HISTORICAL SUMMARY. Henry the Sixth. 1422. On the death of Henry V., his son, only nine months old, was proclaimed King of England, and heir of France; and Charles VI. dying very soon after, he was proclaimed King of France at Paris, and the Duke of Bedford made all the great men who espoused the English party swear allegiance to him. 1424. The Duke of Bedford, Regent of France at Verneuil, defeated the Dauphin's army, commanded by the Earl of Buchan, who had been made Constable of France, where he and many other Scots of note were slain. 1425. The Regent returned to England (leaving the Earl of Warwick to command) on account of violent disputes betwixt the Duke of Gloucester and the Bishop of Winchester. The Parliament interfering they were outwardly reconciled. 1426. The Duke of Bedford returned to France, and by suddenly falling on Brittany obliged the Duke to renounce the French alliance and swear allegiance to young Henry. 1429. A country girl called Joan of Arc, born in a village of Lorraine, declared that she had received express orders from God to raise the siege of Orleans, then carried on by the Regent, and to crown Charles VII. at Rheims. Being properly armed, she forced her way into Orleans with a convoy, and next day attacked and carried four of the principal posts belonging to the English, and obliged them to raise the siege, and retreat in such disorder as to lose several of their former conquests. By Joan's advice Charles marched to Rheims, where he was crowned, and on his way he took several places, and defeated the English under the command of Lord Talbot at Patay. Owing to this unsuccessful turn of affairs, it was determined that Henry should go to France to be crowned. Before he set out he was crowned in England, though only eight years of age. 1430. Joan of Arc was taken prisoner in a sally at Compiegne, and delivered to the Regent, and in 1431 tried and burnt as a witch, in Rouen. 1431. The English affairs in France were much on the decline, and were made still worse by the death of the Duke of Bedford, at Rouen. The Duke of York was appointed Regent, but on his going to France he found Paris in the hands of the enemy, and the English affairs went gradually to decay. 1444. A truce was concluded with France for two years, and Henry was married to Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Renė, titular king of Sicily. 1447. The Duke of Gloucester was thrown into prison, and afterwards found dead in his bed. 1450. The English were driven out of every part of France, except Calais; and Charles, employed about the regulation of his government, did not molest England, though there was no truce. The people, much discontented with the Queen and her cabal, began to talk of the Duke of York's right to the crown; which at last ended in a serious rebellion in Kent, headed by a man of the name of Jack Cade, who called himself Mortimer, and induced great numbers to join his standard. The King was taken to Kenilworth Castle, and the rebellion at last quelled, and Cade killed. 1452. The Duke of York returned from Ireland and be gan to aspire to the crown. In concert with the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, he raised troops on a pretence of removing the Duke of Somerset and others from the ministry, and reforming the government. 1453. The Queen was delivered of a Prince, who was named Edward. Her party finding that they could not at present cope with York, Somerset was sent to the Tower; and the King being seized with a fit of sickness, York was made Protector of the kingdom. Next year the King getting a little better, released Somerset from the Tower, and committed the government to him, on which the Duke of York flew to arms and defeated the royalists at St. Albans, where the Duke of Somerset was slain. The King fell into Richard's hands, who treated him with great respect, and went with him to London. At a Parliament, Richard was declared Protector till the Prince of Wales should be of age. 1458. An outward reconciliation took place between the heads of the two factions; but fresh commotions soon broke out with redoubled violence, and each party endeavoured to raise men in every county in England. 1459. The Earl of Salisbury marching a body of troops to join Richard at Ludlow, in Shropshire, was attacked on the 23d of September at Blore Heath by Lord Audley, who was defeated and slain. The royalists, advancing towards the Duke of York, proclaimed a general pardon; on which most of the Duke's army deserted him, and the leaders were obliged to fly to Ireland and Calais. 1460. The Earls of Salisbury and Warwick having landed in Kent with troops, and being joined there by Edward, Earl of March, Richard's son, and other friends, (Richard remaining in Ireland,) they encountered the royalists at Northamp ton and totally defeated them. The King was taken prisoner and conducted to London. A Parliament was assembled, at which Richard Duke of York, being returned from Ireland, pleaded his prior right to the crown, as being descended by his mother from the Duke of Clarence, Edward the Third's second son, whereas Henry was descended from the third son, and then left the assembly to deliberate on his claim. It was at last settled, with the Duke's approbation, that Henry should keep the crown during his life, and that Richard should succeed him. Richard being informed that Margaret (who had fled into Wales, and then into Scotland with the Prince of Wales after the battle of Northampton) had raised troops in the north, set out with a small army to meet her, but was defeated and slain near Wakefield. 1461. Edward the Duke's son, determined on carrying on the quarrel, (the two parties were distinguished by the Yorkists wearing white roses and the Lancastrians red ones,) marched from Wales towards London, and on the way defeated the Earl of Pembroke at Mortimer's Cross, in Herefordshire. The Queen revenged this disaster (being likewise on her march to London) by defeating the Earl of Warwick at St. Albans, and releasing the King. Edward being joined by the remains of Warwick's army, which was superior to the Queen's, proceeded to London, the inhabitants of which were his friends, whilst she retreated to the north. Edward's friends, declaring that Henry had forfeited his right to the crown by breaking his agreement, proclaimed Edward, March the 5th, by the name of Edward IV. Katherine, Henry the Fifth's widow, married a Welsh gentleman named Owen Tudor, by whom she had two sons, Edward, Earl of Richmond, and Jasper, Earl of Pembroke. |