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ended in nothing. Soon after this a treaty of peace was concluded between the two kingdoms, on the basis of the recognition of the complete independence of Scotland. This important treaty was signed at Edinburgh, the 17th of March, 1328, and confirmed in a parliament held at Northampton on the 4th of May following. One of the articles was, that a marriage should take place between prince David, the only son of the king of Scotland, and the sister of the king of England, the princess Joanna; and, although the bride was only in her seventh, and the bridegroom in his fifth year, the marriage was celebrated accordingly at Berwick on the 12th of July. The illustrious Bruce just lived to see this truly epic consummation of his heroic labours. He was able to receive the youthful pair on their arrival at Edinburgh after the nuptials; but he was now worn out by a disease which had for some time preyed upon him, and he returned immediately to his country-seat at Cardross, where he expired on the 7th of June, 1329.

and intercession, he had at length ventured to assist by supplies of money and warlike stores. Charles IV. of France had died in February, 1328, leaving a daughter who was acknowledged on all hands to have no claim to the crown, which it was agreed did not descend to females. In these circumstances Philip of Valois mounted the throne, taking the title of Philip VI. He was without dispute the next in the line of the succession if both females and the descendants of females were to be excluded. Edward's claim rested on the position that although his mother, Isabella, as a female, was herself excluded, he, as her son, was not. If this position had been assented to he would undoubtedly have had a better claim than Philip, who was only descended from the younger brother of Isabella's father. But the principle assumed was, we believe, altogether new and unheard of and would besides, if it had been admitted, have excluded both Philip and Edward, seeing that the true heir in that case would have been the son of Joanna Countess d'Evreux, The settlement of the dispute between the two countries, who was the daughter of Louis X., Isabella's brother. It which thus seemed to be effected, proved of very short du- would also have followed that the two last kings, Philip V. ration. In a few months a concurrence of important events and Charles IV., must have been usurpers as well as altogether changed both the domestic condition and the ex- Philip VI.; the son of Joanna, the daughter of their preternal relations of England. In the close of the year 1330, decessor and elder brother, would, upon the scheme of sucEdward at length determined to make a bold effort to throw cession alleged by the king of England, have come in before off the government of Mortimer. The necessary arrange- both. Undeterred by these considerations, however, or ments having been made, the earl and the queen-mother were even by the circumstance that he had himself in the first seized in the castle of Nottingham on the 19th of October; instance acknowledged Philip's title, and even done homage the execution of Mortimer followed at London on the 29th to him for the Duchy of Guienne, Edward, having first of November; many of his adherents were also put to entered into an alliance with the earl of Brabant, and taken death; Isabella was placed in confinement in her house at other measures with the view of supporting his pretensions, Risings (where she was detained for the remaining twenty-made an open declaration of them, and prepared to vindicate seven years of her life); and the king took the government them by the sword. The earliest formal announcement of into his own hands. In the course of the following year his determination to enforce his claim appears to have been Edward seems to have formed the design of resuming the made in a commission which he gave to the earl of Brabant grand project of his father and his grandfather-the con- and others to demand the crown of France and to take posquest of Scotland. For this design he found an instrument session of it in his name, dated 7th October, 1337. in Edward Balliol, the son of the late king John, who, in April, 1332, landed with a small force at Kinghorn, in Fife, and succeeded so far, in the disorganized state of the Scottish kingdom under the incompetent regency of the earl of Mar, and by the suddenness and unexpectedness of his attack, as to get himself crowned at Scone on the 24th of September. Edward, on this, immediately came to York; and on the 23rd of November Balliol met him at Roxburgh, and there made a solemn surrender to him of the liberties of Scotland, and acknowledged him as his liege lord. The violation of his late solemn engagements committed by Edward in this affair was rendered still more dishonourable by the caution and elaborate duplicity with which he had masked his design. Only a few weeks after doing his homage, Balliol found himself obliged to fly from his kingdom; he took refuge in England; various military operations followed; but at last Edward advanced into Scotland at the head of a numerous army: on the 19th of July, 1333, a great defeat was sustained by the Scotch at the battle of Halidon Hill, near Berwick; the regent Douglas himself was mortally wounded and taken prisoner; and every thing was once more subjected to Edward Balliol. King David and his queen were conveyed in safety to France. On the 12th of June, 1334, at Newcastle, Balliol, by a solemn instrument, made an absolute surrender to Edward of the greater part of Scotland to the south of the Forth. But within three or four months the puppet king was again compelled to take flight to England. Two invasions of Scotland by Edward followed; the first in November of this year; the second in July, 1335; in the course of which he wasted the country with fire and sword almost to its extreme northern confines, but did not succeed in bringing about an engagement with the native forces, which, notwithstanding, still kept the field. In the summer of 1336 he took his devastating course for the third time through the northern counties, with as little permanent effect. On now retiring to England he left the command to his brother John, styled earl of Cornwall, who soon after died at Perth.

