the domestic discontents of the people, but from the efforts of foreign
powers. Louis, the eleventh of the name, had succeeded to his father,
Charles, in 1460, and was led from the obvious motives of national
interest to feed the flames of civil discord among such dangerous
neighbors by giving support to the weaker party. But the intriguing
and politic genius of this Prince was here checked by itself: having
attempted to subdue the independent spirit of his own vassals, he had
excited such an opposition at home as prevented him from making all the
advantage, which the opportunity afforded, of the dissensions among the
English. He sent, however, a small body to Henry's assistance under
Varenne, seneschal of Normandy, 1462, who landed in Northumberland
and got possession of the castle of Alnwick; but as the indefatigable
Margaret went in person to France, where she solicited larger supplies,
and promised Louis to deliver up Calais if her family should by his means
be restored to the throne of England, he was induced to send along with
her a body of two thousand men-at-arms, which enabled her to take the
field and to make an inroad into England, 1464. Though reënforced by a
numerous train of adventurers from Scotland, and by many partisans of
the family of Lancaster, she received a check at Hedgeley Moor from Lord
Montacute, or Montagu, brother to the Earl of Warwick and warden of the
east marches between Scotland and England. Montagu was so encouraged with
this success that, while a numerous reinforcement was on its march to
join him by orders from Edward, he yet ventured, with his own troops
alone, to attack the Lancastrians at Hexham; and he obtained a complete
victory over them. The Duke of Somerset, the Lords Roos and Hungerford,
were taken in the pursuit, and immediately beheaded by martial law at
Hexham. Summary justice was in like manner executed at Newcastle on Sir
Humphrey Nevil, and several other gentlemen. All those who were spared in
the field suffered on the scaffold, and the utter extermination of their
adversaries was now become the plain object of the York party; a conduct
which received but too plausible an apology from the preceding practice
of the Lancastrians.
The fate of the unfortunate royal family, after this defeat, was
singular. Margaret, flying with her son into a forest, where she
endeavored to conceal herself, was beset, during the darkness of the
night, by robbers, who, either ignorant or regardless of her quality,
despoiled her of her rings and jewels, and treated her with the utmost
indignity. The partition of this rich booty raised a quarrel among them;
and, while their attention was thus engaged, she took the opportunity of
making her escape with her son into the thickest of the forest, where she
wandered for some time, overspent with hunger and fatigue and sunk with
terror and affliction. While in this wretched condition, she saw a robber
approach with his naked sword; and, finding that she had no means of
escape, she suddenly embraced the resolution of trusting entirely for
protection to his faith and generosity. She advanced toward him, and,
presenting to him the young Prince, called out to him, "Here my friend, I
commit to your care the safety of your King's son."
The man, whose humanity and generous spirit had been obscured, not
entirely lost, by his vicious course of life, was struck with the
singularity of the event, was charmed with the confidence reposed in him,
and vowed not only to abstain from all injury against the Princess, but
to devote himself entirely to her service. By his means she dwelt some
time concealed in the forest, and was at last conducted to the sea-coast,
whence she made her escape into Flanders. She passed thence into her
father's court, where she lived several years in privacy and retirement.
Her husband was not so fortunate or so dexterous in finding the means of
escape. Some of his friends took him under their protection and conveyed
him into Lancashire, where he remained concealed during a twelvemonth;
but he was at last detected, delivered up to Edward, and thrown into the
Tower. The safety of his person was owing less to the generosity of his
enemies than to the contempt which they had entertained of his courage
and his understanding.
