1453. In these recent times sprang up between our lord, king Henry the Sixth and Richard, the most illustrious duke of York, those dissensions, never sufficiently to be regretted, and never henceforth to be allayed: dissensions indeed, which were only to be atoned for by the deaths of nearly all the nobles of the realm. For there were certain persons enjoying the royal intimacy, who were rivals of the said duke, and who brought serious accusations against him of treason, and made him to stink in the king's nostrils even unto the death; as they insisted that he was endeavouring to gain the kingdom into his own hands, and was planning how to secure the sceptre of the realm for himself and his successors. For this reason he was often summoned by threatening letters to appear in the royal presence, and was as often prevented by his rivals, as he was never allowed to gain admission to the royal presence, nor yet so much as to gain a sight of the king.

At last, a solemn oath was demanded of him npon the sacrament at the altar, to the effect that, so long as he should live he would never aspire to the rule of the kingdom, nor in any way attempt to usurp the same. Without any further delay, he was forbidden all intercourse with his adherents, and was most strictly ordered not to presume publicly to go beyond his own estates, or to pass the boundaries of his castles. Upon this, many of the nobles of the realm, who held the said duke in some degree of honor, took it very much to heart that injuries so monstrous and so great should be inflicted upon an innocent man: nay more, for want of free breathing, they were unable to bear this state of things any longer, but determined to watch for an opportunity to inflict due vengeance for their malice upon their malignant rivals; in case they could find any means of removing them from the side of the king, in whose presence they were in continual attendance.

In the meantime, you might, plainly perceive public and intestine broils fermenting among the princes and nobles of the realm, so much so, that in the words of the Gospel,¹ "Brother was divided against brother and father against father;" one party adhering to the king, while the other, being attached to the said duke by blood or by ties of duty, sided with him. And not only among princes and people had such a spirit of contention arisen, but even in every society, whether chapter, college, or convent, had this unhappy plague of division effected an entrance; so much so, that brother could hardly with any degree of security admit brother into his confidence, or friend a friend, nor could any one reveal the secrets of his conscience without giving offence. The consequence was, that, from and after this period of time, the combatants on both sides, uniting their respective forces together, attacked each other whenever they happened to meet, and, quite in accordance with the doubtful issue of warfare, now the one and now the other, for the moment gained the victory, while fortune was continually shifting her position. In the meantime, however, the slaughter of men was immense; for besides the dukes, earls, bai'ons, and distinguished warriors who were cruelly slain, multitudes almost innumerable of the common people died of their wounds. Such was the state of the kingdom for nearly ten years.

Note 1. Alluding to St. Matt. x. 21, and St. Mark xiii. 12.

The duke being thus removed from this world, the northmen, being sensible that the only impediment was now withdrawn, and that there was no one now who would care to resist their inroads, again swept onwards like a whirlwind from the north, and in the impulse of their fury attempted to overrun the whole of England. At this period too, fancying that every thing tended to insure them freedom from molestation, paupers and heggars flocked forth from those quarters in infinite numhers, just Hke so many mice rushing forth from their holes, and imiversally devoted themselves to spoil and rapine, without regard of place or person. For, besides the vast quantities of property which they collected outside, they also irreverently rushed, in their unbridled and frantic rage, into churches and the other sanctuaries of God, and most nefariously plimdered them of. their chalices, bookstand vestments, and, unutterable crime I broke open the pixes in which were kept the body of Christ and shook out the sacred elements therefrom. When the priests and the other faithful of Christ in any way offered to make resistance, like so many abandoned wretches as they were, they cruelly slaughtered them in the very churches or church yards. Thus did they proceed with impunity, spreading in vast multitudes over a space of thirty miles in breadth, and, covering the whole surface of the earth just like so many locusts, made their way almost to the very walls of London; all the moveables which they could possibly collect in every quarter being placed on beasts of burden and carried off. With such avidity for spoil did they press on, that they dug up the precious vessels, which, through fear of them, had been concealed in the earth, and with threats of death compelled the people to produce the treasures which they had hidden in remote and obscure spots.

Before 18 Feb 1478. On the following day, the duke of Clarence (age 28) came to the council-chamber at Westminster, bringing with him a famous Doctor of the order of Minorites, Master William Goddard by name, in order that he might read the confession and declaration of innocence above-mentioned before the lords in the said council assembled; which he accordingly did, and then withdrew. The king (age 35) was then at Windsor, but when he was informed of this circumstance, he was greatly displeased thereat, and recalling to mind the information formerly laid against his brother, and which he had long kept treasured up in his breast, he summoned the duke to appear on a certain day in the royal palace of Westminster: upon which, in presence of the Mayor and aldermen of the city of London, the king began, with his own lips, amongst other matters, to inveigh against the conduct of the before-named duke, as being derogatory to the laws of the realm, and most dangerous to judges and jurors throughout the kingdom. But why enlarge? The duke was placed in custody, and from that day up to the time of his death never was known to have regained his liberty.

