Hello everyone and welcome to the History of England episode 170, this fair white rose.

So to recap very briefly, we're in 1461 and it's about the end of February. The Yorkist

cause has taken something of a battering over the last two months. Two of their leaders, York and

Solzbury have been killed at Wakefield. And a vast, land-castor in a horde swept like locusts,

destroying everything they touched until they reached St. Orbans where Warwick waited to repel them.

But instead, Margaret had won a second victory, putting Warwick to flight in leaving London wide

open to Margaret and her captain Somerset. The one glimmer of hope for York was York's sun and

air Edward, Earl of March, who had defeated tutors, father and son on the Welsh border and Mortimer's

cross. Now I've remarked that Richard of York seemed to make a number of critical mess ups at

crucial moments, such as his decision to leave Sandal Castle and to claim the throne in the way

that he did. It's also worth noting that Margaret is a bit the same, tenacity and determination

in spades, but a tendency to do that at the wrong moment. But now is the time to seize the prize,

carpet that DM Margaret. Certainly Warwick had thought London indefensible and fled to the west.

And the rulers of London, well they fully expected Margaret to appear at their doors and were

preparing. They received Margaret's requests for food and centre wagon train northwards.

At which point the Londoners themselves intervened. They intercepted the supply train,

robbed it and confiscated the keys to the city to allow no one to be able to come in.

Now there were positive and negative reasons for this. London had become a pro-Jorkist city,

because of their antipathy to Henry and Margaret's economic policy and their promotion of foreigners

and through the raffle-rousing exploits of Warwick. On the other hand, they'd heard just like

everyone else of what Margaret's army was like. As St. Orban's burned and howled in pain,

they had no desire whatsoever for London to suffer the same fate. So caught between the proverbial

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