From this time, however, the efforts of the English king were, in great part, drawn off from Scotland by a new object. This was the claim which he had first advanced some years before to the crown of France, but which he only now proceeded seriously to prosecute, determined probably by the more open manner in which the French king had lately begun to exert himself in favour of the Scots, whom, after repeated endeavours to serve them by mediation

We cannot here pursue in detail the progress of the long war that followed. Edward embarked for the continent on the 16th July, 1338, and arrived at Antwerp on the 22nd. Of his allies the chief were the emperor and the free towns of Flanders, under nominal subjection to their earl, but at this time actually governed by the celebrated James Van Arteveldt. The emperor made him his vicar, and at Arteveldt's suggestion he assumed the title of king of France. The first important action that took place was the sea-fight off Sluys, on the 22nd June, 1340, in which the English were completely victorious. It was followed by long truces, which protracted the contest without any decisive events. Meanwhile, in Scotland, the war proceeded, also with oceasional intermissions, but on the whole to the advantage of the national cause. Balliol left the country about the close of 1338; and in May, 1341, King David and his consort Joanna returned from France. In 1342 the Scots ever made several inroads into the northern counties of England. A suspension of hostilities however took place soon after this, which lasted till the close of 1344.

In 1345 Edward lost the services of his efficient ally Van Arteveldt, who was murdered in an insurrection of the populace of Ghent, excited by an attempt, which he appears to have made somewhat too precipitately, to induce the free towns to cast off their sovereign, the earl of Flanders, and to place themselves under the dominion of the son of the king of England, Edward, prince of Wales. Edward, afterwards so distinguished under the name of the Black Prince (given to him from the colour of his armour), was born at Woodstock, 15th June, 1330, and was consequently only yet in his sixteenth year. His father nevertheless took him along with him to win his spurs, when in July, 1346, he set out on another expedition to France with the greatest army he had yet raised. After reducing Caen and Lower Normandy, he proceeded along the left bank of the Seine till he reached the suburbs of the capital, and burnt the villages of St. Germains and St. Cloud. The memorable battle of Crecy followed on the 26th of August, in which the main division of the English army was commanded by the prince. Between thirty and forty thousand of the French are said to have been slain in this terrible defeat. Among those who fell was John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia; he fell by the hand of Prince Edward, who thence assumed his armorial ensign of three ostrich feathers and the motto Ich Dien (I serve), and transmitted the badge to all succeeding princes of Wales.

The defeat of the French at Crecy was followed on the 2 P 2

reign. This lady had been first married to William de Montacute, earl of Salisbury, from whom she had been divorced; and she had now been about three months the widow of Sir Thomas Holland, who assumed in her right the title of earl of Kent, and was summoned to parliament as such. Soon after his marriage the prince of Wales was raised by his father to the new dignity of prince of Aquitaine and Gascony (the two provinces or districts of Guienne); and in 1363 he took up his residence, and established a splendid court in that quality, at Bordeaux. Edward's administration of his continental principality was very able and successful, till he unfortunately became involved in the contest carried on by Pedro surnamed the Cruel with his illegitimate brother Henry of Trastamare for the crown of Castile. Pedro having been driven from his throne by Henry, applied to the Black Prince for aid to expel the usurper. At this call Edward, forgetting everything except the martial feelings of the age and what he conceived to be the rights of legitimacy, marched into Spain, and defeated Henry at the battle of Najera, fought on the 3rd of April, 1367. He did not, however, attain even his immediate object by this success. Pedro had reigned little more than a year when he was again driven from his throne by Henry, by whom he was soon after murdered. Henry kept possession of the throne which he had thus obtained till his death, ten years after. Prince Edward, meanwhile, owing to Pedro's misfortunes, having been disappointed of the money which that king had engaged to supply, found himself obliged to lay additional taxes upon his subjects of Guienne, to obtain the means of paying his troops. These imposts several of the Gascon lords refused to submit to, and appealed to the king of France as the lord paramount. Charles on this summoned Edward to appear before the parliament of Paris as his vassal; and on the refusal of the prince, immediately confiscated all the lands held by him and his father in France. A new war forthwith broke out between the two countries. For a time the wonted valour of Prince Edward again shone forth; but among the other fruits of his Spanish expedition was an illness caught by his exposure in that climate, which gradually undermined his constitution, and at length compelled him, in January, 1371, to return to England. He had just before this lost his eldest son, Edward, a child of six years old. King Edward's consort, Queen Philippa, had died on the 15th of August, 1369.

