REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
The Battle of Towton--Edward's Coronation--Henry escapes to
Scotland--The Queen seeks aid in France--Battle of Hexham--Henry
made Prisoner--Confined in the Tower--Edward marries Lady
Elizabeth Grey--Advancement of her Relations--Attacks on the
Family of the Nevilles--Warwick negotiates with France--Marriage
of Margaret, the King's Sister, to the Duke of Burgundy--Marriage
of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick--Battle of
Banbury--Rupture between the King and his Brother--Rebellion of
Clarence and Warwick--Clarence and Warwick flee to France--Warwick
proposes to restore Henry VI.--Marries Edward, Prince of Wales,
to his Daughter, Lady Ann Neville--Edward IV.'s reckless
Dissipation--Warwick and Clarence invade England--Edward
expelled--His return to England--Battle of Barnet--Battle
of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause--Rivalry
of Clarence and Gloucester--Edward's Futile Intervention in
Foreign Politics--Becomes a Pensioner of France--Death of
Clarence--Expedition to Scotland--Death and Character of the King.
Edward IV., at this period of his great success, and his acknowledgment
by the people of London and the council as king, was only in his
twentieth year. Handsome of person and of popular manners, he was not
restrained by any such conscientious scruples as guided his father, but
was bold and impetuous. He was fond of pleasure, addicted to gallantry,
and at the same time as ready to shed blood as he was to make love
and revel in courtly pageants. The reluctant approaches to sanguinary
measures which had marked the earlier proceedings of his father, had
long since vanished in the heated progress of the strife, and Edward
might be regarded as the representative of the leaders now on both sides,
with the exception of the gentle and forgiving Henry. But on this side
Queen Margaret was as energetic as she was ambitious, and as resolute as
her husband was the contrary. The circumstances into which she had been
thrown had roused in her the spirit of a tigress fighting for its young.
Margaret, on the warm reception of Edward by the Londoners, had retired
northward with her marauding soldiers, who had so fatally damaged her
cause by their outrages. Three days after his reception in London, Edward
despatched Warwick, the chief bulwark of his cause, in pursuit of her,
and on the 12th of March, only five days afterwards, he followed himself.
On reaching the Earl of Warwick, their combined troops amounted to
40,000. The queen was exerting all her activity and eloquence amongst her
northern friends, and lay at York with 60,000 men. Everything denoted the
eve of a bloody conflict.
This civil war was now known all over the world as the War of the Roses,
a name said to be derived from a circumstance which took place in a
dispute in the Temple Gardens betwixt Warwick and Somerset, at an early
period of the rival factions. Somerset, in order to collect the suffrages
of those on the side of Lancaster, is said to have plucked a red rose
from a bush, and called upon every man who held with him to do the like.
Warwick, for York, plucked a white rose, and thus the partisans were
distinguishable by these differing badges.
The vanguard of the two armies met at Ferrybridge, the passage of the
river Aire. The Duke of Somerset was commander-in-chief of the royal
army. The king, queen, and prince remained at York. Lord Clifford led
the vanguard, and was opposed by Lord Fitzwalter on the part of the
Yorkists. The battle at the bridge was furious; Fitzwalter was killed.
Lord Falconbridge was instantly sent forward to replace him, and instead
of opposing Clifford in front in his strong position, allowing the troops
there to hold him in play, he himself crossed the Aire, some miles above
Ferrybridge, and falling unexpectedly on the rear of Clifford, routed his
force, and revenged the death of Fitzwalter by that of Clifford himself.
The Yorkists poured over the bridge, took possession of the town, and
advanced towards Towton. Meantime, Warwick, excited by the temporary
repulse at the bridge under Fitzwalter, had called for his horse, stabbed
him in sight of the whole army, and kissing the hilt of his bloody
sword, swore that he would fight on foot, and share every fatigue and
disadvantage with the common soldiers.
With minds inflamed to the utmost pitch of animosity, the two armies met
on the morning of Palm Sunday, March 29th, in the fields betwixt the
villages of Saxton and Towton, about ten miles south of York. Edward
issued orders that no quarter should be given, no prisoners taken. The
action began at nine o'clock in the morning, under circumstances most
unfortunate for the Lancastrians. A snowstorm was blowing full in their
faces; and Lord Falconbridge seized at once on this circumstance by an
adroit stratagem. He ordered the archers to advance, discharge their
arrows, and again retire out of the reach of those of the enemy. The
Lancastrians, believing themselves within bow-shot of the enemy, whose
arrows did great execution amongst them, returned the compliment without
being able to see where their arrows reached for the snowflakes. The
Yorkist archers were now out of their range, and they fell useless. Again
the Yorkists advanced, and poured in a fresh flight with such effect that
the Lancastrians, probably doubting of the success of their own arrows,
rushed forward and came hand to hand with their opponents. It was now one
terrible clash of swords, battle-axes, and spears, amid the thick-falling
and blinding storm; and thus the two infuriated armies continued fighting
desperately for nearly five hours. Towards evening the Lancastrians,
disheartened by the fall of their principal commanders, broke and fled.
They were pursued as far as Tadcaster with the fiercest impetuosity, and
fearful slaughter. It was one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in
Britain. According to a contemporary historian, those who were employed
to number and bury the dead, declared them to be 38,000.
After celebrating the feast of Easter at York, Edward marched to
Newcastle, and, leaving Warwick there to keep the north in order,
returned to London on the 26th of June.
On reaching Scotland, Margaret placed Henry in a secure retreat at
Kirkcudbright, and then hastened to Edinburgh, to try what could be
done towards renewing the contest, which no dispersion of her friends
and forces could ever teach her to relinquish. There she found a
boy sovereign, a divided court, and a country which had suffered by
factions almost as deadly as her own. James I., who had seemed to
return to his kingdom after his long captivity under such auspicious
circumstances--full of intelligence and plans for the improvement of his
country, married to the woman of his affections, and courted by both
England and France,--was soon murdered by the rude and lawless nobles
whom he endeavoured to reduce to some degree of order and subordination.
His son, James II., when arrived at years of maturity, endeavoured to
recover from distracted England some of the places it had reft from
Scotland formerly, but in besieging Roxburgh in 1460, he was killed by
the bursting of a cannon. His son was at this time a child of only eight
years old, and the kingdom was governed by a council of regency; but the
care of the king's person was committed to the queen-mother, Mary of
Guelders, who was ambitious of engrossing not only that duty, but the
actual powers of the government. In this she was opposed by the powerful
family of Douglas.
