Books, Prehistory, Archaeologia Volume 47 1882 Section 16

16. On certain Inaccuracies in the ordinary Accounts of the early years of the Reign of King Edward IV. Communicated by Charles Spencer Perceval, Esq. LL.D. Treasurer.

Read February 17, 1881.

On March 4, 1461, Edward Earl of March was proclaimed king by the style of King Edward IV. His regnal year therefore begins, be it remembered, on March 4 in every subsequent year.

On the 27th and 28th of the same month were fought the battles of Ferrybridge and Towton, villages a few miles south of York. In the latter of these engagements King Henry VI.'s troops were entirely worsted, and he, with his consort and Prince Edward, their son, fled into Scotland, where they were hospitably received by the Court.

It is not clear what strong places north of York there were at this time armed and manned by Henry's partisans. The important border fortress of Berwick-on-Tweed, we know, held out for him, for, as the price of assistance from the Scots, he surrendered this place to them.^b

Note b. The surrender according to the recitals in the Act of attainder and resumption, 1 Edward IV, took place on St. Mark's Day, April 25. Rot. Parl. v. 478, col. 1.

He himself seems to have collected about the same time a force of some sort, Scots perhaps and Borderers, and to have got as far south again as Ryton and Brancepath,^c in Durham, and indeed to have penetrated into Yorkshire, for, if we can trust Thomas Playter writing to John Paston on April 18, 1461, Henry was then besieged at a place in that county which he calls "Coroumbr, such a name it hath or muche lyke," the Queen and Prince Edward being reported to be with him.

Note c. Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, 356.

The Scots, in consideration it appears of the surrender of Berwick, made an expedition against Carlisle, but, in June, 1461, the siege was raised by John Lord Montagu, brother to the "King-maker," the Scots losing on this occasion, according to contemporary rumour, 6000 men.^d

Note d. Rot. Parl. ibid. Paston Letters, 391.

Henry in his abortive expedition appears to have incurred great risk of capture, but to have got away, probably back to Scotland, to which country Margaret certainly retired.

She appears to have remained there until April, 1462. In that month she sailed from Kirkcudbright, passed down St. George's Channel, and landed in Brittany, on or about Good Friday, April 16. According to William Wyreestre, whose contemporaneous notes are most valuable for the elucidation of the events of this period, she first went to her father in Anjou.^e The object of her journey was to obtain assistance in her project of an invasion of England.

Louis XI, first cousin to herself and to Henry, had very lately succeeded to the crown of France, and to his court she bent her steps.

Note e. "Mense Aprilis Regina Margareta per navem de Scocia adivit Franciam pro anxilio Regis Francie habendo." "Die Parasceves Regina Margareta cum quatuor navibus de Kyrkhowbhryth in Scocia per mare inter Walliam et Hiberniam adivit Britanniam . . ac postea Andegavis ad patrem suum Regem Sicilia et consequenter ad regem Francie pro auxilio habendo." Wyre [William of Worcester]. 492, 493, events of 1461—2.

On June 23, 1462, she was at Chinon, in Touraine, where she executed a bond engaging to surrender Calais, if ever her lord recovered it, or to pay 40,000 livres.^f In consideration of this undertaking Louis advanced her 20,000 livres, and, with a force recruited in France, under command of Pierre de Brezé,^g Seigneur de Varennes, and Seneschal of Normandy, she set sail for Scotland. This, it will be observed, was Margaret's First Voyage to the Continent.

During the Queen's absence her friends in Scotland would appear not to have been absolutely inactive, for we read in Hearve's Fragment that Piers de Brezé^g in the second year of Edward IV. came out of Scotland and stole by treason the castle of Alnwick, whither were sent against him Sir William Lord Hastings, Sir J. Howard, and others, who besieged the castle, and de Brezé fell to agreement. Whereupon he, with his Frenchmen, departed the 30th day of July.

