In his conception of the Queen's character Wedurby was a thorough courtier.
"The mellyflue mekenes of your person shall put all wo away,"
the same prophet said; and S. Edward greeted her as "moder of mekeness."
To what strange freaks will not the rules of his art—and especially alliteration—betray a poet! The "she wolf of France" had nothing of the quality thus assigned to her; her name had merely the same initial letter.
The King and Queen entered Coventry on Holy Cross day, by the Bablake Gate.[255] Close by the entrance was a pageant whereon stood the two above-named prophets, and a "Jesse," or figure representing the genealogy of Christ, was placed upon the gate itself. At the east end of Bablake church were the figures of the Confessor—in allusion to Prince Edward—and S. John the Evangelist. A few paces distant at the conduit in Smithford Street the four Cardinal Virtues were displayed. A second set of pageants, grouped in the open spaces at the Cheaping, next met the Queen's eyes. There were the Nine Conquerors, Hector, Alexander, and the rest; and finally by the conduit a stage was placed whereon S. Margaret appeared, "sleying" a great dragon "by myracull." While upon the cross itself were grouped a company of angels, and the pipes of the conduit ran wine. Between the cross and the conduit the Queen received the homage of the Nine Conquerors, while her name-saint gave to her a final salutation:
"Most notabull princes of wymen erthle,
Dame Margarete, the chefe myrth of this empyre,
Ye be hertely welcum to this cyte,
To the plesure of your highnes I wyll sette my desyre,
Bothe nature & gentilnes doth me require,
Seth we be both of one name, to shew you kyndnes,
Wherfore by my power ye shall have no distresse;
I shall pray to the prince that is endeles,
To socour you with solas of his high grace.
He wyll here my peticion, this is doutles,
For I wrought all my lyf & that his wyll wace;
Therefore, lady, when ye be yn any dredeful cace,
Call on me boldly, ther of I pray you,
And trist to me feythefully I well do that may pay yow."
John Wedurby was, no doubt, an indifferent poet, but viewed in the light of subsequent events, his verses have all sorts of ironical and tragic meanings, whereof he was, of course, wholly unconscious.
The pageants and welcome entertainments cost the citizens not a little, we may suppose, in time and treasure. They made the king a present of a tun of wine costing £8, 0s. 4d.; while by the "advice of his council" the mayor distributed 20s. among "divers persons of the king's house."[256] Lord Rivers too had a glass of rose-water at the mayor's expense, whereof the cost was 2s.; thirteen years later his lordship had a very bitter drink at Coventry.[257] Still the coming of the Court no doubt brought trade to the city; had it brought also peace, all would have been well. The council met on October 7, and a blow was aimed at the Duke of York in the dismissal of the Bourchiers.[258] It was even said that the duke's life was in danger, but that his kinsman, the Duke of Buckingham, assisted him to escape. Margaret required the presence of Somerset to lend strength to her party, and with him there came, it seems, a company of turbulent retainers. These men fell out with the city-watch and slew three or four of the townsmen; whereat, says a writer in the Paston series, "the larum belle was ronge and the toun arose and would have jouperdit to have distressed the men of the duke of Somerset, ne had the duke of Buks taken direccion therin."[259] Coventry was already ceasing to be the well-ordered and peaceful place whereon the mind of King Henry loved to dwell. Next year we hear that the civic finances were disorganised, that the officers of the city were negligent in the performance of their duty, and that the citizens, being "of froward dispositions," were inclined to appeal to "mighty men in strange shires" for their support in carrying on lawsuits against their neighbours in courts without the city.
In February, 1457, the court was again at Coventry; the King came thither on the 11th "to his bedde," and the Queen coming "suddenly" next day "unto her mete."[260] Margaret was doubtless burdened with some weighty tidings, for "she came rydyng byhynde a man, and so rode the most part of all her gentylwemen then, at which tyme she sende vn to the meyre and his brethern that she wold not that [the] spiritualte ne the temporalte shold be laburd to met her then, and so she was not met at that tyme." A great council[261] was held at Coventry from February 15 to March 14, all the great men of both parties being present, and the Duke of York was re-appointed to the deputyship of Ireland. Henry left the city for Kenilworth on March 14, the mayor and his brethren, and a "goodly fellowship of the city" having "right great thank" for accompanying his highness "to the utter side of their franchise." A characteristic touch is given concerning Margaret's departure for Coleshill two days later. The mayor, his brethren, and a "feyre felyship" of the commons—we seem to gather from these words that there was but a scanty attendance—went with Queen Margaret to the boundary of the city liberties. The mayor, having his mace in his hand, rode immediately before her, the sheriffs with their white yards or rods directly preceding the mayor. Hitherto this ceremony in its completeness had only been observed when the King was in question. "And so," the Leet Book says, "they did never before the quene tyll then, for they bere before that tyme alwey theire servants (sergeants') mases ... at her comynges, at which doyng her officers groged (grudged), seying the quene owed to be met yn like fourme as the kyng shold, which yn dede," the writer continues with some trepidation, "as ys seide owe to be so, except her displeser wold be eschewed."[262]
An unexplained rising took place at Hereford in April, and the King and Queen went thither to quell it, Margaret alienating even her friends in that district by her severity. At Whitsuntide, however, the whole Court again sojourned at Coventry, and a grand procession at the Pentecostal feast dazzled the eyes of the citizens.[263] The Duke of Buckingham followed next after Henry, but Lord Beaumont "bere the kynges treyne," the Earl of Stafford "his cap of astate," and Sir John Tunstall his sword. The great nobles followed every one in his proper rank, while after her the Queen and her chief lady, the Duchess of Buckingham, there came "mony moo ladyes yn her mantels, surcotes, and other appareyll to theyre astates acustumed." Mass was celebrated in the cathedral by the Bishop of Hereford, assisted by the dean of the King's chapel, the prior and his monks.