England
Warwick and Clarence
The Woodville marriage aside, Edward's fortunes prospered. King Henry was finally captured in 1465. He was surprised while at dinner at an house in Lancashire. He escaped into a nearby wood and was there apprehended, with only two priests and a groom remaining to him. In May of the same year, Elizabeth Woodville was crowned Queen of England.
1467 began well, with the fall of Harlech Castle in Wales, the last Lancastrian stronghold. But falling also was the fortunes of the Neville family, Edward's most powerful supporters. In May 1467, he removed Archbishop George Neville as Lord Chancellor, the second-most powerful position in the kingdom. That same year, he openly supported alliance with Burgundy, while everyone knew that Warwick was working for an alliance with France.
By the end of the year, a dangerous conspiracy was taking shape. At its center were two of the Nevilles: John, Earl of Northumbria (the Nevilles had triumphed over the Percies), and Richard, Earl of Warwick. Joining them was John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. The fourth in the coterie was George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence and younger brother of King Edward himself. Clarence was eighteen years old, which means he was proud and touchy and prone to take offense. He was also rather naïve and unfocused, able to enter into enterprises but singularly unable to see them through. Feeling slighted by his big brother, he eagerly fell in with the Nevilles.
In July 1469, these four met in Calais, which was solidly for Warwick. There, George Plantagenet, the Duke of Clarence, was married to Isabel, Warwick's daughter. The pact was sealed.