Margaret of Anjou

Frederick had every reason to congratulate himself.

By the deaths of his cousin and Ladislav Posthumus, the entire Austrian dominions were once more united under his son, while Charles the Bold's daughter brought to his descendants that great Burgundian inheritance on which his heart was set.

The struggle between German and Slav for supremacy in Eastern Europe was even more marked in the fate of the Teutonic Order than in the history of Hungary and Bohemia.

Hanging out at the pool is great.

The European situation, just after his accession, was full of possibilities for Maximilian.

His position in the Netherlands had at last improved.

Charles VIII had just started on his fateful Italian journey, after rejecting Maximilian's daughter Margaret and taking another bride in the person of Anne of Brittany, who had been married by proxy to Maximilian himself.

The Pope was on the point of flight from Rome, and the Austrian dominions were threatened by the Turks.

He was Duke of Bar, Duke of Lorraine, King of Naples, and titular King of Aragon.

His daughter was the wife of Henry VI of England, the ill-fated Margaret of Anjou.

Four days after the death of the Queen, the Neapolitans appointed a council of regency and raised the banner of René.

The Queen had left at her death in gold and jewels the immense sum of five hundred golden ducats.

The claims of Charles to the throne of Naples were of two kinds.

In the first place he was descended in the female line from Charles of Anjou, King of Naples.

The eldest son of Charles, called Charles II or the Lame, or in Italian history Carlo Novello, had a daughter, Margaret of Anjou, who married Charles of Valois, the father of King Philip VI, from whom Charles VIII was lineally descended.

Again, Charles, Duke of Maine, nephew and heir to Rene of Provence, had on his death in 1481 left all his dominions to Louis XI, from whom the claim passed to his son Charles VIII.

This time, too, the white rose was successful.

Queen Margaret fled to Scotland with her little son, and Henry was again taken prisoner.

The Duke of York now claimed the throne in earnest.

He entered London in great state.

So was the duke, for he was a wise man who really loved his country.

He meant to rule well, and hoped in this way to become king without further fighting.

But Queen Margaret was very angry.

She loved to rule, and she hated the Duke of York, and she would not be ruled by him, nor have her son set aside for him.

Among these politicians there was now another besides Beaufort who began to have a considerable influence.

William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the second son of that earl who had been chancellor to Richard II, a brave man who had distinguished himself in battle with the French and had once been taken prisoner, in 1444 urged upon Henry the policy of a match with Margaret, daughter of René, Duke of Anjou, titular king of Naples and Jerusalem.

She was a woman of great force of character and considerable personal attractions, but the motive which decided Henry in her favor was the same that had induced him to liberate the Duke of Orléans.

Her father was the brother of Charles's queen, Mary of Anjou, and Henry considered that by marrying Margaret he would open a surer way for peace with France than by any other method.

He accordingly commissioned Suffolk to negotiate the match and a treaty of peace or truce at the same time.

The task was a delicate one.

Within a month after, he was impeached in Parliament.

He was accused of having been for many years a secret friend of France, influenced by corrupt motives to procure the liberation of the Duke of Orléans and the cession of Anjou and Maine.

o tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide how couldst thou drain the life-blood of the child to bid the father wipe his eyes withal and yet be seen to bear a woman's face women are soft mild pitiful and flexible thou stern obdurate flinty rough remorseless Bidst thou me rage? Why now thou hast thy wish? Wouldst have me weep? Why now thou hast thy will? For raging wind blows up incessant showers, and when the rage allays, the rain begins.

these tears are my sweet rutland's obsequies and every drop cries vengeance for his death gainst thee fell clifford and thee false frenchwoman

beshrew me but his passion moves me so that hardly can i check my eyes from tears

that face of his the hungry cannibals would not have touched would not have stained with blood but you are more inhuman more inexorable oh ten times more than tigers of hyrcania see ruthless queen a hapless father's tears this cloth thou dip'st in blood of my sweet boy and i with tears do wash the blood away keep thou the napkin and go boast of this and if thou tell'st the heavy story right upon my soul the hearers will shed tears yea even my foes will shed fast falling tears and say alas it was a piteous deed there take the crown and with the crown my curse and in thy need such comfort come to thee as now i reap at thy too cruel hand hard-hearted clifford take me from the world my soul to heaven my blood upon your heads