Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England

Plate Armor of the Fifteenth Century

Soon quarrels arose between the new King and the man who had made him King. Warwick was greedy of wealth, influence and power. He kept so many followers that "when he came to London he held such a house that six oxen were eaten at a breakfast, and every tavern was full of his meat, for who had any acquaintance in that house he should have as much boiled and roast as he might carry upon a long dagger." Edward offended Warwick by secretly marrying beneath his rank. Then, to build up a party against Warwick, Edward ennobled and promoted his wife's relatives. Warwick won over to his side Edward's weak brother, the Duke of Clarence. In addition to all else, King Edward and Warwick differed over foreign policy; for Warwick wisely wished England to remain at peace with France, while Edward wanted to renew the French war.

At last, in 1470, Warwick's friends rebelled, and were defeated in a battle, for which they fled so hastily that it was called "Lose-coat Field." Warwick and Clarence took refuge at the court of the King of France, where they found Queen Margaret and her son. The French King caused these former enemies to be friends; and in September, 1470, Warwick returned to England, with an army, to drive Edward from the throne and restore the Lancastrian line.

Warwick Castle

For a time everything went well with Warwick. Edward's troops deserted him, and he was forced to flee to Flanders.

Henry VI. was then replaced on the throne, and "all his good lovers were glad, and the most part of the people."

But in March, 1471, Edward returned, and his brother, the Duke of Clarence, joined him. At Barnet, a few miles north of London, the battle was fought. Edward was completely successful, and Warwick was slain as he left the field.

On the very day of the battle of Barnet, Queen Margaret and her son landed in the west of England, and soon they were at the head of a considerable army. A few weeks later the Queen's forces met the Yorkist forces at Tewkesbury. There King Edward fought and won the last battle needed to secure his possession of the crown. The Lancastrian Prince, who had become a fine young man of eighteen years, was captured after the battle, and was cruelly put to death. Queen Margaret was allowed to return to France, where she died some years later. As for poor Henry VI., who played so feeble a part in all these struggles, he was murdered in the Tower on the very day that King Edward returned to London.

Tower of London

So long as King Edward lived, there was no renewal of the war. The townsmen and common people were glad to have peace at any price, and willingly submitted to the strong rule of the King. The nobles were so weakened by the wars that they could not resist. To end the troubles within his own family, the King charged his brother—"false, fleeting, perjured Clarence"—with treason, and had him put to death.

This hard, unscrupulous, pleasure-loving King died in 1483, leaving two sons, Edward and Richard, the one twelve years old, and the other ten. The elder of these was at once proclaimed King, as Edward V.; and his uncle, Richard of Gloucester became "Protector," or ruler in the young King's name.

Gloucester was a monster of cunning and cruelty, and set to work to rob his nephew of the crown.

He imprisoned and executed the chief supporters of the young King. Then he had it announced that he was the true heir to the throne, and began to reign in his own name. The little Princes were shut up in the Tower of London, and soon disappeared—murdered by the orders of their cruel uncle. In this way, began the brief reign of Richard III., the last of the Yorkist kings, whom the poet Shakespeare represents with a crooked back, to match his cruel and crooked mind.

Richard III

But punishment followed fast upon this wicked King. Old Yorkists joined with what was left of the Lancastrian party, and soon a great conspiracy was on foot. They planned to make Henry Tudor (a distant relative of Henry VI.) King, and marry him to Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV.

Henry's first expedition from France failed because of storms and floods; but a second expedition, in 1485, brought him safely to land in Wales.

At Bosworth field he was met by King Richard, and there was fought the last battle of the Wars of the Roses. The Red Rose of Lancaster triumphed over the White Rose of York. Richard's leading officers deserted him, and he died fighting in the front of the battle. His crown was picked up from the field, and set upon the head of Henry Tudor, who was proclaimed King as Henry VII. The marriage with Elizabeth of York followed, and the wise policy of Henry VII. united the interests of both Lancaster and York in the house of Tudor.

The long warfare for the crown was at last ended. The old nobility had suffered grievously through deaths on the field and at the block, and through confiscation of estates, and never again did its power seriously threaten the peace of England. The common people, however, had suffered little in the struggle, and a new era of peace and prosperity now dawned for England. Other forces, too, had for some time been changing the modes of life and thought in Europe. With the close of the Wars of the Roses, we may recognize the complete ending of the Middle Ages in England, and the establishing of the "Renaissance," which begins Modern History.

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