offers of the French, withdraw Sept. 6, and the duke of Burgundy formally abandons their alliance, Sept. 21. The duke of Bedford dies at Rouen, Sept. 14.

James of Scotland resumes estates granted, particularly those of the earls of March and of Strathearn, which occasions much discontent among his nobles, and they begin to conspire against him.

A.D. 1436. The bishop of Winchester and the duke of Gloucester thwart each other's designs, and thus hinder reinforcements being sent to France.

Paris is retaken by the French, April 13.

The duke of Burgundy besieges Calais, July 19; he is forced to retire by the duke of Gloucester, Aug. 2. War breaks out with Scotland; James besieges the castle of Roxburgh, in August.

The duke of York and Talbot are successful in Normandy, and ravage the country as far as Paris.

A.D. 1437. Guilds and incorporate companies ordered to have their charters duly recorded before justices of the peace %, (15 Hen. VI. c. 6).

They offered to cede Normandy and Guienne to be held by the ordinary homage, on condition of Henry resigning all claim to the crown and surrendering Calais and all other places that he then possessed in France.

The earl of March (George Dunbar) had been engaged in intrigues with the English during the king's captivity, but had been pardoned by the regent, Albany; the king now seized his earldom, on the plea that the regent had no power to pardon treason. The earl of Strathearn (Malise Graham) was great-grandson of Robert II., by whom the fief had been limited to males; the earl's mother, however, had been allowed to hold it, and to convey it to her husband, who possessed it for many years unquestioned, and transmitted it to his son; Malise had been one of the king's hostages in England, and his treatment was highly resented by his fellow nobles.

The preamble states that these bodies oftentimes made unlawful and unreasonable ordinances "for their own profit and common damage to the people," and for remedy the justices are empowered

James of Scotland murdered at Perth, Feb. 20; he is succeeded by his son James II., a child of six years oldi.

The duke of York is recalled from France, and the earl of Warwick (Richard Beauchamp) appointed regent in his stead, July 16.

The duke of Burgundy's territories ravaged by Talbot. A.D. 1438. England is afflicted with plague and famine.

31.

A nine years' truce concluded with Scotland, March

A.D. 1439. Fresh conferences for peace are held in the summer, but without effect; a three years' truce is agreed to between England and Burgundy.

The constable of France captures Meaux.
The Public Schools at Oxford are founded.

A.D. 1440. The title of viscount created by patentk.

to revoke and repeal such; those who afterwards endeavour to enforce them being liable to a fine of £10 for each transgression.

The chief conspirators were the earl of Athol, uncle to the king, and Robert Graham, uncle of the disinherited earl of Strathearn (see p. 51); they were both tortured to death.

His minority was disturbed by the struggles of the lords Crichton and Livingstone, the chancellor and governor of the realm, who held, the one Edinburgh, the other Stirling, and contended for the possession of the king; by the intrigues of his mother and her second husband, Sir James Stuart, of Lorn; and by the turbulence of two successive earls of Douglas, who set all law at defiance, and made treasonable leagues with England and the lords of the Isles. The crowned heart in the Douglas arms is an augmentation in memory of the journey of Sir James Douglas to the Holy Land with the heart of King Robert Bruce.

Arms of Douglas.

John, lord Beaumont, was the first person who received this new title, Feo. 10, 1410, accompanied by a grant of lands in France.

Louis the dauphin conspires against his father, Charles VII. The English take advantage of the confusion, ravage Picardy, and capture Harfleur.

The duke of York is again appointed regent, July 2. Eton College founded by Henry VI., Oct. 11.

The duke of Orleans is set at liberty, Nov. 12. William, earl of Douglas, and his brother, seized by treachery, and executed, Nov. 24.

A.D. 1441. Charles VII. takes Creil, in April, but is driven from Pontoise in August by the duke of York; he returns, and captures the town, putting the garrison to the sword.

The duchess of Gloucester, accused of witchcraft, is sentenced to imprisonment for lifem.

A.D. 1442. The French gain several towns in the south of France; the duke of York ravages the north.

A.D. 1443. The duke of Gloucester accuses the bishop of Winchester of treason; the bishop produces a general pardon from the king.

The truce with Burgundy is renewed, April 23. King's College, Cambridge, founded by Henry VI.

