SECTION IV.

HISTORICAL EXERCISES.

1. Write a short account of the following subjects connected with English History.

MODEL.

The Wars of the Roses.

The contest between the houses of York and Lancaster may be traced to its origin in the deposition of Richard II. by his cousin the Duke of Lancaster, who afterwards assumed the crown with the title of Henry the Fourth. By this act of usurpation, the nearest heir to the throne was excluded from the succession; and it was the attempts of his descendants to overthrow the Lancastrian dyrasty, sixty years after it had been established, that produced the Wars of the Roses. They were so termed from the White Rose being worn by the partisans of York, and the Red by those of Lancaster.

The vigour and ability of Henry the Fourth had enabled him to maintain his position against all the endeavours of his enemies; and he had transmitted the crown to his son Henry the Fifth, whose military glory rendered him the idol of the English nation. That warrior was succeeded on his death by his son Henry the Sixth, then only nine months old; and it was during his minority that those dissensions arose which at length kindled into a civil war. The nobles intrusted with the government, uncontrolled by the personal authority of the sovereign, were continually struggling with each other for supremacy; and, when Henry arrived at the years of maturity, it soon appeared that he was incapable of keeping them in duc subjection. His character was naturally timid and feeble; and he was subject, besides, to such attacks of bodily and mental infirmity, as frequently incapacitated

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him from taking any part in public affairs-a circumstance which tended to perpetuate the rivalry and intrigue that had originated during his nonage. It was in this state of matters that Richard, Duke of York, conceived the idea of claiming the succession to the throne. As the lineal descendant of the Earl of March, the true heir of Richard II., his title, he alleged, was superior to that of the reigning prince; and his pretensions formed a rallying point for those noblemen who were at enmity with the favourites of the court. The Earl of Salisbury and his son Warwick, who exercised such an influence on the events of the struggle as to obtain the name of King-maker, were his principal supporters.

Aware, however, of the danger that might attend a rash declaration of his views, which had been disclosed only to his most intimate associates, York was at first careful to dissemble his real designs. In 1452 he collected his adherents, and appeared at the head of an army; but, being followed by the king, who demanded an explanation of his conduct, he professed the most sincere loyalty to his sovereign, and asserted that he had only taken up arms to protect himself from his enemies, who, he complained, had made various attempts to arrest him for treason. The king accepted his excuse, and promised to redress his alleged grievances; whereupon the Duke dismissed his followers, and he was permitted to retire to his estate.

Had the feeble monarch been the only obstacle to the wishes of York, they might soon have been crowned with success; but a most formidable opponent to his designs existed in the person of Margaret of Anjou, the consort of Henry, a woman of a most energetic and resolute character, and the soul of the Lancastrian party. The interests of her son Edward, the young Prince of Wales, were involved in the struggle; and she contended for them with a courage that proved equal to the most trying emergencies, and an inflexibility of purpose that no climax of adversity could subdue. These

rare and noble qualities, however, were united to a cruelty of disposition that was a stranger to pity, and a spirit of vengeance that was restrained by no bounds.

The ill health of Henry, which for a time rendered him incapable of business, recalled York from his retreat; and, in the struggle for parliamentary power that ensued between the parties, he succeeded in obtaining the office of Protector during the king's illness. Shortly after the recovery of Henry, and the consequent dismissal of York, we find that ambitious nobleman and his adherents again in arms. In 1455 the

rival factions met at St Albans, where, for the first time, they measured their strength in battle. York was victorious, and took the king prisoner; but he did not yet think it politic to avow openly his design of laying claim to the crown. He alleged, as before, that he had merely taken up arms to defend himself against the machinations of his enemies, the favourites of the court; and Henry had no remedy but to feign belief in the statement. Shortly afterwards, York was again made Protector, under the same circumstances as before, and again resigned his office on the recovery of Henry. Retiring to his estate at Wigmore in Shropshire, he remained there in privacy for two years.

