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HENRY V.-MONMOUTH.

A.D. 1413 to A.D. 1422.-9 years.

6. When young Henry became King, his first act was to send for his wild companions, tell them he was determined to lead a new life, and beg them to follow his example. He took into his favour the judge who sent him to prison, and called to his assistance the wisest and best men in the land. But in his zeal to please the clergy he cruelly persecuted the Lollards, who preached against the teachings of Rome. The leader, Lord Cobham, was hung in chains over a slow fire, and roasted alive.

7. His next care was to obtain possession of France. He therefore invaded it with an army of 30,000 men, and took Harfleur. But his army was soon wasted by disease; and when, on his march to Calais, he was met at Agincourt by the French army of 100,000 men, under the Duke of Orleans, he could only raise about 12,000, and these were almost worn out by hunger and fatigue. During a dark and rainy night Henry's little army lay encamped in sight of the French watch-fires. The French soldiers passed the night in idle jollity; but Henry, like a wise general, laid down his plans for battle. Early in the morning the English archers led the way, and pouring in upon the French a deadly shower of arrows, threw them into disorder. Then the whole force rushed forward with sword and battle-axe, and gained a complete victory. The French lost 8000 knights and nobles, besides common soldiers; the English only a few scores in all. After this great victory Henry returned to England. He was warmly welcomed home; many even rushed into the sea to meet him before he could land; and Parliament voted him large supplies of money.

8. Henry was not long, however, before he revisited France, married the daughter of the French King, and was made ruler of France and heir to the crown. During his visit he lived in great splendour; but just when he seemed about to reach the height of his glory, he was taken ill and died. The cause of his death is not known; but most likely his disease was caused by the wild excesses of his youth. He was a brave warrior and a clever statesman. His widow, Catherine, married a Welsh gentleman named Owen Tudor; and from them sprang the royal house of Tudor, of whom the first King was Henry VII.

a. During this reign it was ordered that no law should have force until agreed to by the Commons. It was also ordered that every citizen of

London should hang a lantern at his door on winter nights: hence the custom of lighting the streets of towns. Richard Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London, made his fortune as a merchant trading with a ship called the Cat: hence the tale of " Whittington and his Cat."

HENRY VI.-WINDSOR.

A.D. 1422 to A.D. 1461.-39 years.

9. Henry VI., son of the late King, being an infant when his father died, a council of twenty, with the Duke of Gloucester at their head, managed the affairs of the nation. The Duke of Bedford went to rule our French possessions. Here several battles were fought, and fresh conquests made by the English forces. Siege was then laid to Orleans; and it was thought that this too would fall into their hands. But suddenly a change came, by which almost all that had been gained was lost.

10. In a certain village of France there lived a country girl, named Joan of Arc, who imagined that Heaven had raised her up to save her country from the English armies. This was soon

told to the French King, who, being much alarmed at the successes of the English, was willing to do anything to check their progress. He therefore put Joan at the head of some troops; and the soldiers, quite believing in her mission, fought under her command with the greatest bravery. She entered Orleans, drove the English from before the walls, defeated them in a number of battles, and restored to the French King the provinces he had lost. By this she gained the name of the Maid of Orleans. Thus all the blood shed in the last reign for the conquest of France was shed in vain; and no part now remained in the hands of the English but Calais. Joan of Arc was afterwards taken prisoner by the English, and, it is said, was burned as a witch at Rouen.

11. To Henry's foreign troubles were added greater troubles at home; for the Duke of Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort, the two most powerful friends of the House of Lancaster, died; and there was growing up a great rival in the person of Richard, Duke of York, who was really the rightful heir to the throne. And now commenced that long and bloody contest known as the Wars of the Roses, which lasted thirty years. Those who were on the side of the Duke of York wore a white rose, and those who favoured that of Lancaster a red one. Many and fierce were the battles fought between them, Henry being some

At the Battle

times victorious, and at other times a prisoner. of Wakefield Green, Margaret, Henry's wife, defeated the Yorkists, the Duke of York was slain, and his head stuck upon the walls of York; but his son Edward continued the contest, and at last obtained the crown as Edward IV. Henry was deposed in 1461, after a reign of thirty-nine years, and Edward was declared to be the lawful King.

b. In this reign a rebellion was raised in Kent by one Jack Cade, who, pretending that he was heir to the crown, defeated the royal army, and took possession of London. He was, however, defeated in turn, and killed by a gentleman in whose garden he had hidden himself. Coffee first brought from Arabia. Manufacture of glass introduced.

EDWARD IV.

A.D. 1461 to A.D. 1483.-22 years.

12. Though young Edward had obtained the crown, he was not allowed to enjoy it in peace: the northern parts of the country were still in favour of Henry, and raised for him considerable forces. Several battles were fought, in which Henry was worsted; and at last he was taken prisoner and thrown into the Tower.

