Edward trust Warwick with an embassy to France in the early months of 1468. Warwick seizes the opportunity to get away from England and the rise of my cousins and their family. He cannot bear to be there while his power and influence is chipped away bit by bit. He left the court so soon after the announcement of Henry and Margaret's engagement that he never even responded to the offer of his daughter being engaged to Richard. Because of this no formal agreement is reached and Warwick is awful angry when he finds out the only prize he receives from bringing an old king Henry is another chunk of Lancastrian lands in Wales.
Warwick goes to the court of France and tries to promise him that the government of England is still in his hands and that he is still going to choose the husband for the York Eris Margaret, and that this whole situation with Henry Woodville, my cousin, will be cleaned up and sort it out as soon as he gets back home. But it does not. He is lying and everyone knows that his day is a real power are far gone. Edward listens to my Woodville family, to my Italian advisors, and to our loyal English lords who have been glad to see the rise of my family because they see it as a counter balance to Warwick and Neville influence. We advise Edward that the dukes of Burgundy have always been a friend of England and that his wife for one day rule over the Duchy which is for now in the hands of my ailing great grandfather, Philip the Good. We show him that Burgundy has always been a faithful friend and has made for good trade while France is a constant enemy and his alliance would be completely unpredictable. In the end in arrangement is created where Edward's sister Anne is engaged to my uncle Charles of Burgundy and her daughter is left in my care, just as I once predicted during the early negotiations.
It helps with the fact that Burgundy is still a key friend England. The Duchy, which I will one day rule as its Duchess, owns all the land of Flanders as well as the lands that come with the title in the low lands, an area between Germany and France, and rich lands in the south. Burgundy is a great buyer of English cloth and it is vital to keep the support of the merchants who helped put us on the throne. I have never forgotten that London protected me and my children from the army of Margaret of Anjou and I have always taken special care to work in the cities interest. Burgundy's ports face hours across the English sea; their usual enemy is France, and because of this they look to us for alliance. They are traditional friends of the English and now, through both Jackie and I, they are kinsmen to the English king and his brother.
Anne of York is also pleased with the arrangement. She is upset about having to leave her daughter, her only child, behind in England, but as she has always been friendly with me, she trust that her little girl will be seen after well. She is adamant that she will not be given a French husband, as she grew up in France when her father was still regent over the English lands there and despises them with a passion that only a York could have.
"You can be a powerful and good sister to Edward as a princess of Burgundy," I reassure her. "We will know that there's always one country that we can depend on to stand as our friend. We will know that there is a beautiful duchess who is always a Yorkist through and through. You can go to Burgundy and have sons, York sons, and he will found a York dynasty across the sea."
She puts a brave face on it and Warwick puts on a two-faced face on it and is assigned to escort her and Charles of Burgundy, who has come to attend the wedding of Henry Woodville and Margaret of York, which has been delayed for several months because of the meddling of Warwick, to the port of Margate, before her and Charles are officially married in Ghent. It is a family reunion that is as warm as an icicle.
"The king has chosen Burgundy, and Warwick secret deal with France is over!" Uncle Richard declares the day after Henry's wedding as we watch Charles of Burgundy leave with his new bride. "Your uncle Charles will marry Edward's own sister, Anne of York."
YOU ARE READING
The White Queen -The White Queen
ऐतिहासिक साहित्यAt 24 years old Eliza de' Medici she is the uncrowned second queen of England. While she sits on the throne of England she lives in the constant fear that the rival house of Lancaster will raise an army and usurp the throne which is Husbands by righ...
