords Scales and Hungerford to Newbury, which belonged to the duke of York, made inquisition there of those who in any wise had favoured the duke, executed some, and spoiled all the inhabitants of the town. From thence he went to Southampton, and, under pretence of fitting out an expedition against the earl of Warwick, he manned four great Genoese carracks with soldiers, stored them with food, which he took up at the king's price without payment, put great part of his treasures on board, and, after sailing about awhile, conveyed himself and his property into Dutchland, sending the soldiers Events followed each other now in rapid suc back. cession, - York's first successes, his subsequent defeat and death, and the assumption of the crown by his son Edward IV., who took full vengeance upon the enemies of his line. He appointed the earl of Kent high A.D. admiral; and a fleet, with 10,000 men, put to sea 1461. with the apparent view of deterring the French from sending a force to assist queen Margaret, landed in Bre- 1462. tagne, took Conquet, and afterwards the Isle of Rhé, and then returned. In the following year, the queen 1463. obtained from Louis XI. a force of 2000 men, under the same seneschal of Normandy, Pierre de Brezé, who had formerly got possession of Sandwich: it was supposed that the king wished to be rid of him by fair Hall, 243. Fabyan, 636. Holinshed, 254-256, means, and therefore sent him on this service in the hope that he might perish in it. Expecting to be joined by Somerset, with a Scottish force, they landed at Tynemouth; but meeting there neither with succour nor tidings of succour, they reimbarked. The weather suddenly became tempestuous; the queen herself was glad to escape in a small caravel into Berwick; the other ships were driven on shore near Bamborough Castle, and the French, who saw no means of saving them, set them on fire, retired into Holy Island, and there endeavoured to defend them. They were attacked there by the Bastard Ogle, and a squire, by name John Manners, with the strength of the adjacent parts. Some 400 were taken prisoners, and put to ransom, many were slain; the remainder, with the seneschal, made their way to Berwick, where the queen received them gladly, and gave him the command of Alnwick Castle: he defended it well till he was relieved by the Scots under the earl of Angus, who came with a great army and rescued them; the English looking on, and thinking it much better to leave the castle without loss, than to lose both the castle and the men, considering the great power of the Scots and their own small number.† The queen, whose spirit nothing could subdue, leaving her helpless husband and her son at Edinburgh, sailed from Kirkcudbright with four ships, once more to solicit help from France. The duke of Bretagne aided her with 12,000 crowns, and Louis, out of his wonted policy, privately gave her a small † body of troops, exacting from her an obligation that she should deliver up Calais to him, as soon as it was in her power. The battle of Hexham followed, and the capture of king Henry; and Edward then thought himself "set in the sure stall, stable throne, and unmovable chair" of his kingdom, and clearly out of doubt of all hostility and dan *Monstrelet, x. 19, 20. Hall, 259.1 Holinshed, 280, 281. Henry v. 127. † Hall, I suspect, states the number of the detachment (500) erroneously, for that of the force which was sent with the seneschal; "a small number for her purpose," he says, "and yet greater than her husband or she were able to entertain in wages of their own coffers." |