A Student's History of England Volume I Part 20

[Ill.u.s.tration: Henry VI.: from an original picture in the National Portrait Gallery.]

4. =Gloucester and Beaufort. 1425--1428.=--In England as well as on the Continent Gloucester's self-willed restlessness roused enemies, the most powerful of them being his uncle, the Chancellor, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (see pp. 301, 335), a wealthy and ambitious prelate not without those statesmanlike qualities which were sadly lacking to Gloucester. If Beaufort ruled the Council, Gloucester had the art of making himself popular with the mult.i.tude, whose sympathies were not likely to be given to a bishop of the type of Beaufort, who practised no austerities and who had nothing in him to appeal to the popular imagination. So bitter was the feud between Gloucester and Beaufort that in =1426= Bedford was obliged to visit England to keep the peace between them. Before he returned to France he persuaded Beaufort to surrender the chancellors.h.i.+p to Kemp, the Bishop of London, and to leave England for a time. Moreover, in =1427= he himself swore that as long as the king was under age the Council and not the Protector was to govern. When Gloucester was asked to take the same oath, he signed it, but refused to swear. In =1428=, after Bedford had returned to France, Beaufort came back, bringing with him from Rome the t.i.tle of Cardinal, and authority to raise soldiers for a crusade against heretics in Bohemia. A storm was at once raised against him. A Cardinal, it was said, was a servant of the Roman See, and as no man could serve two masters, he ought not to hold an English bishopric or to sit in the English Council, far less to send to Bohemia English troops which were needed in France. Gloucester fancied that the opportunity of overthrowing his rival had come. Beaufort, however, was too prudent to press his claims. He absented himself from the Council and allowed the men whom he had raised for Bohemia to be sent to France instead. Before the end of the year the outcry against him died away, and, Cardinal as he was, he resumed his old place in the Council.

5. =The Siege of Orleans. 1428--1429.=--The time had arrived when the presence of every English soldier was needed in France. Bedford had made himself master of almost the whole country north of the Loire except Orleans. If he could gain that city it would be easy for him to overpower Charles, who kept court at Chinon. In =1428=, therefore, he laid siege to Orleans. The city, however, defended itself gallantly, though all that the French outside could hope to do was to cut off the supplies of the besiegers. In February =1429= they attempted to intercept a convoy of herrings coming from Paris for the English troops, but were beaten off in what was jocosely styled the Battle of the Herrings, and it seemed as though Orleans, and with it France itself, were doomed. Frenchmen were indeed weary of the foreign yoke and of the arrogant insolence of the rough island soldiers. Yet in France all military and civil organisation had hitherto come from the kings, and unfortunately for his subjects Charles was easy-tempered and entirely incapable either of carrying on war successfully or of inspiring that enthusiasm without which the most careful organisation is as the twining of ropes of sand. It would need a miracle to inspire Frenchmen with the belief that it was possible for them to defeat the victors of Agincourt and Verneuil, and yet without such a miracle irretrievable ruin was at hand.

6. =Jeanne Darc and the Relief of Orleans. 1429.=--The miracle was wrought by a young maiden of seventeen, Jeanne Darc, the daughter of a peasant of Domremi, in the duchy of Bar. Her home was at a distance from the actual scenes of war, but whilst she was still little more than a child, tales of horror, reaching her from afar, had filled her with 'pity for the realm of France' and for its young king, whom she idealised into the pattern of every virtue. As she brooded over the thought of possible deliverance, her warm imagination summoned up before her bright and saintly forms, St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, who bade her, the chosen of G.o.d, to go forth and save the king, and conduct him to Reims to be crowned and anointed with the holy oil from the vessel which, as men believed, had been brought down from heaven in days of old. At last in =1428= her native hamlet was burnt down by a Burgundian band. Then the voices of the saints bade her go to Vaucouleurs, where she would find a knight, Robert de Baudricourt, who would conduct her to Charles. Months pa.s.sed before Baudricourt would do aught but scorn her message, and it was not till February =1429=, when the news from Orleans was most depressing, that he consented to take her in his train. She found Charles at Chinon, and, as the story goes, convinced him of her Divine mission by recognising him in disguise in the midst of his courtiers. Soldiers and theologians alike distrusted her, but her native good sense, her simple and earnest faith, and above all her purity of heart and life disarmed all opposition, and she was sent forth to lead an army to the relief of Orleans. She rode on horseback clothed in armour as a man, with a sword which she had taken from behind the altar of St.

