Difficulties accumulated on all sides. The long war had caused
such a drain on the finances, that the payment of the troops had
already been lowered, and a dangerous mutiny had broken out at
Calais. At the same time, Gloucester’s meddlesome and overbearing
character perpetually kept the Government at home in disturbance.
In 1428, an attack was made on the Bishop of Winchester. He had
returned from Rome a Cardinal, and with the rank of Papal Legate
for the purpose of collecting troops against the Hussites. His
authority thus clashed with that of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who was _ex officio_ Legate when no one else was specially
appointed to that office. Displeased at being superseded, Chicheley
joined with Gloucester, and suggested that Winchester, by becoming
Legate without royal permission, had incurred the penalties of
præmunire. Winchester was therefore excluded from the Council,
and from the Chapter of the Garter, of which he was the Prelate,
held in 1429. His place in the Council was restored to him in
gratitude for his conduct in the following year, when he lent
troops to Bedford after the relief of Orleans. Nevertheless,
during his absence in 1431, he was asked to resign his bishopric,
as being the officer of a foreign power, and Gloucester brought
formal charges against him, and caused the writ of præmunire to be
actually prepared. The execution of the writ was postponed till
the King’s return, when Beaufort was allowed to clear himself,
and a declaration vouching for his loyalty given him under the
Great Seal. While thus attacking the Cardinal, Gloucester had been
attempting to increase his popularity, already very great, by
assuming the position of champion of the Church, and persecutor
of heresy. In 1430, a man calling himself Jack Sharpe had been
put to death at Oxford, and a clergyman of Essex had also been
burnt. But there was evidently still existing a strong undercurrent
of Lollardism; for the people came in crowds to the place of
execution, and made offerings as though the victim of persecution
had been a saint. But even worse for Bedford than these troubles
at home was the loss of his wife, who died in November 1432,
childless, thus breaking the strongest link which had hitherto
bound England and Burgundy together. This misfortune was made
worse by one of the few acts of indiscretion which can be alleged
against Bedford. He married Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of
Saint-Pol, of the House of Luxembourg, a marriage in itself politic
enough, but which, contracted as it was without the permission of
Burgundy, the lady’s feudal superior, caused a quarrel between
the two Dukes. This was the second heavy blow which the alliance
between England and Burgundy had received. Yet this alliance was
absolutely necessary for the successful carrying on of the war. It
began to be a question whether peace of some sort was not becoming
necessary. Bedford even in the year 1431 received leave from the
English Parliament to treat. Abroad the feeling in favour of peace
was still stronger. Pope Eugenius IV. had set seriously to work to
put an end to the warfare. The Emperor Sigismund, with Frederick
of Austria and Louis of Orange, alarmed at the rising power of
the Burgundian House, had made offers of assistance to the French
King. The Bretons, headed by the Count of Richemont, were anxious
to renew their natural alliance with France. Burgundy himself, in
1432, had gone so far as to make an armistice with the French; the
presence at the French Court of La Tremouille, one of the murderers
of the Duke’s father and the constant supporter of the war, seemed
the only obstacle to reconciliation: if that reconciliation were
made Bedford must of necessity make peace. Other difficulties
were leading him in the same direction. The finances were in
the greatest disorder; the garrison of Calais mutinied for pay.