After the perpetration of this deed, many persons left king Edward, fully persuaded that he would be able to lord it over the whole kingdom at his will and pleasure, all those idols being now removed, towards the faces of whom the eyes of the multitude, ever desirous of change, had been in the habit of turning in times past. They regarded as idols of this description, the earl of Warwick, the duke of Clarence (age 28), and any other great person there might then happen to be in the kingdom, who had withdrawn himself from the king's intimacy. The king however, although, as I really believe, he inwardly repented very often of this act, after this period, performed the duties of his office with such a high hand, that he appeared to be dreaded by all his subjects, while he himself stood in fear of no one. For, as he had taken care to distribute the most trustworthy of his servants throughout all parts of the kingdom, as keepers of castles, manors, forests, and parks, no attempt whatever could be made in any part of the kingdom by any person, however shrewd he might be, but what he was immediately charged with the same to his face.

At this time and during nearly two years before the king's death, king Louis failed in the strict observance of the engagements which he had previously entered into as to the truce and the tribute; as he was only watching for a time at which he might be released from all fears of the English. For after the agreement had become generally known, which had been made with the people of Flanders, and by which the daughter of duke Maximilian was to be given in marriage to the Dauphin, the king was defrauded of one year's tribute; while in the meantime, captures began to take place, both of the subjects and ships of the two kingdoms. Amid these tempests in which the English were thus involved, the Scots, encouraged by the French, of whom they had been the allies of old, imprudently broke the treaty of peace for thirty years which we had formerly made with them; and this, notwithstanding the fact that king Edward had long paid a yearly sum of one thousand marks by way of dowry for Cecily, one of his daughters, who had been promised in marriage by a formal embassy to the eldest son of the king of the Scots. sequence of this, a tremendous and destructive war was proclaimed by Edward against the Scots, and the entire command of the expedition was given to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother.

What he effected in this expedition, what sums of money, again extorted under the name of benevolences, he uselessly squandered away, the affair in its results sufficiently proved. For no resistance being offered, he marched as far as Edinburgh with the whole of his army, and then leaving that most opulent city untouched, returned by way of Berwick, which town had been taken upon his first entrance into that country; upon which, the castle, which had held out much longer, not without vast slaughter and bloodshed fell into the hands of the English. This trifling, I really know not whether to call it "gain" or "loss," (for the safe keeping of Berwick each year swallows up ten thousand marks), at this period diminished the resources of the king and kingdom by more than a hundred thousand pounds. King Edward was vexed at this frivolous outlay of so much money, although the recovery of Berwick above-mentioned in some degree alleviated his sorrow. These were the results of the duke's expedition into Scotland in the summer of the year of our Lord, 1482, the same being the twenty-second year of the reign of king Edward.

King Edward kept the following feast of the Nativity at his palace at Westminster, frequently appearing clad in a great variety of most costly garments, of quite a different cut to those which had been usually seen hitherto in our kingdom. The sleeves of the robes were very full and hanging, greatly resembling a monk's frock, and so lined within with most costly furs, and rolled over the shoulders, as to give that prince a new and distinguished air to beholders, he being a person of most elegant appearance, and remarkable beyond all others for the attractions of his person. You might have seen, in those days, the royal court presenting no other appearance than such as fully befits a most mighty kingdom, filled with riches and with people of almost all nations, and (a point in which it excelled all others) boasting of those most sweet and beautiful children, the issue of his marriage, which has been previously mentioned, with queen Elizabeth. For they had ten children, of whom, however, at this time, in consequence of the decease of three, there were but seven surviving. Of these, two were boys, Edward, prince of Wales, and Richard, duke of York and Norfolk, but had not yet attained the years of puberty. Their five daughters, most beauteous maidens, were called, naming them in the order of their respective ages, the first, Elizabeth, the second, Cecily, the third, Anne, the fourth, Catherine, and the fifth, Dorothy. Although solemn embassies had been despatched, and promises made, on the faith and words of princes, respecting the marriage of each of these daughters, and the same had been, in former years, agreed upon under letters of covenant concluded in the most approved form, still, it was not believed at this time that any one of the alliances above-mentioned would take place; to such mutability was everything subject, in consequence of the vacillating conduct of France, Scotland, Burgundy, and Spain, in regard to England.