Catherine by her side, and a consecrated banner in her hand. She brought with her hope of victory, enthusiasm built on confidence in Divine protection, and wide-reaching patriotism. 'Pity for the realm of France' inspired her, and even the rough soldiers who followed her forsook for a time their debaucheries that they might be fit to follow G.o.d's holy maid. Such an army was invincible; but whilst to the French the maid was an instrument of the mercy of G.o.d, to the English she was an emissary of h.e.l.l and the forerunner of defeat. On May 7 she led the storm of one of the English fortified posts by which the town was hemmed in. After a sharp attack she planted her standard on the wall.

The English garrison was slain to a man. The line of the besiegers was broken through, and Orleans was saved. On the 12th the English army was in full retreat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fotheringhay Church, Northamptons.h.i.+re. The contract for building it, between Edward Duke of York, and William Horwod, freemason, is dated September 24, 1434.]

7. =The Coronation of Charles VII. and the Capture of the Maid.

1429--1430.=--The Maid followed up her victory. She had at her side brave and skilful warriors, such as La Hire and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of Orleans, the illegitimate son of the murdered Louis of Orleans, and with their help she pressed the English hard, driving them northwards and defeating them at Patay. She insisted on conducting Charles to Reims, and he, indolently resisting at first, was carried away by her persistent urgency. Hostile towns opened their gates to her on the way, and on July 17 she saw with chastened joy the man whom she had saved from destruction crowned in the great cathedral of Reims. For her part, she was eager to push on the war, but Charles was slothful, and in a hurry to be back to the pleasures of his court. When she led the troops to the attack of Paris, she was ordered back by the king, and the army sent into winter quarters. In the spring of =1430= the Maid was allowed again to attack the English, but she had no longer the support which she had once had. Many of the French soldiers were meanly jealous of her, and were vexed when they were told that they owed their victories to a woman. On the other side the Duke of Burgundy was frightened by the French successes into giving real aid to Bedford, and on May 23, in a skirmish before Compiegne, her countrymen doing nothing to save or to rescue her, the Maid was taken by Burgundian soldiers. Before the end of the year her captors sold her to the English, who firmly believed her to be a witch.

8. =The Martyrdom at Rouen. 1431.=--The English had no difficulty in finding an ecclesiastical court to judge their prisoner. Even the French clergy detested the Maid as having appealed to supernatural voices which had not been recognised by the Church; and in spite of an intelligent and n.o.ble defence she was condemned to be burnt. At the stake she behaved with heroic simplicity. When the flames curled round her she called upon the saints who had befriended her. Her last utterance was a cry of "Jesus!" An Englishman who had come to triumph hung his head for shame. "We are lost," he said; "we have burnt a saint!"

9. =The Last Years of the Duke of Bedford. 1431--1435.=--The English gained nothing by their unworthy vengeance. Though the personal presence of the Maid was no longer there to encourage her countrymen, they had learnt from her to cherish that 'pity for the realm of France' which had glowed so brightly in her own bosom. It was in vain that towards the end of =1431= Bedford carried the young Henry, now a boy of ten years, who had already been crowned in England the year before, to be crowned at Notre Dame, the cathedral of Paris. The Parisians were disgusted by the troop of foreigners which accompanied him, and their confidence was shaken when Bedford sent the king back to England as not venturing to trust him amongst his French subjects.