Bedford therefore, in 1433, returned to England to see what could
be done. He made Lord Ralph Cromwell his treasurer, and intrusted
him with the duty of examining and making a statement as to the
condition of the finances. It became apparent that the yearly
outgoing exceeded the income by £25,000. Bedford at once insisted
on economy, and patriotically gave up a considerable portion of
his own salaries. But the discovery of his failing resources, the
necessity for his presence in England, where Lords and Commons
united in intreating him to remain, the increase of the power of
France, and the constant danger of reconciliation between Charles
and Burgundy, induced him to be quite ready to make arrangements
for a peace on honourable terms which should include the possession
of Normandy. Such views did not suit Gloucester. He put himself
prominently forward as the head of the war party, producing a great
but impracticable plan for pressing the war with vigour. Bedford’s
residence in England was short. During his absence all went wrong;
St. Denis was lost, and the Earl of Arundel taken prisoner. He was
forced to return to France, and to leave the parties in England
(now clearly defined as peace and war parties) to carry on their
quarrels. But the general feeling for the necessity of peace,
and for the release from their long imprisonment of the captives
taken at Agincourt, gained ground abroad. So much was this the
case, that Burgundy found means to assemble on the 14th of July
what may be fairly called a European congress, at Arras, to
settle if possible the peace of Europe. Thither came ambassadors
from the Council of Bâle, (at that time sitting,) the Legate
of the Pope, and ministers from the Emperor, Castile, Aragon,
Navarre, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, Poland, Denmark, the Parisian
University, and the great commercial towns of the Hansa and of
Flanders. Archbishop John of York at first represented England.
The Duke of Bourbon, who had already entered into agreement with
Burgundy, represented France. Even on their first appearance, the
English ambassadors were displeased with the precedence given to
the French. The rival demands were these:--France wished either
for a peace with Burgundy, and the continuation of the war with
England, or if there was a cessation of that war, that the peace
should be unconditional, with the restoration of all prisoners
and all conquests, the three Norman bishoprics alone being left
to the English, and those only as fiefs of the French crown; the
English demanded the retention of their present possessions and
an armistice. The pretensions of the two nations were evidently
incompatible; even Cardinal Beaufort, who had joined the congress,
was afraid of the war party at home, and on the 6th of September
the English embassy withdrew.
[Sidenote: Bedford’s death. Consequent defection of Burgundy.]
[Sidenote: Obstinacy of the war party.]
At this inopportune moment an event happened which settled
the wavering mind of Burgundy, and induced him to make a full
reconciliation with the French. This event was the death of the
Duke of Bedford. There was no one to fill the place of that great
man. It had been his personal influence more than anything else
which had kept Burgundy true to England. On his death the Duke
at once declared himself ready to receive the terms which France
offered. These were humiliating enough. Charles apologized for the
death of Duke John, declared that he held the act in abhorrence,
that he had been brought to consent to it by the advice of wicked
ministers, and would henceforward exclude all Armagnacs from
his council. At the same time he granted to Burgundy, Macon and
Auxerre, together with the basin of the Somme, or Ponthieu. At
first, news of this treaty served only to arouse the warlike
feeling of the English. The appearance of the Burgundian envoy
in London was the signal for violent riots. It was determined to
prosecute the war with vigour. A great loan was raised throughout
the country, and the prosecution intrusted to the young Duke of
York. It was not to be expected that this young prince, however
great his ability, could do what Bedford had been unable to
accomplish. United with Burgundy, England had scarcely held its
position in France. Against France and Burgundy united, it was
helpless.
[Sidenote: Continued ill success. 1437.]
Already before York’s arrival a great piece of Normandy, and even
Harfleur, had been lost. In April the French King, with Burgundy,
advanced on Paris, and was admitted by the townspeople. The war
party grew only more obstinate. Gloucester revived his absurd
claims upon Flanders in right of Jacqueline, and assumed the title
of Count of Flanders. York and Talbot succeeded in driving back
the Burgundians from Calais; but this was almost the only English
success. In July 1437, York was recalled, and Beauchamp, Earl of
Warwick,[91] appointed in his place. But it was too late for any
one to check the advance of the French. That country was indeed
exhausted and miserable to the last degree; but England was in
little better plight. For several years the plague had been raging,
and an unusually bad harvest added to the horrors of disease. Bread
there was none, the people were reduced to live on pulse.
[Sidenote: Danger from Scotland.]
[Sidenote: James’s death.]
Moreover, the English forces were divided by the threatening
aspect of affairs in Scotland. The young King had done his best to
keep his promise of peace, but found it impossible to break off
the long-standing connection with France. In 1428, his daughter
Margaret had been betrothed to Charles VII.’s son, Louis of Anjou.