Note f. The original bond is still in the French archives. See Douët d'Areq, Inventaire des Sceauz de France, num. 10,044. The tenor of the instrument is given by Miss Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, iii. 269,

Note g. There must, however, be a mistake in the leader's name, for it is sufficiently clear that de Brezé did not appear on the scene until November following, when he accompanied Margaret on her return from her first voyage, as we shall presently see.

Wyreestre confirms this to some extent. After mentioning Margaret's first voyage in April, 1462, and an embassy undertaken by Warwick to cajole the Queen of Scots, which we know was in June, he says that in July Lord Hastings and others besieged Alnwick, where William Taylboys, a notorious Lancastrian leader, was captured, who yielded on conditions, and Sir Ralph Grey (of Warke, ancestor of the present Earl Grey) was put in as governor for Edward.

Wyreestre does not tell us how long Taylboys had been in possession of the castle, and says nothing about any Frenchmen. He informs us, however, of the capture of Naworth Castle about the same time by Lord Montagu, and adds that Lord Dacre surrendered to Lord Montagu on certain conditions. This castle had belonged to Ralph Lord Dacre, slain at Towton and attainted in the first parliament of Edward, and it may be concluded from Wyrcestre's note that, up to this time, Humphry, his brother and heir, had held it for King Henry. Upon the capture, however, he probably went over to King Edward, as we find him among other noblemen who in the winter of this year served in the expedition which resulted, as we shall presently see, in the re-capture by the Yorkists of the Northumbrian castles after their surrender to Queen Margaret.

Late in October, or early in November, 1462, the Queen landed in Scotland with her fleet, consisting it is said of 52 ships, carrying 2000 French and a few English.

On piecing together the fragmentary statements of the available authorities, we may, I think, come to the conclusion that her plan of campaign, partly carried out, was to land her troops and, by conjoint operations by land and sea, to make herself mistress of the strongholds of the Northumbrian coast from Berwick to Newcastle.

I gather from Halle and Grafton, whose chronicles here run for the most part word for word together, that her sea force after landing the main body of troops (which was reinforced by a Scottish army) consisted of about 500 men.

These writers state that she sailed towards Newcastle and landed at Tynemouth. On her way she or her land force took Bamborough Castle, the most northern of the coast defences. The capture of this place was known in Denbighshire by November 1.^h It was committed to the keeping of Henry, Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Pembroke, and Sir Ralph Percy,ⁱ a younger brother of the Earl of Northumberland who fell at Towton and was attainted in the first Parliament of Edward IV.

Note h. Paston Letters, 463.

Note i. Wyre p. 494

Either then or, less probably, after her retreat from Tynemouth not long after, she attacked Alnwick Castle, the garrison of which, being short of supplies, yielded the place, and de Brezé's son, Lord Hungerford, Robert Whyttingham, and others were placed in it as a garrison.^j Dunstanborough, situated between Bamborough and Alnwick, also fell to the Queen's arms about this time.

Note j. Wyre p. 494. Chronicle of Gregory.

Fabyan (ccxv verso) says that King Edward on having tidings of this invasion sped him into the north with a strong host; and John Paston, junior, writing to his father from Holt Castle in Denbighshire on November 1, informs him that my Lord of Warwick went forward into Scotland on Saturday (30 October) with 20,000 men.

This news seems to have alarmed the Queen, and, according to Halle and Grafton, the invading force which had landed at Tynemouth re-embarked.

Wyreestre says, that, in company with de Brezé, the Queen fixed her camp at some place for which he leaves a blank, thinking that the whole country was ready to rise in her favour. No rising, however, took place, as her limited force inspired no confidence.

Margaret appears then to have determined to make off with her fleet to Berwick, where she seems to have left her son and (but this is not clear) her husband also, but, on the voyage from Tynemouth or whatever the turning point was, a storm arose, the result of which was very disastrous.

Gregory's account (I have here and elsewhere modernized the spelling) is as follows, "And then she returned (after taking Alnwick) into Scotland by water. And there rose such a tempest upon her that she forsook her ship and escaped in the ship's boat. And the ship was drowned with much of her stuff and three great ships more, and four hundred and six Frenchmen were taken in the church of Holy Island."