This spirited prince now saw, and most anxiously regretted, that he was thus at last deluded by king Louis; who had not only withdrawn the promised tribute, but had declined the alliance which had been solemnly agreed upon between the Dauphin and the king's eldest daughter; encouraged the Scots to break the truce, and to show contempt for the match with our princess Cecily; and, taking part with the burghers of Ghent, used his utmost endeavours to molest the party of the duke of Austria, the king's ally; as well as, with his singular craftiness, carried into execution every possible kind of maliciousness, both by sea and by land, in order that he might annihilate the power of this kingdom. Upon this, the king thought of nothing else but taking vengeance; and accordingly, having again summoned Parliament, disclosed to them this prolonged series of frauds, and conciliated the minds of all, as often as time and circumstances afforded him an opportunity for so doing, in order to obtain their assistance in carrying out his plans of revenge. Still, however, though he did not venture as yet to ask any pecuniary subsidies from the Commons, he did not conceal his necessities from the prelates, and blandly asked them, with the most earnest entreaties, to grant him the tithes then next due; just as though, when the prelates and clergy once make their appearance in convocation, whatever the king thinks fit to ask, that same ought to be done. Oh, deadly destruction to the Church, which must arise from such servility! May God avert it from the minds of all succeeding kings, ever to make a precedent of an act of this nature! lest, perchance, evils may chance to befall them, worse even than can be conceived, and such as shortly afterwards miserably befell this same king and his most illustrious progeny.

During this last Parliament of the kingdom, and after frequent entreaties as well as threats had been made use of, queen Elizabeth, being strongly solicited so to do, sent all her daughters from the sanctuary at Westminster before-mentioned, to king Richard. One day, at this period, in the month of February, shortly after mid-day, nearly all the lords of the realm, both spiritual and temporal, together with the higher knights and esquires of the king's household (among all of whom, John Howard, who had been lately created by the king duke of Norfolk, seemed at this time to hold the highest rank), met together at the special command of the king, in a certain lower room, near the passage which leads to the queen's apartments; and here, each subscribed his name to a kind of new oath, drawn up by some persons to me unknown, of adherence to Edward, the king's only son, as their supreme lord, in case anything should happen to his father.

The king, his father, however, still took all necessary precautions for the defence of his party; as there was at this time a report that those persons who had been attainted and banished, together with their captain, the earl of Richmond, to whom they had sworn fealty as their king, in the hope of his contracting an alliance with the daughter of king Edward, would shortly land in England. The king was better prepared to oppose them in the present year than at any time afterwards, both by reason of the treasure which he had in hand (for all the remains of king Edward's treasures had not yet been expended), as well as particular grants which had been made and distributed throughout the kingdom. He also followed the practice which had been recently introduced by king Edward in the time of the last war with Scotland, of appointing a single horseman for every twenty miles, by means of whom, travelling with the utmost speed and not passing their restrictive limits, news was always able to be carried by letter from hand to hand two hundred miles within two days. Nor was he, on the other hand, without the aid of spies beyond sea, at whatever price they could be secured; from whom he learned nearly all the movements of the enemy.

Besides this (although at the commencement of the second year of his reign, on giving some attention to maritime affairs, he had lost some ships, together with two captains of the greatest bravery, Sir Thomas Everingham and John Nesfeld, Esquire, above-mentioned, who were taken by the French near the town and castle of Scarborough), just at this period, by means of his skill in naval warfare, he had gained a victory in a surprising manner over the Scots; so much so, that although, in the same summer, they had sustained a great defeat from our people by land, they received no less a one in this. At this time, too, there fell into his hands, besides many of the English who were taken in battle, certain persons who had fled from Scotland, such as lord James Douglas, and many others of his fellow exiles. Upon this, the persons of the highest rank that could be found in that kingdom were sent as ambassadors to the king at his town and castle of Nottingham, on the seventh day of the month of September, and in a lengthy and eloquent address most earnestly entreated for peace and a cessation of warfare. A treaty being accordingly made between commissioners from either kingdom in full conformity with the king's wishes, as to those points which seemed to require especial consideration, the Parliament was dissolved, and the king returned to London in Michaelmas Term. This was in the year of our Lord, 1484.

The feast of the Nativity was kept with due solemnity at the palace at Westminster, and the king appeared with his crown on the day of the Epiphany. While he was keeping this festival with remarkable splendour in the great hall, just as at his first coronation, news was brought him on that very day, from his spies beyond sea, that, notwithstanding the potency and splendour of his royal state, his adversaries would, without question, invade the kingdom during the following summer, or make an attempt to invade it. Than this, there was nothing that could befall him more desirable, inasmuch as he imagined that it would put an end to all his doubts and troubles. Still however, most shrewdly coming to the conclusion that money, which was now nearly failing him, forms the sinews of war, he had recourse to the modes of exaction which had been practised by king Edward, and which he himself had condemned in full parliament; these were the socalled "benevolences," a name detestable in every way. He accordingly sent chosen men, children of this world, wiser in their generation than the children of light, who were by means of prayers and threats, by right or by wrong, to scrape up immense sums of money, after examining the archives of the realm, from persons of nearly all conditions.