Notwithstanding English reluctance to shoulder the financial burden of defending Normandy and Guyenne, public opinion regarded their loss as completely unnecessary. Henry VI\'s regime never recovered from the loss of credit. In 1450, Kent rebels under Jack Cade seized London and overthrew the ministry of the Duke of Suffolk (who was murdered while fleeing). In 1450 and 1452, Richard, Duke of York, challenged the government but he only managed to take control after Henry went mad in 1453.
Henry VI\'s servants rallied under Queen Margaret and the Duke of Somerset, and moved against the Duke of York and his allies (after the king recovered his sanity). York resisted and defeated the Lancastrians at St Albans in 1455 as the struggle becameincreasingly embittered. In 1459, the Yorkists were forced to flee when their army would not fight Henry VI at Ludford Bridge.
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