Fabyan tells nearly the same story. He says that the Queen, hearing of Edward's preparations, "brake her array and fled, and took a carvyle, and therein intended to have sailed into France. But such tempest fell upon the sea that she was constrained to take a fisher's boat, and by meane thereof landed at Berwick, and so drew her to the Scottish king. And shortly after her landing tidings came to her that her said carvyle was drowned, within the which she had great treasure and other riches. And the same day," Fabyan continues, "upon four hundred of the Frenchmen were driven upon land near unto Bamborough, where they for so much as they might not have away their ships they fired them, and after for their safeguard took an island within Northumberland, where they were assailed by one called Manners with others in his company, and of them slain and taken prisoners as many as there were."^k

Note k. The Fragment, says, "seeing no remedy to scape they brent their ships and fled to an island thereby, where they were slayne and takin everychone," by certain gentlemen there. Fabyan seems to have had before him the Chronicle of which Hearne preserves a "Fragment," or the work on which it was founded, so near is their language. Fabyan, however, adds a few facts.

Halle and Grafton corroborate this, naming Holy Island as the seat of the adventure, mentioning "the Bastard Ogle and John Manners" as the assailants, and stating that many of the Frenchmen were slain, and nearly 400 taken and put to ransom. It is hard to understand why these French troops did not avail themselves of the shelter of Bamborough Castle, then in Henry's hands, if their wreck really took place off that fortress.^l

Note l. A new, but I doubt if a very certain, light is cast on this passage by an assertion in Brief Notes, p. 156, that Margaret after taking Alnwick was besieged in Bamborough. The writer adds a curious variation of the Holy Island story partly unintelligible to me, owing to the false Latin. I give it verbatim: "In the same year, in the month of November, King Henry, Queen Margaret, the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of Exeter, and many others who had been expelled and driven out of England, recruited many foreigners—Frenchmen, Scots, and others— to invade English territory against King Edward IV. And the said Queen Margaret seized the castle of Alnwick, and was besieged in Bamburgh Castle [Map]. And when 200 Englishmen had entered a small island in those parts (to use it as a place of refuge if needed), without their knowing, 400 French soldiers arrived to surround and capture them, and suddenly attacked the English. But 200 or more of the French were captured or killed, and the others fled, as it is said."

I am not clear as to Henry's movements all this time; he no doubt remained in Scotland, whilst his Queen was on her French progress, "to see and espie," as Halle and Grafton say, "what way his friends in England would studye;" but whether, on her return with a land and sea force and with money, he ventured to cross the border at the head of the expedition thus undertaken, I cannot certainly find out. Worcester, after narrating the capture of the three castles, says, "Rex Henricus vero cum Regina, Brasse et aliis, metu Regis Edwardi superveniente, adiverunt Scotiam," as if he was then in England, but the writer may only mean that he was in Berwick, and retired thence into Scotland.

Edward had left London on November the 3rd, and had marched up to the Noith, raising the country as he went. The three castles were besieged under his orders in December.^k

We have an account of the disposition of the forces, with some other details, in a letter from John Paston the youngest, who was serving with the Duke of Norfolk. He writes from Newcastle on Dec. 11, 1462, stating that the castles were besieged "as on yesterday."

A fragment of a similar letter, written probably from the seat of war about the same day, is preserved among the Cotton Charters, xvii. 10."

A third account in Latin, but headed in English, "The Wednesday before Cristmasse, Anno Domini M.CCCC.LXIJ," is among the Brief Notes of these years, printed (pp. 158-9) in Mr. Gairdner's Three Fifteenth-century Chronicles.

Note k. Worcester, Gregory and Wrkworth.

