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thousand pounds of his fine; and this exaction he A. C. 1468. was obliged to pay, over and above large presents to her council. His accufer, with some others, was afterwards hanged at Tyburn, for correfponding with Margaret of Anjou and the duke of Somerset. He was apprehended on the information of a fer- Fabian. vant belonging to Robert Whittingham, taken at Queenborough with letters from France. This man being put to the torture, impeached Sir Gervafe Clyfton, and feveral other gentlemen, who were afterwards tried and acquitted.

Pembroke

The earl of Warwick himself incurred the like The earl of imputation. The family of the Widevilles had lands in ufed all their endeavours to render this nobleman Wales. fufpected to the king, who had, indeed, very little reason to confide in his attachment, confidering the ingratitude with which his fervices had been repayed. He had even attempted to debauch the earl's daughter, one of the most beautiful young ladies, and the richest heiress in England; an infult, for which he could never hope forgiveness from a man of Warwick's character. One would be apt to imagine, that the king and his new miniftry practifed every method they could devife to provoke the earl to a declaration, which would free them from a difagreeable fufpence; and furnish them with a pretext to complete his deftruction. Jafper earl of Pembroke arrived with a fmall body of, troops from France, and landing near Hardlegh in Merionethshire, which was still occupied by the Lancaftrians, was joined by a confiderable number of the natives. With thefe he ravaged great part of North Wales, and burned the town of Denbigh; but, was encountered and defeated by Sir Richard Herbert. After this action, Hardlegh caftle furrendered at difcretion; and, Sir Richard Tonstal, Sir Henry Bellingham, Sir William Stoke, and about fifty other gentlemen being taken it it, were

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fent

A. C. 1468. fent prifoners to the Tower, where two of the number, condemned by the earl of Rivers as conftable of England, were beheaded. With these Herbert, who was for this fervice created earl of Pembroke, fent a perfon who had brought letters from Margaret of Anjou; and he, in order to fave his life, impeached, among others, the earl of Warwick; though the whole charge amounted to no more than that he had heard beyond fea, the earl favoured the caufe of Margaret and her hufband. Commiffaries were fent down to Middleham to examine him, and they found the accufation groundlefs; though this fresh infult gave a keener edge to his refentment.

A. C. 1459.

The Widevilles had by this time rendered themGeorge duke felves fo odious to the nobility and people, that they of Clarence began to fear the confequences; and perfuaded the daughter of king to mediate a reconciliation between them and the earl of the family of Warwick. With this view Edward

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fet out for Nottingham, where he effected an accommodation between the archbishop of York and the earl of Rivers; a great council was afterwards held at Coventry, to which that prelate brought his brother Warwick, and reconciled him to the lords Herbert, Stafford, and Audley. The king was fo well pleased with the archbishop's conduct on this occafion, that he restored to him the manor of Denley, and other lands which he had loft by the act of refumption. The accommodation between Warwick and thofe noblemen was so far from being fincere, that as foon as the ceremony was over, the earl repaired to his government at Calais, in order to execute a fcheme of revenge which he had already projected. He knew that George duke of Clarence, the king's brother, was incenfed against Edward and his miniftry, who had excluded him from all advantageous offices, and all fhare in the administration; and, as he was, after Elizabeth,

Elizabeth, prefumptive heir to the crown, War- A. C. 1469° wick refolved to engage him in his intereft. For this purpose he offered to him his daughter Isabel in marriage; and Clarence readily embraced an alliance that would put him in poffeffion of one of the richest and most beautiful young ladies in England. This match alarmed Edward, who endeavoured to prevent it by intrigues and remonftrances at the court of Rome, to which the parties had applied for a difpenfation but, by this time, Warwick had entered into a private negotiation with the French king, by whofe influence the difpenfation was obtained, and the marriage celebrated in the church of Notre Dame at Calais.

in York

fhire.

