POLITICAL HISTORY 



Montague, 1 but at a later date both his title and much of his property 

 were restored to Humfrey his brother, who had succeeded in winning 

 the king's favour. 2 A similar policy of clemency was pursued towards 

 the other victims of the struggle, for before the close of 1461 we find 

 Lord Greystoke and other Lancastrians named in a commission for 

 Cumberland and Westmorland to array all the good men of these 

 counties for defence against the king's enemies of Scotland, and Henry 

 VI. and Margaret his wife and their adherents. 3 The work of pacifica- 

 tion was completed through the instrumentality of the Earl of Warwick, 

 who came to Carlisle in 1462 for that purpose. 4 



The aim of the new dynasty was to come to an understanding with 

 the Scottish people and to promote peace on the Border. The young 

 king of Scotland sent ambassadors to Edward IV. in April 1461, and 

 a truce between the two countries was concluded in 1463." After the 

 death of the Earl of Warwick at the battle of Barnet, the Duke of 

 Gloucester, the king's brother, afterwards Richard III., was appointed 

 to influential offices in the northern counties and became for several 

 years closely identified with the north-western district. In 1471 he 

 had a grant of the lordship and castle of Penrith 6 ; in 1474 he is 

 found acting as warden of the Western Marches 7 ; and in 1475 he was 

 made sheriff for life of the county, 8 offices which he retained till his 

 accession to the throne. There was peace in Cumberland while 

 Gloucester was at the head of its military affairs. 8 So successful was 

 his administration that the parliament of 1482, in consideration of his 

 services, made special provision that the wardenship of the West Marches 

 should descend to his heirs male with the possession of Carlisle and 

 various lands in Cumberland and such adjoining parts of Scotland that 



1 William of Worcester, ii. 493. 



2 Rot. Parl. (Rec. Com.), vi. 43 ; Lords' Reports on the Dignity of a Peer, iii. 214-5 ; Dugdale, Bar. 

 ii. 23-4. 



3 Pat. I Edw. IV. pt. ii. m. I2d. 



4 There is a curious entry in the minister's accounts of Bishop Kingscote, dated 30 September 1462, 

 which shows that the Kingmaker had taken up his residence at Rose Castle during the summer of that 

 year, and that the horses of his army had spoiled the meadows of the demesne lands there. John Yong, 

 the receiver-general, thus accounted for the issues of Rose Park : ' Et de decremento firme alterius prati 

 dominicalis ibidem vocati le Brademedewe superius onerati ad xxj. per annum eo quod dimittitur hoc 

 anno nisi pro viiLr. pro eo quod maxima pars eiusdem per equos hominum exercitus Comitis Warwicensis 

 tempore estivali infra clausum huius compoti depasta fuit et consumpta ' (MS. in diocesan registry). 

 The earl's stay at Rose Castle occurred during the vacancy of the see between the death of Bishop Percy 

 and the consecration of Bishop Kingscote. He was afterwards appointed keeper of the temporalities on 

 12 December 1463, on the death of the latter bishop (Pat. 3 Edw. IV. pt. ii. m. ii). His appointment 

 as captain of Carlisle Castle and warden of the West Marches dated from the king's accession on 4 March 

 1461, and was renewed for twenty years on 5 April 1462, the yearly wages being 2,50x3 in time of war, 

 and 1,250 in time of truce or peace at the hands of the treasurer of England and the chamberlains 

 of the Exchequer (Pat. 5 Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 25). 



6 Col. Doc. Scot. (Scot. Rec. Pub.), iv. 267, 272. 



8 Pat. ii Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 18. 



* Ibid. 14 Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 22. Ibid. pt. ii. m. 4. 



9 In 1482 he had licence to buy 2,000 quarters of wheat and 1,000 quarters of barley, rye, oats, meslin, 

 beans and peas in any places of the realm, Wales or Ireland, for the support of the additional garrison 

 maintained on the Border (Pat. 21 Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 10). At that time there was a daily increasing 

 scarcity of provisions, especially corn, on the West Marches on account of the great number of soldiers the 

 king had been ' occasioned ' to send there to resist the ' manyfold assaults and continuel werres ' of the 

 Scots (Tower Privy Seals, 21 Edw. IV. file i). 



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