The Queen of Last Hopes
Read The Queen of Last Hopes Online
Authors: Susan Higginbotham
Copyright © 2011 by Susan Higginbotham
Cover and internal design © 2011 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover design by Susan Zucker
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The Book of the Love-Smitten Heart
, trans. Stephanie Gibbs/Kathryn Karczewska.
Copyright 2001 by Taylor & Francis Group LLC—Books. Reproduced with permission of Taylor & Francis Group LLC—Books via Copyright Clearance Center.
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious and used fictitiously. Apart from well-known historical figures, any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Higginbotham, Susan.
The queen of last hopes : the story of Margaret of Anjou / by Susan Higginbotham.
p. cm.
1. Margaret, of Anjou, Queen, consort of Henry VI, King of England, 1430-1482--Fiction. 2. Queens--Great Britain--Fiction. 3. Great Britain--History--Henry VI, 1422-1461--Fiction. 4. Great Britain--History--Edward IV, 1461-1483--Fiction. 5. Great Britain--Kings and rulers--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.I364Q44 2011
813’.6--dc22
2010039641
All of the named characters in this novel are based on historical figures. I have included all those who have extended or recurring speaking parts, those who are mentioned frequently by other characters, and those who are important to understanding the relationships between the characters.
The House of Lancaster
Henry VI, King of England. Son of Henry V and Katherine of Valois.
Margaret of Anjou (sometimes called “Marguerite”), his queen.
Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales, their son.
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, uncle of Henry VI.
The House of York
Richard, Duke of York.
Cecily Neville, his wife, Duchess of York.
Edward (“Ned”), Earl of March, later Edward IV, their son. Married to Elizabeth Woodville.
Edmund, Earl of Rutland, their son.
Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, their daughter.
George, Duke of Clarence, their son.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, their son, later Richard III.
The Nevilles
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick, his wife.
Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence, their daughter.
Anne Neville, Princess of Wales, their daughter. Married to Edward of Lancaster.
John Neville, Lord Montagu, later Earl of Northumberland, later Marquess of Montagu, brother to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, father to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and John Neville.
The Beauforts
Edmund Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset and Earl of Somerset, later Duke of Somerset (died 1455).
Eleanor Beauchamp, his wife.
Henry (“Hal”) Beaufort, their first son, Earl of Dorset, later Duke of Somerset (died 1464).
Edmund Beaufort, their second son, styled Duke of Somerset after 1464 (died 1471).
John Beaufort, their third son (died 1471).
Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. Cousin to Henry, Edmund, and John Beaufort. Mother to Henry Tudor, later Henry VII.
The Tudors
Owen Tudor, stepfather to Henry VI and husband of Katherine of Valois, Henry V’s widow.
Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, son of Owen Tudor and Katherine of Valois and half brother to Henry VI. Married to Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond.
Henry Tudor, son of Edward Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. Later Henry VII.
Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, son of Owen Tudor and Katherine of Valois and half brother to Henry VI.
The French Royal Family
Charles VII, uncle to Margaret of Anjou.
Louis XI, his son, cousin to Margaret of Anjou.
The House of Anjou
René of Anjou, father to Margaret of Anjou.
Isabelle, mother to Margaret of Anjou.
Jeanne de Laval, stepmother to Margaret of Anjou.
The Scottish Royal Family
Mary of Gueldres, dowager queen and regent of Scotland, widow of James II.
James III, King of Scotland.
Dukes of Burgundy
Phillip, Duke of Burgundy.
Charles, his son, Count of Charolais, later Duke of Burgundy.
Others
Bertrand de Beauvau, Seigneur de Précigny.
Black Jack, a thief.
Pierre de Brézé, friend of Margaret of Anjou.
John Cleger, groom to Edward of Lancaster.
Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon (died 1461).
Marie, Countess of Devon, his wife, cousin of and lady in waiting to Margaret of Anjou.
John Courtenay, Earl of Devon (died 1471), brother of Thomas Courtenay.
John Dudley, Constable of the Tower of London.
Lorenzo de Florencia, subordinate to Bishop of Terni.
John Fortescue, tutor to Edward of Lancaster.
William, Lord Hastings, chamberlain to Edward IV.
Joan Hill, mistress to Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.
Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter.
James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews.
John Morton, administrator.
Katherine Peniston, later Katherine Vaux. Lady-in-waiting to Margaret of Anjou.
William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Later Marquess of Suffolk, later Duke of Suffolk.
Alice de la Pole (Chaucer), his wife.
Thomas (“Tom”), Lord Ros. Older half brother of Henry, Edmund, and John Beaufort.
Emma Scales, lady in waiting to Margaret of Anjou.
Charles Somerset, natural son of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Joan Hill.
Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham.
Anne, his wife, Duchess of Buckingham.
Andrew Trollope, soldier.
William Vaux, knight in service of Margaret of Anjou.
John de Vere, Earl of Oxford.
Will, servant of Earl of Warwick.
Anthony Woodville, son of Jacquetta Woodville and brother to Elizabeth Woodville.
Elizabeth Woodville (Lady Grey), later Queen of England.
Jacquetta Woodville, Duchess of Bedford. Mother to Elizabeth Woodville.
A man other than my husband sits on England’s throne today. He is healthy and still relatively young; he has two fine young sons, an utterly loyal younger brother (another brother, the disloyal one, has long since been disposed of, in the efficient way this man has), a lovely queen, a passel of marriageable daughters. Sometimes as I sit in my chair at Dampierre and watch the sun setting over the Loire, I amuse myself by wondering what would happen if this king suddenly went mad, or simply died young. Would his nobles start to fight among themselves? Would his heir be cast aside? Would those whom he thought most loyal prove disloyal? And above all, what would his queen do? Would she make the same mistakes I did, or would she learn from mine?
For I made plenty. But soon, the Lord and King Louis willing, I shall be laid near my parents’ tomb at Angers, having at last followed the men I loved to the grave. Then my maker shall hear my story and theirs as well. When our tales are at last told together as they should be, the Lord—and anyone else who cares to listen—shall judge us all, for good or for ill. There is nothing I can do now, with my life in back of me, other than to pray for mercy and hope that He will be kind.