On Christmas Eve Bamborough and on St. John's Day (Stow), Dunstanborough surrendered on conditions ; life and limb were to be spared, Somerset, Percy, and some others, upon swearing allegiance to Edward at Durham, were to have restitution of their forfeited lands. This agreement was carried out, and Somerset was received into high favour by the King.ⁿ The custody of these two castles was given to Sir Ralph Percy, in accordance with another article in the terms of surrender.

Note n. Wyre. Gregory, pp. 219, 220. This latter writer gives some curious particulars as to the good treatment Somerset met with at Edward's hands.

Thus the northern strongholds were all for a short time in Edward's hands.

Sir Ralph Grey had expected to have been made captain or governor of Alnwick, but Edward, to the great disgust of Grey, gave the chief command to Sir John Ashley, Grey being made constable under him.^s

Note s. Wyre. p. 496. Gregory, p. 220.

Edward, as I understand Fabyan, had originally intended, when he found that Margaret had retired, to have pushed on and attacked the Scots;^t however, "he was then visited with sickness ... so that he was forced to leave that journay." And after Alnwick was taken he went south, apparently to London.^u

Note t. See Brief Notes, p. 157, for the names of dukes, earls, &c. including Lord Dacre of the North, with the King Edward "in hys jorny into Scottlong at the fest of St Andrew in the month of Decembyr. Anno 4 Domini ΜCCCCLXIJ". Stow (p. 415, ed. 1631) has copied this list down to the first six knights, adding "to the number of fifty-nine knights," which number agrees exactly with the list in Brief Notes.

Note u. Gregory, Brief Latin Chronicle. The Latin Chronicle here makes the following reflexion: "And during this so lengthy a delay of nearly the entire English military force assembled there against our enemies what, I ask, was done that is memorable or worthy of praise, except that the three aforementioned castles were taken?"

Warwick, according to the Brief Latin Chronicler, remained a short time longer, maintaining the field with a few troops and keeping back the Scots.^w

He then marched south and rejoined the King in London; but, "while they were merrymaking and I wot not what else,"^x the Scots made a fresh incursion into Northumberland, and retook Bamborough and two other castles. Fabyan says this was about the time of Lent (Ash Wednesday in 1463 fell on February 23rd, and Easter on April 10th).

Note w. So I translate "Scottos cum suis excuciens," i.e. "bravely drove off the Scots" Brief Lat. Chron. p. 176.

Note x. "And while they were feasting in London, and I know not what else they were doing" Brief Lat. Chron. p. 176.

Sir Ralph Percy, it will be remembered, had been left in command of Bamborough and Dunstanborough. It was through his "collusion and treason," says Gregory, that the Frenchmen (he does not mention the Scots expressly) were allowed to take Bamborough from him "nolens volo i.e. voluntarily"

Sir Ralph Grey also, that false knight and traitor, by false treason," says the same chronicler, took Sir John Ashley, the governor of Alnwick, prisoner, delivered him to Queen Margaret, and surrendered that castle "to the Lord Hungerford and unto the Frenchmen accompanied with them."^y

Dunstanborough, I suppose, was the third castle referred to by Fabyan as being retaken at this time, for it was still in Lancastrian hands in 1464, and was retaken by the Earl of Warwick after Hexham.

Note y. Wyrcester puts the betrayal of Alnwick in May, 1463, which was after Queen Margaret's departure on her second voyage. He says that Grey expelled Ashley, who fell into the hands of Sir Ralph Percy.

After the surrender of Alnwick to Lord Hungerford, and about Midsummer, King Henry, the Queen of Scots, and Sir Pierre de Brezd, if we are to believe Gregory and Stow, who alone mention it, advanced with 4,000 Scots and laid siege to Norham Castle and lay there eighteen days. Warwick and Montagu, however, raised the siege, and Henry and the King (7 Queen) of Scots were put to flight.