17th October, in the same year, by the equally signal defeat of the Scots at the battle of Nevil's Cross, near Durham, in which the greater part of the nobility of Scotland were either taken prisoners or slain, and the king himself, after being wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy. Froissart says that Queen Philippa led the English army into the field on this occasion; but no native contemporary or very antient writer mentions this remarkable circumstance. Three days after the battle of Crecy, Edward sat down before the town of Calais. It did not however open its gates to him till after a glorious defence of nearly eleven months. On its surrender the English king was prevented, by the intercession of Queen Philippa, from making his name infamous for ever by taking the lives of the six burgesses whom he commanded to be given up to his mercy as the price for which he consented to spare their fellowcitizens. The reduction of Calais was followed by a truce with France, which lasted till 1355. When the war was renewed, Philip VI. had been dead for five years, and the throne was occupied by his son John. On the 19th of September, 1356, the Black Prince gained the battle of Poictiers, at which the French king was taken prisoner. The kings both of France and Scotland were now in Edward's hands; but neither country was yet subjugated. At last, after many negotiations, David II. was released, in November, 1357, for a ransom of 100,000l., to be discharged in ten yearly payments. King John was released on his parole in 1360, when a treaty of peace was concluded between the two countries at Bretigny, confirming to the English the possession of all their recent conquests. But after remaining in France for about four years, John returned to captivity on finding that he could not comply with the conditions on which he had received his liberty, and died in London, 8th April, 1364. He was succeeded by his son, Charles V., who had acted as lieutenant of the kingdom during his absence. It would appear that during the Scottish king's long detention in England he had been prevailed upon to come into the views of Edward, at least to the extent of consenting to sacrifice the independence of his country after his own death; and it is probable that it was only upon a secret compact to this effect that he obtained his liberty. Joanna, the consort of David, died childless in 1362; and in a parliament held at Scone the following year the king astounded the estates by proposing that they should choose Lionel, duke of Cambridge, the third son of the king of England, to fill the throne in the event of his death without On his departure from Guienne, Prince Edward left the issue. At this time the next heir to the throne in the government of the principality in the hands of his brother regular line of the succession was the Stewart of Scotland, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. The duke shortly the son of David's elder sister Marjory; and a wish to ex- after married a daughter of Pedro the Cruel, in whose right clude his nephew, against whom he entertained strong feel- he assumed the title of king of Castile, and before the end ings of dislike, is supposed to have had a considerable share of the year followed his brother to England. Affairs on in influencing the conduct of the king. The proposal was the continent now went rapidly from bad to worse. rejected by the parliament unanimously and with indigna- great French General Duguesclin drove the English everytion. A few months after this the death of Edward Balliol where before him. In the summer of 1372 two expeditions without issue removed all chance of any competitor arising were fitted out from England, the first commanded by the to contest David's own rights; and he became of course a earl of Pembroke, the second by King Edward in person, personage of more importance than ever to the purposes accompanied by the Black Prince; but both completely of the ambitious and wily king of England. David now failed. The forces of the earl of Pembroke were defeated repaired to London; and here it was agreed in a secret while attempting to land at Rochelle by the fleet of Henry conference held between the two kings on the 23rd of King of Castile; and those conducted by the king and his November, that in default of the king of Scots and his issue son, which were embarked in 400 ships, after being at sea male, the king of England for the time being should suc- for six weeks, were prevented from landing by contrary ceed to the crown of Scotland. In the mean time, the king winds, and obliged to put back to England. At last, in of Scots was to sound the inclinations of his people and to 1374, when he had lost everything that had been secured inform the English king and his council of the result. (See to him by the treaty of Bretigny, Edward was glad to conthe articles of the agreement, twenty-eight in number, include a truce for three years. the sixth volume of Rymer's Fœdera.') From this time David acted with little disguise in the interests of the English king, and even spent as much of his time as he could in England. One effect of this policy was, that actual hostilities between the two countries ceased; but no public misery could exceed that of Scotland, distracted as it was by internal convulsions, exhausted by the sufferings and exertions of many preceding years, and vexed by the exactions necessary to defray the ransom of the king, his claim to which Edward artfully took advantage of as a pretext for many insults and injuries, and a cover for all sorts of intrigues. In 1365, however, it was agreed that the truce (for the cessation from hostilities was as yet nothing more) should be prolonged till 1371.

