The King reacted to the first reports from Lincolnshire with incandescent rage and a thirst for revenge. Yet he recovered fast from initial panic, and made an adroit choice of commander in the Duke of Suffolk for a substantial military force, hastily gathered from those regions the regime calculated would remain loyal, in southern and eastern England. Brandon may not have been especially bright, but he was as physically imposing as the King himself, genuinely experienced in real warfare in France as well as tournaments, and possessing a unique asset in the situation.
