Bastard feudalism as well as recruiting local gentry into their affinities. By offering money instead of land, lords could afford to retain more followers. In return for becoming retainers, the gentry would expect to rely on their lord's influence in local and national politics. This practice was known as "maintenance". The retainer might wear his lord's livery badge or the grander form, a livery collar, which could be very useful in a courtroom. Under a weak king, such as Henry VI (reigned 1422–1461 and 1470–1471), the rivalries of magnates might spill over from the courtroom to armed confrontations, thereby perverting justice. Since
Henry Stafford (c. 1425 – 1471) he was sometimes so ill that Reginald Bray had to take over his responsibilities. Although he had chosen the winning side, Henry was seriously wounded at Barnet and did not return to London with the victorious army. On 17 April Margaret hurried from Woking to London and sent a rider to Barnet for news of her husband. Henry was taken home, but never recovered from his wounds and died in his bed on 4 October 1471. Reginald Bray organized his burial at Pleshey. Henry appears as a character in Philippa Gregory's series of novels "The Cousins' War" and is played