john G. Edgar - The Wars of the Roses

Aboutthe middle of the ninth century a warrior named Tertullus, havingrendered signal services to the King of France, married Petronella,the king's cousin, and had a son who flourished as Count of Anjou.The descendants of Tertullus and Petronella rose rapidly, andexercised much influence on French affairs. At length, in the twelfthcentury, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, surnamed Plantagenet, from wearinga sprig of flowering broom instead of a feather, espoused Maude,daughter of Henry Beauclerc, King of England; and Henry Plantagenet,their son, succeeded, on the death of Stephen, to the English throne.

Havingmarried Eleanor, heiress of Aquitaine, and extended his continentalempire from the Channel to the Pyrenees, Henry ranked as the mostpotent of European princes. But, though enabled to render greatservices to England, he was not an Englishman; and, indeed, it wasnot till the death of John, at Swinehead, that the English had a kingwho could be regarded as one of themselves. That king was Henry theThird, born and educated in England, and sympathizing with thetraditions of the people over whom he reigned.

Unfortunatelyfor Henry, he was surrounded by Continental kinsmen, whose conductcaused such discontent that clergy, barons, citizens, and peopleraised the cry of England for the English; and Simon de Montfort,though foreign himself, undertook to head a movement againstforeigners. A barons' war was the consequence. Henry, defeated atLewes, became a prisoner in the hands of the oligarchy; and there wassome prospect of the crown passing from the house of Plantagenet tothat of Montfort.

Atthis crisis, however, Edward, eldest son of the king, escaped fromcaptivity, destroyed the oligarchy in the battle of Evesham, andentered upon his great and glorious career. Space would fail us toexpatiate on the services which, when elevated to the throne asEdward the First, that mighty prince rendered to England. Suffice itto say that he gave peace, prosperity, and freedom to the people,formed hostile races into one great nation, and rendered his memoryimmortal by the laws which he instituted. [1]

Forthe country which the first Edward rendered prosperous and free, thethird Edward and his heroic son won glory in those wars which madeEnglishmen, for a time, masters of France. Unhappily, the BlackPrince died before his father; and his only son, who succeeded when aboy as Richard the Second, departed from right principles ofgovernment. This excited serious discontent, and led the Englishpeople to that violation of "the lineal succession of theirmonarchs" which caused the Wars of the Roses.

Besidesthe Black Prince, the conqueror of Cressy had by his queen,Philippathe patroness of Froissartseveral sons, among whom wereLionel, Duke of Clarence; John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; andEdmund of Langley, Duke of York. [2] Lionel died early; but John of Gaunt survived his father and eldestbrother, and was suspected of having an eye to the crown which hisyoung nephew wore. No usurpation, however, was attempted. But whenJohn was in the grave, his son, Henry of Bolingbroke, returning froman irksome exile, deposed Richard, and sent him prisoner toPontefract Castle, where he is understood to have been murdered.

Onthe death of Richard, who was childless, Henry the Fourth, as son ofJohn of Gaunt, would have had hereditary right on his side, but thatLionel of Clarence had left a daughter, Philippa, wife of Mortimer,Earl of March, and ancestress of three successive earls. Of these,Edmund, the last earl, was a boy when Henry of Bolingbroke usurpedthe throne; and his sister, Anne Mortimer, was wife of RichardPlantagenet, Earl of Cambridge, second son of Edmund of Langley, Dukeof York. "This was that princely branch," says Sandford,"by the ingrafting of which into the stock of York, that treebrought forth not only White Roses, but crowns and sceptres also."

Henrythe Fourth regarded young March with jealousy, and had him vigilantlyguarded. But Henry the Fifth completely won the earl's loyalty, andmade him a most zealous adherent. March showed no ambition to reign;and the nation, intoxicated with Agincourt and glory and conquest,cared not an iota for his claims. At the time when the hero-kingexpired at Vincennes and the Earl of March died in England thedynastic dispute was scarcely remembered, and it would never, in allprobability, have been revived had the Lancastrian government notbecome such as could not be submitted to without degradation. It waswhen law and decency were defied, and when Englishmen were in dangerof being enslaved by a "foreign woman," that theyremembered the true heir of the Plantagenets and took up arms tovindicate his claims.

OnSt. Nicholas's Day, in the year 1421, there was joy in the castle ofWindsor and rejoicing in the city of London. On that day Katherine deValois, youthful spouse of the fifth Henry, became mother of a princedestined to wear the crown of the Plantagenets; and courtiers viedwith citizens in expressing gratification that a son had been born tothe conqueror of Agincourtan heir to the kingdoms of England andFrance.

Henryof Windsor, whose birth was hailed with a degree of enthusiasm whichno similar event had excited in England, was doomed to misfortunefrom his cradle. He was not quite nine months old when Henry theFifth departed this life at Vincennes; and he was still an infantwhen Katherine de Valois forgot her hero-husband and all dignity forthe sake of a Welsh soldier with a handsome person and an imaginarypedigree. The young king, however, was the beloved of a thousandhearts. As son of a hero who had won imperishable glory for England,the heir of Lancaster was regarded by Englishmen with sincereaffection; the legitimacy of his title even was unquestioned; and thegenius of his uncles, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke ofGloucester, under whose auspices the royal boy was crowned in Londonand Paris, created a feeling of security seldom felt by kingdoms atthe beginning of long minorities.