In =1432= the armies of Charles VII. stole forwards step by step, and Bedford, who had no money to pay his troops, could do nothing to resist them. The English Parliament, which had cheerfully voted supplies as long as there seemed a prospect of conquering France, hung back from granting them when victories were no longer won. In =1433= Bedford was again forced to return to England to oppose the intrigues of Gloucester, who, though he had lost the t.i.tle of Protector when the young king was crowned, had thrown the government into confusion by his intrigues. When Bedford went back to France in =1434= he found the tide running strongly against him. Little more than Paris and Normandy were held by the English, and the Duke of Burgundy was inclining more and more towards the French. In =1435= a congress was held at Arras, under the Duke of Burgundy's presidency, in the hope that peace might be made. The congress, however, failed to accomplish anything, and soon after the English amba.s.sadors were withdrawn Bedford died at Rouen. If so wise a statesman and so skilful a warrior had failed to hold down France, no other Englishman was likely to achieve the task.

10. =The Defection of Burgundy. 1435.=--After Bedford's death the Duke of Burgundy renounced his alliance with the English and entered into a league with Charles VII. In =1430=, by the death of the Duke of Brabant, he inherited Brabant, and in =1436= he inherited from the faithless Jacqueline Hainault, Holland, Zealand, and Friesland (see p.

308). He thus, being already Count of Flanders, became ruler over well-nigh the whole of the Netherlands in addition to his own territories in Burgundy. The va.s.sal of the king of France was now a European potentate. England had therefore to count on the enmity of a ruler whose power of injuring her was indeed serious.

11. =The Duke of York in France. 1436--1437.=--Bedford's successor was the young Richard, Duke of York, whose father was that Earl of Cambridge who had been executed at Southampton (see p. 301); whilst his mother was Anne Mortimer, the sister of the Earl of March. As the Earl of March had died in =1425=, the Duke of York was now, through his mother, the heir of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and thus, if hereditary right was to be regarded, heir to the throne. That a man with such claims should have been entrusted with such an office shows how firmly the victories of Henry V. had established the House of Lancaster in England. Disputes in the English Council, however, delayed his departure, and in April =1436=, before he could arrive in France, Paris was lost, whilst the Duke of Burgundy besieged Calais.

England, stung by the defection of Burgundy, made an unusual effort.

One army drove the Burgundians away from before Calais, whilst another under the Duke of York himself regained several fortresses in Normandy, and in =1437= Lord Talbot drove the Burgundians behind the Somme.

12. =The English Lose Ground. 1437--1443.=--Gallant as the Duke of York was, he was soon recalled, and in =1437= was succeeded by Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Warwick, however, failed to do more than to hold what his predecessor had gained, and he died in =1439=. Both in England and France the suffering was terrible, and England would find neither men nor money to support a falling cause. In =1439= a peace conference was held at Calais, but the English continued arrogantly to claim the crown of France, and peace was not to be had.

In =1440= York was sent back, and fighting went on till =1443=, in which the English lost ground both in Normandy and in Guienne.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gilt-latten effigy (front view) of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, died 1439: from his tomb at Warwick. Made by William Austen, of London, founder, 1453.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gilt-latten effigy (back view) of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, died 1439: from his tomb at Warwick. Made by William Austen, of London, founder, 1453.]

13. =Continued Rivalry of Beaufort and Gloucester. 1439--1441.=--The chief advocate in England of the attempt to make peace at Calais in =1439= had been Cardinal Beaufort, whose immense wealth gave him authority over a Council which was always at its wits' end for money.

Beaufort was wise enough to see that the attempt to reconquer the lost territory, or even to hold Normandy, was hopeless. Such a view, however, was not likely to be popular. Nations, like men, often refuse openly to acknowledge failure long after they cease to take adequate means to avert it. Of the popular feeling Gloucester made himself the mouthpiece, and it was by his influence that exorbitant pretensions had been put forward at Calais. In =1440= he accused Beaufort of using his authority for his own private interests, and though Beaufort gave over to the public service a large sum of money which he received as the ransom of the Duke of Orleans from a captivity which had lasted twenty-four years (see p. 303), Gloucester virulently charged him with an unpatriotic concession to the enemy.