Margaret had no willing listeners amongst parties who were occupied with
their own schemes and feuds. She had the difficult task of appealing to
their various interests; and she found no one thing capable of fixing
their attention till she hit on the idea of proposing the surrender of
Berwick as the price of Scotland's assistance. That key of the northern
frontiers of England, for the possession of which so much blood had been
spilled from age to age, was an object the proposed recovery of which at
once gave her the command of the ears of the whole court. In addition to
this, she offered a marriage betwixt her son, Edward, Prince of Wales,
and the eldest sister of the young King of Scotland. These treaties were
carried into effect, and Berwick was put into the hands of the Scots on
the 25th of April, 1461.
Edward, on his return to London, was crowned on the 29th of June. He then
summoned a Parliament to meet at Westminster on the 6th of July, but
an invasion appearing not improbable, he prorogued it till the 4th of
November. The sword and the scaffold had already so thinned the nobility
that only one duke, four earls, one viscount, and twenty-nine barons
were summoned to this Parliament. The great battle of Towton, which had
laid so many of them low, had rendered the rest very submissive. There
was no longer any hesitating betwixt the two families, or seeking of
those compromises which, in the end, only produced more discord. Whatever
Edward dictated was accepted as law and constitution. Of course Henry
IV. was declared to have been an arrant usurper; and his posterity were
held incapable, not only of wearing the crown, but of enjoying any estate
or dignity in any portion of the British dominions for ever. Henry VI.,
Margaret, Edward, called Prince of Wales, the Dukes of Somerset and
Exeter, the Earls of Northumberland, Devonshire, and Pembroke, and a
vast number of lords, knights, and gentlemen, were attainted. Edward IV.
was proclaimed to be the only rightful king; and all those of the York
party who had been declared traitors by the Lancaster party when it was
uppermost, and expelled from honours and estates, were restored.
Meanwhile, nothing daunted, Margaret was exerting her ingenuity to
rouse a party in Scotland. She pleaded to deaf ears. Her surrender of
Berwick brought her no real assistance; and she now sent over Somerset
to endeavour to obtain succour from France. All these efforts were
equally vain. Charles VII. died in 1461, and his successor, Louis
XI., was immovable. Somerset, her ambassador, returned completely
unsuccessful. He and his attendants had, indeed, been arrested by Louis
when they attempted to escape in the guise of merchants, for fear of
the despicable king giving them up to Edward to propitiate his favour.
It was only through the earnest intercession of the Count of Charolais,
the son of the Duke of Burgundy, that they were liberated. Louis XI. was
cousin-german to both Margaret and Henry VI.; but such relationships
weigh nothing with selfish men, in comparison to their own immediate
interests. While this unwelcome news was arriving, Margaret was rendered
the more uneasy and unsafe by the appearance of Warwick at the court
of Scotland, proposing a marriage betwixt the Scottish queen and the
victorious Edward of England. Under these circumstances, neither Margaret
nor Henry was safe. She resolved, therefore, to make one more effort
with Louis of France, and a personal one. By means of a French merchant,
who owed her some kindness for past benefit, she managed to get over to
France, where she threw herself at the feet of Louis, who was at Chinon
in Normandy. She was only able to reach his court by the assistance of
the Duke of Brittany, who gave her 12,000 crowns.
Margaret agreed to surrender the rights of the crown in Calais, and
that Henry should do the same. And what was to be the price of this
sacrifice--this sacrifice of this proud stronghold of England, this
sacrifice of her own honour, and this last remaining fragment of her
good fame in Britain? The paltry sum of 20,000 livres! That was all she
could squeeze from the miserable French king for this intensely desired
object. True, he had it still to win, for it was not in the possession
of Margaret or her husband; but the acknowledged purchase from the
Lancastrian king would give him great weight in any attempts to compel
the surrender, and if Henry did again recover his throne, Calais must be
made over to him at once.
[Illustration: EDWARD IV.]
With her 20,000 livres Margaret was enabled to engage the services
of Pierre de Brézé, the seneschal of Normandy. He had been an old
admirer of Margaret's, and now offered to follow her with 2,000 men.
With this force, after an absence of five months, she set sail for
England, and attempted to land at Tynemouth, in October, 1462, but was
repelled by the garrison. The fleet was now attacked by a terrible
storm; the very elements seemed to fight against her. Many of her
ships ran ashore near Bamborough. Yet, spite of all her difficulties,
Margaret effected a landing, and gained possession of the castles of
Bamborough, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick. She sent for Henry from his safe
hiding-place at Harlech Castle in Merionethshire, where she had left him
while she went to France, and was gathering some considerable forces
of Scots and French when Warwick drew near with 20,000 men, and news
was received that Edward was approaching with an equal number. Edward
halted at Newcastle, but Warwick advancing, divided his forces into three
bodies, and simultaneously invested the three strongholds. Somerset
surrendered Bamborough on condition that himself and Sir Ralph Percy,
and others, should be allowed to take the oath of fealty to Edward, and
be restored to all their honours and estates; and that the rest of the
two garrisons, with the Earl of Pembroke, and some others, whose lands
had been conferred on Edward's friends, and could not, therefore, be
now restored, should be conveyed in safety to Scotland. This defection
of her chief supporters was a dreadful blow to the queen, and, to add
to her misfortunes, 500 of her French followers, who had established
themselves in Holy Island were attacked and cut to pieces by Sir Robert
Ogle. Alnwick Castle still held out in the hands of the brave De Brézé
and Lord Hungerford; but the Earl of Angus coming up with a party of
relief, the besieged took the opportunity to make a sally and escape from
the castle to their friends. Bamborough and Dunstanburgh were restored by
the king to Lord Percy; but Alnwick he gave to Sir John Ashley, to the
great offence of Sir Ralph Grey, who had formerly won it for Edward, and
now expected to have had it.
[Illustration: DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE.]
It might have been supposed that all hope of ever restoring the
Lancastrian cause was now at an end. But in the soul of Margaret hope
never seemed to die. With an admirable and indomitable resolution, she
again turned her efforts to reconstruct a fresh army. She traversed
Scotland, drew together her scattered friends, joined them to her French
auxiliaries, whom she again mustered on the Continent: and by the spring
of 1464 was in a condition once more to march into England. For some time
her affairs wore a promising aspect. She retook the castles of Alnwick,
Bamborough, and Dunstanburgh. Somerset, Sir Ralph Percy, and the rest who
had made their peace with Edward, hearing of her successes, again flew to
her standard. Sir Ralph Grey, who resented the preference given to Sir
John Ashley by Edward in the disposal of Alnwick, came over to her, and
was made commander of Bamborough.
