Youthful Extravagancies of the Prince of Wales, and his Father's Jealousy of him; Chief Justice Gascoyne's in trepid Conduct towards the Prince (20th of March) Death of Henry IV.; Nature of his Title; Constitutional Review of his Reign; Power of the Purse; Privileges of Parliament more defined; Regu. lation of Elections; Statute against Lollards
Hopes of recovering the Continental Possessions of the English Crown; Measures to secure Popularity Miserable Condition of France under Charles VI. (15th of April) Henry announces his Intention to go in Per- son to recover his Continental Dominions, but is de- tained by a Conspiracy
(11th of August) He embarks for France with a large Army 312 (24th of October) Battle of Agincourt
(21st of May) Treaty of Troyes; Marriage of Henry with Catherine, Daughter of the French King Henry resides at the Louvre
Proclaimed King both of France and England at the Age of Nine Months; Divisior of Parties in France
1422-1429. During the first Seven Years of this Reign, the English Arms prevailed; Devastations occasioned in France by the War; rise of Resentment against the English (October) Siege of Orleans
(May) Raise of the Siege by Jeanne d'Arc
Charles VII. consecrated King of France
Jeanne d'Arc made Prisoner; her cruel Execution Alienation of the Duke of Burgundy from the English Party
Henry VI. consecrated King of France, at Paris, by an English Prelate
The Duke of Burgundy concludes a separate Peace with France
Ill Success of the English Arms in France
1448, 1449. Loss of Normandy
1451. And of the Gascon and Pyrenean Provinces; Defeat and Death of Talbot at the Battle of Chatillon; Close of the second War of the Plantagenets to re-establish them- selves in France Review of the political Changes and Indications of the Age; the Decline, or Approach to mere Formality, of Constitutional Assemblies threatened throughout the Continent; the Prevalence of Despotism; but the silent Advancement of Knowledge was at the same Time preparing the Way for different Results; Mari- ner's Compass; Columbus born in 1441; Approach of the Reformation; Printing
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 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
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
(May) Battle of St. Albans, in which Richard defeats the King's Party
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
At a Parliament held at Coventry, Richard and his Ad. herents are attainted of Treason
Richard prepares to land with Irish Auxiliaries; War- wick returns from Calais, and defeats the Queen's Army near Northampton
(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 (S1st 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
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
Edward's Passion for Elizabeth Woodville; his clandes- tine Marriage with her
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 Preparations against France, chiefly with a View of extorting Pensions from Louis XI.
(9th of April) Death of Edward; "The shortest, yet fullest Account of his Character is, that he yielded to the Impulse of every Passion."
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