A.D.

1447.

1450.

Page

· 9

10

11

Arrest of Gloucester, who is two Days afterwards found
dead in Prison; his Murder is attributed to Suffolk,
with the Connivance of the Queen and the Cardinal
Death of the Cardinal
Impeachment of Suffolk; he is commanded by the King
to leave England for five Years; but is intercepted on
his passage by a King's Ship, on board which he is be-
headed
(June) Rising of the Peasantry; Jack Cade; he defeats
the Royal Troops at Seven Oaks; Cade enters London 12,13
On receiving a general Pardon his Adherents disperse ;
but the Pardon is afterwards disregarded by the Court,
and Cade and others are executed
Rising Popularity of Richard Duke of York; Prospects of
his peaceable Succession cut off by the Birth of Edward
Prince of Wales

14

1454

14

Nature of the Claims of Richard to the Throne; the Ad
mission of an hereditary Claim after long Suspension
would lead to that very Disorder from which Monarchy
is a Refuge

16

His personal Merit had greater Weight with the Nation
than his hereditary Claim
Recognition by the Judges of the Privilege of Parliament
with regard to the Persons of its Members
(March) The Parliament, after ascertaining by a Com
mittee the Incapacity (bordering on Idiocy) of Henry,
appointed Richard Protector, until the King's Recovery,
or the Prince's Majority

1455

(May) Battle of St. Albans, in which Richard defeats the
King's Party

(June) A Parliament; a general Pardon
(February) The King resumes the Government
Example of avowed Influence by the Nobility over the
Return of Members for the Parliament of 1455
The Queen requires the Attendance of the Yorkist Lords
in London to go through the Ceremony of an ostenta
tious Reconciliation with the Lancastrians
Attempt by the Queen to inveigle the Nevilles to a
hunting Party, where she intended to destroy them;
Salisbury retires to Yorkshire and Warwick to Calais,
whence they plan a Junction with York; (23d of Sep-
tember) Salisbury defeats a Detachment of the Queen's
Army near Drayton; but on the 2d of October the com-
bined Yorkists are defeated by the Queen's forces near
Ludlow; Richard takes refuge in Ireland; the Ne-
villes on the Continent

23

333

24, 25

25

At a Parliament held at Coventry, Richard and his Ad-
herents are attainted of Treason

A.D. 1460.

1461.

1464.

Richard prepares to land with Irish Auxiliaries; War-
wick returns from Calais, and defeats the Queen's Army
near Northampton

Page

26

26

26, 27

(2d of October) A Parliament; which annuls the Proceed-
ings of that held at Coventry
(16th of October) Richard lays solemn Claim to the
Throne in the House of Lords
The Lords, after an affected Deliberation, assign the Right
of Succession to Richard, reserving the nominal Sove-
reignty to Henry for Life
(31st of December) Richard totally defeated by Margaret
at Wakefield Green; Death of Richard; Execution of
Salisbury, and others of his Adherents, at Pomfret
(2d of February) Edward Duke of York, Son of Richard,
defeats Pembroke and Ormond, two of the Queen's
Adherents, at Mortimer's Cross, near Hereford
(17th of February) An Army of Yorkists, under Norfolk
and Warwick, defeated by Margaret at St. Albans, but
the Queen, distrusting London and the South, retires
Northward

28

29, 30

Edward enters London, and (4th of March) is greeted
King by the Shouts of the People, and the next Day
proclaimed as Edward IV.
Singular Inconsistency of this democratical Recognition
of his Title with its real Character, as founded on here-
ditary indefeasible Right; Ambition is often obliged to
avail itself of the most effectual Instrument of the
Moment, at the Expense of Consistency
(12th of March) Edward commences a Pursuit of his
Enemies in the North; (29th) Battle of Towton, in
which the Lancastrians are completely routed; (22d
of June) Edward crowned; (4th of November) a Par-
liament, by confirming the judicial and other Proceed-
ings of the Time of Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry
VI., "late in fact but not of right Kings of England,"
it first introduces a Distinction into English Law, preg-
nant with the very Evils which Hereditary Monarchy
can only be justified by its Tendency to prevent
Rising Importance of Commerce shown by the Attention
of Parliament to its Regulation; false Views of the
Sources of commercial Prosperity, which early ob
tained, and are not yet eradicated
Margaret returns from France to Scotland with 500 French
Troops, with which she enters England, but is defeated
at the Battle of Hexham (17th of May)

(25th of May) Henry captured; attainted and imprisoned
in the Tower; Margaret and her Son escape into France,
accompanied by Sir John Fortescue

A.D.

Page

Edward's Passion for Elizabeth Woodville; his clandes-
tine Marriage with her

38, 39

1469.

1471.

1475.

1483.