This had excited the fears of the English, and in the following
year, the Bishop of Winchester, under the plea of collecting
help for his proposed crusade against the Hussites, had visited
Edinburgh. A marriage treaty had even been proposed between the
two countries, but it came to nothing, and a vigorous diplomatic
struggle was still being carried on between the rival parties of
France and England, when, in 1434, the folly of Sir Robert Ogle,
who led a raid into the Scotch Lowlands, turned the scale in favour
of the French. The marriage between Margaret and Louis of Anjou
was at once carried out, and, in 1436, an army, with King James at
its head, attacked Roxburgh. Fortunately for England, the Scotch
King, bred at the Court of Henry V., and eager to introduce into
his own kingdom the orderly constitution he had known in England,
had excited the anger of his nobles. News of a conspiracy reached
him, and he withdrew from his invasion only to fall a victim to
that conspiracy in the following year. Weakened by these domestic
confusions, Scotland was content to enter into a truce for ten
years.
[Sidenote: Peace party procure the liberation of Orleans. 1440.]
Neither the suffering of the people, nor the danger from Scotland,
nor the constant want of success abroad, had any influence on
the passionate obstinacy of Gloucester. Meetings with regard to
peace were in vain held at Paris, the English refused to recede
from their demands. At length, however, Cardinal Beaufort and the
peace party so far prevailed, that, after the fall of Meaux, they
procured the liberation of the Duke of Orleans, hoping to find
in him an efficient mediator. As a protest against the measure,
while the Duke was taking the oaths required of him before his
liberation, Gloucester, refusing to be present, betook himself to
his barge and remained upon the river. The measure did not produce
the desired effect. The Duke of Warwick had died in May 1439.
Somerset, who had succeeded him, retook Harfleur, but, in the two
following years, not only did the French successes increase in
Normandy, even Guienne was in its turn assaulted. All efforts to
save it were in vain, and it became quite evident that the policy
of peace was the only one which could extricate England with honour
from its disastrous situation.
[Sidenote: Peace becomes necessary. Rise of Suffolk.]
[Sidenote: Marriage of Henry with Margaret of Anjou.]
[Sidenote: Pre-eminence of Suffolk.]
The death of Bedford had left Cardinal Beaufort at the head of
the party who desired a reasonable peace. But Beaufort was old,
and the influence of Gloucester, as first Prince of the blood and
the leader of the popular party, kept him much aloof from public
business. In his place there arose a new minister, De la Pole,
Earl of Suffolk. This man, a descendant of a wealthy merchant in
the reign of Edward III., and grandson of the favourite of Richard
II., was fully engaged upon the side of the Lancastrian dynasty.
He had been taken prisoner after the siege of Orleans, and had in
France formed connections which pointed him out as a fitting person
to manage negotiations with that country. It was determined, if
possible, to make the marriage of the young King with a French
Princess the basis of a peace. The Princess fixed on was Margaret,
the daughter of Réné, Duke of Bar, representative of the Angevin
house, the titular King of Sicily and of Jerusalem.[92] Suffolk
undertook to manage the delicate negotiation, although conscious,
it would seem, of the obloquy he would probably meet with. He
succeeded in obtaining an armistice to extend from June 1444 till
April 1446, and the marriage treaty was completed; but so far from
receiving a dower with his wife, as might have been expected, (but
which her father, who had surrendered his duchy to the Duke of
Burgundy, was quite unable to give,) it was arranged that Henry
should surrender to the French, as the price of their consent, all
that was left to the English of Anjou and Maine, where the war was
still being carried on. In carrying out this arrangement, Suffolk
had the consent of the Privy Council, but it is probable that
they did not contemplate so complete a cession of English rights.
His successful return secured him the title of Marquis, and the
friendship of the young Queen (whose masculine mind soon got entire
command of her husband’s will), and enabled him to hold a position
of complete superiority in the English councils.
[Sidenote: Gloucester’s death.]
