March 9th 1471: False, Fleeting Clarence
George, Duke of Clarence from the Coventry Tapestry
(Photo: Adrian Fray)
George, Duke of Clarence, younger brother of the Yorkist King had been led up the garden path by the smooth words of the Earl of Warwick. He’d been promised a kingdom, but nothing had gone right. He’d incurred his brother’s wrath by marrying Isabel Neville, Warwick’s eldest daughter, against his wishes. This ceremony was held in Calais, whilst Edward was trying to supress a rebellion in the north of England.
He had fled the country with his father in law. His new wife gave birth at sea outside Calais, where they had been refused any assistance. The baby died. They moved on to France, and he had travelled to the Loire Valley with Warwick, for an audience with King Louis. He’d listened to the discussions; Warwick was to make his peace with the exiled Queen, his younger daughter, Anne, would marry Edward, the Lancastrian heir and King Louis would facilitate an invasion to overthrow the Yorkist Edward. This must have been devastating for someone who had been promised the throne himself a few months earlier. He left the court before Queen Margaret arrived.
Philip de Commynes, who kept his ear to the ground and recorded everything, noted a mysterious visitor:
… He told me further, that it would be no hard matter to compass an accommodation, for that very day there was a lady passed by Calais into France, with letters to the Duchess of Clarence, and in them overtures of peace from King Edward; and he said truly; but as he had done with others, so the lady dissembled with him; for her business was of another kind of importance, which she accomplished at last, to the prejudice of the Earl of Warwick and all his party.
…This lady managed the affair that was committed to her charge, with so much cunning and dexterity, that she prevailed with the Duke of Clarence to promise to come over to the king's party as soon as he was in England.
Clarence returned to England with Warwick’s invasion, and went with him to release King Henry, which Commynes commented on:
The Earl of Warwick, immediately upon his arrival in London, went directly to the Tower (which is the castle), and released King Henry, whom long before he had committed thither himself. When he imprisoned him, he went before him, crying "Treason, treason, and behold the traitor!" but now he proclaimed him king, attended him to his palace at Westminster, and restored him to his royal prerogative, and all in the Duke of Clarence's presence, who was not at all pleased with the sight.
He was now subjected to further blandishments from his mother and sisters, but he continued to work with the Earl of Warwick, biding his time, waiting for the moment.