ENGLAND. 



Henry VI. 



TbeDukr 

 of aloun*. 

 let mado 

 protect.* in 



.' 



P-rhne of 

 the Kngluh 

 intircst in 



1 !V C. 



friendship. The exterior figure of Henry was nlso hi,h- 

 \y prepossess M.'.:. His countenance WM beautiful ; his 

 limbs genteel an,! '.nlci, but lull of vigour; und his 

 stature somewhat above the middle sice. 



ii the death of Henry, the I'.nj/INh parliament 

 proceeded to arrange tlic adiniiiistialion of tin- govcrn- 

 incnt during the minority of his son. They entire! 

 parted from the will of Henry. They declined the title 

 of repent with regard to England, and appointed the 

 Duke of Bedford protector or guardian of th:it kingdom. 

 They imcstcd the Duke of Gloucester wiih the same 

 dignity during his brother's absence, while conducting 

 the war with France; and entrusted the person and edu- 

 cation of the young king to his great uncle the Bishop 

 of Winchester. 



The Duke of Bedford continued to prosecute the war 

 in France with the same success which had distinguished 

 the arms of Henry. He had strengthened himself by 

 an allinnce w ith the Duke of Brittany, and had also pro- 

 cured the neutrality of Scotland. But while employed 

 in these negoeiations, he at the same time pushed his 

 conquests with such vigour, that the Dauphin, who, on 

 the death of his father, had been crowned at Poiclicrs 

 bv the name of Charles VII. was reduced to the last 

 extremity. The fatal battle of Verneuil had deprived 

 him of the bravest of his nobles, nnd the flower of his army. 

 He wandered a stranger in his own dominions, without 

 any resources for recruiting or subsisting his troops; with- 

 out even money sufficient for the decent subsistence of him- 

 self and a few followers. The towns which were held 

 by his adherents though bravely defended, were daily 

 surrendering to the enemy for want of relief or supply ; 

 and he had the dismal prospect of being soon stripped 

 of all his patrimonial dominions. But the dissensions of 

 his enemies relieved him from his fears, and restored to 

 him the territories which he had lost. The Duke of 

 Brittany withdrew from the English alliance, and joined 

 himself to Charles, which gave to his affairs a more fa- 

 vourable aspect ; and the discomfiture of the- English at 

 the siege of Orleans, which was defended by the famous 

 Joan of Arc, was the beginning of disasters, which gra- 

 dually led to the destruction of the English interest in 

 France. This was hastened by the defection of the Duke 

 of Burgundy, and the death of the Duke of Bedford ; 

 and though they continued for several years after to 

 cany on an unequal war, they daily lost ground, and 

 in 1450 were finally expelled from all their conquests in 

 France, except Calais and Guienne. See FRANCE. 



While England was sacrificing her best blood and trea- 

 sure in schemes of foreign aggrandizement, which, had 

 they proved successful, would have degraded her into 

 the rank of a dependent province, the government at 

 home was distracted by intestine disputes. The Cardi- 

 nal of Winchester, who was a man of abilities, but of 

 an intriguing and aspiring character, had obtained an 

 ascendency in the English council, and employed all his 

 authority in counteracting the designs of his nephew the 

 protector. The Duke of Gloucester, on the other hand, 

 by his generosity and affable manners, had acquired 

 great and deserved popularity ; but his open and hasty 

 temper enabled his rival to gain many advantages over 

 him, and at last to accomplish his destruction. Their 

 sentiments v/eic particularly opposite with regard to af- 

 fairs in France. The Cardinal had always i 

 every pro|>osal of accommodation, while the high-spirit- 



juccster would not relinquish the high pictciisions 



Anjou. 



of his brothers, and still cntciuined hopes of prevailii 



i he enemy. But he was over-ruled in all his mca- '"" ""Y"" 



and the war with 1 is left to languish 



through neglect and want of succours ; and a truce- for Tmcc witk 

 twenty-two months was luded by the in- Fr.< 



: idinal. This measure was followed by A- L>. 

 another still more hostile to the authority of (. 



Heiuy l;.i>l now 1 1 me i.f ii^-e. but had given no indicn- 



! desire, to hold the reins 



of government. It was, therefore, easy to foresee, that 

 his reign would proven peipctual minority ; and the Car- 

 dinal taking nd\ the king's siti !vcd 

 to raise up a more powerful opjxinent to the protector in 

 the |*rson of the queen. For this purpose, lie had fixed 

 upon Margaret of Anjou, (laughter of Keunicr, titular 

 king of Sicily, Naples, nnd Jerusalem, and niece of the 

 French monarch. She was a princess entirely without 

 fortune, but was highly accomplished both in body and 

 mind. She possessed gn 'ion nnd penetration, 

 and was every way qualified to supply the defects and 

 weaknesses of her intended husband. This match was 

 opposed by the Duke of Gloucester, who proposed H 

 daughter of the Count of Armagnac, but he had not suf- 

 ficient influence to carry his point ; and the F.arl of Suf- 

 folk, after nczocinling the truce with France, was em- 

 powered by the council to make proposals of marriage to 

 the Sicilian princess. These were immediately accept- Marriage or 

 eil : and Suffolk, on his return, was raised to the rank of .". 

 Duke, and received the thunks of parliament for his ser- p .,,' 

 vices-. 



The queen at once entered into all the measures of the 

 cardinal and his party ; and her first, authority was cm- 

 ployed in removing Gloucester from the council I 

 His enemies had taken every opportunity to thwart his 

 opinions, and to wound his happiness. They first en- 

 deavoured to render him odious in the eyes of the pub- 

 lic, whose favour he possessed in a high degree, by ac- 

 cusing his Duchess of witchcraft. It was pretended that 

 she, in concert with Sir Roger Bolingbroke, a priest, and 

 one Margery Jordan of Eye, a reputed witch, had made a 

 waxen figure of the king, which they melted before a slow 

 fire. As the wax dissolved, the king's strength was sup. 

 posed to waste, and, upon its total dissolution, his In 

 to be at an end. This absurd accusation was listened 

 to by the credulous king, and the duchess and her asso- 

 ciates were brought to trial. Neither their innocence 

 nor her rank could save them. They were pronounced 

 guilty. The duchess was condemned to public penance, 

 and perpetual imprisonment ; Bolingbroke was hanged ; 

 nnd the woman was burnt. The public, however, were 

 sensible that this violence nrosc entirely from the malice 

 of the Duke's enemies, and, instead of taking part against 

 the perpetrators of these imaginary crimes, as WHS their 

 usual practice, they pitied the unhappy sufferers, and in- 

 creased their esteem and affection towards the generous 

 and persecuted Gloucester. The death of this prince 

 was almost a necessary consequence to these proceed- 

 ings. His enemies knew well, that he could never for- 

 give such cruel injuries, and they had reason to dread 

 the effects of his resentment. They therefore resolved 

 to free themselves from their danger, by his destruction. 

 A parliament was summoned to meet at St Edmonds- 

 bury, which was at some distance from the scene of his 



popularity, where he was accused of treason, nnd thrown , 



11 . J . . .. , . *ii and mur- 



into prison. But on the day appointed for his trial, he j crc j. 



was found dead in liis bed. Though his enemies en- A. L>. 1 ! IT. 



