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Suffolk at their side: Suffolk, who was descended from a family of wool-pedlars but was richer than Midas, people said. He had been granted wardship of Somerset’s niece, little Margaret Beaufort, and was assiduouslycultivating an alliance with Somerset – who had not discouraged this, because it seemed to him that something was necessary to offset the influence of the Dukes of Gloucester and York.
    The king had already said that there should be more dukes in the land.
    And Somerset, like York, was cousin to the king. His great-grandfather was Edward III, but the Beaufort line was illegitimate, and had been debarred by the fourth King Henry from any claim to the throne.
    Still, it was not beyond one king to correct what another had done.
    It seemed to the Earl of Somerset, as the crowds cheered for him, that while the mind of God might be impenetrable to some, to him it was transparently evident. He, the fourth son, had been chosen to restore the family fortunes, its honour, its greatness, as he had done once before in France. He had already suggested to the king that he would do a better job there than the Duke of York. York, who had referred to the Beauforts as ‘that bastard clan’
.
    The bugle sounded and the earl took his place to one side of the wooden fence. He could feel the tension in his horse; a coil of power. As he lifted his lance and prepared to charge, all he could see was not his opponent in the field, but his absent enemy, the Duke of York.

The Duke of York
     
     
As Governor-General of the duchy of Normandy, Richard of York’s duty was to protect this country from the French our enemies, and during this time in office he governed admirably and had many honourable and notable successes. Nevertheless envy reared its head among the princes and barons of the kingdom of England and was directed against the Duke of York. Above all envy prompted Somerset, who found a way to harm him so that the Duke of York was recalled from France to England. There he was totally stripped of his authority to govern Normandy …
    Jean de Waurin
     
     
    He left the council meeting feeling a rage such as he had never felt before, so that once he was outside he had to stand for a moment against a tree and close his eyes.
    Few people had ever seen Richard of York really angry. But now he was sweating and his heart was banging unevenly, as though it might burst out of his ribs. For the first time he understood what it must be to suffer ‘an attack of the heart’
.
In the meeting his face had congested with blood; he hadn’t been able to help it. For they had all been there: Somerset, Suffolk and that smiling fox Moleyns, Suffolk’s lapdog, who had dared to accuse him of financial malpractice.
    ‘Your majesty is pleased to believe many things of me without evidence,’ York had said. And that was all he had said before leaving. He could not have trusted himself to say anything else.
    He had spent almost forty thousand pounds of his own money in the service of the king; he had pawned his most prized possession, a gold collar enamelled with the roses of York and adorned by agreat diamond. The king had repeatedly ignored his requests for money and troops. And Edmund Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, had stood there smiling while false charges were made against him.
    What was it Beaufort had said to Moleyns?
    ‘My dear bishop, it is not fair to reproach the duke with miscalculation, when it is not at all clear that he can count.’
    And this, of course, had raised a general laugh.
    Even with his eyes closed he could see Beaufort’s smiling face as though it were printed against his eyelids.
    It was not hard to imagine stamping that smile out.
    When he opened his eyes he was surprised to feel the fine rain on his face, cooling his heated skin. He got on to his horse and rode hard, without giving any orders to his men, who followed him wondering whether they were being pursued, or in pursuit. Then, gradually, his anger congealed into