The Brief Latin Chronicle seems to me to throw a little new light on the military proceedings of the next few months; yet this is but darkness visible, as I must confess. The writer, who gives stronger hints of dissatisfaction with Edward's strategy than we are apt to find in the colourless memoranda which for the most part compose our materials for the history of this time, starts with the meeting of Parliament on April 29,^d and the prorogation on June 18, "and as for what evils were suppressed or reformed there, or what good was added—I do not know." Then he states, that after Whitsuntide (Whitsunday fell on May 25th in 1463) the Earl of Warwick went north,^e "collected an army, and set himself to harass the party of Henry and his Scots, Frenchmen, &ec., who fled on his approach. Possibly this sentence refers to the relief of Norham already mentioned, but of which we have not the exact date, and that it was during this expedition that occurred the re-capture of Berwick-on-Tweed by the stout Earl which Stow records.

Note d. This date is correct, Rot. Parl. v. 498. The prorogation was not on June 15th but on the preceding day, and the reason assigned was the king's enforced absence to oppose his enemies of Scotland and his traitors and rebels. The prorogation was until November 4th.

Note e. Commissions of array were issued on June 2, 3 Edward IV. (1463) under the Great Seal, because the French and others intended to invade the realm; Warwick was constituted warden of the West, and Montagu of the East March. Rymer, xi. 501,

It was apparently early in September, "after the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (September 8th), that Edward himself raised a great army, and addressed himself to the task of subduing his adversaries by land and sea. "Yet I do not know what he accomplished on that expedition."

The Earl of Worcester had the command of a fleet, but achieved no success. The chronicler's words are worth quoting, "And the Earl of Worcester, with his fleet and sailors, loitering along the sea coasts and harbors, and consuming their supplies, returned empty-handed, having achieved nothing. O unhappy outcome, a disgrace and a humiliation!"

Gregory is to the same effect (p. 221), "Then the King Edward the Fourth purposed to make an army into Scotland by land and by water, that the great rebellious Harry and the Queen Margaret should not pass away by water." Here is a distinct hint of an attempted invasion of Scotland, but as to Margaret. Gregory forgets that a few lines previously he has plainly told us how that she, de Brezé, and the rest, had already left and got them to Flanders. He proceeds, "And the King made the Earl of Worcester captain by water. And then there was ordained a great navy ard a great army, both by water and by land. And all was lost and in vain, and came to no purpose, neither by water nor by land."

It is disappointing not to find what the "great navy and army" attempted to do. One thing is clear, that the North remained very unquiet. The three Northumbrian castles of which we have heard so much, and probably other fortified places of less importance, were still in Lancastrian hands. Danger from Scotland seems still to have been apprehended, and it was not until October 27th that a truce with France was proclaimed, to date (for the French) from October 20, 1463, and for England, Ireland, and the Isles, from November 15, to last until October 1, 1464, Louis undertaking to show no favour either to Henry or to Margaret. A truce with Scotland was also arranged in December.^f

Note f. Rymer, xi. 509, 510.

We come at length to the year 1464. The Parliament, no doubt on account of the unsettled state of affairs, had been further prorogued before the appointed day of meeting to February 20, at York.

Early in this year, as I gather from the Brief Latin Chronicle, and from other sources, Henry began to move again.

This chronicler is, I think, the only one who informs us that, while Edward was feasting with his lords in London, the partizans of the deposed monarch seized the castles of Norham and Skipton in Craven, wherupon Edward again made for the North to recover what was lost and defend what remained to him, "Yet what useful thing he accomplished there, I do not know." Somerset, who had hitherto continued with Edward, about this time again changed sides, and made off to join King Henry.

The North was now finally subdued for the dominant party. The only place, indeed, in the realm which held out after this for Ilenry was the strong castle of Harlech, which had once afforded a shelter to his fugitive Queen, and continued, under its gallant defenders, David ap Jevan ap Einion, and Reynold ap Griffith ap Pletheũ, to hold out until taken by William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, in 1468.

The Parliament, which had been again prorogued to meet at York on November 26th, was further adjourned to Westminster, where it met for the despatch of business on January 21, 1464-5, 4th Edward IV.^l

One of the first things done was to pass a bill of attainder against the Lancastrian leaders, including the late Duke of Somerset, Sir Ralph Percy, and others.

