received; besides which, he hired secretly fourteen Easterling ships for him, which were well armed, and had promised to transport him into England, and serve him fifteen days afterwards; which supply was very great, considering those times. CH. VII.—How King Edward returned into England, where he defeated the Earl of Warwick in Battle, and the Prince of Wales afterwards.—1471. King Edward set sail for England in the year 1471[331], at the same time as the Duke of Burgundy marched towards Amiens against the King of France. The duke was of opinion that the affairs of England could not go amiss for him, since he was sure of friends on both sides. King Edward was no sooner landed, but he marched directly for London, where he had above 2000 of his party in sanctuary; among whom were 300 or 400 knights and esquires, who were of great advantage to his affairs, for he brought over with him a small number of forces. The Earl of Warwick was at that time in the north with a powerful army, but upon the news of King Edward’s landing, he marched back again with all speed towards London, in hopes to have got thither before him. However, he presumed the city would have been true to him, but he was mistaken; for King Edward was received into the city on Maunday Thursday[332], with the universal acclamation of the citizens, contrary to the expectation of most people, for everybody looked upon him as lost: and without dispute, if the citizens had but shut their gates against him, he had been irrecoverably lost, for the Earl of Warwick was within a day’s march of him. As I have been since informed, there were three things especially, which contributed to his reception into London. The first was, the persons who were in the sanctuaries, and the birth of a young prince, of whom the queen was there brought to bed. The next was, the great debts which he owed in the town, which obliged all the tradesmen who were his creditors to appear for him. The third was, that the ladies of quality, and rich citizens’ wives with whom he had formerly intrigued, forced their husbands and relations to declare themselves on his side. He stayed but two days in the town, for on Easter-eve he marched with all the forces he could collect to give the Earl of Warwick battle: the next day, being Easter-day, they met[333], and as they were drawn up, and stood in order of battle one against the other, the Duke of Clarence went over to his brother King Edward, and carried with him near 12,000 men, which was a great discouragement to the Earl of Warwick, and a mighty strengthening to King Edward, who before was but weak.