13. But the Earl of Warwick, the most powerful noble in the land, having lost some of his influence at Court by Edward's marriage, took offence, and resolved to try to deprive him of the throne. Assisted by the Duke of Clarence, Edward's brother, and Margaret, Henry's Queen, who had fled to France, he raised so great an army that Edward was obliged to flee; and Henry was once more released from prison, and set on the throne.

14. Edward, however, soon returned from Holland, where he had taken refuge; and was joined by vast numbers. The two armies met at Barnet; and a terrible battle was fought, in which the Lancastrians were defeated, and Warwick the great king-maker slain. Henry was again thrown into the Tower; but Margaret was resolved to strike another blow for her royal husband, and met Edward's forces at Tewkesbury. She was defeated, and she and her son Henry taken prisoners. Edward had them brought before him, and, enraged at the dauntless conduct of the young Prince, cruelly struck him in the face with his iron glove; and Clarence and Gloucester, who were present, stabbed the noble youth to death with their daggers. It is said that

after this Gloucester went privately into the Tower, where the unfortunate King Henry was confined, and murdered him in cold blood.

15. Edward's life was almost made up of bloody deeds and wicked pleasures. Great numbers of gentlemen were put to death for favouring the House of Lancaster, and his brother Clarence was murdered in the Tower by being drowned in a butt of wine. Edward died in 1483.

c. In this reign the art of printing was brought into England from Holland by William Caxton, a silk-mercer, who set up a press at Westminster Abbey. The first book printed in England was called The Game and Play of the Chesse. Letters were for the first time carried by post from London to Scotland, horsemen being placed at distances of twenty miles apart all along the road. Yew trees were ordered to be grown in churchyards for making bows.

EDWARD V.

A.D. 1483, April to June.-2 months.

16. This little Prince was only twelve years of age at the death of the late King his father; and, though proclaimed King, was never crowned. His uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was Protector, and wanted to be King. He therefore had the young King and his little brother, the Duke of York, conveyed to the Tower, pretending that it was for their safety; though, in reality, it was that they might be completely in his power.

17. Richard's next step was to get rid of all those nobles who were faithful to the young King. Accordingly Lords Rivers, Grey, and Hastings were falsely accused of treason, and beheaded without trial. After this he had it published that young Edward was not the rightful King. The crown was then offered to him by some nobles, whose favour he had gained ; and though he pretended to be unwilling to accept it, yet he did, and was proclaimed King.

18. He then hired three ruffians to go and murder the little Princes in the Tower. These ruffians accordingly went in the dead of night to their bed-room, where they found the innocent children locked in each other's arms asleep; so they took up the pillows, and forcing them down upon their faces, smothered them, and buried their dead bodies at the foot of the stone stairs that led to their room. Two hundred years afterwards, as some alterations were being made in the Tower, the bones of the unfortunate Princes were discovered, and removed to Westminster Abbey.

RICHARD III.-CROOKBACK.

A.D. 1483 to A.D. 1485.-2 years.

19. Richard, though he had waded through blood to the throne, did not long wear the crown he had so foully obtained; and his life was one of great misery, through the constant fear of being murdered, and the torment of a guilty conscience. It is said his nights were sleepless, or else disturbed by horrid dreams which often made him start from his bed with a cry of terror.

There was also a strong party in the nation against him; and it was proposed that Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who was of the House of Lancaster, should have the crown.

His army

20. Richmond accordingly sailed from Normandy with about 2000 men, and landed at Milford Haven in Wales. soon increased to 6000. Richard met him at Bosworth Field, near Leicester, with a larger force, and a desperate battle ensued, in which Richmond was victorious. When Richard saw that his cause was lost, he ran furiously into the midst of his enemies, fighting with the rage of a wild beast, and fell covered with wounds. He had worn his crown in the battle. This was taken and placed on the head of Richmond by Lord Stanley, who proclaimed him "King Henry the Seventh." The body of Richard, the last of the Plantagenets, was found amongst heaps of slain, thrown across a horse, carried to Leicester, and there buried.

d. During the reigns of the Houses of Lancaster and York, very little progress was made in art, science, or civilization. Hundreds of towns and villages were destroyed, many castles laid in ruins, and the fields in many parts of the country left uncultivated. The Feudal System, which had flourished under the early Plantagenets, now came to an end, together with slavery, which had been common in England for many centuries. The government of the country became then what it is now-the King could make no law, nor lay any tax upon the people without the consent of Parliament. The language became settled by the writings of the great poets Gower and Chaucer, though the spelling of words was very various.

e. MEMORABLE DATES OF THE LANCASTER AND YORK PERIOD.

A.D.

Battle of Shrews oury (Henry
IV.).
1403
Battle of Agincourt (Henry V.).. 1415
All our French possessions lost

except Calais (Henry VI.)..... 1451 Wars of the Roses commenced by

the first Battle of St. Albans.. 1455

A.D.

Battle of Wakefield Green (Henry
VI.)...
1460
Battle of Barnet (Edward IV.)... 1471
Battle of Tewkesbury...
1471
First book printed in England... 1474
Battle of Bosworth Field (Richard
III.)..

1485

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