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In 1361 the prince of Wales had married Joanna, styled the Fair, the daughter of his great uncle the earl of Kent, who had been put to death in the beginning of the present

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Thus ended the French wars of this king, which had cost England so much blood and treasure. Those which he waged against Scotland equally failed of their object. David II. had died in February, 1371, and the Stewart of Scotland immediately ascended the throne without opposition under the title of Robert II. No serious attempt was ever made by Edward to disturb this settlement, though he at one time seemed inclined to threaten another Scottish war, and he never would give Robert the title of king: he contented himself with styling him the most noble and potent prince, our dear cousin of Scotland.'

The latter years of Edward's long reign presented in all respects a melancholy contrast to its brilliant commencement. The harmony which had hitherto prevailed between the king and his parliament gave way under the public misfortunes, and the opposition to the king's government was headed by his eldest son. The Black Prince, however,

died in his 46th year, on the 8th of June 1376. He was in the popular estimation the first hero of the age, and to this reputation his military skill, his valour, and other brilliant and noble qualities, may be admitted to have entitled him; but, with all his merits, he was not superior to his age, nor without his share of some of the worst of its faults. He left by his wife Joanna one son, Richard, a child in his tenth year; and he appears also to have had a daughter, who became the wife of Waleran de Luxemburg, count de Ligny; his illegitimate sons were Sir John Sounder and Sir Roger de Clarendon. King Edward, in the weakness of old age, had now for some time given up the entire management of affairs to his second son the unpopular Duke of Lancaster, and fears were entertained that he intended the duke to inherit the crown; but these apprehensions were removed by his creating Richard of Bordeaux prince of Wales, duke of Cornwall, and earl of Chester, and declaring him in parliament his heir and successor. Since the death of his queen also he had attached himself with doting fondness to Alice Perers, one of the Ladies of her Bedchamber, and had excited great public disgust by the excesses to which this folly carried him. The last fortnight of his life he spent at his manor of Shene, now Richmond, attended only by this lady. But even she deserted him on the morning of his death; and no one save a single priest was by his bed-side, or even in the house, when he breathed his last. This event happened on the 21st of June, 1377, in the 65th year of his age and the 51st of his reign.

Edward III. had by his queen, Philippa of Hainault, seven sons: 1. Edward prince of Wales; 2. William of Hatfield, born 1336, who died young; 3. Lionel, duke of Clarence, born at Antwerp 29th November, 1338; 4. John, duke of Lancaster, called of Gaunt, or Ghent, where he was born in 1340; 5. Edmund, duke of York, born at Langley, near St. Alban's, in 1341; 6. William, born at Windsor, who died young; 7. Thomas, duke of Gloucester, born at Woodstock, 7th January, 1355; and five daughters: 1. Isabella, married to Ingelram de Courcy, earl of Soissons and Bedford; 2. Joanna, born in August, 1334, who was contracted, in 1345, to Pedro the Cruel, afterwards king of Castile, but died of the plague at Bordeaux, in 1349, before being married; 3. Blanche, called De la Tour, from having been born in the Tower of London, who died in infancy; 4. Mary, married to John de Montford, duke of Bretagne; and 5. Margaret, married to John de Hastings, earl of Pembroke.

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the court of Rome. In this reign also began the legislation respecting the poor, by the enactment of the statute of Labourers (23 Ed. III., c. 1), which was followed by several other acts of the same kind, setting a price upon labour as well as upon provisions. Trial by Jury also now began to acquire a decided ascendancy over the old modes of trial, and various regulations were made for improving the procedure of the courts and the administration of justice. Justices (at first called keepers) of the peace were established by the statute 34 Ed. III., c. 1. In 1362 was passed the important act (36 Ed. III., st. 5, c. 15) declaring that henceforth all pleas should be pleaded, showed, defended, amended, debated, and judged in the English tongue,' and no longer in the French, which is described as much unknown in the realm.' They were ordered still however to be entered and enrolled in Latin. The acts of parliament continued to be written sometimes in Latin, but most generally in French, long after this time. The science of legal pleading is considered by Coke to have been brought to perfection in this reign. The only law treatises which belong to this reign are those entitled the Old Tenures, the Old Natura Brevium, the Nova Narrationes, and the book on the Diversity of Courts. They are all in Norman French.

