Queen of Trial and Sorrow

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Authors: Susan Appleyard
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deserved better, and the king, who was very calm, replied that he’d had his reward: so many offices and preferments had gone his way that he’d lost count.  Not to mention the gifts to his brothers: John is now Earl of Northumberland and George is chancellor.”
    We passed under an arch, leading away from the cloisters.  Fewer people were around.  I withdrew my hand from Anthony’s wrist and tucked it into his arm, as I used to do when we were strolling through the gardens at Grafton.
    “But nothing will ever be enough for him because all he really wants is power and that, his Grace said, he will not grant. Then Warwick said the unforgivable. He said: ‘Do you forget that I made you king?’  That’s when Edward lost his temper.  He’s really a very even-tempered man, Bess, so his intimates say.”
    “Do you think there is any justice in the claim?”
    “It was a perfect partnership, I think.  Edward had the military victories, and Warwick’s was the political acumen that recognized an opportunity and seized it.  But that’s when the quarrel really became heated.  They were toe to toe.  Warwick didn’t give an inch.  He looked like a boar about to charge.  The king asked, shouted: where would they have been if he had gone down in defeat at Mortimer’s Cross or Towton as Warwick had at St. Albans?  And then he said his twelve year-old brother could have done a better job of commanding that battle than Warwick had!” 
    That was the battle that had made me a widow.  Oddly, my husband was the only man of note to be killed on the winning side.
    “Dear God…” I said.  I didn’t know what else to say. 
    “Warwick was silenced but only for a moment, and then he asked: And where would they be if he and his brother hadn’t swept the north clean of their enemies?  And the king told him to get out.”
    I was appalled, hardly able to believe a subject would speak so to his king, and what sort of king would allow it?  They said of Edward that he was easy-going and it was meant as a compliment, but if this exchange with Warwick was an example, I saw it as a flaw – worse, a fatal weakness.  In my experience failing to correct or punish offenders was to invite further trespasses. 
    I was further shocked to learn that Edward had made the first move the day following their quarrel, not apologizing exactly, but regretting that they had both said things they oughtn’t and perhaps didn’t mean.  The heat of the moment… Frayed tempers… They must expect occasionally to disagree… But surely, the house of York and the house of Neville were so closely entwined as to be indivisible.  He had promised to support George Neville’s candidature to the archbishopric of York, when the present incumbent was called to God, which couldn’t be much longer.  As a peace offering, it was sweet and Warwick had accepted it, Anthony believed, without feeling at all pacified.
    I finally asked the question that was foremost in my mind.  “What does Warwick say of me?”
    My brother shrugged.  In looks he and I were very similar, the same silver-gilt hair, the same features, and the same slim and elegant frame.  “You know, Bess, when you ask such a question you must first consider the worst possible answer and be sure you can live with it.”
    I gave his arm a squeeze.  “Tell me the truth, Anthony,” I insisted.  “You must always tell me the truth, especially now.  You are one of the few people I can count on.”
    “Very well,” he said reluctantly.  “He says what they all say: that we’re low born; you aren’t good enough.  He asks does she bring a treaty, wide estates, a bag of gold at least.” He gave me a quick glance, and added sympathetically: “You must have expected it.  Look how many noble daughters and sisters he passed over when he chose you.”
    “Yes, I know… ”
    “All the ladies here have green skin,” he said, attempting to cozen me with humor.  “Most

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