Gloucester's domestic relations, on the other hand, offered an easy object of attack. When he deserted Jacqueline he took a mistress, Eleanor Cobham, and subsequently married her, which he was able to do without difficulty, as his union with Jacqueline was, in the eyes of the Church, no marriage at all. The new d.u.c.h.ess of Gloucester being aware that if the king should die her husband would be next in order of succession to the throne, was anxious to hasten that event. It was a superst.i.tious age, and the d.u.c.h.ess consulted an astrologer as to the time of the king's death, and employed a reputed witch to make a waxen image of the king under the belief that as the wax melted before the fire the king's life would waste away. In =1441= these proceedings were detected. The astrologer was hanged, the witch was burnt, whilst the d.u.c.h.ess escaped with doing public penance and with imprisonment for life. Gloucester could not save her, but he did not lose his place in the Council, where he continued to advocate a war policy, though with less success than before.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tattershall Castle, Lincolns.h.i.+re: built of brick by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, between 1433 and 1455.]

14. =Beaufort and Somerset. 1442--1443.=--In =1442= Henry was in his twenty-first year. Unfeignedly religious and anxious to be at peace with all men, his character was far too weak and gentle to fit him for governing in those rough times. He had attached himself to Beaufort because Beaufort's policy was pacific, and because Gloucester's life was scandalous. Beaufort's position was secured at court, but the situation was not one in which a pacific statesman could hope for success. The French would not consent to make peace till all that they had lost had been recovered; yet, hardly bested as the English in France were, it was impossible in the teeth of English public opinion for any statesman, however pacific, to abandon lands still commanded by English garrisons. Every year, however, brought the problem nearer to the inevitable solution. In =1442= the French attacked the strip of land which was all that the English now held in Guienne and Gascony, and with the exception of Bordeaux and Bayonne captured almost every fortified town. The command in France was given to Cardinal Beaufort's nephew, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Somerset, who was thoroughly incompetent, did not even leave England till the autumn of =1443=, and when he arrived in France accomplished nothing worthy of his office.

15. =The Angevin Marriage Treaty. 1444--1445.=--Henry now fell under the influence of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, a descendant of the favourite of Richard II. Suffolk had fought bravely in France, and had learnt by sad experience the hopelessness of the English cause. In =1444=, with the consent of the king and the Parliament, he negotiated at Tours a truce for ten months. In order to make it more lasting there was to be a marriage between Henry and Margaret of Anjou. Her father, Rene, the Duke of Anjou, was t.i.tular king of Jerusalem and Sicily, in neither of which did he possess a foot of ground, whilst his duchy of Anjou was almost valueless to him in consequence of the forays of the English, who still held posts in Maine. Charles had the more readily consented to the truce, because it was understood that the surrender of Maine would be a condition of the marriage. In =1445= Suffolk led Margaret to England, where her marriage to Henry was solemnised. A French queen who brought with her no portion except a truce bought by the surrender of territory could hardly fail to be unpopular in England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Part of Wingfield manor-house, Derbys.h.i.+re: built by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, about 1440.]

16. =Deaths of Gloucester and Beaufort. 1447.=--The truce was renewed from time to time, and Suffolk's authority seemed firmly established.

In =1447= Gloucester was charged with high treason in a Parliament held at Bury St. Edmunds, but before he had time to answer he was found dead in his bed. His death may, with strong probability, be ascribed to natural causes, but it was widely believed that he had been murdered and that Suffolk was the murderer. A few weeks later Gloucester's old rival, Cardinal Beaufort, the last real statesman who supported the throne of Henry VI., followed him to the grave, and Suffolk was left alone to bear the responsibility of government and the disgrace of failure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Divinity School, Oxford: built between 1445 and 1454.]

17. =The Loss of the French Provinces. 1448--1449.=--Suffolk had undertaken more than he was able to fulfil. Somerset had died in =1444=, and Suffolk being jealous of all authority but his own, he sent York to govern Ireland. He could not secure the fulfilment of the conditions which he had made with the king of France. The English commanders refused to evacuate Maine, and in =1448= a French army entered the province and drove out the English. Edmund, the new Duke of Somerset, was sent to take the command in Normandy, which had formerly been held by his brother. In =1449= an Aragonese captain in the English service, who had no pay for his troops, having seized Fougeres, a place on the frontier of Brittany, for the sake of the booty to be gained, Charles made the attack an excuse for the renewal of the war. So dest.i.tute was the condition in which the English forces were left that neither Somerset nor the warlike Talbot (see p. 313), who had recently been created Earl of Shrewsbury, was able to resist him. Rouen fell in =1450=, and in =1450= the whole of Normandy was lost. In =1451= the French attacked Bordeaux and Bayonne, two port-towns which, in consequence of their close commercial intercourse with England, had no wish to transfer their allegiance to Charles.

