UNPLEASANT CAPRICES OF ROYALTY: INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING AS A SUBSIDIARY
AID IN THE PROGRESS OF EMANCIPATION.
Henry VI. left no royal record worth remembering save the establishment
of Eton and King's Colleges. Edward IV., who began his reign in 1461,
was bold and active. Queen Margaret's army of sixty thousand men which
attacked him was defeated and half her forces slaughtered, no quarter
being given.
His title was now confirmed, and Margaret fled to Scotland. Three years
later she attempted again to secure the throne through the aid of Louis
XI., but failed. Henry, who had been in concealment, was now confined in
the Tower, as shown in the engraving on the following page.
[Illustration: HENRY VI. IMPRESSED IN THE TOWER.]
Edward's marriage was not satisfactory, and, as he bestowed all the
offices on his wife's relatives, Warwick deserted him and espoused the
cause of Queen Margaret.
He had no trouble in raising an army and compelling Edward to flee.
Henry was taken from the Tower and crowned, his rights having been
recognized by Parliament. Warwick and his son-in-law, the Duke of
Clarence, brother to Edward IV., were made regents, therefore, in 1471.
Before the year was out, however, the tables were again turned, and
Henry found himself once more in his old quarters in the Tower. Warwick
was soon defeated and slain, and on the same day Margaret and her son
Edward landed in England. She and Edward were defeated and taken
prisoners at Tewkesbury, and the young prince cruelly put to death by
the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, brothers of Edward IV. Margaret
was placed in the Tower, and a day or two after Henry died mysteriously
there, it is presumed at the hands of Gloucester, who was socially an
unpleasant man to meet after dark.
Margaret died in France, in 1482, and the Lancastrians gave up all hope.
Edward, feeling again secure, at the instigation of his younger
brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, caused Clarence, the other
brother, to be put to death, and then began to give his entire attention
to vice, never allowing his reign to get into his rum or interfere with
it.
He was a very handsome man, but died, in 1483, of what the historian
calls a distemper. Some say he died of heart-failure while sleeping off
an attack of coma. Anyway, he turned up his comatose, as one might say,
and passed on from a spirituous life to a spiritual one, such as it may
be. He was a counterfeit sovereign.
In 1474 the first book was printed in England, and more attention was
then paid to spelling. William Caxton printed this book,--a work on
chess. The form of the types came from Germany, and was used till James
I. introduced the Roman type. James I. took a great interest in plain
and ornamental job printing, and while trying to pick a calling card out
of the jaws of a crude job-press in the early years of his reign,
contributed a royal thumb to this restless emblem of progress and
civilization. (See next page.)
[Illustration: JAMES I. CONTRIBUTING HIS MITE TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF
KNOWLEDGE.]
The War of the Roses having destroyed the nobility, times greatly
improved, and Industry was declared constitutional.
Edward V. at twelve years of age became king, and his uncle Dick, Duke
of Gloucester, became Protector. As such he was a disgrace, for he
protected nobody but himself. The young king and his brother, the Duke
of York, were placed in the Tower, and their uncle, Lord Hastings, and
several other offensive partisans, on the charge of treason, were
executed in 1483. He then made arrangements that he should be urged to
accept the throne, and with a coy and reluctant grace peculiar to this
gifted assassin, he caused himself to be proclaimed Richard III.
[Illustration: DEATH OF BUCKINGHAM.]
Richard then caused the young princes to be smothered in their beds, in
what is now called the Bloody Tower. The Duke of Buckingham was at first
loaded with honors in return for his gory assistance; but even he became
disgusted with the wicked usurper, and headed a Welsh rebellion. He was
not successful, and, in 1483, he received a slight testimonial from the
king, as portrayed by the gifted artist of this work. The surprise and
sorrow shown on the face of the duke, together with his thrift and
economy in keeping his cigar from being spattered, and his determination
that, although he might be put out, the cigar should not be, prove him
to have been a man of great force of character for a duke.
Richard now espoused his niece, daughter of Edward IV., and in order to
make the home nest perfectly free from social erosion, he caused his
consort, Anne, to be poisoned. Those who believed the climate around the
throne to be bracing and healthful had a chance to change their views in
a land where pea-soup fog can never enter. Anne was the widow of Edward,
whom Richard slew at Tewkesbury.
[Illustration: STONE COFFIN OF RICHARD III.]
Every one felt that Richard was a disgrace to the country, and Henry,
Earl of Richmond, succeeded in defeating and slaying the usurper on
Bosworth Field, in 1485, when Henry was crowned on the battle-field.
Richard was buried at Leicester; but during the reign of Henry VIII.,
when the monasteries were destroyed, Richard's body was exhumed and his
stone coffin used for many years in that town as a horse-trough.
Shakespeare and the historians give an unpleasant impression regarding
Richard's personality; but this was done in the interests of the Tudors,
perhaps. He was highly intelligent, and if he had given less attention
to usurpation, would have been more popular.
Under the administrations of the houses of Lancaster and York serfdom
was abolished, as the slaves who were armed during the War of the Roses
would not submit again to slavery after they had fought for their
country.
Agriculture suffered, and some of the poor had to subsist upon acorns
and wild roots. During those days Whittington was thrice Lord Mayor of
London, though at first only a poor boy. Even in the land of lineage
this poor lad, with a cat and no other means of subsistence, won his way
to fame and fortune.
The manufacture of wool encouraged the growing of sheep, and, in 1455,
silk began to attract attention.
During his reign Richard had known what it was to need money, and the
rich merchants and pawnbrokers were familiar with his countenance when
he came after office hours to negotiate a small loan.
[Illustration: RICHARD HAS A CONFERENCE WITH THE MONEY-LENDER.]
Science spent a great deal of surplus energy experimenting on alchemy,
and the Philosopher's Stone, as well as the Elixir of Life, attracted
much attention; but, as neither of these commodities are now on the
market, it is presumed that they were never successful.
Printing may be regarded as the most valuable discovery during those
bloody years, showing that Peace hath her victories no less than War,
and from this art came the most powerful and implacable enemy to
Ignorance and its attendant crimes that Progress can call its own.
No two authors spelled alike at that time, however, and the literature
of the day was characterized by the most startling originality along
that line.
The drama began to bud, and the chief rôles were taken by the clergy.
They acted Bible scenes interspersed with local witticisms, and often
turned away money.
Afterwards followed what were called Moral Plays, in which the bad man
always suffered intensely on a small salary.
The feudal castles disappeared, and new and more airy architecture
succeeded them. A better class of furniture also followed; but it was
very thinly scattered through the rooms, and a person on rising from his
bed in the night would have some difficulty in falling over anything.
Tidies on the chairs were unknown, and there was only tapestry enough to
get along with in a sort of hand-to-mouth way.