Warwick The Kingmaker

AWAY FROM WARWICK

CHAPTER EIGHT

We have been fortunate enough to have some information on Warwick's travels after the army of York dispersed. While closely followed by Sir Andrew Trollope and his soldiers, he and his father escaped south along with the Duke and his two sons, Edward and Edmund. The pursuit was so intense that John and Thomas Neville, following their father and brother after both sustained injuries at Blore Heath, were captured. The approaching danger compelled the party to disperse at this point. The Duke of York travelled to Wales with his second son Edmund to catch a ship bound for Ireland. Warwick, Edward Plantagenet, and Salisbury, the young Earl of March, York's eldest son and Salisbury's godchild and nephew, fled across Herefordshire by crossroads, avoiding the towns. After making the treacherous voyage through Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, they eventually arrived on the Devon shore, ostensibly not far from Barnstaple. They were joined by Sir John Dynham and only two other people. The group fled to a fishing town, where Sir John Dynham purchased a one-masted fishing ship for 224 nobles, the whole value of the group's assets. He hired a master and four workers to steer the little boat and announced that he was headed towards Bristol.

Warwick asked the skipper whether he was acquainted with the English Channel and the seas off Cornwall after they were sufficiently away from land. The man replied that he was absolutely ignorant of them and had never circled the Land's End. "When the Earl saw that his father and the other travellers were discouraged, he promised them that, with the aid of God and St. George, he would personally lead them to a safe harbour. He immediately assumed control of the ship, stepped out of his doublet, lifted the sail, and pointed the bows west "the master and his four hands, who had not anticipated such a journey when they hired themselves to sail to Bristol town, much to their dismay, we doubt.

Warwick's two-year patrol of the Channel wasn't for nothing. He then displayed his skill as a seaman by guiding the little boat through the Bristol Channel, over the Land's End, and across to Guernsey. Unfortunately, they were eight days wind-bound at this point. Still, after setting sail on the ninth, they raced safely through the Channel. They arrived at Calais on November 3rd, barely 20 days after Ludford's defeat. Eleven people, including the crew, had been aboard the ship.

When Warwick returned from England two months earlier, he saw Calais still in the care of his uncle Fauconbridge, whom he had placed in charge of the town and his own wife and daughters. Falconbridge met him on the pier and fell on him, overjoyed at the news. "Then they all made a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de St. Pierre to express their gratitude for their safety. When they arrived in Calais, the mayor, the ward council members, and the Staple merchants came out to greet them and cheer them up. They were having a good time that evening when they suspected their opponents may have already taken control of Calais."

Given that the Duke of Somerset and several hundred men-at-arms were already in Sandwich, such may have been their fate. He was on his way to detach Fauconbridge and take control of the town after being named Captain of Calais by the King. But Somerset remained on the coast thanks to the southwest breeze that brought Warwick up from Guernsey.

The wind changed that evening, and Somerset's herald showed up late in front of the water gate to inform the garrison that his master would be arriving to take charge the next day. The guard then responded to the messenger by saying they would inform the Earl of Warwick, who served as their sole and only captain, and that he would soon get Warwick's response. The herald, who was highly humiliated, managed to get him away and returned that evening to his Lord. Nobody in England knew what had happened to Warwick or Salisbury, so Somerset's amazement at learning that they had seen him coming to Calais was equal to his rage. The following morning, he sailed towards Guisnes with his men, the majority of whom were Sir Andrew Trollope's soldiers, intending to invade Calais from the land side. However, a storm developed while he was at sea. And even though he and the majority of his troops disembarked at Guisnes, the ships carrying their horses, supplies, and armour were pushed into Calais Harbour for protection and forced to submit to Warwick. The Earl was grateful for the opportunity because his soldiers desperately needed weapons and "thanked Providence for the present, and not the Duke of Somerset." He brought the prisoners out and proceeded through their ranks. He then selected those who had served as officers under him and had taken an oath to him as Captain of Calais and imprisoned them. The remainder, however, he sent away safely, explaining that they had only done their best to serve their King. Only Lord Audley remained free. The nobleman Salisbury had killed at Blore Heath, the son of Somerset's second-in-command, was confined within the castle and was not allowed to leave. However, the soldiers who had betrayed their pledge to Warwick were hauled out the following day and decapitated in front of a large crowd of residents.