This was considered the death-blow to the house of Lancaster, but not by the persistent Margaret, who in the course of a few days rallied an army of sixty thousand men. Her generals, Somerset and Clifford, persuaded her to stay with her husband and son, while they engaged Edward and the Earl of Warwick, first at Ferrybridge and then at Towton. A heavy snow-storm that fell in the faces of the Lancastrians so blinded them that their arrows did not take effect, while those of their enemy covered the field with forty thousand of their dead.
Margaret fled to Scotland, and Edward IV. forbade all his subjects under pain of death to hold any sort of communication with her or her husband; yet there were many faithful hearts ready to sacrifice life and fortune to the heroine of the Red Rose. She and Louis XI., then on the throne of France, were first cousins, and had been brought up together. To him she now turned for aid, but he received her coldly when she threw herself at his feet, merely offering her a sum of money providing she would give him Calais if she could not return it within a year. The people of England objected to this, and thought that as Calais was not hers to give she had committed treason in making the promise.
After five months' absence she returned to England with two thousand volunteers, obtained more assistance from the Scotch, and got possession of several important fortresses.
In the spring the battle of Hexham was fought, the Yorkists being victorious. Margaret fled with her son to the nearest forest, where, after wandering about for awhile, she fell in with a gang of robbers, who stole everything of value that she had about her. While they were quarrelling over the division of the spoils, she snatched up her boy and ran away to the nearest thicket. When evening came on she crept out of her hiding-place, dreading above all things lest she might fall in with a band of Edward's troops, when by the light of the moon she beheld a robber of gigantic size advancing towards her with a drawn sword. Taking her son by the hand she bravely advanced towards the man with all her natural dignity of bearing and said: "Here, my friend, save the son of your king." The robber was struck with astonishment, and dropping his sword, offered to conduct them to a place of safety, telling the queen that he was a Lancastrian gentleman who had been ruined in King Henry's service. Taking the prince in his arms he led Queen Margaret to a cave in the forest, where his wife received them and provided refreshments. There the fugitives remained for two days. On the third their hiding-place was discovered by the devoted followers who were determined to stand by Margaret to the very end. These were Pierre de Brezé, one of her own countrymen, his squire, Barville, and an English gentleman.
A.D. 1463. From them Margaret heard of the escape of her husband and of the dreadful fate of her faithful friends, Somerset, Hungerford, and Roos, who had been captured and beheaded in the public market-place of Hexham without trial.
On leaving the hut of the generous outlaw, the queen thanked him and his wife with tears in her eyes. Her friends had offered them money, which they had refused, and Margaret had nothing left to give them. "Of all I have lost," she said, "I regret nothing so much as the power to recompense such virtue." She then proceeded to Scotland, reaching there only after a great deal of hardship and danger, to find that her presence caused great uneasiness to the king, who feared that it might be the means of bringing him into trouble with England.
She embarked for Flanders, where some of the ladies of the court had taken refuge, accompanied by the prince, the faithful de Brezé, and about two hundred of those ruined Lancastrians who still had faith in her.
When she arrived at St. Pol, the Duke of Burgundy not only received her with honors and gave a festival to welcome her, but he also assisted her with money. To each of her ladies he presented a hundred crowns, to de Brezé, who had spent the whole of his fortune in Margaret's service, a thousand, and to the queen herself an order for twelve thousand crowns. This princely behavior on the part of the duke was like heaping coals of fire on Margaret's head, for she had always despised him, and had been heard to say more than once, "that if by any chance he were to fall into her hands she would make the axe pass between his head and his shoulders." He sympathized with her misfortunes, and entertained her in a way becoming her station, but he would give her no political aid nor allow any of his subjects to take part in her quarrel. As his guest she was welcome so long as she chose to stay, and when she left he provided her with an escort.
Margaret next visited her sister Yolante, Countess of Vaudemonte, and then her father offered one of his ancient castles in Verdun for her residence, where, with a few of her ruined friends, she devoted herself to the education of the last tender bud of the Red Rose of Lancaster.