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CHAPTER XVI.

THE DYNASTY OF York, a. D. 1461--1485.

THREE SOVEREIGNS.

Edward IV. Battle of Towton-Queen Margaret-Punishment of Sir Ralph Gray-Marriage with Elizabeth Woodville-Captivity and Escape of the King-Restoration of Henry-Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury-War with France-Treaty of Pecquigny-Murder of the Duke of ClarenceEdward V.-Regency of Gloucester-Execution of Hastings-Sermon at Paul's Cross-Richard III.—Murder of the Royal Princes-Insurrection against the Usurper-Battle of Bosworth-Progress of the PeopleImportance of English Commerce-Foreign Trade of Scotland and Ireland.

Edward IV., A. d. 1461—1483.

1. THE new king did not linger long in the capital to enjoy his recent elevation. The Lancastrians were still in the field, and by the middle of March, Queen Margaret had collected an army of 60,000 men. To oppose this force, Edward and Warwick advanced at the head of 49,000. They met at Towton on the 29th of March, and the battle commenced in the midst of a heavy snow-storm. The combat was prolonged from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon, when the Lancastrians fled, leaving 28,000 dead on the field. The king had ordered that no quarter should be given: the Earl of Northumberland died fighting; the Earls of Devonshire and Wiltshire were taken and beheaded. The Duke of Somerset, the commander-in-chief, with Queen Margaret, her husband, and her son, escaped into Scotland. The slaughter in this battle exceeded all the previous contests between the rival roses; the total loss on both sides amounting to nearly 40,000 men.

Edward entered York shortly after his victory, whence, after executing some of his prisoners, he marched to Newcastle, sent Lord Montague to the relief of Carlisle, then besieged by the Scots, issued orders to retake Berwick, which Henry had surrendered to the Scottish army, and returned to Westminster, where he was crowned with great ceremony on the 29th of June 1461.

The parliament, which the new king assembled in November, solemnly recognised the rights of his family, revoked all

the concessions and donations of the three preceding Lancastrian monarchs, who were declared tyrants and usurpers, and passed bills of attainder against Henry, his queen, and his son, and all the leaders of their faction. But Margaret was still resolute and active as ever, seeking aid in every quarter. From Louis XI. she obtained 20,000 crowns and 2000 men, with whom she returned to England. After some trifling successes in Northumberland, where she had been joined by the English exiles and a few troops from Scotland, she was compelled to flee by the advance of Warwick, and reached Berwick in a wretched fishing-boat. She soon after returned to the continent, where she remained some years, never relaxing her efforts to raise up enemies against Edward, and stir up his subjects to fresh revolts.

In April 1464, the Lancastrians once more took the field, but were defeated at Hedgeley Moor, near Wooler, and again at Hexham. The leaders of this movement who survived the battle were beheaded. Sir Ralph Gray, who had deserted from the Yorkists, was treated with unprecedented severity at Doncaster. His knightly spurs were struck off by the king's cook; his coat of arms was torn from his body; and another coat reversed was put upon his back; he was sent barefoot to the town's end, then laid upon a hurdle and drawn to the scaffold, where the executioner spat in his face before striking off his head. About a year after, Henry, who had lain concealed in Yorkshire, was betrayed by a monk, and lodged in the Tower.

2. Edward's ambition was satisfied. His insatiable vengeance slept, and he indulged in milder but more engrossing passions, which caused all the subsequent troubles of his reign, and drove him a fugitive into foreign lands. Jacquetta of Luxemburg, widow of the great Duke of Bedford, had taken a second husband, Sir Richard Woodville, created Lord Rivers by Henry VI. One day, during a hunting excursion, Edward alighted at her manor of Grafton, near Stony Stratford, and was much struck by the beauty of her daughter Elizabeth, the widow of Sir John Gray, a Lancastrian who had fallen in the second battle of Saint Albans, and whose estates had been forfeited. The lovely widow threw herself at the monarch's feet, entreating him to reverse the attainder of her late husband in favour of her innocent and helpless children. The result of this interview was, that Edward contracted a private marriage with Elizabeth Gray, which he made known

five months after in a great council held in the royal abbey of Reading. In May of the following year she was solemnly crowned at Westminster.

The new queen immediately profited by her influence over her husband's affections to exalt her own family. Edward's obligations to the Nevils had been so great, that most of the offices of government were conferred upon them. Warwick was chief minister, general, and admiral, as well as chamberlain, warden of the west marches, and governor of Calais; his brother, Lord Montague, the victor of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham, was rewarded by the title and estates of the Percys, with the wardenship of the east marches; the Bishop of Exeter, the third brother, was made chancellor, and raised to the archiepiscopal see of York. The Woodvilles and the Grays now claimed a share in these good things, and in a short time contracted five or six profitable matrimonial alliances, five heirs of dukes or earls being united to the queen's five unmarried sisters. In one of these matches they offended the Nevils. Warwick had solicited the hand of the Duke of Exeter's heiress for his own nephew; but by the queen's influence that lady was contracted to Thomas Gray, her eldest son by her former marriage. This powerful house was still further irritated by making Earl Rivers treasurer in the place of Lord Mountjoy, and by appointing Sir Richard Woodville lord high constable instead of the Earl of Worcester.