Edward, on the news of these reverses, dispatched the Lord Montague,
the brother of Warwick, into the north to raise his forces there, and
make head against the never-resting queen. He met with Sir Ralph Percy
on Hedgeley Moor, near Wooler, on the 25th of April, defeated his
forces, and killed Sir Ralph. Having received fresh reinforcements from
the south, he advanced towards Margaret's main army, and encamped on a
plain, called the Levels, near Hexham. There, on the 15th of May, the two
armies came to a general action, and after a long and bloody conflict the
Lancastrians were again completely routed. Poor King Henry fled for his
life, and this time managed not to be left in the hands of his enemies.
Margaret and her son, with a few attendants, were meanwhile flying
wildly through the neighbouring forests from the tender mercies of
this sanguinary young king. She was endeavouring to reach the Scottish
borders, when they were met by a party of marauders, with whom the Border
country abounded. The queen on her knees implored mercy, and avowed who
she was; but the villains who had hold of her, seeing their associates
busy dividing the rich booty, turned to them, and she seized the
opportunity, while they were quarrelling over it, to fly with her son.
The fugitives rushed onward, not knowing whither they were going, till
night overtook them. Nearly fainting with terror, fatigue, and hunger,
as the moon broke through the clouds they beheld a huge man, armed, and
with threatening gestures hastening towards them. Imagining it was one
of the band that had robbed them who had now overtaken her, she expected
nothing but death; but, mustering her characteristic resolution, she bade
the man see that if he hoped for booty it was useless, for she and her
child had been stripped even of their upper garments for their value.
The man appeared to be one of the numerous outlaws harboured in that
locality, and many of whom had seen better days. He was touched by her
appeal, and Margaret, perceiving it, said, "Here, my friend, save the
son of your king! I charge thee to preserve from violence that innocent
royal blood. Take him, and conceal him from those who seek his life. Give
him a refuge in thine obscure hiding-place, and he will one day give
thee free access to his royal chamber, and make thee one of his barons."
The man, struck by the majestic presence of the queen, the pleading
innocence of the prince, and the words of Margaret, knelt, and vowed he
would rather die a thousand deaths than injure or betray them. He carried
the young prince in his arms to his cave, on the south bank of a little
stream which runs at the foot of Blockhill, and, from this circumstance,
still called "Queen Margaret's cave." There the man's wife made them
right welcome, and, after two days' concealment, the outlaw succeeded in
meeting with De Brézé, and his followers soon afterwards discovered the
Duke of Exeter and Edward Beaufort--from the execution of his brother now
Duke of Somerset; and with them Margaret escaped to Scotland, and, after
many adventures, reached France. There Margaret received the melancholy
news of the capture and imprisonment of her husband. For about twelve
months the unfortunate monarch had contrived to elude the eager quest
of his enemies. He went from place to place amongst the friends of the
house of Lancaster in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. At the
various halls and castles where he sojourned, tradition has to this day
retained the memory of his presence. He was at length betrayed by a monk
of Abingdon, and he was taken by the servants of Sir John Harrington,
as he sat at dinner at Waddington Hall. He was treated with the utmost
indignity on his way to London. He was mounted on a miserable hack, his
legs being tied to his stirrups, and an insulting placard fixed on his
back. At Islington Warwick met the fallen king, and disgraced himself by
commanding the thronging spectators to show no respect to him. To enforce
his command by his own example, he led the unhappy man three times round
the pillory, as if he had been a common felon, crying, "Treason! treason!
Behold the traitor!"
Edward, now freed from his enemies, considered himself as established
on the throne beyond all doubt. He created Lord Montacute Earl of
Northumberland for his services at Hexham, and Lord Herbert Earl of
Pembroke. He issued a long list of attainders to exhaust the resources
of his opponents and increase those of his adherents. He then passed an
Act for the resumption of the Crown lands to supply a royal income; but
this was clogged by so many exceptions that it proved fruitless. He then
gave himself up to mirth and jollity, and in the pursuit of his pleasures
made himself so affable and agreeable, especially with the Londoners,
that, in spite of his free gallantries, he was very popular. So strongly
did he now seem to be grounded in the affections of his subjects, that he
ventured to make known a private marriage, which he had contracted some
time before, though he knew that it would give deep offence in several
quarters.
It is a curious circumstance that in the early part of the reign of Henry
VI., two ladies of royal lineage, and one of them of royal rank, had
condescended to marry private gentlemen, to the great scandal of their
high-born connections. One of these was Catherine of Valois, the widow of
Henry V., and mother of Henry VI., who married Owen Tudor. The other was
Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the widow of the great Duke of Bedford, Regent
of France, who married Sir Richard Woodville. Both Tudor and Woodville
were men of remarkable beauty; and both were imprisoned and persecuted
for the offence of marrying, without permission of the Crown, princesses
who chose to fall in love with them. Woodville regained his liberty by
the payment of a fine of 1,000 crowns. Tudor's persecutions were more
severe and prolonged. Yet, from these two scandalous _mésalliances_, as
they were regarded by the Court and high nobility, sprang a line of the
most remarkable princes that ever sat upon the English throne. The blood
of both these ladies mingled in the burly body of Henry VIII. and his
descendants. We have seen how Tudor became the grandfather of Henry VII.;
we have now to observe how Woodville became the grandfather of Henry's
wife, Elizabeth of York.
Jacquetta had several children by Sir Richard Woodville, one of whom,
Elizabeth, was a woman of much beauty and great accomplishments. She had
been married to Sir John Grey of Groby, a Lancastrian, who fell at the
second battle of St. Albans. His estate was consequently confiscated;
his widow, with seven children, returned to her father, and was living
at his seat at Grafton, in Northamptonshire. Edward being out on a
hunting party in the neighbourhood, took the opportunity to call on the
Duchess of Bedford. There he saw and was greatly struck with the beauty
of the Lady Grey. She, on her part, seized the occasion to endeavour to
secure some restitution of their property for her children. The whole
of her subsequent life showed that she was not a woman to neglect such
opportunities. She threw herself at the feet of the gay monarch, and
with many tears besought him to restore to her innocent children their
father's patrimony.
