RIVALRY OF MARGARET AND RICHARD YORK

195

was unpopular. Soon the war flared up again on the Norman frontier and later in Gascony. The English sustained repeated defeats; and in 1453 they finally retired from France, though Calais was retained for another century.

1453.

173. The Rivalry of Margaret and Richard of York. Two years later began a series of civil wars which continued with intermittent periods for sixteen years. Later writers, believing that the Yorkist line had adopted the white rose and the house of Lancaster the red rose as a family emblem, called these duels the Wars of the Roses; it seems, however, that the red rose was first used as a dynastic emblem by the Tudors. The wars were fought for the possession of the English crown. The peace with France was a terrible blow to English pride, which could not forget Crécy and Agincourt; and Queen Margaret and her advisers were exceedingly unpopular. Henry VI was a pious, gentle, and amiable man, but he was feeble in intellect and weak in will.1 In 1453, the year of the Character of ignominious retreat from the Continent, his mind Henry VI. gave way, and for some months he was hopelessly insane. It will be remembered that his grandfather was the insane king Charles VI of France and the weakness was probably inherited. Under the circumstances some form of regency was necessary. Queen Margaret, who was a strong Queen and spirited though not always discreet woman, Margaret. claimed the right to rule in her husband's name; but this was opposed by a large faction of the nobility. At the head of the opposition stood Richard, duke of York, a descendant of Lionel and Edmund, the second and fourth sons of Edward III. As chief of the Mortimer family duke Richard of Richard had wide possessions in the west, whence York.

he drew the larger part of his forces. At first he pretended to be fighting for better government only - England should not be

1 Cheyney, No. 178; Kendall, No. 37; Bates and Coman, 210-212 (Shakespeare, Henry VI).

2 Kendall, No. 41.

From a fifteenth-century tapestry.

THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 1455-1471

197

ruled by a French princess and an insane king — but soon he set his heart on the crown itself.1

174. The Wars of the Roses. 1455-1471. The war between York and Margaret began with the battle of St. Albans

Margaret.

1455.

in 1455 and closed five years later on the field of War between Wakefield, where the Yorkist pretender fell.2 How- York and ever, his young son Edward, the earl of March, who now succeeded to his father's power and dignities, openly claimed the throne and was crowned the following year. The Wars of the Roses differed from ordinary civil wars in this, that they were fought chiefly by the nobles and their retainers; the masses of the nation took no great interest in the struggle, except when forced to take sides in self-defense. This happened in 1460, when the queen came into southern England with a large force of wild warriors from the northern border, who could not resist the temptation to pillage the country as they were in the habit of doing on their raids into Scotland. It was this campaign that ruined the Lancastrian 1 Genealogy of the houses of Lancaster and York.

Queen Margaret loses

the south.

Edward IV.

Battle of Tewksbury. 1471.

cause in their wrath the populous districts of the south accepted the young Edward. Margaret was defeated and fled to Scotland with her helpless husband. For ten years England had two regularly crowned kings, the invalid Henry VI and the capable but unscrupulous Edward IV. Margaret, meanwhile, continued the fight and gave up only after the battle of Tewksbury, where she suffered a complete and final defeat. Her young son probably fell in this battle and her husband was killed shortly afterwards (1471). There was no longer any effective opposition to Yorkist rule, and for twelve years longer King Edward wore the crown in peace till his death in 1483. Margaret retired to France.

2

175. Parliamentary Government. The fifteenth century, the age of Lancaster and York, is known in political history King and as the age of parliamentary rule. Circumstances parliament. forced the kings of both dynasties to be very deferential to parliament and to consult that body at frequent intervals. Henry IV owed his crown to a parliamentary act and dared show no independence. With Henry V the French war was revived and parliamentary support, especially in the form of subsidies, was called for at the very outset of the reign. The long minority of Henry VI, the weakness of that unfortunate monarch, and the financial necessities of protracted warfare continued the need of frequent parliamentary sessions. Edward IV was in a position similar to that of Henry IV: he was a usurper and realized that he could not maintain his position without parliamentary support. Throughout the century, therefore, the representatives of the nation met frequently and were consulted on all important matters. The ultimate power and the

Parliament

favor.

final word were consequently with the houses of parloses popular liament. But, as this body gained in authority, it lost its popular favor; and when the Tudors in the next century introduced a type of absolute monarchy into the English government, the nation welcomed the change.