(1420-1471)
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, called the king-maker, eldest son of
Richard, Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montacute, was born November 22,
1428. The history of this mighty peer is that of the whole of the
contest between the two houses of York and Lancaster. The house of
Neville had been built up by a series of wealthy marriages, and
Richard made no exception to the rule. While yet a boy he was married
to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and through her, after the
death of her brother and niece, he took his place at the age of
twenty-one among the chief earls of the English realm. By this time
the English rule in France had broken down, bringing the reigning
house of Lancaster into great unpopularity, and throwing a
correspondingly greater influence into the hands of the leader of the
opposition, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. He was brother-in-law
to the Earl of Salisbury, and so attached to his party the powerful
influence of the Nevilles.
[Illustration: Huniades at Belgrade.]
The Duke of York at first made no claim to the throne, demanding only
that he should have his place in the councils of the king, and even
when swords were drawn the Yorkists swore their allegiance to the
king, Henry VI., while fighting against his advisers. Of these
favorites of the king, the chief was the Earl of Somerset, whom many
suspected of a design to establish himself as the successor to the
throne. It was between these two factions of York and Somerset, that
the white and red roses were first employed as distinguishing badges.
[Illustration: Warwick. [TN]]
_Plantagenet._ Let him, that is a true born gentleman,
And stands upon the honor of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
_Somerset._ Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.
_Warwick._ I love no colors; and, without all color
Of base insinuating flattery,
I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.
--_Shakespeare: I Henry VI._
The Wars of the Roses began with the battle of St. Albans (1455), in
which Somerset was killed. The victory was gained to the Yorkists
chiefly by the help of Warwick. By a sudden sally into the streets of
the town he routed the royal forces, and gained for himself that
character of daring and courage which he maintained to the end. He was
rewarded with the post of Captain of Calais, which he retained
throughout the changes of the parties. In this position he was
practically independent, and scoured the Channel at his pleasure.
In 1458 he attacked some vessels which were under a treaty of peace
with England, and being summoned to London to answer before the king,
was violently attacked by the followers of Somerset and barely escaped
with his life. In 1459 the civil war finally broke out. In the first
campaign the Yorkists failed, owing to their inactivity. The leaders
fled to the coast of Devon, where they hired five men to carry them to
Bristol. As soon as they left land, Warwick, stripped to the doublet,
took the helm, and steered straight for Calais, where he arrived in a
few days. When Somerset, son of the earl slain at St. Albans, came to
claim the keys of the stronghold, he had the mortification to find
Warwick there before him.
Warwick was next in England on June 27, 1460, when he landed at
Sandwich with fifteen hundred men. In four days he was before the
walls of London, having marched in that time a distance of seventy
miles. According to some accounts, the common people so flocked to his
standard, that in those four days his force had swelled to forty
thousand. The city threw open its gates and joyfully welcomed him,
while Henry fled to the north. In the beginning of July the battle of
Northampton was fought. The Yorkists gained a complete victory, and
took Henry prisoner. Before the fight Warwick issued the command to
spare the common people but to slay the nobles, judging the quarrel to
be more especially theirs; and it is significant that throughout the
Wars of the Roses the proportion of leaders slain far exceeds that in
any other war.
Up to this time Warwick's conception of the war was merely the natural
struggle of the one party with the other for power, using as their
means the rude arguments of the time. He still maintained his loyalty
to King Henry, and when the Duke of York, after the battle of
Northampton, presented his claim to the throne Warwick opposed him,
and prevailed upon him to waive it till the death of the king. But
naturally such a state of things could not long endure. Warwick, while
respecting the person of the king, was fighting against his orders,
and so, while professing loyalty, was actually a rebel.
Soon the struggle blazed out anew, and in December, 1460, the Duke of
York was defeated and slain at Wakefield. Early in 1461 Warwick was
defeated in the second battle of St. Albans, but the royalists not
taking advantage of their victory, Edward, son of the Duke of York,
accompanied by Warwick, marched on London, and was proclaimed king as
Edward IV. Soon after the Yorkists gained a complete victory at Towton
(1461), the bloodiest field of the whole war. Nearly all the
Lancastrian chiefs were slain, Henry's cause was lost, and ere long he
was captured by Warwick and lodged in the Tower. The credit of the
crowning victory of Towton does not rest with Warwick alone, for he
had the help of young Edward, perhaps as great a military genius as
himself. Little is known of the details of the fighting, but we are
told that wherever the Earl of Warwick was, there the fight raged
hottest.