England, however, sent them no succour, and before the end of the year they were forced to capitulate. The relics of Guienne and Gascony thus pa.s.sed into the hands of the French, and of all the possessions which the kings of England had once held on the Continent Calais alone remained.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE LATER YEARS OF HENRY VI. =1450--1461=.

LEADING DATES

Reign of Henry VI., 1422--1461

Murder of the Duke of Suffolk and Jack Cade's rebellion 1450 First Protectorate of the Duke of York 1453 First Battle of St. Albans and second Protectorate of the Duke of York 1455 Battle of Blore Heath and the discomfiture of the Yorkists 1459 After a Yorkist victory at Northampton the Duke of York is declared heir to the crown, but is defeated and slain at Wakefield 1460 Battles of Mortimer's Cross, St. Albans, and Towton 1461 Coronation of Edward IV. 1461

1. =The Growth of Inclosures.=--Since the insurrection of the peasants in =1381= (see p. 268) villeinage had to a great extent been dying out, in consequence of the difficulty felt by the lords in enforcing their claims. Yet the condition of the cla.s.ses connected with the land was by no means prosperous. The lords of manors indeed abandoned the old system of cultivating their own lands by the labour of villeins, or by labourers hired with money paid by villeins in commutation for bodily service. They began to let out their land to tenants who paid rent for it; but even the new system did not bring in anything like the old profit. The soil had been exhausted for want of a proper system of manuring, and arable land scarcely repaid the expenses of its cultivation. For this evil a remedy was found in the inclosure of lands for pasturage. This change, which in itself was beneficial by increasing the productiveness of the country, and by giving rest to the exhausted soil, became oppressive because all the benefit went to the lords of the manors, whilst the tenants of the manors were left to struggle on as best they might. Not only had they no share in the increase of wealth which was brought about by the inclosure of what had formerly been the common land of the manors, but the poorer amongst them had less employment than before, as it required fewer men to look after sheep than to grow corn.

2. =Increasing Power of the n.o.bility.=--The disproportionate increase of the wealth of the landowners threw into their hands a disproportionate amount of power. The great landowner especially was able to gather bands of retainers and to spread terror around him. The evil of liveries and maintenance, which had become prominent in the reign of Richard II. (see p. 281), had increased since his deposition.

It was an evil which the kings were powerless to control. Again and again complaints were raised of 'want of governance.' Henry V. had abated the mischief for a time by employing the unruly elements in his wars in France, but it was a remedy which, when defeat succeeded victory, only increased the disease which it was meant to cure. When France was lost bands of unruly men accustomed to deeds of violence poured back into England, where they became retainers of the great landowners, who with their help set king and laws at defiance.

3. =Case of Lord Molynes and John Paston.=--The difficulty of obtaining justice may be ill.u.s.trated by a case which occurred in Norfolk. The manor of Gresham belonged to John Paston, a gentleman of moderate fortune. It was coveted by Lord Molynes, who had no legal claim to it whatever. Lord Molynes, however, took possession of it in =1448= with the strong hand. If such a thing had happened at present Paston would have gone to law; but to go to law implies the submitting of a case to a jury, and in those days a jury was not to be trusted to do justice. In the first place it was selected by the sheriff, and the sheriff took care to choose such men as would give a verdict pleasing to the great men whom he wished to serve, and in the second place, supposing that the sheriff did not do this, a juryman who offended great men by giving a verdict according to his conscience, but contrary to their desire, ran the risk of being knocked on the head before he reached home. Paston accordingly, instead of going to law, begged Lord Molynes to behave more reasonably. Finding his entreaties of no avail, he took possession of a house on the manor. Lord Molynes merely waited till Paston was away from home, and then sent a thousand men, who drove out Paston's wife and pillaged and wrecked the house.