The imprisonment of Henry, the expulsion of Margaret, the execution and
confiscation of all the most eminent Lancastrians, seemed to give full
security to Edward's government. But his amorous temper led him into
a snare, which proved fatal to his repose and to the stability of his
throne. Jaqueline of Luxemburg, Duchess of Bedford, had, after her
husband's death, so far sacrificed her ambition to love that she espoused
in second marriage Sir Richard Woodeville, a private gentleman, to
whom she bore several children, and among the rest Elizabeth, who was
remarkable for the grace and beauty of her person, as well as for other
amiable accomplishments. This young lady had married Sir John Gray of
Groby, by whom she had children; and her husband being slain in the
second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of Lancaster, and his
estate being for that reason confiscated, his widow retired to live with
her father, at his seat of Grafton, in Northamptonshire. The King came
accidentally to the house after a hunting party, in order to pay a visit
to the Duchess of Bedford, and, as the occasion seemed favorable for
obtaining some grace from this gallant monarch, the young widow flung
herself at his feet, and with many tears entreated him to take pity on
her impoverished and distressed children. The sight of so much beauty in
affliction strongly affected the amorous Edward, love stole sensibly into
his heart under the guise of compassion; and her sorrow, so becoming a
virtuous matron, made his esteem and regard quickly correspond to his
affection. He raised her from the ground with assurances of favor; he
found his passion increase every moment by the conversation of the
amiable object; and he was soon reduced, in his turn, to the posture and
style of a supplicant at the feet of Elizabeth. But the lady, either
averse to dishonorable love from a sense of duty, or perceiving that
the impression which she had made was so deep as to give her hopes of
obtaining the highest elevation, obstinately refused to gratify his
passion; and all the endearments, caresses, and importunities of
the young and amiable Edward proved fruitless against her rigid and
inflexible virtue. His passion, irritated by opposition and increased by
his veneration for such honorable sentiments, carried him at last beyond
all bounds of reason, and he offered to share his throne, as well as his
heart, with the woman whose beauty of person and dignity of character
seemed so well to entitle her to both. The marriage was privately
celebrated at Grafton; the secret was carefully kept for some time; no
one suspected that so libertine a prince could sacrifice so much to a
romantic passion; and there were, in particular, strong reasons which
at that time rendered this step, to the highest degree, dangerous and
imprudent.
The King, desirous to secure his throne, as well by the prospect of
issue as by foreign alliances, had, a little before, determined to make
application to some neighboring princess; and he had cast his eye on Bona
of Savoy, sister to the Queen of France, who, he hoped, would by her
marriage insure him the friendship of that power which was alone both
able and inclined to give support and assistance to his rival. To render
the negotiation more successful, the Earl of Warwick had been despatched
to Paris, where the Princess then resided; he had demanded Bona in
marriage for the King; his proposals had been accepted; the treaty was
fully concluded; and nothing remained but the ratification of the terms
agreed on, and the bringing over the Princess to England. But when the
secret of Edward's marriage broke out, the haughty Earl, deeming himself
affronted, both by being employed in this fruitless negotiation and by
being kept a stranger to the King's intentions, who had owed everything
to his friendship, immediately returned to England, inflamed with rage
and indignation. The influence of passion over so young a man as Edward
might have served as an excuse for his imprudent conduct had he deigned
to acknowledge his error or had pleaded his weakness as an apology; but
his faulty shame or pride prevented him from so much as mentioning the
matter to Warwick; and that nobleman was allowed to depart the court,
full of the same ill-humor and discontent which he had brought to it.
Every incident now tended to widen the breach between the King and this
powerful subject. The Queen, who lost not her influence by marriage, was
equally solicitous to draw every grace and favor to her own friends and
kindred and to exclude those of the Earl, whom she regarded as her mortal
enemy.
The Earl of Warwick could not suffer with patience the least diminution
of that credit which he had long enjoyed, and which he thought he had
merited by such important services. Edward also, jealous of that power
which had supported him, was well pleased to raise up rivals to the
Earl of Warwick; and he justified, by this political view, his extreme
partiality to the Queen's kindred. But the nobility of England, envying
the sudden growth of the Woodevilles, was more inclined to take part with
Warwick's discontent.
An extensive and dangerous combination was insensibly formed against
Edward and his ministry. While this cloud was gathering at home, Edward
endeavored to secure himself against his factious nobility by entering
into foreign alliances. But whatever ambitious schemes the King might
have built on these alliances, they were soon frustrated by intestine
commotions, which engrossed all his attention. These disorders probably
arose not immediately from the intrigues of the Earl of Warwick, but from
accident, aided by the turbulent spirit of the age, by the general humor
of discontent which that popular nobleman had instilled into the nation,
and perhaps by some remains of attachment to the house of Lancaster. The
hospital of St. Leonard's, near York, had received, from an ancient
grant of King Athelstane, a right of levying a thrave of corn upon every
ploughland in the county. The country people complained that the revenue
of the hospital was no longer expended for the relief of the poor, but
was secreted by the managers, and employed to their private purposes.