[Illustration: York and Lancaster--The White and Red Roses.]
The earl was now the greatest man in England. His extended connections
and immense possessions were joined to the most distinguished personal
qualities, intrepidity, decision, and all the military virtues,
eloquence and general talent, an affability and frankness of bearing
that captivated equally all classes, a boundless hospitality and
magnificence that enthroned him in the hearts of the commons. Wherever
he resided, we are told he kept open house, and the number of people
daily fed at his various mansions, when he was at the height of his
prosperity, exceeded thirty thousand. "When he came to London," says
Stowe in his "Chronicle," "he held such an house that six oxen were
eaten at a breakfast, and every tavern was full of his meat; for
who that had any acquaintance in that house he should have had as much
sodden and roast as he might carry upon a long dagger."
But now, when Warwick might have expected to reap the reward of his
labors, new troubles arose. King Edward began to feel jealous of his
power, his unique influence, and vast popularity. It is said that
Warwick was sent to France to arrange a treaty with Louis, and to
propose a marriage between Edward and his wife's sister. On his return
he found the king married to Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of Lord
Rivers, and an alliance made with the enemy of Louis, the Duke of
Burgundy. Edward now lavished all his kindness on the Woodvilles,
intending to use them as a counterfoil to the Nevilles, and for this
purpose he deprived the Nevilles of some of their posts. By a series
of deliberate insults Warwick was driven farther and farther away from
the king, till he was forced into open revolt.
In July, 1468, his forces defeated the royalists with great slaughter
at Edgecote, and a few days later he made Edward his prisoner. The
Lancastrians at once rose again in favor of the aged King Henry; but
Warwick, maintaining his allegiance to his royal captive, suppressed
all revolts with an iron hand, and, having received renewed pledges of
good faith, soon after restored Edward to his throne.
Two years later the king declared Warwick a rebel; and he was
compelled to flee to France. Louis XI. used his influence in bringing
Warwick and Margaret, wife of King Henry, together, and they agreed to
forget their differences in the face of a common enemy. Clarence, the
new king's brother, had previously married Warwick's daughter, and
joined his party.
Once more the king-maker landed in England and advanced on London.
Edward fled to Holland and Henry was again placed upon the throne. But
ere long Edward secretly landed in England, raised an army, not
without difficulty, and met Warwick at Barnet. The faithless Clarence
had in the meantime deserted Warwick and joined his brother's army.
The army of Warwick was composed of strangely different elements--old
enemies fighting side by side as friends. The battle was lost mainly
through a grievous blunder. In the heavy mist which hung around, the
party of the Earl of Oxford were mistaken for the enemy and were
attacked by their own friends. The cry of treachery was raised, and
the whole army broke into utter rout. Warwick resisted till all hope
was gone. He had fought on foot throughout the battle, and his heavy
armor did not suffer him to escape. He was surrounded and slain,
fighting manfully, April 14, 1471.
Thus fell on the field of battle Richard, Earl of Warwick, in the
prime of his life, after sixteen years of deep intrigue and desperate
fighting. Had he been born in a more peaceful time he would have been
a great statesman, and have done much for the good of his country, for
his talents were more political than military, and almost alone among
the self-seeking rivals of the time, he shows something of the
instincts of patriotism. Cast as he was in the troublous times of the
Wars of the Roses, he stands out in character and genius above all
those of his generation. He was the best beloved man in the kingdom.
When he was away from England, says Hall, the common people thought
the sun had gone out of the heavens. His personality cast a charm over
even Louis XI. The heart of the Yorkist party, he was true to its
cause till he found that his service was no longer desired. He was not
the man to sit quietly under insult, and when it came from King
Edward, who owed all that he was to him, it was more than he could
endure. Yet it was only when he found his every project thwarted, and
especially those that were dearest to his heart, that he was driven
into open warfare with the king. His treason is capable of much
justification: he cannot be accused of forsaking his master. He had in
him the making of a great king, and how great and useful might have
been his career had fortune placed him over the councils of a Charles
VII. or a Henry VI.! As it is, he stands in worth and character far
above any of his time, a figure that commands not merely admiration
but affection.