Chapter Eight: The Clarentine Rebellion
Warwick's apparent betrayal of Clarence, coupled with the constant belittling of Clarence by the court and Edward's refusal to allow Clarence to divorce Margaret Beaufort and marry someone else, pushed the duke to his breaking point. He could no longer stand to live under Edward IV and convinced himself that his older brother must hate him - after all, why else would he treat him this way? Clarence decided that he would go through with his and Warwick's plan to defect to the Lancastrians anyway, even if it meant going it alone. On 11th March 1469, Clarence issued a document that he called the Clarentine Manifesto, calling for the dismissal of Edward IV's evil advisors such as Edmund, Duke of Rutland, William, Earl of Pembroke and - a recent addition to the list - Richard, Earl of Warwick. The Clarentine Manifesto went into great detail about the myriad sins and misdeeds that Rutland, Pembroke and Warwick had done to the English government, including controlling Edward IV through the development of new factions in court, taking the law into their own hands to deal with criminal cases in their localities and manipulating the king into certain actions. However, many saw through the thin veneer that Clarence put on, and realised that this rebellion was motivated by petty greed for more power and a different wife. As such, very few people came out in support of Clarence, and when he realised this, he had little choice but to flee.
On 1st April 1469, George, Duke of Clarence fled England, departing from Southampton to Cherbourg - making sure to steer clear of the English-held fortress at Calais, which was currently under the captaincy of William, Lord Hastings. Once he landed in France, he was arrested by Charles, Duke of Berry’s soldiers, who then took him to Paris for an audience with Louis XI. Fascinated by the defection of Edward IV’s brother, Louis suggested a reconciliation between Clarence and Margaret of Anjou, who was continuing to press her cousin for more support for the Lancastrian cause. The meeting, which took place at the aptly-named town of Angers, was an awkward and bitter affair, but it did result in an agreement between Margaret of Anjou, Louis XI and the Yorkist defector. They agreed that Clarence would lead an invasion of England with the aim of freeing Henry VI from captivity in the Tower of London, and deposing Edward IV. Clarence would be rewarded for this by being made Duke of York, and would be granted all land held by the House of York. The alliance worked well for Louis XI. Still dealing with the shock of the War of the Public Weal, Louis had a lot to gain from overthrowing Edward IV - a Lancastrian king of England would remove an ally for Charles, Duke of Burgundy. Louis XI also offered to find Clarence a French bride, and suggested Catherine d’Armagnac, the daughter of Louise of Anjou, Louis XI’s god-daughter, and her husband Jacques d’Armagnac, Duke of Nemours. The Archbishop of Reims, Jean Juvénal des Ursins, dissolved George, Duke of Clarence’s marriage to Margaret Beaufort on 12th August 1469, and Clarence formally married Catherine three days later. Catherine was pregnant shortly after their marriage, and on 3rd June 1470 gave birth to a boy, who was named Louis in honour of George’s new French patron.
Clarence, of course, was not the only disaffected noble in England. While he reconciled with the Lancastrian court-in-exile, a rebellion in the Midlands led by John, Earl of Oxford and William, Viscount Beaumont erupted. With a force of 4,600 men, Oxford and Beaumont marched on Northampton, a town held by the Duke of Rutland. The Siege of Northampton began on 17th May 1469, and the town very quickly collapsed into the hands of the besiegers due to poor planning. From there, the rebels planned to march on London to depose Edward IV and free Henry VI. They set off but were met on 4th June at the Battle of Bedford, in which John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester commanded the Yorkist army. In the following battle the Lancastrians were defeated and their forces scattered. Although the Lancastrian assault was halted, the Yorkist victory achieved little. Oxford and Beaumont were able to escape with their lives, but the Yorkist commander John Tiptoft was killed in battle. Oxford and Beaumont then fled to France as well to join the growing conspiracy.
With the Lancastrian court-in-exile growing ever more numerous, Edward IV knew he had to secure his realm from more rebellion. Luckily for him, it was around this time that Henry Percy, recently released from the Tower of London, began to petition Edward for a regrant of his lands and title as the Earl of Northumberland. Edward was torn over this. On the one hand, the Percy family had been staunch Lancastrians earlier in the war, so Edward wasn’t sure if he could trust Percy now. On the other hand, the Percy family was well-suited to fill the void left by the junior Nevilles, who had now all left England, and were still popular among their old tenants. As well as that, Henry Percy had joined Edward IV on the march north and had fought honourably at Maltby, and so the restoration of the Earldom of Northumberland would be a suitable reward for Percy’s loyalty. Rutland advised against allowing Percy to retake his estates, but this was one of the few occasions Edward went against his brother’s advice and decided to give Henry Percy what he wanted. He returned to his estates in August 1469, but was only formally recognised as Earl of Northumberland by parliament in the 1472-1473 parliament, which was mainly used to raise finances for the coming war with France. Percy also went on to marry Katherine Herbert, daughter of William, Earl of Pembroke.
The Lancastrians returned in March 1470 with an army led by Clarence, Beaumont, Shrewsbury, and Oxford, with a small command given over to Edward of Westminster. They landed in Sandwich, Kent, on 12th March. Only a few days later, John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury was killed at the Battle of Kennington (17th March) by an archer fighting under the banner of the Earl of Kent, Edmund Grey. Small-scale skirmishes erupted across the south of England as the Lancastrians pushed towards London. The Battle of Tilbury Fort (25th March) saw Edward of Westminster’s first victory and proved to England the cruelty of this young prince – he took four hundred prisoners, including the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Audley, and had them all executed. It was around this time Edward of Westminster became known as the Red Prince in the courts of Europe, and it is debated whether this is because of the red rose emblem of the House of Lancaster, or if his nickname represented all the blood he spilled at Tilbury Fort.
Edward IV and his soon-to-be father-in-law Warwick left London, gathering an army of 16,000 men from their estates in the south, to halt Clarence’s advance. Meanwhile, Edward left London in the capable hands of the Duke of Rutland and the Earl of Kent. Together, they closed all of the city’s gates, and a fleet of ships led by Thomas, Bastard of Fauconberg moored in the River Thames to help defend London. As Edward IV had done during Somerset’s Rebellion in 1464, Rutland removed Henry VI from the Tower of London and sent him north under the protection of John Stafford, who took him to Stafford Castle. The Red Prince attempted a siege of London, but with Fauconberg’s navy and Rutland and Kent’s defensive measures, he was quickly repulsed. However, Rutland’s men were unable to capture him, and he fled back to France to rejoin his wife Bona.
Meanwhile, Edward IV and Warwick came face-to-face with Clarence on 4th April at the Battle of Bletchley. Just before the battle, Edward offered Clarence one last chance at reconciliation, hoping he could convince his brother to return to his side with no bloodshed. Clarence refused, claiming that both Edward and Warwick had betrayed him to the point where rebellion was his only option, and so battle began once more. the Battle of Bletchley lasted for about 45 minutes and ended in a Yorkist victory - after losing his standard-bearer - and his nerve - Clarence surrendered to King Edward IV. The Clarentine Rebellion was over.
The Rebellion of the Duke of Clarence
- a painting by an unnamed artist in the 1800s showing the Battle of Bletchley (4th April 1470), although the artist was later criticised for historical inaccuracy as the fires do not match up with contemporary descriptions of the battle [1]
[1] - or, in other words, I couldn't get the AI to make a battle scene without setting the landscape on fire (even if I specified, no fire!). Luckily, I worked out a way to tie it into the lore instead of just ignoring it!