Edward IV now seemed to be seated securely upon the throne. But
trouble was near. Warwick wished him to follow his advice. Edward
thought he could manage without any advice. Then the king and the
kingmaker quarreled, and at last became open enemies and fought
one another on the field of battle. The end of it was that Warwick
was defeated, and driven out of the country. He sailed across the
channel and sought refuge in France.
There whom should he meet but his old enemy, Queen Margaret. She
had beaten him in battle, and had beheaded his cousin Richard,
duke of York; he had beaten her and driven her from her kingdom;
and twice he had made her husband prisoner and taken from him his
crown. In spite of all this the two now became fast friends, and
the kingmaker agreed to make war upon Edward and restore Henry
to the throne.
He asked assistance from Louis XI, king of France, who supplied
him with men and money. So with an army of Frenchmen the kingmaker
landed on the shores of England. Thousands of Englishmen who were
tired of Edward flocked to Warwick's standard, and when he reached
London he had an army of sixty thousand men.
Edward fled without waiting for a battle and escaped to the Netherlands
in a sailing-vessel. The kingmaker had now no one to resist him.
The gates of London were opened to him, and the citizens heartily
welcomed him. Marching to the Tower, he brought out the old king
and placed him once more upon the throne.
But though Edward had fled, he was not discouraged. He followed
the example of the kingmaker and asked aid from foreign friends.
The duke of Burgundy supplied him with money and soldiers, and
he was soon back in England.
His army grew larger and larger every day. People had been very
much dissatisfied with Edward and had rejoiced to get rid of him
and have Henry for king, because if Henry was not clever he was
good. But in a short time they had found out that England needed
a king who was not only good but capable.
So when Edward and his French soldiers landed most people in England
welcomed them. The kingmaker was now on the wrong side.
Edward met him in battle at a place called Barnet, and completely
defeated him. Warwick was killed and Henry once more became prisoner.
In another battle both Margaret and her son were made prisoners. The
son was brutally murdered in the presence of King Edward. Margaret
was placed in the Tower, and King Henry, who died soon after the
battle of Tewksbury, was probably poisoned by order of Edward.
In 1438, after a reign of twenty-two years, Edward died, leaving
two sons. Both were boys, so Edward's brother, Richard, duke of
Gloucester, was made regent until young Edward V, the older of
the two, should come of age.
[Illustration: THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER]
But Richard was determined to make himself king. So he put both
the young princes in the Tower. He than hired ruffians to murder
them. One night, when the little princes were asleep, the murderers
smothered them with pillows and buried their bodies at the foot
of a stairway in the Tower, and there, after many years, their
bones were found.
After Richard had murdered his two nephews, he was crowned king,
as Richard III, much pleased that his plans had succeeded so well.
He thought that now nobody could lay claim to the throne. But he
was mistaken. One person did claim it. This was Henry Tudor, earl
of Richmond.
Henry's father, Edmund Tudor, was only a Welsh gentleman, but was
the half-brother of Henry VI through their mother Queen Katherine.
Henry's mother was descended from John of Gaunt, fourth son of
Edward III, and thus through his mother he was of royal blood and
a Lancastrian.
When Richard III by his wickedness and cruelty had made all England
hate him, the Red Rose party gathered about Henry Tudor, raised
an army, and fought against the king in the battle of Bosworth.
Richard was a bad man, but he was brave, and he fought like a lion.
However, it was all in vain. He was defeated and killed. His body
was thrown on the back of a horse, carried to a church near the
field of battle and buried.
The battered crown which Richard had worn was picked up and placed
on Henry's head and the whole Lancastrian army shouted, "Long live
King Henry!"
Parliament now voted that Henry Tudor and his heirs should be kings
of England. Not long afterwards Henry married the heiress of the house
of York, and thus both the Red Roses and the White were satisfied,
as the king was a Lancastrian and the queen a Yorkist. So the long
and terrible Wars of the Roses came to an end.