Henry was conveyed to London, where he was made to issue writs for a new parliament. It had hardly met and reversed the acts of that of Coventry, when the duke of York, who had returned from Ireland, reached London at the head of five hundred horsemen, and going straight to Westminster and passing through the hall entered the upper house, and there stood with his hand on the throne. The primate asked him if he would not visit the king; he replied, "I know no one in this realm who ought not rather to visit me." He then went and occupied the royal apartments. Six days after (Oct. 16) the duke sent to the chancellor a statement of his claim to the crown, as representative of Lionel duke of Clarence, requesting a speedy answer. The chancellor asked if this paper should be read; the peers replied that it should, but not be answered without the king's command. Next day they went in a body to the king, who, having briefly and strongly stated the foundations of his rights, directed them to search for proofs against the claim of the duke. The lords then sent for the judges, but they declined to interfere, as by their office they were not to act as counsel between party and party. The king's serjeants and attorney also sought to excuse themselves; but their excuses were not admitted, and they were ordered to draw up an answer. In this were urged the oaths of fealty taken to the present family, and the various acts of parliament and entails of the crown. The duke's counsel replied that unlawful oaths are not binding, and that acts of parliament and entails are of no force against the rightful heir. The lords finally proposed a compromise, that the duke's claim should be acknowledged, but that Henry should retain the crown for his life, and at his death it should pass to the duke and his heirs. To this both agreed; the royal assent was given to a bill to this effect, and the king then wearing the crown went in state to St. Paul's, the duke attending as heir-apparent.

The high-spirited queen however would not thus tamely

surrender the rights of her son; she was now in the north, where the earl of Northumberland and the lords Clifford, Dacres, and Neville had armed their followers in her cause; and at York they were joined by the duke of Somerset and earl of Devon, with their tenants from the west. The duke of York set out with about five thousand men to oppose them, and a few days before Christmas he arrived at Sandal castle, near Wakefield. Here Salisbury and his other friends advised him to wait till the earl of March should arrive with succours; but, whether urged by his chivalrous spirit or from some other cause, he accepted the challenge of the enemy and marched into Wakefield Green (Dec. 30), where he was instantly assailed on all sides. The rout of the Yorkists was speedy and complete; upwards of two thousand men lay on the Green, the duke himself was taken prisoner, his captors led him to an ant-hill, and placing him on it as on a throne set a crown of twisted grass on his head, and bending the knee to him in derision, cried, “Hail, king without a kingdom! Hail, prince without a people!" They then struck off his head, which Clifford presented on a pole to the queen, saying, " Madam, your war is done; here is the ransom of your king." She burst into laughter, and, when she had glutted her eyes with the sight, sent it to be fixed on the walls of York. Salisbury and twelve other leaders who were captured were beheaded the next day at Pontefract. In the pursuit lord Clifford had overtaken on the bridge the earl of Rutland, a youth of about seventeen years of age*, whom his tutor, a venerable priest, was conveying to a place of safety; struck by his appearance and attire he loudly demanded who he was; the terrified lad fell on his knees to sue for mercy. "Save him," cried the tutor, "he is the son of a prince, and mayhap may do you good hereafter." "The son of York!" shouted the ruthless savage; "as thy father slew mine so

*The earl of Rutland is usually said to have been only twelve years of age, but he was York's second son.

will I slay thee and all of thy kin," and plunged his dagger into the bosom of the helpless suppliant.

The earl of March was at Gloucester when he heard of the defeat and death of his father (1461). As he had with him a force of twenty-three thousand men, he was preparing to march against the queen, but the earls of Pembroke and Ormond hung on his rear with a body of Welsh and Irish. He therefore turned and gave them battle, and a total defeat (Feb. 1) at Mortimer's Cross near Hereford. Ormond and Pembroke escaped, but Owen Tudor, the father of the latter, was taken, and with some other leaders beheaded next day at Hereford, in retaliation for the executions at Wakefield. The queen meantime advanced toward London with her borderers, to whom their leaders had promised the pillage of the country south of the Trent. Warwick and the duke of Norfolk, taking the king with them, placed themselves at St. Alban's to oppose her. An engagement ensued (Feb. 17), which ended in the defeat of the Yorkists, who lost two thousand men. Henry was left in his tent with lord Bonville and sir Thomas Kyriel, to whom he had promised his protection*; but Margaret little heeded his promises, and they were beheaded the next day. Her troops pillaged the country round; but London and the adjacent counties remained steady to the cause of York. Edward advanced and united his forces with those of Warwick; soon the queen found it necessary to return with all speed to the north, and Edward entered London (Feb. 25) in triumph. A few days after (Mar. 3) the lord Falconbridge and the bishop of Exeter harangued the people assembled in St. John's Fields, Clerkenwell, on the bad title of Henry and the good one of Edward to the crown. Falconbridge then asked them if they would have Henry of Lancaster for their king; loud cries of "No, no!" arose: he then asked if they would love and obey Edward

* This is a disputed point.

earl of March as their sovereign lord; "Yea, yea!" cried they, "King Edward!" and shouted and clapped their hands. Next day (4th), in a great council it was resolved that Henry, by joining the queen's forces, had violated the award and therefore forfeited the crown, and Edward was forthwith proclaimed king.

Under the Lancastrian princes the importance of the house of commons was continually on the increase, and the influencing of the choice of members became a matter of great consequence in the eyes of the sovereign and the nobility*. Hitherto the elections seem to have been very irregular, all who chose to attend being privileged to vote.

In the eighth of the present king an act was passed limiting the elective franchise in the counties to freeholders of lands of the annual value of forty shillings. The statute thus commences: "Whereas the elections of knights of shires have now of late been made by very great, outrageous and excessive numbers of people dwelling within the same counties, of the which the most part was people of small substance and of no value, yet pretending to a right equal to the best knights and esquires, whereby manslaughters, riots, batteries and divisions among the gentlemen and other people of the same counties shall very likely rise and be," etc.

* See the Paston Letters, passim.

378

CHAPTER XII.

EDWARD IV.*

1461-1483.

Battle of Towton,-of Hedgeley-moor and Hexham.-Capture of Henry.-Marriage of Edward.-Risings of the peasantry.-Flight of Edward ;-his return. -Battle of Barnet,-of Tewkesbury.-Death of Henry,-of Clarence and of the king.

THE new monarch found it necessary to take the field again in a few days. The Lancastrians, to the number of sixty thousand men, having taken their station at York, Edward and Warwick left London to engage them; and when they reached Pontefract their forces amounted to forty-nine thousand men. As it was of importance to secure the passage of the Aire at Ferrybridge, lord Fitzwalter was sent forward for that purpose; he effected his object, but shortly after he was attacked and slain by lord Clifford, who in his turn was within a few hours slain by lord Falconbridge, and the passage recovered. The Yorkists then crossed the river, and next morning (Mar. 29), in the plain between the villages of Towton and Saxton, a general engagement commenced, under a heavy fall of snow, which drove in the faces of the Lancastrians. Both sides fought with obstinacy till toward evening, when the Lancastrians gave way; they retired in good order till they reached the river Cock, where they broke and fled in all directions. Edward had issued orders to give no quarter, and nearly

* Authorities :-same as before, and Commines.

† According to the fragment published by Hearne, the action began at 4 o'clock in the evening of Saturday (March 29), was continued through the night, and was decided next day (Palm Sunday) at noon by the arrival of the duke of Norfolk with a reinforcement to Edward.