The commerce and manufactures of the country made some advances with the general progress of the age in the course of this reign; but they certainly were not considerable for so long a space of time. The woollen manufacture was introduced from the Netherlands, and firmly rooted in England before the close of the reign. Some augmentation also seems to have taken place in the shipping and exports of the country. On the other hand, the king's incessant wars operated in various ways to the discouragement of commerce. Sometimes foreign merchants were afraid to send their vessels to sea lest they should be captured by some of the belligerents. On one occasion at least (in 1338), Edward made a general seizure of the property belonging to foreign merchants within his dominions, to supply his necessities. At other times he resorted to the ruinous expedient of debasing the coin. Many acts were passed by the parliament on the subject of trade, but they involved for the most part the falsest principles; some prohibiting the exportation of money, of wool, and of other articles; others imposing penalties for forestalling; others attempting to regulate wages, prices, and expenditure. Of course such laws could not be executed; they only tormented the people, and aggravated the mischiefs they were intended to cure; but in consequence of being thus inefficient, they were constantly renewed. The most memorable invention of this age is that of gunpowder, or rather its application in war. It appears to be certain that cannons were used at the battle of Crecy in 1346; but there is reason to believe that they were in use about twenty years earlier. They were certainly familiarly known before the close of the reign.

It has been observed, in regard to Edward III., by Sir James Mackintosh, that' though his victories left few lasting acquisitions, yet they surrounded the name of his country with a lustre which produced strength and safety; which perhaps also gave a loftier tone to the feelings of England, and a more vigorous activity to her faculties.' 'During a reign of fifty years,' it is added, Edward III. issued writs of summons, which are extant to this day, to assemble seventy parliaments or great councils: he thus engaged the pride and passions of the parliament and the Among the more elegant arts, architecture was that which people so deeply in support of his projects of aggrandise- was carried to the greatest height. Edward III. nearly ment, that they became his zealous and enthusiastic fol- rebuilt the Castle of Windsor, which however has underlowers. His ambition was caught by the nation, and men gone great improvements and alterations since his time: of the humblest station became proud of his brilliant victo- the beautiful chapel of St. George, at Windsor, was also ries. To form and keep up this state of public temper was built, or at least finished, by this king. But splendour and the mainspring of his domestic administration, and satis- luxury generally made undoubtedly great advances among factorily explains the internal tranquillity of England du- the wealthier classes, although it may be questioned if ring the forty years of his effective reign. It was the natu- wealth was more generally diffused throughout the comral consequence of so long and watchful a pursuit of popula-munity, or if the poverty and wretchedness of the great rity that most grievances were redressed as soon as felt, that parliamentary authority was yearly strengthened by exercise, and that the minds of the turbulent barons were exclusively turned towards a share in their sovereign's glory. Quiet at home was partly the fruit of fame abroad.'

The two great charters were repeatedly confirmed in this reign, and a greater number of important new laws were passed than in all the preceding reigns since the Conquest. Among them may be particularly noticed the celebrated statute (25 Ed. III., st. 5, c. 2) defining and limiting the offence of high treason; the numerous provisions made to regulate the royal prerogative of purveyance, and diminish the grievances occasioned by it; the law (1 Ed. III., c. 12) permitting tenants in chief to alienate their lands on pay. ment of a reasonable fine; the several prohibitions against the payment of Peter's Pence; and the first statute (the 27th Ed. III., st. 1, c. 1) giving a writ of præmunire against such as should presume to cite any of the king's subjects to

body of the people were not rather increased than diminished. The increase of licentiousness of manners among the higher ranks appears to have kept pace with that of magnificence in their mode of living. This was the age of tournaments, and of the most complete ascendancy of the system of chivalry; but all this, at least in its direct and immediate effects, was more favourable to the improvement of the outside polish and formal courtesies of life within a narrow circle, than to the diffusion of any humanizing influences throughout the mass of society. The Order of the Garter was instituted by Edward III., it is generally supposed in the year 1349.

