when the duke of York hastened with his friend Salisbury, at the head of an inferior force, to oppose her designs, he was defeated and killed at Wakefield, Dec. 1460. His head, adorned with a paper crown, was exposed on the walls of York; Salisbury was led to Pomfret, and beheaded; and Margaret advanced towards London, gained another victory over Warwick at St. Alban's, Feb. 1461, and rescued the king's person from the hands of his enemies. But Edward of York (who had levied an army in the West, and had defeated Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, at Mortimer's Cross, near Wigmore, Feb. 27) marched to the support of Warwick, and obliged the queen to retreat. Her vindictiveness was fatal to the cause of the Red Rose of Lancaster, and so increased the popularity of the White Rose of York, that Edward was received in London with enthusiasm, and proclaimed king, March 1461. HOUSE OF YORK. EDWARD IV. A.D. 1461. Edward IV. Battle of Towton. 1464. Battles of Hedgley Moor and Hexham. 1469. Battle of Edgecot; Rebellion of the Nevilles. 1470. Battle of Erpingham. Warwick restores Henry VI. 1478. Clarence beheaded. The new king, whose military skill was far beyond his years, advanced with Warwick into Yorkshire, and at Towton, near Tadcaster, utterly routed an army of 60,000 Lancastrians, commanded by Henry, duke of Somerset, Edmund, earl of Rutland, York's son, on the field of Wakefield), were Margaret's champions. They all died violent deaths, like their fathers. 7 Pembroke's father, Owen Tudor, was taken and beheaded. March 1461. No quarter was given, and the bloody victory was followed up by wholesale attainders. The deposed family fled to Scotland, and afterwards made some unsuccessful attempts to retrieve their fortunes, which ended in the flight of Margaret to the continent; the execution of Somerset, who, after the defeat of his friend sir Ralph Percy at Hedgley Moor, was overpowered at Hexham by John, lord Montague, Warwick's brother, April 1464; and the imprisonment of Henry, who was at last betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and confined in the Tower. Edward now gave himself up to dissipation, and quarrelled with his powerful friends the Nevilles; who were particularly offended by his marriage with Elizabeth Wydevile, the widow of the Lancastrian sir John Grey of Groby, and by the rapid advancement of her relations1. After some years of ill-concealed discontent, their retainers openly joined the insurgents of the North, when they marched into Wiltshire, and at Edgecot crushed the army which Herbert, the Yorkist earl of Pembroke, was bringing to the king's aid, July 14692; and in a few days, Edward found himself a prisoner in the power of Warwick. He managed to reconcile himself with his foe, and 8 The earl of Northumberland fell at Towton, and the murderer Clifford the day before; whose son was brought up as a poor shepherd, and, when restored by Henry VII., was known as the "shepherd lord."-John, earl of Oxford, was attainted with his son Aubrey de Vere, and beheaded; as had also been Courtenay, earl of Devon. 9 She won the king's heart while petitioning in favour of her children, as he was visiting her mother, Jacquetta of Luxemburg, the regent duke of Bedford's widow; who had married the handsome and ill-fated sir Richard Wydevile, afterwards earl Rivers. 1 Edward also deprived George Neville, archbishop of York, one of Warwick's brothers, of the chancellorship. 2 Herbert was killed, and earl Rivers and his son John taken and beheaded. to recover his liberty; and when, in the following year, Warwick once more revolted, he defeated his adherents at Erpingham, in Rutland, March 1470. When the news of this reverse reached the earl, he and his son-in-law, George, duke of Clarence, the king's brother, fled the kingdom. Warwick found a ready welcome in France, at the court of the artful Lewis XI., by whom he was reconciled to Margaret of Anjou; and it was agreed that the exiled prince of Wales should marry his daughter, and that he himself should return to England, and restore the power of the house of Lancaster. He accordingly landed in Devonshire, whence he advanced with a force which increased daily, to encounter Edward: who, at Doncaster, discovered the marquess of Montague to be a traitor, and mounting his horse, rode to Lynn, and escaped for his life to Holland, which belonged to his brother-in-law Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Warwick and Clarence entered London in triumph, and Henry VI. was once more conducted from a