That next winter George Duke of Clarence finally got his comeuppance, although it was almost mud season here before we heard this sensational piece of London news. He had been imprisoned for mysterious “acts of treason” and then executed—in secret—at the Tower.
What had finally brought about his downfall was a long story. His wife, Lady Isabel, had managed, over the years, to bear two live children, a girl and a boy. The girl was said to be pretty and healthy, but birth trauma had left the boy, as folks said, “not right in the head.” Isabel’s final childbirth had killed her and her baby too.
George, in one of his mad fits, had accused Ankarette of using black magic to murder Isabel. Acting the part of the king—and as judge, jury and executioner—he’d tortured Lady Isabel’s most devoted woman servant and then hanged her.
The unlawful death of a commoner was a small thing, certainly, but by this time, the king was more than ready to use anything against George for a host of other acts that smelled to him like treason. As soon as the Duke was imprisoned in the tower, the queen and her family pushed hard for his execution. They had reasons, chief being revenge. George, if you remember, had ‘headed Elizabeth Woodville’s father and one of her brothers during the Warwick rebellion.
Hugh said he was not surprised to learn of the Duke of Clarence’s mean end. As for me, I confess that while I went to church and said prayers for Ankarette and Lady Isabel, I did not say one word on the duke’s behalf to Our Lady.