January 1460 his father took him to Sandwich, where both were surprised and captured by a band of Yorkists and carried off to Calais to be severely ‘rated’ by the Yorkist leaders for upstart insolence in taking part in their recent attainder at Coventry (Will. Worc. p. 771; Paston Letters, i. 506). He married, between 25 July 1460 (when her father was slain by the Yorkists) and 29 March 1461, Elizabeth, baroness Scales and Neucelles (Newcells) in her own right, the childless widow of Sir Henry Bourchier, second son of Henry Bourchier, earl of Essex [q. v.] At Towton Woodville fought on the Lancastrian side, and was at first reported to have fallen (ib. ii. 5, 8; Cal. State Papers, Venetian, i. 103, 105–6). Regarding the cause of Henry VI as now ‘irremediably lost,’ he and his father transferred their allegiance to Edward IV (ib. i. 111). His recognition as Lord Scales in right of his wife followed in 1462, and under this title he was summoned to parliament from 22 Dec. in that year (Dugdale, ii. 231; Complete Peerage, vi. 371). At this moment he was helping to direct the siege of Alnwick Castle, which fell on 6 Jan. following (Paston Letters, ii. 121). After his sister Elizabeth's marriage to the king in 1464 his advancement became rapid. Two years later he succeeded the Duke of Milan as a knight of the Garter, and received a grant of the lordship of the Isle of Wight, of which he seems to have been the last holder. He was pushing a claim to the disputed estates of Sir John Fastolf [q. v.] (ib. ii. 214).
Scales, like his father before him, was an accomplished knight, and his tournament with the Bastard of Burgundy in June 1467 aroused more than national interest. Two years before, at the instigation of the queen's ladies and with the permission of the king, who was probably already meditating a Burgundian alliance, he despatched a challenge to Anthony, count of La Roche, in the Ardennes, natural son of Philip, duke of Burgundy, and brother of Charles the Bold, a knight of great renown (Excerpta Historica, pp. 178–84). The Bastard promptly accepted the challenge, but the wars in which Burgundy was soon engaged delayed his coming over until May 1467 (ib. p. 173; Fœdera, xi. 573; Will. Worc. p. 786). Great preparations were made for the combat, which took place in Smithfield on 11 and 12 June before a splendid audience, the king himself presiding over the lists. In the first course on horseback the Bastard's horse struck its head against the iron of Scales's saddle and fell upon its rider, who waived the offer of a second horse, remarking to the chronicler, Olivier de la Marche (p. 524), that Scales had fought a beast that day, but should fight a man on the morrow. On the 12th they met on foot with axes, and fought so fiercely that the king, seeing that Scales was getting the better of his antagonist cried ‘Whoo!’ and threw down his warder. The battle was declared drawn (Excerpta Historica, pp. 211–12; Fabyan, p. 656; Will. Worc. p. 787; cf. Stow, Annals). A history of this famous tournament has been preserved in a manuscript belonging to Scales's friend, Sir John Paston (who was engaged to his cousin, Anne Haute), now in the British Museum (Lansdowne MS. 285). It is printed with some original documents relating to the affair in Bentley's ‘Excerpta Historica.’ The death of Duke Philip, which recalled the Bastard to Brussels, hastened the conclusion of the negotiations for a marriage between his brother, the new duke, and Edward IV's sister Margaret. Scales was a member of the embassy which went over in September and definitely arranged the match (Fœdera, xi. 590). He accompanied the bride to Bruges as her presenter in June 1468, and broke eleven lances with Adolf of Cleves in the jousts with which the marriage was celebrated (Olivier de la Marche, p. 560; Paston Letters, ii. 318). The Burgundian alliance threatening trouble with France, Edward got together four thousand men to assist the Duke of Brittany against his suzerain, and entrusted (7 Oct.) the command of the fleet which was to convey it across to Scales, now governor of Portsmouth (Fœdera, xi. 630; Will. Worc. p. 792). Louis XI at once came to terms with Duke Francis, but the fleet put to sea about 25 Oct., on a rumour that Queen Margaret had come down to Harfleur. After aimlessly cruising about for a month, it returned to the Isle of Wight (ib.)
Scales and his father were with the king in Norfolk in June 1469 when the Nevilles sprang their mine against the Woodville ascendency. According to a statement not improbable in itself, Edward sent them away in the hope of allaying the discontent (Wavrin, v. 580). Scales somehow contrived to escape the tragic fate which befell his father and brother after the skirmish at Edgecot (26 July 1469). It made him Earl Rivers and constable of England, but he afterwards resigned this latter dignity to the Duke of Gloucester (Excerpta Historica, p. 241). He was at Southampton in the spring of 1470 when Warwick on his flight to Calais tried to cut out his great ship the Trinity from that harbour, and succeeded in repulsing the