After long repining at the contribution, they refused payment;
ecclesiastical and civil censures were issued against them; their goods
were distrained, and their persons thrown into jail; till, as their
ill-humor daily increased, they rose in arms, fell upon the officers
of the hospital, whom they put to the sword, and proceeded in a body,
fifteen thousand strong, to the gates of York. Lord Montagu, who
commanded in those parts, opposed himself to their progress; and having
been so fortunate in a skirmish as to seize Robert Hulderne, their
leader, he ordered him immediately to be led to execution, according to
the practice of the times.
The rebels, however, still continued in arms; and being soon headed by
men of greater distinction--Sir Henry Nevil, son of Lord Latimer, and Sir
John Coniers--they advanced southward, and began to appear formidable to
the Government. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was ordered by Edward to march
against them at the head of a body of Welshmen; and he was joined by five
thousand archers, under the command of Stafford, Earl of Devonshire. But
a trivial difference about quarters having begotten an animosity between
these two noblemen, the Earl of Devonshire retired with his archers, and
left Pembroke alone to encounter the rebels.
The two armies approached each other near Banbury, 1469, and Pembroke,
having prevailed in a skirmish, and having taken Sir John Nevil prisoner,
ordered him immediately to be put to death, without any form of process.
This execution enraged without terrifying the rebels; they attacked the
Welsh army, routed them, put them to the sword without mercy; and, having
seized Pembroke, they took immediate revenge upon him for the death
of their leader. The King, imputing this misfortune to the Earl of
Devonshire, who had deserted Pembroke, ordered him to be executed in a
like summary manner.
Soon after there broke out another rebellion. It arose in Lincolnshire,
and was headed by Sir Robert Welles. The army of the rebels amounted to
thirty thousand men. The King fought a battle with the rebels, defeated
them, took Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas Launde prisoners, and
ordered them immediately to be beheaded. Edward during these transactions
had entertained so little jealousy of the Earl of Warwick or the Duke of
Clarence that he sent them with commissions of array to levy forces
against the rebels; but these malecontents, as soon as they left the
court, raised troops in their own name, issued declarations against the
Government, and complained of grievances, oppressions, and bad ministers.
The unexpected defeat of Welles disconcerted all their measures; and
they retired northward into Lancashire, where they expected to be joined
by Lord Stanley, who had married the Earl of Warwick's sister. But as
that nobleman refused all concurrence with them, and as Lord Montagu
also remained quiet in Yorkshire, they were obliged to disband their
army and to fly into Devonshire, where they embarked and made sail
toward Calais.
The King of France received Warwick with the greatest demonstrations
of regard, and hoped to make him his instrument in overturning the
government of England and reestablishing the house of Lancaster. No
animosity was ever greater than that which had long prevailed between
that house and the Earl of Warwick. But his present distresses and the
entreaties of Louis made him hearken to terms of accommodation; and
Margaret being sent for from Angers, where she then resided, an agreement
was soon concluded between them. It was stipulated that Warwick should
espouse the cause of Henry and endeavor to restore him to liberty and to
reestablish him on the throne; that the administration of the government
during the minority of young Edward, Henry's son, should be intrusted
conjointly to the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence; that Prince
Edward should marry the Lady Anne, second daughter of that nobleman; and
that the crown, in case of the failure of male issue in that Prince,
should descend to the Duke of Clarence, to the entire exclusion of King
Edward and his posterity. The marriage of Prince Edward with the Lady
Anne was immediately celebrated in France.
