was cast on William de la Pole, due to his role in negotiations. The reputation of Margaret's marriage suffered as a result, although she herself was not openly blamed for the loss. In the early years of their marriage, prior to Henry's illness, Margaret and Henry spent significant proportions of their time together by choice. They shared an interest in education and culture. On 30 March 1448, she was granted license to found Queens' College, Cambridge. Prior to 1453, there is little evidence of public political efforts on her part. Most of her surviving letters were written during this period, and the majority pertain to acts of intercession, mediation, and intervention in matters on which she had been asked to act, such as the arranging of marriages, the return of wrongfully taken property, and the collection of alms. These were expected and important parts of the role of a noblewoman or queen. Some were successful, and others regarded as high-handed or ill-thought-out. On one occasion, she recommended a man named Alexander Manning to the role of gaoler at Newgate; shortly after, he turned the prisoners loose in an act of protest at his rumoured dismissal for negligence and was then jailed himself. Birth of a son Henry, who was more interested in religion and learning than in military matters, was not a successful king. He had reigned since he was only a few months old, and his actions had been controlled by protectors, magnates who were effectively regents. When he married Margaret, his mental condition was already unstable, and by the time of the birth of their only son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (born 13 October 1453), he had suffered a complete breakdown. Beginnings of the dynastic civil wars Enmity between Margaret and the Duke of York After retiring from London to live in lavish state at Greenwich, Margaret was occupied with the care of her young son and did not display any signs of political will until she believed her husband was threatened with deposition by the ambitious Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, who, to her consternation, had been appointed Lord Protector while Henry was mentally incapacitated from 1453 to 1454. The duke was a credible claimant to the English throne and by the end of his protectorship there were many powerful nobles and relatives prepared to back his claim. Whereas the Duke of York