By Christmas however the queen had emerged from her confinement and the king recovered his wits enough to acknowledge his son and heir and resume his rightful place on the throne. With power back in royal hands the Duke of Somerset was released from the Tower and the Duke of York relieved of his post as Protector. The Lancastrian star should have been on the rise again but sadly Henry’s malady soon returned and when Marguerite petitioned Parliament to allow her to rule as interim Regent for her infant son they rejected her outright and reappointed the Duke of York as Protector. A fresh flood of pamphlets now turned the people of London against the queen, stirring those who believed their poison to march on Westminster declaring the baby prince to be no son of the king’s but sired either by the Duke of Somerset or the Earl of Wiltshire. Marguerite took her son and fled downriver to Greenwich in fear for their safety.
Meanwhile my brother recovered again and dismissed the Duke of York, who disappeared in fury to Fotheringhay. Bravely in my opinion, Somerset returned to Henry’s side and decided that the court should move from a hostile London to the Lancastrian heartland of the Midlands. In May I brought my retinue from Pembroke to join the large escorting army deemed necessary to protect the royal family on their journey north.
Queen Marguerite rode beside the litter that carried her eighteen-month-old son, but once we had cleared London she let him sit smiling on the pommel of her saddle, waving at passers by. The Earl of Wiltshire and I were invited to ride beside her and it was during this time that I learned the details of Henry’s mysterious malady.
‘It strikes when it will, out of nowhere, Jasper,’ Marguerite explained. ‘There is no warning and apparently no remedy, and when it passes, after days or even weeks, it leaves him a little more depleted each time. My Édouard must grow quickly if there is to be a king on the throne who can hold England together, for I fear Henry will steadily become more unfit for the task. It is hard enough now to get him to concentrate on matters of state. James here knows how difficult it is to get him to understand the Treasury papers he has to sign.’
I glanced across at James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire, who rode knee-to-knee with the queen at her other side. He was close in age to Marguerite and had always been about the court in one way or another, particularly in the queen’s company, but his prominence had been but lately achieved. During York’s Protectorate Wiltshire, like Somerset, had been sent to house arrest in the Tower, ostensibly for crimes committed during disputes over his estates in the west country, but he had been swiftly released when the Protectorate was ended and promoted to the office of Treasurer of England. I realized that since then Marguerite had come to rely on his counsel a great deal and for the first time I discerned the roots of the scandal spread by the London mudslingers. Wiltshire was the kind of handsome, dashing figure that King Henry would never be and the favour Marguerite showed him was enough to set tongues wagging both in and outside the court. Remembering Marguerite’s veiled proposal to me a few years before, I even found myself looking for signs of Wiltshire’s blond good looks in the little prince but saw only his mother’s dark eyes and colouring.
‘Prince Edward seems to be doing his best to grow at a rapid rate, your grace,’ I responded. ‘He is already threatening to take the reins of your horse I see.’
Marguerite gently removed her son’s chubby fist from her mount’s reins and bestowed a kiss on the dimpled knuckles. ‘Yes, it cannot be long before he will need his own pony. I must tell you though, Jasper, that I prefer the French pronunciation of his name – Édouard.’
‘Then it shall be as you wish, my lady.’ I bowed acquiescence but could not help thinking how badly this would be received in the ranks of England’s xenophobic soldiery.
‘Prince Édouard has the makings of a true French “chevalier”, do you not agree, Jasper?’ declared Wiltshire, endowing my own name with a French polish that put me uncannily in mind of my mother. ‘It will not be long before he is riding at the head of his army.’
‘Well there is no likelihood of his father taking command,’ said the queen, her tone distinctly flat. ‘I may have to acquire a suit of armour myself.’
‘Let us hope such a thing will never be needed, your grace.’ The brilliance of the smile Wiltshire flashed at her then would have lured a cargo ship into a smuggler’s cove and I began to find his celebrated charm somewhat overwhelming.
I showed my own chipped tooth. ‘No, where we are going, my brother will have the peace and security he needs to make a full recovery.’
With her free hand Marguerite made the sign of the cross. ‘To that very end, I intend to make offerings en route, at St Alban’s shrine,’ she said. ‘Henry has much need of the martyred saint’s protection.’
However, when we arrived in St Albans we received the unwelcome news that an army led by York and Warwick was blocking our way north. Shocked, the queen hastily took Prince Édouard to the shelter of the abbey while the Duke of Buckingham, who as Constable of England was in command of the king’s escort, immediately sent heralds to negotiate with the Yorkists. Meanwhile the rest of the escorting nobility rapidly deployed their retinues in defensive positions. There were no walls around the town of St Albans, which had grown around the famous abbey shrine. Wiltshire and I took our men to the north bar, where people and goods entering and leaving the town paid their tolls. But despite it being the access to Watling Street, which was the highway on which we planned to continue our journey, we could see no sign of hostile forces.
‘They are playing hide and seek it would seem,’ Wiltshire grumbled. He had intended to wave the king’s standard, which he had the honour of carrying, boldly in the face of the opposing forces, to make them aware that they would be committing an act of treason by attacking the king’s person. King Henry himself was stationed in the town’s central Market Place with Buckingham and his bodyguard. ‘If it has no purpose here I must take the standard back to the king,’ he said, beckoning his squire to bring his horse. ‘You take over command of my men, Jasper.’
‘I will but you should know that I have no experience of battle, only the theory …’
‘There you are then.’ He cut me off, re-mounted and shouldered the standard. ‘Just apply the theory and all will be well. I doubt if there will be conflict anyway. Buckingham’s orders are to avoid civil war and so it will likely be a repeat of York’s march on London three years ago – all bluff and bluster with his heralds conveying spurious declarations of loyalty and of bringing the people’s grievances before the king. York and Warwick will be forgiven and we will all continue on our merry way.’
I very much hoped Wiltshire was right but I watched him ride away with serious misgivings. Our captains were lingering by the bar awaiting instructions and I had little notion of what to tell them but did my best to hide my inexperience by issuing orders to establish a hidden defence, using the network of lanes and alleyways off the main highway to deploy the troops where they might spring a surprise on any incursion. Soon after the men had concealed themselves, banners displaying the Duke of York’s Falcon and Fetterlock and the Earl of Salisbury’s Verteagle began to emerge from the suburban gardens of the houses lining the roadway beyond the bar. It appeared that York and Salisbury had had the same idea of concealment but their troops were now mustering to make a rush for the centre of the town.
I bid my herald give the signal to emerge and confront them and at the same time loud shouts and trumpet calls sounded behind us and I heard the unmistakable whoosh and thud of arrows finding their mark. I realized with dismay that the Yorkists had split their army and that while his allies kept us occupied, Warwick was moving in on the Market Square from the east. We were caught between the two forces. In the absence of Lord Wiltshire it would be impossible to command on both fronts and so I had no choice but to turn my back