As the Lancastrian army made its way north following it’s victory at St. Albans and it’s brief stay outside the walls of London, rumours and fears took hold in some quarters. Whilst it is known that stories of Lancastrian abuses of towns had been fabricated or exaggerated by the Yorkists, other ‘news’ was also circulating. King Henry VI was dead. Not through battle, nor execution, nor as a result of Yorkist actions. His supposed death, it was said, was through the taking of poison, after abdicating his Crown to his son.
March 1461: The King is Dead!
Milanese records from this period illustrate some of the rumours that were spreading. Whether these were deliberately spread falsehoods, or simply idle gossip that was believable to some, is hard to ascertain. As the rival factions prepared themselves for the phase of war that would see the Yorkists advance north and defeat the Lancastrians at Towton, word spread that King Henry was dead. Not only that, but he had firstly abdicated in favour of his son, Prince Edward of Westminster, before taking poison given to him by Queen Margaret.
Abdication and Poison given by the Queen
Prospero di Camulio, Milanese Ambassador in France, to Cicho Symonete, Secretary to the Duke of Milan.
They say here that the Queen of England, after the king had abdicated in favour of his son, gave the king poison. At least he has known how to die, if he did not know what to do else. It is said that the queen will unite with the Duke of Somerset. However these are rumours in which I do not repose much confidence. The sea between here and England has been stormy and unnavigable ever since the 10th.
Brussels, the 15th March, 1461.‘Milan: 1461’, in Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts in the Archives and Collections of Milan 1385-1618, ed. Allen B Hinds (London, 1912), British History Online.
Though based in Brussels, the Milanese Ambassador had received word from England of King Henry having abdicated and taking poison. It is suggested that the Queen had a hand in his poisoning. Further to this, the Queen was now set to join with the Duke of Somerset. Though the Milanese Ambassador states that he has little confidence in the reliability of the information, it is clear that such rumours were spreading in some quarters in England.
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Camulio firt noted the inaccurate news of King Henry VI abdicating in a letter dated 9 March. Other letters from the Milanese archive in the period from the Battle of Wakefield into the aftermath of the Battle of Towton can be found here.
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Historiated initial ‘I'(n) of Henry VI, at the beginning of his Statutes. Image taken from f. 190 of Nova Statuta (index Statutes of England, Statuta Angliae, Statute book), from Edward III to Henry VI, ending in the year 1451. Written in French. Via Picryl.