prison to the throne, Oct. 1470. Meanwhile Edward, with the secret aid of the duke of Burgundy, managed to collect a force of 1500 men, with which he sailed to Ravenspurn, in Yorkshire; and thence, being joined by the faithless Clarence, he boldly marched to London, which, together with king Henry's person, was surrendered to him; and afterwards, on Easter Sunday, April 1471, he won the decisive battle of Barnet, in which Warwick and Montague were killed. That same day, Margaret and her son landed at Weymouth, and the contest was renewed; which soon ended at Tewkesbury, where she was taken prisoner, and the young prince slain in cold blood, May 1471'. It was now given out that the deposed king had died of grief. 3 Called "Lose-coat field," because the fugitives threw away their armour. Edmund, the last Beaufort duke of Somerset, and other Lancas To revenge himself upon the king of France, Edward, who had availed himself of a new plan of extorting presents from his subjects under the name of Benevolences, invaded his territories. But the cunning Lewis, who knew his indolence and had bribed his ministers, by the payment of a large sum of money and the promise of an annual tribute, induced him to return home, Aug. 1475. Three years afterwards, Edward caused the duke of Clarence to be condemned to death for high treason; and it was pretended that the unfortunate prince had died suddenly in the Tower. His own death, which was hastened by his habits of self-indulgence, took place in April 1483. He was succeeded by his son Edward, a child not more than eleven years old. EDWARD V. A.D. 1483. Edward V. Seizure of the king and his relations. Hastings beheaded. Edward deposed. The young prince, with his uncle, the accomplished earl Rivers, and his half-brother lord Richard Grey, when on his way to London, was seized by Richard, duke of Gloucester, his paternal uncle. Lord Hastings, the late king's minister, ventured to oppose the ambition of Gloucester, who was now protector: but he was suddenly arrested at the council-table, in the Tower, and instantly executed, June 1483. Rivers and Grey were also beheaded at Pomfret Castle, without any sort of trial; and the queenmother, who had taken sanctuary at Westminster with her eldest son Thomas Grey, marquess of Dorset, and her other trian leaders, were dragged out of a neighbouring church, and beheaded. 5 In this reign, posts were first established, and William Caxton introduced the newly invented art of printing. • The archbishop of York, lord Stanley, and Morton, bishop of Ely, were arrested, and imprisoned at the same time. children, was prevailed upon to surrender Richard, duke of York, the king's brother, into his uncle's hands. The protector, who, perhaps, at first had only meant to ruin the Wydeviles, had now gone too far to recede with safety. Reports were spread that the late king's marriage was invalid, owing to a prior engagement'; and by the contrivance of the powerful duke of Buckingham, who had the support of the lord mayor and some of the chief citizens of London, Richard was invited to take possession of the throne, June 25. He soon thought it unsafe to leave his nephews alive, and they were secretly murdered in the Tower 8. RICHARD III. A.D. 1483. Richard III. Execution of Buckingham. 1485. Battle of Bosworth. RICHARD, called Crookback (because he was somewhat misshapen), had to defend himself before long against the treachery of his friend Buckingham. For the latter entered into a correspondence with Henry Tudor, the exiled earl of Richmond; who claimed to be the representative of the house of Lancaster, and was to eke out his defective title' by a marriage with Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of the late king. A revolt in favour of Richmond 7 To lady Eleanor Boteler, daughter of Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, and widow of sir Thomas Boteler (or Butler), lord Sudely.—To make his brother's licentiousness more conspicuous, Richard caused his mistress Jane Shore to do penance at St. Paul's, and confiscated her property. A vile report was also spread that Edward IV, was not really the son of the duke of York. 8 It is, however, not true, that sir James Tyrrel, having the command of the Tower for a night, caused the sleeping princes to be smothered. 9 Richmond's claim, on the strength of his descent from John of Gaunt through the Beauforts (see p. 192, note 9), was a bad one (see p. 194, note 5). Moreover, the princes of Portugal and Castille were descended from the earlier wives of John of Gaunt. |