POLITICAL HISTORY 



to be the legal justices, and accusing the other of breach of the peace. 

 Pardons were granted in both cases on payment of fines by the leaders, the 

 charges being regarded as ' grounded on malice.' ^'^ 



The spirit of lawlessness then abroad is further illustrated by a letter of 

 the Privy Council, 13 July 1442, tp the judges of the next assize at Bedford, 

 charging them to send up to London the names of any who should impede 

 the administration of justice ; ^^ and the difficulties arising from ' livery and 

 maintenance' by the proclamation of Henry VI at Dunstable, 8 May 1459 : — 



The kynge owre sovereygne lord comaundith ft no maner of man of this towneship, of 

 what craft or mystyer he be of, be adherant or drawyng to any lord, to eyde or go with him 

 in gaderyng of companyes or feliships, withoughte he be fe seyd lords meynyall man in 

 howsolde . . . Nor ft they here signe nor lyuere of no lords, excepte owre seyd sovereygne 

 lord fe kyng, and of his first gotyn sone Edward fe prince, and after ]>e forme of the statute 

 in that case ordeynyd.^^ 



Bedfordshire had no great share in the Wars of the Roses, but the part 

 played by the magnates of the county strikingly illustrates the character of 

 the times. In the list of dead at the battle of St. Albans, May 1455, there 

 are no Bedfordshire names, but ' Wenlock knt. in a carte sore hurt ' appears 

 amongst the Lancastrian wounded."* In the course of the same year Wenlock 

 turned Yorkist, and presided as Speaker in the House of Commons."® He was 

 among the Yorkists attainted at the Coventry Parliament of December 1459, at 

 w^hich Edmund Lord Grey de Ruthyn and his brother Thomas Lord Grey de 

 Rougemont both swore allegiance to Henry VI."^ In the following July 

 the battle of Northampton was fought, and Lord Grey de Ruthyn is 

 credited with deciding it in favour of the Yorkists by his treacherous change 

 of sides. In 1461 Wenlock entered London with Edward, fought for him 

 at Towton, and was made a lord and Knight of the Garter."^ But his 

 adventures were not yet over. He held Calais for Edward IV against 

 Warwick in 1470, but next year Commines found him decked with the 

 Warwick badge ; he fought on the Lancastrian side at Tewkesbury, and was 

 slain. If it be true that he was ' cleft down with a battle-axe by the Duke 

 of Somerset for not coming up in time, whereby that battle was lost,' "' it 

 looks as though he meditated another turn, and Somerset did well to strike. 



Lord Grey de Rougemont, who remained loyal to the beaten side, was 

 attainted in 1461, while his brother was made Lord High Treasurer in 

 1463,"° and Earl of Kent in 1465."^ Edward IV married the widow of 

 their cousin Sir John Grey, and Edmund shared in the exaltation of the family 

 His son George was one of the most splendid figures in the court of Henry VI I." 



But Richard, the third earl, impoverished his estate by gaming,"' and 

 having received ' greate sommes of money ' from Henry VII, finally made 



'«' Ca/. Pat. 1436-41, pp. 246, 282. "' Proc. ofP.C. v, 192. 



'"* Ann. Dunst. 420. This is the last of the supplementary entries, and the only one in English. 



'**P<j//o»i^/. (ed. Gairdner), no. 239. ^'^ Diet. Nat. Biog. 



^^ Pastm Let. no. 342. Edmund had succeeded his grandfather Reginald in 1 440-1 (Nicolas, Synopsis of 



Peerage). 



"° Diet. Nat. Biog. "' Fenn's note in Pasion Let. no. 424. 



"» Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 283. "' Collins, Peerage, ii, 34. 



"' ' My Lord of Kent apon a sorelyd hors, bald, the harnes of Venys gold, with a deyp frynges of half 

 yerd of lengh. My Lord of Kent cott was on (one) barr of cloth of gold, an oder (another) of cremysyn 

 velvyt, pyrlyd, with a demy manche cut of (off) by the elbowe. Thyes be the lords that bare the bruyt.' 

 Pasion Let. no. 953. 



'^5 Collins, Peerage, ii, 35. 



37 



193 