In 1467, the misunderstanding between Edward and the Nevils was brought to a crisis by the union of Charles, duke of Burgundy, with Margaret of York, the king's sister, whose hand had been sought by one of the French princes. Warwick was sent on an embassy to France to arrange the match with one of the sons of Louis XI., and matters appeared to be proceeding satisfactorily, when the great earl found on his return to London that all his negotiations had been frustrated by the intrigues of the queen's relations. He retired to his estates in ill humour, and Edward, pretending that he was in danger from Warwick's partisans, surrounded himself with a strong guard, and banished all the Nevils from court. The breach was temporarily healed by the interference of their common friends; but it was generally felt that the reconcili ation was far from being sincere.

3. The Duke of Clarence, Edward's second brother, jealous of the great power possessed by the queen's relatives, attached himself with all the ardour of youth to the Earl of

Warwick, whose fair daughter, Isabella, had inspired him with a tender passion; and notwithstanding the opposition of Edward, the parties were married at Calais in July 1469. At the same time the country people of Yorkshire broke out in insurrection. The general cry was for the removal of the queen's relations from the king's councils. Edward immediately proceeded against them, but his army was routed at Edgecote, and in the pursuit Earl Rivers and Sir John Woodville, father and brother of the queen, fell into the hands of the insurgents, by whom they were beheaded. At this juncture Warwick arrived from Calais, and found Edward in a most unhappy condition at Olney, almost all his friends having deserted him. A word from the great earl dispersed the rebels; but the king remained a captive in the hands of his liberators, by whom he was carried to the strong castle of Middleham. Thus England had two kings, both of whom were prisoners.

At this crisis the Lancastrians rose in arms, but Warwick, who had as yet no intention of restoring Henry, marched northwards to meet them. They were easily dispersed, and their leader was taken prisoner and beheaded. The events of this period are extremely obscure; but it would appear from the result that Warwick had obtained extensive concessions from the captive Edward. On the king's return to the capital, a general amnesty was granted to all those who had taken up arms against their sovereign; Clarence and Warwick were restored to favour, and seemed to have recovered all their former influence.

But this apparent reconciliation was of short duration, for, notwithstanding the mutual protestations of parties, their distrust and resentment could not be altogether concealed. One day, about twelve weeks after this family peace, as Edward was washing his hands, previous to taking his seat at a great entertainment given by the Archbishop of York, at his manor of the Moor in Hertfordshire, an attendant whispered in his ear that an armed band was lurking near the house. Without stopping to inquire into the accuracy of this report, the king secretly mounted his horse and galloped off to Windsor. The Duchess of York, the king's mother, brought about a second reconciliation, as hollow as the first, when suddenly an insurrection broke out among the common people of Lincolnshire, who complained of the extortion and oppression of the purveyors and other officers of the royal household.

Clarence and Warwick were sent against the rebels; but Edward, marching from a different quarter, reached them first, and defeated them at Erpingham in Rutlandshire (12th March 1470). The leaders who had not fallen in battle were sent to the block. The king now openly turned against his two lieutenants, who, it was reported, would have joined the insurgents on the following day. The "kingmaker" disbanded his forces and fled into Devonshire, whence, with his wife, daughter, and several other ladies, besides Clarence and a large number of friends, he sailed for Calais. On reaching this harbour, he found the guns pointed against his ships, and was compelled to land at Harfleur, where he was received with great cordiality and respect.

4. RESTORATION OF HENRY.-At the court of Louis XI., Warwick met the fallen Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou and her son. It must have been a strange interview. The carl had accused the queen of an attempt to murder him, and knew that she had sent his old father, his friends, and associates, to the scaffold. Margaret had cursed the name of Warwick for fifteen long years of misfortune and humiliation, for through his means her husband was a prisoner, and she and her son were exiles, dependent on foreign bounty. A common interest now united them; the earl engaged to restore the Lancastrian line, and Prince Edward, Margaret's son, married the Lady Anne, Warwick's second daughter. In case there should be no male issue from this marriage, the crown was to devolve on Edward's brother.

Clarence, who by this arrangement saw another claimant interposed between himself and the throne, determined to desert the Lancastrian cause at the first favourable opportunity. Meanwhile, the strangest want of foresight marked all King Edward's movements, although his brother-in-law, Charles the Rash, duke of Burgundy, repeatedly warned him to put his kingdom in a posture of defence, and even informed him of the port at which Warwick intended to land. On the 13th Sept. 1470, the earl debarked on the coast of Devonshire, and in five or six days the whole country flocked to his standard. Edward, who was in the north, returned to Nottingham, whither the "kingmaker" rapidly hastened. The king was deserted by nearly all his troops, and compelled to flee to Holland in great distress, not even having sufficient money to pay the seamen for carrying him over. Eleven days had sufficed to complete his ruin.

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