Part One

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Blood Royal

Winter 1461 – Summer 1464

‘The king has had false counsel, for his lands are lost, his merchandise is lost, his commons destroyed, the sea is lost, France is lost … He owes more than ever did king in England, and yet daily his traitors that be about him wait wherever thing should come to him by his law, and they ask it from him.’

Cade’s manifesto, 1450

‘I warn you everyone,

for you should understand,

There sprang a rose in Rouen

and spread into England.’

Yorkist verse on the Battle of Towton, 29 March 1461

‘Necessity knows no law.’

Yorkist verses on the Battle of Northampton, 10 July 1460