Profile - Richard Duke of York. Part 2 1450-1456

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, was arguably one of the most influential figures in 15th century England.

UNREST

William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, was publicly blamed for the loss of French lands over the marriage between Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou and the growing dissension led to him being impeached by parliament. Henry VI was forced to send his confidant into exile in January 1450 but Suffolk's ship to Calais was intercepted. Suffolk was captured, put on trial and executed with his body found on a Dover beach.

Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, disastrous lieutenancy of France came to a head with the loss of Normandy and the returning soldiers discontent boiled over in Portsmouth. Unpaid soldiers vented their frustration to the king's Lord Privy Seal by lynching him.

Distrustful of the monarchy and fearful of a French invasion, the south coast rebelled under Jack Cade. The "Captain of Kent" called himself John Mortimer to associate himself with York and his ancestors. Cade went further by proclaiming in the Complaint of the Poor Commoners of Kent that he would "destroy" the king and his friends, and then "bring the Duke of York to be king."

Jack Cade depicted by Sir John Gilbert

Henry VI responded by sending a small force to quash the rebellion but Cade led his men to victory at the Battle of Solefields. Further bloodshed forced Henry VI to flee London to Warwickshire. Cade promises of not harming the capital disappeared when his rebels drunkenly looted the city and Cade subsequently lost local support. Cade fled the city but was soon caught and executed.

Rebellion was still rife in the south with Sussex yeomen, John and WIlliam Merfold, proclaiming to a crowd that the "king was a fool" and that "another king must be ordained to rule the land."

PRETENDER

York seized on the hostile sentiments and landed in Wales on 7 September 1450. Gathering troops and evading Henry VI's interceptors along the way, York arrived in London on 27 September 1450. York presented a list of grievances and demands to the council, including the arrest of Somerset. The king initially agreed, but Margaret of Anjou intervened, and countered York by making him Justice of the Forest South of the Trent. York's chamberlain, Sir WIlliam Oldhall, was also made parliamentary speaker. 

York's inability to influence the Privy Council was confirmed when Somerset was made Captain of Calais and York retired to his residence at Ludlow Castle in Wales. York changed tactics a year later. In 1452, after the birth of his final son, Richard, York returned to London to protest his loyalty to the king and assert his inheritance to the throne. He found the gates to the city barred on the king's orders and conceded to Henry VI after he found his army outnumbered in Dartford, Kent.

Duke of Somerset (centre) argues with Duke of York as Henry VI sits

The king listened to York's complaints about Somerset but ordered York to be taken under house arrest in London until York pledged an oath of allegiance at St. Paul's Cathedral two weeks later. York was to see his power erode over the next year with him being stripped of Ireland and South of Trent titles and his supporters punished for their role in Dartford. York was also seeing his path to the throne diminish with the queen being pregnant.

England's defeat at the Battle of Castillon in August 1453 left Calais as the only English possession in France and this sent Henry VI into a mental breakdown. The breakdown was so severe that the king didn't even acknowledge the birth of his son, Edward Prince of Wales, on 13 October, 1453. This instigated a meeting of the Great Council to decide the governorship and York attended despite Somerset's opposition. York asserted his power by placing Somerset in the Tower of London and was declared Protector of the Realm and Chief Councillor on 27 March 1454, much to the queen's opposition.

PROTECTOR

York looked to tackle government overspending by appointing his brother-in-law, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, as Chancellor. This came to a halt when Henry VI regained his senses at Christmas 1454 and awarded the Captaincy of Calais to the recently-released Somerset.

Orders were sent for the nobility to convene at the Great Council at Leicester on 21 May 1455, away from Somerset's enemies in London and York feared he would be charged with treason. York, Salisbury, and Salisbury's son, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, raised an army in the north and intercepted Somerset and the king at St. Albans in the First Battle of St. Albans on 22 May 1455. The king's army of 2,000 was ill-equipped and outnumbered by York's and Nevilles' more experienced army totaling 8,000.

First Battle of St. Albans depicted by Graham Turner

York was eager to clear his name and requested the king to remove certain Lancastrian advisers from his council. Negotiations went back and forth between the two camps for three hours to no avail and York ordered his men to attack the king's troops occupying the town. York caught them by a surprise and a quick battle in the streets resulted in the deaths of Somerset and Warwick's northern rivals, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Thomas de Clifford.

More importantly, York had the king captured and escorted back to the capital. York declared himself Constable of England and made Warwick Captain of Calais. The king was held prisoner and wasn't present when parliament reconvened in November due to another bout of madness. York resumed as Protector of the Realm during Henry VI's illness but surrendered the title when the king recovered in February 1456.

Henry VI accepted that York and his supporters had great influence at court and allowed Warwick to keep his command of Calais and York and Salisbury remained on the Privy Council. York was reinstated as Lieutenant of Ireland and was sent to the Scottish border to defend against a possible invasion.