Lady Grey made more impression than she probably intended. Edward was
perfectly fascinated by her beauty and spirit. He raised her from her
suppliant posture, and promised her his favour. He soon communicated to
her the terms on which he would grant the restitution of her property;
but he found in Elizabeth Woodville, or Grey, a very different person to
those he had been accustomed to meet. She firmly refused every concession
inconsistent with her honour, and the king, piqued by the resistance he
encountered, became more and more enamoured.
On the 1st of May, 1464, he married her at Grafton, in the presence
only of the priest, the clerk, the Duchess of Bedford, and two female
attendants. Within a few days after the marriage he set out to meet the
Lancastrians in the north; but the battles of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham
were fought before his arrival; and on his return he became anxious to
open the matter to his council, and to obtain its sanction. Accordingly,
at Michaelmas, he summoned a general council of the peers at the abbey
of Reading, where he announced this important event. Amongst the Peers
present were Edward's brother the Duke of Clarence, and the great
king-maker, Warwick. To neither of these individuals was the transaction
agreeable. To Clarence it appeared too inferior a choice for the King of
England, though Elizabeth Grey, by her mother's side, was of princely
blood. But to Warwick there was offence in it, personal and deep. He had
been commissioned by Edward to solicit for him the hand of Bona of Savoy,
the sister of the Queen of France. The proposal had been accepted; the
King of France had given his consent; the treaty of marriage was actually
drawn; and there lacked nothing but the ratification of the terms agreed
upon, and the bringing over of the princess to England. At this moment
came the order to pause in the proceedings, and the mystery was soon
cleared up by the confident rumour of this sudden matrimonial caprice of
the king. Warwick returned in high dudgeon; from Edward he did not try
to conceal it; but the time for revenge of his injured honour was not
yet come; and therefore, after the royal announcement in the council,
Clarence and Warwick took Elizabeth by the hand, and introduced her to
the rest of the peers. A second council was held at Westminster, in
December, and the income of the new queen was settled at 4,000 marks a
year.
It was not to be expected that this sudden elevation of a simple knight's
daughter to the throne would pass without murmuring and discontent,
which was probably the more fully expressed as it was shared by the
all-powerful Warwick and the king's brothers. There were busy rumours
that the politic old duchess, Jacquetta, and her daughter, had practised
magical arts upon the king, and administered philtres; and that,
recovering from their effect, he had grievously repented, and endeavoured
to free himself. But Edward's whole conduct towards the queen showed the
falsity of this jealous gossip; and to make it obvious that she was of no
mean parentage, he invited to the coronation her mother's brother, John
of Luxembourg, with a retinue of a hundred knights and gentlemen.
But if the king had made apparent her noble birth and his continued
affection for her, it became speedily as apparent that the marriage of a
subject was to be followed by all its inconveniences. Elizabeth, though
raised to the throne, might still be said to be on her knees, imploring
the favour of the king. There was nothing which she thought too much for
her numerous relations, and the king displayed a marvellous facility in
complying with her requests. Her father was created Earl Rivers, and soon
after the Lord Mountjoy, a partisan of the Nevilles, was removed to make
way for him as Treasurer of England; and again, on the resignation of
the Earl of Worcester, the office of Lord High Constable was conferred
on him. That was very well for a beginning, but it was nothing to what
followed; every branch of the queen's family must be aggrandised without
delay. She had five sisters, and each of them was married to one of the
highest noblemen in the realm: one to the Duke of Buckingham; one to the
heir of the Earl of Essex; a third to the Earl of Arundel; a fourth to
Lord Grey de Ruthin, who was made Earl of Kent; and the fifth to Lord
William Herbert, created Earl of Huntingdon. Her brother Anthony was
married to the heiress of the late Lord Scales, and endowed with her
estate and title. Her younger brother John, in his twentieth year, was
married to the wealthy old dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in her eightieth
year; such was the shameless greed of this family. The queen's son,
Thomas Grey, was married to the king's niece, the daughter and heiress
of the Duke of Exeter. The Nevilles looked on all these extraordinary
proceedings with ominous gloom.
Fresh cause of disunion arose between the king and Warwick. A marriage
had for some time been in agitation between Margaret, the king's sister,
and the Count of Charolais, son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy. The
count was sprung from the house of Lancaster, and even when his father
showed the most settled coolness towards Henry VI. and Margaret, had
displayed a warm sympathy for them. It was a good stroke of policy,
therefore, to win him over by this marriage to the reigning dynasty.
But Warwick, who in his former intercourse with Burgundy in France had
conceived a deep dislike to him, opposed this match, and represented
one with a son of Louis XI. as far more advantageous. To Warwick's
arguments was opposed the evident policy of maintaining our commercial
intercourse with the Netherlands, and of possessing so efficient an
ally on the borders of France against the deep and selfish schemes of
Louis. But in the end Warwick prevailed. He was sent over to France to
negotiate the affair with Louis. Warwick went attended with a princely
train, and with all the magnificence which distinguished him at home,
more like that of a great sovereign than of a subject. Louis, who never
lost an opportunity of sowing jealousies amongst his enemies, even while
he appeared to be honouring them, met Warwick at Rouen, attended by the
queen and princesses. The inhabitants, obeying royal orders, went out and
escorted Warwick into the city with banners and processions of priests,
who conducted the earl to the cathedral, and then to the lodgings
prepared for him at the Jacobins. There also Louis and the court took up
their quarters, and for twelve days, during which the conference lasted,
Louis used to visit the earl in private, passing through a side door into
his apartments. With all this secret and familiar intercourse, no pains
were taken to conceal its existence; and the consequence was such as the
astute and mischievous Louis intended. Reports were forwarded to Edward
from those whom he had placed in Warwick's train, which roused his ever
uncalculating anger. He hastened to the house of Warwick's brother--the
Archbishop of York and Chancellor of the kingdom--demanded the instant
surrender of the seals; and, enforcing the act of resumption of Crown
lands lately passed, deprived the archbishop of two manors formerly
belonging to the Crown.
Warwick returned, as may be supposed, in no very good humour, but still
with every prospect of success in his mission. The court of France was
agreeable to the match. And on the heels of the earl came the Archbishop
of Narbonne and the Bastard of Bourbon to complete the arrangements. They
were prepared to offer an annual pension to Edward from Louis, and to
pledge the king to submit to the Pope Edward's demand for the restoration
of Normandy and Aquitaine, which should be decided within four years.
