20 



EiiglaiiJ, fouud it necessaiy for a considerable time to 

 disguise his real intentions, and to profess a desire to 

 reform what was amiss, remove evil counsellors, and 

 correct abuses in the government ; but during all that 

 peiiod he was in confidential commtmication with the 

 Earl of Salisbury and Earl of Warwick, and principally 

 relied upon their co-operation and power for the success 

 of his enterprise. 



After several important occurrences, connected with the 

 weakness and incapacity of Henry VI., the conduct of 

 his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, the Duke of York's having 

 been at the head of the national affairs, and having acted 

 somewhat in the nature of Regent or Viceroy during the 

 King's illness, by the authority committed to him by the 

 the Lords of the Realm, and his having been removed 

 from that office after having held it a short time, which 

 are scarcely within the scope and objects of this paper, 

 Henry appeared with an army of Lancastrians at St. 

 Albans, and the Duke of York marched thither at the 

 head of an army of Yorkists. A battle ensued on the 

 22nd"> of May, 1455', in which the Earl of Warwick com- 

 manded the vanguard of the army of the Duke of York, 

 and entering the town through a gai-den, gave the first 

 onset. The Lancastrians were defeated with great 

 slaughter, Henry was wounded in the face with an 

 ari'ow, and was taken prisoner. 



Shortly afterwards a Parliament was summoned in the 

 King's name, and the Duke of York was declared Pro- 

 tector ot the Realm ; the Earl of Warwick was appointed 

 Captain of Calais, and the Earl of Salisbury was made 

 Lord Chancellor. In 1456, Margaret and several of the 

 noblemen of the Lancastrian party, formed a scheme to 

 displace the Duke of York, and Henry, being in better 

 health than he had previously been, came before the 



(1) Some historians state that it was fought on the 23rd of May. 