Alliance with the French, on the somewhat disgraceful terms on
which it had been contracted, not unnaturally raised the anger of
Gloucester and his party. The rivalry grew hot between him and
Suffolk. There were probably private causes of trouble between
them, but at all events, in 1447, the Parliament was held at Bury
St. Edmunds, and Gloucester was summoned thither. He went with a
considerable following, but does not seem to have suspected danger,
although he found the town fortified, and the guards everywhere
doubled. He was suddenly apprehended on the charge of high treason,
and before any trial was granted him, the public were told that he
was dead. A death so opportune for his enemies naturally excited
suspicion, and the most sinister rumours of foul play were spread
among the people. It is impossible not to join in these suspicions;
at the same time it is fair to notice that at a late examination
his physician had declared his constitution radically unsound, and
that some contemporary writers mention his death as having arisen
from natural causes.
[Sidenote: York takes his place.]
His death left room for Richard Duke of York’s appearance upon the
stage of politics. The son of Anne, sister of the Earl of March,
and of that Duke of Cambridge who was put to death for his share in
the conspiracy immediately preceding Henry V.’s first expedition
to France, he stepped naturally into the place of leader of the
Plantagenet Princes. Ever since that family ascended the throne,
those branches of it which had not been actually reigning had
been for the most part in opposition. Till their accession, the
Lancastrians had been the leaders of this party; their place was
now taken first by Gloucester, then by York. It will be seen in the
sequel that those same families which had formed the discontented
party in the reign of Richard II., and in opposition to the
Lancastrians, now sided chiefly with York. He had been already
employed in public affairs, had been twice governor of Normandy,
and in that capacity had quarrelled with the Duke of Somerset, who
had been joined with him in command. To rid himself of so important
an enemy, Suffolk, the leading statesman of the ruling party, had
got him appointed in 1446 to the government of Ireland. This was a
post of considerable difficulty; for under the management of the
Earls of Ormond, one of the old Anglo-Irish settlers, that country
had fallen into great disorder.[93]
[Sidenote: Absolute ministry of Suffolk.]
[Sidenote: His unpopularity.]
After Gloucester’s death Suffolk had become unquestioned chief
Minister, for Cardinal Beaufort had not long survived his nephew.
He took upon himself all the unpopularity which the Lancastrian
dynasty had latterly earned. It is plain that among the people
there was deep-seated discontent. The persecution of the Lollards
had never relented. Frequent executions are recorded for heresy.
The support the Lancastrians had constantly given to the Church
had even produced several outbreaks. In 1438, and again in 1443,
there had been uproars in several parts of England, directed
against the Catholic ecclesiastical foundations. Nor was this
unnatural. Amidst the misery and desolation caused by repeated
plagues and famines, and the expenditure both of men and money
incident upon a foreign war, the Church alone, represented by the
wealthy Cardinal Beaufort, had retained its prosperity; while,
to crown all, national honour had been deeply wounded by want of
success in France. To this inherited unpopularity, Suffolk added
that which arose from the late dishonourable marriage treaty with
France. Instead of attempting to lessen the feeling against him,
he followed the common course of upstart ministers. The Princes
and great nobles found themselves excluded from the Council.
His ministers were chiefly bishops, especially Ascough, Bishop
of Salisbury, and De Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, and men of
little eminence, as Lord Say. His government in fact resembled
that of Bernard of Armagnac in France, and took that particularly
objectionable form, the superiority of the lesser nobles.
[Sidenote: Renewal of the war.]
His foreign policy, too, was eminently unsuccessful. At the close
of the truce, in 1446, he had not secured any permanent peace; and
early in 1448, an ill-judged outbreak of some English auxiliaries,
who captured the town of Fougères, again plunged England into war.
