THE BASTARD FALCONBRIDGE. 131 “he robbed both on the sea and the land, as well his enemies as his friends;" and, soon becoming notorious for his piracies, a great number of sailors came to him from all parts of the land, and many lawless people, and not a few who are called traitors, and who, in the ruin which was brought upon them by the utter overthrow of the Lancastrian family, had become desperate. Calais was still open to him; and having got together a great navy, and no inconsiderable means, by the prizes which he had taken from all nations, and especially from the Portugueze, he resolved upon an enterprise which, though in regard to his own character and to that of the men whom he had assembled, it may deservedly have been called mischievous, and wicked, as well as great, was nevertheless not unworthy of his name and paternal line. He sailed for the Thames: many Kentish men were willing to assist him, others were forced either to join him, or aid him with their substance and money; and having collected some 16,000 or 17,000 May men, he brought his ships to Black wall, and eight 12. days only after the battle of Tewkesbury, appeared with his army before London. Henry was then living; and the Bastard demanded admission in his name, proclaiming his intention to deliver him from the Tower, restore him to his royal dignity, and, leading him through the city, to march forthwith against Edward, whose destruction he and his people vowed to pursue "with all their uttermost endeavours." Fear was then the moving principle by which the mayor and aldermen were actuated; and being more afraid of a victorious king than of such a force as this adventurer had brought together, they refused to admit him or any of his company *, and May despatched advice to Edward, who was then at Coventry. Immediately Edward sent off "1500 of the choicest soldiers he had about him" to the succours of the mayor and aldermen, that they might be enabled to resist this enemy, till he could get together such an army as was thought necessary; for he was far from regarding such **Fabyan, 662. Hall, 301. Holinshed, 321. 14. an enemy with contempt. The queen and his infant children were thought not to be in very good safeguard, considering the evil dispositions of many within the city, "who, for the favour they had borne to Warwick, and for their desire to be partakers of the spoil, cared not if the Bastard might have attained to his full purpose and wished intent." Falconbridge, meantime, finding that neither by persuasion nor threats he could obtain entrance, marched with his whole land force towards Kingston, leaving his ships between St. Catherine's and Blackwall, near Ratcliff. His declared intention was to spoil and destroy Westminster, and the suburbs of that city, and then to assault the city, and take vengeance upon those who had refused to admit him. But as he was on his way, he was advertised that Edward was preparing to march against him, with all the great lords of the realm, and a larger army than he had ever brought into the field before. The Bastard saw that if he crossed the river there was danger of his being surrounded; and that if, in the present state of his army, Edward could force him to a battle, his destruction would be inevitable: he knew also that there was no means of escape but by his ships; and that, while he was within reach of them, he was safe. So, with a resolution as prompt and as brave as the crisis required, he turned back, and mustered his people in St. George's Fields. Whatsoever the outward words of these men might be, "their inward cogitations," says Hall, 66 were only hope of spoil, and desire to rob and kill ;” and their purpose was to carry the city by assault if they could, and, putting it to the sack, bear off the plunder in their ships. With this view, they landed some pieces of artillery, and "planted them along the water-side, right over against the city, and there they shot off lustily, to annoy the citizens as much as possible." The citizens, on the other hand, brought their great artillery to bear, -greater no doubt and more, "and with violent shot thereof, so galled them that they were driven even from THE BASTARD FALCONBRIDGE. 133 their own ordnance. But Falconbridge was not so inexpert a soldier as to have expected more from this mode of attack than that it might occupy the attention of the Londoners, and serve as a diversion, while more serious attempts were made. He landed about 3000 men on the Middlesex side, with orders to form them close into two bodies, the one to attack Aldgate, the other Bishopsgate, while another part of his army were to set fire to the bridge, and open a passage there. London Bridge had suffered no such fierce assault since the repulse of Olaf: about sixty of the houses thereon were consumed; but this availed the assailants nothing; for the citizens had planted cannon at the further end, which commanded the passage. The magistrates and other worshipful citizens were in good array, and each man "appointed and bestowed where he was thought needful." The earl of Essex, and many knights, esquires, and gentlemen, with their friends and servants, came to aid the citizens, “taking great pains," says Holinshed, “to place them in order for the defence of the gates and walls, and furthermore devised how and in what sort they might sally forth upon their enemies to destroy them; and surely by the intermingling of such gentlemen and lords' servants in every part with the citizens they were greatly encouraged." Yet the rebels, as they are called, "bore themselves stoutly," especially the Essex men.