CHAP.

III.

The king's speech.

and sweeping bill of attainder, which extended to almost every man who had distinguished himself in the cause of the house of Lancaster. Henry VI. his queen, their son Edward, the dukes of Somerset and Exeter, the earls of Northumberland, Devonshire, Wilts, and Pembroke, the viscount Beaumont, the lords Roos, Nevil, Rougement, Dacre, and Hungerford, with one hundred and thirty-eight knights, priests, and esquires, were adjudged to suffer all the penalties of treason, the loss of their honours, the forfeiture of their estates, and an ignominious death, if they had not already fallen in the field of battle." In defence of such unexampled severity was alleged the advantage of annihilating at once the power of the party: and to this motive was probably added another, the necessity of providing funds, from which Edward might satisfy the demands and expectations of those, to whose services he owed the present possession of the crown. Before he dissolved the parliament, he addressed the commons in the following terms: "James Strangways" (he was the speaker)" and ye that be come for the com"mons of this land, for the true hearts and "tender considerations that ye have had to my right and title, I thank you as heartily as I 66 can. Also for the tender and true hearts that

66

on condition, that the holders should receive from the king new grants of the annuities attached to them. Ibid.

Rot. Parl. v. 476–486.

EDWARD IV.

III.

ye have shewed unto me, in that ye have ten- CHAP. "derly had in remembrance the correction of "the horrible murder, and cruel death of my "lord my father, my brother Rutland, and my "cousin of Salisbury, and other, I thank you right heartily, and I shall be unto you, with "the grace of almighty God, as good and gra"cious sovereign lord, as ever was any of my no"ble progenitors to their subjects and liegemen. "And for the faithful and loving hearts, and "also the great labours that ye have borne and "sustained towards me in the recovering of my "said right and title which I now possess, 1 "thank you with all my heart, and if I had any "better good to reward you withal than my body, ye should have it, the which shall al"ways be ready for your defence, never sparing "nor letting for no jeopardy, praying you all of your hearty assistance and good countenance, "as I shall be unto you very, rightwise, and loving liege lord."

66

66

66

of Queen

The cause of the red rose now appeared des- Exertions perate; but it was still supported by the courage Margaret. and industry of Margaret. The surrender of Berwick had given her a claim to the protection of the Scottish government: and the promise of an English dukedom, with lands to the yearly

6

Ibid. 487. In this parliament it was enacted that no lord or other should allow playing at dice or cards in his house or elsewhere, if he could hinder it, except during the twelve days at Christmas. Ibid. 488.

III.

1462.

April 8.

8

CHAP. value of two thousand marks, had secured to her the services of the powerful earl of Angus: while Edward as a counterpoise purchased with an annual pension the fealty of the earl of Ross, lord of the isles, and sought to amuse Mary the queen dowager of Scotland," with a deceitful offer of marriage. To aid her cause Margaret resolved to visit the continent, and invite all true knights to avenge the wrongs of an injured monarch. Sailing from Kirkcudbright she landed in Bretagne : and the duke made the royal suppliant' a present of twelve thousand crowns. From Bretagne she repaired to the French court at Chinon. Lewis XI. (his father Charles was lately dead) seemed insensible to the tears of beauty, and the claims of relationship: but when she offered Calais as a security, he lent her twenty thousand crowns, and permitted Brezé, the seneschal of Normandy, to follow her fortunes with two thousand men. After an absence of five months she returned, eluded the pursuit of the English fleet, and summoned to her standard her Scottish allies on the borders, and the friends of her family in Northumberland. Her hopes were cheered with a temporary gleam of success. Three strong fortresses, Bamborough, Alnwick, and Dunstan

Oct.

7 Her husband James II. had been accidentally killed in 1460 by the bursting of a cannon.

Hume, Douglas, ii. 21. Rym. xi. 484-488. Wyrcest. 493.

CHAP.

III.

wrecked.

burgh fell into her hands. But when the earl of Warwick arrived with twenty thousand men, and intelligence was received of the advance of Nov. 3. Edward with an equal number, the Lancastrians separated to garrison their conquests, and the queen with her French auxiliaries repaired to their ships. The winds and the waves now She is seemed to have conspired against her: part of ship her fleet with all her treasures was dashed against the rocks: five hundred foreigners, who intrenched themselves in Holy island, were killed or made prisoners by the lord Ogle and Margaret and Brezé in a fishing boat carried the melancholy intelligence to their friends in Berwick. Edward proceeded no farther than Newcastle. He laboured under diseases caused by Dec. 9. immoderate indulgence. But Warwick dividing the royal army into three bodies, besieged at the same time the three fortresses, which made a brave and obstinate resistance.10 At Dec.24. length Bamborough and Dunstanburgh were surrendered on condition, that the duke of Somerset, sir Richard Percy, and some others, should take an oath of fealty to Edward and recover their estates and honours, and that the earl of Pembroke, the lord Roos, and the rest of the two garrisons should be conducted in safety to Scotland." Alnwick still bade defiance

Wyrcest. 493, 494. Duclos, Hist. of Lew. XI. Monstrel. iii. 95, 10 Fab. 493. Fenn, i. 273-279. Stow, 416.

"The reason of this difference was that the king had it not in his

1463. Jan. 5.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP. to the besiegers; and an army of Lancastrians

III.

Her adventure in a forest.

advanced apparently to its relief.

Warwick drew up his forces to receive them but the lord Hungerford, the son of Brezé, and a few knights, having cut their way to their friends in a sally from the walls, Margaret's army retired, and the garrison, deserted by its leaders, capitulated. Edward was satisfied with the conduct of Somerset and Percy on this occasion. He repealed their attainders with the consent of parliament, restored to them their lands, granted a pension to Somerset, and re-established Percy in the possession of Bamborough and Dunstanburgh. But Alnwick was given to sir John Ashley, to the great offence of sir Ralph Gray, a partisan of the Yorkists, who had formerly won it for Edward, and now expected to possess it again.

12

The spirit and activity of Margaret exposed her during this winter campaign to numerous privations and dangers. On one occasion as she was riding secretly with her son and the seneschal through a wild and mountainous district, they were surprised by a party of banditti, who despoiled them of their money, jewels, and every other article of value. It is probable that the queen concealed her quality, or such

power to restore the lands of the latter, because they had been given away to his friends. So I understand Wyrcester, 495.