This Union displeases Warwick, who had received the
alarming Title of The King Maker; his Character;
he receives a Pension from Louis XI.; weds his
Daughter to Clarence, Edward's Brother, without the
Royal Consent

Revolt in Yorkshire; supposed to have been fomented by
Warwick
(August) Royal Declaration against Warwick and Cla-
rence as Rebels

Louis XI. espouses their Cause, and by his Mediation
Margaret and Warwick are reconciled, and agree to
unite their Forces against Edward, and to wed the
young Prince Edward to Warwick's Daughter
Edward, on the approach of Warwick, escapes to Hol-
land, and Warwick, by the aid of Clarence, and under
the Name of Henry, assumes the supreme Power
(14th of March) Edward lands in England with a Body of
Flemings and Dutchmen; (14th of April) Battle of
Barnet; Defeat and Death of Warwick and his Brother
Montague
(14th of May) Battle of Tewkesbury; Margaret and the
Lancastrians totally defeated; on the young Prince re-
plying haughtily to Edward, he is despatched by four
Noblemen on the Spot

Henry VI. soon afterwards dies in the Tower
His Character; the Harmlessness which arises from Im-
becility is not a fair Subject of Admiration, though by
a happy Beguilement and for wise Purposes, Nature
often inspires us with an undeserved Tenderness for the
Weak
War with France terminated by the Treaty of Pecquigny;
Margaret of Anjou liberated, on Payment of a Ransom
by Louis; she survived seven Years in France; con-
tinued Misunderstandings between Edward and his
Brother Clarence, are terminated by the private Execu-
tion of the latter in the Tower, by drowning (according
to Tradition) in a Butt of Malmsey
Striking Illustration of the State of the Times, in the
History of the Shepherd Lord Clifford
The Remainder of the Reign of Edward occupied by Pre-
parations against France, chiefly with a View of extort-
ing Pensions from Louis XI.

40

40

41

41

41

45

43

44

46

47

(9th of April) Death of Edward; "The shortest, yet
fullest Account of his Character is, that he yielded to
the Impulse of every Passion,"

A.D.

1483.

1485.

CHAP. II.

TO THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH.

EDWARD V.-RICHARD III.
1483-1485.

State of Court Parties at the Death of Edward IV.
(29th of April) Meeting between the young King and
his Uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester; Richard seeks
a Quarrel with the Woodvilles, Edward's Maternal
Uncles

He assumes the Title of Protector

Page 51

He lodges the young Princes in the Tower (13th of June); Murder of Hastings and Rivers, and Imprisonment of others

Penance inflicted on Jane Shore, to render the Memory
of Edward IV. obnoxious

Aspersions on the Legitimacy of the young Princes
Parliamentary Adoption of the Calumny

(26th of June) Richard King

52

53

54

55

56

57

3858

59

61

His Execution; many of his Adherents, who escape to
Britany, do Homage to Henry of Richmond as King 62
Richard attempts to gain Popularity by legal Reform-
ations

(6th of August) Henry lands at Milford

(22d of August) Battle of Bosworth; Henry King,
State of Law and Government; Influence of the Nobility
in Elections; Character of English Institutions by De
Comines and Fortescue

Various and jarring Grounds on which the Title of Henry
rested; Parliamentary Settlement

(14th of January) Marriage of Henry with Elizabeth of
York

Military Progress in the North

Committal of Edward Plantagenet to the Tower

Pretensions of Symnel

- 70

71

71

72

72

74

(February) Symnel countenanced by the Earl of Kildare

Lord Deputy of Ireland

(May) Landing of an Irish Force in Lancashire, in Sup-
port of Symnel

A.D.

Page

1493.

(22d of June) The Insurgents defeated; Symnel made a
Turnspit in the King's Kitchen
Pretensions of Perkin Warbeck; Reasons for rejecting
his Statement that he was the Duke of York
He is received in Ireland; Sir R. Clifford and others of
the York Party go to Flanders to enquire into his His-
tory
Clifford acts a double Part, and, on his Return, several
Yorkists are put to Death on his Evidence

75

76

77

78

1496.

79

1497.

1498. 1499.

1499.

(May) Warbeck attempts to land near Deal, but is de-
feated

James King of Scotland espouses the Cause of Warbeck,
but on James acceding to a Truce with England,
Warbeck leaves Scotland

He lands in Cornwall; Insurrection of the Cornish Men
in his favour, who march towards London
(23d of June) The Insurgents defeated
(September) Perkin takes Sanctuary at the Abbey of
Beaulieu in Hampshire; (January) he yields himself up 83
Conspiracy between him and Clarence for their joint De-
liverance from the Tower; probability that he was in
this a Tool of Henry for the Destruction of Clarence,
whose Title was a Source of Anxiety
(November) Execution of Warbeck and of Clarence
The Murder of the latter was, in all probability, coolly
planned between Henry and Ferdinand of Spain, the
Claims of Clarence, being deemed, by Ferdinand, an
Objection to the Marriage of the Infanta with Prince
Arthur

84

86

Foreign Alliances, and Relations of Henry; State of the
European Governments

1503.

Peace with Scotland; Marriage of Margaret Tudor with
James

1501 1502

1496.

Treacherous Attempts, of which Henry had been guilty,
against James

His treacherous Extortion from Philip of the Surrender of
De la Pole
(November) Marriage of Prince Arthur to the Infanta;
(April) his Death; (June) Treaty for the Marriage of
Prince Henry with his Brother's Widow
97
Laws of this Reign; Origin of the Star Chamber 98-100
Spirit of Maritime Discovery and Commerce; Voyage of
Sebastian Cabot; Treaty of "the Great Intercourse" be-
tween England and Burgundy; evident Approach of
those mighty Changes, which were about "to raise the
middle Classes; to restore the Importance of personal
Property; to extend political Knowledge; and, at length,
to diffuse Education so widely, as to alter the Seat of
Power"
100-103