Paston ultimately recovered the manor, but redress for the injury done him was not to be had.

4. =Suffolk's Impeachment and Murder. 1450.=--A government which was too weak to redress injuries was certain to be unpopular. The loss of the French possessions made it still more unpopular. The brunt of the public displeasure fell on Suffolk, who had just been made a duke, and who, through the queen's favour, was all-powerful at court. It was believed that he had sold himself to France, and it was known that whilst the country was impoverished large grants had been made to court favourites. An outcry was raised that the king 'should live of his own,' and ask for no more grants from his people. In =1450= Suffolk was impeached. Though the charge brought against him was a tissue of falsehoods, Henry did not dare to s.h.i.+eld him entirely, and ordered him into banishment for five years. Suffolk, indeed, embarked for the Continent, but a large s.h.i.+p ranged up alongside of the vessel in which he was. Having been dragged on board amidst cries of "Welcome, traitor!" he was, two days afterwards, transferred to a boat, where his head was chopped off with six strokes of a rusty sword. His body was flung on the beach at Dover.

5. =Jack Cade's Rebellion. 1450.=--Suffolk's supporters remained in office after his death. The men of Kent rose against them, and found a leader in an Irish adventurer, Jack Cade, who called himself Mortimer, and gave out that he was an illegitimate son of the late Earl of March. He established himself on Blackheath at the head of 30,000 men, asking that the burdens of the people should be diminished, the Crown estates recovered, and the Duke of York recalled from Ireland to take the place of the present councillors. Jack Cade's rebellion, in short, unlike that of Wat Tyler, was a political, not a social movement. In demanding that the government should be placed in the hands of the Duke of York, Jack Cade virtually asked that the Duke should step into the place, not of the Council, but of the King--that is to say, that a ruler who could govern should be subst.i.tuted for one who could not, and in whose name the great families plundered England. It was this demand which opened the long struggle which was soon to devastate the country. At first it seemed as if Jack Cade would carry all before him. London, which had the most to gain by the establishment of a strong government, opened its gates to him. When, however, he was tested by success, he was found wanting. Striking with his sword the old Roman milestone known as London Stone, he cried out, "Now is Mortimer lord of this city." His followers gave themselves up to wild excesses. They beheaded Lord Say and his son-in-law, the Sheriff of Kent, and carried about their heads on pikes. They plundered houses and shops. The citizens who had invited them to enter now turned against them. After a fight on London Bridge the insurgents agreed to go home on the promise of a pardon. Jack Cade himself, attempting to gather fresh forces, was chased into Suss.e.x and slain.

6. =Rivalry of York and Somerset. 1450--1453.=--In the summer of =1450=, Richard, Duke of York, the real leader of the opposition, came back from Ireland. He found that Somerset, who had just returned from Normandy after the final loss of that province (see p. 320), had succeeded Suffolk in the king's confidence. Somerset, however, was not merely the favourite of Henry and the queen. The bulk of the n.o.bility was on his side, whilst York was supported by the force of popular discontent and by such of the n.o.bility as cherished a personal grudge against Somerset and his friends. In =1451= the loss of Guienne and Gascony increased the weight of Somerset's unpopularity. In =1452= both parties took arms; but, this time, civil war was averted by a promise from the king that York should be admitted to the Council, and that Somerset should be placed in confinement till he answered the charges against him. On this York dismissed his army. Henry, however, was not allowed to keep his promise, and Somerset remained in power, whilst York was glad to be allowed to retire unhurt. Somerset attempted to recover his credit by fresh victories in France, and sent the old Earl of Shrewsbury to Bordeaux to reconquer Gascony.

Shrewsbury was successful for a while, but in =1453= he was defeated and slain at Castillon, and the whole enterprise came to nothing.

7. =The First Protectorate of the Duke of York. 1453--1454.=--Henry's mind had never been strong, and in =1453= it entirely gave way. His insanity was probably inherited from his maternal grandfather, Charles VI. The queen bore him a son, named Edward, but though the infant was brought to his father, Henry gave no sign of recognising his presence. It was necessary to place the government in other hands, and in =1454= the Duke of York was named Protector by the House of Lords, which, as the majority of its members were at that time ecclesiastics, did not always re-echo the sentiments of the great families. If only the king had remained permanently insane York might have established an orderly government. Henry, however, soon recovered as much sense as he ever had, and York's protectorate came to an end.

