CHAPTER XXIII--ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FOURTH
King Edward the Fourth was not quite twenty-one years of age when he tookthat unquiet seat upon the throne of England. The Lancaster party, theRed Roses, were then assembling in great numbers near York, and it wasnecessary to give them battle instantly. But, the stout Earl of Warwickleading for the young King, and the young King himself closely followinghim, and the English people crowding round the Royal standard, the Whiteand the Red Roses met, on a wild March day when the snow was fallingheavily, at Towton; and there such a furious battle raged between them,that the total loss amounted to forty thousand men--all Englishmen,fighting, upon English ground, against one another. The young Kinggained the day, took down the heads of his father and brother from thewalls of York, and put up the heads of some of the most famous noblemenengaged in the battle on the other side. Then, he went to London and wascrowned with great splendour.
A new Parliament met. No fewer than one hundred and fifty of theprincipal noblemen and gentlemen on the Lancaster side were declaredtraitors, and the King--who had very little humanity, though he washandsome in person and agreeable in manners--resolved to do all he could,to pluck up the Red Rose root and branch.
Queen Margaret, however, was still active for her young son. Sheobtained help from Scotland and from Normandy, and took several importantEnglish castles. But, Warwick soon retook them; the Queen lost all hertreasure on board ship in a great storm; and both she and her sonsuffered great misfortunes. Once, in the winter weather, as they wereriding through a forest, they were attacked and plundered by a party ofrobbers; and, when they had escaped from these men and were passing aloneand on foot through a thick dark part of the wood, they came, all atonce, upon another robber. So the Queen, with a stout heart, took thelittle Prince by the hand, and going straight up to that robber, said tohim, 'My friend, this is the young son of your lawful King! I confidehim to your care.' The robber was surprised, but took the boy in hisarms, and faithfully restored him and his mother to their friends. Inthe end, the Queen's soldiers being beaten and dispersed, she went abroadagain, and kept quiet for the present.
Now, all this time, the deposed King Henry was concealed by a Welshknight, who kept him close in his castle. But, next year, the Lancasterparty recovering their spirits, raised a large body of men, and calledhim out of his retirement, to put him at their head. They were joined bysome powerful noblemen who had sworn fidelity to the new King, but whowere ready, as usual, to break their oaths, whenever they thought therewas anything to be got by it. One of the worst things in the history ofthe war of the Red and White Roses, is the ease with which thesenoblemen, who should have set an example of honour to the people, lefteither side as they took slight offence, or were disappointed in theirgreedy expectations, and joined the other. Well! Warwick's brother soonbeat the Lancastrians, and the false noblemen, being taken, were beheadedwithout a moment's loss of time. The deposed King had a narrow escape;three of his servants were taken, and one of them bore his cap of estate,which was set with pearls and embroidered with two golden crowns.However, the head to which the cap belonged, got safely into Lancashire,and lay pretty quietly there (the people in the secret being very true)for more than a year. At length, an old monk gave such intelligence asled to Henry's being taken while he was sitting at dinner in a placecalled Waddington Hall. He was immediately sent to London, and met atIslington by the Earl of Warwick, by whose directions he was put upon ahorse, with his legs tied under it, and paraded three times round thepillory. Then, he was carried off to the Tower, where they treated himwell enough.
The White Rose being so triumphant, the young King abandoned himselfentirely to pleasure, and led a jovial life. But, thorns were springingup under his bed of roses, as he soon found out. For, having beenprivately married to ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, a young widow lady, verybeautiful and very captivating; and at last resolving to make his secretknown, and to declare her his Queen; he gave some offence to the Earl ofWarwick, who was usually called the King-Maker, because of his power andinfluence, and because of his having lent such great help to placingEdward on the throne. This offence was not lessened by the jealousy withwhich the Nevil family (the Earl of Warwick's) regarded the promotion ofthe Woodville family. For, the young Queen was so bent on providing forher relations, that she made her father an earl and a great officer ofstate; married her five sisters to young noblemen of the highest rank;and provided for her younger brother, a young man of twenty, by marryinghim to an immensely rich old duchess of eighty. The Earl of Warwick tookall this pretty graciously for a man of his proud temper, until thequestion arose to whom the King's sister, MARGARET, should be married.The Earl of Warwick said, 'To one of the French King's sons,' and wasallowed to go over to the French King to make friendly proposals for thatpurpose, and to hold all manner of friendly interviews with him. But,while he was so engaged, the Woodville party married the young lady tothe Duke of Burgundy! Upon this he came back in great rage and scorn,and shut himself up discontented, in his Castle of Middleham.
