Free Rebellion by Livi Michael Page A

need ever be lonely again. She could join him in the vastness of his
     freedom.
    Though he had not spoken aloud she turned
     towards him.
    â€˜If you cannot stay at Bamburgh when I leave
     for France,’ she said, ‘you must return to Berwick.’
    He smiled at her, through
     all his hunger and exhaustion; he knew he would never see her again. And that she would
     not want him to say this – it was not what she wanted to hear.
    What nonsense
,
she would
     say.
I will be back with an army in the spring.
And she would accuse him of
     trying to undermine her, to weaken her resolve when she needed to be strong. So he did
     not say anything, but he smiled.
    The quality of the light had changed and an
     evening sun glistened through the drops of rain. It seemed to him that she had never
     looked so beautiful. She was incandescent, that was how he thought of her; she had
     perfectly illuminated his life. So he went on smiling at her, and she was disconcerted
     by his smile and looked away, uncomprehending. High up in the trees the birds began to
     call.
Margaret of Anjou arrived in Burgundy
     in 1463 poor and alone, destitute of all goods and desolate. She had neither
     credence nor money nor goods nor jewels to pledge. She had her son, no royal robes
     nor estate and her person without adornment befitting a queen. Her body was clad in
     one single robe, with no change of clothing … [she who] was formerly one of
     the most splendid women in the world and now the poorest. And finally she had no
     other provision, not even bread to eat, except from the purse of her knight Sir
     Pierre de Brézé … it was a thing piteous to see, truly, this high princess so
     cast down and laid low in such great danger, dying of hunger and hardship
     …
    Georges Chastellain
    King Henry fled, together with a few
     of his followers, to the country and castles bordering Scotland where he was
     concealed, in great tribulation, during the following years. Queen Margaret,
     however, with her son Edward whom she had borne to King Henry, took flight to parts
     beyond the sea, not to return very speedily …
    Crowland Chronicle
    And the said sir
     Harry Beaufort [Duke of Somerset] abode still with the king [Edward IV] and rode
     with him to London. And the king made much of him … and held many jousts and
     tournaments for him at Westminster so that he should enjoy some sport after his
     great labour and heaviness. And sometimes he rode hunting behind the king, the king
     having with him no more than six men, and three of them being the Duke of Somerset’s
     men. And he lodged with the king in his own bed many nights …
    Gregory’s Chronicle

12
The King’s Bed
    What the Duke of Somerset found most
     disconcerting was that the king seemed so anxious to be liked. When he made a joke, or
     some grand gesture, such as giving his cloak to a poor man on the road (
you have
     more need of it, friend, than I
) it was to Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,
     that he glanced first, to ascertain his response.
    Of course, much of what he did was gesture
     and performance. In particular, he made a performance out of his trust for the duke.
     When they went hunting he would frequently ride ahead of his party, taking only Henry
     Beaufort and a squire with him, as if to say,
I would trust this man with my
     life.
When his cup-bearer brought him wine at the table he drank from it
     ostentatiously as if he had no thought of poison. And when they practised together at
     swords he would dismiss all his attendants and say to the duke, ‘Come now, you do not
     have to pretend to lose.’
    Such occasions made the duke sweat, for more
     than one reason. The king was half a head taller than him, stronger and skilled. The
     duke did not know whether he was, in fact, expected to lose. If the king thought he was
     obviously failing, he got annoyed. When he tried, experimentally, a series of lightning
     rapier thrusts so that