8. =The First Battle of St. Albans and the Duke of York's Second Protectorate.=--The restoration of Henry was in reality the restoration of Somerset. In =1455= York, fearing destruction, took arms against his rival. A battle was fought at St. Albans, in which Somerset was defeated and slain. This was the first battle in the wars known as the Wars of the Roses, because a red rose was the badge of the House of Lancaster, to which Henry belonged, and a white rose the badge of the House of York. After the victory York accompanied the king to London. Though the bulk of the n.o.bility was against him, he had on his side the powerful family of the Nevills, as he had married Cicely Nevill, the sister of the head of that family, the Earl of Salisbury. Still more powerful was Salisbury's eldest son, who had married the heiress of the Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick, and who held the earldom of Warwick in right of his wife.[30] In June =1455= the king was again insane, and York was for the second time named Protector. This Protectorate, however, did not last long, as early in =1456= the king recovered his senses, and York had to resign his post.

[Footnote 30: Genealogy of the Nevills:--

John of Gaunt | Ralph Nevill, = Joan Thomas Montague, Earl of | Earl of Salisbury Westmoreland | | | | --------------------- Richard Beauchamp, | | | Earl of Warwick Alice = Richard, Cicely = Richard, | | Earl of Duke of | | Salisbury, York, | | beheaded at killed at | | Pontefract, Wakefield, | | 1460 1460 | | | ------------------------------------- | | | | Anne = Richard, John, George, Earl of Warwick, Marquess of Archbishop the king-maker, Montague of York killed at Barnet, 1471]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A sea-fight: from the 'Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick:' drawn by John Rous about 1485.]

9. =Discomfiture of the Yorkists. 1456--1459.=--For two years Henry exercised such authority as he was capable of exercising. In =1458= he tried his hand at effecting a reconciliation. The chiefs of the two parties walked hand in hand in procession to St. Paul's, York himself leading the queen. The Yorkists founded ma.s.ses for the repose of the souls of their enemies slain at St. Albans, and paid money to their widows. It seemed as if the old practice of the weregild (see p. 32) had been unexpectedly revived. The spirit which had made weregild possible was, however, no longer to be found. Warwick retired to Calais, of which he was governor, and sent out vessels to plunder the merchant s.h.i.+ps of all nations. When he was summoned to Westminster to give account of his actions, a quarrel broke out there between his servants and those of the king. Believing his own life to be in danger, he made his way back to Calais. The Yorkists spent the winter in preparing for war. In the summer of =1459= Lord Audley, sent by the queen to seize the Earl of Salisbury, was defeated by him at Blore Heath, in Staffords.h.i.+re. Later in the year the two parties with their whole forces prepared for a battle near Ludlow, but the Yorkists found themselves no match for their enemies, and, without fighting, York, with his second son, the Earl of Rutland, took refuge in Ireland. His eldest son Edward, Earl of March, with Salisbury and Warwick, made his way to Calais.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Effigy of Sir Robert Harcourt, K.G. (died 1471): from his tomb at Stanton Harcourt, Oxon; showing armour worn from about 1445 to 1480.]

10. =The Battle of Northampton and the Duke of York's Claim to the Throne. 1460.=--In =1460= the Yorkist Earls of Salisbury, Warwick, and March were once more in England. They defeated the royal army at Northampton and captured the king. York returned from Ireland, and, as soon as Parliament met, took an unexpected step. If hereditary descent was to count for anything, his claim to the throne was superior to that of Henry himself, as he was the heir of Edward III.

through his mother Anne, the sister of the last Earl of March.[31] The Duke of York now placed his hand on the throne, claiming it in right of birth. The Lords decided that Henry, to whom they had sworn oaths of fealty, should retain the crown, but that York should succeed him, to the exclusion of Henry's son, Edward, Prince of Wales.