Chapter XXIII - England Under Edward the Fourth

by Charles Dickens

　　King Edward the Fourth was not quite twenty-one years of age whenhe took that unquiet seat upon the throne of England. TheLancaster party, the Red Roses, were then assembling in greatnumbers near York, and it was necessary to give them battleinstantly. But, the stout Earl of Warwick leading for the youngKing, and the young King himself closely following him, and theEnglish people crowding round the Royal standard, the White and theRed Roses met, on a wild March day when the snow was fallingheavily, at Towton; and there such a furious battle raged betweenthem, that the total loss amounted to forty thousand men - allEnglishmen, fighting, upon English ground, against one another.The young King gained the day, took down the heads of his fatherand brother from the walls of York, and put up the heads of some ofthe most famous noblemen engaged in the battle on the other side.Then, he went to London and was crowned with great splendour.

　　A new Parliament met. No fewer than one hundred and fifty of theprincipal noblemen and gentlemen on the Lancaster side weredeclared traitors, and the King - who had very little humanity,though he was handsome in person and agreeable in manners -resolved to do all he could, to pluck up the Red Rose root andbranch.

　　Queen Margaret, however, was still active for her young son. Sheobtained help from Scotland and from Normandy, and took severalimportant English castles. But, Warwick soon retook them; theQueen lost all her treasure on board ship in a great storm; andboth she and her son suffered great misfortunes. Once, in thewinter weather, as they were riding through a forest, they wereattacked and plundered by a party of robbers; and, when they hadescaped from these men and were passing alone and on foot through athick dark part of the wood, they came, all at once, upon anotherrobber. So the Queen, with a stout heart, took the little Princeby the hand, and going straight up to that robber, said to him, 'Myfriend, this is the young son of your lawful King! I confide himto your care.' The robber was surprised, but took the boy in hisarms, and faithfully restored him and his mother to their friends.In the end, the Queen's soldiers being beaten and dispersed, shewent abroad again, 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, theLancaster party recovering their spirits, raised a large body ofmen, and called him out of his retirement, to put him at theirhead. They were joined by some powerful noblemen who had swornfidelity to the new King, but who were ready, as usual, to breaktheir oaths, whenever they thought there was anything to be got byit. One of the worst things in the history of the war of the Redand White Roses, is the ease with which these noblemen, who shouldhave set an example of honour to the people, left either side asthey took slight offence, or were disappointed in their greedyexpectations, and joined the other. Well! Warwick's brother soonbeat the Lancastrians, and the false noblemen, being taken, werebeheaded without a moment's loss of time. The deposed King had anarrow escape; three of his servants were taken, and one of thembore his cap of estate, which was set with pearls and embroideredwith two golden crowns. However, the head to which the capbelonged, 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 as led to Henry'sbeing taken while he was sitting at dinner in a place calledWaddington Hall. He was immediately sent to London, and met atIslington by the Earl of Warwick, by whose directions he was putupon a horse, with his legs tied under it, and paraded three timesround the pillory. Then, he was carried off to the Tower, wherethey treated him well enough.

　　The White Rose being so triumphant, the young King abandonedhimself entirely to pleasure, and led a jovial life. But, thornswere springing up under his bed of roses, as he soon found out.For, having been privately married to Elizabeth Woodville, a youngwidow lady, very beautiful and very captivating; and at lastresolving to make his secret known, and to declare her his Queen;he gave some offence to the Earl of Warwick, who was usually calledthe King-Maker, because of his power and influence, and because ofhis having lent such great help to placing Edward on the throne.This offence was not lessened by the jealousy with which the Nevilfamily (the Earl of Warwick's) regarded the promotion of theWoodville family. For, the young Queen was so bent on providingfor her relations, that she made her father an earl and a greatofficer of state; married her five sisters to young noblemen of thehighest rank; and provided for her younger brother, a young man oftwenty, by marrying him to an immensely rich old duchess of eighty.The Earl of Warwick took all this pretty graciously for a man ofhis proud temper, until the question arose to whom the King'ssister, Margaret, should be married. The Earl of Warwick said, 'Toone of the French King's sons,' and was allowed to go over to theFrench King to make friendly proposals for that purpose, and tohold all manner of friendly interviews with him. But, while he wasso engaged, the Woodville party married the young lady to the Dukeof Burgundy! Upon this he came back in great rage and scorn, andshut himself up discontented, in his Castle of Middleham.

