YORK'S CLAIM TO THE CROWN.
On the 7th of October, 1460, a Parliament, summoned in King Henry's
name, met at Westminster, in the Painted Chamber, for centuries
regarded with veneration as the place where St. Edward had breathed
his last, and with admiration on account of the pictures representing
incidents of the Confessor's life and canonization, executed by command
of the third Henry to adorn the walls.
On this occasion the king sat in the chair of state; and Warwick's
brother, George Neville, Bishop of Exeter, who, though not yet thirty,
had been appointed chancellor, opened the proceedings with a notable
declamation, taking for his text, _Congregate populum, sanctificate
ecclesiam_. The Houses then entered upon business, repealed all the
acts passed at Coventry, and declared that the Parliament there held
had not been duly elected.
While this was going on, the Duke of York, who had landed at Chester,
came toward London; and three days after the meeting of Parliament,
accompanied by a splendid retinue, all armed and mounted, he entered
the capital with banners flying, trumpets sounding, and a naked sword
carried before him. Riding along with princely dignity, the duke
dismounted at Westminster, and proceeded to the House of Lords. Walking
straight to the throne, he laid his hand on the cloth of gold, and,
pausing, looked round, as if to read the sentiments of the peers in the
faces. At that moment the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been with
Henry, entered the house, and made the usual reverence to the duke.
"Will not my Lord of York go and pay his respects to the king?" asked
the archbishop.
"I know no one," answered York, coloring, "to whom _I_ owe that title."
The archbishop, on hearing the duke's answer, went back to the king;
and York, following, took possession of the palace. Then, returning
to the house, and standing on the steps of the throne, he claimed the
crown of England as heir of Lionel of Clarence. When the duke concluded
his speech, the peers sat motionless as graven images; and perceiving
that not a word was uttered nor a whisper exchanged, York sharply asked
them to deliberate. "Think of this matter, my lords," said he; "I have
taken my course, take yours."
The duke left the house in some chagrin, and the peers took his request
into consideration. After discussing the claim to the crown as calmly
as if it had been an ordinary peerage case, they resolved that the
question should be argued by counsel at the bar.
Most of the lords were under essential obligations to the house
of Lancaster, and therefore in no haste to take York's claim into
consideration. When a week elapsed, therefore, the duke deemed it
politic to send a formal demand of the crown, and to request an
immediate answer. The peers, somewhat startled, replied that they
refused justice to no man, but in this case could decide nothing
without the advice and consent of the king. Henry was consulted; and he
recommended that the judges should be summoned to give their opinion.
These legal functionaries, however, declined to meddle with a matter so
dangerous, and the peers were under the necessity of proceeding without
the aid of their learning and experience. The duke was then heard by
his counsel; and, an order having been made "that every man might
freely and indifferently speak his mind without fear of impeachment,"
the question was debated several days.
All this time York lodged in the palace of Westminster, where Henry
then was, but refused to see his royal kinsman, or to hold any
communication with him till the peers had decided on the justice of his
claim; he knew no one, he said, to whom he owed the title of king.
At length the peers arrived at a decision; and the youthful
chancellor, by order of the house, pronounced judgment. It was to the
effect that Richard Plantagenet had made out his claim; but that, in
consideration of Henry having from infancy worn the crown, he should be
allowed to continue king for life, and that York, who meanwhile was to
hold the reins of government, should ascend the throne after his royal
kinsman's death. This compromise of a delicate dispute seemed to please
both parties. On the vigil of the feast of All Saints, York and two
of his sons appeared in Parliament, and took an oath to abide by the
decision; on All Saints Day the heir of John of Gaunt and the heir of
Lionel of Clarence rode together to St. Paul's in token of friendship;
and on the Saturday following the duke was, by sound of trumpet,
proclaimed Protector of the realm and heir to the crown.
The king appeared quite unconcerned at the turn which affairs had
taken, and York had no apprehensions of a man who was never happy but
when giving himself up to devotional exercises. The duke, however,
was not indifferent to the enmity of Margaret of Anjou, and he felt
anxious to secure himself against her hostility. He therefore sent a
summons to bring her son without delay to Westminster, intending in
case of disobedience to banish her from among a people on whom she had
brought so many misfortunes. The Protector, it soon appeared, had
under-estimated the resources, the energy, the terrible enthusiasm of
the daughter of King René. He sent his messengers, as it were, to hunt
a wild-cat, and he found, to his cost, that they had roused a fierce
tigress.