ENGLAND. 



6,59 



Ilibtory. 



Treaty of 

 marriage 

 with Bona 

 f Savoy. 



But marries 

 I.ady Kli/a- 

 bcth Gray. 



Warwick 

 di$gustcd. 



A. D. I KG. 



Anil forms 

 a combiua- 

 tinn against 

 tiie king. 



Inmrrec- 



nB in 

 Yorkshire. 



Tli* line's 

 force* de- 

 feated at 

 Ban bury. 

 A. D.I 469. 



his throne, had fixed upon Bona of Savoy, sister to the 

 queen of France. By this alliance, he hoped to ensure the 

 f riendship of that power, which alone was able and in- 

 clined to give support and assistance to his rival, and he 

 dispatched Warwick to demand Bona in marriage. The 

 proposals were accepted, and the princess was ready to 

 set out for England. But while Warwick was engaged 

 in this negociation, Edward had found a queen for 

 himself. 



Lady Elizabeth Gray, the widow of Sir John Gray 

 of Groby, was remarkable for the grace and beauty of 

 her person, as well as for other amiable accomplish- 

 ments. Her husband, who was a Lancastrian, was 

 slain in the second battle of St Albans, upon which his 

 estate was confiscated, when his widow went to live 

 with her father Sir Richard Woodville of Grafton. It 

 was here the amorous monarch first beheld Ladv Eliza- 

 beth, and after having vainly endeavoured to debauch 

 her, he resolved to make her his queen. They were 

 privately married at hor father's seat ; and when this 

 was communicated to Warwick, that nobleman, deem- 

 ing himself affronted, returned to England, filled witli 

 rage and discontent Instead of endeavouring to pacify 

 thi.s powerful chief, to whom he owed his throne, Ed- 

 ward heightened his resentment by neglect, and the 

 Karl retired in disgust from a court where his important 

 services seemed to be entirely forgotten. The breach 

 wns farther widened by the partiality of the king to the 

 family of Woodville. The queen's father was created 

 Earl of Rivers, and invested with the office of con- 

 stable for life, and three of her sisters were married 

 to the Duke of Buckingham, and the Earls of Kent and 

 Huntingdon. The haughty Warwick could not brook 

 to see an upstart family so far surpass him in authority 

 and influence with 'the king; and in this he was joined 

 by the Lhtke of Clarence, Edward's brother, and many 

 of the ancient nobility. The Earl's adherents were daily 

 increased by his gracious and popular manners, and a 

 dangerous combination was thus formed against Edward 

 and his minist* 



The king saw the cloud as it was gathering ; and in 

 order to secure himself against its effects, entered into 

 an alliance with Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 

 to whom he gave his sister Margaret in marriage. He, 

 at the same time, concluded a league with the Duke of 

 Brittany ; and, by these connections, not only strength- 

 ened his power at home, but also opened to himself the 

 pros|>ect of foreign conquests. But intestine commo- 

 tions prevented him from giving di-'iirbance to his 

 neighbours, and confined his attention to more imme- 

 diate object*. The popular discontent first broke out 

 in Yorkshire, where the inhabitants, complaining of the 

 oppressions which wi-re exercised upon them, in collect- 

 ing the revenue of St Leonard's hospital, rose in arms, 

 and advanced to the gates of York, in a body lj,GOO 

 strong. They were opposed by Lord Montague, who, 

 having MUM Robert Iluldcrne their leader, ordered 

 him to l>e immediately executed. But being afterwards 

 headed by Sir Henry Nevil, and Sir John Coniers, they 

 advanced southward, and their numbers daily increa-Til. 

