The Captive Heart

Author's Note

Marie of Gueldres, wife of James II and the mother of King James III, died before her son was grown, leaving him in the competent hands of James Kennedy, the venerable bishop of St. Andrew's. Unfortunately the bishop himself died two years later, leaving the teenaged king at the mercy of Scotland's lords: the Kennedy family and the Boyd family, both struggling for supremacy. The Boyds won the day when they kidnapped the young king as he was out hunting on a summer's afternoon.

The young king was not unfamiliar with the Boyds, as his weapons instructor was Sir Alexander Boyd, who, in league with his brother, Lord Robert Boyd, had led the coup d'état forcing James to issue a statement saying he approved of their actions. Lord Robert had his eldest son created Earl of Arran, and arranged a marriage between him and the king's little sister, Mary. Lord Robert saw his daughter, Elizabeth, married to the powerful Earl of Angus.

Though the major offices in the royal household and government were retained by those not in the Boyd family, their greed still managed to make them extremely unpopular. The young king's dislike and resentment of them grew with each passing day. However, one thing was not interfered with, and that was the king's marriage to Margaret of Denmark, King Christian's daughter. It came about when James III was seventeen. With his bride's encouragement, James III took control of his own government at last. The Boyd family lost both their lands and political influence. Lord Robert and his son fled Scotland. The unfortunate Sir Alexander, least guilty of the Boyds, was executed.

As for poor Henry VI of England, he became a pawn in the power struggle between the Lancaster and Yorkist factions. Returning to England in late 1464 to regain his throne, he was caught and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he remained until 1470, when he was briefly restored to reign under the careful supervision of the Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker.

But Edward of York would not be denied the throne. Returning to England from Burgundy, where he had been in brief exile, he won the battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471. Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou's son, also Edward, was said to have been killed in that battle, although there were rumors of a murder done to the prince. He was seventeen. Less than three weeks later, Henry VI's death was announced. His body was conveyed via barge up the Thames at night to Chesney Abbey, where he was first buried. He was eventually moved to St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, where his simple tomb can be found today near that of his successor.

Margaret of Anjou was captured by the Yorkists and sent to the Tower, where she was shown the body of her newly dead husband as it was being taken away for burial. With her husband and son both dead, she wished for nothing more than to return home to her father in Anjou. Finally in 1475 a ransom of fifty thousand marks was raised when her father sold some of his holdings in Provence to King Louis of France. And in January 1476, after crossing a stormy English Channel, Margaret arrived in Rouen, where she was forced to suffer a final humiliation by signing away her dower rights to the English.

Rejoining her father at his country home in Reculée, near Angers, she remained until his death in 1480. She then went to live at Chateau de Dampierre, near Saumur, with Francois de la Vignolles, a distant relation who had served in her father's court. It was there that this most tragic of England's queens died, on August 25, 1482.

There is no memorial to be seen at her grave site, but she is buried with her parents in Angers Cathedral. She was fifty-three.

In 1485 Lancaster and York were finally united with the marriage of Henry of Lancaster, who ruled as Henry VII, and Elizabeth of York. So ended the War of the Roses.