But the importance of these propositions, and the evident prudence of at
least appearing to listen to the terms of a monarch like that of France,
had no weight with Edward, who was far more distinguished for petulance
and rashness than for policy. He treated the French ambassadors with the
most insulting coldness; and unceremoniously quitted the capital, leaving
his ministers to deal with the ambassadors, and, in fact, to get rid of
them. His resentment against Warwick made him not only thus forget the
courtesy due to the envoys of a great foreign prince--conduct sure to
create its own punishment,--but he gave all the more favour to the suit
of the Count of Charolais from the same cause.
The count had sent over his relative, the Bastard of Burgundy, ostensibly
to hold a tournament with Lord Scales, the queen's brother, but really to
press forward the match with the English princess. The Duke of Burgundy
dying at this juncture, all difficulties vanished. The princess was
affianced to the new Duke of Burgundy.
This completed the resentment of Warwick. The open insult offered to the
court of France, and the rejection of the alliance which he had effected,
sunk deep into his proud mind. He retired to his castle of Middleham, in
Yorkshire; and occasion was taken of his absence from court to accuse
him, on the evidence of one of Queen Margaret's emissaries taken in
Wales, of being a secret partisan of the Lancastrian faction. The charge
failed; but Edward, resolved to mortify and humiliate the man to whom
he owed his throne, affected still to believe him a secret ally of the
Lancastrians, and that his own safety was threatened by him. He therefore
summoned a body-guard of 200 archers, without whose attendance he never
stirred abroad. He expelled the Nevilles from court, and took every means
to express his dislike and suspicion of that house. On the other hand,
the Nevilles repaid the hatred of the upstart family of Woodville with
interest; and from this moment, whatever might be the outward seeming,
the feud betwixt these rival families was settled, deadly, and never
terminated till it had completed the ruin of all parties.
[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD IV.]
At present the Archbishop of York, though suffering under the immediate
severity of the king, was too wise to give way to his resentment. He
justly feared the influence of the Woodvilles with the king, and that it
might prove most injurious to his own family. He therefore stood forth as
a peacemaker. He volunteered a visit to Earl Rivers, the queen's father;
met him at Nottingham, and agreed on terms of reconciliation between
the families. The king, queen, and court were keeping the Christmas of
1467 at Coventry. The archbishop hastened to his brother at Middleham,
and prevailed upon him to accompany him to Coventry, where he was
graciously received by Edward; all subjects of offence betwixt him and
the relatives of the queen--especially her brothers-in-law, the Lords
Herbert, Stafford, and Audley--were arranged; and the king expressed
himself so much pleased with the conduct of the archbishop, that he
restored to him his two manors. This pacific state of things lasted for
little more than a year. On the 18th of June, 1468, the king's sister set
out on her journey to meet her husband in Flanders. The king accompanied
her to the coast; and, as a proof that Warwick at this moment held his
old position of honour at court, the princess rode behind him through
the streets of London. A conspiracy having been discovered, or supposed,
of several gentlemen with Queen Margaret, Warwick and his brother, the
Earl of Northumberland, were joined with the king's brothers, Clarence
and Gloucester, in a commission to try them; and the two Nevilles
certainly executed their part of the trust with a zeal which looked like
anything but disaffection. Very arbitrary measures were used towards the
prisoners, several of whom were condemned and executed.
This calm was soon broken. The Duke of Clarence had from the first
shown as deep a dislike to the ascendency of the Woodvilles as the
Nevilles themselves. This drew him into closer intimacy with Warwick.
He frequently withdrew for long periods from court, and was generally
to be found at one of the residences of Warwick. It soon came out that
there was a cause still more influential than his dislike of the queen's
relations; it was his admiration of the Earl's eldest daughter, Isabella,
who was co-heiress of his vast estates. Warwick was delighted with the
prospect of this alliance, for as yet the king, having no male heir, and
his only daughter being but four years old, Clarence stood as the next
male heir to his brother. Edward, on the contrary, beheld this proposed
connection with the utmost alarm. The Nevilles were already too powerful;
and should Warwick succeed, through Clarence, in placing his descendants
so near the throne, it might produce the most dangerous consequences
to his own line. He therefore did all in his power to frustrate the
marriage, but in vain. Clarence and Warwick retired to Calais, of which
Warwick remained the governor; and there the marriage was celebrated, in
the Church of St. Nicholas, on the 11th of July, 1469.
With the exception of this annoying event, at this moment Edward appeared
so firmly seated on his throne, and so well secured by foreign treaties
with almost all the European powers, and especially with the Dukes of
Burgundy and Brittany, the latter of whom had recently become his ally,
that he actually contemplated the enterprise of recovering by his arms
the territories which his weak predecessor had lost in France. His hatred
of the cold-blooded Louis XI., who in political cunning was infinitely
Edward's superior, probably urged him to this idea. To draw off the
attention of the different factions at home, and find some common medium
of uniting them in action abroad, might be another. The most remarkable
circumstance of all was, that Parliament, after its experience of the
drain which these French wars had been to the blood and resources of the
nation, received the king's proposal with cordial approbation.
But these dreams of martial glory were very quickly swept from the brain
of the king by domestic troubles. At first these troubles appeared to
originate in private and local causes, but there was such food for
combustion existing throughout the kingdom, that the farther they went,
the wider they opened, and at every step onwards assumed more and more
the aspect of a Warwick and Clarence conspiracy. Nothing could be farther
removed from such an appearance than the opening occurrence.
The hospital of St. Leonard, near York, had possessed, from the reign of
King Athelstan, a right of levying a thrave of corn (twenty-four sheaves)
from every ploughland in the county. There had long been complaints that
this grant was grossly abused, and instead of benefiting the poor, as
it was intended, was converted to the emolument of the managers. During
the last reign many had refused in consequence to yield the stipulated
thrave, and Parliament had passed an act to compel the delivery. Now
again the refusal to pay the demand was become general. The vassals
had their goods distrained, and were themselves thrown into prison.
This raised the peasantry, who were all of the old Lancastrian party,
and regarded the present dynasty as usurpers and oppressors. They flew
to arms, under the leadership of one Robert Hilyard, called by the
insurgents Robin of Redesdale, and vowed that they would march south and
reform the Government. Lord Montague, Earl of Northumberland, brother
of Warwick, marched out against them, forming as they now did a body of
15,000 men, and menacing the city of York. He defeated them, seized their
leader Hilyard, and executed him on the field of battle.