 The Earl of Pembroke was sent against them with a 

 Ixidy of Welshmen, and being joined by the Karl of 

 Devonshire, with 5000 archers, they approached the re- 

 bels near Banbury. Sir Henry Nevil was taken prisoner 

 in a. skirmish, and put to death ; which so enraged his 

 I hat they fell upon the royalists, routed them 

 with great slaughter, and having seized Pembroke, re- 

 venged upon him the death of their leader. This dis- 

 aster was imputed to the Earl of Devonshire, who, in a. 



shire, which 

 is joined by 



quarrel with Pembroke, had retired with his archers Hi-ton-. 

 before the battle ; and the king punished his desertion V *-""Y" > '' 

 with death. A part of the rebels then seized the Earl 

 of Rivers, and his son John, at Grafton ; and as these 

 noblemen had become objects of envy and dislike, 

 by their sudden exaltation, they were put to death by 

 the orders of Sir John Coniers. The rebels, however, The rebels 

 were soon after quieted and dispersed, upon receiving dispersed. 

 a general pardon. 



It does not appear that Warwick or his party were 

 concerned in this insurrection. At the commencement 

 of it he was absent in his government at Calais, and 

 his brother Montague had assisted in repressing it. In 

 another rebellion, however, which soon followed, he 

 took a more active part ; and though, perhaps, its ori- 

 gin cannot be justly imputed to him, yet he afterwards 

 encouraged it by his countenance and assistance. It A rebI!ic* 

 arose in Lincolnshire, and was headed by Sir Robert 

 Welles. The rebels amounted to 30,000 men, and 

 Edward, who entertained no suspicions of the fidelity 

 of Warwick and Clarence, sent these noblemen to raise 

 forces to oppose them ; but as soon as they left the court, 

 they levied men in their own name, and issued com- 

 plaints against the government. In the mean time, 

 however, the king had defeated the rebels, and put their 

 leader to death, which so disconcerted Warwick's mea- 

 sures, that he retired northward, expecting to be joined 

 by his brother Montague, and Lord Stanley, who had 

 married his sister. But these noblemen refused their 

 assi,tance, and Warwick and Clarence were obliged to WhoU 

 disband their troops, and embark for Calais. But the obliged to 

 deputy governor, whom the Earl had left in that fortress, !'- v to c *~ 

 seeing him return a fugitive and exile, refused him ad- 

 mittance, upon which he seized some Flemish vessels 

 which were lying off Calais, and proceeded to France. 



Louis, whose ambition led him to tike every oppor- 

 tunity of giving disturbance to his neighbours, received 

 the banished Warwick with every demonstration of 

 respect, and by his intreaties and promises, brought 

 about a reconciliation between that Earl and his former Icconciltd 



enemy Margaret of Aniou. The rancorous liatred *". ' a . r S aret 



i-iiii 1-1 1 Aniou. 



which had long subsisted between the parties, was over- 

 come by the present distresses of both. Forgetting 

 their former animosity, they now united from common 

 interest; and Louis prepared a fleet to assist them in 

 the invasion of England. 



But the Duke of Burgundy, enraged at the seizure of 

 his vessels before Calais, had fitted out a superior fleet, 

 in order to intercept Warwick, and had sent informa- 

 tion to the king of England of the designs of his ene- 

 mies. Edward disregarding this intelligence, made no 

 preparation against the threatened danger. He even 

 vauntingly said to Burgundy, that he might spare him- 

 self the trouble of watching the enemy, as he wished 

 for nothing more than to sec Warwick in England. 

 Edward, in the mean time, bad entered into a secret 

 correspondence with his brother Clarence, who pro- 

 mised, on a favourable opportunity, to abandon the 

 cause of Warwick. This act of treachery, however, 

 : alanccd on the other side, by the Marquis of 

 Montague, who was in the confidence of Edward, and 

 who engaged, in a similar manner, to turn his arms 

 against liis sovereign. 



While Edward was engaged in suppressing a rebel- And lands 

 lion in the north, Warwick, having escaped the Flemish '" i; - 1 J 

 navy, which had been dispersed in a storm, landed at 

 Dartmouth with a small body of troops. His great po- 

 pularity, however, and the zeal of the Lancastrian party, 

 which had been crushed but not extinguished, drew 



