In the meantime Margaret had so increased her popularity that many of the Yorkist soldiers refused to fight against her husband. The duke was taken aback at this, and circulated {303}a report of the king's death, and caused a mass to be sung in camp for the repose of his soul. Hearing of this, the queen caused a pardon to be proclaimed in the king's name for all who would return to their allegiance. The Yorkist leaders did not believe in this offer of pardon until Henry, urged on by his courageous wife, advanced to the very gates of Ludlow Castle and proclaimed it again. Then so many soldiers of the other side deserted that the duke made his escape and went to Calais, leaving his wife and her two younger sons to defend the castle. They were taken prisoners, and the whole town was destroyed. Margaret was delighted with the success of her first campaign, but she did not enjoy her triumph very long, for the Earl of Warwick, who was a more determined enemy than York, brought a band of experienced soldiers from Calais, and gathering all his forces, made a tremendous charge on the Lancaster troops, killing ten thousand of them in two short hours, and capturing King Henry. The queen was stationed near enough to receive the dreadful news within an hour, and made her escape with her son to a fortress in the north of Wales, where she was honorably received and protected by a courageous chieftain of that country. Nobody knew where she was hidden, not even the king, who was taken to London and carefully guarded. As soon as York heard of the victory of his party he entered the city of London at the head of five hundred horsemen, with a sword of state borne before him. He rode straight to Westminster, and, entering the House of Lords, walked to the throne, and laid his right hand on it with a look around among the peers that implied he awaited an invitation to take his seat there. Not a word was spoken. At length the Archbishop of Canterbury broke the dead silence, and asked him, "if he would be pleased to visit the king." "I know of no one in the realm who {304}ought not rather to visit me," he replied, haughtily, and left the house. The peers then referred it to Henry to decide whether he or the Duke of York had the legal claim to the throne. He replied: "My father was king; his father was also king; I have worn the crown forty years from my cradle; you have all sworn fealty to me as your sovereign, and your fathers have done the like to my father and grandfather. How, then, can my right be disputed?" Nevertheless, the king agreed that if he were permitted to wear the crown during his life, he would resign it, at his death, to the Duke of York or his heirs. He was next compelled to order the return of his wife and son.