A.D. 1444. A truce is concluded with France, May 28. It was to endure to May 1, 1446, and was afterwards prolonged to April 1, 1450.

The duke of York is recalled from France, and succeeded by the marquis of Dorset (Edmund Beaufort).

He had been captured at Agincourt, in 1415; one condition of his release was that he should endeavour to bring about a peace, in which case the heavy ransom imposed on him was to be remitted.

She was first sent to Calais, and afterwards to the Isle of Man, where she was confined in the crypt under the cathedral of St.. German, within Peel Castle. Robert Bolingbroke, a priest, and Margaret Jourdain, called the witch of Eye, her presumed confederates, were executed.

A.D. 1445. The king marries Margaret of Anjou", April 22; Margaret is crowned, April 30.

A.D. 1446. The earl of Suffolk is thanked in the parliament for his services in negotiating the truce with France.

A.D. 1447. A parliament held at Bury St. Edmund's, Feb. 10; the duke of Gloucester is seized, Feb. 11, and is found dead a few days after.

Cardinal Beaufort dies, April 11.

A.D. 1448. Anjou and Maine surrendered according to treaty to the French. The discharged garrisons ravage Britanny.

A.D. 1449. The French invade Normandy at several different points, and achieve its conquest with little trouble.

Queens' College, Cambridge, founded by Queen Margaret, March 30o.

The duke of York is appointed lieutenant of Ireland, July 5. He conciliates the people, and his friends bring forward his claim to the throne.

A war breaks out with Scotland; the English burn Dumfries, and the Scots destroy Alnwick; the earl of Northumberland is defeated in Annandale. A truce for

an unlimited period is concluded, Nov. 15.

A.D. 1450. Insurrections break out in various parts of England, directed against the duke of Suffolk and his

"The marriage was negotiated by the earl of Suffolk, who had before concluded the truce with France. The contract stipulated for the surrender of several of the remaining English possessions in France, and hence was opposed by the duke of Gloucester, but the influence of his rival, the bishop of Winchester, prevailed.

• It was at first called St. Bernard and St. Margaret's College; but being further endowed by the queen of Edward IV., it obtained its present appellation.

The most influential of these parties was Richard Neville, second

partisans. The chancellor (Archbishop Stafford) retires and Cardinal Kempe is recalled 9.

Adam Moleyne, bishop of Chichester, is murdered at Portsmouth early in January.

The duke is impeached by the Commons, Jan. 28, and committed to the Tower.

He is brought before the parliament, March 17, and without trial sentenced to five years' banishment. He embarks at Ipswich May 3, but is overtaken and beheaded at sea, by order of the constable of the Tower, (John Holland, duke of Exeter).

John Cade (calling himself Mortimer") raises an in

son of Ralph, earl of Westmoreland, who was born in the year 1400, and had obtained the earldom of Salisbury by marriage with Alice, the heiress of Thomas Montacute, killed at Orleans, in 1429. He served in France under the duke of York, who was his brother-in law, became warden of the West Marches, in conjunction with his eldest son, ("king-making Warwick,") and rendered himself famous by his strenuous opposition to the surrender of the English provinces in France. When the

Arms of Neville, earl of
Salisbury.

civil war broke out, he took the field, and gained a victory over the Lancastrians at Bloreheath; owing to a sudden change of fortune, he was soon after obliged to flee to Calais, and was attainted. He returned the next year, and accompanied the duke of York into the north against Queen Margaret, but being taken at Wakefield, (where his son Thomas was killed, as well as the duke) he was beheaded, and.his head placed on the wall of York, whence it was removed in February, 1461, and buried with his wife at Bisham, in Berkshire, where he had prepared a place of sepulture before the battle of Bloreheath. He left three sons: Richard, earl of Salisbury and Warwick; and John, marquis of Montacute, both killed at Barnet, in 1471; William, lord Falconbridge and earl of Kent, who died in 1463. Of his daughters, Margaret was the wife of John de Vere, earl of Oxford, a staunch Lancastrian; and Katherine married first Lord Bonville, and afterwards Lord Hastings. See p. 47.

He was an Irish soldier of fortune, "a young man of a goodly stature and pregnant wit," and was supposed to be put forward by the duke of York, in order to ascertain the feeling of the nation towards his claim; hence his assumed name of Mortimer.