So far there appeared certainly no hand of the Nevilles in this movement.
Northumberland did his best to crush it, and Warwick and Clarence
were away at Calais, thinking, apparently, not of rebellion, but of
matrimonial festivities. But the very next move revealed a startling fact.
The insurgents, though dispersed, were by no means subdued. They had lost
their peasant head, but they reappeared in still greater forces, with two
heads, and those no other than the Lords Fitzhugh and Latimer, the nephew
and the cousin-german of Warwick. Northumberland contented himself with
protecting the city of York. He made no attempt to pursue this still more
menacing body, who, dropping their cry of the hospital and the thrave of
corn, declared that their object was to meet the Earl of Warwick, and by
his aid and advice to remove from the councils of the king the swarm of
Woodvilles, whom they charged with being the authors of the oppressive
taxes, and of all the calamities of the nation. The young noblemen who
headed the insurrection were assisted by the military abilities of an old
and experienced officer, Sir William Conyers. At the name of Warwick,
his tenants came streaming from every quarter, and in a few days, the
insurgent army numbered 60,000 men.
Edward, on the news of this formidable movement, called together what
troops he could, and fixed his headquarters at the castle of Fotheringay.
Towards this place the insurgent army marched, growing, as they
proceeded, in numbers and boldness. The whole outcry resolved itself into
a capital charge against the Woodvilles, and the movement being headed
by the Nevilles, there could not be much mystery about the matter. Yet
Edward, after advancing as far as Newark, and becoming intimidated by the
spirit of disaffection which everywhere prevailed, wrote imploringly to
Warwick and Clarence to hasten from Calais to his assistance. The result
was such as might have been expected. Warwick and Clarence, instead of
complying with the king's urgent entreaty, summoned their friends to meet
them at Canterbury, on the following Sunday, to proceed with them to the
king to lay before him the petitions of the Commons.
In this alarming extremity, Edward looked with impatience for the arrival
of the Earls of Devonshire and Pembroke, who had been mustering forces
for his assistance. Devon was at the head of a strong body of archers,
and Pembroke of 10,000 Welshmen. They met at Banbury, where the demon of
discord divided them in their quest of quarters, and made them forget
the critical situation of their sovereign. Pembroke, leaving Devon in
possession, advanced to Edgecote. There he came in contact with the
insurgents, who, falling upon him, deprived as he was of the assistance
of Devon's archers, easily routed him. In this engagement 2,000 of his
soldiers are said to have perished, and Pembroke and his brother were
taken and put to death, with ten other gentlemen, on the field. Devon
made no attempt to restore the fortunes of his party.
This fatal defeat completely annihilated the hopes of Edward. At the news
of it, all his troops stole away from their colours, and his favourites
fled for concealment. But the queen's father, Earl Rivers, was discovered
in the Forest of Dean, with his son, Sir John Woodville; and the Earl
of Devon, late Earl Stafford, the queen's brother-in-law, abandoned by
his soldiers, was taken at Bridgewater. The whole of them were executed,
Rivers and his son Woodville being conveyed to their own neighbourhood,
and beheaded at Northampton.
Warwick, Clarence, and Northumberland, who had, no doubt, conducted all
these movements from a distance, now appeared as principals on the scene.
They marched forward from Canterbury at the head of a powerful force, and
overtook Edward at Olney, plunged in despair at the sudden ruin which had
surrounded him. They approached him with an air of sympathy and loyal
obeisance; and Edward, imposed upon by this, with his usual unguarded
anger, upbraided them with being the real authors of his troubles. He
very soon perceived his folly, for he found himself, not their commander,
but their captive. Warwick dismissed the insurgent army to their homes,
who retired laden with booty, and sensible that they had executed all
that was expected of them. Under protection of their Kentish troops,
they then conducted Edward to Warwick Castle, and thence, for greater
security, to Middleham.
Thus England had at the same time two kings, and both of them captive;
Henry in the Tower of London, Edward at Middleham, in Yorkshire. Men now
expected nothing less than that Warwick would proclaim Clarence as king,
but probably the measures of Warwick and Clarence were deranged by a
fresh insurrection which broke out. This time it was the Lancastrians,
who seized the opportunity to raise again the banner of Henry. They
appeared in the marches of Scotland, under Sir Humphrey Neville, one of
the fugitives from the battle of Hexham. Warwick advanced against him in
the king's name, but he found that the soldiers refused to fight until
they were assured of the king's safety. Warwick was therefore compelled
to produce Edward to the army at York. After that they followed him
against the Lancastrians, whom they defeated, and taking their leader,
brought him to the king, who ordered his instant execution.
Edward was now permitted to return to London, accompanied by several
leaders of the party. There a council of peers was summoned, and then
it appeared that though Warwick's faction had probably not accomplished
all they had intended, they bound the king to terms which, while they
neutralised the hopes of Clarence in some degree, still were calculated
to add to the greatness of the house of Neville. The king announced that
he had proposed to give his daughter, yet only four years old, to George,
the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and presumptive heir of all the
Nevilles. The council gave its unanimous approbation of the measure,
and the young nobleman, to raise his name to a level with his affianced
bride, was created Duke of Bedford.
Outwardly everything was so harmonious, that not only was a general
pardon granted to all who had been in any way concerned in the late
disturbances, but the king and his reconciled friends were again
proposing to invade France in concert with the Duke of Burgundy. The
French court was so convinced of the reality of this invasion that it
commanded a general muster of troops for the 1st of May, 1470.
But the designs of the Nevilles lay nearer home in reality. The
Archbishop of York invited the king to meet Clarence and Warwick at
his seat--the Moor--in Hertfordshire. As Edward was washing his hands
preparatory to supper, John Ratcliff, afterwards Lord Fitzwalter,
whispered in his ear that 100 armed men were on the watch to seize him
and convey him to prison. Edward, having been once before trepanned by
his loving friends, gave instant credence to the information, stole out,
mounted a horse, and rode off to Windsor. This open confession of his
opinion of the Nevilles produced a fresh scene of discord, which, with
some difficulty, was appeased by the king's mother, the Duchess of York,
and the parties were reconciled with just the same sincerity as before.
[Illustration: GOLD ROSE NOBLE OF EDWARD IV.]
