* Attached to a date indicates that the place was taken sacked or ravaged at that date A Indicates an Encampment

A mere date following the name of a place indicates a treaty or some other point of interest connected with the place which will be found recorded in the history

CHAPTER VIII.

EDWARD IV.

I. Triumph of the House of York.

A.D. 1461.

Battle of bridge, Ferry

March 27,

1. EDWARD was king; but Henry and Margaret had withdrawn into the North, and an army of 60,000 men under Somerset lay near York. Both Edward and his supporters prepared for a decisive struggle. The Duke of Norfolk went down into his own country to summon his retainers, the Earl of Warwick left London with a great body of men, and Edward himself followed northwards a few days later. The more advanced divisions of their forces had reached Pomfret and had secured the passage of the river Aire at Ferrybridge, when Lord Fitzwalter, who kept the bridge, was surprised and slain by Lord Clifford in the early morning. Lord Falconbridge, however, came up immediately afterwards and defeated Clifford, who was also slain in the encounter. united forces of Warwick and of Edward then pushed on in the direction of York, and between the villages of Towton and Saxton, about eight miles from the city, found the whole army of the enemy drawn up to give them battle. The conflict began about four o'clock in the afternoon, the day after the battle of Ferrybridge. The fighting was continued through the night, and renewed with vigour next morning about nine o'clock, notwithstanding a heavy snow shower which blew in the faces of the Lancastrians. day was Palm Sunday. The forces engaged on either side were enormous, and never was battle fought so obstinately. About mid-day the Duke of Norfolk came up

That

The

and Towton, March 29.

to the assistance of the Yorkists, with fresh forces that he had levied in Norfolk. Still the Lancastrians kept the field, fighting most obstinately till about three in the afternoon. But their ranks being broken they were at last compelled to give way, and were pursued in various directions, no quarter being granted by the conquerors. Some were drowned in attempting to cross rivers; numbers were cut down in the pursuit, and the way was strewn with corpses for ten miles, up to the very gates of York. On the field itself, after the battle, the spectacle was most ghastly. The snow was crimsoned with the blood of the slain, and as it melted a crimson stream poured down every furrow. The dead were heaped up in trenches, and their numbers, counted by the heralds, were declared to amount to no less than eight-and-twenty thousand.

2. King Henry and Margaret fled towards Scotland, while Edward entered York in triumph. The power of Henry was completely crushed, and the first step he took to recover it was not much calculated to advance his object. Driven to seek refuge in Scotland he delivered up Berwick to the Scots and encouraged them to undertake the siege of Carlisle. But the latter place was

Coronation of Edward.

relieved by Lord Montague, and Edward having returned to London was crowned on Sunday June 28. His two brothers, George and Richard, who had been sent abroad for security, returned and were created dukes, with the titles of Clarence and Gloucester. Parliament was then summoned to meet at Westminster in November, and an act was passed confirming Edward's claim to the crown by hereditary right, and declaring the three preceding kings to have been usurpers. All who had been active in the cause of the House of Lancaster were attainted and their possessions forfeited. Henry himself and Queen Margaret were declared traitors.

3. Still, the whole kingdom was not for some time absolutely in Edward's power. There were castles in Wales which held out for Henry, and Margaret hoped, with the aid of the French and Scots, to make a successful invasion. She sailed from Kirkcudbright

A.D. 1462.

through the Irish Channel into Brittany, and, April 3. repairing to the French Court, made a treaty with the new King of France, Louis XI., by which she engaged to surrender Calais as the price of his assistance. Louis lent her some money and a small force, with which she returned to Scotland, and made an attempt to invade England by sea. But a violent storm arose, some of the vessels were sunk and others driven to land on Holy Island off Northumberland, and Margaret herself only escaped in a small fishing-smack to Berwick. Shortly afterwards, however, she made another attempt by land, and, with the aid of the Borderers, entered Northumberland. Her efforts were at first crowned with success. Three strong castles, Bamborough, Dunstanborough, and Alnwick fell into her hands. But before the end of the year two of them were recovered by the Earl of Warwick, while Edward himself was advancing northwards to drive out the invaders; and on Twelfth Day, Alnwick, the sole remaining fortress, capitulated to Lord Hastings.

A.D. 1463.
January 6.

The

4. The cause of Lancaster was now desperate. castle of Harlech in Wales alone held out for Henry, who appears at this time to have gone thither from Scotland. The Duke of Somerset made his peace with Edward, and was received into favour. Sir Ralph Percy too, on the surrender of Bamborough and Dunstanborough, had agreed to swear allegiance to Edward on condition that those castles should again be committed to his custody. As for Margaret, she appears to have met with many adventures, and to have narrowly escaped falling