The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the WestRogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
History
The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West
Rogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
It would be supposed that the aged Lord Bonville, satiated and stunned
with these accumulated horrors, would have quietly withdrawn from the
desperate dangers of further participation in these conflicts, and
devoted the remainder of his declining days to a more peaceful life,
and the preservation and guardianship of his baby great-grand-daughter,
the last green branch of his antient stock, the infant Cecily. But no,
his very name was now practically extinguished, his son and grandson
were not, and the iron of misfortune had probably entered and seared his
soul. Determined and perhaps reckless of the future on thus seeing all
his hope and ambition blasted, he still followed on, for good or for
evil, to the bitter end, regardless of consequence, the fortune of the
cause he had espoused, and for which he had sacrificed so much. Who may
enter into, or estimate fully the feelings that convulsed the stricken
heart of this old man, under such an avalanche of misery?
But this misery, sharp as it was, was mercifully of short duration.
Six weeks only intervened, in which interval it is probable Lord
Bonville retreated from Wakefield, with such of the discomfited army
that remained unslain, back to join the Earl of Warwick, then waiting
on the outskirts of London to effect a junction with the forces of
Edward, Duke of York, who had just fought and won a decisive victory
over Jasper and Owen Tudor, with a Lancastrian army at Mortimer's
Cross, near Hereford.
Before however this could be accomplished, the energetic Margaret,
flushed with success, and hurrying southward in hope to secure the
metropolis, was upon him; and the furious battle of St. Albans on the
18 Feb., 1460-1, was the result. There she at first received a check,
but by turning the position she fell on Warwick's army, and the combat
was carried on over the undulating country, between St. Albans and
Barnet, in which two thousand Yorkists are said to have perished. At
nightfall, Warwick found himself beaten at all points, and made
precipitate retreat, leaving the King, who was accompanying the army
as a prisoner, behind.
It would require no seer to divine the vindictive thoughts of
Margaret, on regaining possession of her captive husband, and the
consummate danger environing those in whose custody she found him,
whether for preservation or otherwise. The Queen and her son
discovered the helpless man in his tent with one personal attendant
only, Lord Montague his Chamberlain. But there were at least two other
distinguished men near, who were said to have remained to guard him
from the lawless soldiery, one was the brave Sir Thomas Kyriel, and
the other Lord Bonville. Both could doubtless have fled with the rest
of the fugitives, had they been so minded, but it is recorded, that
out of chivalrous feelings, when urged by the King to remain by him
and protect him, they did so, under the assurance from him that their
lives should be preserved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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