During this interval, however, each party was silently exerting itself to gain adherents; and the question was now becoming of such importance and of such general interest, that almost every individual had taken a side. Those who attached themselves to the cause of York believed him oppressed by the court; while the Lancastrians regarded him as an ambitious traitor, whose pretensions were to be crushed, as dangerous to the peace of the realm. The king earnestly endeavoured to effect a reconciliation between the leaders of both parties; and they, affecting to acquiesce in his wishes, repaired with their retainers to London. In March 1458, Henry, with his whole court, walked in procession to St Paul's, the queen being conducted by the Duke of York, and the noblemen of each party,

in token of reconciliation, marching together, arm in arm, as friends and brothers.

It soon appeared, however, that this was but a vain spectacle. In the following year, we find the Yorkists again in arms, headed by the Earl of Salisbury, who gained a victory over a division of the king's troops at Bloreheath, after which he joined the Duke of York at Ludlow. The king, however, marching with a large army upon their combined forces, the insurgents were dispersed and their leaders compelled to flee. York escaped to Ireland, where he possessed great influence; and the Earl of Warwick to Calais, of which he was

then governor.

Returning in the subsequent year, Warwick soon appeared with a large army and obtained possession of London. He then marched northwards, and, in July 1460, overthrew the royalists at Northampton, taking the king prisoner, whom he conducted to London. York here rejoined his successful ally, and, at a Parliament which had been summoned after the victory, he publicly asserted, for the first time, his claim to the crown. After some discussion, it was agreed that Henry should retain the royal authority during his life; but that, on his death, it should descend to York or his heirs. By this arrangement, Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry and Margaret, was excluded from the succession.

But, in the meantime, the indomitable Margaret, with those nobles who had always adhered to the fortunes of Lancaster, was preparing for a new struggle; and, by the month of December, she had assembled a large army in the north. York and Salisbury hastening to meet her, the contending parties came to action near Wakefield, where the Yorkists were defeated, the Duke slain, and the Earl of Salisbury executed. Margaret, giving full scope to the fury of her resentment, caused the Duke of York's head to be encircled with a crown of paper and nailed in derision to the gates of the town of York His son, the Earl of

Rutland, a boy twelve years of age, was stabbed by Lord Clifford, in revenge of the death of his father, who had been slain at St Albans. Such proceedings as these extinguished every lingering sentiment of humanity in the breasts of the adversaries; and the war was thenceforth carried on in a spirit of ruthless extermination.

Edward, Earl of March, eldest son and representative of the Duke of York, was at Gloucester when he received information of his father's death. Proceeding thereupon to London, he was followed by a formidable body of Welsh and Irish, that hung upon his rear and seriously molested his march. Facing round, he engaged with them at Mortimer's Cross (Feb. 1461), and, having obtained the victory, the nobility and other leaders that fell into his hands were, in accordance with that spirit of retaliation that had now become an invariable characteristic of this bloody feud, executed next day at Hereford. Being joined by the Earl of Warwick, who had in the meantime been defeated by Margaret at St Albans, Edward entered the capital, where, disregarding the arrangement by which Henry was conceded the crown for life, he caused himself to be proclaimed king, under the title of Edward the Fourth.

Margaret, accompanied by Henry, who had been released from his enemies by the victory at St Albans, withdrew to the north, which had always been as much the stronghold of the Lancastrians as London and the south had now become that of their adversaries. With an army of 60,000 men, she awaited at the town of York the approach of Edward, who was now advancing with a somewhat inferior force; and, on the 29th of March 1461, the hostile factions once more engaged in deadly conflict. The dire encounter, memorable for the obstinate ferocity of the combatants, and for the dreadful slaughter that ensued, took place near Towton, a village in Yorkshire. The battle commenced at nine in the morning, and continued to rage with merciless fury till three in the afternoon. At that time the Lancastrians began to give way; their