While Warwick refided in this place, he feems Infurrection to have felt the pulse of the English nation, by employing his emiffaries to excite an infurrection in Yorkshire. The people refufing to contribute to the maintenance of the antient hofpital of St. Leonard near York, they were profecuted at law, and their effects diftrained; and as they imagined the hofpital fubfifted by voluntary contribution, they looked upon thofe fuits as the effect of oppreffion. This discontent was fomented to fuch a degree, that they took to their arms, and affembling to the number of fifteen thoufand, began their march to the city of York, which was overwhelmed with confternation, until Warwick's brother Montague threw himself into the town with a small body of choice foldiers; and, in a faliy, took Robert Hilyard their chieftain, commonly called Robin of Reddifale, whom he ordered to immediate execution. The peafants were not difcouraged by this difafter; but, choofing Sir Henry Nevil, fon of lord Latimer, and Sir John Conyers, for their leaders, they advanced to Danefmore in Northamptonfhire, about three miles from Banbury. The king had ordered the earl of Pembroke to march against

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A. C. 1469

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them, at the head of twelve thousand Welshmen, and they were joined by Humphrey Stafford, lately created earl of Devon, at the head of five thousand archers; but, the two chiefs quarreling about lodgings in Banbury, they separated forces, and Pembroke hazarding an engagement, was defeated and flain. Sir Henry Nevil had been taken in a fkirmish on the eve of the battle, and killed in cold blood; a circumstance which exasperated the Yorkfhire men to fuch a degree, "that they gave no quarter to the Welsh, five thousand of whom were flain on the field, or in the pursuit. The earl of Devon was feized in his return by the king's order, and beheaded at Bridgewater; and Richard earl of Rivers, with his fon John, being taken at Grafton, by a detachment of the rebel army, loft their heads at Northampton, by command of Sir John Conyers, who without having done any further mifchief, retired towards Warwick, to wait for the return of the earl from Calais, by whofe direction he had hitherto proceeded.

Whether Edward was ignorant of this connexion, or thought proper to temporize, certain it is, that when Warwick, and his fon-in-law Clarence, arrived in England, and offered their affiftance towards re-establishing the tranquillity of the kingdom, he received them with an appearance of fatisfaction, creating Warwick chief justiciary of South Wales, conftable of the caftle of Cardigan, and fenefchal of all the courts and forefts in the fhires of Carmarthen and Cardigan, offices vacant by the death of the earl of Pembroke. The king was likewife perfuaded to grant a general pardon to Conyers and his followers, who had by this time. increased to fixty thousand. As the nation in general was difcontented, and Margaret of Anjou, with her fon and a fmall body of troops, reported to be at Harfleur in Normandy, ready to embark,

Fabian.

and take advantage of the commotions in England, A. C. 1470, commiffions of array were iffued for raising the militia of Norfolk, Suffolk, and other maritime counties; and the queen's brother, Anthony, now earl of Rivers, was fent to fea, with a ftrong fquadron, to prevent any attempts of the enemy. What- Stowe. ever were the king's fentiments towards Warwick, he feems to have been bent upon making a friend of his brother Montague, perhaps with a view to leffen the power of the earl, which was very formidable. In a great council held on the fixth day of November, Edward afked the advice of the prelates and nobility, about providing an hufband for his daughter Elizabeth, heir to the crown of England; and they unanimously concurred in recommending George, the fon of Montague, as the most proper match for the young princefs. Their fentiments on this fubject being agreeable to thofe of Edward, he, by letters patent, advanced that young nobleman to the dignity of duke of Bedford. Such a teftimony of the king's favour could not but be agreeable to Warwick and his brothers, who began again to live in a friendly correfponce with Edward, until it was interrupted by an artifice of the miniftry, who dreaded the revival of that family's intereft. The king, while he refided at Langley in Hertfordshire, was invited by the archbishop of York to an entertainment, at his feat of Morepark in that neighbourhood, and while the guests were employed, according to the cuftom of the time, in washing hands before fupper, John Ratcliffe, afterwards lord Fitzwalter, told the king privately, that the archbishop had affembled an hundred men at arms, to feize and convey his majefty to the caftle of Middleham. Edward, alarmed at this intelligence, which was feigned for the purpose, made a pretence to go out, and mounting his horse, rode at full fpeed to Windfor. Such an abrupt re

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