Abingdon Abbey
In 1361 the Black Prince married Joan the Fair Maid of Kent. The marriage took place at Windsor, and after her husband’s death Joan lived a good deal at Wallingford.
The reign of Richard II, which lasted from 1377 to 1399, was marked by constant troubles between the King with his favourites on the one hand and the nobles on the other. In 1387 Radcot Bridge was the scene of a fight between the King’s party of 5000 men under De Vere, Duke of Ireland, and Henry Earl of Derby (afterwards Henry IV). De Vere was defeated, and only escaped by swimming down the Thames.
In 1399 Richard’s inglorious reign came to an end. He was deposed in favour of Henry of Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, who became King as Henry IV.
14. The History of Berkshire (continued).
The reign of Henry IV lasted from 1399 to 1413. The hereditary heir to the Crown on the death of Richard II was a child, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, and he was detained a prisoner at Windsor Castle during the whole of Henry’s reign, and only liberated by Henry V in 1413. There was at least one fight in Berkshire during the time of Henry IV. In 1400 an attempt was made by some of the nobles to fall on the King at Windsor, but he was warned in time, and retired to London, and when the insurgents reached Windsor, they entered the Castle without opposition, searched for the King, but found he had gone. Meanwhile he had raised a force in London, and came to attack the insurgent nobles, who retreated, and a sharp encounter took place at Maidenhead Bridge. The insurgents retired to Oxford and were eventually defeated.
James I, King of Scotland, was a prisoner at Windsor during most of the last ten years of his long captivity, which ended by his release in 1424. His book, The King’s Quhair, was written at Windsor, and it was at Windsor that he fell in love with Jane Beaufort, who afterwards became his Queen.
Henry VI was born at Windsor in 1421, and became King when about nine months old. He grew up weak in mind, and during his reign all England was involved in the Wars of the Roses. Berkshire was during most of the time held by the Lancastrian party, but in 1460 Newbury was taken by the Earl of Wiltshire on behalf of the Yorkists. In the next year, 1461, the Duke of York obtained the Crown under the name of Edward IV.
Henry VI held several Parliaments at Reading, and Edward IV also visited the Abbey, and it is recorded that in 1464 he made the first public announcement of his marriage with Elizabeth Woodville at a great Council of the Peers at Reading. The marriage was not popular, and it was especially disliked by the Nevilles, the most powerful of whom, Richard Earl of Warwick, subsequently defeated Edward’s forces and restored Henry VI, but Henry’s renewed reign lasted only some six months, for Edward defeated Warwick, who was killed, at the battle of Barnet in 1471. Warwick and his brother the Marquis of Montagu, also killed at Barnet, were both buried at Bisham Abbey in Berkshire.