John, Duke of Somerset, perhaps in despair at his ill success,
had killed himself. His brother Edmund succeeded to his title and
position in France. His opposition to the French, who attacked
him in great force, was entirely unavailing, and before the year
was over Rouen and a large part of Normandy had been regained by
the French. In May an armament under Sir Thomas Kyriel had been
defeated near Formigny; in July Caen surrendered; and in August
the last remnants of the English army returned to England from
Cherbourg. In the following year a last effort was made to retain
some position in Guienne with equally bad success.
[Sidenote: Fall of Rouen. 1449.]
[Sidenote: Popular outbreak against Suffolk.]
[Sidenote: Murder of Suffolk.]
The loss of Rouen, in 1449, brought the anger of the people to its
highest point. In an uproar they put to death De Moleyns, Bishop
of Chichester, at Portsmouth; and at length the House of Commons,
led by Tresham their speaker, insisted upon the apprehension of
Suffolk, who had now become a Duke, upon a charge of treason. On
the 7th of February eight charges were brought against him of a
somewhat indefinite character, especially charging him with a wish
to marry his son John to Margaret Beaufort, thus aiming at the
kingdom, and with gross mismanagement and treachery in France.
These were followed by sixteen more specific charges, in which
it was asserted that he had appropriated and misused the royal
revenues, interfered with the course of justice, and treated
treacherously with the French. On the 13th he appeared before the
King in the House of Peers. He denied most of the charges, and
excused himself on others on the ground that he had acted with
the approbation of the Privy Council. He however, declining the
privilege of his peerage and trial by the House of Lords, threw
himself entirely upon the King’s mercy; and Henry, hoping to get
over the difficulty without giving up his friend, without a trial
banished him for five years. This was a manifest breach of the
Constitution, and served only to increase the general discontent.
The Duke escaped privately to his own estates, and took sea at
Ipswich, but was met by an English squadron, taken on board the
largest ship, the “Nicholas of the Tower,” and after a sham trial
by the seamen, obliged to enter a little boat. He was there
beheaded, with a sort of parody of the usual forms of execution.
It is pretty evident that behind the popular anger there was the
influence of the Duke of York and other noblemen at work.
[Sidenote: Jack Cade.]
At the next Parliament, which was held at Leicester, many of
the nobles appeared in arms. At the same time the news of the
defeat of Kyriel at Formigny arrived; and at once the men of
Kent, who were probably in close alliance with the seamen who had
executed Suffolk, rose. Their leader was Jack Cade. He led the
insurgents under strict discipline towards London, assuming the
name of Mortimer, and we cannot but believe with the knowledge
of the Duke of York. Two papers were sent in to the Government;
one called the Complaints, the other the Demands, of the Commons
of Kent. In these were summed up the causes of the unpopularity
of Suffolk; and the restoration of Richard of York to favour was
demanded. Unable to hold their advanced position, the insurgents
fell back to Sevenoaks, but there they were successful against a
hasty attack by Sir Humphrey Stafford.[94] The King retired from
London, and so far yielded as to order the apprehension of Lord
Say, one of the obnoxious councillors. Cade then advanced, took
possession of Southwark, and appeared in London, under the title of
the Captain of Kent, and in the arms of Stafford. The burghers of
London, full of sympathy for the demands of the Kentish men, and
pleased with the strict discipline preserved, sided at first with
the insurgents. At a formal trial presided over by the Lord Mayor,
Say, who had fallen into the hands of the people, was condemned
and immediately executed. Meanwhile, almost at the same time,
Ascough, the obnoxious Bishop of Salisbury, was put to death by his
own followers at Eddington. Thus all the obnoxious ministers had
been got rid of. London was now in the hands of the populace. The
temptation was too strong for them, and some plundering took place.
On this the Londoners took fright, and, when the insurgents retired
for the night to Southwark, broke down and defended the bridge.
Cade, unable to regain London, fell back, and after his followers,
deceived by a promise of general pardon, had chiefly dispersed, was
pursued and put to death near Lewes by Iden the sheriff.
[Sidenote: Continued discontent.]
[Sidenote: York’s appearance in arms. 1452.]
