Yorkist Letter to King Henry VI from Ludford, 10th October 1459
As the Yorkist Lords and their forces gathered at Ludford they wrote to King Henry VI with a possible view to avoiding a clash. The letter is one example of the way in which the two sides communicated prior to engagements at this point in the conflict. Whilst there had been bloodshed at Blore Heath, all out war was not necessarily inevitable. Here we see the Yorkist Lords attempting to convince the King that they have good intentions and that they have only ever spoken truthfully about the problems faced by his kingship.
We beseech your good Grace to receive our said truth and intent; and not apply your said blessedness, nor the great righteousness and equity, wherewith God hath ever endued your high nobility, to the importunity, impatience, and violence of such persons as intend of extreme malice to proceed, under shadow of your high might and presence, to our destruction, for such inordinate covetousness as they have to our Lands, Offices, and Goods.
Stowe’s Chronicle
Also cited in the Chronicles of the White Rose of York
Related Content
Battle of Blore Heath – Battle between forces of the Yorkist Earl of Salisbury and Lancastrian Lord Audley. Hosted on another of my sites.
The Coventry ‘Parliament of Devils‘
The Earl of Warwick’s justification of the Yorkists views and actions
Rout at Ludford Bridge – the event that followed the writing of the above letter.