　　A reconciliation, though not a very sincere one, was patched upbetween the Earl of Warwick and the King, and lasted until the Earlmarried his daughter, against the King's wishes, to the Duke ofClarence. While the marriage was being celebrated at Calais, thepeople in the north of England, where the influence of the Nevilfamily was strongest, broke out into rebellion; their complaintwas, that England was oppressed and plundered by the Woodvillefamily, whom they demanded to have removed from power. As theywere joined by great numbers of people, and as they openly declaredthat they were supported by the Earl of Warwick, the King did notknow 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 toarrange the business by shutting the King up in Middleham Castle inthe safe keeping of the Archbishop of York; so England was not onlyin the strange position of having two kings at once, but they wereboth prisoners at the same time.

　　Even as yet, however, the King-Maker was so far true to the King,that he dispersed a new rising of the Lancastrians, took theirleader prisoner, and brought him to the King, who ordered him to beimmediately executed. He presently allowed the King to return toLondon, and there innumerable pledges of forgiveness and friendshipwere exchanged between them, and between the Nevils and theWoodvilles; the King's eldest daughter was promised in marriage tothe heir of the Nevil family; and more friendly oaths were sworn,and more friendly promises made, than this book would hold.

　　They lasted about three months. At the end of that time, theArchbishop of York made a feast for the King, the Earl of Warwick,and the Duke of Clarence, at his house, the Moor, in Hertfordshire.The King was washing his hands before supper, when some onewhispered him that a body of a hundred men were lying in ambushoutside the house. Whether this were true or untrue, the King tookfright, mounted his horse, and rode through the dark night toWindsor Castle. Another reconciliation was patched up between himand the King-Maker, but it was a short one, and it was the last. Anew rising took place in Lincolnshire, and the King marched torepress it. Having done so, he proclaimed that both the Earl ofWarwick and the Duke of Clarence were traitors, who had secretlyassisted it, and who had been prepared publicly to join it on thefollowing day. In these dangerous circumstances they both tookship and sailed away to the French court.

　　And here a meeting took place between the Earl of Warwick and hisold enemy, the Dowager Queen Margaret, through whom his father hadhad his head struck off, and to whom he had been a bitter foe.But, now, when he said that he had done with the ungrateful andperfidious Edward of York, and that henceforth he devoted himselfto the restoration of the House of Lancaster, either in the personof her husband or of her little son, she embraced him as if he hadever been her dearest friend. She did more than that; she marriedher son to his second daughter, the Lady Anne. However agreeablethis marriage was to the new friends, it was very disagreeable tothe Duke of Clarence, who perceived that his father-in-law, theKing-Maker, would never make him King, now. So, being but a weak-minded young traitor, possessed of very little worth or sense, hereadily listened to an artful court lady sent over for the purpose,and promised to turn traitor once more, and go over to his brother,King Edward, when a fitting opportunity should come.

　　The Earl of Warwick, knowing nothing of this, soon redeemed hispromise to the Dowager Queen Margaret, by invading England andlanding at Plymouth, where he instantly proclaimed King Henry, andsummoned all Englishmen between the ages of sixteen and sixty, tojoin his banner. Then, with his army increasing as he marchedalong, he went northward, and came so near King Edward, who was inthat part of the country, that Edward had to ride hard for it tothe coast of Norfolk, and thence to get away in such ships as hecould find, to Holland. Thereupon, the triumphant King-Maker andhis false son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence, went to London, tookthe old King out of the Tower, and walked him in a great processionto Saint Paul's Cathedral with the crown upon his head. This didnot improve the temper of the Duke of Clarence, who saw himselffarther off from being King than ever; but he kept his secret, andsaid nothing. The Nevil family were restored to all their honoursand glories, and the Woodvilles and the rest were disgraced. TheKing-Maker, less sanguinary than the King, shed no blood exceptthat of the Earl of Worcester, who had been so cruel to the peopleas to have gained the title of the Butcher. Him they caught hiddenin a tree, and him they tried and executed. No other death stainedthe King-Maker's triumph.

　　To dispute this triumph, back came King Edward again, next year,landing at Ravenspur, coming on to York, causing all his men to cry'Long live King Henry!' and swearing on the altar, without a blush,that he came to lay no claim to the crown. Now was the time forthe Duke of Clarence, who ordered his men to assume the White Rose,and declare for his brother. The Marquis of Montague, though theEarl of Warwick's brother, also declining to fight against KingEdward, he went on successfully to London, where the Archbishop ofYork let him into the City, and where the people made greatdemonstrations in his favour. For this they had four reasons.Firstly, there were great numbers of the King's adherents hiding inthe 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 thecrown; and fourthly, the King was gay and handsome, and morepopular than a better man might have been with the City ladies.After a stay of only two days with these worthy supporters, theKing marched out to Barnet Common, to give the Earl of Warwickbattle. And now it was to be seen, for the last time, whether theKing or the King-Maker was to carry the day.

