The Wars of the Roses; or, Stories of the Struggle of York and LancasterEdgar, John G. (John George)
History
The Wars of the Roses; or, Stories of the Struggle of York and Lancaster
Edgar, John G. (John George)
Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
At length, when three thousand Lancastrians had perished on the field
of Tewkesbury, the resistance and carnage came to an end; and Edward,
having knighted Warwick's cousin, George Neville, the heir of Lord
Abergavenny, sheathed his bloody sword, and Gloucester laid aside his
lance; and the king and the duke rode to the abbey church to render
thanks to GOD for giving them another victory over their enemies.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE VICTOR AND THE VANQUISHED.
While Edward of York was smiting down his foes on the field of
Tewkesbury, and the blood of the Lancastrians was flowing like water,
a chariot, guided by attendants whose looks indicated alarm and dread,
might have been observed to leave the scene of carnage, and pass
hurriedly through the gates of the park. In this chariot was a lady,
who appeared almost unconscious of what was passing, though it had not
been her wont to faint in hours of difficulty and danger. The lady was
Margaret of Anjou, but with a countenance no longer expressing those
fierce and terrible emotions which, after Northampton, and Towton,
and Hexham, had urged her to heroic ventures in order to regain
for her husband the crown which her son had been born to inherit.
Pale, ghastly, and rigid--more like that of a corpse than of a being
breathing the breath of life--was now that face, in which the friends
of the Lancastrian queen had in such seasons often read, as in a book,
resolutions of stern vengeance to be executed on her foes.
Fortune, indeed, had at length subdued the high spirit of Margaret
of Anjou, and she made no effort to resist her fate. When witnessing
the battle, and becoming aware that her worst anticipations were
being realized, the unfortunate queen appeared reckless of life, and
abandoned herself to despair. Alarmed, however, at the dangers which
menaced the vanquished, Margaret's attendants placed their royal
mistress in a chariot, conveyed her hastily from the field, and made
their way to a small religious house situated near the left bank of
the silver Severn: there she found the Princess of Wales and several
Lancastrian ladies, who had followed the fortunes of the Red Rose and
shared the perils of their kinsmen. No need to announce to them that
all was lost. Even if the disastrous intelligence had not preceded her
arrival, they would have read in Margaret's pale face and corpse-like
aspect the ruin of her hopes and of their own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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