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
Accordingly, Margaret turned her eyes toward Portugal for aid, and
employed John Butler, Earl of Ormond, to enlist Alphonso in her cause.
Ormond, who, upon the execution of his brother, the Earl of Wiltshire,
after Towton, had become the chief of the Butlers, was one of the
most accomplished gentlemen of his age, and a master of the various
languages then spoken in Europe. No fitter embassador could have been
found; but he was not successful. In fact, although Alphonso was all
his life engaged in chimerical enterprises, he could hardly have
indulged in the delusion of being able to wrest a crown from Edward
Plantagenet and Richard Neville. Not even that knight-errant would risk
reputation against such odds. At all events the negotiation appears
to have come to naught; and Ormond, doubtless, convinced that the
fortunes of Lancaster were hopeless, returned to England, and made his
submission. Edward restored the accomplished nobleman to the honors and
estates of the Butlers, with a complimentary remark. "If good-breeding
and liberal qualities," said the king, "were lost in all the world,
they would still be found in the Earl of Ormond."
About the time when Ormond's mission failed, Margaret received
intelligence that her husband had fallen into the hands of her enemies.
Finding, perhaps, that Scottish hospitality was hard to bear, Henry,
about a year after Hexham, removed to the north of England, and in
July, 1465, while sitting at dinner in Waddington Hall, he was seized
by Sir John Harrington, and sent prisoner to London. At Islington the
captive king was met by Warwick, who lodged him securely in the Tower;
and Henry, treated with humanity, forgot, in the practice of a monkish
devotion, the crown he had lost and the world he had left.
The captivity of their king was not the only misfortune which, at this
period, befell the Lancastrians. In 1467, Harleck Castle, their last
strong-hold, was under the necessity of yielding. Davydd ap Jefan ap
Einion held out to the last; but when the garrison was on the point
of starvation, the brave Welsh captain listened to the dictates of
humanity, and surrendered with honor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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