　　While the battle was yet pending, the fainthearted Duke of Clarencebegan to repent, and sent over secret messages to his father-in-law, offering his services in mediation with the King. But, theEarl of Warwick disdainfully rejected them, and replied thatClarence was false and perjured, and that he would settle thequarrel by the sword. The battle began at four o'clock in themorning and lasted until ten, and during the greater part of thetime it was fought in a thick mist - absurdly supposed to be raisedby a magician. The loss of life was very great, for the hatred wasstrong on both sides. The King-Maker was defeated, and the Kingtriumphed. Both the Earl of Warwick and his brother were slain,and their bodies lay in St. Paul's, for some days, as a spectacleto the people.

　　Margaret's spirit was not broken even by this great blow. Withinfive days she was in arms again, and raised her standard in Bath,whence she set off with her army, to try and join Lord Pembroke,who had a force in Wales. But, the King, coming up with heroutside the town of Tewkesbury, and ordering his brother, the Dukeof Gloucester, who was a brave soldier, to attack her men, shesustained an entire defeat, and was taken prisoner, together withher son, now only eighteen years of age. The conduct of the Kingto this poor youth was worthy of his cruel character. He orderedhim to be led into his tent. 'And what,' said he, 'brought you toEngland?' 'I came to England,' replied the prisoner, with a spiritwhich a man of spirit might have admired in a captive, 'to recovermy father's kingdom, which descended to him as his right, and fromhim descends to me, as mine.' The King, drawing off his irongauntlet, struck him with it in the face; and the Duke of Clarenceand some other lords, who were there, drew their noble swords, andkilled him.

　　His mother survived him, a prisoner, for five years; after herransom by the King of France, she survived for six years more.Within three weeks of this murder, Henry died one of thoseconvenient sudden deaths which were so common in the Tower; inplainer words, he was murdered by the King's order.

　　Having no particular excitement on his hands after this greatdefeat of the Lancaster party, and being perhaps desirous to getrid of some of his fat (for he was now getting too corpulent to behandsome), the King thought of making war on France. As he wantedmore money for this purpose than the Parliament could give him,though they were usually ready enough for war, he invented a newway of raising it, by sending for the principal citizens of London,and telling them, with a grave face, that he was very much in wantof cash, and would take it very kind in them if they would lend himsome. It being impossible for them safely to refuse, theycomplied, and the moneys thus forced from them were called - nodoubt to the great amusement of the King and the Court - as if theywere free gifts, 'Benevolences.' What with grants from Parliament,and what with Benevolences, the King raised an army and passed overto Calais. As nobody wanted war, however, the French King madeproposals of peace, which were accepted, and a truce was concludedfor seven long years. The proceedings between the Kings of Franceand England on this occasion, were very friendly, very splendid,and very distrustful. They finished with a meeting between the twoKings, on a temporary bridge over the river Somme, where theyembraced through two holes in a strong wooden grating like a lion'scage, and made several bows and fine speeches to one another.

　　It was time, now, that the Duke of Clarence should be punished forhis treacheries; and Fate had his punishment in store. He was,probably, not trusted by the King - for who could trust him whoknew him! - and he had certainly a powerful opponent in his brotherRichard, Duke of Gloucester, who, being avaricious and ambitious,wanted to marry that widowed daughter of the Earl of Warwick's whohad been espoused to the deceased young Prince, at Calais.Clarence, who wanted all the family wealth for himself, secretedthis lady, whom Richard found disguised as a servant in the City ofLondon, and whom he married; arbitrators appointed by the King,then divided the property between the brothers. This led to ill-will and mistrust between them. Clarence's wife dying, and hewishing to make another marriage, which was obnoxious to the King,his ruin was hurried by that means, too. At first, the Courtstruck at his retainers and dependents, and accused some of them ofmagic and witchcraft, and similar nonsense. Successful againstthis small game, it then mounted to the Duke himself, who wasimpeached by his brother the King, in person, on a variety of suchcharges. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be publiclyexecuted. He never was publicly executed, but he met his deathsomehow, in the Tower, and, no doubt, through some agency of theKing or his brother Gloucester, or both. It was supposed at thetime that he was told to choose the manner of his death, and thathe chose to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. I hope the storymay be true, for it would have been a becoming death for such amiserable creature.

　　The King survived him some five years. He died in the forty-secondyear of his life, and the twenty-third of his reign. He had a verygood capacity and some good points, but he was selfish, careless,sensual, and cruel. He was a favourite with the people for hisshowy manners; and the people were a good example to him in theconstancy of their attachment. He was penitent on his death-bedfor his 'benevolences,' and other extortions, and orderedrestitution to be made to the people who had suffered from them.He also called about his bed the enriched members of the Woodvillefamily, and the proud lords whose honours were of older date, andendeavoured to reconcile them, for the sake of the peacefulsuccession of his son and the tranquillity of England.