A.D.

1413.

Page Youthful Extravagancies of the Prince of Wales, and his

Father's Jealousy of him; Chief Justice Gascoyne's in trepid Conduct towards the Prince

351 (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

351

HENRY V.

1413-1422,

1415,

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

364 (21st of May) Treaty of Troyes; Marriage of Henry with Catherine, Daughter of the French King

367 Henry resides at the Louvre

368 Lafayette defeats the English Troops under Clarence, with the Assistance of a Body of Scotchmen

• 368 (31st of August) Henry dies at Vincennes

370

1420.

1422

.

1422.

A.D.

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

1123.

1427.

1441.

1445.

VOL. II.

CHAP. I.

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

379 382

WAR OF THE ROSES.

HENRY VI.-EDWARD IV.

1422-1483.

Review of the Circumstances which led to the Wars

of the Roses

(1st of November) First Parliament of Henry VI., in the

10th Month of his Age

Page

378

cester's Protest against it

A Blow is struck at the Protector by a Charge of Sorcery

against Eleanor Cobham, his Wife or Concubine

Marriage of the King with Margaret of Anjou; the Mar-

riage unpopular in Consequence of Maine and Anjou,

the Keys of Normandy, being ceded to her Father by

the marriage Treaty

-

379

It confers the Regency on the Duke of Bedford, and the

Protectorship of England, during his Absence, on the

Duke of Gloucester, assisted by a Council

Release of the King of Scots

3

Dissensions between the Duke of Gloucester and the

Bishop of Winchester (afterwards Cardinal Beaufort) -

An Appeal by Gloucester to Parliament, relative to the

Extent of his Powers leads to a very distinct Asser-

tion of Parliamentary Supremacy

Beaufort relcases the Duke of Orleans, in Spite of Glou-

The Administration of public Affairs on Beaufort's Decay,

gradually slide into the Hands of William de la Pole,

Duke of Suffolk, who inherits the Animosity of his

Predecessor against Gloucester

1

1

2

2

4

5

5

7

8

A.D.

1447.

1450.

1454

1455.

1456.

1-158.

1459.

Page

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 9
Death of the Cardinal
10
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

·

(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

11

14

14

16

18

18

19

20

21

21

23

·

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
24, 25
At a Parliament held at Coventry, Richard and his Ad-
herents are attainted of Treason

A.D.

1460.

1461.

1464.

Page

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

26, 27

The Lords, after an affected Deliberation, assign the Right

of Succession to Richard, reserving the nominal Sove-

reignty to Henry for Life

29, 30

(Sist 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.

26

26

-

28

31

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

·

• 37

33

335

36

36

A.D.

1469.

1471.

Page Edward's Passion for Elizabeth Woodville; his clandestine Marriage with her

38, 39 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

40 (August) Royal Declaration against Warwick and Clarence as Rebels

41 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

41 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 41 (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

42 (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

43 Henry VI. soon afterwards dies in the Tower

43 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

44" 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

16 Striking Illustration of the State of the Times, in the History of the Shepherd Lord Clifford

47 The Remainder of the Reign of Edward occupied by Pre

parations against France, chiefly with a view of extort-
ing Pensions from Louis XI.

48 (9th of April) Death of Edward; “The shortest, yet

fullest Account of his Character is, that he yielded to
the Impulse of every Passion."

50

1475.

1483