Note l. Rot. Parl. v. 500, 508.

The Duke had been taken at Hexham, and was then and there beheaded. This nobleman, nearly related to King Henry, had been placed by him in positions of high trust, and, after Towton Field, in the Parliament of the first year of Edward IV. was attainted as a principal adherent of the deposed King. Afterwards, as already observed, he changed sides and was restored in blood, but, having returned to his old allegiance, he commanded the Lancastrian forces at Hexham.

The recitals to the subsequent Act of Attainder of Somerset and others are conclusive as to the dates of both battles. They narrate how that Henry late Duke of Somerset, now dead, was attainted anno primo, and in this present Parliament restored to his honours and dignities, and nevertheless "took his viage prively oute of the parties of North Wales unto he came into the shire of Northumberlond, where Henry late called King .... kept traitorously and rebelliously the King's castles of Bamborough, Dunstanborough, and Alnwyke .... and with hym confedered to the distruction of our said Sovereign Lord by battaill and to the same entent and effect at Exham in the said shire the eighth day of May, in the said fourth year, rered werre ayenst our said Soveraygne Lord."

And, again, how that "Rauf Percy knyght after long abode in rebellion was also received into grace and great trust, but against his duty delivered Bam- borough and Dunstanborough traitorously to “ Henry the Kynges enemye ; and after that, on the feast of St. Marc Evangelist, in the said fourth year, at Heg- gelay More in the said shire of Northumberland, ayeinst our said Soverayne Lord rered war."

Here I conclude my summary, a reference to which will, I hope, make what follows easier to be understood.

As we have left off with the defeat and execution of Henry, Duke of Somerset, it will be convenient if we commence by examining Sir W. Dugdale's account of that matter, as given in the Beaufort genealogy, Baronage, ii. 124.

This is far from accurate. First he says that the Duke, to ingratiate himself with Edward, surrendered Bamborough Castle to him. This, as we have seen, was at Christmas 1462. He proceeds thus: "Also that the year next following (seilicet An. 1463, 3 E. 4), hearing that Queen Margaret was returned out of France into Scotland, with considerable forces, and that she had entered Northumberland, taken the castle of Bamburgh, and was marching on towards the Bishoprick, he revolted again and fled to the Lancastrian party."

Cause and effect are here inverted in order. Somerset's surrender of the castle at Christmas 1462 was the result of his having been already placed in it by Margaret or under her orders in the previous November. It was not until 1464 or, at all events, very late in the previous year, that he returned to his old allegiance.

“But this shifting (Dugdale continues) proved fatal to him, for John Nevill, then Lord Montacute, upon the news thereof [really upon the news that Henry was stirring in the north], being sent into Northumberlaud with a great power, gave them battel near Hexham, where, the Lancastrians being routed, this Duke Henry was, amongst other of the chief in that encounter, taken prisoner and then beheaded, 3 Apr. 3 E. 4."

The historical facts are vouched by reference to Holinshed, and the date Apr. 3 E. 4 by reference to Esch. 8 E. 4, n. 54.

The inquisition thus referred to returns that "predictus nuper dux (Henry, Duke of Somerset) obiit tertio die Aprilis anno Regni dicti domini Regis nunc tertio" i.e. "The aforementioned former duke (Henry, Duke of Somerset) died on the third day of April, in the third year of the reign of the said present lord king." This finding, however, though rightly quoted by Dugdale, is plainly mistaken, the death being a full year too soon. It is to be observed that the inquisition was not taken until four years after Somerset's death, and the exact date of that event may have been, by that time, and for the immediate purpose of the inquisition, a matter of minor importance. It is worth remarking that the inquisition of 8 Edward IV. had already misled the usually accurate Vincent. In his Discovery of Errors, &c, p. 450, he takes "Master Brooke" to task for asserting that Somerset was beheaded immediately after the battle of Hexham in 1462; and would set him right by quoting this inquisition, and so placing the battle and the execution in 1463, the true date being 1464.