In literature, this was the age of Chaucer, the Morning Star of our poetry, and of his friend Gower, and also of Wicliffe, who first translated the Scriptures into English, and who has been called the Morning Star of the Reformation. The principal chroniclers of the time of Edward III. are Thomas Stubbs, William Thorn, Ralph

Higden, Adam Merimuth, Henry de Knighton, and Robert | the common account makes him to have been the person de Avesbury.

The convulsion in the church excited by Wicliffe began in the last years of Edward III., but the history of it more properly belongs to the next reign, that of his grandson Richard II.

who gave Henry information of the conspiracy, after he had been applied to by the earl of Cambridge, who had married his sister, to join it. After the accession of Henry VI. he was sent as lord lieutenant to Ireland; and he died there in the castle of Trim in 1424. He left no issue, nor did his brother Roger, nor his sister Eleanor; but his sister Ann, married to the earl of Cambridge, had a son named Richard, who consequently became his uncle's representative, and (at least after the death of his mother) the individual on whom had devolved the claim by lineal descent to the crown. This Richard was also the representative of Edward III.'s fifth son, Edmund duke of York, his father the earl of Cambridge having been the second son of that prince, whose eldest son and heir, Edward duke of York, had fallen at the battle of Agincourt, leaving no issue, only a few months after his brother had been executed for the conspiracy mentioned above. At the time of his uncle's death, Richard, in consequence of his father's forfeiture, had no title; but he seems to have immediately assumed that of Earl of March, at least he is so called by some of the chroniclers, and the same title was also afterwards borne by his son, although the right of either to it may be questioned, inasmuch as it appears to have been only descendible to heirs male. Richard however is best known by his title of duke of York, which he took in 1425, on being restored in blood and allowed to inherit the honours both of his father and uncle. But it is important to recollect that the claim of the house of York to the crown in opposition to the house of Lancaster was not derived from Edward III.'s fifth son Edmund duke of York, who was younger than John of Gaunt, the founder of the house of Lancaster, but from Lionel duke of Clarence, who was that king's third son, John of Gaunt being his fourth.

EDWARD IV., king of England. During the reign of Richard II. the heir presumptive to the crown was Roger Mortimer, earl of March, the son of Philippa Plantagenet, who was the only child of Lionel duke of Clarence, the second of the sons of Edward III. that left any descendants. Roger earl of March died in Ireland, where he was lordlieutenant, or governor, in 1398. His son Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, was a child of only ten years of age at the deposition of Richard II. in 1399; but in his person resided the right to the crown by lineal descent so long as he lived. Although however his name was mentioned on several occasions in connexion with his dangerous pretensions, and he more than once ran the risk of being made a tool of in the hands of persons more ambitious than himself, he never made any attempt against the house of Lancaster. We may here remark, that much confusion has been introduced into the common accounts of Edmund Mortimer by his being confounded with his uncle Sir Edmund Mortimer. It was the latter personage, for instance, who, having married the daughter of Owen Glendower, engaged with the Percies in their insurrection in 1403, and performed the rest of the part assigned to the Lord Mortimer in Shakspeare's play of the First Part of Henry the Fourth. It is to him also we suppose that we are to attribute the pun put by the common histories into the mouth of his nephew the earl of March at the coronation of Henry IV., when, on that king claiming the crown as the heir male of Henry III., he said that he was indeed Hares Malus. 'But Edmund had his jest and Henry his crown,' observes Bishop Kennet in telling this story (Complete History of England, i. 274). The young earl of March, with the other children of his father, was detained in a sort of imprisonment at Windsor during all the reign of Henry IV., but on the accession of Henry V. he was set at liberty. In 1415 he became involved in the conspiracy planned against Henry V. by Richard earl of Cambridge; but it is most probable that he was not answerable for the use which was made, or rather intended to be made, on this occasion, of his name. Indeed

As a clear notion of the above genealogical statement is important to the understanding of a considerable portion of English history, it may be proper once for all to exhibit it in the form most convenient for its ready apprehension and for future reference to it. The line of the eldest son of Edward III. having failed in Richard II., and his second son having died without issue, the contest for the crown in the fifteenth century lay among the descendants of his third, fourth, and fifth sons, whose connexion with him and among themselves stood thus:

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The persons whose names are printed in Italics are those in whom successively the hereditary right vested. We cannot discover however how long. Ann Mortimer survived her brother, or even that she survived him at all, although it seems to be usually assumed that she did.

