XX. of the war with France. CHA P. one commanded by the king himself; a second by the duke of Britany; a third by the duke of 1449. Alençon; and a fourth by the count of Dunois. Renewal The places opened their gates almost as soon as the French appeared before them: Verneüil, Nogent, Chateau Gaillard, Ponteau de Mer, Gisors, Mante, Vernon, Argenten, Lisieux, Fecamp, Coutances, Belesme, Pont de l'Arche, fell in an instant into the hands of the enemy. The duke of Somerset, so far from having an army which could take the field, and relieve these places, was not able to supply them with the necessary garrisons and provisions. He retired with the few troops of which he was master, into Roüen; and thought it sufficient, if, till the arrival of succours from England, he could save that capital from the general fate of the province. The king of France, at the head of a formidable army, fifty thousand strong, presented himself before the gates: The dangerous example of revolt had infected the inhabitants; and they called aloud for a capitulation. Somerset unable to resist, at once, both the enemies within and from without, retired with his garrison into the palace and castle, which being places not tenable, he was obliged to sur4th Nov. render: He purchased a retreat to Harfleur by the payment of 56,000 crowns, by engaging to surrender Arques, Tancarville, Caudebec, Honfleur, and other places in the higher Normandy, and by delivering hostages for the performance of articles. The governor of Honfleur refused to obey his orders; upon which the earl of Shrewsbury, who was one of the hostages, was detained prisoner; and the English were thus deprived of the only general capable of recovering them from their present distressed situation. Harfleur made a better defence under sir Thomas Curson the governor; but was finally Monstrelet, vol. iii. p. 21. Grafton, p. 643. XX. finally obliged to open its gates to Dunois. Suc- CHA P. cours at last appeared from England under sir Thomas Kyriel, and landed at Cherbourgh: But 1450. these came very late, amounted only to 4000 men, and were soon after put to rout at Fourmigni by the count of Clermont." This battle, or rather skir mish, was the only action fought by the English for the defence of their dominions in France, which they had purchased at such an expence of blood and treasure. Somerset, shut up in Caën without any prospect of relief, found it necessary to capitulate: Falaise opened its gates, on condition that the earl of Shrewsbury should be restored to liberty: And Cherbourgh, the last place of Normandy which remained in the hands of the English, being delivered up, the conquest of that important province was finished in a twelvemonth by Charles, to the great joy of the inhabitants and of his whole kingdom." A LIKE rapid success attended the French arms in Guienne; though the inhabitants of that province were, from long custom, better inclined to The Eng the English government. Dunois was dispatched lish expel thither, and met with no resistance in the field, and led France very little from the towns. Great improvements had been made, during this age, in the structure and management of artillery, and none in fortification; and the art of defence was by that means more unequal, than either before or since, to the art of attack. After all the small places about Bourdeaux were reduced, that city agreed to submit, if not relieved by a certain time; and as no one in England thought seriously of these distant concerns, no relief appeared; the place surrendered; and Bayonne being taken soon after, this whole province, which had remained united to England n Holingshed, p. 631. N Grafton, p. 646. XX. CHA P. England since the accession of Henry II. was, after a period of three centuries, finally swallowed up in the French monarchy. 1450. THOUGH no peace or truce was concluded between France and England, the war was, in a manner, at an end. The English, torn in pieces by the civil dissensions which ensued, made but one feeble effort more for the recovery of Guienne: And Charles, occupied at home in regulating the government, and fencing against the intrigues of his factious son, Lewis the Dauphin, scarcely ever attempted to invade them in their island, or to retaliate upon them, by availing himself of their intestine confusions. CHAP. XXI. HENRY VI. Claim of the duke of York to the crown-The earl of Warwic-Impeachment of the duke of Suffolk -His banishment-and death-Popular insurrection-The parties of York and Lancaster-First armament of the duke of York-First battle of St. Albans Battle of Blore-heath-of Northampton-A parliament-Battle of Wakefield-Death of the duke of York-Battle of Mortimer's Cross -Second battle of St. Albans-Edward IV. assumes the crown-Miscellaneous transactions of this reign. A XXI. WEAK prince, seated on the throne of Eng- C H A P. land, had never failed, how gentle soever and innocent, to be infested with faction, discontent, rebellion, and civil commotions; and as the incapacity of Henry appeared every day in a fuller light, these dangerous consequences began, from past experience, to be universally and justly apprehended. Men also of unquiet spirits, no longer employed in foreign wars, whence they were now excluded by the situation of the neighbouring states, were the more likely to excite intestine disorders, and, by their emulation, rivalship, and animosities, to tear the bowels of their native country. But though these causes alone were sufficient to breed confusion, there concurred another circumstance of the most dangerous nature: A pretender to the crown appeared: The title itself of the weak prince, who enjoyed the name of sovereignty, was dis CHAP. puted: And the English were now to pay the seXXI. vere, though late, penalty of their turbulence under Richard II. and of their levity in violating, with 1450. the duke of crown. out any necessity or just reason, the lineal succession of their monarchs. ALL the males of the house of Mortimer were Claim of extinct; but Anne, the sister of the last earl of York to the Marche, having espoused the earl of Cambridge, beheaded in the reign of Henry V. had transmitted, her latent, but not yet forgotten, claim to her son, Richard duke of York. This prince, thus descended by his mother from Philippa, only daughter of the duke of Clarence, second son of Edward III. stood plainly in the order of succession before the king, who derived his descent from the duke of Lancaster, third son of that monarch; and that claim could not, in many respects, have fallen into more dangerous hands than those of the duke of York. Richard was a man of valour and abilities, of a prudent conduct and mild disposition: He had enjoyed an opportunity of displaying these virtues in his government of France: And though recalled from that command by the intrigues and superior interest of the duke of Somerset, he had been sent to suppress a rebellion in Ireland; had succeeded much better in that enterprise than his rival in the defence of Normandy, and had even been able to at tach to his person and family the whole Irish nation, whom he was sent to subdue. In the right of his father, he bore the rank of first prince of the blood; and by this station he gave a lustre to his title, derived from the family of Mortimer, which, though of great nobility, was equalled by other families in the kingdom, and had been eclipsed by the royal descent of the house of Lancaster. He possessed an immense fortune from the union of so many successions, those of Cambridge and York on the one |