A reconciliation, though not a very sincere one, was patched up betweenthe Earl of Warwick and the King, and lasted until the Earl married hisdaughter, against the King's wishes, to the Duke of Clarence. While themarriage was being celebrated at Calais, the people in the north ofEngland, where the influence of the Nevil family was strongest, broke outinto rebellion; their complaint was, that England was oppressed andplundered by the Woodville family, whom they demanded to have removedfrom power. As they were joined by great numbers of people, and as theyopenly declared that they were supported by the Earl of Warwick, the Kingdid not know what to do. At last, as he wrote to the earl beseeching hisaid, he and his new son-in-law came over to England, and began to arrangethe business by shutting the King up in Middleham Castle in the safekeeping of the Archbishop of York; so England was not only in the strangeposition of having two kings at once, but they were both prisoners at thesame time.
Even as yet, however, the King-Maker was so far true to the King, that hedispersed a new rising of the Lancastrians, took their leader prisoner,and brought him to the King, who ordered him to be immediately executed.He presently allowed the King to return to London, and there innumerablepledges of forgiveness and friendship were exchanged between them, andbetween the Nevils and the Woodvilles; the King's eldest daughter waspromised in marriage to the heir of the Nevil family; and more friendlyoaths were sworn, and more friendly promises made, than this book wouldhold.
They lasted about three months. At the end of that time, the Archbishopof York made a feast for the King, the Earl of Warwick, and the Duke ofClarence, at his house, the Moor, in Hertfordshire. The King was washinghis hands before supper, when some one whispered him that a body of ahundred men were lying in ambush outside the house. Whether this weretrue or untrue, the King took fright, mounted his horse, and rode throughthe dark night to Windsor Castle. Another reconciliation was patched upbetween him and the King-Maker, but it was a short one, and it was thelast. A new rising took place in Lincolnshire, and the King marched torepress it. Having done so, he proclaimed that both the Earl of Warwickand the Duke of Clarence were traitors, who had secretly assisted it, andwho had been prepared publicly to join it on the following day. In thesedangerous circumstances they both took ship and sailed away to the Frenchcourt.
And here a meeting took place between the Earl of Warwick and his oldenemy, the Dowager Queen Margaret, through whom his father had had hishead struck off, and to whom he had been a bitter foe. But, now, when hesaid that he had done with the ungrateful and perfidious Edward of York,and that henceforth he devoted himself to the restoration of the House ofLancaster, either in the person of her husband or of her little son, sheembraced him as if he had ever been her dearest friend. She did morethan that; she married her son to his second daughter, the Lady Anne.However agreeable this marriage was to the new friends, it was verydisagreeable to the Duke of Clarence, who perceived that his father-in-law, the King-Maker, would never make _him_ King, now. So, being but aweak-minded young traitor, possessed of very little worth or sense, hereadily listened to an artful court lady sent over for the purpose, andpromised to turn traitor once more, and go over to his brother, KingEdward, when a fitting opportunity should come.
The Earl of Warwick, knowing nothing of this, soon redeemed his promiseto the Dowager Queen Margaret, by invading England and landing atPlymouth, where he instantly proclaimed King Henry, and summoned allEnglishmen between the ages of sixteen and sixty, to join his banner.Then, with his army increasing as he marched along, he went northward,and came so near King Edward, who was in that part of the country, thatEdward had to ride hard for it to the coast of Norfolk, and thence to getaway in such ships as he could find, to Holland. Thereupon, thetriumphant King-Maker and his false son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence,went to London, took the old King out of the Tower, and walked him in agreat procession to Saint Paul's Cathedral with the crown upon his head.This did not improve the temper of the Duke of Clarence, who saw himselffarther off from being King than ever; but he kept his secret, and saidnothing. The Nevil family were restored to all their honours andglories, and the Woodvilles and the rest were disgraced. The King-Maker,less sanguinary than the King, shed no blood except that of the Earl ofWorcester, who had been so cruel to the people as to have gained thetitle of the Butcher. Him they caught hidden in a tree, and him theytried and executed. No other death stained the King-Maker's triumph.
To dispute this triumph, back came King Edward again, next year, landingat Ravenspur, coming on to York, causing all his men to cry 'Long liveKing Henry!' and swearing on the altar, without a blush, that he came tolay no claim to the crown. Now was the time for the Duke of Clarence,who ordered his men to assume the White Rose, and declare for hisbrother. The Marquis of Montague, though the Earl of Warwick's brother,also declining to fight against King Edward, he went on successfully toLondon, where the Archbishop of York let him into the City, and where thepeople made great demonstrations in his favour. For this they had fourreasons. Firstly, there were great numbers of the King's adherentshiding in the City and ready to break out; secondly, the King owed them agreat deal of money, which they could never hope to get if he wereunsuccessful; thirdly, there was a young prince to inherit the crown; andfourthly, the King was gay and handsome, and more popular than a betterman might have been with the City ladies. After a stay of only two dayswith these worthy supporters, the King marched out to Barnet Common, togive the Earl of Warwick battle. And now it was to be seen, for the lasttime, whether the King or the King-Maker was to carry the day.
