I've knocked the first seven chapters into something resembling shape. I've reached a point just before Edward IV's capture by Warwick in 1469, and I need to take a step back to figure out just exactly what was happening. Given that Edward was practically paranoid during 68/9 about various conspiracies that were (either actually or in his imagination) being plotted against him, it does seem odd that he fell so easily into a trap.
Of course the biggest problem he faced was the defeat of Herbert and Stafford of Southwick at the battle of Edgecote, this serving to remove his anticipated reinforcements and destroy the morale of those around him. All that really saved Edward from this mess was the fact that while the political community were not overly impressed by his job performance, they were still less happy with the idea of having Clarence and Warwick running the shop. If Clarence had been half as popular as he presumably thought he was, the chances are that Edward IV would have been deposed. Instead Warwick found the hard way that the wheels of government would not turn for him, and he had little alternative but to restore Edward to power.
2 comments:
I'm at the some point in my WIP! (Though since my narrator--Katherine Woodville--is a child at the time, I have the luxury of not going too far into the whys and wherefores.)
Have you seen the new book on Warwick by A. J. Pollard, called, amazingly enough, Warwick the Kingmaker? It's pretty good.
I must check that book out Susan, thank you.
The chronology of 1468-71, who was where doing what and so on, takes a lot of untangling. I'm not even sure who was with Edward when he was captured, and I'm even less sure why Bishop Neville let them go off.
Post a Comment