* Under a captain of the Bastard's, by name Spiring, they won the bulwarks at Aldgate, and drove the citizens back within the portcullis; a handful of them had entered in pursuit when the portcullis was let fall: some were killed by it, and others, who were thus shut in, and cut off from aid, were presently dispatched. They continued to assault the gate, endeavouring to burn it; and guns and bows were well plied on both sides, the bow being used with more effect than the fire-arms. At length Robert Basset, the alderman, who had been appointed to command at this point, and Ursewick, the recorder, "both "Harnessed in their wives' cheeseclouts," says Hall well armed in strong jacks," ordered the portcullis to be raised, and sallied out with a good body of the citizens. The rebels, being thus unexpectedly attacked, were driven back to St. Botolph's church; and at that moment earl Rivers, with some 400 or 500 men, well apparelled for war, issued at the postern by the Tower, and "mightily laid upon them. And first he plagued them with the swift and thick flight of his arrows, and after joined with them at hand-strokes." But they had lost heart now, and were put to the rout, and pursued, “first to Mile End, and from thence some unto Poplar, some to Stratford and Stepney, and in manner each way forth about that part of the city, the chase being followed for two miles in length.' The Essex men dispersed in their flight, and each made the best of his way home; the others fled to the water-side, and, getting to their ships, crossed the river, and joined the great body of their companions. When the news of their defeat was known, their fellows, who were assaulting Bishopsgate, retired also. In these attacks, and in their flight, about 700 of the insurgents were slain. There were fires burning, all at once, at Aldgate, Bishopsgate, and on the bridge; but when the Bastard, who directed in person the attack against the bridge, learnt the ill success of his detachments, he also withdrew; and the alderman, Ralph Josselin, who commanded there, and whose "hardy manhood," the chronicler says, "is not to be passed in silence,” sallied after him, followed the pursuit along the water-side, till they came beyond Ratcliff, and slew and took very many.' Yet Falconbridge gathered together as many of his broken troops as he could, encamped on Blackheath, and remained there three days, in the hope that some fortunate event might occur, of which he might take advantage. When it was known that king Edward was coming with a "right puissant army," he durst no longer abide. His land forces consulted their own safety by timely dispersion: the soldiers from Calais returned thither with all speed; and he, with his THE BASTARD FALCONBRIDGE.. 135 mariners, and such as chose a piratical life, got to shipboard, and sailed down the river, and fortified himself at Sandwich.* Only five days after the retreat of this enterprising leader from Blackheath, Henry VI. died, happily for himself, whose life would henceforth only have been a continued martyrdom, but so opportunely for the house of York that his death has been accounted among their crimes. Whether it was brought about by violence, or by grief acting upon an enfeebled frame, is, and probably will for ever remain, uncertain. Falconbridge's attempt had shown that there would always be danger while this poor king lived; but, on the other hand, the resolute resistance which the Londoners had opposed to one who presented himself in Henry's name, evinced that the Lancastrian party in the metropolis was effectually subdued. The crime was needless, even upon their own views of policy. Had they deemed it necessary for their own security, it would have been committed without remorse. The spirit of the age, and the dreadful necessity of his situation excused the merciless acts of Edward to himself: but if he had been by nature capable of any generous impulse or virtuous feeling, he would not have detained the dethroned, widowed, and childless Margaret as a prisoner, till he had obtained a large ransom from her father. The host which Edward had raised was indeed a formidable one: he entered London with 30,000 men, and, halting there for one day only, went with his whole army towards Canterbury. The rapidity of his movements, and the force with which he moved, show how highly he rated the ability and the daring spirit of Falconbridge: the Bastard, on his part, well understood Edward's character, and his own comparative weakness. He had seven and forty ships under his command in Sandwich harbour; these were better means for negotiation than for maintaining a contest which, when he commenced his enterprise, seemed an equal one, but was * Holinshed, 322-324. |