While the battle was yet pending, the fainthearted Duke of Clarence beganto repent, and sent over secret messages to his father-in-law, offeringhis services in mediation with the King. But, the Earl of Warwickdisdainfully rejected them, and replied that Clarence was false andperjured, and that he would settle the quarrel by the sword. The battlebegan at four o'clock in the morning and lasted until ten, and during thegreater part of the time it was fought in a thick mist--absurdly supposedto be raised by a magician. The loss of life was very great, for thehatred was strong on both sides. The King-Maker was defeated, and theKing triumphed. Both the Earl of Warwick and his brother were slain, andtheir bodies lay in St. Paul's, for some days, as a spectacle to thepeople.
Margaret's spirit was not broken even by this great blow. Within fivedays she was in arms again, and raised her standard in Bath, whence sheset off with her army, to try and join Lord Pembroke, who had a force inWales. But, the King, coming up with her outside the town of Tewkesbury,and ordering his brother, the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, who was a bravesoldier, to attack her men, she sustained an entire defeat, and was takenprisoner, together with her son, now only eighteen years of age. Theconduct of the King to this poor youth was worthy of his cruel character.He ordered him to be led into his tent. 'And what,' said he, 'brought_you_ to England?' 'I came to England,' replied the prisoner, with aspirit which a man of spirit might have admired in a captive, 'to recovermy father's kingdom, which descended to him as his right, and from himdescends to me, as mine.' The King, drawing off his iron gauntlet,struck him with it in the face; and the Duke of Clarence and some otherlords, who were there, drew their noble swords, and killed him.
His mother survived him, a prisoner, for five years; after her ransom bythe King of France, she survived for six years more. Within three weeksof this murder, Henry died one of those convenient sudden deaths whichwere so common in the Tower; in plainer words, he was murdered by theKing's order.
Having no particular excitement on his hands after this great defeat ofthe Lancaster party, and being perhaps desirous to get rid of some of hisfat (for he was now getting too corpulent to be handsome), the Kingthought of making war on France. As he wanted more money for thispurpose than the Parliament could give him, though they were usuallyready enough for war, he invented a new way of raising it, by sending forthe principal citizens of London, and telling them, with a grave face,that he was very much in want of cash, and would take it very kind inthem if they would lend him some. It being impossible for them safely torefuse, they complied, and the moneys thus forced from them werecalled--no doubt to the great amusement of the King and the Court--as ifthey were free gifts, 'Benevolences.' What with grants from Parliament,and what with Benevolences, the King raised an army and passed over toCalais. As nobody wanted war, however, the French King made proposals ofpeace, which were accepted, and a truce was concluded for seven longyears. The proceedings between the Kings of France and England on thisoccasion, were very friendly, very splendid, and very distrustful. Theyfinished with a meeting between the two Kings, on a temporary bridge overthe river Somme, where they embraced through two holes in a strong woodengrating like a lion's cage, and made several bows and fine speeches toone another.
It was time, now, that the Duke of Clarence should be punished for histreacheries; and Fate had his punishment in store. He was, probably, nottrusted by the King--for who could trust him who knew him!--and he hadcertainly a powerful opponent in his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester,who, being avaricious and ambitious, wanted to marry that widoweddaughter of the Earl of Warwick's who had been espoused to the deceasedyoung Prince, at Calais. Clarence, who wanted all the family wealth forhimself, secreted this lady, whom Richard found disguised as a servant inthe City of London, and whom he married; arbitrators appointed by theKing, then divided the property between the brothers. This led to ill-will and mistrust between them. Clarence's wife dying, and he wishing tomake another marriage, which was obnoxious to the King, his ruin washurried by that means, too. At first, the Court struck at his retainersand dependents, and accused some of them of magic and witchcraft, andsimilar nonsense. Successful against this small game, it then mounted tothe Duke himself, who was impeached by his brother the King, in person,on a variety of such charges. He was found guilty, and sentenced to bepublicly executed. He never was publicly executed, but he met his deathsomehow, in the Tower, and, no doubt, through some agency of the King orhis brother Gloucester, or both. It was supposed at the time that he wastold to choose the manner of his death, and that he chose to be drownedin a butt of Malmsey wine. I hope the story may be true, for it wouldhave been a becoming death for such a miserable creature.
The King survived him some five years. He died in the forty-second yearof his life, and the twenty-third of his reign. He had a very goodcapacity and some good points, but he was selfish, careless, sensual, andcruel. He was a favourite with the people for his showy manners; and thepeople were a good example to him in the constancy of their attachment.He was penitent on his death-bed for his 'benevolences,' and otherextortions, and ordered restitution to be made to the people who hadsuffered from them. He also called about his bed the enriched members ofthe Woodville family, and the proud lords whose honours were of olderdate, and endeavoured to reconcile them, for the sake of the peacefulsuccession of his son and the tranquillity of England.