The Nevilles were now in too critical a position to pause. They or the
king must fall. At any hour some stratagem might surprise them, and
give the advantage to their injured and deadly enemies, the Woodvilles.
Insurrection, therefore, was not long in showing itself again. This time
it broke out in Lincolnshire, and, as in the case of the hospital of St.
Leonard, appeared to have nothing whatever to do with Warwick or his
party. Its ostensible cause was the old grievance of purveyance, and Sir
Robert Burgh, one of the purveyors, was attacked, his house burnt down,
and himself chased out of the county. Had the cause been really local,
there the mischief would have ended; but now again stepped forward a
partisan of Warwick, Sir Robert Wells, who encouraged the rioters to keep
together, and proceed to redress, not the evils of one county, but of the
nation. He put himself at their head, and they soon amounted to 30,000
men. The king required a number of nobles to raise troops with all speed,
and so well did Warwick and Clarence feign loyalty that they were amongst
this number.
Edward summoned Lord Wells, the father of the insurgent chief, and Sir
Thomas Dymoke, the Champion, both Lincolnshire men, to the council, in
order to obtain information of the extent of the insurrection, and to
engage them to exert their influence to check it. Both these gentlemen,
as if conscious of guilt, fled to sanctuary, but, on a promise of pardon,
repaired to court. Edward insisted that Lord Wells should command his
son to lay down his arms, and disperse his followers, with which order
Lord Wells complied; but Sir Robert Wells received at the same time
letters from Warwick and Clarence, encouraging him to hold out, assuring
him that they were on the march to support him. When Edward reached
Stamford, bearing Lord Wells and Dymoke with him, he found Sir Robert
still in arms, and in his anger he wreaked his vengeance on his father,
Lord Wells, and on Dymoke, beheading them in direct violation of his
promise. He then sent a second order to Sir Robert to lay down his arms,
but he replied that he scorned to surrender to a man destitute of honour,
who had murdered his father. Edward then fell upon the insurgents at
Empingham, in Rutlandshire, and made a terrible slaughter of them. The
leaders, Wells and Sir Thomas Delalaunde, were taken and immediately
executed. The inferior prisoners, as dupes to the designs of others, were
dismissed.
Warwick and Clarence made for Calais. But there Warwick's lieutenant,
Vauclerc, a Gascon knight, to whom he had entrusted the care of the city,
refused to admit them. When they attempted to enter, the batteries were
opened upon them; and when they remonstrated on this strange conduct,
Vauclerc sent secretly to inform Warwick that the garrison, aware of what
had taken place in England, were ill affected, and would certainly seize
him if he entered; that his only chance of preserving the place for him
was to appear at present hostile; and he prayed him to retire till a more
favourable opportunity. To Edward, however, Vauclerc sent word that he
would hold the town for him as his sovereign against all attempts--for
which Edward rewarded him with the government of the place, and the Duke
of Burgundy added a pension of a thousand crowns. Warwick and Clarence,
enraged at this unexpected repulse, sailed along the coast towards
Normandy, seizing every Flemish merchantman that fell in their way in
revenge against Burgundy, and entered Harfleur, where they were received
with all honour by the admiral of France.
[Illustration: PREACHING AT ST. PAUL'S CROSS. (_See p._ 50.)]
Low as were now the fortunes of Warwick and Clarence, decided as had
been the failure of their attempts against Edward IV., Louis of France
thought he had, in the possession of these great leaders, a means of
consolidating a formidable party against Edward, who had treated his
alliance with such contempt, and who entered into the closest relations
with his most formidable opponent, the Duke of Burgundy. He therefore
received them at Amboise, where he was holding his court, with the most
marked honours, and ordered them and their ladies to have the best
accommodations that could be procured in the neighbourhood. He proposed
to these two chiefs to coalesce with the Lancastrian party, by which
means they would be sure to gain the instant support of all that faction.
He sent for Queen Margaret, who was then at Angers, and assured her that
Providence had at length prepared the certain means of the restoration of
King Henry and his family.
Warwick engaged, by the assistance of Louis and of the Lancastrians, to
replace Henry again upon the throne. By this means Warwick was to depose,
and if possible to destroy, Edward of York. But Warwick never forgot the
suggestions of his ambition. He must, if possible, sit on the throne
of England in the persons of his descendants. For this he had married
one daughter to Clarence. When the success of Edward had enfeebled his
chance, he had succeeded in affiancing his nephew to the daughter of
Edward, so that if not a Warwick at least a Neville might reign. He
now sacrificed both these hopes to that of placing another daughter on
the throne, as the queen of Margaret's son, the Prince of Wales. This
alliance was the price of Warwick's assistance, and, however bitter might
be the necessity, Margaret submitted to it, and the young Prince of
Wales was forthwith married to Anne, the daughter of Warwick. Warwick
then acknowledged Henry VI. as the rightful sovereign of England, and at
the same time entered into solemn engagements to exert all his power to
reinstate and maintain him on the throne. Margaret on her part swore on
the holy Gospels never to reproach Warwick with the past, but to esteem
him as a loyal and faithful subject. The French king, on the completion
of this reconciliation, engaged to furnish the means necessary for the
expedition.
Edward, on hearing of the extraordinary meeting and negotiations of
Warwick and Margaret, of the active agency of the French king, and the
proposed marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales, and Anne of Warwick, sent
off a lady of pre-eminent art and address, who belonged to the train of
the Duchess of Clarence, but who had somehow been left behind. The clever
dame no sooner reached the court of Clarence than she expressed to him
and the duchess her amazement at their permitting such a coalition as
the present; that in every point of view it was destructive to their own
hopes, and even security; that the continued adhesion of Warwick and
Margaret was impossible. Their mutual antipathies were too deeply rooted
ever to be eradicated.
Clarence was only one-and-twenty years of age. He was of a slender
capacity, easily guided or misguided, and he agreed, on the first
favourable opportunity, to abandon Warwick and go over to the king.
On the other hand, Warwick was as actively and secretly engaged in
preparing the defection of partisans of the king in England. His
brother, Montague, though he had not deemed it prudent to join Warwick
and Clarence in their unfortunate attempt to raise the country against
Edward, had been suspected by him, and stripped of the earldom of
Northumberland. He was still an ostensible adherent of the king, but
he was watched. Warwick apprised him of the new and wonderful turn of
affairs, and engaged him to keep up a zealous show of loyalty that his
defection at an important moment might tell with the more disastrous
effect on the Yorkist cause.