Dugdale concludes by stating that afterwards, scilicet in 5 Edward IV., the Duke was attainted in the Parliament held in that year.

Sandford (Genealogical History, ed. Stebbing, p. 353) cites the same record and dates the duke's death 3 April, 1463, and as taking place after his capture at Hexham.

Collins in his Peerage repeats Dugdale's mistake, and his editor Sir Egerton Brydges has not corrected it.

Neither has Mr. Courthope in his edition of Sir N. H. Nicolas's Historic Peerage; for he says that the duke "being taken in arms against King Edward IV. at the battle of Hexham was beheaded 3 April, 1463." He makes a further mistake in adding that in the Parliament which met 29 April, immediately after his death, the Act of Restitution in his favour was declared null and void, so that his honours fell under the former attainder (of 1 Edward IV.) and were again forfeited. We have here the month and day of the original meeting of the Parliament in 1463 which then restored him, instead of January 21, 1465, when, as we have seen, the second attainder or reversal of restitution, was really passed. Dugdale, as already mentioned, quotes Holinshed for the wrongly dated events of the Hexham campaign ; but Holinshed has done no more than abridge Halle (or Grafton), for, excepting a few flourishes of Halle's which Grafton has omitted, the two books in this part agree (as already mentioned) almost exactly.

Holinshed, it may be sufficient to notice, gives the year date 1463 in his margin p. 666, opposite to the account of Hexham, places the Queen's first voyage as it would seem in this year, and, indeed, does not change the year date until after the battles, the King's flight, Somerset's execution, and the final retaking of the castles and the creation of Montagu as Earl of Northumberland.

Halle himself, it must be observed, states the sequence of events pretty accurately, but the blunder of two years underlies all his story.

Thus, in his account of the second year of Edward IV. 1462, he anticipates the events of the fourth year by placing in the former year the battles of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham, the capture and execution of the Duke of Somerset, and the final recapture of the castles. Indeed, he has either overlooked their previous capture or has confounded the two events, for he mentions but one military operation of the kind.

Still treating of the second year, Halle makes Edward return to York and create Lord Montagu Earl of Northumberland. He then introduces the events of 1463 by a statement which he got from Polydore Virgil or a common source.

Polydore (p. 513, ed. 1546), after giving, with great brevity and without exact date, a notice of the battle of Hexham and the execution of Somerset and others, proceeds thus:

But King Edward, although he considered that by this new victory his affairs were now sufficiently secured, for the time being, nevertheless took great care to ensure that Margaret, the wife of Henry [VI], did not return to England to stir the minds of the people. Therefore, he stationed garrisons all along the coast, in order to close the sea routes, and he wrote to all the inhabitants of the southern shore, warning them not to receive the woman if she came, and not to assist her in any way. He also maintained guards along the border with Scotland, to prevent anyone from the kingdom from going to join Henry.

At rex Edouardus, etsi eâ novâ victoriâ res demum suas satis confirmatas esse pro tempore arbitrabatur, tamen magnoperè curabat, ut ne Margarita Henrici uxor ad solicitandos hominum animos in Angliam rediret, quocirca toto littore præsidia disponebat, maritimos aditus claudendi causi, scribebatque ad singulos meridionalis ore populos, ne mulierem venientem reciperent, néνe ulla re juvarent, .... ad eam item partem, que ad Scoticum agrum pertinet, custodias habebat, ne quispiam ad Henricum ex regno adiret.

All this clearly belongs to 1464, and agrees with the presence of Henry as a fugitive in Scotland and with the residence of Margaret on the continent.

But, in translating or adapting the passage, Halle has altered the sense to suit his false chronology; for he says that Edward provided against King Henry or Queen Margaret remaining in England, to which end he edified bulwarks, &c, wrote to the south parts in no wise to receive the Queen or aid her, and set watches for her on the Scottish border, as Henry and his company lay then sojourning in Scotland.