Edward foresaw that it would be easy to dissolve an alliance composed
of such discordant parts. For this purpose he sent over a lady of great
sagacity and address, who belonged to the train of the Duchess of
Clarence, and who, under color of attending her mistress, was empowered
to negotiate with the Duke, and to renew the connections of that Prince
with his own family. She represented to Clarence that he had unwarily,
to his own ruin, become the instrument of Warwick's vengeance, and had
thrown himself entirely in the power of his most inveterate enemies;
that the mortal injuries which the one royal family had suffered from
the other were now past all forgiveness, and no imaginary union of
interests could ever suffice to obliterate them; that, even if the
leaders were willing to forget past offences, the animosity of their
adherents would prevent a sincere coalition of parties, and would, in
spite of all temporary and verbal agreements, preserve an eternal
opposition of measures between them; and that a prince who deserted his
own kindred, and joined the murderers of his father, left himself
single, without friends, without protection, and would not, when
misfortunes inevitably fell upon him, be so much as entitled to any pity
or regard from the rest of mankind. Clarence was only one-and-twenty
years of age, and seems to have possessed but a slender capacity; yet
could he easily see the force of these reasons; and, upon the promise
of forgiveness from his brother, he secretly engaged, on a favorable
opportunity, to desert the Earl of Warwick and abandon the Lancastrian
party.
During this negotiation Warwick was secretly carrying on a correspondence
of the same nature with his brother, the Marquis of Montagu, who was,
entirely trusted by Edward; and like motives produced a like resolution
in that nobleman. The Marquis, also, that he might render the projected
blow the more deadly and incurable, resolved on his side to watch a
favorable opportunity for committing his perfidy, and still to maintain
the appearance of being a zealous adherent to the house of York.
After these mutual snares were thus carefully laid, the decision of the
quarrel advanced apace. Louis prepared a fleet to escort the Earl of
Warwick, and granted him a supply of men and money. The Duke of Burgundy,
on the other hand, anxious to support the reigning family in England,
fitted out a larger fleet, with which he guarded the Channel. Edward was
not sensible of his danger; he made no suitable preparations against
the Earl of Warwick; he even said that the Duke might spare himself the
trouble of guarding the seas, and that he wished for nothing more than to
see Warwick set foot on English ground.
The event soon happened of which Edward seemed so desirous. A storm
dispersed the Duke of Burgundy's navy, and left the sea open to Warwick.
That nobleman seized the opportunity, and, setting sail, quickly landed
at Dartmouth with the Duke of Clarence, the earls of Oxford and Pembroke,
and a small body of troops, while the King was in the North, engaged in
suppressing an insurrection which had been raised by Lord Fitz-Hugh,
brother-in-law to Warwick. The scene which ensues resembles more
the fiction of a poem or romance than an event in true history. The
prodigious popularity of Warwick, the zeal of the Lancastrian party,
the spirit of discontent with which many were infected, and the general
instability of the English nation occasioned by the late frequent
revolutions drew such multitudes to his standard that in a very few days
his army amounted to sixty thousand men and was continually increasing.
Edward hastened southward to encounter him; and the two armies approached
each other near Nottingham, where a decisive action was every hour
expected.
The rapidity of Warwick's progress had incapacitated the Duke of Clarence
from executing his plan of treachery; and the Marquis of Montagu had here
the opportunity of striking the first blow. He communicated the design to
his adherents, who promised him their concurrence; they took to arms in
the night-time, and hastened with loud acclamations to Edward's quarters;
the King was alarmed at the noise, and, starting from bed, heard the cry
of war usually employed by the Lancastrian party. Lord Hastings, his
chamberlain, informed him of the danger, and urged him to make his escape
by speedy flight from an army where he had so many concealed enemies and
where few seemed zealously attached to his service. He had just time to
get on horseback and to hurry with a small retinue to Lynne, in Norfolk,
where he luckily found some ships ready, on board of which he instantly
embarked. The Earl of Warwick, in eleven days after his first landing,
was left entire master of the kingdom. But Edward's danger did not end
with his embarkation. The Easterlings or Hanse Towns were then at war
both with France and England; and some ships of these people, hovering on
the English coast, espied the King's vessels and gave chase to them; nor
was it without extreme difficulty that he made his escape into the port
of Alkmaar in Holland.
Immediately after Edward's flight had left the kingdom at Warwick's
disposal, that nobleman hastened to London; and taking Henry from his
confinement in the Tower, into which he himself had been the chief
cause of throwing him, he proclaimed him King with great solemnity.