Edward, satisfied with having detached Clarence from Warwick's interests,
continued as careless as ever. The Duke of Burgundy, more sagacious
than his brother-in-law, the King of England, did all that he could to
arouse him to a sense of his danger, and to obstruct the progress of the
expedition. He sent ambassadors to Paris to complain of the reception
given to the enemies of his brother and ally. He menaced Louis with
instant war if he did not desist from aiding and protecting the English
traitors. He sent spies to watch the proceedings of Vauclerc, in Calais,
and dispatched a squadron to make reprisals on the French merchantmen for
the seizures made by Warwick, and to blockade the mouth of the Seine.
Edward laughed at the fears and precautions of Burgundy. He bade him take
no pains to guard the Channel, for that he should enjoy nothing better
than to see Warwick venture to set foot in England.
He was not long without that pleasure. A tempest dispersed the Burgundian
fleet, and the fleet of Warwick and Clarence, seizing the opportunity,
put to sea, crossed the Channel, and landed on the 13th of September,
1470, without opposition, at Portsmouth and Dartmouth. Warwick had
prepared his own way very skilfully. Edward was deluded by a ruse on the
part of Lord Fitzwalter, the brother-in-law of Warwick, who appeared
in arms in Northumberland, as if meditating an insurrection; by which
means the unwary king was induced to march towards the north, leaving
the southern counties exposed to the invaders. This was the object of
Warwick, and, as soon as it was effected, Fitzwalter retreated into
Scotland. Meantime, the real danger was growing rapidly in the south. The
men of Kent rose in arms; London was thrown into a ferment by Dr. Goddard
preaching at St. Paul's Cross in favour of Henry VI.; and from every
quarter people hastened to the standard of Warwick with such eagerness
that he speedily found himself at the head of 60,000 men.
As London and the southern counties appeared safe, Warwick proclaimed
Henry, and set out to encounter Edward without delay. He advanced towards
Nottingham. Edward, who had taken up his headquarters at Doncaster, had
issued his orders for all who could bear arms to join his banner. They
came in slowly; and Edward, who had ridiculed the idea of the return
of Warwick, saying Burgundy would take care that he did not cross the
sea, was now rudely aroused from his fancied security. He was compelled
with unequal forces to advance against Warwick. A great battle appeared
imminent in the neighbourhood of Nottingham; but the rapid defection
of Edward's adherents rendered that unnecessary. The speedy movements
of Warwick, and the general demonstration in favour of Henry, had not
permitted Clarence to carry into effect his intended transit from
Warwick to Edward, when a startling act of desertion occurred to the
king's side, which completed Edward's ruin. Before Edward could reach
Nottingham, and while lying near the river Welland, in Lincolnshire,
Montague, Warwick's brother, from whom Edward had taken the earldom of
Northumberland, now revenged himself by suddenly marching from York at
the head of 6,000 men, and in the night, and in full concert with his
officers, advancing upon Edward's quarters, his men wearing the red rose
instead of the white, and with loud cries of "God bless King Henry!"
Edward commanded his troops to be put in array to meet the traitor; but
Lord Hastings told him that he had not a regiment that he could rely
upon; that nothing was to be thought of but his personal safety, and that
on the instant. Accordingly, he took horse with the Duke of Gloucester,
the Earl Rivers, seven or eight other noblemen, and a small troop of the
most reliable followers, with whom he rode away. A guard was posted on a
neighbouring bridge to prevent the crossing of Warwick, for he also was
within a day's march of him; and with all haste Edward and his little
band rode at full speed till he reached Lynn, in Norfolk. It is probable
that the royal party had made for this small port on the Wash, knowing
that some vessels which had brought provisions for the troops still lay
there. They found, indeed, a small English ship, and two Dutch vessels,
on board of which they hurried, and put to sea. Edward, on starting from
his quarters, had recommended his army to declare at once for Warwick, as
the best means of saving themselves, and of again rejoining his standard
when opportunity should offer.
The fugitives made sail for the coast of Holland, but no sooner had the
king escaped from his enemies on land than he fell amongst fresh ones
at sea. These were the Easterlings, or mariners of Ostend, who were now
at war with both France and England. The Easterlings were at this time
as terrible at sea as the pirates of Algiers were afterwards. They had
committed great ravages on the English coast, while the nation was thus
engaged in suicidal intestine warfare, and no sooner did they perceive
this little fleet than they immediately gave chase. There were eight
vessels to Edward's three, and to escape the unequal contest, he ran his
vessels aground on the coast of Friesland, near Alkmaar. To ascertain
how Vauclerc, the Governor of Calais, was disposed, in case Warwick
resolved to attack the duke in his own territories, he sent an envoy
to him to sound him. The envoy found all the garrison wearing the red
rose. This discovery added to the alarm and chagrin of Burgundy, and,
while he conceded to Edward a place of refuge, he publicly declared
himself the ally, not of this power or that, but of England, and avowed
himself adverse to Edward's designs, who was to expect no aid from him in
endeavouring to recover his crown.
On the other hand Louis of France was thrown into ecstasies of delight.
He sent for Queen Margaret and her son, the Prince of Wales, who had
been living for years totally neglected, and almost forgotten in their
poverty, and received her in Paris with the most splendid and expensive
pageants and rejoicings. He at the same time despatched a splendid
embassy to Henry at London, and immediately concluded with him a treaty
of peace and commerce for fifteen years.
Warwick and Clarence made their triumphal entry into London on the 6th
of October, 1470. Warwick proceeded to the Tower, and brought forth
King Henry, who had lain there as a captive for five years. Henry was
proclaimed lawful king, and conducted with great pomp through the streets
of London to the bishop's palace, where he resided till the 13th, when
he walked in solemn procession, with the crown upon his head, attended
by his prelates, nobles, and great officers, to St. Paul's, where solemn
thanksgivings were offered up for his restoration.
All this time Clarence was looking on, an immediate spectator of
proceedings which pushed him farther from the throne. To keep him quiet,
Warwick heaped every favour but the actual possession of the kingdom upon
him. He joined him with himself in the regency which was to continue
till the majority of the Prince of Wales; he made him Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland, and conferred upon him all the estates of the house of York.
Warwick retained himself the offices of Chamberlain of England, Governor
of Calais, High Admiral of the seas; his brother, the archbishop, was
continued Chancellor; and his other brother, Montague, returned to the
Wardenship of the Marches.