Richard, duke of York, first makes his appearance in public affairs in the end of the year 1435, when he was appointed by Henry VI. to the regency of France on the death of the duke of Bedford. By the time he entered upon his office, however, Paris had been evacuated, and their French dominion was fast passing out of the hands of the English. He was recalled in 1437, but was reappointed on the death of his successor, the earl of Warwick, in July, 1440. On the 29th of April, 1441 (or, according to another account, in September, 1442), his son Edward, earl of March, afterwards Edward IV., was born at Rouen. The duke of York remained in France till after the conclusion of the king's marriage with Margaret of Anjou, in 1446; and his government was then prolonged for another term of five years; but in 1447 he was recalled, through the influence of the queen and the favourite, the marquess of

Suffolk, and Edmund Beaufort, earl (afterwards duke) of Somerset, the chief of the younger branch of the Lancaster family, appointed his successor. It is understood that before this the unpopular government of the queen and the favourite had turned men's minds to the claims of the duke of York; and it is said that he himself, though he moved warily in the matter, was not idle by his emissaries in encouraging the disposition that began to grow up in his favour. The progress of events in course of time enabled him to take a bolder part in the promotion of the design he had already in all probability formed, of securing the crown for himself and his family. In 1449 he gained additional popularity by the able and conciliatory manner in which he suppressed an insurrection in Ireland. In the rising of the people of Kent the next year, their leader, Jack Cade, assumed the name of Mortimer as a sort of title. When he rode

in triumph through the streets of the metropolis, he called | arms only to compel the king to dismiss his evil counsellors out, as he struck London Stone with his sword, 'Now is Morti- and to govern according to the laws. Even now Henry's mer lord of the city!' When the duke returned from Ireland, name was still made use of by the victorious party. He in August, 1451, some steps seem to have been taken by was made to call a parliament, which met at Westminster the court to oppose his landing; but he made his way to on the 2nd October, and immediately annulled every thing London, and immediately entered there into consultations that had been done by the late parliament of Coventry. But with his friends. It was determined to demand the dis- at this point the duke at last threw off all disguise. On the missal and punishment of the duke of Somerset, now the 16th he delivered to the parliament by his counsel a written king's chief minister; but although this attempt was sup- claim to the crown. The question was formally discussed, ported by an armed demonstration, it ended after a few and it was at length determined that Henry should be almonths in the duke of York dismissing his followers, re- lowed to remain king during his life, but that the duke of turning to his allegiance, and agreeing to retire to his estate. York should be immediately declared his successor. Richard The king had now been married for several years without was accordingly, on the 1st of November, solemnly prohaving any children, and it appears to have been generally claimed heir apparent and protector of the realm; being expected that the duke, by merely waiting for his death, in the latter capacity invested with rights and powers which would obtain the crown without any risk or trouble. On already threw into his hands all of royalty except the name. the birth of the prince of Wales, however, in October, 1453, But his dignity and authority were soon brought to an end. it became necessary to adopt another course. The spirit The queen found means to assemble an army in the north; that showed itself in the parliament the following year on hearing which news the duke, on the 2nd of December, forced the court to admit the duke of York and his chief marched from London to give her battle. They met on friends and confederates, the two Nevilles (father and son), Wakefield Green on the 31st, and the issue of their enearls of Sa .sbury and Warwick, into the council, where their counter was the complete defeat of York. He himself and first act was to arrest the duke of Somerset and send him to one of his younger sons were slain, and the earl of Salisbury the Tower A few weeks after this (on the 3rd April, 1454), was taken prisoner, and executed the next day at Pomfret, the duke of York was appointed by the parliament protector with twelve of his associates. Edward, now duke of York, and defender of the kingdom during the illness of the king, was at Gloucester when he heard of this disaster. A forwho had fallen into a state of mental as well as bodily im- midable royal force, commanded by the earls of Pembroke becility. In the following spring however Henry partially and Ormond, hung on his rear; this he attacked on the recovered, and resuming the management of affairs, re- 2nd February, 1461, at Mortimer's Cross, near Hereford, leased Somerset. This brought matters to a crisis. The and completely routed. He then set out for London, upon duke of York now withdrew from court, and both parties which the queen also was now directing her march. The collected their forces to decide their quarrel by the sword. next engagement that took place was at Bernard's Heath, The two armies met at St. Alban's on the 23rd of May, near St. Alban's, where the queen was met on the 17th by 1455, when the king was defeated, he himself being the earl of Warwick: the earl, who had the king with him wounded and taken prisoner, and the duke of Somerset in the field, was defeated, and his majesty regained his and others of the royal leaders slain. Henry, detained | liberty. The approach of the duke of York however dein the hands of the victor, was obliged to call a par- terred Margaret from continuing her advances upon the liament, which met at Westminster on the 9th of capital; she retired to the north, while he entered London July; and here the helpless king declared the duke on the 28th, amid the congratulations of the citizens. On and his friends to be innocent of the slaughter at St. the 2nd of March he laid his claim to the crown, founded Alban's, and greeted them as his 'free and faithful liege- on King Henry's alleged breach of the late agreement, bemen.' The parliament met again, after prorogation, on the fore an assembly of lay and clerical lords; on the same 12th November, when the duke was a second time ap- afternoon an assembly of the people was held in St. John's pointed protector. He was removed however by the king Fields, at which his nomination as king was received with on the 23rd February, 1456; on which he again retired unanimous acclamations of assent; and two days after he from court with his friends. The next two years passed was solemnly proclaimed by the name of Edward the without any further encounter, each party hesitating to Fourth. The 4th of March was considered as the day of attack the other. At last, in the spring of 1458, York and his accession. his friends were invited by the queen to London, to be reconciled to the Lancastrian party; an agreement to live for the future in peace was made with much solemnity; and the duke of York and the earls of Salisbury and Warwick were again admitted into the council. All this however seems to have been merely a stratagem of the queen's to get them into her power: their danger soon became apparent; and before the end of the year they all again withdrew from court. The resort to the final arbitrament could not now be much longer deferred. Both parties again collected their armed strength. Their first meeting took place at Blore-heath, near Drayton, in Shropshire, on the 23rd September, 1459, when the royal forces under Lord Audley were defeated by the earl of Salisbury, Audley himself being slain. On the 12th of October however the king's army met that of York and Warwick near Ludlow: ample offers of pardon were made to all who would come over to the royal side; and the consequence was, that so many of the insurgents deserted, that, almost without striking a blow, the rest threw down their arms, and their leaders were obliged to save themselves by flight. The duke of York and his adherents were attainted and their estates confiscated, at a parliament which met at Coventry a few weeks after. By June, 1460, however, the dispersed insurgents were again in arms. York landed from Ireland and Warwick from France nearly at the same time; the latter, whose numbers had now increased to 40,000 men, entered London on the 2nd of July; and on the 9th the royal forces, advancing from Coventry, were met near Northampton, by York's son Edward, the young earl of March, and signally defeated, the king being taken prisoner, and the queen and her son obliged to fly for their lives. This is the first appearance of Edward on the scene. Up to this time also the duke of York had never disputed Henry's title to the crown; he professed to have taken