A parliament was summoned, in the name of that Prince, to meet at
Westminster. The treaty with Margaret was here fully executed; Henry
was recognized as lawful king; but, his incapacity for government being
avowed, the regency was intrusted to Warwick and Clarence till the
majority of Prince Edward; and in default of that Prince's issue,
Clarence was declared successor to the crown.
The ruling party were more sparing in their executions than was usual
after any revolution during those violent times. The only victim
of distinction was John Tibetot, Earl of Worcester. All the other
considerable Yorkists either fled beyond sea or took shelter in
sanctuaries, where the ecclesiastical privileges afforded them
protection. In London alone it is computed that no less than two thousand
persons saved themselves in this manner, and among the rest Edward's
Queen, who was there delivered of a son, called by his father's name.
Queen Margaret had not yet appeared in England, but, on receiving
intelligence of Warwick's success, was preparing with Prince Edward for
her journey. All the banished Lancastrians flocked to her, and, among the
rest, the Duke of Somerset, son of the Duke beheaded after the battle
of Hexham. This nobleman, who had long been regarded as the head of
the party, had fled into the Low Countries on the discomfiture of
his friends; and as he concealed his name and quality, he had there
languished in extreme indigence. But both Somerset and Margaret were
detained by contrary winds from reaching England, till a new revolution
in that kingdom, no less sudden and surprising than the former, threw
them into greater misery than that from which they had just emerged.
The Duke of Burgundy equipped four large vessels, in the name of some
private merchants, at Terveer, in Zealand; and, causing fourteen ships to
be secretly hired from the Easterlings, he delivered this small squadron
to Edward, who, receiving also a sum of money from the Duke, immediately
set sail for England, 1471.
Edward, impatient to take revenge on his enemies and to recover his lost
authority, made an attempt to land with his forces, which exceeded not
two thousand men, on the coast of Norfolk; but being there repulsed, he
sailed northward and disembarked at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire. Finding that
the new magistrates, who had been appointed by the Earl of Warwick, kept
the people everywhere from joining him, he pretended, and even made oath,
that he came, not to challenge the crown, but only the inheritance of the
house of York, which of right belonged to him, and that he did not intend
to disturb the peace of the kingdom. His partisans every moment flocked
to his standard; he was admitted into the city of York; and he was soon
in such a situation as gave him hopes of succeeding in all his claims and
pretensions.
Warwick assembled an army at Leicester, with an intention of meeting and
of giving battle to the enemy, but Edward, by taking another road, passed
him unmolested and presented himself before the gates of London. Edward's
entrance into London made him master not only of that rich and powerful
city, but also of the person of Henry, who, destined to be the perpetual
sport of fortune, thus fell again into the hands of his enemies. It does
not appear that Warwick, during his short administration, which had
continued only six months, had been guilty of any unpopular act, or had
anywise deserved to lose that general favor with which he had so lately
overwhelmed Edward. But this Prince, who was formerly on the defensive,
was now the aggressor. Everyone who had been disappointed in the hopes
which he had entertained from Warwick's elevation either became a cool
friend or an open enemy to that nobleman; and each malecontent, from
whatever cause, proved an accession to Edward's army.
The King, therefore, found himself in a condition to face the Earl of
Warwick, who, being reënforced by his son-in-law the Duke of Clarence,
and his brother the Marquis of Montagu, took post at Barnet, in the
neighborhood of London. Warwick was now too far advanced to retreat, and,
as he rejected with disdain all terms of peace offered him by Edward and
Clarence, he was obliged to hazard a general engagement. The battle was
fought with obstinacy on both sides. The two armies, in imitation of
their leaders, displayed uncommon valor; and the victory remained long
undecided between them. But an accident threw the balance to the side of
the Yorkists. Edward's cognizance was a sun; that of Warwick a star
with rays; and the mistiness of the morning rendering it difficult to
distinguish them, the Earl of Oxford, who fought on the side of the
Lancastrians, was by mistake attacked by his friends and chased off the
field of battle. Warwick, contrary to his more usual practice, engaged
that day on foot, resolving to show his army that he meant to share every
fortune with them, and he was slain in the thickest of the engagement;
and as Edward had issued orders not to give any quarter, a great and
undistinguished slaughter was made in the pursuit. There fell about one
thousand five hundred on the side of the victors.