The disaffection was by no means quieted. Complaints were bitter,
that by repeated prorogations of Parliament supplies were obtained
without any redress of grievances, and that the bishops and
clergy sided with the oppressors. While public feeling was in
this irritable condition, York, suddenly leaving his government
of Ireland without leave, appeared on the Welsh border with 4000
of his vassals. In this threatening manner, and accompanied by
the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Devonshire and Salisbury, the
whole clan of the Nevilles, and the Lords Cromwell[95] and Cobham,
he appeared at Westminster. Meanwhile, Somerset, the acknowledged
head of the rival party, returned from France, and received the
office of Constable. The parties were assuming form, and a crisis
was evidently at hand. York made a formal demand for the dismissal
of Somerset and the punishment of the Duchess of Suffolk. As yet,
however, the Government was strong enough to refuse these demands,
and during the whole of the year 1451, without any public acts, the
quarrel was becoming more embittered. In Devonshire Lord Bonville
was at open war with the Earl of Devonshire. In the North, Percy,
Lord Egremont, was fighting with the Earl of Salisbury. And in the
winter, the Welsh vassals of York were gathered round the castle of
Ludlow. Hitherto York and his partisans had persistently declared
themselves the faithful servants of the Crown, interested only in
the removal of the King’s bad ministers. None the less, in the
beginning of the year 1452, Somerset and the King marched into
the West, where York had been collecting his vassals, while York,
moving in the opposite direction, passed the royal troops, and
appeared in Kent, where he felt sure of support.
[Sidenote: He is duped into submission.]
This summoned the King back towards London; he took up his position
at Blackheath, and there received the demands of York, to which
he consented, promising to imprison Somerset, and to form a new
council. Trusting to this promise, York disbanded his army, and
went to have an interview with the King. He there discovered, to
his dismay, that he had been deceived. His rival was in the tent,
and evidently still in favour. Hot words were exchanged, but
ultimately York was compelled to renew his oath of loyalty, and
the Somerset party for the instant triumphed. The next Parliament
was strongly in their favour; the speaker, Thomas Thorpe, a strong
partisan of the Lancastrians. The King’s half-brothers, the sons
of Owen Tudor, (Edmund, Earl of Richmond, and Jasper, Earl of
Pembroke,) were brought prominently forward as members of the
royal house, and Cardinal Kemp, now Archbishop of Canterbury and
Chancellor, declared that the Government would enforce peace by
arms if necessary.
[Sidenote: Imbecility of the King. Prince of Wales born. 1454.]
[Sidenote: York’s first Protectorate.]
This triumph was of short duration. News arrived of the failure
of the new expedition for the rescue of Guienne, and of the
death of Talbot, Lord Shrewsbury, its leader, at Castillon. And
worse than that, the King, who had all his life suffered both
from bodily and intellectual weakness, fell into a condition of
hopeless imbecility. Under these circumstances, the birth of a
Prince called Edward, which might have added to the strength of
the Lancastrian party, was but a source of weakness. York, as heir
presumptive to the throne of a sickly monarch, might have been
contented to wait; the birth of a new heir apparent urged him to
do what he had to do quickly. The opportunity, too, now offered
itself; during the imbecility of the King, some regent was wanted;
there was no excuse for passing over York. An instant change of
government was the consequence. Somerset was apprehended. Even
the Parliament chosen under the Lancastrian influence could not
refuse, after it had obtained proof of Henry’s folly, to appoint
Richard. The amount of authority given him seems to have been
exactly that which Gloucester had enjoyed. He was President of the
Council, and chief executive officer. His office was terminable
at the royal will. Though thus limited, his power was sufficient
to enable him to change the constitution of the Council, to carry
through a breach of Parliamentary privilege by imprisoning for a
debt Thorpe the speaker, and on the death of Cardinal Kemp, to
appoint his brother-in-law Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, to
the chancellorship.
[Sidenote: Recovery of the King. 1454.]
[Sidenote: York again appears In arms.]
[Sidenote: First battle of St. Albans. May 22, 1455.]