The first three years of the reign of Edward IV. were occupied by a prolongation of the contest that raged when he mounted the throne. The Lancastrians sustained a severe defeat from the king in person at Towton in Yorkshire, on the 29th of March, 1461; but Queen Margaret was unwearied in her applications for assistance to France and Scotland, and she was at last enabled to take the field with a new army. That too however was routed and dispersed at Hexham by the forces of Edward under the command of Lord Montagu, on the 17th of May, 1464. This victory, and the capture of Henry, which took place a few days after, put an end to the war. An event however occurred about the same time out of which new troubles soon arose. This was the marriage of the king with Elizabeth Woodville, the young and beautiful widow of Sir Thomas Gray, and the daughter of Sir Richard Woodville (afterwards created Earl Rivers) by Jacquetta of Luxemburg, whose first husband had been the late duke of Bedford. The connexions of the lady, both by her birth and by her first marriage, were all of the Lancastrian party; but Edward's passion was too violent to allow him to be stopped by this consideration; he was privately married to her at Grafton, near Stoney Stratford, on 1st May, 1464: she was publicly acknowledged as his wife in September; and she was crowned at Westminster on Ascension Day in the following year. The first effect of this marriage was to put an end to a negotiation, in which some progress had been made, with the French King Louis XI. for Edward's marriage with his sister-in-law the Princess Bonne of Savoy, an alliance which it was hoped might have proved a bond of amity betwixt the two kingdoms. It at the same time alienated from the king the most powerful of his supporters, the earl of Warwick, by whom the French negotiation had been conducted, and whose disapprobation of the king's conduct in a political point of view was consequently sharp

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