Romantic Incidents in the Lives of the Queens of England

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Off with his head ? so much for Buckingham. The little town of Northampton presented a scene of bustle and confusion. The triumphant army of Clarence and the Kingmaker, as the Earl of Warwick was generally styled by the people, had taken possession of it on their march towards London, after...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Off with his head ? so much for Buckingham. The little town of Northampton presented a scene of bustle and confusion. The triumphant army of Clarence and the Kingmaker, as the Earl of Warwick was generally styled by the people, had taken possession of it on their march towards London, after their victory at Edgecote, where Edward IV. still held his court, and Henry VI. was still a prisoner. The avowed intention of the insurgents was to restore the latter monarch to his throne; the Duke of Clarence was to have the possessions of the house of York assured to him, and espouse the Lady Isabel, daughter of Warwick, who had destined her at one time to be the queen of Edward ? hence his enmity to Elizabeth Wood- ville, whom he looked upon as having usurped her place. It may be questioned -whether this powerful noble ever entertained any serious thoughts of advancing the captive Henry to the throne. Most probably it was merely a pretext to conciliate the partisans of the house of Lancaster. Had he found himself strong enough, most probably he would have proclaimed Clarence king, and ruled England in the name of his intended son-in-law. An immense crowd was gathered in the market-place of Northampton. From the windows and quaintly carved wooden balconies of the surrounding houses, curious faces might be seen gazing with mingled interest and terror on the scene which was being acted in the square below. The bill and bowmen .formed a circle round the market cross, whose topmost steps were occupied by a group of knights and nobles, amongst whom the tall form of Warwick was easily recognized, not less from his well-known blazon of the bear and ragged staff, than his uncommon height and haughty bearing. Afair-haired youth, whose handsome features were flushed wi...